Joe and Dianne's Strictly Stories

Street/Commercial: Sleigh Ride

'Dianne Buswell: Employee of the Year... hopefully', the redhead thought to herself excitedly as she deposited the wrapped boxes onto the sleigh. With Christmas just around the corner, this was the busiest day of the year at the warehouse, where everything had to be wrapped and ready to be delivered before the big day. It was also Dianne's last chance to prove herself as the greatest worker in the place. Every day for the past year, she had put every last drop of energy into every single task that she had been given, and did it all with a dazzling smile.

"Boo!" Dianne suddenly heard from behind her. She jumped in fright, and was met with the smug face of Joe Sugg behind the sleigh. She shouldn't have been surprised: Joe was notorious for his pranks around the workplace, and jumping out from hiding places was elementary for him; Dianne should have seen it coming.

Unlike Dianne, Joe was not in the running for Employee of the Year. Despite the fact that they were both the first people to arrive at work and the last people to leave, Joe's conduct was nowhere near as professional as Dianne's. If he put as much energy into doing his job as he did messing about, he would probably be the greatest employee in the world! It almost seemed as though Joe spent most of his shifts doing anything other than working; whether it be pulling pranks, doing impressions, telling jokes, or simply just dancing around the place. But it was difficult to be angry at him for long. Any feelings of annoyance would dissipate after a flash of his grin, or an exuberant recital of one of his cheesy jokes. And Dianne knew this from their very first day working together. In fact, she wouldn't have had it any other way. On anyone else, she would have found his attitude extremely irritating, but not on Joe: there was something so wonderfully endearing about him, and Dianne had to constantly push down the feelings she had for him that had been gradually building within her over time.

"Joseph!" Dianne groaned light-heartedly, unable to hide the smile on her lips.

"Dianne!" Joe groaned in response, mimicking the redhead.

She watched him hop off the box that he had been standing on, "You're as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as ever".

Joe nodded, "Why wouldn't I be?" he questioned before grabbing her hand, "I got you good!"

She pulled him towards her, and quickly moved so that they swapped places, "And so did I!"

Joe grinned, then scanned the boxes, "Do you need a hand?" he asked, "I've got a couple to spare".

Dianne smiled at him fondly, "Very funny," she replied sarcastically before shrugging, "But if you're offering, I'm not gonna turn you down".

"Is that right?" Joe questioned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. He grabbed a flat, white box off the sleigh, "Ooh, I wonder what this could be".

Dianne looked outraged as he shook the box to his ear, "Hey, that was all ready to go!" she exclaimed before reaching out to grab it from his hands, "Give it back!"

Joe released his grip, "Fine," he murmured, then grabbed an identical white box from the sleigh, "Is this the same as that one?"

"It's none of your business!" Dianne argued, then attempted to snatch the box from his hands. As she took it, Joe stole the original box from her, causing Dianne to sigh in exasperation.

"I think you'll find it is," Joe retorted, "I work here too, remember?"

Dianne narrowed her eyes at him, "Do you remember?" she questioned, "Because you make it pretty easy to forget".

"Hey, we clock in and out at the same time, don't we?" Joe pointed out.

"That doesn't mean anything if you don't do anything", Dianne remarked.