Max is Making Justin Inquire

JUSTIN

Friday at one, Justin sat down at McDonald's wearing a black hoodie with the hood up and sunglasses. It was where she agreed to meet him. Would she recognize him when he wasn't so dressed up? He wondered. At time ticked by, Justin wobbled, shifting his weight.

Loud clicking of heals signaled that she had finally arrived. Harper's long hair blew in the wind. She was in a dress entirely made out of Clue cards, accompanied with a self-knitted scarf.

"That is not incognito!" Justin hissed at her when she got close.

"It seemed mysterious. It was all I could think of on such short notice." Harper shrugged and smiled. "How are you, studly?"

Justin blinked. He felt that tiny headache he got right between his eyes when Harper was around. Grabbing her arm, he lead her to the line to order their food.

They both ordered some food and sat down to eat and talk. How could he even talk to her about the situation? She would probably just go tell Alex. The torment of the whole situation brought on a serge of butterfly wings that whooshed around in his belly. Justin stuffed an abundance of french fries in his mouth and chewed with his mouth open.

"Um, okay. So, what is it that's wrong?"

"Wha you mean?" Justin asked with a full mouth.

"I've watched you for a very long time, and you would never be caught dead eating like that. Of course, if you were dead, you wouldn't be eating. So, that expression is kind of weird for this situation."

Justin ran his middle two fingers down Harper's wrist, then held onto it. She made a small yelp of pleasure and instantly quieted.

"I need to talk to you about something important. But I need to know I can trust you."

Her head jiggled up and down like a bobble head, eager to say yes.

"And you can't tell Alex."

"Oh! Poosht." She waved her other hand in their air. "So not an issue. She's unbearable since she lost the—" her voice hushed to a faint whisper— "you-know-what."

Justin straightened his tie to hide the lump in his throat. "I'm sure she is," he managed to say.

"Oh quite! Just the other day—"

"Sorry, Harper. I have something I really need to get off my chest."

"I'll take anything off your chest." Harper daintily dipped her fries in her ketchup.

Justin cleared his throat. Did winning family wizard mean all the babes would be after Justin? Not that Harper was a babe. There was that time when he was in second grade that he had a crush on Harper, but she threw a bucket at him and told him he had cooties. Did he cry that night! Justin shook his head to clear those thoughts. Well, Max isn't a girl. That wouldn't be a babe either then. Right? Ew. Kelbo wouldn't be getting any babe's either.

"I think I love Max." Justin blurted to get the thoughts out of his mind.

Harper's jaw dropped open. She slowly applied lip gloss to her lips. Was she frozen or was something going on in her mind? "You like boys?" Her words were slow and deliberate.

"Kinda not the problem here, Harper." Justin was losing patience.

"It's not me then." Harper started babbling about this and that. Frankly, Justin toned her out. It was useless dribble.

Justin set his drink down forcefully.

"Well, does he love you?" Harper asked.

"How am I supposed to know that?" It wasn't even something that Justin had thought about before that moment.

Harper threw her scarf over her shoulder. "All these years around me and you don't even know?"

"You and he are hardly the same."

"Oh? I missed that status update." Harper stuffed a few more fries in her mouth. She was very slow at chewing them up, savoring the full taste of them, giving Justin time to think about what she had said.

Honestly, Max and Harper did have a lot in common when it came to the way they thought about the world. Point blank: simple. Each part of the world, in their minds was at it's simplest point. That was what helped them to stay innocent.

"What do I say to him?" Justin impatiently tapped his fingers against the table.

"Nothing."

"What?" Justin shook his head not understanding.

"If he loves you, he'll let you know."

"I don't want this. I'm terrible at waiting things out." Justin buried his face in his hands.

"I know." Harper giggled and set a reasuring hand on Justin's arm. "It will be good for you."