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Eliza knows that Alexander isn’t on a meal plan and makes it a point to fill a to-go box to bursting every day at breakfast with eggs and toast, accompanied by a Thermos filled with oatmeal. Hurrying to be sure nothing grows cold, she delivers the food to Alexander, holed up in a study room at the campus center because the library opens far too late for his liking. Alexander accepts the food with a whisper of thanks before devouring it, pausing only to return Eliza’s soft good morning kiss.
Eliza leaves the living room lamp on for Alexander, knowing that he won’t be back from the library until just before sunrise. Midterm week is hitting Alexander particularly hard; he has three papers due and his perfectionism is lethal when mixed with insecurity about the first big grades of the semester. They’ve taken to sleeping in the off-campus apartment Eliza shares with Angelica, where she has her own room and a double bed that fits two people much more comfortably than Alexander’s college-issued twin.
When Alexander stumbles into the bedroom at 3AM he climbs gingerly into bed, too exhausted to do anything more than remove his jeans. Draping an arm over the sleeping Eliza and placing three light kisses on her temple, Alexander settles into the pillow and drifts quickly to sleep, calmed by Eliza’s steady breathing and the lavender scent of her shampoo.
Eliza notices that Alexander’s t-shirts have been washed so many times they’ve started to sprout tiny holes around the neck and hem. Sitting on the couch watching early Presidential election coverage on the news, Eliza leans her head on Alexander’s chest and fiddles absently with a hole by his collar, listening to the deep thrum of his heartbeat and wishing he would let her buy him new clothes.
She fixes this problem when she goes home for winter break and sifts through her brother Philip’s castoff clothing - shirts and jackets he’d worn once at most, but dismissed as unfit for maintaining his image as the most popular starting forward on the varsity hockey team. Eliza takes an armful of henleys and v-neck tees, making sure to add an old down coat; she knows that Alexander’s method of layering sweatshirts in various states of disrepair won’t last him through the winter.
Back at school, sitting in front of his new wardrobe, Alexander opens his mouth to protest.
“Please take them?” Eliza wheedles, tracing the knuckles of his right hand with her thumb. “For me?”
Alexander’s eyes soften. “Fine,” he grumbles.
Eliza smiles with glee and kisses him hard, triumphantly, both sitting on the carpet among ten paper bags of hand-me-downs.
Alexander has the flu - it was only a matter of time, really, until his late nights in the library writing papers that weren’t due for weeks caught up with him. He tries to continue working through the illness, but he’s too weak to even stand in the shower for longer than five minutes. Eliza declares herself immune and turns her bedroom into an infirmary of sorts, bringing Alexander tea and homemade soup and saltine crackers.
Angelica makes a fuss over Alexander staying in their apartment; she takes the LSATs in ten days and can’t afford to catch even the slightest cold, but Eliza refuses to budge, saying that making Alexander sleep in his cramped on-campus triple with two other guys he’s barely had three conversations with is simply too cruel to bear.
She drags the television from the living room into her bedroom and hooks up her laptop, letting The West Wing play in the background as Alexander drifts in and out of sleep, Eliza rubbing his back slowly and methodically to soothe his fitful dreams.