It was late at night, Aubrey just finished doing the paperwork she's required to hand in the next day. The blonde rubbed her temples with her fingers circularly. Her boss has been stressing her out recently, and things at home aren't exactly making things easier.

She glanced at the clock hanged on the wall

10:26 PM

the blonde smiled softly to herself, Chloe is probably sleeping now, she wonders how Chloe has been doing in Barden. Being a Barden graduate herself, she is positive that the school can bring the best college experience to the redhead.

Aubrey stretched her limbs and yawned, she should probably go to sleep, wouldn't want to mess up her presentation tomorrow. The blonde sighed and started cleaning up her desk.

Just as she was about to close her laptop, a familiar Skype ringtone started ringing.

The blonde frowned, she glanced at the screen.

Chloe Calling

"Isn't it like 1 AM in Atlanta, why is she still awake?" Aubrey muttered to herself but answered the call anyways.

"Chloe?" Aubrey started, "Why are you still awake?"

On the screen appeared the redhead, biting her bottom lips, an indication that she was nervous about something. Noticing this, Aubrey's face softened.

"What's on your mind?" The blonde asked softly.

"I-, I-," Chloe started, the redhead scrunched her brows, struggling with conveying her thoughts through words, "I'm confused."

"confused about what?" Aubrey asked, with a soft smile still hung on her face.

"I met this person," Chloe said, as her mind drifted off to Beca, "This person is special, different from all the other people I've met." The redhead paused and looked at Aubrey, the blonde gave her an encouraging nod, "So I've been hanging out with this person a lot, and I don't know, their presence makes me feel complete, and I remember feeling this weird twinge of feeling in my chest when seeing the person hanging out with someone other than me." Chloe rambled on nervously, "I don't know what's happening to me." Chloe sighed sadly.

"Chloe, hey, there is nothing wrong feeling this way," Aubrey grinned, "I think, you've developed a small crush on this person."

"But this person," Chloe spoke out hesitantly, "Is a girl."

Upon hearing this, Aubrey raised her brows in amusement, lips curved to an understanding smile. But as memories from her high school years begin flooding back to her, the blonde furrowed her brows not wanting to feel the pain.

The tears streaming down her face

The way she begged Aubrey not to leave her

The pain Aubrey felt in her chest

"Bree, say something please," The redhead begged, "Do you hate me now because I like girls?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Aubrey let out a small sigh and shook her head, "No Chloe, I don't hate you. It's just that, I never thought that you might be into girls." The blonde rested her chin on her hand, "I never told you about this, but before your brother, I was with someone, and we were very in love."

Chloe furrowed her brows in confusion, "What does this guy has to do with what we're talking about?"

"Ah that's the point, it's not a guy, it's a girl," Aubrey said sadly, "Her name is Stacie, and she was my everything."

"Why did you two break up?" Chloe asked curiously, she never knew Aubrey had a girlfriend.

"My dad made me," Aubrey replied sadly, "He wanted me to make the right choice, as if he knew what the right choices are. I broke up with her when I graduated high school, and since then we were out of each other's life" The blonde muttered gloomily, "But that's not the point of this conversation, What I want to say is that there's nothing wrong with loving a girl. The times I spent with Stacie were the best times of my life."

"You know, I have a roommate named Stacie," Chloe said, trying to change the topic, "She's tall and very pretty, sometimes she may give people the impression that she's sexually active or some sort, but she's actually a sweetie inside."

"That's nice to hear," Aubrey smiled, "Kind of sounds like the Stacie I knew" the blonde joked.

"Do you still love her?" Chloe whispered softly, from the look on Aubrey's face, she couldn't help but wonder what this Stacie girl meant, or still means to her.

"She's my first love, I can't forget her that easily." Aubrey admitted.

"Do you love my brother," Chloe asked with a small voice

"Of course I do, he's no Stacie, but he has been there for me since I could remember, he's family." Aubrey answered, "Anyways Chloe, it's okay to love who you love, just remember to protect yourself, I'm always here for you."

Chloe let out a small smile, "Thanks Bree, you have no idea how much this means to me, I think I'll talk to Beca when I have the chance."

"Beca? Is that the girl's name?" Aubrey asked with a grin.

"yeah, her name is Beca Mitchell." Chloe beamed and started telling Aubrey all about the times she's spent with Beca.

Seeing the expression on Chloe's face, and how her eyes twinkle with joy when talking about this Beca girl. Aubrey has no idea who this girl is, and how she acts as a person. But there's one thing Aubrey knows for sure, Chloe's in love with the girl.

Seeing this version of Chloe though, struck a chord within Aubrey, she reminds the blonde of all the times she's spent with Stacie.

How happy she was.

There's really not much she could do, the long legged brunette is probably in college, enjoying her life and had already forgotten about Aubrey.

After ending the call with Chloe, Aubrey put away her laptop and cleared her working space. Shaking her head in distress, Aubrey decided to bury the emerging memories back to the deepest corner in her head, she can't deal with this, at least not now.

xxx

"Yo Tom, check out this flyer," Nathan nudged Tom on the shoulders with a yellow flyer.

"What's that," Tom asked and glanced at the yellow piece of paper.

"It's about this contest a company is holding, they're looking for aspiring singers or music producers." Nathan explained, "they want someone who is creative and can speak through music. I remember you write music right dude? So why not give this a shot?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure people will like you," Lincoln added, the boy studied the flyer and said, "It even said you could have one individual tag along in the performance in case necessary."

"Dude, you can ask Clary for help," Nathan smirked and suggested, "Isn't that what you always wanted? to serenade her?"

Tom rolled his eyes and replied, "Stop it guys, I don't like her that way"

"Whatever you say," Nathan smirked and patted his friend on the shoulder.

Tom snatched the flyer from his friend, and read it cautiously, this contest sounds extremely promising, maybe this could be the chance for him to get closer with Clary. He has some songs written down already in the past few years, now all he has to do is pick out the songs perfect for the contest, perfect for him and Clary.

xxx

"See you later Clary," Beca bid the redhead goodbye and rushed out the classroom in a hurry, after having the talk with Jesse, Beca has been distancing herself from Clary, wanting to give herself some space to figure out her feelings. Since Jesse is in town, she's been spending lot of time with her best friend.

"Bye, Beca…" Chloe frowned, she's noticed Beca hasn't been spending that much time with her which gives her no chance to talk to the girl about what's on her mind.

After Beca basically ran out of the classroom, Chloe sighed and started putting away her belongings, maybe Beca was just spending more time with Jesse, its understandable, wanting to spend time with a long time friend.

"Hey Clary," Tom greeted, holding a piece of paper in his hands.

"Hi Tom, I'm actually leaving, make it quick okay?" Chloe replied, while stuffing the remaining books to her backpack.

"Oh yeah sure," Tom answered, "So there's this contest a company is holding, here take a look at it." The guy continued and handed the flyer to Chloe.

The ginger took the flyer and scanned through it, "So this contest, whats up?"

"Look at this," Tom said and pointed at the flyer, "It says I could have an individual sing a duet with me, so I was wondering if I have the honour to ask you for this favour," The brunette guy explained sheepishly.

"You want me to sing with you." Chloe repeated with her eyes still locked at the flyer.

"Yeah," Tom chuckled and replied, "So can you?"

"Well, I did promise you I'd sing with you, I think there's no reason for me to say no right?" Chloe chuckled, "So yeah, of course."

"Great," Tom gave Chloe a toothy grin, "I'll text you the details."

"Sure," Chloe smiled, "I really got to go, I'll see you later."

Tom nodded and waved the redhead goodbye.

xxx

It has been a week since Tom came to Chloe and asked her to help with his duet for the contest, since then, Tom and Chloe has been texting back and forth about what songs they're doing. Eventually they decided to meet up and talk in person, which makes things easier.

"I want a latte please," Chloe ordered politely, the cashier nodded with a smile and started preparing her beverage.

"Here's your latte miss," The cashier eventually said, Chloe accepted it gladly and brought her coffee to a table next to the window, she sighed and took out her phone. The redhead scrolled through her text and deflated when she realised it's been almost two weeks since she and Beca texted.

She misses Beca.

The redhead mindlessly scrolled through instagram to kill time, she came here 20 minutes early since she is the type of person that rather be early than to be late. She grinned to herself when she saw Amy's post of the Aussie doing shots at a party, with an obviously annoyed Stacie standing next to her. Under the photo is the caption, "She Loves me"

"Hey Clary," Tom greeted, "So here's the song I chose, wanna take a look at it?" The boy handed Chloe his iPad with a PDF file of musical notes and lyrics displayed on screen.

Chloe greeted the boy with a small smile and took the iPad, she glanced at the screen and read the song title

Just Give Me A Reason

Chloe quirked an brow at the song choice, she specifically remembered telling Tom NOT to choose the song, the song just isn't Chloe's jam, and honestly, towards the end of the song, it's just the girl and the boy singing the same notes, what's the point of singing a duet when you can't harmonise properly?

"So you picked this song," Chloe asked, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Yeah I did," Tom answered proudly, "It's my best work so far."

"All right then," Chloe sighed, "When should we start practicing?"

"I was thinking three times a week? Maybe two to three hours?" Tom said, "You cool with that?"

"I think I'll manage," Chloe put on a forced smile and replied, she really didn't want to spend that much time with Tom per week, she's already not spending time with Beca. However, she did promise Tom she'd help, so she still agreed, with a hope in mind that they could get this over with soon.

xxx

"Hey Beca," Jesse grinned and pulled the shorter girl into a hug, after letting her go he placed both of his hands firmly on her shoulders, "Now tell me why you've been coming to my place for two weeks straight."

"What do you mean?" Beca chuckled nervously, "I'm just visiting my best friend, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Right," Jesse raised his eyebrows, unconvinced, "So tell me about the redhead, did you make a move on her yet." The boy teased and pinched Beca's nose.

"Dude quit it," Beca scrunched her nose and glared at Jesse, who's wearing a boyish grin, "And for your question, no. I haven't talked to her for awhile."

"Why?" Jesse frowned, "You like her don't you?"

"I do, it's just.." Beca started, paused, and shook her head, "Never mind."

"Let me guess, you don't want to fall for her more, so you choose to hang out with me instead, hoping the feelings will go away soon, so you could go back being a cold hearted girl." Jesse stated with a straight face.

"Wh- what makes you think that?" Beca widened her eyes and stuttered, "That's totally not what's on my mind" the brunette mumbled and let her eyes wander around the room.

"Come on Becaw, I know you, this is your defence mechanism." Jesse rolled his eyes and stated the obvious, "I won't push you into doing anything, but just give the girl some credit. give yourself a chance to be happy."

"Jess, give me some time," Beca tilted her head sideways and answered, "I just want some time to figure shit out."

Jesse nodded and decided to drop the topic, "By the way Beca, remember the contest I told you earlier?"

"yeah, what about it?" Beca plopped herself on the bed and opened the bag of chips she bought on the way.

"The contest is called 'Music Never Sleeps', and we have three portions in the contest." Jesse started, "First, we want the contestant tell us what music means to them, in whatever format, Secondly, pick a song and change it's beat, recreate it, like making a cover. Lastly, we want the contestant to sing one of their self written songs. That's basically what we want out of the them."

"So why are you telling me this?" Beca asked, and continued munching on her chips.

"I think you should take part in the contest," Jesse suggested, taking some chips from the bag.

"Me?" Beca smirked, "Nah, I'm not good enough for things like this."

"Yes, Beca, I've heard some of your works and it's amazing!" Jesse exclaimed, "You need to apply." The boy stated and sat down next to Beca.

"I only showed you some of my mixes, they're far from original music," Beca rolled her eyes and replied.

"I may have accidentally stumbled upon your original music folder," Jesse smiled apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Why am I not surprised?" Beca sighed and placed her bag of chips aside, "Look Jesse, I appreciate this, thanks for having faith in my works, but I really don't think I'm good enough for your fancy contest."

"Beca! Your music is amazing, so raw, beautifully written and composed. The world would be so lucky to hear your music, blessed even." Jesse said excitedly, "Beca please, do it for me?"

Looking at her best friend, Beca really didn't want to disappoint him. Yet the girl is not sure why the boy wants her to apply for the contest, she glanced at the boy one last time, Jesse was trying to put on the Puss in the Boots expression, wide eyes, and looks extremely weird on guys like him.

"Fine," Beca sighed exasperatedly, "But I need time and inspiration to write new music. It's not that easy man."

"Great," Jesse grinned triumphantly.

"Wipe that stupid smile off of your face," Beca mumbled and retrieved her bag of snacks and started eating her chips again.

xxx

"24 days since I last talked to Beca," Chloe thought to herself, she's in economics class and has been shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She desperately wanted the class to end already so she could finally talk to Beca.

After having the talk with Aubrey, Chloe's senses when it comes to Beca became extremely highlighted.

The thought of Beca sitting behind her intrigues Chloe, it was as if the presence of the brunette alone could take her breath away. Not being able to talk to the brunette aren't making things any easier. This feeling ain't getting away and is in fact getting stronger day by day.

"Ok class, don't forget to turn in the assignment next week, remember I also need the powerpoint. So an essay and a powerpoint, don't forget," the professor reminded the class, to which the class hummed in response, "nice, class dismissed then."

As soon as the words left the professor's mouth, Chloe spun around immediately, beamed and greeted her friend, "Becs!"

"Hey, red," Beca replied with a small smile, something was wrong though with her expression, Chloe could sense the difference but couldn't exactly pinpoint what's wrong.

"Can we, grab food after class?" Chloe asked with a timid smile, fidgeting with her fingers nervously.

"You mean right now?" Beca asked, "I don't know red.." The brunette's voice trailed off awkwardly

"Do you have plans with Jesse?" Chloe asked sadly, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to hang out with you like we used to," the ginger spoke with a small voice, "I just miss you a lot," Chloe admitted quietly, so quiet Beca almost didn't catch it.

"Hey, Clary, I didn't say I can't, don't be sad," The last thing Beca wanted to see is a sad Chloe, so despite of her efforts on staying away from the redhead, "C'mon pack your stuff, we should catch up." The brunette said, gently tugging a lose strand of red curls behind Chloe's ear.

With a shy smile on her face, Chloe nodded gratefully and spun back to her desk, and started gathering her belongings.

xxx

The pair ended up going to a nearby bar, Chloe being the one who suggested it. The bar was popular amongst students, thus being the place where a huge amount of students gather after school.

Beca ordered herself a beer, and looked at her friend in amusement when she ordered a bottle of Cola.

"Cola? Seriously?" Beca teased, "You suggested this place, at least have some beer."

"I'm not a big fan of alcohol honestly," Chloe admitted, "So nah."

The brunette nodded understandingly and took a sip of her beer.

"Becs, I've been wanted to talk to you for awhile, but I really couldn't find a chance," Chloe paused and took a straw and popped it in her Cola bottle, "you always rush out of class before i can talk to you."

"Yeah, about that, I'm sorry," Beca said, "I just needed time for myself."

"No Becs," Chloe exclaimed, "I'm the one who should say sorry, Tom asked me to help him out with this contest he wants to attend, apparently I will be singing a duet with him." The ginger continued explaining why she was a bit preoccupied this past week, "That's why I couldn't make time for you, I'm sorry for being such a horrible friend."

Beca raised her brows shock, Clary was blaming herself for not spending time with her, when it was not even her fault. Beca was sure she was the reason why the pair haven't talked much lately, and Clary, being herself, was taking all the blame.

"No it's okay, you did nothing wrong ok? You have things going on in your life, it's fine." Beca reassured the redhead and placed her hands on top of hers. The brunette was glad her touch seems to calm her friend down.

" But you need to explain this, a music contest? Baker?" Beca asked, "What is happening?"

"Yeah this contest is called music never sleeps, and it requires singing I guess, I promised Tom i would sing one song with him, so that's why I agreed. Also why I've been busy, he insisted we needed to practice at least three times a week." Chloe said and took a huge gulp of her drink.

"I see," Beca answered, the thought of Tom taking up most of Chloe's times, in some way infuriates Beca, how dare the guy do this, instead of acting on her feelings, she chose to drink them away. Beca nodded along to Chloe's words, as she gestured the bartender for another bottle of beer.

xxx

Before Beca knew it she was on her 8th bottle of beer, Chloe stared at her friend in shock, she was paying too much attention on Beca's face instead of what she's doing. Not until some girl came up to their table to take away the empty bottles did Chloe realise how much her tiny friend actually drank.

"Becs, you drank too much, you should stop!" Chloe scolded the brunette, and took away the bottle that is in her hand.

"Claryyyy," Beca slurred and pointed her finger at the ginger, "you are my bestest friend," The brunette stated with a lazy smile on her face. The brunette has this flushed cheek which Chloe finds extremely adorable.

"You are my best friend too, C'mon, let's get you home," Chloe replied softly and placed her hand on Beca's waist helping the brunette stand up still. Good thing she was tiny, or Chloe wouldn't know how to help her friend home.

With the help of Chloe, Beca wobbled but managed to stay on her foot. Her mind was all blurry, and some unpleasant high school memories began coming back to her.

As the pair walked on the pavement along the lake, there were hardly anyone on the street. Chloe could sense the brunette getting more tired by minutes, Beca was basically resting her entire body on Chloe, not even able to support her own weight properly.

Chloe placed Beca's hands on the reeling nearby for support and knelt down in front of the drunk brunette, hands stretched out behind.

"Claryyy, I'm taller dan you," Beca grinned and waved both her hands in the air excitedly, almost losing balance, "Oops," The brunette giggled and placed her hands back onto the reeling quickly, when she noticed she was still in fact 'taller' than Chloe, she smiled widely and started singing, "What a wodeeeerful feeeeeling,"

Chloe rolled her eyes playfully, "Hop on Becs."

"Piggy back ride?" Beca's eyes widened in excitement, without hesitation, the petite brunette hopped onto Chloe's back, "Weeeeeee," she squealed, hands thrown up in the air, "Piggy back rideeee" The brunette hung her hands on Chloe's shoulders and snuggled closer to the source of warmth Chloe is providing.

Steadying herself, Chloe stood up, with a brunette lying lazily on her back. Smiling softly at the tingly sensation Beca is giving her, the ginger continued heading towards Beca's house, which is probably 5 blocks away.

The night was peaceful, and the sky was clear. Looking up, Chloe could see stars twinkling in the sky, this is something Chloe hardly sees in LA. The redhead was oddly enjoying this moment, with only her and Beca, nobody else.

"Clary," Beca mumbled in the crook of Chloe's neck.

"Hmmmm?" Chloe hummed softly in response.

"Why do people hate me? Why does nobody care for me?" The brunette said with a small voice, "what did I do?"

"They just don't get how amazing of a person you are, and I care Beca," Chloe stated firmly, "I care."

Beca sighed and tightened her grasp on Chloe, burying her face deeper into the crook of Chloe's neck, "Please don't stop caring for me, I don't know how I'll be able to survive if even you stopped caring."

"Don't be ridiculous Beca," Chloe chuckled, "I will never stop caring for you, I will be here by your side no matter what."

"I'm so glad that I met you," Beca trailed off, letting the sleeping bugs take over her. her eyelids feeling heavier and heavier.

As the brunettes breath fell into a steady rhythm, Chloe could tell that she was asleep, the redhead tightened her hold on the brunettes thigh. She's not going anywhere anytime soon.

I will always care for you.

A/N

Hey guys, here's another new chapter. I really do hope you enjoyed. This story will for sure be a long one, I'm not even sure how many chapters it's gonna have. (right now, we're not even halfway into the story) The main storyline is all in my head, I'm just not sure how many words it requires me to use. So I guess I'll just wait and see:) And for the people asking, Clary Guetta is a thing for a reason, people will eventually find out that's not her real name. I have it all planned out in my head, the name Chloe Beale WILL return to the storyline, it's just a matter of time. Once more, I am extremely excited for where this story is headed, hope you guys are as well. Lastly, don't forget to vote and comment, the reviews in the last chapter makes me smile and gave me the motivation to keep going. Thanks for the support it really do mean a lot to me. So until next time!