Page 93 of The Dixon Rule

“Sometimes I think it’s some bizarre government experiment where they placed all these random people to see what would happen. Like, everyone has a unique role to play but nobody knows what the roles are.”

“Why are you and I here?” He sounds intrigued.

I think it over. “You’re here because…”

“I’m the wildcard.” His eyes light up. “They’re all like, what the fuck’s he gonna do?”

“Sure.” I pat his arm. “You’re the wildcard.”

We practice for another thirty minutes, and as much as I don’t want to accept it, I think the cha cha is a lost cause, at least for the preliminary process. I have no doubt I could bring Shane’s skills up to a decent level in time for the competition itself in October, but the audition video is due in a few weeks. There’s no way he’ll be good enough by then, and I’m worried we won’t qualify if we go with the cha cha. I’ll give it a few more sessions, but I suspect we’ll have a better chance with the tango.

“What are you up to now?” Shane asks on our walk back to Red Birch.

“I need to finish watching last night’s FoF. I’m dying to see who gets released from the Sugar Shack.”

“I can tell you if you want. I watched it last night.”

I swivel my head toward him. “I’m sorry, what?”

He shrugs. “Didn’t have anything better to do. Anyway,” he says, ignoring the giggles I’m convulsing with at his expense, “why don’t I go pick up some dinner? We’ll finish watching your episode, then watch the new one. And then, maybe, you know…”

I stop in the middle of the path and eye him in amusement. “No, I don’t know.”

Shane waggles his eyebrows. “We go to the bedroom and…”

“Are you asking me to have sex with you?”

“You don’t have to look so repulsed.”

I snicker at him. “We don’t even like each other.”

“We tolerate each other,” he protests.

“Oh, what an endorsement to get me into bed! I tolerate you, Diana. Please, let me make sweet love to you.”

“That’s not what I meant. All I’m saying is, we ought to consider a friends-with-benefits-type situation.”

“I thought you said you don’t want to do one-night stands anymore.”

“This wouldn’t be a one-night stand. It’ll be a long-term thing. I mean, if we already have to pretend to be all over each other this summer for Percy’s sake, we might as well put our hands on each other for real. What do you have to lose?”

“My patience. My dignity. My purity.”

Shane releases an exasperated breath. “Must you keep pretending this isn’t a thing?” He vaguely waves at his body.

“What are you pointing at?”

“My dick. You need to quit acting like it doesn’t get you hot.”

“Oh my God, you’re so arrogant.”

He just grins. “So…about this friends-with-benefits proposal?”

I slap my forehead in mock remembrance. “Oh, shit, I forgot to tell you. I actually screen all of my friends with benefits very, very carefully. There’s a whole application process.”

Shane plays along. “Oh, is there. May I have a copy of the application?”

“Unfortunately, I’m in the process of editing it to make it more in-depth, so I’m not open to applicants at this time. But maybe you can apply next year.”

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