Chapter 5
Chloe fell into a nice routine. Monday was the Bellas, Tuesday was the Dames, Wednesday and Thursday were days she could spend doing school work and Friday she had another Bellas rehearsal. Then, she would wake up on Saturday for another Dames practice and Sunday was the day she could finally lay in bed from morning to night. Except she never did that because Chloe was someone that liked being on the move and seeing people and having fun.
Tuesday, Beca didn’t get hurt. When Chloe made an offhand joke about it, Beca had looked at her with a smirk.
“I just don’t want to have to tell you all my secrets, Red.”
Chloe had raised an eyebrow, almost challenging her. “Please. I bet you won’t even last one more practice without getting hurt.”
She had been right. The next Friday, Chloe had been the first one there when they heard shouting in the locker room after practice was over.
“Ow! What the fuck Amy!”
“Fuck Shawshank, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.”
“Stop running around with your hands in your hockey skates, you psycho!”
Chloe had cleaned the cut on her arm and put a band-aid on it with a smile, loving the way Beca was pouting the whole time. The fact that she had let Chloe put the band-aid on when she could’ve easily done it herself proved to the redhead that she was getting through to the hockey player.
That time she learned that Lorde was her favorite music artist and Beca had pretended not to care when Chloe enthusiastically told her she loved Lorde too and her favorite artist was Cage the Elephant.
Then Tuesday, Beca and Stacie had decided to get in some kind of wrestling match before they had even put on their full uniform for the practice. It had ended with Stacie picking Beca up in the air, them falling down on Emily who had stumbled backwards into Jessica who had made Ashley fall on Lilly who surprisingly stayed upright instead of collapsing on the floor like the others. Luke and Chloe had both taken a look at each of them to make sure there were no concussions, only a few bruises.
Even though technically Chloe didn’t clean up any injury, she managed to make the number 47 tell her that her favorite color was black (Chloe didn’t even try to argue that black wasn’t a color- she was taking what she could get).
Beca had scoffed a “of course” when Chloe told her her favorite color was yellow. Chloe chose to take it as a good thing.
Wednesday night had been the riff off and it had started bad, then it turned good for a second before turning horrible and they had lost to the Trebles. Chloe had watched Jesse the whole time with the corner of her eyes and after watching him act all smug with his buddies, she wasn’t sure she wanted to give him that much of a chance anymore.
Aubrey had been in a bad mood since it happened but Chloe didn’t want to let it get to her. It was a beautiful sunny day on the Barden campus and she was listening to music, walking one from her Maps class. She passed by the lawn when she spotted a familiar face wearing headphones, a concentrated look on her face as she worked on her computer.
Beca had set up a cute little blanket and there was a half-eaten sandwich next to her. The idea of Beca making her lunch and getting a blanket to sit on the quad was weirdly heartwarming. Before she even registered what her feet were doing, she casted a shadow on the hockey player.
Beca looked up like she was going to snap at the person who blocked the sun from her but her face relaxed when she recognized Chloe. She moved her headphones so she could hear out of one ear.
“Oh hey.”
“Hi!” Chloe said, grinning. “Cute little set up you got there, Becs.” The nickname came out of her mouth without even thinking about it but she quite liked the way the words rolled out of her tongue. Beca didn’t seem to mind either because she didn’t comment on it.
“Are you mocking me, Red?”
“No, I’m waiting for an invitation to join your picnic.”
Beca laughed. “Oh so now you want an invitation? But when I’m naked you don’t wait for anyone,” she teased while moving to the right so Chloe could have space on the blanket. The redhead sat down gracefully, making sure her dress didn’t ride up and her bare knee rested against Beca’s thigh that was covered by skinny jeans. Surprisingly, Beca didn’t move away, she just continued working on her laptop.
Chloe ignored what the hockey player said and rested on her hands, leaning back. “You don’t have class?”
“Only at 3 so I got some free time before. You?”
“I just came back from Maps,” she remembered what her teacher told her before she left the class and rolled her eyes. “I have no idea why I’m even taking this class. My teacher said the way things are going, I’m going to fail the class but like-- why do I even need to know where Copenhagen is? Who cares!”
Beca chuckled, looking up from her screen to look at Chloe and the ginger felt a sense of pride at the fact that she made her laugh. She still remembered the girl who used to reply to her with one-word answers a little over three weeks ago and she was glad things were moving in a nice direction.
“That’s why I’m taking as little classes as possible so I can focus on what I actually want to do.”
“Which is?” she asked not-so subtly. Beca smirked and moved her laptop so Chloe could see what she was working on. It seemed to be on some kind of music program.
“I wanna make music,” the hockey player stated. “You know, produce music, move to LA and work for a music label. That’s what I’d be doing right now if I could.”
Chloe got closer to Beca in excitement, not even realizing that both of her knees were now resting on Beca’s extended leg.
“Oh my God! That’s so cool!” she said, looking at all the files that Beca had saved. Dozens and dozens of mixes had been made over the past years. “I thought your thing was hockey?”
Beca shrugged. “I like hockey and it’s definitely also one of the reasons why I don’t take a lot of classes. I’ve been playing it my whole life but… it’s always been a hobby. When my dad told me I had to go here, he made a deal with me that if I joined a club, he could maybe start thinking of the idea of letting me go to LA. So I joined hockey since it was something I knew and here I am.”
It’s a bit crazy to think the only reason Beca joined the team was to shut her dad up and she ended up being captain right away. She had a feeling the hockey player was good at everything she did and just downplayed it-- or she truly didn’t understand how talented she really was. Luckily, Chloe was a master at compliments.
“Here you are,” Chloe said.
She wondered if she was crazy to think “I’m so glad that your dad forced you to come here so that I could meet you. I feel like you’re gonna become a really important person in my life.” She couldn’t afford to care if she was.
Instead she continued by saying “I would absolutely love it if you wanted to show me some of your mash-ups sometimes. I bet they’re aca-amazing.”
Beca looked at her and blushed a little, like she couldn’t believe Chloe would even want to hear what she was working on. For a moment, the redhead saw some kind of vulnerability in the steel blues eyes that always seemed in control but it disappeared in a second when Beca smirked.
“Yeah, maybe. I mean, I’d have to have some really big injury to let you listen to them. Maybe break my arm or something.”
Chloe rolled her eyes, an easy smile on her face. “I’m not sure I’m qualified to handle a broken arm.”
“I’m sure you’d find a way,” Beca said, picking up her sandwich and there was another look of tenderness shared between them before they were interrupted by Chloe getting a text.
Where are you? Aubrey had texted her and she didn’t even register the fact that she reacted negatively to the text until Beca pointed it out with her mouth full.
“You good, Red?”
“What? Oh yeah it’s um- it’s just Aubrey.”
“Ah yes. I’ve heard of her, nice girl.”
Chloe chuckled a little before shaking her head, “Shut up. It’s just-- well we lost the riff off and she’s been a little on edge because of it.”
“But I thought the whole point was that it was for fun. No rules and shit.”
Chloe shrugged, typing out a response to Aubrey telling her she’s hanging out with a friend and will be home soon. “I know but that doesn’t matter to her. The Bellas are struggling and we have regionals coming up and the odds are not in our favor. I’m trying to remain optimistic but she’s-- not built that way.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, right?” Beca said and Chloe nodded even though she wasn’t so sure.
“Totes.”
Beca looked amused but moved on quickly. “You guys just need to figure out what it means to be a team. Is it Audrey being a dictator or one goal that unites you all?”
Chloe was slightly taken back by the wise words but then remembered the hockey player was captain for a reason. “You’re right,” she said and then caught up in her emotions, surged forward and took the girl in her arms.
“Oh,” Beca said, flinching under her touch but after a couple of seconds, Chloe felt a tentative arm around her waist. She squeezed tightly, liking the way her face nuzzled in hair that smelled like coconut.
“It’s Aubrey, by the way.” Chloe murmured, pushing hot breath against Beca’s neck.
“I don’t care,” Beca said and the ginger laughed, pulling away.
“Fair enough. She calls you Becky.” Chloe laughed when Beca pulled a face.
“She really doesn’t like me, huh?”
Chloe hummed. “I guess not. I do, though,” she added with a wink. Beca couldn’t even fight off the smile on her face.
“Lucky me.”
“Duh,” she said but then got more serious. “I think all hope was lost when she found out the toner you had for Jesse.”
Beca raised one eyebrow. “A what?”
“Toner. A musical boner. It’s when you like someone.”
The hockey player stayed silent before bursting into laughter.
“Yeah, that’s not a thing.”
“Ah young Beca, you have so much to learn about the fantastic world of acapella,” she teased, reaching a hand out to pat her head but the hockey player moved out the way in a laugh and pushed her shoulder lightly.
“There’s nothing I want less than to know more than I already do, weirdo.”
Chloe looked at her with a twinkle in her eyes, a smile splitting her face in half and Beca looked at her the same way.
The fact that Beca never once confirmed whether Jesse and her really were dating never once registered in Chloe’s mind.
Conversation died down at one point and Chloe took out a few textbooks to study next to Beca. It was nice, really nice. From time to time, she’d look up to observe Beca, liking the way the dark-haired girl looked when she was concentrating; her eyebrows slightly frowned together sometimes, her tongue poking out when she was trying to get the rhythm right. Then Beca would feel the stare on her and look to her left to smile at the redhead.
Okay she didn’t technically smile but she did it with her eyes, Chloe could see it in the blue color.
Soon enough it was time for Beca to get to class and they parted ways but not before Chloe gave her one last hug. Once again, the hockey player froze in her arms before relaxing and Chloe found that she liked hugging Beca standing up even more. It seemed like Beca was made to fit right into her shoulder and Chloe liked how their bodies seemed to fit together.
When Chloe came back home to a stressed out Aubrey, she couldn’t even try to pretend she was as focused on Regional as her captain because she only had warm blue eyes and a snarky smile on her mind.
…
Chloe’s voice cracked again as she sang her solo and it took everything in her not to tear up at the pain. Her throat had been hurting for a while and she wasn’t sure what was happening; preferring not to think of the worst. She wasn’t sure what she’d do if she lost the ability to sing.
The morning after she had spent a few hours on the quad with Beca, she woke up with the nastiest case of dry throat. She figured she had caught a cold from being at the arena a lot but it had been two weeks now since that picnic with the hockey player and she had no other symptoms but her throat hurting every time she sang or talked too much.
“What is wrong with you today, Chloe?” Aubrey said, exasperated. “You’ve been distracted, messing up dance moves and now your voice? Are you not taking this seriously?”
Chloe’s jaw clenched. “What? Of course I am. I must’ve just warmed up my voice wrong at the start of rehearsal. I’ll be better next time, I promise.”
Aubrey seemed to believe her and tried to make the girls start from the top once again. As soon as she blew in the pitch pipe, one of the Freshman took a step in the wrong direction and crashed into her Bella on the left. Aubrey turned around with a groan and didn’t seem to care that all the Bellas looked exhausted.
“Alright, everyone take five!” she said and lowered her voice as if they couldn’t hear her anymore to say, “before I blow my goddamn brain out.”
Chloe rushed to her bag, not wanting to use her voice to talk to Aubrey and texted Beca.
red
S.O.S
beca :)
captain bitch is drilling you guys again?
red
unfortunately
distract me
beca :)
i’m afraid i don’t have a lot of time since i’m at the arena with jesse waiting for him to tie his skates but i will do what i can with the time i have
Chloe pouted a little at the image of the two hanging out but then she remembered what Beca looked like when she played hockey, wearing her green jersey and her hair down and Chloe’s heart started racing instantly.
red
tell me anything
beca :)
so you know how i told you my roommate hates me? i’m pretty sure she’s planning my death
when i came back from class today, she immediately closed her laptop but i know what i saw, there was definitely a page on how to anesthetize someone
red
isn’t she a med student lol
beca :)
so?
it’s the perfect cover
don’t fall into her games red
Chloe laughed quietly to herself. That conversation had been exactly what she needed and when Aubrey made them come back, she was in a much better mood.
“From the top, ladies.”
She started singing The Sign by Ace of Base, the same song she had sang since she became a Bella freshman year and managed to go through the whole song without messing up. Aubrey was at the front, watching them all intently and making them go through the routine over and over again. When they got it all right, she finally let them go. It was a Friday night and all the girls sighed in relief when Aubrey said the magic words.
Chloe was scared. She wasn’t sure who to tell about this and her google researches she made at home told her the probability of her having nodes were pretty high. She knew she couldn’t tell Aubrey, at least not until she was 100% sure because she was pretty sure it would give the blonde a heart attack. After all, Regionals were coming up and Chloe had a solo. She had to be ready.
With shaking hands, she scheduled a doctor’s appointment for Saturday next week after the Dames’ practice. She hoped this whole thing had been blown out of proportions by her anxiety and that everything would be okay.