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“Ah. Much is being explained. I can come, watch, no?”
I could find no reason to refuse other than a practical one and found myself being blatantly honest about that too. “Well, yes, if she allows it. But I was just going to climb out the bathroom window and go down over the roof.”
His mouth twisted in humour and confusion.
“There’ll be someone downstairs on the desk,” I explained. “We’re forbidden from doing classes elsewhere.”
“Is no problem, come.”
I was aware of the exaggerated height of both Justin’s eyebrows as Aleks and I left the studio together and told myself that at least this disturbing development was doing some good. It had taken my friend’s mind off his own problems.
Aleks kept his hand lightly on the small of my back as we walked down the stairs, only removing it at the main door. No one queried our exit, and we were soon in a taxi and on our way to Covent Garden.
“This one,” said Aleks. “The angry man. He is your boyfriend?”
“Not anymore.”
“He wants to be your lover again, I think.”
The word ‘lover’ from Aleks’s mouth made me feel warm, but it did not describe Gavin. There had been sex, yes, but it had never felt loving. “No, he’s just angry,” I told Aleks. “He’s generally pretty angry.”
“So, he is not good enough for you, and you walked away. This is right.”
“Yes,” I replied, turning my head to look straight into his eyes. “Ran away actually. Literally.”
Gavin had chased me down several streets before I evaded him, but why was I telling Aleks? I hadn’t even told Justin.
“Why did you hold me, after class, yesterday?” he asked.
“Because I didn’t want you to feel that way,” I answered at once, quickly adding: “I sometimes have trouble behaving appropriately. I’m sure you’ve been warned.”
“I found it appropriate,” he said, then looking out the window and changing the subject. We talked about London for the rest of the journey. He knew it well, though he inhabited an entirely different level of city life to me. His social scene was dazzling. He’d been to so many events and places. Tall buildings took on a shinier hue as I imagined Aleks partying in them, and we soon reached our destination.
Olga looked Aleks up and down then said a few sharp words in Russian.
“I am not permitted to watch, must take class,” he explained and, in his black jeans, he did.
He was phenomenal, but Olga didn’t seem to think so. In a room where he was so clearly the star, he was singled out for a lot of abuse. She slapped his knee back and squawked at him. I received encouraging smiles and corrections involving my stance: my shoulders, arms, head up and smile, always smile. I no longer felt like smiling at her.
“She is want to see what we have been working on together,” Aleks told me as the other students left.
We had actually only done relatively simple lifts, presumably due to the wide range of abilities in the class at college. Simone would not have been safe with anything too high, Justin never having taken a pas de deux lesson in his life. We worked through what we had done and then moved on to supported pirouettes, the last of which caught me up short facing him. I grabbed his shoulders fast for balance and laughed. Then, sensing we were done as Olga and Aleks began to speak again, I went to change.
“I’m sorry she was so mean to you,” I said as we wandered down the thin cobbled street afterwards, and through dark shadows between buildings. “Justin’s right. She’s an old bat, isn’t she?”
He sighed. “She is right. I have let much go.”
“But you’re completely wonderful. I’ve never even been in the same room as such an incredible dancer before. You’re…” I trailed off, seeing lines of distress on his face.
“No longer,” he said. “But there is no excuse. In my home is both studio space and weight machines. I should get back to it.”
I wondered about his condition but couldn’t pry. He didn’t seem remotely arthritic, though obviously doing one class could not compare to the slog of daily rehearsals and performing.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“I always get cake after here, down in the Piazza. You don’t have to come.”
“Sounds good,” he said, somewhat to my consternation. Coming to a class was one thing, but sticking with me for the rest of the day? What would we talk about? It would probably be horrifically boring for him.
