Noah and stepsister Charlotte get to know each other.
"Noah! Noah!"
I was violently shaken awake by my dad during my nap on the sofa. "What?" I replied groggily and slightly mad.
"Your mom and I are heading to the airport to pick up Charlotte. I want you to be ready by the time we get back. Go and take a shower and put on some nice clothes."
"Yeah, yeah," I said as I tried to return to my nap. But he wouldn't let me, and he started shaking me again.
"He'll be all showered and dressed by the time we're back," Samantha answered for me. "Now, let's get on the road. This is a rush hour during the holidays. It will take even longer to get to the airport than usual."
My dad sighed, and even though my face was buried in the sofa, I could tell he looked at me disapprovingly. I didn't get up until I heard them leaving through the garage.
I reached for my phone and gave myself at least 90 minutes to start getting ready before they got back.
Let me clear some things up first. First off, my name is Noah, if you couldn't figure it out. The guy who was shaking me awake was my dad, Greg. He works as the hardware guy for a company. Samantha, who he said was my mom, isn't actually my mom. She's my stepmom. And for those who guessed that Charlotte isn't my real sister and just my stepsister, congrats to you! Now, I do have a real sister, and her name is Jacqueline or Jackie, as she prefers to be called, and she's older than me by 3 years.
Jackie and I both inherited our looks from our mother. Rosy skin, brown eyes, straight brown hair, not fat nor skinny. Pretty generic, right? I wish I got my physique from my Dad. The only thing I got was his height, as we both stood at 6 feet tall. He hasn't been to the gym since he became a dad. I haven't even seen him work out at home. You won't mistake him for a prime Arnold Schwarzenegger or Chris Bumstead, but he was built. The best way to describe him is that he looks like a retired NFL linebacker.
My stepmom, Samantha, looks like a MILF. Dirty blonde hair, busty and curvy, fit, blue eyes, and a great smile to top it off. I'll admit that when my dad first introduced me to Samantha, I was a little shit to her, but I couldn't keep it up for long since she was so sweet. As for Charlotte, I couldn't tell you how she looked because I can't remember. I've only seen her once, and that was at our parents' wedding. I know she's a blonde, but that's it.
You may be wondering what happened to my mom. Well, she passed away 10 years ago when I was just eleven years old. I know she was sick, and that's all I want to know.
I was still on the sofa when my phone went off. Jackie was FaceTiming me, and I answered the call.
"Hey! Were you taking a nap?" she asked.
"Was. Dad woke me up a while ago. They went to pick up Charlotte. I think they should be back in an hour or so. Why couldn't you have come first? I don't want to be here alone with her."
"Relax, I'll be there in two days. I have some projects and assignments I want to finish so I can enjoy my Christmas break. I'll send you my flight details to pick me up from the airport. How's the cold?"
"It's not as cold as it used to be, but it's very windy. I think it's supposed to snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas."
"Ugh, I am not looking forward to the cold. Florida is so nice!"
"Yeah, yeah. I need to start getting ready. If I look like this when they arrive, Dad will flip out, and I don't want to deal with that."
"Understandable. See you in two days, Shrimp!"
Before I could respond, she had ended the call. Shrimp was my unofficial nickname. I hit my growth spurt after Jackie had gone off to college. I was always seen as her little brother, who was shorter than her. Now, I was much taller than her, but the name stuck. She only called me Shrimp when she wanted to annoy me or was mad at me.
I got up off the sofa and headed to the bathroom I would now have to be sharing with Charlotte. The master bedroom and Jackie's room had an attached bathroom, with the other two bedrooms sharing the bathroom in the hall.
After taking a shower, I did one last check to make sure the bathroom was clean and presentable for Charlotte. I headed to my bedroom to throw on some nice clothes and headed back downstairs to wait for them.
My timing couldn't have been better as a few minutes later, they walked in.
"Noah!" my dad bellowed. "We're here!"
"Yeah, I know. I'm right here," I replied.
"Oh, I didn't see you there. Come give me a hand with the luggage. Charlotte, you don't have to carry that in. Noah will do it for you. You just make yourself at home."
Samantha walked in, and behind her came Charlotte, holding her carry-on. We exchanged awkward smiles as I slipped past her to bring the rest of her luggage in. My dad and I each took one of her check-in bags, and I wondered how much stuff a person needed for a two-week break.
With the suitcases inside, the four of us stood awkwardly in the kitchen, not saying a word. My dad broke the silence, "Noah, I'm sure you remember Charlotte. I know you two haven't really talked with each other, but you have two weeks to get to know each other as brothers and sisters should."
Charlotte smiled, and it was cute. Like her mother, she had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and was not as busty or curvy as her. While Samantha was sexy, Charlotte was cute.
Seeing that neither of us was going to talk, my dad suggested that I show Charlotte her room and bring her suitcases up for her.
"I'll take one of the big ones if you want to grab the other two. Or you can just grab one, I don't need both of them right now," Charlotte said.
"Oh, no problem. I'll bring them both up right now."
I led the way to her room, which was right before mine. "You sure did bring a lot of stuff for winter break," I said trying to break the ice.
"Oh, most of this is stuff that I kept in my apartment in Chicago after my mom sold the house. My new apartment is smaller than my old one, so I decided to bring it here."
"Mmm. I'm guessing you want to freshen up. Let me show you the bathroom." I led her to our shared bathroom and pointed out where the basics were. "I don't know your bathroom situation in Chicago, but I also use this bathroom. You're more than welcome to use Jackie's bathroom in her room for a few days if you don't want to share."
"I'm used to sharing a bathroom with my roommate, so no problem there. Sorry in advance. You're probably used to having this to your own."
"Yeah, but I can adjust if you can."
"Cool! If you don't mind, I'm going to do some unpacking, get showered, and maybe get some rest."
"Yeah! Let me know if you need anything. My room is next one down, or I'll be downstairs. Or you can ask your mom, too"
She chuckled at my nervousness and thanked me before disappearing into her room.
I texted my friends to see if they were down to hop online, and they responded right away. Before joining them, I went downstairs to grab a drink and snack. When I got downstairs, my dad began grilling me to see if I did everything I could and then some to make Charlotte feel comfortable.
Samantha came to my aid as she said, "Give the kid a break, Greg! I know him well enough to know that he made Charlotte feel right at home."
"She should feel right at home because this is her home," he said. "And I've known him longer than you have and know he's lazy."
"Can you get off my ass?" I shouted.
The room went silent, and I knew I fucked up. If this was a cartoon, steam would've been blowing out of my dad's ears. That's how angry he was. Fortunately, Samantha came to my rescue again. "He didn't mean it, Greg. And you can't fault him either. You do need to ease up on him. He is 21, after all."
"Yeah, 21 and still living under my roof. He doesn't even have a college degree." He was ready to rattle off a long list of complaints about me, but Samantha dragged him away.
I grabbed what I came down to get and went back to my room. On the way up the stairs, I heard a door upstairs close.
I logged on and got on Discord with my friends. Alec, one of my best friends, asked, "Bro! What took you so long? We've been waiting forever."
Jordan, my other best friend, asked, "The usual?" My silence was enough for him to understand. "I don't get why you don't move out. You've been stacking money for a few years now from your job. Haven't had to pay a single bill either. You have to have enough money saved up to get your own place."
"I do, but I'm not sure what I want to do yet. If I decide to leave my job, that money will run out quickly, and I'll end up back here. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of crawling back home after leaving."
Alec suggested, "Why don't you get a place with us? It'll be cheaper than staying on your own."
"Yeah, I'll think about it. Right now, let's find a game. I need to clear my head."
The time went by fast, as by the time we called it a night, three hours had already passed. No doubt everyone else had dinner. I was happy they didn't call me because I wanted to spend as little time as possible in the same room as my dad.
I peeked out of my room and saw the lights in the master bedroom on. After tiptoeing over, I heard my dad and Samantha talking. I made my way downstairs, and to my surprise, Charlotte was at the dinner table. There were also two plates and dinner still set on the table.
"Hey!" she said cheerily.
"Hey. I'm guessing you didn't eat dinner either."
"No. I wasn't hungry cause I had snacks on the flight here. Then, when I saw you didn't eat either, I thought I would wait for you."
"Thanks. You can go ahead and start eating. Do you want anything to drink? We restocked drinks because you were coming."
"Yeah, I saw the drinks fridge. I'll take whatever you're having."
I saw beers and lifted one to show her, and she nodded her head. I grabbed another, popped it open, and joined her at the table.
"Do you usually give alcohol to people under 21?"
"Uh, no! You're not 21? I swear your mom told me we were the same age."
"I'm a few months away, February, specifically. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this," she said with a sly smile.
"Good. I don't want to get into another fight with my dad about this."
Charlotte looked at me sympathetically and said, "Yeah, I may have overheard your little fight. He does seem to be a little hard on you, so you're not totally in the wrong."
"But I am a little bit?" I joked.
She pinched her fingers together, saying, "Just a little bit. Has he always been like this?"
"Not always. I think it's once he found out I wasn't going to college. He always had big plans for my sister and I going to college. Started a college fund for each of us, but mine remains untouched."
"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you go to college?"
"After high school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to study. So I took a gap year. I worked part-time at a retail store when I was in high school, and my dad suggested I go full-time during my gap year. I took his advice, and my performance was pretty good, which got me a couple of quick promotions. At a time when all my friends were racking up student loans and going to class, I was making good money. When I think I figured out what I was going to major in, my boss offered me another promotion."
"Wow! Three promotions already, and here I am wondering if I'll get a job after I graduate."
"Don't worry about finding a job. If the way your mom talks about you is any indication of how smart you are, you'll have no trouble finding a job."
"I'm not a slouch, but my mom is probably giving me more credit than I deserve. Why is your dad mad at you if you're making good money?"
"In his eyes, a job that doesn't require a college degree isn't reputable. Plus, like I said, he's always dreamt of me going to college and getting a degree."
We had both finished our dinner and our beer. We cleaned up and put away the leftovers, and I assumed we would head back to our rooms. However, Charlotte suggested, "Want to grab another beer and talk on the porch?"
"You do realize we live in the Pacific Northwest, and it's cold outside. It's not as cold as Chicago winters, but it's still cold."
"Nothing a little jacket or hoodie can't solve. I'll meet you outside in 5," as she rushed up the stairs.
I grabbed a couple of beers, a bottle opener, and my jacket and waited on the porch for her. Five minutes went by, and there was no sign of Charlotte. I thought she stood me up and was laughing at me from her bedroom window, seeing me stand outside like a loser.
As I was about to head back in, the patio door opened, and out she came wearing a fuzzy hoody. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I had to dig through all my stuff to find this hoodie."
"No worries," as I opened a beer and handed it to her. We sat on the patio chairs in silence for a few minutes, sipping on the beers.
"Where did we leave off? You and college?"
"Yeah. I'm not saying college is completely off the table, but it isn't likely. I've done my research, and I'm making the median salary. Sure, I could probably make more with a degree, but I'm not greedy."
"At the end of the day, your happiness is all that matters. Cheers to happiness!" We clinked our bottles together and killed the beers.
"It's nice having you around the house. Because my shifts are all over the place, I never really go out. Having someone around the house to drink and talk sort of makes up for it."
"Do you like parties?"
"I've been to parties back in high school. Why?"
"One thing you're missing out by not going to college is the parties and college life in general."
"Are you trying to convince me to go to college?"
"NO! You don't have to be in college to go to college parties. You just need to know the right people."
"I have been to a few college parties with my friends."
"Where do they go?"
"Washington Pacific," I replied sheepishly.
"Washington Pacific? That barely counts as a college. It's barely better than high school. Counting those as college parties is an offense to actual college parties."
"I can only go to the college parties I get invited to. And they weren't that bad."
She shook her head at me and said, "Don't try to defend it. One of my friends goes to the University of Washington. I know winter break has started, but there should still be some parties. Let me see if she knows about any." She reached for her phone and began tapping away. A few minutes later, with a big smile on her face, she asked, "Do you work tomorrow?"
"No, my dad made me take today and tomorrow off because you were flying in. Why?"
"There's a Christmas frat party on campus tomorrow night. She said she could get us in."
After not going out constantly for the past few years, I had developed into a homebody. Whenever I did go out, I would plan a few days to get myself ready. However, looking at her, I knew she wouldn't take no for an answer. I also couldn't bring myself to say no to her face. With a sigh, I said, "Fine, let's go."
She leaped with joy, shouting, "We are going to have so much fun tomorrow!"
"Shhh! It's past 11, and we live in a neighborhood of old people. They'll be knocking on our door tomorrow morning, complaining we woke them up."
"Oops. Sorry, I just got excited." She grabbed my pinky with hers and interlocked them. "Ok, now we made a pinky promise. So you have to come tomorrow. No backing out!"
"No backing out," I repeated back to her.
"Ok. It may be only past 11 here, but I'm still operating on Chicago time. I'm going to turn in for the night."
"Yeah, me too."
We headed in, and I discarded the beer bottles. We wished each other a good night and went into our rooms. Jackie had left a missed call, but it was past 2 in Florida, so I decided to call her back in the morning. I was pretty tired from all the cleaning today, so I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, I woke up at past 8:30. Like any other morning, I got up and went straight to the bathroom, but the door was locked.
"Occupied! I'll be out in a minute," came Charlotte from the other side.
"You're good. I'll use Jackie's bathroom instead." I made a mental note to myself that I would have to get used to sharing a bathroom. In the meantime, I let myself into Jackie's room, careful not to touch anything. The only thing she hated more than being called Jacqueline was someone going into her personal space and messing with it.
I did what I needed to do and let myself out. Charlotte and I ran into each other in the hallway. "Sorry for being in the bathroom. You probably have a schedule that I messed with."
"No, you're good. Since my shifts change day-to-day, I don't have a fixed schedule like most people. Though I do need to get used to sharing a bathroom."
"If it helps, I'm usually an early riser. This is the latest I've woken up in months, and that's because I was tired from traveling yesterday."
"Problem solved."
"You remember our pinky promise, right?"
"Yup, I will not back out."
"Good! I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast!"
I brushed my teeth and got downstairs, where everyone was waiting for me.
"Good morning, Noah!" Samantha greeted me. "You had dinner last night, right? I didn't want to disturb you, but I had left everything out for you."
"Yeah, Charlotte and I ate together last night."
"How nice of her," my dad said. "I take that as you two are getting along. What are your plans for today? Maybe you two could go out and get lunch."
My dad wasn't even looking in my direction, but I couldn't care less.
"We do have plans," Charlotte responded. "My friend invited us to hang out downtown, and we're going to go to that."
"Oh, not quite what I had in mind, but at least you two are going to be together. It's the holiday season, so downtown is going to be crazy. I expect you two to be back by midnight."
Samantha butted in, "Greg! They're adults capable of taking care of themselves. And setting a curfew for kids their age is ridiculous. You two have fun and come back whenever. The only condition is you two are safe while out."
"Thanks, Mom! We'll be safe for sure. Plus, we'll be in a large group, so there should be nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, thanks, Samantha."
Samantha and Charlotte went out to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. My dad took his seat on the sofa and turned on the TV before dozing off. I headed back to my room and called Jackie back.
"Hey! Did you call last night? I was talking with Charlotte and didn't have my phone on me."
"Yeah, I called to see how things were going with her. I guess that answers my question."
"Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It also helps that Dad and I got into a mini-fight that she overheard. That kinda opened the door."
"Again? I swear, every time I call, you tell me about you two going at it. I don't get why you don't move out at this point. I love Dad, but if I was in-state, I would not be living at home."
"Jordan and Alec were telling me to get a place with them. I haven't thought about it too much, but that is an option."
"I would do it. What's the hold up anyway?"
"Uh, nothing."
"Hmm, I got a friend over. I'll see you tomorrow. My flight should be landing at 3 pm your time. Don't be late!"
"I won't. See you tomorrow."
With nothing else to do, I texted Jordan and Alec to see what they were up to. When they said nothing, I told them I was on the way.
Jordan, Alec, and I have been friends since elementary school. Alec and I met in first grade, and we met Jordan in second grade when he moved here with his family. We've been through our fair share of ups and downs that made us brothers to each other that none of us had.