Not Who You Think (Lams)

Chapter 4 (Eliza)

She watched how awkward John was quite worriedly. He was almost entirely different now. Eliza tried not to point out that his smaller friend's attempt to stop him shaking as he walked towards her was failing quite miserably.

Nonetheless she smiled and waved, he waves back thankfully. "John. I'm glad you could make it."

John stepped aside from his friend and seemed to rub his face. After this he wasn't shaking anymore, which is a relief; he only smiled and went to shake her hand with his left hand. "Eliza, I hope you don't mind that I brought some friends along. I'm fairly sure they won't start any trouble."

"That's okay; I see you're far more sober now..." Eliza said in an attempt to start conversation.

John nods and gives a pained little: "unfortunately".

Eliza nods. "I'm guessing you, like Angelica, have a bad hangover." She began to lead them inside, all of them instantly overwhelmed by the smell of coffee and the heat of the shop. She shows the group over to where her sisters were sat. Peggy looked slightly amused when she saw them. Angelica takes out her headphones once they walk over.

"Who are your friends John?" Angelica asked as john sits down across from her. His friends pile in around him.

"Wait, you have friends? I thought you drank that much by yourself, that's why you were talking to my sister." Peggy responds sarcastically.

John laughs softly and gives them a small smile. He introduced his friends. Alexander was the one sat closest to him, Lafayette was sat beside Hercules and the two of them were slightly away from the table. However, they manged to stay an arm's length from the table to avoid losing their drinks.

John perked right up when Angelica began discussing matters of equal rights and equal pay. He was almost as passionate about is as Angelica was. His friend Alexander soon chimed in on the subject, the three of them agreed on quite a lot. Hercules ended up doing Peggy's hair when it fell from its lose grip. He put it up in form intricate type of plat and was talking to Peggy about colours and dresses. Before Eliza knew it, Lafayette was spewing nonsense in French witch she could half piece together and respond to. They exchanged conversation like this for over an hour.

Alexander stood soon after that. "Excuse me; I'm burning up in here. I'm just going to go on a little walk, is anyone coming?"

"I'll go with Alex." John says almost instantly. The two wait a moment before walk off.

Eliza realised how hot it actually was in here moments later. She excused herself from the table and ran after the two. They were stood just outside the door to the café. They were talking to each other in a rushed whisper. Eliza could still hear them but they hadn't seen her yet.

"Ya know... I hadn't expected you to be strong." Alex wined as he massaged his hand.

"I'm Sorry." Laurens' voice was quick and worried. "I panicked..."

"John, it's fine honestly." Alex smiled slightly up at him, Eliza was confused as to what they were talking about but didn't want to reveal herself yet. "But you do owe me one."

"I owe you about five if that hand doesn't heal by tomorrow." John frowned and glanced around. He didn't look behind him which would've given Eliza away.

"John, relax." Alex lightly swats John's arm. "I could write with my feet if I needed to. Please try to calm down."

"I don't doubt you Alex and I promise I'll go back to being loud when we get home." John looked up at Alex with a small smile.

"If you make it through social outings for a week I will find the money to take you to see giant turtles. Is that a deal?" Alex got John to shake his hand and the two smiled.