Violet continued staring at him and Noah felt distinctly awkward about it. He looked anywhere but her face to avoiding those piercing dark blue eyes. She had never looked at him like this before. What on earth was she thinking?
"I broke up with Jeremy," she said out of the blue. "He wanted me to stop being friends with you. It was a no brainer; of course I would pick my lifelong best friend over a guy I"ve only known a couple of months."
He was so startled he stopped avoiding her gaze. Seriously? She broke up with that creep so easily? Hadn"t she really liked him though?
"Why?" Noah blurted out without thinking.
Violet glared at him furiously. "What do you mean why? I love you more than anybody else, you idiot! I know I"ve been a bad friend lately and I really regret that…but you have to know how important to you are to me. Right?"
Once the glare died down her expression seemed almost pleading. She seemed to desperately want him to understand that. His heart soared before cras.h.i.+ng back down to earth.
Noah had already known how much she cared about him. That didn"t change anything. She had broken up with her boyfriend for him but only because he was her closest friend. She didn"t have real feelings for him so he shouldn"t be getting excited right now.
"…yes?" he managed to get out.
Violet slumped back against the pillows in defeat and buried her face in her hands. "You must think I hate you. I swear I don"t. I"m not mad or weirded out at all! I was confused but only because I couldn"t understand how you could be in love with me despite being the person who knows me best. I"m really not that great."
That wasn"t even slightly true! He always knew she hid her low self-esteem under her perfectionism but did she really think she was that unlovable because she had a hard time interacting with others on a meaningful level?
Noah hesitantly reached out and pulled her hands away from her face, holding them tightly. She looked up at him with hints of shame in her eyes. His heart sunk. She really did think that lowly of herself.
"Vi," he said gently. "You"re the best person I know. Because I do know you best it was impossible for me not to fall in love with you. I never said anything because I knew you only thought of me as one of your brothers."
Violet turned red and wouldn"t meet his eyes. "About that…it appears I"ve been gravely mistaken about something. I didn"t think it was possible to fall in love with somebody you"ve known since you were a kid but then I found out my grandparents were childhood sweethearts."
Her grandparents? He knew almost nothing about her mother"s mother because Grandpa Robert hardly ever spoke of her. What little Noah did know was that she was killed by a mugger back in 2001 and that he never got over it.
Hang on…was that why she was watching all of those videos and crying this weekend? What exactly did that mean?
"Uh, Kaleb said you were crying over home videos all weekend and said it was my fault," Noah hedged. "Was it?"
Violet finally met his eyes. "Yes and no? They became friends when they were five and eight and were together for thirty-two years before Grandma died. I knew my grandpa loved her deeply because he never so much as looked at another woman after her death. But I didn"t realize how much until I watched those videos and looked through all their old pictures…
"Noah, those pictures looked like ours. They were best friends just like we are and even thinking about losing you was too horrible to contemplate. I don"t want to be like my grandpa, missing my best friend for the rest of my life."
An explosion was happening in his brain. It was difficult to compute what she was saying. It sounded an awful lot like she was considering actually responding to his hasty confession from Friday night.
But why would she do that when she obviously wasn"t in love with him? She had been dating someone else rather happily only a few days ago!
"Vi, what—"
Noah had been about to ask what she meant by that when he was suddenly yanked forward by the collar of his s.h.i.+rt. Violet slammed her lips against his almost violently. The kiss only lasted two seconds but he sunk back into his chair in a daze.
She kissed him! She initiated it! What on earth was she thinking?!
"Can you give me some time?" Violet pleaded. "I don"t care about stupid, unrealistic notions of romance anymore. All I know is that I can"t afford to lose you because you"re the most important person in the world to me. Please stop trying to get over me."
Noah was so overwhelmed he burst out laughing. Here had had thought he would have to work to woo her but she was practically begging him not to stop being in love with her.
She wanted time? He could give her as much as she needed! He had already waited for over half of his life, more time wouldn"t make a difference. Especially since he would be able to spend it with her testing out being a couple.
"Why are you laughing?" she cried in frustration. "I"m baring my soul here!"
"I"m sorry," he said as he tried and failed to get a hold of himself. "I thought this would be a lot more difficult. I had already planned on trying to win you over after I couldn"t keep my stupid mouth shut but I didn"t end up having to do anything at all."
Violet crossed her arms over her chest and gave him her frostiest glare before melting. There was definite affection in her smile as she chastised him.
"Dummy."
Noah couldn"t deny that. This could have happened so much sooner if they had only communicated properly. But he counted his blessings that she was even giving him a chance at all.
He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb and she turned slightly pink. He had always wanted to do that. There were a lot of things he had wanted to do with her that he hadn"t had the chance to as merely her best friend.
Although come to think of it, they hadn"t clarified what to do next yet. He needed to make sure they were on the same page here.
"Hey Vi…are we dating now or what?"
Violet smirked at him before leaning over to plant a kiss on his cheek and whisper in his ear. "What do you think?"
"I"ll take that as a yes," Noah stammered, bright red from the slight intimacy. He wasn"t used to this at all!
"It"s about time!" Kaleb hollered from the other side of the door.
How long had he been eavesdropping?! They both exchanged a glance, blus.h.i.+ng heavily, before bursting out laughing at the same time. No matter what, they were still best friends who knew how to laugh together.
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