Korra continues her antics while Asami senses a connection...

The rest of the lunch went fantastic, with a few laughs and interesting stories to pass the time as they ate. After splitting the bill between the five of them, they walked back about an hour and a half later to the parking lot of the theater. The band piled into a car, a restored 1970 Ford Mustang Convertible in jet-black.

"The engine should be plenty cooled by now," Asami began as she hopped in the driver's seat and retracted the roof, "so nothing will catch on fire while we're driving."

Korra stood awkwardly by the vehicle as Mako vaulted over the car door into the passenger's seat while Bolin and Opal climbed in the back. Asami looked at the Inuit with an expression of slight confusion. With a gesture of her arm toward the car, the omega beckoned the alpha over.

"Hop in! I'll drive you to your dorm, just tell me where it is."

"Uh, yeah – sure…" Korra stuttered in response, climbing into the back seat to sit behind Asami, "I live in the east dorms."

"Cool, that's a couple minutes from here." Asami said, shifting to face forward again before starting the car. She backed out of the parking space and drove off the lot at an abrupt speed with. Her control of the car when she was behind the wheel was astoundingly precise.

As they drove, Korra pondered her day thus far. She hooked up with a hot red-headed omega girl and met, had lunch and made friends with a popular band whose lead singer/guitarist was beyond gorgeous. Her day had consisted of only good things which were, as always, balanced with the usual weight of her fear of love. It would never go away. She knew she needed to do something about it lest the anxiety be repressed to the point where it would return with a vengeance.

Two minutes had passed when Korra was pulled from her thoughts as the car pulled up to the entrance of the east dorm. She gently shut the door behind her as she got out and said her goodbyes, smiling when the band returned them with genuine acknowledgement.

"Cool talking to you."

"It was so fun hanging out with you!"

"It was a pleasure."

"I'm glad we met, Korra."

The last one made Korra grin, mainly because Asami was the one who said it. For that reason, and that reason alone, she didn't want to leave. But she still had to unpack and set up her side of the dorm room she dropped her stuff off in before she left for the orientation ceremony. Everything she needed was there in a neat stack of boxes and suit cases, so it should be a cinch.

Adjusting the strap of the backpack over her shoulder, Korra turned to leave, but her wrist was taken in a sudden hold that prevented her from taking another step. Turning back around, the southerner found Asami grasping her wrist. That alone was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

"Gimme your phone." Asami demanded.

"What?" Korra questioned, unaware and slightly skeptical of the woman's intentions.

Asami let go of her wrist and playfully rolled her eyes, allowing a brief chuckle to pass her lips which caused the alpha to blush. "I wanna give you my number."

"Sure, but why?" Korra replied, digging her cellphone out from her back pocket then handing it to the omega.

"We're playing at Fire In The Hole this Friday night. It's a live music club that only hires musicians who are the best of the best." Asami explained, tapping away at the southerner's phone before giving it back. "I'll text you the address and the time, which I still need to run by the manager to confirm an earlier booking." She said then handed Korra's phone back to her after she had successfully added her number to it.

"The best of the best, huh?" Korra reiterated, a crooked grin flashing across her face as she admired the new number on her phone under the name 'Sami Sato. She looked up with a playfully smug expression. "Yeah, I'll be there."

"Awesome, I'll text you the details of the show sometime this week." Asami replied, effectively hiding her excitement beneath an appropriate reserved tone.

"Uh, maybe we could do something together in the meantime, before Friday I mean. We could go out for coffee or something, someplace." Korra suggested in a slight stutter as she clumsily scratched the back of her neck, mentally reprimanding herself for sounding like she didn't know what a sentence was or how to properly make one. Yet to her surprise, the omega let out an endearing laugh.

"I'd love to go on a date with you, if that's what you're asking." Her ruby red lips were upturned in a slight smirk of amusement while her eyes –as green as jade stones– gazed half-lidded and shadowed in lilac upon the alpha, waiting for a reply.

Breaking free from the spell Asami's shining eyes had cast upon her, Korra straightened her posture and quickly thought over how she would respond.

"Um… yeah! A date, that's what this is. I'm asking you out… on a date…" Korra stammered, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. 'Good going, dumbass. You sounded like a complete idiot.' She thought to herself, looking down at her sneakers in embarrassment.

When the alpha thought she was done for, she felt the gentle touch of a hand cradling the underside of her jaw. A quiet gasp of shock escaped her throat and before she knew it, a pair of ruby lips were pressed warmly against her cheek. Ocean blue eyes lit up with wonder as the lips left her skin, the sensation left behind on that particular place having burned into her cheek the shape of the omega's lips, though it soon dissipated after she pulled away from the peck to settle back down into the driver's seat.

"Ooohh! Someone's got a crush!" Bolin interrupted, receiving a punch in the leg from his brother and a shove from his girlfriend.

"Anyway," Asami began after sending a brief glare toward her bandmates, "I'll pick you up here at eight o' clock tomorrow night, cool?"

"Sure." Korra replied simply, still in shock from the unexpected kiss, which had rendered her practically speechless.

The southerner waited until the car was out of sight before letting out a deep, irritated sigh. After the flirtatious stunt Asami just pulled, Korra's desire to have her only grew, which triggered the irrational fear that once she had her, she would one day leave her. Korra hated being alone and absolutely loathed being left alone. The more she thought about a future filled solitude, the more it tore into her wounded heart. She needed someone to burn off steam. She needed a reprieve from the loneliness overtaking her soul and craved the touch of another to help heal her wounds. But now that Asami was gone, the alpha had to find another to temporarily heal said wounds.

Korra sauntered over to the courtyard where several people were hanging out and doing their own thing. She then spotted a young man wearing headphones, seated on a bench beside the fountain as he nodded his head to a song she recognized. He wore a sleeveless shirt with RCU's insignia on it and his jet-black hair was tied back into a lazy, low ponytail. His features were square and strong and was complimented by neatly trimmed stubble along the jawline. As she approached him Korra caught the scent of a beta. This particular scent was quite strong and consisted of various aromas associated with the outdoors.

After contriving a plan, Korra approached the man, who gaze was glued to his phone. Sensing movement in front of him, the beta removed his headphones and looked up to reveal a pair of vibrant green eyes and a smile to match. The immediate welcoming disposition and the very familiar green eyes that made her hesitate a bit caught the alpha slightly off guard, but it didn't deter her from her carrying out her plan.

"Hey there!" The beta greeted enthusiastically, his voice as deep as a radio show host's. "Do you need something?"

"I was walking by and heard Infected through your headphones," Korra began in a fascinated tone, "Not many people don't know about them. They're pretty underground." The beta lit up at this.

"They really are a fantastic band. But they're not advertised in mainstream media, so it's rare to meet someone who likes them." He explained sedulously. "What's your favorite song?"

Korra took a seat beside the man as she carried on the conversation. "Definitely Enmity of Odium. It's so underrated even though it's about the absurdity of responding to hate with hate."

"Exactly!" The beta exclaimed. "It's never not relevant. It should be held at a higher standard and respected for its message despite it not being as popular as their other songs."

"Oh! I'm Korra, by the way. I'm a freshman." Korra said in greeting, as if she had forgotten, when in reality she just wanted to get on with her plan.

"I'm Cheng. Sophomore." The beta replied, shaking her hand.

"Wow, strong grip." Korra commented, acting surprised. "Do you work out?" Just as she thought, he smirked and proceeded to flex his bicep.

"Yeah, I'm on the lacrosse team." Cheng boasted then held out his flexed arm for her to feel. "Go ahead and feel."

Korra squeezed his bicep, acting like it was impressive despite having seen better. Their eyes then met, prompting the alpha to reel in her prey.

"You got any Infected CDs?"

"For sure." Cheng answered almost immediately, a glint of knowingness in his flirtatious gaze to which Korra responded by sliding over to sit closer to him.

"Why don't we head up then and listen to them, huh?" She bit her lip then instantly noticed a change in the beta's scent, discerning it to be arousal.

Cheng took her briefly by the hand to pull Korra up from the bench. They made their way to his room on the boys' end of the east dorms, ignoring questioning stares from passersby. Once there, Cheng popped a CD into his stereo, specifically Infected's third album, Venom.

As the two delve into unexplored territory and lustfully grab and claw at bare skin, all Korra could focus on was Cheng's eyes. When they opened to look at her, she was reminded of Asami, whose eyes were of a similar shape, size and color. It was no wonder the alpha was drawn toward Cheng.

"Asami, do you really think it was a good idea to agree to go out on a date the same day you got out of a really bad relationship?" Opal asked, bringing up the elephant in the room.

The woman in question briefly took her eyes off the road to glance at her friend. As soon as they left the east dorms of RCU after Asami agreed to go out on a date with Korra, she sensed her bandmates were straining themselves to bite their tongues and not question her motives. However, Opal digressed, knowing that if she didn't say something, no one else would have, and the tension wouldn't have stopped growing until it burst unexpectedly at some point in the future. Considering the events that occurred before Platinum Gear's show, it was something that needed to be said.

"She seems nice. I wanna get to know her better and see where it goes from there." The omega said with a shrug, as if it was the most simple and clear observation. "Since I have to show her the ropes of RCU tomorrow, I'll just kill two birds with one stone and do that on the date." She added, matter-of-factly.

Truthfully, Asami did want do get to know Korra, but she was also very intrigued by her. For an alpha, the southerner seemed rather nervous and uncomfortable in asking her out. Maybe she came off as too intimidating for an omega, but Asami believed this girl was genuinely interested in her nonetheless.

"Maybe you should've thought this through more." Mako said in a stern, authoritative tone. "Iroh's probably still angry with you. He's probably planning to confront you at some point. How is he gonna react if he sees you on a date with someone who's not him? Jesus, Asami, I swear sometimes you never–"

"Shut up, Mako!" Asami shouted. "I know what I'm fucking doing! We're not together anymore, so you can't dictate what I can and can't do, and you sure as hell can't tell me who I can and can't date! End of discussion!"

The rest of the car ride to drop off her bandmates felt like forever with the lack of conversation, but soon Asami was driving back to the west dorms of RCU. She pushed through the doors into the lobby, greeting the man attending the front desk before making her way to the girls' dorms.

Unlocking the door to her room, Asami walked over to her desk to make a note reminding her to pick up the equipment and instruments her band left behind backstage of the auditorium. They often left their things locked in equipment storage to be picked up the next day because none of them had vehicles big enough to carry all their instruments and stuff at once. Platinum Gear should really invest in an equipment van.

Dropping down into her desk chair and booting up her laptop, Asami decided to finish some class assignments. While she was trying to focus on reading her mechanical engineering textbook, she couldn't stop thinking of Korra and how excited she was for their date tomorrow, which reminded the omega that she should text Korra what they're going to do tomorrow. Picking up her phone, Asami opened a new message.

Asami: I'll pick u up at 8pm tomorrow. I'll show you the ropes of RCU then we can go out to eat at a diner or somethin'. That cool?

After what felt like ages, Asami finally received a reply.

Korra: Sounds perfect ;)

A massive grin spread across the omega's face. She read the message over and over, the winky-face sending shivers down her spine.

"Oh, man…" Asami sighed, "just met the girl and I'm already in too deep." Despite that, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face, even when she was fast asleep later that night.

End of chapter four...