Keep Your Shirt On, Noah 3

Unexpectation

2 WEEKS LATER

Noah waved to Henry as he left the locker room after their rehearsal. Today had been the first day he had fully danced, as Michelle and Emily had insisted he rest his body after everything he had been through. Luckily, the worst of his injuries had been a cracked rib, and for Richelle a sprained ankle, though she had got back to dancing immediately. She was currently sat stretching on the floor, even though everyone had stopped cooling down around ten minutes ago. Looking through his bag to find his deodorant, Noah smiled to himself, turning to his best friend who was now getting herself up. "Richelle..." She flicked her head and looked at him. He pulled a $5 note out of the bag and wiggled it, "Do you want a milkshake?"

Richelle shook her head and smiled, "No thanks." She went over to her dance bag and began pulling fresh clothes out of it, as well as her hair brush.

Noah insisted, "I'll pay?"

Richelle chuckled, "No, I'm fine thank you." She clicked her phone screen on and widened her eyes at the time it showed. Exhaling and pretending everything was fine, Richelle swiftly ran the brush through her hair and grumbled at the fact she'd been stretching for so long without realising. 

Noah frowned. Why was she acting so unusual? Refusing free milkshakes, thinking she'd stretched for too long and now rushing around? 

Noah watched her throw the brush back into her bag once she was satisfied, and then hold her black jeans against herself, checking them over. He watched her then pick up a fresh tank top and head for the washrooms, but Noah cleared his throat. Richelle looked back but was confused. She shrugged, "What?"

Noah pointed at the outfit, adding everything up, "Are you going on a date?"

Richelle looked at the clothes, then back at him. She pulled a face, "If I was going on a date I wouldn't have scheduled it after a rehearsal, Noah. I'd spend about two hours getting ready. 

Noah frowned again, "So why the change of clothes? And you refused a milkshake..." 

Richelle laughed at him jumping to conclusions and took a step backwards, "I am meeting someone, but it's not a date. I'll tell you in a sec." She turned around and went to get changed, leaving Noah confused and thinking. Richelle didn't have many friends, so it was quite hard to narrow down the possible people she could be meeting with. He stopped and wondered, maybe it was a counsellor? She had said she was going to consider seeing someone because she was having the same nightmare of Hector chasing her, every night. Noah thought maybe he should drop the subject to avoid possibly embarrassing her. 

He picked his dance bag up off the floor and aimlessly wandered around. He was ready to leave, but obviously now Richelle was planning on telling him something, he couldn't exactly just walk out.  

Richelle's phone vibrated a few times on the bench, which got Noah's attention. It continued to buzz, and he saw that someone was calling her, but they hung up before he had a chance to read the screen. Noah called to her, "Richelle, your phone rang!" 

She didn't answer him. 

Once again, her phone began to buzz, this time notifying a text. He wavered and could hear his curious nature telling him to read it, but his sensible head told him otherwise. Noah sighed, giving in, and walked over just to check it wasn't an important message. He picked Richelle's phone up off the bench and typed in her passcode, 270798. They chilled on each others phones all the time, it wasn't a big deal. Neither of them had anything to hide. 

Or maybe she did.

Someone named 'J' had called her twice today and they'd had a conversation, but the messages didn't reveal much about his identity. Whoever he was, he was pretty desperate... He had messaged her things like 'I'm going to try really hard this time' and 'I know I messed up but I want to make it up to you'. Noah laughed - who is that clingy?! He put her phone back on the bench and decided he didn't have anything to worry about.