CHAPTER 18

Chloe froze at the last step of the stairs right before the second floor when she heard Aubrey opening the door and came a series of squeals and loud "Hey"s. She doesn't know why but her grip on the staircase railing tightened, her jaw gritted, and her heart starting to thump louder and faster. She was looking at the carpeted floor, her eyes not blinking and it may have been stinging her eyes, but at this point of time she doesn't really care.

"Chloe, you okay?"

The redhead raises her head and started blinking rapidly to get rid of the tears caused by not blinking for a few seconds, and saw Jesse wiping his hands with some towel of white and pink.

"Yeah, yeah" she let out, her voice raspy and heavy. "I'm just on my way to see Gillian." She whispered.

Jesse quirked an eyebrow. "Why are you whispering?" he let out a soft laugh when Chloe cleared her throat immediately.

"No, I'm not." She said, as another wave of squeals were heard downstairs and Jesse leaned over the stairs, trying to see what's the commotion below.

"What's going on, down there?" he asked and the redhead shrugged.

"I don't know, I just got here." She said and took a step towards the second floor. "Hey, I'm going to check up on G, is that okay?"

Jesse looked at her questioningly, "You're not going down stairs?"

Chloe shook her head before saying, "I'll follow behind."

With that, the brunette guy just nodded and went down to the ground floor, and Chloe heard another cheers of greetings before moving in to Gillian's bedroom.

When she opened the bedroom door, the dimly lit room of white and pink with only the circulating lamp that emits liitted stars around the room was the only source of light made Chloe relax. The gentle song being played by the sound box made her feel lighter. Like she's protected from the noise, the negative feelings, the burden of the world outside – and what she only have right now is innocence and peace.

She walks towards Gillian's crib and gently leaned over the crib, seeing the pretty baby blondie sleeping peacefully without anything that could make her worry. The silent breathing, as Gillian's chest rises and deflates, seemed to be making Chloe calm too. Everything about the little girl, makes Chloe feel lighter and better. Thus the reason why she always, always visits the little girl first thing whenever she comes to Jesse and Aubrey's place.

She heard a series of laughters downstairs – but not loud enough to wake the baby up – and saw that Gillian's eyebrows slightly knitted but moved back and continued sleeping. Chloe sighed. As much as she wanted to stay there and just watch the kid sleep, she can't. So with one last sigh, she turned around and left the room, closing the door as gentle as possible.

She doesn't know why she was taking steps as slowly as possible, but she sort of know it too. She's nervous what she'll be seeing down stairs. Her heart begins to thump aloudly again in her ears, and her knees shaking, her hands cold. Reaching the top of the stairs, she took a deep breath and slowly took each step down, hesitantly but firm.

She heard Aubrey talking, and the voice of Stacie answering. She gulped down the lump that has formed in her throat.

"And I can't believe you're now here…with us!" Aubrey said.

Chloe was halfway down, and probably they already saw her walking down the stairs. She continued on walking until she can see Aubrey and Jesse's faces, and looked at her.

"It's good to be back. It's been so long."

Chloe stopped at the last step of the stairs. Two person sitting on the couch of the living room with their backs on her, one was probably Stacie, and the other…

Everything was quiet, Aubrey and Jesse looked at Chloe, as if they don't know what to say or what will happen next. Stacie looked at the couple and saw them looking behind her and Beca, so when she turned her body and looked behind her, there was Chloe, standing still, frozen on her place. "Oh, hey Chloe!"

Beca starts to turn and look behind her too and that's when baby blue orbs met dark ocean ones.

Chloe slightly opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something but nothing came out. She takes it all in and saw how much Beca has changed, from the top of her head to the shoes she wears.

Stacie and Beca both stood up, as well as Aubrey and Jesse. It was weird though, because instead of squeals and loud "Hey"s, there was just gaping and staring, and breathing.

Stacie was the first who approached the redhead and gave her a hug, but the redhead was still in shock. When the tall lass let her go, she just looked at Beca. And Beca was just looking at her too.

In that freckle of a second, a million thoughts exploded inside her mind. It's as if things slowed, but her mind was in an over-drive.

Should I say Hi first?

Should I just smile at her?

Will she hug me back if I did hug her?

Will she even notice me?...wait, she already noticed me, she's right there looking at me.

Wait, oh my god, my hair.

Does she still know my name?

Why am I thinking so hard about this? It's just Beca.

The Beca who you left.

Chloe didn't notice Beca was already in front of her, smiling gently at her.

"What's up, stranger?" Beca said, and her smile widened. Still gaping at the brunette woman infront of her – who, not to mention looked a little taller with the pair of heels she's wearing – Chloe's were blinking, eyeing Beca as if she's a ghost. "I missed you, red."

"I…Bec…"

"Okay, before you say anything…" Beca raised her pointing finger and Chloe looked at it, before looking back into those gorgeous blue eyes she missed. "The last time we saw each other was something I don't want to dwell on anymore. It's in the past. And I know we both have moved on, so…" Beca looked at Stacie for a second, gaining a nod as a response from the tall brunette, she looked back at Chloe and continued. "I want to start fresh." She smiled and raised her hand in a form of an invitation to shake hands, "Best friends? Like the old times?"

Chloe looks between Beca's waiting hand and her face, and in all honesty Chloe just sort of spaced out, letting Beca's words sink inside her brain. So Beca has moved on, and she hasn't…but there's no way she's going to say that out loud…

"Chloe?" Beca said, a worried smile on her face.

Chloe released the breath she was holding, and blink for a few times before taking the hand and giving it a firm shake. "Of course, Beca."

Smiling brighter, Beca pulled Chloe by their shaking hands and gave her a nice warm hug. Beca squeezed her tighter, and then in a blink of an eye, her warmth around Chloe's space is gone.

The night continued on with lots of catching up, especially on Beca's part. They talked for hours, then eat Aubrey's homemade dinner specialty, and more talking. They even visited Gillian's room and it was so hard to control Beca squealing because it was her first time seeing the little girl in person. Afterwards, they drank some beers and talked even more.

Chloe couldn't stop staring shamelessly at the brunette though. Everything about seemed to change. Her hair is longer and styled in big waves, the make up on her face is light but still has an edgy touch on it…the way she dress herself is different from the way she does before. Her shoes are different from the usual…she's wearing heels…

And a lot has happened with Beca's life. She shared about her traveling around the world, and meeting new people, doing a freelance job as a DJ. And how she gave Kirsten the role of being the owner of TiCube.

And what really hit Chloe hard was when Beca's phone rang and she answered it with a big smile on her face, her demeanor giddy and excited as she stood up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen. Chloe followed her with her eyes.

"Hey baby!"

Chloe turned her head and tuned off the conversation then proceeded to make a conversation with Aubrey.

The night ended kind of a bummer because they all want to spend more time together since it's a first that they're complete as a group…but it was getting late and the three visitors are tired. Aubrey and Jesse have parent duties the next day, and other important errands.

But they all decided that there'll be seeing each other again, taking advantage of Beca's stay in LA since she's already based in New York now. With that, they all said their goodnights and goodbyes and went on their separate ways.

When Chloe got back to her hotel, she went straight ahead for the bed, dropping face first and groaned. She actually doesn't know what to do since she's stuck in the guilty express about her and Beca's past relationship. But Beca's on a different train now, and has been doing very well.

And now, Chloe has no idea how will she handle herself around the brunette…especially now she knows that Beca is already in a seemingly happy relationship.

In conclusion, she is utterly and absolutely fucked.

A/N: Thoughts? Violent reactions? Write a review about it, I'm also open to suggestions and kind cricticisms.

I noticed that a lot of you have been upset with Chloe's "cheater" situation, but trust me when I say you'll know everything soon…you just have to hold on to your hats and wait for every update. But I am sorry for being a slowpoke on the updating of chapters. I'm a busy person, but I do try to squeeze writing in my fully booked schedule as much as possible when I have the free time.

For those who got confused from Chapter 16 – I'm sorry for the late reply by the way – the answer is YES, it's a 1 year time jump from Chapter 15. From Chapter 16 onwards we will be witnessing Chloe's struggle on facing the changes of her life, with Beca and so much more.

If you guys are being concerned about Beca pinning again on Chloe, well you have to read this chapter again lol. Because this chapter stated that Beca HAS MOVED ON, and as stated, is in a relationship. I don't know if you caught that at the beginning of Chapter 17. But yeah, she's in a relationship with who is yet to be named in the upcoming chapters, so better watch out for that.

I will not be stating the endgame of this story because too much spoilers. You just have to deal with waiting for updates (evil laugh).

So, thanks to everyone who are still reading this and for reading this(if you're new). Thanks for the follows and faves, as usual, I am grateful for all the love and support. You guys are awesome!

'Till the next chapter!

-blue