The girls decided to sit by the pool to enjoy their picnic lunch, so they switched directions and headed down towards the lower terrace. Or rather, Beca made a beeline for the umbrellas, chairs and tables that were there by the pool, dragging Chloe behind her and refused to move once she sat down.
"I'm pale. I don't do the sun," Beca cited as her reasoning. "I also don't do water. You could fall in, if you're not careful, and I can't walk anywhere without tripping. Plus, I don't think they want us eating in the middle of the path."
"Technically there isn't supposed to be any food in here in the first place, but I could basically get away with murder here," Chloe boasted proudly.
"I don't think murdering someone in a Zen garden would be very smart thing to do," Beca said smirking. "It might not bring good Karma for you, Beale."
"Oh hush. Bringing you here is going to give me thousands of Karma points if it means you're nicer to people. Or at least stop antagonizing Bree during practice."
"There's absolutely no chance of that happening, but I can try and be more tolerable towards the general population. No promises though," Beca compromised, as she munched on a Turkey Pesto wrap that she had picked all the lettuce, onion and tomato off of. "Aubrey graduated anyways, why is she always at practice? And while we're on that matter, why does she still have a room in the Bellas house?"
"Being in grad school is tough on a person. The Bellas house is on campus and we have plenty of room." Chloe replied, stealing a potato chip from Beca's bag.
"Back off dude. You have your own, so quit eating mine," Beca scolded. "Here, you can have this instead," Beca proposed, as she handed over her discarded sandwich toppings.
"But I like yours better," Chloe said innocently, grabbing the food from Beca's outstretched hands and popping them in her mouth.
"They're the same kind," stated Beca bluntly.
"Why do you get that stuff anyways, since you never eat it? You know that you can get it without that stuff, right?"
"I get it cuz you like them," Beca responded sheepishly. "But seriously, like, it's whatever. Don't make a big deal about it," she added, when Chloe let out a soft "awwww."
Chloe nodded, returning to her Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam sandwich.
She grabbed her bottle of Dr. Pepper and took a big long drink. After she burped—a bit too loudly for being in a garden designed for relaxation and meditation, she continued. "Anyways, lets get back to what the really important issue here is. What if I decide I want my own room someday? The only reason we have an extra room is because you decided to move into mine."
"Tough cookies Mitchell," Chloe said teasingly as she gulped the last of her milk and looked around apologetically at everyone who had turned to look at the two girls. "Even if you moved to L.A. I'd still live with you. You need someone to make sure you don't die. Face it. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried to babe. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life."
"Ugh. Fine," Beca relented. "She can stay."
"She's not a stray dog we picked up off the side of the street, Rebeca. She's a Bella for life. We can't just kick her out, and besides, she was a Bella before you were."
"Only because her parents decided to have unprotected sex before mine did," retorted Beca jokingly. "Why couldn't they have kept it in their pants?"
"Hey, that's my best friend you're talking about. Watch it," Chloe warned.
"Wait. I thought I was your best friend," Beca said, in a slightly jealous tone.
"You two are different. Bree is like my sister. You're just... different."
"Different?"
"Yeah. Different."
"Different in a good way or different in a bad way?" Beca prompted, needing to know.
"It's definitely different in a good way. The relationship that I have with her is just different than the one I have with you. She's been through a lot with me, but since you're here now, and have been through a whole bunch of other ones, she has taken on a new role in my life."
The two sat and talked for hours, picking up their conversation from the night before. Chloe talked about what her life was like, growing up with her family and Beca told her about hers. Beca found herself telling Chloe things she never told anyone else, even her therapist that her father had briefly forced her to see after the divorce. "Yet another reason to hate him," Beca thought.
Chloe however, wasn't like that awful therapist. In fact, she was the exact opposite. She was genuinely interested in hearing what Beca had to say and how she felt about things, instead of pretending like she was, just to earn a paycheck. Plus, Beca could talk to Chloe whenever, wherever, and about anything she wanted. With the therapist, she had to see the therapist for 50 minutes every other Monday afternoon after school got out. The therapist's office was uncomfortable and the therapist was not much better.
Chloe was comfortable and safe, regardless of whether or not the problem was something minor like a new mix she was just a bit unsure of, that she wanted Chloe's opinion on before she let everyone else hear the finished version, or something big and serious, like how she wasn't sure if she was good enough to do anything and make her father proud of her.
Chloe was just as fascinated and attentive to hear the story about the time Beca got her first tattoo at age 15 from a guy named Edgar underneath the bleachers in high school, as she was to learn that Beca liked sleeping by the window so she could feel like she was able escape if there was ever a fire, like what had happened when she was spending the night at her neighbors house when she was 9 years old.
Her mom was out of town, presenting at a research conference, and her father was 'working late' at the university, so Beca had been sent over to the neighbors house to be cared for that evening. Beca would later learn that the university was where he met Sheila, her stepmother. Since Barden was where the affair that ended her parent's marriage began, it was one of the biggest reasons why she wasn't too keen on being forced to attend it in the first place.
Warren got in huge trouble with Beca's mother, because when the neighbors tried to call him to tell him that there had been a fire and that he needed to come pick her up, he didn't answer, because he was out with Sheila. After that, they started arguing more about how he was never home anymore and could he please at least try and call if he was going to be late? Beca liked to blame the divorce on the fire, but knew the two events were totally not related at all. Beca's parents had been having problems long before the neighbor's house caught on fire. The fire was just the tipping point.
Chloe in return, told her how she got the scar on her forehead (she tripped and fell on a brick wall when she was 2 years old and had to get 14 stitches) and tried to lighten the mood by telling about the time when her older brother, Mike, had shown her brand new training bra to all his football buddies, including Tyler, one of his friends that she had a crush on, one day. "I couldn't look at him for like, a month Beca!" she groaned, "It was mortifying!"
The girls traded stories back and forth for a few hours, probably being a bit obnoxious to the other guests, but luckily there weren't too many people there at the time. As they finished up their late lunch, and stood up to throw it away in a near by trashcan, Chloe looked at her watch. 12:47 it read back to her in large black bold digital numerals. Beca saw her do it and taunted her a bit. "Hahaha. You can't read a sundial, Chloe? I'm disappointed in that fact."
"You're so very funny," said Chloe dryly. "I was just checking to see when we needed to go back to Barden. Amy's flight will arriving in about an hour, so we probably need to be leaving soon, since we should to be back to the house before then since we have to be there to get un-cuffed. If we're not there when Fat Amy returns, who knows when the next time she'll be back will be."
That's when reality started to set in. "I don't want to leave. I just want to stay in this spot forever and forget the world," Beca whined. "The real world sucks sometimes. Adulting is hard."
"I know. I'm sorry, but you know you can't. But, the garden is open 24 hours a day, so feel free to come whenever you want," Chloe placated.
"Can't we remain here for just a little bit longer?" the younger Bella cajoled, doing her very best imitation of Chloe's classic puppy dog eyes.
"Okay, fine," conceded Chloe, as she stopped them by a small bench. "Only for a little bit. I mean it, Becs. Then we really have to go. Ooh. But I know what I can do. I'll have the front desk make you a key when we leave, so you can. Don't let me forget!"
Beca agreed to the conditions Chloe set out for her, and gently laid her head on Chloe's shoulder. In return, Chloe lightly rested hers on top of Beca's. The two just sat there, each lost in their own little worlds, thinking of how truly lucky they were to have found each other and become friends.
Suddenly, there was a loud buzzing noise. The girls looked down to see Chloe's phone rattling around on the seating area. 1 UNREAD MESSAGE glared up at them from the screen. Chloe opened up her phone and showed the screen to Beca. It was from Aubrey.
I am leaving the Bellas house, on my way to pick up Amy at the airport. The airline tracker said it is on time, so according to my calculations we should return around 2:30pm barring any negative occurrences. Will you be home?
"Guess that's our cue," sighed Beca. "Let's go then." As they got to their feet, another message came through from Aubrey.
On second thought, better make it 3pm just to be safe. It is Amy, after all.
"Perfect!" Chloe said, as she started to tell Siri to text Aubrey for her, thinking that it would be easier than trying to text. "That means that now we have time to get you a key made!" The girls began to make their way back through the garden to head to the elevator that would take them to the lobby, while Beca called an Uber to pick them up and Chloe argued with Siri about whether the word "Aca-Awesome" was a word or not.
"I'm not sure what you said there, Princess Chloe," was Siri's sassy response.
"Just make an audio text message response," Beca said, when Chloe started to look frustrated. "You're going to undo our whole reason for coming here. It's probably not too good for you to be this stressed immediately leaving a Zen garden.
Once they were in the elevator and headed back to the real world, Beca let out a small, quiet whimper. She was feeling the culmination of all the events that had occurred over the past 20 hours or so all coming back to hit her at full force. Even the happy events were still clouded with stressful moments.
"Oh Becs," Chloe cooed. "We're getting you a key babe, don't worry. I got you covered."