Chapter Twelve

~ Max's Interlude ~

Max Russo was different. Everyone knew that. He would rather plan an army of ants and create a massive hill of dirt acting as the ant kingdom than go the movies and see the new car crash every five minutes movie – like what most kids would do. He could see things and notice things that other people wouldn't or couldn't. although young and winsome, he knew from the get go that Alex was Justin's. it didn't matter that all three of the were siblings – Max had picked up and learned from an early age that Alex Russo belonged to Justin Russo and no one else. She would be his little sister and she would be his big brother – and in a fucked up sort of way, they would never find other people.

Max saw things that his parents didn't – for instance, when Alex cheated on her Spanish test so she could go on her date with Riley, Max always wondered why Justin seemed so furious about it…there was no problem in cheating on the test, Max understood that because Justin didn't seem to bat an eyelid when he found out. It was when he discovered that she passed to go on a date was what set him off. Justin wanted to ruin Alex's night, and boy did his plan work – but Max could see that Justin seemed oddly jealous about the whole ordeal.

And that was just the beginning – when Alex discovered that TJ was a wizard and they hung out only made Justin's jealousy shoot through the roof. He had a way of masking his jealousy with brotherly-overprotective behaviour and being the authority figure, but Max could see through it. And now that he thinks about it – Justin never really liked TJ, Riley or Dean Moriarty.

My God, Justin nearly despised Dean Moriarty.

On other occasions such as sneaking into Night of the Halloween Sorority Party Disaster 2 only proved to Justin and Alex and even other people that they were two of a kind. Alex seemed to get frustrated at Justin's attraction to Ruby Donahue. Justin would grab Alex by the arm with no hesitation to save her from being hurt.

Oh, and it didn't help that Justin's old (or recent) crush on the weather-girl bared a striking resemblance to Alex, either.

And the same goes for Miranda Hampsen.

Justin really had a thing for girls that could be Alex's twin.

Max knew that what Alex and Justin were doing was wrong. He didn't accept it entirely, but he knew that love took many forms in this world – some of them more messed up than others – and who was he, other than the third and youngest sibling, to judge?

But then again, Max Russo was more than different. He understood Alex and Justin although they just saw him as the youngest, naïve sibling.

He understood the repercussions perfectly.

Justin Russo's 17th birthday was something he actually looked forward to. For one, it was the day Jerry promised to buy the final parts for his robot so he could finally beat it at chess. The other thing was Alex. He would be with Alex.