harriet (6)

chapter six

Back at the hotel, Shane went with Alec to her hotel room. They’d booked separate rooms, just in case. She’d been talking a mile a minute since they left the airport, and Shane hadn’t taken a word of it in. She was still talking when he turned to her.

‘Alec, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to be at the venue in a while.’ It wasn’t true, but he knew there was a dancers’ rehearsal on that afternoon.

‘Oh, okay. When will I see you?’

‘Dinner this evening?’

‘Sure.’ She kissed him. ‘See you later. I’ll give you a ring, okay?’

Shane nodded and left. He drove to the venue, thinking about what he was going to say to Lucy if he saw her. He wandered into their dressing room, and bumped into Kian, who was just on his way out.

‘Hey Ki’. Where are you of to?’

‘Lunch with ‘Rina. Sorry, can’t stop - I’m already running late.’ Kian waved and jogged off down the corridor. Shane dumped his bag in the dressing room, and made his way to the stage. He stood in the wings and watched Lucy as she practised the routines with the rest of the girls. When they finished, and she came off, he went across to see her.

‘Shane, hi. Congratulations!’

‘For what?’

‘Hasn’t Alec told you?’

‘Told me what? You’re talking in riddles.’

‘She said she was going to tell you this afternoon. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Forget all that.’ Shane already had. He was staring into Lucy’s eyes. She waved her hand in front of his face. ‘Earth calling! Yoo hoo!’

‘What? Sorry, I was far away.’

‘Yeah, I guessed! Anyway, I’ve got to go. Did you want something?’

‘Err, no, just to say hi.’ He watched her walk off with the rest of the dancers. He’d made his decision. He had to tell Alec it was over.

Mark made his way down to the hotel tennis courts at twenty-five past four. He’d never felt this nervous about a game of tennis before! Just as he sat down on one of the benches, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun round.

‘Oh, hi Patricia. You gave me a fright!’ He stood up again and looked her up and down. He’d never seen anyone look so good in a tracksuit before.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.’ She smiled. ‘Ready to play?’

‘Sure am. I have to warn you, I haven’t played for a couple of months, so I might be a bit rusty!’ "A bit rusty"?! Mark kicked himself. What a stupid comment.

‘Don’t worry - I’m not that good in the first place!’

The two of them played a good game of tennis for just under an hour. When they stopped, they headed to the snack bar for a drink. Mark went over to the table where Patricia had sat and handed her her drink.

‘You’re really good.’

‘Thanks.’ It was that smile again. It blew Mark away. ‘You’re pretty good yourself!’

Mark took a deep breath. ‘Look, I was wondering, would you maybe like - I mean, you don’t have to, only if you want to - if you’d like to have dinner with me tomorrow evening.’ Mark blushed and looked down at his hands.

‘That’s really sweet of you, but we’ve got an evening rehearsal tomorrow. I’m sorry. Maybe another time.’ Mark smiled, and nodded, but he was disappointed.

He looked at his watch. ‘Is that the time already?’ He hadn’t even registered what the time was. ‘I’ve got to go. I’ll see you around, yeah?’ And before she had chance to answer, he was gone.

Just before midday, there was a knock on Nicky’s door. ‘Come in.’ The door opened and Georgina came through.

‘Hi Nicky.’ She smiled, but there was a coldness in her eyes Nicky didn’t recognise.

‘Hi. Come through.’ She followed him through to the sitting room, next door. ‘Have a seat.’

‘No thanks. Listen, Nicky, I’m going to come straight to the point.’ She turned to face him. ‘It’s over, Nick. Us. It’s not working. I need someone who can be there for me all the time, not someone who’s only there three months out of the year.’

Nicky sat down. Hard. ‘You can’t be serious. I mean, I know things haven’t been going great, but I thought we decided we needed some space.’

‘No, Nicky. You decided we needed space. As far as I can see, it’s all this space that’s caused the trouble.’

Tears were flowing down Nicky’s cheeks. ‘But I love you. You love me.’ He saw the vacant look on her face. ‘Don’t you?’

She shook her head, sadly. ‘Not anymore. It’s over Nicky. I’m so sorry, but it is. Get on with it. I’ve got to.’ She picked up her bag and left, leaving Nicky sitting on the sofa, tears streaming down his face. His instant reaction was to call Laura, but she wasn’t answering. First Georgina ends things, and then he can’t even reach his best friend.

Bryan was smiling to himself as he wandered through the corridors of the arena. He was still thinking about what Anna had let slip the other day. So Sandra had a little crush on Mark, did she? Of course, now he knew, it was obvious to him that she flirted with Mark at every opportunity. But Mark didn’t care. He was besotted with Patricia.

Bryan thought Mark was mad. Sandra was a great girl, and absolutely gorgeous. She had the bluest eyes he had ever seen, and they sparkled like a diamond. And she had an amazing body! How could Mark turn a blind eye to her attention?

Bryan shook himself. He couldn’t be falling for Sandra could he? ‘Course not. He’d sworn to himself to go solo for a while, after several disastrous relationships. He was enjoying being young, free and single for a while. He pushed Sandra to the back of his mind, but as he walked along, he found himself singing one of Curiosity’s songs.

Of course, it was pure fluke that it was the only one Sandra sang lead on...

Kian was on top of the world. He had finally put Bianca behind him, and he was ready to shout from the rooftops that he was available again. He’d forgotten how good it was to be single.

For once, everything seemed to be going his way. He best friend ever, Karina, had got the job as choreographer on the tour, so she was touring with them, and they hit the clubs every night.

He was moving into his new house just after the tour, and was in the middle of planning a massive housewarming party. Any excuse!

He wandered out to the front of the seating area, and looked up at the stage. They’d finished putting it together only a couple of hours ago, and this was the first chance he’d had to look at it. It looked great. Very simple, but that was exactly what they wanted.

There were only three-day to go until the tour started, and rehearsals were in full swing. On stage, the dancers were warming up before going through the routines. He looked around for Karina, but he couldn’t see her. He caught Melody’s eye, and waved to her.

‘Melody, have you seen Karina?’

‘Not since yesterday. She should be here soon though, why don’t you hang around?’

‘I can’t. I’ve got interviews to do back at the hotel. Would you do me a favour and ask her to call me when she gets here?’

‘Sure Ki’. I’ll tell her.’

As Kian headed back to the hotel, he was smiling, but something was nagging at him. Something telling him that something wasn’t right.

chapter eleven to fifteen