Out of Place [Cobra Kai OC x Robby Keene]

59- The Sound of Your Voice

Parker POV

"Park?!" someone on the other end of the phone exclaims. My whole body seems to freeze while also going red hot. A strange mixture of relief and shock and excitement and panic and approximately a million other things surges through my veins. Robby.

"¡Ay Dios mío! Ave María, Robby!" I exclaim in return, a little bit of laughter slipping into my voice.

"Was that really you calling the past two times?" he asks. I can't help but laugh. I don't know what being high is like, but this has gotta be adjacent. I can't help but feel the same feeling I felt at the All Valley tournament, like I'm skydiving from a great height. Not that I've ever skydived, but I can make assumptions, and this is what I assume it's like. I nod, but then I remember that he can't actually see me.

"Yeah- I- I- yeah, it was me," I stammer.

"You hate calling people,"

"You don't count," I say, "but my abuela suggested that I call you and I was feeling a little crazy."

"So you mean to tell me I blew you off two times before now?"

"Yeah, it was devastating, actually. I thought you hated me,"

"No! No, Park, I don't think I could ever hate you," he says, a little laughter slipping into his voice, causing my heart to melt.

"I uhm- that's sweet of you to say,"

"I'm so sorry," he says, "I thought you were Mr LaRusso or maybe my dad or something."

"Nope... just- just me," I laugh back. This is so surreal. I was starting to think he was never gonna pick up and I was just gonna have live with my own defeat forever and maybe cry for an hour or so about it.

"Don't say 'just'... there's nobody else I'd rather hear from more right now,"

"¿Perdón? I mean same here. Things have been... kind of crazy since... I guess it goes back a little while, huh?"

"'Kind of crazy' is an understatement,"

He couldn't be more right. So much has happened. My life has been on some crazy roller coaster for a while now, but ever since the start of this year, it's just gotten crazier.

"You can say that again," I say, "so uhh... have you- have you been getting my letters? I don't expect you to send any back or anything, I was just wondering if you got them because one time I mailed something to my cousin and I got a text from her a week or so later saying that she had received the envelope but not- you know- the letter and I'm rambling now but I uhm... I can stop sending them, if you want, I mean."

"Send as many as you want, I'll read them all,"

"Trust me, if I had more stamps and more time, I would send one everyday," I say. I would. If I had more confidence I would call more often too, but phone calls literally make me feel like electricity is coursing through my veins, and not in a good way. I'm shaking like a washing machine on full power super spin cycle right now.

"Still busy?" he asks, and I can almost see the side grin on his face. Even without seeing it, I can't help but smile, just like always.

"More than ever. I might have to drop piano lessons though... Mr and Mrs LaRusso offered me my job at the dealership back... what do you think? I mean, I could use the money, but I don't know if I could go back there just like that. I uh- went back a month or so ago and I almost had a panic attack," I say. By 'went back' I of course mean 'snuck in' and by 'snuck in' I of course mean 'trespassed', but we don't talk about that.