Chapter 10: Okay
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Sokka had stood at the top of the stairwell, staring at the closed door before him for a few minutes before he shook his head and turned away from it. The staircase at the back of the Jasmine Dragon, the one leading up to Iroh and Zuko's private apartment, was now the single place that Sokka hated most in the world, so he thought as he hit the bottom step with a loud groan. He never wanted to be back on that staircase again, never wanted to stare at that door again. He reached up and drug his hands back roughly through his dark brown hair and tugged at the strands in frustration. His eyes stayed locked on the floor as he moved through the back room and out into the main of the tea shoppe.
"Sokka, I thought you'd gone already," came Iroh's voice as the boy crossed in front of the counter.
"I'm leaving now," Sokka answered back without looking towards the man. "I'll see you tomorrow." He gave a weak wave behind him as he pushed open the door and stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the shoppe.
The boy stuffed his hands into his pockets and allowed the argument, if you could call it that, with Zuko to replay over and over in his mind as he walked back to the apartments. His thoughts instantly snapped to as he stepped inside the apartment and was met with the sweet scent of simmering food. His stomach gave a loud growl at the teasing aroma and Sokka's feet carried him into the kitchen without his brain needing to instruct them to. He expected to see someone over the stove, tending to what was scenting the entire apartment, what he didn't expect was for it to be Pakku.
Twenty awkward minutes, a few un-laughed-at jokes and three large bowls of vegetable soup later, Sokka was pushing away from the table with a smile on his face. "That was fantastic, Pakku. I didn't even know that you could cook. Well, cook like that I mean. Hands down the best soup I've ever had." Sokka gave the old man a large grin as he carried his bowl over to the sink and rinsed it out. "Just don't tell Gram Gram I said that," he added with a laugh.
"Kanna says the same thing, so I doubt she'd mind," Pakku answered, smiling back at the boy as he finished ladling the remainder of the soup into a large storage bowl. "I'm glad you liked it, Sokka." He slid the bowl into the refrigerator and looked at the boy over the top of the door. "What are you doing with the rest of the day?"
Sokka wasn't sure what to make of the tone in Pakku's voice. The man's words had seemed almost hesitant, as though he was afraid of what the answer would be. With a crooked grin on his face, Sokka shrugged his shoulders and darted his eyes towards the front door. "I had thought about going to the skate park I heard about. I can...stay if you'd like."
"No! No, no, you go on," Pakku said, waving his hand towards Sokka in a careless manner. "I have quite a bit to do today still. I just didn't want to leave you alone if you were going to sit around without any plans. You go and do your skating...thing."
Sokka nodded to the old man and hurried into the bedroom to collect his board. He dove to his knees beside his bed and reached underneath it, his hand coming back out clutched around his skateboard. The heavy board felt good in his hands, as he hadn't been on it since moving in with his Grandmother. His hand brushed over the icy blue board, half covered in worn stickers and a faded phone number from the boy who had sold Sokka the board. He would never admit that he had intended to buy the red one until the shop boy fawned about how this one matched his eyes so fittingly. A slight smirk came to his lips as he rolled his fingers over one of the almost new wheels. Though they had been a Christmas gift from Bato, he hadn't actually put them on the board until late January. The blue eyed boy hugged his skateboard to his chest and darted from the room, eager to get back on it.
The Serpent's Pass Skate Park was everything that Sokka hoped it would be. As he neared the entrance gate, the smell of sweat and stale nachos hit him like a tidal wave, making him smile brightly and walk a bit faster. The park was filled with the sounds of boards rubbing against metal, helmets dragging over concrete and the excited squeals of onlookers. The boy's eyes were still absorbing what the place had to offer in the way of ramps and half pipes when he felt a hand close around his shoulder.
"I was hoping I'd see you out here sometime," Jet said as he dropped his hand from Sokka's shoulder and pulled a toothpick from between his lips. The cold stare he received from Sokka made Jet sigh loudly and shake his head. "Honestly, I thought you'd be over your little fit by now."
"I didn't have a fit," Sokka hissed as he started to turn away from Jet. When the boy's hand closed in his own, causing him to spin back around and face him, Sokka rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Jet?" he asked, pulling his hand free. "I'm not interested."
Jet snorted a tiny laugh and shoved his hands down into his pockets. "Why? Because...because I got upset? Because I said something stupid and mean in the heat of the moment. I was mad and I...shouldn't have said what I did but I wa-"
"You laughed at me."
Jet stood speechless at the words that had just left Sokka's mouth. "I...laughed...at you? Are you fucking serious? You're pissed at me because I laughed at you?"
"I don't like having my choices laughed at, especially when they are the right choices," Sokka answered, dropping his eyes to the ground in front of him.
"I didn't mean to laugh at you about it, I just... I don't know. I'm sorry." Jet held out his hands and slapped them back against this legs, unable to think of anything else to say.
Sokka nodded slowly and pushed his hair back out of his eyes, though it didn't much matter for the strands fell right back into place. "Okay. See you around," he muttered, trying once more to walk away from Jet.
"See you around?" Jet parroted, moving in front of Sokka with an exasperated look on his face. "That's it? You're blowing me off...completely? You don't even want to hang out?"
"I don't know," Sokka said, his words jumbled together, as he gave a small shrug and licked over his lips. "I don't think we should. I guess, I don't know. I just don't know, okay?"
"No, not okay. I said that I was sor- Is this about Zuko?" Jet's tone suddenly went cold and flat in the middle of his words. He reached out and brushed his fingers under Sokka's chin, making the boy look up at him. "You don't want to be around me because of him. I'm right, aren't I?"
Sokka pushed Jet's hand away and shook his head. "This has nothing to do with...anyone. I just don't know. Haven't you ever not known something? Look, just leave me out of this, okay. It's like I can't be around either one of you without having to hear about the other. I just came to skate, I didn't come to get involved in your little drama." He held up his board as though he were reminding Jet of his purpose there and made another attempt at walking away.
"He talks about me?" Jet asked, putting his hand flat against Sokka's chest to stop him from walking away. "You just said it, so don't try to lie."
"I wasn't going to."
"What does he...say about me?" Jet asked, running his tongue over the front of his teeth and sliding his tooth pick back between them. "He tell you to stay away from me? Tell you that you shouldn't hang with me? He told you what happened, didn't he? That's why you don't want to be around me."
"He didn't say anything about anything. Just stop, alright, please." Sokka let out a loud breath, followed by an annoyed growl. "He's just made it kinda clear that you two don't get along and that you can't share friends."
"Share friends? So he said that you can't be friends with both of us? And you're choosing him?" Jet scoffed loudly and bit down on his toothpick so hard that Sokka could hear it snap between the boy's teeth.
"I'm not choosing him. He didn't say it like that. He doesn't even want to be my friend so stop jumping to conclusions and twisting my words around." Sokka drug his hand through his hair and stared up into the distance as he tried to sort out his thoughts.
"Then why the hell can't you hang out with me? I've said sorry, I know that you know you over reacted in the first place and this is just insane. If he told you what happened then the least you could do is give me a chance to defend myself." Jet tossed his broken toothpick onto the ground with more force than necessary and narrowed his eyes at the other boy. "You're hearing one side of the story and that isn't fair, Sokka."
"That isn't fair, Sokka?" Sokka repeated, rolling his eyes at Jet. "I don't give a crud about your side of the story and I haven't even heard his side of the story. I didn't even know there was a story until you just started talking about it. So just shut up, already. Whatever happened to make you two act like total jerks isn't my business and I don't want to make it my business."
Jet opened his mouth to speak several times, closing back each without saying a word. "Okay," he said, simply.
"Okay," Sokka repeated, mimicking the other boy's tone.
"Okay," Jet said again, pushing his hands back into his pockets and pulling out his toothpick box.
"If you say okay again, I'm gonna smack you with my board," Sokka said, laughing quietly.
Jet looked up at Sokka, a crooked grin stretching across his face. "You're making idle threats of physical harm while laughing, that means you have to be my friend now." He ran the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip and let out a small laugh. "Okay," he added, quickly dodging the playful swing of Sokka's skateboard towards his shoulder. "Watch it, they'll get you for assaulting the employees," Jet said, pushing Sokka on the shoulder and grinning.
"Employee? You work here?" Sokka asked, raising his eyebrows and looking around in awe.
"Sure do, and...my break is over. Have fun peddling that tea though," Jet said, laughing a bit cruelly as he waved to Sokka and hurried back over towards the snack stand.
"Have fun peddling that tea," Sokka mocked in a prissy tone, rolling his eyes in the direction Jet had gone. "Jerk," he muttered, though his lips betrayed him with a smile.
Three hours passed before Sokka poured himself into a chair at one of the tables sitting in front of the snack stand at the skate park. He held a bottle of water tightly between his hands and laid his head onto the table, scolding himself for not drinking anything sooner. A shiver ran down his spine as a chilled breeze hit against his sweat soaked back. He swallowed back half of his water in one time and let the bottle drop back onto the table.
"You looked good out there," Jet said as he slipped into the seat beside Sokka with a bottle of water and a plate piled high with nachos. "Not near as good as I am, but good." He laughed quietly and stuck his tongue out at Sokka when the boy pretended to have been offended. "You want one of these?" he asked, shoving a cheese covered chip into his mouth.
"They look disgusting," Sokka answered, lifting up one of the chips.
"They are disgusting," Jet answered, giving the other boy a cheesy grin.
Sokka was inclined to agree as the slightly cold, over salty cheese slid over his tongue just before he bit into the stale, soggy and again, over salty chip. "You're right, that is gross," he said with a laugh, though the agreeing boys had no problem polishing off the nachos in record time.
"So, are we cool?" Jet asked, tipping up his drink and staring at Sokka.
Sokka took a slow breath and gave the other boy a small shrug. "That depends, are you actually going to try to put the moves on my sister?"
"Absolutely," Jet answered with a laugh. "Don't look at me like that. You don't want me and your sister is hot."
"My sister is not hot," Sokka argued, grimacing at the other boy.
Jet raised one eyebrow at Sokka and snorted a laugh. "You don't think any girl is hot."
"No I don't think any girl is hot, especially if that girl is my sister."
"Well, she isn't my sister and I say that she's hot." Jet leaned back in his seat, tipping it up onto its back legs and using his foot to keep him balanced. "If you don't want me to hit on your sister, then I won't," he said, his voice filled with a sincere tone. "Friends don't hit on friend's sisters." He gave Sokka a crooked smile and dropped his chair back into place.
"I don't want you to. Besides, she's got a thing for Haru," Sokka said, rolling his eyes at the thought. "I gotta get home," he finally said, after a few minutes of silence.
"Can I walk with you?" Jet asked, standing up as Sokka did.
Sokka pursed his lips in thought and poked at his lip ring with the tip of his tongue. "Yeah, okay," he muttered, smirking as Jet sprang into action to throw away the empty plate. He frowned at the ground as he picked up his skateboard from beside his seat. Something wasn't sitting quite right in the pit of the boy's stomach, and it wasn't just the nachos.
A Note From the Author: So this is the part where half of you start saying "No! Go away Jet." and the other half start saying "Yay! More Jet." :D SO what do you think? Is the something not sitting right because of Jet or is the way that Zuko treated Sokka making him act strange. More to come and YES we will be hearing the sides of the story between Zuko and Jet. Just because Sokka doesn't want to know, doesn't mean that you guys don't. -Jenna