Chapter 2
The first person to wake up the next morning was Chloe. She woke up slowly, her mind not wanting to leave the comfortable warmth of her current position. After giving up on falling asleep again for a few minutes, she slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times at the unfamiliar room until she remembered that she had stayed with Beca last night.
The brunette was laying on her left side, face and front facing Chloe while her right hand was intertwined with the redhead's left hand. A small smile made it's way onto Chloe's face as she watched her fellow Bella.
Beca had her eyes closed and a few strands of her hair had fallen into her face. Her face looked relaxed and much younger than the one Chloe got to see on a daily basis. Without make up, Beca looked like a sixteen year old girl who had never experienced anything bad in her life. Chloe knew that that wasn't true, Beca had told her a few stories about her high school years and her mother, but Chloe still cherished this moment immensely. She could forget about everything and just imagine that life was good and nothing bad had ever happened to either of them.
She brushed the strands of hair out of Beca's face and let her fingers linger a moment longer than necessary. The small brunette's face was softer than Chloe had imagined and she couldn't help but run her fingers over it again. Beca moved a little but didn't seem to wake up. Chloe had touched Beca's face before, but it had only been in passing or while teasing the younger girl so she never got to appreciate the soft texture of the other girl's skin.
The redheaded girl sighed deeply as she forced her hand to stop touching her best friend's face.
'Best friend... I would do anything if she would finally get the hint that I don't want to be her friend. She's the most oblivious person I know...' she mused and continued watching the small brunette.
Beca moved a little and opened her eyes slowly. "Chloe? Why are you talking so early in the morning? Go back to sleep..." She mumbled and turned until she lay on her stomach, face pressed tightly into her warm pillow.
'She heard that? Damn... I hope she was too tired to think much of it.' "Sorry Becs, I'll shut up."
"Wait... you didn't say that out loud, did you?" Beca mumbled into her pillow.
"No, sorry."
"Damn... So it's still there. I had hoped it would have gone away by now."
"I know. How are you feeling?"
Beca groaned and rolled back onto her side so she could look at Chloe. "Fine I guess. A little disappointed. I'm not in the mood to deal with this. Can you make it go away?"
Chloe couldn't help the grin that overtook her face. "No, sorry. Don't worry too much, Lily said it took three days with her cousin. There is still hope that it will disappear on it's own."
"Yeah... three days. Great."
"Look at the positive side. You probably already made it through one day."
The small brunette sighed and closed her eyes. "Yeah, hopefully."
"Aw, come on Becs, this will be fun. Enjoy it while it's there. I'm sure it will only be temporary."
Beca opened her eyes again and looked at Chloe seriously. "You don't get it. I'm not worried that it won't go away. I'm pretty sure it will, sooner or later. The thing I'm worried about is the things I'll hear while this lasts. I can't forget it once I've heard it. I don't want to know about your secrets, or about the secrets of the girls when you don't tell me about them voluntarily. I could care less about the people on the street, I'll never see them again, but I don't want to argue with you guys because of something I've heard."
"I'm sure we won't fight with you over stuff like that. It's not your fault you overheard them. If it even comes to that."
"But that doesn't change the fact that I most probably will hear some stuff I'm not supposed to hear."
"Didn't I already tell you that you're not supposed to worry about what ifs? If you hear something you're not supposed to hear, just talk to the person to let them know. It will be fine."
Beca groaned. "I don't want to deal with this. I'm staying in bed until this is over."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Don't be dramatic. Come on, I'm hungry. Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast. I'm sure the girls already made some."
Beca buried her face in her pillow. "No."
"Beeecaaaaa..."
"No."
"Okay then. This is your own fault." Chloe got out of bed and vanished into the bathroom. Beca slowly opened one eye, looking for the redhead. There is no way something good would happen after those words. When Beca saw Chloe returning with a bucket that looked suspiciously heavy, her eyes widened and she pressed her body as far as possible into the wall.
"Chloe! Get that bucket away from me!"
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Are you getting up?"
"Fine! I hate you, you know that?!" Beca glared at Chloe as she moved out of her warm sheets and stood up. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and started shivering. "It's fucking cold!"
"Get dressed. You'll feel warmer then."
"You are a terrible person." Beca grumbled as she walked to her closet and grabbed some clothes to wear. She didn't look at Chloe as she stomped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Loudly.
"You are so grumpy in the morning. I'll get dressed too, let's meet downstairs in a few minutes, okay?"
"Whatever." was the only answer Chloe got from her best friend.
Chloe smiled. She loved grumpy Beca. It was always so much fun making the girl do stuff she didn't want to do. But Chloe always managed to get Beca to do it anyway.
A few minutes later she went downstairs to the kitchen and greeted her fellow Bellas. They had already prepared some breakfast. Well, they got the milk out of the fridge and had put some bowls and cereal on the table.
"Hey Red, how's the little one?"
Before Chloe could answer, Beca stomped down the stairs and glared at Chloe before greeting the other girls with a smile.
"I'm fine."
"Can you still...?"
"Read minds? Yeah, sorry."
Amy shrugged. "It's fine with me. I tell you guys everything anyway. I'm like an open book."
Beca snorted. "Right." Everything except the Bumper situation. But all of the girls knew about it anyway so it kinda doesn't count as a secret.
'She can still read minds? Damn, I have to be careful what I think about. I need to talk to Ash later, I think it may be better to come clean. She'll find out sooner or later.'
Beca furrowed her brows and looked at Jessica questioningly. The blonde's eyes widened and she put her hands in front of her mouth as if she wanted to keep words from escaping. The small brunette just shrugged and smiled at Jessica who visibly relaxed.
"So why are you angry at Chloe?" Stacie asked as she watched how Beca went out of her way to sit as far away from Chloe as possible. They were almost inseparable usually.
Beca scowled in the redhead's direction. "She made me get out of bed. And threatened me with a bucket of water."
Stacie started laughing. "Really? Awesome."
"It wasn't awesome! I was planning on staying in bed until this is over but that demon over there had other plans apparently."
Chloe scoffed. "Be nice. You are not sick so staying in bed isn't an option. I'm just making sure you're not wasting your precious time by lying in bed and doing nothing."
Beca rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thanks. You know what annoys me? You've been acting like my mother since yesterday and always tell me what to do. I'm 21 years old, for god's sake. I can make my own decisions."
The other girls eyes had widened as they looked from one captain to the other.
Chloe just got up from her seat and looked at Beca. "Want to take a walk?"
Beca was about to protest but thought better of it. "...Yes."
She got up and put on some shoes. They both went outside and took a few steps in silence.
'I didn't think it would annoy her so much. I mean, yes, I've been a little overbearing since yesterday, but I'm only doing that because I'm worried. I don't think it's healthy dealing with this alone. I need her to talk about it and not hide in her room.'
"I know."
"Huh?" Chloe turned around to look at Beca in confusion, before realization crossed her face. "Oh, you heard that?"
Beca nodded. "Yeah. I know that you are worried. And I am too. Sorry for snapping at you like that. This whole thing is just really confusing and you know that I don't take well to being told what to do."
Chloe smiled slightly. "Yes, I'm sorry. I know that. I was just worried that something would happen to you if you went outside again yesterday. And then I was worried you'd catch a cold so I said you should go to your room and shower. And then I was worried that you would just hide in your room until this is over this morning so I told you to get up. And I wanted my muffin. Sorry."
Grinning slightly, Beca took Chloe's hand and squeezed it shortly before letting go again.
'I wouldn't mind holding her hand a little longer.'
Ignoring Chloe's thoughts for now, Beca decided to leave this conversation behind and focus on the important stuff. Food.
"I know. It's fine. I was overreacting, this is just stressful. What do you think about going to that muffin shop now? I didn't get to finish my cereal and I'm hungry."
Chloe raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Out loud at least. 'So I wasn't the only one who was hungry huh? Glad you got out of bed now, Mitchell?'
"Shut it Beale. Let's go."
Chloe grinned and the two of them walked the short way over to the muffin shop in comfortable silence.
When they arrived there, Beca got them each a cup of coffee and a muffin and joined Chloe in a booth at the window.
"Here you go. I hope you appreciate this muffin, I had to go through a lot to get this thing. The guy behind the counter was ogling my boobs the whole time and thought about what I looked like naked. The girl behind me was reliving a situation with her boyfriend. Vividly. Honestly, why is everybody thinking about sex? Don't they have anything better to do?"
Chloe started laughing. "This is college Beca. There are only two things most students think about. Sex and alcohol."
"What about their education? Doesn't anybody care about that?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "You're one to talk. Do you have any idea how long it took for me to get you to go to your classes?"
Beca shrugged. "Well, Philosophy was boring. I'm glad I changed it. But honestly, there was this guy outside who was watching his phone rather intently. I was interested what he was looking at and when I got closer I 'noticed' that he was watching a porno. In broad daylight. He was thinking about it very intensely."
Chloe was still laughing. "Really Beca, I don't know what to tell you. But it's normal. How come you're so surprised? You must have thought like that too. At least once during your time here at Barden, right? And you can't tell me you haven't watched a porno before?"
Beca was blushing brightly by now and looked behind her suspiciously. No one was paying them any attention. Yet.
"Chloe! I'm not talking about that! There are people here!"
Chloe shrugged. 'Who cares? Just think about it and send it to me?'
"Dude, no!"
'Come on, I want to know!'
'Seriously? Of course I have thought about sex before when I looked at some people, but I definitely didn't watch any pornos. Why would I?'
"I heard that! Great, it's working. But why? Come on, you must have been curious."
"No. I'm not interested in seeing strangers go at it."
"Huh. We need to change that. You and me, this evening, your room."
"No! We're not watching pornos together!"
The people sitting at the other tables gave them interested looks and Beca blushed brightly. Chloe was laughing.
"I think the people outside heard that."
Beca put her hands in front of her eyes. "Shut up. Man, this is so embarrassing, why are we talking about this?"
"Because you complained about everybody thinking about sex. Honestly, you're kinda naive. You didn't believe they would really think about their studies?"
"Well, maybe not all the time, but I honestly didn't expect to 'see' so much naked skin, or 'hear' about stuff they want to do or have done. I knew it was a bad idea to get up this morning. I'm not leaving the house again."
"We already had this discussion. But I guess I forced you to go outside for long enough now. Want to go back?"
"God, yes!" Beca exclaimed and downed the rest of her coffee in one big gulp. Both girls had finished their muffins rather quickly and agreed that it was one of the best muffins they had ever eaten.
Chloe smiled and got up as well. As they were walking through the front door and past a big group of people she saw that Beca was closing her eyes tightly and winced visibly.
She put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder and asked her if she was alright.
Once they were out of the shop, Beca breathed deeply and nodded. "I'm fine. Those people were giving me a headache though. Too many thoughts at once I guess. It's quite hard to organize them in my head."
"Oh. I haven't thought about that. I didn't think this would hurt you, I'm sorry. I'm not forcing you to go outside again."
Beca grinned. "Don't worry Beale. It wasn't 'hurting' me exactly. It's just a slight headache and it's not your fault."
"Are you sure? Having this many thoughts in your head must be uncomfortable. Sorry for not noticing your uneasiness earlier."
Beca rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I'm fine Chlo. Let's just go home."
Chloe nodded and took Beca's hand in her own. The smaller girl made no move to free her hand. "Yeah. So, Bree was supposed to come visit us tomorrow and stay the weekend, but I think I'll cancel. You're not feeling well and I think all of this excitement isn't too good at the moment..."
"I'm not sick, you do realize that, right? You don't have to cancel on Posen, you need some fun too."
"Really? She can just come to visit on another weekend, it wouldn't be a problem."
"Yes, really."
Chloe smiled. "Great! I've really missed her."
"I know. And here I thought I was your best friend..." Beca said, playfully acting hurt by the redhead's words.
"You are. You both are."
Beca squinted at her fellow Bella. "I'm not studying English literature or something, but doesn't the word 'best' imply that there is nothing better than it? As in a singular thing?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Even if that was the case, I have two best friends."
"If you say so... but I'm not convinced Beale." Before Beca could say more than that, her phone started ringing. She took it out of her pocket and answered it. She didn't let go of Chloe's hand though.
"Hey Jesse."
"Not much, just walking home with Chloe."
"Today? No, I don't have anything planned."
"No, listen Jesse, I'm not going out tonight. I don't feel well."
"No, I'm not sick. Well, not exactly. I'll explain everything later."
"You don't have to come over, I'm fine."
"Yeah, I'll call you tomorrow. Bye"
Beca sighed and put her phone back in her pocket. "Sorry, that was Jesse. He wanted to hang out tonight but I said no."
"Yeah, I heard." 'Why is he always interrupting when I'm with her? Jesse is a nice guy but it's seriously starting to piss me off. Why did she have to stay friends with him after they broke up?'
"Woah, Chloe, what is wrong with you? You don't want me to be friends with Jesse? Seriously? You don't get to decide who I hang out with." Beca freed her hand from Chloe's and started walking a little faster. They were already in the driveway of the Bellas house, so Beca angrily opened the door to the house.
"Beca, no, come on, wait. Let me explain, please!" Chloe called after her but Beca ignored her. The small brunette stomped up to her room and didn't look back.
Chloe sighed deeply. Stacie had been sitting on the couch and had seen Beca's departure.
"Um, Chloe? Are you guys alright?"
"Yeah. Sorry you had to see that."
"It's not a problem. What is going on?"
"Ugh, Beca heard something I thought and now she's angry at me."
"Well, I'm sure she'll forgive you. She always has. Want to take your mind off it for a while and go shopping with me? I need some new stuff."
"I don't know. I promised Beca that I would stay with her while this mind reading thing is going on."
"You know her better than I do, but if she's angry, she needs to cool off. You'll only get yelled at if you try to talk to her now. Give her a few hours and try talking to her in the evening again."
"Hm, I think you're right. And it's been a while since we did something together. Wait a second, I'll just text her where I've gone. I don't want her to think that I broke my promise."
Stacie rolled her eyes. "You two are so domestic, it seems like you've been married for 50 years. When are you going to tell her that you love her? It's been forever since Becs broke up with Jesse and I don't think I have seen you in a relationship for as long as I've known you. What's up with that?"
Chloe shrugged and followed Stacie to her car after she shot a short text to Beca. "I'm not looking for someone at the moment."
"Don't give me that excuse. You've been in love with the midget since the moment you laid eyes on her, right?"
"Well, maybe. But I don't know how she thinks about me so I'm playing it safe."
"Ugh, your playing it safe is reason for a lot of unresolved sexual tension whenever you two are in a room together. It's starting to affect the other girls."
Chloe raised an eyebrow as she sat down in the passenger seat of Stacie's car.
"Really? And honestly, it's not my fault. If she would just get the hint, you wouldn't have to worry about anything being unresolved. But I don't want to pressure her, so I'm waiting. And now isn't a good time. We'll have to deal with this mind reading thing first, then I can think about other stuff."
"Yeah, really. But now is the best time! You can just think something she'll have to acknowledge. If you confess your love to her, she doesn't have any other choice than to talk to you about it. And you can just say you couldn't control your thoughts or something. Well, you could just tell her upfront, but you're too chicken for that."
"I don't know Stacie. Let's talk about something else for a few hours alright? How's school? What do we need to buy at the mall?"
Stacie grinned and started talking as she moved the car out of the driveway.
Beca had stomped up the stairs angrily and slammed the door after her when she arrived in her room. She kicked off her shoes and jumped into her bed, burying her face in her pillow.
Why would Chloe think like that? Her and Jesse had been friends since the moment she had arrived at Barden and even though they had dated for a while, Beca didn't see any harm in continuing their friendship. Chloe had never been very fond of the boy but Beca had thought they got along fine.
She groaned loudly into her pillow and decided to use mixing to calm down. She didn't want to fight with Chloe, but the redhead's mothering over the last day and her comment a few minutes ago really annoyed Beca. It wasn't really Chloe's fault, Beca knew that, the redhead couldn't help what she was thinking, but it angered her none the less. She just needed to calm down and have a talk with Chloe later, because she needed to find out what the redhead had meant with her thoughts.
Beca had been sitting on her laptop for a few minutes when a ding alerted her to an incoming text message. She opened her phone to look who had messaged her.
Chlo: Hey Becs, I'm going out with Stacie for a few hours. Just wanted to let you know, I don't want you to think I have ditched you. I always keep my promises. Talk to you later (hopefully)... xoxo C
Ugh, damn, it was so hard to stay mad at the girl. But it was probably for the best that she was out of the house for a few hours. Beca knew herself and she realized that she had to calm down before she spoke with Chloe again. She didn't want to fight again, so she needed to relax first.
She had been mixing for about half an hour when a knock on her door broke her concentration. "Come in!" She called and pulled her headphones from her ears until they rested around her neck.
A blonde and a brunette came up the stairs, smiling carefully.
"Jess, Ash, what's up? Everything okay?"
Jessica and Ashley nodded and sat down on Amy's bed. Beca turned her chair until she could look at the two girls.
"Yeah, everything is fine. We just wanted to talk to you about something." Jessica started.
Beca raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What is it?"
"Well, you've heard what I was thinking this morning, right?"
Beca nodded. "Yeah, but I won't say anything. Everyone has their secrets and you're entitled to yours. If I ever hear something specific, I won't say a word to anyone, I promise."
Jessica and Ashley smiled. "Yes, we know. But we talked about it and we thought it was time to talk to you guys. Well, CR already knows but we were a little unsure how to broach the topic. It's just that all of you guys have so much going on in your lives and it never seemed like the right time to tell all of you. And well, since you can kind of read minds at the moment, we decided to talk to you first and then wait for a good time to tell the others." Ashley said and took Jessica's hand in hers.
Beca was intrigued by their vague explanation but could kinda already tell in which direction this conversation would go. She had always had some suspicions, but she never bothered to snoop in her friends business. "You can talk to me about anything, we're friends, remember?"
The girls chuckled. "Yeah, but it was somehow never the right time. Well, I'll just say it. Jess and I have been together for the last few months and if you ever hear something about that in our thought, you know why. So, yeah."
Beca smiled brightly and got up from her chair to go over to the girls and hug them. "Aw, I'm so happy for you guys! Congratulations! Why haven't you told us? You didn't think that we would have a problem with it, right? We are not that close minded."
"No, we know, it was just a strange situation. At first we wanted to see if this would work out or of it would be just a phase and when we noticed that it became serious, we just didn't know how to tell you guys. CR kinda walked in on us once, so she has known for a few weeks now. You are not mad, are you?" Jessica asked once Beca has sat down next to them on Amy's bed.
"Mad? Why would I be mad? I'm happy for you guys, I'm sure it will work out for you. And to be honest, I've had my suspicions but I didn't want to pry."
Ashley let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh thank god, I was really worried you would be mad that we didn't tell you sooner."
"See Ash, she's fine with it. I told you that she would be." Jessica said and grinned at her girlfriend.
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you were right, okay? Happy?"
The blonde nodded. "Very."
"Aw, you guys are so cute! When are you telling the others?"
Ashley shrugged. "I don't really know. I think we should wait until you're back to normal again."
Beca sighed. "Yeah, maybe that's a good idea. I really hope this will go away soon."
"I'm sure it will. So, I don't want to pry but are you fighting with Chloe? It kinda sounded like it when you stomped up to your room." Jessica asked slowly.
"Ugh, yeah. Well, she thought something that I heard and I'm a little mad about that. She told me if I ever heard something in someone's thoughts that I didn't like I should tell them and talk about it. I'm trying to calm down at the moment and I plan on talking to her when she comes back in the evening."
"Sounds like you already have a plan. Just don't fight too long, okay? The house always feels gloomy when you two have an argument." Ashley said.
"I hope it'll work. I hate fighting with her but I really don't get what her problem is with Jesse. I thought she liked him."
"Oh, this is about Jesse? About damn time." Jessica muttered.
"Wait, what? You know what her problem is?"
"Of course. But you should talk to her. And let her finish speaking before you say anything, okay? Trust us, you will be glad if you let her finish talking." Jessica continued.
"Can you give me a hint? So I can prepare myself?"
Jessica and Ashley laughed. "Oh no, we're not getting involved in that. Thanks for listening to us, we'll leave you to your mixing now. Remember to talk to Chloe."
Beca groaned. "Thanks guys. For nothing. You could have at least given me a hint. But okay, leave me alone, I'll be thinking about it for the whole day..."
Jessica and Ashley were still laughing as they walked down the stairs. "No problem. Have fun with your mixes, we'll see you later."
Beca had been mixing for a few hours when she heard voices from downstairs. It seemed like Chloe and Stacie were back from their shopping trip.
She was just debating if she should go to Chloe or if she should wait until the redhead came to her, when she heard her door open.
"Becs?"
"Come in Chlo."
Chloe walked up the steps and looked at Beca, who was still sitting at her desk, worriedly. "Um, can we talk?"
Beca nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that. So how did your shopping trip go?"
Chloe shrugged and sat down on Beca's bed. The brunette turned around to face her. "It was nice. It's been a while since I hung out with Stacie and you know the girl, not a dull moment anywhere near her."
"That's good I guess."
"Yeah..."
"So..."
"I'm sorry Beca. I can't control what I think and I don't want to tell you who you can hang out with. I'm sorry you heard that."
"I'm sorry too. For getting angry like that. I should have talked to you about it like you told me to and not ran away like that."
"Yeah, well, it happened. Have you calmed down?"
"Yes. Um, what is your problem with Jesse?"
Chloe sighed. She had talked with Stacie and the girl had told her to be honest. Chloe doubted that it would be the best idea but she couldn't take this uncertainty much longer.
"I was jealous."
"Of Jesse? Why?"
"Well, you're good friends. And you've been together before. I was just jealous of your relationship."
"I don't get that. You are my best friend. Jesse was my boyfriend and is my friend as well. I would put him at number two but don't tell Amy about that, she'd freak. I always tell her that she's my number one, you know?" Beca tried to get Chloe to smile but it didn't seem to be working.
'Okay, now or never, I hope I don't screw this up...' Chloe told herself and braced herself. She took a deep breath and just let the words out. "I love you Beca."
Beca furrowed her brows. "I know that. What is going on?"
Chloe groaned. "No, not like that. I'm in love with you and I was jealous of Jesse because he got to call you his girlfriend."
There were a few moments of silence where nobody said anything.
"Say something Beca. Please..."
"... what? You love me? As in you want to be in a relationship with me?" Beca asked, still a little confused.
Chloe closed her eyes tightly and nodded once. 'Oh my god, she's going to reject me, oh my god, I'm going to die if she doesn't say anything soon.'
"Chlo... I love you, really, but you are my best friend. Can't we just stay friends?"
It felt like an entire lake of ice cold water had crushed over Chloe as soon as she heard those words. She snapped her eyes open and looked at her best friend with so much hurt in her eyes, the younger girl had to look away. Chloe gulped down the first sob that threatened to break free and fought down the tears.
"Um, sure. I'll let you get back to mixing then. Good night Becs." Chloe said hurriedly and rushed out of Beca's room.
"Chlo, wait!" Beca tried to stop the other girl, but the redhead had already left the room.
'Damn, that was totally not the way I intended to phrase that. Oh my god, she's never going to talk to me again...' Beca thought frantically and blinked a few times to get rid of the tears that threatened to stream down her face. 'I totally ruined our friendship...'
Beca thought about following Chloe and making things right but she knew that the other girl needed to calm down and she needed to think about a few things too before she talked to Chloe again. She sighed deeply and decided to go to bed and do some thinking.
A/N: Here's the second chapter guys. I hope you'll enjoy it :) And thank you soooo much for all the interest in my stories :D I'm really glad you like this one as well and a huge thank you to all the people who took the time to leave a review :)