tratie one shots, vol. i

[ roommates pt. 1 ]

this is an idea i saw on tumblr, and i was crying at how perfectly it fit tratie. so, here this is lol.

i'm gonna try to get the second part out today, too, i hope :D

words: 1268

. . .

"Travis, your gross socks are in the washer again!"

I groaned as I filled the tub with detergent and pressed the start button. Travis never did his laundry, no matter how many times I'd asked him to. He only stuffed his smelly clothes in the washer and left them for me to take care of.

I was about ready to murder him.

"So sad, if only there was something you could do about that!" came the reply from the living room, where Travis was playing video games with his brother on Xbox Live. 

It would've been worth the life sentence. 

"Ugh!" I exclaimed to myself as I marched into the kitchen to fix dinner. If there was one thing I could look forward to at the end of every day, it was the fresh supply of fruits and vegetables I got at the farmer's market every...

"Travis, where are my collard greens?"

"Oh, that's what those were? Thought it was moldy turds."

I heard him laughing with his brother, and I rolled my eyes at his immaturity. Just because his mom paid for his groceries didn't mean he needed to be so flippant about mine. We were college students, for heaven's sake! I didn't have a lot of money to splurge on. 

Stupid Travis. Stupid roommate system. 

"I'm going out," I declared, grabbing my scarf and laptop case. 

"Where are you going?"

"I'm buying a gun to shoot you with."

His cackling was audible outside of the apartment, and I knew our neighbors were cursing us. We'd gotten several noise complaints because of his boisterous gaming adventures, and I wasn't in the mood to get kicked out of the only place I could afford. 

As I walked around the corner to the coffee shop I spent most of my time, I contemplated how bad it would be to live in the dorms on campus. Sure, it was noisy and cramped, but would their noise be comparably better than Travis'? And certainly they weren't messier and as inconsiderate. 

Only three more weeks of the semester. Then it would be over.

Except, it wouldn't be. Before I met Travis, I'd signed for the apartment contract of a year. I figured a roommate I didn't know couldn't be awful, and if they were willing to pay for half the rent, I didn't care. 

But that was before I knew how scummy Travis was.

The bell of the coffee shop's door dinged as I entered, and I nodded at the barista as she began fixing my regular order. Seeing as this was my usual place to go after dinner didn't work out - if Travis burned a whole through a pan or if I couldn't stand being with him - all the employees knew me as the girl who hated her roommate with a passion. Which wasn't too far off. 

I slung my satchel off of my shoulder and placed it on the barstool next to me. Opening up my laptop, I pulled up the online chat to talk to him.

Tmesis94.

hey, I typed before pulling up another tab to look over my homework. It usually took him a bit to respond at dinnertime, so I knew I could busy myself without missing a message.

I'd been talking to him for the past two months, about halfway through the semester. All I knew was that we went to the same college, he majored in English, and we shared about a billion common interests. I didn't know his real name, but I did know that he was smart and considerate and everything I looked for in a guy.

Good enough for me.

Liz, my barista, placed a cheese danish and a caramel latte in front of me. I nodded in thanks to her and slid over the exact change for it, plus her tip. 

"Talking to your mystery guy?" she asked, leaning over to see my laptop screen. 

I smiled. "Yup. He told me last night that he thinks I'm beautiful."

She laughed incredulously. "He hasn't even seen a picture of you."

"He doesn't care."

She said we were totally cute together and turned to go back behind the counter. Then, I put in my earbuds and went to work.

Ding! My computer beeped to signal a reply from Tmesis. I clicked to the first tab and grinned.

Bored, I'm assuming?

My danish's flaky crust crumbled as I picked it up to take a bite. My fingers wandered over the keyboard, responding, yeah. my roommate's being a jerk again

Tmesis was the only person I talked to about Travis. He seemed to understand the whole situation, saying that his roommate was insufferable as well. Apparently, she didn't understand him and was super strict about his chores. He would complain about her, and I'd complain about Travis. It was a great give-and-take. 

Ding!

I get that. Mine just stormed out of here like she was going to hire some mercenaries to kill me, haha.

I chuckled to myself as I left him on read to finish up my essay's rough draft. Since Tmesis was an English major, I asked him to look over my essays before I submitted them. He didn't mind at all, and in exchange, I helped him with statistics homework. Even though Travis majored in Liberal Arts, he'd have never edited my English papers for me. 

here's my paper. it probably has typos bc i could care less

I pasted the file to the message board and hit submit. But, before it showed that he opened it, he corrected my grammar.

*Couldn't care less, PlantLadyy.

whatever, word nerd

Rolling my eyes, I couldn't help but feel warm inside. Even though we didn't even know each other's names, I felt like I knew him like the back of my hand. Tmesis and I got along so well, and we were at the point that I considered our relationship a romantic one. We'd scheduled online "dates" to get to know each other better, and once, he'd called me babe.

So, I decided to make a move and see where it took me.

do you wanna meet up sometime? 

Short and simple, I left it at the question and returned to my danish and coffee. I was anxious to hear back from him, because we'd never gotten past finding out that we were on campus together. We never used names or streets, just for privacy's sake. But I had a feeling I could trust Tmesis, and I hoped he felt the same. 

A few minutes passed, and he'd already read the message. My heart thudded, but I tried to think about finishing up my biology quiz instead of the risk I'd taken. Tmesis was the type of guy who thought through things, and I appreciated that about him. He'd respond when he was ready to.

Ding!

I clicked to the tab desperately, drinking in his words over and over.

Of course I want to. Name the time and place, you know my schedule.

Beside myself with giddiness, my fingers flew across the keys to type out a reply. how about the bean on 3rd? 10 tomorrow

Ding!

Sounds like a plan. I'll see you then, love.

Love?

I gnawed at my lip and shook my hands out. I was meeting Tmesis. The guy I'd been talking to for months, the guy I'd caught feelings for, big time. Tmesis, the guy who related to me on so many levels that I had no choice but to believe we were made for each other.

The guy who called me love.

I couldn't wait until tomorrow.