Chapter 4: Homecoming Part Two
Two new messages popped up on the screen from Lauren, adding to the countless others that were already on the screen. Chicago could feel the anger bubbling inside as he read them.
Lauren: I miss you so much baby, please come home soon :(
Lauren: Here's a little something just for you Tommy ;)
There was a picture attached with the second message, and Chicago turned off Tom's phone and closed his eyes. Chloe deserved someone so much better than Tom; she deserved someone who wouldn't cheat on her. She deserves someone like me, Chicago thought to himself.
He turned and saw the girl dancing with her boyfriend and having a good time. Chicago wanted more than anything to go up there and punch him in the face, but he also didn't want to do something that would ruin Chloe's night. The young boy was in a moral dilemma, and he couldn't decide what to do. The dance had just started and Beca's band was rocking out, the crowd cheering loudly.
"Hey Chic, come and dance with me." Stacie said, grabbing the young boy's hand and dragging him to the dance floor. Chicago put Tom's phone in his pocket and followed Stacie onto the dance floor. Chicago then decided to wait until Beca's band took a break before he told anyone.
After half an hour, the band took their first break with someone taking over as the temporary DJ until they came back. Beca was taking a sip from a bottle of water when Chicago came up to her. "Hey, what's up? Are you having a good time?" She asked her friend.
"I need you to come with me," Chicago said before taking his friends hand and leading into one of the empty wings near the gymnasium. "Beca, I don't think Tom is the nice guy that Chloe's making him out to be." He said.
Beca raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Chicago then took Tom's phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Look at the messages he's been getting."
"Dude, you stole his phone?" Beca said as he handed it to her.
"No, no I didn't. He dropped it and when I yelled to him that he had, he didn't hear me and kept on walking. I clicked the home button to check the time and I saw the messages." Chicago said, folding his arms as Beca read one of the new messages aloud.
"'Hey Tommy, I've been thinking about you all day. You better get back home before I find another guy to give me what I need.'" Beca said, cringing at the message. "Fuck, that's disgusting."
"We have to find out a way to tell Chloe." Chicago stated in a very genuine and concerned tone.
"And what do you propose we do, Chic?" Beca asked, handing the phone back to him. "We can't just burst in there and force Chloe to read the messages. You need a good plan that doesn't cause a scene. At least not here."
"I know. I don't know how we're going to do this without causing some sort of scene. Chloe's going to be really upset when we tell her," Chicago said, running his fingers through his hair. "I just can't believe he would do that to her. Does he even realize how lucky he is to be with her?"
"I mean, obviously he doesn't because if he did know how lucky he was, he wouldn't be cheating on her." Beca said, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean, I don't think he's super lucky, but I know that you think differently. Still, nobody deserves to be cheated on, not even Chloe."
"Nobody ever deserves to be cheated on. It's a real shitty thing to do," Chicago said with a sigh. "We've got to come up with some sort of plan, though. We really have to think this through."
"I agree. But I think you should also keep in mind that no matter how we decide to do this, it's going to hurt Chloe a lot. So we've got to figure out a way to do it so the least amount of damage is caused." Beca stated. "Even though I'm not her biggest fan, I'll help you out with this."
"Thank you, I really appreciate it," Chicago said with a small smile. He checked the time on his watch and then turned to start walking back to the gym. "We don't want to be gone for too long. People might start to wonder where we are, and I'm certain that they'll want your band to start playing again after that awful DJ finishes his set," the boy said with a chuckle.
Beca laughed and then followed her best friend back into the gym to join everyone else. Chicago went to join Stacie and dance with her while Beca's band got set back up. She looked at Chloe and Tom, and for the first time in knowing her, Beca felt bad for Chloe. Nobody, not even her, deserved to be taken for granted like this.
The band played for the rest of the dance, playing both upbeat and slow songs for the crowd of students to dance to. It was around 10:30 when the dance ended, and the band quickly packed up their instruments so Beca could get back to her house and get everything ready for the after-party.
Her family was out of town for the weekend, so she didn't have to worry about waking up the twins or her parents. She was having Chicago, Jesse, Aubrey, Benji, Emily, Cynthia Rose, Stacie, Chloe, and the lowlife cheater named Tom over for the party. Once everyone got there, they all went and sat down on the couches in the living room while Beca got them some drinks.
"Alright, what do you guys want to drink? I've got pretty much everything you can imagine," the brunette called from the kitchen. Everyone got what they wanted to drink and things were going pretty smoothly so far, but Beca and Chicago were still trying to find a way to confront Tom.
It was pretty hard to talk to him right now considering he and Chloe were making out on the couch. Beca nearly gagged at the sight, not because she was against PDA, but Tom just looked like a terrible kisser. Man, poor Chloe. Beca thought to herself. She's had to kiss him for two years?
The brunette then went back into the kitchen to get herself another beer when Chicago walked in. Before he said anything she raised her hand up to stop him. "I know, we need to do something soon."
"How are we supposed to do it? Do we just pull them apart from their makeout session and then tell Chloe that Tom's been cheating on her for who knows how long?" Chicago said.
"No, that's just stupid. Not only will Chloe be upset by finding out about her boyfriend's affair, she'll also be mad at us for interrupting their makeout session." Beca mentioned, sipping her beer. "Although, I don't know how she'd be too upset. He doesn't seem to be that good of a kisser. We'll just have to wait until one of them goes to the bathroom or get up to get another drink."
Chicago nodded and then looked back out into the living room, looking away when he saw them still kissing. "I just feel so bad for her, you know? She deserves so much better than someone who cheats on her," he said sadly.
"No one deserves to be with someone who's unfaithful to them, Chic." Beca said, sighing to herself. "I should know, considering what happened with my last relationship." She then took a sip of her beer and patted her friends shoulder. "I'll keep an eye on them, you go hang out with Jesse and Stacie and all them."
"Okay, let me know if you think of any ideas as to how we should tell Chloe the truth," Chicago said, grabbing a beer from the fridge before going to join Stacie and everyone else in the other room.
Beca nodded and then kept a good eye on Chloe and Tom, waiting for a perfect moment to step in and confront Tom. It was about an hour or so later when that moment arrived.
Tom was coming into the kitchen to get another drink for himself and Chloe. Beca smiled in a half-ass manner, like she wasn't really trying. "Enjoying yourself Tom?" She asked, feigning a genuine tone.
"Yeah, I am actually. Thanks for inviting me over. Tonight has been a lot of fun," Tom said, reaching towards the fridge to open it. He opened it, but then Beca slammed it shut before he could get the drinks out. "What the hell was that for?"
"Sorry, there's a drink limit for asshole's who cheat on their girlfriends." Beca said, keeping her hand against the refrigerator door. "Why don't you tell me how long you've been talking to Lauren?" She said, pulling his phone out of her pocket, and pulling it back when he tried to grab it.
"How the fuck did you get that?" Tom asked angrily, reaching for his phone a second time only to have Beca pull it away again.
"You see that's a funny story." Beca said, twirling it around in her hand. "You dropped it at the dance, and when Chicago picked it up for you, he say a few text scandalous messages showing up on your lockscreen."
Chloe then walked in and saw Beca holding Tom's phone as Tom's face seemed to be covered with panic. "Is everything alright in here?"
"I don't know, Chlo. Why don't you ask your boyfriend why he's been texting some girl named Lauren?" Beca said, opening the phone to his text messages with the girl.
Chloe took the phone from Beca, trying not to cry as she read the messages from the conversation. "Tell me this is a joke," The redhead said, looking from the phone to Tom, who now had a guilty look on his face. "Tell me that this isn't true."
Beca looked at Chloe and then to Tom. "He doesn't have to say anything, the look on his face says it all." She stated as everyone else began to crowd into the room. Beca then stepped closer to Tom. "Do you have any idea how this feels? To find out that the one person you knew you could trust, has betrayed you? It's a pretty shitty feeling." Beca said, she was about to say something when Tom cut in.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you need to stay in your own lane and mind your own business. You don't have any right to criticize me-" Tom said before Beca interrupted him.
"Yes, actually, I do. I have the right to criticize you, and so does every other decent human being in the world. Cheating on someone is never okay. I don't care if it was an 'accident.' You never do that to someone, because that person will think that they must have done something wrong to cause their significant other to stray away from them. I know how it feels to get cheated on. It's one of the worst feelings in the world. So don't you dare act like I'm in the wrong for calling you out on being an asshole," Beca snapped.
Tom turned away from Beca and turned to Chloe, who looked back up from the messages between Tom and his mistress, which was former best friend Lauren It was safe to say that Chloe would be blocking her number from her phone, as well as Tom's. "It says that your text messages started two weeks after I left." She said, letting few tears fall from her eyes. "Why would you do this?"
"I made a mistake, Chloe. I'm-" Tom started, once again being cut off by the short brunette.
"No, a mistake is something that you make once before trying to fix it. You don't make the same mistake several times. That's not an accident, and it's not a mistake either." Beca said sternly.
"But I love Chloe," Tom said, trying to defend himself.
"Bullshit." Chicago said stepping in between Tom and Chloe. "If you did, you wouldn't have been seeing someone behind her back."
Tom rolled his eyes at Chicago. "Great, it's you again. Why don't you move out of the way so I can talk to my girlfriend, who you've obviously been flirting with and crushing on ever since she got here."
"Yeah well, at least she had been faithful to you." Beca said, moving to stand next to Chicago.
"You don't deserve a girl as amazing as Chloe, you pathetic scumbag. Chloe doesn't want to be with you anymore" Chicago said, stepping forward to keep Tom away from Chloe.
"Oh yeah, why don't you let her decide what she wants?" Tom said before pushing Chicago gently out of the way so he was face to face with Chloe. He cupped her cheeks. "I made a mistake, babe. Please give me another chance and I won't let you down."
"Give you another chance? You think I'd even consider giving you another chance after this?" Chloe said, pushing Tom's hands away from her face as more tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I'm not going to give you another chance, Tom, because I can't trust you anymore! I can't trust that you'll be faithful to me when you've already broken that promise!"
"Just like that, huh? You're just going to throw away our two amazing years together?" Tom said, stepping back.
"No," Chloe stated, sniffling a little bit. "You threw it away when you decided to start sleeping with my old best friend." She said, opening his phone to delete her number from his contacts.
"Give me that," Tom said, taking his phone from Chloe before she could delete her phone number. "Let's go sit down in the living room and talk about this. Don't make any drastic decisions that you'll regret later. You should really stop overreacting about this whole thing."
Tom took Chloe's hand and was about to lead her to the other room when Beca swung her left fist at him, making contact with his face and causing him to stumble backwards. "Get out of my house," the brunette stated in a firm voice.
"Nice punch there, midget." Tom said, chuckling once he regained his balance. "Why don't you go teach five year olds how not to throw a left hook?"
That lead to Beca punching him square in the nose before kneeing him in the stomach, making him gasp in pain and fall to the floor. "Get the hell out of my house. Now." She said, grabbing his phone and pressing delete on Chloe's number.
Tom slowly got back on his feet, still clutching at his stomach. "You're going to regret this, Chloe. I'm the best guy that you'll ever get," Tom said, slowly making his way over to the front door.
"No, you're not the best guy that she'll ever get. There's a lot of better guys out there who won't cheat on her," Chicago called after Tom. Once Tom had left, Chicago turned to Chloe. "Hey, are you okay?" The whole group of people there slowly backed away, except for Beca and Chicago so they could comfort Chloe if needed.
Chloe sniffled as a thick lump formed in her throat, and tears began falling down her cheeks. "No, no I'm not okay. I just found out my boyfriend is a two-timing, backstabbing, untrustworthy asshole. How do you think I'm doing?" Chloe said, grabbing a beer.
Chicago nodded in understanding. "If you want to talk about it, I'm always here for you. I mean, I know you probably just want to be alone right now so you can process everything, but I'm here for you if you need me."
The redhead took a swig of beer and then turned away from Chicago without another word, walking to the back porch of Beca's house and sitting outside by herself. Beca sighed and patted his shoulder. "Just give her an hour or so to cool down, then go and talk to her. But don't make a move unless she insinuates it, you don't want to go in for a kiss unless she tells you to or unless she kisses you first."
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to make a move now when she's upset about Tom. Plus, I don't want to be a rebound. That wouldn't be good for either of us," Chicago replied, looking down and putting his hands in his pockets. "Tonight has certainly been eventful, hasn't it?"
"It certainly has been." Beca said, clinking her beer bottle with Chicago's and then taking a sip. She then looked out and saw Chloe sitting there, and Beca began to feel empathy for the redhead. She too had gone through this situation, she also knew how fucking shitty it felt to be taken advantage of like that. For the time since she'd met the redhead, Beca wanted nothing else to comfort her and to tell her everything was going to get better.
A little while later, Chicago decided to go out to the back porch and check on Chloe. He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind him and sitting down in the chair next to Chloe's. "Hey," was all he said, looking over at Chloe to see if she reacted.
Chloe nodded her head to acknowledge him while she scratched at the sticker label on her beer bottle. Her heart was aching from everything that had just happened, and she was still processing the fact that she and her boyfriend of two years had just ended things. The two of them sat there in silence for awhile, Chicago trying to figure out what to say while Chloe looked up at the night sky, deep in thought.
Finally, Chicago decided to break the silence. "So the weather is, uh, really nice tonight," the boy said awkwardly, internally-cringing at himself.
The redhead smiled half-heartedly at Chicago's attempt to try and make her smile. She then shook her head and looked down. "I'm such an idiot." She stated.
"What, no you're not an idiot. Tom's an asshole." Chicago said, sitting up and looking at Chloe. "He didn't deserve you."
"Maybe not, but he played me for so long and I fell for it. I fell for it for the last two and a half months of life, Chic." Chloe said, running her hands through her hair, and groaning a little bit before taking a swig of beer. "I should've known something was up with him. He's been calling me less and less since I've been here, and whenever we talked he was always so aloof and distant towards me."
"Listen to me, Chloe," Chicago said, making sure that he had Chloe's full attention before he continued. "This is not your fault. In no way is this your fault. Tom was the one who made the decision to cheat on you. Don't blame yourself for this when you couldn't have controlled it. You're not in the wrong in this situation, Tom is."
"I know he is, but that doesn't change the fact that he played me. And I fell for it, I fell for it as heavily as an one hundred pound weight drops to the ground." Chloe said, shaking her head. "I fell for it, I was too dumb to see what he was doing to me behind my back even though I could feel something was off."
Chicago sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sure that there were some signs, but you can't blame yourself for not picking up on them. You weren't the one who was unfaithful. In these situations, the cheater is always at fault, not the person who got cheated on," he said.
"I just can't believe that he's gone. He was the first guy that ever made me feel like I was more than just a simple girl." Chloe said, laughing sadly and shaking her head.
"You deserve so much better than him, Chloe. You deserve someone who won't just make you feel like you're more than a simple girl, but who will also put you above everything else. You deserve someone who will always be faithful to you, no matter what. You deserve someone who makes you truly happy," Chicago told her in a genuine voice.
"And when am I going to find that person, Chicago?" Chloe said looking into his blue eyes, searching for answers in those soft orbs. "Tell me when, and then maybe I'll believe you."
"I can't answer that question, Chloe. But what I can tell you is that there's someone out there for you. Everyone has a person for them. You just have to trust that you'll find them eventually. Don't give up hope now just because a relationship ended badly. There's so many fish in the sea, and there's no way that you'll be alone for the rest of your life," Chicago said.
Chloe sat there for a moment before drying her tears and nodding. She then chuckled a little bit. "Beca sure set him straight earlier."
Chicago chuckled a little as well. "Yeah, she always gets pissed off when people make fun of her height. Tom didn't know what he had coming for him."
"No, no he didn't." Chloe added, smiling for the first time she had seen the texts between Lauren and Tom. After another moment of silence, Chloe spoke up again. "You and Stacie looked cute together tonight as each other's homecoming dates."
"Thanks. We're just friends, though. Stacie's not really into guys like me," Chicago said, chuckling again.
"Yeah, she told me that awhile back." Chloe said. She then looked up at the sky, gazing at the stars and all the bright constellations. "This really is a sight that helps me escape, that and just messing around on the piano."
Chicago looked up at the stars as well, a smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, I can see why looking up there can help. It's so beautiful," he murmured.
"One of the most beautiful sights in the world," Chloe said. "And it's one of the sights people seem to ignore, unfortunately. What's your favorite thing to look at?"
Chicago shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really know. When I was a kid, my dad took me to see the Grand Canyon, so that was really cool."
"I've never been to the Grand Canyon, that's pretty cool." Chloe said smiling and looking at Chicago. She then decided to throw caution to the wind. "Hey Chic, was Tom right when he said you have feelings for me?"
Chicago froze when he heard Chloe's question. The boy's mind drew a complete blank; he didn't know how to answer that question. Yes, there was no doubt that he had feelings for Chloe, but he didn't want to try and make a move after she and Tom had just broken up. "I…" He started, not finishing that thought.
"Just say 'yes' or 'no.'" Chloe stated, knowing what she had asked had sparked a million thoughts in Chic's head. "I just need to know if he was right, or if he was just imagining things."
Chicago closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then finally answered Chloe's question. "Yes," he said in a quiet voice, opening his eyes and looking at Chloe. "Yes, he was right. But that doesn't mean I came out here to make a move on you, I just wanted to see if you were doing alright."
Chloe sat there for a moment, staring blankly at Chicago. She knew that she had literally just ended her long term relationship with Tom, but a part of her really wanted to kiss him and forget all about the heartbreak she'd experienced that night. It was a little while later before Chloe spoke again. "You like me?" She said, smiling softly.
Chicago nodded, smiling a little as well. "Yeah, I may or may not have had a crush on you from the moment I saw you," he admitted, looking down and blushing.
"So that's why you blush every single time I give you a compliment." Chloe said, smiling at the blushing teenage boy. She then took a deep breath. "You know, I'd be lying if I said I never thought about you in that way either."
Chicago looked up when Chloe said this, not sure if he had heard her correctly. "Wait, what? You like me too?" He asked.
"Chic, why else do you think I choose you to cuddle with on movie nights?" Chloe said, smiling at him. "Why else do you think I blush every time you smile at me? It's because I can't get you out of my head. And I don't want to."
Chicago's smile grew at these words, but then it faltered. He looked down and scratched the back of his head. "I don't want to jump into anything too soon. I'm not saying that that you would want to jump into something quickly, it's just...I don't want to be a rebound," he said in a quiet voice.
"Oh, okay." Chloe answered, sniffling a little bit. "Yeah, no I totally understand." She stated before finishing her beer. Her aching heart just took another hit at those words, though she couldn't be mad at Chicago for not wanting to be her rebound. But in her mind, he wouldn't be that at all. She really, really liked him and wanted to call him her own. He was so sweet, so kind, so handsome, so smart; what girl wouldn't want him? While she respected the boys decision, that didn't make her anymore happy. "I-I think I'm going to get home now." She said, standing up and holding her empty beer bottle.
"Chloe, wait." Chicago stood up and grabbed the redhead's arm before she could walk away. "I'm not saying that I don't want to be with you. Believe me, I do. I just want you to be completely sure that you want to be with me before we jump into anything, okay? I just want what's best for you."
"Why would I say something like that if I weren't absolutely sure of how I felt?" Chloe said, removing her arm from Chicago's grip. "I'm just some flakey girl who says stuff to get what she wants, I say what I mean." She stated firmly. "I understand that you don't want to be the rebound, I get that. But don't question the fact that I want to be with you. You wouldn't be some guy I used to get back on my feet. I'm not that kind of girl." She said, throwing her bottle in trash can on the deck.
"I know that, Chloe, and I didn't say that you were that kind of girl. And I'm not questioning your feelings for me," Chicago said, sighing and running his fingers through his hair.
"I can't deal with this right now. Either you want to be with me, or you don't. And I'm not going to wait around for you to make your mind up." Chloe stated, turning away to head back inside.
Screw it, Chicago thought to himself before grabbing Chloe's hand, turning her back around and pulling her into a searing kiss. One he'd been wanting to give her since the moment he met her.
Chloe was surprised by Chicago's move but quickly recovered, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. Their lips were connected for a long time, the kiss only breaking when they needed to catch their breath. A smile slowly spread across Chloe's face after their lips parted. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time," she whispered.
"I think you speak for both of us when you say that," Chicago said with a chuckle before he leaned back in and kissed her again, this time was more sweet and savory than the last. His hands rested on her waist and he smiled into the kiss.
Back in the kitchen, Beca was throwing away some empty beer bottles when she suddenly looked out the window and saw her best friend smooching Chloe. At first she chuckled, happy for Chicago. But as she continued to think about what she just saw, the more she dreaded seeing it. Seeing Chicago kiss Chloe seemed to spark something inside her, an emotion she wasn't super familiar with… jealousy. Why? As she thought about it more, Beca realized that she wished she was the one kissing that redhead and holding her body close instead of Chicago.
Don't kill us okay? We know that most of you don't Chloe and Chicago together, but trust us when we say it is necessary for our story. ANd Bechloe will rise, just like we said.
Until Next Time
