Making Sense of It: Sukka (on hiatus)

Chapter 3: Sokka

It was odd, but for the first time in what seemed like forever, Sokka didn't dream about her. Instead, he dreamed of something very different. 

"Food eats people!" he announced at breakfast that morning, "Also, Aang, your cat said some very unkind things."

"Cool dream, Sokka," Aang handed him a burrito, that had bacon, much to Sokka's surprise. How considerate. "I'll be sure to tell Momo you said that." Katara rolled her eyes, and Sokka was feeling great. Maybe they were gone for good, all the pain and heartache. Maybe time did heal all wounds, was what he thought, but the next night, they were back, and this time, the dreams started at the beginning...

~~~

For Sokka, there were two eras. Before and after Yue called him. And she called him in the beginning of sophomore year. When Aang and Katara were still obliviously in love, when Zuko still had a ponytail, when Toph hadn't even transferred to the school yet. And one day, when Sokka was working on his homework, his phone started to buzz. It was an unknown number, but the area code was familiar. 

"Hello?"

"Is this Sokka?" he didn't recognize the musical, lilting voice that came on the other end. 

"Uh, yeah, who is this?"

"This is Yue, from math class." Sokka looked at the phone skeptically. He had helped Yue with a algebra problem earlier that day. 

"How do you have this number?"

"It doesn't matter, I need your help." 

"With what?"

"I need help bleaching my hair."

"Excuse me?"

"You're the only person I know who will help me." But they didn't know each other. Yue was always hanging out with the same group of girls from the same neighborhood. Never anyone else. They had barely exchanged a few words, much less were they friends. And Sokka didn't know yet, but what he said next may have been the biggest mistake of his life. 

"Yeah sure, whatever. Do you know my address?"

"Why would I know that?"

"Well, you knew my phone number."

"I suppose that's fair," Yue laughed. It sounded like the ringing of bells. It was at that moment Sokka knew he would do anything to make her laugh again. He told her his address and waited. He found himself combing his hair and changing into a nicer shirt. Then he hurried outside, ignoring Katara and Aang, who were doing homework and blushing at each other. Sokka climbed into the passenger seat of Yue's silver SUV. Her long dark hair was down, instead of it its usual elaborate hairdo. 

"I got everything we need," she said, glancing out the window, "This is a cute neighborhood."

"Thanks," Sokka said, "I have a lot of good memories here." They drove to the north side of town, where Yue's large blue house sat on a hill, judgmentally looking down at the rest of the town. 

"The first step is to mix the lightener and the developer," Yue said, as she lead Sokka to the huge kitchen. She threw on one of those gowns that were used in hair salons. Where Yue had gotten one was beyond him."The bowls are in the bottom right cupboard." Sokka nodded and did as she asked, "There are also clips and combs and brushes next to the sink."

"So... do you have any hobbies?" Sokka asked as he applied the product evenly to Yue's long, thick hair, or at least tried to. The whole situation was so bizarre. 

"I do yearbook," Yue said, "how about you."

"I'm thinking about trying out for the soccer team," Sokka said, "I also like engineering. There's this huge project later this year, that will almost guarantee me a place in Omashu University, which is a really good school. My project is either going to be making a candle powered phone charger or using the idea of a rube goldberg machine to-" he looked at Yue's bored expression, 

"A-anyways, that will be cool," he said, "Do you have plans for college?"

"I don't have very many plans for the future," Yue said, "But I'm not that worried about it." 

"Well, I think we're almost done," Sokka handed her a shower cap that was also sitting by the counter, "Do you need any more help?"

"No," Yue said, "Thank you. I know we don't know each other very well, but thanks for helping me anyways." Sokka blushed. 

"Um, do you want to maybe, I don't know, only if you want to want to, but maybe later we could go... do an activity together?" Sokka managed to stammer it out. There was that laugh again. 

"I would love that!" Yue exclaimed, "How about the movies next week."

"Yes! Sounds good, do you like horror movies?" Yue shivered and shook her head. 

"I have never seen one, and I don't want to. How about a rom com?"

"Sure," Sokka grabbed his coat. 

"Do you need a ride?"

"There's a bus stop at the bottom the hill," Sokka said, "I'll be fine."

"I'll see you at school then?" Sokka smiled. 

"Yes! Definitely, school, right. Um, one last question, how did you get my phone number?" For the third time, Yue laughed, and Sokka's heart was full. 

"I just asked Katara," she said, "I'm gonna be honest, I was a little nervous to just ask you directly." 

"Nervous?"

"I don't know," Yue shrugged, "Is Tuesday good for the movies?"

"Yeah, Tuesday works."

"Great!" she beamed, "It's a date." 

~~~

He woke up. 

"Sokka," Katara peeked at him concernedly from outside the door.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, you were just muttering in your sleep," his sister said. 

"Oh," Sokka looked at his phone and saw a text from Suki. 

Hey Sokka! Since the library's closed tomorrow, can we do your house. My place works too of course. What's your address?

Sokka stared at the last sentence for a solid minute, his ears still ringing from the imaginary sound of Yue's chiming laugh. Then he shook himself out of his stupor. 

Let's do your place. 

He walked downstairs, where Aang handed him another burrito. Katara watched him closely, scrutinized his every move as they drove to school. 

"What!" he finally snapped when they reached the parking lot. 

"I'm just worried about you," Katara said, "I know I've been busy lately, but if you want to talk about anything..." Sokka plastered on a smile. 

"I'm fine," he said, "I just... didn't get a good night's sleep is all."

~~~

Thanks for Reading

Just a quick note: The scene between Sokka and Yue seems contrived because it is. Their whirlwind relationship is based on circumstance, rather than trust and friendship, and one of my focuses for this book is writing different kinds of relationships.