You know that you never had him.
Not really.
He was always hers.
You had lived for a long time and you had seen a lot of things, and therefore you knew that he wasn't really with you. You hope that he didn't do it intentionally, lead you on, but you always knew that he wasn't going to stay with you.
Well, not always.
You thought that everything was fine, that maybe this relationship was going to last.
Then you saw them together.
And you knew.
You thought that he was yours, no doubts about it.
He was kind of dorky, so he'd be happy to have a girlfriend and he wouldn't leave you. He was a wizard too, so the whole vampire thing would probably go over a lot better than it did with the last mortal you dated. He was cute and funny and sweet, so why wouldn't you like him? You had gotten your fill of angry tough guys a long time ago. And it seemed like he liked you too (you hope that he liked you, at least a little bit) up until two weeks into the relationship.
"So, when am I going to get to meet the rest of your family, Justin? You've got a sister and a brother right?" You asked on the fourth date that the two of you had gone on.
"Oh… Yeah, Max and… Alex…" He barely breathed the last word and without your vampire hearing, you would've never known what he said.
"Yeah. Do you not want… do you not want them to meet me?" You felt terrible at the time, thinking that he didn't want to introduce his vampire girlfriend to his family. You actually would've preferred that to be the reason.
"No! It's just… never mind. You should come over tomorrow. They'll love you." You wish he had just finished that sentence, because then you would have known and you would have never went over, never got tangled up in whatever the hell Justin and Alex were to each other at that point.
But he didn't finish his thought.
And you went over the next day, cringing at the unhealthy food that you smelled as soon as you walked up the stairs. His mom was pleasant, his dad a little eccentric, and his brother adorable but not very bright. Alex though, Alex was gorgeous and a type of cunning was dark in her eyes, cunning that you had never seen outside of dictators or conquerors (and they didnot look related to one another. You wonder if that matters at all or if it's just coincidence) and for some reason, you almost feared her. You could tell that she didn't care what you were going to think of her, and she wasn't going to change how she acted to impress you.
Her mom threw out the enchiladas and you could see the disbelief on her face, before she grabbed the trash and took it outside, her father following with two forks. Teresa shook her head and Max went back to his videogames and Justin went off on some rant about how irresponsible and uncaring Alex was.
But that wasn't what worried you.
What worried you was the look in his eyes as he spoke, strong affection and amusement and at first you thought that it was just because she was his little sister.
But then she came back in the room, snorting at something her dad said in a way that would've been labeled unattractive on any other girl, and walked past the two of you, hip checking Justin and ignoring the fact that you even existed as she sat down next to Max. She grabbed the controller from him, beating the level that he had already restarted twelve times in a manner of seconds, and glancing at Justin with challenge in her gaze.
He grinned at her, jumping over the back of the sofa and grabbing a different controller (you tried to not read into him settling into the scant inches of space next to Alex instead of the wide open area next to Max) leaving you standing forgotten in the middle of the room.
And that?
That concerned you.
They were always like that with each other.
You knew, because no one else found it strange. They, Max and Harper and Jerry and Teresa, didn't notice the constant contact the two had with one another, or the way that they were only really happy when they were around each other. It took you a while, but you finally realized that they didn't notice it because they were used to it. It was just the way things were between Alex and Justin.
Every once in a while, in the beginning of the relationship, you would stand staring at the two of them as they spoke and forgot the world existed. You would feel confused, and you knew that you looked baffled, because every once in a while, you would notice Max or Harper looking at you with pity in their eyes.
You didn't understand that either, not for a while.
It was around four weeks after meeting the Russos, and you were hanging out with Justin in their apartment. Jerry and Teresa were working in the substation and the two of you were watching some B-grade horror movie with Max. Alex walked in halfway through the movie, grinning at Max before noticing you and Justin. She simply glanced at the two of you, before glancing at the television, and laughing.
"What?" You asked, wondering why she was laughing for seemingly no reason.
"Nothing." She sing-songed back to you, her eyes lit with glee at the realization that she knew something you didn't.
"No, really, what?" And now you're even more curious, so of course you're going to ask again. You glance towards Max whose face seems to say; you really shouldn't have done that.
"Alex. Leave it." Justin finally speaks, cutting off his sister as soon as she opens her mouth to respond to your question.
"Whatever you say." She giggles, practically trilling the last word, before heading towards the stairs. You grab her arm as she passes by you, turning now to your boyfriend.
"No. Seriously, Justin. I want to know."
"Well… it's just…" He never gets to finish his statement because Alex jumps in.
"It's just that lover-boy over here hates these movies. He thinks they're ridiculous and hates watching them. He thinks people who do like watching them are even more ridiculous than the movies themselves." She grins at you, eyes bright with a challenge that you didn't really understand, sticks her tongue out at Justin, and strides up the stairs.
You turn to Justin, feeling hurt.
You had chosen the movie.
He had said that it was fine.
He smiles at you, a grin that really looks more like a grimace, and apologizes. Saying that Alex was over exaggerating and to not worry about it. Then he runs up the stairs after her, taking the steps two at a time, calling out her name before he even reaches the top.
You turn to Max, wondering if you really want the answer to the question that you're about to ask.
"If he hates the movie, why did he know all the lines?" You ask quietly, ignoring the laughs and screams overhead.
"It's Alex's favorite." Max says gently, as if he knows that this is going to hurt you.
"But… he hates them?" You trail off at the end, more uncertain that you can ever remember being.
"Not with her." He states, his voice firm, as if this isn't mere fact, as if it's law.
Pretty much every interaction went like this. You thought that you knew your boyfriend, that you understood him, and everyone let you.
Everyone except Alex.
Every time she ran into the two of you, she added another crack to your illusion, another snag in your dream. In one statement she could make you feel like an idiot, one word and you doubted everything that Justin had ever said to you.
And it didn't really help when you would call him, wanting to hang out, and hear her laughter in the background. It didn't help that anytime you randomly stopped by the substation to see him, they were together in the lair or in his room or in hers or sometimes even working. It didn't matter what they were doing, they were just always doing it together.
"Justin. We had a date. Where are you? Pick up your damn phone!" You usually never cuss, but Justin was supposed to meet you at the movies hours ago and he hadn't shown up, called, or even texted. You had already left four messages on his phone, each new one angrier than the last.
You finally left the movie theatre, walking into the substation and nodding a curt hello in response to Mr. Russo's greeting. You stormed into the lair, and there they were. Justin sitting on the couch, laughing loudly at something that Alex had just said.
They were on opposite ends of the sofa, their legs twined together in the middle, with candy and popcorn spread all around. Justin's wand was pointing at the ceiling, old Looney Tunes playing on the wall above them.
You felt like snarling, screaming, demanding an explanation.
But you didn't.
You stood there and watched for the next hour as the two of them laughed and watched Bugs Bunny fight with Daffy Duck.
You were so angry. Not only had he stood you up, he was eating all the foods that he had promised you he wasn't going to eat anymore.
And really, food may not seem like that big of a deal, but it was.
Because the unhealthy food, it was Alex. It was everything that she stood for. Fun and delicious and it was dangerous, kind of. And given the choice between healthy and unhealthy, Justin would pick unhealthy every time.
So you stood there and watched as you lost the fight for your boyfriend to his sister.
You disappeared from the door when she glanced towards it, but you know that she saw you. Her face flashed with triumph and joy too bright to ignore.
She knew she had won.
You left not long after that, pleasing your parents, as they had been afraid people were soon going to notice none of your family was aging.
You didn't come into the substation again, simply meeting Max out front one day to drop off some of Justin's things and waving goodbye to him and his parents from the door.
Striding away from the substation, you ignored the hurt you felt at Justin not even coming to say farewell to you and wished you could turn off your vampire hearing just for a second.
Because as you walked away, you heard two voices from the upstairs balcony.
"Al-ex." His voice said breathlessly, affection clear in his tone.
"Just-in." She returned, mocking him slightly but you could still discern warm care in her voice. "I love you." And you were somewhat surprised that she said it first, but it cut you just the same because you knew what was coming next. You closed your eyes and stopped moving as you braced yourself for his words.
"I love you too. Always."