Run, Girl (If You Can)

Violet wondered why he would worry about something so far off anyway. What was the point stressing himself out now? But Noah had always been like that. If he thought of something, he worried about it no matter how far out it was.

She had always been his voice of reason when it came to things like that. Sometimes you need to listen to someone else tell you what you already know deep down.

"I practice ballet for an hour and a half every weekday, have roughly two hours of homework a night, usually drive Nathan and Oliver around, and still make time for you. Do you honestly think that will change just because I'm going to college?" Violet asked in a practical tone.

"No…but you won't have time for me if you get a boyfriend," Noah said quietly.

Ah. So that's what this was really about. He was worried that her prom date was going to turn into something more and then she wouldn't have any time left to spare for him at all.

Violet honestly didn't know what sort of time constraints having a boyfriend would put on her. But it wasn't like she would never see her friend. Whenever her boyfriend's schedule didn't match up she would be with Noah, tutoring him like always.

"Worst case scenario you'd have to get a girlfriend so we could double," she said with a shrug. "And nobody's schedules match up perfectly; I'd still see you when I wasn't with a potential boyfriend. But I don't think that's going to happen any time soon."

Noah raised an eyebrow. "Really? But I thought you were excited about this date."

"I am, but because it's a date period. Not because of the guy who asked me. It's not like I like him or anything. I thought I was undateable," Violet replied matter-of-factly.

Up to this point, she hadn't had a proper crush on someone that lasted longer than a few weeks. She was secretly a romantic—it always fizzled after the guy didn't give her anything to work with.

Why bother continuing to like someone when you know it won't go anywhere? Not everyone could be as persistent as her dad.

"How could someone like you be undateable?! You're pretty and smart and fun to talk to. One of these days someone is going to realize that and steal you out right from under me like a magician pulling a tablecloth without messing up anything on the table," Noah said grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest.

She couldn't help but giggle at the imagery that invoked. He had long been the funniest person she knew. The way he worded things sometimes was too over the top.

Violet knew that part of his worry was because he was overprotective and part of it was that he knew he would never graduate high school without her help. Every other tutor he had ever tried didn't have the patience to work with him.

"Great, now you're laughing at me," Noah sighed. 

"No, no, it's the way you worded it, not you," she reassured him. "You really don't have anything to worry about, Noah. Even if I do get a boyfriend eventually I'll still be your best friend. Look at our moms. They didn't let marriage and children get in the way of their friendship."

He looked at her like she was stupid. "Vi, they're both women. It's different."

"Then I'll introduce you as another one of my brothers or my cousin or something."

He was practically family anyway. No guy would have a problem with his girlfriend hanging out with a cousin.

Noah rolled his eyes and dropped the subject. "Can we get back to math please?"

"Gladly."

The conversation had taken a kind of weird turn. He couldn't really be that worried about losing her when it was such a far off possibility, right? Sometimes he could be such a kid.

For someone so sensitive about his age, it didn't make sense to her that he had moments of childishness like this. Normally he seemed like such an old soul. But here he was, preemptively jealous about having to share his favorite person when nothing had even happened yet.

Violet wished there was a better way for her to comfort him because her efforts tonight seemed ultimately futile. That tension that had been there under the surface when she arrived hadn't gone away. How could she prove to him that she wasn't going anywhere when she graduated next year? 

===

The afternoon of prom, Violet missed her ballet practice because she needed to get ready. Her mom took her to get her hair and nails done and helped her with her makeup. She was so nervous that it felt like a swarm of butterflies had been set loose in her stomach.

In order to be a normal high school student she needed to do this right. Plus if she somehow screwed things up, yearbook class would become very awkward. She needed to be a good date.

Dustin showed up at her apartment building so her parents could take pictures. Her mother made her promise to get pictures of Kaleb and  his date when they went to pick her up as well.

That was easy enough to do. Vanessa the cheerleader's mom was a shutterbug and took a billion pictures of both couples. Getting her to agree to airdrop them onto Violet's phone was simple.

"I didn't get the chance to say this before but you look really pretty, Violet," Dustin said a bit shyly once they were back in the limo on their way to the venue.

"Thank you," Violet replied quietly. "You look nice too."

It was a perfunctory response. He looked about the same as he always did. The sight of him didn't make her heart race, which was more than a bit disappointing, but she was still excited to finally be going on a date.

She didn't think she was shallow—after all, she had crushed on quite a few average looking guys before because they did something she thought was cute—but she couldn't deny she wanted her heart to race when she looked at a guy who was interested in her.