Puppies Bring Love (A Jamilton College AU)

Chapter 12; Happy Birthday Pt. 2

Time to open presents!

~~~

"Oh my f**king God! This is the best choucroute garnie in the world!" Alex yelled happily.

Thomas laughed and took a forkful of mac and cheese. "I'm glad you like it. Lafayette truly is a great cook."

"Agreed!" Alex cheered as he took another forkful of meat.

As they were eating, they chatted about random things. Thomas mainly did this so Alexander would be oblivious to the random gifts being placed around him. He wanted Alex to get his gifts all at once just to see the shock on his face.

When the final gift was placed, the people who'd placed them there began to sing 'Happy Birthday' as they had rehearsed. Alex turned to see Laurens, Lafayette, Mulligan, Burr, and Madison singing to him with smiles on their faces.

"Oh my-whoa, when did these get here?" Alex asked looking around him.

"While I was distracting you, everyone put down a gift for you," Thomas smiled. "My gift comes later though."

"Happy birthday, Alex!" everyone engulfed him in a giant group hug.

Alexander laughed and accepted the giant hugs. "Oh my gosh! Thanks, you guys! You can, uh, let go of me now!"

Everyone laughed and released their hugs. Alex looked around at all the different colored bags and boxes.

"Which one do I open first?" he asked looking up at his friends.

"It's your birthday, you choose," Laurens gave him a smile that was brighter than the sun itself(see what I did there?).

Alexander took a blue bag first. There was a card inside. Alex rolled his eyes and looked straight at Burr.

"Seriously, Aaron?" he deadpanned.

"How'd you know it was me?" Burr raised an eyebrow.

"Only you would get me a card along with a gift cuz you know it annoys me. I'll read it later, I promise."

Alex placed the card back in the bag and removed the tissue paper to reveal a journal with his name imprinted on the cover of it in fancy cursive and a collection of fountain pens.

"Aww, thanks, Burr sir," Alex smiled.

"Look on the back of it," Aaron added.

Alex turned it around and saw a picture of him and Macaroni cuddling together. There was a quote under it.

"Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, and filling an emptiness we didn't know we had by Thom Jones," Alex read with a smile. A tear escaped his eye, but he quickly wiped it. "Thank you, Aaron. This really means a lot to me."

Aaron placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "It was no trouble at all."

Alex placed the journal back in the bag and placed it on the table. He grabbed a medium sized green box next. "This is from Laurens."

"Why would you think that?" John asked confused.

"You always wrap your presents in green." Alex smirked and carefully tore open the wrapping paper. He gasped as he saw a painting of him, Thomas, and Macaroni all smiling, well Macaroni had his tongue out, but he called that a smile.

"Do you like it?" Laurens asked nervously. "I'm not the best artist, but I really thought you'd-whoa!"

Alex tackled Laurens in a hug. "Thank you so much, Laurens! I love it so much! I'm gonna hang it up immediately when we get home."