Drowning

Can You Die of Embarrassment?

The Moskowitz house was filled with the chatter of cobras, the kitchen being the hub of all the action as cheese curls, pretzels, and chips were grabbed to snack on before the movie would start. Two boys jostled each other, throwing elbows as they fought over the plate of pretzel sticks in front of them, despite the fact that there was still a decent amount in the bag on the counter.

Finley stood with her back against the wall, just trying to stay as out of the way as possible. Even this small of a crowd always put her on edge, feeling as if there were too many people to keep track of at once, and that she would just be getting in the way of everyone.

Why had she agreed to come to this again? She wasn't needed here. Heck it didn't make a difference if she was there or not, that's how little she mattered to this group of people. She knew Miguel meant well inviting her, but she didn't belong among the Cobra Kais, not when she didn't know a lick of karate. But Hawk had invited her, and apparently that was all it took for her to throw all her concerns out the window.

"You don't want to grab any food?" Miguel slid up next to her, looking at her with furrowed brows. 

She glanced at the plate of chips he held momentarily before going back to looking around the room. "No, I'm good."

She always felt weird eating other people's food if she hadn't specifically been given the okay to eat it by whomever's food it was. So considering the Cobra Kai's had all just kind of run in and started grabbing stuff, she wasn't going to partake in the madness.

A moment of silence passed before Miguel finally spoke again. "I never thanked you for getting me home after the party at the canyon."

Finley looked over at him, slightly surprised by the random topic. "Uh, yeah, no problem."

"Seriously." Miguel wet his lips and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. That night was filled with enough regret, he didn't want to add another thing to that list by not apologizing. "I was drunk and a total jerk, you had every reason to just leave."

Finley could see the remorse in his eyes, pleading with her to forgive him, but she just shrugged. "I'm your friend, that's what I'm here for." She paused before grabbing a chip from his plate. "And in return, you allow me to steal your food."

The chip had just touched her tongue when her face screwed up in disgust. There wasn't even a moments hesitation before she spat it out into her hand.

"That was salt and vinegar!" She looked at Miguel with wide, accusing eyes. "You know I hate salt and vinegar and you let me eat that!"

Miguel was doing his best to suppress the smile tugging at his lips at her reaction. "I'm just surprised you ate it. I mean the smell alone-"

"Shut up Diaz." She slugged him in the arm and then looked at her other hand that held the chip that shouldn't even exist. "I'm gonna go wash my hands."

Miguel chuckled as she walked away, heading for the bathroom that was down the hall. She passed a room on the right that, even with its door closed, Finley knew was Hawk's room. But she kept walking until she hit the second door on the left, and turned into the bathroom. She threw the chip into the garbage can beside the sink and then washed her hands under the warm water. She also took a moment to rinse out her mouth, but the horrible taste still lingered on her tongue, clinging to her tastebuds like Tom Cruise rock climbing.

The voices of the Cobras carried all the way to the bathroom and Finley took in a deep breath, preparing to go back out there. Maybe she should just leave. Say her mom needed her home because they were going out to eat with their grandpa for his birthday tonight instead of tomorrow like they had planned. That was a decent lie, right? She turned to head out of the bathroom. It was, but were the repercussions of leaving this early worse than staying? If they were watching a movie at least it would be easy to fade into the background. And then just leave right when the movie was done so as to avoid intruding on their group. Yes. That was a plan.