Chapter 4
At some point in the night, the girls had made it to their respective rooms. Beatrice didn't wake up until 10 am, which was a bit later than she normally ever let herself sleep. She stretched her body and let out a happy sigh, feeling her shoulders let out a satisfying pop. She glanced over to her side-table and scooped up her phone and the piece of paper lying next to it.
Upon powering her phone on, she noticed a text from Lottie saying that she wouldn't be home until later since she was seeing a few friends. That meant it was in fact, the perfect time to message the number on the paper in her hand. Beatrice smiled at the note, which had a smiley face wearing glasses next to the number. She took a deep breath and dove into the text.
Hello, Hank. She started to type and then deleted it. "Too formal." She said aloud to herself.
Hiya, Hank! She deleted it again. "Too casual." She groaned.
Hi, Hank.
Perfect.
It's me, Beatrice, from yesterday. I figured we could talk?
She stood up as soon as she finished the text and was about to get dressed when her phone chimed with a notification. She scooped up her phone and looked at it, opening the text.
Good morning, Beatrice! I would be more than happy to talk. Do you mind if I call you?
Beatrice texted back a quick, Sure thing., and sat back on the bed. In no time her phone was ringing, Lonely Boy by the Black Keys playing softly. She answered it after letting it go for just a bit, she didn't want to seem too desperate.
"Hello?" She bit her lip softly, playing with the piece of paper with Hank's number on it.
"Hello! Sorry for suggesting a call, it's just easier to explain things with words and I was about to take a work break anyway... How's your head?" He asked, stopping himself from rambling.
"It doesn't hurt.. I actually didn't even think of it until you said that." Beatrice let out a bit of a laugh, standing to go to her mirror.
"Well that's good... Say, I was wondering if you would be able to come by for lunch? My friend, Charles, the one I mentioned yesterday would love to talk to you. We might be able to figure something out about what happened."
Beatrice thought for a moment, humming gently. "Sure, I don't see why not. Plus we have to swap sweaters anyway."
"Perfect! I'll message you the address, is 12:30 good?"
"I'll see you then."
Lunch at 12:30 meant Beatrice had time to shower, re-bandage her forehead, and look presentable. She had pulled her hair into a neat braid so she wouldn't have to worry about it, and pulled on a dress with a long cardigan. Looking in the mirror twice, she slipped into a pair of low booties and decided it was alright. After all, this wasn't a date but she did want to look nice since she was meeting someone new.
After stuffing Hank's sweater into her bag and plugging the address into her GPS she was ready to go. It wasn't too long of a drive, but now that it was light out Beatrice knew what Hank had meant about getting lost on the grounds. The driveway alone was big enough for seven or eight cars. It was much more intimidating now that she was there of her own accord.
Beatrice pulled up near the door and took a deep breath. She fixed her hair in the mirror and threw on a little lipgloss before climbing out of the car. She fixed a big smile on her face as she made her way up to the door, preparing to knock. Instead the door was opened, a smiling Hank behind it. Beatrice let out a little gasp, blushing gently as she caught her self.
"Oh..! Hank! How did... did we," She started, her voice dropping to a whisper as she continued to speak. "Talk with our minds again...?"
Hank couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head softly. "I saw you pull up. I was sitting by a window." Beatrice's blush grew but she couldn't help but laugh. "Come on in." He said, moving out of the way for her. He was dressed casually for himself, though he still had a tie on as he often did. Beatrice grabbed his sweater out of her bag as she stepped inside, handing it over to him.
"Thank you for that, again, and for having me." She was able to calm her fluster now, offering up a gentle smile. Hank took the sweater and returned the smile, leading her into the house.
"Not a problem. By the way, it'll be a moment or two before Charles joins us. He's finishing some business... Would you like a tour maybe?" Hank asked, stopping her as they made their way to the middle of the foyer.
"Sure." Beatrice nodded, looking around a bit. "This place is huge... Is it all yours?"
"Nope! In fact, I don't own the house at all. It's Charles' family's home, and currently it is a school where I am sort of a teacher? I also just use the facilities to do my own research.." Hank stopped himself, looking at Beatrice. "Sorry, that was a lot of information wasn't it?" He asked with a bit of a chuckle. Beatrice returned the laugh, nodding her head.
"So.. it's a school and you do some sort of research? You said you were a doctor yesterday, right?"
"Right! Actually, I've got a few doctorates, so I'm sort of a doctor a few times over." Hank blushed gently as he spoke about himself.
"That's amazing!" Beatrice gushed truthfully, staring up at him. "I went to grad school, I'm a librarian." She shrugged her shoulders.
"That sounds lovely, I'm quite the bookworm myself." Hank couldn't help but smile at her reaction. "Come on then, let me show you around. The kids should be training out back with Logan so things will be pretty quiet."
"Training?" Beatrice asked tentatively, that seemed a bit harsh of a word to use.
"Ah yes... We'll get to that." Hank assured her, leading her down one of the hallways. "The school is... special."
Hank showed Beatrice around for a bit, ending up in the library. Beatrice hummed happily as she looked around, spinning in a little circle.
"I can't believe you get to live somewhere with a library like this.. My apartment has three over stuffed bookshelves, and the bookshelves in my parent's place are filled with knickknacks instead." She was so happy, just running her fingers over the spines of various books. Hank was about to reply, but was cut off.
"You can borrow anything you'd like." Charles' voice boomed, but when Beatrice turned around he was no where to be seen. Hank noticed how uncomfortable Beatrice was since she couldn't locate him.
"Ah, he's doing the whole... talking without speaking aloud thing we discussed." Hank explained.
"Oh..." Beatrice nodded slowly. "Right..."
"I apologize for that, I forget people aren't used to it." Charles stated apologetically, entering the room with a soft smile. "I'm Charles Xavier, welcome to my school for mutants, Miss Brown." He reached out his hand to shake hers, then leading her and Hank over to a set of chairs. Beatrice sat, looking wide-eyed at Hank as he offered a simple shrug as if to say "I told you it was a special school."