Page 52 of The Dance Deception
‘That’s right. We want to make this look perfect.’
‘There goes the big night out at the pub,’ Tammy groans quietly.
‘We can still go for one,’ Liam says.
‘You’ll come for a quick one, won’t you?’ Beth asks me. ‘I know we’ve got an early start, but it would be great to have the whole gang there again. You could come too, Aleksis. We can squeeze an extra chair round the table.’
‘Sure, why not,’ he replies, surprising me, because I thought he’d want us to go somewhere where we might get photographed, even if we do have to be up at the crack of dawn.
I know Lucy will be delighted to have the chance to suss him out. I might even be a tiny bit delighted myself, that we’ll get to toast tonight’s success together, and that he’s willing to hang out with my friends.
Inevitably one drink turns into two as we get stuck into discussions about our performances this week and what’s coming in the week ahead. We watch clips of people dancing the rueda on YouTube to see exactly what it is we’ll be doing, and it does look like it’s going to be a lot of fun. But with the couples swapping partners after virtually every move, I realise this means I’ll be dancing with Merle again tomorrow, albeit in brief spurts, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
It’s not until I catch myself stifling a yawn that I look at my watch and realise it won’t be long before the landlord’s calling last orders. I show Aleksis the time. ‘We should probably get going soon if we want to be fit for tomorrow.’
‘Yeah, I’m ready to call it a night,’ he agrees. ‘We’ll need extra energy for all the additional rehearsals this week.’
‘I’m trying not to think about it,’ I admit. ‘But I’m still glad we came out. I would have been too hyped up tosleep if I’d tried to go straight to bed. I hope you didn’t get too heavily grilled by Lucy. She can be really nosy.’
He smiles. ‘It was fine, we had a good chat.’
She must have been on her best behaviour for once.
My thoughts drift back to the week ahead. ‘I hope we’ve got an easyish dance for our next individual performance, with all the rueda moves to learn too. Have you looked yet?’
He taps his pocket. ‘I’ve got the envelope in here. Do you want to look now?’
I nod and he slides the card out, making sure no one is watching.
‘The cha-cha,’ I read quietly. ‘Is that good for us, or bad?’
He thinks about it for a moment. ‘It’s challenging, but I think we’re up to the task. We’ll just have to work really hard if we want it to look spectacular.’
‘We’re going to need it to look spectacular if we haven’t got time to be seen out and about this week. We’ll no longer have that advantage.’
‘I’ll come up with something good, don’t worry. And we’ve still got Monday and Friday nights for going out. Plus, if we keep up with the Instagram posts we’ll hopefully stay on everyone’s radar.’
He gives me a quick hug, then seems to remember the rest of the gang might be watching and kisses me full on the lips for the second time this evening. And this time it definitely registers. It makes my heart flutter.
‘I’ll see you bright and early,’ he says with a smile, before heading for the door. I can’t take my eyes off him as walks away.
‘I saw that,’ Lucy teases, snapping me back to attention.
‘Just making it look realistic,’ I tell her, although I’m no longer sure I believe it.
‘It was cool of him to come to the pub with us,’ she says. ‘I didn’t expect him to be so down to earth. I thought all professional dancers might be dickheads like Merle, but he blended in really well.’
‘He’s very easy to be around.’ Easier than I ever could have imagined, in fact.
‘Well, that should help you with getting out of bed for your early start tomorrow,’ Lucy laughs.
I feign a look of horror at the reminder. But I’m not at all horrified to be getting a bonus day with Aleksis. Even if Merle is going to be there, too.
Chapter 28
Nine a.m. comes around all too quickly. It feels like I’ve only just left Channel 6 when I make the journey back to Hammersmith.
I’ve made an effort with my hair and make-up. I tell myself it’s in case they’re planning to film us today. But I know it’s also because I want Aleksis to think I look nice. Merle too, much as I hate to admit it. I just hope I can trust my body not to react when I feel his hands on me again.
