Ch.2 (going for a walk):
The next morning Aubrey gets up to make breakfast and finds her best friend on their couch with dried mascara on her cheeks.
When they came home last night Chloe asked her to just leave her alone for a while and so Aubrey fell asleep studying last night while her best friend was watching chick flicks about friendship which explains the crying.
She tiptoes to where the redhead is sleeping and puts her hand on her shoulder gently shaking it.
Chloe slowly opens her eyes and rubs them feeling her face and the dried tears mixed with her make-up.
"Hey Chlo, how are you doing?", Aubrey walks to the kitchen and starts to make a cup of tea.
"I don't know… I mean, I can't believe she would get so angry at me. all I wanted to do was help and I still don't really understand why she got so upset. I just wish I could go back and I never would've called her dad, but it seemed like the right choice at the time.", Chloe yawns and stretches.
"And even if it didn't work out, it wouldn't matter cause we don't need that stupid dwarf anyways. I think I'm gonna throw her off the squad!", Aubrey smashes the milk carton on the counter and looks at the milk she spilled, "Shit!", she says and Chloe jumps a little at the sudden spill.
"Aubrey you can't just decide to throw her off the squad. First of all: we're CO-captains and second of all: it's not like she did an unspeakable thing. She'll come around. She just had a terrible night and I didn't exactly make it better. I'll make it up with her and when I do, you have no choice but to leave her as part of the team.", Chloe grabs her phone and Aubrey sighs knowing the redhead is right.
10 years ago:
Beca lived in a beautiful, big house with her mother (Sasha), her father (Evan) and her little sister (Lili who on that evening was 5 years of age). Their house was near a beach and every night they had to spare that wasn't freezing cold, they went there and watched the sun go down. The best nights were those in the summer vacation. They had all the time of the world and the beach had a nice summer breeze replacing the icy wind from winter. Sometimes the children went alone and sometimes Sasha and Evan would come with them and they'd stay a little longer to sit around a campfire and make s' mores. Their dad would play the guitar as their mother would sing all the songs she knew. Dad would sing too, but only if it was a duet and his wife needed a singing partner. Sasha had the most beautiful and soft voice Beca had ever heard and she would watch her mom with wonder every time she sang her personal favorites: 'Dream a little dream of me', 'Ain't no mountain high enough' or 'Kiss me'.
Beca wakes up from the buzzing of her phone and sees 5 messages from Chloe. It was 1 in the afternoon and she had slept really long because of the dizziness from her head. She considers looking at the texts, but she's not totally ready to talk to her crush yet. She was a real ass the last time they saw each other and she hated herself for getting so angry. Chloe never could've known that her relationship with her dad was so bad and was just trying to help her out.
She sighs and holds her head with her good hand. The pain from the night before was annoying her.
"What's up white girl?", Kimmy Jin says and Beca looks at her surprised.
"M-me?", the DJ points to herself and KJ rolls her eyes.
"No the other white girl in this room.", she sighs and Beca gets confused.
"Sorry, it's just… you never really speak to me. I mean, this is probably the most you've said since the first day we met.", she sits up and smiles at her roommate. She had sort of given up on the Asian girl and her ever becoming friends, so this little conversation was nice.
"Yeah well, that girl you saved yesterday is actually a very good friend of mine and she told me all about what you did and the hits you took for her. Anyways, what's up? That sigh sounded depressed as hell.", KJ seems legitimately interested and Beca doesn't really have anyone else she wants to talk to about this since her go-to person was Chloe, so she gives in and starts telling her roommate about what had happened with her crush. After a while of the brunette talking and the Korean girl making an awful lot of eye-contact, there's finally silence.
"Wow, you are so in love with that girl.", KJ says and smirks when she sees Beca blushing.
"I didn't say anything about that!", Beca tries to act normal but fails royally.
"You didn't have to.", Beca can't believe how cool Kimmy is being about this and how she just guessed that Beca had a thing for the redhead, "I know I have a very good lovedar", she states like she heard Beca's thoughts.
"I gotta go to class, but I'll be back in 2 hours.", the brunette's roommate opens the door and wants to leave, but turns around once more and whispers: "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone and just a piece of advice: friendship is really important and key to a good and healthy relationship, so just apologize for the screaming.", she closes the door and Beca is left with a lot of thoughts and the feeling like she's dreaming. Apparently, KJ has a lot to say, but where did it all come from?
She looks at the text messages:
Chlo: Hey Bec, I'm sorry for what happened last night and I just want you to know I'm not upset with you and I really hope you come to rehearsals cause even Aubrey says she needs you there.
Chlo: Rehearsals are in an hour and I hope you come. We can go to the diner after if you want.
Chlo: You're not replying, so I'll take that as a leave me alone.
Chlo: Just know that I'm really sorry and I didn't mean to do anything that would come out bad for you.
Chlo: Get some rest. You need it.
Beca had closed her eyes for just a few minutes but woke up five hours later. Kimmy probably got home and thought it would be best to let her rest in quiet and left again. She was late for one of her lectures and she also had missed the Bella rehearsal. She cursed at herself for being that stupid and not setting an alarm. She couldn't see Chloe now. She just skipped a rehearsal and Aubrey would most definitely kill her, but it's not like anyone could really get mad at her since the people of Barden gave her a free week, so she can get some rest and support.
Stacie had come by yesterday to help her with taking her make-up off and putting her hair in a ponytail, but now when she wanted to go for a walk she didn't feel like calling the tall brunette and just went with her hair still in tied up, no make-up on, wearing a long coat to hide the fact that she was still wearing dirty sweatpants and a very over-sized T-shirt and walking on flip-flops cause she couldn't get her shoes on. At least it's getting dark out. She thinks and grabs her earphones.
When she gets to the part on campus where she punched the douchebag, she turns around and walks into the other direction. She can't go back there yet and feels a bit uncomfortable.
She jumps though when she sees the tall ginger girl headed her way.
A huge dilemma bothering her: she could have an awkward conversation or she can run towards the alleyway where she saved that girl and feel very uncomfortable and even still have the possibility that Chloe had already seen her.
Beca was thinking about it for too long and just when she was about to run towards the creepy alley, she heard someone shout her name.
"Beca? Beca!", she pretends like she didn't hear the ginger because of her music and picks up the pace a little.
"Beca wait, please!", the brunette wanted to run, but that would look suspicious and her whole act of 'I can't hear you' would've been exposed, so she let herself get caught up with by the now running Chloe and soon felt a hand on her shoulder stopping her.
"Oh, hey Chlo", she acts like she didn't just basically try to escape her and takes out the earphones she had in.
Chloe is breathing heavily and puts her hands on her back stretching it a little making Beca giggle.
"You alright there Red? You'd think all the cardio would help huh?", Beca smirks.
"Yeah I just eh-", she breathes in deeply once more and continues talking, "You were walking really fast and I couldn't keep up.", they share a moment of silence and both look at the ground not knowing how to start apologizing, but surprisingly enough, Beca begins.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about screaming at you. It was completely unnecessary and you were just trying to help. My dad and I.. we just- we fight a lot and I knew this would upset him because of something that happened in the past and I didn't want to get into another big fight, but you couldn't have known that since we haven't really talked about our pasts yet and-", she gets cut off by two arms very gently wrapping around her waist and a chin on her shoulder.
Beca returns the hug and smells Chloe's amazing scent. Like one of those vanilla milkshakes at the diner.
They pull away at the same time, but Chloe holds onto the very shy girl's hand.
"I'm sorry to Becs. I should've asked you if you wanted your dad to come to pick you up, but I got stressed and I do stupid things when I'm stressed. Anyways, I'm just really glad we're friends again. Even Aubrey said she missed your nuisance at the rehearsal." They laugh and look into each other's eyes for a few seconds, but soon realizing what they're doing and looking away.
"This is gonna sound really weird and stupid", Beca lets go of Chloe's hand thinking it might sound less creepy if she's not holding it, ", but I can't really do anything because of my abdomen still hurting lots and my hand fractured, so could you maybe help me change into something other than these god awful dirty clothes and put on new bandages?", they both giggle and Chloe takes Beca's hand again walking towards the brunette's dorm.
It's dark out, but there's enough light coming from the street lanterns to create two shadows close enough to each other to almost be one.
As they move forward, another shadow appears behind them and reaches out their hand to the brunette's shoulder…