There are two things in this world that Beca Mitchell hates more than anything right now. Cardio, and the she-demon herself, Aubrey Posen.
If Beca didn't know any better, she'd assume that Aubrey was putting her through this torture on purpose, but that would be ridiculous. Right?
Right. So her she was, running extra laps of the gym for, as Aubrey put it, "Fraternisation with the enemy." All Beca had done was help Benji pick up his books after she'd run into him because she was paying too much attention to… She wasn't paying attention. It was a bullshit rule. But she figure Aubrey was having one of her weeks, so it would be best to just ride out the punishment than to end up covered in Aubrey's lunch.
"Faster Mitchell, or I'll have Chloe set the pace!"
"What?" Beca heard Chloe groan, so she sped up, trying to save her friend. Obviously it wasn't good enough. The other Bella's had used their chance to escape, Chloe however, being the good friend that she is, decided to stay back. Now she was jogging along in front of Beca. Crap.
Beca tried her hardest to look anywhere but where her eyes were bound to travel. There was a reason she never ran behind Chloe in group cardio.
At first it was the bounce of her flaming hair, tied back in a loose ponytail, bouncing rhythmically as she ran. Then it slowly progressed, from the cocky grin that would sometimes be directed at Beca over Chloe's shoulder, all the way down to the way Chloe filled out a pair of compression tights.
Shit, she thought as Chloe pulled ahead, it was always worse on the stairs. Sure enough, Chloe bounded up the stairs two at a time. Beca, unfortunately was too busy staring to notice that her foot was about to miss the first step, and landed face first. "Shit!"
Chloe was the first to reach her, clearly trying to hide her amusement behind a worried expression, "What happened?"
"Dammit Mitchell! Just leave it for today! I can't deal with you right now!" Aubrey yelled, storming from the auditorium.
Chloe chuckled, "It's a bad week, if you know what I mean…."
"Yeah, kinda picked up on that," Beca said, rubbing a painful welt on her forehead. "That's gonna bruise dude."
"Let me see," Chloe said, pushing Beca's hair back. She hissed and quickly pulled her oversized tee over her head, "How did you not feel the blood, Becs?"
Beca looked down, sure enough, the hand that she'd used was wet with blood. "Aw shit! Why does this always happen?"
Chloe raised an eyebrow, "Well if you paid attention to where you were stepping instead of my ass this wouldn't have happened."
Beca's shoulders dropped and the blood rushed to her face, resulting in a painful throb from her forehead, "Dude, I am injured. This is not the time to be accusing me… What am I being accused of again?"
"Oh, Becs, we'll get you back to the house. Stacie can probably check you out for a concussion. Every time that you've run cardio behind me in the past three months you've ended up with some kind of injury. I'm sensing a pattern."
Beca felt herself staring at Chloe as her shirt was pressed against Beca's bleeding head. "Can we just pretend that I'm adorably clumsy?"
Chloe smirked, "Well, you got the adorable part right… But honestly Beca, I've seen you dance, hon. There is not one ounce of klutz in your body unless there is a catalyst, which in this case seems to be my ass!"
Beca groaned and leaned into Chloe's side as she helped her to her feet. "You're not going to forget this happened are you?"
"God no… You're bleeding on my favourite shirt," Chloe answered as they made their way to the door.
"First of all, this was my shirt, and second, I never asked you to take it off…"
"You didn't have to, you split your head open because you were too busy perving so I figure what better way to punish you for perving by taking off my… ("MY!") Fine, your shirt. Ooh, we could… I may need to rescue my dignity so I may need to borrow your…"
Beca whined, "Chloe! Please! I feel really sick. How far away are we?"
Chloe stopped and looked at Beca's eyes, lifting the shirt up slightly, "Your pupils are a tiny bit dilated but I'm not sure if that's a concussion or just… you know… me."
"God, I fucking hate you right now."
Chloe chuckle and called out to Stacie as they reached the house that Aubrey and Chloe shared. She ushered Beca into the tiny kitchen and sat her on a stool as Stacie cam thundering down the stairs pulling a shirt over her bra.
"Shit, Chloe! What happened?"
"Idiot here can't keep her…"
"I will kill you if you finish that sentence, Beale!" Beca looked up at Stacie, "I fell over in the Auditorium while Slave Master Posen was punishing me for being a nice person…"
Stacie quickly washed her hands in the sink and opened up the first aid kit that Chloe had handed her. "You fell? Why?"
"Missed a step?"
"Beca effin Mitchell, missed a step?" Stacie mocked, glancing suspiciously at Chloe. "And why weren't you watching where you were stepping, DJ?"
Beca glared at Chloe who was staring innocently back at her, "Just did. No reason. Just clumsy. Dude, am I gonna need stitches?"
Stacie laughed, "No, dude. But I may have to clean it thoroughly if you don't answer the question. Chloe, have you got any q-tips and some rubbing alcohol?" Chloe grinned and bounded up the stairs to the bathroom. Stacie watched Beca's eyes follow instinctively. "Ah, the tights…"
Beca did a double take and looked up at Stacie, "Seriously though? Who wears pants that tight?"
"Obviously someone who knows how to get the attention that she's after. I'm guessing she wasn't trying to make you bleed in the process, though."
Beca frowned as Chloe came down the stairs and handed her bounty to Stacie. Beca hissed as Stacie cleaned the wound, "I'm blaming you for this Beale."
"What did I do? You were the asshole that got me suckered into setting a pace for your lazy self," Chloe quipped.
"What? Who the hell wears compression tights to practice?" Beca asked, ignoring Stacie's giggling.
"Don't worry Mitchell, I'll make it up to you later," Chloe said with a wink.
Beca flipped her off, "Yeah, you'd better."
