Aca-moms

Later that night Beca called to give Chloe an update. It turned out that David wasn’t badly hurt at all, he had just freaked out as the babysitter had tried to pull him into her lap and comfort him. He had kicked and screamed and at one point even bitten the poor girl in the arm. Then he had hidden himself in his room and refused to come out until the sitter had left and Beca had been talking softly to him from outside his door to calm him down.

“He just doesn’t like it when people he barely knows get into his personal space”, Beca had said “I suppose he gets that from me. He’s fine now, but I will have to look for another sitter. I probably should have taken more time to find someone he’s really comfortable with. I guess we have to postpone our next coffee meeting for the time being…”

“It’s fine, Beca. I get it. The move, a change of schools, a completely new environment, It’s a lot to take in for such a little man. The two of you just need to take your time to get settled in. I’ll see you around and we’ll keep in touch.. And in time we’ll find a new opportunity to meet.” Chloe had reassured her.

Chloe could totally understand the position the younger girl was currently in, but she still felt a bit disappointed. Their first meeting had left many of her questions unanswered, and to be honest, she probably had more questions now than she had to begin with.

Beca and Chloe had seen each other around school, but their interactions had been limited with all the other parents around. They had however exchanged many texts, sharing their workdays. Chloe telling anecdotes from school and Beca letting off steam from the stress she still experienced trying to run the studio her way. The brunette had also been very active sending Chloe pictures of things she thought Chloe would find cute – solely for the redheads entertainment, she claimed, after all these years still trying to keep up her badass persona.- Chloe was happy because she felt that her friend was letting her back in, but she was still eager to have a heart-to-heart with her.

As school finishes that Thursday, Chloe finds another message from Beca.

Beca 3:34 PM Hi Chloe, I’m so sorry to do this again, but I’m running late again. Major crisis, I’ll tell you about it later, but can David stay with you a little longer?

Chloe 3:38 PM Sure, I don’t have any meetings this afternoon. ;) I have to rearrange some stuff in my classroom anyway.

Beca 3:40 PM You’re the best. I’ll be there in 20.

When Beca arrives at the kindergarten, Chloe and David are already waiting for her outside on the swing set. “I’ve been thinking about a way to make this up to you, Chloe, and I have decided that you will be coming home with us for dinner. If you want to, of course…” Beca announces.

“I’d love to.”

“Great. I don’t really feel like cooking though, so I say we order some takeout.”

“Okay, I’ll just meet you at your place then?” Chloe asks gesturing towards her car.

Beca nods and gives her the address.

Chloe is surprised when she enters the apartment. It is spacious and the interior is simple but tasteful. When she walks into the living room, she finds a grand piano and a selection of guitars as well as a giant record collection. Going around the room she spots a picture of their performance at Worlds in their senior year and smiles.

“Mommy, why is Ms Beale in our house?” David asks, when he emerges from his room.

“I’m going to treat her to pizza, because I have something to make up to her. Also, did you know that she was one of the Bellas, like Emily, Stacie, and mommy? Come on, I’ll show you” Beca says as she leads David to where Chloe is standing.

Both women kneel beside the boy to show him the picture. “Look, this is mommy” Beca points out “and this is Stacie, Emily and this, over here, that’s Chloe.”

“Who’s Chloe?” David gives her a confused look.

“Ms Beale”

“Oh”

“Why don’t you show her your room while I order the pizzas?” Beca suggests.

“I would very much like to see your room, David.” Chloe chips in.

David nods and beckons for Chloe to follow him. After a thorough examination of his entire toy collection and a summary of every book on his shelves, David decides to keep Chloe entertained by showing her the rest of the apartment. He even wants to go downstairs to show Chloe the in-house pool, but Beca won’t let him. “But mo-hom, the pool is like the best thing..” he argues, but Beca is saved by the bell as the delivery guy shows up with the pizzas.

During dinner Beca fills Chloe in on the events of that day that had caused her to be late. Some artist that had recently signed with the label had insisted that his friends would collaborate on some tracks, but they were so bad that no amount of auto tune could ever fix it. When she had told him that, he had thrown a tantrum that, according to Beca was worse than Chloe had probably ever experienced with her four year olds. Chloe begs to differ and they start a competition of the most ridiculous anecdotes from their respective fields of work. Chloe seemed to be winning the competition, but to Beca’s surprise not with stories about the kids, but about the parents. They laugh throughout the entire dinner, but the brunette noticed how quiet her son is and worriedly glances at him. She is however met with a smile stretched from ear to ear and two sparkling eyes and suddenly she feels so happy.

While Beca puts David to bed, Chloe has a moment to herself. She’s happy to be here. The fact that Beca had invited her into her home means more to her than all the girl could have told her over a coffee. She had let her into her little private world and Chloe loved seeing Beca as a mother. The woman she had seen outside that, however, had reminded her more of the alt girl she met at the activities fare rather than the girl that was at her side winning Worlds. Chloe was worried, but determined to break down these walls once again, and this time she was never letting go again. She knew that her heart had not been broken when Beca had stopped calling her, truth was, her heart had been broken earlier when they had separated, and Beca had taken a little piece of her heart with her, a little piece called home.

Chloe was awoken from her thought when Beca began to speak: “He’s really fond of you, you know. It’s funny, he never warms up to strangers that quickly.”

“Must be his weak Mitchell genes…” Chloe jokes.

Beca picks up a cushion and throws it at the other girl, hitting her in the chest. They fool around for a little until Beca places herself at the armrest of the couch on the side opposite Chloe.

“I’ve missed this, Chlo, I need us. I really want us to be friends again… I’m so sorry for all the hurt I’ve caused you. I had no right to sacrifice our friendship like that…I don’t deserve you, Chloe”

“Whoa, Whoa, hold it.” Chloe interrupts Beca’s rambling “I don’t want you to talk like that. I’m so glad we’ve met again. I need you too… Yes, you’ve hurt me pretty bad, but I haven’t been a very good friend either. But I want to put it all behind us now, we can get through this. I want us to be friends again too.”

“I know there is no way to justify what I did, but I want to explain. I was so desperate to save my relationship with Jesse… He always complained that I never told him anything.. And I guess it was true.. If something happened at work, good or bad, I’d always call you on my way home, we would talk things over.. and when I got home Jesse always got the Cliffs Notes version.. He sometimes blamed you for that, and I think I let him get to me. That’s why I stopped calling… I wanted him to be the one I talked to, so I called you less and less, until I stopped completely. It didn’t work, I just started to bottle everything up again… Jesse and I still grew apart eventually and I… I had lost you… I should have realized that you were always more important to me..”

Chloe’s heart skips a beat at that confession and Beca breaks into uncontrolled sobbing. Not sure whether she should invades Beca’s personal space at his vulnerable moment, Chloe resorts to rubbing soothing circles on the brunettes back. Soon she feels Beca’s head pressing into her shoulder and she wraps her other arm around the girl, pulling her into an embrace. They sit like that for a while until Beca calms down.

“Thanks, Chloe”

“It’s okay.”

Chloe is the one to break the silence: “Hey Becs, we’re going to be fine. Thank you for opening up to me. I know there is much more to talk about, but let’s do that at our own pace. I think this was enough for one night. Just don’t shut me out again.”

“So, does this mean you want to become friends again?” Beca asks hesitantly.

“No..” Chloe shakes her head and Beca’s heart drops. But Chloe continues with a grin: “It means we are friends.”

“Weirdo”

Shortly after Chloe announces she has to leave, because it’s getting late and there is a busy day ahead with a full day of teaching and the school concert. Beca agrees and says she should go to bed too. They say goodbye with a hug as Beca walks Chloe to the door.