Every Day [Bechloe Fan Fiction]

11) The One Where It's Eight Years Before

Beca stared across the room, her eyes unfocused and heavy. She had barely slept in weeks. The stress of her internship, along with constant Bella rehearsals, was slowly killing her. She could feel her eyelids closing, ever so slowly, as she tried to focus on the plate in front of her.

"Beca!" The sharp noticed, snapping her out of her day dream. "You've barely eaten anything. What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Jesse," Beca mumbled back, pushing her hair out of her face in an attempt to appear alert. "I'm just tired."

"Just tired? You look exhausted," Jesse pointed out. "Have you slept at all?" Beca shook her head guiltily. Jesse sighed, his worried eyes causing her to prickle. "Beca, you've been working too hard. You need some sleep."

"Don't patronise me!" Beca snapped, glaring at him. "I just don't have time, okay?"

"Hey, I know that! There's no need to be rude. I just want what's best for you, Bec. Is that really so bad?" Jesse retorted, reaching out and grabbing her hand.

"I know." Beca groaned. "I'm sorry."

Jesse smiled, looking into her eyes. Beca blushed, smiling back. They stayed like that for a while, their hands together still.

"I've missed you..." Jesse whispered. Beca looked away, her expression falling.

"I know..." She replied softly. "I'm sorry I'm always so busy."

"It's not just that." Jesse sighed. Beca pulled her hand away, bracing herself for what she sensed to be a difficult conversation.

"What?" She asked, her defenses going back up.

"That! That's exactly what I'm talking about, Beca! You're so defensive all the time, like more than usual, and we always end up arguing." Jesse cried, his voice full of exasperation.

"Well it takes two to argue, Jesse, God!" Beca stood up quickly, her chair scraping along the wooden floor loudly in her attempt to escape.

"What? What are you doing?" Jesse groaned, rubbing his temples.

"Leaving. Wouldn't want us to argue. Again. Since apparently that's all we do now." She snapped back.

Beca grabbed her purse and stormed away from their table. Her eyes were flaring, fists clenched.

"Beca, Beca wait!" Jesse called, standing up to.

She spun around but kept waking, sarcastically waving at him. Her eyes saw red.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jesse. Once I've had a good nights sleep, since that'll apparently solve everything. Good bye." And with that, Beca stormed right out of the restaurant.

The whole walk back to the Bella house Beca felt her fury raging. She kept her fists tightly clenched in a bid to keep the tears at bay.

"God, sack up, Mitchell." She grumbled to herself. "Get a grip!"

She stared at the house, the stomach churning. She knew all the Bellas would be in there. There were no parties going on that evening and they had classes the next morning.

That meant getting interrogated the second Beca walked over the threshold. They all knew that she was supposed to be out with Jesse. They had even joked about her staying out all night. Well there was certainly no chance of that happening now.

Beca sighed and turned away, walking back down the path. She couldn't face going in there and seeing the smiling faces of her best friends. She didn't want to bum them out again. It was all she seemed to do to people lately.

"Hey, Beca! Wait!" A voice called out from behind Beca, just as she'd started to leave the driveway.

Beca turned around, looking at the girl standing in the doorway, hanging off the door like a child.

"Hey, Chloe..." She mumbled, frustrated at being caught.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be out with Jesse tonight?" Chloe asked, smiling invitingly at her friend. "I saw you forgot your door key, is that what you came back for?"

She held Beca's keys out, causing them to dangle from her finger. Beca winced at the noise it created, not wanting it to bring out any more unwanted witnesses to her wreck of an evening.

"Thanks, Chlo. But I'm fine." She shrugged. "We're just finished, that's all." Chloe frowned in confusion and looked down at her watch.

"But it's only nine o'clock." She pointed out. "It takes you forever to finish a whole meal."

Beca cursed Chloe silently for knowing so much about her. If was a real inconvenience.

"I know, Chloe." Beca groaned. "It's nothing. We just had a fight, that's all."

Immediately Chloe was the picture of worry. She let go of the door, hopping down the pathway a few places. She stopped when she saw Beca flinch away. She was used to it. Beca had always been like that.

"Oh no! You guys didn't break up, did you?" Chloe asked, her hand on her chest. She looked imploringly at Beca.

"No! God, no! It was just a fight, that's all. Nothing to worry about..." Beca exclaimed, trying to calm Chloe. "Can we just leave it, okay? Please?"

"Okay, sure." Chloe smiled. "So what are you doing now? Aren't you coming in?"

"No thanks," Beca forced herself to smile back in an attempt to appear calm. "I think I just wanna be alone for a while, you know? I don't really wanna be around other people right now..." She began to retreat backwards down the path again, away from Chloe and the threat of more human interaction.

"That's fine. I'll just get my jacket." Chloe replied matter-of-factly, shooting Beca a friendly smile. Beca's mouth dropped open in protest.

"Were you even listening to a word I just said?" She exclaimed, hands on hips. Chloe disappeared behind the door, reappearing a moment later with two jackets over her arm and Beca's keys still looped over her finger.

"Of course! I always listen to you, Beca." Chloe said, and pulled the door shut. "You said you didn't wanna be around other people right now. So were going out instead."

She walked briskly over to Beca and held open Beca's denim jacket for her to put on. Beca obliged, rolling her eyes as she did so. Chlo then slipped into her own leather one, putting Beca's keys in her breast pocket and patting it gently to show its safety.

"You're other people, are you not?" Beca pointed out, standing grumpily in front of her friend.

"Of course!" Chloe laughed, linking their arms as she began walking down the street. "But you're upset, and I'm not leaving you alone when your upset."

Beca didn't know what to say to that, so she let a comfortable silence wash over them.

The night was cool, but Chloe's warmth was infectious. Beca felt herself leaning into it subconsciously. A small smile crept up Chloe's cheeks.

"Come on," Chloe giggled after a while. "Lets go to the park!"

With that she began running along the sidewalk, laughing as she went. Beca groaned loudly as Chloe pulled her along with her, their arms still tightly linked.

"Ugh, you're such a child!" Beca yelled, gripping on tighter to her friend's arm to prevent the girl from leaving her behind.

"Oh, you love it really." Chloe teased, her eyes sparkling as she looked back at Beca.

Beca felt her heart skip a beat as she looked into them, a real smile tugging at her lips.

She certainly did.