A/N So I need to toss this out there now. I'm not 100% sure what direction I want to take with this story but I deeply feel like this will be one of my favorite stories that I've written. Anyways, there's going to be trigger warnings throughout this whole story. I'll be sure to write one in each chapter that I feel it is necessary. Since some of the subjects in this story are super sensitive even if the topic is mentioned I'll respect my readers and write a trigger warning. That being said. **Trigger warning. Drug use in the following chapter.
"Who are you?" Stacie Conrad asked from across the table, calmly sipping her tea. Chloe blinked in surprise at the woman's question. Stacie raised an eyebrow and continued to stare at the redhead with a straight expression.
"Stacie you know who I am. We've been best friends since we were born. Our parents were best friends in college." Chloe was beginning to feel that nagging sensation in her brain as she thought briefly about excusing herself to the bathroom to deal with it.
"I know Chlo. But who ARE you?" Stacie asked again, patiently waiting for Chloe to respond. It wasn't like Chloe didn't know who she was, she was Chloe freaking Beale. Everyone knew who she was and she loved it but she knew that the medical student sitting in front of her wasn't just asking for her name. Chloe stared at her wide eyed unsure of how to answer. "What makes you proud, what makes you who you are, where do you see yourself going and what are you doing with your life?" Stacie was staring intensely into Chloe's blue eyes. Who sat with her lips pressed into a straight line unable to formulate the answer Stacie was looking for. Just as Chloe began to squirm Stacie's phone buzzed on the table and she looked down, a wide grin finding its way to her beautiful features. "Caddy shack party at Ellie's tonight. You down?" Chloe sighed in relief and nodded enthusiastically, she was always down for a caddy shack bash. It was one of the reasons Chloe always came home over the summer.
"When is Aubrey going to be in?" Chloe's voice was on the edge of excitement at the mention of her other best friend. Stacie, Aubrey and Chloe had always managed to spend the summers in Florida where they grew up. It was the only thing Chloe had to look forward to when school got out. She sipped her coffee trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling that was quickly growing worse in the back of her head.
"She's on her way now. I'm guessing an hour or two." Stacie answered still half distracted by her phone. She smiled to herself as she received another message. Chloe rolled her eyes knowing this one was from Aubrey Posen.
"I'll be right back. Gotta pee." Chloe offered a soft smile before sliding out of her side of the booth before Stacie could say anything else and walking to the bathroom. She locked the door behind her and got a paper towel to clean off the counter. Mechanically dropping a pill on the surface and crushing it with an old library card. She removed the pen from her purse and quickly took the ink carterage out, leaving nothing but the hollow shell. One swift movement and the powder was up her nose, quickly putting everything back together and stashing it in her purse. Chloe locked eyes with herself in the mirror as she waited a few short moments for the drug to take hold. "I'm Chloe Beale. 4.0 student. Co-captain of the Barden Bellas. Aspiring law student. Loving friend and daughter." Chloe laughed at the irony of how that sounded coming out her mouth, are you writing an obituary? She pushed the thought to the back of her head as she washed her hands and walked back out to the table her friend was sitting at. "Hey, so when is that party?" Chloe asked without looking at Stacie who was staring at her suspiciously as she sat down. She noticed the way Chloe's eyes weren't open and bright like they normally were and thought about asking her what she was doing in the bathroom but decided against it.
"Well we have that dinner at the country club with our moms. Back to summer ladies' night or whatever." Stacie tried to act like she wasn't excited but secretly she couldn't wait to get all dolled up and get her mom wasted with all of her friends and their moms. Chloe smiled because she understood all too well what Stacie was really feeling. "Elly has to work so it will be after the club shuts down for the night. So like ten or so?" Stacie calculated the time in her head. Chloe thought about this night for the last three months. It was the same every summer, the mothers took their daughters to this huge fancy dinner at the country club to make sure they at least ate something before they knew that the kids would go off and get tanked. Most of the kids she had spent time with in high school either had parents that belonged to the club or worked there over the summer. It had been that way since Chloe was 16. Although the young adults that worked at the club were deemed as "trouble makers" the funny part about it all was that all the kids that went to the club were actually the ones who were the ones who were party animals or "bad kids." They just had an image and family reputation that seemed to sweep it under the rug. Chloe used this to her advantage every day, there was no way in hell that a Beale child would do drugs or have one night stands and wake up drunk in random places. Except that wasn't true for Chloe Beale. Not even close. Chloe's thoughts drifted back to Elly.
"I think I'm going to go to the batting cages and hit some balls. I'll meet up with you at the dinner okay?" Chloe threw some money on the table and ran out the door.
"Chloe freaking Beale! What's up dude?" Elly's voice was soothing as Chloe pressed the phone to her ear.
"Hey Ell. I need a favor." Chloe responded with a hint of urgency in her voice.
"I got you ginger. I was already prepared. What do you need and how much?" Elly asked. Chloe smiled at the fact that her old friend always came in clutch. They had been friends through all of high school but didn't associate much in public because of the fact that their backgrounds didn't fit with each other's images. Chloe had finally convinced Stacie and her other friends from the "in crowd" to give the young caddy and her pals a chance. Everyone hit it off right away and the summer after junior year is when they began the beginning of summer routine.
"Umm, I need a shit load of aderoll." Chloe reflected quickly on her mood and sighed. "Do you have any ecstasy or oxys?" Chloe sounded hopeful.
"You should know by now Beale. Whatever you need, I'll get it for you. How much do you need?" Elly asked again.
"Let's start off with a hundred worth of aderoll and a good dose of E for the night. I need a bunch of oxys. Can you get all that before the party? I get it if you can't. Just figured I would make it easier on both of us if I bought in all at once." Chloe was getting in her car as she spoke.
"How soon can you be here? I'll meet you at the cages. You really want to drop three fifty all in one night?" Elly was laughing casually at the thought.
"Elly." Chloe's voice was close to a warning at this point. Elly agreed and they settled on meeting at the front parking lot by the country club. Chloe parked in her normal spot and removed a duffle bag from the backseat, not even noticing Elly sitting behind her on the golf cart until she turned around. "Hey Ell." Chloe grinned and all stress of the day quickly flooded away. Her friend scampered quickly off her cart and engulfed Chloe in a bear hug. Chloe sighed at the contact and tried not to let the tears in her eyes pool up too much.
"Dude you have no idea how much I missed you." The tiny woman muttered before pulling away and wiping the tears from her face. "Want a ride up to the cages?" Elly hitched her thumb behind her and Chloe climbed onto the cart, "let me get your bag for you Ms. Beale." Elly's face grew serious as she glanced at her boss behind the counter. Chloe slipped the cash out of her pocket and into the jacket laying where Elly had just been sitting before gracefully gliding off to the changing room.
"I hate when you have to be all formal." Chloe frowned at the small woman. Who muttered something about seeing her after work and that the last cage had her bat bag and helmet waiting for her. Chloe unzipped her bag to pull out her shoes and shorts and her eyes grew wide at the drugs sitting on top of her clothes. "How is she so good at that?" Chloe's voice rang quietly through the locker room. All the while she never noticed an even smaller woman walk in wearing a towel.
"You should probably put that shit on the bottom of your bag red." The stranger spoke causing Chloe to fumble her bag to the floor and panic. "Calm down. I'm not going to say anything. I just would hate to see you get busted with all that shit." Her voice was deep for her size but Chloe blushed at the thought of what she would sound like moaning Chloe's name. "Did I say something?" The girl stood on her tip toes, holding the towel up with just one hand as she reached for something. Chloe stared without trying to hide it, casually sitting down and waiting for the tiny brunette to turn around. The smaller woman took in Chloe's position and furrowed her brows, looking in the mirror. "Is there something in me teeth?" She asked before cracking a beautiful smile that Chloe could see in the reflection. "Okay seriously though, put that shit away." With her last statement the small woman left Chloe awkwardly fiddling with her hands in wonder.
What the hell was that? Chloe thought with confusion spinning in her mind. She stood quickly and looked around before placing the drugs she had just received under the towel at the bottom of her bag. Remembering to grab one of the aderoll, tossing it in her mouth and swallowing it before she stripped down and put on a pair of shorts and a Barden sweatshirt and headed down to the end of the long corridor of cages. She pushed her headphones into her ear before slipping her helmet on.
"Noooooooo! I don't want to go to your party Elly." Beca groaned as she plopped down on the bench next to her extremely small cousin. She smirked as she glanced at Elly. "How tall are you?" Her voice was playful but Elly slapped her arm.
"I'm only 4'11." She mumbled with irritation scripted all over her face.
"Wow, I thought I was short at 5'3." Beca tried to lighten the mood in hopes of getting out of the caddy shack party.
"Beca please! You've never been here for it and it would mean so much to me." Elly pleaded, her hardass exterior dissipating in the comfort of Beca's presence. In that way the two were a lot a like. Beca being a brunette while Elly was blonde. Beca having blue eyes when Elly's were brown instead. Beca had young features and Elly had aged features but not in a way that she looked old. Just older. Which she was. She was about four years older than the brunette but they had always been close. I wish I had been around more. Beca thought sadly to herself. Beca gave her cousin a slow once over before sighing loudly. "Is that a yes? I promise there won't be any stupid pop songs or anything." Beca sighed again and nodded. Her attention was diverted as she caught glimpse of a stunning redhead walking away from the batting cages, sweat glistening in the light of the building as she reached up to wipe it away. Beca's eyes narrowed at the sight of her duffle bag casually slung over her should. "No way girl. You can't have the hots for my best friend." Elly stated flatly as she caught Beca's stare.
"If she was your best friend Elly you wouldn't let her buy drugs from you." Beca's voice dropped with seriousness as she slowly stood up. "I'll see you at the party." She hated the fact that she was willing to go to a social event when she'd much rather just sit in her room and make mixes all night. "I'm not drinking." Beca added before turning to sulk off to her car. The cool night air made her relaxes as she turned her key in the door and heard the familiar sound of the car unlocking.
"Hey, I didn't catch your name." A voice stated directly behind her. Beca spun around in horror at the surprise. Chloe chuckled at the younger girl's reaction and held her hands up as to say she meant no harm. Beca watched as her left hand reached across her body to hold the strap of her duffle bag tightly.
"I never gave it." Beca said before turning to get in her car.
"Wait! Umm." Chloe paused as she shuffled her feet awkwardly. "Are you going to tell anyone about this?" Chloe's eyes drifted up and locked on the darker ones staring at her.
"No. I don't even know who you are. And it's really none of my business." Beca sat in the driver seat and sighed as her hands gripped the steering wheel. She climbed back out. Standing increasingly closer to Chloe now. A serious sadness settling over her. "Be careful okay? It'd be a waste of something beautiful if something happened to you." Chloe's eyes widened as she fumbled with the words in her mind. Beca smirked her signature look and stepped back into the car. Glancing at Chloe as she drove away.
I know it's short compared to most the chapters I write in my other story but just sit tight. I'll get around to another chapter tomorrow or the day after. I'm bouncing back and forth between working on this story and the other one.