Live Again. {Bryles/tns}

chapter twelve

today was the day the Noah and I performed our duet to Lauren to qualify for the Christmas show, and we hadn't spoken in over a week.
It was nine in the morning and I was determined to ace this audition, I was on my way to Noah's room - To make sure he was ready.
I knocked on the door and Noah came steadily to answer it. He looked a mess. His room smelt of booze, he smelt of booze, there was a small bit of stubble growing on his face and As I scanned his dorm it was covered in beer bottles and clothes.
"Shower, Shave - Now" I told him walking in.
"Woah woah woah - who said you could boss me around and just come storming in here?" his voice was a little croaky.
"We have our audition today, and I know you Noah. You wouldn't let anything get in the way of dance." I said, handing him a towel as he walked towards the bathroom.

"I booked our audition for later on in the day" I told him just before he shut the door and he gave me a sarcastic thumbs up.

I grabbed a black bin bag and started clearing up his room whilst the water was running.
"Peroni, fosters, Budweiser" I said,picking up the empty bottles and putting them in the bag.
"oh what's this? oh wait - more beer" I thought to myself.
Once I had collected the various different sources of alcohol, there was just clothes and random rubbish scattered across the floor.
I picked up all the clothes and put them into one big washing basket as I couldn't be bothered to sort them from dirty and half dirty.
I looked across to see a piece of paper on the floor, it was a receipt for Victoria's Secret and it showed the two items that Noah gave me when he first came here that added up to $89! I was shocked at how much he spent on me.

I was pretty proud of how much tidying I had done in the space of 10 minutes and now I could actually see his room. He had his bed on one side of the room which I had made as neat as I could, then on the other side he had a small chair and a desk. I looked over to the desk and above the lap there was a shelf full of photo frames.
One of the photos was Noah and his Mum when he was about eleven and they're standing on some sort of mountain sharing a smile.

Another photo was Noah a bit older, in a mid split leap at his first internationals compettition, I remember him coming back and telling everybody how amazing and awesome it was.

Then Finally there was a photo which was turned down so you couldn't see what it was of. I curiously looked at the photo to find a Selfie of Noah and Abi. It looked fairly recent, Noah had an arm round Abi and was kissing her on the cheek whilst she embraced a smile.
I heard the water turn off and I quickly put the photo down and tried to position myself away from the photo so I didn't look suspicious.
Noah emerged from the bathroom, I expected him to be changed but instead he had a towel wrapped around the lower half of his body.

"Could you, pass me my black shirt on the side there" Noah nodded towards the side next to me but I kind of got a little distracted by looking at Noah's abs. don't judge me.

"Uh, yeah" I said walking towards him passing his shirt. I tried not to stare at his six pack whilst handing it to him.

"Richelle" he said, looking at me and I wondered why he was calling my name but then I realised I was still clutching his shirt, I let go.

I looked in the opposite direction whilst he changed, and we were in awkward silence until he told me he had finished changing. I turned around to find him wearing a white vest and black trousers - I was going to be wearing a leotard but not until the audition came around.

"So um, Would you like to practice? I mean the studio's free as Lauren's doing the auditions on the main stage?" I held my hand behind my neck.

"Yeah let's go"Noah said, and we walked out of the door. We walked in silence and he walked a bit faster than me , resulting in me looking stupid trying to catch up with him.

We arrived at the studio a few moments later and It was completely empty.

"I'll just go - " I began to tell Noah that I was going to set up our music but he was already in the boys changing rooms.

"Right" I muttered to myself, I took off my Jumper and plugged my phone into the aux. Noah came out a couple of minutes later and we immediately started practicing our routine.

It was fine. All of the technique was there, the choreo was good but there was something.....something missing. Something that made us great duet Partners in Toronto - we had chemistry. Now it just feels forced, like we're just doing the moves and nothing else. We finished up one more time and I decided to do something about this.

"Okay Noah, What's going on?" I said, slightly out of breath.

"What do you mean?" He said, cluelessly

"This....E...Everything!" I said, I was getting frustrated.

"I don't kn-" Noah began

"No - you're right. We're not how we used to be. Things have changed, You have just gotten out of a long relationship and I have just got into one - We have no chemistry Noah, something needs to change." I said. Noah paused.

"We need to forget about Abi and Ben for a minute." He sat down, and I did shortly after him.

"That's kind of hard considering he's my boyfriend" I stated the obvious. Then Noah took my hand which caught me by surprise but I didn't let go. He looked into my eyes and I couldn't bring myself to look away.

"We have something Richelle." Noah was a few centimetres from my face. "You're scared. You're scared to face the fact that we have a connection. Let's do this routine once more, and focus on us. Nobody else, Just me, you and this dance."

I stood up without reply and I was a little taken back by Noah's words. He wasn't lying, we did have a connection but I wasn't opening up because of Ben.

The music began playing and already I felt something stronger in the air. His clutch was tighter, His eyes were more focused. When he brought me in to lift me up - his pulse was raised, and so was mine. We went through the dance and we finished in that same position that always gives me tingles. Our faces were barely apart and the space between us was near to nothing.

We stood there. The music had finished and so had our dance, the only sound we could hear was our breathes. Then, I let go and walk away to get out of here before anything else happens.

"So I'll see you later in the hall" I said, not looking back. My heart still racing.

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Like arranged, Lauren was sat at a table in the main hall with one of the senior dancers and the stage was empty. Noah and I arrived in our costumes - I wearing a delicate pastel blue dress, and him in black and white.

"Alright Guys" Lauren said to us, looking down at her papers and then again at Noah and I on stage. "So you're performing a contemporary duet to Skinny Love - correct?" We nodded. Shortly after, the familiar chords of the song began.

I wasn't that nervous, Lauren was more of a friend than an instructor to me. Luckily, neither of us messed up the routine once, and we had the chemistry we needed. At the final position, we heard the song end, a couple of claps and we came out of our ending positions.

"Great, You will know on Monday if you get the duet!" Lauren said, and we both left.

But before I could go and get changed - Noah stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey" He put a gentle arm on my shoulder. "Thank you - For doing this."

"No problem" I smiled - and walked on.

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sorry for not updating sooner - I am trying to!

What did you think of this chapter - what about this chemistry?do you think they'll get the duet?

vote & comment - love you all!