Page 64 of The Dance Deception
‘What have you got in store for us today?’ Aleksis asks.
‘Well, when I was filming Merle and Emilia yesterday, I found this old yoga mat.’
My heart lurches as she holds up the mat I once had sex on with Merle.
‘It gave me an idea.’
‘Of course it did,’ Aleksis says, while I hold my breath in terror.
‘I’m going to get you to do some yoga together,’ she says, and I feel my shoulders relaxing again. ‘It’ll probably look better if you don’t get it all completely perfect.’
And we don’t, but not because we’re not trying. It’smostly because we keep getting the giggles. I think our new relationship status has made us both giddy.
The first pose isn’t too difficult. We sit facing each other with our feet touching, our legs bent and holding hands. Then we lean outwards so we can straighten our legs in the air, our feet still connected between us, and we hold that pose for a minute. So far, so good.
Then Sarah gets Aleksis to lie down on the mat with his feet in the air. She instructs me to push my hips against his feet and lean my body over so I can put my hands on his and he can lift me off the floor into a flying position. I can’t help thinking it’s a bit different from the last time I had a man lying under me on this mat.
‘Don’t drop me,’ I warn, as I sway in the air above him.
‘Trust me, I’m not going to drop you. I’m underneath, remember?’
Next, I’m supposed to let go of his hands and let my torso flop down towards the floor while he balances me with just his feet.
‘I can’t,’ I squeal. Just trying to let go with one hand makes me wobble uncontrollably. ‘Hey, stop laughing. I’m falling. Put me back down. Aleksis!’
He manages to propel me back to standing before I face-plant on the mat.
‘Sorry. Your face was a picture.’
‘I’d like to see you try it.’
‘Come on then, you get down here,’ he challenges.
‘I’ll never be able to lift you …’
‘There’s still one more position to try,’ Sarah interrupts with a smile.
This one has us standing side by side and holding hands, then crouching into a deep squat and trying to sit down at the same time as each other without any of our hands touching the floor. I lose my balance immediately and end up with my legs over my head. After that we’re supposed to rock back up into the squat position, but after several failed attempts we’re laughing so hard we have to abandon it.
‘This is brilliant,’ Sarah says. ‘We’ll cut that one into the middle and finish up with the first one to make it look like you’ve given up for an easier pose. That works perfectly – thanks guys. Right, let’s see a bit of your rehearsal then we can chat about how your week is going. My impression is it’s going pretty well.’
Sarah wraps up just before lunchtime, leaving us with a good few hours of cha-cha practice. My goal for the afternoon, set by Aleksis, is to really master the breaks among the faster sections of the footwork, which need to be precise to look good. By the end of the session, I think I’m getting it right just over half of the time.
‘Do you think I’m going to be ready?’ I ask as we pack our dance shoes away.
‘We’ve still got one full day,’ he reminds me.
When he sees the crestfallen look on my face, he adds, ‘You’re going to be fine. Just think about last week. The difference between Thursday and Friday’s dancing was huge. It’ll be the same tomorrow. It’s a pity we can’t skip the rueda this evening, though. So you could give your legs a rest.’
If only!But exhaustion isn’t the only reason I’d like to skip it. I’m worried Emilia might want a confrontationand I don’t want to be at the centre of another scene. I’ve brought enough drama to the show already.
‘Come on, let’s get it over with,’ he says, ‘then I’ll cook us something nice back at ours afterwards.’
And I roll the word ‘ours’ round and round in my head on the way to Channel 6, liking the way it sounds.
Chapter 34
I’m surprised to see Merle and Emilia chatting and laughing together when we walk into the reception room, like yesterday never happened. There’s not a hint of tension between them. I guess that means Merle has managed to convince her nothing was going on between him and me, which is a relief, but it makes me feel sorry for Emilia. I have no doubt she’s heading for heartache.
