an extremely uncomplicated situation

by someone_stupid

Summary:

It's not complicated at all.

People kiss their friends all of the time, it doesn’t have to mean anything. So what does it matter if it’s the only thing Chloe can think about? If all she wants is to figure out how exactly she can get her lips back on Beca’s as soon as humanly possible? That doesn’t mean anything.

It’s simple, really.

It’s extremely uncomplicated.

Notes:

wow! messy fwb! i’ve totally never done this before!! (i absolutely have and i don’t plan on stopping anytime soon)

also this is mostly just intro stuff, the good stuff will come later. it’s a slow burn, but i promise (i hope) it will be worth it <3

Chapter 1

“This isn’t fair,” Beca grumbled, closing the passenger side door of Chloe’s car with far more force than necessary.

 

Chloe walked around the car and looped her arm through Beca’s. “It’s Bella Tradition.”

 

“Yeah, well, it’s stupid and I hate it.” Chloe began leading Beca towards the entrance of the liquor store while Beca continued complaining, her pout more than evident in her tone. “It’s my birthday, shouldn’t you guys be the one buying me drinks?”

 

Chloe looked over and found her suspicions confirmed, Beca had her bottom lip pursed out in an honest-to-god pout. 

 

“It’s a rite of passage,” Chloe explained for the umpteeth time. “You turn twenty-one and you have to supply the alcohol for your birthday party.”

 

“I don’t even want a birthday party,” Beca whined, but she made no efforts to move away from Chloe even after they walked into the store.

 

It took somehow both more and less time for Beca to grow comfortable around her than Chloe anticipated, but now, at the beginning of Beca’s Junior year, she didn’t even blink twice when Chloe touched her.

 

At times getting Beca to warm up to her felt more akin to trying to gain the trust of a stray cat. It was all slow movements and obvious intentions. Now, however, Chloe was sure she had Beca all figured out. She knew exactly which glare meant she could cuddle up nice and close to Beca and which ones held more homicidal intentions.

 

But more than all that, Chloe knew that her knowledge of those Beca-specific tendencies came only paired with the honor of being Beca’s best friend.

 

Beca had called Chloe her best friend only a handful of times—usually with an awkward ‘dude’ tacked on afterwards—but it meant the world to Chloe everytime she did.

 

And Chloe also knew that one of the perks of being Beca’s best friend meant that she was one of the only people who got to see this adorable side of her, which only made the smile on Chloe’s face grow even wider at Beca’s entirely too grumpy expression for it being her twenty-first birthday.

 

Chloe bumped hip into Beca’s softly, holding onto her bicep even tighter. “Too bad, it’s tradition.”

 

“And why didn’t you care about rules and tradition when I dated Jesse? At least that way Aubrey would’ve probably murdered me Freshman year and I wouldn’t have to go to this stupid party.” 

 

Chloe used her hold on Beca’s arm to lead her towards the refrigerated section full of the obscure craft beers she knew Beca liked. “C’mon, stop being such a party pooper.”

 

“It’s my birthday,” Beca pointed out unhelpfully. “I can do whatever I want.”

 

Chloe sighed. “Look on the bright side. You get to pick out whatever you wanna drink tonight instead of having Amy pick something out for you that’s probably definitely just Everclear and the first mixer she can get her hands on.”

 

“Oh god, the Aussie Special, don’t remind me,” Beca said with a roll of her eyes. “I had to spend all Summer repressing the memories from the Trebles ‘Annual Year End Bash’.”

 

“I’m surprised you had any memories from that night to repress.” Chloe, on the other hand, vividly remembered the state Beca was in that night. She had stopped drinking at a certain point to ensure that she could watch Beca and make sure she didn’t embarrass herself too much. “But I’m sure if I looked hard enough in my camera roll I could find the video of someone dancing on a table at that party.”

 

(Of course, drunk Beca was rather insistent and Chloe wasn’t a miracle worker.)

 

Beca dropped Chloe’s arm and turned to face her. “You told me you deleted all the evidence.”

 

“No,” Chloe said, walking past Beca and pretending to look at the variety of ciders further down the aisle. “I told you I made sure everyone else deleted their evidence.” She glanced at Beca who hadn’t moved from her spot, betrayal written all over her face. “I said nothing about the evidence that I may or may not be hoarding.” 

 

“You traitor.”

 

Chloe turned back towards Beca with enthusiasm. “Ooh, maybe I should find it and we can watch it later tonight.”

 

Beca took a couple quick, determined steps in Chloe’s direction. “Don’t even joke about that.” She continued walking past Chloe and down the next aisle over, empty threats trailing behind her. “I’m not afraid to leave you here!”

 

“How?” Chloe picked up her pace to follow Beca, unable to contain her laughter. “I’m the one that drove!” 

 

---

 

Chloe loved to have an excuse to dress up.

 

It wasn’t like she didn’t take pride in her appearance every day—she deliberately picked out her outfits every morning and rarely left the house without at least some concealer and mascara—but she also loved having opportunities to go above and beyond.

 

Chloe rifled through her lipstick, all various shades of red and pink with the occasional purple or brown that she bought as a one off and never used again. She made a small noise of triumph when she found the one she was looking for. It was definitely the most well-loved of all the tubes, but it was Chloe’s favorite shade for a reason, emphasizing her natural lip color perfectly. 

 

She brought her face close to the mirror to apply her lipstick, popping her lips out once she was finished to check for any stray streaks or missed spots. 

 

Once she was satisfied with her makeup, Chloe grabbed her dress off the hanger in her closet. It was a bit cold for a dress, but they weren’t going to be leaving the house and chances were by the time the night ended, she’d still be too warm.

 

Chloe undressed and slipped the dress on over her head, doing her best not to mess up her hair or makeup. 

 

She walked over to open up the door to her bedroom in order to call for someone to help zip her dress up, but on her way noticed that some of her hair had chosen to have a mind of its own and run awry.

 

Chloe opened her door and walked back to the mirror to fix her hair. She was just finishing up when she saw movement in the reflection behind her as Beca appeared in her doorway.

 

“Chlo, I need your help, Stacie’s trying to make me—” Beca cut herself off and Chloe glanced at her through the mirror again to find Beca staring at her. “Woah.”

 

Chloe turned around with a small smile, her dress twirling around her hips. “That bad?”

 

Chloe knew she looked good. 

 

She bought this dress knowing that it was doing her all kinds of favors, but also remained tasteful enough that Chloe didn’t feel like she was leaving more than she wanted on display. She did, of course, have dresses like that in her closet, but they were more suited for clubs and less so for her best friend's birthday party.

 

Chloe knew she looked good, and based on the look on Beca’s face, she agreed.

 

“No, um—” Beca finally tore her eyes away from Chloe’s body and up to her face. “No, you look fine.”

 

Chloe smiled to herself and decided not to comment on Beca’s word choice or the obvious ogling that was going on. 

 

It wasn’t often that Chloe rendered Beca speechless, but when she did, it always felt like a special compliment all on its own.

 

Chloe turned around again, holding her hair up off the back of her neck. “Zip me?” she asked. She felt Beca walk up behind her. “What’s Stacie doing to you?”

 

Beca pinched Chloe’s dress at the bottom of the zipper right at the base of her tailbone to give herself enough tension to pull the zipper up, just as she had done for Chloe countless times before.

 

Chloe remembered the first time she had asked Beca to help zip her dress. She could feel Beca’s nervous energy practically seeping out of her as shaking hands brushed her bare back.

 

Beca was a lot more efficient with her zipping capabilities now, but without fail, the knuckle of her first finger brushed all the way up Chloe’s spine, leading the zipper to its destination.

 

Beca laid Chloe’s zipper down flat against her back and seemed to finally remember what she had been saying when she first entered Chloe’s bedroom. “Oh, she's trying to force me to do shots and—”

 

“Ooh, shots!” Chloe spun back around quickly enough that Beca must have been worried she was going to fall because suddenly she was holding Chloe’s shoulders to steady her, leaving them practically nose-to-nose.

 

Beca took a step backwards, but didn’t release her hold on Chloe’s shoulders. “No, Chloe, I really don’t wanna get too drunk tonight.”

 

“And you don’t have to.” Chloe started walking towards the door forcing Beca’s hands off of her, but she caught one of them in her own before it fell. “But c’mon, Bec, it’s your twenty-first birthday, you have to do at least one shot with us.”

 

“Fine,” Beca relented, following Chloe out of her room, “but you only get one!”

 

With Beca’s hand still held in hers, Chloe led them downstairs and towards the kitchen where Stacie and Amy were busy filling up shot glasses with the handle of tequila they had purchased earlier in the day. 

 

“Oh god,” Beca muttered under her breath, and Chloe knew exactly why.

 

Beca had a history with tequila, one that may or may not have had everything to do with the video on Chloe’s phone of her dancing on a table along to Get Low.

 

In all honesty, Chloe was more impressed than anything with Beca’s ability to grind her hips so low so flawlessly while keeping her balance on the wobbly table in the Trebles backyard.

 

Chloe leaned back so only Beca could hear her while she whispered, “Want me to swap one of them with water for you when they aren’t looking?”

 

As much as Chloe would have loved to see a repeat of such events for her own personal pleasure, she also was fully prepared to fulfil her best friend birthday duties at any moment.

 

“No, it’ll be okay.” Beca took a deep breath while she looked at the overfilled shot glasses in something akin to horror. “Besides, it's just one shot, right?”

 

Chloe glanced over at Stacie and Amy waiting with overexaggerated smiles, both of them holding a shot glass in each hand. “Right, yeah. Totally.”

 

“Chloe,” Stacie said in a way that sounded entirely too serious for what the situation entailed. “I’m glad to see you convinced Beca to come to her senses and join us for celebratory shots.”

 

“Shot,” Beca corrected. “Singular.”

 

“Sure thing, shortstack. The night is still young.” Amy gestured towards the counter with the shots still in hand. “We have salt to your left and limes to your right, feel free to help yourself.”

 

Stacie handed Beca the fullest shot, tequila spilling over the rim and into Beca’s hand before she even had the chance to grab it. “Oh, Jesus, okay.” 

 

Chloe grabbed her own shot from Amy and set it down on the counter in front of her. She sprinkled a small pile of salt on the back of her hand, first licking the spot to ensure that the salt would stick.

 

Beca licked the back of her own hand and held it out to Chloe. “Salt me, Beale.”

 

“You’re so bossy today,” Chloe teased, but she sprinkled some salt on the back of Beca’s hand nonetheless.

 

Beca had the audacity to look shocked before she spoke, “It’s—”

 

“Your birthday?” Chloe looked up at Beca with as close to a surprised expression as she could manage without laughing. “Wow, I had no clue.”

 

“Let’s get this show on the road, you two, I’ve gotta go make my rounds,” Amy spoke up, and Chloe was embarrassed to realize that she had completely forgotten that she and Beca weren’t alone. “To illegal underage drinking. Gone, but never forgotten. May you rest in peace.” Amy lifted her glass towards Beca and threw the shot back without even so much as a flinch, not even bothering with a lime chaser.

 

“I swear to god that woman has a stomach made of steel,” Beca whispered to Chloe, both of them still holding their own glasses.

 

“Well, I guess we all have to be good at something. Cheers!” Chloe tapped her glass against Beca’s before licking the salt off her hand taking her own shot, watching Beca quickly go through the same motions.

 

Chloe had already grabbed one of the limes and was sucking on it when Beca swallowed harshly, a deep shiver making its way through her entire body. “Ugh, why do we do this?”

 

Chloe grabbed a napkin to dispose of her lime rind. “For fun, duh.”

 

Distantly, Chloe heard the doorbell ring, but it was Amy’s reaction that caught her attention. “Ooh, that’ll be the boys.”

 

Amy left her post in the kitchen preparing more shots for the other Bellas, and made her way towards the front door where Chloe could see various shades of burgundy out the front window.

 

“Boys?” Beca asked, her face still twisted from the tequila.

 

“Here.” Chloe grabbed one of the wedges of lime from the plate in front of them and put it in Beca’s mouth. “Suck on this. B.R.B.”

 

Chloe had to keep herself from stomping over to the front door where Amy held it open for a line of Trebles walking through the door.

 

She kept a smile on her face in an attempt to seem like she had everything in control, but Chloe knew her eyes were probably a little too crazy to be natural. 

 

Amy looked at her in a way that told Chloe she definitely had crazy eyes. “You good there, ginger?”

 

“Amy, I thought I told you this was a Bellas only party.” Chloe whispered through her smile. “Why are there Trebles here?”

 

Amy closed the front door once the last Treble had walked through. “I figured this estrogen fueled event could use a bit of testosterone to spice things up.”

 

“And you didn’t think maybe it wouldn’t be the greatest idea to invite Beca’s ex-boyfriend to her birthday party?” Chloe gestured over towards Jesse who looked a little bit lost in the Bellas’ house without Beca by his side. 

 

Amy sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth. “Ooh yeah, that’ll be awkward. Someone probably should have thought of that earlier.”

 

Before Chloe had a chance to respond, Stacie’s voice trailed from the kitchen, “Amy! We need some more shots in here!”

 

Amy was already halfway gone by the time Chloe opened her mouth to speak. “Sorry, captain, duty calls!”

 

Chloe took a deep breath. At least it seemed that Amy had only invited the Trebels, and everything with Jesse aide, their two groups had grown close in the years since Aubrey's graduation.

 

What was the worst that could happen?

 

All Chloe had to do was make sure that Beca didn’t get stuck alone with Jesse.

 

Easy peasy.

 

Except for the fact that Jesse seemed to be drawn to Beca like a magnet and the two of them were already exchanging in a conversation. Alone.

 

Beca hadn’t expressed any hostility towards Jesse, but Chloe had seen what their conversations looked like since they broke up and they were…awkward to say the least. And that was exactly the reason why Beca usually came up with any excuse to promptly leave their little chats as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

 

Before Chloe could take more than two steps towards Beca and Jesse, Benji stepped in front of her.

 

“Hey, Chloe,” he said, holding up a blue bottle of some type of alcohol that Chloe couldn't see. “Amy said that we had to pay for entry tonight.” 

 

Chloe smiled at him because of course Amy said that, and of course Benji was the only one to actually bring something over. “Sounds about right.”

 

Benji gestured with the bottle. “Where do you want me to put this?”

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe saw Amy walk up to Beca and Jesse with her tray of shots and Beca grabbed one without hesitation. If Chloe hadn’t seen her take the shot, she would have known the moment Beca finished swallowing from the full body shiver she released when she handed Amy back the empty glass. 

 

Chloe took the offered bottle from Benji. “Um, I’ll take it to the kitchen. Thanks, Benji.” 

 

It was meant to be a quick task. Walk into the kitchen. Set the bottle of what seemed to be whipped cream flavored vodka down on the counter. Walk out of the kitchen. 

 

But of course, as most everything else seemed to be going that night, it wasn’t nearly as easy as Chloe would have hoped. 

 

Right as she stepped out of the doorway to the kitchen, Chloe was granted a front row seat to watch one of the Trebels walk right into Jessica causing her drink to spill all over the ground. 

 

In reality the situation could have been much worse, thank god, and Jessica didn’t seem to have more than a single drop on her pants, knowing she could have walked away entirely covered. (Chloe always felt the utmost sympathy for someone with a ruined outfit.)

 

Ashley, who was standing next to Jessica when she got bumped into, was already cussing out the Treble that walked into her in a way Chloe had only ever seen her do when Jessica was involved.

 

The Treble must have been a freshman as Chloe didn’t know his name and he looked absolutely terrified of Ashley, which felt valid given the circumstances. 

 

“Are you okay?” Chloe asked as she inspected Jessica to make sure she really hadn’t gotten more of her drink anywhere on her.

 

“Yeah, I'm fine. Don’t worry,” Jessica assured, smile set firmly in place. Honestly, she was the one person who gave Chloe a run for her money in the competition for cheeriest deposition. “Just have to clean this up off the floor and I’ll be good.”

 

Ashley promptly turned away from the nameless Treble and the sweet smile she gave Jessica would have given Chloe whiplash if she hadn’t seen this type of scenario play out countless times before. “I’ll go grab some paper towels.”

 

Jessica seemed to be Ashley’s exception, the one thing that always hit her right in the soft spots.

 

It reminded Chloe of her and Beca.

 

Back during Beca’s Freshman year when she was a broody ball of teenage angst, Chloe managed to slip through the cracks and continue pushing through until she met Beca’s soft interior.

 

Beca tried hard to keep up her tough exterior and poor attitude, but as she opened up to not just Chloe, but all the Bellas, they began to see her for what she truly is.

 

A big ol’ softy.

 

Beca did, of course, still have what seemed to be an innumerable amount of walls up, but she had allowed Chloe to move past the majority of them.

 

Just like Jessica and Ashley, Chloe was Beca’s exception.

 

As if she knew Chloe was thinking about her, Beca looked away from Jesse and right at Chloe. She kept eye contact long enough that Chloe knew it had to be intentional.

 

Chloe hadn’t even realized she turned to face Beca until they were making eye contact across the room.

 

“Do you need help cleaning this up?” Chloe turned back and asked Jessica, doing her best to keep the impatience out of her voice.

 

She didn’t have a problem if they did need help, but Chloe also had a feeling that Beca needed her just as much, if not more.

 

“No, I think we got it.” Jessica knelt down on the ground, taking the offered paper towels from Ashley’s hands when she returned. “Thanks though!”

 

Jessica had just barely finished talking before Chloe turned around. She beelined over towards Beca and Jesse before anyone else got in her way, like a woman on a mission—which wasn’t entirely off.

 

Chloe didn’t have a problem with Jesse. 

 

He was nice, tall, handsome, a good singer, passionate about music. He was everything that should have made him a perfect boyfriend to Beca. 

 

And he was.

 

Until he wasn’t. 

 

Beca had never fully explained to Chloe exactly why they had broken up. She had simply texted Chloe one night over the Summer saying that they were no longer together. Chloe had called Beca soon after receiving the text, but Beca didn’t talk any more about it and Chloe didn’t push.

 

Chloe really didn’t have any problem with Jesse, but after him and Beca broke up, she became…wary of him.

 

He was one of her best friend’s ex.

 

It was the principle of the thing.

 

Which is why she had no problem walking up behind Beca and addressing him directly. “So sorry to interrupt, do you mind if I steal the birthday girl real quick?” Jesse opened his mouth to speak, but Chloe didn’t give him enough time to respond. “Great, thanks!”

 

“Took you long enough,” Beca whispered to Chloe low enough that Jesse couldn’t hear as they made their way towards the kitchen. “I’ve been staring at the back of your head for like twenty minutes.”

 

“It wasn’t that long.” Chloe had to resist the urge to look back at Jesse, to see if he was watching the two of them walk away. “Looked like you two were having fun though.”

 

No problems with Jesse at all.

 

Once they reached the kitchen, Beca turned around to face Chloe, leaning back against the counter. “Oh yeah, we were having a riveting conversation about gas prices.”

 

Chloe furrowed her brows. “You don’t even drive.”

 

“Yeah, I know.” Beca sighed dramatically in a way that told Chloe she was starting to feel her earlier shots. “I feel like we forgot how to have a regular conversation now that we broke up.”

 

There was only a minute difference right now, one that would have been imperceptible to almost anyone else, but Chloe could easily tell that Beca wasn't quite as sober as she had been before she walked away.

 

“How about this?” Chloe reached down to grab both of Beca’s hands, swinging them side to side in the space between them simply because she knew that Beca never shied away from her touch when she felt like this. “If I see you two together again, I’ll step in and act as a buffer. As your best friend, it’s my duty to make sure you don’t have any more awkward conversations tonight.”

 

Beca nodded her head slowly. “Okay.”

 

“Okay?” Chloe asked with a smile.

 

“Yeah.” Beca took control of their hands and Chloe easily let her. She stopped moving their arms and let go of Chloe’s hands. Before Chloe had the chance to reach back out, Beca changed tactics. She began running her fingers along Chloe’s palm and up her forearm, turning back once she reached her elbow to repeat the process again and again. “But you better catch up first. If we’re stuck together all night, we’re gonna have to be on the same level.”

 

Her arms twitched at the tickling sensation under Beca’s fingertips and Chloe fought the urge to pull away. “Oh really?”

 

“Oh yes. And you wanna know why?” Beca asked in a low voice, dropping Chloe’s hands to reach for the bottle of tequila still on the counter. “Because it’s my motherfucking birthday.”

 

Chloe felt her eyebrows spike up towards the top of her forehead.

 

If she wasn’t already convinced that Beca was less than sober, that would have done the trick.

 

Beca was certainly no stranger to expletives. Chloe had heard her fair share of colorful language coming from Beca’s mouth, but there was a difference in the way she used them when under the influence of alcohol. 

 

Usually, Beca would use them when she was angry or upset or had just clipped her toe on the leg of the coffee table for the thousandth time. 

 

When Beca was drunk, however, she seemed to toss them in wherever she pleased with little care about if her sentence made much sense grammatically. This particular instance was mild in the grand scheme of what Chloe had seen her say, but it told Chloe everything she needed to know.

 

Beca was definitely tipsy.

 

And Beca was also currently filling up one of the shot glasses on the counter to hand to Chloe who took it without further protest and brought it up to her lips to drink.

 

“Good job,” Beca said once Chloe swallowed, and before she even had a chance to finish bringing one of the slices of lime from the counter to her mouth, Beca was holding another full shot in front of Chloe’s face. “One more.”

 

“How many did you have?” Chloe asked around the lime between her lips. She had to look around Beca’s hand to make eye contact, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

 

“Shhh. I’m a lightweight,” Beca insisted, “you need more than me.”

 

Beca definitely was a lightweight, but Chloe had never heard her actually admit it before; which, if nothing else, was another indication of her slight intoxication.

 

It was getting harder and harder for Chloe to keep denying Beca of what she so obviously wanted, but Chloe had just made a promise to Beca she intended to uphold. “How am I supposed to take care of you tonight if you get me drunk?”

 

“But it’s my birthday, Chloe,” Beca pointed out again with a slight whine in her voice.

 

Chloe tried to hold her ground, she really did, but then Beca jutted out her bottom lip and looked up at Chloe with wide and pleading eyes.

 

That little minx.

 

She was using Chloe’s own tactics against her.

 

And worst of all, it was working.

 

Some small part of Chloe was proud that Beca had managed to master her signature ‘puppy-dog-eyes’, but the rest of her was annoyed that Beca decided to use her newfound talent against her. 

 

It seriously wasn’t fair.

 

Chloe sighed and grabbed the shot glass out of Beca’s hand. She brought it to her lips, swallowing the alcohol fast in an attempt to stave off the inevitable burn.

 

“There you go,” Beca said under her breath and Chloe told herself the shiver that ran down her spine was just from the tequila. Nothing else. Beca held up the bottle again. “One more.”

 

“You said that with the last shot.” Despite her refutations, Chloe handed Beca the glass in her hand.

 

Beca smiled to herself as she filled the shot glass one last time. “And I probably mean it with this one.”

 

And really, how was Chloe supposed to say ‘no’ when Beca was being so adorable? Not that she really wanted to anyways.

 

Beca might have been a lightweight, but Chloe could handle her alcohol.

 

What was one more shot?

 

---

 

One more shot, as it turned out, was slightly less manageable than Chloe had anticipated.

 

She had fulfilled her promise to Beca thus far, ensuring that her and Jesse didn’t get caught alone anywhere, but Chloe’s excuses had gotten more flimsy as the night went on. 

 

This most recent time after they found themselves in a group with a couple other people, Jesse being one of them, Chloe simply grabbed Beca’s hand and slipped away without a word. She walked them towards the kitchen, both of them stifling their giggles like they had just gotten away with something.

 

(Chloe didn’t have much of a reason to pull Beca away because they weren’t alone, but she did it nonetheless.)

 

Only dropping Beca’s hand once they reached the kitchen, Chloe walked over to their cupboard to pull out two cups.

 

“No, Chloe, I really don’t need another drink,” Beca groaned.

 

Chloe watched out of the corner of her eye while filling their two cups as Beca rested her head down on the counter, her forehead smushed against the granite. 

 

“I have a feeling you’re gonna like this one.” Chloe set down the full cup in front of Beca. “Drink up.”

 

Beca lifted her head, a big red mark left on the middle of her forehead from the counter, and eyed the cup suspiciously.

 

Chloe’s hand stopped halfway on its journey of bringing her own cup to her mouth. “It’s water, Bec.” 

 

“Oh thank god,” Beca sighed, and Chloe stayed frozen watching her drink all of the water in her cup in record time. Chloe only realized she was still staring when Beca finally looked up at her.

 

Chloe shook her head lightly, smiling to herself as finally drank from her cup. 

 

Beca narrowed her eyes at Chloe, the slow fading red spot in her forehead betraying all of her attempts at looking stern. “What are you smiling at?”

 

“You,” Chloe easily responded, and the way Beca’s eyes seemed to double in size left a warm feeling in her chest. She felt her smile grow even wider, but covered it by taking another sip of water.

 

She loved these moments with Beca.

 

Not just the ones where they were alone, but the ones where Beca seemed unafraid to be silly in a way she hadn’t seen her act with anyone else.

 

The ones where Chloe could be totally and completely honest, knowing that whatever she said, whatever happened, it would all be okay because it was Beca.

 

She hadn’t found a good way to describe what it was that made Beca different from everyone else. Words seemed to fail her in a way they never had before with Beca, and, to Chloe, that said more than any order or amount of words ever could. 

 

She was just Beca.

 

And somehow that made all the difference in the world. 

 

And in that moment, Beca was still looking at her and Chloe felt that warm feeling flood her entire body, slithering up her neck and making it nearly impossible to breathe properly.

 

She hadn’t even said anything. She didn’t need to. It was enough.

 

Right about when Chloe became concerned she would begin to go lightheaded if the moment went on any longer, Stacie walked into the kitchen and it was like the spell was broken.

 

Chloe took a deep breath and looked down at her cup, taking the last few big gulps needed to finish off her own water. She chanced a look at Beca once she finished and found her looking down at her own empty cup with slightly flushed cheeks.

 

Even with how words failed to describe those moments with Beca, Chloe wished they didn’t so maybe she could have a chance to know what Beca was thinking.

 

To know if Beca sometimes felt like she couldn’t breathe when Chloe was around.

 

To know if Beca felt the thick, inexplicable tension in the air that Chloe was too afraid to try and understand alone.

 

To know if Beca wanted to learn where it came from.

 

Together.

 

Stacie closed the cupboard door that she had apparently been rummaging through and set down one of their big plastic bowls on the counter. 

 

Beca was watching her in confusion, but as Stacie began cutting out slips of paper and writing down peoples names, Chloe had a suspicion she knew exactly what was happening.

 

“Oh my god, is this what I think it is?” Chloe asked Stacie. 

 

“You bet your sexy little butt it is.” Stacie wrote Beca’s name down on one of the slips and placed it in the bowl.

 

“Is what what you think it is?” Beca asked, completely lost. Before Beca could figure out what was going on, Chloe grabbed her hand and dragged her back out to the living room. “Oh god, what’s happening?”

 

Chloe smiled to herself, pulling Beca along. “Shh, it’s fun, trust me.”

 

“Where are you taking me?” Beca protested, but she followed Chloe nonetheless. “I don’t even know what’s happening right now.”

 

Amy let out a loud groan as she plopped down into the beanbag chair that she always needed help getting out of because it was too low to the ground. “Seven minutes in heaven, Shorty. Keep up.”

 

Beca turned to Chloe right as she sat down next to Cynthia-Rose on the couch. “Seven minutes in heaven? Chloe.”

 

“Beca.” Chloe mocked her tone and Beca had the audacity to look offended. “Just sit down, nothing bad's gonna happen.”

 

“Why don’t I trust you?” Beca asked.

 

In lieu of a response, Chloe gave Beca a bright smile that she knew did nothing to ease her trepidation and patted the cushion next to where she was sat.

 

Beca might have been complaining about playing seven minutes in heaven, but Chloe knew better. 

 

And more importantly, Chloe knew Beca. 

 

If she didn’t want them to play, she would have been much more vocal about it, citing the birthday excuse more times than Chloe could count before leaving the living room altogether.

 

Chloe knew Beca. 

 

If Beca didn’t want to be there, she wouldn’t.

 

“This literally doesn’t even make sense.” Beca sat heavily down on the couch next to Chloe. “It’s just us and the Trebles.”

 

Really, it shouldn’t have been a space big enough for two people, maybe one-and-a-half, but instead of sitting anywhere else, Beca chose to sit right next to Chloe. Even if it did force her to be squished between the couch’s armrest and Chloe’s side.

 

Not that Chloe was really complaining.

 

Chloe leaned over to whisper in Beca’s ear, not that the distance was very great to begin with. “You can’t seriously tell me there’s not someone here you’ve thought about kissing before?” 

 

Beca turned towards her, leaving them almost nose-to-nose, and Chloe felt that same feeling as before deep in her chest. 

 

The one that only Beca ever seemed to be the cause of.

 

But before Beca could respond, Stacie walked back out into the living room, breaking whatever moment they were having for the second time that night. 

 

“Okay!” Stacie said, addressing the entire room. “As per birthday tradition…”

 

“Again with the tradition,” Beca mumbled to Chloe next to her and Chloe gave her a soft elbow to the ribs.

 

Stacie held the bowl out in front of Beca. 

 

“…Beca gets to pick first.” Beca glared up at Stacie and Stacie wiggled the bowl in front of Beca’s face and threw a wink back down at her. “Happy birthday, babe. Choose wisely.”

 

Beca rolled her eyes, but brought her hand up to pick one of the pieces of paper out of the bowl without any protest. 

 

She wasn’t quite sure why, but Chloe felt nervous as she watched. Beca grabbed a paper and brought it towards her lap. Chloe wasn’t looking down at the paper while Beca opened it, but instead she was watching Beca’s face as she read over the name.

 

Beca tensed up next to her and Chloe could see the brief panic pass over her face. 

 

Chloe looked down at the slip of paper in Beca’s hands and understood exactly what had just happened.

 

Written clear as day in a messy, bold script.

 

Jesse.

 

“C’mon, shawshank, who’d you pick?” Amy asked from the beanbag chair, but neither one of them looked at her.

 

“I-um—” Beca fumbled over her words.

 

Chloe knew she had to do something— anything to save Beca from the potential awkwardness and embarrassment of having to be locked in the hall closet for seven minutes with her ex-boyfriend.

 

She snatched the paper out of Beca’s hands and crumpled it up before anyone else could read what it said.

 

“Wha—” Beca tried to ask, but Chloe didn’t let her finish.

 

Instead, Chloe said the first thing she could think of.

 

“It’s me.”

 

(In retrospect, there might have been better solutions, but it did the trick.

 

And besides, she had a duty as Beca’s best friend that she had all intentions of upholding.)

 

“Ooh, a little bit of captain on captain action,” Amy commented from across the room while a couple other people in the room made their own teasing reactions.

 

Chloe didn’t even think to look at Jesse.

 

Stacie set the bowl down on the table with a grin. “Alright, ladies, if you’d follow me.”

 

The journey to the hall closet wasn’t a long one, but Chloe swore she could have counted each time her heart beat along the way.

 

(She told herself it was the residual adrenaline from Beca nearly having to do this with Jesse.

 

It worked well enough.)

 

Stacie turned around once they reached the closet and Chloe chanced a look at Beca for the first time since saying that she was the one who had been chosen.

 

She was so focused on “fulfilling her duties” that she failed to consider what Beca’s reaction might be.

 

Looking at her didn’t clear anything up, however.

 

Chloe prided herself on being able to know Beca better than anyone else, but that didn’t mean she knew everything .

 

Like this moment, where Beca was looking at Chloe with an expression she couldn’t place, Chloe felt like she didn’t know Beca at all. Like there was still so much left to learn.

 

The look was gone almost as quickly as it came, and Beca was looking at Stacie who Chloe only just realized was speaking.

 

“Chloe, I’m assuming you know the rules, but I'll go over them for our little rascal.” Stacie reached over to ruffle Beca’s hair and Beca swatted her hands away. “The timer starts once the door closes, and the door has to stay closed until the seven minutes are up. You don’t have to kiss, but it’s a great way to pass the time.” Stacie winked at Beca and Chloe had to fight back a laugh at the expression she pulled. “It’s your choice if the lights are on or off.”

 

“On,” Beca interrupted. “Definitely on.”

 

“Relax, B, live a little.” Stacie placed her hand on Beca’s shoulder. “Now get in the closet.”

 

Stacie used her hold on Beca’s shoulder to guide her into the closet. She then used her hand to gesture towards the open door with a flourish as Chloe followed Beca in.

 

Stacie began closing the door behind them, but stopped before she finished. “You two need anything before I start the timer? Chapstick? Condoms?”

 

Beca reached for the door handle and tugged it from Stacie’s grasp to pull the door closed. “Goodbye, Stacie.”

 

However, right before the door closed, Chloe caught Stacie mumbling under her breath, “Someone’s eager.”

 

Chloe smiled to herself at Stacie’s comment and kicking some of the shoes in the closet to the side, clearing up a space on the floor. 

 

“What are you doing?” Beca asked.

 

Once there was enough room, Chloe crouched down, being mindful to not accidentally flash Beca while trying to sit down in her dress. 

 

“Sitting.” She looked up at Beca from her spot on the floor. “You really wanna stand for the next seven minutes?”

 

Beca nodded her head dumbly, and Chloe wondered if it was because she was nervous. “Yeah, fair. Smart.”

 

Beca moved to sit in the small space next to Chloe on the floor, leaning back against the wall of the closet.

 

“So…” Beca held the last syllable far longer than necessary before continuing. “What do you wanna do for the next six-and-a-half minutes?”

 

“Well, there’s the obvious,” Chloe offered, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the eye roll Beca gave in response. She leaned back against the wall and lolled her head over to continue looking at Beca. “For the record, this wasn’t what I had planned for your party.”

 

“You mean getting locked in a closet with me wasn't a part of your master plan for the evening?” Beca teased. “I was starting to think you liked holding me in small spaces with you against my will.”

 

Chloe felt herself smile. “You can’t tell me we didn’t have a good time in your shower.”

 

“You trapped me in there and forced me to sing your ‘lady-jam’.” Beca was obviously trying to go for ‘appalled’ but she was falling somewhere much closer to ‘adorable’.

 

“Yeah. A good time,” Chloe pointed out. “But I wasn’t talking about this”—she gestured around the closet with her hand—“situation. I was talking about your party in general. This was supposed to be Bellas only, but I guess Amy thought that bigger would be better.”

 

“Eh, it’s not so bad.” Beca shrugged. “At least she kept it in the a capella family. And it could be worse, I could be in here with Jesse.”

 

“You’re welcome for that by the way.” Chloe leaned over, not that there was much distance to cover, and bumped into Beca’s side to jostle her slightly. “There’s literally nothing worse than playing seven minutes in heaven with your ex.”

 

Beca let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’ve played this before?”

 

“We did it at almost every party I went to in high school. You haven’t played?”

 

“Do I honestly strike you as the type of person who went to parties and kissed my friends in my free time?”

 

“No,” Chloe considered. “I guess not.”

 

There was a lull in the conversation and Chloe found herself wondering how much time they had left. She wished she had thought to grab her phone, but she left it up in her bedroom because her dress didn’t have pockets—which honestly felt like a crime against both fashion and convenience. 

 

“Is it not weird?” Beca asked after what couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds (something Chloe would have been more sure of if she had some way to carry her phone in her dress.)

 

(Seriously. Dresses with pockets. It’s not that hard.)

 

Chloe turned to Beca and found her looking back expectantly. “What?”

 

“Wanting to kiss your friends,” Beca clarified.

 

Chloe hummed to herself while she considered Beca’s question. “It can be, but only if you let it, I guess. Sometimes you can just let things be uncomplicated.”

 

Beca smiled at Chloe, but one of her eyebrows slowly traveled up her forehead. “Literally everything about that sounds complicated.”

 

Chloe rolled her eyes playfully. “You need to learn how to have more fun.” 

 

Beca let out an indignant scoff. “I can be fun.”

 

Chloe raised her hand to her chest to mimic Beca’s hurt. “I know that,” she insisted. “I’ve seen you spend many nights in front of your computer for hours working on your mixes.” Chloe winked at Beca. “Looks real riveting.”

 

“Bitch,” Beca whispered harshly. “Just because your idea of fun is holding people hostage when they’re vulnerable doesn’t make that a universal experience.”

 

“Do you want me to make you sing right now too, because I'm sure we could figure something out.”

 

Beca smirked and Chloe barely had time to prepare for her response. “We aren’t wearing too many clothes for your standards right now?”

 

Chloe had to bite back a smile.

 

Beca was teasing.

 

It certainly wasn’t the first time, but it also wasn’t something that she did often, so when Beca did play along Chloe couldn’t help but to take advantage of the situation.

 

Chloe scooted closer to Beca, dropping her voice slightly. “Again, I think we could figure something out.”

 

“Again,” Beca goaded, and Chloe felt her chest grow inexplicably tight, “that’s more your idea of fun, not mine.”

 

“Well then…” Chloe leaned impossibly closer to Beca, enough so that she could feel Beca’s breath on her cheek. “By all means, Beca, show me how you have fun.”

 

Looking back, Chloe should have realized the implications of what she said. Should have had at least one single moment of forethought dedicated to understanding that she practically asked for this to happen.

 

But in the moment, Chloe was nothing but surprised when Beca closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to Chloe’s.

 

It was soft and gentle and had caught Chloe entirely off guard.

 

It was also brief. 

 

Almost as quickly as Beca had kissed her, she pulled away, looking like she was just as shocked as Chloe by what she had done. Beca opened her mouth to apologize, but Chloe didn’t let her get the words out. 

 

Instead, Chloe kissed her.

 

It took Beca a moment to kiss her back, but once she did, Chloe felt like her world had been upturned.

 

To put it plainly, Beca was a seriously good kisser.

 

(She wasn’t one to brag, but Chloe had been told one multiple occasions how good of a kisser she herself was, so she felt more than qualified to think such a statement.)

 

Chloe had to choke back her gasp when Beca’s tongue brushed the seam of her lips.

 

Oh. 

 

So that’s how Beca wanted to play this.

 

Well, two could play at this game.

 

Chloe parted her lips, but instead of granting Beca the access she had been asking for, she pushed forwards, licking into her mouth. 

 

Beca was the one to make the first noise, a small groan at the back of her throat that came right after a breathy gasp that Chloe  definitely wasn’t going to forget the sound of any time soon. 

 

That one small noise, that little bit of confirmation that Beca was enjoying this, lit a fire deep in Chloe’s chest. 

 

She brought her hand up to the back of Beca’s neck and used her hold to dictate the angle of Beca’s head. Before Chloe could use the new angle to her advantage, Beca’s tongue was in her mouth quick enough that Chloe knew it had to be in retaliation.

 

And the thought excited her.

 

She couldn’t hold back her gasp this time when Beca’s hand brushed the top of her thigh, fingertips just under the hem of her dress. And Beca stayed there, forcing Chloe to realize the purposefulness of the action. 

 

Chloe felt like she was losing her mind. 

 

The very mind that chose that very moment to fill in quite a few blanks of the different things Beca could do with her hand if she only slid around to the inside of her thigh and slightly higher.

 

Which was an entirely inappropriate thought to have about her best friend, but Chloe couldn’t help herself.

 

Certainly not while Beca’s thumb was brushing back and forth against the bare skin of her thigh and her tongue was busy meeting Chloe’s own stroke for stroke in what was undoubtedly one of the best kisses Chloe had ever experienced.

 

A knock on the closet door startled them both apart and for a moment there Chloe had forgotten about the party. 

 

For a moment, it was just her and Beca.

 

“One minute warning, lovebirds.” It was Stacie and her timing that seemed to be just spot-on all night long.

 

“Fuck,” Beca cursed under her breath, and thanks to the lights Beca had insisted they keep on, Chloe could see a light blush dusting her cheeks.

 

She could only imagine that she herself was in a similar state.

 

Chloe heard herself let out an awkward, breathy laugh before she could stop herself. “Yeah.”

 

“We should probably…” Beca trailed off, gesturing around the room unhelpfully while pointedly avoiding eye contact with Chloe.

 

Chloe nodded her head slowly. “Yup.”

 

Beca stood up off the floor, reaching for Chloe once she was standing. She helped Chloe up off the closet floor, once again being mindful of her dress. Somehow having a fashion faux pas seemed even more mortifying after having Beca’s tongue down her throat just a minute ago. 

 

“Thanks.” Chloe hated how breathless she sounded, but could do nothing to stop it.

 

“Wait.” Beca pointed to Chloe’s mouth and then gestured to her own. “You have some lipstick.”

 

“Oh.” Chloe used her hand to wipe around her lips, hoping the blush burning on her cheeks wasn’t too noticeable. “Did I get it?”

 

The chuckle Beca gave in response was enough of an answer for Chloe. “Almost.” Beca lifted her hand up towards Chloe’s face. “Can I?”

 

Chloe nodded her head, untrusting of her own voice.

 

When Beca’s hand found her cheek, cradling it gently, Chloe was almost positive she was going to be kissed again. 

 

Her lungs were burning as Beca’s thumb brushed against her bottom lip and only then did Chloe realize she was holding her breath. With the slightest bit of pressure, Beca tugged Chloe’s lip, causing her to release an airy sigh that, to her own ears, sounded entirely too desperate.

 

Beca used her hold on Chloe’s cheek to tilt her chin upwards, her thumb this time swiping right underneath Chloe’s, most assuredly, swollen bottom lip. 

 

Chloe looked down as Beca pulled her hand back, the pad of her thumb now colored ‘Kiss N Tell’ pink.

 

Before Chloe had the opportunity to do something stupid, like follow her impulses and grab Beca to kiss her again with abandon, Beca took a step backwards.

 

Beca opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to think better of it and stopped herself. She took about two seconds to look around the closet and took a deep breath before finally deciding to address Chloe. “Um, thanks.”

 

“For kissing you?” Chloe asked, her heart racing.

 

Beca’s eyes widened. “No,” she squeaked out before clearing her throat. “No, that was—yeah.” Chloe knew exactly what she meant. “But, um, thanks for making my birthday fun. I, uh, I’ve had a really good time tonight.”

 

“Oh.” That was probably the last thing Chloe had expected to hear. Honestly, up until that point, Chloe was worried Beca would have described her birthday as anything but fun. “Me too.”

 

Beca looked like she was going to say something else, but Stacie—again, impeccable timing on her part—chose that very moment to open up the door to the closet.

 

“You two have a good time getting frisky?” Stacie asked as soon as the door was fully open.

 

Chloe couldn’t help the onslaught of memories brought on by that one single sentence.

 

Ones involving the warmth of Beca’s body pressed against hers

 

Ones involving Beca’s hand on her thigh.

 

Ones involving Beca’s tongue in her mouth doing sinful things that Chloe was almost positive she could still taste.

 

Beca walked out of the closet, purposely bumping Stacie with her shoulder as she passed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

 

“Yes.” Stacie turned on her heel to face Beca. “Yes, I would.”

 

Beca only made it a couple of steps before looking back at Chloe who had yet to move from her spot. “You coming, Chlo?”

 

“Yeah.” Chloe took a deep breath and nodded, hoping her smile looked confident enough. “Yes.” She walked out of the closet and looped her arm through Beca’s to walk back into the living room.

 

It was just a drunk kiss with her best friend.

 

Hell, it wasn’t even the first time Chloe had been in a situation exactly like this one before, and nothing about those kisses was ever complicated.

 

Who’s to say this would be any different?

Notes:

thanks for reading! <3

here is my tumblr if you want updates about this or other fics or whatever (and i have been known to post sneak peeks from time to time too)

Chapter 2

Summary:

it’s been a month since they kissed and chloe is acting totally normal. definitely not acting weird at all!

Notes:

this took way longer than i expected it to due to a multitude of unrelated circumstances but it’s finally here!! hopefully time is kind and we won’t have to wait so long for the next chapter. <3

“Why do I feel like you’re always trying to convince me to do something I don’t wanna do?”

 

Chloe grabbed Beca’s hand, pulling her down the stairs towards the living room. “Because I know you secretly love it.”

 

Beca stomped her feet on each and every stair, but followed Chloe nonetheless. “I’m not sure what part of me complaining the entire time makes you think I enjoy it.”

 

“Remember how much you complained on your birthday?” Chloe stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Beca. “I know for a fact that you had fun anyways.”

 

Beca glared down at her. “I almost had to play seven minutes in heaven in Jesse.”

 

“But you didn’t.” Chloe stepped back up onto the stair next to Beca, lowering her voice so no other Bellas could overhear. “And very shortly after you made sure to tell me exactly how much fun you had.”

 

“Whatever,” Beca grumbled. She walked past Chloe as soon as the smirk on her face grew without any signs of stopping. “That was different.” 

 

Chloe followed Beca into the living room with a smile. Jessica and Ashley were both on the floor in front of the TV setting up the DVD player they had found at Goodwill that always seemed to give them trouble.

 

Anytime someone suggested buying a new one, Jessica would look at them with big, sad eyes, saying if they didn’t use this old DVD player, then no one else ever would and it would just go to waste in a landfill for the rest of time.

 

So, they used this one. Even if it meant that thirty minutes of their weekly movie night was dedicated to trying to get the TV to play anything but static. Usually, the time was well spent getting together popcorn and enough blankets for everyone, but Chloe was tasked with convincing Beca to watch with them.

 

Beca always protested.

 

Chloe always won.

 

Still, somehow, Beca kept on trying.

 

Beca sat down on the couch heavily. “I don’t even like movies.”

 

(The amount of times Chloe had heard Beca use that very excuse was almost astounding.)

 

“And yet,” Chloe pointed out as she sat down next to Beca, “you still watch with us every week. So, either you do like movies or you just wanna spend time with us.”

 

“Or there’s some crazy redhead who keeps forcing me to do stuff with her against my will.” Beca tapped her chin with her finger in feigned contemplation. “My money’s on that one.”

 

“Aha!” Jessica exclaimed triumphantly when the TV finally registered the DVD. “Got it.”

 

Chloe scooted closer to Beca on the couch to make room for both Jessica and Ashley to fit. “What are we watching?”

 

Jessica looked over Ashley at Chloe with big smile. “Notting Hill.”

 

Chloe gasped. “Ooh, I love this movie.”

 

Beca closed her eyes and rested her head back on top of the couch cushion. “Is this gonna be like Downton Abbey or those other Jane Austin movies you made me watch?”

 

“First of all, Downton Abbey isn’t Jane Austin.”

 

“Old-timey British people who fall in love,” Beca pointed out with her eyes still closed.

 

“Second of all,” Chloe continued as if she had never been interrupted, “Notting Hill is completely different.” She turned her body towards Beca, even though she wasn’t looking. “Julia Roberts plays a famous actress who goes to England—”

 

Beca opened one of her eyes to look at Chloe. “So there are more British people.”

 

“Stop.” Chloe reached out to pinch Beca’s thigh and Beca’s hand blindly swatted in her direction. “She goes to England and meets this bookstore owner played by Hugh Grant and they kiss and they fall in love and it’s beautiful and heartbreaking because they’re from two completely different worlds and—”

 

“Oh my god, slow down, Chlo,” Beca chuckled as she picked up her head. “You don’t wanna spoil the whole movie for me.”

 

“So you are gonna stay?” Chloe asked.

 

“I have a feeling if I don’t, you’ll hunt me down and force me somehow.”

 

“We both know I can be very convincing when I want to be.” And in case Beca somehow wasn’t able to pick up on the obvious innuendo, Chloe made sure to punctuate her statement with a wink to help her point across.

 

Beca scrunched up her nose and Chloe knew she had done well enough. “Ew.”

 

Chloe giggled at Beca’s reaction. She grabbed one of the multitude of blankets that lived on their couch to cover both hers and Beca’s laps. As much as Beca would deny it until the day she died, Chloe knew she liked to be cozy. (Chloe also knew that, given the right circumstances, Beca wasn’t opposed to a slight bit of cuddling, but those instances usually only came behind closed doors.)

 

As soon as the blanket was covering them, Beca’s leg shifted over to the right. While Chloe was almost positive the action was done with little intent, she was less sure of herself when Beca’s thigh pressed into hers and didn’t immediately retreat. Chloe took the touch as an invitation. She scooted closer to Beca and interlocked their arms. Beca rolled her eyes, but Chloe caught sight of the slight upwards tilt of her lips.

 

She would have commented on how adorable Beca was being if given the chance, but the other Bellas had begun trickling in and finding their spots. They were now only waiting on Stacie and Flo to finish popping the popcorn in the kitchen.

 

As the room began filling with Bellas Chloe couldn’t help but smile. 

 

Amy was down in her beanbag chair and Lily was sitting on the hardwood floor by the couch, neither one of them looked particularly comfortable, but they both seemed to be perfectly content. Cynthia-Rose was sitting on the other side of Jessica and Ashley in the chair Chloe had found at a garage sale her sophomore year, trying to get the remote to work for the DVD player. Stacie and Flo had come out with multiple bowls of popcorn divided up for them all to share and began passing them out.

 

Ever since Aubrey graduated, Chloe had felt like there was an irreplaceable and irreparable hole in her heart as well as the Bellas house. It felt like there was always something missing. Moments like these, however, Chloe didn’t feel that empty longing that had been left behind. Moments like these, with them all together, laughing and bonding as sisters, Chloe’s heart never felt more full. 

 

And when Beca’s fingers began tapping out a rhythm against the underside of her wrist, Chloe knew that the person next to her played a large part in that.

 

Cynthia-Rose began smacking the back of the remote against the palm of her hand after multiple failed attempts to get it working. 

 

“Here, give it to me.” Jessica reached for the remote. “You gotta get the sweet spot.” Cynthia-Rose handed over the remote and Jessice held it over her head, tilting it about ninety degrees to the left, and somehow it finally registered and the movie began playing. “Ah, there. See, we don’t need a new one, this one works fine.”

 

“Yeah, it works for you now,” Cynthia-Rose grumbled, “but it’s broken when anyone else looks at it wrong.” 

 

Jessica gently set the remote on the coffee table and leaned back into Ashley’s side. “You have to learn how to give her some respect.”

 

“Respect?” Cynthia-Rose asked, eyes wide.

 

Amy turned her head around to look at Jessica behind her. “Her?”

 

“Shhh,” Stacie shushed them all, “the movie’s starting.”

 

It was hard for them to stay quiet during movie nights. Some weeks there would only be some intermediate whispering, while others would spiral into full on debates. 

 

(They had yet to make it all of the way through Twilight without at least one of them complaining about how much of a creep they thought Edward was.) (And Jacob.)

 

Chloe couldn’t help herself from gripping Beca during all of her favorite parts and squealing with Stacie and Jessica each time the main characters shared a kiss. 

 

Whatever. She was a sucker for a classic rom-com.

 

Chloe felt herself growing jittery as the movie played on. She knew one of her favorite parts was coming up and she couldn’t help herself. There was a reason she loved this movie.

 

She watched on the screen as Julia Roberts’ character, Anna, confessed to William how she felt.

 

Chloe leaned over to whisper in Beca’s ear. “This is my favorite part.”

 

“Then maybe you should be quiet so I can actually hear.” Beca’s tone may have led someone else to believe that she was irritated, but Chloe caught her small, almost imperceptible smile.

 

Chloe scooted impossibly closer to Beca and caught her bottom lip between her teeth as William began to speak on the screen. 

 

“The thing is, with you… I'm in real danger. I-It seems like a perfect situation—apart from that foul temper of yours—but my relatively inexperienced heart would, I fear, not recover, if I was once again cast aside, as I would absolutely expect to be. Uh, there are just too many pictures of you. Too many films. You’d go and I’d be, uh, well buggered, basically.”

 

“That really is a real no, isn't it?” Anna said with a sad smile. 

 

Chloe tightened her grip on Beca’s arm.

 

“I live in Notting Hill. You live in Beverly Hills,” Chloe watched William explain to Anna. “Everyone in the world knows who you are. My mother has trouble remembering my name.”

 

Chloe squeezed again and Beca’s arm shifted underneath her. She didn’t think much of the action until she felt Beca’s hand brush her thigh. 

 

And stay there. 

 

That action itself wasn’t a very scandalous one. Most likely, Beca only moved her hand as a subtle cue to Chloe that she was holding on too tight, but it was enough to make Chloe feel like she couldn’t breathe.

 

Her head moved to the side towards Beca, and when she turned to face her, she found herself already being looked at.

 

“Fine.” Chloe could still hear the TV in the background. “Fine.” She could probably have recited this scene from memory with how many times she’d seen it. “Good decision.” But for the first time, Chloe wasn’t watching the screen in front of her. “Good decision.” Chloe was only looking at one thing. 

 

One person.

 

She was only looking at Beca.

 

Beca, who was looking right back at her with an expression Chloe couldn’t place.

 

Beca, whose gaze seemed to be drifting down Chloe’s face and towards her lips.

 

It had been a month of not talking about the kiss. A month in which Chloe was left wondering if the moment they shared in their hall closet meant as much to Beca as it did to her.

 

It had been a month, and Chloe finally had her confirmation. 

 

Right at that very moment, Beca was thinking about kissing her.

 

And Chloe wanted nothing more than to kiss her back.

 

On the TV that Chloe was busy ignoring, Anna continued talking to William. “The fame thing isn’t really real, you know.” And right in front of her, Beca’s lips parted as she took a deep breath and her fingers gripped Chloe’s thigh. “And don’t forget,” Chloe felt herself leaning in. She couldn’t help it. Not when Beca was looking at her like that. “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” 

 

Someone cleared their throat behind Chloe, probably Amy given the volume, and it was enough to shake Chloe out of whatever trance Beca had somehow put her under.

 

Chloe stood up, forcing Beca’s hand off of her thigh as the blanket fell way to the floor. Beca looked up at her. Chloe knew she needed an excuse, and fast. She looked at the bowl on the coffee table that had been empty for the last twenty minutes. 

 

“Popcorn.”

 

Beca’s eyebrows furrowed deeper. “What?”

 

“You want more popcorn? I think we need more popcorn.” Chloe grabbed the bowl off the table in a movement that felt entirely too rigid to be passed off as casual. “I’m gonna go get some more popcorn.”

 

“I…” Beca trailed off, confused. “Okay?”

 

Chloe walked towards the kitchen with the bowl in hand, allowing herself to take a deep breath only once she was sure that she was completely out of sight. 

 

She set the bowl down on the counter and went to the pantry to grab another bag of microwave popcorn. She opened up the package, placed it in the microwave, and turned it on.

 

Chloe rested both of her palms on the counter in front of her, letting her head hang listlessly while she closed her eyes in an attempt to gather her thoughts.

 

She didn't know what had gotten into her. 

 

One second she was sitting on the couch watching a movie, and the next she only moments away from grabbing Beca and kissing her like there was no tomorrow. 

 

Teasing was one thing—Chloe could handle teasing—follow-through was something else entirely.

 

It wasn’t that Chloe was scared of the follow-through, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

 

If anything, Chloe was scared that she didn’t feel scared at all.

 

Scared of the fact that if Beca had leaned forwards and kissed her, Chloe would have kissed her back, right there on the couch in front of all of their friends without any hesitation or forethought.

 

Kissing Beca wasn’t scary. The implications behind the action, however, were absolutely terrifying. 

 

Chloe shook her head to try and clear her thoughts, taking another deep breath. 

 

Everything was fine. Her and Beca were friends. Who had kissed. Once.

 

It wasn't going to happen again, and that was fine. Beca was just a really, really good kisser. It made sense that Chloe was thinking about it. It was an enjoyable experience with her friend, an enjoyable experience that she would never be able to recreate. 

 

Ever. 

 

And Chloe was okay with that. 

 

A once in a lifetime kiss. With Beca. Platonically.

 

That was so totally fine. 

 

Chloe jumped when the microwave went off. She quickly pulled out the bag of popcorn and opened it up, pouring the contents into the bowl she had brought to the kitchen. Her hands were still slightly shaky, but she managed to make most of the popcorn into the bowl, only losing a couple pieces to the floor.  

 

Wiping her hands on the front of her thighs to ensure that her palms were no longer sweaty, Chloe grabbed the bowl and walked back out into the living room.

 

All she had to do was pull herself together like she hadn’t just been thinking about pinning Beca to the couch and kissing her with abandon. 

 

Easy. She could do that.

 

“You okay?” Beca whispered to her once she sat back down.

 

“Never better.” But Beca didn't look totally convinced. “I’m fine,” Chloe insisted. Everything was fine. Chloe pointed at the TV, not even bothering to pay attention to which scene was playing. “Keep watching, this part is so good.”

 

---

 

As with their weekly movie nights, Beca and Chloe had a special routine of their own that took place once the credits had finished rolling.

 

Every week Beca found her way into Chloe’s bed wearing a borrowed pair of Chloe’s pajamas.

 

And every week Chloe would wake up in the morning and find Beca still in the bed next to her.

 

It started after Beca had fallen asleep on the couch one too many times, claiming that the attic was much too far away, and ended up with a kink in her neck that she refused to let Chloe work out.

 

Convincing Beca to sleep in her room wasn’t easy work, but as soon as her head hit Chloe’s pillow, Beca usually slept perfectly sound until the morning.

 

That morning was no exception.

 

“Bec.” Chloe reached out to gently shake Beca’s shoulder. “Beca,” she tried again, shaking with more force. Beca groaned and grabbed Chloe’s covers to pull over her face. “We gotta get up now or we’re gonna be late.”

 

“For what?” Beca’s voice was muffled under Chloe’s blankets.

 

Chloe lifted the edge of her duvet to peek down at Beca whose face was hidden behind a messy curtain of hair. “We have rehearsal.”

 

Part of the reason they had a weekly movie night was to ensure that everyone would be home the night before for their Friday morning rehearsals. Fridays were the only day that none of them had any morning classes, so Beca and Chloe decided to monopolize on the time. It wasn’t easy getting all of their schedules to line up with classes and other extracurricular activities, and while it was less than ideal, it worked. For the most part. Barring the fact that Beca was most definitely not a morning person.

 

Beca groaned again and brushed her hair out of her face to look Chloe in the eyes. “We’re the captains. Let’s just cancel.”

 

“We’re not gonna cancel,” Chloe admonished.

 

“Fine.” Beca pulled the blankets back and rested her head on Chloe’s pillow with more force than necessary. “Then I’m skipping.”

 

“Beca.”

 

Beca closed her eyes tight. “No.”

 

“Beca.” Chloe was grateful Beca’s eyes weren’t on her so she couldn’t see the smile betraying the firmness of her tone. “Don’t make me do it.”

 

Beca’s expression dropped. Wide eyes stared up at Chloe as she did her best to look as serious as possible. “You wouldn’t.”

 

Chloe began moving her hands towards Beca’s ribs. “How sure are you about that?”

 

Among countless others, one of Chloe’s favorite things that she had learned about Beca was the fact that she was unbelievably ticklish. 

 

One brush of Chloe’s fingers at the perfect spot on her side was all it took and Beca was squirming towards the edge of the bed, failing at all attempts to push Chloe away from her while unable to scream over her laughter.

 

Beca wiggled further from Chloe as she tickled her right in the sweet spot. “Wait, no,” she gasped out between her laughs. “Chloe, I’m about to—” Before Chloe had a chance to react in any way, Beca was gone, falling off the mattress and onto the floor beside the bed. “Ow.”

 

Chloe gasped and leaned over the edge of the bed. “I'm so sorry.”

 

Beca glared up at her. “You’re evil, that’s what you are.”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I think you broke my butt.” Beca took a deep, dramatic sigh. “Oh no, guess we have to cancel practice.”

 

Chloe rolled her eyes playfully. Even with her fall, Beca’s sense of humor seemed to remain unscathed. “Stop. You're fine.”

 

“Wow,” Beca said disbelievingly. “One second ago you were concerned, now you don’t care about me or my butt.”

 

Chloe’s smile easily slipped into a smirk. “Oh, I definitely have a lot of feelings about your butt.”

 

The comment was a slight misfire, but Chloe knew she had at least hit the target with the way Beca’s nose immediately scrunched.

 

“Gross,” she said under her breath.

 

Chloe got up from the bed and stood over Beca. “C’mon.” She reached her hand down towards Beca when she didn’t move. “Up.”

 

Beca rolled her eyes, but placed her hand in Chloe’s and allowed herself to be helped up from the floor. “When did you get so bossy?”

 

“Why?” Chloe pulled Beca closer and lowered her voice. “Do you like it?”

 

“No.”

 

“Too bad.” Chloe grabbed Beca’s shoulders and turned her around. Using her hold on Beca, Chloe—gently—began pushing her out of the room and towards the hallway, giving a swift swat to her ass once she crossed the threshold. “Get a move on, hot stuff.”

 

“Bossy,” Beca muttered under her breath. 

 

“Brat,” Chloe countered and Beca’s jaw immediately dropped as she turned back to look at Chloe. “Go get ready, I love you!” she called out, closing the door right in Beca’s shocked face.

 

Only once her cheeks began to ache did Chloe realize that she was standing there grinning at her closed door where Beca used to be. She gained the willpower to move her feet over towards her closet, but did nothing to fight off her smile. 

 

Beca made her happy. 

 

Happier than anyone else had.

 

Happier than she had ever really been before.

 

Which said a lot because Chloe was a generally happy person. Sure, she still felt anger and sadness and a wide variety of emotions like everyone else, but happiness was like Chloe’s thing. 

 

And when it came to Beca—as long as she ignored the terrifying, suffocating feeling that she got in her chest whenever Beca touched her, or spoke to her, or even just looked at her for too long—Chloe had never been happier.

 

Chloe’s smile remained firmly in place while she got dressed for rehearsal, and stayed there as she made her way down the hall to the bathroom. 

 

She went through her routine, opening up the door to the bathroom partway through so the other girls could come and go as they needed—two and a half bathrooms really wasn’t enough for all nine of them.

 

Chloe was just finishing up with putting her hair up in a bun to keep it out of her face during rehearsal, when she saw a body appear in the doorway in her periphery.

 

“What song?” 

 

Beca.

 

Chloe stole a glance to the side at her before continuing with her hair. “Sorry?”

 

“You’re humming,” Beca explained. “What song is it?”

 

“Oh.” Chloe hadn’t even realized she was doing anything. “I don’t know. I guess I'm just in a good mood today.” Chloe pulled two strands of hair out of her bun to frame her face. Her eyes flicked over to Beca in the mirror who was still standing in the doorway watching her. “Did you need something?”

 

“Oh, yeah, right.” Beca crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Did I leave my phone in your room? I can’t find it.”

 

“Um, maybe?” Chloe squinted her eyes at Beca and found a hazy memory of where she had last seen Beca’s phone. “I think I remember seeing it on the table next to my bed.”

 

“Cool, thanks.” Beca flashed Chloe a pair of finger-guns—a certified Mitchell special—and turned back down the hall towards Chloe’s bedroom.

 

Once alone, Chloe looked back at her reflection and found herself smiling again. 

 

Chloe made her way downstairs to the living room where some of the other Bellas were waiting. They usually all walked to rehearsals together considering they were all going to the same place, but most mornings they were waiting on at least one person who was lagging behind. 

 

Grabbing her bag out of the hall closet, Chloe was bombarded with a multitude of different memories regarding the last time she had been in that very closet with Beca. Chloe willed the rush of heat that had flooded her to dissipate and closed the closet door behind herself.

 

Normally she would ready her bag in the closet, but this past month she had been doing it on the floor of their entryway. 

 

Stacie walked up to Chloe while she was checking to make sure she had everything she needed for rehearsal. “Where’s your better half?”

 

Chloe looked around the room to find only Beca missing. “Oh, uh, she was looking for her phone.” She zipped her bag closed and stood up. “I’ll go check on her.”

 

“Good plan,” Amy commented from the couch, but Chloe was already halfway up the stairs. “She’s so small she might have gotten lost up there.” 

 

Chloe walked into her bedroom and found herself almost colliding with Beca barely two steps into the room.

 

“Oop.” She expected Beca to take a step backwards, but she didn’t. Beca stayed standing right in front of her, leaving them practically chest to chest. “Hi.”

 

“Hi,” Beca said, slightly breathless.

 

Chloe knew that whatever was going on probably qualified as an invasion at least of their personal spaces, but if Beca wasn’t going to move, neither was she.

 

“Did you find your phone?” Chloe asked as nonchalantly as she could manage, even while her feet itched to move. 

 

Beca patted her pocket where, presumably, she had placed her phone. “Yeah, it was…um,” she trailed off. Chloe watched her close her eyes and gesture towards her nightstand.

 

Chloe smiled. “Right where I said it was?”

 

Beca nodded her head slowly. She opened her eyes and they found Chloe’s again in an action so quick that it must have been instinctual. “Yeah.” 

 

“We should probably head out.” Chloe tilted her head towards the door, still making no efforts to move. “Might look bad if both the captains are late for rehearsals.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Beca finally took a step backwards and Chloe felt like she could breathe again. 

 

Chloe moved out of the way when Beca walked towards the open door and allowed herself a moment to catch her breath that she wasn’t fully aware of when she’d lost.

 

The moment of reprieve didn’t last long, however, as Beca was moving towards her again.

 

“Chloe?” Beca asked, and something about the tone of her voice caused Chloe’s heart to skip a beat.

 

“Yeah?”

 

Beca continued moving towards her, leaving them closer than before.

 

Chloe knew exactly why she couldn’t breathe now.

 

And when Beca’s hand appeared on her waist, Chloe’s breath caught in her throat as she tried to gasp, but couldn’t quite complete the task.

 

The touch was almost gentle enough that Chloe couldn’t feel it, but it still managed to burn her skin through the fabric of her shirt. 

 

Beca licked her lips and suddenly Chloe felt like she was breathing much too fast for what the situation entailed. “Can I—”

 

“Yes,” Chloe sighed reverently, wrapping her arm around the back of Beca’s neck and pulling her in until their lips met. 

 

In reality, Chloe had no way of knowing if Beca had been asking to kiss her. Her sentence could have had any multitude of different endings, none of which Chloe would ever know.

 

Because Beca’s mouth was far too busy with something much more important.

 

Beca sighed into the kiss as her other hand found Chloe’s waist. She gripped Chloe tightly and pulled their bodies flush against one another. Chloe cradled Beca’s cheek with her free hand and echoed the soft noise that escaped Beca’s throat with one of her own. 

 

Kissing Beca was unlike anything Chloe had experienced before. 

 

It didn’t feel like a prelude or introduction to something bigger and better. There wasn’t a rush to go further, to reach the finish line and find some sort of relief.

 

Kissing Beca was the main event.

 

And Chloe was sure that under different circumstances she would’ve stayed there all day if it meant Beca would never stop kissing her like this.

 

But they didn’t have all day. In reality, they didn’t even have the few minutes lost in the daze that Beca seemed to have pulled her into.

 

With a great deal of effort, Chloe pulled her lips away from Beca, unable to muster enough willpower to move much further than a couple centimeters away.

 

“We should probably go,” Chloe whispered breathlessly. “The girls are waiting for us downstairs.”

 

“Yeah,” Beca sighed against her lips. “Yeah, you’re right. Just… Just one more.”

 

And when Beca was speaking to her like that, with heavy breath and light words, how could Chloe ever say no?

 

It wasn’t a great distance to cover, Beca’s lips had barely even left hers while they spoke, but Chloe couldn’t help herself. She leaned back in the rest of the way and allowed their lips to reconnect.

 

Beca’s tongue brushed her bottom lip and a choked sound left Chloe’s throat while parting her lips to give her the entrance she desired. Kissing Beca, Chloe was learning, was also maddening. Beca knew what she was doing. She kissed Chloe with a confidence she had never encountered before, and it left Chloe helpless to do anything but allow herself to fall prey to whatever she had planned.

 

A small part of Chloe was screaming at her, asking her what this was, what this meant, but she couldn’t hear it over the rumbling in her ears and the beating of her heart. 

 

And when Beca pulled away with a shaky exhale, that sound was the only one left echoing in Chloe’s mind. 

 

Beca took a step backwards and Chloe’s hands fell from around her shoulders. The distance was necessary, Chloe knew that, but it didn’t mean she was particularly happy about it.

 

Beca brought her hand up to her face, wiping at the corners of her mouth with her thumb. She looked up at Chloe with a small, almost shy smile. “Ready?”

 

Chloe tore her eyes away from where they had fallen to Beca’s red and swollen lips. “Huh?”

 

Beca smirked softly at her. “Rehearsal?” she offered. “You ready to go?”

 

Chloe sighed out a laugh and shook her head. “No.”

 

“Me neither.” Chloe had no way of knowing if Beca was referring to the early hour or the axis-tipping, earth-shattering, life-altering kiss they just shared. She let herself believe the latter. Beca gestured towards the stairs. “Lead the way?”

 

Chloe nodded her head and began her descent down the stairs. She didn’t dare look, but Chloe could feel Beca following her.

 

Every step, right behind her, close enough to touch, but just far enough away.

 

The memory of how close they had been mere moments before plagued Chloe’s thoughts without permission. God, how she wished she could turn them both around and march right back up the stairs and push Beca behind a closed door with no further interruptions. 

 

Their staircase had never felt longer, but as Chloe reached the last stair, she wished she could have had more time to prepare. She knew there was no way the girls could have known what they were doing, but Chloe felt her cheeks burning nonetheless.

 

She felt like she had “I just made out with Beca Mitchell” plastered across her forehead.

 

Chloe clapped her hands and picked up her bag off the floor. She walked towards the front door without another look at the other Bellas. “Alright, ladies, let’s get a move on!”

 

---

 

Chloe wasn’t avoiding Beca during rehearsal.

 

If she practically speed walked to the auditorium at the front of the group, that was just because she didn’t want them to be late.

 

And if she immediately led the girls in doing laps without taking the time to check in with Beca before they started, that was because she was trying to make up for two minutes they had lost on the walk over.

 

And if she was watching Beca from all the way across the room while she ran through the choreography with Stacie, she just wanted to make sure that Beca had the moves down.

 

And, god, did she ever.

 

The move they were currently practicing was essentially a modified bend-and-snap maneuver that Beca had no business looking that good while doing. Chloe couldn’t take her eyes off of Beca, which quickly proved to be a problem as she neglected to look where she was going and walked right into the whiteboard they kept at the front of the auditorium with their rehearsal schedule. 

 

The collision was more noisy than it was painful, and Chloe knew that the only thing she had really bruised was her ego. And probably her elbow. 

 

And yet, Beca was by her side in what seemed like an instant. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, no, yeah, I’m all good.” Chloe rubbed her sore elbow and Beca immediately began looking her up and down for any other injuries. “Just wasn’t looking where I was going, I guess.” She plastered a smile on her face that she hoped was convincing (the look on Beca’s face told her otherwise). Chloe patted the whiteboard in front of her. “Did we move this?”

 

Beca looked back-and-forth between Chloe and the whiteboard a couple times. “No, I'm pretty sure this is where we always put it.” 

 

“Huh.” Chloe squinted her eyes at the whiteboard. She could have sworn that it was normally at least half a foot over to the left. “Weird.”

 

Beca opened her mouth to speak and Chloe’s heart skipped a beat. She didn’t give Beca a chance to say whatever she had planned, which in all honesty could have had something to do with what they had planned for rehearsal, instead walking back towards the rest of the Bellas. 

 

She felt bad for avoiding Beca after essentially attacking her with her mouth just an hour ago, but she had no idea how to even begin to tackle a conversation like that. Trying to explain her actions to Beca felt like something out of an embarrassing nightmare. 

 

So, it was rehearsal as normal.

 

Or as normal as Chloe could manage without talking to Beca.

 

Sure, it was difficult to keep from speaking to her co-captain, but her and Beca had mostly gotten their schedule down to a science and could run through rehearsal with little issue.

 

Once rehearsal was over, Chloe took her time cleaning up the auditorium while the other Bellas began packing up and heading back to the house. 

 

She wasn’t stalling.

 

She just wanted to be thorough, and if being thorough involved spending the past five minutes erasing the whiteboard until it was spotless, then so be it.

 

Okay, maybe she was stalling a little bit.

 

Chloe had been trying so hard to get through rehearsal that neglected to think about what would happen afterwards.

 

If she went home right now with everyone else, that would also mean she went home with Beca. The thought caused Chloe’s heart to race. 

 

No, she couldn’t do that.

 

Obviously she couldn’t be trusted to not throw herself at Beca at any given moment, the last twenty-four hours had shown her that more times that she could count.

 

Chloe wished she could say that she didn’t know why she felt this way, but she did. It was all because of Beca.

 

Beca, and her her stupidly amazing kissing abilities.

 

Beca, who Chloe had quite literally been unable to stop thinking about for the past month.

 

Beca, who was standing right behind her. 

 

“Chlo?” She asked over Chloe’s shoulder. 

 

Due to the general lack of noise in the auditorium, Chloe knew they were alone.

 

Exactly what she had been trying to keep from happening.

 

“Hmm?” Chloe hummed her reply without turning away from the board.

 

“Chloe, can you just—” Beca took the eraser from Chloe’s hands. “Okay, yeah, that’s clean enough.”

 

“Sorry.” Chloe wiped her unexpectedly sweaty palms on the front of her leggings. She desperately needed to put some space between her and Beca and walked towards the piano. “What’s up?”

 

Her attempt at distance was futile as Beca followed closely behind. “Do we need to talk about it?”

 

“Talk about what?” Chloe grabbed her water bottle off of the piano and hoped her voice sounded steady enough to not give Beca any reason to worry.

 

Not that there was a reason to worry.

 

Everything was totally fine.

 

“Our kiss. Kisses.” Beca gestured between the two of them. “The fact that me and you have kissed.”

 

“Oh.” Chloe took a sip of her water to try and hide the blush rising on her cheeks. “Is it—” She wasn’t a nervous person, but Chloe couldn’t help the way her voice got stuck in her throat. “Is that something you feel like we need to talk about?”

 

Beca shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe, kinda, yeah?”

 

She took another sip from her water bottle to try and buy herself some time.

 

Was it killing Chloe to not talk about whatever was going on with them? 

 

Yes. Absolutely.

 

Had she also been purposely putting off this conversation because she knew that she liked kissing Beca but hadn’t the slightest idea what that meant for their friendship?

 

Also yes.

 

“I…” Chloe started with no plan on how to finish her sentence. She let out a small, nervous laugh. “Sorry, I don’t really know what to say.”

 

“Wow.” Beca’s eyes widened. She puffed out her cheeks and blew out a breath, leaning against the piano next to Chloe. “Are you saying I made Chloe Beale speechless?”

 

“Oh my god.” Chloe rolled her eyes in an attempt to fight off the smile that was threatening to break free. 

 

She really did love it when Beca was in this type of mood.

 

“I mean,” Beca smirked at her, “I knew I was good, but I didn’t know I was that good.”

 

Snorting out a small laugh, Chloe shook her head at Beca. “You are such a dork.” 

 

They were both quiet for a moment and Chloe was busy racking her brain for anything to say in order to fill the silence when Beca spoke again. “Was it okay?”

 

Chloe’s eyes widened. “The kissing?”

 

Beca nodded her head, pointedly avoiding eye contact. “Yeah.”

 

“Yes.” The fact that Beca looked as nervous as she felt gave Chloe the confidence to be entirely honest. “Yeah, it was more than okay.”

 

“Cool.” Beca nodded her head again, slower this time, finally bringing her eyes up to Chloe’s. “And if I wanted to do it again sometime?”

 

Chloe licked her lips, using all willpower to keep her eyes from dropping to Beca’s mouth. “I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to that.”

 

“Great. Awesome.” Beca smiled at her. “That is good to know.”

 

Chloe had the distinct realization that she was with one without the upper hand in this conversation.

 

Somehow, Beca Mitchell was handling this better than she was, which simply wouldn’t do.

 

Chloe decided to take the leap. Be comfortable and confident just like she knew how. “Just, you know, for the record, did you also enjoy…everything.” 

 

Close enough. 

 

“Kissing you?” Beca asked, and it wasn’t lost on Chloe the way her eyes flicked down to her lips. “Yes, Chloe, I like kissing you.”

 

Unexpectedly, Chloe’s heart skipped a beat at Beca’s admission. “Good.”

 

“Good,” Beca agreed.

 

“Well, great. I’m glad we’ve”—Chloe inhaled sharply and gestured between them—“cleared that all up.”

 

“Yeah.” Something about the ease of Beca’s smile made Chloe’s chest tight. “Me too.” Beca took a step away from the piano and over towards her bag, turning back to Chloe before she made it very far. “It’s like you said, sometimes you can just let things be uncomplicated.”

 

Uncomplicated.

 

Chloe could do uncomplicated.

 

Agreeing to kiss her best friend on a semi-regular basis because they’ve both admitted that they enjoyed it the first two times? That’s nothing. 

 

How could that ever become complicated.

 

Chloe reached out for Beca’s hand before she had the opportunity to move any further away. She didn’t really know what she was doing, but it didn't matter. 

 

Beca liked kissing her. 

 

And there was nothing stopping her from doing just that. 

 

Chloe tugged Beca’s hand until they were standing right in front of each other. She didn’t do much more than that. With her chest pressed against Beca’s, Chloe waited. 

 

In reality, she wasn’t sure what she was waiting for, but she stayed as still as possible.

 

And she stayed that way until Beca’s mouth opened to take a shaky inhale, lips brushing against Chloe’s as she whispered, “Chloe.”

 

Chloe’s stomach fell down to her feet. 

 

She had never heard Beca sound like that before. 

 

Suddenly, Chloe was overcome with the need to do anything to hear Beca say her name so desperately again.

 

She closed the distance between them and brought her lips to Beca’s. The sensation was still new, unfamiliar, and all too exciting. Something led Chloe to believe that had more to do with who she was kissing than anything else.

 

Chloe allowed herself to kiss Beca slowly, like they had all the time in the world.

 

And in a way, they did.

 

It was just the two of them. Just Beca and Chloe. Kissing. Uncomplicatedly.

 

Chloe heard herself sigh into Beca’s mouth as Beca’s tongue slipped between her lips. Chloe was meeting her stroke for stroke, which should have been easy given their slow speed, but was made much too difficult with the way her brain was swiftly turning into mush. 

 

Chloe had to admit that right then and there, everything did feel uncomplicated. 

 

Maybe this really could be good for them both.

 

It certainly felt good.

 

Chloe wasn’t quite sure how, but it almost felt like Beca had gotten even better at kissing, which should have been impossible because she did a damn good job the first two times. Maybe it was the unhurried pace. Or perhaps the fact that they had—sort of—talked beforehand.

 

Whatever it was, it didn’t really matter. 

 

It was good. Easy.

 

Chloe didn’t have anything to worry about. How could something that felt this amazing ever end up poorly?

 

Beca’s hand appeared at the back of her neck and Chloe allowed her to dictate the angle of their kiss. Beca didn’t make any efforts to change the pace of their kiss, but she did begin kissing Chloe deeper. 

 

The whole point of this kiss was to show Beca that she could handle uncomplicated, but as seemed to be the case with each time they’ve kissed thus far, Beca was throwing all of her plans out the window. Chloe felt her resolve slipping away. One strong stroke of Beca’s tongue caused a wave of heat to flood Chloe’s body.

 

Fueled by a desperation to make Beca feel the same desire that she could no longer ignore, Chloe gripped Beca’s hips, walking them backwards until the edge of the piano was snug against the small of Beca’s back. 

 

The groan Beca let out into her mouth settled deep in Chloe’s stomach. 

 

Beca easily surrendered to Chloe. She let Chloe slip her tongue between her lips and deep into her mouth like it belonged there. 

 

Everything about kissing Beca felt so right. Chloe could have stayed there forever if the need for air didn’t outweigh the need to do whatever she could to keep Beca as close as possible. 

 

Chloe pulled back, but not far, leaving her forehead resting against Beca’s. Heaving chest pressed to heaving chest.

 

“What was that for?” Beca asked after a few long moments, sounding a little dazed—something that Chloe took pride in.

 

Chloe shrugged her shoulders. “Because I can.” She licked her lips, brushing against Beca’s with their close proximity. “Why? Are you complaining?”

 

“No.” Beca’s fingers played with the short hairs at the back of her neck that had fallen from her bun. “Definitely not.” Chloe could feel the small laugh Beca let out against her mouth. “Feel free to do that, like, whenever you want.”

 

Chloe smiled against Beca’s lips. “Note taken.” 

 

She had no idea what she was so worried about.

 

Everything was fine. 

 

Totally uncomplicated.

Notes:

thanks for reading <3

here is my tumblr for updates and sneak peeks ;)

Chapter 3

Summary:

Things between Beca and Chloe start heating up and Chloe is totally an expert at controlling herself.

Notes:

lol time was not nearly as kind as i might have hoped it would be, but we made it here somehow and now i am left with what is only a vague idea of the plot for the next chapter.

what an adventure this is turning out to be! thanks for sticking around for the ride so far <3

Chloe was no stranger to arousal.

 

She didn’t harbor any shame about being a woman who felt sexual desire and took the necessary measures to handle herself.

 

Being aroused by Beca, however, was relatively a new experience. 

 

One Chloe was almost familiar with given the standard…stimulation acquired when holding Beca in her arms and allowing herself to kiss her with abandon. 

 

Even still, considering those newfound feelings, Chloe had never quite expected this . Had never expected to wake up in the middle of the night with a thin sheen of sweat on her body and a weighted, heady pool of arousal in her stomach. 

 

All because of Beca. 

 

A dream about Beca.

 

A hot, wet dream that left Chloe uncomfortably and desperately horny.

 

Her breaths were coming rapidly, one after another, and she pressed the heels of her hands to her closed eyes until all she saw was swirling colors instead of the memories of her dream and Beca lying over her. She tried to get her breathing under control, but knew she was failing.

 

It was Chloe's first night back after winter break. Beca had offered to stay at the Bellas house to make sure no one broke in and none of Jessica or Lily’s plants died while most everyone else was out of town. Chloe felt bad about leaving her alone for Christmas, but Beca insisted that it would be nice to have somewhere to go in order to get away from her dad and Sheila. 

 

Some of the other Bellas had returned that day as well, but there were still a few of them missing.

 

Chloe wasn't thinking about them though.

 

Chloe was only thinking about Beca, alone up in her room as Amy had yet to return after the holiday.

 

Beca, who had shown up in Chloe’s dream and had her throbbing and hanging on for dear life at the desperate precipice of orgasm when she had woken unexpectedly with a heaving gasp.

 

She knew her next move probably wasn't the smartest one to make, but it was 3:00am and she wasn't thinking clearly. 

 

If she had been, Chloe wouldn't have climbed out of her bed. And she certainly wouldn't have walked out of her bedroom and down the hall towards the attic.

 

Chloe didn't exactly have a plan. She had no explanation prepared to give as to why she was roaming the halls in the middle of the night if anyone found her along the way. Luckily, she didn’t hear anyone else. Her senses weren’t entirely in tune at the moment, but she was almost positive that there was absolutely no one else awake—

 

“Chloe?”

 

Chloe jumped and turned around towards the voice behind her. “God, Bec.” She lowered her hand from where it had risen to clutch at her racing heart that didn’t seem to be slowing even after she knew it was Beca who had spoken. Frankly, Chloe wasn’t entirely sure her heart hadn’t started beating even faster. “You can’t sneak up on people like that.”

 

“You’re the one creeping outside my room in the middle of the night,” Beca pointed out.

 

“I wasn’t creeping.” Okay, she was , admittedly, kind of creeping, but she also wasn’t about to confess that so easily. 

 

Beca smirked and raised one of her eyebrows teasingly. “Then what were you doing?”

 

“I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t the entire truth either, but Beca didn’t need to know that. “You?”

 

Beca raised the cup of water in her hand. “Thirsty.” Right. Chloe probably could have put that together if she was in a better state of mind.

 

But she wasn't.

 

And Beca was standing in front of her in a pair of flannel pajama pants and a tank top. A very thin tank top. With no bra underneath.

 

Of course she wasn't wearing a bra. What kind of self respecting person kept their bra on to sleep? Sadists, probably. People who were hard and jaded. People who hated comfort, purposely choosing to remain trapped in a prison made of fabric and underwire even while they slept.

 

But that wasn't Beca. Underneath her tough exterior, she was all soft lines and gentle curves. Gentle curves that led way to full flesh and what seemed to be achingly stiff—

 

“Right,” Beca said, forcing Chloe's eyes to snap back up to her face from where they had drifted somewhere significantly lower. “Well, I’m gonna…” she trailed off and gestured to her bedroom door.

 

Chloe stepped to the side to let Beca through to her room. “Yes. Yeah, of course.”

 

Her cheeks were burning enough that she had to resist the urge to cover them with her hands. Chloe looked down at the ground while Beca passed. She couldn't bear to look Beca in the eyes after practically gawking at her. 

 

Beca only made it up a couple of steps before she turned back toward Chloe. “You coming?” 

 

This was ridiculous. And absurd. And absolutely, one-hundred percent a bad idea.

 

And yet, Chloe made no efforts to stop her feet from walking forwards to follow Beca up the stairs.

 

Chloe had to look down at her feet as she climbed the steps. She didn't feel stable enough not to fall if she watched the view in front of her. If she watched Beca's hips sway left and right with each step that she took. If she stole a glance at the small strip of bare skin in between the hem of her tank top and the waistband of her pajama pants. If she—

 

Chloe had to reach for the railing when she missed one of the steps to keep herself from falling flat on her face. Apparently, the thought alone was enough to make her stumble.

 

Beca turned around with a smirk. “You okay back there?”

 

She had to be doing this on purpose.

 

“Yup.” Chloe forced a tight grin on her face. “All good.”

 

Beca let out a soft hum, teeth snagging on the corner of her lip. Chloe fully expected her to say something else, maybe give some witty response that was already waiting on the tip of her tongue, but instead, Beca just turned back around to finish climbing the stairs.

 

Beca had never made her feel like this before. No one had. Normally, she was the confident one. She was the stable one. She was the one who had their shit together enough to not melt at the slightest bit of teasing and flirting. 

 

She felt insane when it came to Beca. There was just something about her, something different that left Chloe’s usually infallible confidence to completely disintegrate.

 

Chloe followed Beca the rest of the way up the stairs with little incident. Beca crossed her bedroom with ease, setting her cup of water on her bedside table, while Chloe had failed to even make it up the stairs without trying to fall.

 

Her heart was pounding in her chest as Beca climbed under the covers of her bed and lied as close to the wall as possible. There was just barely enough space for another person next to her, not that there was much space to begin with. Chloe covered the rest of the distance to Beca’s bed and could feel Beca’s eyes on her, watching her every move. Beca lifted up the corner of her duvet as an invitation for Chloe to join her, an invitation she couldn’t bring herself to refuse.

 

There was, unfortunately, no reprieve to be found inside of Beca’s bed.

 

In the haze of arousal, Chloe had failed to consider what would actually happen when she lied down next to Beca. 

 

Beca’s bed wasn’t very large. There was no comfortable way for either of them to lay without some part of their bodies touching. 

 

Chloe settled on her right side, facing Beca who mirrored her position. Their knees bumped together and Chloe had to fight the urge to jerk them back and away. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be close to Beca. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Chloe was worried if she allowed herself to touch Beca she wouldn’t be able to stop. 

 

Even if Chloe knew she couldn’t touch, there was nothing she could do to stop herself from looking.

 

Beca was, to put it plainly, attractive. 

 

Chloe knew that. She had known it from that very first moment she saw Beca at the activities fair, it was one of many different things that caught her eye. Chloe had been attracted to her. Was still currently attracted to her. That much was made more than clear by her body’s reactions to kissing Beca, and even more so by the dream she had just a little while ago.

 

As she looked at Beca, eyes tracing over every line and counting every freckle on her face, Chloe but couldn’t help to be forcibly reminded of just how attractive Beca truly was.

 

If she was able to ignore the way she felt about ready to combust, Chloe had to admit that there was something peaceful about the moment. 

 

“I missed this,” she confessed before her brain had a chance to catch up and keep her from saying anything at all. 

 

Beca’s brows furrowed in such an adorable way that Chloe wasn’t sure her heart hadn’t just melted in her chest. “Being crammed into a twin sized bed with another person?”

 

“No,” Chloe said with a smile. “Being with you.” The admission fell easily from her tongue. “I know it was only a week and a half, but I thought about you a lot.”

 

Beca’s expression softened as she brought her hand up to lie face down on the mattress between them. “You did?”

 

“Yeah. Stuff like listening to your mixes. Forcing you against your will to watch movies.” Chloe shrugged as best as she could with her position. “Just hanging out with you.”

 

“Is that”—Beca's eyes stayed focused on her hand as her fingertips began tracing the pattern on the sheets—“the only way you thought about me?”

 

She was sitting up in an instant, taking an—admittedly over-dramatic—gasp. “Beca Mitchell.”

 

Beca eyes widened and Chloe could see the panic written all over her face. “What?”

 

“You flirt,” Chloe said, voice dripping with suggestive excitement.

 

“What?” Beca practically squeaked out, before correcting her volume as if she had just remembered it was the middle of the night. “No. That wasn’t flirting.”

 

“Mhm.” Chloe rested her elbow against the mattress, leaning over Beca. “Sure it wasn’t.”

 

“I was just asking you, my friend,” Beca emphasized, “a regular, friendly question.”

 

“If you keep practicing, I bet you’ll sound believable soon.” Chloe tossed a wink down to Beca.

 

The eye roll Beca gave was expected, but the blush on her cheeks thrilled Chloe to no end. “Oh my god. You’re the worst.”

 

Chloe decided to take pity on her. They had just spent ten days apart, she couldn’t afford to break Beca so soon. 

 

Beca was wearing an easy, playful smile. One that told her she wasn’t really upset with the way Chloe had been teasing her. One that made Chloe feel like she couldn’t think straight.

 

“No, for the record.” Chloe’s heart skipped a beat, as if only just having realized the implications of what she was saying. “That wasn’t the only way I thought of you.”

 

For a couple—excruciatingly long—moments, the only sound in Beca’s room came from the drumming of her fingers against the mattress and the squeaky fan in the corner of the room that Amy insisted they keep on at all times.

 

“Oh,” Beca replied finally.

 

Her fingers continued tapping, almost matching the rhythm of Chloe’s heart behind her ribs. 

 

Bum bum. Bum bum. Bum bum. 

 

Chloe placed her hand over Beca’s to still her movements. Suddenly, the room felt much too quiet. She could hear each breath Beca took, and only then realized that they seemed to be coming as rapidly as her own. 

 

Her head was swimming, somehow more than it had been when she first woke up. 

 

Beca inhaled sharply, breaking the silence. “What other—”

 

Chloe couldn’t take it anymore. “Beca.”

 

“Yeah?” The way she said that single word almost broke Chloe in two. Like she was waiting for something. For Chloe to give her something. For permission to give Chloe anything.

 

Chloe meant to answer. She really did. But it had been ten days and she was lying in bed with Beca who was talking to her like that and looking at her like she had hung the moon. 

 

She really, honestly couldn’t take it anymore.

 

If Chloe was anyone else, she might have worried about being overeager. But she wasn’t, so she didn't. She wanted to be eager. She wanted Beca to know that she wanted this.

 

Chloe brought her lips to Beca’s in a movement that, frankly, could have used a bit more grace. Their teeth bumped together and Chloe would have pulled away to apologize if Beca’s hand wasn’t slipping out from under Chloe’s and nestling behind her neck instead. Beca’s fingers pressed against her, drawing Chloe in before she had a chance to consider leaving. Beca rolled to lie on her back as well as she could while keeping her lips on Chloe’s. Unwilling to lose even a moment of connection, Chloe followed, lying half on top of Beca and tangling their legs together.

 

While kissing Beca, Chloe was slowly learning, time seemed to have a tendency to slip away entirely into oblivion. She knew that she could spend hours like this, with Beca under her, kissing her like there was nowhere else she’d rather be if given the chance. Like this was the only thing she wanted. Needed.

 

Chloe had felt need before. Had been needed herself on multiple occasions. She was absolutely no stranger to these feelings. She loved them. Craved them. Actively sought them out without shame. 

 

Chloe Beale was a shameless, confident woman.

 

And she was also entirely out of her depth when it came to Beca Mitchell. 

 

They had kissed before, there was nothing new about that, but they had never done so in a bed. And certainly had never done so while also being horizontal.

 

There were, of course, some…unanticipated advantages to their new positioning. 

 

Like the way Chloe could feel all of Beca's body laid out underneath her. 

 

Or the way she could feel Beca's chest pressed against hers. Beca's hips moving restlessly like they were resisting the urge to roll up and into Chloe’s. Beca's free hand being  entirely unable to find a place to settle, running all along Chloe's back and shoulders in a desperate attempt to ground herself. 

 

It was almost too much. Chloe couldn't breathe. Reluctantly, she had to pull away from the kiss to try and catch her breath to pull herself together before she did something too much. Pushed them too far. 

 

Before she gave all of herself to Beca just every single atom in her body was aching to do.

 

Beca let out a soft little grunt when their lips disconnected, and Chloe pulled up even further to look down at her. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for the sight. 

 

Beca, with her messy bun and sleep rumpled shirt. With a heaving chest and dark eyes. With swollen, pink lips that could only possibly be rivaled with the state of Chloe’s own considering the intensity of the kisses they had just been exchanging.

 

“God, Beca,” Chloe sighed reverently, the words slipping out before she had a chance to stop them.

 

“I know,” Beca whispered in response. Her words were soft but the look in her eyes was heavy, igniting a rumbling in Chloe’s chest that was impossible to ignore. Warm hands appeared on her cheeks and Chloe could only close her eyes. Beca pulled her in closer, and her next words were spoken so low that Chloe felt them against her own lips more than she heard them. “I know.”

 

Their brief reprieve had done nothing to give Chloe any sense of stability.

 

Chloe knew she wasn’t thinking clearly.

 

She couldn’t.

 

She certainly hadn’t been since her dream.

 

(Maybe even long before then.

 

Maybe this was just what Beca did to her.

 

Had been doing to her since their first kiss.

 

Had been doing since that very first moment Chloe heard her singing a couple shower stalls over and did nothing to stop herself from following Beca’s voice wherever it took her, all too similar to the deadly call of a siren.)

 

Chloe moved her lips away from Beca’s again and began trailing open-mouthed kisses along her jaw. Beca’s right hand moved from Chloe's cheek and around to the back of her head, her left instead sliding around Chloe’s back.

 

She could hear Beca’s stilted breath right in her ear and a small part of Chloe was worried about her ability to take a full breath. Then, Chloe reached a particularly sensitive spot at the base of Beca’s jaw and the deep gasp Beca let out quelled all of her fears. 

 

Beca’s hand had been simply cradling her head, but the instant Chloe's lips found the base of her neck, her fingers tangled into Chloe’s hair, grasping tightly. 

 

For a brief moment, Chloe was worried Beca was going to use her hold to pull her away. That she had crossed one of the many blurry lines they had stumbled upon recently before Beca was ready. 

 

She waited, not daring to move. It wasn’t like she could go anywhere with the grasp Beca had on her hair, but even if that wasn’t the case, Chloe would have stayed. Would have waited as long as it took for Beca to catch up.

 

A soft whimper escaped Beca’s lips and she tilted her head to the side, giving Chloe more room to work, as she pulled Chloe closer once again.

 

Chloe tried to take a deep breath to steady herself, but the way it hitched in the middle betrayed her before she had a chance to feign confidence.

 

The soft noise that escaped Beca at the first full press of lips against her neck was absolutely mesmerizing. Overwhelmed with a desire to figure out what other noises she could coax out of Beca, Chloe scraped her teeth against soft skin. Her reward was granted almost instantly, and for the first time, Chloe heard what a moan sounded like as it fell from Beca’s lips.

 

Chloe had to take a moment. 

 

Her head was spinning. 

 

She wasn’t entirely positive she wasn’t still dreaming because the idea of this happening with Beca was almost more erotic than what had woken her up earlier in the night. 

 

And that was a damn good dream.

 

Beca’s fingers relaxed where they had a bruising hold on Chloe’s hair before leaving entirely, like she had only just realized how tight she had been holding her. Her legs shifted underneath Chloe, before the right one bent at the knee to bracket Chloe’s hip.

 

Chloe brought her lips back to the soft, slightly tacky skin of Beca’s neck. She smelled like sleep and tasted like sweat and it was one of the most amazing things Chloe had ever experienced. 

 

Chloe was certainly no stranger to arousal.

 

But this was unlike anything she had experienced before. This was slick and potent as it made its way down her spine, reaching the deepest corners inside of herself that she didn’t even know she had. 

 

Chloe felt like she was always learning new things about Beca.

 

Like on Beca’s birthday when Chloe learned how good of a kisser she was. Or last year when Chloe learned that while Beca was a disaster in the kitchen, she could inexplicably make a mean banana bread. Or Beca’s freshman year when she grabbed Aubrey’s yellow pen cup during her audition and blew them away with her ability to make music bend at her will.

 

Or right now, when she was learning that if she scraped her teeth against the sensitive skin of Beca’s neck she would be rewarded with the prettiest sounding moan she had ever heard. 

 

She couldn't help herself from doing it again, slightly harder, testing the waters in the search to find out what gave her the biggest reaction. Chloe had never been more grateful that the attic was so far away from all of the other rooms in the house, that way she didn't have to worry about trying to stifle any of the noises coming from Beca. 

 

Beca, on the other hand, didn't seem to let go of her inhibitions that easily. “Jesus.” Chloe heard her release an embarrassed laugh. “Okay. That's—yeah.” The words were slightly muffled and Chloe looked up to find Beca with her fist pressed to her mouth as if trying to catch the noises before they had another chance to escape.

 

“Bec,” Chloe urged, but Beca’s eyes were tightly shut. “It’s okay.” She brought her lips down to Beca’s earlobe, gently catching it between her teeth. Beca let out a strained gasp. “I like hearing you,” Chloe whispered lowly. 

 

She wasn’t entirely sure where the admission had come from. It was true. The instant Chloe heard Beca’s moan it was all she could focus on, but she hadn’t planned on saying it out loud. 

 

It was easy to tell Beca what she was thinking, it always had been. Chloe had never been considered a particularly reserved person. More often than not, people assumed that she had no sort of filter whatsoever. Which was true for many years, but after a while she realized that openness had left her vulnerable, unprotected.

 

She understood why Beca was the way she was when they first met. After one too many betrayals the urge to close everyone off was easy to surrender to. Easier than getting hurt again, at least.

 

It wasn’t like she kept secrets or told lies, Chloe had simply learned that, sometimes, it was better to say nothing at all. For the sake of her own heart. 

 

She had also learned when it was the right moment to say something, but usually in that case it was on account of someone else. To make them comfortable. A little less alone.

 

It had eventually gotten to the point where Chloe rarely shared anything of her own feelings just because she wanted to. That last year with Aubrey had been her breaking point. She had pushed herself aside, held back her own opinions too many times, almost resulting in losing Aubrey all together. The two of them had since worked through their issues and their friendship had grown stronger than before.

 

She was still careful now, however, still learning the right moments to let herself go. 

 

But with Beca, Chloe felt like she never had to hold back. 

 

Chloe wanted Beca to know that she liked hearing her. Liked hearing the audible confirmation that she was enjoying this just as much as Chloe was, and never for one second did it occur to Chloe to keep that locked inside.

 

Beca had frozen underneath her as soon as the words left Chloe’s mouth. For a long moment—one that was beginning to feel almost painful—Chloe was worried she had made Beca feel uncomfortable. 

 

The hand that had been previously covering Beca’s own mouth landed on Chloe’s shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze as she took a deep breath, releasing all of the earlier tension. 

 

Chloe took the action as permission to continue. She pressed her lips to the skin of Beca's neck right below her ear. Beca gasped again, as if she had been caught off guard, and tightened her grip on Chloe's shoulder, but did nothing to lead Chloe to believe she wanted to stop. 

 

She decided to go slow, no matter how maddening it felt. More than anything, despite the unrelenting growing pressure deep in her stomach, Chloe wanted Beca to be comfortable. 

 

Chloe left an open mouthed kiss right over Beca's pulse point, and for one fleeting moment she could feel it fluttering under her tongue. She couldn’t stop herself from doing it again. And again. Her kisses were slow, but constant. 

 

Beca seemed to have taken what Chloe said to heart. She hadn't moaned again—not like before—but she was letting every gasp and stilted breath escape unrestrained. 

 

In the spirit of going slow, Chloe allowed her teeth to catch against Beca’s skin, dragging them along her neck at an entirely unhurried pace. 

 

Beca did moan then, admittedly softer than before, but Chloe could hear it loud and clear. 

 

It was killing her to go slow. She wanted nothing more than to learn what made Beca feel good, exactly what made her gasp and moan. To learn what could bring her to the highest peak of pleasure.

 

Chloe felt her stomach flip at the thought. 

 

She liked making people feel good. She always went out of her way to give someone a compliment, or lend a helping hand, or do just about anything to bring a smile to someone’s face. 

 

It was also one of Chloe’s favorite parts of sex.

 

Making them feel good made her feel good.

 

But Chloe had never felt that way about Beca before. 

 

Somewhere far in her mind she was left to wonder what that meant. Deep and distant begging the question as to why Beca was the one who made her feel this way over anyone else. Why she never felt awkward any of the times they’d kissed. Why she’d followed Beca up to her bedroom and into her bed without a second thought. 

 

The voice, however persistent it may have been, was also quiet, enough so that it could be drowned out by the heavy breathing of Beca under her. 

 

Chloe had no idea how much time had passed since she made it into Beca’s bed, but she had no doubt that it had been enough for the damp patch of cotton she could feel between her legs when she first woke up to have grown more significant. 

 

Her mouth was relentless against Beca’s neck, sometimes just gentle kisses, others meticulously using teeth and suction to garner as many different reactions as possible. Chloe had always loved getting to know Beca. Being patient and allowing ample time for Beca’s walls to drop lower and lower. They weren’t fully gone, Chloe knew that. That had been what made her take pause earlier and reassure Beca that everything was okay. 

 

Because it was okay. 

 

And Chloe believed that wholeheartedly. It was okay for Beca to want this. It was okay for Beca to let go, even if just for whatever this moment was that they had found themselves in. 

 

She may not know exactly what it all meant, but she knew that she liked it, and—more importantly—Beca did too. And that was okay.

 

Chloe moved her hand from where it had found a comfortable place of Beca’s waist right below her ribs, sliding downwards. She gripped Beca’s hip tightly, simply because she felt like she needed something to hold onto. With a purposeful use of suction to the skin under her lips, Chloe squeezed her hand in an attempt to keep herself from floating away.

 

A few things happened simultaneously.

 

Beca’s hips bucked up into hers, thigh pressing between Chloe’s legs for one single moment of relief. As a result, Chloe was forced to tear her lips away from Beca’s neck with a breathy, gasping moan.

 

“Oh wow,” Beca whispered as Chloe resisted the urge to grind down against her thigh. She pressed her forehead to Beca’s shoulder and shut her eyes tight. “I get why you like that.”

 

At that Chloe lifted her head, making eye contact with Beca who was looking up at her through hooded eyes. 

 

Before she knew what she was doing, Chloe was ducking her head down to bring her lips to Beca’s. The kiss was slow, but deep, and something about it felt alarmingly simple.

 

Mind-boggling, yes. Spine-tingling, absolutely. But also, somehow, simple. 

 

Easy.

 

After a few long minutes, their kiss found its natural end and Chloe rolled off of Beca with a sigh that felt in no way exaggerated considering the way her heart was still working overtime in her chest. 

 

She turned onto her side to look at Beca whose chest seemed to be heaving as much as her own. 

 

Beca’s eyes were still closed, but even under the dim light Chloe could see the small, pleased smile she wore. With a smile of her own, Chloe tucked her face into Beca’s neck, only to be stopped by an alarming sight.

 

A single look at Beca’s neck, littered with multiple red marks down to her collarbone, and Chloe couldn’t stop the giggle that came bursting out of her chest. 

 

One of Beca’s eyes cracked open to look at Chloe while she hummed questioningly. 

 

Grinning still, mostly to herself, Chloe lifted her hand to trace one of the darkest marks with the tip of her finger. “You’re definitely gonna have to cover those tomorrow.”

 

Beca’s eyes both opened comically wide at that. “Wh-Chloe!”

 

And Chloe couldn’t help but to laugh even harder.

 

---

 

Chloe knew she needed to talk to Aubrey more often. 

 

Sure, they might have been on the phone with one another at that very moment, but it had been over a month since the last time they were able to talk like this.

 

The last time they had spoken, she didn’t know what Beca’s lips tasted like. Hadn’t suspected that she would ever have the opportunity to find out. Wasn’t entirely positive that was something she would even be interested in.

 

So, yeah, it had been a while.

 

Too long for Chloe’s liking.

 

Beca was one of her best friends, but so was Aubrey.

 

In a perfect world, Chloe would see them both every day, never having to miss either one of them ever again. 

 

They might have all been together during Chloe’s (first) Senior year, but things weren’t nearly as good then as they were now. Beca was angsty and avoidant and had little to no interest in the Bellas. And Aubrey…

 

Well, Aubrey was different then. 

 

She was different now, too.

 

In a better way.

 

In the best way Chloe had ever seen her except for in small, fleeting moments throughout the years. (Those had been the parts Chloe’s held on to with a ferocious strength when it felt like Aubrey was slipping through her fingers.)

 

But Aubrey was also two hours away in the middle of the woods with sub-par WiFi and stable cell service only accessible out of the trees and by the lake on the West side of the Lodge.

 

At least Chloe knew that Aubrey had a beautiful view to look at during their phone calls.

 

“We need to talk more often.” Chloe wasn’t entirely positive that she hadn’t just interrupted Aubrey in the middle of her sentence, but Aubrey didn’t say anything. “I just…” Chloe sighed as she pictured Aubrey sitting on a bench looking out at the lake with a peaceful smile on her face. “I miss you.”

 

“I miss you too.”

 

Her voice wasn’t as clear as Chloe would have liked. She wrote it off as being due to the unreliable service at the Lodge, but Chloe knew that nothing short of seeing Aubrey in person would be enough for her. 

 

Aubrey took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Chloe knew it was her way of trying to conceal her real emotions. (Even with the strides Aubrey had made, some habits were harder to break than others.) “How’s Beca?” 

 

Chloe immediately felt her heart soften, unable to stop her verbal reaction before it slipped out. 

 

“What’s that noise for?” Aubrey immediately asked defensively.

 

Chloe’s heart had continued to melt until she felt a warmth all the way down to her toes. “It’s sweet that you care.” Nothing made her happier than her two best friends being friendly.

 

Or at the very least no longer at each other’s throats. 

 

“Okay, I may not always have been her biggest fan, but she’s a Bella, and Bellas are for life,” Aubrey said, Chloe’s smile growing with each word that came out of her mouth. “Not to mention I have to make sure she isn’t running the Bellas into the ground while I’m gone.”

 

Chloe knew Aubrey was teasing, but also knew that she expected an answer. “No, she’s not running the Bellas into the ground. You know I wouldn’t let her do that.”

 

“Yes, but once you graduate she is going to be captaining the girls by herself.”

 

It was hard for Chloe to ignore the way her stomach twisted at the thought of graduating at the end of the year. At the thought of leaving the Bellas behind. Leaving the family she had built over the last few years.

 

It was hard to ignore, but Chloe somehow managed to anyway.

 

“She’s still taking this seriously, I promise,” Chloe reassured. She had no doubt that Beca cared about the Bellas and would do absolutely anything for each and every one of them. “She actually finished the set-list for Regionals over break.”

 

Aubrey hummed her approval. “And she’s not back with the enemy, is she?”

 

Beca hadn't talked to Chloe about Jesse since her birthday, but if anything, that was enough indication about Beca’s feelings towards him. “No, her and Jesse are done.” 

 

“Good. We don’t need our reputation to be tarnished by an association with the Trebles.”

 

Chloe gasped. “Aubrey!”

 

“What?” Aubrey laughed. “I’m kidding!”

 

“Aubrey,” Chloe repeated in a chiding tone.

 

“I’m mostly kidding,” Aubrey said, but Chloe could hear the teasing smile in her voice. “But that’s beside the point. What about you? Have any new suitors you’ve neglected to tell me about?”

 

Chloe sighed. She had been hoping Aubrey wouldn't have brought that up. 

 

It wasn't like she could just tell Aubrey that she and Beca had kissed on more than one occasion and planned to do so again in the future.

 

No, Aubrey would have asked too many questions. Questions that Chloe wasn’t even ready to answer for herself.

 

And besides, as things currently remained, Beca and Chloe were the only two who knew about their kisses. Except, theoretically, for the one they shared while playing seven minutes in heaven, but nobody knew what really went on behind that closet door. It was something special. It was theirs.

 

 “No, I’ve been really busy with class and the Bellas.” Technically, she hadn't lied. Chloe was busy. Maybe she had a little bit of extra spare time for one Bella in particular, but what Aubrey didn't know wouldn't hurt her. “There hasn’t been much time for dating, especially with competition season coming up.”

 

Aubrey paused for a moment before asking, “You’re still taking care of yourself, right?”

 

“Yes,” Chloe assured.

 

“Eating enough? Drinking water? Getting at least eight hours of sleep every night?”

 

Chloe smiled and rolled her eyes, something she was sure Aubrey would have commented on if she had seen. “Yes, Aubrey.”

 

“And Beca, she’s taking good care of you too?”

 

Chloe heart skipped a beat, her mind filling in the blanks of all the different ways Beca had been there for her recently. Namely one specific instance where Chloe had Beca pressed up against the piano after rehearsal in a completely uncomplicated manner. Or the night before when Chloe joined Beca in her room for a 3:00am rendezvous.

 

“Aubrey,” Chloe said, the slightest bit louder than necessary.

 

“I just want to make sure you’re really doing good.” Aubrey's voice softened. “I may not be able to be there with you all the time anymore, but you’re still my best friend.”

 

“Did you check your schedule for Regionals?” Chloe asked in a quick attempt to change the subject when the backs of her eyes began to sting.

 

God, she missed Aubrey. 

 

Aubrey sighed. “I did.”

 

“You won’t make it.” It wasn't a question. It didn't need to be. Chloe already knew the answer.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Chloe attempted to put a smile on her face, knowing that if she didn't, Aubrey would be able to hear it in her voice. “It’s okay.”

 

“But,” Aubrey said in a bright tone, “I’ve already blocked off the weekend of Semi-Finals, so you guys better advance so I have a reason to come up and see you all.”

 

“You never need a reason to come up, Bree.” Chloe knew Aubrey felt a little out of place with the Bellas. They were family, there was no doubt about that, but she only had one—admittedly, tense—year with the majority of them as opposed to Chloe who was now at year three.

 

“I know,” Aubrey said softly, before adding, “but you still better advance.”

 

“We will.” And Chloe had no doubt in her mind that that was true. “Beca said she has some really good ideas for this year. I can’t wait for you to see them.”

 

“They're gonna be aca-awesome, I know it.” 

 

Even with the tension that they had all long since overcome, Chloe knew Aubrey missed the Bellas. Not just the girls themselves, but being a part of something bigger than herself. Aubrey was right when she said the Bellas are for life, but living three hours away made it difficult for her to still feel like a member of their family. 

 

Chloe wasn't sure she would have survived if she had done what Aubrey did. If she had graduated and left the Bellas behind. 

 

Sometimes she wished—selfishly, she knew—that Aubrey had stayed too.

 

That they could have all stayed together. That she could hold onto this feeling forever. 

 

Chloe heard someone talk to Aubrey on the other sid did the phone, before Aubrey broke the silence. “Okay, I have to go, but I promise we’ll talk sooner next time.”

 

“Good.” Chloe had all intentions of making sure Aubrey held up her end of the promise. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

The instant Chloe hung up the phone she was left with the familiar sadness that always seemed to come after talking to Aubrey. She missed her. There was no other way to phrase it, not one that would feel big enough. Sometimes missing Aubrey felt like someone had cut a hole out of her heart and while she had adapted for the most part, other times it felt just as fresh as their first ‘goodbye’.

 

This time felt like somewhere in between, a dull ache that was just enough to be felt. Something more akin to a memory. A faded scar rather than a fresh wound.

 

Luckily, Chloe knew an always faithful cure to the heartache. Someone who never failed to fill her with such a pure warmth and light that reached every sad, empty space. 

 

Happy felt like an understatement, but Chloe had been unable to find a satisfactory replacement.

 

Beca made her happy. 

 

Happy enough that the aftershocks of her happiness were still lingering hours after waking up to find herself still in Beca’s bed that morning after their late-night encounter. 

 

Chloe hadn’t wanted to leave the sleepy, comfortable cocoon they had created, but she also knew that the habit of early morning jogging was far easier to drop than it was to pick up. It wasn’t made any easier by the way Beca fit perfectly nestled in front of her, lifting the arm Chloe held around her waist with every sleep-heavy breath. 

 

Eventually, Chloe made it out of Beca’s bed, and only after she had finished changing and caught a glimpse of herself in her vanity mirror did she realize that she was still smiling. 

 

All in all, it hadn’t been too bad of a start to the morning.

 

And craving that happiness again, Chloe followed the tug in her chest that was pulling her out of her own bedroom and up the stairs.

 

The door to the attic opened easily when Chloe turned the handle. She took the first few steps slowly, listening for any signs of life. It was after 11:00am so Beca should have been awake, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for her to sleep into the afternoon without a reason to wake up.

 

“Knock knock,” Chloe called up the stairs when she didn’t hear signs of life.

 

“You know,” Chloe continued on her way when she heard Beca from the top, “if we keep spending all this time together, one of us is bound to be sick of the other.”

 

Reaching the top of the stairs, Chloe rested her head on the railing to look at Beca who was sitting at her desk with her well-loved makeup bag in front of her. “Are you saying I can’t come up?” Beca didn’t respond that time and Chloe took that as answer enough. “Thought so.” That same smile, the one she found herself wearing that morning, easily formed again as Chloe walked into Beca’s room. “Is Amy here?”

 

“No. She said something about needing a good ‘bump and grind’ before she left so I don’t think she’ll be back tonight.” Beca looked through her bag before pulling out an almost empty tube of concealer. “Why?”

 

Chloe shrugged her shoulders and sat on the edge of Beca’s bed. “I wanted to see if we could hang out.”

 

Beca’s eyebrows furrowed. “You and Amy?”

 

“No, Beca.” Chloe tilted her head to the side, shifting her smile into something more endearing. “Me and you.”

 

“Oh,” Beca said. Chloe waited while Beca took her in, leaning back and resting her weight on her palms in a position that felt almost conspiratorial. Essentially propositioning Beca hadn’t been her intention when she came up here, but Chloe had to admit it was a rather good way to spend their time. “Oh.”

 

“Yeah. ‘Oh’.” Chloe couldn’t help but catch her bottom lip between her teeth when Beca’s eyes dropped to her mouth. She took the opportunity to look at Beca, eyes finding the deep bruise on her neck easily.

 

Something thumped heavily in Chloe’s chest at the reminder of making that mark. At the reminder of having Beca’s slender fingers tangled in her hair. Having Beca underneath her while she spent ample time in that one specific area.

 

Her eyes drifted to the concealer in Beca’s hand, jutting out her chin to gesture at the tube. “Do you need some help?”

 

Beca rolled her eyes, dropping the concealer onto her desk in an act of surrender. “I wouldn’t need help at all if someone didn’t devour my neck.”

 

Chloe let out a soft laugh as she stood up to grab the chair from Amy’s desk and drag it over. “I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”

 

“Yeah, well, I was kinda distracted.”

 

“‘Distracted’?” Chloe sat down, pulling her chair close enough to Beca that her knee had to slot in between Beca’s. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

 

“Whatever,” Beca grumbled. “You know what I meant.”

 

Chloe couldn’t help but smile. Beca really was so adorable sometimes. Not many people were privy to this side of her, but Chloe knew she was one of an elite few. 

 

It had taken a while for Beca to loosen up, for lack of a better descriptor. Chloe wasn’t even entirely positive that Beca was fully ‘loose’, but there was a tangible difference between the Beca sat before her and the ‘alt-girl’ she had met at the activities fair. 

 

Chloe held her hand out, snapping her fingers twice to Beca when she didn’t move. “Concealer.” 

 

Beca rolled her eyes, but placed the tube in Chloe’s waiting, open hand without any of the expected teasing commentary.

 

“Look up.” Beca tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. Chloe placed her pointer finger under Beca’s chin, guiding her head to the perfect position, a little bit further to the right, so she had enough room to work. “There. Perfect. Don’t move.”

 

As she finally got a good look at Beca’s neck, for the first time, Chloe could see just how carried away she had gotten the night before.

 

The mark wasn’t small and it certainly wasn’t light either. The color had deepened overnight into a purple color that was a stark contrast to the paleness of Beca’s skin. 

 

Chloe glanced down at Beca’s small makeup bag that made her own setup look more than excessive. “Do you have a blender?”

 

Beca attempted to turn to look at her, but seemed to think better of it, keeping her head in the position Chloe had left her in. “Like for smoothies?”

 

“No, it’s like a little egg-y spongy thing to blend your makeup.” Chloe picked up the bag to search inside of it, but Beca’s lack of an answer told her she wouldn’t find what she was looking for. “Okay, so that’s a no.”

 

Dropping the bag back on the desk and unscrewing the cap to the tube, Chloe dabbed some of the concealer on Beca’s neck right over her, frankly, obscene hickey.

 

Chloe watched Beca’s throat bob as she swallowed thickly.

 

“So, um…” Beca started, but then paused, just how she always did when attempting to fill a silence she felt was growing awkward. “How’s Aubrey?”

 

The fact the Beca remembered that she and Aubrey had a standing, biweekly phone ‘date’ made Chloe smile.

 

“Good.” Chloe had to use her finger to spread the concealer on Beca’s neck, knowing full well she couldn’t get the job done as well as she hoped without the right tools at her disposal. But, honestly, with the state of Beca’s neck, anything would have been an improvement. “She says she’s on the verge of a promotion at the retreat. She expects to be running the place by next fall.” Beca snorted out a single laugh. “What?”

 

“Nothing. It just fits.” Chloe sat back to look at Beca expectantly. Beca glanced at Chloe through the corner of her eye and smirked slightly before continuing, “Aubrey totally would go into the woods to find some peace and quiet and somehow manage to boss everyone around enough until she started getting paid for it.”

 

Chloe huffed lightly, hiding her growing smile by leaning forwards to continue her work on Beca’s neck. “Be nice.”

 

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing,” Beca explained. “It’s just a very Aubrey thing.”

 

Chloe screwed the cap back onto the bottle of concealer. She dropped it into Beca’s small make-up bag, grabbing the well-used eyeliner pencil from the top. Beca didn’t seem to realize what she was doing until Chloe was holding the pencil about halfway to her face.

 

Beca leaned her head back away from Chloe. “Hey, woah, this wasn’t part of the deal.”

 

“Shh.” Chloe continued moving forwards. “Close your eyes,” she promoted softly and Beca begrudgingly complied. “Aubrey asked about you too, you know.”

 

Beca scoffed while Chloe started by the inner corner of her eye, using a lighter hand than Beca usually did to draw on her eyeliner. “I’m surprised.”

 

Chloe brought her free hand up to cradle Beca’s jaw to keep her head still because she knew what she was about to say would most certainly be poking the proverbial broody bear.

 

“You know, for two people who complain about each other a lot, you guys have a lot in common.” 

 

Beca jerked her head back nonetheless, almost forcing Chloe to poke her right in the eye. “How dare you!” she spat out, words dripping in offense. “You take that back.”

 

Unable to hold back her laugh, Chloe moved to grab Beca’s face again. “It's true!”

 

“Dude.” Beca stayed out of reach. The serious look she gave Chloe, all wide eyes and semi-flared nostrils, seemed less effective than Chloe knew she would have liked given the fact she only had eyeliner on one eye. “She literally hated me.”

 

“Hold still.” Chloe held Beca’s face with both of her hands, tilting it to the perfect position. “Aubrey didn’t hate you.” Beca let out an indignant breath, but stayed still. For the most part. “Okay, so there may have been a little bit of bad blood your freshman year—”

 

“A little bit?” Beca balked.

 

Chloe continued despite the interruption, “But, you guys are friends now.”

 

Beca closed her eyes when Chloe lifted the eyeliner pencil to finally even out her work on Beca’s other eye. “Did Aubrey tell you that?”

 

“You are,” Chloe insisted while carefully trying to make Beca’s eyes match, which was becoming increasingly difficult with Beca’s squirming.

 

“No, dude, I don’t think she ever forgave me for dating a Treble.”

 

Chloe, somehow, finished up with the eyeliner and reached into Beca’s makeup bag to find her mascara. “Yeah, well, it’s not like you really went about that in a very reserved way.”

 

“You’re one to talk about ‘public displays of affection’,” Beca pointed out.

 

Chloe gestured to herself with the tube in her hand. “I’m not the one who very publicly kissed one of our rivals right after we won the ICCAs using a song literally dedicated to him in our set.”

 

“Yeah, but at least I didn’t spend all of my initiation kissing some random dude that wasn’t even in an a capella group. Or get kicked out of a movie theater in her hometown because she was getting frisky with her high school sweetheart in the back row.” Chloe felt her jaw drop as she fought back a smile. Beca nodded her head and hummed vindictively. “Yeah, Beale, two can play at this game.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Chloe mumbled, swiping the wand along the eyelashes of Beca’s right eye.

 

“Is that the best you’ve got?” Beca asked. “I think you're losing your touch.” 

 

“You know, one slip of my hand is all it would take to blind you right now.” Beca’s mouth twisted shut and Chloe finally finished up with Beca’s left eye. “Okay, you’re all done.” 

 

Beca pulled the small, circular mirror on her desk close, first looking at her face, then her neck where Chloe had successfully covered the mark she left. “Huh. I’m honestly kinda impressed.”

 

Chloe zipped up Beca’s makeup bag with a bit too much flare in a move that could only be described as smug. “I’m kind of an expert at this kind of thing.”

 

“Makeup or covering hickeys?” Beca asked, still looking at the mirror.

 

Chloe rolled her lips and shrugged her shoulders. “Why can’t it be both?”

 

Beca’s face twisted in what Chloe could only guess was supposed to be feigned disgust, but she looked a bit too cute to pull it off completely. “Gross.”

 

Chloe laughed. “You’re the one who asked!”

 

Beca stood up from her chair. “Yeah, but now I’m thinking about other people all up in your business.”

 

Chloe didn’t bother rolling her own chair back over to Amy’s desk, instead she just pushed it backwards as she rose to keep up with Beca. “‘Up in my business’?” she asked.

 

“Yeah, you know, I don’t necessarily love picturing the girl I—” Beca turned around, just about walking right into Chloe who had been following her closely behind.

 

Maybe she should have moved, taken a step back to give Beca some space, but Chloe couldn’t find any part of her that wanted to do that.

 

“The girl you what?” She couldn’t exactly place why, but there was a desperation inside of her to figure out exactly how Beca was planning to end that sentence.

 

“You…” Beca trailed off, eyes darting between both of Chloe’s, occasionally taking a short pit stop at her mouth. “You’re too close to me. I can’t think straight,” she finally concluded.

 

“That didn’t seem to be a problem you had last night,” Chloe pointed out, cocking her head to the side and allowing her gaze to travel slowly along Beca’s body under the pretense of winding her up.

 

The glare Beca gave her told Chloe she was aware of the intended insinuation behind her word choice.

 

“Um, yeah it was. How do you think we ended up here?” Beca gestured vaguely towards her neck.

 

Chloe knew her smile would betray the teasing demeanor she was trying to put on, but did nothing to try harder to stop it. “By having a good time.”

 

She pivoted on her foot and started down the stairs without waiting for Beca to catch up, mostly because she knew that she would follow.

 

When Beca spoke, it was softer than Chloe expected it to be, and, if she had to bet, than Beca intended it to be. “You’re dangerous. You know that, right?”

 

Something about her tone, something Chloe wasn’t sure she knew how to name, made her heart skip a beat. Chloe was left to deal with the distinct feeling of the upper hand slipping through her grasp, but it wasn't Beca she was relinquishing it to. It was simply fading away from the both of them without any tether to bring it back.

 

Chloe, however, had a tendency to be determined, and tightened her metaphorical grasp on the metaphorical upper hand. Metaphorically.

 

She swiftly turned around on the stairs, almost causing Beca to run face first into her. 

 

“Yeah,” Chloe lowered her voice to a tone that could only be described as sultry, “but that’s what makes this so much fun.” She threw a wink up to a flustered Beca and continued on her way down the stairs. 

 

Chloe didn’t have to look back to know it took Beca a few moments to get her feet moving again.

Notes:

hopefully next chapter doesn’t take as long but honestly i can’t promise you anything at this point

if you want updates on this fic or other ones i might post, here is my tumblr

thanks for reading <3

Chapter 4

Summary:

chloe promises herself she won’t get carried away with beca and totally does a great job of keeping that promise

Notes:

IM STILL ALIVE and frankly i have no excuse for why this took so long

im not even going to pretend that i know when the next chapter will be out, but for those of you worried that i will abandon this fic, i promise you that i will finish this if it’s the last thing i do. it may take me a while, but the next chapter is always coming. i thank you all for you patience <3 <3

It had become a thing.

 

Chloe still wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but she did know that it was a thing.

 

There hasn’t been any nights like the one where Chloe had let herself get carried away, but there had been more…moments.

 

Lingering glances and stolen kisses. 

 

They had to be careful. With seven other girls in the house it wasn't always easy to find time alone, especially considering Beca and Chloe were the two co-captains. Rarely a moment went by when at least one of them wasn’t needed by the other girls for something. Not every crisis was Bella related, but somehow Beca and Chloe were always the first ones called for help. 

 

And Chloe loved the Bellas, she really really did, and she loved how close they all were.

 

But sometimes she needed to be close to Beca in a different way.

 

A way that required a bit more privacy than she could afford.

 

Chloe knew, deep down, it was probably a bad idea to get involved with Beca like this, especially given her track record. She had been known, from time to time, to fall in love almost dangerously fast. Some might even say ‘recklessly’—not that what she was doing with Beca was falling in love. They were just having fun. Uncomplicatedly. It's just, if something did go wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time Chloe had fallen too hard, too fast for someone she really shouldn’t have and ended up with a heart that felt devastatingly broken beyond repair. 

 

But Chloe wasn’t worried about that. Maybe she should have been, but she wasn’t.

 

Beca was her friend first. Co-captain second. Secret makeout partner third. 

 

So what if Chloe caught herself thinking of Beca more often than usual? Or if the two of them had been spending more and more time together than normal, which admittedly, was already a lot? Or if Beca’s kiss never failed to literally short-circuit her brain for a quick moment until she had to manually remind herself to keep breathing?

 

They were having fun. 

 

She may have been a passionate person, but Chloe had set herself a boundary. Just one single rule, for the sake of her heart.

 

No more getting carried away while kissing Beca Mitchell.

 

---

 

They placed first at Regionals.

 

Honestly, Chloe didn’t really expect them to place any lower. The only real competition they had was the Trebles, and they had yet to place higher than second since Beca had taken charge of the Bellas’ setlists.

 

That didn’t, however, mean Chloe felt any less proud of her girls.

 

They began their celebration as soon as they walked through the front door of the Bellas’ house, Stacie beelining for their alcohol stash while Cynthia Rose hooked her iPod up to the speaker in the living room. Chloe had to admit, a cappella nerds sure knew how to party on the fly. 

 

Not that Chloe was really focused on more than one person in particular.

 

Beca always got a rush of energy after performing. After winning, especially.

 

Usually, it manifested itself in too big smiles and a compliance with Amy’s requests for tequila shots. Or with Chloe’s requests to join her on the dance floor. 

 

This time was different.

 

Beca was wearing her confidence like a well tailored shirt, perfectly hugging every curve like she was born to fit into it, her pride branded on her sleeve for all to see. It didn’t help that Beca was also wearing a really tight shirt. Chloe literally couldn’t keep her eyes off of the way her neckline was unbuttoned enough to give Chloe a glimpse of her cleavage, while somehow still remaining modest. 

 

Chloe only had one rule. 

 

Don’t get carried away. 

 

It was getting harder and harder to respect by the second. 

 

But goddamn if Beca’s confidence wasn’t one of the sexiest things Chloe had ever seen. 

 

A glance from across the room and about five seconds of pointed, prolonged eye contact was all it took for Beca to set her drink down on the nearest surface and start walking towards Chloe. 

 

Frankly, if Chloe had any more self-restraint than what was being used to not walk over and kiss Beca right then and there in front of all the other Bellas, that would have been enough. Beca walking over to her would have been enough. Beca being in the same room as her would have been enough.

 

And yet, Chloe turned on her heel to walk up the stairs, knowing full well that Beca would follow her.

 

She caught sight of the smirk on Beca's lips before she made it all the way around, but she had to ignore it. 

 

She at least had to make it upstairs first.

 

The second floor was completely empty. There was no one up there to catch them, which is exactly why Chloe turned around in the doorway of her own bedroom to face Beca before they had even made it behind closed doors.

 

She was closer than Chloe was prepared for, but she couldn’t complain. She never would with Beca in her personal space. It made it easier to grab Beca’s waist without a second thought and pull her into her bedroom.

 

One kiss would be enough. It had to be. That was all Chloe was allotting herself. One single kiss. 

 

And luckily for Chloe, she hadn’t given herself a time limit.

 

Chloe used the tight grip her hands had on Beca’s waist and pushed her into the door behind her back until she heard it latch with a satisfying click. 

 

“God, you looked so good out there tonight,” she sighed more than spoke against Beca’s mouth.

 

One kiss in the limited privacy Chloe’s bedroom allowed until one of the Bellas inevitability came looking for them to continue celebrating their win. That’s all.

 

Even with her eyes closed, Chloe felt Beca’s lips curl into that infuriatingly confident smirk. “Yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Chloe admitted. She wasn’t really planning on doing much talking, but she didn’t seem to be able to stop either. “It was distracting.”

 

Beca pulled her head away from Chloe as much as she could without hitting the door, which was the exact opposite of what Chloe wanted. 

 

“Is that why you were almost late for your solo?”

 

Chloe scoffed. “I was not.”

 

“Yes, you were.” Chloe’s eyes dropped to Beca’s lips when that annoying, sexy smirk made another appearance as she leaned in closer. “It’s okay, no one else noticed.”

 

Chloe was the one to pull back this time. “But you did?”

 

Beca rolled her eyes playfully. “Obviously.” 

 

Chloe lifted her right hand to push some of Beca’s hair behind her ear and give her a better view of the teasing sparkle in Beca’s eyes, squeezing Beca’s hip tighter with her left hand. “Couldn’t keep your eyes off me, huh?”

 

“You wish,” Beca whispered. (Admittedly, not entirely inaccurate.) “Had to make sure you didn’t cost us the win. Aubrey would’ve killed me.”

 

“Probably,” Chloe conceded. 

 

She would have continued on teasing Beca, drawing out the moment even longer to see how long Beca could last before she surrendered, but Beca didn’t give her a chance. She leaned in closer before Chloe she could say anything else and Chloe found herself closing the distance between them without hesitation.

 

One kiss was fine.

 

One kiss, a locked door, no time limit, and Beca in a sinfully tight shirt.

 

Chloe could totally handle that.

 

---

 

(The next time Chloe stopped at Sephora, she made sure to grab an extra concealer in the lightest shade she could find for Beca.

 

Not that she couldn’t control herself.

 

It was just extra assurance.)

 

---

 

Beca and Chloe had started staying late after rehearsals in the weeks following regionals.

 

Not for the reasons Chloe might have preferred—even though they really struggled keeping their hands off of each other sometimes—but rather to prepare for Semi-Finals and the ICCAs. 

 

Every year the pressure to continue their winning streak became more and more great, but with each trophy they collected Chloe only grew more confident that they would also win the next one.

 

They had their secret weapon. 

 

Beca. 

 

Beca, who had taken off her sweatshirt after all the other Bellas had left, wearing the new hickey Chloe left on her collarbone with absolutely no shame. 

 

(Beca, who had to request that Chloe at least attempted to keep her hickies in places that could easily be covered.)

 

Chloe hadn’t gotten carried away. Honestly. It was one hickey. One visible hickey. And one other on Beca’s breast thankfully (unfortunately) hidden by her shirt.

 

But she totally hadn’t gotten carried away.

 

Chloe could control herself. And she was doing a rather good job of it at the moment, if she did say so herself. Even though she and Beca were alone, they weren’t even touching. They had been just moments ago, their elbows brushing against one another while Beca played what she had of the setlist so far, but Beca had stood to grab her water bottle and they most assuredly were no longer touching. 

 

And Chloe was totally fine with that. 

 

She didn’t crave it. At all.

 

Self control. 

 

“Okay,” Beca said, walking back over to Chloe and closing the lid of her laptop. “I can’t look at this anymore. Ready to head home?”

 

Chloe let out a heavy sigh. “Yes, please.”

 

She sat back in her chair and watched Beca walk over to her bag to pack her laptop away. 

 

Chloe rose from her seat, stretching her shoulders by raising her arms above her head with a soft groan. She unwound her hair from the bun she tied at the beginning of rehearsal and ran her fingers through it a couple times to bring some life back into it. 

 

By the time Chloe finished and dropped her arms, she looked at Beca to see her turning away from her at the same exact time.

 

If she looked closely, Chloe could almost swear she saw the tips of Beca’s ears burning a bright scarlet color, but she slipped her sweatshirt back on before Chloe could get a good look. 

 

Chloe walked over to her own bag and could feel Beca’s eyes lingering on her, but decided not to comment on it.

 

(Honestly, she kinda liked the attention.)

 

Chloe packed her things into her bag and took out her coat. She took her time putting it on, trying to give Beca every last second to look at her before she covered up. By the time Chloe finished, Beca had somehow managed to pull herself together and was slipping into her own jacket. 

 

Chloe slung her bag onto her shoulder, tossing Beca a smile that she hoped looked innocent enough. “Good?”

 

“Yup,” Beca answered quickly. She took a deep breath and grabbed her own bag, and finally managed to form an easy smile of her own.

 

Beca turned to walk towards the door and Chloe followed. She pulled her coat tighter around herself in preparation for the cold to no avail. The second Beca opened the door and a brisk gust of wind hit Chloe, she immediately felt a chill down to her bones.

 

Chloe was a southern girl through and through. She didn’t have an accent (a fact she thanked her mother for everyday), but she always remembered  her manners and ensured there was a gallon of sweetened iced tea in the fridge year round. She couldn’t help the way her heart yearned for the southern Summer. For light and warmth and sunshine.

 

If there were some things Winter didn’t have, it was light and warmth and sunshine.

 

For god’s sake, the sun didn’t even spend a full twelve hours in the sky this time of year. It was totally unbearable. 

 

She was grateful that it was almost March because March brought Spring, and Spring brought flowers and sun and warmth.

 

Chloe shivered as her shoulders rose in an attempt to keep the brisk air from running down the back of her neck and into her coat. “It’s freezing out here.” 

 

“It’s barely below fifty,” Beca said, looking entirely unaffected. 

 

Chloe scoffed. “Yeah, well, you’re from Seattle. You’re used to it being cold and miserable all the time.”

 

“Oh my god.” Beca laughed softly and bumped her shoulder against Chloe’s. “So dramatic.”

 

The darkness and cold of winter did grant Chloe one thing. 

 

She had every excuse to loop her arm though Beca’s, gripping tight like it was her only solace.

 

Not that Chloe ever needed an excuse, but it was nice to have one nonetheless.

 

Freshman year Beca might have straightened her spine and stiffened every muscle in her body, or even worse, pulled her arm away altogether. Junior year Beca shook her head with a small smile and tucked her hand into the pocket of her jacket, keeping Chloe close.

 

Chloe had never shied away from any sort of physical contact. She needed it, craved it. If she went too long without a hug she quite literally felt her skin being to itch. Chloe knew that out of many things her and Beca had in common (their shared love and passion for music remaining the most notable), the tendency to touch wasn't anywhere near the list. And Chloe respected that, she really did, but there were times when she couldn't help herself. 

 

When Beca would say something funny and Chloe would reach out to grab her arm while she laughed. Or on movie nights when Chloe would tuck herself into Beca's side under their shared blanket. Or the rare, vulnerable moments when Beca would let down her walls more than she did with anyone else and Chloe would rest her hand on Beca's thigh just to remind her that she was there, that she wasn't leaving.

 

Not to mention the new ways they had been touching each other recently. With shaky breaths and wary hands. Tender kisses against heated skin.

 

Chloe liked those kinds of touches in particular.

 

That didn’t change the fact that, with the exception of Chloe, Beca didn’t really seek out physical contact. 

 

She could probably count the times she saw Beca willingly hug one of the other Bellas on two hands. And that number would be even less if she counted the times Beca did so without the influence of alcohol. 

 

Hell, Chloe wasn't even positive she had seen Beca and Jesse kiss since they won the ICCAs the first time. She knew that they did. The Bellas had pulled a few stories out of Beca throughout the years, and more than once Chloe caught them hand-in-hand sneaking off into Jesse’s bedroom, but she hadn't seen it happen. 

 

(Without warning, that thought made its way into Chloe's mind again, the one that told her she was Beca's exception to all of her previous rules.)

 

Beca’s shoulder bumped against hers and Chloe was forced out of her thoughts. “What are you smiling about?”

 

Chloe felt her smile widen. You, she wanted to say, I'm thinking about you.

 

“Nothing,” she settled on instead. “Just happy.”

 

Beca hummed softly in affirmation and Chloe assumed that would be the end of it, but she was pleasantly surprised when she heard Beca speak under her breath, “Me too.”

 

Chloe had to bite her lip to keep herself from letting out some sort of verbal reaction lest Beca do something awful like pull her arm away. (Beca might have made strides with Chloe over the years, but that didn't mean she wasn't skittish when called out on her newfound cuddly tendencies.)

 

A warmth began blooming in Chloe’s chest. It was almost enough to combat the cold, but she kept her hold on Beca’s arm regardless.

 

She felt special knowing that this was a side to Beca that not many others were privy to. 

 

Beca made her feel special and happy and warm.

 

Beca made her feel a lot of things, actually. Especially during their private moments.

 

Chloe almost couldn’t believe how good of a kisser Beca was at times. Not that she thought Beca would be bad at kissing—because she had totally never spent any time wondering—but wow.

 

Beca was really good.

 

Like, kinda mind blowingly good. 

 

Honestly, Chloe was left to wonder exactly how Beca learned to kiss like that. Like she was trying to drive Chloe crazy—and doing a damn good job at it too.

 

Was it some sort of natural talent? Was Beca just somehow born with the ability to short-circuit Chloe’s brain with just one well calculated move of her tongue?

 

Or did someone teach her?

 

Jesse? Or some other nameless ex that Chloe didn’t know about?

 

She wasn’t jealous. She didn’t have a right to be. It just wasn’t the most fun thing to think about. In a completely platonic way.

 

Still, by the time Chloe got over those totally not jealous feelings, she had to admit there was part of her that wanted to know. Beca didn’t speak much about her dating history, and when she did, it was usually done with as few details as possible.

 

She really couldn’t help but to be at least a little bit curious.

 

“Tell me about your first kiss,” Chloe requested softly.

 

Beca furrowed her brows. “Right now?”

 

“Yes, right now.”

 

Beca looked down at their feet as they walked slowly in sync. She took a breath before she spoke and Chloe prepared herself for the full story. 

 

Instead, all she got was, “Junior year of high school with a kid from my English class.”

 

Chloe had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. She loved all things to do with romance—had done so since she could remember—and while she knew that wasn’t everyone’s preference, there had to be more to Beca’s story than that.

 

“C’mon, seriously I wanna hear it.” Chloe pulled Beca's arm impossibly closer, knowing the intent had nothing to do with the cold. “I know you’ve heard mine before.”

 

The Bellas had all told their first kiss stories during one of their many bonding nights over the years, but, Chloe was only now realizing, Beca somehow managed to avoid sharing hers before they got distracted, something Chloe would bet was intentional.

 

Beca sighed dreamily, and Chloe knew Beca was about to poke fun at her. “It was the weekend before your eighth birthday—”

 

“Tenth birthday,” Chloe corrected with a smile that she didn’t even attempt to shove down. 

 

“—and Jerry Thomas—”

 

Chloe snorted out a laugh. “Jonathan Tanner.” 

 

“Sure,” Beca amended with a wave of her hand. “Little Johnny shared his Lunchable with you at the park then laid one on you under the slide. It’s a very romantic story about how love is transactional.”

 

Chloe gently elbowed Beca in the ribs. “It was cute.”

 

“It was basically a negotiation. You got some ham and cheese in exchange for giving him a little something sweet.”

 

“Oh my god, Beca.” Chloe tried to sound annoyed, but the laughter tainting her words made it hard to sound convincing. “Now you have to tell me yours.”

 

“I just did,” Beca said, like she had no clue what Chloe was looking for. (She totally did.)

 

“Yeah, but I want the full story.” Chloe jutted out her bottom lip, blinking up at Beca pleadingly. “Please.”

 

Beca rolled her eyes with a breathy chuckle and Chloe knew she had her. Chloe gave Beca's arm a tight squeeze and waited.

 

“You know, in high school I wasn't the most social, or whatever,” Beca started, and for a moment Chloe was confused what this had to do with Beca's first kiss, but she trusted Beca to get her there. She always did. “It wasn’t that I was shy, but I just didn’t care, I guess. Like, everyone else fit into the right mold and I didn’t. It always felt like there was everyone else and then there was me.” Chloe felt herself frown before she could help it. 

 

Beca hadn’t really spoken much about her childhood, at least not in much depth, but Chloe always suspected that more of it was spent in solitude than not. It made sense, as the only child caught in the middle of a messy divorce Beca hadn’t been given much of a space to thrive. 

 

But, god, the confirmation that Beca really felt so…out of place among her peers hurt Chloe’s heart more than she cared to admit.

 

“I had friends,” Beca assured quickly, gesturing at Chloe's face with her free hand. “Don’t give me that pouty face, they just didn’t…stick. Not like you guys.” Chloe felt her heart melt inside of her chest, and her face must have given her away because Beca looked away with a blush. “Anyways, one day I was in English class and my teacher said we were gonna be doing a group project, which I always hated. Especially when they made us pick our own partners, because—no. Just no.” Beca's face twisted as she shook her head. “I was gonna ask the teacher after class if I could do it on my own, but then the girl next to me asked if I wanted to be her partner. And I remember being so confused because she was like one of the smartest people in class and I was scraping by with my C average, and she was, like, so popular. She was basically the Chloe Beale of my high school.”

 

“What?” Chloe interrupted with a shocked laugh.

 

“Yeah, you know,” Beca explained simply even though Chloe most certainly did not know. “Every school has a Chloe Beale. The super pretty popular girl who doesn’t have a mean bone in her body that everyone either wants to be or date.”

 

(The implications behind that statement were so vast that Chloe was forced to ignore them out of self-preservation.)

 

“Wow, way to make a girl feel special.”

 

“Don’t worry, you’re the best Chloe I know,” Beca said with a half-hearted wink. Chloe didn’t know what her face looked like, but whatever expression she wore made Beca smile and laugh in a way that sounded almost endearing. “What? It’s true.”

 

Chloe looked down at her feet to hide the way her cheeks began to flush. (When did she become a person who blushed this easily?). “Just keep going.”

 

“Um, okay,” Beca continued, “she invited me to her house after school on Friday, to like work on the project or whatever. It was easy, we had done most of the work separately or in class, and she just wanted to practice our presentation.”

 

“Let me guess, you didn’t want to practice?”

 

“Dude, no. I probably would have just wung it the day of, but she asked and it was literally impossible to say no to her.” Chloe couldn’t help but to be reminded of all the times she herself was able to convince Beca to do things. “I don’t even know if we did much work on the project, I just remember her talking to me. Like actually talking.”

 

“About what?” Chloe asked.

 

“She asked me about my plans after high school, and thought it was so cool that I wanted to go to LA. That I didn’t care about what people said I should do and I was doing what I wanted,” Beca explained. “She, um, she told me that she thought about doing that too. Not moving to LA, but about getting out.” A twinge in Chloe's heart reminded her that was still the plan. That Barden was merely a pit stop on the way to Beca’s future. “She said her friends don’t really feel like her friends, like they just hang out together because that’s what you do. That she dated the pitcher for the baseball team because that’s what you do.” Beca shrugged her shoulders, eyes now firmly fixated on the pavement ahead. “I don’t know, I guess she thought it was cool that I didn’t care about what people thought.” 

 

Chloe wasn't going to stop Beca, not when she was being so open—a rarity in itself—but she didn't quite understand how this girl somehow led Beca to the kid she shared her first kiss with.

 

“We talked for hours,” Beca continued. “And, uh, she kept getting closer to me.” She sounded almost nervous, and Chloe was confused as to why. “Like, at first we were on opposite sides of her bed, and then she was, like, right next to me. And all I would think about was how pretty she was, and how bad I wanted to kiss her.”

 

Oh.

 

So that's what this girl had to do with Beca's first kiss.

 

“Did you?” Chloe asked, suddenly (and totally inexplicably) much more desperate to hear the end of the story.

 

Beca shook her head. “Nope.”

 

“Beca!” Chloe let go of Beca’s arm to lightly hit her shoulder, and Beca rubbed the spot in feigned offense afterwards. “Why not?”

 

Beca smiled at Chloe before looking away and Chloe couldn’t tell if the flush on her cheeks was from the cold or something else. “Because she kissed me.”

 

Chloe let out a groan out of jealousy, looping her arm back through Beca’s. “That’s so much better than mine.”

 

Beca laughed. “Yeah, it was pretty awesome.”

 

“I can’t believe I wasn’t the first girl you’ve kissed,” Chloe admitted before she could even remember giving her mouth permission to speak. (Something that seemed to be happening more and more around Beca.)

 

Beca raised an eyebrow at her. “Was I yours?”

 

She wasn’t. Beca knew that. Beca had seen her kiss other girls. Beca wasn’t even the first of the Bellas that Chloe had kissed.

 

“Well, no,” Chloe conceded.

 

“Exactly.”

 

Anyone else might have been able to leave it at that, but not Chloe. She still had so many questions. “I guess I just figured after everything with Jesse...”

 

“Can’t judge a book by its cover, Beale.”

 

Chloe rolled her eyes playfully. “I know that.” And yet, she still couldn’t quite let it go. “I just didn’t know that you liked girls.”

 

Even though they were walking, Beca was looking her right in the eyes. For some reason it felt like too much and Chloe was filled with the urge to look away. But she couldn’t. Wouldn’t, really.

 

Beca voice was softer now, less teasing when she finally spoke. “I do. Sometimes.”

 

“Me too,” Chloe found herself saying. “Sometimes.”

 

Again, Chloe was pretty sure Beca knew that—what with the whole kissing other girls thing—but they hadn’t really talked about it. And, yeah, Chloe caught a vibe that first time she met Beca, but after kissing Jesse like it was some big climactic movie moment right before the credits began to roll, she had her doubts. Not to mention Beca and Jesse were together for so long that Chloe hadn’t a chance to see Beca pursue any potential suitors.

 

In hindsight, maybe Beca was a bit too comfortable kissing Chloe on the floor of the closet for it to not have raised any suspicions about her sexuality. 

 

Whatever. They were just two decidedly not straight best friends who were kissing platonically on a semi-regular basis. 

 

“Cool.” Beca’s smile was relaxed, easy, and the slightest bit bashful. “Good to know.”

 

“Just in case you thought this was some straight girl college fling thing,” Chloe added quickly, and, frankly, a little bit nervously.

 

“I don’t,” Beca assured. “I trust you, Chloe.”

 

Those three words almost stole Chloe’s breath right from her lungs. Three little words hitting her chest with such ferocity that Chloe wasn’t positive she would still be standing if Beca wasn’t still holding her arm. 

 

Three words that meant more to Chloe than any others.

 

There were so many things Chloe wanted to say, but none of them ever made it far enough to reach her mouth, each one getting stuck in her throat. The only ones that managed to escape, a bit more strained than she would have liked, were, “I trust you too.”

 

Beca nodded her head slowly, a small smile gracing her lips. “Good.”

 

They were barely even walking anymore, but Chloe didn’t want to do anything that might have stopped Beca from being so open, it was a rare sight, one that Chloe wouldn't take for granted. “What happened next?”

 

Beca seemed to hesitate. “Um, she never spoke to me again.” 

 

Chloe stopped walking and turned towards Beca. “What?”

 

Beca’s body lurched forwards slightly at the sudden stop as she dropped Chloe’s arm. “Yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders. “We did the presentation at school on Monday and it was like nothing ever happened.”

 

“Beca,” Chloe whispered, feeling that ache in her heart return, more painful than before.

 

“No, don’t give me that face. It’s all okay, I’m fine. I made a couple sad mixes about it and moved on.” Beca looped her arm back through Chloe’s and continued their walk, keeping the slow pace. “And, last I saw on Facebook, she is now dating a lovely woman named Shannon and they're very happy with their two cats, so we’re both obviously doing fine.”

 

“Still though,” Chloe said softly, “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

 

Beca waved her off with a small scoff. “Oh, god, no, that was a long time ago. I’ve had enough good kisses to make up for it.”

 

And honestly, how could Chloe have ever let such a perfect opening slip through her fingers? “Oh really?” 

 

Beca nodded her head definitively. “Mhm.”

 

Chloe turned to walk backwards in front of Beca, grabbing both of Beca’s hands and trusting that she wouldn’t let her fall. “Would, by any chance, any of those kisses have involved me?”

 

Beca tried to keep a straight face, but Chloe caught the slight upturn to the corners of her lips. “Maybe.”

 

“Maybe?” Chloe asked. ‘Maybe’ wasn’t nearly good enough. “Is there anything I can do to sway your answer?”

 

Beca shrugged her shoulders and, god, Chloe wanted to kiss her so bad. “I might have an idea or two.” 

 

Chloe tugged on Beca’s hands, pulling her close enough to kiss, and was hit so hard with a memory that she almost got whiplash.

 

Beca, who had obviously decided that she had been waiting far too long for Chloe to meet her in the middle, leaned back to look at Chloe. She must have seen something on Chloe’s face—she had never been great at concealing her emotions—and immediately furrowed her brows.

 

“What’s that face for?” Beca asked.

 

Chloe cocked her head to the side. “What face?”

 

Really, she had already formed a full fledged plan that she had all intentions of fulfilling.

 

“You have your thinking face on.” Beca tried to gesture to her own face, but she hadn’t let go of Chloe’s hand yet and waved them both in the air. “Where your nose goes all cute and scrunchy.”

 

(Chloe had to ignore what Beca said lest she linger on it too long—to be perfectly honest, Chloe wasn’t sure she would ever think of anything else again.

 

But she had a plan that she wasn’t willing to sacrifice.)

 

“Wanna go on an adventure?”

 

---

 

Chloe tugged on Beca’s hand as she led her out of the bushes around the back of the library. “Keep up.”

 

Beca swatted a bush with her free hand when it tried to catch on her jacket. “I don’t even know where you’re taking me.”

 

“It’s an adventure,” Chloe insisted, practically dragging Beca along.

 

“Jesus, Chlo, it’s fucking cold out here.” 

 

Chloe let out a laugh that she knew would probably get Beca to call her sadistic, but she didn’t care. “Shush, we’re almost there.”

 

She had purposely taken the long way around to get to their destination—which, granted, was more of a detour than an adventure—but it was about the experience.

 

Chloe turned around to face Beca once they arrived, bouncing on her heels. “Ta-da!”

 

Beca looked around the space confused. “The amphitheater?” She turned back to glare at Chloe. “Chloe, we’ve been here so many times. How is this an adventure?”

 

Chloe rolled her eyes and took Beca’s hand again. (She didn’t seem to be able to go very long without touching her in some way) She led Beca down the stairs about halfway. “Do you remember your hood night?”

 

“You mean when you kidnapped me as a part of your weird cult-y ritual?” Beca asked. “Yeah, that’s not really the kinda thing you forget easily.”

 

Chloe pulled Beca into one of the rows. “Do you remember the conversation we had?”

 

“The one where you were being really weird and got really close to me and—” Beca cut herself off and tilted her head to the side, letting out a breathy laugh. “Oh my god. Seriously?”

 

Chloe nodded her head and bit her bottom lip to try and contain her smile. It didn’t work. 

 

“Come here.” Chloe tugged Beca into the perfect spot, who, for how much had been complaining, continued to move willingly. “Stay.” She walked down one step and turned to look up at Beca. “Hi.”

 

Beca only glared at her in response, but Chloe could see that little sparkle in her eyes, hidden behind a thin layer of feigned annoyance.

 

“Okay.” Chloe grabbed Beca’s hands to bring her closer and Beca let out a small noise of surprise, just as she had done at hood night her freshman year. “I am so glad I met you.” She tugged Beca even closer. “I think we’re gonna be really fast friends.”

 

“Really?” Beca drawled.

 

“Yes, really,” Chloe insisted, jutting out her bottom lip when Beca didn’t budge. “Please?”

 

Beca rolled her eyes, but the slight smirk on her lips told Chloe all she needed to know. “Well, you saw me naked, so…”

 

Beca was playing along.

 

And that was enough to leave a warmth Chloe’s in chest to combat the cold chill in the air.

 

Chloe pulled her closer, smile pressed against Beca’s lips, and whispered, “Yeah, I did.”

 

Beca was the one to close the distance, and for just one moment Chloe allowed herself to believe that it was because she just couldn’t wait any longer. That, by some miracle, Beca wanted to kiss her just as much as she wanted to kiss Beca.

 

The thought was fleeting though, as most were with Beca’s lips on hers, and it drifted away into the haze, left forgotten.

 

Beca’s hands left hers, but before Chloe could mourn their loss, they were on the move. The right found its way to rest on Chloe’s waist, while the left began drifting up her arm. Beca’s hand eventually reached its destination, cold fingers slipping around the back of her neck. Chloe only barely suppressed a shiver.

 

In a move that felt entirely too relaxed, Beca titled Chloe's head to the side and used the change of angle to kiss her deeper. Chloe knew that Beca was doing this on purpose. That she was trying to seem all calm, cool, and collected, but damn if it wasn't doing exactly what Beca wanted. Beca's movements were slow, but the depth and thinly veiled intention behind them left Chloe reeling. She moved her hands to grasp the front of Beca's jacket in her fists to give herself some semblance of stability. But then Beca's tongue easily pressed into her mouth and Chloe felt as if the ground had slipped from under her feet. 

 

And yet, Beca didn't relent. She pulled Chloe as close as she could with an entire step between them. She used her slight, and rare, advantage in height to lick down and into Chloe's mouth.

 

Chloe tried to stifle her soft moan before it escaped her throat—she really did—but failed miserably.

 

Her gut tightened as a rush of heat flooded her body. 

 

She wanted to say that she didn't know what was happening to her, but that would be a lie. She knew exactly what it was. Beca was what was happening. 

 

Beca, and her stupid mouth, and her stupid lips, and her stupid hand on Chloe's neck that made her feel so safe and so secure while her brain fell apart. Beca, and the fact that Chloe didn't want her to stop. The fact that Chloe really wanted her to keep going.

 

Beca turned her on.

 

Chloe had yet to come up with a better way to put it.

 

There, kissing Beca out in the open where anyone could walk past and see them, Chloe was fucking horny.

 

And she really couldn't deny that a large part of her wanted Beca to be the one to do something about it.

 

Now wasn’t the time, cold and standing in the middle of the empty amphitheater at 8:00pm on a Tuesday, Chloe knew that, but the thought had taken hold in her mind. The thought had also come paired with at least a dozen images which certainly weren’t helping her case either.  

 

Chloe had to pull away.

 

It wasn’t because she wanted to, but she knew that if she didn’t the chances of her doing or saying something that might have crossed some line that they had been yet to establish were growing by the second. 

 

Chloe didn’t go far, and even if she wanted to (which she didn’t) Beca didn’t let her.  

 

Beca kept her hold on Chloe’s neck, resting their foreheads together. “Has anyone ever told you how good you are at that?”

 

It took Chloe’s brain a second to catch up and realize Beca had asked a question. “Kissing?”

 

“Yeah,” Beca sighed breathlessly.

 

Chloe let out a small laugh. “A couple times.” She had to bite her lip to keep her smile from overtaking her face entirely. “But it means the most coming from you.”

 

Beca scoffed and Chloe was sure that if her eyes weren’t still closed, the action would have definitely been paired with a roll of her eyes. “Loser.”

 

Beca’s hand left her neck. Chloe tried to focus on where it was going, but Beca was kissing her again and it was growing harder and harder to think by the second. 

 

The hand found her waist, meeting up with the other and giving one tight squeeze before continuing on their way. 

 

Maybe if Chloe had been paying less attention to the way Beca’s tongue was doing something filthy inside of her mouth and more attention to those hands, she wouldn’t have let out a surprised squeak when Beca’s cold fingers brushed against her bare stomach. 

 

She broke their kiss and dropped her hold on Beca’s jacket to grab her wrists.

 

Beca simply smiled against her lips. 

 

Chloe tightened her grasp on Beca’s wrists, gasping when Beca’s palms slid to cover her hips. “Your hands are cold.”

 

Chloe didn’t have to see Beca’s face to know her smile had turned mischievous while she replied, “Why don’t you warm them up?”

 

Beca tried to kiss her again, but Chloe tilted her head down and let out a laugh she couldn’t keep contained. 

 

“What?” Beca asked, sliding her, admittedly, slightly warmer hands to rest on Chloe’s lower back.

 

“Sorry,” Chloe said with a smile as she let go of Beca’s wrists to rest her hands on her shoulders instead. “Sorry, sometimes you are just so adorable.”

 

“What?” Beca repeated, far more indignant then the last time. “I am not adorable.”

 

“Oh, Bec,” Chloe cooed and brushed some of Beca’s hair behind her ear. “Honey, you kinda are.”

 

Beca scoffed, but didn’t step back. “Don’t ‘honey’ me.”

 

Chloe pursed out her bottom lip, moving her hand to pinch Beca’s cheek. “But you’re just so sweet.”

 

Beca jerked her head out of the way. “Stop trying to distract me by flirting.”

 

“Why?” Chloe leaned in, bumping Beca’s nose with her own. “Is it working?”

 

“No.”

 

Chloe brushed her lips with Beca’s and lowered her voice. “Do you want me to try harder?”

 

Honestly, Chloe didn’t give Beca the opportunity to answer. She was far too impatient for that. Beca was there, ready to be kissed, and Chloe was also there, ready to kiss her. 

 

They could waste time talking later.

 

Where their other kiss was slow and deliberate, this was anything but.

 

It was a mess, frankly, but Chloe didn’t mind. 

 

Even after the little stunt Beca pulled with her cold hands, Chloe could still feel a different kind of heat roaring inside of her. It didn’t help that Beca’s fingernails were scratching into the skin of her lower back while Chloe licked into her mouth. 

 

Arousal with Beca wasn't a new thing, and it really shouldn’t have been surprising at that point, but intensity was continually catching Chloe off guard.

 

But she wasn’t complaining. Her mouth had much better things to be doing.

 

As in, kissing Beca deep enough for a small grain to escape her throat.

 

Beca wasn’t as vocal as she was, so Chloe took every single noise, no matter how small, and ran with it. 

 

And with this one, she ran straight to a place deep in her mind that told her that this meant Beca was enjoying herself just as much as she was. Chloe didn’t know exactly what that meant, but god she totally wasn’t in position to be thinking at the moment.

 

Chloe only broke their kiss when the need for air became too great.

 

She pressed her forhead into Beca’s and panted against her lips. “Is that better?”

 

Beca let out a small laugh and hummed in contemplation. “I don’t know, we might need to try again for good measure.”

 

“Yeah?” Chloe couldn’t help but smile again.

 

Beca nodded, already leaning in. “Yeah.”

 

“Good idea,” Chloe barely managed to say before kissing Beca once more.

Notes:

thank you all for reading and sticking around <3
here is my tumblr

Chapter 5

Summary:

semi finals and more kissing occurs

Notes:

heh…heyyyy, long time no see

sorry about the little two year wait for this next chapter… i have no excuses

…enjoy!!

“Do you think they’re gonna come looking for us?”

 

“Doubt it,” Chloe replied, her answer barely a gasp against Beca’s lips as she walked them backwards towards her bed. “They’re too busy trying to get Aubrey drunk.”

 

Beca slid her flannel down her arms and Chloe fought as long as she could to keep her eyes from trailing down the length of Beca’s body in the sinfully tight tank top she was left in. Her resolve didn't last very long at all.

 

The sound of Beca’s voice was the only thing that could have pulled Chloe out of her trance. “Didn’t you literally tell me earlier today we weren’t allowed to drink too much because we have to be ready for Semi-Finals tomorrow?” 

 

“Do you really want to stop?” Chloe asked. Her tone was teasing, but she was prepared to stop if Beca gave any indication that was what she wanted. However, the only response Beca gave was in grabbing the hem of Chloe’s sweater to pull it over her head and drop it to the floor, leaving her in just the bra that did her the most favors. 

 

“Thought so,” Chloe said with a sly smile, reaching to grab Beca’s hips.

 

“Shut up,” Beca muttered under her breath, and before Chloe could think of a comeback, she was shoved onto her bed.

 

Things had…escalated between them.

 

Not all the way. 

 

It wasn’t like they had sex yet.

 

Not that that was where they were headed. It was just, under usual circumstances, people who indulged in extremely heated makeout sessions with someone else on a regular basis usually eventually resulted in sleeping together.

 

But that wasn’t what was happening with Beca and Chloe.

 

And sure, Beca turned Chloe on more with just kissing than some people had done pulling out all their stops.

 

And yeah, maybe Chloe had her fair share of dreams about Beca since they started engaging in more and more personal moments together that left her feeling insanely aroused.

 

But that did not mean they were going to have sex. 

 

They were just friends. Who kissed. A lot. Platonically. And hid it from all their other friends.

 

Whatever. It was a secret to no one that they both needed as many stress relievers as possible. 

 

The fact of the matter did, however, remain; they had certainly strayed further and further down a less than innocent path when it came to the moments they shared. 

 

Especially now, as Beca crawled onto Chloe’s bed to straddle her waist in a move that felt entirely too sexy to be anything but purposeful, and kiss her with abandon.

 

It was easy, almost shockingly so, to do this with Beca. Easy for Chloe’s hands to find Beca’s hips and grip them in a bruising hold. Easy for Chloe to allow herself to get lost in the feeling of Beca’s lips pressing into hers. 

 

Something in Chloe’s gut was telling her that it shouldn’t be this easy. That the ease was there for a reason. A reason that most definitely shouldn’t go on ignored. However, it was also telling her to slip her hand under the waistband of Beca’s pants and cross a line that could not be uncrossed, so obviously her gut was not to be trusted.

 

Beca’s hands had come to rest on either side of Chloe’s head. Chloe hadn’t thought much about the action, but when she felt Beca’s hips jerk under her hold, suddenly their placement was all Chloe could think about. 

 

Chloe pulled Beca’s hips forwards before giving herself a chance to second-guess the decision.

 

Beca moved willingly, malleable under Chloe's touch. 

 

The position they had found themselves in allowed Beca’s hips to roll deeply into her, and yet nothing could have prepared Chloe for the shaky exhale that escaped Beca’s lips as soon as she made contact. 

 

Intoxicating.

 

That was the only word to describe it.

 

(‘Insanely and mind-blowingly sexy’ also would have done the job.)

 

Beca’s hips easily found their rhythm. Chloe no longer needed to provide guidance, and yet, she kept her hands where they were. Among the catalog of feelings and emotions swirling deep in her chest, a desire to do anything that could bring her any less close to Beca was nowhere to be found. 

 

They weren’t kissing. Beca couldn’t manage much more besides gasping into Chloe’s mouth, but she didn’t mind. If anything, she understood exactly how Beca felt.

 

Somehow, with the constant movement of Beca’s hips, Chloe’s hands had slipped underneath the hem of her tank top. 

 

It started with just the tips of her fingers, but as soon as Chloe felt the heat of bare skin, any semblance of control was lost. She ran her palms up Beca’s side, sliding higher and higher until her fingers met the edge of Beca’s bra.

 

But Chloe didn't look. 

 

She could only afford to imagine what Beca looked like. There wasn’t a chance in hell Chloe would try to steal a glimpse, not if it meant she would risk sacrificing their closeness for even a moment. But that didn't mean she wasn't picturing it. Picturing what Beca looked like straddling her waist. Her stomach fully exposed, moving and tensing with every roll of her hips. 

 

It was almost too much.

 

And still, entirely not enough.

 

She wanted to see for herself exactly what she did to Beca.

 

She wanted more.

 

The thought alone caused Chloe’s heart to skip a few beats in her chest before it seemed to start working overtime to make up for the loss.

 

Her fingers lingered on the edge of Beca’s bra. There was an unmistakable urge to move, but Chloe didn’t know if it was to pull away or go further. She felt her hands begin to twitch, ready to make the decision for her and move in either direction without waiting for any input from her brain.

 

Beca spoke before she had a chance to choose. 

 

“You can.” Her breath was hot against Chloe’s lips. “If you want.”

 

At first Chloe wasn’t sure what she meant, but then Beca moved before she could ask. Chloe was about to protest, desperate to stay in this moment as long as possible. Beca’s left hand rose from the mattress, her weight being held up entirely by her right. Circling her fingers around Chloe’s wrist, Beca's hand began slowly dragging Chloe’s higher, lingering after moving just a few inches. She released Chloe’s wrist and held herself up on both hands again.

 

“Are you sure?” Chloe asked. She could feel the swell of Beca’s chest under the tips of her fingers.

 

Beca smiled slightly against Chloe’s mouth, as if the idea of having any apprehension was almost laughable. “Yeah, I’m sure.” 

 

Without looking at it, the image of Beca’s smirk was familiar enough that Chloe could see it clearly in her mind. The one that told Chloe she was playing right into Beca’s hand. That smug little smile that made Chloe feel like the ground had slipped out from under her feet.

 

Chloe really couldn’t handle it anymore. She absolutely could not stand one more minute of letting Beca think she was winning this game they were playing.

 

So, she decided to do something about it.

 

In one fell swoop, Chloe lifted her head to bring their lips back together and fully cupped both of Beca’s breasts in her hands.

 

A small sound of surprise left Beca’s throat as her hips twitched against Chloe’s. Chloe had to fight off the urge to smile.

 

She kissed Beca harder than before, which took quite a bit of effort considering they weren’t exactly taking things slow. She wanted to take control, and she wanted Beca to know it. The idea left her reeling, but nothing could have made her want to stop. Beca’s chest was heaving under her palms and something about it only spurred Chloe on. For all the times Beca made her feel like she was completely at her will, it was empowering to turn the tables.

 

But the empowerment didn’t last long, not when she was pretty positive that her brain was turning into mush.

 

She couldn’t think about how Beca was straddling her waist. She couldn’t think about one of Beca’s hands finding its way into her hair, tilting Chloe’s head back to kiss her impossibly deeper. She couldn’t think of how their position allowed her to feel every grind of Beca’s hips against her stomach.

 

Frankly, Chloe wasn’t quite sure she had the capacity to think at all.

 

There was still a need.

 

A deep, almost primal urge running deep inside of her veins that required no additional thought.

 

A desire to do…something. 

 

Anything, really. Chloe didn’t know what it was, didn’t particularly care to find out either, but she did know one thing. She certainly hadn’t felt this way with anyone before. 

 

Beca broke their kiss with a gasping breath. “Fuck.”

 

Chloe nodded her head, eyes still closed, and brought her lips back to Beca’s. 

 

The kiss didn’t last long before Beca turned her head to the side as Chloe began to trail open-mouthed kisses down her jaw towards her neck.

 

“Fuck,” Beca panted again, dripping in desperation.

 

“I know,” Chloe murmured against her skin before continuing her unrelenting assault on the nape of Beca’s neck, not a care in the world if she left a mark.

 

“Jesus, Chlo, yo—” Beca’s words caught in her throat when Chloe scraped her teeth just the slightest bit harder. “You can not give me a hickey before Semis.”

 

Chloe couldn’t stifle her smile as she nipped Beca’s neck again.

 

Beca extended her arms, pulling herself out of Chloe’s reach. “Dude, stop.” 

 

And while Chloe knew Beca was trying to sound annoyed, the smile on her face and the laugh in her voice betrayed her before she could even try to be convincing.

 

Chloe had fully ceased all attempts to hide her smile as Beca tried to glare down at her. The closest she could manage was to snag her bottom lip between her teeth to at least look like she was trying.

 

Beca rolled her eyes and sat up the rest of the way. Already accepting that she couldn’t stand the distance, Chloe was ready to sit up and start kissing Beca again.

 

But something stopped her.

 

Beca was reaching for the hem on her tight tank top. In a flash of movement that Chloe failed to keep up with, it was gone.

 

And Beca was sitting astride her lap. In just her bra. A nude bra, with a little bit of decorative lace at the top of cups that seemed to almost be struggling to keep everything contained.

 

Which was fine. Chloe was calm, cool, and collected. She was absolutely keeping it together.  

 

With more effort than she’d ever be willing to admit, Chloe pulled her gaze away from Beca’s chest to look her in the eye. “Is this supposed to distract me?”

 

“Why?” Beca asked as she leaned back over Chloe with her arms extended, remaining frustratingly out of reach. She licked her lips and Chloe lost her own internal battle by following the movement with her eyes. “Is it working?”

 

Yes, it absolutely was.

 

Chloe feigned a scoff. “No.”

 

One of Beca’s brows raised in suspicion. “No?”

 

Chloe willed her gaze to keep from dropping, either to Beca’s lips or somewhere decidedly lower. “Not even a little bit.”

 

“You’re so annoying,” Beca said with a roll of her eyes and absolutely no annoyance in her tone.

 

In all honesty, if Chloe could think, she might have deemed it as endearance.

 

But she couldn’t, so she didn’t.

 

Instead, she let Beca kiss her again. And again. And again. 

 

Her hands had found their way back to Beca’s hips, easily guiding them into their cadence of back and forth, but something about it was more frantic than before.

 

There was a tightness in Chloe’s chest that she couldn’t shake. An urge for something, anything more. She needed…

 

Well, shit, she needed Beca.

 

Which didn’t make any sense. Beca was on top of her, shirtless, grinding down into her in a terribly slow and deep rhythm. In most senses of the word, she had Beca.

 

And it wasn’t enough. Chloe could feel herself standing on the precipice of something big. Something that might change everything. She knew she shouldn’t take the leap, but deep in her chest she felt that familiar reassurance that Beca would catch her. 

 

“Can I touch you?” The words left Chloe’s mouth before she could think to stop them. 

 

She wasn't even entirely sure how she had managed to stop kissing Beca long enough for her words to escape, but Beca wasted no time bringing their lips back together.

 

“You are,” Beca mumbled against her lips, barely breaking the kiss to speak. 

 

Chloe’s fingers gripped Beca’s waist tighter on their own accord as she let out a shaky exhale. Screwing her eyes shut, Chloe let Beca lean back far enough to look down at her. And when she opened her eyes, that was what she saw.

 

Beca, above her, eyes soft and gentle and so full of desire, with something else lingering behind them that Chloe couldn’t place.

 

“I know, but I—” The words slipped out again. When did she become a person who lost control this easily? “Fuck, please, Bec, I don’t know. I just wanna—”

 

Beca sat up abruptly, effectively cutting Chloe off without having said a word. 

 

All Chloe could do was watch as Beca’s hands reached around behind her back. Under ordinary circumstances, she might have been able to piece together what was happening. But nothing about this was ordinary, and so Chloe felt nothing but surprise as she watched Beca’s bra begin to slacken against her chest. 

 

Chloe’s eyes snapped up to Beca’s, finding them easily as if it was what Beca had been waiting for. 

 

She should have been freaking out. And maybe she was, a little bit. But certainly not in the way that she should be. 

 

Chloe licked her lips, suddenly realizing just how dry her mouth felt, and noticed Beca’s eyes flicked down to watch the action before meeting Chloe’s surely heated gaze once more.

 

This should have been weird.

 

But as Chloe looked into Beca’s dark, almost hungry eyes, she had the startling realization that nothing about this situation felt weird at all.

 

And Chloe couldn’t bring herself to care.

 

Certainly not while she has much more important things to focus on. Namely, the way she found her own hand reaching towards Beca’s chest, hooking two fingers under the band of her bra right between her breasts. Chloe was careful not to touch her skin, but the warmth of Beca’s proximity was enough to send Chloe reeling. It was a feat to keep her movements slow as she gave Beca’s bra a slight tug, revealing more skin with every millimeter of movement. Beca had to finish the job, slipping the straps off her arms with the same careful, unhurried pace, and before Chloe knew it, she was topless.

 

Beca was topless. 

 

It wasn’t necessarily a new sight. Living in a house with seven other women meant that she was bound to see a boob every once and a while. Usually Stacie’s. Sometimes Amy’s. And on one particularly horrific event that Chloe wished she could erase from her mind, Lily’s.

 

Not to mention that Chloe had seen Beca naked before, but she hadn’t really looked back then. She was much more focused on getting Beca to sing than she was on the fact that they were both in the nude—something Beca made sure to remind her of multiple times during their interaction. 

 

This wasn’t even anywhere near Chloe’s first time going this far with another woman, but this was different. This was something else entirely.

 

This was Beca baring herself in a way that felt far more intimate than Chloe had been prepared for her.

 

The realization barreled into her chest and stole all of the air from her lungs, with no hope of it returning anytime soon.

 

Beca seemed to realize that fact right as Chloe did. “Breathe, Chlo,” she gently instructed with that same pretty little smirk as earlier.

 

And she did. Chloe took one deep breath, and then another right after, and another. Honestly, she couldn’t be sure she hadn’t started hyperventilating.

 

The thing was, no matter what Beca might have been thinking, her reaction didn’t have anything to do with what she was seeing. It was the implications behind the action. Behind Beca taking off her own bra because Chloe was practically begging to touch her in any way she was allowed. Behind Beca letting Chloe take in the sight before her for as long as she needed.

 

The implications behind all that they had done and the fact that it was all happening with Beca. 

 

That was really what Chloe was attempting to grapple with. 

 

Attempting and, quite frankly, failing. 

 

So, she stopped trying altogether.

 

Chloe stopped thinking and started moving. She sat up until she was left face-to-face with Beca, purposely ignoring the warmth of Beca’s bare chest against her own through the little bit of fabric remaining between them. 

 

“Y’know,” Beca said when it became obvious Chloe wasn’t going to be able to manage anything more, “I’m starting to feel like you might be overdressed.”

 

Chloe felt her lips smile before she knew it was coming. “Oh yeah?”

 

Flirting. She could do flirting. Whatever all those other thoughts and feelings were was too much to even consider thinking about right now. But teasing, flirting, kissing, Chloe knew she could handle. 

 

For the most part. 

 

But damn if Beca wasn't making it hard for her. 

 

“Yeah,” Beca sighed. Panted, more like. Only now that they were this close could Chloe tell that her breath had also become heavier. Without convincing herself to do otherwise, Chloe allowed herself to believe that maybe this meant that Beca was just as affected as she was. “Can—”

 

“Yes,” Chloe cut her off. She couldn't stand to wait the few milliseconds more it would take for Beca to finish her question. “Yes.”

 

Beca’s hands slid around Chloe’s back, dragging along her heated skin during their entire journey.  Chloe felt Beca hesitate at the clasp of her bra. Maybe the hesitation was warranted, but Chloe couldn't begin to care. Instead, she kissed Beca with a fervor and confidence that left no more room for any uncertainty. 

 

And then, without breaking their kiss, Chloe felt her own bra slacken.

 

Her stomach swooped at the ease in which Beca removed her bra, slipping it down her arms and tossing on the floor towards oblivion. It didn't matter where it landed, nothing beyond her bed held any importance at all.

 

The only thing taking any of Chloe’s attention was Beca’s bare chest pressed against hers for the first time.

 

The feeling was incomparable. Her skin felt like it was going to burn against Beca’s from the heat radiating between them. Chloe almost wished it would. She wished that her skin would bear the mark of Beca’s touch against her body, that the two of them would leave scorch marks on her bed so she could revel in this memory every single night. She wished this moment could last forever—Beca, entirely hers. Hers in the way Chloe knew she was Beca’s, had been for much longer than she could ever imagine. 

 

Beca’s hand was back on her body, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Her hand continued moving up Chloe’s side before it rested on her ribs, Beca’s thumb right under the swell of her chest. 

 

Chloe was no stranger to sex, to feeling desire, but this was more than anything she had felt in the past. Beca hadn’t even touched her, not really, and Chloe felt herself melting into her hands. She wanted this, she wanted Beca. It didn't matter whether or not she should. She did. And she wasn't planning on changing that fact any time soon. Not when the reward presented itself in the form of Beca’s hand moving to fully cover her breast.

 

Chloe could feel her nipple straining against Beca’s palm and did a poor job of holding back a groan.

 

And when Beca’s hand squeezed, Chloe forgot to try to hold back at all.

 

Her own hands were moving before she realized it, their destination clear. She cupped Beca’s breasts in her hands, settling her thumbs right over Beca’s nipples. Chloe didn't get much more of a response than a slight, out of rhythm jerk of Beca’s hips. But even that felt monumental.

 

Beca seemed dead-set on stifling her reactions, but it only served to spur Chloe on. She needed to know what sounds she could draw out of her, what each and every reaction meant. She longed to know Beca’s body as she did her own. 

 

Chloe moved her thumbs with a gentle touch, brushing over Beca’s stiff nipples. She knew they had to be aching by now, if the way they were straining with every swipe of Chloe’s thumbs told her anything. Almost no part of her longed to ease the ache. She wanted to tease, she wanted to see just how far she could reduce Beca into desperation with just her hands. Perhaps even her mouth. Chloe groaned into their kiss at the thought of getting her mouth on Beca’s chest and teasing with her tongue for as long as Beca could last. But that would mean she would have to stop kissing Beca, which was unacceptable.

 

In acquiescence for only herself, Chloe settled on teasing with only her hands for now, mostly because whatever sinful moves Beca’s tongue was making in her mouth took precedence over all else. 

 

Chloe moved her hands to pinch Beca’s nipples between her fingers, slowly rolling them as they grew impossibly stiffer. The reaction Beca gave was heavenly, sitting up higher to bring them closer and allowing herself to grind down deeper into Chloe. 

 

She could feel Beca’s breath begin to stutter, but made no moves to slow down. How could she when she had Beca exactly how she wanted her? Desperate. Aching. Greedy.

 

As if Beca only then remembered that she could, the hand on Chloe’s chest began to move, but not before squeezing her breast one more time. Her fingers moved to cover Chloe’s nipple, giving a slower, more precise pinch than the ones she herself was receiving. There was no rhythm, which Chloe knew was intentional. Beca didn't want her to be able to predict her movements. Beca wanted her to be surprised. And fuck if it wasn’t working exactly in her favor. 

 

She didn't know when, but eventually Chloe’s own hips had begun to move, grinding upwards into Beca, but providing next to no relief for herself. It was all for Beca, whose movements had steadily been growing more fervorish. Beca’s free hand slid up Chloe’s back, sending a shiver up her spine, before settling in her hair. Without warning the hand fisted in her hair, harshly pulling her head backwards and breaking their kiss with a moan. It took Chloe a second to realize that the noise had come from her own mouth. 

 

Without releasing her hold, Beca held Chloe’s head back and kissed her again. Somehow, inexplicably, Beca was managing to kiss her even harder. Beca’s other hand left Chloe’s breast, trailing up to her shoulder. She had only a moment to lament the loss before Beca’s hand was drifting again. This time, however, her thumb was moving towards Chloe’s neck. 

 

It was an incriminating position to be found in. Beca’s right hand fisted in her hair while her left moved closer and closer to wrapping around her throat.

 

Beca wasn't doing much more than holding her, but Chloe was shocked with how much she liked it. How much she enjoyed Beca’s hand around her neck. How much she wished Beca would take the leap and squeeze, even ever so slightly.

 

Chloe’s own fingers had yet to cease their teasing of Beca’s nipples, and she could feel just how much it affected Beca. 

 

Chloe needed something, and even if she couldn’t name it, she knew without a doubt that Beca needed it too. 

 

And maybe it was just an orgasm, but Chloe would be lying if she didn't say that it felt like so much more.

 

Life beyond her bedroom was non-existent. It was only Beca. Beca's skin, Beca’s touch, Beca’s kiss. The sound escaping from the back of Beca’s throat that sounded distinctly like a moan and tasted like victory.

 

Chloe never wanted this moment to cease. She wanted to flip them over and pin Beca to the bed. She wanted to kiss Beca like she was her lifeline, her sanctuary. She wanted to slide her hand down Beca’s body, feeling her stomach jump as she moved lower and lower. She wanted to slip her hand under Beca’s waistband, listening to her gasps and pants of sheer need, following the feeling of warm skin until she could feel the heat of how wet—

 

The sound of a knock on her bedroom door crashed over Chloe like a wave of freezing water, causing her to jump and break their seemingly unending kiss.

 

Chloe instantly felt a panic growing in her chest. Her eyes were glued to the door, as if she was waiting for it to open. She knew it wouldn't, she had half the mind to lock it before practically assaulting Beca.

 

Beca was the one to break the silence, keeping her voice low enough that only Chloe could hear. “Are you fucking kidding—”

 

Another knock at the door, more incessant than before, and Jessica’s voice carried from the hallway, “Chloe? Beca? Please tell me you're both in there.”

 

“Can’t they take care of themselves for five minutes?” Beca said to only Chloe again, as if still attempting to make their presence unknown. 

 

Jessica spoke through the door again, “Please, guys, Lily put on The Ring and now Amy’s scared of the TV.” Chloe heard Beca groan beside her, the warmth of her forehead now pressed against her shoulder as Beca hung her head in defeat. “We’re way too close to World War III down here. I got Amy to put the chair down but she wont get off the table.” 

 

Chloe heard Amy’s voice carry from down the stairs, “I’m just saying, if a little girl comes crawling out of that thing, I’m sacrificing Cynthia-Rose first to save my sexy ass.”

 

“I know you didn't just say that,” Cynthia-Rose shouted in reply, and Chloe knew that tone of voice meant that Jessica hadn't been exaggerating the extent of the situation. 

 

“Ladies, please—” Aubrey started, apparently trying to take care of the situation on her own.

 

“Watch out, blondie, or you'll be next,” Amy interrupted, louder than before. 

 

Chloe sighed, running her hand up and down Beca’s back in an attempt to keep their closeness that she was so desperate not to lose, before speaking to Jessica, “Okay, yes, we're coming.”

 

“Not anymore,” Beca grumbled, falling dramatically onto the mattress.

 

Chloe felt her stomach swoop as she snapped her head over to look at Beca. 

 

Her eyes were closed and Chloe took the opportunity to look at her as greedily as she wanted. Beca’s hands were resting over her head and Chloe was overcome with the desire to grab her wrists and pin them to the bed. She wanted to taste Beca’s skin, trail her lips down Beca’s chest until she was writhing beneath her. And only after Beca resorted to begging would Chloe finally continue her descent and find out what all of Beca tasted like on her tongue.

 

Aubrey’s voice from downstairs broke Chloe out of her trance, sounding more tense and high pitched than before, “No, Amy, put down the pitch pipe.”

 

Chloe took a deep breath to try and clear the lust infused haze she had lost herself in. “We’ll be down in a second,” she called out to Jessica.

 

With one last lingering look at Beca lying topless on her bed, Chloe stood up, reaching for her previously discarded sweater. She found Beca’s bra on the floor and tossed it up on the bed. Beca finally opened her eyes and sat up. Chloe began to gather the rest of Beca’s clothes off the floor when she heard Beca speak.

 

“That was okay, right?” Chloe wasn't sure she had heard Beca sound so apprehensive in a long time. 

 

“Yeah, of course,” Chloe immediately assured with a smile. “I had fun.”

 

Fun was the understatement of the year.

 

Especially considering Chloe could feel exactly how much she had been enjoying herself with every single step she took.

 

Beca sighed in relief, “Good, me too.”

 

“Yeah, I definitely couldn't tell with how quickly you lost your shirt,” Chloe teased in an attempt to ease Beca’s fears further.

 

She knew she succeeded when Beca rolled her eyes, but did a poor job of hiding her smile while putting on her bra. “Oh my god, shut up, I hate you so much.”

 

Chloe tossed Beca’s clothes on the bed before making her way towards the door. “Sure thing, Bec, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

 

---

 

As it turned out, the first half of the horror movie was enough to make Amy even more paranoid and chaotic than usual. It had taken longer than she expected, but they eventually got Amy to bed, and the rest of the girls followed shortly. Chloe lamented the fact that Beca had gone to sleep upstairs, but she didn't trust Amy to stay in bed if she was left alone.

 

But damn if Chloe wasn’t desperate to be the one with Beca in her bedroom.

 

Logically, she knew she shouldn’t, but Chloe couldn't shake the desire to finish what they had started earlier.

 

Logically, the fact that they were going to Semi-Finals the next day should be taking precedence over everything else.

 

But frankly, Chloe hadn’t been able to think logically since before she ended up alone in her bedroom with Beca. And certainly not since she now knew what it felt like to have her bare chest pressed against Beca’s.

 

She couldn't stop remembering the feeling of Beca’s skin. The breathy gasps she kept letting escape. The roll of her hips against Chloe’s. The desperation radiating off of her body.

 

Chloe rolled over in bed and closed her eyes tight. She needed to clear her head. She needed to stop thinking about Beca this way. More than anything she needed to get some sleep. Aubrey was there to watch them perform tomorrow and there was no way Chloe was going to let them be anything less than perfect. 

 

She just needed to chill out. Be cool. Stop freaking out over something that wasn’t that big of a deal.

 

Everything was totally and completely fine.

 

---

 

Chloe might not have been Jesse’s biggest fan, but she had to admit he had some redeeming qualities. Like the fact that he owned a karaoke machine and would sometimes bring it out when everyone was just drunk enough to enjoy it.

 

Honestly, it was just the karaoke machine.

 

She didn’t hate Jesse. Chloe Beale didn’t hate people. But she just…didn’t like him.

 

Her best friend’s ex boyfriend and all that. 

 

And Chloe knew she should be focused on Aubrey, it wasn’t often they got to see each other in person, but she was distracted. 

 

She couldn’t help it.

 

Something about Beca and Jesse talking—laughing together across the room irked her. 

 

Realistically, she knew Beca was probably gloating about the fact that they kicked the Trebles’ asses at Semi-Finals earlier that night, but that didn’t change the fact that there was something about it Chloe didn’t like. Something irrational, she knew that. Beca was her own person and could talk to whoever she wanted. If she wanted to talk to her ex-boyfriend, she could. And if she wanted to rest her hand on his forearm while laughing at what was probably a really horrible joke, then she could do that too.

 

It didn't bother her at all.

 

Besides, Chloe knew that she was the one that had Beca topless on her bed just the night before. 

 

It wasn't like it made a difference. No one else knew what they had gotten up to last night. No one else knew how desperately Beca had been grinding against her. No one knew how eager Beca was to get Chloe’s hands on her breasts. No one knew how quickly she removed Chloe's bra soon after.

 

But Chloe knew.

 

Somehow that was enough to assuage her (knowingly unfounded) irritation.

 

“She’s doing better than I thought she would,” Aubrey said and Chloe snapped her eyes back to hers. She had almost forgotten she was in the middle of a conversation. Aubrey hadn't been looking at her though, she had also been looking across the room at Beca. “I didn’t think she would do bad. Mostly. But she’s doing really well.” 

 

Chloe felt herself smile and failed in her attempt to keep herself from looking back towards Beca. “She is.”

 

“You both are.” Aubrey turned to Chloe. She felt a sense of pride bubbling up in her chest as she smiled this time at Aubrey. “And I know you’re going to do just as well once you graduate too.” Chloe felt her smile waver, but quickly recovered. “I’m so proud of you, Chloe.”

 

She felt suffocated, like the air around her had grown so thick that it could no longer be breathed. 

 

Her smile began to quiver and Chloe knew she couldn't keep her facade up for much longer. Chloe knew the chances of her graduating were slim. Non-exsistant, really. She was struggling to keep up with everything, just like last year. The Bellas were her priority, as they very well should be. Everything else just… didn't matter as much.

 

She knew it was wrong. It wouldn't even take that much to get her grades back up from where they had fallen. 

 

She just…couldn’t. 

 

Chloe watched as Aubrey’s brows began to furrow and she knew she’d been made. And if one thing was true, it was that Chloe absolutely did not want to have this conversation no matter what.

 

Swallowing the rest of the liquid in her cup in two big gulps, Chloe took a step away from Aubrey. And another. “I need a refill.” It was a pitiful excuse. She knew that, but she continued to make her way into the kitchen. “You good?” she asked Aubrey, knowing full well her cup was still over half full.

 

“Yeah.” Aubrey’s eyebrows knitted even closer together. Chloe had to get out of there ASAP. “Are you oka—”

 

There was no way she could stand there and lie to Aubrey right now, so Chloe cut her off before she could finish her question. “Yeah. Totes. I’m good. Great. Aca-awesome.”

 

Her smile was too wide to be convincing, her eyes refusing to make contact with Aubrey’s own. Frankly, Chloe was doing a shit job of pretending to be okay. At least to Aubrey. To herself, Chloe was content to remain none the wiser.

 

Chloe made her way to the kitchen and filled her cup with something blue that Amy had thrown together that reeked of alcohol but tasted sweet enough to be dangerous. Peeking her head to look back into the living room, she saw Aubrey had gotten herself stuck in a conversation with one of the Trebels. Normally, Chloe would go save her from the droning on of a mediocre guy trying to bark up a tree he’d never seen even a branch of, but instead, she ducked back into the kitchen, content to stay for a while.

 

And stay she did, for longer than she planned while drinking more than she cared to keep track of. 

 

All Chloe knew at that moment was that she felt happy and warm and fuzzy. And a little off balance. 

 

Chloe felt herself sway as she moved to fill her cup another time. And she would have finished the job perfectly if she hadn’t bumped into the wall. The plaid wall. That smelled like that coconut conditioner Beca used.

 

“Woah there,” Chloe heard from the wall. She turned her head to face the source of the noise and once the rest of her brain caught up with her, she realized it wasn't a wall at all. It was Beca. Perfect, beautiful, gorgeous Beca. “How many of these have you had?”

 

Chloe thought hard, but she really hadn't been keeping count. Not for a while. “Somewhere between two and more than two.”

 

Beca chuckled and stole the cup from Chloe’s hand. “Okay, I think maybe you're done now.”

 

She tried to reach after her cup, but her arm was moving way slower than her brain told it to, resulting in her failing miserably. 

 

“Boo, says who?” Chloe pouted, jutting out her bottom lip.

 

“Literally me, dude,” Beca replied, setting Chloe’s coveted cup next to the sink.

 

Chloe crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter behind her to glare at Beca and totally not because she needed the extra help keeping her balance. “I’ll have you know that I feel perfectly fine right now.”

 

The look Beca gave her told Chloe that she hadn’t done a well enough job convincing her. 

 

“Oh yeah?” Beca teased, cocking her eyebrow in a move that Chloe hated how much she loved.

 

“Mhm.” Chloe nodded her head and regretted the movement instantly as her brain didn't seem to stop shaking around in her skull afterwards. “I’d totally ace a sobriety test right now.”

 

Beca let out a small scoff and flicked her hand at Chloe. “Okay, go ahead and say the alphabet backwards then.”

 

“Joke’s on you,” Chloe said with entirely too much conviction, pointing her finger towards Beca, almost hitting her in the nose. “I can't do that sober.”

 

Beca laughed and suddenly Chloe forgot what she was even fighting for and felt herself smile.

 

“Did you know,” Beca started, grabbing Chloe’s hand to pull it out of her face, “that you have an accent when you’re drunk?”

 

Chloe felt her jaw drop. “What? I do not.”

 

“Yeah, you do.” Beca’s smile continued to grow as she held up her hand with her pointer finger and thumb merely millimeters apart from each other “Just a little twang. I wouldn’t be surprised if you started saying ‘y’all’ pretty soon.”

 

And sure, ‘y’all’ may have been in Chloe’s lexicon in her younger years, but she had expanded her vocabulary greatly since then. 

 

Not to mention the speech therapy her mother took her to at nine years old because of a lisp she couldn’t shake had nipped that twang right in the bud. The twang she totally didn’t have anymore. Not even when she was tipsy, no matter what Beca might have said.

 

Chloe raised her hand to her chest as she balked at Beca’s audacity. “I would never.”

 

Beca’s eyes brightened as her smile grew wider. “Oh my god that was perfect.” Chloe felt a tug on her hand and only just realized that Beca had yet to let go. “Do it again.”

 

“What? No!” It was growing harder and harder to continue to feign annoyance as a laugh slipped from Chloe’s lips. She loved nothing more than Beca was in a playful mood.

 

“C’mon, please,” Beca practically begged, and Chloe couldn't help the way it reminded her of the night before. “I'll give you something for it.”

 

Chloe’s mind took that offer and ran with it. Ran straight into her bedroom and onto her bed. It ran and ran until all she could remember was how good Beca’s hand felt around her neck.

 

Chloe stepped closer to Beca, purposely lowering her voice. “Something like what?”

 

“What do you want?” Beca asked, and it excited Chloe that she didn’t make any moves away.

 

And her answer was obvious. “A kiss.”

 

“Just one?” Beca’s eyes flicked down to her lips momentarily in a movement so quick Chloe was surprised she caught it.

 

Chloe shrugged in an attempt to feign indifference. “Fine. Three.”

 

Beca nodded her head. “Okay. Three kisses.” She started taking steps backwards, her hold on Chloe’s hand dragging her along. “But we're gonna have to go upstairs first because I’m not gonna wanna wait.”

 

“Oh yeah, you like that idea?” Chloe teased as Beca turned around to begin their assent. 

 

Beca looked over her shoulder at Chloe with a look in her eye that she hadn't seen since the night before. “It's you, of course I do.”

 

And as Chloe followed Beca up the stairs to her bedroom, she felt she knew exactly what Beca meant by that statement.

Notes:

i’m crossing my fingers the next chapter doesn’t take two years but it’s obvious that i have no clue

thank you for reading, and thank you endlessly to everyone who has stuck around waiting for this <3