Title: Let Me Catch My Breath Before You Steal It Once Again
Author: violentsweetperfect
Rating: M for #maturity
Pairing: Beca M & Chloe B

Chapter 21

Aubrey had intentionally avoided Chloe since the kiss, but it was harder for her to avoid Beca. She couldn't erase what had happened from her mind. She kept thinking about it and telling herself that it was only the alcohol that provoked the action. She did contemplate on telling her best friend, but she didn't want to ruin the Beca's relationship with Chloe, and their friendship.

Finally, she couldn't handle the guilt so she texted Beca to meet her for lunch. She didn't know what was going to be Beca's reaction but she was willing to take the bullet than living a lie, hoping that their friendship for years could withstand a little more than her doing something stupid while she was drunk. Especially since it was her first time and she didn't know how her body would have handled the alcohol.

Aubrey didn't know how to start the words exactly, but she swallowed the lump in her throat and began to talk. "Beca, I have to tell you something."

"Yeah?" Beca said, sitting down across from her best friend.

"Remember that night you were sick and I asked you to go to a party, but Chloe went with me instead?"

"Yeah." Beca replied, "What about it?"

"Well, something happened." Aubrey said, trying hard not to shift away from Beca's eyes. "I got drunk, and I didn't know what I was doing." Her voice started to trail.

"Are you okay?" Beca became concerned.

"I don't know." Aubrey said, and took a deep breath and looked at Beca in the eyes.

"What happened?"

"I kissed Chloe."

Beca looked at Aubrey intently, trying to catch her joke but she looked so remorseful that Beca didn't know what to do. The crowd in the cafeteria were so loud but the silence from Beca was unbearable.

"Please say something," Aubrey whispered, her voice and her eyes lowered, weakened by shame.

"Who initiated it?" Beca asked, her voice was soft and warm, unknowingly making it more difficult for Aubrey to own up to her action.

"I did."

"She returned...?"

"No, she pushed me away."

"And you were drunk?"

"Like a frat boy." Aubrey answered, not knowing if Beca would get the reference since the brunette girl hadn't gone to any party since they started college.

Beca bit the side of her cheeks and looked at her friend. "I need to think about this," she said and walked away.

Beca felt her insides churning and slowly emptying. Who can she talk to about this? Not her best friend, apparently, and not her girlfriend. She had no one else to run to and with the time differences, Katie was out of the question.

"I need ice cream, stat." Beca said to herself, while walking around the campus, her legs going on autopilot toward the parlour.

"Hey." Jordan greeted her with a smile. "Want the usual?"

"Can you super-size?" Beca asked, feigning a smile but it didn't seem to faze the ice cream girl.

"Long day, huh?" Jordan asked, looking at Beca with concern.

"Pretty much," Beca nodded. The girl walked away and after a minute came back with a big bowl of pina colada ice cream topped with a lot of whipped cream.

"It's on the house." She said, smiling, pushing the ice cream toward Beca.

Beca thanked the girl, leaving her some money in her tip cup, and sat down on the bench near the parlour.

Ten minutes had passed and Beca didn't have more than a couple of bites off the ice cream. She had the spoon in the bowl but she was mindlessly stirring with it, making the ice cream melt faster. Jordan appeared in front of her.

"Need help finishing that?" Jordan said.

Beca looked up and tried to smile, "Aren't you sick of ice cream yet?"

"Are you kidding?" Jordan exclaimed, "that's the fastest way to my heart!" she chuckled.

"Are you off?" Beca asked.

"Yeah," the girl replied, pointing at the guy who waved at them as her replacement.

"Wanna sit down?" the brunette said, and the girl sat across from her.

"Are the professors giving you a hard time?" Jordan said, "because I can list a few of them that you should avoid."

"No, my classes are pretty easy." Beca said, "And I sleep through most of them."

"I remember those days," the girl laughed.

"They don't even have the program that I wanted to study," Beca said, "I don't know how I decided to go to this school in the first place."

"I know, right? That's why I'm actually transferring," Jordan said, "I'm just going to miss this parlour. I've worked here for my two years in this school."

"Oh, really?" Beca said. "Where to?"

"St. John's University in New York," Jordan said, "It's closer to my family and I can go to the city any time. Maybe watch Broadway musicals once in a while, if I can afford it."

"That's cool." Beca said. "You should check out Wicked when you're there."

"You know I'm actually surprised to see you here by yourself," Jordan said, "You're usually here with that redhead."

"Yeah," Beca said, breathing deeply after she said that. "I'm kind of avoiding her while I get my head together."

"Wanna talk about it?" Jordan asked, Beca hesitated a little, but she nodded and told the girl about her issue.

"Well, you know what you're gonna do now." Jordan said, "But it's up to you to decide what you want to do."

Jordan looked at her watch and stood up, "But hey, it was nice talking to you. If you need someone to talk to or if you just wanna hang out, call me, okay? Or find me here."

"Yeah." Beca said, "Thanks for everything." She stood up to throw away the bowl with melted ice cream.

"No problem," Jordan said, and her eyes shifted from Beca toward the crowd that were walking by. She noticed that one of the girls turned around to walk their direction, it was the redhead that Beca always hung out with.