By The Pond - A Lams Story

Chapter 11

-Alex's Perspective-

   Alex sits down in his apartment and sits back for a while, trying to mentally process everything that's going on. He'll get his journal out in a minute, but for now he just sinks into his armchair. He feels his phone vibrating and pauses before getting it out of his pocket. He smiles at the caller ID. Freckles.
   Alex answers it. "Hey, Freckles. How are you?"
   "Good. Better than last night, that's for sure." John pauses. "They didn't give you too hard a time, did they?"
   "Well, Laf gave me pure sugar instead of my black. And then Peggy dumped it down my shirt. Lucky for me, I keep spares at the office in case I ever end up staying overnight. And then Herc scared me- I thought for sure he was gonna punch me in the face or something. The size of his hands... Man..." Alex hears John laughing and feels his heart skitter a bit. "What's so funny?"
   "Herc wouldn't hurt a fly. He's a giant teddy bear." John explains.
   "Giant teddy bear? He fucking threatened me!" Alex exclaims.
   "He puts on a big act, but really he wouldn't hurt you. I promise. He'd be more concerned about making sure I'm okay. He's cool like that."
   "I don't believe you, but sure...." Alex shakes his head. Giant teddy bear? More like a giant grizzly bear.
   "Alexander Hamilton, do you believe I would lie to you?"
   "No." Alex answers immediately. "I don't. I just know what I saw, and it wasn't a giant teddy bear."
   "Alright." He hears John sigh but in content. I'm glad he's happy.
   "And then Maria found me, and she's probably even scarier than Herc. She's smart and won't take any shit." Alex shivers. "I don't want to be on her bad side."
   "Yeah. You should see the guys who try to mess with Eliza. It's not pretty."
   "I can imagine." Alex goes quiet for a sec. "But no. I'm fine. Nothing I couldn't handle. The coffee at the office isn't as good as The Rev's, but that's it. I promise."
   "Good." The two of them lapse into a comfortable silence, and they just sit there for a while.
   "My mom's the one who introduced me to turtles," John says quietly. "I was maybe four or five, and she took me to the park in our hometown and showed me the turtles, and it's one of my earliest memories." He heard John sigh a bit. "We went to that park a lot. She taught me how to make flower crowns, and we would make them for us, and then my little siblings when they were born. It was nice, and a good escape from my father, who was always working and trying to groom me to be like him. With my mom, I wasn't afraid to be myself, but with my dad, I constantly felt like I wasn't good enough. And then I started to keep things from my mom because I didn't want to stress her out, but I knew she worried about me. I wanted to tell her I was gay, and I think she may have figured it out at some point because me pretending to date Peggy was not my best idea, but it got my father off my back." He sighs again. "I miss my mom and Martha, James, Henry, and Mary. I love them so much, and I just miss them."
   "Mm." Alex lets the silence settle before talking. "I miss my family, too. I lost pretty much all of them to death or abandonment, so there's that. But my mom would always do her best to make me smile or laugh, even when we weren't living in the best conditions. I love her for that. And even though she's gone, I like to hope that she's still watching over me." He smiles softly, idly messing with his shirt's hem. "Even if you can't see them physically, they're still with you. In your heart, you know? My dad was an asshole for leaving us, but my mom and my older brother are still with me. In here." He taps his heart before realizing that John can't see that.
   "Yeah." Alex can almost imagine John biting his lip and nodding. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks for that, 'Lex." Alex blushes a bit at the nickname.
   "You're welcome. And you can always talk to me, you know? Plus making flower crowns sounds like a bunch of fun if I'm being honest." He nods. "Yeah. Maybe you could teach me?"
   "If you want to, yeah. That would be nice." John pauses. "Tomorrow's Saturday, right? Maybe tomorrow morning we could meet up at The Rev? I don't have a shift or anything, so we could get something to drink and head over to the park? Only if you want to, of course." Alex notices John starting to ramble a bit. Cute.
   "That sounds great. Is it a date, then?" Wait. Shit. Bad word choice. Alexander Hamilton, you are in the friend zone. What are you doing?
   "It's a date." John agrees. "But just as friends, yeah?"
   "Mhm." Alex nods. "Just as friends." Even though I think you're pretty damn cute. But I value your friendship more. Just friends.
   "Good. I'll see you tomorrow morning, then. Bye."
   "Bye. See you tomorrow morning, then." Alex hangs up. And immediately starts trying to think of what he should wear before shaking his head. It's not a date. It's not a date. Stop acting like it's a date. Just friends, remember? Hhhhhhh. He goes and flops on the couch. Freckles is extremely cute, and I'm going with him on a not-date to make flower crowns. Help meeeeeee.
   He sighs and goes to make dinner. I'll freak out more in the morning.