Blind dates weren't something that Korra went on. At least not of her own volition. So, the fact that she was currently on one was a minor miracle. It might not have been so bad, given it was a free meal and all, if not for who she was being forced to spend it with.
Tahno Wolf was probably the most arrogant person in existence which was saying something given just how many arrogant a-holes Korra had met in her life. He talked like he was the best thing since sliced bread and acted like all women should want to be with him just because he a had a dick.
"And I said, 'Baby I'm a bender give me a chance and I'll show you just how flexible I can be.'" He then laughed and gave her a look that made Korra want to gag.
It baffled Korra why Bolin thought this was a good idea. Maybe he wanted to help her out of her depressive funk that she had been in for the last month but she had forced herself out of it. If only a little. Spending a month in her room didn't really help Korra feel all that much better but she had figured a month was long enough to sulk.
Korra was good at pretending. Pretending that a month was enough time to feel better. That being alone actually made her feel better when all she was really doing was hiding away so that nobody could see how she really felt.
Over the years, Korra had gotten extremely good at placing a patch over the parts of her that are still too raw and pretending they didn't exist. She had gotten very good at faking smiles and pretending she was fine when she really wasn't.
"I hear you teach bending." Tahno asked, ignoring the food in front of him in place of leaning forward.
"Yeah. What of it?" Korra shoved noodles into her mouth making a point of staring into her bowl instead of at her 'date'.
"Well, maybe you could give some private lessons sometime?" Tahno ended the sentence with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows as if that would help persuade her. It didn't.
She just had to finish eating and then she could leave. Korra found herself wishing that she was on this date with Asami instead of Tahno. As a friend, of course. A friend date with Asami would be so much more enjoyable.
"Well, what do you think? You, me, and a night neither of us will ever forget." He looked so god damned proud of himself.
Korra swallowed and looked him in the eye as she spoke, "I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than have sex with you."
Korra quickly hailed over a waiter asking for a to-go box. The waiter nodded before leaving and Tahno looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression, "What are you doing?"
"Leaving. This was a bad idea." Korra said as the waiter brought her a to-go box and he gave her a pitying expression. Korra quickly placed the rest of her food in the box and pushed her chair back, standing up.
She reached for her jacket when suddenly Tahno grabbed her by her wrist. "Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?"
Korra's body moved on its as she quickly swept her foot under Tahno's, pulling her wrist from his hand as he toppled to the ground. She glared down at him, "No, I don't." Korra pulled on her jacket and grabbed her take out box before storming out of the restaurant. Sadly, this wasn't the worst date she had been on.
Korra found her way to a small hole in the wall coffee shop. The small, worn sign in the window read, 'Opals' and Korra took comfort in the familiar smell of coffee that hit her as she opened the door.
"Welcome to-" The woman behind the counter started to say before she noticed just who had come through the door, "Korra!" The woman moved around the counter, bounding over to Korra and enveloping her in a tight hug. Korra stiffened against the contact before returning the hug. Opal, along with her soulmate, were some of the few people that Korra didn't mind touching her and even if she wasn't Korra wasn't sure she could avoid their hugs with how affectionate they were.
Opal pulled away and looked up at her, "It's been forever. What have you been up to lately?"
Korra gave her a half shrug, "Oh you know the usual. Fell into a month-long depressive episode that I'm still not over and then Bolin set me up on one of the worst dates I've ever been on."
"That bad huh?" Opal said, frowning slightly. Korra nodded running a hand through her hair. "I didn't think it would be that bad." Korra moved around Opal taking a seat in her usual booth. "Want your regular order?" Korra nodded and relaxed into her seat as Opal returned to behind the counter. Korra watched as Opal worked letting the familiarity of it ease her into a more relaxed state of mind. Once done she walked over setting the cup down and sliding into the seat across from her, "One Caffé Mocha with way too much whip cream and chocolate shavings on top."
"Thanks." Korra muttered as she took the cup in her hands and took a small sip of the hot liquid. The coffee burnt her tongue slightly but the whipped cream helped cancel it out. They settled into a comfortable silence. The kind that neither of them felt obligated to fill with mindless chatter. Korra was halfway through her cup when she set it down and asked, "So, what have you been up to lately?"
Opal stretched out, pushing her feet up against Korra's, "Nothing much. Me and Bolin are planning to move in together."
"It's about damn time." Korra muttered as she ran her finger over the rim of her cup collecting the whipped cream that had collected there and licked her finger clean, "You've been dating for nearly three years now and you're only now moving in together."
Opal leaned forward, stretching her arms out in front of her like a cat a smile pulling at her lips, "Yeah well we can only just barely afford one now so..."
"Isn't your mom like rich or something?" Korra asked as she picked up her cup, bringing it up to hide the smirk on her lips.
Opal pushed her feet against Korra's as she said, "Yeah but when I moved out I decided that I didn't want any help. I wanted to make it on my own without my mother's help." Korra set her cup down as Opal laid her head down on her arms, "And besides, me and Bolin have saved up enough that we can afford to rent a place downtown so I don't think we'll need to ask my mom for help."
"It must be nice to have someone like that," Korra muttered only to quickly regret speaking at all.
"Korra..." Opal said, her voice softening and Korra was incredibly thankful that her phone choose that time to speak up from her pocket. Korra fished it out and noticed the notification that appeared on her screen. It was a text from Asami that simply read, HELP ME!
"Hey, where'd you get that?" Opal said as she pointed to the phone in Korra's hands who just shrugged.
"It was a gift from Kya." Saying it was a gift was a bit of a stretch as Kya had taken Korra's old phone, a perfectly reasonable flip-phone, and threw it into Yue bay before giving her this "smartphone" as a "gift" saying that she needed to 'get with the times' or whatever.
Korra went to respond to Asami's message when another one popped up, I'm stuck on the blind date from hell and I need an out.
Korra stared down at the message, an odd feeling building in her chest at the idea of Asami on a date with some random guy. She didn't like it. Korra took a deep breath and typed out, How can I help?
The three dots that meant Asami was typing appeared, letting Korra know that she was getting a response, Just call me and I'll do the rest.
Okay. Korra typed and moved toward the edge of the booth, "I need to make a call." Opal nodded and headed back behind the counter as Korra headed outside. She leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath before pressing the call button and putting the phone to her ear.
"Then she brought me an olive green ascot instead of the forest green one I asked for and I said, "Honey if you can't tell olive green from forest green I'm gonna have to let you go." Asami's date said and she let out a sigh. She had thought this would be a good idea. Going on a date with someone seemed like a good way to forget about her hopeless crush on Korra. Maybe she would even get lucky and find someone who she clicked with. Someone other than Korra that is. This date, however, hadn't done any of that. In fact, she had spent most of the date wishing she was on it with Korra instead of Wu Hou-Ting. "Good help can be so hard to find."
Asami was on the verge of just getting up and walking away when her phone finally rang with Korra's ringtone and she quickly answered it with much too enthusiasm, "Hey, what do you need?"
"Asami is there anything you need me to do or am I already doing it?" Korra's voice on the other end of the line helped relax Asami's frayed nerves though this only further convinced her of her hopeless crush.
"Really?" Asami said forcing false concern into her voice, "That's not good. Well, thank you for calling me. I'll be right over. Yes. Okay." Asami hung up before Korra could say anything and returned her attention to Wu giving him a disarming smile, "I'm sorry but I have to go. A water pipe burst in my apartment and I have to got tend to it." Asami pushed her seat back as she stood up, "You'll pick up the check, right?" Wu just nodded as Asami pulled on her jacket, grabbed her purse and headed toward the front of Kwong's.
Asami opened the door to her car, sliding into the driver's seat and leaning her head against her steering wheel as she let out a sigh. Her phone rang with the tone she had set specifically for Korra and she pulled it out of her jacket pocket to see the text from her that simply read, Call me? Followed by a series of emoji's that didn't make any real sense in the context of the text. It was kind of adorable just how inept she was at it.
Asami quickly opened her contacts, scrolling down to where Korra's name was bookended by water wave emojis. Was the personalization too much? Asami decided that it probably was but she couldn't really bring herself to care. She clicked on the name and then on the phone icon that appeared before putting the phone to her ear. It had barely rung a time and a half before Korra answered the phone with a quiet, "Hey."
"Hey." Asami leaned her head against the steering wheel, running her free hand through her hair, "Thanks for that out."
"No problem." Korra's voice was warm and kind. It reminded Asami of hot cocoa on a particularly cold night. Comforting and welcome. Korra's laugh caught Asami off guard but she couldn't help but smile.
"What's so funny?" Asami asked and listened as the sounds died off.
"Nothing. I just think its funny how differently we handle bad dates." Korra chuckled and Asami felt jealousy spike in her chest at the idea of Korra on a date with some random guy. She had to force herself to remember that she had just been on a bad blind date.
"Oh and how do you deal with bad blind dates?" Asami said into the phone extremely happy Korra couldn't see the dopey smile that pulled at her lips.
"Usually with physical violence." It was Asami's turn to laugh and Korra was quick to laugh with her. "Now you see why I laughed."
"Yeah." Asami sighed, "Are you back on The Island?" The sound of a car in the background answered her question before Korra had a chance to.
"No. I'm at a coffee shop my friend owns. Do you wanna come hang out?" Asami and had to physically keep from yelling out in affirmation.
"Yeah, that sounds nice." The lack of enthusiasm wasn't exactly a good alternative to an overabundance of enthusiasm. "Text me the address?"
"Sure." Korra went silent and then her phone buzzed with a notification, "You got it?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna hang up so I can drive, okay?"
"Okay." Asami pulled her phone away, seeing the message from Korra as she disconnected the call and let out a sigh as she set her cell into a cup holder. She took a deep breath, trying to collect herself before putting the keys in the ignition and putting her car into reverse. She pulled out of her parking spot and, after putting the car in drive, peeled out of the parking lot heading toward the address Korra had sent her.