Joanne... - Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell High School Fanfic

Chapter 26 - Fancy seeing you here!

Joe's POV:
"Buz, remember, if you need me I'm just at Caspar's. It's only two minutes down the road from here so you need me, just call." I looked at her in the passenger seat, with worried eyes. I know it was her brother, but for Dianne, this meant so much more emotionally. It was regaining her best friend. Okay, maybe they hated each other half the time, but you wouldn't find closer siblings. Apart from Zoe and I, of course.
"Joe, seriously, I'm going to be fine." She smiled at me, giving me goosebumps. We still hadn't addressed the 'I love you' situation yet either. It could wait. "What do you think his job is? He must be up to something good to be taking me to The Ivy."
"Dunno, Di. I mean, Andy's the annoying kid who's too good at everything!" We laughed lightly, both of us not wanting to engage in too much conversation. We pulled up outside The Ivy and Di leaned over to give me a kiss. "Thank you for this. It was a lot easier finding him than I imagined, but I couldn't have got through this without you."
"You know I'd do anything for you. Now, go have a great time with your brother and say hi from me. Bring back the tea kween." Ugh Joe, why are you so weird?! She laughed at me and kissed me on the cheek this time.
"I'll see you later." She got out of the car and I watched her walk away, my heart thumping in my chest. I hope it goes well. She needs this.

Dianne's POV:
I walked up the stone steps and was immediately immersed in the flowers and the Instagram worthy decor. I spotted my brother instantly. He might've changed in the last two years, but his sense of style hasn't.
"Fancy seeing you here, Dot!" he called to me. I grinned and ran through the tables, wrapping my arms around him, tears threatening to leave my eyes as soon as I let go.
"I see you're still favouriting the leather jacket and ripped jeans look!"
"By the looks of things, so is Joe Sugg..."
"Oh, you saw us..."
"Yeah, Di. Graham's massive car was a dead give away! I'm proud of the boy. He's grown up a lot. Clearly, he cares a lot for you and can even drive!" I smiled at him uncontrollably as we sat down and ordered our drinks.
"Right, enough about my life. I want to hear everything." He looked at me inquisitively. "Andy, this is the part when you tell me about your kid..."
"Okay, just promise you won't keep interrupting like you always do and get all judgmental?" I crossed my heart solemnly and held my fingers up in a Hunger Games salute.
"Promise - no judgement and no interruptions."

"I should probably start from the beginning, then." I nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"I'll start at the beginning of sixth form. Remember my girlfriend, Kate? Well, after a few weeks of dating, I found out she was involved in a street gang - The Masochists. It turned out, Kate was an addict, but she was also a master manipulator. It pains me to admit it, but she controlled me. I tried drugs a few times and even carried a gun around for a bit. I hated that time in my life. I was terrified of my girlfriend and the people I'd slowly become associated with. That's when I started going out all the time, got the piercings, tattoos, dyed hair. I thought if I could blend in, I wouldn't be at as much risk. I was wrong. I was brought along to an illegal street fight and it ended in chaos. I, erm, was rushed into hospital with severe lacerations across my abdomen."

He paused for a moment, almost as if he was ashamed. I reached my hand out and held his, showing him it was okay. We were both okay. He took a shaky breath and continued with his story.

"That's when I met Nat. She's- she's the most incredible woman on the planet. In the universe. She was volunteering at the hospital and it's because of her that I recovered so quickly. She made me want to take back power over my life. When I had fully recovered, Nat helped me break up with my girlfriend and disassociate myself from The Masochists. That's when I left home for good.
I started seeing Nat properly and I fell in love with her even more. I turned my life around because of her - she's so kind and we have the exact same sense of humour, not to mention she looks like a supermodel. And, get this Di, she dances too! We're so happy together. I stayed at her place for a bit and dropped out of sixth form. We worked odd jobs here and there and eventually scraped together enough money to buy our own little shoebox flat. But, erm, we were celebrating moving in and after a few glasses of wine, she just collapsed. We went to the hospital, of course and it came to light, that she was pregnant with our baby. We panicked at first, but things took a turn for the best.
I danced on street corners to make rent and pay for doctors appointments, and it just so happened that an executive from Burn The Floor saw me perform. He came up to me after I'd finished and offered me a permanent position with the cast! So far, it's going so well. I'm one of the leads and I've danced in so many theatres around London. Nat works as a script writer with the executives, as they wanted to help us with our... situation. But, after eight months, our son Danny was born and Dot, I didn't think it was possible to love someone as much I love him. My son is the most important thing in my life and Nat and I have worked so hard to get to where we are. Our house is lovely and not only are we passionate about our jobs, but they pay well. I can support my family. The only thing I was missing was my little sister. That's when I sent the picture to Zoe; I was too scared and ashamed of some parts of my life to reach out myself, but you're here now. That's what matters."
Our eyes were both filled with tears and we began to laugh. Like, hysterical, snorting, punching the table, laughing. Everyone was looking but we didn't care. My brother had just explained the last two years and I never imagined that he'd been through anything like this. He had a family. He was happy. And I was too. I had my brother and my boyfriend. All I needed. Once we'd calmed down, I continued the conversation.
"Andy, I had no idea you went through all of that. We have to call mum and dad. They're going to be thrilled - they have been so worried!" Andy looked at me sadly and heaved a sigh.
"Di, they already know."
"What?!" I stared at him in disbelief.

"I told them everything. They already know. They practically disowned me."

A/N - Another chapter for ya today! Just a quick note, when I started writing this story, I had the full intention to keep all character names and personalities true to life. However, now I'm further into this story, I wanted to change things up a bit, so I've the characters names and personalities are different, just to add to my own story. As always, ideas are welcome! Love ya! X