Fight Song

Chapter 7

"Thanks," Joe said cheerily. "I honestly love this dance."

"It's good," Neil nodded.

"Just good?" I looked at him, vaguely annoyed. That dance damn incredible.

"Well, I can see you're trying to communicate a story, and I understand it, but neither of you are showing any real emotion," he shrugged. "Like it's all well and good having insane moves and stunts, but the story is just as important, and right now the emotion either looks forced or just isn't there. You're supposed to be in love with each other here, but you can't have each other. It's like Romeo and Juliet. This duet lacks love, and that's what could make the difference between us getting through this round and losing it. And honestly, I know you think you hate each other, but you've become really close really quick. I know your face lit up when asked about her, Joe."

"And Dianne, yours lit up when I mentioned Joe's name," Katie said. "Neil's right, you have a connection and this dance could be spectacular if you stop fighting it. I've gotta dash now, because Andrew wanted to rehearse our trio. But it's looking amazing, and as long as you don't suppress all your emotions it'll be out of this world."

"I'm off too," Neil smiled at us both. "Good luck guys, I hope for everyone's sakes you can open up to each other."

They left, leaving Joe and I in an awkward silence. It wasn't even 3pm yet.

"Sooooo...." Joe said eventually. "I guess we should open up to one another?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," I said, not wanting to do this at all.

"So, uh, how do we start?" he shifted awkwardly on his feet.

"Um, let's sit down and tell each other something we've not told anyone before," I said, thinking back to a time when I had to trust my dance partner immediately and my dance teacher suggested this.

"Oh damn that's gonna be hard," Joe said, taking a seat on the floor. "I'm gonna have to think about that."

I nodded, sitting down opposite him. It was gonna be tricky telling him something I'd never told anyone before. I told Katie and Andrew basically everything, and the things I didn't tell them I kept to myself for a reason.

"Okay, I've got something," I said, taking a deep breath. "Ever wondered why I'm so...uptight? So competitive and so closed off?"

"Honestly I just assumed you hated the world," Joe laughed.

"I'm trying to tell you something here," I glared at him.

"Sorry," he said, looking genuinely regretful.

I nodded and continued. "Well, basically all my life I've been compared to Andrew, and I've been dancing in his shadow. He's always been this amazing dancer and I started later than him so I've had to work even harder to catch up. So when I got made dance captain, it was like I'd been given this opportunity to prove myself, to finally be something more than Andrew Buswell's little sister. But since becoming dance captain, we've never won Internationals and we've never won the solos. I try so so hard, and I say to everyone to stay focused on their team and their team alone because other teams are distractions and stuff. I was alright my first year. I was stressed massively because I wanted everything to be perfect, but I still had my carefree attitude too. When we lost against you guys in the semi-finals, I made a promise to myself that I would work doubly hard the next season, and we would claim Internationals victory. But we didn't, and we didn't last year either. I became harder on myself and let go of seeing dance as happiness and more as pure competition. I kept our name as one of the top three studios in the world, but we've never been top. I became so focused on the competition I kind of destroyed my own personality, and I hate that, but I can't fix it now... However," I took a deep breath, "since doing this duet with you, it's made me remember what it's like to dance for the sake of it. You've made me remember how fun dance is and have helped me let go of the bad things. So, and I don't usually say this so treasure it like it's fucking gold, I want to thank you. So that's it. That's what I've never told anyone before."

Joe's PoV
I guess I'd never really stopped to think about why Dianne behaved the way she did. Like, I just assumed she was another one of those pretentious assholes who thought the only thing that mattered in the world was dance. But I was wrong. I saw how hard that was for her to admit that, so I needed to pull something big out the bag now or I'd feel bad forever. And I knew exactly what to say.

"Well, mine is gonna sound so pathetic, but the truth is I'm 16 years old and I've never had a girlfriend," I smiled kind of sadly. "I've never liked someone enough to want to begin a relationship with them. I've been on dates and kissed a few girls, but I've never had a girlfriend. Don't tell anyone because my whole family and my friends think I've had at least one. Zoe's had four boyfriends before Alfie and she's only a year and a half older than me. It kinda makes me feel like a bit of a loser at times, because loads of my friends have had relationships and are really happy and I just mess around and play class clown. I think the girls all think I'm gay anyway because of the whole dance thing and my figure. So there you go, there's my thing."

She looked at me for a second, and then smiled. "You know, I thought you were a lot of things Joe Sugg, but I never took you for someone who'd never had a girlfriend."

"Well, now you know," I laughed sheepishly.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise," she said.

"I won't tell anyone yours either," I nodded and smiled at her.

"Thanks," she returned my smile. "Oh and by the way, if it means anything, I never thought you were gay. And I definitely don't think you're a loser for not having a girlfriend. In fact, that's made me think so much more of you."

"Thanks, reddo," I smiled, and she continued smiling. We kind of just stayed like that for a while. Smiling at each other like absolute dorks. But it didn't feel awkward. It was like we'd both broken down these barriers and trusted each other way more than we had half an hour ago.

"Wanna try the dance again?" she said to me, still smiling. "This time with emotion. Because I trust you now, and I really mean that."

"I trust you too," I took her hands, and we started the dance again.

Hey! Honestly I can't believe people are actually reading this story, and it truly means so much that people like it! I really like writing it at the moment. Also are Joe and Dianne getting a dog?! It has to be a dog I swear and if it is ohmygod like that's saying they believe they're gonna be together for a long time, my heart❤️