Rare Earth Element

Chapter 9- Time Well Served

Irulan had taken care to drive them to Terra Firma a diner in Republic City that stayed open past the asscrack of dawn. With one hand on the steering wheel at 10’o clock and the other hand on top of Bolin’s, they had shared a laugh or two, reminiscing on their prepubescent hijinks. Miraculously, she'd managed to keep her chrome eyes on the road, her foot heavy on the pedal.

”Geez, you sure gotta lead foot, Irulan,” said Bolin, patting Pabu, who’d been holding onto his shoulder for dear life. Irulan, pulling into a parking space in front of Terra Firma, grinned, put her precious Satomobile in “park”.

”Pun intended?” she asked, bending her door unlocked with one hand, and waving her key from the ignition with the other. “If that’s the case, I also have a heart of gold.” Intrigued, Bolin’s eyebrow raised at her dainty flick of the wrist.

”So that’s why it was so easy for you to steal cars when we were with the Triple Threat Triad,” he breathed, watching her firm behind as she let herself out of the driver’s seat. Whistling low, he remembered her being a soft, chubby chick with tangled insecurities and anger issues. The young woman that was bending her door shut with flick of her wrist was now well-defined, her arms strong from years of throwing cars, chairs…even men around probably…and her cheeks were angular with no signs of baby fat left. On one side of the coin, he recalled her steely gaze that seemingly penetrated through even the hardest of hearts. It was the gaze that convinced the bakeries and butcher shops to please give her food for her starving family while he and Mako stole the money from the registers. It was the same gaze that the Triad used as a diversion; a ruse; a façade.

On the flipside, he hadn't recognized her trim physique or the feminine qualities of her hands that were once scraped and callused all to goodness from ripping the rims off of cars, breaking the chains from bikes, and punching out store windows. Irulan was proof that things in life never stayed the same, and change was always good.

”You look so different now, Lani,” he commented as she walked over to the passenger side, reversing gender roles by bending Bolin's door open for him. Irulan chuckled, pursing her lips shyly. She’d had a crush on Bolin for the longest, but because of her chunky butt awkwardness, she felt she had no chance. Meeting his friendly, green-eyed gaze, she blushed, letting him step out of her vehicle.

”You’d be surprised at how gross Republic City’s Juvenile Detention Center’s food is,” she answered, diverting his gaze, speculating that he was speaking on her dramatic weight loss. Bolin, having no idea about her former whereabouts gave a look of surprise.

”Whoa, wait, you…went to Ju-v?” he asked, grabbing her hand, feeling a menagerie of metal rings that graced her fingers. Irulan nodded, not looking at him.

”Well yeah, someone had to take the rap, and since I had nothing to lose…” she added, looking over her shoulder, seeing the concerned look in his eyes. “I took it…all of it.” Her friend had become so dangerously handsome, she couldn’t look at him with the same eyes of a lost, scared child.

”But….” Bolin protested, refusing to let go of her hand. “Lani, you..”