On board

The first wave

"Okay... Jacket, check... Glasses, check... water, check... anything else?" Joe mumbled to himself as he began his pre-show routine of setting out everything he could possibly need before leaving the comfort of his room.

After looking round for a few further seconds of the perfectly organised, perfectly clean room - only stopping once to straighten out his duvet cover and flatten out the crease which had appeared on the surface - Joe was finally satisfied that he had everything he needed. So with a final tucking in of his white shirt, Joe threw his trusty blue jacket over the crook of his arm, before picking up two full bottles of water, the brunette made his way out of the room and back into the sun, where he followed the few crowds of people who were making their way either into or out of dining rooms for their evening meal, up until he made his way to the correct stage for the night.

The stage which he was expecting to see at least a few familiar faces milling about either on or around it for thirty minutes before they began, surprisingly empty or so he noted as the black cloak and darkened seating area become suddenly far eerier than he had ever seen one be before.

"Hello?" He questioned out into the large room which was practically silent apart from the slight crackle of the large white lights which lit up the stage.

Wondering slowly from the door and up towards the stage, Joe felt his heart leap from his chest at the sight of a petite figure unexpectedly coming into view from the right hand side of the stage.

"Oh thank god that you're here." The figure who Joe could now see was sporting a wave of red hair pulled up into a ponytail, mused with an unmissable Australian twang to her voice. "I was so worried that I'd got the wrong place."

Chuckling at her words softly, Joe climbed up the final steps onto the vast stage where he was to perform in less than an hour. A small sense of relief to see someone who was at least a little familiar in the room.

"No this is the right place." He responded with a small, relaxed smile as he walked across the floor to greet her properly. "Believe me, after nearly losing my job about three years ago for showing up on the wrong stage I tend to triple check on the walk over to wherever it is I need to be that I'm headed in the right direction." He continued honestly, smiling widely as the redhead let out a small laugh. A sound which seemed to entrance the brunette just as much as her dancing had the night before.

"Wait that really happened?" Dianne questioned in return.

"It's happened a few times yeah, hence the nearly firing situation. Apparently Adam didn't think it was very 'professional' of me, whatever that means." He joked with a gentle roll of his bright blue irises. The room once again filling with laughter from the pair of them as they stood a metre or two away from one another on either side of the stage. Their eyes slightly averted from each others gaze as they're somewhat awkward encounter struck off.

"Well you're here now which is good." Dianne stated with a small blush rising onto her cheeks, following down onto the length of her neck. "From what I hear there isn't really much of a show without you doing...uhh... what you do." She continued slightly awkwardly.

"I mean you say that but all I really do is Karaoke on steroids." Joe joked with a self-deprecating chuckle which was echoed by the shorter woman.

"Apparently that's something you're good at though."

"Yeah... Im not bad I suppose." He responded with a gentle shrug of his shoulders before walking off past the redhead and towards the side of the stage, placing down the blue jacket he had draped over his arms neatly on the back of a chair, whilst placing the two bottles of water and a pair of dark rimmed glasses onto the small plastic table set up in the corner. His eyes scanning a piece of paper with his name on which Dianne had slowly been peering through herself when she heard his holler echo through the room.