Let me take your hand.

And as we walk in the dimming light,

Oh darling, understand:

That everything, everything ends.

- "Meet Me on the Equinox" by Death Cab For Cutie

Katara

I find myself on the jetty.

I'm not really surprised that I ended up here. It's practically a given. The sea is my safe place. I can walk out here and feel the sun on my hair and the spray in my face and smell the salt and brine, and it clears my head and helps me put things in perspective. And it's peaceful.

I walk to the end of the jetty with tears still running in rivulets down my face and sit on the end. The sea is calm today, with gentle waves crashing against the shore. The spray doesn't quite reach me, but I can still taste the salt.

I'm hurt. It feels as though my best friends have turned on me. It's not even their budding relationship that's really getting to me. It's the accusations Toph hurled at me, that Aang didn't disagree with. There is no way what she said and what he didn't deny is true.

I know that Aang has feelings for me beyond friendship. And I know that I look at him like a brother. Aang and I have never even talked about this. He has only ever tried to kiss me once, and that was years ago, when he was thirteen and I was almost fifteen. It was before Jet. And we never, ever talked about it.

I've always treated him as a friend, or so I thought. I don't know where Toph is coming from, saying that I keep him on a leash like a dog. He's my friend.

But her words still sting, and the look of betrayal on Aang's face is burned into my mind, and my thoughts keep drifting back to the hickey on his neck.

It's not because it bothers me that he's with Toph. It's because he had the audacity to look at me like he would drop everything to be with me if I asked him to, even with said hickey displayed on his neck. How could he just sit there and let her say those things to me, like somehow he's the victim in all of this? I don't understand what the point of any of that was. Did Toph just want to be cruel? She has a mean streak; she always has. But I have never been on the receiving end of it, and if it means I never speak to her again, I don't want to go through it again.

Is this the end? Is our friendship over? I don't know how we'll ever recover from this, or if I even want to. I won't apologize until Toph does, even though I don't feel like there's anything I need to be sorry for. I haven't done anything wrong.

Finally, my tears slow down and I dry them on the sleeves of Zuko's sweater. I look down at my hands, my fingers barely poking out of the ends, and remember I'm supposed to help him again today.

I check my phone for the time and find out that somehow it's a quarter to nine, and if I don't start walking now I'll be late. There's no text from Zuko, and I wonder if he forgot I was supposed to come back to help him paint.

I peel myself off the jetty and start back toward town. I send Zuko a quick text on the way.

K: Walking over right now. I might be a bit late. I'm sorry.

I turn down the road where the Jasmine Dragon is and my phone vibrates in my back pocket.

Z: Yeah, bo problem. See you when you get here.

I suddenly feel relieved and grateful that I found Zuko. I can't quite believe it's a coincidence that we ran into each other the other day, right before my friendship with Toph and Aang imploded like a neutron star. What are the odds of that, in my tiny little corner of the universe?

A few minutes later I'm pulling open the door to the Jasmine Dragon. Zuko is standing there in a pair of well-worn Levi's and an old t-shirt. He's already got the paint set up, and he's finished taping off the rest of the baseboards and electrical sockets.

"Good morning," he greets me with a smile.

That smile is a welcome mat; I step over the threshold and breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing Zuko's friendly smile pushes Aang and Toph from my mind, and I'm ready to sink back into whatever it is that Zuko and I are building here.

"Morning." I cross the floor toward him. I tug at the hoodie. "I brought your hoodie back."

His eyes take it in before they come back to my face. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"No problem. And thanks for letting me borrow it."

I reluctantly slip out of his hoodie. I don't want to let it go yet, but I can't wear it while I paint. But the smell of bamboo and teak wood lingers on my skin when I take it off.

"Don't mention it. It was cold."

Zuko shrugs before he takes it from me. Our fingers touch, and it sends a current running down my arm. Our gaze meets for a brief moment, and as I feel the heat rise in my face, color peaks in Zuko's cheeks as all. When he pulls away, I feel hollow, like a piece of me is missing.

"Will your uncle be joining us today?" I ask when Zuko turns away to set the hoodie down. I rub my fingers where he touched me, still feeling the ghost of his skin on mine.

"Ah, no. He had to drive into Portland to meet with some vendors to go over contracts and stuff. He won't be back until this evening." Zuko turns back to me, and the corner of his lips tug up into a lopsided smirk. "Is that okay?"

I bite back the sense of happiness that comes over me as I realize that means that we'll be alone all day.

I cock my head to the side and return the smirk. "Yeah, I think I'm okay with that."

Zuko starts for the half-finished wall we started on last night. "How was breakfast with your friends?"

He poses the question casually, but I can hear something more in his voice. Then it occurs to me that I just spent upwards of an hour crying, and it's probable that it's rather obvious by the way my face looks.

"It was fine." I scuff the toe of my sneaker against the tile floor. "Um...can you point me to the ladies room?"

Zuko glances back at me over his shoulder as though he just noticed I'm still standing by the cluster of furniture in the middle of the room.

"Oh." He points to a doorway on the left side of the room. "It's right through there, on your left."

"Thanks."

I hurry into the bathroom and turn on the light. I lock the door and turn toward the mirror.

I don't look as bad as I thought I would, but my eyes are still puffy and red-rimmed, and my cheeks are a little blotchy. I quickly run cold water over my face and pat my skin dry with a paper towel. I take a few deep breaths before I go back out into the main room. Zuko has turned the music back on, and he's already working on the part of the wall we didn't finish.

He looks up at me when I come back and offers me a small smile.

"So...breakfast actually didn't go that great with my friends." I don't know why, but I find myself compelled to tell him this.

His brow furrows and his lips turn down into a frown. "Is everything okay?"

I huff out a breath as I grab my paint roller. "To be honest, not really, no. I've been fighting with my friend, Toph, for weeks. And then she calls me up this morning to meet up for breakfast, only to ambush me with the fact that she and our other best friend are now dating." My brow knits as I think of the hickey again. "Or something. I don't really know what they're doing."

"I'm sorry," Zuko says, and he sounds so sincere I look up at him, a little surprised. "Do you think you guys will make up?"

I turn my gaze back to the wall. "I'm not sure. We've been friends for so long, and this isn't the first time we've gotten into a fight, but we've never fought like this."

"I'm sorry," he says again. "I hope you guys make up soon. It sounds…" Zuko trails off as though he's looking for the right word.

"Hard," I supply with a tight smile. "It's hard." But at least I have you, I think but don't say. "But hey, at least now my schedule is wide-open, so I can definitely help you finish this paint job."

Zuko smiles wryly at me. Then his expression melts into one of worry. "You only have to help out as long as you want to."

"I know." I shrug. "I want to help." I peek sideways at him. "But I won't be able to help on Friday." I try to hold back my wince. "Or probably most of next week."

"Oh." He swallows, and I watch the knot in his throat bob up and down. "That's okay. I think by then we'll have most of it done, anyway."

I half-expect him to ask why I can't help, but then I realize that Zuko probably finds that to be an intrusive and awkward question.

But I decide to tell him anyway, if only because I want to set clear boundaries in our delicate new friendship. I don't want to make the same mistakes I've made with Aang. I like Zuko too much for that.

"My boyfriend is coming up for spring break," I say as I spread my roller over the wall. "He'll be here for the week before he goes back to college. When I'm not hanging out with him, I can still come by and help."

"No, that's fine. Don't worry about it." Zuko peeks at me from the corner of his eye. I notice he's positioned himself so his right side faces me again, and I can't help but feel that's intentional. "You should…spend time with him. While you can. Since he goes to school so far away and stuff." He rubs the back of his neck. "And I don't want to step on any toes, you know? Like, I don't want to take you away from the time you have together."

I raise my eyebrows. I haven't even thought about how Jet will react when he hears about my new friend.

"Right," I say slowly. "But I do want to make sure we get this done so you guys can open on time. If anything, I can probably recruit his assistance."

But as I say it, I realize that I don't really know if I want Jet and Zuko around each other. There's no real reason not to. In fact, it'll probably look suspicious to my boyfriend if I don't, but part of me wants to keep Zuko to myself. He's like a special toy I don't want to share with my friends. Then I think about what Toph said, and I wonder if she's right and if I do have a problem.

"If you want to."

"I do." I say it even though I don't want to, if only because it's the right thing to do. smile at him, and he returns it.

"Well, if you can't, don't worry about it," Zuko tells me. He cracks a grin. "I could probably finally get my uncle to help me. This is his shop, after all."

I chuckle. "I'll see what I can do."

Zuko

We're making good progress again. Katara and I have been painting for the last three hours. We finished up the first wall and we've moved onto the next. I'm up on a step ladder to paint over the windows and Katara is sitting on the floor below me painting beneath them with a brush in her hand, her long legs stretched out before her. Music plays from the speakers and I feel utterly at ease in her presence.

I'm happy that Katara is feeling better. I could tell she had been crying when she came into the Jasmine Dragon that morning, and I'm glad she felt comfortable enough to tell me a little bit about what was going on, because I definitely didn't feel comfortable asking her. I hope she and her friends, whoever they are, can make up. I can't imagine anyone not wanting to be her friend.

I'm a little less happy to learn that her boyfriend is coming into town, but what can I do? I should have expected it, honestly. Spring break is coming. Of course her boyfriend is going to come and visit her. And, given what's going on with her other friends, she deserves that peace.

But I can't help but think back to how she reacted at Nan's last night, when Sela brought Katara's boyfriend up. There was something in her eyes, something guarded and hesitant. I don't know what it means, but I can't help but wonder if things aren't exactly perfect between them.

"What do you say we take a lunch break?"

Her voice breaks me out of my thoughts, and I glance down at her. She's looking up at me with her big blue eyes, and she's so stunning there with the sunlight filtering in through the window, bathing her in gold, that it feels like my heart actually stops beating for a moment.

I swallow hard and blink stupidly. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Are you hungry?" Of course she is, you idiot, or else she wouldn't have suggested a lunch break. My own stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

Katara giggles, and I feel my cheeks burn. "Yeah, I'm a little hungry," she says.

I make my way off of the ladder. "Now that you mention it, me too."

When I reach the ground I extend my hand to her without thinking about it. Her eyes flicker between my hand and my face for a moment, before she settles her hand in mine and I gently pull her to her feet. Her hand is small, delicate, and I wonder if I'll crush it if I squeeze her too hard. And then she's on her feet, and I let her go, and she brushes off the seat of her paint-splattered jeans.

"I was thinking we could get some sandwiches from Shyu's, and maybe get started on the business page," Katara says.

"Yeah, ok." I nod in agreement and set my roller down. "We can do that. Did you want to walk, or…?"

"We can drive," Katara answers. "I want to get as much work done as we can, especially since I might be a flake all next week." She grins at me. "I don't want to leave you to do it all by yourself."

I put my hand over my heart in teasing gratitude. "What would I ever do without you?"

She gives me a teasing smile. "Suffer through your uncle being an even bigger flake than I am."

I can't help but laugh a little bit, because she's definitely not wrong.

Then Katara reaches up to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face, and her thumb swipes against her cheek, leaving a streak of green paint on her caramel skin.

"Oh, you got a little paint—" I gesture to my own face, and Katara looks down at her hand, where there are more smears of green paint.

"I swear, I can never paint without getting at least some on me."

Katara shakes her head with a laugh. She takes the hem of her t-shirt in her hand and bends down slightly to wipe the paint away, and I catch the sight of her stomach above the waistband of her jeans, smooth and tan. The sight of that sends a shiver right through me.

Katara looks up at me. There's still some paint on her skin. "Alright, did I get it all?"

The corner of my lips pull up. "Almost. Here—may I?"

Katara's eyes widen, but she nods. I bring my hand up to her cheek and use my thumb to clear the last bit of paint from her skin. The movement is gentle, but not so slow as to be considered a caress. I want to be gentle, not rough, but I want to make sure I get it all.

Her skin is soft, and I'm close enough that I can smell vanilla and cherry blossoms. When I pull my hand away, her skin is clear. I wipe my thumb across my pants and leave behind a streak of green.

Katara gestures to the mark in my jeans. Color has risen in her cheeks, and she's clearly a bit embarrassed, but I think she looks adorable.

"Soon you'll look like me." She gestures to her paint-smeared clothes again. Then her eyes return to mine. "So, lunch?"

I almost forgot as I stood there staring at her. It's my turn to look a little embarrassed.

"Right. Yeah. Just uh, let me lock up." I start for the door but I point my finger at her. "And don't you dare say anything about me being a city boy. There's thousands of dollars of equipment in here, and my uncle would literally kill me if it got stolen."

She holds up her hands in surrender. "No, no, you should lock up. I would be very sad if your uncle killed you." She flashes her grin at me.

I roll my eyes but when I turn to the door to throw the lock, I can't help but smile a little bit. Something about her words, what they mean, makes me feel warm inside.

I wonder how long I can keep on being just her friend before I want more. I would never want to put her in a situation where she has to question her loyalty, but I know that at the rate I'm going, this girl is going to have me falling for her harder than I've ever fallen before.

I'm both excited and terrified.