Nochelle - Our Stories

P L U S

~Season 7~ (or later if we ignore Emily leaving)

Plus.

A little, tiny, green plus had flipped Richelle Nolet's world upside down by just... appearing on a piece of plastic.

She was currently standing by the girls' bathroom sink, holding onto it with both hands like her life depended on it. Her hands were slowly turning white from the pressure, the blood flow blocked by both the enormous shock and her intense leaning against the white porcelain. Slowly, almost like it'd go away if she just gave it a bit more time, her gaze wandered back to the piece of pink and white plastic.

Still Plus.

Then her gaze drifted back to the mirror to face herself. Unusually pale; scared; shaking. Though she'd been much less attached to her intricate life plans ever since her and Noah finally got together—becoming enormously less uptight with him around—this was not happening at the right time. Especially right now when Noah was almost 500 miles away filming a Steven Spielberg Movie in New York. Just the thought of their long distance situation made her feel weepy. Not to mention, her sister was also half way across the world touring for the next four months. Just as her life was starting to become calm, after all of the injuries, failed relationships and drama, she finally had Noah, and then the call came. He had got the part.

Obviously she urged him to go, he would have done the same if the tables were turned. It didn't seem so bad at first, she was busy with Nationals, they could FaceTime; they had waited so long to be together, what was a few more months. Then Michelle left, and now, alone and afraid, she had gotten herself into this mess. For god's sake, they were going to get an apartment together, live their dreams in New York after she won Nationals, then Internationals, maybe even get a goddamn PUPPY.

But fate and this stupid stick had other plans, causing Richelle to learn what pain really felt like. Because here she was in the bathroom, all alone; and then again not, there was apparently another little human—her and Noah's little human—growing inside of her. Her breaths grew closer and closer together causing her chest to collapse, feeling the calmness and confidence Noah had helped her grow over the past year slowly leave her body within seconds.

"Richelle!" She heard her supplement sister's voice calling out from the other side of the closed door. Emily had used her lunch break to buy and then bring her panic-attack-ridden friend the pregnancy test, but had spent the last 5 minutes unknowing of what the result and state of Richelle actually was, having been asked to guard the door. "Are you okay?" Her voice was unusually calm and sweet, a tone she reserved for only the closest to her—namely Riley, Michelle and the uncomfortably silent younger girl she was talking to at that moment. Richelle could sense that she genuinely was concerned by her tone, yet she froze, unable to get herself to move nor speak.

"That's it. I'm coming in!"

And in Emily did come. She pushed open the door, locking it behind her as to deter any unwanted intruders, only to see her friend's trembling figure from behind, still cramped over the white sink. Neither spoke for a moment after that, Emily frozen in shock, until Richelle's legs suddenly seemed to break beneath her weight.

"Shit!" Luckily the studio head was quick to lurch forward and catch the falling body by its waist. No other words needed to be said in order for the conclusion to be known.

Plus.

"Damn it, Richelle..." She carefully sat down on the cold, white tiled floor with, allowing the girl's body to fall and rest against her chest, curling tightly into her side, eyes wide with a fear Emily had never seen on her. Logically, Emily knew that it wasn't her words that caused the reaction as Richelle had basically grown up with her blunt, harsh language, but as soon as the words left her mouth, the tears toppled over the edge, spilling all over her cheeks and Emily's left shoulder. Richelle just burrowed further as though in attempt to escape the realities beyond the safety of Emily's (newly soaked) red cardigan.