Hold Me

Chapter 2 - I've Never Had A Group Of Friends Before

Laurens came back to his dorm to find Hamilton sitting at his desk typing an essay like it was due in an hour. Alexander had only been John's roommate for two days now but it gave John enough time to notice quite a few things. It was clear that all Alexander did was work or at least John hadn't seen him do anything else. Hamilton's constant tired look was probably a result of this. They had barely spoken to each other since they introduced themselves. Hamilton didn't appear to be a socialite. Another thing that could be noted was that Hamilton wasn't the neatest. His desk was full of books and pages full of scribbles of writing. He wrote like he was running out of time. 

Hamilton's constant working did encourage Laurens to actually do his homework but that would only last so long before he would get distracted. As he was petting his turtle he heard a knock at the door. It was the only time in the last two hours that Hamilton looked up from his computer. He watched as Laurens walked over to the door. 

Hamilton had been noticing things that Laurens did. For the first time in his life he didn't know what to say to someone. He didn't want to say the wrong thing but he knew saying nothing wouldn't lead to any starting points. He was convinced that his inability to think of the right words was not because Laurens was cute as hell. There had to be another reason, Hamilton couldn't think about what it could possibly be but there had to be one. 

On the other side of the door stood Eliza. She was a good friend of Laurens and a friend of Hamilton's. Her smile widened when she saw both of them. "We're having a little get together tonight, both of you should come," she told the two from the doorway.

"What's the occasion," Hamilton asked. It was possibly the first words he said all day.

Eliza tilted her head. "Alexander, do we really need one?" 

"Yes, I think we do."

"Okay," she thought for a moment, "the occasion is that we're alive right now, we should live a little, have some fun. Right Laurens?"

John nodded, "I'm always down to have fun."

"So we'll see both of at seven?" 

Laurens saw Hamilton nod before responding, "we'll be there."

Eliza nodded and went down the hall to find where her sisters had gone. The two went back to doing their own things in a comfortable silence.  Neither could think of much to say as they got ready. Hamilton waited until the last possible moment to get ready. Laurens sat on his bed doodling in his notebook as he waited for his roommate. 

"You don't have to wait for me. I appreciate the gesture but you can go meet your friends if you want to," Hamilton tried not to sound rude as he pulled his hair into a ponytail. 

Laurens looked over at Hamilton. He looks good with his hair up and down. He just looks good all the time. "I know." He paused for a few seconds while he admired the man. Laurens had two reasons for waiting around. One was to make sure Hamilton stopped working for a little while before he passed out or something. The other was so he could spend more time with Hamilton. It didn't mean much since the two would hardly be considered friends. Maybe this could be an opportunity for them to get to know each other better.

Hamilton pulled a loose grey sweater over his shoulders and looked at Laurens. It was now or never. "Can I ask you something?" 

"Yeah, go on." Laurens didn't know what he was expecting Alexander to say. Usually those questions don't end well.

"I don't..." he paused for second, "I've never been to a party before. I was just looking at what you had on and guessed that this matched whatever dress code there is for these kind of events." It was a little embarrassing for him to admit. It really made things sound like he never had friends or any fun.

Laurens let out a small laugh as he sat up, "it's not really a big thing. It's just hanging out with some friends, you know." Hamilton's expression didn't change. It was almost as if he hasn't hung out with friends before. "If you want to you can just hang around with me. You could meet my friends. Hercules and Lafayette are great, I think they'd like you."

"Alright," Hamilton nodded with a smile, "as long as it doesn't bother you." He shuffled his feet and looked at the floor. "I've never had a group of friends before."

Laurens walked over and patted Hamilton on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it" He checked his watch. "We should get going." Hamilton smiled. The two stood looking at each other for just a moment. They had never been this close before. Laurens noticed how he smelled like paper, it was interesting. Hamilton could smell John's shampoo, it was vanilla.  John's golden eyes complimented his freckles. 

Hamilton looked away first. "Let's go."