Damaged

Sleep well

Love. That one word circled his mind in both every waking and sleeping hour. His life had been all consumed by those 4 letters ever since he met her, she was the definition of love. She made him feel at ease, valued and respected whilst also being his biggest cheerleader, always just wanting the very best for him. He knew, deep down, that he would never feel love like that again, she was the only person that could make him feel like that. The broken man didn't believe in soulmates or one true love, he never had, but he did believe that once one person had filled your head and heart with such intoxicating love, nobody else could ever quite match it. This notion broke him, knowing now she had gone, he would never truly feel love quite like that again.

Sun streamed into Joe's spare room, awaking the well-rested red head. Her momentary confusion as to where she was and how she had gotten there quickly dissipated as she remembered the previous evenings events. Her attention then quickly darted to the fact that the sun was already up, panicking the Australian, who knew her and Joe should be starting rehearsals at 8, which was before the sun had even properly risen. The professional dancer quickly hopped out of bed and found her phone on the other side of the room, with a quick glance at the screen she saw it read 8:30 am. With a loud groan she quickly began to pull yesterday's dance gear out of her bag, having not packed any spares, not expecting to stay the night at her dance partners

"Joeeeeeee." She called up the stairs once she had some clothes on "We're already late for training." She continued after hearing a groan from the YouTuber from upstairs

"Can you order an Uber, I'll get myself dressed and then we'll go." Was his response and Dianne heard him frantically running around his room, trying to gather his stuff for a full day of Charleston practice.

As the pair climbed out of the Uber, after making it to the studio, they speed walked in and quickly found their room. Only the 70 minutes late after terrible traffic

"Well Joe, I guess we'll be staying late then." Dianne told her dance partner, with as much authority as she could muster, still being half asleep and knackered from the previous night's antics.

The sun had long set and the pair continued to dance and dance and dance, hoping that they might have a half decent routine by Saturday night if they just kept at it, but Dianne could sense Joe getting frustrated, angry and tired and in turn struggling more with the dance despite the extra hours of practise he'd put into it

"I think we should call it a night," The professional dancer told her amateur partner

"But just one more go and I might have it," He argued, determined to learn the final part before tomorrow

"Joe, no offense but you're getting progressively worse as time goes on, you need some sleep and a fresh mind to be able to get any better." She said, more firmly this time

"Fine, I guess." He finally admitted she was right, knowing his dancing was far from what it had been that morning, which to be honest still wasn't very good. "But, do you want to come back to mine and film that reaction video we were talking about the other day for last week's dance for my channel, it should be pretty quick to film, I just really want it out before next Saturday night?" He proposed, really just not wanting to have to head back to his apartment for a lonely evening as Byron was still out of town

"Sure, but I need to make it back to mine tonight though, I can't wear this for third day running." She agreed, whilst indicating to her leggings and top

"Yeah, sure, no problem, I erm I should be fine tonight." He mumbled in response, slightly embarrassed as to last night's request for his dance partner to stay the night.

"Hey, don't worry about last night, it was nice not having to get a taxi across the city at that time, and Byron's bed is well comfy." She responded, noticing his embarrassment and awkwardness in reference to the previous night.

The duo took their seats at the breakfast bar in the YouTubers apartment as Joe reached forwards towards his camera and started to record the pair, who were both looking fairly tired and run down but none the less, beaming ear to ear due to their company

"Hi everyone, welcome to the channel..." Joe began, feeling considerably more at ease in front of the camera than on the dance floor, the professional dancer however felt kind of outside of her comfort zone, being much more at home on a dance floor.

Joe reached forwards to stop recording once the video was filmed and instantly turned to his dance partner

"You're honestly such a natural on camera, has anyone told you that before?" he asked her, whilst staring into her eyes

"oh erm, no, I don't think so." She mumbled, becoming suddenly shy and embarrassed at the suggestion that she was good at anything other than dancing,

"well somebody should have done, because it's the truth." He replied, with a little smile at the edges of his mouth, which made Dianne smile in return, hoping to show him how happy his little complements made her.

The pair stayed sat at the breakfast bar for a little while longer, talking about dancing and Saturday night and their outfits and just everything Strictly related, before Dianne decided she needed to leave and leave her exhausted celebrity partner to get some well needed rest.

"Alright then Joe, I'll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early, make sure you get to bed soon and try and sleep well." The last part of her command held more weight than the rest, as if she knew he struggled with dreams and sleepless nights regularly

"I'll try, you too though Di, get some good sleep, I'm going to need you on top form tomorrow if I'm ever going to have that dance together for rehearsal at Elstree on Friday." He joked, trying to deflect Dianne's sincerity about his need for a restful night's sleep.

Once the red head and text Joe, telling him she was home safely, he turned off his bedside lamp and burrowed his head into the bed, trying hard to clear his mind and prevent any unwanted dreams to haunt him during the night.