⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

AFTER a long morning at the office, stevie was happy to finally go out to lunch. as she walked out of the elevator and out of the building, she let out a loud frustrated sigh, a smile forming on her face as she saw her boyfriend's car parked outside.

"surprise, surprise." alex said, as stevie got into the passenger seat of his black dodge charger.

"hey you! i missed you today." stevie said, softly kissing the blonde before putting on her seatbelt. "what brings you over here?"

"i thought i'd take you out to lunch." alex said. "i know you've had a rough morning, so let's go eat. my treat."

"you read my mind." stevie said, smiling. "so where do you wanna go?"

"wherever you wanna go." alex said. "your pick."

"hmm, i'm in the mood for sushi." stevie said. "you wanna go to that sushi place nearby?"

"sushi, really?" alex said.

"hey, you said it was my pick." stevie chuckled. "and i pick sushi."

"alright so sushi it is." alex said, placing his sunglasses over his eyes and starting the car. as alex drove, stevie reached over and raised the volume on the radio, smiling once she heard poison playing.

upon arriving to the restaurant, the couple sat down and began to look over the menu as a waiter took dow their drink orders. "i have no idea what to get." alex said. "i'm not much of a sushi person."

"i've been in the mood for a california roll, so that's what i'll be getting." stevie said as she placed her menu down. "i'm just so hungry."

"it's been that type of day?" alex said, as the waiter placed their drinks down.

"it was such a slow morning. i just wanna go home and sleep." stevie said, as she ran a hand through her hair. "i'm exhausted."

"well, the day's almost over." alex said, reaching over to intertwine his hand with hers. while the couple ordered, alex looked up from his menu to find amanda walk into the restaurant and sit down. "is that who i think it is?"

"yeah, it's amanda." stevie said, sipping on her soda. she then looked to the side and found tory cleaning a table and then walk over to the table where amanda was sitting. "oh, shit."

"oh shit what? what's going on?" alex said.

"look over to the side, don't make it obvious." stevie said as the couple, looked over to find tory and amanda talking. the couple listened intently to the conversation. during amanda and tory's conversation, a man called tory over, asking for his soup, twice, causing an outburst from tory. the manager then came out from the kitchen and fired tory.

"oh, she looks pissed." alex said.

"this place got a B on the health inspection, they hide the sign so you can't see it." tory said, before walking out of the restaurant. "and i saw one of the cooks dip his balls in the miso."

"no shit that just happened." stevie said. "this is bad."

"yeah, no shit." alex said. "good thing i didn't go for miso soup."

⸻

"okay, so you've been moping around my sofa for the past hour, just tossing papers to the floor." lisa said, as she grabbed some of the papers before taking a seat on the sofa. "what's wrong with these that you threw away?"

"didn't like them." bella said, as she continued to sketch on an the pages of an old composition book.

"i liked this one though." lisa said, smiling as she admired her daughter's designs. "so what's wrong?"

"why do you assume something's wrong?" bella said, as she ran a hand through her hair.

"you don't just go on a designing frenzy." lisa said. "there's some story behind these designs."

"i'm kinda getting my inspiration back." bella said. "i'm just squeezing out as much as i can."

"is this your next collection?" lisa said.

"i'm not sure." bella said, as she felt her phone ring with a phone call. "hang on, i gotta take this."

"do what you gotta do." lisa said, reaching over to grab the composition book and began to look over bella's designs.

"um, hello?" bella said.

"um? what kind of a hello is that?"

bella smiled as she realized that it was alice calling her. alice was her modeling mentor and the agent that signed bella as a model back in miami.

"alice?" bella said as she felt her eyes water. "it's been such a long time. how are you?"

"well i'm still alive and kicking, which is a good thing." alice said. "i've heard you're back in the valley, what are you doing down there?"

"just happy to be home." bella said, chuckling softly. "it's so good to hear from you, but what's this call in reference to?"

"look, i heard about your little comeback to fashion week. i'm sorry i couldn't make it, but you looked wonderful and your designs were phenomenal." alice said. "so i'm calling you to one; congratulate you and two; to offer you this job. i know you're gonna start bitching and moaning that you'd rather design than model, but this one's a good one."

"alice–"

"nope, don't 'alice' me." the older lady said. "i wouldn't be offering you this if i didn't think you'd be good for this. forget about the past and about whatever-his-fucking-name-is, i believe in you and no one could pull this off but you. so, take your time, think about my offer, and then call me once you made up your mind."

"alright, thanks alice." bella said with a sigh. "thanks for calling. it was really good to hear from you."

"take care, sweetie." alice said. "we'll keep in touch."

bella hung up and shoved her phone into her back pocket as she walked back into the living room, sinking into the recliner and running a hand through her hair.

"so? how's alice doing?" lisa said.

"she offered me a job." bella said.

"oh, a modeling job right?" lisa said.

"yeah, but i'm not sure about it." bella said.

"seems like you're not sure about yourself." lisa said. "what's going on?"

"i don't know. i mean, i know i can figure the whole designing thing out, but i haven't modeled in ages." bella said.

"times have changed." lisa said. "it might be different, but you won't know if you don't try."

"she told me to think about it, says i can pull it off." bella said.

"maybe you can." lisa said.

"i don't know, ma. i just prefer to dedicate myself to designing." bella said, running her hands through her hair.

"ever since you were little, you always wanted to model– "

"yeah, well i didn't know what i'd be getting into." bella sighed, keeping her gaze on the notebook.

"look, all i'm saying is think about it." lisa said. "things have changed, you've changed as well, you're not the same girl that appeared on vogue 20 years ago; you're better and stronger. just consider it, you might not regret it."

⸻

after work, stevie and her friends agreed to daisy's apartment to have dinner. the group sat around the living room, discussing their day at work, stevie listened intently while eating chinese takeout. she remained quiet and softly bit her chopsticks before ashley noticed her quiet demeanor.

"you're too quiet." ashley said. "what happened now?"

"what do you mean?" stevie said. "why do
you assume something happened?"

"there's a raging karate war going on and you said you'd keep us updated so, start talking." aiden said.

"you guys are so nosy." stevie said. "but, there may or may not have been a tiny problem today."

"well, it wasn't that tiny." alex said.

"it's never just tiny, so what happened this afternoon?" daisy said.

"we were having lunch at that sushi place near the office right? so while we were there, daniel's wife amanda walks in. she was looking for tory and kind of told her off about breaking into her house and hurting sam. she and tory get into it, which pisses tory off. long story short, she got fired." stevie said.

"no fucking way!" ashley said.

"she got her fired?" mark spoke up.

"i don't think she meant to, but i don't know." stevie said.

"she was fucking pissed." alex said. "i'm pretty sure she's gonna end up using that against the kids."

"this is all getting worse." stevie said. "i mean i understand where she's coming from, i'd be pissed if someone broke into my house and made a fucking mess out of everything too, but getting her fired? i don't — that wasn't her intention."

"okay so this tory chick? how important is she to cobra kai?" aiden said.

"she's practically kreese's number one student." stevie said.

"ohh, uncle johnny and daniel are fucking screwed." aiden said, taking a bite from his orange chicken.

"fuck you." stevie said, rolling her eyes.

"shut the fuck up, please." daisy said, smacking aiden.

"i mean, think about it. tory goes and tells kreese that amanda showed up and got her fired. he's gonna give them hell, making this a thousand times worse." aiden said. "i know it was a misunderstanding, but he's not gonna take it lightly."

"so what's the deal with the all-valley?" daisy said. "like what's gonna happen afterwards?"

"the winning dojo gets to stay, the losers have to shut down." alex said.

"no fucking way uncle johnny agreed to that." ashley said.

"well he did." stevie said, eating her noodles. "they were so close to splitting up, but they managed to work it out."

"wow, new year, new drama, huh?" mark said.

"it's chaos." ashley said. "i can't imagine how bad it's gonna get once the tournament gets closer."

"i'm just taking it a day at a time." stevie said.

"speaking of cobra kai though, have you been able to talk to robby?" daisy said.

"nope." stevie said, with a sigh. "he won't take my calls, he won't answer my messages."

"try calling him again." ashley said. "it's probably just a phase, he'll snap out of it."

"i'm not sure at this point." stevie said. "i just still feel so bad, i was responsible for him and now he's living alone in a dojo with a fucking psychopath."

"wait, am i missing something?" aiden said. "he's living at cobra kai."

"where the hell have you been?" ashley said. "mom's right, you've gotta clean your ears."

"long story short, robby's been living at cobra kai for a while now." stevie said, as she took a sip of her soda. "kreese probably filled his head with all this shit about everyone and now he won't talk to me."

"you should still give him a call or text him, just to see how he's holding up." daisy said. "y'know, because you're his older sister. i know he's upset, but a quick text will show that you care, maybe he'll get back to you."

"i'll try texting him again, hopefully he'll at least read it." stevie said.

⸻

the soft sound of the radio filled chrissy's apartment as bella and chrissy sat in the living room, drinking some beers. bella set the empty bottle down on the center table before grabbing another budweiser bottle. "i feel like we've had this conversation before." chrissy said. "you telling me you got a job and me trying to talk you into it."

"i just don't know." bella said, before taking a swig from her bottle. "i mean, would i wanna do it? yeah, but i don't know."

"i'm gonna tell you what i told you back when you got the offer for vogue; you're gonna regret it if you don't." chrissy said.

"you think i can really pull this off?" bella said. "it's been ages and everything's changed."

"you're nervous about this, i mean i would be too, but look at you, you still got it." chrissy said. "just think about it this way; if it wasn't for vogue, you probably wouldn't be where you are now and tell me, is it so bad?"

"no, it's not, it's actually better than i imagined it." bella said.

"then? what's stopping you?" chrissy said. "and if i remember correctly, nothing stops bella monroe."

"how are you so convincing?" bella laughed before taking a swig of her beer. "i hate that about you, y'know?"

"i know, it's a gift." chrissy said, as she opened up another beer. "so what else is new with you?"

"nothing, that's it." bella said.

"so you and johnny, how's that going?" chrissy said, taking a swig of her beer.

"we're taking it easy, he's got a lot going on, with the tournament and the combined dojo thing." bella said.

"wow, taking it easy." chrissy said. "he told you about ali, huh?"

"i kinda heard it though stevie." bella said, running her hands through her hair.

"he told me that night at the christmas party." chrissy said. "they spent the day together and they had a little moment, but after spending the night with you, he felt different. all he could think about was you."

bella stayed silent as she finished drinking her beer bottle. before she could say anything, she received a text message from stevie, asking her if she was home. "we'll continue talking about this later, there's something going on with stevie."

"is she okay?" chrissy said.

"i hope so." bella said as she grabbed her purse. "thank you so much for the drinks. i'll call you later."

"yes, we'll talk later." chrissy said, walking bella to the door. "please hug stevie for me."

⸻

stevie paced around the door of her mother's apartment as she looked at her phone. the blonde girl dried her tears, feeling a little relief once she saw her mother walk towards the door. "hey babe, what's wrong?" bella said as she hugged stevie.

"i just - i could really use some advice." stevie said, wiping her tears as she sat on her mother's sofa.

"what's up?" bella said, grabbing a bottle of water for herself and for stevie.

"i've been trying to call and text robby, but he just won't answer me." stevie said as she drank some water. "i don't know what to do, i just feel guilty."

"i'm sorry, hon." bella said. "i take it he hasn't spoken to you since that night."

"nope." stevie said. "i just don't know what to do. he was supposed to be staying with me, meaning that i'm responsible for him. he's a minor, living at a karate dojo, i feel so guilty."

"i know you're worried, hell i'm even worried." bella said. "look, it's not your fault-"

"i feel that in a way, it is." stevie said, crying. "i couldn't stop him. he just left during the night."

bella embraced her daughter as the blonde cried on her shoulder. bella held on to her, tightly as she heard her daughter's sobs, which brought tears to her eyes as well. "it's gonna be okay, babe. he'll come around, i know he will. my advice is just let him know you're still there for him, i know it's rough right now, but don't leave him."

"thanks ma." stevie said. "i really appreciate this. and i really needed this."

"i'm here for you, baby." bella said, placing a small kiss on her daughter's temple. "anything you need."