Page 56 of The Dance Deception
He starts typing again but I realise there’s nothing more he can say that I want to know. Fighting back tears of rage, I block him and remove myself from the chat. The fact that it was him – a friend – is almost as bad as the pictures being out there in the first place. How could he betray me like that?
I storm back into the studio and throw my phone into my bag.
‘Anything I can do?’ Aleksis asks softly.
‘Not unless you’ve got a bottle of vodka hidden somewhere in here,’ I reply, only half joking.
‘I can offer you a lukewarm coffee and a KitKat?’ he says. And he sounds so genuinely upset that he can’t offer me anything stronger that my fury dissipates a little. It reminds me there are some good people in the world.
‘Can we just change the subject?’ I request, suddenly wanting to throw myself back into our cha-cha practice and forget everything else. ‘I don’t want to waste any more time thinking about it.’
‘Of course,’ he nods. And we rehearse until it’s time for me to go home and pack a suitcase for the big move tomorrow.
Lucy is unexpectedly enthusiastic when I tell her I’ll be staying at Aleksis’s place for a few weeks. I thought shemight question the wisdom of it, even if it does give her and Aiden the Balham flat to themselves for a while.
‘You never know, he might get so used to you being there that he doesn’t want you to leave,’ she says, with a twinkle in her eye.
I pretend to be insulted. ‘And there I was thinking you might miss me around here.’
‘Of course I will. Who else is going to leave toothpaste in the sink and forget to take the recycling out?’ she teases.
‘Aiden,’ we say simultaneously and burst out laughing.
Chapter 30
My legs start to ache before I’m even halfway through the next day’s cha-cha rehearsal. The footwork is so fast and the timing is really hard to grasp. The thought of an ice bath has always filled me with horror, but I’m starting to wonder if I might need one if I’m going to survive the week.
‘I am pushing you quite hard,’ Aleksis admits. ‘We could do a slower, easier version, but I know you can do this and it will look so much better this way.’
He promises we’ll do a longer stretching session at the end of the day.
From time to time my concentration slips when I glimpse my suitcase in the corner of the studio. It gives me that flash of excitement that always comes before a holiday. I know I’m not going to a fancy hotel in the Caribbean, but I can’t wait to see what his apartment looks like and keep wondering how it will feel being there. Will it make us feel more like a couple? Do Iwantus to feel more like a couple?
Aleksis politely suggests that I keep my eyes on my reflection in the mirror, to help me focus and so I can see when my posture and positioning are just right. And watching myself makes me realise what a long way I’ve come since the start of the competition. Six-weeks-ago-Kate was like a gawky teenager compared to how I look now. Seeing how much I’ve improved makes my confidence soar.
True to his word, at the end of the session Aleksis makes sure every muscle is properly stretched out before we make the journey to Channel 6. Even so, I’m relieved when we manage to get a seat on the Tube. Sitting down for fifteen minutes feels like bliss.
It doesn’t last, though. Before we reach Hammersmith, we find ourselves in an impromptu photoshoot thanks to a mum who recognises us and asks if she can take a photo of us with her daughters. It attracts the attention of the other passengers in our carriage and soon there’s a queue of people wanting their picture taken with us. I don’t think half of them even know who we are, they just don’t want to risk missing out.
We’re still laughing about it when we arrive at Channel 6. It was a brief but welcome reprieve from my growing anxiety about seeing Merle again after what he said to me on Sunday – and Liam, now his true colours have been revealed.
As soon as we walk into the reception room, Liam is out of his chair and heading towards me, but Aleksis holds a hand up in warning and Liam stops in his tracks. It makes me like Aleksis even more.
‘Are you okay?’ Beth asks when I join her and Tammy. ‘This must be so awkward.’
‘As long as I pretend it never happened, I can just about deal with it,’ I assure them.
Beth squeezes my arm. ‘We’re both here for you.’
I tell them I appreciate it, then Olivia announces that now everyone is present we can head to the studio and get started.
To my surprise, I don’t let either Liam or Merle get to me for the first hour or so of the rehearsal. I keep reminding myself that I’m strong and I can rise above whatever has come before. Liam does say sorry the first time we’re paired together, but I ignore him. I’m determined not to let my anger bubble up to the surface. It helps that I’m only with him for a few seconds at a time before I’m passed to the next dancer, so he can’t say anything more.
I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself by the time we stop for a drink break – but just when I’m silently congratulating myself for my maturity, all hell breaks loose. It starts when Liam tries to approach me again.
‘We have to talk about this, Kate,’ he says, blocking my path this time so I can’t dodge him. ‘I want to apologise. I know what I did was wrong and I want to make it up to you. I wasn’t thinking straight at the time and I’ve been feeling awful ever since. I’ve been wanting to say something ever since it happened, but I didn’t know how.
‘Now you know, I just want to make it right. I want to give you the money they paid me for the photos. It was a lot – two thousand pounds. You should have it, it should be yours. You’re right, I should have found another way to get my gym. I don’t want it to be founded out of this.’
