Greta
Greta doesn’t want to think about Dana and she figured out the best way to do it is to avoid her for a while.
She concentrates on her classes and baseball. And Carson. She is not sure what it is about the other that makes her intrigued and to keep wanting to learn more.
She teases in the practices because their reactions are always funny and cute, she and Jo make fun of them about the pie and she puzzles them about friendships having a lot of meanings. But Greta pays real attention and starts to learn more about the real person they are. How they light up when they talk about baseball or books, how they are predisposed to help others, how shy and kind they are, how they aren’t comfortable with the idea of open’s relationships… they way they talk about the concept of what love is. That’s everything everyone would probably wish, to have a partner that believes in love the way Carson does. Charlie it’s too fucking lucky to have her.
“Where are you going?”, Jo asks her. They are at Dorothy’s celebrating with the team another loss and she just can’t stop looking at the way Carson laughs with Max. It seems like they are becoming good friends.
“Nowhere”, Greta plays fool.
“I’m not letting you follow the farm person”, Jo reads her intentions easily.
“Jo”, she protests.
“We already talked about this Greta, is not a good idea. They are married and you love Dana right?” Jo tries to reason with them. The part about Dana sounded ironic, but Greta is not going to point it out, she is not in the mood for a fight tonight.
“Right, you are right”, she accepts.
So she let it go, at least for that night she let it go. She lets go of everything. Her stupid crush with Carson and her stupid fights with Dana. Greta focuses on just being herself and enjoying her time with Jo and her teammates.
The next morning Greta wakes up and goes to have breakfast with the team, just like they do every sunday.
“I need to talk to all of you about something important”, Max says, calling the attention of everyone. Mornings shouldn’t be the moment to do big announcements, but they are going with it. “I think it’s time for Carson to come live with us”
Interesting. That’s not what Greta has been expecting, not at all.
“What? Why?”, Lupe questions, evidently not liking the idea.
“Well the house is for the team players and they are one…”, Max starts.
“We don’t know if they are staying after Anna is healed, it is not definitive yet”, Lupe interrupts them.
“We should wait until they know they are staying”, Anna backs Lupe up.
“They are right, maybe Carson won’t want to stay in the team”, Jess agrees with them.
“Let’s hope they want to stay, because with them we have a little chance of winning”, Jo says and Greta feels happy that her friend is defending her current crush.
“Besides, who wouldn’t want to stay with us?” Maybelle asks defensively. “We are the best team to have fun” Everyone laughs at that.
“I’m being serious guys with this”, Max calls for their attention again, once the laughs stop. “Carson lives in Roscoe, in the shelter my uncle works. I just think we could offer them something better than that”
“Why do they live in a shelter?” Shirley asks, taken aback. “That’s not a safe place for people to live, you know the percentage of safety they give is only a 15%” That’s a strange fact to know, but of course if someone knows that it has to be Shirley.
“They don’t have money, what they gain in the bookstore they use it to pay for their studies”, Max explains.
“What about their husband or their family? Why don't they help them?” Greta questions.
“You should asks them about that”, Max simply answers.
What real reason could a person have to live in shelter? Are they poor or are they in any danger? Why aren’t Carson’s family or husband helping them? It doesn’t make sense. How can their husband not support them? How can’t he not help them with the pay for their studies or a living place? Fuck men, they suck. How can Carson stay with someone after that? Greta wonders…
“I still think it is a bad idea, we don’t really know them”, Lupe keeps rejecting the idea.
“Right, they could be a thief, a murderer, or a secret agent”, Shirley freaks out.
“Have you even interacted with Carson since they are in the team?” Maybelle asks, a little annoyed. “They are nothing like that, they are just a simple good person”
“And if they live in the shelter Bertie works in, they can’t be that bad”, Jess says. They all love Bertie.
“Not homophobic at least”, Esther agrees. They all care about that because they are queers.
“But they don’t have any social media”, Greta says.
Grata shouldn’t have said that. She didn’t want the others to know that she had looked for Carson. But she did. And now Greta has said it and there’s no turning back. The truth is she wanted to know more about the other and had thought that following in social media could be a start. But she hadn’t been that lucky…
“So?” Jo asks, surprised about her friend for bringing that topic. “Who cares about social media? Maybe they don’t like it”
“But isn’t it strange that they are not in any of them?” Greta thinks out loud. “I couldn’t find them on twitter, instagram, facebook, tik-tok. Nothing”
“It's like they don’t exist or maybe they could be hiding something”, Shirley continues her logic.
“Does it matter? We all hide things” Maybelle argues.
“We have space here for them, they should come live with us”, Esti intervenes.
“Okay, enough”, Esther makes everyone shut up. “It seems we have different opinions on the matter, so why don’t we vote?”
They all agree to do a voting.
“Those who agree for Carson to live with us raise your hand”, Max says.
Little by little, all the hands start to rise. The only keep downs are Ana’s, Lupe’s and Shirley’s. Carson is going to live with them.
“Shirley”, Maybelle hit her arm softly, as a protest.
“Fine”, Shriley raises her hand.
“Good, because they will share room with you”, Maybelle informs.
“Why?” Shirley asks, scared all of sudden and drops her hand.
“Because you are the only one who’s not sharing a room, since Terri left”, Esther reminds her.
“Right”, Shirley understands the logic. “But if they are a murderer you all will owe me one”
“That’s if they don’t kill you first”, Jo jokes.
Two days later is the moving day. Max informs them they are going to bring Carson to the team’s house after classes. Greta and Jo offers to accompany them and help with Carson’s things. Greta had offered because she wanted to know more about Carson and Joe did to follow her.
“Where’s Carson?” Greta asks, when they arrive at the meeting point and only Max is there.
“At the library, they must have lost track of time” Max says, looking at the hour on their phone. Come on, let’s look for them”
They go to the library and check all the tables. They still can’t find Carson.
“Hey”, Max greets the librarian. “We are looking for a friend”
“Who?” The librarian asks.
“Their name is Carson, they are short, brown hair, farm face”, Jo describes.
“Carson”, The librarian repeats with a smile, knowing who they are talking about. “They are at the garden”
They follow the librarian’s directions and get to the garden.
“I didn’t know the library had a garden”, Greta says, surprised at finding out something new about the university.
“Me either”, Jo agrees.
“That’s because we don’t usually spend time at the library”, Max thinks.
The garden is little but beautiful. It has one tree in the center and a lot of plants all around it. There are also a lot of flowers of different colors. It seems like a perfect secret space to read in peace.
“Come on, Carson is there”
Greta follows Max and the sight she finds takes her breath away. You would have thought that Carson would be sitting in one of the benches. But no, Carson is sitting barefoot on the grass and has a lot of books around her and a notebook on their legs. They look in their own little world.
And they were wearing reading glasses!! Greta didn’t know they use glasses for reading. They look so good on them! Women wearing glasses and being all intellectual is something that she always finds attractive and right now Carson is making it very easy at having Greta stunning.
“Hey Carson”, Max greets them.
“Hey”, Carson greet back. “Shit, i lost track of time, didn’t i?”
“You did”, Jo confirms.
“I’m sorry, i was just making this essay i told you about the witch hunt? And i was trying to find all the hidden information and stories, and the forgotten and silenced voices. There’s a lot about every continent. And i also wanted to find where the queer and black communities fit in all that? How they were demonized by the voices of the norms”, Carson rumbles as they make their explanation.
“Shaw easy, take a moment and just breathe”, Greta orders, noticing how the other it’s starting to lose their breath for how fast they talk.
Carson says at she asks and slowly calms down. They give her a smile as gratitude. They are so cute. Why are they this cute?
“Is okay that you got distracted”, Max reassures Carson. “But can we do the moving now because it’s the best hour to drive?”
“Of course”, Carson accepts. “You know there is no need for all you to come right? I don’t really have many things to pack”
“Don’t worry, we are going because we want to”, Max says firmly but kindly, not giving space for debate.
Carson puts her converse on and stands up. They help them pick up the books, so they can return them to the librarian. The librarian says something that only makes her and Carson laugh, and then dismisses her with a hug.
“Is the librarian your friend?” Greta teases them, once they are outside the library.
“Yes”, Carson nods.
“Of course, you of all people choose to be friends with the weird librarian lady”, Jo is not impressed at the fact, but he makes everyone laugh. Greta finds it cute that Carson is friends with the woman everyone tries to avoid because they find her scary.
“She is actually great. Her name is Beverly and she loves baseball. She has traveled all around the world, she has so many funny stories to tell…” Carson tells them about her.
“Okay”, Jo stops them. “We get it, she is your friend and she is cool”
“Exactly”, Carson smiles happily, agreeing with him.
The drive to Roscoe is quiet, but nice. They listen to the radio and sing along some of the songs.
The shelter is not how Greta has imagined it. Although she is not exactly sure what she has been expecting. The shelter is a big old building of three floors. The spaces are big, clean and well maintained.
They go to the second floor and get to Carson’s room. The room is for seven people. Carson has the bed near the window. Her personal space looks empty compared to the others. The only personal things they have are some piles of books, a vintage lamp, a knitted blanket and some boxes under their bed.
“Really? Only one box of clothes and the rest are for books? where are your priorities?” Greta questions in a funny way.
“In the right place”, Carson answers. “I don’t need many clothes and i also have the bag”
“I’m sure i can make you change your mind about that”, Greta says playfully.
“Don’t listen to her, it's a fashion trap”, Jo warns them and Greta hits their head with a book.
They keep gathering Carson’s things in the boxes, until Greta finds a notebook that catches her attention. She opens it and finds the most beautiful draws she has ever seen. There are lots of portraits, objects, scenery, flowers, tattoos and cartoons.
Is Carson the one who makes this art?