Hold Each Other

John Laurens, In The Place To Be

Almost immediately after unpacking, Lafayette left and Alex got on his laptop. John made sure to make note of this. He wanted to know all of his roommate's habits. The faster he knew them, the more comfortable the two of them would be. His keyboard wasn't too loud, but just enough that if there weren't any other noises, it could definitely become distracting. 

"Watcha working on?" John asked, laying on his bed and staring at his ceiling. It took a few minutes for Alex to respond. John assumed he wanted to finish his sentence first. 

"Uh... an essay..." He answered simply, but hesitated before continuing to type. He spun around in his chair and John sat up to look at him. Alex scratched his head, looking a bit nervous and uncomfortable, but also excited. 

"Actually, uh, it's this thing. Well, I mean, an assignment I have. For one of my classes. And, you see, I like to be ahead. It was assigned today, so I want to hand it in tomorrow, or maybe even later today. I really like to write, so I don't mind too much. And uh, I really like my professor–and this assignment–so I'm putting everything I have into it." Alex explained. He looked a bit more relaxed, a small smile forming on his lips. 

"I see..." John blinked. He wasn't expecting so much from Alex. He was very outgoing, John knew that, but from the few moments they had been together, John gathered that Alex didn't talk much. He realized now that he was definitely wrong. 

"I, uh, better..." Alex paused, about to turn back around but stopping himself. "You know what? I feel like I'm being a bit unfair to you. I mean I just moved into your apartment and I didn't even really get to know you."

"It's fine. We're roommates, so I didn't really expect us to best friends or anything. Especially on the first day–"

"But see, you're pretty cool. I would like to be friends. I mean, it'd make things more comfortable. Right? But, uh, if you don't want to that's fine. I'm not very tolerable. So I can just sit here and work and be quiet everyday  and never talk to you if that's what you want. And–"

"Alex, Alex! My god, you talk a lot."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I just kind of–"

"Of course we can be friends."

"Oh. Really?"

John chuckled. "Yes." He then frowned. "You seem to be a bit of an introvert–"

"Yeah..."

"But that's alright! We can be friends. But I can tell your work is very important to you, so I'll leave you alone whenever you're busy."

Alex nodded, and turned back to his laptop.

John didn't know at the time, but his last statement would turn out to be a lie. 

~

John entered his apartment, later than he had hoped. He glanced at his phone to see it was 11 pm. 'Not bad...' He thought, even though he knew he still had to stay up and study for a test the next day.

A small light caught his eye, and he looked to see Alex on his laptop. Literally. 

'Has he been sitting here since I left?' John thought, walking over to him. One of his essays was on the screen, and towards the end was a row of g's from Alex's head on the keyboard. He lightly tapped Alex's shoulder, and he quickly awoke, flinging his head up. 

He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes, before looking in the direction of John.

"Laurens? Back already?" Alex asked, yawning.

"It's 11."

"Am?"

"Pm." 

"Oh. The day went by fast." He mumbled. 

"You should really get to bed." John walked over to his side of the room and put away his things. He heard the clicks of the keyboard" Alex was already writing again. 

"Yeah, yeah. After I finish this I will. Don't worry." He waved a hand in the air dismissively.

"Alright..." John mumbled, too tired to argue. Besides, they just met, so he didn't feel it right to go nagging at him like he was his mother. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed. 

'I certainly hope he isn't up this late every night.' He thought, closing his eyes.

~

John woke up the next morning around 7, as he normally was. He got up and stretched. It was a bit cold for only being October. He made himself a cup of coffee while checking his phone. Not much to see. 

That's when he remembered his roommate. He looked at the other bed to see it was empty. Then he saw that Alex was once again asleep at his laptop. Rolling his eyes, John walked over and nudged Alex. 

"Alex." He pushed him. "Aleeeex." He groaned. Hopefully he didn't have nay morning classes. John didn't know Alex's schedule. He didn't know what classes he took. John would've remembered if he was in any of his classes. 

Finally Alex was awake. "Goodmorning Laurens. Uh, what time is it anyway?"

"7:12" John answered, checking his phone first. 

"Oh god. How come you're up so early?"

"Early classes." John walked away to grab his coffee.

"Oh dude you didn't tell me you had a coffee machine! That'll come in handy." Alex bolted out of his chair to make himself a cup.

"Why am I not surprised? Of course he's a huge coffee drinker..." John mumbled. 

"What?" Alex looked back at John.

"Nothing..." John walked over to his small closet to find something to wear. 

"How are you not cold?" Alex asked.

"Well I admit, it is a bit colder today than it has been." John stated, grabbing a t-shirt. 

"Yet you're fine walking around in boxers?" Alex asked.

"I'm use to it." He looked back at Alex. "It take it you aren't from the city? You don't seem like someone from the south though. I'd know."

"No, no. I'm not from here, or the south. I'm from the Caribbean actually. Where are you from?"

"South Carolina." John said, in his best southern accent. "But I've been up here so long now it almost seems I was born and raised in the city. It's really only been a few years, though." 

"Same here. Though I still can't seem to get use to the weather. I warn you now, winter with me will be rough." At that, they both chuckled.

Alex grabbed his coffee and went back to his laptop. John quickly put on his clothes, then grabbed his bag. He looked around for a second, frowning, before smiling as he grabbed the one thing he was looking for.

"A camera?" Alex asked, smirking with amusement. "A pretty old one, too."

"Yeah. I like photography. I usually only take pictures of nature. But the thing is, with this camera I only take pictures of the most important things in my life. So I don't just go taking selfies with friends. You'd have to be pretty special to get your photo taken by me."

"And what do you do with the photos? It seems to be some type of polaroid, so it prints the pictures out right? What do you do with them?" 

"Uh..." John glanced at his phone. "Shit I'm going to be late if I don't start moving. See ya, Alex!" He jogged out of the room. 

Alex turned his attention back to his laptop. Glancing at the time again, he sighed and crawled into bed.