Epilogue II - The Small Note

Chloe grinned in anticipation, tugging her suitcase behind her as she approached the departure lounge of Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The four hour flight hadn't nearly been as exhausting as she feared it would be and she put her initial anxiety about it down to the lengthy flight she had had to endure just before the weekend. Now it was Monday. A fresh week. And her feet couldn't carry her quick enough to her end destination. To the departure lounge where her parents would be waiting for her.

She didn't have to look for long. There her parents stood holding a big banner out between them that said 'Chloe Beale' in huge letters. Chloe could feel herself going red in the face with embarrassment. It would have definitely been her father's idea, but one her mother would have embraced with open arms. Speaking of which Chloe stopped, watching with glee as her mother dropped the banner the moment she saw her and dashed over to pull her into a tight hug. Chloe had dropped everything, happily melting into her mother's embrace. No matter how old she got, no matter how busy life got, nothing compared to her mother's hugs. "Oh sweetheart its so good to finally see you! How was Europe? Was it cold?"

Chloe giggled as her father arrived by their side telling his wife to let go of their daughter for fear of her suffocating. "Hey twinkle. Good flight?" The man asked with a warm smile as he pulled the young woman into a more modest hug.

"Great flight thanks Dad" Chloe said with a grin. She stepped back to look at them both, her smile dropping slightly as they looked around her for a moment, "Um is everything okay?"

"Yes absolutely!" Sue Beale immediately said, before looking at her husband, motioning to the luggage their daughter had brought with her.

Chloe's Dad took her suitcase with a smile while her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the three Beale's began making their way out of the airport and towards the carpark. Chloe couldn't describe how happy she was to be back with her parents. They truly were the greatest people in her life. Forever supportive. Forever loving. They were the people she could be around and always be unapologetically herself.

Chloe clambered into the back of her parents's car to get ready for the hours drive down to the family lake house that Chloe's father had inherited from his father who had inherited from his father before that.

"So…no Beca?" Jerry Beale asked as he drove the family out of the airport. Chloe was busy looking in her handbag for her phone. She'd sent Beca a text the moment she had landed and wondered if she'd replied.

"Erm…no, work wouldn't let her have any more time off…" The redhead said, distracted as she rustled about in her handbag. She found her phone and saw on the screen that she had had no response yet. She checked her watch. It was 1pm. Beca would probably be in a meeting. She paused, looking up at her dads eyes that were reflected in the rear-view mirror as he concentrated on the road, processing what he'd just said, "And you know that because I told you last week!" She decided to place her phone in the front pocket of her handbag for safe keeping.

"Well…that was a week ago. A lot can happen in a week..."

Chloe didn't notice the tone of her father's voice, nor did she notice her mother reach out and give him a playful slap on the knee, as a way of telling him off for trying to bring up the topic of Friday's Instagram Live video that had streamed from The Bella's Instagram account. Chloe didn't notice because her fingertips had wrapped around a small piece of paper in the front pocket of her handbag beside her phone. Furrowing her brow she pulled out the paper and unfolded it. Her heart began pumping fast and a huge smile grew on her face as she recognised Beca's writing. It wasn't as neat as hers, but Chloe could tell her girlfriend had tried really hard to make it as neat as possible. It had a couple of sets of musical quavers scribbled in the corners of the paper. Then in the middle were the words "You make my heart feel like it's summer, when the rain is pouring down".

Chloe stared at the words, reading them over and over again, her mouth open in shock.

For the past two years she'd been living with Beca she had been sure to leave notes in her housemate's satchel before she went to work most days. Sometimes they had inspirational quotes on, or a doodle, or a simple 'Good luck!' or 'Don't forget I'm out this evening so eat something hot for lunch!'. But with this one note. The first note Beca had ever left for Chloe. Well it had blown all of Chloe's notes out of the water. Because these words were clearly lyrics. Lyrics that had reminded Beca of Chloe when she had heard them. Reminded her enough to write it as neatly as possible on a note for Chloe to find while they were apart. And Chloe's heart soared.

"Your brothers are arriving on Wednesday sweetheart" Chloe jumped at the sound of her mother's voice and quickly placed the note back in her handbag as she caught her mother looking at her with a soft smile. Chloe cleared her throat, trying not to blush, and nodded with a smile, "That's great. I've missed them!"

Chloe had three older brothers. Michael, the eldest, was eight years older than Chloe. He had a wife, Claudia, and three children; Eva, Hunter, and Noah. The next brother, Ryan, was six years older than Chloe. He also had a wife, Julie, and one set of twins; Oliver and Jack. The third brother was Johnny, and was four years older than Chloe. He and his fiancée Laura had been together since meeting in their freshman year of college, and had two children; Samuel and Ellie.

Being the only girl of Jerry and Sue Beale had been a perk growing up, as Chloe had essentially been spoilt rotten by her parents and grandparents alike. Her older brothers had paved the way for her in high school, the Beale name being one that represented wealth and high-status in their neighbourhood, so Chloe really hadn't had to try to be popular, it had just happened naturally. Which meant college had been a huge eye-opener for her, having to try to make a name for herself on her own. She'd managed to make it to her senior year, not ready in the slightest to go out into the big wide world. Something she'd objected to doing even more once she had met Beca, the thought of leaving her being too much to bear. So she had made the effort to fail Russian Lit. Three times.

"Well they'll be keen to see you and hear about your trip to Europe!" Jerry said, chuckling as his wife gave him a stern look, but Chloe had begun staring out of the window, smiling dreamily as she thought about the note that her girlfriend had taken the time to write her. It was going to be a very long six days without her.

Another short and sweet one.

The song lyrics referenced here is from the most beautiful song by 'Kodaline' called 'The One'

Thanks zombiekiller for your speedy review :)

I wonder how Beca's coping being home alone...