Sasha often liked to think that he was a very reasonable man. He didn't ask more than he knew the other person could provide. So now that Summer was here in the gym yelling at him for leaving her without so much as a good bye and claiming she was still deeply in love with him, he was beyond irritated. He had thought the cold shouldered leaving and his careful avoidance of her since he had been back in the gym (even if it only had been three days) would have given her the hint that he simply didn't feel that way towards her anymore.
He sighed in frustration as she continued ranting on about how she had nearly given herself to him so many times just to have him leave her so abruptly without any closure. Mentally groaning he allowed her to keep yelling and making hand gestures, only half listening to her. For the most part she had been repeating herself for the past twenty minutes and Sasha was growing tired of it.
Her voice faded from his foremost thoughts as he remembered back to the day he left Boulder. After hours of pacing back and forth in his cramped trailer he came to grips with the fact that staying in Boulder wasn't an option anymore. Payson's life was becoming increasingly more complicated and the Rock was literately falling apart because of one silly mistake. A silly mistake that for some reason he couldn't stop replaying in his mind hundreds of times every single bloody day. Without thinking a second more Sasha had written a quick note to Payson telling her that she could absolutely get to the Olympics even without him. He'd apologized in the letter and left it where he knew she would get it before throwing his 'lawn' into his trailer storage compartments and leaving the Rock. He also left a short note for Kim stating he was leaving Boulder and apologizing for everything he'd caused.
Then of course after Kim had come to Denver without notice and scolded him for the way he left Sasha had been wondering if leaving was the right choice at all. Payson showing up at his door a few days later seemed to answer that question for him. Especially after feeling her soft lips against his…
A sudden silence brought Sasha out of his reverie and his eyes finally refocused on the woman in front of him now. Summer had tears streaking down her cheeks now and Sasha felt ashamed that he hadn't noticed she'd begun to cry. He cleared his throat awkwardly unsure of what he should say now. Summer was a gorgeous woman who was extremely intelligent. But at the end of the day he knew they weren't meant for each other. Their beliefs were far too different and he had pushed her farther than she was comfortable with and he knew it. No matter how much she cared about him, the repeated nearness of breaking her 'vow to God' was putting a strain on her and was agitating him. They weren't right together and Summer needed to realize it.
"Actually I have no idea why I even bothered coming here to talk to you." She said through her tears. "Considering I'm with Steve again and he's been hinting that he wants to get engaged again." Her feeble attempt at making Sasha jealous merely made him snort in annoyance.
"Then perhaps you should act more like his girlfriend and not be asking me all these questions. I thought you understood perfectly what me leaving without saying good bye meant. I've never been a complicated man Summer you of all people should know that by now."
She glared at him. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she crossed her arms waiting for his response.
Sasha rolled his eyes as he jumped up on the balance beam sitting on it. "When I left Boulder without contacting you it simply meant I wasn't interested in being with you enough to let you know where I was going or that I was going. You were meant to move on which you clearly did and very fast I might add. Honestly its best for both of us."
Summer opened and closed her mouth several times, the tears slowing down as she became more angry at Sasha.
He took pity on her and continued. "I did care about you quite a bit Summer. But we really are too different to be in a relationship and I think you know that as well as I do. I was saving us both more trouble by just up and leaving. You're with Steve Tanner now, you should be happy with that arrangement, not coming to the gym to discuss our past relationship with me." He felt bad for practically chastising her but he needed to get through to her before she did something rash.
Summer hesitantly took a few steps towards him. "Sasha…. I…." she started.
They both jumped as the gym doors slammed opened and Sasha glanced up towards the clock 5:10. Payson was extraordinarily early as usual. It was nice to see some things had remained the same. He saw Payson's eyes widen at the scene before her. Sasha was still sitting on the beam and Summer was in front of him, tear stains down her cheeks and red puffy eyes. She had been reaching up towards Sasha as if to kiss him. Eternally he groaned at what Payson must be assuming now.
Putting himself together Sasha scooted to the right a bit and slid off the beam walking a few yards ahead of where Summer was. "Payson, good to see you here so early. Summer was just leaving to prepare for staying with you girls tonight." He turned and nodded at Summer giving her a clear dismissal. She rolled her eyes and stomped out of the gym with as much dignity as she could muster.
Payson watched Summer leave and then slowly turned back towards Sasha. "Did I interrupt something?" she asked hesitantly.
Sasha shook his head and lifted the beam moving it to the side of the gym next to the vault horse. "She just wanted to discuss something with me before she left to pack her bag for the night." He said dismissively as he walked up to the uneven bars.
As he grabbed the lower bar Payson bit her lip. "You know Steve Tanner asked her to marry him last night."
Sasha barked a laugh and turned back towards Payson. "Again? Why am I not surprised. I'm assuming Lauren was behind it?"
"What isn't Lauren behind?" Payson laughed sardonically. "But Summer said yes, and from what Lauren was saying at the Spruce Juice earlier, they're planning on marrying in Rio."
Sasha's shoulders tensed at this news but he kept a straight face. "I think that's a bit unfair to you girls, stealing what should be your weekend and making it their own."
She shrugged. "It has a lot of religious meaning I guess, and none of us really mind. Especially if it makes Lauren happy and stops her from jeopardizing our team and her gymnastics."
Payson couldn't understand why she was suddenly defending the wedding. Last night when Lauren told her Kaylie and Emily of the wedding plans Payson had the same feelings Sasha was now expressing. She wanted worlds to be about the team, not the Tanners. But something about seeing Summer and Sasha together again had set Payson on edge. It was silly and probably caused by the dumb crush she had formed for him before, she'd just have to shake the feeling off.
"So what do I owe the honor of you being here nearly an hour early?" he asked casually turning his focus back to the uneven bars as Payson started fidgeting awkwardly.
"Uh well I was kinda hoping we could discuss what happened that night in your trailer…" Payson silently cursed herself for sounding like a nervous school girl talking to her crush. She did not like Sasha in that way dammit, he was just her coach nothing more.
Sasha froze in the middle of lifting one end of the bar and dropped it. "Right, I never apologized for that did I?" he turned to face her again looking slightly uncomfortable.
Payson shook her head and dropped her gym bag. "Its okay you were just emotionally charged and not really thinking at all. I just wanted to get it out in the open so we could put it behind us so theres no awkwardness like there was last time you know?" she tried her best to sound mature and convincing. The stupid blush on her face probably wasn't helping her though.
Sasha's eyes penetrated her own for a few moments in which she shifted her weight from foot to foot. "So I guess that's it. Just a meaningless kiss that was accidental from the surge of extreme emotions right?"
Sasha's stoic expression suddenly shifted to anger and Payson stepped back in slight fear. "Meaningless?"
Payson gulped loudly. "Well I mean, I don't have feelings for you, and I'm pretty sure you don't like me like that so yeah… Meaningless."
"You think our kisses have been meaningless…tell me, is this meaningless?" he hissed and stepped forward until he was merely a few inches from Payson. He cupped her face with his hand before kissing her softly. Although his lips were gentle, the anger was still evident as he slowly began to deepen the kiss; Payson felt herself kissing back. As her arms started to wrap around his neck, the gym doors opened and someone gasped.
She's my gymnast, and I'm kissing her. She's only seventeen years old, and I'm kissing her. She's one hundred percent off limits, and I'm kissing her and I'm bloody loving it. The thoughts quickly rushed through Sasha's head as his lips were meshed against Payson's. He couldn't bring himself to stop the kiss but as soon as her arms finally went around his neck the gym doors open and a female gasped. Sasha's heart dropped into his shoes. How could he have been so reckless? He squeezed his eyes tighter for a moment as he backed away from Payson then opened his eyes to see a freaked out Kaylie staring with her mouth open wide in shock.
"Kaylie…" Sasha started uncertainly. He had no idea how to explain what she had just walked in on without making himself sound either like an old pervert—which he was, or like a jack ass—which he wasn't.
She shook her head and looked at Payson who was still facing him, her hands covering her face and she was taking deep breaths most likely trying to calm down. "Its okay, you don't have to explain its none of my business." Suddenly Sasha was so relieved to see Kaylie. He knew it could have been so much worse if Lauren had walked in on them, Kaylie at least thought of her friends before doing anything that could ruin them.
Payson suddenly walked past him towards the back of the gym where the locker rooms and trainers rooms were. "Payson…?" Sasha asked hesitantly turning to watch her walk towards the girls locker room.
"Bathroom." Her curt voice answered and Sasha knew that was the most she'd be getting from her for awhile. He sighed in frustration as he turned back to Kaylie who had a hand on her hip examining him carefully.
"Kaylie I swear its not what it looks like." He tried to explain, knowing he'd regret down playing this. He was flat out lying, he knew it was exactly what it looked like.
She snorted and shook her head. "So my coach wasn't just kissing my best friend whom is also coached by him in the middle of the gym we train at?" she raised her eyebrow challenging him to deny it.
Sasha struggled to find the words to properly explain this away, to make it seem innocent and acceptable, but he knew there were no words that could ever make this acceptable. "Kaylie…."
She sighed and dropped her things next to Payson's abandoned bags. "I won't tell anyone I promise." She started running to the locker room to talk to Payson.
Sasha growled and kicked the bar he previously meant to move. How could he mess everything up so completely in such a short time? This week was off to a really bad start so far and knowing the Rock girls, it was bound to get worse.
Kaylie was in shock from seeing the one girl she could trust kissing the man who had been coaching them for nearly a year now. As she reached the stalls in the locker room she knocked on the one that was closed. "Pay…?"
She heard quiet sniffling in the stall and frowned at the closed door. "Pay, I don't really know or understand what just happened out there but you know I won't tell anyone right?" she tried to reassure the upset girl.
"Thanks Kay, I just… I need a minute okay?" Payson responded with slight desperation in her voice.
"Okay… I'll just be in the gym then if you need me." She left the locker room and looked around the gym to notice the uneven bars had been moved to the side in front of the vaults. Looking around she noticed Sasha seemed to have disappeared and looked up towards his office to see the light on.
Shaking her head to herself she sat on the mat that she had sat her bags on and noticed it was much softer and bigger than the mats she was used to. Looking closer she noticed it had a design on it, though very understated and hardly noticeable it was still there. Figuring it must have been from when Darby was here Kaylie shrugged it off and grabbed her purse.
Once she opened her cell phone noticing that the other girls would be here in about twenty minutes she sighed and checked her unread texts.
Love you Kaylie, good luck tonight and I'll see you in the morning. – Dad
Smiling she moved on to the next.
Ugh can't believe we have to do this. C U soon. – Lo
She rolled her eyes and opened the last text.
Miss you so much Kay xxx
Though it was from an unknown number Kaylie knew it was from Damon. Ever since he had kissed her, he'd been trying to keep as much contact with her as possible. His cell phone had been stolen two days ago so this must be his new number. As she added it into her friends list Kaylie wondered what she should do about Damon. He had told her that him and Emily were completely over, but Kaylie knew Emily well enough to know that she was way in love with Damon still. The fact that the NGO made her break up with him wouldn't change that, and she couldn't help feeling awful for the kiss even if she hadn't initiated it.
Kaylie jumped slightly as the locker room door opened and turned to watch her best friend walk towards her. Payson had clearly washed her face and calmed herself down. She walked over and sat next to Kaylie and half smiled at her.
"I'm okay I promise. Just… confused." She said reading Kaylie's expression correctly.
Kaylie nodded. "Me too, but you don't have to explain. Just know I'm here okay Pay?" she leaned over and hugged her friend.
Payson hugged her back tightly. "Thanks Kay, how are you holding up with the Damon thing?" she asked and Kaylie knew her friend just needed something else to think about.
"I dunno, I mean should I tell Emily what happened? I don't want someone else to find out and tell her you know? Its not like I slept with him, I'm not like Lauren." She said with defiance.
"And why aren't you like me?" a voice asked from the top of the stairs next to Sasha's office. Payson and Kaylie's heads shot in that direction to see Lauren with two duffel bags over her shoulders looking down at the pair with slight anger in her eyes.
Kaylie laughed awkwardly. "Cause I can't dominate the beam duh. Last time I even touched one I passed out remember?"
Lauren smirked and started walking down the stairs. Payson leaned over and whispered, "Nice save" as quietly as possible before Lauren started talking again.
"Its okay Kay, I'm sure after this week you'll be able to be on the beam again. Considering this is going to be our prison for the next five days. I'll almost be glad to go to Hungary after this." She snorted.
Payson looked at Lauren in confusion as the other blond sat her bags down with the others' and plopped down on the mat. "You weren't excited about going before?"
"Well its not like theres anything interesting to do in Hungary is there?" Lauren shrugged. "The only thing its good for is practice for Worlds, but we all know it's kind of a waste of time."
"How so?" Payson asked with annoyance. "It'll prepare us to know if we've got what it takes to beat Romania."
Kaylie watched as her friends discussed the pros and cons of going to Hungary and suddenly felt very much out of the picture. Every elite gymnast that missed a big meet like this always felt left out and like they had a disadvantage. Kaylie had felt it twice already since becoming National Champion, and this was just another meet she was being forced to miss for her own stupidity.
She was so enveloped in her thoughts she hadn't noticed Emily joining their small pow-wow until she said her name. "Kaylie how do you feel being back here?" she asked and Kaylie looked up at Emily who was smiling with slight reservations.
Kaylie suddenly felt the guilt in her stomach double. It was bad enough singing such an emotional song with Damon and then kissing him, knowing Emily loved him. But now seeing Emily in front of her while knowing what had happened… it was too much. Wasn't the main part of her recovery about being honest?
"I kissed Damon." She didn't even realize she was talking until the words were out and Emily was gaping at her. "Well I mean he kissed me… I'm so sorry Em, we were just recording that stupid song and it just kinda happened. Nothing else has happened I swear it was just an in the moment kinda thing and I feel so awful about it." Kaylie rambled on her hands flying in the air wildly as she tried to explain.
Emily took a deep breath once Kaylie stopped and nodded to herself. "I broke up with him remember? He has every right to kiss who ever he wants." She shrugged but Kaylie could tell she was hurt by this information.
"I really am sorry Em, I promise nothing else will happen. I don't like Damon like that." Kaylie said earnestly. Emily nodded.
"Oh please Kaylie, don't tell me you're still hung up over Austin. Its so obvious that he has a thing for Payson now." Lauren said rolling her eyes.
Payson elbowed Lauren in the ribs. "No he doesn't."
"And this is exactly why I wanted to do this week long lock down ladies." A British voice came from behind them sounding very harsh.
All the girls jumped to their feet and stood in a straight line facing their coach who had snuck up behind them while they were talking.
Sasha stood at the top of the stairs watching his four elite female gymnasts argue amongst themselves. Emily had been the last to arrive and she'd been four minutes early. He'd been pleased that they'd all arrived early including Lauren whom had come up to his office to apologize for something she did. She wouldn't admit what it was but she just told him she was glad he was finally back and she was sorry for everything she'd done. Sasha had a sneaking suspicion that she'd done something extreme while he was gone.
He heard the name Damon come from what ever Kaylie was saying now and thought he'd heard the word kiss. This was the reason for the earlier gathering. So much drama was surrounding these girls they needed to get it all out in the open and start forgiving each other for it.
Everyone had always thought Sasha was the lone horse, and he kind of was. But the reality of it is if he hadn't had his British team behind him encouraging him for the Olympics, he probably wouldn't have made it. Drama within team mates tears a person down after awhile and this team was becoming ridiculously torn.
He walked down with four tablets and pens reaching the girls just as Lauren said "over Austin. Its so obvious that he has a thing for Payson now." Sasha internally growled at the thought of the imbecile touching Payson.
"No he doesn't." Payson replied as she elbowed Lauren in the side.
Sasha thought now was the best time to let his presence be known, before he got too angry with this conversation. "And this is exactly why I wanted to do this week long lock down ladies." He said and nearly smirked at their reaction.
They all jumped up and formed a line almost like kids in the military being caught slacking off by their sergeant. He showed them the paper and the pens and wasn't surprised when Lauren groaned.
"Not this stupid thing again. You know it really didn't help all that much last time." She said with disdain.
"Too bad, you all have so much crap going on between each other, its time to clear the air. This time will be different though. You're all going to write down regrets, annoyances, anything that's bothering you at all. Rip off each thing from the paper, fold it and start a pile in the middle of you. I won't be reading them aloud this time." He explained as he handed out the paper and pens. "so please, feel free to write down everything."
Emily looked at him confused. "You really aren't going to read them out loud this time?" Sasha shook his head. "Why not?"
"Because this is between you girls. Now go ahead and get writing. I'll be down in half an hour so we can finish this up alright?" the girls all nodded and sat down to write. Kaylie was already scribbling furiously.
Sasha sighed and went back up to his office. Things were in complete mayhem paperwork wise. It seemed Darby had no interest in doing any of the paperwork herself and there were quite a bit of official things for the gym that Kim and Summer couldn't attend to.
After reading through two papers that had been marked 'extreme importance' by Summer, one of which being Emily's scholarship renewal, Sasha sighed in boredom. He had never been good at being behind a desk doing paperwork. Tonight it was twice as hard to focus on the monotonous task when the kisses with Payson kept replaying in his head.
He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do about this. It was very obvious that Payson wanted to resist and pretend nothing had ever happened. Sasha however wished they could pretend the world didn't matter and they could just kiss whenever they wanted. It was so uncontrollably hard to resist touching her while being so close to her emotionally. But deep down he knew he had to give her space and pretend like it happened just like she wanted. Hopefully the feelings would fade over time if he stopped acting on them like he had the past two times he'd been close to her alone.
She was still very young and didn't need this drama or pressure on her going into such an important time in her career. He glanced to his right to see the picture that one of the new gymnasts Max had put up on the wall of Payson literately flying through the air during her performance for the National Committee. She was so breath taking in the picture and the performance replayed in Sasha's mind nearly bringing tears to his eyes. It was undeniably one of the best floor routines he had ever had the honor of seeing.
He sighed as he glanced to the clock, twenty eight minutes had passed and the girls were already done, notepads all lain to the side and a large pile of paper scraps in the middle of their little circle. He got up and felt his coach persona take over as he walked down the stairs and towards the girls.
"Glad to see you all took this so seriously, it looks like theres quite a few things in that pile." He said as the gym doors opened revealing Summer with a suitcase. She nodded at the group then walked up to the office area.
Lauren seemed to brighten exponentially at the sight of Summer before asking, "So what now, we burn the pile hang out for a few hours then sleep?" she raised an eyebrow at Sasha.
Sasha crossed his arms and looked at each girl individually. Kaylie seemed apprehensive and tense, which was to be expected since she hadn't been in the gym in a few weeks. Emily looked confused and hurt, almost like she just wanted tonight to be over with so she could focus on gymnastics again. Lauren looked happy but bored which was an odd combination for the girl.
Lastly his eyes locked with Payson and suddenly he wasn't coach Belov, but Alexander Belov a guy who was looking at the most beautiful young woman he'd possibly ever seen. All he could see in her eyes was pain, confusion and hesitation. She was just as torn up as he was. Her cloudy grey eyes closed and she looked away from him making him sigh.
"No Lauren not exactly." He said trying to get back into his coaching mind set.
She cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are we doing then?"
He bent down and mixed up the paper scraps thoroughly before standing back up and glancing at them all again. "You will be reading them all to each other and then putting them in the trash can. Call Summer down once you've finished. She has a lighter to burn them all. Good night ladies, I will see you all at five am tomorrow morning." He said and briskly walked away hearing protests, mainly from Lauren, follow him as he walked out of the gym and to his trailer. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night for his gymnasts.
AN: So originally I'd planned Sasha kissing Summer for the start of this, but my best friend kept begging me to do it with Payson instead and well… hes very convincing when he wants to be haha. I'm not exactly 100 percent happy with the way this chapter went, but here it is nonetheless.
Next chapter will be from Monday morning to boarding the plane to Hungary on Friday. How will the girls handle being around each other constantly after airing dirty laundry? Did Lauren confess to being the one who sent Ellen the picture? Review and I might get the chapter out quicker so you can find out!