The next few days were a bit of a break for both girls. Jaiden left shortly after Beca had calmed down and managed to make it to the second half of the day's classes, while the other Mitchell stayed behind and watched after Chloe for the rest of the day. Jaiden took advantage of the three days before the first Bella's rehearsal and avoided both her sister and Chloe. Though things were definitely better with Beca now, it was still difficult to be around someone who reminded her so much of home.
"So, what are you doing tonight?" Jaiden looked up from her notes as Amber slid into her seat next to her. The blonde had taken to sitting next to her every afternoon and over their short conversations Jaiden had learned that she was a sophomore with a split second major change, came from Pennsylvania, watched far too much Criminal Minds, and was a reliable source for Jaiden's afternoon coffee. The older girl almost always showed up with a Starbucks cup for each of them.
"Bellas rehearsal. Yay." Jaiden replied in annoyance. Amber arched an eyebrow and bit the end of her pen.
"You always just seem so thrilled when you talk about them. Why are you in that group anyways?" She prodded curiously. Jaiden sipped at her coffee, jotted down a few words in her notebook, and then sighed.
"My sister is Beca Mitchell." Amber's eyes widened with the realization and she nodded in understanding.
"So you're Barden's next acapella prophecy?" Jaiden scoffed quietly and shook her head.
"Absolutely not. Beca and I…haven't always gotten along and I guess this is just our way of trying to fix it." The freshman admitted.
"Well that takes balls. Family stuff is hard; not a lot of people are willing to put in the work to fix it." Amber noted. Jaiden looked away from the lecturing professor up front with a bit of surprise as she took in her words.
"You sound like you're speaking from experience." She guessed. Amber smiled, a bit contritely, and nodded.
"Haven't spoken to my father in over a year now."
"If it makes you feel any better, mine works here and I haven't given him the time of day in about three years." Jaiden chuckled dryly.
"Damn, and I thought I had daddy issues." She laughed. Jaiden smiled, surprised at how open she found herself being, and finally turned her attention back to the lecture up front. "I swear, I'm going to fail this class because of you."
"She's going to come, right?" Chloe glanced anxiously at the clock on the wall and then over at her girlfriend. Beca nodded, though she was starting to seem a bit doubtful herself. It was two minutes until rehearsal was scheduled to start and every other Bella was there, except for Jaiden.
"Since when are you the one worrying about her?" Chloe blushed profusely at the question and looked down at her feet.
"The other night was really bad and entirely embarrassing. I'd understand completely if she didn't want to be around me after that." Chloe admitted. Beca's eyebrows shot up at the realization and she looked away from her laptop screen to focus on the redhead. She had been well aware of how humiliated Chloe had been with her little stint of alcohol poisoning, but she hadn't realized it was because of Jaiden.
"Chloe, I'm sure she's fine with it. We've all had our lows with booze." Beca offered. She knew her words weren't much of help, which is why she practically jumped for joy when the door across the rehearsal space opened and Jaiden walked in. She was dressed in what looked like gym clothes and covered in sweat.
"Am I late?" The freshman asked nervously, noticing that practically every Bella was looking at her.
"Almost, but not yet. I'm glad you came." Chloe beamed, rising from her seat to meet the younger girl. Beca followed reluctantly, knowing she was now under the eyes of her teammates.
"Sorry, I was on a run. Am I the last one?" She apologized, looking around at the rest of the singers. Chloe nodded, still smiling, and hurried over to her whiteboard.
"Okay ladies, now that everyone is here, we can begin. This year, we'll be wasting no time working out at rehearsals. You are expected to complete three hours of cardio a week on your own time and we will be able to notice if you don't," Chloe warned, earning a few eye rolls from the other women. Jaiden set her duffel bag down and took a seat in the one remaining metal chair, a bit surprised at how serious Chloe had gotten. "Beca has already started working on a mix for regionals this year, which I'm sure is going to be amazing. But until it's done, we'll be focusing on our dance skills and vocal warm-ups. So get up and stretch for a few minutes and then we'll get started." Chloe instructed. With that, the Bella's rose and Jaiden followed suit, though she didn't necessarily need to limber up. The freshman shot a quick glance to the clock on the wall and knew that the next three hours were going to drag.
180 long minutes later, Jaiden was booking it towards the door with her bag slung over her shoulder. She had had absolutely no idea that an acapella group was going to be this intense, vaguely sexual, and frustrating. She had picked up on Chloe's intense unease about what had happened through her over-friendliness and knew if she didn't escape soon enough, the redhead was going to be on her like a leech again.
"Jaiden! Jaiden, wait up." Clenching her jaw, Jaiden turned around and came face to face with her sister. The brunette had an anxious expression on her face and Jaiden could tell she was about to ask something of her.
"Look, Chloe's being super weird about what went down the other night," Beca started. Jaiden rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where she was going. "Would you go like, ask her if she wants to get coffee or something?"
"Becs, I don't know. She'll get over it eventually, right?" Jaiden rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and glanced over at Chloe, who was erasing the whiteboard.
"No. Probably not. Please?" Beca pleaded. Jaiden huffed in annoyance, knowing she wasn't going to get out of it, and slung her duffel bag over her shoulder.
"You owe me for this." She muttered, brushing past her sister. Beca whispered a quick 'thank you' which Jaiden caught as she crossed over to the redhead and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Jaiden, hey! You were so great today-"
"Do you want to go grab a coffee?" Jaiden cut her off before she could begin an unnecessary string of compliments. Chloe blinked in surprise before nodded enthusiastically.
"Totally! Is Beca coming?" She asked curiously, looking over Jaiden's shoulder to see her girlfriend walking out of the building.
"No, she has something or, um, I don't really know. But yeah, let's just go." Jaiden waved off the question awkwardly and started towards the door. Chloe took her lead, still a bit shocked at the quick proposal, and Jaiden hoped she wouldn't ask any more questions. Which of course didn't happen.
"So, no offense or anything but, like, why'd you ask to go get coffee? Especially after what happened, I figured you just wouldn't want-"
"Look, I don't know what Beca's told you, but I don't just shut everyone out. You drank too much, big deal. We've all been there. The only reason I knew what to do was because I got alcohol poisoning in high school." Jaiden interrupted again. Chloe looked taken aback for a few seconds, but recovered quickly.
"Oh. Well that's a relief. And Beca didn't say anything, by the way." Chloe clarified.
"Oh my God, I was kidding." Jaiden replied with an eye roll. The redhead blushed in embarrassment and averted her eyes to the sidewalk.
"Sorry." She mumbled. Jaiden found herself feeling a pang of guilt in her chest and she sighed.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm being a dick. Just know that I'm not like, mad at you or anything for what happened. Just don't hit on me again." Jaiden offered a smirk and relaxed as Chloe chuckled.
"I promise. I won't be drinking about for a long time, so I think you're safe." The older of the two replied seriously. The Starbucks came into view at the end of the sidewalk and Jaiden squinted as she noticed a familiar figure walking in. The freshman stopped and glanced at Chloe apologetically.
"I'm sorry, but Dr. Mitchell is-"
"I saw him," Chloe confirmed. "It's alright. I'll take a raincheck." She said understandingly. Jaiden smiled, grateful that the redhead was giving her such an easy out.
"Thank you. I mean it. I'll catch you later." She promised before hurrying away. Chloe watched her jog away across the grass, immensely relieved that the younger girl wasn't upset with her.