"This is rich!" Bolin flopped onto Korra's bed laughing, before resting his hands behind his head as he watched Korra tear through her closet. "Okay okay, remember that girl that Mako was dating a few years ago? You know, before you-"

"Bolin."

"Right, we totally don't talk about that, like… Ever. Anyway, her name was Asami."

Korra lifted her head out of the closet and shot her friend a deathly glare. "You're telling me that the woman Mako cheated on with me ran into me. And then invited me on a date. And then I invited her on a date back?"

"Uhm. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying." He beamed at her, though his grin quickly turned sheepish. "I know you felt horrible about that but it's not like he told you he was seeing someone before you two.. you know. Did the thing."

She placed her hand over her face and counted back from ten. When she was done, she threw up her hands. "Nope. I can't do this. I can't. I'm not going to. What am I supposed to say? 'It sorta turns out that I'm the girl your ex-boyfriend cheated on you with but I had no idea he was seeing you so are we cool?'"

"Yeah? That's exactly what you're supposed to say."

She threw a bra at him. "That's not how it works and you know it. Now out, I've got to change."

Bolin made a face and held the bra away from his body. "Phew! When was the last time you did laundry?"

"Out!"

Her friend beat a hasty exit, and Korra returned to her closet.

It was nearly six by the time Asami got home. She didn't have the time she'd like to actually get ready, and she'd need every second of the next 68 minutes to prepare herself. Despite the time limit, she got a little distracted in front of the mirror. Bruises up and down her body. A bandaged scrape on her thigh and smaller one on her cheek. The cat scan had come up clean otherwise she'd still be at the hospital, probably over night.

That didn't mean her head wasn't hurting as much as the rest of her, though. Groaning, she gingerly washed, then did her best with her make-up to draw attention to her eyes and lips instead of the bandage on her cheek.

Asami knew she was taking the whole thing too well, but she was alive, and she'd had worse spills out at the Speedway. She was just happy that no one else had been hurt.

She finished early, after putting together a color coordinated pair of dark red slacks and a matching red sweater that kept her bruises hidden but would still hopefully make Korra stare. The wait gave her ample time to reconsider and by the time Korra came through the gate in her beat up car, she was bouncing nervously in her foyer.

Her home was a large, two-story Spanish-style villa, with a three car garage. The roof was tiled and sloped, and there was a pillared archway over the front door and a balcony on the roof. She had fallen in love with it the first time she'd seen it and had paid an exorberant amount of money to have it.

When she opened the door, the first thing she noticed was a slightly glazed look in Korra's eyes as the young woman tried to take in how large and expensively furnished the house was. It was probably intimidating. Korra wore a light blue top that bared her shoulders and arms, and wrapped around her neck. Asami gave her a gentle smile and mostly failed at not staring. "Do you want to come in for a bit, or are you starving?"

"Uhm." Korra's eyes drifted down and then snapped back up and she gave herself a mental shake. "Food good. Food's good, I mean." She coughed.

She looked past Korra at the car Korra was driving. It looked like someone had hammered the passenger door back into place. She winced. "Why don't you park that in the garage and we'll take one of mine."

"Embarrassed to have it sitting in front of your house?" Korra gave Asami a crooked, guilty little grin.

"That, and if it's in my garage then I can fix it for you," Asami told her. She rested a hand on one of Korra's bare arms. Korra's skin was smooth, and, her muscles firm. A quiet voice in Asami's head suggested a variety of activities. She ignored them in favor of reassuring her date. "I wasn't kidding when I said I'd take care of it."

Korra was still looking for a catch. The house was gigantic and everything inside looked like it cost more than her car had. On top of that Asami was breathtakingly gorgeous, and she could have been killed. But here she was, offering to fix her car and she'd even asked her to dinner at first. Korra didn't get it. But she was here now and she wasn't going to back down. She squared her shoulders and nodded. "Okay."

Asami met Korra at the garage, guiding her to the free spot. There were two cars and several motorcycles, and Korra got out of her car and gawked. "Wow…" Asami had a sleek black BMW with chrome trim, and a classic Shelby Cobra GT500. She'd only ever seen cars like that on TV. It was red, which was clearly Asami's favorite color.

"Do you want to take the BMW or the Cobra? You'll get to drive, the doctors said I couldn't drive myself until tomorrow at the earliest." Asami leaned in, her shoulder brushing Korra's. "Can you drive stick?"

Korra just nodded dumbly.

"Do you want to drive the Cobra?"

She nodded again, then quickly started to shake her head. "Oh no no no I'll just end up denting it or something!"

"It's okay." Asami slipped the keys into Korra's hand. She kissed her cheek, then purred into Korra's ear. "You know you want to drive it."

"You're seriously trusting the girl who wrecked your motorcycle with a million dollar car?" She turned to face Asami, an incredulous look on her face.

"One-hundred and thirty-thousand," Asami corrected.

"That's not much better! Lets just take the Beemer. Please?" She awkwardly tried to give Asami the keys back.

Asami's smile faltered a little and she took the keys, looking sheepish. "Sorry. I'm just really proud of it. I restored it myself."

"How about you show it off when you're able to drive," Korra replied. It could be like a second date, and she gave herself a little mental pat on the back for suggesting it.

"Deal." Asami handed over the keys to the BMW and slipped into the passenger side. She needed to eat soon anyway so she could take a painkiller, so there wasn't any point in arguing further. She didn't want to make Korra any more uncomfortable than she already had.

She waited until Korra had backed out and they were on the road before she tried speaking again. "Do I seem like some spoiled rich girl to you?"

"What?" Korra shot a look at her, before quickly turning back to the road. Traffic was terrible this time of day and she had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. "You seem like a really nice person. I mean you're offering to fix up my car when it was my fault you're hurt… I'm kind of scared that you think I'm taking advantage of you."

"Mm, you could if you wanted," Asami said. The words kind of slipped out and she brought a hand to her mouth. "What I mean is, it was an accident. We're both probably still a little shaken up. But you can to visit me and there isn't anyone else in my life who'd do that. I've got all this money, what's the point of having it if I can't help someone out or treat them to something nice?"

Korra chewed on her lip. "You really don't have anyone to visit you?"

Asami shook her head, sinking further against the seat. "My mom passed away when I was little, and my dad isn't an option any more. I never had many friends to begin with and I guess I've just kind of withdrawn from every one the past few years."

"I'm sorry…" Korra reached over and put a hand on Asami's knee. "What do you do for fun then?"

"Work on cars, race out at the Speedway, that sort of thing. I have a degree in mechanical engineering so I do design work for the family company. So I don't really hang out with people." She put her hand over Korra's, before the other woman could pull it away. "Well no one our age. I'm not sure I'd count the other racers. I cream them, but I don't really hang out with them.

Korra suddenly hoped that the second 'date' could be a thing. And maybe a third. "You really race?"

"There's a thing called Midnight Mayhem out there. Most Friday nights. They have paramedics on site, and generally keeps everyone out of trouble."

"What about other nights?"

Asami smiled, and glanced at Korra. "Then we just find a road we can use. But I don't usually go to those nights."

"Well, it's pretty dangerous. Don't need to let anyone else get hurt."

She nodded, and let Korra take her hand back. She noticed that it lingered a few seconds longer than necessary, and it made her feel better. "So where are you taking me?"

"How do you feel about sushi?"

Asami's smile widened. "I love sushi."

Korra laughed and relaxed. "Oh good. It just suddenly occurred to me that what if you hated it and I took you to a sushi place and you didn't like it."

"You don't have to worry, Korra. Sushi is a great first date." Asami snapped her jaw shut and turned her head, looking out the window at the lights passing by. Her face burned. "Not that this… unless you want it to be." She glanced back with just her eyes.

"I've been sitting here trying to figure out if that's what this was."

"Is it?"

"I guess it is." Korra gave Asami a crooked, toothy smile and the rich woman's heart started to melt in her chest.

This time, it was Asami reaching over to rest a hand on Korra's leg. "It's been a long time since I've been on a date. I got burned pretty badly last time. And the timing was horrible on top of it all." Getting cheated on had been bad enough, but then having to deal with what had happened with her father…

Korra swallowed a lump in her throat. She pulled into the parking lot of the sushi restaurant and parked. She shut the engine off and swiveled her whole body to face Asami. "Asami, there's something I really need to tell you before we go inside."

Asami leaned her head back against the seat rest and closed her eyes. "If you're seeing someone it's okay, but this can't be anything more than a friendly dinner."

"No, that's not it. I'm not seeing anyone right now, but I was, and.." Korra's words started to come out in a rush. "And you know how you got burned? Was his name Mako? Because I dated this guy named Mako and he never told me but it turned out he was seeing someone, because I wouldn't have done the thing or anything with him if he had."

The other woman didn't move for a long moment and Korra swore her heart was going to freeze in her chest if Asami didn't say or do something. She'd take being punched, she kind of felt like she deserved to be punched.

But Asami didn't hit her. Instead, Asami started to laugh. "I'm in too much pain for this. You've got to be kidding me." She lifted her hand to her face, her laughter dying down as she pressed her palm against one eye as if trying to push back tears. She took another moment to steady her breathing, and then finally looked at Korra. "That was a year ago. You didn't know. I'm not going to be angry for something you didn't know about. How long did you date him?"

"A couple of months." Korra smiled sheepishly. "It was pretty doomed from the start and it took him a month just to tell me there'd been another woman. Then I was stupid and kept dating him but we … We argued a lot. Like the kind of thing that works better between friends than it does between lovers."

Pursing her lips, Asami regarded Korra steadily, then touched her arm. "I'm going to put that in the past where it belongs. But I reserve the right to rub it in his face if I see him again."

She gave Asami another grin. "Oh you're more than welcome to. Do you think you two could be friends?"

"Give me another six months to think about it and then ask me again," Asami replied. She opened the car door and slid out, groaning softly. "The longer I sit still the more sore I feel."

Korra rushed around to help, putting a hand to Asami's back. She glanced at Asami's lips, then back up to her eyes as her face grew hot. "So… all is forgiven?"

"You don't need to be forgiven for anything." She leaned into Korra, happy to take any opportunity to be close. She'd forgotten how much she enjoyed being close to another person. She'd missed being affectionate. "But if you really need to hear me say it, all is forgiven."

Korra's smile lit up the room as they stepped inside. "Great! I am going to feed you so much Sushi."