Set My Heart On Fire (UPDATED AND CONTINUING!)

9. Air Hockey and Mixed Feelings

The bright stars shone on Katara’s ice blue eyes as she glanced at the night sky. The day was long but well spent. She smiled as she recounted her afternoon with Aang. It was a while since she had that much fun, and she definitely needed after her Zuko encounter. Katara erased the curs-ed name from her mind and focused on the fantastic day.

After Aang came to the library, they probably ‘studied’ for at least 20 minutes . It was only a matter of time until Aang made Katara laugh too hard and too loud for the librarians to handle. They eventually got kicked out but then retreated to an arcade where they played air hockey for hours, Katara too stubborn to leave until she beat Aang at least once.

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“Oh no, one more time!” Katara dared, her palm clenching the paddle. The air hockey scoreboard read 31-0, much to Katara’s dismay.

The two teens stood in the vast arcade located at the corner of the city’s main street. The place was packed with kids, running around all over the place. It was paradise for any kid, having tons of arcade video games, basketball, air hockey, and a humongous ball pit. But for a couple of teenagers, it wasn’t exactly the ideal hang out. In fact, the place got less and less appealing by the minute, especially for Aang.

“Come on, Katara, you’re killing me here. Just give up.” Aang said with a tired look on his face. However, Katara was still animated and unfaltering.

“No way! You’re going down, Aang, no matter how long it takes.” Katara said defiantly. Aang heaved a sigh then said, “Alright fine, but its getting late. How about this, you take me down in this one last round, all or nothing. If you win, forget my 31 points, you win it all. Deal?” Aang said his eyes on Katara.

“Deal.” Katara said excitedly. Aang shook his head and smiled as he slipped his last gold coin into the coin slot. The white and purple hockey deck lit up and mechanically said, “Let’s puck it up!”. The two ignored the cheesy tagline booming from the machine (they did hear it 32 times) and got ready. The hockey table talked to them once again and said, “Ready? Go!” A black puck spit out of from the machine and onto the table, hot air pushing it from side to side. Katara, overly excited, reached over and hit the puck hard with her paddle.

Aang shook his head at Katara’s bad aim. He quickly caught the puck and returned it to Katara’s side, almost falling into the goal. Katara, however, caught sight of it and hit it once more. The exchange lasted another two minutes, Katara furious and Aang grinning at her furiousity. Aang could’ve easily taken the goal, but Katara’s torment was just too priceless to watch.

The seconds were almost up and agony truly shone on Katara’s face. Aang felt a little jolt within him after seeing Katara’s disappointment. They both knew she was going to lose, and this was her last chance. With ten seconds left, Aang once again pushed the puck to Katara. Katara received it on her right side then eyed the goal. Aang instinctively guarded his left side. He then looked at Katara one last time and decided to change his plan. As Katara was about to hit the puck, Aang quickly switched his paddle’s position to the right, which left Katara an obvious opening. With only a second left, Katara hit the puck towards the goal.

The table boomed, “GOAL!!" Katara’s eyes went wide in surprise. “YES!”, Katara exclaimed as she dropped her paddle on the table. Aang’s eyes were big as well, surprised at Katara’s excitement. Katara jumped up and down while fist pumping in victory. Aang simply smiled as he watched her dark chocolate locks bounce up and down and her blue eyes sparkle. Aang casually strolled over to Katara, one hand in his jean’s pocket.

“HA, in your face!” Katara said, pointing her finger at Aang’s face. Aang, unflinched, grabbed Katara’s finger and pushed it aside to peer at her. “Yup, you got me.” Aang said matter-of-factly. Then he took her whole hand and pulled it down to her side. Katara watched Aang’s sudden movement, then looked at his deep gray eyes. He got closer to her and looked into her eyes. “And, what shall be the winner’s prize?” he said deeply as he closed the distance between them, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.