Forever

1. Apologizes

 CHLOE

"How many times are we gonna do this?" I asked when Beca got in the car. She just got out of a meeting with Luca and Sarah. She'd been getting bad press since her mom died. She made some bad decisions. She was angry. I tried to help. I didn't know how. She keeps trying. That's all I ask for. I just wish there was more I could do.

"I don't know...I'm sorry..." Beca tugged at her hoodie sleeves.

"Let me see." I nodded towards her arms. She pushed up her sleeves. There were bruises and cuts. "All of them Bec..." She took the hoodie off. On the bicep, there were deep dark bruises from where someone had grabbed her. "Any more?" She bit her lip. She turned to look at me for the first time. There was a big bruise on her collarbone. She had a black eye. "Oh, baby..."

"Can we just go...please?" her voice cracked. She pulled her hoodie back on. When we got back to the apartment Aubrey's car was still there. "Can we not go in just yet?" I nodded. She set her head on my arm. "I'm really sorry Chlo..."

"Hey... It's okay." Beca tried not to fight but when things got to be too much, she lashed out. Mainly at the people with cameras. Sometimes they'd fight back. That's when she came back with bruises. She then had a meeting about how her behavior is unacceptable. Sarah chewed her out and yelled at her. Luca just patted her on the shoulder and told her that she needed to try a little harder. Luca gave her comfort and understanding that she needed. Especially at work.

"Is it? I messed it up again."

"I know but it's okay. We all screw up."

"I'm really sorry."

I kissed her head. "I love you."

BECA

I felt bad. Worse than bad. Terrible. I really didn't know how to function. Everything seemed to take too long. I did everything slower. Chloe tried to help. Aubrey lived in the apartment down the hall. She still had a key to our place though. Once we got into the apartment, I went to go shower. I looked in the mirror. My eyes seemed dull, my hair muted. All color was faded from me. It was like someone put a filter over me so I was less colorful than my surroundings. My fingers traced the scars on my neck. I shuttered. I felt so disconnected from everything. I stepped into the shower. The water felt like lava. I felt like everything about me was dirty. I would scrub my skin raw, but even then it still wasn't enough. After my shower, Chloe and I sat in bed. She just held me. "I'm really sorry..."

"Shhhhhhh..."

Chloe continued to hold me through the whole night. She never let go of me. I was awake all night. At 6 A.M. Chloe's alarm went off. That was the only time she let go of me, was just to hit snooze. I dragged myself out of the bed and poured myself a cup of coffee. I made Chloe's just the way she liked it. I never understood how I could forget some of the most important things, but the small details I could remember. When Chloe did wake up she took one look at me. "You didn't sleep."

"Course not." I replied.

"Beca..."

"I'm sorry. Hey there's a party at the Red Dragon. Luca said that we should go. You down? We can bring others too."

"...sure."

"Cool."

CHLOE

Beca got dressed to go to Red Dragon. Well. Her stylists came over and fixed up Beca, Aubrey, Cythia Rose, Blair, my friend Zoey and me. They put Beca in this strappy jumpsuit and her hair in some fancy bun thing. They covered all of her scars with pounds of makeup. They put me in a dress that complemented Beca's outfit and left my hair down. They put C.R. is a suit with tight dress pants, Aubrey in a party dress similar to mine, Blair in a party dress and a blazer, and Zoey in a more cutesy dress. We got to the club and pictures started to be taken. Beca's bodyguard, Shane, did a good enough job at getting people away long enough for us to have some fun. The club started getting full. I lost track of Beca at one point.

"Have you seen Beca?!?" I yelled to our group.

"I think she went to go get some air!" Blair yelled back.

I went out of the club. Sure enough Beca was in the alley behind the club. She had her hands on the back of her head.

"Bec? You good?" I said slowly getting closer to her.

"I just need a sec." She snapped. I stopped moving. She took a breath. "Sorry. I just..."

"No, it's okay. I get it."

"We should go back in..."

"Why?"

"Because...I don't have a valid reason."

"Then let's just go home. There's no point staying."

"Ok." I could tell Beca was done with people. We got home and she took her usual try-to-scrub-skin-off shower, we climbed into bed. I traced a few of her scars with my finger. She shuttered.

"You're beautiful." I whispered.