Chapter 13: Weird and awkward
Day 5
Alex woke up the next morning in the familiarity of her 'brother's room. She rolled over and saw that he was already awake.
"Good morning." Justin smiled at her.
"Your pumpkin face is the first thing I see when I wake up. How can the morning be good?" she teased in a sleepy voice.
Justin frowned slightly. "Do you have to be snarky from early in the morning?"
"Yupe." Alex replied, grinning and rubbing her eyes.
Justin sighed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Get downstairs before you get caught."
"Hey mom. Hey dad." Alex greeted walking downstairs. "I'm heading for the sub-shop."
Justin frowned again. "Do you need to?"
"Yupe. I'm helping Steve open today." Alex replied, running down the stairs, shooting a mischievous smile in his direction.
Justin sighed. "I think I'd keep an eye on her. I don't really like that Steve guy." He said to his father as he followed Alex down the stairs.
He noticed Alex standing alone at the sub-shop, looking at him and grinning.
"What?" Justin scoffed in annoyance.
"I just totally proved you're jealous." Alex said, grinning, and crossing an arm in front of her chest.
"I am not!" Justin protested. "I'm just looking out for you."
Alex smiled deviously. "You've been using that excuse for years."
Justin gave her a stern look. "Alex, stop teasing me like that. Have you ever thought about what would happen if I actually start crushing on you?"
Alex scoffed. "Please, you're Justin; you can never fall for me. Besides, this is a lot of fun."
Justin sighed, clearing getting the hint that there would be more teasing. He turned and headed to the kitchen. "Let me help you with the accounts."
"Alex, where's your brother?" Theresa asked in the evening.
Alex shrugged. "How will I know where the heck max is?"
Theresa shook her head. "No. I'm talking about Justin."
Alex snorted. "He's in his room, reading some geek book I think."
"What?" Theresa almost yelled. "He can read books later, he needs to stay with us now! Get and get him!"
"Fine!" Alex yelled, getting up from the kitchen stool and walking up the stairs.
"Justin what the heck are you-"Alex swung the door to Justin's room open and froze at the sight in front of her. Justin was sitting on his bed, shirtless.
Alex gulped and tried to act normal. "Umm, mom wants you downstairs."
"Why?" Justin asked not looking up from his book.
Alex rolled her eyes. "To have a chat with you, duh."
Justin sighed and kept the book aside. "This book is so amazing."
Alex looked at the cover and smiled. "See, this is why I told you to buy me the book."
Justin nodded and looked at her. "Can I borrow it for a while?"
Alex shrugged. "Sure, I've already finished reading it."
Justin smiled. "Thanks cutie."
Alex scrunched her nose up in disguise. "Ew, stop calling me those names and get downstairs now."
Justin nodded and got up, heading for the door.
Alex gave him the 'are-you-crazy' look. "Put a shirt on!"
"Oh, yeah, right!" Justin blushed slightly, feeling uncomfortable again. "Should I wear the blue one or the white one?"
Alex snorted. "Anything you like, because everything makes you look equally dorky."
Justin had a sly grin in his face as he held up the shirt from the previous night. "What about this. You found it cute, didn't you?"
"What? I… Pfft.." Alex stuttered, unable to find words. "Oh get down already!" she yelled in frustration, walking away.
Justin smiled to himself. This teasing wasn't so bad…..
"So, honey, tell us more about your parents. Is everything all right?" Theresa asked, patting him lightly on the shoulder.
"Yupe. Everything's going great. They are really nice people." Justin replied.
"Then why didn't you come back home anymore?" Jerry asked.
"Umm… I was kind of scared?" Justin offered.
"Of what?" jerry asked, and okay, this isn't going anywhere.
"Justin's mother doesn't want him near me. She thinks Justin likes me." Alex filled in, receiving an instant glare from Justin.
"What? Why?" Theresa asked in horror.
"Well, because we talk every hour and text all the time, and yeah, chat at web-cam at night?" Alex said non-chalantly, earning another glare from Justin.
Theresa looked at Justin with concern. "Umm, honey, do you want us to talk to them?"
Justin shook his head. "No mom, it'll just make things worse."
Alex sighed and got up. "Are you done with your family chat yet?"
"No, why?" jerry questioned, looking at her skeptically.
"I'm hungry. I want lunch." Alex announced, walking to the kitchen.
"Okay." Max followed, "Me too."
Theresa sighed and got up. "Maybe we should talk about this later."
Justin was sitting on his bed, reading a book, while Alex was looking at him, getting bored.
"So you spend your afternoons reading books?" Alex asked him in disbelief, snatching the book away from his hands and tossing it to the side of the bed.
"No. I spend my afternoons talking to you on the phone. And later lying to my mom about why my phone was engaged." Justin snapped.
"And failing horribly at that." Alex snapped back. "Maybe we should do something more fun."
"Reading is fun!" Justin protested.
"Not for me! Justin, come on!"
"Fine." Justin gave in. "What do you want to do?"
"Let me see your cell phone." Alex ordered.
"What? No! Why do you-"
Justin was cut off when Alex snatched the cell phone from his pocket, ignoring his protests.
"Let's see what you've got here." Alex grinned darkly.
"Alex. This is personal." Justin warned.
Alex quickly entered the inbox and her eyes widened in surprise. "You store my texts?"
"I'm a busy person. I don't have time to delete them." Justin lied.
Alex smiled and started moving through the texts, reading the texts. "Ew. Gross. Who sends you these texts?"
"Umm, Zeke. That's what the name says, duh." Justin replied nervously.
Alex's eyes widened in surprise again. "I never knew Zeke could be so dirty."
"You don't know many things." Justin mumbled.
Alex narrowed her eyebrows and gave him the 'tell-me-the-truth' look. "Do you forward these texts?"
"What? No!" Justin protested instantly.
"Really? Cause I think you do." Alex smiled, holding up the screen in front of him.
Justin stared at the screen in disbelief. "You forwarded it to your number?" he shrieked in horror.
Alex smiled evilly again. "Yupe. Now I can show this to your mother and get you into a lot of trouble."
"Alex, no, don't-"
"If only you could do something to make me happy." Alex added, grinning.
Justin sighed. "What do you want?"
Alex grinned ear to ear. "That dragon from WWWW?"
Justin nodded. "Fine. Now give me back my phone."
Alex smiled wickedly again. "I'm not done yet."
"What? What else do you want to-"
Justin froze when Alex entered his gallery. "Alex, no, not that-"
Alex quickly pressed some buttons and a photo opened in front of her.
"Who's that girl?" she asked, and then leant in closer to the screen. "Wait a minute! Isn't that my picture from the vacation?"
Justin ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Yeah, I kind of stored it?"
Alex grinned again and gave his cell phone back to him. "Now I know why your mom thinks you like me. Erase those things dork."
"No." Justin shook his head. "These are my things. No one tells me what to do with them. Not even my mom."
"Wow. Justin grew a backbone, yay." Alex teased.
"Technically, it's called vertebral column." Justin retorted.
Alex stuck out her tongue to him. "I think I'm going to get some beauty sleep then. See you later."
Justin grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Stay with me."
The evening passed casually, with the whole family chatting and having fun. They went to bed early that night.
Alex couldn't fall asleep, and finally she figured out why: five days had already passed. Justin was leaving in 5 more days. And that was already starting to disappoint her.
Justin couldn't fall asleep either, and he figured out why: he had five more days left here with Alex. And he was feeling insane at the thought of leaving her again. Finally he understood- he was falling for her.
Day 6
Justin woke up that morning after having dreams about Alex. He was fully convinced now: he was in love with Alex. He had been, for a long, long time. But now, this close proximity with her, and this whole teasing made it worse. He couldn't deny it anymore.
He got up, smiling to himself like the hopeless people in love, and walked out of his room.
"Hey." He greeted as he saw Alex stepping out of her room.
"Hey." Alex greeted, yawning and waving at him. "Bad morning."
Justin smiled slightly. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah like a baby." Alex snapped. "You?"
"I slept very, very peacefully after such a long time." Justin replied with a smile, recalling the dream again.
Alex snorted. "Yay!" she said in a teasing tone.
"So…. What do you want to do today?" Justin asked.
Alex shrugged. "I don't know. Mom will probably think of something."
"No." Justin shook his head. "I mean you and me."
Alex tilted her head and eyed him up and down three times.
"What?" Justin scoffed, feeling irritated.
"Are you up to something?" Alex narrowed her eyebrows in a threatening gesture.
"No. I just wanted to spend such more time with you before I go back."
Justin's voice dropped at the thought of going back, and Alex felt disappointed as well.
"Well, okay then, come to my room at night when everyone falls asleep." Alex ordered walking away.
"Why do you-"Justin sighed, heading for the bathroom.
The day passed quickly. The family had a lot of fun. But Justin was nervous throughout the day. Finally night arrived. He tiptoed into Alex's room and knocked at the door.
"It's open." She yelled.
Justin entered the room noiselessly and glared at her.
"What?" Alex scoffed.
"Don't yell. Mom and dad will wake up." Justin hissed.
"Whatever. Can't you see I'm a bit busy here?" Alex snapped, returning to the dressing table. She began to try to disentangle her necklace from her hair again, but failed.
"Justin. Help me." she finally blurted out, being frustrated with trying for so long.
"Okay." Justin replied as he walked up to her.
"What? No insults about what a useless wizard I am?" Alex frowned.
Justin just smiled. "Not when you look so pretty."
Alex titled her head and eyed him up and down three times again. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Yupe." Justin replied, reaching for the necklace, "In fact, I've never felt better."
"What is-"
Alex stopped when she felt Justin's hands on her shoulder and her hair. She shivered at the cold touch when his hand touched her skin.
"Sorry." Justin mumbled.
Alex nodded, looking at the mirror in front of her. It looked so perfect; she looked so complete with Justin behind her. Alex shook her head and dismissed the horrible train of thoughts.
Justin finally managed to get the necklace out.
"Thanks." Alex mumbled.
"You're welcome honey." Justin replied sweetly.
Alex titled her head again and eyed him up and down five times. "Look Justin, if you want to torture me by being sweet with me, please stop it, I can't take this anymore." She whined.
"What! No." Justin shook his head. "I'm not trying to torture you, I can never torture you, I'm just being nice to you."
Alex snorted. "Oh and the sun rises in the west." She mocked.
Justin chuckled and sat down on her bed. "So?"
"So?" Alex asked back as she sat beside him.
"I'd be leaving in 4 more days…." He began.
"I know." Alex sighed.
"It feels so good to be here with you guys…." He continued.
"I know." Alex sighed again.
Justin put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. "Maybe you should come visit me sometimes?"
"Yeah, and you're mother will be standing in the door to welcome me." Alex retorted sarcastically.
"I'm sure we can figure something out." Justin assured. "Don't you want to stay with me?"
"Yeah sure." Alex smiled sweetly. "I'd be so much fun to destroy all of your stuff."
"I leave in 4 days." He repeated again.
"I know that." Alex snapped. "And you already said it."
Justin sighed. "You know, if there's something important you want to tell me, this should be the time to do it."
Alex tilted her head to look at him. "No. I have nothing like that to say. Do you?"
"What… I…no… yes… I mean" Justin stuttered and finally sighed. "Goodnight Alex. See you tomorrow."
"What but you-"Alex felt confused as she saw Justin leave her room hastily. What was wrong with him that day?