Page 30 of The Dance Deception
I can’t help noticing how much Aleksis’s face changes when he thanks her with a smile of his own. The angles soften and there’s a glimmer in his eyes. He almost looks nice. But the smile fades when he turns back to me, and the hardness returns to his features.
‘We have a lot to do,’ he says stiffly. ‘Shall we?’
For the first time, we rehearse until the studio closes. The janitor even has to come and tell us to leave the building before we get locked in – just when it feels like we’re finally making progress. I would happily have carried on for a few more hours if we’d been able to stay – not least because it’s been much easier to have my arms round Aleksis when it doesn’t feel like he wants to snap them off.
It’s such a relief to get through a whole day with no hostility that I go home on a bit of a high. So when Lucy invites me to join her, Aiden and Warren for the pub quiz at The Grove – another Balham favourite – I seriously consider it. I’d as good as forgotten what it was like to feel upbeat and it seems a waste not to make the most of it.
Of course I haven’t magically forgotten the anguish of the photos and I’m not sure I’ll ever be a hundred per cent over them, but I’m suddenly determined not to let it beat me. With some extra encouragement from Lucy, I manage to convince myself it doesn’t matter if a handful of peoplein the pub think they know things about me because of what they’ve seen. They can think what they like, but they don’t know anything.
Fighting off any lingering doubts, I take a deep breath and tell Lucy I will be on their team. If people want to talk about me, let them. And if they stare, I’ll deal with it. Lucy praises my newfound feistiness and reminds me that once this first outing is out of the way, it can only get easier. Then she hustles me out of the door before I can change my mind.
I have my first and only wobble when we’re standing at the bar and the couple next to us start sniggering.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have come,’ I backtrack, even though it might not be me they’re laughing about.
‘Don’t worry about them,’ Warren says reassuringly. ‘You’re with friends, just ignore everyone else.’
‘And you’re here now, so you might as well stay,’ Lucy adds.
‘Plus Aiden’s terrible at pub quizzes, so we really do need you on our team,’ Warren says with a grin.
‘Hey! I’m not that bad,’ Aiden protests. ‘But I do want you to stay. You can’t leave me and Luce alone with this loser all night.’
‘This loser who just happens to know the perfect way to fix this situation,’ Warren says. ‘Wanna hear it?’
‘Go on,’ Lucy prompts.
‘Tequila!’ Warren shouts.
‘Now I wish I hadn’t asked,’ she laughs; then, ‘Okay, I’m in.’
‘Go on then, let’s do it,’ Aiden agrees.
And even though a small voice in the back of my head says,This is a terrible idea when you’ve got another rehearsal day tomorrow, I don’t object. My salsa may not be anywhere near as polished as my kizomba was after all the time Aleksis and I have wasted, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll go through anyway. And as frustrating as it is that we won’t be staying in the competition through our own merit this week, it does feel like payback for what I’ve had to go through with Merle.
‘Screw them all,’ Warren toasts as we tap our glasses together and lick piles of salt off our hands.
‘Screw them all,’ we repeat as we tip the tequila down our throats, wincing in unison as we feel the alcohol burning our throats.
‘We’ll take one more each,’ Warren tells the barman as we suck our lemon slices. And no one protests.
We take the second round to our table with our other drinks and this time Warren simply toasts Thursdays, declaring it the official start of the weekend. He gives me a playful nudge and I can’t help grinning back. It’s nice to feel like he’s got my back.
The quizmaster kicks things off and we get stuck into answering questions. At regular intervals Warren touches my arm and checks I’m okay. And I’m surprised to find I am – because when everyone around us is concentrating on picture rounds and music rounds and who the president was fifty years ago, no one is paying the slightest bit of attention to me. But it’s really sweet of him and I appreciate it.
We order two more rounds of tequila in between sets of questions and it’s no surprise to any of us that we’re notone of the top five teams when the quizmaster eventually reads out the answers. But we weren’t expecting to win the consolatory round of drinks that goes to the team who finishes right at the bottom, either. Thanks to all the shots, instead of being embarrassed we find this hilarious.
We’re still giggling when Aiden comes back from the bar with four complimentary glasses of Baileys on ice. As we clink glasses, Warren puts his arm round me and asks, ‘Are you glad you stayed out now?’
‘I am,’ I nod. ‘It’s been such a fun night.’
The truth is, I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.
He lowers his voice and says, ‘Listen, I know you didn’t fancy it last time we met, but I’ve still got to ask – do you want to come back to mine for a bit after this? I’m not ready to call it a night just yet.’
And perhaps because I’m a bit giddy from all the drinks, but more because he’s been so kind to me all evening, I tell him I do. I actually do. This is what I need in my life – a really nice, funny guy, not some arrogant dancer who doesn’t give a damn about me. Plus there’s the fact that I really want Merle not to be the last person I had sex with.
I’m pretty sure one thing will lead to another back at Warren’s, and that will hopefully make me forget about the whole Merle situation once and for all.
