The Right Place

Chapter Four

First thing in the morning, Beca and Chloe were both awake and getting ready to head out of the house after a quick breakfast. Beca was feeling quite nervous; she was about to embark on a new job as an assistant producer.

'Can you tell that I'm totally shitting my pants?', she asked Chloe as she smoothed down her hair. She wasn't even sure if she was kidding or not.

'You'll be fine', the redhead smiled, 'They already know how great you are'

Luckily for Beca, while she was on a job hunt a week ago with her friend, she found a contact of a producer she used to work with a couple of years back. He was looking for a new assistant, so she gave him a call, and now here she was, getting ready for her first day.

'I just hope I live up to their expectations...'

Sighing, the brunette then picked her handbag off the kitchen counter before checking that it definitely held her phone, her headphones, her purse and anything else she thought she might need.

'Ready to go?'

'As ready as I'll ever be'

The two girls unhurriedly made their way out of the house and into Chloe's car, the redhead in the driver's seat. The journey to Beca's new workplace was a slow one- for Beca at least- filled with the biting of painted black fingernails and the fiddling of headphone wires. When they finally arrived outside of the studio, the brunette was about to make a swift exit out of the car until Chloe grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She gave her hand a comforting, encouraging squeeze.

'Show them what you've got, Mitchell', she told her with twinkling eyes.

All Beca could do was squeeze back with a surprising amount of force and smile weakly.

Chloe didn't drive off until she saw her friend enter the studio building. Before that, she kept a protective gaze over her, as if Beca would mind if she left too early, and as if she was a vulnerable target.
Once the girl was out of sight, she started up the engine, and drove to her own place of work- the high school.
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For almost a year now, Chloe had been assistant-teaching music to high school kids, and although no one believed her when she said it, she actually loved her job. No day was ever the same, and she always felt as if she was learning all the time from both the students and the other teachers.

Today however, wasn't going to be a good day for her at all.

It was in her first class that she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Obviously, following the rules, she ignored it, but when it came to break time, she read the message she had been sent.

It was from Riley.
He wanted to get back together.

Her hands were ever so slightly shaking when she typed her reply.

CHLOE: No, Riley. We're not right together and you know that...

RILEY: Don't play hard to get. Everyone says you want me back

The shaking in her hands intensified, as did her stress levels.

CHLOE: Who is "everyone"?

RILEY: I'll tell you when we're dating again ;)

For the next thirty minutes, despite Chloe's best efforts, Riley would not take no for an answer. To begin with, it made her feel kind of anxious and stressed, but by now she was just feeling frustrated and downtrodden. This was how every break up with the boy went- he could never accept when he wasn't wanted anymore.
Chloe was so tired of it.

The rest of her day went excruciatingly slowly, as she badly wanted to go home to see Beca. Fortunately, her students were all in very lighthearted moods- otherwise her spirits might have been dangerously low.

During her lunch break, she noticed that more messages from Riley had popped up on her phone, but she chose to ignore them. Instead, she sent a text to her best friend to check on how she was.

CHLOE: How's it going, Becs?x

A few minutes later, she received a reply from the DJ.

BECA: Great so far. The studio is amazingggg x

CHLOE: I'm proud of you!x

BECA: Woah, don't go all 'proud mom' on me x

CHLOE: What about 'proud best friend'?x

BECA: ...Maybe xx
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Later that day, Beca was offered a lift home from one of her colleagues, so Chloe drove home alone. When the brunette arrived shortly after the redhead, Chloe had already started napping on the sofa in the lounge.

Beca tried to be as quiet as possible as she tiptoed into the room, but she ended up waking the girl from her slumber regardless.

'Did you have a good first day?', Chloe croaked, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

'I did, thanks. I really love it there'

Moving the blanket further up her body and tucking her knees into her chest, Chloe yawned.

'How was work, Chlo?', asked Beca, who was now stood beside the sofa.

'Work was fine...'

Beca nodded in response, then put her handbag down next to her. Excitedly, she rifled through it to find a packet of Skittles, which she had bought from a snack machine at the studio. Skittles were Chloe's favourite, so she threw them over to the redhead, knowing that she would get some serious brownie points for the gesture.

'Thanks, Beca. You're the best', Chloe smiled, glancing down at the packet.

'I know', Beca replied cheerily before she picked up her bag to wander upstairs for a shower.

Such a simple gesture turned out to be the highlight of Chloe's horrible day. All she wanted to do was to tell Beca about Riley and ask for her advice on the situation, but she didn't want to ruin the brunette's happiness; she was enjoying her new job, and life was looking up for her. She couldn't bring herself to spoil that.
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After a warming shower, Beca came downstairs in loose, navy pyjama shorts and a black, v-neck pyjama shirt. She saw that Chloe was snuggled up on the sofa watching TV with a blanket covering her body. She was focused on a new show that her and Beca had started together called '86 Seconds'. It took some encouraging to get the DJ to actually invest herself in it, but once the plotline of the crime drama got going, she was passionately into it.

'What are we watching?'

'Our favourite', Chloe answered with a cheeky grin.

'You started without me?', Beca exclaimed in mock horror.

'...You were in the shower'

'You have to update me on what's happened before you watch any more'

'Okay, well-'

Before Chloe could begin explaining, Beca lifted the girl's legs up a little, then took a seat on the sofa, Chloe's legs laying across her thighs.

'Continue', she ordered, making the redhead laugh.

'Well what you missed was...'