FINALLY! My papers and finals are finished! Now I can concentrate on the story. Sorry for the VERY late post everyone. =/

The Valentine's Dance

Aang paced outside on his porch, waiting. Sokka decided to pick up Toph first.

"Where is he?" He looked at his watch and then rubbed his cold fingers together.

He heard a car come down the street and looked for it, hopeful, but it was just someone else driving by.

"Aw! Come on Sokka!" Aang looked at his watch again. The stubborn minute hand hadn't moved.

Another two cars drove past Aang's house before the boy heard a familiar engine roaring and saw a blue Mazda finally rolling up into his driveway.

HONK-HONK "Hurry up and get in!" Sokka yelled out from the front seat.

"Hurry up? Hurry up?" Aang nearly tripped as he scrambled down the front of his porch. "You're like ten minutes late! Why do I have to hurry up?"

"Just get in!" Toph yelled from the backseat, holding the door open for him. Angry, Aang jumped into the car and Sokka took off.

"Wait a minute!" Aang complained as he tried to get his seatbelt on. "I haven't even gotten comfortable yet.

"Wow, look at you." Toph glanced at him. He was clean cut and fancied-out, covered with black and white and gold cufflinks.

"Thanks. Gya…" Aang choked when he saw Toph. He had never seen her look so feminine. Lime colored silk covered most of her body like a short river. The only bits of her pale skin that showed was on her shoulders, neck and her chest. Long white gloves shielded her fingers from Aang's eyes, as did the stockings on her legs. There was some gold hanging off the end her ears and from behind her neck and there was a unique scent floating around the tightly woven bun of her black hair. Aang was not sure, at least not in the shadows of Sokka's backseat, but he thought Toph had lipstick on too.

"What?" Toph saw Aang stare.

"N-nothing." He looked away from her, then looked back. Then glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

Toph checked her reflection in the car window. "Too much?" She wondered.

"You…look nice." Aang said, not daring to make eye contact.

"Thanks." Toph smiled, but Aang didn't see. She looked at him, up and down. "You do too."

"Mm, hm." Aang nodded, still not looking at her. Sokka watched them struggle from the front, but didn't say anything as he drove out of Aang's driveway.

Toph touched her earrings, thinking that she really over did it.

"Alright. Go ahead. Say it." Toph huffed, crossing her silk covered arms.

"Say what?" Aang glanced at her.

"I know what you're thinking. Go ahead and say it."

"Uh…"

"Come on. Spill it Airhead."

"I…think…" He gulped. "…you look…beautiful." And then he turned his head again.

Toph didn't expect him to say that. She was expecting a joke or a stupid comment, as usual.

She looked back at her reflection…and smiled, glad that she let her mother helped her for once.

The parking lot was so full that Sokka couldn't find a place to park. He let them both out at the front of the school, promising that he'd pick them up when Aang called him. Sokka left in a hurry, not explaining where he was going or why he was in such a hurry to go there.

So, both friends…who were just friends...walked into the dance, not even holding hands. Bright pink lights lit the gymnasium and paper hearts hung from the entryway. Scratchy speakers spat out hip-hop music while the uncoordinated teens tried to dance with the beat. The people who knew who they were stared at the two when they entered, amazed but not surprised.

"I feel extremely out of place." Toph said.

"Yeah, I…" Aang felt Toph slide her arm under his and hold on. "…uh…"

"I don't see a seat anywhere." Toph looked around the room, casually.

"N-nope." Aang tired not to squirm.

"Whatever. Go find me a seat."

"Uh, yeah." Aang scratched the back of his head. He walked forward, but Toph didn't let go of his arm. For once, Aang didn't say anything or try to push her off.

"Toph! Hi!" A high pitched, irritating voice sounded at Toph just as she was sitting down.

"Oh. Hi Katara." Toph groaned.

"I didn't know you were coming here." Katara said to Toph with a big, (probably) bleached smile. She was in a very lean dress that was (big surprise) blue as a robin's egg. Her long flowing hair was tied up in a ponytail behind her head.

"Yeah. I'm here." Toph admitted.

"Where's your date?" Katara asked.

"Where's yours?"

Right on cue, Aang and Zuko showed up next to their ladies. Aang held the two cups of punch he promised to retrieve and Zuko had his usual angry look on his face.

"Zuko." Aang glared at him.

"Don't you have homework to do or something? Nerd." Zuko snarled at him.

"You two are…" Katara pointed to her friends, but before she could finish, Zuko grabbed her by her elbow and pulled her away as fast as he could.

Aang watched her leave. She waved to him.

"Did you see the look on their faces'?" Toph said, pretending that she was still trying to make Katara and Zuko jealous.

"…yeah. He didn't look happy." Aang smiled, still looking at Katara. Toph saw him stare. She felt that painful, insecure feeling again.

"Um…" Aang coughed. "…do you….want to dance?" He asked Toph. Every other couple was on the gym floor, barely dancing. Toph glanced at the idiotic youth, each one desperately trying to cut a rug.

"I think I'm good twinkle toes." Toph said.

"…oh." Aang lowered his head. "Cause…I practiced, ya know. Dancing, I mean."

"Yeah. I know you did. I was with you when you practiced." Toph said. Aang looked at her, waiting for her to change her mind, but she didn't.

Toph saw how sad he was and knew he wasn't enjoying himself…which meant she wasn't enjoying herself either.

"This isn't going so well." Toph thought as the night rolled on.

Katara didn't come near them for the rest of the night. Zuko made sure of it. Aang looked at her every now and then, but turned his head sharply when Zuko glared back at him. Aang was sure that he was rubbing up against her and kissing her just to make him feel worse.

Toph saw him stare. She saw his eyes wince and heard his heart snap when Zuko teased him. Most noticeable of all, she saw a frown on his face.

She looked back at Zuko, then at Aang, wishing that she could make him feel better.

After a few moments of thinking, she thought of a plan. She gulped, swallowing her pride.

"Come on." She grabbed Aang's hand and pulled gently.

"What are you doing?" Aang tried to stay in his seat.

"I wanna dance." She said, even though she didn't.

"A-are you sure?"

"Get up." She pulled him onto his feet. Toph pulled on him hard and Aang jumped up, stopping a bit too close, pressing gently against her.

"….o-o-okay." Aang stuttered.

They didn't dance-dance, not at first. When the fast music played, they just stood on the outside of the dance floor, talking and laughing (at last), waiting for a slow song to play…because that was the only kind of music Aang could dance to.

Eventually, a soft melody danced out of the speakers and the lights dimmed gently. Katara and Zuko pressed closer together, but for once Aang didn't notice.

"Come here." Being bold, Toph grabbed Aang's hand and put it around her waist.

"…sure." He said, not stuttering for once. He looked happy, he look liked he was finally relaxed.

Toph didn't need to grab his other hand; he put it on her shoulder himself. Aang knew what to do…short of. He may have known the steps, but he was no professional. Toph heard him hum inside his closed mouth "1,2,3…1,2,3…"

They swayed, gently, neither one uncomfortable, neither one wanting to go further. Both were fine where they were, especially Toph.

The lights turn blue. The song changed, something with a saxophone and a piano. Not a word was spoken. She smiled at him. And he smiled back.

He felt his arm pull her closer…so she rested her head on his chest. He had grown so much taller then her. Her hair pressed on his suit and she felt his heart speed up…but he didn't push her away.

"This…" Aang paused. He looked around the dance floor for Katara, but he couldn't find her. "…this is really nice."

Toph smiled and closed her eyes.

For the next few seconds, Toph was not in control of herself, not fully. She just let her feelings take over her for a vulnerable moment and It just slipped out.

"I love you." Three incredible and destructive words spilled out of mouth, finally free after being caged up behind her teeth for so long. At first she didn't realize what she had said, but then Aang stopped dancing and Toph knew what she had done.

"What did you say?" Aang gulped.

"I…" Toph stammered. That feeling came back, the painful one that always made her bottle up her other feelings. "…I didn't say anything."

"Yeah you did." Aang gently pushed her off him and made her look up. "You just said–"

"No! I didn't! It was probably the music or something." Her face turned as red as a traffic light.

"Toph, you just said that you love me." Aang looked stunned. The clouds in his head were slowly parting and light was finally making its way through. Toph could sense his big brain putting all of the pieces together faster than she could stop.

"I…I…I didn't…" Toph felt sweat on her head. She didn't plan to tell him like that. She had hoped to ease him into loving her back, not lay it all on him at once. Toph knew that girls who are very direct with boys like that scare the boy off and get rejected.

"Oh my God." Aang put his hand on the top of his head. "How could I have been so stupid? Everything lately…you invited me here because…"

"Please don't be mad." Toph begged.

Aang looked around. No one else seemed to have heard him.

"Come here." Aang grabbed her wrist and pulled her across the edge of the gymnasium, leading her to the hallway. When they safely away from their judgmental peers, they continued.

"Aang, I didn't mean it. Can we please just forget it happened?" Toph put her hands over her mouth and felt the feeling grow to a level she had never felt before.

"Toph, why didn't you tell me? I mean… it was because of Katara." Aang said with a gasp. "It's cause I told you about Katara. Jesus, what is wrong with me? Everything was right there in front of me and I didn't…holy Christ, I've never felt so stupid."

"I didn't mean it! I swear, it just slipped out! Can we please just drop it!"

"How long have you…we've know each other for years and…how long?" Aang demanded to know. Caught in a corner, Toph couldn't deny it anymore.

"…since…since like around fall…when school started." She felt a sharp pang when she saw Aang's eyes widen with disbelief. "But I didn't mean for it to happen. It just short of…happened."

She took a step towards Aang. He took a step backwards, away from her.

"Aang…no." Toph felt her heart break all over again. "Please. I didn't mean to…" She choked on the air she was inhaling.

"Toph." Aang said nothing else, which was worse than saying anything more.

Toph had never been so embarrassed. Or scared. It felt like som one was reaching into her chest and squeezing real hard on her heart, and no matter how much she wanted to moment to end, that cold hand wouldn't let go of the fragile organ in chest.

She didn't know what to do, what to say, but 'the bravest girl Aang had ever met' felt more terrified than she ever did in her life. A spiral of emotions that she had never felt before popped up in her head.

A few seconds passed, but they felt like a short eternity.

Aang opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Toph turned around and left him.

"Toph, wait!" Aang yelled.

She did not look back.

To Be Continued