little bird // r.keene

viii. a friend part two.

"What changed?"

"I saw my dad had opened Cobra Kai on a flyer I found. It pissed me off. So I started working for Mr LaRusso, sure, at first it was to get back at my dad but then Mr LaRusso sort of took me under his wing and taught me some karate." Robby explained and took a deep breath, "It was probably the best thing that happened to me in a long time."

"I'm happy for you, Keene." Wren said gently, closing her eyes, "I'm sorry I tried to push things with you and Johnny..." Wren opened her eyes as she felt Robby shift behind her, sitting up, she turned to face him again. He licked his lips and turned his head to the side before turning back to look at her.

"I didn't need him then, I don't need him now." He told her firmly, there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere between them and Wren knew she was about to cross another line but she thought about what Will had told her earlier that day. Dial down her moral compass if it meant setting things in motion.

"You were wrong at the tournament..." She began, her heartbeat picking up so much so she could feel it in her fingertips as she reached out to grasp his hand which had been resting on his leg. "Johnny's not a violent drunk, he's not a lost cause like mine. I'll never get my father back, that's his choice, not mine. He won't even try. But Johnny is willing to try and that's not something you should let go..."

"Why are you so set on fixing this Wren? Why won't you accept that maybe I don't want him in my life!" And just like that, Robby was on his feet, swaying slightly and he made his way back in through the window. "Why won't you just leave it alone?" He asked when he turned around to see her crawl through too.

Wren stood as straightly as she could, her fists clenched by her side. She didn't speak.
"Why, Wren?" He asked again, a little harder this time. The weed numbed both of them in a strange way, a way that dissolved both their filters and caused the truth to break free- for the both of them.
"Why?" Robby pressed again.

"Because I am sick and tired of watching people come and go like my life is some sort of movie! Staying for the parts they want then fuck off before the credits roll when things get tough or uncomfortable! I want people to stay. I want to do things, the right things! And have people want to stay but I keep fucking up Robby! Mom, Dad, Miguel, Hawk, Will, Rue!" She yelled at him and Wren pressed her hands on his shoulder, shoving him slightly, causing Robby to take a step back.

"People keep leaving and I don't want you to go either because you're my best friend too- your important to me you moron!" Wren licked her lips, looking up at him but Robby remained silent, he didn't try and reach out or try to speak to her. He knew, deep down, she needed this. All of her built up frustration and anger, so much anger needed to be let out and she had chosen now. Wren had chosen to be vulnerable in front of him and he chose to respect that. "...But I don't want to stand by when an important person in your life wants to walk back into your movie and actually stay. I want that!" She half shouted, running a hand through her hair and sighing before finally sitting on her bed, her elbows resting on her knees.

Robby didn't move.

"All of them... Not all left by choice but they're just- People keep leaving Robby and I'm just tired..." She took a long deep breath, her head beginning to swim with memories and the longing for what could have been. "I'm so, so tired of waiting for them to come back."

He took two steps closer and crouched beside her by the bedside and reached out and grasped her cold hand between his warm fingers. Turning her hand over in his, he saw a small tattoo on her wrist. A sunflower, he knew it meant something.

"Who does this belong to?" He asked gently, running his thumb over her smooth inked skin and letting his eyes flicker up to hers. They were dark and watery. Tired and solemn.

"Rue Larson." Robby didn't ask who she was or where she went.
He knew only that she was dear to Wren and wasn't coming back.

He just held her until the weed wore off and the both of them felt so overwhelmingly tired they both fell asleep on Wren's bed with their shoes on.

The last thing Robby remembered before letting his eyes drift shut was saying in a small voice, his face pressed against her hair: "Tomorrow will be better."

"What if it's not?"

"Then you say it again tomorrow. Because it might be. You never know, right? At some point, tomorrow will be better."

And like that, Wren held onto those words as hard as she could but held onto him tighter, as if to brace each other for tomorrow.