Chapter Two
Major trigger warning for eating disorders, pretty much every chapter will have that since that's kind of the plot. But major for this one because it discuses specific calorie amounts and things like that.
"So, when should we confront her?" Beca asked as she and Aubrey emerged from Benji's room. "I mean, should we do it tonight?"
"Beca!" Chloe screeched running up to them. "Beca! Thank God, I found you! You've got to help me! This Treble guy, he doesn't believe that we are two girls dating and he said he's going to hide the vodka bottle if we don't make out in front of him. Come on, we have to go kiss. Don't worry; he said he'll only take three pictures." Chloe grabbed onto Beca's hand. Beca glanced up at Aubrey.
"Yeah, tonight might not be best."
"Best for what?" Chloe looked up at the two girls. Aubrey quickly put her arm around Chloe.
"Beca! This is for sure the best night to tell Chloe we love her." Aubrey said and gave Chloe a squeeze. Chloe sighed in relief.
"Good, I thought this was bad. Anyway, Beca, we have to kiss for that guy."
"Actually, could you point him out to me? I'd like to have a conversation with him first." Beca said, taking Chloe's hand. "Could you show me who he is, sweetie?"
"Of course!" Chloe pulled her towards a senior Treble named Noah.
"Hey, she's back." Noah laughed.
"Did you get her drunk? We've been here twenty fucking minutes, how is she this messed up?" Beca let go of Chloe's hand and did her best to get face-to-face with him, but she was a good foot shorter.
"I honestly don't know." Noah said holding up his hands. "She did a couple shots, but the girl seems to have no tolerance, honestly."
"Bitches can't hang." A guy with long blonde hair laughed.
"If you call my girlfriend a bitch again, I will end you." Beca snapped. "Now, we aren't going to make-out and be your fucking masturbation pic so hand over the vodka bottle that I'm pretty sure one of our girls brought and stay away from Chloe."
The two guys exchanged glances. Beca was only 5'2 on a good day but she had a way of seeming terrifying when she wanted to be. Noah reluctantly handed the bottle to Beca.
"Yay!" Chloe cheered.
"Honey, Aubrey and I are going to have a quick talk with you, okay? We will bring the vodka bottle and…" Beca looked around. "Oh, they have boneless wings from Lucky's. You love those right?"
Chloe uneasily looked at the tray. "I do but I don't want any, I'm not hungry."
"Yeah, we are going to talk about that." Beca grabbed the tray and handed it to Aubrey. Then Beca took her hand again and gestured for Aubrey to follow her back into the house. Aubrey looked confused.
"I thought we weren't going to-"
"I have a plan." Beca said. Aubrey shrugged and followed the two girls into the house and into Benji's room.
"Woah, is that a lightsaber?" Chloe asked.
"Yep, pretty cool." Beca commented and gestured for her to sit down. "You stay here with Aubrey; I'm going to get you a…um…low-fat vodka."
"Oh!" Chloe smiled. "Yes, go!"
Aubrey gave Beca a look but took a seat on the floor and gestured for Chloe to sit down. Chloe obliged.
Beca ran back outside and grabbed a plastic cup. She went back in the house and headed for the kitchen where she filled the cup with water. Then she went back into Benji's room where Chloe was cuddled up with Aubrey.
"My girlfriend!" She cheered when she came in. "Why is the vodka in the cup?"
"Well, I'm not just going to steal the whole bottle, everyone wants this vodka." Beca told her, sitting next to the two girls. "Now we are going to play a fun drinking game. You get a shot, or I guess a sip, of your drink, whenever you eat a boneless wing."
Chloe looked worried. "I'm not sure…"
"Chloe, how much have you eaten today?" Aubrey asked.
"I had a cup of unsweetened applesauce which was 103 calories and half a canister of Gerber strawberry apple puffs which is 75 calories." Chloe said proudly.
"For…for breakfast?" Aubrey asked.
"And lunch and dinner." Chloe said, then her face fell. "Oh. And I had 1/3 of the slice of pizza which is 64 calories."
Aubrey shot Beca a worried look but Beca played it cool. "Is this how much you normally eat?"
"I typically have about 500-550 calories, but I had to eat less calories to drink." Chloe explained. Suddenly she looked concerned. "Wait. Wait. You're not supposed to know that."
"No, it's cool, it's cool." Beca grabbed onto Chloe's hand. "We…um…already knew that." She lied.
"Oh!" Chloe nodded. "Then you see why I can't eat the wings. I already messed up with the pizza."
"But you want the vodka, don't you?" Beca said.
Aubrey shook her head. "This is fucked up." She mouthed to Beca but Beca shook her head.
"Yes…" Chloe mumbled.
"Let's just start with one." Beca coaxed, gesturing towards the plate. "One? Please?"
Chloe stared at the plate as though it would bite her. Slowly she reached her hand out and picked up a boneless wing. Very delicately she took a bite of it.
"Awesome." Aubrey said rubbing her back. Chloe slowly ate the boneless wing bite by bite until she finally finished. She looked defeated as she finished the last bite.
"Yay! You got a shot." Beca held up the water. Chloe eagerly took a sip.
"Wait." Chloe stopped and looked at the cup. "This isn't vodka."
Beca and Aubrey exchanged looks. "I mean, it's low fat…"
"You're trying to trick me!" Chloe exclaimed.
"No, Chloe…" Aubrey started but it was too late, Chloe had grabbed the real vodka bottle and fled.
"Well, that failed miserably." Aubrey said, quickly getting to her feet. "Should we go find her and try something else?"
"No." Beca shook her head. "We shouldn't be tricking her into eating. I just…I thought I would try."
"Let's just…try to enjoy the party tonight. We'll have a real talk with her in the morning." Aubrey suggested. Beca shrugged.
"Do you really think we can enjoy the party after healing how little she eats?" She asked.
"I bet alcohol could help." Aubrey pointed out.
"Fair." Beca nodded and followed Aubrey out of the room.
"I don't want to leave!" Chloe whined several hours later. Beca grabbed onto her hand, admittedly a little tipsy herself, but not nearly as bad as the redhead.
"Come on, baby." Becca coaxed, pulling Chloe to her feet. "It's 3am kiddo."
"I want another drink." Chloe said, refusing to stand-up. Beca sighed.
"We can cuddle at home if you come with me." Beca suggested. Chloe looked up.
"Promise?"
"Of course." Beca assured her. "Aubrey, is the Lyft here? And are the other girls, okay?"
"Most of the other girls left an hour or so ago." Aubrey said. "And yeah, they're fine. Most of them took Lyfts and Cynthia-Rose was DD for some of them." Aubrey sighed dramatically. "And some of the girls are staying the night. I swear to the Aca-gods if I was still captain-"
"Well, you're not, and I wouldn't worry about them right now." Beca snapped. "Come on, Chloe. Our ride is here." She tried pulling Chloe to her feet again and Chloe reluctantly stood, stumbling a bit as she did.
"Is there more to drink at home?" Chloe asked.
"Totally." Beca lied and led her to the car.
"Fun night?" The driver asked as they slammed the door shut.
"Oh, you know it." Aubrey muttered.
"There's more to drink at home." Chloe told the driver.
"I'll bet there is." The driver chuckled. Chloe laid her head on Beca's shoulder, her weight falling completely on Beca. She chuckled.
"Shit, honey, you're going to be asleep before we get home."
"Am not." Chloe insisted sleepily. Fortunately, it was only a ten-minute drive or so. When they arrived, Beca helped Chloe out of the car.
"Now, Chloe, we are going to get you some water and some Gatorade, so your hangover isn't as bad." Beca told her as they walked into the kitchen, although she was pretty sure Chloe was going to have a bitch of a hangover no matter what she drank.
"Is it zero?" Chloe muttered.
"Yes." Beca reassured her and handed it to her. "Can you hold this while we go upstairs? I'll hold the water. I'm going to sleep in your room tonight, if that's okay."
"I've, uh, had my jiggle juice and I'm pretty sure Stacie is still up…" Aubrey started. Beca laughed.
"Go see your girl. I'll come get you tomorrow when Chloe is up, and we'll talk."
"What about?" Chloe asked.
"Don't worry, we just want to talk to you because we love you." Beca reassured her.
"Oh! Okay." Chloe nodded and Beca led her up the stairs to Chloe's room. Chloe was the only girl who got a room by herself since she was the oldest member of the group. This proved to be very convenient for when Beca and Chloe wanted to have sleepovers and was especially helpful for that night.
"Sleepover!" Chloe cheered, jumping onto the bed. Despite everything Beca laughed.
"Think you can brush your teeth?" Beca asked.
"No, thank you." Chloe said as she started getting into the covers.
"Yeah, you know what? Maybe same, just for the night." Beca said, the alcohol sleepiness sinking in. "You have to drink the drinks though, okay?"
Chloe sipped at both the drinks then set them on her desk. "Cuddle buddy?"
Beca chuckled. "Give me one second, baby. I have to get clothes to sleep in. Can you hang out for a minute?"
"Don't forget to come back." Chloe sounded worried. Beca shook her head.
"Of course not, I'm just going to my room." She promised and walked out the door. Quickly, she went to her room and grabbed the closest sweatpants and T-shirt she could find. When she came back to the room, Chloe was taking her shirt off. Beca stopped.
Chloe and Beca had been…together…in the past few months, but Chloe always insisted on the lights being off or her shirt being on because she was self-conscious. Beca realized she had not seen her girlfriend shirtless in a few months. And Chloe had changed.
She looked sick. Far too skinny, her rib cage was clearly outlined through her skin. Beca bit her lip to keep from crying out. Her poor girlfriend had destroyed herself.
"Oh, hey!" Chloe smiled, completely oblivious to the horror Beca was experiencing. "I thought I'd get changed to!"
Biting her lip, Beca nodded and waited for her girlfriend to change. Once she was dressed, Beca switched off the lights and got under the covers. Chloe quickly followed.
"I love you, Becs." Chloe mumbled as she snuggled up close to Beca. Beca hoped the redhead wouldn't turn and see the tears falling down her face.
"I love you too, Chlo. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Just another reminder to not try and "fix" friends with issues without professional help. Get professional help if you or a friend are struggling, it doesn't end well when friends try to "save" the other without help. You are not alone, let professionals help you and then friends can support you along with them.