Chapter 10
At the practice on Tuesday, it was like nothing ever happened. But not in the weird uncomfortable way like last week, more like the nothing changed between the two of us and we’re still friends way which is way better.
They started texting constantly again about everything and nothing and Aubrey had been rolling her eyes at every dinner when they were interrupted by Chloe’s phone buzzing. She hadn’t told her about their second kiss because she had a feeling she’d be against it. Well not against it but it’s just that Aubrey seemed to be easy on pointing out how Beca was distracting Chloe from Bellas practice and for Aubrey that was a tragedy. Even if the blonde had been nice to her when she was sad, she was pretty sure Aubrey didn’t want Chloe to pursue a relationship with the girl with the “ear monstrosities”.
Not that they were in a relationship now but it’s not like Chloe didn’t want that in the future. Whatever, she wasn’t thinking about it. She wasn’t.
They had a game on Sunday and winning 3-0 with Beca counting all the goals must have made the dark-haired girl feel a similar way than Chloe after Regionals because she pinned the redhead to the wall outside the arena as soon as they were out.
Chloe kissed back with passion, liking that this was becoming a thing. “Um-- someone was-- on fire-- today,” Chloe said between kisses and Beca’s body seemed to be buzzing with adrenaline.
“You impressed, Red?” Beca said, moving her lips onto her jaw and then her neck. Chloe’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and groaned at the feeling.
“Do you want me to be?”
Beca pulled away and looked at her with wanting eyes. “Yes.”
Chloe’s mouth went dry. “Wanna go back to my place and make out?”
“Let’s do it.”
Aubrey was out with some friends with her Pilates class at this time of the day so they didn’t have to worry about her catching them. It wasn’t a thing they had talked about, whatever that was but they knew they didn’t really want anyone knowing before they fully figured it out.
After a half hour of kissing on Chloe’s bed and the redhead’s shirt being thrown off the bed, Beca’s stomach grumbled. Chloe pulled away with a teasing smile but Beca looked embarrassed so she spoke up casually.
“I’m hungry too. I think we have some leftovers from last night we could eat?” Before Beca could even really agree to it, she rolled away from on top of Beca’s body and practically skipped downstairs without even putting a shirt on. She was confident, what can she say?
She had already put two bowls of pasta in the microwave and was humming to herself when Beca arrived downstairs. She leaned on the island in the middle of the kitchen and smiled at the redhead, her bottom lip between her teeth and Chloe felt smug when she noticed Beca’s eyes were on her body.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“I’m always in a good mood.”
“Won’t argue with you there. It’s kinda sickening, really.”
“Hush you,” Chloe said with a grin and pointed to a cabinet. “Make yourself useful and fill up some glasses with water.”
“Aye aye captain.”
“That’s you actually,” Chloe said and she jumped to sit on the counter waiting for the microwave to beep. “Although you weren’t really a good one today. You kept all the goals to yourself.”
Beca chuckled and stood next to Chloe to fill up the glasses in the sink. Chloe looked at her hand and cringed at the deep purple bruise that still colored her knuckles. She really did a number on Tom’s face and she wondered if he shared a matching bruise on his face.
“That is actually called a “hat trick” and it’s a pretty big deal in hockey so you should be impressed instead of mocking me.”
“I am impressed,” Chloe said with a wink and jumped off the counter when the food was ready. “I thought we settled that already.” Beca’s cheeks heat up slightly and took the bowl that Chloe handed to her. “Wanna watch a movie while we eat?”
The hockey player groaned while following Chloe up the stairs. “Are you gonna make me watch Harry Potter 2?”
“That’s a great idea!”
“Fuck.”
About 10 minutes after they had finished eating, Beca started sucking Chloe’s neck gently and the movie was long forgotten. She had already seen it so many times before and the hockey player didn’t seem to care for it that much so she didn’t see any downsides to the situation.
Chloe had just slipped her hand under Beca’s shirt to make things more fair when the front door downstairs opened. “Hey Chloe, I’m back from lunch!”
Beca sighed, laying back down on the pillow and Chloe hurried to put her shirt back on. “I’m in my room with Beca!” she yelled back and looked at the girl laying on her bed. Her dark messy hair in contrast with the white pillows and her slightly bruised lips from all the kissing. Beca really was beautiful and Chloe had a feeling she didn’t know it.
So she said it. “You’re beautiful.”
Beca looked shocked and she blushed. “Oh. Um thanks. You-- you too obviously. You’re like, basically the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.”
Chloe beamed and she was about to bend down to kiss her once again even though Aubrey was in the house when the girl in the question knocked and opened her door.
“Shoes go in the closet. I nearly tripped on them,” she said quite rudely. Chloe smiled apologetically because she always forgot that rule. Especially today since she and Beca managed to enter the house without really looking at where they were going, mouths attached to one another.
“Sorry Bree.”
“Hey Audrey,” Beca said.
“You know it’s Aubrey.”
“Wait,” Beca paused, sitting up dramatically to lean her back against the wall. “You changed your name? Audrey fit you better.”
Aubrey just sighed heavily and closed the door. Chloe nudged her on the leg with a pout.
“I wish you guys would get along.”
Beca looked like she wanted to say something but when she saw the expression on her face, she sighed. “Okay. Sorry, that one was definitely my fault. I’ll try to be better.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said, gaining her smile back.
“It’s just kinda funny seeing that vein pop.”
Chloe chuckled. “I know but I try to keep this house a happy place because in the auditorium, she’s a completely different person.”
“Why are you even friends with her?”
“She’s actually a really good friend when she wants to be,” Chloe started, propping herself up with pillows to lay down comfortably. “We met during freshman year at the Bellas audition. We were the only two freshmen that got added that year so we kinda stuck to each other’s side. At first, she didn’t really want to be friends with me but-- Shut up,” she said when she saw Beca’s face and continued. “But I was there for her when her dad didn’t come to our first competition and after that, we really became friends.”
“Her dad?”
“Yeah,” Chloe nodded. “He’s this important guy in the military and he hasn’t been around as much as she’d want him to be. Not that she’d ever admit that out loud. He’s never been to one of our shows.”
Beca was silent for a moment. “That actually explains a lot.”
“Yeah, I know. For him, life is a competition and Posens have to win it. I’m not even sure how that works. On top of that, Alice, our former Bellas captain, really disliked Aubrey so when she became captain, she kinda became crazy with the idea of proving how good she was to everyone that had ever wronged her.”
“Yikes.”
“But she’s a good friend,” Chloe repeated. “She’s been there with me for my ups and downs and I’m there for her the same way.”
Beca smiled, “I can’t imagine you in your downs.”
“Oh I can go down,” Chloe replied smugly and Beca’s face turned completely red.
“Oh my God,” she muttered, hiding her face in her hands while Chloe laughed. She took Beca’s wrists and pulled her down next to her. The hockey player hid her face in the pillows for a second before they both moved on their sides to lay down facing each other. Chloe tucked a strand of dark hair between her ear and Beca looked at her with a tender expression.
“Tell me something about you,” Chloe whispered like speaking too loud would break this moment.
“More things?” Beca said softly, teasing the ginger. “When will it stop?
“Until I know every single thing about you,” Chloe answered honestly, tucking her arm under head.
“That defies the purpose of me being a mysterious badass hockey player.”
“You already lost that credibility a while ago.”
“Ouch,” Beca said, putting a hand over her heart.
“Come on, tell me something I don’t know.”
“Did I get hurt or something? I don’t owe you anything, Red.” Chloe sighed and Beca dropped the act. “Alright, alright. Let me think.”
“Something meaningful too,” Chloe said, poking the hockey player in the stomach. “None of that bullshit you told me at practice last week.”
“Excuse you, Beale. I happen to think the fact that I failed my math class in 4th grade is very interesting.”
“You’re right, sorry. It’s very interesting.”
“I mean, fuck. If what I tell you isn’t good enough maybe that just means I’m not good e-”
“Beca!”
“I would think that you’d be proud of me for not getting hurt today but seems like you actually do want me to get hurt just so you can use me.”
“You’re annoying.”
Beca laughed. “Okay, sorry sorry. Stop distracting me with your freakishly blue eyes so I can think of something.” Chloe comically closed her eyes and she listened to the sound of Beca breathing for a few seconds.
“You have blue eyes too, you know?”
“Yeah but yours are like, mesmerizing. I feel like I’m about to get hypnotized everytime. Anyway, shut up I’m trying to think.” Chloe chuckled and Beca let out a breath when she was ready. “Alright, I got something.”
She opened her eyes and noticed the girl looked slightly more nervous than she did a minute ago.
“Hit me.”
“It’s dark shit. Are you ready, Red?”
“Please.”
Beca took a deep breath. “Okay so when I was like 7, my dad and my mom started arguing. A lot. Like they’d wake up mad and they’d go to bed mad. It was weird because at that age you have no fucking idea what love is, right? All you got is your parents to show you what it is and mine were screaming each other’s heads off.”
She took a pause, looking deeply in Chloe’s eyes. The redhead waited for her to continue.
“I started playing hockey during that time because it kept me out of the house and gave me something to focus on besides the shitshow at home. The only time they would shut up would be at my hockey games. They ended up getting a divorce like 2 years after but the damage was done, you know? Then my dad started dating this random woman and moved 3000 miles away. My mom stopped sticking around for my hockey games and my dad was too far to go see them.”
Chloe thought of Beca at her first practice. How she didn’t seem to want to engage in any sort of conversation with Chloe, how she only wanted to play hockey and keep to herself. She thought of the uncomfortable look on Beca’s face when she explained to her she was only here because her dad forced her to and how it must probably feel to have to listen to a parent that wasn’t even there for your teenage years. She imagined a tiny little Beca, propping a pillow over her head so she didn’t have to hear her parents screaming.
She wanted to reach out and take the hockey player in her arms to try to fix something-- anything but that’s not how it worked, though. Besides, she knew that wasn’t the way to go with Beca.
Chloe waited to make sure she was done before speaking up. “How’s your relationship with him now?”
“Weird,” Beca said in a breath. “I don’t know, I can see he regrets leaving us. He tried to call me a lot but eventually I guess I just stopped answering.”
“Why?”
“I shut him out. I shut the whole world out. It’s easier.”
“Isn’t it lonely?”
Beca’s jaw clenched and Chloe worried she said the wrong thing before the hockey player relaxed her face and sighed, looking away from her.
“Yeah.” A beat. “Yeah it is. But…”
“But?”
“But sometimes, once in a goddamn blue moon I guess, someone makes you feel less lonely.”
Beca’s eyes met hers again and Chloe reached a hand to stroke her cheek. She did it so carefully, it was like her fingers almost didn’t touch her skin. Beca’s breath hitched and Chloe brushed them over her lips, like a whisper.
“Do you believe in soulmates, Beca?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think I do. Not the concept of meeting your ‘other half’ because I don’t think someone is necessarily incomplete until they meet the right person. I think we’re always complete but a part of us is hidden until we meet them. It’s like… you become more yourself when you meet them, you know? You become more full of yourself.”
“I think I like that.”
“Me too.”
…
Chloe was at Bellas rehearsal, her mind drifting to Beca every couple of seconds. The way she looked when she was shirtless underneath her, whimpering under Chloe’s lips. The girl was with Jesse currently and the ginger wondered what they were doing. She knew that they were not doing anything that warranted her to feel jealous because after all, Beca was kissing her quite often. But she knew Jesse had a crush on the hockey player and she hoped to God he wouldn’t do anything about it.
“Okay girls,” Aubrey said, clapping her hands to gather everyone’s attention. “Our score sheet revealed that The Sockappellas almost beat us. We need to bust our asses if we’re going to make it to the Finals.”
“Or try a new approach,” Chloe muttered to herself but Aubrey heard it.
“What was that, Chloe?”
All the heads turned to the redhead and she cleared her throat, suddenly gaining some confidence. “The reason why we almost lost to the Sockappellas is because they took a risk. Being good isn’t enough to win. Beca’s right. The Trebles never sing the same song twice.”
“What does Beca have to do with this?” Aubrey said, crossing her arms.
“She just told me what Jesse’s been saying to her. The audience loves the Trebles. They tolerate us. Aubrey, we could seriously change the face of a cappella if you would just let us do something else! Look Beca’s been showing me how she does music and it’s actually pretty interesting. She does these arrangements and--”
“Enough!” Aubrey cut her off, her voice echoing in the auditorium. “Last I heard, Beca wasn’t part of this team and she’s caused enough distractions. I have the pitch pipe and I say we focus on the set list.” She looked at all the girls one by one. “From now on, we eat, sleep, and pee rehearsal. No more wasting our time with work, school, boyfriends... “ She looked at Chloe to finish her sentence. “or partners. Whatever.”
The redhead ducked her head, feeling the anger in her chest. It was never a feeling that she liked and it lay heavily on her. She thought of Beca showing her more of her music last time she went to her dorm. She had taught her how she created something from scratch and how everything worked.
Well, until Chloe decided that the hockey player being this concentrated was actually a turn on and she grabbed her for a quick making out session until Kimmy-Jin came back home.
“Last year we were the first all female group to get to the finals. I promise you that I’ll get us back there again.” Aubrey said. “Let’s get started.”
Semi-Finals were in two weeks. The end of the year was sooner than it appeared to be and Chloe would quickly be graduating (if she passed all her classes) and then it would be the ICCA Finals. She was beginning to really doubt their ability to make it through the end.
After practice, Chloe didn’t talk to Aubrey, too busy developing an idea in her mind. The blonde seemed to be okay with them not talking too because she didn’t try to engage a conversation the whole way home. She looked at the time and even though it was pretty late, she decided to leave right away without even changing out of her work out clothes.
“Where are you going? It’s 11 PM.” Aubrey said when Chloe just put on her shoes again at the entrance.
“Beca’s.” She shut the door behind her.
As soon as she reached Beca’s dorm room, it opened and she almost collided with the person coming out of it. Jesse took a step back when he saw her, his eyes widening.
"Whoa! Hey, Red.”
“Don’t call me that,” she said at the same time that Beca said “Don’t call her that.”
He laughed like it was the funniest thing ever and the small hockey player shoved him out of the way so she could see Chloe.
“Hey. What are you doing here?”
Chloe was going to talk but she looked at Jesse and he quickly got the message. “Jeez, fine. I hope you liked the movie today, Becaw.”
“I didn’t.”
The Treble looked at Chloe with a smile, “I bet she did.” Somehow, Chloe doubted that. Maybe it was the selfish part of her that refused to believe Jesse could read Beca like that. “Alright, I’ll leave you two alone. Have fun ladies,” he said before walking out.
Beca opened the door more wide to let Chloe through. “So what’s up?”
Chloe looked at the laptop on her desk and took a breath.
“How do you mash-up two songs together again?”