patience is key | the karate kid

iii. the box of jars

iii. the box of jars

   "NOT A word about the pool please," Lucille LaRusso says as soon as her son steps in. "I'll call first thing in the morning."

   "You tell the lady downstairs where we were from?" Daniel asks, caring less about the pool situation.

   "Yeah," Lucille pauses, "tell me, doesn't she remind you of Aunt Tessy?" Daniel scoffs and makes his way towards the sink.

   "More like Uncle Louie." He jokes. He digs through a medium-sized cardboard box by the counter and pulls out a yellow bowl.

   "You know, I really think we're gonna do good here. I've never felt so positive about anything in my life." Lucille rambles. "This was really the right move. I'm telling you, Dan–"

    "Ma! The faucet's broken!"

    And sure enough it is. Water had sprayed all over the front of Daniel's shirt and continues to as he goes to turn off the faucet. He looks down at the bowl, seeing that it's only halfway full.

   "Oh yeah. The real estate lady says there's a 'fix-it' guy around here. See if you can find him, okay?"

   Daniel nods while walking towards the door and past his mom, dripping water. His mother turns to look at the bowl. She raises a brow.

   "What's that for?"

   "Uncle Louie's dog." Daniel jokes again. Lucille cheeses. "Apparently there's a girl next door who was supposed to give him some water but forgot. So I decided to do it–"

   "There's a girl next door?" His mother's eyebrows start to dance and wiggle around as a smirk comes across her lips. Daniel can feel the heat start to rise to his cheeks. "What's she like?"

   "Ma!" Daniel whines, giving her an uneasy look. "I haven't even met her! How would I know what she's like?"

   "Not yet, my darling son! You haven't met her yet!" Lucille smiles cheekily and Daniel rolls his eyes.

   "Maybe you should ask her where the handy man is. She might know."

   "I got invited to a party tomorrow." He brings up, trying to change the subject before things could get any worse. His mother rolls her eyes before turning around with a small smile.

   "Hey, great. You see?" Lucille giggles. "Did the girl next door invite you???"

   "I was going to help you unpack."

   "I don't remember saying anything about that."

   "I must'a had you confused with someone else," Daniel shrugs, turning back to leave, "thanks ma."

"Ask the girl next door!" She exclaims.

   Daniel opens up the screen door with his free hand and steps back out into the early morning heat. He grimaces at the overbearing temperature and notices something moving from the corner of his eye.

   He turns his head, spotting the girl from earlier step out of her apartment. His eyes widen at the sight of her, and he feels his heart begin to race fast.