After the presentation was done we were all sent home. Actually we were all going over to the Larusso’s house for pizza. Our dad’s and Sensei Toguchi were staying behind to see what the results were, dad was gonna text me as soon as they figured it out. We were all sitting in the livingroom, everyone else was over in the kitchen with Mrs. Larusso and Anthony making pizzas, the five of us couldn’t even think about eating until we knew what the answer was. I was laying in Eli's lap, with my feet over both Robby and Miguel's laps, while Eli ran his fingers through my hair. As soon as my phone went off I was jumping out of my seat and checking the message.
“What does it say?!” Eli rushed me
“It-..... it says that they were very impressed”
“Ah shit” Miguel sighed
“But-”
“Oh but is good”
“But’s usually bad”
“Well yeah but isn’t it good this time? If they weren’t impressed?”
“But what if they actually were impressed?”
“I dunno how they couldn’t be, we did great-”
“Guys!” I shouted, getting them all to shut up “It says that they couldn’t decide so they want two matches, us vs Cobra Kai. One girls match, and one boys”
The room fell silent. I looked around at everyone, all the boys were staring at each other. I could feel Sam staring at me, but I was too scared that if I looked at her I'd end up getting punched in the face. Two matches, and now we've got all the best boy's on our side, who are they gonna put up against any of us? Kenny? Kyler? Yeah right. Tory on the other hand….. she'd beaten both Sam and I, more than once, she was good. I finally got enough courage to look over at Sam, but she was gone.
"Sam!-" Miguel called after her as she ran upstairs "I- I should go talk to her-"
"Actually, let me" I stopped him, shoving my phone back in my pocket
"You sure that's a good idea Harles?" Robby asked
"Yeah babe, you and Sam…… you're almost worse than beavis and butthead over here" Eli pointed at both Robby and Miguel, who both smacked him up the back of the head in tandem
"I know" I nodded "But….. I have faith that our….. few moments of levelness together will….. level this out" I trailed off, heading upstairs
I can't remember the last time- oh wait no it was prom. Jeez even that feels like way too long ago. I think that was one of the last times Sam and I had had a full conversation. Ever since she's spent all summer finding herself and shit, we haven't had time to talk. I figured I should probably knock on the door, but I didn't wanna run the risk of her turning me away, so I just walked in. Sam instantly looked over at me, I smiled wearily at her.
"Surprise" I grinned
"What?" Sam sniffed, curling into a ball on her bed
"Okay, you can't seriously be crying" I deadpanned "I haven't said a word and you're already crying, come on Sam, you're better than this"
"Are you kidding me?" Sam stared up at me in shock "Harley if you're just gonna-"
"I came to talk" I held my hands up in defense "I just need you, to not be so……. This" I gestured to her face, sitting down and wiping the tears from under her eyes "Why'd you run away?"
"Because!" Sam exclaimed in a whiny tone, I gave her a look and she stopped, taking a deep breath "Because I didn't wanna fight"
"Good, neither do I" I nodded, giving her a smile, which she half heartedly returned "I know we haven't really had a chance to talk, ya know….. since you've been off finding yourself, which by the way, I hope you found you don't hate me, cause I'm kinda sick of walking on eggshells"
"I never wanted to hate you" Sam shook her head "I dunno, I guess…… you were this, cool girl, who could do whatever she wanted, who no one expected anything from….. you were living this freedom, and I wanted it" I can't believe this is finally happening "I guess I got mad when I realized I couldn't have it, and I started hating you for it"
"I'm sorry, did Samantha Larusso just tell me, that she was jealous of me?" I started laughing despite myself. Sam started laughing too, nodding her head bashfully "Holy shit!" I laughed so hard I had to close my mouth or I'd start coughing "I- I can't say I was ever jealous of you, in fact you were everything I didn't wanna be when we were kids……. But I never wanted to hate you either" I nodded slowly "We both assumed the other was an ass, and we both paid…. A lot of prices for it"
"Yeah, we did" Sam nodded "I think I assume too much"
"Oh yeah, you and your dad both," I nodded vigorously. "You and your dad, are the worst for assuming the worst right away. That's what started all this shit in the first place. Your dad assumed Miguel was bad, Miguel assumed you were necking Robby, Tory assumed you were a prude, you assumed Tory was a criminal-"
"Okay in my defense, the day I met Tory she was stealing alcohol, and talking about stealing silverware" Sam pointed a finger at me
"Sam, need I remind you when you got so pissing drunk you came to my dad for help?" I raised an eyebrow at her "Where do you think that alcohol came from? We were all under age! Also you kissed Tory's boyfriend!"
"Okay but!-" Sam cut herself off, searching for an explanation, I didn't even have to give her a look this time "....... Yeah" she sighed
"Tory's……. story, as sobby as it is….. is real" I assured "Just like mine. She's had it hard, with no one to support her, and while that doesn't excuse the shit she's done…. It does help explain it"
"But everyone's got a sob story" Sam backed herself up, oh boy "Do you know how hard it was seeing Miguel fall off that balcony?"
"Do you know how hard it was for the guy who fell off that balcony?" I shot back, and Sam backed down "You ever stop and think how Tory felt? He was Tory's boyfriend at the time"
"Yeah well now he's my-" Sam cut herself off again, her face sagging with her shoulders "He-......"
"You still like him" I nodded, Sam took a moment, then nodded back "Yeah, it's kinda obvious, plus….. Eli and Demetri have been trying to get Miguel to make a move all summer"
"Wait seriously?" Sam's eyes widened "Why- why hasn't he?"
"Because he's respectful!" I exclaimed "Miguel is the pinnacle of boyfriend material- don't tell Hawk I said that" Sam giggled as I corrected myself "Anyways, Sam if you wanna date him again, you have to tell him, straight up. No beating around the bush waiting for him to make a move, if you told him you're moving on, he'll move on and find someone else, because he cares about your boundaries"
I watched Sam take all that in, until she realized that I was right, which I don't know why that continues to surprise people, I'm quite the brilliant individual. Sam looked back over at me, leaning over and wrapping her arms around me.
"Thank you Harley" She sighed, as I wrapped my arms around her "Please- keep calling me out, if I can't seem to check myself-"
"No problem girlie" I smiled, hugging her tight to me "Whatever I can"
Sam and I pulled away from each other, both smiling at each other. Suddenly we both heard a sneeze from the other side of the door, we both whipped our heads around, of course they were spying outside. Sam and I both started laughing, Sam fell backwards onto her back, I rolled off the bed and collapsed on the ground, making us both laugh even more.
"You can come in your morons!" Sam shouted, and the door slowly opened revealing Robby and Eli
"Where's El?" I asked, still snickering a bit
"Your mom called him to make pizza" Robby explained
"Everything going okay in here?" Eli asked, looking over us, probably trying to see if there was any blood
"Never better" I smiled, looking up at Sam on the bed
"Thank god" Robby sighed, leaning against the door frame
"Oh! You guys figure out who's throwing down?" Eli asked excitedly
"Yup, Sam" I pointed up at her, she instantly looked down at me in shock
"Wait seriously?" Her eyes were wide "You want me to fight her?"
"You have unfinished beef" I nodded "Make it right, I nagged her in the All Valley, no matter what that little twerp says" Twerp being Kenny "Now it's your time to shine"
"Thanks Harles" Sam smiled "I'll do you proud"
"I know you will" I nodded, standing up with the help of the bed "Plus, these period cramps are kicking me in the ass, I don't know if I got them from mom or what, but mother of all that's holy!"
"Wait, you're having cramps?!" Eli exclaimed, instantly rushing over to me and wrapping his arms around me "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Oh it's not that bad" I waved off, in opposition to my statement five seconds ago
"I've got a hot water bottle in the bathroom, or a bean bag you can microwave if that's better" Sam jumped off the bed "Let's go find you some chocolate"
"Chips" Eli and Robby chorused
"Or chips" Sam giggled
“Thanks” I smiled “And- yeah the water bottle would be nice”
“Aww, I’m so proud of you” Robby gushed dramatically, scruffing up my hair
“Letting us help you” Eli chimed in the same way until I swatted them all away
“Okay okay! Don’t make me regret it” I groaned
We all walked out of Sam's bedroom and back downstairs. Of course Eli insisted on carrying me bridal style, which I couldn't find it in me to complain about. We all went down into the kitchen and made a few more pizza's before the sensei's arrived, and we all piled into the living room to watch the new Maverick movie, which Mr. Larusso graciously paid for. It had been a while since we'd all hung out like this, there was a small part of me that wished Tory was here, Robby had been doing better, but he'd be ten times better with his girlfriend here. I just wanted everyone to be happy and to get along. After the movie was done a recruited some of the other guys to do with dishes for Mrs. Larusso, so she could relax. Sam went to go talk to her dad, while I sat in the living room with dad, and Robby, Miguel and Eli.
“Alright boys we have a choice to make and it’s not gonna be easy” Dad started off, he was talking like he was walking on glass “You’re all badass fighters, but only one of you can get on the mat tomorrow. Alright, Hawk’s the current All Valley champ, but it could’ve gone either way, Diaz is last years champ, that could’ve gone either way too even though Hawk injured Robby in the semis, Hawk didn’t have to fight in the semis this year cause Diaz booked it to Mexico”
“There, that!” I pointed at Dad, looking over at the boys “You see what you’ve put me through? I was there for everything! And the stuff in between”
“How many times are we gonna have to say we’re sorry?” Eli sighed
“Not enough” Miguel and Robby chorused, making all of us chuckle
“Point being you’re all deserving” Dad continued “Larusso, Chozen and I are having a hard time deciding which one of you should go up against Cobra Kai tomorrow, maybe we should just flip a coin”
“A three sided coin?” I raised an eyebrow, dad swung at me which I dodged with a smirk
“We could flip three coins” Dad mumbled
“Oh my gosh-”
“Aye, just cause you got a voice back and your confidence back, doesn’t mean you have to go back to being a smartass”
“Yeah that’s never going away” I shook my head
“Okay, we don’t need to flip any coins, we actually already made up our minds” Miguel spoke up, shocking both dad and I
“Yeah, we talked about it and there’s only one choice” Robby added on, Eli was looking at the both of them in bewilderment, apparently he wasn’t part of this conversation
“It should be Hawk” Miguel smiled
“He beat me fair and square” Robby nodded
“And I bowed out of the last tournament so, he deserves to represent us” Miguel finished off, dad was speechless, and Eli nearly was too
“Wow” nearly speechless “It’s an honor I don’t take lightly. I’m prepared for the challenge”
“Alright, we’ll train tonight” Dad smiled, nodding his head
“Awe, babe” I smiled, leaning over and wrapping my arms around Eli’s neck, pressing a kiss to his cheek “I almost wish I didn’t give Sam the honor so we could throw down together”
“One day hermosa” Eli smiled, turning his head back and pressing his soft lips against mine, kissing Eli is still the best feeling ever
“You two are disgusting” Robby groaned
“Hey give em credit, they’re the most stable relationship our dojos have ever seen” Miguel smirked, giving Eli a gentle punch in the shoulder “Been together since Coyote Creek”
“And we’ve only ever had one big issue” I smiled victoriously “Which ended rather cinematically if you ask me”
“Hell yeah, I saw that kiss” Miguel laughed “Like nothing ever happened”
“Well, I couldn’t stay mad at him forever” I shrugged, hugging Eli closer and tighter to me “Look at this face” I pinched Eli’s cheek, making his groaned lightheartedly
“Yeah well, I was a dick, don’t think that kiss washed everything away though, I’m still apologizing” Eli sighed
“And I forgive you every time” I patted Eli’s tiny mohawk
“Yeah, you guys are kinda disgusting” Dad sighed with a smile, patting Eli on the shoulder as he got up and walked away
-'|'-'|'-'|'-