A/N: So funny story, I've been on break from uni, and with all my free time I've had zero inspiration to write. And here we are, first day back at uni and I'm motivated to write. Instead of studying... Oh the wonders of procrastination.
So I hope you're all still sticking with me, I know I've been a little slack with updating lately, but I'm hoping to improve on that now.
Anyway, a massive thanks to iamacrepe! And also to everyone for reading and reviewing!
I hope you enjoy this chapter :D
Beca sat up groggily in bed, yawning as she reached for her phone to check the time. 10:20 am. 1 New Message.
"Shit!" Rehearsals began at 11. She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus as she stood up, needing to get ready ASAP. And then it all came crashing down on her, as the DJ recalled all of the previous day's events. Oh wow. This is going to be an interesting day. Then remembering her phone, Beca checked the new message she had received.
Jesse: Hey Beca. Call me ASAP. We need to talk about something.
Well that sounded ominous.
"Hey!" A chirpy voice alerted the brunette to Chloe standing at the top of the stairs.
"You're up. I was just coming to wake you."
Beca yawned again, as she greeted the redhead.
"Hi. Why didn't you get me up earlier? We have rehearsals in 40 minutes."
Chloe tilted her head in what appeared to be an affectionate way. "You looked like you needed the sleep. You didn't even move one bit during the night, you were out cold."
"Oh, thanks. I guess I did need the sleep." Beca acknowledged the obvious, appreciating that Chloe had let her sleep in.
"And you have just enough time to get ready now and be on time." The redhead grinned. "I'll see you downstairs."
"Indeed you will." Was Beca's reply.
Neither girl was willing to initiate a talk about the kiss that happened the previous night, so soon, and so they each decided to go along as if everything was normal for the time being. There would be an opportunity for that conversation in due time, but not when they had a rehearsal to get to.
Once she was alone, the DJ picked her phone back up and dialled Jesse's number, thinking it must be important if he wanted to talk to her 'ASAP'. He picked up on the second ring.
"Beca?"
"Good morning to you too Jesse." Beca joked sarcastically.
"Sorry. How are you feeling this morning?"
"A lot better after a long sleep." She admitted.
"That's good to hear. But don't push yourself too hard at rehearsals today."
Beca rolled her eyes, hoping it was obvious enough for Jesse to hear it happening through the phone.
"Yes mom. Is that what you were so eager to tell me?" That snapped the boy back on track.
"Oh. No, actually. Don't freak out, but Aubrey knows. She figured it out."
Beca's eyes went wide. "She knows that I have…?"
"That you have Crohn's, yes. I swear I didn't tell her."
"Well how in the hell did she figure it out?!"
"It turns out she grew up with a cousin who has Crohn's. But it wasn't until yesterday that she pieced it all together."
"Oh crap." Beca rubbed her head. This made her day a little more complicated.
"I haven't told Chloe yet. I'm still figuring out what I'm going to say. She can't go and tell her Jesse."
"Woah, hold up there. Aubrey won't tell Chloe, you don't need to worry about that. She promised me."
That put Beca a little more at ease. Just a little though, because Aubrey was still Chloe's best friend, and she owed nothing to Beca.
"Right. Okay, well thanks for the heads up, I guess."
"No problem."
Then as an afterthought, Beca added, "You know, at this rate, I won't need to tell Chloe. She will figure it out all by herself. Everyone else seems to be doing it."
Her tone was dumbfounded after hearing Jesse's news, but full of sarcasm as always.
Jesse laughed lightly on the other end of the line. "Yeah, well I'll let you get ready now. See you later Beca."
"Bye Jesse."
By 1pm that day, Aubrey was calling an end to Bellas rehearsals, much to the surprise of everyone there: rehearsals was scheduled to go for 3 hours, not 2.
But after a warm-up with cardio and a handful of run-throughs that the blonde was finding difficult to fault, she announced the early hour to the girls, taking charge for the moment. Well, most of the girls' performances were difficult to fault. Beca and Chloe on the other hand, were both out of it, lost in their own minds it seemed. So it seemed pointless to continue on with practice. This turned out in favour of Beca, allowing her to take care of her body without pushing it too much.
As all the girls made a beeline to their bags to grab a drink and pack up, eager to head home, Chloe picked up her water bottle and instead made a beeline toward her best friend.
"What was that about Aubrey?" We still had another hour to go." She questioned.
They both looked up when they heard music suddenly start playing. As all of the other Bellas ambled out the doors, Beca was rummaging through her bag, looking for the source of the music, as she waited by the piano for Chloe.
Chloe smiled as she realised what Beca's ringtone was: a mix of 2 songs the ginger had mentioned she really liked during their texting marathons over the break.
As Beca finally pulled out her phone and answered it quietly, heading just outside the doors for some privacy, the two older girls resumed their conversation, temporarily leaving their curiosity about the call behind.
"Okay for starters, everyone clearly kept up with their practice over the break. They have this performance almost nailed. As much as I hate to admit this, they don't need the extra hour of rehearsals today. Second, and more importantly, you and Beca over there," she nodded her head towards where Beca was standing awkwardly off to the side of the auditorium entrance, nodding her head as she listened to her caller talk. " – have been distracted all morning! You two are of no use to the Bellas right now. Neither one of you was very focussed on what was going on here."
Chloe followed Aubrey's gaze to Beca, and she looked away guiltily.
"Oh, right."
"Yeah. You need to have that chat."
Chloe frowned. "We already did kind of. Last night."
"Well apparently that wasn't enough." The blonde reasoned.
The redhead, thinking of the yet-to-be-discussed kiss, eventually nodded. "Right."
"I'll see you later Chloe."
"See you later Bree." The redhead bid her friend goodbye, before going over to pack up her bag.
Taking advantage of this moment of preoccupation for her best friend, Aubrey approached Beca on her way out the doors. Despite the fact that Aubrey was aware of Beca's talk with Jesse that morning, the DJ had been acting awkward around the blonde, as if she was scared that at any moment Aubrey would shout out her secret to the auditorium. It might be fun to torment her, just a little…
So she went and stood there, staring at Beca with narrowed eyes as they both waited for Chloe. Beca promptly finished her phone call and met the blonde's eyes, uncomfortable with the stare that was going on.
Aubrey eventually spoke up. "Chloe told me about the kiss. Don't hurt her." Her tone was one of warning.
Beca nodded solemnly. "I'm trying not to."
And then the blonde was gone, and Chloe was approaching Beca, a curious look on her face.
"What was that about?" She frowned.
Beca too furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled at the interaction that had just happened. "I have no idea. It kind of felt like the 'best friend talk'."
"Naww, that's Aubrey for you." Chloe giggled. "Sorry about that."
Beca waved it off in dismissal. "It's cool."
"So what's up?"
"Erm, well we should probably talk about…" She trailed off, hoping Chloe would get where she was heading.
This prompted another smile to creep up on Chloe's face. "Oh yeah, the kiss."
Beca nodded. "Right. I just have to clarify something. It happened, yeah? Like, I wasn't dreaming or anything? I was pretty tired last night, so I mean, who knows." She rambled on, the nerves getting to the DJ.
Chloe giggled, "You're so cute when you're nervous Becs."
The brunette's eyes narrowed in a fake glare as her cheeks turned an unmistakable red. "Shut up."
Chloe laughed out loud at this. "No you weren't dreaming."
Beca nodded, a little relieved at this confirmation. "Okay cool. So uh, I guess we've established that I like you," she began, making Chloe's smile grow, as she continued along the same line.
"And that I like you." The ginger emphasised her words by taking hold of Beca's hand in her own, making the brunette blush further.
"Right. So I just have to ask something?"
"Sure Becs."
"Can we maybe hold off on doing anything major right now, while I'm still figuring my shit out? I just want our relationship – if that's what you want with me, a relationship?" She paused, uncertainty overcoming the girl once again, as Chloe nodded in confirmation.
"Okay, well I want to be completely honest with you if we get into a relationship, and I can't do that if I haven't told you everything that's been going on."
Chloe nodded in understanding. "I totally understand. This can wait."
Beca frowned. "Why are you so okay with all of this? Don't get me wrong, I'm eternally grateful for your patience. I just feel like I don't deserve it."
"Aww Beca. Don't think like that. Waiting a little while for you to be ready sure beats a flat-out rejection. You're worth the wait Becs." The redhead gave a wink, prompting a trademark smirk from the younger girl.
"And you are so cliché Chlo." She shook her head jokingly.
"Yeah yeah. But for now can I still do this?" Chloe held up their still-interlocked hands in question.
"Yeah that's okay." Beca smiled.
"Good. Now do you want to come have lunch with me? You look like you need a pick-me-up."
Beca nodded, glad that they were back to normal and able to hang out together without the awareness of her secret making a change in Chloe's behaviour towards her.
"Sounds like a plan. But I have to drop by the pharmacy first and pick something up, you coming?" She offered.
Happily surprised that Beca seemed to be letting her in on something, even as trivial as this, Chloe accepted.
After receiving that phone call moments before, the DJ had found out from Dr Griffin that her blood test results showed she was not severely anaemic. This was good news, but she was still in need of iron supplements for the time being, which meant a trip to the pharmacy. And she might as well get it over and done with now, seeing as the campus pharmacy was on the way to the café they usually ate at.
When they arrived and entered the store, Chloe spoke up. "So what are we looking for?"
"Iron tablets." Beca replied as she strolled down the first aisle, scanning the shelves. She was a little concerned of how Chloe would respond to this, but the redhead did not seem phased at all.
"Right. So are you planning on becoming the new Iron Man or…?" She asked with a smirk.
Beca rolled her eyes good-naturedly as they moved to the next aisle. "Yup. You got me, I'm Iron Woman. Ah here we go." She reached the shelf full of iron supplements and grabbed a box, reading the back of it for information.
"Is that it?"
"Yep. Now let's get out of here."
Beca went up to the register and paid for the tablets, as Chloe followed quietly, mulling over what it could be that was causing Beca to need iron supplements.
Sitting down in a booth, Beca with a fruit smoothie and Chloe with a burger and fries and coffee, Beca frowned suddenly, a thought popping into her head.
"Wait, so what are we supposed to tell everyone, about you know, us?" She raised her fingers in quotation marks.
Chloe looked up from her burger. "What do you want to tell people?"
Beca raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to tell people?"
Chloe shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we wait until everything is less complicated before we say anything?"
"Yeah that's probably best. It'll be easier to explain then." If she still likes me after she finds out.
Noting Beca's sudden silence and sombre expression, the older girl frowned.
"Is everything okay? You went quiet on me there."
"Oh yeah, I was just thinking." The DJ responded, shaking the thought from her head.
"So I guess we'll have to keep the hand-holding to a minimum in public for the time being." Chloe returned to their topic of discussion.
Beca nodded. "Guess so."
As much as they were both happy to do the waiting thing, it was going to be interesting to see how they handled themselves during this time, seeing as they were now both aware of the other's feelings.
Beca took a sip of her smoothie, finishing the last bit of it before placing the cup back on the table. "So you ready to get going?" She nodded her head to Chloe's now-empty plate.
The redhead nodded. "Sure."
The girls made their way home, chatting about the upcoming competition and their soon-to-be busy week ahead, both glad to be back in each other's company, as it should be. However, as Beca's smoothie settled in her stomach, she was once again reminded of her situation, when she felt some familiar pains. She had chosen a smoothie because she thought it would be easier for her system to deal with, and she needed to eat/drink something after their rehearsal, but clearly that did not mean her system wouldn't react at all.
Fortunately, the two were nearly home when this came about.
Unfortunately, it did not escape Chloe's notice that Beca's hands automatically came to rest on her stomach, in an attempt to stifle the pain, on top of the slight frown that appeared on her face.
The redhead had to remind herself that she needed to give the brunette some space and not pepper her with questions, as the girl excused herself to retreat upstairs once they were inside.
But that didn't stop her from worrying.