Critical (Jamilton)

25. Correction! I'm DrinkING. Present Tense. Grammar, Thomas.

"No! I'm not okay!" Alexander didn't know if it was panic, anger, or confusion that was taking over his head, but he didn't like whatever it was. "King was in the bathroom. I saw him with my own eyes, he was standing five feet in front of me!" 

"I didn't see him go in or out and there aren't any windows in that bathroom." John stood up and grabbed his coat from the back of the couch. "You're too stressed, you're hallucinating. Come on."

Ham watched as John went to the door. 

"Where?"

"I'm taking you out for a drink, you need to relax a little and that isn't happening on its own." 

Alex still sat for a second. He wasn't going to deny that a drink might help him relax, at least a little, and he was definitely stressed. That didn't make King seem any less real, though. He was there. Hamilton knew he was there! He was standing right there with the same sinister grin as always!

Or his brain really was getting too stressed. 

Without thinking about telling Peggy or Thomas, Alex followed Andre out the door with the intentions of only drinking enough to relax. Not enough to get drunk, just to relax. 

Just to relax, he thought. 

Jumping ahead to around sunset, which would have been a few hours later, Alex and Andre were sitting together in John's apartment with alcoholic drinks sitting on the counter and empty bottles on the ground. 

"Y'know," Alex said, slamming a shot glass on the counter. "You were like. . . You were pretty fuckin' cool in the, uhm, the school."

Andre laughed. "Alexander you have no idea what you're saying." 

"No, I do! You were pretty okay! Like, you helped kidnap me and shit and you terrify the hell out of me but you gave me food and stuff so." Alex didn't finish the sentence, he just shrugged and took another shot. 

"You are hilariously comfortable with profanity when you're drunk," Andre noted with another laugh. 

"See tha's the thing! I'm hilarious."

Andre was going to respond but his phone started ringing. "Hello?"

Almost immediately, he shoved the phone away from his ear and Alex snickered at the loud yelling from the other end. 

"It's for you," John said, rubbing his ear. 

Hamilton took the phone and waited for the yelling to die down.

"Hey, Tommy!" He cheered, dragging out every noun in the sentence. 

"Alex? Why are you alone with him? You could have said something to at least Peggy, she called me in near tears because she thought she got you--"

"Tommy, ya gotta talk more. Your voice is like super sexy," Alexander said in the most serious voice he could manage. It was quiet on the other end for so long that he was about to hang up.

"Hamilton," Thomas said finally. "Are you drunk?"

"No! I'm drinking! Present tense! Grammar is super important, y'know," Alex pointed out, nodding to himself. Another long pause. 

"Stay where you are, don't touch any more alcohol, I'm coming to get you." 

"Awe, c'mon! I'm havin' fun! I'm relaxin'! Chillin'!"

Thomas didn't say anything else before hanging up. Alex frowned at the phone and handed it back to its owner. He demanded more alcohol out of pure spite to Thomas but Andre told him that he probably shouldn't have anymore. 

Alex almost didn't want to leave when Thomas pulled up outside the building. John walked him down and Hamilton obnoxiously pointed out the hateful glares that Thomas was giving. After getting the drunk one into the car, the silent drive started with Jefferson's glares being held on the road. 

"Tommy, ya can't just ignore me--" 

"Oh, yes, I can."

"Peg says that tha's not-- is not a good thing to do."

"Fine. Consider it me being beyond angry with you because you of all people should know why this would not be acceptable to me."

"What? Me bein' a flirt?" Alex hummed. "Are ya mad that you haven't gotten a hot piece o' Ham yet? Maybe if you're lucky you'll get a little action. Partay, Tommy, partay."

"I am not doing anything with you until you're fucking sober," Thomas growled. 

"Well, I can't be fucking sober, but you on the other hand--"

Jefferson cut him off with a glare. Alexander put his hands up in defense and just looked out the window. 

"Y'know, apparently, King wasn't even there." Hamilton glanced at Jefferson through the side of his eye. "Yup, I was just stressed or whatever John said. I'm goin' crazy. Losin' my mind. Goin' insane--"

"I get it," Thomas muttered. "And there's two things wrong with that. One, don't call him John. John is Laurens and we actually liked him. He's Andre and I still want to beat him down. Two, we're going on a vacation because you're stressed. You didn't need to go get drunk."

"Awe, don't get all mad at me," Alex whined as they pulled into the driveway. 

"I'm going to get mad, Alexander! This isn't-- I moved away from my mom to get away from this shit and now you're bringing it right back! You're going to owe Jane especially one hell of an apology." Thomas took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Just go to bed. We're going to have a talk in the morning."

"Are ya gonna join me?"

"Bed. Now."

Hamilton rolled his eyes and went inside after almost falling at least three times. He casually greeted Jane and Mary, thinking he was passing for just another sober guy. Mary, however, apparently saw through it and shooed Lucy, Randy, and Anna to their rooms. She looked dead serious as she helped Alex up the stairs, which he wanted to comment on but he actually had semi-rational thought and left his mouth closed. Not because he wanted to keep her from getting mad, but because he wanted to keep his sober act as much as he possibly could. As soon as he was on the bed, he lost all connections to the world of the awake.