tns oneshots

Boyfriend

He was supposed to be her boyfriend. And yes, Jacquie knew that saying that made her sound insanely jealous. But all she wanted was for him to care about her. And not almost every other girl.

It had been weird when it was Amy. She got it, she knew nothing was going on between them, and nothing ever would. She didn't have to convince herself, she knew that. They were trying to take down Ms Angela and keep Piper on the team, they were friends. Obviously. But sometimes he'd look at Amy the way he looked at her. The way he used to look at her. But it was fine. Because Emily and Michelle came back, and Piper came back, and Noah and Amy stopped hanging out as much.

But then came the niggling feeling at the back of her mind that he liked Piper. Which was stupid. Even more ridiculous than him liking Amy. Because they had always been close friends, they had known each other for years. She knew that. But he cared so much. He gave up his dance captaincy for a chance that she could stay on the team. Not a certainty, a chance. He helped her with her aerial. And then she still voted him off the team. And yes, he was hurt but he wasn't mad. He even understood why she had done it. She knew they didn't actually like each other, but still. It hurt just a little bit.

With Summer it was worse. He treated her like some sort of goddess. Like she was perfect. From day one they were friends. He complimented her turns. And yes, that shouldn't have bothered her. But it wouldn't have if it wasn't for the fact that he never complimented her. He took Summer's side when she got front row centre, even though it realistically should have been him. She and Richelle were right when they said Summer wasn't the best on the team, but then again, they weren't either. He ratted them out when they were complaining about Summer. Again, taking Summer's side over hers. And he had spent so long helping Summer work on her solo for the five point advantage in the solo competition. And yes, maybe that was his job as dance captain. But he actually massaged her shoulders when she looked stressed out waiting for the results. Even Summer had thought that was weird. But then Summer and Noah stopped hanging out, because Summer had Henry and, well Jacquie wished she could say that Noah had her but she really wasn't sure if that was true anymore.

Davis had hurt a lot. From when she first took Noah around to meet her family, Noah and Davis had been friends. At the start she had been thrilled that her boyfriend and her sister got along so well. But the doubt crept in when Davis joined A Troupe. And suddenly them texting once a week turned into FaceTime calls every evening. It turned into inside jokes and nicknames. It turned into Noah bailing on their dates to hang out with Davis. Davis was right when she said Jacquie didn't want her at The Next Step. But it wasn't because she didn't love Davis. It was because she was afraid Noah did.

But through it all, from the very first time she had met Noah, there had been Richelle. She had seen their relationship deteriorate, she had seen them go from best friends to teammates in the course of a few months. Honestly, she had been glad. If they didn't like each other, there was no chance of Noah leaving her for Richelle. But even though the two weren't friends anymore, it was obvious that he liked her. It was the way he looked at her, the way they still had inside jokes, the way he knew her better than anyone else did. Better than he knew anyone else, including her. It was more painful than anything she had ever been through.

Which was why despite it being painful, deciding to break up with Noah as he moved on from The Next Step was one of the easiest decisions to make. She said she couldn't hold him back, and he took that as she couldn't tie him to the studio. When in reality, she couldn't hold him back from finding love, because it was clear that he never loved her. Even if he thought he did. Because if he had, there wouldn't have been all those other girls. He had never loved her. Even though he was supposed to be her boyfriend.

Firstly, a story finally went the way I wanted it too. But it also made me want to cry. I have never been more sympathetic towards Jacquie in my life. And this isn't even canon - not really anyway

tns_egirl