Happy new year!

Thomas led James into their dorm, letting his sick friend lean against him. All of his life, James has had a terrible immune system,  and they had known each other since they were kids, and, unbeknownst to James, before then.

However, that was the past. Even if their friendship was a bright spot in that life, Thomas would rather forget that time. His past self wasn't quite the best person, though he was better than many, many other people of the time. Anyway, the past was the least, and Thomas Johnson was not Thomas Jefferson. 

"Thomas…" Oh, right! James, had a fever! That was pretty important. 

"I was just thinking. Come on, onto the couch. You're in no shape to walk to your bed, and I don't want to carry you there." James unceremoniously fell onto the couch.

Thomas put a hand on his friend's head.  It wasn't too hot, but hotter than he thought would be normal.  He wasn't the best with helping treat fevers, as James somehow didn't get them a lot. 

Even if he wasn't the best at treating fevers, Thomas knew what to do to treat a low-grade fever, so he was internally crossing his fingers. 

It was a routine, though he had hardly shook fe it. Grab the thermometer, place or in Hangers mouth. Check it: 100°, a low grade fever. Bingo. 

The water was freezing cold as it soaked into the towel and flowed over his hand. Despite that, Thomas did not flinch. In a way, he was relieved by the cold because it would help James. 

Every day in their past lives, Jefferson would be worried that Madison's life would be taken by the sicknesses that constantly plagued him. Funny that in the end, his life was taken by heart failure instead. 

The cold and wet towel was laid on James' head, and Thomas collapsed into an armchair in relief.

In times of silence, Thomas ended up thinking, and he hated that. Thinking led to Thomas Jefferson, who did too many terrible things in his lifetime. Yes, he helped free the colonies and turn America into the incredible nation it is today, and he was proud to be that person. The problem was, that person also had slaves and hurry his political enemies savagely. Currently, his treatment of Alexander Hamilton continued to plague his mind whenever everything went silent. 

In an act of rebellion against his own mind, Thomas shot up from his seat and made his way to the bedroom his other roommate, Aaron Woods, had claimed. Aaron had a huge bookshelf, filled with many kinds of books. Fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, nonfiction, even romance. One of the first things he had said to the other two was that his bookshelf was always open to them, and so Thomas was going to take him up on that promise.

Soon, he had chosen a book, a fantasy novel that was a retelling of Snow White. Fantasy was Thomas' favorite genre, because it didn't cross with real life. 

After about thirty to forty-five of Thomas reading in the chair by the couch, James jolted awake. "T-Thomas!" He stammered, clutching the fabric of the couch with an iron like grip. 

Thomas jumped up from his seat and immediately came to his friend's side. "What's wrong?" He asked, putting a hand on James' arm. 

"I…" James looked up at Thomas with a sudden wisdom in his eyes. "I remember my past life."

------

Elizabeth picked at the rats nest in her hair as she speed-walked. Theodosia matched her walk with confidence, reading a book as she walked. It was times like these where Elizabeth envied her roommate. For some reason, she couldn't wake up to alarms, and so Theo has ended up having to wake her up every. Single. Day. She felt kinda bad for that. 

"What are you reading?" Elizabeth hesitantly asked. 

Theodosia looked up for only a moment. "Common Sense by Thomas Paine." 

"You're taking a break from books depicting American History?" Elizabeth asked. Theodosia was a bit of a history nerd, specifically American history. She was a nice change from the rest of the world not caring about their own history. 

With a soft smile, Theo closed her book and stuck it in her bag. "I consider Common Sense some form of history." She turned her head to look Elizabeth in the eye. "You should read it sometime." 

"Maybe," Elizabeth answered. "I prefer more slice-of-life books, though." Theo hummed in response and walked ahead into the coffee shop, pulling Elizabeth with her. This was their most often topic of conversation. For some reason, Theodosia tried to get her to read books about American history constantly. 

The line in the coffee shop was, luckily enough for them, nonexistent. Strange, it was a Thursday morning after all, but lucky. 

This was Elizabeth's new favorite place to go for early morning hot chocolate (she wasn't a coffee kinda girl). It wasn't a surprise that it was busy. Most of the tables in the shop were completely full, even though it was literally 7:30 in the morning. Maybe people were deterred by the yellow Wet Floor! sign right in the middle of the floor.

"A hot chocolate with extra cream and hot chocolate with mini marshmallows." The cashier held out their two drinks. Elizabeth loved getting extra cream and Theo loved the small chunks of marshmallow. Their mutual love of hot chocolate was one of the first things they had bonded over. 

Lucky enough for the duo, as soon as they got their drinks a couple had left and and they could sit at a table by a window. 

"So," Theo asked, stirring her drink slowly. "How has your history class been?"

Elizabeth smiled and took a sip from her drink. "Good. Angelica and I got a good grade on that presentation." 

A thoughtful look made its way onto Theodosia's face. "Did…" She seemed to struggle to find the right words."Did Angelica ever seem weird to you?" Eliza cocked her head in confusion, twirling a piece of her skirt with her fingers. 

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Theodosia took a long drink from her cup. "She was always acting as if she was walking on shelves around you, and constantly winced when you said her name. Plus, sometimes she acted as if she had known you for years. She also just stared at you a lot."
 
Now that Theo mentioned that, it was kind of weird. Angelica would be lost in her thoughts a lot around her...but there was no way… "You don't think she has a crush on me, do you!? I'm straight, I can't-" 

"No!" Theodosia's expression was bright red with embarrassment. "I-I meant to say that it was more like she was studying you, not… that."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Elizabeth let out a loud sigh of relief. She was not prepared to deal with something like that. 

All of a sudden, a loud thump! made itself present next to their table. A man with brown hair had slipped and fell thanks to the puddle of water, spilling everything that was in his open backpack. 

Elizabeth quickly got on the floor and began helping him pick up his stuff. By some stroke of luck, most of his things had fallen into a dry spot on the floor. 

"I'm so sorry-" The man whispered, but Elizabeth smiled to herself. 

"You're perfectly fine." She looked up, ready to hand him his things, but stopped when she saw his face. The scraggly beard, the pale (yet also tanned?) complexion, and those eyes… they held such fire and such wit. It felt as if she could stare into those eyes and be able to do anything. "I-I uh," Why was she rendered speechless? "What's your name?" 

He seemed to study her, taking in every one of her features, before he answered. "Alexander Wilson." Oh that name. The first name seemed so perfect, but the last one… it was beautiful but was too plain and too small to accurately show the incredible nature of this man. They had barely talked, but somehow she knew that. 

"Elizabeth Small." A soft smile graced Alexander's lips, and Elizabeth felt as if she could fly. How was this man doing this to her after just a minute of knowing one another? She felt as if she could do anything, but also as if the time came when he would leave, every moment would be of her thinking if him. He just seemed so amazing…

Theodosia's voice cut through Elizabeth's thoughts. "Nice to meet you, Alexander. I'm Theodosia Sanderson." Alexander gave her friends a polite nod. "Could I maybe have your number? Theo asked, and Elizabeth's heart sank. Did she have a crush on him? Elizabeth wouldn't blame her, but...no. if Theo had a crush she would be supportive. 

Alexander blinked in surprise, but nodded and wrote it on Theo's napkin. He graciously offered Elizabeth a hand, which she took as she sat. "It was nice meeting you both." He nodded at her as he went to walk away. "Eliza." That nickname was perfect, too…

Elizabeth was brought back to reality when she saw Theo enter Alexander's number into her phone. "So…" Why was her voice so shaky? "Do you have a crush on him?"

"What?" Theodosia looked surprised for some odd reason. 

With a fake smile plastered into her face, Elizabeth pointed to the napkin. "That's shy boy asked for his number, isn't it?" Theo looked from the napkin to Elizabeth a few times. 

A loud laugh came from Theodosia. "Oh, no no no! I didn't get this for me! Don't think I didn't see the way you looked at him!" 

"Really?" Elizabeth probably shouldn't have been so surprised, but she was. 

"Yeah!" Theo laughed, handing over the napkin. "Besides, he was obviously interested in you. Don't think I didn't see that nickname, Eliza. Now go flirt with that man."