Alexander walked into his dorm, glad to see his three best friends, Laf, Herc, and John were already there.

"I swear, if you already trashed this place…"

Laf looked at him, grinning. "Of course we didn't trash it yet, mon ami. We were waiting for you to help us."

Alex grabbed a pillow and chucked it at his french friend. Soon enough the four of them had a full on pillow fight raging, and finally decided to stop when Herc's pillow ripped open as feathers floated gently to the floor.

Herc shrugged. "I can sew it up later."

Laf chuckled. "Of course you will, mon amour."

Alex, being the only other person in the room to understand french, looked at Laf curiously. Laf immediately realized his mistake, but there was nothing he could do to cover for it.

"What did you just say, Laf?"

"I-uh, er, well…"

"Doesn't it just mean friend?" Herc asked, who had seemingly misheard Laf.

Alex glanced between the two of them and realized that Herc really did think that it was just another way to say friend. "Yeah, basically." He replied as Laf breathed out a sigh of relief.

John glanced at his watch. "Don't we need to meet the girls for dinner in an hour?"

Herc nodded. "Yeah. We should probably get ready." He said, getting up and heading to his room.

After he left, John looked at Laf and Alex. "Okay, what did you actually say? You had been calling him that all afternoon before Alex arrived, and judging by the way Alex looked at you, it doesn't mean what I think it means."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Laf denied, even as his face flushed a bright red.

Alex started laughing. "Someone," he said, looking directly at Laf. "has a crush."

Laf's face, though it seemed impossible, got a darker red still.

John looked at laf in shock. "Really?"

Laf nodded, looking down. "I forgot Alex spoke french…"

"Well, I do. But now that we know, we might be able to get you two together."

"No!" Laf replied quickly. "He doesn't even like me!"

John and Alex shared a knowing glance. Near the end of last year, Herc had actually

admitted to having a crush on Laf to them. Laf had been out of the house running errands, so the three of them, along with Angelica and Eliza, who had also been over, decided to do a game of truth or dare.

Alex looked at Laf. "What makes you so sure?"

"Come on, Alex. It's obvious he's not interested in me!"

"Don't you think you should at least tell him how you feel?" John asked.

"I-what if he hates me?"

"Laf, you're overreacting." John replied gently. "Why would Herc hate you?"

"I don't know...I just...ugh!"

"Okay. How about we get ready for dinner with the Schuylers tonight, and we'll talk more about this later." Alex said. "I'm sure Herc will not hate you, though, if you decide to ask him out."

"Fine," Laf replied as Alex and John headed to their rooms.

"Do you think we should tell Herc?" John asked quietly.

"I don't know. Does he still like Laf?"

"I'm sure he does, but I can ask him."

"Alright." Alex replied.

"Oh yeah, you never told me what 'mon amour' means." John remembered.

Alex smiled. "It means 'my love'."

John grinned. "That's what Laf was calling him all day? Man, were we off."

"Yes, you were." Alex replied, heading off to his room.

When John was done getting ready he headed over to Herc's room. "Hey, can I come in?" He asked, knocking on the door. "I gotta ask you something."

"Yeah," Herc replied as John let himself in. "What'd you want to ask?"

"Do you still like Laf?"

"Yeah...why do you ask?" Herc asked, suspicious.

"Well, you know how he was saying 'mon amour' earlier?" John asked, smiling. "It doesn't mean what we thought it did."

"Are you going to tell me what it means then?" Herc asked.

John grinned. "It means 'my love'."

Color rose to Herc's cheeks. "There's no way."

"Well, that's what he said it meant. And he thinks it's impossible that you like him."

"What should I do?"

"Really? You need to ask me that? You should ask him out."

"You actually think he would go out with me?"

"Yes," John replied. "He likes you a LOT."

"When should I ask him?"

"Whenever you want. We have fifteen minutes before we have to leave though, so I doubt you'll have time to ask him tonight." John said, exiting the room. "I'm going to go start the car."

Despite them trying to be early, they arrived at the restaurant ten minutes late. The waiter led them to the table where the Schuylers were sitting, along with a fourth girl who was wearing a red top.

"So you finally decided to show up." Eliza said as the guys sat down. "Maria, these are some more of our friends, Herc, Laf, John, and Alex." She said, pointing to each of them as she said their names. "Guys, this is my girlfriend, Maria. She just started this semester."

"Nice to meet you," John replied, smiling. "Our friend group can get a little crazy sometimes. Just warning you now."

Maria grinned. "Oh, Eliza's warned me plenty of times already."

Everyone ordered their food and continued talking about their summer vacation.

The Schuylers had gone up to Canada to see Niagara Falls, Herc had been busy working on costumes for several Broadway shows, Laf visited family in France, John got another turtle, Maria and her brother, James, had moved to New York from Maine, and Alex's summer had been filled with writing articles for the New York Times.

"Thanks for inviting us tonight, Angie." Alex said.

"Of course! It's nice to see everyone before we start school. We actually have time to talk."

"Yeah," Alex agreed.

The group continued talking for a while and before they knew it they could see the sun setting through the windows.

"I think it's about time to head back." John said, grabbing his jacket.

"Okay," Alex said. "Herc, Laf, come on."

Alex and John went outside, with Herc and Laf following behind them. The two got into the car and waited for Laf and Herc, who were only about halfway across the parking lot. Finally when Laf was about to open the door, Herc said something which made Laf turn around. Alex and John couldn't hear what was being said though.

A minute later the two of them saw Laf basically throw himself at Herc, and the two of them stood there hugging for several minutes.

"I think," John said, "That Herc just made his move."

A minute later the two of them got into the car, both of them with bright red faces.

John and Alex looked at each other, smiling. "What was that about?" Alex asked them.

"Nothing!" Laf replied.

"Okay, sorry!" Alex replied.

The rest of the car ride went by without anymore conversation, and Alex and John could hear Laf quietly giggling to himself.

"So, do you guys want to watch a movie?" Alex asked when they got back to the dorm.

"Sure," Herc nodded. "Which one?"

"How about The Patriot?" Alex suggested. "It's been a while since we've watched that one."

"Alright," Laf replied as everyone went to the couch while Alex put the movie in.

The movie started and about half an hour in Alex got up to go get popcorn. He came back out with two bags, one wouldn't have been enough for the four of them.

As the movie dragged on, Laf started leaning on Herc's shoulder, and eventually fell asleep.

They really are cute together. Alex thought.

"Well, goodnight guys," John said, standing up as the movie ended. "We have classes tomorrow, and I don't want to be falling asleep during art." He went off to his room.

Alex looked at his watch. "Yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed too."

"Okay, 'night." Herc said. "It looks like I'm going to spend the night out here." He said, smiling. Laf's head had dropped into Herc's lap. "If I move he's going to wake up."

"Suit yourself." Alex replied, shrugging and heading to his room.

Thanks for reading the first chapter of this! Please review!