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If Mila had a ruble for every breakup that was badly timed, public, or otherwise humiliating… she might almost be able to buy something decent to console herself. Almost. She wasn’t particularly sorry to see Kilikeja go, especially not in the short skirt she’d worn to the party, but having it happen like this was somewhat embarrassing.
It was in the middle of a party. They’d been dancing, everyone had seen them together, Kilikeja wasn’t acting off at all. Even taking Mila off the dance floor to get some drinks and a bit of a rest had seemed normal enough. Then Kilikeja dropped the bomb. “This has been fun, but Karlis is wanting to quit, and I don’t want to break in another partner. Time for me to go back to Latvia, get married, and have kids.”
“Would’ve been nice to know this was just for fun before you decided to end it,” Mila said. “Or, y’know. If you’d have done this before we came out, or after we left. Are we even leaving together, or should I be looking for another way back to the hotel?”
Kilikeja tilted her head, eyes huge with feigned innocence. “You didn’t realize? Mila, everyone knows you’re the female version of Masumi, the person you date when you want to have some fun with no long-term strings attached because you don’t do serious!”
“A reputation that is wrong even for Masumi. He’s in an open but serious relationship.” Mila shook her head. Christophe would be amused, at least once he got through the annoyance at false assumptions and rage at this woman for hurting his friend. “That’s not me. Not even close. That’s why I stopped dating hockey boys!”
This time, the shock seemed real. “But… then… Mila, I’m sorry. I really am. The gossip is that when you’re ready to get serious, you and Sara will get married. Even if you’re ready, she only just got free of that asshat brother of hers and is still exploring the world of freedom!”
“Sara is a good friend, but one, she’s straight, and two, even if she were into girls, she’s not my type, and three, did you miss where she is dating Georgi? My rinkmate, my good friend, and who do you think introduced them and made sure Georgi knew that if he showed a whiff of trying to be her new Michele, I would kick his ass, and depending how bad it was, I might not bother getting my skates off first?”
She’d meant it as a joke, trying to soften her words a bit, but Kilikeja burst into tears. Mila leaned over the table and very gently kissed her. “Listen. I get that this is just a lack of communication. I’m not looking to get too serious just yet, but I am looking to find a relationship that can. You never saw me that way, so it’s best we break up. Just, please, I know it won’t do much good especially coming from you, but try to get some pushback on the talk about me?”
“I’ll try. Thank you.” Kilikeja wiped her eyes and headed out. Well, that answered Mila’s other question, and she pulled out her phone to arrange that now while she was still thinking about it.
It wasn’t a surprise when Georgi and Sara came over to check on her, or that they were easily convinced to focus on enjoying their date and they could talk in the morning. It was a little more surprising to see Otabek and Yuri, and that Yuri was more stubborn about getting Mila to admit to yet another breakup, but she was eventually able to convince them that while she wouldn’t mind getting the rink together for ice cream and bad movies, she really was more annoyed at the timing and the not being taken seriously than devastated about the breakup. Viktor and Yuuri coming over… okay, that one was a bit more of a shock, and Yuuri had a strange question. Why would he even care if she wanted recovery time or was open to meeting new people today?
That, at least, got answered when a rather pretty woman came up holding two drinks, one of which was a refill of Mila’s cocktail. “I’m sure Yuuri means well, but I question his judgment here,” she said quietly. “Feel free to tell me to go away if you want. I told him that this was a bit soon.”
“Well, before you go away, have a seat and tell me who you are and why Yuuri’s so invested in us meeting that he’d push you over here.” Mila was curious enough now to ignore the weirdness. She might have to have a word with Yuuri about not following Viktor’s example of how to handle social interactions too much, but hey, maybe she’d make a new friend.
“Right. Easy part first. My name is Ketty Abelashvili, and I wrote the music for ‘Yuuri on Ice’. We were friends in college, I was a music major and one of my assignments, I decided to try writing music for a skating routine. Yuuri said he’d bring it to his coach, but they decided not to use it then. Which they shouldn’t have, because it was kinda weak. Not sure how Viktor convinced him to come back and ask me to rework it, because he felt so bad after not using it that he kind of ended our friendship out of embarrassment, but he did, and I’m so proud of what he did with it.” Mila had heard a little bit of the story before, how he’d had a friend write the music but didn’t use it until later, but she’d never heard the details. It sounded like Yuuri, though. “And why he’s invested in us meeting…” Ketty reddened slightly. “When he called me to thank me for the music after the Grand Prix Finals, I joked that he could make it up to me by introducing me to Viktor and you. Viktor because I wanted to meet him for what I hope are obvious reasons.” Mila giggled – yes, she could understand why any of Yuuri’s old friends would want to meet the man he used to idolize and now planned to marry. “And you because I had a bit of a crush and wanted to see what you were like in person. I swear, I was not going to hold Yuuri to that promise tonight, I kind of assume you’ll be invited to their wedding and they’ve already said that they would consider it the best present ever if I would write some music for them to dance to at the reception, so it’s not even like this is the only chance he’d ever get.”
Mila’s giggles became full-on laughter. This was exactly what she needed. “I’ll talk to Yuuri, but he did ask my permission before sending you over. I know that what you were looking for out of meeting me was just meeting a celebrity crush, but what are you looking for in general?”
Ketty ducked her head. “I’ve… heard some things about you tonight.” Mila tried not to flinch. “Thing is, Yuuri wouldn’t send me over here to get hurt. Even with a celebrity crush, I’m not looking for a one-night stand or anything that I don’t see potential in. Meeting you really was just about meeting a crush, not looking for anything more, even before hearing any of the rumors.”
“Ignore the rumors.” Mila held up the glass with the fresh cocktail Ketty had brought. “The breakup I’m assuming you witnessed? The only reason it was bad at all was that she just assumed I wasn’t looking for anything that could become serious, but I’m done with the flings. Failure to communicate, rather than any real feelings being involved. So. Obviously, tonight would be a bad night, but no reason we can’t exchange social media or phone numbers and start talking, right? See where things go?” Ketty hesitated, but Mila held out her phone anyway. “New friends are always welcome, too, if there’s no heat to the spark.”