All for the Mirrorball

Chapter 5 - Man, I Feel Like a Woman

By the time Friday morning rolled around, Ilona was more than excited. Every part of her normal early morning routine was energized by thoughts of Olivia's arrival and going to the freaking Emmys. Sure, she might make a fool of herself dancing on live television on Tuesday, but that was after.

She surprised Alan and Chandler with morning coffee. He teased her for "giving the competition a leg up," but they had a really good morning. They were both feeling really good about her opening cha cha.

"You know, so long as I can manage my nerves for the whole live TV of it all, I actually think we could do pretty well this week!" Ilona said as they took their first water break for the day.

Alan gave her a look of bemused astonishment. "Did you say actually?" He rolled his eyes. "I am a professional ballroom dancer - not to mention the season 28 mirror ball champ, and you are a fucking Olympic champion and peoples' princess! Hello?"

Ilona was cracking up at his strong stance and stern praise.

"Okay, okay. I'll be more careful with the semantics." She couldn't help but roll her eyes back at him before adding, "and... thanks," through her grin.

The rest of the morning practice went smoothly. There was a buffet lunch for the whole cast, and Ilona couldn't help but get excited to introduce all of her new friends to her sister in just a few days time. It's crazy that just a week ago I was feeling so lost here, she thought.

Alan caught her eye across the table. "What's got you so happy over there?"

"Oh, nothing..." Ilona said, just as everyone around her got silent. "God, Alan! Why'd you have to call me out?" Her laughter was catching. "I was just, uh, feeling grateful to be here with all of you... I'm excited for the first show. And... you all seem like cool people. That's all."

"Hear, hear!" Ezra shouted from a few seats down.

"So demure... so quah!" Rylee added from his left. They devolved into a fit of giggles.

The fittings she had that afternoon flew by.  Before she knew it, she was rushing home to do the final prep for her sister's arrival.

That night, she and Olivia ordered way too much takeout, caught up on everything, and had a little self care/movie night. The next morning, Olivia finally met Alan in person. She confirmed the good vibes she from him over facetime were legit, which made Ilona feel oddly proud.

Once they made it to the studio, Olivia was way too excited to see all of the behind the scenes areas of the show. She told Jenna all about how their mom originally wanted Val as her partner within the first minute of meeting her, before changing her mind. Ilona hadn't expected Jenna to openly agree that the producers never want a back-to-back winner, if they can help it.

Olivia was very impressed by what she saw of Ilona and Alan's cha cha rehearsals (but soon was banished to crafty so that Alan and Ilona could focus.)

That night, she told Ilona all of her more private thoughts about the day.

"I really like you and Alan, by the way."

"Uh... thanks? What do you mean?"

"I dont know," Olivia said with a casual shrug. "It seems like he gets you, though. Like it's working well."

"Oh," Ilona replied, shaking her head. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Should we facetime Adrianna?"

The three sisters fell asleep on facetime. The next morning, Ilona woke up to the dulcet tones of Olivia laughing at Adrianna's drooling.