Beca woke up slowly, taking a few seconds to realize where she was, before rolling over and coming face to face with her sleeping sister. Jaiden was still completely out and her chest rose and fell steadily with every breath she took. Beca studied her face carefully for a few seconds; taking in her features while she had the chance to. The younger girl wore a slightly troubled expression, even in her sleep, and Beca carefully scooted closer to her. Jaiden was warm and Beca sighed contently as she nestled against the younger girl. The 18 year old stirred slightly at the contact and Beca froze; afraid that she had woken her up. To her relief, Jaiden fell still again with a tired sigh and her head against Beca's shoulder.
"I know you're probably sleeping," Beca paused, just to make sure that she was. "-but I just wanted to apologize for yesterday and just…I don't know, a lot of stuff. I was really out of it and I wasn't being a good older sister, again-"
"Beca, stop." Jaiden groaned, lifting her head off of the older girl's shoulder and blinking at her tiredly. "Just take your medicine and take care of yourself and you won't have to apologize." She mumbled before going back to resting on her shoulder. Beca felt her stomach twist with embarrassment at the fact she had been heard, but nodded her head in agreement.
"So, we're okay?" She asked tentatively. Jaiden sighed in annoyance and nodded.
"Yes, we're fine. But can we please sleep a little longer?" Her voice was still groggy and she sounded desperate as she tugged the comforter up around them tighter. She tossed an arm across the older girl in an attempt to keep the comfortable position she was in and waited for Beca's reply.
"Yeah, of course. Sorry."
"Stop apologizing." Jaiden muttered. With that, they fell silent again and Beca allowed herself to drift back off. The two girls slept peacefully for nearly two more hours before the smell of breakfast cooking pulled them from their slumber and Jaiden was the first to rise. She unwrapped herself from around Beca and walked sleepily out to the kitchen, where Chloe was cooking at the stove. Beca followed close behind; rubbing her eyes sleepily and settling at the counter with a long yawn.
"I feel like we should pay you for this." Jaiden observed as Chloe dumped a skillet full of eggs onto two separate plates. The redhead smiled at her as she walked to the fridge and got out a bottle of creamer before fixing her a cup of coffee.
"Trust me, I get enough payment." She replied with a wink at Beca. Jaiden rolled her eyes and then shook her head as she kissed her sister on the cheek.
"Gross." The youngest girl noted.
"So what are our plans for the semi-finals?" Chloe changed the subject, not wanting to embarrass her girlfriend, and handed her a mug of coffee.
"You guys should just let Stacie strip. We'd win hands down. Best option." Jaiden replied with a confident nod at the older two and they both smirked. Truthfully, Chloe had been immensely surprised at how attached the two had gotten to each other. She and Beca hadn't really expected the relationship to last very long. In fact, the two had actually been worried about the possibility of the older girl's promiscuity hurting Jaiden. It had been more than a shock when Stacie and Jaiden had ended up clicking together immensely well.
"The elderly would really love that," Beca nodded in agreement and her girlfriend rolled her eyes.
"Not to change the subject, but I want to do something nice for her. Actually, I am trying to change the subject because I have literally no ideas," Jaiden admitted. "But anyways, I've taken her out on dates and everything but I want to do something better than that."
"How sappy are you willing to get?" Chloe's voice took on a sudden tone of seriousness and she set her coffee mug down.
"I don't know." Jaiden shrugged. She and Beca exchanged glances, with the subject of romance being far out of their individual fortes.
"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking; I'll make Beca take me out to dinner tomorrow night, since she's usually too lazy to do that without me asking, so you'll have the whole apartment to yourself. You can cook better than Beca, yes?" Chloe asked. The 18 year old nodded affirmatively and waited for her to go on. "So make her dinner and like, light candles everywhere, but please don't set anything on fire. Just do the whole 'night in' thing and wear a cute dress and then, you know, whatever you guys do after dinner." She winked. Jaiden blushed slightly at the insinuation, but had to admit that it was a good plan.
"And now I get a night on the town with my main bitch." Beca smiled at the older girl with a mouthful of eggs.
"If either one of you get sloppy drunk, I will start dragging you to AA meetings." Jaiden warned.
"Oh no, we will not be drinking. We're going somewhere classy. And if Beca has more than one glass of wine, she starts slurring her words because her body is half the size of most."
"Hey," Beca objected. "I do not slur. I speak in cursive."
"Well, while you two banter that out, I'm going to go grab a shower." Jaiden excused herself before hopping down from her seat and leaving the couple to bicker about Beca's alcohol tolerance.
"Where've you been?" Jaiden looked up the inquiry as she just barely made it into her seat before the psych lecture started. The 18 year old's hair was still damp from her shower and she was dressed haphazardly in a pair of sweatpants and a slightly wrinkled t-shirt.
"Uh, out of town. Hey, do you have the notes from Monday?" Jaiden's voice was laced with stress as she rooted through her bag for her notebook. Successfully finding it at the bottom of the backpack, she slapped it down on the desk space in front of her and flipped to the first blank page.
"Yeah," The blonde handed her a few full pages of notes and Jaiden took pictures of them on her phone before giving them back.
"Thanks." She mumbled. With that, she began jotting down shorthand versions of what the older professor in the front of the room was droning on about, fully unaware that the girl next to her was still staring at her. After a few seconds, Amber leaned in and rested her chin on her hand.
"Are you really that unaware?" She asked. Jaiden looked up from her notes and frowned in confusion.
"What?"
"I've been flirting with you since we met." Jaiden's eyes widened in realization at the admission and she began fumbling for a response.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry-"
"Let me take you on a date?" The blonde interrupted. She arched an eyebrow at the obviously flustered freshman and waited for an answer.
"Look, Amber, I have a girlfriend." Jaiden declined politely.
"I know. The slutty one that was all over everyone at that party. Trust me, you can do better than that."
"Excuse me?" The 18 year old put her pen down and gave her full attention to the girl beside her. Amber leaned back in her chair and shrugged innocently.
"I'm just saying. I mean, Stacie Conrad is basically the campus slut. I've met strippers with more morals than her. It's only a matter of time before she cheats or invites some guy in for a threesome. She's not even exclusively gay-"
"If you say one more thing, I'm going to punch you in the face." Jaiden cut her off and turned in her chair. Amber was taken aback for a moment, not sure whether the 18 year old was joking or not.
"Just give me one night, and I promise you'll change your mind. Have some standards, Jaiden." Amber hardly had time to react before Jaiden had stood up and shoved her notebook into a backpack. The freshman stalked out of the lecture hall stiffly, with her bag slung angrily over her shoulder. She ignored the judgmental stares from the other students and bit her lip until she was out of the building and her vision wasn't quite so red.
"Jaiden? Where are you going?" Amber's voice came from behind her and Jaiden whirled around instinctively. The blonde was walking towards her with a worried expression and she clenched her fists at her side. "I'm just trying to keep you from getting screwed over by a slut." That was it. Jaiden closed the distance between herself and the other girl and hit her across the face. She pulled her fist back again and threw another punch seconds after; this time sending the blonde sprawling to the pavement. Jaiden's pulse raced as she took a few steps back from the other girl. Her flight response kicked in at last, and she rushed away from Amber in a panic. Jaiden broke into a full sprint as she reached the end of the sidewalk and her shoes slammed against the cement loudly as she ran. Before she knew it, she had found herself in the upperclassmen dorms, outside of Stacie's room. Using her non-throbbing hand, Jaiden knocked loudly and waited anxiously. She heard the doorknob turn and suddenly found herself face to face with a very surprised Stacie.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have a lecture?" The brunette asked. She moved aside so that Jaiden could come in and noticed that the younger girl was cradling her hand.
"I punched the girl who sits beside me." Jaiden blurted out. Her girlfriend's jaw dropped slightly in shock and she reached for her injured hand. Jaiden winced as she inspected it and followed Stacie into the small kitchen area.
"What happened?" Stacie prompted. She patted an open spot on the counter and Jaiden jumped up onto it obediently.
"I guess…I guess this girl had like, a thing for me and she was trying to get me to go on a date. And she said some shit about you and it escalated and I snapped." Jaiden rambled. Stacie pulled an icepack out of the freezer section on her fridge and gently placed it on her bruising knuckles. She grimaced in pain and Stacie met her gaze apologetically as she continued to ice the injury.
"It's okay. Your sister punched someone her senior year too. It's kind of hot that you totally did that in my honor." Stacie assured her. Jaiden couldn't fight a small smirk, and she leaned forward and kissed her lightly.
"Anything for you," Jaiden paused for a moment as Stacie licked her bottom lip and distracted her for a bit. "I was actually going to ask you this later, but I have the apartment to myself tomorrow night and I want you to come over. And wear something nice."
"Oh? Are we having a night in?" Stacie questioned.
"Yeah. I just wanted to do something nice for you, after, you know, everything. Do you drink white or red wine?" The older girl rolled her eyes and shook her head at Jaiden as she pulled the cold compress back and gently pressed on her swollen hand. "Ow," The 18 year old yelped.
"Jaiden, you don't need to make anything up to me." She reminded her softly. Stacie lifted the younger girl's hand up to her mouth and kissed it. The small moment was interrupted by Jaiden's phone buzzing in her pocket and she smiled at Stacie apologetically. The expression quickly disappeared as she saw that it was her mother and she hesitated for a second before answering.
"Hello? Mom? Is everything okay?" Jaiden's eyes flickered with worry as she listened to her hysterical mother on the other end of the line. "Slow down, please? Are you saying he left? Did he touch you?" Stacie moved out of the younger girl's way as she hopped down off of the counter and began to pace back and forth in the main area of the dorm. Jaiden brushed her hair back out of her face and Stacie followed her tentatively. She placed a hand on the small of the moving brunette's back, effectively stopping her from moving, and attempted to figure out what was going on from listening to Jaiden's half of the conversation.
"If he comes back, keep the door locked and call the cops. I told you this would happen….Mom, stop; he's a fucking drunk and he wasn't getting better. Call me if anything happens, okay?" Jaiden stalled for a moment before muttering a small "I love you too" and hanging up.
"What happened?" Stacie rubbed her hand up and down her girlfriend's back and tried desperately to read her expression.
"I guess she finally called him out for being an alcoholic and he blew up. She says he didn't touch her, but I fucking doubt it. At least he's out of the house now." Jaiden explained. Her hands clenched instinctively, but her right one flared up at the movement and she gasped in pain.
"What can I do?" Stacie asked. Jaiden shook her head and sighed deeply before leaning against her.
"Nothing. I just hope she isn't dumb enough to take him back if he tries again." She murmured against Stacie's shoulder. The older girl grimaced at the fact that she couldn't do anything and then wrapped her arms around her tightly.
Ted blinked through bleary vision at the road signs that flew past him. He had been driving on pure rage since he had gotten into his truck and peeled out of his bitch of an ex-wife's driveway. She couldn't handle raising two daughters, and there she was trying to tell him how he should live his life. Ridiculous.
"Guess I have to teach them another lesson." The man muttered to himself. His truck swerved to the side slightly as he reached for the bottle under the seat. Ted took a swig of amber colored alcohol and gradually moved his vehicle back to the center of his lane. The bruise on his face was still clearly visible and each time he caught sight of it in a mirror, he was reminded just how disrespectful the Mitchell girls were. He had gone to that God-awful chorus program and had arrived with the full intention of being civil before Beca had assaulted him. And the other little bitch hadn't even given them a passing glance. He would teach them a lesson alright. It had been far too long since he had.
Dun dun dunnn. Who's Ted going after? Will it be Beca or Jaiden? Or will he decide to turn around? Maybe someone else will be involved. Let me know what you'd like to see and what you think so far! Don't forget to review.