Despite Robby moving out of Molly's house so she wouldn't have to waste gas driving him everywhere, Molly picked Robby up from the LaRusso's and they drove to a small cafe by Miyagi-Do to discuss their new plan to fake date.
They sat at the patio of the cafe, Molly having a iced chai latte and a blueberry muffin so she could have some food in her stomach before karate while Robby just ripped off a couple pieces of Molly's muffin to snack on.
"Okay so, we need to come up with some ground rules." Molly said, taking a sip of her drink. She wasn't going to write out any rules. This was already a crazy plan enough and with her luck, someone would find their page of rules.
Robby raised his eyebrows, a small smile on his face as he put a ripped piece of Mollys muffin into his mouth. "Ground rules? We're gonna pretend to date. Simple as that." He shrugged out.
Molly rolled her eyes and scoffed. She turned back to Robby and shook her head. "We have to know what we're both comfortable with. What we both like." She explained before Molly took a bite of her muffin, the inner corners of her eyebrows lifting slightly. "Haven't you seen any fake dating romance movie?" She asked once she swallowed her food.
Robby leaned back in his seat and shook his head. Mollys eyes widened, leaning closer to the table—closer to Robby.
"The Proposal?"
Robby shook his head.
"Pretty Woman?" She asked and Robby muttered a small "nuh-uh."
"To All the Boys I've Loved Before?" Mollys asked. If Robby knew any fake dating romance movie, it'd have to be this one.
But just like his other responses, Robby shook his head. Molly slumped in her seat. "Really? Not even that one? It's on Netflix." She said and Robby gave Molly a deadpan look, his arms crossed.
"I didn't even have electricity, Molly. What makes you think I'd have Netflix?" He asked and Molly huffed.
"Okay, whatever. I'll just make you watch them. Either way, we need to still plan this thing." Molly explained and Robby was still confused, shrugging his shoulders. "Like what?" He asked.
"Like... how did we start dating? We have to have the same story." Molly explained.
Robby nodded, finally starting to understand why Molly insisted they meet up before either of them told people they were fake dating. He leaned forward in his seat as well, he and Molly now leaning forward on their ends of the table.
"After Valley Fest you went straight home, right? You didn't hang out with anybody? " Robby asked. Molly nodded, grabbing her drink. "Yeah." She answered, taking a sip.
"Okay. How about... After Valley Fest, I walked you to your car and asked you out? We can tell people today was our first date." Robby suggested.
A big grin grew on Mollys face and she nodded excitedly. "Perfect." She said happily. Molly nodded, feeling her face warm up before she spoke again. "Okay, next, how we act around other people. Like public displays of affection."
Robby nodded in agreement and Molly didn't notice the boys cheeks starting to turn pink. Molly took a bite of her muffin and shrugged.
"I like it. Nothing too crazy, but I do like to just always be touching my partner. Holding hands, close proximity, cheek, temple, or hand kisses." Molly explained, a bashful smile on her face. "Wrap your arm around my shoulders or waist. Put you hand on the small of my back when we're walking somewhere public."
Mollys eyes had been on her muffin while she spoke and when she looked up at Robby, she finally noticed his slight blush and dropped jaw.
A small panic washed over Molly and she quickly shook her head. "If that's all okay with you, of course."
Robby realized his reaction to Mollys words could've looked like he was uncomfortable. He shook his head reassuringly and let out a small laugh. "Fine by me."
Molly let out a relieved breath and calmed down, she shoulder falling slightly. She nodded, glad that Robby was comfortable before she perked up, her eyes wide. "Oh!" She yelled, making Robby's eyes widen. "But no..." Molly paused, pointing at her lips. "Actual kisses."
Robby looked absolutely dumbfounded, shaking his head crazily. "What? How are we going to look like a couple if we don't kiss?" He asked, almost sounding upset that he wouldn't be kissing Molly.
"Look, it's just..." Molly sighed and licked her teeth. She looked inside the cafe and raised her shoulders as a way to keep herself closed off. "Kissing is a lot more... personal. For me it is at least. If I'm going to kiss someone, I want it to be real. Even if we're pretending to be real."
It was silent between the two, Robby letting Molly's words sink in. After a couple seconds, he nodded. "Okay." He said, making Molly turn back to him. He gave her a reassuring smile. "No actual kissing. Is there anything else?" He asked and Molly's smile widened.
"That's it!" She said cheerfully, glad the plan was finally about to start. "Once we shake on it, we have officially become fake boyfriend and girlfriend."
Robby's smile fell, a small grimace making its way on to his face. "We seriously have to shake on it?" He asked and Molly tilted her head, a taunting smile on her face as she put her hand over the table and towards Robby for him to shake.
"Yes."
Robby rolled his eyes, holding back a smile. He pulled his hand out from his lap and grabbed Molly's hand. A small spark shot between the two as they shook hands and they both smiled.
...
Molly ended up being late to karate. Once she parked, Molly had to change into her gi in the backseat of her Jeep.
She walked into the dojo frazzled, worried that Johnny would yell at her for being late. All of the other students were still stretching, both Sensei Lawrence and Sensei Kreese were still in the office and hadn't noticed Molly was late.
Molly quickly joined the crowd of students, walking right up to Aisha and sitting down beside her to stretch her legs.
Aisha's eyes widened as Molly joined up to her. "There you are! Why are you so late? I thought you stopped dropping Robby off at Miyagi-Do?"
Molly let out a breath of air and started to lean forward to grab her leg so she was more warmed up for class. "I did."
Aisha squinted at Molly. "Then... why were you late?"
Molly smirked to herself, her eyes on her stretched out foot ahead of her instead of Aisha. She looked around the room to see if anybody could hear them and noticed both Hawk and Miguel looking over at them with confused looks from a few feet away.
Molly turned her smirk into a giddy smile and turned to Aisha. "I had a date." She responded, making sure her voice sounded a little nervous.
Her smile grew as Aisha's eyes widened. "What?! With who?" She yelled, not even caring if anyone overheard their conversation. Molly's smile only grew more as she leaned closer to Aisha.
"Robby." Molly answered just above a whisper.
Before Aisha could react, their Sensei's walked out from their office.
"Everybody, fall in!"
All of the students got up and got into their rows. Molly was dead center, standing in between Aisha and Hawk. Johnny smirked at all of the new students lined up towards the back of the class. "Time to see what you're made of."
He started to walks through his rows of students, weaving his way between them so he could see how his new students looked. It was silent as he did so until he started making his way back towards the front and stopping when he noticed a grown man standing with the kids.
"Sorry, parents can't stay for class. It's an insurance thing."
A deep laugh from the "parent" Johnny was talking to made Molly turn around. Her eyes widened when she did actually see a grown man standing Aisha's row beside her.
"Oh, I'm not a dad. I'm here to kick some ass, sir." The man chuckled out and Molly felt a little queasy. She did not feel comfortable fighting grown men. Molly turned to Aisha beside her just as Aisha turned to her after looking back at the man too.
The two girls made nervous faces to each other before Kreese cleared his throat. The girls jumped—Molly was frightened by the man, and looked front:
"I'm not afraid of kids, sir. And my mom doesn't charge me rent so... I have cash to burn." The man said.
It was quiet between Johnny and the man. Molly closed her eyes and silently hoped Johnny would tell the man to leave.
"We'll consider this a trial run." Johnny answered and Molly groaned, opening her eyes just as Johnny walked back to the front of the class from between her and Aisha.
"I thought my last group of recruits was pathetic." He said as he readjusted his stance once he was standing beside Sensei Kreese. "But if you do what I tell you to do, you'll at least have a chance of becoming a fighter. But to do that, you gotta fight. So, which one of you has the balls to take on the champ?"
Molly was bummed Johnnys question was only towards the new recruits. She never gets to spar with Miguel, always somehow getting stuck with either Hawk, Aisha, or Bert.
"I'll take him on!"
Molly smiled at the female voice coming from behind her. She turned around just as all the students parted to reveal the girl.
"Oh, you will, huh?" Johnny asked in amusement. The girl smiled and looked around at all of the students. "I saw your little demo at Valley Fest. You guys can put on a show. Can you actually fight?"
"That sounds like a challenge." Johnny said and the girl shrugged. "I like challenge."
Molly turned back to Sensei Lawrence and watched as he smirked. He backed up to stand off the mat and turned to Miguel. "Mr. Diaz! Show Little Miss Hotshot what Cobra Kai is all about."
All of the students walked off the mat and just like their positions when they fall in, Molly ended up in between Hawk and Aisha. Hawk was standing closer to Molly considering the grown man was on the other side of him and Molly smiled.
Even though Molly wanted to take a small side step closer to Hawk so their shoulders were touching, she knew she had to hold back. As far as Aisha's concerned, she was dating Robby now.
As Miguel and the girl started to fight, Aisha leaned towards Molly but kept her eyes on the fight.
"So when did... that happen?" She asked, making both Molly and Hawk look away from the fight, Molly looking to Aisha and Hawk looking to Molly.
Molly smiled, an unknowing blush growing on her face that only made her act better. "After Valley Fest."
Aisha turned completely away from the fight, now fully invested in how Molly and Robby came to be. "You're telling me that Cobra Kai steals Miyagi-Do's set at Valley Fest and he still asked you out afterwards?" Aisha's dropped jaw turned into a smile and she laughed. "Man, that boy is whipped!"
Hawk felt his heart sink at Aisha's words. His head felt fuzzy and he felt his stomach twist. "Wait, you and Robby are dating?" He asked. His hands, usually so steady and controlled, clench and unclench at his sides
Molly turned around to Hawk beside her with big eyes. The air between immediate charged with tension. The dojo suddenly felt too small, too intimate in this moment.
Molly knew this part of the plan would happen soon. This was the main point. What she needed. She needed to prove to Hawk she moved on. To make him jealous. She practiced this exact moment.
Yet looking into his eyes, Molly could see right through Hawks tough demeanor. She could see the small crease his eyebrows made upward from their inner corner, the small shake of his eyelids, and the way he just barely bit his lip.
As she observed Hawk, Molly felt a twist of guilt for the role she played in his pain. She had hoped to stir some reaction from him—that was the point of this plan anyway—but seeing the effects of her plan made the victory feel a little hollow.
As they stand there, the distance between them felt further than ever, despite their close physical proximity. Hawk's heart ached with a mix of jealousy, regret, and a longing to go to a time before this complexity, before he fucked everything up and before Robby's name became a wedge between them.
Mollys plan was working.
Molly swallows the lump of guilt in her throat and nodded. If she wanted to win Hawk back, she had to play the part completely.
She smiled, hiding the guilt as best she could and nodded her head. "Uh... Yeah. We just had our first date." Molly struggled to get the words out of her, but hoped it was played off as being nervous talking to your ex about your new relationship for Hawk and Aisha.
Hawk nodded once, wrestling with his feelings, trying his hardest not to let them show.
But Molly knew him. She knew her words were eating him up on the inside. She took a deep breath to control her feelings as Hawk looked down to the ground.
As soon as he looked back up at her, Mollys nervously happy demeanor came right back. Hawk forced a smile onto his face, only being able to meet Mollys eyes for a second before he looked right past her head instead. "Congrats, Molly. I'm happy for you."
He didn't give Molly a chance to reply before he turned back to the fight. Molly continued to watched Hawk. Her face fallen and her eyes soft as she watched him blink as fast as he could, trying his hardest to hide any sadness he felt in that moment.
The sudden sound of Miguel throwing the girl to the ground pulled Molly's attention away from her guilt and the boy beside her, finally freeing her of the horrible position she had put herself in.
The girl was on the ground, Miguel standing above her. He stuck his arm out to help her up as he caught his breath. "My names Miguel."
The girl looked back and forth between Miguel and his hand. "Tory." She answered before grabbing Miguel's hand and flipping him over.
Molly and Aisha gasped, Aisha laughing through hers as Molly grabbed onto Aisha's arm in shock as they watched Tory kneel over Miguel, his hand twisted behind his back and his face pushed into the mat by Tory's hand.
"With a Y."
Molly let out an airy laugh, looking to Aisha beside her. When the two girls locked eyes, Molly nodded. "Oh, she's becoming our friend." Molly whispered and Aisha hummed in agreement.
"For sure." Aisha answered as they did their handshake without looking and turning back to Tory, both of them smiling as they watched the girl.
...
After class, Aisha and Molly changed out of their gi's and went to the market next door. The girls were grabbing snacks to take to the beach club when Robby texted.
how was karate?
Molly quickly texted back as Aisha looked over the girls shoulder to see who had texted her. She groaned when she saw Molly's contact name for Robby, "robby<3."
Just as Aisha groaned, Tory walked by. "Let me guess. Dick pic?" She asked and Aisha scoffed. "No. Couples being couple-y."
Molly laughed, looking up at Aisha with a nervous but defensive smile. "It was one text!" She defended, her voice going up about an octave higher. Tory smirked at the smiling Molly in front of her. She grabbed what she wanted off the shelves and nodded her head towards the exit of the market.
"You and that guy with the mohawk, right? I saw the eyes he was giving you." Tory asked, a big grin on her face.
Aisha's smile fell and Molly's eyes widened just slightly. She blinked a couple of times as a small sense of hopefulness flickered in her stomach. Molly was frozen before she realized she'd have to correct Tory.
Molly shook her head and let out a breath of air to control her nerves, out of the corner of her eyes, Molly could see Aisha watching her with a confused look. Molly pulled her lips into a line and held back huffing. She was really gonna have to work on hiding her feelings towards Hawk.
"Oh, um... he's actually my ex so..." Molly awkwardly answered. Tory just laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "So... I'm still right. That dude was looking at you like a sad, lost little puppy." She said, doing a "baby voice" for her last sentence to make fun of Hawk.
"Anyway!" Aisha interrupted, wanting to get the topic off of Hawk for Molly's sake. She raised her hand and pressed it to her chest. "I'm Aisha and this is Molly." She said, introducing herself before pointing at Molly beside her.
"Tory." The girl said back. Molly looked to Torys hands and smiled at her bracelets, one of them having spikes all around it.
"Sick bracelet." Molly breathed out. Tory looked down at her wrist and smiled. "Oh, this?" She asked. She looked back up to Molly and Aisha and smiled menacingly. "It's not just for show. Some creepy guy at the mall tried to grab me once, but I managed to block him and give him a gift he won't ever forget."
Molly was absolutely amazed by the girl, nodding her head. "Badass..." She whispered under her breath, but Tory heard her and raised her eyebrows. "Not as badass as smashing boards blindfolded." She said, referencing Molly and Aisha's act in the Valley Fest.
The two girls smiled sheepishly. "You saw that." Aisha asked and Tory smiled. She was holding back a lot of her smile so she didn't seem too desperate to be Aisha and Molly's friends, but her smile was still extremely prominent. She nodded her head, a small "mhm" leaving her lips.
"This girl..." Aisha started, gesturing to Molly beside her. "She's some... crazy master with her punches. But for mortals like us," She then gestured to herself. "The trick is to poke holes into your blindfold."
Molly scoffed, rolling her eyes as she smiled. "God, you sound like Demetri." She muttered before realizing Tory was starting to leave. Molly straightened up. She wanted to keep getting to know Tory and she knew Aisha felt the same.
"Hey, wait!" Molly announced, making Tory stop walking and turn back around to Molly and Aisha. Molly smiled, looking at Aisha for a silent approval and when Aisha nodded, Molly turned back to Tory. "Aisha and I were gonna head to the beach club. Do you want to come?"
emily speaks...
i'm actually in the biggest predicament of my life because of moli and mobby
LIKE HELLO???
THAT MOBBY SCENE WAS SO CUTE
BUT. THAT. MOLI. SCENE.
ANYWAY NEXT CHAPTER SOON I WOULDVE MADE THIS ONE BIG CHAPTER BUT I WANTED THIS OUT ASAP AND I HAVENT FINISHED THE BEACH CLUB SCENE YET