Epilogue VI - Jerry Beale
Chloe sighed impatiently as she looked at her phone again. Fifteen minutes. It had been fifteen minutes since she had sent that last text to Beca. A monkey covering it's mouth emoji, followed by a smiley face with hearts for eyes emoji. That was all she'd sent. It was usually an invitation for Beca to start texting her back with all manner of emojis. One of which, for some reason, was usually the waterskiing emoji. But nothing.
The redhead looked over from her position on her favourite sofa at her parents lake house, at the clock that stood on top of the fireplace. It was only nine twenty in the evening. What on earth could Beca be doing that meant she couldn't text her back? Many might suggest that Beca had had another long day at work and probably fallen asleep the moment she got home. But Chloe knew her girlfriend. She knew Beca was a night owl and would stay awake late no matter how early she had to get up the next morning.
Chloe didn't want to become that girl. The one that began demanding that her significant other text her back as soon as she'd texted them. But the wait was beginning to drive her a little crazy as she opened up her text inbox and re-read the last couple of texts she'd sent her girlfriend before falling into the abyss that was scrolling back on their text history. So far she'd scrolled back as far as a series of three selfies that she had sent Beca two weeks ago, of the two of them together, on the plane waiting to take off from JFK to begin The Bella's European Tour.
The first was of Chloe posing to the camera with her signature selfie-smile, leaning over towards Beca who had her signature straight-face as she loomed into the camera, trying to look unimpressed. The second photo had come moments later, once Chloe had told her off for not smiling. So this time Beca had stuck her tongue out, scrunching her nose up as she held the two fingers of her right hand up in a 'V' shape, while Chloe had posed the way she had the first time. The third and final photo was the photo that Chloe now used as the wallpaper for her phone's homescreen. This time Beca had leant her body into Chloe's, uncharacteristically looping her left arm in Chloe's right, while smiling naturally as the redhead also beamed into the camera. They rarely took a photo where one of them (usually Beca) wasn't pulling a face, so this one was one of Chloe's favourites.
It was also one of her favourites because she could remember exactly how she felt taking that photo. This was before Beca had revealed her feelings for Chloe and vice-versa. Before they started dating. Before they'd kissed or had sex. This photo represented the true core of their relationship. At its core, Beca and Chloe were best friends. Closer to each other than anyone else. Able to read each other better than anyone else could. Each other's lifelines in an often scary big adult world. Soul-mates if you will. Chloe had always known they were meant to be, and she loved this photo because at the time it had been taken they hadn't been a couple, but they looked like one.
Chloe jumped as she heard a loud knock at the front door and her blood ran cold. Who on earth was visiting them at this time of night? It wasn't like the house was on the main road. She strained her ears, listening out for her parents who would inevitably be asking each other who was at the front door from their positions in the kitchen. But to Chloe's surprise she heard her mother call out to her, "Chloe would you get that please?"
The redhead swallowed loudly as she stood up from the sofa, slipping her phone into her back pocket as she shuffled out of the lounge and through to the entrance hall. Her parents didn't sound alarmed. In fact her mother had sounded almost too relaxed when she had called out to her. From the sounds of things her parents were still in the kitchen, not talking but presumably still making the pies that Sue Beale we renowned for. If her parents didn't seem concerned then perhaps she shouldn't be? After all, they wouldn't send their only daughter to answer the door if they felt the was someone threatening on the other side of it and Chloe wondered if she had misheard her mother earlier and that her brothers were actually arriving this evening. It would certainly explain why Sue had spent the past six hours frantically baking breakfast pastries and breakfast muffins, as well as the pies that were often served after lunch.
Chloe switched the light on and gently began unlocking the door before slowly pulling it open. She froze. Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart began to race. It wasn't her brothers nor any member of their families. There, stood on the porch, was Beca. The brunette had a smile on her face that to many would be mistaken as a forced grin, but Chloe knew her girlfriend, and she knew what that grin meant. That grin was an 'I'm excited to be surprising you and I know you're going to love this but I hope you're actually okay with me surprising you and that I've made the right decision to surprise you and that it's not going to freak you out' kind of grin.
She'd seen it a few times before. Like that time a couple of years back when they'd only been in New York for five weeks and, to celebrate Chloe's birthday, Beca had turned up late morning on a break between meetings, at the coffee shop Chloe worked at, with several cupcakes that she'd picked up from the Magnolia Bakery down the street. Chloe's favourite cupcakes. Then there was that time Chloe had had the opening night of the little local theatre company she taught dance at, and Beca had got home just before they were due to leave and surprised her with a bunch of her favourite flowers to wish her luck, even though the redhead wasn't performing. And most recently Chloe had seen Beca wearing that grin when the brunette had woken her up just two days ago on Sunday morning, Chloe opening her eyes to the sound of her name being whispered, and smiling at the sight of Beca with that grin on her face as she awkwardly held out a tray of breakfast things.
Right now though, this very moment, this was her most favourite 'Beca surprise'. And as soon as Chloe finally processed that it really was Beca, the moment her girlfriend uttered an "Um…hey Chl-", the redhead let out a loud gasp and a squeal before lunging at the petite woman before her and pulling her into a tight hug.
"Beca what are you doing here?" Chloe said as she stepped back from her girlfriend, absolutely thrilled to see her. Her heart was still racing as she clung to Beca's hands by their sides, staring at her face as though this would be the only time she would ever get to see the woman, and so desperately wanted to drink in every feature. She only caught the first few words of Beca's reason for being stood on the porch instead of being in New York, feeling so overwhelmed by the surprise. Beca would be spending the week here with her, at her family's lake house. Her favourite, most important people all together with her under one roof. And the thought of that and how sweet it was of Beca to surprise her meant that Chloe elicited another small squeal, and threw her arms around the brunette's neck again.
"I've missed you so much!" She mumbled into Beca's ear, closing her eyes, relishing the feel of her girlfriend's arms around her waist once again as she inhaled the scent of Beca's shampoo. The moment was short-lived however, as she felt her girlfriend tense up, dropping her hands from her waist whilst clearing her throat, and Chloe knew this meant her parents had joined them. The redhead stepped away as her mother greeted Beca.
Chloe looked from her girlfriend to each of her parents as they hugged Beca one at a time and she felt her stomach knot a little. She rarely had any secrets from her parents but dating Beca was the biggest secret she'd ever kept from them and it filled her with guilt. She had no idea why she hadn't told them. Her parents were kind and generous people, who supported each of their four children whole-heartedly. They loved openly, affectionately, and were proud of each and every thing that their children did. Save for perhaps their youngest retaking her senior year four times, which they hadn't talked to her much about, but rather encouraged her to just try harder next time, and sympathising with her each time she called them to tell them she'd failed Russian Lit again. The celebration they had when Chloe had called them to tell them she'd finally passed was unlike anything she'd ever known.
"How was your flight?" Chloe heard her father ask. She knew her parents liked Beca. They'd always said so occasionally in the past, and even more so since she'd moved to New York with her. Chloe looked from Beca to her parents who were smiling at the brunette as she answered Jerry's question. The thing was, her parents seemed calm. Perhaps a little too calm that their daughter's best friend had just turned up on the doorstep of their holiday home, out of the blue, at gone nine-thirty at night. Then suddenly it hit her. They'd known all along that Beca was coming down here. That explained why her mother had suddenly gone into housewife-mode this afternoon and insisted her husband clean the entire house while she bustled about in the kitchen.
"You knew she was coming?" Chloe found herself asking her parents and they simply nodded, the smiles on their faces not wavering once. The redhead felt her heart skip a beat, tears beginning to appear in her eyes as she heard her mother explain that Beca had asked her whether she could surprise Chloe with a visit. It was at this moment that Chloe considered that perhaps her parents wouldn't be too fazed if she announced to them that Beca was actually more than just her housemate. More than just her best friend. That Beca was actually her girlfriend and that they'd begun a romantic relationship. But Chloe knew this was something she needed to discuss with Beca before they decided to tell their parents. So she remained quiet as her mother reached a hand out to curl her daughter's red hair affectionately behind the young woman's ear.
"Anyway, we're off up to bed sweetheart." Sue said with a soft smile and Chloe felt a warm glow as she realised not only was Beca going to be with her tonight but that they were going to be alone together. While her father protested slightly at how early it was to be going up to bed, Chloe's mind began drifting, thinking of the different parts of the house she could drag Beca off to so they could truly be alone…
"Now Beca, I don't know if Chloe told you but her brothers are arriving tomorrow with their families and we've already made their bedrooms up. So this means you'll need to share with Chloe if that's alright?"
Chloe's heart soared. Her parents had put a double bed in her room over Christmas. For years before that it had only ever been her bedroom with a single bed. So this suggestion by her mother didn't just mean that Beca was expected to share Chloe's room, she was expected to share Chloe's bed too. She beamed at Beca as the brunette swallowed loudly, mumbling a quiet "um…yeah of course" back at Sue, who turned to her daughter.
"Chloe you can show Beca where everything is…" The mother said to her daughter and Chloe nodded eagerly. She would make sure Beca knew every inch of this house over the next few days if the opportunities lent themselves.
"Beca, you know the Beale rule, help yourself to any food or drink." Chloe heard her father tell the brunette, a warm smile on his face.
"Breakfast will probably be out on the kitchen table in the morning about 9 but get up whenever you're ready." Sue finished, beaming at the two young women stood before her, with a broad smile that Chloe had inherited. The mother gave her daughter a hug goodnight as Chloe thanked her. Her heart soared again as her mother hugged Beca goodnight too. She loved how much her parents liked Beca, and she hoped that when the time came and she finally told them that she was actually dating her best friend, that they would still like Beca and approve of Chloe's decision to pursue a relationship with the petite brunette. Because Beca really did make her happier than she had ever felt before meeting her.
Chloe's heart began to race in anticipation as her bright blue eyes followed the figures of her parents who slowly walked up the staircase to their bedroom at the back of the house. No sooner had the couple disappeared from sight Chloe took a sharp intake of breath, turned 90 degrees to her left, and flung her arms around Beca's neck again, colliding her mouth onto hers. She sucked at her girlfriend's lips lustfully, kissing her hard, her body beginning to feel numb with excitement as she felt Beca wrap her arms tight around her waist to deepen their kiss. Chloe felt Beca trace her tongue along her bottom lip and the redhead let out a quiet hum as she willingly let her girlfriend's tongue into her mouth.
She had missed this so much. The sound of Beca's loud intake of breath through her nose each time their kiss deepened, and the feel of Beca's hair as she ran her fingers through it. She'd missed the way Beca smelt, the way Beca cupped her ass pulling their bodies as close together as possible, and the way she felt a warm glow radiating from her heart as she felt her soul connecting with the petite brunette's. To many who didn't know the couple, this immediate passionate kiss seemed like pure lust. To Beca and Chloe this was love.
Chloe was the first to reluctantly break the kiss, both gasping for air as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw the attention of The Beale's who would undoubtedly ask what was going on if they came downstairs to see the young women both looking so flustered. The redhead brought her right hand around to cup Beca's cheek, rubbing her nose affectionately against hers, dreamy smiles on their faces.
"I really missed you" Chloe whispered. She'd said those four words to people before. She'd said it loudly and excitably to The Bella's throughout college when they returned to their sorority house after each holiday. She'd said it in a patronising affectionate voice to her nephews and niece the times she had greeted them over the years and they'd bundled her with hugs. She'd said it to Beca with a joyful giggle when she'd returned to New York in the new year, after spending Christmas with her family. But she had never said it as earnestly or heartfelt as she had just now. As though it was a deep confession that she had so desperately wanted Beca to know. Because she had never felt those words as intensely as she did now.
To her delight Beca's smile broadened, and the petite brunette leant her head back slightly, locking her eyes properly with Chloe's, and raised her eyebrows, "It's only been two days Beale" she said with a low teasing tone, causing Chloe to let out a quiet airy giggle under her breath.
"Two days too long" Chloe whispered with a grin, closing her eyes slowly and returning her lips to Beca's. A couple more moments passed as the two women continued to quietly make out in the entrance of the lake house. Suddenly they jumped apart at the sound of a loud cough followed by footsteps walking along the upstairs landing. Chloe's father cleared his throat unnecessarily loudly, calling out to his wife, "Sue I'm just going downstairs to get a drink of water!" Chloe and Beca quickly wiped their mouths, dashing for Beca's luggage that was still outside on the porch.
…
Jerry Beale walked into the bedroom closely followed by his wife, who quietly closed the door behind them. He let out a loud sigh as he made his way through to their ensuite trying to work out how he was feeling at the moment. It was one thing being okay with the idea that his daughter was in a romantic relationship with her best friend. And that her best friend was a woman. But he hadn't thought about how he would feel when he actually met Beca in person. He had of course met Beca on many occasions before this evening. But this was the first time he'd met her as someone else. As his daughter's girlfriend. Not that either of the young women knew that he and his wife knew.
He'd met a couple of Chloe's boyfriends in the past. The ones she'd dated when she'd been in high school. He'd hated them and fortunately his sons had agreed. None of Chloe's boyfriends were good enough for his little girl. He'd dreaded the man his daughter might one day end up with, something that had always loomed in the back of his mind as she'd grown up. So naturally he'd been shocked when his wife had one day suggested that perhaps their daughter had feelings for her best friend. For Beca. A woman.
It had been back when Chloe had been mid-way through the third retake of her senior year. Chloe had invited several of her college friends to the family home during spring break, including Beca. And one night, while tucked up in bed with a good book, his wife had broached the subject of the attention their daughter seemed to give the awkward brunette. Sue had noticed it. Of course she had. Jerry, however, had been blissfully unaware that perhaps their daughter looked at Beca far more than she looked at any of her other friends. That she always sat beside her without fail. That she spoke about her more than any other one of her friends during any conversation. And that her face lit up the moment she realised Beca had walked into the same room as her.
Ever since his wife had drawn his attention to it, it was all Jerry could see, and he quickly realised that she was probably right. Chloe did appear to have a crush on her best friend. And at first Jerry felt odd about it, wondering what would happen if it were true and if they eventually started dating. He and his wife's assumptions were strengthened when two years later Chloe had called them up and gushed about how Beca had got a promotion at work and needed someone to move to New York with her and she wanted to go but they were going to struggle financially if she did but she needed to go with Beca because Beca needed her and it would be the perfect opportunity for Chloe to find her way in the world instead of working at the local coffee shop for the rest of her life while living at home with her parents and if they could maybe help support her at least for the first month while they got settled then maybe they could give the move a go. That was the moment Jerry realised that her daughter really did have feelings for her best friend.
Several months after that, Jerry and Sue witnessed the first evidence that perhaps the young woman their daughter adored reciprocated those feelings. Jerry had been originally annoyed for his daughter, who was looking rather flustered and frustrated over FaceTime while waiting for Beca to get back to their Brooklyn apartment so she and the brunette could attend her local theatre company's opening performance that Chloe had choreographed. But his attitude towards Beca immediately changed the moment he saw the young woman appear in the kitchen doorway holding a bunch of flowers out to his daughter which were apparently Chloe's favourite kind. He wasn't one for reading body language, but he could tell from the long silence that had been held between Beca and his daughter while they stared into each other's eyes that something was bubbling between the two young women. And he found himself warming to the idea that it may not be too much longer before his daughter addressed her 'secret' feelings and confronted her best friend with them.
The Christmas just gone was the first time he'd seen his daughter mope since she was a teenager, but at twenty seven years old she'd proved she could still be capable of it. He'd never seen her staring at her phone so much. Jumping the second it chimed, then sighing when she realised it wasn't the person she'd been hoping it would be. Her brothers had teased her, asking if she had a boyfriend and that she needed to stop being so clingy waiting for him to text her back. By the third day of moping Sue had told Jerry she might need to hold an intervention and insist their daughter tell them what was bothering her. But an intervention hadn't been necessary because a matter of hours later Chloe had got the call she'd been waiting for. The brothers had grinned at her reaction to answering the call, having jumped up off her sofa and answering the phone excitably. They'd yelled over to her in teasing tones asking if it was her boyfriend, but they'd all ended up looking thoroughly disappointed when their little sister had informed them that it was just Beca, before dashing out into the back yard to continue the conversation in 'private'. Sue and Jerry had known from that moment on that their daughter still had it bad for her best friend and that Beca appeared to be the key to her happiness.
"Did you see the look on Chloe's face?" He heard his wife say to him as she shrugged her pyjamas on and Jerry grinned as he remembered, humming in acknowledgement. He'd seen it alright. His daughter's blue eyes had shone so brightly he feared he'd go blind. But it hadn't just been the look on Chloe's face that he'd noticed. He'd noticed just how wide Beca had smiled as Chloe had hugged her in the doorway when she'd explained why she was there. The two women were obviously besotted with one another, no matter how much they'd tried to hide it from Chloe's parents.
Jerry pulled his pyjamas on and looked over at his wife who had already slid into bed with her holiday novel.
"Do you think we did the right thing letting them share a bed?" he asked her, almost unsure of how he felt himself about the idea of letting his daughter share a bed with her girlfriend. He realised the stupidity of the question when his wife giggled, looking up from her book.
"Jerry they're in their mid-twenties!"
"Yeah but they're under our roof?"
Sue let out another giggle, pushing her reading glasses up to the top of her head and Jerry swallowed loudly as she raised her eyebrows at him with a grin, "So you're saying for the 300 and…60 nights of the year that they're under their own roof they're okay to share a bed but the 5 nights that they're here they can't?"
Jerry paused, furrowing his brow slightly, "They don't share a bed in New York. They have their own rooms!"
"Oh come on Jerry are you really trying to tell me that our daughter doesn't sleep in the same bed as her girlfriend?"
Well when she put it that way Jerry knew how silly he sounded, "Um…"
"It's not like she's going to get pregnant…" Sue said with a chuckle as she shook her head slightly, pulling her glasses back down over her eyes and focusing back on her book.
Jerry felt his stomach lurch at the mention of the word 'pregnant', something that he'd feared his little girl accidentally getting herself into when she'd been a teenager and started dating boys. But now she was dating a girl it didn't really matter. Yeah. Sue was right, it wasn't like his daughter was going to get pregnant. And Beca seemed like a really nice kid. Someone who wouldn't violate Chloe in any way. And the more Jerry thought about it the less he worried that they'd made a bad decision to put a double bed in Chloe's bedroom and allowed Beca to share Chloe's bed during their stay. Sue was right, they probably shared a bed in New York anyway.
"Hang on! We pay a third of the rent of that two bedroom apartment in New York and you're saying they're only sleeping in one?!" Jerry exclaimed suddenly and his wife continued her attention on her book, responding slowly, "It's too late in the evening to be worrying about money sweetheart…"
Jerry began getting into bed but paused, letting out a sigh before standing up again. "Everything ok?" He heard his wife ask as he slowly made his way towards the bedroom door.
"Yeah I forgot a glass of water."
"Jerry!" his wife hissed at him and he stopped to look at her, wondering what was wrong, "You can't go down there now!" Sue exclaimed with a sharp whisper, "Chloe's with Beca!"
"What would you rather I do? Go down there now when the most they could be doing is kissing? Or wait an hour…?" He knew he'd won this battle. Neither Jerry or Sue wanted to stumble upon their daughter getting up to any sort of mischief with any partners ever, no matter the gender. It had weirded them out enough when Chloe had had her first boyfriend as a teenager and had been big on kissing in public. Or rather, kissing loudly in public.
His wife rolled her eyes in defeat, "Fine! But make sure you make enough noise that you give them plenty of time to…I dunno…make themselves presentable!"
Jerry tossed his hand towards his wife in a motion that suggested she was fussing too much and he crept out of the bedroom. He heard Sue mutter something about him not making enough noise and he knew she was right. Because at this moment, as he stood outside his bedroom door, he could hear the quiet sound of two people breathing heavily through their noses, and the distinct sound of two people kissing.
Jerry coughed loudly, before slowly making his way along the landing, clearing his throat as loudly as possibly before calling out, "Sue I'm just going downstairs to get a drink of water!" And he began making is way slowly downstairs, relieved to see that his daughter and daughter's girlfriend were currently busy gathering Beca's luggage and bringing it inside.
Haha oh Jerry!
This chapter was way longer than planned. And it wasn't planned at all! But I wanted to write Chloe's POV.
Next stop - Chloe's big brothers!
Update in a couple of days gang. In the meantime do leave a little review to keep me going :) xx
nutz thanks very much dude :) glad you're enjoying it!