Empire - The Next Step

forgiveness is not easily earned

When Harper entered the locker room, seeing Noah was the last thing she would have wanted but seeing him with Jacquie was ten times worse. She realised that she would have to see them together a lot anyways and decided just to get on with it and ignore him. Both of them sent her a quick glance but Noah seemed rather flustered as it was and Jacquie was struggling to know why.

"I talked to Henry about us and I told him that he needs to stay out of our relationship, we should be able to hang out if we want to." Harper didn't know Henry all that well as they had never really been on the same team. Noah used to talk about him a lot and mentioned that Jacquie was a girl who broke his heart, apparently it was the same Jacquie. She did feel bad for the guy, seeing your best friend and ex together couldn't have been easy.

"You talked to Henry...about us?" Noah questioned in a rather slow manner. Jacquie was perfectly clear about it so what was he not getting? Harper felt his eyes draw over to her for a moment but continued looking inside her locker for her pointe shoes.

"Yes." Jacquie replied in a perplexed tone, it was obvious that she too was confused about what Noah couldn't comprehend. She also glanced behind her, following his eyes, but quickly returned her attention to him. Harper has managed to locate her pointe shoes and she sat on the bench behind her while opening up the bag as she inadvertently continued to listen in on their conversation.

"I have to go." Noah said as he handed his towel to the brunette who looked completely astonished. When Noah had left, Jacquie turned her attention towards Harper. The two girls were on neutral grounds with each other, neither friends nor enemies. They simply just hadn't talked before.

"Honestly, sometimes I feel like it just isn't worth it." Harper wasn't really sure how to feel about Jacquie considering Noah's recent confession that he had feelings for the both of them. "I mean first he tells me he likes me, and now he likes you too, but now he's just acting weird. Weirder than usual at least."

"He told you?" Harper asked in a small voice. She had heard that Jacquie always like to get her way, so the fact that she hadn't ripped her head off by that point was shocking.

"Yeah, and I don't blame you by the way. It's just Noah being confusing." The blonde let out an inaudible sigh of relief as she wiggled her feet into her pointe shoes one at a time, Jacquie clearly wasn't someone to cross.

"Thanks. I just wish he would move on, I really don't like him that way anymore." Harper said but even Jacquie, who didn't know her that well, could sense she was lying to herself. Everyone who had been at the next step knew how long Noah and Harper had been friends, a very long time. They had a connection that was everlasting, or at least Harper thought they did.

"We'll see." Jacquie said mysteriously as she stood up and waved Harper goodbye. The blonde was even more confused than she already had been. Was Jacquie suggesting that Noah wouldn't move on, or was she implying that Harper still liked him?

Harper stood up and walked through her pointe shoes a couple of times before she went to practice in studio one. Brushing up on her technique was something she had to do to stay at her level or improve further. Thankfully the studio was empty so she pulled out the ballet bar and started doing some leg, hip and ankle strengthening to properly warm up her muscles. She heard footsteps behind her from the entrance and thought it may have been Emily or Daniel, but it was Noah. Clearly the fates were against her. Completely ignoring his presence, Harper turned back around and continued what she was doing.

"Can we talk?" Noah asked as he moved to stand in front of her beside the ballet bar. Harper averted her vision so they were not making eye contact and she took a grande plié taking her time to answer.

"There's nothing to talk about." She replied quietly, it made her seem so small being in the studio alone with Noah. No one else was there to help her.

"Come on, there's obviously stuff to talk about." Noah argued but the girl turned around on relevé to work on the other side. With a roll of his eyes, the boy made his way back in front of her. "You can't just ignore me forever."

"I can try." She replied coldly and Noah was beginning to get impatient. Surely she wasn't capable of staying angry at him for the rest of her life.

"Harper, I like you and I like Jacquie and I'm so sorry for that but you have to understand that I'm just confused right now. I'll figure it out but right now I'm just not sure." The girl snapped her eyes up to meet Noah's and he suddenly felt more intimidated than before. She had clearly been spending far too much time with Richelle.

"I get that Noah, but you can't expect me to wait for you to make up your mind. Do you know how long I've like you for? Since J Troupe and I wanted to tell you so badly but you clearly didn't feel the same way, and now you do and you're making me so stressed because now you can't decide and I just can't" Harper rambled on, her tone becoming more frantic by the second.

"Okay okay, slow down." Noah managed to cut her off before she broke down. "Jacquie has a word with me earlier, and she thinks that you and I should be together." Harper was shocked, that must have been what Jacquie was being so strange earlier.

"But why would she think that? I thought she liked you." The blonde asked in befuddlement. She could not grasp the idea.

"She does like me, but she said it's just a crush. What we have is something really special and it shouldn't be wasted just because I was too dumb to realise that earlier." Noah could tell that he was almost winning her over. Harper has continuously told herself since the start of the dance season that she didn't like Noah, but she was lying to herself. Of course she liked him.

"Well you'll have to give me some time to think." The blonde told him firmly and Noah nodded understandingly. He couldn't expect her to just fall at his feet after everything they had been through together.

"Of course." Noah responded with a small smile on his face, he could see through her cold demeanour that he was getting through to her. When he was still there after a few moments, Harper sent him a questioning glance. "We can still hang out right? While you're thinking."

After saying this, Noah hopped over to the opposite side of the bar and Harper caught a glimpse of the cheeky J Trouper she was once best friends with. It was nice to see Noah acting like the goofball he used to be, he seemed so serious a lot of the time that it was refreshing to see him let loose more.

"I guess so." Harper replied as she circled her ankles to release some of the tension then stood opposite Noah as they both did battement frappés together. Noah could have sworn he saw a tiny trace of a smile on her face.