After that night Alex pretended to be Juliet to help Justin move on; after they broke the law and a huge taboo, everything changed between Alex and Justin. They no longer fought every day, in fact they barely spoke. When they did speak to each other, it was with a polite coolness. It worried their parents, as well as Max and Harper. It went on like this for over a month, with both Alex and Justin dodging their parent's concerned questions. Finally, Max had enough. He couldn't stand all this tension any longer. He filled a bucket full of water balloons and went looking for Justin.
"DUDE!" Justin yelled at Max, as Max chucked water balloon at him. "What the hell!"
"Go talk to Alex!" Max told him, pelting Justin with a water balloon after every word.
"Max! This is between me and Alex! Now stop throwing water balloons at me!" Justin yelped as another balloon hit him square in the face.
"Justin, just admit it bothers you!" Max told him, pausing mid-throw.
"How could it not bother me? I'm soaking wet!"
"Not that. Not talking to Alex. I can see how much its bothering you two. Just go kiss and make up already!" Max told Justin. Justin froze at Max's choice of words. Could he have figured it out? Shouldn't he be disgusted with his older brother?
"It doesn't matter." Max said, answering Justin's unspoken questions. He threw one last water balloon and then started towards the stairs. "I'll keep Mom and Dad busy downstairs. Go talk to her." Max disappeared down the stairs with the water balloon bucket, leaving Justin shell-shocked.
"What's going on down here?" Alex asked standing at the top of the stairs. She saw Justin standing in the living room, frozen and soaking wet. Instead of saying anything, she turned back towards her room.
"Wait, Alex, please" Justin called up to her. "Come down for a minute. I need to talk to you."
"What Justin?" Alex asked, not moving from the top of the stairs. "and why are you soaked?"
"Max. Water balloons. It doesn't' matter. Please come down here." He pleaded looking at Alex. She sighed and came down the stairs.
"What?" Alex asked, not looking at Justin as she sat on the couch.
"Alex please look at me." He sat next to her and touched her arm gently.
"Why? So you can ignore me for another month?" She spat at him, yanking her arm away from his touch. She turned away, so he wouldn't see the hurt in her eyes.
"Alex, I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking that night. I don't know what came over me, I can't believe I took advantage of you like that! I haven't been able to talk to you this whole time because I'm so afraid it'll happen again. I love you so much Alex, and it so wrong, I just couldn't stand hurting you like I did." Justin blurted out, as Alex turned and looked at him, her eyes swimming with tears.
"So loving me is a mistake? Nice. God you're such an ass!" Alex yelled at Justin. "Do you know what that night was to me? That was the best night of my life. I gave myself to you, not because you forced me, but because I wanted to. I wasn't kidding that night Justin. I love you. I've always loved you. But if that's not enough for you, then whatever. You can go find another nice vampire girlfriend to fuck. I don't care anymore." She jumped up and turned to run back upstairs. Justin grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms. Alex stood stock still for a second as Justin hugged her tightly, then slowly melted into the hug.
"Alex, the mistake isn't loving you. The mistake is that I allowed my feelings to come up to the surface. No matter how we feel about each other there's nothing we can do about it. That night was a one time thing."
"But why Justin?" Alex cried into his chest, her arms wrapped around his chest tightly. "What's wrong with loving each other?"
"Alex, its illegal. Everyone would hate us. We could go to jail. I couldn't live with myself if I let something like that happen to you." Justin felt tears falling from his face too. His heart was breaking with every sob coming from Alex.
"what if I said I didn't care? What if none of that mattered? I only want you . Everyone else can hate me, as long as you love me!"
"Alex. Are you sure? Are you ready to loose Mom and Dad and Harper if they were to find out about us?"
"Justin! I told you, it doesn't matter! All I need is you!" Alex looked up at Justin and before he could protest, she planted a kiss on Justin's lips. He tried to pull away at first, but after a few seconds he kissed Alex back, their lips crushing against each other. Alex's whole body felt as if it were on fire as Justin's tongue snaked it's way into her mouth. Justin's legs were jelly, and he knew if they kept this up it he would risk collapsing. At that moment he decided that moment no matter what happened, he'd never break Alex's heart again. No matter what. When they broke the kiss, both were breathless and dazed.
"Alex, I love you. I'm so sorry about how I handled this. Can you forgive me?" Justin asked, caressing Alex's cheek with his hand.
"Whatever dude. You're such a girl!" Alex smiled and put her hand on Justin's chest. "I already told you I love you." She leaned up for another kiss when they heard Max's voice drifting up the stairs.
"It was an accident Dad! I didn't mean to dump the soda on that lady! I thought her hair was on fire!" Max was yelling, loudly. Alex and Justin flew apart, forgetting that the floor was still wet from Max's balloons. The both slipped and ending up falling flat on their butts. Max and their dad walked up to find both of them laughing hysterically. Jerry was so happy to see his older children talking and laughing again he didn't even ask why their living room floor was soaked in water. He ran downstairs to get his wife, and complete forgot he was about to chew Max out. Max looked at his brother and sister laughing and he felt like all was right in the world.
"So is everything ok between you guys now? Did you kiss and make up like I told you to?" Max asked as he threw himself down on the floor next to Alex and she put her arm around him, still laughing.
"Yeah Maxie, everything is fine now. Thanks for your help…" Justin gave Max a look while Max just shrugged.
"No biggie man. I mean, with you guys fighting, Mom and Dad were paying more attention to what everyone was doing. I figured if they knew everything was ok, they'd stop." Alex and Justin both starred at Max in awe. They were both wondering when he became this logical.
"Max…." Alex wanted to ask Max if he knew what was going on between her and Justin, but she didn't know how to. How do you ask your younger brother if he's ok with his brother and sister hooking up?
"Alex. I told Justin already. It doesn't matter." And with that he pushed himself off the floor. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go water my candy corn seeds. My candy corn tree should be popping up soon." with that said, Max walked out to the patio, leaving Justin and Alex looking after him.
