season 5, episode 1
long, long way from home
chapter song : i could fall in love
167.
One hundred and sixty-seven missed calls.
If you'd told Carmin two weeks ago that she would ditch the end of the All Valley, that she had been training to win for months, to go hunt down her ex best friends dad, she would have judged you with her eyes until you cried.
She had no reason to give up the All Valley, two weeks ago, when she was busy forcing herself to hate her former, best friend. But here she was, stepping off a bus in a part of Mexico that she couldn't pronounce, she'd never been to Mexico, she couldn't speak Spanish.
So why was she here?
Miguel was on the hunt to find himself, to make himself better mentally and emotionally. He had questions and he wanted answers. This had nothing to do with Carmin.
And yet, she had 167 missed calls from just about everyone who she considered friends and family. Her mom, sister, Tod, Demetri, Moon, Tory, Kenny, Meila and Faith, but 67 of those missed calls came from Robby. In just one night, 167 missed calls.
Secretly, Carmin was hoping not just to fully get Miguel back, but she was hoping somewhere in this trip, she'd find herself as well. She didn't want to have to pretend anymore, she didn't want to hurt anymore. She wanted to feel again.
"Now is probably the best time to tell you that I cannot speak Spanish." Carmin chimed as Miguel kindly told the ladies who offered them bracelets that he didn't want them. "Didn't you take Spanish?"
"I took French.. what? I wanted to go to France when I graduated. I would have been using Duolingo if I found out I was going to Mexico. I feel like such a tourist." Miguel laughed at her words, "You'll be fine. I'll do that talking."
"Good because all the Spanish I know is, 'me llamo, Carmin'." Miguel shook his head while she looked around, "I have no idea where we are." Miguel chimed as he held his phone up to no avail as there was no wifi.
"Hey, you guys need some help?" The pair turned to see four men at a weird shaped table by the lake. One blonde man walking up to them, "Ugh yeah! My ugh phones out of service." Miguel explained, "Um if you could help me get to 137 Avenue." Carmin glanced over at the man's friend, who walked over to them.
"Ugh you're in luck, I can show you, easy." The blonde man began to get out his map, Miguel joining him with a smile. Carmin stood back, watching the men in distaste, she had an odd feeling in her chest. Instinctively, she grabbed her taster from her back pocket.
"It is right there, X marks the spot." The man marked the spot, Miguel smiled, "Awesome! Perfect! Thank you!" The man smiled at them as Miguel went to grab the map only for it to be pulled back, "Actually, ugh you two don't mind giving us some pesos? It's just ugh my map, you know?"
"Oh yeah." Miguel glanced at Carmin, who watched them with suspicion in her eyes, "How many?" Miguel questioned, looking back at the blonde, "Ugh 5 bucks?"
"Sure, that sounds more than fair." Miguel handed them the 5, "And how much do you wanna pay for the bag?" Carmin and Miguel shared a confused look, "The bag?"
The man behind them help up Miguel's backpack, Carmin groaned seeing she hadn't been watching him. Miguel went to move to get his bag but was stopped, Carmin grabbed his arm. "We just figured, the reward money. You know since we found your bag and all."
Carmin went to move forwards but was stopped by Miguel, "Okay.. how much are you thinking?" "How much you've got?" The blonde smiled at him, Miguel sighed, Carmin raised an eyebrow at that. Miguel went to pass over the money, but Carmin kicked the blonde in the shin, throwing him into a chokehold before holding the taser to his neck.
"Carmin-." "Give him the bag before I give your friend here a little shock." Carmin winked at the guy in the blue shirt, the blonde went to move but Carmin applied more pressure to his arm causing him to cry in pain. "You know, I've broken peoples bones before, karate and all, things happen.. My mom's also a very powerful women and my brother in laws a good lawyer.. this'll be swooped right under the rug."
Carmin chuckled, Miguel stared at her with wide eyes as she actually went to snap his arm off, "Give the kids the bag, give them the bag." The guy in the blue sweater tossed Miguel the bag, Carmin let the blonde go, he hit the ground roughly. Crying in pain.
Carmin opened her wallet, pulling out a twenty, "Looks like you need it." She aimed the taser at the men while she backed away. "I can't believe you were gonna give them the money."
She shook her head in disapproval while Miguel stared at her pretty shocked, "I can't believe you did that. What if they had attacked you, huh?" Carmin scoffed slightly, "I had to fight everyone in Cobra Kai at once, fighting them would have been a cake walk."
"This the place?" Carmin questioned as she and Miguel came to a stop outside of Castillo Escomdido. "Yeah.. can you wait here.. I mean if things go bad I didn't want you to see that."
Carmin gently grabbed Miguel's hands, "I'll be right here.. and if it goes bad, just don't forget that you have your mom, Yaya and Johnny.. and me. You're just looking for answers to move on with your life, this doesn't have to mean a whole new one, okay?"
Miguel nodded, leaning his head down on hers, "Thank you." Carmin smiled back up at him, "I'd go with you to Mexico, any day." Miguel pulled back smiling down at her, "Not just for this.. but for coming back to me.. I think I was losing my mind the longer you were gone."
She smiled sadly at him, "I'm not going anywhere again." He gently ruffled her hair before stepping towards the place, "Good luck." She called as he walked inside, she glanced around, unsure what to do now that Miguel had ditched her.
Looking around, Carmin smiled as she noticed a group of kids running around, laughing and talking in the language she didn't know. A young girl ran up to her, scaring her, "¿Puedes abrir esto por favor?"
The girl grinned cutely up at her, she handed Carmin a lollipop with a plastic around it. Carmin stared at her unsure, all she knew was please, "Que..? No hablo mucho.. español."
The girl nodded her head, standing silently for a moment before using her hands to signal what she wanted. "Open! Oh! I knew that, why didn't I know that?" She began to open up the candy before handing it over to the girl, who grinned happily. "Muchas gracias, bella dama."
Carmin nodded her head, waving goodbye to the little girl before she headed over to the bench to sit down. She opened her phone, seeing the 167 missed calls, 198 text messages, she knew her mom was likely spamming her.
Tod had messaged her the most though. 90 of those texts were from him. She shook her head with a small sigh as she called Kenny, the boy picked up 2 rings after.
"Carmin?! What happened? Are you okay? Where did you go?" Kenny seemed a little panicked, "Robby was such a mess, man, he thinks you're gonna dump him, but he's like MIA too."
"Hi, I'm fine, I had a side quest to go on and trust me it was more important than the All Valley.. I'm sorry I let you down, Kenny." Kenny went silent for a moment while Carmin stared at the floor, "You didn't let me down.. is it true..? You're done with karate?"
Carmin went silent, swallowing thickly, "Yeah.. I thought it was time, I'm a senior in a few months.. I've got to start applying to things and I don't want karate to stress me out. I've changed a lot, you know?"
"I get the feeling.. but don't worry, Cobra Kai still won the All Valley, Tory totally kicked that Sam girls ass and we won." Tory won. But did she really win? Was the referee paid off too? Carmin didn't know but she had already decided to stay silent.
"That's great, Kenny! And for your first All Valley, you did amazing! You were like the youngest there and made it past so many people. I'm so proud of you."
"I wouldn't have been able to do it without you.. but ugh, you should know that Meila's not talking to me, anymore." Kenny spoke, sadness in his tone, "What, why?"
Carmin furrowed her brows, Kenny bite his lip, knowing that what he would say next would likely upset her. "I got in a fight with Anthony Larusso and let's just say.. she didn't like it."
"Kenny-." Carmin cut herself off seeing Miguel leave the building hurriedly, "Hey, ugh, I've got to go but check on Tory for me. And make it up to Meila. It'll be okay. Love you, bye."
"Careful! Bye! Love you too." Carmin smiled to herself, turning the phone off, so that no one would have her location. She ran after Miguel, "Hey! What happened?!"
"It wasn't him." Miguel sighed, running a hand through his hair, "It's okay. We'll keep looking, yeah?" Miguel nodded his head as they began walking away from the building.
The pair kept walking through a wide open alley, "You know, Faith called me like 28 times. I know that poor girl is stressing." Carmin laughed, laying her head on Miguel's shoulder, "When did you meet her? I feel like she just appeared next to you one day."
"Stalker much?.. Her mom's own this ice cream shop, she works there, I went and she introduced herself. She's so cute-." "Carmin, I just broke up with Sam and Faith seems nice but-."
"Woah, slow your roll down there, I'm not trying to be a match maker, she's a little too good for you. I was thinking.. maybe Demetri or Red or Chris, but still she likes-."
"Hector!" Carmin stopped herself, realizing she almost exposed Faith and the name being called. Miguel stopped too, listening to the conversation between Hector and the boss. Carmin had no idea what was being said but it obviously enticed Miguel.
"Dad?"
"You know, when I called you a stalker, I was kidding, but ugh.. I don't think I'm kidding anymore." Carmin spoke softly as she and Miguel followed after this Hector guy, watching as he happily greeted everyone.
Everyone seemed to know him too. Seemed to love him. He was perfect, but Carmin knew that Carmen Diaz had left this man for a reason. She'd moved to the States to get away from him, there was clearly something wrong.
It might not have been a visible problem to just anyone as right now, he seemed to be an angel on Earth, he was shaking hands. Smiling. Laughing. And waving to anyone who called his name.
"He's pretty popular, isn't he?" Carmin mumbled as she began looking around at everything, it was all so new to her. She was getting to witness and visually see a whole new culture.
She and Miguel walked around the same track as the man, watching as he hugged an old women before moving over to see a younger woman. Grabbing her side, she turned to him with a a wide grin before he kissed her on the lips. Miguel stumbled back slightly.
Carmin patted his back gently, staying silent as she didn't know what to say. Miguel's frown deepened as a little boy ran up to Hector, the man playfully tickling him with a grin on his face.
Miguel squeezed Carmin's hand before continuing to follow after the family, the little boy drifting away, he kicked his soccer ball towards Miguel. Who instantly kicked it up, catching it with his hands, Carmin smiled slightly at the little boy, who watched the pair.
"Hey. Uh, hola, me llamo Miguel." Carmin felt her eyes go teary only imagining what Miguel was thinking as he passed the boy his soccer ball. "Y tu? Tu nombre."
The little boy smiled back when his mom suddenly called him, "Luis!" The boy took off running, Carmin retook Miguel's hand, "Come on." She pulled him to head off after the family, knowing Miguel needed to work the courage to say something.
The pair continued after them, Carmin looking around while Miguel watched the family. He was picturing what his life could have looked like, she knew that much. But as they came up to a street, Carmin glanced at the family, seeing Luis kick a ball into the street.
Her gaze instantly went to the car coming down the road, "Miguel-." "Luis!" In an instant, Miguel and Carmin both sprung towards the street, Miguel had snatched the boy off the street while Carmin yanked them both back before the car could hit them.
Hector threw his arms up at the car before turning back to his son.. sons, the woman checking Luis over while Carmin and Miguel watched. "Oye muchas gracias. De verda, lo que hiciste fue simplemente increíble."
Carmin only smiled, only understanding the 'thank you', she was definitely going to start using Duolingo after this. "Uh.. no fue nada.
Estuvimos aquí en el momento adecuado."
"¿De dónde es tu acento?" Carmin smiled down at the little boy, while Miguel handled the conversation. "Soy Americano." The man let out an 'oh' and a small laugh while Miguel sheepishly grinned.
"Entonces we are lucky our paths crossed." His English came out, Carmin grinned more, knowing he'd understand her, "No Spanish?"
Carmin shook her head softly, "I'm Korean-Canadian.. so I speak a little bite." Miguel laughed at her words as did Hector, "Ambos salvaron a mi hijo. ustedes son héroes."
The woman smiled at them, nodding her head happily, "¿Cómo puedo pagarte?" Carmin shook her head understanding that sentence as Miguel uttered a 'no'.
"Poe favor cena con nosotros." She continued, smiling at them gratefully, "No." Miguel shook his head, "Hey. Please, we insist. It's the least we can do." Miguel looked to Carmin, who glanced at the family, "Okay, we'd love too."
The couple grinned at the fact they had agreed, "Oh, uh, I'm Hector Salazar." He stuck his hand out to Miguel first, "Uh.. Miguel." Miguel replied as Hector stuck his hand out to Carmin, "Soy-."
"Viola." Miguel finished, Carmin looked at Miguel a little confused before remembering his mom's name, Hectors ex, had her name as well. So she just nodded her head. "It's wonderful to meet you Miguel, Viola."
"It's nice to meet you too." Miguel grinned in reply, Carmin smiling beside him. "Oh.. this is strange, I feel like, uh, we've met somewhere before." Hector stared at Miguel with a slight hint in his eyes, "I don't think we have."
Miguel laughed but gently squeezed Carmin's hand, she held back a laugh, "Well, maybe you're a stranger, but tonight, you're family. Okay?"
"Okay." Miguel and Carmin called in unison, "Okay? Vamos." Carmin stood beside the woman, "I'm Maria." The woman introduced, grinning her at Carmin, "Viola."
.
﹒⪩⪨﹒
﹒⪩⪨﹒
﹒⪩⪨﹒