Chapter 4

Chloe was lying on her bed in her bedroom. She shared a spacious apartment with Aubrey, who was still on campus attending a late Friday afternoon class. She was freshly showered and dressed in comfortable clothes. She angrily stared at her white ceiling. She was still angry with Aubrey.

How could Aubrey think that I liked Beca? Beca is the most unpleasant and awkward human being that I have ever met, she disrespects everybody! Just look at the way she treats her own father. At least her father is still alive. I would give anything to see my father again – even just for a minute.

Chloe glanced at a picture frame on her bedside table, taken shortly before his sudden death 4 years ago.

He was laughing happily while holding a labrador puppy. Chloe decided to call him Pluto, since she took a weird interest in astronomy for a while back then. Chloe smiled when she remembered the day she took that photo.

Her father went out to adopt a puppy from an animal shelter, without anyone knowing about it. He and Chloe loved dogs, but since Chloe's mother was allergic they never got one. Chloe doesn't know why exactly he went out that day to buy Pluto, she only knew that the labrador was a great comfort for her and her mother after he died. Her mother is now on chronic allergy medication, and still complains at times about her block sinuses, but it is a small price to pay for having Pluto in their lives. It also meant that her mother was not completely alone when she left for college. When her mother met Dr. Mitchell, or Shane, 3 years after her father died, it was an even greater comfort knowing that her mother had someone who loved her.

Chloe liked Shane. He was funny and had a certain charm about it, and he made her mother smile and laugh, something that she barely did after her father passed away. He adored her mother and treated her with a lot of respect, so Chloe accepted him whole-heartedly. He spoke of Beca a lot and Chloe could tell that his strained relationship with Beca bothered him. She was excited to meet Beca when she heard that the dj would be going to Barden as well this year, since the brunette declined to visit her father or to meet them before that. It all, of course, went horrible wrong.

Beca hated her from the start, and the dj was unpleasant towards her mother, but surprisingly and weirdly enough her mother liked Beca a lot. Her mother always liked and disliked the same people Chloe liked and disliked, so it irritated her when her mother could not stop speaking about Beca after their first meeting. Her mother described Beca as being a "breath of fresh air" and that she was "truthful and not fake", so she urged Chloe to spend more time with Beca and to make her feel at home at Barden.

Chloe let out an irritated sigh. If only her mother knew the real Beca. The sarcastic Beca. The stubborn Beca. The Beca that smirked and that rolled her eyes at everything. And now Aubrey, out of all people, thought that she, Chloe, liked Beca. It was absurd.

Chloe got up from her bed, and decided to call Shane. She had to cancel their dinner with him and her mother. She he knew he would be disappointed and that her mother would be irritated with her for cancelling, but she made a deal with Beca and had to keep it.

Chloe dialled his number and waited.

"Chloe!" Shane greeted happily, and Chloe smiled.

"Hi Shane."

"Did Beca tell you about dinner tonight? Are you guys coming? Your mother is busy making your favourite dishes, and home-made pizza, because Beca likes pizza."

"Yes, Shane, about dinner." Chloe felt horrible to cancel after hearing all of that. "We will not be able to make it unfortunately. We are having a very important Bella's get-together tonight, and we can't miss it." Chloe left out the bit of them dancing like strippers and going out to celebrate the large amount money they raised from it, thinking that that might be a little too much information to share.

"Oh." He sounded very disappointed, and Chloe hated herself.

"Yeah, it would have been fun to have dinner with you guys, while Beca was there too, for once." Chloe said, sounding a bit bitter. Beca never bothered to visit her father or Chloe's mother.

"Yes, it would have been." He still sounded very disappointed, and it made Chloe feel even guiltier.

"We can always make it for tomorrow night?" Chloe suggested, before she could stop herself. She knew Beca would hate that, but the dj just had to accept the change of plans.

"If that is fine with you guys?" He asked, sounding hopeful and happy again.

"Sure, and Beca will come as well." Chloe assured him confidently, while not feeling confident at all that Beca would agree to go. She would have to deal with that later, though.

"Great. Thank you, Chloe. We will see you guys tomorrow night at 7pm then." Shane lauged.

"Yes, I'm looking forward. Say hello to my mom, and to Pluto!"

"Will do so. Enjoy the Bella get-together, say hello to Beca for me."

"Sure, bye Shane."

"Bye!"

Chloe ended the call feeling relieved. At least that is over with now.

As she walked out of her room to make herself some coffee, her phone vibrated twice, and she frowned when she saw that it was a text message from Beca. She lazily sat down on one of their couches in their open-plan apartment, and read the text message.

'Hi. Can Jesse join us tonight too? I owe him free beers and since its ladies night it will be cheaper to buy him a couple out of my pocket. Lol.'

Chloe rolled her eyes. So she is cheap as well.

'I judge you for being cheap, Beca.' Chloe replied, and she smirked as she imagined Beca rolling her eyes at her text message.

Chloe felt excited when she heard her phone vibrate again. She read the reply text message quickly.

'Cheap? Ironic, coming from the best strip dancer at Barden.'

Chloe laughed. 'I am honoured that you think I am the best. ;-)'

'I am only calling you "the best" since I am afraid of how competitive you are.'

Chloe grinned. She is such a dork.

'Jesse can come, sure.' Chloe decided to answer Beca's first text message. Even though I don't like him much. Chloe finished the sentence in her head. He has this obvious huge crush on Beca, either that, or they are have some sort of brotherly-sister bond – and that seems unlikely.

'Thanks!'

Chloe smiled as she read the reply and heard Aubrey walk into their apartment. Aubrey went to sit on one of their other couches, looking exhausted. She gave Chloe a worried glance, obviously checking to see if Chloe was still angry with her, and she frowned when she saw Chloe grinning at her phone.

"Who texted you?" Aubrey asked, curiously.

Chloe glanced at Aubrey, and panicked a bit. Chloe couldn't tell Aubrey, because then they will have the whole 'you like Beca' conversation again.

"Nobody. I was looking at a funny picture on Facebook." Chloe lied, and hated herself for doing so.

Aubrey smiled kindly at her best friend. "You are a bad liar, Chloe, even to those who don't know you."

"It was Beca." Chloe quietly answered. She dropped her head in her hands, feeling ashamed for lying to Aubrey.

Aubrey stood up and walked towards Chloe. She gave the redhead a small hug.

"Does this mean that…?" Aubrey began to ask.

"I don't know. Let's just drink coffee and talk about other things, please." Chloe sadly interrupted.

"Okay." Aubrey unsurely answered, and figured that Chloe would speak to her eventually if she wanted to. She always did.

Aubrey walked to the kettle and took out two mugs. She started to make coffee for them. "You know Professor Johnson, right?" Aubrey spoke, changing the subject while getting milk from their fridge.

"Yeah?" Chloe answered, grateful to have Aubrey there.

"She is the biggest bitch on this planet. She refused to change the dates of our first scheduled semester test, even when I gave her a letter from the dean who, by the way, agreed with me about her lack of planning and pathetic…" Aubrey kept on talking, as Chloe absentmindedly listened while struggling to make sense of her internal emotional turmoil.