Keep Your Shirt On, Noah 3

Darkness

Richelle anxiously tapped her nails on the inside of the car door as they drove. She silently watched the city go by as the sun set behind the tall buildings. She wondered where all the people on the street were going, and what their lives were all like. They probably were all less nervous than her, and probably weren't attached to a sketchy talent agency.

Noah hadn't said much, and both Richelle and Piper figured there was probably a lot going on in his head. He drove, nodding his head subconsciously to the tracks that would play on the radio. Now playing was Dangerous by Lauren Mandel and the lyrics seemed very apt to their situation. 

The scars they leave won't go away
They scratch and bite you
Dehumanize you
They cut you down
And it ends today

Piper was on her phone in the back seat of the car, searching for contract loophole tips and tricks, online. Every time she had to read a huge PDF file or online document, she would sigh and blink repeatedly as she read it, her eyes practically refusing to take in any more information. She hoped this would all be over soon and listened to the lyrics being sang into the car as it repeated 'dangerous' over and over again, almost like a warning.

Noah put on his indicator and turned onto another main road. They were around two minutes away from the street that Ratz's offices were on, which made Richelle sit up straight and begin to compose herself. Noah exhaled deeply, in frustration, now it had sunk in that this had all been a set up. "Did she say to go around the back or the front?" Noah asked Richelle, in a monotone voice, not looking forward to the confrontation they were about to have at the offices. 

Richelle looked at him, watching his expressions, but he didn't reveal much. She clicked her phone on, "Um... I'll ask..." 

Noah nodded slowly, and to prevent holding up the traffic, turned into a nearly empty car park. He drove to the space at the very back, in the corner, to be out of everyone else's way. There were only a couple other cars but he felt very paranoid of people watching him. Piper leaned forward onto the back of Richelle's seat and addressed Noah, "Apparently you should have had a copy of the contract as well as them?"

Noah looked upwards as though he was literally searching his brain, "Uh... I don't think they gave me one."

Richelle put her phone to her ear while Piper and Noah looked at the website that Piper had found. She waited as it rang, then heard a flustered voice answer, "Yes hello?"

Richelle hesitated, "Oh hi, it's Richelle again... I just wondered if the code you gave me-"

"The back doors."

Richelle froze and didn't respond. Something didn't seem right. She looked at Noah for help but he was busy reading, so she looked forward again, "Okay... We'll be there in a couple of minutes. Thank you." Without a goodbye, the woman on the other end hung up on her, so Richelle slowly moved her phone from her ear, and put it in her lap. 

Noah looked at her, "Front or back?"

Without expressing her worries, Richelle simply replied, "Back..." Noah nodded and started his engine again, but Richelle knew if she didn't say something, her mouth would do it for her, "Noah, the receptionist sounded really flustered and cut me off before I could even ask which gate it was."

Noah shrugged it off and pulled out of the parking space, "She probably is flustered! I reckon they've all told her we've sussed them out and now they're all panicking." Noah shook his head at how shady the company was and got into the line of traffic.

Piper chuckled, "They're probably getting big security men to guard the doors for when we barge in."

Noah laughed back at Piper and Richelle faked a chuckle, but she wasn't sure. This seemed dangerous.