A/N: Been going through it lately. Especially the last few days. Hope you guys like this.
Ch 10
Chloe was pulled from sleep by the sudden pinging sound that forced its way through her dream. She recognized, in her half-sleeping brain, the sound of the text alert from her phone. Her eyes cracked open and she noticed how early it was by the barely present sunlight just beginning to creep through the room. She nearly gave in to the desire to ignore it and fall back into the warmth of the bed and Beca's body beside hers.
She probably would have if the second alert hadn't followed quickly causing Beca to inhale deeply and the arm draped lazily over Chole's stomach tightened; hinting that it was disturbing her own rest.
"Mm," she hears Beca groan.
"It's my phone," Chloe informed her quietly and stretched to reach the device from the nightstand.
Once she detached it from the charger, Chloe glanced at the sleeping woman with a soft smile at how sweet she looked before opening her phone to see what was so damn important.
It was a text from Aubrey. She swore that woman never slept.
'Were you there when this happened?'
The text that immediately followed was a link. Curious, she clicked on it which took her to a news article.
'Troubled Star Brings Trouble to Set'
Now fully awake, Chloe read the article below. It talked all about Bea and John's argument. An "unnamed source" apparently gave all the juicy details, going so far as to call it a 'blow up' and blaming Beca's 'erratic behavior' for nearly shutting down filming for a day.
The whole thing was a hatchet job that painted Beca as some sort of irrational loose cannon.
"Beca," Chloe said at a normal volume now. She nudged her arm, "Beca, look at this."
Beca pressed her face into the pillow, muffling what sounded like muttered curses before lifting her head to squint at Chloe.
"What?"
In any other instance, Chloe would have smiled at the grumpy look on her face. But instead, she just wordlessly held her phone out for her. Beca grabbed it with one hand while rubbing her face with the other. Rolling onto her back, Beca blinked a few times against the light of the screen until her eyes adjusted and began to read. After just a few lines, she gave the phone back.
Chloe was surprised when Beca just settled back onto her side and wrapped her arm around her as if she just planned to go back to sleep. That seemed to be exactly her plan since she snuggled up against Chloe again and closed her eyes.
"Hey," Chloe said before she could relax too much.
"Hmm?"
"Don't you need to call anyone or something?"
Beca rubbed her face against Chloe's shoulder and mumbled.
"Like who?"
"I don't know; your agent or publicist?" she theorized, "Someone who can handle this?"
"There's nothing to handle
"What do you mean? Someone is telling these stories that make you look like some hot-headed unprofessional. You've got to get ahead of this."
"You're so cute," Beca said lightly without opening her eyes.
The apparent dismissal of her concern irked Chloe and she shrugged Beca off of her.
"Don't do that," she snapped and got out of the bed, standing over her, "Don't act like I'm some naïve newcomer who doesn't understand how things work."
Beca groaned loudly and flopped onto her back again.
"I'm not trying to insult you," she said, pushing up into a seated position and draping her elbows over her knees, looking at Chloe, "I'm sorry if it sounded like I was. I didn't mean it."
"Well, what did you mean?" Chloe demanded to know, "Because I'm just worried about how this will effect you and you don't seem to care."
"Because I don't," she said with a sigh. She rubbed her face again and scooted to the edge of the bed to face Chloe. Her voice softer as she spoke again, "I don't care what a stranger says about me on some website. It doesn't matter, Chloe."
She shook her head and sighed, "I don't get how you can not care when it could effect your future work. What if it influences someone's decision to hire you?"
Beca shrugged, "Then I won't have to worry about how I feel doing the job, will I?"
"I'm serious."
"I know," Beca reached out and grabbed both of Chloe's hands, pulling her closer until Chloe stood against the bed in between the open space between Beca's legs. She looked at their joined hands before moving her eyes up to Chloe's, "The reason I don't care what some article says is because it really doesn't matter. I learned a long time ago that people are going to decide who I am. They're going to make me whatever they want in their eyes and worrying about it won't change anything."
"But they don't know you," Chloe said quietly as she brought her hands up to slide Beca's hair away from her face and rest them there.
"If it makes you feel better, I don't know me either."
"Of course that doesn't make me feel better," she answered with a sad smile, "That's terrible."
Beca ran her hands up Chloe's hips.
"Hey," she started, hating that her admission had upset Chloe, "I might not know myself, really, but the closest I've ever felt to knowing is when I'm with you."
She cleared her throat when she saw the smile creep over Chloe's face. Scrunching her eyes shut and dropping her head against Chloe's stomach.
"Shit, that was cheesy," she complained, embarrassed, "That was so cheesy. Pretend I didn't say that."
"No," Chloe argued with a laugh, leaning Beca's head back, "No, baby. It wasn't cheesy, it was sweet," she kissed her forehead, "It was so sweet."
Beca just groaned, making Chloe laugh.
"Hey," Chloe started, "You know, since we're both awake much, much earlier than we need to be…maybe we could-ooh!"
Her words turned into a squeak as Beca grabbed her and spun her onto the bed. She smiled up at Beca hovering over her. This was the Beca that they didn't know. The one that the world never saw or tried to see.
"I'll take that as a yes?"
"That's a hell yes."
X
Despite the tabloid hiccup, Chloe took Beca's advice and chose not to worry about it; deciding to just enjoy the Beca she knew. She happily went along as the two fell into a pattern as a couple.
They worked, sometimes together and sometimes with opposite schedules, and did their best to continue their hidden outings together. More often than not, Beca stayed over at Chloe's place instead of going back to her hotel.
A fact that irritated Angela more and more as time went on, continuously blowing up her phone with angry messages and showing up at her trailer to berate her for being irresponsible with "their" life. Beca put up with her rantings, not rising to the occasion since the last confrontation led to her walking off set.
It had been two weeks and she and Chloe had successfully been keeping their relationship secret from any prying or curious eyes. But that wasn't the only thing Beca was keeping secret. Still sneaking her array of pills when Chloe wasn't around.
She hadn't ever cared before if any partners knew or saw it; her only gripe was when they tried to partake without her offering. But with Chloe, she was determined to hide it. Something she might call shame pressed into her chest at the thought of Chloe finding out. There were already a million ways Beca would likely disappoint her; she was desperate to keep it all at bay as long as possible.
The thought passed through her head a few nights ago when they were out together, coming quick as a flash out of nowhere, that maybe she would stop.
Just stop.
No more drinking. No more pills. No more assisted moods or energy.
But the thought left as quickly as it arrived.
It wasn't possible. She knew that.
She wasn't in denial. She was completely aware of her dependency; that she needed it. Otherwise this life would consume whatever pieces of her she'd been able to cling to.
No she could quit. But was she could do was hold on to the one good thing she had as long as possible before it inevitably blew apart.
With that mindset, Beca set out to meet Chloe for dinner as soon as she was done for the day. She walked towards the restaurant with a grin, knowing Chloe was already inside waiting for her. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she read the screen; rolling her eyes when she saw her mother was texting her again.
As she slid it back in her pocket, she felt her shoulder bump against someone while she wasn't watching where she was going and stumbled back a couple steps.
"Sorry, I didn't…Beca?"
She looked up and saw a woman she vaguely recognized but couldn't quite place.
"Uh, yeah. Hi," she responded cautiously, "Yeah, sorry about that I wasn't looking."
"No, it's fine," she dismissed with a smile, "It's awesome to run into you. Literally," she laughed lightly, "It's been a little while. You look as good as I remember."
"Thanks," Beca searched her memory for this woman who clearly knew her, "You, uh, look good, too."
The woman looked her over before crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"You don't remember me, do you?" she asked; not waiting for an answer, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, the last time we saw each other you left me in your hotel without even a goodbye. Just don't steal the guitar."
Beca cleared her throat as she was called out for how she'd treated this woman after they'd apparently spent the night together.
"Listen, I- "
"Don't," she interrupted, "How about you make it up to me now? Let's grab a drink. Whisky, I believe was the go-to?"
Her hands moved forward, fingertips touching Beca's waist, but Beca flinched away as soon as she felt the contact and took a step back.
"I can't. I'm meeting someone. I'm actually running late."
"Someone? Inside?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at the restaurant, then back to Beca, "Like a date?"
"No, just…a friend. Sorry, I've got to go," Beca gave her a wide berth as she moved around her and went to the door. She paused before entering and looked back, "I'm sorry about before. How I treated you; I was an ass."
"You were."
Beca nodded, accepting that the woman wasn't feeling very forgiving, and went inside. She got to the table in the curtained off VIP section, feeling like she could take a breath again when she finally saw Chloe.
Chloe stood to greet her, surprised when Beca swallowed her up in a tight hug; holding on longer than usual.
"Hey," Chloe began, speaking through her surprised chuckle, "What's going on? What's this for?"
Beca leaned back and looked in those bright blues.
"Just…for you."
Chloe smiled, a little overwhelmed by the sincerity on display before her. She rewarded her by leaning in, the two of them sharing a sweet kiss.
Neither aware of the woman peering around the curtain with her phone in hand, or the quiet shutter of its camera.
"Ma'am," a waiter spoke, just as she stepped back from the curtain, "I'm sorry, this is a private area."
"Oh, I was just looking for the bathroom," she covered quickly.
He pointed over her shoulder, "Down that hall."
"Of course, thank you," she gave him a polite smile and walked in that direction.
Once she'd put enough distance that she felt he was no longer paying attention to her, she changed direction and headed for the exit. Stepping into the night air, she opened her phone once more and looked through the pictures, grinning to herself.
"Friend my ass."
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