Halfway to Love | A Joanne Fanfiction

Two

London, England, 2017. 

Times were still hard for dreamers, but Dianne was determined that they would no longer be hard for her. At twenty-eight years old, she had certainly grown up an awful lot since moving from her home town for hope of a better life, and for her dream to come true. By now, she had travelled all around the world in various global and nationwide dance tours, and whilst they hadn't always been as beautiful or as perfect as she had initially dreamt that they would be, she was well aware that she was currently living the absolute dream of her ten-year-old self. And she was so, so proud.

At present, she was trying her hardest to acclimatise to her new environment. Despite having travelled to countless cities around the world, there was something about London that never ceased to fill her with wonder. The bright red buses, the black cabs and the telephone boxes, which she quickly learnt served for nothing more than a photo spot for tourists still caused her to smile. So far, the only thing that she hadn't quite worked out was how to use the underground, to which her friends reassured her that she'd be used to it in no time. As she wandered aimlessly down a cobbled lane which she hoped would take her in the correct direction, she smiled to herself as her mind wandered down a familiar path.

In absolute honesty, she had never lost her ability to dream. Most of her friends still called her a dreamer, and she relished in it. She hadn't anticipated living in London, it was beyond her wildest dreams to become a Strictly Come Dancing professional, so she had given up everything that her Australian life had to offer her for the opportunity now that it was given to her. But, unbeknownst to her few friends around her, or her family on the other side of the globe, she was struggling. Deep down, she knew that as soon as the competition started, she would be more than fine, but it was hard. She'd sacrificed everything for her dream to dance, and it only felt like she would just continue to sacrifice more and more until she had nothing left to give.

Her present state of mind reminded her of that paradox she'd learnt about in primary school. She may be halfway, but she was certain she had at least halfway to go. Still, the young woman, whose once mousy brown hair had turned a bright red, walked down the rain-covered streets with a spring in her step as she moved towards her shared flat with her friend and now colleague, Oti Mabuse.

"Hey Di, how are you feeling about tomorrow?" she asked as Dianne entered, wiping her feet on the rug as she teased a hand through her hair, sighing to herself as she realised the extent of its wetness.

"Good, I think." The Australian answered, and her raised intonation at the end of her sentence caused the South African to raise a questioning eyebrow.

With this, she laughed, tossing her hair back as she did so at her friend's bluntness. If there was anything Oti was known for, it wasn't her subtlety.

"Okay. I'm nervous. But this is the dream Mabuse, it's what I've spent my whole life working up to. What if it doesn't live up to that?" she confessed. Her positive, optimistic attitude had had the tendency to make her to dream bigger than what reality could possibly provide, and she would hate the following months to be one of those moments.

"Trust me Di, it is everything and more."

///

Two thousand and seventeen, so far at least, for Joe had been largely uneventful. He knew he was fortunate, he knew he was so fortunate. He'd appeared on news programmes all around the country, and had had experiences he knew that people all over the globe would envy him for. It was true, the past few years had been an absolute blur of new and exciting things, around every corner and whilst he had tried his best to enjoy every moment of them, he was ready for life to start to slow down.

But despite having lived in the hustle and bustle of his country's capital city for a few years, he still had moments of isolation that lasted longer than they should have. Despite having a job that was entirely based on the creation of connecting to absolute strangers, he still wasn't quite versed on the arts of a successful connection in the real world.

But that wasn't easy, as he was currently learning the hard way. Everyone seemed to be growing up around him and he wasn't sure where that left him. Although his life had arguably started to quieten down since the highs of two thousand and fourteen, he was still always on the go. His projects and future ideas were still ongoing, and he didn't yet know when they would end. He lived in a constant state of "what's next?" and he dreaded to think of the day where he wouldn't have the answer, he already knew that that day would be too soon.

His friends back home were beginning to start settling down, and he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that those in the city would soon be following their lead. But he knew, deep down he wasn't ready for that. He'd not yet met a woman in which he saw something lasting more than a couple of months, and as much as he tried to mask this mounting unnerving feeling by taking on more work, he knew that he'd have to face these issues eventually.

The subscriber count and views were factors that only highlighted the magnitude of which he was truly going around in circles. The fight to stay relevant was one that he had initially fought hard, but now he was close to pulling the white flag before the battle ended badly. Deep down, he knew that it was only natural for people to lose interest in him over time, especially for an audience of young people, so the slight diminish in his numbers didn't bother him. He had enough people that followed him in what he did to make his dreams possible, and the bigger numbers had always slightly terrified him. He was content, but he couldn't help but feel like he was waiting. He just had no idea what for.