Chapter 9

Ever since they took the antidote Justin had been acting weird. Alex didn't know what to make of it. It was like he was still trying to avoid her or something. She had hoped that after taking the antidote everything could go back to normal or as normal as things is their household ever were. It hurt her that he didn't want to spend time with her. Why couldn't they just go back to the way things were before? She'd even tried teasing him or provoking him to argument, but he never took the bait. He just stared at her in silence with confusion in his gray eyes. What was going on? Was there something he wasn't telling her?

Alex decided she had had enough of the silent treatment, it was time to confront him and try to get a straight answer. She had to know what was really going on. She decided that perhaps the best tactic would be to goad him into arguing so she burst into his room without knocking.

Justin looked up startled, but he wasn't really all that surprised. He had expected her to confront him sooner or later when things didn't go back to normal. He had been lying on the bed looking a photo of Alex and him when they were little and things were uncomplicated.

"What is it Alex? You could have at least knocked first."

"What's with the mopey attitude and the avoidance. The potion was awkward, but I thought we could just move past that and forget about it."

"Well you thought wrong. I can't forget about. I'm not sure I want to forget about it. But that's not the point. It's not about the potion, it's about something else."

"Something else? Like what?"

"Do you really like me?"

"What?"

"Do you really like me?"

"Sure I like you, you're my brother. Although you are really annoying most of the time."

"That's not what I was asking. Do you like me as a guy? I mean do you like like me?"

"Why are you asking me this? We took the antidote..."

"I know, but I just want you to answer the question."

Alex was considering her options. This shouldn't be happening. She had never wanted him to find out. It seemed like he already knew the answer. But, how could he? Was she really that obvious? No, no he must have...

"Did you read my journals? Those are private! You had no right to!" she was sobbing now.

"Yeah, I read your journals, Alex. Were you ever going to tell me?"

"No, Justin. I was never going to tell you. I can't help it that I like you. I've tried so hard to like somebody else, anybody else. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to hate me. That love potion was for me, so I could fall in love with somebody else. I thought it might fix me, make these feelings go away."

"I don't hate you, Alex. I could never hate you."

"Yeah, but you're disgusted. That's why you've been avoiding me. You think I'm sick and perverted."

"I don't think that."

"I don't believe you." She ran from the room in tears.

Justin flopped back on the bed in frustration. He had handled that all wrong. She thought he hated her and was sickened by her, but the horrible truth was he wasn't. In fact he was kind of flattered that she liked him. He'd never been liked by a popular girl. And he was still feeling the after effects of the love potion. The idea of being with her that way didn't disgust him, it turned him on a little. But, he knew that it wasn't right to encourage her. The big brotherly thing to do would be to rebuff any advances and hope that she got over it. At the same time, he didn't want to hurt her. What the hell was he going to do?