Joe and Dianne: Life away from you

Dinner and conversation

Narrator's POV:

As Joe and Byron walked back home from meeting the boys at the pub, they finally had a chance to catch up as roommates. Byron and Joe had been like a double act both in life and on YouTube for almost 3 years, so as they walked back down along the river together, Byron found what he had to tell Joe almost heartbreaking.

"Joe I need to tell you something bro" the seriousness in Byron's voice did not go unnoticed by Joe. And being the sarcastic big kid that he is, Joe put up his defence mechanism of humour and dramatically stopped in his path.

"Wait. Are you breaking up with me?" Joe said whilst clutching his chest as if he was a stunned Victorian woman. As Joe laughed lightly, Byron stopped walking and gave Joe nothing but a sincere smile. Instantly noticing his roommates seriousness, Joe too stopped joking around. "Wait are you?!" He asked in fear of total abandonment.

"Kind of..." Byron paused before clearing his throat with a cough and looking Joe in the eye. "Listen bro. You know how much I love living with you, but now that I'm going out with Emily and it's going really, really well. I need to stop fucking around. I love her and I want to be with her properly. So I'm gonna be moving out bro." Their usually light heartened chats took a depressing turn as Byron laid his cards on the table.

Joe felt a tear come to his eye as he thought about how much he's going to miss living with a guy who might as well be a brother to him. But Joe being someone to roll with the punches and take everything on the chin, looked his brother in the eye and smiled.

"Congrats bro. I'm happy for you" Their conversation continued until eventually Byron left Joe to meet Emily at the station, meaning Joe began to head home to an empty house all by himself. But as he got home, he went upstairs to his room to find a t-shirt that Dianne left at his house last time she stayed round.

An idea suddenly burst through into Joe's mind. A smile returned to his face before he rushed down the stairs, texting someone important before heading out to the shops with a plan in his mind and a smile on his face.

Dianne's POV:

Usually the day seemed to drag on forever if I knew that I would end up seeing Joe in the evening, but today everything I did seemed to fly past. The usual wait I had to endure before I would be able to see his handsome smile greet me at the door, didn't show up today. Instead the coffee and catch up with all of my mates, getting ready for the tour was nothing but a burden, that was doing an admittedly shit job at taking my mind off of what Joe could possibly want to talk about. But now as I found myself stood outside of his door, feeling hesitant to knock, I found myself willing myself to pluck up the courage to enter a home I usually feel so welcomed into.

Taking a deep breath I knocked twice on the door, to instantly be greeted by the cheery voice of Mr Joseph Sugg.

"COME IN!" He yelled, his west country accent randomly coming through like I had noticed it does every so often. I slowly pushed open the door to be greeted with a soft yellow glow coming from the kitchen. Joe's flat smelled incredible and it was obvious that he had been cooking. The moment that I walked through into the living room I felt my heart skip a beat, my stomach flip, and a smile grow onto my face as I looked into the setting before me. The kitchen was filled with fairy lights, candles and enough flowers to think that Joe might have had a career change and become a florist. But in the mix of all of this, I eventually allowed my eyes to settle onto Joe. He was wearing a smart white shirt, tucked into some well fitted blue suit trousers and smart black shoes. The light was highlighting the blueness in his eyes and I couldn't help but gawk at him, whilst simultaneously feel extremely under dressed in my ripped jeans and old T-shirt combo.

"What's all this about?" I asked nervously.

Joe got up, held my hands out in front of me and kissed me gently. My nerves of what he wanted to talk about still there, but now for an entirely different reason. "You'll find out why in a while" he smirked towards me, before kissing me again. This time a lot more passionately - catching me off guard. He pulled away and lead me to the bar stools propped up next to the kitchen counter. Taking my jacket and bag off of me like the true gentleman he is, Joe left my side to bring round two full plates of coconut Thai curry - knowing full well that it was my favourite. Sitting down next to me and pouring us both a glass of wine we ate together - my head still not entirely wrapped around the situation I found myself in, but definitely enjoying it.

...

Joe's POV:

After dinner, Dianne and I went over to my sofa and sat talking for a while, wine in hand we continued our usual conversations full of laughter, banter and about a million and one other little things that made every single moment with each other so special in my eyes. But as the night grew darker, I knew that my time was beginning to run out. There was only so much wine I could drink before I wouldn't be able to make any real sentences at all - so now was my chance to tell her . I looked down to the floor as eventually an eerie silence took over the situation as both Dianne and I stopped talking.

"So..." Dianne begun to speak catching my attention. "You wanted to talk about something." she said hesitantly, I knew that she was nervous about what I was about to say, and I was certainly nervous to say it.

I looked into her honey coloured eyes and went through what I was going to say in my head just one more time.

"Um.... yeah..." I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. My palms became sweaty and I began to feel uncomfortable. Saying how I felt about something - especially about a girl - was never my strong suit, but none the less I plucked up the courage and put myself out there. "Listen Di. I know that you and I haven't had what could be referred to as a 'normal' way to start a relationship. I mean from what happened the night of the pride of Britain awards, to when we properly got together week 7. But since then I can't help but feel like we have hit on something special. I have never had a proper long term relationship - and although I was certain that after you found out that I liked you, you would want to run for the hills, you didn't. And I feel so unbelievably lucky that you decided to give me a chance. I made a promise to myself after you told me that you wanted to be with me also, that I would do everything in my power to make this one work - and I feel like I may have done that." I paused to reflect my thoughts and looked her in the eyes for one final time.

"Anyway, today Byron told me that he would be moving out... so that means that I now have a spare room... and I know that it's soon and that you have tour and more important things to think about in your life, but would you like to move in here with me?"

That's it... I had put my heart on the line and had finally asked her - searching her face for an answer I found myself staring intently at her before she spoke

"Joe I...."