"Beca! Wake up!" Kimmy-Jin woke Beca with her usual aloof voice.
Kimmy-Jin's voice is definitely not the first sound you want to hear if you wake up with a hangover, and Beca decided to keep her eyes tightly closed.
Why would Kimmy-Jin wake me on a Saturday morning, who does that? She is probably pissed that I woke her up last night when I got back from Bingo's. I was really drunk so I must have made a lot of noise.
Beca's head was pounding and her mouth felt as dry as the Sahara desert. The aftermath of last night's excessive drinking was probably one of the worst she has ever experienced. Silently Beca cursed Fat Amy and Stacie for buying her so many drinks last night.
But I did drink it all furiously to forget about the kiss and about Chloe... Why the hell did she kiss me? But I guess I liked it... I actually loved the way she held onto me as if I was hers, as if nothing else mattered in the world at that moment. Hell, I feel lightheaded just thinking about it. Ah, shit. It's all coming back to me...
"Beca!" Kimmy-Jin's voice sounded annoyed as she waited for a reaction from her roommate, but the dj was hiding her head underneath her pillows and stubbornly refused to make eye-contact with her.
Beca wondered how Chloe felt this morning.
Is she furious with me? Is she even thinking about the kiss? Did it really mean nothing to her?
She did not see Chloe in Bingo's after they kissed, but then again, she was so drunk that she probably did not notice if Chloe was there or not.
Kimmy-Jin voice interrupted Beca's thoughts again, and she was relieved that she did. She did not want to think about the kiss or Chloe at all, it was all so messed up.
"…my friends are coming over in 30 minutes. We will be discussing the 'importance of biostatistics when analysing fungal growth'. If you want to listen to intelligent conversation, stay. If not, go."
A simple "fuck off" will suffice, thank you... Who wants to listen to conversations about fungal growth? Beca sarcastically thought.
"The whole room smells of fermented alcohol and second-hand smoke." Kimmy-Jin whined to nobody in particular, and Beca rolled her eyes. Her intolerant roommate clearly never got drunk before in a club.
"I'll be out in a second." Beca's raspy and sleepy voice finally spoke up.
"Good. I'm going to vacuum the carpet and curtains now." Kimmy-Jin announced.
"Then I'll be out now. I don't want to listen to Satan's call." Beca pointed at the big vacuum cleaner Kimmy-Jin's was busy getting out from underneath her bed.
Beca got up and walked sheepishly to her closet to get her shower bag and robe. Showers always helped to clear her thoughts, but unfortunately the dorm showers also reminded Beca of a naked Chloe singing Titanium with her…
Beca sighed and walked out of the room, leaving behind the torturing sounds of a determined Kimmy-Jin vacuuming the carpet in their room.
x
After Beca showered and got dressed for the Bella's rehearsal coming up later, she decided to walk around on campus.
Campus was eerily quiet on Saturdays and Beca liked it that way. She took a seat on a bench, overlooking an empty grass field that was normally filled with students. But, on Saturdays there were no weird drama students dancing around while thumping on native African drums, no jocks that threw footballs around, and nobody sitting on the grass while discussing projects, lectures, test marks or upcoming parties.
There were no people around and no noise - nothing interrupted the music blasting out of her earphones – except her thoughts that led back to Chloe, of course.
I'm just grateful that Jesse interrupted us. Maybe I should call him to tell him that the kiss meant nothing. And I don't want him to tell anybody about it. If nobody knows, it would be a lot easier to forget, because nobody will remind me of it again. Just imagine if the Bella's know. If Aubrey knows. They will make our lives very hard with stupid jokes at rehearsals - and who knows how Aubrey would react?
Beca immediately decided to call Jesse.
Beca searched for his number on her phone, and dialled.
"Beca! You woke me." Jesse's voice sounded sleepy.
"Sorry… How do you feel?"
"No too bad... How are you awake yet? You were drunker than me last night."
"Was I? I did not see you, you know, after, uh..." Beca did not know how to bring up the kiss without it sounded strange. She decided to focus on her roommate that woke her. "Kimmy-Jin woke me and later she used her vacuum cleaner." Beca explained shortly.
"Ah." Jesse knowingly answered, he knew all about Kimmy-Jin's vacuum cleaner. Beca complained a lot about it at the radio station.
"Jesse, about what happened last night with Chloe and me. You saw us kiss…" Beca quickly spoke. Her nervous voice sounded foreign to her.
"Oh my god, I remember! Gosh, I was so shocked, I had two drink two straight vodka shots to clear my mind after seeing that. I thought you guys hated each other?" Jesse asked, sounding very awake all of a sudden.
Beca shifted uncomfortably on the bench and decided not to say anything.
"Beca, are you still there?"
"Yeah." Beca replied quietly.
"Don't get all quiet on me now. Yesterday you and Chloe groped each other in front of Bingo's. You looked pretty into it and Chloe held onto you as if you were some candy she yearned to get a taste of or something."
Beca remained quiet again. Jesse's description of the kiss made all her anger disappear at Chloe and she thought of the kiss again. Just the memory of it made her face burn and she remembered the way Chloe dominated the kiss while she wiped the tears of her face...
"I feel bad for interrupting last night, sorry, because who knows where that kiss could have led to?" Jesse spoke jokingly, ignoring Beca's silence on the other end.
"Jesse. This is not me wanting a 'girl-talk' session. I don't want to talk about the kiss. I want to tell you that the kiss meant nothing to the both of us and that we kissed because we were both really drunk. I don't want you to tell anybody about it. The kiss was a major mistake."
"It's kind of hot though, you can't deny. The two future stepsisters kissing each other tenderly…"
"Jesse…" Beca warned, feeling helpless.
"I'm just being honest, Beca. The kiss did not look like nothing to me. Chloe is the mysterious girl you talked about last night, isn't she?"
"I… Just don't tell anybody. It will make it easier to forget it if nobody mentions it ever again."
"Beca, come on. You guys kissed in front of Bingo's. When I looked for you, just before I interrupted your kiss, I saw Stacie smoking with one of the bartenders outside. So she probably saw you guys kiss as well."
"Shit."
"Why is it so important for nobody to know about the kiss? You kiss girls all the time, Beca, and you never call me to keep quiet about it. Not that I care so much to talk about your kissing or anything, but it never bothers you this much."
"The situation between Chloe and me, I don't know, is delicate. I wanted to be clear with you about what you saw. And I want you to keep quiet about it, naturally."
"So you don't want anybody to know? Even Aubrey?"
"Especially Aubrey."
"Uh…" Jesse hesitated.
"Fuck Jesse, did you tell Aubrey we kissed?" Beca asked, feeling very pissed at Jesse.
"Aubrey came up to me in the club and asked me whether you and Chloe had a fight or not, because only you can make Chloe upset, according to Aubrey."
"And you told her after hearing that?"
"Look. Chloe left very early last night. I don't know the exact time. But anyway, Aubrey told me that Chloe was crying and that she went home to their apartment without even telling her why. She was worried, and she was very demanding, so I told her." Jesse patiently explained.
"Chloe cried?" Beca replied, feeling upset and confused. Imagining Chloe crying bothered her a lot.
"Yeah, she was apparently very upset."
Beca remained silent. Maybe she was just upset with herself for kissing me. Did she regret it so much?
"Go back to sleep, babe." Jesse silently spoke.
"What? Did you just call me babe?" If Beca wasn't feeling so depressed and hungover, she would have laughed.
"No!" Jesse answered, sounding uncomfortable. On the other line she heard a horrible sounding girl's voice, talking and giggling near Jesse.
"Jesse? Did you sleep with someone last night?" Beca smirked.
"Um." Jesse responded unsurely. On the other line Beca could hear the girl speak more clearly now, saying something about "dwarf" and "Bella's practice".
Beca knew immediately who Jesse slept with.
"You slept with Aubrey?!"
"Yes."
"That is disturbing!"
Beca waited for his reply, and when he did, he wasn't speaking her.
"No, Aubrey, baby…"
"I want to talk to Beca." Aubrey distant voice interrupted determinedly and Beca heard Jesse get up from his bed loudly. A lot of rustling and shuffling noises followed.
Beca looked at her phone curiously.
When Beca listened to the commotions again, she heard Jesse gasp in pain. Aubrey clearly removed Jesse's phone from his grasp and was about to speak to Beca, and she braced herself for Aubrey's onslaught.
"Beca." Aubrey's voice was breathless, but cunning.
"Aubrey." Beca replied with the same tone. Who died and made her queen?
"If you mess with Chloe I will destroy you, got that?" Aubrey icily warned.
"Chloe kissed me, maybe we need to get that much straight. And we agreed that it meant nothing." Beca replied calmly, but her anger at Chloe swelled inside of her again. This is her fault.
"I will be watching you like a falcon, Beca. If you make Chloe cry again I will rip your…"
"Beca?" Jesse removed the phone from Aubrey's hand and Beca could hear the fading last sounds of Aubrey completing her sentence somewhere in Jesse's room.
"Jesse, you should have told me that I called at a bad time – or you could've warned me that Aubrey was there with you!"
"Next time I will." Jesse said. Beca could hear him grinning.
"There will be a next time?" Beca replied, surprised.
"Oh yeah…" Jesse laughed.
"Is that a good thing?" Beca unsurely asked. She couldn't understand how anybody could sound so excited to spend more nights with Aubrey of all people.
"Yes! Got to go…!"
Jesse dropped his phone on the ground without properly hanging up, and she heard him say "No Aubrey, that tickles…" in a high voice Beca hopes she will never hear him use again, and she ended the call as quickly as she could.
What the fuck did I just hear? Beca pulled a disgusted face, and she sighed when she realised that all the Bella's probably knew about the kiss.
That's probably why Amy and Stacie bought her so many drinks the whole night... This makes things even more difficult. We are supposed to hate each other, not kiss each other. I wonder how Chloe deals with all of this? Is she even awake yet? Just imagine how freaking awkward the Bella's practice will be. Maybe I shouldn't go. But then I will look as if I'm avoiding Chloe. Which I totally want to do, but I don't want to look too affected by this. But I am affected by this...
Beca kept arguing with herself and listlessly stood up from the bench.
x
Aubrey and Chloe were busy preparing for the upcoming Bella's rehearsal, and Chloe determinedly discussed everything but Beca or the kiss, even though Aubrey tried her best to discuss the topic every chance she got.
Chloe looked exhausted and Aubrey assumed she didn't sleep much, and after many failed attempts of mentioning Beca, she finally and grudgingly decided not to push the subject anymore.
"Hello skippers!" Fat Amy greeted them enthusiastically. She walked into the hall with her trademark confident stride, joined by Lily and Stacie. Stacie was wearing her sunglasses and Lily came to the rehearsal with exactly the same outfit that she wore the previous night.
When Stacie saw Chloe, she excitedly pointed to the redhead.
"Chloe! You naughty bitch! I saw you and Beca kissing in front of Bingo's last night. When I saw you guys kiss, I thought "finally"! The tension between the two of you was just waiting to explode. But I did not see you at Bingo's last night after that, where did you disappear to?"
Chloe was red in the face and looked extremely uncomfortable. Just before Aubrey could intervene, Chloe spoke up.
"I didn't really feel well, so I went home early. And I don't really know what you saw exactly, but it wasn't what it seemed…"
Stacie abruptly started to sing, interrupting Chloe while smiling knowingly at her.
"I kissed a girl and I liked it,
hope my boyfriend don't mind it.
I kissed a girl and I liked it,
the taste of her cherry…"
"Stacie!" Aubrey shouted loudly and Stacie stopped. Chloe avoided the eyes staring at her, and wished that she would stop blushing. She was felt extremely embarrassed by it - after all, Beca turned her down after they kissed. And she did like the kiss. A lot.
The kiss was unlike anything she has experienced before, and therefore she was, along with all the other emotions she felt, angry. She was angry that Beca turned her down so harshly and quickly after they kissed.
Nobody has ever turned me down before. Who does she think she is? She didn't even consider trying to get over the whole 'stepsister-thing'. But whatever. I'm over her.
"I don't think now is the time for this." Lily silently added to Stacie, who watched them confusedly.
"Yeah, bad timing girlfriend." Amy spoke Stacie, and she smiled awkwardly and apologetically at Chloe.
"It's funny! I had a one-night stand with Dan, the bartender, and you guys teased me in the car when we drove here…" Stacie defended, but Amy interrupted her.
"Very different situation, Stacie." Amy mumbled, so Stacie just lifter her shoulders and shrugged.
"Whatever." Stacie mumbled, clearly a bit hurt that her fellow Bella's did not see the funny side of the situation like she did, and she instead focussed her attention on some of the other Bella's walking into the hall now as well.
"No more jokes after that one, pinky-promise Flames." Amy assured Chloe with both her pinkies upright.
But Chloe did not pay much attention to Amy. She was watching Beca walking into the hall.
Beca appeared very weary and worn-out. Chloe didn't seem to care about Beca's messy state though, because she was staring furiously at Beca.
Beca returned Chloe's furious gaze without hesitance.
Amy and Aubrey gave each other worried glances. If looks could kill, they would both be dead by now. The kiss clearly made them hate each other more than ever. Aubrey decided to begin the rehearsal, and was relieved when Chloe and Beca broke their furious staring contest.
"Good afternoon, Bella's. I see you all look very hungover. I wonder if we will ever rehearse one day without anyone having a hangover for once." Aubrey began, but she too looked a bit more weary and untidy than always.
"We will begin with cardio, as promised. We will start by jogging around the hall once, and then we will stretch. Remember to drink a lot of water to counter the dehydration symptoms you may be experiencing now." Aubrey spoke. "Come on guys."
They all stood up and jogged behind Aubrey before stretching and started the other exercises, and after a long while of completing it all without complaining, Amy began to speak up. The cardio session proofed to be the toughest they have ever gone through.
"Just another two laps to go and then we can rest!" Aubrey screamed cheerfully, and she even picked up the pace. The Bella's jogging behind her groaned loudly. Aubrey was the only one out of all the Bella's that was in a very good mood at rehearsal. Beca knew it had everything to do with her one-night stand with Jesse and despite feeling very tired, she lightly smirked while jogging lazily behind Cynthia Rose.
"Aubrey. I'm tired. Make it stop." Fat Amy stopped with her horizontal running and sat up straight.
"I'm stopping." Chloe flatly announced and the other Bella's looked at her with stunned expressions. She was never the one to give up - she always encouraged them whenever Aubrey was too tough on them.
"Chloe?" Aubrey asked concerned, while she continued to jog.
"I'm tired, Bree. I know you said cardio would be a bitch, but this is just too much for me today." Chloe responded. Beca looked at Chloe curiously and noticed that she was yet to break a sweat, but she had to admit that Chloe looked exhausted. There were dark circles underneath her eyes and she walked off towards her water bottle deep in thought.
When the Bella's finally completed their tough cardio session, they all tiredly went to lie on the floor beside Fat Amy. Aubrey decided to confront Chloe that were standing in the corner with her back turned to them.
"Chloe, Beca is not worth it." Aubrey whispered to make sure none of the others heard her.
"I know, Aubrey." Chloe replied.
"We haven't spoken at all since last night, Chlo." Aubrey replied. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Chloe remained silent.
"Can I tell you something else then?" Aubrey asked concerned, dealing with a quiet Chloe was extremely difficult. Aubrey missed her usual open and talkative best friend a lot.
"Sure." Chloe sighed, after a short while.
"I've been burning to tell you."
Chloe raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"I spend the night with Jesse." Aubrey excitedly whispered and proudly nodded her head.
"What?!" Chloe responded, looking astounded.
"I know you do not like him much, but ever since he arrived at the Bella practice on Thursday I kept thinking about him all the time."
"But that doesn't make sense Aubrey. He likes Beca. It is obvious."
"No, he doesn't. Beca is gay. Hello?" Aubrey replied impatiently. She would think Chloe would at least know that much considering her huge toner for the dj and all.
"I just wasn't sure…" Chloe replied, very interested in their conversation now.
"Yes. And what I assume of what Jesse told me about her - and I read between the lines - is that she is quite a womanizer here at Barden. So be careful, Chloe."
"There is no need to warn me about her, Bree."
But hope flickered in Chloe's eyes and it did not go unnoticed by Aubrey. She felt worried. She wanted to warn Chloe about Beca, not encourage her to pursue her.
Chloe felt a bit happier after her conversation with Aubrey. She approached the Bella's who were still all sitting tiredly on the floor. Beca laid flat on her back with her eyes closed, and with much difficulty Chloe forced herself to look away from the sight.
"Let's begin with our dance routine, guys. There are a few basics that we still struggle with, but we will sort it out quickly today." Chloe spoke to them kindly. She wanted so much to look at Beca, and knew instinctively that Beca watched her during the whole practice so far, but she didn't trust herself to do that. She wanted to remain angry at her and Beca's dark blue eyes made it hard for her to focus on her fury.
They all started to do the routine and Chloe helped wherever she could. She avoided Beca, but kept stealing glances at her while she danced. I just wish she wasn't so freaking hot. She dreaded going to the dinner later that night, thinking it will be torture to spend a night so close to Beca...
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I will try to upload the next chapter this week. Till then, Pitches. ;)