Chapter 3: Pictures in Frames; Kisses on Cheeks
"AUBREY?!" Chloe yelled as she barreled into the Bella sorority house.
She had practically full out sprinted from Baker Hall back to Greek Row—a nearly two and a half mile distance—and was grateful for her best friend's insistence that the entire sorority maintain a high level of cardio in their workout routines.
She slammed the front door behind her as she grabbed the first girl to walk near her.
"Mary Elise!" Chloe exclaimed, frightening the sophomore in her grasp into silence. "Is Aubrey here? Please tell me she's here. Where is she?!"
During her rapid fire questioning, she had physically shaken Mary Elise—a small framed girl, almost frail looking, with medium length brown hair and glasses—and the poor thing couldn't get a word out.
"She's upstairs," a voice from the living room stated. Chloe looked to her left and saw Kori, a beautiful girl with dark skin and eyes that carried herself with an air of confidence even Chloe couldn't match, who was also a sophomore, walk into the foyer. "She's doing her yoga routine and studying."
"Thanks, Kori!" Chloe smiled, releasing Mary Elise and took off up the stairs.
Kori looked at her Bella sister and sighed, "C'mon, girl. Let's get you some water."
Mary Elise nodded stiffly and allowed her self to be guided to the kitchen. They really needed to work on her confidence.
"Aubrey?" Chloe called out as she knocked on her best friend's door and walked into her room.
Sure enough, Aubrey was in the middle of a downward facing dog with her Ethics textbook open below.
"What is it, Chloe?" Aubrey asked as she flipped to the next page, breathing deeply.
"Aubrey, we need to talk," Chloe said brusquely.
Aubrey turned to look at her and noted the seriousness in her features. She shut her textbook and rose from her pose and grabbed her towel and bottle of water.
"Ok, what's up?" she asked, taking a sip from her bottle and dabbing her face with the towel.
Chloe closed the door quietly behind her and strode over to sit on the edge of Aubrey's bed.
"So, you remember Beca, right? From the Activity fair?"
Aubrey tilted her head trying to jog her memory. They had talked to so many girls that day, it was hard to remember names and the faces to whom they belonged. But then-
"Wait. Do you mean that incredibly rude girl with way too many piercings in her ears and far too much dark eye makeup that basically said we were vapid, spoiled rich girls?"
"If that's the way you want to describe her, then yes."
Aubrey rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Yes, it is. So, what about her? Why all the dramatics?"
Chloe took a deep breath and exhaled in an attempt to steady her nerves. She'd been on edge since leaving Baker Hall; her heart had still not slowed down to a normal rhythm.
"She's… She's the one, Aubrey."
Aubrey paused, trying to decipher Chloe's meaning. "The one, Chloe?" she challenged. "For serious?"
"Yeah," Chloe assured her. "I felt it when-"
"Is this like when you thought Daniel and Jackie and Drew were all 'the one'?" Aubrey interrupted, using air quotes around the last two words. "Sweetie, don't do this to yourself again, ok?" She had heard this before from Chloe, and every time it ended up terribly for her friend. Chloe was such a sensitive soul, so she took break ups especially hard.
Chloe shook her head, frustrated.
"Aubrey, no. Listen to me. Beca is the one." She tried to drive her point home with very direct eye contact and emphasis on her words.
It helped, because Aubrey finally got it: Beca Mitchell was the key to everything.
Beta Epsilon Lambda Lambda Alpha was a legitimate sorority by trade. They had multiple chapters at universities across the country, countless sisters in alumni and worked very hard to achieve such a sterling reputation amongst their respective communities. The thing that separated them, aside from the extra long name, was the fact that they were also a coven of witches entrusted to keep the world safe from "egotistical garbage dirtballs"—Aubrey's words—or, in this year's case, the Barden Treblemakers.
Barden was a particularly active hot spot for paranormal activity and had always seemed to attract a less than savory crowd. Some problems were easier to deal with than others.
In the 80s, for example, the Kappa Kappa Theta boys tried to summon a particularly nasty brand of basilisk, but really just created an oversized anaconda that ended up swallowing some of the frat brothers whole. The Bellas merely reversed the spell and returned the garden snake to its harmless original form.
This year, though, the alumnae caught word that the Trebles were going all in and were going to try and summon Rahknar, a demon whose greatest power was garnering influence by enthralling its target and swiftly killing them, if that was its conjurer's wish. It could also be used to ascend to ruler of the entire world if brought into the right body in the proper way. Allowing that kind of power to be in the hands of the Treblemakers' leader, Bumper, was not an option. Thus, the Barden Bellas had to get ready for the biggest fight of their lives by finding and preparing their vessel for the coven's goddess, Hecate, to inhabit.
How the fates screwed up so badly that their vessel was Beca Mitchell of all people, Aubrey would never understand.
"Oh, no…" Aubrey groaned out as a realization smacked her in the face like the football that hit Marcia Brady in the nose.
"What?" Chloe looked back up at Aubrey, concerned. "What is it?"
Aubrey closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, sitting down next to Chloe on the bed as she explained. "Jesse's Beca from the radio station and the Beca we need for the ritual are the same person. I'm going to have to get him involved."
"Why do our lives have to be so complicated?" Chloe whined as she laid her back on the bed. "I finally like someone that is exciting and cute and can hold my interest for longer than five minutes and just when I get to talk to her alone, I find out I have to bleed her?! How am I supposed to, potentially, have a meaningful relationship with her with things like they are? I did not just spend the last month following her on her periphery for it to end before it can even begin!"
Aubrey was about to let Chloe know every last thing she disliked about Beca, and also scold her for stalking someone, but bit her tongue instead; Chloe was hurting enough. Instead she gave her friend the bare bones truth of the situation. "I'm sorry, Chloe. But you know the ritual comes first."
It was Chloe's turn to sigh. "I know. Doesn't make things any easier, though."
"That's why you chose to let me be President of the Bellas," Aubrey replied, giving what she hoped was a comforting pat to Chloe's bent knee. "Because I can make the tough decisions."
Chloe and Aubrey had grown up together just outside of Atlanta. It was their destiny to go to Barden, that knowledge had been drilled into them as kids. The Beale's and the Posen's had met when they attended Barden in the late 70s—Chloe's and Aubrey's mothers had been in the same pledge class—and had taken the bonds of sisterhood so seriously that they raised their daughters with full disclosure.
Some fluke of birthright had tabbed Chloe as the eventual leader of the Barden Bellas. Chloe, however, was uninterested in the title (and the extreme pressure that came with it) so she had forfeited it to Aubrey. Sure, she was still technically more powerful than Aubrey when it came to spells and things, but Aubrey was a more apt leader.
The girls stayed in Aubrey's room a bit longer, allowing silence to envelop them and their thoughts.
The following night after their dinner date, Jesse and Aubrey had found themselves in Aubrey's room in the midst of a quite wonderful make out session. Jesse was a great kisser, though he swore Aubrey was better, and had just moved to her neck. He did this thing… She wasn't sure how to describe it, but he'd definitely found her weak spot was too focused on it, too distracted by the 90s slow jam they had playing, to hear her when the words tumbled from her mouth.
"Cui loquor, bene audire: Hear my words, follow mine direction; focus for me, my heart's affection," she whispered in his ear.
She felt him stop in an instant and watched as he leaned up, eyes glazed but his attention solely on her.
"Jesse, can you hear me?" Aubrey asked while she cupped his face with one hand, sliding her thumb over his cheek.
Jesse nodded and Aubrey swallowed hard. She hated having to do this, she really, really did.
"Jesse, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to convince your friend Beca that joining the Bellas is something she absolutely needs to do. That joining us would be good for her. Can you do that for me?"
Jesse nodded again.
"What is it that I'm asking you to do, Jesse?" She needed verbal confirmation that he understood. She couldn't bring him out of it until he assured her he understood.
"You need Beca to join the Bellas. You want me to help you convince her," he replied, his normally lively voice devoid of any emotion.
Aubrey nodded, "Good." She took a deep breath before she continued. "My heart's affection, focus again: remember only of mine intention, but none of this direction. Forgive me of my indiscretion; here end the lesson. Porta clauderetur; redire ad conscientiam."
She grasped the back of his neck and guided his mouth back to hers as she uttered the last words of the spell and he kissed her deeply.
Jesse pulled back, eyes back to their normal sparkling way, and beamed at her.
"You are so beautiful," he said quietly, as if it would ruin the mood if he spoke any louder.
Aubrey gave him a weak smile and thank you in return before she pulled him down into a hug.
She wanted to throw up the rest of the night.
When Jesse left to go back to his dorm, she finally did.
Drained, both emotionally and physically, Aubrey turned in for a fitful night of sleep.
Beca had noticed something a little strange—not unwelcome, just strange—the last few days. After their encounter in the shower, she started seeing Chloe at least once a day, and not of her own volition. She wasn't going out of her way to track Chloe down (even though she was tempted), they just happened to cross paths more frequently.
On Monday, Beca was in the library trying to get her Philosophy paper under control. She'd commandeered a six seat table to herself, books and print outs and notes spread all around and her laptop humming away. She glared at anyone who came even remotely near the five empty chairs. Well, she had until Chloe popped up.
Beca hadn't even heard her approach. It wasn't until Chloe set her bag on the table that Beca looked up, glare instantly melting when she saw who it was.
Chloe claimed she also had a paper due and needed a change of scenery from the sorority house since it was in the beginning stages of being prepped for Rush Week.
"It's two weeks away and there's still so much to do," Chloe sighed heavily, pulling out the middle chair opposite Beca and taking a seat. "Aubrey's a total perfectionist and everything has to be just so with her. It can be exhausting, sometimes."
Beca chuckled at that. "That doesn't surprise me one bit," she replied, smiling a little.
Chloe returned the smile and pulled out her own laptop and began to work.
Their silence was amiable, not at all awkward. It was nice. They were able to bounce ideas off of one another and give feedback where necessary.
Co-working, Chloe had called it.
Though, if Beca wanted to be honest, a lot of her time was spent throwing glances at the girl across from her; taking in her mannerisms, noting little tics Chloe had, darting her eyes away when Chloe would feel herself being watched.
She only brought up Beca joining the Bellas three, maybe four times the whole four hours they worked across from one another.
"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Beca commented as they packed up their things.
"You'd be better off just saying yes now, Beca Mitchell."
They walked towards the exit and Chloe held open the door for her.
"Oh yeah?" Beca snickered. "And why is that?"
"Because I want you to join!" Chloe leaned in to whisper in Beca's ear. "And I always get what I want."
She walked off, but not before giving Beca a wink and an alluring smile.
Mid-morning Wednesday, Beca was waiting in line at the Barden Brew for her coffee order. There was a Starbucks closer to her English building, but the Brew's coffee just tasted better—and it didn't hurt that it was less expensive.
She had just received her mocha when she turned and saw Chloe, beautiful as ever with the sunlight streaming through the window, hitting her at all the right angles, sipping some tea and reading a book.
She should have just walked out, Beca knew that. Yet, something—her libido, let's be real—compelled her to walk over to that girl at the window table.
"Chloe, are you stalking me now? Do I need to call 911?"
Chloe smiled into her book, not bothering to look up as she replied, "I should be asking you that same question, shouldn't I?" She marked her page and closed the book, finally looking at the girl standing next to her. "After all, I've been here for a couple of hours."
"You caught me," Beca said with her hands raised in faux surrender. "But don't have me locked up, ok. I want to know how I did on the English exam I just had."
Chloe appraised her for a moment with a small smile still on her lips.
"Would you like to join me?" she said, motioning towards the empty chair across from her.
Beca had a while before her next class, so she acquiesced.
"So," she began with a sip of her drink. "You've been here for a couple of hours?"
"Oh, yeah. My morning class got canceled so I decided to stop in for some tea and wound up getting really into this book," Chloe replied, holding up the book in question.
"Oh, god, Chloe. Really?" Beca's face contorted as if she were in true physical pain. She couldn't believe The Fault in Our Stars had reeled her crush in.
"What?" Chloe squeaked, ready to defend herself. "It's interesting!"
"John Green is a pretentious douche bag. Be better than that, Chloe. I'm begging you!"
They went back and forth for about five more minutes before Chloe shifted the topic to Beca. She asked Beca her favorite everythings. She asked where she grew up and if she was at all homesick. She asked if Beca was seeing anyone—super subtle—and how it was possible she was single. She asked Beca to join the Bellas—even more subtle—and what her hobbies were. When Beca said she DJed back in Seattle, Chloe mentioned that Beca should totally DJ the mixers the Bellas threw—queen of subtlety, really.
"So that's me… Let's talk about you now."
Beca turned the conversation to Chloe because, frankly, she felt a little more than uncomfortable having revealed so much about herself. Yet at the same time she felt totally at ease because it was Chloe to whom things were said. She just had that way about her; made a person feel comfortable enough that they could share and nothing would ever leave their bubble.
They spent hours talking about anything and nothing. They only stopped because Beca had a shift at the radio station—her class completely forgotten—and Chloe had a three o'clock class.
When they parted ways, Beca made Chloe promise to burn that damn book as soon as she finished, which made Chloe laugh heartily.
That sound stayed with Beca the rest of the day and into the night as she started a new mash-up of Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" and Nelly's "Just a Dream".
Late Friday night Beca turned the key in the deadbolt and locked the radio station door.
Her shift had ended hours ago, but she stayed late to load some more albums onto her external hard drive. There was all that free music at her fingertips, it would have been wrong to not take advantage of it.
Jesse was kind enough to stay and help her find some of the albums she wanted, but he had to bail after only an hour to get ready for his date with Aubrey.
"You know, if you just joined the Bellas then you'd get to know her and we could all hang out together!" he suggested enthusiastically.
Beca just shook her head and clicked on the track titles she wanted to burn.
"Have fun on your date, friend. Don't forget you promised to help me study tomorrow night."
He swung his backpack over his right shoulder as he walked backwards towards the door.
"You provide the books, I'll provide the pizza. Don't stay too late, alright?"
"Ok, Dad!" she tossed back at him, flippantly waving her hand in his direction.
As she walked back to Baker Hall, she checked her phone for the time: 12:30am. It was later than she thought.
Her stomach growled loudly, a reminder that the package of peanut butter crackers she had grabbed from the vending machine earlier were not going to tide her over until breakfast. Thankfully she was almost back to her dorm where a cup of Easy Mac would be waiting.
"Beca?" a voice called out in front of her.
She squinted into the shadows near her tree in the quad and saw a lithe figure walking towards her.
"Chloe? What are you doing out here this late?" Beca asked suspiciously.
"Late night study session for Econ," Chloe said nonchalantly, her thumb indicating she'd come from Baker Hall. "Mary Elise, one of my sorority sisters, was helping me since Aubrey was unavoidably detained."
Beca nodded, accepting her answer. "Oh, yeah. Jesse wouldn't shut up about their date earlier. I swear, they have date night 7 nights a week."
"Aww, come on. It's sweet," Chloe nudged Beca's shoulder a little. "He's been good for her. In case you didn't know, Aubrey's a little…" she paused and tried to think of the right word. She settled on, "high strung."
Beca gasped sardonically. "Aubrey? High strung? How dare you! I won't have you slandering her good name, Chloe."
"Stop it!" Chloe laughed breathily, her eyes twinkled in the moonlight. "What are you doing out so late, by the way? Or should I be asking whom?"
"I was at the radio station, perv," she replied as a blush crept up her neck. Chloe asking about her sex life just put more inappropriate thoughts of their potential, but totally unlikely, coupling. "I was loading music onto my external and lost track of time."
"Mmhmm," Chloe hummed in the back of her throat with mocking skepticism on her face. "A likely story."
Thank God it's dark out, Beca thought.
Her next comment was cut off by her own yawn. Maybe she should have listened to Jesse about staying so late…
Chloe noticed and quietly bid her goodnight. "It's late, I should get going. Sleep well, Beca."
"Thanks," she replied. "You too."
Before Chloe could get too far, Beca jogged over and called out to her.
"Hey!" she stopped just before she ran into Chloe, who had turned when she heard Beca call out. "Are you going to be ok walking alone?"
Chloe couldn't help but smile at her.
"You're sweet for being concerned. But don't worry," she squeezed Beca's forearm lightly. "I'm not afraid of things that go bump in the night."
Chloe leaned down and gave her a soft peck on her right cheek, then headed off toward the sorority house. She looked back at Beca a few times before slipping completely out of sight.
Beca stood frozen for a few moments, cheek tingling where Chloe's lips had touched. She brought her right hand up and lightly grazed the spot with the pads of her fingers.
She spun back to Baker Hall and made her way to her room.
She'd just crawled under the covers when she heard her phone vibrate on her desk. She slid her thumb across the lock screen and read the message.
p.s. you should totes join the Bellas ;-)
She rolled her eyes good naturedly and breathed out a laugh. Chloe must have gotten her number from Jesse.
Get home safe, weirdo stalker of mine :-p
Beca set her phone back on her desk and closed her eyes; fast asleep almost instantly.
The following Saturday, Jesse and Beca were having "bro time"—again, his words. For them, "bro time" basically meant they binged on pizza while Jesse was sprawled across her bed watching a movie—this week's feature was The Breakfast Club—and Beca worked on some songs and would sporadically glance at the screen. She had to admit, though, the movie's soundtrack was good.
I'll have to check the station and see if they have a copy, she mentally noted.
"So," Jesse started as John Bender triumphantly raised his fist and the credits rolled.
Beca already had an inkling of what he was going to say so she saved her progress and gave him her full, annoyed attention; crossed arms, disaffected stare and all.
"I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time with a certain someone."
Ok, so not exactly what she thought he was going to say. She was about to reply when-
"You could have told me your mystery crush was Chloe. I mean, I do have the inside track since her best friend is my girlfriend. I totally could have hooked you up!" he said as he sat up to face her.
"Jesse-"
"No, no," he interrupted again, holding his hands up. "I get it; you want to woo her on your own."
"There is no 'wooing' happening," she huffed and threw a pen at his head. "We're just friends."
"But you want to be more," he said sing-songingly. He jumped up and started to dance near her while goading her with movie references she was vaguely familiar with. "You want to huuuuug her. You want to kiiiiiss her. You want to loooove her!"
When he was close enough she smacked him in the stomach.
"Oof," he exhaled out in discomfort.
"Keep that shit up and I'll aim lower next time," she smirked at him.
He sat back down on the bed, packing his things. It was getting late and he needed to get back to his room for his nightly phone call with Aubrey.
"There is a way to get closer to her-"
This time it was Beca who interrupted.
"Christ, not again!" She queued up her sleep playlist before she looked at him again. "For the last two weeks you've been not so subtly hinting for me to join. Why is it so important to you?"
"I just want you to like Aubrey," Jesse said, expression downcast. "I want all of us to be able to hang out together. It would be so much fun, I know it. I want my bro and my-" He paused before he said something mildly offensive. "-go to girl to be cool with one another."
Beca sighed, "Ok, I get that. But why do I have to join the dumb sorority?"
"Think of it this way: if you join the Bellas then you get to spend more time with Chloe. You also get to know Aubrey better, which is great, and opens up opportunities for the four of us to hang out together," he ticked off his points on his fingers, just to emphasize them a little more. "Plus, no one said you have to stay in it forever; you can de-pledge if you end up not liking it."
Jesse made some good points… She hated when he did that because then she couldn't come up with a decent rebuttal; she was pretty sure "I just don't want to" wouldn't work.
Beca peeked at the white and blue envelope that still sat on the other side of her desk and bit her lip for a moment. She had too many thoughts floating around in her head to make a firm decision.
"I'll think about it," she told him.
"That's all I ask," Jesse responded and walked out the door. Not a second later, he popped his head back in to add, "But if you could hurry up; Rush Week starts Monday."
"Dude, get out!" Beca shouted, half laughing and threw her empty water bottle at his stupid grinning face.
Chloe checked her phone again, for what felt like the 50th time. She leaned against a tree in the quad that faced Beca's dorm room window.
The light had gone out in Beca's room about 20 minutes ago and she had seen Jesse exit the building about a minute after that. 10 minutes ago Aubrey texted her, confirming she and Jesse were in the middle of their before bed chat. She figured Beca had to be asleep by now, so she pushed off the tree and closed her eyes while she took a deep breath in.
Quiet exhale.
When she opened her eyes, she stood next to Beca's bed. Chloe was right; she was zonked out. She could hear Beca's sleep playlist playing through the headphones that rested on the edge of her desk.
Over the last two weeks she'd gotten pretty good at figuring the amount of time necessary to allow Beca to fall asleep completely so she could enter the room undetected. It felt like such an invasion of privacy, to apparate into Beca's room without permission, but there was no other option. She had to prepare the vessel for its impending occupation.
She's still a person, Chloe. One you care about; don't forget that, she thought.
Chloe lifted her hands to hover over Beca's body and began to whisper the spell; a dark, pained look splashed across her normally bright and delicate features.
"Aperire mente; anima aperiat. Hecate, we call you…"