Chapter 6
"Hey Becs, what are your plans tonight?" Emily asks as they take a break from recording. "I was thinking, tonight I'm free, and things aren't really hectic yet, so I thought, maybe I could come by and spend some time with the little man?"
"I was planning on going to check out an upcoming band, I think they may be a nice fit for the label, but I want to see them live first."
"Okay, so who's watching David? I would love to babysit him, I mean, I especially want see him, I'll be seeing more than enough of you the coming days" Emily says with a wink.
"No, it's fine, Chloe … no wait, yes, Emily please watch him, then I'll take Chloe with me. I would like a night with only grown-ups for us."
"So the aca-parents go out, leaving their kids to themselves." Emily notices how Beca rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay, I'm glad to hear the two of you are talking again."
Beca thanks her again and shoot Chloe a quick text.
Beca 2:55 PM: Hi Chloe, tonight there’s this band that I’m going to check out for the label. But I think you’ll like them too. So I was thinking, you could come along and we could make a nice evening out of it? Grab a bite to eat first?
Beca 2:57 PM: I need a another chance to thank you for being so amazing ;)
Chloe 3:35 PM: Sounds good, but what about David?
Beca 3:38 PM: Don’t worry, Emily is in town this week to get some work done on her new album and she loves the little man. She has offered to watch him for the night.
Chloe 3:39 PM: WHAT?! Our aca-baby? :)
Chloe 3:40 PM: Why did you not tell me sooner? I haven’t seen her in ages…
Beca 3:42 PM: Right, I take it is a yes then. I’ll make a dinner reservation at seven, but if you come to my place early, you’ll have a chance to hang with Emily for a bit.
Chloe 3:44 PM: :D
It is around a quarter to six when Chloe shows up. Beca opens the door and leads her to the living room, where Emily is playing with David. Beca excuses herself, mumbling something about finishing up some work stuff and still needing to change.
Chloe joins Emily on the couch and as soon as David notices her, his eyes light up and he calls “Chloe!”. Climbing up between the two women on the couch, he resumes his story about school by explaining to Emily how Chloe is the same as Ms Beale, but not really, because “Ms Beale is my teacher and Chloe is mommy’s friend”. With that statement his story is apparently finished, because he drops himself off the couch and starts to play with his toy train set. Emily looks confused and Chloe quickly explains how she had told him that he could call her Chloe outside school, because as she started hanging out a Beca’s place more, it felt weird to be called Ms Beale outside work. He had been confused a little, but soon he had caught on.
Emily tells Chloe all about her music career and how happy she is to be working with Beca again. Chloe shares stories of her life as a kindergarten teacher. Time passes quickly and then Beca shows up dressed in black skinny jeans and a sleeveless night blue top that falls loosely around her. On her arm is a leather jacket to complete the outfit. Chloe catches herself staring as the tiny brunette asks her if she is ready to go. She responds with a quick “yeah” and gets up.
“Alright”, Beca says as she gets down to David’s level, “Mommy and Chloe are going now. Listen to Emily and be nice, okay?” David nods and gives his mom a quick kiss.
Beca gets back up again and grabs Chloe by the wrist. “Let’s go. Bye, Emily!”
The evening is great. Beca takes Chloe to a nice simple Italian restaurant. The older girl opts for a pasta primavera and the younger girl picks the lasagne Bolognese. They share a bottle of wine and the time passes quickly. When they’ve finished eating, Beca gets up to settle the check. In a few minutes she’s back and holds out her hand to Chloe, who takes it and gets up. Arm in arm they walk to the bar where the band is playing. Beca was right, Chloe does indeed like the band very much. Its members all contribute to the vocals, harmonizing beautifully. The songs they play have a sort of Americana feel to them. The girls sit at the bar as they listen to the music, Chloe leaning against Beca. When the second set turns out to be more up tempo and danceable, they get up and dance together, Chloe pulling Beca close, like they have done so many times.
At the end of the performance Beca pulls herself loose from Chloe’s arms. “Okay, time for business now” Beca winks as she leaves to talk to the artists. The redhead returns to the corner of the bar waiting patiently for Beca to finish.
“Alright, Ms Hot Shot Music Producer, let’s head home. I’ve got a class of kids waiting for me in the morning.” Chloe jokes as the brunette returns.
As they get back to the apartment, Beca tells Chloe to be quiet. “There’s a good chance both of them are asleep by now” she grins. When they enter the living room Emily is indeed snoring on the couch.
Chloe hugs Beca sideways placing her head on the other girl’s shoulder and says: “Aww, look at our baby girl sleeping peacefully”.
Beca playfully kisses Chloe’s head. “Right, you take care of this one”, she replies while motioning to the fleece blanket that lies folded next to the couch, “while I go and check on my other child”.
In the quiet of David’s room Beca takes a moment to gather her thoughts. As the last seven years had passed, she’d forgotten what her friendship with Chloe had actually been like. How Chloe had come barging into her life, with no respect for personal space or the walls that Beca had pulled up around herself. How Beca had let her pull those down. Beca has slowly built up these walls again, but Chloe had made it seem like there weren’t from the moment they reconnect. Somewhere Beca knew that she never wanted to let her go again…
Chloe had covered Emily with the blanket and had gotten herself a bottle of water from the fridge and was sitting on arm rest waiting for Beca to return. After a couple of minutes the brunette came in from the hallway, holding a t-shirt and some sleeping shorts. “I guess you’ll have to share a bed with me, Beale. Uhmm … unless you don’t want to, of course. I mean, I could always call you a cab to take you back to your place.”
“Don’t be silly Becs, you know how I love to cuddle up to you”, Chloe says as she takes the clothes from Beca.
Both of them change quickly and get into the bed. Immediately Chloe moves to Beca’s side, placing her head on Beca’s chest and draping her arm around her waist. Just as they had spent many nights in each other’s beds at the Bella house. Beca smiles as she pulls the blanket over both of them and whispers: “Night, Chlo”, but the ginger had already dozed off.