The minute they had to wait to be shot up after being strapped into the sling shot ride was the most terrifying minute of Violet's life. Kaleb was grinning to himself in excitement but she felt like the world was about to end.
She had never even properly been in love! She couldn't die now because of a faulty contraption!
"If I die without being able to get married because of you, I will haunt you from beyond the grave," Violet said through gritted teeth.
Her twin laughed it off. "What do you need to get married for? You already have a husband waiting anxiously for you to get off the ride in one piece."
Noah was gripping the guard rail by the exit fairly tightly but Violet couldn't see that from where she sat. She sighed. Were her brothers ever going to stop with that joke? They better when she actually got a boyfriend or he might get the wrong idea.
She was about to tell him to quit teasing her when the ride suddenly shot upward. The words died in her throat, replaced by a horrified scream that didn't stop until they were back on solid ground.
"That was awesome!" Kaleb crowed as they got off. "I'm buying the ride video."
"You do that," Violet said feebly as she wobbled her way toward the exit.
Her knees wouldn't stop shaking. That was the most terrifying thing she had ever done in her life. They gave out on her completely close to the exit and she pitched forward into Noah's chest.
His hands steadied her and a concerned look crossed his face. "You alright, Vi?"
"Remember how you said dropping me earlier this week took a year off of your life? That ride took one off of mine."
Noah helped her straighten up and walked her to a nearby bench with an arm around her waist for support. He untwisted the cap from a water bottle in his backpack and handed it to her.
"Here. Hopefully this helps."
It did. Noah always knew how to fix things. He was the most reliable person Violet knew, unlike her crazy twin who nearly killed her just now.
Kaleb appeared genuinely apologetic when he saw what a bad state she was in. He hadn't realized it would affect her so negatively; he only wanted to make her have a little fun. She had always been so uptight in his eyes.
"I'll let you pick the next ride," he said by way of apology.
A mischievous grin appeared on her face, bringing a bit of color back to her cheeks. "I have the perfect one in mind."
As they approached the carousel Kaleb groaned but he had made his bed and needed to lie in it. Violet wanted him to ride a pink unicorn right next to her purple one and instructed Nathan, who chose to sit on one of the non-moving seats, to film them.
He was more than happy to do so. Payback for the Cyclone picture was sweet. He ended up posting the video to his Instagram and tagging his brother for all the world to see.
Kaleb's expression was one of great boredom and disgust. Violet couldn't stop laughing the entire ride.
They were all getting pretty tired from walking back and forth between the various parks and attractions in Coney Island so they decided to hit three more rides before calling it a day. The last one they went on was the ferris wheel to round things off in a more relaxing way.
"Everybody huddle up," Violet instructed. "I want a picture of all four of us."
Everybody moved quickly to one bench, making the carriage lurch a bit. She was in between Kaleb and Noah. Nathan sat down on the ground in front of her so they could all fit.
She grinned for all she was worth. Today had been pretty great, putting the sling shot incident aside. The only thing that would have made it better was if Oliver had been there too.
The picture turned out nicely. Everybody's smiles matched their personalities pretty well. Kaleb's was mischievous and he was winking. Nathan smiled so big that both of his eyes were closed. Noah's was happy and relaxed.
Out of all the pictures Violet took today, she decided to post that one online with the caption 'Kal's home' and a heart emoji.
===
Jeremy was going through some paperwork Aaron needed done before the end of the day Monday when his phone dinged with a notification from Instagram. He had followed vi.loves.dance after originally discovering her page.
It looked like Violet had a new post for the first time since her last show started. The second most recent picture was of her striking a pose on pointe dressed up like a butterfly.
The new one was a picture of her squished in between three of the men who showed up in her photos most frequently with the caption 'Kal's home' and a heart on the end. So her professional baseball player brother finally made his way back to New York.
He really couldn't tell which one was Kaleb Hale though. The photo was tagged but the tags were all squished into a corner rather than on top of the individuals in the picture. The handles that were tagged included natethegreat, kal_can_pitch , and karatekid4lyfe.
If Jeremy had to guess…he would still say the dark-haired man on Violet's right was Kaleb, which would make one of the other two her brother Nathan due to the tags. All four of them seemed quite close and comfortable with each other. Would that make the remaining one their brother Oliver?
He knew that Oliver Hale was studying mechanical engineering and wanted to work at NASA but didn't know anything else. Like where he went to school.
Maybe the next time Jeremy saw Violet he should ask. She seemed the type who was more comfortable talking about her family than most subjects.
The bright smile she displayed in the photo was so full of joy that he was nearly blinded by it. Having more information about her brothers would definitely help solve the mystery that was Violet Hale.
That smile always did funny things to his heart. He hoped he could see it again in person soon.
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