It was two weeks after the assault and Beca was worried. Chloe hadn't left her dorm at all after she got back from the hospital. She was skipping classes, meals, showers, and she rarely answered her phone. Beca had to do something because Chloe couldn't keep ditching class and she couldn't bring her breakfast, lunch, and dinner forever.
The brunette knocked on Aubrey's door and after a moment it opened.
"Help me talk to Chloe, please," Beca asked in more of a plea than a question.
"Of course," she replied, leaving her dorm with Beca and heading to Chloe's.
Beca opened the redhead's door and the girl was laying in her bed, like always.
"Baby, can you get up?" Beca asked.
Chloe rolled over in the bed to face the girls, "I'm comfortable here."
"Babe, you can't stay in your bed forever."
"Yeah. Chloe, you can't let what happened stop you from going to school and living your life," Aubrey said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"You are an amazing, beautiful, loving person and nothing will change that," Beca said kneeling next to the bed. "They found two of the guys, and the other one is sure to show up. I got a new rape whistle for you and a lot of kids on campus are helping to get more light around here because of what happened. You'll be safe, I promise you. Just please, get out of bed, go to a class or two, eat something other than ramen noodles, please, get out of this room."
Chloe had started to cry as Beca spoke and she shook her head, "Everyone knows..."
"What?" Aubrey asked.
"They know what happened to me. I can't live with that, that constant shame and embarrassment when people look at me and think about how weak I am, about I let that happen to myself," Chloe replied.
Beca took the redhead's hand and put it in hers, "Once you start going back to class and living again, you are showing people how strong you are. You were able to overcome what happened. Sitting in your room all day is making you weak, not the fact that it happened..."
Chloe couldn't stop the tears from falling. She knew Beca was right, but she still didn't want to go outside and have people look and point and talk. She nodded and Beca stood up, kissing her hand.
"I have a class so I have to go, but I'll bring you Pizza Hut later and you will eat it," Beca said. "Aubrey, feel free to join us."
"I would love to but I have class then a paper to finish, sorry."
"It's okay, I'll see you later," the brunette said, giving Chloe a kiss on the head before leaving.
Aubrey stood up from the bed and started looking through Chloe's drawers.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Looking for a nice outfit for you to wear later. You've been wearing the same sweatpants and t-shirt for two weeks and you're really grossing me out."
"Thanks."
"Just being honest, now c'mon. You're taking a shower," she said pulling on Chloe's hand.
"No, I don't want to," the redhead whined, pulling her arm back.
"I don't care, you're taking a shower. You smell, your room smells, and I'm going to throw up if I stay here any longer."
"Then leave."
"Dammit Chloe, get up!"
Chloe sighed and sat up.
"Now get out of the bed. I will stand outside the stall for you if that makes you feel better."
Chloe nodded then got out of bed and undressed, putting on her bathrobe. She grabbed her towel and her toiletry bag while Aubrey grabbed the outfit she picked out. Together, they walked to the showers and Aubrey waited outside until the redhead was done.
"Wow, you smell so much better."
"Shut up Bree, give me my clothes."
Chloe dried herself off and got dressed, leaving the showers with the blonde and returning to the girl's dorm. As Chloe started to put her toiletries away, Aubrey started picking up the wrappers and tissues off the floor. She threw them away, and threw all the dirty clothes in the hamper. Chloe sat back down on her bed and Aubrey stopped.
"No, get up. Do you have another pair of sheets?"
"Under the bed."
Chloe got up and got the bag of clean sheets. Aubrey stripped the redhead's bed and put all the dirty blankets in the hamper along with the clothing. She grabbed the Lysol from Chloe's desk and sprayed the bed and the rest of the room, putting it back and getting the new sheets on the mattress.
Chloe sat back down and looked at Aubrey with a small smile, "Thanks..."
"No problem, I'm going to do your laundry. You wanna come with me?"
"Uhm... No. I wanna stay here."
Aubrey sighed, "Okay. When you're ready..."
The blonde took Chloe's hamper and left the room. Chloe watched her leave then laid back on her bed, staring at the same ceiling she's been staring at for weeks.
"You're not going to prefer girls after this."
"Stop, please!"
Chloe couldn't close her eyes tighter.
"Stop!"
"Let me get some."
"No, I'm not done."
"Please, stop..."
"Shut up!"
Chloe opened her eyes. His hand was cocked back, ready to collide with her face.
Smack.
Chloe's eyes snapped open, jumping in her bed.
"Whoa, calm down," Beca said. "It's just me... Relax. You're safe."
Chloe sat up, finding Beca's hand on her cheek. She took a couple deep breaths before her heart beat got back to normal.
"I didn't mean to scare you, are you okay?" Beca asked.
Chloe nodded, "Yeah, I'm good... What time is it?"
"Dinner time. I brought pizza."
Chloe got out of bed as Beca opened the pizza box on the floor and she looked into the mirror on the wall. She started to stare, looking at her bruised nose and her scratched jaw. Tears started to form in her eyes the more she looked at herself. Her hair was done and she was dressed for the first time in two weeks, but all she could see was the weakness in herself.
Beca looked up at her from the floor and she couldn't help but feel guilty. Chloe was assaulted and she wasn't there to stop it, protect her. She should've gone to get her. She should've asked her to go to lunch, not dinner. She should've been there for her.
"Chloe, don't cry, please."
"I can't help it," she replied, starting to sob.
Beca grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto the floor. She pulled her head into her shoulder as the redhead cried. Tears started to fall down Beca's cheeks as well. Chloe cried into her for about five minutes before calming down.
"What happened to you was not fair," the brunette started. "But we can't let it ruin your life."
Beca brushed the hair out of the redhead's face and wiped her tears. She caressed her cheek until she lifted her head from her shoulder.
"I'm gonna go to class tomorrow..."
"Really?"
Chloe nodded, "Yeah."
"One or all of them?"
"Well I have two tomorrow so I'll just go to both."
"Good, that's a step forward," Beca smiled.
The redhead nodded again, "Uhm... what kind of pizza did you get?"
"What else would I get? Pepperoni with black olives but only on half because those are disgusting and I don't know how you eat them."
Chloe laughed, "They're good, you're just crazy."
"Yeah, okay," Beca smirked, opening the box.
The girls sat on the floor and talked for longer than they had in a long time, eating the entire pie as they did so. After it was gone, Beca smashed up the box and put next to Chloe's garbage. The redhead got up and laid down on the bed. She looked at Beca and patted the empty area next to her. She laid down next to her and interlocked their fingers.
"Can you stay here tonight?" Chloe asked.
"I have an eight o'clock class and I don't have clothes here..."
"You left your overall shorts here so I washed them for you, you can borrow a shirt."
Beca smiled, "Thanks."
"No problem... Beca?"
"Hmm."
"I love you."
"I love you too," she replied, kissing the redhead's hand.
They laid in silence for a while before Chloe got up. She took off her shirt and put on a t-shirt from the drawer, then removing her jeans to put on sweatpants.
"Lemme get a t-shirt Chlo?"
She nodded and tossed Beca a shirt that was kind of big on her. The brunette stripped down and threw the shirt on, folding her clothes and putting them at the foot of the bed. Chloe crawled under the covers, Beca getting in next to her. The redhead put her hand on Beca's thigh and pulled her closer.
"Your leg is really soft..." Chloe whispered.
"I shaved this morning," Beca laughed.
"Oh..."
"Goodnight baby, I love you," the brunette smiled, kissing Chloe's shoulder.
"Night..."
Beca was awoken suddenly as she felt Chloe jumping over her in the bed. She sat up and saw Chloe leaning over the garbage.
"Shit," she whispered to herself, throwing the covers off of her.
She ran over to Chloe and held the girl's hair back as she threw up into the can. After her second upchuck, she took a deep breath then letting out a deep sigh.
"You okay?" Beca asked.
"Well, my stomach doesn't hurt anymore."
"Why didn't you tell me it hurt?"
Chloe shrugged and Beca spoke again, "It was probably the pizza."
"You're not sick though."
"Yeah, but the most you've eaten in the last two weeks was a half a bowl of ramen noodles so you're not used to eating four slices of pizza. That's a lot."
"True..."
"You good now?"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna go brush my teeth and come back. Go back to sleep."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I didn't wanna wake you but I also didn't want to puke on you."
"Well I'm glad you chose waking me rather than pulling an Aubrey," Beca smiled.
Chloe laughed, "That's mean."
"You know I'm right, but go brush your teeth so you can come lay back down."
The redhead nodded with a yawn and stood up, getting her toothbrush and entering the bathroom. Beca sighed and checked the time, 2:16am. She rubbed her eyes and took the bag out of the garbage can, putting it in another bag and tossing it out of the window into the dumpster–literally the only good thing about having it so close was not having to walk far, or walk at all. She got back into the bed and closed her eyes, waiting for Chloe to get back.
She finally heard the door open and close again. She opened one eye and watched the redhead get back into bed, snuggling against her.
"Are you gonna be okay with going to class tomorrow?" Beca asked.
"Yeah. Did you set an alarm for your morning class? I need to get up at the same time."
"Yup, you're good."
"Alright... Goodnight again."
Beca laughed, "Night."
They both closed their eyes and fell asleep for the second time that night, the slight feeling of normality returning.