NINE: Drive

This isn't a 'vroom vroom car' drive. It's a 'to progress with strong momentum' drive. Sokka drives towards Toph… and the man she's dating?

Katara ran a brush through her thick hair, taming the curls into what she thought was an acceptable hairstyle for a night out on the town. Or, rather, city. A Fire Nation city, more specifically. Tonight she was clad in the reds and golds of the Fire Nation colors, her hair long and in the style she had worn it in while they had been hiding in the Fire Nation all those years ago.

She heard the front door of the Gaang's shared house open. She grinned, slipping her mother's necklace around her neck. "Hey, sweet – " she started to say, but stopped as she saw who it was. "Sokka! Hi!" Katara said enthusiastically, a flush creeping across her cheeks.

"Um. Yeah." He said, pressing his palms into his eyes as if he could somehow destroy the memory of his sister starting to call him sweetie. "Who else would it be?"

"Oh. Um. No one." She muttered, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked back over to the mirror to keep combing her hair. "I was just heading out. Alone. By myself."

Sokka sighed. His sister was the worst liar in the history of the world. But he never bothered her about her lies. She always had a good reason for lying. Most of the time. She was probably destroying another factory on a river… Oy. "Riiiight." He told her, but then shook his head. "Look, is Toph here yet?"

"No. Just me." She told him, fluffing her hair over her shoulder. "Aren't you two going on your dinner things tonight like you do every week? What do you two talk about, anyway?"

"We talk about everyone else and whatever else we want to talk about." He said with a shrug. He looked impatient as he gazed at his sister. "Look. When she gets here, just tell her that I accidentally made other plans and I won't be able to go with her today."

"… Didn't you cancel on her last week, too?" Katara asked slowly, placing the pearly comb into the drawer.

"So? She understands."

"You canceled on her for a date. That didn't even work out. And now you're canceling again, Sokka."

He shrugged. "Listen, will you tell her?"

"No." Katara said flatly, grabbing some coins and depositing them into her pocket. Sokka followed her into the main living room, watching her pause at the door. "Tell her yourself. Here she comes."

"Katara…" Sokka groaned, flopping down into a chair and stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Toph looked rather cheerful as she entered the roomy house. She had some kind of paper in her hands, but he couldn't see what was on it. "Hey, Sokka! Listen, I heard from General Iroh that there's some kind of boat house around here. I went there this morning and bought some tickets so we could go on a boat. I know I won't be able to see anything, but I thought you might be able to – "

"Toph, I can't go with you tonight." He said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. She had obviously been looking forward to it; the disappointment was plain on her face for a half a second before she controlled it.

"Let me guess. You have a date." Her tone was disapproving, mixed with disbelief and a little… jealousy?

He shrugged, feeling his ears heat with his embarrassment. "Yeah."

"That's two weeks in a row you've canceled. And there were at least four times before that." She muttered.

He didn't understand what the big issue was. "But we always reschedule for the day after, or maybe a day after that." He said, shrugging.

"You shouldn't be rescheduling for some girl you randomly met. I'm tired of you canceling on me over and over. I thought our friendship was better than that." She muttered, marching over to him. She tossed the two slips of paper that reserved their spot on a boat in his face, before turning towards the door. "I guess I don't mean as much to you as the floozies do, Sokka."

"You do, Toph, it's just that I – " he started to say, but was cut off as she turned back to him.

"No. I'm tired of waiting for you to stop canceling on me and stop being so… so blind!" she said with a little stomp of her foot, turning on her heel and promptly marching out of the door.

Sokka watched her go, his expression pulling into a scowl. He looked away, staring at their fire pit. What did she mean, blind? She was the blind one, not him!

"She's right, you know. You have no idea." A quiet voice came from the doorway that Toph had just exited. The Water Tribe boy looked and his gaze met the Fire Lord's.

"Have no idea about what?" Sokka demanded. Zuko just shrugged, shaking his head.

"I promised I wouldn't tell. Anyway – is your sister here?"

"No… she said she was going out." He said, thinking of his conversation with Katara. 'Hey, sweetie,' was what she had started to say. Sokka shuddered, standing. "You two…"

"What?" Zuko asked innocently, though his cheeks flushed. "You can go see the city with Toph, but I can't do it with Katara? I mean – I can't see the city with her!" he clarified, seeing Sokka's expression change into one of outrage. "I'm just going out with her! I mean, no! I'm just walking around with – "

Sokka scowled, standing and heading for the door. His shoulder brushed Zuko's on the way out. "Katara turned left when she left the house. There's some tickets for a boat ride on the floor if you want them."

"I can't even believe he would cancel on me again!" yelled Toph, promptly stomping her feet into the streets of the Fire Nation city. Ripples appeared in the earth as she used her Earthbending to increase her stomps. "What a jerk!"

"You're not talking about Zuko, are you?" the tiny girl promptly turned around, though she knew who it was even before she 'saw' him. Those floaty footsteps were one of a kind.

"No! Why would I be talking about him?" Toph asked. Aang's eyes wandered over her scowl and he almost flinched. Toph in a bad mood was not good.

He shrugged, though he watched her to make sure she wasn't going to slam him into a wall or anything. "Jerkbender, remember? When he first joined our group, Sokka called him – "

"Don't mention Sokka to me right now, okay?" she muttered, starting to walk down the street. Aang paused for a moment, before lurching after her.

"Why?"

"Because he's so… so – "

"Oblivious to your feelings." Aang finished for her. Toph looked surprised as she opened her mouth and then shut it, a flush creeping across her face.

"You know?"

"I understand, yeah. I liked Katara, remember?"

"Oh, right. Your first crush, Twinkle Toes."

"Yeah."

They fell into silence as they walked. Several people came out of their houses or shops to wave to the Avatar and his blind friend.

"So what do I do about Sokka?"

"I don't know… does he know that you like him? I made sure Katara knew that I liked her."

The Earthbender shrugged. "I don't know. But how do I know if he likes me?"

"You…" Aang trailed off, scratching his smooth head. "I don't know. You could – "

Suddenly, Toph's face lit up. "I could make him jealous!"

"Uhh, I didn't say – "

"I could ask out another boy and this time I could cancel on Sokka!"

"Toph, I don't know if that's such a good – "

"Thanks, Twinkle Toes! You're brilliant. Now, I only need to find a guy to fake date… It'll probably have to be someone I know. Zuko's in town, but he's with Katara… Hmm."

"Zuko's with Katar – " Aang started to exclaim, before Toph clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Yes." Toph said calmly, pulling her hand away from Aang's mouth. A look of concentration was on her face, before a wide grin broke across it. "Hey, Twinkle Toes…"

"No, Toph!" he groaned.

The week after Toph had marched out of the Gaang's house hadn't been a very nice one. Every time Sokka had seen her, his presence had been met with a frosty shoulder and a scowl. Fine. If she doesn't want to apologize, then I won't, either. He told himself, though he missed talking with her. He hadn't realized how much she helped him sort out his problems, until she wasn't talking with him anymore.

Alright, okay. He told himself at last, watching her practice her Earthbending in the courtyard outside. He knew it was a danger zone, since she was in here element here… literally. "Hey, Toph?" he called, stepping into the courtyard.

She said nothing, but her lips spread into a tight line so that he knew she had heard him. Toph was currently making little waves of rock on the ground. They were so smooth, they looked like water.

"I wanted to say that I'm, um, sorry. I've been taking advantage of your friendship and… I didn't know how much I depended on you until you weren't there." He said quietly, humbled by her steady gaze and the unforgiving expression on her face. "Are we still going to go out in the city today? Like we, um, always do. Most of the time…" When I don't cancel…

Toph shrugged, the earth sliding back into place. "I'm busy."

She just wants to make me beg, doesn't she? "Seriously, Toph, I'm sor-"

"Seriously, Sokka," she mocked him, the scowl still on her face. "I'm busy. I have a… a date."

He watched a flush creep across her normally pale cheeks. "What?" he asked flatly. She couldn't have a date. This was Toph. She wasn't datable. And yet… he took a step back, taking in her appearance. Her hair was shiny and sleek, her skinny body had filled out and now she actually looked like a girl instead of the scrawny Blind Bandit.

"I have a date." She repeated, her voice stronger this time.

"With who!" he demanded. Who would date her? Who would take her away from him? She was supposed to be his Toph! His friend who he shared his problems with! What was he supposed to do without her? Was he supposed to share her with this new guy? He felt a strange anger come from his chest, something he hadn't ever felt before. He immediately hated the unnamed man she was going on a date with.

She shrugged. "Aang."

Relief washed through him. "Oh, okay. Then it's not a real date, okay. I thought you were actually dating someone – "

"I am dating him!" Toph yelled defiantly.

"Yeah, but it's Aang! You two aren't going to start making out or anything! It's just a friendly date!"

Her expression suddenly cooled as she turned towards the house. "Aang's here. I have to go." She told him, and he could almost feel the ice in her tone.

"How can you know?"

"I'm Toph. I can feel him." Sokka's cheeks flared as her words brought an image of her feeling Aang, the two making out somewhere in public. He shook it from his head, not quite sure why he was feeling angry at Aang all of a sudden.

"Be careful, Toph!" he warned. "Don't do anything stupid!"

"Oh, Sokka, relax," she cooed, suddenly stopping from the doorway to give him a grin. "I'm going to go out with him. You stay here and try to not worry about him and me. He's the Avatar. He's responsible."

Her words cooled his thoughts a little, but he wasn't so sure. After all, Aang had girls flock to him. He was the world's most eligible bachelor. What if Toph…

No. No. It's just a one time thing, Sokka. They'll go on their date and they'll have fun. They'll come back home and realize that they're just friends. Then you'll have Toph again.

But he could not shake the feeling. As the night progressed on, he found himself start to pace the Gaang's house. His heart rate was increasing, his anxiousness driving him to bite his nails. Where were they? Weren't they supposed to be back by now? He exited the house, pulling the door shut behind him. If they weren't coming home, he'd just have to look for them.

He nearly ran down the many streets of the city, watching officials light the street lamps with Firebending. "Hey, kid, stop running!" one of them yelled as he nearly ran into them.

"I'm not going to stop running!" he yelled in return as he sprinted down the streets. Finally, he found them. Or, at least, he found Aang. The Airbender was alone, strolling down the streets and looking at some of the trinkets the street venders were displaying.

Sokka wasn't sure what came over him. As the teenager came into view, he felt anger rise in him. How dare he take Toph? Of all the girls in the city, he had to pick Toph. Sokka's Toph. The next thing he knew, he had a grip on the teenager's collar, his back pressed against one of the Fire Nation buildings.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Aang asked, quickly shoving the Water Tribe teen away with a blast of air. "What's wrong?"

"This! This is what's wrong!"

"What are you talking about?" The Airbender asked, his gray eyes wide.

"You took Toph! Of all the girls in the world, you had to pick her!" he told him, shaking his head. It was strange. It had never mattered to him, canceling on Toph… but he had always taken her for granted. Now, the second she canceled on him, he was furious and hurt and… he didn't know what else to call all the emotions inside of him.

It struck him that that was probably exactly how Toph had felt all those times he had canceled on her.

"Sokka, he didn't pick me," Toph was there, suddenly, a slightly angry look on her face. "I picked him. I mean, I didn't pick him, he's just doing me a favor."

"… what?" Favor? What was she talking about?

"You're always so… oblivious. You always think that I should be there for you when you need me. Well, you cancel when I need you. Last week, when I bought the boat tickets, I was planning on telling you that… that I liked you. And you just canceled! So I thought I'd make you feel as crazy as I feel whenever you cancel on me..."

He couldn't believe it. She was doing this to make him crazy? And yet… he felt relieved. She wasn't dating Aang. Was she? "Are you dating Aang?"

Aang was the first one to speak, almost laughing. "No, of course not!"

Sokka turned, scowling. "Why? What's wrong with dating her?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with dating me?" Toph demanded, a boulder popping out of the ground and shooting towards Aang. He easily deflected it towards the ground, where it absorbed back smoothly.

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong with dating you! You're very, er, pretty! And, um, talented!" Aang muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "And, uhh… your hair is…"

"Keep going, Twinkle Toes." She told him, looking like she was enjoying the praise.

"… and your hair is amazing. Your eyes are incredible, too, when you look at me it's like you're seeing right through me…" Sokka took over, speaking softly to her. "I never knew you liked me, Toph. I was so… so – "

"Blind." Toph finished for him, grinning. It was that grin that made him want to kiss her. He remembered the first time he had seen that grin, when she had been taunting the Boulder. He wanted to see it every day for the rest of his life. In a single motion, he reached down and pressed his lips to hers.

"I'm sorry I'm so blind," he muttered after a moment, pulling away and resting his forehead on hers.

"It's okay. You just need to learn to see with your feet."

"No, I just need to learn to see with my heart."

Oh, God, I hated this one so much. The only reason I went on with it is because I wanted to write the next chapter so much. The next chapter will be called, 'Breathe Again' and it's very emotional. TT