Set It Free
Kelly Parker had never been one to regret her actions, especially when it came to her gymnastics; but there is a first for everything, right? Against Marty's pleas and well reasoning, she had insisted on switching clubs to the Rock. At the time, it had made a lot of sense, but the more she thought it over, the more she wanted to go back to the sanctuary of her trusty Denver Elite. What was she thinking? At the time, Kelly had thought that the Rock may have needed her to get back on track after Sasha left, but after she got here, Marty's words had proved themselves. The rock was a mess.
The Rock had been falling apart ever since the, oh so great, Sasha Belov had rode off into the sunset without a word to anyone. The new coach Darby made it almost impossible to get any productive work squeezed in with her ridiculous breathing exercises and meditation sessions. They were aspiring gymnasts, not bored pregnant women. Kelly opened the double doors to the Rock and almost instantly, the scent of chalk and body odor invaded her senses. She sighed and strode into the gymnasium, past the neatly organized -curtsey of the over religious preach master lady Summer- lobby.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she heard the squeaking of the uneven bars from the other side of the gym. She could see a gymnast swing from the high bar to the low bar, almost missing it.
Wow, someone's not focused.
The gymnast circled the bar once before twisting her body once and throwing herself back to the high bar, except this time she was eating the cold hard mats, which looked as if they hadn't been washed in ages. She smacked the mat and cursed. For a moment, Kelly was going to go help her up, until she saw who it was.
Payson Keeler.
What was Payson doing landing face first on the mats like some uncoordinated elite? She watched as Payson lifted herself onto her knees for support and let out a sob. Was she hurt? Should she go help her? Payson slowly crawled to the end of the bars and picked up a discarded cellphone. She snapped it up and dialed a number, pressing it her ear so hard it started losing it's color. When it seemed nobody picked up, she dropped her head and let out another sob, before leaving a message.
"Where are you? I know this is like my hundredth message, but I'm not going to stop calling till you stop avoiding me. You can't hide forever you know. I will find you and I will bring you back to me." Kelly gawked. Did little miss perfect have a boyfriend? And were they in a fight? For a minute her heart jumped for joy. This was great in a way. One way to destroy competition right? But soon the happiness was accompanied by a sadness. Payson really sounded upset, and Kelly had half a mind of going over to comfort her, but instead she stood her ground and listened into the conversation.
"I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Without you, nothing's clear to me. You are the reason this came to me. You inspired me. You are the reason I could do this. Why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong?" A small cry escaped her lips. Kelly cooed at the girl sitting on the mats. Payson had always been so strong. She always thought she was one of those kids who had never cried in her life. Even at National's when Payson broke her back, there wasn't a single tear shed on her part. While everybody around her was crushed at the tragedy, the girl with the actual crushed spine had remained calm and in control for the sake of everybody around her. Kelly shook her head and continued to listen in.
"I can't do this without you. You promised me that we would do it together, get to the Olympics. Why would you abandon me like this? You were so important in my life. I trusted you with my life. I trusted you with everything I had, how could you leave me? I trusted you in a way no normal person ever could." she paused and sniffled, "I loved you in a way no normal person ever would." she wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up straight, "Call me back. I deserve at least that much. Bye Sasha." she snapped the phone shut and stood up, taking deep breaths, trying to calm down. Clearly it didn't work because within ten seconds of that ridiculousness she chucked the phone at the padded wall and collapsed to the ground. After much debating, Kelly slowly made her way towards the seemingly broken Payson. She picked up the abused cellphone and knelt down beside her.
"I think you dropped this Keeler," said Kelly, her voice quiet so she wouldn't startle her. Payson's head snapped up and her eyes looked as flustered as a deer in headlights.
"Umm, Kelly whatever you heard...it's nothing. I was just calling...my mom." Kelly rolled her eyes. Payson quickly wiped away any tears, straightened her posture and fixed her hair, attempting to erase any evidence that she was in a moment of weakness.
"Keeler... Payson, I don't mean to pry, but do you love him?" Payson turned towards the door, as if trying to calculate how much time it would take to run away and save her the trouble of answering the particular question. Eventually, she settled upon the expected answer.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, crossing her arms across her chest. How stupid did she really think Kelly was?
"You really don't give me credit for anything do you? Anyone with eyes can see that you and Sasha are like la dee da text book love. Plus you just called and told him that you loved him. How stupid do you think I am? I may be a bitch but I'm not dumb… or deaf." Payson swallowed harshly and dropped her gaze to the floor, slightly pinching the skin of her thigh with her blunt finger nails till it turned red.
"What are you going to do? Go tell the rest of the world that I'm in love with my coach?" she spat, trying to cut to the chase of their conversation. This would have been the time the old Kelly would have asked for something in return for keeping her secret or offered a threat to tell the press about a suppressed affair. She couldn't lie and say the thought hadn't crossed her mind more than a few times. That's another way to knock down competition. Sabotage. But this felt different. Kelly knew what it felt like to be abandoned by the guy she loved.
"Payson, I know what it feels like to be in love with a guy. Is this why he left? Did you two have a fight or something like that?" she asked, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. Payson shook her head.
"He left because of all of us. He left because he couldn't protect us from what all happened. He couldn't protect Lauren from her mommy issues, he couldn't protect Kaylie from herself restricting eating disorder, he couldn't protect Emily from freaking jail; so he convinced himself it was all his fault and he rode off into the sunset." A tear escaped the corner of her eye, but she wiped it off before Kelly could see.
"And you're blaming yourself why?"
"Because I think I'm in love with him..." her voice trailed off. Kelly rolled her eyes.
"Keeler, I could have told you that. Again, anyone with eyes can see that. And he loves you too. Have you seen the way he looks at you? I mean he freaking crashed World Trials just to have them see the potential you had. He loves you too. What does that have to do with him leaving?"
"He does not. If he had, he would have talked to me about this. He would have said goodbye before leaving. He would have said something! But no, he left. He left me. He left the team. He left the Rock. He left everything. What this has to do with him leaving, I don't know." They remained quiet.
"I once loved this guy who trained at Denver Elite, Daniel Stone. You heard of him?" Payson nodded.
"Yeah, he beat out Nicky on rings right?" Kelly nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, I loved him so much. And I believed he loved me too. Once Marty caught us making out in the boys locker room," Payson snorted.
"Well that's about the dumbest thing to do, why the hell would you make out while in the gym? I thought you were smarter than that Parker," Payson said pointedly, clearly trying to veer the topic to something else. Kelly rolled her eyes.
"Okay first of all it was his idea, and second of all, I didn't think Marty would walk in on us. Now, listen to my story." Payson nodded for her to continue, "So, I thought I loved this guy and the first chance he got, he blamed me and I got in a hell of a lot of trouble."
"I don't mean to interrupt Kelly, but where is this story going?"
"What I'm saying is, Sasha might have left for a lot of reasons, but the one thing that kept him going was protecting you. He kept burning rubber till he got to wherever he is because he kept reminding himself that he was doing it for you. Think about it, he was practically causing gossip by staying here. He left for you." Payson shook her head, immediately denying Kelly's declaration.
"He doesn't love me. He did this for everyone else too."
"Payson, the man was the only person who believed in you when nobody else did. When you kissed him, he was practically fine with it, except the almost ruining his career thing, but even then he continued working with you privately and because of what? A promise? He left because he didn't want to hurt you or your career. Think about it Keeler."
"Okay so your point is he left because of me. Like that's any better."
"No, my point is, he left because he loves you. He doesn't want to hurt you. That's what real love is all about." Payson slowly nodded and the corner of her lips twitched up.
"Why are you helping me? I thought we hated each other?" Kelly sighed. Deep down she knew she never hated Payson, she envied her. Every international competition, Payson and Kelly might have been neck to neck in competition, and she might have won most of their battles, but Payson had something she didn't. She had friends and a team who had her through every battle whether she won or not. She was surrounded by people she loved, and all Kelly had at the end of the day was a gold medal and loneliness. All she needed was a friend, and maybe this was it.
"Maybe I'm not as evil as you though I was. Look Payson, I've never had friends. My parents say they aren't for support, but for hindrance. You and I, we're alike in so many ways, and I don't see how being friends would be a bad thing."
"So...you won't tell anyone about today?" Kelly shook her head. They were both silent, trying to absorb what had just happened.
"Does it ever stop hurting?" Payson asked quietly. Kelly tilted her head in confusion. "Did it ever stop hurting after what happened with Daniel?" she asked, clarifying her statement. Kelly sighed. After a while she had stopped thinking about it all together, and this was just a trip down memory lane; talking about him.
"Well Keeler, if you love something set it free,"
"and if it comes back it's meant to be. Yeah it's a famous saying." Kelly shook her head.
"No, I so don't do rhymes. I was going to say if it doesn't come back then leave it alone and grab a burger." Payson snorted.
"Of course you were going to say that."
"Payson, what I'm saying is he loves you, and he will come back for you or at least try to contact you or-or something like that."
"And if he doesn't I should grab a burger?"
"You're catching on fast Keeler, I knew it was a good idea we be friends!" They both shared a smile. The phone buzzed in Kelly's hand, breaking the silence. Kelly glanced at the caller and smiled, handing it to Payson.
"Now we won't need to get you a burger. I told you he would call." Payson's eyes went as wide as golf balls and her smile widened, as she grabbed the phone out of her new friend's hand and snapped it open.
"Hello? Hi Sasha. Yeah, I get why you left. It's okay. Yeah, I meant every word of it." Payson looked up into Kelly's eyes and offered her a genuine smile. Not the snarky ones they usually shared during competitions when there was one event left and it was do or die time. She mouthed a thank you and wrapped her free arm around Kelly. For once, Kelly hugged her back with no regret.
She stood up and sashayed towards the locker room, giving Payson a little privacy. For the first time in her life, Kelly felt like she did something right. She could have done horrible things with knowing that Payson loved her coach, but it felt good knowing that she didn't. For once, Kelly Parker gained more than just an upper hand on her competition. She gained a friend.
That was worth more than anything a gold medal could ever bring her.
A/N So, I know if you're following my other story Champion from Ashes you noticed my chapters have gotten smaller and smaller. I completely apologize! I've been super busy and I know that's a horrible excuse, but that's all I've got. I wrote this one shot to get to write something a little more than just Payson and Sasha, not that it didn't make it's way in here. I promise I'll start writing chapters with something actually in it soon, and if you haven't read it, then please try it out and tell me if you like! :)
Anyways, I also wrote this 'cause I'm totally in love with Kelly and Payson's friendship. I think they would be great friends if they actually tried to get passed the whole 'I'm going to cream you in the competition' phase. Oh of course they would bond over some Payson and Sasha love. I was going to try something else, but I couldn't help myself by putting some of that in there. Well, tell me if you like! Please R&R :) It'll make me happy!