Chapter 11
After Chloe and David had picked Beca up from the airport, they had spent the evening together. Chloe had made a wonderful home cooked meal, because she believes Beca would have eaten more than enough junk food during her stay in New York. After that there had indeed been a movie night. David had been excited to have Beca back. He sure had missed her, but he had also viewed his time with Chloe as an adventure, so Beca was briefed on every detail of it, even though their time together had mainly consisted of day-to-day activities. When David is finally worn out, Chloe puts him to bed.
“Finally, a moment of peace and quiet” Beca says when Chloe returns.
Chloe huffs and says: “You could have stayed in New York if you are tired of us.”
Beca laughs at Chloe’s response.
“Come here”, Beca says and pulls Chloe against her on the couch.
“I missed you both very much. Here, I got you a little something to thank you for everything.”, she says as she presented Chloe with a gift box.
Chloe opens the box and finds the bracelet. She is wowed by the simple beauty of it.
“Oh, Becs, it’s too much..”
Beca kisses the red curls. “No it’s not, it’s not about the money. But even if it were, I have way more money than I can ever spend. I like to spoil you sometimes. Better you than David, he doesn’t have to become a spoiled kid.”
Chloe is silent.
“And that’s the last I want to hear of it. Now tell me about the time you two have had without me.”
Chloe doesn’t have to tell her about all they did after David’s detailed account. She simply tells Beca that she loved it, and she means it. After a little hesitation, she also tells her about the conversation with the principal.
Beca notices the worried tone in Chloe’s voice. “I know how much your job means to you. I promise we’ll be more careful.”
Chloe sighs and leans back against Beca, feeling the comfortable warmth of the little brunette.
As the days passed and the new workweek came around, Chloe noticed a change in Beca's behavior. She spent more days coming home late, or, if Chloe couldn't watch David after school, go back out when David was asleep staying out till well into the night. She claimed she was at work, but on the other hand, before she left for NY she had just claimed that things were smoothing out. Chloe was a bit suspicious, Beca never kept stuff from her…
Beca was in her studio working on some ideas for songs. She wanted to get this album started, line up a couple of songs to get most of the album ready before showing it to anyone, just to prove to herself that it was a good idea. If she had those few songs, she would probably tell Chloe, and then Emily if she came by next time, she could probably even help with some songs Beca wasn’t sure about.
Friday pizza nights had become sort of a tradition in their household. Beca went out this time to get the pizza’s from the place down the street. When she comes is she dumps the boxes on the living room table and they dig in. For a while there is a silence as they all have attacked their pizza, when Chloe has finished her second slice she speaks up:
“Beca, my landlord called today, my apartment will be done in one to one and a half week. They had to replace all pipes, and now they will put in new floors and repaint some of the walls.”
Beca needs to focus on not choking on her pizza. This meant two things. One, she wouldn’t have Chloe around anymore, at least not all the time and second, she had no excuse left not to tell her the truth. She swallows and replies:
“Oh, okay, that’s good news right?”
“Yeah, I guess so”
Chloe wasn’t too keen on being by herself in her apartment again. She was going to miss those two dorks that made her days just that little bit brighter. In her mind she was coming up with a list of excuses already to come over as often as she could. She was pulled from her thoughts by little David.
“Chloe, if you won’t live here anymore, can I come over to your place for a sleepover?”
“Sure, my little man.”
“Great”, he smiles, “can mom come too?”
Both women laugh out loud at that.
“Nah, your mom is no fun” Chloe replies teasingly, but quickly adjusts her answer as David’s expression suddenly changes to one of deep disappointment.
Knowing that they’ll still be fine and that Chloe still wants to be a part of their lives comforts Beca, but there is that one other thing at the back of Beca’s mind. She is not quite sure how, or when, she will deal with that.
On Monday Chloe comes home from school and she can hear Beca playing her guitar in the living room. Chloe doesn't know the song. Quietly she approaches not to interrupt Beca.
We got the upper hand
A random set of people
Such very close friends
How lucky we are
And it's a strange life
It's a great ride
There's a light that you don't see
You're the light that shines on me
We got everything we need
To make this work.
When Beca finishes the song she looks up and sees Chloe standing there. Chloe looks caught and mumbles an apology.
Beca replies: “It’s okay, Chloe, I meant to talk to you today anyway.”
“What is it? Are you seeing someone?”
“What?! No? Why would you think that?” Beca is confused.
“Well, you were away for a lot of late nights, and your mood seemed changed..”
Beca holds out her hand and pulls Chloe next to her on the couch.
“Oh no Chloe, I should have told you, since you always believed in me and supported me and all that, but I just wasn’t sure. But… the thing is… I’m going to record my own album, with my own songs, lyrics, music, voice, everything.”
Chloe stays silent.
“So, ehrm, I guess I am going to be a recording artist?” Beca tries again.
This time Chloe launches herself at Beca, tears in her eyes.
“Oh Becs, you’ll be amazing”, comes a muffled voice from somewhere around Beca’s shoulder.
“So you’re not mad I kept this from you?”
Truth be told, she was just glad that Beca wasn’t seeing anyone. And she knew Beca had kept this from her, not because she didn’t want her to know, but because she wanted a little certainty first.
“No, I’ll start to get mad at you when you’ll make it big in the music industry and forget all about me”, Chloe teases the short brunette.
“You know I already made it big in the industry, right?” Beca boasts, which earns her a slap with a cushion from Chloe. She gets up to put her guitar away so she can defend herself properly. The two girls a so emerged in their pillow fight that they do not notice little David approaching.
“Mommy, Chloe, fighting is not nice.”
Both girls turn their heads to the boy as Beca swoops him up in between them on the couch. As if of one mind they start to tickle him until he begs for mercy and all three of them fall back onto the couch out of breath from all the giggles.
‘This’, Beca thinks, ‘is how it’s supposed to be.’