Hey guys! you'll be glad to find out that this chapter is longer. It's roughly 4.5k long (excluding my author's note)
So we finally get to see Beca go to Vermont in this chapter!
Hope you enjoy it!
Age Is Just a Number - Chapter 21: Meeting The Beales
"Okay, since I'm going to pick up Beca today, I thought that there's a few things you need to know about her." Chloe had gathered all her family into the living room of the lodge and stood before them as she informed them about her girlfriend.
Although it was her grandparents' lodge, they had left the day after Christmas because they were going to spend New Year back at home, leaving the rest of the family to look after the lodge. The rest of the family being Cindy, Chloe, James and Hailee. Chloe and James' older sister Ella (aged 32) , her husband Ross (35) and their twin boys Ethan and Mason (10). Cindy's younger sister and brother-in-law (Chloe, James and Ella's aunt and uncle) Evelyn (45) and George (47) plus their daughter Taylor (12).
"Now I ask you not to all freak out because I've heard it all before okay?" Chloe asked calmly, glancing around at her family members. "Mom remember when I first introduced you to Beca?"
Cindy nodded.
"What age did you think she was?" Chloe asked warily.
"Well I thought she looked rather young but after you told me she was your friend I just assumed she was in her 20s...Why?"
"Right...well, she's not…" Chloe looked down at her feet, feeling all eyes on her. "Beca's only 18." She finally said before looking up. Taylor, Mason and Ethan were too busy playing with Hailee to listen in but everyone else just stared blankly at the redhead.
"Dude you're 23." James was the first to speak. Pointing out the obvious of course.
"Chlo doesn't that make her still in high school?" Ella asked slowly, furrowing her brow at her little sister.
"Yes it does but please hear me out. We've talked to her parents and they're completely cool about it. I really like her you guys and I'd appreciate it if you welcomed her like normal." The 23 year old practically begged.
"Of course we will Chloe, I've met Beca a couple times now and she seems lovely." Cindy smiled and Chloe sighed in relief.
"Age is just a number, kid." Ross smiled with a wink, his arm around his wife, who just so happened to be 3 years younger than him.
"Thank you guys, it means a lot. Also just so you know, not so long ago Beca had an accident which she had to have brain surgery. She has to wear a hearing aid now so I'd appreciate if you guys didn't ask her so many questions about it. It's still a pretty sensitive subject for her." Chloe clasped her hands together.
"Wait what happened to her?" James asked.
"It was a soccer incident."
"Soccer? Your girlfriend is already awesome." The 18 year old smirked (he had just recently turned 18 before the holidays.)
"We'll be on our best behaviour." George chuckled at his niece. God she loved her family.
John was currently driving Beca to the airport, trying not to freak out about the fact his daughter was going on a plane by herself, or was it because she was going to spend a week with her 23 year old girlfriend?
"Beca are you a virgin?"
The brunette almost choked on her own saliva, pushing her earphones off her head as she turned to her father. "Am I a what?" She asked incredulously, hoping she heard the wrong thing.
"Are you a virgin?" John asked again, keeping his eyes on the road.
Beca blushed a deep shade of red and tore her eyes away from her dad. "Uh...yeah."
The man sighed heavily. "Don't lie to me Beca."
"What?" Beca asked, annoyed.
"Have you or haven't you had sex before?" He asked firmly, finally turning to her as they stopped at a red light.
Beca was silent.
"Beca…" He said warningly.
"Ugh fine. I've had sex, big deal." Beca rolled her eyes and put her headphones back on, only to have them taking off by her father. "Oh my god! What is it now?" She exclaimed in annoyance.
"Beca you're only 18." He said sternly as the lights turned green and they started moving again. "Was it with-"
"No it wasn't with Chloe. I was 16. Yes it was with a girl. Can you leave me alone now?" She answered all the questions she knew he was dying to ask and he nodded. She put her headphones back on and the rest of the car journey was silent.
The only other person that knew about her having sex before was Emily, not even Jesse, Benji or Chloe. She was rather ashamed because it was a drunken mistake with some random girl at a party when she was 16.
"Dude I still can't believe you're banging a girl who is the same age as me." James scoffed, glancing at his sister in the passenger's seat. Chloe had timed Beca's flight and James had offered to drive her to the airport.
"Okay 1, we're dating and 2, shut up she's like 4 months older than you." The redhead teased.
"Oh wow what a huge age difference." James deadpanned.
"Why didn't you shave this morning?" Chloe laughed as she reached over and touched James' stubbly chin only to have him jerk away.
"I was hoping that your girl is bi because chicks dig the stubble." He joked, sending a smirk to his sister.
"Sucks to be you because she's capital G gay." Chloe chuckled. "God, I miss her."
"It's only just been over a week!" James laughed, furrowing his brow.
"I know but I'm used to seeing her everyday. It's just been weird." The redhead shrugged.
Beca had just gone through security in Vermont and was more than ready just to relax with Chloe but she was now beginning to get nervous about meeting her girlfriend's family.
She felt like a pack horse as she made her way through the airport to meet Chloe, she had her laptop bag slung over her shoulder, her guitar case in one hand and her suitcase in the other.
And that's when she saw her. Her face lit up as she saw Chloe standing there definitely dressed for the weather, looking adorable at the same time. She wasn't alone though, she was standing with a taller guy who was wearing black jeans, a black beanie and a Nirvana tshirt which could be seen since his jacket was unzipped. Black attire? Beca's kind of person.
A huge grin spread across Chloe's face as Beca walked towards them.
"Long time no see." Beca smirked as she finally reached the 2. She dropped her bags at her feet before throwing her arms around her girlfriend's neck.
"I've missed you." Chloe mumbled into Beca's neck, wrapping her arms around her waist as they swayed slightly from side to side.
"I've missed you too." Beca pulled away enough so she could kiss her girlfriend lightly on the lips.
James cleared his throat and both women turned their heads. "Hey." He tilted his head slightly and waved at Beca with a grin on his face.
"Oh yeah, Beca this is James. My little brother. He's 18 too." Chloe let go of Beca and the younger girl shook the boy's hand he was offering.
"Oh hey. Cool shirt." Beca chuckled, pointing at his Nirvana shirt.
"Thanks." He smiled, opening his jacket slightly and that's when Beca noticed the epilepsy band on his wrist. Oh that was the brother Chloe was talking about.
"Do you wanna get going?" Chloe asked, motioning her thumb towards the doors.
"Oh yeah." Beca was quickly snapped out of her thoughts, turning around to pick up her bags but James stopped her.
"Don't worry I'll get them." He smiled softly and Beca couldn't help but smile back because she realized that him and Chloe had the same smile.
James carried Beca's bags out to the car and even placed them in the trunk for her.
"James give me the keys." Chloe held her hand out to her brother just as he closed the trunk.
"No I'm driving." He argued.
Beca raised her eyebrow in amusement as she watched the interaction.
"You drove here." Chloe whined, still not dropping her hand.
"You two better decide who the hell is driving because I'm freezing my tits off right now!" Beca interjected, eyeing the two siblings.
Chloe gave her brother the best puppy dog eyes she could muster and he sighed, tossing her the keys. He took off his beanie and ran his hand through his hair as he climbed in the back seat.
Beca spoke up as her and Chloe climbed in too. "Chloe how the fuck are you even a redhead? Your mom is blonde, your brother is brunette. What the hell is going on here?" She asked with a laugh.
"She's adopted." James called from the back seat.
"James shut up!" Chloe scolded and Beca couldn't help but laugh. They reminded her of her relationship with Emily. "My aunt's a redhead, that's why. Don't listen to him." The redhead rolled her eyes at her brother as she started up the car.
"I take it you've already told everyone I'm 18?" Beca asked as Chloe pulled out of the parking lot.
"Yeah but don't worry because they're completely fine with it. I've also told them about the-" Chloe pointed to her own head and Beca got the idea.
"Alright, cool." Beca nodded. "You know on my car journey to the airport, my dad asked me if I was a virgin." She chuckled, swiftly changing the subject.
"No way!" James laughed, finding it hilarious that he just had to join in this conversation.
"Oh my god." Chloe chewed on her bottom lip. "So what did you say?" In reality she just wanted to know whether he girlfriend has had sex before or not.
Chloe turned to face Beca just as the brunette tapped the side of her nose.
"What the hell? I can't even get a girl to go on a second date with me." James protested, reading Beca's body language. the girl's obviously slept with someone before.
"That's because your an asshole." Chloe said looking into the rearview mirror before laughing.
"I'm scared I'll fuck up." Beca said after a moment silence.
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked with a frown, reaching over to run her hand over her girlfriend's thigh.
"What if I say something stupid and your family hate me?" Beca asked, unable to shake her worried tone.
"Beca we went through this with Hailee and my mom, I love you so they'll love you. Alright?" Chloe reassured, giving Beca's thigh a squeeze before placing her hand back on the steering wheel.
Beca mustered a small smile and nodded.
"You're a soccer player and like Nirvana, what's there not to like?" James added, leaning forward in his seat.
Beca smiled back at him. He was so sweet, Beca had no idea why he didn't have a girlfriend, they'd be so lucky to have him.
"We're back!" Chloe called as they finally got back into the house. "Babe just leave your stuff here, we'll take it upstairs after you've met everyone."
"This place is huge." Beca looked around in awe as she hung up her jacket before grabbing hold of Chloe's hand, gripping it tightly.
"You'll be fine." The redhead whispered, leading Beca into the living room where everyone greeted her with warm smiles.
"Beca!" Hailee squealed, jumping off her cousin's (Taylor) lap before running towards Beca.
"Hey, Hailee." Beca let go of Chloe's hand so she could crouch down and give the 4 year old a hug.
"Everyone this is Beca." Chloe introduced Beca with a smile, wrapping her arm around the girl's waist as she stood back up.
Everyone greeted Beca and Chloe started to tell the brunette who was who. "Beca this is my aunt and uncle, Evelyn and George. This is their daughter aka my little cousin Taylor." The 12 year old smiled shyly at Beca. "This is my big sister Ella, her husband Ross and my little nephews Ethan and Mason."
"It's nice to meet you all. And to finally resolve the mystery of Chloe's red hair." Beca joked, motioning to Evelyn. God damn her word vomit. Luckily everyone found it funny.
"Chloe honey why don't you take Beca upstairs to unpack and I'll heat up the soup I made." Cindy smiled as she stood up, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder before smiling at Beca.
Chloe helped Beca with her bags upstairs and began pointing out the rooms.
"That's the kids' room." Chloe pointed towards the room and Beca glanced in noticing it had two bunk beds.
"Speaking of kids. There's a lot of them here huh?" Beca chuckled nervously.
"For the last time Beca, kids aren't scary." Chloe rolled her eyes, nudging her girlfriend as they continued down the hall.
"Have you watched Sinister?" Beca scoffed.
"Oh come on they're not gonna murder you." Chloe chuckled. "My mom's room is in there, James's is there, my sister and Ross's is beside ours and my aunt and uncle's is the furthest on the left." Chloe explained before leading Beca into their room.
"Woah." The brunette commented as she walked into the bedroom with a king sized, a beautiful dressing table, a huge wardrobe and of course she couldn't miss out of the en suite bathroom.
"It's kinda tradition in our family, whoever is bringing their new significant other gets this room." Chloe beamed, lifting Beca's suitcase onto the bed.
"Dude we have our own bathroom." Beca said completely ignoring her girlfriend as she went to check it out, looking like a kid on Christmas.
Beca came back through and looked at the bed for a moment. "I've just realised something…" She trailed off.
"Yeah." Chloe chuckled as she unzipped Beca's suitcase for her, finding it highly amusing how excited her girlfriend was.
"We've never actually slept in the same bed together." Beca couldn't help but smile. She didn't say anything else because she didn't want to sound sappy but she was looking forward to snuggling with Chloe at night.
"Hey, you're right." The realisation hit Chloe and a huge grin spread across her face. "Do you need a hand unpacking?" The redhead offered.
"That would be amazing, I'm tired and hungry." Beca sighed as she picked up her guitar and slid it under the bed.
"Do you take that thing everywhere?" Chloe asked in amusement.
"You never know when there might be a power outage and I'll need to be the entertainment." The brunette smirked, motioning to herself.
"Nice thinking." Chloe giggled. "Here put these in the nightstand drawer." She pulled out Beca's bottle of antidepressants and handed them to the girl. "Hey what are these?" She asked curiously as she picked up another bottle of pills out of Beca's suitcase.
"Oh that's medication to prevent seizures, I'm not taking them just now, Dr Hadley said just have them there as a precaution." Beca explained with a shrug, taking the bottle from Chloe's hands.
"You're not due your period are you? That would put a huge damper on our trip." Chloe chuckled, holding up the box of tampons and the packet of sanitary pads.
"Uh no, but a girl needs to be prepared so leave me alone." Beca rolled her eyes with a laugh as she took the feminine products out of her girlfriend's hands and tossed them onto the bed.
"I suppose they'll come in handy for emergencies. There's quite a few girls here if you haven't noticed already. I don't know if little Taylor's gotten her period yet." Chloe shrugged as she began to help Beca organize all her stuff. Normally Beca would hate someone else going through her stuff but she had a strong enough trust with Chloe that she didn't mind.
"What age is she?" Beca wondered, taking her makeup bag off of Chloe before walking over to the dressing table.
"12."
"What age were you when you got your first period?" Beca wondered as she moved some of Chloe's makeup over so she could have room for hers.
"12, unfortunately I have no hilarious story to tell, I've always been open to my mom about everything so I just came out and told her. What about you?" The redhead asked as she began putting Beca's clothes away in the wardrobe.
"I was 11-" Beca cut herself off as she laughed a little. "Even though Kat was in my life at some point, I was still a bit iffy of having her around so I felt more comfortable telling my dad. I was still on the toilet when I yelled out 'Dad I'm hemorrhaging!'" The brunette covered her face with her hands and laughed.
"No way!" Chloe giggled. "That's adorable." She was about to make a comment about how Beca has actually had a hemorrhage now but she decided against it.
"I don't share that story with many people so think yourself lucky." Beca strode up behind Chloe and wrapped her arms around the redhead who was still busy pulling out Beca's clothes.
"Why am I the only one unpacking now?" Chloe asked, not complaining about the contact of course.
"Because you love me and I'm tired." Beca said in her best 'baby' voice.
Chloe picked up one of Beca's bras and out of curiosity checked the label. "Hm, didn't know you were a C cup." She hummed in approval which made Beca laugh.
"I'm glad you approve." Beca chuckled. "What about you?" She wondered. There was still some things that the girls didn't know about each other, their bra sizes being one of them apparently.
"I was a B up until I got pregnant with Hailee and then I've been a C ever since." Chloe explained, tossing all of Beca's underwear on the bed which just so happened to be the last thing in her suitcase.
"Did you breastfeed Hailee?" Beca wondered curiously as she gathered all of her underwear and put them in one of the wardrobe drawers beside Chloe's.
"Yeah." Chloe chuckled.
"Didn't it hurt?" Beca cringed, closing the wardrobe before looking down at her own breasts.
"At first it was a little weird but you get used to it after a while." Chloe shrugged, laughing at Beca who was still looking at her chest.
"Damn right it be weird, there's just a little mouth sucking the hell out of your nipple."
"Come on we need to go downstairs. We can talk about this later when we won't be surrounded by a 12 year old, two 10 year olds and a 4 year old." Chloe said with an eye roll, grabbing Beca's hand and leading her out the room. "That means to try and control your word vomit." She said warningly before placing a kiss on the side of the girl's head.
"I'll try." The brunette sighed.
"Look who finally decided to join us." Cindy chuckled as Chloe lead Beca into the dining room. "Dinner is in the oven girls but the soup is ready so take a seat."
"This is like the biggest dining table I've seen in my life." Beca chuckled, slipping into the seat in between James and Chloe.
"Looks like somebody couldn't wait huh?" Chloe teased her daughter beside her who was already getting stuck into her soup, half of it already on her face.
"Hey, Beca you ever been snowboarding?" James asked as he took the bowl of soup off his mother to pass to Beca.
"No but I can skateboard. Why?"
"We're planning on hitting the slopes tomorrow. And you can skateboard?" He asked and Beca nodded. James leaned forward in his seat so he could see his sister. "Chloe I'm so stealing your girlfriend." He joked, nudging Beca.
Beca was glad that she was starting to hit it off with Chloe's family.
"Good luck with that." Chloe reached behind Beca and playfully shoved her brother.
"So...Chloe and Beca, how did you girls meet?" Evelyn wondered before taking a spoonful of soup.
Beca and Chloe almost choked on their soup as their eyes widened. "It's a uh-" Beca began, turning to Chloe for help.
"It's a long story but we're glad it worked out." Chloe looked down at her food, hoping her family will change the subject. Meeting in the bar and making out in the bathroom isn't the most romantic story.
"Chloe, how's Ryan doing?" Ella asked, noticing how uncomfortable her little sister was.
"He's good but I'm kind of pissed at-" She cut herself off quickly, hoping her daughter didn't hear her.
"Mommy you said a bad word! You need to put money in the swear jar!" The 4 year old protested making everyone laugh as she pointed up at her mother.
"I know honey, mommy's sorry." Chloe kissed the top of Hailee's head before going back to what she was saying. "Yeah I'm kinda annoyed at him and Aubrey right now because they've been seeing each other behind my back."
"They have?" Beca asked with a furrowed brow and Chloe nodded. "Hm never saw that coming." The brunette shrugged, taking another spoonful.
"Chloe what's the big deal? You moved on why can't he?" Ella shrugged.
"But with Aubrey? Not to mention it was behind my back." The 23 year old protested.
"Chloe if they're happy together just let them be. Your's and Beca's situation is...well complicated, so what if theirs is too." Cindy explained calmly to her youngest daughter.
"I guess. It's just weird y'know? My best friend and my ex boyfriend, it's like the number one best friend rule." Chloe stirred her spoon around in her soup as she frowned.
"Pretty sure that rule can be bent if you end up gay, babe." Beca spoke up with a wink which made Chloe smile. She shouldn't care about Aubrey and Ryan because she has all she needs with Beca.
"Enough about Chloe, Beca why don't you tell us a little about yourself. Have you got any brothers or sisters?" Cindy asked, now focusing everyone's attention on the small brunette.
"I've got a step-sister, if that counts? Her name's Emily-"
"How old is she?" James wondered.
"Dude you're not gonna date my sister." Beca chuckled, warningly pointing her finger at the boy. "She's 15 so back off." She said in true older sibling fashion.
"What will you do to me? You're like 3ft tall." James teased.
"I swear to god." Beca laughed shaking her head.
"Hey Chloe, is the reason you dated Beca because you're so scared of heights?' James laughed, finding himself hilarious.
"Dude I will murder you." Beca warned jokingly, pointing her spoon at him.
"James quit annoying her!" Chloe scolded.
"Yeah James shh, let Beca speak." Cindy pushed further and Beca cleared her throat.
"Anyway, yeah I live with my dad and stepmom. I'm a senior in high school-" Beca continued before getting cut off by Ross.
"What do you wanna do after you graduate?" He asked.
"Well I write songs and I can play guitar so I'm hoping to get somewhere with that." Beca smiled and turned to her girlfriend who was smiling back. That was one of the things they talked about when they first met.
"Have you written any songs for Chloe?" Beca (and everyone else for that matter) was surprised when Taylor spoke up from the other end of the table.
"I have actually. I just haven't sang them for her yet. The reason I got her number in the first place was because she wrote it down in my notebook after she realized I was writing a song about her." Beca explained, sliding her hand under the table to rest on Chloe's thigh.
"That's adorable." Evelyn cooed. "Why didn't you ever write me a song?" She joked turning to her husband.
"I would if I could, honey." He laughed, resting his arm on the back of his wife's chair.
Everyone enjoyed dinner. It was very comfortable, especially for Beca who laughed along and answered a ton of questions.
They all had an early night, wanting to get up nice and early the next morning.
Beca had just finished up in the bathroom as she walked out, tying her hair up into a messy bun. She reached into the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out her antidepressants, she popped one in her mouth and took a drink of her glass of water before climbing into bed beside her girlfriend.
Chloe shifted closer to Beca (who was lying on her back) and draped her arm over the brunette's abdomen.
"I could get used to this." Chloe hummed as she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply through her nose. "You smell really good, did you get new perfume?" The redhead wondered, opening her eyes again, she had noticed the minute Beca embraced her at the airport but the question slipped her mind.
"Yeah Jesse bought me it for Christmas." Beca lightly ran her fingertips along Chloe's forearm.
"What is it?" Chloe wondered, closing her eyes again.
"Paco Rabanne Lady Million. He wears the guy's stuff which smells really good so I'm not surprised the women's is decent too." Beca explained as her eyes drifted shut.
"Night babe." The redhead whispered.
"Night." Beca returned.
Chloe had gone out like a light. As for Beca, she had been tossing and turning for the past hour and now she had a splitting headache. She threw the covers off herself and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She grabbed her phone and unlocked it, using it as a light so she wouldn't have to wake Chloe up. Beca rummaged in her nightstand drawer but then instantly remembering that she had left her painkillers at home, although she's pretty much recovered from her injury, it was still common of her to get these awful headaches.
"Beca what's wrong?" Chloe asked in her adorably groggy voice.
"My head's killing me and I didn't pack my painkillers." Beca whispered, closing the drawer before pressing her hand to her head. "Fuck."
Chloe rolled over in the bed, opening the drawer to her nightstand and pulling out a box of Advil. "Here, it's probably nowhere near as strong as what you were taking but it might help a little."
Beca took the pills from her and shone the light from her phone on them to check what they were. "Thanks Chlo. Go back to sleep." She leaned over in the bed and kissed Chloe on the lips. The brunette popped a couple of the pills out and placed them at the back of her tongue before taking a swig of the water by her bedside. She was sick of taking all these pills.
After she finally got that over and done with, Beca settled back into bed and cuddled up to Chloe, hoping these painkillers would kick in soon.
Lots of things to talk about here!
Oooh so Beca's had sex before ;) Do you think she'll tell Chloe?
Chloe's family seem to be warming up to Beca, especially James XD
I want you guys's suggestions, is there anything specific you would like to see whilst they're in Vermont? Let me know and also let me know what you thought about this chapter :)