Lost in Hollywood

A place of New Beginnings

The first thing Hawk saw when he walked into the Miyagi-Do dojo was Sky.

She stood next to the koi pond, talking with Sam, sun on her face, a smile on her lips, and the sight of her knocked the air out of his lungs. He hadn't known she would be here. After the fight the days had passed and Sky had stayed away. Then there had been a short break for Christmas, and well, Hawk hadn't even dared to hope she would show up for this first training session since the holidays.

She was wearing a pair of cute, pink sports leggings, sneakers, and a loose, white tank top that partly revealed the pink sports bra she wore underneath, the skin of her arms, and most of the phoenix tattoo on her left shoulder. Her long, curly hair was on a French braid which left the side of her head visible - the spot where the hair was shaved off around a large, stitched wound. Hawk could see the older scar too - the one from the school fight - under this new one. There were still some fading bruises on her cheek and her neck, and she hadn't tried to hide those either.

Hawk's heart hurt. It killed him to see her wounded. but—

But she was alive and she was here. And there was something incredibly beautiful in the way she carried herself, showing off the stitches and the bruises as if they were scars of war, earned with pride and courage instead of something she should hide in shame.

"Dude, stop staring—" Miguel muttered under his breath, drawing Hawk back into the moment. He realized he had frozen on his feet, and his cheeks heated.

He gripped the strap of his bag and cleared his throat, as he continued walking into the yard with Miguel.

"Did you know she was gonna be back?"

"Well I knew she was gonna come back eventually," Miguel replied, glancing at Hawk with a frown. "Just— try to be chill, okay?"

"Relax. I'm always chill," Hawk muttered, but Miguel arched a brow at his words, and Hawk realized that Miguel knew.

Of course, he does. I bet everyone here knows I still love her.

If only Sky knew it too—

But Hawk didn't want to get his hopes up. The last thing Sky had told him was "Get the fuck away from me!" and he had no reason to believe anything had changed since then.

They walked closer to the girls who were still talking and laughing, Hawk following Miguel with his heart in his throat.

"I love that necklace," Sam was saying to Sky with a bright, friendly smile. "Is it new?"

Sky brought her fingers to touch her necklace lightly, and her cheeks turned rosy. "Yeah. My boyfriend gave it to me."

Boyfriend?

Hawk felt those words like a punch in the gut. So Cody was her boyfriend now? It really shouldn't have surprised him after what he had seen at Kyler's, but still, it hurt so much that the pain almost brought him to his knees.

"So, you're dating now?" Sam asked.

"Well, what can I say? Cody was pretty persistent, and—"

That sentence was interrupted as Sam noticed them approaching and raised her hand in a greeting. Sky turned to look, and the moment she saw Hawk, her smile disappeared.

The death of her smile felt like something died in Hawk's chest too. He clenched his jaw, to hide the pain that caused.

He didn't even hear what Miguel said to the girls, or what they replied. All his senses were suddenly filled with Sky, he felt her closeness as a magnetic force that pulled him towards her, that tugged at something inside of him, making his blood sing in his ears.