The others

Smitten eyed Joe

"Yeah, it was fine." Dianne began casually as she began walking off of the stage, her back turned to Joe who was following along behind her. "Just make sure that you don't go out of time with the ladder section and you'll be fine."

Nodding in response, Joe sighed softly as he reached the chair with his belongings placed upon it, taking a swig of water and wiping the sweat off his face with a towel before making his way out of the ballroom and back into the chaos of the backstage corridors on a Saturday morning.

An action which did not go unnoticed by the tired redhead who had sat herself down on the studio chairs, her eyes following the way the younger man slowly traipsed out of the room, his shoulders hunched and a perceptible air of sadness consuming him as he walked away.

"What's up with him?" A familiar voice called from the darkness behind Dianne, causing her to startle and spin around in fear. Only to catch sight of the two women who she hadn't even realised had sat down.

"Jesus Mabuse!" Dianne exclaimed, clutching a hand onto her chest. "Gave me a bloody heart attack." 

"Sorry about that." Oti responded through a gentle burst of laughter, clearly having enjoyed scaring the Australian out of her wits.

"My god." Dianne whispered softly, her breaths finally falling even once again as she recovered from her fright. "What are you two doing lurking in the dark anyway?"

"We came down to support you girl." Janette replied with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulder, looking over to Oti who nodded in agreement.

"Oh... thanks." Dianne mumbled in return, somewhat unappreciative of their efforts.

"Well, that was what we intended anyway, but then once we came down here we noticed that we had turned up to see Joe Sad and Dianne Doesn't-Buswell dance the Charleston. What's going on with you two?" Oti questioned, her ever intensive glare on the redhead only increasing as the boisterous South African seemed to almost scan the redhead for any indication of an answer.

"Nothing, we're okay." Dianne mumbled back in response, her shoulders shrugging a little as she swivelled her head back around to focus on Sean and Katya who had just bounced onto the floor for the practice run of their Jive.

Only seconds later to be joined by the two girls sitting next to her. With Oti to her left and Janette to her right, Dianne couldn't help but feel trapped and instantly fearful of the questions which she thought she had been lucky enough to get away with all week.

"Sorry Buswell, wrong answer." Janette noted as she dipped her elbow into the redheads arm, hoping to gather her attention as she stubbornly attempted to ignore the interrogators who she happened to call her closest friends.

Rolling her eyes gently, Dianne slumped a little further into the audience seats. Her back curved and her arms crossed over her chest in the hope that somehow the darkness of the seating area could swallow her up and get her out of this situation.

"Something's clearly different about you two, so what is it?" The American pressed further.

"What do you mean 'clearly different'?" Dianne counteracted, her interest peaked slightly by the insinuation.

"I don't know, you're just a little... off with each other." 

"No we aren't. We're fine." The Australian retorted.

"Really, so that was fine then?" Oti questioned as she pointed over to the door which Joe had gone through solemnly. "You two weren't awkward with each other and then pretended to be happy for 90 seconds before being awkward and weird again?"