I'll Be There For You ~ Lams College AU

Chapter 3

Alex POV

"Nothing!" Laf, Herc, and John shouted. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion, yet decided to let it slide.

I noticed John at the side, his face beet red. I shook the thought off. "So... why's John and Herc here?" I asked, emphasizing 'Herc'. I thought I have seen Laf blush, but his tan skin blocked it.

"MU-" John chuckled, but Herc quickly sprung up and covered his mouth. John licked the hand.

"Dude, you're disgusting." Herc gagged, wiping the saliva off on his pants.

"Well, I try my best." John sweetly snickered. "Are we just gonna sit here, or hang out?"

"I guess, we could go to the park," Laf suggested. We all shrugged and nodded in agreement, seeing there was nothing else to do.

We walked out the dorm building, the three leading the way 'cause I don't know it, anyways. I looked at them, such great friends. I sighed, but not the unhappy one, the grateful one. I never had seen friends like these. These... were special.

John started backing away from them to walk beside me.

My brain immediately had two thoughts: the first one being "oh look, it's that man you really really like but you just met him so go start a conversation" and then "oh look, it's that man you really really like but you actually like him so go and run now before you do something embarrassing, Alex".

"You alright?" John asked, snapping me back to reality.

"What? Oh yeah, sorry," I said and cleared my throat.

"I've got it!" He snapped his fingers and pointed at me eagerly. "You have an accent!"

I had hoped I wouldn't give it away. "Yeah? Well you do too."

"South Carolina airport, I'm from there. But you don't have a Southern nor American accent. Hamilton, who are you?"

"I could've been a tourist," I muttered. "Yeah, I may not be from around here. Alright, I answered your question—"

"You did not!" John whined.

"Oh, heck yeah I did. Is it my turn to ask now?"

"Fine. Whadya want?"

Obviously, being my dumb self, I decided to be well, dumb. 

"Are you free this—"

"TURTLES!"

We have arrived in the park. John immediately ran to the pond by the park, his hands up in the air. As much as I wanted to scream in fury, I managed to smile.

Dammit, those turtles.

The three of us laughed. Laf and Herc sat down at the bench having a little conversation while I joined John. He was petting three turtles on his lap, two on his shoulders, and one on his head. I took the turtles on his shoulders and played with them since John had too much on his hands. And head.

I jogged up to John and stared at him. No, not that lovesick one. Be patient, guys, please.

"Sorry, what was that you wanted to ask?" John smiled meekly, clearly embarrassed. "I started a turtle obsession when I was 9."

"Ah. Don't worry, it was unimportant, anyway," I murmured. 

John nodded. "You want to hold one?" John raised his hand and offered one cute, adorable, and very scary baby turtle.

I sighed. "Fine."

I reached out my hand and let the turtle crawl on my palm. "Okay this isn't so bad—"