Chapter 35
It was late in the afternoon when Katara and Yue arrived at Azula's penthouse suite for the after-party preparations. After the two Water Tribe girls had taken a look at the servant girl outfits they were supposed to wear as a result of their lost bet, both Yue and Katara had requested some liquid courage before they dared to put their party clothes on. So, they had spent half an hour chatting away over a bottle of Limoncello, working through it a little faster than recommended and becoming fairly tipsy as a result. Katara had still begged and pleaded, trying to wriggle out of fulfilling the bet, but Azula had remained resolute and had not wavered. It was only after Yue had suggested to Katara that the dressing up might actually be fun, that Katara had stopped being annoying and finally agreed to go along with it.
Eventually the pair disappeared into Azula's bedroom to put on their new outfits, leaving Azula sitting at the bar and finishing the last few drops of her lemon liqueur. Honestly, she didn't understand why her two friends were kicking up a fuss. The dress she had bought for Katara back in Caldera City was probably just as risqué. The maid outfits were certainly meant to please Ozai and his male guests at the estate, so they had been designed accordingly, but they were still practical articles of clothing. If Azula had wanted to be particularly cruel, she could have ordered some ridiculously revealing maid outfits intended for sexual roleplay. Besides, Azula clearly remembered Yue once having worn a black collar mini dress that had the same visual aesthetic as a maid's outfit. Really, her two friends had no valid reason for complaining.
After taking far more time than was reasonably necessary, Katara and Yue finally emerged, wearing their new outfits. As Azula had expected, they both were absolutely killing their white trimmed black dresses, which were short enough to leave a bit of the stocking welt visible. Normally, the outfit would include black stilettos, but thinking about Katara, Azula had asked for something with a more manageable heel, and the replacement shoes looked to be working out just fine. Both Katara and Yue had decided to wear their hair all the way down, appearing radiant and giggling as they stood with arms around each other's waists, feather dusters in their free hands as they whirled them at Azula.
Azula had already become accustomed to the sensation of blood rushing to her cheeks and making her face feel like it was burning in reaction to the way Katara would sometimes look or smile at her. Sometimes Yue would make her feel that way as well, though not as often. But now, looking at the two Water Tribe enchantresses, Azula felt that familiar heat hitting not just her face, but expanding to the other parts of her body as well, making her shiver. "Well, fuck," Azula managed, taking the final sip of her liqueur before slamming the glass back on the table. "Fine, alright, I admit it. I'm a fucking lesbian, alright? Are you happy now?"
Katara and Yue exchanged amused stares and then nearly fell over, starting to howl with laughter. "Spirits… must stop myself from crying," Yue wheezed. "Don't want to redo makeup…"
"Too late!" Katara was already in tears from laughing too hard. "Only Azula could state what we already knew for several years in such a hilarious way!"
"Oh great, I'm glad you're having so much fun," Azula glared at the two Water Tribe idiots. "And don't you dare spread this around, alright? I'll deny everything before silencing you permanently."
"Ooh, scary!" Yue giggled. "You better go and get yourself ready, angry mistress," she added, waving the feather duster close to Azula's face. Azula sneezed violently.
"Stop waving that thing around," she glared at the Water Tribe girl. That said, Yue was making a good point. It was almost eight o'clock and she needed to get ready. The after-party kicked off at nine, and they still had to get there. Azula didn't want to take her Spider today, not when Katara and Yue were wearing these outfits - because their clothes would become crumpled, and not at all because Azula didn't want Yue and Katara to squeeze tightly against one another while wearing the maid uniforms. That would imply that Azula was somehow jealous towards Katara and Yue, and that couldn't be true because Azula was above such petty emotions as jealousy. Yes, there was a perfectly practical reason why Azula was going to call a cab to take them to the after-party.
Huffing, Azula disappeared into the bedroom and started to browse the collection of outfits she had arranged to be sent ahead of her to the hotel. Azula had her eyes on a pair of gorgeous black and red knee high lace boots, but she hadn't decided yet what to wear with the boots. Her eyes soon settled on a gorgeous red and black Harlequin pattern dress that seemed to go particularly well with the boots. The only problem was that it was a fit and flare dress, and Azula wasn't really a fan of those. They were more a Katara and Yue thing than an Azula thing, a little too airy and girly for her. Still, the pattern just seemed to go along so well with the boots that Azula decided to try the dress on anyway… and she ended up not regretting her choice. However, this now meant that she had to reconsider her hairstyle as well. She had intended to go with an authoritative top knot, but it no longer worked with this more girly dress, so in the end she decided to keep her hair halfway up. Finally, Azula spent fifteen more minutes on her makeup and selection of jewelry before returning to join the two Water Tribe girls, Katara and Yue having stepped out on the roof for a breath of fresh evening air.
Before joining them outside, Azula made a quick call to the reception and was reassured that a taxi would be waiting for them in front of the hotel in five minutes. With everything sorted, Azula walked out onto the roof. Yue and Katara immediately stopped their conversation, turning to face her. Azula took a lot of satisfaction from the approving way the two girls regarded her, both of them blushing lightly.
"Wow, you look amazing, Azula," Katara gushed. "I would say as always, but you've really outdone yourself with this outfit."
"I agree completely," Yue nodded. "I was telling Katara how you're probably going to dress up like some harsh looking mistress, but I'm glad to have been proven wrong," she added with a wink.
"Hah, that was the initial plan, but I don't know, I guess I just became inspired," Azula replied. "Anyway, the cab should be here by the time we leave the hotel, so… shall we be on our way?"
Having received nods from Yue and Katara, the three girls were soon on their way to the downtown cocktail bar where the after-party was being held this year. Upon entering the premises, Azula was pleased to remark that the cocktail bar made for a more private and intimate setting than the large nightclub they had partied at two years ago in Caldera City. Music was already playing, but nobody was dancing yet. Azula wasn't sure how one was supposed to dance to this guy shouting something about needing his fire lit, anyway. It seemed that whoever was in charge of the music was a little confused as to what was suitable for dancing and what wasn't. The interior of the cocktail bar was perhaps a little too kitschy for Azula's taste, but she didn't particularly care about that. It was the final day of Azula's freedom with Katara, Yue and their friends, and she intended to make the most of it by getting completely hammered in a safe environment.
As far as Azula could tell, all the other competitors were already here. Toph and Aang were sitting with Teo and Meng, but Azula decided against joining the younger kids since she definitely intended to get sauced. Azula reasoned that Yue would probably be happy to go along with her plan. Katara would be the harder nut to crack, but she was a little tipsy already, and she wanted to stop feeling embarrassed about her outfit, which meant that Katara was unlikely to turn down a drink either. At another table, Azula saw the three other Fire Nation teenagers sitting together, On Ji and her boyfriend Shoji, together with Kei Lo. Next to them, Joo Dee and Kori sat with two boys Azula did not recognize, but they looked like Shuhon locals, suggesting that Joo Dee and Kori had successfully managed to recruit dates for themselves. Finally, Katara's brother Sokka sat at one of the nearby tables together with his reporter girlfriend whose name Azula couldn't remember for the life of her.
"Let's sit with your brother," Azula decided for them all. Yue looked momentarily uncomfortable at the suggestion, but she obeyed before Azula could remind her that she would not tolerate any backtalk from a servant girl this evening. She guessed that Katara probably wanted to hang out with her brother, besides Azula had her own reasons for wanting to sit with Sokka. She had a favor to ask of the Water Tribe boy.
"What the heck is up with those outfits?" were Sokka's first words as they approached the table, the Water Tribe boy staring at his sister and ex-girlfriend with incomprehension.
"Uh… we lost a bet with Azula?" Katara replied, blushing heatedly. She and Yue were definitely attracting some stares, as was Azula herself.
"What was the bet about?" Sokka's girlfriend asked. Azula used the opportunity to take a closer look at her. Honestly, she was kind of cute, if somewhat plain and her clothes reflected it. She was wearing a black crop top with white 'Slut In Training' caption, a denim miniskirt and black go-go boots.
"We bet on who would win the tournament, and the two who didn't win would then have to dress up as servant girls," Yue explained. If she had been uncomfortable with being near Sokka and his girlfriend, she seemed to have gotten over it quickly.
"Damn, accepting that bet was a bad idea, considering the way Azula crushed everyone this year," Sokka chuckled.
"Damn straight," Azula nodded. She withdrew a few hundred yuan banknotes from her purse. "You're eighteen, right?" she looked at Sokka.
"Yeah, I am," Sokka nodded, pointing at his girlfriend. "And so is Suki." Oh right, Suki, that was her name.
"Great, then you can keep the booze flowing for us," Azula said decisively.
"Wait, I'm not buying drinks for minors, especially not for my little sister," Sokka protested.
"Oh, put a sock in it, Sokka, you were always trying to get us drunk, even way back when I was like fourteen," Katara rolled eyes at her brother. "You're just trying to show Suki what an upstanding guy you are, right?"
"It's quite alright, Sokka, let's help the girls out, shall we?" Suki smiled at her boyfriend. Azula mentally added another point to the column with reasons to like Suki.
"Here's some money," Azula pushed the stack of bills towards Sokka, five hundred yuan altogether, enough to get the local Fire Fountain City football team completely plastered. "That's both for the drinks and to keep the bartender from raising a stink. I mean, he's going to realize that you're ordering stuff for us, and we're still considered minors for some dumb reason. We need to keep him happy. Now, do you know what sort of cocktails they serve here?"
"We asked, and the bartender said that if you can name it, he can make it," Suki chuckled.
"Oh, a confident bastard," Azula grinned. "Alright, get us three strawberry daiquiris, Sokka." Sokka rose and went straight up to the bar, looking too taken aback to complain about Azula's bossing.
"You're aware that you're ordering my boyfriend around like you own him, right?" Suki asked, looking straight at Azula.
"Yeah, and?" Azula looked back at the Kyoshi girl.
Suki burst into laughter. "Oh boy, you really are a piece of work, Nakamura," she chuckled. "But you're in luck. I have a soft spot for ladies who are this hands-on."
"Well, I'm not pleased at all," Katara whined. "You didn't even ask us what we wanted to drink!"
"Oh, and since when do servant girls get to choose?" Azula glared at her. "You'll drink whatever your mistress tells you to, and you're going to enjoy it." Katara actually blushed at that, demurely lowering her eyes in a way that made Azula feel very warm once again.
A while after their cocktails had been delivered and were in the process of being consumed, someone among the staff remembered that they were supposed to be playing music to dance to instead of showing off their pretentious personal tastes. Soon enough, Katara started to become anxious about dancing, begging Azula to let her dance with Yue while claiming that 'I Can't Help Myself' by the Four Tops was her current favorite song. That didn't mean anything to Azula, since she wasn't keeping up with the current pop music trends. Still, since she wanted to speak with Katara's brother in private, Azula jumped at this opportunity to temporarily get rid of Yue and Katara. As the two Water Tribe girls joined the other dancers on the floor, Azula began to worry that Sokka and Suki might decide to follow the example set by the others. Azula then had a lucky break when Suki went for a visit to the restroom, although she did mention her intent to dance with Sokka once she had returned. Still, this gave Azula the opening she had been waiting for.
"Sokka?" she spoke with grim seriousness, immediately capturing the attention of the older boy. "I have something very important to ask of you."
"Uh…" Sokka looked very surprised by her serious tone of voice. "Sure, I guess?"
Azula looked around the room, frowning slightly. Suki could very well return before she had finished explaining her request to Sokka. Also, there were plenty of other people around who might decide to walk up to them and interrupt her, and that just wouldn't do. "Can we step outside for a moment?" Azula asked. Sokka's eyes widened even further. "I know this is a weird request, but please trust me, it's very important."
"Umm, Suki might become angry or suspicious about me leaving the bar with you," Sokka still refused, insisting on wasting her time.
"Please, don't make me beg, alright?" Azula narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't want to overdramatize things, but this could be a matter of life or death for me."
"What the fuck?" Sokka gasped. "Uh… well, alright… in that case, sure." He finally rose from his seat and walked towards the exit, Azula following him. She cast a glance towards the dance floor, but fortunately Yue and Katara were too preoccupied with each other to be looking elsewhere. "You should probably explain yourself," Sokka said immediately once they had left the bar.
Azula instead dug into her purse and withdrew another wad of cash, three hundred yuan, passing it over to Sokka. He reluctantly took the money. "I need you to buy something for me, Sokka," she said.
"Uh, like what?" he asked, still looking utterly perplexed.
"Well, my preference would be a handgun of some sort. I'm a pretty handy shot, you see. But I was always handed a weapon prepared by an assistant, so I don't really know to actually operate a handgun. I'm sure I could figure it out, but… I might also seriously hurt myself. It's probably a bad idea to try," Azula mused. "Let's scrap the gun option, how about a knife? A really good, solid and sharp hunting knife."
"Wait, why do you need a knife? Are you in some sort of trouble? Also, why can't you just buy it yourself?" Sokka peppered her with questions.
"Am I in trouble? I live with my father, Sokka. I'm perpetually in trouble," Azula rolled her eyes. "As for why I can't buy it myself, you just don't understand what it means to be me. First of all, my father probably has me watched most of the time. Second, someone might sell me the knife, yes. But then, they're probably going to write a little letter to my father saying something along the lines of 'Dear Mr. Nakamura. I thought you should know that I sold a hunting knife to your daughter. It struck me as odd that she would need a knife. If this information was of any worth to you, perhaps I could hope for a small reward?'"
"Fuck, that is insane!" Sokka exclaimed, louder than Azula would have preferred. "Are you planning to stab your father? I don't want to be the one buying a murder weapon!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Azula chided him. "I don't plan to do anything like that. I just… want to be prepared in case he escalates the punishments he hands out to me." Yes, that ought to convince him. I'm not going to spell out exactly what I'm suspecting my father might attempt.
"Spirits almighty," Sokka managed, running his hands through his hair. He looked seriously freaked out by her request. Azula supposed she could understand him. "Alright, since Katara has told me about some of the stuff you're dealing with, I'm going to help you. Mostly because your father is the nastiest piece of work that I've ever heard of. Does Katara know about this?" he asked.
Azula shuddered visibly. "Are you kidding me? She would freak out and lose her mind over this," Azula shook her head vehemently. "I've spent months trying to convince her that I have the situation with my father well under control."
"You don't have things under control," Sokka stated.
"Of course not, hence the knife," Azula sighed. "Anyway, Katara can't know about this, do you agree with me? You know how… what's the word… empathetic she is, right? Please, you have to promise to keep this from her, okay?"
Sokka looked thoughtful, then nodding. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "I've seen how Katara gets when she becomes really worried about you or Yue. If she knew that you're in so much trouble that you might need a knife to defend yourself with… ouch. I'll get you your knife, Azula, but you also have to promise to keep this to yourself and not to upset my sister."
"I promise, obviously," Azula said quickly. "Now, you're leaving tomorrow on the same plane as Katara and Yue, right?" Sokka nodded. "Alright. You can buy the knife tomorrow morning and bring it with you to the airport. I'll be taking Yue and Katara in my car. We can meet at the airport and arrange an exchange, does that sound good?"
"That does sound good," Sokka nodded. "I'm quite impressed by your ability to think on the fly. You're pretty sharp."
"I'm going to add some more points to the column of reasons why I sort of like you, too," Azula admitted, then pointing towards the door. "But let's get back inside before Suki decides to stab me with a shard of glass."
Several hours later, Sokka still felt bothered by Azula's request to buy her a knife. That whole episode had completely derailed his evening and made it impossible for him to focus on what he had hoped to do, and that was to simply spend a fun evening with Suki. Besides, at the rate with which Azula, Yue and Katara were downing their drinks, Sokka had quickly realized that he would have to remain relatively sober throughout the evening because the three younger girls would definitely need someone to take care of them once they had passed out.
He fully intended to honor Azula's request, even though he still had plenty of misgivings about her plan. Sokka wondered if there really was nothing suitable at the Nakamura estate that Azula could have used as a weapon, but he figured that Ozai's servants were probably watching her closely. It just seemed so crazy that anyone would need a weapon to protect themselves from their father. Maybe it felt so wrong to Sokka because he had grown up believing that he had the best dad in the world, looking up to Hakoda and idolizing him. The only problem with his father was that Hakoda was not home nearly enough, but Sokka never blamed his father for that.
"So, this evening didn't pan out quite the way we had imagined, huh?" Suki asked, sitting down next to him, carrying a couple of sodas from the bar for them both. She reached out and kissed Sokka's cheek.
"Yeah… sorry about that," Sokka replied, turning towards his girlfriend and reciprocating with a soft kiss on the lips. "I'm glad you're so understanding, Suki." This was their final evening together before parting for several months at least, so Sokka would have understood if Suki had been a bit peeved about looking after Katara and her friends instead of having some fun together. Still, Sokka figured that Suki probably found it very interesting to interact with the most talented Pai Sho players of their generation in such an informal setting. Even if she had promised not to use any of this knowledge in her publications, she was still learning something useful.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Suki smiled at him. "I honestly thought that Pai Sho players would be seriously nerdy, and I guess some of them are, but your sister and her friends are acting like real party animals. Is that normal for them?"
"No, it really isn't," Sokka said, shaking his head. He had been a little concerned and surprised about the way the three girls were behaving, but the more he thought about what Katara had shared with him about Azula and Yue's situations, the more he began to understand them. This was the last time they all got to hang out together before turning eighteen and none of them knew what the future would bring. Would they even be playing Pai Sho at this time next year? This was one last hurrah for freedom, while they could still savor it. "But I know that Azula and Yue are dealing with a lot in their personal lives, so I think they are simply trying to forget and to not think about it all. And Katara is just tagging along for the ride. She's really invested in helping both of her friends."
"Oh," Suki nodded, visibly struggling with the curiosity to learn more. "I imagine that you can't share any details, though."
"Sorry," Sokka gave her an apologetic look. "My sister entrusted me with this information in full confidence, and I won't betray it."
"Of course, I understand. Don't worry about it, babe," Suki smiled at him. "Ugh, I guess rich girls have their problems too, eh?"
"No kidding," Sokka shook his head. "In many ways, they're even more fucked up than the rest of us, little people." He spent a few moments deep in thought, then pointing at the seats vacated by Katara, Yue and Azula. Their last attempt to live it up on the dance floor had ended up in a disaster since none of them could remain standing upright and Katara had ended up taking an embarrassing spill on the floor. The trio had then disappeared into the restroom, giggling like a bunch of drunken maniacs. "They've been gone for quite a while now. Would you mind checking up on them, Suki?" he asked his girlfriend.
"Sure thing," Suki nodded, rising from her seat and entering the ladies' restroom. She was in there longer than Sokka had expected, and he had already become a little worried by the time Suki came out again and returned to sit down at the table. She was looking both concerned and exasperated. "We might have a bit of a problem on our hands, Sokka."
"Uh, what sort of problem?" Sokka asked. "Did you find them passed out?"
"No, I found all three of them covered in lipstick smears. They were making out rather indiscriminately," Suki sighed. "I think I managed to put a stop to that and also clean up the worst of the lipstick smears."
Sokka felt his eyes going impossibly wide from surprise. "Are you saying that-" he gasped. "You know, I've always thought that it was weird how Katara has never had a boyfriend, despite the interest from a lot of potential suitors."
"Oh, don't read too much into that, Sokka, she's so drunk that she can barely stand. She'd probably make out with anyone, which is why we need to get them all out of here," Suki said. She then blushed slightly. "I mean… she tried to kiss me while I was cleaning her face!"
Sokka burst into a coughing fit, having choked on his soda. "Haha… oh god, she is so going to die from embarrassment when I tease her about that," he then burst into laughter. "But yeah, I guess we should get them out of here."
"Absolutely," Suki nodded with certainty. "I assume that you don't want your little sister to accidentally panty flash everyone in here, right?" Sokka vehemently shook his head. "Well, all three of them are in that danger zone right now, where they have very little control over their own bodies. Some of those cocktails pack a powerful punch, and these seventeen year old inexperienced drinkers just had a whole lot of them. I'm surprised they're not out stone cold, to tell you the truth."
"You're right," Sokka agreed quickly. "So, how about I go and get a cab and you bring them out one by one?"
Suki nodded again. "There are five of us put together, though, so you definitely should get two cars. You don't want to squeeze in with these girls when they're so drunk. One or two bumps in the road, and they'll throw up all over you."
"Uh, sounds great," Sokka sighed, leaving the cocktail bar in search for the cabs. He had managed to flag down two taxis by the time Suki emerged, dragging Azula with her. The entire front of Azula's beautiful dress was stained with something colorless but sweet smelling and sticky, probably a spilled cocktail. Together with the helpful taxi driver who had probably recognized his ride, they somehow managed to coax Azula into the back seat and fastened her seatbelt, ignoring her attempts to throw drunken swings at Sokka.
Suki reappeared again a couple of minutes later, this time having managed to drag out both Katara and Yue at once. The two Water Tribe girls were a mess. Katara had ripped one of her stockings, while parts of Yue's hair were red from someone's lipstick. At least these two were less violently inclined than Azula, thus Sokka and Suki had an easier time getting them securely into the back seats of the other car. After a bit of a struggle, they were finally on their way back to the hotel.
Obviously, the inevitable happened, and towards the end of the short drive, Azula threw up all over the empty seat next to her. Sokka had expected the driver to get mad, but the man remained completely chill, even a little pleased, probably expecting to be well compensated by Azula Nakamura. Sokka had no intention of paying for the mess from his own pocket, so once they had reached their destination, he tried to ask Azula for her purse so that he could pay the driver. Azula didn't as much hand the purse to Sokka as she tried to swing at him with it, but in the end Sokka caught it anyway, retrieving Azula's wallet and passing a couple of hundred yuan bills to the happy looking driver. The man then helped Sokka pull the ineffectually struggling Azula right out of the car again.
When the other cab pulled up at the hotel entrance, it seemed that they had suffered the same accident as Azula. Suki opened the passenger side doors to call out to him. "Sokka, could we have some extra cash here? Both Yue and Katara threw up…"
"Why am I not surprised?" Sokka sighed, walking up to the other cab and dragging the reluctant Azula with him. Sokka briefly wondered whether Azula would be pissed off about paying for Yue and Katara as well, but he reasoned that this was all pocket change to her. Having convinced himself, Sokka removed three hundred yuan bills from Azula's wallet and passed them over to the driver. It seemed to be enough to motivate him to help getting Katara and Yue out of the car. They had both ended up covered with puke, though fortunately it was only very light splash damage.
Upon seeing their most important guest arrive at the hotel in such a state, the receptionist had suffered a complete meltdown. Sokka and Suki had managed to reassure the panicking girl that they would take care of the three astonishingly shitfaced girls. Suki had used her credentials with a respected Pai Sho magazine to convince the receptionist of her trustworthiness, while Sokka had flashed his ID to show that he was related to Katara. After the receptionist had calmed down, she had agreed to accompany them up to the penthouse suite, just to make sure that everything was fine and that the heir to the Nakamura fortunes was being taken care of. The reassured receptionist eventually left Sokka and Suki to their task of putting the three drunkards to bed, the couple having decided that it would be far easier to take them all to Azula's suite instead of bothering with their individual rooms. The three underage drinkers were close to passing out already, so it was unlikely that any of them would raise objections.
Once at the penthouse suite, Suki took all three girls into the bathroom one by one, removing their makeup, generally getting them a little cleaned up and coaxing all of them to drink a glass of water. Once they had been taken care of, together with Sokka they simply dumped all three of them in Azula's massive queen sized bed, Yue first, Azula in the middle and finally Katara. While Sokka was busy chuckling at the three underage drinkers, Suki did them one final favor by removing their shoes.
"I have to say, they are kind of hilariously cute," Sokka couldn't stop grinning like an idiot, watching as the barely conscious Azula pushed Yue away and then cuddled up closer to his sister, wrapping her arm around Katara's waist. Yue let out a sad whine and rolled up to Azula, spooning her and burying her face in Azula's hair. "Damn it, now I kind of wish that I hadn't told you to leave the camera behind," he looked at Suki.
"Err, well…" Suki blushed, looking a little guilty as she patted her handbag. "Actually, I do have it with me. But I haven't been taking any pictures, honest! I put in a brand new film this morning and I haven't used it once if you want to check," she added, a little frantically.
"Calm down, Suki, I believe you," Sokka smiled at her. "But, if you promise to send the photos to me and only to me, I would allow you to take this very incriminating picture of them right now," he grinned wickedly. "A little bit of blackmail material on your baby sister is always useful, I say."
"Haha, well, just don't misuse it too badly, alright? I kinda feel bad for all three of them," Suki shook her head, but she still took out the camera and after making some adjustments to account for the poor lighting, she ended up taking a few snapshots before leaving the penthouse suite. "So, it's only an hour past midnight," Suki said once they were back out on the street. "Want to get back to the party?"
"Or we could just go back to our hotel?" Sokka smiled, pulling her close against him for a kiss. "We could have a little private party of our own."
"Alright," Suki blushed, shivering eagerly in his arms. "That sounds even better."
Next chapter: A couple of months pass and our girls are celebrating their high-school graduation, when certain secrets emerge to forever change their very lives.