Chapter 10: Kiss or Confess (Part 1)

A good night's rest followed the long day of traveling, getting some sun, and eating the hearty dinner Mai and Jet had cooked for everyone. Everyone was full of energy the next day, which was mostly spent lounging on the beach and exploring the boardwalk. Azula and Zuko ended up getting into an irresponsibly competitive game at the Ember Island arcade called Street Bender, where Zuko accidentally set fire to the game and got kicked out of the arcade. All in all, it was a fun day, but Jet uncharacteristically found himself unable to fully enjoy the time spent with his friends – his mind was too preoccupied with everything that happened the night before with Mai. He had to tell someone about it, he just had to. So at the very first opportunity, he grabbed Azula and the two of them took a long stroll down the boardwalk, away from everyone else.

"So what did you want to talk about that was so urgent?"

"Well…" He smirked. "…Mai and I almost kissed last night."

"Wait, WHAT?!" A wide grin spread across her face.

"I know… I can't believe it."

"How did it happen, or, almost happen? Tell me everything!"

He couldn't tell her everything, of course. Not the part about Mai possibly being gay anyway. "I don't know, we were just cooking and chatting, and she made some comment about not having a lot of experience, so I joked that if that was her way of asking me to kiss her, all she had to do was ask – "

"Yes… 'joked'," Azula said with a smirk.

"Yeah," he chuckled, knowing full-well Azula understood exactly how it went down.

"And then…"

"And then…" He shrugged. "She just kinda took me up on it!"

"No way…" She smiled up at him, and he could tell from the way her eyes shined that she was genuinely happy for him. "Jet, that's a huge deal."

"I know," he smiled back.

"So… why didn't you kiss?"

"Oh yeah." His face fell. "Just as we were about to, Sokka came barging in through the door demanding dinner. Total cockblock."

Azula snickered. "That bastard."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, Jet, this is still really good news. See? Look where my epic wingman skills got you!"

"Oh, so you're gonna take all the credit for this?" he teased. "It had nothing to do with my charm or good looks?"

She smiled sweetly.

"Well, don't celebrate yet. I didn't get to kiss her, and when I asked if this was going to be continued, she just smiled and shrugged." He sighed. "What do you think that means? Do you think she likes me?"

"Hm, I really don't know. Mai's kind of an enigma. Still, I don't think she would have taken you up on that kiss if she weren't at least attracted to you."

"Yeah…"

"Don't give up hope." Azula put her hand on his shoulder. "We still have tonight. And you know what they say: 'Ember Island is a magical place'."

"Thanks, Azula. Let's hope you're right. Hey… maybe we can force some magic? By switching rooms for the night?" He grinned.

"Oh, you mean so you can share a bed with Mai, and I'll be forced to share a bed with Sokka and my brother? No thanks!"

"It was worth a shot."

"So," Ty Lee smirked at her friends sitting around the bonfire on the beach, "the game is called 'Kiss or Confess'. It's sort of like Truth or Dare meets Spin the Bottle. We used to play it in high school."

"Ugh," Zuko groaned. "Do we have to?"

"Yeah, I don't know about this," Katara said quietly.

Ty Lee nudged her roommate, who was sitting to her left. "Hey, you would have brought your boyfriend if you really wanted him here – "

"Who, Haru?" Katara asked. "He's not my – we've only been on like four and a half dates!"

Azula raised an eyebrow. "And a half?"

"Don't answer that," Sokka chimed in, "I don't want to know."

Jet snickered. "Well, I'm down to play. I'm liking this ratio…"

Azula would have rolled her eyes, but she knew Jet really just wanted another shot at kissing Mai and was trying to sound casual.

"Does anyone else not want to play?" Zuko asked before turning to the person sitting to his left. "Mai?"

"Actually, I…" She shrugged. "I think it might be kinda fun."

"Really?"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Ty Lee cheered.

"Fine," Zuko conceded. "I'll play too."

"Okay fine, me too," Katara said.

"Great! So here's how you play. We'll go around in a circle and when it's your turn, you spin the bottle. Then depending on who it lands on, you decide if you want to kiss that person or not. But if you don't… you have to confess a personal secret."

As the group looked around nervously at each other, Azula mentally prayed to the spirits for an opportunity to kiss Sokka. Please, please, please…

"And what if that person doesn't want to kiss you back?" Zuko questioned.

"Oh, then that would be pretty awkward!" Ty Lee giggled. "You'd have to confess something then. We're not violating anyone's consent here. Okay so, I guess I'll go first?"

No one objected and Ty Lee spun the bottle. It landed on Jet. A chorus of "ooohs" rang from the crowd as Azula's stomach knotted. Would Ty Lee really go through with it? Flirting with boys was one thing, but kissing… that was something else.

She flashed her eyes seductively at Jet. "How 'bout a kiss, cutie?"

Of course she would.

"Yeah, okay," Jet chuckled.

Azula clenched her jaw throughout their stupid kiss, which was longer than it should have lasted.

Katara went next; the bottle landed on Mai. The waterbender looked at Mai and shrugged. "I'm down if you are."

"Ummm…" Mai looked bashful. "Sure."

Azula noticed Jet was staring intently at them as they shared a quick kiss. Either he was jealous, which would have been surprising, or more likely, he just wanted to watch two girls kiss.

Then it was Zuko's turn. He spun the bottle and… it landed on Azula. "Can I quit?" Zuko asked, as a mixture of "ewws" and laughter filled the air.

"Just confess something, Zuzu."

He shook his head. "I don't even know what to confess."

"I know," Mai said, "Why don't you confess why you're so angry all the time?"

"I'm not!"

"Yeah, you kinda are," Sokka noted.

Zuko scoffed. "Well I don't know why, okay?! I just… I feel… frustrated. All the time. It never stops, I… I just feel like I'm going to explode at any given moment. I constantly feel inadequate and like I'm disappointing everyone around me."

Everyone looked at him sympathetically. Mai put her hand on Zuko's back. Azula couldn't help but feel personally responsible, and it hurt her in a way she couldn't explain.

"I guess I'm just…" Zuko sighed. "Angry at myself."

"Angry at yourself for what?" Katara asked.

"I don't… I can't…"

"Hey, let's not pressure Zuko to say something he doesn't want to say, okay?" Ty Lee winked at him. "He's already confessed enough."

"Zuko…" Sokka looked across the fire at his friend. "You could never disappoint me, buddy."

"Yeah, same here," Mai said, smiling softly.

"Thanks," he muttered. "Someone else go, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Mai asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay…" Mai spun the bottle. As if Ember Island knew the group needed some comic relief, the bottle landed on herself. "Ummm… guess I'll confess?" she laughed nervously. "I… well I've recently come to realize that… I have no idea who I really am. Pathetic, I know. I guess I've just gotten used to living in the shadows because of my father's political career. I always had to be the perfect, quiet, obedient daughter and keep out of trouble. But now that I'm in college, I'm ready to throw my insecurities aside and figure things out."

"I'm proud of you, Mai," Ty Lee smiled, walking across the circle to give Mai a hug.

"Yeah, me too," Jet quickly added, tentatively placing his hand on her back.

"Yeah, that's brave," Zuko added, draping his arm around her, accidentally touching Jet's hand. "Oh, sorry."

"I-It's fine." Jet set his hand back down on his lap.

Mai rested her head on Zuko's shoulder, and Azula could see the hurt in Jet's brown eyes flickering in the light of the fire. This was shaping out to be an interesting night, that was for sure.

"Guess it's my turn," Jet muttered before spinning the bottle.

Azula waited with anticipation as it spun around and around.

It landed on Sokka, who immediately leaned forward and puckered his lips in jest.

Everyone laughed, while Jet was stricken with terror.

"What, you don't want to kiss me?" Sokka asked, pretending to be offended.

"Oh, I'll do it," Jet chuckled.

"No you won't."

"I think you're the one who wants to chicken out of this, roomie."

Sokka crossed his arms. "I'm no chicken."

"Well neither am I."

"Will you two just kiss already?" Ty Lee challenged.

"Yeah, okay, okay," Jet said, turning to face Sokka.

Sokka met his eye. "So we're really gonna do this?"

"I guess."

Azula, who was seated between Jet and Sokka, watched eagerly as the two sophomores gave each other a quick peck on the lips. It was uncomfortable for them, and Azula couldn't help but blush.

Jet laughed. "Hey, that wasn't so bad."

"Could have been worse," Sokka mumbled, looking away from his roommate, red in the cheeks.

"Azula, you're up," Jet announced.

Her heart racing, she spun the bottle. This was it. Moment of truth. Sokka, Sokka, Sokka… it landed on Mai. She frowned. "Umm, no offense Mai, but I think it would be weird for us to kiss."

Mai nodded. "Agreed."

"Okay then, I guess I'll confess something. Hmm…" She thought for a moment, wondering how deep she should get with the group. But after Zuko's and Mai's confessions, she didn't want to say anything too shallow, so she decided to speak from the heart for once. "Well… as some of you may already know, my mother up and left Zuko and me when we were kids – I think I was about nine-years-old, but it's hard to remember – and well, I…" She bit down on her lip. "…I think I'm the reason why she left. I was a… let's just say difficult child, Zuzu can tell you all about that, and she certainly didn't keep her favoritism toward him a secret."

Zuko seemed like he was about to interject but then changed his mind.

"I… overheard her say some things about me, things like, 'What is wrong with that child?' as if I were defective or something. My own mother… thought I was a monster."

Everyone grew eerily quiet.

"I believe she would have stayed if Zuko had been an only child. She left because of me, because she couldn't deal with the monster she created, and sometimes I…" She swallowed. "I think everyone will leave." There it was all out in the open. She had never felt so vulnerable before.

"Azula, that's not true," Zuko tried to assuage. "She left because of Father. You had nothing to do with it."

"How would you know?"

"I just – that's just – " He shrugged. "That's just how I see it."

"You're not defective, Azula," Mai spoke quietly.

"Yeah, your mom's a jerk!" Ty Lee added. "Who would just leave their children like that?!"

Katara looked down at her feet.

"Well, you don't have to worry about me leaving," Jet said, placing a hand on top of hers and squeezing it. "I'll always be your friend."

"Yeah, me too," Sokka smiled, taking her other hand.

She was stirred with emotion. She had never felt so safe and secure in all her life. Her friends were truly something. "Thank you," she whispered, fighting back tears. "Sokka, you can take your turn."

"Alright!" he said, taking back his hand to spin the bottle.

Once again, Azula held her breath. She could feel Jet squeezing her right hand as the bottle spun, knowing he was rooting for her. But much to everybody's disappointment, the bottle landed on Katara.

"Ew," the water siblings called out simultaneously, cringing.

Everyone else laughed.

"Yeah, that's gonna be a hard pass," Sokka chuckled.

"Thank the spirits," Katara muttered.

"Okay, confession time then! I've had some time this evening to think about what I was going to say in case I ended up confessing something, and well, this confession actually goes out to my sister." He turned to speak to Katara directly and cleared his throat.

"You're not about to say something embarrassing about me, are you?" she teased.

"No. Quite the opposite." He took a deep breath. "Katara, even though you're my younger sister, I… I've always seen you more as a maternal figure to me, which um, isn't fair to you – "

"Sokka…"

"It's just that… ever since Mom was killed – "

A series of gasps shot out of the group. Azula couldn't believe what she was hearing, she had no idea Sokka and Katara had lost their mother. She suddenly felt horrible for complaining about her own.

"Drunk driver," Katara quickly added upon seeing everyone's reactions.

"– you stepped up and took on her role. You took responsibility for just about everything, and… that should have been me. I should have stepped it up. And I'm sorry – "

"Sokka, it's okay – "

"No. It's not." He shook his head. "You took off an entire semester of college just to stay home with Dad after he got injured. And I didn't think twice about it, I just left. But things are going to change. I want to be there for you. I want you to be able to rely on me – "

Reaching in front of Ty Lee, Katara cut him off with a big hug. "I can rely on you, silly. Yes, you're wildly immature sometimes, but you've always been there for me when I needed you."

"Thanks, Katara," he whispered, hugging her back tightly.

Around the bonfire, the friends were smiling and blinking back tears.

"Well on that note," Ty Lee said, reaching for the bottle, "I guess we've come full circle. Anyone up for round two?"

To be continued in the next chapter…