no noaquie :)
~
"Everything's wrong. The dancers are distracted, they're only thinking about themselves. Henry and Summer are in love and I don't know what's going on with Richelle." Noah rants to Emily and Michelle after entering their office, but when he moves his gaze down ever so slightly he sees a box. Thank god, something good that's come out of today. "Are those the ropes?"
"It is the ropes.. um.. but there's just a slight, small issue with the ropes." Michelle replies, playing with the packing peanuts.
"What?" Noah asks, raising his eyebrows slightly.
"That's the issue, they're small." Emily says, leaning on the table as if nothing is wrong.
Seriously? Another thing that's gone wrong, how is that even possible? They can't be serious, they're messing with him. He slowly takes a few steps closer but then Michelle pipes up again.
"But there's nothing for you to worry about, we have the situation so it-it-its not anything for you to get upset about..." Michelle says quickly, but it's too late. Noah's already picked up one of the ropes.. and by the look on his face, he doesn't seem impressed.
"These are like three feet long." He says, looking directly at Michelle and Emily with a piercing gaze.
"Well actually they're thirty five inches." Emily corrects him, making him roll his eyes. Now he gets where Richelle gets it from, her sass is all from Emily.
"We can't swing from these." He says, his voice even more agitated. He contuines to look directly at the two studio heads, who both look like they want to say something but nothing comes out. He sighs in annoyance, "You have got to be kidding me."
He walks out of the office, debating in his head whether it's worth starting another dance.. but they just don't have time. There's no way they could clean it in one day, that's literally all they have before they get on the bus to regionals. Sure, they could rehearse in the lobby, but it's not the same, people would just get in the way and make all the dancers even more stressed than they already are.
Noah decides his best bet, instead, is figuring out what's wrong with Richelle. Once he's got her sorted, he can stop worrying about her and focus on reformatting the dance.
He grabs his car keys from his bag and drives straight to Richelle's house, knowing it's probably the only place she would go to after walking out of a rehearsal and then coming back and being in a bad mood for the rest of it.
He sighs as he knocks on her door, soon to be opened by a very tired and upset looking Richelle. She has her hair up in a messy bun and she's practically drowning in her hoodie, while her eyes are red and swollen and the spots of mascara she failed to wipe off lie on her cheeks. She freezes when she sees him, she knows what he's here for and she's not sure she can handle being questioned right now.
"Noah I'm sorry I walked out of rehearsal, okay? I got upset about something and got fed up of Piper trying to make me feel better but just make me feel worse instead. Can you please just leave me alone, I've said sorry." Richelle says, tears threatening to escape her eyes.
"Oh Rich, it's okay. I'm not mad at you I'm just worried, yous seemed really upset when you came back.. and you look like you're about to cry." Noah says softly and gives her a sorrow look.
She gives in and opens the door for him. At the end of the day, he used to be the only person she trusted in A-Troupe. Even if they have drifted apart, she still trusts him with her life. Telling him won't hurt, he'll just help her.
She walks upstairs to her room and Noah follows, taking in all the memories from this house. He can remember everything like it was yesterday, all the laughs, smiles, sleepovers, comforting each other, when Richelle fell down the stairs. It all makes him smile, and if he's honest, he really misses is.
