One

Chapter Seventeen

Tour was over. Joe and Dianne could finally spend time together alone, without having to rush to an arena every evening. It was late afternoon and all either of them had done was put washing from their cases into Joe's washing machine. Dianne hadn't even bothered to go home last night after the last show, instead opting to stay at Joe's and go home the next day. But that hadn't happened. They had been too wrapped up in themselves to really notice anything going on around them. So, naturally, both were still in comfy clothes, Dianne in Joe's hoodie, and were cuddled together in his big, spinning chair in front of the window. Dianne hadn't really thought about him and Jasmine at all since she'd found out; Joe had stepped in and looked after her, holding her as she cried and building her up when dark thoughts started to creep into her brain. She still hated herself for ever trusting him, but with Joe's constant stream of support, the stupidity she felt was slowly dwindling. Disappearing. Joe had really proved himself to be everything Dianne wanted in just a few short weeks. He was kind and caring, and always looked out for her, but he was also silly and funny- a good balance. Her heart fluttered when he smiled at her, or touched her skin; she supposed this was the 'honeymoon' period people talked about. But, she'd never felt such strong attraction towards another person. Dianne blamed his bright blue eyes, for she often lost herself in them. In the beginning, she had found herself wondering about him. If he could ever be boyfriend material. If he was more than just an attractive retired roof-thatcher turned YouTuber. But, having proved himself to be a nice person as well, Dianne was sure she'd found the perfect package. For her, anyways.
"What are you thinking about?" Joe asked softly, kissing her cheek.
Dianne turned to face him and smiled. "You."
"Oh yeh, what about me?" He kissed her nose and returned the smile.
"How you're proving yourself to be teenager Dianne's dream," she said, her voice shy yet strong.
Joe couldn't help but let his smile grow. "And am I adult Dianne's dream?"
Dianne shifted her body so that she was sat on his knee, legs either side of him, with her hands holding his face. "Yes." She leaned forwards and kissed his lips. "You're perfect." Snaking his arms around her back, Joe hugged her close as she turned sideways on his knee, her head tucking under Joe's chin. "I think I'm falling for you," she said softly.
"I already have." Joe cuddled Dianne closer and pressed his lips to her ear.

•••

"Where have you been?" Jasmine asked as he walked through the door in the early hours of the morning, the top buttons of his shirt ripped open, a definite lipstick stain on the underside of his collar.
"Just at the club with some mates," he said, his words slurring from the alcohol.
She stood up and crossed her arms. "Oh yeh? Where have you actually been?"
"I told you. The club." Dropping his jacket on the counter, he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, drinking a few mouthfuls.
Jasmine walked over to him and looked at his shirt. "That's why there's a lipstick stain on your shirt then."
He put the bottle down and looked at her, his eyebrows raised. "What?"
"There's pink on your shirt Ethan, I'm not stupid." Jasmine rolled her eyes and gave up; it was clear he couldn't really remember anything, something that seemed to be a reoccurring Saturday night tradition. He'd always go out with his friends clubbing and would never get home until gone one. Jasmine was sick of it. He would never let her go with him, 'it's just the lads' he'd say. But she was starting to think that it was not just the lads. She knew he had cheated before, and his past of staying completely loyal was limited. Had he ever stayed loyal? Coming home with a lipstick stain and ripped buttons infuriated her more than she cared to admit and it was obvious enough for her to put two and two together.
"You're sleeping on the sofa," she said abruptly before turning on her heel and marching into their bedroom. Jasmine changed for bed quickly and climbed under the covers.

She had been staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours; Jasmine was sure it was nearly morning. Deep down, she had always known this was how their relationship would come to end. Realistically she should have ended it when she found out he'd been doubling up his girlfriends. When it was both her and Dianne, the beautiful redhead from Strictly- something Jasmine had got into on her lonely Saturdays. Ethan had moved in full time with her a couple of weeks after Dianne kicked him out, but it was only because she felt bad for him. He'd been living at his mums and, as a 27 year old, Jasmine could see why he was so desperate to move out of his family home again. But now that she thought about it, the reasons for him wanting to move out probably weren't what she thought. His mum never allowed him to drink himself silly- Jasmine had learned that very early on- and for Ethan and his Saturday night traditions, she was sure his mum wouldn't have let him go out. Maybe, she thought, those two Saturdays were the only times he hadn't gone out and kissed some other girl. How had she put up with him for seven months? Jasmine shook her head at her own stupidity of somehow believing his cooked-up lies and, sitting up slightly, turned her pillow over to cool her reddened cheeks. Her eyes pooled with tears before they fell, dropping onto the soft pillowcase beneath her. The tears were coming now, tears she had held in over the months, were finally falling- and they were falling fast as she sobbed into her pillow.

•••

"Are you hungry?"
Dianne leaned back into Joe as he spoke. "Yep. Are you?"
"Yeh." Joe kissed Dianne's head. "What do you want? We could go out, have a little date night, we could order in, we could go food shopping and cook ourselves..."
"Can we go out?" Dianne asked, laying back on the sofa so she could see Joe, her legs over his knees. "I need an excuse to make myself look nice and going out on a date is a good one."
Joe pouted. "You always look nice."
"Cute." Dianne sat up and kissed Joe's cheek. "So, out?"
"If that's what you want to do?"
Dianne nodded. "It is."
"Okay." Joe patted her knee, "go and get ready then."
"See you in a bit." Dianne pressed a kiss to Joe's lips before she stood up and walked into the spare bedroom, closing the door behind her. Joe leaned back and sighed. This girl was slowly becoming his everything and he loved it. He looked up again as he heard the door open. "That was quick."
"I need my makeup bag," Dianne said loudly as she ran up the stairs. She appeared a minute later with it in her hands and walked over to Joe, for no other reason than she wanted to kiss him again. She did. "I'm actually going to get ready now." Dianne smiled at Joe and ran back into the spare bedroom. Smiling widely, Joe pulled himself off the chair and walked upstairs to his bedroom, straight into his wardrobe. He pulled out a loose-fitting black shirt, dotted with flowers, and some black jeans. Pulling them on quickly, he grabbed the gold-rimmed glasses Dianne loved and slipped them on his face. Joe sprayed his hair and ran his fingers through his long fringe, trying desperately to tame it but with no success. Snapping a picture of his poor effort, Joe sent it through to his barber, Kieran.
I think I need a hair cut...

Downstairs, Dianne sat in front of the mirrored wardrobe and put on her makeup. A natural look with a bold red lip statement- her favourite. She plugged her curlers in and, after brushing through the mass of red hair and spraying heat protectant, Dianne set about curling her head carefully. With her hair sitting perfectly curled, Dianne unplugged them and moved them away from the wardrobe so there was no chance she could burn herself, yet somehow the hot barrel seemed to catch the back of her hand.
"Shit!" She shouted and dropped the curlers to the floor. "Crap!" Dianne hissed and shook her hand as she half-hopped around on the spot. "Ow, ow, ow."

Joe heard her shout from upstairs, and then a bang. Quickly, he made his way downstairs and knocked on the door to the spare room. "Can I come in?" He shouted.
"Yeh!" Joe pushed the handle down and walked in, looking round the wall to see Dianne cradling her hand. Her hair was freshly curled, and the curlers were dropped on the floor. He quickly put two and two together and walked over to Dianne.
"Can I see?" He asked gently.
"It's not bad," Dianne said as she held her hand out. "It'll get worse in a minute."
Joe pouted at the nasty burn forming on her hand. "How did you even manage that?"
Dianne smiled to herself. "Well, I was trying to be careful and I was moving them out of the way so I wouldn't accidentally step on them or something but the barrel fell on my hand. I'd just turned them off as well, so it was boiling."
Joe shook his head. "Only you could burn yourself trying to be careful," he said with a slight laugh.
"Yep, but if I hadn't of been careful I probably would have fully stood on it, and that would have been way worse."
"Very true," Joe laughed and leaned forward, kissing her forehead. "I'll go and get you some burn cream, or do you want to get dressed first?"
"I'll get changed and then you can be all protective," Dianne said, a twinkle in her eye.
"I'm always protective," Joe grinned. "Just come out when you're ready." He kissed her before turning round and leaving the room. Smiling after him, Dianne slid the wardrobe open and pulled out a short black dress, and an oversized denim jacket. She put them on quickly and, after grabbing some plain black heels and a bag, she walked out of the room and into the living room.
"I'm ready," she said loudly as she put the bag on the football table, having left her shoes by the door. Joe jumped up from the sofa and walked into the downstairs bathroom, getting some burn gel out of the cupboard.
"Come here then." He sat her down on the edge of the chair and rested her hand on his knee. Unscrewing the lid, Joe squeezed a small dot onto his finger and was about to start rubbing it in when Dianne pulled her hand away.
"Will it hurt?" She asked quietly.
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "A little. It'll go off in a minute though."
"Okay," Dianne said hesitantly. Slowly, she rested her hand back on Joe's knee and winced slightly as he carefully rubbed the gel in. "That's not too bad."
"Well done." Joe smiled and screwed the lid back on. "Shall we go then?"
Dianne stood up and grabbed her shoes. She put them on quickly before slipping her bag over her shoulder. "Yes, lets go."

-I was gonna say, I hope this cheers people up after the JOKE that was Strictly on Saturday/Sunday but this isn't exactly a happy chapter. Either way, I'm just as gutted as the entirety of twitter are :(