I was alone with Alex again. I had untangled our hands while Eliza was talking without realising it.

'Alex likes me?'  I thought to myself.

I sighed and felt Alex moving beside me. I pushed away my thoughts and looked at Alex, who had opened his eyes. He smiled at me, his head tilted to one side on the thin hospital mattress. "Hi."

I just forced a smile back at him.

"I was really worried about you, you know." He said, taking my hand again.

"Mhmm"

"What's wrong?"

"I think you should go,"

"Wha-"

"Go, Alex." I took my hand back and looked the other way.

"But I-"

"Leave!"

He got up and started to walk out of the room. I looked back at him. He stopped walking just shy of the door and looked back at me, tears were in his eyes. He just turned and left.

A few minutes later a nurse came in with a tray. "You should eat something," she said. She placed the tray over my lap and took the lid off, revealing a small bowl of soup, a packet of crackers and a cup of jello.

"Do you have a water I could have?" I asked.

She nodded and left, coming back a few minutes later with a small bottle of water. She handed it to me and smiled, leaving me to eat.

I had finished half of the soup and didn't bother opening the crackers when Peggy stormed into the room. "What did you do?" she demanded.

"What?"

"Alex showed up at my dorm in tears. I know he was here, so what did you do?"

"Eliza told me he was gay." I said quietly.

She looked beyond angry. "Yeah, if you didn't notice, he looks at you like you put the stars in the sky, you dingus."

"Well I am definitely not gay." I said.

"Well what the hell did you say to him that he comes to me crying?"

"I told him to leave."

"John! He hasn't slept in a week because you nearly killed yourself with whiskey and he finally gets some sleep solely based on the fact that he got to see you again and you kicked him out?"

"I-"

"You died, John. Right in front of him. Your heart stopped and he was pushed out of the room. He sat on the floor outside your room for six  hours. I had to get Hercules to come carry him out of the hospital. He didn't talk for three days, when he finally did, he spoke in only French and to Lafayette. You didn't wake up for eight days."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me."

With that Peggy stormed out of the room.

Hercules was driving me home from the hospital the next day. I had a bottle of anti-depressants prescribed to me because they deemed my alcohol poisoning, an 'effect of depression'. I was not depressed. I was just annoyed that everyone was mad at me for hurting Alexander's feelings.

"Hey man, take it easy okay?" Hercules said when we got to our floor.

"Okay, will do." I said with a smile.

I walked back to my dorm alone, hoping Alex would be in class or too engulfed in his work to notice me.

I quietly opened the door and closed it, making my way over to my bed. I put the paper bag from the pharmacy on my trunk and climbed into bed. Luckily Alex wasn't in the room.

I heard the door close and footsteps to the desk. my eyes were closed and I pretended I was sleeping. I heard a laptop being placed on the desk and heard the clicking of the keys, Alex was back.

After twenty minutes of typing the clicking stopped. I heard him get up and leave the room.

I rolled onto my back and sighed. I stared at the white ceiling of the room. A few minutes later the door opened again and Alex came back in. I pretended to sleep again and he came over to me, tapping me lightly. I opened one eye.

"You gotta take your meds," he mumbled.

I opened the other eye and sat up.  I grabbed the bottle of pills and opened it, shaking two pills onto my hand. He handed me a bottle of water and I took a sip, swallowing the two pills.

He took the water bottle back and sat back down at the desk, typing again.