THIRTY FOUR.
( I'm so tired of california. ) 

Emmy crossed her arms in annoyance at how loud Kyler and Edwin were laughing, kicking the back of their seats. "Can you two shut it? There are other people trying to enjoy the movie and can't because you're acting like fucking hyenas."

Kyler reacted by loudly laughing in her face.

"Dick," she muttered, leaning back in her seat.

"Not into the movie?" she turned her head at the sound of Robby's voice, noticing Tory in a completely different head space.

"Yeah, you ok, Tor?" she worriedly asked.

"Oh, it's fine. I just had a shitty day."

"Wanna talk about it?" Emmy asked, leaning her head on Tory's shoulder.

Tory responded by leaning her head on top of her friend's. "I'd rather not."

"Hey, yo, bitch boy," the two girls rolled their eyes in sync at the sound of Kyler's voice, Robby laughing to himself at their faces. "What about mine?"

Kenny sighed, coming up to Kyler's window. "You said you didn't want anything."

"Well, I want some now. So let me get two buckets of popcorn, with butter, five large cokes, two hot dogs, with mustard, not ketchup, and a pretzel."

"But I can't carry ⎯ "

"And some nachos with extra cheese and jalapeno poppers, all right?"

Kenny walked away, and Emmy took this opportunity to lean forward from her seat and tugged harshly on Kyler's ear, earning pained groans. "If you want it, go get it yourself, asshole."

"Why are you being such a bitch lately?" Kyler rubbed his red ear.

"Hey. Watch your mouth," Robby warned, opening the car door and climbing out, following after Kenny.

"You're a real douchebag you know that?" she said to Kyler. "That kid is one of us now. Show him some respect."

"He ain't even close to being one of us. Still too skittish. Hey, maybe I can set him straight, make him a real man," he then made a punching motion, him and Edwin laughing to themselves like idiots.

Emmy just shook her head, muttering curses under her breath. Then the car door opening caught her attention, and Robby climbed back in. He turned to her, seeing her face. "He's fine."

Emmy sighed, placing her head on Robby's shoulder. "It's not fair to him. I mean, we didn't make you lick the floor when you joined."

"He'll be fine, Em. Trust me. I won't let anything bad happen to him."

She lifted her head up to look him in the eye. "Promise?"

It was then that Robby realized that she was, in fact, very close to his face. "Promise."

She lightly smiled at him, placing her head back onto his shoulder.

"That piece of shit."

Her head shot up, nearly knocking into Robby's chin. "What?"

He nodded towards something behind her, and she turned around, face hardening at the sight of Hawk standing in front of Kenny with food all over their feet.

"Come on," she nudged him and the two quickly got out of the car.

"You should watch where you're going kid," Hawk smirked.

"Yeah, same goes for you," Robby interjected, him and Emmy walking up to them.

Kenny turned around, seeing the two teens. Emmy held out her hand for him, which he immediately took, stepping behind her.

"You okay?" she looked at him from over her shoulder.

He just nodded.

"Look who it is," Hawk smugly looked Robby up and down, before faltering a bit when he made eye contact with Emmy. The two hadn't spoken since that phone call.

"Look at you. Picking on a little kid. Seems right up your alley," Emmy mockingly looked him up and down, taking a step forward while crossing her arms over her chest.

Suddenly, Nate spoke up, "You betrayed Miyagi-Do. Traitor."

Emmy glanced at boy in amusement and gave Hawk a teasing smile. "Yours now?"

He grumbled in response.

Tory then showed up with the rest of Cobra Kais that had come with the. "Oh, there's a traitor here for sure. And he's gonna get what he deserves."

"I don't think so," Sam came in, alongside Miguel. Emmy straightened up. "Not if I have anything to say about it, Princess."

Her comment was an obvious jab at Tory's new job and it made Emmy's blood boil. Sam had no idea what it felt like to have to provide for her family. And she would know. Because she used to be a part of it.

"You call her princess again and I punch your face in," Emmy stalked up closer to her sister, looking down at her.

Then, a new voice joined. "Hey, guys! Can you believe that they have Mr. Pibb and Dr. Pepper?"

Everyone looked at Demetri with furrowed eyebrows. He looked back at everyone, quickly realizing the situation. "Shit. Not another rumble."

"Careful, LaRusso. Your mommy isn't here to play peacemaker," Tory said to Sam.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam furrowed her eyebrows

"Guys, stop," Miguel cut them off. "We can't do this. We'll beat them on the mat."

"Oh, really?" Robby spoke up. "You do remember what happened the last time we fought, right?"

Emmy smirked. "Oh, yeah. You sure you still know what you're doing, Diaz? You were out for a while."

Sam stepped in front of Miguel, blocking Emmy's view of them. The smaller girl had a glare set on her face, only for the taller girl to mockingly smile at her. "Still protecting your little boy, I see."

"Okay," Miguel tried to not let Emmy's comment get to him. "Meet us at the baseball diamond in 30 minutes. And no weapons."

"Yeah, we won't need 'em," Tory shot back, eyes glaring into him.

And then the two group dispersed, Emmy staying behind. She didn't let it show to his face, but looking at Miguel in that moment was one of the most painful.

Robby immediately noticed the lack of a certain energy around him, and he turned back around, seeing Emmy not with the group, only staring at the other group. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Emmy. Come on."

She didn't say anything. Robby then slowly began to walk towards her, standing next to her. "You okay?"

"I wanna rip his head off."

His eyebrows flew up at her sudden statement. "Woah."

Emmy scoffed. "He really has some nerve. You know, I can't believe I thought that he actually wanted anything to do with me. I mean, sure it was convincing at first, but now, I don't think I've held this much rage for someone since Sam."

"Rambling."

"Noted."

Robby sighed. "Look, what Miguel did, was awful. Especially to you. But ripping his head off with your eyes isn't gonna do anything. That's why we're supposed to go to the diamond in 30 minutes."

"I know," she grumbled. "But I don't even wanna face him."

"But you just said you wanted to rip his head off."

She groaned, sliding a hand down her face. "This shit is so confusing. I am never liking anyone ever again."

"Okay," he chuckled, putting his hands into his pockets. "Wanna talk a walk?"

"A walk? Where?" she asked.

Robby shrugged. "Just around. We'll make a path if we have to."

Emmy stared at him for a moment, cracking into a smile. "You are such a loser."

"Yeah, well," he draped his arm around her shoulder. "You are too."

✸

Emmy walked into the backroom, a towel still in her hand, though her hair was no longer wet. "I swear to God, water is still coming out of my ear."

Robby looked up from his air mattress, laughing at the sight of her. "Well, at least you're dry. You sure you wanna crash here tonight?"

"Duh," she scoffed, crouching down towards her bag and stuffed her damp towel into it. "But, I can't say I'll like it. Even though my parents hated me, at least they tolerated me enough to buy me a Tempur-Pedic. And give me my own room."

Robby leaned back on his arms. "No, I get that. But, you had a full room back at Kyler's. I just don't get why you would trade that for sharing an air mattress with me."

Emmy sighed, connecting her phone to her charger. "Fine. Kyler's parents kicked me out."

His eyes widened. "What? Why?"

Emmy dragged her feet over to the mattress, sitting on her side. "They realized that there was no way I would ever get with Kyler, so, they showed me the door. With a king sized air mattress as a parting gift. And 250 bucks."

"Well, that's an asshole move," he frowned. "Minus the mattress and cash though. That was a good parting gift."

She snorted. "You can say that. I'm just glad I'm out of there. Kyler and his dad are so similar it's eery."

"Well, at least we know where he got his attitude from," he shrugged. "That's another case closed."

She turned to him, eyeing his disheveled hair. "You are so corny."

He barked out a laugh, wrapping the blanket closer to him. "Hey! I gotta lighten the mood somehow."

Emmy rolled her eyes, standing up and walking towards the light switch. She flicked it off, the room instantly turning dark, the only source of light being an old light plugged into the wall. She glanced at it for a moment, remembering that it was Johnny's. "Bed. Now."

He smiled at her, turning over and laid on his right side. She climbed into the bed, laying on her left side. There were no more words from anyone, the only sound being the sound of the air conditioner in the room. The backroom was always freezing.

And almost as soon as Emmy's eyes closed, they flew open. She no longer felt tired. And it pissed her off. She gave a quiet huff of frustration, choosing to just silently suffer, closing her eyes again to try and force herself to sleep.

She went on like this for the next 15 minutes, and she was just getting more and more frustrated. This had been a frequent occurrence since she left Hawk's house. She could no longer sleep peacefully.

"I can't sleep either."

Her head snapped over to look over her shoulder, seeing Robby facing the ceiling with his eyes open. "Still haven't gotten used to it."

Emmy sighed, copying his position. "Well isn't this just great?"

Robby turned his head to her. "What's on your mind?"

"What isn't on my mind?" she breathed out. "It's, like, during the day, I'm fine, but then, when it's night time, my brain just decides to replay everything that's gone to shit so far."

He lightly chuckled. "I know that a bit too well. What's it showing you?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head to look at him. "What is this? A therapy session?"

Robby rolled his eyes. "Answer the question."

She looked at him weirdly, sucking in a breath. "It's showing me the house fight. When Hawk left."

"He was your best friend," Robby hummed. "He betrayed you."

"Understatement of the century," she muttered, turning her head back to look at the ceiling. Robby never took his eyes off of her.

"Have you ever wanted to run away?"

The sudden question made her turn back to him. "What? I mean...I've kinda been doing that for the past year."

Robby shook his head. "No, like, properly run away. A new city or even a new state."

She looked down in thought. "All the time. I used to have a notebook of places I wanted to visit the second I turned 18. I was gonna pack all my bags and leave in the dead of night."

"Sounds a lot like mine," Robby cracked a smile. "Where were you thinking of going?"

"Robby Keene..." she trailed off with her own smile. "Are you trying to plan a run away scheme with me?"

"What if I am?" he shifted closer to her.

She gave a breathy laugh. "Fine. Where do you think we should go?"

"Hm..." he looked up as he began to think. "We could get away from the heat, head north. Maybe experience some snow."

"Or," she turned to lay on her left, the two now laying face to face. "We could keep going south and have the most fabulous summers beach hopping."

He gave a sharp intake of air. "That sounds tempting as well. Haven't surfed in a while."

Emmy's jaw dropped. "You surf? Seriously?"

"Yeah. You don't?" he teasingly said.

She just laughed. "No, but I've always wanted to learn! Maybe you can teach me."

"You won't even skateboard," he laughed.

"Yeah, but, I would totally surf," she shifted closer to him. "Promise me, that if we go south, you'll teach me how to surf."

"If we go?"

"When we go. Promise me."

"I promise," he nodded.

Emmy grinned brightly at him. How the hell was she supposed to sleep now?

AUTHOR'S NOTE !

this chapter is just robby and emmy and i love it