Time After Time 🌹 Daniel LaRusso [1]

Chapter 32: Two Strange Guys

Daniel stands behind his girlfriend as she knocks on Jessica's door. A few seconds later, it swings open to reveal her new friend. "Hey, girl," Rosalía sweetly greets. "Hi," Jessica returns the greeting before quizzically glancing at the boy behind her. "Oh, this is Daniel, my boyfriend and one of my partners," Rosalía introduces him. "Hi, nice to meet you," the boy voices, sticking his hand out. Jessica shakes it and responds, "Hi, it's nice to meet you too. I'm Jessica."

"Ready to go?" Rosalía asks her. "Yeah," she replies, turning off the light and stepping out of her house. Rosalía eyes her jacket as she locks the door. "I like your jacket, it's so cool," she compliments her. Jessica turns to her and responds, "thanks! I love your necklace. I saw it earlier and thought it was really pretty." Rosalía takes the cherry blossom pendant in her fingers and looks at it with a fond smile. "Oh, thank you! My friend gave it to me, it's his wife's," she says.

She freezes and makes a face when she realizes how that sounded. "That sounded bad, didn't it?" she questions. Daniel quietly chuckles and shakes his head and Jessica giggles. "Uh, yeah, kind of," she notes. "I meant that this friend is like family and his wife died decades ago. He kept a lot of her stuff and decided to pass the necklace on to me," Rosalía explains. "Ohh, that's really nice," Jessica comments. "Yeah. So anyway, we were thinking of going to eat or to Golf N' Stuff or something. Unless there's somewhere you want to go to, we can go there," Rosalía informs her.

"Um, I don't know of any place. It's just that I've been here for two months with absolutely nothing to do and, uh, I haven't even met any friends," Jessica admits as they start walking. "Oh, well, meet your first two friends," Rosalía announces with a huge smile, raising her arms. Daniel copies her actions, raising his arms as well. "Alright," Jessica giggles, happy to finally have friends here. "So where are you from?" Daniel asks her.

"Columbus, Ohio," Jessica answers. The couple nods. "I'm from Newark, New Jersey. I moved here like a year ago," Daniel shares. "Oh, really? Wow. What about you, where are you from?" Jessica asks the other girl. "Oh, I'm an LA native. Although I did live in Texas for two years before coming back like over a year ago. We didn't like it there," Rosalía responds. Jessica understands her situation since she's in a similar one. She came to California but is planning on going back to her hometown soon. "Oh, why'd you move?" she questions.

"We have family in Texas and my aunt had already moved there from here. My parents wanted to live closer to them, which I don't get because we have family here. Our relatives in Texas are vultures," Rosalía expresses, making Jessica chuckle. It's not that she doesn't care for her relatives, she just strongly dislikes their toxic and problematic behavior. She looks across the street when they step onto the sidewalk.

"Oh, hey, remember I said that we have another partner?" she asks her new friend. "Yeah," Jessica responds. "He's across the street right now. Would you like to meet him?" Rosalía asks, pointing at the shop. "Yeah! Why not," Jessica responds, thrilling the other two. "Okay! You're gonna love him, he's such a delightful person," Rosalía notes.

"You are about to meet the greatest guy. This guy, he's funny, he's smart. I mean, you got a problem, he's got the answer. He's like no one you'll ever meet. And on top of that, he just happens to be my best friend," Daniel rambles. Rosalía loves how proud he sounds to know Mr. Miyagi. "Oh, then why do you call him 'mister?" Jessica questions. "That's why," Rosalía states, nodding her head upward, gesturing in front of them. The other two look up and spot Mr. Miyagi coming outside.

"Hey, Mr. Miyagi!" the couple calls out. "Hey," the man greets back. Rosalía slightly pulls her friend forward and introduces her. "This is Jessica Andrews from across the street. She's originally from Columbus, Ohio," she pipes up with a wide smile. Daniel looks between the girl and the older man and adds, "this is Mr. Miyagi from Okinawa and Reseda." Miyagi smiles politely at Jessica, who shyly says, "hi."