"She looked at me
And this is what she said
Oh, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothing in this world for free"
___
~ Ain't no rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant
C H A P T E R T E N
After class Maeve was exhausted.
She hadn't done that much exercise in forever.
Right now she was laying on a mat and watched her boyfriend kick a punching bag.
Suddenly Tory entered.
"You playing footsie or practicing your roundhouse?" She asked chuckling.
"Think fast!" She told him and tossed a kicking thingy at him.
That made Maeve realize that she really needed to lern the names of those items.
"Let me show you how it's done." Tory told him smirking.
Maeve sat up on the mat.
"Yeah, you show him Tory!" Maeve supported her friend, making Miguel turn to her.
"Ok." He said sarcastically.
Tory gave two strong kicks to the gloves before Miguel let his arms fall to his side.
"Today's lesson was crazy, huh?" He asked them.
"Yeah, totally. That dude's mad." Maeve told them with wide eyes.
Tory furrowed her eyebrows at them.
"Not that crazy." She said before kicking at the gloves again.
Miguel had a thoughtful look on his face.
"Don't you think that some of what sensei Kreese is teaching us just... feels wrong? That life is only about winning?" He asked her.
Tory starred at her two friends with a vulnerable look on her face.
"My mom worked at this restaurant when I was little. And she'd brig leftovers, so my brother and I had enough to eat. When the manager found out... he fired her. No warning. No notice. He said it was against the company policy. And she... she wasn't stealing. The food was gonna end up in the trash. The world shows no mercy. So, why should we? Some people have it good, but the rest of us, we have to fight for every inch of what's ours. Not just to score a point. For everything." She told them.
Maeve was now standing beside Miguel with tears in her eyes.
Some people were just so cruel.
"Thank you for sharing that with us." Maeve told the taller girl, holding her hand.
Tory nodded at her, before turning back to Miguel.
"Hands up. And you're next." She told Maeve to which she groaned.
Later that day Maeve walked home with Miguel.
"So... you wanna come over later?" Maeve asked him once they reached their apartments.
"Sure. As long as sensei doesn't mind." He told her holding her waist softly.
"I'm sure he won't mind. You're his best student aren't you?" She asked him playfully, making him shake his head chuckling.
"Besides, he won't be home till tomorrow. Still out with his friends." She told him.
Miguel smiled at her, pulling her even closer towards him.
"When should I come over?" He asked whispering.
Maeve put her own hands on his shoulders.
"I'll call you when I'm back home." She told him.
This made him look at her confused.
"I promised Robby that we'll meet up to eat ice cream to celebrate my birthday. And he's starting to bug me." She told him rolling her eyes.
Maeve felt him tense up at her half-brothers name.
"All right, see you later then?" He asked.
"Definitely." She smiled before leaning up to kiss him.
They stayed like this for quite some time, just kissing each other.
Suddenly someone cleared their throat behind them.
Carmen was standing at the door with a big grin and a trash bag in hand.
Maeve immediately blushed and let go of him.
"Hello you two. How was training?" She asked them still smiling.
"It was good. It was just sensei Kreese today since sensei's gone for a while." Miguel told his mother. Carmen frowned.
"Oh, Maeve you're more then welcome to stay with us, until he gets back." She told her worried.
Maeve looked at her surprised.
"Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude." She told her still nervous, but Carmen shook her head.
"No, no. You're staying with us. I can't let you be alone eating only slim Jim's. Get your stuff and come over. Miguel take out the trash and help her." She ordered them.
"All right." Maeve told her smiling.
So after they packed all her stuff for the night and brought it over to his place, Maeve said goodbye.
She quickly took a shower in her own apartment and made her way towards the LaRusso house where she was told to meet Robby.
—————
When she arrived, Maeve couldn't help put stare at the nice house in front of her.
She always thought Aisha's place was big, but this was something else.
After a few seconds of convincing herself to ring the doorbell, she finally did.
A pretty brown haired woman opened the door and looked at her surprised.
"Hello, I'm Maeve, Robby's sister." Maeve told her smiling nervously.
Suddenly the woman's face lit up.
"Yes, of course. I'm Amanda, nice too meet you. Please come in." She told her shaking her hand.
Maeve stepped into the house.
"Thank you. It's nice to meet you too."
She awkwardly stood in the middle of the room looking around for Robby.
"Robby'll be here in just a second, do you want something to drink?" She asked her, making Maeve smile softly.
"No, thank you."
No wonder Robby likes it so much here. Maeve though to herself.
"Come on we're going to be late." Sam yelled as she came down the stairs after her brother.
Robby gave her a smile and hugged her tightly.
"Happy late birthday Mae!" He told her and she immediately smiled at his old nickname for her.
"Thanks Swayze." She mocked him playfully, making Sam chuckle fro behind him.
Maeve turned to look at the blue eyed girl and she had to admit it was incredibly uncomfortable to see her boyfriend's ex.
"Happy Birthday Maeve." She told her softly.
"Thanks." Maeve smiled back at her.
She obviously couldn't not like her after all they did for Robby.
Suddenly there was stumbling from the stairs and Demetri came down with a nicely packed present in his hands.
"Sorry, I had to use the restroom." He told them, making Maeve shake her head at him, smiling.
"Happy Birthday!" He said awkwardly and hugged the girl which must've looked weird since he was so much taller then her.
After he let go of her he gave her the present.
"It's from all of us." He told her pointing at himself and the others.
Maeve was surprised that Sam had also participated in her birthday gift.
Inside the box were many small items, she could see skincare and immediately knew that Sam picked those.
There were also a few pictures of Robby and Maeve when they were younger and also of Demetri, Maeve and... Eli.
They looked so happy together.
There was still some other stuff inside the box, but she decided that she could explore those later.
"Thank you so much guys!" She told them grinning.
Sam drove them to the ice cream shop and all four of them sat down.
Maeve was sitting in a row with Demetri, while Sam and Robby sat in front of them.
There was an awkward silence between them and Maeve was glad when the waitress came with their order.
"So... did Chris and the others join Miyagi-Do?" She asked Robby who was sitting in front of her.
"Yes, I'm glad they did, now we can rotate more." He told her and Maeve smiled at him.
"Oh, by the way I beat Hawk today in a fight." Maeve told Demetri excitedly.
He looked at her with wide eyes.
"Really? I thought you didn't do karate?" He asked.
"No I usually just watch them train, but I've been feeling a little bit anxious when I'm out alone lately, so Miguel is teaching me some stuff." She told him, that made Robby's smile disappear.
"You know that he trashed our dojo right?" He asked.
"No he didn't. He was with me all night, so it wasn't him."
Sam suddenly looked up.
"What do you mean he was with you 'all night'?" She asked the blond girl.
Maeve was surprised.
She didn't think that after all this time Sam would still get jealous.
"Aisha threw a surprise party for me, so he was there and since we live next to each other we walked home together. He didn't even look angry or something." She explained herself.
She didn't want them to know that she was dating the boy, that would only make everything worse.
"But can we please not talk about the rivalry? I just want to celebrate my birthday with you guys and have fun." Maeve told them softly.
And that was exactly what they did.
Not once did they talk about Cobra Kai of Miyagi-Do after that.
—————
Later that night Robby and Sam drove her home.
"Thanks for driving me and for the nice gift." She told them smiling.
"No problem." Sam told her.
"Yeah. I'll text you later, see you Mae." Robby told her.
Maeve laughed. "See you Swayze."
Maeve knocked on her neighbors door and a few seconds later Carmen answered.
"Come in. I just finished cooking dinner." She told her smiling.
Maeve saw Miguel help lay the table and went to help him.
"Hey, how was the ice cream?" He asked her kissing her cheek.
"It was really good, we definitely have to go there some time." She told him grinning.
The whole dinner they just talked about their day and afterwards Maeve offered to help with the dishes.
Carmen of course didn't want that so she made them go in Miguel's room.
"I love your family. Everyone's so sweet." She told him smiling as she let herself fall onto his bed.
Miguel only chuckled.
He laid down beside her and wrapped an arm around her.
"So, do you want to watch a movie or something?" He asked her, brushing a pice of hair behind her ear.
She smiled softly at him. "Yeah, we could watch the second Narnia movie?" She asked.
"Sounds like a plan." The brown haired boy said, but instead of getting up he leaned in to kiss her gently.
Maeve quickly returned the kiss and it wasn't long before her hands were tangled in his hair. They were making out for at least half an hour, their hands exploring each other's body.
Her shirt must've slipped up a little bit, so when Miguel went to put his hand on her waist again he touched her bare skin.
She knew he didn't do that on purpose, he'd never do that, but it still made her uncomfortable.
It reminded Maeve of that night of the Halloween dance, only that Miguel's hands were way softer and in no way forceful.
Maeve tried to block out the images and feelings of that night that were swirling around in her head, but she couldn't do it.
Disappointed in herself she pushed Miguel away a little bit.
"I have to go to the bathroom, can you put the movie on?" She asked him softly.
He smiled at her. "Yeah, sure."
On her way to the bathroom she took her phone with her.
Once she locked the door Maeve immediately texted Tory.
She knew that the older girl had been in similar situations before.
Tory immediately called her when she got her text. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked worried.
"Hey, I can't talk that loud I'm in Miguel's bathroom." She whispered.
"Wait, what are you doing at his house that late at night?" Tory asked smirking.
Maeve sighed. "My dad's still gone until tomorrow, so his mom asked me to stay over. Anyways, I haven't told this to anyone before so please don't tell anyone. Last Halloween we had a dance at school, it was right after Miguel moved here. He had some beef with these guys at school so of course he wanted to fight back. The problem was, that he wasn't good enough at karate yet so they beat him up... really bad. Once I heard what was going on I tried to help him, but this one guy grabbed me... and he... touched me. He called me a slut while doing it. And ever since that night I just feel so uncomfortable whenever a boy touches me like that. Like me and Miguel were just making out for like half an hour and nothing was wrong and suddenly my shirt must've lifted up a little, so he touched my skin and that made me feel so horrible and I know that he'd never hurt me like that. It just makes me so angry that I keep remembering stuff like that. It's just not fair." Maeve began to ramble and Tory just listened to everything she had to say.
Maeve didn't even realize that she was crying.
"My god, that sounds so horrible." Tory whispered.
"The most important thing is, don't be mad at yourself. It wasn't your fault. Be mad at that little fucker who did that to you. And of course you'll remember what happened for some time, because that's not something that you'll just forget... I say talk to Miguel. Tell him how you feel and what you don't feel comfortable with. It'll make everything so much easier for both of you, trust me. And don't worry I won't tell anyone." Tory told her softly.
Maeve sniffed. "Yeah, ok. I can do that." Maeve said quietly.
Tory chuckled softly. "Of course you can. You're strong." She told her. And with that they hung up.
When Maeve entered his room again he was already laying on his bed.
"Hey, is everything ok? You were in there for quite some time?" He asked her worried and when he saw her puffy eyes he immediately stood up and walked towards her.
"Hey, what happened?" He asked softly, gently hugging her.
"It's just... can we sit down please?" She asked.
"Yeah." He held her hand as they sat back on the bed.
"I'm sorry for just running away after that. It's just... I keep remembering that night on Halloween. I know it seems silly, but earlier when you accidentally touched my skin I got all those flashbacks. I know you'd never hurt me like that, but I just can't get that out of my head." She told him while playing with his hand, to avoid looking at him.
"Maeve, I'm so sorry, I'll never do that again. We can take it as slow as you want to, I won't pressure you to do anything you don't feel comfortable with. And I'm glad you told me." He told her, gently lifting her chin up.
Maeve smiled at him. "Thank you." She whispered, hugging him.
"Not for this." He told her. After that they finally watched the movie and cuddled until they both fell asleep.
—————
I don't know how often I'll be able to update for the next few weeks since I still have two exams this month and one early in December😐. But I'll try my best to make it work.
Also Biden won the election! 😍😍🎉🎉💙💙 I might be German but girl I was watching the news like a Hawk. 😂
I hope you enjoyed this chapter💕
Have a great day!