Alright, so, this isn't perfect, but this is sort of how I wanted this part of the show to go.
"Lauren, what did you do?!" Summer asked, exasperated.
Lauren shrugged. "I did what I thought was necessary."
"Necessary to what, exactly?" Summer questioned again, her arms crossed now and she was doing everything in her power to not freak out.
"Necessary to win. Payson almost took my spot! And…and…Sasha almost stole you from my dad!" Lauren huffed, throwing her arms to her sides and stomping.
Summer was taken back.
"What? Lauren, do you…do you realize what you've done?"
Lauren smirked, "Of course I do! I got rid of Sasha and Payson! And, I didn't even have to hardly do anything! It was perfect!"
Summer's mouth hadn't necessarily been "closed" before, but it had hit the floor now.
"Lauren! You just jeopardized a man's career for your own selfish needs! Not to mention you just killed any chance Payson had of attaining one! How could you!?"
Lauren looked at her incredulously, "I did it for you…for us. How can you be mad at me?!"
Summer had to shake her head and take a deep breath before she continued and said something she was going to regret.
"You're sending the whole video to Ellen Beales tomorrow, and you're going to publicly apologize to both of them, do you understand me?"
Lauren rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"And if you think I'm stepping anywhere near your father again…you have another thing coming."
In all truth, Summer knew why Lauren's mom had left.
Summer had first-handedly experienced why.
It had happened after one of their dates.
They had just returned from dining at a restaurant that Summer couldn't have afforded in ten years.
He was dropping her off at her house. It was raining, and so far, everything had gone perfectly.
He parked the car in her driveway, and got out his door, running around to her door and opening it for her, offering her a hand and pulling her close to his side – using his jacket to try to shield her from the rain.
It was so romantic and cute. Summer smiled.
This was one of the rare dates that he hadn't asked a driver to take them on.
Which, she was grateful for.
Summer always hated being catered to.
They finally got to her porch, and Steve had proceeded to try to wring his jacket out.
Summer laughed, "Sorry about your jacket."
Steve shrugged, "Nothing a little dry-cleaning can't fix."
"Thank you for tonight. I had a wonderful time."
Steve smiled at her, "Good, I did too."
And, he leaned in and they shared a deep and searing kiss.
After a beat, Summer reluctantly pulled away, "Good night, Steve."
And, with her back facing her door, she bit her lip, putting her hand on her knob, turning it, and walking inside.
"Good night?" she heard him say incredulously.
And that's precisely when the smile faltered from his face.
"What do you mean 'good night'? I did all of this for you and that's all you're going to say to me now?!"
She had quickly seen the anger rising in his face, and she tried to close her door on him, but he was stronger and he had forced his way inside.
"Steve! You know how I feel!" she had yelled, quickly shrugging her heels off and running into the kitchen.
He followed, slamming the door shut and she could hear him stalking after her.
"Steve! You need to leave, now!" she yelled, but just before she picked up the knife off her counter, he was on her. He roughly grabbed her wrist and turned her around – wrapping his other arm around her waist and forcefully joining their mouths together again.
With her free hand, she smacked at his chest, "Get…off…me!" she hollered in between his kisses.
Instead of continuing to hit him on the chest, though – which clearly wasn't working – Summer reached behind her on the counter and finally felt her handset phone.
She wasn't sure why she had left it on the counter, but she was grateful at that moment.
She grabbed it, and holding it securely, slammed it over Steve's head.
He backed up quickly, grabbing at his head and this just barely gave her enough time to reach for the knife she had been trying for earlier.
"Get out, Steve, now!" she hollered to him.
"This isn't over." He had sneered at her, before he gave her a look of disgust and walked out her front door.
She had gotten her locks changed the very next day.
She hadn't told a soul what had happened.
And, she also abruptly broke up with him – much to Lauren's horror.
Lauren huffed some more, and rolled her eyes, but finally, she said, "Fine, but I still wish you and daddy would get back together." And she plastered on her perfected puppy dog look.
Summer now rolled her eyes, "No, Lauren, that's not going to happen. Now, go fix this."
After Lauren headed out to her car, Summer followed, locking up the gym and getting in to her own car.
She decided to go pay a certain coach a visit – before a girl's stupid decision aided to his stupid decision.
She arrived at his place moments later.
She rapped on his door. She realized it was late at night, but she was hoping he was still up.
From behind the door, she heard him grunt, but he opened it nonetheless.
And, unfortunately for her, he answered wearing only gray sweatpants.
She couldn't help herself as her eyes moved up and down his body and when they arrived back on his chest, he had his arms crossed and was leaning against the door.
When they arrived back on his face, he was smirking.
Summer wanted to either slap or kiss the smirk off his face. At this point, she really didn't care.
"What?" he asked, but it wasn't angry…it was more…amused. "I know you didn't come over her just to ogle me."
Summer rolled her eyes, he could be juvenile sometimes.
She decided to play along with his game, though. She had good news, and couldn't wait to tell him.
Plus, it made her way too happy to realize that he wasn't drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
Her eyebrows rose as she asked, "And are you going to let me in, or ogle me from out here?"
His eyebrows went up too, and he stepped to the side, uncrossing his arms so he could motion her in.
When she entered, he closed the door behind her and went around the other side of his counter.
He leaned against it with both of his hands.
"I have good news for you?"
His eyebrows went up again and he snorted, "Oh, yeah? Did I win the lottery?"
She narrowed a brow, "You've been playing the lottery?"
He chuckled and shook his head.
She shook her head too, "Um, well, anyway. I got Lauren to admit what she did, and she's going to turn in the entire video to Ellen Beales tomorrow."
He looked at her with surprise but crossed his arms over his chest again, "Summer, I appreciate your attempt, but that really doesn't matter. My career is already ruined. Once it gets out that you're…suspected of that type of thing, you can't come back from that."
Summer shook her head, "That's where you're wrong, Sasha. Both Ellen and Lauren are going to admit what they did publicly. Then, the world will know that you're innocent too…"
Sasha shook his head again, "What if I don't want my job back? Emily never listens to a word I say. Lauren hates me. Kaylie is…Kaylie, and Payson…how is she going to come back from what happened?"
"Sasha! The girls all love and respect you as their coach! They were devastated when they found out what had supposedly happened…with the minor exception of Lauren…but I think over time she'll get over her hatred of you."
Sasha snorted, "What makes you so sure?"
Summer's eyes narrowed, "Do you know why she hates you?"
Sasha shook his head and Summer took a deep breath. "She hates you because she thinks you're stealing me from her dad."
Sasha let out a short laugh, "Please. I'm not stealing you from anyone. You broke up with him."
Summer hesitantly nodded.
Sasha's eyebrows went up, "Don't tell me you're thinking of getting back together with him…"
Summer looked horrified, and in all honesty, she was, "What? No! No! I'm not, I just…"
Sasha looked confused, "You what?"
"I'm wondering if I jumped into this relationship too soon…"
Sasha threw his hands in the air in exasperation, but he was smiling, "You know, that's something I've always admired about you – how much you care about your actions affecting the girls."
Summer smiled, looking skeptic, though, "Really?"
Sasha nodded.
Summer sighed, "Did you ever find out why I broke up with Steve?"
"Is it really any of my business?" Sasha retorted quickly.
Summer shrugged, "I don't know…I guess not…"
But, she was acting…weird. And, Sasha was always good to pick up on that.
"What's wrong? What happened?" he asked, coming around the counter and putting a hand on her back.
The tears started to well now. "I…I don't really know. We had just gotten back from one of our dates and…he…he actually drove…"
Sasha rolled his eyes as Summer continued, "but he…he got mad that I wouldn't let him in. I thought he knew I wasn't…I mean, I'm not like that…and he…he let himself in…"
She felt Sasha's hand tense on her back, but she kept going, "I guess I shouldn't have even invited him onto my porch…"
"No, Summer, don't go there." Sasha said in all sincerity.
Summer looked into the depth of his eyes, nodded, and continued, "I didn't want to, but I felt like I had to. I went for one of the knives on my counter, but I…I didn't make it. He grabbed my wrist roughly and turned me around and…kissed me hard. I pushed at his chest and when that didn't work, I grabbed the phone that was also on the counter and slammed it as hard as I could over his head."
Sasha smiled, and Summer did too, "He backed off me long enough for me to grab a knife, and I…I threatened him and he left…angrily…"
"…And frustrated. Don't forget frustrated." Sasha replied, and Summer lightly smacked him on the chest.
At least one of them could joke about this.
Summer huffed, "I never told anyone about it, but…maybe I should?"
Sasha shrugged, "That's up to you. Personally, I want to go rip him from limb to limb; so, if you do tell people what he did to you, screw my job, I might to go jail…"
Summer laughed through the tears that she hadn't realized had started falling, and Sasha instinctively brought his hand up to wipe the fallen tears away.
"You're right, though, he should have known what you stood…or stand for. It's not like you're all secretive about it."
"Yeah, that reminds me, how do you put up with it?" she asked, playfully.
Sasha caught on, shrugging, "Oh, you know. I go to strip clubs every now and again…"
Summer's mouth dropped and she playfully slapped him again.
"Ouch! You know, being shirtless, that hurts more than it normally would."
Summer shrugged, "That's your own personal problem."
"Oh, really?" Sasha said, his eyes lighting up and his eyebrows rising.
Then, he grabbed the back of her neck and closed the distance between their lips.
Summer brought her hands up and grabbed the back of his neck.
What had started out as passionate and loving had quickly turned into a hard need.
After a beat, they pulled apart, breathless and heaving.
"Wow…I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Summer said.
Sasha smirked, "I hope not. You won't keep coming around."
Summer's jaw dropped again, and she went to slap him, but he caught it this time.
"No." he said and Summer laughed at his attempt to be stern with her.
"So, what are you going to do?" Summer asked, then.
Sasha shrugged, "I figured I'd wait around and see if I get an apology call…or two."
Summer nodded, "Okay."
Sasha's eyebrows went up, "Okay? You're not going to persuade me to come in and make my presence known and all that type stuff?"
Summer shook her head, "Are you kidding? As bull-headed as you are, it wouldn't work anyway."
Sasha laughed as he kissed her again.
And when he pulled away this time, he said, "Thank you…for fighting for me."
Summer shrugged, "I know if you had been there, or knew about Steve earlier, you probably would have gone to jail for me; so it's only fair, right?"
"Damn right." Sasha said and Summer half-smiled at his choice of vocabulary.
The next day, Ellen Beales' job was in jeopardy as the entire video was released and she needed to rethink her sources before airing and posting lies about someone. But, more importantly they noted, before she got them sued for slander and defamation – which Sasha could have justifiably done.
He returned to work the day after that.
Payson returned, too, but her transition wasn't as…well…easy?
She was getting teased by most of the rest of the gymnasts. Kaylie and Emily stood up for her, though – which was nice.
And, as for Lauren? Lauren was placed on an undetermined suspension – which meant she could practice, but couldn't participate in any events coming up soon.
It wasn't like anyone was complaining, though, because it wasn't like anybody could trust her anymore.
And, that trust would be harder for her to get back, than it was for Sasha to get his job back.
Summer almost smiled at the irony.
Almost.
So, I hope this is good enough, Alliecat103. Thank you for being a fan. I really appreciate it. :)
