Chapter 2
Chloe had a hard time concentrating during the staff meeting. All she could think about was seeing Beca again. Her college friend and former Bella co-captain, the girl who had been a major part of her life for four years, who apparently had a son... Her mind kept wandering back to the girl, wondering what else she had missed in those seven years.
When she returns to her classroom, her eye is immediately caught by the note in the middle of the desk. ‘Hi awesome nerd, it was great seeing you again. I’d love to catch up. Coffee?’ Chloe grins as she picks up the note and puts the number into her phone. The note she places in her diary, finishes packing up and heads home.
When Chloe gets home, she pulls out her phone to send Beca a message, but she puts it back down again on the counter and decides to cook dinner first. During the cooking she keeps glancing at back at her phone, in her head going over the message to send to Beca. When she had finished eating, she picked the phone up again, typing and re-typing the message several times and putting the phone down again. ‘Come on Beale’, she thinks to herself ‘this is not some random person you met at a bar, this is Beca. It doesn’t really matter. She knows you and wants to get back in touch’. Finally she is happy with what she came up with and presses ‘send’.
Beca had been frantically checking her phone since she got home, hoping that Chloe would be open to her proposal. She was desperate for a chance to explain herself and apologize. And somewhere she hoped that someday Chloe and her could begin to be friends again…
Her stomach did a small summersault as she heard her phone buzz and she leaps over to the counter to find that she had indeed a new message from Chloe.
X-XXX-XXX-XXX 7:35 PM Hi Beca, I would love to catch up too. I guess we have a lot to talk about :D ;) X Chloe
Beca 7:36 PM Great! I just met this teenager in my building who’s willing to babysit. I can see if she’s free this Saturday, if that’s alright with you? B
Chloe 7:38 PM Saturday is fine by me! Let me know if you can make it :)
Beca 7:40 PM Will do. Goodnight Chloe!
Chloe puts away her phone. She prepares some lessons for the next day and goes to bed early. The next morning she wakes up and as she is making breakfast, her phone alerts her that she has received a new message.
Beca 7:35 AM Babysitter is taken care of. Saturday is on. Since I’m new to this town, can you recommend any good spots?
Chloe responds with a suggestion for a location and they agree to meet there at 11.00 AM that Saturday. For both women the week cannot be over soon enough, both curious as to how the other person is.
The brunette is already there as Chloe arrives. This time she is dressed more casually with a plaid shirt and leather bracelets, the look that Chloe always loved on her. When Chloe enters the café, Beca hesitantly gets up from her chair, not sure how to greet the other girl, but Chloe pulls her friend into one of her signature bone crushing hugs. Beca walks over to the counter to get them some coffee and returns with two large cups and a plate with one brownie and two forks.
“I hope you still drink your coffee the same way, and that you haven’t lost your love for chocolate”, she says as she places them on the table.
Chloe’s blue eyes light up and a smile splits her face. “Beca, you’re the best!”
“Well, ehmm, so how have you been?” Beca starts as sits down.
Chloe starts telling all about how she decided to become a kindergarten teacher after she had spent a year teaching music to children in an afterschool program. She had first taught at a regular school, but then she had gotten the opportunity to start working at this musical pre-school. “… and now I combine my love for children with my love of music, by teaching children all about music. One of which is apparently yours…”, she finishes looking at Beca expectantly.
“Well yeah, I guess you never expected that”, Beca smirks, unsure whether this is the topic she would like to discuss first.
But clearly it is the topic at the front of Chloe’s mind, since she continues by asking: “Is he Jesse’s?”
“Yeah, he is… Sort of… He doesn’t know…”
“Jesse?” Chloe asks.
“No, Jesse knows, but David doesn’t. It’s a long and complicated story, but the summary is that I found out that I was pregnant after we broke up and we had just decided to move to opposite sides of the world for our careers. So we decided that David would be better off with me.” Beca explains.
Her friend looks at her in amazement. “So you have been a single mom for the last four years and still managed to have a music career?!”
“I was lucky enough to find a great nanny that helped me through the first years. And I had already completed some successful projects, so the label was eager enough to keep me, I guess. But I still had to work late a lot and sometimes I was required to travel with the artists, so it wasn’t ideal. Then they proposed that I would lead the Atlanta branch, which is much smaller and relaxed than the New York office. The idea was that I would also get more freedom, both creatively and to spend time with David. So far it has been a mad house, but I hope that is just because it’s my first week here…” Beca concludes.
“And you, do you have kids?” Beca asks, steering the conversation back to Chloe.
“Yeah, a whole bunch, 28 of them to be precise”, Chloe jokes. “But other than that, no, I haven’t found someone to settle down and start a family with yet...”
At that moment Beca’s phone starts to ring. Checking the screen she excuses herself: “I have to get this, it’s the sitter”. Chloe watches Beca and sees a concerned expression start to form on her face.
When she gets back, Beca announces that she has to leave: “David had hurt himself and gotten pretty upset. The sitter had tried to comfort him, but somehow things have escalated… I guess I better go and check things out. I’m sorry Chloe, I was really having a good time, but…”
“No problem”, Chloe nods “of course. We’ll do this again sometime soon”.
Beca smiles and leaves the older girl behind.