Beca had gone to her grandparents' house for dinner on Thursday and picked up their extra car. Her bag was packed so she could leave right after school on Friday. Emily's house was only a few hours away, but a couple of hours is forever when one doesn't have a license or a car. She was excited that she'd been able to score permission and a car.
Beca called her mom to let her know she was leaving school and about how long the drive would take. Her mother reminded her to put her phone on Do Not Disturb to minimize distractions. "I know Mom. Trust me, please? I want me to get there safe, too. And yes, I'll call you when I get there."
She then FaceTimed Emily who had just gotten out of school and was walking home. "Beca! Yay… I get to see you today."
"I know." Beca panned the camera around the car. "Guess where I'm at?"
"An amusement park? Wait I know – church."
"Ass. I'm in my car and about to leave. I wanted to call you right quick since Mom's making me put my phone on DND while I drive. I didn't want you to worry if I didn't respond. See you soon."
Beca dutifully put her phone on Do Not Disturb, flipped to her Driving to Emily's play list, plugged her phone in, and set off on the road.
Beca had timed her play list to approximately match how long it would take to get to her friend's. Because she caught a little traffic, she ended up being about two songs short, but she had plenty of music on her phone to fill in. When she pulled up to Emily's house, the younger girl instantly flew out the front door and was at the car by the time Beca could turn off the car and get her seat belt off. Emily threw her arms around her shorter friend and squeezed as she squealed Beca's name.
Beca patted Emily's arm a few times. "Tapping out here, bud. Can't breathe. Glad to see you, too."
"Mom can't wait to see you. Come on." She opened the back seat to grab Beca's bag while Beca unplugged her phone and dropped it in her jacket pocket. Together they jogged to the house. Emily flung open the door and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Moooooommmmmm Beca's here! Mom!"
Ms. Junk came in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. Her smile was broad as she gave Beca a much softer hug than her daughter. "Beca, it's so nice for you to come visit. You have been such a wonderful influence on my Emily."
Most of Beca's energy was being taken trying to keep from laughing. "No problem Ms. Junk. I wouldn't say I'm a good influence… maybe just an influence."
Emily poked her friend in the ribs with her elbow. "Come on. Let's go up to my room."
When the pair got upstairs, Beca said, "Oh, I need to call my mom. I promised her I'd let her know I got here okay." She took her phone off DND and several text messages and voice mails came through. "Shit." She scrolled through them. "I forgot about my standing 'after-school-Friday' call with Chloe. These will have to wait." Beca called her mom and let her know she had arrived.
"Thanks for letting Beca come for Halloween Mrs. Mitchell." Emily called out.
Beca finished the conversation. "She said you're welcome but keep me out of trouble. As if! Fuck, what am I going to do about Chloe? She can't know I'm here. I mean, I don't want to hurt her feelings. I'm going to call her and not FaceTime her. I'll tell her my rear-facing camera is jacked up or something." Beca dialed the redhead.
"Chlo? Hey! I am so sorry. I had my phone on Do Not Disturb for my English test and forgot to turn it off. I wondered why I hadn't heard from you… FaceTime? I can't. My selfie camera is being wonky." The two talked for a while about their 'no big plans' for the spooky weekend. Chloe mentioned maybe getting together with Aubrey Saturday afternoon but nothing concrete. The conversation was short and Beca got out of it unscathed.
"Why do I feel so bad lying to her?" Beca worried her lip with her teeth.
Emily patted her shoulder. "You didn't lie Beca."
"By omission I did. Or I feel like I did." Beca ran her hand through her hair. "This girl's going to be the death of me. I can't stop thinking about her." She blew out a deep breath. "Anyway what's the plan?"
Clapping, Emily said, "tonight is dinner here. We can help mom make spaghetti."
"That's easy enough. Throw some noodles in a pot of boiling water, pop open a can of sauce, viola!"
"Did I mention mom makes her own pasta?" Emily grinned because she knew that would trip Beca up. "And we make our sauce from scratch."
"Ummm why?"
"Because it's fuuuuuuuunnnnn. And it tastes better. Please Beca. I want to show you how to do this stuff. It beats camp fire cooking."
"I don't know. Campfire cooking is pretty good." Beca stuck her tongue out at her younger friend. "Okay, you win. But I want ice cream for dessert. And I don't want to make it myself."
"Deal, there's this great gelato place a few blocks away."
"Gelato? I said ice cream!" Beca stuck her lip out in a pout.
"It's Italian Ice kind of like ice cream. And put your lip back in – you are acting like Chloe," Emily teased.
Beca had a surprisingly good time helping cook completely by scratch. "This is relatively simple, except making the pasta and tastes a lot better, too." She rolled up another forkful of spaghetti and shoveled it into her mouth. "Thanks Ms. Junk."
After dinner was complete and the dishes washed, Emily and Beca headed to the gelato shop. "This looks like… ice cream. Just in rectangular containers and not round tubs."
"It's so much better than ice cream. Just you wait. I'm picking your first flavor." She pointed to a container and made an order for Beca and then for herself. The gelato was served in tiny cups.
When Beca got hers, she announced, "I could eat fifty of cups this size. This stuff better be good." She took a small spoonful and let her eyes roll back in her head. "Oh my god, Ems. Coffee?"
"Espresso to be exact. I thought you might like it." She smiled down at hers as she took a bite of her own.
After taking a few more bites, Beca groaned again. "You are right – much better than ice cream. Different. It's creamier and… am I just dreaming or can I eat it faster? I'm not getting brain freeze like normal when I pig out." Emily laughed and explained about the fat content, the temperatures, etc. "What kind do you have?"
Emily scooped some up in her spoon and offered it to Beca. "Sette Veli – Seven Veils. There's a story in the bible about the seductive dance of the seven veils performed by Salome for Herod. Sette veli cake is most associated with Palermo in Sicily, although it is found throughout Italy. Sette veli gelato is a combination of different kinds of chocolate from dark to light, hazelnut praline and crunchy biscuits."
"How do you know all this?" Beca was amazed at her friend's knowledge.
"Aunt Josie is a chef and took a trip to several European countries, to learn to cook different cuisines. When she was in Italy, my mom let me go and visit. One of the places we went was San Gimignano, an old medieval city that had two warring gelato stores, each claiming to be the world champion of gelato. We spent time in both stores listening to what knowledge they would impart as Aunt Josie learned how to make gelato."
"That's awesome. Your Aunt Josie. She's the gay one, right?" Emily nodded as they both went to get another scoop of gelato. As they got seated, Beca continued. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"
"She invited us to eat at one of her friend's super trendy restaurants. She had awesome contacts. She said we could talk there or go to the park afterwards. She's excited to meet you. That will still give us time to get to the haunted house."
The girls spent the rest of the evening listening to some of Beca's mixes in Emily's room and talking about school. "Your music is really good Beca." The older girl shrugged and didn't respond. Emily and Stacie are the only ones she'd shared her mixes with. While she was proud of the praise, she felt embarrassed somehow. Mixing was something she just did for fun.
She got up and wandered around Emily's room looking at all the decoration – posters of singers and movie stars. Then there was half a wall dedicated to camp. Tons of pictures of the two of them were stuck into corkboard with push pins. There were also pictures of Stacie, Chloe, and every combination of the four of them as well as other campers and counselors. Emily (and Beca) always wore their magic leather bracelets from the first year at camp, but the others were all hanging with the pictures along with various other crafts like the homemade paper and tie dye bandana.
As Beca's eyes continued to scan the room, she spied a guitar leaning against the corner. Her eyes lit up as she asked Emily. "May I?" Emily nodded, and Beca picked up the instrument and took a seat back next to her friend on the floor. After plucking a few strings and some minor adjusting of pegs, she asked, "yours?"
"My uncle's. He was teaching me to play." Emily's eyes began to involuntarily water. "He, ummmm, we lost him in Afghanistan. I haven't touched it since."
Beca wasn't sure what to say. "I don't have to. I can put it back up."
"NO!" The force with which Emily responded was shocking. "Please. He would want it to be played. Please?"
"Well I may be a little rough at first but after I practice some more and get this into tune, we can start your lessons again. I taught myself to play, but last year I started official lessons at school, they have a strings class."
Beca plucked a few simple chords then strung some into a short melody, a tune unfamiliar to Emily. After a while, Emily was overwhelmed with emotion, so Beca put the guitar back in the corner and sat back down next to Emily in silence, just being with her.
The girls got up early the next morning, excited about their day. Beca took one look at the coffee maker and proclaimed it too advance for her "tiny brain". Emily took over the caffeine duties as Beca dug through the cabinets for breakfast ingredients.
"Where's the pancake mix?" She was almost throwing ingredients out of the pantry. "I want ppaaaaaaannnnnnnnncaaakkes. You know if you say that word in different ways, it sounds funny. Pancake. PpppaaaaNNNCCAke."
Emily rolled her eyes and pushed Beca out of the way to retrieve flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. She directed Beca get eggs, buttermilk, and butter from the refrigerator along with cream for their coffee.
"Let me guess," Beca complained.
"From scratch because…"
"It's better," they both finished together.
By the time Emily's mother came down, she was surprised to find breakfast was ready. The girls were covered practically from head to toe in flour. Emily sheepishly said, "ummmm we made pancakes…"
"… from scratch," Beca finished. And she wasn't about to admit how much better scratch pancakes tasted than out of the box. Emily couldn't be right about spaghetti and gelato and pancakes!
After the mess had been dutifully cleaned up, Beca and Emily went to get ready for their lunch with Aunt Josie. When Emily came into her bedroom after taking a shower, Beca's concentration was focused on her phone. She was furiously texting. "Hey."
Beca jumped. "Oh. Hey." She waved her phone. "That was just Chloe. I hope she doesn't get mad at me. We normally talk a lot more on weekends."
"Things will be fine with Chloe Beca. I mean, I know you like her, and you don't know what to do with that. But she's not your girlfriend, at least not yet anyway. You came here to process all that, not to worry about her."
The restaurant they met Aunt Josie at was amazing. The menu was exclusively tapas, and the three enjoyed ordering the small shared plates. Beca was not as adventurous with her orders, but she certainly had no problem trying the more daring orders of her dining mates.
During one eating break while waiting for another order to arrive, Josie pushed back from the table a bit. "So Beca, my niece speaks highly of you as does my sister." Beca blushed slightly and ducked her head in embarrassment. "Emily also tells me you are questioning yourself, who you are."
Beca's eyes widened. She knew this was the purpose of meeting Emily's aunt but hearing Josie say it out loud was frightening. She gulped. "Yeah."
"Let's start with the obvious… or not so obvious. What brings all this up? Your consternation?" Beca didn't respond.
"Chloe," Emily blurted. "Chloe's the reason she's questioning.
Josie raised her eyebrows. "I see. Tell me about Chloe."
Beca couldn't keep the sheepish grin off her face. "I met her at camp, same as Ems here. First year she was my ultimate enemy. We seemed to stay at each other's throats. Last summer… things changed." She ducked her head back down. Luckily, she was saved by the next order coming out. She acted overly interested in the tapas the waiter had sat down at their table.
Despite the food arriving, Beca couldn't stand not talking more. "She has this most gorgeous red hair and blue eyes as bright as the spring sky, freckles like angel kisses. Her laugh is infectious and personality to die for." She paused as she realized she was rattling. "Oops, I guess I got carried away."
"No, no you didn't." Josie was smiling. "You know it's okay to like her, right? Whether you are gay or bi-sexual or whatever. It's alright. I mean, it's not always a smooth path. But you have a strong support system. Emily loves you, and she tells me you and your mom have a strong relationship." Beca nodded.
"When did you know?"
"I was about your age. I had a huge crush on my English teacher. Of course, I couldn't do anything about that. But that enabled me to open my eyes to this girl in my science class. She was incredibly cute. Well we ended up being lab partners the second semester. Then I realized that I might like her."
"The more time we spent together, the more I noticed that she always hugged me, her fleeting touches drove me crazy, and when we didn't meet, I was sad. One thing led to another and that was how I met my first girlfriend."
"But what if Chloe's not … not like me. What if I tell her and she wigs out? I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable or worse, lose her friendship."
"Does Chloe have a boyfriend?"
"No! Well not that I know of. I'm fairly certain she'd tell me since we tell each other about everything."
"You talk on a regular basis? Share everything?" Beca nodded. Josie shrugged. "Be miserable then. I don't think you doubt yourself – who you are. I think you are afraid to put yourself out there. The choice is yours Beca. Buck up." She reached over and snagged the last bacon-wrapped date and popped it into her mouth.
"I'm not trying to bust your balls. If you like her, go for it. If she's as good of a friend as you say she is and she's not into you, she won't run. If she does, then she was never really your friend anyway."
Beca felt a lot better after talking to Emily's Aunt Josie. As the friends drove back to Emily's house to get ready for the haunted house, Beca was chattering away which made Emily glad that they had gone to lunch with her Aunt Josie. She could sense relief in Beca's demeanor.
"Now I just have to figure out how to tell Chloe. Should I ask her to meet us for lunch tomorrow? Or will she hate me that I was here for Halloween and didn't let her know? Or will be she just be happy to see me, us?" Beca was blabbering again, excited about the possibilities. She really liked Chloe.
Emily tried to calm her friend down and reminded her she was only visiting for the weekend. "There will be plenty of time for asking Chloe out later."
The sun had set by the time Beca and Emily showed up at the haunted house. They parked in a field a bit away and followed the crowd down a dark dirt road to a huge metal barn structure. Emily had purchased their tickets in advance and had about fifteen minutes to wait until their entry time. As they friends got into line, Emily slipped her arm through Beca's elbow and held on for dear life as she gave a shrill squeal.
"We haven't even gone inside yet Ems. You can't be scared."
Emily laughed. "I've heard so much about this haunted house. We are going to be terrified. I'm just getting warmed up."
Beca did her best to keep Emily on her feet as they stumbled through the haunted house. The younger girl kept jumping, shrieking, and falling over imaginary obstacles. One extremely tall headless man with bloody clothes and a machete lunged towards the pair. This time Beca was the one who gave a high-pitched scream and lurched forward despite the creature standing in her way. His manacled laugh caused her to crouch on the ground, shaking, until he moved on to terrify the next group.
After what seemed like hours, Beca and Emily stumbled out of the tin barn, gasping the fresh air into their lungs which were aching for. A scrawny tall teen shoved a slip of paper into Beca's hand. "Your number… for pictures. Go to that website tomorrow and you can download your terror and fright."
The girls made their way over to the drink cart and bought two lemonades. They found an empty bench to finish catching their breath from their experience in that "horrible, awful barn". They were soon giggling and laughing as they relieved the experience.
"And, and, and… that disappearing, reappearing woman behind the curtain." Beca was rolling so hard she could barely continue. She then sat back up and took another drink of her lemonade. And froze.
Emily must have talked for several moments before realizing that Beca was not paying attention; rather, she was staring across the way, at a girl standing face to face with a taller boy, her arms around his shoulders, their faces close together. The girl was flirty and laughing and had a head full of curly auburn hair.
Beca's voice was barely audible. "Chloe…"
