xix.
"Wait, why are we doing this again?"
"Because Alex is trying to impress a boy, Zeke."
"Pfft, trying? Harper, please. Trying implies the possibility of—"
"Effort?"
"...I was actually gonna go with 'failure', but thank you for that."
"Sorry, Alex."
"My point is that when I, God forbid, make an effort to impress a boy, I impress the boy. You get me?"
"Right, do or do not, there is no try, words to live by. What I meant was: why are we doing this on LiveJournal of all places?"
"Not that I actually care, Zeke, but you have some kind of nerd-centric problem with that?"
"Uh, only that we might as well be putting it up on MySpace? Or Geocities, for crying out loud?"
"Aaaaaaand again? In words we non-dorks will understand this time?"
"Alex, LiveJournal is so 2008. In internet years, that's practically millenia ago. Nobody bothers with it, anymore. Tumblr is where it's at, now."
"And I'm supposed to take advice on what's cutting-edge from a dude who spent most of last night prancing around in wooden shoes?"
"Be nice, Alex. Zeke is trying to help you, remember?"
"But I hate Tumblr! It's like LiveJournal's retarded little brother!"
"Alex, what have we said about using the r-word?"
"Ugh, fine...it's LiveJournal's differently-abled little brother, then. Happy now, Little Miss Social Justice?"
"Uh, pardon me ladies, but just because Tumblr has a more streamlined and user-friendly aesthetic than LiveJournal does not make it retar—I mean, um, inferior. In fact, it's been designed specifically with technologically unsophisticated individuals like yourselves in mind. That's the beauty of it!"
"No, that's my problem with it. Any site that's been dumbed-down enough for someone as lazy as me to use is clearly not something I want any part of."
"Heh. Thank you, Groucho Marx."
"Oh, so suddenly I'm a bitchy green Muppet who lives in a trash can because I don't like Tumblr? Jeez, Harper, just whose side are you on?"
"What? No honey, Groucho Marx was a—look, just forget it. Zeke, we have to put it up on LiveJournal because that's where Alex met her little cyber-crush, OK? It's romantic!"
"But we could just put it up on Tumblr and link—"
"Zeke..."
"Alright, alright, alright...but I want it stated on the record that I am doing this under extreme protest!"
"Uh, hello? Do you see one of those little old court-reporter ladies from Law & Order sitting in my living room with that freaky little typewriter thing? No? Then quit whining and make with the geek mojo or whatever, already."
"Ahem? Quit whining and make with the geek mojo or whatever...what?"
"...orrrrrr whatever you love most in the world will become only the first piece of my brand-new 'Zeke's Favorite Things From His Room' collection?"
"Uh, I think the magic word Zeke was probably shooting for there was 'please', Alex."
"True, actually, but I'm willing to overlook it in the interest of keeping my 1974 Mego Batgirl doll safe in her original factory-sealed, mint-condition packaging. Let's get started, shall we?"
"Wow, really? You're gonna fold just like that? Man, you're way easier to blackmail than Justin. I'll have to remember that."
"Say, why didn't you just get the J-Man to help you with this?"
"That's a long story, Zeke..."
"And why do all these people on your friends list have Selena Gomez or David Whatshisname in their user pics?"
"That's an even longer story. Look, could we knock it off with the twenty questions and just get on with this, already?"
"Sure, sure. That's a good place to start, actually: do you have a particular user pic in mind for this post?"
"A whatnow?"
"Y'know, an icon? The little picture that goes in the top left-hand corner of your post that identifies you?"
"Um, do I need one?"
"Well, that depends: do you want to look like complete and utter n00bsauce?"
"Uh...don't have clue one what that's supposed to mean, but from the tone of your voice, I'mma guess no."
"Oh, by the power of Greyskull..."
"Zeke, relax. Breathe. It's fine. Can't we just download one for her?"
"What? Are you nuts? The user pic is your brand! Your very online identity! It's meant to be as uniquely individual as a precious snowflake bearing your fingerprint!"
"Um, OK..."
"And you can't just have one! You need dozens! Baker's dozens! One to suit each and every possible mood..."
"Ooo, sort of like outfits! Like, you have a cupcake-themed one for days you're feeling sweet, and a lemon-themed one for when you're in a sour mood?"
"Precisely!"
"Uh, shyeah no. Way too much work. Here, see that one? I like that one. Let's just use that one."
"Alex, haven't you been listening to a single word I've said?"
"You don't really want me to answer that, do you?"
"You can't just use that one! It belongs to somebody else!"
"Uh, and? Listen, let's just steal it and, like, throw a sepia tone over it with Photoshop, or whatever. Done. Like anybody's even gonna notice, anyway..."
"Wh-what? You want to...I'm just supposed to...you want me to...to..."
"Zeke? Are you OK? Zeke?"
"..."
"Alex, his face is getting really red..."
"Ugh. Yo, Earth calling Clog-Boy, come in Clog-boy...seriously, dude, what's up with the whole creepy Rain-Man act?"
"WHAT'S UP? I REFUSE TO BE A PARTY TO THIS CYBER-CHICANERY EVEN A MINUTE LONGER, THAT'S WHAT'S UP! THESE ARE THE MORAL BUILDING BLOCKS UPON WHICH OUR ONLINE SOCIETY IS FOUNDED, AND YOU ARE MAKING A MOCKERY OF THEM! WHY NOT JUST...JUST PEE ALL OVER THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, WHY DON'T YOU? WELL, BY GOLLY, I SAY THEE NAY! I WON'T DO IT, AND BARBARA GORDON BE DAMNED. GOOD DAY TO YOU, MISS!"
"Zeke wait! We—"
"I SAID GOOD DAY!"
xx.
It takes twenty minutes of convincing on Harper's part, a promise from Alex that she'll sit on the other side of the room and keep her hands tucked behind her back, and an invitation to dinner for Ten-Cheese Enchilada Suprise from Theresa before Zeke reluctantly agrees to come back in off the terrace and help post the photo of Alex's painting. It takes another twenty minutes of him breathing into a paper bag with his head between his knees, while Harper soothingly rubs his back between his shoulder blades, before he's calmed down enough to actually work.
Of course, Zeke insists on setting up every single facet of her LiveJournal just so first, including the creation of a unique user pic for every conceivable emotion or combination thereof she might ever experience. So what should be a little two-minute favor turns into a two-hour ordeal. Alex watches in boredom from the opposite end of the living room as Harper and Zeke sit side-by-side on the orange loveseat, pecking away at her Macbook, giggling and chatting excitedly over design ideas. She does try to sneak away once, thinking they won't notice, but a pointed glare from Harper over the brushed chrome of the monitor makes her slink back down into her seat. Mere mortal or no, her best friend can be even scarier than a cucuy when she really wants to be.
It's funny, but watching them work kinda sorta makes her appreciate all the times that Justin's helped her with stuff like this, all that much more. Because as difficult as he can be to manipulate, and as much of an anal-retentive, perfectionist fuss bucket as he can be sometimes, he's practically normal compared to Zeke. Say what you will about Justin's annoying know-it-all tendencies, and his need to run off at the mouth and lecture her while he does it (as if she actually gave a damn), at least he knows how to get shit done, instead of dithering for twenty minutes about what freaking font to use. Justin gets in, does what he needs to do, and gets out. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am.
(And she totally doesn't turn red at her choice of words there, because they're completely innocent without a shred of innuendo whatsovever. And they're absolutely not accompanied by the kind of mental images that would make even jlnpedia have to fan himself. Nope. Not at all. Because that would be...bad, right? Not to mention a higher level of awkward than she thinks she's equipped to deal with...)
Oh well. At least Zeke and Harper are having a good time with each other, which ought to make Harper happy. That's something, at least...even though she can practically hear the anguished screams of Sayley fans echoing around the world as their preferred fanon ship is effectively sunk. And while she sympathizes with them a little—she's always kind of shipped Sayley (Sam/Hayley) herself, especially since Max hit his growth spurt last year—after seeing them together like this, she does have to admit that Zayley (Zack/Hayley) is probably canon for good reason. There's a certain undeniable rightness to it, after all, what with each of them being her and Justin's wacky best friends...
"Ugh, knock it off," she mutters to herself, annoyed at how tightly her invisible shipping goggles appear to be strapped to her stupid head. "You sound like such a nerd."
"Sorry," Harper and Zeke murmur automatically in the same breath, without looking up from the screen. Then, realizing what they've done, they actually do tear their gaze away long enough to look in each other's eyes, smiling in surprise and amusement before they both blush darkly and look away again.
Alex rolls her own eyes and heaves a sigh. Great. Well, there's about three pages of schmoopy fluff she can look forward to reading, once she actually starts Book Six, knowing Future Harper's penchant for florid prose. Gag. As if witnessing it first-hand wasn't bad enough...
"Zeke? Is that you up there?"
A sudden chill shoots right up Alex's spine as Justin's voice breaks into her thoughts, accompanied by the sound of his footsteps treading up the black spiral staircase to her left. She locks eyes with Harper, who looks just as stunned Alex feels. For a split second she wonders why, before she remembers that Harper thinks Justin has some kind of problem with the boy crushing on Alex, not realizing that he is the boy crushing on Alex.
(Ugh, when did her life get so goddamned complicated?)
Stupid. In hindsight, they really should have done this up in her room, where Justin would have been less likely to walk in on them. But then she hadn't expected it to take nearly three freakin' hours...
Before either of them can so much as hiss at Zeke to be cool, though, Justin's head appears between the black standards of the railing as he walks up the stairs from the Sub Station, still wearing his apron. He raises an eyebrow at Zeke and Harper as he glimpses them sitting side-by-side on the loveseat.
"Oh, so that was you I heard," he says to Zeke with a puzzled frown. "What are you still doing here, man? I thought you went home ages—"
He breaks off as he steps up into the living room and finally notices Alex sitting there in the orange easy chair, legs draped lazily over the arm, staring back at him. She feels the skin behind her ears getting warm as they get their first really good look at each other in the nearly two days since "Heinstein" trashed his fic, and she oh-so-coincidentally started avoiding him.
Green, she can't help but think to herself, because that's the color Justin will have highlighted this whole scene in, if it's made it into Book Six.
At least a half-dozen different emotions seem to be swirling in his grey-green eyes as she watches, fighting for dominance, the most obvious of which is hurt. Followed pretty closely by anger, confusion, and maybe a little bit of sadness. And it breaks Alex's heart a little, because she's kinda-sorta the reason for all of them. Eventually, though, he seems to settle on suspicion, his eyes narrowing into a glare.
"What's going on here?" he asks warily, frowning as he glances from Alex to Harper and Zeke, then back again.
"What's it look like, egghead?" she asks. She shrugs one shoulder with an air of lazy indifference that she definitely doesn't feel. "We're all just hanging out. What's it to you?"
"Uh huh. Because the two of you hanging out with Zeke of your own free will when I'm not around isn't unusual or suspicious at all," Justin snorts as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Uh...no offense, Zeke."
"None taken, J-Man," Zeke says, nodding sagely as the keyboard clicks under his fingertips. "Two hot girls chilling with me with no ulterior motives whatsoever? Sounds plenty suspicious to me, bro."
Alex tilts her head to the side to glare flatly at Zeke for practically selling her out, then rolls her eyes at the way Harper blushes and preens over the compliment. Justin blinks at them thoughtfully for a moment, then shakes his head sharply and turns his attention back to his sister.
"That's not true, Zeke," Alex says through clenched teeth, the flatness of her tone betraying her. "We just love chilling with you."
"Yeah, sure you do," Justin says, crossing his arms over his chest. (And, augh, but she wishes she'd stop noticing when he did that.) "Care to explain what Zeke and Harper are doing with your Macbook? Wait, no, let me guess: you've tricked them into doing your Spanish homework for you, again."
"Pfft, guess again, dork," Alex snaps, stung by the accusation, even as the rational part of her mind tells her that he's just taking his anger over the past few days out on her, and that she probably deserves it. "Not even."
"Fine, so it's your English homework then. Same difference," Justin snorts, then turns and takes a step towards Harper and Zeke. "Here, let me see that..."
Moving quickly, Alex jumps up off the chair and shoves past Justin to put herself between him and the others. He stops short and glares at her as she places her hands on her hips and juts her chin out at him in defiance.
"I said it's not homework, Justin," she growls, fighting to keep the panic out of her voice. "Now get lost and leave us alone."
"Oh, please. If you're not cheating, then why are you trying so hard to keep me from seeing what they're doing?"
"Because it's none of your goddamned business what they're doing, that's why!"
Justin chuckles bitterly. "You'll forgive me if I don't exactly feel comfortable taking you at your word."
"Fine, don't take my word, then." Alex turns her head to look over her shoulder at Harper and Zeke. "Go ahead, Harp. Tell ferret-face that he's wrong for once in his pathetic life."
"She's telling the truth, Justin," Harper nods, without hesitation. "Honest."
Alex looks back at her brother, eyes shining triumphantly. Looking past her, Justin eyes Harper skeptically for a moment, then shifts his gaze to his best friend. "Zeke?"
Without changing her expression, or taking her eyes off Justin, Alex subtely holds her breath. Be cool, Zeke, please be cool...
"Well, technically it's more blackmail she's using than outright trickery," Zeke says from behind her, without looking up from the screen in front of him. "But it's true that this is definitely not homework..."
Justin's frown deepens in suspicion as his eyes move from Zeke to Alex, even as she favors him with a shit-eating 'I told you so' grin. "It's not? You're sure?"
"Nope! Not unless she's taking extra credits in the fine art of cyber-seduction," Zeke grins, as he taps away eagerly on the Macbook's keyboard. "Just call me Zeke Beekerman, I.T. Consultant of Love!"
The grin slides right off Alex's face, even as Justin's eyebrows threaten to leap into orbit. The two of them just stand there for a long moment, staring at each other, the soft clicking of the Macbook's keys the only sound breaking the pregnant silence that hangs between them.
Well, shit. That's what she gets for hoping Zeke could actually be cool.
"I.T. Consultant of what?" Justin asks, finally.
And then Alex shouts "RUN FOR IT!" over her shoulder to Harper as she leaps forward and crash-tackles Justin to the couch, pinning him bodily beneath her. Zeke squeals and automatically curls himself up into the fetal position, covering his head with both arms as though he believes Alex might attack him next.
"NOT IN THE FACE! NOT IN THE FACE!"
The Macbook spills off his lap as he draws his knees up to his chest, but Harper—used to this sort of thing after years of friendship with Alex—springs into action immediately, snatching the MacBook out of the air before it can hit the ground, and tucking it under her arm as she turns to sprint towards the stairs.
"Alex! What the hell...?" Justin growls as he squrirms beneath her on the sofa, struggling to untangle his limbs from hers.
With a skill borne from years of tickle-fights, water wars and knock-down, drag-out battles over the TV remote, Alex manages to keep herself on top of him, despite his best efforts to flip her over...but she can't deny that, this time, something is drastically different. She's never halfway wanted him to flip her over before, for one thing. Or been so conscious of the fact that she's not wearing a bra beneath her sweater as she mashes her chest against his. And it's certainly never occurred to her to wonder if it's really the handle of his wand that's digging into her hip through his jeans. Flushed and breathing heavily (and it's totally just from the exertion, really), she grabs both his wrists and pins his arms to his sides, then risks a glance up at Harper, to see how close she is to getting away—
—and then suddenly, Alex finds herself sprawled face first on the sofa, alone. Blinking in confusion, she pushes herself up off the cushions and whips her head around, just in time to see Justin standing at the foot of the spiral stairs, two steps below the still-sprinting Harper. Holding her Macbook open with both hands, he stares at the screen in open-mouthed horror, even as he slowly lowers one foot to the ground, as though he'd been hopping on the other.
(Oh. Dammit. So maybe that actually was his wand digging into her hip, after all...)
Harper practically screeches to a stop in the middle of the yellow staircase as she belatedly realizes that she's not carrying the laptop to safety anymore, and spins on her heels to stare at Justin in shock.
"How did you—? Justin Russo, did you actually just cast a spell on—?"
"Harper!" Alex snaps, cutting her off in mid-scolding as she jerks a thumb towards Zeke. The redhead immediately slaps a hand over her mouth, even as her eyes go wide over it. Fortunately, Zeke doesn't appear to notice, preoccupied as he is with curling himself into as tightly compact a ball as humanly possible.
Justin isn't paying attention, either. All the colour has drained out of his face, leaving him sickly pale as he goggles at the screen of her Macbook, and Alex can't help but notice that he hasn't blinked in awhile.
"Justin," she says in a small voice, slowly stepping up off the couch as though making any sudden movements might provoke him. "Look, please don't...I can explain..."
Hearing her say his name seems to finally break the weird trance he's in, because his gaze darts up to her face, then, still not blinking. And man, if she'd thought his eyes had been filled with pain and confusion before...
"Alex," he murmurs, his voice tight, barely loud enough for her to hear. "How could you?"
Alex feels her cheeks burn with second-hand embarrassment. She knows what he's thinking: that she's outed him to Harper and Zeke, and shown them the Jalan stories he's posted as Archimedes. That she's humiliated him by giving away the most closely-guarded secret he holds after the whole wizard thing. It's an awful conclusion for him to jump to, one that speaks volumes about what he thinks of her, and of what he thinks she thinks of him.
And given how horrible she's been to him as Heinstein all weekend, she can't exactly blame him. Not in the least.
"Justin, no!" she says quickly, shaking her head. "Listen to me, I swear it's not what you think!"
"Really," he snarls, and the angry bitterness in his tone is like a slap in the face. "And exactly what am I supposed to think you're doing showing our best friends the julia_alan community, Alex?"
"She's helping me," Harper says, before Alex can answer.
Alex and Justin both turn to look up at her, surprised, and even Zeke pulls his head out from beneath his arms to gape at her in shock.
"What?" all three of them say, in the same breath.
"I'm the one posting on the site, Justin, not Alex," Harper says smoothly, even as she cocks one eyebrow ever so slightly at Alex in that 'you owe me for covering for you' way she has since kindergarten. She walks a few steps down the stairs and leans forward to peer over Justin's shoulder at the Macbook's screen. "I'm the one who's been flirting online with Archimedes. I'm...uh...future_hayley."
"You are?" Justin asks.
"You are?" Zeke parrots him, looking crestfallen. And Alex can practically hear the crash and tinkle of his heart shattering into a million tiny pieces.
"Nononononono," she says quickly, shaking her head and waving her hands frantically at her best friend. "Harper, don't. It's really sweet what you're trying to do, here, and any other time I'd totally be OK with you taking the fall for me, but—"
"And you're Heinstein," Justin cuts her off, turning back around to glare at her. "Of course. I'd wondered why you'd bothered to flame me with a sockpuppet account, but I get it now. It was all just another one of your underhanded little schemes to manipulate me into doing what you want, just like it always is. I should have known."
"Justin, wait—"
"And that's been you writing back in the margins of the books, hasn't it?" Justin snaps, rounding back on Harper so fast that she actually flinches away. "Imitiating Alex's handwriting just like you have on her homework for years."
"Um...maybe?" Harper says, looking at Alex uncertainly.
"Unbelievable," Justin snorts, closing his eyes and lowering his chin to his chest. "No, that's not true. Coming from you this is entirely believable, Alex. The only unbelievable thing is the fact that I actually thought you might..."
He trails off, takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. Then, opening his eyes and lifting his head, he reaches out and calmly hands the Macbook back to Alex. Struck speechless for possibly the first time in her life, wanting to say a million things but knowing all of them would probably only make it worse, she accepts it from him in silence, wrapping her arms around it and hugging it to her chest.
"Harper," Justin says, without taking his eyes off Alex. "I don't know what Alex told you, but it's not going to work. You can't trick me into falling for you, no matter who you pretend to be. I love you as much as Alex does, but...not that way."
"Um...'kay?" Harper says awkwardly, frowning at Alex in confusion and mouthing the words 'What is he talking about?'
She quickly closes her mouth and assumes a posture of heartbroken disappointment as Justin finally does turn around to look up at her, sadly.
"I'm sorry, Harper," he says. "Sometimes I actually wish I could feel differently about you. I really do. But you can't control who you fall for...no matter how much you wish you could."
And with a final, cutting look at Alex, Justin heaves another sigh, then stalks back down the black staircase into the Sub Station, his footsteps ringing heavily on the metal stairs.
"I...uh...should probably go after him," Zeke says, as he gets up off the loveseat and walks past Alex. "He looks like he could use somebody to talk to about all this. Not that I fully understand everything that just happened here, mind you. Or anything, really. But that's kind of standard operating procedure when you hang around the Russos, isn't it?"
"Preach on, brother," Harper says, leaning on the railing above him.
"His sister's a hateful, deceitful bitch," Alex sighs, shaking her head slightly. "That's all you really need to know."
"Well, duh!" Zeke says. "Um, no offense."
Alex snorts and smiles at him weakly. "None taken. I had that coming...and a lot more besides."
"Hmm. Normally this is where I'd lay a consoling hand on your shoulder and say 'buck up, dear friend', but somehow—"
"Touch me and I'll pound you, Zeke."
"Yeah, that's what I figured," Zeke nods. He looks up at Harper and tilts his head to the side slightly, like an inquisitive puppy. "I thought you were finally over Justin, Harper."
Harper blinks and straightens up in surprise. She exchanges a quick glance with Alex, then shrugs faux-nonchalantly even as she blushes beneath her freckles. "Uh...I am."
"Oh. Well, good!" Breaking out into a wide grin, Zeke raises one hand and waves at them stiffly. "Viya con diyos, compadres!"
With that, he turns and heads down into Sub Station after Justin. Harper leans over the railing above, her long red hair dangling as she watches after him.
"What do you think that was about?" Harper asks after he's out of sight, her voice tinged with curiousity.
"I dunno," Alex groans. She tosses the Macbook on the couch, then sits down heavily on the arm, shoulders slumped. "I think it mighta been French...or Italian, maybe..."
"No, I meant—why do I get the feeling that I just screwed things up for you big time, without meaning to?"
"It wasn't your fault, Harper," Alex says, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. "I'm the one who screwed things up, just by being me."
"Justin's not just upset about you flirting with some boy online, is he?" Harper asks, circling around as she comes the rest of the way down the stairs. "You wanna tell me what's really going on here?"
"Not really," Alex admits. Then, off Harper's look of hurt and confusion: "Don't be mad. It's just...I really don't think I could take it if you and Justin both decided to hate me forever in the same weekend."
"Alex Russo." Harper tilts her head to one side and crosses her arms over her chest. "You've never been shy about sharing just about every terrible little thing you've done since kindergarten with me, if only so that I could help you cover it up, and fix things when you screwed up. Heck, you even told me you were a wizard...so that I could help you cover it up, and fix things when you screwed up."
"Harper, that isn't the only reason I—"
Harper holds up one hand to cut her off. "Are you honestly telling me that whatever's going on between you and Justin is so much worse that you won't let me help you cover that up, too? Or fix what you've screwed up? Because as an accomplished accomplice, I sort of take offense to that."
Alex allows herself a small smile at that, but it immediately turns itself back into a frown as she shakes her head. "No, I can't. I'm sorry. This is...huge. And weird. And kind of a mess right now."
"Wow, things between you and Justin weird and kind of a mess. How novel." Coming up next to the orange couch, Harper drapes one arm lightly across Alex's shoulders. "Hey c'mon...try me. I don't know if you've noticed the way I dress, but I'm kind of all about eschewing convention. That means I have a pretty open mind, Alex."
Alex looks at her, opens her mouth to tell her once again that she can't tell her...but hesitates. There's a familiar twinkle in Harper's eye, as though she somehow finds all this amusing, which she only gets when Alex is forced to apologize, or to fess up to something she already suspects.
And that's when it occurs to Alex that Future Harper is the one who got her thinking this way in the first place, who made her see what had always been there between her and Justin, just beneath the surface. And there's no way she piled on that much shippy subtext by accident. In the first book, maybe, but five books later? C'mon. Hell, if everyone who reads the campfire scene can tell what's really going on between Alan and Julia, even those few fans who don't ship them, it's because H.J. Darling freaking wrote it that way.
The bottom line is that Future Harper knows, and pretty clearly ships it herself. And if Future Harper ships Jalan, then doesn't it make sense that Present Harper ships, or at least could ship...um...
(Alextin? Nah, not cute enough. Alestin? Ugh, no. Alustin? Snkt, yeah, that's it. Because they're totally a-lustin' for each other, get it?)
"Well?" Harper prompts her, nudging her shoulder gently.
Alex takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly.
"Just how unconventional are you ready to get?" she asks tentatively. "Because this is pretty goddamned unconventional..."
"I've fashioned an entire jacket out of strips of beef jerky with the express purpose of someday coercing one or more attractive men to eat if off me," Harper says, without embarrasment. She cocks one eyebrow. "You really think you can out-freak me, little girl? Please. Bring it on."
Alex blinks at this, then nods to herself as she makes up her mind.
"OK then, listen," she says in a low voice, glancing over both shoulders to make sure nobody's around to overhear. "I'm not saying anything's happened, that anything's even gonna happen, or even that I necessarily want anything to happen, but...well, here's the thing: you know that boy I was telling you about?"
Author's Note: Yeah, this is a development that surprised even me. Not the way I expected this chapter to go at all...but then, I think I'd telegraphed what I had planned for this chapter a little too neatly, so that it felt predictable and safe. In the long run, I think this works better. I know, I know...everyone's impatient for some schmoopy Jalex to happen already—or Alustin, heh, because Alex would never let Justin's name go first—but trust me. We're getting to that, promise. Stay tuned.
Sorry for the long delay between chapters. Work/life balance has been skewed rather heavily in the favor of work of late, leaving me with little or no time to write. I've been pecking away at this chapter in fits and spurts for over a month. There's light at the end of the tunnel, though, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to semi-regular updates again before too long. Thanks for keeping the faith, as well as all your reviews, favorites and alerts. It's very much appreciated.
A gold star to my fellow dorks who manage to get all of the geeky references I managed to work in, thanks to Zeke. He's ridiculously fun to write for.