─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after doing all of her chores, diego managed to convince esther to allow tabitha to attend the brunch. the girl asked for theo to drop her off at the spa and he didn't question the request, seeing as he would always give her rides before she moved in with their grandfather.

but there was a different reason. since coming back from mexico, tabitha was paranoid. she didn't even want to think of what her father and grandfather would do or say when they saw her. so, she thought it'd be best to always stick by someone.

her twin brother dropped her off outside of the spa and sam came to greet them as they parked. she first embraced her boyfriend before turning to the girl. "i'm glad you're okay." sam said, her voice soft.

"yeah." tabby nodded, a small smile on her lips. "thanks for uh, checking up on me. i appreciate it." she said. sam couldn't help but grin at her words, a part of her believing things between her and tabby could actually work out. "don't mention it." she said.

"you guys have fun." theo spoke as he moved back over his car. "tell yasmin and moon i said hi." he called out. sam waved goodbye to him before putting her arm out to tabitha. her body froze, staring at sam's hand with incredulity. tabby didn't know what to do— this wasn't a familiar gesture to her. especially not one from sam.

she quickly shook her head before reluctantly reaching over and setting her hand in sam's. they intertwined their fingers before pushing the door of the spa open. as they stepped into the spa, the soothing scent of lavender and eucalyptus filled the room.

she spotted moon and yasmin immediately. they were seated in the waiting area, chatting aimlessly, their polished nails already hinting at a completed manicure. moon noticed them first and jumped to her feet, her face lighting up like the sun.

"tabitha! oh my gosh, it's so good to see you!" moon exclaimed, pulling tabitha into a tight hug before she could react. "uh—yeah, you too," tabitha muttered, her voice muffled against moon's shoulder. she awkwardly patted moon's back before they separated.

yasmin stood, looking her up and down. the two were never good friends, yasmin was closer to theo than she was tabitha. but she had nothing against her. "glad you could make it. we've already checked in and your robe is in the locker room. first things first, nails done." she said.

tabby nodded, "sounds fun."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"sweet. thanks, aurora. tell rico i said hey." eli grinned, giving his new tattoo artist a fist bump as he sat up from the chair.  "wow. man, you are really going all-in on miyagi-do, huh?" demetri alexopoulos spoke, stepping over to him and tossing his shirt to his face.

"its a lotus flower." eli chuckled. "symbolises a new beginning, which is what i have now... besides, the reaper was a b¡tch to cover up. so a giant flower was the only option."

theo gave him a nod of approval, "it looks great, man." he said. "i wish i had the strength to get a tattoo." eli patted him on his back, "let me know when you do. i could get you a sick discount." he offered. theo grinned, "nice!"

"hey, miguel. you good?" demetri asked, his gaze now on the boy dozing off in one of the waiting seats. "yeah." he nodded, standing up. "uh, tired from the trip is all." he stepped over to them, giving eli a thumbs up and a smile, silently complementing his tattoo.

"well i mean, yeah, you spent how many hours in a car with robby?" eli asked. "yeah, i've never seen you around him for more than two minutes without a john wick-style fight breaking out." demetri joked.

"yeah for sensei's sake, i've trying not to let it get to that point. even if he deserves it." miguel grumbled. "and tabby made things manageable anyways. and robby says he's done with cobra kai, though. we'll see how that goes."

"are you guys all good then? tabby, i mean. obviously not robby." demetri clarified. miguel nodded, with a wide smile. "all good. i think the trip actually brought us closer together." he shrugged.

theo smiled, glad the two could finally have some peace. "i'm so happy for you two." he spoke. eli began to nudge him in the arm, "what about you, big guy? sam's your girlfriend now, right?" he asked.

"yes, she is." theo said, softly chuckling. miguel clapped his hands with excitement, "holy shit, dude! that's the great!" he grinned. theo nervously scratched the back of his neck while he beamed, "it's going good."

"wow." demetri sighed. "look at us. all with girlfriends—" theo and miguel gave him a look of disbelief, signalling him to be quiet. but demetri didn't catch it. "and we couldn't be happier." eli cringed at his best friend's words, unsure what to say. he cleared his throat, wondering what to say. luckily for him, his phone chimed in his pocket and caught their attention.

"who's texting you?" demetri asked the boy. "moon?" he taunted. eli nervously chuckled, switching his phone on to check the notification. demetri was already leaning over his friend's shoulder and managed to see the message. "rowan?" he questioned with confusion.

"your rowan?" miguel questioned, pointing to theo. eli nodded, "yeah, uh... we were friends in freshman year but we kind of drifted apart."

demetri scoffed, "more like he stopped speaking to you." he remarked. eli frowned, smacking the boy on his chest, "dude!" he exclaimed with irritation. demetri held his hands up in defence, "i'm not wrong? i remember how heartbroken you were when he pretended you didn't exist."

"shut up. i wasn't heartbroken." eli grumbled underneath his breath. theo furrowed his eyebrows. "i mean, you guys seem pretty close now, like at mine after the tournament." he reminded him.

eli winced at theo's words as demetri's eyes grew wide. "that's where you were? i thought you said you couldn't hang out?" he reminded his friend. eli shrugged, "tabitha was m.i.a. they were all worried about her. and-and i wasn't just there for rowan." he clarified. "she's my friend."

theo was confused. eli was definitely just there for rowan, they had gone up to the guest room to hang out alone. but he didn't want to expose eli completely.

"why are you spending your time with rowan? i thought you wanted to get back together with moon." demetri said. eli shook his head, "no. moon—moon and i are just friends. and rowan's my friend too! i think. i don't know."

"why, what happened?" miguel questioned. the boy sighed, "i really messed things up with him." he explained. "is that why he's saying he wants to talk?" demetri asked, referring to the text message he saw. eli nodded, "i think so? i don't know."

"what did he say exactly?" miguel asked. eli glanced down at the message. "we should talk tonight." he read out before seeing their distraught faces. "what?"

"i mean, it says.... we should talk?" demetri sighed. "oh, brother, you're in deep."

"i mean, he's right. we should talk." eli tried to defend himself. "last time we spoke was last week. things have been super awkward since."

"yeah, but "we should talk" always has a bad meaning. my guess is your friendship is over before it even started. or should i say... re-started?" demetri asked.

"is that true?" eli questioned, turning to theo, who knew the boy best. theo shook his head. "i mean, not necessarily. rowan is a pretty closed off guy, but i'm sure it's nothing serious. your best bet is to talk to tabby. they've got some type of twin telepathy... and they aren't even the twins in the family!"

"we need more information." demetri explained, snatching the phone from eli's grasp. "something that puts the ball in his court. can't wait to see you tonight. how are you?"

"that's good." theo nodded in approval. "yeah, it's gonna be fine man. it's fine. you're fine." demetri reassured him.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

tabitha had skipped out on the invitation to join the girls for brunch. the spa session wasn't too bad because it meant minimal conversation. but to sit at a booth, chat and eat with the three girls sounded like torture. so, she decided to meet rowan at a nearby cafe.

she spotted him sitting at a corner table, staring into his coffee like it had done something wrong to him. as she approached, he barely glanced up, just motioned to the chair across from him. "okay, what happened?" she asked, sliding into the seat.

"nothing," he muttered, not looking at her.

"rowan, i didn't ditch the possibility of a perfectly good waffle for you to sit here and sulk," she pressed, folding her arms. "what's going on?"

he finally met her eyes, the melancholic look on his face faltering for a moment. "you didn't want to hang out with them for too long anyway." he pointed out. tabby grinned, "you know me so well. i didn't."

"it's eli."

tabby furrowed her eyebrows with confusion. she was aware that the two were acquaintances, but she didn't think they were this close. "what about him?" she asked.

rowan hesitated and leaned back in his chair. "i thought... i thought things were different," he admitted quietly.

"different how?" she interrogated. "between us," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "after prom and—and the all valley... i thought maybe he wanted the same thing i did." he explained.

tabby still didn't understand what he meant. "what are you talking about?"

"i thought he wanted to be more than friends," rowan said, his voice cracking slightly. "but then he started talking about how glad he was that we're friends again, and it felt like... like he doesn't see me that way at all."

tabitha stared at him for a moment, her expression softening. how did she miss this? rowan was her best friend, he was practically her brother. and she was so caught up in her problems that she never questioned why the boy never spoke about girls... or any type of romance.

"rowan..." she started, unsure of what to say. "it's stupid, i know," he cut her off, shaking his head. "he's probably still in love with moon, or whatever. i don't even know why i thought—"

"stop," she interrupted firmly. "first of all, it's not stupid. second, you don't know what he's thinking unless you actually talk to him about it."

"talk to him about what?" he asked with frustration. "oh hey, eli, remember how you said you were glad we're friends again? well, funny story—i've been in love with you since freshman year. yeah, that'll go over great."

"rowan," tabitha said gently, leaning forward. "he clearly cares about you. but if you don't tell him how you feel, you're just going to keep torturing yourself like this."

"and if i do tell him, and he doesn't feel the same way?" he asked, his voice trembling. "then at least you'll know," she said simply. "and knowing is better than spending the rest of your life wondering. that's what mom always says."

rowan hesitated, her words taking him by surprise. 'that's what mom always says'. she was obviously referring to esther, but she said 'mom' rather than 'my mom'. he sighed, his heart warming in his chest. "how do i bring it up?" he asked.

"that's what you've got me for." she said with a grin. "bring out your phone." tabby ordered. rowan gave her a look, but he followed her instructions either way. "type exactly what i say. we should talk tonight."

rowan glanced up. "no hi or hello?" he questioned. tabby shook her head, "no. now we hit send." she instructed, grabbing the device from him. "could you get me a latte, please? while we wait for his reply."

rowan nodded, standing up to his feet. "iced, oat milk, pump of caramel, two sugars and extra cream?" he questioned. tabby grinned, giving him two thumbs up and a smile. he walked over to the counter, glancing back to look at her as a sigh of relief escaped from his lips. he was lucky to have her.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

the four were now gathered close together, their eyes on hawk's phone screen as they waited for a digital reply. the phone finally dinged and they all sighed in disappointment as they skimmed over his response.

miguel smiled to himself. with all the spelling mistakes, he knew immediately it was tabitha texting for rowan. theo didn't have a clue, thinking tabby was still with sam and the other girls. "dude, that's bad." he shook his head. "there's not even like an emoji."

"yeah, man, he is not okay." demetri shook his head. "if you really want to be friends again. you need to do something to turn this around stat."

"what do i do?" eli pleaded.

"i mean, you can't just show up to his empty-handed." demetri explained. "i think i have an idea."

his idea was to go to one of the jewellery shops in the mall to buy his friendship back with a gift. apparently, it worked perfectly for yasmin, but the situation could not be more different. "i got yasmin a charm bracelet here, plus a charm for every fight we have." demetri explained as they entered the store. "she can barely lift her arm now."

"that's... that's nice!" theo said to him.

"okay, explain to me again why you have to buy expensive jewellery." eli questioned. demetri paused. "you're right. maybe this is the best resort for solving relationship problems... not friendships." he said.

eli sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with frustration. if his head wasn't completely scrambled before, it definitely was now. "i mean, since we're here. you guys could get something for sam or tabby?" he suggested, wanting to take the attention off of himself.

"can i help you find something?" one of the workers questioned the four boys. miguel glanced at his friends, who didn't seem to know what to say. "um, yes. i'm looking for something special for my girlfriend." miguel explained.

"that's so sweet!" she beamed. "is it a birthday, an anniversary?"

"she left the country for him and ended up missing what could've been the biggest karate fight of her life." demetri spoke out. miguel gave the boy a look, "you make it seem like this is a bad thing. it's more of a thank you." he explained.

"well, that's a new one." the worker cleared her throat, not too sure how to approach the situation. "how about a nice pair of earrings?" but something had already caught miguel's eye. "how much is that?" he asked.

"the box?" she asked, reaching under and picking up the beautiful, grey keepsake box. it was decorated with stars and sequins, making it brighter under the sunlight. she handed it to miguel, whose face visibly lit up. "it's perfect." he sighed. "but i don't think i'm gonna be able to afford it."

"actually, it's been reduced." she gave him a smile. "reduced? great. how much?" miguel asked.

"after tax, 49 dollars." the lady said to him. miguel sighed as eli cringed. "do you maybe have one with fewer of those shiny things?" he questioned.

miguel shook his head. "no, no. it's fine." he said. while he continued to converse with the worker about the box and purchasing it, eli, rowan and theo stepped away and looked at other parts of the store.

eli sighed, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the options in front of him. jewellery was too much, and demetri's charm bracelet idea was sweet but it didn't feel right. "it's not like i'm trying to win him over... i just want things to go back to normal." eli explained.

"normal?" demetri snorted. "dude, you're planning like this is a romantic apology. it's a bro apology. simple and to the point."

eli frowned. was it just a bro apology?

"says the one who brought us to the jewellery store." theo reminded him. demetri shrugged, "hey, i said this works for me. i didn't mean it had to work for him too. theo, what are some things that rowan likes?" he asked.

theo shrugged, "he likes the same music i like, he loves blueberry muffins and he and tabby love to smoke weed and watch films together." he explained. eli thought for a moment, blinking quickly. "so... i get him weed muffins?" he asked.

"no. no. definitely do not do that." theo shook his head. "just blueberry muffins should be fine. i think i saw a bakery downstairs."

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
hi my loves! as some of you know, there is a tabby x tory book in the works!! (will be a while since i plan to like bulk write it which just makes it easier for everyone)

but i need some advice!! so theo and sam are love interest mainly because or tabiguel, but should theo and sam be together in the au or should theo be with someone else? and if so, who? i'd appreciate any ideas and tips 💗💗💗