hey, lover! [lams//college au] // completed

Chapter Nine

Alexander was worried.

John had been avoiding him, ever since their date. He didn't answer calls or texts, and would rush off whenever he saw Alex. Alexander doesn't know what he had done wrong.

He thought back to Sunday— everything had gone great. At least, that's what he'd thought. John had even let him kiss him, which was amazing! Alex had later on asked if he wanted to study with him, but John had never showed up.

He remembered how long he was up waiting for him; to be honest, the fact that he waited so long was kind of embarrassing. He'd waited until his roommates had come back from the library, and then waited until they'd all gone to sleep.

And John had just.. stood him up.

He thought about asking one of John's friends if they knew what was up, but he didn't Hercules that well and had noticed that Lafayette was kind of avoiding him too. The only other option he had were the Schuyler Sisters, and he still felt kind of awkward because of the whole Eliza-confessing-to-him thing.

She'd come to him a little after he'd asked John to come over. They talked for a while before Alex had finally asked what she needed.

"I know we just met," Eliza started, her nimble fingers twisting themselves around the hem of her sweater, "but— you seem really cool. And. Uh. I want to get to know you better, so..."

Alexander laughed a little, trying to diffuse the bit of tension that had entered the air. She wasn't going to— this wasn't what he thought it was, was it?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just... will you go on a date with me? This weekend?"

Alexander paused. Oh no.

"Eliza..." he started gently, trailing off as he attempted to find the right words.

His brain short circuited when she kissed him.

Alexander didn't reciprocate; instead, he pushed her away, hopefully not too harshly.

"Eliza, I'm sorry," he said, and a look of horror flashed upon her pale face. "I'm seeing someone else."

Her cheeks deepened red with shame.

"I am so, so sorry!" she cried. "Oh my God!"

"No, no, it's fine! I'm sorry, I should have explained it to you earlier!"

"Ack!" She hid her face behind her arms. "I feel so bad."

"Don't worry about it, please."

"I'll um— I'm gonna go. I hope we can still be friends."

"Of course!"

She'd made him cookies as an apology, so that was nice, but he still didn't really want to talk to her just yet. The whole situation was still tense, and awkward.

So, instead of asking someone about it, Alexander decided he'd just have to catch John to talk to him.

Easy peasy, right?

***

No. He was not right. It was not easy peasy, it was more like hard and terrible.

John was a sneaky little bugger. Alex would finally catch him, and John would slip by him like sand through his fingers.

Finally, after a couple more days of this fucked up game of hide and seek, Alexander was able to corner him.

In an empty communal bathroom.

Not the place he wanted to do this, honestly, but Alex would take it.

John was washing his hands when Alexander slipped into the bathroom, locking the door shut behind him in order to lessen the chances of John escaping.

John looked up, saw him in the reflection of the mirror, and groaned. "I told Lafayette to watch the door, what the hell?"

"He was on his phone. He didn't see me."

"God dammit. Okay, well." The sink turned off, and John turned to look at Alexander directly. He wiped his wet hands on his pants. "You've caught me. What do you want?"

"You've been ignoring me," Alexander said, matter of factly. John snorted.

"Nice observation dumbass."

Alexander winced. "I just... I want to know why, is all."

John scoffed meanly. "You do know why," he said.

Alexander was very, very confused.

"If I'm asking what I did wrong then I obviously don't know why."

John struggled with his words for a second, has cheeks flushing slightly with anger. His hands waved around wildly, as if he could explain how he felt through gestures alone.

"Eliza," was all he said, and Alexander was about to ask 'What about her?' when it suddenly clicked.

His eyes widened; his arms, which had previously been crossed defensively over his chest, went limp at his sides.

"You— you heard that? You were there?"

John nodded, something more sad then mad falling across his face. "Yeah. I heard through the door."

"Oh, John—"

"Shut up!" John snapped. "I don't want your pity."

"I'm not— I'm not pitying you, John, this is all just a misunderstanding—"

"What is there to misunderstand? She— she asked you out, and then you kissed her, and now you're probably a happy couple or whatever." Alexander's heart broke when he saw how John's eyes grew shiny. "It's whatever. Can I leave, now?"

"No. You can't. Did you not hear how that conversation ended."

"I didn't need to!" John grumbled, defensively. "There was nothing else I needed to hear."

Alexander started walking towards him, pausing once John took a step back and bumped into the corner of the sink.

"There was something else you needed to hear, though. First off, she kissed me, not the other way around. Secondly—" he put his hand on John's bicep, "I pushed her away right after, and told her I couldn't go in a date with her—"

"Because you wanted to make out with her right then—"

"-because I was seeing someone else."

John was silent for a second, before everything clicked. His shoulders slumped slightly. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh,' dumbass," Alexander said, smiling. His eyes were wet, for some reason. "I couldn't date her because I really, really want to date you."

John blinked, his freckled cheeks flushing pink for a different reason. "Huh. I guess there was something to misunderstand."

Alexander laughed. "Yeah."

"Do you— do you still want to be with me? Even after I acted like a jerk?"

Alexander almost cooed at the vulnerable look in John's honeyed eyes. "Yes. You may be a jerk, but you're my jerk."

"Holy fucking shit, that was so fucking cheesy," John said, before pulling him into a kiss.

They were just about to start making out in a school bathroom (which, ew), until someone started banging on the door.

"Can y'all unlock this? Some of us actually have to piss!"

Alexander and John looked at each other before bursting out into laughter.

Outside of the bathroom, Lafayette smiled. He knew they'd figure it out.

"Jesus Christ, could they be any slower," Burr grumbled from beside him.

"Shut the fuck up," Lafayette responded.