Friends with Benefits | Joanne

6- The Bench

Joe waited in the green room for Dianne to make her way back.

He had texted her as she had asked, and she had replied "five minutes!'. That was around fifteen minutes ago.

"Sorry! Sorry, I got caught up with wardrobe!" Dianne arrived in a flurry of bags and dropped everything as she approached Joe. "I'm going to leave everything here, I just need to find my purse." Joe stood and placed a hand on her arm as she delved into one of her bags.

"Hey, this is my treat. Consider it a thank you for everything you did for me last week. For helping me make the right decision".

Dianne relented and smiled. "Come on. I'll show you where to get the best coffee. And where is best to drink it."

As they walked through the lot, their conversation moved from their mornings to how the dance rehearsals would work. Joe explained where he lived and how his career worked. "So I can kind of be with you at any time that suits you" he said as they reached the coffee shop. "Which is pretty good, I guess."

He watched Dianne's smile grow. "You know, I'm not usually as nice as I was on Thursday? I mean, I'm a good teacher but you're young and fit and I'm going to expect you to work hard."

Joe gulped audibly. "Oh really? So that taster session was purely to sweeten the deal?" He smiled. "I'll promise to work hard as long as you don't beat me up."

"Deal."

Joe ordered their coffees, and turned to find Dianne waiting by the door. "Come on. I want to show you something."

///

I walked Joe across the car park at the back of the studio until we reached a grass verge.

"Come on", I said, wandering down the hill. Joe followed, a few steps behind.

At the bottom of the verge, there's an old wooden bench. I have no idea why it is there or who put it there, but I have claimed it as my own.

Joe sat down next to me and turned to face me. "What is...?" He asked and gestured around him.

"This is where I come to think. It's the quietest place on set. Maybe the quietest place in the city. And it has the best view." I gestured towards the metallic fence that surrounded the entire lot. The view was pretty spectacular; you could see skyscrapers and cranes- the city skyline. In the early afternoon light, it was breathtaking.

"Wow." Joe said quietly, as if he hadn't expected the words to come out. "See, this view makes me realise why I moved here. It's gorgeous. But this..." he looked at the bench. "this is great. I can see why you come here."

"Sometimes, it all gets a bit too much for me. When the competition gets more intense, or when I need to get a dance into my head, or get a song out of my head, I come here. It's peaceful."

"It is. It reminds me of home. Where silence is actual silence."

We sat for a moment, nothing said. Until Joe's phone pulled us back into reality.

"Sorry. I... oh. No. No thank you". Joe went to decline the call. I caught his wrist.

"Emma?" I looked down at the name. "Oh, there's a story there!"

Joe swiped to hang up the call and put his phone in his pocket. "Oh, there's a story. A lovely girl fell for a boy, but when he turned out to not be prince charming she wasn't happy. I..." He paused and looked me in the eye. "I have a lot of issues with people calling me out for being immature. She... she said some stuff I didn't like."

"Oh, you're immature?" I asked, holding out my hand for him to shake, "nice to meet you, immature. I'm slutty and stupid." I cursed myself for the tone the words came out in. "I think we'll get along just fine."

"Who on earth called you..." Joe began. I shook my head.

"It... it's nothing. Anyway, we should probably get back. People are going to be wondering where we've got to."

Joe took my hand to pull me up. "Have... have you ever shown anyone this place before?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Never. I... I never trusted anyone enough." The words surprised me as they came out of my mouth. I was never usually so honest with guys.

Joe smiled softly. "Well, I feel very privileged. Thank you."

We walked back to the lot together. As we approached the doors, he turned to me.

"Listen. I'm having a party on launch night. It's my birthday- I meant to say something to everyone earlier but I forgot. It would be great if you could make it."

I opened the door and gestured for him to go through it.

"Oh, if there's a party, I'm there."

I smiled to myself.

Things could be about to get interesting.