Beca Mitchell was not your go to person for anything relationship related, and definitely not when you were hurting. She was music smart and street smart, but when it came to human interactions? She didn't want to hear about it. She didn't even want to think about it. All she thought about was music, she breathed and lived it. Her blood pumped to the steady throb of the bass, her foot tapped incessantly to the changing beats, her fingers flew over the controls, tweaking this and tweaking that. All she saw was music, all the colours and emotions, all she felt was music, with its pounding bass and changing melodies and all she heard was the music blasting through her headphones. Her left hand tingled as she finally stopped tweaking and stopped to hear her finished product.
She smiled in spite of herself and closed her eyes, enjoying the music. This had been her seventeenth mix in the past month. That was an accomplishment in itself. It always took her days and days to fix and fine tune everything. But she was on a roll, she was churning out these crazy mixes like no tomorrow and she was proud of how they were turning out with just a day or two of work. As the final harmonies resounded in her ears, Beca opened her eyes and let out a self satisfied sigh. Maybe now that inspiration was finally drained and she could take a break. After all, she was turning into a total recluse again, spending hours locked up in her room. She couldn't help it, ideas flowed through her brain at a mile a minute and she struggled to get it all out of her head and onto a track.
Her left hand tingled again, she deserved a break, her hand was totally cramping up from all that mixing. Or what she thought was her hand cramping turned out to be her phone that she had unknowingly rested her hand on her phone. Now the device lit up with again and Beca hastily grabbed it, jabbing at the buttons. It was probably Fat Amy again with another invite to some party or something. Beca had turned down the majority of them, it was no surprise with something this good flowing through her head, she just had to. Much to her surprise it wasn't Fat Amy, or Cynthia Rose, or Stacie. "Chloe," she read the sender out loud. The DJ removed her headphones and set them on her desk, tapping on the message.
This was curious, she had just seen the redhead earlier that morning, they had brunch together before Beca headed off to her third class of the day. With final exams coming up, Beca barely had time for anything. She spent her mornings and a bit of her afternoon in class, then the rest of the afternoon studying with various people at random places around campus before heading out to the radio station for a shift before returning to her room to mix till she fell asleep at her desk. It was rare for her to actually sit down and have a proper meal, but the redhead was helping her edit her papers so she couldn't really say no. Since the ICCA finals, she had spent a lot more time with Chloe. She saw the redhead regularly before the finals, but now that time had increased dramatically. In place of the three hour long Bellas rehearsal, they often had three hour long study sessions, just the two of them. Usually Beca sat there, trying to read through Chloe's old notes while the ginger danced around the room to one of Beca's latest mixes.. More often than not though, very little work got done and it was spent just hanging out. There was a bond between the two that neither could really explain, nor was there a need to.
"Hey! Can we talk, face to face?" the text read, Beca furrowed her brow slightly. Didn't she say she was going to surprise her boyfriend tonight and go visit him? Confused she texted her typical reply to anything Chloe asked. "Sure." The message had barely left her phone when there came a knock at her door. Surprised, Beca ran her fingers through her chocolate locks and hurriedly shoved her arms through a dark flannel shirt she had tossed over the back of her chair earlier. She probably looked like crap after spending all that time at her desk. She crossed her dorm in three strides and yanked open the door with a teasing grin already on her face.
"That was quick, did you spend like twenty minutes waiting at my doo- oh my goodness, Chlo, what's wrong," Beca stopped midway of teasing Chloe as she caught sight of the ginger as the door swung open. Her usually perfect hair was wild and messy, her sapphire blue eyes were as red as her hair and her face was covered in streaks of makeup and tears. Her only reply was a strangled sob and the co-captain of the Bellas collapsed into her arms. "Shhh, Chlo, I'm right here," she lead the girl over to her bed and sat her down as the door swung shut. "Please don't cry, everything's going to be all right, shhhh, it's okay," she had one hand on Chloe's back rubbing circles comfortingly and the other one in her flaming red locks, smoothing them out.
"H-he's c-cheating on me!" Chloe cried in between sobs, her hand clenched a handful of Beca's shirt, twisting it in her fist as the girl cried into her shoulder. "Oh," was all Beca could manage for the moment, stunned that anyone would do that to the ginger in her arms. She understood now, Chloe had been going on about this guy for ages now, Brad. Handsome, super ripped track star who was the sweetest guy that she had ever met. He had showed up to all of the Bella's major events yelling his support loudly in the front row and liked to surprise Chloe randomly with gifts. Little things, flowers, chocolate, everything that Beca thought was cheesy and cliche but Chloe adored.
"Where's Aubrey, I'm gonna sick all the Bellas on his good for nothing ass," her stunned reaction had rapidly transformed into a seething fury. Beca got up to grab her phone from her desk, ready to kick some athlete butt.
Or she would've had a hand not grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving. She looked down at Chloe's tearstained face with that desperate look in her eyes that made Beca's heart twist painfully. "B-bree's on a date. Don't bother her," Chloe's voice was small and quiet as her sobs slowed, something that Beca wasn't used to at all and was troubled by. Typical Chloe, always the considerate one, even when she was hurting, she put others first.
"Okay, I won't bother Aubrey," Beca replied gently, returning to her bed and wrapping her arms around the older Bella comfortingly.
It was almost another hour before Beca finally got the story out of Chloe.
"S-so I had swung by Brad's on campus room as a surprise to see if he wanted to go see that movie that he was raving about. That new action movie." Chloe was curled up under Beca's covers, huddled against Beca's side in the dimly lit room. It was an action movie of course. Beca knew that Chloe wasn't a huge fan of those and she also knew that this girl would to the ends of the earth for this guy.
"But when I got to his door, this half naked girl with Brad's track jersey on answered the door. And then Brad shows up behind her. And he tells her to go back into the room and he steps outside to talk to me," Chloe continued, struggling to keep her voice steady but it was still filled with varying emotions. Anger, hurt, sadness.
"Listen Chl-"
"Who's that girl?" Chloe stared at the now closed door.
"Lisa. Anyways, you weren't suppose to be here today-"
"Why her. Why Brad?! Why?! Was I not enough for you?! You were my everything! You were so sweet, so caring!" There was the resounding sound of flesh hitting flesh as Brad slapped her.
"Shut up! You weren't enough okay?! You were always so busy with this Belles thing and that Belles thing. And I always went to all the events and did all these things for you and how far did I get? I was lucky to get to make out with you! We haven't slept together once in the what five months we were together?! You weren't enough. Ever." Chloe backed up, hurt evident in her eyes as she held a hand to her face where he had slapped her. This was not happening. This was not the same sweet Brad that had showed up at Bella's rehearsal with a bouquet of roses just two months ago. This was a monster. She didn't know him.
She had been living a dream, and that dream was so brutally shattered with that slap. "You said we could take it slow," Chloe whispered in disbelief. There was a steady throbbing on the left side of her face, but the physical pain she felt was nothing compared to what she was feeling inside. It was like someone had shoved a thousand pieces of jagged glass into her heart. She wished that someone did. Then the pain would stop. Forever.
"Yeah I said we could take it slow. But not that slow! You know why I got together with you? Not because you're beautiful, or you're smart, or for your personality. But because I heard, you were easy. My friends told me that you slept with like all the guys that wooed you a little bit. But when it was my turn. You changed. Something changed you, why couldn't you wait until after I was done with you?"
At that, something inside of Chloe snapped. "So you think I'm some sort of whore for you to use as you please? Well newsflash Brad. I'm done with you. We're done, forever. That is final. I'm glad I changed before I started dating you. Now I get to see you for who you really are. Just some stuck up, egotistic jerk with no eyes for anything but his own dick. Oh, and Brad. It's the Bellas." She spat in his face, furious. With that, Chloe strode down the hall and out of the building, managing to keep it together until she was far out of Brad's sight. She would not let him see her suffer for this. She was far too proud.
She ended up sitting by herself in a corner of the quad, under a tree, the sun was starting to set and there weren't a lot of students around as kids went to get dinner and things. She sat there for a long time, sobbing her heart out. Finally she took out her phone, ready to call Aubrey, her finger over her best friend's name when she remembered that the blonde was on a date. Still sobbing and now shivering as a cold wind picked up, she walked into the building, head down, her hair covering her face. She didn't know where her feet were taking her. But somehow, she ended up in front of Beca's door with her phone clutched in her hands.
"Chloe, listen, no. Listen to me. Look at me," Beca held the older woman's face in her hands forcing electric blue eyes to meet her own. "You are perfect. Brad is deluded. He doesn't see your beauty. You're amazing. He's just a self absorbed jerk. Let him go. You were always too good for him. Always. Don't you forget that. Don't let him get to you. Don't let him win. Okay? Shhh. Just sleep." Beca returned to rubbing circles on Chloe's back and running her fingers through wild scarlet locks. She was so glad that Kimmy Jin was at a friend's place tonight. With Chloe continually staining her shirt with tears, she didn't know what she would do.
Beca checked her phone after a while, 10:42 pm. Chloe was fast asleep on her bed, finally falling to sleep after what seemed to be an eternity of crying. Her stomach rumbled and Beca nearly chuckled out loud. After all of this, her hunger seemed such a menial thing to deal with. Carefully, she slipped out of bed, careful not to wake the slumbering redhead. Quietly, she changed her tear-soaked shirt and pulled on a hoody. She'd just pop out, grab something to eat and she'd be back before Chloe missed her.
At this time, most restaurants on campus were closed, there was a convenience store that was open 24/7 though luckily for her. She was paying for a box of Pop Tarts and a couple bottles of chocolate milk, Chloe's favourite, when she spotted him. Beca hadn't noticed him when she entered but he was unmistakeable when left, a box of condoms tucked under his arm. "The nerve of that guy," she muttered to herself as she grabbed her bag of things and before she knew what she was doing, she followed him out the store and down the sidewalk.
The campus was largely deserted because everyone was at one party at another, and Brad was walking alone. He had made Chloe cry, he broke her heart, and he was going to pay. "Hey asshole!" Beca half growled, surprised, Brad turned around to face her and was met with a solid right hook to the face. He stumbled back a few steps, clutching his face as blood began to spurt out of his nose. "You broke her heart you jerk. You don't date someone to get in their pants," Beca was beyond furious now as she shoved him into the wall, dropping her things.
"What, so Chloe sends her little bitch to get back at me?" Brad straightened up, wiping blood off of his face with the back of his hand. He took a swing at Beca, but Beca, having grown up on the streets, ducked under it and socked him in the face again, knocking him back. She hissed in pain, she hadn't punched anything in a long time and that hurt, a lot when her knuckles scraped by his teeth. Hopefully she knocked out a tooth or two.
Enraged, Brad rushed at her, growling, intent on tackling her. Beca knew that she could never outrun the track star, nor did she intend to. Swiftly, she sidestepped the male and unceremoniously tripped him by hooking her foot around his ankle. "How does the pavement taste?" She snarled, backing away from him as he picked himself up off of the ground. "Don't look so pretty now with your face all messed up," she taunted as he rushed her again.
Brad learned fast and this time, that sidestepping trick wasn't going to work on him again. He managed to catch Beca off guard with a wild punch to the abdomen and held her in a chokehold from behind. "I get what I want, nobody messes with me and gets away with it," he growled, tightening her hold around her throat. Beca had been in plenty of situations like this before, she learned fast too. Without another word, she drove her elbow into Brad's ribs resulting in a oomph as the force of the impact drove all the air out of the male. Quickly, she followed that with a stomp, grinding her heel into his foot and then bit him viciously on the rapidly arm around her neck. Turning, she punched him in the eye again and the kicked him right where it hurts, as hard as she could, driving the toes of her converse into his groin.
It was over before it began. He lay curled up in fetal position, much like Chloe was before on her bed, but on the sidewalk. "Apologize to Chloe tomorrow morning. And it had better be sincere. Or you might get another late night visit from me. And this time, I might bring the rest of the Bellas with me. I'm sure Aubrey would love to get her hands on the bastard who hurt her best friend, and Fat Amy might want to try some crocodile wrestling moves on you. This is your only warning, she'll be in my room, room 12 in the east wing by the cafeteria. And after that, you had better disappear from her sight," she rested her foot on his head for a moment as she caught her breath. Her side hurt right now where he had caught her with a punch but that was nothing compared to her right hand. It was slightly swollen and she was sure her knuckles were bruised and there was a small gash where his tooth had caught her fist.
Still filled with adrenaline from that fight, she picked her things and started running as fast as she could back towards her dorm room. She couldn't believe she did that.
Thankfully, Chloe was still sleeping peacefully when Beca returned to her dorm. She had stopped by the bathrooms to run her bruised hand under cold water and that had eased some of the pain. She had just put away the things she bought and was changing out of her clothes, which had some blood splatters on it from Brad, when she heard Chloe whimper. Beca froze, she knew that whimper. When she was little, and every now and then still, she'd get night terrors. Her sister video taped one of these particular nights and it had been forever on replay in the back of Beca's head, blocked out by the music.
Now there was nothing, no music to block it out. "Get a grip Beca," she told herself firmly as she dropped her dirty clothes into the laundry basket. Quietly, she slipped into bed with the red head and wrapped her arms around her, softly stroking her hair. "You shout it loud, but I can't hear a word you say. I'm talking loud, not saying much. I'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet. You shoot me down, but I get up. I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium," she sang quietly into Chloe's ear. She felt the girl relax more and more in her arms and the two of them drifted into a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, it was Chloe that woke up first. Sunlight was streaming in through the parted curtains and she groaned, not realizing where she was. Her bed was so warm, so comfortable and she rolled over, snuggling further into the source of comfort. Whatever it was, it smelled faintly of strawberry shampoo, watermelon shower gel and green apple body lotion. It was familiar and a unique blend of some of her favourite scents. Beca, it smelled like Beca. Once that thought hit her, she opened her eyes. She wasn't in her room, that was for sure. Slowly she sat up, trailing her eyes over everything but not really taking it all in. What had she done last night? That's when the source of the warmth and smell stirred and rolled over, staring up at the ginger with sleepy eyes.
"Ugh what time is it," Beca grumbled, tiredly sitting up. Chloe stared at the DJ for a moment, struggling to remember what had led to them sharing this tiny sofa bed in Beca's dorm. "Ugh, its 9:23, I have class at 10:40," Beca yawned and slid out of bed. She stood and stared at the ginger with an unreadable expression on her face. "Are you okay Chlo? It's only Philosophy. It's a joke. I can stick around if you need me," Beca laid a hand comfortingly on Chloe's knee and offered her a small smile.
Oh. That's right, Brad. That's why. She steeled her emotions as she lifted her head to meet Beca's gaze. She had gotten the majority of the crying, if not more, out the night before. But for some reason, with the feeling of Beca's hand on her knee, the pain of Brad leaving her, didn't seem to hurt as much as it did before. Then she caught sight of Beca's battered hand on her knee. "Ohmygosh Becs, what happened to your hand?" she cried and grabbed Beca's wrist, careful not to touch the hand itself.
Usually, Beca would have pulled away right away but she let Chloe hold her injured hand up and examine it. "It's nothing. I went out to get some food last night and it was dark, and just tripped," Beca replied, slowly sliding her hand out of Chloe's. Chloe narrowed her eyes at the brunette, she wasn't falling for a lame excuse like that. She was about to question it further when there was a knock at the door. "Could you get that Chloe? I need to change", she had a feeling who that was at her door.
While the redhead got the door, Beca turned to her closet, her back to the door. She faced the mirror and lifted up her shirt slightly, enough to reveal her midsection and the angry bruise on her side. She prodded it gently and winced, it was going to hurt for a while. "Brad?!" so the bastard was keeping his word. Knowing what was coming, she let her shirt drop and turned to find something to wear.
Chloe stood at the door, a mix of emotions tearing through her. Despite how much Brad had hurt her, she still had some feelings left for him, not a lot, but they were still there. She was angry, sad, yet concerned at his appearance. He was now sporting a split lip, a black eye and had a bandage wrapped around his arm. "What happened?" She asked, half out of concern, half out of curiosity.
"Oh uhm, a fight broke out last night at this bar," Brad replied, scratching the back of his neck. "But, yeah. I'm not here to ask you to take me back or anything. I know I hurt you like real bad, and I'm like really sorry and I hope you'll uh forgive me. I totally understand if you don't though. And uh here, I brought you a box of your favourite chocolates. And uh, yeah! I'm very sorry Chloe! I'll see you around!" He nervously gave her the box of chocolate before taking off with a slight limp.
Well, that was probably the most sincere apology that he had ever made in his life, Beca would give him that. She winced as she pulled her shirt on, not noticing that Chloe had turned around with the box of chocolate in her hands. "Beca, that bruise. You did not," Chloe caught sight of the dark bruise marring the DJ's abdomen. After seeing Brad, and now seeing Beca. She put two and two together. "You beat up Brad?!"
Beca groaned, she knew that Chloe would find out one way or another. But she didn't think it would be this quick. She pulled the rest of her shirt on and turned around to face the redhead, who was a lot closer to her than she expected. "Chlo. You didn't think that he'd apologize to you on his own did you?" Chloe bit her lip and held Beca's injured hand gingerly, looking at it. "Look, I didn't go looking for him okay? I ran into him at the convenience store last night and he was buying condoms. Condoms Chloe! He's unbelievable and I just couldn't help myself."
Beca sighed, the redhead wouldn't meet her eyes. She cupped the ginger's face and brought it up so that she would look at her. "Look at me. Just a busted hand and a bruise. Its no big deal. You saw Brad, I got him good. Any price that I have to pay was totally worth it okay. Nobody messes with my friends and gets away with it. Especially not you. Please don't be angry me Chlo. I was just looking out for you."
"I'm not angry with you Becs, I don't think I could ever be. I'm just speechless that you'd do something like this for me. What if you get in trouble Becs, You could get expelled for this," Chloe replied, concern evident in her eyes and voice. There was just this warm feeling at the pit of her stomach as she came into realization at what this crazy DJ had done.
At this Beca smirked, "Please, as if Brad would ever tell anyone that this awesome DJ chick beat him up. He'll be the laughingstock of the entire campus. If he tells, I can guarantee that he won't be a sexually viable option for any girl around here or any where else. I'm pretty sure the pretty boy will keep his mouth shut." She dropped her hand from Chloe's face and opted for toying with the hem of her shirt, their close proximity was making her blush.
"So, Ms. Awesome DJ chick has this all figured out hmm," Chloe teased pulling Beca into a grateful hug.
"Yes I do," Beca replied teasingly, returning the hug. Then her tone got more serious, "Look Chloe, if your Prince Charming ever falls through, I'll be your knight in shining armour okay?" She didn't even know what she was saying. And goodness that sounded so weird coming out of her mouth. "That's what friends are for right?"
Chloe's mind reeled, she broke the hug and stared at the DJ, she seemed to be doing a lot lately. What was Beca saying, was there some other meaning to her words? That maybe Beca reciprocated her feelings? But all her hopes were dashed as she heard Beca's last sentence. "Right," she forced a smile. Even if Beca didn't feel that way, being friends with the DJ was still better than nothing. "So what am I? Your damsel in distress?"