COBRA KAI | FIRST LEARN STAND
season four, episode two

〔 RESCUE 〕
━━ lauren daigle              

❝i will send out an army to find you
in the middle of the darkest night
it's true, i will rescue you❝

             HYPOPHRENIA — a vague feeling of sadness, seemingly without cause.

             Willow felt a slight shriver go down her spine as soon as she splashed her face with the cold water. Today was one of her very few quiet days that she was obviously spending in her father's house due to the fact that Sean was mostly meeting Adelaide and Charlie, giving her the space she wanted from the beginning.

             And no, she wasn't left behind. She did this to herself — she was the one disagreeing with every request of hanging out together that someone had ever turned to her. And she was the one pushing people away again.

             When she said that her old symptoms would never come back to her, because she was stronger than ever, she was wrong. One out of many sudden cracks. That was what was needed for her to finally breakdown, and end up on the bottom, drowning.

             Alone, helpless, without any possible motivation to float above the water.

             So, when she told the others that she was fine after the things that changed lately, she lied. The trauma. It stayed.

             Maybe she was in a different place now, maybe she was a different person, maybe she had different people around her, but the same trauma was there.

             After Tanner, after Cobra Kai, after her dad, after Hawk, after the school fight. It was still there. It never really left — it just disappeared for a few moments only to come back even stronger than before.

             The rhythms of the song called Euphor echoed loudly in her ears as she stepped out of the bathroom and lazily walked downstairs, a soft breath leaving her lips. At the moment when she stopped in the kitchen, she blinked several times before filling the glass with some water, and then drinking it with only one sip, a small grimace appearing on her lips after that.

             Her phone buzzed once, and then again, which made the music turn down a bit. It hit her with another displeased feeling in her chest, but it didn't actually stop her from unlocking the device and checking the new notifications.

             And, well, it was another confusing thing that happened that day.

eli ♡
hey im going to pass by
your house so i thought that
maybe i could bring you
some chocolate cookies

eli ♡
if you still like them ofc

eli ♡
and im sorry if im bothering
you, i do understand that you
need some more time

eli ♡
anyway, you can tell me
if im being annoying

             Eli Moskowitz — someone she wasn't sure how she found anymore. One day, she could have the strength to talk to him or share some small gestures together, but the other one she could act like a total coward, avoiding him and doing her best not to have any moment alone with him.

             And what was the actual reason for that? Her complete indecision, and fear of losing him again.

             Of course she wanted to forgive him. Hell, she tried everything to stop remembering the things that he did in the past, but some part of her mind was still giving her the warning signs that only pushed her away from him again.

             When it came to the moments when she cried because of him, she was begging for him to finally see his mistakes and fix them, but when he finally tried to do so, she felt, like Miguel once said, as if stuck in a cement. There were so many questions showing up in her mind as soon as someone would bring him up. There were so many theories and ideas appearing in her mind just when she would look at him.

             And yet, none of that really helped her in finding the strength to forgive and forget.

             She was lost, and traumatized.

             A result of that was her fighting with herself to finally find the good excuse not to see Eli. She was already feeling awkward standing near him in the dojo where someone was around, so what would happen if there would be just the two of them?

Loo ᰔᩚ
hey, i'm actually spending
the whole day with my family, sorry

Loo ᰔᩚ
maybe another time?

             And when she saw the word read already on the screen, she felt strangely hurt. Even more when she imagined the disappointed face Eli could be wearing right now. Why was forgiving so hard? Why was admitting feelings even harder?

Eli ♡
sure

Eli ♡
let me know if theres
something you need

             Willow couldn't do something more to the message than reacting to it with a heart icon. She put the phone back on the kitchen counter, and then closed her eyes before the bell rang blasted in the whole building, causing her to come back into reality really quick. Her lips tugged into a line as she started wondering if it was Eli, who turned out to not give up, but as soon as she opened the door, she felt herself freeze again.

             "Demetri?"

             "So I was right. You lied to me, to Blair, to Miguel, to Sensei, to your dad, to your mom, to your brother, to —" he started, completely ignoring her surprised voice and the look she gave him as soon as he started counting every single person she lied to, using his fingers as a help to remember everyone.

             Some other emotions ran through Willow's face — regret, guilt and maybe even a piece of grumpiness. She didn't like what she was hearing, so she immediately went to cut her best friend off.

             "I'm not in the mood to talk or argue right now, Metri." she mumbled, her tone turning more firm that it was supposed to. The Alexopoulos boy shot her a suspicious look, and then shook his head, still sticking to his own opinion.

             "Yeah, I know. I mean, why else would you dry text me like that?" he scoffed, rolling his eyes nonchalantly. Just after that, his eyebrows raised, wanting to make the girl finally talk to him.

             But of course it wasn't that easy. He was there once when Willow's father left — she was pretty much stubborn and broken back then, and so she was at that moment. He wasn't going to give up, though. The old bruises taking place on her uncovered palm were enough reasons for him to believe that she couldn't be alone.

             "Anyway, since you canceled our movie marathon at the last minute, I decided to invite myself right there," he announced, and used the occasion that the girl moved to the side, walking inside the building without even trying hard.

             Willow nervously stuffed her cheek with her tongue, but at the end finally locked the door behind the boy and followed him to the couch, then sat next to him, pulling her legs to herself straight away. If she'd say that she wasn't scared of what her friend would tell her after finding out that she lied with the reasons about her absence to everyone, she would definitely lie.

             "So?"

             She frowned a little, her eyebrows scrunching uncontrollably in confusion as she glared over at Demetri, "So?"

             "What's going on?" he cleared out his question, causing the girl's eyes to flicker down her hands that she was playing with ever since she sat on the couch.

             She didn't respond to his question. She couldn't. Maybe if she'd just find the right words to describe what was going inside her head, but without them it was impossible.

             And so a sigh escaped the brunette's mouth, "Frills, I know there's something wrong. I've been taking notes." he declared, stating the truth. He's been observing the girl carefully for some time now. "Maybe I'm a nerd, but I do know when you're down. And you are right now. And you were some time ago," he pointed out, his voice convincing, but also surprisingly soft.

             Another thing about Willow's and Demetri's friendship was that they could insult each other for as much time as they wanted, but at the end of the day they would always be there for each other, even while not talking at all.

             "You stopped eating, you just agreed to live with your dad and you didn't even argue, you started being mean to your own brother," Demetri continued, Willow feeling worse and worse with every next word leaving his mouth. "And you started being distant, and so absent. You can't just tell me that everything's super great, because it obviously isn't."

             And that was probably one of the many correct things Demetri Alexopoulos had ever said. Willow wasn't fine. She thought she was, but with another thing that Cobra Kai did, her state became just the same as it was after the school fight.

             "I thought I was getting better," the sentence left the girl's lips so suddenly that it scared her at the beginning. She was scared of Demetri's reaction, but as she glanced over at him, she saw that his features softened immediately. "But I guess I wasn't. I — I never wanted to be like that. I never wanted to become someone so distant, but I can't stop it. It's, like, somehow stuck inside me. I'm not sure if you know what I mean," she explained, her hands reflexively clenching the material of her shirt.

             But Demetri nodded his head, obviously understanding. "I do. That's why I'm here — to help you,"

             And those were really supposed to reassure the girl, but they didn't. Not because she didn't appreciate her best friend's actions, but because she didn't believe that someone could help her after she couldn't do that.

             "Look at this," he added after not hearing any response from the girl. When her eyes flickered to the tablet he was holding in his hands, she noticed that there was a photo of her and Eli's younger selfs on the screen. "Remember that? That's who you are."

             Willow frowned. She surely didn't understand the meaning of his words. What could the photo of her and Eli baking something together in his kitchen, being completely covered with a flour exactly mean?

             And, oh, there's another thing about Willow Froud! She hated solving riddles.

             "A really bad cook? Well, thanks, Metri. Really cheering." she hummed, looking at the photo with a grimace on her lips. She thought that after making so many promises, Demetri finally deleted it. She was wrong, of course.

             He groaned in displeasure, shaking his head in disagreement. "Ugh, no, dumbass! A good friend that always knows how to cheer someone up, and that always wears a smile on her face. That's what I mean. What does cooking even have to do with this all?" he raised his eyebrows, confused.

             She shrugged, "Well, you always liked teasing me about it," she pointed out, and that was the moment when he understood everything.

             Oh, how many times Demetri Alexopoulos was able to piss off his best friend only by saying something about her cooking skills.

             "And you still are, but that's not the whole point. The point is, the photo was taken some time after you were struggling, so that means you cannot give up on yourself. You're Willow Froud, you can win with anything!" he exclaimed a little too loud, causing her to grimace and then look away from the photo.

             "I don't know where you got that information from, but that's not correct. There are many things I can't win with," she mumbled, and exhaled heavily when Demetri didn't give up and showed her another photo that also featured her and Eli, this time climbing a tree that they found near his house some years ago. "Okay, are you doing this on purpose?" she questioned, her eyebrows shooting up.

             "Doing what?"

             She gave him a serious glare, "Oh, don't act so oblivious now, Metri. You're showing me the photos of me and Eli on purpose, don't you?"

             Demetri opened his mouth in surprise, not expecting her to catch another reason for his presence. With that, he had to put all his strength into not smiling while lying to the violet-haired girl.

             "Uh, no — oh, look! It's me, see? It's not just you and Eli," he huffed, quickly zooming the photo into his very distant character, which was almost invisible.

             Well, at first it looked like a simple dot for Willow, so she did not believe him at all.

             "These photos won't fix anything between us, you know that, right?" she asked, her voice soaking with disappointment and maybe even sadness.

             Demetri seemed to match her reaction, his smile fading as he looked at another photo he prepared, "They won't?" he asked, but when he saw the look she gave him, he shook his head immediately. "Oh, right, they won't. Anyway, let's come back to the topic. You can't give up! You've been working on yourself for so long, so you can't just quit it. We're all here for you," he raised his tone again, the words echoing loudly in Willow's head.

             "I know you are, but I'm a complete mess right now, and these quiet days will pass eventually," she shrugged nonchalantly, pulling her legs together and earning a firm nudge to her shoulder.

             Demetri definitely didn't like the answer she gave him.

             "But that doesn't make you a bad person, Frills. You just need to talk to us, and it'll make you feel better." he stated, scrolling down through the photos, which only made the memories from the past years come back to her. Luckily, it wasn't something bad. She just missed the times when she was a normal teenager. "And maybe coming back to the dojo will do too. You know that you can't avoid Eli forever, right? And that he won't give up so easily?" his eyebrows raised again, the girl nodding her head in a confirmation.

             A quiet scoff left her lips, "Of course I do, and that's what freaks me out the most. I mean, how am I supposed to talk to him and not feel awkward at all? How am I supposed to forget about the things he did and not hold the grudges about it?" she questioned, but obviously didn't get the answer for that. "And as if it wasn't enough, I've had this damn stupid crush on him for so long that I can't even think straight whether I want to forgive him or not."

             And that was the moment when a small smile crept on Demetri's lips, "So, why are you trying to push your feelings away? You know that he likes you too. A lot,"

             Her head nodded uncontrollably, her eyes shining at the memory of the moment they had at the party, "Yeah, I know that. He told me that at Moon's party, but that doesn't change anything. He was a total asshole, and he hurt me so much, even though he knew how much I cared about him,"

             "But he's trying to change, and you need to take this into matters too. I'm not saying that you need to forgive him so quickly and immediately throw yourself into his arms. I'm saying, maybe you should take small steps too, okay?" he repeated the same advice he gave Eli the same day, hoping that this time it'll change something. "Like, small gestures or something like that. Just, every time you think about his past self, remember the good side of him. The one that has a soft spot for you,"

             She took a deep breath, but then agreed. Demetri was right. At least partly.

             "Okay, I — I'll try, but you please stop forcing things between us. It's awkward."

             The boy's face lit up with indignation, "Awkward? You mean awesome!"

❀ —— nat speaks !

more chapters just as i said 😜😜

we're so close to the comeback of froukowitz