Mila meets Sara Crispino, and it's the first time she's ever wanted to befriend someone.
It's the day before her first big competition, and while she knows she should be resting, the sunshine is too warm to resist. So Mila waits until her mother is napping to slip out of her hotel room (her mother would refuse to let her go by herself if she were awake, despite the fact that Mila is almost ten years old and therefore perfectly capable of watching over herself, thank you very much), dodges Yakov when she spots him screaming at a reporter who looks about ready to wet himself in the lobby, and escapes to the fresh air. She just wants to go for a walk, and immediately heads for the park Yakov had taken her, Victor, Georgi, and Yuri to as a reward for their hard work the previous day.
Mila decides that while the park is certainly a fun place, it's considerably less fun without someone to bother. She's just about to leave for the hotel she's staying at (at least then she could watch Yakov and Yuri shriek at each other), when she spots something out of the corner of her eye. A garden. Lips spreading into a wide grin, she dashes for the flowers, and sighs in content when she breathes in the sweet scent. Mila doesn't understand what different flowers mean like Georgi does, and she can't grow them like Victor can, but at least she doesn't despise them like Yuri seems to. She likes flowers; they look pretty and smell nice (which is more than she can say for some of the people she knows), so maybe stumbling upon this little garden can relieve her of her boredom. Maybe it's childish, but she finds herself dancing amidst the colorful blooms. It's almost as much fun as she had yesterday with the other kids.
At some point, Mila must have fallen asleep. She knows this because the first thing she processes is that she's staring into a pair of purple eyes. The next thing that she processes is that the sky is much darker than when she had left. Moving back in surprise, the redhead narrowly avoids banging her head into a tree, saved only by the girl in front of her who'd quickly moved her hand behind Mila's head to cushion the impact. Mila stutters out a thank you and tries not to look as embarrassed as she feels. The girl smiles and says in accented English, "You're welcome," moving her hand back to tuck a strand of her black hair behind her ear as she speaks.
Mila stares, then snaps out of her daze as she remembers her manners. "Sorry," she says carefully, "but have we met before? You look very familiar." The girl laughs. It's a very pretty laugh, Mila notices, and it makes her eyes sparkle. Her purple eyes are still sparkling when she says, "Well, maybe you've seen me in the hotel we're both staying in. After all, we are competing at the same competition, right?" Mila can feel her face burning (she must be blushing as red as her hair) as she nods her head. Because now she recognizes those purple eyes and that black hair. It's Sara freaking Crispino and somehow Mila has managed not to recognize the extremely talented skater who could jump like nobody's business. Mila desperately hopes she's not offended. She doesn't appear to be, only continuing to laugh. When she stops, Sara smiles again (Mila notices that she has a very nice smile. If laughing makes her eyes sparkles, smiling makes her eyes shine), and asks, "You're Mila?" After Mila gives an affirming nod, she continues, "I believe both your coach and your mother are looking for you."
Sara walks her back the entire way despite Mila's protests, and asks her why she wandered away from the hotel. "Was it to see the flowers?" she asks. "They're very beautiful, their meanings, too." The younger head shakes her head. "I wanted to go for a walk. I didn't know there were flowers there, and I don't know what they mean, but I like them all the same." Sara tells her all the meanings she knows, but the only one Mila remembers clearly by the end of her impromptu lesson on the language of flowers is the meaning of the violet tulip ("It means faithfulness. I think they might be my favorite flower. It's silly, but I like that they match my eyes." Mila doesn't think it's silly at all.)
When they reach the hotel, Mila wishes the walk had lasted longer. After all, the walk with Sara makes the subsequent lectures from both Yakov and her mother worth it. Possibly the only thing better than the walk though, is when Sara drops her off at her room with a smile and a hug for luck. "For tomorrow," she says, "when you perform." Mila isn't quite as nervous for the competition anymore.
(She gets silver and she doesn't think she's ever performed better before in her life. She's not even mad she lost to Sara)
Mila meets Sara Crispino, and her world tilts on its axis.
When Mila wins her first gold at an international competition, she is surprised. She's thirteen years old and she can't quite believe that she's standing at the top of the podium. Mila makes sure to give her best smile. She's so happy it doesn't take much effort at all. Even so, she's relieved when the camera finally stop flashing, when the reporters stop asking questions. Interviews have always tired her. Even if she wins a million gold medals, she doesn't think that will ever change.
Finally escaping to the elevator (her room will provide much needed rest; maybe Yakov wasn't wrong when he said pulling all nighters before competitions was stupid), Mila embraces the peace and quiet. Only suddenly it isn't quiet as all. The next people in the elevator are familiar in the skating world and are furiously arguing about a flight time: Michele and Sara Crispino.
When Sara sees her, she squeals and rushes to wrap Mila up in her arms. "Congratulations!" Sara grins, looking down at the little skater. "You did so well! That combination spin at the end...wow! And those jumps in the second half-" Mila grins as the purple-eyed skater babbles on and on about her performance. When she pauses for breath, Mila takes the opportunity to compliment Sara: "You did great, too! It's your first time competing in the Senior division, and you got gold!" When Michele finally steps into the conversation ("...we've been in the elevator for 20 minutes. Sara, our floor was twenty floors ago!"), the girls don't want to stop talking. It's been ages since Mila's had a real conversation with her friend, not the forced pleasantries the media wants to see, but a real, genuine conversation. Clearly, the only acceptable solution to the problem is to have lunch together (Mila's not certain of how the siblings reached that conclusion, but she's not complaining).
Lunch with the Crispino twins is new. It's new because she's never seen people quite as in sync with each other as they are. At least, sometimes they're in sync. Even as she sees the way Michele looks at Sara, adoration plain in his eyes, Mila can't help but notice that Sara's purple eyes harden when her brother makes a comment about having to defend her honor. When they finish eating (hot pot is quite possibly the best thing Mila has ever tasted), Michele goes off in search of another skater, and Sara asks Mila to go on a walk with her. Mila doesn't know how she could ever say anything but yes.
They wander around the bustling streets until they stumble upon a park. It's probably irresponsible to stay out so late the only thing that shines their path is the moon and the streetlamps, but they do it anyway. Sara sighs when they get back to the hotel. At Mila's questioning look, she says with a quiver in her voice, "I have an early flight tomorrow. I was hoping to stay longer, but my cousin has Hanahaki disease. I need to see him, one last time. He refused the surgery."
Mila doesn't know what to say. She knows of Hanahaki disease, has heard horror stories of how love really can kill a person, but she's never known anyone to have it long enough to be at risk of dying from it. Most people get the surgery as soon as they can, to stop the vines and the leaves from twining themselves into the lungs, to put an end to the growth in their body. They lose their memories of who they love, and their feelings for who they love, but at least they don't die. The few who don't get surgery after coughing up flower petals either think their love isn't as unrequited as they think, or treasure their memories and feelings so much they can't imagine losing them. Whatever the case, Sara's cousin is dying and nobody can stop it except for who he loves.
She continues: "I don't know him very well, and we never talked much when we saw each other, but I wish we had. He'll be gone and I'll never know what it was like to know him." She's shaking and her eyes are full, and Mila wishes she could take Sara and hide her away from the world and its hurt. Instead, she lets Sara bury her face into her red hair and holds her as she trembles. When they finally separate, the older girl takes a deep breath in and tries to pretend like everything's alright.
(When Mila wakes up, she finds a bouquet of violet tulips at her door. They're bright and beautiful, and the attached note reads "Congratulations!" She smiles because she sees an unsaid thank you amidst the blossoms)
Mila meets Sara Crispino, and she develops a tiny, minuscule crush.
Yakov is a volcano just waiting to erupt. Unfortunately, Yuri is too, so Mila waits for the inevitable explosion. She's running her performance through her head - it's her turn to win gold at the Grand Prix and she knows it's hers, knows it like she knows the sky is blue - when it happens: "I REFUSE TO WEAR THAT STUPID TIE." She sighs, you'd think Georgi would be the drama queen, but no, it's Yuri Plisetsky in all of his pre-pubescent glory. Yakov roars back, "WELL VICTOR AND GEORGI ARE WEARING THEIRS SO I DON'T SEE WHY YOU CAN'T WEAR YOURS." When the redhead sees Georgi and Victor snickering in a corner, she decides she'd better get out before Yakov turns on them, and her by association. It's the end of practice anyways; Yakov won't care.
Mila makes her way to her favorite pastry shop, remembering too late that she probably shouldn't consume anything terribly unhealthy, being a skater and all. Before she can leave though, she spots someone with long, dark hair. As if the person can sense her gaze, they turn. Mila finds herself staring into a pair of familiar purple eyes. Sara beckons her from her table inside the shop, so she stumbles through the door and into the warmth and hopes she doesn't do anything stupid.
"Mila Babicheva!"
"Sara Crispino!"
They greet each other cheerfully, and settle into comfortable conversation. It turns out Sara's in Russia for a little bit of coaching from Yakov. Michele is here, too (Mila hopes Yuri isn't terrorizing him), and they'll be there for two whole weeks! Mila cheats a little on her diet when she shamelessly buys coffee, and she's almost certain the other skater shouldn't be eating sweets so close to competition, but it's okay. Nobody's telling.
Sara talks a lot. She talks about her family (they're recovering from her cousin's death, slowly but surely), her skating ("Wait till you see my new combination!"), and the new coffee shop that opened just down the street from her rink back in Italy ("One day we can go together! Wouldn't that be fun?"). Mila likes listening to her talk. It's nice, listening to her friend talk excitedly and watching how she punctuates certain words with wild hand gestures. When she stops talking, Mila realizes she's been staring. "Sorry," she says, flushing, "it's just really good to see you again." She doesn't even know how that justifies her blatantly staring at Sara for the last ten minutes, but Sara doesn't seem to mind.
Training is decidedly not as bad when her friend is here. Yakov is still ruthless, and the boys still squawk indignantly at each other at every little thing, but it's all so much better with Sara. Yuri even says, "You're a lot different when she's around. You don't bother me as much." Mila's sure he regrets it when she picks him up and tosses him at a confused Victor, but she can't say he's wrong.
A week into Sara's visit, Mila finds flower petals (violet tulip petals) on her bed covers. She doesn't remember any occasion which might cause her to have violet tulips in her home, so why are those petals there? When she mentions it to Georgi, he looks thoughtful and...a little bit scared? For once, he doesn't seem eager to share his thoughts. The closest thing Mila gets to an answer is a question: "You don't love anyone right now, right?" The idea of being in love is so strange she shakes her head instead of opening her mouth for fear of giving a Yuri Plisetsky-esque reply. She's got a Grand Prix to win, and no time for silly things like love. Even so, she feels a strange sense of relief when she stops finding petals. Mila chalks it down to being relieved that Georgi, satisfied now that no more petals are appearing, stops asking her questions about love.
Watching Sara leave hurts. She doesn't quite know why, but Mila aches. She wishes those two weeks could have lasted forever. Mila doesn't know how she managed to survive before without seeing Sara's black hair and purple eyes everyday, and even as she helps the older skater pack, she wonders how she'll survive when Sara leaves. So when Sara's about to leave for the airport, Mila hugs her like it's the last hug they'll ever share, looks down into full purple eyes (huh, when did Mila get taller?), and makes Sara promise to stay in contact with her. If they end up crying a little, nobody needs to know.
(When Sara texts her the moment her plane lands, Mila grins and tries to ignore the butterflies fluttering inside.)
