In My Blood (Completed)

CHAPTER 12: Close Quarters

"Don't stay up too late." Aubrey was silent as she watched her for a beat afterward, as if she wanted to say more, before she merely nodded instead and disappeared into their shared room. The door softly clicked shut behind her.

Chloe took a moment to look around the now emptied living room, her shoulders rising and falling with a long, soft sigh. She only allowed herself that moment of decompression before she quietly padded over to Beca's room. She pushed the door open a little further and leaned against the door frame, reaching up to softly rap her knuckles against the door. Her fingers twisted in the front of her sweatshirt as she watched Beca where she was stretched out across the bottom bunk. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

*

Beca wasn’t sure how long it would take Chloe to slip away--maybe Aubrey would stay up longer, or maybe Chloe would wait until her roommate fell asleep. Not that they couldn’t talk behind closed doors… maybe Beca was being too paranoid, but after Jesse’s little stunt, she didn’t want to rock the boat more than she had. (Not that she had to be super sensitive to his feelings, especially when he was being a jerk, but… ugh, Jesse. Guilt trip master extraordinaire.)

She scrambled to sit up at the soft knock, waving Chloe inside as her legs swung around to dangle off the side of the bed. “That was gonna be my line,” she said, pitching her voice low just in case it carried. She patted the spot next to her, in case Chloe needed an invitation. It was hard to believe it had only been 24 hours since the clickers attacked them. Beca had been so preoccupied with everyone else, she’d hardly taken any time to check in on her own state of being. Really, though--her confession to the group rattled her just as much as the clicker ambush, and she was still feeling the aftereffects of being emotional in front of everyone. “I’m okay, I guess. What about you?”

*

Chloe suspected that Emily was already out like a light, and Cynthia Rose and Stacie would probably be joining her in rapid succession if they hadn't already. Aubrey might have her concerns about Chloe's sleeping patterns, but Chloe was pretty sure she had a good window of time before Aubrey might get suspicious if Chloe didn't join her, if she didn't doze off herself before then. It was really only Amy and Jesse who would be awake and alert, but after Jesse's reaction before, she didn't want to bring any undue drama down upon the group. Besides, there was nothing to set suspicions on edge, at least from an outside perspective. Friends could totally talk in their rooms, right? Nothing to see there at all.

After the tension of the group discussion before, her face softened and her shoulders relaxed upon seeing Beca sit up on the bed to greet her. "Guess I beat you to the punch," she offered with a hint of a smile in return. She turned slightly to push the door shut behind her with a careful click before she joined Beca on the bed, curling one leg beneath her as she settled beside Beca on the mattress. There had been a lot of information unveiled during their group talk, and practically all of it had rested on Beca's shoulders and laid bare a lot of her most painful secrets, so Chloe was understandably concerned. Especially since Jesse had given her a particularly hard time about the news. "I'm fine, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. After everything--I know it was a lot."

*

It didn’t really make much sense to Beca how something as simple as Chloe’s proximity could work to calm nerves and discomfort, but as soon as the redhead sat next to her, she felt the anxiety from that vulnerable conversation ebbing away. “Yeah, I mean--I guess it’s good it’s out there, y’know?” She raked a hand through her hair and blinked over at her. “Do you think that was the right call? Telling everyone the truth, I mean. Not that I wanted to lie, but…” She sighed as her shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. Lying was okay to protect people, in Beca’s opinion, but she wasn’t very convincing at it anyway.