Tattoos Mean Forever (Cobra Kai- Hawk Love Story)

Chapter 7

Mia's pov

We sit down and a waitress comes over immediately.

"What can I get for you guys today?"

I scan the menu quickly, "I'll take a chicken salad with a side of fries. Water's fine."

She jots my order down and turns to Hawk.

He studies the menu "Bacon cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate shake"

As he's ordering, I study him and a sudden wave of realization hits me.

That weird sense of familiarity I felt around him before made sense now and I was shocked.

The hair. The aggressiveness. The over the top confidence. The never being alone. It all made sense.

And with that, I felt my walls start to crumble.

As the waitress leaves, he turns back to me and gives me a weird look as he catches me staring at him.

"What?" I see his hand start to come up before he pushes it back down and my suspicions were confirmed.

I quickly respond "Nothing, you just remind me of- well myself."

He scrunches his face "What do you mean?"

I ignore his question. "What's your real name?"

He falters before regaining his composure, "Hawk duh"

I give him a look, "I know a facade when I see one. I would know I put one up too."

He stares at me with an unreadable expression as the waitress comes back with our drinks. I take a sip of water before continuing.

"I used to be bullied in middle school like crazy. I had a bad stutter back then and I'd get ganged up on every day by the 'popular kids'. I hated myself and I had no friends and never felt so alone."

I let out a bitter laugh, "I used to even cut myself. My dad never noticed a thing, he was always busy with work and rarely ever came home. My babysitter was a real jerk and never even cared about me so I was alone and it stayed that way for a while."

I met his eyes and nearly let out a laugh at how speechless he was. Clearing my throat I continue.

"Between the summer of 8th grade and freshman year, I somehow grew out of my stutter. It didn't do anything for my confidence though, I was already beaten down by everyone around me for years. One day, I was at a family reunion with my mom's side."

I took a deep breath, "My mom died from cancer 2 years after I was born, so I never knew her, but that day, her older brother- my uncle, came up to me. He offered to teach me karate. Said it would boost my confidence and help me regain control of my life. He also said he owed my mom. I was pretty skeptical at first but agreed since I didn't have anything to lose"

"That whole summer I trained nonstop and as I got stronger and faster, so did my confidence. 2 weeks before school was to start, a new girl moved in next door to me. Her name was Bella and she was my age. We clicked pretty fast, she had a history of being bullied too, and together, we both got makeovers and practiced karate together, determined that the upcoming school year was going to be different for us." I smiled slightly, remembering how fun that time was.

I ignore the waitress as she sets our food down and continue my story.

"The first day of school came around and no one recognized me as the person I was before. I was proud, until the gang who used to bully me started to make my life hell again. Instead of letting them shut me down again, I fought back. I flipped the script on them and made their life hell."

"The karate I learned finally came into real use. I got detention all the time, but my dad was never around and believed every word I said, so I would feed him the same bullshit to keep myself out of trouble with him. Just like that my popularity rose to the top alongside with Bella and we stomped on the gang who used to put me down. "

I pause to pop a fry in my mouth. "I became a real bitch. If I'm gonna be honest, I still am, if not more"

My eyes darken "The year went on and the last week of school, Bella and I were hanging out in this small abandoned wood house practicing karate. Before we knew what was happening, smoke started filling the room and fire was spreading up and down the walls. We ran to the only door and realized it was jammed, someone had locked us in. Panicked, we looked around for an exit and before I could do anything, Bella ran over to the one corner where the flames hadn't spread yet and kicked it open. Grabbing my hand she threw me outside and before I could react, the flames spread through and sealed up the one exit hole." My eyes start to burn.

"I called 911 as fast as I could, but it was too late and she died in the fire. Later, we found out who started the fire and it was the people who used to bully me. They were sent to juvie before I could get revenge"

I take a deep breath and blink away the tears threatening to spill out of my eyes and barely register Hawk taking my hand in his own.

He looks at me softly, "I'm so sorry Mia I had no idea. Is that why you moved here?"

I nod "Yea I couldn't stand being there anymore, not to mention my uncle died from heart failure shortly after too, so my dad looked for other jobs and we ended up moving here. That was the day I swore I would never show mercy to anyone. The world's cruel so you have to be cruel along with it to survive. "

I finally process just how much I said and move my hand out of his and take a bite of my salad. Did I really just tell him my whole life story? I slap myself internally and pray I didn't just scare him away.

"My real name's Eli Moskowitz."