Chapter Nineteen
Toby
“What are your plans for this week?” Nico asked as he leant against the kitchen counter, cradling a mug of black coffee while I rummaged in the fridge for some juice.
It was Monday morning and the start of the first week without training, which would have thrown me off more if Nico wasn’t still here.
He hadn’t stayed all weekend because he’d had the quarterfinal of Come Dancing With Me to film and his own rehearsals with Megan for her dance school’s Christmas showcase, but he’d found his way back here whenever he’d finished. And I’d been ridiculously pleased to see him every time.
We’d spent most of Sunday afternoon lying on the sofa watching silly Christmas movies, and then Nico had made us dinner while trying to teach me a few steps of the cha-cha.
It was the most fun I’d had on a Sunday for months!
“Not sure,” I said as I pulled out a carton of tropical juice and inspected it carefully, although I really needn’t have worried because Mrs Nolan was very particular about what I kept in the fridge.
Nothing was allowed to linger and fester there.
“I’ve got some writing to do and a meeting with Neil about projects for next year.
Malcolm wants to have a call too. Oh, and the very lovely Christopher is coming over today to decorate the house for Christmas. ”
Nico raised his eyebrow slightly but didn’t say anything. I knew some people would consider it strange to have someone decorate your house for you, but Christopher always did a wonderful job and it saved me so much hassle.
Also, the chances of me breaking something—including myself—decreased significantly.
“What’re you doing on Friday night?” Nico asked.
“Not much, why?”
“Fancy sneaking into Megan’s showcase to watch? We could get you in the back door when everyone is seated. Or you could watch from the wings?”
“Would that be possible? I don’t want to disrupt anything.”
“Maybe. We could ask? And if anyone gets funny about it, nobody knows we taped the Christmas special yet, so we could say we’re still rehearsing.”
“Then I’d love to,” I said with a delighted smile as I pulled a glass out of the cupboard. “I can ask Mo if he’s around too. If we’re very lucky, his daughter goes to the same dance school. Although that might be too much of a coincidence.”
Warmth spread through my chest at the idea Nico wanted me to go with him, even if we just pretended to be friends.
He wasn’t afraid of knowing me, didn’t care that my fame might make things difficult.
He wanted me there, with him, and he was willing to figure it out instead of pushing me away and saying I made things too complicated.
I didn’t know why I’d thought he’d be like that because Nico was upfront about everything, but it was still nice to hear him say it. He was stubborn too, and I didn’t think anyone could tell Nico he couldn’t do something. Especially if he didn’t believe the reasoning behind it was sound.
He was willing to fight for me, to include me in his life, and it kept surprising me because I’d never experienced anything like that.
It made him even more special than he already was.
“Do you have many other shows in the run-up to Christmas?” I added.
“Not really,” Nico said, sipping his coffee slowly.
“I’ve got the last few Come Dancing With Me, and I’ll keep rehearsing with Megan, but I want to spend some time planning for next year.
We really want to get our studio plans off the ground and that means I actually need to start doing shit for it.
Plus I want to see if I can get a workshop schedule together for the spring around the dates we’re doing for Floor on Fire.
Fingers crossed it shouldn’t be too complicated to figure out since I’m not doing the Come Dancing tour.
Thankfully, I’ve been spared that horror. ”
He shuddered slightly and I bit back a laugh. I didn’t think he’d have coped if he’d had to spend another eight weeks with Jean, and I’d rather he didn’t end up in prison because I’d never get to see him.
“Well, I don’t know if I can help much with the studio planning because I have no idea what you actually need to do, but you’re always welcome to come and work here. Although saying that, I realise it’s December and you’ve probably got a lot of plans.”
“Not really. Like I said, mostly admin shit. I’m going to see Sian in The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. That’s about it.”
“Don’t you have, like, Christmas party plans with people?”
“Fuck no, why would I do that?”
I snorted hard, wincing as juice squirted out of my nostril. “I don’t know,” I said, coughing and sneezing as I reached for a bit of kitchen roll to clean up the juice and snot now dribbling out of my nose. I couldn’t have looked sexier if I’d tried.
Nico grabbed the kitchen roll and casually handed me a small wad. “Juice isn’t meant to come out your nose, sweetheart.”
“You know me. Usually I’m good at swallowing,” I said with a smirk. An attempted one at least. It didn’t quite work because I sneezed again.
Nico chuckled. “You are, but clearly not when it’s juice.”
“Let me try again,” I said as I poured myself more juice and took a careful sip, deliberately not looking at Nico so I didn’t start laughing. “There, perfect.”
“Congratulations,” Nico said with a smirk.
“Thank you, I’m very impressed with myself.” I grinned. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.”
“By your own inability to swallow.”
“I thought you’d have party plans with, like, the rest of the cast of Come Dancing or something. Don’t you all go out for drinks to celebrate the show wrapping?”
“Yeah, we’ll probably go out for something,” Nico said with a shrug.
“I should see if anything’s been organised and if not I’ll see who else is free to help me sort it.
Don’t know if we’ll be able to do much this close to Christmas, but honestly January would be better cos we’re all usually knackered by the end of the show.
Plus a lot of people head straight off home, especially if they’ve got family overseas. ”
“That makes sense.”
“What about you? Do you have a glittering social calendar?”
“No,” I said. “We’re going to see André’s panto on the twenty-third but that’s the only nice thing I’ve got booked in.
There are a few industry parties I should probably go to, but they’re more work than fun.
It’s networking with seasonal cocktails and extra glitter.
And avoiding endless questions about launching a solo career or when we’re getting the band back together. ”
While I knew a few people had good intentions when making those enquiries, most only wanted to be nosy and try and get an inside scoop. Just thinking about spending hours answering them made me shudder.
Maybe I could find a way to feign illness and not go.
If not, I’d go, have one drink while lurking in a corner, say hi to a few people, then make a swift exit without saying anything. Then I could come home to my comfies, my slippers, and my Nico.
“I’d offer to come with you, but that sounds like hell,” Nico said.
“It is. You’d hate it. Everyone would love you, though. You’re very handsome.”
“Very true, on both counts.” He grinned. “If you don’t want to go, then don’t. Or if you have to, I’ll wait here for you to get back and then we can fuck. It’ll be like a reward for surviving.”
“Done! I’m holding you to that.” I walked over and slid my arm around his waist, leaning in for a kiss. “Plus that gives me an excuse to leave. I can say I have somewhere else to get to and pretend to be all busy and mysterious.”
It would be the perfect solution!
I kissed Nico again and sighed happily. “Now, would you like some breakfast? I’m sure I can make us something, especially with you to supervise. How hard can it be to make scrambled eggs?”
Nico raised an eyebrow and smiled with amusement. “If you melt Mrs N’s new spatula, I am not defending you.”
“What happened to loyalty?”
“Nope, fear overrides loyalty in this case.”
“Coward,” I said with a laugh. “But on second thought, maybe some toast would be better.”
It was funny how, without really talking about it, Nico and I sort of attached ourselves to each other.
I didn’t know if it was because our relationship was new and therefore shiny and exciting, or because we’d spent so long together over the past six weeks that it felt weird to be apart, but either way the nights he wasn’t with me felt so horrifically lonely I barely slept.
One night I’d even lain in bed sniffing the pillow which had become his by default until all the smell of him had faded. Afterwards, I had wondered to myself what the hell I was doing, but then I’d found a hoodie Nico had left behind and gotten distracted by that instead.
Christmas was less than a week away now and I still hadn’t figured out what I was doing.
It was too late to go and see my parents—not that I really wanted to—and I hadn’t made any plans to go to Wales with Dai and Haru. I wanted to ask Nico what he was up to, but part of me wondered if that would be too forward.
Some people got very protective of their Christmas plans and considered them sacred, the sort of thing you didn’t involve your new sort-of boyfriend in.
And while I didn’t think Nico was that kind of person, he could still surprise me.
Especially since it seemed like his family was also very busy at this time of year, so maybe he wanted a quiet, private day with them.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Nico asked as he walked out of the bathroom—shirtless, because why wouldn’t he be?
“Nothing’s wrong,” I said, shuffling slightly in bed as I pretended to read.
“Really? That’s how you wanna play this? You’ve been quiet all evening.”
I sighed and lowered my book. “I’ve just been thinking.”
“About?”
“Christmas.”
“And?”
“That was it. I wasn’t sure what to do for the day.”
Nico frowned as he walked around the bed and climbed in beside me. “Don’t you have plans?”
“Not really. I didn’t fancy going to Spain to see my parents. I have an open invite to go to Wales with Dai and Haru to see Dai’s family, but I haven’t hired a car or anything. And as much as I love Dai’s family, I’m not sure I want to go all that way.”
“Come to mine,” Nico said with a shrug, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “My family is a bit nuts but they’re not too weird. Although you might have to learn some of the dances from White Christmas, just pre-warning you.”
“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“You’re fine. I’ll give Mum a heads-up and we can bring some stuff with us—couple of bottles of champagne, chocolates, whatever else she needs—but it’ll be fun, I promise. It’s very chill, and no, you won’t need to bring presents.”
“I… I… Are you… Thank you, that would be lovely. But please check it’s okay first before I turn up.”
“Will do.” He leant over and kissed me, gently plucking the book from my hand. “There, is that better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Good. Most things are fixable if we talk about them, sweetheart, okay?”
“The same goes for you too,” I said as we sank into the mattress, our limbs already entwined. I groaned as Nico deepened the kiss and rolled me over, falling between my legs as he planted his hands on either side of my shoulders, looking down at me with a deliciously wicked smile.
“Now we’ve sorted that, I think I should fuck you,” Nico said in a low voice as he dipped his head to brush his lips against mine.
I smirked and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him in for another kiss. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”