Noah swirled his straw around inside his glass of lemonade. He wished he knew how to help Violet, who really didn't know how to deal with interpersonal relationsh.i.p.s. The main reason they worked as well as they did was because he understood her enough to know she didn't actually mean any offense.

"Have you tried talking to her about it?"

Violet shuddered.

"No way! You know I can't do confrontation. Ugh, I wish things weren't so awkward every time we got parts assigned. You know our next show is the Nutcracker. We're having performances all throughout December. She has her heart dead set on being the Sugar Plum Fairy. I'm afraid she'll never forgive me if I end up getting it instead."

Ah, ballet politics. She had vented her concerns about them many times over the years. This problem of getting better roles than most of her friends had started all the way back in middle school.

Thankfully he didn't have to deal with anything like that in karate. Although he supposed there was a fair amount of complaining when one person managed to get a trophy at a competition when another didn't. Sore losers could be found in every discipline.

"You were the Sugar Plum Fairy last year, right? Wouldn't it make more sense to have you be someone else?" Noah asked rationally.

Violet had only been a part of the New York City Ballet since graduating from college nearly two and a half years ago. The Nutcracker was performed every Christmas since it was such an important tradition for so many people to go see it.

Her first year she hadn't had a very big part at all. She was Clara's sister Louise in the first act and a flower in the second. Over the following year she proved her capability and ended up being a snowflake in the first act and the coveted Sugar Plum Fairy in the second.

Of course, the biggest role of all was Clara since she was on the stage pretty much the entire time. But no one had ever danced Clara without being at the company for a minimum of four years. There were so many more experienced ballerinas present that Violet didn't think she would get that role.

"It would," she admitted. "But still. I don't know what other part they would give me since Clara is basically out. I am one of the best dancers there."

Violet wasn't bragging. She was simply stating a fact. The choreographers and director all said so. Even her fellow dancers said so, which was why she believed they were all jealous.

"You won't find out about parts until the beginning of November, right?" Noah asked.

"Yeah."

"Then don't worry about it until then," he said with a shrug. "Worrying too early will only wear you out. You never know; she might be the Sugar Plum Fairy this year and then you would have worried for nothing."

Violet sighed before giving him a gentle smile. "Always my voice of reason, huh? Nobody would believe you're the younger one here."

Something inside him soured at her words, which she must have thought were harmless. Noah had always been sensitive about their age difference. He was certain it was one of the reasons she wouldn't even look at him as a man.

She thought of him as one of her little brothers. Who would fall in love with their little brother?

It had been horrible for him when Violet graduated from high school. He was so afraid she would completely forget about him despite her promises not to.

But Violet Hale was a woman of her word. Even on the rare occasions she had boyfriends, she still tutored him or visited him at is dojo once he was working full-time. He hadn't needed to worry after all.

Noah hadn't been able to defend her against bullies or be there for her when she was alone at school all because he was younger. He had to deal with his fear of being left behind because he was younger too. How many times in his life had he wished they were the same age?

A year and a half. Eighteen months. Why did it seem like such a great divide?

"I'm not that much younger," he said grouchily.

Violet shrugged it off. "True. You're an old soul at twenty-four."

Noah had barely celebrated his birthday. He always liked the months between September and March. At that point, their ages were one year apart instead of two.

But she had a point about the old soul thing. Both of them had always been more mature than most people their ages.

Kaleb wasn't like that, which was probably a large part of the reason Noah was now closer to his twin than he was. When he wasn't actively involved in baseball season he did all sorts of stupid things young people liked to do.

He had gotten in a tiny bit of trouble with his coach for partying too hard in college. He couldn't exactly be kicked off the team though since he was the best pitcher the school had seen in a decade.

Speaking of Kaleb...

"Kaleb is coming home soon, right?" Noah asked.

Baseball season was basically over and he didn't have any obligations or commitments again until spring training started next year.

Violet nodded with a slight frown on her face. "He said he'd come say hi for a week or so before backpacking through Europe with his girlfriend until the holidays."

Backpacking through Europe? That seemed like a very Kaleb thing to do. It was a miracle poor Aunt Keeley hadn't popped a blood vessel over that guy yet.

The real question was why he would want to go this time of year when it was getting colder. Though Noah supposed he couldn't exactly do it in the summer because of his job.

"Isn't that dangerous?" he asked a bit hesitantly.

"Yes," she said with a full-on scowl. "He doesn't give a bit of thought to anything he does. Sometimes I can't believe we're even related, let alone shared a space in our mother's w.o.m.b."

Noah could tell how much this bothered her. When the food arrived a moment later, she stabbed her salad with an unnecessary amount of force.