#bcbegins

"Nervous?"

She shrugs, swirling the contents in her glass and purses her lips.

"Still adamant about this, huh?" She feels her friend tugging at her shirt sleeve and she pulls away quickly, smoothing down to get rid of the crease made by the tugging.

"Tsk, I won't crease your shirt, you doofus. Remember who you're talking to?"

She shrugs again and taps out a rhythm with her fingers on the wooden top of the parapet. Her navy blue eyes roam across the skyline bathed in the generous orange glow of the sunset. Much bustle and hustle are going on in the background as the two friends admire the glory of the sun setting towards the horizon.

People are hanging up fairy lights around any post, tree or tall, standing objects they can find; the older women are busy preparing dinner in the kitchen next to the courtyard. Strong men are rearranging the long tables and chairs such that they wind around the courtyard in a continuous line. Others are busy throwing white table cloths on the rearranged tables, complete with rose and lily petals and mason jars with tea-light candles in them.

"It's almost time, are you ready?" Her friend tries again, placing her hand on the shorter girl.

She takes a deep breath, exhales and nods.

"I'm ready, more than ready actually."

She was balancing and walking down a raised beam – her arms outstretched as she maneuvered the challenge she'd decided to throw at herself. Every once in a while she'd lose her balance and nearly fall over, but she'd managed to go right back and pause, before bursting into light giggles and continuing her "catwalk".

A shorter girl was walking alongside her. Her soft brown locks flowing along with the breeze as she fixed her navy blue eyes on her silly companion.

"You are surely working that balance beam."

She paused again and turned to look at the brunette who was having a smirk on her porcelain face.

"I sure am."

"And you're getting good at it."

"Of course!" She pulled a mock "How could you say that – you offend me" look and placed her hands on her hips. "Why, I'll show you how good I am."

She turned and mentally prepared herself, tucking her auburn locks behind her ears. The brunette raised her eyebrows and wondered what her companion was up to. She nearly facepalm herself when she saw what the redhead did next.

"Chloe!"

The redhead had decided to skip along the balance beam. One step, two steps, she shrieked. Her right foot missed the wooden beam and down she went – straight into the arms of her brunette companion.

"Chloe." The brunette chided, holding her tightly.

"I'm sorry..." The redhead leaned in and nuzzled her nose against the brunette's.

"You, Chloe Beale, will be the death of me."

Both women giggled before settling into comfortable silence. Chloe reached up and started playing with those brown locks, twirling them with her fingers.

"You're so silly."

The redhead smiled. "Well Mitchell, you just have to deal with it."

The brunette took a deep breath and turned to look at Chloe. She took her hand that's playing with her hair and clasped it tightly within her own. The redhead quirked her eyebrow and nodded her curiosity.

"Chloe... I'd like to- if you don't mind, I-"

"Becs? Hey, calm down."

Beca took another deep breath and closed her eyes, her free hand wandering into her coat pocket and pulled out a black box. Chloe gasped and quickly jerked her eyes back at those navy blue ones.

"Chloe, if you'd let me, I'd love to deal with every part of you for the rest of our lives. I'd love to be here to catch you when you fall, and I'd love to be witness to every single of your silly antics for as long as I live. I love you, Chloe. I love you so much, sometimes I'd thought my heart is going to collapse and die."

Tears started to well and Chloe reached up to wipe them away, refusing to miss this moment.

"Chloe, will you marry me?"

The two friends make their way back to Beca's room. The blonde balks at the sight of the room and remains in the doorway. The brunette arches her eyebrows and crosses her arms in front of her chest. Her friend shakes her head and holds up her hands.

"No way, Mitchell. I just cleaned your room yesterday!"

"I'm sorry, Aub. I needed to find something this morning."

"What was so important that you had to make this room to look like a tornado has gone through it, bringing along its hurricane cousin?"

"The rings."

"What?!"

"Don't worry, I've found them." Beca pats her back pocket and pulls her best friend into her room. "Now, let's get me dressed."

"You go get a shower, Mitchell and get yourself cleaned and scrubbed. No, I'm not doing your back for you – I have a room to clean! And Mitchell?"

"Yeah?"

"Give those rings to me."

"Jesse! Jesse! Ah, chicken backside." Chloe cusses and hisses as she cradles her toe. "Jesse! Why is the bed here?!"

A brunette man gapes at her question and shakes his head, "Chlo, calm down. And your bed is always there – for you to sleep!"

"I know! Urgh. I'm feeling butterflies in all the wrong places."

Jesse moves to hug his best friend, kissing the side of her head. "Don't worry, Chlo. You'll be great."

"Really?" The redhead pulls away slightly to look up at her friend.

"Yes, really – I promise. Want to hear a secret?"

"Of course!"

Jesse cups his hand around her ear and whispers, "Your hair stinks. Go get yourself washed up, Beale."

"You idiot!" She takes a bunch of her hair and smells it. Jesse guffaws at her scrunched-up face and gently pushes her towards the bathroom.

"Here, the towel. Go."

"Pushy."

"You love it."

Aubrey lies down on the bed, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as she plays with her hair - grabbing a bunch and then let them fall strand by strand. She smiles as she feels them escape through her fingers, reflecting in the sunlight like gold. She sits up when she hears the bathroom door open. A very wet and very naked Beca steps out from the steam that has engulfed their bathroom, her hands feeling around as she tries to adjust to the sudden influx of light.

"Beca? Where on earth is your towel? I do not need these sore eyes so early in the evening."

"I dropped them. Can you please hand me another towel? It's friggin' cold in here. Did you open the window?"

The blonde grabs a towel from Beca's dresser and walks over to the brunette.

"You're getting hitched in a couple of hours, Mitchell. I'm not going to be here to babysit you and cover your naked ass anymore, you know?"

"I know." Beca says, raising her arms so that Aubrey can snugly wrap the towel around her body.

The blonde heaves a sigh of relief as she tucks in the towel, securing the fabric around her best friend. "There you go. Now go sit down and I'll do the hair and makeup for you."

Beca sits down at the dresser, facing away from the mirror. She tilts her chin upwards to give Aubrey more access to her face and closes her eyes. Aubrey looks over at her makeup kit and retrieves the moisturizer and a small wad of cotton pads. She turns back to her best friend and a thought strikes her. She purses her lips and places down the items atop the dresser, exchanging them for her phone instead.

Click!

Beca's eyes springs open and she looks up into the lens of a phone camera. She frowns and immediately pushes the offending object away from her face.

"What?"

"What the heck, Posen?!"

"Hey, just thought that I should take the before and after."

"I hate you."

"You love me."

Beca sat and shook her leg impatiently as she waited for her fiancee to emerge from the fitting room. She glanced at her watch and sighed, knowing it would probably take another 10 minutes before she could even have a glimpse of her lover. Whipping out her cellphone, she scrolled through its pages and settled on Cut the Rope. She giggled with delight as she crossed the level where she was stuck for days previously. The shuffling of the curtains made her jerk up and she quickly replaced the cellphone back into her back pocket - sitting up straight with utmost anticipation.

A redhead emerged from the fitting room dressed in a flowing white toga dress. She smiled at the sight of her fiancee - mouth opened and wide-eyed as she sauntered towards her and sat down in her lover's lap.

"Do you like it?"

The dress hung off the redhead's body perfectly; it hugged the waist and the hips snugly whilst the cutting accented her chest. There was a slight hint of cleavage that made the whole look both classy and sensual at the same time. Pearls and white sequins were scattered across the dress, starting from the left shoulder down across the middle of the chest and abdomen area, around the waist on the right and down the back - a la milky way style. A palm-sized violet orchid was attached atop the left shoulder. Beca felt her eyes roam downwards and her breath hitched when she saw the silver-white wedges.

The redhead looked every bit gorgeous. Beca gulped and swallowed hard, trying desperately not to let her thoughts stray.

"You look... per- per- perfection."

"Perfection?" The redhead giggled, leaning in to kiss her lover on her cheek.

"Perfect. I mean, perfect. See you getting me all tongue-tied!"

"Mhmm. So is this a keeper?"

Beca nodded, capturing Chloe's soft pink lips into her own.

"Definitely a keeper - both you and the dress."

A tall, slender brunette strolls into the room, lugging two huge bags with her. Both Jesse and Chloe raise their eyebrows and give their best friend a questioning look. They watch as she ignores their stares and heads straight to the bed, dumping her bags on it.

"Talk about a hot afternoon, people!" She swipes her forehead as if to emphasize her point.

Jesse nods, picking up the remote controller to adjust the thermostat for the air-conditioning. Chloe giggles and walks over to where the third of the trio is standing.

"What are these, Stace?"

"Decorations, of course."

"What for?" Jesse joins them and peers at the items. He reaches over and takes hold of a bag of red rose petals.

"For Chloe and Beca's room! I'm going to make it the most romantic room ever for the newlyweds!"

The redhead and the brunette exchange glances before nodding their heads with as much enthusiasm as they can for their best friend. Stacie smiles.

"Alright, now it's time for our beautiful bride to look even more beautiful. Jesse, unless you're gay, get out of the room!"

The man nods and flashes two thumbs-up at Chloe, mouthing a "See you later" as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. Stacie leads Chloe to the dresser and sits her down, holding her head at both sides and examining her face in the mirror. Both women stay like that for what seems to be an eternity before Stacie jerks and grabs her makeup kit.

"How are you feeling, Chlo?" She asks, dabbing the redhead's cheeks with a generous amount of moisturizer.

"Never been better. A bit nervous though."

"Fat's normer."

"What?"

Stacie removes the blush brush from her mouth and repeats, "That's normal. Sorry." She places the brush back in her mouth and rummages through her kit.

"I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the whole wide world, Stace."

"Close your eyes, I need to make your skin even. And you betcha. Bec's a great catch."

"So is Aubrey." Chloe winks at her friend through the mirror, earning her a light smack on the head.

"Hey, there's nothing, alright?" Stacie chides, turning the redhead so that they're facing each other. She forgets the flush that's creeping up her face and Chloe chuckles at the sight.

"Someone's got it bad for my girl's best friend!"

"No, am not." Stacie smacks Chloe again on the arm and throws the brush back into the kit. She looks and tries to decide which color would best suit her friend, holding up the color palette to the redhead's cheek for comparison.

"Stacie..."

"Leave it, Chlo. It's your and Beca's day. Let's focus on that, shall we?"

"Okay... I just want you to be happy."

Stacie sighs and halts mid-brush. "I know, babe. Anyways," the tall brunette tries to steer the conversation away from her, "I've been thinking - we should totally have a hashtag for you and Beca."

"A what?"

"Hashtag, for people to tag you guys in - pictures, tweets, facebook posts, anything online."

Chloe quirks an eyebrow and slowly nods, "Okay... So what did you have in mind? That look on your face tells me you already have a bunch of those tag thingums."

Stacie places down her tools atop the dresser and turns Chloe so that she faces her squarely. "I'm thinking... #Bechloe."

"Can people even pronounce that?"

"Be-chloe. It's both your names together."

Chloe shakes her head.

"Alright, how about #mitchbeale?"

"Worse."

Both women sit in silence and think hard. A few moments pass and Stacie lights up in eureka. "I got it!"

"Yeah?"

"#bcbegins?"

Chloe repeats the words and nods slowly.

"#bcbegins."