XLVI.                                           Heartbreak Weather

      They sat around the "dojo" waiting for Piper to show up to training. Odessa and Hailey were sat on the floor and Grayson was perched on a wooden barrel. "You're telling me you used words like queenly strength and neo-masculine?" He asked Johnny, still processing the information.

Miguel nodded. "He sure did. I got it all on video."

Johnny looked back at him. "Why would you video it?"

He shrugged. "I knew they would want to see it." He responded.

"Well, don't give me crap for it. It worked. Thanks to blondie over her and her cheer friend." He said while pointing to Odessa. "Thalia also spent me a ton of those feminine bullshit articles."

Hailey looked down at her phone and checked the time. "Well, where is she? It's already past time for us to start." She said with an impatient sigh.

"All right, so she's a little late. No big deal. Just a few minutes." Johnny reassured.

"Uh, twenty minutes, actually." Mitch corrected. He quickly shut up when the man gave him a look. 

"Okay, uh. . . Look, i-i'll dm her. See where she is."  Miguel stammered and he took out his phone. His face fell as he clicked on his Instagram. "Oh, no."

"What?" Johnny said and looked over his shoulder. Miguel clicked on Piper's live video and saw her and a bunch of other girls on the gymnastics team looking through a box of Cobra Kai Kerch. "Nothing but the best for the best. Can't wait to kick ass with Cobra Kai."

"That little bitch." Grayson blurted out.

"She joined Cobra Kai?" Johnny exclaimed, matching his tone.

"Uh, looks like the made designer gear for all the new students." Miguel shrugged. "They got a bunch of new recruits."

"Yeah, great. That was a big waste of time. I even learned feminism."

"We can't give up," Odessa objected.

"Yeah. Sensei, if we want a chance at first place we have to compete in the girls division with Dess and Hailey."

"Do whatever you want but i'll tell you one thing, Tory's mine." Hailey said with a smirk and cracked her knuckles.

"We just have to think outside the box." Grayson chimed in.

Him and Johnny stared at each other for a minute. "Okay, everybody start thinking out of the box! Whatever that means. . ."

When the day came for Eli to go with Odessa to therapy, both of them were freaking out. All Eli could think was to not mess anything up. He was stepping into her territory, something that meant a lot to her, and he didn't want to screw it up like he did everything else. At first, Odessa thought she was crazy for even asking him to come along. She thought it was just an in the moment thing. But Eli needed this. He should have the chance to experience it. It was helping her. Maybe it could help him.

Eli stared at the very tall building with a face full of nerves. Odessa looked his way. "Are you sure about this?" He asked.

She smiled at him. "Yeah, I am."

The pair walked into the building and found Dr. Carmichael's room. Addison smiled when she saw her walk in. "Hi, Odessa. How are you today?"

"I'm doing great. Thank you." She motioned to Eli. "Um, this is my friend, Eli. He was interested in therapy and I thought it would be okay for him to sit in today?"

Addison then realized. "As long as you feel comfortable having him." She responded.

Odessa sat on the couch and Eli shuffled his feet. He awkwardly sat down and put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Addison brought out her notebook. "How are you feeling today, Odessa?"

"I'm feeling great. I'm getting better every day." She responded truthfully with a smile.

"And have you been following the meal plan we set up?"

Her eyes cut to Eli for a slight second. "Uh, yeah. Light breakfast in the morning, a snack or two in the afternoon, and then a big dinner at night. My mom's been doing good at helping me." She explained.

"Wonderful. I'm very proud of you," the therapist said and smiled. "So what's been doing on this week? Anything new?"

"Well, the All Valley tournament coming up in a month, so my friends I have been training a lot," Odessa trailed. She looked over at Eli, not wanting to say what else had been going on. She didn't want to upset him about karate.

Addison looked between them. She saw that Odessa was holding back. She also saw that Eli was nervous. "How about you,  Eli?" She said to him.

He looked surprised. "W-What?"

"How are you feeling??" She asked.

He looked nervously at Odessa, not knowing what to say, but she nodded encouragingly. "Um, I-I feel okay." He stammered and answer.

"Is there anything new in your life?" Addison asked again. She titled her head curiously.

Eli shifted awkwardly on the couch. "Uhhh. . ." There was a lot he could say but he didn't want to say it. He felt his anxiety levels go up just thinking about it. But he promised Odessa that he would try. "N-Not really anything important, I guess. It's kind of hard to talk about." He glanced at the girl by his side again. "But, uh. . . I actually went back to my dojo today."

Odessa almost gasped. "You did?" She asked and her voice went high slightly.

He nodded, shyly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Eli shrugged. "I kind of wanted it to be a surprise." He answered and smiled a little.

Odessa breathed out a small laugh and she smiled. "I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it."

Dr. Carmichael smiled a tiny bit. "Eli, I know this might be scary for you. It is for everybody. It sure was for Odessa." She looked at the girl. "But it's about having a safe place to talk. To express yourself and how you're feeling. From what Odessa's told me, there's been a lot going on with you,"

Eli looked down at his lap.

"And it's not embarrass you or anything like that. I'm just hear to listen."

Odessa looked at him with soft eyes. He was nervous. She was nervous for him. But she trusted Addison.

Eli always tried to avoid his problems but this was something he couldn't avoid anymore. It was far too important to push back. He knew if he kept everything bottled in for much longer then he would surely explode. "I was born with a clef lip. I had surgery to try and fix it but it left a scar. I've been bullied for it my whole life." He began to explain. "People have called me names, bullied me, shoved me into lockers. . . I've never had a lot of friends. All I ever had was my best friend, Demetri. He was in the same boat I was. We were pretty much losers."

"So, the bullying's what made you want to change?" Asked Addison.

"I didn't want to change. Not at first. I felt like I had to," he expressed. "To make people see me differently, y'know? Take me seriously. I just didn't realize how far it was going to go."

"How far did it go?"

Odessa frowned deeply at the question. As did Eli. If he was supposed to name off all the terrible things he did, they'd be here all day. But at the same time, he needed to get them off his chest. "I got cocky. I thought I was being confident but then my attitude started to change. I was getting angrier. Suddenly, all I wanted was to get revenge on the people that bullied me. I wasn't Eli anymore."

"And when did you realize that it has gone too far?" Addison continued to ask.

His eyes glossed over. "When I started hurting people. When I hurt Odessa. . ." He looked her way and she looked at him. "When I used her past against her, I knew I went too far, but I was too far gone. My friends hated me, I vandalized my dojo. . ." Eli paused.

Odessa's heart hurt thinking about everything that happened. It hurt even more to hear him talk about it because he wanted so badly to forget it.

Addison looked between them again. "And, uh, how did all of it make you feel, Eli?"

"Completely alone." He answered truthfully. "Like I had nobody. I made my own bed and I was forced to lay in it."

Odessa grabbed his hand and she felt how shaky it was. She held it in her lap.

"Odessa," Addison moved on to her. "How did all of this make you feel?"

She glanced at Eli and studied his face. He looked to her and the pain in her stomach returned. "I felt a lot." She replied. "I was hurt. I felt betrayed. I loved him so much and he was just pushing me away."

Eli blinked and his eyes formed with tears again. He squeezed her hand.

"But I felt like if I stopped trying to help him then I was a bad person. That's why I put up with it. I didn't want him to think he lost me. But I had to put myself first. My health first."

Addison nodded firmly. "That's important. I'm proud of you for putting yourself first. It's not easy for a lot of people."

Eli looked her way. "I'm so sorry that I made you feel that way." He said with a shaky voice. "You didn't deserve any of it. I should've tried harder."

Odessa shook her head and her own eyes filled with tears. "I'm not angry anymore, Eli. I understand. You were hurting. You had every right to want to get back at them for what they did to you. You just took it way too far. But I forgive you. We all do. You're not alone."

At this point, Addison had closed her notebook. Her legs were crossed and she was just listening. She was helping them get to the root of the problem. They, especially Eli, needed to learn how to forgive and move on. "I have to ask, Eli. What made you want to change back?" She asked him.

It was the most important question. Everybody wanted to know what made Ei want to put Hawk in the past, to go back to who he was before Hawk existed. Eli held her hand tighter. From the eyes of anyone around them, they looked like two kids in love but it wasn't puppy love, it wasn't high school love, it was real. "It was Odessa." He answered. He looked at her again. "And all of our friends, but, you were the one who made me realize that I don't want to be that person anymore. Because you deserve better. You make everything better. I was nothing before I met you but I feel like I'm everything when I'm with you."

Odessa sucked in a deep breath and exhaled shakily. It was confirmation that he really did want to change. That he cared about her enough to not want to put her through anymore pain. To not put their friends through more torture. He was learning to forgive himself. He just needed to find the strength inside him.

Eli let out a sigh as the pair exited the building. He felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. It was easy to breath. He felt happier. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. He felt happier. More joyous.

Odessa trailed behind him but her mind wondering elsewhere. She stared at his back as they walked down the steps. She was hesitant. A million thoughts were running through her head making her feel dizzy.

"Wow, that was so much better than I expected," he said with a laugh. "I feel so relieved. I gotta look into therapy when I get home." When she didn't respond, Eli turned around to see her looking at him with a downcast expression. He frowned. "Dess, what's wrong?"

She didn't answer, but took small steps forward. He grew nervous that he did or said something wrong during the session. "Is everything okay? Did I do something—"

"I love you." She blurted out, rather loudly.

His lips sealed shut. "I'm sorry?"

"I'be known it since the day we danced at the Halloween dance. I've known since the day we kissed in my room. I've known since the day you told me that you love me in your car. I've known since you came to see me while I was in the hospital. . . I tried so hard to forget about you, to forget about us, but I can't keep going on pretending that I don't love you because I do. I love all of you. Even the parts of you that you think are unlovable and unimportant because they're important to me. . ." She paused to catch her breath. "I'm not afraid anymore. I love you, Eli. I want you—"

She was interrupted by Eli coming her way and he pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened and she went stiff. His hands pressed themselves to her cheeks and Odessa found herself almost melting into him. She missed the feeling of his lips. The feeling of his nose brushing against hers. The way his hands made her skin burn. Odessa took a deep breath with her mouth pressed to his and cupped the back of his neck with her hands. Their lips moved in sync. His hands got lost in hair. It felt like years. It was like a sense of euphoria; a rush of adrenaline. They needed this.  They needed each other. They were each other's saving grace.

Odessa was the first to pull away as she needed the oxygen back in her lungs. She took deep breaths and pressed her forehead against his. "Was that your way of telling me to shut up or that you love me too?" She questioned.

He laughed breathlessly. "Both."

"Screw you."

His hands pressed against the side of her face again and he raised her head to look at him. "I love you, Odessa."

Her face glowed and she reached up on her toes, her lips reattaching to his. After months and months of tears, cries in pain, depression, emptiness, and regret, they found their way back to each other. Eli had no intention of letting her go again.