The next morning at 6:30, Alexander is missing from his perfectly made bed, and I doubt he's spent the night at John's, as I came home after him to see he was asleep in his bed. His schoolbag, which contains his laptop and textbooks for the day, is gone, so I assume he's off to class early.
I manage to pull myself out of bed, despite only getting five hours of sleep after dropping off Adrienne and the airport last night. Once I drag myself into the shower, exhaustion subsides and excitement takes way. This is my first day of college—of any higher education institution—of any education in America. I'm finally doing something right, something I know my father would be proud of me for.
The first class I have today is Intro to Psychology with a Professor Henry Middleton. It takes me fifteen minutes to walk to the correct building and find the right lecture hall, but I eventually make it with five minutes to spare, sitting down in the second row. The girl next to me, in a yellow dress and her hair tied up in a ponytail and secured by a ribbon of the same color, scribbles her name down onto a notebook—a yellow notebook—in Sharpie.
"Hello. I am Gilbert de Lafayette. Mostly just Lafayette, though. And you?" I ask with a smile, letting some excitement show through.
She looks up, dazed, but eventually smiles.
"Margarita Schuyler. Mostly just Peggy, though." She says with a large grin, showing off her teeth.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Is this your first year here at NYU?" I ask as I begin to take my textbook, a notebook, and a pen out of my satchel.
"Yeah. I graduated high school a year early, and my two sisters are already attending here, so I figured I'd try to appply and I got in." She closes the cap to her Sharpie and looks around absentmindendly for a second before snapping back to the conversation. "And you?"
"Ah, well, I'm here from Paris on an exchange program of sorts—honestly, I don't know why I keep telling people that, there is no exchange program, I just came from out of country." I laugh to myself, and she joins in with me. She goes silent for a moment, and then takes a phone out of her purse—black phone case—and unlocks it.
"Here, Gilbert. Do you mind if I call you that? I spent two semesters in france sophomore year of high school, I can pronounce it correctly and can also technically speak French but I don't usually use it because I don't think it's as good as..." she shakes her head firmly, breaking her smile, then looks back up, happy expression returned, "Put your number in. I'd love to get to know you better." I take the phone from her and type in 'Gilbert de Lafayette' as the contact name to the new American phone number I'd gotten.
"Of course you can. You can send me a text, if you'd like, to make sure I didn't give you a fake number." I laugh with a smile, but she shakes her head happily.
"I know you didn't. You're not the type, Gilby." With that, she turns to face the other side and runs to the restroom.
"Gilby... I like tha—" I mutter to myself, getting cut off by seeing John Laurens walk in the door.
"John! Hey, John! It's me, Lafayette! Come sit!" I half-yell, evoking the attention of a few students who eventually turn away. His cheeks turn red, and he clutches his bag tighter. Mental note: don't call John out in public. He doesn't seem to like it very much.
Still, he sits next to me, tossing his backpack to the side and checking the time on his phone, which he leaves on the corner of the desk.
"Hey, John, why are you in here? Shouldn't you be in a more advanced course?" I ask him, and he shakes his head.
"Nah. I never took pysch in freshman year and didn't declare my major until this year, so Intro to Psych it is."
Peggy comes running back into the room seconds before Professor Middleton stirs at his desk. John leaned to the side and waved at her, and she waved back.
"How's Eliza?" he asked her.
"Oh, she's good, she's good." Peggy said, seemingly dejected. Before I can try to talk to John about what just happened, Pr. Middleton comes to the middle of the floor and claps his hands.
"Sex. We all do it, we all think about it, so it's time we talk about it." His thundering voice booms. Well, this is going to be great.
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"Wednesday's lecture will be on foreign and domestic policy and why perpetual alliance is never the most strategic choice." Proffesor Washington says, and then, finally, "Y'all are free to go."
A mass of students, along with me, rush out of the hall and to one of the dining halls or dormitories. I pull out my phone and open the group chat.
Laffy Taffy: I saved us a table. It's in the back of the dining hall. You'll have to look for my hair above the crowd, though.
John: Not to be rude, I usually eat off campus.
Me: sucks to suck
Laffy Taffy: You have the rest of the year to be a loner, come sit with us today. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee!
John: Alright okay okay, I'll be there in 5 my class ends at 12:05 what about y'all's?
Me: my god what a southern gentleman
Me: same as urs though
Laffy Taffy: John I'd really hope that my class is over as I am the one who informed you that I am reserving the table.
I lock my phone quickly, hunger getting the best of me, and run the rest of the way to the dining hall.
Lafayette's right: I do have to look for his curly afro above thr crowd, and I find it, along with John waving a hand. They sit at a small four-chair table, food in front of each of them.
I speed walk towards them and, once I get there, drop my bag on the floor and sigh.
"How was your first day of school?" John asks with a knowing smirk, sipping from his Coke.
"I'll have you know, Mr. I'm-Older-and-Therefore-Wiser, that it was amazingly exhausting. I'm runninng on a 5-hour energy, two grande black coffees from Starbuks, and pure adrenaline!" as I say this, I can feel my hand shake on the surface of the table.
I'm sure John notices, as well, because he casts a pointed look at my hand and coughs.
"Whatever. I'm getting food." I push back the chair and walk to the area that has all of the foods, remembering to feel my pocket for my meal card. After looking at the food for a while, nothing interests me too much—probably because my adrenaline's doing the job that food should do—except for an espresso machine. I walk over to it and poured a double shot, drinking it quickly and swiping my card. I let out an excited noise that I hope no one can here and begin to walk to the bathroom once I realize I have to pee.
In the bathroom, after I've finished peeing, I don't expect that the only person there is John. He stands at the mirror, splashing water on his face with his eyes closed, and he doesn't realize I'm the one in there with him until I wash my hands and have to reach over him to get paper towels. He turns off the sink immediately and turns to me, taking a step backward, which is a step into the arm that still lingers behind him. It dangles awkwardly.
"You good?" I ask him, avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah, yeah, just stress. And—stress." He blinks quicker than he needs to and the next moment, the espresso kicks in and the only thing that I'm running on is impulse, so, throwing any possible consequences to the wind, I lean in and press my lips against those of John Laurens.
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Alexander is kissing me.
I'm not pulling away.
I don't not like it.
I'm kissing back now.
I run out of the restroom as soon as he breaks the kiss and run straight home all the way to my apartment.
There's no use in denying it now.
YOU ARE READING
An Opened Door
FanficHi! This is my first Hamilton fanfic that I'm posting on here, and it's a Lams College AU (I know it's used so much but I like it!), but I will include some other ships in here as well. Be prepared for Alexander 'Immovable Bisexuality' Hamilton and...
