Sometime Around Midnight

Disclaimer: The author retains no rights to the lyrics interspersed throughout the following story or the show that the story is based off of, Wizards of Waverly Place. Receiving no monetary gain, she retains rights to only what her imagination produces for you all to read.

Author's Note: The characters may seem out of character but do keep in mind that time and age has been a factor. Also, anyone who knows the song will know that I did not use all the lyrics to the song. This action was purposeful in helping the storyline to remain constant and the song to remain an influence instead of a guide to be followed. I hope you all enjoy.

And it starts…
Sometime around midnight
as you stand
under the bar lights
and the band play some song
about forgetting yourself for a while

There were places that Justin Russo did not visit, not because he did not want to but because it was just not in his nature to do so. Nightclubs like the ones his sister frequented since turning twenty-one and seedy bars were not on his list of desired destinations. He hated loud music and bright lights, which is why he always rejected her polite invitations to join. He also hated the stench of alcohol that perforated every corner of a bar no matter how much cleaning was done, which is why he refused to join Zeke whenever he wanted to go on one of his benders. Justin was a homebody who would rather read a good novel than spend a night on the town and he took pride in that.

So, why was he standing in the middle of a dimly lit bar when every fiber of his being wanted to be at home? The answer to that was actually a rather easy one. Both his best friend and his sister had pleaded and prodded him for weeks to come out with them, act his own age instead of a fifty-year-old man, finally winning him over by mentioning that his once favored band was reuniting for an underground concert. It was only to be for one night before the members went their separate ways again and because of this, he was standing in a place called Devil's Hangover and wishing that he was anywhere but there.

Another reason that he was in the bar was because he just could not say no to Alex's hope-filled eyes yet another time. There were times when he was within a group of people who were laughing and joking around while he stayed morose that he would catch her brief expression of pity. It was the same expression that Zeke and the rest of his family carried as they bowed their heads and whispered that Justin was no longer the same person he was when she was there. And while he never spoke it, he agreed with their assessment but did not want them to have that particular thought in their heads.

Perhaps, the truth of why he was there was that he wanted to prove everyone wrong. He wanted to show them that he could still be the Justin Russo who laughed with his friends and attended concerts. He wanted to show them that he could be happy and not overcome with depression at every turn. Perhaps, the truth was that he wanted to prove to himself that there was light at the end of the dark tunnel he had been traveling down.

The first guitar chord reverberated throughout the bar and the lights dimmed even further if it was at all possible, indicating that the reason he was there was beginning. He supposed that it was worth getting out of the house to see the once in a lifetime event and he even found that he was relaxing, losing himself in the music that he could no longer name but was so much a part of his adolescence. But as melancholy piano notes joined the guitar and the beats of the drums followed soon after, he began to recognize the band's opening number and found himself tensing all over again.

The lyrics spoke of a man who had lost the love of his life and was doing all he could to forget her, hoping to forget himself in the process. At seventeen, raw from the surplus in emotions that went along with end of his first serious relationship, he had played this song countless times. The laser in his stereo had burned a hole in the disc from the nonstop use and he wound up having to move on to the digital copy on his computer. Sitting in his darkened bedroom with only this song to keep him company, growling at whoever deigned to approach his door, the last person who he ever thought he would connect with was the only one he felt comfortable enough to allow inside.

The next morning, she was gone and the song was deleted from his hard drive. Back when one moment could end the world, the song had succeeded in helping him to forget his loss of the love he had attained. Now, it was helping him to forget the loss of the chance at love that he could have had if he had held on just a little tighter.

And that white dress she's wearing
you haven't seen her
for a while
She's laughing, she's turning,
she's holding her tonic like crux

Downing the shot that the overtaxed and overworked bartender placed in front of him, he began to push his way through the crowd filled with couples entranced in their own worlds and women tipsily swaying to the music. Alex and Zeke were off in a darkened corner somewhere behind him, waiting for his return at a table that they had had to fight for. However, despite the knowledge that he should turn and go back to the duo who was probably worried about his well-being, he could not stop the path that his feet were treading upon.

He had no idea where the desire to be closer to the stage came from when moments before he had desired nothing more than returning to his closet-sized apartment. But he kept going, uttering apologies to the couples he stepped on and stepping around the women who tried to seize him for their dance. Three yards from the stage, he found the reason behind his subconscious movements.

Out of the corner of his eye—her curves encased in a lacy white dress that gave a translucent quality to her milky skin and her body partially hidden behind the form of a man—he saw her. Her face had thinned out since the last time they had met, giving her luminous emerald eyes a hollowed appearance. Her once auburn hair that hung in thick cascades down her back had been teased and lightened into golden brown curls, the shine of it reflecting what little light there was in the bar. So different, yet so much the same, he knew that it was the same woman who encompassed many of his late night fantasies.

She never knew how to dance when they were younger. Her body could never bend right to accomplish the latest dance moves and her ear never seemed to be able to pick up the beat in the song. So she resorted to simple twirling and swaying back and forth with her arms up over her head, causing Alex to be chagrined at having to be seen with such a ridiculous best friend and causing him to watch with enjoyment. Her moves were natural; an extension of whom she was and it was refreshing to find someone who would not conform to the cookie-cutter examples of what dancing should look like.

It was refreshing to find that the part of her behavior that he had once enjoyed had not changed with age.

He watched her face light up with uncontained laughter as she twirled once again, the liquid in the glass she was holding precariously sloshing side-to-side. Whoever the man was that stood in front of her had caused that laugh and he felt his stomach burn with jealousy. There was a point in time that he had been the one to make her laugh that way and it caused an ache to form in his chest, remembering that he could still be that one if he only he had chosen a different path.

The room suddenly spinning
she walks up and asks how you are
so you can smell her perfume
you can see her lying naked in your arms
and all of these memories come rushing
like feral waves to your mind
of the curl of your bodies
like two perfect circles entwined

She twirled again, putting space between her and the unknown man, catching his eye with a bit of surprise as she did so. Leaning next to the stranger's ear, Justin glimpsed her lips moving before she laughed once again and made her way to him. He could feel the room dramatically shift and dizziness touch him as she came closer, closer than she had been in years, until she was standing no more than a foot in front of him. She was close enough now that he could reach forward and let his fingertips graze her if he so wanted and close enough to find that maturity had given her an unattainable feel.

The stench of the bar did not seem to have touched her as her floral perfume wafted towards him, causing him to breathe deeply as he took in the scent that had since faded from his life. He felt parts of his body go numb as his stomach gave another flip as she stared at him with those knowing emerald orbs, as if informing him that he had no business to covet her when he was the one to give her away.

The moments that passed felt like they were becoming years before she finally broke out into a grin and wrapped her arms around his neck, her perfume surrounding him and placing him in what felt like a drunken haze. Standing with her in his arms, visions of that last night they were together flashed before his mind's eye and reminded him of what a fool he actually was for letting her go.

"Justin, your family's worried. I know it hurts but you have to come out, or let them in at the very least."

"Six months, Harper, six months we were together." He was broken. His spirit was crushed. She knew that he was going to have a hard road in front of him. And the last thing he needed was another person telling him that there were other fish in the sea and he would get over his first love. "I don't know what I'm going to do without her."

No words were spoken as she made her way over to his bed, sitting beside him and taking him in her arms. There were some situations that Harper Finkle was presented with where she could not find the right words and therefore, silence ruled out. Having the boy who hurt her numerous times by ignoring her feelings wind up hurt by the same thing was one of those situations.

Neither knew how long Justin sobbed in her embrace but the shadows of night had fallen over the darkened bedroom when he finally lifted his head from her shoulder. Tears stained his cheeks and an emotion that she had never quite seen before filled his eyes, causing her to backpedal from their intensity. "Justin," she breathed. A tentative warning was held in her voice as his face came closer to her own.

Words were lost as his lips found hers. Shock made her complacent and their actions became heated as the room grew darker around them. For so many years she had dreamt of this exact moment, never once giving a thought that it would actually happen.

Hours later, when the first light of dawn filtered through his curtains, Justin awoke and stared down at the girl that he held in his arms. He had never imagined that those tender moments would be first shared with that very girl; much less have him feeling content to have her next to him in such a state of undress. Satisfied with the decision he had made to give himself to her so completely, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead and snuggled closer to her as he let sleep overwhelm him once again.

But satisfaction was proved to be short-lived when it was not the morning sun to awaken him but the emptiness he felt in his arms. Blearily opening his eyes, he immediately shot up to a sitting position upon finding a fully dressed Harper heading towards the door. "Harper, what's going on?"

She appeared to be a deer caught in the headlights as she turned around to look at him, a sad smile tinged with regret pasted on her lips. "I thought you'd be asleep for a little while longer."

"Harper—"

She held a hand up, efficiently cutting him off before he could finish his thought. "Don't say anything. I want to thank you for what happened last night; it was everything I ever dreamed. But let's not take it for anything more than what it was."

He saw the tears forming in her eyes and scrambled off of the bed, wrapping the sheet around his waist and blocking her exit. "Harper, I don't know what you're thinking this was but…"

He broke off when he saw her shaking her head. He could see the walls forming around her heart that no words he could speak would penetrate. "You were feeling low and depressed over Juliet, I get that. You could have shared this moment with anyone but I was the one who was available, I get that too. I just don't want to be around when you come to your senses and regret it."

She kissed him briefly on the cheek, ducking out of the room before another word was spoken. A week later, she was gone for good.

"How are you, Justin?" she asked, cutting into his memories and shifting them out of focus.

"I'm okay," he replied, not trusting his voice to say more. There were so many things that had been left unspoken between them, so many things that he knew could have changed if he had voiced what he felt. But instead, he hid and ducked away until she got to the end of her rope and decided to make some changes herself. "You look good."

"Thanks, so do you."

Was this what the past amounted to, inane small talk that could be said over the phone? He cleared his throat, posing the only question he could think to ask. "So, who's the guy?"

She followed his line of vision and giggled. "Oh, he's—"

"Justin, there you are," Alex yelled, efficiently ruining the only moment that he had been waiting and wishing for. "What are you doing over here?"

"I was just talking to…" He turned to present the woman who had been his sister's best friend, only to find that she had disappeared. He shook his head and sighed. "…Never mind."

Furrowing her brow, giving him a look that let him know that she thought he was crazy, she shrugged. "Well, Zeke is totally trashed and hitting on a girl who looks as though she's ready to put out a restraining order."

With those words and a tug on his arm, leading him to where their table was, he was back to the reality that he had forged for himself. He could not help his eyes from flitting around the nameless faces as he followed his sister through the hoards of people, trying to find the woman who had been so close. Trying to convince his mind that she had been more than just a memory brought to life and trying to calm his shaky nerves by becoming certain that she had not been a mere ghost. But all he found were strangers dressed in dark clothing to fit in with the rock scene and no glimpse of the white dress that stood stark in the ambiance.

"Justin, this is Annabelle," Zeke slurred. He directed a leer toward a brunette who appeared to want to be anywhere else, making himself fit the image of the drunken letch to a perfect tee.

Justin shook his head at the behavior and smiled apologetically at the object of Zeke's latest affections, knowing that regret would follow in the morning for his friend. "It's nice to meet you, Annabelle."

"Look, get a handle on your friend or I'm screaming for security," Annabelle threatened with a sneer prominent on her otherwise show stopping features.

Draping his arm over Zeke's shoulders, he began to guide him to the counter where the same bartender handed out drinks. "Come on, let's get you some water or you're going to resemble the name of this place in the morning," he said against the muttered protests. He sent the brunette another apologetic grin over his shoulder and hoped that her night had not been ruined by the out of character behavior. "Alex, I'll be right back."

Then she leaves…
with someone you don't know
but she makes sure you saw her
she looks right at you and bolts
Then your friends say what is it
you look like you've seen a ghost

The promise turned into a lie like so many of his did nowadays. Promises to join family nights and Sunday dinners, promises to help his brother study both his magic and regular lessons, promises to attend one of the many blind dates that Alex set up for him. All of them lay forgotten along the wayside and this was yet another one to add to the list. And another one to cause Alex's resentment for her brother to develop just a bit more and give her more reason to blame Juliet for leaving his character so destroyed.

If his friends and family only knew that his one-time girlfriend was not the reason behind his sudden coldness to the world. If his friends and family only knew that it was the girl he had once claimed to disgust that had had his world shifting on its axis back then and was doing the same again tonight. If they only knew about the private moment shared in the sanctity of his boyhood bedroom that had ended up breaking him. If they only knew so many things that he could never allow them to know.

He signaled to the bartender who seemed to be much more relaxed since the beginning of the concert had thinned out her patrons. "Can I get water for my friend here?"

Eyeing the man slumped over the counter with disgust mixed with disapproval; the bartender nodded and slammed an uncapped bottle in front of him. "Rough night?" she asked.

A loaded question if there ever was one. He opened his mouth to give her a polite response—knowing that she did not care but was just going through the act of niceties that had been drilled into her training—but any words that were to be spoken were lost as he glimpsed a flash of white at the coat check near the exit. His lips parted to form the shape of an O and his abdomen tightened in the way that signaled panic. Somewhere inside, he felt that he would lose her again if she walked into the night.

The crowd faded and a fiery connection formed between them as she fixed her eyes on him, a half smile on the face that she tilted up and to the side. She seemed to be daring him to come to her, beckoning him to her with an expression that words would only devastate if conveyed. It was a siren's call, a witch's spell, a temptress's dance that heated his insides and had him ready and willing to leave what he knew behind to be next to her. It was the formidable power to bend a man's will that a woman gained when innocence diminished.

And as he pushed away from the counter, answering to whatever spell that she was casting on him, the connection shattered like a rock thrown at a mirror. The man who she had danced and laughed with draped a shawl over her shoulders to combat the chill waiting for them outside the suffocating heat of the bar. Panicked tension gave way to the blaze of jealousy as he watched the stranger's lips land in a space inches from her ear, forming words that caused an outburst of laughter and made her break the remnants of the connection that she had held with Justin by turning around.

The blood drained from his face as he watched Harper raise her head and allow the stranger to touch her lips with his own. He felt as though he were an intruder on a moment reserved for privacy, a moment that was better shared in darkened corners. But how could he be an intruder when she knew that he was watching all along?

Their moment finished, the stranger pulled her through the exit much to his dismay. The last image that he caught of the woman in the white dress was her brilliant emerald eyes shining through the rapidly decreasing space as the door soundlessly swung closed. It was yet another image that would haunt him late at night when sleep became his only solace.

"Hey, what's wrong? Did you see a ghost or something?" Zeke garbled, his form slumped even further on the counter as he looked at Justin through half-lidded eyes.

The alcohol was taking its final toll and Justin knew that it was best he get Zeke in a cab heading for home before he snoozed on the counter. Pulling him up to a standing position and putting his friend's arm over his shoulder, he positioned his own around the man's waist for support and began to lead him to where Alex was waiting. All he wanted to do was get Zeke home and situated so he could get into his own bed but he knew his sister would never let him live it down if he ditched her without warning.

He let his eyes wander back in the direction of the exit, wishing his nature allowed him to be selfish so he could run in the direction she had previously gone instead of taking care of his drunken friend. However, as he took the first step forward, he knew that she would already be gone; leaving the haunting fragrance of flowers to prove that she had even been there to begin with.

*

And you walk…
under the streetlights
and you so care that you look like
the world is falling around you
You just have to see her
and you know that she'll break you
in two

It was nearing three in the morning when he found himself walking down the empty streets lit with the yellow glow of the lights that lined them. He gave no care that the unknown people in the apartments that surrounded him were judging him to be an insomniac or a simple drunk. He knew that he looked half crazy, stalking down the streets with a nervous glint in his eyes and a hard edge to his mouth. He knew that all it took was one misstep and the cops would be called for fear of the safety of someone he had never met nor wanted to know. Did he care about all of that? Of course not, because as a man on a mission, he had but one destination in mind.

Alex had left the bar with him, claiming that she was no longer interested in the band that was still playing, but he knew by the expression painted on her face that she was worried about his state of mind. Coaxing Zeke into the back of the cab, she followed behind the drunken mess that was their friend. It was not two seconds after doing so that he slumped over with his head resting on her lap, forcing Justin to make the seat beside the driver his for their journey home.

He had no idea how they made it up all five flights of stairs in Zeke's apartment building or how they wrestled him out of his jeans before laying him down in his bed. But when they were finished, Alex declared that she would spend the night to watch over him so Justin could get some sleep. He only asked once if she was certain, knowing how she was once her mind was made up about something.

It was when she was bidding him farewell at the door that he realized that he could not easily return home and forget that the night had even occurred. Not with the smell of flowers still drifting into his nasal passages from the scent that had seeped into the fibers of his clothing as she hugged him. Not with the way he whipped his head around every time he spied something white because he thought it just might be her. And not with the way that he could still hear the sound of her giggle echoing in his ears.

Asking Alex if she had heard from Harper recently had earned him another worried glance. At first, it had bothered him to find everyone he knew looking upon him with constant concern. Now, he found them to be a slight joke. If he ate a turkey sandwich instead of a ham one, they worried. If he chose to take the subway instead of a taxi, they worried. They worried about the common things in his life and not what was truly going on beneath the surface; which pleased him fine since his least want was for them to know what was truly going on in his head.

Indeed, she had talked to Harper only a few days before. She was back in Waverly Place, living in the apartment building just across from the Sub Station like she had as a child. She was taking over her father's tailoring business because arthritis had formed in his fingers. She was happy, she was content, and she was single.

Upon hearing that she was single, he only gave the slightest thought to who the stranger was before darting out the door and down the stairs with the sound of his sister calling his name behind him. He had to see her and he had to see her that night. If he chose to wait and let destiny run its course, his fragile psyche would remain broken and he would drift more into the shell he had become. He had to see her because seeing her would make his world all right again.

Reaching her apartment building and climbing the stairs that would lead him to either his salvation or his damnation, doubt began to creep in. Had he come all this way just to face rejection at her hands? Would she let him in and give him all he had desired for so long or turn him away like he had done so many times to her? Could he be given the second chance that he had needed for so long or could it be that his stupidity had ruined all that was possible for him for good?

So many questions and not enough time to answer them all before he found himself standing in front of the door, his hand poised to knock. His life was about to change in one instant because unlike all the others he had loved and lost, Harper Finkle had the power to break him in two and she knew it better than he had until that moment. Until that moment, he had thought she could drift away and he would never be the wiser. And she had proved otherwise by doing just that.

Taking a deep breath in to quell the jittery nerves in every limb, he dropped the knuckles of his fist on her door three resounding times and silently prayed that she would be alone. He silently prayed to any god or fate that would listen to his pleas that she would listen to his heartfelt explanations and not leave him out in the cold like he so deserved. He silently prayed that all would finally be okay.

The door opened to reveal the person he needed most. Gone were the white dress and the cosmetics and the heels and the teased hair. In their place were penguin pajamas and a freshly scrubbed face and bunny slippers and a haphazard ponytail. All the things that had made her so indisputably Harper and still did. But the perfume remained, as did the dazzle of her emerald eyes and the half smile that she had sent him just as she was leaving.

"Harper, I know I shouldn't be here and you have every right to kick me to the curb. But before you do, will you listen to what I have to say?" There was pleading that could not be concealed and hope radiating from every orifice as he watched the slight nod that her head gave, indicating that he could continue and not be immediately rebuked.

"I…I haven't been the same since you left. You can ask anyone who knows me. When I walk down the street, I'm constantly searching for your face even though I know I won't find it. I don't go home very much because every part of the place I grew up in reminds me of you, especially my old bedroom. I can barely stand spending time with Alex because as much as she doesn't know this, many of her habits and movements match what I remember of yours," he ranted, barely pausing to breathe in case the space it made gave her the chance to close the door in his face. "And when I sleep, which is something I do a lot of, I dream of you and that last night."

Her head cocked to the side, her eyebrows creased together over confused eyes, she watched him. Was that hope that was radiating in those eyes and was he the reason behind it? Did he just hear her suck in a tiny breath as she waited for him to continue? Of those things he was not sure but he knew for a definite certainty that those were tears dribbling down her cheeks.

"I woke up while you were sleeping that night. It was dawn and you were curled into my side, your hand resting just on my heart. Do you know that you're beautiful when you sleep and you make this little snoring noise that's just adorable?" Harper shook her head, the tears falling freely as she sniffled. "I never regretted any of it, Harper. I was going to tell you just how perfect I thought we fit together that morning but you were scrambling around and you never gave me the chance. Well, that's wrong. I guess what I should say instead is that I never forced myself to take that chance. And because I was too much of a coward, you left and I've had this missing part in me ever since."

The seconds ticked by after his confession, neither knowing what to say that would help the moment they were in instead of hindering it. Justin felt his fingers tingle as he watched her cry, wanting to reach up and brush away the drops as he allowed his lips to show her the truth behind his words. However, he knew that if he made one overstep that she would be gone again and did nothing.

Another connection forcefully broken by another unwelcome interruption happened as he heard a male voice call out her name from inside the apartment. Swallowing hard against the pain that was beginning to overcome, he slowly nodded and began to back away. "But I guess I should've done something sooner, huh? I hope whoever he is knows what a good thing he has. Goodbye, Harper, maybe the next lifetime."

He would go on. He would live his life with the dreams to accompany him and the memories to keep him content. He would find some other woman to marry, give his parents grandchildren with, breathe his last breath in the presence of but never truly love. And he would do it all with a heavy heart and an undying regret.

Two steps…three steps…just ten more and he would reach the stairs. He could do it; he had to do it, even if his world felt as though it were crashing down around him. Justin Russo would live a life he did not want and he would do it a broken man.

Fingers on his wrist halted his steps and he was vigorously whipped around to face the only woman who not only had the power to break him in two but had used it. "Justin, he's not my…we're not anything and we never will be because he's gay. We've been friends since college and this is his first time in New York. We heard Tears of Blood were having their reunion thing and since that was what drew us together, we knew we had to go."

Desperation clung to her voice and filled her eyes as they were locked in a sort of trance, emerald on chocolate with no room for any other colors. The jealousy, the pain, the regret and any other negative emotions that had been eating him alive that night and every other night since she had left vanished. The stranger was gay and Harper was standing with him not two feet from the entryway of her apartment, floral perfume and hopeful smile and tearstains from when he had made his confessions. All he could feel was relief.

"He's gay? But you kissed him."

She rolled her eyes. "It was a friendly peck on the lips that we've done millions of times before."

Could it be possible that she could finally be his? "And you're not seeing anybody else?"

She shook her head. "No. And even if I was, I would kindly break their heart after that speech you gave. Do you know how long I've waited for you to say anything that could have possibly come close to that?"

He had no words and no words needed to be spoken as he cupped her chin into his palm and brought his lips down to touch hers, his other hand fingering the strands of hair held in the ponytail. The strands were silky and the memory of their feel anchored him to her in a way that the softness of her lips could not. Her taste was of strawberries and coffee, of the lingering alcohol she had enjoyed at the bar and something mysterious that made him hunger for more.

As he coaxed her lips and moved his hands down to her waist to hold her tighter to him, he heard the cry that she made. The cry of joy, of relief as she clung to him, her grip on his upper arms almost painful but in a way that let him know that she was as unwilling to see him vanish from her life as he was.

When air became too great a need and they were forced to break apart, he kept his hold on her as if to be certain that she was not just an apparition or a figment of his overactive imagination. Leaning his forehead against hers, he stared into eyes that glistened with unshed tears and sparkled with the same adoration and love that were mirrored in his own. It was that love that had him knowing that he would not awaken in a few hours to find her gone like he had on one very cold day so long ago.

Sometime around midnight, he had gone against his very nature and went to a bar that he would probably never visit again. Sometime around midnight, the woman he had lost seemed to step right out of his fantasies and enter his life only to almost disappear again as though she were nothing but a ghost. Sometime around midnight, floral perfume became a permanent fixture in his life.

A lot can happen sometime around midnight in New York. A broken man can become whole again. A woman so rejected by love can gain her heart's desire. Both can find each other and never have to search for the missing piece of their life again.

And as Justin Russo was led inside the apartment of Harper Finkle, he made a promise to call his sister to thank her for forcing him out of his comfort zone. But first, he had many years of lost time to make up for.