Ivana's milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

[salylimon]

WHO: Ivana and Emiliano
WHEN: January 23, Sunday afternoon
WHERE:  A diner. You know, where they serve hamburgers and milkshakes and freedom fries.
WHAT: IT'S NOT A DATE. At least, that's what Emiliano thinks.

Comments

[salylimon]

"They're not overworking you, are they?" Emiliano asked as his fingers reached out to pluck a fry from his plate. It arrived but seconds ago. But now he couldn't help but feel that perhaps he should have gone with something similar to what Ivana had ordered. Maybe it was just that he felt a bit out of place with his grilled chicken sandwich and French fries.

It wasn't as though he absolutely abhorred American food. It was just that his sister ate so much of it, and made him buy so much of it for her, that he had grown quite wary of eating it.

But still, Emiliano trudged on as he absently chewed on the fry he had picked up. Swallowing, he took another drink before continuing. "I've been practicing all week too, so I know how tiring it can be. Boxing takes careful foot movements, so it's not that different from dancing. Save for the amount of blood involved," he replied with a small laugh before glancing to his right.

It was then that he noticed her hand resting on top of his.

He hesitated, briefly, but made no move to pull away. She was probably just trying to be...

Well. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing but it was probably just an innocent action, anyway.

[das_vedanya]

"Where you getting blood on the lips and the face, I getting blood on the feet and the toes. Ballet is graceful, and boxing is violent. Underneath all, ballet is violent, and boxing is graceful. When I was little, I was breaking toes many times and sometimes get horrible injuries from such pretty slippers." Whether from the desire for another fry or from the realization her speech gave to their touching hands, she lifted hers and promptly busied her mouth with two fries, still too hot to eat without reaching for her milkshake.

Her lips formed around the straw, lazily prodding it with her tongue, and frustratingly having to fix her lips tighter around the straw when the "triple-thick" milkshake would not bubble up in her straw. She gave a helpless groan of frustration and made a second attempt at the straw, but with a large chunk of strawberry not granting her access, she resorted to a spoon - but not after chewing away her milkshake troubles on another bite of burger.

Why u do this.

[salylimon]

"That's an interesting comparison, actually." A small grin suddenly formed on his lips as he took a bite from his sandwich. Chewing thoughtfully, Emiliano mentally weighed the meaning of her words before giving a small nod. His fingers wrapped themselves around his drink though he made no move to lift it to his lips. "But both boxing and ballet are kind of similar, now that you bring it up. I just hope you aren't getting hurt as much now?" He asked as concern flickered across his face.

He paused, however, as he watched her struggle to drink her milkshake. His brows furrowed briefly before Emiliano suddenly realized how...how suggestive Ivana's antics were. He cleared his throat nervously and looked away, the earlier feeling of nervous awkwardness beginning to come back as he hurriedly diverted his attention back to his caffeinated drink.

You know you want it~

[das_vedanya]

"Nyet, not as much. Dimitri tells me that... karate masters break small bones in their fingers, and when bones grow back, punches are harder. Same thing is happening to my toes." As she helped another spoon of strawberry milkshake into her mouth, Ivana could not help but notice the same look of discomfort in Milo's face.

Perhaps it was time to change the subject. "B-but other things are going well for you, da? You are Amelya's body guard, da?"

e n e B-Back you R-Russian temptress!

[salylimon]

"I'd say to still be careful, but that would make me sound un poco hypocrtical." Another bite of his burger and Emiliano realized that he had yet to even finish half of it. Perhaps, he considered, he should eat it a bit faster before it cooled down and became too unappetizing to eat.

At Ivana's sudden question, however, Emiliano could only blink dumbly at her before nodding hurriedly. "Mm! Sí, I am. Penny helped me get that job and spoke to Marianne for me, so now I...take care of Amelia and her sister." He offered the woman a strained smile. "Not something I had in mind, but it pays well. Pero, ah, that aside I've been good." Another drink and- ah, he was almost out of soda. "I got hurt yesterday during boxing practice but Jiwa helped me take care of the bruising and swelling as soon as I got home."

Nyet :U

[das_vedanya]

"I am careful! Careful is graceful, and I am graceful." She protested between bites of fries and bits of lettuce protruding from her burger. As she worried away at a watermelon seed, Ivana had no choice but to shovel in another bite of the burger even though eating it was now making her sick, but she needed something to hide her scowl behind. She did not like picturing Milo hurt, much less the image of another woman tending to his bruises the way Ivana would years prior. "I am sorry to be hearing that you were hurt. But you are okay now?"

/HOLDS UP ROSARY

[salylimon]

Emiliano gave a slight chuckle as he shook his head. "You are, Ivancita, you are! I remember watching you dance, so I still know that you are very graceful," he said as his expression softened somewhat. The memory was rather distant and yet so vivid. He could remember the ways that she would move, with or without music and...

Well, he could not deny that Ivana's exclamation was in fact true.

"I am, Iva." His hand came up to rub absently at the still somewhat tender bruise on his left arm. "We put ice on it right away, so that helped. I try to be careful, since Jiwa and my parents worry a lot, but sometimes things like this happen," Emiliano said with a forced laugh.

; A ;

[das_vedanya]

'I worry about you, too,' she wanted to say, but a swift bite to the inside of her cheek prevented the words from flowing out; she wanted to pluck an ice cube from her water glass and hold it against the bruises forming on his skin... she wanted to hold his hand, at least, but she did not want to see that look of discomfort in his eyes again. Was this what she was now confined to? A source of his discomfort? At least Ivana was paying for her own meal so she did not burden him, too. "I am glad that you are feeling better, Milochka. Boxing is a wery hard sport, and it can be wery painful too."

D-Do not tempt meeeee.

[salylimon]

"Very painful," he agreed with a small nod, absently noting that he was almost done with his sandwich by now. A quick glance towards Ivana's direction made him briefly consider suggesting dessert. He would pay, of course, if only to make up for the fact that he had to retract his earlier promise of being for the entire meal due to his sudden, yet not new, financial woes.

However, her slight concern was, well, rather cute. And charming, really And while Emiliano knew exactly where his affections and unwavering feelings of love lay, he wasn't about to deny this any time soon. Especially not when it meant denying something he had come to know three years ago.

Reaching over, he grabbed Ivana's hand, squeezing it gently. "Try not to worry about me too, yeah? I don't deserve everyone's concern, querida" he said, ducking his head slightly as he glanced up at her beneath his bangs, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

Look who's tempting whom now :l

[das_vedanya]

At that very moment, her heart stopped. At first she thought it was from the insane amount of carbohydrates and sugar she was consuming, but a quick look down changed that. She felt herself jump when Milo squeezed her hand, and unfortunately at that moment, she was holding a heaping spoon of rapidly melting milkshake. The small defibrillator-like jump-start to her heart in that squeeze was just enough to offset the position of her hand and send the large pink commodity plummeting onto the surface of her new blouse. With a noise of surprise, she deposited the spoon back into the glass, conflicted on whether she should let go of Milo's hand to do away with the mess quickly, or inevitably let it seep into the thin fabric, between her buttons, and make her chest sticky and strawberry-scented.

By the time she'd left the warmth of Milo's hand, the latter had already happened. With a blush coating her cheeks the same color as her milkshake, she quickly did away with the top three buttons of her blouse and began mopping up the sticky excrement with the napkins. By the time she'd unbuttoned the fourth button, the napkin dispenser was empty. "M-Milo, we are being out with napkins!"

Cover your shame, woman! /3\

[salylimon]

One minute everything seemed fine (save for the constant feelings of awkwardness between them) and the next thing Emiliano knew, Ivana was accidentally dropping a spoonful of milkshake down her blouse. He faltered, unsure of what to do. Had that been out of line? Should he not have squeezed her hand like that given their history with one another? Granted, she had touched his hand earlier. Though, that probably didn't mean he could do the same. Or- Aish, he wasn't sure.

All that he knew was that Ivana was currently panicking and-

...unbuttoning her blouse?

With an embarrassed noise, Emiliano quickly looked away, his own cheeks beginning to burn hotly at the seemingly innocent, yet highly inappropriate, action taking place in front of him. "I-Ivana," he said after awkwardly clearing his throat, dark eyes still staring steadfast at the wall in front of him. "T-There's a restroom on the other side of the diner. Y-You really shouln't be exposing yourself like-" He stuttered out another sound of embarrassment before quickly shrugging off his jacket. "H-Here, use this-!" He muttered, holding out his arm and jacket towards the woman while making sure to not look in her general direction.

[das_vedanya]

"Ah, spasiba," she reached forward and took the sleeve of the jacket, half using it to mop up the mess, and half using it to cover herself up from the distracted eyes of the diner. Once the mess was mopped up, and the sleeve of Milo's jacket smelling of strawberry, Ivana began doing up her blouse again. In retaliation of what caused this, she did not touch her milkshake after that, but instead munched her nerves away on a cold French fry. It was amazing how something could taste wonderful when hot, and then taste so disgusting when its temperature dropped... but somehow the room felt ten degrees hotter, and the blush had still not dissipated from her cheeks.

"I-I am sorry about that. It was... accident." And only minutes before she was flaunting her grace, and now she felt worse than she imagined tripping on stage would feel like.

[salylimon]

Absently, Emiliano realized that he would have to wash his now dirtied jacket as soon as he got home. That is, of course, if he remembered to take it from Ivana before they both left. But right now, he wasn't worried about that. Right now, he was more worried about the despondent expression on his ex-girlfriend's face. His heart clenched, almost tempted to reach over and cup her cheek like he used to do before.

He was almost tempted to pull the woman into his arms and just hold her there, like before.

But almost immediately, he thought of Jiwa and his heart clenched once more. As platonic as he wanted his actions to seem, Emiliano felt that offering the Russian woman more than his company, more than a gently squeeze of her hand, or more than a brief embrace would...

It would make him feel as though he had betrayed Jiwa even though he knew that he would never want to do that to her. And yet, Emiliano felt horrible that he could not even offer the blond woman more comfort than he felt he could now, after all these years.

"I-Ivancita, it's fine," he said gently, slowly bringing his attention back to her as soon as he was sure that her shirt had been re-buttoned. "I know it was an accident, no te preocupies. I-It was my fault, too." Here, Emiliano paused and slumped back against his seat, the look on his face almost hopeless. "Ivana, why are things so different between us now?" He mumbled as his hand came up to rub at his face tiredly. "I-I thought we were okay."

[das_vedanya]

Now her heart had definitely stopped, and in those last few doubtful words of Milo's, she knew that it would never start up again. She kept the jacket clutched to her chest as she rifled through the pocket of her Abercrombie and Fitch jeans for the twenty she'd packed away for today's occasion. Checking the amount against the receipt the waitress had dropped by earlier, she slipped the bill into the envelope - a fine tip for the waitress to - and slowly rose to her feet on shaking knees.

Her knees always shook like this when she was on the verge of tears. "W-we were 'okay' before you broke up with me! I told you before left that I would be back one day, and-... и ты бросил меня, как я был мусор. И теперь вы не хотите даже видеть меня, или держать меня за руку ... или утешить меня, когда я плачу." With a last, undignified sniffle and a swift rub at her leaking eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, she turned on her heel, bumped into the waitress with a poorly constructed apology, and left the restaurant without a single ounce of grace in her step.