Lift // Hamliza

• chapter 50 •

• Eliza •

Life without having Alexander around all the time isn't the same. None of us say anything about it, but we all know it's true. I wouldn't be lying if I said the topic of his cancer and whether or not he'd survive, was the elephant in the room that no one wanted to mention.

Texting him quickly to check in, I sat down at our lunch table with a sigh. Peggy and John were sitting across from me, talking and laughing. Angie is talking to Laf in French about something, and Hercules is in the lunch line getting food.

I can tell all of them are walking on thin ice around me. It's clear that they're not only worried about how I'm dealing with Alex's situation, but also about our relationship. I shudder as I thought back to the day we went back to school after break, how they all knew. Angie and Peggy had already done their yelling a few days prior, but I hadn't heard from any of the boys at that point. My thoughts and memories of the day began to pull me in and I pictured it all in my head.

I carefully and gently sat down at the table, not wanting anyone to know I was there. I knew they all knew and I was afraid of what they'd say. All I could hope was that they wouldn't yell at me like Angelica and Peggy did.

"Eliza." John had said coldly. I forced myself to look up from my tray and meet his eyes.

"Hi, John." I mumbled, pushing the salad on the tray with my fork. He scowled and stood up, motioning for me to come with him. I felt my hands trembling as I set the fork down, walking out of the cafeteria with him.

"I'm going to be blunt here, because we both know why I told you to come here and why everyone is pissed at you. I know you cheated on him. First off, how could you? And second, I'm not even going to ask if you want to explain yourself, because you're going to." He snarled. I looked away, forcing my tears to not fall. He had all the reason to be mad at me, I shouldn't cry about it.

"I'm sorry. I don't even know why I did it, I just... I don't know. As for explaining myself, it started when Maria kissed me. She said she didn't mean to but I wanted to do it again and I don't know why, but I just kept going. I really messed up... and I feel... there's no way for me to describe it. It's like, horrible times five hundred. I feel so bad because I know how bad I hurt him." I had mumbled. John shook his head.

"Oh, you hurt him bad. He called me and Peggy to come see him when he found out and he sobbed on and off for hours. He thought we were just being his friends because we pitied him, that's how bad you hurt him. Not only did you ruin a relationship, you ruined his self esteem." He laughed humorlessly. I apologized again and John shook his head.

"I'll accept that when he does." Was all he had said. I understood, knowing Alex had told him about his plan for forgiveness.

I snapped out of my thoughts when someone sat down next to me. Usually no one sat there, it was honorarily Alex's. John and Peggy and André all sat on one side of the table, then Angie, Laf and Herc on my side with me on the end. Alex used to be on the end but now there's just an empty spot.

I looked up to see none other than Thomas Jefferson. I internally panicked, remembering when he and Alex fought at the restaurant and how he caused Alex's cutting relapse and when he called me a "secretly suicidal bitch".

"What are you doing here?" I said, forcing my anger and fear out of my voice. I noticed James Madison next to André and became even more confused.

"Um, it's a long story but I wanted to say I'm sorry to all of you. And Alex said we could sit with you guys, so..." Thomas said. James nodded in agreement and I squinted at them. Since when did Alex like Thomas and James? They've always had a mutual hate for each other, what was going on?

"Is this some trick so you can get all out secrets and then 'expose' us?" Angelica said, interjecting into the conversation. Jefferson shook his head but none of us were convinced.

"I'll call Alex..." I said, standing up to walk out of the lunchroom.

Usually if someone came to us with an apology and asking for forgiveness, wanting to become our friend, I would say absolutely. But Jefferson and Madison? It was all just weird to me. Since when did they care about us, or vice versa? All they did was bully us!

Alex picked up the phone after it rang four times.

"Hello?" He said weakly. As time went on his treatment was getting harder on him. He slept over half the day and could barely eat without being sick. I cringed internally, realizing I probably woke him up.

"Hey, it's me. Did I wake you up?" I asked gently. I knew he kept his call volume all the way down because loud noises made his headaches worse, but sometimes there were still instances where speaking too loud would hurt him.

I heard him draw in a deep breath and sigh.

"Yeah, but it's alright. What going on?" He asked.

"Whats going on with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison?" I asked in confusion. He chuckled slightly from the other side of the line.

"Long story short, I'm on this forgiveness mission type thing and I forgave Thomas and he realized how terrible he was to everyone, so I'm giving him a chance to change. I told him that James and him could sit at our table. Is that alright?" He explained. In all honesty, I was surprised with it all.

Alex has a fiery temper and so does Jefferson, which is part of the reason they clash so much. But now they're both willing to put that in the past? It was a shocker, but it made me happy to see both of them changing for the better. I smiled to myself and answered his question.

"Yeah, absolutely. Now you go back to sleep because I know you're tired, ok? I'll visit later." I told him.

"Alright. Love you, Betsey." He mumbled into the phone. I grinned, loving those words and the nickname.

"I love you too, Lex." I replied, hanging up and walking back to the table with a small smile on my face.

"Guys, it's all good. They can say." I said, sitting back down. I got a few weird looks but ignored them, starting a conversation with Thomas and James, prompting the others to do so as well. Soon, we were all talking and laughing, immediately accepting the two into our group.

I never would've guessed that it would be Alexander that brought the two to our group, but I'm glad he did. I guess it goes to show that even in what seems like the worst times, things can be good.