The Other Side - A Jamilton Fanfiction

Chapter Three

The hours flew by like water rushing past in a stream. To be totally honest with you, I had hardly paid attention at all during either of my lectures. The only thing I could think about was the prior events of the day. The book and then Fredericks. From there, everything else seemed insignificant.

I was staring at the ground as I began my walk home, thinking about what language the book could've possibly been in that I would understand.

I must be losing my mind, I thought as I passed by a group of people talking amongst each other. Nothing that had happened today made any sense whatsoever.

"Hey! Alexander!" exclaimed the same voice from earlier. I looked up to see Fredericks walking towards me, a friendly smile on his face.

I courteously stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Hello," I greeted, slightly awkwardly.

"You can call me George if you want to," he responded lightheartedly. "If you don't mind, I'll call you Alex."

"Yeah, that's fine."

We stood there in silence.

"Well, anyway, I was wondering if we could walk to your home together? I want to talk to you."

"Uh, yeah. That's fine, I guess," I said almost hesitantly. The two of us started the walk to my apartment. For the first couple of minutes or so, we were absolutely silent. "So... umm, what did you want to talk about?"

Look. I'm not usually this bad at social situations. I like to consider myself pretty good with people on a good day. But I'd been thrown off multiple times earlier, and I was left in a state of absolute confusion. Sue me.

"Oh! Right, my apologies." I realized that he had a very strong British accent in that moment. How did I miss that earlier? "How long have you lived in New York?"

"A couple of months now. Three, to be exact. I moved here for college."

"That's it?"

"What other reason would there be?"

He laughed. "Well, maybe you're trying to find something. Or rather, someone. So where did you live before this?" he asked, cutting off my chance to question him about his cryptic response.

I stiffened. My past wasn't one I liked to share that much. "I prefer to keep that private, actually."

"The Caribbean?"

"H-how did you know that?" I spluttered, stopping and turning on him.

"Lucky guess. Come on, we're not there yet, are we?" He resumed walking.

Are all people who live in New York like this?

I quickened my pace to keep up with him, and if he noticed, he didn't say anything.

"So do you live alone?"

"No, I have a roommate."

"Oh? And will he be there when we get to your apartment?"

"I have no clue. He just kinda comes and goes when he wants to. He's actually really weird."

George laughed once more but didn't say anything else, and an uncomfortable silence fell upon the two of us again.

He's kinda cute, I'm not gonna lie.

"So, why did you come to New York?" I asked, trying to restart the conversation.

"Hmm, I'm not sure really. It's been so long, I forgot the original reason why."

"How long have you lived here?"