Magical - Mollie and AJ's Strictly Story

Part 40 - Laughter is the best medicine

Oops, just bumped my head on the mirror. Sorry, Mirror-Mollie, although I think it hurt my head more than yours. I might be just a little bit tipsy. A tiny bit. Don't normally drink on a school night – it's Wednesday, isn't it? But we don't have to get up early for training tomorrow, so we took advantage of the bar at the cast dinner and had a few drinks. Why not? I have had such an amazing evening. It's been non-stop fun today! And I got to dance with my star again. We had only been apart for one day and I couldn't wait to see him.

And yay – all of the cast were there (oh except Bri, he's in panto, but we will see him at the weekend) for the most fun reunion. I missed them so much, it was wonderful to see Ruth again. Such a warm and charming lady...I've seen her since, of course – AJ and I went to her special party, but to see her back at Strictly, well, it was all the feels. And Simon bought food with him. What a dude!

AJ and I have some great focus sections in the group dance. We get to relive some of the best moments from our previous dances – the daredevil lifts from the Charleston and the throw-myself-into-his-arms leap of faith from our Rumba. I feel so confident about it – there's no judging, it's a celebration of the entire series of Strictly. So different to how I felt in the group dance on the pairing show. Of course, now I have my Prince Charming to catch me. To think we never would have met if I hadn't signed up to Strictly.

I have had such a brilliant day. I laughed until my sides were literally aching. My muscles are all laughed out. The stress and upset of the weekend has gone. I no longer feel that anger and isolation of being left out of the tour – it's only a few weeks, it isn't even a month long. The humiliation and apologetic sadness from Saturday night has vanished. I no longer feel that I let AJ down. In fact, we have broken another Strictly record – the highest number of hours trained by any couple in the entire history of the show. It's not a glitterball, but I tell you, someone will have to work damn hard to steal that away from us!

The thing I'm happiest about is finding that even without the excuse of being in the training room together, AJ and I still have fun and make each other laugh as much as we ever did. We were playing a game in the taxi where you ask yes/no questions to try to find out which person you are and he asks, "Do I have hair?" Like, who asks that? He makes me laugh. He makes me happy. His giggle soothes my soul.

I need to hear that giggle again. Please excuse me, Mirror-Mollie. I have somewhere else to be.