Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Cradle me
I'll cradle you
I'll win your heart
With a whoop-a-woo
Pulling shapes just for your eyes
So with toothpaste kisses and lines
I'll be yours and you'll be...
Lay with me
I'll lay with you
We'll do the things that lovers do
Put the stars in our eyes
And with heart-shaped bruises
And late-night kisses divine
Toothpaste Kisses- The Maccabees
He agreed to come to Thanksgiving dinner. After some persuasion, which, now she could properly do. She stayed at his house that night after Amelie finished, and after they stopped making out. Not that she's complaining. Because, she's totally not.
Things between them become less and less awkward. She assumes he was only weird with her for that week because he wasn't sure what was going on between them. She blames it on the study session they had. She assumed it was a date. He really invited her over to study. And well. You know, they both assumed, and proceeded to make asses out of themselves.
Whatever, things are good between them now. And so what if Abby is always sending her 'I told you so' smirks? So what if her mom won't shut up about it and keeps gloating? Alex blows them off. For the most part. Because, hey, she's happy now.
And if she's perfectly honest, she hasn't been even close to happy since that night in her and Justin's makeshift shelter in the middle of the Caribbean.
But she tries not to think about that. Tries to reassure herself that she's exceedingly happy with this Justin. Even though he's not her brother.
*****
She chews on her lip nervously, running her hands through her hair, she doesn't care if it makes it static and frizzy (maybe she cares a little; it did take forever to straighten it). He should be here by now. He's never this late. He's never freaking late.
"Hey," she hears him say, slightly out of breath from behind her. She turns toward him, letting out a relieved sigh.
"There you are!" She smiles at him, wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly.
He grins in return, bends down slightly to kiss her cheek, "Sorry, I had to stop by my parent's house. My mom refused to let me come to your parent's empty handed," he lifts a brown grocery bag, "She baked apple pie, insisted that I share it with your family."
"Aww," she coos, stepping toward him, grabbing the lapels of his coat and bringing him near her, "That's so sweet," he blushes slightly, which is effing adorable, she grins and pulls him down for a proper kiss. He pulls away before it gets too 'inappropriate', as he would say. He really hates PDA. Well, extreme forms of it. He told her he thinks it's disgusting to see strangers shoving their tongues down each other's throats (honestly, it is really gross, she never understood it either).
She reaches down, clasping his hand and leads him to the loft.
*****
She swears, if they do anything embarrassing, she will disown them. She can do that, can't she? Whatever, she'll totally stop talking to them. She likes Justin. A lot. Maybe more than that. Maybe she even loves him, not like she's going to tell him that. Not yet at least.
She's pleased to see that her dad and Max are watching football and her mom and Harper are preparing food in the kitchen. Harper hears them the minute the door closes (seriously, Harper has to have better hearing than a dog, Alex swears). Soon enough, Harper is rushing to Alex, enveloping her in a hug. "Alex!" She squeals and for once Alex doesn't cringe, doesn't care that she may now be hard of hearing in her left ear; instead she wraps her arms tightly around her best friend, a huge grin on her face.
"Ohmygosh!" Harper says once she pulls away, holding Alex's face in her hands, "I missed you so much!" She hugs Alex again for emphasis.
After the friends have been reunited, Alex introduces Harper to Justin. Harper greets him cheerfully, turning to Alex afterwards and whispering in her ear, "He is cute! If you weren't dating him, I totally would have called dibs. Well, if you hadn't, of course."
Alex snickers and wraps her arms around Harper's neck loosely in a side hug, "Oh, I love you, Harper," she says loudly, earning a grin from Justin as he watches the exchange. When Alex pulls away from her friend she finds the rest of her family patiently (sort of) waiting to be introduced to her boyfriend (ha, she can say that now, in fact, he insists that she does). She grabs Justin's hand, walking toward her father, eager to introduce the two (sort of, her dad's right eye is kind of twitching, and it's kind of freaking her out). "Dad, this is Justin, Justin, this is my dad," she watches as Justin offers his hand with a sincere smile and bright eyes and cringes slightly when her dad almost breaks Justin's hand.
"You like sports?" Her dad asks gruffly, trying to seem tougher than he actually is. She rolls her eyes. Justin turns back to her with a questioning look, and oh crap, they should've gone over this. If he says he's a Yankees fan her dad will kill him. No questions asked.
"Uh, yeah," Justin says hesitantly, "I don't watch a lot though, just baseball with my dad," Jerry raises an eyebrow. Oh, shit. "We're huge Mets fans."
Alex lets out a sigh of relief when her dad grins at Justin approvingly. Jerry glances at her, nodding at her, silently confirming that he likes Justin. Well, the worst part is over now.
Theresa hugs Justin tightly, telling him how nice it is to meet him, how handsome he is, what a cute couple he and Alex make. And then discretely hints about grandchildren. Alex sighs; closing her eyes in mortification, and ignores the giggles that escape Harper.
Max barely greets him, offering a half hearted 'hey' before asking Theresa if dinner is done yet.
Moments later they're all seated at the table, passing around the dishes and chatting to one another. Once everyone has food on their plates, Theresa begins the questioning.
"How old are you, Justin?" Is asked before a forkful of potatoes.
"Uh, twenty," he replies.
"And how did you and Alex meet?"
Justin looks at Alex. How do they tell this story? She assaulted him? Forced him onto her bed? (Dad would hate that one). Ooh! How about the almost rape story and how he saved her? (Dad would pull her out of school). Luckily, Justin must have had these same thoughts, "We bumped into each other," he says simply.
Theresa smiles brightly, "Oh! That's how I met Jerry!" And Theresa dives into the story of how she and Jerry met.
Justin smiles knowingly and takes a bite of his turkey.
*****
She's exhausted by time dinner is finished, she leans heavily against the wall outside the loft door, "Oh my god, I am so sorry, Justin. I told them to behave. Believe me. They never listen though." She has her eyes closed as she says this, trying to block out the day she just experienced.
Justin chuckles and leans closer to her, brushing the hair back from her face and kissing both her cheeks, "It's fine, Alex. You're parents are really funny. I love them. I promise. And I can't wait to come back for Christmas."
Alex opens her eyes, is greeted by Justin's bright grey ones and his smiling face, "Really?" She asks, trying to contain her excitement because seriously, her mom was right, if he can make it through a Russo dinner, he really does like her. And if he's willing to subject himself to more, well, he must love her.
His grin grows and he kisses the tip of her nose, "Really."
A/N: You are all awesome. Please continue to be so.