AN: Sorry for the wait! I've been real busy…but…I've learned to read and write Katakana! (one of the Japanese alphabets) isn't that cool! Plus, if any of you were wondering what song was playing in the club in the last chapter, it was "Chariot of Fire" by Escape the Fate. Well, here's chapter 5!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ATLA OR THEIR CHARACTERS, I ONLY OWN THIS PLOT AND MY MADEUP CHARACTERS!

L2LTE

Written: December 11, 2010

Posted: December 11, 2010

Previously in L2LTE

Well…he was there…with another girl…

…engaged in a full lip-lock kiss.

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, and out of frustration, ran out of the club. How could that jerk cheat on me? Well weren't together, but still! I thought he liked me! Instead he's making out with some Goth girl behind my back! I should've never come here. I walked angrily towards the kids' festival to leave when a hand grabbed my arm. I turned around, expecting it to be Zuko, when it was a shaggy brown haired boy with a pointed chin and mischievous chocolate eyes. He was actually kind of cute.

"Now why is a pretty girl like yourself leaving a party so early?" he asked in a charming voice.

"It's nothing," I huffed.

"Ah, jerk ticked you off, eh?"

"Kind of."

"Your boyfriend?"

"Psst. Hardly even a friend."

"Well, because he didn't show you a good time, how about you let me try?" The look in his eyes were too sweet to resist, but I knew I had to get home. But for some reason, my mouth said yes before my mind did.

"Great! I'll take you to my favorite place in the middle ring."

"Um…okay, sure."

"Come on, my car's just over there," he said pointing to a curb. There sat a green and black suburban with rims. He unlocked the doors and held the door for me. After we were in the car, he turned to me curiously.

"Ya know, you never did tell me your name."

"Sorry, it's Katara."

"Katara, eh? That's nice. By the way, I'm Jet," he said before sticking the key in the ignition and driving off.

Chapter 5: Daring to meet new friends

I felt the sunlight bleed through my pure white blinds (as I never did get around to put up my curtains last night), and illuminate my room. I lay in still the bed, thinking of my night with Jet. He took me to a small tea shop in the middle ring called the Jasmine Dragon, first. It was calm and quiet and nice. A friendly old man chattered with us for a while happily, before we left. Next, we went to a small clearing in a field to watch the festival fireworks. Then, he led me to a fountain surrounded by lanterns that reflected in the water so beautifully, I almost shed a tear. After that, he drove me home, and kissed me on my forehead. He then invited me to that same tea shop later on today.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Crap. I got home so late last night I didn't get to meet my roommates. I sat up and quickly tried to tame my mane before allowing the knocking person to come in. My door opened gently to reveal a pretty redhead that was too familiar to me.

"Suki?"

"Hey, Katara! I didn't know you were going to be one of my roommates!" Suki said happily as she dived on my bed to hug me. "When did you get here?"

"Well, I was here last night. I was here by myself, then I ended up on a date with…" I cringed at that last part, "…someone, and I got home late. Everybody was asleep, so I didn't bother introductions." Suki's face became suspicious as she released me from her embrace.

"Who were you on a date with?"

"Why? Where were you last night?"

"I was with your brother."

"Where?"

"Where everybody else was! The Dragon Festival! Now what about you?"

Before I could think of another distraction to avoid saying I was with Zuko, I fairly pretty girl walked in and sat on my bed beside Suki. Her long black tresses hung loosely over her broad shoulders, caressing her pale face that held the sockets of two golden-brown eyes. Her lips were a natural fiery red and her nails were long, matching the color of her lips.

"This is Azula," Suki introduced. "She's another of our roommates."

"Hi," I said kindly.

"Oh, I remember you! You were out with little Zuzu last night, weren't you?"

"What?" Suki practically screamed.

"Who's Zuzu?" I asked, pretending as if I had no idea who she was talking about.

"Zuko? My brother?"

"Brother?"

"You went out with Zuko?"

"He was pretty crushed when you mysteriously disappeared," Azula said, nonchalantly, admiring her nails.

"He was crushed? Why? I was the one crushed! I go to the bathroom for like, a minute and I come back and he's in a full freaking make out mode with Goth chick!"

"Ooohh, you saw that?" Azula's face almost twitched into a smile.

"SHOOT YEAH I DID!"

"Katara, he wasn't really―" Suki started to say before Azula quickly out a hand to her mouth and finished for her.

"Into you. He played you."

I couldn't take it anymore.

I swung my feet off of the edge of my bed and stormed to the bathroom. Without thinking I closed the door behind me and turned around only to be staring at a smaller girl washing her face.

"Hey, ever heard of privacy?" She snapped, her face still buried in the green rag.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

I quickly removed myself from the bathroom and waited outside of the door. After ten minutes, the door opened and revealed a short, skinny girl with long black hair tied in a side ponytail that laid over her left shoulder. She was wearing a white tank top followed by black skinny jeans and green converses. She wore a green band around her bicep and had bright emerald eyes that matched.

"I'm finished now," she said, staring at nothing in particular. I wondered if she knew I was down here. She then continued down the hall to a room on her right. I seized the bathroom door, and closed it. I then stripped myself of my clothing and turned on the shower. I let the cold water soak into my skin as it slowly turned warm. The water bathed my skin completely and I felt as if it took all of my troubles, including Zuko, and rinsed them down the drain.

-Zuko-

I sat at the bar in the kitchen with my head down on the countertop. It ached too much to be lifted. Just then, I heard someone coming down the stairs.

"Morning, roomie," I heard Sokka say. I could produce an audible mumble.

"What's wrong with you? Party too hard last night?" he nudged my side and I moaned.

"Nah, I'm just tired. I got no sleep."

"Well, if it wasn't from the party, then what was it?"

"I got stood up, kind of. She goes to the bathroom, and never comes back."

"Ooohhh, bummer. So who was it?"

"Some girl who would just accuse me of killing her mother randomly. I got her to like me at first, but I guess something pissed her off. I just don't understand why Katara left."

"Katara?"

"Yeah. That's who I was out with last night."

"You went out with my baby sister?"

"Sister?"

"Uh, DUH!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know?"

"Didn't she tell you?"

"No."

Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took it out to see that I had a new text. It read:

your friend saw you kiss mai last nite

It was from Ty Lee. I typed back as fast as I could.

How do you know?

Azula told me. She planned for you and mai to kiss so the other girl would be jealous and leave. It worked perfectly. She even told me that the girl's her new roommate.

I snapped my phone and shut and grabbed the keys to my motorcycle.

"I gotta go, Sokka."

"Where?"

"I have to go see someone." With that, I ran out of the dorm to my Harley-Davidson and began to make my way to Azula's dorm.

-Katara-

I sat in my now empty room in my pink Aéropostale t-shirt and blue skinny jeans listening to music on Youtube while unpacking my things. I sang along quietly to "Devour" by Shinedown as I hung up my pastel blue satin curtains. My hair was pulled back by a pink headband and hung over my shoulders when I reached for another box. Just as I was unwrapping the last box that had my posters and decorations, I heard yelling downstairs. I turned down my music to try to make out their voices.

"I don't know who that is," I heard a feminine voice say. It couldn't have been Suki's or the girl's I saw this morning. It had to be Azula.

"Yes you do! She lives here!" a huskier voice protested. Before I could conclude who it was, Suki came into my room smiling smugly.

"Someone's here to see you," she said excitedly. I put down the Escape the Fate poster I had in my hand and walked downstairs to find hands-on-hips Azula arguing with someone I couldn't see.

"Who's here to see me?" I asked openly. Azula sighed annoyingly, and soon, Zuko's face was visible. "Oh, heck no," I said angrily before marching back upstairs to my room. I slammed the door, expecting it to make a loud boom, but instead it made a small click, and someone was in my room with me.

"Katara―"

"Get the heck out of my freaking room, Zuko!"

"Not until you listen to me."

"Fine , I'll leave instead!" As I made my way towards the door, Zuko stood in front of it protectively and locked it. I growled , but sat on the bed. "What do I need to listen to? You stand here and tell me your sorry for playing me and making me look stupid while you went and made out with the girl you really wanted to be with? No thank you."

"Look, I didn't kiss her because I wanted to!"

"Oh, you needed to! You just felt a yearn for your real girlfriend for the last couple of days."

"No! It's not like that! That's not even my girlfriend! I WAS DARED TO KISS HER!"

"Yeah right!"

"Ask anyone!"

"I did! And they said you were player!"

"Who did you ask?"

"Azula, and―"

"EXACTLY! You asked Azula, my sister that wants me to be miserable and would do anything to make my life worse!"

"That's not true!"

"How would you know? You just met her!" Giving up, I folded my arms and glared at the floor. He came and sat next to me on the bed. He reached to put his arm around me, and I allowed him to, for some reason.

"Listen," he said more quietly. "I wouldn't have asked you out if I knew I was going to cross you in the end. I'm so sorry that it hurt you that much. You know I would never try to hurt you purposely."

"Can I at least know why you thought it would be okay?"

"Because you nearly hated me already. I though that you didn't like me and that it wouldn't matter to you…but I guess I was wrong. You do like me."

"Who said anything about me liking you?" I said, looking him in the eye.

"Well, if you didn't, you wouldn't have gotten so upset," he said, giving me a small smile.

"I could have had other reasons for being upset…"

"Well, what were they then?"

"Uh…I didn't like her shirt?" I said, nervously. I mentally kicked myself. That was the lamest excuse I've ever made up. He laughed.

"Yeah, sure. Katara, you don't always have to hide how you feel...well, romantically, anyways."

"I don't. I just never said I liked you."

"You don't have to. I already know."

I tilted my head towards his to protest, but I was caught off guard by his lips on mine. My eyes grew wide as he kissed me. Slowly, my lids closed, and by instinct, I was kissing him back. His lips were warm and soft, mine molding into them. The kiss was brief, but amazing. He drew back slowly, causing my eyes to open, locking onto his. I felt my cheeks heat and I knew they were crimson.

"Now, tell me you don't like me, and I'll leave right now," he offered honestly. I was still shocked from the kiss he just gave me. I was so shocked, I couldn't speak, so I just shook my head from side to side, and looked back down at the floor. Without thinking, I grabbed his hand and laced my fingers in his.

"I do like you," I whispered. I looked at him, wanting to see his reaction. His face lit up into a happy smile and he lunged at me for another kiss. This time, I wrapped my fingers around his neck as he turned my hips to face him. I tugged lightly at his sleek black hair, which caused him to moan into my mouth. We kissed passionately for roughly 10 minutes until my door opened by Suki. Our lips never parted as she stood in the doorway, shocked.

"Gross!" I heard the green-eyed girl say as she walked by. Suki slowly closed the door back. By then, we had pulled away from air. Zuko began to laugh, and I did the same.

"Let's get out of here," Zuko said, pulling me off of the bed. I stared at him oddly as he led me to the window. He grinned at me before pushing back my cobalt curtains and leaping two stories to the ground below.

He landed on both feet steady and agile like a cat. He gestured for me to jump as well, and my heart began to pound.

"I don't know about this, Zuko," I said to him, shaking my head.

"Come, my fair Katara. Jump into thy arms so that I may whisk ye away to thy uncle's shop," he said, holding out his arms for me. I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt at Shakespeare or whatever it was, but I was still hesitant. I looked into his amber eyes, and knew he would catch me. Sighing, I brought my legs over the side of window and jumped.

The wind caused my hair to fly upwards as I was falling. It actually felt nice to float in the air. It literally was about 3 seconds later that I was in Zuko's arms completely. He smiled at me as I buried my head in his chest.

"You trust me."

"Of course I do," I said sweetly, kissing his neck. He smiled even bigger.

He carried me to his motorcycle and handed me the spare helmet. I took it, placed on my head and hopped on. I wrapped my arms around his waist as my head lay on my back. Somehow, this just seemed right; like my arms were always meant to be around him.

"So where are we going?" I said, as we drove down a familiar street.

"To my uncle's shop."

Within minutes, we were pulling up to a familiar tea shop: The Jasmine Dragon. The name rang a bell, but when my hand was in Zuko's I was completely oblivious. We walked into the shop which was surprisingly busy. A portly cheery old man came out smiling with a batch of tea in his wrinkled hands.

"Nephew! What a surprise!" he said to Zuko. He then turned to me. "Hello, young lady. Haven't I seen you before?"

"Uh…"

"Katara, you made it!" I heard someone call out to me. I turned around to see Jet walking towards me and Zuko.

Crap. I forgot Jet invited me to come here to this exact same tea shop. Zuko's Uncle's tea shop.

AN: Well, what did you think? Please review! I won't post again until I get at least 7!