CHAPTER 28

It was official. Johnny and Carmen were engaged. That night, Johnny finally popped the question and of course, Carmen said yes. She was over the moon, so much so that she had already begun planning their wedding. Life couldn't be better for the Lawrences, for the Diazes, for all of Miyagi-Do in the Valley. It was like they were floating on a cloud, and nothing could bring them down…

Across the Valley, there was another couple who were also on a serious high, one that was considerably younger than Johnny and Carmen. Marcos and Sarah had been dating for the past month, and things were greater than ever. Between school, Cobra Kai training, socializing with their friends and going on dates, the couple spent almost every waking minute with one another, going their separate ways only at the end of the night to sleep, and then meeting up immediately the next morning. The most incredible part… even with all the time they currently spent together, they still wanted more, they missed each other during the few moments they spent apart. Whether it be doing schoolwork, or listening to Kyler babble on about sneakers, even the most tedious of tasks suddenly became enjoyable when they were doing them together. They never ran out of conversation, never ran out of things to do, because they could've done or talked about anything under the sun and as long as it was with each other, they both had a blast.

Meanwhile, training was going just as well as their personal relationship. Training together was always a highlight of their day, as although Marcos was definitely the better fighter, Sarah was no slouch herself. She didn't take Cobra Kai as serious as he did, as there was a lot more riding on the Taikai for Marcos than for her, but that didn't mean that she didn't give every ounce of effort and energy she had every time she stepped on the mat, hungry to improve.

Not only did Marcos train with Sarah and the rest of the group for a strenuous two hours a day, but he also pushed himself further and trained before and after by himself. He was a menace, a workhorse, desperate to make even minimal strides. Because he knew that the difference between first and second would almost definitely be that fine a margain, and the difference between him getting a professional fighting contract and not, even smaller. He was obsessed with the sport, and that was reflected in the way he trained. Not only did he work technically to improve his fighting ability, but he also took advantage of Silver's state-of-the-art dojo to improve physically. He pushed himself to the limits every day, ate and drank a regimented diet, and he even used the dojo's ice baths to help muscle recovery. Training wasn't done there either. There was still an education aspect to the game. Him and Kreese spent a couple of hours a week in front of the computer, analyzing hundreds of video clips of past Karate fights. He learned all about the intricacies of the sport - a sport he hadn't officially practiced until this month. He learned what to do, what not to do. Him and Kreese even analyzed footage from the last two All-Valley tournaments and Silver's CCTV footage from the massive fight in the dojo so he had some clue as to how his opponents fought and how he could counter them. All of this was spectacular, better than he could've ever dreamed. It almost gave Marcos a sliver of what life could be like as a professional fighter, and he was soaking up every second of it.

But he wasn't a professional fighter. Not yet at least. Which meant that he still had other things occupying his time other than fighting, one of them being schoolwork and learning how to read, which were actually going really well, courtesy of his incredible girlfriend.

"Any way the w-wind blows."

As Marcos sat on Sarah's bed and finished reading the lyrics of the iconic Queen song, almost immediately when he was done, he was engulfed by his girlfriend, who lunged at him as soon as he had finished and practically dived on top of him, hugging and kissing him profusely in celebration.

"YOU DID IT!" She exclaimed excitedly. A triumphant smile appeared on Marcos' face too. He had done it! A 6 minute song, 333 words, and Marcos had read it almost perfectly. His reading skills had come leaps and bounds in the past month. Him and Sarah had found the most efficient method for him: simply trying to read from novels or textbooks made Marcos bored and frustrated extremely easily. So instead, they had found the idea on the internet to use song lyrics and movie scripts to help him learn. It actually worked really well. Marcos became familiar with all of the more common words of the language, and those he didn't know he could spell out phonetically. He was unrecognizable from a month ago when he started, and he had only one person to thank for that.

"Thank you. Seriously. Thank you." Marcos murmured, rolling his girlfriend so it was her lying on her back on her bed, and him kissing her. Spending time with Sarah alleviated any stress he had about the Taikai, about his life. She had a miraculous way of immediately making all of his troubles disappear whenever she so much as looked at him. With her, he wasn't encumbered by burdens. He could be who he truly was. They both could be.

"Come on! That was all you!" Sarah replied, but Marcos shook his head, sitting up slightly on Sarah's bed.

"No, seriously. You're incredible. I couldn't have done this without you. Thank you, Sarah." Marcos said. Sarah didn't reply, but her beaming smile spoke plenty. She grabbed Marcos by the scruff of his hoodie and pulled him back down. The pair made out for several moments, before all of a sudden, they were interrupted by the sound of something knocking against the ceiling directly below them. They didn't need to see it to know what it was. It was most definitely Sarah's mom or dad, knocking on the ceiling to tell them to stop what they were doing, or what they were about to do.

Marcos had become very familiar with Sarah's mom and dad over the past month. They were initially suspicious of him, knowing that he was a large reason that Sarah wanted to transfer from a private to public school and all but abandon her old, classy life. However, when they had seen just how happy their daughter was, just how happy he made her, he had been welcomed into the family with open arms. Mr. and Mrs. Gledhill were warm, they were caring. And they clearly loved their daughter more than anything in the world, which meant that they were extremely fond of him too. With how much time Marcos spent with their daughter, it wasn't abnormal for him to stick around their place for meals, watch movies with them and have long discussions with them.

But nice as Sarah's parents were, there were still limits. And according to Sarah's father, that limit was 'you don't have sex.' Sarah's mother, being a bit more realistic, told them 'you always wear protection, and not while we're in the house.' Well, Sarah's parents were home from work pretty early every day, which is why most of the time they were intimate together, they were at Marcos' place, as his father worked a lot later. This time though, it was a Saturday afternoon, so neither realized that Sarah's parents were already home until they knocked on the ceiling. Probably just as well too, as the pair were about to go further, and if Sarah's parents had interrupted them then, it would probably be a lot less pleasant for all parties involved.

"You know they were here?" Marcos asked. Sarah shook her head as she groaned and reluctantly sat up in her bed.

"Mom said they were meeting friends and were going out for lunch afterwards. They shouldn't be back this early." Sarah grumbled. "Your house?"

It was Marcos' turn to shake his head.

"No good. My dad finally got approved for an off-day so he's there." Marcos replied. Sarah's face lit up.

"Perfect! I can finally meet him then!" She exclaimed. The biggest, the only, dark spot in their relationship in Sarah's eyes. Although Sarah's parents loved Marcos so much he was practically a second child to them, Marcos was still yet to introduce her to his dad. She understood that the man was often at work, but she also knew for a fact that there were times that she had dropped Marcos home after a day and his father was already home, and yet Marcos had never invited her in to meet him. She really wanted to meet him too, as from the little Marcos talked about him, Sarah could gather that he was indeed a large part of Marcos' life. But it was like he didn't want her to meet him. Sure enough…

"Oh, uh… that's probably not the best idea. My dad likes his time off to be completely uninterrupted. He said that if he even hears me breathing loudly in the apartment today, he'll scalp me. Doubt he'll be thrilled with having a guest."

Sarah nodded, trying to keep the disappointment off her face. It stung. It definitely stung. Marcos was far and away the best part of her life right now. Every day with him was a roller coaster, one that she thanked God every day that she got to be a part of. She had been so eager for him to meet her parents, for him to become an even bigger and more important part of her life. In fact, they might have only been dating for around a month, but Sarah was almost certain that she felt… 'the L word' about him already. Being with him was like nothing she had ever felt before. The feeling she got when he even so much as smiled at her was like liquid gold trickling from her head to her toes. Every kiss was like it had come directly from heaven itself. She woke up every morning with a massive smile on her face, having spent the whole night dreaming about him. It really hurt that Marcos didn't feel the same way, although she did a fairly decent job of not showing it. Was he ashamed of her? Why else wouldn't he want her anywhere near his dad?

Little did she know that he wasn't ashamed. And it wasn't that he didn't care about her like she cared about him. If anything, it was the exact opposite. He cared about her so much; it was his father he was worried about. His father wasn't like normal people. He was extremely quiet, a recluse almost. But more than that, when he did speak, the things he said weren't always the nicest. Sarah had grown up in a world where she had almost everything she wanted, where people treated others with the utmost courtesy and diplomacy, even among those they did like. Marcos and his father's world was the exact opposite. Marcos' dad had had to fight for every inch of what was his and it had rubbed off on his personality, especially after his wife's death. He wasn't sensitive to other people at all, and every second sentence was an insult, no matter who he was talking to. Marcos had known him long enough to not take it personally, but he was scared that if Sarah met him and saw that person, it would change the way she felt about him.

"Fine." Sarah murmured, looking down for a moment so Marcos couldn't see her disappointment. "Well then do you want to go out somewhere?"

"Sure, where have you got in mind?" Marcos asked. Their dates had all been so unique. They hadn't just been dinner and a movie. That might've been part of it, but their night wasn't complete until they had done something crazy, stupid or both. Not today though. Today, Sarah had something different in mind for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

"How would you feel about the beach?" She asked. Marcos smiled and nodded.

"Sure, that sounds great." He replied. "You wanna go to that secret spot we found at the edge of the coast? Maybe have a picnic?"

Sarah shook her head.

"I actually had something else in mind." She responded. "So my family have memberships to the beach club. Free food and drinks. Right on the water. Chill people there. Many deckchairs and cabanas to relax in."

"You had me at free food." Marcos replied, eliciting a quiet laugh from Sarah. "What are we waiting for? Let's get going!"