Maria walked beside her brother and Eli, their fingers intertwined, as Miguel argued with Demetri about Cobra Kai.
"Yeah, but you can't quit." Miguel stated like it was obvious.
"I got yelled at, got my ass kicked, and then gave him my money." Demetri said dramatically. "You know who lives like that? Hookers."
"Wow, thanks Demetri." Maria replied with a fake smile. "Love you too."
"Okay, but he's not that bad of a guy. You have to give him a chance." Miguel countered. "You don't know him."
"Yeah, see, that's - that's hooker talk." Demetri waved a finger at the Hispanic boy.
"I'm not going to lie," Maria said, putting her hands up in the air and taking Eli's with her. "That's hooker talk, bro."
"Besides, I don't need to learn karate when I have you guys!" Demetri added. He motioned to Kyler who was frozen in place as his eyes met with Miguel's. He stared for a minute before walking away. Coward. "See? No one's going to mess with you guys."
"Yeah, I have to admit, we're pretty badass." Maria says with a sarcastic sort of proud.
"That you are, babe." Eli whispered so only she could hear, making her giggle.
The four entered the cafeteria. None of them have had any real trouble at school since Miguel beat the shit out of Kyler and his goons. No one screwed with them, but no one acknowledged them, either. They liked it like that.
★★★
"So, Maria, when do I meet your mom and grandma?" Eli asked from beside her in Biology.
Maria shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it. I mean, of course they know I'm dating someone, but they don't know it's the the lovely Eli Moskowitz." She shot him a grin.
He returned her smile. "How does this weekend sound? Your family could come over to my house for dinner. Bring Miguel."
"Sure, just text me the details and I'll make sure it lines up with my mom's schedule." Maria nods as she pulls a particularly long organ from the baby pig, having Eli mark it down on the worksheet. "But, babe, we haven't had a chance to talk about karate yesterday."
"What's there to talk about?" He questions with a poker face and matching voice, staring at the eraser on the end of his pencil.
"Eli, if you ever need someone to speak to, I'm here. You know that, right?" She pulled off her rubber gloves to place a hand on Eli's arm.
He looked up with her with a plastered on fake smile. "Okay," He nodded, then looked down to her gloves. "You know, we only get one pair of gloves."
"What? Are you serious?" There was no way Maria could use her gloves now. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Here," Eli pulled off his mostly clean surgical gloves and handed them to his dark haired girl friend. "Use mine, babe, I'm not really using them."
Maria looked at him questioningly before taking the gloves with a grateful smile.
★★★
Maria practically dragged Eli back to karate. She didn't want him to feel forced, but she wanted him to try it one last time. Yesterday was just a warm up, today would be actual training.
YOU ARE READING
Always ~Cobra Kai~
Storie d'amoreMaria takes up karate for the same reason her brother does. To deal with bullies. ★★★ Maria Diaz immediately falls for the quiet boy, but there's someone else, too, someone who she's not exactly in love with. Someone who doesn't go to their school...
