New York, New Man

Chapter 6

 Short filler chapter, I promise the next one will be a lot longer & more eventful!

John woke up groggy and still tired. Then he realized that he was still in his clothes, and that he was not at his dorm. He was on the couch, Alexander snoring softly next to him. John slept very curled up and compact, perfect for couch hopping. Alexander, however, seemed to try and take up as much space possible. He pushed Alexander's arm off his lap and creaked his way upstairs.

In the bathroom, John fixed his hair and splashed cold water on his face until he felt awake enough. Coming back down the stairs, a step made a horrendous loud noise, causing sleeping Alexander to wake up, staring at John, who was frozen like a deer in headlights. "Sorry!" he hissed.

"What are you doing here?" Alexander rubbed his eyes.

"We must have both fallen asleep on your couch last night," John shrugged as he sat down.

Alexander just sighed.

"What time is it?" Alexander flopped back on the couch.

"Uh, like 7. Still enough time to get ready and get to class."

"Great. Are you gonna go back to your dorm now, or..." Alexander stood up, pushing his messy hair out of his face.

"Probably should," John picked his phone up off the counter and put on his shoes.

"Okay, bye," Alexander grabbed John's hand as he opened the door and swiveled around to kiss him.

Alexander waited until he heard the car pull out of the parking spot and then gathered all his stuff. His backpack was sitting on the counter.

After getting dressed and struggling with his hair, (which still didn't look as good as when John did it) Alexander decided to walk to class since he had plenty of time.

A week or so passed, everyone was doing great. Alexander was still getting top marks in every class, much to his fellow classmates' chagrin. Maria had definitely changed since what happened with James Reynolds. Peggy acted as her personal bodyguard, and she was a very protective one too. If anyone even tried to do anything to her, they'd have a very angry Peggy to answer to. Of course, Peggy was still a huge softie and loved to shower Maria in blankets, chocolates, hugs, you name it. It was a desperate attempt to replace what Reynolds took from her. Meanwhile, Eliza and Angelica were just going about their normal lives. For the most part, a perfect start to the second year of college in the greatest city in the world.

After class one Wednesday afternoon, Alexander decided to pop into Starbucks to say hi to John and Eliza. Well, he did see John and Eliza. And everyone else. "Hi, guys!" he waved as he dropped his backpack down next to a chair.

He looked around. The only person missing from the group was Laf. "Oh, Laf texted me, he'll be here in, like, 2 minutes." Angelica read from her phone.

And sure enough, two minutes later the door swung open and Laf entered, with another girl that Alexander had never seen before.

"Hi, sorry I am late," Laf grimaced. "I would like everyone to meet my girlfriend, Adrienne."

The tall, willowy girl leaned against Laf, grinning. Her chestnut hair barely reached her shoulders and her bangs fell right above her eyes.

"Hello, everyone! Gil has told me all about you." Adrienne spoke in a French accent, just like Laf.