Chapter 11

Alex P.O.V.

Ugh!! John where are you?! John's last class started at 2:00. It's 4:10pm. He should have been home a half hour ago at the latest. I was really worried. I started thinking back to when my father left us.

"John! Please don't go. I need you here! Alex and James need you here. Please. You can't do this!""I have no choice Rachel. I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry.""If you were sorry, you would stay."Alexander was in his room down the hall. It was really late. He never could sleep when there were loud noises. His parents fighting didn't help. Where was his dad going, Alex thought. Why was he leaving? Just then, he heard someone's footsteps coming towards his room. He quickly shut his eyes and pretended to sleep. He heard his father whisper goodbye in his ear, then walk over to his brother's bed and do the same. After a few minutes he heard a loud bang, the front door to his home slamming shut. He got out of bed, still confused to where his dad was going. He walked into his mom's room to find her on the floor, crying. "Mama? Where's dad going? Why is he leaving?" Rachel just looked at her son for a moment. Finally she responded with words that would forever stick with Alexander. "Alexander, Honey." Alex put up his fingers to his mother's cheeks and wiped her tears. "I know it won't make sense now, but sometimes in life, people need to to leave. To where? I don't know. Most of the time they don't know either." "But why? Did I do something to make it hard for paps, mama?" "No! Not at all sweetheart. You listen to me, you did nothing wrong. Always remember this, Alexander. People don't leave because things are hard. They leave because it's no longer worth it." Rachel  hugged her son as tight as she could. And there on the floor they slept.

I was now crying. I remembered my mothers words. Did John leave, just like my father? Was I not worth it?

Just then, I heard the elevator at the end of the hallway ding. Then, footsteps coming down that hallway. I looked at the open door to the dorm, waiting to see if it was John. I heard humming. The person was getting closer. I stood up, wiping the tears away. Finally, I saw the person standing in the doorway. Tears ran down my face. I tried holding them back, but I failed miserably."Oh my gosh," I quietly said under my breath as I ran to embrace my roommate, who was holding a lot of shopping bags. "What's wrong Lex?!" Wait.. what?! I pulled back from the hug. He didn't know what was wrong?! I was mad."What's wrong?? John Laurens, you left! It's almost 5 o'clock. You should've been home hours ago, or at least left a note!! Where the fuck did you go?!!" John turned around and shut the dorm door, probably so that no one would hear me yelling, but he didn't say anything. He just looked at me. "Well?! Are you going to say anything?!""Clothes," was all he said.I was very confused at this point. "What?"John walked over to the couch, sat down, and handed me the bags. His head hung low, and I immediately felt bad for yelling at him. I looked inside the first bag. I sat down next to him. Oh my god."John. Are these for me?" I was shocked to say the least. I reached into the bag, pulling out the Nike shoe box. I felt it again. Tears."I got back from class and you weren't back yet. I realized that you have been wearing pretty much the same clothes and shoes for the last week. I thought I would do something nice." His head was still down, but I could tell her felt bad for worrying me. I put the bags down on the floor in front of the couch."John," I replied. "I thought you left." His head shot up immediately, and he looked at me in the eyes. "Alexander Hamilton. Why would I do that?"I looked away, ashamed. "I don't know. Why'd my dad do it?" He could probably tell that I didn't want to elaborate anymore on the subject because he immediately moved on. "I'm sorry Alex. But hey, on the bright side, I got you some pretty freakin cool stuff!" I laughed and looked back at him. He always knew how to make me smile. "Well?? Are you gonna look through the rest of the bags?!" I smiled, set down the shoes, and started going through the bags. Once I finished, I gave John another hug. "Thank you so much Laurens! You really didn't have to!" He looked at me and laughed. "Yes I did. Trust me. I, personally, was getting tired of you wearing the same clothes. Plus, your sneakers are completely ruined." "Thank you." "No problem Lex."I blushed a little at the nickname. John laughed."Don't flatter yourself. It's just a silly old nickname." I looked down in embarrassment."Oh come on! I didn't mean it like that Alex." I smiled and stood up, moving towards the kitchen, away from John."Geez. Talk about playing hard to get."The last two words were cut short, as if he realized what he had said, and regretted it. Immediately, I stopped dead in my tracks. As I turned around towards John, I felt yet another hot flush rise to my cheeks. He looked at the ground."What did you say?""I said, what are you going to get?" I laughed a little. John was an awful liar."Yeah. Okay. But to answer your question, dinner. I was going to make dinner.""Good cause I am starving!" This caused me to smile. John was eating, at least when I was around. But that's good enough for now. And with that, I cooked some pasta. We sat at the table and ate. We each took turns talking about our day. I thanked him some more for the clothes and shoes. Once we were done, Laurens and I cleared the table."Your turn to wash the dishes," he called out. "I'll be in the shower while you get that done.""Okay boss," I replied sarcastically while laughing a little."Hey! That's Mr. Boss to you Hamilton." I watched him walk into the our room, which had the bathroom in it. God. He was amazing. Everything about him. In that moment I was assured that John would never leave like my father did.      When I was done washing the dishes, I went into John and I's room with my new clothes. I put my old sneakers under my bed, and put my new ones next to my nightstand. I folded my clothes and put them into my dresser draws. Just then, I heard the bathroom door open and I saw John walk out. His long curls were wet, and he had only a towel around his waist. I just stared at him, which sounds weird. It was. But for some reason, I couldn't not look at him. He entranced me at every single moment. He wasn't as skinny as he used to be, which was nice to see. Finally, he must've noticed me staring, because he cleared his throat. "Everything alright Alex?" "Oh um yeah. Just zoned out for a second. My bad."He looked confused. He walked over to his dresser and grabbed some pajamas. He walked back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.I let out a sigh and sat on my bed. Shit. I made that really awkward and bad. Once John was out of the bathroom, I went in to take a shower too, making sure I brought my pajamas in with me. If there was anything I could do to avoid what just happened from happening again, I was doing it. After I got out of the shower and got dressed, I walked out of the bathroom. I was surprised to see Laurens asleep already, snuggled tightly under his covers. I glanced at the clock. 8:45pm. Too early. I would be up writing for at least 3 more hours. Before I got into my own bed, I walked over to John's, as I did most nights. I bent down and kissed him on the forehead and whispered in his ear. "Laurens. I like you a lot." I turned off the light next to his bed, grabbed my laptop, and got under my own blankets. Opening my laptop, I smiled. First day of school. Done. And away I typed.

John's P.O.V.

Did Alex just... kiss my forehead, and tell me he liked me a lot?

(A/N: I was bored so I wrote another chapter. I have said this like four times already, but this is where the story gets good. John and Lex are starting to happen!!! Im going to type chpt 12 now. Goodnight)