Ilona woke up with her usual 5:30 alarm, had a protein shake, got a workout in, and got dressed for rehearsal.
At 7:05, she pulled out her phone to text Alan. She was surprised to see the three little bubbles under his original "This is Ilona! (:" text from yesterday. She waited.
Alan: Do you have any dietary restrictions?
Ilona: Nope!
Alan: Okay. Two more: 1. Do you like sausage? 2. Would you prefer a breakfast burrito or a sandwich?
Ilona: 1. Yes sir. 2. Ooh, I'm leaning towards burrito, but whichever you recommend!
Ilona: How do you like your coffee?
Alan: No, it's okay
Alan: Don't feel pressured to get me anything!
Ilona: I was literally about to text you, Alan. Coffee order?
Alan: Okay... I believe you :) Oat milk latte, please.
Ilona: 🫡She beat Alan to the parking lot.
He knew he was smiling big as he pulled into an open spot.
"Wow, I've never had an earlybird partner before. I could get used to this."
She laughed at him. "I'd normally have been a few minutes earlier - I just didn't want the coffee to get cold."
"That's amazing. I love Olympic champions. Shall we?" He gestured to the building.
"We shall," she said with a curtsy and a laugh.
Inside, they took five minutes for breakfast and then finally started dancing.
"So... here we go," Ilona said with some hesitancy.
After stretching, they started with some basic dance positioning and steps.
"We're going to start slow," Alan reassured, "and we have extra time before the first live show, so we can cover some basics and then get into our first dance."
Ilona nodded.
"I'd be lying if I said it'd be easy."
"It's okay. I like tough," she said with a smile. He actually believed her.
Ilona was starting to understand why all the dancers were so touchy - they were so close for so many of the basic steps, of course they don't understand personal space!
After a while, he said that they should take a water break and talk it out.
"You're doing really well so far."
"Really? I think you're just saying that. I feel like a newborn giraffe, tripping all over myself."
"It's day one! Your footwork is actually really good. You're a little stiff, but we'll work on adding fluidity to your movement and that will help you feel more stable too."
"Okay, yeah. That makes sense. I can work on it."
They spent the rest of their short break talking more casually. She opened up more about her personal reasons for dancing, and wanting to strengthen other aspects of herself. He was, once again, impressed by her.
Ilona felt better and somehow more coordinated after their break. They did a lot of repeated exercise and she could see her own improvement by the end. The time flew by. They danced, chatted, recorded a new tik tok, then danced some more.
During one of the breaks, Ilona went over to crafty for a snack and met Jenna, one of the pros. She was a gem, and introduced Ilona to her new partner, Joey, who was a recent bachelor.
"My mom loves the bachelor! She's going to be even more jealous of me," she told Joey confidently.
"Are you kidding? Kelsey is obsessed with you! She's going to flip when I tell her you're here and seem just as cool in person."
"I can't wait to meet her! Anyway, how is the first day of dancing going?" Ilona asked, looking between Jenna and Joey.
"Better than I expected," Joey said, "but wow, what a workout!"
Jenna laughed at him while nodding, but added "I think Ilona's pretty used to a strenuous workout, Joe."
"True," Ilona responded with a smile. "This is a whole new beast though. We're going to have so much fun."
On her way back into their studio space, she bumped into Emma, who was leaving. She was laughing about how Alan and the other pros pranked her on tik tok, then told Ilona she hoped the first day of dance was going well, and went off to find Reggie.
Before they wrapped for the day, Alan gave her some of his favorite takeout places for her facetime date with her sisters. She was exhausted, but feeling better after finally getting the dancing started.
That night, Alan went back and watched all of their tik toks again. God, she's funny. He also saw Ilona's newest thirst trap, and it got him a little hot and bothered.
He scrolled down, only to find her looking like an actual goddess in a red bikini posing for Sports Illustrated.
Who is this girl?, he thought. He still couldn't believe she was ever bullied for her body. He quickly told himself he needed to stop, and started scrolling through his fyp, hoping to understand the random references he kept missing.
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Sorry this one's a little shorter! I hope you're enjoying. We're going to a slow burn here but Alan's a little ahead of himself ;)
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All for the Mirrorball
FanficIlona Maher x Alan Bersten (fictionalized lol) Ilona is a rugby phenom, Olympic medalist, and viral internet star - a woman who's found success everywhere but in love. Her latest challenge is a reality dance competition where she'll twirl and finess...