Page 60 of The Dance Deception
‘If you let yourself be concerned by other people’s pasts, you would never be with anyone,’ he says. ‘Everyone makesmistakes, but that doesn’t define them. Of course I was angry on Sofiya’s behalf when I first found out what Merle was doing, but in my family, we deal with our anger very quickly. It’s not healthy to hold on to it and let it eat away at you. Sofiya has no hard feelings towards Kate, so there was no reason for me to stay upset about it. As Sofiya herself said, Kate had no idea he was married.’
‘And Kate, have you never felt awkward about what happened with Merle?’ Stella asks.
‘Honestly, I thought Sofiya would hate me – Aleksis too. But they couldn’t have been nicer about it and I now count Sofiya as a friend. And Aleksis, of course, as a lot more.’
The lie comes so easily, now I’ve apparently started feeling like it would be no bad thing if it were true.
‘And with just ten days to go till the final ofFire on the Dance Floor, how are you feeling about that, Kate?’ Stella asks.
‘We’ve still got this week to get through, but if we make it through to the final we’ll be delighted.’
‘It would be amazing to be the show’s first ever winners, but we’ll be happy with any stage we get to,’ Aleksis adds. ‘Whatever happens, we’ll come away with more than we started with, so it feels like we’ve won anyway.’
I realise the prize money has barely crossed my mind with everything else that’s been going on. I think about it now: how it would save me from ever falling back into a rut, and how I long for that safety net. But if having Aleksis in my life is what I get out of the competition instead, would I even care if I didn’t win?
For a moment I try to picture what will happen to usafter the show. We’ve got this weird and wonderful experience binding us together now, but will he still want to see me when he no longer has to? Or, because of the way it all started, will we just close the door on it and never look back? A week ago I wouldn’t have cared. But now …
Stella interrupts my thoughts with another question. ‘What’s it like on set, with Merle there too?’
‘We don’t have much to do with each other,’ I reply quickly. ‘We’re either off rehearsing or at costume fittings, but when we do cross paths we keep it very professional. You just have to get on with it. We’ve only got five weeks on the show – and that’s if we get through to the next round – so I just want to make the most of it and have the best time I can possibly have.’
Which hadn’t really sunk in until I say it out loud. There’s so little time left and I do want to enjoy it. What’s the point in ruining it by fighting with Liam and worrying about Merle?
After a few more questions about whether I’ve lost weight through all the rehearsing (a bit) and whether I’ll keep dancing after the show (I hope so), Stella wraps things up and Aleksis closes his laptop.
‘That went well.’ He smiles. ‘We’re pretty good at this.’
The way he looks at me when he says it makes me wonder if the boundaries have started blurring a bit for him as well.
‘I guess it’s time to update my parents again,’ I think aloud, and he agrees he should probably do the same.
‘I’ve decided I’m going to talk to Liam today too,’ I tell him.
He looks surprised. ‘Really?’
‘I don’t want the rest of the week to be negative, so I’m just going to accept his apology then let it go.’
Just saying it out loud makes it feel like a weight has lifted.
‘That’s quite the U-turn, but good for you,’ Aleksis says with a smile. ‘You can’t change it, so if you can put it behind you that can only be a good thing, right? What about Merle?’
‘What about him?’ This comes out a little more sharply than I intended, and my cheeks start burning.
He looks at me quizzically. ‘I just wondered if that extends to him as well.’
‘We’ve done all the making up we need to,’ I reply curtly, still furious with myself for what happened in his dressing room. I quickly excuse myself to go and call my family before Aleksis can ask anything else about Merle.
When Mum pops up on my screen, sporting a deep tan and a contented smile, I decide not to mention Merle or Liam or anything that might wipe the glow off her face. I stick to telling her how much fun the rueda practice is and how gorgeous Aleksis’s apartment is, before admitting I’m going to be living in it for a while.
But although I hurry to explain it’s just to keep our names in the media, I should have known my own mother would be able to read me like a book.
She looks at me fondly. ‘If you say so, darling.’
Chapter 32
Italk to Liam before anyone else when I arrive at Channel 6 after another day of cha-cha practice. I want to get it out of the way before we get stuck into the rueda – and while I’m still feeling pumped up from seeing Stella’s latest story online. Aleksis and I have done a good job of sounding loved-up, which has boosted my confidence no end. If I was watching the show I’d definitely be interested in our story and keen to keep us in the competition.
Liam couldn’t look more relieved when I tell him I’ve decided to forgive him for selling the photos and that I just want to forget all about it. He apologises again, as well as for what he said yesterday, and again offers to give me the money he was paid for the pictures – all of it this time – to make amends.
