He hadn't expected her to stay the night. Usually when they were at a hotel she was up and gone long before his eyes opened, but maybe she needed her sleep because when he woke she was still pressed up against him, her hair tickling his nose lightly, her head tucked under his chin, pillowing against his shoulder, his arm curled around her body, holding her close. Their legs were tangled together and his hand had crept beneath her cotton tank, resting gently against the smooth skin of her stomach. He shifted against her, sweeping her hair away from his face and kissing the newly exposed skin of her shoulder lightly before he slowly rolled away, trying not to jostle her too much. Her breath was even and deep, a sure sign she was still very much asleep. He had to get up early, but she didn't. Payson stirred, rolling towards where he'd just moved away from, burying her head into his pillow, wrapping her arms around it.
He stood, stretching, running his hands through his hair and rubbing at his eyes, clearing his vision. He pulled on his Team USA polo shirt and a pair of khakis before scribbling a quick note and quietly leaving the room. Checking his watch he realized he'd have to hurry if he wanted to catch his father. Boris Beloff was a creature of habit. He ate breakfast at quarter to eight every morning no matter what and it was already eight. Sasha was sure he was in the hotel restaurant, alone, likely contemplating his next insane idea.
In the elevator, all the way down from the 8th floor to the lobby Sasha thought about the night before. Lying to Payson wasn't something he was comfortable with, in fact in all the time he'd known her, he'd never uttered an untrue word. Sure, it was a lie of omission, but even still, it made him queasy.
His lips lowered to hers and kissed her, his tongue gently probing against her mouth. She allowed him access and he explored her mouth thoroughly, his tongue stroking against hers, his lips possessive and dominating, but holding back, the kiss a solitary act and not a prelude to more.
"What's wrong?" she asked as they separated, her fingers stroking the skin at the nape of his neck. She knew him too well, read him like a book, even through a kiss.
He shook his head, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "Nothing. I'm just...I'm just tired."
She considered him for a moment, biting her lower lip, her hand drifting from his neck. He was sure she didn't believe him, but wordlessly, as their eyes met, he asked her to leave it be. Her gaze softened and she nodded. "Okay," she said, pushing up on her toes and brushing a soft kiss against his whiskered cheek. "Let's just go to bed then. Maybe you need a good night's sleep."
A good night's sleep? What a joke. He hadn't slept a wink. She'd fallen asleep quickly, his body cradling hers, but he laid there for hours, the unwanted knowledge of his father's intensions turning over and over in his mind. Kaylie was going to be devastated, the committee would be furious over his father's total lack of discipline, he was furious in general. He'd been the one to bring his father into the fold. It was on his suggestion to both parties that it would be a good match. He didn't believe for a minute that things would have been better with Ellen Beals in charge, but this was a problem of his own making and there was no one to blame but himself.
He caught sight of his father sitting alone at a table, taking large bites of eggs and sausage and he made a beeline for him.
"We need to talk," Sasha said, pulling up a chair and glaring at his father. "You can't do this, you know? The NGO is going to go ballistic."
Boris chewed his food and swallowed before speaking, "I will do this. It is already done. It is my decision. I am the coach, it is my team."
"Then why, exactly, did you tell me?" Sasha asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I had to lie to Payson last night about it. This isn't a game, Dad, it's my life. Do something like that again and I won't lie. Your noră would not deal with this as quietly as I am."
Boris's bushy grey eyebrows rose speculatively, but he shrugged and Sasha rolled his eyes. He knew the opportunities for something like this to happen again would be few and far between, but they had a lifetime ahead of them and he looked forward to the day when his father felt Payson's wrath. He hadn't been around at the time, but he heard from his friend Marty Walsh about how she stormed into Denver Elite and verbally castrated him in front of the entire gym and then again privately.
Despite his father's lukewarm reaction, he was sure his point had been made and Sasha moved on to what he really wanted to discuss. "I want you to reconsider Kaylie."
Boris shook his head, pointing at Sasha with his fork, "I have already given it much consideration. She is too inconsistent and winning at the Olympics is about consistency from the team."
Sasha shook his head, "And if one of them stumbles? If Ruggeri gets on that podium and can't handle the pressure? Anyone one of those girls could fall. Conway's DOD isn't enough to supplement a major mistake, not with the five and three rule. If someone in the top three gets hurt? You really want a 6.0 start value on a bars set going up against the Chinese and Romanians or a 5.5 vault instead of a 6.5?" It was a struggle, but he kept his voice measured in the crowded restaurant. "Kaylie is one of the best gymnasts in the world and using her as an alternate is prostie*," he said, slipping into Romanian to make his point as clear as possible. "It could cost us the gold and if that happens, you will be to blame."
"Termină!*" Boris barked. "You are speaking to your father and a gold medal winning coach. You should have more respect."
Sasha met his father's glare with one of his own, "And you are speaking to an Olympic champion who coached your country's team to ten medals in Athens, double what you won in Sydney if I remember correctly. You should have more respect." He pushed back from the table and strode out of the restaurant, not looking back.
Payson's seat was high up, in one of the arena's luxury boxes reserved by the NGO. She watched silently as the men warmed up, halfway through their six rotations. Austin was in the lead, but it really didn't matter, he could sit out the rest of the event and still be named to the team later this afternoon, along with Nicky Russo and Carter Anderson from the Rock. They were virtual locks along with Frank Donovan from UCLA and Harrison Peters from Stanford. The final spot was up for grabs and Payson didn't have a vested interest. So as they competed, her mind wandered to earlier that afternoon in one of the arena's large conference rooms after the women's final session of competition.
They all assumed that when a meeting was called it would be to narrow the field and announce the next step in the trials. What happened next turned the gymnastics world on its head.
Boris Beloff stood at the front of the room, a piece of paper in his hand, staring out at the gathered crowd of elite level gymnasts. The silence hung over the room, no one dared to fidget in their seat or blink, losing sight of the Olympic head coach for even a moment.
He surveyed the room one last time before he opened his mouth, "I have just come from a meeting with the Women's National Committee. In this meeting it was decided who would be representing the United States at the Olympic games in London, as well as the members of my coaching staff. This is my team…" he trailed off. Boris was nothing if not impressed with himself and he let the room hang on the precipice, letting the seconds tick by in silence before he spoke again.
"Payson Keeler."
Payson felt her entire body relax as the room around her applauded and the people next to her patted her shoulders and smiled in her direction. Despite everything, knowing that she was considered the best gymnast in America, if not the world, now it was official. She was going to the Olympics.
"Kelly Parker."
She turned to her right, down the row just a little, where she knew Kelly was sitting and she couldn't help smile at the small, "Yes," the former national champion exhaled at the mention of her name.
"Isabella Ruggeri."
Izzy was sitting just in front of her. Payson leaned forward and squeezed the shoulders of the young junior National champion in congratulations.
The tension in the room suddenly increased tenfold. The three girls who'd been announced hadn't been a surprise. Now it came down to three spots, three dreams that were about to come true and the death of dozens of others. Payson closed her eyes, she couldn't bear to watch.
"Emily Kmetko," Boris's voice echoed and Payson felt her friend jerk upright in reaction next to her. Her eyes flew open. Emily was smiling and her eyes were bright with unshed tears. Payson squeezed her hand tightly as the room clapped politely, the cloud settling over them more quickly this time. Two spots left.
Boris hesitated and the room held their collective breath. Payson thought she knew what was coming next, it had to be Lauren. They needed someone strong on beam and vault if Emily made the team.
"Lauren Tanner."
She looked down the row where Lauren and Kaylie were, and she smiled tightly at Lauren, but quickly her eyes met Kaylie's. This wasn't good. It seemed Boris wasn't announcing the team in random order, he seemed to be listing them in order of degree of difficulty and if that was the case….
"And the final spot on the team will be determined later this week after more deliberation by the committee," Boris cut into her thoughts and the room stared back blankly. One final spot? "If necessary there may be an invitational practice to finish the roster." Payson looked up and studied his face. He looked angry, his eyebrows drawn together, as if the news gave him pain. Had the committee forced this on him? What was going on?
An air of confusion was still hanging around each and every person in the national box hours later. Even for the five girls who were already on the team, everything seemed so uncertain, so up in the air. She looked to her right and smiled tightly at the tall, leggy blonde there to support Austin. As if they day hadn't been awkward enough...
They left the meeting still reeling from the possibilities, Kaylie looked completely stunned and Payson understood. There was something about knowing either way, good or bad, but being stuck in limbo like this, not knowing, it was terrible. The worst part about it, the media was waiting for them in the small conference room the girls who'd been selected were currently being shuffled into. Payson, Emily and Lauren watched helplessly as Kaylie's brown ponytail moved in the opposite direction with the rest of the girls.
"Come on, we have to do this," she told her teammates and the other girls nodded and moved into the room, up onto a dais where small cards with their names on them had been placed in front of each chair. The cameras were clicking incessantly, reporters murmuring questions to themselves and each other.
The session was easy enough, simply expressing joy at being selected and confidence in each other, but then some idiot decided to make things more interesting.
"Payson," he said, She recognized him. He was from one of the entertainment shows, not a sports reporter and certainly not catering to the tween demographic like many in the crowd. "What's your reaction to Austin's ex-girlfriend, French supermodel Odette Vienneau being here to support your ex?"
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "I was excited to meet her," she answered smoothly, though she hadn't yet been introduced to the international runway queen, "Austin is one of my best friends so any friend of his is a friend of mine."
The reporter frowned at her and she smiled sweetly in his direction, her mouth saying one thing, and her eyes something else entirely. The remainder of the press session stayed on topic and they left the room quickly. Payson headed immediately down towards the floor of the arena. She knew Sasha would be there and the trials weren't set to begin for another hour at least. It was possible she'd be able to talk to him.
Her credentials hanging around her neck swung as she jogged through the tunnel maze underneath the arena, making her way towards the locker room. She saw Sasha from a distance, his blond head sticking up out of the crowd of much smaller men at the more typical height of elite gymnasts when she nearly ran headlong into the man she'd been discussing just a few minutes earlier.
"Where's the fire, Pay?" Austin asked, quirking an eyebrow at her, but then shook his head and enveloped her into a bear hug, lifting her off the ground for a moment. "Congratulations by the way, not that I'm surprised or anything."
She smiled as he set her down, "Thanks. It looks like we're going to London together."
Suddenly there was a soft cough, alerting her to the presence of someone else. She looked just behind Austin and smiled. Odette Vienneau was even more stunning in person, tall, in her heels almost as tall as Austin, long blonde hair that hung in perfectly quaffed loose curls and light blue eyes. The only thing Payson knew about her is that she and Austin used to be a "thing" in his words and that they'd both appeared in the same swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
She smiled, "Hi, I'm Payson Keeler," she said, extending her hand to the girl who was making her feel short, fat and ugly, despite her own high self confidence. People shouldn't be allowed to be that beautiful.
"Payson," Odette said, ignoring the hand and bussing a small kiss to each of Payson's cheeks, her soft French accent making her name sound odd to her own ears. There was a genuine smile lighting up her face as she stepped back. "It is so nice to meet you. Austin has told me what great friends you are. I must tell you, you are an inspiration to me."
Drop dead gorgeous and nice. Payson felt the urge to roll her eyes at the universe, but she held back. "Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you too."
"You handled that moron reporter pretty smoothly before," Austin said, sliding an arm around Odette's tiny waist.
Payson shrugged, "He's an idiot. I'm not going to let him spoil one of the most amazing days of my life."
"How did…how did Kaylie take the news?" he asked. Payson's eyes flashed briefly to Odette, but it seemed Kaylie's name had no effect on her.
"I haven't been able to talk to her yet. It's not over yet. She's still got a great chance. It's probably down to her and Andrea if I had to guess. I was going to…"
"Talk to Sasha about it?" Austin finished for her and smirked.
"Exactly."
Austin shook his head, "You can talk to him about it later. He's working," he said, easily dismissing her intentions. "Actually I was wondering if you'd be able to show Odette up to the national box? I have to stay down here obviously and I was going to ask security to show you…" he trailed off his eyes shifting from Payson back to Odette.
Payson looked past him and saw that he was right. Sasha was nowhere to be seen and was probably already out on the floor. Then suddenly Austin's words sunk in. He wanted her to take Odette up to the national box. Her eyes bore into his and he had the grace to look a little guilty. She couldn't say no though. He was her best friend and if this is what he wanted….who he wanted, then she had to support him.
"Sure," she said, shifting her gaze from Austin to Odette and smiling. "I'll show you the way and we can trade embarrassing stories about Austin."
So now here she was, sitting next to Odette, who was actually very interesting and very sweet and someone she would normally love for Austin to be seeing. Except that her eyes kept shifting towards the other end of the box where Kaylie and Lauren were sitting together, Kaylie looking absolutely devastated and Lauren, in her usual fashion, not consoling her very well.
"Excuse me for a minute," she said to Odette after Austin took his turn at the vault and landed a phenomenal Tsuk double pike for a 16.8.
She made her way over to her friends and sat down next to Kaylie, giving Lauren a look that read loud and clear, go away, I got this.
"I went down to talk to Sasha right after the press conference, but I couldn't find him. We'll figure out what's going on, Kay and then figure out what we have to do."
Kaylie shook her head, her outer visage calm and collected, "There's nothing Sasha can do about this, Pay. I did this to myself and I've got to work my way out of it. I think I might have made a start this weekend."
Payson nodded. Kaylie had a solid Olympic Trials, placing fourth in the All-Around, just behind Emily, but being the fourth best all-around gymnast didn't necessarily translate to a spot on the Olympic team, not when she'd been so inconsistent for the last two years.
"Who's Austin's flavor of the month?" she asked, her eyes shifting towards the direction Payson had come from.
"Odette Vienneau."
Kaylie snorted, "Tall, blonde supermodels," she mumbled under her breath.
"She's very nice," Payson said, but left it at that, knowing anything else would just hurt Kaylie and the former national champion had enough hurt for one day. "I'll talk to Sasha this afternoon, see if he has any idea where his Dad's head is."
"Thanks Pay," Kaylie said and stood up. "I'm going to go back to the hotel and get some rest. I should call my Dad too. He's probably having an aneurysm right now."
As Kaylie left the box and Payson took her seat again next to Odette, she sighed. "Who was that girl?" the French model asked, honestly curious.
Payson wasn't sure what to say. There were so many possible answers. "Kaylie Cruz," she said, but didn't elaborate as they watched Carter Anderson land a Yurchenko two and a half with just a small step for a 15.9. Lauren stood up and started cheering and applauding wildly and Payson smiled at her. "Her boyfriend," she said, nodding towards Carter and Odette smiled.
"Apparemment." *
Austin grabbed his bag as the rotation ended. They were headed for p-bars and he looked up at the leader board. He had a comfortable lead over Russo, not that it mattered for anything other than his ego. His eyes then shifted to the large screen where, not for the first time, the cameras were focusing on Payson and Odette sitting next to each other in the national box, chatting with smiles lighting up both their faces.
He tossed his bag down on a chair near the parallel bars setup and began to stretch his arms out.
Sasha stood just off to the side, staring up towards the screen as well where Payson and Odette were stil featured, both girls sitting in their seats observing the trials, legs crossed at the knee, every once in a while speaking to the other. "They sort of look alike," his coach said, seemingly to himself and Austin looked again. They did, especially when they were sitting down and you couldn't tell that Odette had a good six inches on Payson.
"They kind of do," he agreed. They shared many similar features; in fact one of the first things that drew Austin to Payson was that she sort of resembled Odette, in looks, but mostly in personality. "More inside than out though."
"And she's…" Sasha trailed off, his meaning clear.
"An old friend," he said, as casually as he could manage. "More than an old friend," he corrected at the look of utter disbelief on Sasha's face.
He'd called Odette on a whim after they arrived in San Jose. She was a five hour drive away in Los Angeles and after a half hour of catching up, he'd suggested she hop a flight up to San Jose and watch him at the trials. They had parted on good terms a few years ago and after seeing her again, he'd forgotten why they'd split at all.
You moved to Boulder, Colorado, you idiot. You were scattered and you needed to focus. So you left LA and moved to Boulder, where you met Payson and Emily and Kaylie. Kaylie. He hadn't really thought about her all weekend until he heard the announcement this morning. He hadn't given a ton of thought to the possibility she'd be left off the team and suddenly that seemed like there was a good chance she wouldn't be coming to London. There was a little part of him, the cruel, self-centered part that was relieved. He'd be able to focus on gymnastics if she wasn't around to distract him, but the rest of him, the major part of him that cared about her deeply, despite all the pain, was completely torn up inside over it. Boris Beloff was insane if he didn't think she was good enough for that team. He would make sure to tell the old man that if he got the chance, not that it would matter.
"Austin," Sasha's voice intruded on his thoughts. He spun around and looked at his coach. "You're up," he said and rolled his eyes.
"Right," he said, his arms feeling limber and ready to go. He'd obviously stretched thoroughly out of habit.
A clean parallel bars routine later, he sat on a chair unwrapping his wrists and taking off the leather grips. Sasha stood just a few steps from him. "Your Dad is insane, you know that right?" he said.
Sasha turned to look at him and rolled his eyes, "Yeah I know. Would you believe me I told you that what happened a few hours ago was actually the sane option compared to what he intended?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, standing and moving next to his coach so Sasha would be able to tell it without being overheard.
Sasha hesitated and then shook his head, "You'll know soon enough anyway. He came to me a few nights ago with the team roster done."
"But he can't do that, it's supposed to…"
"I know," Sasha said, "and I told him that, explained it all to him. It wasn't that he didn't understand it, he just didn't care. So this morning at our meeting with the NGO when he announced his team, they went nuts and then he went mental. Marty and I managed to calm everyone down and that was the compromise we came up with. Everyone agreed with his first five choices so we decided to announce those today and then hold off on the sixth member and alternates until next week."
Austin let the information wash over him, let it sink into his pours. "So Kaylie has a week to convince your father she belongs on the Olympic team?" he concluded. "What can I do to help?"
Sasha looked at him, his eyes penetrating, obviously trying to figure out where Austin was coming from, what his intentions were. "You can stay out of her way, don't distract her and let me do my job."
Austin took a deep breath. He wanted to do more than that, he wanted to be involved, but he knew that was impossible. "I can do that," he said, as Sasha moved away to watch Nicky Russo's bars set. I can do that.