Nochelle - Our Stories

W A I T I N G

~Season 7~

Richelle throws up during rehearsal.

Not unheard of for an acro dancer, especially one who's been going through a solo since 8am, but very unusual for Richelle. She'd never thrown up at dance, not since she was like eight and had fallen on her head trying to do a back handspring.

Noah isn't even there to be the supportive boyfriend and hold her hair back, instead finding out through a brief text from Emily. He does make a point to get to the Studio as quickly as his audition will allow and he finds Richelle hunched over on one of the benches outside Emily's office, looking pale and drawn.

"Richie," he says, kneeling next to her. He gently touches her forehead with one hand and takes hers with the other. "Em texted me, told me what happened."

"Of course she did." Richelle sighs, rolling her eyes.

"You still look queasy," Noah says, searching her face in concern. "Are you okay?"

Maybe if he'd known how she was going to reply, he'd have asked her somewhere slightly more private than the middle of Studio A. Especially at midday when everyone was rushing around trying to finish a group dance as quickly as possible so they can go get lunch. Richelle takes a jagged breath in, takes his other hand from her head and says, "Noah... I might be pregnant."

And just like that, his entire world narrows down to a single point.

It isn't that he couldn't see himself doing the parenthood thing with Richelle one day. Honestly, he's actually pretty sure he wants to spend the rest of his life with her—not that he's going to tell her that just yet, at risk of going overboard.

The thing is, he and Richelle just haven't been dating that long. Five months is not nearly long enough that something as huge a commitment as a tiny human isn't mind-blowingly terrifying.

He definitely isn't financially stable enough and/or far enough out of high school to support a kid on his salary and while he thinks Richelle's probably mature enough, he's also pretty sure she wanted to be at least a decade older before this happened. Noah wouldn't be surprised if she had a detailed life plan hidden away somewhere laying out the specific year in which every major life event would take place for her. 

Long story short, neither of them are ready for this.

~~~

"We're not ready for this." Richelle says to him when they're at lunch that day, panic steadily rising in her voice. "We are so not ready for this, Noah."

Noah takes her hand over the table, lacing their fingers together. "Everything's going to be fine. We don't even know if you're actually -you know. If you're really—"

Despite his best efforts, his mouth still can't quite form the word so he gestures with his other hand; making a round pregnancy belly in mid-air and pointing vaguely at her abdomen.

"-Pregnant." Richelle supplies.

Noah feels a bit dizzy every time he hears it and even without the possible-maybe pregnancy hormones that Richelle may or may not have been experiencing, he absolutely gets why she threw up this morning. He might be a dad. He's nineteen, barely has a relationship with his own father and he might be one.

"Yeah, that." Noah does his best to collect himself because he knows whatever he's feeling about this, it's going to be magnified ten times for Richelle. She doesn't need her boyfriend to be a nervous wreck right now. "We don't know yet so we're not going to freak out. Emily gave you the afternoon off so you can go and buy a test. I'll get there as soon as I can after my rehearsal. If it's negative, then nothing changes—"