Joe and Dianne: Dancing is better with you

Chapter 9 - An awkward weekend

Dianne's POV:

'Shit - no, no,no,no, no - why the fuck did you say that you idiot Dianne!' I thought about what I had just said to Joe. He stood there in shock. His jaw slightly open leaving an understandably surprised expression plastered across his delicate features. I mean why wouldn't you be shocked after a complete fucktard tells you that they may or may not be in love with you.

I mean lets face it love is a VERY strong word - but it is the word that I said. I had been in love before but this didn't feel like those other times. For example it took me 4 months to realise that I was in love with Anthony. And when I realised it I began to see him in a whole new light - the touches his fingers planted on my soft skin ignited my world - the looks he gave me brightened up my day. That's the way I have seen Joe from day one though, that's exactly what Joe has done to me every time we touched, that's just who Joe is.

I have never believed in love at first sight so this feeling I got from the get go with Joe can't be love - Can it?

"What!" Joe asked me as he came out of his thoughts and brought me out of my own. His voice was startled and the dialogue matched his facial expression perfectly.

"Well - I- uh... I don't - ..." I stuttered uncontrollably, my tired and scrambled brain couldn't seem to formulate any kind of sentence.

"You love me?" Joe said as he could actually speak

"I don't know Joe - I mean of course I do... Well... No but yeah... I don't know" I continued to go back on myself. I wasn't trying to avoid this conversation - as helpful as that would be - I was just trying to figure out myself about how I thought for Joe

"Well you obviously know something Di - if you didn't, you wouldn't have said anything and you wouldn't now be all weird and... And... Floopy." He made a good point. As Joe said this he dropped his gaze away from me and settled on the black leather sofa in his dressing room. I stood in front awkwardly pacing back on forth, biting on the skin of my thumb close to the nail. 

Joe looked up to me expectantly but I couldn't formulate a proper answer.

"Di say something - I don't mind what the answer is. I have my own answer but I am not saying anything until you tell me what is going on in your head. I have had my heart broken far too many times before and I refuse for that to happen with you - at least not now anyway." Joe's honesty took me by surprise. I didn't know what to do.

The only reason I had been able to maintain any kind of sanity when I thought about Joe was that I was certain that he would never ever ever have any interest in me. I don't know why he would. Behind the sparkly exterior I get given through Strictly, I'm a bit of a shit show truth be told.

I was still routed to the spot, Joe's words playing over like a broken record. I knew I had to do something though, I can't stay here routed to the spot in the middle of my dance partner's dressing room. I had to move...

So I did - I left Joe's dressing room, running down the corridors back to my own dressing room - quickly handing back my clothes from the show - then hastily collecting my things and running out of the studio, past the awaiting press into the cold London streets. Ignoring the calls of my confused dance partner - the familiar buzz of a phone call from my pocket, and the savage clicks from the cameras that were attempting to focus on me.

Joe's POV:

--- time skip - Sunday afternoon ---

"Why hasn't she said anything yet?" I murmured underneath my breath, pondering as to why Dianne had said literally nothing to me over text, phone call or email since our awkward encounter last night.