The Girl From Last Night

Happy Birthday

"Okay, so how many people are coming?"

"So we gathered a few people," Mako said in a serious sounding tone, "I'm bringing Wu, Bolin's bringing Opal and Kai, Kai's bringing his girlfriend Jinora. A couple of people from work are coming in as well– Iroh from design and Baatar from engineering. And of course, Korra and yourself."

"That's it?" Asami asked, nervously chewing on her bottom lip.

"Asami, love, you really don't have that many friends," Mako gently said, "yet we managed to get eight people to get here in less than a week. We did the best we could've."

"No, no, it's not enough... I'll look like an idiot..." she shook her head, "I should probably just cancel the whole thing, r-right?"

"Absolutely not, you cannot cancel on the day of the party," Mako argued, folding his arms, "we have to go through with that, it's too late to back away now."

"Wait! I'll call Elle," the idea suddenly popped into her head, and she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before, "she moved to Republic City a few years back, I completely forgot about it!"

"Elle? Your only friend from college?" Mako tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Is one person really gonna make much of a difference?"

Asami opened her phone, searching her contact name and clenching her eyebrows. "It's more complicated than that," she mumbled, "she wasn't exactly my only friend... she and her friend group sort of adopted me after– well, they just did. If anyone else from our gaang is in town she could invite them."

"Okay, that's a good idea," Mako nodded, "you should definitely call her then, I fucking love Elle."

"Yeah, I know," Asami smirked, dialing her number and walking over to the balcony.

After a few rings, Elle picked up the phone.

"Asami! What's up babe?" She answered cheerfully. "It's been a hot minute."

"Hey! I'm fine," Asami smiled immediately, she really did miss her friend, "how are you?"

"Same old, same old," Elle waved her off, "anything new with you?"

"Wow, yeah, so much," Asami chuckled, "are you in town? I'm throwing a bit of a small get together today, for my birthday."

"Oh!" Elle sounded surprised. "Congrats! What time is it?"

"Thanks," Asami sheepishly said, "it's around ten, does that work for you?"

"Sounds great, Ill be there. Just a quick question though; do you always have a birthday party and I was just never invited?" Elle laughed.

"No, no, I hate celebrating my birthday, this was all very last minute," Asami thought of how to explain the situation to her, "basically... this is just happening because... um, my... fiancée, is supposed to–"