Break the Distance

Chapter 44

Thursday 29th of September, 2016

Wellington, New Zealand

Noah Williams

"What do you mean?" Katie asks confused. " Richelle," the woman says, "she was supposed to be here at 10, she hasn't arrived yet." "What?" I say. "You heard me," the woman says irritated, "no please leave there are plenty of real costumers."

Too confused to speak Katie and I walk outside. "How?" I say confused. "This is not like Richelle at all," Katie says lost, "she's always perfectly on time." "So where can she be?" I ask. "I don't know," she says worried, "but we're going to find her!"

Quickly we both get back in her car and Katie starts driving. "Where are we going?" I ask after a while. "Her house," Katie states and the rest of the drive we are silent. It isn't far, about 5 minutes or so. Keeps being weird, driving left, don't think it'll ever get normal.

Katie stops in front of a house. It isn't an old house, it isn't a fancy house, it's just a normal house. When she told me all that stuff about her family I assumed the house would be older and smaller, but that isn't the case at all.

We ring the bell multiple times, but there's no response. We knock on the window and yell Richelle’s name, but it keeps quiet. I'm getting really worried. It can't be happening that something happened to Richelle. "Don't worry," Katie says suddenly. My worry was probably readable on my face. "It's Richelle, I'm sure she's alright," Katie continues. "Let's hope so," I say not convinced.

"Sorry," Katie says after a while, "I don't know what to do. Maybe the best we can do is just wait and hope that Richelle let something hear from herself." I nod slightly.

"When are you flying back?" Katie asks when we walk back to her car. "Tonight," I say, "I'm flying to Australia tomorrow morning." "And when did you decide to fly Wellington?" she ask raising her eyebrows. I look at the time. "Roughly 7 hours ago," I say and laugh slightly. Katie chuckles slightly. "And that all to meet Richelle?" she asks. You can hear clearly in her voice that she's surprised, still it's not contemptuously. "Yea," I say. Thinking about it it's pretty crazy. Trying to still convince myself that I don't like her more than just a friend is hopeless.

I've never wanted to meet somebody as much as I do right now. I feel so close to her, but still so far away. Of course she's somewhere in town, but where?

"So what are you going to do the rest of the day?" Katie asks. "I don't know," I say, "waiting for Richelle to hopefully react I think." "Well in the meantime we can better do something before you're driving yourself crazy," Katie says. "Like what?" I ask a little confused.

"Don't know," Katie says, "we can get something to eat." Thinking about it I'm kind of hungry. "Okay," I say, "sounds good."

A while later we sit down with something to eat. "So tell me," she starts suddenly when I'm just enjoying the quietness, "do you get a lot of messages from fans." "Quite a bit," I say, "one day more than the other." "And you've known Richelle for how long?" she asks. "Don't know," I say, "for me it was the 20th of August so the 21st here I think." Katie laughs. "You remember pretty well," she says clearly surprised. "It was my little sisters birthday, just a coincidence," I say defensing myself. "Explains," Katie says and nods slightly.

"Why did you exactly react," Katie asks then. "Is this a hearing?" I grin taking another bite of my lunch. "No, I just want to know," Katie says, "I am Richelle’s best friend." "Fair enough," I say, "what else do you want to know?" "I didn't get an answer yet," Katie says. "I was just reacting to messages because I had so many and then I recognized Richelle’s name from-" I start, but cut myself off. "You know what, this story is way too long and complicated." Katie laughs. "Okay, but that wasn't my last question," she says. "Okay one more," I say.

"Do you like Richelle?" she asks.

"No," I say trying to sound convinced, but this lie sounded easier in my head. Yes I do like Richelle. A lot actually, but I want to tell Richelle that myself. I don't want her to hear that from someone else, what if she doesn't like me? I want to remain being friends with her if she doesn't like me! I just need someone like her in my life.

"Oh are you getting red?" Katie jokes. "No I'm not," I say, trying to sound a little more convinced this time. "So you're not lying," Katie asks. "No," I say taking another bite to hide my face. "I think you're lying," Katie says and she laughs. "Whatever you want to think," I say. "Whatever you do don't break Richelle’s heart or you'll get problems with me," she says sounding pretty serious suddenly.

"Please don't kill me," I joke. "We'll see," Katie says.

After we ate our lunch we decide to go wait at Katie's. Katie was totally right, if I'm not doing something I'm going to freak out.

"Hello," I say giving Katie's mother a hand, "I'm Noah." " Noah, I'm Jessica," she says, "nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too," I say. She winks at Katie and I hear Katie sigh loud. "No mom," she says clearly annoyed, " Noah is a friend of Richelle, but it seems like Richelle disappeared so we're waiting for someone to let us know where she is." "Aah," Jessica says, "I understand. Well, do you want something to drink." "No thanks," I say and smile, "I'm fine."

"Sorry," Katie says when I sit down on the couch, "I really have to make my homework." "Oh no problem," I say and grab a magazine from the table, "thanks that I can be here."

I try to read the magazine, but all I can think about is Richelle. Where is she? People don't just disappear right. I don't know where she is and I honestly don't care where she is, right now I just want to know if she's okay.

My thoughts get interrupted by someone running loudly into the house. "Mom, mom, you're NEVER going to believe what I just found out," a girl squeals. "What?" Jessica says a little confused. "One of my friends spotted Noah from The Next Step somewhere here in town!" she exclaims and let out a little scream.

"Sorry," I hear Katie whisper and her mother looks questioning at me. "What?" the girl asks confused and turns around, only now finding out that I'm sitting on the couch. The eyes of the girl widen and her mouth falls open. "Hi," I say and smile friendly.

"Am I dreaming?" the girl asks clearly not believing what's going on. I laugh. "Sorry," Katie says again, "I forgot for a second." "It's okay," I say, "don't worry." "What are you doing here?!" the girl asks clearly confused and she sits down on a chair. "Oh I was just in town," I say and I was kind of lost so I Katie offered me a couch to sit on while I wait for my flight back to Auckland."

The girl shakes her head slightly. "I've to call my friends!" she says suddenly and jumps up. "NO," Katie says clearly, "we don't need a house full of screaming girls!" "But-" the girl starts, but Katie cuts her off. Thanks Katie. "Can-I-at-least-have-a-photo," she says so quickly that it's impossible to cut her off. "Only if you don't do anything with it until tomorrow," I say." "Of course," she says and smiles widely.

"Thank you so much," I say to Katie when she drops me off at the airport. "No problem," she says, "I'm sorry we still don't know where Richelle is." "I hope she's fine," I say. "Let's just assume she's fine," Katie says. I smile slightly, I don't feel convinced.

"Katie," I call her when she's just about to get back into her call. "Yea," she says a little confused turning back to me. "Here," I say handing her my phone and an envelope, "please give it to Richelle." "Your phone?" she asks surprised. "Yea," I say, "I'll fix another one somewhere somehow." "You sure?" she asks. "100%," I say. "Okay then," she says, "I'll give it to her." "Thanks," I say and smile slightly.

Maybe this little trip was something good in the end.