Page 27 of Take the Lead

He turns to face the mirrored wardrobe, throws an arm around my shoulders and grins.

‘See. We already look … well, maybe if you smiled a bit more.’

I nudge him in the side and laugh. ‘There’s a lot to think about, that’s all.’

But I can’t help thinking we look quite good together as I check out our reflection, so maybe it won’t be that hard to convince people we’re an item.

The dress Sofiya has selected for me is a perfect fit and when we head back down to the kitchen, lured by a rich waft of garlic, she says, ‘Oh, that looks lovely on you. I thought we must be a similar size.’

I return the compliment, telling her the steaming bowls of pasta on the table smell amazing, and she looks delighted. Strange as it seems, she doesn’t seem to be harbouring any animosity towards me at all.

‘Did you find everything you need in the room?’ she asks.

‘We just need a sleeping bag,’ Aleksis tells her.

‘I think you’ll be warm enough with just the duvet. It’s not cold this evening.’

‘It’s for the sofa,’ he laughs.

He frowns when she doesn’t respond. ‘What?’

‘I just think, if you’re really going to make this work …

I think you need to start acting like a couple right away.

I know it’s a lot, but you’re going to have to look totally comfortable together when everyone is watching you, and I think it will help if you’re already used to being close to one another.

‘When Stella arrives here in the morning, she needs to be convinced you’re two people who’ve just spent the night together. I can’t help feeling the best way to do that has got to be if you really have just spent the night together.’

‘I can see how you might think that.’ He turns to look at me.

‘It sort of makes sense,’ I concede.

‘Why don’t you see how you go,’ Sofiya suggests. ‘And if it feels too awkward, there’s a sleeping bag in the cupboard under the stairs.’

I think this puts both Aleksis and me more at ease.

‘Now, Kate, why don’t you tell me a bit more about yourself so I can convince Stella I’ve got to know you and we’ve become friends. Tell me what made you decide to enter Fire on the Dance Floor in the first place.’

I tell her about Lucy sending in my audition tape, to stop me moping about Ed. ‘And somehow, miraculously, they asked me to join the line-up.’

‘Why miraculously?’ Aleksis asks. ‘What was wrong with it?’

I describe my Beyoncé moment and he laughs and asks if he can see it.

‘Not in a million years,’ I shudder. ‘Apart from the copy Shane has, it’s been permanently deleted.’

‘What was the story with this Ed?’ Sofiya asks and I instantly wish I hadn’t brought him up. Cheating exes is probably the last topic we should get into. But I can’t get out of it now.

‘He, er, dated me for two years then started an affair with a girl I was working with.’ I flinch as I say it, but Sofiya surprises me with her heartfelt reaction.

‘I girl you worked with? It’s not enough that he had this affair, but he had to rub your nose in it as well?’ She shakes her head in disgust. ‘That’s appalling. How did you find out?’

‘She told me – eventually. It had been going on for a few weeks by then, but I had no idea.’

‘We never do,’ she sighs wistfully. ‘In the beginning anyway.’

I try not to let on how uncomfortable this makes me feel.

‘But your friend stepped in and saved the day. Good for her. We all need friends like that,’ Sofiya says. Which makes me wonder if she felt let down by her own when Merle started playing away.

‘Are you over him now?’ she asks, and for a moment I’m not sure if it’s still Ed she’s talking about.

‘I am,’ I say firmly, realising I’ve barely thought about him since switching partners to dance with Aleksis.

‘It sounds like you’re much better off without him,’ Aleksis says, and I’m strangely touched that he’d care.

‘Yes, you’ve probably saved yourself a lifetime of suffering,’ Sofiya agrees. It’s the only time I’ve heard her allude to how much Merle must have hurt her. Then she perks up again and says, ‘At least you won’t have that problem with my brother.’

Because he can’t be unfaithful if we’re not really together.

Sofiya then asks about my family – whether I have brothers and sisters and if we’re close.

I tell her about them all being in France, which makes me miss them, and she says she relates to that, what with her parents being in Latvia.

But she admits she couldn’t live in her home town now, having got used to the faster pace of London after twelve years in the city.

I know exactly what she means. Surrey seems so sleepy by comparison.

She asks if I know what I want to do career-wise after the show has finished and I admit I haven’t got a plan.

She confides she didn’t have much of a plan herself when she set up her interior design business – she only did it to give her flexible working hours so she could travel to competitions with Merle.

But over time she realised she had a flair for it, and now, at the age of thirty, she’s in high demand.

It explains why the house looks so good.

We talk about Fire on the Dance Floor and how we think the other contestants are getting on. Much as I’d like to, we can’t avoid mentioning Merle and Emilia again. There’s no denying they’re a level above everyone else.

‘But you’ve got it in you, too, Kate,’ Aleksis says. ‘Look how much you improved at the studio today.’

He spent the afternoon showing me how I can add more drama to my body rolls, how to do a head roll without getting dizzy and how to slide my hands down my body in a way that looks suggestive rather than sleazy.

By the end of it I did feel sexier while I was dancing – and, like he promised, I didn’t need to have sex to do it.

‘Well, if Aleksis thinks you’ve got it, then I know you have.’ Sofiya smiles. ‘When it comes to dancing, he knows what he’s talking about.’

When it gets late and we finally decide to call it a night, Aleksis and I both pause at the foot of our bed.

‘So,’ he starts.

‘So.’ I pause. ‘Shall we top and tail?’

‘We could try that. As long as you don’t kick me in the face in the night,’ he says.

‘As long as you keep your stinky feet away from mine,’ I throw back at him.

‘They’re not stinky.’ Then he realises I’m laughing. ‘This is a bit awkward, isn’t it?’

‘A bit. Shall we just get in and stick to our sides?’

‘Sure,’ he agrees.

‘No funny business,’ he adds when we’ve stripped down to our underwear – a vest and shorts set of Sofiya’s for me, a pair of Merle’s boxers for him – and climbed under the covers.

‘Nothing’s further from my mind,’ I laugh as I turn my back to him, even if his muscular legs didn’t entirely escape my notice.

But I don’t close my eyes straight away after he flicks off the light. I can’t relax, too conscious of being in bed with someone who, until a few days ago, was the last person on earth I could imagine being in this scenario with.

I can tell from the sighs that punctuate his breathing that he hasn’t fallen asleep yet, either.

‘It was nice getting to know you a bit better this evening,’ he eventually says into the darkness.

And I smile, pleasantly surprised, and grateful to him for trying to make this easier.

‘You, too,’ I reply, only realising as I say it that there’s actually some truth in it.