The last dance
"At least try and pay attention to the dancing" Craig muttered dryly to Darcey.
She sighed. These words had become rather repetitive over time.
"Listen," Craig said, as quietly as he could, "I know you're going to be married in a few weeks, but, dear lord, concentrate!"
Darcey groaned inwardly.
It was only when she'd doodled drawings of Joanne all over her notepad did she begin to realise she should actually focus on the dancing.
Unfortunately for her, that was also when Bruno finally realised that she was besotted with the certain blonde dancer.
In the break, Bruno had leaned over Head Judge Len (much to Len's very obvious discomfort) to half-scream, half-whisper; "is that JOANNE?!"
Next to her, Craig had rolled his eyes, choosing to respond with a simple, "well done you."
Thankfully, Darcey's embarrassment had been short-lived due to Tess announcing "the final dance of the night".
For Darcey, this one dance seemed to last an age and Craig was painfully aware of this.
"At least try and pretend you're interested", were the sarcastic remarks that had been passing her ear for the last five or so minutes. It was not only driving her insane, but also reminding her of just how long the 'Christmas Special' always lasted.
'The damn Christmas Special,' she thought to herself, was the horrible cause of her having to squeeze herself into a dress, plaster on a fake smile, and the result of her not being able to be with her beloved on Christmas-damn-day! 'Who had invented this agonising show?!'
And, after what felt like a year of waiting, Tess finally announced the results of the Christmas Special.
"Well, thank god for that", Craig muttered.
"What do you mean?!" Bruno exclaimed. Bruno always went to great lengths to establish to the other three just quite how much he loved the Strictly Christmas Specials. Whether he actually liked them or not, Darcey had no idea, but she was certain he just said this to annoy them all - it may be worth noting that he succeeded.
Bruno's pronounced love for the Christmas Special got so bad that Len declared he might as well "leave right now", which was a little pointless, given that Len was due to be leaving Strictly anyway. Of course, this had no effect on Bruno who seemed to delight in it, if anything.
Darcey, on the other hand, would quite happily have shot herself if having been offered a gun, although, knowing Strictly, it would have been a gun full of glitter which would have decidedly pissed Darcey off even more.
Melvin Odoom and Janette won the Christmas Special, but, in all honesty, it was getting to the point where none of the judges, not even Bruno, gave a fuck about who won and who didn't.
Even Tess was loosing her smile and Claudia's jokes were worsening considerably. Hell, she wasn't even making jokes at all.
Everyone was feeling completely whacked, and when the show finally came to and end, when Tess had faked her smile to its limits and twisted her ankle dancing to the Strictly theme tune with Claudia, (who was practically falling asleep on her heels), when Bruno was literally sleeping on the judge table, when Len was yawning so loudly that Darcey thought the whole world must be able to hear it and when neither herself or Craig could actually see straight, (pure exhaustion blurred their visions), everyone was, quite frankly, a mess.
It was all a mad scramble to the door marked 'exit' and then a hurried drive home.
Tess and Claudia went home together, they were both too sleepy to actually function and ended up resorting to hiring a taxi.
Len drove briskly home, even breaking the speed limit a few times.
Craig drove Bruno home (Bruno was soundly asleep) to Craig's house on the outskirts of the city.
And Darcey drove herself home, opening the front door of the house she shared with Joanne and falling into the blonde's awaiting arms.
"I've saved you some Christmas dinner -" Joanne began.
"I'll eat it later," was Darcey's drained reply.
"I'll take you to bed?" Joanne suggested shyly.
"Oh, no, sweetheart, you go upstairs, I'll be right behind you."
Joanne tugged the older woman up the stairs and she gently took off Darcey's clothes, carefully helping her into bed.
Before her eyes closed, Darcey glimpsed Joanne's caring smile and caught a flash of gold - the wedding ring on her slim finger.
"We're going to get married soon." Darcey whispered to the younger girl beside her.
"Yes, we are," Joanne said quietly, "and you are going to look even more beautiful."
Darcey wrapped her arms around Joanne's slight body, pulling her closer, moulding herself into her.
"Goodnight, little one." She murmured.
Darcey had subconsciously begun to call Joanne her 'little one', almost as if a motherly instinct had taken over her, and Joanne didn't mind.
"Goodnight Darce." She replied, turning off the light.
Darkness enveloped them.