Long way round

chapter 7

Beca groaned inwardly as she heard Jesse storming off down the hall. She knew he had some cause for anger as she wasn't unaware of how he felt about Chloe, but after the shit he pulled the previous night, she wasn't ready to give any ground on that. Closing her eyes she let her head fall back, until it smacked against the door kind of hard, causing her to wince and step away and put her hand to the back of her head for comfort.

Opening her eyes again she saw Chloe, still sitting in the bed she'd moved to, and looking at Beca with concern in her eyes. Sighing, and not really knowing what to say right that second, Beca just walked over to her own bed and sat down on it, hanging her head a little as she rubbed her temples. She heard Chloe moving around, getting up from the bed presumably, and wouldn't have been surprised to hear the door opening and closing as well. When she felt her bed dip with Chloe's weight, Beca dropped one hand and peered up at the redhead out of one eye. She could tell that Chloe was feeling awkward, judging by her facial expression, and Beca just didn't know what to do to make things more comfortable.

"Why does shit have to be so complicated all the time?" The brunette finally asked, scooting back on the bed to lean against the wall and once again pressed her hands over her face. "Fuck my life..."

When Chloe giggled, Beca uncovered her face and glared at the smiling redhead. Chloe just laughed at her expression and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. "I'm sure things will work out just fine in the end. Last night was a drunken mistake, you know that he'd never really ... And he'll forgive you for this morning, if you want him to. Now it's early and I ought to head home before Aubrey freaks out."

Beca just watched as Chloe jumped up off her bed, most of her attention focused on the tingling on her forehead where the girl had kissed her, the other part focusing on how amazing the redhead looked right now. Even having just woken up, her hair tousled from sleep and her dress rumpled from having slept in it all night, Chloe was still stunningly breathtaking. Groaning at where her mind went when the redhead bent over to pick up her bra, giving Beca an excellent view down to her cleavage, Beca slid around to lay on her bed, closing her eyes to block out more images of Chloe as she said, "Yeah, I know. I just ... I'm glad we're friends again, Chlo. I've missed having our wonderful little adventures in crossing boundaries. You're right, though. I should get back to sleep, I have to work at the station this afternoon and then the Bellas first practice after, if you and Aubrey wanted to come."

"I've missed you too, short-stuff. Have fun at work and tell the girls hi for me. Well, and Bree too, I guess. I'll talk to her, lemme know what time it's gonna be, and text me later if you need it?" Chloe asked, picking up her shoes as she really didn't want to walk home in them. Chloe appeared to briefly debate putting her bra back on, but obviously felt it was too much trouble with her dress on still, so instead chose to just stuff it into her purse. Beca wasn't sure if Chloe was choosing to either ignore the reason for her groan, or if she was ignorant of its source. Either way, the redhead didn't mention it as she stood up and said, "Anyway, gonna dash. Like I said, text me or something if you wanna talk today, alright?"

When Beca just nodded from her place on the bed, Chloe smiled down at her friend and reached out tentatively towards Beca's upraised knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze before heading towards the door, which caused the brunette to jump slightly at the unexpected contact. Hearing the other girl walk to the door, Beca could tell that Chloe paused, and was about to open her eyes to see what was up when the redhead said, "Welcome back, by the way. I'm really glad you decided to stick around."

Beca didn't have time to answer as Chloe was opening the door and ducking out even as she finished speaking. Groaning again as the door closed behind the redhead, Beca finally let out a huge, shuddering breath that she'd been holding back since she had woken up in Chloe's arms. The warmth she'd felt hadn't entirely been from the blanket and second body in her tiny, cramped bed. Thanking her lucky stars that her dad had managed to secure her an empty dorm again for fall semester, Beca sat up and grabbed her headphones. Reaching for her laptop she opened her player and selected a track, setting it to repeat and settled back down as the opening notes of "Titanium" started playing.