─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"so you kissed hawk and you didn't tell me?" miguel questioned, spinning around on gioia's desk chair.

gioia threw herself onto the neatly made double bed. the secret was eating her up inside so the second she and miguel were alone in her room, she couldn't keep her mouth shut. "miguel, he's your best friend again. i didn't want to make it weird."

"gb, you can tell me anything and it wouldn't be weird." miguel reassured her. "like that time you told me bianca showed you a video as you were drinking orange juice and you laughed so hard it came out of your nose."

"miguel!" gioia groaned, launching her blue elephant teddy at his head.

he caught it just in time as he chuckled. "no ones here!" he exclaimed. "and don't use plum pudding as a weapon, she's fragile. also why name something blue after a plum?"

"i was five."

"well, when i was five i knew the different colours." miguel sassed.

"look, they're similar colours! you know what? i'll kick you out." gioia threatened. "or better yet, i'll just kick you."

"okay, okay." miguel held his hands up in surrender. "so what are you going to do about hawk? you like him, right?"

"i-it's not that simple." gioia shook her head. "i did like him, a lot. then he scared the crap out of me and i practically feared him. now, i don't."

"well then, make a move but only once you think your friendship is mended." miguel advised.

"what if we mend our friendship, get into a relationship, break up and ruin the friendship?" gioia asked.

"well.. i don't know." he shrugged.

"yes, you do." gioia reminded him. "isn't that what happened with sam?"

"oh, you're cold." miguel rolled his eyes at her.

"i don't mean to be."

"well, with sam i just... like her so much." miguel explained. "i feel like we always find our way back to each other, no matter what."

"even if you already have a girlfriend?" gioia mumbled. she took a huge risk with that quip and she was afraid of what miguel would say.

"gioia, please." miguel shut his eyes tightly, tilting his head back. "i regret it every single day. trust me."

"sorry for bringing it up." she frowned. "it was a cheap joke."

"no." he shook his head. "i screwed up, i should be reminded. you keep me grounded, humble."

"i try." she shrugged.

"so... back to hawk."

"do you think it's dumb if i like him again, so quickly, after everything that happened?"

"i think you can't control how you feel about him." miguel shrugged. "especially since you used to like him so much. you're just a naturally forgiving person, gio."

"that's the problem, miggy." gioia groaned. "i didn't just like him so much... i sort of loved him."

"you loved him?" miguel asked, his expression washing over with compassion for the girl.

"yeah." she whispered.

"why past tense?"

"he broke demetri's arm and laughed with his friends after." gioia explained. "it was horrifying, he wasn't the same. now, he's trying to a-atone for what he did but i think it'll take me a while to go back to how i felt."

"no one will blame you if you still have feelings for him or even if you kissed him."

"is it bad i want to kiss him again?" gioia announced before shoving her face onto her pillow and squealing.

"ugh! stop that." miguel grimaced.

gioia flipped herself over, facing the ceiling. "i need more girl friends." she sighed. she had lost aisha and tory, and she had never really been close with sam.

"you're ungrateful." miguel shook his head. "i've sat here for an hour listening to you gush over my friend. why didn't you just ask mickey to come over instead of me?"

"mickey was busy." gioia mumbled. "and she knows how i feel about him already."

"wow! so i'm second choice?" miguel scoffed.

"always." gioia joked.

"well... first the worst, second the best." miguel childishly stuck his tongue out at her.

"aren't you just so mature?"

"so mature that i texted hawk on your phone ten minutes ago telling him to come over." miguel shot back.

"what?!"

"isn't it so cool that he drives, he just gets to places so quick." miguel sighed, "i really need to start lessons, but they're so expensive—"

"miguel, where's my phone?"

the boy looked up to see her room a mess as she frantically searched for her device. he casually pulled it out of his jumper's pocket and handed it to her. before she could even unlock it, fredrico barbusca shouted:

"gioia marie, your mohawk friend is here!"

gioia's eyes widened, she turned to miguel who had a smug look on his face. she pulled the window open and dragged him over to it. the boy had gained some muscle recently, so it wasn't too easy to stuff him out of the window.

"hey, get off of me!"

"get out!"

"get your hands off my butt!"

finally, miguel had squeezed out of her window and landed on the grass outside. she quickly shut the window closed and put her middle finger up at him. he made a heart with his hands and mouthed an "i love you." before giggling away as she closed the curtains.

"gioia?!"

"just send him over!" gioia shouted at her dad.

in seconds, hawk had knocked on her door. she took a deep breath, and glanced at her messy room, this was unlike her. "shit." she instantly began rushing around to sort it out. "just give me a second, i'm naked!"

why the hell would she say that? she was fully clothed, having showered hours ago. the girl wanted to throw herself out of the window in embarrassment but chose to continue to rearrange her room.

"okay..."

she grabbed her brush, combing down her frizzy, chest-length, golden hair. gioia took a deep breath before pulling the door open. "hawk! what brings you here?"

"you." hawk told her.

"me?" gioia could feel her cheeks heating up.

"yeah, you texted me saying we needed to talk." hawk reminded her.

"i did? i did." she nodded in embarrassment, "come in."

hawk sat on the freshly made bed, and gioia sat down beside him. no one said a word, hawk was waiting for her to talk but gioia was busy thinking about what to say.

"so..." hawk cleared his throat.

"so." gioia repeated.

"what did you want to talk about?"

"just uh... should we w-watch something?" gioia suggested.

"yeah." hawk nodded. "that's a good idea. we can watch it once we talk about what happened at the picnic."

gioia's head shot over to look at him. she knew hawk was the one out of them who was more straightforward, but she didn't expect him to bring the kiss up so quickly. "what happened?"

"gioia." hawk said softly, placing his hand on hers. they were ice cold, despite her being inside all day. "come on."

the touch of his hand sent a subtle electric current through gioia, making her heart race and leaving her with a warm, exhilarating feeling in her chest.

"ok-okay." she nodded. "i uh, kissed you at the picnic because the crush i used to have on you... came back."

his heart skipped a beat and his face visibly fell. "you had a crush on me?"

"of course i did." she smiled to herself. "who wouldn't? you were so sweet. especially to me."

were.

"but then you and moon got together at the canyon party, so i tried to force myself to get over you. a-and it was so hard because you were my best friend and i saw you everyday."

"then i turned into an asshole."

"yeah." gioia agreed. "but i liked you so much i managed to look past that. i now realise how stupid that was, because my crush on you didn't end until-"

"i broke demetri's arm." hawk finished for her.

"yeah."

"i'm really sorry i put you through that." he shook his head. "i should've picked you instead of cobra kai. i always think about how different things would be if i had just let demetri go. yeah, the cobra kais would've hated and targeted me, but that would've been okay as long as i had you."

"so why didn't you?" gioia frowned.

"i don't know." he pulled his hand from hers and buried himself in his hands. "i really don't know. maybe it was because i was so afraid of becoming the victim of bullying again or because i thought you wouldn't accept me back into your life. i mean, i was still an asshole before the laser tag day."

"you were." she nodded. "but i would've forgiven you. i always will. well not always, just as long as you apologise and atone for your actions."

"i know that now." hawk looked back up at her. "you're compassionate." he paused. "which is why i like you so much."

"you do?"

"i always have, deep down." hawk shrugged. "that's why moon broke up with me."

"and because sometimes i would catch him looking at a different girl instead of me."

"seriously?!" gioia questioned. she was so stupid, she was the girl moon was hinting about at her house party.

"moon said she could tell." hawk explained. "she wasn't upset or mad, she actually felt quite bad, thinking she had taken me from you. i told her that wasn't the case and she was a great person. she even advised me to go after you before i lost the chance and... that's why i tried to kiss you at the party."

"when i swerved you."

he laughed. "not my best moment. i didn't know whether you did that because you felt sick or because you didn't feel the same way."

"of course i felt the same way!" she exclaimed. "i thought you knew! that's why i invited you for dinner with my family!"

"yeah but i thought you knew that i liked you that's why i was trying so hard to get on their good side, "i even made a salad."

"you made it? you said your mom did."

"i lied."

gioia groaned, lying on the bed. "we-we are so stupid. we should've just talked to each other and this would've been so much easier. we could've already been together."

"it's not too late." hawk pointed out.

"it's not." she shook her head. "would it be stupid if i suggested that we take it slow?"

"nothing you say could ever be stupid." hawk told her.

gioia chuckled, booting him with her feet. "you're just saying that. you don't have to suck up to me anymore now that you know i like you back."

"shut up, gb!" he rolled his eyes as he began to tickle her.

"get off!" she squirmed, squealing with laughter. he continued to tickle her, making her giggles louder. "stop!"

"no."

"i'm serious, eli, get off of me!"

he stopped.

eli.

the boy now had a large grin on his face, as her laughter subsided. he leaned forward, and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. his touch lingering, and she felt a flutter in her stomach. their eyes locked, and he drew closer to her. in the gentle embrace of the bed, he leaned in, capturing her lips with a kiss that carried the warmth of her previous laughter.

without pulling away, the girl pushed herself up into a sitting position. as the kiss became more passionate, hawk moved one of his hands onto her neck, using the other to take gioia's hand. she eventually drew away from him, a smile etched on her beautiful face.

"can i be your boyfriend?" hawk blurted out.

"what?"

"will you let me be your boyfriend? please?" he asked again.

"yes, you can be my boyfriend. you don't have to beg." she grinned. "i will be your girlfriend."

"yeah?"

"yeah, but we're still taking it slow."

hawk couldn't be happier. he drew her up from the bed and hugged her, whirling her around with excitement.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!

i thought you knew </3
they are victims of miscommunication and missed opportunity sadly
BUT AFTER 43 CHAPTERS THEYRE TOGETHER (and taking it slow) TALK ABOUT SLOW BURN
#barbuscowitz