You Will Be Found || Lams || COMPLETED

🍁can i buy you a drink? ~ chapter 4🍁

"Hey! I have some good news," I say through the phone, and I'm taken by surprise by how easy it is to talk to Alex despite my vulgar dream last night.

"What is it?" He asks.

"You can stay with us as long as you like!" I announce, stepping into the warm coffee shop. "Peggy has already filled out the paper work and everything."

"Are you serious?"

His voice seems to echo. I check my phone to see if there was a problem with the signal, but it wasn't. I turn around and see Alexander sitting at a tiny table, his coffee in one hand, his phone in the other.

"Yeah," I grin.

"Wow," He says, "I seriously don't know how to thank you."

I walk up to the shorter man. "You can thank me by buying me a coffee?" He seems to leap in his seat. He lowers his phone.

"John! You scared me!" He says, "Have a seat."

I sit down across from him. Over the phone, it seemed easier to talk to him because I didn't have to see his face and be reminded of his lust filled eyes in my dream. Now, he was standing right in front of me, in the flesh.

"Heh," I chuckled, "S-Sorry."

"Are you okay?" He asks, concern laced through his voice. "You seem to be shaking."

"Yeah. I'm-I'm fine. Just cold," I lie.

"It's like 80 degrees in here," He deadpans and then laughs, "What's the real reason you're so worked up?"

I hesitate for a moment, conceiving a convincing lie in my head. "Uh, I had a dream last night that I, uh, I cheated on Peggy... with... her sister... Angelica! Yeah, her."

"Oh, really?" He asks, smiling a bit.

"Yeah, but you know... I'd never catch feelings for anyone else. I've been dating Peggy for 7 years."

"That's quite the commitment!" He compliments, taking a slow drink of his coffee, his eyes still on me. I look away.

"Uh, yeah. I really like her," I stutter, "I met her in high school.

"High school sweethearts. That's cute," He says.

"Yeah," I mutter, "Did you have to leave any girl behind in the Caribbean?"

"There was only one girl I ever really loved. And that was my mother before she died. I mean- I still love her! But she's just... dead and stuff," He explains, scratching his head nervously.

"Oh, man," I comfort, "I'm so sorry."

"No- no. It's okay. She died when I was a kid. But there was this one guy I had my eye on, you know?"

"G-Guy?" I stutter, but I wish I could take that back because of how judgmental it sounded.

"Yeah, I'm bisexual," He explains, unbothered. "But he- uh, he died too. In a hurricane."

"I heard about that on the news. It apparently devastated the entire population? Is that why you came to New York?" I ask.

"Yeah. I- he... he was the only one who I really had left. But through writing, I've earned a ticket to New York. And here I am," He smirked.

"I'm so sorry," I weakly mutter out,
at a lost for words. "What about your father?"

He scoffed. "He's been out of the picture. Left when I was a kid."

"Oh, damn," I sympathize, "Fuck that crack whore."

He laughs, and I can't help but notice how his eyes scrunch up when he laughs.

"That's the best thing anyone has ever called my father ever," He says, taking a long sip of his coffee. "What about you? Any family?"

"Uh, I guess?" I trail off, "I mean, I've got a family. They're not really supportive of my life choices, I guess."

"Harsh," He mutters.

"Yeah, they're all kind of assholes."

"I mean, you have many friends, and you've got a lovely girlfriend that you live with," He sighs.

"Yeah! I have people like the sisters, Lafayette and Hercules, Peggy... and now I have you!"

"I'm your... friend?" He asks, his eyes lighting up.

"Of course! You're going to be my roommate for a while and you're a great guy."

"I- I've never had friends before," He says. I give him a reassuring smile, and put my hand on top of his out of instinct. His warm hands contradict my frigid shaking hands. We both glance at our hands and back at each other in total silence and awkwardness. I slowly slip away and pretend to scratch at my neck.

"Well, welcome to the squad."