Who Run the World? Girls.

18 - Good News, Bad News

"And there you are, Charlie. Last one is wrapped. Here, have a listen," Beca said, rolling her chair away from the mixers and handing the Dr. Dre headphones to Charlie Puth.
"Thanks," Charlie said gratefully, taking the headphones. He placed them on his head and listened carefully.
"This is really good!" He exclaimed.
Beca thought of Jesse then. I miss him, she thought to herself. She shook it off quickly though, remembering she was on the job.
"So, I'll get that all finalized by tomorrow and then the marketing team will take it from there," Beca explained. She still could not get her head around the fact that she was finishing off an album, and she'd literally been in the job for just over two months.
"Thank you, Beca. You've done a wonderful job. I'm so grateful," Charlie thanked.
"Would now be a good time to tell you that was the first album I co-produced?"
"You're kidding?" Charlie sat with his mouth gaping open. When Beca smiled, he said "Man, I didn't even notice. Well, congratulations. I'm happy my first was your first."
Beca couldn't stop grinning. This was Charlie Puth complimenting her work. Could life get much better than that?
Several minutes later, Beca left the building for her lunch break and decided to call Chloe, telling her she was almost finished with Charlie and was ready to ask Kevin about Chloe's music.
"Hey, Bec. What's up?" she replied when Beca called.
"Hey nerd. I just wanted to let you know that I'm finishing up with Charlie, so I want to make sure you're absolutely ready for the commitment. We've got three completed songs. I, personally, think we're ready. But it's all up to you, Chlo," Beca explained.
There was a small pause on the other side of the phone until Chloe took a deep breath and said "I am ready. We can do this. You and me, Bec."
"You and me. I'll see you later okay?"
"Yeah, see you," Chloe ended before she hung up.
This was it. For some reason she was so scared about asking this of Kevin because of his stubborn attitude towards music. She shoved her phone into her bag before heading towards her boss' office.
Beca knocked on the door and Kevin's grunt told her she could enter.
"Oh, Beca. I just listened that doc you sent and it is excellent," Kevin stated.
Beca blushed. "Ha, thank you. Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about something different. I'm not sure if it's even something you'll consider, but I have a favour to ask. It's kind of half personal, half professional but yeah-"
Kevin raised a hand. "Okay, I'm listening?"
"You are?" Beca was a little shocked for a second.
"Well, yeah. You've settled into this job so well. And whatever you've got, I'm happy to help."
"Oh, okay then. Basically, my best friend has a brilliant voice, and we were thinking..."
Beca explained her proposal to Kevin.
She watched him carefully as she talked; every nod, every spin of his pen made her nervous.
Once she finished, she stared at him as he thought.
"You have to understand, my schedule is booked for months in advance. I can't just conjure the time for this tomorrow or even next week," Kevin said, rubbing his forehead.
"Yes, I completely get that. Chloe can wait. It's just an idea at this moment but if you could just check her out whenever you can. I'd take responsibility for the project," Beca pleaded.
Kevin stroked his chin. "January's the earliest I can do," Kevin told her.
Beca sighed. "Are you sure?"
"I'm all booked. I've got the next few months with Bruno Mars to discuss his next album and his tour and then Sia will be here in Feb so January's the only time I have and even then it'll be a squeeze," Kevin said.
Beca thought it over. It did give them time to improve the quality of their songs and even come up with more. Beca could even create some mash-ups with Chloe's singing. If anything, the time was what they needed and they hadn't even realized.
"Okay. January it is. Thank you so much for even considering-"
"I'm trusting you. I know your producing skills and I'm expecting the quality of this girl's stuff to be exceptional, you got it?" Kevin said.
"You won't regret it," Beca promised.
"We'll see."

***

Beca rushed home after work, ready to tell Chloe about what she had got from Kevin. She wasn't sure if Chloe would be happy or upset about it, but Beca was going to try and display it positively as she could.
"Hey, weirdo. I'm home," Beca said loudly as she entered the appartment.
Chloe was leaning on the kitchen counter gripping a cup of coffee as she read a magazine.
"Hey, Bec. How did it go? What did he say?" Chloe demanded.
"Woah there. Just come and sit down will you," Beca said, raising her hands.
"Oh, God. Don't do this. Can't you just tell me?" Chloe asked nervously.
"No. Sit down," Beca said bossily, pointing at the couch before sitting down on the armchair.
Chloe obeyed quickly, biting at her thumbnail.
"Okay, so basically... I have good news and bad news. The good news-"
"Can I have to bad news first?" Chloe cut in.
"No because then it won't make sense. As I was saying, good news is that he said yes. Bad news is that we have to wait until January," Beca told her.
"January? Man, that's a long time," Chloe said.
"I know. But I've thought about it. It might actually be a good thing. We have way more time to work with what we have and make it even better. And we'll see the other Bellas soon so we could include them in one of the tracks. You see? We have the chance to make this good album amazing!" Beca explained.
"But I thought you said it was amazing already," Chloe questioned.
"Look, we were short on time. It was amazing for what we could do. But we've been given more time. Come on, Chlo. Trust me on this."
Chloe sat still for a minute, staring out of the window. "I guess you're the expert here. And I do trust you. With my life in fact," she said.
"Good. This is going to be awesome. I promise."

A/N
Helloo! I'm so so so sorry that I didn't update sooner. I had work experience this week and it ended up being more exhausting than I realised. But I finish today so hopefully I'll do one more chapter this weekend ;) Thank you for sticking around and voting and commenting for the story! I can't thank you enough :)

Jo x