Philip Lives...?

Chapter 7

The three women catch up while the rest of the children take a rest. Philip anxiously keeps checking his phone, waiting for his father to text him with information regarding... Eventually, Theo stirs awake, and Philip quickly shoves his phone under his leg, hoping she didn't see it. She did."Philip, why'd you shove your phone away so quickly...?" she asked suspiciously. Philip laughs nervously. "W-what phone? Hehe, I don't have my phone..." Just then, his leg vibrates. Theo squints her eyes."Oh yea...then who were you texting? If you don't have your phone." Theo is angry now. She doesn't want to jump to accusations of cheating...but..."It's nothing, love, I promise. It was probably just TJ (Thomas Jefferson Jr., aka Philips best friend). Why are you so upset? I don't question every time you get a text, now do I?" Now Philip was angry. He hated raising his voice at her, at anyone, but he was too upset to notice. His volume awoke the other children in a start; everyone wondered what was going on. The Schuyler sisters had stopped their conversations and looked in the direction of the fighting teens "Why are you being so paranoid?" Theodosia was yelling at this point.'I don't know, why are you so nosey?!" Philip was yelling too."UGH!! You're so infuriating Philip Hamilton! I just asked who texted you, that's it! Why did you try to hide the fact that you are hiding something?" Theo had now moved off the bed and stood with her arms crossed by the chair."Why do you automatically assume I'm hiding something? Maybe it's you who's paranoid. You know it can't be another girl because you won't let me talk to any!""Because I'm your girlfriend! Heaven forbid I don't want you leaving me for another prettier, taller girl who isn't self-conscious about how she looks, or one who doesn't care what other people say about her!" The room got deadly quiet. Theo's eyes began to swell with tears. Angie went to comfort her best friend. She took a breath, wiping her eyes."Love, I- ""Don't...just don't..." Theo turned and ran out of the room. Angie tried to follow, but hesitated at the door, wanting to give her friend some space.Philip hung his head in his hands and let out a shaky breath. "I messed up..."Now it was Angie's turn to get angry. "Yea, you did, Philip. She's your girlfriend for crying out loud, you're not supposed to make her feel more insecure than she already is! It's bad enough she didn't talk to me about it, but she tells you everything. Maybe if you paid attention, you would have known!" She storms out of the room, searching for Theo.Philip sunk back into his bed, tears threatening to spill over. He licked his lips and sighed, looking around the room. "Does anyone else think I'm the bad guy?"Eliza sits next to him and places her hand on his knee. "No one thinks you're the bad guy, my sweet. Couples argue. All the time, but it's the best couples that come out stronger in the end." Peggy tried to help. "Yea, after what Alex did publishing the Reynolds Pamphlet, no one ever thought 'Liza would forgive him, but she did!" Angelica pulled her back and gave her a look that said ''not helping". Peggy mouthed a "sorry" then slipped back into her chair."That doesn't make me feel any less lousy. I love her. I wanna spend the rest of my life with Theo, but it's hard when she's mad at me. Makes me think she doesn't feel the same way..."Surprisingly, it was John who had something. "Dude, anyone with a brain knows that Theo totally loves you. Angie's right- you really must not pay attention to miss the fact that that girl is mad for you"His twin spoke up. "I mean, he has a point. She's with you all the time, she puts up with our outrageously large family, and she's right by your side approximately 65% of the time." James pushes up his glasses then glances back down to his historical fiction novel. John nods and goes back to playing on his phone. AJ chuckles and pipes in. "For a couple of 16-year-old boys who still think girls are gross, they got a point, yknow. Don't let one bad argument spoil all the good talks you two have had." He nods toward Philips jacket beside his table. "It's not too late. Go for it, Pip." Pip is his nickname given to him by AJ when he was too little to pronounce Philip, so it stuck. What was AJ talking about, you ask? Well...we'll get to that later.Philip smiled at his brothers. "For a bunch of knuckleheads, you do make some good points...but seriously, thanks you guys. C'mere." The boys reluctantly get up to give their older brother a hug, but after all the man's been through, I guess one hug wouldn't hurt...About an hour or so later, when Eliza was on the verge of getting extremely worried, the girls came back, laughing and each carrying multiple sticks of cotton candy.Eliza sighed. "Oh, thank goodness you're ok! I was getting worried. Where did the cotton candy come from?"The girls started handing out sticks. "The fair is in town and Theo and I stopped to get a treat for everyone." Theo took her stick and stood beside her empty spot in Philip's hospital bed. "This seat taken?"Philip smiled wide. "Sure is. Saving it for the prettiest girl in Harlem." She rolled her eyes and giggled, settling in. "I'm sorry for rushing out like that..."Philip took her hand, "No, I'm sorry for pushing you over the edge. It wasn't right to go off on you like that. I promise, love, I would never hurt you. You are my everything. I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you."Theo smiled. "I love you too Philip". She broke off a piece of her cotton candy and handed it to him. "I was hoping we'd fix this by now...plus, we kinda ran out of money..." He smiled and kissed her cheek, softly whispering in here ear. "We need to have a talk about what you said back there..." Theo's face fell, and she felt anxiety settle in the pit of her stomach. She knew they had to talk about it, but she really didn't want to. At least, not under these circumstances.