"I need you."
She whispered, the cracked voice barely a whisper across the receiver of Chloe Beale's iphone. The ginger could feel the words she longed to say piling against her throat, refusing to jump forward towards the voice. Speechlessness and silence plagued her. What would she say to someone she hadn't spoken to in over a year? Someone she expected to be gone from her life forever? Someone she once loved so deeply so dearly, so irrevocably?
"I'm coming tomorrow. For Jessica's graduation." Chloe responded, closing her eyes and processing all that was happening.
"Chloe, I need to tell you something...I just need you here tonight...I can't stay til tomorrow..." The voice seemed to be losing grip with itself, frantic yet eerily calm. Chloe nodded, but remembered that she was on the phone. She couldn't find the words to say what she was thinking. "Please. I know you're in town. Please come tonight." The girl on the other line was beginning to cry, Chloe could feel her sobs, her tears dripping on her phone in little pitter-patter splashes.
"I'm on my way" Chloe responded.
Her tears had started pouring before she even hung up the phone. She didn't think she would ever get a chance to see this girl again, hold her again, comfort her. Yet now it seemed like that was exactly what was expected of Chloe. Only a few tears managed to escape Chloe for that moment before she composed herself. It would be quite a shock to see someone she was in love with a year ago so differently.
The ginger wiped her eyes, careful not to smudge her probably already-smudged-from-a-long-day mascara before eyeing her keys on the hotel counter. She took a deep breath, preparing herself.
It's only her. Chloe told herself as she snatched her keys and hotel room key card and headed out the door. She didn't know whether it was helping calm her nerves or helping excite them, but it made her feel content repeating that phrase in her head.
The entire walk to her Blue 2012 Chevy Malibu was agony. Every step made her breath catch in her throat a little more, her heart speed up until eventually skipping a beat. When she finally slid into the sleek black leather interior of her car, she was unsure whether or not she could even face who she was about to face. Was it worth it? Would she be able to provide exactly what the girl on the other line was asking of her?
Chloe wasn't sure about anything and her anxiety really wasn't helping. She pulled away from the parking lot of the hotel, her hands constantly drumming a beat against the steering wheel as she drove to Barden University. It was only 5 miles up the road and Chloe counted herself lucky to be so close in case something happened before graduation. She wasn't supposed to be there until lunchtime the next day, but she figured she could spend the night at the dorms and cause a little trouble like old days.
As the little blue car pulled into the parking lot, Chloe could already make out a dark figure in the cool summer night. She cut her engine, drawing in one last breath of her own personal air before staggering out of the car with more excitement then necessary.
"Chloe." The shadow croaked.
Chloe began running, running to hug the girl she hadn't seen for so long. When their bodies met, a spark seemed to kick through Chloe and all she could sense was the girl before her, in absolute perfection.
"I missed you."
"I missed you too, Beca." Chloe replied.
Beca's soft brunette curls bounced around Chloe's shoulder, giving off their usual vanilla scent that the ginger remembered so well. Chloe breathed it in as much as possible, relishing in the desire her heart was giving off before the hug broke.
"A whole year...damn it seems like it's been longer..." Beca cracked a smile, the kind of pained smile she gave off when something was really wrong. It looked as if she had been crying all day and Chloe could tell she had lost weight, grown weak in spirit and body.
"I know. It's kind of chilly. Want to talk in the car?" Chloe offered. After a moment, Beca nodded.
But the car didn't bring answers, just more silence. Neither girl said a word to each other, neither girl did anything except soak in the shock that was the situation.
"Chloe...why didn't you stay?" Beca finally threw forward, sending Chloe into confusion. The first time they'd seen each other in a year and that was the fastball Beca pitched right at Chloe's head?
For a second, Chloe felt a sting of bitterness, but it faded away as soon as she delved into Beca's beautiful, compassionate dark blue eyes.
"I couldn't. As much as I wanted to..it's hard to stay somewhere when you've been there for so long.. and I had a steady job already secured." Chloe replied, feeling Beca's eyes on her, judging her.
"Yeah, as a financier...dream come true.." Beca retorted.
"Look, it pays a lot. I have a studio in a safe part of LA."
"Was it worth leaving me?"
Silence. Everything seemed to tense. Was it worth it? Was Chloe just running? She banned these thoughts.
"I am so sorry, Beca. I really am." Chloe croaked, finally forcing herself to meet Beca's line of sight, to interrupt it. "I loved you more than you can even fathom. But I did what I had to."
"Loved? Past tense.."
"Is this why I'm here, babe? Are you wanting to...?" Chloe couldn't finish, she looked away.
"No...Chloe, I was with Jessie, remember?"
"Was?" Chloe noticed, her mind inquiring the past tense in the sentence.
"He's gone." Beca replied, shifting her gaze away for the first time during the conversation.
"Gone where?" Chloe could feel her blood boil. How dare he leave Beca? Was this some kind of sick prank?
"He dropped out, dumped me, his parents made him." The shuttering in Beca's voice was unmistakable.
"Why?" Chloe whispered, her stare having turned hard, but not at Beca, at Jessie.
Beca placed one hand on her stomach.
"It's his."