A Pause

Dinner

Robby was the first one down. He had scanned the lobby, hoping to see Tory, only to be disappointed. Waiting for the others he went onto his phone. Scrolling through pictures he found one of him and Tory. He missed her. But he was also irritated with her. 

Robby sighed, then turned to find Miguel and the others ready. " We leaving?" He asked, standing up.

" Just about." Miguel replied.

" And look at that!" Daniel said, walking in. " We're all here." 

" Taking a mini bus." Johnny said, walking in.

" More like a van." Daniel corrected. 

" Same shit." He said, a can of beer in his hand.

" What are we waiting for? Let's hit the road." Eli said. They all went and waited for the van, then headed to a restaurant far from the hotel. 

Once they arrived they got a booth. There were only nine of them, and they could all fit. There was an awkward silence, and none of them wanted to start a conversation. 

" So..." Johnny said. Miguel nodded, Eli and Demetri made eye contact, and Robby was looking at his phone from under the table. Sam and Devon were looking around anxiously, and Kenny looked like he could care less about what was happening. 

" Uh..." 

" Look, guys." Daniel started. He could obviously sense the tension. " I think we need to clear the air. Obviously something is bothering everyone and we aren't exactly sure what-"

" No. He's lying. We all know what." Johnny interrupted .

" Look, dad. It's just..." Sam started. " As much as we don't like Cobra Kai... knowing someone died is just...overwhelming?" She said, questioning her choice of wording. 

" Not to mention hard to wrap around. Just a few days ago we were fighting, and now he's gone." Miguel added.

" Ok. I  get it. But we knew there would be challenges-"

" Not like this!" Devon interrupted Daniel. " This isn't even what the bar was set to and I'm still shocked!" 

" What we need now is something to make this right." He said. 

" Nothing can make this right." Robby said. " It's too... wrong to be made right." 

Then it went back to awkward silence. The waitress came to their table and asked them about drinks. 

" I'll have..."

Robby zoned out for a second, trying to imagine. Tory seemed upset when Kwon had died, but was it out of respect? Shock? He couldn't be sure. Did she feel upset because she had recently lost her mother? It had been bothering him. He knew she would be upset. Everyone was. She was on his team anyway. But something about the way she was holding up didn't sit right with him.

" Robby?" His dad's voice pulled him out of his reverie.

" Yeah?" He said, his head turning in that direction. 

" What do you want to drink?" 

" Oh, uh... just water, thank you." He said. Miguel gave him a look but he shook his head. For the rest of the dinner he paid attention to what was going on. 

After she left to get their drinks Eli asked, " Is Cobra Kai going to drop out if the tournament goes on?" 

" No. Probably pull some other cool trick up their sleeves." Johnny said. 

" I mean with them you never know." Daniel added.

" Where's Chozen?" Kenny asked all of a sudden. Everyone slowly turned to him except the sensei's.

" No clue. He said he had business to attend to." Daniel replied. " Whatever that is." He added. 

" Did you see where he went?" Kenny added. Robby stepped on his foot. Kenny shrugged his shoulders and Robby glared at him. The waitress came and started to distribute drinks.

" Anyone up for game of  secrets?" Kenny asked after she left.

" No." Miguel said, strongly. Kenny grinned. 

" Yeah!" Eli said, a wide smile on his face. He understood what Kenny was getting to. " I agree. We should." He emphasized "should" to a point where the sensei's got confused. 

" I'll start." Kenny said. 

" NO!" Miguel and Robby shouted at the same time. Devon was finding the clock very interesting, keeping her attention on it. Sam was looking down at the table, reaching for Miguel's hand which he took. Demetri was slurping his drink very loudly.

" What's up with you guys? You look like your hiding a murder." Johnny commented. 

" I need to use the restroom." Devon said suddenly.

" I'll come with you." Sam said, dropping Miguel's hand and standing up to join her. Miguel gave her pleading eyes and she just shook her head. 

" Ok someone tell me what's going on!" Daniel demanded once the girls left. 

" Ok." Eli said.

" Oh boy." Demetri replied. 

" Eli..." Robby warned. 

" Chozen was making out with the Cobra Kai sensei!" Kenny nearly shouted. It got dead silent. The only noise heard were the other tables, having their conversations. 

" He did what?" Daniel asked in a semi-calm voice. He took deep, steady breaths. 

" Uh..." Miguel looked away. 

" We caught them the other night." Eli added. Daniel just nodded. 

" Excuse me. I need to make a call." He said, before getting up. 

-----------------------------------------------------

" You should have seen the look on his face!" Eli said. Him and Kenny were laughing so hard, they were having trouble walking along the beach with the rest of them. 

" Well now my dad and Johnny are doing who knows what to him." Sam said, not finding it amusing.

" I told you guys not to." Miguel said. 

" What's life without a little fun, huh?" Kenny asked, still laughing. 

" Very funny." Devon said, rolling her eyes. 

They slowly made their way over to the hotel. They talked about various things on the way their. One of them being what they think would happen to Chozen.

" No. They would make him fly back to Okinawa."

" He wishes. They would probably make him work over time." 

" Does he even get paid?" 

They all started laughing.