Chapter One

Alex Russo would've liked to say that it had been an accident.

She would've liked to say that kissing Justin Russo had been an accident – that one of them slipped forward and that the other's face just happened to be there but there was no point in lying anymore since things had gotten so obvious. She sometimes wished that there was no actual attraction between them because, let's face it, the moment Justin chased her, she knew they were going to be damned to hell for all eternity.

It was not impossible to define the brother-sister relationship between them. Justin was the older siblings therefore to some degree, Alex was below him in the sense of being the authority figure and the protector of both his younger siblings – and when Alex was doing something wrong or ended up getting spells messed up alas, he was the one to put everything back to normal. It had gotten so regular that some days Alex just assumed that Justin would figure it out eventually and come and help her. When she had to solve it herself, sure, it was a big enough surprise that Justin either couldn't or wouldn't help her – but she knew he only acted like that so she'd learn.

She usually put everything back to normal again.

But mostly, Justin would end up helping her anyways.

Alex was fifteen. Justin was sixteen. They knew nothing about love. It was that one Saturday afternoon when Jerry and Teresa had decided to leave for the strawberry festival in Brooklyn and Max was staying at a friend's house that Alex had decided that today would be the perfect day to taunt her brother, who was busy trying to finish his Physics homework on the couch downstairs in the living room.

Alex walked behind that part of the couch where he was sat directly in the middle, gripping the couch side, she leaned over and barked into his ear: "Hey, LOSER!"

Justin, abruptly, yelled and jumped out of his own skin. Alex leaned back and laughed until her throat would become sore, and Justin slowly sank back into his seat, narrowing his eyes at his younger sister.

"Alex!" He gasped, "That wasn't funny! Can't you see I'm trying to finish my homework?"

"Yeah, I can see that, dork." She walked over to the front of the couch and sat down beside him, eyeing the television screen where a boring medical programme was going through infomercials. "Wow, even when you're not doing work you're still watching something that's a boring-essay's worth. Seriously, don't you do anything else besides study and watch medical programmes?"

"They're educational. And informative. It's good research." Justin's voice got lower with every spoken word; and Alex just grinned because she knew she was right – what Justin was doing was relatively boring, even for a sixteen year old boy.

"Here," Alex began after a long pause and sigh, "Give me the remote. I want to watch cartoons."

Justin glared at her and shook his head. "I'm watching TV. I was here first."

Alex didn't even wait to respond before she leaned over his lap and tried to snatch the remote from beside his thigh. Justin was smarter, and far quicker, so he grabbed the remote and held it above his head before she could wrap her fingers around it.

He smirked to himself, proud for outsmarting his sister…once again.

"Justin!" Alex groaned, "Come on! You're not even watching TV! You're doing your stupid homework! Hand it over!"

"Don't you understand the concept of 'no', Alex?" He jeered back at her.

Alex reached up and stretched for the remote, but for some insanely odd reason, she couldn't reach. It had gotten to the point where Alex practically climbed on the side of the couch, on her knees, and leaned over Justin, who was trying to get as far away as possible from her by leaning to the left.

"Justin, come on!" She begged.

"No!" He reprimanded.

"Hand it over, dork!"

"I said no, Alex!"

Alex's free hand pushes Justin's head back by his forehead, and with one knee forward Alex clambered onto Justin's lap, pushing herself into his side – knocking his science homework off his lap.

"Hey!" He snapped at her, "That's due tomorrow!"

"Oh, like I care!" She yelled back at him, "Now hand over the remote, dorkus!"

Justin had to narrow his eyes at his little sister's insults. 'Dork' and 'Dorkus' and 'Capitan Dork' were getting kind of old now but he'd rather say nothing in case she came up with another version of insults 2.0.

Justin found himself digging into the cushions on the left side. He was holding the remote as far as his arm could go, before his shoulder joint clicked, and he couldn't go back any further. Alex was literally moulding herself into his front, growling at her older brother as he lay beneath her, laughing at her poor attempt to get the remote.

"Give it!"

"Try me!"

Justin froze for a split second. A double-take. He stopped and realised how close Alex was to him. I mean real close. Their faces were a mere two or three inches away from each other. He looked up at his little sister, and couldn't help but wonder if her eyes had always been that brown, or if he just masked them behind the insult of being the colour of dirt and bug-eyed. They were rather doe-eyed now and quite innocent looking; despite her shrill and scheming personality.

"Hah!" Alex said proudly and triumphantly as she held the remote in the air, waving it around like some sort of prize – before gleaming her pearly white teeth at Justin and sticking her tongue out at him.

Slowly, he watched as Alex rose from the couch and began to race towards the spiral staircase. Justin reacted in enough time to leap from the couch and run towards her. It was times like these where both Russo children adored the feeling of the nostalgia of their youth; without actually realizing it. By the time they reached the basement, Alex searched her pockets for her wand, and there her boots, but realised that she had left it in her room. Mentally slapping herself, she moved towards the washing machine and looked for a place to hide.

Justin grabbed Alex from behind, to which she shrieked. He let go instantly, thinking that he had hurt her – his face immediately fell with both caution and concern. But Alex had already turned around and tried to get past him.

"Alex, seriously, stop playing around!"

Alex stuck her tongue out at Justin and tried to dart around him again, but instinctively, he caught her by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulled her backwards, keeping her from running forward.

"Justin! Stop!" He could hear the laugh in her voice. It was a game to the both of them. Justin continued to try and reach over her chest to grab the remote but she held it close. He pulled her towards the wall behind the washing machine and held her there, pinning her slightly, he held his hand out.

"Hand it over."

She blinked innocently at him. "Hand over what?"

He bought none of it and narrowed his eyes at her. "The remote, Alex. Hand it over."

Alex shrugged and tore her arm out of Justin's light grip. "I still don't know what you're talking about."

Then Justin had an idea. It was a simple, innocent idea – he hadn't done it to Alex in years and he remembered clearly that her weak spot was the back of her hip. He reached down to her waist and began to tickle her.

"Justin! Stop it!"

"Give me the remote and I'll stop!"

They thought it was harmless. It wasn't until Alex threw the remote across the room, hearing it clang against the metal pipes, when she put her hands against Justin's left arm and his neck, did she realise how strange the situation had become.

Justin suddenly stopped tickling her and looked down at Alex, his Alex, his sister, who's breathing he could feel tickling his neck.

The proximity between them was rather frightening. She could hear the rasp of his breath, the innocent thump of his chest but more so, he could smell her shampoo. The sweet smell of strawberry in her hair. It was new to him. Had she always smelled like that?

Alex found herself staring at Justin's lips. She looked away before he could notice. Then she could smell him. He smelled clean – the faint scent of body wash – apples and cinnamon. Had he always smelled like this?

Alex felt the air around her drop in temperature and turn cold once Justin's grip on Alex had loosened completely and he let her go; leaving her in the basement, having completely forgotten about the remote.

Alex simply blinked, her face tainted, as she tried to replay the last few moments in her head.

Alex Russo would've liked to say that she didn't enjoy the way Justin tickled her. Besides, he hadn't done that since they were what – six or seven?

They were simply children. They knew nothing about love.