c h l o e b e a l e

        “i know how i was myself during my high school days, and i love myself too much to teach high schoolers and have them disobey me. i think third grade is a good grade to teach in my opinion.” taking the easy way and that’s alright with her. after a good few years, chloe seemed to not have changed at all, in a good way of course. “i wanna get a dog for myself too, it’s just hard to pick what kind of dog i want and if i wanna start them out as a puppy or get them as a dog.” it was always hard to pick what kind of dog she wanted to get, but she’d think about that another time. “aww not so little charile, haven’t seen him in so long, glad to know he’s doing alright.” she nodded her head remembering just how tall he is. “yes please that’d be amazing, i’ll give you my address so you can come by whenever you’re free and we can catch up again.” she nodded her head, and listened to what chloe was saying about how chicago had gotten kicked out of the army, “awh no, bummer and he’s still not talking to you. you’re twins you’re supposed to be close.. give him time, i’m sure he’ll come around soon enough.” she assured her then chuckled as she too raised her bottle up to cheers chloe before taking a few more swigs of her drink.

       being here with chloe, it was as if no time has passed between them. the brunette missed the red head, well blonde now, of course, she’s seen her as a blonde their freshmen year at barden. she did miss her a lot, then looked over at her and smiled. at her question, casey smiled, “i teach third grade, the little ones are easier to teach. i don’t think i could handle high schoolers.” she laughed softly, shaking her head at the thought of teaching high schoolers. “ooh a cat, i’ve started to take a liking to cats, i never use to like cats, but then i watched videos of cute cats and kittens.” casey was taking after chloe when it came to watching animal videos just for the hell of it. “awh i’d love to meet your nephew sometimes, i gotta see little charlie too, well not so little anymore if he’s a father now.” she chuckled softly then soon frowned at her next words, “oh no, how did you manage that? i mean you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. it’s none of my business. how is he doing since that happened?” she asked then nodded her head a little, “which is why i think we need some drinks to be less less stressed.”

        casey can’t help but giggle softly at chloe’s comment, and smiled with a slight blush on her cheeks at the wink chloe gave her. god she was still attractive as ever, but knew she had to be good and keep her hands to herself. don’t worry chloe, as much as she wants to, she won’t. she doesn’t want to be that girl to ruin a relationship. “no yeah of course, but yeah haven’t been waiting too long.” she assured the female, before smiling and nodded her head, “oh thank you, you look pretty amaze yourself.” casey complimented back while biting at her lower lip then chuckled softly. it was true, chloe does still look amazing, years later. casey ran her thumb along the rim of her beer and glanced over at her wtih a smile. “oh you know, just you know working, getting some last things ready for the end of the semester. what about you? what have you been up to? how are things?” she asked looking at her friend with a small. 

           it was a surprise to casey that chloe was pretty close to where she lived and that they only now realized how close they were distance wise. after texting with her they had made plans to meet up at a bar and catch up, which casey was really looking forward to. although she wasn’t too sure how to feel knowing that chloe has a girlfriend. they had missed their chance to be together, mainly because chloe was more so focused on the a capella group that she had joined during their freshmen year of college, but had gotten more distant during their sophomore year. catching up meant she got to see the gorgeous girl again, after how many years. when she arrived at the bar, she took a seat and ordered a beer while she waited for her friend to arrive. after a few drunken guys hitting on her, she looked up and smiled when she heard a familiar voice, “hey!” she replied back with a smile on her face. “uhm not too long, i had like two drunk guys hit on me, but other than that, not too long.”

casey: of course of course. i see someone has a girlfriend?

casey: yeah for sure, let me know.

casey: that's very true, good thing we're pretty close.

casey: i'm pretty free most weekends too. and school's almost out for summer.

Chloe: i do, i do. what about you?

Chloe: oh! also!!

Chloe: [insert cute af pic of simba here] i have this little guy. i'm surrounded by cuteness lately. approach at your own will.

casey: lol do you tend to forget about what you post on ig?

casey: hey good for him, i hope to meet his kid one of these days.

casey: are you close to where i am?

casey: yeah i'm down for that. wanna maybe grab coffee or something?

Chloe: not intentionally. i just post a lot of stuff that i forget what i have and haven't posted

Chloe: yeah? maybe one day. we'll see what your schedule is like next time i babysit

Chloe: i mean, we're both in brooklyn so we could definitely be further apart

casey: awww good for you charlie! i saw a picture of him on your instagram! he seems adorable. oh yeah i feel that. how is charlie enjoying the dad life?

casey: oh that's good, nice to know you're still singing.

casey: in the brooklyn area, what about you?

Chloe: oh yeah! i forgot about that lmao

Chloe: he's adapting pretty good. a lot better than i was expecting. the whole thing has made him finally grow up a bit so i'm proud

Chloe: i can't believe we're so close and only just now finding out about it.

Casey: oh that’s great, congrats to.... Chicago? Charlie? With these kids, I’m having baby fever myself!

Casey: that’s great! Congratulations!! Do you still sing? You know I enjoy when you sing.

Chloe: charlie! his name is jaxon, he's the cutest little man. baby fever is the worst though, they're cute until they're your own, probably.

Chloe: a lot of the girls have ended up in and around new york, so we do gigs occasionally. other than that, not really.

Casey: same old Chloe

Casey: I am! These cuties are gonna give me gray hairs I swear but they’re adorable.

Casey: Mm I feel that. What have you been up to? I wanna hear everything!

Chloe: you know it

Chloe: yeah? my brothers girlfriend just had a baby. i'm really feeling the whole wanting kids around thing haha

casey: it has been omg you still have my number okay.

casey: i'm doing alright, just working and such, how about you?

casey: i can say the same about you. cause you still have your number lol :P

Chloe: i hoard numbers. it's a problem.

Chloe: same!! what're you doing? still dealing with kidlets?

casey: hi.

casey: not sure if this is your same number.

casey: or if you even still have my number..

casey: it's casey by the way.

casey: i was scrolling through my contacts and you're still there. so hello just wanted to say hi.

Chloe: o m g

Chloe: hi!!! it's been. so long.

Chloe: how are you doing?

  feeling rather than seeing and all that, right? relying on other senses and honing herself into everything chloe. which isn’t unusual, just not in these circumstances. ( if this is what it takes to get chloe to open up though, she’s more than happy to live in the dark. )  “okay. we can do that.”  giving her space and time is paramount - she accepts - to distract herself with getting comfortable. it’s a stalling tactic she’s used many times before, adjusting her position or fiddling with some mundane task; compensating for how clueless she was as to how to word her next utterance. and maybe she’s projecting onto her girlfriend or maybe she just knows her ( or maybe a little bit of both ).  “they’re your parents, dude.”  ah, she’s regressing. “it’s always going to effect you.” it’s more the feeling of betrayal - wasn’t she considered? wasn’t their family considered? - perhaps than the actual act. people break up everyday, people get divorced everyday.  “i never wanted you to.”  admittedly, she never wanted chloe to know that kind of pain. she’s been through it a number of times and it never works out. the resentment burrows further until she can’t breathe and now their relationship may never be back to what it once was. and her and her father both have blame to share for that. ( maybe she’ll tell chloe that soon - when she’s feeling better and it’s all less raw. )  “and you just always think your parents’ll be together, right? because they got married and they had kids and - what could fuck that up?” finally buckling,  her hand reaching to find chloe’s and hold it loosely under the covers.  “and then suddenly that isn’t it anymore and your dad is acting like it’s fine. and it’s not fine.” drudging up old wounds, scar tissue, but it’s for chloe’s sake. and maybe this’ll even be cathartic. 

          it’s not so much that it effects her that’s upsetting,  it’s  HOW  much it’s effecting her.  she’s not a child,  she’s not going to go day-by-day with only one parent around the house.  parent teacher interviews aren’t going to be met with an awkward  no,  mr beale won’t be joining us tonight.  absolutely nothing about this situation should be pushing chloe to the emotional mess she currently is.   ‘ but i don’t want it to. ’   she wants to be able to take these kinds of emotional things the way you do,  becs.  without a care in the world.  she shuffled forward slightly,  her forehead pressing against   (  what she hopes is  )   beca’s forehead.  a few beats of silence before speaking up once again.   ‘ i hate that this is how you feel. ’   on one hand she’s happy she finally understands,  but on the other,  it fucking sucks knowing this is what her girlfriend fights with.  

        this was a big gesture right? but not like too big of a gesture. at least that’s not what she intended. of course any type of surprise that involved this type of jewelry could mean anything. that wasn’t emily intent. would she want to in the near future? yeah of course, she could definitely see herself marrying aubrey, when they’re in a good place and whenever they’re both ready for marriage. emily and chloe hadn’t really hung out outside of the bellas or outside of their girlfriends, not to mention, it would be nice to get closer with chloe, since her brother had gotten emily’s sister pregnant and now they shared a nephew. while she waited for the okay, she smiled and opened the door and walked in and closed the door once she was in view of chloe. “hey.” she said and walked over to the bed and sat down, “so aubrey’s birthday is coming up..” emily starts off, and pauses for a second. “now don’t freak out or jump to conclusions, but i want to get her a ring, not an engagement ring.” she quickly stated, so don’t get excited about wedding planning just yet, “but i do want to get her a promise ring and i was thinking that, maybe you can help me look, since you’ve known aubrey the longest, and i just want to get her something nice for her birthday.”