A/N: I apologize for neglecting this story. My best friend died 5 months ago and before/since then, school has been consuming me along with work. Anyways, he and I loved Pitch Perfect...He was the Chloe to my Beca and I miss him terribly. I'm finishing this for him 3 love you homie!
"Chloe Beale is a damn LIAR!" Beca shrieked after slamming a shot glass down on the island in the kitchen. After talking about the Bellas and LA and Beca's father (as well as Chloe gearing up for New York) the redhead had pulled out a bottle of vodka, insistent on getting Beca to spill whatever subject she had been dancing around all night. Chloe just giggled and began pouring another round.
"Okay so I broke my promise, what's my punishment?" Chloe asked with a sly grin as she handed Beca another shot and the two downed them before breaking into a drunken laughing fit.
Beca felt awkward about drinking with Chloe given the last time they had drank together, Chloe ended up in the ER, but she assured Beca that she would never drink like that again and that everything was fine. They needed a stress reliever, and Beca was a sucker for Chloe's word.
"Your punishment is hanging out with me. Sucks to suck!" Beca told her as the pair stumbled over to the couch and plopped down on it.
"My punishment can't be my favorite thing in the world as well." Chloe slurred in reply. Beca just grinned and reached over to Chloe and messed up her hair with a laugh.
"You're such a fuckin dork." The DJ told her as the older girl just shrugged.
"Yup, and you've never minded before so don't start!" Chloe told her as she laid her head in the younger girls lap and stared up at her. "So tell me what's going on in that pretty little head of yours, my tiny ball of mystery."
Beca didn't even attempt to hide her blushes from Chloe anymore, and Chloe followed suit by not even bothering to stop making the freshman blush.
"Nothing besides the ICCAS, really." Beca told her.
"Yeah riiight." Chloe slurred as she narrowed her stare up at Beca. "Is it Catherine?" She added, hoping the inquire would get Beca to talk.
"Ha, no." Beca responded, maybe a little too quickly.
"Did you guys fight?" Chloe asked. Beca didn't even bother responding, she just stood up to go grab the liquor and shot glasses while shaking her head. Hanging out with Chloe was probably a mistake.
"I'm sorry, no more prying Becs, I promise! I just know when you have something eating away at you." Chloe told her.
"I ALWAYS have something eating away at my mind. That's nothing new, and I promise, it's nothing I don't deal with on a daily basis." Beca said as she poured two more shots.
"You're lying, but I'm gonna let it go because I love you."
Beca walked back over to the couch and handed Chloe the shot glass.
"You do?" She asked, slightly bewildered to hear that.
"Totes." Chloe told her with a smile as she clinked Beca's shot glass and downed her shot before Beca could even wrap her head around her last words. With a shrug, she too downed her shot.
Beca groaned as she stirred and rolled over only to be met with a quick fall and a hard thud to what she assumed was a floor.
"Ugh, what the hell?" She groaned. As she opened her eyes and looked up she realized she was in Chloe's bed and must've fallen out. Her head was killing her and her mouth was dry.
'Why oh why don't I ever learn?' She wondered as she lifted herself onto all floors and took in her appearance. She was only in her tank top and underwear. She sat up fully and looked on the bed to see Chloe in the same state of dress as her.
'We get wasted and sleep in the same bed twice and still nothing happens. True love my ass.' Beca thought as she stood up and wandered into the hallway towards Chloe's kitchen to get a glass of water.
As she downed the water and took in the appearance of the living room, she couldn't help but grin. The empty bottle of vodka was on the coffee table with the shot glasses next to it, turned over, and there were several DVDs spread across the floor, signifying that Chloe had probably tried to get Beca to watch a movie, but Beca didn't remember that happening and hoped it hadn't. As she was finishing her survey of last nights drunken bonding, Chloe padded down the hallway and joined her in the kitchen.
"We got pizza last night?" Chloe asked with a hoarse voice as she motioned to the box and grabbed a cup from a cabinet before filling it with water.
"Evidently so. And nachos too." Beca answered as she pointed to another container.
"I don't remember any of that.." Chloe confessed with a small smile as she popped two ibuprofen and nudged the bottle towards Beca. "Me either." She answered simply with a small chuckle.
"We totally have a full dress rehearsal in a few hours." Chloe said, remembering as she caught sight of the time.
"Fuck, that's right. I totally should've been mindful of that before I let you talk me into all those shots." Beca joked.
"You poured the last one I remember, don't try and make it seem like you're completely innocent." She told Beca with a wink.
"I'm always the innocent one. Though I definitely have you to thank for my tolerance increasing. I'm definitely not a 3-beer queer anymore." Beca said.
"Nope, you're just a regular queer now." Chloe said with a smart ass grin as Beca rolled her eyes.
"You wanna get dressed and grab a coffee?" Beca asked.
"Absolutely. We should probably shower, I'm sure we smell like nachos and vodka." Chloe responded with a slight wince. Beca nodded in agreement as the two headed back to the redhead's room to get ready.
The pair entered the campus coffee shop laughing hysterically over the time Beca told Aubrey to suck her dick at one of the earlier practices they had.
"I swear to god I thought she was going to pull another puke gate!" Beca said between laughs.
"I know! God, you really pissed her off that day. She ranted all night about you and your ear monstrosities and how your alternative lifestyle was going to bring us down. I totally vouched for you though." Chloe told her
"Oh yeah? And how did you vouch for me when we didn't even know each other then?" Beca asked.
"I told her you had a killer voice and a certified Bella body which I had seen first hand and she shut up after that."
"Seriously!?" Beca grimaced.
"Oh totes." Chloe reassured her with a wink as they approached the counter and placed their orders. Chloe ordered her usual iced espresso blend and Beca decided a black coffee would be best since she was pretty sure this full dress rehearsal would be no picnic. She also ordered them two of her favorite breakfast sandwiches (egg, bacon, tomato, and cheese) reminding Chloe that it was the brunette's turn to pay as Chloe tried hard to quickly swipe her card, but Beca nudged her out of the way in time to hand the cashier a 20.
The girls grabbed their order and turned to make their way to the exit when Chloe suddenly nudged Beca and pointed to the other end of the coffee shop.
"Becs, look, Catherine is here." Chloe informed her. Beca barely glanced and became obviously uncomfortable. "Um, don't you wanna go say hi?" Chloe asked, slightly confused at Beca's hesitation.
"I, uh, no. Not right now. She looks like she's studying hard for finals. I'm not gonna bother her. C'mon let's go." Beca responded as she quickly continued to make her way out the door. Chloe looked back over her shoulder and saw that Catherine was now looking at them. She opened the door and made her way up the walkway in order to catch up to Beca.
"Okay, soo that was weird. Care to explain?" Chloe asked as she reached Beca's side.
"What? It wasn't weird. I just didn't want to interrupt her. Whatever." Beca said as she sipped her coffee and continued to walk, hoping Chloe would drop it.
"But she's your girlfriend, why wouldn't you want to say hi to her?" Chloe pried.
"Chloe..."
"Seriously if you guys are fighting, just squash it. It's the end of the year, keep things light.."
"Chloe."
"If she's going to LA with you this summer and you're going to be living together then you need to get over whatever it is..."
"Chlo, seriously..." Beca pleaded.
"She's probably just stressed about finals, so are you. You guys can't hold stuff against each other."
"CHLOE! She broke up with me! Can we please just get to this fuckin rehearsal already?!" Beca shouted to the older girl. Chloe stopped and turned to the DJ.
"What? What do you mean she broke up with you? Why!?" Chloe asked.
"I don't even want to go there. I just want to get to practice." Beca said with a frustrated sigh. Chloe just nodded and continued walking with Beca towards the auditorium.
Practice wasn't as much of a nightmare as Beca figured it would be. They had no problem agreeing on outfits (black and blue) and incorporating their Bellas scarves into it as well. Though Beca's hangover was making it hard to fully focus, Chloe was having no problem. She had probably done this shit hungover before and never faltered, which made Beca slightly envious. Aubrey called a 10 minute water break and Beca wandered over to an empty row with Stacie and Amy, plopping herself down with the two as they all shared their opinions of how their routine was looking.
Aubrey and Chloe grabbed some water bottles from the cooler and deliberated by the piano.
"How was your night?" Aubrey asked as she uncapped the bottle of water and handed it to Chloe.
"It was good, Beca slept over and we just hung out." Chloe replied
"Hence why you're hungover." Aubrey said with a frown. "Should I be worried?"
"No, Bree, you don't have to get scared every time I drink. I learned my lesson last time, I promise. I was just trying to get her to loosen up so she'd talk to me." Chloe explained.
"Talk to you about what, exactly?"
"She was off all day yesterday, even more so than usual. She didn't tell me anything until this morning on the way here, Catherine broke up with her."
"Wait, what? Why? I thought they were good. You didn't do anything, did you?" Aubrey interrogated
"No of course I didn't! I don't know why they broke up, she didn't want to talk about it. I'm worried about her though." Chloe confessed.
"You two have the weirdest friendship. Every single line has been crossed. I don't even know what to tell you anymore." Aubrey said.
"Maybe I should talk to Catherine?" Chloe suggested.
"Okay I can definitely tell you NOT to do that. Why do you feel like you have to be so involved?" Aubrey asked.
"She's my friend, why would you even ask that?" Chloe questioned.
"You never went and talked to my exes." Aubrey pointed out.
"Yeah but I gave them dirty looks AND deleted them from Facebook, that still counts." Chloe defended.
Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Listen I don't recommended going to look for trouble. Beca will talk to you when she's ready."
"You and I both know that's not true. That girl doesn't talk."
"If you still want to be friends with her, you won't meddle. Now c'mon, we have to get back to work." Aubrey said as she pulled Chloe towards the stage and attempted to get the girls attention.
Chloe should've listened to her best friend but ever since she'd started hanging out with a rebellious alt girl she found herself doing just the opposite of what she should be. The worst part was it was totally justified in her head. The senior swallowed hard as she stood outside the door on Greek row because she knew if, no, when Beca found out about this she would totally be done for. Deciding to just go for it since she was already there she rang the doorbell and readied herself for what was to come next. The door opened and before her stood a pretty petite girl.
"Can I help you?" The girl asked with a semi-impatient tone.
"Is Catherine here by any chance? ...I kinda need to speak to her about something rather important." The redhead said, feeling slightly nervous under the girls stare.
"She is. I have a feeling she probably isn't going to want to talk to you though." The girl answered honestly.
"Nicole, it's fine." She heard a voice say from the background and suddenly Catherine appeared behind her. Nicole backed away, touching Catherine's shoulder reassuringly before walking off.
"You're here to talk about Bec, aren't you?" Catherine asked, already knowing the answer it seemed.
Chloe nodded slowly.
"I'm worried about her. She's been upset and she said you broke up with her?" Chloe questioned. She suddenly realized why this was a bad idea, all of it, but it was too late. So here she was...god the things this little DJ drove her to do.
"Yeah, I did." Catherine stated matter of factly. There was a moment of awkward silence before Catherine motioned for her to come in. Chloe remained wordless as she followed the sorority girl into the large house, down the hall and into a living room.
The brunette took a seat and motioned for Chloe to do the same. Catherine observed her for a few minutes before speaking.
"You said she's been upset?" Catherine asked, breaking the silence. Chloe nodded.
"She's been attentive about Bella stuff, to anyone else, but I can tell she's off, and she's been agitated and distant. More so than usual for her." Chloe explained.
Catherine scoffed and then shrugged. "I don't know what you want me to say or explain. I was pretty clear about why we were breaking up...and so was she. It wasn't exactly mutual, but it was understood."
Chloe didn't understand, not in the least. Who could break up with Beca?
"She didn't tell me why. The only reason she even told me is because we saw you at the coffee shop and she didn't want to say hi to you and I pried. It's like she wanted to keep it a secret. Like the Beca I first met months ago." Chloe said.
"I figured you'd be the first one she ran to and that you'd welcome her with open arms since you were basically the third person in our relationship." Catherine stated
Chloe opened her mouth to speak but was stopped when Catherine cut her off.
"I don't mean to sound angry, I shouldn't be...well I guess I don't know exactly what I'm entitled to feel. I can't exactly fight with true love, can I?" Catherine asked. The redhead just looked at her, unable to speak now.
"Someone like Beca is very rare to find. The connection was instant and everything felt right, except for the fact that I'm not you Chloe. She loves you." Catherine told her. Again Chloe couldn't find the words to say anything at the moment.
"I think you got what you came for, didn't you?" Catherine asked the senior.
"I...I don't know what to say." Chloe finally told her.
"Well, sorry isn't what I want to hear. I know it's not true...you have seemed envious since I met you which surprised me because your reputation does not include that word. And you're not one to boast, you definitely didn't come here to do that. No, you definitely came here for a why and are you really surprised to hear that you're the reason I broke up with Beca? Because you should know, being a Bella, that second place in any form just sucks." Catherine said.
"I wish it wasn't this way, I honestly do..." Chloe began to say
"Are you kidding me? I'd love to beat some sense into you but I'm definitely not a fighter. The girl loves you and you love her, there's not much more to it, Chloe!"
"There's actually a lot more to it. You don't even know.." Chloe told her, tensing up.
"It must be a good one if you can reject that girl and still remain so intimate with her. You don't seem like someone who would string someone along and ruin their life."
"Ruin her life? I've done no such thing!" Chloe argued
"You're the reason she's upset right now. I'm her excuse but you are the real reason. She could probably never tell you that. When she had a fight with you, it was like her world was over. She never acted that way if it was Jesse, her dad, or even me, her girlfriend at the time. You think you're protecting her...she doesn't need you to do that, she needs you to love her."
Chloe could feel tears forming. She hated being sensitive. If Catherine wasn't a physical fighter, she definitely got her punches in with words. The worst part was Chloe knew all of this was true. She was hurting Beca.
"I'm leaving, and she's leaving, okay? Opposite coasts! For four years. Every odd is against us. She is going to be meeting people and growing up as she expands her talents and I will be in a city, in grad school, becoming a young professional starting a medical career. It's impossible and if it goes wrong it's going to completely ruin us both. Friendship is at least better than nothing!" Chloe said in defense.
"You do realize you just said IF it goes wrong, right? If you really believed all of that crap you just said, you would've said WHEN. it doesn't make sense Chloe. It's a bit ironic that the girl who has walls greater than China's has more optimism about this than you, isn't it?" Catherine told her.
Chloe sniffled. "I don't have to explain myself to you, I really don't."
"Except that's exactly why you're here too, isn't it Chloe?" Catherine asked, her tone way less harsh than it had been a moment ago.
Chloe looked Catherine dead in the eye, knowing that it was partially true.
"I have to go." Chloe said abruptly. Making her way out of the living room and towards the front door. Before she could step outside Catherine gently grabbed her arm, forcing the senior to turn and look at her.
"Give it a chance Chloe. Beca deserves at least that with all that she's gone through in life." Catherine told her.
"I'm not going to say sorry because I know that you don't want to hear it. It sucks that you got caught up in this messed up situation though. I didn't mean for my existence to ruin your relationship with her." Chloe said.
And with that, Chloe left. Swearing she'd never step foot in a sorority house again.
Beca was in the midst of perfecting one of her favorite mixes. She had been working on this particular one since she had started at Barden and had finally gotten all the pieces just right. She pulled her headphones off and stretched, wincing at a sore spot in one of her shoulders due to Aubrey's cardio and the rehearsal of the dance. Just then a pounding at her door caught her attention.
'Who the hell could that be' she thought as she stood up to answer it. It was 10:30 at night and she definitely wasn't expecting anyone. Whipping open the door, she definitely didn't expect the sight in front of her.
"Hey Bec." The girl said with a small side smile.
"Uh, hey Catherine." She replied awkwardly. She had hoped to avoid the first conversation post break up but apparently the other brunette was determined to have it.
"I didn't mean to interrupt, I know this is prime mixing time for you." Catherine said as she shuffled her feet awkwardly.
Beca couldn't help but smile slightly at that. Catherine knew her pretty well.
"It's okay, um, I just didn't expect it to be you, I guess." Beca said as she rubbed the back of her neck, a habit of nervousness.
"Hoping for Chloe?" Catherine asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Definitely not." The DJ quickly responded.
"I take it you haven't swept her off her feet yet then? I'm surprised after the talk I had with her today I thought.."
"Talk? What talk?" Beca asked.
"She came by to talk to me...about our break up." Catherine informed her.
"Wow. Of course she did." Beca said, not surprised but at the same time really pissed at the thought of it.
Catherine shrugged. Even a girl like her understood a girl like Chloe.
"Don't give her shit for it. I'm sure she tried to talk to you and you shut her out so she did what came naturally to her."
Beca blinked at the girl in amazement. "Did you really come here to defend Chloe's actions to me right now?"
Catherine shook her head. "No. Given the circumstances, I'm surprised you're not." She answered truthfully.
"Oh I get it. You came here to insult me. Cool." Beca retorted.
"Not here to do that either. I actually came to see how you were doing...I know you've been upset..."
"Why? Cause Chloe told you?" Beca asked in an irritated tone. She was not happy about the girls talking behind her back.
"She mentioned it." Catherine told her. "But I care about you and I wanted to check in."
"You're kidding right? You broke up with me because of her and not only did you have a nice tea time chat with her about me but now you're checking in on me? I have a mom. I don't need you to be concerned." Beca spat.
"Okay listen I still consider you my friend, I told you I love you, you know I care, Bec. And I know you're hurting right now, it's mutual but it's all for a reason. I know the ICCAS are in a few days and I wanted to wish you luck. Aubrey finally listening to you was the best thing for everyone and I know you're going to be excellent." Catherine said.
Beca sighed. Her human feelings finally coming to the surface and beating out her harsh exterior.
"I know you care, Catherine. That's what's making this so hard. I don't want us to be broken up." Beca confessed.
Catherine pulled the small DJ in for a hug and kissed her hair. "You are going to be just fine. That girl loves you more than I could, believe it or not. So when you guys stop with all the excuses, all of this won't even matter to you."
"How can you say that? You do matter. You know you do." Beca argued softly as Catherine pulled away.
"Take care, Bec. And be nice to Chloe about everything. It's messed up that all of us are hurting but you can't think about me. She needs you. Especially since I was a little mean and maybe told her all of this was her fault." Catherine said with an "oops" look on her face.
"You're never mean! I would've paid to see that." Beca joked.
"I know! I'm not proud of it, but I'm not ready to be super nice to her just yet." Catherine confessed with a shrug.
"I'm gonna miss you." Beca admitted. Catherine just smiled.
"Text me when you win...and don't forget about our deal, you're playing my club when it opens!" Catherine said
"I promise. Goodnight Catherine."
"Goodnight, Bec."