Chapter Text
One new email: “My Blind…”
-Delete-
“You don’t understand, Liz. She is downright ignoring me. She doesn’t even acknowledge my presence. I tried to get her attention more than once, but nothing, no reaction whatsoever.”
Thomas was pacing around, phone pressed to his ear.
“Calm down. That’s so untypical of her. Did you upset her in any way?”
“She would need to talk to me for me to upset her!”
“Okay, okay. I am on my way to the dormitory. I’ll talk to her and we’ll meet up in our room, alright?”
Liz was already in the university’s parking lot, heading for her room. She had been sharing this one with her friend and roommate Sophie for one year without any trouble. Thomas was supposed to take her place for the next month while Liz was visiting and nursing her mother who recently got caught in accident, leaving her in need for assistance at home. Keeping up with her university workload from home would surely be hell, but right know her family was top priority.
Thomas, on the other hand, was still living with his family up until now. They didn’t live far away, which meant he never felt the pressure to move out anytime soon. But his second year just started, and he suddenly felt the need to become more independent. Living mostly alone in the university’s dormitory just like his friends and fellow students was his first step to independence.
The rooming situation, however, was tight right now and he was still waiting to get a room officially assigned to him. Liz, being in search for a substitute roommate was the perfect opportunity in this situation.
They were both in the same “Business Management” course and he coincidently overheard her talking to some other girls about needing someone to take her place while she was away. Something about not wanting to leave her roommate alone for too long.
Honestly, Thomas couldn’t care less about her reasons. He just wanted a room, and this was the perfect test run to see if he would be able to live without his parents support and show them that he could be independent.
Well the idea was nice… However, this girl called Sophie, his roommate, was driving him crazy. He tried talking to her, he really did, but she ignored him. Every time she looked into his direction he would wave at her, trying to get her attention after realizing that his verbal communication attempts didn’t work out. But she simply stared or averted her gaze without ever acknowledging him. After the second day he stopped trying altogether. He never stayed much at his dorm from the beginning, but even less from this point on. He mostly visited his friend James Madison, spending time with him instead. When he left his room in the morning Sophie was nowhere to be seen and when he got back late in the evening she was already in bed, he assumed.
They both hat their own room, a small kitchen, as well as some kind of living room that also led into the only bathroom. Honestly, it was more of an apartment than a simple dorm room, but Thomas didn’t dare to put any of his things somewhere else except for his own room, not sure if he would stay after this week.
When Liz finally arrived, she found Sophie in the living room, sitting on the couch while listening to music though her headphones and reading a book in braille. She tapped her on the shoulder making a jump slightly and taking the headphones out instantly.
“Soph, why are you ignoring Thomas? I’m gone for one week, only to come back to a whining man complaining about you not wanting him here, even though you were the one who was so adamant about letting him live with us. So, what happened?!”
Sophies browns furrowed while she put away her book slowly.
“What are you talking about? Thomas hasn’t even arrived yet, I thought he would start living here from next week on. I’ve been alone the whole time… Wait, are you telling me I’ve been living together with him the past week without knowing?” There was a mix of confusion and exasperation in her face and Liz was almost sure that her own face was mirroring that expression.
“Oh my god, I’m going to kill this man.”
As on cue, the door to their apartment opened and Thomas Jefferson entered quietly without making much noise until he saw Liz and began to speak.
“Ah Liz! Glad you’re here, I-“
Sophie flinched when the sudden new voice appeared in the room, not having heard Thomas entering at all and in this moment her former roommate knew exactly whose fault this whole situation really was.
Liz was cutting him off, before Jefferson could even finish his sentence.
“You said you tried talking to her! Now I come here, lecturing one of my best friends about something she didn’t even had a clue about happening! She wasn’t even aware of the fact that you are already living here. How is that possible!? You better explain yourself right now, Mr. Jefferson.”
Bewilderment crossed Thomas’ features when Liz stopped half-shouting at him.
“That’s… What the…?! I was standing right in front of her, talking to her, waving to her and she didn’t even take her headphones out!”
“So, she was listening to music? Have you maybe tried tapping her shoulder to get her attention and what the hell did you do the rest of the week? Simply walking around without trying to talk to her again?” The lack of understanding was evident in Liz’ voice and features, but Thomas didn’t understand either.
How was all this his fault now?
“Why would I touch her just like this?! That would be simply rude and disrespectful! Plus, she even looked in my direction and still didn’t respond. I was waving at her as greeting more than once but she still ignored me every time, of course I stopped trying. I’m not begging for attention I clearly won’t receive.”
That was the last straw. A deadpan look formed on Liz face after Thomas finished speaking and, to be honest, he started to become a little afraid of the girl.
“You waved at her…? You waved at a blind person, talked to her only when she couldn’t hear you and now you are honestly trying to tell me that she purposely ignored you? Are you stupid, Jefferson?!”
He was already thinking about a comeback when Thomas realized what the other student said in the beginning.
“What do you mean? Blind? You never told me about this! How should I have known this?”
“Are you for real? I sent you an email with all the important information before I went home!” Putting one hand of her hip she pulled out her phone with the other one, almost shoving it in Thomas face. The display showed an email addressed to him with the subject “My blind (room)mate” on top.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t read this.”
“Oh god…” It was that moment that realization dawned on him.
“I thought it was one of those “Find you blind date” spam email I’ve been receiving more often. Every time I receive one of those, I always delete them instantly.”
“So, you are telling me, you’ve been living together with my blind roommate without knowing anything about her and her condition… at all?! I knew this was a bad idea from the beginning. We should call this whole agreement off, right now.”
“Liz, calm down. It was just a mistake, a misunderstanding.” That was the first time Thomas heard Sophie speak. “He didn’t do it on purpose, je just didn’t know better. And I’m still alive, so no big deal. I am not that helpless.”
“I know, but do you really expect me to leave you alone with someone who isn’t even able to check his emails correctly? Might as well get Alexander too look after you. At least he knows you and what to do if you need assistance.” At this point, she was simply glaring at Thomas who wasn’t able to defend himself anymore, too perplex about the whole ordeal.
“Wait, are you talking about Hamilton?” Oh no, Thomas Jefferson would not loose his spot to another student, especially not him. Right from the start a rivalry formed between the two of them when they met the first-time during Debate Club. He was not going to lose against the immigrant more than he already did during club activities.
“Yes, Alexander Hamilton, we are friends. But Liz, you know he can’t even look after himself sometimes. I’d need to look after him most of the time and I’m not sure, if the two if us would survive living alone with each other for at least a month. Really, I love him but that’s just a bad idea. Give Thomas another chance. He needs a place to stay and I need a roommate, at least according to you worrywart. Let’s give this another try.”
Sophie was looking in the general direction of her friend with pleading eyes, while Thomas would have love to openly snicker about her roasting Hamilton the way she did, but the unconvinced and still kind of angry look on Liz’ face stopped him from doing so.
Her expression, however, soon changed into one of defeat after looking directly at Sophie.
“Okay, one last chance! But if I hear about you being a nuisance again, I’ll singlehandedly throw you out of our dorm room.” Thomas believed her words without a doubt, but he didn’t care. The only important thing was that he still had another shot and didn’t need to go back to his parents.
If he would have known what kind of chaos was coming onto him though, well… no he would still have stayed. Even if this decision turned his whole life upside-down.