Perfect Strangers

Friends

After a rather successful Cha-Cha-Cha, Faye found herself absolutely hating the Viennese Waltz. Giovanni had tried to cheer her by saying she just should imagine that she's reprising her wedding dance - something she replied to by rolling her eyes, saying that her wedding dance at least hadn't been annoying. 

She already knew she enjoyed the latin dances much more. Sure they were difficult as well but the Cha-Cha-Cha had been lovely to learn and the other latin dances looked fun as well. But ballroom... less so. Although a Tango looked interesting. 

"Faye come on, let's run through the routine again." Giovanni demands. The evening was approaching and they had been rehearsing for hours already, the dance not going entirely as planned. Several swearwords had been said already, they've had dozens if arguments in the past few days and Giovanni knew that Faye was truly upset. "Come on, let's see if we can get through the dance without the stumble."

But Faye shook her head, feeling rather overwhelmed by this new dance. "Can we have a small break?" she asks shortly. The atmosphere between her and Giovanni still was strange at times - they did get along again but hadn't managed to erase their tumultuous past yet. She watches as her dance partner nods, himself immediately taking out his phone and playing with it. "What are you doing?" 

"Nothing, just writing with someone." Giovanni says without even looking at her. 

"With whom?" 

"Oh, just someone I occasionally wrote with this week." Giovanni brushes it off. The way he said it truly made Faye angry. Didn't Giovanni tell her he isn't the womaniser that media portrays him as? And now he was writing with someone when he should actually focus on teaching her this dance? Maybe she was overreacting because Giovanni was obviously allowed a break too... but couldn't he spend his time wiser than writing with online flirts?! 

"Oh so instead of focusing on our Strictly journey, you're writing with a random woman, flirting with her whilst we should actually focus on this stupid dance?" Faye snaps. "I can't believe it! I thought you're different - I thought you're not the womaniser everyone accuses you of!"

"Faye, it's not like that-"

"Not? You're flirting with someone a week into our Strictly journey! Did that woman tell you how rubbish I am and how she'd be a better dance partner for you? Then let me tell you: She likely would be but could you at least wait with flirting until we get eliminated? Which likely will happen soon anyways."

"Faye I'm not flirting with random women!" Giovanni shouts.

"Then who are you secretly messaging with if not a secret lover?" she shouts back.

"Your husband!" 

"What?" Faye asks confused. 

"Your Husband. The man you're married to." Giovanni says coldly. "Look Faye, I know this isn't easy for you. Being on Strictly, away from your husband and son. Learning all those new dances and getting hate. I thought to surprise you, so I invited your husband and son over." 

"You did... what?" Faye asks as if she hadn't just heard what Giovanni said. He's so nice to her even after how rude she'd been to him basically all week? "Gio, you're crazy!" she says, accidentally letting a nickname slip through. She hadn't called him by this name for decades and now it almost felt like back then. Like being friends. 

"We all go out for dinner together, after rehearsals. We'll finish earlier today, okay? Faye don't look at me like that - we'll be fine with small breaks. You don't need to do workouts til you're exhausted as heck. And if you ask me, you're far too skinny." 

"You shouldn't mind." Faye snaps. "Who do you think you are, judging me by my appearance? Gosh you're so ignorant." 

"Faye, I didn't judge you. I stated simple facts. But you know what? We just don't talk and get on with rehearsals." Giovanni decides coldly, telling Faye to get back into hold. He knew she struggled with the new dance especially as it was ballroom and Faye's thoughts seemed to be all over the place. He didn't knew if it was because of missing her family or because of having read the hate online. Sadly online trolls had been nasty to Faye and also Ashley, saying they shouldn't be allowed on the show and were overmarked... and write other cruel things. He knew that although being on Strictly was an incredible journey, it also had cons - the hate being one of them. Either people got hate for being good - being accused of having dance experience - or people got hate for not being the best dancers out there.