Page 14 of If Ever

5

We meet at a dive bar down the street from my rent-a-room, away from the glaring eye of the cameras. I clamp my hands around my beer with vice-like force. Dominic takes a long drag of beer then sighs.

"Are you quitting?" I blurt.

He looks up in surprise. "What? Of course not."

"It's pretty obvious you don't want to be here."

"Chelsea," he sighs again. "I owe you an apology. I'm not normally such an ass."

I gulp at his honesty, and then choke on my own spit. Hacking, I pound my chest and take a drink of beer to recover.

"I'm sorry. Can we call a truce? I don't see how we can continue unless we do."

"I know you don't like me. You wish you would have been dancing with Mallory Becker."

"I don't dislike you."

I laugh. "Whatever. You kind of made it clear the first minute we met."

He frowns and scratches his head.

I mimic his stern body language from that day we met three weeks ago. "You're going to fall in love with me, but trust me, it'll be one sided."

He leans back in the booth and shakes his head. "Christ, I am an ass."

I smirk. "I'm not looking to fall in love with you or anyone else." Okay, maybe I wouldn't mind finding love, but doing it on this show is never going to happen.

"Show romances are always a bad idea anyway. They rarely last."

"I was thinking more that there are so many egos in this business. No wonder most of you are single."

"I'm not single." He says.

"You're not?" I figured he was a total player.

He shakes his head. "Nope." He pulls out his phone and shows me his screensaver, a photo of him and a beautiful brunette.

"Wow. I had no idea."

"That's by design. Emma and have been dating for almost a year. She works for an insurance company, far from the entertainment business. I swear it's the only way to have a successful relationship."

I relax and sip my beer. "Why do you keep it a secret?"

"It's easier. Showing up on TMZ isn't something we're interested in."

"But back to the current situation. You and I both had a lot of preconceptions of this season. I've been trying to transition to some other projects, but I gave all that up with the promise of working with Mallory Becker. When that fell apart and I ended up with..."

"A nobody," I offer.

He winces. "That's not what I meant."

"It's okay. I know what I am. I never planned on being on this show."

He cocks a skeptical eyebrow.

"It's true. I didn't know anything about the auditions. My boyfriend had just dumped me on the same day my best friend, Anna, got engaged. We were out celebrating for her and drowning my misery. There was this big Celebrity Dance Off audition set up at the bar. Anna thought it would be fun and made me try out. All our friends did. I was bombed. Couldn't you tell from my audition tape?"

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