Chloe kissed her with a gentle hesitance it seemed. The shorter girl had her hands on Chloe's slender face, with rosy red hair shading the last two fingers. Chloe didn't move. The other girl pressed more. Why wasn't Chloe moving?
Beca slammed the door to her room in the Bella house. Everyone else was still at the party at the Trebles' house, to celebrate the Bella's international victory the month before. Jesse wasn't particularly thrilled to be around his ex-girlfriend and her new partner. Maybe that concern wouldn't have been a concern if he had seen what Beca had.
Beca breathed hard against the door. Harder and harder. Then her breath got shorter. It cracked. Beca Mitchell broke down. Her stomach trembled and her face burned as she slipped down her door, no longer wanting to support herself upright. The image of Chloe kissing someone else played on infinite repeat until it was permanently entrenched in Beca's mind.
Beca Mitchell sobbed as she choked on love in her throat.
Beca I cnat find u
Bec z pleasw let me knuw youre ok
I will cakk the cops I s2g nd get all these munirs arreded
I'm sobering up and I'm seriously getting worried. Where r u?!
Beca felt too much reading the texts from Chloe that it amounted to feeling nothing at all. Knowing that Chloe would very well call the cops at her clearly highly intoxicated state, she decided to reply.
Left the party. Come meet me in the courtyard? Where the activities fair was, four years ago.
Despite Beca responding twenty minutes after Chloe's most recent text, the response was instant.
On my way. Are you okay?
Beca didn't respond.
Beca kicked at the roots of the tree in the Barden courtyard. It was 2:14AM, so only the occasional wandering student would walk around the area. Beca didn't know what she would say, what she would do.
Beca was so caught up in her thought that she didn't hear the footsteps rapidly approaching her. Beca oomfed as Chloe practically knocked her over into a tight embrace.
"Dammit Beca I thought something really bad happened!" Chloe backed off of Beca to look at her. A shield of tears threatened to break from bright blue eyes. "I thought someone had drugged you or tried to hurt you or worse."
Chloe leaned to kiss Beca, but Beca sharply turned her head, envying her cheek for being the recipient of the red head's kiss. Chloe slowly pulled back, confused and feeling her stomach bottom out. "Becs?"
Beca breathed harder again, pricks of tears aggravating the corners of her dark blue eyes. Her fists were clenched, glaring at the ground. Anger. Sadness. Fear. Heartbreak. Love.
"Beca please, talk to me. I love you." Chloe let the words drop onto the ground between her feet and Beca's.
Beca finally looked up with the saddest fucking eyes in the universe. The silent screams in them took the breath away from Chloe's mouth. "If you love me, why did you stray?" Beca's voice ripped at the last word.
A tear fell from Chloe's eye. "Beca…Beca I swear I stopped so fast when that girl kissed me."
"I watched you, Chloe." Beca was surprised how level and quiet her voice remained. "It wasn't fast if I could stand there for five seconds and you did not move."
Chloe put her hand on her forehead as her small defenses cracked. She breathed in and it broke in five places trying to come in. Tears accelerated down her face. "It was stupid and this is no excuse but I was drunk and I just didn't entirely realize what was happening you know? Fuck. Beca, I've wanted and waited to be with you for four years. I don't want to be with anyone else but you. That girl just grabbed me and kissed me and I swear, I didn't know how to move. It must have been a lifetime for you, but it was a nanosecond for me. As soon as I backed away from her, I tried to find you, that's where all those texts came from."
Beca processed everything silently. Tears flowed free like rain. Chloe wiped her eyes. Silence cradled the courtyard.
"Please believe me Beca. Please." Chloe and Beca looked directly into the others eyes. The words reverberated in Chloe's mind. If you love me, why did you stray?
Until next time.