A/N: Rating change to T for language and a little domestic scuffle. I don't really have much more to say in my authors note. So read, review, follow.
A/N the Second: Ok, so generally I am unhappy with this story...well this chapter...as you know I'm just kinda going along with everything...but I needed to have a conflict/resolution type thing come into the story at some time, so the Tom story line is me setting that. So sorry if it doesn't quite add up. I have made some alterations to this chapter.
Chapter 9
Beca was in her dorm room, alone, sitting on her bed, her sound mixing equipment organised around her, but she wasn't playing. The days since the pool, hell, the weeks since they'd won the ICCA's, she had found herself distracted. Everytime she had the motivation to focus on something as simple as playing around with a few tunes, she had immediately lost interest and would end up how she was now, sitting and staring into space, thinking about nothing.
Sighing, she looked down at the laptop, the screensaver had come on. She smiled, it threw around photos out of her albums, but her smile stopped when it threw up a photo of her and Chloe. Chloe's arm was draped over the shorter woman's shoulder, her eyes scrunched up, but her tongue sticking out, Beca, in the photo, had her arm wrapped behind Chloe's back, and her free arm was pulling the 'rocker-fingers', likewise her tongue was out in a, sort of, Gene Simmons kind of way.
Beca shook her head, erasing the memory from her concious mind. She had thought about Chloe a lot and maybe it was time to confront her. Maybe she could try hang out with the red head sometime this week. She picked up her phone and typed out a quick message.
'Sorry I've been a dick. Wanna hang this week?'
Hitting send, she didn't expect an immediate reply. Hell, she didn't actually expect a response, so when her phone alerted her to a text message only a few minutes later, she smiled.
'I suppose I could ;) You free tonight?'
'Yea? What did you have in mind?'
'You're the one who asked me, you decide,'
Beca had to think for a minute. She hadn't really done anything outside of campus, she'd only been to a couple of frat parties and a lot of aca-parties. Getting rid of her laptop screensaver, she quickly typed in restaurants and clubs around the area of Barden University, and her discovery brought only disappointment. The only places of worth were a cinema and a small cafe.
'Want to catch a movie?' Beca finally replied.
'Sure, meet you there?'
'Yea, sounds great'.
On the other end of the texts, Chloe was sitting on the couch in her shared apartment with Aubrey. Her boyfriend Tom sitting at the other end zoned out watching TV. He was a pretty average guy, only ever after sex, but even after nearly a year, she still hadn't given in. She refelected briefly on her senior year. A boyfriend of a year and still a virgin? She smiled to herself, she was proud. And what if she did some postgraduate study? She might get to see Beca more often.
"Who was that?" Tom asked, not pulling his eyes away from the television set. Chloe looked at him, it wasn't really any of his business.
"Why are you asking?" she defended. But this kind of talk had gotten her into trouble before. Tom was a rather jealous man and things could get quite heated between them really quickly.
"Why can't you answer?" Tom shot back, now directing his attention to his girlfriend.
"It was just one of the girls," she told him. She knew full well that he didn't like Beca, especially not after the first time they met. Chloe wanted to stay in that shower with Beca, but Tom didn't.
"What kinda of answer is that!?" he yelled.
"It was Beca, okay!?" she yelled back angrily. In no way whatsoever was it his buisness. Beca was her friend, not his, she had given him an honest answer about it being one of the girls. But it was never good enough for him.
He grumbled under his breath, returning his attention to the television, but in doing so, he made sure he flung his feet on the couch near Chloe. He knew that she and Aubrey had a 'no feet on the couch' rule and he was out to piss Chloe off.
"Do you mind?" she asked incredously, pushing his feet off.
"Nope, not really," he shot back. His tone obviously trying to dig deeper under Chloe's skin.
"Would you like to leave?" Chloe's eyes narrowed at him.
"Ha!" he laughed at her. "So you can bring that Beca girl over and fuck her?"
Cellphone still in hand, Chloe hit speed dial one and placed the phone on the couch. Aubrey had made Chloe set her as first speed dial, and instructed her that if Tom was over and over stepped her mark, that she call Aubrey and leave the phone lying somewhere in the room.
"Why would I do that?" Chloe questioned shortly before she defended herself. "I'm not gay,"
Tom shook his head. "So that's why you spend so much time with her and you still won't fuck me,"
"I won't fuck you because of the pressure you put on me!" Chloe yelled again. "And this time I'm telling you, leave now or I will call the cops,"
oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Aubrey was wandering across campus and was heading back to the apartment when her phone vibrated in her pocket. Swiping a strand of hair out of her face so she could read the caller ID, she brought the phone to her ear.
"Chloe? Are you ok?" Aubrey answered. She knew Tom came over that morning. At times he was so sweet to Chloe, but it's when Aubrey wasn't around that she feared Tom. Instead of getting Chloe's reply, she heard voices in the background.
"So you can bring that Beca girl over and fuck her?"
"Why would I do that? I'm not gay,"
"So that's why you spend so much time with her and you still won't fuck me,"
"I won't fuck you becausee of the pressure you put on me. And this time I'm telling you, leave now or I will call the cops,"
Aubrey rubbed her temple with her free hand, hoping that Tom would leave for both their sakes, but what she heard next confirmed he hadn't left. The sound of a slap echoed in her ear, followed by Chloe's sobs. The door crashing shut was the last thing she heard before Chloe picked up the phone.
"Bree?" Chloe questioned timidly.
"I'm here, Chloe," she reassured. "You need to lay charges,"
"No,"
"You have to, Chloe," Aubrey pushed. I'll help you.
"How? We have no proof of anything," Chloe said, as her sobs became louder.
"Look, shall we talk when I get home?" Aubrey questioned, checking the road before crossing it safely. "I've just corssed the road, I'm literally a few feet away,"
"Ok," Chloe agreed, hanging up her end of the phone.
Aubrey sighed, pushing her phone back into her pocket. She rounded the corner before her house, but as she did she saw Tom walking hurriedly. Aubrey wanted to press the man about what had happened in her apartment. Part of her told her it was the right thing to do, another told her that Chloe needed her right now. Unfortunately for Aubrey, Tom had spotted her.
"Hey Aubrey," Tom greeted, unaware of the fact Aubrey knew what had happened only a few minutes earlier.
"Uh, yea, hi Tom," she returned the greeting.
"Hey, when you see Chloe, can you tell her I've been trying to get a hold of her? I need to see her,"
Aubrey saw straight through his lie, but played along with it. "Uh, yeah? Sure,"
"Ha-ha, thanks Aubrey," he told her. "You're the best,"
"Not a problem," she replied, watching as he ran off.
Hurrying home, she opened the door and found Chloe on the floor, sobbing. Aubrey didn't want to mention the fact that she had just seen Tom run away from their apartment, she thought that would just add fuel to the fire.
Aubrey croutched down next to her friend, running her hand over her head, attempting to comfort her.
"Hey, I'm here," she told the ginger. "He's gone, don't worry about him,"
Sniffing, Chloe wiped her eyes and looked up at the blonde, giving her a half hearted smile. "I know," she told her. "Thank you,"
"Not a problem, Chlo," she said, giving her a tight hug. Standing, she wandered across the room to grab tissues for her friend.
"It's ok, Bree," Chloe told her. "I'm fine now. I just needed some kind of safety. Oh crap!" Chloe remembered that she had organised to go out with Beca that night, but after what happened with Tom, she didn't feel safe going out, and because she had told him that it was Beca, she wasn't safe either.
"What's up?"
"I had plans with Beca tonight," Chloe told her friend. "That's pretty much the reason he nutted at me, was because I was texting my plans with her,"
"Does he know it was her?"
"Yeah, he does,"
"Do you want to invite her over here?" Aubrey suggested. "We can both walk over to pick her up?"
"If you don't mind?" the red head questioned, shurgging her shoulders.
"Well we have a rehearsal tomorrow morning, so at least if she is here, then I know she will be on time,"
Chloe laughed, picked up her phone and hit Beca's contact.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooo
Beca's phone was buzzing in her pocket as she walked down the hall to exit the building. She was going to meet up with Stacie, Fat Amy and Cynthia Rose for lunch. Pulling it out, she saw the caller ID, smiling to herself (although she would never admit it) she answered.
"Hey Chloe," she greeted. "We still on for tonight?"
"Hey, um, about that..." she started. "Well, long story short I had a fight with Tom, and I just need to make sure you're ok tonight,"
"Why?"
"Will explain later, Aubrey and I are coming to get you now,"
"I'm actually on my way to lunch with the girls," Beca told her, never liking to cancel plans so late, but she did have a compromise. "How about you join us?" Beca could hear Chloe talking to Aubrey, she must have put her hand over the mouth piece because their voices were muffled.
"Yeah, we can do that. Where are we having lunch?" Chloe questioned.
"Oh, we were just going to buy some stuff from the grocery store and sit out on the quad,"
"Awesome, meet you in ten?"
"Sounds good, see you then, bye," Beca hung up the phone, sliding it back into her pocket.
Why the hell did she have to worry about her safety? She brushed off the thought and carried on her way, bumping into the rest of her lunch crew along the way.
"I've invited Chloe and Aubrey to lunch, they'll meet us at the quad in ten minutes," Beca told the group.
Fat Amy let out a wolf whistle. "Beca wants the 'V'," she teased. The rest of the group laughed at the taunt. "You know, I usually have a story for everything, but honestly, I haven't had a lesbian experience," the girls looked at her dumbfounded, for the first time, she had spoken what they truly could define as, a truth. "However, I'm your one-stop-shop for dingoes, kangaroos and kung fu. Black beauty can help you with your girly needs," she winked at Beca, and Cynthia Rose's cheeks pinked under her dark skin.
"You guys are unbareable!" Beca told them, giggling a little bit.
"And you're soooo into Chloe," Stacie told her, looking up from her phone that she was currently sexting on.
"But what if I'm not?" Beca asked seriously.
"But means forget everything you said before it," Fat Amy told her.
Beca grumbled under her breath, picking up her pace. She wanted to hurry up and be in Chloe's presence so this banter would stop. That and shesecretlymightactuallyhaveahuuuuugecrushonChloe-what?
The grocery store shop was quick, the girls between them only brought a bag of chips, some soda and a few ham and cheese rolls. They were treating it like a picnic. Soon enough they were back on campus grounds and Chloe and Aubrey had reserved a patch of grass under a tree. Smiles were shared between Beca and Chloe, and neither of them knew it, but their stomachs were both full of butterflies.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
It wasn't till later that afternoon before Aubrey, Beca and Chloe were able to leave. They had, had a pretty good time at lunch, talking about a capella, graduation, holidays. Just anything and everything. Whilst they walked over campus, it dawned on Beca that she hadn't actually ever visited Chloe and Aubrey's apartment. Getting to the edge of campus, crossing the road and heading around the corner was all it was to get there. Beca also had never realised how closely they lived.
Letting themselves into the apartment, Chloe threw herself on the couch, Aubrey made her way to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water, she hadn't exactly appreciated the soda. But Beca, she stood in the middle of their living room. Off to the left was the kitchen, clean, marble coloured, with a breakfast bench and stools. Straight ahead of her was the couch the Chloe had flopped on, and infront of that was the television, and off to the right were three doors. She guessed for two bedrooms and a bathroom.
Clearing her voice, she glanced between the two women. "So why am I staying here tonight?"
Chloe sat up on the couch and perched her head over the back, looking to Beca. "Tom was more than pissed that I was texting you today," she told her bluntly. "He gets jealous, then angry and well," Chloe trailed off, but Beca got the hint.
"So why the hell is he still your boyfriend?" Beca asked, she couldn't believe it. If she was assuming correctly, Tom's being angry would be physical.
"Because she doesn't know how he would react if she left him," Aubrey finished Chloe's story, seeing her friend looking like she would cry at any moment.
"But I don't understand," Beca told them, still trying to make sense of it all. "Why would he get jealous of you hanging out with a friend?" Aubrey cleared her breath and silently excused herself from the room. "Chloe?"
Chloe had obviously lost herself in thought, looking up to the younger woman all she said was, "Huh?"
"I said why does he matter if you're only hanging out with a friend?" she stated again. "I would ask Aubrey, but she's just gone and left the room,"
Chloe's face flushed, but Beca couldn't see this, the heavy makeup she had on obscured it. "Well," Chloe started and there was a long pause.
Beca was feighning annoyance, but somewhere in her, she was hoping that Chloe would say what she had been wanting to hear all year, but she never did.
"Maybe one day I'll tell you," Chloe finally told her. "But I'm not ready yet."
Beca nodded, her stomach dropping, her hopes fallen...for now.
A/N: Hopefully this edit makes the story a little easier to read. Don't know what my next chapter will be. Now, cuz I'm from New Zealand...I really hope I got some of your words correct...grocery store? A place to buy all your weekly food shopping? Well, its a supermarket to us, but I'd assume you guys don't really have that...likewise fizzy drink...soda? Or is soda just that...soda water...? Like coke...is that soda to you guys? LOL
Soz :P
Review and follow? Give me story line prompts?
Also note, I was gonna add smut at a later chapter, but I don't feel like it anymore...too porno ish. It takes away from the romance :(
