Her cell phone informed her that it was 11:22 p.m. She realized she should probably be getting home. Her curfew had already passed by 22 minutes, which should be enough to set him off. She hoped.
Dean looked disappointed when she told him that she better get going. Though making out with Dean could be fun, by now she was mostly just bored and his purpose had been served. She would be late getting home.
She wondered when she had become so manipulative.
She only half-attempted to sneak in quietly. She knew that they knew that she was out too late. It wasn't really unusual.
Her keys landed with a clink on the coffee table, in harmony with the thud of her purse landing on the floor. Her eyes awaited the usual sight of Justin, his mug of tea next to him and the TV flipped on to the Discovery Channel, fuming over her lack of punctuality.
However, the couch was deserted. It sat there, orange and lonely, possibly wondering the same things that she was.
That was when she noticed that his leather jacket was missing from its hook, where he always kept it. He had gone out.
She sighed, and in an odd switch of roles, sat down on and flipped on the TV. For once, she was the one waiting for him to come home.
She lost count of how many episodes of Unicorn Attack she watched before she heard his lock click in the door. She coaxed her body into a sitting position groggily, feeling out of place waiting up for him.
His leather jacket greeted her, bringing with it the smell of his musky cologne and the sight of his perfectly messed up hair.
He smiled at the sight of her, irony not lost on him. She pretended his smile didn't make her heart flip.
"Don't give me that cheeky smile, Justin Russo. Where were you out so late?" She couldn't hide a smile of her own as she repeated the words he had said to her somany times.
He paused thoughtfully for a moment as he slipped his leather jacket from his shoulders to its usual hook. "Let's see, if I'm playing Alex in this scenario, I'm guessing I would say something snarky, like, "it's none of your business", and then make a big scene of sticking out my tongue and stomping up the stairs."
She raised her eyebrows at his sarcasm. "Well, if I'm being Justin then I guess I have to give you a boring "big brother" lecture about responsibility. And then go take a candle lit bath." She shot back with a smirk.
"Hey!" He protested as he settled next to her on the sofa. "I'm going to be the one laughing when all of you guys slip and fall in the shower and I'm nice and comfy in my bath."
She rolled her eyes, as usual. "Yeah, cause that's gonna happen. Just FYI Justin, none of us are over seventy years old."
He shrugged in defeat and began untying his shoes. She was getting frustrated now with his non-chalant behaviour.
"Seriously, dude, where were you?" She asked impatiently. Where could Justin of all people be at this time of night?
He shot her a "wouldn't you like to know" grin. "I may have been with a certain girl."
Alex felt sick to her stomach all the sudden. Justin had a new girlfriend?
She'd thought it would take him much longer to get over Juliet. She realized that she was being hypocritical, not wanting him to date anybody, while she went over to Dean's place almost every night, but that was different. She only made out with Dean to make Justin jealous, and if Justin had a girlfriend, then it obviously wasn't working as well as she thought it was.
She cleared her throat as casually as she could.
"A girl? What is it this time, Justin, a Centaur or a Werewolf?"
She hoped she sounded sarcastic and snarky, and not at all as concerned as she was actually feeling.
He sighed contentedly, and he might as well have been blowing ice chips straight into her heart.
"That's the best part; she's none of those things!" He told her happily. "She's just a normal human girl. Exactly what I'm looking for."
Those words may have been the most painful Alex had ever heard. A normal girl. Exactly what I'm looking for. The words spun around inside her head, tormenting her with memories of him, the night they'd lost Juliet and Mason, saying that they weren't normal people. She wasn't a normal girl. She wasn't what he was looking for.
She felt stupid even being upset about this, considering there was a bigger reason that he would never love her the way she wanted him to.
Duh, we're siblings. She thought to herself miserably.
Ever since she'd lost Mason, she had realized who she had really wanted all along. Any other boy was just a weak replacement for Justin. She couldn't fool herself any longer.
She had decided the best way to get Justin was to use her best skill: Manipulation. She had done everything right to make him insanely jealous, and she had even thought that it was working.
But now, there was another girl. She stared at his happily in love face, wishing it was the thought of her that was making his skin glow like that.
Just as manipulation was her first resort, sarcasm and mockery were her second and third. Therefore, she turned to her reliable words now, hiding the pain behind her usual quick wit.
"Knowing you, she'll turn out to be a goblin." She told him, her voice full of derision, as she stood up from the couch and hurried up the stairs to her room.
She desperately hoped her words would be correct.
A/N There's the first chapter, to let you know the situation. I hope you liked this somewhat short chapter, the next one should be up quite soon. There will definitely be more Jalex in the following chapters. : )
Pleeease review!