It won't keep us apart

Chapter 2: Now isn't the best time

Richelle's POV

Noah?

Feeling confused, I break our gaze. I recognised him the moment I heard him. He was wearing a casual black jacket with faded blue jeans and his favourite kicks. Yeah, I know him well enough to remember his favourite shoes. I thought he wouldn't bother about visiting me, but I'd say now isn't the best time to see me. After the news I received from Lola, I kind of want to be alone now.

One of the doors of the check-up rooms open.

A head pops out from the doorway. "Do we have Richelle here?"

I stand up, placing the magazine down and ignoring the fact that Noah called my name first.

"Yes, that's me." I shakily reply.

The doctor nods. "Okay, please come on in."

Noah's POV

The doctor shuts the door once Richelle steps into the room. I sit down onto a chair nearby and wait.

I can't believe Richelle would just ignore me like that. She clearly knew that I was there. I mean, I called out for her when I saw her there. But I guess the appointment was weighing down her mind, so she was too busy thinking about it. We haven't talked lately, but I know that she's on a recovery path now

I sigh and mutter, "Girls."

Things between Jacquie and I are all good now; we aren't arguing as much as we used to anymore. Yesterday we went out to the new restaurant in town. I loved it, even though I accidentally spilled a bit of my soup on my lap. Gosh, I was so embarrassed. Whereas Jacquie, she found it highly amusing. Well, she gave me her jumper to hide the evidence of the spill. I'm glad she had it, otherwise who knows what could've happened to me...

A door clicks open nearby, and I sit up straight, quietly hoping it was Richelle. But it wasn't. I exhale and relief washes over me. I slide back down in my chair. Turns out there aren't many people waiting here at the hospital at this hour. Most of the seats are vacantly waiting for someone to sit there.

Five minutes later, another door opens. Richelle. I lift my hand up at her in a semi wave when she turns to glance at me. All I see on her face is a neutral expression. It's hard to read her emotions when she's like that. I thought we just saw each other not long ago. Maybe she heard some bad news from the doctor.

Richelle approaches the main desk as I get up from my chair to walk to her. She goes through a few things with the receptionist briefly. From how her shoulders tense, I know she can feel my presence as I wait patiently behind her.

Once she finishes, she turns around and meets me in the eyes.

"Richelle, I-" I start.

She quickly shakes her head and hisses, "Not here Noah."

Then, she takes me by the arm and leads me out the door with her.

We step out of the building into the cool autumn air and she drags me further away from the hospital. She freezes for a moment, her face appearing concentrated on something. I notice the glow of determination in her eyes. The air of certainty emitting from her.

Richelle snaps her attention to me and I divert my eyes from her. She raises her eyebrows confusedly but carries on turning around the corner. I'm kind of glad she didn't question me, but I'm curious what she would have said about what just happened.

"Okay, we can talk here if that's alright with you?" she asks me nervously, releasing her hand from my arm.

I nod. "I just wanted to say that things are different without you at the studio."

Richelle crosses her arms across her chest. "Oh really? Sure it is."

Taken aback by her harshness, I narrow my eyes at her. "Hey, don't be like that."

She frowns at me - probably contemplating whether talking to me was a good idea or not. Instead, I decide to tell her about the studio - that quite a few people have left. Zara, Josh and Lola chose to leave, moving on to a new chapter of their lives. Richelle's gaze drops to the ground when I mention Lola.

I reach out and put my hand on her shoulder. "What's up? Did something happen between you two?"

Richelle twitches under my touch but doesn't move away. She lifts her gaze up from the ground and shakes her head slowly. "No, we're fine."

"Richelle." I say warningly, knowing that she's hiding something from me. I try to look at her in the eyes, but she simply refuses to make eye contact with me.

Richelle blinks, bringing her eyes to meet mine. "What Noah? I just-" her voice cracks ever so slightly.

I see her eyes are shining with tears, and she's desperately trying to hold it all together. Poor Richelle. I wrap my arms around her and take her into my embrace. Sometimes you don't need words to calm someone down. Whatever she's going through right now, I can see how much it holds her down. 

She shoves me away. Startled, I take a step back. Richelle avoids my eyes and brushes a tear away from her cheek.

With pain etched on her face, she stutters, "I-I'm sorry Noah. I gotta head off now," and then she turns to go.

I open my mouth to speak, but it's too late now. I clamp my mouth shut and run my hand through my hair anxiously. I could've helped her. Instead she just brushed me off. 

What happened? I freeze. Oh damn. That moment before? I completely forgot that things were still icy between us. Feeling defeated, I head back to my car and drive off. 

A/N: Turns out Noah was here to visit Richelle, but do you think they will talk again to smooth things out? Stay tuned for the next chapter (there'll be a change of scenery fyi). Although I think you guys won't really like what happens in the first half of the chapter tbh. After that paragraph earlier in this chapter about Jacquie and Noah...

You'll see when I upload it ;)

Btw school starts next week for me, so my updates might be slower than usual depends on how much work I get.