Violet pranced around as lightly as a fairy for a good forty-five minutes, only stopping to sip from her water bottle, before she put her hands on her h.i.p.s and frowned. Noah looked up at her in confusion when the music stopped.

"What's up?"

"The next part I'm supposed to practice is with the prince but he's not here. The director was especially giving me a hard time about missing my practice with him yesterday," she sighed.

Her eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. "Could you be my stand in? You don't have to do the complicated parts, mostly it's hand touches and holding me as I spin. Though you would need to lift me a few times…"

"You want me to what?" he coughed.

"Come on, Noah! You've been a stand-in before!"

Yeah, but that was during a college ballet performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream where literally all he had to do was hold her hand to escort her across the stage and do a dramatic cape swish at one point as he walked off of it. No actual dancing was involved.

There hadn't been enough male dancers and someone needed to play the part of Theseus. The student director had asked Violet, who was dancing the part of Hippolyta, if she knew of any guys who might be willing to be a stand-in.

Oliver and Nathan flatly refused so she had been forced to ask the only other guy she was close with. Their logic was 'I'm not marrying my sister, even in a ballet.' The marriage happened off-stage anyway—it was only implied—but they still wouldn't do it. It was the principle of the thing.

"I think this is a bit different," Noah said a bit feebly.

What if he tried to lift her and ended up dropping her? Karate teachers used different muscles than dancers! He was strong but no one was manlier than those male ballerinas. They could lift an entire woman over their heads with one hand while spinning. That was practically inhuman.

"I only need a rough approximation," Violet pleaded. "It doesn't need to be perfect. I have a video clip of the choreography on my phone; I can set it on top of something and you can watch it as we go. Please?"

Noah sighed. He could never say no to her. "Alright, but let me watch it a couple of times first."

"Thank you! You're the best, Noah!"

The first thing the prince did in the video was walk with Cinderella over his head. Noah was allowed to use both arms, right? Then he had to do some weird thing with his elbow while Cinderella rolled over his back. What kind of nonsense had she been spouting about him not having to really do anything?!

It did get much simpler after that though, doing the things Violet had described. Okay. He could probably do that part.

He knew how to ballroom dance, to an extent, and how to dance on rollerskates courtesy of his parents but despite watching a ridiculous amount of ballet he couldn't dance like that. This would be very interesting. He really hoped she didn't laugh at him too much.

"Hey, Vi? Can we skip the first little bit? I don't want to kill you," Noah admitted.

"Sure," she agreed with a laugh. "Even the prince nearly dropped me on the elbow roll the a couple of days ago."

Violet set the music to start and they waited a few seconds to skip that bit before Noah did his best to follow along with what he had watched. It wasn't so bad at first.

The lifts weren't completely over his head so they were totally doable. All he had to do was a small, slow spin as she kicked out into the air. After that he had to spin her by her waist as she was on pointe.

It felt totally weird because Noah wasn't used to touching her in this way. They hugged each other but that was different. Very, very different. How on earth did she get used to random people touching her like this?

Cinderella and the prince ended up touching each other's faces and necks a lot in this sequence as they spun around and Noah really hoped his face didn't look as red as it felt. Violet didn't touch his face. That wasn't how they worked.

He was so fl.u.s.tered that when the next overhead lift came where he was supposed to have completely straight arms, they gave out on him. She fell and he managed to catch her—bent elbows were fine since they weren't locked anymore—and they stared at each other for a moment before she let out a partially concealed snort.

"Don't worry about it, you were doing great. I'll rewind the music and we can try from the next bit," Violet said cheerfully.

As she rummaged with the controls, Noah couldn't believe she was acted like nothing had happened when he felt like he was about to spontaneously combust. She was just in his arms. Princess style—no, bridal style! And she wasn't affected at all!

The next bit involved the prince's arm being wrapped around Cinderella's waist and partially carrying her across the dance floor. His execution was clunky at best but Violet didn't seem fazed by it. She carried on as the consummate professional.

After that came walking towards/away from each other while touching alternating hands before more half-way up lifts happened. Then spins while holding hands and a side-by-side short sequence that Violet said he didn't have to do. He only had to be ready to take her hand again fifteen seconds later.

More lifts. More spinning her on pointe by having him move her waist. Even more spins and lifts where he had to grasp her upper arms. Noah struggled with those a bit too.

Geez! What weight training regimens did these male ballet dancers have and where could he sign up?!

The next part of the dance had another overhead lift but this time he was supposed to spin and catch her in mid-air and then turn while holding her up with one hand around her waist and one hand under her thigh.

"I can't do this next part, Vi!"

"Yes you can," Violet urged. "This is the part I need to practice most!"

Noah took a deep breath and did the lift. Thankfully Violet managed the spin on the way down by herself. All he had to do was let go and catch.

This position felt very sensual and compromising to him but she didn't bat an eye. Of course. This was a daily occurrence in her world.