Halfway to Love | A Joanne Fanfiction

Three

This was it. Her moment.

She looked to her left at the two beautiful girls next to her and was relieved to see that they both looked equally as nervous as she was currently feeling. Her hands hadn't shook as much as this since her first major performance with her brother all those years ago. She sighed, taking a deep breath in an effort to calm the racing in her heart. Shakily, she wiped her sweating hands on her dress, although the green material didn't appear to lend itself to the task very successfully.

In the final seconds before stepping over the balcony, she gave herself the moment to truly take in her surroundings. She could hear the appreciation of the audience below her already as they clapped along with the music, and she smiled. She was ready.

In what could only have been less than five minutes later, she found herself back in the greenroom. "What an entrance girls." Said the Welshwoman next to her, slightly breathless with happiness.

"I know." She replied, twirling a strand of red hair, tough with hairspray around her finger absentmindedly as her mind drifted to what was already one of the best moments of her life. It truly felt like being in a dream to perform on that ballroom floor, and she still couldn't quite believe it.

"I'm so happy I got to share it with you both." Said Nadiya, and the other two couldn't help but agree immediately. All too quickly, the three were approached by runners for the part that they were collectively the most excited for-finding out their first partners.

Soon enough, Dianne, along with the rest of the female pros were stood on stage awaiting their names to be heard after the studio's introduction to the male celebrities of Strictly's class of two thousand and seventeen. She fiddled with her fingers as she forced herself to stand straight up straight and fought to remain composed. She hadn't felt this nervous in a little while, not since she stepped onto the plane leaving Perth which, despite being just over a month ago, felt like it happened in another lifetime. Anxiously, her eyes darted around the studio, taking in the judges, the other girls, who were dressed in the similar variations of the same outfit, and finally the audience. She took a deep breath as the reality of her situation began to set in.

When her name was finally called, all she could see was an absolute blur. Despite her early mishap of using "God" as one of the first things she'd said to the priest, she was excited to find out what the next few weeks would have in store. Finally, her nerves had almost completely dissipated as she sat in Claudia's area. Some of the older pros had already warned her that, as this was her first year, she wasn't likely to be blessed with a partner with a natural dance ability, so she had just been hoping for someone nice.

Thankfully, Reverend Richard Coles, so far was absolutely lovely. He was quite clearly as out of his comfort zone as her, although he managed to take it all in his stride. Dianne was thankful for her experience with dancing with the stars at this present moment, as the pair of them were whisked away from room to room for various pictures and interviews. So far, he'd managed to make her laugh, and that was all that really mattered. Although their ages and backgrounds had shown next to no similarities that she could notice, she could tell that they'd get on just fine.

She hadn't admitted it to any of the other professionals, but this was something she had been absolutely terrified for. That and winning over the British public. Although she knew that with Rev, she'd be unlikely to make Blackpool through dance ability, after seeing him in the group rehearsals she knew that what would be worse would be for them to not get on.

Currently, she found herself having a joint interview with the Radiotimes. Oti had told her that morning that this was really the most important, so she made the extra effort to smile and laugh, although she really couldn't help it when her partner was joking about his belly in ballroom hold. At the mention of his three pork pies a day (whatever a pork pie even was?) she knew that she had her work cut out, but that at least they'd have a laugh.

Her work day didn't finish until gone nine, so by the time Oti and her arrived back at the flat, she was absolutely exhausted.

"You look as tired as I feel Mabuse." She teased playfully, as her friend slumped on the sofa.

"Don't get me started. This will be our lives for the next four months." She replied, rolling her eyes at the excitement and energy that only Dianne could still be emitting.

"I can't wait!" she replied, and her friend smiled as she detected absolutely no sarcasm in her Australian tone. "What do you think of your partner, Jonnie right? He seems nice?" she asked, noticing that her friend was a bit quieter than normal.

"He does yeah. I'm just a bit nervous, he's the first paralympian and I have even less of an idea of what he'll be able to do than normal. I might have to think of an entire new way of choreographing and teaching." Oti replied, and Dianne smiled gently, realising that now wasn't the time to be irrationally excited for the weeks to come.

"You're Oti Mabuse, if anyone can do it it'll be you." She said, trying her best to cover up her relief that she wasn't the only one nervous, even if she had every right to be as a newbie. "Now call that husband of yours, I can guarantee he'll agree with me." She smiled, squeezing her friend's shoulder as she left the room.

Within minutes, she could hear a larger smile in her friend's voice, as she sat in her room, wistful for someone in which she could share her dream with. She loved Oti and she was so happy that she had a husband who shared and understood her dream, and she longed for the same thing for herself. Dianne had dated in the past, of course she had, but her dancing dream had to be the most important, and she'd not met someone that completely understood those struggles in the way that Marius clearly did for her friend. One half of her dream may be close to be coming true, but the other half still had a long way to go.

Even so, she fell asleep that night content, and excited for her latest dream-like venture to arrive.