Your gonna miss me when I'm gone

chapter 20

It didn't take long for Chloe to find somewhere that they could eat. Beca tried not to show it, but the pain was getting steadily worse. She silently cursed herself for being too stubborn to go back to the hospital. Instead, Chloe helped her into the small roadside, forest diner. Beca was grateful for the help as she knew that without the redhead, she wouldn't have made it. Chloe hoped that the staff wouldn't notice shoes, or lack of. She hadn't had any spare clothes in her car so Beca had to continue barefoot.

The diner was relatively empty and the woman behind the bar pointed them both to a booth, not batting an eyelid at the two strange looking girls that had just stumbled into her diner. Beca wondered if she was used to getting crazies in here. Looking around the place she wouldn't be surprised if the crazies weren't regulars.

Beca slid into the booth, thankful to be sitting in a comfortable seat again. Her feet were cold but her leg hurt too much for her to cross them. Chloe hesitated before sitting, considering if she should sit beside Beca or not. In the end, she decided not to, aware of how desperate Beca was to talk. She didn't see, however, the look of disappointment flash across the small girl's features as their contact was broken.

Beca busied herself with the menu, trying to forget the feeling of Chloe's arms around her. Without them, she felt cold. She briefly glanced up to find Chloe staring at her intently. Upon eye contact, the redhead looked away, almost as if she was embarrassed to have been caught staring at Beca. Beca looked back down at her menu, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. Just as she put her menu down, the woman came over to take their orders.

"Um, can I have the double cheeseburger and fries with a coke, thanks" Beca looked expectantly at Chloe.

"Just a glass of water for me, thank you-"

But before she could finish her order Beca interrupted her. "She'll have the same." The woman nodded and scribbled the order down on her notepad before disappearing again. Chloe looked at Beca annoyed.

"Why did you do that?" Beca flinched at the tone that the redhead used.

She swallowed before answering. "You must be hungry. When was the last time you had a proper meal?" when Chloe didn't answer her, Beca sighed. "Please Chloe," she said quietly, "you're helping me. Let me help you."

Chloe could only stare. Here was a girl with no memory of her wanting to help her. She should have been angry at Beca for interfering in her eating habits, but to her surprise, she found that she was delighted that the brunette was concerned about her. Maybe there was a chance that things would get better. Chloe looked Beca in the eyes and smiled, truly, for the first time in ages.

"Thank you Beca." She said quietly. A silence descended upon the two and Chloe got the feeling that Beca wanted to talk but didn't know where to begin. So she started. "What did you remember in the car?" she asked softly.

Beca felt goosebumps prickle along her skin as she thought about her flashback. Of all things that she could remember, it had to be something as awful as that. "There was a truck," she began after a while, unsure of how to say it. "I was in the back of a car. I watched the truck as it hit. I didn't do anything." Her voice trembled. Was getting your memory back supposed to be like this? This scary? "That was all." She couldn't bring her eyes up to meet Chloe's. She felt ashamed. She was ashamed that she couldn't remember more than that.

She felt Chloe take her hand. That contact gave her the strength to look into those brilliant blue orbs. Chloe smiled at her. "It's alright. The doctors didn't expect you to remember anything, so remembering the crash is a big thing." Beca smiled. Chloe knew just what to say to make her feel better. Beca felt her eyes sting. She didn't want to cry in front of this girl. Sensing Beca's inner turmoil, Chloe decided to move the conversation along. "You said that you wanted answers. I promised to answer what I could. So, what would you like to know?"

Beca was again grateful to the other girl for moving the conversation along.

What Beca really wanted to know was who Chloe really was to her, but she saw the fragility behind the redhead's eyes and decided to try and be subtle about it.

"I want to know about me. And you." She hesitated for a moment before adding quietly, "and us."

Chloe had heard and couldn't keep the grin off her face. The diner woman came back with their drinks and left again, uninterested in these two girls' conversation. Chloe thought for a bit, taking a small sip from her drink.

"Well, I guess I had better start from the top then. You are Beca Mitchell. You are possibly the most musically gifted person that I have ever known and will ever know. Your dream was to become a DJ in LA, but from what I understood, your dad forced you to go to college first. I think it was something like he wanted you to finish your education so he would pay for it." Chloe really wanted to portray Beca in the best light possible. She deserved it. But she also wanted to be as truthful as possible because she desperately wanted Beca to remember. "You're quite closed off, but after joining the Bellas, you started to open up a bit more. Oh, the Barden Bellas is an acappella group. We sing just using our mouths and perform at the ICCAs every year."

Beca frowned. "Acappella? Sorry, it just sounds pretty lame..."

For a second Beca thought that she would have offended Chloe, but the redhead smiled. "That's what you said the first time I approached you asking you to join. You were quite insistent that there was no way in hell that you would join but I managed to persuade you."

"How?"

"What?"

"How did you manage that?"

To Beca's surprise, Chloe blushed furiously and busied herself by taking another sip of her drink. If Beca didn't know better, she would have thought that Chloe was thinking up an answer. "Um, well, I heard you singing one time and forced you to audition?" it came out as more of a question and Chloe hoped that the brunette would believe her. However, as she looked into Beca's eyes, she saw nothing but disbelief.

"And the truth is..."

Chloe sighed. It was now or never. "I heard you singing in the shower and made you sing for me."

"What's so bad about that? It's not like I was actually naked..." Beca's eyes widened at Chloe's expression. "Oh. Um, what?"

"Well I had been showering already and you came in singing and I didn't realise that it was you. So I went over to your shower stall and kind of joined you in the shower and forced you to sing with me." Chloe spoke quickly, cheeks burning. She had never regretted ambushing Beca in the shower, but God! it was embarrassing retelling the story. She sounded like such a creep. To her astonishment though, Beca laughed briefly before grimacing in pain.

"Sorry. But that is hilarious. You must really love acappella." Beca grinned widely, trying not to laugh for fear of pain. "What did we sing?"

Again, chloe blushed profusely. Beca couldn't be more amused at this point. How could this story possibly get more amusing? "Well, we sang a song called 'Titanium'. It's a really good song, it's um..."

"Your ladyjam."

Chloe's head snapped up. She stared at Beca in shock. Beca looked just as shocked she felt.

"How did you-"

"I don't know. Well, it just slipped out. As if I was used to saying it." Beca grimaced.

"What is it?" Chloe asked worriedly.

"How often did we discuss you ladyjam?"