Chapter 16
Two rounds of driving through twisty virtual terrain and trying not to fly off the track made Vidya feel much better. There was something about concentrating so hard that the real world disappeared. She should do this more often. Maybe not in a slightly fuggy seaside arcade, but just in general.
She found the guys strolling around looking for what to play next.
‘Really?’ said Vidya.
‘Oh, yeah,’ Leo said. ‘He loves that one.’
Just as Caleb reached to put his money in, a group of young men arrived at the machine and one of them pushed him out of the way.
‘Hey,’ said Caleb. ‘That’s my machine. I was about to put money in.’
‘Ah, well.’ One of the men, who was wearing, somewhat incongruously, a Game of Thrones jumper with ‘Team Lannister’ on it, squared up to him. ‘Shame you didn’t actually put your money in and bagsie it then, isn’t it?’ His friends stood behind him, trying half-heartedly to look threatening.
Leo quietly stepped in front of Vidya. She peered round him.
Caleb’s eyes moved quickly, from one man to the other. ‘Tell you what,’ he smiled, ‘since we both want it so badly, how about we have a dance off? Loser pays for the round and gets the machine for the next round.’
Leo sighed. ‘I think it’ll be okay,’ he said to Vidya, quietly. ‘I’d better—’ He stepped up next to Caleb.
Lannister T-shirt guy sized up Leo, who seemed so stiff, he looked like he might creak if he moved. ‘Okay, but not you and me, him …’ He gestured to one of his friends. ‘And him.’ He pointed to Leo.
‘Oh. I—’ Leo began.
‘Deal,’ said Caleb. He patted Leo on the shoulder. ‘Go on. It’ll be fun.’
Vidya heard the edge to his voice. Caleb was amused?
Leo would probably lose this horrifically.
Why would Caleb do that to his friend? She ran through what she knew about him.
Had there been any indication of this kind of malice before?
Was there a sadistic streak she needed to make note of for the baby’s sake?
Leo removed his jacket and handed it to Caleb. He pulled his keys and phone out of his pockets and gave them to Vidya. They were still warm from being in his pockets. He pulled his jumper over his head and handed that to Caleb too. Now, Leo stood, looking awkward in his chinos and collared T-shirt.
‘Okay. Let’s go!’
Leo got onto the machine, faced the screen and put his hands on the support bar behind him.
Beside him, his opponent did the same. Both the screens in front of them lit up.
Follow the instructions on the screen and put your feet on the relevant flashing red and blue squares on the floor in front of you.
A countdown appeared. Vidya watched Leo blow out his cheeks. The now familiar mask of concentration descended.
It turned out that Leo was incredible at it.
He made a few false moves at the start, not hitting the flashing tile fast enough, then he seemed to find his rhythm.
Vidya watched, entranced, as he danced, feet moving faster and faster as the game progressed.
His eyes were targeted on the screen, his hands gripping the support bar.
If she hadn’t fancied him before, she would have definitely fallen for him now.
His opponent was good, but he wasn’t keeping up in the way Leo was.
Vidya glanced at Caleb, who was watching with a hawk-like grin on his face.
He had known, she realised. He had known that Leo was good at this and that the other guy was likely to choose Leo assuming he would be easier to beat than in-your-face Caleb.
She had heard of darts hustles and pool hustles, but this was the first time she’d ever heard of a Dance Dance Revolution hustle. A giggle rose from her chest.
Leo let go of the bar and jumped round in a circle, turning his head to keep his eyes on the screen. Now he was dancing without holding on to anything. The tune reached a crescendo and blared out a final chord.
Leo leaned forward, his hands braced on his knees, and looked up at the scoreboard. Ninety-one per cent. The word ‘winner’ flashed above it.
His opponent scored eighty-four per cent.
The two men shook hands and Leo stayed in place while his opponent stepped off.
His hair was damp with sweat and his eyes were gleaming.
He caught Vidya’s eye and gave her a proper grin, like the one on the roller coaster.
She felt butterflies flutter in her stomach.
‘How …?’ she said. ‘How are you so good at that?’
‘Lots of practice,’ he said, loudly, so that she could hear above the holding track of the machine.
Caleb finished talking to the other men, took off his jacket and jumper, stashed them in the corner by Vidya, and stepped up onto the empty platform. ‘Ready to go again?’ he asked Leo.
Leo pushed his hair back, rolled his shoulders and said, ‘Sure.’
She watched them. Caleb was a much more fluid dancer than Leo and looked like he was having more fun.
She thought about what Udeni had said, tall, funny, sexy and a good dancer.
Apart from the tattoo placement, that was all she’d remembered about him.
Even the photos of the guys on the website hadn’t helped.
Perhaps if Udeni saw a photo of them now, in the dim lighting with flashing lights, while they danced, it might jog her memory.
Quietly, Vidya filmed a five-second clip.
She would ask them for permission later.
When she lowered her phone, it occurred to her that tall, funny, sexy and a good dancer could apply to either of the two guys equally, albeit in very different ways.
Caleb was exactly the type of guy that Udeni would find funny and sexy.
Turned out Leo was more her own type. Funny and sexy were all a matter of taste.
There was still a chance that Caleb wasn’t Udeni’s guy.
Until Vidya or Angie found out about the tattoo or got some other confirmation, it was still a fifty–fifty split between him and Piotr.
Vidya rather hoped it was Caleb. Despite what her sister said about not needing to know anything about the father, Vidya was glad that she’d got to know him, at least a little bit.
She liked him. He would make a good dad.
Maybe she should try and persuade Udeni to meet him. For a moment, Vidya allowed herself a little daydream, where she and her sister had boyfriends who got on well. Caleb could see his child, Udeni could have another person to help her, Vidya could hang out with Leo whenever the guys came round.
Then, like the inverse of a bubble rising, her feelings sank.
Vidya remembered that she wasn’t talking to her sister right now.
And she wasn’t going out with Leo. All she knew was that she liked him.
She had no idea if he had any feelings either way about her.
She turned her attention back to the dance machine.
The guys had reached the place in the sequence where they had to turn in a circle. They were perfectly in sync. She applauded.
The sound of more applause told her that the group of guys from before were still hanging around watching. When the round came to an end, everyone leaned in to look at the scores. Leo was at ninety-two per cent and Caleb had a respectable eighty-eight per cent. The guys fist-bumped each other.
‘We’ve one more round to go,’ said Caleb.
Leo held up his hands, panting. ‘I’m out.’ He looked across at her.
‘Vidya, you should have a go.’
‘I’m not very good at dancing.’
Leo jumped down lightly and came to stand next to her.
He was still breathing heavily and glistened with sweat.
She had a sudden mental image of running her hands through his shirt and feeling the muscles underneath.
It brought with it a wave of heat. No. No.
She had to surreptitiously pinch herself to shake herself out of the reverie.
‘It’s not dancing exactly,’ Leo said, as he took his things off her hands.
‘It’s just a game. Try and keep up with the lights on the screen, or on the floor; it’s easier to watch your feet.
Have a go.’ He touched her back, lightly.
A featherlight touch that she felt all the way into her chest. ‘You might enjoy it.’
‘Come on,’ said Caleb. ‘It’ll be fun.’
The crowd of onlookers dispersed. Vidya nodded. ‘Okay, fine. But I’m warning you, I’m terrible.’
She tried. She really did. But she was, indeed, terrible. She looked at her final score of thirty-one per cent, next to Caleb’s eighty-nine per cent and it was so out of kilter that she started to laugh.
Leo gave her an amused smile, one that lasted more than half a second. He seemed so much more relaxed now. Also, a bit rough and rumpled, which was so very attractive.
He handed Vidya her coat.
‘I knew I was bad, but I can’t believe I was that bad,’ she said, in between giggles.
‘You were pretty bad,’ said Leo, as they reunited phones and coats with the right owners.
It seemed a strangely cosy thing to do, as though they were really comfortable with each other now – which they were, she realised.
She had spent a lot of concentrated time with these guys.
Even if she never got any closer to Leo, she felt like they both had become her friends.
She’d never expected that to happen. You didn’t get to make new friends very often once you started work and settled into a rut.
It was nice to know that she still could.
‘The important thing,’ Leo continued, ‘is that you had fun.’
Caleb joined them. They walked towards the exit. After that performance, any of the other games would be an anticlimax. The sun was low in the sky and the wind had picked up, making it much chillier. Vidya tucked her scarf firmly into the collar of her coat.
‘How did you get so good at Dance Dance Revolution?’ she asked. ‘You’re both really good.’