runaways [ lams ]

06 | movie night

(a/n) once again, this was mostly written at 1 am while i was crying so have fun with that
—

Alex arrived at Eliza's doorstep just a little before five-thirty with a few flowers he'd found on the way there. Their plan was to get sushi, then head back to one of their houses for a movie night. Then, at quarter to nine, they'd both head to their respective homes and meet each other at school the next day. Alex couldn't remember ever being this excited about anything before, because now he finally had Eliza!

He knocked at the door, humming to himself as he waited. Lucky for him, Philip Schuyler was not the one to open the door. He couldn't imagine how awkward that would be. Instead, it was Eliza's youngest sister, Peggy.

"Hi, Hammy."

"Hey, Peggy. Is Eliza here?" Alex wondered, looking past the short girl to see if he could spot Eliza.

"She's in her room. I'll get her."

She disappeared down the hallway, returning a few moments later with her sister. The older girl had her hair up in a neat bun, a loose black dress hanging from her shoulders. Alex felt his face heat up as he handed her the flowers. Eliza smiled softly, waving goodbye to her sister and accompanying Alex on his walk back to the car.

"So," she began once they got inside the car, "I suppose you should know my rules for first dates. I would like to be home before eleven. Also, no sex."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Do I strike you as the kind of person who'd want sex on the first date?"

Eliza shook her head, laughing quietly. "No, but you'd be surprised by how many people expect it. You remember when I went on that date with James Monroe last year? I had to text my sisters to get me out of that because he kept trying to screw me. They made up some wild story about the mob trying to break into our house and I had no choice but to go with it."

"People still believe that," Alex chuckled. "The good news is that nobody will ever try to break into your house for real, 'cause Monroe told everyone."

Eliza sighed softly. "I suppose. Anyway, have you decided on a restaurant?"

Alex shrugged. "The sushi place just down the road? You said you wanted sushi earlier today, so I kinda assumed we'd be going there."

"Yeah, that's fine."

•••

John sat on Alex's bed, looking around his room and taking in the tiny details. There was a old wooden desk with a few dying plants, some pens, and a notebook. He had a few polaroids on his wall too. One of him and his mother with a heart as the caption, and one with him and Eliza sitting in a tree branch together. They looked a lot younger, no older than fifteen. The caption underneath the picture read August 9th.

John had no idea why that date was special to either of them. Perhaps an anniversary of some sort? Then again, Alex would've told him if he and Eliza had ever dated before. He shrugged it off, moving to check out the contents on his desk.

He picked up the grey notebook, which had the word Hurricane in neat letters across the front. The first few pages were filled with nothing but love letters for Eliza, but as John progressed, he found hints of how Alex's family really was. His mother calling him the little lion when he was younger. His dead brother, who was apparently named after their dad. His father only ever being home one or two nights a week, not even caring about Alexander or his mother.

John could somewhat relate to that.

His mother, Eleanor, was hardly around throughout his childhood. His father kind of cared about them, but never really showed much affection. That left John, as the oldest, to act as a parent for all of his siblings.