How You Say?

Chapter Fourteen

(Y/N) could just feel the blood rushing to her cheeks when Lafayette stood back to his full height. He gazed down at her with expectant brown eyes. Eyes of which were warm and soft with love and devotion.

Although she would rather admit that she wasn't much of a dancer and flee, how could (Y/N) possibly refuse? She curtseyed politely to the devilishly charming Frenchman and offered to him her hand.

Lafayette grinned exuberantly at her acceptance and immediately pulled her close to dance. The entire world seemed to melt away around them. All the noise- the whooping, the hollering, the cheering- it all went away. All that the two could see, hear, feel, and think of, was each other.

Lafayette and (Y/N) danced the night away galantly, without a care in the world. They were in each other's arms and company, and that was all that seemed to matter, at the time being. They were three feet in the air, and no force in the universe, no matter how strong, could possibly pull them back down to Earth just yet.

-.~-.~-.

After a long, long night of dancing away, Laurens and Hercules finally had to pry the two of them apart before they could start a heated make-out session.

"Alright, alright, love birds! Bed time!" Laurens laughed.

(Y/N) joined them in their merriment, wondering if he'd forgotten all about the incident from before.

When the quartet reached the tents, Hercules suddenly changed his mind.

"You sure they should sleep in the same tent?" The Irishman whispered to his South Carolinian friend.

"I dunno, maybe you should sleep with her instead." The Southern born man responded.

"Pft, whatever, I bet you'd rather be the one 'sleeping' with her.~"

(Y/N) whipped around, "Excuse me?"

Hercules held his hands up in defense, yelping and pointing at Laurens, "He did it!!"

(Y/N) glared at the both of them. Hercules was definitely drunk, but Laurens... Laurens was sober. She couldn't tell if he was joking. He looked serious, but then again, you never could assume anything about him.

"What were you two talking about?" (Y/N) inquired, in a low voice.

"Nothing!!!" Hercules squealed in his drunken stupor. After this, the Irish tailor evacuated the situation, running like a madman to Hamilton's side.

Laurens made no effort whatsoever to reply, only gazed back into those (E/C) eyes that he'd once adored and praised almost more than he did God. His eyes seemed empty now, the bright bubbliness they had once held was gone. The question she'd asked herself just moments before had been answered, without so much as a word out of John Laurens's mouth.

How quickly Laurens had gone from being the happy, freelancing John she'd known all her life to a cold, unforgiving man whom she'd never met before.

Realizing this was more than likely her doing, (Y/N)'s chest became heavy with guilt. Unready, perhaps even unwilling, to face this pain yet again, the girl turned back round and retreated to her shared tent. Once she had reentered the thin, dingy, ripped tarp the soldiers referred to as a tent, she was greeted with a shocked Lafayette. He spoke quietly, as if not to awaken a monster he'd discovered hiding within their quarters, "What... Happened...?"

(Y/N) shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, wanting to just forget what had just happened.  "Nothing..."

Lafayette stared holes in her as she laid down beside him, wondering what was bothering her. He had heard the entire conversation, but they'd spoken much too fast, and what he'd heard made no sense to him. Why would (Y/N) be upset with the two boys bickering over who would sleep with who?

Giving up, he sighed and laid down beside his lover, wrapping his arms around her. Not expecting him to do this, (Y/N) tensed.

"Gilbert... What are you doing...?" She murmured.

"Holding you, mon petite fleur...~"

She smiled and relaxed her muscles, placing a hand on one of his arms. "I love you, Gilbert..."

Lafayette purred like a kitten at her remark. Though he hadn't known her nearly as long as Laurens, he was utterly smitten for this young woman. He pressed a tender kiss to her cheek and whispered against her skin, "Je t'aime aussi..."

The two laid awake for a while, just breathing in each other's scent.

(Y/N) felt safe in Lafayette's arms. He was so sweet and caring, and yet she still pondered what the reason was. Why did he love her? Why was she so special?

And it wasn't just her Frenchman, it was Laurens, too.

Why her?

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A/N: AHHHH CLIFFHANGERRRR

So sorry these updates are taking
f o r e v e r.

I'm trying ;;w;;

The winner of the cover contest was @dorklosaurus !! Thanks to everyone who entered, it was sooooo hard to pick just one ;;n;;

But, I'll probably use all the fanart y'all entered!!

Also!!! The 2017 Fanfiction nominations are here already! It would mean so much to me if y'all were to nominate my book "How You Say?" for this years Fanfiction Watty's!!! <3

Love y'all so much! See ya next chapter!