Strings

Chapter 8: Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall

I quickly walk up the hallway to catch up with Beca, I make a right and see her standing in the kitchen in front of the fridge. "What took you so long?" She asks, her head not looking away from the fridge. Damn. What was I supposed to say? 'Your ass put me in a little bit of a trance?' Think Beale. "You know umm taking my time, admiring the house, I was mainly looking at the photos along the walls." Beca closes the fridge quickly and I saw her signature smirk across her face. "Oh is that so?" She asks as she walks over towards me slowly, her hips sway slowly when she walks like that and it's so... sexy! I bite my bottom lip nervously and nod my head slowly. "Hmm and which one would be your favourite?" Shit. I gaze up at her, my mind has gone completely blank and I can't think of a single thing to say so I decide to wing it.

"Oh you know- the umm the one of you and your dad at the beach? You were a really adorable child by the way..."

That earned a small chuckle from the tiny brunette as it did from me, Beca's was more amused whereas mine was more nervous. "Funny, I could've sworn there was never a single picture hanging up or any photos in the hallway come to think of it." My face immediately dropped and Beca's smirk came back onto her face and it was wider than ever, I glanced down the hall and sure enough there wasn't a single picture anywhere in sight it was completely bare. Great going Beale! "Umm-I-uh-" Beca immediately began to laugh, look at that smile... Wow! "Chloe you don't need to make up some story, I get it my little line about my hands- although very true- made you uncomfortable, I get it. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable." Gosh she's such a cutie!

"No! You didn't make me uncomfortable! I was just..." The smaller girl looked at me expectantly with a raised eyebrow and a small grin. "I-umm-I was just...-" "Thinking about why you were crying earlier?" She asked with a small smile, I nod slowly, I know that's not the truth but it sounds better than telling her I was staring at her ass... or how perfect it is! I mean how creepy is that?! "C'mere." She says softly and immediately pulls me into a hug which I'm quick to return it, it's so awkward hugging her but its also great, I never knew how much I needed a hug until now, I guess it lasted longer than the brunette expected because Beca was about to pull away but I kept my hold on her. "I'm not done yet." "Oh okay." She giggled and held me tighter, I could feel her warm breaths send tingles down my spine.

I pull away first signalling to Beca that the hug is over and she smiles at me. "Better?" I nod and a stray tear falls from my eye which she is quick to wipe away with her thumb. "Okay so we have nothing to make my amazing burgers with so... I'll order us a pizza and we can go upstairs and watch a movie if you want?" I gasp immediately and hold my hand up towards my temple. "Did Beca Mitchell just ask to watch a... movie?! I think I better lay down!"

Beca lets out a sarcastic 'Ha ha' and immediately takes my hand and leads me back through the hall and up the stairs, I pull on her arm and she gives me a confused look. "How do I know you're not just trying to get into my pants?" I enquirer with a challenging grin, a hand on my hip as I gaze up at her on the stairs. She immediately takes her hand to her chest and falls back against the wall. "Oh Beale- you wound me with your cruel words!" I scoff at her. "Dork." She winks at me and pulls on my hand and we head upstairs to her bedroom.

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"Okay so let me get this straight..." Beca begins.

"You're forced to follow in your father's footsteps?" I nod slowly.
"He literally would only hate on you for being gay because it would "ruin your family's status?" I nod again.
"He also tells you you're a disgrace and other cruel things because you don't want to follow in his footsteps?" I nod again and Beca's face drops even more, see even looks slightly angry. "Wow. No offence but I hate your father." I nod yet again and let out a deep sigh.

"I mean what kind of a parent- never mind a father- treats his children that way? Raising them to think status is more important than doing what makes them happy and loving who they want? It's stupid! Constantly saying you're a disgrace because you see a different future for yourself and where you are on the social ladder matters?! Jesus Christ! What does your mother think about all of this?!"

I immediately buried my face into Beca's pillow, the crying wouldn't stop, I could feel a weight on the bed right beside me, Beca had laid down and wrapped her arms around me, I quickly moved into her embraced, I lay my head on her chest and she began running circles in my back while running her fingers through my hair. It was calming me down a lot and I let out a little chuckle.

"What?" Beca asked confused.

"You were right-" I began. "Your fingers can do more than make a girl scream." Beca began to laugh at that and I could feel her heartbeat through her chest aswell as feel her laugh, it was nice and her heart would occasionally beat a little faster every so often but being here with her just calmed me down so much.

"My mom, she umm... died about two years ago due to cancer- " I could feel a lump in my throat and I started to get choked up, Beca told me to take deep breaths and to take my time as I started to fiddle with the collar on her shirt. "She was the person who told me to follow my dreams- she told me that if I really wanted to become a music teacher or even a choreographer that I could do so..." I began to giggle a little through my tears as I remembered this one time where she told me that she'd be getting all of America to applaud me when I won a Grammy or even an Oscar or a Tony Award.

Beca laughed a little at that. "She seemed great Chloe, I wish I got the chance to meet her." I nodded and let out a deep sigh. "She was but when she passed- my father he- he came down on me a lot harder than usual, saying that I needed to make her proud and follow in his footsteps, but I don't want to! And I know that's not what she wanted, she had seen my older brother and sister give in to him so many times before- she saw not only my musical talent but also my passion and she wanted to see me achieve and progress in it."

I could feel Beca's chest rise and fall as she sighed. "My mom was very like yours, she saw my passion for music and also my talent, she wanted me to achieve my dreams, now she didn't promise me that all of America would be applauding me for when I win a Grammy, she umm-" I could feel Beca tense up and her voice was now very similar to how mine was a few moments ago, I immediately pulled out of the embrace and looked up at Beca, and sure enough she was crying. This time I was the one to pull her into a hug telling her to take deep breaths and to take her time. "She told me that- she'd be l-looking down at me from the stars- she said that whichever star happens to shine the brightest that's her smiling and showing me how p-proud she is of me..."

Now I was the one who began to cry again, I've never seen Beca cry, everyone knows she's so private. This is probably the first time she's talked about this with anyone. I couldn't believe how easy it was for not only her to talk about her private feelings and such but also for the both of us to open up about all of our bottled up emotions to each other.

"And what happened then" I ask but immediately regret asking when Beca cries even harder, further burying her face into my shoulder.

"She died- right in front of me, there was a tumour in her b-brain, the doctor's couldn't do anything about it. It happened right in front of me- just like that she was taken away from me."

I held Beca even tighter, this was definitely the first time she talked about this since it happened. "And what did your dad take it?" She scoffs and cries even more. "He acts like he cared but I know he didn't, I mean he abandoned us for that whore of a step monster and just left us, we were barely getting by, I worked three jobs to try and pay for all mom's medical bills while he did nothing! And now he's forcing me to take a stupid philosophy course just because I can get into college for free, I wanted to do music but no, he thinks that's a waste of time and that I'll never make it. I wish mom was still here I miss her so much!"

She was crying even harder now and I couldn't believe how strong she was, for dealing with this for so long, I cried with her, I lay down with her both of us just crying and letting all of our emotions go. Beca said we would get through this together and although she was talking about me coming to terms with my sexuality, I realised it goes way way beyond that, we'll get through everything beyond that, we're friends now and she needs someone to be there for her. We'll get through everything, I know it.