"Say cheese!"
"Cheese!"
Emelia grinned widely, one of the biggest smiles she had given in her entire life. She stood opposite her mother dressed in her blue uniform which included a blue plaid skirt, crisp white blouse and blue cardigan, complete with frilly white ankle socks, patent black brogues and the blue headband that Amy had gotten her the day before, complete with a bow. Her hair was in pigtails, her uniform complimenting her big blue eyes.
Dianne saved the picture, sad that her baby was growing up too quickly but happy to see her growing up nicely.
"Perfect. Emelia, you're growing up so fast, soon you'll be out in the world, doing your own thing." Emelia shrugged, collecting her schoolbag which seemed a tad heavier than last years.
"We all have to grow up eventually mama."
///
It was eight fifty five, five minutes before they were meant to start, and Joe had walked into the studio for the first time.
It was only then that it had really hit him, he was going to learn to dance. Stood in his tracksuit bottoms and top, it all felt more real than ever, and there was no going back either. He stood in the middle of the space, taking it all in for a few minutes before leaning against a wall and starting to browse through his phone, starting to get a little worried as to where Dianne was.
It was quarter past nine when Dianne came through the door, visibly stressed and a little out of breath. "Sorry I'm late, I-I got caught up in traffic, I'll just set up the music."
"It's fine, take a breath." She sighed with relief, worried he'd be annoyed, she was never one to usually be late.
"Thank you. So before we get started the camera crew want to film us 'meeting for the first time.' They'll be here in a bit but for now we can warm up."
Joe nodded, placing his phone down with the rest of his things while she went to the music box and began setting it up. "Cool, now what dance am I doing?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out." Joe sighed, now more eager than ever. Come on ballroom routines, at least that's what he had on loop in his mind.
"Kick kick kick in, kick kick kick in, out in, out in, kick two three in!" Dianne chanted, the two running the dance for the fifth time in a row, having gotten up to the first chorus by lunchtime. To Diannes delight, Joe was indeed a quick learner and was determined to get it right, she was grateful for the work ethic.
As soon as they finished that run, he flopped down onto the floor, defeated and shattered. "Di...is it lunch yet, I don't know if I've got another run in me." He sat up, running a lazy hand through his hair. Why did she have to find him so attractive when he did that? It was hard enough having to teach someone to dance who was a novice, let alone someone very pleasing to the eye. None the less, he was there, and he was pretty great.
"Sure you do. One more and then we'll have a break, I promise. Come on, up you get." He sat open jawed for a moment, blinking twice.
"I'm going to sleep well tonight, that's for certain." He said while getting up, walking over to his starting position. She chuckled at his wit, another thing she had grown to like.
"We did it!" Joe threw his fists up in the air, them just having nailed a new section that they had spent a while working on. She cheered, relieved herself. That section had proven hard, but they had pulled it off, and done it flawlessly. "Finally!"
"Yes Joseph! See, I knew you could do it!" Joe felt flattered by the way she called him by his full first name, something only his mum and sister had done, indicating she was special. He had known this from day one, but this was just one of the little things that confirmed that.
"It was down to you Di. Who'd have thought it, me, dance? People from my hometown would refer to that as 'Stark raving mad!'" He even did the accent, both of them in fits at this point, high fiving but missing and instead bumping shoulders, tumbling to the ground and falling onto their bottoms, both now rolling around on the floor.
Joe sighed, out of breath from all the laughter. "What are we laughing at?"
"I don't even know!" They both calmed down a bit, staring up at the ceiling. There's laughter, then there's laughing until your stomach hurt; and then there's laughing until you didn't even know what made you laugh in the first place, and that's clearly what had happened here.
"Right, are we going to run it again?" Joe asked, earning a poke in the side from Dianne.
"Look at you, mister eager beaver!" Joe rolled his eyes, poking her side back.
"Shut up." He said as he poked her, which made her giggle a little, having given away one of her weaknesses. She saw him edge ever so slightly towards her, you could practically see the itch in his fingers. You could also practically see the panic and playful fear in her eyes, she edged away.
"No, I'm not. Definitely not, there's no way, absolutely not." She crossed her arms, slightly sticking her nose up in the air in attempt to stress her point. He rolled his eyes grinning, holding one of her hands down with his own and using the other to attack her side, making her squeal with laughter.
"Joe...stop....st...sto...stop..."
"Nope. This is way too much fun, what's the code word?" She laughed even harder now, trying to get a word out.
"How am I meant to know?" He shrugged, going even more ferociously now. "But I do have a question, are you ticklish?" He jolted up, her grinning and chasing him across the room.
"No! No! Dianne! Help! Someone! Help!"
A few moments later, Joe had regained the power and was sat sort of loosely straddling her, tickling her sides and both of them in fits of laughter, her long legs kicking.
"Joe! Stop!" "Not a chance!"
Neil Jones had heard his cry for help, and in that moment sprinted to the door, flinging the door open in a state of panic, genuinely concerned that something had happened, something potentially dangerous even.
"What's wrong? Oh. Tickle fight, oh ok." They both looked at the ginger man, both out of breath, panting and red faced, but acting as if nothing had ever happened.
"Oh hey Neil, everything alright?" Neil burst out laughing. Neil sighs, scratching his ginger barnett.
"He says casually." They both roll their eyes, Joe moving his hands away but soon to be flipped over by Dianne, letting out a defeated "NO!" She mirrored what he was doing, him wriggling underneath her with all his might as if it was his great mission, well, in that moment it was anyway. Neil rolled his eyes, chuckling and leaving.
"Neil Jones! Help me, I'm being attacked! Dianne! No, you know I have sensitive knees!"
"Tis the point Joseph."
///
"Where is that ginge?" Chloe chuckled as herself and Johannes stood in the room where the three of them had been rehearsing, seeing as they didn't have partners that year. "He's been ages."
They went back to running the routine, the choreography for the week four dance, hotter than hell, which heavily featured the female pros, particularly Luba and Graziano at one point who had joined that year.
"I'm giving you the pleasure of heaven, Ill give it to you..." They were now just prancing around, clapping their hands above their heads and doing some karaoke, having a blast. Chloe went to belt out the next line, but Neil Jones bust through the door, belting out a statement of his own.
"Joe and Di are so cute! My ginger heart cannot be dealing with them for three whole months!" They burst out laughing, slightly confused. They knew they had gotten on like a house on fire, that was as clear as day, but hadn't used the word "cute" before to describe them.
"Go and see, I cannot." Neil put a hand over his heart, taking a deep breath. Johannes and Chloe sprinted out of the room, desperate to see the so called 'cuteness for themselves.' They peered through the gap in the door, seeing the pair chasing each other round the room.
"My heart, Stacey is going to freak!" Chloe squealed, knowing Stacey would love the idea of Joe and Dianne being cute, her definitely one for ships and cuteness.
"Come on Chloe, lets get back to rehearsal. But yes, very cute indeed."
///
"Party one Saturday, first one you've hosted. How are you feeling?" Jack Maynard asked, taking a sip of his lemonade.
Conor, his brother, Caspar, Mikey and himself had all gathered round round Joe's house, the first time they had all gathered in a while. Josh, Oli and Byron were all busy so unfortunately couldn't make it, but they were still having a good time anyway. It wasn't often the buttercreams could get together, and just be boys and chill out as a group.
"I'm feeling alright actually. Zoe has offered to help out, plus you all know how amazing she is at this sort of stuff." They all nodded and smiled. If there was one thing they all knew, it was that Zoe loved to host, and was pretty darn good at it as well.
"Yeah, she's a great host. Jack, do you mind?" Jack shook his head at his brother, having just stole a drop of his drink, probably just for the sake of annoying him.
"What's yours is mine darling brother." All the boys grinned at the interaction, the Maynard brothers surely brought the comedy to the table. Jack took a big gulp of Conor's drink, who scowled and shook his head.
"Call me darling one my time."
"Course not, dear brother." All the boys laughed, Jack and Conor in fits. It was all banger, really.
"Anyway, when do we find out your partner, I really want to know." All the boys gave murmurs of agreement at Mikey's comment, Joe just shrugged innocently.
"On Saturday. But what I can tell you, is that she's an amazing dancer." They all rolled their eyes, Caspar shook his head at Joe, who put his hoodie back on. The apartment had been too chilly for Joe's liking that particular evening, but he knew that many cold nights were ahead as the leaves turned from green to brown.
"Wow, that really narrows it down doesn't it."
A/N: Hey Guys! I'm so glad you're loving the story so far! I just want to say that if there's any ideas for the story, I'd love to hear them! Particularly around Christmas, as I'm planning on something special for the festive season!
See ya in the next chapter!