Ana sat at the dining table, sorting through the letters delivered earlier that day when she heard the click of the door again. Footsteps, although muted in the carpet, were audible as the person made their way towards the tiled floor of the dining room.
"'ello darling," Tom said, appearing in the wide doorway. "How're you?"
"I'm good, thanks." Ana tilted her head slightly at the boy in front of her who was jumping on the balls of his feet. "What's up?"
"I got a call today -" Tom trailed off, leaving Ana a minute to wonder what news he had got.
"And?"
"They want me on Lip Sync Battle!" Tom's bouncing had turned into jumping, moving towards where Ana was now standing beside the table.
"Oh my gosh! That's so exciting!" Ana joined in his bouncing, a long-time dream of hers accomplished by the closest person in her life. "Who are you up against?"
"Z," Tom replied, feigning confidence. "You'll help me take her down, won't you?"
"How so?" Ana questioned, tilting her head again.
"Please be my choreographer," Tom pleaded, grabbing her hands to clasp them between them.
"Of course I will!" Ana's mouth fell open at his question, grateful for the opportunity. "When do we start?"
"Whenever you want, I guess."
"So, tomorrow?"
"Sure."
-
The next morning dawned early, drowning Ana's face in light. Rolling over, she shook her boyfriend into the waking world, ignoring his groan of protest.
"Come on, babe, I have to choreograph your dance, and you have to help me." Ana gave him a shove of encouragement before rolling back to her own side to stand up and get dressed.
She easily decided on an outfit, pulling it on before returning to crouch by her boyfriend's head.
"Babe, come on, wake up," Ana whispered, trying to coax Tom out of bed. "I'll make you breakfast."
At the mention of food, Tom's eyes opened slightly, causing Ana to let out a laugh. He smiled at the sound of her giggle, his eyes feeling heavy and closing slightly again.
"I'll let you get up at your own pace, then, I guess," Ana said, standing back up. "But please be up within about five minutes or else no breakfast or dance for you."
Standing in the kitchen five minutes later, keeping true to her word, Ana heard footsteps behind her and turned to see her dishevelled boyfriend. "Good morning, sleepyhead."
"Good morning." He trudged towards the girl, wrapping his arms around her waist to lean his chin on her shoulder. "Why did you wake me so early? It's still yesterday."
"It's eight o'clock in the morning," Ana replied, twisting in his bare arms. "And we're late to rehearsal." She handed him the plate covered in a cooked breakfast, giving him enough energy to get through rehearsal.
"Which you set the time for." He gave her a look of disgust at the time of the morning, although his expression softened as he took the plate from her hands. He planted a kiss on her cheek before turning to sit at the dining table to eat.
"So, what song am I choreographing to?" Ana asked the boy as she wandered over with her own identical plate.
"I want to do something funny. It's the only way I can beat a performer like Z. I'm not sure what song yet, though."
"You up for crossdressing?"
"Yeah! Of course! I'm up for anything, as long as it gets me the win!" The kitchen filled with laughter at his enthusiasm for something not typically 'manly'.
"How about Britney Spears?" She suggested.
"Maybe. That could also possibly maybe be a backup person, depending on what song."
"Beyonce?"
"That's a little overdone, isn't it?"
"Rihanna?"
"That could work. What song?" The wheels in his head churned, trying to remember Rihanna songs that would beat a strong performance.
"Take a bow?" Ana was having almost as much trouble as Tom thinking of songs, saying the first one she could remember after a moment.
"Nah. It just doesn't seem right, you know?"
"Yeah, I get that, how about Diamonds?"
"Maybe."
"Umbrella?"
"That's a good one. What if we did a mash-up?"
"Of what?" Ana seemed almost skeptical of the idea, slightly scared of what was going to come out of Tom's mouth next.
"Umbrella and Singing in the Rain?"
"Like they did on Glee that one time?"
"I've never seen it so, sure," Tom replied, confusion covering his features.
"Cool. I'll also do one to Britney, just in case."
"Awesome, should we head off?"
"Probably a good idea." Ana put the last forkful of breakfast in her mouth before standing up, placing both of their plates in the sink to deal with after rehearsal. "So would putting some clothes on."
Tom looked down, realising for the first time that he was only in his boxers. He jumped up, racing to put some dance-worthy clothing on. A few minutes later, he came back down the stairs to meet Ana at the door.
Within a few minutes, they arrived at the studio and set right to work. Ana had had some ideas in the car that she was bursting to show Tom, all of which were accepted by him immediately. The dance was starting to come together.
The next few hours for the two were spent dancing around aimlessly, stumbling across moves that would look amazing with the ones already in place. By the time everyone else arrived to learn it, most of the song had been choreographed to.
It was a tiring day for all the people in that room, and it was weighing upon them that they only had a week before the performance. Although she had choreographed before, Ana had done nothing that would be showcased in even remotely the same way before.
The next day went about the same, Tom and Ana arriving early at the studio to finalise the dance, the rest arriving not too far behind to catch up. A few hours later, everyone trickled off home, leaving Tom and Ana to practice for a little while longer.
"Can we film this last one? It'll be good to watch over and over to really get it into my head."
Ana gave Tom a sideways look before replying, "Of course. You don't really need to ask, honey."
Tom quickly set the camera up in the corner of the room, taking his place in the centre of the room with an umbrella in his hand. Ana flicked the music on before returning to watch from the middle of the wall.
The dance progressed, Tom doing all the moves perfectly. Ana couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she watched her moves done by her extremely handsome boyfriend. At the end, Tom did the flip as per usual, but instead of landing on his back as choreographed he landed on his feet, dropping to his knees.
Ana gave him another sideways look as he took her hands and started to speak.
"Ana, you are the love of my life, my best friend. The day I met you was the best day of my life, up until now. This would overtake that, if you agreed to become my wife, making me the happiest man alive."
By this point, Ana's hands were covering her mouth having being pulled from his grasp, completely forgetting anything else but Tom's figure in front of her, blurred through her tears. Not trusting herself to say anything, she just nodded.
Tom stood in front of her and pushed their lips together, sealing the promise. Realising the ring was still in his pocket, he reached behind his back to pull out the small box, placing the ring on Ana's finger. Looking at the diamond on her finger made it feel even more real for the girl, who was unable to keep the smile off her face.
The next morning dawned bright and early, smothering Ana's face in sunlight. She rolled away from the source of light, snuggling deeper into her boyfriend - no, fiancé's - chest. He instinctively pulled her closer, a small smile on both of their faces as they slowly came into the waking world. Life, in that moment, was perfect.
Ana's phone buzzed from the opposite bedside table, causing both of them to groan. Ana reluctantly rolled over to answer it.
"'ello?" Her voice cracked, groggy from sleep. She willed the call to end quickly, so she could return to her fiancé's waiting arms.
"Ana! I hope I didn't wake you," the voice on the other end was annoyingly loud, and Ana quickly realised it was Zendaya.
"No, no, of course not, Z," Ana replied, her mind clearing slightly to allow thoughts to flood in.
"Good! Is Tom in the room with you?"
Ana glanced over at her dozing fiancé, allowing another smile to creep onto her face. "Yeah. Why?"
"I have something to tell you that Tom CANNOT hear. Can you step out of the room for a sec?" Ana was intrigued by Zendaya's words, quickly standing up to leave the room.
"Yeah, I'm out of the room. What do you need?" Ana wandered to the top of the stairs, taking a seat at the top.
"Can you please please please be in my lip sync battle dance? First rehearsal would be this afternoon," Zendaya pleaded with Ana.
"Yeah, of course, Z." Ana tilted her head and drew her eyebrows together, forgetting Zendaya couldn't see her in that moment. "But can I ask why it's such late notice?"
"One of my dancers had to pull out and I immediately thought of you to replace her."
"Oh thanks, girl. I'll be there this afternoon. What time, and where?" Ana couldn't wipe the smile off her face.
"1 o'clock and I'll text you the address. Actually, make that 12:30 so I can brief you on what we're planning. Does that work for you?"
"Yeah, yeah of course. Tom's coming this way so I'll see you then, okay?"
"See you then. Remember - don't tell Tom, whatever you do. Bye!" Zendaya dragged out the 'e' sound before hanging up. Ana turned to face the owner of the arms wrapped around her shoulders, no intention of answering his questioning of who was on the phone. Let him see on the day.
The moment she walked on stage, diamonds catching the light - the ring only one more to add bling - Tom's jaw dropped. At every opportunity, Ana flashed a smile in his direction, playfulness written across her features. One such time, she caught him mouth the words 'that's my fiancée'. Her smile was extra wide for the rest of the performance, knowing she was to win no matter the outcome.