Joe and Dianne: Dancing is better with you

Chapter 18 - It should be simpler

A/N Hey people! Sorry that this was a long time coming, also sorry that it is up so late. I have finally finished my exams so I should be uploading more frequently from now on. I hope you enjoy this chapter, slightly longer but it is leading onto a banger of a chapter coming in a few days xx

Joe's POV:

I slowly made my way towards the studio for our final day of rehearsal before Blackpool. The images and memories of exactly what had happened last night accentuated in my brain due to the lack of sleep last night. After 3 hours of continuous tossing and turning under the cold covers of my empty bed, my minds stubbornness took over and eventually I decided that sleep was a lost cause. It wasn't so much the thought of Stacey or the thought of Dianne or the show that was swimming through my disorientated brain like a hermit crab taking the piss. No, it was the thought of the fact that I honestly don't have a clue how I ended up here. Initially I was signing up to this show to boost my confidence, have a break from YouTube and finally make my family proud of me on a level they all can understand. Yet somehow within the past 10 weeks or so, I have managed to find a girl who is essentially anything I could possibly ever need in one petite stature, I have managed to hurt her and someone else that I care about, I have started to star in the leading role of a strictly scandal over the press papers, and on a journey that I hoped would allow me to find myself after 27 years of life, I have managed to lose myself even more.

The weight of my legs were already dragging me down as I climbed up the stairs towards the studio. Despite not having done any dancing today, I could already tell that this was bound to be a tough day. Before I walked through the door to meet Dianne, who I could already see was setting up the music, my eye caught my reflection in a mirror at the top of the stairs. I looked relatively normal - despite how my brain was functioning this morning I had a smile on my face, my eyes were their usual bright blue and the clothes I'm wearing fit me properly and aren't hanging off of me like I'm a fucking clothes horse. But my tired state was still on show. My shoulders were hunched over, my hair was a bloody birds nest and my forehead was slightly bruised from the solid awakening of Sam's right fist last night. I ran my hands through my hair in an attempt to calm the beast on top of my head. As I was sorting it out, I felt two hands press onto my shoulders quickly. My mind retorted to the feeling of hands on my shoulders last night. I spun around quickly and held my hands up to hide my face from whoever it was - my hairs stood on end as my fear stricken body was eventually taken out of its trance by a mellifluous Australian accent.

Dianne's POV:

'C'mon Di stop being a pussy and just tell him!' My thoughts were starting to get the better of me as I was attempting to concentrate on setting everything up for the important day ahead. As per usual Joe was late, but after whatever had happened to him last night, I'm almost sure that he has a reasonable excuse as to why. I knew that I had to talk to him about last night, about the fact I don't like him talking to Stacey so much, the fact that I showed up at his flat last night, and the fact that he wasn't there. I didn't actually head back to my flat after I left Joe's as there was something about that bizarre event that made me want to be around someone last night so I headed down the river from Joe's and slept on Chloe's Sofa last night. She didn't ask what was happening which quite frankly I was happy about. I wasn't even 100% certain if I knew exactly what was happening myself so the last thing I wanted to do last night was retell a story that I knew barely anything about. But this morning, as I sat on Chloe's sofa staring into the distance, with sleepy dust surrounding my still tired eyes, I fiddled with the bandage that was covering the deep gash on my palm. It slowly dawned on me that I would have to tell Joe how it happened - I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even I knew that there was no way I could hide it whilst I was in a ballroom hold with him all day.