Chapter 8 - updated version. I deleted the previous chapter 8, so I am sorry if you are/were confused.
"Chloe, can you chop the parsley for me please?" Sheila asked Chloe. Chloe got up from the kitchen table she and Beca were sitting at, and began to chop the parsley.
Sheila was stirring a dish with her back turned to Chloe and Beca and the kitchen was filled with delicious smells of the food Sheila had been cooking. Beca's stomach grumbled and she couldn't wait to eat, since she hadn't eaten much all day and the extensive Bella practice had awoken her appetite.
"So, do you guys have anybody special in your lives?" Sheila asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.
"No. Thank god." Beca sighed, and Sheila laughed and looked at her daughter. "And you Chloe?"
"Actually, yes." Chloe answered, she stopped chopping and turned herself sideways to look at her mother and Beca.
"Who?" Sheila and Beca asked together, they both sounded quite surprised. Sheila smiled expectantly at Chloe, and Beca took a big swig of wine.
Probably Tom. The asshole.
"His name is Tom." Chloe answered.
Thought so.
"Tom Thompson."
"His surname is Thompson?" Beca asked sarcastically, almost choking on her wine.
"Tom Thompson?" Sheila asked Chloe and she giggled at her daughter. "Don't tell me he is just another brainless Barden athlete?"
Beca laughed, she loved Sheila so much more already.
Chloe watched Beca's reaction with an annoyed expression and felt irritated with her mother.
Why should my mother be her normal, blunt self today?
"Just because the two of you hate physical activities, doesn't mean you can laugh at people who do." Chloe responded angrily.
Sheila smiled. "The most guys you bring home are very shallow, you honestly can't deny that. And they all just happen to be athletes as well. But I get your point, I mean, your father was an athlete but at least he had a brain."
"Tom has a brain. He studies Business Management and will one day take over his father's company. And he is a great kisser, unlike others I've kissed before." Chloe defended herself. She winked at Beca as soon as her mother turned her back to them to stir the simmering dish on the stove again.
Beca felt agahst. She loudly placed her glass of wine on the counter.
I'm a great kisser! Chloe is just messing with me... I did cry last night when we kissed, so I wasn't exactly on my A-game, and Chloe dominated the kiss so much that I just really had to follow her lead. Next time I'll do better. Wait….There won't be a next time. Yes, fuck her life. She will never experience my A-game kiss.
"I agree, when the first kiss suck I never even bother to kiss them again. It just means there is no, uh, chemistry." Beca spoke. She felt satisfied with her response when she saw Chloe starting to chop the parsley murderously.
"If there is no chemistry, don't even bother pursuing that person." Sheila added dryly. She opened the oven to check on the chicken she was roasting and turned her back to Chloe and Beca, luckily too busy to notice the tension between Chloe and Beca.
"The best kisses, in my opinion, occur only when you truly love someone. Kisses that make you feel overjoyed with the close intimacy shared, yet annoyingly too far away. It makes you want to get lost in the moment forever, never wanting to let go, not even for oxygen." Sheila ended her long explanation, and giggled at the dumbstruck expressions of Chloe and Beca.
"I know that you two girls will meet someone special that will make you feel like that someday." Sheila assured them, while thoughtfully taking a sip of wine. Beca and Chloe both dared a look at each other, and looked away quickly when they caught each others eyes.
"Please never speak like that again, mother." Chloe formally addressed Sheila with a grin.
"Don't call me mother, Chloe, you know I hate that." Sheila jokingly slapped Chloe with a dishing cloth, and Chloe giggled.
"My father makes you feel all of that?" Beca asked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood as well.
"Sure." Sheila answered, again taking a thoughtful sip.
"Hey guys! I'm back with more wine…" Shane walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah, well, you missed out on some serious girl-talk, Shane." Sheila greeted Shane. "What was the problem you had to sort out?"
"It was nothing, really." Shane replied quietly while opening the bottles edgily.
"Well, it looked quite serious, dear." Sheila pressed the subject.
"It was nothing. God, can you drop it already?" Shane angrily responded, and Beca and Chloe gave each other awkward glances.
"I did not mean to pry, Shane, sorry." Sheila apologised, even though she looked taken aback by Shane's sudden harsh tone.
"Don't be sorry. Uh, I am just stressed out from work and some things haven't gone my way in the chemistry research I conducted this week." Shane quickly explained, and he looked furious.
"I'm sure it will work out." Sheila comforted, and she gave Shane a quick peck on his cheek. He impatiently received it and walked with the wine towards the dining room.
"He gets like that when he is stressed." Sheila annoyingly explained. "You two can go and join Shane in the dining room, I will join you shortly. I just need to put all this food on serving dishes quickly."
"Can we help you with that?" Beca asked. She felt ashamed about her father's behaviour. I know he is an asshole, but it sucks when he is being a douche to Sheila. I thought he might have changed, obviously not.
"No, thanks Beca." Sheila responded kindly.
Chloe and Beca walked to the dining room, and Chloe concernedly spoke up.
"I have never seen your father so stressed before."
"I have." Beca responded dryly. Countless of times.
"Well, I don't like it when he gets so moody." Chloe whispered, they were near the dining room and she didn't want Shane to hear.
"Tell me about it." Beca responded.
X
"So Beca." Shane spoke. He was sitting at the end of the table and Beca sat beside Chloe, furthest away from her father.
"Yes dad?"
"How is it going with your studies? Professor Smith told me you got a B on your philosophy test last week. "
"That is your business how?" Beca replied sharply.
"I saw him in the lecturer's cafeteria on campus. And I asked him how things were going with you in his class." Shane loosened his tie and sat back in his chair comfortably. "According to him you never contribute in class discussions and you sometimes don't even bother to attend his classes at all."
"I got a B on his paper. And I feel happy about it, I guess." Beca answered, deciding to ignore the other remarks her father made.
Chloe listened closely to their conversation and she felt uncomfortable. She kept glancing towards the kitchen, hoping for her mother to emerge any second. She never knew that Shane took such an intense interest in Beca's studies. He was acting really weird.
"I think you can do better." Shane bluntly replied, lifting a strict eyebrow at Beca. "You are my daughter and people expect great things from you academically."
"Considering I never even wanted go to Barden in the first place, I would say that I am not doing too bad. And I don't care what they expect of me, I don't even know them."
"Why didn't you want to go to Barden?" Chloe interrupted. This all was news to her.
"Uh, I wanted to…" Beca began to explain to Chloe, but her father interrupted her.
"She wanted to become a dj in LA." Shane answered sarcastically. "She always had this 'dream' of making it big, becoming a famous musician with her music mixes. Her mother unfortunately supported that crazy idea, but luckily I convinced Beca to go to Barden - to get an education - so that she could pursue a real career one day."
Chloe listened to Shane speak with a bitter taste in her mouth.
"I think it is cool to have dreams like that." Chloe spoke more to Beca than to Shane. Beca was lazily playing with a fork on the table, clearly very disinterested with the conversation.
"Come on, Chloe. You are excelling academically in PreMed. You honestly can't be serious to regard Beca's obscure dream of making it big in the music industry?" Shane laughed incredulously as he took a big sip of his wine. "Besides, Beca and I have an agreement." He gave Beca a cold stare and Beca rolled her eyes.
"I am serious, Shane. It is my dream to become a doctor, and I am following my dream. If it is Beca's dream to become a successful dj, then she should do it too." Chloe determinedly answered, becoming angrier by the second. She hated the way he spoke about Beca as if she was not even in the room. Shane was always kind and nice; she has never seen this side of him before.
"Chloe, it is fine. Just leave it." Beca intervened.
"I want to hear your mixes. Maybe we can use it for the Bella's set." Chloe suggested.
"Aubrey will never change the set."
Chloe gave Beca a disappointed look. "So you're not going to let me listen to it at least?"
"I'm sure we can find time. I mean, I don't really play it to anyone." Beca reconsidered, and Chloe smiled.
Shane barked a laugh. "That is sort of the point of a musician, though, isn't it? Why do you want to go all the way to LA to become a dj if you don't even play it to your friends at Barden?" Shane sneerily asked.
"You can play it to me. I can't wait, I'm sure I will love it." Chloe responded, ignoring Shane completely.
"Okay." Beca replied, giving her father a cold stare in the process. She felt relieved when she finally heard Sheila's footsteps on the wooden floors, making her way towards the dining room.
"Sorry I took so long guys!" Sheila finally she was balancing two big serving dishes in both her hands.
"Here we go guys, I hope it tastes as delicious as it smells." Sheila smiled excitedly. She placed the serving dishes on the table, and Shane smiled happily.
"This looks wonderful, honey." He complimented as he started to dish up food into his plate. Sheila refilled the wine glasses and watched Chloe and Beca, who both looked a bit upset.
"Why do you guys look so miserable? One would think that students would be more excited about a balanced home cooked meal. What do you guys live on there anyway?"
Beca smiled at Sheila. "Not on food like this. It all looks delicious. Thank you, Sheila."
"Yes, thanks mom." Chloe responded, still looking distracted.
"Aubrey luckily cooks, doesn't she Chloe?" Sheila spoke.
"Yes, she cooks a lot. Her classmates usually come and eat with us and then they speak about accounting until the early morning hours." Chloe responded. "I usually just eat with them and then I go and do my own thing. Accounting conversations is just too boring to be part of." Chloe explained and her mother grinned understandingly. Her daughter hated being bored.
"Aubrey, your roommate, she studies accounting huh?" Shane asked, before taking a big bite of food.
"Yes." Chloe answered coolly and her mother raised an eyebrow at Chloe.
"Is she by any chance the daughter of Henry Posen, the CEO of Accounting Agents? Henry mentioned to me that his daughter, I think Aubrey or it can be Annie, I'm not sure, studies accounting at Barden?" He asked.
"Yes, he is Aubrey's father." Chloe answered stiffly.
"Now that is a man of virtue! He has been my accountant for more than 25 years. We met when we were students. He was an excellent student. Aubrey must be an excellent student as well?" Shane responded excitedly.
"Yes, she is very driven." Chloe answered, again with a cold tone.
"See Beca, you can achieve a lot when you are driven academically." He mentioned to Beca.
"How is the wedding planning going, Sheila?" Beca asked. She wasn't so interested in the wedding, but she just wanted to steer the conversation into a different direction.
"It's going fine, thank you Beca." Sheila answered. "Chloe helped me a lot, but ever since Barden started this year she wasn't so interested to help with the planning anymore. I think the last time you even mentioned the wedding, Chloe, was the night before the activities fair took place?" Sheila mocked a hurt expression at her daughter.
"Yeah, I've been very busy mom." Chloe answered. She felt a bit guilty about not helping with the wedding, but her studies kept her busy. And I met Beca. When I knew that she was going to be my stepsister, I was way less excited about the wedding and I didn't want anything to do with it. "Is there anything I can do for you this week?" Chloe asked, despite her dreading thoughts.
"No, Angela and I have it all covered." Sheila answered. "Angela is my personal assistant." She quickly explained to Beca, who nodded.
"How is it going with you cases?" Chloe asked. "Were you in court yesterday?"
"No, we luckily settled." Sheila answered. "Our client didn't want to go to court, maybe because he knew he had a bad case." Sheila smiled and suddenly looked a bit tired after speaking about work.
"So you're a lawyer?" Beca asked. She didn't know anything about Sheila and she liked her a lot. Beca found it quite surprising that her father managed to get engaged to someone like her.
"Yes." Sheila answered.
"And a very good one, I may add." Shane spoke and he gave Sheila a loving glance.
"Ah, thank you honey." Sheila replied, dishing herself a helping of vegetables.
"Who are you guys going to invite as your wedding dates?" Shane asked. "The wedding is in one month, so I guess you guys already asked someone?"
"Uh, I think Lauren. She goes to the same classes I go to. I still need to ask her though." Beca answered.
"I've never heard of a Lauren before?" Chloe enquired curiously.
"She's a freshman." Beca explained, simply.
"Does she stay in the dorms too?" Chloe felt a twinge of jealousy arise in her stomach.
"Yeah, only a couple of rooms away from mine. I've borrowed coffee and milk there a lot of times. She is always awake early hours when I get back from the radio station." Beca explained matter-of-factually.
"She sounds… hospitable." Chloe replied through pursed lips.
"Yeah, Beca. This is ah, well. Maybe the opportunity... I don't know how to say it." Shane began, and he looked at Sheila for support. Everybody looked at Shane expectantly and Sheila beamed at him.
"We are all so happy to have you over for dinner! I'm so happy you invited her, Shane." Sheila spoke to Shane excitedly and beamed at Beca, who was now smiling awkwardly at them. Chloe grinned, she loved it when Beca acted so adorable when all the attention was focused on her.
"I can't wait for you guys to finally rebuild your relationship. Life is too short to dwell on little hangups." Sheila wisely spoke, and she stretched to take Shane and Beca's hands in her own.
"Yes." Shane replied, cleared his throat. "That. We are happy that you're here. And I am sure we will rebuild our father and daughter relationship, Beca."
"That will be good." Beca agreed, but internally she knew that it would take a hell of a lot to ever rebuild their relationship. They never had one to begin with, and Sheila was clearly pressuring her father to rectify the past.
"For us to achieve that, however, we need to make compromises." Shane spoke up in his trademark lectures tone of voice.
"And that will be?" Beca asked. "I already compromised by going to Barden."
"I compromised by getting you enrolled there. I had to pull a lot of strings, Beca."
"Fine. What will the other compromise be?" Beca impatiently asked. Sheila nodded to them in an encouragingly.
"Well, we need to speak about the whole 'wedding date' thing. Grandfather Joe will be there and he's very conservative. Not to mention Uncle Mitch…" Shane added thoughtfully. "I think it will be best if you take a guy as your date to the wedding. Let's keep things conservative at the wedding."
There was a stunned silence at the table. Beca has never felt so humiliated in a long time.
Sheila finally broke the silence when she dropped her cutlery loudly on her plate. "Shane! Beca can take whoever she chooses! I can't believe you right now!" Sheila replied with a furious expression, and she stood up from her chair.
Chloe gripped Beca's hand underneath the table, and gave it a comforting squeeze. Beca was too focused on Sheila and Shane fighting to respond to Chloe's gesture - old childhood memories of her mother and father fighting started to come back slowly. This whole night started to feel like a bad déjà vu experience.
"I'm fine with the sexuality Beca chose. Some people aren't and I don't think we should throw homosexual behaviour in their faces at our wedding." Shane replied simply.
"You have to be joking, Shane! If people are so limited to judge Beca for being gay, why the hell will they even be at our wedding? Why even care about family and friends who won't accept your daughter for who she is? I don't even want them at our wedding if that's the case."
"Let's speak about this later, honey." Shane calmly responded.
"Don't honey me."
"Beca, let's leave. I suddenly lost my appetite." Chloe spoke to Beca, who just nodded sadly.
"Don't leave guys, you are all overreacting." Shane defended himself.
"I'll call you mom." Chloe spoke to her mother, ignoring Shane.
"Thanks Sheila, for all your effort tonight." Beca's voice was shaky and her eyes were filled with tears, but this time she managed to control them. "This is…"
"This is your father's fault, yes." Sheila completed Beca's sentence and gave Shane a cold look.
"Sheila, I just wanted to warn her…" Shane angrily began to explain but ended his sentence when Sheila lifted her hand warningly, signalling him to stop talking. "Beca? You are not really offended, are you?" Shane asked Beca hopefully, clearly expecting her to help him out of this difficult situation he created.
"Don't speak to her." Chloe flatly spoke to Shane.
Shane looked taken aback by Chloe's icy tone.
"We are out of here. Bye mom."
"Drive safely." Sheila quietly greeted. "Make sure Pluto doesn't run out with you guys when you open the front door."
"We will." Chloe quickly assured her mother while walking out of the dining room, she had her arm around Beca's shoulder and she marched them out of the house determinedly.
When Chloe and Beca got into Chloe's car, they heard Sheila and Shane arguing inside the house. They drove in silence for a while and Chloe kept glancing at Beca worriedly.
Beca stared out of the window of the car, feeling very miserable about causing Sheila and Shane to argue. She ruined the night.
"Don't even think that tonight was you fault." Chloe comforted Beca, reading her thoughts correctly.
"Yeah, well, if I wasn't gay they wouldn't be fighting now." Beca answered easily.
"No, Beca. If you're father wasn't a prick they wouldn't be arguing now. It has nothing to do with being gay. It has everything to do with your father being a shallow asshole." Chloe assured Beca.
"Thank you for getting me out of there." Beca thanked Chloe.
"It's nothing. I wanted to leave too." Chloe answered and she looked at Beca. Even in the dark Beca's beauty took her breath away. Nobody has ever had this effect on her before. "I now understand why you never visit him. He has no right to speak to you like that, Beca."
"Yeah, well, there is no need to pity me or anything. I'm sort of used to it." Beca responded silently.
"You should never get used to your father treating you like that. And the only one we should pity after tonight is your father. If a person is close-minded about love then I can assure you that they are close-minded about other spectacular things in life as well. People like that should be pitied." Chloe passionately spoke.
"Wow, thanks Dr. Phill." Beca jokingly replied, but she appreciated Chloe's words more than she could ever say.
Chloe smiled. "I mean it, Beca."
"I know." Beca glanced at Chloe who was focusing on the road before her.
Beca wished the road would take forever back to her dorms. She didn't want to be alone, but she also did not want to seek the company of other people. She wanted to be with Chloe who made everything so much more bearable tonight.
"So… Are you still hungry?" Beca asked Chloe.
"Not really."
"Oh." Beca felt disappointed. If they would go somewhere to eat at least they would spend more time together.
"Are you still hungry?" Chloe suddenly asked, realising her mistake.
"A bit." Beca lied. She had no appetite.
"We can go to a diner I know. They have great grilled cheese sandwiches." Chloe quickly suggested.
"Okay. But only if you want to?" Beca asked, unsurely.
"Yes." Chloe answered jokingly. "Tomorrow you might hate me again. Who knows?"
"Maybe I still hate you?" Beca answered, and laughed when Chloe lightly slapped her on her leg.
"I don't hate you." Beca answered finally.
"Good. " Chloe answered. "I don't hate you too."
x
x
x
x
A bit of drama... :P
Beca's father is an asshole in this chapter, so the normal joking tone is more serious at the end of it. I hope that isn't such a bad thing...
Flies away! **)