Page 94 of The Dance Deception

Beth, Dee and Lucy’s heads all snap back towards me, to see my response. I think they’re all holding their breath.

‘What about your gym?’ I ask. In spite of everything, I don’t want to be the one who stops him from getting it.

‘The thing about that is,’ he breaks into a grin, ‘I’ve just found out I’ve got a place onThe Cubenext month, so I think I’ll be sorted. Of all the ones I applied for, it’s the one I really wanted. I’m absolutely over the moon.’

‘That’s amazing,’ Beth shrieks. She claps him on the back. ‘Congratulations.’

‘Thank you,’ he laughs. ‘I’ve already set up copies of the games all over my house and I’ve got a few weeks to practise so I’m feeling confident. So please take the money, Kate, seriously. It’s yours more than it’s mine and I really, really want you to have it. Please?’

‘I think he wants you to take it,’ Lucy says.

‘Take it,’ Beth agrees.

‘Take it,’ Tammy nods.

I look at each of them in turn and they all start nodding furiously.

‘Fine,’ I sigh, rolling my eyes. ‘I’ll take it.’

And everyone cheers.

‘So does that mean you’re planning on running off on me?’ Aleksis asks from behind me, making me jump. I hadn’t realised he’d moved into hearing range.

And my heart lurches at the thought of it. Because even though it makes perfect sense to jet off now, before I get back into the rat race, I’d hate not to see him for months – even if he promised to wait for me.

‘I’m not about to jump on the next plane,’ I tell him.

‘It would be a good time to go, though, now it’s getting into autumn. I hear Australia is lovely at this time of year, especially in the run-up to Christmas.’

And with those words, my world turns a little darker. The show finished less than two hours ago and already he’s putting us as far away from each other as is humanly possible. Perhaps I should have seen this coming but, like a fool, I let myself believe he’s not another Merle, just stringing me along to try and win the competition. I so wanted him to be different.

‘I’m sure it’s great,’ I shrug, silently berating myself for opening myself up to heartache yet again.

Oblivious to my misery, Aleksis cheerfully adds, ‘What do you reckon, a month or two in Sydney in November and December? New Year’s Eve fireworks on the Harbour Bridge?’

A tear escapes and rolls down my cheek and Lucy discreetly pulls the others away to give us some privacy.

‘What’s that for?’ Aleksis asks in alarm. ‘I thought you’d be happy.’

‘I don’t want to go to Australia,’ I sob, all the pent-up emotions of the day suddenly flooding out of me. ‘I know it hasn’t been long, but I really thought me and you … I thought this was the beginning of something. I actually believed I was going to meet your parents.’

‘And you will,’ he laughs, brushing the moisture off my cheeks. ‘I obviously wasn’t explaining myself very well. I wasn’t suggesting you go to Australia on your own. Before we left Channel 6 this evening, I got an offer to join another pilot for the show over in Sydney. I wasn’t quite sure how to bring it up until you started talking about going travelling. I was trying to ask you if you might want to come with me.’

I eye him warily. ‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously. I was even wondering if we might be able to squeeze in a couple of weeks in Thailand before it starts – so I can get a natural tan instead of all this lotion.’

My lips curl up into a smile as a wave of relief floods through me. ‘You mean you don’t really love that shade of orange?’

‘Hey, I could still change my mind,’ he warns. ‘I’ll have quite a lot of training to do once the show starts, but we’d have evenings and Sundays together. You could hang out on the beach or go off and explore while I’m working – we can work those details out later – but I would love it if I could have you there with me.’

Any attempt I might have made to play it cool at that moment flies straight out of the window as I fling myself into his arms.

‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ he laughs, kissing me and hugging me back.

Then he releases me so he can tap his glass against mine. ‘Farewell London. Australia here we come!’