A/N. (I don't own most of the characters and certain parts of the plot. Courtesy goes to the creative teams behind the Pitch Perfect films.) I've already betrayed my writing/posting schedule because of things that awkwardly come up every single day. I'll try to keep the pace up as long as I can. I'll finish this story no matter how long it might take me so.
When I first ran into the prompt idea for this story, I was completely appalled. I knew for myself that I would be one of the writers who would take on it. I want you guys to know that I'm dedicated to finishing this to its last chapter because I know that I have a great story to tell you BeChloe fans. Other stories will pop up from the same prompt, and I considered it first hand when I was outlining this. It's the reason I'm making sure every chapter I write will be worth your time. For this story, I watched a lot of films involving time loops... from Somewhere in Time, to the mind-breaking Donnie Darko, to The Lake House, to Meet the Robinsons, to Looper, to X-men Days of the Future Past (and a lot more). I wanted to get a firm grasp of the theories revolving around time travel, so I could give you guys a wonderful romantic sci-fi.
The only thing I ask in return is feedback. You may leave it on the review page of this story, or message me personally. Tell me what you think. If you didn't like a chapter or if you hated a character, you can tell me. The greatest gift any fan fiction writer can receive is constructive feedback. It's how we improve our material. =)
3: Beca Versus Russo the Cat
"Air. I need some air," Emily whispered as she desperately made her way out of the party. She stood anxious at the front lawn of Casa Bella focusing on her breathing. It was all her fault. She was the reason the pool story didn't happen and history had been changed. Emily knew time as a holy concept – one that was too complex for its unpredictable ripple effects. Emily feared the ripples – whatever they may be.
Her breathing got more ragged; she didn't exactly have her inhaler during the time travel. The party noise kept boring drills into her head. Emily started running in an attempt to get farther from the disturbance. Her clumsy self, unfortunately, had caused her to run into another person… literally. Before she knew it, Emily was stumbling and rolling along the pavement.
"Oh god, I am so so sorry, miss," the man quoted as he got up to his stance and rushed to Emily.
Emily shook her head lightly, then suddenly realized that her focus seemed better. "I'm… I'm fine, actually," she said as she returned to her balance by herself. She turned to see a dashing Benji in a smart casual attire.
"I swear I heard something crack," said Benji, admittedly worried about Emily. She thought about hearing a part of her body 'crack' too, but, well, the absence of bleeding and agonizing pain contradicted it.
"Really, I'm fine, I-…" Emily stared into Benji's apprehensive eyes and smiled at the thought of actually being with a younger version of him. "Benji, right?" She broke the ice pretending as if she didn't know him.
"Y-yeah. Benjamin Applebaum, at your service." He chuckled as he extended a handshake that was reciprocated. "Wait, how did you know my name?"
"Everybody knows about the lead Trebles. I'm actually a big fan of-,"
"Are you sure you're okay?" He interrupted – apparently bothered by the thought of the accident. "Sorry, it's just-, I saw you lose your balance. I saw you splashing wildly along the asphalt. You must have an abrasion, at least."
Emily smiled at his relentless tendency to think about the welfare of others, but when she replayed the scene in her head frame by frame, she understood his state. It was indeed an awful fall – like the one she saw in movies done by professional stunt doubles. Not a bruise was on her… not even a scratch. This wasn't normal for Emily. Heck, this wasn't normal for any human being.
"Must be my lucky day," she said with a nervous chuckle. She thought of her invincibility as a side effect of time travelling but swiftly brushed the idea off her head as she remembered aggressively cursing Stacie's desk earlier when she stubbed her toe on it.
Curious, Emily walked to the nearest street lamp and mindedly smacked a solid jab onto its iron pole. Benji screamed at this.
That was when it hit her that it wasn't a side effect of time travelling but of an alternate timeline molding its way to the present. She couldn't feel anything because she was starting to be erased from existence. Either that, or the tiny change in history had somehow caused her to end up paralyzed from the neck down in the future.
Emily's breathing grew faster. Apparently, her asthma hadn't gone off yet at that point. She could hear Benji panicking, questioning if she was crazy for punching the post like that. She was too busy trying to catch her breath to explain.
"Hey, miss, what's happening?" Benji changed into a tone of concern upon hearing her wheeze. "Oh no. Are you having an asthma attack?! Where's your inhaler?"
All she could do was shake her head. "What? You don't have it right now? What kind of asthmatic doesn't bring an inhaler or other emergency meds?!" Benji cried, then he reached deep into his pocket. "Here, use mine." Emily took his inhaler without giving it a second thought and breathed the bronchodilator in.
A few seconds after her asthma resolved, Emily breathed a generous 'Thank you,' as she returned his inhaler.
"Now that you used my inhaler, and I probably saved you from turning blue, it becomes my business to know who you are, what are you doing running in the streets at this hour, and oh my god, why are you so pretty?" Benji wrinkled his nose. "Sorry, that was-, the last one-, sorry, I didn't mean to sound-,"
Emily just casted a short nice laugh. "You can call me Emily. I did something horrible with my life and the lives of my parents, so I was trying to escape this reality. About the last one… Genes, probably." She squealed a little and chuckled upon seeing Benji's lips curve into a shy smile.
"There's a party a few blocks from here… at Casa Bella. I'm heading there right now. Do you want to join?" Benji offered.
Emily ran a hand through her long auburn hair. "I was actually at that party before I started running like a madman."
"Didn't like the disturbance?"
"Nope, not at all."
"Oh, okay, then at least let me walk you home or something, so I can know you made it safe and my inhaler med didn't go to waste," he joked.
Emily's jaw dropped when she realized she couldn't give a decent answer regarding her residence. "I ran away from home this week," she blurted out, bug-eyed. "I was staying at my boyfriend's house for a w-while then we broke up last night so now I d-don't have anywhere else to go."
"Oh," stuttered Benji as he tried to process the information. "Where are your stuff? You left them at his place?"
Emily sighed nervously. "He um, he burned them in the fireplace before I got back."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"How awful."
"Very."
Benji tapped his foot relentlessly as he tried to come up with ways to help the young girl. "Where were you planning on staying over for tonight?"
Emily shrugged. "I was thinking maybe sleeping in an abandoned house isn't all that bad." She chuckled.
"Oh god." Benji scratched lightly at the back of his head. "You could crash into the Treble house for a while."
"Isn't it, like an all-boys place or something?"
"What?! No, not really," Benji answered, remembering his Trebles' girlfriends staying over a lot. "I don't have a roommate so you can take the other bed in my room."
Thinking it was the only option she had as of the moment, Emily decided to accept the offer and figure out the next days as they come. "You're ridiculously kind, you know?"
Benji smiled. "You seem like a nice girl who just made the wrong turns."
It was getting late. Beca couldn't sleep because the noise from the party was atrocious. Sighing, she got up and journeyed the hallway in her sweatpants and grey shirt. She knocked at Stacie's door and was glad when a pair of electric blue eyes came in sight.
"I heard you drowned," greeted Beca as she entered their room.
Chloe shut the door and sat on her bed with Beca. "It was insane. I thought I was going to die. Good thing Tom was around wh-,"
"What was he doing in the party, anyway? He graduated already," interrupted Beca as soon as she heard that cursed name.
Chloe leaned against the headboard, tired. "I don't know. He pulled me out of the water and gave me CPR-,"
"CPR?! HE GAVE YOU CPR?!" Beca yelled in sincere surprise.
"What's that tone? Well, would you rather that I asphyxiated?!" Chloe yelled back.
Beca shook her head. "I didn't know he knew CPR," she lied. Of all the people in the area at that given moment, it had to be Tom. Where was she, anyway? Oh, right. She stumbled down the staircase.
"He helped me clean up and change into dry clothes and-,"
"You couldn't do that yourself?"
"Without him peeking, of course! You perv!" Chloe nudged Beca with her elbow. "Then out of the blue, just before he left, he asked me out."
Beca swore she was about to throw up any time. "Please tell me you said no."
"It's one date, Becs. He saved my life. I owe him at least that," said Chloe with a smile that Beca could not decipher.
"He's obviously designing a scheme to get into your pants again. Didn't you tell me that you're way over casual flings?" The jealousy was eating Beca alive. As bubbly as her best friend was, Beca never had problems with Chloe hanging out with a lot of people as long as it stayed platonic and non-sensual.
"Becs, it'll just be a returned favor… a thank you to him," Chloe chuckled. "If I didn't know any better, I say you're getting jealous."
Beca stood in sudden disbelief. "I am NOT jealous!" Lie. "Why would I be jealous?!" You know why.
Chloe smiled shyly as she stood and approached the brunette. "Becs, you need to calm down." She grabbed her pale hands and pulled her back to sit back on her bed. "You're stressed out, as you always are." She gestured to have Beca lie sideways on the bed then positioned herself behind – placing her hands on the brunette's shoulders.
"I don't want a backrub," whispered Beca as she closed her eyes and enjoyed Chloe's massage. She could stay like this all night. This would be one of the things that she might lose when she tells her best friend that she has strong romantic feelings for her. Beca couldn't risk losing an iota of that.
Chloe smirked when Beca didn't pull away. "Where were you today? I barely saw you around before the party."
Because she knew she'd do anything to keep Chloe in her life, Beca figured it wasn't the best time to tell her about her new internship at Residual Heat Studio. "Dad had me helping check his students' papers."
"Isn't that a little inappropriate at some point?"
"Shhhh," replied Beca and they both laughed.
Chloe shifted the topic. "Tom's not that bad, you know? We had a no-strings-attached fling before but he was always a gentleman."
"Oh boy. Here we go again," mocked Beca.
Chloe's brows furrowed. "Why do you hate him so much?"
Because I don't want him to be in a relationship with you? "Because he looks like a big douche."
Because I want to be the one who takes you out on dates? "Because I think him asking you out is a bad thing."
"Oh yeah? And where did you get that hunch? Is it from one of your galaxy dreams again?"
Beca couldn't help the smile that was pulling out. Chloe was the only person who could keep up with her 'galaxy dreams' (those dreams that start with Beca floating in space with the stars and the planets and getting sucked into a wormhole that leads to a peculiar dream). "Yeah. I had a galaxy dream last night where Tom got hit by a bus on his way to your date," mocked Beca.
"Mean Beca Mitchell."
Beca shifted around to face her. "Chlo?"
"Yeap?"
"I did have a galaxy dream last night. It was haunting."
Chloe saw a familiar look of worry in the brunette's eyes. "Tell me about it."
"I was walking on a beach when a giant Russo stopped me. He said I must choose to give up one of my most prized possessions to proceed."
Chloe propped herself up on one elbow. "Wait, Russo? Your cat, Russo?"
"The one I had to give away ten years ago because of my asthma? Yes." Beca took a deep breath before she continued. "Russo said he wanted my laptop and my sunflower blanket. I told him I can't give him either, but he said he had to take one of 'em or he would eat me and everyone I hold dear."
"Well that's trash. You can't give up your laptop or your sunflower blanket! You basically live for your music, a-and that blanket was your mom's last Christmas gift to you. Russo was giving you an impossible option! Please tell me you woke up before actually having to choose."
Beca sat up. "I didn't. I had to give my laptop to Russo, and keep the sunflower blanket."
"OH MY GOD," Chloe exclaimed as she sat up as well.
"I know. I know. It was horrible, Chlo!"
Chloe pulled her into a comforting embrace. "Why the blanket, though? You didn't just flip a coin to get an answer, did you?"
Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe's trunk. "I do love my laptop a lot, but I figured, I wouldn't be living a kickass life if I gave up the blanket which helps me sleep at night. I mean, seriously, Chlo. Humans need sleep, and I'm human, so I need sleep."
Chloe laughed hard. That galaxy dream wasn't completely hilarious for Beca, because it really was an awful situation for a dream, but before she could react herself, the door swung open and a tipsy Stacie Conrad walked in, startling them.
"Woah, okay. I'll be out of yuh hair right away," muttered Stacie when she saw Beca and Chloe giggling in bed.
"Wait, no! Stace! It's okay. Beca was just stopping by," said Chloe.
Stacie threw herself onto her bed. "Are you sure? I could sleep elsewhere if you two are gun' fuck tonight."
The two girls looked at each other wide-eyed before starting to correct Stacie's sense simultaneously.
"Stop yelling," Stacie uttered, halting the two. "I was just playin' with you shitheads." She immediately fell into slumber as soon as she uttered the last word.
"I'm going back to my room," whispered Beca and exited quickly before Chloe could protest. The redhead lied down and stared at the ceiling – thinking about how well Beca's shirt fit her contour. When she was narrating her galaxy dream, Chloe stared at her thin lips and found herself wondering how soft they must feel against hers. She violently shook her head and slapped a palm to reset her thoughts.
I should stop these perverted thoughts about Beca Mitchell, she scolded herself whilst taking all the self-pity. Chloe replayed in her head all the times she dropped hints of her affection and frowned at Beca's relentless tendency to have every single one of them unnoticed. It had been three long years of swooning over Beca, and maybe, just maybe, Tom might be the ultimate key to moving past it.
