There you were, walking up the steps in your hotel, your home for the next 4 months. This hotel is your home for 4 months every year for the last 5, since you got a job as a backing dancer on The X Factor. Earlier that day you were in the dance studio, limbering up and getting in some basic dance practice in before the real hard work starts tomorrow, when you meet the finalists and start choreographing dance routines for the first live show. Last year you were officially put in charge of the dancers and you were overjoyed, a lot of hard work and commitment meant that last years routines were some of the best ever and so the shows bosses put you in charge again.
Day 1 of rehearsals comes around and you & the 5 other girls are in the dance studio, warming up and getting yourselves prepared to meet the finalists. You’re talking amongst yourselves and in walks Jaymi, Josh, George & JJ. Yours and JJ’s eyes meet and he smiles, you confidently smile back and introduce yourself. After Brian Freidmen, the artistic director gives a little talk to both the dancers and the band you get straight down to business. The track starts playing and Brian gets you & the girls to show the guys the short routine that you have come up with. Its only around 90 seconds long as the songs have to be short at that stage to fit in the shows timeslot. On the next 1, the Union J boys get into their positions, using their water bottles as microphones and run through the song including some of the simple steps that you’ve taught them. It all seems to go without a hitch and after a few runs through, you’re all feeling confident that you’ve got the whole thing ready, you just need a little practice before the live show on Saturday night.
As you break for lunch, you’re walking out the door with your friends to go to the cafeteria and JJ goes to say hello to you properly but backs away after getting a slight attack of nerves. He decides not to think about it and to just concentrate on this Saturdays show, he’s nervous as it is, so he just needs to make sure he gets in as much practice as possible. While he’s sitting in the cafeteria with Josh, Jaymi & George, he glances over at you as you’re laughing with your friends, he smiles, the room around him seems to go completely silent except for you, until Jaymi clicks his fingers in front of his face ‘JJ you in there?’ Jaymi laughs. ‘Sorry’ he says ‘I was miles away’.
’Alright, we gotta focus’ says Josh ‘We gotta make sure we’ve got this song down’. So the 4 of them start going over their individual parts and working through the whole thing in their heads.
You look over an see how hard their working and you’re glad, the harder they work means the more they want it, and then more they want it means the longer they’ll be around for.
So there you are, walking up those stairs, carrying your phone and a bottle of water in 1 hand a 10 page printed copy of your work schedule in the other hand, all of a sudden it feels like you’ve walked into a lamppost, what you don’t realize is that JJ was coming down the stairs as you were walking up, neither of you were really paying attention to where you were walking and bumped right into each other. You’ve dropped your papers on the ground and as JJ kneels down to help you pick them up he realizes who you are, ‘Oh hey’ he says and smiles, ‘Hey’ you say and smile back as he hands you the papers you’ve dropped. The 2 of you get into conversation and are talking about the Saturday night show, he tells you how nervous he is about performing live, but you reassure him that it’s not as bad as he thinks it’s going to be. After you’ve been standing there on the landing, talking for over 10 minutes, he says he has to leave as he and the boys have to go to a quick meeting with The X Factor bosses ‘but I’d love to talk some more’ he says ‘do you mind if I stop by to see you when we get back?’. ‘Sure, I’m in room 505’ you say. He puts his hand on you’re shoulder as he says goodbye, and you feel something in your gut, like a surge of electric running through you. As you continue walking up the stairs you’re thinking to yourself ‘He seems like a really nice guy’ you smile to yourself as you let yourself into your room and sit on the edge of the bed. ‘He’s really cute too’ you say to yourself.
Later on, you’re relaxing in your onesie while watching some TV and JJ knocks on your door.
