A Love as Hard as This

Chapter 24

Richelle's Perspective:

It already felt so much different without Noah here. Empty even, and I felt the same. It honestly felt as if a piece of me was missing. It was so odd. Every time I turned around to talk to him, I had to remind myself that he wasn't here. And that he was my competition now.

Only one of us was going to make it to Regionals. And it was going to be me.

Lola came up to me after rehearsals and asked me if I wanted to go get a juice with her.

I quickly agreed. It would be great, Lola seemed like an amazing person, and it would help take my mind off of Noah and...everything else.

We went down to Neutral Grounds and ordered our drinks. When we waiting for them, Lola said, "What's up?" Her eyes were intuitive, as if she could see right through me.

"Life's just complicated right now." I answered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked sweetly.

"Not really." I responded. Lola accepted that pretty easily, and said that she was there for me if I ever changed my mind. I didn't think I ever would, but the thought was comforting.

We talked a little about her love life for a change. She told me about this guy named Kingston, on TNS West, and how she kinda liked him, but she didn't know what to do. She was worried about the tension between TNS East and West, and how she didn't want to cause trouble between them, and didn't want to be in a relationship with someone on another team.

I knew she didn't mean to hurt me, but it just reminded me of Noah and I being on separate teams.

Noticing my sad expression, Lola immediately said, "Oh, I'm sorry, that was so insensitive. I shouldn't have reminded you of Noah."

I replied that it was okay. "He's on another team, I'm not. I just have to accept that." I said.

Lola glanced towards the door and nudged my arm lightly. "Speak of the devil."

Noah was there, and he gestured for me to follow him into the hallway. I obliged.

"Hey," he said when I joined him.

"Hi," I mumbled. "How's rehearsals going?" I tried to start a conversation.

"Good."

Good. That's what we were reduced to. Everything was good.

"Right, well, I have to get back to Lola, but I'll see you later, Noah." I was anxious to get out of that conversation—if you could even call it that. Talking to him like this felt so strange. We could usually always find things to talk about, but now...

I hoped that we wouldn't always be like this, but as of right now, I didn't know.

——————

Noah's Perspective:

I went into the locker room disappointed after talking with Richelle. Things were so different. I noticed Jacquie packing up her bag and said a friendly hello.

"Noah, hi." she said. "How're you?"

"I'm really good. The new studio's kinda nice actually. It's much more lenient, and an overall pleasant environment." I replied.

"Yeah, that's not exactly what TNS East's like," she said giggling.

Why couldn't things be like this with Richelle? Lately, it seemed like the only conversations we had were when we were yelling at each other.

"You okay, Noah?" Jacquie asked. "You don't look so good."

"Things with Richelle just aren't going so great." I tell her truthfully. She asked why, and I told her most of the short version. She was really easy to talk to, I really felt like I could tell her everything. I used to feel that way about Richelle.

"That's too bad. I'm sorry about that." She moved closer to me on the bench, trying to put a comforting hand on mine.

I scooted away quickly and clutched my hand near my chest. "It's fine. Richelle and I are just in a rough spot. We'll be okay."

Then I left, feeling slightly uncomfortable...
about being too comfortable with her. Much more comfortable than I was with Richelle this morning. It probably means nothing, but what if it doesn't?

——————

Richelle's Perspective:

I got home a couple hours after hanging out with Lola extremely, extremely tired after a very long day. More tired that I'd ever felt in my life. I collapsed on my bed, but soon realized that I was supposed to call Noah.

I didn't really want to, but it would be nice to hear his voice. I dialed his number.

"Hey, Riche," he said when he answered.

"Hi, Noah." I said.

"Where were you this afternoon?" he asked.

I was so sick of these interrogations. Why did he have to know where I was all of the time? "Won't you just stop asking?"

"I'm trying, but you're not telling me anything." He defended.

"I have a reason." I said sternly. And I pressed the red button, hanging up the phone. I knew that I was being stubborn, but I didn't like fighting him, and I knew that this would've escalated in a fight.

I had a lot of reasons for not telling him. It was bugging me that he couldn't accept that.

Author's Note:
I have started and will continue to leave hints about what Richelle's secret is :)
Do you guys have any ideas what it is? Have you caught any of the hints so far?