Before I Forget

Eternal Flame

Hawk: Y r u mad at me?

Sky rolled her eyes and stuffed the phone back into her pocket. She wasn't going to bother to answer that one.

"Was it Eli?" Demetri asked. He was lying on his bed, holding an ice bag on his nose, looking miserable. Sky knew there was a bandage and some stitches on that nose under the bag of ice and she felt really bad for Demetri - nose injuries hurt like hell.

"You should really call him Hawk," Sky muttered a response. "It would mean the world to him."

"I seriously doubt that anything I do would mean the world to him anymore," Demetri replied sourly. "It's like he hates me, and I don't even know why."

"He doesn't hate you," Sky said, but turned her eyes away when Demetri tried to catch her glance. "It's just... I guess it's hard for him sometimes, that you remind him of all the things he was before. And he doesn't want to be that guy anymore."

"There was nothing wrong with the guy he was."

"I know," Sky let out a sigh. "That's the guy I fell in love with."

A short silence followed her confession. Sky, who was sitting on the floor next to Demetri's bed, drew her knees against her chest and rested her chin on top of them. Sadness and worry lingered on her and she couldn't shake them off.

"Did you tell your Mom?" she asked after a moment. "About what Kreese did?"

"No. I told her I fell down the stairs. It's believable enough, you know how great my balance is." Demetri replied. He let out a soft hiss as he removed the ice bag from his nose and tossed it to the nightstand revealing his Red and swollen nose. That sight made Sky wince.

"You should tell her the truth," she said sternly. "And you should call the police too."

"Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Sky asked, her face stern and her voice level.

"No, but–" Demetri paused as if to search for the right words. "But it would cause a lot of problems to your dojo, maybe close it down permanently."

Sky shrugged. It wasn't that she wanted to see Cobra Kai closed, far from it. It was still her home, her family, her everything. But she didn't like the direction things were going in - and she was beginning to realize there was a certain Mr. Kreese to blame for it.

"I'm hoping it would cause problems for John Kreese," she said silently, her fingers playing with some loose threads of the carpet. "It's him who is the problem, not Cobra Kai."

"I'm thinking about writing a Yelp review," Demetri said.

"I don't think you should do that," Sky said. "It's gonna get you in trouble, not Kreese."

"I don't know," Demetri said with a long sigh. "I really don't know. I just want things back the way they were."

"I know," Sky said silently, staring at her feet. "Me too."

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Hawk didn't call or text her again all afternoon, which was both a relief and a cause of severe heartache. Sky was constantly checking her phone, but at the same time, she was still annoyed and mad at Hawk, not knowing what she would say if he actually called her.

Demetri had been hurt quite badly - sweet, innocent Demetri Who was the least violent person Sky could think of. Sure, he was annoying and Yeah, he had probably said a thing or two too much to Sensei Kreese - but it didn't make it alright for Kreese to punch him in the face. And it didn't make it okay for Hawk to be such a dick about it. The tone of his voice when he had called Demetri a pussy and a nerd still made Sky's heart twitch painfully.