Time After Time 🌹 Daniel LaRusso [1]

Chapter 42: Can't End This Way

Daniel tried calling his girlfriend but after picking up the first time and hanging up right away, Rosalía stopped answering the rest of his numerous calls. As much as she would like to end this dispute, she doesn't want to talk to Daniel yet after how he spoke to her not too long ago. The boy gives up on trying to call her, knowing she won't answer and decides to go to bed instead. As he lays there, he can't stop thinking about the fight and about what Terry said to him today:

"Oh, I get it. This is because of your girl... Are you letting her make you soft?" Terry accusingly questions after Daniel asks why he has to practice on the wooden boards. The boy gives him a baffled look. "What? No, what's she got to do with this?" he asks. Terry steps closer to him, getting in his face. "Hey! Wake up and smell the coffee, Mr. LaRusso! Last time you weren't fighting this," he exclaims, turning the head of the wooden man around to reveal a poster of Mike Barnes. Daniel continues to stare at him in confusion. "You don't get it, do you?" Terry asks before turning around.

"You want to get beaten because of a little pain, be my guest. I can't be a part of that. I'm also not gonna stand here and watch as you let your girl dictate your every move. I turn wimps into winners, not the other way around. Christ, I'm wasting my time!" he yells as he stomps away.

Daniel can't help but wonder if Terry has a point about Rosalía's influence over him. He's obviously whipped for her, but does she really dictate his every move? I've never noticed it but maybe he's right, Daniel thinks.

———(🌹)———

*The next day*

Rosalía sits in the living room watching TV. No one's home so she has the apartment to herself right now. She tears her eyes away from the TV when there's a knock at the front door. She stands up and saunters to the door, looking through the peephole. Her heart stops when she realizes who it is. She takes a deep breath before opening the door, revealing the last person she wants to see right now: Daniel LaRusso. She gazes at him with a blank expression. "What are you doing here?" she asks. The boy's mind goes blank and he opens his mouth to speak but can't get any comprehensible words out. The girl's emotionless stare doesn't falter as she looks at him expectantly.

"I just wanna talk," Daniel chokes out. Rosalía glances down, staying silent for a moment before looking back up. She turns to walk back inside, nodding her head in that direction to tell him to come in. He steps inside after her and shuts the door behind him. Rosalía goes to sit on the couch and just watches him, waiting for him to speak first. He slowly approaches until he's standing a few feet in front of her. His mind is a jumbled mess as he tries to formulate a sentence. "Look, I-I, uh... I didn't mean to yell at you, I'm sorry. I was just really stressed out," he finally says. The girl just hmphs, lightly shaking her head. Daniel stands there uncomfortably, puzzled by her reaction.

"If you think I'm upset just because you raised your voice at me, you're wrong. It's the things you said," she states. Daniel eagerly nods his head. "I know. I know I was harsh, I'm so sorry," he claims, taking a step closer. "You think you can fix everything with 'sorry??' After you suggested that I'm trying to tell you what you want and make your choices for you???" Rosalía retorts. "Or when you didn't let me tell you what happened to me and downplayed it to just work gossip? Or how about when you implied that your problems are more important than mine???" she continues before Daniel interrupts her chattering. "Well, what do you want me to tell you?! I said I'm sorry, I don't know what more you want!" he raises his voice.

Rosalía scoffs, not believing what she's hearing. "Are you serious?! You're not even gonna acknowledge anything I just said?" she exclaims. An apology means nothing to her if he doesn't know what he's apologizing for. Daniel scoffs. "Okay, fine. I do feel like you try to make my choices for me," he retaliates out of anger. The girl gives him a strange look, taken aback by his statement. "You want to dictate my every move. I don't do anything unless it's okay with you," he continues. Rosalía stares at him in complete astonishment. "What are you talking about? You've never-" she begins before Daniel interjects.