Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. No profit is being made from releasing this fic.

Author's Note: Ngah! The tension! People are probably ready to kill me now so I won't say anything this time.

To scifichick07: I really liked your suggestion so I used it. I decided to expand on it, so although this isn't exactly what you suggested, it is still based on it. Thank you. If you have any more suggestions, feel free to include them in the comments. And that goes for everyone!

Let's read on!

A Familiar Pattern 15

by genielou

Justin awoke with a groan to the loud barking of "Who Let the Dogs Out" (by The Baha Men). He turned to his side but kept his head buried in his pillow as his hand flailed around clumsily, estimating its way towards the source of the sound. Feeling the rectangular shape of his cell phone, he picked it up while pressing his thumb onto it, looking for any available button that would make it stop. When it did stop, he let it drop onto the floor before re-treating his hand back into the warmth of his blanket.

The inside of the house was quiet, but he could faintly hear the loud cheering coming from outside of his window. Why this was so, he wasn't quite sure. And at the moment, he just couldn't bring himself to care enough to find out. Although he was feeling relatively better than before, his head was still hazy from weeks of being in bed. He was subjected to a very high fever, which developed to an acute pneumonia; and this eventually worsened when he ignored it and just kept working on his gift for Harper. The lack of sleep, fatigue, not eating properly, and so on, made it much, much worse and much harder to cure. He was finally starting to feel better. Nonetheless, after so many weeks of medication, he really couldn't help but still be bitter about it.

"Who let the dogs out? Arf! Arf, Arf, ARF!"

He groaned.

Justin had known he would get sick eventually, given that he had ignored his aches and pains just to finish Harper's gift. And although it was much worse than he had expected, he thought it was well worth it. It was just too bad that he wasn't present when she actually opened the gift.

That is, if she had opened it at all. He wasn't even sure of that. So many weeks in his room has disabled him from telling time correctly.

"Arf! Arf!"

The music suddenly stopped, and he savored the 30 seconds of quiet. And then the music blasted again.

"Argh! What the hell!" he exclaimed. He rose from his bed and scanned his surroundings with one eye barely open. It must be the medicine that was keeping his vision from adjusting to the darkness, because he really couldn't see anything at all. He reached out towards his nightstand and fumbled for his lamp; he winced when he heard something crash to the floor. He sighed aloud in frustration.

When he was finally able to switch on the lamp, the music stopped abruptly. "Of course it would stop right when I can finally see."

Justin rubbed the sleep from his eyes before rising from his bed. His joints cracked slightly at every step, and he groaned as he felt pain rise from his knees. He winced at the soreness of his muscles, and, cursing to himself, stretched to try to rid of them. When the Baha Men started barking again, Justin merely ignored it and proceeded towards the light switch of his room. He groaned loudly as the light assaulted his sleepy eyes and he saw nothing but a white glare for a good few seconds. The music stopped again.

He stood by the light switch as he took a gander at the sight of his room. It was a mess, to say the least. Contrary to what women believe of men, not all of them are untidy; and Justin happened to be one of those who prefer the cleanliness of his environment over anything. Unfortunately, on that night, he simply wasn't worthy to be titled within that 'clean' group. At this, he couldn't help but groan loudly again; even louder when the familiar barking interrupted his thoughts.

Irritated, he limped towards where his phone lay on the floor, picked it up, and pressed the green button firmly.

"WHAT!" he screamed into his phone.

"Hello? Hello?"

Justin frowned. "Mom? Hello, Mommy?" He strained to try to hear Theresa's voice over the many other voices in the background. "Mom! Can you hear me?"

He heard giggling and then a faint conversation. Something about somebody having to go.

"Justin, speak up sweetie!" he heard her yell. "It's getting kinda loud out here!"

He had to stray his ear away from the phone when she yelled. There was shouting and cheering going on.

"Mom, where are you?"

"Times Square, sweetie! Where else?"

Justin frowned. He quickly walked towards his bedroom window and peaked through the blinds. The tiny alley of Waverly Place is overcrowded with people wearing party hats and beaded necklaces, all seeming to have some sort of a noise-maker in hand like a whistle, horn, or tiny trumpets. Justin's eyes widened when he realized what they were for.

"Oh my god. It's New Year's Eve?" he asked.

"Yes, honey. We told you that before we left the house," said Theresa.

"Why didn't you take me with you?"

"Justin, we tried but you just kept going back to bed. We figured it'd be best if we just let you stay home." He heard his father say hi in the background. "It's way too cold out here for someone with a fever."

"But, Mom," he whined. "I would've toughed it out for New Year's Eve. It's New Year's Eve!"

"I don't doubt that, but the doctor said that you needed rest so your Father and I decided to just let you sleep."

Justin tsked.

"There'll be more New Years to come," Theresa concluded. The crowd suddenly erupted from behind her. "I'm sorry, Hon, but I'm gonna have to go. The ball just lit up!"

"Mom! Mom? Mommy!" Justin yelled onto the phone. "Wait, stay on the line so we can count down together."

"What?" Theresa yelled back. "I can't hear you, Justin! It's too loud over here! I'll just see you when we get home! Happy New Year's, Justin!"

And with that, the call ended. Justin was left to himself again, with only the sound of the growing volume of cheering from outside of the apartment. With a defeated sigh, he tossed his cellphone onto his bed and walked out of his room. He shivered with each step on the cold, linoleum floor as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"The doctor said..." was what his mother had pressed on. Normally Justin would have agreed, but on such an occasion, he was willing to question his own policies. It was bad enough that he was still brooding over Harper, and now to spend the New Year's Eve alone? It was as if the rest of the world was against him.

The multi-colored glow of the Christmas tree lights greeted him as he entered into the living room area. The tree was very much still intact, and almost all of the gifts underneath were all gone; only a few remained untouched. Stepping closer to the tree and crouching to examine the remaining gifts, he found that they were actually for him. There were four of them, which is the exact number of gifts that he would expect if he were to count the number of people who would bother to give him a present for the holiday.

That's right. I slept through Christmas Eve and Day, he thought with a growing frustration. It was bad enough that he had let Christmas pass by without notice, and now New Year's Eve is about to pass by unnoticed too? The realization gave him an even stronger determination to celebrate the near crossing into the New Year, even if he had to celebrate it alone.

Justin stood from his position and trudged quickly towards the refrigerator. The oven clock was menacingly glaring its time at him; five minutes until midnight. He opened the refrigerator and skimmed through his drink options. There was a bottle or Orange soda, a six-pack of beer, and a pitcher of juiced fruits. His eyes kept switched from one to the other, trying to decide what was worthy of clinking for the struck of midnight. The beer was obviously out of the question, seeing as he was not old enough to drink alcohol. He picked up the pitcher of juiced fruits and popped the top open. The strong smell of celery rose towards him and he had to scrunch his nose in dissatisfaction.

"Yuck."

He replaced the pitcher and started towards the Orange soda, but his hand halted when a loud cheering erupted from outside the balcony doors. Justin's eyes momentarily strayed to the direction of the noise.

His hand kept hovering over the Orange soda for a good minute until, out of nowhere, he felt incredibly brazen and moved his hand towards the beer. He took one and stared at it closely.

"Alright, you," he said to it. "This stays between the two of us."

Justin twisted the bottle cap, and it opened with a hiss. He sniffed it first. With a shrug, he took a short swig and, quicker than expected, he sprayed it out.

"Bleh!" he held it away in disgust. "This tastes like carbonated pee."

He heard the muffled jingling of keys. Justin turned towards the door that led to the hallway area of the apartment building and stared at it anxiously. It couldn't be his parents; her mother had just called him form Times Square. Alex was out of the question; she would surely be with Mason somewhere. Max? That's ridiculous. Max would definitely be with his parents.

He watched as the upper lock turned abruptly, and then the lower lock turned. Justin's breath caught as the door was suddenly, and very roughly, pushed open. His eyes widened as Harper emerged from behind the door, with an uncharacteristically stricken expression.

"You!" yelled Harper. Justin jumped when she slammed the door behind her. "You have some nerve!"

Justin's mouth hung open.

"Do you think you can just fix everything with some mushy gift? It doesn't work that way!" Harper screamed.

"Whoa!" Justin had to duck behind the kitchen island as her purse came sailing his way. He peaked from behind the island before fully emerging again. "Can we back up here?"

Harper glared at him. Her eyes slowly travelled towards the content of Justin's hand. He cringed at her stare.

"Um, it's not what you think," he said as he slowly lowered the beer down onto the counter. "I just tasted it."

Harper heaved a huge breath before addressing him again. "Do you have any idea what I had to go through to actually stand up to you? Do you have any idea how much courage I had to build up to 'get over' you?"

Justin frowned at her.

"You- You! You made me feel bad about myself!" she yelled again as she advanced past the couch. "I worshipped you. I was so into you that I actually started thinking of what our baby's names would be when I was thirteen."

Justin raised a brow and opened his mouth to say something.

"Hush-shh-Shah! That's not creepy at all! It's perfectly normal for girls to make up baby names!"

Justin pressed his lips firmly together and looked warily at her.

"You- you are so mean," said Harper in a lower tone. "Okay, I can understand if you didn't know everything about me. But, for God's sake, I'm your sister's best friend. I'm one of your best friends. I'm practically part of your family. For over fifteen years, you didn't even notice me, and I'm supposed to come running to you now that you finally took the time to get to know me? Well thank you VERY much for gracing me with your attention!"

Finally shaking himself from his shock, Justin blinked rapidly before stepping around the island. "Harper," he said as calmly as he could despite his shaky voice, with his hands held up in front of him. "Please calm down. Let me explain, okay? Please?"

"Explain what? Explain what a fool I've been? Changing myself for you?" she gestured at herself. "I like to eat! I don't like exercising! In fact, I hate exercising! You made me exercise!"

Justin couldn't help but be confused. "Exercise?"

"Yeah!" she declared as she shook a finger at him. Harper turned every which way until her eyes landed on the couch pillows. She grabbed one and threw it at him. "I went on a diet for you!"

Justin dodged the pillow and rounded the couch to avoid her. Adrenaline soared through him as he forgot about his illness.

"I didn't tell you to go on a diet!" he yelled back, but then a previous event crawled into his mind and he had to cringe at his own stupidity. "Okay, maybe I did, I guess. But I didn't mean to! I'm a guy. Guys do and say stupid things. And, technically, I didn't really say it."

Her eyes softened in a sarcastic gesture. Then she grabbed another pillow and threw it at him. Luckily, he caught it with ease. Justin used it as a shield while she pelted more pillows at him.

"You're. Not. Just. Any. Guy. You're. JUSTIN!" She slouched as she huffed from exhaustion. Her anger was slowly dissipating with the fatigue from travelling at full speed from Times Square, all the way to Waverly Place. "You're- Justin. Not just a guy. Justin. You're supposed to be—better."

Justin lowered the pillow and just looked at her. Closely. She stood facing him in the dark, and he had to strain to see the features of her expression. But the light that blinked and shimmered from the Christmas Tree shaped her form, causing her silhouette to be distinct and refined. It was a dramatic view, almost something surreal, to see her framed by an array of reds and greens that seemed to dance along with the cheering of the outside crowd.

He dropped the pillow to the floor. "I'm sorry," he said simply. "I don't know what else I can say. I'm- sorry."

She heaved a sigh as her glare is replaced with a sudden sadness. Tears threatened to leak when she took a deep breath to try to calm herself.

"I wanted you to know how much you mean to me. And I wasn't sure how to do it, so I thought that if I- if I knew everything about you, then that would be a start," he said. "You- did you like my gift?"

She looked pointedly at him.

"Okay, right. Not the time for that. Got it," he said with both hands held up. "I didn't do that just to boast about it or to prove you wrong in any way at all. I wanted to do it- for myself. I want to know about you, Harper." He took a step closer. "I want to know Harper, the Harper that I've stupidly ignored for so long."

Justin kept walking until only the couch seemed to separate him from her. From such a close proximity, he saw, very clearly, the wet streaks on her reddened cheeks that her episode had caused. She was breathing deeply with her eyes casted down, almost seeming to do so to try to restrain herself. The sight made him want to hit himself, knowing that he was the one who had made her the way she was at that very moment.

"Harper, I am so, so sorry for everything I've put you through," he said, almost whispering. "I know nothing I can do will change it but please tell you'll give me another chance. And we don't even have to jump to anything. We can just start over. As friends. And I swear, I'll be the very best guy friend for you."

Harper raised her head to him.

"What do you say? Start over? The right way?"

Silence took over the two of them. Neither moved nor said anything to relieve the tension in the atmosphere. It was only when the cheering from the outside erupted that Justin blinked.

"Ninety-eight! Ninety-seven! Ninety-six!"

Justin turned his head towards the balcony doors. He sighed at the realization that the countdown may finish before he could resolve his relationship with the girl that he had gotten so ill over. When he turned back to Harper, her head had risen up to look directly at him. She was still glaring, but she was crying again too.

"Harper?" asked Justin. "How about it? Start over?"

Suddenly, Harper raised her right hand in the air with her arm stretched at its fullest. She swung with all her might, and her hand reached across the couch that separated her from him, and made a loud "smack" as it made contact with Justin's cheek. His body stumbled back slightly at the force. He placed a hand on his reddened cheek as he looked at her with fear.

"You really hurt me," she whispered. "You know, the worst kind of hurt is knowing that someone you've loved for so long doesn't love you back. You did that. And it really, really hurt me."

Justin looked warily at her; no sign of remorse was on his expression. He knew he deserved it.

"Sixty-five! Sixty-four!"

"Harper," Justin tried again as he stepped towards her again. "Let's start over."

He reached out to prop a hand on the back of the couch and kneeled onto its seat cushions. With him kneeling on the couch, his distance from her was much closer and his height was slightly lower than hers; low enough that he had to look up at her.

"Harper," he whispered; tears were threatening to form in the corner of his eyes. "I don't not love you."

His tone was softer, and yet much more alive than when Harper had read those exact words. As she read it, with her own voice, it sounded like a false promise. But with Justin's voice, in the tone that she had dreamt of since she was a young girl, in a situation she never would've predicted to be possible between them, in a setting that aided in his apology; those words

sounded so incredibly sincere.

"Fourthy! Thirty-nine! Thirty-eight!"

Justin reached out to hold her hand. He enclosed a few of her fingers into his, but they remained slack and nonresponsive. Still, he was determined to make it right.

"Harper," said Justin desperately. "I'll do it right this time. I promise. Let's start over."

"Twenty-five! Twenty-four!"

"It'll be like when we first met. Remember that?" he asked. "We used to play a lot together in kindergarten. Remember when we used to try to build castles in the sandbox, but the sand was too dry and we didn't know that we were supposed to add water to make it harder? Remember that?"

"Twenty! Nineteen! Eighteen!"

"Let's start all over again. From the very beginning," Justin squeezed her fingers. He tilted his head to try to look at her, but her eyes seemed to be too focused away from him. "Come on, Harper. Please? We'll start from the beginning and work ourselves up from there. Let's start over. As friends."

Harper finally responded. She looked up at him. Her eyes were puffy and red. "Friends?"

Justin smiled widely at her. "Yeah," he answered. "Friends."

The crowd outside cheered louder. "TEN! NINE! EIGHT!"

Justin looked at her hopefully.

"SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!"

"Harper?"

"FOUR!"

"Harper?"

"THREE!"

Her head started to tilt to the left, then to the right. She shook her head.

"TWO!"

Justin hung his head in disappointment. "Right," he said to himself. "Of course."

"ONE!"

The cheering outside was so loud that it almost felt like they were in the same room. The happiness in their cheers was almost enough to make Justin want to cry.

The muscles on his arm tensed as he got ready to push himself up, consequently slacking the hand that held Harper's fingers. But just as his hand was about to stray away from her, he felt her fingers immediately tighten onto his. He looked up in surprise.

"I don't want to start over," she whispered. "I want to move ahead from this."

Without another word, Harper raised her other hand and placed it onto his shoulder. She leaned down. The heavy feeling inside Justin's chest seemed to flutter away as the noise from outside began to morph into a sweeter tune.

Too exhausted to think further, Justin settled to concentrate on the movement of his lips with hers.