"Do you have the food ready?" I call from the bedroom. 

"Almost! The salsa is being difficult, though." John replies back from the kitchen. I raise an eyebrow and walk out of the room to the kitchen, giving him a skeptical look. 

"John, how can salsa be difficult?" 

"It won't come out of the bottle!" He whines as he shakes the bottle above the bowl we had for salsa. 

I roll my eyes and grab a bigger spoon, taking the bottle from him and scooping some of the salsa into the bowl. "You have to be smarter than the salsa, sweetie." 

He chuckles and grabs the chips from the pantry. "Oh shush, I was trying my best there!" 

I go to reply, but am cut off by the doorbell ringing. "My friends or your friends?" I ask. 

He shrugs. "No clue, I'll grab it, though." He kisses me on the cheek swiftly and then walks to the door opening it up for our visitors. 

I grab the chips and salsa and set them on the counter before going to the livingroom where John was letting Francis Kinloch, Catharine Livingston, and John Andre in. I nod at the three of them as they sit down, and John and I sit on the other couch. 

"Hey, guys. Thanks for coming." I say happily. They all smile at me. 

"Thanks for inviting us, Alex." Andre says.

The doorbell rings again and John gets up to get it again, letting three new people in. They sit down on the couch we were just on as John and I sit on the big chair together.

The furniture came in a set, and I never thought we'd have any use for it, but it's a good thing we got it.

"Um, we should introduce ourselves. Everyone say their name and... let's do where we're from, just for fun." John starts before looking at me, prompting me to go first.

I rolls my eyes playfully and look the the rest of them, giving a single wave. "I'm Alexander Hamilton, and I'm from the Caribbean."

John smiles brightly and holds my hand. "And I'm John Laurens, I'm from South Carolina."

The blonde girl closest to John smiles and waves. "My name's Carrie Withers, I was born and raised in Georgia."

Then the brunette next to her nods. "Elizabeth Ross, but everyone just calls me Betsy. I'm from Pennsylvania." 

"I'm Benedict Arnold." He says, staring over at John Andre. "I'm from Connecticut."

I raise an eyebrow, but Andre doesn't seem bothered. In fact, he smirks instead. "I'm John Andre, also from the lovely Connecticut. You all can call me Andre, since there are two Johns." 

Then Francis nods and pipes up. "Um, Francis Kinloch. I'm not really sure where I'm from, moved between Georgia and South Carolina a lot when I was younger, parents weren't around much to tell me where I was born."

"And finally, I'm Catharine Livingston, but almost no one calls me Catharine, please call me Kitty. New York City baby right here." She giggles slightly and I look between Andre and Benedict again, sensing a strong tension they were trying to hide.

I clap my hands together. "Alright, why don't we get some games set up. Bullshit, anyone?" 

They all nod in agreement and John gets the cards, passing them out to everyone. We had moved to sit on the ground, around our coffee table since our dinner table had no more than four seats. 

The game was played civilly at first, but soon we found Benedict calling bullshit on Andre almost every other round. He was almost always wrong, and I was starting to see a pattern. I look at John and he nods. 

"Alright, um, how about we take a break. Benny, will you come with me to the kitchen, please?" John asks, giving him a sincere look. Benedict nods and sighs softly, walking into the kitchen with John. 

I look over at Andre and he nods. "Yeah, yeah, I'll come somewhere to talk." 

We stand and make our way down the hall. "So, care to tell me what's going on between you and Benedict? The guy clearly hates you for some reason." I say, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall. 

He sighs heavily. "He's just mad because he claims I stole his girlfriend from him."  

"Did you?"

"In a way, I suppose." He shrugs. "I met her at a park back in high school, and had no idea she was taken. So we started texting, and naturally I was flirtatious with her. Had I known she was already in a relationship, I would have backed off."

I nod slowly. "I see.. What happened then?"

"Well, over time, she fell in love with me, because I am quite the charmer," he chuckles to himself softly. "And I asked her to be my girlfriend. She agreed and it wasn't until a week later that I found out she was previously taken." 

"So..You dumped her?"

"Well, no.." He frowns gently. "She dumped him, and we're doing a long distance relationship right now." 

I rub my temple. "And now he hates you. Fantastic, I try to work with John and his friends, and then one of them ends up hating my friend. I should've known this would happen." 

"I'm sorry.. I'll leave, I remember how much you said you wanted this to work for you and John, and I'll go home so it can run smoothly." 

"No no, you don't have to, you really didn't do anything wrong."

"No, it's fine, it's getting late anyway." He nods and I pat his back. 

"Alright, make it home safe, okay?" 

He nods again and goes into the livingroom to grab his stuff. John was giving him a subtle look of disapproval from the kitchen, and I raise an eyebrow at him. 

"Well, it was lovely to meeting some of you, but I fear I must be headed back to my dorm." He announces. 

"Oh, wait don't you need a ride?" Francis asks, raising an eyebrow. 

Andre thinks a moment before sighing. "No, it's fine, I'll walk back. It's not too far from here." 

"Maybe not, but it is freezing and dark outside. I'll just take you back, you were right about it getting late." Francis says, standing up and gathering his stuff as well. Kitty groans. 

"I guess that means I'm out, too, considering Francis was also my ride." 

I nod at them. "Well, thank you guys for coming, it means a lot to me." 

We exchange goodbyes and soon my friends all leave the apartment, and John returns to the couch with Benedict. 

"Well, thank goodness they're gone." Benedict says, chuckling gently. I raise an eyebrow, but John wraps an arm around me and leans his head on my shoulder. 

I cuddle him back and I see Carrie giving me a weird look. 

"You know, I'm starting to feel awkward now, I think it may be time for us to head out as well." Betsy announces and the other two nod in agreement. "Bye John, bye Alexander, it was lovely to meet you." 

Betsy and Benedict exit with John, talking about something from their classes, and Carrie approaches me as she continues getting her stuff together. 

"Um, Alex, can I talk to you a second?" She asks. 

I smile at her and nod. "Yeah, of course. What is it?"

"Well, first, thanks for having us in your home. It was a good reminder of just how different we are." 

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, law students, art students, two completely different categories of people. It just never seems to work out between them." She sighs.

"Are you talking about Benedict and Andre? There was just a huge misunderstanding between them, it had nothing to do with them having different majors-"

"I'm not talking about them, Benedict can be very over dramatic sometimes." She rolls her eyes. "I'm talking about you and John."

I take a step back, shocked at her words. That was pretty rude of her, to just assume John and I were going to break up simply because we went to two different schools.

"It's just, I've had experience with that kind of relationship before, and I know it doesn't work out. I really wanted it to, I thought we could be the exception, but," she sighs. "It just didn't work. Artists want to be surrounded by other artists, not lawyers. John will realize that soon enough, I'm just trying to save you from the heartbreak." 

I frown at her. "Well, Carrie, I'm sorry things didn't work out between you and your lover, but I can assure you John and I will be just fine, we don't need your help." I say in a very passive aggressive tone. 

"Alright, but you'll see I'm right. I think you know it deep down, I mean, why else would you invite us all over instead of having John go out with us once again?" She smirks gently at me and walks away, hugging John on the way out. 

I stand there, stunned by the conversation we just had. Surely she was wrong. John and I could never fall apart, it just wasn't realistic. Sure we were very different from each other, but that's what made us perfect for each other. 

He walks back in, closing the door behind him and I pull him into a hug. "John, I'm sorry our friends didn't get along very well.." I mumble. 

"It's fine, we can do this again sometime I'm sure." He says, rubbing my back. 

I look up at him. "You really think so?"

He nods in response. 

"Yeah, just so long as that asshole John Andre doesn't come back again."

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