Synopsis: Alex and Justin have never truly gotten along. Even as step-brother and sister. Now what will happen when Justin has to stay with the Russo family for the entire school year?

Title: Lips Like Morphine

Chapter Two: A Conversation with Harper.

Nearly three days had passed since that dull, cloudy Tuesday morning when our plot first unfolded. Approximately: 56 and a half hours, 3390 minutes and 203400 seconds*. Not that anyone in particular was counting, of course…

'Alex, in all honesty I think you're over-reacting to the whole situation'

…Aside from a girl named Alexandra Margarita Russo. Over-reacting. Now Alex had to literally roll her eyes at that one. It really was only a typicalresponse she would expect from that of her best friend; rational, objective, innocuous, and infuriatingly logical. Gee, and here she was hoping for a little, oh – what was it called again? Support.

'Harper – you don't know him' Alex tried to reason agonisingly, lethargically clearing scattered dishes off the empty tables at the Sub Station restaurant.

They had both been cleaning up for the past two hours now, with busy customers flowing in and out of the restaurant like there was no tomorrow. Since Harper had been hired by her step-father (Jerry) last month ('Okay – Harper, you can work here. But only on the condition that you convince Alex to work her shifts as well. Do we have a deal?'), both she and Alex had done more shifts at the restaurant so as to spend more time together. Unfortunately for them, however, by doing this, they got a taste of the real world when they realised that working and spending time together didn't always work out to their advantage. On certain days – like today – for example, the place would get so busy that they wouldn't even have time to speak to one another. But this was no ordinary day. On this particular day, Alex was determined. She wasn't going to let something like a busy work load get in her way. She needed to talk to Harper.

'He's a complete…a complete – Justin!'

She temporarily stopped in her tracks and frowned precariously at her own lack of creative insight. Over the years though, it had become increasingly more frustrating to describe him in one singular, descriptive word. Unless of course there was a four-way combination possibility of the words: freak, geek, nerd, and dork. Yes, dork was definitely one of them. She smiled to herself a little at that, before brushing the thought away entirely and unenthusiastically continuing to clear her table.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Alex wasn't thrilled with the idea of the Lord of the Dorks staying with them for a year. In fact, she was far from thrilled with the idea. She was practically gobsmacked by the mere notion of it. Was she honestly the only one who felt this way? He would be staying for an entire year. An entire YEAR – just what was their place exactly? – A cheap hotel?

Not to mention (oh - it gets better) the little "fact" her loving step-father had oh-so-forgotten to mention beforehand two nights ago: ('Oh – right, I almost forgot to mention this to you Alex: Justin will be going to school with you, isn't that great? Now we don't have to worry about getting you a tutor; he can tutor you – for free!'). To sum things up, long story short, Alex hadn't been impressed with this. Pissed off, actually, seemed the more appropriate phrase for it. Jerry, on the other hand, was like a house on fire. She could practically see the stars gleaming from out of her step-father's puppy-dog brown eyes. The cheapskate. After nearly six years of living with the man under the same roof, Alex knew by this stage that her step father wasn't too fond of hearing the terms "cash" and "spend" used in the same sentence. Two words: Oh goody.

From her respective table, Harper shook her head absently at her best friend's lack of rational judgement, despite the ghost of an amused smile still clearly evident on her face. Although she had personally never met "he-who-was-hated-with-a-vengeance" before on a face-to-face basis – and was certain that at this stage she wasn't in any position to even feel tempted to, there was still an small, miniscule ounce of curiosity left in her naturally bubbly, inquisitive bones to meet the first boy Alex had ever had a…a…well, a bond with. And preferably, she wanted to meet him in one piece.

'Alex, that still doesn't justify leaving a rotten banana under the hidden loose floor board in his bedroom' Harper reasoned insightfully with a reluctant grin, moving around from her now-spotless table (a dish cloth and a bottle of Mr. Muscle firmly in her grasps) to clean the table that Alex had just cleared (with Alex now holding a pile of dirty dishes stacked in both her hands).

Alex couldn't help but sigh in frustration at this. At this point she knew she was fighting a losing battle. As much as she truly loved and respected her best friend for her quirky antics and unconditional loyalty (to which on several occasions of screw up's on Alex's behalf, she had exemplified without further ado), she really should have known better that Harper Finkle was not one to depend on when it came to matters concerning deception. Mischief just wasn't in her bones. And it was a pretty darn well-known fact; she was practically the poster girl for "little miss goody two shoes". Alex sighed again. But this time, it was in resignation. She really had no one to blame but herself.

'Besides, from what Max has told me, he actually sounds pretty nice' Harper added distantly, shrugging to herself.

Now that made Alex firmly stop in her tracks (the plates still stacked comfortably in her hands).

'Yes, you believe the wise words of a guy who tries picking fights with a chair?' she retorted sarcastically, shooting her best friend an all-round sceptical are-you-kidding-me expression whilst ignoring an elderly woman to her right who was shooting her a tight-lipped, disapproving gaze. 'C'mon, Harper – quit joking around, are you really going to believe the stuff that comes out of his mouth?'

Harper paused. She did have a point there.

x0x

Flashback:

'So, I hear your step-brother's going to be staying with you guys' said Harper in a sprightly tone, grinning at Max, who sat on the Russo's orange, eclectic-inspired lounge munching barbarically on Dorito chips. 'Ooh, I'm so excited – this will be my first time meeting him!'

It was true. Harper was excited; she wasn't one to tell lies (she even scoffed at the mere thought of it – oh, she really was the bipolar opposite of her best friend). Over the years, she had heard many – no wait, that would be an understatement – she had heard countless stories of the infamous Justin Russo from the very essence of her best friend, Alex Russo…not all of which were very nice, she had to admit, but this was coming from the mouth of Alex. And she knew better than anybody that Alex wasn't the type of girl who played the "nice" card. She was an acquired taste. The embodiment of teenage rebellion.

From his position on the couch, Max had paused from watching his television show (National Geographics: Dangerous Encounter's) and side-glanced in her direction, smirking wickedly. Harper felt a sudden chill run down her spine. That was odd, since when did he learn to do that?

'So Alex told you, huh?' he replied casually, throwing a Dorito chip into his mouth 'I bet she's probably already plotting his "eternal downfall", am I right?'

Now that one took Harper off guard. 'I…sorry, what?' she asked tentatively, pulling a thick piece of hair behind her ear. Max's smirk increased. 'Those two have never gotten along' he supplied, shrugging 'And I honestly don't know why, because Justin's a pretty cool dude – minus the whole weird "study-routine" thing he does every time he's over here; I'm just putting that out there' he added, wrinkling his nose at the mention of "study routine".

Harper blinked in surprise. Well, this was all new to her. New…and strange. Strange in the sense that…well, Alex only ever pulled pranks on guys she –

'But you know what?' continued Max, turning around carefully to see if anyone was nearby 'That's what makes them so interesting to watch' he added deviously in a barely-there whisper. Harper raised her eye brows in surprise at this.

'It's like you're watching a silent sitcom when their together – but get this: there's no TV!' he said excitedly, spanning his hands out wide at the awesome revelation 'How cool is that!'

x0x

Oh, great one Max – a silent sitcom, thought Harper in an unusually sarcastic fashion, slowly finishing up on her table. That was seriously the last time she was ever going to listen to him.
Having finished up on her table, she turned around almost timidly and gave her best friend a non-committal shrug in response.

'Well, your mom sure thinks he's nice as well' she added in what she hoped would pass off as a casual, non-chalant tone, adding a natural grin for good measure. Unfortunately for her, she was met with silence. Awkward silence, mind you. Harper gulped loudly. She felt a hair rise on the back of her neck. She knew she should have kept her mouth firmly shut. That way, at this point, she probably wouldn't have been on the receiving end of a pair of dangerously narrowed eyes.

Alex clearly wasn't impressed by this. Just what the hell was Harper doing asking everyone about her…err, her…well, Justin.

'Oh, so what are you now – interrogating my family about him?' she snapped angrily, the stack of plates now well forgotten in her hands. 'What, Harper? Do you think I'm a liar,or something?'

Harper suppressed the urge to scoff at that one. Oh, Alex…

'Well…' said Harper light heartedly, bitting her bottom lip in an lop-sided fashion 'Maybe I did do a little teeny bit of background research of my own…'

'Harper!'

'Oh Alex, come on! Relax, it's not such a big deal, you know' Harper brushed off light-heartedly, mock-rolling her eyes 'He's just your step-brother, not the "big bad wolf". You're acting as if his presence here will put you in pain, or something'.

She wasn't wrong there.

It was then that Harper sobered up as she was quick to notice a sudden change in Alex's loose, lazy-like disposition. That was odd. Very odd. She tilted her head to the side and frowned at the sudden unexpected metamorphosis. Was it something she had said? She continued to eye her best friend quietly with an slightly baffled expression, watching as Alex's body stiffened, and tensed - something that completely out of her character. Her eyes were sullenly downcast towards her feet. Her body language dismal. For reasons that were clearly unknown to Harper, her best friend had suddenly gone from easy-going to melancholic. She looked down. Crestfallen, even.

'Alex, is everything alri – '

Before anything else could be said, however, Alex broke out of her arbitrary trance, and glanced straight up into the honey-brown eyes of her best friend. Her own eyes were fiercely narrowed.

'He's not my step-brother' she finally managed to mutter quietly, before turning her gaze into the direction of anywhere but Harper's face. Harper blinked, and looked taken aback by this, unsure of what to do next. As Alex then took this as her leave and moved to cross through the busy crowd of people in the restaurant with the stack of plates in her hands, Harper remained firmly rooted to her spot, clearly still confused with what had just occurred only seconds before. Alex had just told her that Justin wasn't her step-brother. What an odd response; she honestly couldn't rap herself around that one. But that wasn't just it. What was more odd, was the fact that Harper wasn't sure as to whether or not this response was directed at her, or if it was directed at Alex. There was definitely something Alex wasn't telling her.

Little did she know, however, was that the clues were right there before her very own eyes... She should have been suspicious by this stage. Very suspicious.

Moving through the strong crowd of people with the stack of plates in both her hands, Alex felt the unfathomable urge to slap her forehead. Hard. Extremely hard. She honestly couldn't believe the words that had just escaped her mouth only seconds ago – just what the hell was wrong with her, exactly? He's not my step-brother. Just who was she trying to fool, with that one? She closed her eyes and breathed in heavily. Whatever this was (it was probably exhaustion - yeah, that could possibly it be it), she would remain well and truly calm no matter what. Calm and Collected was her signature, after all.

As she finally managed to worm her way to the back of the restaurant where Jerry and Theresa were both working furiously ('Honey, I need you to take this to table 29' she distantly heard her mother say to her distractedly, pushing a large plate of chicken, avocado and mayo sandwiches in her direction from the counter bench), by chance (or was it misfortune?), Alex whipped her head around to the front of the restaurant.

Her heart dropped. There, standing outside the restaurant, was the last person she wanted to see at this point. The one person who she knew could truly make her life hell. There he was, standing outside the restaurant in all his sunshine and glory (AN: sarcasm), casually chatting along with some pretty girl Alex had never set eyes on before. Her eyes widened a little. He had changed. He had definitely changed. Almost simultaneously to that, she felt a familiar adrenaline rush flame throughout her body. She also felt the somersaults she hadn't felt in well over three years now slowly start to creep back. She stood rooted to her spot, now literally gobsmacked.

x0x

Flashback:

'Well, at least I'm not a mortal – I can do magic!' spat Justin vehemently, wrinkling his nose at her. Alex side-glanced towards him with a blunt expression. To say, at the very least, she wasn't impressed.

'Magic? What, as in "abra cadabra" and "hocus pocus"?' she scoffed sarcastically in response 'Tell me this is a joke, right?' she added lazily, crossing her arms. Well, so much for ignoring him for the rest of the night…

Justin scowled at her. 'It's true! – I'm a wizard!' he cried feverishly, using his free hand to pull out a long, thin piece of pointed wood from his back pocket. 'See!'

'I'm a wizard' mimicked Alex snidely 'Please. Anyone can carry a wand, dork' she added, sniggering

'But not everyone can do magic' whispered Justin smugly, eyeing her down intensely. A sudden chill ran down Alex's spine. Was he…was he smirking at her?

For reasons that may well be left in the hands of the fates, it was right then and there at that obscure, uninhibited moment that Alex felt for the very first time in her life a quick, sudden somersault form in the pits of her stomach. Being Alex however, she decidedly ignored this (for all she knew, it could have been indigestion or something). Visibly, she rolled her eyes at his nonsense.

'Yeah, well you know what? The day you do magic, dork, is the day I'll kiss you'

x0x

She dropped the plates in her hands.

x0x

*In the first chapter, it was 8am in the morning, and by this chapter, it's 4:30pm in the afternoon, so you do the math! lol (And if I got it wrong, well, maths was never my strong suit, so there)

AN: tbh, I didn't really enjoy writing this chapter. To me it was pretty boring lol, but it was necessary, I guess. Anyways, I'm sorry for making Alex sound like such a negative person and everything, and I'm working on making her more bearable without taking her completely out of character. I hope you all look forward to the next chapter, because the next chapter is where Justin re-enters the scene. ;) btw, what do you think about Harper and Max together? I know it's a bit random (and I guess a little weird)…but they're both pretty random characters on the show, and when I watched an episode from season 3 for the first time, I guess gears started turning in my head.

Anyways, I'd like to give a warm shout out to:

Not Just A Nerd
ilovedisney128
Dontcallmesweetie
xxJulezpxx

My first 4 reviewers! Cheers!

Wiki, xoxo