Sway with Me

Chapter Eight: After Show Dinner

“Congratulations, you did well,” Jose said as he patted Cristiano on the back after the show had finished, the Portuguese smiled at him while Irina sulked slightly; she hadn’t expected him to be so good.

Dolores hugged her son as she told him how proud of him she was.

“Where is Isabelle? I would love to meet her; maybe she could join us for dinner?” Dolores said as her thoughts turned to the woman that had managed to teach her son how to foxtrot.

Cristiano licked his lips as he glanced around as soon as his family had appeared the red head had disappeared; though he wondered if she had gone to see her own family.

The couple had come in seventh on their first dance, though Cristiano felt like it hadn’t been good enough; Isabelle had reassured him that they would improve over time and that it was only the first week.

“She’s probably getting changed,” Cristiano said as Michel Santos passed him, the male dancer smiled at him as he headed towards his wife Anita who was disappointed that she had come in last place.

Dolores nodded as she stared at her son for a moment before the Portuguese pulled out his phone and texted Isabelle; he knew that his mother wasn’t going to give up until she had met the red head.

A few short moments after Cristiano had sent the text message, Isabelle appeared wearing a hushed violet dress with embellished mesh neckline paired with silver heeled sandals; she smiled softly as she approached the Portuguese.

“Mãe, Jose, Irina… this is Isabelle my dance partner, Isabelle… this is my Mãe, Dolores, her boyfriend, Jose and my girlfriend Irina,” Cristiano said introducing them all; Isabelle smiled politely as Dolores gushed about how beautiful she was up close.

Irina glared at Dolores, she had never said anything like that to the Russian model and here she was saying it to a stranger.

“Why don’t you join us for dinner?” Dolores said making Isabelle shake her head before she told them that she was going to be meeting with her own parents for dinner.

“Why don’t you join us?” said another voice before a brunette approached the group making Isabelle raise an eyebrow at her; Dolores looked at the woman puzzled.

“I’m Isabelle’s older sister Adrianna,” the brunette said making her sister laugh softly as everyone else looked confused, they were surprised to discover that the two were sisters since they didn't look alike.

***

Cristiano had to admit that he hadn’t expected his mother to agree to Adrianna’s offer of joining the Swanson family for a celebratory meal.

Now that he was watching her chat happily with Isabelle’s mother; the Portuguese knew that his mother had found a lifelong friend in Gabriella.

“So Isabelle did you always want to be a dancer?” Jose asked making Gabriella and Charles laugh before they started to recount some of Isabelle’s antics as a child making the red head blush.

Irina frowned as she watched the two families interact, she couldn't believe how well they were getting along and that she felt like an outsider; when she was in fact Cristiano’s girlfriend.

“So how come you have red hair?” Irina asked making everyone fall silent slightly, Dolores glared at the Russian for being rude while Cristiano wondered what had gotten into his girlfriend.

Isabelle stared at her for a moment, she had a feeling that Irina wasn’t going to like her and the red head didn't care.

“I wanted to stand out more when I first started dancing and I liked how I look as a red head,” Isabelle said with a shrug, she knew how many blondes and brunettes did ballroom and having deep red hair made her stand out more.

Irina pursed her lips, she hadn’t expected that sort of answer, she had wanted Isabelle to flounder and make an idiot out of herself; however the red head had done no such thing.

“So what will you two be dancing next week?” Jose said quickly turning everyone’s attention away from Irina, who started to mess with her phone; Cristiano glanced at her for a moment before he turned his attention to Isabelle.

“We did a ballroom dance this week, so it’ll be a Latin dance next week… so it’s the Cha-Cha,” Isabelle said making her mother smile; the Cha-Cha was Gabriella’s favourite Latin dance, next to the Salsa.

The brunette quickly started to talk about the dance, while Stefan came to Cristiano’s rescue and asked about that weekend’s match; the footballer could see how thrilled the Spaniard was about talking to him.

Irina watched as the group around her talked, the men about football while the women talked about the show; it was clear that Cristiano’s involvement in Más que baile was going to change things and not in the way that Irina wanted.

***

Cristiano chuckled as he watched his mother and Gabriella say their goodbyes, it was now late in the evening and everyone was preparing to head home; Irina was sat in his Audi R8 waiting for him to take her home.

“I’ll see you on Monday, Cristiano,” Isabelle said as she gave him a small hug and a kiss on the cheek, the Portuguese smiled as he looked down at Isabelle; who was a little bit shorter than he was, though she wasn’t as tall at Irina.

“See you Monday… have a nice weekend,” Cristiano said as the red head started towards her red Audi RS3 Sport-back that was parked a little away from his car.

The Portuguese watched her walk away before he spotted Jose smirking at him as his mother approached him to say goodnight. Cristiano smiled at her as she kissed his cheek.

“You did really well tonight,” Dolores said making Cristiano nod; even though the disappointed of coming seventh was eating away at him.

“Your Pai would be so proud of you,” Dolores said as tears filled her eyes as she thought of her late husband; Cristiano watched her for a moment before he gave her a hug, even after seven and a bit years, it still hurt that he had lost his father.

“Boa Noite,” Cristiano said making Dolores smile at him softly as she watched him for a second, she hoped that this television show would help her son deal with some of his past demons.

“Boa Noite Ronaldo,” she said before she walked towards were Jose was waiting for her to take her home, Cristiano watched as his mother and her boyfriend left; he looked up at the stars for a moment before Irina spoke pulling him from his thoughts of his father.

“Are we going home or what?” the Russian asked impatiently as she glared at her boyfriend, who sighed and nodded as he climbed into his car; he was beginning to wondered what he had ever seen in Irina.

Cristiano slowly put his seatbelt on and glanced at the Russian model who was again messing with her phone, she didn't even look at him as he sighed and put the key into the car ignition.

Pulling carefully out of the restaurants car park; Cristiano began to think about the bet that he had made with his girlfriend, he wondered what would happen if he did win their bet.