(Y/n)'s POV
I groaned as I slammed my hand down on my alarm clock to stop it, still keeping my eyes tightly shut. I probably should've been excited for my first day of college, but in the moment all I wanted to do was be welcomed once again into the warm embrace of sleep. I lay there for a few moments, before finally dragging myself out of bed and getting ready.
My 9 am class was a general requirement course: public speaking. It was one of the few classes I had with the guys, since everyone at Kings College had to take it. The boys and I were all taking drastically different majors: John wanted to be a vet, Alex was doing law school, Laf was undecided but leaning towards political science, Herc was majoring in fashion design, and I was on track to be a psychologist ( I just chose a random major, I'm sorry if you don't like it — it won't be too relevant to the story).
We had decided yesterday that I would meet up with John and Alex since their dorms were on the same level as mine, and then we would walk down, meet with Herc and Laf, and all walk to class together. Since John's dorm was the closest, he was my first stop.
I found room 315 and knocked on the door. I heard some rummaging around on the other side of the door before it swung open. To my surprise, the person standing there was the same guy that I had seen with Lee at the coffee shop yesterday. His brown eyes stared into mine, so I spoke up.
"Hi! I'm (Y/n). I'm waiting for John?" I stuck out a hand for him to shake.
"Samuel Seabury, but most people just call me Sam. Nice to meet you," he answered, taking my hand and smiling at me. I smiled back, and made a mental note of his name. I doubted I would be hanging around John's dorm much, but if he was Lee's friend it might be worth it to remember.
"I'LL BE RIGHT THERE," I heard John's voice yell from his room, accompanied by more things banging around. What John was trying to do I had no idea, but it sounded like everything in his room was crashing to the ground. After a while, John emerged and pushed past Sam to get out the door.
"Later, Seabury," he said, and he started walking away. I flashed Sam one last smile before following him down the hallway.
"Sam seems nice," I said, wondering what was up with John. He seemed a little preoccupied, but I didn't know why.
"Mhm? Oh, yeah, he's okay," John replied. He looked at me and pulled a sly smile. "I'm pretty sure he's friends with your new boy toy." I only rolled my eyes, and we continued walking to room 302 to meet up with Alex.
As we approached, we could hear some yelling, so John very hesitantly knocked. The yelling somehow got even louder, and it took quite some time for the door to open. When it finally did, John and I were met with a very red-faced Alexander. I managed to get a glimpse of a head of poofy black hair wearing a magenta muscle tee stalking away, before Alex slammed the door shut and took off. John and I briefly exchanged stunned looks, and then we jogged to catch up with him.
"Your roommate is Thomas Jefferson??" I questioned with disbelief. If Alex was stuck living with him, this was going to be a long year.
"I told you he was the devil," Alex snapped back, still seething with anger. The rest of the walk was pretty silent, because none of us wanted to piss Alex off even more. Herc and Laf were confused at first, but once I quietly explained they just nodded sympathetically.
~
Luckily, by the time we got to class Alex was in a much better mood. We grabbed some seats in a corner of the room, and Alex and John immediately started messing around. I got out a notebook and some pencils, handing one to Laf before he even had the chance to ask me, which made him laugh. I was still digging around in my bag, when I heard footsteps come up and stop next to me.
"Can I sit here?" a voice asked. I looked up to see a grinning Lee, gesturing at an open seat next to me. The question was posed to all of us, but he was only really looking at me. Before one of the guys could say anything, I answered.
"Of course," I said, shooting a look at the boys that said be nice and returning Lee's smile. He dropped his backpack off his shoulder and slid into the seat. Alex tugged on John's arm and whispered to him, the latter snickering while stealing a glance in my direction. Once again, Herc was the first one to swallow his pride.
"So, what are you majoring in?" he asked Lee, leaning so that he could look at him over Laf and I. A surprised expression crossed Lee's face, but it quickly changed into a smile.
"Oh, I'm majoring in animal biology! I have six dogs at home, so I really like animals and I've always wanted to be a veterinarian," Lee responded. He looked so happy to be talking about it that his happiness seemed contagious. I snuck a glance at the others, and I saw that John had paled significantly. I'm guessing he had inferred the same thing I had: if he and Lee were doing the same major, chances are they'd have more classes together (realistically, they probably wouldn't, but let's pretend that it's a very small college). To say that John wasn't eager about that possibility was an understatement. It was quiet for a while.
"You and John are majoring in the same field," Lafayette coughed. "Maybe you'll see each other in class." Leave it to Laf to make things more awkward. For a second, Lee wasn't sure how to respond.
"Oh. Uh, well—" Fortunately for Lee, at that moment the professor walked in and a hush fell across the room. Talk about saved by the bell.
~
The class wasn't exactly my favorite. Alexander loved it, mainly because the guy didn't know how to shut up. Give him a bullhorn and a random topic, and Alex could have the whole street stopped to listen to him talk about it for hours. He was relentless and screamed to be heard — me, not so much. Public speaking didn't terrify me like it did some people, but I took opportunities to avoid it when I could.
Thankfully, since it was the first day of class, we mostly spent the entirety just going over the syllabus. It was kind of hard to listen to the professor drone on in his monotone voice, so Lee kept leaning over to whisper things to me. He nitpicked anything and everything about the professor's sometimes insane rules, and I could barely stifle my laughter.
To my dismay, at the end of class the professor told us that we'd have a summative quiz on the syllabus content next week. As soon as class was over and people started shuffling around to get their stuff, I shot a playful glare at Lee. He saw me and raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"We have a quiz next week, and thanks to you I haven't read a single word of the syllabus," I tried to make my voice sound as angry as possible, but laughter kept leaking through every word. Lee looked at me with a smug face after picking up his bag, and he leaned on his desk towards me.
"If it'll make you feel any better, I could help you 'study' for it so you're prepared," Lee responded, a smirk tugging at his lips. I wanted so desperately to get rid of the cocky glint in his eyes. Unfortunately, somebody else did it for me.
"Lee, if you're going to ask (Y/n) out on another date, be a gentleman and ask her best friends for permission first," Herc cut in, slinging an arm over my shoulder in mock protectiveness. A light blush crept onto Lee's face as he straightened, one hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"Um, well I uh, it—" Lee looked so flustered, so I decided to put him out of his misery.
"Hercules is just pulling your leg, don't worry," I assured him, ducking out from under Herc's arm. I was a bit annoyed — it was one thing to joke that Lee and I were dating when I was alone with the guys, but it was another thing to do it to Lee's face. Herc feigned an offended look, but Lafayette swooped in before he could say anything.
"Herc! We have to go work on that, um, thing you said you'd help me with — you know the one," Laf said unconvincingly, but he managed to drag a disappointed Herc away from us. I watched them leave and then turned back to Lee. He was still really embarrassed, and he wouldn't meet my eye.
"I'm sorry about my friends — they won't always be like that," I tried to promise, but even I knew how pathetic I sounded. Lee's face turned even more red, and my heart dropped a little.
"It's okay," his voice was soft, and he looked up at me briefly before studying the floor again. "I should probably get going," he murmured and quickly turned around in the direction of the door. Without giving me chance to say anything, he walked away and left the room.
I sighed and silently cursed my friends. I hoped that my friendship with Lee could be salvaged, but I didn't have much time to dwell on it. My next class was a blur, and I couldn't pay attention to anything that was said.
~
Lee's POV
I felt bad about leaving (Y/n) so abruptly and not saying goodbye, but I had to get out of there as soon as possible. My heart was pounding as I stepped inside my dorm and closed the door behind me. I didn't know if Burr was home, but I didn't bother checking. I texted Sam that I couldn't meet him at the library like we had planned, and then I promptly threw myself onto my bed.
Honestly, I just needed some time to think. Think about why it mattered to me so much to be friends with (Y/n). Think about if her friends really hated me that much. Think about if there was a way I could change their minds. Most importantly, I just needed to think about her. I didn't even know how I felt, or why I felt so strongly about her when I had only known her for about two days. I pressed my pillow against my face and groaned with exasperation.
I don't know how long I stayed like that for, but after some time I heard the door open and close, followed by footsteps.
"He's in there," I heard Burr say as he walked past my door. I felt the bed dip as someone, who I can only assume was Sam, sat on the edge of my bed. I didn't even bother to take the pillow off my face.
"Are you going to pout all day, or are you going to talk to me?" Sam asked harshly, prying the pillow out of my hands. Sam was one of the nicest people I knew, but he could also be counted on to give me exactly what I needed. And right now what I needed was someone to slap some sense into me. Not that I'd ever tell him that.
"I'm so dumb," I groaned, and stole my pillow back. This time, though, I just clutched it to my chest. Sam seemed to notice that he was making progress, so he let up a bit.
"When are you not?" he tried to joke half-heartedly. Sam's voice quickly grew serious again. "Is it about....you-know-who?"
"Geez, Sammy, you can say her name — she's not Voldemort," I snorted at the way he tried to dance around doing so. Technically, I was avoiding saying her name too, but only because it tugged my heart in a way I couldn't describe.
"So it is about her, isn't it? About (Y/n)?" There went my heart again, doing flips and bending over backwards at the mere mention of her name. Say what you will about Sam, but he's about as relentless as Hamilton is. I only sighed in response. I guess Sam deemed that a decent enough answer, because he continued.
"I met her today when she came to my dorm, you know," Sam said, not going into detail. "Well, only briefly," he added.
"To see Laurens?" I questioned, turning my head towards Sam for the first time. I couldn't help but notice how tired he looked, and I was racked with guilt. I scooted over to make some place, and then I pulled him so that he could lay down next to me, both of us looking up at the ceiling.
"I think they met up to walk to class together," Sam answered. He seemed hesitant to speak, and he studied me a bit before turning back to the ceiling. "She's nice, though she might've recognized me from when you were stalking her yesterday," he said with a mischievous smile.
"Oh my god, Sam, it was your idea to go to the mall after having coffee — if anything you're the one who stalked her," I said, shifting to wack him lightly with the pillow. He just laughed and snatched it away from me. The smile fell off my face when I remembered what we were talking about, or rather whom.
"I think I'm embarrassing her," I blurted out, and I immediately wished I hadn't. Sam looked at me blankly, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"You, cool guy Charles Lee. Mr. Steal-Your-Girl. Charles 'I'm Too Good For School' Lee" —Sam probably would've kept calling me outrageous things if I hadn't glared at him— "How would you be embarrassing? I'm pretty sure that's, like, not even coded into your DNA or something," he finished, and if anybody else had said that to me, my face would've been burning. It still kind of was.
"Her friends don't like me," I pointed out. That shouldn't have bothered me much, and if it was someone else it probably wouldn't have. But there was just something about (Y/n). "Mulligan mentioned something about me asking her out on another date, and she got really defensive about it. I think they've teased her about it before," I continued. Again, I felt a slew of emotions that I couldn't pinpoint.
Sam looked at me intensely, and I felt a bit uneasy under his gaze. His eyes might as well have been looking right through me. There was something about Sam that made you want to tell him everything about you.
"You like her, don't you? As more than a friend."
"I barely know her."
"You didn't answer the question."
I looked at him, and my eyes said all there was that was that needed to be said. He sighed and just looked at the ceiling again. Neither of us said another word.
>>>
Ah, the drama. Did I momentarily forget that I wasn't writing a Leebury fic at the end there? Ahaha, maybe. I just like the concept of them being friends, and I wanted to give Lee some vulnerability.
Do you guys like reading from Lee's POV, or would you rather I stick to the reader POV? Honestly, I like writing in his POV, but it's still going to be in reader POV for the majority.
The next chapter is going to have a huge time skip, which I apologize in advance for. I just think the story will flow better that way.