Hamilton One Shots

Champagne

Requested by: Anonymous

"You closing the shop up for the night?"

Alexander almost lost his balance at the sudden interruption of silence. He hadn't expected anyone to stop by the coffee shop at such an hour in the evening. It barely read eleven on the clock, but he knew it'd be best to let whoever it was do their thing.

Picking up the damp towel from the counter, he observed the figure in the doorway. His heart rapidly began to pick up its pace again, and a cheeky smile spread across his face when he recognized the person. "Eliza, hey."

That last word lingered in the air for a few seconds too long. It sounded hopeful and yet completely heartbroken. Alexander sighed to himself. "I should have closed the shop down about an hour ago, but it's just-"

Eliza practically skipped to his side to comfort him. She had something cradled in her arm, which he barely caught sight of, before she wrapped him in a tight embrace. He accepted it, letting his heart do the work for him, and trying not to crumble into tears.

Though he tried to fight off the urge to shed every single emotion he'd been holding in for the past week, and she sensed it. "You're shaking," she suddenly murmured senselessly against the side of his face. Alexander pushed away.

"I-I'm fine." He ignored her concerned looks and attempted to start another bit of conversation. She moved quicker on her feet and swiftly picked up the item.

"You're leaving tomorrow, and I wanted to leave you with a reminder of us." Eliza fumbled with the paper covering her gift to him and let him watch eagerly as it revealed itself. "I owe you a bottle of champagne," she declared, lifting the unwrapped cold bottle towards him.

Alexander could feel his jaw drop. "No!" He snatched it out of her hand playfully and she laughed. The texture and smell of it was authentic, and he already knew the taste.

"Yeah, it's cold champagne!" Eliza momentarily stood in the middle of the coffee shop beaming at him before she snapped out of it. "Let's call it a date! I'm sure this place has cups and-"

She strode past him in the direction of one of the shelves, but he bumped into her as he tried to get the champagne opened. The two of them didn't exchange any words, just gave one another a look and went on silently to find the essentials for their champagne date.

Eliza realized, while looking at the boy she'd known for most of her life, the night could be made with or without champagne. "You've been the sweetest person in all the years I've known you. I don't know how to repay you for that, Alex." She stepped forward, but only received a grunt and a simple phrase.

"How do you get this gold shit off?"

"Listen," she insisted, grabbing his attention only a little the moment her hand moved his off the champagne bottle. "We're both leaving town tomorrow, and I just want to spend the last couple of moments here with you."

If he had been more focused on his heart in the moment, not on his mind, Alexander would have looked up and begged to spend every last second with her. But he was too determined to open that bottle of champagne.

"This damn champagne," he grumbled under his breath, twisting the broken screw, and trying to impress her. That goddamn cork wouldn't pop and it was making him wish that flight out of his hometown would come sooner.

Eliza chuckled. "Drop the champagne," she politely interjected. His strength overpowered hers as he insisted that she had gone all that way to get it, so the bottle should be opened. It essentially ended in an argument with the bottle of champagne on the counter.

"Sorry, it's been a long day," Alexander murmured finally, rubbing his eyes. He hoped that hadn't just screwed up everything for the two of them. Tomorrow he would be boarding the plane to fly to where he desired to be.

All he wanted in that moment was to make her remember him as someone other than the foolish guy selling coffee and dreaming too big.

After a long silence passed between them, she managed to utter, "You ought to stay."

"What?" He already felt tired enough, and she wasn't helping with such nonsense. Without letting him speak any further, her tongue began to work at its own pace, saying how he could use the money invested towards his future away from there to fix the coffee shop.

God, she's irresistible, but how can she say that? Alexander looked up at the ceiling. "Very funny, but I'm leaving tomorrow." He turned around to go back to clean the counter, assuming their little date was over.

"Your vacation can wait!" She snapped him back to face her, and her eyes said it all. Filled with frustration and regret, Eliza couldn't have felt more in control, but at the same time, so incredibly small and insignificant.

Breathlessly tugging at his arm, bringing him closer to her, she shouted, "Take the train with me uptown, I'll-" He looked frightened of her and shocked. She knew it was not her place to tell him what path to travel, but she wouldn't allow herself to ignore her heart.

"Eliza, I don't know why you're mad at me!"

She could swear at him and tell him it was the worst goddamn decision he's ever made. She could collapse in his arms and let him know without words what she'd been waiting to say.

Or she could do something that would convince him to stay in one last leap of faith.

Alexander didn't know what happened within those couple of seconds, but all he knew was that all of a sudden his lips were locked with hers. His hands fumbled for dominance as he gripped her back, holding her tighter, never wanting the kiss to end.

In all the years he lived in that town, he hadn't expected to end it by kissing his crush. Damn, he thought, trying to situate himself against the corner, daring to go a step further-

Eliza tore herself from his body. She delicately placed a hand on her mouth, and Alexander noticed tears falling down her cheeks. He reached out to touch her, but received the rejection that she gave him instead.

"I'm just too late," she murmured breathlessly, giving him one final look, and headed out the door of the coffee shop. Alexander watched her go and waited until she was far enough away to slide down to the floor and let his emotions flow freely from his heart to the empty shop.

He knew leaving couldn't possibly be an option now. He couldn't do that to Eliza, now knowing how she really felt about him. As always she had left him conflicted with himself, and this time he didn't know what to do at all.

The bottle of champagne still silently awaited to be put to use on the counter, and Alexander reached up and grabbed it reluctantly. To his surprise, the cap popped right off into his hand after all the effort and sweat earlier. With a smug grin, he drunk down half of it in one swig carelessly.

For now, it seemed he could just drink away his problems and heartbroken thoughts. "Hell of a kiss while it lasted," he solemnly said before heaving himself up and continuing to wipe off the counter and his never resting mind.

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A/N: This was a wildly requested one shot, anything relating to In The Heights pretty much. So here's a little inspired modern Champagne idea between Alexander and Eliza. Short, but sweet! Thank you all for 120k reads by the way, that's an insane number, and I'm so grateful to have so many supportive readers. You all are wonderful, love you so much.