A/N: This was a toughie, guys. The writer's block was real on this Tuesday. Let's read together, shall we?
For the next few days, my routine was the same. Wake up. Eat my bagel. Get my coffee. Go to practice. Come home. Spend an hour or two in the hot tub. Go to bed. It was just like when I first started skating and I loved it. I missed that kind of stability. It's strange. The last time things were like this, I had Victor to keep me on the straight and narrow. Little did I know, I didn't need him to do that. I could do it all on my own. Good for you, Vi. I'm proud of you.
That was a mess I wasn't quite ready to clean up. Was I purposefully avoiding Victor? Not exactly. We live in the same building. We're bound to bump into each other. But I've been so busy lately. Between practice and recovery, I have no room to make time in my schedule. However, that may or may not be by design...Yes, I do need an hour or two of extra practice and I may be doing that so I'm not home...For avoidance purposes.
It's fine. I'm fine. It's Victor. Why would I want to avoid him? Was I really going to hold that grudge? Would I be that petty bitch? No. I still loved him. Deep in my heart of hearts, I couldn't be pissed off at Victor forever. If I wasn't so tired right now, I'd go downstairs and extend my well wishes. But both he and I needed the rest. We had the formalities of qualifying to go through in the morning.
Unfortunately, women's qualifying was first. We had women's qualifying, then men's qualifying, then junior's. I would not miss my boys. Although, I don't think they have to go through that since they were last year's first and second place at the Junior Grand Prix. I'm pretty sure that gave them a free pass. Their father and I, on the other hand...Since we've been out of the game for a while, we'd have to qualify. But like Victor said. It's merely a formality for us.
With the way my practices have been lately, I could only see this as a formality. I've been kicking ass at practice. And to make things even better, qualifying was being held at my home rink. I knew every square inch of that ice like the back of my hand. If I'm not in the running this year, it's because someone screwed up their scorecard. Alright, Violet. Let's go out and make some magic happen. You've been working on this routine for months now. Time to see the hard work pay off.
I grabbed my bag and headed for the rink. Given that it's a special occasion, I wanted to bring out my mint skates I got last year, but at my costumer's insistence, I got a new pair to go with my burlesque costume. And an even stranger pair to go with my S&M costume. I got to hand it to her, though. It can't be easy to incorporate bright red stilettos and knee high, black leather boots into ice skates. They didn't take me long to get used to, though, so I had that going for me.
I was hardly outside the rink with Celestino and press decided to swarm me. And they wonder why I suddenly travel with a bodyguard. All of the questions they were collectively shouting at me were only about one thing. What do I think about Victor's comeback? Do I know what he's going to do? Have I seen any of his practices? Do I even have a career? Do they even give a shit about that? If Celestino wasn't pushing me along, I would've answered them in a not so nice way. That's not the way Celestino raised me. I had to find my happy, sexy place before I go on.
"Violet," a deep, angry Russian accent called out to me, catching me by surprise, "Davai."
"Thank you, Yakov," I stopped for a moment, "What are you doing here? Isn't Victor's qualifier later?"
"Yes," he nodded, "But I thought I'd come down and wish you luck. Professional courtesy."
"I appreciate it," I smiled, having a sudden flashback to the other day, "And about the other day...I'm sorry. You caught me on a hangover day and I was already pissed off and..."
"I understand," Yakov cut me off, "And I'm sorry, too. I lied to you."
"What do you mean?"
"It's more than professional courtesy," he clarified, "Your ex-husband is hiding somewhere around here. He dragged me here to show me how much you've improved since the old days."
"Violet..." Celestino took my hand, "Come on. You need to get ready. You've drawn third."
"Ok," I started to settle down, "Bye, Yakov."
"Good luck," Yakov sent me off and I headed back to the locker room.
Oh, son of a bitch. I forgot what this felt like. There were way too many people in this locker room. And I may be getting claustrophobic. Nature of the beast, Violet. You knew what you were getting back into. And you knew how extra Celestino was for you. In the old days, I'd text Victor and have him come rescue me from the torturous hell that awaited me. I'll be ok.
No matter how rough my stylist was. Or how artistic the makeup artist wants to get. Or they both yell at each other in different languages because one's getting in the other's way. And I have to be the one in the middle having to translate this in my head. I still couldn't understand a word of it, but I try. It was giving me flashbacks to when my parents would fight in front of me out of absolute nowhere, but they wouldn't go through with the divorce. They worked through it, though. Good for them.
When I finished getting ready, I felt like I needed a smoke break with the way they just worked me over. Even Mike was gentler than that. Ooh...I think I just had one of those weird chi-aligning moments that put me in the right place. That right mixture of pain and pleasure. And like riding a bike, I fell right back into the old pattern. I knew what I'd be doing. Because the bustier and the garter belt didn't give that away.
Again, my costumer was an absolute genius. And I'll explain why shortly, but for now, I had a thing to do. Alright. I think I'm ready. This was it. I watched as the chick in the second slot started her routine. Mine shouldn't be too terribly far behind. But then, the wave of nerves came. I thought I was going to have another...ahem...Experience like the one I had the other day at this very rink. Luckily for me, I had a bagel in my stomach to keep it on the level for now. I just didn't want to be tasting that bagel twice.
"Mama!" I heard a sweet, excited little voice in the crowd. And then, attack my leg. And I've never been so happy to see one of my babies in my life, "You look like a ballerina. I thought you said you were doing Lady Marmalade for qualifying."
"I am," I picked Yurio up and sat him on my hip. There's going to come a day where I can't do that anymore. And that'll be a day that breaks my heart, "I promise. Don't worry about my costume. It's got a few little tricks. You'll see."
"Does it have pockets?" he wondered, clinging onto my arm for dear life.
"Does it have pockets...?" I scoffed, promptly sticking my hand in a pocket, "Have you just met me, child? Of course it has pockets. Where else am I going to put random pieces of candy?"
"I love you, Mama," Yurio laid his head on my shoulder.
"I love you, too, dovahkiin," I kissed his forehead, "Where's your father and your uncle and your brother?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, "I ran off."
"Yuri," I scolded him, "You know better. We've had this talk."
"I wanted to find you," Yurio cuddled into me, "All the reporters wanted to talk about Victor and how great his is and it's smothering."
"I know what you mean," I empathized, "Alright. Just this once! I won't yell at you about it. Next time, if they start hounding you personally, I want you to find Gene before you find me, ok? If anyone can get them to stop, it's him."
"Ok," he nodded. My poor baby. I feel like I've been neglecting him lately in my adventures of avoiding Victor. I hugged him a little tighter. Please forgive me, baby. Mama's had a lot of shit on her plate and she needed to take care of her for a while.
"Violet," Celestino joined us, "You're on, tesoro."
"Wish me luck, baby," I put Yurio down.
"Good luck, Mama," he beamed, "Go be my dragon."
I stopped in my tracks, "What?"
"You always tell me to be your little warrior when I go on the ice and it gets me fired up," Yurio pointed out, "And because you say I was born to a dragon and you're my mama, go be my dragon."
I swear. Out of the mouths of babes. Yurio damn near made me cry. I got down on his level and hugged him one last time, "Thanks, Yuri. I will."
It's a good thing this mascara's waterproof. Between the sweat and the tears, I had to work through it. Once they called my name, I skated to the middle of the ice. The rink was dead silent. A pin dropping would sound like gunfire through a loudspeaker. Not sure if that's a good sign or not. Immediately, my stomach started to knot up again. No, Violet. You've worked too hard to choke here. Remember what Yurio said. Be the dragon he thinks you are.
As soon as the first snaps started playing, my head went to a completely different place than I thought it would. It's a Saturday night. I'm a couple years fresh out of high school and sick of living in the middle of nowhere, so a girl's got to move to the city, right? Unfortunately, she doesn't realize how hard it's going to be living on her own like that. After countless, pain in the ass roommates, she finally manages to get a job where she can live somewhat comfortably.
However, it takes her a minute to realize another harsh truth. It's not exactly the most savory work. But it keeps food in her stomach and clothes on her back...when she's not on the clock. But that's ok. She's got to do what she's got to do, I guess. It'll only be a temporary job. It's not like she's going to be working that same club for the next three years, having strange men sweat over her. No. Not her. That wasn't in the plan.
But it happened anyway. Other shit got in the way. She couldn't live her life she needed. But then, like an angel sent from God, one man would walk into that club. She wasn't exactly his type, but it didn't matter. Because he'd get her out of there. Out of nowhere, my routine lost its sex appeal and turned into love, rather than lust. I didn't like that. That really wasn't in the plan. Come on, Violet. You're getting to that sweet spot in the climax of this story. Because it's time to strip the innocence.
I did a sitting spin to get myself wound down and the crowd guessing. What's going on? What is this? Is Violet about to do something extraordinary? Remember when I said there was a secret to my costume that would be explained later? Well, just as Christina's voice started coming in, that's when I started tearing clothes off. Sort of. My seamstress is a genius. I tore the Velcro at the waist and on the top, turning my soft pink ballerina outfit into my deep red and gold burlesque costume. The tulle made for an excellent hoopskirt alternative. Good for you, Katherine! Four for you.
The crowd shook the rink as Lady Marmalade made her professional debut. I threw my garter belt into the audience, curious as to who actually caught it. The lights were too bright, though. Here it is. My moment in the sun. I didn't have to go so hard here, but I was running on adrenaline, spite, and caffeine. Why the hell not? I deserved my moment in the sun, dammit. And holy hell, if I wasn't getting it. Oh, yeah. This is nice. This is what I missed the most. Yes, complete strangers. Give me my validation. I soaked in the applause like a sponge. This was my happy place.
I think it's safe to say I made it.
A/N: Yurio made me cry. Yurio…I don't even know if I can call it a pep talk. It was just one line. One name and it crushed me. I love my little squishy son. Also, I approve of Yakov being a little less dickish and accepting of her apology. But tomorrow is going to be a very beautiful mess. Just like today. And on that note, see you tomorrow! xx