LVII. Heartbreak Weather

"And then she just. . . ended things."

Miguel walked with Odessa and Eli into the waterpark. Sam broke up with him. The deep conversation she had with Odessa at the spa got through to her and she followed her heart. There was nothing wrong with that. But now Odessa had to see her best friend heartbroken. It wasn't a good situation for anybody. "I'm sorry, Mig." She replied to his statement.

"Don't worry about it, man. It's you and Sam. You two always go back to each other." Eli uttered. His hands was interlocked with his girlfriend's and he swung them back and forth.

"I don't know, guys. I think she's pretty serious this time." Miguel went on.

"Sam's going through a lot right now. She just needs some time. All you can do is respect that," Odessa told him gently.

Eli looked down her and smiled to himself. She spoke from experience, an experience that was their own.  Odessa broke up with him because she was going through a hard time. It was painful for him to accept but he respected her wishes and let life take its course.  Now, they were happier than they had ever been.

Oliver waved like a mad man when he saw them enter. Odessa pulled Eli by his hand to the beach chairs. "Hey guys." She said with a smile.

Sam looked up from her book and her expression faltered when she saw Miguel. He quickly looked away from her, trying not to notice. The group of boys did their handshake and Odessa took the seat on the other side of Sam. Eli followed suit.

Miguel stood in front of Sam's chair.b"Um. . . Uh, hey. How you doing, Sam?"

"Hey." She replied awkwardly.

Odessa cringed and glanced at Eli, who did the same.

"I'm, uh. . . yeah. I mean—I'm good," Sam stammered with a nervous smile. "Good. And how about you?"

"I'm cool. I'm good. Yeah."

Oliver watched the interaction painfully. "This is painful." He muttered to himself.

"Uh, is anyone. . ." Miguel continued and pointed to the empty chair beside her.

"Yeah! I mean. . . I mean, no, but. . ." Sam hesitated.  "Yeah, you can—you can go ahead." She stuttered an answer and awkwardly motioned for him to sit down.

He returned the nervous smile and sat down in the chair. Sam went back to reading her book. The two of them didn't make eye contact.

"Okay. . ."nOdessa trailed after the awkward conversation was over. She looked over at Oliver.n"Ol, where's Demetri?"

"He's working." He groaned. "That little shit actually got a job. Now I don't have anyone to watch My Strange Addiction with."

"Dude!" Miguel bellowed and quickly sat up. "Odessa got me into it. It's so fucking weird."

"Right!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. "Especially the one about the woman who eats the dry wall."

"Oh,  that's nothing. The woman who drinks blood is what got me." Eli shuddered in disgust.

Sam joined in on the conversation and cringed. "How do you guys watch that?"

"It's our strange addiction," he joked and laughed. He hit his girlfriend lightly on the arm.

She just shook her head, smiling slightly.

"What the hell kind of conversation did I just walk in on?" Hailey questioned when she joined them. Her hand was locked with Grayson's.

"Talking about My Strange Addiction." Miguel answered.

The couple gasped in unison. "Holy shit, remember the episode about the chick who eats her husband's ashes?" Grayson said quickly.

"She's basically a cannibal!" Oliver exclaimed in the same tone of voice.

Thalia knew she wasn't going to be able to hide that Christian was back from Johnny forever. She didn't have the right to. But she knew Johnny. He would be angry, disappointed, upset, and confused. She was confused. She hated her ex husband. She wanted him to stay far away from her and her daughter as possible. But Thalia couldn't stop thinking about him, about the good and bad. He was her first love. The love of her life. The father of her child.

But he was also a stranger. The love of her life would never hurt her the way Christian did. Or maybe she was wrong and that's the way it was supposed to be. Maybe it's what she deserved.

Christian leaned against the kitchen wall and watched her clean the kitchen. "My one year and three months sober is coming up." He told her.

Thalia looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. "That's great, Christian. I'm proud of you." She said genuinely.

"I think we should go out to celebrate. You, me, and Dess."

The smile went away. "I don't think that's a good idea." She muttered and went back to wiping the counter.

"Oh, come on Tal," he insisted leaned off the wall. "It'll be just like old times."

"Except it won't," she stated again and looked his way. "Because we're not together a family anymore."

He looked heartbroken by her words.

"All Odessa's had for years is me. Most of the time, she's only had me. And for you to come here and act like everything can go back to the way it was is insulting." She spat. Her mind eyes blazed with anger.

Christian exhaled under his breath, his cheeks puffing out. "I know. You're right. I'm sorry." He quickly said. "But you can't blame me for wanting try. I love you, Thalia. I'll love you till I die. And Odessa. She's my everything."

Tears formed in her eyes and she squeezed them tightly, hoping that they would go away. She gripped the rag that was in her hand.

She heard her front door open. "Hey, Tal! Can you believe this bullshit?" Johnny's voice echoed. Thalia's heart dropped. He walked into the kitchen and before he said anything else, he saw Christian. His face visibly fell. He was holding his phone in his hand. He looked between them, completely confused. "Christian?"

Christina blinked his eyes. "Johnny Lawrence, is that you?"

Thalia dropped the rag she was holding and she covered her mouth stressfully.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I," Christian stuttered. He blinked a couple times again. "I came back for Dess. For my family."

Johnny looked at Thalia again and the look on his face made her want to crawl into a hole. He didn't say anything else. He turned around and left.

"Johnny," Thalia called out his name. She quickly ran after him. "Johnny!"

Johnny stormed out of her home.

"Johnny!" She shouted again.

He paused and whirled around. "How long have you known?" He questioned angrily.

"He showed up after the All Valley tournament. He said he was there." She explained with a small stutter in her voice. "I didn't know what to do."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were in Mexico! What was I supposed to do?" She raised her voice.

"So you were going to hide it from me?" He matched her tone.

"I didn't know how to tell you because I knew you would act like this. I didn't want to hurt you!"

"I'm not hurt, Thalia. I'm pissed off!" He shouted.

"At me?" She questioned with glossy eyes. "Because you have no right to be pissed off at me."

"I don't?"

"No! Because you have no idea how this feels. You have no idea what my daughter is feeling. This is painful!" She shouted and gritted her teeth. She pointed a finger at him. "So don't shout at me like this is my fault. I didn't know what to do. He showed up and caught me off guard. I'm trying to deal with it but I don't know how."

Johnny went silent. He looked over her shoulder and saw Christian standing in the doorway of her home. He became overwhelmed. "I, uh, gotta get back to work. Started a shitty new job as an Uber driver. It's sucks so far." He stated and continued walking to his van.

Thalia watched him speed off and she exhaled deeply. She closed her eyes and rubbed her face, keeping them there for a minute or two.

Odessa's eyes were closed and she couldn't see the way Eli was looking at her. A smile on face. Her hand was in his and he played with her fingers. Her head was turned so it looked like she was sleeping, but she wasn't. Her cheeks always puffed out when she was sleeping. Eli thought it was adorable. He looked away when he heard sudden commotion and he saw Kenny and the other Cobra Kai's terrorizing Anthony by the Lazy River. "Oh, god dammit." He blurted out.

Odessa heard him and she opened her eyes. "What? What is it?" She asked and leaned up slightly.

They had put the rafts over Anthony so that they covered his whole body. Kenny kicked him and sent Anthony flying backwards into the water.

Hailey scoffed. "God,  it's like Hawk 2.0." Eli looked at her. "Sorry."

Odessa saw the look on his face. "Eli, no." She warned.

He didn't listen and quickly got up from his chair. She groaned loudly and quickly followed him. They approached the group of laughing Cobra Kai's and Eli glared at them. "What the hell was that?"

Kyler laughed obnoxiously and got in his face. "Aye,  that's none of yo business."

"Now I'm making it my business."

"Hey, hey, hey," Odessa butted in and put her hand on his chest.

"Hey, Kyler, Kyler." Kenny got in the middle. "Maybe he needs another haircut to remember who he's talking to?" He jeered and looked Eli up and down.

She have him the same glare and got in his face.  "Aren't you like five? Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

"Damn, Odessa," Kyler laughed again out and looked her up and down. "I haven't seen you in a minute. I'm getting flashbacks right now."

Her face turned red from embarrassment. 

Eli glared at him furiously. "Watch your fucking mouth."

She out a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting in his face. He looked down at Kenny. "You wanna take on the champ, kid?" He taunted.

Kenny laughed. "Dude,  you're only the champ because Diaz got hurt. Robby won as many fights as you did,"

"Yeah but one of those was against you. And that wasn't much of a fight now was it?" Eli said with an amused smirked.

"Aw, come on now. You're really gonna take that from him? From Lip?" Kyler said and let out another taunting laugh.

Odessa glared at him. "Shut the hell up, Kyler."

"Aye yo, I don't take orders from sluts."

Before Eli could do anything, Oliver got in the conversation and stood face to face with Kyler. "What did you say?"

Kyler looked up at him, considering Oliver was way taller than him, and he stopped laughing. "You heard me traitor." He acted tough.

Oliver shoved him back. "Hey, hey, hey! Back off!"  Tory suddenly appeared and pushed the boys away from each other.

"Hey, stay out of this." Eli snapped.

"What's the matter? You scared i'm right, champ?" Kenny said obnoxiously.

Hailey came  into the conversation and glared judgmentally. "Why is this five year old still talking?" She jeered.

"Stay out of this, Hailey," Tory warned.

She gave her a look that could kill. "Bitch, I know you're not talking to me."

Odessa grabbed her arm and gave her a warning glare.  Tory stared at her angrily for a second then looked between Eli and Oliver. "Unless you want to get your asses kicked, stay on your side of the park. Away from us."

Hailey scoffed. "This is a water park, not World War II."

"Hey yo, champ!" A little boy not too far from them shouted when he saw Eli. He smiled brightly and showed off his muscles.

His face softened at the recognition. Eli looked back at the Cobra Kai's. "All right. You guys stay on your side, we don't have a problem. We have better rides on our side anyway." He boasted even though he was still angry.

Odessa grabbed his hand and led him away from everyone. "I literally didn't want to have to put up with this today." She said with a groan.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start anything,"

She paused in her steps. "No, don't apologize. You were doing the right thing," she told him and she cupped his face in her hands. "You know what he said isn't true, right? You're the champ because you deserve it. You fought like hell to earn that title." She jerked her chin in their direction. "He's just sucked into the world of snakes. He's practically a Slytherin."

Eli chuckled and smiled at her. "Thanks, baby."

She kissed him quickly. "Wanna hit the water slides?"  She asked with a large smile.

"I'll race ya."