"Are you ready, Doc?" Beca asked, stepping out of the car.

"Yes, at least I think I am."

"You're nervous, aren't you?"

"I warned you, Beca. I don't do very well in social situatons. You'll realize I wasn't lying at all."

"I don't believe that. Come on, Doc, let's go inside. Just take a deep breath and remember your story. My friends won't be playing the game tonight, you'll be the only one."

"Oh, that's really reassuring."

"Leave the sarcasm to me, Doc, it doesn't suit you." They entered the bar and soon enough Beca spotted Amy, Lily, Cynthia-Rose and Jesse sitting in a secluded corner. She looked at Chloe one last time to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

"So, how are you weirdos tonight?" Beca asked.

"I'm trying not to kill myself listening to Jesse talking about the new Star Wars movie" said Amy. Beca laughed and Jesse rolled his eyes.

"Well, I wanted to introduce you to my friend. This is Chloe. She is Sheila's friend. I mean, her mom is Sheila's friend. She's new in town, I'm showing her around."

"And now you've just made feel like a burden. It's nice to meet you all." said Chloe, flashing a smile at everyone.

"So, this is Amy." Beca said pointing at her friend.

"Hi Chloe. You can look at me for as long as you wish. I understand you aren't used to see so much sexyness in just one person." Beca rolled her eyes and moved on to her next friend.

"This is Lily." she came closer to Chloe and whispered her next words.

"Don't take her very seriously. She says a lot of weird stuff. And then you have Cynthia-Rose, we just call her CR, it's easier."

"Hello Chloe, if you ever need somebody else to show you around town, just give me a call."

"She won't, thank you for the offer, though. And finally, this is Jesse. He talks way too much about movies." Jesse gave her a nod while Chloe was trying to memorize all the names.

"So Chloe, tell us a little bit about you." said Jesse.

"My life is incredibly boring. I'm a computer technician. I work at a repair shop."

"Seriously? That wouldn't have been my guess." he looked genuinely surprised.

"What would it be?"

"I don't know. You look like a CEO for a big company."

"Really?"

"Yeah, people who work with computers are more laid back, they dress more casually. But it's just a thought. We don't judge anyone."

"I like to wear something different when I go out to forget I have to wear an awful uniform everyday."

"I get it. Has Beca been treating you well?"

"Yes. She is constantly making stuff up, she drives in a very weird way. But she has been treating well."

"Way to hurt a girl, Chloe."

"What hurts is having to push the car because you forgot to put gas in it."

"Really, Beca? Again? You have a problem." They all laughed at Beca.

"Shut up, dude." Beca said, with a pout.

"I like her, Beca. She has a sense of humor. It's a shame she has to spend so much time with you."

"Fuc..Screw you, CR".

"I will. I'm going to smoke a cigarette and I'll be right back."

"I'll go with you." Beca stared at Chloe. At first she thought the doctor was just trying to be nice. She only realized that the doctor was going to smoke too, when she saw her take a packet of cigarettes from her purse along with a lighter. Her astonishment didn't go unnoticed. Chloe leaned close to her and murmured in her ear:

"I don't listen to Michael Bolton, but I have my own guilty pleasures." Beca smiled as the doctor got up and disappeared behind CR in a blink of an eye.

"Why do I think Chloe isn't just the daughter of one of Sheila's friend?"

"What do you mean, Jesse?"

"I think there's more to it." he said, squeezing his eyes at Beca.

"There is nothing. We are friends. Actually, it's almost like we're cousins." said Beca, shrugging it off.

"Are you sure?" Jesse insisted.

"Yeah."

"Okay. CR will really enjoy the cigarette break."

"Why?"

"Chloe is cute. Not as cute as me, obviously. But still." said Amy.

"Does she really have to flirt with every girl she sees?"

"Did I touch a sensitive subject? Family protection?"

"No. But I don't think Chloe is interested in women. "

"That has never been a problem to CR."

"I know." said Beca with a frown. Amy raised her eyebrows exaggeratedly as she took another sip from her drink.

Beca was silent. Amy and Lily were talking about weird stuff while Jesse was watching something on his phone. Beca stared at the door, waiting to see Chloe reappear. Did it take so long for someone to smoke a cigarette? They should've been back by now. Had something happened? Maybe it was better to go outside just to make sure everything was okay. She could use the excuse that she wanted to smoke, too.

While Beca was thinking about a good excuse to go outside, she heard Chloe's laughter in the distance, accompanied by the low voice of CR. When they got to the table, the psychologist sat down next to Beca. Her cheeks were rosy, and a few strands of hair were out of place. She took a generous sip of her gin and crossed her legs gracefully.

Beca was peeling off the label from her beer bottle, abstracted from everything happening around her.

"Is everything okay, Beca?" Chloe asked. Beca shook her head as if she had just returned to reality.

"Yes, I'm okay."

"Really?" insisted the psychologist.

"Yeah."

"These social situations," Chloe started, lowering her voice, "do not make you anxious, do they?"

"No, there are few people today, you can still breathe in here. I'm not anxious." she replied with a shrug as she looked around. Chloe took Beca's hand in her own.

"Then why are you anxious?" The touch had baffled Beca. She stared at the doctor's delicate hand over her own, the contrast between the psychologist's neat nails and her own fingernails.

"Why do you think I'm anxious? I feel normal." said Beca trying to disguise her discomfort. "When I went outside, you were very happy, smiling. I came back and you're sitting here looking gloomy."

"Gloomy? What have we talked about? Simple words, Chloe." the doctor smiled when she saw Beca returning to normal.

"You're right, I forgot. It's good to see that your good mood has returned."

"The beer was warm, I hate it when it happens."

"Are you sure that was all? I've seen the way Jesse looks at you. Did he say something while I was out?"

"Dude, gross! I can't believe you just said that."

"What's the matter?"

"It's disgusting. Jesse has been my friend since high school. I would never fall in love with him. I can't even stress this enough. He's like a brother and I'm not a fan of incest, I can tell you that right away."

"I'm sorry then."

"I'll let it slide this time, but please don't ever say that again."

"Rest assured, I won't touch the subject again."

"Thank you, Doc."

"So, are you keeping secrets from the rest of the group?" interrupted Jess.

"No, I was just talking to Chloe about how fucking ugly you look today."

"You're lucky Chloe is a well educated person, otherwise you would get an answer without words, if you know what I mean." Chloe's attention was splitted between Beca and Jesse, trying to understand what he meant. Beca laughed along with the rest of the group. The psychologist only smiled, not understanding the joke.

"I think Red doesn't know what you mean, Jesse." Amy stated.

"Oh, Chloe you must do this every day when you get a crazy customer. Without them knowing, obviously. Right, Chloe? asked Jesse, taking a sip of his beer. Chloe looked at Beca almost in despair, not knowing what to do. Noticing the psychologist's panic, Beca put her hand close to her mouth and whispered something that went unnoticed to Chloe. But then the doctor noticed the middle finger of Beca's hand and came to a conclusion. She pointed her hand at Jesse and gave him the finger."

"I think you have the wrong idea about me being a well educated person." Beca stared at Chloe open-mouthed until she burst into laughter.

"That was hot." CR stated. Beca shot her a glance and Jesse left the table, going straight to the bar.

"I wasn't expecting you to actually giving him the finger." Beca admitted, still surprised.

"Why not?"

"I was just waiting for you to explain what it meant, not actually doing it."

"Was it too much?"

"Hell no. I wish I was recording it." Beca took another sip of her drink as she looked at the bar. Jesse was talking to a woman along with CR who had followed him saying she needed another drink. And suddenly the warm beer tasted slightly better.

A few hours later, the group decided to end the night. CR hurriedly said goodbye and went running to the woman she had been talking to. Lily, CR and Jesse said goodbye. They were sharing a cab.

"So, how did it go?"

"It was a pleasant evening, but the music was awful."

"I agree. But I think we have different musical tastes. I bet you wanted to hear Beethoven's symphonies or something." Beca guessed. Chloe smiled and shook her head.

"Not at all. I was hoping for some rock music."

"Rock?"

"Yes, maybe something from the 80's. Pink Floyd, Scorpions… It would've been nice." Beca was looking at the doctor as if she had just grown another head. "What?"

"Pink Floyd? Scorpions? You're full of secrets. And you have really good taste in music, by the way."

"Totes."

"What the hell was that?" asked Beca dramaticaly. "You know what? Have a good night, actually, have a good life." she turned her back on the psychologist who started laughing.

"I just kidding, Beca."

"There are things you don't joke about, Doctor Beale. English is one of them" Beca said, trying to keep a serious face. The psychologist half opened her mouth in surprise.

"You're not leaving me here alone, are you? We shared a ride in case you don't remember." Beca came back with a smile but became serious again.

"Never say 'totes' again, please. It almost gave me an anxiety attack."

"I'm not noticing signs of that." said Chloe, looking at Beca as if she was analyzing the young woman.

"I'm very good at hiding my anxiety attacks."

"I see that you are."

"Come on, let's go. As time goes by you're going to start saying a lot of weird words and I don't know if I can handle it."

"Don't worry, I'll go back to my usual language. You know, I was thinking-"

"Yeah..."

"I was thinking it would have been nice at some point in my life to have found someone like you."

"Someone to give you a ride?" Beca joked.

"No, someone I could talk to at ease without being afraid to make a joke and be misunderstood. Someone who is not afraid to make a joke about me, afraid I'll get offended. I don't know. A friend." the doctor confessed, and Beca couldn't help but notice some sadness in Chloe's eyes. She tried to comfort her.

"You know that from now on you're going to start going out with me more often, right? And even though I'm not as good at you at helping people, I want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me. I can even stop the jokes for a while."

"You haven't forgotten that I'm your psychologist, have you?"

"Of course not, but if you complain about not having friends, you can count on me if you ever need to."

"Thank you, I'm very touched by that, Beca."

"You're welcome. Soon enough, your social skills will improve and you'll have a lot of friends."

"I have my doubts."

"I don't." Beca said, honestly.

"Since we're talking more casually, would you be offended if I asked you a question?"

"Just say it, doc."

"How long has it been since you washed your car?"

"The car's clean." replied Beca. The psychologist frowned and looked at the back seats.

"There are three bags in the back full of trash, there are coffe cups in every corner of the car, the ashtray is full of cigarettes, and I won't even mention the amount of dust everywhere."

"It has a simple explanation. The trash, well, I just forgot to throw it away. Those cups represent my breakfast. The ashtray ... Okay, I have to empty it. As for the dust, I just have to vacuum it."

"Oh, if everything has a logical explanation, then the car is, in fact, clean."

"Exactly. You would get along beautifully with my step monster."

"Why?" Chloe asked.

"She doesn't understand my methods of organization and cleanliness." Beca explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't think anyone understands."

"Doc, you're familiar with the finger. Don't make me use it, please." Beca teased with a side glance.

"Okay, you win." said Chloe raising her hands in surrender.

Beca drove in silence for several minutes. She glanced at the doctor every now and then. Chloe was looking out the window and her face was intermittently lit by streetlights as the car moved.

"Are you thinking about life?" Beca asked after a while.

"Just enjoying the view."

"You know, driving at night helps me a lot when I'm having an anxiety attack." The doctor looked away from the window and focused her eyes on Beca.

"Because everything is quiet?" Chloe suggested.

"That too. I can't really explain it, honestly. But when I'm driving with the music really loud, I tend not to think about anything. I look at everything and think, 'This is nice, I could get some good photographs, the moon is particularly bright'. For a very brief moment I can allow myself to forget everything about my anxiety."

"It's a good way to deal with the problem."

"It helps, but I don't have money to drive around all the time. Plus, it isn't that good for the environment. I just want to be able to be at home, with my cat, watching "Friends" without having my head full of crappy things. Do you think I'll be able to do that again someday?"

"I think so."

"Anxiety sucks. It makes us want to things to happen fast in a very slow way."

"What do you mean?"

"We want to move quickly with the treatment so we can stop having anxiety attacks and most of the time we almost beg for things to move slowly, so that the heart doesn't beat too fast."

"I had never thought about that. But yes, that's a good observation."

"Just another moment of brilliance." Chloe smiled but said nothing. She looked back through the window and fell asleep a few minutes later. Beca turned off the radio. From time to time she glanced at the doctor. To her surprise, she noticed that Chloe had a small tattoo hidden behind her watch. She also noticed that the psychologist had taken off her shoes and was wearing a small bracelet around her ankle.

"She really is a mistery." Beca murmured, looking back at the road.

When they arrived at the psychologist's house, Beca pulled the car into the entrance gate and turned it off. She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the passenger-side door carefully. She put her hand on Chloe's right shoulder and shook it slowly.

"Doc?" Chloe opened her eyes and turned her head noticing where they were.

"Oh, I'm sorry Beca, I'm not used to staying up so late, I fell asleep. Was it easy to find the house?"

"I'm very good at finding things, it's a gift. Go to sleep, doc."

"Thank you for the ride, and thank you for what you said before we got into the car."

"Anything you need, doc."

"Thank you, Beca. Are you sure you're okay to go home alone? You won't fall asleep, right?"

"Don't worry. I'm used to it."

"When you get home, just text me, please."

"You'll be snoring by the time I get home."

"I don't snore." said Chloe looking offended.

"I strongly disagree."

"Seriously?!"

"Just kidding, doc. You don't snore. But if a text will make you feel more at ease, I'll send it to you."

"Thanks. Be careful and have a good night, Beca." Chloe said with a smile.

"You too, Doc."

No appointment this time. Chloe got to meet Beca's friends. I will develop them more in further chapters, don't worry. Their personalities won't be too alternative. Chloe said "totes" for the first time. I don't want the story to be completely alternative. But Chloe is still Beca's psychologist and she is a professional who's not willing to let her guard down so easily. Oh, by the way, nothing will happen between Chloe and CR. It was just a way to show Beca's jealous side even if she doesn't realize she's jealous. You'll understand a bit more about this later on.

Again, thank you for the reviews. Feel free to send me any suggestions or even corrections. I really hope you've enjoyed this different chapter.