Joe and Dianne: Dancing is better with you

Chapter 16 - No one's home anymore

Joe's POV: 

"Alright then Stace I'll see you soon okay.......... Yeah probably for lunch at one point during training - I'll see what Dianne says.... alright bye"

I finished up my conversation and finally settled down to have my dinner. It was freezing cold by this point - after listening to Stacey rabbit on for like an hour - so decided to heat it up for a few minutes in the microwave. I sat on the broken bar stool next to the kitchen isle and looked at the robotic, green numbers of the timer of my microwave slowly count down the five minutes I had put it on for.

I stared blankly at the numbers for several moments, feeling my tired eyes grow heavier and heavier by the second. It got to the point where it felt like I could carry home a weeks worth of shopping in the bags under my eyes.

I felt my eyelids droop but just as they closed, I was suddenly startled by the sound of the buzzer to my apartment going off. I briskly walked over to the unit and - with my tired state taking full control of my actions - I let the knocker in without even checking who it was. I opened the door and left it wide open, allowing whoever it was to come straight in. Despite what my mum and Zoe had told me when I moved to London, I really didn't think that it was as dangerous as people make it out to be. Especially not in the area that I live in, the likelihood that it was one of my mates or like an amazon delivery was extremely high, so leaving the door open is in no way going to hurt me.

I settled back down on the bar stool and started to flick through my phone in an attempt to stay awake for at least a few more minutes. I just got onto Instagram when I felt two heavy and strong hands press onto my shoulders. Before I had a chance to spin around and see who it was I felt the hands pull me back quickly. Both the already broken bar stool and my broken body feel backwards, landing with a hefty crash on the polished wooden flooring to my apartment. 

My breath was knocked out of me as I landed. I manged to get back to my feet relatively quickly though. I looked up and allowed my eyes to focus on who the fuck it was that randomly chucked me to the floor like a used receipt. As my brain sorted out the image before me I was confronted by a large man. He had very dark hair and a scraggly beard with an angry and off putting scowl strewn across his masculine features. I had always been short compared to any of my friends and was always the inferior guy. This was the reason that I had no choice but to stop playing rugby, and the reason as to why I used humour and pranks towards a lot of my friends. I hated to admit this to myself or to any of my friends or viewers, but I did pranks and things like that to make me feel more confident. If I pulled off a prank well then it made me glad because It told me that I could still make an impact, it told me that I wasn't worthless in a group of tall, strong, successful men.

But if I felt short standing next to Alfie or Caspar then you have no idea how minuscule I felt next to this guy. By my guess he was at least 6 foot 4 on a bad day, and compared to my weedy height of 5 foot 7, I was not liking my odds if there was about to be a fight. Either way though my tired and obnoxious brain decided to argue my case.

"Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing in my house?" I questioned angrily, but being careful not to raise my voice at this already fuming man.

"Don't play dumb with me you anorexic little shit - where the fuck is she?" He said in a deep and stern voice.

"Who?" I questioned feeling both terrified and extremely confused by this entire situation

"WHO?" The man questioned altering the pitch of his voice to mimic me "Stacey you fucking idiot!" 

"Why the fuck would Stacey be here?" I questioned starting to get angry by the ridiculousness of this situation