Love you more

The Jive

Faye:

It's no lie that the Jive is a difficult dance. But we still want to smash it and impress not only the audience but also the judges. It would be so nice to receive a perfect score for this dance, especially because it's Giovanni's favourite dance. 

I can't say that the same goes for me; in fact, I don't like our Jive at all. Rehearsals were ridiculous, my knees are aching and in all honesty, I'm exhausted of all this Jive dancing. During dress rehearsal, I tripped and fell forward directly on my knees; feeling not only embarrassed but also guilty. I mean, it were dress rehearsals and this was what I was doing. 

But then something weird happened. Giovanni had immediately picked me up, shouted at a crew member to get a cooling pack and repeatedly asked me if I'm okay. It was like- like he cared about me. Sure we're dance partners and friends but his expression, it was so attentive. I'd shaken that thought off, he probably was just worried and probably had to do his best not to burst into laughter. 

"Ready, partner?" Giovanni asks with a smile that is full of excitement. I flash a smile back at him, though my smile is being rather faked. The music starts to play and we're dancing happily, hearing the audience clapping along. Okay, I admit that the dance is fun at some points and I get why Giovanni likes the Jive. And honestly, he's just so adorable when he smiles like this. Okay, he's usually adorable but especially when he dances.

I can hear the audience applauding us as we finish our dance and as we're walking to Tess. She tells us that she already loved our performance, that it was joyful and a pleasure to watch. Sadly, she's no judge but I still like that she tries to say something nice to all of the couples. That's appreciating. "But now, let's hear what our judges want to say about your Jive!" Tess announces. 

As we listen to their comments, I notice how the room is slightly blurry and shaky. I blink a few times, rubbing my eyes and earning a confused expression from Giovanni - but I just act like I'm completely focused on the judges and their comments. They're all sounding very impressed with our performance - except for Shirley who tells us that, despite she likes our dancing, she doesn't she us fighting for our place in the show.

We do, Shirley, we do fight for our place in this show. That's what I think to myself but I still nod to what she said to us. Yes her words were harsh but it definitely wasn't our best dance and as a judge she has to criticise us if it's needed and she's fully allowed to do so.

Giovanni on the other hand definitely looks annoyed with the critism and although he doesn't say anything, I bet he's angry with Shirley. But I don't think it would be that clever if we would say tell her our honest opinion; she's the judge after all and the head judge on top of that. So we still thank them politely for their critism as we walk the stairs to Claudia and the other couples. She questions us about our thoughts for this dance and Giovanni tells her that he really enjoyed this dance and that he's proud of me and my dancing skills. 

"That's because you are my teacher." I say with a grin and the audience laughs at our conversation. 

Now we hear our scores and of course Shirley marks us lower than the other judges - even lower than Craig! I chuckle slightly at his expression, he seems confused about his fellow colleague marking us lower; proof enough that Craig isn't the 'mean judge' that some people like to portray him as.

"Thank you!" Giovanni growls as we walk backstage for our video to be filmed. Because there is a backstage interview about our thoughts for this dance as well so we still have to act nice before we can go and shout in our dressing rooms. Giovanni explains to the camers that he's proud of me and that we of course want to improve our dancing to impress the judges. I add that our dance was really entertaining, a mild attempt of ignoring hat the room is spinning.