9125 Miles- A Joanne Story

102 Miles Together

"now you're beside me, and look how far we've come,"

Brighton- 92 Miles Away.

"Alf, have you got your medicine and everything?" called Zoe from her position in the driver's seat. She could hardly contain her excitement for the day ahead. Of course, she had a two hour drive ahead of her, but a lot of interesting things were happening today. They were returning to the most amazing place on Earth, Chewton Glen, she was seeing Joe for the first time in a good few months and they were finally going to spend some time with Dianne, properly, as Joe's girlfriend. 

Zoe smiled as she remembered seeing Joe's post last night. She never thought her brother would be able to have such an amazing relationship with a girl but Zoe could tell, just from the way that Joe spoke about Dianne to her, that he was in love. 

"Are you ready?" she asked Alfie as he climbed into the car.

"Yeah," he croaked out. Zoe shot him a sympathetic look. 

"Are you sure you're okay to still come?" she said gently. 

"If I'm gonna be ill, I might as well be ill at the treehouses," he whispered.

"Very true," she nodded. "Right lets get going,"

//

"Ah Chewton Glen, how I have missed you," said Alfie as they pulled into the driveway.

"Your voice sounds better," commented Zoe as she checked her hair in the mirror. "Right lets go find them. I think Joe said that they're in the Kitchen,"

They wandered over to the little restaurant and saw Joe and Dianne through the window. They were sitting by the fire and laughing at something on Joe's phone. Their heads were close together and Joe's hand was holding Dianne's. Zoe's heart soared as she looked at the pair. They looked so in love and it made her so happy seeing her brother so content.

"Hey guys!" she said cheerily. They both looked up and smiled, putting their phones away. 

"Hey sis," said Joe, hugging Zoe. Zoe then turned to Dianne and enveloped her in a massive hug as well.

"How are you gorgeous?" said Zoe to Dianne.

"I'm great thanks!" Zoe couldn't tell but it sounded like Dianne had exhaled with relief when Zoe spoke to her. Bless her, she thought, she's probably nervous. 

//

"How was the journey up here?" asked Alfie. They were in the treehouses and lounging around on couches in the main room. Zoe and Dianne were playing the Strictly game across the room and paying the boys zero attention. Earlier, Dianne had squealed with delight when Zoe presented her with her first onesie. And Joe loved it. He loved the relationship that they were starting to build and he couldn't help the huge grin on his face as he saw his sister and girlfriend bonding. 

"It was okay, had to divert a little on the route," said Joe, stretching his legs out on the spacious sofa.

"Why?" asked Alfie, furrowing his brow.

"This paparazzi followed us for nearly an hour. I had to pull into a driveway for about five minutes before setting off again," said Joe quietly. He knew that Dianne had been a bit scared by the situation and didn't want to bring it to her attention again. 

"God that's annoying," said Alfie. He looked over at the girls who were laughing together, seemingly without a care in the world.

"Normally, it would annoy me a bit but not loads. However, when I looked over at Di and saw that she was frightened, my blood just started boiling. She's not used to this level of attention and it's my job to reassure her and protect her,"

Alfie gave Joe a long searching glance. He knew Joe very well after all these years of knowing him and he knew, after the speech that he just gave, that he was very serious about Dianne. The feeling of protection that he described was similar to one that he felt when Zoe suffered from panic attacks. 

"She'll eventually get used to it. I bet you were both already feeling cautious because it was one of the first times you've stepped out together as an official couple. I remember feeling terrified when Zoe and I were first outed as a couple. But as time goes on, I just learned to ignore everything. Dianne will learn to ignore it as well, don't you worry bro,"

Joe looked over at the girls who were both serene and chatting all things dance related. Joe could see that his girlfriend was in her element as she explained several steps to his sister. Although he was feeling anxious about the press' invasion, he'd also never been happier in his life. 

//

"I don't want to leave you," said Dianne later that evening. She was snuggled into Joe's side, in their bed, on their side of the treehouse. They had had such a lovely relaxing evening with Zoe and Alfie and were now settling down for the night. 

"I know, it's going to be so weird that you won't be in my apartment for the next twelve days, eating my food and staining my towels red," said Joe stroking her back.

Dianne giggled. "Singing out of tune purposely to annoy you,"

Joe laughed and pulled her closer to him, kissing her forehead. "I will really miss you though. I don't know how I'll sleep properly without you next to me,"

"Aw Joseph," she said, squeezing him even tighter. "I'll be back before you know it,"

"We'll have to properly work out time difference and when the best time to call is," said Joe. "But you just focus on spending time with your family,"

"I know but I'll still need to call you. I can't not see my Joseph's face," she whispered into his chest. 

"Don't worry my love. We'll work it out. Even if you call me in the middle of the night, I'll still answer," said Joe. Pressing a final loving kiss to her forehead, they both slowly drifted off to sleep.