A/N: Hey my lovelies! Please please please keep reviewing! It really keeps me motivated!
I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters
Chloe: Hey, we got things sorted out. Thanks for driving me, you're the best :) See you Saturday! P.S. is it a costume party? xx
Beca smiled down at her phone, her stomach doing a flip at the thought of Chloe coming to her party.
"Becs, I'm talking to you, could you maybe put the phone down for two seconds?" Her dad said, piling spaghetti onto their two plates.
"Sorry," Beca said, putting her phone down onto the kitchen counter top. "What were you saying?"
"I was saying, remember I'm going away on Friday and I'll be back Tuesday," he said, putting Beca's plate down in front of her.
"Yeah, I know," she said, her eyes drifting to her phone again. "What is it this time? Another conference? You go on a lot of those."
"Actually, this time I'm going to NYU to do a talk," he said, pouring himself a glass of wine.
"Oh," Beca said. "What's your talk on?"
"Do you honestly care?" He asked, sitting in the chair opposite her.
She shrugged. "I guess not."
They sat in silence for a while, the only noise in the kitchen was the sound of cutlery scraping across their plates.
Eventually Beca picked up her phone and replied to Chloe's text.
Beca: Awesome! Glad you both worked things out. And no costumes, just a bunch of awkward teens getting drunk on weak beer xx
"How's school?" Her dad asked when she put her phone down again.
She shrugged again. "Fine," she said.
"Keeping up with all your homework?"
"Yep," she said. "You don't need to worry."
"I wasn't worried," he said, scraping the last of the spaghetti and sauce onto his fork. "But, you know, it's an important year. If you don't stay on top of things that can hurt your chances of getting into college."
Beca sighed. "Dad," she said. "We talked about this. I don't want to go to college."
"You say that now," he said, "but once all your friends have gone off to college you'll regret not going with them. And don't forget, you'll actually get to go for free, so there's really nothing to lose. I mean, that's providing you get grades high enough to get into Barden but if you carry on working hard then-"
"I'm gonna go to bed," Beca said, cutting him off. "I should get cracking on that homework, right?"
"Sure," he said. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah," she said, "night."
She left the kitchen and headed up the stairs to her room, Jasper hot on her heels.
When she closed the door behind them, she looked between her bed and her desk. Her desk was all set up with her notebook ready to copy the day's notes from, but she just didn't have the energy for it. She was tired and there was a sense of unhappiness she couldn't quite place.
She pinned the blame on her dad, and his insisting that she go to college, never listening to what she had to say on the matter. But deeper down, she knew it had to do with him, once again, leaving her alone in the house. She didn't usually mind, but what were once trips that he made every few months were turning into trips every few weeks. And the fact that he would be away this weekend...
Beca shook her head and decided that she didn't care. With him gone, she could have her party, and hopefully hang out with Chloe all night. Although she had to be careful that Aubrey wasn't left on her own. She didn't want to be the cause of the two friends having another argument.
Instead of sitting at her desk to work, she flopped down onto her bed and pulled out her phone. She knew she'd regret it tomorrow when she had twice the amount of work to do, but she just didn't have the energy to do it tonight.
Chloe was sat at her crowded kitchen table, wanting nothing more than to disappear to her room and text Beca.
She had managed the majority of her dinner without any issue, and she felt considerably happier after she'd spoken to Aubrey.
Her best friend had accepted what she'd told her without question or judgement, and after the initial surprise, it was as if she'd always known. It made her feel better about coming out to other people.
After Aubrey had driven her home, she'd barely had time to have a quick conversation with her mom before the family descended on the kitchen for dinner.
"If Chloe's allowed to stay out on Saturday then I should be too," Lucy complained as their mom began loading their empty plates into the dishwasher.
"Chloe's four years older than you, and she isn't in trouble for being late to school three times last week," their mom responded.
Their mom had given Chloe permission to go to Beca's party and then stay at Aubrey's after providing she didn't drink and kept her phone on so they could call and check up on her.
She knew her parents always felt a pang of anxiety whenever she spent the night somewhere else, but she would be going to college soon, and they knew they couldn't watch her forever.
"I don't know how you've been late, you leave here with plenty of time," she said.
"It's not my fault," Lucy said, incredulous in a way that only teenagers could be. "Ashley takes so long to do her hair she makes us late!"
Their dad, who was scooping ice cream into bowls chuckled. "You can go to your friend's on Saturday if you're on time for school everyday this week," he said. Their mom looked like she wanted to argue, but they always made an effort not to disagree or undermine each other in front of the kids. "Ice cream, Chloe?" He asked.
She shook her head. "I'm good thanks, dad," she said. Her phone had buzzed in her pocket and she was eager to leave the table so she could check it. "I'm gonna go get started on my homework."
She saw her parents quickly glance at each other before her mom spoke.
"Okay sweetie."
She pulled out her phone once she'd gotten into her room.
Beca: My dad's been home for like a week, you'd think we'd be able to have one dinner without him bringing up college -.- xx
Chloe felt the same flip in her stomach that she always did when she saw Beca's name on her phone and quickly typed out her response.
Chloe: Ah that sucks, I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, I got to hear all about how unfair it is that I get to go out on Saturday but my 13 year old sister does not xx
Beca: That does seem unfair. You should invite her along, I'm sure she'd love it ;) xx
Before Chloe could respond, her phone buzzed again.
Beca: BTW I'm really glad you're coming :) xx
Chloe: Yeah, me too xx
There was a knock on Chloe's door not long after.
"Come in," Chloe said, putting her phone down. Her mom came in and closed the door behind her.
"So, party at Beca's huh?" She said, sitting down on the bed beside her daughter. "You guys have been spending a lot of time together recently."
"Yeah," Chloe said, smiling slightly. "She's cool. I really like her."
"Do you still like like her?"
"Yeah," Chloe said. "I do."
"Does she know?" Her mom asked, smiling as Chloe's face seemed to light up.
"I don't think so," Chloe said. "I don't even know if she's... you know... into girls. But even if she's not, I like being friends with her."
"You'll have to bring her around for dinner one night. I need to meet this girl," her mom said.
"I think our family would terrify her," Chloe said, laughing at the thought.
"It's nice to see you smiling again," her mom said, tucking a strand of Chloe's hair behind her ear. "You scared me for a while, there."
Chloe didn't say anything. She just smiled and let her mom pull her into a hug.
"Are you gonna tell her?"
"I don't know yet. Do you think I should?" Chloe asked.
"I think you should do whatever feels right," her mom said, kissing her on the side of the head. "Okay, I've got a stack of ironing to get done."
"Okay," Chloe said. "Love you, mom."
"Love you too sweetie."
"Party party party!" Fat Amy yelled as Beca answered her door on Saturday evening.
"Tell all the neighbours why don't you," Beca said, standing aside so Amy could enter. She was carrying three cases of beer. "Should I even ask how you got those?"
"I've got my ways, Beca Mitchell," she said, winking.
She followed Beca through the house and into the den at the back. Jesse and Benji were already there, involved in a heated game of Mario Kart.
"How much do I owe you?" Beca asked, taking the cases out of Amy's arms and putting them on a table at the back of the room.
"Consider it a gift," Amy said. "Plus, technically, I didn't actual pay for it."
Beca opened her mouth before deciding she'd rather not know.
Jesse came over and grabbed a can.
"Nice!" He said, opening it up and drinking. "Let's party!"
"Party isn't a verb, Jess," she said, taking a can for herself.
"When did you graduate from Kill-Joy University?"
"When I was six," she said, taking a drink.
This was only the third time she'd ever drunk beer, and she pulled a face at the taste of it.
"Gross," she said, shuddering.
"You don't drink it for the taste," Jesse said before heading back over to Benji. "Want one?" He asked him. Benji shook his head.
Around an hour later there was another knock at the door and Beca felt her stomach jolt.
By now, Jesse and Amy were in the middle of a game of beer pong, and Benji was acting as their ref. Beca had been in the corner, happily creating a play-list.
Chloe felt suddenly nervous as she waited for Beca to answer the door. She was worried that in her jeans and floaty blue top she was under dressed.
But when Beca opened the door, the brunette gave her a smile that melted all the fear away.
She was wearing skinny dark blue jeans and a long black t-shirt with 'Crows Before Hoes" written in the Game of Thrones font. She had her trademark dark eye makeup on, and her hair had been lightly curled.
Chloe didn't think she'd ever seen anyone so gorgeous.
