Mastering the Valley: Completed

Chapter 64: The explanation problemation

"Okay then. Explain why you would want to have us worry about you." Hawk says.
I look to them both, then shift my eyes to Hawk, "You know how I was texting someone before you went outside of the bathroom.... in the hospital?"
"Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"
"I texted my brother. I told him I was sorry and I loved him. As much as I am mad at him for going to Cobra Kai, I love and I miss him. I miss the Noah that walked me home because I missed the bus even though he already had plans. I miss the Noah that used to stay up with me until late at night on Christmas Eve so we could 'catch' Santa. I miss the prank wars and the board games and playing Mario Kart in the living room until 3 in the morning. I want my brother back."
"You don't have to run to New York to see him though." Hawk says.
"But I do. Before I can have a stable relationship with anyone I need to fix my relationship with my brother. I don't want to pull the 'my mom died' card right now, but before she died she always wanted me and Noah to be on good terms. If we ever had a fight we would talk it out and hug it out, but now that she is gone all we do is argue and stay mad at each other. If we can just talk it out then we have a shot at fixing our relationship before it's too late." I say.
"I have an idea." Samantha says, as she walks out of the room.
"I wonder where she is going." Hawk says.
"Beats me." I say.
   She comes back with Mr and Mrs LaRusso.
   "Dad, Kate wants to go to New York to patch up things with her brother. Can we go to New York?"
   "I thought it was going to be something important." Mr LaRusso says to Mrs LaRusso.
   "It's important because she was left alone for 10 minutes and she tried booking a flight and running off to New York." Samantha said.
   "Wait, you did what?" Mr LaRusso says, walking up to me. "Why would you do that?"
  "Because I want to fix things with my brother. What if something happens to him before I can talk to him and make an amends in person."
   "And what happens if you went there alone and got kidnapped and we wasn't been able to find you? You know that a lot of sex trafficking happens there, right? I mean seriously Kate what were you thinking?" Mr LaRusso says.
"I guess I wasn't thinking-" I say, then Mr LaRusso cuts me off.
"Exactly. You were not thinking." he says, taking a breath and remembering my situation. "Now we are going to deal with this whole 'New York' situation whenever this court situation is done with."
"But dad-" Samantha says.
"That's my final word." Mr LaRusso says.
He turns around and goes to walk out of the room, before he does he mumbles something to Mrs LaRusso, it sounds like he said, "Why do all of the kids that come to our house just think they can leave anytime that they please?"
Then she looked back to Sam and looked at him and said, "I don't know honey."
They look upset as they are exiting the room. I look down at my shoes and feel my guilt inching towards my face. I hate that I put them through that, that I could do something that could make them feel that way.
"It's okay. Don't sweat it." Samantha says. "I'll just go check on them." she says as she exits the room.
Hawk walks over to me. He stands there quietly and I can feel him looking at me. I lift my head and our eyes lock. I feel my guilt wearing my face like a mask.
   "Kate."
  "What?" I respond, giving up.
   "Listen, you just need to forget about all of this for right now, you already have enough on your plate. Just focus on court today, and tomorrow we can worry about all of this."
    "We?" I ask.
   "I might not be your boyfriend, but I am your friend. Friends shouldn't let their other friend to be overwhelmed and stressed. Especially if that friend is you." he says, looking into my eyes. 
   "Thanks." I say, looking down. "I don't know about anything anymore."
   "You can talk to me about it if you want to." Hawk says.
   "It's one thing after another these past few weeks. That Cobra Kai gang beating me up, the wheelchair, then getting kidnapped.. again. Everyone wants to ask me how I'm feeling but it seems like nobody wants to ask what's going on. I am so emotionally exhausted that I want to cry but then I can't because people will think that I'm crying because I was kidnapped." I say. "Nobody understands."
  "I might not understand, but I will always have your back and have your best interests at heart. Come here." Hawk says, as he pulls me in for a hug.
  I have always loved hugs, but for some reason this hug feels different from all of the others. This one is more than just a hug, it feels like he is embracing me.
   We both pull away.
  "Did that help at all?" he asks.
  "It did." I say, starting to smile.
   "You ready to get these people put in the pin for the rest of their lives?"
  "I guess." I say.
He holds my hand. "You got this." he says.
  He pulls the gold knob on the door and opens it.
"After you."