Page 25 of The Dance Deception
‘It’s those eyes. They’re so blue you just want to dive straight into them,’ she laughs. ‘And his body is easily as fit as Merle’s.’
This makes me snort. ‘He’s definitely no Merle.’
‘Even Aiden agreed he was attractive. Speaking of whom, I’m meeting him up the road later – do you want to join us? There’s a band playing in the downstairs bar at Hagen and Hyde. Aiden won’t mind.’
On any other day I would have loved to, but it was hard enough getting on the Tube today, wondering if anyone was going to say anything about the photos. The thought of being in a bar full of people – it makes me shudder just thinking about it.
‘Thank you, but I’m going to stay in tonight. I’ve got the dreaded phone call with my parents to get out of the way. I have no idea how they’re going to react after what they’ve seen.’
‘They might surprise you,’ she says.
‘They might, but I’m already picturing the look on Dad’s face and it isn’t pretty.’
‘They’re your parents. They’ll just want to make sure you’re okay.’
And thankfully she’s right. Although my heart races as I wait for them to log on to Skype, it isn’t nearly as awkward as I expect. I can tell Dad is too embarrassed to even mention it and when Mum looks like she’s about to launch into a mini lecture about the kind of behaviour that’s becoming of a lady, Dee jumps in and steers us to safer ground – namely, what my next career move should be once I’m done with the show.
She’s been talking to her friend, who works in events management, and she wants me to have a chat with her because she thinks it’s something I’d really enjoy. And I’d actually be able to make use of my marketing degree, soit would feel more like a career role, too. She promises to set something up when I’m ready.
After that we talk about the kids for a while, who are in the other room watching telly, then Mum tells me she and Dad are thinking about cutting their trip short and flying back to the UK on Friday in time to come and sit in the audience for the next show – probably so they can make sure I don’t do anything else embarrassing.
‘Although it’s not going to be easy watching you dancing with that man after what we saw,’ Mum says. ‘I hope you were taking precautions.’
‘Mum,’ Dee warns.
‘Well,’ Mum starts, but I interrupt her.
‘You don’t have to worry, Mum, we were using condoms. And that aside, I’m not going to be dancing with him any more. They’ve given me a different partner for this week.’
I’m aware I’m letting the cat out of the bag again, but who are my parents going to tell? And it will put their minds at ease.
‘Oh,’ Mum says, visibly relieved. ‘Which one have you got now then?’
‘Aleksis. The one who was with Emilia last week.’
Just saying his name brings back all the frustration from earlier today, but Mum doesn’t notice me shudder.
‘Oh, I liked him. I thought he was really good,’ she beams, then her face falls. ‘You’re not going to sleep with him as well, are you?’
‘Mum!’ Dee and I shout in unison.
‘No, sorry, of course not,’ she flaps. ‘Well, that’s good to know. That’ll make your dad and me much more comfortable.’
‘There’s really no danger of anything untoward happening with Aleksis,’ I assure her. ‘We barely even talk to each other. So you really don’t need to ruin your holiday and fly back because of me. I don’t want you to waste your time off sitting around at home just so you can see me on the show for one hour a week. Stay there and enjoy yourselves.’
‘But we do worry about you,’ Mum says.
‘I know, but there’s no need. Tell them, Dee.’
‘She’s fine,’ Dee says.
‘See?’ I’m suddenly eager to finish the call. ‘I’ll check in again at the weekend, okay? With hopefully less drama to report than this weekend. In fact, definitely with less drama. It’s just going to be a normal week this week, I promise. So I’ll talk to you all soon. I love you all.’
‘Love you,’ Mum says. ‘And we’re here for you whenever you need us.’
I close my laptop with a sigh of relief. I don’t want to have to talk to them about Merle ever again. I really should reply to some of the other people who sent messages following the events of the weekend, though, so I take a deep breath and start with the Fire Dancers chat.
Beth has asked how my rehearsal with Merle went today, after everything, and suggested us all getting together for a midweek drink if I want to talk about it. But I know I’ll probably end up letting slip that I’m not dancing with him any more if I have a couple of glasses of wine with them, so I tell her rehearsals were fine but that I’m keeping a low profile for a few days because I’m not ready to discuss anything yet.
