CHAPTER 21 - The Present
Chloe didn't know what to expect, if she was being honest. She was nervous and was starting to have second guesses if she really was ready to meet the woman, now in Beca's life. She has been standing in front of the steps towards the restaurant where the dinner with her friends would be held, and her breath was starting to be short and ragged as if she just ran all the way there from San Francisco. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, giving herself some last minute pep talks, convincing herself that this is what she needed. If she would let Beca go, it's better to see the evidence of reason why she really needed to. This would be good for her now that she has decided to move on.
Chloe was able to come down to this conclusion after a lot of self-thinking. Days of contemplating over and over about the advices she received from the people she trusts, plus her personal instincts about the whole situation. Maybe it really was time for her to move on, because she wouldn't go anywhere if she will continue on pinning herself to someone she knows she can't have because of the things she has done. These were the consequences and it's time for her to stop denying the reality she's in. It was better to have Beca as her friend, than not have Beca at all.
With one last deep breath and a nod of her head, she entered the restaurant.
Glancing around as the host took her jacket and asked what table she's in, "Mitchell, please." She answered. The host smiled gently at her and spread his arm towards the direction.
"Please follow me." He said then walked away, Chloe following suit. It didn't take long for Chloe to see the table where her friends at, noticing that she's the only one missing and that there's a quite unfamiliar blonde sitting next to Beca, which she automatically assumed to be Lucy.
"Chloe!" Aubrey greeted standing up and hugging her, Chloe returned the hug and smiled at the rest of the people by the table. When the two best friends took their seats, Chloe gave an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry for being late, you guys. San Francisco traffic is getting worse than ever." She said that elicit an agreeable groan from the blonde next to Beca.
"Ugh, I know right? I mean, I wouldn't mind walking – but climbing high streets is just so exhausting! Maybe that's why cars have increased in San Francisco." The blonde said then smiled at the redhead, "I'm Lucy by the way. You must be the infamous Chloe." She said with a charming smile and a hand over the table which Chloe shook, but created a tiny worried glance on the blonde.
What did she mean about 'infamous'?
Aubrey seemed to take notice of the slightly off expression on Chloe's face and took it upon herself to fill in the redhead about what they were all talking about.
"We were just talking about high school, Chlo" Aubrey said that made Chloe raised an eyebrow dictating that that statement didn't help at all.
"I told Lucy how you were such a popular girl and even dated the considered hottest guy in school." Beca said with a smile. Clearly, with this indication, there wasn't any mention of her and Beca dating – which is probably the best, Chloe thought.
"Oh yeah" Chloe chuckled, waves her hand as if fanning away the awkward start of her arrival, "I remember Tom." She looked at Stacie with a smirk, attempting to push the spotlight away from her, "But I think Stacie was more popular than I was, being the queen of house parties and event extraordinaire."
Stacie laughed and nodded her head, "Oh no doubt, girl. I was born to be an event organizer." She snapped her finger in a sassy way that made the group laugh.
"So Lucy, how did you know about San Francisco traffic? Did you live there?" Chloe asked.
"Oh no, but I'm currently staying there because of a project with Rolling Stones." She said. "I'm a photographer and I've been hired to photo shoot this month's cover and artist." She added.
"Wow that's amazing! Rolling Stones a big one." Chloe said sincerely impressed.
"She has done projects with Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Women's Health and a lot of other magazines. She's a really good photographer." Beca smugly stated resulting in Lucy charmingly pushes the brunette's face away as the blush crept up to her face.
"Oh shush you, Ms. Amazing-DJ-of-the-century." Lucy complimented back, that made Chloe quirk her eyebrows on how cheesy the interaction was between the two. Stacie rolled her eyes at the two, probably have seen the two lovebirds countless of times, but smiling nonetheless. Chloe looked at Aubrey and Jesse who were just chuckling at the scene in front of them.
"Hey, how's Gillian?" Chloe asked the married couple.
"Oh, Jesse's mom is in town. She volunteered to take care of her while we go out tonight." Aubrey said.
Jesse smiled at Chloe, silently asking her with his eyes if she's okay and Chloe just smiled back, assuring the brunette guy.
"Sorry, Chloe – Beca and I can get sappy sometimes" Lucy said, still chuckling from her high with Beca.
"Try, 'always'" Stacie rolled her eyes amusingly at the couple.
"Shut up" Lucy laughed towards Stacie, "But if I may ask" she cleared her throat, her eyes gazing at Chloe, "have we met?" she asked Chloe, that made the redhead's eyebrows rose. "Because I feel like I've seen you somewhere before. I've seen a lot of faces, but I'm absolutely sure that the pretty ones stick." Lucy winked.
Blushing at the slight compliment that was given, Chloe cleared her throat and slightly shook her head. "Uhm, I really don't know. Maybe we've passed each other somewhere in San Francisco? Since I'm living there, by the way."
Lucy furrowed her eyes to think, then snapped her eyes wide, realizing.
"Oh! We bumped each other at that pizzeria some time ago." Lucy said her smile wide, showing a set of gorgeously white teeth. "What a small world!"
Raising an eyebrow, Chloe thought about what the blonde said, and did remember her self bumping into a woman in the pizzeria when she was heading to the ladies' comfort room. "Oh yeah, now I remember." Chloe smiled gently.
The night went on – surprisingly well, for Chloe. If she would've guessed in the beginning what would have been the endgame of the night, she would've gone to "it was so awkward". But no, it wasn't. Lucy was actually a charming and kind person, and Chloe was glad. She was glad that Lucy was the one who got to be with Beca, she's someone Beca deserves in her life. That statement alone was enough for Chloe.
Their topic went from high school life, to college. To Aubrey and Jesse's wedding, to careers. It was a huge relief for Chloe when the thing about her and Beca wasn't brought up one bit. And to top it all off, Lucy seemed to like her. Much like she even said that she's found her new best friend in Chloe. It was weird enough for Chloe to be back on Beca's life as her friend, despite of everything that has happened between them – now it has reached a new level of weirdness, since she has become her ex's new girlfriend's best friend.
But Chloe tries not to let that get to her head and topple her from inside out. She needs to take herself out of her comfort zone and accept this new reality for her friends, for Beca, and most especially, herself.
A week or two later, Chloe had become shopping and texting buddies. It was kind of overwhelming but at the same time, the redhead took it to be nice. She has found peace in herself that both she and Beca has put everything in the past and were now moving on, in the level of the present girlfriend is close to her now. Sometimes, they would get coffee and just talk; sometimes Lucy would invite her over for dinner with Beca there.
Everything seems to be normal, and there aren't any tension hanging in the air anymore. Which is a good thing, but still – she felt a little guilty, maybe just a teeny tiny bit, squished at the back corner of her brain about keeping something from Lucy. And that's her past relationship with Beca.
Not that she has to say anything, because, really, it's not necessary. If anything, it would only ruin things and she'll be the bad guy once again.
It's just that, Lucy treats her like a friend even if they only met for only a few weeks. And friends are about being honest with each other, so it's still burning at the back of her mind.
Chloe sighed and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and mid-finger, pushing it harder for her to get massage her eyeballs even for like a few seconds. Working for like more than 12 hours now since one of her colleagues called-in sick. She has been feeding off of coffee and bagels, but she knew that's hardly a meal, and so she made a sweet deal with herself that once her shift is over, she's going to sleep the whole day and pig herself out – it might've sound messy and very un-ladylike, but to her mind at that time – it was heaven.
She was walking down one of the hallways in SFMC, and she happens to pass by the emergency room and saw a commotion inside. Well, nothing surprising about that.
What surprised her was what coming next.
"Dr. Beale?" a nurse hurried off from the emergency hall and ran after her, Chloe pivoting around to face the nurse. "I have called in emergency for one Beca Mitchell"
Chloe's sense sharpened up the moment she heard the name. "I'm sorry, what? I mean, who?"
"Beca Mitchell. She just came in, car crash in an avenue downtown. You're one of her emergency calls." The nurse said.
Chloe gulped. "Alright, tell me her condition."
A/N: Hey you awesome readers.
First of, I would like to thank you guys for keeping up with this story - with everything going on. I did tell you guys that I haven't given up on this, and I already have a detailed line of ways on how I would run it. Thank you for still reading this above everything that has happened. Secondly, I would like to apologize for not updating so soon. I have been quite busy, and this particular chapter had me stuck in a rut, going back and forth erasing the whole thing and revising it.
So, in a few more chapters, this story is about to end. If you're still reading this, thank you. Really thank you.
Until the next update, you guys!