All for the Mirrorball

Chapter 12 - Love Sick Puppy

Ilona woke up with her usual alarm and got a good workout in. She stopped at her favorite coffee place, which was a little further away, and picked up pastries as a special treat. She stopped and gave one to Phil before she headed into the building.

She was scrolling on her phone when Alan walked in a few minutes later. He was not having a great morning. Despite his early night, he'd gotten home and cracked open a fresh bottle of wine to drown his emotions. He was trying his best to pretend he wasn't the most hungover person for a 10 mile radius.

"Have you seen the comments lately?" Ilona said before he even looked up.

"Comments? Where?" His brain seemed to be registering everything a few seconds late.

She did not understand his confusion. "Tik tok, instagram... they're shipping us!"

"Shipping us where?" He could feel the blood pulsing through his brain.

Ilona let out a hearty laugh. "The internet, Alan." She gave him a sideways look and handed him his coffee, sensing its necessity. "They think we're in love."

He almost spat out his first sip. "Do we need to do something about the rumors? We don't want to upset anyone." He managed to suppress his eye roll. He didn't want to think about Graham's stupid face this early in the morning.

"I think... it'll probably die down," she said. As if Emma would believe it anyway, she thought. Suddenly the whole thing didn't seem so funny.

"Oh - I got pastries," she said, opening the box, desperate for a subject change. "I already texted Joey and Jenna, so take your pick before they come take the one you want." She took a sip of her own coffee, wishing she'd started the conversation very differently. Or that he'd responded differently? She wasn't sure.

"Thanks," he said, reaching for the closest one. "Have a good rest of your night?" he said, regretting the decision to bring it up as soon as the words left his lips.

"Yeah, it was good. I really missed my girls. Don't worry though, it wasn't too late of a night." She faltered. "How 'bout you?" She wished she didn't have to ask about his night. She hated that even though she was talking to a new guy, she'd still felt an embarrassing twinge of jealousy when she'd watched Alan and Emma leave together.

"Oh. Yeah... Good." He said, shoving a huge bite of pastry in his mouth. "We should get some rehearsal in before the film crew shows. We have a later recording time this week, though."

"Right." She nodded and hopped up distinctly faster than he did. They were both more than happy to have gotten through that conversation quickly, though awkwardly.

Luckily, It didn't take long for the mood to shift once they started working. They both had no problem focusing, and not only was it Disney week, but their producers had approved their number one request, and Ilona would be Luisa from Encanto, performing to Surface Pressure. By the time the crew came in, both the tension and most of Alan's hangover had abated.

"We did it! Give me a hug," he said.

He gave her his biggest smile, the light of it reaching his eyes in earnest. "I think the whole room just saw who I see in Ilona every single day." Including Graham, his masochistic brain added silently. Shut up, he chided himself.

It was a good thing Ilona was so distracting.

When talking about how she resonates with Luisa, she said, "She doesn't ever try to shrink herself or to make herself smaller for the world, and I love that people are seeing that in me as well now."

Every time she spoke, Alan was impressed - she was always rising to and exceeding his expectations. He struggled to control his face, and spent half the interview wondering whether he'd spent the other half looking like a love sick puppy.