Chapter Four

Justin woke with a start. His eyes opened slowly. It took him three seconds, logically, to sense that there was someone else inside his bed. It took him a further five seconds to realise that the person was Alex. He sat up almost immediately startled, and then breathed slowly, relaxed and eased and just glad that it was just her. He shifted in his place and observed her carefully. She was rather adorable when she slept. Her nose scrunched up slightly, the tangled mess of hair behind her hair made no difference to her complexion. She was leaning more towards Justin as she slept. And then he remembered when they were little and she used to stay with him during thunderstorms.

He actually missed it, sometimes.

He'd get little memories – little fractions of memories floating absent-mindedly into his head on some days. In the middle of English he'd remember the time he took the ice cream back from T.J and gave it to Alex when he was six and she was five. He remembered when Alex had first stepped on a piece of lego and abruptly ran past their mother, their own mother, to fling her arms around Justin and cry.

Everything else was a strange, unrecognisable blur. He'd use a spell one day to sort those memories out but for now, he just wanted to make new ones.

Alex groaned in her sleep and turned a little, flexing her arms to clutch Justin's pillow, which he guessed that she thought was meant to be him. Alex's lips parted slightly, a small moan escaping, and he froze – his eyes followed the trace of her arm all the way to her shoulders. He turned away.

Justin went still. He shook his head and stood up, making his way towards the bedroom door, careful not to miss the stained T shirt from last night. As he opened the bedroom door and stepped through it, he turned back and ran a hand through his hair.

Did he really just….check her out?

Breakfast was normal. Teresa and Jerry were relieved to see their two eldest children talking again. Justin handed Alex the blueberry Jam, which she was grateful for, and started spooning it over her toast. They joked around a little bit. Max told them about the bug infested sugar cube tower in his room and Jerry immediately called the pest-exterminator as his kids got ready for school.

The subway was packed, as per usual when the Russo children were running late. Harper was already at school so Alex was stuck with her two brothers. She found herself standing between Max, who was in front of her busy playing on his PSP, avoiding every other adult that asked him to move out of their way, while Alex found herself standing in front of Justin, who was standing directly behind her. His right arm was extended upwards to hold onto the holding bar, while she was busy fumbling around her bag which was between her legs to get her cell to call Harper to ask if she could cover her lateness for homeroom. Alex was forced to crouch down slightly, if not slightly bend herself forward, so she could rummage around her rucksack for her cell phone. Justin looked forward and found that his sister was gone, and it only took him three seconds to realise that her lower back was rubbing against him. He cleared his throat lightly, going still and gulping. As Alex found her phone, he felt something suddenly…change. Justin quickly moved away at angle, still facing Alex, but making sure that he couldn't feel the morning glory that unfortunate, decided to show on the morning subway.

Alex slipped a few loose strands of hair behind her left ear, and Justin could smell the faint scent of strawberry shampoo. It reminded him of the summer his family spent at Colorado Ranch last year with their uncle Ernesto. Justin pulled his head back a little, and slowly began to rethink his thoughts. Fortunately, Alex hadn't noticed her brother's mishap and continued to text Harper about turning up late to school. When the train stopped at the next station, Alex was forced to press herself against Justin, who conveniently froze again.

She moved her head to the side slightly. "Justin, you alright?" She asked.

Justin pressed his lips into a thin line and gave a hearty nod.

An elderly woman wanted to get off, so Alex had to turn herself around and face Justin as she waddled past. Justin's arm wasn't extended anymore, but now snapped to his side. She held herself together and didn't look up at him until she felt him sigh again. She looked straight up into his pale green eyes – he was already staring down at her.

Justin was really staring at her. And I mean staring. Alex was jilted at first, but then paused to wonder why he was staring at her and why his stare was so intense. It was if he was using his eyes as a picklock for her eyes that acted as the keyhole. It was ridiculously unnerving and she found it frightening.

"Hey dork, you're staring."

"What? Oh – sorry." Justin murmured and looked away from her.

Justin frowned. Were her eyes always that colour? That glorious, tranquil and earthy autumn shade of….brown?

School carried on as normal. Justin, of course, got an A+ in his algebra test. Alex barely scraped a C in her History test but hey, she was happy that it was at least a pass. Alex skipped lunch in school and went to hang out in the recreational centre with Dean Moriarty and his gang. Harper followed. Justin found himself talking to the lovely, if not somewhat intimidating Miranda Hampsen for the whole of lunchtime. But even though it was no secret he fancied her, he couldn't help but see those bastardizing brown eyes every time his mind trailed off.

He really couldn't wait for school to be over. He just wanted to go home, do his homework, have a long shower and go to bed.

But before home, came the subway.

Ah yes, Justin Russo was only human. So yeah, it pretty much ruined the rest of his evening, the way Alex Russo had no idea what she was actually doing to him.

He honestly felt as if she was taunting him. Her long, milky legs hidden under knee high striped socks and boots were nothing out of the ordinary. Skirts were her thing – her trademark. It was the way he would catch her crossing her legs every ten minutes or so as she talked to Harper, that annoyed him the most.

He was the Alpha male, so of course a pair of a girl's legs attracted him.

But why couldn't they be Harper's legs? Or Miranda's? Why did it have to be Alex's?

He heard her laugh. Sometimes, it was annoying. Other times, like today, it was rather nice. He liked Alex's laugh – he felt as if he never heard it enough.

When they reached Waverly Place, Alex, Justin and Max exited the subway station and made their way towards the sub shop. Max would be taking his shift alongside Teresa and Jerry tonight, leaving Alex and Justin to do their homework and relax today. Max ran towards the sub shop, leaving Alex and Justin to walk slowly at their own pace together.

"You thirsty?" Justin asked as they approached a soda stand. Alex did feel kind of thirsty, but she'd rather Justin not spend his money on her after she destroyed her T shirt. She would not be telling him that. Instead, she politely (for once) declined and shook her head, before pulling him towards the substation front door.

"I expect more homework to be done by you tonight, dear brother?" Alex asked, grinning up at him. She really did notice how tall Justin had gotten since last year – she never understood that about boys – how taller and how much they would change over the years, especially faster than girls.

"Actually, for your information my dear sister, I did all my homework last night. You know – before you rudely interrupted my sleep." Justin replied.

Alex scowled at him. "You could've sent me back to my room, you know."

"But I didn't." Said Justin.

"Exactly." Alex replied. "Now, tonight I'm watching cartoons and there's nothing you can do to stop me." She stuck her tongue out at Justin, who's face turned playfully offended. They stood before each other for a few seconds, before he brought his arms forward and began to tickle her.

"Get off, loser! Stop it!"

Justin ignored her question as she reached up and tugged on his hair. She pushed the substation double-doors open and she pulled him inside. "I will not be held responsible for any damage done to you, Justin! Stop – it – you – know – I – don't – like – to – be – tickled – !"

"Well, it's good to see you two finally getting along."

Justin and Alex stopped suddenly and pulled apart, watching their mother walked towards them, wiping her soapy hands with a clean towel from the kitchens. She was smiling at her children. Alex pushed a loose strand of hair from her face, while Justin handed her the rucksack that he had offered to carry for her on their way out of the subway.

Alex opened her mouth to say something, perhaps something nice about Justin, but snapped her mouth shut again and looked at Justin from the corner of her eye, before replying quickly: "He's being a major loser again, mom. Dorkus disease is spreading like wildfire." She snorted, before rushing past her to go upstairs to their apartment.

Teresa looked at her son, whose face was baffled and she knew exactly why – Alex was pretending not to like her brother.

And to her right now, that was okay. It just won't be okay for much longer.