Bechloe - Still In The Dark

Chapter XXI

Chloe was back at The Harpoon and yes, she thought of Beca and her troubled past, which she still wanted to explore but knew she couldn't. The redhead was in a booth with Tom who had just got them a beer to start the night with.

"Do you come here often?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, it's one of my favourite places to go."

"What's so good about it?"

"Well, the drinks are cheap, the food is good, it's close to home, and it's not a dodgy place. You know how there are some really bad bars around here?"

"Yeah,"

"The Harpoon is one of the best and probably safest bars in town."

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, it is nice."

"So, Red, tell me a bit about yourself. We've been working together for a little while now and I hardly know anything about you."

"What do you want to know?"

"Just the basics to start with."

"Okay..." Chloe told Tom exactly what she told Beca about herself in a nutshell and Tom was quite impressed.

"So do you plan to keep teaching where you are or move overseas or something?" He asked.

"I haven't really thought about that to be honest. I'm happy with where I am now. It's in a familiar place and I know the curriculum. If I go overseas I'll have to learn their ways of teaching and I know some places in the world don't have great teaching methods."

"Fair point there."

"I guess I'll just stick with what I know for now and go from there."

"Smart choice."

"What about you? All I know about you is that you have three older sisters."

"Well, I grew up in Ohio and moved to Georgia when I was about ten and I've been here ever since. I went to Appling County High School and later went to the University of Georgia where I studied teaching and fitness. I now live alone in a one-bedroom apartment about ten minutes from school."

"Do you keep in touch with your sisters?"

"Yeah, from time to time. We're relatively close."

"Are you a tight family?"

"I suppose. I mean, we're no different from any other family really. I'm just outnumbered. Dad and I had to fend for ourselves and we still do!" He laughed.

"Well, you're a big boy now so you can stand up for yourself." Chloe teased. 

"You wanna bet? The ladies rule the roof in my house."

"They're the only ones to rule the roof, Tom, you should know that by now."

He laughed again. "Got it. Are you hungry?"

"Ah, not really."

"Come on, you must be hungry. Do you want me to get you the same as last time? You loved it from memory."

"Ah... I'll probably just get fries instead. I'm not very hungry tonight."

"Okay, fries it is. I'll be right back."

Tom slid out of the booth and walked over to the counter. Chloe pulled out her phone from her pocket and found her way into her text messages and more specifically, into her text messages from Beca. The redhead felt like she should make sure that the younger woman was okay but she knew she wasn't. She couldn't lead Beca on like that. Chloe had made it very clear that they needed to break up so she had to let the brunette go.