All for the Mirrorball

Chapter 2 - If You Dance I'll Dance

Apparently it was a short walk to their lunch spot. Alan checked his phone as soon as they were out of the building.

"You already posted that?" he asked in disbelief.

"What? Of course. The joy only dies in the drafts."

"Holy crap. It already has twice as many likes as my last 5 videos combined. That's embarrassing for me."

"Stick with me, kiddo," Ilona said as she gave him a friendly bump on the shoulder.

Alan looked up, clearly offended. "Ilona, how old are you?"

"Twenty eight. And?"

"I'm thirty years old, Ilona."

"Okay, kiddo. Good for you."

"Ilona!"

She couldn't help but laugh at him. "Okay, drama queen. So, tell me... what was it like to live through the Great Depression?" she asked.

Alan spun to face her. "What?"

"Are you even on tik tok?" She replied.

"Yes!" He argued back. "Here's the place," he said as he turned to open the door to the cafe, grateful he hadn't actually defended himself by saying Rylee and Ezra (the two gen z pros) think he's cool. That would've been embarrassing.

Emma actually greeted Ilona first. "Oh my god, Ilona? You're like my favorite Olympian!"

She immediately hugged her.

Ilona got out an "Oh my God, thank you so much!" before Alan chimed in to call Emma a liar.

"What about the gymnasts?" he said with a smirk.

Ilona laughed, told Alan that was "actually the correct opinion anyway" and sat down to meet Emma's partner.

"Hi, Reggie! I'm a huge fan. My name is Ilona!" she said as she reached out to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Ilona. That's so kind, and you are beautiful like a Greek goddess! I'm glad we'll be doing this crazy thing together!"

Alan chuckled at his comment and introduced himself.

Had he wanted to sit by Emma? Ilona thought to herself. She'd taken the seat across from Reggie without thinking. Are they an item?

They had a really nice lunch. Emma was super sweet and excited about the season, and Reggie is an icon.

"Hey Reggie, want to know something funny? You're one of the stars of Alan's favorite rom coms," she said, doing air quotes as she said the last two words with emphasis.

Alan fell into a fit of laughter as he explained himself.

After lunch, Reggie and Emma took an uber back to the studio, while Ilona and Alan walked.

"Are you nervous about any of this?" Alan said, looking over at her.

"Are you kidding? Of course I am; look at me - this is so out of my wheelhouse," she said with a shrug. "The thing is that I'm equally, if not more, excited."

Alan let out a little squeal that subsequently made Ilona giggle. "Okay I don't know what 'look at me' means, but... you're not just saying that? You really mean it?"

"I'm pretty no-nonsense, Alan. I mean, I'm hilarious, but... you know what I mean."

"I do. I really do," he said. She could've sworn his eyes were twinkling. Damn, I need to lay off the fae romance novels, she thought.

"And speaking of no-nonsense, hear me when I say this - Ilona, I'm here for you through this. I'm not just here for the dancing, but for the pep talks and the freak outs and literally whatever you need."

"Right. Team," she said with a nod.

"Team," he said back.

As soon as they made it back to the studio, they were sent to hair and makeup. It took an inordinate amount of time, but it gave Ilona a chance to decompress and scroll through tik tok. It gave her a few content ideas, too.

By the end of it, she felt so good about herself. They styled her hair perfectly, got her all glammed up, and dressed her in a stunning off the shoulder corset dress.

Let's just say Alan was impressed. "I knew you were beautiful, Ilona, but... wow."

Ilona blushed. "You're not too shabby yourself," she replied with a smirk. She wasn't even lying, he was looking fit. "Wait, have you been working out?"

"Yeah, I've really toned my physique since you last saw me." Alan joked.

"No, seriously. In the off season? You look good."

She could've sworn he blushed. It's probably just his stage makeup, she thought.

"Oh! Actually... yeah. I started trying to tone up in April... thanks, Ilona."

"That's amazing! The gym is my third favorite place. We'll have to go some time."

"Free workout tips from an Olympian? Hell yeah," he said with a smile.

They got through all of their promo photos and videos. Alan thought Ilona was like a real professional - she was much better in front of the camera than a lot of athletes he'd seen before. She was a little more awkward when filming, but still did a great job.

"You know what?" he said to her, walking out of the staging area.

"No, what?"

"I think we might have a shot at this."

"We haven't even danced yet! For all you know, I have two left feet."

Alan broke into laughter. "Okay, okay. I won't get ahead of myself. I feel good about it though."

"Me too."

She was engulfed in another warm hug. He was not kidding about being touchy.

"We need to take advantage of this glam and do a tik tok!" she said as she pulled back.

"Oh, good idea. Did you... have something in mind?" Alan said a little awkwardly. He had no ideas to contribute.

"Yeah! Let's do the Lana del Rey trend!"

She set up the camera and they made a cute little video. Afterwards, Alan walked her to her car and said goodbye before heading back in for a final pros-only meeting of the day.

Ilona called her sisters on the way home. They were beyond excited to hear about the events of the day. "It went... really well, actually." Let's hope it goes well when I'm actually dancing, she caught herself thinking later.

**** If anyone's actually reading this, let me know your thoughts! Love you! xx ****