XLVIII.                                       Heartbreak Weather

      The explosion at her house caused Odessa to not get any sleep. Her mom left for her work by the time she woke up which meant they couldn't talk about what happened, which was both a good thing and a bad think she supposed. Did she feel guilty? Yes. But what she in the wrong for expressing how she was feeling? No. But at the same time, Johnny was the only father figure she had in her life. Fighting with him was like losing her dad all over again.

A pair of lips pressed themselves to her cheek and she instantly smiled. Eli say his hands on her shoulders. "God, I've missed doing that."

Odessa turned around and met his cheeky smile. "You know we're in school, right? She said with growing smile.

He shrugged.  "So what? That's never stopped us before." He smirked. He leaned his head down and captured her lips with his. Her eyes shut and his srms snaked around her waist, pulling her closer.

From down the hall,  Oliver and Demetri stood with Hailey and Grayson at Demetri's locker. They all stared at them with wide eyes. "Fucking finally." Said Oliver.

The couple broke away and Odessa sent Eli a weak smile. He saw the sadness still hidden in her eyes. "Okay what's wrong?" He questioned.

She shook her head. "Nothing. I just didn't sleep well last night."

He gave her a half smile. "I think you forget I can tell when you're lying."

She scoffed and shook her head. "Of course you can." She said and he laughed. "Okay. . . I got into a fight with Johnny."

His smile fell. "Really? Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. I haven't talked to him since last night. He came over to my house for dinner and things just. . . blew up." She explained with a frown. "I think I really hurt his feelings."

"What did he say to you?"

She shuffled slightly on her feet. "It doesn't matter." She decided.

"It does matter—"

"I just don't want to talk about it." She interrupted. She put her hands on the sides of his face. "Please? I'd rather not dwell on it."

Eli stared at her before smiling sadly. "Yeah. Besides, prom's almost here. So put on that pretty smile because we're going to have the time of our lives."

It was their first real date since the break up and it was even better that it was prom. It was their chance to start over and have a good time together. Odessa's smile turned genuine and she kissed him again.

"Mom and I went and got my dress the other day. I need everybody to be at my house by five so that we can take pictures and be done at around 5:30. The limo will be there at six and we should be at the dance at 6:30," Hailey went into full prom detail. "From what I heard, the after party starts at 9."

Odessa hummed. "Do we have time to breath in between any of this?" She joked.

"Breathing is a waste of time. I want to spend every good minute on our staircase reveal." She replied with a large smile.

When they were little, Hailey and Odessa watched Titanic together for the first time. Since then, their dream was to walk down a staircase on prom day and lucky enough for them, Hailey's house had a grand staircase.

"Please tell me you're running for prom Queen."

Odessa scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Hailey groaned and tugged on her arm. "Please, Odessa, think of how much it'll be when we're both nominated."

"Hailey, I don't care about that," she let out a small laugh. "Besides, it's not like anyone would actually vote for me. I'm the school slut, remember?"

"No, you're not. You're just Odessa. You'd be the perfect Queen." She tried to convince her. "It doesn't matter what these pricks think of you."

Of course Odessa wanted to be prom Queen. Every girl wants that. But she was a realist. Everybody in the school only saw her as the school slut. She wasn't popular like she used to be. She wasn't a cheerleader anymore. Her ex boyfriend almost caused Miguel to kill and her current boyfriend terrorized everybody in the school. "It matters to me, Hails. I don't want people to see me like that anymore. I'm doing so much better with my life. I want to start over. I want to be happy again." She told her friend and a soft smile stretched on her lips. "But don't worry. You're my #1 vote."

Hailey grinned back.

"Odessa!"

The girls stopped walking when they saw Johnny walking down the hallway. Miguel trailed behind him. "Johnny? Why are you here?" She questioned with a cautious look on her face.

"You, me, and Miguel. Field trip." He simply stated.

"You want her to skip? Do you even know her?" Said Hailey and she raised her eyebrows.

Johnny waved his hand, dismissing her. "C'mon, I know things are rough between us but I have a lot to say. To both of you, actually. What do you say?"

Odessa looked at Miguel and he nodded at her, although he looked unsure himself. Then, she looked at Hailey. "I'll tell your teachers that you got your period." Her friend insisted.

Johnny awkwardly cleared his throat.

Finally, Odessa sighed. "Okay. Yeah. Alright."

He smiled. "Great."

The teenagers followed him out of the school. "Are you doing okay after last night?" She asked.

Miguel only shrugged. "Yeah, I think so. I'm really sorry for what happened. I didn't mean to upset your mom." He apologized.

Odessa half smiled. "Don't worry about it. She loves you. I think I caused a bigger scene than you did."

He furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I let out a lot of my anger as well."

When Johnny took them to the warehouse, she was confused. She was also confused about the watermelons he had in his car but when it came to Johnny, it was better not to question anything. It was awkward for both her and Miguel. They both said horrible things, did things that they didn't mean, but Odessa knew she took it too far by bringing up her dad. She was still angry, still bitter, but sometimes she didn't stop to and think about how her dad's disappearance affected Johnny.

"What's the matter? You don't like watermelon?" Johnny voiced to the teens, who shared the same solemn look on their faces.

Odessa picked at a piece of the fruit and ate it. "No, I like watermelon." Miguel replied with a slaughterhouse laugh. I just thought when you and Dess and I cut class that we'd be, I don't know, training — not having another awkward conversation."

"Very awkward, actually." She added in.

"It doesn't have to be awkward. It's just. . . I don't have any experience with this," Johnny said and motioned between the two of them. "Ask me anything about karate or 80s rock or Rowdy Roddy Piper, I'm your guy, but, when it comes to, you know, this? I guess I freaked out."

The guilt Odessa had felt before returned. She stared at the watermelon in her hands and sighed under her breath. She sat it to the side.

"That's what happened with Robby, right? You got afraid?" Asked Miguel.

She looked between them.

"Yeah." Johnny answered. "But I never told you why." He glanced at Odessa. "And you deserve to know why I treat you the way I do. It's not to make you feel horrible about your dad. It's more than that."

She looked at Miguel, he looked at her, and they both looked at Johnny. They didn't say anything, indicating that they were listening.

"My dad left when I was in kindergarten. I barely remember him. My mom did everything she could. Married a rich prick, think that would be a good idea. It only made me miss my dad more,"

Odessa frowned deeply. "I'm so sorry." She slipped out.

"It's okay. At the time, I couldn't figure out what this was all happenings you know, I felt so. . ." He searched for the right word.

"Cheated."

"Betrayed."

They answered at the same time because both Miguel and Odessa knew how it felt to not have their dads around. Maybe she had the upper hand because she knew her father, she had a relationship with him before everything that happened, but she shared the same sense of disloyalty.

Johnny nodded. "Yeah."

"You ever go out and try to find him?" Miguel asked.

"I don't even know what I'd say." He admitted.

"Maybe you could ask why he left. Hear his side of the story."

"There's no his side of the story," Odessa chimed in. "A father doesn't leave this kid. A father is supposed to stay. It doesn't matter if things get hard. Life is hard. But you're always supposed to stay." She didn't realize she was crying until she saw their faces. She wiped away a stray tear. "Sorry, that was stupid."

"It's not stupid, Odessa." Said Johnny with a firm shake of his head. "You're right. Nobody deserves to lose their father."

"I'm sorry, Dess." Miguel almost whispered.

"Christian was my only real friend in school. Sure, we had all of our Cobra Kai buddies but he was more than that. We were like brothers. Thalia was sort of a tag along cause they'd been together for so long, but, it was always Chris and I. His dad was a piece of shit, also. We sort of bonded over it," Johnny continued. "About a year or two after graduation, his dad kicked him out of the house and he ended up coming to stay with me for a while. It was hard convincing my step dad, but, I fought like hell to get him to let Chris stay. Thalia was still living with her parents and they didn't like the idea of him staying with them."

Odessa wiped away more tears that came from her eyes.

"When he left and basically disappeared off the face of the Earth, it hurt like hell. It felt like someone ripped off one of my limbs. My life was already going to shit. Kreese tried ruining both of our lives. And I didn't know how to handle it. So I kinda disappeared, too." Johnny looked her in the eyes with a face full of heartbreak. "When you came to the dojo that day, it was like I was seeing him all over again. I thought I was just being crazy until I got to know you. You're so much like him. That's why I hold you to such a high standard. I knew you could be just like he was if I just pushed you a little harder than everyone else. But I didn't think about how much it would hurt you and I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean to make you feel overlooked. Odessa, I'm proud of you."

Odessa's face twisted into a cry and she laid her head against his shoulder. She put one of her hands on his arm. "I'm so sorry I said all of those things to you. I was just angry. I don't want to fight with you like that again."

Johnny patted the hand that was on his arm. "Don't worry, kid. It won't happen again." He looked at Miguel again, who looked incredibly sad at the deep conversation they just had. "What I'm trying to say is, I didn't have a male role model growing up. Till I met Kreese and you guys know how that went. And I didn't want to be like him. Or Sid. Or my own dad. And I was so angry at Christina that I took all that bullshit I felt from them and I put it on Robby's life. I can never fix that. I don't want to make that mistake again. With either of you."

"I know what I said before about things changing and that I didn't like it. But, there's a lot of things that I want to stay the same," Miguel spoke.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Johnny said with a slight grin.

The boy's eyes glistened. "Like you being our Sensei." He replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?"

Johnny looked at Odessa. "You think that, too?" He asked.

She lifted her head and smiled. "Of course I do."

The man nodded. "All right. You asked for it." He declared. They watched him stand up and walk away from them.

Odessa scooted closer to Miguel. Johnny walked down the crates and he took off a tarp that revealed a ton of watermelons. She narrowed her eyes. "Is this why you had so many watermelons?" She questioned.

"This, and they had a good deal going on. Thought I'd stock up." He explained. "One of the most badass kicks in all of karate is the flying tornado." He faced the teenagers. "I wasn't sure if either of you were ready for it. It's a pain in the ass to master. But I knew someone who managed to do it. . ." Johnny trailed and looked at Odessa. She hinted a smile. "You don't mind a little pain, do you?"

Miguel grinned. "No, Sensei."

Johnny smiled at them.

Prom. One of the most important days of a girl's life. A day that fills mothers with joy. Odessa used to dream of her prom when she was little. The perfect dress, the perfect guy, the perfect friends. As the years went by, she never thought she'd get to have any of those things. But she did. Tonight would be perfect. She was going to make sure of it.

Thalia went overboard. She gathered all of the prom essentials: the dress, shoes, jewelry, curling iron, straightener, hairspray, makeup, and so on and so forth. They drove to Hailey's house and got there right on the time that the girl assigned. Clarissa Cooper answered the front door. "Tally! Odessa!" She beamed.

"Hi, Clarissa." Thalia smiled back. They walked into the Cooper home. "Where's our girl?"

"She's up in her room fussing over her hair. She can't decide if she wants it up or down."

When they walked into Hailey's room, she was pacing around in her silk green robe. Makeup scattered all over her lit up vanity and her dress was hanging in the bag on the door. Seeing the mother and daughter, she sighed. "Omg, finally! I have no idea what I want to do with my hair!" She grabbed Thalia's hands.

"It's okay. It's okay. Don't panic. I'm here to help." Thalia replied. "Odessa, hang your dress up and get your robe on. Clarissa, I'm going to need a lot of bobby pins."

Hailey Cooper was the kind of girl that didn't give a care in the world what people thought of her. She didn't care about their approval. She knew who she was from an early age. Being the daughter of a single mother meant that she didn't have time to worry about if people liked her or not. She had to help her mom in a lot of ways and one of those ways was keeping her grades up so she could get into a good college. She had to learn to not depend on others. As she got older, the more independent she became which made people scared of her. Hailey liked knowing she had power over people.

She knew when to call people out on to their bullshit especially when it came to her friends. But they respected her for it. Hailey knew she didn't need anyone else in the world as long as she had her mom and her friends. Getting ready for prom with Odessa and their moms reminded her that she could let loose for one night and not worry herself to death.

"Did you know Grayson wanted to wear an all white suit? And a top hat?" Hailey said while swiping mascara onto her lashes. "I was like, I love you but if you wear that, I'll pretend like I don't know you."

Odessa laughed. She dotted a heavy amount of blush on her cheeks. "That's okay. I think Oliver said Demetri's wearing a Pac Man tux."

"Of course he is. Why wouldn't he? I would expect nothing less."

Thalia styled Odessa's hair into full messy blonde curls. Her makeup was light but a natural finish. Clarissa styled Hailey's hair into a sleek black sun and she pinned it together with a silver hair pin placed in the middle. Her dark eyes were smokey and glittery and her lips were painted nude. "You girls look gorgeous." Said Thalia with a large grin.

"Dress time!" Shouted Clarissa.

Hailey's prom dress was lemon yellow and it fell to the floor. It was silk, the straps were thin, and the cut was a wide v-neck. The back was open and cut to the bottom of her tailbone. The color went with skin tone perfectly. She felt strange. She mostly wore dark colors such as blacks, purples, and blues, and it was rare that you would see her in pops of color. But it was prom. She wanted to stand out.

Odessa was known for her bright colors. You would never see her in anything that wasn't blue, pink, or even yellow. So choosing to wear a black dress was a bold move for her. It was a black sleek gown that fell to the floor and covered her feet. A skit was cut into the side and traveled up to the middle of her thigh. The fit was strapless and the neckline was lined with black feathers. She wore a diamond necklace and her ears were decorated with embellished drop earrings that were in the shape of butterflies. It was a little piece of her.

Thalia gasped at the finished look. "Oh, Dess. You look so beautiful, Butterfly." She almost cried.

Hailey squealed and grabbed her friend's hands. "We're going to prom."

"We're going to prom!" Odessa squealed back and squeezed her hands tightly.

Meanwhile, Demetri was freaking out as he stood outside Oliver's house. He fiddled with the color of his suit and adjusted his jacket every ten seconds. When he knocked on the door, Oliver's mom, Celeste, swung the door open. "Demetri, you look amazing!" She gasped.

"Thank you, Mrs. Johnson." He smiled at her.

"Come on in. Oliver just got done getting ready."

Demetri walked into the house.

"Ollie, hurry up! Demetri's here!" Celeste called out to her son.

Oliver came walking out of his room. "I'm coming. I'm coming! I'm trying to figure out this—" he stopped talking when he looked up and saw his boyfriend standing in the living room. "Tie."

Demetri smiled under his gaze. "Let me help." he insisted and walked over to help him fix his tie. He felt Oliver's eyes on him the whole time. It caused his hands to shake and fumbled with the tie. "There you go." He quickly said when he finished.

Oliver smiled at him and looked him up and down.  "You trying to outshine me or something?"

"Yeah, like that's possible."

A camera shutter is what caused them to look away from each other. Oliver groaned. "Ma!"

"Don't ma! me. You knew this was going to happen." Celeste argued and held up her camera again. "Now come on. Picture time!"

After taking millions of pictures, Oliver and Demetri were finally free to leave the house. Eli texted them and said he would meet them at Hailey's house. Oliver looked over and admired his voice isn't sitting in the passenger seat. He was twiddling with his fingers as looking out the window. He smiled again.

Demetri could feel his eyes on him and looked over. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at you. Who else?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. There's a really nice tree we just passed." he said and pointed behind him at the trees.

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Oh, you think you're funny, huh?"

"Hilarious, actually."

He reached for his hand and pulled it up to his lips,  kissing it softly. He looked over at Demetri, who stared at him with gentle eyes. "Who's staring now?" He teased.

"Oh, whatever."

When they got to Hailey's house, Oliver saw Eli and Grayson already their with their vehicles. The boyfriends hopped out of their Jeep and Oliver whistled. "Looking good, boys!" He hollered.

"Demetri, looking dorky as ever." Grayson praised and fist bumped him.

"Uh, thanks?"

Oliver ruffled Eli's shaved head. "Look at you, embracing your new look!" He beamed.

Eli chuckled. "Figured even if I hate it, I would try and make it look good. Dess likes it though."

Grayson patted him on the back. "Let's go see our ladies." He declared and they headed to the front door.

Thalia answered the door with a large smile on her face. "Right on time. Look at all of you handsome boys!"

Grayson waved his hand. "Don't make me blush, Tal."

"Come in. The girl's are about to come down." She moved out of the way and let them enter. "You know them, waiting for their big moment."

"Hopefully this gets them to shut up about it." Said Oliver.

"Hailey and Odessa have been wanting to have a romantic staircase scene since they saw Rose walk down the stairs in Titanic." Grayson explained to Eli and Demetri.

"It's all they ever talk about."

Clarissa came running out of Hailey's room and she leaned over the staircase railing. "They're ready!" She announced.

At the same time, Eli and Grayson felt the oxygen leave their bodies. Odessa and Hailey came walking down the stairs like angels. Eli admired his girlfriend as if it was the first time he was seeing her again. She caught his eyes on the way down and it was exactly like she imagined it would be. He looked at her like she was the only person in the room. She felt all the love. It made her legs feel weak.

Hailey made it to the bottom of the stairs and Grayson stood in front of her. "So, what do you think?" She smirked and did a small twirl.

"I think I'm the luckiest guy ever." He replied and there wasn't one joke in his mind to blurt out.

Eli's smile wavered when Odessa came to the bottom of the staircase. "Hi." She said with a giggle.

"Hey," he said back breathlessly. She examined her once again. "Wow, you look amazing. Like, I can't even explain it."

Her blushing face turned more red. "Thank you."

"You guys look great. You've got all the girls at the dance beat already." Oliver announced. "Dess, it's time for our Greeley tradition."

She gasped. "I almost forgot!"

"Yearly tradition?" Demetri questioned.

"When they were nine years old, one of my friends asked if  Odessa would be the flower girl in her wedding. Oliver and his mom came with us and I took of a picture of them with Oliver dipping her. Ever since then at every formal event, I take the same picture." Thalia explained.

"And we'll be doing it till we're sixty and have broken hips!" Said Oliver and Thalia rushed to take the picture. He dipped Odessa backwards and they held hands while her leg went upward. She smiled brightly.

"Precious as always." Thalia said after she took the picture.

Hailey's time schedule was going perfectly because after what seemed like forever of taking pictures (Singles. Couple photos. Group pictures) the limo arrived out front. "It's time to party!" Grayson shouted and all of the teenagers ran outside to get in the limo.