Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. No profit is being made from releasing this fiction.
Author's Note: Did everyone get anything good for Christmas? I got a bunch of chocolate-covered almonds, and they tasted amazing! If I could, I would eat nothing but those everyday.
Okay, so I was thinking the other day that maybe my romantic ideals are possibly a bit old fashioned compared to what you guys might like today. So I thought, why not take some suggestions? And so, I'm just gonna put this out there: if you have any sort of romantic/sweet moment that you've always dreamed of or that you think would fit this story well, please mention them in the comments. I do read all of the comments very thoroughly and if I find some that would fit well with the next chapter or so, I will definitely include it. And they don't have to be a Justin/Harper moment. If you want something cute to happen with Alex/Mason, Jerry/Theresa, or Max/…. Damn, who does Max have? Whatever, I'll figure that out later. It could even be just a family moment between them too. If it sounds stupid, I'll still consider it. You never know. So come on! Make your romantic/sweet moment come alive and put them in the comment!
And again, thank you very, very much for reviewing the last chapter. Reviews always make me write faster.
On to the story!
A Familiar Pattern 13
by genielou
The California weather shined brightly over the city of Burbank as a taxi cab parked swiftly in front of a cozy suburban apartment building; its driver hurriedly came out and started towards the luggage that sat by the sidewalk.
"Thanks for the new sewing machine, Daddy," said Harper as she leaned down to kiss her father on the cheek. "I've wanted the portable model for like, ever."
"Anything for my sweetpea," he told her as they both glanced at the taxi driver who was tying a giant cargo box to the opened trunk of the cab car. "Now, sweetie, do you have your passport? Your wallet? Your cellphone and keys?"
Harper rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad. I have everything in my carry-on," she emphasized by holding up a Tokidoki tote bag, given as a Christmas gift by one of her parents' most trusted business partners. Normally, she didn't use designer-anything, but the brand's particular design fitted her persona so well that she decided to give it a go. "Will you stop worrying? I've re-checked all of my luggage more than twice last night."
"And your snacks, dear?" her mother asked as she came over holding a small plastic bag containing single portions of chips, cereals, and Oreo cookies. She held it out to her daughter. "I don't know why you're so opposed to eating, Harper. I swear you look like skin and bones. Aren't the Russo's feeding you?"
"Yes, Mom. For the fifteenth time, yes." Harper took the bag of snacks from her mother and stuffed it into her tote bag. "I told you, I just work out a lot, that's all. And it's only a few hours' flight anyway. I'm sure I won't starve in that small amount of time."
"Better safe than sorry, I say. Now, come here," she beckoned her daughter to come closer, and took her into her arms when she did. "Now you call us as soon as you land there, you hear? I don't want to hear any excuses." She pointed a stern finger at Harper. "We bought you that cellphone for a reason. It's not just an accessory, young lady."
"Yes, Mom. Promise."
Her mother proceeded to fuzz over her hair, her face, and her clothes, until Harper finally swatted her hands away. Her father stepped in between them to halt the oncoming bickering.
"We're really sorry your mother and I can't spend the New Year's Eve with you. But it's just that we're under a strict contract here." He took her into his arms. "We love you so much."
"I know, Dad," she replied. "You don't have to keep saying it, you know."
Her father merely smiled at her as he embraced her again. This time, her mother joined in on the group hug.
During the plane trip back to New York, Harper spent most of her time skimming through the pictures in her camera. Her parents had been especially caring of her, for once. They had expressed their desire to be with her during the winter break, and insisted that she fly over to Burbank, California where they have been contracted to spend two years to perform for a local entertainment venue. Harper had refused at first but the Russo's had convinced her otherwise, arguing that her parents were trying hard to reach out to her and that she should give them a chance. So, in the end, she had flown to California as soon as her last class in school ended, already anticipating a flight back to New York.
Nonetheless, Harper herself had to admit that she had a lot of fun while staying with her parents, despite her initial opposition. They had taken her everywhere they could in the short two weeks of her stay. Holding the camera firmly in her hands, she skimmed through pictures of her and her parents at Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Lego land, Universal Studios, and lots more. They had even taken her to the local art schools in the areas. She saw the pictures she had taken during her visit at the Otis College of Art and Design, the Art Institute of Orange County, the FDIM Fashion Institute, and the Laguna College of Art and Design. Other random pictures included views of the streets and buildings, and things that she saw at the mall that she wished she could afford. She even took pictures of various patterned cloths when she went to Downtown Los Angeles. The vendors had to kick her out, for fear that she was an undercover cop looking for bootleg sellers.
The amount of support that her parents had shown her towards her craft surprised her as well. She showed them her online portfolio and they had expressed how impress they were of her growth, even more so of the professional finesse that most of her projects exemplified in. Her mother had even reserved one of the dresses that she was working on.
All in all, Harper had to admit that there was not even a single moment of her visit that she didn't like. In fact, if it weren't for the last minute demand for her parents to perform on New Year's Eve, she would have loved to stay longer. For now, she'll have to settle to going back home and facing the dilemmas that she's been avoiding all this time.
Her finger kept pressing the review button until she came upon older pictures. She didn't even recognize them. Eventually, she remembered that the memory card in the camera once belonged to Alex; she lent it to Harper for the California trip, especially. The first batch of pictures she encountered was of her and the Russo's during Thanksgiving dinner. She saw a few with her and Alex, her and Max, and then her with her surrogate parents. There were even a few with her and all four of them together. The absence of one particular family member was obvious at the time, and skimming through the pictures now reminded her of that.
It wasn't that she hated Justin at all. It was more like she thought the meeting would be too awkward for herself or anyone else in the room to bear. She just didn't want to cause her family any discomfort. So when she had heard word that Justin was home during the Thanksgiving weekend, Harper had seriously considered spending the holiday in her dormitory. And she was determined to do so if it wasn't for Alex suddenly appearing into her room early on Thanksgiving morning and unexpectedly flashing her out of her room. She remembered reappearing into the Russo's' living room a good ten inches above the floor, causing her to land disgracefully and grabbing onto Alex before she lost her footing. Alex received a scolding from her mother shortly after that, and then the rest of the day was spent joyously as they bustled about, trying to get dinner set up. Much to Harper's relief, Justin did not show his face at all. Word had it that he's been locked up in his room doing who-knows-what, and no one has been able to get him to come out. She couldn't even get a glimpse of him going to the bathroom. Harper didn't rule out the possibility that he might just be flashing himself into the bathroom to keep himself from being seen.
Harper kept skimming through and encountered ones that she thought were from the Super Hero Convention, where Justin had kissed her. Although, she's still not quite sure about that. Someday, she's going to have to confirm if that really happened. Somehow.
She continued skimming, going through other moments that she remembered. She saw her high school graduation, prom night, her last homecoming, her cheerleading games, and so on. And then, she saw a picture that she didn't think Alex had seen. There was a blurry green shape in the corner of the picture, making it evident that the picture was snapped from behind the bushes. It was of Juliet by the Waverly Place creek with the man in question. His features are not visible, but only because he was bent down with his face slightly slanted towards her cheek (her own head was covering him). Juliet's face, on the other hand, looked red and shy. And Harper knew very well why. That was the night when Harper had used magic to disguise herself as Juliet and went on a date with Justin, hoping to convince him to move on from their tragic break-up. He had found out the truth, of course, and Harper had to come clean with the whole plan. In the end, Justin was surprisingly understanding and forgave her with no remorse.
As a reward for her efforts on his behalf, he had actually kissed her on the cheek; a gesture that she thought she would never be able to experience. Harper remembered very clearly how she had felt at the very moment that it happened. As soon as he started leaning down, she became both anxious and afraid. She automatically stiffened as she readied herself, although she didn't really quite know how to get ready at that point. And when it actually happened, when he finally kissed her, she suddenly felt enlightened and free. It was as if all the tension on her shoulders had gone away and all that mattered in her life was that she was able to stand there with him leaning so closely towards her. It was almost fair to say that it was one of the happiest moments of her life.
It was just too bad that their relationship became too complicated to maintain after that.
Harper became so engrossed with nostalgia that she didn't even notice how time flew by. Before she knew it, a map appeared on the movie screen displaying the map that indicated how close the plane was from its destination. The flight attendant started prepping passengers for landing shortly after that.
The only person to meet Harper at the terminal was a bored-looking Alex leaning on a luggage cart, and she was relieved by this. Normally, she would have loved a big welcome, but plane trips always made her too tired for that. Besides, she often considered her best friend's welcome to worth more than any other welcome. So as soon as they saw each other, they hugged as if they haven't seen each other in years. Alex helped her gather her other luggage and waited patiently as she took care of other formal paperwork. Once finished, Harper started heading towards the taxi line. But before she could reach it, she suddenly realized that Alex wasn't following her. Alex was heading towards the pedestrian that crosses to the parking lot instead. Harper quickly detoured and ran after her.
"You brought a car?" she asked. The answer she got was a simple "hum-hmm" while Alex got ready to walk without waiting for the walk sign to turn green. Harper had to hold on to the back of Alex's jacket to keep her from walking.
As soon as they reached the lot, Alex pushed the luggage cart into the elevator and pushed the button for the highest level. Harper just frowned at her, wondering whose car she could've brought. That is, until Alex slid her wand out from the inside of her boot.
Harper looked at her in horror. "You wouldn't."
Alex merely grinned at her before flicking her wand and making both of them disappear in a bright flash. They reappeared seconds later in the Russo's living room, with Alex's feet flat on the carpeted floor. Unfortunately, Harper's lack expertise on magically flashing has yet to improve. She reappeared with her feet 12 inches above the floor, relatively higher than the last time she remembered experiencing it. Her feet landed hard on the floor, making her lose her footing and falling down altogether. She quickly scrambled to stand up.
"I hate it when you do that!" she yelled while pinching her nose and blowing inwards to try to pop her ears. Alex just chuckled at her as she pointed her wand at the luggage that was still on the cart. The luggage vanished with a flash, leaving the cart on the carpeted floor.
"You should've expected that," Alex laughed at her. "How long have you known me?"
"You suck!" Harper yelled again, and then started coughing when she blew inwards too hard.
Theresa suddenly came bustling in, carrying a big, casserole pot in her arms. "Harper!" she exclaimed upon seeing her. "I wasn't expecting you for few more hours. I wish I'd known that you'd be here so soon. I was just about to work on dinner."
"It's okay, Mrs. Russo!" Harper yelled. She blew inwards again, making her face turn slightly purple. She exhaled in exhaustion. "I'm fine! I'm not. THAT. HUNGRY!"
Theresa pulled back a bit at the loud shouts. Then she aimed a stern look towards Alex. "What did you do to her?"
"Mother, please," Alex said with an insulted expression on her face. "Why would you think that I did anything to her?"
"Does anyone have a Q-tip! I think I can pop my ears if I use a Q-tip!"
Theresa pointed a finger at Alex. "Alexandra Margarita Russo. Did you flash Harper out of the airport?"
"I might have some in my luggage! Alex, where did they go?"
"Jerry!"
"Is that the phone! I hear ringing! Somebody should get that!"
Between her mother trying to ground her and Harper yelling for a Q-tip, Alex just couldn't decide whether she wanted to cringe or laugh. After much deliberation, she decided to sit herself down on the couch and chuckle to herself. Harper joined her after she was finally able to pop her ears, dropping herself heavily on Alex's lap first as revenge before settling herself down next to her.
The afternoon went as such, with almost a full hour of "At the airport? Do you have any idea what could've happened if you were seen, young lady?" and Harper eating the sandwich that Theresa had made her as a snack. Harper tried her best to stay alert, but eventually, the tension that her body held from the flight overwhelmed her and she fell asleep on the couch. It was only at dinner time that Max woke her up.
"Time for dinner, Red," he greeted. "We got some cob bobs done while you snoozed away."
Harper ate dinner more at ease than she had for the past two weeks, basking in the silliness that the Russo's seem to exceed in. Her favorite moments for this particular night was whenever Max tried to fork the meats. Theresa would always catch him and slap his hand away, and then punished him further by dumping more vegetables on his plate. After a while, Alex grew tired of this and quickly shoved a handful of pork into his mouth after yelling "That pigeon's eating the pumpkins!", causing both of her parents to get up from their seat and running out onto the balcony area. Mostly, for the entirety of the meal, Harper wondered where Justin was. Again.
"He's sleeping," Alex told her as they made their way down the stairs to the Sub Station. "He's a little sick so Mom gave him medicine. He's been sleeping for days now."
Harper looked at her warily. "Is he okay, though? What kind of sick is he?"
Alex grinned at her. "Just sleep-deprived. And maybe some other kind of sick."
They turned towards the direction of her basement room, unlocked the door, and headed down the dark stairwell. Upon reaching the ground level, Harper flipped the light switch and was surprised to be greeted by a pile of gifts sitting on her bed. She smiled widely as she ran towards them. "Really?"
"Heck yeah!" Alex exclaimed. Then she ran forward and leaped onto Harper's bed, landing on her feet and spreading her arms wide. "Merry late Christmazaahanukkah! This one's from me, that ugly one's from Max, and then Mom and Dad, and then Zeke."
Harper halted her unwrapping to frown at Alex.
"Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah. Duh."
At this, even Harper had to giggle. "So, what's the plan for tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow night?" Alex repeated.
Harper stared at her exasperatedly. "Alex, you've always had something planned for the both of us every New Year's Eve. Last year, we spent it inside the New Year's Ball with a tub of ice cream. And may I remind you that being inside that thing while it dropped was one of the most uncomfortable experiences in my life." Alex chuckled again. "And the year before that, we spent it inside an episode of Friends, where, I really can't figure out why you did it for the life of me, you completely thrashed Monica's apartment."
"Wahahaha that was so frickin' awesome!" Alex squeezed out of herself in between the wheezing and the laughing.
"And so?" Harper tried again. "This year?"
Alex suddenly stopped laughing. "Well, this year," she started, her tone indicating a scheme. "I thought that maybe we should spend it apart from—each—other—because! Because…"
Harper was slowly putting down the gift she had in hand.
"Because, Harper, and this is a good reason, you'll see," Alex stepped off of the bed. "Because I thought that maybe—maybe—you would definitely have, uh, plans."
"Plans?" Repeated Harper. "I never have plans on New Year's Eve. I always figure that I'd be spending it with you."
"Right! And you will! If, and only if you don't do anything else, which you might." Alex stiffened on the spot and grinned at her.
Harper eyed her suspiciously. "Why are you so jittery?"
"I'm not! I'm—I am not jittery. What—Harper, buddy," she slacked her shoulders and maintained her toothy smile. "You know me. I don't even know what jittery means."
Harper frowned at her. Alex's eyes seemed to look everywhere but at her. Suddenly she grabbed a gift from the bed.
"Oh, look! I think I know what's in this one. I think you'll really love it. Here," she shoved the gift into Harper's arms. "Don't open it until I get out."
And without another word, Alex flashed herself out, leaving a confused-looking Harper behind.
Harper stood from her bed, and stared at the gift in her hands. "Weird," she whispered to herself. The gift, which was the size of a shoebox, was unusually wrapped. It was, in fact the only gift in the pile of gifts that was wrapped in junk mail. She slowly unwrapped the gift, being careful to tear the tape on only one side of it first. Once she got a decent opening, she was able to tear the paper at a perfect angle, enabling her to take a peek at the box; and what she saw was something much unexpected. There, underneath the junk mail wrapping paper, was a box labeled "Captain Jim Bob Sherwood Toddler Boots." Harper frowned at it even more. The clue was just too obvious but the question still stands as to what he could possibly give her that Alex thought she would love.
She tore the paper completely off of the box and, holding it up, eyed it strangely. Seeing that there was no magical trick that would blow up on her face, Harper slowly pulled the top off of the old, shoe box. From inside of it, she pulled out what looked like a mahogany-colored, wooden chest box.
"Weirder," she whispered to herself again.
Discarding the shoebox to the floor, she gripped the chest box firmly in her hands and flipped it to and fro as she examined it, not quite sure what to make of it. It was, she thought it fair to say, the most poorly decorated chest box she had ever seen. It looked as if a ten-year-old got their hands on a bejeweling machine, glitters, and a glue gun, and just went crazy on the thing. It had various colored plastic jewels glued onto it, with pink glitter spread randomly throughout the entire box, pathetically serving to almost act like a binder to make the box look pretty. On the top lid of the box, were darker-colored jewel stones arranged to form her name, HARPER. Clumps of glitter have been glued underneath her name to make the letters pop out more clearly.
A sense of affection overtook her as she traced her name with her fingers. She wasn't sure why Justin would give her such a mediocre gift, but the hand-made quality of it made her appreciate it much more than she would've expected. Was this his idea of an apology?
And then, she did what anyone would have done when encountering any sort of storage device at a store. She opened it. And as soon as she did, she couldn't help but scream aloud and jump back as thousands of dimly-lit bubbles shot out of the box, spreading throughout the entirety of the basement room. She lost her footing and fell to the ground, with the box still held tightly in one hand. The magic within the box seemed to turn off any other light that had been on, making the bubbles shine brighter.
"Wow." Harper ogled foolishly at the sight, her eyes trying to scan the entire room as quickly as it could. She slowly hoisted herself up, and then closed her eyes to try to calm them from the sudden change of lighting in the room. When she opened them again, she could see everything much clearer. The bubbles that completely filled the space of the room were much more colorful and much more defined. And within every bubble, there seemed to be some movement going on with the colors.
Concentrating on one particular bubble, Harper quietly stared at it whilst walking towards it. With every step that she took, the bubble seemed to grow wider and shine brighter. With every step, the colors on within the bubble seemed to form shapes and as they moved, some sort of audio began to take form as well. Harper kept walking towards it until the bubble was as large as a typical television. She remained silent, with her mouth wide open, as she watched the shapes inside of it perform a scene.
She recognized herself, a much younger version of herself, on her tenth birthday party. A ten-year-old Alex was standing right next to her as a crowd of friends surrounded her and started singing "Happy Birthday." Her younger self giggled uncontrollably as her parents appeared and placed her birthday cake in front of her.
"What is this?" Harper whispered as she kept watching.
Her younger self blew out all of the candles in one big puff, and everyone clapped and cheered. And then, off to the side, she saw a boy sneeze loudly. As if it was by magic, the candles were suddenly lit again. Ten-year-old Harper frowned at the cake and then at Alex.
A tiny caption floated through at the bottom of the bubble, and Harper took her eyes away from the scene to read it.
"One of the many times that my Wizards powers activated on its own. It only happens whenever Harper is around."
Harper's eyes widened as she lifted them up to the scene again. She stared at the boy who sneezed and waited until he looked up. When he did, she wasn't surprised at all to see who it was.
It was an eleven-year-old Justin, his expression sheepish from what had just happened.
Immediately realizing what was around her, Harper quickly turned and trudged towards another bubble. She kept walking towards it until it became wide enough for her to see everything clearly from within it. And then, as if automatically, the scene reacted. She watched intently as a thirteen-year-old version of herself, wearing a Supergirl costume, dragging Alex (of the same age) behind her. It was her on her very first Halloween Party.
"Harper, please let me go home," whined Alex. "I'm so bored."
"Only because you're not giving it a chance," she told her as she eyed Alex's overalls. "You should've worn a costume. It would've been a lot more fun if you did."
The young Alex merely scoffed at her and continued dragging her feet. The two kept walking until they saw him. Fourteen-year-old Justin's geeky persona was much more evident then, with his flat hair, thick glasses and braces. He was wearing a Superman costume, and looked very dissatisfied when he saw Harper's costume.
"Harper! I told you not to wear that," he exclaimed. "Now everyone will think that we're a couple."
"Well, what's wrong with that?" Harper asked.
The present Harper watched on, remembering exactly what was significant in this particular scene. The day before that convention was when she openly admitted to Alex that she had a crush on Justin. And on that morning of the convention, she had admitted to Justin himself that she wanted to have his babies. It was creepy, yes. But thirteen-year-old Harper just didn't know better than to say otherwise. No wonder Justin had thought she was a strange girl for the next five years that followed.
Harper was just about to read the text that was slowly materialized until she noticed something that she didn't remember happening. As Alex dragged her friend away (the discomfort of her newly-revealed crush evident in her expression), it looked as if Justin kept watching them for longer than he usually would have. He actually kept watching them walk away until they were completely out of sight.
Then, Harper read the text. "First time I realized that Harper has cute legs."
"Oh," Harper blushed.
She kept moving around, scanning through as many bubbles as she could until she encountered scenes that were more recent. She saw herself a child, herself as a young teenager, and herself at an age very close to what she was now. It was like she was seeing her entire life unfold all over again in that very room.
Harper stopped abruptly as one specific bubble caught her eye immediately. It was the scene that she reveled on while in the plane; except this scene stopped right before Justin kissed her cheek. The scene was precisely of the few seconds consisting of when Justin leaned down and was about to do the deed. Harper frowned at this and then proceeded to read the text.
"I would have preferred it if I was kissing Harper's real cheek."
Harper's cheeks flushed as heat rose up onto her face. It felt like Justin's inner most secrets were being revealed one by one and all of it was starting to overwhelm her.
Deciding to examine one more bubble, Harper looked for the most recent scene, or actually the last scene that she remembered being with him.
"But you don't love me, do you?" She heard herself say.
It was just that. Nothing else. A few seconds later, it would replay with her looking up with pleading eyes, saying the same thing again, "But you don't love me, do you?"
Harper's eyes casted down as she waited for the secret behind this particular scene. And when it appeared, she couldn't help but hold a hand to her mouth as she gasped in surprised.
"The first time I realized that I don't not-love Harper."