Title: Ocean
Disclaimer: I own nothing, obviously, because if I did then MIOBI would not suffer because the actors/actresses have such open contracts and so we only see certain characters every four episodes or so.
Rules of the Payson-Nicky-Forever's Challenge:
1) The two of us are going through the alphabet writing stories using a word that begins with each letter.
2) We both started with 'A', but now alternate. She does 'B' next and I do 'C' and on and on.
3) We get to pick each other's word.
4) All stories have to be at least 500 words in length.
5) We have five days after the other author posts to post the next one.
6) My stories will always be Kaylie/Nicky and hers will always be Payson/Nicky
Once the contest is over, we're going to each put up a poll on our profiles asking people to vote for their favorite story in the contest.
Ocean
Spending so many days and nights in the hospital, Kaylie has had time to do some thinking.
For one, her suffering is justified in her eyes.
Kaylie cries and says she knows it was a mistake, but in the end it did get her point across. She did possibly give up her gymnastics career to improve her family life. Starting with that dumb floor routine showcase to that stupid remix and now this. Her parents are together, cooperating, turning to each other for comfort. She has Austin Tucker lovingly at her side; holding her hand, telling her it will all work out. However, being the girl that has everything, but always needs more, Kaylie can't help, but feel like something is missing.
It doesn't hit her until the day he comes walking into her hospital room the day before she can officially go home. As much as she appreciates everyone fawning over her and hates that she's missing out on all the gymnastics happenings, she realizes that something she's been missing is actually someone.
"Nicky!" Kaylie fails to keep the anxious tremor out of her voice and she notices and she doesn't even care.
He's standing there in the doorway in a navy hoodie and Kaylie tries not to react at the big, white letter spelling out "Denver" across his chest. He looks at her and grins and it makes her breathe a little sigh. He doesn't look at her like she's a patient in a hospital. He doesn't look at her like a poor malnourished girl in a PSA on anorexia. He just stands there with that crooked smile that makes her feel like she's living in a memory and not the ruins that is the present.
"Hey…hi," he says. His voice is a low and sexy yet nervous and awkward all at the same time. Nicky almost resembles a deer in headlights, innocent and unsure. It reminds Kaylie of that photo shoot they did, the rapid camera flashes, the photographer telling him to turn his shoulder towards the camera and Nicky looking lost. "You're awake and alone for once."
Kaylie smiles weakly. "Looks like it's someone's lucky day."
"Yeah, all the other times you came by, you were always asleep. Either that or, um, Austin Tucker was in here like a guard dog," Nicky explains. "I, um, brought you the tulips…and I see they've been swallowed alive by all the other flowers delivered from your loving fans."
Looking to her left, Kaylie sees the bedside table that's become somewhat of a shrine, filled with flowers, balloons and cards wishing her well. She can barely make out the cup shaped flowers, but regardless, she knows they're there and she's flattered.
"So you gave up on flowers and brought a card this time?" Kaylie asks. She eyes Nicky's fidgeting fingers, crossed at the wrists, holding a simple white envelope.
"What did you expect, Princess? Crown jewels?"
Princess. Just hearing him call her that, how good it sounds on his lips, laced with concern and nervous jesting opposed to the past hostility they shared for one another, changes things. That moment is when realization finally hits her. He isn't just an almost lover android boy. He came back to Boulder for her. He's her Nicky.
"So are you going to come and give me a hug or just stand there, looking pretty?" Kaylie asks playfully. She carefully leans back into her bed, slowly inhaling and exhaling through her nose, trying to keep as collected as possible.
"Well, that is what I do best, isn't it?" Nicky asks with that goofy grin. "I think it was you who said I look like I bash my groin on the pummel horse when I get too close to you."
"Well, a lot has changed since then," Kaylie says, letting her voice trail off.
She carefully shifts in bed, making room as Nicky comes to sit beside her. The second he's at her side, Kaylie wraps her thin arms around his neck. She prays that he can feel how dearly she's missed him through this hug because not giving him a shot is at the top of a list of regrets she's accumulated during these past few months. As cliché as it probably sounds, with his strong arms around her small frame, Kaylie feels at ease yet on fire all at the same time.
Kaylie can't help, but feel like Nicky's arrival is distracting her from her cliché fairytale path, the good girl and the bad boy with a heart. It's all confirmed when, from over Nicky's shoulder, she sees the tall, dark-haired young man in a leather jacket by the door. Kaylie can't bring her eyes to completely match Austin's, but she does try to read his face. If he's anywhere near angry or disappointed, he doesn't let it show on his face. Not one bit.
As she watches Austin walk away, Kaylie doesn't feel guilty. It doesn't feel like a betrayal. She's never been good with words around Austin. Kaylie either deflected everything or outwardly went along with whatever he said even when she knew it was lies inside. Kaylie just finally gave him the answer he's been trying to illicit from her and showed Austin her true feelings for the first time in the last month they've been dancing around each other.
It's Nicky. It's always been Nicky.
Kaylie can only hope Austin understands. It's undeniable, seeing Austin walk away doesn't hurt nearly as much as she had thought it would, as much as it hurt her to drive away from Nicky Russo that Valentine's Day.
"Kaylie, everything alright?" Nicky asks. "You are aware that you're still hugging me, right?"
"I was just waiting," Kaylie laughs nervously, giving him one last squeeze before pulling away. "Aren't you supposed to whisper encouraging things into my ear or something, tell me everything is going to be okay and all that?"
"Right," Nicky says. He isn't afraid to let his uncertainty shine through his voice. "So in this scripted hospital scene I tell you everything will be okay and then you tell me that you're the National Champion and you're fine."
"I'm that predictable, huh?"
"Hate to break it to you, but you kinda are," he winces playfully. "I figure you get enough coddling by everyone else. And to tell you the truth I'm not sure everything is going to be okay, Kaylie. Just FYI on top of everything that's gone down lately, Kelly Parker is trying to petition onto the Worlds team and she's pretty fired up."
"Just what I needed." Kaylie groans. "You just had to ruin our fairytale reunion, huh?"
"Just thought I'd give you a heads up. A dose of reality always does us good. It's the reason we're even…" Now it's Nicky's turn to let his voice trail off. As clean-cut as their ending seemed, this moment right now feels more open-ended than anything. "Heh. Plus, we've never really been a fairytale. We've never been those people."
"True. I kinda like that," she admits. The way he looks at her in that moment, Kaylie can't exactly name what she sees, but it makes her briefly look away and she wouldn't be surprised if he points out that she's blushing. "I, um, thank you…for visiting, Nicky. It really means a lot to me."
Without thinking about it, without thinking about anything at all, Kaylie leans in and kisses his cheek. What Kaylie doesn't anticipate is the way, instead of trading coy smiles; Nicky claims her lips in a kiss that's shy and fleeting. Something strange yet wonderful pools inside of her. It feels like a completely different type of falling and this time it isn't Austin catching her. She knows she's grinning like an idiot as she leans her head against his broad shoulder.
"So do I get to see the card?" Kaylie asks, pursing her lips.
"Knock yourself out."
Shifting closer, Nicky slides one arm to rest comfortably around her shoulders and hands her the envelope. Kaylie slowly slides her finger beneath the flap, breaking the seal. She slowly removes the card and looks at the front. It's the picture of a beach and the sun setting in the distance. It captures that one perfect moment that only lasts a few seconds, right before the sun disappears and the sky is an almost magical blend of yellows, oranges and pinks.
"This is sweet," she says, reading the little message he wrote inside. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," he whispers hoarsely.
"God, who do I have to kill for a beach day?" Kaylie asks. She lets her fingers trail down the glassy front of the card, almost able to taste the salty sea air and feel the sunrays on her skin. "Mmm, lying in the sand, under the sun and listening to the ocean. Sounds perfect."
"You know, I've never been to the beach…"
"Nicky, that's so not funny," Kaylie tells him. "It's kinda sad."
"I'm not kidding," he argues. "I mean, I've taken trips over the ocean and seen it from the airplane window, but I've never lied in the sand, under the sun or listened to the ocean."
"Oh my gosh, you poor thing," Kaylie coos. She leans in to him and looks up, cradling his face with her hand. "I'm so taking you one day."
"Hmm, did you know that Boulder is only a little over a thousand miles from Los Angeles?" Nicky asks. Kaylie can't help, but eye his hands, expecting to see his iPhone out and Google open, but no such luck. "The driving time is about…fifteen or sixteen hours, give or take and the beach can't be too far from there, maybe another half hour or so."
Kaylie just stares up at him. "You really are like a human encyclopedia."
"I prefer well-informed," he says, holding her tight. "So is it a date?"
"A road trip to LA after the Olympics?" Kaylie clarifies. "Yeah, it's a date."
…
The road to 2012 isn't an easy one and their relationship isn't any exception. Commuting between Boulder and Denver isn't easy especially when they're both not supposed to be dating and not to mention their gyms hate each other. Kaylie has her suspicions about Nicky hanging out with Kelly Parker daily and the feeling only intensifies every time she has to defend her friendship with Austin.
The one time they break up Kaylie does run to Austin because she's weak and Austin doesn't live approximately thirty miles away and lets Kelly Parker answer his phone. She cries on Austin's shoulder and they get together way too quickly and it doesn't last long.
Austin Tucker is many things, but disillusioned isn't one of them. He may have been terribly infatuated with her at one point, but he knows when he's being used and he's too much of a bigger man to stay in a relationship going nowhere. Kaylie may not be able to move on, but he can't wait for her to get over Nicky because everyone (except Kaylie) knows it's never going to happen.
Kaylie does what she does best. She turns her emotional turmoil into fuel in the battle that is gymnastics. To be the National Champion and then battle anorexia and go through all that counseling and treatment to not make it to the Olympics is simply not acceptable. She stays focused and down to earth, but Kaylie does keep his get well soon card under her pillow and looks at it after particularly hard days before she goes to sleep.
At the Olympics, they exchange a brief good luck and that's that.
It isn't until a year after they've both embraced retirement that fate thrusts them together yet again. Kaylie spots him across a crowded stadium, one side predominantly yellow and blue while the other side is packed yellow and maroon. Kaylie Cruz is a UCLA freshman and Nicky Russo is a USC freshman. It seems they have a knack for finding themselves opposite each other in raging rivalries. After the game, he calls her over and her friends boo her and she rolls her eyes as she goes to greet him.
Somehow they always seem to gravitate towards each other and things are easy in a tense situation just as it had been that day in the hospital. All he has to do is yank off his USC hoodie and toss it away, grin that lovable grin of his and say, "So, Princess, you still owe me that beach date."
At that point, Kaylie feels her world shift yet again. Life has led her back to Nicky Russo and now that they're older and more settled, she really does believe things are finally right for them.
"So here we are."
It's four years later and hours after his commencement. Hers is the following month.
"Yup. Here we are. Did you bring it this time?"
"Right here in my purse."
Kaylie holds up that get well soon card that she admittedly kept all these years. Nicky stands behind her with his arms wrapped around her shoulders, gently hanging on. They both look from the front of the card to the beach in front of them. The sun isn't in the right place and the sky isn't the right color, but this moment couldn't be any more perfect.
"Would you go crazy hormonal offended chick if I told you that I find it amazing we've made it this far?" Nicky asks, more careless than cautious. She's already exploded at him enough and he's chased after her every time. Nicky would do it a million times over if it means keeping her in his life.
"Hmm," Kaylie murmurs, pretending to be actually thinking about the question. Laughing softly, Nicky already knows the answer. "Surprisingly, no, because it's kinda true, but I am so burying you in the sand for actually saying it."
"Ha, I think I can take that," Nicky says, kissing the top of her head.
"So is this everything you thought it'd be?" Kaylie asks.
"Yeah," he says softly. "Yeah, it is."
Kaylie leans back into Nicky's still firm chest and angles her head so she can look up at his face. When she realizes that he's looking at her, such tenderness in his chocolate eyes, Kaylie chokes up a little. After all these years he can still get those butterflies fluttering when he looks at her like that.
"Nicky, you aren't even looking at the ocean," she feels compelled to point out.
"Why would I look at the ocean when I could look at you?" he asks smoothly.
"Oh crap."
"Hey! Watch the language," he playfully scolds. Laughing, Nicky pulls her close. "What is it?"
"Especially with that last adorably cheesy line of yours, one among many, I feel the need to point out, I think we're turning into those people because this feels a hell of a lot like a fairytale ending."
"Well, it only seems suiting. You've always been a princess." Nicky places his hand on Kaylie's slightly protruding belly, hoping to make this presence known to the growing child inside.
"Okay, I might have to go all crazy hormonal offended chick on you for saying that."
"Yeah, and I wouldn't want it any other way."
Fini
Author's note: I tried to keep the hospital scene light on purpose because I'm working on this other oneshot that's super dark and I needed to write something less depressing. I have this newfound disease where I can't write anything MIOBI without mentioning Kelly Parker and implied or full on Nickelly-BFFness. How amazing is the mental image of Kaylie asking Lauren to be godmother and Nicky asking Kelly and the two finding out and causing a scene at the baby's baptismal? lol What great role models.
Anyways, if you're starting to feel that tickle in your throat from Nickellyidis I say read and review P-N-F's fic, Love and Gymnastics. Heavy on the Nickelly, but so good and different and I did help brainstorm that fic and am proud so check it out. I love that ship, but rest assure, readers, Kaylicky is my OTP for sure.
P-N-F: P is for pool (in whatever sense of the word you want)
Also check out my latest joint-fic with Creatively Licensed B! It's a Make it or Break it version of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and it's under the penname Creative Dummy! Thanks guys! I really appreciate every single one of my readers and reviewers!