oe woke up in an uncertain mood. Although they had had a good day the day before, with Dianne seeming more like her old self, something was still bothering him. The situation with the girl in the café came out of the blue; Dianne had reacted almost instantly, and her panic had been evident, but Joe still wasn't sure if she had actually seen her, or if it had been her imagination playing tricks. He knew Dianne hadn't been sleeping well and that she had been under a lot of stress. She could have imagined it. She could have been completely overreacting.

This girl, whoever she was, had only ever sent one letter. Months ago. Joe had taken Dianne's word for it that the person 'following' them in the supermarket, the person 'watching' them from outside the apartment building and the writer of the letter were all one and the same.

There was no denying that Joe loved Dianne. He had fallen quickly, and fallen hard, for her. She was amazing in so many ways, but the changes he had seen in her recently were worrying him.  In the beginning, she had been easy-going. She was fun, and she had a sense of adventure that matched his perfectly. Joe knew from the past, and from other people around him, that- at the start of a relationship- people often hid the qualities of themselves they thought would put people off.

At the time, Joe had assumed that Dianne had done this a little. She had certainly appeared to be in more control of what she said and had more of a 'filter'. As time wore on, it had been clear that Dianne's brain was different, and that she saw the world in a very unique way. Her reading and writing had also been a revelation that came later in their partnership. Dianne had been in control in the dance studio; it was her domain and she knew what she was doing. Joe had noticed a few spelling mistakes in her texts, but he didn't make any assumptions. It was only as they got closer, as he paid more and more attention to her social media and they received joint fan mail, that he noticed how much she struggled.

If she had hidden that for so long, Joe thought, could it be that she had also hidden how paranoid she is? Had she always been this way, but put a brave face on it until she knew Joe was unconditionally in love with her?

Joe sighed and pulled himself up and out of bed.

Only time would tell.

Walking into the kitchen, Joe smiled as he watched Dianne wandering around making her breakfast. She reached into the cupboard to grab a glass and nudged a mug. It dropped from the shelf, smashing on the floor.

Dianne's eyes went wide, and she looked over at Joe. He smiled at her, shook his head and automatically started to clear up the mess she had made. As Joe brushed the last few shards into the bin, he couldn't help but wonder if he was going to spend the rest of his life, probably on auto-pilot, clearing up her messes.

"You didn't have to do that" Dianne said to Joe as he put the dustpan and brush back in the cupboard under the sink, "but thank you."

Joe stood up, holding his arm out. Dianne cuddled into him for a moment, just long enough for him to plant a kiss on her head, before she grabbed her breakfast and moved to sit on one of the bar stools.

"So, what are you up to today?" Dianne asked as she ate her toast. It was strange for her to be the one at home all day; she was so used to it being the other way around.

"Well," Joe began, "I'm going to go into the office this morning and meet Mikey to go over some stuff. Then I've been invited to a launch thing for some tech start-up. I wasn't going to go, but it might be useful, so I'll see what all the fuss is about. If I'm not interested in it, I'll be back by about 2. If I end up staying, it'll be more like 6. Is that alright with you?"

Dianne nodded. "Course. While you're out, I'll go and get some food shopping done. I can get an Uber out to Sainsbury's and pick up whatever we need. Although, we should probably decide what we're eating." Dianne picked up a pen and looked at Joe expectantly. "What do you want for dinner this week?"

"Erm... I don't really know. We could do noodles one night? Maybe even try and do that Pad Thai again?"

Dianne nodded and wrote it down on her list. "It's quick, so that can definitely go on there. What else? What about if I just get some chicken we can do with some veggies? Nice and easy."

Joe smiled. "That sounds good. We could have Mexican dirty rice again? That was good."

"Mexican rice" Dianne said as she wrote. "OK. I'll see what else they've got. If I get inspired, I'll get the stuff but at least we'll have food for the next few days. Do you need anything else?"

Joe thought for a moment, before climbing off his chair. "I don't think so. Oh! Can you maybe see if they have any of those dried, salted broad beans? I'm a bit obsessed." Dianne smiled and wrote it down, before turning back around. Joe had walked into the bathroom and closed the door, but he was shouting for her.

"What?" she asked. "I've already told you, I'm not helping you wipe."

Joe laughed. "Rude. I was just going to ask you to put loo roll on the list. The last few sheets are about to be used on my arse."

Dianne laughed and quickly wrote it down on the list. Once Joe was finished in the bathroom, the two of them got ready to leave. Although they were going in separate directions, it felt nice to leave the house at the same time.

///

"Didn't think I'd see you here."

After Joe's meeting, he had headed to the launch event he had been invited to. It wasn't really his scene and the products they were selling were too much of an investment for a single YouTuber.

Hearing a familiar voice, he turned around. "Hey, Alfie. How's it going?"

Alfie nodded, feeling a little awkward. He and Joe hadn't had much chance to talk since the whole 'Dianne' incident, and things felt stale. "I'm good. This isn't doing much for me, though. Do... do you fancy getting out of here?"

Joe smiled. "You read my mind. Coffee or pint?"

Alfie grinned. "Pint."

The pair found a quiet corner of a bar. Joe ordered two drinks and took them to the table.

"So" he began, "long time no see".

Alfie nodded. "Yeah, sorry I couldn't make it down to see you at your mum's. From what Zoe said, it sounded like you had a really nice time."

Joe took a sip of his drink before responding. "Yeah, it was good. It's just nice to get some proper fresh air sometimes. Plus, I think we both needed a break from being here. It gets a bit intense sometimes."

Alfie smiled. "That's why our house is in the middle of nowhere. We picked somewhere we'd feel safe." He picked up his pint. "Actually, Zoe did mention about all the stuff that's been going on with Dianne. Some weird girl giving her letters and turning up places?"

Joe shrugged. "Look", he said, deciding to be honest, "I don't know what to make of it all. It's just been the one letter, and I'm not entirely sure if it's the same girl who she's apparently seen."

"Apparently?" Alfie raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean? You don't agree?"

"I just..." Joe began. It was hard to put his feelings into words. "I just think she's being a bit paranoid. I'm sure the letter freaked her out, but- and I'm going to be completely honest here- I think what you said to her planted a seed. I think she's realised she's out of her depth and now everything is scaring her. She's seen a bit of what the dark side of YouTube looks like, and it's too much."

Alfie nodded and took a drink. "You might be right. Question is, what can you do about it?"

Joe looked at Alfie directly before making his confession. "That's the problem, mate. I don't know if I can do anything."

///

"Hey!" Dianne said as Joe pushed open the apartment door several hours later. "Good day?"

Joe kicked off his shoes and walked into the kitchen. Dianne walked directly to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, before kissing his lips lightly. "I've been super productive" she said, not quite letting him answer her original question, "the bathrooms are all clean, I've vacuumed downstairs and I've made dinner."

Joe smiled. "Good for you. That smells good, as well."

"It's almost ready. The recipe said 40 minutes, so I think it's got about 10 left and then it needs to cool down a bit before we eat. Do you fancy a cheeky G&T while we wait?"

"Always" Joe said, finding a bottle of rhubarb gin in his collection as Dianne picked out two glasses and got the bottle of tonic out of the fridge. "Hey," he said as Dianne poured, "do you fancy sitting out in the garden while we have these? We might as well make the most of the sun."

Dianne smiled and handed Joe his drink. "That sounds nice."

As Joe sipped, he turned to Dianne. "This isn't my first drink today, by the way. I met Alfie earlier and we ended up having a couple of pints while we caught up."

Dianne put her glass down and turned to Joe. "What did he say?" Her eyes seemed to search his face as she spoke, as if she was unsure of what she was looking for.

"Well" Joe began, "we talked a bit about work. He mentioned he was sorry he didn't have time to come down to Mum's when we were there. And then we chatted a bit about London and how it's all a bit intense and how we'd both talked about moving somewhere else."

"Cool" Dianne said. "Well, I'm going to get myself a refill while I check on dinner. You sit tight."

Joe looked at her confused. "Are you planning on getting drunk?" he asked.

Dianne shrugged. "I might have already had a cheeky wine or two while I was cooking. But that's alright. I mean, I don't have to dance again until Tuesday."

Joe rolled his eyes and shouted to his girlfriend as she stood in the kitchen. "Dianne, tomorrow is Tuesday."

She re-emerged at the door with a fresh glass in hand. Every sip seemed to give her more confidence. The buzz allowed her to forget, just for a moment, the crazy and terrifying turns her life had recently taken. With a glass in her hand, she could just enjoy being with Joe and quiet out all of her other worries. She deserved a break, and she was going to relish every moment of it.

"Ah well," she said, "it's too late to stop now."