Searching
-Night, Twins' House-
Caleb walks out of his room and is now in front of Beca's.
He takes a deep breath before he tries to make things right with her. The guilt of not telling her the truth is making his step toward her a lot heavier than ever.
His right-hand starts to move toward the doorknob. He opens the door cautiously and sees no one in Beca's room.
She is not there and it's 9 p.m.
"No calls and no text. She always tells me if she has to go out... especially at night..." Caleb mutters to himself.
Worries and all kinds of scenarios start to fill Caleb's mind.
If anything happens to her, it will be on him. That's what he thinks right now.
He rushes to her balcony, bathroom, and runs to the first floor.
He searches through the kitchen, the living room, the backyard, the swimming pool, and every corner in their house. However, she is nowhere to be found.
Caleb's heart starts to beat faster with anxiety crushing in.
He takes a deep breath to calm himself down and starts to unlock his phone.
He tries to call Beca, but there's no answer.
He dials another number and speaks while out of breath, "Jo, do you know where Beca is?!"
"No... she's not home?" Joanne asks him through the phone.
Caleb sighs heavily and says, "No, she's not! Jo, I don't know what to do! If anything happens-"
and gets cut by Jo saying, "Calm down, Caleb. I'll call the others and we're gonna find her, okay?"
Caleb hangs up on her and he looks up to the dark sky with worries in his eyes.
-The beach, Tortoise Point-
"Caleb!" Val shouts his name while grasping air.
Kai, who's beside her, rests in his knee with uneasiness and fear on his face.
Caleb just shakes his head heavily to indicate that Beca is yet to be found.
"We've been searching through the beach... She's not here...." Kai says with concern.
Caleb grabs his head frustratedly and his shadow starts to tremble. No, it's not his shadow that is trembling, it's his feet that is shaking right now. His shadow starts to get darker and he runs out of ideas on where the world she can be right now.
Suddenly a hope appears in the corner of Caleb's lips as he remembers something.
His phone suddenly rings and he picks it up.
"She's not in the Lemon and Life café... Joanne and I have searched through the shops and we couldn't find her," Felix anxiously says through the phone.
"I think... I know where she is..." Caleb says with a bit of smile on his face.
Kai and Val look at each other with concerns displayed on their face while Caleb is starting to look relieved.
-
-
-The Park-
Beca is sitting on the swing with a head that is about to explode from thinking too much.
She sighs and suddenly a loud voice shocks her.
She tries to find the voice and Caleb is there.
Caleb's appearance takes Beca by surprise and she is somewhat relieved now.
Caleb looks at her from far away and tears start to fill his eyes. The fear, anxiety, and worries start to go away. His steps are so much lighter now that he can run to her as fast as he can.
He rushes to her and they are now in front of each other, standing under the bright moonlight with tears in each other's eyes.
Caleb is out of breath from almost going insane on the search of his twin sister, but he forces to make words come out of his mouth.
"Beca, I'm... Hhh, I'm so sorry... I should've told you that Stacy knew. She told me to stop you, but I couldn't stand to see you hurt. I thought I was protecting you... I'm so sorry..." he says while still getting out of breath.
Beca looks into his eyes and she chuckles.
Tears start to flow through her cheeks and she cries so hard like an 8-year old that is afraid of being left alone.
Caleb giggles and says, "What are you a kid? Oh, stop crying! I don't wanna cry too!" while holding back himself to sob just like her.
"I said I was sorry!" he starts to bawl his eyes out which makes her cry out a river.
They both cry in front of each other, just like old times, just like two kids who are sorry for each other after a stupid fight.
They both look at each other and realize how much of a wreck they look like right now. They burst to laugh and Caleb hugs her warmly and tightly. Beca hugs him back and all the worries seem to lift from her chest. It's not that the problems are gone. But since she's not alone, they seem to be gone now.
They look at each other with twinkle and sparkle in their eyes.
"You guys okay???" Joanne shouts from afar to the twins.
They startle and look at Joanne, Felix, Kai, and Val standing there with a warm smile that seems like home.
The four of them giggle while rushing to give hugs to both of them.
"There you are!"
"You were here, all this time??!"
"You are guys are such dorks!"
"We were worried like shit, seriously," they all said at the same time which makes it pretty hard for Caleb and Beca to hear every word, but it's okay.
It's okay because they are here for each other.
"Come on, let's go home..." Caleb says to Beca while smiling to her.
-
-
-
-In front of Twins' House-
"Nicholas?" Beca, startled and surprised, asks him with confusion.
"Well, I rang the bell and your mother said that you guys weren't home... So, I figured that I should wait..." he says cautiously.
She looks at Caleb and says, "It's okay... You can get inside..." while nodding firmly to her twin brother.
Caleb takes a look at Nicholas coldly for a second and decides to leave them alone.
"So... what's up?" Beca asks him awkwardly but with a cheerful tone.
"Look, Beca... I like you. I do... I can't just give up on you over some stupid rules, you know?" Nicholas says with suffocation in his chest.
Beca looks away with no smile and sighs.
"Nicholas... Nobody is happy if we're together..." she says.
"But we are..." Nicholas replies while getting closer to her.
He runs his hand through her naturally curly hair and he starts to softly touch her jawline.
He looks deeply into her eyes and says, "Let's keep it a secret until we can find a way to change the rules..."
His words sweep her off the ground and her feet start to feel weak now.
She can't help but giggle after hearing those sweet words from him. He pulls him closer and says, "Secret?"
"Secret," Nicholas says firmly while smirking.
They get closer and they can feel each other's breath.
His perfume gets through her nose and is tickling down her body.
His eyes as bright as the stars are making her lost in them.
The tension between them rises as their distance shortens.
His hands are down on her waist and their lips start to touch for the first time.
She can feel his tender lips and he can feel her cherry lip balm.
Their hearts beat so fast and their stomach feels ticklish.
The time seems to stop and the fear starts to go away.
For a moment, they feel like the world is theirs.
They pull away after a short kiss. It was short, but it was sweet.
After that, their faces are blushing insanely and they can't hide or run from their feelings anymore.
When she looks into his eyes, she knows it.
Their feelings are mutual and that's what matters now. The rest of the worries can wait later.
-
-
-The next day, morning, hallway-
"So, have you asked Val, yet?" Felix asks Kai casually.
Kai startles and mumbles, "W-what? What do you mean..." while looking away.
Felix sighs and rolls his eyes.
"Oh, drop it, Jenkins. We all know that you guys are going together, one way or another! Just ask her for homecoming, already!" Felix snaps at Kai's slow progress.
Kai blushes and stutters, "T-tch!" and is out of words now.
He avoids eye contact with Felix in the fear of getting caught.
"I can't just ask her nonchalantly, you know..." Kai mumbles.
Felix just glares at him frustratedly and replies, "Unless you like her romantically, asking her casually or nonchalantly is the normal thing to do..."
Kai just stays silent and sulky at Felix after hearing him.
"Well, do you like her?" Felix asks him casually and leaves him to class while getting suddenly anxious after realizing that he's alone again.
Meanwhile, Kai just stands there and sighs with frustration in his breath.
-
-
-
-Girls' bathroom-
Joanne looks at Val who's fixing her black choker in front of the mirror.
"So... When are you gonna ask Kai to homecoming?" Joanne teases her flirtatiously.
Val just rolls her eyes and says, "Urgh, I'm not asking him first!"
"Oh, what happened to Ms. Feminist?" Joanne says with a sarcastic smile.
Val rolls her eyes and snaps, "Oh, gimme a break! It's not like that! It's just... I'm scared..."
"Oh, be brave and face the situation, Val. You like him don't you?" Joanne asks her seriously but with a calm smile.
Val looks at her for a second and looks away while denying, "N-no... I don't like him that way! We've been friends for forever... but... you don't think he already got a stupid date... right?"
Joanne causally scoffs while wearing her lipstick and says, "Oh, come on. It's Kai. He can't live without you. And even if he had a date already, you'd separate them with one snap."
Val just glares at Joanne and sarcastically says, "Well, you could do that to Alfred..."
"Urgh, I'm not going to homecoming with Alfred... He already got a date..." Joanne says while getting sulky.
Val grabs Joanne's shoulder and stares into the mirror confidently.
"Joanne, you are a catch. If he can't see that, screw him!" Val compliments Joanne energetically.
-
-
-
Kai gets inside the empty basketball court to search for his necklace.
It's a necklace that Val got him from one summer without him for his birthday.
He can't afford to lose it.
He searches under the benches, but it's not there.
Suddenly the sound of steps appears which shocks him for a bit.
"Kai?" Beca asks him from afar while squinching her eyes.
"Oh, Bec... What are you doing here?" Kai asks her while sitting on the bench.
Beca, who hasn't told Kai that she is secretly dating Nicholas, lies.
"... Nothing! I thought I should just catch up with you and the others... Ha ha ha," she awkwardly shrugs it off.
"...Okay..." Kai answers with awkward suspicion in his eyes.
Beca tries to change the topic and says, "So... why are you here alone?"
"I'm searching for the necklace that Val got me from the summer where she went to her hometown... It's gone... Could you please help me?" Kai answers while getting bummed and starts to search under the benches again.
"Oh, yeah sure..." Beca starts to look under the bench too.
Then she suddenly stops after noticing that something's not right.
"Hold up... Val got you a necklace during that trip and she didn't get us anything?!" She snaps dramatically.
Kai stares blankly for a second after realizing that he screwed up. It was supposed to be a secret and now it's much too late for him to keep the secret sacred.
"What am I doing in my life...?" his heart shouts.
Kai just shamelessly and awkwardly smiles at Beca who's glaring at him now.
-
-
-
Both of them are standing in front of the door and are about to give up on the searching.
"I don't think it's here... We've turned this place upside down and all we found were disgusting chewed gums..." Beca gives up with a sigusted face after remembering the nasty stuff she saw.
Kai sighs and mutters with a down mood, "Yeah... let's just go..." and hit his body with the door.
Strangely, the door is not opening up.
"What the hell! Are we stuck?!" Beca shouts anxiously.