Remember Me (Noah x Reader)

7 Years Ago

I'd recently found out that Noah was crushing on Abi, and it absolutely crushed me in return. It reminded me of the time when my crush on Noah first started, seven years ago.

"Har!" Noah called, disturbing me from my practice at the ballet bar. 

"What, Noah? I'm not joining you to spy on Peter again, I've had enough of your rivalry." I replied seriously, taking my leg off the bar from where I'd been split-stretching to get my angle past 180 degrees.

"I'm going into a new competition and I need to learn how to ballroom dance and you're the only one I know that knows how to do it. Can you help me?"  I frowned at him so he took out his ultimate weapon.

Puppy dog eyes.

It became a battle of will, my glare against Noah's irresistible puppy dog gaze. 

I'm not giving in.

Not this time.

Oh, but I did. He's so cute!

"One one condition: we're doing it to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there's a ballroom dance section in there." He started laughing and I did too as he engulfed me in a hug, butterflies exploding in my stomach as we both giggled.

~~~~~~~~~~

"One and step, four and dip..."  His hand on the small of my back, Noah gently lowered me a little before lifting me back up and bravely doing a lift for a few seconds. 

"Someone's shooting for the stars." I smirked as his grip tightened on my hand and waist.

"I'd bring the whole Milky Way for my lo...friend! For my friend!" He chuckled nervously, before collapsing on the sofa.

"You pick up choreo quickly." I covered for him, unpausing Harry Potter. 

"That's a fact. I'll never forget this, Hayley."

But gradually, he did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here I am, sitting in Studio A with no aim whatsoever, until a stream of lyrics I heard when I passed B-Troupe's rehearsal studio came into my mind.

"I'm lost, but not found, don't know where I stand, it's not solid ground..." I sang quietly, tying up my laces while a tear ran down my face.

"Hayley?" I turned to see James, who was standing there, mouth open wide in shock.

"James! I-I'm just about to go have some shakes with Eldon, I better be on my way-" He sat down and stared at me just like Noah used to do when he wanted to find out something that had rattled me up. I blinked and as another tear came out, I, for a moment, saw Noah. So I broke down.

"I... found my best friend after a while and... I find out that he likes someone else. I can't take it, I've had this ridiculous crush that I can't shake for seven years and now that I've found him again I've gone and lost him." He smirked, leaning forward.

"So just between you and me... this 'best friend' is Noah?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How can you tell?"

"You know everything about him and you've only known him for a week! It took me years to know everything about Eldon, it doesn't take a genius to find out." He chuckled, scooting a little closer, "So, I'll strike a deal. I know that you are a phenomenal dancer, and we want to know how you did it. In return, I'll cheer you up." He offered, standing up and putting forward his hand.

"A deal's a deal." I put my hand in his and we stood up, heading over to Hidalgo's and sitting down at a sofa, Eldon sitting down too with three juices in hand.

"This is one more than I was expecting." I whispered to James with gritted teeth.

"Actually, during the deal I said 'we' not I. So by 'we' I mean me and Eldon." I sucked in air through my teeth, covering my forehead with my hand.

"I knew I should have read the T & Cs. Alright, I'll tell you." I gave in, readying myself, "I used to be part of a really prestigious competitive dance troupe, and when I went to Internationals a few years ago, we lost, I was scouted by an instructor at Juilliard, who gave me a chance to audition. I got in, graduated a year later due to hard work and came here." I explained, Eldon and James gaping.

"You went to Juilli-" I covered both of their mouths before they could shout it to the world, taking my hand off after three seconds. 

"You can't tell anyone else. I don't want either jealous eyes or attention, I've had enough of that." I ordered,  my eyes boring into the two. 

"All right." Eldon gasped, still in shock while James stood up.

"I have to hold my end of the deal. I've got band practice, but I'm sure the guys won't mind one more." Dragging me away, we arrived at what seemed like a band practice. 

"Guys, this is Hayley. Hayley, this is Luke and Theo."  The two other boys waved, one of them holding a guitar. 

"Hayley, how would you feel by joining our band?" James asked, hands in his pockets. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We are the lost and the found,

We don't know where we stand, but it's solid ground

It's our shot to see what you got

Only a true light shines as bright as you..." Riley cheered me on as we looked at the appreciative faces of the crowd, including James's aunt Kathy and uncle Arthur. My new best friends, James, West and Eldon, taught me to live in the now, so that's what I'm going to do.

Forget Noah.

Right?