“I know. She told me.” Natasha leaned over Aaliyah’s open laptop. “Can you show me the dance they’re doing?”
After replaying Stone’s dress rehearsal footage from week three a few times, Natasha nodded. “Got it. Let’s go, guapo.”
In the center of the room, Stone assumed the proper hold and took Natasha in his arms. Before she counted down, she narrowed her eyes at him.
“You fucked up. Don’t think I’m going easy on you.”
Shit. Natasha knew what he’d done.
This rehearsal was going to bebrutal.
Gina arrived at rehearsal the next day determined to throw herself into the choreography and develop the greatest rumba she could. If this was going to be her last season on the show, she wanted to go out with a bang. Fans would remember this dance and put it on their “top ten” lists for years to come.
More than that, she wanted to rub it in Donna’s face. And Lauren’s. And hell, even Kevin’s. And Stone’s. She’d show them all what she was made of, that she was worth so much more than cheap gimmicks.
Gina stopped short in the doorway, a wave of anxiety sapping her strength.
Donna was waiting for her, perched on a folding chair with her laptop on her knees. She sent Gina a self-satisfied smile.
“Good morning, Gina.”
Gina’s hand itched to slap Donna’s smug face. Fuck.Hold it together, girl.She straightened and entered the room with a bright smile. “Hi, Donna.”
“We’ve been tracking social media across multiple platforms for the past few days.”
Gina still hadn’t checked her accounts for fear of all the fan comments. “Oh?”
“There was a spike for you and Stone the night of the episode, although Lauren and Kevin are still leading in interest overall.”
Thanks, pendeja.“Oh.”
“The response has mainly been positive. People want to know if you two are dating.”
Gina held herself still. If she moved, she’d do something she’d regret.
Maybe Jordy sensed it, because he interrupted by showing Donna something on his own laptop.
When Donna looked away, Gina left the room. She ran into Stone in the hallway.
“Your best friend’s in there.” She stormed past him, heading for the tiny kitchen at the end of the hall.
“What?” Stone paused with his hand on the door. “Who?”
“Fucking Donna.” Gina spat the words, the anger she’d held back in the rehearsal room spewing out at him. “Maybe you two can strategize some more about how to ruin my life.”
Stone dropped his gym bag and caught up to her in the kitchen, where she rummaged in the cabinets, slamming doors. She wasn’t even looking for anything, she just needed to get away from Donna and make some noise.
“Gina, come on. You know that wasn’t what I was trying to do.”
She did, but… “Your intention doesn’t matter. For someone who claims to hate lying, you sure do it a lot. Look at your family’s show.”
“I was trying tohelp.” His tone darkened. “And don’t bring my family into this. You know how I feel aboutLiving Wild.”
Gina stopped messing with the cabinets and braced herself on the edge of the sink, breathing hard. “You know what? I hope we don’t win. If we win, we’ll have to do the media circuit, and we’ll always be remembered. If we come in second or third? No one will give a fuck about us.”
“You don’t mean that.”
She covered her face as all the emotions from the past few days threatened to overwhelm her. “I do. I just want to forget all of this, and I want everyone else to forget, too. I’m done here. I can’t work for a show that does this kind of shit to me.”
