Best Christmas Ever
Chapter 8
Family Dinner
Hearing laughter as they came down the stairs, Chloe redirected the two of them towards the kitchen. She slowed to let Beca enter the kitchen first. The younger woman was obviously hesitant, but Chloe gave her an encouraging smile, and with a deep calming breath, Beca walked ahead of her. Understanding how difficult this is for her slightly introverted friend, Chloe stepped quickly to Beca's side, interlacing her hand into the brunette's hand.
As she entered the room, Beca saw that everyone was situated around a large island that sits in the middle of the kitchen. It's a beautifully designed kitchen, with off-white cabinets and butcher block countertops. It was neither overdone or audacious, instead it was homey and inviting, all the while still built and stocked like a master chef could come in and make a multi-course meal. She felt Chloe take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, and felt her trepidation diminish. She gave Chloe a soft smile of thanks.
Beca noticed the presence of two additional people at the island that she hadn't been introduced to before. The sound of a high pitched squeal informed her that there was a third presence in the room, though not visible from where she stood. From the nature of the squeal, Beca assumed the squealer to be a small child. As Chad leans backwards to check out the approaching duo, Beca got a glimpse of a man with brownish-red hair holding what looked like a one year old, maybe even a younger child, sitting in his lap as a very pretty blonde woman made silly faces at him.
"Hey everyone!" Chloe greeted the people of the room. "Becs, let me introduce you to my oldest brother, Charlie, and his wife Lizzy," Both husband and wife said hello and waved politely at Beca. Beca flashed her awkward shy smile and returned the wave.
"And this cute little man," Chloe continued rounding the island to pick up her nephew from her brother, "is Colton." She gently held up the small boy like she had done it a thousand times. She lifted one of his hands to wave at Beca. "Say hi to auntie Becs, Colt."
"Hey there little dude." Beca smiled, holding out her index finger to tickle him in just under the chin. Colton squeaked out a laugh and grabbed ahold of the brunette's finger, shaking it vigorously.
"I think someone likes you." Chloe said with a laugh of her own, the rest of the family looking on with smiles.
"Woah there kid, quite the grip. But I'm gonna need this back," said Beca with a laugh of her own, trying to gently wrestle her finger free. "Can't mix without it," she stage-whispered, and gave him a wink. Taking great delight in this new game, Colton laughed as if Beca had just said the funniest joke in the world.
Chad leaned over and whispered into his sister's ear, so only she could hear, "Couldn't do other things without it either."
If Chloe hadn't been holding an infant in her arms, she would have turned and smacked the back of her brother's head. Rather, she shifted her body and kicked him in the shin.
"Ow! Violent much,." He whined, though having fully expected the retaliation.
"Serves you right." She whispered in his direction before handing the eleven month old back over to his mother.
"Well now that everyone is here," Catherine started. Chloe caught Chad starting to say something. She instantly shot him a vicious glare to keep him from making any kind of comment about their delayed arrival to the kitchen.
"Why don't we all grab a seat and have dinner. Your father is a half second away from devouring this entire lasagna himself, leaving the rest of us to fight one another over any remaining scraps."
Laughter met Catherine's pronouncement, as Charles assured everyone it was absolutely true. As a group they all headed over to the large dining table in the dining room, just off the kitchen. Each person seemed to naturally gravitate to a specific seat. Chloe claimed her spot in the middle, making sure Beca ended up right next to her at the end, with Catherine next to her at the end of the table. As soon as Lizzy had Colton situated in his high chair next to hers at the opposite end of the table on the far side and had sat down herself, the group collectively said a quick prayer, each person holding the hands of those next to them. Immediately upon finishing their prayer, the three boys started piling food onto their plates.
"You'll have to excuse my boys Beca," Catherine said with an exaggerated sigh to the younger woman. "Try as I might, I failed to teach them any sense of manners."
Caught in mid bite of a slice of garlic bread, Chad said around a mouthful, "What Mom? We're hungry. We were kept waiting for a whole hour."
"Don't be blaming us," Chloe said as she pointed her fork at her older brother. "You three would be eating like barbarians if we ate an hour ago, or six hours ago."
Chad seemed to consider his sister's words, even as Chase kept shoveling food into his mouth next to him. "True sis, very true," he said before digging into his food again.
With a shake of her head, Catherine leaned towards Beca. "Thank goodness I had at least one daughter, and Charlie brought Lizzy into the family," she said with a wink, "and now Chloe's brought you to help bring some sanity to this house." Catherine gave the young brunette a warm smile.
Beca blushed at this comment. It gave her such a warm spot in the center of her chest. With a happy yet still reserved smile she said, "Thanks."
The conversation around the table was easy and free flowing. Charlie updated his father on some of the work he'd been doing at his law firm, where he was a junior partner. Chad and Chase fell into a heated debate about some new sci-fi show they were both really into. Lizzy entertained Chloe and Catherine with cute stories about Colton. All the while Beca sat quietly eating her food, looking around the table and taking in the whole thing.
Even though Beca was not participating directly in much of the conversations around the table, Beca still felt fully engaged, listening intently and laughing with the others when the moments arose.
Glancing to her left, the young brunette watched Chloe fork bites of lasagna into her smiling mouth as her mother recounted another humorous story, this one from an art gallery she had recently attended.
"It was the funniest damn thing I'd seen in a long while, and Chase still lives at home," Catherine laughed.
"Huh? Hey!" Chase took a second to stop eating to register his disapproval of this observation.
Catherine laughed it off as she continued her story, "So all these people were all just huddled around it, snapping all the photos they could, completely enamored and impressed at the genius behind it." She says using air quotes, laughing through her words.
"Are you serious?!" Lizzy asked in disbelief.
"And it was just a pair of glasses on a plain stand sitting next to the wall?" Chloe asked.
"Yes! There was a guy actually on his knees snapping photos with his high end camera," Catherine laughed, as she remembered the spectacle.
The three women laughed together like old friends, comfortable in each other's company, safe in knowing they are loved and respected. All the while Beca leaned on her elbow, grinning as the story continued. She found herself completely comfortable here, not feeling neglected, nor feeling pressure to be a more active participant
"Oh yeah, and the best part," Catherine said through gasps of breaths, clutching her hand to her chest, "This gentleman came up to the crowd maybe 30 minutes after they had formed, and squeezed his way through. To the shock of all gathered, he picked up the glasses and placed them on his face."
"No!" Both Chloe and Lizzy said simultaneously.
"Yes! I swear!" Catherine held up her left hand while her right covered her heart. "Of course there was a collective gasp from the gathering. He was a bit embarrassed and he quickly explained he had dropped them almost an hour earlier, and only found them because standing at another display, a man showed him a picture he took of the beautiful piece of art over in the back of the gallery."
Chloe's bright laughter made Beca crack a grin, and she joined the other three women in their laughter.
"The whole crowd started dispersing after that, quite embarrassingly I might add," Catherine finished as she wiped away a tear.
By this point, Chloe was in a fit, throwing her head back in deep laughter at the story, while Lizzy also wiped away tears forming in her eyes. Though Beca was enjoying the story, she had more taken the opportunity to watch Chloe's reaction throughout, loving the way the redhead's eyes would crinkle at the edges, how the corners of her mouth would creep up into a smirk as her mother got deeper into the tale, and how it became her beautiful full blown smile at the reveal at the end. Beca really had come to love each and every stage of Chloe's smile, and relished in the view sitting next to the woman as the remainder of the laughter died down.
Sitting back in her seat, Beca watched Chloe turn to face her, grinning so happily, as she wrapped her right arm around the brunette's shoulders and leaned in close to the tiny DJ.
"Hey, are you having a good time?" Beca heard the redhead whisper softly.
Nodding in answer, "Yeah, I mean the dinner is great. Your mother makes a mean lasagna. The company is even better." Beca smirks, she can feel the grip on her shoulder tighten a bit, squeezing her body closer to the redhead before it loosens up again. Though the moment is brief, Beca felt a kind of warmth blanket around her, pulling her deeper into this sense of love and belonging she hadn't felt in so many years. Just being in the presence of this whole family is engulfing her with these feelings. Before Beca has too long to analyze everything, she hears herself being addressed from somewhere at the table.
"So Beca, what are you studying at Barden?" The question comes from Charlie, sitting directly across from her.
"I'm not sure. I-I mean I'm currently undeclared." She managed to say, stumbling over her words a little.
"Oh and why is that, every major sounding too appealing or not at all?" He chuckles.
"Um, no reason in particular. Just um, keeping my options open I guess." Beca replied, wanting to be vague enough to answer the question, but not wanting to give any indication yet to Chloe that Beca currently had no plans to be at Barden after the school year.
The idea of being one-and-done at college didn't have quite the same appeal it did at the beginning of the school year, but it hadn't gone away either. It seemed like a fifty-fifty proposition now for the petite woman with aspirations of being a music producer. Partly because of this, Beca hadn't ever found the right time to have that conversation with Chloe. Part of Beca knew that whenever the conversation did happen, Chloe would be disheartened in her decision. College just means so much for the senior, and at the same time Beca would be abandoning the Bellas, and everyone knew how much the Bellas mean to Chloe.
Not wanting to face that disappointment, Beca has been putting it off as long as possible.
Chloe, for her part, could tell something was off with the brunette. Rather than cause a scene asking the reserved young woman about it in front of everyone at the table, she filed the younger Bella's behavior away in her mind to revisit at a later, more private time.
"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough. Took this one a couple years and declaring for four other majors before she finally settled on education." Charles threw in, pointing a finger towards his daughter. "This one can be a bit indecisive." He told Beca with a chuckle.
"Hey now!" Chloe said indignantly. "I'm not indecisive, I just have high standards for my future and had to make sure it was the right choice." Chloe said in defense of herself.
"Well I think education is a perfect fit for you." Beca observed. "You're super sweet and caring and understanding, all great qualities for a teacher."
Chloe smiles at Beca's statement. It filled her with such warmth to hear such glowing words coming from Beca.
"Besides, if you have the patience to teach the Bellas choreography, you will have no problem being able to teach hyperactive kids all day." The rest of the table laughed at Beca's apt description, Chloe included, knowing exactly how true it is.
"Thanks Beca," Chloe whispered.
It's nothing. Ummm-so, uhh-what were the other majors you considered before choosing education?" Beca asked.
Taking a moment, Chloe tapped her chin with her index finger. "Let's see. Well first there was journalism, because I thought it might give me the chance to travel the world, but it soon became apparent getting articles published is growing more and more difficult as the number of newspapers and magazines declines.. Also a lot of news in the world is just really sad and I didn't want to have to write about it."
Beca nodded, knowing how sensitive the redhead could be. "Then came psychology, and that was intriguing, but I grew to wonder if I could keep the proper impartiality that is needed to be a psychiatrist."
"I can see that," Beca admitted.
"Art history was next," Chloe said.
"Really?" This surprised Beca.
"Oh yeah, ChloBear has always loved art," Catherine interjected. "She has always painted for fun and relaxation."
"The painting behind my desk in my office is a Chloe Beale original," Charles added. "It's a painting of this house in the wintertime. ChloBear gave it to me for Christmas when she was fifteen."
"ChloBear?" Beca asked, with a sly grin on her face.
"Is not something we are going to discuss today," Chloe assured her young friend.
"Oh come on ChloBear," Chad piped up. "It's such an adorable name."
"Which we will not be using," Chloe announced to the table.
"Whatever you say, ChloBear," Catherine assured her daughter.
"Mom!"
"Yes ChloBear?" Catherine asked happily. Her face serene with innocence.
"Ugh-fine," Chloe conceded. She returned her attention to Beca. "And finally there was pre-med." Chloe said.
"Pre-med? Wow." Beca was surprised again.
"Yeah, ambitious, but I kinda had this small dream of being a doctor when I was a teen. Helping people, saving lives. Thought I'd try it out. However, I realized very quickly I was not cut out for that one."
"Oh don't undersell it Chlo." Chad interjected. Turning to Beca specifically, he continued. "She was obsessed with Grey's Anatomy for several years. She had the lab coat and scrubs, even her own personal stethoscope. For like a year straight she would walk around all dressed up giving us fake diagnoses." He started snickering through his story. "And let's not forget ChloBear here had the biggest crush on that one doctor... what was it?" Chad asked the table.
"Doctor McDreamy." Chase supplied in a silly mocking tone.
"Yah, that's it. Chloe had every intention of getting steamy with McDreamy and becoming Dr Shepard-Beale." Chad burst out laughing. Chloe threw a breadstick at his head, which Chad deftly caught and proceeded to bit in one motion. "Mmm, thanks sis."
"You guys are assholes. I was eleven! And I wasn't delusional or anything, I knew he was fictional!" Her whole family was now laughing at the story and the redhead's reaction.
"So is that why you dressed as a doctor for Halloween in that picture?" Beca asked smugly.
The heavy sigh through her hands covering her face was answer enough. She turned her head to face the petite brunette. "Guilty," she answered, scrunching her nose, looking mildly embarrassed.
The word adorable flitters through Beca's thoughts.
Chloe looked around the table, "Well! I'm sure Beca would love to hear embarrassing childhood stories about someone else now."
"Nah, I'm good, proceed with more tales of this crazy weirdo's youth!" Beca said with mirth, waving her hand about for someone to continue.
"No no," Chloe exclaimed, lightly slapping her hand over Beca's mouth. "She's weary from her travels today and doesn't know what she's saying."
With her attempt at speaking being muffled, Beca licked the inside of Chloe's hand. It had the desired effect when Chloe squealed and removed her hand.
Before Chloe could stop her, she pointed at Chloe's older brother, "Chad, another! Go!" She dodged right as her red haired friend tried to smother her words again.
"Well there was this one time she―"
"Chad got stuck outside naked on a ski slope once!" Chloe rushed out, drawing the attention away from another story about her.
"What!?" Beca barked out laughing, simultaneously as Catherine said it, though without the laughter.
The rest of the table all knew the story and burst into laughter. "Okay I definitely have to hear this story now," Beca said emphatically.
"Me too," added Catherine, with a bit of a Mother's disapproval. The glare she leveled on Chad, and the obvious bob in the young man's throat, it was clear to Beca that Catherine could be a Mama-bear when she needed to be, and her children gave it its due regard.
"So it was like this," Chad started, and Beca could hear the charm just begin to ooze off the young man. She realized that like Chloe, Chad Beale most likely got what he wanted from others, when he wanted. Whereas Chloe could use her eyes, and a just perfectly developed pout, Chad would use an unmistakable charm, and disarming wit. The two of them together must have been unstoppable as children. No wonder Catherine might have to be a Mother-bear at times.
As Beca listened to the hilarious tale Chad spun out, she watched each and every person at the table, and she felt the warmth of the family. He had perfect timing and an easy time with words, and soon had everyone laughing, including herself and Catherine. This story led to another, and another by Charlie, then one by Chloe, and on around the table.
That theme carried on all through dinner, Chloe's entire family and Beca laughing and talking about each other in a mix of humor, love and teasing. Beca was especially watchful of Chloe as she laughed and joked, and tried her best to defend herself when it mattered and prevent anything too embarrassing from coming out, especially when Chad was talking.
Beca began to wonder what she had been so worried about, obviously the family of someone who is an embodiment of sunshine that was Chloe would be equally as nice. They were all so easy to talk to and included her in many of the conversations. Apparently Chloe had told them a lot about her. They seemed to know some details of her life. They asked her questions about the mixes and the Bellas, all while avoiding any questions about her family, for which Beca was truly grateful.
Beca realized these two weeks were going to be so much easier than she originally thought, if this was what it was going to be like. Just with more Christmas traditions, delicious food and…
Family?
-~Merry Pitchmas 2021~-