~Season 4~
Noah sighed as he blinked against the harsh studio lights. Running a hand through his already mussed hair, he reclined further back against the wall. His back cracked with relief at the movement; he'd become stiff so quickly after they'd finished rehearsal. He had endured this for four hours already, which would normally be fine, but he was beginning to run out of the water he'd brought with him and it was too late to get anything from downstairs. His back cracking was the most movement he could muster at this point. His duet partner visibly winced at the sound of the crack ringing through the air, cutting through smirk wide on his face, even as his bleary eyes struggled to focus on her in the harsh lights.
"Did that turn you on, Richie?" She rolled her eyes in response, just the reaction he had been hoping for. "I can do it again...with other body parts too." His eyebrows wiggled up and down suggestively as he stared her down.
Richelle was having none of it; she'd heard better, even from him. The extra rehearsals were taking a lot out of both of them. They'd had to wait longer than everyone else to start on their routine because of Noah's back and they'd both had to give up Saturday night plans for the next month. Noah had whined about it for the first hour they'd been sequestered in Studio A. Time had trickled by slowly and Richelle was reaching the end of her Noah patience quota for the day.
"I will never understand why girls willingly choose to go out with you." she said with disdain, her eyes darting from the windshield back to him. "You have the maturity of a golden retriever puppy."
Noah gasped, his eyes twinkling with delight. He only teased her because he knew she'd give it right back to him. He had never met a worthier adversary than Richelle, even if he did think she was a giant dance nerd.
"That hurts, Richie!" She rolled her eyes again. "But the joke's on you because golden retrievers are the best dogs – everyone agrees! Besides, the ladies love Noah."
Richelle chose to ignore him, grabbing a hair tie from her bag so she could keep her hands busy. She pulled her hair back, going once again over her turning sequence, trying to nail the double speed so this godforsaken rehearsal could come to a close and she could get home to her sweatpants and a hot chocolate.
Noah took the opportunity to stare at her surreptitiously from the corner of his eye, something he had gotten pretty good at in his years being her friend. He had been having the hardest time reading Richelle since Internationals and it frustrated him to no end; he wasn't sure if it was because it made him question his skills as a friend or if he truly wanted to know what was going on in Richelle's brain for another reason entirely. He wasn't sure which was worse.
Since Richelle had rejoined A-Troupe six months ago, she and Noah had picked up their friendly rivalry just as they had left it off before Miami. Working on the duet had actually brought out the best in them and somewhat renewed their friendship after the past year of being separated.
Noah was lost in thought, getting up and mindlessly blowing raspberries as he marked through the dance. After a few runs, he reached for his bottle to take his last sip of water. He was mid-swallow when Richelle cleared her throat.
"Speaking of ladies..." Noah nearly spit out his drink, swallowing quickly and trying to ignore the burning in his throat as he turned to look at his duet partner.
She was just staring through the mirrors, still moving through the dance, but her face was unreadable. Noah and Richelle never talked about their personal relationships, especially at dance. They worked that out last year.
They knew a lot about each other's families and friends, of course (they were Best Friends), and she would occasionally mention a detail about a date when they were all down at the Juice bar, but Richelle was a true professional and refused to talk about romance with her teammates.
"Didn't you have a date last night? With that girl from our science class?"
Her tone was casual but Noah detected something else there. It sounded to him like she was being careful with her words. "Yeah, Jessica."
"Jessica? Isn't that every straight white guy's favourite girl's name?" There was that tone again. It was teasing, but there was a new aggression in her voice Noah wasn't used to hearing.
Noah laughed awkwardly, unsure of how to navigate this topic with his Best Friend. They had been friends for years, and friends talked about their relationships. He couldn't help but feel like they were quietly crossing an invisible threshold. "Eh, I guess. I mean it was just dinner at hers. She got pretty drunk and I had to leave before we made it to dessert. I don't think there'll be a second date."
Richelle laughed out loud. She wasn't totally surprised the date had been a dud: Noah was pretty open about his dating life, and she saw the girls he flirted with at school.
For a guy who loved challenges at dance, he seemed to have no patience for them in his personal life. Not that she was interested in his personal life. Obviously.
"I don't think I've ever met a Jessica that could hold her liquor. That was your first mistake, Noah. My cousin dated a girl named Jessica once. She only had two glasses of punch at the Nolet New Year's Eve party before she started doing the world's worst Kermit impression. My grandma was not amused."
Noah's eyes bugged out as he laughed along with her. He loved adding more personal details to his armory – it was more ammunition to tease her with. "One, we are definitely going to talk more about the Nolet New Year's Eve party soon, I missed out last year because of my vacation." Richelle smirked and rolled her eyes in response. "Two, are you jealous, Richie?"
Richelle sputtered with her whole body, her water bottle flying to the floor with the convulsion. "What? No! Why would I be jealous of Jessica?"
Noah leaned back against the wall, hands above his head as if he was lounging in a pool chair and not in the freezing hollows of Studio A at midnight on a Saturday.
"Oh, Richie. I get it. You're probably wondering what it would be like to date the best dancer at TNS." He fixed her with his trademark Erlick smolder. "If you're thinking it would blow your mind, you're right."
Richelle snorted loudly. "I can't date myself, Noah." He gasped at the comeback, clutching his hand to his heart through his stakeout hoodie. "Besides, I can get dates of my own. I had one last night, in fact."
Well, this was a surprise to Noah. He liked to think of Richelle as a nun; a focused, dance-obsessed nun. He didn't like to think about her dating.
He hesitated a moment before responding: "Oh, did you? Richie, it doesn't count if other people can't see him." He defaulted to bantering with her to cover his momentary lapse.
It wasn't that Noah didn't think Richelle was desirable to men, he knew she was attractive. It had to be the shock that she was volunteering this information willingly (at dance, no less!) that had thrown Noah off. Luckily for him, she didn't seem to pick up on his pause, indignant over his accusation that her date had been an invisible friend.
She scrunched up her face in annoyance and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, shut up, Noah. He's a real person." She crossed her arms and huffed. Her patience quota was really running low. They were approaching hour five of the rehearsal with no end in sight and her legs were starting to cramp from tumbling for so long. "I'm very capable of getting real dates with real guys." She bent down to pick up her forgotten bottle from the floor, taking a sip and trying not to meet his gaze. She was determined not to give Noah the satisfaction of looking at him. "Maybe you're the jealous one."
Her words filled the air between them, hitting Noah like a pile of bricks. Noah, jealous of other guys, over Richelle? Annoying, rule-following, dance-focused, stubborn, Richelle? The same Richelle he grew up with in J-Troupe? That Richelle?
Nope. She was straight-up insane.
As Noah opened his mouth in indignation to tell her exactly that, Richelle started packing up her bag.
"Let's just pick this up on Monday, we're both exhausted."
Noah nodded meekly, the moment having passed to press further into her accusation. As Noah cleared out his cubby, Richelle came up behind him. She looked almost contrite and her arms were hanging awkwardly at her sides, like she didn't know what to do with them.
"You know I was just kidding about you being jealous, right? And I don't think all girls named Jessica are lightweights – I'm sure she's a great girl."
Wisps from Richelle's ponytail had come loose from their confines during the intense rehearsal and she pushed them back behind her ear, Noah's eyes following the movements of her hands. Richelle never apologized to him and he wasn't sure what to make of it. "You're a good guy, Noah. Any girl would be lucky to go out with you." She smiled at him, and he returned it.
"Thanks, Richie. You're a good guy too." She laughed and the tension that had seemed to linger between them before dissipated at the sound. As they walked back to Noah's car so he could take her to home, he was struck with the sudden realization that he had butterflies.
~~~
S4 babies 🥺✌️