CHAPTER 9: I HOPE FOR BETTER DAYS AND LATELY TIMES ARE TOUGH
Day four
Beca's legs thrashed quickly as she gathered up the blanket with her feet and kicked it off of her. She was hot. So hot she had a thin layer of sweat covering her chest. She stopped suddenly when she remembered that Chloe was next to her. She laid still for a few seconds before glancing over her shoulder to the empty mattress and then picking up her head, looking down at Tuck's bed, which was also empty. Beca rolled over landing heavily on her back as she gathered her strength and getting up.
"Chloe?" Beca called out when she entered the living room. She looked to her left to see the back door open and made her way out there. "Chlo?" She called again as she stepped outside of the house. It was a beautiful morning in Cabo. The breeze was blowing off the ocean and the sun was shining bright, the rays dancing off the water. Beca stood outside letting the sun fall down on her face and arms, it was warm and felt perfect with the mixture of the cool breeze. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her sweat pants and closed her eyes, lifting her head towards the sun. She didn't hear Chloe come through the front door with Tuck right behind her. She didn't know the actress was standing next to her until she felt soft lips on her cheek.
"Good morning" Chloe said smiling as Beca turned to face her. "I made you coffee." She held out the mug for the chef who slowly took it obviously surprised at the kiss. Chloe smiled brightly. "And breakfast."
Beca finally snapped out of it. "You made me breakfast?" She questioned playfully with a hand to her chest.
"Yeah." Chloe answered with a wink. The redhead turned and walked back into the house.
Beca watched her walk away and found herself slowly following after the actress. But stopped when Chloe pointed at the sofa and instructed her to sit down. She did as she was told, sipping on her fresh hot coffee as she waited. Chloe reappeared with a large plate and two forks. She sat down right next to Beca and sat the plate on her lap.
"You made this?" Beca questioned looking at the plate that balanced on Chloe's legs.
Chloe nodded affirmatively. "As a thank you."
Beca questioned her with her eyes.
"For last night. For staying with me. For being there." Chloe said holding out a fork for Beca to take. "Let's eat while it's still warm."
Beca accepted the fork as she leaned forward and sat her coffee mug on the table. "What is it?" She asked. "She knew it was crepes but she wanted to hear Chloe tell her about it."
"Well, my grandmother loved to cook. She would make crepes all the time and this is one of her recipes. It's stuffed with some sautéed spinach, red onion and some feta cheese I found next door." Chloe said as she cut into the crepe causing the egg yolk to bust. "I folded up four and then cracked an egg in the middle and then put it in the pan." Chloe smiled as she lifted the fork and placed the food in her mouth. Beca watching her closely.
"Just like grandma used to make?" Beca questioned.
Chloe nodded happily.
Beca smiled and positioned her fork to cut off a piece from the opposite corner as Chloe. She gathered up the crepe and some egg on her fork and put it in her mouth. She smiled as Chloe watched her. Waited for her opinion. Beca chewed and swallowed. "It's good." She admitted with a kind smile.
"Really?" Chloe shrieked.
Beca nodded. "Yeah. It really is."
Chloe squealed happily and leaned back on the couch throwing her arms up in triumph.
"You're so weird." Beca mumbled as she returned her fork to the plate for more.
XxXxXx
CR entered the dining room, pulled the chair out, and sat down heavily.
"Good morning?" Stacie questioned as she sipped her coffee.
CR shook her head negatively. "Not good. I was up all night trying to get in front of this." She mumbled. "I need coffee."
Stacie slid her mug over to CR. "Here. Start with this." She smiled. "Since Beca and Chloe are playing house we are on our own this morning."
CR took the hot caffeine happily.
"I'll get some more and be back. Then you can explain." Stacie said standing from the table and leaving the room. She passed Aubrey on her way in who took a seat next to CR, the blonde looking equally as exhausted.
"I saw." Aubrey mumbled just as Stacie returned to the dining room with several mugs and the coffee carafe.
"Saw what?" Stacie asked.
"Someone got a picture of Beca and Chloe standing on the beach last night." CR answered. "It was obviously taken from a boat and it wasn't the best quality but it was sold to TMZ and it's the lead story on their website this morning." CR explained. "And they already have Beca's name. They know everything about her."
Aubrey nodded along as CR spoke while Stacie was opening up TMZ on her phone to look at the photo.
"Oh whatever." She said loudly. "This is so grainy. You can barely make out that it's Chloe and you can only tell that because of her hair. You can't even see Beca's face clearly."
"Doesn't matter. Now they've linked them together. They know it was Beca's plane that Luke was on. They know its Beca's house that she's staying at. And now they have a shot of them standing on the beach together. So…" Aubrey sighed.
"I need to talk to Amy and Lily when they get up. See if we can do anything about pictures being taken from boats." Aubrey said to no one in particular.
"I need to talk to Chloe." CR groaned not looking forward to the conversation with the actress. After spending much of the evening on the phone with her PR associates, they'd decided that it was in the actress's best interest to release a statement and to release a photo of her face. Showing exactly what Luke had done to her, in order to take some of the heat off of her and put it back on him. He wasn't an innocent victim in all of this and he needed to be outed, but they needed Chloe to be the one to do it. CR knew it was going to be a hard sell to the actress who preferred her life to be as private as possible. She didn't enjoy the attention and limelight that Luke preferred and reluctantly agreed to discuss minimal details with the press about their relationship.
"Oh" Stacie said looking up from her phone. "She was here earlier. Made her and Beca a cup of coffee and then made them some breakfast." Stacie informed them. "She looked like she was in a good mood so maybe whatever you're stressing over won't be so bad."
"Great" CR mumbled knowing she would soon put an end to that good mood.
XxXxXx
"What do you want to do today?" Chloe asked as she sat sideways on the couch with her legs on Beca's lap. She wasn't sure when the brunette became comfortable with her again, and they still hadn't had the talk, but she wasn't complaining or currently overthinking it.
Beca's head that was resting back on the couch turned to the left to look at the redhead. "I don't think we're supposed to do anything." Beca replied blinking slowly.
"As much as I like you Becs" Chloe smiled, "And I really do … really, I don't think I can be stuck in this house all day."
Beca was fighting the smile that wanted to form on her face but she was losing the battle.
"It's a gorgeous day." Chloe said turning to look out the glass door. "We should be on the beach. Having fun or something. Maybe take Tuck for a walk. Ohhh" Chloe's eyes lit up, "Does he swim?" She asked quickly.
"Yes." Beca answered. "Of course he swims. He's awesome." She deadpanned.
Chloe clapped her hands together quickly and released a squeal.
"We can't." Beca shot down her idea. "You're supposed to be laying low. Staying out of sight. And for some reason me too. Otherwise we'd be over at the other house instead of in this tiny crappy one."
Chloe knew Beca was right but that didn't stop her from putting on her best pouting face and batting her eyelashes furiously hoping to pout her way into getting her wish when her phone pinged from the coffee table. She sighed and leaned forward to reach for the device, digging her heels unintentionally into Beca's legs.
"Ouch" Beca said as her hands flew to Chloe's feet trying to hold them still.
"Sorry." Chloe said returning to her seat. Her lips pursed to the side as she read the text.
"What?" Beca asked.
"CR and Aubrey want to talk to us." Chloe said quickly typing out a reply.
"Us?" Beca asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep." Chloe said swinging her legs off Beca's lap and pushing herself to her feet. She held her hand out for Beca who reached up and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet by the redhead. "Come on. Let's get this over with so we can go for that walk on the beach." Chloe smiled.
Beca dropped her head, knowing that if Chloe wanted to walk on the beach, then she would walk on the beach with her. She stomped playfully behind the actress as they left the guesthouse and made their way to the mansion.
"Hello?" Chloe called out as they entered. "Where are you guys?"
"Dining room." CR called back.
"I don't know why I have to be here." Beca mumbled as she followed Chloe into the room where everyone sat around the table waiting for the pair. "What is this?" Beca asked feeling overwhelmed by the number of eyes on her. She glanced from Jesse's to Amy's to Lily's and then at all of Chloe's friends who sat quietly.
"We need to talk." Amy said sharply.
"About?" Beca asked unwilling to move her feet.
Chloe had already taken a seat in one of the empty chairs. The other one next to her remained empty as Beca refused to sit. "What's going on CR?" Chloe asked.
"There was a photo taken of the two of you last night." She said cutting to the chase. "It's not very good quality but it's obviously you. And you Beca."
"When?" Chloe asked.
"It's from the beach. Most likely from a boat." Aubrey answered. She pulled up the picture on her laptop and spun it around to face the actress.
"They have your name Becs." Amy said loudly. "They know everything."
Beca's eyes lifted from the poor quality photo to her Australian friend.
"What do they know?" Beca asked.
"Everything. About the house. The plane. You're parents. The money." Amy said slowly.
Beca felt all the eyes on her.
"Chloe" CR cleared her throat feeling Beca's uneasiness. "We think you should make a statement."
"About what?" Chloe asked looking away from Beca, who was suddenly pale, over to her publicist.
"About what happened with you and Luke." CR began. "We think you should release a photo in hopes that the media would turn on him and ease up on you."
"What? No." Chloe said quickly.
"Why not Chloe?" Aubrey asked.
"I'm not using this" She motioned to her cut black eye, "as a publicity stunt."
"It's not a stunt Chlo. It happened. People should know." Aubrey argued.
"No." Chloe said loudly. "I'm not going to do that just to turn the media in my favor."
CR knew it was going to be hard to talk Chloe into going public. They'd taken a couple of photos of Chloe's face yesterday, at Aubrey's insistence, in case Chloe changed her mind and wanted to press charges against him but CR knew the chances those photos ever seeing the light of day were slim. So she moved on, "At least make a statement."
"Saying what?" Chloe asked crossing her arms over her chest. "That I broke up with him and he hit me in the face? That he cheated on me … I don't know how many times … that it was over for me a long time ago but I stayed with him because it was easy. That I was stupid for doing so. That I've been so lonely in my relationship for such a long time that I forgot what it felt like to have someone look at you … the real you." She trailed off. Her head turned and her eyes met Beca's. "That it feels good to find someone who likes you for you and nothing more."
"Maybe not all of that" Aubrey quipped. "But maybe say that you and Beca are just friends, and that you and some friends came down here to get away, and that you wish Luke the best, and hope that one day you can two can be friends."
Chloe turned back to her friend. "You want me to lie?"
"Lie?" Aubrey asked.
"I don't want to be just friends with Beca." Chloe whispered. "And frankly" Chloe sat up straight, "I don't care what Luke has to say."
"Becs?" Jesse questioned his friend who had stood motionless for the last few minutes. "You okay?"
Beca nodded slowly, thoughts swirling around her mind.
"I don't mean to interrupt." Stacie said quietly looking up from the table. Several heads snapped around towards her. Beca's didn't move. She still stood frozen. The weight of being friends with Chloe crashing down on her. The world able to read about her. About her parents. About her life. She protected herself so much so she wouldn't have to tell those stories. So she wouldn't have to explain and now after one crappy photo, the world would know.
"This just popped up on Just Jared's Instagram page." She slid her phone over on the table. Chloe's eyes closed slowly. Aubrey picked up the phone and brought it to her face to look closely at the picture and then back up to Beca. "This was taken this morning. You're still in the same clothes."
CR reached across the table and pulled Aubrey's laptop over to her. She quickly typed in the website address and sat back in her chair as she examined the photo. It was clear. It was high quality and it was going to be everywhere in a matter of seconds. Chloe, kissing Beca on the cheek, standing outside the guesthouse. Both holding coffee mugs. It didn't portray them as 'friends'. It looked like the pair were sharing a moment more intimate than what 'friends' would share. Beca was about to go from being 'a friend' to be 'the other woman'.
"How could they get a photo this close?" Aubrey asked looking at Lily and Amy.
"We don't own the ocean." Amy said sarcastically.
"It was taken from the road. It's about 200 yards away. Any good digital camera could make that shot but I'd bet this was taken with a telephoto lens" Lily said inspecting the photo. "That's public property. There's not much we can do to keep people away from there."
"Jesse. Get in the SUV and take a drive down the property line and see how many people are out there. Take Lily with you." Aubrey instructed.
Chloe turned to Beca who remained standing. "Beca?" She questioned softly.
Beca's eyes fell to hers.
"Are you okay?" Chloe whispered as she stood up from the table and made her way to the chef. She stopped when she was standing directly in front of her.
Beca could barely breathe. She could barely blink. Barely swallow. She was overwhelmed. She didn't know how to answer that question. Was she okay? Definitely not. She didn't know what was happening to her. Her body was shutting down because it couldn't handle the sudden stress.
"You're scaring me a little bit." Chloe whispered, her face close to Beca's.
"Yeah Shawshank, you're freaking us out." Amy said from her place at the table.
"Why do you call her Shawshank?" Stacie asked suddenly. She'd been wondering since last night.
The other guest's heads looking in Amy's direction awaiting explanation. She didn't hesitate in saying, "Oh. Cuz she's been to prison." With a shoulder shrug.
Chloe turned away from Beca and towards Amy. "What?"
CR dropped her head in her hands and Aubrey looked like she wanted to stress puke.
"That's hot." Stacie said.
"Yeah. Didn't she tell you that?" Amy asked.
Chloe turned back to Beca. "No. She didn't." Chloe said calmly as she tilted her head to the side slightly.
"Well. Great" Aubrey said loudly. "What else don't we know? What else is going to come out that will ruin Chloe's reputation?"
"Aubrey don't" Chloe warned.
"Chloe can we please just be reasonable here?" CR asked. "We need to put out something. Some kind of statement. It doesn't have to include photos but we need to release something or this is just going to get worse. They won't let up. You know this."
Chloe had been studying Beca for the last several minutes. At first she thought it was anger that had consumed the brunette but she knew it was fear. She ran her hand down Beca's arm and linked their fingers. "We'll be back." She said over her shoulder to her friends as she pulled Beca behind her towards the stairs.
"What did I miss?" Jessica asked, fresh out of bed, joining her friends in the dining room.
Once in her former room Chloe turned back towards Beca. "Okay. Just breathe." She coached.
Beca nodded her eyes feeling better about being out from under everyone else's eyes. Their judgements. Their jumping to conclusions. She felt better. Safer with the redhead. She took a shallow breath as she was told.
"Good. Just try to relax. I know it's a lot but just don't freak out." Chloe instructed. "Please don't freak out." She begged quietly.
"Jail." Beca mumbled.
"What?" Chloe asked leaning closer to Beca.
"Jail … not prison." Beca began to explain. "And it was only for a couple of hours." She rolled her eyes at herself. "It was for destruction of property. It was after a shift at Mas one night. A night Jesse, Amy and I had way too much to drink. We were walking back to my apartment and Amy decided to show us how she could do a roundhouse kick that she'd learned in her karate class."
"Really?" Chloe questioned quickly.
Beca nodded and continued. "It didn't go so well and she ended up shattering the glass at this shit ass sunglasses store we were walking past."
Chloe sucked her lips into her mouth to keep from laughing.
"She and Jesse took off but I decided to stay and explain it to the police and owner. And pay for the window but the store owner was a total dick and had me arrested." Beca said shaking her head with an eye roll. "Anyway, they bailed me out a couple hours later but Amy's called me that ever since."
Chloe knew it was time. Yes. They'd only known each other for three days. Yes. There were tons of things they didn't know about each other. But neither of those two things mattered. She really liked Beca and she needed to make that clear. "Beca" She said softly. "I need to talk … to tell you things and I'd really like it if you just listened."
Beca nodded slowly.
"Just listen okay?" Chloe repeated.
"Okay" Beca replied.
Chloe took a breath to compose herself. "I really like you." She said looking into Beca's eyes. "Like, really, really like you. I know I've said that before but I need you to know that I mean it. We barely know each other but ever since I met you, I've felt" She paused to pick the right word, "drawn to you."
"Okay" Beca whispered.
"Just listen." Chloe reprimanded.
"Sorry." Beca replied before she could stop herself. "Sorry."
"I know I fucked up by not being honest with you about Luke. I know I should have told you." Chloe said sadly.
"Why didn't you?" Beca asked not caring that she wasn't supposed to talk.
"I don't know." Chloe answered. "I know that is a shitty answer and I know you deserve better but I don't really know why I didn't tell you. Was it because I felt like we weren't even in a relationship anymore? Maybe. Was it because he has become so irrelevant to me that I didn't even care to think of him anymore? Maybe." Chloe admitted. "The night on the beach. You said I took your breath away. You said I was beautiful. And I wanted nothing more than to kiss you. I still want to kiss you. But I knew on the beach that as much as I wanted to I shouldn't be kissing you. Not at least until I officially broke up with him. But then the next day he was here and I had no idea he was coming."
Beca interrupted her. "When were you going to break up with him Chloe?" She asked. She'd been listening to the redhead and she believed her. But that one detail didn't make any sense to her. "Was it going to be before or after you went home?" Beca didn't mean to get upset but she was slowly starting to become angry. "You literally are only here for 6 days. So were you just going to have you're fun with me and then go home?"
"N-No" Chloe answered.
"Because honestly Chloe" Beca stopped speaking suddenly.
"What?" Chloe asked.
"It doesn't matter. You're only here for a few more days and then you're going to go back to where you came from. And I'll be here." Beca's shoulders dropped. She knew she should leave it at that. Knew she shouldn't keep talking but she did anyway. "I like you too." The admission came in barely a whisper as she stared at the floor. "But this" She gathered the courage to look up at the redhead, "Don't you see? … it won't work."
"Why?" Chloe asked.
"Because you're you." Beca said with a smile and added a defeated shrug after the words, "and I'm me."
Chloe had never had a problem crying on cue and portraying sadness. She'd been able to do it for as long as she could remember. She didn't know exactly how she did it. Sometimes she thought of her brother Tom and how much she missed him when she was younger. Sometimes it was of how he didn't want anything to do with her when she tried to contact him 2 years ago.
"Our worlds are too different. I don't belong in your world and literally before 3 days ago, you didn't exist in mine." Beca said gently.
The look in Beca's eyes. The tone of her voice. The words she spoke. That would be what Chloe would draw from, would allow herself to feel every time she needed to be heartbroken in a scene. The movies usually weren't all that different from real life anyway.
XxXxXx
Jesse and Lily walked back into the dining room. "You're not going to believe this." He said pulling out his chair again.
"What?" Aubrey asked.
"The road that leads to the highway is packed with people. I've never seen anything like it." He replied looking around the room. "Where's Beca and Chloe?"
Beca rejoined the group, "Chloe just needed a moment in the restroom. She said she'd be down shortly."
Aubrey narrowed her eyes at the Chef would leaned against the wall and stuffed her hands in her pockets.
"So, what are we going to do?" CR asked. "Because if she doesn't want to release a statement, those photographers are never going to leave. This won't blow over because it feels like she's hiding."
"Oh, there are not just photographers. There are so many people." Jesse said reaching forward into the fruit bowl that sat in the middle of the table retrieving an apple.
"People?" Aubrey asked.
He and Lily nodded.
"Like they think she's just gonna walk out and sign autographs and take selfies?" The lawyer questioned sarcastically.
CR sat shaking her head. Chloe was going to hate this. She naturally shied away from attention like this.
"We have to get her out of here." Jessica said sitting up straight in her chair.
All eyes were on her. She cleared her throat and continued. "I say we sneak her out."
"Sneak who out?" Chloe asked slowly entering the room and standing on the opposite side of it from Beca who stood looking out the window.
"You." Jessica said confidently.
"Why? We leave in a couple days anyway." Chloe questioned.
"There are hundreds of people along the road. Some paparazzi. Some tourists. Some fans." Lily spoke up unusually loudly. "They are just waiting to get a photo or a glimpse of you. If you stay her, you'd be trapped inside. You can do that if you want but I'm guessing the longer you do, the worse it will get."
"But where would she go?" Aubrey asked the group. "LA would be worse than here and they know where you live. They could stand outside your house."
"You don't live in like a gated neighborhood where like Oprah lives?" Jesse asked taking another bite of his apple.
Chloe shook her head.
"No. She lives in a regular house. In a regular neighborhood. With regular neighbors." Aubrey said quickly to the man making him swallow hard from the glare in her eye.
Chloe chanced a look at Beca who didn't acknowledge anything.
"What about your mom's house?" Stacie asked.
Chloe disagreed. "No. I don't want that kind of attention on her." She took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter. Where ever I go, they will find me. They will figure it out. They always do." "So I don't care. Just tell me what you want me to do." She offered her friends a sad smile and left the dining room. They all heard the door close and assumed she'd gone back to the guesthouse for now.
"I have a safe house." Lily whispered, Beca's eyes meeting hers instantly at the revelation.
AN: Sup guys. So I promised myself I wouldn't but I took a giant belly flop into the PP3 spoilers last night and although I knew in my mind that they wouldn't happen in the movie I'm just disappointed and all angsty because from what I read in several places the movie didn't need to pair Chloe and Chicago together. They could have just left it out and as much as I knew Universal wouldn't give us BeChloe, why couldn't they just left it open ended. Why? I don't get it and Beca's right, the weird kid see's dead people, we all know who Luke's father is and of course the guy gets the girl. UGH... I'm just bummed. Of course, I'll see the movie tomorrow when it comes out here. And yes, I'll buy the DVD when it comes out but I guess I'm glad it's gonna be over because it just feels ruined. Don't know... Anyway ... I'm down and in a funk and I don't know if this chapter is any good. I didn't even proof read it. I apologize cuz y'all deserve better but I ain't feeling it today. Please don't yell at me but I guess you can if you want.
Song Title Cred: Khalid, Angels
