Chapter 17: Another Round Tonight

It was another rowdy Friday night for Alex as October 15 faded away and turned into October 16. He sat where he always did, surrounded by his friends. Even Aaron was here today, sipping on some non-alcoholic beverage in the corner and reading a book.

"You know, Alex, I'm so glad that I got to meet you." John drunkenly slung an arm across Alex's shoulders and looked directly into his eyes.

"Yeah… I'm glad I got to meet you, too." Ordinarily, Alex didn't really enjoy getting touched by people. People only made physical contact with him while bad things were happening. Yet somehow, John's touch was different. It was comforting. It made him feel safe, for the first time since his mother died.

"Our dear professeur Washington, he does not joke," Lafayette mentioned as he took another shot. "I feel as though half the work I do is related to his class."

"You think YOU have a lot of work? Man, are you kidding yourself?" Hercules let out one of those big, body-shaking laughs that he always seemed to enjoy.

It was strange, sometimes, to remember that Hercules was a junior. It would only be two years until he graduated. Yet, for whatever reason, he'd gravitated to a bunch of freshmen. Go figure.

Alex glanced out the window, John's arm still at his side, and saw a familiar figure standing there. Despite it being cast in shadow, Alex could still instantly recognize it, and he could still tell that it was looking at him. Watching him. Judging him, almost.

"I… gotta go outside. Get some air," Alex gasped. He flung John's arm off him, put his half-filled glass on the table, and stumbled out the door of Sam Adams.

His three friends watched him go, then shrugged and continued with their drinking.

As Alex fumbled his way out of the bar, Eliza entered it. So distracted was Alex that he didn't even notice her, passing within a foot of the love of his life and not giving her a single word.

This didn't seem to bother Eliza too much, who sent him a fleeting smile before walking in and waving at her other friends.

"Hey, guys." She slid her way into the empty seat Alex had vacated.

"Hey, 'Liza." John tilted his head and squinted, as though he wasn't capable of seeing a person sitting not more than five feet away from him.

"Hi, John. How's things?"

"Good, good." John rubbed at his eye.

"Is it really? You seem a little down."

Dammit. Was she a mind-reader or something? How else could she know how shitty he felt?

"He-" John coughed. He'd consumed large amounts of alcohol before, but this amount tonight felt like far too much. "He really loves you, you know."

"Alex, right?"

"Yeah…"

Eliza turned to look at him, now a shadow standing outside. "Why do you care so much?"

"He's my…" John seemed to think about the question for a moment. "He's my friend."

"Isn't he that to everyone?"

"Do you like him?"

Eliza drew into herself a bit. "That's a personal question."

"C'mon, 'Liza. You can tell me." He opened his eyes as wide as he could. Hercules had once mentioned that he looked like a begging puppy dog. It was worth a shot now. "We're basically siblings. You can tell me anything."

She sighed. "I…"

Before she could say more than one word of her sentence, Alex blew back into the place and made his way over to his table.

"Could I have my seat back?" he asked, evidently still too distracted to notice who he was talking to.

"Of course," Eliza replied, smiling sweetly as she got up, dusted herself off a bit, and left.

Alex sat down, hard, and stared at the woodwork of the table. After ten whole seconds of doing so and not acknowledging anybody else, he looked up, his eyes wide as realization dawned on him.

"That… who I just asked to get out… that was…"

"Alex, I think you've had too much to drink." Hercules snatched the shot in front of his friend away, barely able to avoid exploding into a laughing fit.

"I was so rude!" Alex shouted angrily. Several people around turned to look at him strangely. "What the heck am I doing?"

"She doesn't seem too upset," John pointed out.

"Of course she doesn't seem upset. She never acts like she's upset with anyone. She's that nice."

"How would you even know that?"

"Ask Burr!" Alex did not lower his voice as he dramatically pointed to the boy, still in the corner, reading.

John, Lafayette, and Hercules just shook their heads.

"My friend, if you need some tips, I can always help," Lafayette offered, wiggling his eyebrows. "Everybody knows that the French are the best at making love."

"Uh…" Alex seemed to spend about twenty seconds trying to think about what Lafayette just said. "Maybe," he finally responded.

"You know the Schyulers are hosting a big-ass party this Halloween?" Hercules asked. "You ought to come. I'm sure I could score you an invite."

"Halloween? Isn't that, like, for little kids?" Alex's experience with holidays had been rather brief during his childhood, to say the least.

"Are you joking? Us college students have the biggest Halloweens out of anyone!" John whooped.

Alex blinked, and tried to think about it. Was that really how things were, over here in the States? He'd been here for a month, but there were still things he had to learn about this place.

"I don't… I don't think I should go."

"What? Why not?" John asked, pretending to be dissapointed.

"And by the way, who were you talking to outside?" Hercules asked.

Alex shook his head, as though there was something inside of it he was trying to dislodge. "It's unimportant. I just… I can't go."

"Aw, man." Hercules was genuinely upset by this.

Lafayette leaned forward. "Alex, petite lion. If you cannot come to this one, at least come to the next one. It shall be during winter."

"But I'm gonna have a ton of work by then…"

"You gotta come, man!" John said, smiling unhappily at what he was forcing himself to do.

Alex sighed. "Fine," he muttered at long last. "I'll come. Ok?"

"Eyyy!" his three tablemates replied.

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