In Another World

Chapter 21

"So, what happens now?" Joe asked quietly, breaking the peaceful silence between him and Dianne. The pair had been nestling in the younger man's bed all morning, enjoying their first day together away from the pandemonium of Strictly Come Dancing. 

Dianne smirked, "What would you like to happen?" she murmured suggestively.

Joe chuckled – at the sense of déjà vu from when they had first got together, as well as the question itself – then captured her lips with his own, "For us to go out on a date".

"Well, there's nothing stopping us, is there?" Dianne remarked.

"Good point," Joe grinned, "But I'd rather we make a proper announcement about 'us' first, instead of having someone else see us together and revealing it themselves".

Dianne nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I reckon we've had the control taken away from us enough".

"Exactly," Joe agreed, "So, how should we do it?"

"In the most romantic way possible!" Dianne replied theatrically, then mulled this over, "But so that it doesn't take the attention away from Zoe, or belittle my partnership with Lee".

Joe sighed, "And there was me thinking that we wouldn't have to worry about that anymore," he muttered, then shook his head, "Oh, that sounded so selfish!"

"Well, that's what we've been. But we've learnt our lesson, right?" Dianne pointed out, "And they're not holding it against us, so we shouldn't hold it against ourselves either".

Joe nodded thoughtfully, remembering how everyone had seemed pleased for them at the afterparty. Though, since only a handful of people had already known about them, Joe and Dianne had faced quite a lot of surprised reactions from everyone else. But he was secretly relieved that nobody else knew the full story of their relationship, especially the trouble that it had caused Zoe, Neil and Lee; because Joe knew that they wouldn't be quite so happy for them otherwise! Joe and Dianne also knew that they should do an official announcement before anyone else let it slip, but they weren't quite ready to deal with it yet; they just wanted to spend some quality time together before facing reality.

Instead, Joe nuzzled his face in Dianne's hair, "You always know the right thing to say".

"That's why you love me!" Dianne remarked playfully.

"That's one of the reasons", Joe replied earnestly.

Dianne's eyes lit up, "And what are the others?"

Joe let out a breath, "There are too many to name".

"Well, just give it a go!" Dianne pestered, "Come on, for me".

Joe rolled his eyes, "Your stubbornness, your messiness, and your spot-popping addiction".

"Aw, thanks!" Dianne beamed, "And I thought they were bad qualities!"

"They are, but..." Joe shrugged, "I guess I even love the things about you that I hate".

Touched by the sentiment, Dianne's smile became genuine as she reached over to pull Joe into a tender kiss, "Well, I feel the same," she whispered, "I love your awkwardness, the way you overthink everything, and your inability to hand me my drink once you've poured it!"

"Thanks!" the young man snorted before prodding her nose, "But you know I've gotten better at that!"

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Dianne hummed, "But I'm still gonna keep reminding you about it for the rest of our lives anyway!"

Joe smiled at the idea of a long-term future with Dianne, "I wouldn't expect anything less," he replied, "And that's another reason".

Dianne giggled, "I love you".