Lost in the Middle

Eight

AN: Set around "Contemporary Contempt"-ish. The timeline gets a little weird again in these next few chapters. Also I went back and in the previous chapters that included text conversations I added images, mostly because I like the look better and there's a few places it makes more sense when there's images than if it's all just typed out (including chapter 1).

Richelle and Jacquie are in Shakes & Ladders after the contemporary auditions. Noah asked them to stay behind, and Richelle's trying to not overthink every possible scenario that he could want to talk to them about. Her mind is racing and she barely registers Jacquie sitting back down across from her at the table.

"Here," Jacquie pushes a brownie toward her.

Richelle pushes it back and shakes her head, "I can't eat it, but thanks."

"It's gluten-free. I asked like three times."

Richelle doesn't say anything for a long second and then she's around the table and almost knocks Jacquie out of her chair with a hug. "You remembered, I mean, I never explicitly told you, but you knew."

She's back in her own seat when Jacquie says, "We've gone out to eat together enough times that I've put some pieces together."

"Thank you. I—it means a lot, some people who've known for the past 10 years haven't tried that hard." She's stimming happily with her feet under the table.

They're mostly just talking about the various small groups for Regionals and Richelle laments about still not being featured in a dance. And she almost forgets that they're waiting for Noah to join them. Almost, there's still an undercurrent of nerves thrumming through her.

Finally though, Noah joins them in the café and he slides into the seat next to Jacquie. He looks nervous and it's really not helping Richelle's nerves, knowing that whatever he wants to talk to them about is also freaking him out. He sits there not saying anything for almost five minutes.

"Noah? Is everything okay?" Jacquie asks him, slightly concerned.

"I'm just trying to figure out the best way to put this, without making it sound really bad. It's not bad, at least, I hope it's not? Screw it, I like you Richelle, but I also still like Jacquie, and it's really confusing, but I think I'd like to maybe try dating both of you, because it kind of feels like we're already doing that, and—" Noah stops himself abruptly. He spoke so quickly that he wouldn't be sure either of them comprehended what he said if Richelle hadn't made an odd squeaking sound. "You guys don't have to decide right now or anything, but I've just been thinking about it for a while. I don't know, maybe this was a bad idea, springing it on you like this, but—"

This time it's Richelle cutting him off, "We need rules, and boundaries, and conversations, lots of conversations. Because if we do this we need to know what we're getting into."

Noah shakes his head, smiling a little at her, of course that's the first place she would go. Making sure there's rules in place because she likes rules and order.

"Is that your way of saying yes?" Jacquie asks hesitantly. "Because I think I might want that too. Or, I at least want to try."

Richelle nods slowly, "I'm okay with trying. But what is this going to look like? For us."

"I think for now things don't have to change all that much. We can take some time to process everything, and then in a few days or a week we can regroup and talk about rules and boundaries?"

"That sounds good to me." Richelle looks between the other two. Maybe things are going to work out okay for them after all.

***

The first few days after their "rules and boundaries" conversation it takes them some time to settle into their new relationships. They're still learning where they can be open with each other, for now TNS is off limits, but they're okay at Noah's house or Richelle's apartment. Jacquie's house though they try to be less obvious, especially if Davis is home, even if she doesn't say anything intentionally they want to keep this between themselves for now. Most things don't change, except they start calling "movie night" "date night" and they're all a little more open with affection, Richelle has to remind herself that she's allowed to hold them, she's wanted this for months now (years if she's talking about Noah), and it hasn't quite sunk in that it's real yet.

Among their many conversations in the following days, one of the biggest is who can know. They're all very aware of how unconventional this is, and of the fact that not everyone is going to be happy for them. Noah told his parents that he was thinking about asking them, so they know; Jacquie's not sure about telling her dad though. He's never had a problem with her been pansexual, but this is different.

Richelle told her sister as soon as she got home that night, after swearing her to secrecy. Even if she doesn't see her parents much anymore, this is something she definitely doesn't want getting back to them. They were already hesitant enough to let her live with Natalie in the first place, and even the fact that she's less than a year from turning 18 wouldn't stop them from trying to talk her into moving back in with them.

Emily knows too, none of them told her, but Richelle went to talk to her after rehearsal the day after, about auditions for the duet, and after Michelle left Emily asked her about it. "I'm happy for you. But they should know I'm not afraid to hurt them if they hurt you," Emily told her when she confirmed that something happened.

They're a little more careful about how they act around the studio, touches they wouldn't have thought twice about last week they analyze about how they could be interpreted by their teammates. And they don't want to get too comfortable and slip up. Every move at the studio, and Shakes & Ladders is calculated, and it's not quite jealousy that Richelle's feeling, because she knows that as soon as their in the safety of her apartment, or Noah's house, they get to be together, but it hurts seeing that Noah and Jacquie still get to be together, in public.

AN: It took 8 chapter and almost 10k words, but these three finally got together. I'll be publishing another chapter over the weekend either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning since it's pretty short and is basically the "what's going on at the studio" during all this.

Also I started a little one-shot series. It's mostly just scenes with these three that I really like, but they didn't fit in the larger story (or they take place years in the future)