Thanks for all the love on chapter one, it means the world to me! This chapter has quite a few different plot lines so bear with me, it'll all come together. Anyways, enjoy! (Also the spacing seems wonky to me but whatevs.
It was 9:45 in the morning when Philip left John Jay to make the trek to see Theo. The harsh cold of the New York morning led Philip to duck into the coffee shop that him and Theo had been in the night before, only to be greeted by another familiar face.
"Look everyone, it's New York's most desirable bachelor, Philip Hamilton!"
Philip blushed and smiled at the crowd of people who were sitting in the coffee shop. He walked up to the counter and smacked the barista's arm.
"God Jelly, why'd you have to do that?", Philip groaned.
"Because you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend. And I get a thrill from embarrassing you."
Angelica Hamilton was one of the only people known to not take shit from her older brother. Since both of them could remember, Angelica had always kept Philip in line, something their mother was grateful for when she was chasing after their younger siblings. Philip, for the most part, listened to Angelica, but quickly came up with the nickname Jelly to provoke outrage in his little sister. Eventually the name stuck and Angelica didn't mind one bit when her brother would call her by the once hated nickname, now seeing it as a term of endearment from her favorite older brother.
"You want the usual?", Angelica asked as she looked up at Philip.
"Yeah and a caramel latte.", Angelica furrowed her brows at her brother, her confused face almost begging for an explanation. "For Theo."
"Wait, I thought she was engaged?", Angelica asked as she rang up the drinks and took the cash in Philip's outstretched hands.
"Well I'm going over to her dorm to see her now so I guess we can sort all of that out.", Philip ran a hand through his curls then turned to his sister. "I like her. I like her a lot."
"Well," Angelica handed the two coffees to Philip and smiled. "I guess you'll have to use the old Hamilton charm to win her over. Just remember, it took dad a year to convince mom to go on a date with him."
"Yeah yeah. Thanks Jelly.", Philip leaned over the counter and kissed his sister's cheek before heading back out the door and towards Theo's dorm.
"Marty turn your alarm off, it's annoying the shit out of me.", Theo groaned as she tried to curl into her blankets and go back to bed.
When she didn't get a response, Theodosia sat up in bed and realized that Marty was already in class and that the annoying sound in her dorm room was someone knocking on her door.
"Oh shit.", Theo jumped up and quickly opened the door, meeting the face of Philip Hamilton, who gave her appearance a one over and let out a laugh.
Theodosia's hair was tied up in a messy bun that had been thrown to the side during the night. She sported a pair of black running shorts and a 'Washington High School Varsity Track' t-shirt, all giving the impression that she was not expecting visitors.
"This is a good look for you Theo.", Philip chuckled as he handed her one of the coffees in his hand. "May I come in, my lady?"
"Of course Philip.", Theo smiled and stepped aside as Philip walked in. "Sorry about my appearance, I was up studying and I forgot to set my alarm. And to make matters worse, my Lit class got cancelled for the day so my studying was all for nothing."
"It's all good, you still look wonderful. I mean- I uh, you know-"
While she thought his talkative nature was hilarious, Theo couldn't help but be flattered by Philip's words. Even though they had been dating for awhile, Joe never seemed to throw any compliments Theo's way. For instance, when they attended a state dinner with her father and she had bought an expensive ball gown, Joe's only words on it were that she 'looked nice'. Meanwhile, almost every man they came across during the dinner complimented her dress while Joe stood to the side texting all night.
Theo let a giggle escape as she watched Philip continue to trip over his words. A grin took shape on Philip's face as he heard the girlish giggle emitting from Theo's lips, relieving him of his embarrassment.
"So… that article was pretty crazy huh?", Theo slid the question onto the table as casually as she could. "Just so you know, I'm not engaged."
"Oh thank god.", Philip breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words 'not engaged'. "Cause I like you a lot Theo, I mean not 'like like' but I wanna hang out with you and be friends and-"
"Philip, I get it.", Theo set her hand on top of Philip's to stop him from rambling. "I like you too and I hope that we can still be friends despite what the press might think or even what our fathers will say. It's nice to have a familiar face in such a large town."
Philip's eyes lit up as the two met the other's stare and he couldn't help but take notice of Theo's features for what felt like the first time. Her rounded face that jutted out slightly at her chin, the broad smile that was encompassed by her plump, rosy lips, her slim almond shaped eyes with their brown color so dark that it gave them the appearance of being black, and Philip's favorite feature of Theo's: her hair. Even tied up in a bun, a few stray curls fell down from their , the coffee colored strands perfectly framing her face.
Philip cautiously lifted his hand up to Theo's face, taking one of her curls and pushing it away from her face. Theo's eyes met Philip's again as the two sat in silence, both waiting for something, anything, to happen.
"Hey Theo look who I found in the- oh!", Philip and Theo both jumped apart at the sound of Marty's voice at the door. Both of them turned towards Marty to find someone standing behind her.
"Joe! Hi!", Theo jumped off her bed and stood next to Marty. "I didn't know you were coming by today."
"I decided to drop in.", Joe said coolly. "Who's this?"
Philip joined the group and plastered as much of a smile as he could muster onto his face. The two were complete opposites, Philip being a few inches taller and Joe being more slim. Joe's neatly slicked blonde hair and shining blue eyes were so different from his that it put Philip off for a moment as the man looked at him with a blank stare.
"Philip Hamilton, nice to meet you.", Philip outstretched his hand, which Joe decided to ignore.
"And I'm Marty Jefferson!", Marty eagerly shook Philip's hand, as if it was less embarrassing for the poor guy.
"Jefferson? Aren't you George's cousin?", Philip diverted his attention from Joe to Marty.
"Unfortunately. Sorry you have the misfortune to know George.", Marty's voice came almost as a groan as she sat down at her desk.
"Philip, this is my, uh, boyfriend, Joe Alston."
"Nice to meet you Joe.", Philip nodded his head at the man, who continued to ignore him.
"Can you guys take whatever's about to happen somewhere else? I have to study for calc.", Philip and Theo both turned to look at Marty, who looked more than annoyed at the situation brewing in front of her.
"I have class anyways, so I'm heading out.", Philip turned back to Theo and smiled slightly. "I'll see you around?"
"Most definitely. Bye Philip, thanks for the coffee.", Theo smiled widely at him as he walked out of her dorm.
Philip walked as briskly as he could out of Theo's dorm and reached the chilly air of New York much faster than he would've liked to. As he started towards his first class of the day, Philip's phone rang. A groan escaped his mouth as he answered the call.
"Hel-"
"Philip John Hamilton you better have a damn good explanation for this god awful post from Buzzfeed that I'm reading or so help me-", the loud and argumentative voice of Alexander Hamilton floated through Philip's phone, disrupting his day far too early for his liking.
"Alexander give him a break! He's only 19, it's not like he means to do these things."
"Eliza please, our son cannot marry a Burr. Could you imagine being related to AARON BURR?!"
"Dad I-"
"Oh it wouldn't be the end of the world, Alex. He's a nice guy deep down."
"Mom please don't-"
"A NICE GUY? You think that our future in law is a NICE GUY? After the absolute BULL SHIT he pulled with the legislation for the-"
Philip quickly hung his phone up and continued walking to his class, trying to put the fact that his parents thought he was going to marry Theo out of his mind.
"What a tool.", Theo frowned at Joe as he made a snarky remark about Philip. She shut the door and sauntered over to where Joe stood by her bed. "Why are you hanging out with him?"
"We're childhood friends, Joe. I've known him since I was born and I happened to run into him yesterday."
"Well I don't like the guy, he's annoying and I don't want you hanging out with him."
"Excuse me?", Theo turned to Joe, who seemed uninterested as he stared at his phone.
"Okay well I'll be in the library.", Marty quickly stood up and left the room.
"Joe, you can't just tell me who I can and can't hang out with. I'm my own woman, I can choose who I associate with."
"Well you're gonna have to choose then Theodosia, it's that simple.", Joe rolled his eyes at Theo, as if the ultimatum was the most obvious thing in the world.
In the year that they had dated, Theo had seen the real side of Joe come out of the woodwork slowly but surely. He had started as cool and collected, saying everything that Theo had wanted to hear, but gradually he had become cold and distant, only using Theo as an accessory to his social events.
"I'm not going to choose between you and an old friend who I reunited with yesterday, that's absolutely ridiculous.", Theo paused as she looked at Joe. "Are you jealous?"
"Of that ragamuffin?", Joe scoffed at Theo's question. "Please, like you would ever choose him over me."
"Who do you think you are? Bossing me around, telling me how I should think?", Theo got into Joe's face as she argued her point. "If you think I'm gonna stand for this, you're sorely mistaken Joseph Alston."
"Oh please I-"
"Get out of my room. Now."