Bitter Rivals
Chapter 1
Early Mornings
Nicky rolled over and looked at the clock that sat on the nightstand beside his bed. When he saw that it read 4:55 A.M., he sighed and rolled back over. He wrapped his arm around his wife's sleeping body and she subconsciously snuggled into him. He smiled and drifted off to sleep. For five minutes.
Beep Beep Beep
Payson groaned. She flipped over so that her legs dangled over the side of the bed. After stretching for a good two minutes, she stood up and walked into the bathroom. She flipped the light switch and nothing happened.
"Damn it," she said before slamming the door in frustration.
"Mommy," her five year-old daughter shouted from the living room.
Payson grinned in spite of herself when she walked into the living room and saw Meghan sitting on the couch already dressed in her gym sweat suit at 7:00 A.M. She's too much like me.
"Are you ready yet?" Meghan said impatiently.
"Ten minutes," Payson said. She hurried back into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of sweat pants from her closet. She quickly changed into them, discarding her pajama bottoms on the floor.
"Meghan," Payson shouted, "Remind me to buy a light bulb before we come home today!"
Meghan didn't reply, but Payson knew she would remember. After pulling her hair into a loose ponytail, Payson ran back into the living room.
"Let's go, let's go," she said. Meghan laughed. Payson grabbed her jacket before both hurried out the door and into the hallway. They sprinted down the hall toward the elevator.
Payson tapped her foot impatiently after she pushed the DOWN button.
Ding
Nicky reached into the microwave and pulled out his bowl of oatmeal. He sat it down on the counter and grabbed a spoon from the drawer below. He picked up the bowl again and sat down at the kitchen table.
He ate quickly, glancing at the clock periodically to insure that he wasn't wasting too much time. After he finished, he placed the bowl and spoon in the sink. He grabbed his car keys from the counter and was out the door.
--
After a short car ride to the Denver Elite Gymnastics Training Center, Nicky climbed out of his car. He checked his watch, 5:30. He hurried across the parking lot and toward the entrance.
As soon as he stepped into the gym, one of the hired photographers came up to him.
"Mr. Russo, where is your wife?" he asked him.
"She's not coming in for the photo shoot. She'll be here to coach later," Nicky said. He walked toward the center of the gym with the photographer on his heels.
"But don't both of you coach Bailey?" the photographer, who's name was Jim, asked.
Nicky nodded. He saw his star gymnast, Bailey Ellington, posing very inappropriately with her stomach flat against the wood of the balance beam and one leg straight up in the air.
"Bailey!" he snapped.
Bailey jumped up and turned to Nicky and smiled. "Hey, Nicky," she said in her usual flirty tone. The tone used to make Nicky uncomfortable, as it did with any male she addressed. But after coaching the very talented, and controversial, gymnast for three year he was immune.
"Let's get this over with," was his reply.
All fifteen photographers crowded around the pair. Bailey walked up beside Nicky. She flashed her award winning smile at the cameras while they snapped away. She smiled seductively at Nicky before pulling him closer to her 4'8" frame and pressing her chest into his side. She flipped her blond ponytail and smiled again.
Click Click Click
Payson heard Amanda Johnson before she saw her that morning. The sound of her Gucci heels made Payson's skin crawl.
Amanda, or AJ, had been an Olympic-level figure skating twenty years earlier. She had been suspended for life, however, after a fight with Team USA teammate Lily Frederick. Now, she had dedicated her life, and her husband's vast bank account, to ensuring that her daughter McKenzie would be an Olympic gold-medalist. In gymnastics.
Payson didn't ask why, though. The money Amanda paid her was more than any other personal gymnastics coach in the country made. But when your husband is the second highest earning businessman in the country, money isn't an object.
"Payson! I don't pay you to stand around. Go make my baby a champion!" Amanda snapped at her.
"Sure thing, Cruella," Payson muttered under her breath.
Payson walked small gymnasium where she always coached McKenzie. Amanda had paid to have it added on to the main building so that they wouldn't be disturbed by any other gymnasts.
McKenzie sat on the ground stretching. Her long red hair, the exact same shade as her mother's, was tied into an intricate braid. She wore a lime green leotard which Payson knew was specially designed for her. Amanda intended for McKenzie to get her own line after she won Nationals.
"Okay, Kenzie, let's see your bar routine," Payson said.
Kenzie stood up and walked over to the uneven bars. She climbed up onto the bars and started doing a bar routine very similar to the one Payson used to do. Payson crinched every time she did the move that had ended her career. But Kenzie did it perfectly every time. She dismounted.
Thud
Nicky heard the gym door slam. He cringed. His wife really hated early mornings. And he had even let her get an extra hour of sleep. She walked toward where he stood watching Bailey do what she did best, ham it up for the press. After the photo shoot, Bailey's agent had scheduled a TV interview.
"Morning, Sweetie," Nicky said.
"Mhhmm," she said.
Bailey smiled at them and motioned for them to come over. They complied. Bailey wrapped her arms around both of them.
"And I owe all my success to my coaches, Nicky Russo and Kelly Parker."
Grasp! Did anyone see that coming? Just so you know, all of these events are happening at the same time. Payson and Meghan live in New York, while Nicky and Kelly obviously live in Denver. There's a two hour time difference. So Nicky woke up at 5:00 his time and Payson woke up at the same time, 7:00 her time. The onomatopoeia's obviously signify the change in view points.
As for the Nicky and Kelly thing, it will be explained later. I've always been interested in her character and I have written a fanfic about her and Payson becoming friends and training together. I don't have it posted on here, though.
One of my other stories, His Butterfly, will not be updated for a while. I'm sorry, but I'm going to wait until after the season to update because in my story Nicky was moving to Houston, Payson was going to go after him, and they were going to get together. But that's just too much like the way the show is going. So I'm going to wait and rewrite the whole story again.
PLEASE REVIEW!