"I… I'm going to kill you both."
Angelica's words repeated themselves in our ears as we ran, dodging street vendors and bicyclists. A glance was thrown over our shoulders every so often to make sure she hadn't caught up with us.
"We're going to die!" Alex shouted ahead of me, his body coursing through the oncoming crowds.
I followed closely behind at an equal pace, eager to find a safe resting place. I kept my eyes on his bouncing brown locks that were up in a ponytail, sucking in deep breaths to keep my lungs from exploding.
"I know!" I yelled back, nearly knocking into a young woman holding groceries.
"Watch it, idiot!" She screamed as I whizzed by.
"I'm sorry!"
We made it around the corner before our exhaustion hit us. Alex came to a stop right around the block, leaning against the side of the AT&T store. He gasped for air, gulping in as much as he could, as I did the same. I put my back against the wall, taking my place beside him, and slid onto the ground. My butt hit the pavement, and my eyes closed as I groaned and rubbed my face.
"Remind me again why we decided to tell her in person?" I asked through my hands, which covered my face from the beating sun.
"I, uh… I thought it would lessen her anger if she saw how cute and happy we are?" Alex bashfully answered. "Guess I was wrong, huh?"
"Yeah, no shit, babe." I muttered, grinning at his laugh.
"Boys?" A soft feminine voice voiced behind us.
We whipped around, ready to run if need be. Alex heaved a sigh of relief as he recognized the speaker.
"Eliza!" We shouted in unison. She giggled at our exclamation, bringing a hand up to over her smile. She was dressed in one of her powder-blue sundresses, a stark contrast to her Navy blue flats. Her raven hair was tied back in a bun, ringlets framing her face.
"Oh, god, we're happy to see you right now." I coughed, still recovering from our sprint. I hastily got up from my seat on the ground.
She stepped forward into my open arms, and we warmly embraced. We pulled away with smiles, and she hugged Alex with the same familiarity. They parted and Eliza turned to me with furrowed brows.
"Why do you guys look like you just ran a marathon?" She asked, squinting her eyes in suspicion. Alex and I exchanged looks before he answered.
"So, uh, we told Angelica… something, and she kinda got pissed at us." He awkwardly explained, scuffing the ground with his foot.
She tilted her head. "What could you've told her that would've made her mad enough to actually get you guys to run?"
"Hey! We're athletic." Alex indignantly claimed, crossing his arms and huffing.
"Sure, dear." She indulgingly nodded, looking at me for an actual answer.
"So, okay, just hear us out?" I took a breath, staring into her deep brown eyes. "And don't be mad?"
"Okay…"
"I proposed to Alex like three days ago." I started.
She gasped, covering her face with both hands in shock.
"And he said yes."
"OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS ARE ENGAGED!" She screeched, flinging herself onto us. Alex was taken under her left arm while I got pulled under her other one, and we smiled at each other over her head while she cried into our shoulders.
"I'm so happy for you two! Oh, god, I'm so proud of my babies." She sniffled into our shirts, gulping air as she fluctuated between crying and praising us. "Oh, gosh, you guys are going to get married!"
"Okay, okay, dear, that's it, let… let us go." I muttered into her hair, slightly pulling away.
"Yeah, of course, oh my…" She mumbled, wiping tears from her face as she stepped back from us. We both kept a hand on each of her shoulders, just to make sure she wouldn't get hurt if she fainted from the news. "You guys. I love you so much." She whimpered, looking at us with proud mother eyes.
"We know, dear." I softly assured.
"Ugh, I have to go…" She grimaced, and wiped her tear-stained cheeks before smiling at us. "I have a meeting with daddy about my last semester."
"Oooh, we're gonna get to call you a college graduate soon!" Alex gushed, beaming at her.
"Oh, right back at you, kids!" She shot back, grinning. We waved and she headed off down the sidewalk.
"Oh, lord, that went a lot better than it did with Ange." I breathed, smiling at Alex. He nodded, and glanced around a few times.
"Yeah, where do you think she is, by the way?" He questioned, linking his hand with mine as he looked around the street. "I doubt we lost her, she's probably just scoping us out like prey, ready to just pounce and seriously maim u-"
"There you are!" A sharp voice hit us with a wave of fear.
We froze, our blood running cold as our breathing became labored.
"What… What do we do?" Alex shakily whispered, his brown eyes darkening as they darted around for a way out of the coming confrontation.
"Nothing, oh, god, we can't do anything…" I mumbled, my vision slightly blurring as fear overtook me. "She's too close."
"John Henry Laurens and Alexander Hamilton!" Angelica hissed from a few feet behind us, causing us to slowly turn around and face her.
"….Heyyyyyy, Ange." Alex nervously smiled at her, his skin paling at her tightly-pursed lips. She stood with her arms folded across her chest, blocking the words on her Navy-issue tee. Her frizzy black hair was pulled back in a high pony-tail, accentuating her facial features in an evil-queen kind of way. Her top lip fidgeted up, as if she was ready to spit acid on us.
"What the hell did you just say to me?" She gritted out, her deep auburn eyes steadily switching between glaring at me and Alex. "It better have been an apology for doing a life-changing thing and not telling me. Even though it happened three-fucking-days ago, right?"
We solemnly nodded our heads, studiously studying the ground as she scolded us.
"You know how long we've all known each other, yeah?" She undid her arms and planted the on her hips, sighing before furrowing her brows at us. "Eight years. We've all been friends for eight years, and I'm practically your big sister, and I love you guys."
"We love you, too, Ange." I softly replied, a hint of a smile on my lips. "And we're so sorry we didn't tell you right away, it's just… I don't even know, we got so sidetracked by happiness and thinking of the future, our future-" I gestured to Alex. "-That we forgot to tell anyone. Today is honestly the first day we've started to tell people, and you were the first person we tried. We haven't even told our parents."
"Yeah, George and Martha are gonna be pissed that I never told them…" Alex added, wincing at the thought of telling his foster-parents such big news after three days.
She looked between the two of us, deliberating her response before quietly sighing. "Alright, I'm not mad anymore, I understand. I'm really happy for you guys."
She stepped forward and locked me in a back-breaking hug. "If you hurt my brother, I will tear you limb from limb and force-feed you your smoothied flesh." She murmured into my ear, kissing me on the cheek as she pulled away.
Alex wrapped his arms around her, happy that she wasn't mad anymore. She leaned into him, brushing her lips against his ear. "If you break my brother's heart, I'll burn all your writing and guarantee you never write again, or walk."
She happily chuckled when she stepped back, watching the two boys gently pull each other close and link their arms to assure neither would throw up.
"I'm scared." Alex mumbled into my ear, before straightening up and smiling at Angelica. I shakily nodded, holding on tightly to his arm.
"Okay, boys, I've gotta fly! I have new recruits coming in around noon, and it's already eleven, so I'd better skedaddle to the base. Love you, and congrats!" She perkily waved, and walked around us, strolling back down the sidewalk until we couldn't see her anymore.
"Oh, lord." We muttered in unison, breathily laughing as we internally celebrated surviving that conversation.
"She threatened my writing and walking abilities!" Alexander exhaled, looking like the Joker as he grinned in spite of the very-real promise.
"That's it? She threatened to tear my limbs off and turn them into a smoothie, then force-feed it to me!" I huffed.
He chuckled at our different threats, and a soft bing went off and I felt my phone vibrate for a second in my pants pocket.
I pulled it out and checked the new message.
The Pegster
Hey guys! I'm throwing a little get-together at my place to celebrate whatever the hell you can drink to, it's tonight at seven and I want everyone to be there! Be sure to bring a smile and any news or drama we can happily get drunk to. 3
"Who is it?" Alex asked.
"It's Peggy, she's throwing a little party tonight and wants us to come with, quote, 'any news or drama we can happily get drunk to,' unquote. Should we just announce it there?"
"Oh, god, yeah, that'd be perfect! Everyone's gonna be there, we'll have booze, and they have enough space we can hide if need be."
"I agree, it'll be nice letting almost everyone know at once." I decided, nodding with a grin at our new plan.
"How about we go home, have a nice lunch, and then plan it out more before tonight?" Alex suggested, lifting a brow.
"Mm, that sounds wonderful." I leaned over and softly planted a kiss on his forehead. Hand in hand, we walked the four blocks back to our cozy apartment.
"What do you think about bringing something, like a box of cookies? Martha taught me never to show up empty-handed as a guest." Alex proposed, setting his mug down on the coffee table and sitting beside me on our couch. I hummed a 'yes', sipping from my slightly steaming mug of tea.
"I just want this to go as well as it possibly can, you know? It already went pretty well with two people, but we still have a lot to tell. There's no telling how some of them might react…" He pondered for a moment, staring into his coffee as he leaned forward placing his elbows on his knees. "Should we omit the part where it happened three days ago?"
"Uhh, I'm not sure." I put my tea down next to his mug, leaning back and interlocking my fingers behind my head. "We could, but Eliza and Ange already know and the latter would most definitely point it out if we didn't mention it."
"Ugh, true." He agreed, lifting his mug to his lips.
"Maybe we could just say it. No crazy story, just kinda see how it goes with the truth." I shrugged my shoulders, and smiled at him. "It'd definitely be less stressful than trying to figure out another way to create a good reaction with some insane thing, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"So let's enjoy our drinks, finish this episode of Black Mirror, and take a nap for a few hours. Then we'll be going into this party at least a bit content, okay, babe?" I nudged his foot with mine, shooting him a smirk and a wink.
"Okay." He grinned, raising his drink.
I picked mine off the table and copied his movement. "To us."
"To us."
And we drank.
A/N: Oh, well, hello there. :) Unexpected chapter, right? I keep getting bits and pieces for this story, so I'm still working on it, and there'll be a few more chapters coming up but I'm not sure when. I hope you guys enjoyed this one, though, and please drop a review/like/favorite/puppy in my lap/icecream carton/I'm getting off track... Thanks for reading!