Chapter Text
Jinora felt dizzy. Their kiss was like nothing she'd ever experienced. It was breathtaking to say the least, even literally. Completely out of air, she pulled her lips back and tried to regain her senses. Her heart was thumping heavily against her chest and she had the feeling it would jump out of its place any minute.
Her eyes found the olive ones who'd been lying on her the whole time, never breaking their gaze. It was then that Jinora realized that she was lost in them, albeit for a reason she couldn't think of. The last thing she remembered was that she and Opal had been dancing together before it had happened.
She wasn't sure when or how it had happened exactly, but the memory of her lips on her own was unmistakable. Next thing she knew was that she had let her in and had laid her arms around her neck while the other girl had taken the opportunity to deepen the kiss.
Now that they were looking at each other, wide-eyed and breathlessly, neither of them knew what hit harder: the sensation of the kiss or the realization of their action dawning on them.
Neither of them was able to speak nor to breathe. Jinora could feel the heat creeping into her face. Quickly, she pulled her hands back that were still around Opal's neck, clearly ashamed of what she just did.
The fact that she just kissed a girl wasn't what made her feel ashamed. No, it was who she'd kissed that was responsible for her shame.
Namely, her best friend. She and Opal haven't known each other for a long time but long enough to be considered as friends. Granted, they didn't start on the best terms but which friendship did anyway?
Although both of them were into girls, Jinora never had feelings for Opal before and hadn't been interested in her as well. Same was with Opal; as far as Jinora knew, the older girl hadn't displayed any affection towards her too but why did she kiss her then?
Suddenly, memories of the last few weeks surged into Jinora's head and she recalled the times the girl was behaving differently, especially when she was around. Had those new found feelings of Opal been there the whole time? Was there actually more to it than she thought or was the kiss the result of the alcohol that was already circulating in their system?
She couldn't tell. Eventually, Opal was the one to break the torturing silence.
“Wow,” the older girl breathed out. Turns out she was just as dumbstruck as the younger girl was.
The latter blushed, looking away to hide it somewhat. “Yeah..”
Opal didn't miss the strange undertone in her voice.
“Are you okay? You sound …” She didn't really know how to put it into words. Disappointed? Ashamed? Angry even?
She couldn't tell.
Opal knew that it hadn't been her first kiss. Both of them had their first kisses a long time ago, so that couldn't be it. She'd been pretty sure that her sudden new found feelings for the younger girl were reciprocated. After all, she hadn't shied away from her during the past few weeks and Opal was fairly certain that she hadn't been doing a very good job at being subtle.
On top of that was the fact that Jinora was smart, very smart, which made her so sexy even so to the point that it was even alluring to the older girl, especially in combination with that attractive smile and that certain glint in her beautiful brown eyes which were enough to boil up all of her senses ….
Anyway, the point was that she was more than confused.
“Didn't you like it?” she asked hesitantly.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the shocked face.
'Oh no.'
The look in the girl's eyes was more than enough for Opal.
“You did it on purpose,” Jinora said, as if she was rather clarifying it to herself.
Opal felt exposed. It reminded her of the time when she'd had a massive crush. It had taken her some time until she had managed to muster up enough courage to confess her feelings. The feeling she experienced when he - she didn't know about her feelings towards girls back then - turned her down was like falling into icy water.
Cold and stinging.
It was exactly what she was feeling right now.
“Um.. Yes?” she replied, clearly at loss for words.
It was definitely not how she'd imagined this night. After all, she'd been the one suggesting to go to the bar, mainly with the intention of having a night off for once but it'd be a lie if that was everything she had in mind. On one side, she wanted to do Korra a favor by surrounding her with girls with low self-esteem and drag her out of the closet - which seemed to have been a success -, on the other side, she wanted to spend more time with Jinora and maybe even get closer to her.
Needless to say, that wish wouldn't become reality as it was right now.
Said girl turned slightly away from her in an attempt to hide her face. “I … don't think that this is a good idea..”
Disappointed, Opal averted her gaze, too. “I see…”
Both of them decided to forget what happened and to pretend nothing ever happened, so they just continued to dance. Though, they did so rather half-heartedly, avoiding each other's eyes for most of the time. Even though they had assured the other to not mention the incident to anyone, Korra seemed to have picked up on it.
After the songs had stopped playing, most of the couples, including the three girls, had left the dance floor and made their way to the exit whose sign was shining bright in neon-green. Needless to say, not a welcoming sight for the eyes.
Once they had been out in the freezing streets and had covered some distance between the crowds and themselves, Korra had finally decided to touch on the subject.
“Everything alright between you two?” she asked, looking at Jinora and Opal with a worried expression.
Opal was the first to answer. “Y-Yeah, why?”
She scolded herself mentally for the tremble in her voice, but if she had luck Korra wouldn't notice and not press on it any further.
Turns out that this night wasn't meant to be her night, unfortunately.
The tanned woman shrugged. “Dunno. You two are awfully quiet. Granted, I don't know how this type of relationships works, but I actually expected more, to be honest.”
Opal's cheeks suddenly took on a bright red color. '
Keep it together, you fool,' she scolded herself.
This time Jinora beat her to it. “We're just bummed out from all the dancing.”
Korra wasn't very convinced, however. “You guys need to work on your pokerfaces.”
The younger girls exchanged a brief look. They knew there was no way out of this one, especially when it was Korra they were dealing with here. Although she had never shown any disregard toward their sexuality, they'd always made sure to keep things subtle. Their kiss might have been not mutual, but the point was, they had kissed.
However, the woman chuckled. “Relax, I'm cool with it. No need to break a sweat.”
Startled, Opal asked, “Wait, you've seen it?!”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Oh boy, I did. I was already wondering when you'd do the thing,” she replied, wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
At that, Opal blushed sheepishly. The lack of emotion on Jinora's face didn't go unnoticed, though.
While it was no surprise that the girl showed no interest in talking, it did have Korra slightly worried. She didn't look too appalled but rather… absent.
“Jin?”
It was then that the young girl regained her senses. It took her some time until she noticed the lingering look Korra was giving her.
“Are you okay? You seem out of sorts.”
Jinora blinked. “Um, yes. I'm fine.”
Of course, Korra knew it was a lie. Ever since they left the bar, she'd been sensing a tension between her two friends and given their behavior, her worry was justified. It didn't make any sense. The women she was walking with right now were not the same women that had dragged her along to the bar.
Korra huffed. “I don't get it. Not ten minutes ago you were shoving your tongues inside each other's throats and now you're walking at least two meters apart.”
She waited for an answer. A few minutes passed and they had already left behind half of the way.
Korra sighed. “Look, I don't know what happened in there, but I do know that you were having a good time. I get that you might not wanna talk about it, but a little heads-up would be nice.”
She paused to give them the opportunity to answer, but the women kept on walking, regardless.
“Oh c'mon, you've gotta be kidding me!” she threw her hands in the air. “Do I really need to pull the answers off your mouth? Am I supposed to ask you 20 questions?”
She sighed again, for what felt like the thousandth time. They surely were giving her a hard time. If there was something else she hated other than lies, it was other people's stubbornness. She knew that her own stubbornness was anything but easy to deal with, but as long as no one didn't push it, it could be kept in check. And unlike her friends, she didn't let it affect her behavior towards her family and friends.
“You know, condemning each other to the silent treatment isn't going to solve it.”
They reached a stop light. Stubborn as she was, she wanted to use the opportunity to say something again, but was cut short by Opal.
“You're right.”
“No, I'm not-”
Korra stopped mid-sentence when she realized what she'd said.
“Wait, what?” she blinked.
Opal sighed and gave her an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry that I've been ignoring you. I couldn't bring myself to say something because … Listen, I know you mean well, and I really do appreciate it, but...”
She paused to look at Jinora, who kept a straight face towards the end of the road.
With a sigh, she turned back to Korra who had noticed but kept quiet.
Opal took a deep breath, stealing some time to come up with a reasonable answer. “It's... complicated.”
Not really the best answer she could have come up with, but it should do. After all, Korra was an understanding person and Opal knew that she wouldn't press any further on it if she didn't want so.
However, the woman crossed her arms before her chest. “And?”
Again, Opal blushed.
“… And we'll never drag you to a lesbian bar without telling you beforehand,” she sheepishly said while rubbing her neck.
Korra nodded. “That's more like it,” she smiled.
She looked over to Jinora who was still quiet on her end. Although Korra knew Jinora longer than Opal and was basically used to her rather still nature it did have her wonder because she couldn't recall her ever being that averted. Calling back on experience, she decided it'd be best to leave it up to her.
For now.
As if on cue, the lights turned green, signaling them that they could go on. Opal and Jinora lived a few blocks further down the road, meaning that Korra had a longer way before her, as she was living a bit farther away. Not really ideal when your college is in the center of the city while you are living downtown. Naturally, that resulted in endless late arrivals to the lessons for the young woman and in bad relationships with the teachers and therefore bad marks.
Needless to say, it sucked.
“Well, I guess we'd be better off,” Opal said. The women shared a brief hug before pulling away from each other and saying goodbye.
With that, the young Beifong was off on her way to her apartment. Korra spotted Jinora who was about to go as well.
“Wait.”
The young woman stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her.
“Umm,” she began and was rubbing her neck, “I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you in case you want to talk... or anything.”
Korra's heart made a leap when she saw the smile on the girl's face.
“I know.”
With that, she crossed the street in a light jog before the lights went red again. Korra snorted.
'Always following the rules.'
Well, save for one rule.
Korra stood there and watched her until she disappeared into a corner. With a shrug, she turned and strolled down the road, not knowing what was about to come.