Love Waltzes In (Dancing Under The Stars) (11 page)

T
he thundering beat filled the dance hall. He raced to her and swung her into his arms. Their legs intertwined, they pranced to the corner of the floor. Unable to hide their excitement, they hopped and jumped in synch. They giddily skipped to other end of the ballroom. She was having the time of her life. Kicking and flicking their feet together, they danced the night away.

B
ret and Selena arrived back in Los Angeles three days before the first show. There was so much to do—Selena had begun the process of separating her businesses from Dima, as Bret was preparing for his time in the spotlight.

The truck pulled in front of Selena’s house. Bret scanned the driveway—no Lamborghini in sight.
Dima must’ve been hiding out somewhere.

“You sure you want to go in by yourself? I can stay with you, just in case
Dima comes back. I don’t have to head to the base until later tonight.”

Selena gave him a warm kiss. “No, babe. It’s okay. I doubt
Dima will show up. He’s probably auditioning his next partner. I’ll be fine. Do what you have to do and I’ll see you tomorrow at the group pro hip-hop practice.”             

Bret rolled his eyes. Ballroom was one thing. He didn’t have a clue about how to hip-hop. He wasn’t looking forward to humilia
ting himself any more than he had to on his first night of the show.

“Okay. But call me if
Dima shows up. Or if you need anything. I’ll only be two hours away so I can come back if you need me to.”

Banjo licked Selena’s face and for once, she didn’t immediat
ely wipe off his slobber. “I’ll miss you, too, Banjo. Call me when you get in, Bret. Love you.”

Bret headed down the hills. He hadn’t been away from Selena since they had been back together. He needed some time to process everything that had happened.

He pulled to the side of the road and made a call.

Ray picked up on the first ring. “Hey stranger. I thought you went UA. How’ve you been?”

“Good. You know there’s nothing unauthorized about this absence. Though I have considered taking off to Canada—to escape this show, not the Corps. But I’m back in southern California. Need to head down to base to pick up some things. What are you doing tonight? Can I buy you a beer?”

A baby cried in the background. “Man,
Nia went to her sister’s house. I’m watching the kids. Tell you what, bring over some beer and pizza and we’ll catch the UFC match.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll be over in about two hours.”

It sounded like the perfect night to Bret—his best friend, his dog, watching guys beat each other up, beer, pizza, and no cameras anywhere.

………………….

“Uncle Bret, Uncle Bret.” Ray’s three boys were waiting in the driveway when Bret parked.

“Is this your truck?” Jackson, Ray’s twelve-year-old, seemed hypnotized by the headlights.

“No, buddy. It’s just on loan. I have to give it back soon.”

Jackson’s shoulders slumped. “Man, that sucks.”

Bret doled out gifts to the boys. He’d bought them bars of Ghirardelli chocolates and toy cable cars.

Ray appeared at the doorway, holding his baby daughter. “Nice truck. Did congress give us a raise I don’t know about? I thought you were giving all the money on the show to Pierce’s family? Keep spending like that and you won’t have anything left.”

Bret grabbed the pizzas, beer, and sodas. “Haven’t touched the money. Ford gave me this truck for a promotion. I tried to refuse it but I’m stuck with it. I’ll sell it after the show.”

A crinkle crossed Ray’s face. “Seriously? They gave you this truck and you want to return it? Are you nuts? Give it to me. Man, you should get something for making a jerk out of yourself. I can’t wait to see you on television next week. I know you got me some free tickets.”

“I get two free tickets to every show. You want to come?” Bret hadn’t planned on inviting Ray, mostly out of pure embarrassment.

“Hell yeah. We will be there. Wouldn’t miss it for the world. How about in three weeks—I have duty next week and that will give us time to find a baby sitter.”

“Sure. I’ll put you on the list.”

Bret led Banjo to the back yard and let him run around. For base housing, this place was pretty nice.
Four bedrooms, two and a half baths, two-car garage, laundry room and a small yard. But no matter how hard Bret tried, he just couldn’t picture Selena ever living on base with him.

The boys each took a slice of pizza and a soda, and went out back to play fetch with Banjo. Ray placed the baby in her swing and settled into the sofa. Bret took a slice of pizza and sat in a chair, waiting for the UFC match to begin.

Ray eyed Bret. “So, how’s it been?”

Bret was relieved to have someone to talk to. “Not too bad. Do you know who Robyn Quintana is? She’s my partner.”

“You serious? She’s fine. Nia will freak. She loves her. Is she cool?” Ray took out his phone and texted his wife.

“Yeah. She’s cool. I mean totally loopy. She believes in past lives and all that stuff. But she’s down to earth.
A good mom. I lucked out.”

“We get to meet her when we go to your show?”

“Of course. She’s a good dancer. I don’t think we’ll get eliminated.”

Ray paused and checked his phone. “
Nia is stoked.” Ray took a sip of his beer, his eyes dancing. “So how’s your ex? You hit that yet?” 

Bret took a sip of his own beer. “Yup.”

“I knew it, dawg. I told Nia that you had no self-control. Not that I can blame you—she’s slammin’.”

Bret couldn’t believe he had ever thought he’d be able to resist Selena. “You were right. I didn’t think it would happen at all, ever. She’s a spoiled princess. But we started hanging out together, and she’s no longer dancing with
Dima. So, yeah, you could say we’re back together.”

Ray just laughed. “Man, you’re crazy. I mean
, that’s cool and all. I can’t blame you. But think with your head. You’re still a devil dawg. Selena’s not cut out for this life. And you know it. You think she’s going to attend key wife meetings back here while you’re deployed? Give up that Hollywood lifestyle for life on base? I mean we have rats in our house. Rats! I called housing and they said they were going to look into it. She doesn’t fit in here and you know it. Enjoy the ride, but when it explodes in your face, remember I told you so.”

Bret wasn’t even annoyed at Ray. He knew Ray was right. No matter how convincing Selena’s words were, he just didn’t think she would be able to sacrifice her lifestyle for his. And she couldn’t have it both ways. There was no way she could still be on the show and be married to Bret. She would have to train her c
elebrity partners out of town for fifteen weeks twice a year, not to mention all the appearances and filming. When Bret deployed, they would go a full year without seeing each other.

Bret changed the subject. “So who’s fighting tonight?”

“It’s gonna be great. Rogelio Viramontes is taking on Josh Cutler. Rogelio is a former jarhead.”

“Awesome.” Bret relaxed and tried to clear his mind of Selena and the show. He didn’t need money, a nice truck,
a beautiful house. Bret was happy just hanging out with his best friend, his brother in arms, and enjoying life. He looked over at the baby and she gave him a goofy grin. Bret envied Ray’s life—kids, a beautiful wife, a stable home life. He prayed Selena was sincere about wanting the same things, but he couldn’t let go of the nagging feeling that she would never be satisfied with his life, or with him.

B
enny’s eyes lit up the minute he caught Selena bouncing through Brooks Ballroom studio modeling the new line of
Dancing under the Stars
women’s hip-hop dance wear. He twirled her around and they danced a few steps of the quickstep he had choreographed for her and Xavier.

She smiled and broke into some
crunking moves. She was so stoked. Today, all the pros were practicing their group hip-hop dance. And Benny had made her the official choreographer. That was the good news. The bad news was that she’d have to spend seven hours listening to Vika’s snide remarks, avoiding Dima’s possessive glances, and trying to keep her relationship with Bret under wraps.

She knew this studio was
Vika’s turf, but Selena woke up super early to help the set designers give it a street vibe. She hung up some paper on the walls and got some hip-hop dancer friends of hers to spray paint urban graffiti, swapped out the blue velvet curtains for some black rayon ones, and hired a DJ to set up a real booth. The cameramen and sound guy were milling around the room after they hooked up the LCD flat screen television she’d requested. Benny had brought in the newest designs for everyone to try on and the crew even set up some strobe lights. Selena hoped everyone could feel the vibe.

Selena set about fishing a hip-hop CD out of her workout bag. Bret had arrived ten minutes ago but went straight to the back of the studio. They had discussed that in order to keep their relatio
nship out of the tabloids, no one could know they were together. Selena had already told Jenny, but she didn’t trust anyone else. The other dancers started piling into the studio, two by two as if getting ready for a trip on an ark. As soon as they walked in the studio, the costume girl handed them workout wear to put on. But Eric and Nicole, who usually arrived at the studio arm in arm carting matching Starbucks lattes, headed to opposite corners of the studio. Nicole’s normally perfect doll-shaped face looked pale and her usual shellacked ponytail was askew. Did Nicole just find out about Eric being with another guy? Could Dima have told her?

Okay, enough of this drama already. “Alright, people!” Selena clapped her hands. This ball was hers and she ran with it. “Let’s do this. We’ve got some hip-hopping to do.”

Selena walked over to the music booth and gave her CD to the sound guy who played DJ for them. “Is everyone here?”

“
Dima isn’t here, yet,” Vika said, her eyes glued to the door.

“He’s not?” She hadn’t even noticed his absence. Selena looked at the clock. It was nearly nine o’clock. Gee, wouldn’t want him to lose out on beauty sleep or anything. Was he now avoiding Selena? He of all people really needed to be here since he hated hip-hop.

“I texted to him,” Vika mumbled, “but haven’t heard back.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll show up.” Selena give
Vika a reassuring smile but she looked stressed. Time to distract. “I’m so excited about this group hip-hop thing. I love urban dance and I’ve been experimenting with some crunking and breaking so this is gonna be off the hook.” She glanced around the room. The cameramen were setting up. Benny kissed Vika goodbye. Vika gave Selena the evil eye and, on the opposite side of the room, Bret paced around the floor.

“So,” Selena started, “we have to do an eight count as a group in the beginning and then the partners each do a breakout solo. The order for the solos is Bret, Jenny, Jared,
Vika, Ricardo, Elizabeth, Eric, Nicole, Dima, and I will close. I’ll work on all your solos later but let’s get started on the group part. We’re dancing to one my favorite songs, Rob Base and D.J. E-Z Rock’s “Joy and Pain.” But let’s begin with a warm up. It’s old school to get you in the mood.”

Selena signaled the sound guy. He flipped on the strobe lights then started playing Cameo’s “Word Up.” She loved that song. Reminded her of high school jazz class since her instructor had been stuck in the eighties. Selena skipped to the front of the room and led everyone in a dance isolation routine. “Roll your hips to the right, now to the left, now circles.” The lights were kicking on and off, and Bret kept making goofy faces into the mirror as he tried to keep up with her. Hip-hop wasn’t his thing but he was d
oing a pretty good job. “That’s it, Bret! Bend your knees. Good!” She couldn’t wipe the stupid grin from her face. This was way too much fun. Almost acting delirious over the excitement of teaching this rehearsal. Vika was actually following her steps and not giving her any attitude. And she hated to admit it, but Vika looked super cute in her low-rise pink hip-hop pants and matching bra tank top, which her breasts filled out perfectly.

Two hours into the actual choreography,
Dima strolled in, like he was in no rush. The DJ cut the sound. Dima would get away with it, though. None of them were stupid enough to question him.

“Dude, where’ve you been?” Bret asked.

Well, almost none of them.

“None of your business,”
Dima barked. “I’m here now.”

“Hell, yeah it’s my business.” Bret got right up in his face, sweating and huffing from the routine. “We’ve all been here for two whole hours and now we’re
gonna have to be here even longer to catch your ass up.”

Dima
pushed Bret’s shoulder.

Dima
must’ve had a death wish. The other dancers froze in position as stocky six feet, two hundred thirty pound Bret looked up at a gangly six feet, two inch and a buck sixty Dima. Selena cringed—this wasn’t gonna be good.

Bret
narrowed his eyes and his voice deepened. “Back up, Dima. You don’t want to fight me.”

“Don’t tell to me what to do!”
Dima then cursed in Russian and flew at Bret, but Bret threw Dima down and had him in a headlock faster than Selena could say cha-cha. Dima’s scrawny legs were kicking in the air like a psycho Popeye cartoon. It would almost be funny if Selena wasn’t sure Dima was about to die.

“
Dimichka!
Dimichka!
” Vika screamed. “Somebody do something!”

Eric, Ricardo, and Jared were on it. They dove in and yanked
Dima and Bret apart, successfully ending the combat. Then, after only a second of peace, Dima sucker punched Bret. Bret round-house kicked him in face and blood gushed from Dima’s nose. The referees broke it up again. Like two snarling dogs, Dima and Bret had to be pulled to opposite sides of the room.

This was crazy. Selena couldn’t help but think that this was all her fault. “Break time!” she chirped and then ran to the ladies lounge, with Jenny and Elizabeth in pursuit.

When the girls got in there, they found Selena sprawled out on the sofa in the lounge, tears splattered on her face. “If this gets out to the press, Bret’s so gonna get eliminated this week,” Selena cried. Dima had a huge fan base and she was certain the tabloids would blame Bret. They’d probably publish articles and say he had PTSD—the media’s excuse any time a military member got into any type of altercation.

Jenny hugged her. “I wish I could be that lucky. I can’t take another week of Dion.” Elizabeth glared at her. “Sorry, right. This is about Selena.”

Elizabeth turned back to Selena. “Maybe they will send Dima home instead. His new celebrity sucks. I saw them dance yesterday and she can’t do a single rumba walk. Then you guys can just go back to practicing for Blackpool.”

Jenny eyed Selena.

Blotchy Selena looked up at Elizabeth and decided to confess. “That’s the thing. I’m not going to Blackpool this year.”

“What?” Elizabeth blurted. She dropped to Selena’s side and looked like she was
gonna faint. “You finaled last year? Are you insane?” she asked.

Selena took a big breath. “
Dima and I had been fighting, like,
every
day during practice. He actually flew up to San Francisco and said we should get back together and get married so it would look good to the judges! I told him after Blackpool we could see if we could reconnect as a couple. Maybe take a break after this season.” Elizabeth sucked in her breath. “But he totally flipped out. Dima wants everything his way. He said he never wanted to have children ever. So I told him that I would never get back together with him and the next day he called and ended our partnership.”

Jenny pounded the couch with a wicked fist, even though she already knew that
Dima and Selena were broken up. “I told you that he never wanted to settle down. This stress of living under the spotlight is killing our souls.”

Elizabeth grabbed Selena by the shoulders, half hugging her and half shaking her. “Don’t worry,
hun. Dima’s just stressed out. Once this season is over, you guys can work this out. Everything will be okay.”

Selena looked at Elizabeth, her eyes clearly questioning. She nodded and hugged her, but inside she felt like crap. She wanted to tell her that she didn’t want
Dima back—that she was already planning her life with Bret. But she was afraid it would leak to the press. She felt comfort knowing that Jenny would never tell anyone that she was with Bret.

Sitting up,
Selena wiped her eyes and gave her friends a weak smile. She joined in on a group hug, and then walked out of the lounge. Bret waited for her by the door.

“Sorry,
Sel,” he said. “Dima’s just such a jerk. He had it coming.” He leaned in to kiss her.

“No.” She leaned away. “Not like this. I want this to be right. We need to wait until the season is over or
Dima is kicked off. I don’t want to cause tabloid scandal. Don’t worry, it’ll be worth it.” She kissed his cheek and walked away, leaving Bret standing at the doorway to the woman’s bathroom, alone, Selena’s head spinning.

Jenny was right. Everything had changed. Here she’d spent ten years pushing Bret out of her mind and now she thought about him
every second, and Dima had resorted to acting like a self-righteous tyrant. It was crazy. Way crazy.

Eric walked over to Selena and handed her a bottle of FIJI w
ater. “Hey girl, everything alright in there? I just got everyone in the studio to calm down. Dima and Bret aren’t talking but they’re not beating on each other anymore, thank God, so at least we can get moving again.”

Selena swore she could kiss the man. She took a big gulp of water instead. “Thanks, Eric. Seriously. I was just shaken up but it’s all good.”

Eric snapped his fingers and pointed two finger guns at Selena. “Anything for the best choreographer in the world.”

“
Aww. You’re so sweet.” Selena couldn’t resist. She had to tell Eric that she saw him in San Francisco. “Hey Eric. I know this is absolutely none of my business and you don’t have to tell me anything, but I saw you in San Francisco. At the airport.” She nodded her head, trying to get a reaction out of him. “With your student?”

Eric didn’t even flinch. “Oh that. It was nothing. We were just goofing around.” He winked and sauntered away. “Eh,
yo, Mickey, kick them strobe lights on, will ya? And gimme some Rob Base. We got some dancin’ ta do!”

Maybe Selena had overreacted. Ballroom dancers were overly affectionate with each other. She had probably just been so stressed about
Dima that she read something into that kiss that wasn’t there. Well, she hoped so, for Nicole and their baby’s sake.

Selena glanced at Bret across the room. He winked at her,
then mouthed, “I love you.” Then the strobes kicked in and the room exploded in old school base.

Everything had changed. But instead of feeling happy, Selena’s gut wrenched. She couldn’t shake the feeling that
Dima and Bret’s fight was only a precursor of the drama too come.