Page 27 of Take the Lead
‘If anyone says anything to you, just tell them to piss off,’ Lucy says defiantly.
‘Will you and Aiden come too? I’ll feel a lot better if you’re there as well.’
‘Of course we will. It’ll be great to meet everyone properly.’
‘It might be my leaving party at the rate things are going with Aleksis,’ I sigh. ‘I will brave that chat with him tomorrow though. I can’t put up with his stroppiness for one more day.’
She gives my arm an encouraging squeeze. ‘Good for you. I don’t think you’ll regret it.’
‘Well, I don’t think things could get any worse.’
But it turns out I’m quite wrong about that.
Chapter 15
Despite convincing myself I’m going to go in all guns blazing the next morning and confront Aleksis before he’s even changed his shoes, I hesitate for a moment too long when I arrive at the studio and he starts dishing out instructions before I’ve had a chance to say anything. I almost lose my nerve completely, but we’re not far into the rehearsal before he infuriates me enough to snap me back into action.
‘Not like that, like this,’ he says impatiently as I mess up a toe-tap sequence that he’s had to show me five times already. I keep starting it with the wrong foot, which leaves my weight on the wrong leg for the next move. ‘You’re not listening to what I’m telling you,’ he huffs, his voice dripping with irritation.
‘Are you surprised?’ I fire back, throwing my arms up in anger. ‘I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m sick of it. You either boss me around like a three-year-old or act like you’d rather be anywhere else but in this room.Well, you might not care about this dance or the show or anything else, but I do.
‘We’ve only got a few days before we’re doing it live and I, for one, want to at least try to get through to week three. So for five minutes could you please just put the attitude aside and stop treating me like I’ve got the plague or something? Because if we carry on like this it will almost certainly be the end of the show for both of us.’
‘And what a shame that would be,’ he sneers, his eyes flashing with anger. ‘But you don’t have to worry about that, we won’t be leaving the show just yet.’
‘We will if we carry on like this.’
He shakes his head and glares at me.
‘What?’ I snap. ‘What is it?’
‘Did you know he was married?’ he asks.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Merle. Did you know?’
‘Is that what this is about? No, I didn’t know, although I fail to see how that’s any business of yours.’
‘That’s something, at least.’ He looks away from me.
‘Aleksis, I’ve had a shitty enough time dealing with all that crap without you wading in on it as well.’
‘Oh, you think you’ve had a shitty time, do you?’ he rages. ‘How do you think Sofiya is finding it, seeing those images of you and him splashed all over the internet? And then having to put up with the press camped out on her doorstep day and night?’
I swallow, taken aback by the venom in his voice. ‘I’m sure she’s—’
‘No, you don’t get to comment on it,’ he cuts in, hisvoice biting. ‘Because you’ve got no idea. And in answer to your earlier question, what does it have to do with me? I’ll tell you what. That’s my sister whose husband you’ve been screwing.’
I feel like I’ve been slammed into a brick wall. ‘Your sister?’
No wonder he’s so angry with me.
‘That’s right. So if you’ve been asking yourself why I don’t want to be stuck here in this shitty studio with you, now you know. Do I want us to go through to the next round and have to do it all again with you next week? No. I can’t think of anything I want less. But do you know what my consolation prize was for being forced to swap partners and dance with you? We’re going through on Saturday, no matter what. They’re going to make sure of it.’
‘You mean they’re going to fix the scores?’ I don’t want to believe it. Surely they wouldn’t do that.
‘Yes, if they have to. So there’s really very little point in me wasting my time here trying to teach you this dance, because it’s all bullshit anyway.’
