FORTY.
( hey, mr. rager. )

"You okay?"

Emmy looked up from the random game she was playing on her phone, glancing at Robby before looking back down at her phone. "Yeah."

Robby stared at her for a moment. She had barely spoken since the start of this impromptu road trip his dad took them on dnd he had a strong inkling why. 

There was another few seconds that went by before Emmy's phone was snatched out of her hands. "Hey! What are you doing? Give it back."

"No," he simply said, putting it into his jean pocket. "Not until you tell me the truth."

"Truth about what?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. 

Emmy groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, my God. How many times do I have to say "I'm fine" for you to believe me? I don't care about Kreese anymore. He got what was coming to him."

"Seriously? He had you wrapped around his finger for over a year and you expect me to believe that you got over it just like that?" he tilted his head at her. "I'm not an idiot, Emmy."

She bit the inside of her cheek and turned away from him. 

"You're upset about it, aren't you?"

"It's bad! I know!" she immediately groaned, placing her head in her hands and leaned back in her car seat. "He is a horrible person who brainwashed me into being a mini him, but I can't stop thinking about how I don't want him in jail."

Robby sighed, leaning against the side of the car. "I really think you need to talk to someone about this. You went through a lot."

"With what money?" she raised her eyebrows. "I'm a broke teenager."

"Well," Robby shrugged. "I'm sure your parents ⎯ "

"Yeah no," she interrupted. "It's already hard enough trying to be civil with them let alone asking them to pay for what sounds like a lifetimes worth of therapy."

Robby pressed his lips together tightly, taking a seat at the edge of the car side door and grabbed her hands. "Okay, maybe there still needs to be some more time to pass but please promise me that you'll at least open up about this. I would hate for anyone to say anything without knowing the full story."

"Okay," she muttered, looking into his eyes. "I promise."

"Good," he muttered back, leaning in and softly kissing her. Emmy's hands immediately when to the sides of his face, pulling him closer.

"Got us some choice supplies for the next leg of our road trip," the two pulled away, seeing Johnny walking towards them with bags full of stuff. "Mexican Cokes."

"I think here they're just Cokes," Robby said in amusement, standing up. 

Johnny ignored him and kept on going. "Mexican candy. Chicharróns. And just picked up this badass cell phone. It's got 60 minutos on it. That's, like, 300 American minutes."

"Sometimes I can't believe you're your grown age," Emmy sighed, looking at him weirdly. 

"And," Johnny reached back into the bags, pulling out a little bobble head dog with a sombrero. "I got you a little something to say, "Welcome to Mexico." Don't tell me it's offensive. We bought it in Mexico. It's their idea. And here. Gift number two."

Emmy watched as Johnny pulled out a long sleeved shirt with the letters FBI on the front. Robby took it curiously, wondering what the gesture was for. "Turn it around."

And he did. Emmy let out an immediate groan. "Seriously?"

"Isn't that great? I got one for me too," Johnny smiled and chuckled. He then glanced at Emmy, catching the expression on her face. "What's the look for? I figured you'd like it since you're his girl now."

Emmy just shook her head. "Nothing. Just not surprised."

"So what are we actually doing here?" Robby then asked. "And don't say it's a father-son bonding thing. Because we could've done that 500 miles ago. And you wanted Emmy to come."

"All right, look," Johnny took off the red sunglasses he wore. "This is a father-son bonding thing. There's just something to take care of first. And I need Emmy here."

"I'm only agreed to come because I'm not leaving Robby alone with you," Emmy told him before her eyebrows furrowed. "And why do you need me here?"

✸

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Johnny winced at the sound of Emmy's angry voice. "Pinky, look ⎯ "

"You are unbelievable!" she exclaimed in disbelief. 

"You have every right to be upset. Both of you," Johnny glanced at his son. 

"How could you take us to Mexico and not mention once we're coming to get Miguel?" Robby looked betrayed as he looked at his dad. ""Robby, let's go to Mexico. Come back with some stories.""

"I wasn't bullshitting you, Robby. I wanna fix our relationship," Johnny tried to reassure him. "When I heard Miguel was in trouble, I had to do something. I just couldn't leave you at home. I'm done doing that. Besides, I need your help to find Miguel."

"My help? Do you even have a plan?"

"Yeah, of course I do. Miguel's looking for Hector Salazar. I know where the kid gets off the bus. That's our first stop."

"Okay, I guess this is admirable of you, but what the hell does any of this have to do with me?" Emmy raised her eyebrows. 

"Well, if Miguel doesn't listen to me then you're plan b," Johnny explained. 

"And you think he'll listen to me because..."

"He owes you after everything, doesn't he?"

Emmy bit the inside of her cheek. "I guess you could say that."

Johnny looked at her through the mirror, biting his lip. "Are you mad?"

"Of course I am," she snapped. "I canceled on plans that could have mended my relationship with my best friends just so I can convince the boy who broke my heart to come back from Mexico."

"But at least you're with Robby?" 

She stared at him through the mirror, biting the inside of her cheek. "I guess that makes up for a bit of it."

Robby cleared his throat, ignoring the way his face started to heat up. "When we get there, what do you plan on doing?"

"I'll ask around if anyone saw Miguel," Johnny said. 

Robby looked at him like he was stupid, and glanced back at Emmy who had the same look on her face. "That's the big plan?"

"Of course not," Johnny denied. "We come up dry, I'll check the Mexican phone book."

"Oh my God," Robby sassed. "You drove us a thousand miles to check a phone book? Might as well put Miguel's face on a milk carton."

"They still do that?"

"God," Emmy groaned. "You know, we could be at home right now hanging out with Tory. Or doing literally anything else."

"Coming with you was a mistake," Robby added on, clenching his jaw.

Johnny sighed. "All right. I'm sorry, okay? I thought this trip would help you and Miguel get over your shit. You too, Pinky. Can't have you trying to kill every time you see him anymore. When we get to the bus station, if you wanna buy a ticket home, you can go home. All right, I don't want you to go home, but ⎯ "

Suddenly, Robby jumped up. "Dad, watch out!"

Johnny immediately turned to face the front, starting to swerve away from a car that had appeared in front of them. "Shit!" He slammed down onto the brakes, and the car jerked into a nearby wooded area. 

Emmy let out a few heavy breaths, her hair all up in her face as she laid back against the seat. "Holy mother of God."

✸

"Has no one ever taught to keep your eyes on the damn road?"

Johnny glanced back at Emmy, tossing away random stuff in the trunk to the side. "I don't need your sass right now, Pinky. Where the hell did your dad hide the lug wrench?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Emmy furrowed her eyebrows. 

Robby huffed, grabbing a piece from the side of the trunk and pulled it off, grabbing the lug wrench and held it out for his dad. "I lived in here, remember?"

Johnny grabbed it. "Of course I remember."

The two teens followed him as he walked towards the front of the car, stopping by the right side of the car. "How the hell'd you get this car anyway?"

"I went looking for you," Johnny nodded towards him before dropping down by the tire. "After you went missing, me and LaRusso tried to find you. We found this hunk of junk instead. We found some pissant driving it instead of you and we chased him to a chop shop. Ended up fighting the douchebags that stole it."

Robby frowned. "I had no idea."

Johnny stopped working on the tire, looking up at his son. "I know I haven't been there for you, Robby. More time than I can count. And I have Emmy to thank for being there for you."

Emmy gave a tight lipped smile. 

"But I've also failed Miguel. Hell, I'm the reason he ran off in the first place. I'm out here trying to fix my mistakes so I don't have to live with regret. If you're serious about making things right, you can start by helping Miguel. Both of you. I know you guys have your fair share of regrets when it comes to him."

Robby and Emmy glanced at each other, not sure what to say, but they knew Johnny was right. Johnny then handed off the lug wrench to Robby. "I'm gonna call Carmen. I'll be right back. Finish taking these off."

Robby listened, bending down a began to work on the tire while Johnny walked off and pulled out his phone. Emmy sighed, crossing her arms and leaned against the car. She stared off into the distance, lost in her thoughts. "Is it bad that I don't wanna see him?"

Robby glanced up at her. "Who? Miguel?"

"Yeah," she poked her tongue into the side of her cheek. "I don't really wanna see him. Like, at all. And I know your dad wants me to be the backup plan, but, I just can't get over what happened. Like... Too much as gone to shit."

"Hey..." Robby stood up, grabbing one of her hands and held it in his own. "You don't have to do anything. If things go has my dad planned then you don't have to even look at him. I'll even let you take the passenger seat."

Emmy couldn't contain her smile. "But you get car sick easier in the back."

"I don't care," he shrugged. "As long as you're happy."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that all?"

He pursed his lips. "And maybe also I don't wanna see you sitting next to the guy you used to like."

She snickered, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You have nothing to worry about, okay?"

"Okay," he muttered, leaning down and gave her a quick peck. Emmy giggled, unraveling her arms from him with a smile. 

Johnny glanced at them, his lips twitching upwards. Those two were good for each other. Really good.

✸

"The bus leaves from here. Si?"

"Here, yes."

"Okay. Thank you," Johnny walked towards the teens, and Robby picked up his bag, walking towards him as well. Johnny then pulled out his wallet. "All right, the next bus leaves in a few hours. This'll buy your ticket. This is for some drinks and snacks."

And Johnny began to walk away, but Robby took a step back. "Where are you going?"

"Ticket guys say he thinks he saw Miguel talking to there surfers. I'm gonna go ask around. Sorry I dragged you into this, Robby. And Emmy."

They both watched as he walked away, both feeling conflicted. 

"Well," Emmy sighed. "I guess he's running solo."

"Guess so," Robby thickly swallowed. 

She patted his shoulder in sympathy, before feeling her phone start to buzz in her pocket. "I'm gonna take this. I'll be right back."

Emmy gave Robby and quick kiss on the cheek before pulling her phone out, eyebrows furrowing at the unfamiliar number. Her mind went to maybe Anthony had to change his number again but then she remembered he wasn't speaking to her. She pressed the green button, placing the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"This is a call from, inmate, please state your name. John Kreese."

And right then and there, Emmy felt her heart stop. 

"Hello, Ms. LaRusso."

"Why are... Why are you calling me? How are you calling me?"

"Everyone knows about the one phone call."

"So you call me? Are you seriously that desperate to continue getting into my head? You wanna waste your one phone call on that?"

"So you're not at all upset about my arrest?"

Emmy opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"I know you better than you know yourself, Ms. LaRusso. You're loyal to the right people."

"You are not any of the right people!"

"You keep telling yourself that. I just called to tell you that I await your visit."

"I will not be visiting you. After everything that has happened, the very last thing I want to do on this damn planet is have to see you ever again. I hope you rot."

She pulled the phone away from her, her finger smashing against the red hang up button and she was brought back to her lock screen, which was a picture of her, Robby, and Tory at prom. She gave a shaky breath, shutting her eyes. He was always gonna be there lingering around. And she hated. Emmy hated it more than anything. 

She opened her eyes, pocketing her phone and went to call out for Robby, but saw that he wasn't in the spot she last saw him. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she began to look around before her eyes widened when she saw Johnny and Robby engaging in a fight against a bunch of surfers. 

"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed, her legs pushing her towards the scene. 

Johnny was being backed into a tree by the man with long, light hair, before that man was pulled off of him, spun around, and he heard a sound that sounded like a movie sound effect. He watched as the man flopped to the ground, and looked up to see Emmy shaking out her hand. She had just punched him. 

Emmy had helped Robby up from the ground, looking around at all of the men that were just laying on the sand. "What the hell happened?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

definitely not the best chapter but we have finally have official romy