This story is the twelveth story in the Alphabet Challenge. For those you that don't know, the Alphabet Challenge is a story writing contest I'm doing with Love's Crash Test Dummy.
Here's the rules for it:
1) We go through the alphabet writing stories based on a word that begins with each letter.
2) Although we are both doing 'A', we will start alternating each letter when I do 'B'. Then she will do 'C' and so on.
3) We always pick each other's word. (Except this time. We both picked our own.)
4) All stories have to be 500 words in length.
5) Five day time limit from when the other author posts her story.
6) My stories will always be Payson/Nicky and her's will always be Kaylie/Nicky.
After the contest is over, there will be a poll on both of our profile that ask which story in the contest is your favorite.
Check out the other 9 stories!
Alone by me
Apples by Love's Crash Test Dummy
Barbie by me
Carnival by Love's Crash Test Dummy
Dying by me
Elope by Love's Crash Test Dummy
Future by me
Girlfriend by Love's Crash Test Dummy
Inconvenient by Love's Crash Test Dummy
Jealousy by me
Kaylicky by Love's Crash Test Dummy
Liar by me
Milkshake by Love's Crash Test Dummy
If you don't want to have to look for the stories, Love Crash Test Dummy made a community for all the stories. It's called Alphabet Challenge.
Ninjas
"You want to go see a movie called Ninjas?" Payson asked Nicky incredulously.
Nicky shook his head. "No. I want to see a movie called Ninjas in 3D," he corrected.
"Same difference."
"That's an oxymoron-" Nicky started to explain, but he fell silent when Payson gave him a serious, you-better-shut-up look. "Come on, Pay. We'll go see the movie, grab dinner after, and then I'll take you home. We'll have fun."
Payson stayed silent for a moment, comtemplating his proposal. Nicky looked at her expectantly, and Payson sighed with a smile on her face. "Okay, Nicky. We'll go see your little ninja movie, but I want to go to dinner first."
Nicky nodded, grinning at her like a child. Then he kissed her quickly on the cheek. "I'll pick you up at five-thirty then," he said. Payson smiled to herself as she watched him walk out of the Rock, practically skipping with glee.
'Our first date since he came back from Denver,' she though silently to herself. 'And he wants to go see Ninjas.'
...
Payson spent over two hours getting ready that night. She took a quick shower, even washing her hair in the rather expensive shampoo that made it smell like vanilla and lavender. She even waxed her legs, something she usually only did for competitions, prefering the painless removal of shaving for insignificant daily practices.
Then she went into her bedroom and tried on practically every outfit she had in her closet. After she finally decided on a dark purple tank top and a black cardigan paired with a simple pair of denim shorts, she sat down at her vanity and pulled out her make up bag. She settled on a smokey grey color to go on her eyelids, a pale pink lip gloss, and a very faint pink blush for her cheeks.
Once she was satisfied that her make up looked presentable, Payson started on her long blonde hair. She heated up the straightening iron her used nearly everyday, but decided to leave her hair in its natural waves. Then she pulled all her hair over onto one shoulder, securing it with a black barret.
She stood up from her vanity and walked over to her bedroom door, pausing for a second to look at herself in the full-length mirror by her closet. Smiling to herself, Payson made her way down the hallway and into the living room, where she sat down on the couch, careful not to mess up her hair.
While she sat there, Payson found herself thinking about all the ups and downs in her relationship with Nicky Russo.
They had started out as friends. Or, rather, they were the number one gymnasts at the same gym. Nicky had never been particularly friendly to her, but he certainly wasn't standoffish or stuck up. He was simply a focused gymnast, and that fact alone was enough to make Payson Keeler want to get to know the quiet boy that could do things in the gym that very few people in the world even had the guts to try.
She had been forced to admire him from a distance, being too shy to start speaking to the boy on her own. Imagine her surpise when, just a few short days before Nationals, Nicky spoke to her by the water cooler. Payson had done her best to appear impassive, but her insides had been doing backflips when she talked to the boy she had secretly dreamed about a few nights (okay, maybe a dozen) during the course of her training at the Rock about being number one, Cortisone, and checking each other out.
But Payson wasn't Kaylie Cruz. Or Lauren Tanner. Or even Emily Kmetko. She was a focused, dedicated gymnast that refused to allow herself to even think about Nicky Russo from the time he handed her the Cortisone until he visited her in the hospital in Boston.
Even after her accident, Payson didn't try to push things between them. She let Nicky handle things the way he wanted to because she thought she was just a lowly high school student and he was an elite gymnast that would probably compete at the 2012 Olympics, and she was afraid to mess up his dream.
Then he made the first real move while they were in LA by kissing her after a Hollywood party he and his supposed girlfriend were invited to. By doing that, he made Payson think he wanted to be with her. And maybe he did, but when she saw him laying on top of Kaylie at the Rock, Payson's crushed ego and broken heart made her hurt the one boy she had ever loved. Yes, loved.
That night, Nicky told her he was moving to Denver. He said that there was just too much drama at the Rock for him to focus solely on gymnastics, but deep down Payson both hoped and feared he left because she hurt him enough to make him want to leave.
Six months later, Nicky Russo showed back up at the Rock. He told her during a lunch break (one that they decided to work through) that Denver Elite had even more drama than the Rock did. Between all the Rock-hating girls, the stuck-up guys, and the lying, cheating coach, Nicky had quickly discovered that he was going to get a lot more than he bargained for in Denver, yet his father made him give it six months before he would let him return to Boulder.
They spent nearly every lunch break together from that day on. Training alone together both before and during practice made all their old feelings for each other resurface, resulting in more than one early morning or late night make out session at the Rock.
Payson snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the doorbell ring. Silently praying her sister didn't come running out of her room, Payson made her way quickly to the door and opened it. Nicky was standing there, in a simple button down shirt and jeans, holding a simple red rose in his hand.
"This is for you," he said as he handed her the rose. "And you look great, Pay."
She blushed. "Thanks."
Then she stepped out into the crisp autumn air, her body brushing slightly against Nicky's as they stood together on the small porch. Nicky laced her fingers with his before he led her down the stairs to his car.
...
"You were honestly friends with Kelly Parker?" Payson asked Nicky while they were waiting on their food to be served at the local dinner. It was a rather run-down place. The ceiling and wall paper was peeling in certain areas, but as was the case with most small town diners, it had the best food in town.
Nicky laughed. "You'll find this hard to believe, but Kelly is actually the most tolerable person at Denver Elite. We've known each other for almost our entire lives. Don't get me wrong, she can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but she's not as bad as you guys seem to think."
Payson looked at him skeptically. "Right. Because I'm sure we make up all the mean things she says and does to us"
"You just have to get to know her."
"I'll pass on that one," Payson told him with a smile.
"Can I ask you a very personnal question?" he asked awkwardly.
"Sure."
"Did you really kiss Sasha?"
Payson threw her head back in frustration, gasping more in shock than pain when her head hit the wall behind her. "Yes. And it was a mistake that I really don't want to talk about it, Nicky."
"But-"
"Let's just enjoy tonight. I'll tell you all the embarrassing details later, alright?"
Before Nicky could reply, an older lady came over to their table, carrying a tray with their salads on it. She handed Nicky the check. Payson started to object when he handed the waitress his father's credit card, but Nicky put his hand up to silence her. Once the lady was gone, Nicky gave Payson a don't-argue-with-me look. She sighed, but nodded.
After they finished their meal, Payson and Nicky walked out of the diner hand in hand. Then Payson stopped, jerking Nicky back to her as he started to walk on to the car. "What's wrong?" he asked her.
"Do you really want to go see this movie?" she asked, running her hand over his chest.
"What else did you have in mind?" he asked.
Payson smiled at him.
...
Thirty minutes later, Nicky pulled his car into the driveway at Payson's house. She climbed out of the car quietly, barely closing her door behind her. She motioned for Nicky to get out too, which he did, closing his door just as quietly.
Nicky started to walk back to her front door, but Payson silently grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the front porch toward the back yard of her house. When he opened his mouth to speak, Payson clamped one of her hands over his mouth, useing the other hand to hold a silencing finger to her mouth.
Payson dragged him on behind her to an open window with a picnic table underneath it. She pointed to the table and the window. Nicky nodded, finally understanding.
Then they both stepped onto the picnic table before quietly climbing into her bedroom window.
Just like ninjas.
I'm not very happy about the way this one turned out, but come on, ninjas? How many people could think of a story idea based solely on the word 'ninjas'?
I'm working on a story, a Nickelly story, that is probably going to take up most of my writing time for awhile. The Alphabet Challenge will still be my priority, but my other stories are going to have to take a backseat for now. I'm sorry to all the fans of Bitter Rivals, A Night to Remember, The Diary of Payson Keeler, and all the other stories I've written and have basically no intention of ever finishing. I'm working on the next chapter of Bitter Rivals, but it's going to take awhile.
LCTD, O is for Ocean.
PLEASE REVIEW!