Keep Your Shirt On, Noah 3

Leap of Faith

The next day at 2pm, Noah sat in Shakes and Ladders with Lola, sipping his smoothie and scrolling through the internet on his phone. She had just been to a stretch class and he was meant to be relaxing after teaching baby ballet, but he was just stressing himself out. He had been searching for information on Hector's talent agency, but there was nothing. No address, no company phone number, no current people working there... He continued to search, when a reply text from Richelle popped up at the top of his screen:

'Yeah sure. I've got a meeting now so i'll talk to u later.'

This caused Noah to sigh again. Since Hector had chosen Richelle for this magazine shoot, she hadn't spoken to him much, almost like she wasn't allowed to. She'd been at the agency since 8am this morning and still hadn't had a break, so when Noah asked her over text if she wanted to meet up later to discuss her day, he presumed she'd be excited. Instead she had just replied 'Yeah sure'. 

Lola picked up on his stress and rubbed his shoulder, "What's up?"

"Just Richelle..."

Lola smiled, still in shock that her best friend had won the audition and gotten an interview with Ratz talent agency. Unlike a couple of the other dancers, she wasn't bitter that she hadn't been chosen to audition herself, she was just happy for Richelle. She teased Noah, "You jealous because you didn't win?"

"Of course I'm not." He snapped, irritated that Lola couldn't see what he saw. "It just doesn't seem right..."

Lola saw past Noah's irritable tone because she knew that Noah was smart. His irritation must have stemmed from something, so she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure..." Noah slumped back in his seat and was still annoyed that there was something unknown bugging him about this whole situation. 

Lola watched him as his brain went into overdrive. She was very intrigued by it all. Just as she was about to ask a question, her phone vibrated, "Oh, I've gotta go Noah, my dad's here. If you wanna talk just message me okay?"

Noah nodded, "Yeah sure, thanks Lola."

Lola got her stuff together and headed out, leaving Noah to continue his search. He decided to go on The Next Step's website and see if Ratz was listed as a co-working business, but before he could check, Michelle sat opposite him and took one of his grapes from his pot. "These look good." She popped it into her mouth and smiled.

Noah chuckled and turned his screen off, putting his phone on the table, "Indeed."

After a couple chews, Michelle swallowed the grape, "What's up Noah? You seemed distracted teaching the little ones today, and you don't seem much better now."

Noah sighed and rubbed his forehead, "I'm just trying to get some information on the guy who came yesterday. He gave me a business card but its just got his personal phone number on, not a work number. There's also nothing online about him."

Michelle overlooked the fact there was little context to the guy, "He gave you a card? Is he interested in you?"

Noah nodded, "He wanted me to call them last night but I wasn't sure about it. I like to do my research first you know?"

Michelle nodded, "Well why don't you ask Richelle what it's like?"

Agitated, he replied, "She can barely reply to my messages, she's so busy. If this is what being professionals is like then I'm not sure I want us to ever leave the studio." Noah looked down and ate one of his grapes miserably. 

Michelle chuckled as she watched him strop, "Noah..." He looked up, "Richelle's just busy! Yeah maybe Ratz is a little unorganised and not advertised well, but it's an opportunity at the end of the day." Noah gave a half smile, to show he was listening and appreciating Michelle's advice. She continued, "Sometimes you have to create opportunity for yourself, and take a leap of faith."