Sunday dragged. Alex didn't get up until noon, but it was still too early. She had cereal for breakfast, and made herself some of the tea that Justin liked. It wasn't her favorite, but the smell reminded her of him.

That was nice, but Max started singing some song about exploding frogs, which made Alex wish she could make him explode after about five minutes. She didn't want to go back to her room, though, so she stuck it out, and an exasperated Mom finally told him to stop.

A couple of hours later, she thought about going to Harper's, but Harper would want to know about Justin's new dorm room, and would try to wheedle the address out of Alex. On the other hand, she might have some ideas about how to keep other girls away from Justin. She'd definitely be willing to help with that. And it'll get me away from Max for a bit. Alex smiled a bit, then called out, "Hey... I'm going over to Harper's."

"Okay, honey -- be back by dinner!"

"I will!" she called back, grabbing her jacket.

*

"So... Justin's in a building with hundreds of girls? Cute, perky, smart college girls?" Today, Harper was wearing a pale green outfit, which Alex thought was supposed to be some kind of cantaloupe. The color looks good on her, at least.

"Yeah. He's talked to a couple of them already. One of them's organizing a study group, and wants him to be in it."

"Oh, I'll bet! She just wants to study him!" She looked about as angry as Alex felt at the thought, and Alex smiled a little. At least we've got a common goal here. That feels good.

To tell the truth, Alex had been feeling uncomfortable around Harper ever since she'd first discovered that she'd fallen in love with Justin. She'd been hoping that with him gone to college and not around Harper every day, she'd find someone else to fixate on. And here I am, stoking the fires up here. Well... no help for that. She's the only one I can get sympathy from about this, even if she doesn't know she's giving it.

"What are we going to do about this, Alex? Do you have some kind of spell that would help? Is there an... anti-love spell?"

"Ummm...." Alex frowned, thinking. She'd made a love potion before, and dealt with Cupid, but she hadn't looked at stopping love. "I don't know -- I'll have to dig out the book of spells in the lair and look."

Harper nodded, smiling. "Good. We just have to cast that on every girl in Justin's dorm."

"I think that might be... kind of overkill." Harper opened her mouth to protest and Alex quickly went on, "I mean, I think just ones that are talking to him should be enough, don't you think? It'd probably take a lot of time to do it to every girl in the dorm. If there even is such a spell."

With a sigh and a pout, Harper folded her arms. "Well... you're the wizard. But if any of them try to take up with my Justin-bear, they'll find out what happens when you get between a tigress and her mate!"

Oh my god, I did get 'Justin-bear' from Harper! Ah, well... it is kind of cute....

*

Let's see... love spells, love spells, love spells... oh, there you are. Boy I'm glad this thing has an index. Counter-charms, cross-species.... Cross-species? Ew! Cupid and, detecting, potions, removal -- that might be it. Page 324. Okay.

She flipped through the book, glanced toward the door. Hope Dad doesn't come in here for anything. Okay, here we are.... She glanced through the text quickly, skipping the usual introductory junk, skimming through the "warnings and cautions" section, then smiling as she found the actual spells. Mm-hm. Looks simple enough. She smiled a little as she ran through the spell in her head twice, making sure she had the gesture down as well as the words.

Okay. Now let's see any of those co-ed carnivores come after my Justin.

*

Alex went to bed at ten, thinking maybe she'd be able to get some sleep before Justin teleported in. Scooting herself over to the middle, she felt something that shouldn't be there. She dug for it, found it, pulled it out. Paper? What's a piece of paper doing here? Quickly, she unfolded the little square, then smoothed it out on the side of the bed closer to her lamp.

Alex, it started in Justin's handwriting, I tried to wake you up, but you must be really tired. Sorry -- I guess I've been keeping you up too much lately.

I probably shouldn't be writing this down, it went on, but I really wanted to see you tonight. Well, I am seeing you right now, but you know what I mean. The writing continued right after that, but the next few letters looked like they'd been written more quickly, and Alex smiled, imagining the pause that Justin would have made before he wrote them down here, where they might be found. I love you. I can't believe I just wrote that down, but I do. I know you're worried, but you shouldn't be. There's not a girl here who could hold a candle to you.

Well, I've written this much, so I might as well go on. I love your laugh. I love your smile. I love your eyes, and your nose, your chin and your lips. I love how warm you feel when I hold you. I even love how you look when you do your puppy eyes. It makes me want to hold you and fix whatever's wrong.

And I will. Whatever's wrong for you, I will always fix it, because I love you.

Justin

P.S. I don't think I need to tell you this, but destroy this after reading.

P.P.S. I'll be back Monday night -- I need to get some real sleep before classes on Monday. I'll miss you.

Alex sighed and clutched the letter to her chest, feeling a lump in her throat again. I miss you too. And I love you.