Do We Know Each Other? by patricia51
(Two people bump into each other at a local museum. Why does each seem familiar to the other? Crossover between "Good Luck Charlie" and "Wizards of Waverly Place". One-shot but there may be a sequel. Justin/Teddy friendship.
I miss Juliet on WoWP. I write Juliet/Alex stories but I really liked Juliet/Justin in the series. Although I certainly understood why Bridget Mendler moved on to her own series I wish there had been some way for that J/J storyline to continue. It can't but perhaps another one could. So here's my try to at least set one up.)
"Oh, look Charlie. That's a dinosaur! He's awfully big isn't he?"
Charlie, not surprisingly, didn't say anything much. But she did squeal and clap her hands. Teddy just wasn't sure that the excitement had anything to do with their surroundings or rather was connected to a more personal matter. She bent over and sniffed. Nope, no sign of that.
Teddy Duncan was bored. That was obvious or she never would have been here, pushing her little sister Charlie around this Museum. Not that she was an empty-headed, watch-my-eyes-glaze-over-at-the-mention-of-anything-educational teen. She just usually had other things to occupy her time. But today she didn't. So she was spending the afternoon with her sister. And considering what had happened to PJ at the park she decided not to go there. She wasn't likely to find any handsome guys pushing baby strollers around in here.
She flipped the video camera on and panned it around the viewing area while she gave voice to those thoughts. Her monologue came to an abrupt end as she suddenly swung the cam back to a figure she had passed over just a few seconds ago. She lowered the camera to get a better look.
Her eyes had settled on a nice looking guy who appeared to be a couple of years older than her. He was taller than her by three or four inches and had dark hair. She couldn't see his eye color from where she was and she wished she could. Then she wondered why she was interested in what color eyes a complete stranger had.
Or was he a complete stranger? He had to be, she was sure she had never seen him before in her life. So why did something nag at the corner of her mind, telling her that she did in fact know him?
She looked at the young man again to be sure. To her embarrassment he was looking right at her. She flushed and turned away. Maybe he was some kind of nut. Or a stalker? Okay, the thing to do was to simply ignore him. So she put the cam into the bag hanging from the stroller and keeping up a cheerful line of nonstop chatter pushed Charlie around the room, pausing at each exhibit. And each time she paused she made a casual but quick peek around the room. Sometimes the boy was looking at her and that made her feel uncomfortable. But what drove her crazy was her reaction when she saw he was NOT looking. Each time the thought sprang to mind "Why isn't he looking? What's wrong?"
She shook her head. What possible difference could that make? Why did she care? She didn't know this guy. Did she? He was pretty cute. And he seemed kind of sad. Resolutely she turned her attention back to the exhibit they were in front of and recommenced talking to her sister.
"Doesn't this one look interesting Charlie? It's Dinosaur eggs." She looked closer at the placard. "Hmmm. Did you know that until around 1920 no one really knew how the dinosaurs reproduced? It wasn't until these eggs right here were found in the Gobi Desert that scientists were sure of this."
"Excuse me."
"Oh Gosh," she thought. Without even turning around Teddy knew from whom those two words were coming from. She took a deep breath and turned around. And he was standing right there. Her eyes met his.
What color WERE those eyes? Her gaze lingered on them. They seemed to shift colors. Now they were green and now they were gray and now they seemed to be one color in the center and the other around the edges.
"Hi," was all that Teddy could think of to say.
Now that he had broken the ice the young man seemed just as tongue-tied as Teddy found herself. "Hi," he repeated and the pair of them stood quietly for a moment until Charlie gurgled and broke the silence. The pair looked away from each other to the nine-month old and smiled as she waved her arms.
"I know this sounds like some kind of lame pick-up line," the young man actually turned as red as Teddy had been a little bit earlier, "But do I know you? I mean, have we met before?"
"No," Teddy replied. Still unable to think clearly she didn't add anything to that one word statement.
Apparently feeling that he was being brushed off for being rude the young man turned an even deeper shade of crimson, mumbled "Sorry," and turned away. Teddy came to life.
"Wait! I'm sorry." When the boy turned back she hurried on. "No I don't think we've ever met before but for some reason you really do look familiar to me. But I can't place you."
"That's exactly what I was thinking," the boy admitted. "I don't think I've ever seen you before but when I caught sight of you it seemed to trigger a very familiar feeling somewhere in the corner of my mind. I kept looking at you and even though I cannot for the life of me place you I just keep thinking that we should know each other."
"I have that same weird feeling," said Teddy. "By the way, I'm Teddy Duncan and this is my little sister Charlie."
"I'm Justin Russo," the dark haired boy said. He bent and looked at the little girl in the stroller. "Hi Charlie." Straightening up he smiled. "I have a little sister too. She's just a little younger than me. Her name is Alex, short for Alexandra."
"Alex. Alex?" Teddy thought. That name seemed familiar. The same thing had happened when she had heard "Justin". But she was SURE she didn't know anyone named Justin, with or without a sister named Alex. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she nearly didn't hear Justin finish his sentence.
"And she drives me crazy but I love her."
Teddy laughed. "Sounds like my younger brother Gabe."
Justin's smile lit up his face. Teddy thought he really was quite good looking. Maybe he didn't have the build or chiseled features of Spencer but the way he moved hinted at developed muscles that didn't show off but were very much there.
Still chatting, and still shooting puzzled glances at each other, the two teens crossed to the center of the room and sat down together on the low marble bench that ringed the center display of a group of elephants. They sat down together, Teddy carefully holding on firmly to the stroller.
Now that the ice was broken the conversation became animated. Stories were exchanged about parents and siblings and distant relatives. Teddy thought it was neat when she discovered Justin worked in his family's restaurant business. Justin laughed nearly to tears when Teddy told the story about her Mom's discovery of texting and the chaos that had resulted from it. A little probing on her part elicited the confession by Justin that he was not seeing anyone special. Being observant Teddy saw the shadow of sadness that crossed Justin's face and she momentarily wished she had not brought the subject up. She hastily turned the conversation to other subjects.
The pair was so engrossed in learning about each other that when Teddy's phone went of both teens jumped.
"Hello?"
"Teddy it's Mom. I'm heading to work. Where are you?"
"Work?" The bubbly teen looked at the time and was surprised to see how late it was. "I'm at the museum Mom. Charlie and I will be headed home shortly."
"Okay sweetheart. See you in the morning."
"Golly," Justin remarked as they both rose. "I lost track of time too. I have to get back to the Sub Station for my shift."
As they reached the front door Teddy reached a decision. Tearing off one of the comment cards by the entrance she scribbled on it and handed it to Justin.
"What's this?"
"It's the secret code to unlock the front door of the museum at night."
"No," Justin opened the folded paper. "It's a phone number."
Teddy grinned. "It's the phone number for that cute girl you met at the museum."
This time Justin's smile spread all the way from ear to ear. "I'm glad. She really is a VERY cute girl and I will be calling her soon."
"Good. She'll be waiting."
"I'm glad we met Teddy. I'm glad you looked so familiar, even if we never have met before."
"Well, I sure feel like I know you now," Teddy dimpled, "Even more so than I thought I did when I first saw you."
The pair left, Teddy turning left while Justin went right. But until they disappeared around corners both kept looking back, and happily seeing the other one looking back too.
Teddy and Charlie got home to find the house empty. The teen fished the cam out and turned it on, pointing it at herself.
"So Charlie, if you ever find yourself looking at a really cute guy across a room and keep thinking that you know him be sure to find out if you do. And even if you find out that you don't keep talking to him. He might really be worth getting to know for the first time. Otherwise, good luck Charlie."
(The End)