wrrby, BeChloeFan01: Well, that's what you call love...
ThirteenStrikes, cxcxcx386: Was that really a cliffhanger? Gosh, I didn't intend to. I hate cliffhangers too.
writting is love, , Ilumiinous, RobOverstreet: Thanks for the positive review, I hope to see you around more often. :)
Guest: I enjoyed reading your review. Thank you so much for noticing the way I crafted the chapter. I don't get that a lot.
mrebel1992: You know, I seriously thought I would finish writing the chapter without Fat Amy speaking through the earpiece (that would have been the first), but suddenly the idea of the scene came into mind and I had to write it.
lauwer: Gosh! Donna from Suits! Now I can imagine her that way. LOL. So maybe I don't get to give you that airport scene, but I swear, it's going to be much better. :)
MysticFalls94: This reminds me of Poison & Wine. I guess I just really love writing slow relationship developments. LOL.
So far, this is the most fun chapter to write. I just hope you get the feeling too. Fun fact: this is the first chapter with a title in plural form. Just wanted to share.
CHAPTER EIGHT: Friends
Beca silently stood at her feet while her redheaded boss, newly-arrived from her trip to Las Vegas during the weekend, unpacked her things on the bed. It was already uncomfortable enough that she was simply standing there doing nothing when she should be out there in the hallway guarding her post, but for some inexplicable reason, the young heiress had asked her to stay. In fact, it was the first thing Chloe had told her since she got back from the so-called vacation. So really, Beca had no other choice but to watch over the redhead who was oddly cheerful by the way. It was rather odd because she remembered the look on Chloe's face at the airport before the couple left for Vegas. She could never forget the gloom in those eyes, those eyes that haunt her every time she closed hers at night. Then, suddenly, Chloe Beale was back and glowing once again.
Well, the most rational explanation for it as Beca figured would be Tom's unusual sense of amorousness towards his lady love. Before parting ways at the airport earlier, in the presence of the rich and powerful Clarence Beale, Timothy or whatever his name planted a sweet goodbye kiss on Chloe's pinkish lips followed by one long embrace. It was too unusual that the element of shock was too evident even on his girlfriend's face. Her father didn't notice, but her official bodyguard did. She did notice because Beca had been attentively watching everything about the ginger.
"Lastly," Chloe popped the bubble of thoughts as she stood from the bed then turned towards her bodyguard, enthusiastically smiling at her. "Of course, I have something for you, too."
"Aww, that's so sweet."
But the brunette didn't show any sign of gratitude, appreciation, or surprise at all. She simply fixed her eyes on the grinning ginger.
"It's not much," the redhead said as a matter of fact, looking into her personal luggage for the gift she neatly placed inside just before leaving the elegant Bellagio hotel. "I didn't know what you would like, so I just decided to get you a shirt… okay, here it is… but close your eyes first."
Beca didn't make a move, and so her boss immediately shot her a look.
"Come on, Beca, just close your eyes."
"Close your eyes!"
Left with no other choice, Beca took a deep breath and closed her eyes as instructed. For a moment, without the knowledge of her bodyguard, Chloe let herself smile at this very unusual sight of Beca Branson - the sight of this naturally uncanny person who was suddenly at peace, vulnerable, and innocent. She could just stare at her all day in all honesty, but she knew that this unplanned moment needed to end anyway, so she picked up that shirt and proudly held it up.
"You can open your eyes now."
"Is it cool? Is it cool? Say something. Say something, Beca!"
Beca opened her eyes and found herself gawking at the shirt in its full front view. It was very simple, actually. It only had the usual Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada design on display, but what made the brunette really peeved out was the color of the shirt. It was undoubtedly color yellow – the brightest kind she had ever imagined.
"What the fuck is that?"
"This," Chloe smirked at the shirt she was holding, "is what normal people call 'yellow', Beca."
Suddenly, Fat Amy erupted into a fit of laughter.
"She got you a yellow shirt? Oh we definitely need to take a picture of you wearing that."
"I'm not going to wear that," the brunette quickly indicated making her redheaded boss groan in complete frustration.
"Beca, come on. Would you put some color into your boring and despicable black world? I seriously think it's going to look good on you."
But the other simply shook her head firmly to assert her disapproval.
"Well," the young heiress sighed, lowering her gaze down to her bare feet, her initial feeling of enthusiasm slowly turning into a shade of melancholy due to her bodyguard's direct refusal. "Back at the store, Paul said this shirt reminded him of my bright personality because of the color… I just thought it would have the same effect on you."
"And what exactly does she mean by that?"
For one last bargain, the redhead offered, "Could you please at least try it on? Try it on and if you still don't like it, then I won't push anymore."
"Aww. Come on, Beca. How can you resist that charm?"
Chloe nervously bit on her lower lip as she slowly took a peek at those dark blue orbs staring directly back at her. She tried to search for any sign of mercy from them, even just the tiniest amount of mercy. But no, Beca Branson just wouldn't give her that. So the young heiress let out another defeated sigh as she held the yellow shirt down.
"Okay, forget that I even bought you a gift."
She was about to turn her heels around and regretfully dump that stupid yellow shirt back to where it came from, but then she felt Beca's soft touch upon her skin for the second time in her life. Incredibly, it still felt the same. It still felt like some sort of a safe haven.
Startled, Chloe quickly shifted her gaze from the hand compellingly holding her arm to Beca's softened eyes. She was so mesmerized by the rare occasion – the appearance of that uncommon look on those eyes – that she didn't even notice that the brunette, with her other hand, had slowly pulled the garment from her loose grip already.
"It's rude to take a gift back," the brunette whispered as she gradually let go of her boss's arm, but still maintaining their eye contact.
"Of course, you're the expert on Rude 101."
Lost in the moment, Chloe could only match the low volume of Beca's voice.
"So would you try it on now?"
Without warning, Beca started taking her black leather jacket off causing discomfort to the other person present in the room.
"What are you doing?" the redhead abruptly questioned, realizing what was about to unfold before her very eyes.
"Just what are you doing to her again, Beca?"
But the woman in question kept her mouth shut, not bothering to answer any of the inquiries from both ladies. She gave her boss one last look as she dropped the leather jacket down to the floor, and then held on to the hem of her inner shirt ready to pull it off of her body. In panic, Chloe deliberately made her bodyguard turn around, pushed her towards the direction of the bathroom, but her efforts were already too late. Beca had removed her inner shirt, leaving her upper body with only her pair of bra and her phoenix tattoo on display. The redhead immediately stopped, disoriented by the sight of such fictional creature in the most stunning art form she had ever imagined. If only that stupid piece of clothing would stop blocking the full view.
"Wow," was all she could utter.
"Let me guess, you're nude now and she's staring at your awesome phoenix tattoo."
Still, Beca didn't say a word. Not wanting to give the other the opportunity to formulate a question on the newly-revealed piece of her life, she subsequently put the yellow shirt on covering up the tattoo, and then turned around to face her boss once again.
"There," she said. "Happy now?"
Slowly, Chloe's lips curved into a genuine sneer. This was definitely a miracle - Beca Branson wearing that yellow Las Vegas shirt.
"Why did you buy me this?" asked the brunette, curiously.
Again, the redhead nervously chewed on her lip as she gave her the only answer.
"I was hoping you'd remember me whenever you wear it."
"Okay, you know, that sounds kind of something."
But Beca chose to brush the theory off and let out a huff before gathering her discarded clothes on the carpeted floor.
"Paul had informed me that you're probably tired from the trip, so I'd let you take some rest now."
Instead of ratifying the idea, Chloe immediately stood in front of the shorter woman, stopping her from proceeding to the only exit out of the bedroom.
"C-Can you not stay?" she hesitantly inquired, earning a questioning look from the bodyguard. "I didn't get to see you or talk to you for the entire weekend. I-I'm just wondering if… you know, we could… c-catch up."
"Beca and Chloe sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…"
Shocked by the sudden request, Beca couldn't arrange a response to that, let alone process Fat Amy's silly song quietly and mockingly playing in her earpiece. Nevertheless, to make things a lot easier for all of them, she simply followed Chloe out to the balcony where the beautiful landscape of the backyard garden along with the outdoor pool was in view right below. Beca stood next to the redhead and watched another smile crept out of those lips.
"You know, I spent the weekend thinking about a lot of things," the young heiress told her, but her pair of eyes was directed at the blue sky above them. "I've been preoccupied with Tom, Aubrey, my dad, the danger he'd been trying to protect me from…"
"Keep her talking. This is your chance, Beca."
"What about your dad?" Beca quickly asked, performing her secret task.
Chloe shrugged her shoulders before answering. "Ever since he returned from being kidnapped, he's been extra careful about everything. Well, I can't blame him. People out there will probably kill us if we don't put up these walls."
"Why would they kill you anyway?"
"I don't know," the redhead shook her head along with a confused expression on her face. "I just know my dad did something terrible."
"She knows something."
Beca was fully aware that an elaboration of the statement would only put Chloe's life into more danger than it had already been especially with Fat Amy listening through the spy communication device.
"Are you scared?" she asked instead.
"I used to be," Chloe nodded her head before turning to the bodyguard standing next to her. "But now I feel safer than ever."
"How is that?"
The young heiress let out a small smile and replied, "Because from now on, I have you… all the time… 24/7, in fact."
"I… I-I'm not sure how to feel about that, Beca."
"I have you and I feel like nobody can ever hurt me," the redhead added.
"If only she knew you're one of those people who want to hurt her."
Chloe took a deep breath then shifted her entire body to face the brunette who had been unresponsive the whole time.
"You may be the creepiest person I've ever met, Beca, but surprisingly, I've never felt this safe with anybody else."
"Not even with your boyfriend?" Beca heard herself inquire.
The redhead slowly shook her head.
"Not even."
And Beca Branson was beyond speechless. Not even Fat Amy could utter a word.
"You know what's funny?" the third person in this conversation let out a soft chuckle. "It's the fact that I can trust you with my whole life, but I know nothing about you."
Chloe paused to give the other person a chance to butt in, but she spoke no word at all, so the young heiress continued with her statement.
"I understand Luke for being so suspicious of you. Nobody knows where you came from. You just… appeared in our lives one day. You could be an alien from Mars, you know." She let out another chuckle at her weird hypothesis, but she checked on Beca and still she wasn't making any reaction. "I don't know where you live. I don't know if you have people counting on you. I don't know anything about your personal life or your past. I don't know how you've become this person that you are now. I just know… you're Beca Branson."
"Unfortunately, Beca Branson is just a lie. And she sadly doesn't know that too."
"Beca?" Chloe called for her attention causing the brunette to finally leave her bubble of thoughts. "I want to meet people in your life."
"What?" the other croaked.
"What exactly is she trying to do here?"
"I want to meet your family or your friends," the redhead expounded the idea. "I want to be part of your world, Beca. I want you to let me in."
Beca Branson was too dumbfounded at all these bizarre words coming out of her boss' mouth. To be honest, this ginger had been driving her insane since the story behind that yellow shirt. Too much information to process and handle, Beca couldn't articulate the proper responses.
And Chloe simply added, "That's an order."
"Looks like the rest of the team will be going undercover too!"
While Fat Amy was making these excited squeals, Chloe dragged her bodyguard, in her most promising state of a very quiet cricket, back to the bedroom, making a halt at the foot of the bed. Again, the redhead looked into her personal luggage while Beca followed her every move with her eyes. Then after some time, Chloe pulled out this small black box obviously containing a brand new iPhone5 and handed it over to the brunette.
"That's for you," she casually declared.
"What is that?"
"What is this?" questioned Beca, confusion painted all over her face.
"It's an iPhone, idiot."
"She bought you an iPhone, Beca?"
Fat Amy's loud gasps soon invaded Beca's left ear.
"I know it's an iPhone, but why are you giving this to me?"
The redhead shrugged her shoulders and sheepishly replied, "I heard you don't have a phone. Just in case they ever suspend you again without your earpiece, I still want to be able to reach you."
But Beca was still wearing this questioning look on her face.
"Well," the young heiress sighed. "I just really hate the feeling of missing you."
"Pretending I didn't hear a thing."
The brunette immediately opened her mouth to say something, but Chloe already went back to unpacking her things, signaling the end of their conversation with that thought-provoking statement. So the bodyguard was left on her own discretion. She sighed at the gift in her hand, not to mention the yellow shirt she was still wearing. Still not able to process everything in her head, she left the room without any word, leaving the redheaded heiress to glance at the closed door as if struggling to adjust to the sudden absence of the other.
Well, for the sake of contemplation, as an addition to the things Chloe Beale didn't know about was that Beca, both Branson and Mitchell, just really hated the feeling of missing the ginger too. Frankly, she didn't even need the yellow shirt to remind her. Those red locks and her pair of bright blue eyes simply invaded her thoughts constantly.
Stan stood in between Blue and Red, the two bald men who worked directly for Phil, as they escorted him to the Green Room where the group leader was already waiting, expecting for his arrival. The younger Mitchell threw annoyed looks towards the direction of his escorts before directing his eyes to his father who was, physically calmly though mentally agitated, seated on his seat by the desk. He waited for the old man to speak up, but he simply smoked on his cigarette as if no visitor had arrived into his lair.
"So what am I doing here?" Stan asked.
"You really need to be as quiet as your sister, you know. You always forget that your job here is to follow orders. I make the demands, Stan."
The younger Mitchell sighed at the customary comparison to his sister as well as at another reprimand from his father who was obviously very fond of her
"The special mission is very crucial to the organization," the group leader started. "Beca cannot fail."
"She won't fail," his son guaranteed confidently. "Beca never fails, does she?"
Phil inhaled on his cigarette then let out one long blow of smokes out of his mouth before finally turning his eyes on the person in front.
"Your sister had been working too slow than the usual, don't you think?"
At first, Stan was dazed at the unexpected reflection, but then he started chuckling upon the realization of the ridiculousness of the context.
"You have to be kidding me, dad," he said, still stiffing a laugh.
His father automatically threw a dirty look at him.
"Do I ever joke, Stan?"
"Of all people, you suspect Beca to betray the organization?"
His father didn't answer. He simply stared blankly at him. And so realizing his father was indeed serious about the raised suspicion, Stan's face suddenly turned strong. His facial muscles curled up in an obvious picture of frustration.
"Really, dad? That's what you think?" He angrily slammed his hands on the desk, his words were filled with so much anger that Blue and Red were on their way to restrain the young man, but their boss lifted his hand to stop them. "Beca has proven her fidelity to The Society more than anybody here has!"
But Phil kept his mouth shut.
"She killed mom, for fuck's sake!" the younger Mitchell screamed into his father's face. "She killed our mother just so she could join this fucking organization! And you still think she would turn out to be a traitor? Isn't that enough for you?"
A smirk silently appeared on Phil's pair of lips.
"Oh I'll never forget the I-don't-give-a-shit look on your sister's face when she killed Veronica."
Stan gritted his teeth at his father's amusement.
"She was your wife."
"I know," the father coolly nodded his head. "Still, she couldn't understand what was at stake here. 'We're doing fine, Phil. Just let the system be,' she said. Well, the system is too fucked up already, somebody has to fix it. Beca could fix it, you know… but Veronica kept on standing in the way. She needed to go, Stan."
The son firmly shook his head in frustration then pushed himself up, ready to leave the room any moment.
"Well, it's not really Beca I'm worried about. It's you. And your influence on her."
And that made Stan stopped at his track. Without looking back to his father, he waited for the continuation. He knew there was something more about that revelation and he needed to hear it.
"I wish you could be more like your sister. I want you to watch her and learn from her, let her be a good example to you not the other way around. I need you to be on the same boat with her, Stan. I already know which side Beca is on… but what about you?"
Startled at first, knowing the weight of the question when the group leader throws the question at you, but knowing the trap which lies on it, Stan managed to confidently declare, "Fidelity to The Society."
Satisfied but not truly convinced by the answer, Phil nodded his head.
"You're my son, but I have to remind you that the code is Fidelity to The Society… not Fidelity to Anybody Else. It's just The Secret Society."
And Stan could only nod his head in response.
"Beca and I will be on the same boat, dad. Don't worry about that."
With that, Stan left the premise of the room, his track silently followed by his father's gaze.
"So is he clear now, boss?" Blue inquired.
"Just keep an eye on him," answered Phil, lighting up another cigarette stick. "I know he's already watching over his sister, but with motives and intentions that are contrary to mine. Stan has his mother's tendencies. I can't afford anybody corrupting the mind of my best weapon. Clarence Beale is going down. Beca will bring him down. If Stan tries to stop her, you know what to do, boys."
Blue and Red exchanged pleased looks at the new task they were given.
"Kill him if necessary."
In spite of Aubrey's assertion, they ditched the initial plan to go to a fancy restaurant and settled with a lunch date at a local diner per Fat Amy's request through Beca. Luckily, the big booth was available for them otherwise there would have been no way to fit them all in that ridiculously small regular ones. Still, the entire seating arrangement was making Beca highly uncomfortable and obviously irritated as she was sandwiched between Chloe and Fat Amy in the semi-circle booth. The equally annoyed Aubrey Posen sat next to her best friend while the Australian chick had the subtle Jesse Swanson by her side.
"So what else do you want, guys?" Chloe was all smiles when she turned to the rest of the group after ordering more food than necessary for all of them. "Please order anything you like."
"Are you going to pay?" Fat Amy innocently inquired, and the shorter woman sitting next to her had to throw her a glare. "I'm just asking."
But the redheaded heiress eagerly nodded her head towards the fat blonde.
"Yes, of course. Just order anything you like."
Jesse suddenly had this embarrassed look on his face as he turned to her.
"You should've not said that. She's going to-"
"Give me a little bit of everything," Fat Amy told the waitress, cutting Jesse off, who was definitely taken aback at the unusual order. She turned to the ginger and Chloe just smiled positively at her in response. "And Diet Coke, please? I don't want to get too fat."
Aubrey deliberately rolled her eyes in annoyance. Beca's so-called friends were already getting on her nerves. Why on earth did she agree to come to this meet up?
"I'm fine with what you ordered," Jesse shyly glanced at the heiress.
"Aubrey?" Chloe turned to her best friend.
"Do you have anything here that won't give me a heart attack?"
"Caesar Salad," the redhead simply answered in behalf of the blonde, not wanting to cause any more inconvenience to the waitress. "And just give her sparkling water."
The waitress nodded her head then directed her eyes towards the brunette, "You?"
Everybody turned their attention to Beca as if her order would matter to the whole wide world making her more exasperated than she already was. She slightly lifted her head and directed those sharp eyes to the waitress who suddenly just wanted to leave that particular booth, and said, "Water."
The waitress frantically wrote it down and left for the kitchen in a hurry. The booth was immediately filled with awkward silence causing the redheaded heiress to become restless with the current atmosphere.
"Um, Beca, aren't you going to introduce us to one another?" Chloe turned to her bodyguard, desperate for the commencement of a conversation.
Beca let out a heavy sigh and muttered, "You are all old enough to do that without my supervision."
While Fat Amy laughed at the retort, Chloe shook her head in disapproval. Her best friend rolled her eyes once again.
"I'm Chloe, and this is my best friend, Aubrey."
She put on another charming smile as she extended her hand to the Australian blonde who stared at the hand at first but powerfully shook it in the end anyway.
"I'm Fat Amy."
"You call yourself 'Fat Amy'?" Aubrey asked in disbelief.
"You're not blind, are you?"
For the third time since they arrived at the diner, Aubrey Posen rolled her eyes.
"You really are Beca's friend, aren't you?"
"I'm Jesse," the guy immediately introduced himself purposely to stop the growing bickering between the two blondes, offering a friendly smile at Chloe. "Thank you so much for inviting us."
But even before Chloe could make any response, a tall and handsome young man sporting his trademark irresistible boyish grin stood by the booth and playfully ran his eyes on the group before him.
"I know I'm late, but you don't need to scowl at me, Beca."
Chloe immediately turned to her sulking bodyguard with a questioning look while her best friend already had her jaw dropped down, completely in awe by the amazingly gorgeous person in front of her.
"Stan!"
Fat Amy excitedly and forcefully pushed Jesse away to give room for the newly-arrived member of the group. However, the blonde heiress surprisingly stood up and extended her hand to the man.
"The name is Aubrey. Aubrey Posen," she introduced herself with adequate confidence and a little too magisterial than necessary. "My family owns several businesses all over the country."
Okay, Aubrey looked stunning on that lavender dress, but Stan was a little turned off by the imposing attitude shown by the lady, but anyway, managed to flash a friendly smile towards her and briefly shook her hand.
"I'm Stan, Beca's older brother," he revealed much to the surprise of the two strangers. This man is Beca's brother and she's nothing like him in terms of attitude. "Oh, and our family doesn't contribute as much as yours to the capitalist industry."
Taking this as a cue, Chloe stood up to introduce herself also.
"I'm Chloe. Please don't mind my best friend, she's just... being her usual self, but she's great."
"Oh so you're the famous Chloe Beale." Stan shook her hand as he threw quick mocking glances at his sister. "Wow, kiddo. You never told us that your boss is actually quite beautiful. I've heard lots of stories about you, Chloe."
Beca huffed silently in her seat.
Suddenly, the young heiress blushed at the confession. "I couldn't imagine Beca telling stories about me. It's pretty hard to squeeze a word from her, you know."
"Oh she talks about you the entire weekend."
"He's lying," the brunette spoke the truth. Well, everybody had been listening to all the recorded conversations saved in Fat Amy's laptop.
"Please have a seat," Chloe said.
"Here," Aubrey quickly offered the seat next to her. "There's plenty of room right here, you can seat next to me, Stan."
But Stan made his way towards the space between Jesse and Fat Amy. "That's so nice of you, Aubrey, but I only sit next to this blonde bombshell."
The blonde heiress was initially taken aback by the decision. No man had ever rejected her. However, she managed to flash a fake understanding smile before taking her seat. To add more fuel to the fire, Fat Amy had to throw a devilish triumphant grin towards her fellow blonde.
"1-0."
Good thing the first set of food was served at the table, otherwise Aubrey would have given the Australian chick a good fight.
"So what exactly are we doing here?" Stan needed to ask.
"Well," Chloe nervously shrugged her shoulders. It felt like being interrogated by your in-laws. "Just a little get-together or something."
"Do you normally do this with your other bodyguards?" asked Fat Amy.
Chloe paused for a moment, not knowing what would be the proper answer to that question. Everybody had their eyes on her including her best friend, and it started to feel like being on the hot seat.
"Beca is the only personal bodyguard I've ever had. It was my dad's idea in the first place."
"So all of a sudden your dad thinks you immediately need a bodyguard?"
"Well... it's kind of hard to explain..."
"You can try."
The young heiress sighed. "You've probably heard about it on the news. My dad got kidnapped a few weeks ago and so he just wanted to make sure that we are very well protected."
"Why would they kidnap your dad?"
"I-I... M-My dad is..." Chloe was starting to stammer, struggling to answer the questions that just kept on coming from Beca's friends.
"What does your dad do exactly?" Jesse innocently posted a more basic question for her.
"I-I don't want to sound like a cock-a-hoop, but my dad owns a multinational corporation... Phoenix Corporation. Maybe you, guys, have heard of it. Here and abroad, they own hotels, malls, resorts, airlines and aircraft manufacture, restaurant chains-"
"Yes, of course, we've heard about Phoenix Corporation," Stan agreed, cutting her off in the process. "It's a very big corporation, indeed. Your family must be very very wealthy. The government should be earning millions of taxes from your dad alone... but losing more if there's… perhaps, a hidden wealth somewhere. A hidden wealth that your dad doesn't want people to discover."
Chloe opened her mouth to respond, but she was already too overwhelmed by the implications of the entire statement. Luckily again, the rest of the meal was served to the table, rendering more time to think about her response. However, she instantly remembered the purpose of this lunch date. She wanted to get to know Beca. She wanted to know the different aspects of her bodyguard's life. Instead, without even realizing, she was the one already being interrogated on the spot.
"Could we all please eat in peace?" Beca, for the third time she spoke, came to her rescue, fishing out an onion ring to eat. And as if her words were the words of a supreme being, Stan, Jesse, and Fat Amy all shut their mouths and proceeded with eating their lunch. Chloe and Aubrey could only express their shock at how much these people respected the notorious brunette.
"Fuck."
Accidentally or probably it was intentional on Fat Amy's part, either way Stan's plain white shirt was stained by the blood red ketchup and so to his dismay, he took his shirt off and threw it to the side revealing the beautiful set of abs he got. The two newbies to this nonstandard reaction could only exchange looks and gulped at the view. This lunch date with Beca's friends was indeed filled with awkward silences and conversations, but Stan was definitely making it more than exciting.
Chloe couldn't believe it. This time, she couldn't even trace which question it all began, but she was being grilled by Beca's friends and brother once again. She was positive she did ask a question about her bodyguard, but along the way, it became a version of ask 21 questions about Chloe Beale's personal life. She'd been ask about her father and their lifestyle before, but surprisingly, these three were posting trickier ones than magazines do that it already felt being interrogated at some point. Anyhow, Chloe tried her best to give them the answers. For the first time ever, she was secretly thankful that Beca was a quiet cricket who didn't say any word or ask any question. She simply went from one dish to another until her glass of water was finally empty.
"Hey, it's my father's birthday in a few days," Aubrey was directing her eyes on Beca's brother. "He's throwing a party, of course. Would you like to come?"
"Sure."
Stan ignored that blank stare from his sister, and smiled at the blonde heiress.
"Give me your address, I'll be sending you the invitation."
"Just send it through Beca."
"I'm coming too then," Fat Amy butted in.
Aubrey automatically glared at the blonde. "But I'm not inviting you."
"It's okay, Fat Amy." Stan turned to her. "I'll be fine."
While Fat Amy gasped in disbelief, Aubrey Posen wore that victorious grin and muttered, "I guess we're tied to 1."
Sensing a catfight between the two was about to happen, Stan who was still half naked by the way, stood up and moved away from the table.
"Who wants to go check out that jukebox?"
Hurriedly, the two blondes shot up from their respective seats and followed the man to the huge musical box at the other end of the diner leaving the normally quiet Beca, the very shy Jesse, and Chloe who was slowly dying from silent treatment.
Suddenly, Beca let out a heavy sigh and stood up as well.
"W-Where are you going?" Jesse asked as if afraid to be left alone with the redheaded heiress.
"I'm going to the ladies' room, Jesse, you wanna come?"
Was that a question he needed to answer? Nevertheless, Jesse stayed on his seat and played with the remaining fries on his plate. This is it, Chloe concluded. This was the only opportunity she could have to execute her motives for this lunch date.
"Hi, Jesse," she put on her best friendly smile towards the guy.
"Um… hello…"
"To tell you honestly, I asked Beca to invite you, guys, because I wanted to get to know her," she explained and Jesse nodded in understanding. "She's entrusted with my life, but she remains to be a mystery to me."
Jesse let out a small laugh. "How ironic. People think Beca's a mystery when in fact she's very transparent. What you see is what you get, that's Beca."
But Chloe needed more.
"If she hates you, she's not going to hide that. She may not utter a word, but she'll definitely be generous with death glares and that's way scarier, believe me."
"And if she likes you?"
"That's the thing. Beca never likes anybody."
"Didn't she ever has a relationship with someone?"
Before answering, Jesse cautiously looked around to make sure Beca was out of the proximity of the conversation.
"She has a fuck buddy," he replied in a whisper. "I think you could consider that."
"Fuck buddy," Chloe repeated just to make sure.
"If you want to be with Beca or in Stacie's case, you become very much in love with the crazy monster that you desperately want her to love you back, fuck buddy relationship is your highest possible connection. She gets to pleasure you almost all the time. Yes, pleasure. I have a list of girls who can testify to that."
"Why don't Beca just make this Stacie her girlfriend?"
Jesse couldn't help but laugh at the idea. Another big joke if you ask him.
"Girlfriend means you kiss her on the lips; Beca doesn't do that. Kissing on the lips is an expression of love or something; Beca doesn't fall in love. Therefore, your proposal would be absurd because that wouldn't be Beca at all."
"What if she changes?"
"I've known Beca for years, Chloe. That's what she is. She was made to be this way. She's just ruthless, coldblooded, and callous. And nobody could ever change that. Not me or Fat Amy. Not even Stacie or Stan."
So that's Beca. Chloe was digging in too hard, she didn't realize she had already seen everything Beca could offer. She's this very quiet cricket with a metal heart that's locked up in that sad, sad zoo.
"You've seen her back tattoo, right?" Jesse turned to her, and she nodded her head absentmindedly forgetting that the incident happened only in the presence of two people – herself and Beca. "She's like a phoenix. You see her alive right now, but she's been dead too many times. Beca is a walking dead."
"Kimmy Jin called," Beca suddenly appeared, her eyes were directed to Chloe. She didn't look furious so Jesse figured he was safe. "You have a business meeting in an hour. We have to go."
"But your friends," Chloe protested.
"I can handle them." Beca turned to Jesse, and the guy automatically nodded his head. "I'll go talk to Stan."
"Okay, let me just get the bill then."
"Keep your money, I already paid," was all Beca's response before heading to the jukebox machine where Stan was trying to prevent a catfight between his two blonde companions, and leaving Jesse to eye the redheaded heiress who had her mouth opened in disbelief for what her bodyguard just did. Her rich boyfriend would never do that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect.
