The Next Step A-Z One Shots 4

Hello, Again-Nomanda

DESCRIPTION: Noah and Amanda rekindle their relationship after coming back from their respective tours.
WHAT TO READ: N/A
DATE PUBLISHED: 05/10/20

a/n Welcome back to another chapter! As always don't forget to comment what you want to see next and let me know what you think. I hope you guys enjoy!

Noah and Amanda were finally returning to Toronto after many months on their tours. The Next Step was heading off the Internationals, and most of the original Internationals team was returning to wish them luck before they flew across to England to compete.

Noah was the first to arrive, something the team was really happy about. But as Noah looked around the room, he couldn't help but notice this wasn't the team who he'd won Regionals with. Gone were Jacquie, Ozzy, Richelle and Kenzie: instead there was Heath, Lily, Amy, Presley and three other people Noah didn't think he knew (assumably people from B-Troupe). But that wasn't the only change, there was also a new studio head: Nick. He seemed nice enough during the phone call Noah had received inviting him back to the studio, and the team seemed to like him so that was a positive.

"Oh, Noah, we forgot to introduce you to Izzy, Pete and Grace," Piper tells him before pushing the three "newbies" forward.

"Hey," Noah says singling out the girl with the glasses. "You look familiar."

"Bro. That's Ozzy's little sister, Izzy," Finn informs him as he puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey," Izzy says, "you're that guy who won Internationals."

Noah nods, not wanting the attention of A-Troupe going to Internationals again being drawn away.

"Sup, dude. I'm Pete," the boy among the trio says before reaching out to shake Noah's hand.

"Sup, bro," Noah replies shaking Pete's hand back.

"I'm Grace," the other girl says before stepping back in line with the rest of the team.

"Alright guys, enough with the chit-chat," a British man says stepping out of the office - Noah assumes he's Nick. "The others will be arriving soon!"

This comment made the volume of the conversations rise with excitement as Nick struggled to quite them.

"Guys!" Noah shouted out, forcing the team to stop talking. "Wait for the others to arrive before we start the party."

Nick seems impressed by how well Noah handled the team, with the 12 dancers deciding to be quite deciding to instead whisper. He seemed to be dance captain, or even studio head, material.

Soon the rest of the team arrived: James and Riley heading straight over to Piper and Finn striking up a conversation; Michelle arrived with Emily causing another bout of excitement from the team seeing their old studio heads again; West and Stephanie soon arrived with Eldon and Thalia; Giselle then arrived and not long after She came.

Noah couldn't look away when she walked into the room. Sure, they had broken up over a year ago - but Noah's lingering feelings couldn't be deterred. Making his way over to the girl, he hugged her. "Hey, Amanda." The hug made the boy feel complete, something that hadn't been fulfilled in a long time.

"Hi Noah," Amanda replies as the two pull away before she places a soft kiss on his cheek and making her way over to Giselle who is introducing herself to the new members of A-Troupe.

"Dude," Henry says scaring Noah. "Amanda, again?"

"Always," Noah tells his best friend as his gaze lingers on the girl he'd let go of a long time ago. Why did his feelings remain after all this time? He should've moved on: she probably has.

---

Sitting at one of the benches, Noah watches as his former teammates dance around the room. B-Troupe had been invited to the party as had James's band, so not only was the room filled with dancers, but the music echoing through the studio allowed everyone to move around and show off their party moves.

Finn and Piper and doing their big-fish-little-fish dance which they had introduced the team to during the escape room, and everyone else was either following their moves or having their own conversations.

But as Noah watches his best friend dance it out, he feels a presence beside him. Expecting it to be Henry, he looks up, but upon seeing who it is, he freezes.

"Can we talk?" Amanda asks before sitting next to Noah. Now they had to talk, whether he wanted to or not.

"I guess," Noah mumbles realising there's no way out of talking to his ex. What was she going to tell him? Maybe she's going to say she's dating someone else and that she wants him to get over her - though it could be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to do. Maybe she just wants to be civil, after all, the way things had ended between the two hadn't been the best - she ran from Regionals without telling him or the team and refused to answer any of his calls (even though they had been solid before then).

"I know you still like me," here it comes, Noah thinks shaking his head, the 'get over me, I've moved on' conversation. "Which I'm glad about."

"Wait what?" Noah asks taken aback by the confession. Had she also held onto these feelings for this past one-and-a-half-years? "How long?"

"Since I left. I didn't mean to hurt you," she promised him before clasping his hand. "I was rushed off to the airport as soon as I met with the company, there was no time to call you."

Then it hit Noah: Amanda wasn't avoiding him by not answering his calls, she was on a flight. And here he was thinking she had done it just in spit of him because maybe she hadn't really loved him after all. "I'm sorry," Noah tells her looking into her eyes. "I should've never assumed that you were avoiding me, I should've called you afterwards."

"It's okay. I didn't tell you anything, blame me."

While Noah didn't want the pair to play the blame game, he realised that they were both at fault to some degree. While her communication skills were off, he didn't have the initiative to call her after the last phone call he made at Regionals.

"Let's just blame each other," he suggests. "We both did something wrong, but we can fix that now." Noah thinks that was Amanda's original plan when she came over and sat next to him - she wanted them to get back together.

"Okay," Amanda agrees to the proposition with a nod. "As long as we can go back to being together?"

Noah is the one to nod this time. "I'd like nothing more than that."

And ignoring the hoard of people in the studio, Noah and Amanda lean in to share a kiss, one that was almost two-years overdue.