Unfaithful

Chapter 14: Noah

I'm sitting in Neutral Grounds waiting for Jacquie. We're meant to be getting coffees, but she's running late. So I'm just scrolling through social media while simultaneously listening to other people's conversations. They're not very interesting. I sip on my coffee. I don't particularly like coffee, but I'm not a fan of hot drinks in general. I don't know who decided coffee was better for a dance studio then juice, but they weren't very smart.

"Hey Noah!" Lola slides into the seat across from me. "Hey Lola" I mutter. I saw her talking to Richelle last night, and I'm pretty sure she's into her. Richelle's my girlfriend and I don't want her trying to break us up. Lola glares at me until I reluctantly turn off my phone and look at her, sighing in annoyance. She looks annoyed too, but takes a breath and smiles. It almost reaches her eyes.

"Look, what you did last night wasn't cool..." she begins. "What I did? What about what you did?" I interrupt. "Flirting with my girlfriend, taking her home. You have no right to lecture me after that." "I don't like your girlfriend" Lola says, mock patiently. "And how dare you say we were flirting. I took her home because she was upset after you spent the whole evening flirting with Jacquie!" "Me? Flirting with Jacquie?" I laugh harshly. "You're ridiculous. Stop making up lies and start getting your own life instead of trying to steal mine." Lola looked furious. "Maybe stop flirting with Jacquie and start focusing on your girlfriend" she hissed, standing up and stalking off.

I sigh as she leaves, rubbing a hand over my eyes. First Henry, now her. I used to be well liked. I doubt I am anymore. I glance at my phone. Jacquie's half an hour late, it's obvious by now she's not coming. I can't wait any longer, anyway, or I'll be late to rehearsal. I stand up, bin my coffee and am on my way up the stairs when Ozzy catches up with me. "Hey bro" he pants, breathless from running. "Hey dude" I respond. I'm trying to be nice because honestly, I don't think I can afford to burn any more bridges. We just make small talk on the way to Studio One, although I can tell from Ozzy's tone he's not happy with me either. Great.

We get to rehearsals and Richelle starts on the dot. Jacquie's already there, and she tells me during warm up her bus was late. I guess she wasn't avoiding me, then. Richelle pushes us hard. She critiques everyone but me. I know it's not because I'm dancing that well, it's because she's not looking at me. I can add that to the ever growing list of problems I need to sort out. When Richelle's in the middle of a lecture after a particularly bad run through, Jacquie catches my eye and grins at me. I wink back, then we both turn to Richelle. It was only a second but it felt like more. I shake my head to clear my mind, because I can't think about that. I need to forget about kissing Jacquie. No matter how good it felt.