(Third book) Philip Hamilton X Reader: The almost truth can beguile

-Chapter 2: Dress up-

On our way to his house, Philip asked: "I haven't seen you around. Are you from here?" He asked curiously. I smiled. "I'm down from the South. South Carolina to be exact," I informed him as I smiled lightly. "And what brings you here?" Philip asked. I looked forward but kept smiling. "Nothing important," I answered. Philip looked like he wanted to ask more, but decided to leave me and my privacy alone. He folded his hands behind his back and tried to hum a bit to fill the silence between us two. 

We walked all the way uptown through a few quaint looking neighborhoods before stumbling upon a relatively big house which was detached from all the other houses. Philip walked forward up the steps and knocked on the door. Several seconds passed before the door opened slightly. "Philip, come in. Did you bring the groceries?" A kind woman's voice asked. Philip chuckled nervously. "Heh...Actually, now that you mention it...I didn't," Philip admitted to the woman at the door. The door opened a bit wider so that I could see the woman in her full glory. "Philip, you had one task. What's your-" The woman began to lecture before she looked over Philip's shoulder and saw me. 

The woman with dark brown hair, making it almost look black, looked straight at me and her demeanor immediately changed. "Philip, who is the young lady you brought along?" Eliza asked. "Y/N, my name is Y/N," I greeted her before Philip could say anything. "Mine is Eliza, I'm the mother of Philip," She introduced. Philip sighed, smiled and backed off so I could shake Eliza's hand. "Lovely name, dear. But you are soaked!" Eliza noticed as we shook hands. I looked at my clothes and smiled back at Eliza.

"Philip accidentally pushed me into the fountain at the town square. He offered some fresh clothes so I took the offer," I explained quickly. Eliza looked at Philip with second-hand embarrassment. "My goodness, how nice of him," She sneered as she looked at Philip. Philip nervously smiled and slowly walked inside, holding both of his hands up.

When he ran off, Eliza sighed. "Add that flirt-method to the list," She grumbled before looking at me. "Dear, let me get you some fresh clothes. Come in, come in," She ushered me inside before closing the door when I was. She lead me to the living room where she put a towel on the couch so I could sit. As I sat down she offered me tea which I subtly declined.

"Nah, I don't drink tea,"

Nailed it.

"Well, let me know if you want anything. I'll hand you one of my daughter's dresses," She said before disappearing upstairs. I took the time to look around. Not wanting to stand up and leave even more wet footsteps, I let my eyes do the wandering for me. In the middle of the living room stood a piano. Not a big one but big enough for it to be called a real piano. 

Leave it to me to overanalyze everything so hard that I hadn't even noticed that Philip had been staring at me from the doorway. When I did, he quickly scurried off. I cocked an eyebrow but decided to ignore it. As Philip left, Eliza came downstairs. "I found a lovely dress that would fit you perfectly," Eliza smiled as she showed me a turquoise dress. I smiled very bitterly. I decided to push the past behind me until my clothes were dry and took the dress. "Thank you so much, ma'am," I thanked her. She nodded with a smile. "Don't mention it," I looked at the dress and sighed. "Let me bring you to my room so you can get dressed," Eliza offered. I nodded with a smile.

Eliza offered to wash my clothes but I declined. "I'll wash them myself along with the hat," I said. Eliza didn't persist and left me alone so I could get dressed. It had been ages upon ages since I had been in a dress. The corset she gave along with the dress was already creeping me out just by looking at it. God forbid I have to put that thing on myself! 

I manned up and removed my wet clothes and put them over the empty chair next to the door. In the undergarments Eliza gave me, I took the corset and put the thing around my waist. I took both strings in hand, twisted it around my fist and gave a good pull. I have the strength of my father as I screeched like a pterodactyl. It was comparable to a punch right in the ribs, I couldn't breathe. 

I quickly bound the strings and exhaled as much as I could. "Oh, je n'aime pas ça," I sighed before walking like a stickman toward the dress which was hung up on the door of Eliza's wardrobe. I took it off the wooden hanger and slid through the dress like butter. So the death trap around my waist did have a purpose. I looked in the mirror and failed to recognize the reflecting body as my own. My face looked the same as did my hair, but my body. Sheesh.

With an unhappy sigh, I opened the door and walked out. When I was about the descent from the stairs, Eliza called me from another room upstairs. I turned around. "Yes, Eliza?" I asked as she slowly walked toward me. "The dress suits you perfect, dear! I'm such a great stylist, aren't I?" She smiled so sweetly that I had to comply. "It's more than perfect, ma'am, thank you," I fake smiled. (My friend is literally laying beside me and she's reading what I'm typing as I type it in and she...My god. I am lucky to have writer friends that want to help me BUT SHEESH BIR.)

"But your hair is still wet, dear. Should I help you to comb it out?" She offered yet again. This woman kept offering things. I didn't ask for all of this attention. I just wanted pants, a shirt, undergarments and go on with my quest. So she walked me to the bathroom and sat me down on a chair in front of a mirror. I saw a jar full of white powder and already cringed just by thinking what this woman was about to do to my hair. 

But Eliza grabbed the comb, brush out my hair until it wasn't a rats nest anymore and began to braid my hair. When she braided the last part and secured it with a hairpin, she grabbed larkspur out of the vase next to the mirror and pinned it at the beginning of the braid. "There you go, sweetheart," She chirped as she put her hands on my shoulders. I looked in the mirror and although what she had done was wonderful, I couldn't see me in it. 

"Let's go downstairs. May I invite you to eat dinner with us?" She asked as I stood up. "Oh, no it's okay. I can-" But as I tried to make up an excuse she cut me off. "Nonsense, you simply must!" She exclaimed, shaking her head. I awkwardly smiled wanting to sink through the floor and out of this house, but I instead nodded and walked downstairs with Eliza.

As we walked downstairs, she gasped. "My goodness, we only have 9 chairs downstairs. Let me quickly grab one from the attic. You can already head downstairs, dear." Eliza said as she quickly scurried upstairs. With a sigh, I descended further down the stairs. I walked inside the living room only to see Philip occupied with a book. 

As I tried to approach him, I did not count on my dress being so wide, and I knocked over a glass standing on the coffee table. Luckily it fell on the carpet but the thud was loud enough for him to look up from his book. "WHAT THE F*ck happened to you..." Philip slowly got silent as he looked at me. Maybe he thought I was someone else who was clumsy enough to knock over a glass off a table. Wait. No. I did that. 

From my past experiences with Philip, I would've figured that he would go silent and mind his own business since that was all that he was doing when we first met. But no. I was wrong. I don't know if it was the dress, the hair or a combination of all of the above, but he looked more...amused than before. 

"Not my style, but at least I have some fresh clothes," I mumbled feeling a bit awkward and looked at. I sighed and sat down next to him with him never letting his eyes look away from me. "Maybe it's the color?" I tried as I looked at him. He smiled. No.

He grinned.

He leaned closer to my ear and said. "I think royal purple would look better on you, want me to help you change?" I tried to gasp but the corset had me gasping for air the whole time so it didn't really have the effect I wanted it to have. "What?" I asked confused. As if on cue, Eliza walked inside the room with a chair. I looked back at Philip and saw that he was back to reading whatever he was reading before I came in.

First I frowned but then I noticed that his hand was twitching ever so slightly as he grasped the corner of his page. 

(Thanks to my friend Bir for assisting me! <3)