ATTENTION: Mentions of drugs, alcohol, and self-harm within this chapter. However, it is a brief mention with no description. It just explains Chloe's situation with no graphics whatsoever.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pitch Perfect.

There is a fine line between love and trust,

And believing things we must believe in,

So don't forget about all the little things.

The Reason – Said The Whale

The next morning, Chloe awoke from her bed to see Aubrey leaning over her. Startled, she scooted up her bed to the headboard to become face to face with the junior. "Holy shit, Aubrey!" she exclaimed, surprised.

With a small smirk, Aubrey leaned back. "That woke you up quickly," she remarked teasingly.

"Well, yeah, give me a heart attack," Chloe grumbled.

Aubrey chuckled but sobered up. "About yesterday at auditions…that brunette, Beca? What's up with you and her?"

Chloe sighed. "W – we used to be best friends," she confessed, holding her face in her hands.

Aubrey cocked her head, sitting on the edge of the bed. "What happened?" she inquired.

Chloe shook her head firmly. "I got – I got too 'involved,'" she stated, putting air quotes around the last word.

Aubrey's mouth formed into an 'o' shape. "You had feelings for her," she confirmed.

Chloe ran her fingers through her tousled hair. "Yeah, sort of. It wasn't a good enough reason for me to leave her, though, so I kind of made myself get into other reasons. I pushed her away soon after she admitted she was gay to me because – because that meant there was hope for me and her but I couldn't handle a relationship."

"And you couldn't handle a relationship because…?" Aubrey prodded.

Chloe stared at a stain on the wall from a party a year ago, held in this very apartment. "My dad told me I couldn't be gay."

Aubrey captured Chloe's hand in hers in a comforting gesture. Chloe took a deep breath and continued. "I – I told him I had feelings for a girl. He told me I couldn't, that that wasn't acceptable. I didn't – couldn't – destroy our newfound relationship. He meant so much and his disapproval hurt."

"I got into other stuff; crack, alcohol, even self-harm. I turned to my 'friends,' who were really just there because I was popular. They pushed me to try meth once but I drew the line because I knew what I was doing was wrong."

"When my dad died senior year, I think I just – I just snapped. I figured out he wouldn't want me doing this either, so when I quit drugs my friends bailed and I was going to come crawling back to Beca, but I overheard her speaking to one of our former friends about how much of a bitch I was and I couldn't come back after hearing the distaste in her voice."

Aubrey enveloped Chloe in a hug. Her being gay didn't faze her in the least; Chloe had told her long ago when Chloe admitted to a crush on her, which Aubrey had quickly shot down. Aubrey was straight as a rod so she let her down gently.

Chloe let the tears she had been holding for years soak through her friend's shirt. Her head found the crook between Aubrey's shoulder and neck and she sat there, sobbing. Aubrey rubbed soothing circles on her back, trying to calm her down.

Finally, Chloe pulled away and wiped at her eyes. "I'm so scared having Beca back will trigger me and make me remember," she whispered.

Aubrey stared directly into her friend's baby blues. "Beca cannot – and will not – trigger you. She was part of your life before all of that shit and will not be the cause of it."

"I'm so fucking mean to her, Bree! I don't want to get close to her again, not again. If I have to push her away again… I think there's a chance I could relapse. That's why I can't do this."

"Chloe," Aubrey said admonishingly, "You will and can. Maybe Beca won't be your girlfriend, as you once hoped, but try to get your friend back. She might not trust you for a while, but prove you're there, unlike when you were in high school. Prove to her you can handle a friendship again."

Chloe shook her head. "Bree, she's already got trust issues. Her parents divorced and left her pretty messed up throughout high school. I wasn't even there to help her. I only pushed her down."

"She's got trust issues, but she's trusted you before, hasn't she? That means there's a chance she wants to trust you again. Take advantage, Chlo; you won't be here forever and she won't either. This is your opportunity to make what you did years ago better rather than amplify them because she's here."

Chloe sniffed, but nodded. Aubrey was right; she couldn't run away from this. She would make her relationship with Beca better because she knew the brunette at her most vulnerable. She would, somehow, win her back over and try to erase what she had done from the DJ's mind.

"I've got to go," Aubrey said with a soft smile. "Good luck."

Chloe gave her a tearful grin. "I'm meeting her for coffee, so I hope it doesn't turn out how it did last time."

Aubrey winced. "Dealing with an angry you is terrible. She deserves a punch from me for making me do that."

Chloe chuckled but followed up with a miserable statement, "I deserved it."

Aubrey shrugged. "Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. But I surely didn't."

Chloe laughed genuinely and gave Aubrey a light smack on the shoulder. "You can give her that punch later once I've tried to repair things," she replied.

There was a silence in which Aubrey stood up and pulled on her jacket. Just before she was about to leave, she poked her head back in and her face held a serious expression. "I'm still going to be your best friend, right? Even after you clear up all this horse shit with Beca?"

Chloe smiled amusedly at the blonde. "Of course, Bree. You'll always be my favorite," she teased.

Aubrey let out a fake sigh of relief. "Thank god, didn't want the alternative girl taking my spot."

Aubrey closed the door behind her and Chloe was glad Aubrey had given her the confidence she needed to get through coffee with Beca.