Black Coffee, Red Lipstick, and Cigarette Smoke

Chapter Eight

"Five bucks says he's a bottom." Hercules declared, grinning mischievously at Lafayette.

"You're on." Lafayette responded, not breaking eyesight with Alexander.

Alex felt very uncomfortable, to say the least.

"Five bucks says he's sexually attracted to turtles." Hercules again spoke.

Lafayette rolled their eyes. "That's obvious mon ami. He's dating John, le petite tortue."

Alexander began to laugh. "Did they just call you a small turtle?" He addressed John.

"Don't ask."

"Is it because of the TMNT backpack? Because, that was fucking adorable." Alexander exclaimed.

Hercules and Lafayette both let out an over exaggerated awwww.

"He called you adorable." Hercules pointed out, as though John hadn't realized himself. Upon further examination, John's flushing face was an apparent sign that he had caught what had been said.

"So, why are we going to Jefferson's?" Alex asked, still skeptical of the whole ordeal.

Hercules parked the car and they all followed him to the front door.

"It's a party." John replied. "And it could be fun. Jefferson isn't that bad."

Hamilton turned pale, his face changing into shock. "He isn't that bad? I hate Jefferson!"

They all chuckled. "You hate everyone." Hercules teased.

Inside, the house smelled of alcohol and sweat. People were all shoved together, gossiping and laughing in groups. Almost everyone had a drink in their hand, and most of them were swaying drunkenly to the music being blasted.

The Schuyler sister's were all there, standing next to each other and laughing. John hated to admit it, but he felt a pain in the pit of his stomach. Alexander's eyes wandered over to Eliza, who smiled warmly at him.

Alexander wasn't the one to walk towards Eliza, Hercules was.

He stood beside Angelica, waiting for her to stop bickering and notice him. She was obviously in a heated disagreement, her speech speeding up as she threw facts and statistics in her opponents face. John realized for the first time just how scary she really was.

"So, no, I won't be voting Trump. Don't even get me started on Hillary though." She threatened.

Hercules laughed. "How's my favorite Schuyler sister?" He said, shooting fake finger guns jokingly.

She rolled her eyes but laughed anyway. "I'll be better after I get more alcohol in my system."

Alexander was torn over whether to talk to Eliza or stayed glued to John's side. Lafayette noticed the tense situation from a distance, ridiculing the whole ordeal in their head.

Lafayette had already decided that they would never allow themselves to be in that situation. They would never date Hercules if he was also dating Angelica. They just couldn't deal with the emotional baggage, and the worries about the poor other person, who in John's case was Eliza.

They had never spoken much with Eliza, but she was always so happy and cheerful. She seemed like the kind of girl who still wished on stars and blew dandelions in the summer. They wondered how heart broken Eliza would be if she ever found out.