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January 2027
Lola Hettrick wasn’t really sure how to take the news that she’d be moving to Colorado to be coached by the legendary Sasha Belov.
She understood that it was a big deal and a huge opportunity - mostly from her mom telling her what a big deal it was. But she still didn’t understand why she had to change coaches at all.
Coach Ellison was a good coach. Maybe not an internationally renowned coach with his own small army of Olympians that constantly sang his praises when asked the secret to their success, but a good coach all the same. If she wanted a four-time Olympic gold-medalist for a coach, well, that was what her mom was for.
It was Coach Ellison who taught her to love gymnastics just for the fun of it and not because she was the best. And the Great Lakes Gymnastics Centre was where she’d first learnt to do handstands and forwards rolls when she was three years old. The Great Lakes Gymnastics centre was more than just a gym to her, it was practically her home.
Especially in the last year. The gym has become a sort of refuge from reality.
But her mom had insisted, because in her mind being an elite gymnast and a champion was inseparable from Sasha Belov. And if Lola was going to make it to the Junior National Championships this year - her first year as an Elite - there was only one path to get there.
Her dad, as always, deferred to her mother on all things gymnastics.
“I know it’s a big change, Lolly,” he told her sympathetically. “But it’ll make your mom happy.”
Lola scowled at him through her bangs in a way that made the twelve year old look almost demonic. “If he’s such a good coach then why’s he in Colorado?” she asked sulkily.
He laughed and tussled her hair - a mess of dark curls that was their sole mark of resemblance. “You should definitely ask him that when you see him,” he said, making it clear that the matter was settled regardless of any appeals she might try to lodge.
And so about two weeks later Lola was walking into the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics club with her parents on either side of her. Her dad was as laid back and chill as he had ever been, but on her other side, her mom was practically vibrating on the spot. The second that they spotted the tall and imposing figure of Sasha Belov standing beside the vault, her mom called out his name with a breathy reverence that made it sound like a prayer and then had practically dashed across the gym towards him.
Lola had heard a lot of stories about the great Sasha Belov - about the hard-ass British-Romanian coach that would make her beg for death. Whatever she was expecting when she arrived at The Rock, she hadn’t expected him to turn to face them with a broad smile cutting his face in two. Or for him to scoop up her mom in his arms and swing her around in a hug that would have been exuberant after scoring a perfect ten.
When the two former Olympians eventually released each other, they remained close and connected in a loose embrace, their hands clasped around forearms and heads bowed together as they spoke. After enough time for the rest of the gym to lose interest, they stepped away from the podium towards the sidelines and waved Lola and her dad over to join them.
Even so they remained close - his hand settled on her shoulder and hers hovering like they wanted to wrap around his forearms once again. Lola looked at her dad to see if he was seeing what she was seeing, but he didn’t seem to be reacting like there was anything out the ordinary happening so she shrugged to herself and made her way over to them.
“You remember Rigo,” her mom, Payson, introduced once they were within range, waving a hand towards the curly-haired former BMX champion.
Sasha nodded and offered his hand. “It’s nice to see you again,” he said, with a British accent that Lola judged as gruff but pleasant.
Rigo gave his usual easy smile as he shook the hand offered. “You too, Belov.”
Next it was Lola’s turn - her mom placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her into the small circle with a proud smile. “And this is Lola.”
The smile that Sasha sent her way was not nearly as blinding as the one that he’d worn earlier, but it was soft and warm and made her think that maybe training with Sasha Belov wouldn’t be nearly as scary as she’d been led to believe. Like surely her mom wouldn’t be sending her to some kind of gulag just to make it through a couple of qualifiers, right?
“It’s lovely to finally meet you, Lola,” he told her warmly and sincerely. “Your mum’s told me so much about you.”
Her mom had the grace to blush as he sent another warm smile in her direction.
“Now, if you’re as good as your mum says you are,” he said, bringing them around to the business at hand, “and I don’t doubt her for a second - then we’d love to have you here at The Rock.
“But I do have one condition,” he said, making Lola’s stomach drop at the thought of what trials might entail. Only he wasn’t looking particularly hard-ass-y and he wasn’t even looking in her direction. Instead he was looking at her mom with a smile that her grandmother would have called boyish if she had been around to see it.
“You can’t be serious,” Payson said with a huff and roll of her eyes. Lola had no idea what they were on about or how her mother had suddenly acquired the ability to read minds. Whatever it was seemed to have her smiling in a way that Lola had never seen her mother smile before, despite the show of affront,.
Sasha shrugged but kept smiling that boyish smile while the rest of them remained completely clueless about what was going. “It’s got a nice ring to it,” he said after a few minutes of silent argument. “And you can’t expect me to believe that Lola got to Level 8 without you coaching her on the sly.”
That wasn’t the point though, and Payson sighed and shook her head. “We’ve had this conversation before, Sasha,” she told him, that warm smile - so unfamiliar to Lola - finally leaving her face to be replaced by a look of consternation. “I don’t think I’m cut out for coaching.”
“I respectfully disagree, Pay,” Sasha responded. “You’ve always been a great coach, even when you didn’t want to be.”
“He’s right, Payson,” Rigo interjected before thing could devolve into an argument in full view of the entire gym. “Dana was good at the basics, but no way would Lola be this good without you. And I know you used to help the other girls when no one was looking - you can’t help yourself.”
She scowled at Rigo, opening her mouth to dispute his claims.
“Even Romeo agrees,” Sasha said with a teasing smirk.
Lola watched with fascination, trying to make sense of exactly what was going on. It felt like she was missing out on a whole separate conversation as her would-be coach and her dad seemed to gang up against her mom.
She was still lost in their conversation when it suddenly turned serious, watching as Sasha Belov’s expression turned from teasing to grim and he reached for her mom’s hand that had been hanging loose at her side since they entered the circle. Lola knew the second he started talking her mom was done for.
“We need you, Payson,” he said in a low tone that seemed to have Payson mesmerised.
“That’s cheating,” Payson said, even as she nodded her acquiescence to his request.
Sasha looked entirely unbothered by her reproach. “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he replied with an unapologetic shrug.
Then finally he turned his attention back to Lola. “Junior Elite practice starts in 20 minutes so I suggest you start warming up,” he said, all mirth and warmth leaving his expression in that moment. But then he winked and nodded his head towards her mother. “Coach Keeler here will talk you through conditioning.
“Welcome to The Rock.”
February 2027
After a month of training at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Centre Lola had learnt two indisputable facts about Sasha Belov:
1) He was in fact a hardass that would make her wish for death by the end of practice;
and
2) He adored her mother.
For every harsh critique or gritted instruction he had for his gymnasts, there was nothing but warm smiles and gentle teasing for her mother. More than that though, whenever her mom was anywhere in his general vicinity there was something a little less hard about Sasha Belov - just a little less bite to his words and manner.
Multiple times she’d almost asked her teammates about it, wondering if anybody else noticed the obvious affection that Sasha held for her mother, but always thought the better of it. If no one else was mentioning it, then they probably didn’t notice. And if no one else saw it, then she didn’t want to be marked as the girl who made up weird scenarios about their coach.
It was bad enough being Payson Keeler’s daughter. She wasn’t going to draw attention to herself any more than she had simply by existing.
So instead she decided to talk with her dad. Which meant waiting until the weekend when he got back from his work at the Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs.
“When you said it would make mom happy you weren’t talking about my gymnastics, were you?” She half asked, half accused her dad as they drove to his place down by the lake.
He was quiet as he navigated the car off the main road and pulled into a side street, putting the car into park and turning off the engine so they could speak. He took his time, as though searching for exactly the right words.
“It’s been a hard couple of years,” he said eventually, and Lola gave him a ‘yeah duh’ look for stating the obvious. “Your mom’s the strongest person I know,” he continued, “but with everything …” He trailed off, not daring to say the dreaded ‘d-word’ aloud.
“This is where she needs to be,” he said, hardly saying anything at all. When she gave him a quizzical look he sighed to himself and tried a different tactic.
“The way your mom explained it, when it comes to gymnastics you have to trust your coach with your life as like, baseline. And then you go through something like your mom did when she got injured, that ratchets up to twenty,” he said with a helpless looking smile. “Sasha is the person that was there with her for the worst time in her life - they went through hell together and came out the other side.
“He’s her person,” he said, looking almost sad to Lola’s eyes. She still didn’t understand what he was trying to say - it all sounded like vague grown-up gibberish that circled around the answer instead of outright saying what he wanted to say. And after a year and a half of people hardly telling her anything, she was sick of it.
“You guys never tell me anything,” she said with a huff, petulantly crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m sorry, Lolly,” he said regretfully. “I wish I could explain it better.
“Sasha Belov is probably the best gymnastics coach in the world,” he added, as if to somehow soften his failure to answer her question with any meaningful answer, “and you’re gonna become a great gymnast with him as your coach.”
“There are lots of great coaches, dad,” she pointed out to him, like she had before they even left Minnesota. “Some of them even driving distance from Great Lakes.”
He nodded, conceding a point that he hadn’t before they left. It had been a foregone conclusion then, and would only have given false hope. “If you were any other gymnast your mother would agree with you entirely,” he acknowledged. “But he’s the only coach that she trust with the most important person in her life - other than maybe herself,” he added, his meaning clear to her this time. And that last addendum was a big maybe.
That part, she at least understood. Trust was the most important currency in gymnastics, and her mom had’t trusted Coach Ellison to get her to Junior Nationals. She hadn’t trusted Coach Ellison’s judgment when it came to Lola’s own capabilities. And she hadn’t trusted Coach Ellison or anyone at Great Lakes to catch Lola if she fell.
Which meant there wasn’t a second that Lola had spent training where she didn’t have Payson’s eyes on her like a hawk.
It was different at The Rock, that was for sure. At The Rock her mom was out on the floor, but she often had her own gymnasts to watch and to worry about. At The Rock Lola was Sasha’s responsibility, and her mom had happily conceded that ground without any of the power struggles that Lola had been blissfully unaware of at Great Lakes.
Lola wasn’t sure if she trusted Sasha Belov - not yet at least. But she knew her mom trusted him, and that was enough for now. At least as far as her gymnastics was concerned.
March 2027
Lola was starting to think that she was the only woman in her family that wasn’t completely enamoured with Sasha Belov.
Her grandparents were visiting from Minnesota - which was great. What wasn’t great was her grandmother gushing about how excited she was to be seeing Sasha again.
“Should I expect more of this when Aunt Becca visits?” She snarked to herself in a low tone, but loud enough for her grandpa to hear her from the seat in front of her. He snorted and shook his head.
“No, your Auntie Becca loves Sasha a normal amount,” he assured her, earning a teasing admonishment from her grandma, Kim.
And Lola got it, she really did. Sasha was an amazing coach and every gymnast he worked with had nothing but praise for him - including the likes of Austin Tucker who gushed about Sasha as much as his fellow Rock teammates. From what Lola understood, if not for Sasha, her mom would probably be a footnote in some other gymnast’s biography, so she probably had Sasha to thank for her very existence.
But that didn’t make it any easier to take.
Her grandma answered with a familiar tale of how much Sasha had done for her mom and for their family that made Lola want to roll her eyes. But she didn’t. Instead she caught her grandpa’s eyes in the rearview mirror and there was a look of understanding there that made her feel like - for once - she wasn’t the only one seeing it.
“Is everything okay, kid?” Mark asked once Kim had headed in to see Sasha and it was just the two of them left in the gym lobby.
Lola shrugged, unable to put any of it into words.
It wasn’t like anything was actually going on or like she actually had anything to complain about. She just hated even the possibility of anything happening and felt set with the unerring sense of dread that it was only a matter of time.
Even unsaid, her grandpa smiled consolingly and wrapped her in a warm hug that seemed to be enough to bolster her through another day of practice.
By the time Lola walked into the gym her mom and Sasha were on the floor, assigning the gymnasts ahead of conditioning. Sasha smiled at her as she met his eye.
“Lola, you’ll be on vault today,” he informed her, his commanding voice immediately grabbing her attention. “We’re going to start upgrading your Yurchenko, so I want an extra round of strength drills.”
“Got it, Coach,” she said as she put down her bag and changed out of her warmups.
“Just ‘Sasha’ is fine,” he responded automatically and for probably the thousandth time.
Lola smiled tightly - a grimace would be more accurate - and told herself she would call him Sasha next time, but knew it was a lie. Even though every other gymnast at The Rock called him ‘Sasha’ without batting an eyelash, Lola couldn’t bring herself to follow their lead.
She had reluctantly let go of calling him ‘Coach Belov’, at least outside of her head, after catching the painful expression it caused to overtake his features - like she was physically wounding him whenever she said it. But every time she tried to make herself call him by his preferred name she couldn’t help but be reminded of the breathlessly happy way her mother said his name, like she had been counting down the seconds until she saw him.
Because the thing was, even though Lola knew - intellectually - that Sasha Belov had nothing to do with her parents’ divorce and that her parents had been separated for a long time now, knowing that didn’t stop the irrational part of her brain from wanting to scream at him to ‘stay away from her family’ every time she heard her mother say his name like that.
It made her feel stupid and childish and it made her hate Sasha just a little even though he hadn’t done anything to truly warrant her ire.
It wasn’t like he was seducing her mom, or hitting on her, or doing anything that was really worth recriminating him for.
He was just there being a great coach and being a friend.
And it wasn’t his fault that her mother was completely in love with him.
April 2027
Normally Lola was the first gymnast to arrive for practice, but her dad was in Boulder and taking her to training that week, so she arrived ten minutes before practice - which was right on time as far as her mom and Sasha were concerned. The other gymnasts in her level were huddled together to one side, clearly only pretending to stretch while they looked at something on their phones.
Phones were strictly banned during practice, which technically didn’t start for another 10 minutes, but there would still be hell to pay if Sasha caught them with their phones on the floor, so whatever they were looking at must have been worth the risk.
It wasn’t like she approached them stealthily or anything. Maybe if she’d announced herself they would have hidden their phones away and she wouldn’t have had to see it. But she joined the circle without fanfare and leaned over Paige’s shoulder to see what was so important to risk doubling their conditioning.
Her eyes were assaulted by a relic of the 2010s. By oversaturated pictures and lens flares and someone meticulously documenting every hug between Payson Keeler and Sasha Belov from 2009 to 2012.
Which she supposed finally answered her question of whether anybody else had noticed.
She wasn’t sure which was worse: thinking she was seeing things and no one else noticed, or realising everyone noticed and no one was saying anything because it was too obvious to mention.
Practice was hell that day. She’d called Sasha ‘Coach Belov’ twice just to spite him and hadn’t spoken a word to her mother on the ride home.
So of course when they got home her mom insisted on talking.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Payson asked gently, going into full on mom-mode as soon as they stepped inside the house.
“It’s nothing,” Lola replied unconvincingly with a forceful shake of her head that seemed to go through her whole body.
So Payson just started listing things that it could be: Are you missing Minnesota? Your friends? Are you settling in at your new school? Are you making friends at the gym? Is there someone you’re not getting along with? Has someone been hurting you?
The list seemed to catastrophize and escalate as Lola answered ‘no’ to each scenario, until eventually …
“I don’t … you’re happy at The Rock? You like working with Sasha, don’t you?”
Because of course that was what her mom would consider to be the worst case scenario. She honestly looked like it would break her heart if that was the problem.
“I know that Sasha can be strict,” Payson continued before Lola could answer either way, “and maybe his style doesn’t work for everyone. But the way you’ve grown as a gymnast just in the last few months is incredible, Lola. And he might seem scary, but he’s secretly a big softy underneath. You just have to-“
Unable to take any more of her mother’s rousing prose about Sasha’s character Lola finally broke. “Is something going on with you and Sasha?” She managed to choke out, her words strung closely together and meaning clear without the need to ask for clarification.
Her mom froze, as though the question had physically stunned her into silence. And then she was moving quickly, pulling Lola into a tight hug and talking at a near frantic pace. “Nothing is going on. I promise you, Lola,” she said ardently. “Whatever you think … I don’t know. But I promise.”
She pulled back, grasping Lola’s face in her hands and speaking with absolute sincerity. And what she had to say was somehow worse than the frantic denials or any lie she might have attempted in that moment.
“I would never do that to you, Lola,” she promised.
And Lola’s heart sunk.
May 2027
There was no stark change between the time before and the time after.
Lola almost wished there had been something to mark it - a big fight or a week of silence instead of the gradual pulling back that was far too reminiscent of the time leading up to her parents’ separation. She wished that things had changed in some unquestionable way so that it didn’t feel like she’d taken a stand over nothing.
But Payson and Sasha still worked together in perfect sync, almost like they shared the same mind. Sasha still smiled when they arrived at the gym like he couldn’t quite believe his luck and Payson still said his name like it was something holy.
Those things were unconscious - like instinct. Impossible to change even if they tried.
What had changed was all the times between - lunch breaks, early morning meetings, late night discussions and take out. All casual interactions minimised and rescheduled, eliminating even the slightest hint of impropriety.
Lola wondered what her mom had said to explain her sudden distance. It must have been a good excuse. Sasha seemed the same as he always had and nobody seemed to question her mothers commitment to the gym.
And still Lola’s gut churned with guilt every time her mom left the gym early or made some excuse to avoid any more one-on-one time than was strictly necessary.
When Lola qualified that month to go to the Classic in August, she thought to herself that she probably could have done it even without Sasha Belov. But she wasn’t sure that she could say the same for her mother.
June 2027
Lola couldn’t take it any more.
Everything was going fine. Her gymnastics was improving in leaps and bounds. Her mom was being profiled in a gymnastics magazine as a ‘person to watch’ and her dad had finally figured out a schedule at OTC that meant he could spend more time in Boulder.
These things should have made her happy. But instead she felt miserable and guilt ridden and there was no one to blame for any of it but herself.
She could have been happy - they all could have been happy - but she’d chosen this instead.
She wanted to cry into her mom’s shoulder and take it all back, but it felt too far gone for that. So instead she called the only person she could turn to in times like these, spilling the whole sordid tale out between her tears and occasional bouts of vindication.
Lauren listened patiently and let Lola tell her everything, the same way she had through the separation and the divorce papers that had arrived three months ago. And when she was finally done, Lauren pulled no punches.
“You done fucked up, baby girl.”
Lola hadn’t expected to hear it quite so bluntly, opening her mouth to protest.
“Hey, no judgment from me,” Lauren said, waving her a hand in front of her face on the video call to cut off whatever defence Lola was about to mount. “If anyone knows about doing whatever it takes to keep their family together it’s me.
“You know my dad hasn’t had a serious girlfriend since I was sixteen,” she added, reminding Lola that Lauren was exactly the right person to call in these circumstances. “I’ve done way worse and been way more manipulative trying to keep women out of my dad’s life. So I absolutely get it.”
“So, what do I do?” Lola asked her, unable to help but sound desperate. “Do I just tell my mom I changed my mind?”
“Oh, baby girl,” Lauren said, wearing a tight smile and sounding almost indulgent. “Your mom is not the problem.
“You think Sasha hasn’t noticed anything’s changed,” she continued. “But Sasha notices everything when it comes to your mom. It’s been that way since he came to The Rock. If Payson so much as sneezed it had him on high alert,” she explained with just a touch of lingering bitterness.
“And you are basically an extension of your mom, so don’t think he hasn’t notice you treating him like a homewrecker,” Lauren added with a pointed look.
Lola cringed, her features clouding with guilt and looking very much put in her place by Lauren’s accusation.
“Sasha loves your mom and he would never do anything that would hurt her or jeopardise her relationship with you,” Lauren said very seriously, making herself absolutely clear. “He will literally put himself on a plane to a foreign country if he thinks that his actions are hurting one of his gymnasts - and you are Payson Keeler’s daughter so that probably goes for like a thousand times when it comes to even the possibility of hurting you, Lola.”
“Okay, but how do I fix it?” Lola asked, feeling even worse as Lauren laid out the ramifications of her actions.
Lauren grimaced and shook her head. “You’re not going to like it,” she said before explaining what it would take. “You are going to have convince Sasha that you won’t have a mental breakdown if he holds your mom’s hand and that you’re okay with the idea of him being with your mom,” she said rather glibly.
Then she became deadly serious. “Which means you have to really be okay with it, Lola,” she said, words heavy with concern. “And that’s okay if you’re not. No one expects you to be cool with your mom dating after only a couple of months.”
“I just want mom to be happy,” Lola said with a loud sniff, feeling her eyes welling with tears. “I want to be okay with, but …”
“I know, Lol,” Lauren said gently. “How about for now we just work on you convincing Sasha that you don’t actually hate him?
“And when you’re ready for phase two, you give me a call.”
July 2027
It turns out, when Lola wasn’t actively trying to hate him, Sasha Belov was quite likeable.
He was still a total hard-ass and there were still days when Lola begged for death. But he was also sarcastic and silly and like crazy passionate about gymnastics. And he cared about them all so damn much that it seemed impossible for anyone to have a heart that big.
Lola was by no means a member of the Sasha Belov Fan Club, but she got it - like truly this time. She got why all these incredible gymnasts were always singing his praises and why all the women in in her family were so obsessed with him.
She got why her mom was in love with him.
And after about a month and a half she was starting to feel okay with it. So she called up Lauren.
“Okay, phase two,” Lauren said looking devilish and gleeful. “You need to talk to Sasha. I’ll deal with your mom.”
“Just like … in the gym? In front of everyone tell him … what do I even say?” Lola asked skeptically and a little bit scared.
“Well, obviously you don’t do it in front of a gym full of people,” Lauren retorted with a roll of her eyes. “You just need an excuse to stay late. Or you could mess up all day and Sasha will want to fix the problem after practice so it doesn’t carryover to the next day.”
Lola still didn’t feel convinced. “Won’t my mom want to stay with us?”
Lauren waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll work on that,” she assured blithely. “As to what to say, just be straightforward. Tell him to ask her out. Sasha appreciates honesty.”
Lola had really expected something more concrete when Lauren had hinted at phase two, but sometimes you work with what you have. So the next day Lola suddenly found herself coming down with a severe case of the ‘twisties’ and as Lauren predicted, Sasha insisted that she stay behind so they could work through it.
Almost an hour after practice ended her mom came down from the office to check on her progress.
“Lauren’s having some kind of emergency, are you guys okay here?” Payson asked, looking first at Lola and then at Sasha.
Lola nodded as Sasha asked if she wanted him to drop Lola off at Rigo’s place when they were done, and Payson looked at him like he was her hero. She dropped a kiss to the top of Lola’s head and raced off to deal with Lauren Tanner.
Lola waited about twenty minutes longer to have her ‘breakthrough’ and for her ‘twisties’ to be suddenly cured.
As they finished up, Sasha gave her a gentle smile. “You’re gonna do great at the Classic, Lola,” he said, his voice full of sincerity. “There’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll be going to Nationals.”
Taking that as her opening, Lola took a deep breath to mount her courage and finally broached the issue she’d been holding onto all day.
“I think you should date my mom,” she said, blunt and to the point.
He blinked at her in surprise. “What?”
“You heard me,” she shrugged, reluctant to repeat herself.
He continued to look at her owlishly, but at least addressed her directive this time. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Lola,” he said carefully, “but I was under the impression that you didn’t like me.”
She tilted her head on a 45 degree angle, looking like a confused puppy, and asked, “What would give you that idea?”
“The ‘Coach Belov’ thing for starters,” he said with a sardonic smile and a snort of amusement.
Lola waved a hand dismissively, channeling Lauren in that moment to force past any potential awkwardness. “That wasn’t about me not liking you. That was about my mom liking you too much,” she told him. “But I’m over it. So if me not liking you is what’s stopping you from dating my mom that is no longer an issue.”
When he continued to look at her incredulously she sighed and shook her head, looking very much like her mother despite the brown curls that had fallen free of her signature bun. “Sasha, I think you should date my mom,” she repeated, looking him dead in the eye and trying to make her voice sound all confident and certain.
His automatic responses to the initial demand was a sure sign of how much her statement had thrown him. This time he took a moment before he responded. “Lola,” he said, his voice dropping into that low coaching tone as he found his bearings. “I’ve seen how these things play out. When a coach crosses that line with one of his gymnasts parents, it always ends badly.”
“Lauren said you’d say that,” Lola answered, slightly fascinated by how predictable her coach was. “She said to tell that you that you shouldn’t compare yourself to Marty Walsh and that secrets always end badly.
“I don’t really know what she’s talking about, but I think it wouldn’t end badly,” she added with a hopeful smile.
He grimaced at her persistence and tried again. “You’re about to go to your first major competition, and the last thing you need is something like this distracting you,” he told her, his protests getting weaker.
Lola gave him a pointed look. “Not to play the ‘do you know who my mom is’ card, but I am Payson Keeler’s daughter,” she told him dryly. “I got through half a season of training while being mad because my mom likes you. At this point, I think the not dating is a bigger distraction than you actually dating would be.”
“Lola … “ Sasha began, struggling to find another excuse.
“So far you’ve given me three reasons why you shouldn’t date my mom and none of them have been that you don’t want to,” she cut in, the sudden insight surprising even Lola herself. “You must really like her.”
Sasha choked on whatever he was about to say, taken aback by the accusation.
“Anyway, my dad’s here,” she said, glancing down as her phone buzzed in her hand. “See you tomorrow, Sasha.”
When Lola arrived at practice the next day no one was working on the floor. Every gymnast in The Rock was intently watching the scene playing out in front of them framed by the office window.
They weren’t fighting. There wasn’t even a hint at raised voices. But it was clear they were talking at odds on a matter of grave importance.
In hindsight Lola wondered if she’d been a little too candid and forthright in her speech.
Lauren, who was already at the gym when Lola arrived, came up beside her. “Sasha will be the holdout,” she said quietly, completely enraptured like she was watching an episode from her favourite reality television show and not the pivotal moment in her best friend’s love life.
Lola wondered if she should say something or intervene - she was the catalyst in all this after all - but there was nothing else any of them could do but lay witness as the two coaches continued their discussion completely oblivious to their audience.
For a moment it looked like it was all over, but then Lauren whispered beside her, “she has him.”
In the office window Payson threw up her arms in defeat, left him with one last remark, and then took a step back as if to leave. Almost simultaneously, before she could turn away, Sasha grasped her hand and pulled her back towards him. In one fluid movement the pair were lip locked in front of a gym full of gymnasts.
Despite the catcalling and wolf whistling that followed, it was several moments before either noticed their audience and pulled away from the embrace. Eventually Sasha pried open the window and yelled at the room to get back to conditioning, but his usual fierceness seemed to be softened by the fact that he still mostly wrapped around his fellow coach.
“You okay, baby girl?” Lauren asked, linking her arm with Lola’s and silently appraising her for any signs of distress.
“I am,” Lola assured her in a small voice. “She looks happy, doesn’t she?”
“Completely,” Lauren agreed.