A/N:
This is my first ever FanFic so be gentle with me! I've not written anything creative since college (which was sometime ago now) and I dont expect this to be very good but we shall see. Happy reading!
Chloe didn't know why she did what she did that night. It wasn't exactly like her to go home with random people she met in bars, it is dangerous after all, she didn't know a thing about these people, but she did it anyway. There was something about the group of guys that took her interest. They were fun and exciting, charming even. Maybe that was what persuaded her, who knows? She certainly didn't. One minute she's trying to drink away the pain caused by her now ex boyfriend, Tom, with probably too many glasses of chardonnay, the next she's shooting Tequila with 4 men she didn't know and accepting the offer of going back to their house for more drinking and silly games.
It all began when Liam, a tall figure with long mousey brown hair all swept to the one side approached the bar. He had a charming, yet innocent smile and a child-like look permanently glued to his face. He nearly always wore the same thing, a band t-shirt and skinny jeans. He ordered some beers for himself and his friends when he noticed a woman with beautiful bright red hair staring at an empty wine glass. She let out a small sigh as a tear fell from her eye. She quickly wiped it away and Liam became curious.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. She looked up at him and he noticed the woman was crying a little heavier than he first thought. Before she could answer, Liam spoke again, "Silly question, you're clearly not okay. What are you drinking, m'love? I'll buy you one, you look like you need it." He gestured to her empty glass with his head and awaited a reply.
"That's okay, you don't need to buy me a drink, don't waste your money on me" the redhead answered trying to force a smile and hold back her tears. She looked into Liam's dark brown eyes as he cocked an eyebrow.
"I insist! I know when I'm upset a drink and good company is all I need to help me cheer up. You're far too pretty to be crying anyways. So, what are you drinking?"
"Really, it's okay. No offence or anything, you seem lovely, but I just got out of a very heavy relationship and I'm not looking for anything right now, I'm sorry."
"Haven't you ever heard of chivalry? I'm not trying to get you into bed, don't worry, I have a girlfriend." Liam chuckled a little but seeing the unimpressed look on Chloe's face he decided to change the tone a little. "I'm sorry to hear that though, is that why you're upset? What happened if you don't mind me asking?"
Chloe turned to face him. Maybe a stranger was the best person to talk to. They have no reason to be biased unlike your best friend who normally just tells you what you want to hear, which is nice but sometimes not what you need to hear. Sometimes you need to cold hard truth. She let out a sigh and began the story.
"An hour ago I came home to my now ex-boyfriend sleeping with his best friend in our bed. He started shouting saying I 'never cared' and this is 'all my fault' that he did this. I can't even say I'm surprised, I knew he loved her. I just didn't think the end would happen like this and now I'm here. That's the short version anyway. There's a lot in between but that's the main bit."
Liam looked deep in thought. After a few seconds he readjusted his seat to face the girl. "It seems he wasn't wrong when he doubted your feelings. Not to seem rude, but you really don't sound to heartbroken about the fact you have just ended things, more so that it ended the way it did. The fact you knew he loved someone else but ignored it was the giveaway. However, he sounds like a complete cockwomble. No one should ever cheat, regardless of the situation." Liam took a sip of his beer and looked over at his friends who were engrossed in conversation before looking back at Chloe and continuing. "What's your name? I completely forgot to ask."
"Chloe. Chloe Beale. And you are?"
"Liam Jones, at your service!" he stated looking at her with a wide grin. "So, Chloe, Chloe Beale, where are you from?"
"Atlanta, born and raised. What about you? You're clearly not from around here judging by that accent but I cannot for the life of me figure it out."
Liam chuckled, "I'm from Wales! Llandudno, to be precise. You telling me you've never met a Welsh person before? I'm shocked!"
"No, never! That's in the UK, right? I've always wanted to visit. It looks beautiful. But what brings you to the States?" Chloe smiled at him, he seemed really nice. It was refreshing talking to someone who actually seemed like they were genuinely interested in you and not just praying on your vulnerability just to try and get you to have sex.
"Yeah, it's in the UK" he said giggling to himself. He was used to Americans not knowing Wales even existed. "But trust me, the UK isn't all it's cracked up to be. If you do ever go, go to England and stay in London, in the city centre, that way it won't ruin your nice vision of England you have in your head. Travel any further north and you'll wonder why anyone even lives there." Chloe laughed as Liam continued. "I'm here to see a friend, mainly, she moved out here for work a few years ago. We're crashing at her house for a few months and in the meantime she's helping us crack into the music business."
"We?" Chloe questioned looking very puzzled.
"Yeah, I play bass in a band, we're all out tonight. We only landed here yesterday and everyone's dying to see what the bar scene is like," he said pointing over to the group of guys sat at a table. All of which with a similar dress sense to Liam. "Why don't you come join us? You need to have some fun to get that frown off your face and what's more fun than hanging out with someone as awesome as me?" he said smiling his best smile with all his teeth showing.
"Okay, sure, why not? But I can't stay too late, it's Sunday and I start a new job in the morning." Chloe said getting up from her stool. She helped Liam carry some of the beers to the guys and sat down while they all introduced themselves. They all instantly fell in love with her after hearing her favourite band was A Day to Remember, a band they all loved and one of the many that inspired their dream to become a band and even had a role in helping them develop their own style.
A few hours later and many, many drinks later, the bar was about to close but they we're all having a great time, too drunk to care what time it was. None of them were ready to stop drinking yet, they wanted to carry on their buzz but being a Sunday, nowhere was open. It was then one of the guys, TJ, a short guy with short blue hair suggested they all pile in a cab and go back to the house for drinking games and more 'banter' as he put it. They all quickly agreed and began their journey while singing along to some music TJ played out in the cab.
They pulled up at a seemingly large house and Chloe stepped out in awe, never venturing to this part of town before now. It was a nice neighbourhood, trees littered the winding street and all of the houses seemed quaint. Liam stumbled out of the car after paying the driver and made his way to the front door letting everyone in. He looked around the side of the house looking for a sign anyone was home. There wasn't any. He took out his phone and noticed the time was nearly 12:30am. Where is she? He thought to himself before walking inside.
"Hey, anyone know where Beca is?"
"Who's Beca?" Chloe asked.
"She's the absolute babe that owns the place and is letting us crash here" Joe spoke up. "No, I've not actually seen her since we've been here, which is weird, normally she makes a little more effort to see my beautiful face," he said placing his hand under his chin before attempting a cute smile and fluttering his eyelids.
"Dude, never gonna happen and you know it," Liam laughed as he playfully punched Joe in the arm.
"You never know! She might wake up one morning and realise her undying love for me!" Joe blurted out, too drunk to care what the other guys thought. They all knew he had a crush on their friend but pretended not to so that Joe didn't feel awkward. He crossed the kitchen to the cupboard where all the alcohol was kept and helped himself to the vodka, grabbed some mixers out of the fridge before slumping down on one of the many chairs scattered around the large table. The others followed and Liam grabbed some shot glasses and placed them on the table and started to chat with everyone.
A few minutes had passed and TJ became impatient, really wanting to play some drinking games. "What do we play first?" he shouted banging his fist on the table in excitement.
Suddenly a voice came from the doorway that everyone but Chloe recognised. "Oi, break my table, I'll break you" the voice warned. They all turned to see the short brunette standing in the doorway with her arms full of paperwork and a serious look on her face. They all jumped up and screamed "BECA!" in unison before rushing to the short girl tackling her to the ground with hugs and ruffling her hair.
"We missed you so much!" TJ said still hugging the girl. He was still lying on top of her long after all the others got up. Chris picked his friend up off Beca and sat him down on a chair.
"Nothing's changed then, TJ still can't hold his own when drinking with you guys, huh?" Beca said whilst pulling herself up from the ground, smiling at the sight of her friend playing with his own fingers. He was so drunk, they were all certain they'd have a crying TJ by the end of the night but didn't care. It'd been over a year since they all saw Beca so the guys swamped her with questions about what had been happening while they had been absent. Chloe stayed sat in her seat, unsure of what to say. She didn't know the woman and felt a little awkward. After all, she was in her house with people she barely knew, who wouldn't feel awkward?
"Oh, where are my manners? Beca, this is Chloe!" Liam said finally breaking the tension a little for Chloe. Beca hadn't even noticed he sat in the corner of the room, she remained rather quiet and Beca had been preoccupied with the questions being flung at her. She looked over to where Chloe was sitting and just smiled. Chloe smiled back at Beca. She felt weird. Not a bad weird, but weird all the same. Something about the smile made her stomach flip and she didn't know why. Maybe it was the alcohol? She thought to herself. Or maybe I'm just nervous? Wait, why am I nervous?
Beca took off her jacket and placed it on the back of her chair to reveal her cropped band shirt and copious amounts of tattoos on her arms and stomach before fishing into the pocket for a pack of cigarettes. She offered them around the table and everyone took one, including Chloe. "They're menthol, I hope you don't mind," Beca stated as Chloe lit the end of hers.
Chloe locked their eyes and smiled. "That's fine by me, I prefer menthols. They're not has harsh on your throat." She noticed how the colour in her eyes was a deep blue before something distracted her and she looked away. There's that flip again, what is going on with me?! Beca giggled and lit her cigarette before downing a few shots.
"I guess I have to play catch up don't I?" she said in between shots. "What are you guys playing?"
"Ooooh! Let's never have I ever! It'll give us a bit of a chance to see what type of person Chloe is and she can get to know us a bit better," Chris said rather excitedly. They all nodded in agreement and poured some shots for the inevitable questions the guys would ask to try and get each other as drunk as possible. "Who's gonna go first?" Chris asked.
TJ's hand flew up. "Me! Never have I ever had sex in a public place."
"So it's that type of game is it? Why does it always have to be so dirty with you guys?" Beca questioned as she and some of the guys took shots, Chloe included. They all looked at Chloe shocked at the fact the redhead had done such a thing. She looked far too innocent to have done something like that.
"Never have I ever kissed a woman," Chris stated smirking at Beca with an evil glint in his eye. Beca glared at him as she took her shot along with all of the other men there (except Chris). Beca noticed Chloe about to take the shot but decided against it at the last second, not thinking anyone saw. She decided to not quiz her on it, I mean, they'd only had a one conversation and it wasn't exactly a big one. She didn't feel comfortable prying into the girl's personal life, well, not yet anyway. She wasn't drunk enough for that.
"I see where this is going, it's a 'let's all get Beca wasted so she can't function' type of game. Fine, but you know I can out drink all of you." She said sitting back on her chair. She glanced over at Chloe who was looking down at her drink smiling. The girl was beginning to intrigue her more than she cared to admit. She ran her hands through her hair, adjusting it as she did so.
"Your turn, Beca," Chris said still with that stupid smirk on his face. It almost seemed like he was up to something other than trying to get Beca drunk.
"Hmm, never have I ever gotten aroused at the sexual health clinic," she said looking to Chris with a simple 'fuck you' kind of smile.
"That was one time and he was really fucking cute and touching me in places, okay?!" Chris practically screamed going bright red as he did so. He picked up his shot and downed it in one. Everyone around the table looked at him with wide eyes before Chloe burst out laughing, setting everyone else off into a fit of giggles. Beca smiled at Chloe who was currently crying with laughter. Liam looked over at Beca and waited for her to clock on that he was looking at her. When she averted her gaze from Chloe's smile and looked around the guys wondering if anyone caught her staring, she noticed Liam looking at her with a smile on his face. She instantly knew what he was smiling at and mouthed the word 'no' at him. He chuckled to himself and looked back at Chloe who was still laughing and joining in with the teasing. It was a stark contrast to what he saw earlier at the bar and was glad she was finally smiling. He was really starting to like the redhead, she was growing on him quite quickly and he knew the guys all liked her too, including Beca.
Beca's phone began to ring and she stepped outside the room to take the call. Chloe stood up to ask where the bathroom was before creeping out the room, not to disturb Beca's phone call. She was just washing her hands before she heard the door open. She quickly turned to see Beca jump out of her skin, not realising there was anyone in there. "You gave me a heart attack, Red! Why didn't you lock the door?" she shouted, trying to be serious but the smile on her face gave her away that she was only joking.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Chloe said while drying her hands off. She turned to face Beca who was still smiling at her. "What are you smiling at?"
Beca felt the heat coming off her cheeks and struggled to think of what to say. She really didn't know what to say, she didn't quite know why she was smiling, she just was. She'd always been socially awkward around women, especially pretty women, even before she came out. She didn't want girls to think she was coming on to them. She had a fair few homophobic comments thrown at her in high school by girls who she was just trying to be friendly to and it made her not want to talk to them so she just avoided women in general unless they spoke to her first.
"Umm, n-nothing," she looked down at her feet still not being able to wipe the smile off her face. She looked up and met Chloe's eyes. They were the most beautiful things Beca had ever seen, they were a shade of blue that she never thought existed when it came to eye colour. It was definitely unique. "I umm, I saw you go to take a shot a Chris' question but you backed out."
"Oh," Chloe wasn't quite expecting that question. She didn't know anyone saw what she did. "Uh, yeah, umm, well… I nearly have, I wanted to so bad, I mean she was really cute and I'd always been curious but just before we did, I backed out. I had a boyfriend at the time and although I wanted to, I couldn't do that to Tom. So it just never went ahead," Chloe looked down at the floor, "I still want to but you know how it is, I couldn't exactly just go up to a girl and say 'hey! Wanna make out?' that'd be really strange. What if they didn't even like girls? I'd look like a bit of a weirdo"
"Yeah, but you seem like the strange type. I mean, not in a bad way, I like strange. I mean, you seem like an interesting character, shy yet bubbly with random spouts of confidence. I guess I just can't figure you out. Is what I'm trying to say, I don't know" Beca started to stumble on her words not knowing herself what she was trying to say. Chloe giggled and at the shorter girl as she nervously played with her ear stretcher.
"It's okay, I roughly get what you're trying to say."
"I'm sorry, I just… I'm not very good at talking to women, especially pretty ones such as yourself," Beca stated looking down at her shoes still smiling away before looking back up and locking gazes.
Chloe blushed furiously. Is Beca coming on to me? She thought to herself as she lent back onto the sink trying to read the girls mind. She flickered her gaze down to Beca's lips, just for a second. What would her lips taste like? Would they be soft or would it just be like kissing a guy? Ugh, what is going on with me? She looked straight back up hoping it went unnoticed.
It didn't.
Beca trapped her bottom lip in between her teeth trying to hide a massive grin appearing on her face. Who is this girl?
Chloe peeked down again at Beca's lips and seeing her bite them drover her insane. Fuck it, I probably won't ever even see this girl again, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Who knows, you might like it.
Before she could think anymore she suddenly felt Beca close the gap between them and pressed her lips against hers. Not knowing what else to do, she slowly kissed her back. She wasn't exactly going to push her off her, who would? Beca was more attractive than anyone Chloe had ever seen before in her life, she'd have to be stupid to turn this down. Beca, growing in confidence with each second that passed intensified the kiss getting more and more curious to where this could lead. Chloe gently hummed against Beca's lips as the pair continued. Beca gently bit Chloe's bottom lip before sucking it a little and pulling away, leaving the redhead in a dream-like state. She didn't know what just happened, or why it happened but she didn't want to think about that now. She just wanted to stay in the moment with Beca a little longer.
"Chloe? Are you okay in there? You've been gone ages! And where's Beca?" She was quickly snapped out of her daydream by the sound of Joe shouting down the hallway to her. "Come on, you two, we wanna finish the game!"
Chloe looked at Beca and smiled before leaving the bathroom to go back to the game as Beca followed. They both sat down with sheepish grins on their faces and that did not go unnoticed by Liam. Beca would have some explaining to do in the morning that was for sure.