Your gonna miss me when I'm gone

chapter 28

Aubrey sat in a cold hospital chair, unable to comprehend what she had just been told. After everything, it seemed almost like a joke. A really sick joke.

She looked up as the nurse approached her.

"You can go in now." Aubrey nodded stiffly, unable to smile.

She rose slowly from her chair, following the nurse to the room. She wasn't really paying attention to what was going around her. How could she? Everything was hazy. None of it seemed real, but it killed her knowing that it was real. Too real. The nurse stopped at the room and motioned for the blonde to go in, leaving her to go in in privacy.

Nothing could have prepared Aubrey for what she saw.

Chloe lay on the white hospital bed in the white hospital room, her face a mask of peacefulness, her skin so pale that it matched the colour of the sheets. The only colour in the room came from Chloe's red hair, splayed out on the pillow. The colour made everything, including her skin, seem paler.

Hot tears sprung to Aubrey's eyes as she looked at the girl who she had come to love as the sister that she never had.

Aubrey pulled up a seat right next to the bed and sat heavily, feeling truly exhausted. She took Chloe's limp hand in her own and let the tears fall freely from her face. None of this was fair. She let the sobs wrack her body until she could cry no more. She found herself thinking of her foundest memories with Chloe.

It was Aubrey's first day of her first year. Her father had told her that she should concentrate all of her attention on her studies, but she thought that it would be alright to join one society. She had traipsed unsuccessfully around the activities fair for nearly an hour before a girl stepped in front of her, a smile plastered on her face.

"Hi. Would you like to join our acappella group?"

Aubrey would never admit this to anyone else, but her first thought was that acappella was pretty lame. Instead, she politely listened to the girl rattle off about what they do before saying that she might go to the auditions. She left the fair quickly after that, eager to avoid any more society ambushes.

When she got back to her room, she saw that her roommate had arrived and had moved in. She didn't know anything about this girl, other than her name was Chloe Beale. Surprisingly, she was nowhere to be found. Aubrey shrugged to herself and walked over to her bed, placing the leaflet from the acappella group – what was it, the Barden Bellas? – on her desk.

She was about to finish unpacking her books when the bedroom door opened. Aubrey turned to find a girl with fiery red hair and the brightest eyes smiling at her.

"Hi, you must be Chloe, right? I'm Aubrey Posen." Aubrey was about to hold out her hand for the other girl to shake when the redheaded girl enveloped Aubrey in a big hug, surprising the other girl.

"Oh my god! It's so good to meet you." She pulled back slightly, not letting Aubrey go. "This is great. We're going to be such good friends."

To say that Aubrey was freaked was an understatement. She thought that she had been put in a room with a serial killer or something. However, it only took a couple of days for the blonde to realise that the redhead was absolutely harmless. She was so different from Aubrey: she was a touchy-feely person and Aubrey wasn't, she was carefree and happy and Aubrey was nearly Asian she was so strict with her schedule. But maybe that's why Aubrey was so intruigued by Chloe and like her so much.

It became a regular thing (even though Aubrey had never once asked her for it) for Chloe to bring back breakfast after her early morning class on Wednesday, the only morning Aubrey had off. And it was one particular Wednesday when Chloe came back with breakfast and coffee that she found the Barden Bellas leaflet. She wasn't snooping; she only did that when whoever she was snooping around was actually present. She had placed Aubrey's breakfast on her desk and had just happened to see the leaflet.

Aubrey wasn't even angry that she had found it. Instead, after some serious pleading, bribing and pouting, Chloe had convinced Aubrey to go with her to the auditions. Normally, performing would have turned Aubrey's stomach, but she didn't really mind if she didn't make it into the group, she just couldn't say no to Chloe.

But she never once regretted going. After finding that the redhead had one of the best voices, it brought her and Chloe closer. Throughout the first two years of university, they had been inseparable. The best of friends.

Aubrey sighed. How things had changed since then. She felt awful at how she had treated Chloe this year. And she knew why.

Beca.

Since the small alt-girl had walked past their table that day, Chloe had been smitten. Beca was all she had talked about. Beca this, Beca that. And Aubrey was jealous. Not a normal jealousy though. It was a gut-wrenching, inside burning jealousy that made the bile rise in her throat. Throughout everything, Chloe had stayed by her side, even at the puke-gate. But now, Aubrey feared that she was losing her best-friend to Beca. And that thought was more terrifying than failing her course.

And all it took was the car accident for Aubrey to realise that she was being stupid. Just because Chloe liked Beca didn't mean that the redhead would abandon her.

And now it was too late. She would never be able to repent for her actions.

Aubrey felt a jolt of ecstasy when Chloe's hand twitched. The blonde watched as the redhead slowly opened her eyes, adding another colour to the room. Aubrey had never been happier to see those bright blue orbs.

She watched as Chloe blinked a few times before looking over to her. Green eyes met blue and Aubrey saw the compassion in them. It was that look that showed her how stupid she had been. Chloe would never abandon her.

Chloe smiled slightly. She didn't really know where she was. She was in a hospital bed with Aubrey so she must be safe. But there was something else. Something nagging at the back of her mind.

Then it came to her.

Beca.

She sat up quickly, regretting it when her head ached.

"Chlo?" she felt Aubrey's gentle hand on her shoulder.

Chloe turned her eyes to her best-friend.

"What happened to Beca?"