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Cheesecake

Backstory: Philip Schuyler owns a successful restaurant in New York City. It's not too fancy, and a bunch of college kids hang out there. Imagine something like the image below but the ceiling is a bit lower and in place of the bar there's tables. It's not very busy, and there's only a few tables occupied, with most people leaving. Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy help out with the restaurant a lot.

Also, TW: Death, mentions of suicide




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Angelica sighed as she banged her head on the wall nearest her. It was 8:30 and her dad still hadn't closed their restaurant. Quite frankly, being a hostess late at night sucked in her humble opinion. She snuck a glance at Eliza, who was currently cleaning up after a table of 5 just left. At least she had something to do, all Angelica could do was wait around for someone to show up.

She bent down and pretended to fiddle with the kids menus that sat on the bottom shelf of her little podium and groaned internally. She was wasting her time, why hadn't her father closed yet? Nobody was going to go to a sit down restaurant at 8:32 p.m.

"Table for one please." An tired voice entered the restaurant. Okay, maybe she was wrong. She grabbed a menu and stood up.

"Sorry about that, would you like upstairs or downstairs sir?" She asked, examining the fine specimen that was in front of her. He had a Columbia University sweatshirt (the same university Eliza happened to go to) on, and his long, auburn hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Although he looked like a damn mess, he was still good-looking to Angelica.

"Uh, downstairs is fine." He said, giving a small smile. Angelica smiled back, tapping on an empty table near the corner of the establishment.

"Right this way sir," she guided him towards his table. She chose a tiny 2 person booth in the back corner. He sat down and Angelica handed him a menu.

"Thanks." He muttered. Angelica replied with a no problem and left the table in search for Peggy. She finally found her on the 2nd floor, cleaning up a water spill. The older girl looked around, nobody was upstairs. In fact, the college boy downstairs was their last patron for the evening. She ran up to Peggy.

"Major hottie downstairs. Back corner." She whispered. Peggy whipped her head around, her dark curls being thrown into her elder sister's face. Peggy muttered a quick apology and looked back at Angelica.

"We should set Eliza and him up on a date." She told her, grinning wildly. Angelica's eyes widened.

"Why didn't I think of that? They both go to the same college!" She said. "It's fate! I'll go tell Eliza to get his order and we can spy on them." Angelica said, rushing down to the kitchen.

"Eliza, you have a customer. Back corner." Angelica told her nonchalantly, leaning against the doorway. Eliza looked up from her phone and sighed.

"I thought we closed at 8:30?" She asked. Angelica crossed her arms.

"It's one person. He's all alone. Go get his order. The sooner we're done the sooner we can go home." She said. Eliza shoved her phone in her back pocket and got out her notepad. She walked past Angelica to the boy in the corner. Peggy slipped next to Angelica, grinning.

Eliza felt Angelica and Peggy's stares as she walked up to the person she was now serving. She waved her way around the tables and met the dude's eye. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Hello!" She said in a seemingly convincing cheery voice. "My name is Eliza, and I will be serving you this evening, can I get you something to drink?" She recited perfectly. She had been doing this since she was 16, is was as easy as remembering her own name.

"Hey, can I get a just a water please?" He said. Eliza nodded and smiled. He smiled back. "Also I think I'm ready to order. Can I get a Garden Salad with dressing on the side? Thank you."

"Of course! I will be back with your water sir, in a few." She ran off to get the water, still trying to remember where she had seen him from. When she returned with his water and his order in, he nodded in thanks.

"Hey, have I seen you before?" He asked. "You look really familiar."

"I swear, I've seen you before too!" Eliza took notice of his Columbia sweatshirt. "You go to Columbia?"

"Yeah, I'm majoring in Political Science." He said proudly. "Are you in college?"

"Yeah, I go to Columbia, actually.." She muttered. "I'm majoring in Econometrics."

"That's why you're so familiar! I've seen you in my American Government class!" He exclaimed. "I'm Alexander Hamilton, I sit to your left."

Eliza suddenly remembered him. She had seen him a few times before, but hadn't really noticed him. Now she was definitely noticing him.

"That's right!" She smiled. "I've seen you around. Do you live on campus?"

"Nah. I live a few blocks down. We rent an apartment, me and my buddy.." his voice trailed off, and his expression hardened.

"Did I say something?" Eliza asked, confused as to why he got quiet. Alex shook his head.

"No, no you're fine. So, where are you from?" He said, forgetting his somber expression.

"Oh, my family is from Albany." Eliza told him. She didn't mind the subject change, but she still wondered if he was okay. "Where are you from?"

"The Caribbean. It's nice, I have family back there. It's pretty." He ranted. "My mom visits up here sometimes, but I think New York scares her sometimes." He laughed.

"Well, who wouldn't be intimidated by everything? I mean, it is kind of overwhelming."

"Yeah, but that's the reason why I came. The Caribbean is great, but I needed something-"

"More." Eliza finished for him. Alexander nodded. Eliza was about to say something when Peggy emerged from behind, Alexander's salad and dressing in hand.

"Here you go sir." She placed the salad down. Alexander thanked her and proceeded to dump the entire container of dressing on his salad. Peggy eyed him and Eliza, and raised an eyebrow at Alexander's dressing choice. She shrugged and marched away, but not before whispering something in Eliza's ear.

"You're blushing madly." She told her elder sister bluntly. Eliza's eyes widened and she looked in the window to see her reflection. She was a tad red...

"So, is there a reason why you're out at 9 o'clock at night, all alone at a sit down restaurant?" She asked.

"I'm not alone." He chewed on his salad. "I have you."

Eliza turned redder at his remark and his coolness at how he just casually told her that. She leaned against the booth's inner wall. "You didn't answer my question." She crossed her arms.

"Maybe there's a reason why I didn't." He said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset y-" Eliza apologized quickly, realizing that the question she asked might have been a little too personal.

"It's okay." Alex cut her off. He didn't look at her. "But yeah, uh life hasn't been treating me well recently."

"Can I sit?" She asked, not knowing what to say. Alexander nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper in case her sisters were listening. Alexander sighed.

"I suppose." He put his fork down and ran a finger through his hair. "Y'know the friend I mentioned earlier? The one I lived with? Yeah, he committed suicide while visiting family in South Carolina. We were supposed to go out tonight.

"I felt like absolute shit when I read his note. I had no idea he was struggling, and I wished I could have helped him. He wrote that the best times he had was when he was with his little sister or with me-" He broke down in sobs. Eliza moved to comfort the grieving man. She hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry Alexander. To go through what you're going through, that's awful.." She told him, rubbing his back. He snuggled up next to her and cried. Eliza felt bad for blushing a bit.

"I'm sorry about this." He wiped his tears away and sniffed. "I probably ruined your night. " He let out a watery chuckle.

"Don't be. You didn't ruin my night." She said, still rubbing his back. An idea popped in her head. "Do you like cheesecake?"

"Yeah, why?" Alexander asked, a bit confused and hurt that she would ask about cheesecake.

"I'll be right back." She glanced at his half empty salad. "Would you like me to take your plate, or are you still working on it?" Alexander shrugged.

"You can take it, I guess." Eliza picked up the plate and ran into the kitchen, leaving Alexander alone. Eliza grabbed a slice of cheesecake that she made that morning. It was the last slice, and she had been saving it for herself. Alexander needed it more, anyway. She rushed back to his booth.

"Here." She placed the cheesecake down in front of him. "I made it today. It's the last slice."

"Oh Eliza, you don't have to do this for me." Alexander breathed.

"Yes I do. I know it's not much, but you need it more than me." She sat down opposing him. Alexander cracked a tiny smile.

"That's the sweetest thing anybody's done for me in awhile." He said. They both looked at each other and smiled. A tear from earlier slid down Alex's cheek, Eliza reached over and brushed it away.

"Thank you, Eliza." He sniffed.

"You're welcome, Alexander." They stared into each other's eyes, both smiling softly. There was a clang from the kitchen and the two looked away, blushing wildly. Eliza sighed.

"I should probably go see what the hell that was." She groaned. Alex nodded.

"You can bring out the check, too." He said. Eliza shook her head.

"There is no check. It's on the house." Eliza called to him, walking towards the kitchen. She ignored Alexander's protests and burst into the kitchen.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" She asked. Peggy pointed to Angelica.

"Ask her." Eliza whipped her head towards Angelica.

"What?" Angelica shrugged. "You two were practically making out with your eyes. I had to do something. I was waiting for you two to start fuc-"

"Okay! Stop." She said, clearly embarrassed. "We were not. You're being stupid."

"Oh really? You gave him some of your cheesecake! You didn't even let me have some!"

"Yeah, Angelica. Cause he was sad!"

"Whatever. I'm going home." She said, walking towards the door where the grand elevator was. "Thank me at your wedding."

Eliza rolled her eyes. "Still, what was that?"

"She threw a mixing pot on the floor." Peggy lifted up a mixing bowl. "Still, it left no scratches." She examined it.

"Okay, whatever. Also you can leave. Tell dad I'm closing up tonight." She said. Peggy frowned and shrugged.

"Suit yourself." She followed Angelica's suit and skipped to the elevator. Eliza sighed and walked back to Alexander's booth, where she found him half asleep. She looked at his plate and noticed that he had ate the cheesecake slice. Eliza smiled softly and took his plate and water back to the kitchen. When she arrived back, he was practically falling out of the booth.

"Hey," She nudged him. He jolted awake.

"Yeah, huh?" He asked, looking around.

"I'm gonna start closing, so.."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry." He threw five bucks on the table. "Here." Eliza shook her head and grabbed his hand.

"Uh uh. I'm not taking your money." She said.

"You deserve it." Alex protested.

"No, take the goddamn money Alex."

"No."

"Yes."

"No. Keep the $5."

"Fine." Eliza sneakily slipped the $5 he had given her back into his sweatshirt pocket. She looked down and noticed that she was still holding his hand. The two broke apart and blushed.

"I had a nice night, Alex. Thank you." She said. Alexander nodded.

"Me too." The pair sat in silence before Eliza took Alex's hand and wrote her number on it.

"You text me whenever you want. Maybe we can go out and get coffee or study together." She shrugged, her confidence overtaking her. Alexander smiled.

"Of course. D-d-do you maybe want to go get coffee on Friday after class?" He stuttered.

"That would be lovely, Alexander." She said.

"Great!" He exhaled. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, have a nice night!" She called to him and watched as he walked out the door and down the street. She sighed helplessly and leaned against the wall. She put her pen back in her apron pocket when she felt something paper.

It was Alexander's $5. She let out a low laugh. He must have slipped it back to her when she was writing her number on his hand.

Maybe it was fate that Alexander happened to come into her family's restaurant tonight. She watched as he crossed the street, jogging to keep up with the light.

She sure hoped it was.

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