9125 Miles- A Joanne Story

416 Miles

"A life goes by, romantic dreams must die,"

Edinburgh.

Dianne knew she would go insane if she looked at her phone a minute longer. Shoving it in her bag, she continued her walk around the shopping centre. Window shopping had always been fun for her. She liked to try and create an outfit in her head and she sighed when she saw a gorgeous leather jacket with matching boots. She thought about how good they would look with her black ripped jeans and her hair up.

"No Dianne," she said to herself. "Have some self control,"

She knew she had to be saving money. She had no idea where she'd be in the next few weeks when Giovanni's tour ended. More than likely, she'd end up back in Australia or returning to Burn the Floor. Either thought didn't fill her with dread exactly, she knew she could cope. Except, the 'London' feeling had returned, although Dianne was beginning to think she'd feel happy in any part of the UK. That could potentially be a reality...

"Again Dianne, stop indulging you need to be realistic!" she said, louder than she'd meant to, earning her a few strange looks from passers by. She settled on a bench in the shopping centre, sipping her coffee, just wishing they'd phone so she knew either way.

As if by magic she felt a vibration against her leg where her bag rested. For a split second she was tempted to ignore it, certain it would just be a text or Instagram. But it continued and her excitement began to grow.

"Hello?" she answered tentatively.

"Hi is that Dianne?" a cheery voice replied.

"Yes this is Dianne," she said.

"Hi this is James one of the producers from Strictly,"

"Oh goodness, hello, how are you?" she said, confused as to how she didn't recognise his voice. He had been one of the people present at her audition. Her heart dropped and her mouth went dry. This was it, she'd know in the next few seconds. 

"I'm good thanks. Now, we've made a decision regarding your auditions. We would love for you to be a professional dancer with a celebrity partner on this year's season,"

Dianne felt light with relief. As she looked back at the moment later, it was funny how 18 words could dramatically improve her mood. She just couldn't contain her excitement and gasped down the phone.

"Oh gosh, thank you so much! I can't quite believe it!"

They talked for a few more minutes and made arrangements for Dianne to come to a few meetings with other new arrivals Amy Dowden and Nadiya Bychkova, neither of whom she'd met before. But of course she'd heard of them as the dance community was pretty small and they were both champions like her. As soon as they hung up, Dianne pressed a few buttons on her phone and was ringing her mum. 

"Dot, is everything okay?" answered her mum sleepily.

"Mum, I'm gonna be a pro on Strictly!" she said, excitement in every syllable.

"Oh Dotty! That's amazing! We couldn't be prouder of you!" exclaimed her mum.

"I'll let you go Mum cause I've just worked out that it's 3am over there!" laughed Dianne. "But I'll call you later and we can have a proper chat about it,"

"Okay sweetheart, I love you and I'm so proud,"

"Thanks Mum, I love you more!" Dianne hung up and took a moment to look around the shopping centre. She couldn't contain her smile, she was blissfully happy. All her worries and restrictions seemed to have evaporated the minute she received her phone call. She could stay in the UK, she had a secure job and she would be dancing with a group of talented professionals every weekend!

With every ounce of confidence she could muster, she walked straight back into the shop she had been in before and scooped up the leather jacket with the matching boots and paid for them without a second thought. 

I deserve a treat she thought. It's like I've completed a journey, everything I've worked for, it's led me to this moment.

If only she knew, it wasn't even close to the end of her journey. Some would call it, 'only the beginning'.

//

London.

"Thank you very much, have a good night!" Joe paid the pizza delivery man before dumping the boxes on Caspar's table. Getting out two plates, he smiled at how nostalgic he was feeling. Some of the best years of his life had been when him and Caspar lived together and it was sad that they now lived apart. But he felt like he appreciated his friend more now that he didn't leave his socks everywhere or crumbs on Joe's kitchen counter.

"Did they remember the potato wedges?" asked Caspar entering the room.

Joe turned holding one up fresh out of the box. Caspar punched the air before sitting at the table. Once they'd eaten, they sat in front of the television but they weren't really watching it. A memory had popped up on Joe's timeline and he was keen to share it with his friend.

"Do you remember being on those gondolas in Italy?" he said showing Caspar the picture. He grinned taking Joe's phone and reminiscing. 

"I miss working together," Caspar admitted. "We don't see each other often as it is because we're both so busy. But it would be nice if we could work together again,"

"What would we do?" wondered Joe, leaning back into the sofa. "I don't think a third film is on the cards. Everyone seems to love the younger generation, the new people. We're not bitter, it's just the way that it is,"

"Young people just think that YouTube is an easy way to make a bit of cash. All their videos look the same because they're trying to emulate something. I wish there was more originality," said Caspar.

"Also there's people who genuinely have cool ideas but are ignored because they aren't following the trends that other people are. It's sad, I wish it could be helped," said Joe, reaching over the table for his beer. 

Caspar sat up. "What if it can?"

"What if what can?" asked Joe confused.

"We have a massive platform, between us we have nearly fifteen million subscribers just from our main channels. Maybe we can help other people increase their platforms?" Caspar was talking fast and excitedly but Joe wasn't convinced.

"How though? We can't just do Instagram shout outs or talk about people in our videos. It would need to be more professional or it just looks weird,"

They both sat in thought for a few minutes before the answer occurred to Joe. "We started to get loads of opportunities when we both signed to our management companies. Well, what if we started our own?"

"That would kill two birds with one stone. We'd be helping people who we want to help expand their image and also we know we can work together. We'd probably work even better together because we aren't around each other 24/7," said Caspar.

They looked at each other with the biggest smiles on their faces. Of course, they had absolutely no clue how to set up a management company so it was some months before it was up and running. But that night, Joe felt really happy, properly happy. He'd finished his voice acting gig and needed a new adventure. And the truth was, he'd been missing his friend. This was something new that they could take on together. As he looked out at the London skyline on the train home, he thought that nothing could make him happier than he already was.

But somebody, who was about to be closer than ever before, was definitely going to try.