Unfaithful

Chapter 26: Jacquie

I'm sitting in Neutral Grounds, waiting for Noah to arrive. He's late for our date, and honestly, I'm pretty annoyed at him for it. Does he seriously have so little respect for me that he's willing to leave me here sitting by myself. Every rehearsal since he's dumped Richelle, he's spent the whole time looking at her. Watching her. Like what the hell? I'm meant to be his girlfriend, not her. I thought things would get better once we became official but everyone hates me even more now, and I'm not even sure Noah still likes me. Maybe I was right, maybe it was never me he liked, but actually the cheating and the secrecy of the whole thing. I glance at my phone. He's 12 minutes late, and still no text. I'll wait three minutes, then I'm leaving. And he better have a really good excuse for why he's late. I wait the three minutes somewhat patiently but he doesn't show. How nice of him. I get up and throw my cup in the bin, then walk off to the locker room. I sit down on the bench, trying to comfort myself. He's probably just busy. His phone must be dead. Maybe he just forgot. But then he walks into the locker room.

"What the hell Noah?" I say. I'm speaking quietly but I'm furious and I know he can tell. "What?" he replies nervously, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "Our date? What, did you just forget?" "No, I was just coming now" he laughs. "Really, you were just going to come twenty minutes late without texting?" "Yeah, I was just working on the choreo with West and Richelle, I really needed to get it." When I hear him say Richelle's name, I kind of tune out. How dare he? That's his ex girlfriend, yet he clearly likes her more than me. I grab my stuff. "You know, Noah, if you like Richelle that much and want to be with her, you shouldn't have cheated on her with me." I go to leave the room, but he grabs my arm lightly as I pass him and pulls me around to face him. "Is that what this is about?" he asks softly, brushing my cheek with his thumb. I take a step away and he looks slightly hurt but I don't care. "Is that what whats about, Noah?" "I love you Jacquie. Not Richelle. I'm sorry for leaving you stranded at Neutral Grounds but you know how serious West is about practising, and Richelle has her stupid no phones policy in the studio." He steps towards me again, taking my hand and tracing patterns on it with his thumb. This time I don't pull away. "I don't love Richelle, ok? She's nothing to me, I never loved her." I hear footsteps out in the hall, but no one comes in. "I love you Jacquie" Noah finishes quietly, cupping my cheek and kissing me softly. "I love you too" I smile. "Sorry for being so silly about everything." "Don't worry about it" he laughs. "Can I buy you a coffee to make up for missing our date?" "Yeah, I'd like that" I smile back at him as he takes my hand. I feel better now, I was just overthinking things. Noah always knows how to calm me down, and that's one of the things I love about him. I wouldn't give what we have up for anything in the world. It's a pity Richelle had to get hurt, but to be honest, I think it was all worth it.