You felt the wind in your hair first. Then you heard the other cars, and the soft musical air of the radio wafting through the crisp California fall breeze.
Slowly, you opened your eyes. You took in your surroundings, confused as to how you got where you were.
You sat in the passenger's seat of Johnny's car. He drove silently, tapping his finger to the beat of the song coming from the console. You recognized it as I Want to Hold Your Hand by the Beatles. You didn't exactly take this as his particular style of music, so you found it amusing in your grogginess.
A small laugh escaped between your lips, bringing Johnny's attention to you. His smile grew when he saw your eyes on his.
"Good morning sunshine. How'd you sleep?"
You groaned and sat up a little straighter. Brushing off his sarcastic comment, you addressed the situation at hand. "How long was I out?"
"About an hour."
That's it?
You felt like you slept for days. It was hard to understand how exhausted you actually were until this very moment. You should've expected to crash the way you did, you hadn't slept at all last night after discovering the family truth.
Your eyes wandered over the interior of his car. The top was down, and the wind brought a cool rush to your face, waking you up just enough to make your eyes widen.
"How did I get in here?"
Johnny chuckled, almost as if you should've known the answer. "I carried you."
You squeezed your eyes tight in embarrassment before bringing your hand to the bridge of your nose. Johnny saw this and let out a laugh.
"It was quite amusing princess, I wish you were awake to see it."
"Shut up, Lawrence."
He continued to laugh as he drove down areas you hadn't recognized. You were about to ask him where he was headed, but you were interrupted by Johnny out stretching his hand toward the radio. As he turned it down to an almost inaudible volume, he turned to you with an air of caution in his eyes.
"Do you remember what you said to me while I was carrying you?"
You raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. When Johnny didn't continue right away, you gulped.
"No... why? Did I say something embarrassing?"
"No..." he stammered, "no. Nothing embarrassing, you just-," thinking over his words carefully, he spit it out hesitantly, "you just said something that made me concerned, that's all."
"Concerned?" Oh no.
"Yeah... you mumbled something about my sensei. You said not to trust him for whatever reason. And you also mentioned something about me not knowing the truth about him?"
Your heart hammered in your chest. This was not good. You had to cover your tracks, quickly.
"I was exhausted, Johnny... if I can't remember saying it, then it's probably not important."
"But..." his words drifted off, "I just can't help but feel like you're hiding something from me."
"I'm not hiding anything," you lied, "it was just the sleepiness talking."
His eyes bore into yours, somehow conversing with your mind that he knew the truth. But luckily for you, Johnny ignored those signs and nodded his head. He accepted your answer even though he knew it was far from correct.
There was another stretch of silence before you cleared your throat. "So, where are we headed?"
Suddenly, Johnny perked up. His mood completely changed as he looked to you with a grin. "I figured it's getting closer to dinner time. I thought maybe we could go out to eat?"
You were pretty hungry. And you could definitely eat. But nerves lodged in your chest as you swallowed. "On a date?"
"Only if you want it to be."
You thought this over for a moment. You and Johnny had both agreed not to rush into a relationship. Although there was obviously a connection, you both wanted to take things slow. Two dates in the span of two days seemed a little excessive for your liking...
But what was the harm?
"It's a date."
•••
Johnny pulled his Avanti into a diner on the other side of town. You hadn't even seen this place before, but with the top down you could smell how divine the food was about to be.
He held the door open for you and you walked inside. Following closely behind you, Johnny placed a hand on your lower back and guided you toward the hostess.
"How many?" She asked with a smile.
"Two, please."
She nodded her head at Johnny's response. "Alright, follow me."
You tried your very hardest not to squirm away from Johnny as you walked. His touch made you uncomfortable, but not in a sense that you weren't comfortable with him.
What made you uncomfortable was the fact that you liked his touch.
She led you both to a table in the center of the diner. There was one stool on each side, and Johnny was forced to pull away from you as he walked to the opposite end and sat down. Not even a second later, a waitress showed up with a pad of paper in her hand and a pen behind her ear.
"Hello, my name is Sandy and I'll be your server today. Can I get you guys any drinks to start out with?"
"I'll have a Coke." Johnny smiled.
"Alright," she wrote down before lifting her eyes to you. "And for you?"
Suddenly, your throat became very dry. You weren't sure if it was the nerves or the sleepiness washing over you again, but you couldn't think straight.
"I'll just have a water."
Johnny looked at you, his face scrunching up.
"Okay," the waitress said cheerfully, "one Coke and one water coming right up."
As she bounced away, Johnny rolled his eyes. "Water? Could you be any more boring?"
You played off your anxiety with a witty remark. "I'd like to stay hydrated, thank you very much."
Just then, the sound of the bell jangling overhead caught your attention. You looked in front of you to see Johnny staring at the menu with hungry eyes. But a certain sense of curiosity led you to peel your eyes away from the meal options and towards the door.
Only to find Daniel and Ali speaking with the hostess.
"How many?"
"Just two." Daniel's voice rang out.
Johnny's head whipped up quickly, and the nerves you had just swallowed began to rise up again. And as if things couldn't get worse, you watched in horror as the hostess led them directly to the table at your right.
"You've got to be kidding me." Johnny mumbled under his breath.
You and Ali exchanged wide eyed glances, fearful of what was about to happen next.
Not so discretely, Daniel looked to the waitress and lowered his voice.
"Do you have any other tables?"
"I'm sorry..." she frowned, "we're completely booked. Is this table going to be okay?"
"I don't know," Daniel huffed and looked to Johnny, "will it be?"
Across from you, Johnny looked between the waitress and his nemesis before turning to you. Smiling faintly, you reassured Johnny that it was alright. You didn't understand their hatred for each other, in fact you thought it was ridiculous. They needed to get over their brief, rocky past some time or another. There was no doubt about it, there was still tension looming in the air.
"It'll be fine." He said softly.
The waitress took in the scene before her. "Do you... know each other?"
"Oh," Ali laughed confidently, "they're best friends."
You stifled a laugh yourself, choking on it as Johnny kicked your leg under the table.
Ali sat down diagonal to you, her eyes grew wide as she immediately picked up the menu and tried to hide her annoyance already. Daniel and Johnny stared each other down as he lowered himself into the seat next to you.
A few moments of awkward silence passed before Johnny cleared his throat in attempts to grasp your attention. You pulled your eyes from the menu and looked into his.
"So," he raised an eyebrow, "did I tell you I doubled my training for Cobra Kai? With the tournament coming up, I need to give it my all."
You grimaced internally, catching on to Johnny's tactics. He was trying to be boastful in hopes of scaring Daniel off. Or worse, starting a fight right here in the middle of the diner.
"Wow," you said flatly, "that's great. I'm so proud of you, Johnny."
To your right, Daniel sat up a little straighter. His eyes locked on Ali's as he smirked. "I'm so passionate about Mr. Miyagi's karate," he spoke enthusiastically, "he's been training me like crazy these past few weeks. One time, we went fishing and he had me standing on the bow of his boat, right? And-"
"Okay," Ali cut him off and looked between him and Johnny, "so this is happening."
For a moment, you locked eyes. It was enough for her to communicate the next course of action. It was simply a built in communication mechanism for a girl. With one glance, you caught on quickly.
"Hey," you smirked, "why don't we push the tables together?"
Daniel and Johnny's concerns overlapped.
"No, no. There's no reason."
"No, no. It's not a good idea."
"We don't need-"
Ali pointed a finger at you and smiled. "That is a great idea. Excuse me," she called out to the waitress, "would you mind if we combined our tables?"
Johnny looked at you, his eyes brimming with rage. It took everything in you not to laugh.
"Yeah, of course." The waitress smiled.
You and Ali immediately jumped to your feet and pushed the tables together. The boys tried to grab their own tables and hold them back, but they eventually gave in. Once you and Ali were situated, it took Johnny and Daniel both a moment to scoot their chairs across the floor to join you girls.
As you and Ali fist bumped under the table, the waitress came along to take your orders. When all was said and done, you gave Ali a look before clearing your throat.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to use the restroom."
Johnny's face grew incredibly red as he looked to you and mouthed the words no, don't leave me alone!
"I will join you." Ali said a little too enthusiastically.
"No," Daniel's eyes widened, "you should stay... honey!"
But it was too late. The two of you had already stood up and made a quick paced walk to the other side of the diner. Giggling loud enough for them to hear, the two of you practically skipped away. In between her laughter, Ali leaned toward you and whispered.
"I told you a double date would be fun."