Run, Girl (If You Can)

Violet made it through the initial examination by the nurse in a daze. Name, age, height, weight, having her blood pressure checked…none of it registered with her. She was still trying to process the biggest bomb of her life being dropped on her.

Noah was in love with her?! Noah. Her best friend. Practically one of her brothers. How could this have happened?

He said he had been in love with her for most of his life. She couldn't even fathom it. When? When did it start? None of this made any sense!

Yeah, people had been teasing them about their relationship for years but that was only because Noah would throw tantrums when he was a toddler if he didn't get to see Violet. She was like his favorite toy back then; she had overheard her mom and Jennica laughing about it when she and Noah were teenagers.

A three-year-old couldn't know what romantic love was. It definitely didn't start that early. Violet suddenly found herself trying to sift through decades of memories to see if there was any clue…any indication anywhere for what he had said.

"Miss Hale? Can you please tell me about your injury?" the doctor repeated.

Based on the look on his face, this wasn't the first time he had done so. She hadn't even realized he had come in to replace the nurse from earlier. She really needed to focus.

"Sorry. I'm a ballerina; I was performing in the Nutcracker tonight and landed one of my jumps wrong. I felt this horrible pop in my knee and then it was hard to move it. I had to continue dancing until the end of the show so when it ended I passed out from the pain," Violet said a bit sheepishly.

The doctor was probably judging her for continuing to dance on an injured leg. She cringed at the possibility that she might have made things worse for herself. Earlier in the waiting room she had wondered about that too but that was completely forgotten after Noah's revelation.

The doctor tried moving her knees back and forth and pressing on them in various spots. It was horribly painful. Her right knee couldn't move in any direction without hurting.

He ended up asking Violet a few more questions before getting a nurse to wheel her to the x-ray room. The technician in there very painfully arranged her knee in a variety of different ways to get images of multiple angles. The pain was the only thing keeping her thoughts from wandering back to Noah.

Violet was completely exhausted—it was one o'clock in the morning by the time she was done with her x-rays—and they ended up telling her she didn't break anything and needed an MRI. They recommended she go to a clinic and try to get an appointment for the following week.

Immediately she began to panic. No! She couldn't wait that long to find out what was wrong! This needed to be fixed right now!

"Please just do it here," she begged. "I know they have MRI machines in hospitals. I need to know if I need surgery or not so I can start physical therapy as soon as possible. Dancing is my life."

"That goes against protocol, miss," the nurse said sympathetically. "The healthcare system involves a lot of waiting, I'm afraid."

The 'rich and famous parents' card was not one Violet liked to play but desperate times called for desperate measures. Her mother had connections with this hospital and she needed to use them.

"My mom!" Violet blurted. "My mom is Doctor Keeley Hale; I know she provided a lot of funding to this hospital to help your staff administer gene therapy treatments to cystic fibrosis patients. Please do this for me once."

The nurse's eyes widened. All of the staff here knew about Dr. Keeley Hale's contributions to medical science since she had used this hospital as the first one to test her FDA approved treatment.

"…I'll go speak with my supervisor. Hang on a minute."

Violet heaved a sigh of relief. Her mom was considered a VIP here; they could do a measly rush order on that MRI, right? That was all she needed.

Five minutes later the nurse returned and apologized profusely. She said that the MRI department wouldn't reopen until 7 AM the following day but that they had prepared a VIP room for her to rest in until then.

It was amazing what the power of a name could do. The room they gave her was a suite that looked like it could have been in a hotel if not for the hospital bed and machinery next to it. The nurse fussed over her, helping her change out of her costume and into a hospital gown.

Violet undid all of the bobby pins holding her hairstyle together and sighed and she leaned against the pillow. Her knee was elevated with an ice pack and they gave her pain medication to help her sleep.

Once the nurse left, she fumbled through her bag to find her phone. Ballerina costumes didn't exactly have pockets. There were tons of missed messages from Kaleb and Nathan and one from Jeremy asking why she had called.

It appeared that Noah had told her brothers what was going on. Kaleb left a message instructing her to call him back no matter what time she saw it so she decided to do it rather than face his wrath.

"Vi! Noah said you got hurt; what on earth happened?" he asked anxiously without even saying hello.

"I did something to my knee by landing a jump wrong. They're keeping me overnight to do more scans in the morning and see if I tore something that requires surgery." Violet bit her lip, hesitating before asking what she really wanted to. "When did Noah call you?"

"He tried calling me about four times before I actually heard it…I was in a nightclub and they're not exactly quiet places. I told him I'd pick you up so he could go home."

Her heart ached. Noah waited for her even though she hadn't been able to do anything but stare at him like an idiot after he told her that he was in love with her. She really didn't think he would stay after that.

It was a good thing Kaleb sent him home because she really didn't want him to stay up so late when he had classes to teach in the morning. Plus she had no idea what she would say to him.

How did you respond to your best friend telling you he loved you? 'Thanks'? 'Are you crazy?' 'Why me of all people?'

Noah knew her best so why would he feel that way about her? He knew all of the deepest, darkest parts of her heart. All of her insecurities. All of her weaknesses. Who would be in love with that?