ISSUES [discontinued]

15 ➞ stress shopping pt.2

fifteen stress shopping pt.2

I COULDN'T BLAME Robby for his skepticism and anger. That was for two reasons:

One: I already knew something like this had happened before, involving Sam. I didn't like to think about it nor go into details.

Two: He didn't trust Miguel one bit. They didn't exactly have a good history. I also didn't like to think about that either.

I took an embarrassingly long while to type out an apology/explanation. I started, then got rid of something, started over again, and it was a repeated process:

eudoria
hey robby
ik you don't want to talk to me,
but i just wanted to give you an apology.
i know it looked bad, but it's not what
it looked like. promise! miguel apologized
to me about the dinner, which is why
we were talking. ask me anything:)
read 4:03 pm

He obviously didn't respond, predicted that, but what I didn't predict was him reading it. Must've been out of spite.

I stared at the phone a few seconds, waiting to see if he would bother to respond.

Nothing.

Sighing, I set my phone on my nightstand, hopeless. If I wanted to talk to him, I needed to do it in person. But it was too early.

I lay in bed for a moment, just thinking, when I remembered I had barely talked to any of my friends other than Moon. I grabbed my phone, stared on Robby's chats before swiping them away and tapping on the Miyagi-Do group chat.

eudoria
yo guys, its been a bit. anyone
free? we haven't hung out in a while.

HAWK
meet me at the mall then, anyone else can come too

Demetri
I'll be there!

Sam
sorry guys, im busy

Nobody knew except Miguel, at least from what I knew. It was too fresh, and I didn't plan to tell anyone. So until he was ready, I let it be.

I was running late and Hawk and Demetri kept ringing my phone. I stumbled out the door and ran since the mall wasn't too far from my house. They were waiting out front and finally sighed when they saw me.

"Sorry," I panted, finally reaching them. Demetri just shook his head and Hawk looked like he was about to burst into laughter.

"How can you be late for something you initiated?" he asked with a cheeky smile. I stared at him for a moment before turning to look at Demetri. "Sorry, we haven't talked in a while."

"It's okay," Demetri said. "I understand, with the whole Robby situation and that fight with Cobra Kai."

I thought for a moment. It seemed like such old news now, though it had only happened recently.

"Me too," Hawk agreed. "So, have you been doing well?"

"Well enough," I managed a smile. They didn't know that more had happened, and I didn't want them to know. Ever, probably. They'd find more reason to antagonize Robby.

"Let's talk about this over some Five Guys," Demetri suggested. We nodded and followed him in. He was just rambling about his summer job in Tech Town and how most customers were either the elderly or lunatics.

"Have you found a side job? You know, the one you texted me about?" Demetri asked me after we had ordered our food. I shook my head, sitting down at a table.

"Miguel and I finally made up," I declared, intentionally leaving out the Robby part.

"It's about time," Hawk said with a grin, taking a bite into his burger. Demetri said nothing, staring at his food.

"You know," he continued, "Sensei Lawrence really wants them to be friends." I already knew who he was referring to. "I just don't see it happening."

"I've been thinking about all of the stuff that has gone on the past couple days, and I think it's safe to say you need to stay away from Robby," Demetri finally spoke up, snapping out of his train of thought. "It's only causing more problems."

"But—"

"Ah, ah. You don't need to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. I'm not saying you shouldn't talk to him, although it would be better...I'm just saying that you should push Miguel and Robby any further and stop interfering. It gets more people hurt."

I sighed, knowing he was right. I ate a couple of fries before speaking up again. "I guess you guys are right, and I honestly can't help but feel a sense of guilt because of all this. I might just cut—"

BUZZ! My phone vibrated. Curious, I opened it to view the notification: Robby.

With just my luck, Demetri had peered over and seen the notification. I avoided opening my phone so he couldn't see whatever Robby had said.

"Don't open it," he advised as we all walked to throw out our trash. "Just ignore him."

I pretended to go along with it and dragged them to a couple clothing stores (they liked it but refused to admit it) and overall had a good time. But Robby was still in the back of my mind and I couldn't enjoy.

Frantically waving goodbye to them, I opened my phone as I walked home.

i'm sorry for overreacting,
i guess i was just upset that
we had made up but you
were off with miguel

it's no problem, but
what's such a big issue for
me to hang out with miguel?
he's my friend too, in case you forgot

i don't know, i'm just really
confused, with my dad and all
but i have good news for you

oo i love good news

i know you do
me and miguel may or may
not have made up

WHAT???

mmm yeah

tell me every detail.

okay so...