The moment she opens her eyes, Chloe's first thought is Beca. A lingering smoke of a dream. Then, just like how quickly the thought appeared in her mind, it's suddenly forgotten. Only because a searing pain near her temple shakes her awake which causes her to bolt right up which results to a much worse head-spinning hangover. She brings her hand to her forehead and tries her hardest to check if she's still all pieced together.
First off, is she – okay, good! She still has her clothes on so that's a good sign. Second, where is she? Despite the room going round and round, the redhead is able to study her surroundings. Because of how spacious it is, and also she can see the half-open luggage in the corner full of a messy pile of clothes she recognizes by heart, she figures out that she is in Beca's room. This leads her to her final question, where is Beca?
She still has her hand up her forehead like it's enough support in case her whole upper extremities severs from her neck. Never again, Chloe Beale. She thinks she's getting a little old that her alcohol tolerance can't keep up with her body any longer. She'll stick to wine next time. It sounds more adult and fancy.
A series of vibrates breaks the morning confusion in the air and Chloe has to blindly locate the source by tapping the bed sheets like she's playing bongos and overturning some pillows. It's too early for this. By the time she has her phone in her hold, she misses the call. Also, it's a little past 1 in the afternoon.
That's when she sees all her notifications. She starts scrolling down.
1 missed call from Beca.
3 missed calls and 4 messages from Aubrey.
1 voicemail from Emily.
2 messages from Lily.
As if by default, she doesn't start with the recent one but goes for the messages from Lily instead.
It has an attached image to it with the text, "Can I post this in our group?"
It's a picture of her and Beca. Specifically, a picture of her on Beca. The image isn't clear because it's dark and it's just mostly their backs, really. But from the angle it's taken, the beholder can still identify who is who.
"I'll take that no-reply as a 'silence means yes'."
This is not even unexpected from Lily anymore. The quiet girl has skills. Over time, Chloe has learned how to embrace said girl's eccentricities and not question how she does what she does. In this specific case, as she marvels on how couple-y she and Beca look like, she's actually thankful. A souvenir from last night (or early this morning, technically speaking).
Last night. Oh yes, of course!
She has just witnessed Beca's solo performance, almost confessed/confirmed her feelings for the DJ, kissed Chicago instead, tried to drown herself with drinks and sorrows over her choices, and still ended up being carried by the love of her life. To bed! How did she manage to do all of that?
She reads Aubrey's messages next.
"I had to do what I have to do, Chloe. I hope you both got in the hotel safely. Talk to you when you're sobered up!"
"Are you awake yet?"
"I tried calling you but no answer. You're probably still sleeping."
"Lily just posted a photo in our group chat. Chloe? What is this?"
The redhead smiles giddily at the thought of the girls seeing the picture and she can't explain this involuntary response.
Emily's voicemail is next. It starts out with just some loud noise in the background, like it's being recorded close to the dance floor of a club. Legacy's slurring crying voice comes on saying, "CHLOE! I'M SO SORRY FOR WHAT I DID IN THE RIFF-OFF! I STILL FEEL BAD ABOUT IT!" Chloe feels her heartstrings being pulled but then, she hears a laugh. "BUT YOU KEPT ME! SO YEEEEYYY! YOU'RE THE BEST ACA-MOM EVERRR!" The redhead shakes her head with a smile on her lips, even though she's heard that title before, just in passing from Fat Amy. Em's voicemail ends with a trying-to-act-sober tone, "Don't tell Beca I said that."
Unlike Beca, she actually has a clue about what the Bellas think of them as a pair. She's not really subtle when it comes to her flirting game or her touches or her actions towards the brunette, if she's being honest here. She understands what drunk Emily is trying to convey.
Her phone rings again and she picks up just after one and acknowledges the caller, "Hi!"
"Hey!" She can hear Beca's panting on the other line as she adds, "How are you feeling? Did you just wake up? If you just did, there should be something there by your side table to help with your head."
Upon mentioning this, Chloe turns to her side and finds it. Her phone is now squeezed between her neck and left shoulder as she pries open the medicine cap and the water bottle. She pops some tablets in her mouth and some liquid to down them, then proceeds to thank the girl. "Ugh, Beca. What would I do without you?"
The other girl just chuckles. "Oh, Beale. Hey, do you want anything? I'm just on my way back to the hotel. Want me to grab you some coffee?"
"Yes, please! And some croissants, too, if you can. I want to taste the bread from the South of France."
She hears a cute little laugh from Beca again. Wow, somebody woke up on the right side of the bed today. "Got it. Anything else, m'lady?"
"Coffee, croissant, and you. So get your cute butt here as fast as you can!"
"Alright. Alright. So bossy." Before Beca hangs up, she says, "Oh, Chlo? You better check our group chat. The Bellas are going crazy over a picture Lily took of us... unbeknownst to us. That little punk."
Truth be told, Chloe is somehow glad that last night and this morning didn't really change her and Beca's friendship. And here she is, worried about nothing. So maybe she's a little concerned with her actions but hey, there's no weirdness. Now, about that group chat, she kinda regrets turning off the notifications on that app. She better let Aubrey know, at least.
A good cry always helps, Beca agrees. What she doesn't like about it is that she feels some sort of relief afterwards, like her body is so relaxed. It's not always a good thing. She appears vulnerable! For someone who's long been teased about being small, showing vulnerability is a sign of weakness. She needs some fresh air. Or some space (more space, considering she's got a grand hotel room). Or some time alone (regardless of the sleeping person on her bed, which she still counts as company).
She can't be in the same room as Chloe. It's just not right. She grabs a hoodie and gathers a few things. With her laptop in hand, she looks in the mirror and makes sure the stains in her cheeks are wiped clean before she heads out the door and closes it behind her.
As she makes her way to the elevator, she runs into Cynthia Rose, who appears to be just on her way back from the girls' night out.
"Did you just get in here?" Beca asks. It's not unusual for CR to be the last one out but it's just weird, considering she knows they went to a club and not a casino.
"I may have detoured to a casino, Cap. What? It's not even 7am yet." Beca is right. "Don't look at me like that, Beca! I swear it's not going to be a problem. We just had a wild night, s'all!"
Beca rolls her eyes but gives the girl a little nod. "Okay, whatever you say. Better get some rest now, Cee. We leave early tomorrow for our flight."
"Aye, aye, Captain!"
The elevator door opens and as the brunette steps in, she catches CR's verbal postscript, "Oh, Beca? So, you might want to check our group chat. Trust me. You should, girl!"
"I'll keep that in mind!" She shouts back as the doors close.
When she reaches the lobby, Beca considers staying here for a while. Her thoughts still go back to that awful replay of the memory. There's some French people coming in, though, and they're all talking at the same time that the DJ decides she better get out. So, she continues walking past the reception area and out into the streets. She pulls out her phone from her jacket with her free hand to google nearby coffee shops and she finds one she may like 3 blocks away.
Moody and distant as she is that morning, Beca still successfully orders her drink and settles at the farthest table inside that little coffee shop. When she has settled, she finally checks the Bellas GC. She loves the Bellas! She really does. But when they created this group chat, it's just downhill from there. It may have started fun with what the individual girls are up to, but then it just blew up into 5 messages at a time. Beca can't handle that yet so she makes sure she has them muted and occasionally checks them from time to time. Simultaneously, she turns on her laptop, opens Skype, calls Stacie, and waits.
Stacie isn't answering yet but it's to Beca's advantage because she has just finished backreading all the girls' heart emoji replies and constant "awwww" and "cutes!" to the source of it all. Her and Chloe's picture. Lily is the one who posted it. Beca isn't sure how to respond to this because a part of her wants to kill Lily for intruding their privacy but the other part of her likes what she sees. She's carrying Chloe Beale! She almost forgets that happened. But it is real. She did that.
"Hey, Cap! How's it going?" Stacie's greeting brings Beca's attention to her laptop. Oh, that's right. She's multitasking at her finest.
"Stacie. I messed up." She starts, putting her phone face down on the table. She doesn't mean for it to sound like a downer. She already cried for it and now, she's just about to bounce back. Telling Stacie about her crying after the memory isn't an option. It's not part of the agreement anyway, so she has her walls back up again. "I sort of fought with Chloe."
The lady on the other side of the screen puts her finger up, "Hold on. Let me get my clipboard." She disappears for a minute and all Beca hears is shuffling and some little thuds and clunks here and there. She comes back all professional-looking. "Sorry bout that. I can't really talk for long now, Beca. I just put Bella to sleep but she may wake up still. So lay it out on me. You know the drill."
The brunette tells it from the start, being in Copenhagen, dragging Chloe out into the streets, and eventually confronting her about them. "It's like, I don't even know what to stay, Stacie! So I just confronted her about it and told her she could've just initiated telling me about HER feelings. And why didn't she tell me? Because she thought I was still with Jessie. We were at Worlds already and she still thinks I'm with Jessie!? And you know why she thought that? Because I didn't tell her I broke up with Jessie when I broke up with Jessie! And I don't know why I didn't." There's a pause. "I don't even know how Chloe found out in real life because it was just not a subject we talk about often. I think one day she just knows and we're both like, okay with it."
She can see that Stacie is trying to keep up. After a moment, the girl asks, "And how did this make you feel?"
"Wow. Is this like a therapy session?" The new mom raises an eyebrow so she continues, "Okay, okay! Uhm, it made me feel, I don't know, kinda mad. Well, mad about myself actually. It's like I'm conscious that I shouldn't say those things but I just can't help it. And in the middle of the confrontation, I just wanted the memory to stop. I wanted to get out and I really don't know how. So I did what I think is like the basic rule of time-travelling."
"This isn't time-travelling."
"I know it isn't! Just hear me out. I sort of told her about the future. About how she'll meet Chicago, which by the way I did not say the specific name at that time, and she'll kiss him and basically forget about her feelings for me. Weirdly though, the memory didn't really stop after that."
Stacie keeps her hands busy writing down some notes. "So how did you go back?"
"There was just a lot of emotions thrown and both of us are just raising our voices but it ended with both of us crying."
Moments have passed but no one says anything else after that. Beca sips from her cup just to distract herself from remembering the faltering heartache that is threatening to come back.
"So here it is," the silence is broken, "I just found out that saying what the future holds doesn't guarantee an instant stop to the memory. It's a good factor to consider especially when this app comes close to travelling in the past, as you say it. However, I'm sure it leads to the crying that happened between you two. So just like before, the memory stopped so you didn't have to see what happens next. We can both agree it's pretty bad."
Beca knows what she's talking about now. They may never have gone to Brooklyn together. So that's a bust. She feels like she just wasted a memory. Although she's not as expressive as others can be, her emotions are well-received by her Skype caller.
"Cap. Are you okay?" The brunette nods a little but she's not convincing enough. "You don't have to do the last one, Beca. I've got some information now on which aspects to fix and improve on this app, thanks to you. You can delete it now. I can see this testing is taking its toll on you." A baby's cry is heard in the background. "I have to go. Thanks, Beca. Remember, you don't have to do another one. Okay? Bye."
Just like that, it's done. Even her chest pains. Stacie is right. This is affecting her in ways she's never felt before. She has dealt with the negative – the crying, the pain, the past. Beca Effin Mitchell isn't going to give up now. If there is one thing she's learned in this whole experience, it's that she can never change what already happened. The past is in the past. The future is hers to hold. She can choose what happens next.
The Beca from before will probably be the same clueless person and just ignore the kiss between Chicago and Chloe, go back to New York, and be on their separate ways. That's not what's going to happen between them. The Beca now will surely do something about it. She can't lose to a guy like Chicago, some random dude Chloe doesn't even know. Truth be told, she doesn't know what to do but she has a picture of her and Chloe. Before she is her girl, she's her best friend. She knows Chloe deserves better than some stranger. Even if it's not her, just not Chicago.
It's time to settle this.
So she calls Chicago.