Twenty One

                                    

                                          
The girls hold it together long enough for filming to finish, but as soon as they wrap Alex pulls away and storms off to the green room. Stevie wipes at her face before running off after her friend. Despite clearly being competitive enough to audition for the show they're still ten and the elimination is obviously hitting them hard.
The rest of the teams file back to the green room more sedately. J-Cruise and about half of TNS chat excitedly about making it into the finals but everyone else is largely silent. Dance Lab are handling the elimination better, but no one likes getting out in a competition.
Back in the green room there's an explosion of clothes that have overtaken the couch Richelle was sitting on with Jacquie and The Lionettes. Jacquie's sweatshirt is where Richelle left it, but Alex sits stonily on the couch, glaring out the window, surrounded by possibly every article of clothing she brought with her to filming today, still in her costume. Stevie is nowhere to be seen, likely in the dressing room changing out of her own costume. Most of the other dancers collect their bags and head to the dressing rooms but Richelle sits on one of the clear sections of the couch and looks out the window next to Alex.
"I don't want to talk about it," Alex snaps, not moving her gaze from the window.
Richelle shrugs, even though Alex probably doesn't see it, "I'm not asking." They sit in silence until people start filtering back in from the dressing rooms. "We should go change."
"I don't want to." It's much more petulant than how she was speaking earlier.
Expecting rejection Richelle offers a possible solution, "Jacquie and I are going to watch a movie in my room tonight. I was going to invite you and Stevie to come watch with us too."
She hides a smile when Alex briefly perks up before sulking again. "What are you guys watching?" She's no longer glaring, and it looks like some of the tension has left her shoulders.
"We haven't decided yet. But if you want to join us you could help pick."
Alex still looks pretty put out (reasonably) but she starts cleaning up the tornado of clothes and Richelle follows her to the dressing room.
***
Stevie and Alex are at least talking on the bus ride back to the hotel and they look happier than they have since the score announcement. Richelle even hears a few giggles come from the row in front of her and Jacquie.
When they reach the hotel Alex and Stevie go up to their room with their moms but promise they'll be by her room to watch a movie with them.
And Richelle corners Emily in the lobby. "Since we aren't filming tomorrow can Jacquie stay in my room tonight?" Richelle looks hopefully over at her bonus sister.
There's a long pause before Emily says yes. And then Richelle nearly tackles her in a hug. "If Noah spends the night too I don't want to know."
Richelle almost says something in response, but figures it's probably for the best if she doesn't. Instead she winds her way through the lobby to find her other sister. She wraps an arm around Natalie and rests her head on her sister's shoulder.
"We're doing a movie night in my room tonight," she mumbles into Nat's shoulder.
Natalie runs a hand through Richelle's loose (and sweaty) curls, "That sounds fun. What are you watching?"
Richelle shrugs, "We haven't decided yet. We're probably gonna let the girls pick something."
"That's nice of you. Have fun tonight." Nat pulls her into a proper hug and kisses her forehead.
Richelle leans further into her sister, "I will. See you tomorrow."
***
After twenty minutes of struggling to get her laptop connected to the TV through a series of wires Richelle collapses onto her bed with Jacquie and Noah. When they first all got in the room Noah and Jacquie tried to push the beds together, only to find that they were essentially fused to the floor and couldn't be moved. So now all three of them are pressed together on a bed not made to accommodate three adult-ish people. Richelle has just gotten comfortable against Noah's side when there's a knock on her door.
She grumbles a little bit before getting up to let Alex and Stevie in. They're both wearing pyjamas and their DanceMania hoodies, matching the teenagers in either their own pjs or sweatpants. They also both bring a stuffed animal and it feels very much like an elementary school slumber party.
Richelle perches on the desk next to the TV as the girls search through the movies on Netflix.
"Meet the Robinsons!" Stevie excitedly points out. And when there's no objections Richelle selects it and makes sure everything looks good on the TV before rejoining her partners as Stevie and Alex claim the other bed.
Richelle smiles to herself when she hears Alex quoting various scenes as they play. And then she thinks that maybe Stevie chose the movie more for her friend than for herself. After the movie's over Alex seems like she's in a better mood than she had been for most of the afternoon and evening.
When their little group of four arrive at The Lionettes' door (they could go back on their own but they asked her and Jacquie to go with them) Alex crashes into Richelle. "Thank you. I've never met anyone else like me." Alex squeezes her a little tighter before pulling away and hugging Jacquie too.
Stevie hugs her slightly less aggressively but the feeling is still there. "Thank you for not treating us like little kids."
Richelle tears up a little as they walk back to their own room, more overwhelmed by the day than she thought she would be.
AN: As always I spent way too much time ensuring I maintain chronological accuracy and looked up movies that realistically were on US Netflix in February 2018.