Chloe was getting really fed up of Aubrey’s constant put downs of Beca. Her best friend just couldn’t see past the alternative look and perceived “attitude”.
The reality which Chloe knew to be the real truth, having known Aubrey for so many years, was that the blonde had met her match and couldn’t handle it. Having gained control of the Bella’s and finding herself in the Alpha position, she couldn’t handle that Beca refused to just line down and accept Aubrey’s authority.
Beca wasn’t like other girls. She didn’t just bow down to Aubrey’s domineering personality, which Chloe herself was sometimes guilty of, and Beca’s use of sarcasm and brutally unfiltered honesty really rubbed the blonde woman up the wrong way.
Chloe knew that Beca wasn’t one to be difficult for the sake of it, because truth be told the younger woman’s heckles only ever rose whenever Aubrey decided to climb up on her high horse.
And while Chloe had initially pleaded with Beca to just shrug Aubrey’s comments off to keep the peace knowing how stubborn her best friend could be, Chloe was now at a point where she herself was growing frustrated by Aubrey’s own attitude.
It all stemmed from a snarky comment Aubrey had made about how Beca wasn’t a romantic partner. Simply because, Beca didn’t go out of her way to make grand sweeping romantic gestures or engage in heavy PDA.
Aubrey, being used to Jesse buying her bouquets of flowers and serenading her on the quad just because, automatically assumed that all of this was an indication that Beca was a shitty girlfriend.
But Chloe didn’t see it that way, in fact, Chloe though Beca was the perfect partner. Because what Beca lacked in big romantic gestures or public displays of affection, she more than made up for in the little things that meant nothing to anyone else but Chloe.
It was in the way Beca would wake up at stupid o’clock in the morning for her radio station shift and, after making her own coffee to go, would also make a cup of steaming hot coffee in Chloe’s favourite turquoise Yeti travel mug to leave on her bedside table for when her alarm would wake her up, pressing a kiss to her sleep warmed forehead before she left.
Chloe would roll over to find the mug staring back at her wrapped up in the arms of her favourite stuffed bear, the very one Beca had bought for her because Chloe said it reminded her of the one she had as a kid that she lost on a family road trip.
It was in the way Beca would hide some Reese’s peanut butter cups in Chloe’s bag whenever the redhead had an examine, because she knew how stressed her girlfriend could get and that in times of stress, Chloe always turned to her favourite go to comfort sugar rush.
It was in the way Beca would have a home cooked meal waiting for Chloe when the redhead was late home from shift work at the local hospital to have dinner with the rest of the Bella’s.
Sure Chloe could’ve easily just heated up leftovers, but Beca wanted her to having something fresh to look forward to. She would even sit with her while she ate and catch her up on the gossip she missed around the dinner table.
It was in the way Beca knew not to coddle Chloe when she was having a particularly emotional day. Everybody knew how in touch she was with her feelings and how sensitive she could be at times, but what people often failed to realise was that Chloe hated being treated like some poor wounded animal.
Sure she would accept hugs and words of comfort with the same kind smile she always gave, but Beca really understood what Chloe needed. It was the motivation to pick herself up and dust herself off. It was words of encouragement to give Chloe the confidence to kick the days ass and feel empowered.
It was the knowledge of knowing that Chloe could be emotional and still seize the day. That being sensitive didn’t make her weak. Beca became the cheerleader Chloe needed on those days to push through and to keep going.
And at the end of the day, when Chloe had in fact conquered it, Beca would slip into bed beside her and wrap her up in her arms giving her a warm loving hug a gentle kiss pressed against her temple. Her way of telling Chloe she was proud of her without having to utter a single word.
It was in the way Beca would remember the seemingly insignificant dates. Valentines, birthdays, anniversaries, they were obvious. Beca remembered things like the first time Chloe saw Star Wars at a movie theatre with her two older brothers.
The fact Chloe was even into Star Wars had comes as a surprise to Beca, and though the DJ herself wasn’t into movies all that much, when she had noticed that a small drive thru movie theatre the next town over happened to be playing that same movie, on what happened to be that same date, Beca had quickly bought two tickets much to the excitement of the redhead.
Chloe still had the stubs of the two tickets tucked into the frame of her vanity mirror, a little reminder of just how willing Beca was to endure two hours of “torture” to make Chloe happy.
Those ticket stubs sat next to various other concert stubs from shows they had attended that Beca thought Chloe would be into just based on taste in music.
Every single time they would attend a show the redhead was always blown away by how perceptive Beca was to Chloe’s ear for music. She was always discovering new artists and suggesting them to her girlfriend and Chloe had various Spotify playlists of tracks Beca had curated just for her.
It would’ve been easy to compile a list of tracks just based off of Chloe’s own playlists, but Beca didn’t do that. She didn’t need to send Chloe music she was already aware of. Instead she took what she knew about Chloe and used it to curate whole new content for her to enjoy.
And Beca was meticulous in her arrangements. Every playlist had a particular vibe and every artists had something in their music she knew Chloe would be into.
Hours of Beca’s time and music mixing talent went into each and every one. Not because Chloe asked or expected it, because Beca wanted to. Music was her way of expressing how much she cared.
Chloe may not have been as gifted as her girlfriend in terms of creating music, but it was something that also lived in Chloe’s veins. She loved music, needed music. It was the very thing that started her day and carried her through it.
It had been a source of both joy and comfort whenever she had needed it. So, it was no surprise to Chloe that she found herself hopelessly in love with the human embodiment of every melody that surrounded her these days.
Chloe didn’t need grand sweeping romantics gestures our bouquets of flowers on commercial holidays, because her love language was music, and Beca gave her that in spades.
So what if Beca didn’t make big, loud vocal declarations of her undying love to Chloe, it’s wasn’t her style. They had their own secret code for this when they were in public and it was something that most people wouldn’t even notice.
Because whenever Beca would interlock her hand with Chloe’s, she would gently tap it three times with her thumb, ‘I. Love. You’. Sometimes just because, other times because she knew Chloe was stressed or upset about something and wanted to offer her just a gentle reminder that she was there.
That whole tapping thing in itself had started off because of you music. They had been walking down the street hand in hand when Chloe noticed that Beca had been tapping a melody against Chloe’s hand, one the other woman had been remixing inside her own head and had unconsciously begun to rhythmically tap out as if she was sitting at her mixing equipment.
When Chloe had made a joke about it, Beca had fired back by tapping Chloe’s palm three times.
“You know what that is smartass?” Beca sassed, and Chloe shook her head no, explaining she couldn’t work out a melody in from three unheard beats.
Beca just rolled her eyes and chuckled.
“Dude it’s not a melody, it’s I love you,” she explained, tapping three times on each word to emphasise the meaning.
Chloe melted into a puddle of mush and from that moment on it became their thing. Their way of expressing how they felt when they couldn’t say it for whatever reason.
Even when they would fight and go to bed angry, at some point one of them would inevitably end up grabbing the others hand and tapping their expression of love to the other.
So Chloe was tired. She was tired of the put downs, she was tired of her friend talking about things she didn’t understand. She was just tired.
For too long she had just stood by and let Aubrey say whatever she wanted, even allowed her to dominate practice when they were supposed to be co-captains. Anything to keep everyone happy and avoid confrontation.
But Chloe wasn’t having it anymore. She wasn’t going to stand by and allow Aubrey to keep speaking about Beca in the way she had been. She wasn’t going to allow her co-captain to ridicule her relationship. It meant too much to Chloe, Beca meant too much to her.
She had been best friends with Aubrey for so long and loved her dearly, but she found what she had with Beca was a connection like none she had ever had before, one she was genuinely terrified of losing.
Beca had put up with so much for Chloe’s sake but the redhead didn’t want her to have to put with it anymore. It wasn’t fair, Aubrey wasn’t being fair. This was one fight Chloe wasn’t prepared to back down from.
“God Bree can you just shut up!” Chloe bellowed, rubbing her temples in frustration as Aubrey stood across from her in the practice hall, surprised by her co-captains outburst.
“You think because Jesse buys your flowers every other day and organises stupid flash mobs that he’s Prince Charming? What are you 12?.”
Aubrey’s mouth dropped open in shock, her brow furrowing in anger.
“Aca-scuse me?” The blonde replied and Chloe just bulldozed right through her friends rising defences.
“From day one you have done nothing but talk shit about Beca without knowing anything about her. You blame it on dumb superficial shit like how she dresses or because she doesn’t go out of her way to “be romantic”” Chloe elaborated raising her hands to create air quotes.
“But the truth is you’re jealous,” Chloe accused and Aubreys face morphed into one of amusement.
“Jealous? Of Beca? Are you kidding me right now?” The blonde replied shaking her head at the idea. But Chloe was insistent that she was right.
“No I’m not kidding. You’re jealous of the fact she can sing better, lead better and knows music better than you. She’s the leader you want to be, the leader we need and it kills you that what you want to be, comes so naturally to her,” Chloe said her finger pointing out the door Beca had exited through mere moments ago after another blow up between her and Aubrey.
“And I get it, it sucks when you put your heart in soul into something that just comes so much easier to someone else, but that’s not her fault. Beca just gets music, it lives inside her in a way that it doesn’t for us and I know you can see it and I know you’re threatened by it.”
Aubrey’s spine literally snapped into an upright position at the insinuation, her hand coming to rest on her hip, top lip curled in disdain at the thought that someone would think she was threatened by Beca Mitchell.
“Do you honestly think I’m threatened by someone like Beca?” Aubrey chuckled, that condescending chuckle that made Chloe’s skin crawl whenever she would hear it.
“The only reason that little troll agitates me so much is because her attitude sucks and she struts around with like she’s better than everyone else,” Aubrey spat back and Chloe didn’t even flinch.
“And you don’t?” The redhead fired back.
“I mean let’s face it Aubrey you’ve done nothing but talk down to everyone in this group since day one. You judged every single one of them for how they looked because they didn’t fit whatever “image” the Bella’s are supposed to represent, which, let’s be honest, was always sucky to begin with,” Chloe continued.
“Every single time Beca has even suggested doing something that might make us better you’ve bulldozed through every idea as if you know better and you don’t.”
Aubrey scoffed at that, of course she knew better.
“I’ve been a Bella far longer than Beca. I’ve followed all the rules, digested the history of this group. I know everything there is to know about acapella and what it takes to win,” Aubrey argued back.
Chloe huffed out a laugh and walked to the piano, picking up the sheet music sitting on top of it and holding it.
“Really? You call recycling the same set list knowing what it takes to win? You think repeating the same process of our predecessors is gonna help us to a National Championship? This isn’t the 80’s Aubrey, times have changed and while everyone else is moving with the times, we’re stuck in the Twilight Zone.”
Aubrey ripped the sheets of paper out of Chloe’s hands and held them up in front of her.
“This setlist won several National Championships, it’s a legacy,” Aubrey argued back and Chloe laughed.
“Yeah it’s called a legacy because it’s historic. You wanna dig up Cleopatra and appoint her team mascot while we’re at it? Might as well go all out if we’re gonna keep looking over shoulders for ideas,” Chloe fired back.
The remaining Bella’s sat engrossed in the argument between their co-captains. While things had been tense for a while they hadn’t been expecting their ginger captain to finally blow a fuse. Chloe was always the calm and considerate one, but it seemed even she had a breaking point.
Aubrey slapped the paper down by her side and rubbed her forehead in frustration.
“I knew that troll would be a bad influence on you. I knew it from the second she showed up,” Aubrey muttered away, not really looking at anyone.
Chloe’s mouth dropped at the statement, her blood now beginning to boil over.
“Why because she encourages me to stand up for myself? Because she makes me feel like my voice matters? How exactly is she a “bad influence”? Because from where I’m standing it feels like you’re just pissed because I refuse to just bow down to your authority.”
Aubrey seemed momentarily taken aback by Chloe’s anger. She’d never see her best friend this worked up before. Chloe was always the one who placated Aubrey’s emotions yet here she was actively riling them up and it was fuelling her own annoyance.
“Ever since she showed up you’ve changed. We used to be on the same page now we’re not even close to being on the same chapter. You’ve been slacking off with your Bella duties and don’t think I haven’t noticed the fact that we don’t talk like we used to. It feels like I don’t even know you anymore,” Aubrey said, slapping her hands down by her sides in exasperation at the situation they were in.
Chloe’s eyes welled up a little as she listened to Aubrey, crossing her arms, not in defence, but out of a sense of needing security at how vulnerable she currently felt.
“Maybe the truth is you never knew me at all,” Chloe sighed.
“Maybe the truth is that, for the first time you’ve realised how little you actually know about me and rather than pointing the finger back at yourself it’s easier to blame Beca. I’m supposed to be your best friend yet all we ever talk about is you. Your problems, your issues. Do you even know what my major is? Or what my plans are after college? Or here’s an easy one, what’s my favourite coffee order?”
Aubrey faltered at this, stumbling through her own thoughts to find any semblance of an answer let alone a correct one.
“Well…. I….” Aubrey stuttered, the other Bella’s cringing at her display of ignorance. Chloe just shook her head and chuckled.
“Exactly. You don’t know because you’ve never cared to ask.”
Chloe shook her head as she willed the tears back, biting on her bottom lip.
“I’m a pre med student in case you were wondering. Beca knows this because she asked. In fact she’s helped me study for exams, would even wait outside for me with my favourite coffee. A vanilla oat milk latte by the way, just in case you ever felt like returning the favour.”
Outside the rehearsal hall, Beca sat perched on the window ledge in the corridor, silently grinning with pride as her girlfriend finally stood up for herself.
For years Beca had watched on as Aubrey repeatedly overruled Chloe, ridiculed her for daring to have an opinion that wasn’t Aubrey’s. Chloe had always been the supportive best friend, but lately Chloe had begun to realise that Aubrey didn’t always offer her that same support.
And while Chloe was initially happy to co-captain with her best friend, she had grown increasingly frustrated with the blondes domineering and controlling attitude.
Chloe wanted the Bella’s to be a team effort, one where everyone felt they could contribute something to the group. Sure, it would be nice to win, but she was content just to feel part of a group and have fun.
Chloe wanted to make memories and friendships, that was her overall goal. College was such a short period of time, she didn’t want to spend it in a constant state of stress between course work and competitions.
Much to Aubrey’s annoyance the rest of the Bellas felt the same. They wanted to be part of a group and feel like they belonged. But Aubrey was so consumed with winning that she had made the Bellas feel more like a military obligation than a competitive social group where they could have fun and potentially achieve something great.
They were all for forming a competitive group, but they were beginning to wonder if it was worth it if they were merely there to fill out the sound and act as a prop to somebody else’s headline act.
Beca was really good at picking up on the girls’ individual talents and was able to blend them altogether to create sick beats. Chloe had seen this first hand and she really thought Beca would make a good captain. Mainly because of her creativity but also because Beca didn’t feel the need to be in the spotlight. She was content to let someone else shine, something that was needed in a group.
But Aubrey wasn’t having it. She wouldn’t even accept the possibility of incorporating Beca’s ideas into the setlist. This controlling manner was frustrating everyone and Beca finally decided to be the one to walk away. If she couldn’t offer anything but her presence, what was the point?
After Beca received yet another verbal lashing from Aubrey, Chloe finally snapped. She couldn’t take it anymore. She had begun to realise that by not speaking up she was enabling Aubrey to behave the way she had been and she wasn’t going to do it anymore.
Her desire to keep the peace was beginning to reflect poorly on her and she wouldn’t stand for it. She wouldn’t be complicit in the downfall of the Bella’s. She wouldn’t allow Aubrey’s attitude or behaviour to dominate anymore. She needed to step up and be the captain the Bella’s deserved. The girlfriend Beca deserved. If Aubrey couldn’t meet her halfway, then Chloe would just have to put herself first and walk away.
“Oh and FYI, I got into Columbia Med School. That weekend you thought I was ditching practice? I was in New York doing my entrance interview. Beca has an internship lined up with RCA Records there too. We’ve been talking for a while about what would happen after college. Turns out we both want to be together. Same as you and Jesse right?”.
Aubrey’s mouth snapped shut at this, the words cutting through her. Chloe knew that Aubrey and Jesse had been at odds over post college plans. Jesse was planning on going to LA to film school to work on scoring movies and Aubrey was determined to follow in her family’s footsteps into the Posen Legal Firm in Boston by attending Law School.
For all of Aubrey’s talk of Jesse being a hopeless romantic, Chloe knew deep down that their relationship was struggling beyond the surface level stuff. The couple complimented one another in terms of checking each other’s boxes of whatever preconceived notions of a relationship they both had, but reality had a way of kicking relationships into check.
The couple weren’t on the same page about what they wanted after college and no matter how much they tried to convince the other, neither one was willing to compromise. Their relationship wasn’t as perfect as Aubrey made it out to be. When it came down to the really deep stuff, the romance didn’t translate.
In fact the blonde often times clashed with her boyfriend over his friendship with Beca and his insistence that Aubrey should cut Beca some slack and listen to her ideas. It frustrated Jesse to no end.
Both he and Chloe suspected that it had everything to do with the fact that initially, it was Beca that Jesse had been interested in. Until she had firmly rejected him by waving her metaphorical gay pride badge in his face.
The two maintained a close friendship, though double dating had proven troublesome. Beca pretty much went out of her way to avoid being in Aubrey’s presence unless absolutely necessary.
Realising that she was starting to hit a nerve, Chloe decided to back off. She refused to stoop to Aubrey’s level. It wasn’t her style Chloe had always been the more compassionate one and no matter how upset she was, she would never go out of her way to hurt someone else’s feelings to win an argument.
She knew deep down that all of Aubrey’s actions had been driven by jealousy both of Beca, and the fact that even with everything Aubrey thought was wrong, Chloe and Beca had a near perfect relationship. They were two opposites whose imperfections seemed to align to balance the other out creating a rather harmonious partnership.
For Aubrey, her need to control everything was blowing up in her face and she didn’t know what to do. She was so used to getting her own way that she didn’t know how to deal with this new territory she found herself in.
Chloe turned away from her and retrieved her gym bag and water bottle form the riser behind her, before turning back to her best friend.
“You can have the Bella’s, you can have your perfect relationship, you can have whatever you want. But you’re done walking over me and your done shitting on my relationship. If you decide to be a real friend and want to genuinely get to know Beca, really know her, I’ll be waiting. If not, have a nice life Bree.”
With that Chloe brushed past her co-captain and began jogging towards the door, determined to find Beca. Just as she was pulling out her phone to call her girlfriend, she pushed open the door and stepped out in to the corridor, almost colliding with the very person she had been looking for.
“Bec? Wha- I thought you left?” Chloe said, her brow scrunched in confusion.
Beca chuckled and grabbed her girlfriends’ hand.
“I didn’t leave. I’ve been sat out here the last 20 minutes waiting for practice to end,” Beca replied, gesturing to the window ledge she had cocooned herself in, her bag and laptop still sitting on it.
When Chloe continued to look at her with confusion Beca gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
“I figured you needed a little something to motivate you to finally stand up to Aubrey. I could see you were tipping the edge….,” Beca started before Chloe cut in to finish.
“So you decided to jump knowing I would follow,” she said and Beca bit down on her lower lip and shrugged her shoulder.
“Something like that,” she replied and Chloe just shook her head in amusement at how well Beca could read her.
“You’ve been putting up with Aubrey’s shit long enough. I can take it like water off a ducks back but I know you and I know this kind of shit gets to you. I just wanted you to finally realise that you don’t have to put up with it. You don’t always have to put everyone’s feelings before your own. That’s the biggest issue between you and Aubrey, you’ve always compensated for the fact that her pride and her feelings come before everyone and everything else. She needed a wake-up call and that needed to come from you. You’re the only person whose opinion matters to her. Even if she is a bitch to you at times.”
A soft smile began to creep across Chloe’s face as she was yet again reminded of how perceptive and intuitive Beca could be. Even after everything, the way Aubrey had been treating her, Beca was still going out of her way to make Chloe happy and, by extension, trying to help Aubrey see sense in a roundabout way.
This was what Chloe wished her best friend could see, this incredibly thoughtful side of Beca that Chloe got to see every day. Yes, Beca could be incredibly sarcastic and unfiltered, sometimes speaking without thinking, and maybe she didn’t always show her emotions or wear her heart on her sleeve, but behind the dark eyeliner and quick-witted remarks was a deeply caring, loyal heart.
“I love you,” Chloe sighed and Beca grinned back at her, tapping Chloe’s hand four times.
“Love you too weirdo.”
Chloe was beaming as she leaned in and kissed her girlfriend, the kiss being reciprocated in kind. As they forced themselves to pull away to prevent so they didn’t get carried away, Beca tugged on Chloe’s hand and started guiding her toward the window ledge to collect her things.
“C’mon, let’s grab tacos for dinner. My treat,” Beca said as she stuffed her laptop and headphones into her bag and then slung it across her shoulder.
As Beca made to move Chloe remained rooted to the spot, their joined hands bringing the brunette to a stop. Turning around, Beca noticed the look on her girlfriends’ face.
“Chlo, you’re not abandoning the Bella’s. If anything, they’ll probably be right behind you once they realise they’ve been left with just Aubrey in charge.”
As if on cue, the door to the rehearsal hall burst open as one by one the Bella’s all filed out, led by Amy who was muttering about something about getting drinks at a local bar. As Chloe watched them all veer past and down the corridor, Beca grinned at her.
“See, they know who their leader is. You earned their respect, Aubrey demanded it. You’re their captain Chlo.”
Chloe smiled at this before glancing back over her shoulder and noticing a dejected looking Aubrey still holding the sheet music as she glanced around at the empty rehearsal space. Beca tugged on Chloe’s hand to her attention.
“Hey, don’t get caught up inside your head. Aubrey will be back with her tail between her legs before you know it,” Beca said and Chloe looked at her hopefully.
“How can you be so sure?” Chloe asked and Beca shot her a little side grin.
“Cause she’s not stupid enough to risk losing you. She just needs time,” Beca replied.
With that Chloe nodded and squeezed her girlfriends as they walked side by side out of the building headed for their favourite local Mexican. As they walked off campus and down the street a soft smile cam over Chloe as the comforting feeling of Beca tapping a melody out on her hand resonated with her. If time was what Aubrey needed than Chloe was content to let that be. Glancing to her side she realised she had more than enough to keep her occupied for a lifetime.