Beca knocked on the door in front of her, biting her lip nervously as she waited. She didn't have to wait long, but her anxiety only increased upon seeing the face on the other side. "Beca. Hi."
"Aubrey." Beca paused awkwardly, not really sure what to say. "Is Chloe home?"
'Yeah, sorry, come in." Aubrey stepped aside and motioned for Beca to enter her apartment. Beca shyly walked in, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. "Chloe's in her room." Beca nodded and turned toward the red head's room. She stopped when she heard her name. "Beca? I need to talk to you about your… absence… from practice."
Beca sighed, expecting this conversation. "Look, I know that not showing up without letting you know was a dick thing to do and I'm sorry. I had a good reason, I swear, but I don't really want to get into it right now. I promise to give you notice next time."
Aubrey smiled. "That's not exactly what I wanted to talk about, but I appreciate that you'll let me know next time you need to miss a practice. I know that you must have had a good reason, so I'm not mad."
"You're not?!" Beca asked incredulously.
"No. Contrary to what you might think, my main purpose in life is not to yell at you. I simply care deeply about the Bellas and want us to succeed." Beca raised an eyebrow, but Aubrey continued, ignoring her look of disbelief. "I just wanted you to know that I don't just care about the Bellas as a group, but each of you individually also. As strange and infuriating as our relationship is, I consider you a friend and I would hope that you feel the same. You don't have to tell me what's going on, but just know that you have a lot of people around you who care. I know that we don't usually do feelings, but if you ever did need to talk, I'm here. Okay?" Aubrey looked Beca in the eyes, trying to gauge her reaction.
Beca nodded. "Yeah, thanks. That… means a lot." In all honesty, she was a little freaked out. She wasn't used to seeing Aubrey be so… nice. It was yet another reminder of how different her life had become in the span of a weekend.
"Okay, well, now that we got that out of the way, I should probably let you get to Chloe. If you guys need me, I'll be in my room, studying until forever." She sighed dramatically, before walking into her bedroom and closing the door.
Beca took a deep breath and walked to Chloe's closed bedroom door. She knocked quietly and waited until she heard Chloe's soft voice before she entered the brightly painted room. She couldn't help but smile at the sight in front of her. Chloe was sitting cross-legged on the bed, with at least a dozen DVD cases spread out around her. "Beca! You're just in time to help me pick out a movie to watch later tonight!" Beca groaned at the mention of watching movies. "Oh, come on, you liked the last one I had you watch."
"I told you I didn't hate it. That is not the same thing as liking it." Beca noted, dropping her bag in the corner of the room. She walked over to the bed, and looked at Chloe's choices. "Breakfast At Tiffany's. Really?!"
"What?! That's a great movie. It's one of my favorites." Chloe's eyes shone with excitement and Beca couldn't help but laugh.
"Of course it is. Well then, I have to watch it." Beca replied sarcastically.
"Good, then it's settled. Breakfast At Tiffany's it is." Chloe cleaned up the rest of the DVDs, returning them to their place on the shelf. "How was your day?" Her voice was light, but Beca could tell that it was forced.
"It was… interesting." Chloe immediately picked up on the hesitation and sat down facing her.
"Did something happen?" She asked anxiously.
"Well, I found out that I liked Philosophy." Chloe looked at her expectantly, knowing she was hiding something. After a pause, Beca muttered, "And I ran into Jesse."
"What?" Chloe gasped, immediately concerned. Her eyes roamed Beca's body, looking for bruises and injuries. "Are you okay? Did he do something? I swear to God if he touched you I'll—"
"Woah, slow down there, Rambo. I'm okay. See?" Beca patted her body to prove her point. " He just wanted to talk."
"He doesn't get to talk to you after what he did. I explicitly told him to stay away from you and he didn't listen." Chloe felt her anger levels rising.
"He didn't – wait, you did what?"
Chloe froze, sensing anger in Beca's voice. "When he came by your room last night, I told him to stay away from you." She left out the part where she threatened him, deciding that it was more information than Beca needed to know.
"Why would you do that?"
"Are you seriously asking me that question, Beca? He hurt you, that's why. I was just trying to protect you." Chloe defended.
"I don't need you to protect me, Chloe. I can take care of myself." Chloe sighed, knowing how defensive Beca could get when her strength was questioned.
"I never said that you couldn't. I was just doing what any good friend would do, okay?"
"You know, I didn't ask for your help, Chloe, so don't feel like you have to perform the obligated friendly duties or whatever. You don't have to do anything here."
"What? No, that's not what I meant."
"That's what it fucking sounded like." Beca was pissed, though if she thought about it she didn't really know why. She didn't actually want to yell at her best friend, but it was as if her actions were out of her control, the words spilling from her mouth before she could stop them. "God, why did I even come here? I should have known that confiding in you would only make things worse." She avoided looking into Chloe's hurt eyes as she crossed the room to get her bag.
"Wait, Beca, where are you going?"
"To dinner. With Jesse." Beca responded angrily. "He wants to talk about what happened Friday night. He says he doesn't remember, and I think I believe him."
"Beca, stop! Think about this, okay? He's clearly lying! You can't trust him!" Chloe followed Beca as she stalked out of the bedroom and down the hallway. "Beca, please. Listen to me! Don't go see Jesse!" Chloe grabbed her arm in desperation.
"Let go of me!" Beca growled. Chloe loosened her grip and Beca pulled her arm away. "The last thing I need is you telling me what to do as if you know everything. Guess what, Chloe; You have no idea about what I'm feeling or what I need right now so stop acting like you do. It was nice of you to hang around last night, but I think I'm better off handling this on my own from now on. I'll see you around." Without another word, Beca marched out the front door, slamming it in the process. Chloe felt tears beginning to fill her eyes as she tried to figure out how things had gone so wrong in just a couple of minutes.
"Chloe? Is everything okay? I heard yelling and the door slamming." Aubrey emerged from her room, looking worried. Unable to form words, Chloe simply burst into tears. Aubrey immediately sprung forward and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back comfortingly. "Did you guys have a fight?" She felt Chloe nod against her shoulder before a new set of sobs erupted from her body. "Hey, shhh; it's okay. I'm sure things will work out between you two. Maybe she just needs some space?" Aubrey tried, not really sure of the context of the argument.
Chloe shook her head miserably. "I just… this situation is so fucked up and I don't know how to handle it and I don't think I can do this on my own and I'm worried and she won't listen to me!" Chloe's voice got increasingly louder as she got more emotional.
"Okay, breathe. Let's take this one step at a time. Maybe you can explain the situation without breaking Beca's trust, okay?" Chloe nodded, taking a couple deep breaths before speaking.
"Um, okay how do I start this? Beca… something happened to Beca. Well, someone hurt Beca and I'm worried that she's going to get… hurt again. We got into a fight because I tried to protect her… from being hurt again by the same person, but she saw it as me thinking that she couldn't take care of herself, which wasn't what it was!" Chloe said vaguely.
"Okay… Well, you know how Beca is. She's all about being independent and not needing anyone, and even though she's started leaning on people, I'm sure it's still something she's getting used to. She's probably just hurt and freaked out and she took it out on you, which is not okay, but she'll come back once she's had time to think and process."
Chloe nodded, feeling a little better. "You're probably right. I'm just afraid of her being alone right now."
Alarm bells went off in Aubrey's head. "Why are you afraid of her being alone? Chloe, if you think that she could hurt herself then we need to tell someone." The senior's voice took a serious tone.
"No, it's not that."
"Then what is it?"
Chloe sighed, realizing that Aubrey wasn't going to let it go."It's not that I'm afraid of her being alone with herself, per se. I'm just scared of her being alone with someone else." Chloe still tried to stay as vague as possible, but the dots were beginning to connect in Aubrey's head.
"You're afraid of her being with Jesse." She looked into Chloe's eyes, receiving confirmation when Chloe quickly turned away. "Why?"
"I told you… He hurt her. And my gut is telling me not to trust him. I think he's manipulating her and I don't want her to get hurt again."
"Well, do you know where she went?"
"To dinner… with Jesse." Chloe suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. "Oh my God! She's with Jesse! I've been sitting here crying and she's with him! I'm so stupid!" Chloe jumped up and raced to her room, putting on her shoes with haste.
"I'm confused. What's happening right now?" Aubrey followed her around the apartment.
"I don't know, that's the problem! I have to find her! Where is my jacket?!" Chloe frantically began looking under the couch.
"Chloe, you're already wearing it! Do you need me to come with you?" The question was really more of a formality than anything else, Aubrey deciding that she was going to follow the panicking red head regardless.
"Yeah, actually, I might need backup. We have to hurry! Come on!" Without another word, she pulled the blonde out of the apartment and down the street towards campus.
A/N: Oh no! What do you think Chloe and Aubrey are going to find? Or will they find her at all? For the record, I did not enjoy writing this chapter very much. Writing Chloe and Beca fighting makes my heart hurt. But no worries, Bechloe is end game! Hang in there! Thanks for the kind reviews, I truly do appreciate it!