At the landing on Justin's floor, their Dad turned to Alex. "I need to talk to Justin for a minute. Alex, tell your mom we're going downstairs to look at the laundry room here, and we'll be back in a few minutes."
"Okay," she said, and went out into the hallway as her Dad and Justin continued down the stairs. Now what could that be about? Well, one way to find out... She ran to the door of Justin's room, knocked.
A moment later, Max opened it. Immediately, Alex said, "Hey, Dad wants to go downstairs to look at the laundry room. He told me to tell you we'll be back in a few minutes. Okay, I've gotta catch up." She gave a quick wave and hurried off, not waiting for any response her Mom might have.
Coming back to the stairs, she opened the door carefully, then smiled and slipped in silently, hearing their footsteps below. She followed, walking quietly and staying a floor back, listening. He wanted to talk to Justin... so why aren't they talking?
Jerry Russo didn't being talking to his son until they reached the basement, and were out of the stairwell. "Justin -- I heard what Alex said to you. And she's right -- there are going to be girls noticing you here."
Justin had a moment of panic at the first sentence, then relief at the second. Obviously he didn't hear all of it. Whew! "I know. But I'm planning on focusing on school right now. I'm not planning to --"
Jerry cut Justin off with a wave of his hand. Back in the stairwell, Alex couldn't see that, but, with her ear pressed against the door, she could hear as Jerry continued talking. "Son -- I found the box you had in the top of your closet while we were moving things." In the stairwell, Alex's eyes widened. That was where Justin was keeping the box with the condoms they were using, since Alex didn't want to ask Mom to put her on the Pill. Not to mention the handcuffs and blindfold....
"Oh, uh, uh --" Alex could practically hear Justin scratching at his head in that nervous way he had, and it made her smile again. "-- that was kind of a gag thing. Zeke and some of the other guys at school got me that stuff as a going-to-college gift...." Alex smiled wider, sure that Justin was turning red as he got his explanation out.
"It's okay," she heard their father say. "You don't have to make excuses. You're a grown man now, Justin. I know you're going to be, um, having sex. You've always been responsible, and I'm glad you've got the... umm...." Alex had to put her hand over her mouth as she fought to keep from laughing. "... the protection," their dad finally got out. "I'm looking forward to having grandkids, but in about ten years or so. So... remember to be careful, and use what you've got. The condoms, I mean. Okay?"
Just great. Dad declares open season on college girls. Bang 'em all, son, just wear a condom. She held back the deep sigh she felt like making. He won't do that. He's not like that. But while her brain thought that, her heart and gut were sending a different message -- that of course he would. Whatever he might say, he wasn't going to stay with Alex. Riley hadn't, and Dean had just been using her. Justin wouldn't be any different.
There was no answer to that 'Okay?' which Alex could hear, but she imagined that Justin was nodding enthusiastically. What else would he be doing. Trust a guy to think with his penis. Their dad went on, saying, "Now that we've got that out of the way -- don't mention anything about this to your mom. With her on her 'my little boy' kick, we wouldn't hear the end of it for weeks. I put your box in the closet in the lair -- you can get it from there later, nobody looks there but you and me."
"But that's not what I brought you down here for, Justin. You're an adult now, and I think it's time for you to decide when you use magic. So I wanted you to know -- you don't need my permission any more. I trust you to use your magic responsibly."
Alex, still listening, felt a surge of envy as she listened to this. "Dad... thanks. I won't let you down," Justin said, and she could hear how pleased he was. Yeah. Another thing for you to be happy about.
"I know you won't. And there's one more thing before we go back up." At that, Alex pressed her ear even harder against the door. One more thing? What could be more important than being allowed to use magic without supervision? Unfortunately, just as their dad started to talk again, someone else came into the stairwell, talking, and it was filled with the echoes of their voices, and the sounds of their feet.
Whoever you are, hurry it up! I'm trying to eavesdrop here! They were going more than one floor, though, it seemed, and Alex grew increasingly frustrated, able to tell that Justin and her dad were talking, hearing Justin being excited again... and then they stopped. There was silence for a good ten seconds.
The voices upstairs went away as a door swung shut. Finally! And then she could hear her dad clearly again, in time to hear him saying, "Okay. Well, that's that, then. Let's go back up to your room."
Uh-oh. Alex took off up the stairs, as fast as she could go without them being able to hear her through the door. She barely got up onto the first landing before she heard the door open, and hoped they wouldn't hurry as she continued up.
It was six floors up, in a hurry, and by the time Alex got to the top, the blood was pounding in her ears, and she was fighting to keep from gasping. She thought they'd started talking again, but she hadn't been able to pay attention. Whatever it was, it couldn't be secret, or they wouldn't be talking about it in the stairwell.
She muttered "go through mo through" and stepped through the door, then ran down the hall to Justin's dorm room and knocked quickly, remembering just in time to cancel the spell so her hand wouldn't just go through the door. Max opened it again, and she stepped in quickly.
"Oh, Alex, you're back. Where are your father and Justin?" Her mom was putting some of Justin's books up on the shelf set on the wall. It looked like pretty much everything else was already put away. Not that there was much to put away, Alex thought.
"They're right behind me. Should be here in just a minute." A confirming knock came, and she said, "See?" She stepped to the door, opened it, and waved the two in. "Welcome back," she said, knowing that Justin and Dad would take it to mean that she'd been here the whole time, while her Mom would think she was being sarcastic. "It's just like you left it -- tiny and depressing."
Justin gave Alex a look, which she ignored. Instead, she crossed the twelve feet or so to the bed and sat down on it, hard, so the springs squeaked. "Noisy. You might have to do something about that, if you're going to bring girls here."
"Alex!" That was her mom, shooting Alex an angry look, then jerking her eyes toward Max. Justin shot her a piqued look as well, which she returned by looking innocent.
"What? It's the only place to sit in here, besides the desk chair."
"All right -- enough," their dad cut in. "Justin, it looks like we've got everything in here, so... I guess we'll get out of your way, son." He stepped to Justin then, and gave him a hug. Their mom came in from the other side and joined in, and then Max hugged as well, while Alex sat and rolled her eyes.
They broke it, Max first, then Jerry, then Theresa, who turned to look at Alex. "You don't have a hug for your big brother? You're not going to see him 'til Tuesday, remember."
Oh, I'll see him before then. One way or another. Aloud, Alex said, "Oh... I guess." She stood up off the bed, took a step toward Justin, was surprised when he stepped forward as well and grabbed her in an almost uncomfortably-tight hug. Justin held his little sister like that for about two seconds... then lifted her off her feet, still keeping her pressed against his body, and turned around three times before letting her go, guiding her down onto his bed, which again squeaked loudly.
With his back to the rest of the family, he gave Alex a wink as he said, "I think Alex is right. I'm going to have to oil this thing." She cracked a smile, which faded quickly though, as Max jumped forward, begging to be swung around as well.