The next few days, Alexander found himself calling the 'Chill Barista Hotline.' For a number of reasons why. Maybe he got done with editing early, maybe he had no other jobs, and sad as he was to admit it, maybe he did sort of want someone to talk to.

Alexander sighed, holding the phone in his hands. "I need a hobby," he lamented around the second to third ring. He hid his face in his free hand, feeling his face heat up. It was his life, but he felt embarrassed that he was using it to call someone who probably thought he was unlikable and horrible.

"Hey, Alex," Laurens greeted, "Welcome back to the hotline, anything on your mind?" Alexander felt his heart pound in his chest. He was not prepared, so he focused on his breathing until he knew what to say.

Alexander, acting like he was not breaking down, said, "Yeah, I was wondering if... we could hang out." Every part of his being finally got its shit together just to yell at him about what he was doing. He didn't know why he asked that. It was just on his mind and then it was out of his mouth.

"Oh, really?" Laurens asked. This was his chance to take it back, call it all off. Until Laurens continued, "Don't take that the wrong way, I want to hang out. I do, and my friends already really like you, and it's like woah, how did this happen?" Alexander thought the rambling suited Laurens more than his usual quiet and mysterious demeanor. He then continued with, "Well, I was already planning to hang out with my friends after work, so you can tag along. I get off around five, so you have time to finish up your... whatever you do."

Laurens laughed while Alexander was already scrambling to get ready. First of all, put pants on. That was an essential step, along with buttoning up his coat and tracking down his lost glove. Fortunately, his apartment was small enough so that anything missing wouldn't be for long. Before long, he had everything together and was feeling sharp.

He looked towards his dusting glasses, forgotten on a shelf. He knew he was nearsighted, but apparently more so in one eye. If he closed his right eye, the world blurred as his left eye absolutely sucked at being an eye. Even so, the glasses were only tailored to help one eye, and it hurt to wear for his other. So there they would stay.

Placing his headphones in his ears, he almost forgot that he was still calling Laurens. "Alex, I'm gonna assume you forgot to hang up. Which is all right with me, because I forgot to give you my address. But if you turn out to be a murderer, I'm gonna be one pissed off ghost." Laurens laughed, then supplied his address to an Alexander whom was armed with pen and paper.

There was an awkward silence as Alexander wrote John's address down. Alexander didn't know why, but he felt like something needed to be said. Or else it would be rude to hang up? Maybe, but he wasn't exactly sure that was it.

And then, Laurens said, "Hey, I'm not sure if you're a big drinker, but I just wanted to let you know Lafayette's bringing champagne, wine... Whatever fancy people like him get drunk on."

"That's fine with me," Alexander responded, even though he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol in years. He thought about college, and how stupid he was back then. Finally ready for what was coming, he marched out the door.

Alexander cleared his throat as he stood his ground on the doorsteps to Laurens' house. He didn't question how a minimum wage barista could afford a house until Hercules burst open the door and had him speechless for a few seconds.

"Welcome to the Mulligan, Laurens, and Lafayette household, Alex. Or as I like to call it, the Mulletterens." Hercules said, answered Alexander's irrelevant question. Alexander stepped inside, only getting more nervous when a wave of air conditioning hit him. He hated the experience of entering someone else's home. He just couldn't shake the feeling of how he didn't belong.

All of his feelings aside, his face lit up when he saw Laurens. "Yo, Alex. It's good to see you. Hercules has agreed to be the sober one tonight, so you're free to just go ahead," Laurens rambled, his usual way of being friendly.

"Wait... isn't the sober friend the one that usually drives?" Alexander asked. He had read several works of fiction with that and was sure that was a thing that happened in real life.

Laurens nodded and said, "Yeah, but Hercules is the one who'll make sure we don't jump out of a window again or other equally crazy things." Alexander went to ask but Laurens explained with, "It was a really intense game of tag, Alex." Alexander nodded in slight understanding but mostly confusion.

Lafayette was already on the couch, swirling the wine in his cup. He gave off the image of fancy gentlemen, with the reality that he was already a little tipsy.

"So what's the occasion?" Alexander asked. Giving a polite smile to Hercules, he took the cup of wine that the other offered him.

Hercules explained, "The anniversary of our friendship and all that. We just made it a random day since we all forgot the exact day we met." Alexander sipped out of the glass. The taste was bitter, but it reminded him of cinnamon. So all in all, it wasn't that bad, but maybe it was just because it was his first taste of it. In college, he mostly got drunk off of cheap beers which still left a bad taste in his mouth. Both metaphorically and literally.

Alexander reminded himself that his 'everything is a metaphor' attitude was getting old. His blurred vision was a metaphor for how he didn't have a direction in life. His gloves were a metaphor for anxiety. He was just here to have a good time, not bore everyone to death with philosophical rants. Honestly, he wasn't in some soap opera. There would be no tragic misunderstandings.

"Alex? Alexis? Lex? Snap out of it or I will call you more embarrassing names," Laurens threatened, trying to get Alexander's attention. "We're gonna order some pizza. Hey, are you vegetarian? Because we're getting pepperoni and it'd be awkward if you had nothing... So..."

Alexander realized how hungry he really was. He hadn't eaten any lunch or breakfast today. And he couldn't remember if he even ate dinner last night. He supposed he just got too busy and forgot. "No... it's fine. Just get whatever," Alexander responded. He thought it was a bit odd that Laurens seemed to switch from confident and chill to awkward rambling. He couldn't tell which side he liked better.

Meanwhile, Lafayette and Hercules were talking on the couch. It was very obvious that the two were talking about them, as they would point them out sometimes. Alexander knew he would have to teach them the art of subtlety.

"So what's it like living on your own?" Laurens asked, sneaking glances at Hercules trying to order pizza.

Alexander shrugged, and said, "About what'd you expect. Nobody trying to take your stuff, nobody cooking, and nobody to talk to. It's not that bad if you know how to keep yourself busy." And if he kept himself busy, he found that he didn't focus as much on how godawful he was. But a person like Laurens wouldn't want to hear about how he thought about himself. "It's definitely better than the dorms they provide you in college." That part was the most truthful thing he had said that hour.

"Really? What'd you major in?" Laurens asked him. Alexander only answered with English, but it was enough to get the gears in John's head to start spinning. "I mean, you'll probably think I'm weird, but I think that's really cool... Okay, now I just made it obvious that I haven't been."

Fate must've either been busy before or had gotten sick of their slowly forming friendship, because Alexander was asking, "You haven't been to college?" faster than his train of thought could run. A virtually impossible feat which led to John trying to stutter out an answer.

"Well, I can't exactly afford it," was John's final answer, "It's a long story with a lot of stupid decisions and not-so-happy happenings, but it led to me being a barista in New York." The story in question was a mystery to even Alexander, but now that the question had been raised, he was wondering how Laurens ended up here. But Laurens changed the subject before Alexander could say anything by asking, "Hey, I can't be the only one with a crummy origin story, right?"

And then Alexander blanked. Laurens was close, but not that close enough to hear about storms that washed away entire villages. "Long story?" Alexander offered, "But don't worry, you can hear all about the other horrible things that have happened to the likes of me. Specifically the me after nineteen."

But before telling one of his stories, he goes to refill his wine glass. This happens several times throughout the story, until Alexander is slightly tipsy. Everything seemed the same with him, except for the fact that he couldn't tell when to shut up.

"So then there's this guy in college. His name's Maddie, I think? But I won't call him that anymore because he sucks. He somehow tolerates my longwinded speeches about... whatever," Alexander rambled, "So we're a decent couple two months in, when I hear he's planning to run off with some other dude because they're soulmates. Yeah, big mistake on my part, but I got my satisfaction after mailing him my break-up essay. Needless to say, last time I got into a relationship."

"Ugh, those types of people are the worst," Laurens said. Alexander couldn't really tell if he was drunk, but it seemed he was from the sheer amount he was consuming. "How long was the essay? A couple of pages?"

Alexander tilted his glass as he answered weakly with, "Ten pages. Broke two pencils while writing it." He had no idea why he remembered all of this, but he knew that memory was the beginning of the end for him. It led to a glove-wearing, self-deprecating person sitting on couch next to an equally awkward Laurens.

"So you really think the soulmate system is awful?" Laurens guessed.

Alexander froze and somehow managed to get out a, "Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, um... Not at all," Laurens answered, "I just think that the system only really works when you wait for fate to do its job."

Alexander sighed. He knew Laurens was right, he just hated how complicated it was. Couldn't fate just have his soulmate randomly bump into him on the street instead of him having to do everything? His only response was, "Well, if fate's listening... I'm not getting any younger here."

"Yeah, it's hard being friends with the couple that found out they were soulmates at five," Laurens said, referring to Hercules and Lafayette. "Talk about bragging rights on the playground."

Alexander only asked in return if Laurens was okay. The only response he got was Laurens' head finding its place on his shoulder. Fortunately, Alexander hadn't forgotten his coat.

Unfortunately, he couldn't remember anything pass that point besides Laurens asking, "Did you see that?" and jolting up in surprise. Alexander jumped too, probably because of Laurens' sudden movement. He then answered that he didn't see anything and promptly passed out.

Apparently he was a lightweight. Who knew?