Fight Song

Chapter 23

Caspar's PoV
"Based on difficulty alone, we have chosen the rightful winner of this round," another judge said. "I can now announce, that the winner is..."

I looked at the floor, praying silently it would be us, but looking at my team I could tell they already knew it would be Canada who won. They were the better team.

"Canada!" the judge finished.

It was an odd win. Obviously the Canadians were thrilled and grinned and hugged each other, but there was also a heavy sadness around it. Briar looked at me sadly, as I smiled and clapped, congratulating the other team.

"I'm sorry," Briar sighed.

"Don't be," I smiled at her. "It's a competition. Nothing will change that, and I never would've wanted to win based upon my opponent being sabotaged."

Briar nodded, and I could tell she understood. It was hard to lose, but at the end of the day there would only be one winner. You had to put aside personal feelings when it came to a competition.

"I hope you win," I continued. "That'd be cool to see."

"Thanks," Briar smiled, and hugged me tight before returning to celebrate with her team.

Joe's PoV
"What's up?" Dianne came and sat on the small sofa beside me.

"Canada beat South Africa," I sighed. "Zoe was in the audience, she just texted me."

"Oh shit," she said softly. "Caspar must feel crushed."

"I can't imagine Briar feels much better," I said glumly. "This is gonna be what it's like when we go up against each other. I can't stand the thought of it, I really can't. I wish we were on the same team."

"Hey," Dianne touched my face and lifted it to face her. "It's gonna be okay. We just keep our dance lives separate from our personal lives and everything will work. I promise." She kissed me softly, breaking away to rest her head on my shoulder.

"I love you," I said, resting my head on top of hers.

"I love you too," she said.

We sat there for a while, in silence, just savouring the moment. Tomorrow we were rivals, not girlfriend and boyfriend. I wished more than anything that the semi finals were still a head to head challenge and I didn't have to face her. But unfortunately it was everyone facing everyone. Life never turns out how you want it to, or how you expect it to. I had to accept I'd be going up against my girlfriend. I sighed, knowing my redhead was right. We just had to keep our dance lives separate from our personal lives, and it should all hopefully work out. Please.

Dianne's PoV
I must've fallen asleep on Joe, because before I knew it I'd woken up and it was 9pm.

"Hey," he smiled at me. I was still laying on the sofa, but he'd ordered an Indian and had it laid on a table.

"A dressing room date?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "Wow, how romantic."

"Hey, you fell asleep," he laughed, coming over to me. "I didn't want to wake you up."

"I'm kidding," I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him. "I love it. Thank you."

"Anytime," he smiled. "Now come on, let's eat."

God knows how, but he'd managed to pick out for me my absolute favourite dish, one of the hottest ones on the menu. I adored spicy food. Joe clearly didn't, going for a chicken tikka masala. Bless the baby with his bland meal. I supposed at least it wasn't a chicken korma.