Page 58 of The Dance Deception
‘Right, can we get back to it now?’ Ros directs the question to the whole room. ‘Everybody ready? Everyone calm now?’
There’s a chorus of yeses and we get back into our circle. Aleksis gives me an encouraging smile as the music starts up again and I offer a weak smile back to disguise my guilt.
Merle sneaks me knowing looks for the remainder of the rehearsal and lets his hands linger on me longer than necessary whenever we pass each other in the rueda, but I don’t rise to it. Liam avoids eye contact with me altogether, while Beth and Tammy fire a few curious glances my way, which I pretend not to notice. Emilia doesn’t wipe the scowl off her face all evening and I wonder if she can guess what Merle and I have done. But I tell myself she can’t possibly know.
When Ros announces we’re done for the day, I can’t get away from everyone fast enough. I grab my suitcase and race for the door, telling Aleksis I’ll wait for him outside. I don’t want either Merle or Liam to corner me again and I don’t feel like answering any questions from Beth or Tammy. I’m not sure I trust myself with the answers.
Why, why, why did I go to Merle’s changing room with him? I must have known what would happen. I’m furious with myself for my moment of weakness, for letting him think he had the upper hand – and for letting Aleksis down.
I take deep breaths and try to force it out of my mind. I don’t want Aleksis to realise there’s anything wrong, and I need to psych myself up for seeing Sofiya when we get to his apartment. I’d die if she ever got wind of what just happened. If she even suspected it.
‘That was eventful,’ Aleksis says, when he finally catches me up.
‘I just want to get out of here,’ I reply. I want to forget the whole evening ever happened.
‘I’ll book an Uber,’ he says. ‘It’s too late to be messing around with Tubes.’
I force a smile onto my face, but I’m not sure it reaches my eyes. A feeling of wretchedness hangs over me for the whole journey, until Aleksis tells me we’re turning onto his road.
‘Here we are,’ he says brightly, as we pull up outside a grand red-brick mansion block that looks like something out of a period drama. Sofiya is on the doorstep and waves her camera in the air by way of greeting.
‘You live here?’ I ask, staring at the giant windows and manicured flower beds.
‘I do.’
And I’m not surprised he says it with a grin. I finally stop brooding about Liam and Merle and focus on the task at hand. I need to pull myself together pronto if we’re going to make this look convincing.
Aleksis helps by draping his arm round my shoulders as we walk to the front door. It feels so familiar there now that I manage to relax as Sofiya snaps away. Then the door is opened and we’re inside possibly the nicest apartment I’ve ever seen.
‘Wow!’ I gawp open-mouthed at the vast living space with giant works of art on the wall. ‘This is not what I expected at all.’
There’s a plush four-seater sofa, deep pile rugs, ornatesideboards and a huge modern chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I slowly spin round to take it all in.
‘What did you expect?’ Aleksis asks, sounding amused. ‘A big empty room with a mirrored wall and a barre?’
‘I don’t know – a bit more of a lad pad, I suppose,’ I admit.
‘With a ten-year-old armchair, an Xbox and a projector wall?’
‘Something like that.’
‘Not really my style,’ he says, laughing. ‘Although Sofiya may have had more to do with the decor than me.’
‘It needed updating when our parents moved out,’ she explains. ‘When they moved back to Latvia, they said Aleksis and I could stay here if we wanted to. I was in my own house with Merle by then, so Aleksis got it all to himself. But he definitely needed my help with the decorating.’
‘I don’t think I would have wanted to leave if I lived somewhere like this,’ I tell them. I can just make out an impressively spacious roof terrace through the double doors at the end of the room – my absolute dream.
‘You should see the house in Latvia,’ Sofiya laughs. ‘Right, time for me to get out of your hair. I want to get these pictures edited and sent over to Stella, so she can run them tomorrow.’
Aleksis sees her out then gives me a tour of the rest of the flat, from the large, bright kitchen to the smaller, cosier bedrooms, which each have their own bathroom. Aleksis has an art deco velvet headboard decorating his bed, and framed black and white photos of dancers on his walls.The guest room has an elegant wrought iron bed frame and a beautifully restored antique wardrobe.
He puts my suitcase on the bed and says, ‘I’ll leave you to make yourself at home. Come and find me when you’re ready.’
I lie down next to it and close my eyes, wanting just five minutes of peace after the stress of the evening. But when I open them again, the room is dark and the rest of the flat is silent. I grope towards my suitcase and retrieve my phone from the side pocket, squinting at the sudden brightness from the screen.
‘It can’t be,’ I whisper, as my eyes grow accustomed to the glow and I discover it’s just after three a.m. I thought I’d be spending my first night here staying up late and chatting to Aleksis, getting to know each other better, not falling asleep without even saying goodnight.
But it will have to wait till breakfast now – Aleksis won’t still be up at this time – so I quietly move my suitcase to the floor, climb back under the covers and go back to sleep until sunrise.
