Alex sat, her eyebrow arched slightly as she waited for Justin to make his move. Justin shifted uncomfortable for a couple of awkward beats, before finally moving forward and settling onto the couch. He expected Alex to move away from him, but she stayed rooted to where she was, still waiting.

Justin nervously ran a hand through his hair as he tried to compose his thoughts. He wasn't quite sure how Alex was feeling right now. If she was really mad, maybe an apology would work. But then, she might just get bored or sarcastic and leave before he could tell her an explanation. And secondly, how exactly was he going to explain? There were so many things he had to say, and he wasn't exactly sure where to start. He supposed that maybe it would be best if he just started talking. He took a deep breath.

"Well, you see," He said, and cleared his throat. "Today I was talking with Max, well, I guess he found out about us-"He looked for a reaction, but Alex was still scarily composed, "And he asked if I was in love with you, and-"

"And what did you say?" Alex interrupted him.

Justin looked at his hands, which were starting to sweat again. What should he say? Should he lie again? "I said I liked you," He admitted shakily.

A look of complete shock crossed Alex's face. "Why…why would you tell him that?"

"He was surprisingly cool about it," Justin said. "It was weird. He thought it was like we were this really cool secret thing. He won't tell anybody about it, so don't worry."

"No," Alex corrected him. "Why would you tell him you liked me when you told me you didn't?"

There was another silence as the words sunk in. For the first time since that night, Justin allowed himself to see how badly he had crushed her. He hadn't let himself think about that, it was too painful to think he was capable of putting someone in that kind of pain. But now he couldn't hide from it. Even now, he could see the hurt on her face. Regret twisted in his stomach.

"I'm sorry," He said, his voice coming out like a whisper.

Alex scowled. "I know that. You already told me you were sorry."

"No I mean," Justin broke off. "I mean…that…I'm sorry I hurt you. And I'm sorry that I did what I did. And I'm sorry I li-" He was cut off by the sound of someone opening the door.

Quickly, he and Alex jumped off the couch. They looked at each other, sharing panicked expressions before Alex mouthed the word "Hide!" and pointed to underneath the couch.

"What? Why me?" Justin hissed as he began to hear footsteps.

"Because you're the older brother!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, I'm the better liar, so go!" Alex shoved him a little to get her point across. There was no time to really think, he just did what she asked and quickly ducked down and crawled under the couch. He wrinkled his nose a little. It smelled horrible.

The couch sank a little closer to his head when Alex sat down, pulling a book quickly on her lap and opening it to a random page. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ears and pretended to move her eyes across the page as their dad finally appeared in the lair.

"Alex!" Jerry sounded shocked, but thankfully, not yet suspicious.

"Oh, hi Daddy," Alex said cheerfully, smiling at him. Jerry frowned. Now he was suspicious.

"Alex, what are you doing?" Jerry asked. Alex still was smiling.

"Oh, you know," She gestured towards the book, "Reading. Uh, you know, about wizard fashions." Alex rolled her eyes. "It's very important for a girl to know these things."

Jerry looked at her for a couple of seconds but decided to buy her story. He walked over to the counter and began to adjust the potions on a rack. "Well, I guess we'll have lessons in about an hour," He said, and glanced at his daughter again. Alex ignored the look and focused on the page intently.

Jerry sighed and then moved to the chalkboard to write an illustration about the proper use of a spell they would be learning soon, and then began to walk out the door. He turned to look back at Alex one more time. "Whatever it is you are looking at, I'm not paying for it." And he left the room.

Underneath the couch, Justin sneezed.

"Bless you, honey!" Jerry called, and shut the door to the lair. Alex let out a sigh of relief for not getting caught, and she sat up from the couch.

"You can get out now," She informed Justin. He rolled out from under the couch and stood up, brushing dust from his clothes.

Alex returned to her seat, and Justin joined her. There was another whole minute of silence.

"So," Alex said, staring at her hands. She no longer seemed as angry, just curious. "What were you saying before?"

It took a moment for Justin to continue. "I …was saying that I was really sorry," He said softly. "I lied to you."

"You lied about liking me?" Alex asked. Justin nodded. "But why?"

"Because."

"Because why?" She insisted.

"Because being an 'us' was wrong," Justin said, and held his hand up when she opened her mouth to protest. "I know. It's just, I realized that we couldn't be together forever, and I just-"

"But what about now?" Alex demanded. "Why couldn't we be together now?"

"I saw you and Riley together," Justin said, "And I realized then that you should have the right. The right to choose. The right to be able to go on dates and not have to worry about being a cheater. The rights to one day get married, and not have to worry about my feelings, or feel like you have to cheat on them to be with me. And I-" Justin took a deep breath, and then continued his speech. "And I have no right to keep you from it."

"So you lied?" Alex repeated.

"Yes, and I'm sorry, and-"

"You could've told me the truth." Alex interrupted another one of his speeches.

"Would you have moved on if I did?" Justin pointed out.

"Maybe," Alex said. "But you really…" She was still looking at her hands, and she was tapping them against her knees. She had a hard time spilling her emotions to him. But she did anyways. "You hurt me. A lot."

"I'm sorry," He said, for what seemed like the thousandth time. But it was all he could say.

"I know, I know," She said, and she was silent for a moment, thinking. "Ok, so we got to the part where you lied to me…" Justin winced when he sensed the bitterness in her words. "So there is one missing piece. Why are you here, looking at books?" She paused. "Well, why are you looking at these books?"

Justin picked up a red one titled Solving Love Problems, and placed it on his lap.

"Well, like I said, I was talking to Max today and he gave me this idea."

"You got an idea form Max?" Alex half laughed. "What a good plan."

"Actually, it was," Justin said. He could tell some kind of sarcastic comment was on the way, so he finished quickly. "He suggested we find a magic solution to somehow make it ok for us to be together."

Alex looked shocked again. "Really?" She said. "That's….wow." She swallowed. "You were…looking for ideas…to help us?"

"Yeah."

"Justin that is so," Alex paused, looking for the right word. "Sweet. And kind of like me. I'm rubbing off on you aren't I?" She half smiled and looked at him, and he could tell she was kind of touched. Then to his surprise her arms were suddenly locked around his neck and her mouth was on his. For a second he couldn't respond, his brain desperately trying to catch up. But then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, unable to believe he had managed to convince himself that it was better to be without her.

He heard her sigh happily, and she pulled away to rest her head on his shoulder. For a minute, they just held each other, absorbing the happiness after the past few days of pain.

"I want to help," She finally said. Justin just nodded and she kissed him again. Both of them were completely focused on each other. For once, Justin wasn't screaming NO! This is wrong! But instead his brain had seemed to shut down completely, and all he could do was kiss her back. Eventually they pulled apart when they ran out of breath. Justin looked down to smile at her. And he hardly registered that he could now look at her without feeling regret.

"So," Alex said after she was finally able to concentrate again. "What kind of spell are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure yet," Justin said. "I was thinking it would be in one of these-" He gestured towards the pile of books. "Or in that book of spells Dad has."

Alex looked at the pile and groaned. "That is a lot of reading."

Justin just rolled his eyes. "Well, it's all we have, so we better use it."

Alex sighed dramatically. Then she glanced at the clock. "Class starts in ten minutes. We don't have time."

"We'll have to do it tonight," Justin said. Alex nodded.

"And we'll need that book of spells," He added.

Alex bit her lip. "How about you read those-" She pointed to the books. "And I convince Dad to give us the book?"

"And if he doesn't?"

"Plan B. We find it on our own."

"Fine," Justin said. Then he stopped. "Wait. You just stuck me with all the hard work."

"Yeah, but you're better at it," Alex leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. Justin seemed slightly happier.

"Fine I'll do it. But only if that isn't on the cheek next time," Justin said. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Boys," She muttered. "Are all the same. Even when they're your brother." But she smiled. "I hope we find something."

"We will," Justin reassured her. "We have to."

Ok I lied when I said that last chapter would be the last one to get posted within a day. But I actually found this piece sitting in another document and stuff happened today that actually gave me a lot of time to work on it (it's like the universe wants me finish). Sorry if the characters are a little OOC, but I do feel I need to adjust them a little to make the story fit. I will keep them as close to their characters as possible though. And as I said in the previous chapter, don't expect daily updates. This chapter is just a bonus. But I will definitely be posting a lot faster now that I've got the story rolling.