╔.𖥸. .════════════════╗

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬

chapter thirty-three
summer daze

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IT WAS THEIR first karate practice after the All Valley. Coming back into the familiar backyard of Miyagi-Do felt like home to Alyssa, as it always had. Especially since her hand was interlocked with Eli's as they came in, her now official boyfriend. Not to mention that school had ended, meaning summer had officially started, and now they had at least some stress off of their backs.

"Everyone, gather round," Sensei LaRusso called.

Alyssa sandwiched herself between Eli and Sam. She glanced over at Sam with a small smile. Sam gave her one back, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"It's great to see you all back here again. You know, we had one goal going into the All Valley. Beat Cobra Kai. We walked away with a first place trophy thanks to Eli."

All of them clapped for him. Well, not Alyssa. She just squeezed his hand gently, and he glanced over at her, his blue eyes glinting with nothing short of adoration.

"As far as the rest of the tournament, well, it just didn't go our way," Sensei LaRusso continued. "We said we'd close our dojo if we lost. And . . . that's exactly what we're going to do."

Alyssa's smile immediately fell off of her face.

"As of today, I am shutting down Miyagi-Do Karate."

That was an absolute punch to the stomach. Alyssa suddenly felt like she had no air left inside of her. No more Miyagi-Do? The place where she had found herself, the place where she had found the best friends she could ever ask for, the place where she had gotten stronger, the place where she always felt confident in . . . just, gone?

"What?" Sam asked.

"Wait, Mr. LaRusso—" Eli started to insist.

"I know that's not what you were hoping to hear, but with everything going on at Cobra Kai, continuing to operate Miyagi-Do only leaves a target on your backs," Sensei LaRusso said. "Guys, I have to keep you safe, okay? Just remember what you've learned. This dojo may be closing, but Miyagi-Do lives inside each and every one of you still."

"Great," Demetri commented. "Guess I'm getting a summer job."

At once, Demetri started to lead all of them out of the backyard. Alyssa felt a tug on her hand, and she gave Eli a tight smile as she followed after him. Guess they were getting coffee earlier than she thought (they had planned to get some after practice.) However, there was one person left behind. Alyssa stopped in her tracks and looked back, only to see Sam talking to Sensei LaRusso, a solemn expression on her face.

Alyssa frowned. So, yeah. Sam was a wreck. Losing the All Valley — which in no way was her fault — had stuck with her, and there were many nights where Alyssa just held her as she cried.

There was also the problem of Miguel. Apparently, Miguel hadn't come out to fight after hurting his back because he felt like he wasn't fighting for him anymore. But then he had run off to fucking Mexico, leaving only a note behind, to find his father. Johnny had ran after him with Robby to get him back. Alyssa would be lying if she said she wasn't worried. In truth, she was fucking terrified.

Sam then walked away from her dad. She focused right on Alyssa, her body language seeming to relax just the tiniest bit at the sight of her. Eli let go of her hand at once — after all, it seemed like Sam needed more comfort than him.

Alyssa extended her arm out to Sam. "Come on." Sam sighed sadly and sunk into Alyssa's side, and Alyssa wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Sam answered.

Alyssa gave her a knowing look. "Samantha."

"Uh-oh, Princess, she used your full name," Eli stated, but unlike what it used to be like when he was in Cobra Kai, the nickname wasn't meant as degrading anything anymore. It was just a nickname now. "She means business."

"When doesn't she mean business?" Sam countered. She then let out a deep breath. "I'm . . . managing. It's all a little much right now, especially with this.

"Eli, Demetri, and I were going to get some coffee," Alyssa told her, knowing that at least a little Starbucks would cheer her up. "You should come. It'll be fun."

Sam gave her a small smile. "I can never pass up coffee."

Eli sighed dramatically. "Well, Demetri, looks like we're dealing with Double Trouble."

"Wait, we're still going to Starbucks?" Demetri inquired as they reached Alyssa's car. "No, we can't. I have to start looking for a summer job."

"You can search tomorrow," Alyssa replied, unlocking her car. "E, be a good boyfriend and sit in the back with Demetri, would you?"

"Sam gets passenger seat privileges now?" Eli responded. "Unbelievable."

"Oh, stop whining."

"I thought you were into that."

Alyssa's eyes widened and her face burned a bright shade of red as her head snapped over to him, only to see him smirking at her. "Okay, that was out of pocket. Kiss my forehead and apologize to me, or I swear to God, I will roundhouse kick you into oblivion."

"Okay, okay," Eli let out through his laughter, walking up to her. He put his hands on her face and leaned down, planting a kiss onto her forehead. Eli then pulled back and looked down at her while running his thumbs against her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you should be." Alyssa tried to control the heat on her face as she opened up the drivers side door. "Let's roll."

They all got in — Sam in the passenger seat, Eli and Demetri in the back.

Alyssa turned her car on and handed her phone to Sam. "Here, you can play what you want. None of us will argue against Taylor Swift, though. Eli begged me to play Teardrops On My Guitar on the way here."

"True," Demetri added.

"This is slander," Eli interjected, but he didn't deny it, because it was true.

Alyssa started to drive down the street. At once, a familiar set of chords sounded throughout her car. On any other occasion, Alyssa probably would've started to scream along. However, there was so much more to why Sam was playing this song.

"Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street . . ."

The pangs of emotion in a relationship. Alyssa knew what that was like, considering this song was one of her anthems when Eli was all crazy. But now Sam was yearning for Miguel, who had left without a trace, while she was trying to battle her inner demons.

This was worse than Alyssa thought.

After Red and a little bit of Come Back . . . Be Here, Alyssa parked her car in the Starbucks parking lot. All of them got out, and while Sam and Demetri went ahead, Alyssa watched them for a moment before singling out her boyfriend.

Alyssa grabbed onto Eli's sleeve, making him stop, and she leaned her head closer to his. "She played Red. This is worse than I thought."

"I mean, at least she didn't play that song about being so casually cruel in the name of being honest," Eli reminded her.

Alyssa's eyes widened. "Oh, if she played All Too Well, we would be absolutely fucked."

They walked in, and Alyssa immediately got hit with the scent of coffee. Sam was already ordering, Demetri right behind her. Alyssa fell back in line and waited. After Demetri ordered, Alyssa stepped up to the cashier and ordered a drink for her and a drink for Eli. They waited a couple minutes for their drinks to come out, and once they did, they went back outside and found an empty table.

"I'm telling you, if Percy Jackson was real, he would beat you in a heartbeat," Alyssa voiced to Eli, settling down in the chair next to him. "Homeboy's got moves."

Eli raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of his drink. "Are you just biased because Percy Jackson was your original boyfriend?"

"Hm, maybe." Alyssa then looked across the way to see Sam staring down at her cup intently. "Hey, Sam, you're thinking too loud." Sam looked up, and Alyssa gave her a soft smile. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"

"I just . . . I can't believe dad shut down the dojo," Sam admitted. "He told me he wants to protect us from Silver, but this can't be the plan."

"Is Silver really that dangerous?" Demetri asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't heard of him before he suddenly resurged. But my dad seemed hellbent on him being insane."

Alyssa turned to Eli to see if he had anything to input, but she only saw him focusing intently on twisting the paper wrapper from his straw. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry about it," Eli replied. "Carry on."

"Okay?" Alyssa then turned back to the others. "Maybe now we can focus on important things,. Like what we're gonna be for Halloween."

"Ally, Halloween is months away," Demetri protested.

"I know. But two years ago I was Fire Nation Katara and last year Sam and I went as Snooki and JWoww. How the fuck am I supposed to top that?" She blew a piece of her pink hair out of her face. "Hm. What could a Halloween costume be for someone with pink hair?"

"Do you think you'll still have pink hair at Halloween?"

"Dude, I don't know. The pink hair was impulsive. Maybe next time I'll go blue."

Eli then suddenly took her hand in his and placed something in the center of her palm. She looked down, only to see that it was the wrapper from his straw twisted into a paper ring. Alyssa's eyes slightly widened and she looked up at him, staring right into his eyes like he had created the whole universe for her.

Sam sighed. "She's gonna cry."

Alyssa nodded, tears pricking at the back of her eyes. "What the heck." She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're the absolute best, baby."

"And . . ." Eli trailed off, grabbing another paper ring and offering it to Sam. "For you."

Alyssa's eyes widened, and she suddenly felt her heart race. Eli wasn't giving it to her as a romantic gesture — obviously. He was giving it to her to show that they were there for her, and to potentially make her feel better about Miguel's disappearance.

Sam stared at the paper ring for a second before taking it. "Thank you."

"No matter how alone you feel, you're not," Alyssa said softly. "You've got us. We're in this together, yeah?"

Sam nodded slightly. "Yeah."

And all they could hope now was that everything would be okay, even though they had no more dojo.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

ALYSSA WOKE UP to a weight pressing on her and kisses being planted all over her face.

"Eli," Alyssa muttered, trying to roll over. "It's so early."

He stopped kissing her face. "Lys, it's eleven A.M."

"My point exactly." Her eyes slowly fluttered open to see him still hovering above her. "Hi."

"Hey," Eli responded. He leaned down and kissed her forehead again before rolling off of his bed. "Want to get some breakfast?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes? Sign me the fuck up." She yawned, sitting up and watching as Eli wandered over to his closet. "Just let me get dressed and get ready."

"Speaking of getting dressed, more and more of my shirts and hoodies keep disappearing." He looked back her accusingly. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Alyssa gave him an innocent smile. "Not a thing."

"Uh-huh."

Well, truth be told, Alyssa often did steal his clothes. Who could blame her? They were comfortable, and it smelled like him. What more could she ask for?

Alyssa managed to get herself out of Eli's bed. She changed into her clothes — black denim shorts and a black and white plaid crop top that tied at the shoulders — before tying her pink hair back into two pigtails. When she was done, she met Eli in his kitchen.

"Ready to go?" Alyssa questioned, and he nodded. "Just let me get my keys."

"No," Eli interjected. "I'll drive."

The smirk on his face confused her for a second. He then opened up the door to his garage, where a car should've been, but only say a motorcycle.

Alyssa's eyes widened when he realized what he was alluding to, and she turned around, starting to walk away. "Nope."

Eli laughed slightly and took her shoulders in his hands, turning her back around. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"You and I have very different definitions of the word fun. I am not going on that thing."

Eli's blue eyes suddenly got big.

"No," Alyssa protested. "No, do not give me the puppy eyes, you know I'll cave."

"That's exactly why I do it," Eli said. "Come on, baby, you haven't been on the motorcycle once. Just let me drive to breakfast, it's not that far."

She squinted at him. "If I die, you're responsible for my death."

He waved her off, walking into the garage. "Yeah, yeah."

Eli walked over to two helmets resting on one of the shelves in the garage. He picked one up and went back over to Alyssa, putting it right on her head.

Alyssa's eyes narrowed at him. "I look ridiculous."

"No, you look adorable," Eli corrected. He got on the motorcycle. "Come on."

She sighed. There was no way she was getting out of this. Alyssa walked over to the motorcycle and swung her leg over, getting on it. She leaned forwards and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Hold on tight," Eli instructed.

He backed out of the garage and went onto the street. The last time she had seen Eli on the motorcycle was at the car wash for Miguel, and he had driven fast, if she remembered. But Eli seemed to go intentionally slower, maybe for her.

Honestly, the motorcycle ride wasn't that bad. It actually felt kind of freeing. She couldn't hear much over the wind, but the combination of being close to Eli and having the sunshine on her skin, everything went smoothly.

Eli slowed to a stop in the parking lot of the breakfast place and put the kickstand down on his motorcycle. Alyssa took her helmet off and saw Eli looking back at her expectantly.

She rolled her eyes fondly. "Fine, it was actually kind of fun. You didn't drive as recklessly as I thought you would."

He shrugged casually. "Precious cargo."

"Oh, shut up." Alyssa got off the bike, only to feel her phone buzzing with a call in her back pocket. "Hood on."

Alyssa was expecting the call to be Sam. However, when she pulled out her phone, she saw a photo of Miguel staring back at her. As long as she knew, Miguel hadn't called anyone.

She looked up at Eli with wide eyes. "It's Miguel."

Eli's eyes widened as well. "Answer."

Alyssa gave him a look. "No, I think I'll just let the phone call from our best friend who's in Mexico ring. Of course I'm going to answer!"

A normal person would probably greet somebody with a hello or hey when they get a call. But not Alyssa, and not in these circumstances.

"Miguel, what the fuck?" Alyssa inquired once she answered.

Miguel let out a deep breath. "Hi, Ally."

"Miguel, you dipped to go to Mexico and all you have to say to me is hi? Nah, honey, you're going to have to give me more than that."

"I — I'm sorry, Ally. I didn't know who else to call, I thought you would understand—"

"I do," Alyssa reassured him. "Miguel, I'm not mad at you. I know what it's like to grow up not knowing who or where your dad is. You just wanted answers. I'm not blaming you for that. But you shouldn't have just left without a warning. We're all worried sick about you."

"I'm okay," Miguel responded. "Really."

"Have you called anyone else?"

"No, you're the first person."

The fact that he came to her first meant the world to her. He trusted her enough to do that.

"I think you should call your mom," Alyssa stated. "And I think you should call Sam. They would love to hear from you."

"I will," Miguel said. "Ally, I . . ."

She frowned a little at the vulnerable tone of his voice. "Miguel, listen. You've had so many pressures placed on you. And I'm going to be the person to tell you that it's okay to let them go."

Miguel sniffled on the other end, which honestly broke her heart. "Ally."

"I love you. A lot, Miguel. I'm always in your corner, you know that."

"I love you, too."

Alyssa smiled softly, even though he couldn't see it. "Get back home safe, or else I'm going to kill you."

"I will." Miguel sniffled again. "See you soon."

The line then cut. Alyssa looked back at her boyfriend and sunk into his side, placing her phone back in her pocket.

"He okay?" Eli inquired.

Alyssa sighed. "He will be."

•─•°•❀•°•─•

MY BABIES

also this chapter is like so random . . . sorry :)