The Death Of Me {Jamilton}

No, We Aren't A Couple, We're Just Friends Who Kiss And Sleep In The Same Bed

{Alexander's POV}

Christmas break flew by to be quite honest, it was like my day's with Thomas were simply too short, but luckily for us, we went to the same school and had several classes together, I feel like I would straight up move schools if Thomas didn't go to the same one as me, because I wouldn't want to be away from him for so long. Then again I don't think Thomas and I would've ever met if we didn't end up in the same school when I immigrated to America. So much for hating him and swearing that I would never like him ever, to be fair, I recognized that he was hot since day one, I just used to only see the ugly side of him and not the sweet side.

I got dressed, and when I peeked outside the window of Thomas's room, I guess it was sort of our room now, at least for the time being. I scrunched up my nose at the sight and quietly groaned. I felt arms wrap around me from behind and a head on my shoulder.

"What's got you upset, Lex?" Thomas asked as I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.

"It's snowing..." I pouted, "And my coat is pathetic."

"We're going to school in my car?"

"Still!"

I heard him give a small chuckle, "Is this your way of trying to steal my clothes."

"Nooo..." I mumbled, "I just don't like the cold, you know that..." He only answered with a low hum, "Fine... Maybe it's both." This answer seemed to satisfy him.

He pulled away, slightly to my dismay, and then grabbed a winter coat near identical to the one he was already wearing and he helped me to slip it on, only to start laughing.

"What?!"

"You're arms aren't even long enough for the sleeves." He pointed out.

"Well... Well..." I crossed my arms over my chest, "I'm not taking it off!"

"I don't want you to, it's adorable. Now come one, we gotta get to school." Thomas replied, and I pushed up one of my sleeves before he took a hold of my hand. He leaned down and gave me a peck on the cheek, causing me to blush as we walked out together to get to his car.

I would've complained about him calling me adorable, but then we stepped outside and instead I focused on pulling on the hood of Thomas's coat, as well as tugging his arm to wrap around me our fingers still laced with his, I hated the cold, so I was going to try and steal his body warmth as much as possible. That was the main thing I missed from the Caribbean, the endless summers, the lack of snow, but when Thomas and I took our vacation to my home island I'd get to show him that.

The car gave a beep when Thomas unlocked the car, and begrudgingly I stepped away from him and let go of his hand so I could get into the passenger seat as my boyfriend got in the driver's seat. Holy shit, that word was amazing to even think, this bastard orphan has a boyfriend.

Looking at him, I grabbed a hold of his hand, so maybe I got a little bit clingy at times, or with basically everyone that I got close to, but in my defense, I also didn't tend to get close to people because I lost people often, and now that I had someone who wouldn't be leaving if I had a say in it, I wasn't letting go. He shook his head at me, chuckling, but he did keep a hold of my hand as he drove us both to school. We only stopped holding hands again for a few short moments when we did arrive at the school and we had to get out of the car, but pretty quickly we were again hand and hand, fingers laced.

I wasn't worried about what people thought if they saw us together, because dammit I was actually happy, and after the shit, I endured this year, I deserved that, didn't I? To get to be happy and not worry about judgment?

Mr. Washington noticed pretty quickly that we had clearly gotten closer since some of our previous interactions, it could've just been his intuition, but I would beg to say that it was the fact that Thomas and I moved our desks right next to each other and I leaned onto his shoulder partway through the lecture.

So maybe we seem a bit stereotypical at times, but I was tired, and we were only watching a video, so why shouldn't I lean on my boyfriend?

At lunch, things were a bit more eventful. I sat down next to Thomas, big surprise there, and as we started to eat I heard my name shouted.

"Alexander!"

I turned, and looked, only to see Eliza, I hadn't seen her for a while, we didn't have any classes together so it was just whenever we ran into each other in the hallways that we'd get in a passing hi or how are you.

"Eliza, hey," I replied, gesturing to silently say that she could take a seat, which she did after circling the table to sit across from us.

"I didn't know that you and Thomas were friends!" She commented, "How long have you two known each other?"

"Basically since he transferred into the school," Thomas answered.

"Oh! That's cool, I'm a little surprised you guys are friends, I've heard that Thomas is very argumentative, and Alex, I know you are as well."

"Yeah..." I grabbed Thomas's hand, as he'd taken a break from eating to talk with Eliza, "We really are just the closest of friends, you know, the kind who kiss and sleep in the same bed." 

Eliza looked between us, "Oh?" Her eyes suddenly widened, "OH!" The realization hit her, "You guys are dating?! Wow! I really need to talk to you guys more often... I feel like there's some huge crazy change every time I do."

"I mean, a shit ton has happened since that last time we really talked, but let's stick with the dating part since it's practically the only positive thing out of the major events," I informed her.

"I'm so sorry, well, I'm glad you two are happy together. How'd it happen?"

"We hated each other for ages actually," Thomas started, beginning to tell her at least most of the story, omitting some details that I preferred not shared unless I decided to speak of them.

At a point I took over, specifically the end, "—on Christmas, I put a note at the bottom of his gift asking him to be my boyfriend. I was so glad I had after opening the gift he got for me, we're visiting the Caribbean, it hasn't even been a year since I left, but after all that's happened here in America, it'll be nice to be back somewhere so familiar for a bit. Then I get to be the one who knows what's going on entirely and Thomas gets to be the clueless one who isn't used to the weather or the people."

"That's so cool! I hope you both have a good time in the Caribbean!" Eliza was beaming brightly, sometimes I didn't understand how one girl could be so bubbly and happy, but then again she had the walking ray of sunshine that was her little sister, Peggy. I'd actually talked to Peggy several times, and we texted occasionally, minus Angelica, the Schuyler sisters were basically destined to be therapists, they had a way of just getting you to vent and confide in them, yet they were also so unique in their ways of doing it, Eliza got to the problem through concern, and Peggy used jokes and relatable stories.

That was probably the most lively lunch I'd ever had. After going through such a shitty time, losing my mother and cousin, I was glad that things were slowly rising, I was starting to have better days again. Sometimes the grief did suddenly strike me but generally speaking, everything was looking up, and I had no reason to suspect any looming secrets.

{A/N: I apologize for this chapter taking quite a while, I have been working a lot on my lines for my Shakespeare competition, and pretty soon I'll have daily rehearsals so I've been pretty tired and a little stressed, I will try to keep to my regular update schedule of 2+ chapters a week, but if that doesn't happen, you can blame theatre competitions and school work. Have a good day lovely people, consider voting and commenting, and maybe even dropping a follow!}