[olympic bound]
Lauren says her aversion to beanies - and the people who wear them - is completely psychological. Payson would much rather beanies were altogether banned in London. Land of the hipsters, it seems, what with the current boy bands topping the charts and who knows whatever else. She's not one to let anything like that taint all the way they've come, though, of course not. She finds herself walking around her stomping grounds in anticipation, never mind that it's somewhat past her bedtime. Boulder-time-wise, she'd still be at the gym.
So, of course that's where she's at. Even if this gym is a little bit alien to her yet - no matter how many daylight hours she's put into it - it does feel more comfortable than her hotel room at the village. As someone else so eloquently put it, it is a gym. Gyms have had as much presence in her life for the last 18 years as her own home.
Payson breathes in and out, closes her eyes. Forgets for a few moments that her hair is in pigtails, that she's wearing her pajamas underneath a borrowed hoodie that belonged to her Dad once upon a time, or that her floor routine is good but not perfect enough to assure her that she's gold-bound. She's Payson Keeler, and the world has expectations for her. She has greater ones for herself.