Chapter Thirty Eight

Chloe rushed around Lee's house, frantically checking that she had got everything that she needed. She quickly picked up the contracts and stuffed them into the bag.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something." she said, turning to face Lee as he walked into the kitchen.

"Your breakfast probably." Lee smiled as he handed her a bowl of porridge that he'd made.

"I'm running so late, I won't have time for a run, I'll have to go after work." she sighed in between mouthfuls.

"Good, that'll give me a chance to make some preparations." he smiled, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Chloe smiled slightly, afraid to ask.

"Right, let's go." Chloe said, quickly placing her bowl in the sink.

"Hey, the future Mr and Mrs Knight are here!" Steven exclaimed as soon as Lee and Chloe walked into the gymnasium they were currently using as a rehearsal space.

"You're so funny." Chloe said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at them.

"Keep your voices down, the rest of the team will be here in a minute." Lee warned them sharply. Chloe smiled at the boys reassuringly when they sighed at Lee's waspish tone. Shortly after Chloe and Lee had finally started dating, they'd told the Blue boys who had been thrilled, but Lee had sworn them to secrecy. The last thing he wanted was for Chloe to be exposed to the press and the fans.

"Chloe, are you dancing with us?" Nathan asked.

"No, why?" Chloe frowned.

"You're dressed for exercise." Nathan pointed out.

"It's comfortable and I'm going for a run after work." she told him.

"Also, it means I can do this." Chloe said, laughing at their faces as she performed the splits.

"Woah Chloe, who knew you were so flexible." Adrian laughed.

"I wanted to be a dancer when I was growing up, until I got older and hated people looking at me." she told them. Nathan gasped as she quickly performed a side aerial.

"You guys must have really good sex, with his experience and her flexibility." Steven teased them, pointing at Chloe and Lee in turn. Chloe glanced at Lee awkwardly who remained silent. The five of them stopped talking as the door opened and the other dancers came in, followed by someone that Chloe didn't recognise.

"Hi, I'm Jonny, I'm the choreographer." he said to Chloe when he reached her, holding his hand out to shake her hand.

"Chloe, I'm the day manager." she told him, shaking his hand.

"Can I run through the routines with the boys or do you need them for something?" he asked her.

"No, you're fine." Chloe smiled warmly. She wandered over to the bench area in the corner, gently spreading out her paperwork on the bench beside her. She couldn't help glancing up occasionally, smiling to herself as she subtly watched Lee dance. He was even more attractive to her when he was dancing. After they had rehearsed a few songs Jonny finally called to them to take a break. Steven, Adrian, Nathan and Lee sat on the floor in a circle, the four of them out of breath. Lee glanced over at Chloe, winking at her. She smiled at him and quickly walked over to join them.

"I need the four of you to read through these contracts please." she told them, handing each of them a copy.

"The only slight issue I could find is that they want you to film the video in Germany so that some of the cast can be there. It might be difficult with your schedules so it might be worth saying to them that it needs to be filmed here. I think they'll go for it." Chloe explained. The four of them remained silent as they read through the contracts.

"Chloe, I need to speak to you about the set!" Bobby the set designer called her from the hallway.

"I'll be right back." she said.

Lee glanced up as Chloe walked out of the room to speak to Bobby. He couldn't help but roll his eyes to himself as he noticed Jonny watching her walking away. Chloe had no idea how many people around her admired her looks, if only she could see it. Almost every man that was in the room, hadn't been able to stop themselves from checking her out, her flawless body perfectly highlighted by her gym wear. He found himself wishing, not for the first time that she had more confidence in herself.

"That Chloe girl is stunning; I'm surprised the four of you have managed to keep your hands off her." Jonny said, trying to banter with the lads.

"She is a pretty girl." Nathan agreed as everyone else remained silent.

"Is she single?" Jonny asked them. Nathan glanced at Lee not entirely sure what he wanted them to say. Lee hesitated for a moment, part of him wanting to tell Jonny that she was seeing someone so that he would back off, but another part of him wanted Jonny to ask Chloe out, in the hope that it would boost her confidence.

"You'll need to speak to her about that." Lee eventually decided. Nathan quickly stood up and followed Chloe.

"Hey, can I speak to you?" Nathan asked when he reached her.

"Yeah sure, let's go in here." Chloe said, leading him into an empty room and closing the door.

"So, what's wrong?" she asked, perching on the windowsill.

"I'm just checking in, are you feeling okay about tonight?" he asked gently.

"What?" Chloe whispered, feeling a lump rise in her throat.

"He told you." she quickly added.

"Only because he's worried about you." he told her. Chloe nodded slowly, suddenly feeling very humiliated. The thought of Lee and Nathan discussing her virginity was making her feel unwell.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Chloe admitted, feeling the colour drain from her face.

"Chloe, it's not like that, he wasn't gossiping. He was asking what he should do and how to make it easier for you." Nathan said quickly.

"Doesn't make it any less humiliating." she whispered.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise." he reassured her. Chloe nodded silently, feeling very troubled that someone else now knew her biggest secret.

"I want to help, both of you can speak to me if you want." he tried.

"I'm not talking about my sex life or lack of it." Chloe snapped defensively.

"Sorry, I'm tired, I didn't get much sleep last night." she quickly added, feeling guilty for snapping at him.

"Why, because you are nervous?" he asked.

"Partly and I kept having bad dreams." she told him.

Nathan smiled slightly.

"It's not funny." she said quickly.

"No, it's not that, the two of you are so cute together. Lee had bad dreams too." he explained.

"He did?" she frowned. Nathan nodded.

"About me?" she asked.

"I think you should ask him that." he said quickly.

"You make him better you know." Nathan told her. Chloe scoffed sceptically.

"I'm serious, he's much calmer. We don't have to walk on eggshells anymore." Nathan chuckled.

"He's still an idiot though." she sighed, not quite able to bring herself to look Nathan in the eye anymore.

"I know but one problem at a time." he smiled. Chloe quickly stood up and walked back into the gymnasium, Nathan following closely behind.

"Chloe, help settle something for me!" Jonny called as soon as she walked back into the room.

"What?" Chloe sighed when she reached them.

"I think we should have girls dancing with the boys during Broken, but the boys aren't keen." Jonny told her.

"We didn't say that we just said that the song means a lot to Chloe so she should decide." Adrian said awkwardly, clearly not wanting to tell Jonny that Lee had written the song for Chloe and it would cheapen it if girls were added in.

"You could come on and do your tricks Chloe." Steven laughed, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"I'd rather watch from backstage." she smiled.

"You can do tricks?" Jonny asked.

"Just a few, it's been a while though so I'm rusty." Chloe smiled.

"Show me then." he asked her.

Lee watched as Chloe quickly performed a selection of tricks, including a cartwheel, side aerial and a back handspring. He couldn't help but smile at how seamlessly she performed them.

"Did you know she could do all of that?" Nathan whispered to him. Lee shook his head slowly.

"I might still be able to do a turn sequence, but it's been a few years." Chloe said, slowly taking her shoes off. They all watched mesmerized as she completed a flawless turn sequence.

"Wow." Jonny said.

"Have you done partner work before, we could get you dancing with the boys?" he added.

"No, I haven't. Besides you are not getting me on stage." Chloe told him sternly. Lee watched her proudly as she stood up for herself, there was a time when she would have gone along with whatever anyone told her, but now she had the confidence to stand up for herself. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of hope that her confidence was finally starting to grow.

"Okay that's fine, you could help me teach the boys a trick for when the girls get here tomorrow though." Jonny said. Chloe nodded slowly and watched as Jonny knelt on one knee in front of her.

"So, use my legs to climb up and sit on my right shoulder." he told her. Chloe did as she was asked. Jonny placed his hands on her hips to steady her as he slowly stood up.

"Jeez, you're really light." he smiled up at her. Chloe held her arms out at either side of her, trying to engage her core and find her balance.

"You guys won't have this problem as the girls will be on a higher stage than you, so you'll just have to stand still, and the girls will get on your shoulder." Jonny told them. He slowly let go of Chloe's hips when he realised that she had herself balanced.

"Now Chloe you need to get some forward momentum like you are going to do a cartwheel, but you want your hands to land halfway down my thighs. Stop halfway over, hold yourself with your core and then arch your back towards me, lift your head up and do something pretty with your legs." Jonny explained.

"I'm not sure my core is strong enough for that." Chloe told him.

"I'll hold your stomach to start with." he said. Chloe locked eyes with Lee who slowly shook his head, subtly telling her that she shouldn't attempt it. Chloe hesitated for a moment before she did as he asked. As she arched her back and pointed her legs, she could feel her momentum going too far forward. Jonny quickly placed his arms around her stomach to stabilise her.

"There's no way in hell we're going to be able to do that, we'll end up dropping someone." Adrian said, summing up what the others were thinking.

"They will hold themselves; this is just because Chloe hasn't done it before." Jonny said.

"You should be higher up though, it'll be easier to balance." he told Chloe, gently moving her so that she was further up. Chloe's arms began to shake as he moved her, as he continued to move her, his hand slipped. Lee watched in horror as the effort of pulling Chloe's weight higher up his legs caused one of his hands to slip. Before Lee could react, Chloe lost her balance and fell to the floor with a loud thud that echoed around the gymnasium. Chloe lay in a heap on the ground for a moment, slightly winded from her fall. She glanced up as Lee knelt beside her.

"You okay?" he asked her quietly.

"Yes, I'm fine." she said slowly sitting up.

"You'll be fine Chloe." Jonny said from behind them.

"She would be if you weren't such a fucking idiot." Lee said angrily.

"Chill out man, there's no need to be a dick about it." Jonny said, rolling his eyes.

"It wasn't a bad fall and dancers fall all the time anyway." Jonny added.

"She's not a dancer, she's our manager, you shouldn't have put her in that position." Lee snapped.

"No that's true, if she was a dancer, she'd have been able to hold herself in that position." Jonny pointed out.

"Are you seriously blaming her, from where I was standing it looked like your hand slipped." Lee said angrily, quickly standing up.

"Whatever." Jonny shrugged.

"You don't put her in that position again do you understand." Lee warned.

"I didn't hear her complaining about it." Jonny said, wiggling his eyebrows. Everyone's eyes turned to Chloe as she slowly stood up, wincing slightly.

"The two of you can stop talking about me like I'm not here." she told them.

"You could have been seriously hurt." Lee said.

"I know, I chose to go along with it and I don't need you to fight my battles for me, I can take care of myself." she told Lee.

"As for you...it was your hand slipping that caused me to fall and you know it. And as for me wanting to be in your arms or whatever you were insinuating you can dream on. I have a boyfriend and even if I didn't, I wouldn't be interested in you anyway." she said, turning to Jonny.

"Oh, and as for Broken, I'm the manager and it stays the way it is, just the four boys on stage." she added. Lee stared at Chloe in shock, a warm feeling inside his chest. He couldn't help but smile proudly at his girlfriend who was slowly turning into a little firecracker.

"I need to go and walk it off." Chloe told them before quickly leaving the room.