Eli ran out of the dojo, he was sick and tired of always being recognized as the kid with the weird lip, he was done, he couldn't understand why him, and now there he was, crying on a parking lot, and trying to make his fingers be steady enough so he could call Halley and he could get the fuck out of there.
Halley had made herself comfortable, bought an ice cream, reclined her seat, put on music and relaxed, thinking it was going to take a good while for Eli to come back, she was wrong though, as just when she finished her ice cream the music was interrupted because of an incoming call, form Eli
"El?" but there was no answer from the other side of the line "Is everything okay?" the only answer were sniffles, she immediately turned on the car
"Can you pick me up, please?" he had manage to talk, still sounding distressed
"Of course. I'll be there in a minute"
And it took in fact a minute for her to arrive, she hadn't been really far away, when she saw Eli he wasn't crying anymore, he just looked sad, she stoped in front of him and waited for him to get in the car
"Eli" she sighed and grabbed his hand
"Can we just go?" he refused to look her in the eye, he felt embarrassed and vulnerable. Halley nodded and started driving.
She got some in n out on the way home, she and Eli ate it while watching a movie, he refused to talk about what happened in the dojo and she didn't wanna push him. She and Daniel were gonna train that night but given the situation of Eli falling asleep literally on top of her, she had to cancel
♢♢♢
"You wanna do what, now?" Halley had gone to her uncle's house to train, and he also wanted her to meet someone, she had stopped mid training because Eli called her
"Flip the script" he said confidently
"So you're telling me that to 'flip the script'" her eyebrows were furrowed trying to understand "Whatever that means" she mumbled "You need to dye your hair and get a tattoo?"
"Yes, I just wanted a change" she could hear the tattoo machine in the background
"How are you even getting a tattoo? There's no way your mom is letting you do that"
"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to you later, babe" and he hung up, her jaw almost hit the floor, she felt like in a dream, and couldn't believe her ears, did Eli Moscowitz just called her babe?, never in a million years would she have imagined him saying that. But honestly she wasn't complaining
"Hall's come here!" Daniel called her from inside the dojo, taking her out of her day dream
"Coming!" she walked inside the dojo to find a boy around her age, he had slightly tanned skin, he was tall, and his his hair was at ears length
"Robby, this is Halley, my niece. Halley this is Robby, he's been working at the dealership for a while" the two teenagers shook hands smiling at eachother
♢♢♢
Halley was very impressed while watching Robby, he was very good for just a few days of training, he was blocking all of the punches Daniel threw at him, they bowed at each other and Robby went for his bottle that was besides Halley
"So, how was I?" he raised his eyebrows
"Surprisingly good. It took me a couple of years to be able to block everything" she nodded "Then again, I was four when I started so I guess that justifies it" they laughed, in the time she had spent there she had discovered Robby was actually very nice to be around
"Halley come on, it's your turn" Daniel called her over to the mat, she and Daniel stood in front of each other, bowed and went in position, waiting for one of the two to make the first move, Daniel, as usual, never did, so she took it upon herself and threw a kick at him, that he obviously blocked. They had been training for years, she knew him, he knew her, their styles of fighting were the same, for obvious reasons, they usually just kept sparing until one of them got tired enough to miss a kick or a block.
Robby was surprised, he had seen several fights in his life, but they were messy and reckless, however Daniel and Halley's moves were premeditated and sharp, kicks, punches, blocks, all of it looked like it was practiced before
♢♢♢
Halley opened her front door to find Eli, he had been only texting her for a couple of days, no calls, no video calls, nothing, so when she saw him she almost didn't recognize him. Her gaze immediately went to his very bright blue mohawk, her mouth fell open
"What....happened?" she had no words
"What? You don't like it?" he was smirking, but she could see worry in his eyes
"No, I do. You just surprised me, that's all" she grabbed his jaw and kissed his lips, and then moved aside to let him in. Once inside the house she noticed that his nose was a little swollen, so she grabbed his cheeks to examine his face "What happened to your nose?"
"Aisha head bumped me" he said normally
"She, what?" Halley laughed, because she just imagined Aisha in the moment and it was hilarious. She walked him to the kitchen and took out a cooling pad from the freezer and gave it to him "it will reduce the swelling" he put it on his nose
"Oh! I have something to show you" He looked as if he had been waiting for days to show her whatever he has showing her, he dragged her by the arm to the living room and seated her in the couch "Close your eyes" she did and waited patiently "Remember I told you I was getting a tattoo?"
"Yeah" she could hear shuffling
"Well, I never told you what I was getting" she could feel him standing in front of her "Open your eyes" when she did she saw half of his back covered with a hawk tattoo
"Holly shit" she couldn't believe what she was seeing, when he said tattoo that was the last thing she would've thought of
"What do you think?"
"It's amazing" she stood up and hugged him from behind, arms around his waist and chin on his shoulder "You look amazing" she placed a soft kiss in his neck, making him smile bigger than before
⚘
Hello, hello
Soooo, things happened this chapter, things are going fast and i'm so excited, Halley and Robby finally met, i wanna write their friendship so bad, and then Eli flipped the script so there's that, everything from here is gonna be a roller coaster, so fasten your seat belts and get comfortable for the ride