Out of Place [Cobra Kai OC x Robby Keene]

43- Awkward Ride

"It's Hawk, not falcon,"

"'Halcón' is 'Hawk' in Spanish," I say as I start driving again. I'm honestly surprised he doesn't know that. Like Miguel never called him by that nickname or he never looked it up just for laughs?

"Since when were you a tae kwon champion? I didn't even know you still did it," He asks after a small pause.

"Since last summer and now this one too... and there a lot of things you don't know about me," I say. I'd prefer to keep it that way, although plenty has already been revealed.

"You won twice?" Hawk asks, sounding shocked. Sure did.

"Yeah, with my eyes closed," I say, unable to resist adding in the rather impressive- or stupid- detail. He gets to be an arrogant asshole all the time, I can brag a little bit.

"No way, that's insane!" He says, a little bit of Eli showing through, "I mean, that's pretty cool. Probably bullshit though."

"It's not. Robby found a video of the final fight on YouTube, but believe whatever you want," I shrug off. I know I did it. The people who actually support me know I did it. What does it matter what anybody else thinks? I can feel his eyes on me, but I don't turn to look back him.

"You have better muscles than you did before," he says out of nowhere. I mean... so does he.

"So do you,"

"Yeah but I never took you for someone to work out,"

"I'm doing tae kwon do for like four and a half to five hours every week, and then karate training almost every day. If I didn't have any muscle I'd be pissed,"

"Do you still sing?"

"Of course. Music is everything to me. It's part of why I like kata so much,"

"Kata?"

"Patterns, forms, that stuff we were doing at Valley Fest. Call me a loser, I don't care," I say. I know they work. They're kinda my thing. That and high kicks. He can call me a loser. I already know that much...

I finally pull into his driveway, and we sit there for a solid ten seconds, but he doesn't get out. What's going on? Is he gonna attack me? Could we take it outside please? This is the only car I've got and I do not have the funds to fix any of it. In the silence, a question burns on my tongue. It has been since what happened at the party.

"Is what Demetri said- is that true?" I ask, almost afraid to ask the question, let alone know the answer. A few seconds pass... then he nods. ¿Qué? My heart starts pounding hard again. What am I supposed to say? This is so weird. I just sit back in my seat, dumbfounded.

"How was I supposed to not like you? You were the only other friend I had besides Demetri and you were the only girl who ever gave me a chance. You've always been so.. sweet and smart and-" he rolls his eyes, "and you were always there for me. You stood up for me and comforted me when you couldn't. You kicked Kyler in the face and ruined your clean record for me... I've noticed you since seventh grade when we first had a class together..."

I think I might go into cardiac arrest. This is all news to me. I'm so stupid. And also it's so weird to hear those words coming from his mouth, of all people. I feel very uncomfortable. My face and ears and arms and everything are so hot right now. I feel like I could hyperventilate, but I do my best to control my breath.

"So from seventh grade through ninth, you had a crush on me and you never told me?" I ask. This is so weird.

"Tenth..." he says quietly. Pardon?!

"That... didn't happen to have any influence on all the shit you did to me at the tournament.. did it?" I ask. I swear on karate if this boy says some dumbass answer-