As a bartender, one is not supposed to have favorites. Bartenders are supposed to be friendly but unattached with everyone. This way everyone felt as if they were special, but not quite enough to push their luck. Favorites led to unpaid tabs and biases during altercations. But, if Zoe was being honest, there was one patron she preferred.
Johnny Lawrence had been coming to Sweetwater since before Zoe inherited the bar. He'd been polite and respectful to her back when she had been just wiping down tables. She remembered the first time that he stepped in when another patron hadn't been so respectful to her. It wasn't the last time, either. Nobody had messed with the waitresses at Sweetwater in a long while.
Over the years, they had swapped stories and jokes alike. Johnny was one of the funniest people she knew. He was also one of the most clueless. Anything that came out after 1991 was a foreign concept to him. It could be frustrating at times. Luckily for him, Zoe found it more endearing than anything else.
When Johnny walked in through the front door, a smile lit up Zoe's face. She couldn't resist.
"Hey, Johnny," she greeted. "Haven't seen you in a while. I like the new look."
His hand flew to his cheek. He wiped at the smooth skin absently as he took his usual stool at the bar. "Trying something out," he grunted. The stack of yellow papers he carried in hit the counter with a smack.
She made a noncommittal noise as she prepared his usual drink. Another compliment was on the tip of her tongue. She bit it back, not wanting to come off as flirting. It was hardly fair. Clean shaven suited him.
Instead, she set the beer down in front of him and said, "Cheers to that."
He raised his glass in her direction and took a deep swig.
He cleared his throat. "I actually didn't come for the drink today," he admitted.
Curious, she tipped her head and rested her fist on her hip. The cleaning rag dangled against her leg. "Oh? What did you come for then?"
"I was wondering if it was alright if I left one of these here," he said. He handed her one of the yellow papers.
Her brows rose as she looked the flier over. "You're teaching karate lessons? I thought you said you weren't into that kind of thing."
"I'm still not teaching girls," he said with a smug smirk.
Years ago, after watching Johnny handle a few rowdy patrons, she had begged him to show her a few moves. He always denied her. His ideas on "fragile female bones" did not amuse her but it never stopped her from asking again. Although there were lulls in between, the conversation was never truly dropped.
She rolled her eyes but let the comment go. She flipped the flier but nothing was on the back. "This is really cool."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. I mean, not the flier. That kind of sucks. But the fact that you're teaching is fucking awesome," she said brightly.
He scoffed. "God, you can be such a brat."
She grinned at him cheekily. "You know you like it," she teased.
He tipped his beer at her once more and shrugged. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "Guess that's why I keep coming back to this shithole."
She smacked him with the cleaning rag. "Watch yourself, Mr. Lawrence. This shithole has been damn good to you."
He flashed her that dazzling smile.
There it was. She had missed that smile over the past few weeks. It could brighten her day or render her speechless with frustration depending on his mood.
Quickly she dropped her attention back to the flier. If her cheeks had taken on a pink coloring, Johnny didn't point it out. More like he was too oblivious to notice, she thought, but sometimes his lack of observation played into her favor.
"This is cool," she repeated, nodding. "Do you mind if I keep a few?"
Again he shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. Go ahead. Take ten."
She took another two off the pile. "I'll stick with three, thanks," she said sweetly.
"Brat," he muttered into his drink.
"Asshole," she shot back.
Someone at the opposite end of the bar flagged her down.
"Duty calls," she half-sang. She waved the fliers in her hand at him. "You're more than welcome to stick one of these up to the bulletin board by the front." Without waiting for a response, she stuck them under the bar for safekeeping and left to go serve the other patron.
As she went, she missed the way Johnny's bright blue eyes followed after her.
The first time that Zoe showed Willard the flier he didn't look at it more than once. Not that she honestly expected him to. His interests lay in video games and cooking. Athletics weren't his thing. She understood. Karate, or fighting in general, wasn't for everyone. She certainly wasn't going to offer it to Tallulah.
That's why she was so surprised when he brought it up again a few weeks later. "You want to take karate lessons?"
"Yes," he said emphatically.
She crossed her arms as she checked him out from head to toe. There weren't any bruises that she could see. He hadn't come home bleeding that she knew of. It was true that Willard didn't get along with many kids in school. He was a sweet boy, but sweet didn't get you far in high school.
"Now, I don't have a problem with this," she started slowly, raising a hand to curb his enthusiasm. "But first I have to ask: what changed?"
He pulled out his phone to show her the fight that had happened at school that day. "It was amazing!" he gushed.
Frowning, she pointed to one of the boys in the video. "Who's this? I know this kid."
His face fell a little. "Oh. That's Kyler."
Right away she remembered. More than once she had heard about Kyler. He was a few years ahead of Willard but that didn't seem to stop him from making her little brother miserable. In the past she had been ready to march over to Kyler's house to talk to his parents. She didn't care that she didn't know where the boy lived exactly. She would knock down every door in Los Angeles if she had to. Every time, Willard stopped her, insisting that her doing that would only make it worse.
Carefully, Zoe carded her fingers through Willard's blond hair. He used to love it when she played with his hair. As he had gotten older, he had become too cool for his sisters' affections. Lately it was a hit or miss thing.
When he offered her a hopeful smile, she sighed. How could she say no to that face?
"Alright," she said.
He grew very still even as his smile widened. "Is that a yes?"
Smiling indulgently, she nodded. "That's a yes."
He hollered in joy, jumping circles around Zoe as his fist pumped in the air.
"But!" She shouted over his celebration. "But your grades stay up or no deal."
He hugged her around the middle. "I will! I will, I promise! Thank you, Zoe. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
She lightly scratched her nails over his scalp and kissed his forehead. "You're welcome," she laughed, wiping away the lipstick stain she had left behind.
The next day after school, Zoe drove Willard to the strip mall in Reseda. The sign for the Cobra Kai dojo was hard to miss. There was already a group of teenagers waiting outside the door.
"I hope there'll be room," Willard muttered, tugging at his earlobe.
Zoe gently pulled his hand away from his ear. "It'll be fine," she assured him. "If you don't get to attend class today, we'll just sign you up for the next one."
They joined the others to wait. Everyone was talking excitedly about the fight. The video had gone viral on YouTube. Willard kept beaming at Zoe as if to say 'see? I told you'. In return, Zoe would lift her brows and nod; 'yes, you were right'. He was a ball of anticipation.
A red car pulled up next to Zoe's. It wasn't the car that she associated with Johnny, so she hadn't expected to see him get out. A smile flitted across her lips before she was able to school her features.
The moment the front door was unlocked, everyone was pushing to get inside the dojo. Zoe held Willard back so that they were last ones in.
Johnny's eyes widened when he saw her. "Zoe!" He exclaimed. His gaze bounced from her hand on Willard's shoulder back to her. "I didn't know you had kids." His brow furrowed as if he were doing the math, obviously trying to recall how old she was exactly.
She snorted. "I don't. This is my brother. He wanted to come give you guys a try."
Beside her, Willard nodded emphatically.
Johnny looked at Willard again. This time it was far more scrutinizing. At last he muttered, "God! I feel like a virgin just looking at you."
The immediate response to laugh bubbled up inside of her. She folded her lips in and closed her eyes to keep it under control. A tiny snort managed to escape. Quickly she cleared her throat to cover the incriminating sound.
Willard shifted uncomfortably. "I'm… going to go say hi to Ben."
"Okay," she said a little too brightly, patting Willard's shoulder. "You boys have fun."
He scuttled off to find his friend.
Johnny licked his lip. "So that's your brother, huh? Doesn't look much like you."
"Half-brother, technically," she admitted, adjusting the strap of her purse. She didn't feel like explaining it any deeper than that. "I'd really like to go ahead and pay for this month. Do you mind?"
"No, not at all," he said. With a wave of his arm, he showed her back to his office.
The paperwork didn't take long. Soon she laid out the necessary bills. Johnny scooped them up and shoved them in one of his desk drawers.
"Thanks for your business," he said with smirk.
Grinning, she tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. "Pleasure's mine. It looks like you're busy so I'll show myself out." She glanced out the office window to where the kids were mingling. It was difficult to spot her little brother in the crowd.
Knowing that it would only embarrass him, Zoe resisted the urge to kiss Willard goodbye. She did shoot him a wink as she walked past. He sent her a tiny wave back. She counted that as a victory.
A few minutes later, Johnny emerged, donned in his black gi. It took a minute to get all the new kids straightened out. As he walked through the lines, his hopes plummeted further and further down. These kids were not what he would qualify as Cobra Kai material.
He paused when he got to Willard. "Don't think that because your sister is hot that I'm gonna take it easy on you, Virgin," he barked.
To the kid's credit, he didn't even blink. He kept his gaze straight ahead.
Johnny nodded and moved on. Maybe there was hope yet.