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Friday

Chloe stirs, stretching languidly as she notices soft noises of the city spurring up to life with the start of another day.

It's exactly five in the morning, a time which Chloe's body is accustomed to waking up, even without an alarm clock.

When Bella jumps up on top of her, she smiles, finally remembering where she is as she mumbles, "I'm up. I'm up,"

Sitting up, she stretches once more with a yawn before standing up to fold her blanket and stack up her pillows neatly.

She then crosses over to the kitchen, pausing for a moment on her way when she realizes that Beca's door was still left slightly a jar. Last night, Beca had sleepily mumbled about leaving the door open —something about preparing in case of a fire or apocalyptic earthquake—before crashing down the bed.

This morning, the producer has curled up underneath the sheets, surrounded by what seems like an army of pillows.

She wonders if Beca feels better now. She hopes she does.

Finally, deciding to give the sleeping brunette more time to sleep, Chloe continues on.

After an hour and a half, she's washed up and almost done cooking breakfast. By this time, she hears the blaring alarm being silenced in Beca's room for the third time. Finally, there's movement as she hears little muted noises and footsteps. It has her silently anticipating the moment the brunette walks out.

Beca in the office may be about getting right down to business, formal, highly organized and filled with such class from her shoulder-length hair combed to perfection, without a single strand out of place, down to her iron-pressed outfits and unblemished shoes yet surprisingly, Beca at home, before eight in the morning is simply an endearing sleepyhead with slightly messy bed hair, black oversized Give Me Coffee or Die shirt and eyes struggling to open as she groans about wishing for Sunday to come so she can stay in bed all day.

Chloe holds back a laugh as she bites her lip, a smile playing along her features before she pushes Beca's coffee cup towards her.

Beca eagerly takes a sip after a relieved 'Thank god' and unlike the first time Chloe made her omelets and toast with the presentation of a six year old—something that would make Gordon Ramsey throw a pan off the window—Beca dives in the dish without a look of skepticism.

She still frowns at Chloe's milky and sugary coffee cup though.

Guess some things just don't change.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes," she blurts out in an attempt for a conversation.

"I bet that's the reason why you keep crashing my place. That, and my cat," Beca mumbles and Chloe tilts her head as she sheepishly smiles.

"About that expensive perfume by the way..." she teases as Beca suddenly coughs up, beating her chest before eyeing her warningly.

"I can already smell my shampoo on your hair and my lotion. Stay away from my perfume," Beca points out, eyeing her sharply.

Chloe ends up wearing said perfume.

It's already seven past five when there's a knock at the door, the sound of the lock opening and in a few seconds Stacie pops in only to freeze, yet again, at the sight of them both—more like at Chloe wearing Beca's clothes while giddily about to spray perfume on her neck.

"It's not what you think," Beca immediately says in monotone as she walks towards Chloe, steps filled with purpose before taking the perfume bottle out of her hands and spritzing it up the air right above her—as she strictly says perfume should be used.

"Morning, Stace! This one over here got sick and was being stubborn when it comes to working herself to death last night so, here I am," she simply explains.

"O...kay?" Stacie replies, still looking mildly confused at the both of them before straightening up and composing herself

"Since both of you are conveniently here, let me remind you two that it's a Friday, the last Friday of the month to be exact, and therefore, we all go clubbing at Bellissimo tonight, like we always do on the last Friday of the month," she says, eyes landing straight at Beca like a warning as she says this.

The producer only rolls her eyes and exhales at this before getting ready to dodge Stacie's upcoming flick—assault—on her forehead. She fails.

"Oh, we might... not stay long though," Chloe cuts in, eyes darting back and forth between the two brunettes.

"And... why is that?" Stacie slowly asks, Bella now in her arms and the confusion back in her face.

"Important evening appointments," Chloe answers with a grin.

"It's a surprise she still won't tell me about," Beca mutters while Stacie's head instantly whips at Chloe's direction.

"If I'm not home by midnight, call the police and track my phone's GPS," Beca adds to which Chloe quickly defends, eyes boring at Beca as she assures that the producer would end up thanking her.

"And where is this 'important appointment' happening?" the long-legged fashion designer asks.

"Somewhere... cool and fancy," Chloe explains mysteriously before eyeing Beca,

"That I'm sure you'd love. Basically, they have lots of wine. I checked," she proudly says.

"Oh that's a relief. Can't wait," Beca says in pure sarcasm.

On the other hand, there's a look on Stacie's face she can't fully decipher. It's something akin to concern as she glances at Beca and somehow, Chloe suddenly remembers what exactly this day holds for Beca herself.

Stacie seemed to want to say something but when Beca starts walking towards the door, reminding them of the time and welcoming death rather than being late, it remains unsaid.

Whatever it is, Beca surely wants nothing more but to avoid it.

In the end, it's her that Stacie turns to, a gentle hand on her arm to stop her, leaving her with words that would bother her all day.

"Don't let her drink too much wine or whiskey and if anything happens, call us. At least, call me. And Chloe, please, don't ever leave her side tonight,"

Today, coincidentally, was supposed to be Beca's wedding.

Chloe may not know the full story but the sadness in Beca's eyes is enough for her to understand the situation.

One year clearly wasn't enough to heal a shattered heart.

Focus is clearly not something Beca has today. Her morning has already started heavy with memories clogging up her mind from finishing any work. Suddenly she wishes that she was still sick. It would at least keep her from... thinking straight.

It doesn't even help that her friends keep worriedly glancing her way and how could they not?

Today was supposed to be... special.

She hates it.

She hates how unescapable it was, the memory of it and the emotional baggage it had left. No matter how hard she tried to think of anything else, something always pulls her back to it.

Even her mother has called her today all of a sudden and Beca had to assure her a million times that she's going to be okay.

Having said that, she glances at Chloe's direction, suddenly reminded of the very words the redhead has said to her last night.

Now she isn't completely confident enough to say that she's really doing okay.

Had she ever really been okay?

Shaking her head, Beca gets back to work mode, hoping to drown out all those thoughts in the very back of her mind.

She just prays that this day quickly ends so she can finally grab a glass of Jessica's expertly concocted alcohol and avoid the whole pity fest going on around her.

"What are you feeling like?" Chloe asks, Beca's phone in her hands as she scrolls through one of Beca's playlists on the Amplify app.

"Something smooth and relaxing," Beca replies distractedly as she meticulously adjusts the rear view mirror of her car.

"So... Khalid or Gallant?" Chloe asks again, seemingly having an internal debate going in her mind on which song to play, a frown forming on her head as she continues to browse.

"Uhh... Khalid," Beca absentmindedly answers as she finally gets the mirror's angle right.

"Okay. Oh! This one's perfect. Haven't heard this in a while," Chloe eagerly says as she chooses Khalid's Coaster.

The song continues to play as Beca finally locks in her seatbelt only to pause for a moment as the lyrics flow in.

All the things that I did for you, just wasn't it for you

Chloe's frown is slowly growing back in her face as she anxiously bites on her thumb, fingers itching to undo her mistake.

Moving on seems harder to do—

Beca inhales sharply, "On second thought, I think Gallant—"

"Yeah! Gallant it is!" Chloe quickly jumps in, nodding, the song changing in a flash to

Gallant's Cave Me In.

"Seriously? Why are you both like this? We're never going to get to the club at this rate!" CR cuts in, loudly sighing from the back of the car and muttering her complaints—Y'all have serial killer traits— while Jesse rolls the end of his necktie in boredom, slowly shaking his head in disappointment.

Beca settles on one of the bar's stools she has long claimed as hers every last Friday night of the month while Jessica whips her a drink. It's seven in the evening and the group's still incomplete.

Ashley comes up to her side, setting a tray on the bar table for the new batch of orders, a familiar set of drinks to be exact and Beca already knows that two of those are for Amy to consume at the same time.

It's what she calls Boom! There Goes My Sanity.

"I'd like to apologize again in advance for all the trouble the kids are going to cause," Beca says as she eyes her friends.

From the noise they are causing, it seems Aubrey has finally arrived.

Sighing, Beca grabs her drink and slides off the stool to head over their spot. Better to return now rather than suffer having to hear Amy or Flo yell for her like she's a child lost in a jungle—they had illegally used the club's sound system one time and had to be tackled away the microphone by security.

Since there's no need for introductions this time, CR proposes the first round of shots for the night. There's some lighthearted chatter around the table as they catch up with each other. Stacie invites all of them for her upcoming Fall collection launch in a few weeks while Amy has made them all swear to clear their schedules next month for, what she dubs as her wildest birthday bash. Of course, Amplify's biggest event doesn't escape the conversations and Beca is more than happy to let Chloe and Jesse do the explaining. They've honestly been preparing for a year and by this time, talking about it is getting exhausting.

A quick check of the time lets Beca know that she only has one hour left before she finds out where exactly the redhead psycho is taking her.

Taking a sip of her cocktail, she hopes to gain enough confidence to face whatever comes tonight.

Realizing that she might as well grab another glass, most probably the last one for the night, she excuses herself and returns back to the bar.

"I'll have what she's having," Chloe says to Jessica as she suddenly takes the stool next to hers.

Turning to Chloe, Beca tries her luck one last time, "At least give me a clue on who we're meeting," she exhales, subtly eyeing the redhead's deep blue knee-length dress for the night.

Appreciating beauty is not a crime after all and she has eyes with perfect 20/20 vision.

Or maybe she should stop consuming alcohol for tonight.

It's messing with her head and Beca would very much like to keep whatever it is confined inside her head—or heart—to herself.

"Can't you just trust me for once?" Chloe replies with a smug smile—that Beca just wants to wipe off using her own lips.

Pushing away her glass, because it's the safest thing to do right now, Beca swivels her seat back to it's original position in order to keep her eyes off Chloe, "Trust is... something that I find difficult to give," she softly admits.

She feels Chloe's eyes fall heavily on her and really, she didn't intend for this to become some sentimental moment.

Being around Chloe just keeps opening doors within her she thought she's shut and locked away. It's getting so difficult to ignore all of it now.

She awkwardly glances down her watch instead, "Well, we should get going. You know I hate being late," she says with a light smile.

She motions to leave but a gentle hand clasping her own stops her.

When she reluctantly turns to the source, she finds eyes not filled with pity but with something that makes her insides twist and her chest bloom with warmth.

"There's nothing wrong with that... finding it hard to trust people. It is something that is earned and when you are entrusted to it, you should keep it safe because it's special. Nobody has the right to break it,"

Chloe looks at her sincerely and Beca finds just how calming those beautiful hues of blues are. She could drown in them and she wouldn't even care.

Her hand twists slowly, holding Chloe's hand as a silent reply because she can't trust her lips anymore.

Not when they are filled with longing. To believe in every word, to give her trust and to want what she could never have.

"Surprise!" Chloe excitedly says as they stop in front of the Ricardi Bellagio.

"See, I told you, cool and fancy. Reserving a table here takes months, well, except if you're rich and influential then it won't be a problem," Chloe says as she looks at the huge Italian restaurant in awe before returning her gaze over to the Beca standing behind her.

"Shall we?" she asks yet she doesn't get a response.

"Beca?"

There's a look on the producer's face that doesn't reflect her own and Chloe wonders what the problem is.

Her words have seemed to finally register in Beca's consciousness as she snaps back to life.

"I'm sorry, just... overwhelmed that's all," the brunette quickly says and Chloe frowns knowing that something is definitely up.

"Hey," she gently says, putting a hand over Beca's arm.

"Are you alright? Because if you're not then we don't have to stay long. We could wrap this up quickly and go home. Just tell me," she says, every word filled with concern.

"It's fine. Like I said, just a little overwhelmed. It does take months... getting a reservation to this place," Beca assures her yet there's something in her tone that tells Chloe that there's something more to those words.

Like a first hand experience.

"Would it ease your anxiety if I finally tell you why we're here and who we are meeting?" she asks, fingers fidgeting and head tilting a bit to the side as she rocks on her heels.

She's been anxious about this moment too. As a matter of fact, it took her a while before she could sleep last night with thoughts about this meeting hindering her from resting her mind. She's a mixture of anxious, nervous and excited ever since this morning.

"Definitely," Beca answers in a hopeful tone and Chloe finally spills her secret.

"We got it! She finally said yes!" she blurts out.

Beca's face remains impassive and clueless, however, and Chloe tries not to combust.

"Paris Blake is going to our music fest! I got her maybe to become a yes!" she happily says.

"We're here to have her sign the contract," she adds, holding up the file case she's been carrying.

Beca's face only seems to go pale, the shock evident as well as she stays rooted to her spot. It confuses her for a moment but this is a really sudden news and Stacie did say how much Beca hates surprises.

"I know this event means a lot to you so I had to fight for this because Paris being there will ensure the success of this festival," she says, stepping closer to fully face Beca.

"And like I said, I don't give up. I won't and I refuse to prove you right. I promised you this contract and here it is," she says with pride as dark stormy blues look at her prompting Chloe to admit sheepishly, "Even if I had to cry at the steps of a Metro car show, harass Barden media with my incessant emails, learn a gambling card game at a photoshoot to fight boredom, bribe the staff and stalk the ladies room like a creep," she smiles, looking down her high heels.

"So, can we go do this contract signing thing so I can call you 'Becs' and plan play dates for our cats?" she eagerly asks.

There's a mixture of emotions forming in Beca's face, those sad eyes flitting at her and back to the restaurant. For a moment, Chloe feels as if she's going to turn and leave but one deep breathe later, she looks back at her with this tinge of determination as if she finally made a choice.

Before Chloe could think any more to it, Beca straightens up, adjusting her dark gray suit, cotton white button down shirt, metallic rings and all, masking herself with that confident look she has whenever she is meeting one of the company's executives. The one that has earned her a reputation in the company. She nods once before speaking, "Let's go get that signature then,"

A smile springs on Chloe's face as she follows Beca inside. Chloe gives the name Paris chose to reserve under—an infamous way celebrities make reservations to keep the media out of their personal matters.

They are immediately escorted to the balcony upstairs where an empty table awaits them. It's ten minutes to nine and Chloe remembers what Paris said about this hour being the only free time she could give. With the new album being launched, various endorsements and press appearances, Paris is surely one of the busiest people in Hollywood these days.

So they wait.

Honestly, Chloe is just thankful to be there first because she feels her nerves bouncing everywhere. Next to her, Beca is the total opposite as she remains still in her seat, leaning back comfortably, deep in her own thoughts.

She must've done this a hundred times by now and Chloe envies that cool composure Beca gives off.

"Have you met her in person?" she suddenly asks, breaking Beca's thoughts.

She did remember the way Paris had read Beca's name with so much meaning and she wonders if they had ran into each other by now.

"Yes," comes the short answer and Chloe waits for her to explain yet at this point it seems unlikely.

She would have asked something else like when can they order dinner or champagne—since it's a moment to be celebrated after all—when Paris Blake finally appears.

Chloe is up on her feet in no time and Paris greets her fondly. Those green irises looked tired yet still, she looked so beautiful with her unblemished skin, her smooth soft hair and that fresh sweet scent. Her designer blouse and jeans are no doubt expensive and her high heels shimmer even from a far.