Chapter Three: Almost like Caramel

…

We were nearing the end of class and Shawn was getting done sparring Dieter.

He scored a point with a back fist on Dieter's nose.

Sensei nodded to Shawn.

Shawn finished Dieter by kicking him directly in the ribs.

For a moment, I saw Bert wince for Dieter as no one else blinked an eye.

Sensei walked past Bert. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Er. No Sensei." he said quietly.

Sensei loomed over the tiny kid with the glasses.

"So for instance. If a man confronted Mr. Payne. You think they deserved any mercy."

Bert frowned. "Maybe in a street fight I guess. But."

"Oh, you guess. But what?"

"But." Bert gulped. "Dieter is our friend. He's loyal to the dojo. I don't think he deserved to get hit like that just for losing a sparring match."

Sensei Kreese nodded slowly looking over slowly to Dieter who was doing his best not to clutch his chest in pain right now.

"You're right. Dieter is a classmate. So you think we should include mercy in this dojo. You truly do?"

Bert nodded slightly. "Maybe just sometimes."

"Does anyone else concur with him?" asked Sensei.

Virgin and surprisingly Dirk, who I knew wouldn't join Eagle Fang or its different name, Steel Eagle until much later, raised their hands.

"Alright. You're all done. Get out of here."

"But I just meant to-"

"Leave! Now."

Dirk, Virgin, and Bert all left the dojo after Sensei dismissed them. Leaving a total of ten students left at Cobra Kai.

If two more people left, half the original class size would remain.

"This is the dead weight cut," Sensei Kreese said as he walked around the combat square. "We might be less now. But like I said before. We are one unit. And we always will be. No chain can be stronger than its weakest link."

"There are no true rivals left to Cobra Kai in this Valley," Sensei said with pride as he walked past me. "We have a two time champion. Admittedly one of the greatest karate fighters who ever competed, despite him still being a brown belt. All the other dojos are far less skilled. And you can see the kind of fighters lining up to join Johnny Lawrence's dojo and Miyagi-Do."

Sensei glanced towards the door where Virgin, Bert, and Dirk had walked through.

"With our weakness shed it's time to show our strength. All your lives. Every single one of you has been told good is one thing. And evil another. The truth is. Life is messy, good and evil can sometimes be switched depending on perspective. And every single one of you have proven Cobra Kai's true power. No perspective can cloud that, it is a fact engraved into a trophy and an All Valley record book at this point."

Sensei looked around and continued to speak. "But people have continued to doubt you."

I saw Hawk grin as Sensei walked past him. "Some of your friends and classmates have started to pick sides against us. Joining the Eagle dojo. Joining Miyagi-Do. But they will never beat us. Because there is only one way. Which is?"

"The way of the fist sir!"

"These remaining six spots will only be filled by fighters like you all. Capable. Skilled. And strong individuals. At Cobra Kai you train to be the best. So you have to be. The best. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sensei!"

"I said is that understood?"

We all spoke much louder in unison.

"Yes Sensei!"

…

I walked into Sensei Kreese's office and spoke.

"Sensei?"

"Schwarber."

I walked towards Sensei's desk. "I wanted to talk about today with you."

"You have a problem with us getting rid of the last bit of weakness here?"

"No I just don't know who will be able to match the level of skill Aisha and Robby left behind. I get that they weren't cut out for our training. But still. I'm just worried about who we'll get to replace them."

Sensei nodded. "I understand your worries. But I assure you. We won't fail in finding the right recruits."

"Everyone who signs up is. Well they're bad fighters Sensei. They don't have a single fighting instinct in their body."

"Then we'll keep running tryouts. Are you sure you can't find some good athletes on your own?"

"Even almost two years after the incident with Kyler at the country club. I'm a pariah at my school's sports teams. They'll never join even if I ask as politely as I can."

Sensei nodded. "I understand. Cobras. Do not apologize for who they are. But besides Shawn Payne and Rickenberger, we haven't found a truly strong addition to this dojo for a while. Take your time Mr. Schwarber to find who we need. We're in no hurry here."

"Yes Sensei."

I walked outside and began to bump fists with Hawk, Shawn, Mikey, and Doug.

"Okay, guys. Gotta head out."

"Man when are we gonna ride again?" asked Hawk.

"Ride?" I scoffed. "What does that mean?"

"Put the jackets on. Roar through town," asked Shawn as the others nodded too.

"It's Cobra Kai tradition at this point," Hawk said with pride. "We can't do it unless you're there."

"One night okay. Soon."

"I think our mans is getting laid. No other reason he'd be blowing us off." muttered Doug.

If I made any eye contact with Hawk the guys would know. So I didn't remotely look at him.

"Very funny Rick. See ya guys." I said.

"See ya." Mikey added.

…

I walked to my car parked on the other end of Lankershim far away from the guys.

Tory threw away a granola bar wrapper she had just finished.

"Tell me why again we have to practice extra kata at my place. So secretly?"

Tory scoffed. "Truly ask yourself why."

"Right. You think everyone at the dojo will think we're dating now. Don't you find that far fetched for that to happen?"

I refused to bring up the two times we had argued this summer. It made for a reasonable argument why we wouldn't ever date because Tory always walked away pretty heated.

"Can we just go?"

…

Training Tory Nichols in Miyagi-Do was basically impossible.

She hated kata. She hated meditation. She hated chores.

I'm pretty sure she hated me by this point.

But by far the most torturous part was being close to a girl this attractive for hours at a time, alone. Who I had seen nude very recently. And just being strictly platonic friends with her.

I wasn't mad at Tory at all for it. In her shoes I would only let us do Miyagi-Do.

And nothing else.

But just to make matters worse for me and my poor. Teenage libido and hormonal mind. She wore a bikini to swim in my pool to cool down every day after Miyagi-Do practice.

Now I wasn't a rather. Tense person when it came to being a teenage guy. In fact I think I was much more controlled in that sense.

I still chemically had a sixteen year old brain. And it sucked to have one at times.

Tory's two piece suit was red with white outlines, I don't know why I thought that was perfect. She could actually take a picture down at the beach holding up an iPhone and a peace sign and it would match one of GTA five's covers verbatim.

She would draw herself out of the pool and everything large and firm from both sides of her. Would bounce in just the right way.

I shifted uncomfortably where I saw reading on my lawn chair.

"Sunglasses? Really?" she walked over to the lawn chair next to me and wrapped a towel over herself. "You really don't think I know what you're up to?"

I turned a page in my introductory book on Korean. "A man can't read in peace?"

"Yeah like you're reading."

"I was." I said, it was the truth. I was trying my best.

"You were the one who wanted to swim in my pool. I wasn't gonna stop you. No Tory. I'm not gonna let you use my pool for no reason."

"Sure your grandparents don't mind?" she dried her hair.

They did.

"They would've said something by now. Seeing us meditate and talk and do kata."

"I'm not going to lie. None of this Miyagi-Do stuff. None of it feels like me."

"Look your center of balance and your stance are crucial in a fight. How you move around the ring. How calm you are. How decisive. Cobra Kai helps with that, but in combination with Miyagi-Do. There is no better way to fight in terms of speed and technique."

Tory nodded. "I don't like. Any of this. I don't like. Feeling the sun, listening. Absorbing. Waiting. Kata. It doesn't feel like me."

"Then you're free to quit my training."

…

Tory was not a quitter, not even for Miyagi-Do.

The rest of the week was almost physically painfully.

I tried to take care of the. Problem presented by Tory. It didn't drive me insane but ultimately it didn't work the way I needed it to after multiple tries.

I ended up coming to the conclusion the best way for me to spend this summer was to relax. Properly.

I texted Moon, a number I still had after a small group project I had with her in Bio.

Can we talk. Like in person?

It took her a moment to respond. Surprisingly quicker than I would've expected.

Sure. Come on over.

That was fast.

…

My regular bike and car weren't nearly discrete enough.

I was not one for bicycles to get around everywhere. They weren't nearly loud or, Cobra Kai enough.

I hadn't even used this bicycle since.

I smiled as I rode on it.

Since I founded Cobra Kai again with Sensei Kreese in that old supermarket loading dock.

But that was the point. No one would ever suspect me. It was also great for my cardio and Moon only lived about a half hour on my bicycle away from me.

I knocked on Moon's door and she answered.

She wore a simple white shawl over her shoulders and a crop top and short shorts. It was the first time I ever saw her wearing double pig tails.

Did every girl on earth need to wear clothes this revealing for the summer?

"Hey Luke. Wanna. Come on in?"

"Yeah. Uh. Where can I put my bike?"

"In my backyard I guess here."

Moon's house looked exactly like I expected.

Mitch was sitting over there, Hawk dumped beer on Demetri's head over there. Tory and Sam would have a drinking contest out there. Quite the party. The last bit of peace the Valley ended up knowing for a long time.

"So what's up?" asked Moon as she sat down on a sofa next to her fireplace.

That woke me out of it and I shook my head.

"Um. Wanted to ask. Are you still bi?"

"Relatively."

"What does relatively mean?"

"That I'm not committed to anything remotely right now." said Moon. "Why do you ask?"

"Are you aware Yasmine likes me?"

Moon nodded. "Yup."

"And. I might like her."

"Yup." she repeated.

I sighed.

"Just say it Lucas. What's going on?"

"This summer is. Pretty stressful."

"Uh huh."

I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans. If this blew up in my face it could be catastrophic.

"I've done a lot to relieve this stress over this past week. Meditate. Do my kata. Go to class with Sensei Kreese. Hit the bag, work out. Run. Nothing's worked. Allow me to repeat that."

I cleared my throat. "Nothing's worked." I repeated as blankly as I could.

Moon seemed to understand the root of my frustration but didn't judge. "Okay."

"Moon I know we've talked a total of maybe four times over the two years we've known each other. But I need to be honest with you. We're polar opposites."

Moon laughed. "That goes without saying."

"You're of course. The town pacifist. And I'm the star of a dojo basically built for an actual war. A real relationship between us. Probably would not last. That's why. I would like. If you're willing. To have a relationship with you. That is not remotely real."

Moon blinked, saying nothing.

"One that. At the end of this summer. We'd never talk about. We'd never think about. We'd never mention in any way shape or form. Do you. Get. What I mean?"

Moon shrugged. "Think so. Why me?"

"Honestly I don't know who else to go for this. I only know. Guys. Or girls who are currently in Paris or very very mad at me and the world in general."

Moon nodded slowly. "Well let's try it."

I did a double take.

"What?"

"I honestly feel the same way about us. You're. Kinda everything around here. Karate's this huge thing now at our school. And you're basically the king of karate. If you want us to share something that's not even meaningful. Sounds fun. Doesn't sound very meaningful, but that's the point."

I was still shocked.

"But Yas. She's your best friend. Same with Sam."

"We both know we'd never try to hurt her. Like you said. This. Basically never really happened. What you're asking. What I'm wanting to try."

"But why?"

"I do like my friends a whole lot. Yes. You do know that. I also like experimenting. You're the one experiment in this town most will basically never get to try."

I took that as a very Moon kind of compliment.

I took a deep breath. "You sure then?"

"Go ahead."

I sat down next to Moon.

This girl was a very unique kind of beautiful.

She just had this. This very strange kind of pretty face and light brown hair I never saw before.

Never. Anywhere. I always knew she was hot but never said anything in case Hawk liked her but apparently. Oddly. Nothing happened.

I ran my thumb across her cheek and kissed her.

It was merely a test. I knew both of us weren't seeing anyone right now. But still.

I had kissed around three girls before today. Nothing compared to the fire in this. It wasn't a very romantic very attached kiss, but I liked this. Whatever it was.

…

In her room, I helped her take off her shawl and ran my mouth across hers. Her jaw, her neck.

Moon was breathing very slowly. Panting quietly almost.

She kissed me and then unzipped my jacket.

And then she became the first girl. No. The first person I ever let untie, let alone touch my own headband, the headband, the very same very special original black Johnny Lawrence headband I owned, was her.

Moon took it off and rested it on her nightstand.

I made out with her and Moon took my shirt off.

Moon laughed quietly, sitting on her bed as she looked up at me. "Dang. Do you ever stop working out?"

"Three to four hours a day. Every day. For the past two years as of last week."

Moon chuckled. "You said you. Wanted to relax right?"

I nodded.

"Then relax."

The touch of this girl on my bare skin. Even with the stint at the party I mostly didn't remember. Wasn't like this.

Moon kissed me and we traded places.

Shirtless I laid down on her bed and Moon kissed her way down my bare chest.

I gulped. Panting.

I heard the belt buckle holding up my jeans unclink.

For the first time in I think. A year. I happened to relax.

I was able to completely unwind and relax.

I relaxed for the first time even before the party which actually ended up having more stressful repercussions than anything. I was finally able to truly relax with Moon.

Soon I was kissing Moon's neck lightly and helping her take her shirt off.

When she sat on her bed in front of me wearing nothing more than a pair of hair ties she took off I resisted the urge to gasp.

Her skin was flawless. Tanned perfectly.

"Not a single tan line. How does that work?" I asked.

Moon smiled. "How do you think?"

The thought was. Burning in my head. Even now.

She wasn't nearly as busty as Tory. Or curvy. But I didn't care.

Moon was still incredible.

I listened to her moan before I closed my lips over hers and pressed her beneath me.

She ran her hands through my hair and groaned out within one breath. "Luke."

I bit down hard on her neck for a moment and she cried out. And we continued.

…

I was just staring blankly at the other end of Moon's bedroom from beneath the covers.

I quickly realized this was the same bedroom Sam and Moon would talk about Robby. This summer actually.

Odd how much circumstances changed. And how they didn't.

Moon panted quietly, laughing on the pillow next to me before rolling over and leaning on my shoulder.

"What's so funny?" I asked, looking at her.

"Just. This. I guess."

"Same."

We laughed together quietly.

Life honestly did get this weird sometimes.

"What the hell stressed you out?" Moon gestured towards herself and her room. "This much. This. Me. This isn't you at all. Everyone knows that."

"Mainly one thing. I don't play the part of the tough guy in town for nothing. But I felt this was the one place I could escape to after everything that's happened. And I'm sorry about that."

Moon smiled and shook her head. "Don't be."

"Yas. Sam. Tory. Hawk. All of our friends. It's-"

"You wanted to be stress free in here. At least. As much as you could be."

I nodded.

"Then just. Do it."

I leaned back on her bed. "I will."

This girl. Her smile. The warmth of her skin, how smooth it was. Her perfectly naturally flawless body. Tanned so. Incredibly well through every inch, it almost felt unreal.

I kissed Moon, even if she was a little tired and wanted to wait a bit before going again.

I just sunk it in. Drew it in. Absorbed it as much as I could. Even if I knew it wouldn't mean a thing after the end of this summer.

This was addictive. This was sweet and sugary, basically, it felt like drawing in enough red hot sugar all over. There was unfortunately no other way to describe it. It was almost like perfect caramel.

She was right. It became impossible for me to think about anything else in here but myself. And her.

…

Well after we were done. Surprisingly it lasted a good few hours between a few short breaks to eat stuff like special vegan Fruit Loops and such from her kitchen, I redressed myself in Moon's bedroom.

"Not a bad idea at all," Moon admitted putting her bra back on behind me.

"Well." I drew my jeans up from the floor and put them on. "Considering our arrangement has a single purpose. For us to both relax. There's no bigger expert on relaxing than you. Anywhere around here I think."

"Next time we could try other stuff."

"For real? Like what?"

"I didn't mean sex." Moon chuckled. "I mean like other ways to relax too." she put her underwear and a shirt back on, tying her hair back where it was in a mirror.

"Cool. As in."

Moon shrugged. "I can just kinda. Wash your hair. You can wash mine, it can sound dumb but it works. I know you can't smoke anything for your karate training. But um. I can use other kinds of hemp to rub you all down sometimes."

"Can you use like. Regular oil without any weed in it?"

"Eh. It won't be the same but yeah. Either way. We'll come up with something. For me getting high and watching the Simpsons rerun on TV is basically the best way to relax on Earth. We all have something."

I walked over to her in front of her mirror still shirtless.

"Glad you're my something. Even for this summer. In secret."

"Makes two of us."

I put my hands on her hips and kissed her on the neck and cheek again. She accepted a kiss on the mouth for a bit before lightly swatting my hands away from her hips.

"Stop." Moon opened a drawer to pick a pair of earrings and also clothes. "Sam was gonna take me to the beach club as her guest. Wanna come with me? I know you already have a membership."

"Yeah that won't raise any questions. Me showing up with you randomly."

"No, I meant not together."

"I'm good."

Moon smiled at me. Why was she always smiling? Not that I was complaining her smile was perfect. "Look. It'll be good for you guys to talk. Ease the tension between your dojos."

I couldn't lie to her. "You eased all the tension out of me for today."

Moon smiled more now and lightly swatted my chest. "Stop it."

"There's no tension left down to the last cell in my body I swear."

"I just said to quit it." she tilted her head at me and looked slightly reproachful.

I meant it in more ways than one and I made that clear with my tone. "No, I'm serious. I'm done with fighting with her. Especially after today. I'm not going."

Moon sighed. "Look we started this to help both of us. Not just you. I'm sure there are tons of girls you could casually mess around with, you're literally. The closest thing to a celebrity all of us know. I mean. You actually are one. But this is different. You know it is."

"I can be a pacifist in here with you. Outside of here though. We have to be something else. I thought we made that clear."

"We did. But I just want all of us to be friends. It can't be that hard for all of us to get along."

I chuckled, wrapping my hands around her. "I think I can get along with you."

"Yeah. Well." Moon laughed as well. "Not to brag. I'm the easiest person to get along with around. You're the exact opposite."

"Well, what's wrong with me?"

"Mr. I'm too tough to take this karate stuff as seriously as I should," Moon said. "Wear that headband around everywhere. And no red leather jacket today?"

"Do you think I want a huge bright flag around Encino saying I'm riding around to see you? Again I'm not ashamed of this at all. We just both agree it's temporary."

"Not gonna lie. For some reason, I thought you were going to insist that headband of yours needed to stay on during sex."

I laughed harder than I did all summer after that. I just kept laughing, and rolling around on Moon's bed.

"I think I will see you at the beach club. Don't wanna miss a chance to see you again."

"Same here."

I smirked. "Also don't wanna miss this in a swimsuit."

I reached out and gently held her absolutely stellar bare ass in only her panties to give it a light but noticeable pat.

Moon gasped, jaw dropped, and turned around to shove me back. "You did not just do that."

"I think I did. Hey-"

I easily blocked her very playful punches to my chest and we both laughed.

"Jerk!" she got off me.

"Feel free to get revenge on me. I'm fair about stuff-"

"Oh you bet I will! I will." Moon answered by spanking me in jeans in return.

I chuckled. "Guess I better get going before Sam starts asking questions."

Moon nodded. "Sure. See you at the beach club."

I put my shirt and jacket back on as I spoke. "Hey Moon."

She nodded. "Yeah?"

"I think this was a good idea and all. But. I'll hold you to the standard you held me today. Because. This gets more complicated by the second if we don't. And this is the simplest thing I've done in. Ages."

"I think this was great. And I'm looking forward to more? But a part of me does feel kinda guilty still. Even if you and Yas are merely talking."

I nodded. "Barely talking," I said honestly.

"Really?"

"I don't wanna get into it. I will, get going now."

Moon smiled brightly. "Bye!"

I sighed after I closed the door to Moon's bedroom.

I had to time showing up at the beach club well. So I grabbed my bicycle and headed home.

My only thoughts on everything with Moon stayed at her house. Which was the point of it, and I was satisfied with that.

…

…

…

A/N: Okay. See ya guys now and thanks for reading and reviewing.