Favorable (Jamilton)

31. Laurens

As horrible as it sounds, John could not care less about kidnappings. Don't get him wrong, they were horrible and the victims were probably scared out of their minds, but he couldn't bring himself to care too much. Maybe a thirty second "oh no, how terrible!" while he was folding laundry or something, but he didn't want to go out and go on a search and rescue mission, especially not with winter closing in. 

Again, it sounded horrible, and John hated that he didn't want to go out and look, but he tried to care more than he did. It never worked. 

While everyone was traveling in packs, keeping multiple people by their side at a time, John was walking down streets and sidewalks with absolutely no one. There were times where his destination wasn't too out of the way of his friends' so Herc and Laf would insist on the power in numbers and walk with him.

John appreciated them looking out for him, but most of the time he wanted them to take their cute relationship somewhere else. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was definitely jealous of what they had. They were best friends before anything and they still got to be together in the end. Even if it didn't work out between them, Laurens had no doubt that they'd go back to being best friends like nothing ever even happened. 

That's exactly what he couldn't have. 

Yes, he wanted Hamilton. 

Yes, he was sad that Hamilton didn't want him.

No, that didn't mean he was going to sabotage the relationship that Hamilton wanted. 

No, he wasn't going to completely cut his friend out of his life to avoid Jefferson.

It would take some getting used to, obviously, but Laurens was more than willing to forgive Thomas to make Alexander happy. He wouldn't do anything to hurt Alex unless he found out something that would change his entire opinion of him. He doubted that would happen though. 

Laurens sighed and leaned on the counter at the cafe. It was unsurprisingly empty, considering the new curfew and the campus-wide fear of being kidnapped. He didn't get many sit-in customers since the kidnappings were made public and warnings were put up. That didn't matter, though. Alexander and Thomas would come to keep him company most of the time. Over break, he had to deal with having almost no one to talk to. The only person that didn't go home for the holidays was Lafayette, and that's only because he didn't celebrate, to begin with.

Now, though, he was sitting and waiting for yet another closing shift to end. At seven forty-five, he decided that no one else was coming so he started to clean up. As soon as he started wiping things down, the door opened and he saw a woman walk up to him. 

"Sorry, ma'am, we're actually closing up," he muttered without looking up, spraying down another table. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were still open. . ." John looked up when he heard a sniffle. He set his cleaning products down and went over to the crying woman. He pulled out a chair and sat her down. He recognized her voice as the girl that helped him get the job, so naturally, he felt the need to help her in return.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he went to flip the sign before sitting in front of her. 

"I just needed to go somewhere. My boyfriend, he just-- he just left and I don't know what to do. I mean he wasn't that great a person and I should be happy that he's gone but I just. . . I'm sorry, you don't want to hear about all my problems, I'll just go before I drag into a pit of depression," she sighed. She wiped her tears and stood up from her chair so suddenly it almost knocked John off his chair. She started walking toward the door. 

"Wait!" John yelled, getting up after her. "You just seem really upset. . . Maybe I could walk you home? 

"I would appreciate that." The woman smiled. She held out her hand for a handshake. "Maria Lewis."