TW: mentions of drug use.
"To make the payment with Discover, Mastercard or Visa credit or cheque card, press three."
The automatic robot tone rings out loudly in the empty living room as Beca sits alone in the dark, holding her phone in her hand. It's almost 2 AM. She knows she should be sleeping right now but the thought of leaving tomorrow for her next leg of tour keeps her up at night.
Pressing the button on the touch screen, the phone beeps.
"The current balance due is $1,685," Beca inhales sharply and leans back against the couch in defeat. She knew it was bad but she wasn't expecting it to be that bad. An already opened bottle of wine sits on the coffee table in front of her and Beca reaches forward to take a swing straight from it.
"To pay the current balance due, press one. To pay a different amount, press two," Biting her lip, Beca select to pay a different amount and waits for the instructions. "To authorize and continue, press one. All right. Hold on while I process your payment."
Lily Was Here by Candy Dulfer starts playing obnoxiously in an altered key making the singer cringe. Fortunately, she doesn't have to wait long. "We're all set."
The line goes dead and the brunette drops the phone onto the table and looks outside the window. The moon shines brightly through the curtains, offering a little peace of mind that she desperately needs.
Soft footsteps reach her ears and Beca doesn't have to look behind her to know Chloe is up. The redhead walks to her silently before she sits down beside the girl and leans her head on her shoulder.
"You left me all alone in bed," She whispers softly, fingers reaching out to play with Beca's ring on her thumb.
"I know, I'm sorry," She drops a kiss to the top of her head and wraps an arm around her waist to pull her in more, "I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake you."
"Are you okay?"
Beca shrugs, "Yeah, I just...you know, I'm just nervous for tomorrow," She pauses to try and enjoy the feeling of Chloe being so close to her after not having this type of luxury for months at a time. Beca loves her job almost more than anything but being away from her loved ones (especially from the girl in her arms) is getting more and more difficult.
"Mom called earlier today."
Chloe slowly lifts her head and looks at the brunette, "What did she want?"
Beca sighs and lets out a laugh that's bordering on the edge of sarcastic, "She kind of hinted that she has some bills piling up that she doesn't have the money to pay for. She didn't outright said it, but, I got the picture," She motions to her phone, "I thought I'd take care of it before...everything."
Ocean blues soften. Chloe knows Beca's relationship with her mother had been rocky ever since her father left them and her mom remarried. But their issues only got worse when her mom started using alcohol and drugs as a way of coping, her step-father gladly joining her.
It wasn't the first time Beca had to step in to help her mother out of trouble.
"How much this time?"
"Almost $1700," Chloe winces, "Maybe if she didn't bail out Gary two weeks ago, she'd have enough to pay for herself but I guess, he's more important."
The resentment is clear in Beca's tone but Chloe can hear the sadness lurking just below the surface. She can't imagine how heartbreaking it must be to have the world at your feet with people shouting out their love for you but the one person who you truly want to be there, doesn't give a damn.
Not quite knowing what to say, Chloe cups her cheek and kisses her lightly, "I'm sorry, honey."
"It's... well it's not okay but she doesn't want my help. Only my money," Beca melts into the touch, allowing herself a second to breathe. She hates the thought of her mother being vulnerable and stuck in a shitty situation and tried to pull her out numerous times but she lashed out every time.
There's only so much Beca can do.
"You should go back to bed. I'm just gonna call her quick to let her know and I'll be right up."
Chloe smiles gently and curls further into her arms, "I'm okay here if you don't mind company. We should take advantage of the peace and quiet before all hell broke loose," She laughs, "I want to keep you all to myself."
Beca closes her eyes for a second as her hands move up and down Chloe's back, drawing aimless figures, "I would love nothing more, baby."
Because of the timezone, Beca doesn't hesitate to dial the familiar number as they fall silent to listen to the rings on speaker.
"Make your bets now. Wasted or high?"
Chloe only holds her tighter in response.
Her mother chirping voice sounds on the other side and Beca pulls her phone closer to her lips. "Hi, mom."
"Oh hi Beca. How are you, darling?"
The brunette sighs quietly when her mom slurs her words together. Definitely drunk.
"I um, I just payed that WPS bill that you told me about."
"Oh, did you really?" The genuine surprise in her tone makes Beca clings her phone tighter. Chloe instantly feels her body growing rigid and starts to leave open-mouth kisses on her warm skin to keep her grounded.
"Yeah, I payed a little over instead of the actual amount so you should be fine for a while."
"Thank you, baby, really. We're just struggling here and I hate even asking you 'cause I feel like such a failure."
Beca hates the way her heart still clenches at the words, even after all the time her mom screwed her over. But she's still her mom and all Beca wants to do is make her happy.
"No, it's okay," She assures her quickly and looks down at Chloe with a small smile, "Do you still need a car? You know, after the accident."
The accident being Greg getting drunk and wrapping the car around a traffic pole. Fortunately, nobody was hurt but he got arrested and put on probation.
"I do. The mechanic said it's totaled so we're trying to figure out how to buy a new one but there are no good sales at the moment," Her mom explains, "I really need one to like, get to work and Greg needs it run errands."
Beca grinds her teeth, knowing the word errands means buying drugs nowadays.
"Alright."
She can tell her mom is hoping she would jump on the chance of buying her one without really asking but Beca refuses to do it. When the silence stretches on for too long, her mom sighs loudly.
"Well, thank you again for helping your poor mother out," she says, "I promise to repay you as soon as I can."
It's all empty promises. "Yeah. Okay, mom."
"Alright, well, it was nice to hear your voice. Goodnight, Beca."
"Bye, mom."
She longs to throw the phone across the room but Chloe is there before she gets swept away in her emotions.
"Come to bed," She whispers gently, slowly pulling away and grabbing her hand, "Let me hold you for a while."
Beca lets her guide her upstairs and into their bedroom and when she finally closes her eyes well into the night, she hopes tomorrow will be different.