Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and/or made this story a favourite!
By the way, I decideed to turn my Lauren centric story - 'Her therapist beter give her a freaking halo' - into a full story made out of a series of one shots, so check it out if your intersted!
On with the story!
Chapter 7 (July-August 2010)
VII
On the second to last Friday morning of July, Sasha waited for Payson and Chris on the parking lot in front of the gym. They had gone to a doctors' appointment at an ungodly hour in the morning, so that Chris wouldn't be late for work, and now here he was waiting to hear the news.
If everything went well, Payson would get the green light to do all types of training, and they could finally start training on vault. He had plans to make her a vault contender for the Olympics, but for now they would just focus on a vault that would give her the all around at worlds.
Her floor routine was solid. They had started working on it back at the center, with Miss Viola's help, and now they just had to add her tumbling passes and it would be golden. Literally.
Her beam and bars were also coming along well. They had started too recently for them to be anywhere near ready, but they would get there.
As he saw Payson's aunt's car he made his way to their parking spot and waited impatiently for them to get out. "So?"
"Looks like we are doing vault today!" Payson said excited, raising her hand for a high five. "And I also want to start training my beam and bars dismount!"
"Calm your horses. Let's start with vault this morning. In the afternoon you will go to Ballet." As he saw her open her mouth to protest he continued. "We will cut ballet to only one hour twice a week. Mondays and Thursdays. Tell that to Miss Viola's today. I'll talk with Dimitri about us using his Gym all day long, starting tomorrow."
Payson nodded, clearly satisfied with his plan.
"Since we are talking about plans," Payson's aunt said, making him turn to look at her with a smile, pulling her to him for a kiss "we should consider buying Payson a car."
He made a disappointed face. That was not the kind of plan he had wanted to hear about. They had been going out since he had first asked her out at the Ballet, and he couldn't help but feel like they had a good thing going on. Just the sound of her voice sent shivers down his spine.
"Why does Payson need a car?" He asked, bringing his focus back to the conversation, even though his brain wanted to imagine other scenarios.
"I will always try to go with Payson to doctor appointments, but I can't keep driving her everywhere. And I doubt you can" she said, raising her eyebrows.
"I definitely wouldn't mind driving you to some places" He said with a smirk, before he could stop himself.
"Okay… That's my cue. I'll go warm up, and will be waiting by the vault when the two of you have resolved all this sexual tension" Payson said with a roll of her eyes and leaving in the direction of the gym doors.
"Sorry" Sasha said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to make it awkward for Payson."
"I'm not." Chris said, getting in the car and rolling down the window. Sasha was confused. Was she mad at him?
"I'll pick you up at seven. Dress nice. I'm taking us to dinner" She said with a wink, before driving away.
Sasha felt a smirk form on his lips, at the same time as a shiver went through him. God, he loved confident woman.
As he made his way into the gym, after getting himself back under control, he considered where his night would end today. Maybe his place this time? That way they wouldn't have to worry about Payson.
After dropping Payson at Ballet that afternoon, he went back to the gym to have a talk with Dimitri.
Sasha had asked him if they could meet some time during the day to talk about changing Payson's schedule at the gym, and Dimitri had told him he also wanted to talk about other things, so they should meet in private that afternoon.
He had to admit he was curious about what Dimitri might want. He had his suspicions, but didn't want to waste time thinking about things that might never happen.
As he opened the gym doors and caught Dimitri's eyes, he gestured to the office door and made his way there, getting himself comfortable while he waited for the other coach.
"I'm glad you could come by this afternoon. We haven't had a chance to talk this last few days, but I wanted to say thank you for helping the girls with their conditioning. They have improved a lot in this last week." Sasha just nodded. It wasn't a problem for him to run conditioning for one or for four. "How have you been liking San Jose? You found a nice place to stay?"
"Yes, I have an apartment close by. It's not big, but it serves its purpose." Sasha said. Closing his arms over his chest, he decided to go straight to business. "I wanted to ask you about Payson staying the whole day. She received the ok to train today."
"Ah, yes, about that" Sasha felt dread build up in his stomach. Would he refuse? "I actually have a proposal for you. Or better, two proposals. Will you hear me out? No matter what you say, Payson can, off course, start training full time." Sasha nodded his agreement, calmer now that he knew he wouldn't have to find another gym.
"First I would like to purpose that Payson becomes a full member of this gym and you a full coach with us. It would be a good idea for all of us. Payson would pay less overall. You would receive more, and while we would have to pay you, the possible publicity and subsequent higher number of members that come because of you and Payson would definitely compensate. As a coach, you would only coach Payson and our other full-time elites, which, at the moment, are only the three juniors you already know."
Sasha rubbed his chin as he considered. It was not a bad idea. He had to admit he had started to ponder different ways he could help the juniors with their gymnastics.
"But don't you train them?" He asked, referring to the three young elites.
"I do, but I have to admit my limitations. I consider myself a good coach, but I know I'm not a great one. But you are. You can make those girls great, like you are already doing with Payson. In the woman's side I can focus on the little kids and on the NCAA candidates. Those are my specialties anyway. If you don't mind, I would also like you to help out with the men. My male gymnasts are always successful, in their NCAA aspirations and in Nationals, but I think they still could do more. Your presence would probably be enough to put them into gear."
Sasha nodded. "I'll talk to Payson about it. But I don't see a problem. I have to admit that I would like to get my hands on those girls. And you have a couple of men that show promise." Young Juniors still with lots of new techniques to learn and in need of a new coach were hard to find in gymnastics. It was a challenge he would like to take on.
"Good. And that takes us to my other proposal. How much would you like to coach in a brand-new gym. A gym that was partially owned by yourself?"
Sasha frowned. What was Dimitri talking about? Did he want to sell his gym? But the gym wasn't new... "You want to buy a new gym?" He finally said, surprised at his own conclusion.
"Yes. Let's face it Sasha. If we stay like this in a few more years someone else will open a bigger, better facility, and then where will I be, uh? I tell you, I'll be out of gymnasts. There is a reason why I only have three full-time elites, and why they're all juniors. All the others either gave up on being elite and decided to focus on NCAA or moved to other cities with better gyms." He shook his head sadly. "So, I need to upgrade. And I need to do it now, before the Olympic rush brings new gyms to my doorstep."
Sasha looked at Dimitri considering his words. "You don't have enough money to do it."
The other man nodded. "That's right. I have enough money to buy the property and the building, but not for the renovations that would be necessary to make it into a gym." He turned around in his chair, opened the filing cabinet behind him and took out a file. Turning around again he opened it taking out floor plans. "This used to be a big supermarket, now it is completely empty and since it's so big, no one wants to buy it. The price for it is incredibly low, considering its size."
"It's also too big for a gym." Sasha said, studying the floor plan.
"Not if you're looking for a real gym." Dimitri said smiling. Sasha frowned in question. "When was the last time you saw a Gymnasium that held a place for all types of gymnastics?" Dimitri asked, the smile never leaving his face.
"All types?" Sasha asked, looking back at the plans before him. It was certainly big enough for that. If Dimitri wanted to do what he thought he did, then he could be looking at something huge.
"Artistic, rhythmic, acrobatic, trampoline, tumbling. The five great gymnastic areas, even though only three of them are Olympic sports. With all of them having a space at this gym, there wouldn't be a free spot left behind." He pulled out another floor plan, showing the previous space separated in to different areas. "On the left, with almost half of the space we would have the rhythmic, acrobatic tumbling and trampoline areas. On the right we would have the artistic area. Between them we would have a storage area with soundproof walls, so we wouldn't make each other mad with all the different music. On the front wall, where the entrance is, we would build the changing rooms. That area has a second level where we could put offices and, possibly, apartment studios for older boys fresh out of college that need a place to stay."
Sasha looked at the floor plans as Dimitri explained. The idea was amazing, he had to admit. And he was tempted, oh boy, was he tempted. But he wasn't exactly known for being frugal for nothing.
"How would you get gymnasts to come to this gym. You only have artistic gymnasts. You have no coaches or athletes in any of the other sports" Sasha asked, stating the obvious.
Dimitri nodded, understanding his question. "I'm not completely alone in this ambition. I've been speaking with Gary and Mary Harrison. They own the San Jose Twisters. It's a small facility that has tumbling, trampoline and mini and double-mini trampoline. They do well at nationals, so they have many gymnasts, but they face the same problems as us. Their gym is small and very cramped. If something better looking comes around the parents will run away in the blink of an eye."
"In rhythmic, I know a couple of coaches in a gym in LA who want to strike out on their own. They are willing to start from scratch, and believe this area would be the ideal place." Dimitri gave him a hopeful smile. "The acrobatic side of things is actually interesting, a young coach from Hungary married a coach from Portugal. They want to start a new life together in a neutral environment, and have been speaking with the rhythmic coaches from LA. The four of them are looking for a place to train acrobatics and rhythmic together."
Sasha stared dumbfounded. His brain felt like it had just received too much information. He didn't know what to think.
"I'm going to have to think about this. This is too much, too soon."
Dimitri nodded. He took some papers from his file and gave them to him. "I understand. Take this. They're copies of the floor plans of the building and a run down of the numbers each group is willing to put forth, and how much everything would cost. It will give you an idea of how much you might need to put in yourself."
Sasha looked at the papers in front of him, his brain running a mile a minute.
It was ten days after his first talk with Dimitri, and since then he had had more talks with the other man, and just yesterday he was in a meeting with the Harrison's and a skype call with the Belenko couple from LA and Joana and Matyas, the Portuguese/Hungarian couple.
They had discussed possibilities about the gym, if he decided to invest in it. He had made sure they all knew it was still an if, but everyone was extremely excited.
He could understand them. He was excited, even if he was still hesitant about what he should do.
It had been almost a month since he had first asked Chris out. After the first one they had both found excuses to see each other again, until eventually they were seeing each other every day, and just admitted to stop pretending they weren't behaving like a couple. An amazing month with a woman he could already see himself falling for. Who was he kidding he was already half way down. Had been since she first called him to task in Cambria.
He sighed, rubbing his head.
"What are you looking up, at this hour?" Her feminine voice called from behind him, pulling her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss on the cheek. He took her hands in his and brought her around so she could sit on his lap, hugging her to him with his right arm. She was only wearing his shirt which looked enormous on her small figure, but made strange things happen to his lower stomach. "Is this about Dimitri's offer?" He had, of course, told her as they were having dinner diner three days after the offer was made.
"Yes." He admitted, glancing at the papers again.
"What are you thinking, Sasha" She asked him, passing her hands through his hair. He sighed in contentment at the gesture. God, he had been alone for too long.
"I want to do it. Payson is here. Gymnastics is in my life again and I don't want to live without it anymore. I had forgotten how much I loved to coach, but Dimitri made me remember with his little juniors, the sneaky bastard" He rubbed his face with his free hand. He was sure that had been the older man's plan all along.
He looked at her and smiled softly. "And you're here" He admitted with a whisper pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"I am." She agreed with a smile, understanding his emotions and his surprise at the fast pace they had gone through in such a little time. "But you shouldn't count me in this equation. We are too new for you to place me in such an important decision. This will affect your life for years."
"What if I tell you that you crashed into my life so hard that I see you there for years?" He asked, framing her face with his hands.
"I would say that I'm glad, because I'm falling for you ridiculously fast, so it's good that we're at the same speed." She said smiling, kissing him briefly. When he tried to deepen the kiss, she pulled back and shook her head, "We still haven't solved your dilemma. And I still think you shouldn't count me in your list. Payson yes. But you should make your business choices independent of me, at least for now." She said with a smile. "What is holding you back?"
He looked back at the papers. "I guess the commitment to a single place. I've never owned a place that came with such responsibilities. I own my house in Cambria. But it's a place I can close up and move on from if I want to. A gym is... is almost alive. All the people it affects..." He frowned "I guess I could still sell my part if something happens, but even so... The level of commitment is much, much higher."
She smiled at him. "And yet, you never wanted it more than now, right?"
"Yes." He said, looking at the floor plan they had discussed the day before in the meeting.
"Then I guess you'll become a gym owner." She said simply. He looked at her. She always knew what to tell him to help him see things clearly. How did he get so lucky?
"I guess so." He said, kissing her. "We should celebrate" She laughed as he pulled up his shirt, and he never felt so sure in himself since the time he'd had a gold medal hanging from his neck.
