Replacing Richelle

10. Something magical

Noah's POV:

I have something magical planned. Let's just hope everything goes right.

I know how much Richelle loves dance and I want to show her that I do listen to her. Even if she didn't speak to me for several months directly, I was still listening. Anyway, I was going to take her to the carnival, but it's freezing so instead we're going to watch one of the greatest dance competitions of all time. I just hope she enjoys it.

I knock on her door,already expecting Lola to answer. Richelle has always been a worrier and that's never changed. Richelle is inaudibly shouting something at Lola, but she just smiles at me.
"Give me a second." Then, Lola actually screams. Why? I have no idea. Either way, it worked because Richelle is down and more beautiful than ever.
"Wow!" Is all I manage to say. Lola winks at her, jokingly and decides to play the parental role since Richelle's parents are at work. Lola tells me I'm to have Richelle home by eleven and I nod. She laughs the most adorable laugh and I become slightly nervous. Lola said she'll like it, but what if she doesn't?
"So where are we going and why does Lola seem so sure about this outfit?" She's so excitable when she's nervous.
"You'll find out. To both questions." Her face scrunches up. She does not like surprises all that much.
"Lola knows! Doesn't she? And she didn't tell me? Ugh! Noah!" I walk a little before I take her hand and direct her around the corner. She squeals so I guess she knows where we are going.
"Are we actually?" I act confused because she's the cutest when she's excited.
"Actually what?" She rolls her eyes and then shakes my arm.
"Going to the first ever dance competition I did and the first duet we ever performed together at." She finally gets it.
"Looks like we are." I'm so happy to see her happy.
"You know, I won my solo here. I was a natural talent." I laugh at that because it's so true it hurts.
"Yes,you did. What else though?"
"My group placed third? It was because of that annoying boy that had to be centre the whole time. Didn't he fall out of his turns?" I've been trying to forget that group for years. Trust her to bring it up. My first love from that day was always her.
"No...we won something else that day." We did win our duet, which is kind of what I'm hinting at, but also at our friendship.
"Oh! The duet. It just slipped my mind for a second there." I chuckle at her again. I swear that's all I've done so far.
"That was also the day I realised I loved you. Maybe I didn't know what type of love it was then, but I definitely do now." She looks at me and I honestly could've kissed her right there, but I promised myself I'd make it special. Which is why we're performing a duet as guests. She doesn't know that yet. Let's just hope she doesn't hate me afterwards. When we get to the venue, Richelle will be there for the first half of the competition and then I'll tell her about the duet. That's when she's going to go get her (already prepared in our dressing room) costume on.

Richelle's POV:

We finally arrive at the auditorium and I cannot be more excited. Noah has chosen the one place that means more to me than words could ever say. One of my favourite places that I honestly think about when I'm stressed or overwhelmed. It just feels...right. After this, I know Noah is the one I want to be with.

I quickly take a bathroom break, honestly just to get my head around this idea of Noah being my boyfriend. It's so hard to understand. I mean, yesterday I was barely even speaking to him, but today feels so good. I'm just so happy I can say I have him in my life again. I think Lola might've noticed it too. The way she looked at me earlier, when I was telling her everything that happened, was like a best friend would. Maybe she is my best friend. Well, one of them. No matter what, Noah's always been my best friend.

"So you feel better now?" Noah smiles, I nod. We take our seats and listen to all the names of upcoming dancers. There's this one girl, I believe her name's Eva, who really stands out to me. Even though I wished she could've come to TNS so that we could train her, she doesn't live anywhere near here. I honestly can't believe how incredible she is, especially for her age. I think I was pretty good on J Troupe, but this girl would probably be able to replace me. Me! Noah looks at me in awe and I can't believe how lucky I am. Until...he tells me something that makes my stomach hurt.
"So I know this is probably not your typical first date, but that was my aim. To make this even weirder, I've signed us up for a showcase duet. We'll just do our trio as a duet. It was made to be a duet,remember." I smile at how appreciative he is, but there's butterflies burying my stomach and changing it into liquid. I'm so nervous.

We get changed. I'm wearing a beautiful blue leotard with a skirt attached around the waist. It's so pretty and shimmering and I just feel so grateful. I keep asking myself how I got so lucky? I still don't know.

Noah's POV:

We go on the stage. I'm so proud of her. She's amazing. Beautiful. Indescribable. I whisper to her and we begin. I'm performing my best. I've had all the extra training from partnering with Amy, but Richelle has only rehearsed the trio. Okay, so it's official, this girl has no bones. She bends herself in half, despite the injuries and nails it. I look at her, and as she tries to walk away-which usually completes the dance-I turn her around and before she has chance to protest, I connect my lips with hers. We walk off stage and she squeals. We got and change and that's when I tell her.
"We're presenting the awards." She's delighted. It's something she's always wanted to do and she looks stunning. Lola really did get the clothes right. She smiles as she presents and eventually, it comes up to this girl we had our eyes on.
The announcer tells us that this is also nominated for not only a special award, but also the highest scoring performance of the day.
"So with a perfect score-which also means this dancer qualifies for the championships-is Eva with River!" I see Richelle's face light up. I've never seen her like this before. I hear her whisper something to the smaller girl and she nods. I wonder what that was about.

A/N: I wanted to break this date up a little bit so that you can kind of see both perspectives. That, and I'm so excited for this next chapter.

At the top is the performance by Eva because she is so amazing. Her name is Eva Igo and she's one of the best dancers I've ever watched (along with Briar Nolet, of course)

That's all for now.