A/N: And here's chapter 18! I just realized we only have 2 more chapters of this to go…
Also, look, double upload.
I don't own pitch perfect.
It was the morning of the big event, the free program of the Grand Prix Finals. It was the morning of Beca's final skate.
No, not like the one she showcased to only Jesse and inadvertently filmed by Amy to go viral. This final skate deserved a bigger stage for her to perform in.
This was her final skate before she officially announced her retirement, facing the crowd head on. The final skate after Chloe helped her become the skater she truly was and reach her full potential.
This was the skate where she shows the world who she was, and thanks everyone who supported her along the way. Her family and friends – Cynthia Rose, Denise, Amy, Jesse, and Emily – and Chloe.
This was the skate where she bears all her heart and lays it all out.
All so that Chloe could soon be free.
And this time, her decisions would not be kept a secret to surprise those closest to her anymore either.
"You're an idiot," was Jesse's response, however, while the two went out for an early morning walk, coffee – compliments of the hotel – in hand. It was just the two of them. She had wanted to talk to all her childhood friends, the one who were with her from the start but Amy was nowhere to be found and Cynthia Rose and Denise were still sleeping. The sun was, after all, only about to rise.
Beca stopped on her tracks, confused and slightly offended. She already felt sleep deprived from her argument with Chloe last night. The two slept on the edge of their respective sides of the bed. Chloe was huffing and sobbing the whole night through and Beca was just a wreck. Her idea had backfired, apparently, but she was still set on her decision and was expecting some sort of understanding coming from her friends. But Jesse simply looked exasperated.
"And I share everyone else's sentiments," Jesse stated matter-of-factly. "You've gone a long way, Beca. One bad skate shouldn't affect the progress you've made."
"This isn't about one bad skate," Beca argued.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You already explained your thought process, but one, did you even consider that it sounded like you were breaking up with Chloe and you wanted to end things, and two, that it's Chloe's decision to make whether or not she wanted to go back to figure skating as a skater, not yours."
"I know that, but…" Beca tried to interject, but to no avail.
"Besides," Jesse went on, "even if she decides on it, does it mean she doesn't coach you anymore? I know it may be difficult, but those kind of stuff you talk about with the person you love not just make an adamant decision about!"
Beca looked at Jesse stunned, the realization that she didn't think things through hitting her.
"Fight, Beca. Keep fighting. Skating's your dream too, it's a dream you share with Chloe. Don't find an excuse to give it all up now," Jesse went on to say.
Beca nodded slowly, processing every word he said.
It doesn't need to be the end, huh.
Her last skate, she didn't even think about it.
When she skated in the World's, Chloe didn't think that was it. That was her last skate as a competitor.
But it was, and she found that skating had been easy to give up back then, much to her surprise. But seeing how her friends have grown since then, the electricity in the stadium the other day, it all did bring to mind the thought of skating as competitive skater once more.
For Beca's career as a skater to end because of it though, would she be okay with that?
No, no she wouldn't.
Chloe raised her right hand in front of her, the golden ring on her finger glinting from the light of the rising sun. So many questions were running in her head, so many thoughts perturbed her.
Was Beca right? What if retiring was what Beca really wanted regardless of Chloe? Shouldn't she support her? Or was Beca losing faith again? Wasn't it her job to reassure her? But what happens to them if Chloe decides to skate again? What happens to them if she doesn't return? Would she grow resentful?
No, Chloe loved her, she truly did. She loved her beyond reason.
But there was something inside of her that reawakened, her passion for figure skating. The sparks of inspiration returned to her, quite possibly thanks to Beca too. In a way, their decisions and the outcomes of their actions had become all tangled up together and brought about a new kind of fire inside both of them, and within the skaters they competed with, within their friends.
So what to do?
"I can't believe you're really going to marry that munchkin," Aubrey commented, spotting her on a bench outside. They were in a nearby lookout point in the city. Chloe had gone for a walk after Beca silently left, and Aubrey was out for what seemed to be her usual early morning runs. That the two of them ran into each other was mere coincidence.
Or maybe it was Fate.
"Too bad it'll have to wait for a few years."
"You sound too sure of yourself, Bree," Chloe commented, placing her hand back in the warmth of her coat pocket. "The contest isn't over yet."
"Beca's not gonna win this time," Aubrey replied. It was all competitive banter, Chloe knew that, and she missed it.
"Then win," she replied before she proceeded to walk away. "You've ran out of reasons for losing. No more excuses. Congrats on breaking one of my records, but I doubt you'll break any more of them."
"If not this time, I will next year!" Aubrey replied with a grin. Chloe couldn't help but notice a new kind of confidence growing within her. She was happy about that, but couldn't help but think that it was the product of her tangled web of decisions with Beca.
"I don't think so," Chloe yelled back, walking away, the competitive fire inside of her growing.
Decisions. Decisions. She knew that the day couldn't end without her making one.
And while she was filled with so much uncertainty on which one to make, she had faith that she would end up making the right one.
She had to trust in herself that she would.
