────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────
──EPISODE FIVE

"DEMETRI ISN'T EXACTLY A NATURAL," Élodie bit her lip, but she smiled as she glanced in the direction of the boy leaving, "But I think he's got potential. I hope he has."

Robby grinned, sipping at his water bottle, "I guess we'll see. I wish I'd seen his face when Mr LaRusso handed him that paintbrush. You got any plans for tonight?"

Élodie pondered his question for a moment, but shook her head with a shrug, "I was just going to go visit Grams, probably. Demetri asked about going to the mall for a catch up, so there first though. Why?"

"Could--uh, could I come?"

Robby was looking down at his feet now, and Élodie furrowed her brows in confusion, "To see my Grams?"

"I think Sam is mad at me since the video at the beach or something," he told her honestly, returning his gaze to meet Élodie's, "I don't really want to be in the house and I don't know... Your grandma always sounds so cool, so... but I could at least come to the mall?"

Élodie smiled warmly, feeling a pang of guilt, "Oh... I'm sorry. At least it shows she likes you, I guess? She hasn't spoken to me much either, but I figured she's been busy. But sure, you can come with. I told 'Metri I'd meet him there so I could gather my stuff."

Robby nodded, waiting for Élodie to get ready and then following her like a small puppy towards the bus stop to head to the mall, turning down Mr LaRusso's offer of a ride.

———

"Oh my god. Sweet man bun," Élodie teased as they sat at a table in the food court, holding up Robby's license, "Kinda disappointed you didn't wear your hair like that when we dated."

Robby rolled his eyes with a laugh, "I told you it was a horrible picture. Guess I'm stuck with it for five years, so no biggie, right?"

Élodie was enjoying being this comfortable in Robby's company again, even if she did have a lingering worry about how Sam felt about their closeness. Even more so, she worried about what signals Robby was trying to give her. She cared about him a hell of a lot, but she was still in love with Eli, even if she was trying to avoid him right now.

"Wait, Robert Swayze Keene? You never told me your middle name was Swayze!"

Robby blushed, "My mom was a huge fan of Patrick Swayze. He was an actor in the '80s."

Élodie scoffed, placing his ID down and flashing a smile, "Uh, yeah! And only the sexiest man ever to live. Ghost is one of my favourite films of all time, Robby. I could've sworn we watched--"

"Oh, uh, we didn't watch it because Trey roped me into a scheme that night," Robby pouted, remembering that night vividly. It had been when they first were dating and things weren't even remotely serious, so she'd forgiven his excuse of having 'work' with ease, "I remember how disappointed you were, though, so I'm sorry. We can watch it sometime soon, though?"

Élodie swallowed hard, nodding, as Demetri re-emerged beside them after having been to the toilet, "I'm more partial to his performance in Donnie Darko. Interesting movie."

"Mmm, time travel logic left a lot to be desired," Élodie shrugged, and Demetri smiled. She was really happy that Demetri had fully warmed up to her now. On the other hand, though, it broke her heart that it was only since 'Hawk', because she wished they could have been closer when they were around as a trio.

"Wait. Is today Wednesday?"

Élodie nodded.

"The new issue of Dungeon Lord came out. Um, do you guys want anything from the comic book store?" Demetri asked, jumping back to his feet, and Élodie and Robby both shook their heads with a smile, "No thanks, 'Metri. We'll see you in a bit... I'll keep an eye on your food!"

———

"You want the rest of this brownie sundae?" Tory asked a pouting Miguel as he eyed his laptop, "I'm not gonna lie to you, I already ate the brownie and the whipped cream and most of the hot fudge."

Miguel shook his head with a laugh, "So, you saved me the melted ice cream?"

"Yeah, the best part," she replied matter-of-factly, "But seriously... What are you working on? Is it something dirty? Show me!"

Miguel blushed, "No, it's nothing dirty. I could use a girl's opinion on this actually... But you have to promise not to laugh."

"I can't make that promise."

After the god-awful video of Miguel and Sam played, Tory was stunned into silence. She was a) riddled with secondhand embarrassment, b) annoyed that it was Sam and c) confused... The girls had told her all about his crush on Élodie and his breakup with Sam.

"I think you should delete that. Put it in the trash, empty the bin and have your laptop cremated."

"It's that bad?" Miguel cringed, embarrassed.

"It makes you look desperate. Especially since I know all about your thing for Élodie," Miguel's eyes widened at her words, "Trying to get over her by crawling back to Sam is an awful idea."

Miguel frowned, unsure.

He still really liked Élodie no matter how much he wanted to pretend he didn't. He thought pursuing Sam again, who he still had feelings for too — that was true — was his best way to avoid making an idiot of himself again.

"It wasn't El that told you, was it?"

"Dude, no, it was Aisha," she reassured him, shrugging, "But she's head over heels for Hawk, according to her. I think you just need to get your mind off her... have some fun. I know just the place."

———

"So have you... have you spoken to Eli since you broke up?" Robby asked, his voice quiet because he knew it was still a sensitive subject for Elodie.

She shook her head, eyeing her plate of fries, "I've been ignoring his calls and texts, and I haven't visited the Cobra Kai dojo, obviously. I've still hung out with Aisha and the new girl Tory, but it's all too much at the moment. I miss him, though, so much."

Robby smiled sadly across at her, reaching out to take her hand in his reassuringly just as Demetri came running back into the food court, panting. That was when Elodie caught sight of a bright red mohawk... And the boy who wore it, staring right back at her.

"It didn't have to be this way. You could've joined Cobra Kai if you weren't such a pussy," Hawk snarled, his anger intensified by seeing Elodie's hand in Robby's despite her snatching it away as soon as her eyes caught his.

"At least I'm not an asshole," Demetri scoffed, and Elodie drew in a deep breath. God, he was definitely in for it now. She stood up, Robby following suit, as Eli took a step closer to Demetri, a devilish grin on his gorgeous face.

"You're dead meat."

"Hawk!" Élodie cried out, and Eli fought against the pain in his chest at her calling him by the nickname when she was usually so set on calling him Eli, "Don't fucking hurt him!"

"Don't get involved, Élodie," he frowned, his eyes pleading with her, "Please."

"I don't care what this is about, I'm not standing here and letting you hurt your best friend, Moskowitz."

Hawk's expression harshened, "So what? You want to fight me now?"

"Well if you're going to be an asshole and hurt Demetri," she shrugged, "It appears I might have to."

"He deserves it. But I'm not going to hurt you, Élodie." Hawk sighed out deeply.

"You already did."

"I—, this— I— this isn't about us," Hawk shook his head, his eyes snapping to glare at Demetri, "You're going to pay."

Élodie stepped in front of Demetri fully now as Eli charged forward and swung his fist. Her arm lifted to block it, "You don't want to do this. You don't need to be an asshole."

"Go and focus on your new— sorry old... boyfriend, Élodie," his jaw clenched as he eyed Robby who stood close, "You don't care what I do anymore."

And with that, a fight ensued.

Hawk went nowhere near Élodie again, and she hated how much it comforted her that he avoided combat with her, even though she was still fucking furious at him for everything he was doing.

Élodie fought off the other Cobra Kais with ease, especially protective of Demetri because she knew he couldn't really fight. Robby and Eli seemed to have it in for eachother, barely stopping for breath between punches.

"You thought you could swoop back in, huh?" Eli seethed, "Take advantage of how hurt she is?"

Robby scoffed, laughing, "I'm just being a friend to the girl who you fucked things up with, Hawk," he snarled back, "How I feel about her means nothing right now. You can't be mad at me when you're literally pushing her away by doing this!"

Eli stopped, stung by the words that left Robby's lips.

His sudden halt left him open to a punch from Robby, who landed his fist right on Eli's cheekbone. Eli fell to the floor, and Élodie couldn't help but fly to kneel at his side when she saw how hard of a hit he took.

"Robby you—," she began, flustered, "Jesus christ what am I doing running to you again?"

She lifted herself to her feet again, glancing down at her ex-boyfriend who was staring up at her, distraught, "Please, El."

His voice broke, and Elodie's heart did along with it, "Can you just hear me out?"

———

"You wanted to beat Demetri up over a fucking Yelp review?" Élodie huffed as Eli had just explained the situation. They sat in his car, for privacy, but she could feel Robby's eyes on them through the window as he perched on a bench nearby, "Are you kidding me?"

"He joined Miyagi-Do, and decided to shit on Cobra Kai online," even Eli wasn't sure of his own excuse anymore.

"So what? I'm part of Miyagi-do. And he's your friend," Élodie shook her head, "Eli when will you learn? This Cobra Kai or nothing attitude is ruining you... I want the boy I loved back."

"Loved?"

"You know I'm stupid enough to still love you, idiot," Élodie's eyes were glassy as she spoke, "But you're not the boy I fell in love with anymore. I want us back."

"Then give me another chance, please, princess. I promise I'll make it up to you."

She shook her head again as a tear escaped her eyes, "It's not just me you've hurt, Eli. I can't give you another chance if you can't even see what's gone wrong."

Eli reached his hand up to cup her cheek, the pad of his thumb wiping away the stray tears, "I love you, Élodie. I love you. I promise I'll stop being so caught up in all this, I'll—I'll change."

"I can't be your girlfriend right now, Eli."

"Can you at least talk to me again? Please? We can start over? If—If you'd like that?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Élodie's voice was coated with warning, "But we can start over... I'm Élodie, it's nice to meet you."

She reached out her hand to shake, but it was only his head that Eli shook, "Eli. Nice to meet you."

The swell in Élodie's chest was unbearably strong at him introducing himself as Eli.

He grabbed her hand now, but only to pull her to his chest for a hug across their seats.

Élodie leaned into the hug, unable to stop herself from getting comfortable in his arms again. Her eyes caught those of Robby, who stood up and turned to leave now.

She swallowed thickly, pulling back from the hug, "Baby steps, Eli. Baby steps."

────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────
AUTHOR'S NOTE !
i am too much of a sucker for eli n élodie i sabotage my own plot ideas hehe

who do u lot want her to be with in the long run? there's more drama for my lovely gal yet, so strap in, but i'm curious

thanks as ever for your patience with me & my sporadic updates <3 you're angels