|
"Y'know..." Asami starts, spinning herself around in Korra's swivel chair, "you don't have to keep making up excuses for me to come over."
Korra looks up from her homework. “What?”
“Don’t act dumb,” Asami says evenly, continuing to spin in her chair. “One of these days, you actually are going to break your computer from all the shit you put it through.”
Korra feels a blush rise in her cheeks. She looks away meekly. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Asami rolls her eyes. “Yeah right.” She stops spinning and pushes herself out of the chair, flopping next to Korra on the bed dramatically. “Hand me your phone,” she says, reaching out her hand.
Korra hesitates. Had she deleted those texts to Mako about how Asami always smelled like honeydew whenever she came over, and by the way, honeydew was her new favorite fruit? Or the ones to Bolin about how shes pretty sure Asami is her soulmate and how do you know when someone is? Or even the ones to Opal about how Asami’s boobs looked to be the perfect size to motorboat?
Asami thrusts her hand out again, and Korra gives in and hands Asami the phone. Asami smiles.
“I should have known you would be the kind of person to have to own an Ottercase.”
“What can I say? I’m clumsy sometimes.” Korra says, trying to stay nonchalant.
Asami turns the phone around. “Aaaaaaand despite the Ottercase, you still have a crack in your phone. Even more predictable.” She laughs. Korra smiles sheepishly as Asami types something into her phone.
Korra casually tries to keep an eye on the phone screen over Asami's shoulder, ready to snatch it away if she's heading into gay territory. But she doesn't, and she eventually hands Korra back the phone.
“Here. Now you have my phone number.”
Contact Added: Asami
She even added a heart emoji next to the computer emoji. Adorable. “Uhhh… Thanks Asami. But why though? If I ever need to have you come over I could just call IT.”
Asami flips her hair. “You always call IT and specifically request me. You refuse anyone else. Let's just cut out the middle man, Korra.”
Korra unsuccessfully tries to hide her dumb smile. "Oh, alright."
Asami checks her watch and slings her legs over the bed. “And anyway, I gotta go. Class starts in twenty minutes."
“Let me walk you out.”
They get up, and as they approach the doorway, Korra takes a chance and gently places her hand on the small of Asami's back to guide her through the door. She tries to ignore the frighteningly rapid fluttering in her chest.
“Thanks for everything Asami. ‘Till next time?” Korra says.
“Definitely." Asami takes a step out, but she stops and turns to look over her shoulder.
"And Korra?"
“Hm?”
“You can call or text me anytime. Computer problems or not.” She smiles and turns down the hallway.
Were three hours after Asami left too soon to text? Was it too late? Had the opportunity passed? Korra slams her head on the table. Life is a meaningless void.
“Whatcha’ doing Korra?” Opal asks, glancing up from her laptop.
“Nothing.”
Opal sighs and lowers her laptop screen. “You have been staring at your phone since I came home from class. That was 45 minutes ago. Seriously. What’s up?”
Korra rolls her head back and forth on the table. “Life is pointless and we are all doomed.”
“Wow, how dramatic.” Opal walks over, placing a hand on Korra’s shoulder. “What’s on your phone?” She reaches out and snatches it before Korra has a chance to even lift her head. “Ooooooh. I get it now. Attempting to construct a new message to Asami?” Opal smirks. “Well, if that’s what the problem was, all you had to do was ask the love doctor for some advice.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Opal, it took you three weeks to even talk to Bolin. Even then, you had to get drunk to do it. You are hardly a 'love doctor' of any kind.”
“Still better than you,” Opal replies absently, tapping furiously on Korra’s phone.
Korra lifts her head from the table. “Wait. Are you typing something to her? Wait. Opal. Wait.” Korra lunges at Opal to grab her phone back, but Opal easily sidesteps her, laughing cruelly. Korra's stomach starts to turn with anxiety. “Opal! Come on, this isn’t funny.”
“Oh, ease up Korra. I’m trying to help. Look.” She turns the phone for Korra to read the text.
To Asami : nice cheeks sweet cheeks ;) <3
Korra stares at Opal, trying to gauge how serious her roommate is. “Don’t you even think about clicking send.”
“And what if I did?” Opal’s finger dances tauntingly over the send button.
“Opal.” Korra stands up slowly from her chair. No sudden movements. Nothing to spook her into pressing the send button. “Come on. Hand it over.”
“Hm… No thanks.”
A beat passes. Korra can practically hear the western standoff music playing in the background. The two stand as if preparing for a duel: Opal, armed with a text that could ruin Korra's life; Korra, armed with pure muscle and desperation. The world stands still.
Korra launches herself at Opal. “Give…. it!” she yells, trying to wrestle the phone out of Opal's grip. Opal laughs and twists away from Korra, out of her hold.
Korra watches helplessly as Opal rolls away. “Seriously, Opal, please!”
Opal can hardly catch her breath between fits of laughter, but she finally manages: “Okay! Okay! Here!” before throwing the phone at Korra. Korra's entire body relaxes, relieved that Asami wouldn't be privy to her secret today.
Opal eventually calms down enough to speak clearly. “I wasn’t going to send it. Just tease you a little. Look, see? It’s all deleted.”
Korra looks over her phone, making sure the message hadn’t sent. The phone was back on the “create a new message” screen. Nothing happened. She lets out a breath of relief. “You asshole.”
Opal smiles. “I wouldn’t have actually done it. I just wanted to tease you. But seriously. Stop worrying about it so much. Just shoot her a simple message.” Korra bites the inside of her cheek, nodding.
To Asami: Hi :) Its Korra
“Opal! I’m home!” Korra throws her bag into the living room. “Practice was killer today. I had to do 30 suicides across the field. I can’t feel my legs.” She flops to the ground to lie spread-eagle. “Seriously. I think I’m gonna need them amputated. Grab the knife from the kitchen, I can only trust you to do this for me.” Korra waits for Opal’s snarky reply, but none comes. “Opal? Are you home?” No answer, but she can hear muffled voices from Opal’s bedroom. She rolls onto her belly and drags herself across the floor to lay in front of Opal’s door. “Opal. Opal. I can hear you in there. Come out and help me, there isn’t much time!” She army crawls through the doorway. “Bolin, if that’s you in there, help Opal chop off my legs. It's for the greater good.”
“Greater good, huh?”
Korra looks up from the floor. Opal wasn’t talking to Bolin. She was talking to Asami.
Korra's heart stops, seizing up with surprise and embarrassment. She decides to play it cool.
“Asami? What are you doing here? I didn’t call you.” Korra pauses. “Did I?”
Opal looks around the corner of her desk. “Despite what you may think, Korra, you aren’t the only person in the world who has computer difficulties. Some of us have real issues, not some made up shit or whatever you say to get Asami to come over.”
Korra at least has the decency to blush. “They are real! Asami, tell Opal how real my problems are! They are so real.”
Asami shrugs. “Eeeeeh.”
Korra rolls on her back, looking up at the ceiling. Her hair is a mess and she’s pretty sure she smells like roadkill. “So….. You and Opal have been here how long?”
Asami crouches down next to Korra. “‘Bout an hour. I fixed up her desktop about thirty minutes ago, and we’ve just been talking.”
“Talking?” Korra looks to Opal. “What has she told you, Asami? Whatever she said, don’t believe her.”
“Oh shush. Opal has been nothing but kind to me. I can see why you guys are such great friends.”
“Yeah, 'friends'.” Korra responds sarcastically, thinking back to the texting incident from earlier. Opal throws a water bottle at her head.
Later, when Asami leaves, Opal tells Korra she approves. She thinks Asami is really genuine and sweet. “Still way out of your league though,” she says, but her grin says otherwise. Korra doesn’t need anyone’s approval, and, yes, she already knows how kind Asami can be, but it doesn’t stop the dopey grin on Korra’s face for the rest of the evening.
Korra left calculus twenty minutes late after being caught taking a nap on her desk. Her teacher was trying her darndest at making derivatives fun and exciting. No cigar. Korra fell asleep in the first fifteen minutes of the lesson. The teacher made Korra stay after class to talk to her about “responsibility” and “growing up” and shit like that. Hey, if you want people to listen to your class, don’t make it at 8 am. Hell, don’t teach math at all if you want people to listen.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Korra pulls out her phone. She has about a fifteen minute walk back to her apartment, and she is already late for meeting Mako.
From Sharkbrows: Where are you???
She types out the classic “Chill fireboy. omw” text, weaving through the crowd.
“Korra!”
She turns her head, searching through waves of people for whoever called for her.
“Korra!” the person calls again, and this time the voice seems more familiar.
OH SHIT. Was that Asami? Shit. Shit. Shit. Korra glances down at her ensemble for the day. Simple grey sweatpants with a hoodie that she was pretty sure still had that mustard stain from her hotdog last week. Shit.
But it was too late to worry about how she really needed to do her laundry more often, because Asami is confidently strutting her way with a big smile on her face.
“Korra! Hey, I’m glad I caught you! I just got out of class. How are you?” Asami, quite the opposite of Korra's disheveled appearance, looks stunning. She's in a shimmery top that accents her cleavage, with faux leather leggings. She's even wearing heels.
Ah, the classic love story of the princess and a hobo.
“Asami. Oh, hey.” Korra shoves her hands into her front hoodie pocket. “I’m good. Tired. You?” She restlessly bounces from one leg to the other. Asami looks gorgeous and its hard to keep from staring. Korra has never seen Asami outside of her IT teeshirt uniform, but oh boy, does she want to start making this a habit.
“I’m good.” Asami smiles, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Just got out of class. Trig is killer.”
“Yeah, same.” Korra replies distantly, attempting to keep her attention on Asami's words and not Asami's boobs, dammit.
“You just got out of class too? I’ve never seen you in the crowd before. Weird.”
“Big campus, " Korra suggests.
“That's true. Where are you headed? Back to your apartment? Mine’s the same way if you want to walk together.”
Korra blanks. Asami was initiating them spending time together?
“If you don’t want to I completely understand. You’re probably busy or headed somewhere else. Shit, I didn’t mean to assume. Sorry,” Asami backpedals, glancing down at her feet.
Was that a blush on Asami's neck?
Stop checking her out, dammit.
“Oh! No, no! I’d love to, Asami. Sounds like fun.” Korra grins. “C’mon, you can tell me how class was.”
Korra almost holds Asami's hand.
It becomes a new weekly ritual for them. Asami and Korra both have lessons in the Math building every Tuesday and Thursday, and after each class, they walk home together. Korra has to wait twenty minutes after calculus until Asami’s class actually ends, but hey. That’s a small, miniscule price to pay to have the honor of walking Asami home.
“Hey!" Asami calls as she walks up to Korra. “Sorry if you have been waiting long.”
“Nope. Not long at all. Class just got out.”
What’s twenty minutes between friends?
From Asami: im not feeling well so i skipped class :( i wont be able to meet you after trig. dont wait up for me. happy thursday :)
To Asami: Feel better!!! If you need anything just ask. I’ll be considerate and try not to have any computer troubles until you feel better. :)
To Opal: :(
“You no good liar.”
Korra rolls her eyes and rests her phone between her shoulder and ear, trying to strap on her shin guards without having to put Mako on speakerphone.
“Mako, what are you talking about? I mean I’m sure whatever you are saying is true, but at least tell me why you are calling me names. You know I have practice in fifteen minutes.”
“You no good dirty liar.”
“Mako.” Korra switches the phone to the other shoulder. “Hurry this up. I have to leave.”
“My computer broke, so I called that IT place you so highly recommended.”
“What’s with the sarcasm dude? That place rocks.” Korra finishes lacing up her cleats and grabs her bag. “They fix my computer in like, the first ten minutes they come over. Did you ask for Asami like I said?”
“Yes. They said she was out sick or something. They sent some guy named Roo or Yu or Rhyu or something over.”
Korra frowns. “What? She’s still sick? I thought she was over that cough she had. I gotta text her to make sure she's okay.”
“Korra, that is so not the point,” Mako grumbles through the phone, and Korra can practically just see him rubbing his temples. “This guy has been over for an hour and a half and nothing has been fixed. He can’t even seem to find out what the problem is! Fuck you Korra. This is all your fault.”
“My fault? How is it my fault?”
“I don’t know. It just is.”
“Whatever, grumpy-pants. Hold on, I’m moving you to speaker.” Korra fiddles with her phone for a minute, setting it down on her desk. “Play the blame game all you want, it won’t help you. What’s wrong with it anyway?” she asks, flipping her head down to gather her hair in her hands.
“It won’t connect to the internet. I got a new, faster router but it won’t connect.”
“Oh shit. That’s easy. Asami showed me how to fix that the first time she came over." Korra stretches back up, securing the hair in a ponytail. “I assume you already tried taking your existing ethernet cable from the computer and plugging it into the port labeled internet on the back of the router?”
“Yeah, I’m not an idiot Korra. I did all the onscreen instructions after that but it still gives me an error message.”
“Okay, well it sounds as if it may be that the router can’t connect to the IP address. If your old router assigned the IP, then the new router does not recognize it as being valid. Make sense?”
“I guess… What do I do about it?”
“Just go in your network and sharing settings and change your DNS server address to match the new router.”
There's a pause on the line, and Korra can hear Mako shooing Roo or whatever his name is away from the computer.
“It worked! Holy shit, Korra, I owe you. Thank you.”
“No problem. I gotta go through. Call me after practice so I can hear more praise.” Korra hangs up the phone and grabs her ball from the closet, heading toward the door.
Opal sits with Bolin at the kitchen table, playing Connect Four. Opal glances up at her as she passes. “Either you have been hanging around Asami too much and her nerd has rubbed off on you, or, more than likely, you are a huge fake.”
Korra stops to look at Opal. “Were you listening to that whole conversation?”
“You know enough about computers to fix yours yourself. You don't need to call Asami at all.” Opal drops a red piece in the cage. “You only call her for a piece of eyecandy. I win, Bolin.” She points out where her four red pieces connect diagonally. Bolin groans.
“Best four outta seven?” he asks. Opal shrugs, already moving to set up a fresh game.
“You are both despicable," Korra says.
“She’s super pretty though. I would understand why you are so head over heels for her if I wasn’t dating Opal, myself," Bolin says, sending a quick glance at Opal, but she just shrugs. "But unfortunately for all the other ladies out there... Bolin is a taken man.” Bolin reaches over the table and grabs Opal’s hand. Korra gags theatrically at the cheesiness of it all. They ignore her. “If you want to get to know her better, you should stop making up fake excuses to see her. Just invite her to lunch or something.”
Korra blushes. Why can't she stop doing that? “They aren’t fake excuses.”
Opal and Bolin look at each other disbelievingly. Bolin grins wickedly. “Fake. Fake. Fake,” he begins to chant. He takes his hand out of Opal’s grasp and pumps it. “Fake. Fake. Fake!" Opal laughs soon joins in, chanting louder. “Fake! Fake! FAKE! FAKE!”
“Shut up.”
Opal and Bolin rise from their seats, both pumping their fists. “FAKE. FAKE. FAKE.” Their chanting was interrupted by their own laughter.
Korra grabs a pillow from the couch and smacks Bolin. “Fuck you.” But she was laughing too.
To Asami: a birdy told me you still have your cough :( :( :( feel better soon
“By the way, I invited Asami tonight," Opal says calmly, as if inviting Asami without Korra's consent is a totally rational and normal thing to do.
Korra drops the streamers she is helping Mako put up.
Mako sighs. “Korra, for real? Take this job seriously or don’t do it at all," he deadpans. He's standing on some ladder he borrowed from the apartment next door, taping up the colorful streamers on the ceiling. He took his job pretty seriously for someone who was only appointed to hang up strings of color and was banned from touching the rest of the decorations. It's a half assed job at best, but he looks pretty proud of himself.
“You what?” Korra asks, hoping she had heard Opal wrong.
“I invited Asami to come.”
No, she hadn't just been imagining things.
“Why?”
Opal rolls her eyes, coming over to the pair and picking up the streamers. “Korra, I know I tease you about her a lot, but like...” She pauses, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I really do like her. I told you that. She’s really cool and I actually do want you to succeed in dating, despite what you may think.”
Korra is surprised. Even through the constant teasing and sarcasm, it was obvious her and Opal were the best of friends. But rarely did Opal ever take an active part in Korra’s dating life. “Oh. Okay. Cool. Thanks.”
Opal smiles. “Just don’t blow it.”
Holy shit. Asami is a fucking rockstar at Just Dance. She gets four stars on Disturbia and just fucking breezes through Umbrella by Rihanna like it's nothing. And the way she rolls her hips to Promiscuous Girl will be haunting Korra for many nights to come.
“Hey, you enjoying tonight?” Asami asks, walking toward the snack table that Korra’s leaning against. Korra stationed herself there at the beginning of the party, restlessly gnawing on cheeto puff after cheeto puff.
“Hm? Oh yeah. Pretty good.” Korra wipes her dusty cheeto hands on her pants. “You looked pretty great out there by the way… uh, the dancing.”
Asami laughs, running her hand through her hair. “Thanks. I love that game. I gotta admit though, Wu’s a pretty great dancer. Didn’t expect him to almost beat me.” Korra nods, deciding not to add on. Asami edges a little closer. “You sure you’re okay? I haven’t seen you much in the party. Just by the snacks.”
“Yeah.” Korra rubs her neck awkwardly. “I’m actually not a huge fan of, uh-” She coughs. “Uh, not a fan of parties. Crowds and whatnot make me kind of uneasy.” Asami’s face falls. “But thats okay! You look like you're having a lot of fun though, right?” Korra adds.
Asami’s brows furrow. “Would you be happier if we got out of here?”
“And go where?” Korra laughs. “This is my apartment. I’m kind of stuck here.”
“C’mon.” Asami reaches for Korra’s hand, leading her toward the door. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s go hang out at my place. I’ll even treat you to WAHO on the way home.”
“Really?” Korra asks, her face heating up. Asami’s hands were so warm.
“Yeah. We can have our own party. Just the two of us.”
|
