The next day, Sasha got what Payson was talking about.
"You dare say these things about my son?" Mrs. Russo roared.
"He is one of the top men's gymnasts in the world and you refuse to train him?" Mr. Russo demanded, pointing an accusatory finger in Sasha's direction.
"If you would just listen…" Sasha started.
"No, you listen, bud," the mother spat, standing and getting in Sasha's face so they were inches apart. Her eyes were scrunched up in rage, and when she spoke, her voice sounded dangerous and low. "Our Nicholas is a brilliant, talented, kind, sweet, selfless, intelligent, handsome, charismatic, hard working, wonderful, athletic, and strong boy. You would be an idiot not to train him! Don't you remember how great he was here last time?"
"Do you? Because I do," the father added, "Nicky was spectacular in this gym. He was wonderful, and he never questioned your judgment. At the time I thought this was a good thing, but now I'm not so sure!"
"Who do you think you are?"
"Why won't you train our son?"
"If you think he's too friendly with girls, then that's your problem, not his!"
"You're an imbecile if you think we won't complain to the parent's board!"
"I hate your accent! We are never taking Nicky to England."
"Actually, I'm Romanian…" Sasha tried to say.
"WHATEVER!" they hollered.
"Mr. and Mrs. Russo, Nicky is a great gymnast. My concern is, however, that this gym is not the right fit for him. There is a lot of bad blood between him and my other elite, particularly the girls, and the last thing they need this close to the Olympics Trials is the drama that a new face brings to the table, no matter who it is!"
"Well, your elite need to get over themselves if they're picking fights with our Nicky," Mrs. Russo sniffed.
"Absolutely, you should get a handle on these girls! They need to be committed to their own sport and not interfere with Nicholas's career. He will go to the Olympics and you should feel honored that we placed our trust in you. You're a moron if you don't train him!" Mr. Russo pushed his glasses up on his nose.
"My athletes are very committed. They have to be to have this lifestyle. That's another thing that worries me about Nicky," said Sasha.
There was a collective gasp between the two parents. "You did not just insult our son!" Mrs. Russo huffed, a hand over her heart.
"I don't wonder about Nicky's commitment to gymnastics. I worry about his commitment to our gym. What happened to Denver?"
"Imbeciles," scoffed Mr. Russo. "They had the audacity to suggest that Nicky needed a new rings routine. Can you imagine?"
"Well," Sasha reasoned, "did he need a new rings routine?"
"Absolutely not," said the father. "They were just being incompetent."
"Then we put our money into a gym out of state, some idiotic facility called Sundale," Mrs. Russo had venom dripping from her words, and she spat out the name Sundale as though she had tasted some bad fish. Sasha nearly choked.
"Sundale Gymnastics in California?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes, insolent people those fools were," Mrs. Russo scoffed, "they were complete morons!"
"Sundale Gymnastics has produced the most Olympic athletes of any gym in the country ever! The coaches are gold medalists themselves and the equipment is top notch! My coach Nikolai trained there for two months before moving back to Romania, and he had only positive things to say. The gymnasts have to go through multiple grueling auditions and pay thousands of dollars only to be put through consideration! Spots are very rare; the waiting list has hundreds of names on it. Any gymnast of mine would be out of here in a second if they even got the opportunity to train there a day! I had a gymnast once who moved to California from Romania just because Sundale was considering opening a slot for a new gymnast. What was your issue with them?" Sasha remembered being in Payson's room and seeing the posters of extremely famous gymnasts who had trained there, and only slightly worse ones who had reportedly gone into depression after being rejected. He recalled Payson's wistful face as she thought of getting the chance to study at Sundale herself. Sasha had felt nauseas thinking about Payson, miles and miles away from him in California, but then he imagined how happy he would be for her, for her career.
"Well, for starters, they wanted Nicky to get a haircut, which was completely ridiculous!" Mrs. Russo's voice brought him back to reality.
"What?" Sasha asked.
"His hair had gotten a bit long, they were upset. It made him look groovier, if you ask me," Mr. Russo said.
"Exactly," agreed his wife. "It was only down to his shoulders! They were foolish enough to suggest that it was getting in his eyes and interfering with his routines, which of course it wasn't. And then, what did they do to us? What did they do to us?"
"I don't know," said Sasha, still stunned.
"Nicky had a little bit of an encounter, a minor infraction in those incredibly outrageous, foul, rules that they have there!"
"Stupid rules made by imbeciles!" boomed Mr. Russo.
"What sort of encounter?" Sasha asked with his eyebrows narrowed in skepticism.
"Nicky had become infatuated with a very lovely girl; you really should've known her, Coach Belov. She was just immaculate!" Mrs. Russo gushed. "She was a model, with these dazzling eyes and so tall, too! She was on the honor roll at her very prestigious private school, and her parents were absolutely charming!"
"I see." Sasha did not sound impressed.
"Nicky was in love! You really should've seen him when he was around her. He wanted desperately to show her his gymnastics, but the gym refused to let non members on their property! It was so foolish! So he had no choice, really. He just had to sneak her in at night." Mrs. Russo dabbed at her lipstick absentmindedly, as if that fact didn't matter in the slightest.
"Sundale is one of the most secure buildings in the history of sports," Sasha said, his eyebrows lowering even further.
"Oh, but they weren't doing anything wrong! They were just slightly intoxicated, but really, who hasn't had too much of a good thing at least once when they're young? It was no big deal, actually. Nicky showed her his rings, and according to the security tapes, he was very impressive. That was the moment where the girl completely fell for him, if you ask me. So romantic," she sighed, "and if we hadn't refused to cut Nicky's hair she probably never would've noticed him. Good hair is very important, Coach Belov." The mother flipped her own hair over her shoulder dramatically, as if to make a point.
"What happened next?" Sasha's voice was becoming louder.
"Don't take that tone with me!" Mrs. Russo demanded.
"What happened NEXT?"
"Alright, alright, I will tell you, but please remember, good things come to those who wait, so patience, and Nicky is very good, you shall see!"
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Sasha grumbled.
"Well, yes, of course, Nicky's eyes are very beautiful, too, thank you, Coach Belov! I will tell him you complimented him so nicely! Anyway, our boy became so overcome with love for the girl; he could just not contain himself! It was very sweet, his show of love for her, nothing obscene, but those Sundale fools completely overreacted and called the police. We were over there so quickly you would not believe it, and we slapped a lawsuit on them so fast they didn't know what to think and we pulled Nicky out of there no questions asked." Mrs. Russo beamed. "So, here we are! When should Nicky start training? Tomorrow, shall we say? The Olympics are very, very, soon!"
"You think I'm putting your son in our gym after that?" Sasha exclaimed.
Mr. Russo stood up. "Yes, you are," he growled. "Our son is excellent."
"Excellent at breaking the rules, so it seems." Sasha glared. "Last time Nicky trained with us he brought lots of unwanted attention on my athletes. He was involved with two of the girls against the rules and now you tell me he snuck into Sundale at night drunk with some girl and got arrested? Sundale, of all places, too! You two are far too inclined to think the best of your son. He is so ungrateful for all that you have given him. Do you know how much this sport means to some of these athletes? They worked their whole lives for this one chance! I used to think of Nicky as one of my most dedicated gymnasts. What happened? This seems so out of his character."
"Well, there was another…incident," Mrs. Russo said weakly. Sasha's eyebrows went up.
"Oh?"
"Yes, well, Mr. Russo had a brother that Nicky was very close to who passed away right after he left your gym. Also, at about the same time, Nicky's best friend from childhood committed suicide. A tragedy, of course, but it shouldn't be dwelled upon. The two hadn't spoken in years."
Sasha was quiet for a moment, before speaking. "I would love to have your son join us. Unfortunately I think it may be too late to train Nicky for the Olympics this summer. He'll have to wait until this cycle is over, and then we'll talk."
"This is an outrage!"
"You're an imbecile!"
"We thought so well of you! What happened to your judgment?"
"Please, Mr. and Mrs. Russo," Sasha said, holding the door out to them, "get your son some help. He needs someone to talk to."
"He most certainly does not!"
"Look at it this way. Nicky used to think everything of gymnastics. He used to tell me to get a handle on the athletes who devoted their time to anything else, and I respected him for it. But now you tell me two very important people in his life are dead, and suddenly he's dating, drinking, breaking and entering, all the things he used to spite other people for doing. Your son isn't acting like himself, and if he's not talking to you, you need to find him someone he will talk to."
"Payson Keeler," Mr. Russo immediately responded.
"What?" Sasha asked.
"You say our son needs someone he'll talk to?" Mr. Russo answered. "I don't think he needs anything more than we can give him, but you say to find him someone to speak with? Payson Keeler's the girl. Nicky hasn't stopped talking about her since we decided to have him train here. He says she's the next big thing, and he wants to work with her."
"That's true," Mrs. Russo said, nodding. "I doubt she has anything on the girl he was seeing in California, but whatever he wants I am fine with. You know the girl, Coach Belov? Do you think she'd be a suitable girlfriend for Nicky?"
"There's no dating in this gym," Sasha grumbled, voice tight.
"Oh, really?" she said, eyebrows shooting up. "What about Kaylie Cruz and Austin Tucker? I saw a picture of them kissing in a tabloid. What about Emily Kmetko? She got pregnant, didn't she, and you were going to let her go to Worlds if she ended the pregnancy."
"Kaylie and Austin's situation has been dealt with," Sasha lied, "and Emily is no longer a gymnast here."
"But she works for the NGO, which some might argue is the next best thing for a gymnast behind the Olympics. So really, she wasn't punished. Why should Nicky be treated differently? What we're saying is, if you say Nicky needs help, then the best way to get him that help is to find him a girlfriend. He did so well at Sundale while he was seeing that lovely model. He was so agreeable."
"Nicky wouldn't be treated differently, because there is no dating at The Rock! And as I recall, if it weren't for that girl, Sundale never would've called the police!"
"Those policemen were imbeciles." Mr. Russo waved a hand dismissively. "I agree with my wife. Having Nicky and Payson Keeler together would be great for the media, and it would give Nicky the attention from the press that he needs to get on the Olympic Team. Also, when Nicky is in love, his gymnastics thrives."
"How many times do I have to tell you that I do not allow dating?" the angry coach growled.
"You could make an exception for Payson Keeler, though, couldn't you? She's one of the best women's gymnasts in the world, and she would be very good for Nicky. I did love the California girl, though," Mrs. Russo sighed. "She was so beautiful, but Keeler will do."
"I said no!"
"Unjustly," Mr. Russo shot back. "Go to any other gym in the country, and once we tell them all that our poor boy has been through, they'll let him date."
"I invite you to bring Nicky to those other gyms you speak of, then, although there are none! Not this close to the Olympics, they won't let him date, no matter what the circumstances!"
"But you said…"
"I said get out. GET OUT! I will not train Nicky! I won't!"
"You're being childish!"
"Out," Sasha growled, "now."
Once they had gone, Sasha sat at his desk, and took some aspirin.
That night, every time Sasha closed his eyes, all he could see was Payson's lips on Nicky's. He had been unfair. Really what he should've done was talked to Nicky without his parents to see how serious he really was, but the thought of him anywhere near his female athletes after his parents' foolish thought that if he found a girlfriend he would be back on the right track, Sasha couldn't imagine ever training him again. This was the type of drama he didn't put up with before. When the girls went to that keg party, had he tolerated it? When Carter Anderson was caught with a girl, hadn't Sasha suspended him? And when Carter came to the Russian Invitational to see Lauren, hadn't Sasha told him to go back to Denver where he belonged?
Yes, Sasha had done all those things. Sasha took no crap. Or at least, that's what he thought. Had Sasha gotten soft since he and Payson got together?
No, that was silly. Sasha had loved Payson far before this happened, and he never lost his strict authority, ever. To make himself feel better, he designed a brutal training schedule for all four of the girls for the following day, which included running, pull ups, vigorous exercises, and pilates.
Lots of pilates.
The girls were going to hate him.