divine , devon lee

07. karate shenanigans

CHAPTER SEVEN
karate shenanigans

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diane looked up from the armchair she sat in, specifically at johnny, who was currently finished assembling this contraption he ordered in the mail.

the concert idea yesterday was a hit. miguel's foot started tapping and that was a sign he wasn't as paralyzed as everyone thought he was. johnny stood miguel up, the straps holding him. johnny controlled the strength as he held the rope that pulled it up. some type of physics machine you'd learn about in middle school.

she leaned forward to scroll on johnny's laptop, peeking at the photos they took at the concert. the bright lights and big smiles radiated happiness from the pictures. diane was content. honestly, it was the best saturday she'd had in a while.

she begged johnny, and after some hard thinking, johnny let her stay another day. just one more wouldn't hurt.

"are you ready, or what?" johnny asked miguel, miguel being attached to the hanger-holding thing that strapped around his whole torso.

"i hate— this is... ridiculous." miguel slouched in the straps. he was stood up, but not by using his feet.

"what's so ridiculous about it?" johnny asked.

"he looks like a baby trying to take his first ever steps," diane peeped.

"i feel like a giant baby," miguel complained.

"The way you're whining and not walking you might as well be a baby." johnny held onto one of the ropes.

"isn't there more of a badass way to do this?"

"you think tapping your foot at a concert makes you ready to do things badass? your legs are still pussys, you ready to stand?" diane watched from the ground, johnny counting upwards. "one, two, three!" he let go of the rope.

splat, and miguel fell down. "alright, better fall. let's take five," johnny said.

"miguel, you okay down there?" diane asked, giving him a hand while johnny went to the fridge. in her mind, she was hopefully making up for the damage robby caused.

"yeah. y'know, my mom mentioned you today." miguel scooted over to where diane was, also turning to looking at johnny's laptop screen.

"oh yeah?"

"she wanted to know why johnny had a teenage girl in his house and then i told her who you were. she said she'd like to meet you," miguel explained.

"um, did she say anything else?" diane asked anxiously. "anything about robby, or...?"

"no. don't worry." miguel turned to look at the screen. he noticed on the side, there was the direct message bar. the text box was taking up at least a quarter of the screen.

"you writing a novel?" he asked.

"it's a message johnny wrote." she tilted her head to look at the text.

"it's a facebook message," johnny corrected. he sat down on the sofa, placing a beer down for miguel. "babe from highschool... ali."

"ali? like... the ali?" miguel asked excitedly.

diane looked at johnny, confused. "the... ali?" she repeated. johnny slowly nodded, a small smile appearing on his face.

"this is huge! this is huge!" miguel grinned, "i-i mean you're not gonna send that right?"

"what? miguel, of course he's gonna send that—" diane said, pointing at the screen.

"he cannot send her that message."