Kristen was looking at him the way a person would look at a sick puppy. Noah could almost tell what she was going to say before she said it.

"Noah…this is the time of life when people fall in love. You might want to try finding someone who will appreciate you the way you deserve rather than waiting for something that might never happen."

He sighed. If only he could.

And it wasn't that Violet didn't appreciate him. She did. She told him so all the time. But it was in a best friends kind of way, which wasn't the way he wanted.

In fact, she probably appreciated him as a person more than anyone else in this world did. He always felt comfortable, needed, and important when she was around. It was how their relations.h.i.+p worked for longer than he could remember.

"You say that like I haven't tried," Noah said in a tone tinged with frustration. "I've been hanging out with other people lately trying to fill the void she left but it hasn't done anything."

It started on Halloween. He got back in contact with some of his friends from high school that he didn't usually hang out with anymore and crashed their party. Even though they were watching the same kinds of movies he usually watched with Violet it felt completely different.

After that, every time she was busy with Jeremy when he wanted to hang out he hit up one of them to see if they wanted to get dinner or play board games or catch a movie. Sometimes they were available and other times he ended up at home watching TV with the dog.

Noah was ambivalent about people. Growing up, if he wasn't with Violet he was cool doing his own thing or hanging out with friends from school. It all depending on whether or not people asked him.

He had fun with those other people but if he had to choose between seeing them or seeing his best friend he would pick her every time. Once he graduated, most of his friends went away for college. He ended up hanging out with Violet and her fellow dance majors a lot since he didn't have any coworkers near his age.

She was an introvert who only seemed to branch out to others in an effort to be more like her extroverted twin. Her entire life, all she had truly wanted or needed was a couple of people she felt close to.

Noah fulfilled the role of 'her person' perfectly. He wasn't exactly the same way she was since he genuinely enjoyed other people's company. But he would always prefer hers.

If he saw her ten times for every one time he saw other friends that was totally fine with him. Right now it seemed to be the other way around and it wasn't working out.

"Have you ever tried telling her about your feelings?" Kristen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No because I'm afraid I might lose her completely if I do that," Noah said miserably. "She's a hopeless romantic and only sees me as a brother. I've never known life without her. I can't let that happen."

She shook her head at him sadly. "You're pitiful, my friend. I really don't know what to tell you."

"Thanks," Noah replied sarcastically before sighing. Kristen didn't deserve that. She was only trying to help. "I'm sorry. I haven't really felt like myself lately."

She shrugged it off. "No worries. But if you ever need somebody to hang out with when she's ditching you for that guy, my boyfriend and I have a lot of free time. You're welcome to join us. We play a lot of video games."

This time his thanks were more sincere. That was really nice of her.

Once they parted ways, Noah came to the conclusion that he needed to be a bit more aggressive if he wanted some of Violet's time. Tomorrow she had a short break to go to dinner between her matinee performance and the evening one.

He knew where she always went since it was close to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts where all of the performances were held. It was the only place near there with healthy options. He would simply have to meet her there.

===

As predicted, Violet headed toward her usual restaurant between shows—today was the last day of Cinderella and he figured he would catch her to have dinner before attending closing night. She always took a shortcut through a couple of alleys to avoid the crowds even though Noah always warned against it.

He could see her turning into one a few hundred feet ahead of him. Some older man followed closely behind her. That was definitely suspicious.

Noah picked up his pace to make sure the guy wasn't going to try and pull anything. The man followed Violet through two different alleys before finally trying to reach out and grab her shoulder.

His protective instincts kicked in and he leaped forward, knocking the guy to the ground with a single kick. Violet nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the man p.r.o.ne on the concrete.

"Noah! What—"

"This guy was trying to grab you," he explained a bit sheepishly.

"Who are you?" she demanded with her hands on her h.i.p.s, looking cold and fierce.

The man on the ground groaned and held his stomach. "Sorry to scare you. I was only trying to say hi. I watched your show and thought you did a great job."

That wasn't any less creepy. Stalking her after her show? That sounded like something a deranged fan would do.

"You didn't answer my question," Violet said frostily.

The man laughed. "For a second there it seemed like I was talking to your father twenty-six years ago. He used to give me the same att.i.tude. I should have introduced myself; my name is Michael Gray and I'm an old friend of your parents'."

She eyed him suspiciously. An old friend of her parents'? Noah didn't buy it either. He knew all of her parents' friends and he had never seen nor heard of this man.

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