A Love as Hard as This

Chapter 22

Noah's Perspective:

I got into rehearsals the next day, and Richelle was nowhere to be seen. I looked around to see everyone clearly thinking the same thing. Where was she?

She never missed rehearsals. The only time that I could remember her not coming in was that day when we became friends. Never before, never again. Until now.

I wondered if she was okay. She had seemed to be in good spirits yesterday, until moments before she left, so I assumed she was fine. But what if she wasn't? What if something had happened, what if she had gotten hurt, what
if—

"Sorry I'm late," Richelle said loudly, so everyone could hear her. Her hair was down and not done, and she had her phone in one hand.

Emily said gently, "Richelle, you're the Dance Captain and you normally respect my rules, so I'm going to let this slide. You need to put your phone away, get your hair up, and take your spot. This better not happen again."

"It won't. I promise." Richelle sputtered quickly. I tried to nudge her from the side to ask her where she was, but she shrugged me off and went to the front of the room.

Throughout the rehearsal, I tried the same thing multiple times, and she kept ignoring me, so I eventually stopped. I didn't get and answer all day, and when rehearsals was over, she stormed out of the room.

I knew I wouldn't catch her, so I cooled down with a long stretch instead. My lunges, my back, and I even did some footwork at the ballet bar. No one was here, so I used the time as well as I could.

While I was stretching, I thought about everything. Why wasn't Richelle listening to me, or speaking to me, or acknowledging my existence? I was so confused. Why was she sneaking off all the time, and busy all the time, with no explanation? It was so strange, so unusual for her. And I didn't think I didn't anything wrong. Plus, usually when I did, she'd confront me on it. She was never a subtle person.

Thinking about her hurt, because I didn't understand anything. She was clearly hurting. Something was clearly wrong, but there was nothing I could do about it because I didn't know what.

I decided to try her house again. Maybe she'd be there? I missed talking to her, I missed us. I was going to try and get us back.

When I got there, I tried the door and it was open—Richelle never seemed to lock it. I didn't know why, she was one of the most cautious people I'd ever met. Lots of things didn't make sense. There was a sound of crying when I stepped inside, coming from her bathroom, so I left her alone. She probably didn't want me here, but I couldn't just leave her alone.

So I wandered into what I assumed was her parents room. It looked like the gigantic bed in the middle of the room hadn't been touched in years, which was most likely an accurate depiction. Never one had I known them to be home, Richelle was always alone.

On the nightstand beside the bed, I noticed a picture frame. It was old: there were cracks and scuffs in the glass and smudges on the frame. The picture was of a small girl, and a young woman who looked remarkably like Richelle. Her mother.

Mrs Kelly looked different that I'd imagined. I guess I expected her to have a cross or bored expression, but she didn't. Instead, she looked as though in that moment, she was the happiest in her life. Her green eyes were wide with excitement and happiness, and admiration at her little daughter beside her.

Young Richelle was the same. More joyful than I'd ever seen her. She was hugging her mother and looked like she was laughing. They were in a beach setting, perhaps a family vacation or trip to the beach.

After studying it for a little while, I turned around to see a very angry Richelle standing in the doorway. Her arms were crossed against her chest, and her cheeks pursed with her eyes narrowed at me. Like the first day we'd met. Back when I wondered if she ever even smiled.

The picture proved she did, but her expression was far from the picture now. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I just wanted to check up on you. See if you were okay, and you're clearly not given that you were crying in the bathroom." I said.

"You don't know anything. Leave me alone." She started walking away, but I stopped her, grasping her arm and pulling her back.

"I won't—"

She cut me off by yelling, "Just do it! Pleads just do something that I ask for once and go away! I can deal with this. On my own."

I was flabbergasted. She never yelled, never at me, at least. I was hurt. Trying to help led to this. I didn't even know what to do anymore. I ran out of the room and house, not looking back.

——————

The next day in rehearsals, it was unbelievably awkward between us. Emily put us in positions at the beginning of the class, and we were right beside each other, even doing lifts. Luckily, I didn't drop her, but she didn't make it easy to accomplish that. She wasn't holding herself, giving me nothing to work with. She wasn't acting like the Richelle I knew anymore, at all. I missed her.

Within the last 5 minutes, I heard Emily and Michelle arguing. What a surprise. They were always yelling at each other. I moved a little closer to hear them, and learned that Michelle only had 9 dancers. But the competition between the two teams was tomorrow.

Emily was fighting a smile off, knowing that that would mean they would have to forfeit. But I thought it was unfair. Why should we win because of that? That's when I realized that we didn't have to. And they didn't hand to forfeit either.

I walked into Emily's office with my head held high. "I'm going to be joining Michelle's troupe." I announced.

Emily's jaw dropped. She looked like she could've slapped me across the face right there and then, but Michelle was the complete opposite. She smiled widely at me, and mouthed a thank you. I smiled back.

I didn't really feel at home at TNS East anymore. Michelle's troupe, with my old friends and my old teammates running it, I knew I would find a home there.

Then a small voice said, "What?" from the door.

Author's Note:
Sorry about that cliffhanger, I love them far too much :)
And thank you so, so much for 1000 reads!