The Story Of Tonight - Lamilton Modern College AU

Nobody Really Knows How The Game Is Played

John

John Laurens was learning, for the second time, how significant a phone call could be. 

What a juxtaposition.

Such a gentle ring, something that would never startle John, or put him at unease. Such a great sound, such a great melody, leading to some of the most disastrous news he would ever discover.

"Hey," He answered the phone, happy to receive a call from Alex. Funny how clueless someone can be, isn't it? 

"It's Lafayette." Alex's voice choked from the other line.

~~~

"Hercules." John whispered hesitantly. Hercules had been severely injured in the crash, but hadn't spoken to anybody since he arrived at the hospital. He hadn't moved at all, in fact, except for when nurses forced him to. He had just been staring at the wall the entire time- no tears, no emotion, no... humanity.

"Hercules." John's voice was louder this time. Still nothing.

"Hercules!" His voice was a yell, and he was getting impatient. "Hercules Mulligan!" 

John couldn't even muster the courage to begin to try to imagine losing Alex, but Hercules had no right, absolutely no right, to stop.

He just stopped. And it wasn't fair.

He needed to get help. They needed his help. He needed to keep going.

"HERCULES MULLIGAN!" With a jerk, Hercules turned around with a lethal glare. 

"What the fuck do you want John?" He finally said quietly, with a tone that seemed deadly. "Take a damn hint. I don't want to speak to you right now." John was too stunned to speak for a second. He couldn't believe that Hercules had actually spoke. He couldn't believe the nerve of Hercules Mulligan right now. He replied after a beat.

"Are you shitting me? You can't be serious." John turned around, running his hand through his curls, before facing him again.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE HELL YOU WANT, OR WHAT THE HELL YOU DON'T WANT. THIS IS ABOUT LAFAYETTE, SO SUCK IT THE FUCK UP!" John  snapped. He could barely believe that it was him. He didn't recognize the voice, or the language. The harshness.

"I'm sorry-" He gaped, covering his mouth with wide eyes as he turned over what had just happened. "No. Don't be." Hercules said reassuringly.

"Don't be sorry. You're right. It's not about what I want, is it?" His eyes dropped to the floor. "It's about Lafayette."

~~~

Third Person

A young woman sobs, head in hands, screaming in agony. Screaming in pain. Screaming in pain. Screaming in nothing.

Her body shakes in the cried transpired by the untold story of her son. She rambles incoherence sentences. If you really try, you can catch her mentioning things like 'it must have hurt so much' and 'drunk drivers'. She yells about the echoing laugh that she never caught on camera.

Her husband is in the next room over, surrounded by empty bottles, some broken. He stares at the wall, eventually letting out a yell as he throws a hard punch at the wall, wincing and clutching his hand in pain.

Blood leaked from his knuckles.

He does it again. And again.

His wife doesn't hear the yells or the crashes of his hand on the wall, like Lafayette's body against the car.

~~~

Whenever John is upset he goes to the coffee. He finds that this situation is no different. He walks in with an empty face, not bothering to fake a smile or the light that usually shines in his eyes. He slides into a booth, holding his head in his hands as he imagines Lafayette's shameless grin. 

"Hey, are you okay?" A voice said soothingly. He glanced up with tired eyes to see a young girl he recognized as an old friend: Martha Manning.

"Yes." That's what he intended to say. Just a casual, "fine, just tired" or something, anything, but like a tsunami crashing against his mind, flooding his thoughts and reeking destruction on the crappy facade he tried to uphold, thoughts and feelings about how many times Alex lied like that, or the pain Lafayette suffered as he bled out, or the overwhelming feeling that Hercules must have felt, how his thoughts must have been distorted and screwed up the moment he realized Lafayette was dying, or the fear Martha and her siblings must have felt every time Henry got drunk, and he couldn't keep going and in that moment more than ever he had wanted to stop.

Just stop.

So he didn't really fight the tears that flowed down his freckled skin and he didn't really fight the comforting arm around him and he didn't really fight the pain that devastated him with every sob that caused a tremor to go through him.

"Come on, I'm going to take you to my house." She whispered calmingly, rubbing his back. He couldn't argue, so instead, he got up and followed her.

~~~

"Shh," Martha rubbed John's back soothingly. "You're alright. Wanna tell me what's wrong?" She cooed quietly. John shook his head. The tears have stopped but he didn't dare try to talk for fear of the crying to start again.

"Alright, fair enough. Do you want to stay and watch a movie or something?"

John considered the offer for a second. He could call Alexander to pick him up, or he could catch up with an old friend. He looked back at Martha, who looked hopefully back. He decided the latter. John worked up his voice, and spoke once he was sure he wouldn't explode into a mess of tears and wails.

"Sure, uh, got any Disney?" He gave her a cheesy smile and she nodded excitedly. His grin grew and before they knew it, The Lion King was playing.

~~~

"Okay, so you inherit 5 million dollars the same day that aliens invade the Earth and say they are going to blow it up in two days. What do you do?" Martha asked, and John laughed. It felt like it had been eons since he last laughed.

"Hm.. Honestly, I would probably go visit as many countries as I could and spend the money on plane tickets and stuff. I would bring a friend or two, also." He made a mental note to add Alex instead of his friends, but didn't say anything in case Martha wouldn't like him anymore.

"That's actually the best answer I've heard," she fixed her legs into a more comfortable position. "Good job."

Lafayette would have had a great answer.

He fought down the tears prickling behind his eyes and coughed out a 'thanks'.

"Um, I-I was actually wondering something..." Martha blushed slightly, looking at her fumbling hands. "Would- would you like to, uh, go on a d-date with me?" She asked cutely. John felt horrible. 

"I'm sorry, Martha.. I have a boyfriend." A pink tint rose to his cheeks.

"O-Oh."

"I should probably go now."

"Yeah..."

John ran home after that. He ran home and tried to forget, but whenever he tried to think of anyone else, he would imagine Lafayette giving him a pitying smile and telling him in bad-ish English how awkward that was.

Alexander was in class.

Hercules was at the hospital.

John was alone.