Everyone, I am so incredibly thankful for all of your kind words and encouragement. It means the world to me, really. I know I'm not just writing this for myself, but others too. Thanks a billion!
And without further delay, enjoy!
CHAPTER 3- PIECE OF ME
"Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd know that two days ago, another collegiate a-capella member was brutally murdered at a party hosted by the Treblemakers," Gail reported, as she stood directly in front of the Treblemaker's house.
"A tragic loss indeed. This is the second loss the Barden a-capella community has experienced in the past week and a half," John added.
"Dare I say it John?" Gail asked, with a little too much cheer.
"Well, you're a gossiping woman so you're probably gonna say it anyway." John smiled at the camera, blindingly unaware of his own misogyny.
"Barden might have a serial killer on its hands!" Gail exclaimed.
John nodded. "A serial killer who silences the voices of young singers through murders most foul."
"It's just so incredibly-"
"Interesting, Gail," John interrupted. "Yes, so incredibly interesting. I mean, where someone gets an idea to ram a metal pole through a body and create a human mannequin is beyond me."
"It's beyond all of us, John," Gail's chirpy voice corrected. "That's why we're not serial killers, but documentary reporters."
"Yes, reporters who, by the way, have just reached one million subscribers on YouTube."
"We're incredibly popular," Gail exclaimed enthusiastically.
"It seems there's an untapped market for true crime enthusiasts."
Gail nodded vigorously, her eye twitching several times in the process. Gail and John were currently caffeinated to near-lethal amounts.
Smiling widely, she added, "How humbled we are to be constantly located on campus and awake one hundred percent of the time so to capture every exclusive piece of information and evidence."
"Let's take a moment to close our eyes and-"
"John, we're in the middle of a podcast. Even though we haven't slept in the past... thirty-six hours doesn't mean-" Gail trailed off, before John interrupted her.
"I'm not talking about a nap. I'm talking about a moment of silence."
"Ah, yes," Gail agreed, shaking her head viciously, her eyes twitching several more times in the process. "Let's take a moment to honor... what's his name?"
"Oh. What is his name?" John wondered aloud. "Henry..."
"Beck Harris," Gail supplied. "Just Googled it," she added, holding her phone up to the camera.
Neither John nor Gail realized just how incompetent reporters they really were but instead, bowed their heads theatrically to honor the murdered student.
"It's almost like you can hear his spirit in the wind," John mused.
"Yes, it sounds like a... repetitive clicking sound. Like a-"
"Get out of here, this is a crime scene!" A police officer yelled to the two nosy reporters.
John and Gail snapped their eyes open and stood face-to-face with an investigative detective, who was holding a camera in his hands. John and Gail were standing near the front porch of the Treble house, right in the middle of the criminal investigation. John and Gail heeded authority by collecting their filmmaking gear, and trudging away.
Meanwhile, the Bellas had just endured yet another round of police questioning. This time, the interrogation occurred at the Bella house. Chloe and Beca had been particularly on edge during the questioning because, as it happened, they had each lied to the police officers. Well, rather, Beca had lied to the police officers and Chloe had nodded along with Beca's lie.
As Beca and Chloe swiftly made their way out of the Bella house and toward Chloe's car, Beca's mind circled back to a conversation from the prior morning.
"You don't remember last night?" Beca asked Chloe.
"No," Chloe admitted, getting out of bed. Groaning, she clutched her head. Damn, this was a bad hangover. Chloe fished around in her dresser drawer for the Advil.
Beca bit her cheek nervously and started playing with her hands. She wasn't looking forward to telling Chloe about the previous night's murder and she was kind of hoping that some part of Chloe had remembered any of it. "Alright, well you're gonna want to sit down for this. We... um... we..."
"Did we have sex?" Chloe's eyes widened as she swung around to face Beca. I mean Beca had given Chloe that sexy lap dance. And then… and then things had become extraordinarily fuzzy.
"No!" Beca exclaimed defensively. "Why would you... never mind. It's not that."
Internally, Chloe sighed with relief. She would never want to forget her first time with Beca. And yes, she could easily admit, she was hopeful that there would be a first time with Beca. And then, hopefully, a lot of times after that.
Despite her raging hangover, Chloe plastered a cheery smile on her face. "Well what is it then, silly?"
"We... witnessed a murder."
"Oh my God, what?" Chloe spat out, nearly choking on the three Advil she had just swallowed. Chloe began pacing the floor, utterly panicked.
"Hey, hey... it's gonna be okay," Beca tried to sooth. "I mean, right? Just... let's take a deep breath. Okay?"
Chloe sat down, saying nothing. "I don't remember it. How?"
"Well, you know how alcohol works, yes?" Beca asked with a half smirk.
By this time, the two girls had made it into Chloe's car. Chloe was playing with her keys nervously as her mind reeled and her stomach tied itself in knots. What had they just done? They had just lied to a police officer? Chloe never lied. She was honest to a fault. She was the kind of girl who would walk up to someone and shamelessly admit she wanted to kiss them. Lying wasn't her gig.
"Wanna try putting the key in the ignition there, Chlo?" Beca asked impatiently.
"Becs, I'm confused," Chloe whispered under her breath.
"Shh. We'll talk later. Just drive," Beca instructed. Beca didn't know why, but it seemed very important to get off campus before they discussed what had just occurred with the police interrogation.
Chloe obeyed, putting the key in the car's ignition and driving out of the parking lot. Operating on autopilot, Chloe sped down the road to 'Bean There Done That,' the girls' favorite coffee shop. In the process of driving, Chloe sideswiped a mailbox and nearly ran over a group of pedestrians. Beca braced herself for dear life. Chloe wasn't a good driver on a normal day. Adding nerves to the mix did not improve matters. Chloe was hell on wheels. Beca mentally reminded herself to not let Chloe drive home. Once they were situated in the coffee shop, the girls resumed their earlier conversation.
Leaning over the table towards Beca, Chloe whispered, "Did you lie about what happened the other night?"
"No," Beca responded with conviction. Chloe stared at Beca, squinting her eyes at the younger girl. Beca swallowed hard. "No," Beca repeated with slightly less conviction. "No…"
"You did. What happened?" Chloe demanded harshly while still keeping her tone down to a whisper.
Beca had, in fact, lied to the police officers. She had lied, before shooting Chloe that intense warning glare which meant that Chloe damn well better go along with whatever Beca was saying. Chloe could read Beca like a book. She knew that she had to agree with the story Beca was telling the police.
Beca had told the police that Chloe was drunk. The two of them had been together all night. They weren't apart for more than a moment. Once Beca figured that Chloe had consumed enough alcohol, Beca had decided to take her home. They opened the front door to leave the party and witnessed the murdered student.
Beca sighed, deciding to come clean. "You disappeared last night. Like evaporated into thin air, disappeared," Beca hissed, leaning across the table toward Chloe. "And when I finally found you, well, you were really drunk. And I decided to take you home. When I opened the front door..."
"I'm so sorry," Chloe apologized.
"Don't be. I'm just glad I found you, to be honest."
"Why'd you do it?" Chloe asked. She couldn't understand why Beca had felt the need to lie to the police officers about their togetherness that night. Couldn't Beca have just told the truth? That they weren't with one another until minutes before the murder?
"Chlo. Just... God." Beca ran a hand through her hair nervously. "Don't you think it puts a huge fucking target on your back if you're blackout and no one, including you, can place your location twenty minutes before a murder?"
"So you're just gonna defend me without even knowing what I may have done?" Chloe clarified.
"Pretty much," Beca agreed, taking a sip from her coffee.
"If they find out we lied, you're going to get dragged into this, too."
Beca narrowed her eyes at Chloe. "They're not gonna find out. Besides, if we go down, at least we'll go down together."
Chloe smiled, her mind feeling a strange combination of adoration and utter fear. "I don't know why I deserve you."
"Please," Beca answered with a wave of her hand, "You're my best friend."
Chloe stared down at her coffee, unable to meet Beca's gaze. "What if I did it? What if you lied for me, but I did it?"
"You didn't," Beca answered evenly and calmly. "That was one of the things you told me in your state last night... One of the many things," she added.
"Oh?"
"It's not worth getting into, trust me," Beca muttered. Beca didn't want to get into the fact that Chloe was very flirty in her blacked out state.
"Be-caw!" A voice echoed from across the coffee shop. It could be none other than Jesse.
"Jesse, what are you… what are you doing here?" Beca stammered, as she watched Jesse and Benji, each with coffees in hand, stride across the cozy shop and over to Beca and Chloe's table.
"Good to see you, too," Jesse chuckled, immune to Beca's apparent surprise. "Benji and I are just here for our morning coffee run."
"Hi," Benji poked out from behind Jesse, waving at the girls.
"Hi!" Chloe greeted the pair warmly.
"Hi." Beca's greeting was curt.
"So… your face tells me that you're still trying to make sense of this all," Jesse observed, taking a sip of his coffee.
Beca scoffed. "Oh, and you're not? Just because you're the scary movie guru?"
"Hey, I'm confused, too," Jesse admitted, "But I've made peace with my confusion, unlike you."
"And why is that?" Beca asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Because Beck didn't follow the rules. He stormed out of the house alone and-"
"Dude, this wasn't his fault," Beca snapped. Of course Jesse would bring up his stupid 'new rules' in a moment like this. He was so full of this idea that they were all living in a scary movie that he couldn't wake up and smell the coffee… no pun intended. He was oblivious to the fact that this was real life. A killer was actually living among them and picking them off, one by one.
"Of course not," Jesse back peddled, realizing his former statement had been a little too insensitive. "But it was pretty predictable, you have to admit, for a second killing. I imagine the third one will be a little harder to gauge."
"You think there'll be more?" Chloe asked with abject horror.
"Unfortunately, we're still at the beginning of this movie," Jesse stated with defeat.
"For fuck's sake, this isn't a movie, Jesse," Beca lashed out.
"Life is a movie," Benji offered with insightfulness.
"We're all just characters," Jesse added.
Beca huffed, tired of Jesse's nonsense. "Your cavalier attitude about these murders is mighty suspicious."
"You can't start the witch hunt," Jesse warned, scolding Beca lightly. " It never gets anyone anywhere. At this point, the murderer could be anyone."
"Even me," Chloe added in a whisper, her eyes downcast at the table.
"Except you," Beca corrected automatically, the words flying out of her mouth almost before Chloe had finished speaking. Nothing was more obvious to Beca than her fervent belief that Chloe was not a murderer.
"She's right," Jesse agreed. "It could be anyone. We just have to wait for this to resolve itself."
"Fucking Christ. I hope the police shows up soon." Beca rolled her eyes.
Shrugging Jesse offered, "Well, it is about time for the movie to introduce a new plot twist. Maybe not the police, but the introduction of an ally with just as much of a raw, take-charge attitude."
"Is that right?" Beca asked rhetorically, her lips pursing together tightly, as she stood up from the table.
"Yep. We're about to meet a character who's on our side, for a change."
Beca and Chloe left Benji and Jesse in the coffee shop, still talking amongst themselves about this whole 'movie' theory, and where in the movie they currently stood. Beca and Chloe had endured more than enough of this nonsense.
"Can I have the keys?" Beca asked casually, as the girls made their way back to the car.
"Why?" Chloe responded with a perplexed expression as she dug her keys out of her purse.
"I just want to hold them," came a disingenuous reply.
"Why?" Chloe asked, clutching the keys more tightly in her closed hand. Chloe's expression was more strained as she had now begun to suspect that Beca may be operating under ulterior motives.
"So I can use them... to drive home."
"Excuse me?" Chloe's eyes lit up with a passionate gleam and she turned on Beca. Her voice positively seethed.
"Please don't give me that look," Beca pleaded flatly, rolling her eyes. Great. Chloe was now officially pissed off.
"Oh, this look? What, are you offended? Have I hurt your feelings?" Chloe narrowed her eyes at Beca, taking a step closer to the girl.
Beca groaned. "Don't... don't be like this, okay? It's just...your driving. You..." Beca trailed off, totally flustered.
"Finish your thought, Beca," Chloe whispered, taking another step closer to Beca.
"Do you really want me to say it?" Beca was now feeling slightly afraid. Beca gritted her teeth, baring herself for the unpleasant conversation to come.
"Yes, I want you to tell me exactly what you think of my driving." Chloe challenged.
Beca swallowed hard. Chloe's blue eyes radiated fury. Beca dug to the bottom of her soul and summoned the courage to spit out in one breath, "It's bad. Really bad. You drive like a bat out of hell."
Chloe said nothing as she crossed her arms, bit her inner cheek, and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at Beca. While Chloe slowly and deliberately considered her next action, Beca couldn't tell whether Chloe was about to kill her.
"I'm scared." Beca whispered, the confession pouring out of her mouth without any conscious forethought.
"Hm," Chloe hummed, her expression easing somewhat as her eyes flickered a playful gleam. "Badass Beca Mitchell is scared of my driving," she replied teasingly.
"No, I mean I'm scared right now."
Chloe lightened as she took a final step toward Beca, closing the remaining space between the girls. By this point, their noses were mere inches apart. Chloe whispered, "You wanna drive? Well, Mitchell, have at it." Chloe winked at Beca before grabbing her right hand and thrusting the car keys into Beca's palm.
Beca swallowed hard, panic sweeping across her face. Her head felt like it was spinning out of control. Why did this electrical charge feel like it was passing between them as Chloe's hand touched Beca's hand? Beca felt her pulse quicken and she felt unsure why that was. Maybe it was because her best friend had just winked at her and was standing nose to nose with her. Her best friend who, okay, was actually really hot. I mean, that wasn't weird to think, right? Objectively, it was true. Anyone would agree.
"Okay," Beca answered shakily. Beca cleared her throat, taking a step back away from Chloe and regaining her composure. "Okay," she repeated more confidently.
Beca and Chloe climbed into the car and Beca turned the key into the ignition. Beca carefully pulled out of the parking spot as Chloe leaned back in her chair. Chloe smiled to herself. She missed Beca, all of her. She had missed their coffee runs from last year. She missed picking on Beca. She missed Beca picking on her. She felt indescribably whole to have her friend alongside her again. Even if her friend was occasionally a brat about driving, Chloe thought with a conceding grin.
As the girls neared campus, Beca's favorite Britney Spears song came on the local radio station. Piece of Me. "Turn it up," Beca instructed to Chloe, rounding the curve and turning onto their street. Chloe complied and cranked the radio.
"I'm Miss American Dream since I was seventeen
Don't matter if I step on the scene
Or sneak away to the Philippines
They still gon' put pictures of my derriere in the magazine
You want a piece of me?
You want a piece of me"
By this point, Chloe and Beca were singing along, fully invested in the song. Beca grinned, singing a little bit louder as she matched harmony with Chloe. She would be lying if she said she didn't relish these moments. Chloe was dancing in her seat while Beca occasionally cut her glance from the road to watch her best friend.
"I'm Miss bad media karma
Another day another drama
Guess I can't see no harm
In working and being a mama
And with a kid on my arm
I'm still an exception
And you want a piece of me
I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the rich and famous
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. Oh my God that Britney's shameless!
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. Extra! Extra! This just in
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. she's too big now she's too thin
(You want a piece of me)"
During one of the moments that Beca's gaze was on Chloe and not on the road, Beca drove over a pile of leaves which, as it happened, had a "surprise" buried obscurely underneath. An unidentified mass came rolling onto the hood of Chloe's car and onto her windshield, cracking it into a million shards of glass.
Beca screamed as she slammed on the brakes, causing Chloe's head to nearly hit the dashboard before her seatbelt caught her. The unidentified mass rolled off the windshield and into a ditch next to the passenger side of the car.
The car rolled to a stop, Chloe and Beca's hearts each pumping overtime. They had just hit something. But what? Neither girl said anything for a moment, as each was recovering from the shock.
"Well, I guess we've settled who's gonna be driving from now on," Chloe broke the silence as she joked, unclicking her seatbelt to get a better look at the mystery object. It looked like a bag of sand. Or maybe a sack of potatoes.
"Not a word," Beca warned with a scowl, throwing the car into park and stepping outside.
The girls stood outside of Chloe's car, both peering curiously at the mystery bag, which was now lying on a grassy patch of land near the passenger side door.
"Geez, Becs, did you try to hit that?" Chloe teased again, gently ribbing Beca.
Beca stared blankly at the black bag. "Of course not. Don't be stupid."
"What do you think we hit?" Chloe asked.
"I guess we should look?"
"Probably," Chloe agreed, nodding her head.
Tentatively, Beca stepped over to the black bag, leaning over it an inspecting it from all sides. Apart from smelling kind of bad, it didn't seem to be dangerous. Beca's hand hovered over the bag, twitching slightly before she leaned down and unzipped the bag. Opening the black bag, Chloe and Beca were met with a sight that neither girl was marginally prepared to face.
"FUCK!" Beca screamed dropping the zipper like hot lava and jumping away from the black bag.
A rotten smell wafted strongly from the contents of the bag, causing Chloe to nearly gag. Chloe brought her hand to cover her mouth. What was that?
"It's… a… body!" Beca screamed.
Chloe leapt back from the black bag, suddenly looking at the putrid mystery object with much more disgust.
"A… a body?" Chloe managed to choke out shakily.
Beca nodded, her eyes filled with horror. "It's a torso," Beca whispered.
Chloe whipped out her phone and called the police.
About an hour later, Chloe and Beca were escorted home in the back of a police car. When they arrived back at the Bella house, they were greeted not only by the other Bella sisters, but by Beca's father and Kommissar.
"Did you call my dad?" Beca whispered to Chloe, as the police car gently pulled into the driveway of the Bella house.
"Of course not," Chloe answered, whispering out of the side of her mouth as her eyes remained focused forward. "I'm sure he only knows about this because he's the Dean. And that horrible Kommissar lady probably told him…"
Chloe realized how petty she was being. She realized that most of her contempt towards Kommissar tied to the flirtation with Beca. But Chloe also felt fully justified by her intuition telling her that something was off about Kommissar. Chloe wasn't sure what it was just yet, but something about Kommissar felt sinister.
Beca grunted in a way that made Chloe unsure whether or not Beca agreed with her character assessment of Kommissar. Before Chloe could inquire further, they police car rolled to a stop and Beca's father wasted no time about opening the back door of the police car.
"Beca Bear, I've been so worried about you," Mr. Mitchell mused, as he pulled Beca in for a tight hug.
"Yes, tiny mouse and tiny red mouse. Worried sick," Kommissar added, leaning over Mr. Mitchell and whispering into Beca's ear.
Beca recoiled, pulling away from the hug and taking several backward steps away from her father and Kommissar. Beca took several steps backward and blindly backed into another person.
The voice behind her spoke in a familiar tone, "This is the kind of thing that I'll certainly put an end to as house mother for the Bellas."
Beca rolled her eyes at the sound of Aubrey's voice. Wait… Aubrey? Beca's eyes grew wide with horror. Aubrey? House mother? Beca shot her head around to Aubrey and then over to her father, who nodded at Beca wisely, nonverbally confirming Beca's dread.
"Bree?" Chloe exclaimed with giddiness, bounding over to Aubrey and enveloping her in a large hug.
Mr. Mitchell cleared his throat, his gaze never leaving Beca's eyes. "I sure hope so, Ms. Posen," he responded. "Because these young ladies have a knack for sneaking out under the nose of authority. In order to keep them safe, they need more supervision, it appears."
"Needless to say, I will be keeping even more of a watchful eye on these little girls," Kommissar promised with an evil smile.
"Great. Ms. Kommissar?" Beca's dad asked. "Please follow me over to my office. I'd like to go over additional security details with you. Aubrey?" He continued. "You're officially the Bella house mother, as of this moment."
Kommissar and Mr. Mitchell filtered away from the house, leaving behind Aubrey and the nine other Bellas. The Bellas all filed inside, the door closing behind them.
"Ladies," Aubrey began evenly, putting her hands on her hips, as she stood in front of the nine other girls. "I know the past several weeks have been rather difficult, and I can honestly say that…"
"You need to fall in line!" Aubrey barked loudly, her voice sending waves of echoes throughout the house.
Every girl collectively jumped back several feet, cowering from Aubrey's anger. "You're a disgrace to the a-capella community and a disgrace to me! Now luckily, I'm going to help you turn things around. Okay?" Aubrey asked rhetorically.
The other Bellas bobbed their heads up and down without thought.
"Okay, great, we're all going to get along wonderfully," Aubrey concluded with optimistic enthusiasm that starkly contradicted her tone from just moments ago.
"Just a few rules here," Aubrey picked up again cheerfully. "First, a curfew. Apart from traveling to and from classes and other activities, approved by me, you aren't to leave the Bella house."
"You're not the boss of me soooo..." Beca trailed off, hoping to have made her point clear.
It took less than a second before Aubrey fired back with, "Actually, yes I am. Your father put me in charge when he made me the house mom. I'm in charge here and you're going to follow my rules. All of you. Understood?" Aubrey asked rhetorically, pointing her finger at each of the girls.
The house fell silent as they all nodded in understanding. Even Beca begrudgingly acknowledged defeat as her eyes studied a spot on the rug below her.
"Good," Aubrey continued, after the silence made clear everyone's acknowledgement of authority. "Rule number two. As of this moment, we're implementing the 'buddy system.' Can anyone tell me what that means?"
Stacie's hand shot up in the air.
"Stacie?" Aubrey asked.
"It means sex with no strings attached. Like when you want to fuck someone but don't want to date them."
"Erm, no, I think that's a different kind of 'buddy' than what Blondie here was talking about," Amy interjected.
"Yeah, that's a fuck buddy," CR corrected.
"So we're having a fuck buddy system?" Stacie asked excitedly. The girls began muttering animatedly amongst one another.
"I know who I'm choosing, I want-" Stacie continued before she was interrupted.
"Enough!" Aubrey yelled above the chatter. "We are not having a ffff... a ffff..." Aubrey sighed heavily, rubbing her thumb and pointer fingers across her eyelids in pure exasperation. "We are not having a sex buddy system," she continued, deliberately avoiding the word 'fuck'. "We are having a regular buddy system."
"Sounds lame," Amy observed.
"I don't care," Aubrey barked, causing Amy to recoil somewhat. "It's what's going to keep us safe. Each one of you is going to be paired with another Bella and where one of you goes, the other one goes. You'll sleep in the same room, eat your meals together, et cetera, et cetera. The idea is safety in numbers. We need to be able to easily account for one another if we want to stay alive."
"So together all the time?" Chloe asked.
"That's right," Aubrey affirmed. "Every moment of every day."
"Ew, so like even in the shower?" Beca asked.
"I thought you liked having some company in the shower," Chloe responded with a flirty wink, nudging elbows with Beca.
"What?!" Amy, CR, Stacie, and Flo all asked in near unison.
"Dude!" Beca exclaimed, her face turning scarlet. "I told you to never bring that up ever again!"
Chloe shrugged.
"So you showered together?" Stacie asked, unable to resist getting the full story.
"Totes!" Chloe answered at the same time Beca insisted, "No!"
"No," Beca insisted again. "That's... gross. I mean, not that Chloe is gross because she's not. Obviously. But no, no, we didn't shower together per se, we just..."
Aubrey sighed heavily. "We don't have six hours to stand here and listen to you unpack your sexual awakening, hobbit."
Beca lunged at Aubrey, while Chloe held Beca back. "Let me go!" Beca hissed, livid with anger as she tried desperately to wriggle free of Chloe's grasp.
"Stop," Chloe scolded. "She doesn't mean anything."
"Or does she?" Stacie pondered aloud, further fueling Beca's fire.
"Let me go, Chlo! So help me, I'm gonna-" Beca growled as she continued trying to wrestle out of Chloe's strong hold over Beca.
"Fight, fight fight!" Amy started yelling, pounding her fist in the air and further inciting Beca.
"For the love of God, all of you just shut up!" Aubrey screamed, hiccupping in the process.
"Oh no, duck and cover, pitches," CR warned. A puke shower was most imminent.
Aubrey hiccupped several more times before getting herself under control. Meanwhile, the other girls fell silent, waiting to see if Aubrey's lid was going to blow.
"Okay," Aubrey said, her voice stern, but barely above a whisper. "Aside from bathroom activities," Aubrey continued, cutting her eyes aggressively over at Beca, "You will spend every moment with the Bella I pair you up with. No ands, ifs, or buts. Amy?"
"Yes sir?" Amy asked, her voice quivering with fear.
"You and Lilly are going to be paired up until this passes."
Lilly nodded silently in understanding, while Amy shuffled across the room to stand with her new buddy.
"Flo?" Aubrey continued. "You and Cynthia Rose are going to pair up. Next, we have Jessica and Ashley. Where are they?"
"We're literally standing right in front of you," Ashley offered dryly.
"Right, well the two of you are going to stick together."
"Sounds about right," Jessica observed.
"Chlo?" Aubrey asked.
"Yeah?"
"The hobbit is your ball and chain for the time being."
"Hey!" Beca objected with a scowl while Chloe grinned to herself.
"Aye, aye," Chloe agreed cheerfully, linking arms with Beca.
"And Beca?" Aubrey asked. "You keep her safe or I will literally murder you."
"Poor choice of words, considering there is actually a murderer on the loose," Beca shot back aggressively.
"And if something happens to my best friend, there'll be two murderers," Aubrey challenged, meeting Beca's eyes. Both girls stared silently at one another for several seconds, not breaking eye contact. Finally, Beca relented and looked away.
"Fine," Beca seethed, relenting to Aubrey's authority. "I'll never lose sight of her."
"Very good," Aubrey answered with a curt nod.
Chloe, meanwhile, was grinning ear to ear. Constant togetherness with Beca? Chloe couldn't imagine better luck if she tried. Well, of course, it would have technically been luckier if there were not a serial killer on the loose. I mean, lives had been unnecessarily lost. Chloe frowned somewhat while guilt set in over her initial giddiness of being paired up with Beca.
"Um, excuse me, but I think you forgot one?" Stacie asked, irritated.
"No, I didn't," Aubrey answered. "You're with me."
A snicker passed between Amy and Beca at Stacie's misfortune. Stacie, it appeared, did not take this turn of events as a misfortune at all, but rather, seemed thrilled at the prospect of spending all her time with the new house mom.
"Think you can handle seeing so much of me?" Stacie asked in a sultry voice, throwing in a wink for good measure.
Aubrey's face turned light pink, Beca noticed. Swallowing, Aubrey answered unevenly, "It's my job."
Later that evening, Beca had moved into her new room with Chloe. Aside from the curfew and buddy system, Aubrey had laid out several other rules. No parties or consumption of alcohol outside of the house. It impaired judgment and invited disaster, Aubrey reasoned. No giving out phone numbers or personal information to strangers. And finally, mandatory dinners at the Bella house each night at six o'clock sharp, where after mandatory a-capella practice would commence from seven to eight thirty each night. A murderer on the loose did not excuse ritual and practice, Aubrey reasoned.
"This is actually insane," Beca huffed, plopping down on her new bed in her new bedroom. "Like, indescribably insane."
"She's just trying to keep us safe," Chloe responded gently, coming over to sit down next to Beca on her bed.
"By parading around like a prison warden on a power trip?"
"Okay, I think you're overreacting."
"It's like we're trapped in Satan's dollhouse."
"Okay, now I know you're overreacting," Chloe responded, trying to quell the humor from her voice. "Do you want a backrub? You seem tense."
"Do I?" Beca asked rhetorically.
"Mmmhmmm," Chloe answered, as her fingers found Beca's shoulders.
Beca immediately relaxed into Chloe's touch, allowing the older girl to continue her massage. Beca would never understand how it was that Chloe gave the best massages on earth. Seriously, the girl was seriously gifted.
"How's that, Becs?" Chloe asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Mmmmmmmphffffff," Beca replied with an involuntary moan, deep from the back of her throat.
"Oh, God," Beca immediately recoiled from Chloe's touch, shooting straight up in bed as she silently cursed herself for her inadvertent moan.
Chloe giggled while Beca tried to hide the embarrassment from showing in her face.
"That good, huh?" Chloe asked with a playful gleam in her eyes.
"Not a word," Beca ordered, pointing her finger at Chloe.
"What about a moan?" Chloe fired back, a shit eating grin spreading across her face.
"Why are you… why do you do this to me?" Beca asked aloud, mostly to herself, as she stood up and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Make you moan like we're having sex?" Chloe elaborated, knowing fully well what sort of response this would elicit from Beca.
"Dude!" Beca exclaimed loud enough for the whole house to hear. "Don't... talk about us having sex. It's super weird."
"I kind of dig the thought of making you moan for me, Becs," Chloe reasoned with a flirty wink.
"For the love of God, Chlo. We are not having this conversation," Beca shot back sternly, pursing her lips together and trying desperately to keep her breathing under control. Why was it incredibly hot all of a sudden? Beca could feel herself starting to sweat as her lower gut tightened. Shit. Chloe. Beca hated that she kind of loved when Chloe teased her like this.
"Oh, come on, Becs," Chloe reasoned, feigning seriousness. "With us practically tied to one another for the foreseeable future, we're bound to figure these things out eventually."
"Jesus Christ," Beca muttered under her breath, her face now a scarlet red.
Chloe smirked. She knew she had bested Beca. "I think we're really going to discover everything about each other over the next weeks," Chloe continued, grabbing Beca's hand and pulling her down on the bed next to her.
"Do you really think it'll take weeks to catch this psycho?" Beca asked, while Chloe laced their fingers together. Beca was floundering, desperately trying to steer the conversation in any other direction. If Chloe kept talking like this… well, it was really confusing to Beca.
"I don't know," Chloe answered honestly. "I hope not."
"Me too. It's scary, you know?"
Chloe nodded solemnly. "I do."
"Like he could be anyone. He could be anywhere."
"That's the scariest part," Chloe agreed.
"Like, he could be hiding under our house right now," Beca continued.
Chloe shuddered. "No."
"He could be brandishing a large knife and hiding under our house."
"Becs, stop!" Chloe exclaimed, pushing Beca's shoulder.
Smirking, Beca continued, "He might be waiting until we go to sleep and in the middle of the night-"
"Beca!" Chloe cried, pushing Beca over on bed.
"I'm just saying, he-"
"Stop!" Chloe yelled, climbing on top of Beca and clamping her hand over Beca's mouth.
"MMMMMMM!" Beca exhaled a muffled scream into Chloe's palm as she tried to wriggle from Chloe's hold. Chloe was now straddling Beca, who was stuck on her back, defenseless against Chloe.
Before matters could escalate further, Chloe and Beca's bedroom door flew open, Aubrey appearing at the doorway, with Stacie poking her head behind Aubrey.
"What are you doing?" Aubrey demanded, her hands on her hips.
Chloe and Beca froze in place, becoming incredibly aware of the inappropriate position in which they now found themselves. Beca was on her back in bed and Chloe was straddling her while holding the brunette into place.
"Nothing," both girls answered in unison.
Shit, Beca thought, this looked really fucking wrong. Beca kneed Chloe gently, urging the older girl off her lap. A moment or two passed before Chloe got the hint that she needed to climb off Beca.
"Oh, right," Chloe said, mostly to herself, as she lifted herself off Beca.
"Girls!" Aubrey scolded, a little more gently, "It's nearly midnight."
"Sorry," Chloe offered sincerely.
"Yeah, sorry," Beca muttered, sitting up in bed.
Beca and Chloe ended their charade and got ready for bed. Chloe tried not to look as Beca shed her top and threw on a flimsy tank top and boy shorts. Her curves perfectly enunciated her trim body and those garments were hugging Beca in all the right places. Fuck, Beca looked really hot. Beca glanced over at Chloe. Noticing that the older girl was eyeing Beca's body, her face grew pink as she cut her gaze away from Chloe's intrusive stare.
"Stop," Beca demanded flatly as she climbed into bed and fumbled with her covers. Beca hoped she convincingly sounded aloof.
"Stop what?" Chloe asked a little too innocently.
"Staring at me."
"I wasn't staring. I was… checking you," Chloe corrected with a grin.
"Checking me out? Jesus, that's somehow worse."
"No, silly! Checking to make sure you weren't scratched up from our little wrestling match earlier," Chloe answered easily, slipping her own shirt above her head.
Now it was Beca's turn to stare, as she watched a topless Chloe wander around their room looking for her pajamas. Chloe was wearing a lacy black bra, accentuating the attractive curves of her body. Blushing, Beca cut her eyes up to the ceiling, refusing to look down until she was certain that Chloe was fully clad. Living with someone so… uninhibited was going to be challenging to say the least.
Chloe climbed into bed, turning off the lamp situated between their two beds.
"Night, Becs," Chloe mumbled breezily, turning over in bed.
Beca swallowed loudly. Suddenly, it was so… dark in here. And it was nighttime. And did she mention how dark it was?
"Chlo?" Beca whispered across the room.
"Hm?" A sleepy hum replied.
"Are you awake?" Beca asked.
Chloe chuckled tiredly before answering, "Yes, Becs. I'm awake."
"Good. Because I, uh, didn't want you to be freaked out about anything I said earlier. You know, about the killer who definitely isn't hiding underneath our house. I'm sorry I said it."
"That's okay," Chloe whispered back sincerely. "I had kind of forgotten about it, to be honest."
"Okay, good," Beca answered.
"Good," Chloe parroted with a tired smile, rolling over in bed to go back to sleep.
"Chlo?" Beca asked again, after several beats of silence.
"Yes, Becs?"
"Because you know, if you were freaked out, I would understand. Like, if sharing a bed with me somehow made you, I don't know... less terrified of getting stabbed in the night..." Beca trailed off.
Chloe bit her bottom lip to stop her growing grin. "Are you trying to tell me you're scared, Becs?" Chloe teased.
"No!" Beca protested. "I was just saying if you were, that I... You know, I'd come over there and… it would feel less scary. For you, I mean."
"Uh huh," Chloe responded, playing along. "So you're saying that if I was terrified out of my mind that you would come sleep with me tonight?"
"Yes, that's exactly it," Beca agreed.
"Right. Well, I guess I'm pretty lucky I've got you here, huh?" Chloe mused.
"Yeah, super lucky."
"Because, you know, I'm really freaked out," Chloe continued. "Please come sleep with me, Becs?" Chloe asked, her voice dripping with innocence.
Chloe thought about calling Beca out again on her lie, she really did. But calling Beca out on her lie risked Beca proving her bravery by spending the night in her own bed. And selfishly, Chloe really wanted Beca in her bed, even if platonically. Chloe loved having the other girl close to her, smelling her hair, feeling her warmth. Chloe could uneasily admit that she would do just about anything to be with Beca. Even lying about being scared so that Beca would sleep with her in bed.
No sooner had the words fallen out of Chloe's mouth, Beca was pulling back the covers and climbing into bed next to Chloe. "Scoot," Beca ordered.
Chloe did as she was told, making room for the other girl in the small twin sized bed. Both girls settled into a comfortable position, realizing quickly the lack of room in the bed severely limited mobility.
"Lord, there's like no room in here," Beca observed as she laboriously flipped over in bed so that she was spooning Chloe.
"All the better for cuddles," Chloe answered, wrapping her arms tightly around Beca's midsection. "It's a good thing you make a comfortable little spoon," Chloe continued, nestling her head into Beca's hair.
Beca exhaled, finally feeling at ease for the first time that evening. She couldn't explain why, but the encompassing embrace of her best friend was incredibly comforting. Beca felt safe in Chloe's arms. Which was weird because human contact normally made Beca feel the opposite of safe.
Beca and Chloe fell asleep in one another's embrace, not awoken until Chloe heard the familiar buzz of her phone. A new text message. Chloe stirred, her eyes fluttering open as she became aware of her surroundings. Beca was snuggled up next to her, looking adorable as her eyes twitched in her sleep. Chloe followed the narrow ridge of Beca's nose to her mouth, which was pressed tightly together. Chloe smiled tiredly, placing a small kiss on Beca's shoulder. Sleeping with Beca felt like the most natural thing in the world.
The phone buzzed again. Chloe considered not answering it. What was the worst that could happen? Chloe stole another glace at Beca, who looked so completely beautiful in the moonlight. Right, Beca. Chloe reached for her phone and read the message that she had been anticipating with dread. Chloe blinked a few times and swallowed hard as her stomach pooled with panic. She had been hoping not to receive a text message tonight. She had been hoping this would all go away. But she knew what was on the line here. Either she played the part that was required of her, or else. She had no choice.
Quietly, Chloe slipped out of bed. Taking caution to not wake Beca, Chloe quietly slipped on her shoes and pulled on a black jacket. She did not return to the house for another hour.
As Chloe quietly entered the bedroom, Beca stirred.
"Where were you?" Beca mumbled sleepily.
Shit. Beca was awake.
"Nowhere. The bathroom. Go back to sleep, Becs," Chloe whispered.
"Why did you need shoes and a jacket for the bathroom?" Beca asked, a little bit more coherently than her first question.
"I… get cold sometimes," Chloe lied through her teeth with a grimace. Chloe hated lying.
"Bullshit," Beca accused, sitting up in bed.
Chloe said nothing. Beca wasn't wrong.
Beca cleared her throat. "There's a question I really wanna ask you, but I'm really afraid of what the answer's gonna be," Beca admitted.
"Then maybe you shouldn't ask it," Chloe warned, taking several steps closer to Beca and sitting down gingerly at the foot of their shared bed.
Beca nodded and sighed, fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "But, I uh- also can't not ask it. It's. I have to know. You didn't... like, you know... I can't exactly ask this without making it sound like I'm accusing you. But I'm not. I'm just... confused."
"Becs, I think it's okay to be confused. We're all confused right now." Boy, were they ever. Chloe had about ten million questions running through her head right now. She didn't understand what she was doing or why she was doing it.
"Your disappearances are worrying me," Beca admitted. This was about as succinct as she could be.
Now it was Chloe's turn to sigh as she averted her eyes from Beca to hide the fact they were welling up with tears. Guilt didn't begin to explain how she felt in this moment. "You shouldn't be worried for me," Chloe choked out.
"But I am," Beca challenged firmly, yet with a tone of softness that was unusual for Beca. Beca shuffled out from underneath the bed covers and crawled to the foot of the bed to sit next to Chloe. "You're not telling me something."
"Do you trust me?" Chloe whispered, staring straight ahead as she blinked back tears.
"Well, yeah," Beca admitted without a second thought, glancing over to Chloe with incredible concern, her dark blue eyes growing wide.
"Do you believe me when I say that I guard you...I mean, the Bellas, above my own life?" Chloe continued.
"Oddly, I believe that entirely," Beca affirmed.
"I need that to be enough for you right now," Chloe pleaded, not daring to look into Beca's beautiful face. It would only make her cry.
Beca sighed, defeated. "Fine," Beca agreed reluctantly. "But you're not leaving me again."
Chloe stole a glance, raising her eyebrows at Beca.
"I mean it. Not ever again. Aubrey put us together for a reason. I'm not letting you slip away from me." Beca was resolute.
"But what if-"
Beca interrupted. "It's not happening, Beale. I don't know what kind of issues are going on, but if they're so important you have to leave, you're taking me with you from now on. I'm not losing you."
Chloe nodded. She glanced over at Beca shyly and offered the younger woman a small, but warm grin as several tears spilled down her cheeks. Chloe wasn't really sure if she was sad, scared, happy, or confused at this moment in time. It was probable that a combination of these emotions were present.
"Babe," Beca soothed, reaching over and rubbing Chloe's back. Beca surprised even herself over the fact that she had just called Chloe 'babe.' What was this, Beca wondered? Since when was she a comforting person? Beca could not recall one other time in her life when she had consoled another person. Chloe was a special exception, Beca internally reasoned. She wasn't sure why, but she defied the norm.
"It's okay," Beca continued. "We're gonna get through this, I promise."
Chloe sniffled, leaning into the crook of Beca's neck. Beca wrapped her arms around Chloe and rested her head on top of Chloe's.
"I'm gonna be here with you, no matter what," Beca promised.
In this moment, Chloe's heart felt overwhelmingly full. Leaning into Beca's warm embrace and inhaling the younger girl's intoxicating scent caused Chloe to nearly admit something she wasn't ready to spring on Beca. "Thanks, Becs. I love… that you're my friend."
Beca thought about teasing Chloe for her lack of regard over personal boundaries, she really did, but decided against it. Subconsciously, Beca was reeling for a way to make this current intimacy with Chloe into some sort of joke so she didn't have to address it seriously. Of course, Beca didn't realize that her feelings for Chloe ran far deeper than she had let herself realize.
Luckily for Beca, Chloe sensed Beca beginning to tense up and cleared the air. Unlucky for Beca, Chloe chose to lighten the mood by saying, "Thanks for everything, babe." Prompted by Beca's silence, Chloe continued. "I think we should go back to sleep now, babe," Chloe finished, pointedly emphasizing the last word.
Beca groaned. Of course Chloe was making fun of her earlier use of that pet name. "I'm never talking to you again," Beca muttered under her breath as she climbed beneath the covers and settled back into bed.
"Suits me," Chloe shrugged nonchalantly, joining Beca in bed. Chloe readjusted herself several times until she was hugging Beca and resting her head in the crook of Beca's neck. "You complain a lot."
Beca smiled tiredly. She didn't know why, but she really liked falling asleep tangled in Chloe's embrace. She would die before ever admitting this, though.
"Becs?" Chloe whispered.
The hairs on Beca's neck stood up, as Chloe's lips were centimeters from her skin. "What?" Beca whispered back.
"I thought you weren't talking to me ever again?"
"I made an exception this once," Beca admitted with a hint of sarcasm. "Promise it won't happen again."
"I see," Chloe replied, going along with the joke. "Well if you won't talk, will you sing? I just… I'm having trouble falling asleep. It would mean a lot."
Beca pursed her lips together, lamenting at Chloe's request. "I don't even know what I'd sing," Beca muttered back tiredly.
"Anything, literally anything that comes to mind," Chloe offered hastily, glad that Beca hadn't flat-out denied her request.
A few long moments passed where neither girl said anything and the only sound Chloe could hear was Beca's steady heartbeat, as Chloe's head was now pressed against Beca's chest and her arms were now snaked around Beca's torso.
Finally, surprising even herself, Beca sang out, softly at first, but louder once she knew she had met the approval of Chloe.
"'Cause I don't wanna lose you now
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me
The vacancy that sat in my heart
Is a space that now you hold
Show me how to fight for now
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy
Comin' back into you once I figured it out
You were right here all along
It's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me
I couldn't get any bigger
With anyone else beside of me
And now it's clear as this promise
That we're making two reflections into one
'Cause it's like you're my mirror
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me."
"Becs," Chloe whispered into Beca's chest.
"Hm?" Beca hummed.
"That was perfect." Chloe placed a small kiss to Beca's collarbone.
"Anytime," Beca relied automatically until she registered Chloe's kiss. Her skin tingled pleasantly and a burning sensation swept across her body as her mind reeled over the moment.
Beca wanted to say she could shake the feeling, but she couldn't. Worse yet, Beca realized that she didn't want to shake the feeling. As Chloe peacefully faded into sleep, Beca was left awake as her mind spun circles around itself. What did this mean? Why had Chloe snuck out of the house tonight? Why did Beca sing to her? Why that song? What about the kiss?
Everything was changing. Beca didn't yet realize it, but everything with Chloe would forever be different after this moment. Beca had officially caught feelings for Chloe, whether or not she consciously realized.
The next morning passed rather uneventfully. The Bellas enjoyed their typical Saturday morning breakfast. Aubrey and Beca bickered over the breakfast table while Stacie and Chloe tried to smooth the tension. Amy drank syrup straight from the bottle. Lilly whispered something about swallowing knives while Flo egged her on. CR successfully prevented a trip to the emergency room by wrenching the knives from Flo and Lilly's hands.
Breakfast was followed by a day-long Bella practice. Beca relished the time to quietly work on her mixes while Chloe led the rest of the gang in choreography. By the end of the afternoon, the girls were physically, mentally, and emotionally tired. Beca was looking forward to nothing apart from curling up alone in bed and working on some mixes. Aubrey, it seemed, had other plans.
"Okay, ladies, we're having Bella night tonight," Aubrey announced to the group at the end of Bella practice.
"What does that mean?" Amy asked suspiciously.
"It means we're doing something fun tonight," Aubrey answered optimistically.
"We're going to bed early?" Beca asked sarcastically.
"We're starting a fight club?" Flo asked with innocent cheer.
"We're having sex?" Stacie asked suggestively, winking at Aubrey.
"No to all of those," Aubrey responded sternly, trying to reclaim her demeanor after Stacie's comment. "We're doing something together," Aubrey continued, leering at Beca, "That doesn't involve fighting or sex."
"So what is it?" Chloe asked.
"Amy, Flo?" Aubrey asked.
"Huh?" Amy asked.
"You two are roommates now. What better way to bond than planning a Bella night together? The rules are simple. We can do anything… that doesn't involve us leaving the house. Oh, and you have two hours to plan it."
Two hours later, the girls came downstairs to discover with horror the night that Amy and Flo had planned. Maybe forcing Amy and Lilly to bunk together wasn't such a good idea after all, everyone could silently admit. Further, delegating activity night to Amy and Lilly was also a mistake. As it turned out, Amy and Lilly had planned a séance for their Bella night activity.
"This is idiotic," Beca and Aubrey muttered in perfect unison.
"It appears we agree about something," Beca pointed out with a chuckle. Anyone could agree that a séance was a horrible bonding activity, particularly under these circumstances.
"Ah, come on. We have to do this. In the name of fun!" Amy protested.
"This is fun to you?" Aubrey asked incredulously.
"So much," Lilly whispered intensely while Amy nodded her head up and down like a bobble headed doll.
"Yeah, and you made us plan Bella night so you have to follow our plans..." Amy protested.
"So what do we do, Amy?" Chloe asked good-naturedly, despite the fact that holding a séance was a little more than creepy.
"We all sit in a circle like so," Amy instructed.
The nine girls complied with Amy's request, sitting down in a large circle in the middle of the living room. Sitting in the middle of the circle were scatterings of various spices and flowers, along with three black candles. Lilly procured a lighter and brought the three candles to life.
The Bellas sat in silence for a few moments, watching the fire catch the wicks of the candles. This was, by far, one of the weirder nights the girls had ever shared.
"What's the point of this?" Stacie asked with some skepticism.
"It's to ward away the evil spirits," Amy explained, as though the explanation were totally obvious. "For it to work properly, all the people in the house have to be void of evil. So… we'll do, right?"
Beca and Chloe exchanged confused glances. Was Amy on crack? Why on earth were they spending their evening participating in a séance.
Before anyone could say another word, a loud creak emanated from the depths of the Bella house, as if the house itself was speaking. Aubrey practically leapt up.
"Don't!" Amy warned, yanking Aubrey back down to her seat within the circle. "Uh, Lilly told me it's bad luck to leave the circle before the end of a séance."
Lilly nodded ominously. The girls swallowed hard, trying to push the loud and mysterious creaking sound away from their thoughts. Aubrey rolled her eyes, both irritated with Amy's nonsense, but also a little bit scared of the potential consequences, as she settled back down in her seat.
Lilly began muttering something incoherent, though Beca suspected it was some sort of incantation. The group sat silently and uncomfortably, waiting for Lilly to finish. After what seemed to be a minute or two of indecipherable whispers, Lilly concluded and raised her head to meet the eyes of the other girls.
The only sentence Beca could here was Lilly's concluding thought. Lilly whispered, "We face evil forces in this house."
"Uh, anyone else want to go. Please?" Beca begged impatiently.
Chloe rubbed Beca's arm reassuringly.
"She's right," Aubrey affirmed, surprising everyone. Beca would have figured that Aubrey would be the last person in the world to encourage such nonsense. "Legend has it that evil has shaken this house to its core."
"But this is a newly built house?" Flo asked with confusion.
"It's a newly refurbished house," Chloe corrected.
Beca spat out, "Wait, what?"
"It's a newly refurbished house," Aubrey agreed. "Back in the eighties and nineties, this used to be the Bellas' house. That is, until..."
"Until what?" Amy asked.
Aubrey sighed. "Until something awful happened back in ninety-six. After that, it remained vacant until this year."
"And no one has told us that we're living in a haunted house, why?" CR asked with panic.
"It's not haunted, per se," Chloe clarified.
"Well it doesn't sound not haunted," Beca exclaimed, unable to contain her irritation.
"It's probably not haunted." Chloe was trying her best to sound optimistic.
"Probably?" Stacie, Flo, Jessica, Ashley, and CR cried in unison.
Beca interjected, "Okay, can someone tell me with certainty whether or not I'm currently living in a haunted house?"
"Becs," Chloe soothed, wrapping the younger girl in a hug. "Don't be scared, okay? I'll protect you."
"Thanks, but this doesn't answer my concern," Beca whined, wriggling herself free from Chloe, even though she was secretly comforted by her touch. Of course, she would sooner die than admit this to anyone.
"Just relax and listen to your girlfriend, eh Short Stack?" Amy suggested to Beca.
Had Beca not been terrified out of her mind, she would have swiftly responded with a threat to Amy's life for calling Chloe her girlfriend. Fuck that, she was going to respond with a swift threat to Amy's life for calling Chloe her girlfriend.
"Hey!" Beca exclaimed, turning on Amy. "My girlfriend... I mean, my Chloe, I mean... Jesus Christ, Chloe... doesn't own me and I will actually walk in the kitchen and spite eat the rest of your cheesecake if-"
"Becs, is this really necessary?" Chloe asked, grabbing Beca's hands in her own hands, forcing Beca to look the older girl in the eyes. Chloe's infectious gleam immediately dissipated Beca's scowl.
"I'm sorry," Beca exhaled, not breaking eye contact with Chloe.
"Whipppppppped," Amy whispered in a sing-songy voice, "Like the icing on my cheesecake."
Stacie laughed, earning herself a glare from Beca. "What? It's true!" Chloe suppressed a grin, while Stacie continued, "I mean this in the nicest way, but Chloe can get you to do anything."
"Woah. Not true," Beca shot back, pointing her finger at Stacie.
"She's right, Stace," Chloe reluctantly agreed with Beca. Just as Beca's face was relaxing into a self-justified smirk, Chloe pinched Beca's arm and with a wink, quickly added, "If I could get this one to do anything, I promise you, we would not be down here right now."
"Dude!" Beca barked raucously as the entire group of girls erupted into cat-calls and whistles.
Beca's face turned scarlet with embarrassment. It did not escape Beca that her stomach was turning itself in knots while her head spun circles around itself. Why was Chloe doing this? Worse yet, why was Beca having these types of feelings in her stomach while her friend teased about hooking up together?
"Do you guys want to hear the story about what happened to the Bellas in ninety-six or no?" Aubrey asked, her voice sounding bored and tinged with annoyance.
"Please. Anything but this," Beca begged, recognizing the hypocrisy of her former words because yes, she would rather listen to horrifying ghost stories than endure the sexual confusion brought on by her friends' teasing.
Lilly's face lit up with joy as she scooted several inches to Aubrey who, cleared her throat and begun her story.
"Back in the early nineties, the Bellas were in a slump. Their set lists were horrible, their choreography was even worse, and girls were unfocused. The ragtag team of losers needed a win, and they needed it badly."
"Kind of like us last year," Amy mused out loud.
"Well in ninety-five, along came a girl by the name of Tammy Cobbledick."
"Unfortunate name," Beca scoffed.
"Unfortunate look, too," Amy added. "Remember, Short Stack? She's the girl in that portrait in our foyer with the mullet."
"Oh yeah!" Beca remembered, smiling over her prior shared moment with Amy.
"That's right, Fat Amy," Aubrey praised. "The portrait is located in our foyer. Those eleven girls turned their luck around that year."
"What's this Tammy girl got to do with anything?" CR asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.
"Well, legend has it that she sold her soul for accolade," Aubrey whispered ominously, causing the group of women to lean in to hear her continued tale. "She sold her soul in this very house, by killing talented people and using their blood to absorb their talent. And after that, Tammy was a changed woman. She shed her mousy look like a girl in a nineties movie and suddenly became attractive. She took control of the Bellas and immediately, the girls became practical celebrities overnight. Under her lead, they were winning everything. Nothing could stop them. They were on their way to clenching an ICCA win. Until..."
"Until what?" Amy yelled, chomping at the bit to hear the end of the story.
Aubrey swallowed, taking her time to meet the individual gazes of the other nine women. "Until her plan backfired. You see, the more the Bellas won, the more Tammy kept worshiping the devil to claim more and more glory. She was a woman possessed. None of the other Bellas claim to have known it, but Tammy would create elaborate séances, much like ours here tonight. She would light candles and whisper incantations, begging the spirits to bestow her with glory. One night, Tammy entered a trance that lasted for six hours. During that time, Tammy sat here in this room, with candles burning around her. Eventually, a candle fell down and this living room caught on fire. Snapping out of the trance, Tammy is thought to have called the fire department. The department arrived in time to save the house, but not all of the lives were saved."
"Wait, so all of the Bellas burned to death?" Stacie asked with extreme concern, horribly bothered by the fact that Aubrey had seemingly turned a horrible disaster into a Friday night scary story.
"Not exactly," Aubrey answered, dispelling Stacie's concerns somewhat. "Most of girls made it out alive, but one girl was never located. Tammy was never seen or heard from again. And the police or firemen never found her body. Legend has it, that she died in that fire and her spirit roams this house, waiting to attach itself to anyone who can bring her the fame and glory Tammy so desperately craved."
By this point, Beca was clinging desperately to Chloe and her head was burrowed in the crook of Chloe's neck. Most of the other girls only fared marginally better than Beca, as they wore varying looks of shock on their faces. Aubrey looked around at the group of girls and smiled to herself, satisfied for having successfully narrated her horror story. The only Bella who didn't look scared was Chloe, who was preoccupied with a balled up Beca sitting in her lap.
"Not a fan of scary stories, babe?" Chloe hummed lightly into Beca's ear.
Beca murmured noncommittally while Chloe hugged Beca tighter, relishing the feeling of Beca in her arms.
"So you both knew about this and never told us until now?" Stacie asked to Chloe and Aubrey.
Aubrey shrugged as she failed to bite back a grin. "You should have met our predecessor, Alice," Aubrey answered with a dry chuckle. "You would've believed me when I told you that she used this story to shamelessly haze every new batch of Bellas. It scared me the first time I heard it. But by the third time, it got so boring I could anticipate every moment, right down to every one of Alice's dramatic pauses."
Chloe added, "She's right. Alice loved telling this story. But that's all it is. None of this is real." Chloe winked for good measure.
"And now you're using it to haze us?" Amy asked.
"Oh, hardly." Aubrey brushed the idea with a wave of her hand. "You two were the ones wanting to have a scary séance for your Bella night. I was just giving you the best story I had to make your night everything you wanted it to be."
Flo piped up, "So this isn't real?"
"Not at all," Chloe assured genuinely.
"So no Bellas ever lived in this house?" CR asked.
Chloe and Aubrey exchanged blank glances, shrugging at one another. "Not that I know of," Aubrey answered honestly.
"Yeah, it's kinda just been here... Until it was refurbished this summer," Chloe added.
"So why did Alice say this place was haunted?" Stacie asked suspiciously. "The very house where we now live?"
"To torture us," Chloe answered easily, as if the answer were already clear. "She picked the scariest looking abandoned house she could find, I'm sure."
Before the conversation could continue, the doorbell rung. Each of the girls remained frozen in place.
"I'll get it!" Flo offered, running to the front door.
Chloe and Beca, forgetting about their earlier tension, looked at one another nervously. Beca remembered the last time they had received a mysterious knock on the door. Flo, as it turned out, did not remember, because she eagerly swung the door open and picked up a small blue box sitting on the doorstep.
"Don't open it," Beca warned. "Let's leave it and call the police."
"Aw, Short Stack, it's a birthday present," Amy dismissed with a wave of her hand. "See? There's a bow on it, which means it's for your birthday, so we should definitely open it."
"Yeah. That does nothing to dispel my concern," Beca responded dryly.
"Well, at least we know it's not another person who's been murdered," Stacie considered with a shrug. "No one could fit in a cake box."
"Unless they've been ground up or cremated," Lilly corrected with a whisper.
"If you're not gonna open it, I will," Amy decided, grabbing the box from Flo's hands and tearing through the blue wrapping paper.
Amy opened the cake box, which must have been tripped by a wire, because the act of opening the box caused the chorus of Britney Spears' "Piece of Me" to begin playing on repeat. Amy frowned and stared with confusion down at the package's contents.
"I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the rich and famous
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. Oh my God that Britney's shameless!
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. Extra! Extra! This just in
(You want a piece of me)
I'm Mrs. she's too big now she's too thin
(You want a piece of me)"
"What are they?" Amy asked, squinting suspiciously at the ten little oblong cakes, as the innocuous chorus played over again.
"Lady fingers, I think," Chloe answered with curiosity, furrowing her eyebrows and peering into the box.
After enough time had passed during which the girls listened to chorus once or twice, CR mused, "What is this all about?"
"It's someone who wants a piece of Beca," Stacie supplied.
"Clever," Aubrey grunted, taking a cautious peek into the box. Indeed, there were ten yellow lady fingers sitting in the box.
"A secret admirer?" Flo asked with excitement. Flo loved surprises. "Who do you think it is?"
"Probably that girl from Evermoist," Amy mused.
"Or the scary German security guard," Flo countered.
"Or-" Amy began, before Chloe cut them all off.
"We get it!" Chloe exclaimed, a little more incensed than she intended. "Beca's a hot commodity!"
Beca's face grew read. "Can we please move on?"
"Yeah. Great, I'm starving," Amy exclaimed, pulling out one of the lady fingers with excitement.
CR shrugged. "Well, if she's doing it, I'm doing it, too."
The box of sweets was quickly passed around to each girl.
"A toast," Chloe proposed with cheer, raising her lady finger ceremoniously in the air. "To Beca's birthday!"
Aubrey was the first girl to bite into the lady finger, nearly choking in the process. There was something hard in the middle of these cookies, Aubrey quickly discovered. Aubrey gagged loudly, spitting out the contents of the cookie on the floor.
"What is it?" Chloe asked with concern.
Aubrey finished coughing, glancing down at the floor, where a crumbled lady finger sat, encasing something much harder and more solid. Something that didn't seem edible.
"I bit something hard," Aubrey trailed off, squinting at the floor. What was that thing in the middle of the lady finger?
From across the room, a loud spit could be heard, followed by a finger-like object spewing across the room. Amy, it appeared, was the second Bella to discover an inedible object inside her lady finger. The object landed squarely in Beca's lap.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Amy screamed loudly, once the object had left her mouth.
"What the... FLYING FINGER!?" Beca screamed, reaching nearly the decimal Amy as she dropped the lady finger from her own hand. Standing up, the detached finger fell from Beca's lap and landed on the floor.
"FINGER?" Aubrey shrieked, her eyes bulging out of her head. "FINGER?! I ATE A FINGER?" Aubrey was positively hysteric.
"There's fingers in the lady fingers?" CR yelled, dropping her lady finger like it contained a plague.
"Woah," Lilly whispered incredulously, her voice totally drowned out by the various shrieks, particularly those of Aubrey and Amy. Lilly studied her own lady finger closely.
"AN UNIDENTIFIED HUMAN FINGER WAS IN MY MOUTH!" Amy whined loudly as her face scrunched up.
"Okay, let's calm down," Flo suggested, trying to placate the inconsolable group of women. "I'm sure we can identify the finger. Who do we know without any fingers?"
The group of Bellas became momentarily quiet as they stared at Flo with unreadable expressions. The silence was short lived, however, as Aubrey resumed screaming at the top of her lungs.
"I ATE A MOTHERFUCKING FINGER!" Aubrey bellowed, throwing her head back in the air. No other Bella had heard Aubrey drop the 'f' bomb before.
"Who bakes dead human fingers into food?" Jessica asked.
"Who even has dead human fingers?" Ashley responded.
"OH MY GOD, I DON'T EVEN LIKE CHICKEN FINGERS!" Aubrey wailed, hiccupping as she unsuccessfully battled the inevitable eruption.
Suddenly and without any warning, Aubrey began spewing vomit like a fire hose, dousing the entire living room. This made matters worse, as Aubrey's puke shower caused several of the other Bellas to become physically ill, as well.
"Oh my God, this is truly tragic," Chloe panicked, pacing the floor back and forth while the other Bellas melted down around her. "We're not even safe in our own home."
Beca averted her eyes from the detached human finger laying by her feet and stood up. Someone needed to call the police. Before they all drowned in Aubrey's vomit.
*** Alright, so... we're in a weird place, especially with the fingers! We've already got a couple of the pieces in place, but the coming chapters will continue revealing who is behind this all. I'm loving your guesses, by the way! You all are observing a lot!