ELAPID ✪ COBRA KAI

VIII. Carpool

"Here we go again
I kinda wanna be more than friends
So take it easy on me
I'm afraid you're never satisfied."

Animal by Neon Trees

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Andi made her way to her car, walking silently by Eli- not knowing how to talk to the boy she'd spent the past couple of months doing nothing but talking to.

As she unlocked her car doors and made her way inside- she tried coming up with topics to talk about.

There's a bunch on Netflix shows she could mention, books she'd read, even current events they could discuss- but as she backed out of the school's mangey parking lot- a completely different conversation starter came out of her mouth.

"What did you think of the fight?" She asked bluntly, instantly regretting her choice of conversation topic.

"Oh, um-" Eli started.

"Nevermind, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want," Andi insisted quickly.

She knew how it felt to not want to be bugged about something, so she figured she may have overstepped.

Honestly, though, the interruption probably made the whole situation wired- but Eli brushed it off.

"I thought it was pretty cool- how he stood up to Kyler, fighting for Sam's honor and everything." He said shyly.

"Oh, that's awesome- wish I could've seen it," Andi added, focusing on the road in front of her.

"You were where you needed to be" he said kindly. 

Andi felt her cheeks get red but hoped Eli. hadn't noticed. 

"Actually," Eli resumed, "I was gonna talk to you about that,"

"What about it?" Andi questioned curiously.

"i- I think we should join Cobra Kai, train with your brother." He answered bravely, looking towards Andi to get a reading on her reaction.

Andi thought for a moment.

"You should totally do it. I think you'd be amazing at it, Eli." She said cheerily.

"-oh, well, I. I kind of meant both of us." He concluded.

"Oh," Andi responded, understanding what he was insinuating.

She took a moment to think before responding. "I don't think Karate is for me Eli. I'm more of a lover, not a fighter," she said softly, turning to Eli and trying to give him a kind smile.

Honestly, the thought of karate terrified her. She knew she needed to learn to defend herself, but whenever she thought of that- the memories of her past abuse and awful history at her old school came flying back into her mind, preventing her from moving and breathing.

"It would be good for you for both of us. We could. I don't know," he said, looking down at his feet for a moment before looking back at Andi. "We could learn to stand up for ourselves. Like Miguel!" He said.

Andi took this in for a moment but shook her head lightly.

"I'm sorry, Eli, I don't think I can do it," she answered Sadly.

Eli nodded.

"I understand- I get it, it's probably a stupid idea anyway." He said quietly.

Andi turned to look at the boy.