Shoot me down

Chapter 1

Aubrey was talking, as she had been for the past thirty minutes, but Beca had no clue what she was saying. Her eyes were focused on the breathtakingly beautiful girl standing behind the know-it-all blonde. Quickly all her attention on Chloe vanished when the sharp sound of Aubrey clapping twice resonated through the room that the Bellas were practising in. Thankfully the only words now leaving her mouth were ones dismissing everyone for the end of rehearsal. Beca picked up her bag, instinctively moved her headphones from her neck back up to her ears and headed for the door. Moments before she could press play on her iPod she heard, "Beca! Can I talk to you for a sec?"

She spun round and was both shocked and delighted to see it was Chloe asking to see her, and not the slave driver who dictated everything in the acapella group. Aubrey looked suspiciously at Chloe before receiving a glare back from her friend, cueing her exit. "What's up?" Beca asked as she returned her headphones to her neck, curious as to what she wanted to speak about. Normally it was Aubrey doing all the talking when the Bellas were concerned. But then again, what Chloe had planned to say had nothing to do with the Bellas. She took in a deep breath and smiled as the brunette walked towards her, and she prayed that her nerves weren't showing on the outside as loudly and as profusely as they were on the inside.

'Just play it down, act like it's no big deal,' Chloe told herself. She had been prepping herself for this all day, and now in the moment she was so tempted to back out and just talk about the choreography for 'I Saw a Sign'. Beca was now directly opposite her, looking so beautiful with her dark blue eyes softly gleaming. Taking one more breath in to steady herself for the conversation she was about to have, Chloe began, "I was just wondering what you were doing tonight?"

Confused and not wanting to make assumptions Beca responded, "Why? Are there extra rehearsals tonight because I really can't take any more?" Chloe laughed, but felt the butterflies in her stomach double when she had to explain herself. "No, there's no extra rehearsal. Even I couldn't take any more of Aubrey's coaching. I was wondering if you were free to meet up with me, for a date." The anticipation was absolute torture as Chloe waited for Beca to respond, but little did she know Beca was excitedly screaming on the inside.

"Yeah I suppose I'm free," Beca said in attempts to hide her joy, but the stupidly large grin on her face gave her away. "Great!" Chloe responded feeling so relieved, "I know it's not extravagant but how does dinner at my place sound?" It was almost too much for Beca to take in - she had suspected Chloe liked her because of all the subtle hints, but now it was actually turning into a date. "It sounds perfect," she replied, still unable to budge the grin from her face.

Chloe got back to her apartment and dumped the shopping bag on the kitchen counter. It wasn't much at all: most of the food was as simple as stick in the oven for twenty minutes then serve, but she wanted to make a good impression. "Aubrey I'm going to need you to occupy yourself outside the apartment for a few hours tonight," Chloe called out to her college roommate. Seeing the disgruntled look appearing on the blonde's face she continued: "Come on you owe me this. How many times have you made me leave the apartment so you and Brad could have a quiet night in?" Aubrey's expression changed into one of defeat as she said, "Fine, but I hope he's worth it," and on that note she picked up the phone to arrange plans for the night.

Seeing the time, Chloe rushed out of the apartment and headed to her parents' house. They lived nearby, and she promised she would come and pop in for an hour that afternoon. Luckily they didn't live far and so within five minutes she was on the doorstep of the large, modern house waiting to be let in. Already Chloe could hear the shouting of her parents, her dad sounding the most dominant. She rang the doorbell again and the noise from within stopped. Her mother appeared at the door with a smile on her face as if she hadn't just been arguing with her husband for the fifth time that day.

"Hi," Chloe said as she leaned in to kiss her mother on the cheek. "Are you okay?" she asked, knowing full well what her despicable father was like. Mrs Beale weakly nodded before pulling her daughter in the house and sitting her down comfortably as she went to make a coffee. Chloe sat anxiously on the sofa, and when her mom didn't return after a while she stood up and walked to the kitchen, pressed her ear to the door praying the only noise she'd hear was the kettle boiling. Her hopes were crushed when the only sound was her father speaking in a threatening voice as usual.

As always she knew to stay outside. Her mom hated it when she witnessed their arguments, even if she was now past teenage years. But on hearing the sound of crockery shatter she couldn't stand it anymore, and Chloe burst into the kitchen. Her mom was cowering in the corner of the kitchen and pleaded, "Darling, go outside please!" But it was too late: Chloe had stood outside for every single one of her parents arguments but now it was time she protected her mother, even if that meant making herself susceptible to her dad's abuse. "Leave her alone!" she said to the man standing in front of her with half a plate in his hand. She didn't noticed how sharp the serrated edge was until it came crashing into her face.

Warm blood began running down her cheek and her only response was anger. Not because he had hit her, but because she now felt the pain that her mom had experienced for so many years. Unsure whether to hit her father or scream or cry, she settled for merely walking out of the house. She knew her mother would be okay - when he hurt someone her dad always went to the pub, not to drown his sorrows but to celebrate his victory. Eventually she arrived at her apartment, managed to stop the bleeding, and set her mind to the task in hand: Beca.

Half an hour later there was a knock at the door and Chloe's heart leapt. She swung open the door and said, "Hi." Both of them had smiles as wide as their face and Chloe pulled Beca in for a hug. The mere presence of her made her feel calm, she felt herself and unlike anything she had felt before. Chloe pulled Beca over to the couch whilst they waited for dinner to cook and prayed that she wouldn't notice the gash on her face, as she knew she wouldn't be able to lie. Something about her made her feel like all her walls were taken down and she was safe with Beca, but even so she didn't want to put a downer on the evening.

Beca's heart had not calmed down since Chloe had asked her over. Now she was actually sitting opposite the beautiful ginger haired girl she had been admiring since the Activities Fair and it felt like a dream come true. Everything about her was so... perfect. Initially Beca focused on those blue eyes that she loved, but then she noticed the large cut running across Chloe's cheek. "Where the hell did that come from?" Beca asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Oh it was stupid, my kitchen top has a sharp edge and I tripped and it cut my face on my way down," it was a ridiculous lie and Chloe knew it.

Beca gave her a disbelieving look after examining the round, completely non-sharp edges of the kitchen top. Chloe felt the tears build up in her eyes and she couldn't hold them back.

"Chloe, what's going on?"