Before I Forget

Fontana di Trevi

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Sky asked.

It was a late night, their last night in Rome - and after dinner Sky had gone out with Hawk to get some gelato and enjoy the beautiful night. They had just bought cups of ice cream from a small booth near the Trevi Fountain - though Sky preferred to call it by its Italian name, Fontana di Trevi - and were walking towards it while eating their gelatos.

"Sure, what is it?" Hawk glanced at her and licked his spoon clean.

"Did you ever... find out who trashed Miyagi-Do?"

It was clear Hawk hadn't expected that question, as his eyes widened slightly at her words. He swallowed and Sky saw how his sharp Adam's apple moved under the skin as he turned his glance back at the gelato and started picking it with his spoon.

"No," he replied and took a small spoonful. "Nobody knows a thing. But you should've seen what Sensei Lawrence put us through - shit, it was brutal! He made us do like thousands of burpees and pushups and stuff. And no one came clean."

They had now arrived at the square where the fountain was, and it was packed with people, but Sky made her way through the crowd and found a couple of free spots where they could sit down at the edge of the fountain and finish their gelatos.

"Well, that can mean one thing only," she said, crossing her legs.

"What?"

"That someone in Cobra Kai is a lying asshole."

That made Hawk look up from his ice cream, and a pained expression flashed on his face.

"You shouldn't say that," he said, his voice suddenly dry and raspy. "They are your teammates. Sensei Kreese said that—"

"Yeah, I don't give a shit about what Sensei Kreese said." Sky snapped and shoved her spoon into her ice cream almost violently, digging out a large portion of it.

Hawk made a face. The muscles on his jaw worked in a way that told Sky he wanted to say something but then didn't.

"What?" she asked. "Spit it out."

"It's nothing," he muttered but didn't sound very convincing.

"It's clearly something," Sky said while taking a small spoonful of her ice cream. The gelato was too thick and too sweet, she should've chosen another flavor.

"Is there something you aren't telling me?" she asked, as Hawk still hadn't said anything and was staring at his ice cream, stonefaced.

"I just... it's just that—" a short silence. He let out a long sigh, his shoulders sagged. "It's just that you're going to have to get along with Kreese."

"No, I'm pretty sure I don't have to."

"He's going to be your Sensei, Sky," Hawk replied with a resigned tone. "Whether you like it or not."

"You know what?" Sky said, attacking her gelato ferociously with the tiny plastic spoon. "Forget that I even asked."

"Sky—"

"I said, forget it. It's our last night in Rome and I don't wanna spend it fighting about John Kreese."

Hawk didn't say anything to that, he just gave a silent, sharp nod and returned to his ice cream, the tense posture of his shoulders telling Sky about some inner battle he was fighting. Probably he was still thinking about Kreese and how awesome he was, and that was a topic Sky didn't want to return to, so she didn't ask more.

"Had I realized the Nutella ice cream was actually nothing but frozen Nutella, I would have chosen something else," Sky said after a couple of minutes, to get something else to think about. She had lost her appetite and was now just picking the melting goo in a cup with her small, plastic spoon. "This is too much, even for me."