"Vi…" Kaleb said helplessly. "It's going to be okay. The doctor said it's repairable, right? You won't lose mobility in your leg permanently unless he has to remove the meniscus entirely."

Violet was surprised he'd actually listened to the doctor's explanation when he came to pick her up. She hadn't thought he'd been paying attention. She certainly hadn't been, at times, because she was so exhausted from lack of sleep.

She sat back and desperately wiped her eyes. Maybe she could talk to him about Noah, since he'd always been teasing her…did he really know this whole time?

"It's not only that," she admitted. "Last night, Noah told me he was in love with me."

Kaleb blinked in shock. "Seriously? He finally fessed up?"

So he had known! Why hadn't he ever said anything? With all the joking around, she hadn't been able to tell he was serious.

"What do you mean, 'finally'? How long did you know?!"

"Uh…probably since we were fourteen? You really never suspected he had feelings for you? It was so obvious. No adolescent boy avoids girls the way he did unless he's got a crush on someone else," Kaleb said, his tone implying she was dense.

Maybe she was. That was twelve years ago, and Violet hadn't seen it coming. In hindsight, she really should have. Noah never showed interest in other girls, and always made excuses to see her.

He'd also been so hung up on being younger than her in high school, saying he would have taken her to prom if they'd been the same age.

That moron! Why hadn't he said anything sooner? If Kaleb was right, Noah had been harboring his feelings for at least twelve years—twelve years where they'd seen each other almost every day! How had she never noticed?

Probably because he acted the same way he always did. Violet never suspected him initially, so why would she suspect him later if he acted the same?

"I really didn't know," she said softly. "I can't lose him…he's my most important friend…but I'm with Jeremy. I don't want to hurt him, but I don't see how not to. I'm not in love with Noah."

Kaleb raised an eyebrow. "You're closer to him than the rest of your family combined, but you say you're not in love with him? We all know he's your favorite. He surpassed me back in elementary school."

Violet looked at him questioningly. He seemed almost bitter. But he was the one who'd pushed her away! How could he expect to remain her favorite when he'd ditched her? She'd had to turn to the only other person she was equally close to for comfort.

"…Kal, you were the one who didn't want me around," she said flatly. "Noah did. I was a shy, needy child who only cared about a few people, and one of them thought I was a nuisance. Of course I ended up closer to the one who wanted to spend time with me."

He sighed and sat down next to her on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. "And I regret that…I loved you, but I also felt suffocated. Since you and Noah were off in your own little world a lot of the time anyway, I figured you'd be okay."

Violet wasn't okay. His distance had hurt her more than she could say. They were twins, and she'd thought the world of him back then. Kaleb was her other half. How was she, as a little girl, supposed to react to that?

But that was beside the point. He doubted her claim that she wasn't in love with Noah. She wasn't, though! Wouldn't she know if she were in love with someone?

Besides, she couldn't be in love with Noah if she harbored romantic feelings for Jeremy. What on earth was she supposed to do about him? He hadn't been the most reliable boyfriend the past two days, but before that, they'd been having a good time.

"I wasn't," Violet said crisply. "I did have Noah, but it wasn't the same. You're my twin brother; nobody can replace you."

A small smile appeared on Kaleb's face, and he tousled her hair. "Thanks for saying that. Getting back to the point…the reason we all joke about you two being married is because you act a lot like Mom and Dad do."

Wait, what? That wasn't true at all! Her parents were the mushiest couple alive; she and Noah weren't like that!

Seeing her obvious confusion, Kaleb shook his head and laughed. "Not in the touchy-feely way. You two seem to practically read each other's minds, the way Mom and Dad do. You get each other. You're always there for each other. You're the perfect team without even trying."

Violet couldn't even deny it. They had worked together seamlessly, helping each other out since before high school. They'd always been each other's greatest support, aside from their parents.

She'd thought it was because they were best friends. Did most best friends not work that way? She always knew her approach to relationships was unusual. She only needed one or two close people; everyone else was incidental.

"That's because we're best friends," Violet said hesitantly.

Kaleb scoffed. "Mom and Dad were best friends, too."

"That isn't the same, and you know it! They didn't become best friends until shortly before they got married!"

"They were still best friends."

Violet frowned. It wasn't the same at all. They met in their senior year of high school, knew each other for six months before being separated for five years. They were adults when they really got to know each other.

How could that be compared to someone she'd known since she was eighteen months old? Noah was so firmly in the friend zone that she'd thought of him as one of her brothers. She was positive her mother never thought of her father as a brother figure.

The final paragraph, including the promotional material, has been removed as it was unrelated to the text cleanup request.