Page 55 of (Not So) Mad About You

“You know what I mean. You need to participate in class. You know that I have to write reports and things, right?”

Alli huffed a sigh. “Yeah, but no. Not going to happen.”

“Oh, come on,” said Izzy, who was standing on one leg. “You might even like it, come on, do what I’m doing.”

Before Alli knew what was happening, Bea’s firm hands were on her waist, pulling her away from the wall and… And as much as she didn’t want to do a stupid yoga class the feeling of Bea touching her was just too much to resist.

“Put your hands like this,” Izzy said encouragingly. “And then one leg like this.”

“Stand firm on your other leg, like you were trying to push it down into the earth,” advised Julia.

“And don’t close your eyes or you’ll fall over,” added Marcus.

Bea’s hands moved her, pushed her in different directions, until Alli felt herself stable on one foot. “Now breathe,” Bea said in her ear, close enough that the little hairs on the back of Alli’s neck stood up. “Breathe deeply.”

It was all Alli could do to take any kind of breath at all, let alone a deep one.

“That’s right,” said Izzy. “Now do what Marcus is doing, his is harder than mine.”

Alli looked over and then attempted to move her arms into the position that Marcus was holding.

“Press your palms into each other,” he said. “Really use some force there.”

“Not too much, though,” Julia said. “You don’t want to fall. You’re doing a lovely job.”

“Very nice,” Bea hummed in her ear. “Very nice indeed.”

A pulse was starting to beat between Alli’s legs. One she hadn’t felt before. Jesus, was this what a stroke felt like?

She put out a hand to steady herself on Bea’s shoulder, but the beat just got harder and faster and now her mouth was getting dry and… And other places weren’t dry at all. She took a shaky breath and then another.

“Is she alright?” Marcus asked.

“She does rather look like she’s going to faint,” said Julia.

“Maybe she should sit down?” asked Izzy.

Alli put her other foot firmly on the floor. “I’m fine,” she said, even though her voice was trembling a little and she didn’t feel fine at all. She felt all hot and sweaty and like parts of her body had swelled up without her permission.

“You don’t look fine,” Izzy pressed.

“I’m fine. And I thought yoga was supposed to be relaxing, which isn’t the case when you’re all staring at me like an animalin the zoo.” Now this was better. This was the familiar burning in her stomach, the beginning of anger, an old friend that she absolutely knew how to deal with.

“We weren’t staring,” said Marcus.

“Bullshit,” spat Alli.

And she was feeling it now, feeling it growing inside her, so when the door opened and Luke came in, she was all primed and ready for what came next.

???

Bea jumped just about as far away from Alli as she could get in one leap and then cursed herself. Luke must have noticed something.

“Bea, a word, please?”

She was trying to come up with excuses in her head, reasons why she should have been so close to Alli, justifications for why she’d jumped away like she was guilty. But in the end, it was all unnecessary.

“I’m going to talk to the group in a minute,” Luke said, pulling her to one side. “But before I do, do you have any information on a telephone call that Charles might have received?”

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