Gym Rats - Jackson Olson x OC

43

Cecelia's POV

We are in Norfolk for the weekend, home of the Baltimore Orioles' Triple-A affiliate. This is my first time at this stadium, and it is beautiful. Right by the water, with plenty of great seafood places, one of which Jackson and I had hit last night after arriving. The food was incredible.

For this first game, I'm throwing out the first pitch again. Yet again, this is all to appease Jesse. He wanted me to be in the game for an entire half inning. This isn't my show, this is Jackson's show. But he honestly wouldn't leave me alone without doing a first pitch for what is technically my hometown crowd. This, and then I disappear behind Jackson for a while.

"Throwing out our first pitch tonight is diehard Orioles fan, and Olympic silver and gold medalist Cecelia Brown!"

The crowd erupts into cheers as I go out to the pitchers mound, and Jackson squats behind home plate. Again, I'm wearing Jackson's jersey, with my medals around my neck with pride.

"Remember, this counts as a ball or a strike! Whenever you're ready Cecelia, it's your pitch!"

I go through the motions, and this time the ball lands in the dirt. Jackson and I shrug at one another, laughing, before he jogs out to me, giving me the ball back, but in reality I place it back in his glove.

"A gift, for you," I say to him.

He chuckles, "Thank you," he says before we hug, then he takes my hand with his free one and shows me off to the crowd, which makes me blush and laugh a bit as the cheers erupt again.

The rest of the game, I am happily content in my own seat with some of the other Bananas girlfriends that traveled here. I had put my medals away in their boxes and into my backpack, but all the girls want to talk to me about Paris. Thankfully, they are understanding of me wanting to watch Jackson play. When 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA plays, Jackson finds me, and looks directly at me as he dances to the song. I dance in my seat with him, before he focuses back on the pitch being thrown. He dances the whole game, he just looks so happy. And that makes me happy.

I watch Jackson get a couple hits and a bunch of trick plays as the Bananas end up winning the game. Like clockwork, I end up out in the parking lot with the other girlfriends to wait for our Bananas. But, to my surprise, I am approached by a woman who must be in her 40s, and her three children. My breathing hitches as I recognize exactly who it is. My aunt.

"Cecelia," she says to me.

No, no, no. This cannot be happening.

"Kelly..." I say, as I can't bring myself to call her my aunt.

"It's been some time."

No kidding. "Yeah..." I'm honestly not sure what to say to the woman standing in front of me, but what is more shocking is her three kids.

"These are your cousins. Cody, Blake and Allie. They are 13, 10 and 7."

I look down at the three kids in front of me. Cody, the oldest, is the only one brave enough to wave at me. Blake and Allie just give me a gentle smile. I'm conflicted. On one hand, this is the woman who killed my brother, who changed my entire life in one night. My father has never said a word about his little sister since Saxon's passing. I didn't know she had children now. My cousins. I don't know what to do, or say. Her kids are being robbed of having me as their older cousin for something that they never did.

"Hi," I say to the kids, "It's nice to meet you guys."

The kids also don't respond, just waving again to me. Boy, this is awkward.

"Look, Cecelia, I want my children to at least know some of their family."

"I—" I'm so lost. "I don't know what to say, honestly." This is when I feel Jackson's arm come across my back, and his presence immediately soothes me.

"Do you know them?" Jackson asks me.

"Jackson, this is... my aunt."

Jackson's hand presses me closer to him, which makes me take a deep breath, knowing I'm safe with him, "Oh, it's... nice to meet you. I believe we all took a picture earlier."

I don't know why, but that sentence makes my blood boil. He's just doing his job, but I don't want my aunt and my boyfriend to have a picture together.

"Cecelia, I just want you to think about your cousins. We are in town for the weekend, can we have lunch? I'll pay for everything."

My father would kill me for being so nice and forgiving to her. But, I have to think about the three little faces standing in front of me. My weakness: children.

"Does tomorrow work?"

Jackson looks over at me, and I look up at him, reassuring him that I will be okay. He exhales a bit, I don't think he likes this idea either.

"Yes. How about... noon, at Colby's?"

"Okay. See you there," I say as my aunt walks away with her kids following behind. I turn to Jackson when she's out of ear shot. "What on Earth did I just do?"

Jackson pulls me in for a hug, rubbing my back gently, "You're thinking of your cousins."

"I didn't know I had cousins," I say as I start to cry.

"I need to get you back to the hotel," Jackson says, making sure nobody is paying attention to us and quickly taking my hand and taking me to his rental car. My mind and body are numb at this point, only knowing that he's protecting me, so I helplessly follow him to the car.

Once I am back in my hotel room, that's when I feel myself completely shut down. Jackson had gone back to his own room (the team bought him his room, I had to pay for my own). I decide to change into some gym clothes, because there is a gym in this hotel... thank god. Jackson is supposed to come back for me, but he dropped me and my backpack of medals off so he could quickly shower.

In a flash, I'm already heading down the stairs to the gym. There's really nothing in the gym that sparks my particular interest, I just want to hurt. So, I get on the treadmill and start with some heavy running. That was so unexpected, that now the stress of that situation has caught up to me, and I feel my heart rate increase. Is it because of the anxiety or because of the cardio? I keep running, trying to drown out all the memories that have associated with that one person. Losing my brother, seeing my parents cry, how February 2nd (his birthday) is always a hard day, how October 1st (his date of passing) I always end up waking up due to a nightmare.

I find my legs giving out on the treadmill as I just now realize I'm crying. I shut the treadmill off and sit down on its edge. Thankfully nobody is in here as I begin to sob.