Chapter 10: All's well


Alex woke up the next morning in her room, sniffling for no reason. She wiped at her eyes clumsily with the sleeve of her night shirt, groaning as her cell phone rang.

"Yes the world ends the next moment so you just had to call me now!" she mumbled sarcastically as she answered the call.

"Sorry." Max answered from the other end. "I just called in to check if you're doing alright."

"Yes, Maxie I am fine." She assured, groaning again. "Well, I was, until you called me and gave me a massive headache."

"Why can't you just switch off your cell phone when you sleep?" Max asked, amused.

"Uh, because I'll forget to turn it back on the next day?" she chuckled. "Max, please, that's how I lost my first cell phone. I kept calling myself and it kept saying my phone was switched off. I never found out where I had kept it!"

Max raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had kept it in Justin's room?"

That name brought her back to reality again, back to the current situation that she was in, the graveness of it sinking into her skin once again. "I… I gotta go check up on Justin. Talk to you later, Max."

"Alex…" Max sighed, fidgeting. "Look, if you need help, just tell me, I'll come over."

"No I don't need help making my house an even bigger mess." She mumbled sarcastically, sitting up on the bed, yawning. "But, thanks Maxie."

She smiled, hanging up the call and stepping on the floor, the cold marble making her wince and sit back down again. "If Justin was still Justin, this would have never happened. He would have covered the floor with a carpet and cleaned it every day. But nope! I screwed it all up! Ugh!" she snarled at herself, rubbing her forehead, putting on her fuzzy slippers and heading out of the room, ready to grab some breakfast before she changed.

"Hey mom." She greeted, grabbing her toothbrush and mint toothpaste. "Why did you wake up so early?"

Her mother shrugged. "Well, your neighbor's dog kept barking."

Alex laughed. "That's Chico. Jim's dog. He's a really cute dog. I walk him every morning… well, not today, 'cause I've got some work to do today, oh my god, I need to get ready. Later mom."

She rushed to the bathroom, skipping the breakfast. She had to get ready soon.

"You guys cook whatever you like. As long as I don't have to eat vegetables for dinner." She ordered before she left.

Today was going to be a long day.


"Are you there yet?"

"Gosh, John, relax." She snarled on the phone. "I'm in the car. I'm on my way. I'll be there in a minute."

"You've got the presentation ready, right Alex?" John asked, concerned.

Alex gasped. "What! I thought you were supposed to get it ready!"

"Of course! I knew I couldn't count on you!" John snapped. "But I knew this was going to happen, so I do have it ready."

Alex sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, you're a life saver."

"A job-saver, actually." John retorted dryly.

"Hey!" she protested, getting off the car. "I've reached the office, so you better be ready for what's coming your way." She threatened, rushing into her workplace.


"Hey Jason, listen is it alright if I don't baby sit Rachel today, I got caught up with some work. You know, the last moment fashion disasters. Ok, thanks for understanding, bye."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Alex slow down." Jason huffed. "I've never heard you talk so much in two years!"

"I talk!" Alex protested.

"Yeah but you never seem so… happy." Jason observed.

Alex smiled, a hint of happiness on her face. She did not realize how happy she had become till now- just being with Justin was making her this happy. "Well, my family's visiting." She stated. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth- it wasn't the reason for her happiness. "Well, I got to go, later."


When she returned home, it was already too late. Again.

"Sorry dad." She apologized, munching on her food like a hungry glutton, abandoning all the lady-like manners that she was taught. "I just had a really tough day at work."

Her father sighed, nodding. "You're working so hard honey. We never thought that would happen."

"Aww, Jerry, we're good parents." Theresa cooed.

Alex scrunched up her nose in disgust. Why couldn't people let her eat in peace? "Uh, where's Justin?" She asked, seeing he was nowhere around.

"He's already asleep. We should probably go to bed too. Goodnight sweetie."

"Night." She mumbled, suddenly feeling disappointed. She had hoped she would be able to get home early and spend a lot of time just talking to Justin, but nope, work just had to screw everything up. "This is why people shouldn't have a job!"


She finished her dinner quietly, changed into her nightclothes after taking a quick shower, and headed for her room. She paused when she reached Justin's room. He was there, in his bed, his eyes closed, hands by his side. At that moment, he almost looked normal. She felt like any moment from then, he would sit up, notice her, frown and shoot comments like "what lame prank are you going to pull now?" and then everything would be alright.

A tear rolled down her cheek at the memory, and she suddenly noticed how heavy her heart felt. She had always felt hollow without Justin, but suddenly, it was over-burdening her. She walked inside the room, closing the door behind her, and sat down beside him on the bed. This was the room they lived in together, this was the happiest place in the world, and now, a dark shadow of gloom was cast over it. Everywhere she looked brought back a hundred memories- one of the many reasons she shifted away from the room- and her eyes welled up with tears.

Sleeping on the bed, Justin looked so peaceful, so happy. Yet, she knew he wasn't feeling anything at all, and she wished he would.

"Justin", she whispered, taking his hand in hers. It had been a long day, and she remembered how Justin used to massage her hands when it pained. "I'm sorry." She whispered, hugging his hand close to her chest. "This is all my fault. This is my mess, and you're the one who's suffering for it. I'm so sorry. I wish I could take it all back… I am so, so sorry."

She looked at his face, half expecting him to open his eyes and shake his head no, letting her know that eh didn't think it was her fault, but of course, nothing of that sort happened.

"Don't you feel anything?" she asked, tugging on the collar of his shirt. "Can't you hear me, Justin?"

She bit her lip, noticing the close proximity they were in after such a long time. Her breath hitched as she inhaled his familiar scent, eyes drifting shut at the familiar feeling, the familiar warmth spreading through her body. Why couldn't he feel these?

"You have to feel Justin. You have to!"

In a desperate attempt, she connected her lips to his, pouring all her passion in it, unleashing all her longing, letting herself drown in the feeling. He had to feel it. He always did. He had to!

Justin's eyebrow twitched, fingers jerking for a split second. Her eyes were closed, and she didn't notice. She didn't notice his eyelids flutter open and close again in a matter of seconds. But she did notice when she felt his lips tremble against hers.

She broke apart with a gasp. "Justin?" she asked in disbelief. Did he just respond or was her mind playing tricks on her?

He opened his eyes again very slowly to reveal the tears forming. "A-Alex…" he managed to stutter the word out in a low, barely audible whisper.

She blinked. Did he just say her name? She stared at him, noticing a tear drop roll down his cheek. She pinched herself, trying to wake herself up from the dream. But Justin was still there, right in front of her eyes, looking at her with those gray eyes.

So this was real!

"Justin!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck clumsily and hugging him tightly, "I am so glad you're back. This was killing me. I love you so much. I'm so sorry. Oh my gosh I can't stop rambling."

He tried to hug her back, but his hands still wouldn't move, only his fingers trembled. "Alex." he whispered into her ears again, his voice strained. "I.. still … can't… move." He said, voice expressing no emotion, just stating the sentence in the form of broken words.

She looked back at him, taking his hand in hers, and entwining their fingers firmly. He was coming back slowly, and she knew it would still take a lot of time. "That's okay. I'm with you now. Everything is going to be okay."

His lips quivered as he forced them to curve upwards into a smile, his head slowly bending sideways in the form of a small nod. There were so many things he wanted to say- he needed to say- but his voice still felt feeble, and he wasn't sure if he had the strength to speak so much, so for that moment, he decided to just settle for feeling the way she felt in his arms. He had missed this-her- so much! Every emotion missing from his life was rushing back to him at once, all the memories flooding his mind, but Alex squeezing him like she was trying to crush him was overwhelming everything else. He couldn't do anything else to let her know how he felt, all he could do was speak with his eyes. But he knew there was one thing that he needed to say right then, one single thing that would let her know all was forgiven- well, they would have to talk things out later- and everything was alright between them. "I love… you… Alex…"


"It's me Alex."

"Alex, what's wrong?" The mystery guy asked.

"Nothing. Everything's all right now." Alex squealed like an excited little child. "Justin, responded today! He spoke to me!"

The guy gasped in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Alex smiled. "I'm so happy, J."


(A/N: That's right, I introduced three OCs, one of them is the mystery guy, but that's for you to figure out as the story progresses… I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review and let me know if you like this! I think I'll update every Sunday, well, depending on hits and reviews :P)