Chapter 2
Thanks for the reviews and story alerts! This is my first fanfiction so it made my day when I got a review :). Eeek! I'm so excited about writing this and have got a truckload of ideas about where it could go – let me know if you have any ideas as well! Right, let's get on with chapter 2!
Woah. Max was the one calling? I hadn't heard his name in years – the last time I saw him was a day I'd never forget... "What did he want?" Mason interrupted my reverie with his blunt question. I turned my head to look at Alex, she still looked a little shell-shocked from speaking to Max. So obviously the first thing that popped into my head was someone must have died. Then after that maybe it was a serious accident, or a terminal disease, or news of the apocalypse!
Just before I let any more frantic thoughts pass across my mind Alex told us what he actually said, "The subshop's gone out of business." Both mine and Mason's jaws dropped open; that's just as bad as all the scenarios I had thought of in my head – my past was eroding away. The subshop was a big part of my childhood and now it had gone, just like a lot of things in my life had. I guess it's just a normal part of growing up and leaving the past behind.
Jerry and Theresa had given the subshop to Max when he was old enough and they had moved off to Florida, so I wasn't surprised when Alex told us that Max had been evicted. I was surprised, however, to hear that he'd be staying with us until he found a new place to live.
It was going to be weird to see Max again. After Alex and I moved to college and Justin took over as Headmaster of Wiz-Tech, Max had basically cut himself off from the rest of his family. His reasoning was that he wanted to adapt to life as a mortal, without any magic around him. I could totally understand his point of view, magic freaks me out just as much as the next mortal, but his siblings didn't understand. They thought he resented them for being the only non-wizard after the competition. I was the only one who understood why; at least I think I did.
"What?" Mason's loud voice yet again broke through my trip down memory lane, "And did you think to discuss this with me before you said yes to him?" This seemed like the start of a typical 'who-wears-the-trousers' fight between the couple so I decided to retreat to my room, picking up my sewing project as I went so I could continue it away from Alex and Mason who I predicted were going to start yelling at each other in a second.
As I shut my bedroom door on the gradually increasing volume of voices downstairs I let out a sigh and sunk onto my purple duvet. Now I had the chance to re-live the last time I saw Max with no interruptions. I remember it was just before me and Alex were set to move to college, we had packed our bags and loaded up the car, all gave our tearful goodbyes and said how much we'd miss each other. Alex had kissed Mason goodbye, holding onto him for as long as she could. Jerry and Theresa stood on the front step of the subshop with their arms around one another, whispering about how they couldn't believe Alex had gotten into college.
We'd just set off, waving to the family I considered to be mine as well as Alex's until we reached the end of Waverly Place and turned the corner. It wasn't until we stopped at a gas station that I realised I'd left one of my bags behind. "Alex, we have to go back!" I protested when she groaned at me for having forgotten it.
"Ugh, I can't be bothered. We've already said our goodbyes and I don't want to risk smudging my make-up again." After pleading with her for a few minutes I realised she wasn't going to budge and decided to walk back myself while she finished filling the car up. It wasn't that far, we'd only been on the road for a couple of minutes.
When I reached the apartment it seemed deserted, it was a kind of relief as I didn't want to embarrass myself by having to say goodbye to everyone again. I scoured the living room for my forgotten bag with no luck so I moved on to look in my room. I opened the door and saw Max standing in my room with his back to me. I wondered what he was doing in my empty room so greeted him with a questioning, "Hey?"
He swivelled round quickly, I obviously startled him. "Oh hey! Harper … why are you back?" He had a guilty look on his face and I still can't figure out why. I pointed at my forgotten bag sitting on my desk and asked him why he was in my room. "Oh, y'know, I noticed you left your bag and thought you'd be back to get it." His answer had several loopholes in it but I didn't question them, instead I went over to my desk and picked up my bag.
I made my way to the door, bag in hand when I was stopped by Max's voice, "Wait, don't I get a goodbye hug?" He stood with his arms open, showing me his best puppy dog face. I sighed, smiled and went over to hug him. It was a short, simple hug; kinda awkward I thought. As we pulled away I caught his eye, he looked like something was troubling him. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah. Listen Harper, I need to tell you something." Now he looked really nervous. This wasn't as simple as I thought retrieving my bag would be. "Now I know I'm your best friend's little brother," uh-oh, this didn't sound good, "and I know you don't really see me in that way. But I'm sixteen now and there's only two years between us which isn't really that big if you think about it, in the grand scheme of things and all..." He started mumbling at this point and running his hands through his wavy hair.
"Get to the point Max!" I was a bit worried about what his point might be and I wanted to keep this conversation as short as possible.
"I like you, okay?" he said, stopping me short. "I've always liked you. I've had a crush on you for years but I never said anything before because I thought you wouldn't care." Now he looked fully embarrassed, face flushed red, eyes on the floor.
I can't exactly remember what I said next but it was something along the lines of "You're too young for me, it won't work right now, I'm off to college." Was that really what I said? Ugh, I can't believe I was so mean! Thinking back, he really wasn't too young for me. If only he'd told me sooner. Hopefully Max wouldn't still think of me as a cold-hearted bitch. I covered my face with my hands in dread, maybe he still hated me after all these years. He must be at least twenty now, I wondered if he had changed at all.