۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗ 𓏲˖ 𑁍 ࣪ ִ ۫ ּ ִ ۫ ˑ ֗
࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ  ✩◿𝓞𝓖◸ 🂱 ࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE—
you got me.

Alexa had quite a few things on her mind since they got back to the Valley. The visitor Tory spoke about, the sake of Robby, Miguel getting back to his Mom, if Ty was angry, if her mother was still home, Tory at her apartment, but there was one thing she needed to put before anything else. Something she'd been wanting to do since Christmas Eve, something that broke in her on that very night.

Alexa removed her hand from the door after hitting her fist to it, a dull ache in her knuckles.

Mrs.Moskowitz opened the door with a shocked look. "Alexa! Oh my god, I haven't seen you in so long!"

She hugged her tightly as Alexa held her back. "I know, too long."

"You're here for Eli?" she smiled, Alexa took it he hadn't told his Mom anything. "He's not awake yet but you can go wake him up. Good luck."

"Thank you. Nice to see you." she offered her a tiny smile, taking her shoes off out of respect and leaving them by the door as she walked toward Hawks room. Usually they always hung out in the basement area, but she'd still known where it was. Alexa slowly opened up the door, keeping quiet as she shut it behind her. He had a fan going and just a little bit of sunlight coming in from the closed blinds.

Her eyes looked at the trophy on his wall first. The All Valley trophy, the one he won against Robby. Alexa stared at it, imagining what it meant to him to get that. She wished she'd won the All Valley, she was still disappointed she let her emotions get the best of her and Sam had the chance to score the final point. She was proud of Tory though. If it wasn't her, it would always be Tory. She had that mindset, and nothing would change that.

Alexa sat down next to Hawk as he slept. She tried not to laugh at the way his face was smooshed up to the pillow and his arm hanging off the bed. Alexa poked him in the shoulder. "Hey. Hawk. Wake up."

He didn't move, he didn't even hear her. Alexa moved closer and flicked him in the face, getting a grumble. "Wake up. It's me."

One eye opened as he squinted in the faint darkness. "Lex?"

"Hey." she greeted him with a small smile. "I know it's early."

He grabbed his phone to check the time before setting it down and sitting up with a small pop to his back. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to tell you congratulations. On your win." she felt nervous now, like she had stage fright and began chewing on the inside of her mouth. "Your Mom let me in."

He didn't trust it, and she couldn't blame him. "Is that really why you're here?"

Alexa sighed as she crawled over his legs to sit by his side, leaning her head back on the wall. "I miss you."

He flipped a lamp on and a piece of gum to avoid morning breath all in her face. "What?"

"I said I miss you." she stared at him, he follow her actions and leaned his head back against the wall. "Do you miss me?"

"Yeah." Eli admitted it to her. "But, it doesn't matter if-"

"I'm not in Cobra Kai anymore. Terry threw me out." she gave a sad shrug of her shoulders. "Then I went to Mexico and Miguel made me realize all this stuff and I just wanted to come here. Like, I haven't even gone home, my bag is on your front porch."

"My neighbors are stingy, they might take it." he said honestly, but she didn't answer. "I'm glad you aren't in Cobra Kai anymore. But, what's that mean for you?"

"Don't know. I still wanna do karate, I love karate." she admitted it with a shrug. "But that's not important right now. I have a lot of apologizing to do, and to earn peoples trust back. So, I am sorry. For picking the dojo over you, even when you tried to get me to come with you. And i'm sorry I sat back and let what happened at the tattoo parlor happen, I should have done something to stop it."

He frowned at the memory, shifting his eyes away from her for a second. "I'm sorry too. For breaking your nose, and for everything else."

"It's okay, I deserved that." she rubbed her nose. "Plus, I can't smell out of one nostril anymore. That's a relief living with Ty's disgusting shoes by the front door."

He laugh. "They are pretty gross."

"So gross." she agreed. "You know, it was really weird when you left. Like, I had Tory, but it was always me and you, you know? From the beginning, even after Migeul left us, and Demetri. I felt so alone after that, I still do."

"I had to do the right thing, Lex." he shrugged as he gave her a knowing look. "I didn't wanna be like that anymore. Leaving you behind wasn't apart of the plan."

"I know." she shifted some. "You were right to do what you did at Christmas, I wish i'd seen it then. But...I wanna be better. I really do."

Her eyes felt heavy and he saw the gloss. Alexa was never the emotional type, but she noticed all she felt was emotion after mending with Miguel, and now Eli. She brought her head off the wall. "And i'm trying to find who I am again. Who I really am. But there isn't a me without my best friends, and you filled that space before anyone else ever did."

He frowned wnd leaned over, pulling her into a hug. She didn't hug back, sorta just curled up while he held her. If felt nice for the both of them. Alexa was right, it was always just the two of them. They always had each other's back, they always had each other until they didn't. He missed her, holding her felt nice. Alexa shut her eyes. "I'm sorry for being such a bad friend to you."

"I'm sorry too." Eli told her as he shut his eyes. "You've got me. You're trying to be better, you don't have to worry about me not being there for it. You got me. I got you, always have. Even when I didn't."

His words said a lot. They wouldn't make sense to everyone, but they made sense to her, and that's all that mattered. Alexa squeezed her eyes shut in relief. "You're so peace and love now."

Eli laughed. "It feels really nice, Lex. You should try it. I think it would be good for you."

"This feels okay right now." she admitted, staying still. "Let's just do this for a few more minutes."

Eli smiled as he nodded, leaning back and pulling her with him. "You got it."

•

kylie speaks

listen, bitch, i started
to cry.