When The World Comes Down
This is dedicated to Helen who, with a single review, caused me to stop doing my homework and write this instead. Its another Sasha/Summer OneShot, this time about what happens when Summers happy world comes crashing down.
Summer was running. Running from the people she thought that she loved and the feelings she thought that she had for them. She had been putting one of Steve's shirts away when she opened the drawer and found it, a small CD. She wasn't usually one to pry but something deep within her told her to watch this video, so she did. What she saw on that video shocked her; it was the training video from when Payson kissed Sasha. She sat there on the Tanners couch for what had seemed like hours until Steve and Lauren came home and found her.
She had confronted them on the disk and she couldn't believe them when they told her. Lauren had stolen the CD and emailed it to ElenBeales, but worst of all was that Steve knew about it. They had promised not to lie to each other and he had promised to kick whoever sent that video out of the Rock. Deep down she understood him, Lauren was his only daughter, he was bound to stick up for her. But he had also promised her, his fiancée, that there would be a punishment for whoever did that to Sasha. He lied directly to her, so she returned his ring, got in her car and left. She had hated to see Laurens body wracked with sobs and crying out to her though her rear- view mirror but she knew that if she turned around that she would never change. So Summer kept running.
She drove until dark just listening to the radio and thinking everything over when she heard a ding from the car telling her that something was wrong. She pulled over to look at her dash and saw that she was out of gas. The perfect ending to a horrible night. It was then that Summer lost it and just broke down. She cried into her steering wheel asking God why the man she had loved had lied to her. She was in the middle of her prayer when there was a soft knock on her window. She looked up, startled, and saw Sasha looking worriedly at her in the evening dusk.
His sweatpants and white tank top told her that he had obviously been out running, and from the looks of it for a very long time. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and rolled down her window.
"Is everything alright?" he asked her and she realized how much she had missed his voice since they stopped talking after her engagement.
"Yeah, I just ran out of gas," she said attempting to sound like her cheerful self.
"I wasn't talking about your car, I was talking about these tears," he said and wiped a stray tear off of her cheek with a careful hand. She should have known that she wouldn't be able to fool him.
"No, but I can't talk about it right now" was all she could say before bursting into tears again. Sasha quickly opened her door and hugged her, letting her cry into his chest. She stayed like that for a while, crying and breathing in his scent. He smelled like a gym she realized, but it wasn't a bad smell, it was hard work, and chalk and mats and… it was Sasha. She never realized how much she missed this before right now.
"Feel better?" he asked and she realized that she had stopped crying. She meekly nodded and he took a step back, his comfortingscent fading, "Come on, I've got a tank of gas home, you can wait there while I fill up your car and bring it to you."
"But isn't the Rock far away?"
"We're right around the corner from it," he said with his usual shy grin that made her heart skip, "Come on, I'll walk with you and hurry back."
They walked to the Rock in an awkward silence, each of them not knowing what to say to the other. As Sasha had said they were right around the corner from the Rock and arrived in no time. He opened the door to his home and let her inside.
"You can wait here, I'll go fill up your car and drive it back."
"Here," she said and handed him her keys. He took them and walked away without another word. She looked around the small room and saw that he kept it fairly neat. She wandered over to the table and sat down awkwardly. The last time that she had been in here was when Payson walked in on their dinner. She cringed a little as she remembered everything that had happened since then and wondered if Sasha hated her. She had followed the girls to meet him, then when he came back avoided him because things were too awkward and then she announced that she was going to marry Steve. That would be grounds for anyone to hate her. She looked around the room trying to hold back the oncoming tears and spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Under an old newspaper was a book, Unlocking Christianity. He had kept it.
She slowly picked up the book, wondering if he kept it because of her or if he just hadn't had the time to throw it away. As she lifted up the book a newspaper clipping fell out of the cover. She picked it up and saw that it was her engagement write up from the paper. It had been ripped in half and then shabbily taped back together. She looked at it and wondered if that ever could have been her and Sasha instead. She looked at the photo of her and Steve and for a second, thought that she saw Sasha's face grinning back; but she blinked and it was gone. She heard her car pull in and hastily put everything back where it had been before going out to thank Sasha.
"So, you should have enough gas to get you to a station now," he said getting out of the car and held out her keys. She slowly took them and couldn't deny the spark she felt when their fingers touched.
She tried to bury her feelings deep within her but something always brought them back up. She told herself that it could never work, they didn't have the same ideals, but then she remembered the book and how he had been trying to change. For her. She knew it would never happen though, like with what happened with Emily; she could never support his beliefs like that. So then why did she feel herself blushing under his blue eyed gaze. She moved to get in her car with a simple 'thank you' when he started to talk again.
"You know, the gym hasn't been the same since you left. I- um, the girls really miss you. It broke their heart when you quit."
"Well, some of the girls didn't believe in what I believe and it's hard to be with someone constantly when you can't agree on some of your fundamental feelings."
"Well, you know, nothings permanent. The- the girls are always open for something new and, they're trying to understand better."
"I know they are but some things can never change."
"Why not? Everything is always changing, nothing ever stays the same. Like, like me for example," Sasha said and Summer looked at him curiously, "I started going to church."
"You did?" she asked and felt a little glow in her heart.
"Yeah, but, I hate to go alone so if you know anyone who has recently stopped wearing a wedding ring, goes to church regularly and feels like they could give an ex a second chance, tell her to take as long as she needs and that I'll always be waiting right here if the time is ever right."
"I'll be sure to pass the message along if I meet anyone like that," she said and got into her car.
"It was good to talk to you again Summer," he said closing her door for her.
"You too Sasha," she said and slowly drove off.
Maybe Sasha was right, maybe things do change and maybe they have their own reasons for doing so. God does have a master plan for everyone after all. So Summer drove home with a smile on her face and a flutter in her heart, wondering when the time would be right.
Well, I hope that you liked it. As always, reviews are love.
*As for the article in the book; in my mind Sasha ripped it up in anger and then taped it back together knowing that he had no right to feel that way after everything that he did to Summer. Also, of course in my mind Summer takes him back and they all live happily ever after. Like I said in the last story: hopeless romantic.
