Chloe's POV

The next day, I head to mine and Beca's spot in the woods, hoping that I'll find her there since she isn't answering her phone. I sigh in relief when I see her dangling her feet in the water.

"Beca,"I say, startling her. "Sorry, you weren't answering your phone." I sit next to her and she continues to stare out at the water.

"Beca, are you okay?" She just continues to stay silent and I touch her shoulder. She flinches and jerks away.

"Sorry, I'm just on edge." I nod and grab her hand and she lets me. "My mom wasn't very happy about me leaving school."

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. If anything, I should apologizing." I look over at her, confused. "I should've stood up for myself a long time ago."

"The good thing is that you're doing that now. I have to get home. You want to come over and hang out for a bit. We can work on our homework."

"Is that okay? I mean, with your mom and all. Is she still okay with me and everything?" I smile, my cut stinging, thinking back to our conversation last night and nod.

"She's completely fine with it. She's not even at the house. The shop finally opened so she's working there today." She nods and I get up, offering my hand to her. She takes it and grunts in pain when I pull.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just took a nasty fall this morning." I just brush it off as her being clumsy and we walk to my house. I pray that Jesse's not here and walk inside. My prayers are answered when I don't get an answer when I call out. We go up to my room and I instantly flop down on my bed, patting the spot next to me for Beca. She lays down beside me and we just stay there, not speaking.

"Can I ask you a question?"I ask her and she slowly nods. "How did you know how to bandage me up?" I can see her instantly stiffen up and I put my hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to answer right now, but I would like to know it in the future."

"Thank you. What time is it?" I look at the clock and tell her. "I have to go to work on a couple of minutes."

"How is it working there?" My mom wants me to work at her shop, but I don't really like that idea. Maybe I can get a job at the diner.

"I like it. Stacie is really nice and so are the rest of the employees. Why?"

"I'm thinking of getting a job." She smiles for the first time that day.

"If you come with me, I'm sure we can work something out with Stacie." I nod and we head out of the house. Beca goes straight to the car, confusing me.

"Don't you have to go get your work uniform?"I gesture to her house and she shakes her head.

"I keep an extra at the diner." I just frown and get into the driver's seat. Why wouldn't she just go grab it real quick and why keep an extra uniform at the diner? Maybe she doesn't want to go home. We get to the diner and I grab ahold of Beca's hand as we exit the car and head in.

"Beca,"Stacie cries, coming toward us and enveloping her into a hug. Beca surprisingly let's her and even hugs her back. Jealousy starts to stir in my stomach, but I push it down. Beca doesn't like her like that, right?

Beca's POV

I hug Stacie, all my bruises that my mom so graciously gave me, protesting and lead her and Chloe into the back.

"Stacie, I was wondering if you could hire Chloe? I can vouch for her." Stacie studies Chloe for a second before throwing an apron at her.

"We'll give you a trial run and depending on how you do, we'll get your information later." Chloe nods and I grab her a uniform, gesturing for her to go and put it on. She comes out with it on and her hair put up. Butterflies stir in my stomach and I hand her pen and a little notebook, letting our hands brush, warmth spreading everywhere throughout my body.

"Come on, I'll show you the ropes." She nods and follows me out the quickly filling diner. "When you write down an order, hand it to one of the cooks and if they're busy, set it on the counter and call it out to them." She nods again.

"Is that it?"

"No, I mainly do the delivering but if it gets too busy, then I'll need your help."

"I got this." She gives me a thumbs up and gets to work. For the next several hours, we work, Chloe only needing help a few times. I laugh when her eyes widen at how much I'm carrying. I have 5 trays full of plates and bowls of food, having a lot of practice from the few years that I've worked here. She stops in her tracks and accidently trips another server which causes their trays to go flying and all over one table. I, trying my hardest not to laugh, apologize to them and give them a few free meals. They seem satisfied with that and I sigh in relief, glad to not have lost a customer.

"Sorry,"Chloe apologizes, covering her red face. I grab her hands and kiss her forehead.

"It was an accident. I've done it several times before." She smiles and we get back to work. Finally, our shift is over and I bring Chloe into Stacie's little office. Stacie has her arms crossed and a scowl on her face when we walk in. I can hear Chloe audibly gulp and try not to smile, knowing what Stacie is doing.

"You got several orders wrong and tripped a server forcing me to give the family free meals,"Stacie says with a raised voice.

"I'm so sorry. It won't happen again." Stacie glares for a second before beaming.

"You actually did better than most do on their first day." Chloe slowly smiles, realizing that Stacie was messing with her. "After Beca's first day, it looked like a tornado hit the diner." I playfully slap Stacie and she grabs some papers for Chloe to fill out. As Chloe does that, Stacie takes me to the side.

"You seem to like her,"Stacie states, raising an eyebrow.

"We're dating and I do like her. A lot."

"What happened to her face?" I cringe and tell Stacie the story. By the time I'm done, so is Chloe and just as we're leaving, Stacie stops me.

"She's a keeper,"Stacie says, winking. I blush and run after Chloe. Chloe sets her uniform in the back and we start to head back to her house.

"Thank you for getting me a job." I just grab her hand and turn to look at her, when she takes a really deep breath. "Do you want to spend the night?"

"Is it too soon since the whole fight and everything?"

"I told you, my mom is completely okay with you. There was a little doubt in her mind after the fight, but I quickly fixed that. So what do you say?" I think about it for a second.

"Yeah, that would be awesome." She grins and we park at her house. "Let me run and get some stuff." She nods and I enter the house very quietly. With my mom threatening to kill me, I'm more on edge lately. I actually slept at Stacie's last night and probably would've tonight if Chloe hadn't offered for me to go to her house. I'm too afraid that my mom will kill me in my sleep and so I'll probably sleep on my roof tomorrow night, not wanting to be too much of a burden on Stacie. Or raise questions. There's this section that's flat, right above my window, so I'll just climb up there. It wouldn't be the first time. I grab my stuff and head over to Chloe's, nervous about spending the night with Chloe for the first time.