The Wizardess and the Vampire, Chapter 2 by patricia51
Alex woke with a smile on her face. She twisted and squirmed on the bed, looking like a little slender cat. She lifted her arms over her head and stretched her legs, pointing her toes. She arched her back and wiggled. She felt great.
She climbed out of bed. Discarding her t-shirt and panties she jumped into the shower, where she wiggled some more, moving to music only she could hear. After drying off she hopped into her clothes and went downstairs to find her family.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully as she bounced into the kitchen where everyone was eating.
The conversation stopped. Four amazed faces looked at her. Finally her Dad broke the silence.
"Who are you and what have you done with our daughter?"
"It's the invasion of the body snatchers," Max announced dramatically in an assumed voice. "That was Leonard Nimoy. Post-Spock," he added.
"What in the world?" asked Alex.
"Honey, it's just that we're not used to you being so cheerful and out-going," her Mother pointed out. "Especially this early in the morning."
Alex shrugged. "Whatever."
"Now THAT'S my sister," beamed Justin. Alex was about to unload on her brother when their Dad interrupted.
"Enough of that. What did you find out about the Late Night Bite?"
Alex launched into a description of the place and of the couple that ran it. She pulled out a menu and started to put it on the kitchen table. She hesitated. Was this the one with Juliet's phone number on it? For some reason she was reluctant to mention the cute brunette girl and she certainly didn't want to explain what someone's phone number was doing on the competitor's menu. Fortunately she remembered the other one was safely folded up and tucked in her jeans pocket.
The other four launched into a discussion of what the other place seemed to be doing right and how they could use those ideas as inspiration to get business back to the Waverly Sub Station. Alex tried to pay attention but her interest flagged shortly. Instead, she thought about the time and wondered how soon she could slip away and call Juliet.
The discussion finally wound down with one of her dad's crazed ideas being pushed by him on everyone. The family headed for the restaurant to, reluctantly, put it into effect. Alex managed to make an excuse to stay behind. Once she was sure she was alone she ran upstairs and dug the menu with Juliet's phone number out of the pocket it had been stashed in. She punched the buttons and hit "Send".
The phone rang exactly once before it was answered.
"Hi Alex."
"Hey Juliet." Alex smiled, although no one could see her. She felt warm just hearing her new friend's voice. "How did you know it was me?"
"I already programmed your number into my phone." Alex could all but see Juliet smiling back at her. "And I was hoping it was you. I'm glad you called."
"Me too." Never one for idle chit-chat Alex plunged on. "Are you working today?"
"Going to come by and spy out some more of our secrets?"
"Just yours," quipped Alex.
"Oh that should be fun. I've got a couple of them you know."
"So do I."
"I look forward to learning them all Alex."
Alex felt a ball of excitement in the pit of her stomach. What was it about Juliet's voice that seemed to touch her in places no one ever had? Not Dean, not anyone. And it wasn't just her voice, Alex acknowledged, it was Juliet herself. She shook her head. Plenty of time to discover that.
"Juliet, tonight's my night off and I wondered if we might get together."
"Oh that's great! Don't worry, I can twist my Dad around my little finger. Enough to get a few hours off anyway. Meet you outside of here?"
"You bet." The girls settled on a time and Alex shut off her phone. She rushed downstairs and left for the shop.
"Alex?" Justin's voice called out about a minute after she had left. The older Russo sibling stuck his head in the door of her bedroom. "Are you still here? I was looking for that menu you brought home. Oh never mind, there it is."
Something about the items listed on the paper had stirred some thoughts. They were vague though and nothing he could pin down. He picked up the menu, noticed he had it face down and started to turn it over.
"What's this?" he thought. "A phone number?" Justin smiled. Good for her. Dean had never impressed him. Maybe this new guy would be better for Alex. Sometimes he worried about his sister. He tossed the menu back on Alex's bed and headed off to work himself, forgetting the original reason he had wanted to study the menu.
The day seemed to stretch out forever for Alex. Every hour she would check the time and it would be ten minutes later. That business was still so slow only added to her impatience. But finally it was time. Stripping off her apron she waved to her family and left. As soon as she was out of sight of the shop she picked up speed. Rounding the last corner she saw Juliet waiting for her. Her heart seemed to skip a beat at the sight of the other girl. They hugged and Juliet guided them to a small two person table, her arm settled around Alex's waist.
Meanwhile, business at the Waverly Sub Station was still so slow that Justin had been given the evening off too. Curious as to what was going on with Alex; he wandered down towards the Late Nite Bite. Coming around a corner he stopped dead in his tracks.
Alex was sitting at one of the little outside tables that the well-known chain restaurant that occupied most of the building across the street left out when they were closed. The reasoning seemed to be that people would get used to sitting at them at night and would return during the day when they were open and serving food. She wasn't sitting there alone.
Well, that explained the phone number on the back of the menu. Justin had seen the girl who was now sitting across from Alex when he had peeked into the competition's dining room one afternoon and knew she worked there. So Alex had met her last night. That wasn't too strange.
What was strange, at least for the Alex Russo that Justin knew and loved, although it would take wild horses to drag that admission out of him, was how Alex was acting. Where was his sarcastic, grumpy and often self-centered sister? Not here.
For the Alex that was sitting there was laughing gleefully at some remark the other girl was making. Her face was alive and alight with interest. She leaned forward in her chair, her left hand making some wild gesture as she replied to whatever the duo was talking about.
Justin noticed his sister's right hand. It was on the table, the fingers intertwined with those of the other girl. When Alex lowered her left hand it was eagerly gripped by the Late Nite Bite worker. No, not worker, Alex had mention that competition was a family owned and run business just like Waverly Place. Regardless, Justin was willing to bet that before his sister had started gesturing that the pair had already been holding hands.
Alex herself might not realize it yet, in fact probably didn't, but Justin knew his sister was attracted to the other girl. That was confirmed in his mind when Alex reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from the brunette's face. The look of happiness on his sister's face was obvious.
Justin realized that he had seen this all morning long, just a good bit more subdued, as though Alex had been sitting on her feelings. That was strange too. Alex NEVER held her feeling in. Not like that anyway. This was serious. He slipped away. He had some hard thinking to do but wanted to give Alex as much time with her friend as he could. Besides, he to do some following up on the Late Nite Bite and its owners.
The time flew by again for Alex. She and Juliet talked and talked and in between they simply sat and listened to the city night around them. It seemed like they had barely sat down when her phone went off. She glanced at it and then did a double-take.
"What is it?" inquired Juliet.
"It's just a text message from my annoying and over-protective older brother."
"But? There's more, I can tell from your expression."
"He says to see him when I get back from my date. It's important. And he's reminding me to keep an eye on the time."
"It is getting a bit late," admitted Juliet.
"I don't want to go though," Alex said wistfully.
"I don't want you to go. But on the other hand if you get grounded, or if I do, for staying out late then we won't get to see each other for a while."
"Well that's not acceptable," smiled Alex. Even as she said that she wondered why the idea of being separated from Juliet for any length of time bothered her so much. After all, this was just the second time they had been together. But something about this other girl called powerfully to her. She just wished she knew what it was.
The pair of girls stood at the entrance to the Late Nite Bite, their fingers brushing. Alex fumbled for words. She found herself leaning forward towards Juliet, her eyes fixed on the other girl's lips. The long haired brunette seemed to be at the same loss.
Finally Alex managed to regain her voice enough to say "Good night Juliet."
"Good night Alex," replied the other girl.
Alex turned to go. Juliet's face was still all she could see. The flowing hair, the deep soulful brown eyes, the tantalizing lips. Tantalizing? Then before she could stop and think of what she was doing she spun back around. Juliet was standing there with a look of longing on her face such as Alex had never seen. Without hesitation Alex took the other girl in her arms and kissed her.
Alex had never kissed another girl. Certainly not like this. Juliet's lips were cool and soft and more inviting than any Alex had ever even dreamed of kissing before. They clung to hers, then parted invitingly. Alex's arms slid around Juliet even as the other girl did the same to her. The kiss seemed to last forever and yet still not long enough before they parted.
"Good night, Juliet."
"Yes it is," smiled the other girl. "VERY good. Good night Alex."
Now wanting to take her eyes off Juliet any sooner than she had to Alex walked backwards until her heel caught on a loose cobblestone and she nearly tripped. With Juliet's laughter ringing in her ears Alex grinned, waved and turned around. But her head was in the clouds and she still kept running into thing all the way home. The last one of those things she ran into was her brother.
"Alex? We need to talk."
"Even from a brother those words are never promising," Alex thought. She spoke aloud. "Go on."
"It's about your girlfriend."
Oh Hell.
(To Be Continued)