Page 19 of Tendu: Dancing in the Castle

“My things for college are at home.”

“Ah.” His frown quickly became a smile. “Justin can bring! You phone him, and I get breakfast for us.”

He headed for the kitchen, and only then did I notice he was still entirely without clothing.

“Your feet’ll get cold!” I called.

His laugh carried back from the small room as I sat on the sofa and discovered a dead phone battery. He returned with what looked like a large pot of chocolate mousse and handed me the landline from the coffee table.

“My little Phi, all grown-up and slutting it about town with the best of them,” commented Justin. “It fair brings a tear to my eye.”

I had exited the delightfully snuggly taxi on seeing my friend, after telling Aleks that it would be better if we didn’t arrive at college together, given the rules about relationships between students and teachers.

Justin went on. “So, to continue the unfulfilling conversation from, may I remind you, five-thirty this morning – I thought someone had died! – how was the one-night stand?” He handed over the heavy bag, which was overstuffed with various items of dancewear and possibly bricks.

“I don’t think that’s what it was.” The concept of ‘one night’ had evaporated in the presence of Aleks, but it crept back a little in the grey concrete street.

“Don’t get your hopes up, sweet pea. I read up some more on him, so I’m in an expert position to guess the night’s events. Did you go to a hotel?”

“No. His flat.”

“Really? You’re sure?”

“Yes.” I described the property in some detail.

“Whoa. Odd. There’s this bint with a blog, shagged him for some time, never once got invited to his house. Very upset about it she is, too. But he took you there.” His voiced slowed. “We could have a force-ten dating alert here, Phi. I’ve seen this somewhere.” He thought for a moment. “Yep, got it. Documentary. Straight ballet people: mating habits of.”

“You’re making that up.”

“Okay, so it was about birds, but same thing really. Excited little male robins? Finches? Wrens? I can’t remember. Anyway, they show the females their nests, and the girls pick the best one. And that was some nest. I would mate him.”

Rolling my eyes didn’t stay the roll that Justin was on. He indicated body parts as we walked. “Pretty little face, child-bearing hips, breast-feeding tits. He’s old. Ready to settle down. And what’s with the T-shirt? Putting you in his ballet pro-mo things? Territorial, that is: marking you as his.”

“I didn’t want to look like I hadn’t been home. He said I could take whatever I wanted.”

Justin was still developing the mating-ritual theory when I left him outside the second-floor toilets to get changed. “Those dolls he got you. Didn’t he say one was a mother? Phi, you need to be very wary now. He’ll have you chained to that apartment, pregnant and barefoot.” His own trendily trainered foot propped the door open for a moment. “Or it was a one-nighter, so no hopes either way now. You hear me?”

Aleks wasn’t in the studio when I went through, all changed and ready for class. Justin stood by the barre. Will sat in the middle of the floor with his back to the door, scrolling through something on his phone. A small detour allowed an ‘accidental’ whack of his head with my bag.

“Oi,” he said, rubbing his head. “What’s up with you?”

“Your stupid head was in the way, Hearse.” He hated the nickname of Hearse – in a particularly bitter moment, I had once said it was based on wishful thinking – and ‘stupid’ was a line I never usually crossed.

His side of the mutual glare shifted from anger to understanding. “You saw my comment on the website.” He rose smoothly off the floor. “It was meant as a compliment.”

My glare continued unabated.

“I’ll delete it,” he said.

“Bit late for that.”

“Er, Phi?” Justin interrupted, and then kissed my neck from behind.

“Hey!” I cried in shock. “Boundaries, Bevan.”

“See, things like this are why there’s rumours about you two,” Will said with an annoying grin.

“There’s chocolate on your neck,” said Justin. “Been eating in bed, have we?”

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