Author's Note: This is a continuation of my previous story Valentines, separated so that story can keep its lower rating. The 'episodes' in this story take place after Alex and Justin have begun having a sexual relationship.

This is also an AGP-verse story. You don't need to have read the previous stories to enjoy it.

For those of you following the series, this first part takes place after Justin In Charge, but before Double Double, Toil and Trouble. Justin is in college, while Alex is in high school. Harper is not living with the Russos.

February 14, 2011

"Hey."

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Alex turned and looked, then frowned at her friend Harper. "What?"

"You've been staring at that canvas for almost five minutes now, Alex. Are you okay?" Harper tried unsuccessfully to keep her expression neutral, failing to hide the concern she was feeling for her friend. It seemed like Alex had been withdrawing from her more and more over the past year - ever since Dean had broken up with her.

At first, it had seemed normal - Alex was always a bit on the emotional side, even if she tended to keep it bottled up, and Harper had quietly supported her friend, just as she always did. But now, they were talking less at night, rarely having sleepovers, and Alex seemed to be tired often. She'd always tended to zone out or fall asleep in class, but lately she was doing that even outside of class.

"I'm fine," Alex said, not quite snapping it, and Harper moved up beside her, glanced around to make sure no one else in their art class was watching them. Mr. Laritate was across the room helping the new British boy with something, and everyone else was involved in their own work.

"No, you're not." Harper jabbed a finger at Alex's canvas, said, "You never leave a canvas blank this long. You can't stand something being that clean. Look... I know what the problem is."

Alex's head whipped around at that. "You do?"

"Of course I do, Alex." Harper rolled her eyes. "I see a lot more of what's going on than people give me credit for. You should know that."

She doesn't really know. Because if she really knew, she'd be freaking out at me. Yeah. Shrugging a little, Alex said, "Okay, so you know. If you know, then you should know that..." She trailed off, knowing that Harper wouldn't be able to resist filling in. Just like Justin. The thought of Justin brought up a mixed surge of anger and want - the anger because Justin had insisted that she not ditch school for Valentine's Day. "I'll pick you up right after it," he'd promised, and that was the only thing getting her through this amazingly boring day.

"I know you're letting Justin take you out to try to cheer you up, and you're going to give him a big brave face, because you don't want him to know you're still so down about Dean after this long." Harper put a hand down and took one of Alex's, then smiled at her friend. "But that's okay. I'm going to come along tonight to help too."

"Alex, slow down. You're talking too fast." Justin put a finger into his right ear and ducked his head down, trying to ignore the sounds of traffic as he walked between classes. Frowning in concentration as he listened, he suddenly blinked, his eyes getting wider as he did. "Wait… Harper invited herself along? And you let her?"

"What was I supposed to do to stop her? Tell her 'oh, no, it's not the kind of date I can bring you along on'? Yeah, that's a conversation I want to have with her." Alex paced back and forth in the girl's bathroom as she talked, having made sure that no one was in the stalls, then jammed the door with a spell. She stopped by one stall, grabbed the door and swung it back and forth with her hand as she kept going, still talking quickly.

"We can manage this. We can make duplicates and let Harper go off with them. Or I can wipe her memory. Or -"

"No," Justin said from the other end, stopping as he did so to pay full attention to the conversation. A few people gave him annoyed glances as they went around him, but most simply took it in stride. "She knows about - about the family business." Justin looked around as he said that, moving against a store window as he did.

"What, the sandwich shop?" Alex frowned and shook her head, stopped swinging the stall door. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The other family business, Alex. You know, the one Uncle Kelbo works in?"

"Uncle Kelbo works? Are we talking about the same Uncle Kelbo?"

Justin covered his face with his hand for a moment, took a deep breath, then said, "Magic, Alex. Harper knows about magic."

"Magic? How is that a family business?"

"Let's just… skip the family business thing, okay? If you use mag - if you do that, she's too likely to figure out that you did, and then she'll be wondering why, and then she'll realize something's wrong, and then she'll -"

Alex rolled her eyes. "Okay, I get it. But look, it'll work out. I'll just -"

"Alex, no. No means no. I'm going to be expecting to see Harper with you when I get you now. It's going to be fine. We'll have a not-date for show for her, then drop her off, then do our real date. Understood?"

"But -"

"That's not a 'but' question, Alex. Yes or no?"

Alex made an 'err' sound into the phone. "You know, I must really love you, because somehow, I'm managing to restrain myself from teleporting there and throwing something at you right now."

"I love you too," Justin said into the phone, smiling. "I'll see you and Harper at four, okay?"

There was a sigh from the other end, then the click of the phone hanging up. Justin shook his head and rolled his eyes, then tucked his phone away and started walking toward his next class again. This should be an interesting evening. Hope I live through it.