Chapter 21

I hope you can forgive me for the last chapter, but you should hold on because I know I'll need you to forgive me for future chapters as well. As long as you still kind of like me. Hit up the reviews!

I hope you're ready.

Chloe Beale sat with her legs beneath her, one arm draped over her stomach while the other picked at the loose threads on the arm of the couch. It had been nearly a week since Semi-Finals and she hadn't heard from Beca since then. She had stopped by her dorm on multiple occasions only to have Kimmy-Jin tell her that she wasn't there, but sometimes she didn't even get that. All her texts and calls had gone by without a single response. She had still gone to her classes, refusing to let one human being push her to the point that she skipped like every other person had the week before Thanksgiving Break.

The redhead looked to her left to see that Stacie looked just as miserable as she felt. The brunette had her feet propped up on the table while she worked on filing her nails. Neither of them wanted to be sitting on this couch and waiting for Aubrey to come back from her final class, but they weren't willing to risk their own lives by disobeying the text they had received from the blonde that morning.

"I hope she wants to talk about Bumper hanging up those signs that said 'Bellas Suck Ass,'" Stacie groaned, throwing her head back as she finished caring for her nails.

Chloe let out a chuckle at the idea, sighing as she responded, "Even if she did, it would still come back to Beca."

"I don't know if I can sit through her saying 'Beca destroyed our dreams' one more time," the busty girl did her best impression of her girlfriend and caused the co-captain to give a half-hearted smile.

"I know I can't," she mumbled.

Yes, Chloe had messed up when she didn't defend Beca, but that didn't mean she enjoyed hearing her best friend rant about how awful she was. The more she had thought about it, the more she realized that Beca had done what no one else was brave enough to do.

She removed herself from her thoughts as she heard the front door hit the wall before slamming shut, the sound of marching filling her ears. Aubrey Posen tore off her jacket and threw it into her room along with her bag before she resumed her usual pacing in front of the television.

Stacie sat up a bit straighter, attempting to seem interesting in whatever her girlfriend was about to say, but Chloe remained sullen and distant. She found it easiest if she tried to block her out for the entirety of her rant.

"You will never believe who I saw this morning," the blonde's laugh seemed almost maniacal as she replayed the event in her mind. She appeared crazed to the two on the couch. She didn't give her audience time to answer as she turned to them with wide eyes, "The Hobbit."

Chloe glanced up at this information. None of them had seen her since she left Semi-Finals in a rush. "Where?"

Aubrey continued pacing, her hands behind her back. She resembled her drill-sergeant of a father so much at that moment that it sent a chill down the redhead's spine. "She just looked so smug, like she knew she destroyed our dreams. I swear to the good aca-gods above that I will ruin her."

"Maybe you should chill out, babe," Stacie chided, attempting to slow her down for Chloe's sake. Aubrey was the only one in the room who was not aware that her best friend had been going out with Beca, so she also wasn't aware of how sensitive the subject was at the moment. Unfortunately, her words fell on deaf ears.

"That bitch took it upon herself to mess us all up. That's why I kept saying that we needed to practice our routine. If we had stuck with it then we would be going to Finals in a few months, but no. That pain-in-my-ass fucked up my last chance to ever go back and redeem myself," she bit out, her tone taking on a new edge with each passing second.

"Aubrey-" the brunette interjected, only to be spoken over as her girlfriend continued her rant.

"I did everything that I could for the Bellas and it was all taken away in a few minutes. It's all her fault! She just couldn't let her stupid ideas go," the blonde came to a halt. She turned to face Chloe as she said her next words with venom, "I'm so glad you decided not to date her. She's no good for anyone, especially not you. I don't even know how anyone could stand her insufferable attitude. You know what? Let Catherine have her, see how she deals-"

"ENOUGH." Chloe cried out in frustration.

Aubrey froze at the outburst, confused as to why her best friend had disrupted her. "What?"

"I said enough," the redhead repeated with a heavy emphasis on the final word.

"She crushed our dreams. Beca and Catherine deserve each other."

"Aubrey, no-" Stacie tried to stop her before it was too late.

Chloe bolted out of her seat, standing tall as she did what Beca had done and what she was never brave enough to do. Stand up to Aubrey. "Stop. All Beca ever tried to do was help us. You wouldn't listen. You couldn't get your head out of your ass long enough to realize that our set was fucking overdone and putting people to sleep. The only thing that Beca did was take charge and try to change things."

"A change no one wanted-"

"No," Chloe cut her off as if they were in a Riff-Off, her blood boiling. "I'm talking. Every one of the Bellas wanted to change the set, but you can't see past yourself. I know that you want to prove yourself, but so do I, and doing the same things over and over again isn't going to do anything."

"But if we perfect it-"

"Then people will still fall asleep and the Bellas will stop coming in second or third. We'll be last," she asserted, her cheeks becoming as red as her hair in her fit of anger.

Aubrey stood still, her entire body frozen from the way she had just been yelled at. Her voice came out strained like she was holding back tears, "How long have you thought that?"

"A long time," Chloe promised as she walked towards the door of the apartment.

The blonde trudged next to the couch so she could watch as the redhead put on her shoes, "Where are you going?"

"To see Beca," her icy tone seeped into Aubrey's bones. As she stood and opened the door, she turned back to her friend and with an air of finality stated, "Since we're dating."

Chloe was well aware that searching campus for Beca was next to useless, so her best bet was to ask someone who would know where she is. That left Luke and Jesse, but there was no guarantee that either of them would know anything or even be willing to share that information with her. Without much to go on, she began walking towards Beca's dorm as she pulled her phone out to call her British friend.

She heard a crackling noise on the other end of the phone, signifying that Luke had picked up, "Hey, Ginger."

"Luke, I need your help," she got to the point.

"With?" he asked with a laugh, the creaking sound in the background letting her know that he was at the station in his old chair.

"Is Beca there?"

"She just left," he informed. "Said something about going to her dorm to avoid Jesse."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive. What are you two lovebirds fighting about now?"

Quickening her pace, Chloe thought through the sentence. She had never told Luke anything about seeing Beca, but it would make sense that the blond would put the pieces together faster than anyone else. "What makes you say we're fighting?"

"So you two are together," Luke's voice chimed. "Good to know. You've not been around and the brooding one is more broody than usual, so I figured it out."

"Your logic is foolproof," she giggled as she entered Beca's dorm building. "Thanks for the help, Luke. I gotta go."

"Have fun," Luke said with a click at the end as he ended the call.

Rushing up the stairs, she shoved her phone into her jacket pocket. There was always the chance that she had missed her opportunity or that Luke was misinformed, but that didn't stop her from pounding her fist against the door that separated her from the brunette.

She didn't receive an answer from her knocking, which meant that Kimmy-Jin was gone.

Taking a deep breath, she began her relentless hammering once again and called out, "I know you're in there, Beca."

That was a lie. She had no fucking clue if anyone could hear her besides the neighbors. Somewhere between the repeated sounds of her hand hitting the door, she heard what sounded like something hitting the floor.

Slapping her palm against the barrier with even more force she ordered, "Open the goddamn door."

Chloe was about to give up when the door swung up, her hand flying inside and missing Beca's face by a mere inch.

"Shit," the DJ muttered, her eyes widening as she realized how close she had just come to being punched in the nose. She took a second to recover, looking at the girl who had interrupted her day of staying in bed. Something she had done all week, but that wasn't the point. "What was that for?"

"I should fucking hit you," Chloe stated. Anyone within a mile could see the pain seeping out of Chloe's eyes. This was the first time she had seen Beca in a week and now she could feel how much she had missed her. But that feeling was overtaken when she thought of how much effort Beca had put into avoiding her.

The harsh words set off what little anger Beca had left in her after six days of moping, causing her arm to jerk in order to slam the door. Unfortunately for her, she had managed to hurt the most persistent woman who had ever lived. Chloe shoved her foot in the entryway to jam the door, her strong arms forcing it to remain open just enough for her to squeeze her body into the tight space.

"I don't want to talk," Beca relinquished some of her hold on the door so that the redhead didn't get crushed, but remained adamant to keep her out.

"Good, because you just need to fucking listen," she said with a stern force that resembled Aubrey's. "Now let me in before I actually hit you."

Knowing she would never win, Beca released her grip and took a step back, allowing the older girl to come inside and slam the door shut behind her. The brunette turned to take a seat at her desk, spinning back around to face the angry woman. Chloe stood before the DJ, her arms crossed in a defiant stance to show that she meant business.

"You're an ass," Chloe enunciated.

"Aubrey already told me," Beca huffed, shoving her hands into her pockets.

The statement plucked at Chloe's heartstrings, making her feel even worse for not standing up for her, but it didn't derail the original reason she had come here. The redhead inhaled sharply and spoke with venom and regret, "I fucked up. Trust me, I'm beyond aware of that. I hurt you and I never meant to do that."

Straightening herself in the chair, the brunette leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, "Well you did and Jesse got to deal with it when he found me."

"I tried to follow you," Chloe admitted, her eyes brightening the slightest bit when she saw the DJ's head snap up at the words. "Jesse and Benji went and told me to stay, but it isn't his fault. I shouldn't have listened."

"I didn't know that," Beca whispered.

"No, you didn't," she laughed, moving closer to the seated girl. The redhead knelt in front of the brunette, taking her hands in her grip and looking up into steel blue eyes. "You also didn't know that I had enough of Aubrey's bitching today, so I stood up to her like I should have after Semi-Finals."

It was obvious that Beca was still upset and the older girl knew there was no easy way to forgive her for not taking up for her, but that's why she had come here. She just needed to talk to her so that she knew she was sorry. In a voice that could barely be heard, the dark-haired girl uttered, "No one was on my side."

"That's because no one knew what to say," she stressed. "Everyone was in shock. We were just doing our normal set and then out of nowhere, there was a different song thrown in. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing, but none of us were expecting it and it took us by surprise. Then Aubrey started losing her shit and it was a mess."

The shorter girl nodded along at the information, all things that she had come to realize after shutting herself in her room, yet that didn't mean she was any less hurt. "The Bellas are out of the competition and it's my fault."

Chloe's right hand went to Beca's face, brushing a few of her unruly chocolate locks behind her ear as she corrected, "We were never going to beat the Trebles and the Footnotes with our set. If anything, you made sure we were better than the rest of the groups."

"You're not mad?" she asked.

"Of course not," Chloe affirmed with a smiled. "And I really hope you're not angry with me."

"I forgave you before I even walked off," she concluded. "I knew it was stupid, but I couldn't stand losing again. I just thought it was-"

The redhead cut her off by swiftly getting to her feet and pressing her lips to Beca's. It was a quick kiss, one that simply confirmed everything was okay between the two, one that was long overdue in the week since they had last seen each other. Chloe pulled away enough to say, "The only person who still cares about it is Aubrey and she's running out of reasons to stay mad."

Beca didn't respond, instead, she chose to wrap her arms around the auburn-haired girl she couldn't stop thinking about and kissed her again. Chloe was wrapped up in the feeling of the other girl, the warmth that radiated off her body and the way her hair tangled in her hands. Her immediate reaction was to get on top of the brunette, but she held back and snapped herself out of the trance. Pulling away, Beca raised one eyebrow as if to question why she had stopped.

"Maybe we should move somewhere..." she trailed off, lightly tossing her head towards the bed as she finished her sentence, "… More comfortable."

Beca Mitchell could have chosen to play it cool and not said a word or even to be a badass and simply lift the other girl and set her down on her bed, things she had dreamed of doing for quite some time, but instead, she stuttered, "W- What?"

Biting her lower lip, Chloe Beale placed a gentle kiss on Beca's cheek and giggled out, "How about we watch Netflix until Stacie calls and tells me she can't handle Aubrey anymore?"

The brunette nodded at the suggestion, both knowing that Chloe had only said that to save Beca from making a fool out of herself. Of course she wanted to be in a bed with the redhead for reasons that went far beyond friendship; unfortunately, today wouldn't be that day. Maybe it was for the best, yet the DJ could not shake the feeling that she had just ruined a chance for something greater than Nationals. With that feeling of regret sitting heavy in her chest, she put on a smirk and followed the other girl to the bed for nothing more than the promise of television.

The pair had been watching different shows for hours, Chloe curled up against Beca with her head on her chest and the brunette's left arm wrapped firmly around her slim figure. As they finished an episode of some cartoon that involved spies, the redhead's phone began buzzing violently against the wood of Beca's desk.

The DJ reached behind her and handing the older girl her phone, not bothering to look at the name, but figuring it was either Stacie or Aubrey. Chloe answered, unable to get a word out before they both heard the familiar voice of their favorite sultry Bella crying out, "I swear to god, I'll do whatever or whoever you want if it means you'll come back and help me. I can't take this- AUBREY, YOU CAN'T WATCH THAT VIDEO AGAIN. YOU PUKING ONCE IS ENOUGH, THIS IS RIDICULOUS. Please, Chloe, she just keeps watching the Nationals Performance and-"

"I'm on my way," she asserted, carefully maneuvering around Beca and her laptop as she got out of bed to put her shoes on. Beca didn't hear the rest of the conversation, but it didn't seem to last long since the phone went into her pocket after a few seconds. Chloe brushed some of her hair out of her face as she smiled at the brunette, saying, "I'm leaving Sunday for Break and if you want to see me before I leave then helping me pack is your best chance."

Beca smiled at the obvious attempt to see her, throwing in, "I'll help if you go on a date with me before you leave."

The auburn beauty appeared to think over her options, eventually grinning and stating, "Tomorrow isn't good for me, but I think we can manage all that Sunday morning. What about you?"

"I think that works," she nodded, pulling the redhead down by her hand to kiss her before she left.

"It's a plan," Chloe mumbled against her lips. She stood up and sighed, sauntering out of the room as Beca watched her go.

The brunette hated to see her leave her, but something about the way her hips moved made it that much easier to watch her go.