"Chloe, what are you doing?" Aubrey asks her best friend as she saunters into the redhead's room in their shared apartment. The blonde had just come back from going to the store and saw Chloe looking at her laptop more intently than usual, and she looked very engrossed in whatever it was that she was looking at on the screen, and at some moments was typing frantically on her keyboard [Aubrey prayed to every supreme being that she wouldn't break the keyboard of her brand new MacBook, again].
Chloe looks towards the doorway of her bedroom to see Aubrey standing there with a mirth-filled grin on her face. "I'm looking at some stuff..." she trails off, biting her lip lightly. "Now that I think about it, you'll probably say that it's stupid."
"No, I would never think that. What happened?" the blonde asks, walking in and sitting on the bed, careful not to look at the screen of Chloe's laptop. She didn't want to invade her friend's privacy, nor did she want to do anything that would make her uncomfortable, so she simply sat there, cross-legged, with a reassuring yet patient smile on her face.
"Okay, so you know sometimes when you're browsing through Instagram and you get so unbelievably bored that you go to the Explore page? Well, I did that, because I was in no mood to do my essay, and I saw this random post about... Cupid," Chloe admits slowly, as though she was afraid that Aubrey would judge her for saying it.
"Uh huh, go on," Aubrey prompts.
Chloe rubs the spot behind her ear. "Yeah, so I went to look at the post, and then it led me to this website that was in the caption of the post. Then that led me to doing more research about Cupid and things like that. And originally I thought that Cupid didn't exist, but what if Cupid does exist, Bree? Wouldn't that be amazing? I just feel like it's stupid to think that Cupid exists, but it would be so amazing if there was such a thing as Cupid."
Aubrey nods, silently contemplating her best friend's theory. "Okay, so what did you find out from all your research?"
"Well, basically, I compiled a list of all the possible symptoms that one could experience after being hit with 'Cupid's arrow', with the highly unjustified suspicion that it does exist. So say someone were to get pierced, or shot, by this 'arrow', then they would show certain signs of being in love, or falling in love, with the person that they're supposed to fall in love with, also known as their soulmate. I mean, you and I have established a long time ago that we believe in soulmates, right?" the redhead asks as she picks her laptop from her desk and moves over to the bed, plopping down beside Aubrey.
Aubrey nods. "Okay..." she drags slightly. The truth was that although she had believed in only what she saw her entire life, the blonde was starting to feel extremely intrigued by what Chloe was saying. It may have been crazy to believe that Cupid did exist, but she did believe in soulmates, and she also knew that the bluer than blue eyes of her best friend could convince just about anyone to believe anything she wanted them to [it was unfair, really, but Aubrey had long ago resigned herself to her fate of being the uptight one between them both].
"So what happens it that you first feel something in your heart. It's like a feeling, but it's not uncomfortable or painful. It's just there, similar to if I were to put my hand on my arm or whatever, it's just there, not uncomfortable but you feel it. After that, it could take anywhere between," Chloe looks at her laptop, scrolling through her document, "a minute to a few years, or even more, for the effects to take place. And it's not the exact same symptoms or signs for everyone, but I have compiled a list of the most common ones. It's also said that there can be one or more signs that are specific to one person who's been pierced, and that person only, based on their personalities and soulmates. Basically, it varies, or at least that's what I saw when I was researching the subject. I also found out that the symptoms may show all at once, or in regular or irregular intervals, but it's impossible to tell. And for many people, they don't feel the arrow at all. Only very few do. It could be both soulmates feel it, one of them feel it, or none. And if both feel it, it could be at different times as well." Chloe grins.
Aubrey looks at the redhead, still comprehending what she said. "That's actually pretty cool," she says truthfully.
Chloe nods frantically, her eyes slightly wider than usual in excitement, and she was subconsciously bouncing on the bed a little. "It is! Imagine if everyone is hit, Bree, but only some people feel it. Wouldn't it be so amazing if Cupid exists?"
Aubrey shrugs, not suppressing a grin at how elated Chloe was at her findings. "Maybe, but what if Cupid doesn't exist, though?"
Chloe waves a dismissive hand. "Then that's too bad, but I'm placing my bets on Cupid existing," she says confidently. "I just know it," she whispers to herself.
"How do you know?" Aubrey asks curiously.
"Because I felt it tonight, Bree. And it's not just a random hallucination. It's not, I really think it's the arrow. And if it is," she blows out a breath, a dreamy smile taking over her face, "then I can't wait to meet my soulmate."
It first started the very next day [which Aubrey personally asked God himself why he made this happen so soon].
It was just a suspicion, really, but the blonde captain simply found it odd when Beca just looked so confused and out of it just for a single minute in the middle of rehearsal. Some would say that maybe it was Aubrey already suspecting from the start that there was something of some sort between Beca and Chloe, and that she was watching Beca like a hawk because of what Chloe had said the previous night. Maybe Aubrey was doing it [just a little] but she couldn't help it, there must be something that happens, right? She couldn't help but consider the possibilities of something sparking up between them. But whether Aubrey was doing it or not wasn't a concern, because it wasn't even inconspicuous.
The brunette, in the middle of rehearsing a set list, literally just stopped dancing and singing, and stood there looking at the spot where Aubrey supposed should have been the location of her heart [though maybe it was just the narcissistic side of the girl coming out and she was checking herself out, but Aubrey wasn't so cruel to think that Beca would've stooped so low as to do that]. And then she placed a hand on the left side of her chest [still suspiciously close to where her heart was supposed to be], and looked at it with a confused expression, one eyebrow raised and all.
Of course, there were only ten people doing the whole routine, so when Beca had abruptly stopped, it had an unmistakable 'domino' effect on everyone else. Amy, who was doing the routine beside Beca, had stopped to see what was going on with the smaller girl, and everyone around them noticed and followed suit, stopping with no given reason as to why, but simply because they saw others do it. Aubrey actually became quite perplexed when she saw what was happening to Beca [which was basically nothing but her facial expression said that there was a storm brewing in her head], and - dare she say it - worried for the freshman. "Beca, are you okay?" the voice came from Chloe, who was looking at Beca, all while wearing a concerned expression and moving a little closer to try and inspect what was happening.
Beca nods, her brow still furrowed slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine, just feel a bit weird."
"Why? Are you okay? In pain? Feeling discomfort? Do you need to go?" Chloe asks, firing worried questions.
The brunette simply shakes her head. "No, it's okay, I'm not feeling discomfort, nor am I in pain. It's okay, I'm... okay."
"Are you sure?" Stacie chimes in.
Beca nods. "Yeah, it's, um, it's gone, actually. It sounds weird, but whatever it was that I felt just now, it's gone." She looks towards Chloe, as though subconsciously, and smiles reassuringly at the redhead. "I'm okay now."
Aubrey had her suspicions, but didn't want to say anything. So she left Beca and Chloe [and hopefully subtly include an element of fate] to settle their own weird affairs.
Sign #1: The pierced recipient starts to smile more at his/her soulmate
Beca was walking along the quad, and to be perfectly honest [and blunt], her day was going to shit.
She had procrastinated her homework, which was an essay that she was supposed to hand up during the class that she just walked out of. Unfortunately, she hadn't had even the slightest ounce of motivation to give up time that was used to make her mixes - it was totally worth it in her opinion - to actually do the essay [which she felt had absolutely no relation to her life, nor will it be remotely beneficial in any way, but she didn't have a say in life either, much to her chagrin]. So evidently, she ended up not doing the essay, and just leaving it on the table, unintentionally beside her laptop and mixing equipment - and subtly glancing at it once in a while - while she was making her mixes and occasionally increasing the volume of her music to drown out the deafening sound of the voice in her head beckoning her to do it.
Eventually, she still didn't do it.
It was okay, though. She didn't particularly care, not that she didn't care for the class but more that she didn't care for the homework. It was mostly because she was having a breakthrough in her mixes recently, especially the night before, and she wanted to make as many while she was still inspired by an invisible force of some sort. She wanted to chalk it up to the odd feeling that she felt a few days prior, but she didn't even know what it was, and decided to consider it just the stress of life and the Bellas getting to her all at once. She didn't know what it was, but she was constantly being able to mash together love songs with something in the back of her mind, she didn't know what was inspiring her. She knew it was there, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what this muse really was.
"Hey Beca!" Jesse chirps as he approaches the brunette. She had made it clear that they were only friends, and he was completely okay with it. In fact, he took it a lot better than she had initially anticipated.
"Hey Jesse," Beca says, trying not to sound monotone. She really wasn't feeling up to anything today, she just wanted to go back to her dorm and work on her mixes or just take a nap.
"What's wrong?" Jesse asks, his cheerful demeanor morphing into a concerned frown when he sees the state that she was in. She knew that she looked like she was in a really bad mood, and she couldn't bother denying it, either. She wasn't really in a bad mood, per se, but she felt a little more dead than usual.
"Nothing," she says unconvincingly. "I'm just tired."
"Really?" Jesse raises an eyebrow at her response.
Beca waves him off lazily. "Yes, I'm fine. Just need some rest. I feel like shit."
"Do you want me to accompany you? We can get pizza or play video games or something," Jesse suggests. Beca could tell that he was trying to find ways to cheer her up, but she really couldn't even try to fake a smile, not when she was so emotionally exhausted for no reason. It was just one of those days that everyone had, it was a bad day, and she wanted some rest. She wanted to be alone.
"Nah, not today, sorry," she says. "Maybe some other time, but right now I just want to be alone."
Jesse nods. "Okay then, you go do your own thing, but if you need anything, just call me, okay?" With that, he walks away, and Beca wordlessly continues her walk towards her dorm.
As she's walking about the quad, she sees Chloe walking ahead of her, and without thinking about it, she jogs over to the redhead. When Chloe sees the girl, she smiles at her, and the brunette can't help but smile back. "Hey Chlo, fancy seeing you here."
Chloe looks at her. "Well, I wanted to take a walk, and I know that you just finished your class, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out."
Beca beams. "Yeah, sure, I guess that could be arranged. What do you want to do?"
Chloe bites down on her bottom lip. "If you want, we could just go get a meal or something... or we could really do anything, I'm fine with anything," she says simply.
Beca raises an eyebrow. "Chlo, clearly there's something that you want but you aren't saying it." It was true, though. Whenever Chloe wanted to say or do something but was holding back, she would have this barely visible crease in her eyebrows, and even though it wasn't conspicuous, she could still distinguish it from her normal smile every time [she once thought it was creepy, but then she started thanking God that she was finally being able to understand someone, so really, it grew on her].
"Okay, fine." Chloe sighs defeatedly. "I kind of feel like watching a movie right now, but I know you don't like movies, and that's why I never wanted to ask you about it."
Beca looks at the redhead, stuffing her hands in her pockets as they make their way to Chloe and Aubrey's shared apartment. Giving Chloe a reassuring smile, she says, "It's cool if you want to watch a movie. I actually have something that I wanted to pass to you, but it's in my dorm."
"Let's head to your dorm then," Chloe suggests, and Beca gives a carefree shrug before switching directions and walking towards Beca's dorm.
When they reach [Beca seems to notice Chloe's sigh of relief when the redhead sees that Kimmy Jin isn't in to glare at them], Beca walks over to her desk and grabs a gift that she bought for Chloe. The redhead was looking at her mixing equipment that was set up on her desk a few feet away, and she quickly walks closer to the girl before holding out the new DVD of Zootopia that came out. She can see Chloe turning her head from the screen of her opened MacBook to the DVD, and cerulean blue orbs snap up to look at her, gleaming with what seemed like a mixture of shock, excitement and gratefulness. "Oh my God, Becs is that for me?"
Beca nods, smiling. "Yes, it is. I heard that it came out on DVD and I know that you absolutely love these types of animated movies, so I decided to get it for you." After a short pause, she remembered something else. "Oh yeah, and while I was at the store I remembered that you said that you lent your Frozen DVD to your baby cousin and he broke it, so," she goes to her shelf and searches for the DVD before pulling it out, stacking the Zootopia and Frozen DVDs on top of each other and holding the stack out to Chloe, "I also got you a new Frozen one. And if you want, we can watch them both now."
Chloe looks confusedly at Beca. "I thought that you didn't like movies?"
Beca shrugs. "I don't." Giving Chloe a small smile, she takes the redhead's hand and places the DVDs in it. "But watching them aren't so bad when you're there as well. And I'm not sure why."
Chloe grins, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "Really?"
Beca scans the casing of the DVDs, then looks up at Chloe with a charming smile. "Maybe it's your amazing taste in movies or something."
Chloe raises an eyebrow. "You refused to watch Frozen with Jesse and when you watched it with me, you seemed to smile whenever Anna came on the screen."
"That's because Anna looks a lot like you, and is a lot like you. Red hair, blue eyes, and she's really quirky and fun. I like her."
"You really think that I'm a lot like Anna?" Chloe asks.
Beca laughs. "I'm pretty sure Disney created her because the artist who created the character herself probably was walking on the street and saw you. Anna was probably inspired by you, don't you think so?"
Chloe gives Beca a coy smile, humming playfully in question. "Maybe," she says vaguely. "Maybe not."
"I'm positive of it," Beca says confidently with a wink, and she grabs her MacBook, inserting the Zootopia disk into an external hard drive and plugging the hard drive into the laptop. She settles down on the bed and pats the spot beside her with a grin, and Chloe sits down in the spot beside her. As the movie starts to play, Beca turns to look at the redhead, and she can't help but think that she looks so beautiful [she decided to just fuck trying to be badass, it was her head and no one could read or hear her thoughts anyway]. When Chloe looks in her direction for a few seconds, as though she felt someone looking at her, Beca simple gives her a smile, completely enamored by the simple yet complex beauty of her best friend.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chloe asks softly.
"It's nothing," Beca says, her tone just as gentle and soft, and her deep blue irises searching Chloe's.
Chloe's about to ask more, but Beca gives her a genuine, toothy smile, and she forgets what she was even thinking in the first place [it was quite the disadvantage to Chloe, really, because she was pretty sure that she was about to spontaneously combust at any second, not that it matter anyway].
Sign #4: The pierced recipient starts giving in to his/her soulmate a lot more than usual, regardless of what the situation is, or how minor or major the sacrifice is
Beca heaved a sigh of relief that her professor didn't seem in the slightest bit bothered that she had passed up her essay four days late, and since he didn't reprimand her, she decided not to test the waters by asking him if there was any form of punishment for late submission of homework [it was by luck, so she just took it in her stride]. She was on a lookout for the Bellas, trying her level best to avoid them, knowing that they loved to go out on Friday for no apparent reason. It seemed as though they always loved to find things to do for bonding on Fridays, and most of the time it either involved drinking, movies, weird games, or all of them. If she was lucky, they would allow her to skip on some of the oddest yet most creative dares that she had ever come across in her entire life in games of Truth or Dare. Other times, she woke up on the floor, or in some unknown couch in the middle of the night when she got a little too tipsy, or wasted [she had learned that protesting to Stacie was literally completely futile in any given situation, so she agave up on it, and considering that the girl was pretty much twice her height, Beca had long ago discovered that giving in would make her life a lot easier].
The thing is that all the time, Beca was no doubt reluctant to do anything fun. Even the small brunette herself was aware of it, but she chalked it up to her idea of 'fun' being significantly different from the ideas of 'fun' for a vast majority of the college population, or simply for people who Beca has met in her life [and preferably never need to meet again]. She found that doing things and activities, no matter how odd they were, could be constituted as 'fun' in her books when she was doing said activities with the Bellas. They never judged her, and always taught her to have fun in their own way without offending her idea of fun. They found it 'aca-amazing' that she made mixes, and they were even more fond of her talent after they won the ICCAs in her freshman year. She loved that they were all enthusiastically supporting her decisions and interests, and soon she realized that these girls became her second sisters [not that she even has a first sister, but whatever, it was the sentiment that counted and she didn't know how else to phrase it since they weren't her first sisters]. 'First' sisters were biological and they were not her biological sisters [she couldn't decide if that was a blessing or a curse].
So as she walks along the quad after class, she's practically power-walking to her dorm - or at least attempting to speed-walk, rather pathetically if she did say so herself - and trying to avoid the Bellas as best she could. It doesn't seem to work, though, because she winces slightly as she hears a very familiar Australian accent calling her name, and then turns around to see Amy herself sauntering over with her hands up [quite frankly, she sometimes wished that she could be as shameless as Amy was]. So she simply plasters a sardonic grin on her face. "Any chance I'm getting out of the bonding day today?" she asks hopefully, and Amy shakes her head with a few surprisingly tolerable repetitions of a 'tsk'.
Beca simply grunts, holding out her hands as though she was about to be handcuffed, and Amy gladly puts one of her big hands over Beca's tiny ones, grabbing them and dragging her [rather mercilessly] to wherever it was that she was going. After exiting the campus, and crossing the road - Amy seemed to care less about the traffic and the strangely likely possibility of being run over by a bus as they were crossing - Beca realized that they were heading to the Starbucks that was right beside Barden. As they enter, the brunette immediately spots eight familiar faces hanging out and occupying two tables that were suitable for six customers. Amy then drags Beca over to the seat beside Chloe and plops her down on it before sitting opposite of the DJ.
"Hey Beca," Chloe chirps in greeting, beaming at the brunette.
When Beca sees the smile on Chloe's face and hears the redhead's voice, she doesn't remember to suppress the wide grin that makes its own way to her face [she swears her face has a mind of its fucking own and even she pities her own self, because at the rate she's going there was a probability that her face was going to split]. Why was her heart pounding, though? She decided to blame it on the fact that she and Amy had just recklessly crossed the road, and not think too much of it before her brain overheats itself. "Hey Chlo."
"So here's the thing," Stacie says from beside Beca - sometimes she questioned why she was this unlucky to end up beside her best friend, but only with the condition of also sitting beside the most adventurous one [Beca called it a mortifying level of dangerous, but she guessed that 'adventurous' fit the description fine, maybe not as accurate as her own original verbal representation but it was enough, euphemisms were a thing now, she reminded herself]. "All of us are going to try the new tea that has come out on the menu, and we've bought one for everyone, so all of you have to try, okay?"
Beca groans audibly - she never really liked to hide her hatred for any form of tea - and raises and eyebrow at Stacie. "Are you serious? I absolutely hate tea."
"If it makes you feel better, the tea has caramel in it, and everyone loves caramel, right?"
Beca hates caramel too.
So no, it doesn't make her feel better.
Then she makes the mistake of looking around [more specifically towards Chloe, it wasn't intentional, she swears, imaginary hands up in surrender and all, but it just happened and she didn't have the energy to question something like that when she was just about a second away from tasting the juice of hell itself].
It kind of sucks because Chloe is looking at her with those puppy dog eyes and she really doesn't want to give in [but then again she doesn't want to be short either, she has come to realize and accept long ago that one doesn't get everything they want in life]. At the same time, she can't seem to muster up the willpower to look away, because this face was guaranteed to be one of God's best creations [Beca was sure that he must have been smiling proudly to himself when he saw the beautiful human being that he created, also known as Chloe Beale and coming in the form of a ball of red with captivating orbs of blue that seemed to be the windows to the most amazing soul that had ever walked the Earth], and to keep looking was a gift to all, really.
So with a sigh and a hand through her hair - and luckily she conditioned her hair so it fell back into place instead of messing up like it usually did back when she was a pubescent teenager, and she felt the need to feel grateful every time this happened because she could relish in the glory of no longer being a straw-haired short scarecrow - she agrees to try the tea. Everyone else around her [probably pitying her like she's pitying herself, really] eagerly tries the drink as well, and they basically moan in appreciation while she tries not to gag. And it seems that no one notices Beca's unabashedly unladylike grimace as she forces the drink [she reiterates in her head that she fucking swears it's juice from hell] down her throat, trying not to spit it out. It wasn't so bad to the point where she wanted to kill herself, but say if she were to choose between drinking this and drinking a vegetable smoothie, she'd probably just kill herself then. The main reason why she had an issue with this was because it had just dawned on her that she was given the choice, and the freedom, to just not try the drink and simply stalk up to the counter, order a nice coffee for herself and start out the bonding session at least managing to fake an actual half-genuine smile instead of trying to fake one and looking like a constipated alpaca [Amy had nice descriptions of people's facial expressions and decided to make Beca one of the victims, and the brunette had long ago subjected herself to her fate, which she assumes has turned out like this because maybe she was Hitler in her previous life and sinned terribly].
But then she looks at Chloe again [it still wasn't intentional, Chloe was just in her peripheral vision and sometimes her eyes darted to a mop of red, it still was most certainly not Beca's fault], and she sees the redhead's hopeful eyes looking at her, as though asking if she maybe liked the tea, and she didn't want to disappoint her best friend, so she smiles and tries to focus on the fact that she did manage to smell the coffee shop, and she knew that eighty percent of the taste comes from smell - it was ironic but true - and she tried to discreetly hold her breath or pinch her nose while consuming the caramel-filled tea, successfully downing the whole drink as fast as she could and silently thanking Stacie for at least having mercy on her and ordering the smallest one possible, and Beca also did notice that her cup was only half-filled and that Stacie didn't seem all surprised when she 'first' tasted it as compared to everyone else's reactions, and Beca is thankful that Stacie most likely drank half of her drink before she even arrived in the first place [Beca had no energy to curse anyone anymore so she settled on the pathetic excuse of counting her blessings, if she even had any].
So she - for some unknown reason - seems to look at Chloe, again. Then she realizes that Chloe was the only blessing she needed. Maybe it sounded stupid but she never would've made it through this year without Chloe, and the redhead was the only one who managed to get through to Beca, so really, the brunette couldn't help but smile at the fact that Chloe was very much allowing herself to indulge in the finer things in life [Beca thought that the tea was shit but hey, if Chloe liked it then by all means, Starbucks has done a good job]. The way that her eyes kind of twinkle ever so slightly, just a split-second glow, was enough for Beca to know that Chloe was happy; she knew because when the girl was happy, she looked beautiful. And the brunette knew that right now was when Chloe looked absolutely beautiful [she always looked beautiful but that was besides the point], simply because she was so focused on Chloe's smile and laugh and just Chloe, to the point where she completely forgot about the crappy aftertaste of the tea lingering in every inhale and exhale that she executed, whether through her mouth or nose.
"Hey aca-bitches," Amy says after she finishes her drink, leaning back in her seat and patting her stomach lightly in a satisfied manner. "Anyone wanna go to the movies? I heard that Beauty and The Beast in live action is coming out, so why don't we go watch it, eh?"
The Bellas all chorus in agreement, and Beca simply purses her lips, because of all things that had to be done on a bonding day, they had to choose a movie. It wasn't so bad, though. Beca knew that Jesse ha already watched it, and he told her that he absolutely loved the movie, and Beca could also learn to appreciate when actor and actresses were good-looking, so the idea of seeing Emma Watson sounded quite appealing, but not enough to the point where she was actually willing to watch the movie.
So there she was, about to reject the offer and try and bargain her way out of the whole thing. She walked over to the Bellas, who were all getting ready to leave. "Hey CR," she says to Cynthia Rose. "Uh, I think today I'm just going to take a rain check on the movie. We could hang another time but I'm just going to head back."
"What? Why?" Cynthia Rose questions, and it captures Stacie's attention.
"What's happening?" the leggy brunette chimes in, wanting to know what was going on.
"I just don't like movies, and, I mean, you guys know that. So maybe I could hang out with you guys sometime after today or something," Beca explains offhandedly with a shrug.
"Aw, Beca, come on! It won't be the same without you," Stacie reasons. "Really, Beca." Her face softens, and she says softly, "We just want to spend time with you, and we can do something else if you'd like."
Beca shakes her head. "No, of course I won't make you guys do that," she says in disapproval of Stacie's suggestion. "Jesse said that the movie was good, you guys should watch it."
"Then what about you?" Cynthia Rose asks.
"I'll be fine on my own, I can always hang out with you guys another time."
"Becs, you're not coming?" A familiar silky voice says, and Beca turns to face Chloe, who looked puzzled and sad.
"I mean, I don't really like movies, so..." Beca rubs the back of her neck awkwardly.
"But you should come with us, though. It'll be fun," Chloe says, finishing off with a smile [how one person could be so perfect, physically, mentally and emotionally, Beca just didn't understand, nor did she question it].
"But..." the brunette trails off, still skeptical.
"You'll never know until you try," Chloe adds.
After a few moments, Beca stuffs her hands in her pockets. "Okay." She was going to fucking regret this, probably, but it stopped mattering when she saw the look that graced Chloe's face.
Chloe beams at her answer. "You'll come with us?"
Beca nods, and she can't help but reciprocate Chloe's smile with one of her own. "Yeah, I'll come."
Aubrey looks between the two, noticing how Chloe managed to convince Beca when no one else could, and the love-struck smile that Beca gave Chloe.
Okay, fuck that, Cupid exists, Aubrey concluded.
Sign #7: The pierced recipient starts to show more affection towards his/her soulmate
Beca didn't consider herself to be a very sociable human being, not at all. Most of the time, like she has for most of her life, she doesn't particularly try to initiate much conversation, unless it was between her and her friends - but even then it still wasn't much, if she were being honest. She never liked to have to think about what to say to someone, or just be spluttering or biting on her bottom lip while avoiding awkward eye contact [then maybe and most likely eventually settling for asking how the other person thought the weather was like]. It was false hope on her part, but sometimes she wished that maybe the other person would get the hint and try to start up the conversations instead. It wasn't like she didn't want to talk to them, she did [unless the person was Bumper or some other douchebag, sometimes there was the occasional rude bitch who accused her of dating Jesse and she always wondered what she ever did to deserve this], but she just didn't know what to talk about.
That's why as she and Chloe are sitting under their usual tree in the quad, she thanks God for blessing her with the redhead [who was quite frankly the best thing that has ever happened to her, dare she say it]. Chloe was no doubt a social butterfly; she could talk about anything and everything and she always managed to keep a conversation going for no apparent reason. Beca sometimes wished that she could be like Chloe, but she decided to leave everything up to the redhead herself to do, since the looks came with the personality anyway, and Beca didn't exactly don the most approachable look on a regular, daily basis.
Chloe was simply talking like it didn't require a single brain cell to think of what to say, as though everything came naturally to her. "-and I guess I just don't really understand people sometimes," she says with a shrug, or at least what could be considered a shrug when her head and neck were resting on Beca's thighs as the brunette leaned back against the tree with her legs stretched out in front of her. "But then again you can't really completely understand everyone, right?"
"What do you mean?" Beca asks. "You seem to get people just fine."
"Well, I mean, I don't really manage to understand a lot of people. And sometimes I just don't like it because of the fact that I want to be there for them, but they don't want to tell me what's wrong and when I try to help, they just push me away," Chloe says, sounding disheartened. "And it's not that it's happening right now," she assures when she sees the brunette's concerned expression, and Beca breathes a sigh of relief when she hears Chloe's reassuring words. "It's just something that bothers me sometimes."
Beca smiles at Chloe. "I think that it's amazing that you care so much for other people. But hey, you read me better than anyone else can, so hopefully that makes you feel better about yourself."
Chloe beams. "Thanks, Becs."
"For what?"
"For always saying the right thing at the right time."
Beca reaches over and grabs one of Chloe's hands, leaning further back into the tree and relaxing. She squeezes the hand, then releases it, not wanting to make Chloe reach over her head, considering the position that they were in. Running a hand comfortingly and soothingly through Chloe's hair, she hesitates before leaning down and pressing a light kiss on the girl's forehead. She pulls back after lingering for a few seconds, leaning back against the tree and closing her eyes, knowing that Chloe either was going to talk or rest herself, and since the brunette wasn't opposed to either one, she decided to at least alleviate the possibly impending awkwardness of showing actual affection [not just that but kissing as well].
"Hey Beca!" a voice exclaims from what Beca thinks to be about ten feet away from her, and she pops one eye open to see Jesse jogging towards her with a smile.
He sits down and places a hand on her shoulder, and she immediately shrugs it off. "Hey, Jesse."
He tries to sit closer, but she leans away, not scooting anywhere with Chloe's head still in her lap. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Uh... I'm relaxing with Chloe?" Beca says, but it's more like a question, really, because what else did she look like she was doing, though? I mean, it wasn't a stupid question, but it was just a little odd.
He sits playfully beside her and puts a friendly arm around her shoulders. "So, you wanna hang out or something?"
Beca reaches up with one hand and grabs the arm around her shoulders, extracting it from her skin and giving it back to Jesse. "Maybe some other time, but not now because as you can see, I'm hanging out with Chloe," Beca says matter-of-factly, a tone of both apology and slight annoyance coloring her voice. "And please stop touching me, you know I hate it when people touch me."
Jesse raises an eyebrow, his eyes darting to Chloe's head, nestled nicely in Beca's lap and silently watching his and Beca's interaction. "You hate being touched?" he asks incredulously.
Beca gives him a look. "By most people, yes."
"Then why not Chloe?" he asks with a teasing smile.
"She's... she's just an exception, I guess."
Okay, fuck that, something was definitely wrong with Beca, even she thought so herself [and here she thought that she already had too many issues with her ear spike, tattoos and piercings but it seems that she has even more issues].
Since when did she make Chloe an exception like that?
And the real question: why didn't she mind? In fact, if she didn't know any better, she would say that she actually likes the discovery.
As Beca's eyes instinctively shift to meet the piercing blue ones that were already staring back at her with what could be considered as a loving tint to them, she couldn't help but think that if anyone were to be to exception, it would be Chloe. Every time, no matter the circumstances, and she didn't care.
Chloe was always worth being the exception.
Sign #11: The pierced recipient starts to compliment his/her soulmate more, and in certain cases, be cheesier or sappier
Chloe was in her apartment, feeling pretty crappy since she had found out that her dog from back home had died. She never did manage to go home often, but she always jumped at every opportunity she had to, and when she did, she saw the dog a lot. He was cute, really, and a great companion for her family members. It wasn't that she was particularly depressed about the situation, but she wasn't happy, either, when she got the news that he had died [she got it over text, but it was the thought that counted, right?].
She was tired, really. Yet she was bored as well [she found that her mind had weird ways of working, being tired and not feeling like doing anything, and yet also feeling bored to death, but she dismissed it as her mind malfunctioning like it did pretty often], and she really didn't know what to do about it. Well at least not until she heard a knock on her door. She raised an eyebrow, since she knew Aubrey had a full day of classes and wouldn't be able to come back home until late, so who would be at the door? Her mind went to a certain brunette, but then she remembered that Beca was supposed to go see her father today.
She gets up from the couch, walking over to the door and opening it. "Becs?" Chloe questions when her eyes fall on the brunette, who was standing outside the door soaking wet from the rain, and with a backpack held against her front, as though she was trying to protect it.
Beca gives Chloe a sheepish smile. "Hey, Chlo. I, uh, heard that your dog died. I was walking around campus and saw Aubrey, and she told me about it when I asked where you were. So I decided," Beca unzips the backpack and takes out a stack of movies, and a pint of cookie dough ice cream, "to come over with your favorite ice cream, and all the movies that you love."
Chloe looks at the other girl, simply shocked, but managed to regain enough composure to let Beca in and close the door behind her. "So what do you want to d- oof!" Beca gets cut off by the redhead smothering her in her arms, wrapping her arms around Beca's waist and burying her head in the crook of the younger girl's neck.
"Thank you for caring so much," Chloe mumbles into Beca's skin.
Beca pulls back to look at the redhead. "You don't have to thank me, you're my best friend and I want to do things for you. I know that you're not that sad, since you don't see that dog a lot, but I figured you'd still be affected somehow, and what kind of fool would I be if I passed up the opportunity to spend quality time with the Chloe Beale?" she questions with a laugh, an unknowingly charming smile taking over her face.
Chloe leans forward, pressing a gentle, lingering kiss on Beca's forehead. "You're very sweet, thank you. But I thought that you were going to go to your father's place or something today? You were supposed to be catching up with him and Sheila, right?"
Beca waves it off, giving Chloe a reassuring grin. "It's not a problem at all. I told him I would come by either tomorrow or anytime later this week. It's okay, today is about me and you." She gestures in between herself and Chloe.
"Then what about your dad? I mean, I can't say I don't appreciate this, because really, I do. Won't your dad be disappointed if you bail today?" Chloe asks worriedly.
Beca quirks her lips, giving a nonchalant shrug and wearing a small smile [Chloe swears this girl has never looked more beautiful, not that she knew why she was even thinking that in the first place]. "There's always another time to visit him. But then there's only very few of your bad days, and when you do have these bad days, I make it my personal mission to make you happier, and as long as my efforts pay off, anything is worth it. And if it doesn't work, then either I don't give up, or I just say that I tried. Not that I would ever give up on you," Beca adds the past part as an afterthought. "The only reason that I even can stand looking at my dad without wanting to kill myself is because of you, anyway. If you never came into my life, I wouldn't even be visiting my dad, so really, you're my priority, always."
Chloe smiles. "I really can't believe that you did all this."
"What did I even do that's special?" Beca asks playfully. "I brought you ice cream and movies, that's literally it."
Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and Beca goes to the door, opening it. After a few moments of conversing with the person at the door, the brunette enters the apartment again, a pizza box in hand. "Okay, so maybe before I arrived I ordered a pizza to be delivered. But I swear that this is it. Other than this, no more surprises." After a short pause, Beca backtracks. "Oh wait no, there's one more." She walks over to her backpack that she had set on Chloe's couch before she went to get the pizza earlier, and pulls out something before quickly hiding it behind her back. "Okay, so I know that you've worked very hard to get to where you are today, and you have no idea how proud I am of you. And I've seen you grow as a person, perhaps only for a year, but it was enough. You've become the amazing person that you were always meant to be. Not to say that you weren't amazing before, but just being my best friend for a year, I can tell you that from what I've seen this freshman year, you're more amazing than you think you are. You led the Bellas to victory, controlled Aubrey's temper, cheered everyone up when they were down, suffered through nodes and got a surgery done to remove it, and you've made me want to stay in Barden instead of moving to LA. So, here's something from me to you, as a token of my appreciation that you've always been here, and as a reassurance that I will do the same for you. I promise, Chlo, that I'll always be there for you. Wherever, whenever and whatever the situation is, I don't care. And I will keep this promise." She moves her hand from behind her, moving it in front of her, and a teary-eyed Chloe sees a small black box laying in her hand.
Chloe takes the box from Beca's hand, removing the lid to see a necklace with a music note pendant on the chain, and a headphone pendant. On the music note, at a closer look, there was the word 'titanium' engraved on the neck of the note, and a small heart on the circular bottom of the musical note. Chloe looks up to meet a pair of hopeful deep blue eyes, and she immediately closes the box, pulling Beca in for another hug. "Thank you so much. I don't deserve this, I don't deserve you," she whispers quietly.
Chloe feels Beca shaking her head, and the brunette pulls away after a few moments, her eyes locking with the redhead's. "Chloe Elizabeth Beale, never say that ever again. You deserve the world, and then some, and that's what I will try to give you. Because you're my best friend and you need to know that you matter to me."
Chloe says nothing, just pulling Beca into another hug and wrapping her arms tighter around the girl.
"As much as I love your hugs, because God help me they're amazing, I think standing here is kind of awkward, so let's move to the couch, and we can watch movies and cuddle, like you always want to do," Beca suggests with a radiant smile.
Chloe swears her heart skips a beat at the sight.
Sign #15: The last sign; the pierced recipient may show none, one or more than one sign(s) that he/she is in love with his/her soulmate, based on personality and interests
"You know, let's all just dismiss ourselves for today, I'm tired, we're all tired, and we'll continue rehearsing tomorrow or something. Anyway, the ICCAs are in, like, a year, so rehearsing has pretty much no value," Aubrey says with a shrug, and all the Bellas try not to gape at the casual statement [since their captain never really made actual casual statements, and concurrently, Aubrey seemed relatively dead inside and she was really sweaty].
"Really?" Stacie is the first to recover from the momentary shock.
Aubrey nods tiredly, shooing everyone away. "Yes, just go home, practice starts at the same time tomorrow. Don't be late. Now goodbye, everybody."
Everyone lets out groans and sighs of relief, and slowly go to grab their stuff, filing out of the auditorium. Beca jogs over to Chloe, who was already at the area where everyone had left their bags before practice. She looks at the redhead with a smile. "Hey Chlo, wanna head back to my dorm? I have no classes left for the day and neither do you. I thought maybe we could hang?"
Chloe steals a glance at Beca before continuing to pack her bag. "Sure, I'll be done in just a sec'. Do you want to go grab a meal before that? Like, we could get some pancakes or something."
Beca smiles. "Maybe, but the thing is that I called Jesse and asked him to buy pancakes and bring them to my dorm at the end of rehearsal, so you don't have to worry about food. He said that he was going to eat pancakes for lunch since he was craving it, and I figured: why not take advantage of the opportunity?"
Chloe grins, zipping up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Oh my, praise the aca-Gods because you're a life-saver. I need some food in me right now."
Beca outstretches her hand. "Then shall we?"
Chloe takes Beca's hand, a smile making its way to her face. "You know, Becs, I never thought that you would want to eat pancakes when they aren't fresh from the restaurant."
"Yeah, I know, but I also know that you would be tired after practice, and so am I, so I decided it would be better to be in my dorm than to sit in a restaurant full of people and at least one guy who talks really loudly on his phone and whatnot," Beca explains.
Chloe chuckles. "I guess that's true, and very reasonable. So the only reason why you want to eat in your dorm is because you're tired?"
Beca shakes her head, intertwining their fingers like it was second nature. "Of course not, it's because you're tired. And even if you say you aren't, I would know better than to believe your lies simply because you want me to enjoy my lunch," Beca points out. "You've had a long week, I know that, and I want to make sure that you end it nicely. It's a nice Friday," Beca gestures around her, "and it's a nice Beca," she says, pointing to herself with a cheeky smile. Chloe chuckles, and the brunette continues speaking. "So I just want you to know that with every bad day that comes along, a good day is lurking around the corner. For your information, that 'good day' is today, since you're getting quality time with your favorite girl, and free pancakes as well," Beca teases, leaning closer and whispering the last part with a wink.
Chloe raises an eyebrow, not stopping the amused smirk that finds her lips. "Getting cocky, are we, Mitchell?"
Beca shrugs, her hand tugging slightly at Chloe's as her shoulders rose and fell carelessly. "It's not cocky if it's the truth." After pausing to think about what she had just said, she speaks again. "Oh wait, no, that doesn't make any sense. Okay, that kind of backfired on me," she mutters.
Chloe barks out a laugh. "It's okay, Becs. You're still funny and I still love you."
Beca was about to reply, but the sound of someone calling her name broke the bubble that she and Chloe were in, and she turns towards the voice to see Jesse walking towards them with a smile [she would've called it a cock-block, but then again she didn't like that way, no she didn't, neither did she have a penis, nor were they getting it on but she just thought that in another given situation, maybe it would have been a lot more appropriate for the situation]. "Hey Beca, I got your pancakes," Jesse chirps, raising up a plastic bag in front of him.
Beca grins. "Thanks, Jess. I'll repay you some other time."
Jesse waves it off. "Nah, it's fine. Doesn't matter as long as you're happy, right? That's what friends are for."
Beca nods. "Yeah, thanks again. I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?"
Jesse beams. "Absolutely, now go enjoy some quality time with each other." He turns to Chloe. "Hey, Chloe, it's nice to see you again."
Chloe smiles. "Hey, Jesse. How have you been?"
Jesse gives her a grin. "I've been doing great recently, thank you. Can I talk to you for a minute, though? I wanted to ask you something."
Beca's voice cuts into the conversation. "Alright, I'll head into the dorm first, give you guys some space to talk about whatever, I'll see you inside, Chlo." She flashes them both a smile, then turns to Chloe for a second [Chloe swears that her smile widened, but maybe she was just blind and unknowingly arrogant]. When Beca enters her dorm and the door closes, Jesse turns to face Chloe, a concerned look on his face.
"Don't break her heart, Chloe. She's worth it. You don't have to worry about me, I don't like her that way. I never did, I just liked the idea of liking someone, and the someone my brain chose was her, because of the whole cliché 'alternative girl falls for charming guy' kind of love story. But she's meant for you, and you for her."
Chloe tries not to raise an eyebrow. "What?" she asks, confused.
"I'm saying that just to clear up anything, I'm Beca's friend, and friend only. So you don't have to worry about me being in her life, if you are, at least."
"Why would I be worried?" Chloe questions.
"Well, I've been told that sometimes I act a bit too friendly towards Beca. But I just feel like she doesn't receive much love from others, that's why I constantly am very nice and friendly towards her. I love her, as my sister and I will never let anyone hurt her. And I know that you won't, that's why I think you don't need the talk, since you are, or were, her best friend anyway." He chuckles. "I'm pretty sure you should be the one giving me the whole 'don't steal my girlfriend' talk."
Chloe's slightly taken aback. "No wait, what? Can we, like, backtrack for a second?" she asks with a small laugh.
"What do you mean?" Jesse asks.
"Beca and I... we aren't together, or anything. I'm still her best friend, and she's still mine. We're not, like, romantically involved."
Jesse frowns. "You're not?"
Chloe shakes her head, quirking her lips. "Nope, what made you think so?"
Jesse shrugs. "Everything, I guess. The chemistry, the linked hands, you both get each other and understand each other more than anyone else does for any of you, the way you look at each other and everything like that."
Chloe opens her mouth to reply, but Jesse's phone rings. He smiles sheepishly. "I'm so sorry, I have to take this." He answers the call, bringing the phone up to his ear. After a few moments of conversing with the person on the other end, he ends the call with a sigh. "I'm so sorry, Chloe, there's been an emergency with Benji and I have to go. I'll talk to you some other time, though. See you around?" he asks with a smile, slowly walking backwards.
Chloe smiles [she doesn't even know how she manages to do it with everything on her mind and confusing her all at once]. "Yeah, see you around."
"Cool!" Jesse shouts, already turning around and running away towards wherever it was that he needed to go to.
Chloe walks into the dorm slowly, her mind racing. When she enters, a soft voice breaks her from her thoughts. "Hey."
Chloe turns to face Beca, who was smiling at her and holding two plates, both with a knife and fork set on them. She holds one out to the redhead, and Chloe takes it with a small smile. "Thanks, Becs."
"You're welcome," Beca replies easily, settling down on the bed. Chloe sits down beside her, and when the brunette sees that her best friend is comfortably settled on the bed, she speaks.
"What was Jesse talking to you about?" Beca asks, placing a slice of pancake into her mouth and looking expectantly at Chloe as she chewed slowly.
"Oh, he just told me that he's happy that I'm in your life," Chloe says, and hey, at least it was pretty much what Jesse was trying to say, right?
Beca smiles. "I'm happy that you're in my life, too."
Chloe looks down, trying to hide the rising blush on her cheeks. "I... Beca, I really am happy, and I want you to know that. I want you to know that I'm extremely grateful that you're in my life, and that I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."
When Beca sees that Chloe had already scarfed down her pancake, she decided to offer a slice of her own to the redhead, knowing that she was probably still hungry. Chloe looks at the slice, which was impelled by the fork that Beca was holding on to. The older girl slowly leans forward and eats the slice off of the fork. "You don't have to tell me that you're grateful, because I know how you feel. I'm as grateful for you as you are for me."
Chloe gives a carefree shrug, a small smile playing on her lips. "I guess." After a shirt hesitation, she speaks. "Hey, you never share your pancakes with anyone. Why did you give me some? Not that I don't appreciate it or anything."
Beca shrugs, finishing the last slice of her pancake. "I just figured that if you scarfed down your whole meal, then you must still be hungry, so why not just offer you a slice or two? I don't mind sharing," she says, and maybe Chloe was imagining it, but she could have sworn that Beca added a soft, "not when it's with you."
"Well, you didn't have to do that, but thank you." Chloe grins.
"You're welcome," Beca says, reaching over to her desk and grabbing her laptop, passing it to Chloe. "Do you want to search for a movie to watch or anything? I heard that there's a new Disney movie that came out recently, we can watch that if you want."
Chloe looks at Beca. "You're letting me search on your laptop?"
Beca nods slowly. "Uh, yes, why? Is something wrong?"
"Becs, you value your privacy more than anyone I know, and you slap anyone who even tries to touch your laptop, let alone take it from you."
Beca shrugs. "I trust you, I guess. So, movie and cuddling as usual, then we can talk like we always do, how about that?"
Chloe tries not to get lost in the brunette's captivating blue eyes, and nods, a smile taking over her features when she sees the contagious bright smile on Beca's face. "Okay."
"Great," Beca quips.
Chloe swears this girl is going to be the death of her, and she doesn't even know why.
"Oh my God, Beca, what happened to you?" Chloe asks worriedly. The redhead had went to open the door to her apartment when she heard a knock prior. The brunette looked like she had bruised the corner of her lip, and had a slightly swollen cheek.
Beca struts into the apartment without a word, sitting down on the couch, and the redhead quickly fetches a first-aid kit, sitting down next to Beca. The slightly injured girl sighs, running a hand through her hair. "I kind of went to confront some people."
"What?" Chloe asks incredulously, concern and shock flashing in her eyes.
"I didn't get violent or physical, I swear. I just kind of... told them off, and as nicely as I could but it kind of didn't work, as you can see," Beca mumbles, gesturing to her face.
"What happened?" Chloe inquires, applying some medication to the bruise.
"Well, some guys were talking about some girls, in a sexual way. Which is expected, of course. But the thing is that I, uh, I heard you being mentioned. One of the guys asked the others if they knew of a 'Chloe Beale', and a lot of the guys had said that they saw you around. So I thought 'okay, that's nothing wrong, since you're quite hard to miss anyway, with the whole bright red hair and bluer than blue eyes thing'. But it doesn't stop there, because they started talking about 'fucking her so hard she'll see stars' and all those fucked up crude comments about you looking 'easy' and shit, and I got a little agitated. I know I should have let it go and walked away, but this was my best friend being talked about, being basically slut-shamed and described like a prostitute, and I couldn't just take it in my stride. So I went up to the four of them and defended you, and one of them kinda punched me. Just once, though, because after he did it, his friends shouted at him for hitting me and they held him back, then apologized to me for the whole injury he caused on my face." Beca shrugs.
Chloe sighs, but a small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. "I don't know whether to thank you or to scold you."
Beca manages a grin. "You should thank me because I totally defended you, and I don't care if I got punched because it was so worth it."
Chloe laughs a little, not being able to help it. She sets the first-aid kit on the coffee table after she packs everything up. Shaking her head, she says, "I can't ever be mad at you, especially if it's for this. But I just don't want to see you get hurt."
Beca nods. "It's okay, I'm okay now."
"I wish I could heal your injuries but I can't," Chloe admits, sighing.
"You could kiss it and make it better," Beca says playfully with a wink.
Chloe leans over and presses a light, lingering kiss to the cheek that was injured, pulling back only a little to meet the eyes of a slightly shocked Beca. "There, done," she says softly, her eyes boring into Beca's swirling orbs.
Beca swallows. "You missed a spot," she mumbles, referring to the more prominent bruise on the corner of her lips.
Chloe leans in again, this time slower, and lets her lips touch the bruise, pressing a little firmer after a second or so, then pulls away. She can feel her lower abdomen churning with lust, but she doesn't know if it shows or not. "Not anymore," she counters, cupping Beca's uninjured cheek with a hand.
"You still missed the spot," Beca argues softly, her tongue darting out to wet her lips as her eyes subconsciously flicker to Chloe's own lips for a split second, before coming back up to meet Chloe's eyes.
Chloe briefly lets her eyes lower to the brunette's lips for a moment, then she mirrors Beca's earlier action, her eyes travelling back up to meet the girl's deep blue eyes, which seemed to have darkened a few shades. Slowly, she leans closer, brushing her lips ever so slightly against the DJ's before she pulls back an inch or two, her eyes asking Beca's for permission to go further. The brunette takes the initiative and immediately closes the gap, capturing Chloe's lips with fervor, and leaning back when Chloe starts to climb on top of her. Chloe pulls back after a minute or so, hovering over Beca with her hands digging into the couch for support. "Are your injuries okay?" she asks with concern, one hand coming up to Beca's face, and she rubs her thumb lightly over the two bruises.
Beca nods. "Yes, they are much better now. Can we please continue?"
Chloe grins mischievously, running her hand down Beca's side and leaning in to place a single feather-light kiss on the brunette's neck, smiling against her skin when she feels a small shudder rip through Beca's body. She trails her lips up to Beca's ear, pressing a firm kiss to the spot right under her earlobe. "Getting impatient, are we?"
Beca pulls Chloe's head up, forcing the redhead's darkened eyes to meet her own. "Shut up and kiss me, Beale."
Chloe grins. "I'm not opposed to that," she says, leaning down to capture the brunette's lips again.
"So what does this mean for us?" Beca asks softly as she plays with Chloe's hair. They had made out and lost track of time, and according to the time on Beca's phone, they had made out and talked for a few hours. They managed to talk a lot about their relationship, reminiscing moments where they were together and never had the opportunity to tell the other how they had felt. It was nice to be on the same page, not regretting the past but also wondering what would have happened, had they admitted to their feelings for each other sooner.
"This means that I'm in love with you," Chloe replies, a slight shake to her voice, as though she was afraid of Beca's reaction to the revelation.
Beca simply smiles, caressing Chloe's cheek and kissing her softly on the lips. "I'm in love with you too. I just realized that a few hours ago."
Chloe laughs. "When we started making out?"
Beca chuckles, but shakes her head. "When I told you it was worth it. I realized that I meant a lot more than how it was worth taking the punch. I also meant that you're worth it. You're worth everything, and then some."
Chloe beams. "So are you, Beca. More than you'll ever know."
"How did this even happen?" Beca wonders out loud. "I can't say that I'm surprised, but I'm kind of just curious."
"Well, you have been acting different the past few weeks or so," Chloe says, biting her lip and thinking about the feeling that Beca got. It was the arrow. I know it's the arrow.
"That's true, it was when I got that really weird yet unforgettable feeling in my chest. I wonder what it was," Beca says.
Chloe grins and extracts herself from Beca's arms, laughing slightly when the brunette pouted. The redhead presses a kiss on the other girl's lips before sitting up. She quickly grabs her laptop, which was conveniently sitting on the coffee table since she had been surfing the Internet before Beca had arrived earlier. "Ever heard of Cupid?"