Jessica hated Shakespeare.

Before getting too much into her major—you know, the actual fun classes—she was getting through as much of her generals as possible, including English. So here she was frowning down at the page, a piercing ache in her head, as she tried to slog her way through verse several hundred years old. Languages developed, of course, but she had been surprised every time she had been exposed to Shakespeare how profoundly annoying it was. She could barely understand a word. And at times she was so baffled she decided to look a word up, but as often as not it wasn't in her dictionary. And of course that didn't help with the phrasing itself besides. Sometimes she thought Shakespeare had to have been the most pretentious man in history. No one talks like this.

As her eyes glazed, she absently found her mind wandering. Rehashing her other classes, reliving vignettes of her interactions with her friends and acquaintances, suffering the attentions of a certain someone who didn't understand the word no. Before too long she caught herself, and tried to force her concentration back on the verse before her. It didn't work very well.

After a few attempts at reading, her phone buzzed at her. She figured it was Andrea blabbing about something, but she picked it up anyway, to find she had gotten a text from an unknown number. Not Andrea, then. For a moment she stared at it, dreading that that certain someone had somehow found her number. She reluctantly opened the text.

Hey, hearing girl .

Jessica frowned at the miniature screen. Hearing girl? What did that even mean? She thought on that for a few moments before replying, Who is this? Again she tried to focus on the verse, but her attempt was cut short by another text.

Lorelei. Would anyone else call you hearing?

Right, that deaf girl she had talked to yesterday. The cute deaf girl. Oh. So what does hearing mean? That I'm not deaf? This time Jessica didn't bother turning back to her book, and merely waited. While she waited she added Lorelei's number to her contacts

Your powers of deduction, they amaze me.

She made an annoyed face Lorelei couldn't see. Stop teasing me .

No. What are you up to?

Jessica almost wished Lorelei could hear her huff over the phone. Wait, she can't hear at all; Jessica kept doing that. Trying to read Shakespeare .

Oh really? Which play?

It was a relief to Jessica that she had picked up enough from her reading that she didn't have to flip to the front cover and check. At least she had understood something. Hamlet .

There was a somewhat longer pause before the next text came. Doubt thou the stars are fire; doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt I love .

Jessica rolled her eyes; of course Lorelei would have something memorized, damn English majors. I'm assuming that's in here somewhere.

A few short moments later: Of course. Hamlet's awesome. I also used to have the to be or not to be monologue memorized, but I've probably forgotten it by now.

Why would you memorize something like that? typed Jessica, leaning back in her chair and propping a knee up against her desk.

My professor gave each of us a monologue to memorize and recite for her, and I happened to get that one by chance.

Jessica frowned. How did you recite it?

By the rate these texts arrived, Lorelei must not be doing anything else. But then, Jessica wasn't either. I wrote it down, which took a while. It's a lot of letters.

So...you just spelled the whole thing out?

Jessica could almost imagine Lorelei's cute little sniggering sound with the next comment. Like I said, it's a lot of letters . It was hard, too. I have trouble with verse. Poetry.

Did Lorelei think she didn't know what verse meant? Jessica found herself smirking anyway. And here I thought you were an English major.

I'm a DEAF English major. I have trouble keeping track of things like rhythm. So much of poetry is what it sounds like, and, well, the obvious.

Oh right, of course. That hadn't even occurred to her. She couldn't even imagine what that would be like, to have to slog through with no clue as to what it sounded like. But then again, she couldn't imagine being deaf in the first place. Right, I'm sorry .

What for?

Never mind. So what are you up to? Jessica decided she wanted coffee, so she let her foot fall to the ground and stood up. She was just entering the kitchen when she got another text.

Oh, nothing much. Just finished my homework, so I'm texting. Jer and Aria. And you, of course.

You are such a multitasker. With a push of a button, the coffee grinder filled the kitchen with annoying noise, and Jessica went about reassembling the crappy plastic espresso making thing. Her dad had bought the thing for her as a housewarming gift. She filled one half of it full of water and put it in the microwave to warm up. When the grinder stopped grinding, she poured the grounds into the other half after fitting in a paper filter.

You should see the variety of things I can do all at once. I'm told it's...interesting.

Jessica found herself smiling again. Lorelei, are you flirting with me? She placed the bottom half over a coffee cup with some hot chocolate mix at the bottom, and, when the microwave beeped, pulled the top half out and poured the water into the bottom half. She swirled it around with the stirring stick that had come with the silly thing and set in to wait.

Do you want me to be flirting with you? If yes, then yes. If no, then I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just teasing you, God. Develop some humility, why don't you.

You know, talking like that won't exactly get you on my good side . Now who was teasing? She glanced at the coffee thing to see it wasn't done steeping yet.

Is the good side the inside?

In spite of herself, she snorted out a laugh. Lorelei didn't have to know that though. Lorelei! Show some decency!

Neither of us can hear it, but I'm laughing right now .

Jessica frowned. Why do you keep doing that? She used the top half to squeeze the remaining water through the filter at the bottom, then put the whole thing in the sink. Then she filled the coffee cup the rest of the way up with milk and slipped it in the microwave again.

Doing what? Teasing you? Because it's fun.

Not that. Joking about being deaf. The microwave was still making noise at her. She rapidly cleaned out the coffee thing and returned it to its usual place.

Because it's funny. And fun and funny go together, so clearly teasing you and making deaf jokes should go together too, don't you think?

But doesn't joking about your disability make you uncomfortable? The microwave beeped, so Jessica took out the coffee and slipped back towards her room.

I'm not disabled. I'm Deaf, not paraplegic.

Jessica didn't know what to say to that. In her book, being deaf definitely counted as a disability. There was so much a deaf person couldn't do, and wasn't that what being disabled meant? She thought so. Maybe Lorelei really was just sensitive about it. And why had she capitalized deaf? I'm sorry , she typed, since she couldn't think of anything else. For a moment she sat at her desk, sipping at her coffee and contemplating homework. She would ease her brain with some chemistry but she had already done that. Maybe some statistics?

Don't be sorry. Just don't be patronizing either .

That's why she didn't want to be called disabled: she didn't want to be talked down to. That made sense. I'll do my best not to be. Statistics it is. She reached for her textbook.

That'll have to do. OMG guess what?

Jessica rolled her eyes, even though Lorelei couldn't see it. Maybe you should just tell me.

Aria's coming back for winter break! And an ecstatic smiley face.

I suppose you're going to tell me who Aria is. Immediately upon seeing the numbers and symbols (mostly symbols) inherent to mathematics, Jessica's annoyance with her English work vanished. Sure, statistics wasn't the most fun, but it was better than English.

One of my friends from the Academy. She went off to Gallaudet and we never see her.

What's Gallaudet? She always thought it was interesting how, in statistics, there were several different ways to handle a situation, and each got different results. Of course, that made bending numbers to your will and skewing the results a little easier, but that's what made it fun.

It's a Deaf college out in Washington D.C. I'm told it's a nice place.

Deaf people have a college? Why didn't you go? Multivariate normal distributions. Fun.

Yes, we do. A tongue-sticking-out face. This is my home. I didn't want to move halfway across the country just to go to school.

Jessica scribbled away in her notes for another moment before answering. That never occurred to me. How do you get through class? Everyone loves series.

Lot's of things don't occur to you. Another tongue-sticking-out face. My aunt, remember? She interprets for me.

Oh right, the woman at the table. I'd forgotten about her. Statistics really did take a lot of work, when it came down to it. Her enjoyment was quickly fading.

I'm not surprised. You apparently keep forgetting I'm deaf.

You're just so normal, it doesn't occur to me . This was getting annoying, maybe she should just give up on work completely toni—she realized what she had just said and the bottom fell out of her stomach. Oh my god, that was so offensive I'm so sorry! She waited a long, agonizing minute after sending the second text simply staring at her phone. Lorelei would probably stop talking to her, she was sure.

But the phone buzzed anyway. Lol that's okay. I've heard worse. I can't recall ever being called normal before, and that's the offensive part. I mean, have you seen me?

If she was teasing she probably wasn't really offended. Good. And using "lol" was really weird for a deaf person, she thought. Oh shush, you're totally rocking the punk butch look. You're cute. She hesitated a moment before sending the text—she wasn't sure if she wanted to admit she thought the other girl was cute, though anyone with eyes could tell she was. Then she wondered what she was going to do with the rest of the night if she wasn't going to focus on school work. She could watch another episode of Supernatural, she guessed.

I am too butch to be cute.

Nonsense. Cute. Yes, that's what she'd do. She got up from her desk and started wandering over to the living room, where the Netflix-enabled Blu-Ray player was waiting.

Jessica, are you flirting with me? with yet another tongue-sticking-out face.

Do you want me to be? she typed, smiling to herself, then sat in to wait for the stupid thing to load. This always took forever.

I think our conversation has just hit some sort of recursion.

I'm confused. How can a conversation be defined recursively? Finally the thing was up. She played around, navigating through the clumsy menu before finding what she was looking for.

Dork. I meant the English definition, not the one in mathese.

I thought the word was only "mathese." Now she just had to wait forever for the episode to load. Her and her roommate were working on getting better internet.

It's from Latin, recurrsio. It means a repeated happening. Well, the Latin literally means run back, or return. But that's not the point.

And I'm the dork? Jessica was really getting tired of these introduction montages at the beginning of the show, how they showed stuff that had previously happened. It was repetitive and annoying.

We can be dorks together, how about that?

It's a deal, she typed, smiling a little to herself.

It was late. She had said goodnight to all of her friends, but Lorelei didn't feel like going to sleep just yet. Her eyes glazed across her room, looking for something to do, but she really didn't find anything. Clothes all over the floor, posters all over the walls, books all over pretty much everywhere, but she had read all of them a thousand times, and eleven wasn't the best time to be starting a book anyway.

She felt a strange feeling in her stomach that she had always associated with suction. Why was she hungry? She was pretty sure she had eaten a couple times today. Maybe she could eat something. That would fill her time with deliciousness. It only took her another moment to decide and select something.

Rolling out of bed, where she had just finished Mrs Dalloway , for what had to be the tenth time—she loved Virginia Woolf—Lorelei stood up to slink her way out of her room. Once in the hallway she turned for the stairs, and once down those she made her way to the kitchen, which always smelled of bananas and various cleaning products. She immediately shoved her nose in the fridge—the lettuce was getting old—looking for Velveeta. Her parents hated the stuff, but she and Stephanie used it all the time, so they kept it on hand. Finally she spotted it way in the back of the fridge. She pulled it out, almost forgetting to grab the butter before closing the door. Soon she had her bread prepared, but then realized she had forgotten something: the pan, of course. Usually it was sitting on the stove but it wasn't there this time.

She opened one of the cabinets and immediately found the pan she was looking for, under a couple pots and on top of another pan. Without thinking it through, she grabbed the pan by the handle, and yanked at an angle, hoping to slip it out from between the others. Instead she dragged it all out, and they fell to the floor, bouncing against each other. She winced as she replaced them; she was sure that had been loud. She hoped she hadn't woken anyone up.

Now that she had everything together she went about fixing her grilled cheese sandwich. She hummed while she worked, the bass line to a song she had felt at a club—that was the only part she could feel—the vibration a pleasant feeling in the back of her throat. Just as she was about to flip the sandwich, cued in by the beginning of a burning smell, there was a light tap on her shoulder.

A jumping rush of surprise surged through her. Lorelei started, the motion almost ruining her sandwich. A glance behind her revealed Stephanie—tall, brown-haired, with large green eyes, wearing pink Powerpuff Girls pajamas—a look of amusement clear on her face. Lorelei glared at her sister for a moment before turning back to her sandwich, and flipping it properly. Once that was settled, she put the spatula down and turned to her sister. You almost killed my sandwich , she signed, then pulled a look of great despair.

I would hate to be a sandwich murderer, Stephanie signed back, her shoulders shaking.

Lorelei frowned at her. Stop laughing. Sandwich murder is not something to joke about. Sandwich murder is very serious business .

I'll stop laughing when you stop being silly.

Then you'll never stop laughing.

I have to breathe sometime. Stephanie finally gained control of her laughter, replacing it with a curious expression. What was that noise down here a minute ago?

Lorelei flinched. I knocked over some pots. I knew that was loud. Did I wake you up?

I wasn't asleep yet. Stephanie looked around Lorelei at the pan. Is eleven at night really the time for grilled cheese?

It's always the time for grilled cheese. There was the beginning of a burnt smell again. Excuse me . Putting her back to Stephanie, Lorelei returned her attention to the stove. With a flourish of the spatula, she had the sandwich on a plate, and immediately moved over to the sink. Steam billowed from the pan as the water hit it. Once it had settled down a little, she wiped the surface down, then placed it back on the hot burner. And belatedly remembered to turn the stove off. She grabbed a fork and a plate and made her way to the counter, setting herself up on one of the stools.

Sammich , she signed to Stephanie before she started eating. Grilled cheese sandwiches are amazing.

Stephanie signed something just as Lorelei was taking the first crunchy, cheesy, heavenly bite. You and soup, you and sandwiches. You and women. You have strange tastes.

Putting her fork down, Lorelei signed back. All of those are delicious. And you know you agree with me on all but one count.

You're talking with your mouth full again. Stephanie smirked while Lorelei rolled her eyes. But seriously. I came down because I wanted to talk to you.

Lorelei was using her fork again, so she fingerspelled with her off hand, Go ahead .

Stephanie hesitated a moment before signing, It's about Carl . That was Stephanie's boyfriend.

Putting down the fork for the occasion, Lorelei signed,

Oh no, not that dick.

I happen to like that dick , Stephanie signed, smirking a little.

Lorelei raised a hand to wiggle her fingers in front of her chest, her face completely level as she chewed.

No need to be sarcastic. I thought it was funny.

This comment needed to be said, so she put her fork down again. I find your lack of humor disturbing. Anyway, you were saying?

Again, Stephanie hesitated. Never mind, it doesn't matter.

Lorelei rolled her eyes some more. Stephanie ...

It's not a big deal, okay? I'm just paranoid. Stephanie shifted in place awkwardly, something Lorelei couldn't remember seeing her do. She was almost as confident as Lorelei herself.

Spill it , Lorelei insisted.

For a few seconds more, as Lorelei attacked the remains of her sandwich, Stephanie hesitated. Then: I think he's cheating on me . Lorelei stared, sure her eyes had gone as wide as her plate. And she kept staring, signing nothing, as seconds went by. Then longer. Eventually Stephanie signed, You're shocked .

Duh , Lorelei fingerspelled once she'd recovered a little. I certainly didn't expect this from him. He seemed like such a nice guy.

Stephanie visibly sighed. It's usually the nice guys.

I wouldn't know, I guess. What made you suspect?

It seemed Stephanie was having a hard time talking about this—her breaths had shortened a little, her throat was working, and her signing was a little jerkier. Whether it was from despair or anger Lorelei wasn't sure. She suspected anger; it ran in the family. I was at his house earlier, in his room. He was out getting drinks and I saw a pair of his jeans on the floor, with a pair of panties sticking out the back pocket. They weren't mine. I calmly asked him about it a few minutes after he got back and he claimed not to know where they came from.

Lorelei gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to drive over to his house right then and beat the shit out of him. No one messes with her sister. That's pretty damning, she signed instead.

I know. I've been sitting on this for a few days, because I just don't know what to do about it. She looked at Lorelei, leaving that she was hoping she had advice unsigned.

First I just have to say something you won't like. Lorelei waited for Stephanie to interrupt, and continued when she didn't. It's very damning. I think he is cheating on you.

Stephanie's shoulders rose and fell in a sigh again, and her face fell in her hands. Over the next few seconds she took a couple deep breaths, and when she dropped her hands to sign Lorelei was pretty sure she saw unshed tears in her eyes. It seems more real when you say it.

I'm sorry, Sis. Deciding to leave signing by the wayside, she slid out of her stool and walked to Stephanie, enveloping her taller sister in a hug. Lorelei tried not to contemplate the pain that asshole had caused her little sister, however slight it may be—again, their family and anger—and instead focused on the smell of her lotion. What was that anyway? Lotion smell, she guessed. Whatever it was it smelled good.

After a while—Lorelei wasn't sure how long—Stephanie reached up to push gently at her shoulders. Lorelei let go and stepped far enough away for Stephanie to sign.

Okay. What's second?

You let me beat the shit out of the asshole who hurt my sister .

Stephanie's shoulders shook. You say the butchest things sometimes.

I'm completely serious , Lorelei insisted.

I know , Stephanie signed, nodding. That's what makes it so adorable .

Don't be condescending. I'm trying to make you feel better. Lorelei crossed her arms and pouted.

You are , Stephanie signed with a grateful smile. So really, what's second?

Lorelei shrugged, then unfolded her arms to sign, You confront his ass.

For a long moment Stephanie just stared at her. Lorelei noticed that the tears had cleared up. Then she nodded.

Okay. I'll do that.

Lorelei blinked at her. That was easy.

Well, we haven't been together that long. It could have been worse. I could be in love with him. Fortunately I'm not.

Yeah, lucky you. Lorelei looked around the room for a couple moments, than shrugged. I don't want to go to bed yet. Want to watch a movie? I think they bought a few.

Stephanie shrugged too, and nodded. After putting her plate in the dishwasher, the two of them moved to the living room, selected a movie, then settled themselves into the couch to watch. Lorelei leaned onto the armrest, and Stephanie laid down, her head in Lorelei's lap—the exact positions they found themselves when their parents woke them up the next morning.