Magic [Alex Russo]

10 - Back at the Substation

Matt and Jack entered the substation after they spotted, the Russos minus Justin, enter the substation.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually jealous of Justin," Alex said.

Matt raised his eyebrows in surprised.

"What? I thought you loved family fun night?"

"Jealous of Justin?" Jack repeated as they walked over to the family. "Why would anyone be jealous of Justin."

"He didn't have to go watch a movie of hockey - playing aardvarks," Alex said. "And I used to enjoy Russo family fun night, but I'm fourteen now. I think I'm getting a little too old for talking animals."

"Oh, I get it," Mr. Russo said. "It's a confusing time. On one hand, you're not a little girl anymore, but yet, at the same time, you're not yet a woman, so... awkward."

Matt watched, not knowing if he and Jack should be listening to the conversation seeing where it's going.

"Theresa!"

"I think what your father is trying to say is that no matter how old you get, honey, you're never too old to spend some time with your family," Mrs. Russo said.

"Unless you're my family, then you never spend time with family," Jack said.

Matt placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Mr. Russo said, "and look at your mother," he turned to Alex.

"Did you just call Mom old?" Alex asked.

"Yikes," Matt said. 

"What? No! What just happened? It - who wants to sing another song?"

"I'm not getting involved," Max said.

"Jerry, may I have a word with you in the kitchen?" Mrs. Russo requested, clearly not happy with her husband.

"Yes," Mr. Russo said.

He followed Mrs. Russo to the kitchen.

"Wow," Jack said, "wonder how your dad is going to get out of this one."

"Hey, guys?" Justin announced, making an entrance. "You guys miss me?"

"Not really," Alex said, sitting down next to Max.

Matt and Jack looked at Alex confused.

"What?" Max asked.

"I don't know if you guys heard, but I was out all night," Justin bragged. 

"Here we go," Matt rolled his eyes.

"With a bunch of my new friends from school," Justin continued.

"We know," Alex said. "You told us, like, ten times before you left."

"Yeah," Justin said, proudly. "They're from an upper - level math class, kind of an older crowd so we totally lost track of time," he chuckled. "Sorry, I'm late."

"Dude, being friends with people who are older isn't a big deal," Jack said. "Everyone has friends in different grade levels."

"Don't forget, Jack," Matt said, "the only friends that Justin has are teachers so to him, having friends is a big deal."

Jack and Alex began to laugh.

"Hey!" Justin said, offended. "I do have friends and not just teachers."

"Keep telling yourself that, Justin," Jack said.

"And you're not late," Alex said. "This is exactly when you said you'd be home."

"Is it?" Justin said.

"Wow," Jack said. "You sounded so confident when you thought you were late."

"Well, um," Justin said, quickly getting up, "I didn't keep track of time because I didn't have to. You know, it seems to me like someone's a little jealous that I'm old enough for some freedom."

"Oh, please," Alex scoffed. "I'm not jealous of you."

"You told dad that you're jealous," Max revealed.

"No, I didn't," Alex chuckled. 

"But you just told Mom and Dad you were jealous of -" Max began.

"Max, shut up!" Matt exclaimed.

Justin was happy to know that his little sister was jealous of his freedom.

"Look, I could care less about this nerd herd you're running around with these days," Alex said. 

"Face it, Alex," Justin said, "you're mad because I'm more mature than you."

"Mature?" Alex repeated. "You're the only one in this family who still takes a bath."

"You still take baths?" Jack repeated.

Matt began to laugh.

"Dude, grow up," Jack said.

"Shut up!" Justin said, his confidence slowly dwindled. "And you try floating an aircraft carried in the shower."

Alex, Matt and Jack gave Justin confused expressions.