Charlie & Her Beta

Nine

Beta Nolan puts down the boxes he carried inside on the bedroom floor. “Thanks dad.” Charli calls as her dad walks out to look at the leaky sink Gretchen mentioned. She starts unpacking her suitcase into the oak wood dresser provided by the Academy and looks over at the little twin bed with a thin plastic mattress. It looks like something you would find in a child's crib but worse honestly. “That mattress has seen better days,” Reid says setting the last box down.

He walks over and pats the white plastic, “There won’t be any magic happening here” He teases “Your right there won’t be.” Beta Nolan says walking into the room “Charli I need to go to the hardware store so I can get that sink fixed.” He says looking over at her.

“How about we do a quick inventory check and do some shopping?” he asks, giving her a smile. “Yeah, that sounds great.” She says putting the clothes in her hands away to look for a notebook and pen.

They walk through the decent sized jack and jill bathroom and her dad checks both sinks and the shower to make sure they’re not leaking. “It’s a nice space, definitely clean,” her dad’s voice echoes through the sparsely decorated living area where there is a small yellow sofa that has seen better days and a bulky 90’s style TV sitting on top of a chipped black coffee table.

“This is a luxury apartment compared to the dorm I had when I went here” Reid chuckles, looking through the fridge. “Thats because you were about to be suspended for throwing parties and they had no choice to put you in a room the size of a broom closet so you couldn't have people over.” Their dad says annoyed at the memory and Reid laughs “Good times.” He says with a grin annoying his father further.

Beta Nolen's gaze searches the living space for any other issues until his eyes rest on Reid scavenging the cupboards. “Reid let’s get the boxes brought up before we head to the store, then we can grab dinner and shop for essentials.” “I brought the last box up a few minutes ago.” he replies shoving something into his mouth. “Alright then, let's go. We're losing day light.” Their dad says making sure he has the truck keys.

“I’m home!” Gretchen's voice rings through the little dorm as she closes the door behind and the grocery bag, she has in her hand drops to the floor as she looks around. “I hope you don’t mind; my dad, brother and I made some changes.” Charli says nervously, walking into the shared living space.

Gretchen stands there looking around the room speechless. Charli fumbles with her hands waiting for her to say something, “I thought today couldn’t get any better, but clearly I was wrong!” She says excitedly and Charli lets out a breath of relief.

“My dad said he would pay the storage fee for your furniture if you’d like to keep it.” Charli tells her and Gretchen shakes her head, still wandering around the dorm taking it all in. “All that stuff was already here when I moved in you can junk it.” She looks over at her roommate and smiles.

Beta Nolan replaced the old yellow couch with a lightly used black leather one and a matching chair. They also found a light-colored oak TV stand, end table, and bookcase from one of the local secondhand stores. Charli picked out a faux cow hide rug and some other farmhouse decor for the living room as it reminded her of home.

Her dad also picked up a little oak and iron bistro table with two chairs and a new TV from the local general goods store while they were picking up some necessities. Of course, Reid didn’t want to be left out and bought Charli some neat octagon, color changing wall lights and set them up by the TV. He also replaced the bulbs in Charlies room and to color changing bulbs that came with a remote.

When she is done searching through the dorm Gretchen smiles wide and wraps Charli in a tight hug. “Thank you so much! I mean I know you didn’t do it for me, but I still get to live here!” she says happily. As soon as she lets go of Charli, she moves over to Beta Nolen and hugs him as well, making Charli giggle. Her dad arched an eyebrow at strange girl, clearly uncomfortable and it made Charli laugh again.

“He’s not a hugger,” My brother says walking over to Gretchen “but I am.” He tells her opening his arms expectantly and she runs over to him. He gives Charli a wink and grins making her roll her eyes. They hugged for a few moments too long and then Reid stood next to her with his arm draped over her shoulder. Charli was not at all surprised me, as her brother has proven himself to be a bit of a Casanova.

“This really is amazing; I can’t believe you guys got all this done in only a few hours. Thank you, guys!” She looks up at Reid, and he winks at her making her smile. Gretchen quickly recovers from her and Reids shared moment or whatever that was and leaves his embrace to grab Charli’s hand “Show me your room!” she exclaimed with curiosity.

“Of course.” Charli said feeling genuinely excited. “It’s really just a new mattress, most of this stuff I brought from home, but Reid got me these.” Charli grabs the remote off her dresser and changes the color of the lights to green and Gretchen laughs. “I think that girl will be good for Arli.” Beta Nolen whispers to Reid and he nods. “She might be good for me too.” He says back to his dad jokingly making him sigh and Reid laughs having gotten the reaction he wanted.

It was a bittersweet parting, but Charli knew her dad and brother couldn’t stay forever. “Thank you for getting me all set up here.” She says, feeling grateful to have such a loving family supporting her. “You got this sweet girl,” He dad says ruffling her hair a little then he kisses the top of her head. “I’ll be back soon to check on you.” He says patting her shoulder and she nods.

“I look forward to it.” She replies, trying not to cry. “See you around little sister.” Reid says just before he hugs her so tightly that she can’t breathe. “Reid . . .” Their father scolds after a few seconds “don’t hurt her.” He warns and Reid laughs “I would never.” He tells his father feigning offense. “See you around.” He tells Charli and pushes her forehead back making her have to catch her balance before he gets in the truck.

Charli stands on the sidewalk and watches her dads truck drive away. Gretchen comes up beside her and puts her arm over her shoulder to comfort her new friend. “Don’t worry, we’ll have lots of fun. Come on.” She tells Charli walking her towards the dorm.