Inspired by the prompt 'roadtrip'. This is set after my fanfic 'Lose Control'; it's not necessary to read that before reading this, but there are references. This is one of three(!) sequels I've been working on... glutton for punishment.
It had been two weeks since the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in London and since then, Payson Keeler's life had been a whirlwind of flashbulbs and red carpets. She and Kelly Parker—suddenly America's biggest and most in-demand sports stars—had appeared on several news and talk shows in both London and Los Angeles, before flying to New York City, Chicago and San Francisco for more of the same. It seemed every news network in the country wanted to talk to the 'golden girls'. Jackson Kennet, their shared agent, had booked them solid in eight cities for the next six days, doing everything from photo shoots to commercials to interviews. Team USA as a whole had taken the Olympics by storm; the gymnastics teams alone had swept all the gold and a significant portion of silver and bronze medals on offer— but Payson had made a clean sweep with Kelly right behind her and everyone wanted five minutes with the girls who made history in London.
"Jeez, Keeler, what the hell is this shit?" Kelly scrunched her face into a frown and reached for Payson's iPod. Payson held it out to her left, just out of Kelly's reach. Moments earlier, Payson had been sitting quietly, listening to her iPod and tapping her fingers against the armrest. Kelly had waved a headphone splitter in her friend's face and Payson had nodded. Mission accomplished, Kelly had plugged herself in.
Mild embarrassment coloured Payson's cheeks in a faint blush. "I like it," she defended the song. "It's about a woman looking for a—" she paused for a second, trying to come up with a description. "—a man, not a boy." She shrugged slightly, a secretive, wistful smile ghosting across her lips.
"Ahh," Kelly grinned knowingly. She had been the one to find Sasha after the final event at the Olympics—she had spotted him in the arena when Payson hadn't and she had followed him after he had left. After a stern talking to—and a few threats, Kelly smiled at the memory—she had led him to Payson. Kelly was the one in whom Payson had confided after an emotional reunion with her former coach and thus far, the only one who knew about their blossoming relationship.
"Shut it, KP," Payson elbowed her friend in the ribs with a smile. She changed the song anyway and Kelly's head began to bob happily as she recognised the opening strains of Blink 182's The Rock Show. Kelly and Payson had become allies at the World Championships in Rio and friends over the weeks leading up to the Olympics. Payson had initially been unenthused to train so closely with the girl who had once made a game of destroying her competition with childish mind games but she had been surprised to find that out from under her mother's thumb, Kelly was surprisingly agreeable and a fantastic friend. She was desperately protective and fiercely loyal and the pair had quickly become inseparable, sharing a room at the Olympic Village, matching each other for medals (Payson's were all gold, Kelly boasted a trio of colours) and travelling together with Austin Tucker on their agent's media tour.
"So, have you talked to him lately?" Kelly asked. Her head still bobbed to the music. Payson lowered the volume on her iPod to a more comfortable conversation level. She nodded shyly and the faint blush that had coloured her cheeks earlier rose again, flushing her face a delicate rose pink.
"We've texted. We've talked on the phone once or twice but—you know, it's hard. We're so god damn busy."
Kelly hummed in response, tipping her head back against the seat and closing her eyes. "I hear that," she answered. She turned to look out of the window, deep blue sky for miles in every direction as they flew between states. It had been a long fortnight and neither girl was quite sure what time zone they were in, let alone what day of the week it was.
"I just wanna be off this damn plane," Payson huffed, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "If my back wasn't stiff before, it is now." Her surgery two years prior had fixed the fracture and dealt with the after-effects of her previous injury, and although pain whilst competing now was minimal, sitting in a seat for extended periods of time led to uncomfortable stiffness.
"I can't even feel my ass anymore," Kelly grumbled. Payson stretched out all the muscles she could and flexed those she couldn't before twisting elegantly in her seat and throwing her legs over Kelly's.
"Thank God for being tiny and in first class, huh?" Kelly teased good naturedly as Payson's socked feet slid across her thighs to press against the wall of the plane. She had toed off her Converse pumps—a gift from her sponsors, a limited edition design which matched the shoes on Kelly's feet, created especially for their newest, most lucrative stars—the minute the seatbelt light had gone out. If they had been in economy seats, Payson's knees would be in her face. Across the aisle, Austin Tucker hummed a tiny mewl in his sleep and threw his head from right-facing to left. Payson and Kelly looked over at him, lost to slumber, before looking at each other and bursting into laughter.
"Oh god, I wish I had filmed that," Kelly gasped. "All those teenage Tuckerites would just die if they heard the girly whimpers their beloved 'Austy' makes in his sleep!"
Payson grinned slyly, eyes sparkling. She reached down to her carry-on bag stashed below the seat in front of her and pulled out a small camera.
"We couldn't…" Kelly began to backtrack. She looked torn, her expression both remorseful and telling Payson they ought to pull the prank of a lifetime. Payson looked at Kelly with a raised eyebrow. Kelly grinned wickedly and snatched the camera from her friend's hands, leaning across the blonde's body to zoom in on their teammate.
.
"God, I am so glad I'm on this tour with you guys," Payson said, yawning and stretching as she stood. They had finally landed in Boston and Payson was desperate to leave the plane and inhale real air. "I cannot imagine having to deal with Kaylie or Lauren on this thing." Austin leapt up from his own seat behind Payson and slung an arm across her shoulders, reaching out a closed fist to knock against Kelly's.
"Ugh, don't even mention them," Kelly pleaded. "Crybaby Cruz and Tantrum Tanner had no place on that podium," she said seriously, although the nicknames she had bestowed upon them were filled with venom.
"What even happed there?" Austin asked. By now, they were being escorted through baggage claim by Jackson and a small army of airport security officers. Austin had—luckily, according to Kelly—missed the drama surrounding the women's team because he was busy competing with the sedate, drama-free men's team and sweeping all the medals.
"You mean other than Tanner trying to ruin Sasha and Payson's careers?" Kelly snorted inelegantly. The news had broken shortly after they had landed in London, with Kelly overhearing a heated discussion between Lauren and her father. She had all but forced her scheming teammate to confess which had left a black cloud over Lauren Tanner's head for the rest of the competition. To her credit, Payson had merely nodded, having suspected Lauren's guilt for some time, and had shown Lauren neither hostility nor friendship since.
"But then she choked. She was super pissed because Pay, Kaylie and I did well on beam—and then she went and fell off before sitting down on her dismount," Kelly continued in the matter-of-fact way that was so uniquely Kelly. Austin's eyebrows raised heavenward—Lauren Tanner did not fall off the beam.
"She was pissed because you and I went in there with a higher DOD than she did," Payson interjected. She and Kelly had been working late at the gym in the weeks leading up to the Olympics to make the best of their routines whilst Lauren had rested on her laurels and naively hoped that her reputation as 'queen of the beam' would secure her a medal.
"So she threw this fucking crazy huge tantrum in front of the entire arena about how we were horrible teammates and we were icing her out and not supporting all her because we got better scores."
Austin whistled lowly through his teeth.
"And Kaylie?"
"Oh, you seriously didn't even hear about that?"
Austin shook his head with an expression that clearly read 'tell me more'.
"She was so desperate to compete all-around that she did the vault Marty stopped her from training months ago because she couldn't land it."
"I take it she missed?"
Kelly raised an eyebrow and Austin looked suitably chastised—although for what, he wasn't quite sure.
"So then cried and iced us out because she came, like, tenth in the all-around qualifying so she couldn't compete in the final anyway." Kelly grabbed her suitcase from the carousel.
"And neither one of them has said a word to us since." Payson added, following suit and grabbing her own, considerably lighter case. "I mean, I get that she's upset, but she ignored her coach and she was reckless. She jeopardised the entire team's chance of medalling. Besides, we all know only two athletes per country can compete in the finals."
"They're totally fine being snippy bitches to each other, though," Kelly continued. "I bet Annie is having a whale of a time travelling with them."
"Come on, KP, I feel bad for Annie," Payson argued lightly. Austin finally spotted his own suitcase and lunged for it, hurling it off the carousel and walking with it the moment it touched solid ground.
"I don't," Kelly huffed, legs moving a mile a minute to keep up with Austin. "She barely said a word to any of us. She totally iced us all—she was frosty at the TC even before Trials."
"She was the only one out of her entire team to make it to the TC, Kelly," Payson continued to defend the fifth, somewhat less vocal member of their team. "She barely knew any of us."
"I wasn't exactly part of your team before Worlds and now look," Kelly pointed out in a tone that said, quite clearly, 'I get the final say here.' Payson sighed and nodded. Sometimes it was easier just to agree with Kelly than to argue. A small smile graced Kelly's lips.
.
After another half hour folded into the seat of a rental car, Payson was decidedly sick of sitting. She bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet as Kelly, Austin and Jackson climbed out of the vehicle and unloaded their bags before walking into the expansive warehouse with a gym sign above the door. The gym had been transformed into a photography studio and the raven-haired lady who had greeted them introduced herself as Gloria.
"I see you're already wearing the chucks we sent you—what do you think?"
"I love them!" Kelly gushed. Payson turned away with a smirk. She liked the low-top pumps with their Olympics-inspired design in red, white and blue with starred and striped Olympic rings. She also liked the "PK" printed on the heel of her shoes and the "KP" on the heel of Kelly's, but she knew Kelly thought they were tacky. She would never refuse a free pair of shoes, though, and she had admitted later that they were the most comfortable shoes she owned. Austin's pair boasted a similar design with more blue and white than red, but his bore the matching "AT" on the heel.
After a pit stop at the makeshift hair, makeup and wardrobe stations and a quick warm-up, the photographer asked each gymnast to perform a simple routine and hold poses on the apparatus—rings for Austin, beam for Kelly and Payson. After some individual pictures, the girls posed together and finally, with Austin.
Later that evening after another photo shoot and a magazine interview, Kelly and Payson tried to unwind in their shared hotel room.
"KP, what's this?" Payson held out her phone to her friend. The screen displayed a close-up of Kelly's face in a picture Payson had not taken.
Kelly had the grace to blush furiously, before looking back to her laptop. She scrolled through some of the photographs the photographer had sent to her earlier. She selected one—a candid shot of Kelly and Payson teasing each other and laughing on the beam, new shoes on display—and uploaded it to her Instagram account before making it the wallpaper on her phone.
The following morning, they flew back to New York City for another television appearance, then to Rochester, Philadelphia and Baltimore to visit local television and radio studios and shoot a handful of commercials for their various sponsors. Four days later, exhausted and hoarse with jaws aching from smiling at cameras, the trio landed in their final tour stop: Washington DC.
.
After a whirlwind forty-eight hours in the capital, during which time Payson, Kelly and Austin participated in two more photo shoots, three radio interviews, a television interview and an incredibly media-heavy address with the President and their respective teammates, the gymnasts found themselves on yet another plane—this time, mercifully, heading for Boulder. Kaylie, Lauren and Annie sat away from each other and the rest of their team—Lauren and Kaylie with their respective agents and Annie with her mother, their tour chaperone as Annie and Lauren were still under eighteen. Austin sat across the aisle from Payson and Kelly, beside David Gregory, the only other member of the men's team travelling back to Colorado. Kelly and Payson had been alternating window and aisle seats throughout the whole tour. It was Payson's turn to sit at the window and she watched the buildings and monuments of DC melt away as they rose to the sky.
"You okay?" Kelly asked a few moments later. The captain had just announced that they had reached cruising altitude and both Kelly and Payson had unclipped their seatbelts and stretched out as much as their seats would allow. Payson was slightly shocked to hear Kelly's voice laced with concern. She nodded.
"Just glad to be going home," she answered, turning to her friend with a tired smile.
"Glad to be going home to Sasha?" Kelly teased in a sing-song tone.
"He's renting an apartment," Payson confided. "He's lived in the Airstream outside The Rock since he arrived three years ago—easy to get away, I guess—but—"
"Wow," Kelly whistled lowly. "Pretty serious, huh?" Payson nodded again, a faint blush creeping up her neck and face. "He loves you, Pay," Kelly assured her friend. "Please, a blind man could see that."
"He told me you talked to him in London," Payson said after another moment. Kelly opened her mouth to speak but Payson cut her off. "I don't wanna know what you said. I don't care. But whatever it was… thanks."
Kelly smiled. Payson was her best friend—her first friend and the first person who had been there and supported her even though she'd done nothing to deserve it and everything to provoke the opposite reaction—of course Kelly would do anything she could to help her. Kelly wasn't a perfect person and she certainly wasn't ready for friend of the year, but Payson made her better and Kelly wanted more than anything to learn and cherish the relationships she was finally beginning to form with people other than her manipulative mother. Payson could swear she saw tears beginning to glisten in her friend's eyes.
"That's what friends are for."
fin.
The song Payson is listening to when Kelly first plugs her headphones in is 'Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?' by Paula Cole. Certain scenes from this and from 'Lose Control' have been pinned on the 'Lose Control' pinboard on pinterest under the username dizzylights.