You Were Always on My Mind

"Hey Jake! Do you mind helping me with something?" Samantha calls out into the house. I walk out of my room and head to the living room where I hear her voice.

"What do you need?" I ask.

"I need someone to spot me on my gymnastics flips so that I don't hurt myself. I have mats out here, but that won't be enough."

"I can try to help."

For twenty minutes, I attempt to spot Sammy, but I just can't figure out what to do with her body and how exactly to flip her.

"Well, this isn't exactly working," I say laughing a bit as Sammy just lays on her back, "want me to just give you a ride to that little gymnastics place in Port Angeles?"

"That would be great," Sammy responds getting up. She puts the mats back in the shed then we get into Henry's car and drive off to Port Angeles. Sammy sips on her water the whole ride trying to rehydrate from our failed attempt at gymnastics. Once we reach the small gym, Sammy is greeted by all of the workers in the front office.

"You're in luck Samantha, it's free open gym tonight," the front clerk informs Sammy with a grin.

"Thanks Robin. How have things been around here?" Sammy asks, giving Robin her full attention.

"We've been doing really well this year, thanks for asking. Are you going to volunteer here again this summer? The kids and parents all loved you. Ivan can retrain you and catch you up on all the kids names."

"I think I can make time to do it again, but for tonight I need to get this guy to learn how to spot me. Jacob, this is Robin. Robin, this is Jacob."

"Pleased to meet you. Maybe if you're a quick learner, you could help out too. Obviously, you would work alongside Samantha so that you have someone who really knows the sport and routine," Robin suggests.

"That sounds like fun. You wouldn't mind me joining, would you Samantha?" I ask.

"No, it would be great to have you helping me. You can hold more weight than I can so that would be a huge help plus all of the boys will love you," Sammy assures me.

"Ivan or you can just tell me how he does," Robin says turning back to her computer.

We walk into the gym and Sammy is greeted by even more people. I've been here a few times before to watch her practice and work last summer, but not enough to recognize many faces.

"Hey Ivan! Do you have a class right now?" Sammy asks hugging a very muscular guy. I get slightly jealous before remembering that he's supposed to be here to help me.

"Not for another hour; what do you need?" Ivan asks.

"Well I need someone who can spot me at home and I was hoping that you could teach Jacob here. Plus, he may be my little assistant when I start working here again," Sammy informs him.

"I can definitely help out. Jacob seems to have a lot of potential strength wise," Ivan comments.

"Probably cause he's star quarterback," Sammy says, trying to show me off as usual. Ivan nods with a look of approval.

Sammy makes me start with that basics like spotting on cartwheels and somersaults. These are super easy to do since Sammy has perfected the moves. Next we work on spotting back handsprings and back tucks which are pretty difficult. She does perfectly well on the back handsprings, but hand placement is a little awkward for me and she seems to absolutely hate the back tucks although she does them perfectly. Randomly, we are interrupted by little kids or staff members greeting her.

"You really need to support their weight as they flip and holding their lower back is usually the best way to do it," Ivan informs me. He places my hand on Sammy's back. We practice spotting back tucks this way and it's a lot easier for me to maneuver her. When it comes to the moves that Sammy really needs help on, Ivan does all of the spotting. I stand off to the side, trying not to get in the way and watching in amazement at all of the things that Sammy can do. Soon enough, Ivan has to go to take care of his class.

"Hey Samantha, can you come over here and show Lauren how to do a specific set in her bar routine?" one of the coaches call out while she walks toward her.

"Definitely!" Sammy answers then turns to me. "Would you like to join me and watch?"

"Of course," I respond. She takes my hand in hers and leads me through the gymnasts, to the bars. The coach, whose name is Jenny, explains the routine and Sammy nods listening to all she says carefully.

"Need me to spot or do you think you have it?" Jenny asks.

"I just ended high school gymnastics two months ago so I think I'm fine, but you might want to stand nearby in case."

She puts on her grips, applies some chalk and gets onto the bars. I watch as she easily goes from move to move, bar to bar. I am in complete awe and I bet my mouth is just hanging open the whole time.

"Lauren, do you want me to go through it again?" Sammy asks the gymnast who was watching her in deep concentration.

"Can you do the Deltchev again? I just really needed to see hand placement on everything else," Lauren says.

"Of course," Sammy replies smiling at her. Sammy goes on the bars once again and smoothly moves from the lower bar to the taller one. After one rotation, she swings up and flips in the air before opening her legs into a straddle with a slight turn to grab the bar.

"Thanks Samantha!"

"Hey Sammy, do you mind helping me with a floor routine since I know that it's your specialty," another gymnasts asks as Sammy takes off her grips.

"Definitely Taylor," Sammy answers following her to the large square floor. "Jake just stand behind the white line or even off of the floor and you'll be fine."

"Is that your boyfriend?" I overhear Taylor ask in a whisper. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Samantha look over me with a smile and shakes her head no.

"Well go ahead and show me the routine first," Sammy insists.

I watch Taylor go first insisting that it doesn't flow correctly. She takes Sammy step by step through the routine and Sammy seems to learn fast enough. She adds a few moves, a few flips and takes some of the 'easier' moves out.

"You're a great gymnast Taylor, but I think you're relying too much on the basics because you feel comfortable there. You need to step out of your comfort zone and it'll flow a lot better."

Sammy performs the routine twice, once with the music playing, to see if she needs to add any more. In the end, she has very few things to add and even fewer to take out. She goes through the routine with Taylor, who is exuberant about how well the routine has come together.

"It's perfect, thank you so much!" Taylor exclaims hugging Samantha.

"Anytime, I'm going to try and be around most of this summer."

She walks back toward me then leads me to the benches to wait for open gym since Ivan has a class. Once open gym begins, Sammy introduces me to some of the other instructors. I meet Eric, Jason, and Tori.

"Samantha! You're back!" Jason exclaims giving her a large hug.

"Hopefully I'll be around most of the summer," she says hugging him back. "Jason, this is Jacob. Jacob, this is Jason."

"Nice to meet you," I say shaking Jason's hand and he smiles at me. He gives Sammy a curious look, but she shakes her head no.

While Sammy goofs around with some of the kids, the guys all give me some advice except for Eric who is watching over some of the boys on rings.

"Samantha, get over here," Ivan demands but smiles at her. We're on the tumble track which is just a long trampoline. The guys tell me the tricks to spotting her, Jason showing me most of the tricks since he's most experienced. I try them on Sammy, our practice dummy, and all the tips are super helpful. In the end, they all tell me that I should definitely work with Sammy. We end up practicing with a few kids at open gym. Sammy leads a group of younger kids who are uncertain what to do around the gym and gives them different fun tasks to do. After a while though, Ivan takes over while Jason spots her on the moves she really needs.

"Let's try doing them into the pit," Jason says bringing her to a small angled trampoline. She does a full twist onto the mat in the pit.

"I can do it fine from the trampoline, but once I try and incorporate it into the set I can't get it," Sammy informs Jason after her third time doing it and landing perfectly. Jason takes her to the side of the gym where there's a long stretch of spring floor. He instructs her to do a roundoff, back handspring, back layout. She struggles to do the layout because she's so close to the floor.

"You need more power in the back handspring," Jason comments, "do a roundoff, back handspring with a rebound at the end."

Sammy does as Jason says and her rebound doesn't go as high as she wants. Jason instructs her to do it again with more power behind the round off. This time, her rebound is very high. She does the full set with a simple back layout at the end and she does a lot better this time around. After a few practices doing the set with a back layout, Sammy tries with the full twist and Jason spots her. The move is perfect, flawless.

"Great job," Jason says, "you just need to make sure you start out strong."

"Okay, how about a front aerial?" Sammy asks Jason. I watch as Jason patiently works with Samantha on all of the flips she struggles more with and he always seems to have a solution. We goof around in the gym for the last ten minutes of open gym and Sammy makes me swing into the foam pit.

"You guys work well together," Ivan says joining us on the large trampoline, "and I'll make sure to tell Robin that you're good enough to work."

"Thanks Ivan," Sammy says then turn to me, "ready to go? Open gym night is over."

"Yes please," I respond and Sammy laughs at me then hops off. She says bye to all of the coaches first then lets me lead her to the car.

We get into Henry's car and turn up the AC and drink plenty of water. I am completely exhausted, but Sammy has already signed us up for the rest of the week. This time, we'll have classes every hour and I think Sammy said something about working with the younger kids.

Once we get back to the house, Sammy convinces me to stay up and watch movies with her. I go home and shower quickly then walk across the driveway in my PJs. Sammy has all of her favorite movies displayed on the table in the extra room. We curl up on the couch like old times and watch whatever movie Sammy is in the mood for. I quickly fall asleep, exhausted from all of the hard work.

I wake up in the middle of the night to a bright blue screen and Sammy sleeping, head on my lap. I gently move her, turn off the TV and readjust on the couch then fall asleep with Sammy fitted between the couch and myself.

***

I wake up alone in Sammy's guest room and hear chatter from the kitchen. I get up and walk over to the kitchen seeing Alex, Sammy, and Tim talking.

"You knocked out quickly last night," Sammy comments greeting me with a smile.

"You tired me out with gymnastics," I accuse her.

"Jacob, your dad wanted me to let you know that he stopped by looking for you," Tim informs me. I nod my head and wonder what he needs me for.

"Breakfast?" Sammy offers.

"Of course," I answer. I quickly eat breakfast then head over to my house to find my dad. "You needed me?"

"I was hoping we could make a quick trip to the grocery store this morning," my dad says from the kitchen.

"Sure, just let me change," I tell him then head to my room.

At the grocery store, we only get the essentials. We can't afford to get anything more than what we need, but this time my dad lets me choose any food of my liking. I grab a bag of chips, something cheap. We run into a lot of people we know as usual, but this time we see old Quil Ateara.

"Why hello Billy and Jacob," he greets, "how are you two doing?"

"Fine Quil," my dad says shaking his hand, "how's old age treating you these days."

"I feel like I'm in my twenties today so I decided to go grocery shopping. I usually make my grandson do it, but today is a good day," he replies with a large smile.

"That's good to hear," Billy replies smiling back.

"Well I will leave you two to finish off. It was nice seeing you," Quil says then heads off to the fruit section.

We get back home and I help my dad bring in all of the groceries. He offers to put everything away while I head over to Samantha's house. We spend the rest of the day together with Alex before we have to head off to gymnastics. Around 3 o'clock, we head over to Port Angeles to the small gym. This time, everyone from yesterday greets me as well, but there are new coaches and Sammy introduces me to all of them before we start classes.

"Samantha, you can work with the beginners from 4:00-5:30 with Jacob," Robin informs us. We head over with one of the binders and wait for the kids to line up. A few of the kids recognize Sammy and seem very excited to be in her class.

"Okay you guys, follow us to the big trampoline for warm-ups," Sammy instructs them. The kids around anywhere from the ages of 6-10. We head to the big trampoline and Sammy shows the kids exactly what she wants them to do. The kids listen to her for the most part.

"Aren't they just so cute?" Sammy whispers in my ear smiling as she watches them do straddle, tuck, pike jumps.

"They sure are," I reply watching the smile on her face light up her eyes.

Sammy lets the kids have some free time on the big trampoline to do as they want. Some want to do front handsprings while the more advanced ones try front tucks. Since they are all small, Sammy takes care of spotting them. Next, we head over to the big floor to stretch. While she leads the kids in stretches, I am forced to follow along, she lets me take role call and all of the kids except two are here.

"Can anyone here do bridge walks?" She asks. A bunch of the girls raise their hands and one boy does. "Show me!"

The kids are all excited to show off their skills and the little boy is actually the fastest one in the group.

"That was awesome you guys! Michael do you practice that a lot?" Sammy asks giving them all high fives. The little boy blushes a little but nods his head. "Thats great, if you guys practice a lot you'll get better at whatever you want to do, like Michael. Okay, now time for the tumble track, follow coach Jacob."

I lead the kids to the tumble track and Sammy instructs them to line up on the side of the track, preferably on the ground. Sammy shows them what she wants them to do then joins me on the opposite side of the kids. The kids do cartwheels and round-offs; Sammy makes me do it a few times with them.

"Coach Jacob is new so he's learning too like you guys," Sammy says laughing a little but smiling at the kids. "Watch how his hands face each other when he does a cartwheel. It helps him push off with his right hand to get back up."

We move back to the big floor after twenty minutes on the tumble track. Sammy and I put out mats and it looks like a giant obstacle course. Sammy tells them all what she wants them to do at each station and they do similar stuff to the tumble track. The different stations include cartwheels, handstands, and back handsprings. She puts me with the kids who are trying back handsprings. The kids sit on what looks like Pac-Man's mouth and push off the floor with their toes so that their hands hit the ground and they flip their feet over.

After finishing with the beginners, we are placed with the more advanced class. Practice for them behind with jumps that are more complex and better done than the first kids. Next, they do back handsprings all by themselves, except for the ones who crazily toss themselves over. Sammy offers to spot these kids and almost gets hit in the face a few times. While Sammy has a handle on everything, Ivan calls me over to help me with spotting tricks.

"So are you and Sammy dating?" Ivan asks casually.

"Nope," I reply hoping this will end the conversation. I glance over at Sammy and watch as she shows a girl how to do a front tuck correctly.

"Well you should ask her out before you miss the chance," Ivan suggests following my gaze, "she's a pretty special girl."

"Yeah she is," I whisper, but Ivan doesn't hear me or acts like he didn't. He drops the subject and goes back to helping me with gymnastics.

The next group of kids come in, most of them are boys. Sammy works really well with the girls, but the boys seem to like me more. The guys trail behind me as I lead them to the beam. Sammy shows them on the highest beam what she wants from the girls. Ivan helps me work with the guys on the rings. Ivan even lets me try to do some moves, but I fall on my ass a lot. After this class, we are completely done with gymnastics for the day and I'm very sore. I watch as Ivan spots Sammy on a few moves and we jump into the pit from the ceiling a few times. We head back to my house tonight. Sammy and I pick some more movies to watch. This time, we watch action movies and Sammy falls asleep first. When Sammy falls asleep halfway through Rush Hour, I carry her back home.

"I'll help you," Alex says when he spots me from the living room. He opens the door for me upstairs and takes care of Sammy once I put her on the bed.

"So what have you two been up to these past two days?" Alex asks once we shut the room door.

"It's been fun, I've never done gymnastics before," I answer, "spotting is hard."

"It gets easier. She made me go to that gymnastics place with her a few times, but it just wasn't my thing."

"I like it a lot more than I thought I would."

"Do you like gymnastics or the opportunity to be with Sammy?" Alex asks with a knowing look.

"You know it's both, you don't have to bring it up so often," I respond shoving him a little.

"Just ask her out. Hell, just kiss her! I don't just tell this to every guy Sammy talks to you know."

I head home and find my dad waiting up, watching TV.

"So you spent the night over at Samantha's yesterday," my dad states, "but you won't ask her out?"

"I just don't want to scare her away or ruin our friendship."

"But you may never get the chance if you keep waiting."

"I've been told."

"Then do something about it, son."

"I'll try."