Let's Take a Chance

Chapter 2

Joe awoke to a knock on his door. Opening his eyes slowly and seeing a room other than his bedroom, it took him a couple of seconds to remember he was in a hotel near Elstree. It slowly dawned on him that today was the first show.
"Joe?" Hearing Dianne's voice through the door, Joe shot out of bed and opened it, completely forgetting that the only thing he was wearing was his boxers.
"Oh" Dianne giggled as an almost naked Joe opened the door. A blush spread across the apples of her cheeks as she concentrated on keeping her eyes focused on Joe's face. No where else. He's waiting for you to be ready, you aren't ready for a relationship yet Di.
"Come in you weirdo, before anyone else sees me" Joe laughed, stepping aside to let Dianne into the room. She walked in quickly and put her phone and keycard onto the desk. The door was closed before she felt the presence of his body just behind her.
"It's not like you haven't seen it all before is it?" Joe whispered into her ear. He kissed the side of her head lightly and moved away, pulling an over sized t-shirt over his head.
"Sorry" she giggled, "I just wanted to check on you. I didn't realise you'd still be in bed."
"Dianne, you are such a morning person that when you wake up, the chances of anyone else, especially me, being awake are very slim."
"Fairs" Dianne shrugged, "anyway, how are you feeling?"
"Weird because you are just watching me sitting on the bed. Come sit here." Joe patted the space beside him and nodded his head. Dianne moved over and climbed on, turning her body to face Joe.
"That's better" he said with a smile, "but in all seriousness, I'm actually quite scared. Well that's an understatement, I'm terrified."
"You. Will. Be. Amazing" she said, punctuating each word with a gentle tap on his shoulder. "I have complete faith that you can go out there and smash it!"
"Thank you Di. It's just a very new thing and I could go so unbelievably wrong and Zoe and Alfie will be watching from inside, my whole family and my fans will be watching from home and I don't want to make a tit of myself in front of the nation..." Joe rambled.
"Joe" Dianne interrupted, "don't even bother thinking like that. Positive breeds positive, okay? You will not make a tit of yourself. Everyone will be so proud of you, and I think, well yeah - I'm already the proudest teacher to have you as a student, trust me. The effort you've been putting in is insane and I can't thank you enough. And, if it makes you feel any better" she leant closer to Joe, dropping her voice to a whisper, "have you seen Susannah dance yet?" Joe failed to stifle a snort as he felt the shocked smile grow on his face.
"You can't say that!" He gasped. Dianne grinned at him.
"Do you feel better?"
"Yes but..." He was interrupted by a soft kiss being placed on his cheek.
"I'll leave you to get ready, I'll come and get you in half an hour and we can get breakfast together" Dianne said as she climbed off the bed and walked to the door. "See ya." The door clicked shut, leaving Joe sat on his bed in shock.
"She's going to be the death of me" he muttered. Getting off the bed, Joe walked into the en-suite and began to get ready, chuckling to himself the whole time.

"Joe Sugg!" A familiar Luton accent called.
"Stacey Dooley!" Joe turned to see his closest friend at Strictly, apart from Dianne, walk into the Star Bar. "How's your first two weeks of dancing gone?"
"It's bloody tiring isn't it? And sweaty. And achy..."
"And painful?" Joe offered.
"Wait, painful?"
"Oh is it just my partner that beats me up?" Joe asked. Feeling a light punch to his arm, he turned his head to see Dianne. "Oh hello stranger, haven't seen you in a while."
"Is he trash-talking me?!" Dianne asked Stacey, her finger pointing to Joes chest. Stacey shook her head and shrugged, a wide grin crossing her face.
"I would never do such a thing!" Joe gasped, moving his hand to rest on his chest, just over his heart. "I am wounded Dianne, wounded."
"Hmm, I'll just make you stretch again next week shall I? As punishment for being rude to your partner."
Joes face creased, "please don't do that to me, I'm not sure I can take it again."
"I'll think about it." Dianne shot Joe one last look before she walked away, joining some of the female pros.
"You two do crack me up" Stacey laughed.

As soon as Dianne reached the group, they pushed her out of the Star Bar, down the corridor and into the female pro dressing room.
"What the...?" Once the door was shut, all of the girls gathered around Dianne. "What's happening?" She asked with a nervous giggle.
"You tell us. What's happening with Joe?" Katya started.
"Have you given it a shot again?" Oti jumped in.
"Do we need to tell him to get a grip and ask you out again because it's so obvious babe" Amy finished.
"Wait, what's obvious?" Dianne asked.
"That you both still really like each other" Karen answered.
"I mean all you've got to do is look at the way you look at each other to know" Nadiya commented.
"And how like touchy you are. I've seen him kiss your cheek about three times today already" Janette piped up.
"There's no way there's nothing going on" Luba ended.
"Oh is it 'lets gang up on the Australian with red hair day' or something?!" Dianne asked.
"No, we just want to know if we need to ditch our jobs as dancers and turn into people who get other people to go out with each other" Karen said.
"No you don't. Besides, you can all stop hounding me because we've spoken about it already."
"And?" Amy urged.
"And he's going to wait until I'm ready to be in a relationship. I've had plenty of heartbreak to last me a while, thank you."
"Ugh." A collective groan echoed through the group. Someone knocked on the door.
"Girls, we need you all in wardrobe."
"Well Buswell, I guess you've been saved for today" Nadiya said before leading the group out of the room and into the corridor.

For the hundredth time, Dianne felt the urge to hug and congratulate Joe. Their jive had gone better than she could have ever expected and now all she really wanted to do was smother him in kisses and tell him how much she loved him. No Dianne, you aren't ready. The truth is she never really stopped loving him, the feelings dwindled slightly but they were never completely gone. Being around him for the last couple of weeks made Dianne realise that, when the time was right, she would put everything into a relationship with Joe. The right time just needed to come up. Maybe it was finally here.

"Are you going to hang off me forever?" Joes voice pulled her from her daydream. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck as they stood talking to some of the other contestants.
"Sorry, I'm just really proud" Dianne giggled, hoping the darkness of the bar would hide the definite heat in her cheeks.
"Di, do you want a drink?"

A few glasses later, Dianne was feeling tipsy. She hadn't drank anywhere near enough to lose control but she did have enough alcohol in her system to give her some courage. Both her and Joe had been fairly sensible, not really wanting to suffer the next day. She was sat at a table in the corner with a couple of the pros when Joe approached her.
"Di, I'm going to head off. I'll see you on Monday."
"Oh" Dianne didn't bother to hide her disappointment; she had been wanting to talk to him all night. She just needed the courage first. 
"What's up?" He asked, noticing the saddened expression of his dance partner.
"N-nothing. I just wanted to have a chat, that's all. It can wait."
"We are going to go to the bar" Kevin said as he stood up, dragging Graziano up with him. Wanting to talk to Dianne, Joe dropped into Kevin's seat and rested his hand on her knee under the table.
"What is it? Do you want to talk now?"
"Yes" Dianne nodded, "but not here. There are way too many ears."
"Come back to mine, Byron is at his girlfriends so you can stay over if you need to."
"Okay."

"So, what's up?" Joe asked as the pair settled onto his sofa.
"I...I think I'm ready" Dianne said. She sounded unsure and Joe noticed the hesitance in her voice straight away.
"You don't sound so sure Di, I'm not going to push you into anything."
"No, I'm ready for this Joe."
"You aren't drunk are you?"
"I've had enough to gain the courage to actually tell you!" She laughed, "but I'm not drunk. Not completely anyways." Joes face broke into a smile. Seeing the happiness on his face, Dianne shuffled over and sat herself on his lap, legs either side of his hips, arms resting on his shoulders.
"I don't want to rush but I'm ready to try" she whispered. She leant down slowly, feeling her heart rate increase as she got closer to Joe. Her eyes flickered shut as his lips met hers. Their kiss was slow and lingering. As they broke apart, Joe looked up at Dianne with the biggest smile on his face. "You've no idea how long I've wanted to do that."