A/N thanks for the great reviews guys! Btw, the song was called 'Give Into Me' I heard it in the movie Country Strong, it was sung by Leighton Meester and Garrett Hudlund. I don't own wowp, i am doing this for fun!
Lately, Alex and Justin had been spending all of their time with Marcy and Beau. She thought that Beau hadn't given up on Marcy and Justin becoming a couple. She knew that Justin and Marcy couldn't be a couple, Marcy was in love with Beau and Justin just wasn't interested in her. She wasn't angry with Marcy for loving Beau, how could anyone not love him? Alex mostly felt guilty. Because she knew, deep down that Beau loved Marcy too.
The four young adults were wandering down the beach, skipping rocks into the ocean, running in the surf and basically just being silly and having fun.
"Let's have a piggy-back race!" Beau suddenly said mischievously.
"I don't know..." Justin said slowly.
"Afraid you're going to lose?" Alex said, grinning wildly at him.
He scoffed, "In your dreams!"
Alex clambered up onto Beau's back and Marcy shyly climbed onto Justin and gingerly held his shoulders.
"First one to that big rock wins!" Alex shouted, pointing to the boulder that lay about forty feet away from them.
"Go!" Justin yelled and sprinted off down the beach. Beau was right behind him.
They were neck and neck right up to the rock. But as they both reached out to touch the rock, it was a tie.
"It's a tie." Marcy said as she slid off of Justin's back.
"Best two out of three?" Alex asked.
"Alright, but let's have different partners this time." Justin said.
"Alright, so Justin, do you want to be on top of Beau or on the bottom?" Alex asked evilly.
"Alex!" Beau snapped. But he then rolled his eyes with a smile on his face.
"I was going to suggest, Marcy could piggy-back with Beau and you could piggy-back with me." Justin said stiffly.
"Oh well, that works too!" Alex said quickly.
As the girls moved towards their new partners, Alex said, "But let's make this interesting. Losing team has to buy the winning team ice cream."
"You're so on." Beau said, he kissed her cheek then crouched down so Marcy could climb on his back easier.
Alex hopped onto Justin's back and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck.
"Go!" Justin shouted and took off running towards home.
"Go faster!" Alex shrieked and slapped his shoulders repeatedly.
"Alex, stop it! I can't focus!" Justin shouted at her.
But she didn't stop and kept pushing his shoulders and slapping his head and wiggling around on his back that he stumbled and tripped, careening both of them into the ocean. Alex gasped as she thrown into the salty water and sputtered and choked as she got a mouthful of it. She was tangled up with Justin so much that she couldn't even sit up. Suddenly, Justin's strong hand pulled her out of the waves and dragged her to the shore. He was drenched as well and was also coughing out ocean water.
"You okay?" He asked, breathing deeply.
"Yeah." She gasped.
They could see Marcy and Beau were already at the house. They were high fiving and waving to the Russo's.
"Guess we owe them ice cream." Justin stated.
"Ugh, but you're buying." Alex said.
"Yeah I didn't really expect that you would chip in." He said, nodding.
"Aww, you know me so well!" She teased, pushing him gently.
He sighed and threw his arm around her. She walked back to where her boyfriend stood waiting for her, tucked neatly beside the man she had always thought of as a brother. But the way he was smirking at her, and the way her heart was skipping beats was defiantly not just sibling love.
"Dry off and we will go into town for ice cream!" Marcy said to Justin and Alex.
Beau gave her an odd look when he saw that Justin had his arm around her but didn't say anything. Alex could feel her stomach knot with guilt.
They changed into dry clothes and met Beau and Marcy waiting by Beau's truck. They all piled in and drove to the ice cream parlour.
"I'll have a Mint Chocolate Chip cone please." Beau said to the girl behind the counter. "And do you want Cookie Dough in a bowl?" He asked Marcy.
"I can't believe you remember what flavour I like." She whispered.
"Well of course I do." He said to her. "You're like my best friend."
They seemed to be oblivious to everyone else as they stared at each other with new eyes. Eventually the server cleared her throat and said, "So one Mint Chocolate Chip and one Cookie Dough?"
Beau seemed surprised to see her, as if he had forgotten she was there at all.
"Oh... yeah. Thanks." He said oddly, like he was clearing his mind after being underwater for a long time. "And he's paying." He clapped Justin on the shoulder and then the two Floridians went to find a table.
And as usual Justin spent a year deliberating on which flavour he should get. He sampled them all twice and when the line behind them grew to out the door, he finally decided on Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Alex picked the first thing she saw.
"I can't believe you got Cotton Candy ice cream!" Justin reprimanded her. "You're going to rot your teeth out!"
"Good!" She shouted and took a big lick out of her bright blue and pink ice cream.
"You're such a child." He said affectionately.
"Yo' momma's such a child!" She snapped and ducked out of the way of his hand as he was about to poke her.
"You two are so funny together." Marcy commented, causing Justin and Alex to freeze in action. "You have the greatest sibling rivalry."
But it didn't feel like sibling rivalry when she was with Justin, Alex thought to herself. It didn't feel like that at all.
For the rest of the evening, Justin and Alex were relatively normal. They tried to be good at least. Alex kept repeatedly poking Justin so he tried to smash his ice cream in her face but she ducked just in time. Poor Marcy was left with chocolate ice cream dripping from her nose and chin. So to retaliate, Beau picked up Marcy's bowl and threw it at Justin, and missed. He hit a kid in the back of his head and accidently started a food fight in the ice cream parlour. The four teens ducked out of there before security could be called.
Alex was giggling the whole way back to the car.
"That was so fun!" She laughed. "We should do this again sometime."
"Alex!" Justin said. "That was very immature!"
"I'd rather be immature than boring." She pointed out.
"I'm not boring." He said stubbornly. "I'm grown up."
"Oh, please!" She cried. "You still take baths and sleep and footy pajamas!"
"Only sometimes!" He exclaimed loudly. "Only sometimes do I sleep in footy pajamas and take baths!"
She smiled at him and felt her heart literally warm. She also caught the looks on Marcy's and Beau's faces. She scowled and silently got into the truck. The ride back home was strange. Beau kept glancing at Marcy. Clearly the moment in the ice cream shop was still on his mind. Alex found she didn't mind. They obviously had chemistry. She loved Beau just like everyone else in this town did, for his goodness and his handsomeness but she wasn't in love with him like she suspected Marcy was. She didn't know him since they were small or have inside jokes. She didn't know his favourite ice cream flavours off by heart or what he sounded like before his voice cracked. She didn't have memories of playing together in kindergarten or the feeling that he was the missing half of her. Marcy did know those things about him. She had those feelings for him. And maybe, in time, Alex could grow to have those feelings for him as well, but it wouldn't be natural. It would be a forced love. And that wasn't fair to either of them.
The person that she did feel connected to was, Justin. She had always just assumed that it was because they were brother and sister, but now that she knew they were not, she didn't know what those feelings meant. All she knew was that they were stronger when they were together. She felt better when he was near her. It was like their souls were combined. They needed each other.
Beau pulled into Emma's house and kissed Alex goodnight. She hopped out of the truck with Justin right behind her. She wandered into the house and Emma hurried out of the kitchen to greet them with a smile.
"How was your night?" She asked.
"Alex started a war in the ice cream place and probably has seven cavities now." He said with a straight face, but winked at Alex. Her stomach flipped.
"Fun times." Emma said.
"Well, I'm off to bed." Justin said, checking his watch. "If I don't get a full eight hours of sleep, I'll just be a wreck tomorrow!"
Alex stifled a grin and called after him, "Goodnight, dork!"
"Night, Alex!"
She smiled to herself but froze when she saw Emma's amused yet accusing look.
"What?" Alex asked defensively.
"Oh, nothing." Emma said nonchalantly. "Is there anything you would like to tell me? Anything about a certain dark haired boy who takes bubble baths and wears water shoes when he swims?"
Emma had a grin on her face like she knew all too much of what Alex was thinking.
"Okay, so I have this friend." Alex said slowly. She decided she could trust Emma. She was pretty cool for a grown up. "And my friend... er... Al...lison. Yeah, Allison has a boyfriend who is super amazing and everyone loves him because he is so kind and handsome. But there is this other boy as well who she has known her whole life and he's really nerdy but also kind of... sweet, in a Disney Prince Charming kind of way. And she might... love them both. And she's not sure what to do."
"Well." Emma said thoughtfully, guiding Alex into a kitchen chair. "I think you should tell your friend Allison that she should flip a coin. Heads, for her boyfriend, tails for the other boy. And as she's throwing it up into the air, the second before it lands, she'll know which boy she wants. Because in that last second, she'll be hoping it will land on either heads or tails, and the one she hopes for is the one she should choose."
Emma wordlessly handed Alex a penny.
"I think I'll – er, I'll give this to Allison later." She said, pocketing the penny. She wasn't ready yet.
She started to walk up the stairs, but turned and said quietly, "Thanks, Emma."
"No problem, sweetie." She said quietly in return.
Alex placed the penny on her dresser, right in the middle where she could see it. Someday, she would be ready to know who she really wanted. Heads or tails.
A/N thanks for reading my amigos! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! As you can see, alex is realizing her feelings for a certain adoptive brother of hers! Lol please review and tell me what you think!