Chapter 1
It was raining. Scratch that, there was a fucking storm going on outside and she had left her backpack with her laptop in the trunk of Stacie's car.
The taller brunette had picked her up from her internship at Residual Heat that afternoon. They were planning to have another of their semi-regular movie nights in the Bellas house and Stacie had been so excited, she had dragged Beca into the house immediately and had flung her at an already waiting Chloe.
As soon as the redhead's arms were enveloping her small form, every thought of her backpack and laptop had flown out of the window.
CR and Lily had prepared some popcorn and were already sitting on one of the couches in the living room, a bunch of movies spread out between them and discussing which movie they wanted to watch first.
Beca had managed to win five minutes to clean up in an argument with Chloe who was way too excited for the movie night.
Everyone was sprawling one way or another in the living room and they had just managed to finish the first movie – Mean Girls, much to Beca's everlasting chagrin – when all hell broke loose outside.
Half of the girls jumped into the air when the first roar of thunder had rolled through the air. Beca had gotten so startled, she had ended up sitting in Chloe's lap. The two of them had shared an edge on one of the couches and there hadn't been much space between them to begin with. Chloe was grinning at the smaller girl in her lap and wrapped her arms around her tightly.
"Aw, it's just a storm Becs. Don't worry, it can't hurt you."
Beca glared at Chloe but didn't make a move to leave the redhead's lap. "I know that it can't hurt me, I was just surprised."
The redhead giggled. "Yeah, I noticed. I love it when you snuggle with me, so don't you dare move."
The little brunette rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So what's the next movie you want to torture me with? The sooner we start with that, the sooner it will be over."
Stacie openly laughed at the suffering expression the smaller brunette was sporting on her face. "Don't worry Becs, I've bought a new one just for you. Wait a moment..."
Stacie got up and went into the hall to search for her purse.
"Damn it!"
"Is everything okay?" Chloe asked, concerned about her fellow Bella.
The tall brunette walked back into the living room with an annoyed expression on her face.
"My purse. I left it in the car earlier."
Car... CAR?! Beca thought frantically and jumped up from her comfortable seat named Chloe and rushed to the window that faced the driveway. She pressed her face to the window and let out a suffering whine in the back of her throat.
The Bellas looked at each other questioningly but everyone shrugged, not knowing what was wrong with their captain.
"Is everything okay Shorty?" Amy asked carefully.
"No!" their tiny captain whined, hands and nose still pressed to the glass.
"I don't know what's going on Becs, but can you please take your hands and nose off the window? I just cleaned it yesterday." Chloe said and walked over to Beca.
"But my laptop!"
Chloe sighed. "What about your laptop?"
"It's out there!"
"In the rain?"
"No!"
The redhead rubbed at the place between her brows to get rid of the oncoming headache. She hated it when Beca got like this.
"Where is it then?"
"In the car!"
"Stacie's car?"
"Yes!"
"Please stop shouting. Your laptop is safe in the car, nothing will happen to it."
"Yes it will. I'm going to grab it." Beca said and went into the hallway to put on her shoes. On second thought, she grabbed a pair of rubber boots that Flo usually wore when she was out in the garden.
"Woah, wait Becs!" Chloe exclaimed and followed her into the hall. The other girls scrambled over themselves to listen in on their captains conversation. "You can't go outside. There is a storm going on. You'll be soaking wet the instant you move one foot out of the door. Your laptop will be fine until the morning."
"No. My whole life is on there, I'm not risking it. It'll only take a minute. Stacie, can I get your keys?"
The taller brunette was standing in the doorway to the living room, not trying to hide that she had been listening in. She shrugged and tossed her keys to Beca. "Sure. But be careful, I don't want you to fly away or something. The wind is insane and I can't even see the car from here."
Beca rolled her eyes. "I'm not that light, you know? I've got some serious muscles and they weigh a ton." She grinned at Stacie and flexed her nearly non-existent biceps.
Stacie snorted. "Sure you do. Maybe I should force you to use some of my equipment every once in a while, all I can see from here are some limp noodle arms. Can you grab my purse while you're out there? My phone is in it."
"Beca is not going!" Chloe raised her voice and glared at the two brunettes. "It's dangerous."
"Beca is going." Beca said and grabbed a raincoat that was hanging on a hook next to the door. She thought it belonged to Lily but she wasn't sure.
Before anyone could say anything else, Beca had opened the door and sprinted in the direction of Stacie's car.
"Beca!" Chloe shouted but the smaller girl didn't seem to hear her. "I'm going to kill her when she comes back." Chloe grumbled under her breath .
Amy took a few steps forward and patted the redhead on the shoulder. "Don't worry ginger, a little bit of rain has nothing on THE Beca Effin Mitchell. Shorty will be fine."
Chloe nodded and went to the front door to see what Beca was doing. Beca was just opening the trunk when a bright flash of lightning illuminated the whole area as it struck a tree only ten meters away from their house.
The girls were screaming in surprise and Chloe frantically looked for the small brunette girl who had so recklessly run outside in a storm to rescue a piece of metal.
"Beca!" Chloe screamed and sprinted out of the house. She was only wearing socks but she didn't care at the moment. The only thing she was thinking about was Beca.
She arrived at Stacie's car a few moments after leaving the house and found Beca on the ground behind it. She was struggling to get back on her feet and Chloe immediately helped her. They ran back inside quickly and shut the front door behind them firmly.
Chloe grabbed Beca's arms and looked at her from her head to her toes. "Are you okay? The lightning didn't hit you, right?"
Beca blinked a few more times. She was a little confused but she didn't think the lightning hit her. "No, I'm okay. I think I was just surprised."
Chloe grabbed her face and looked into the younger girl's deep blue orbs deeply. "Why were you on the ground then? Did you fall?"
"I think so. Look, Chloe I'm fine."
Chloe didn't seem to want to let go of Beca's face anytime soon.
'Aca-Awkward' Amy said and Beca shook her head for a moment.
"I'm fine Chloe."
'I'm going to kill her if something is wrong with her.'
"That would kind of defeat the purpose of me being okay, right?"
Chloe looked at Beca with furrowed brows.
"What?" Beca asked when the silence became pressing.
"What are you talking about?"
"What do you mean? You just said you would kill me if something was wrong. But if you are worried about my health, killing me would be pretty counter productive, wouldn't it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Um Beca, Chloe didn't say anything after asking you if you fell."
Beca looked from one concerned Bella face to the next, until she landed on the huge worried looking bright blue eyes of her best friend.
"Beca? I didn't say anything." 'Is she okay? She looks kind of lost and confused. Maybe a hot shower would cheer her up? She must be freezing.'
"A hot shower sounds nice. I think I'll go and have one." Beca muttered and made her way up the stairs after shedding Lily's rain coat and Flo's rubber boots.
The Bellas looked at each other with raised eyebrows as soon as Beca had vanished.
"Okay, what the fuck was that?" CR exclaimed.
"Maybe the lightning fried short stacks brain?" Amy suggested but got slapped by Chloe, Stacie and Flo immediately.
"Don't even joke about that!" Stacie exclaimed angrily while Flo muttered something about a distant cousin who had been struck by lightning once but still managed to carry his three little siblings home.
Nobody commented on Flo's weird story but they all looked pointedly at Chloe. She looked at them confusedly. "What?"
"Go and talk to her!" Stacie said. Loudly.
"She's showering! I'm going to talk to her in a few minutes. And why am I the one who has to do it?"
"If you don't know that, you're denser than I thought you were ginger. We're not getting between that." Amy motioned her hands in Chloe's direction.
"Between what?"
Stacie decided to take over the conversation. "Forget it. Just go upstairs and make sure that Beca is alright. She was really acting strange."
Chloe huffed. "Fine. But you guys could have done it too. Beca is your friend."
Amy snorted. "Yeah, we're friends, but you two are 'friends'."
Stacie put her hands on top of Chloe's shoulders and shoved her in the direction of the stairs. "Ignore Amy and go already. We'll be waiting downstairs. And change out of your clothes first, you're soaking wet!"
"Fine." Chloe replied and made her way upstairs. She stopped at her own room first and changed into some dry clothes, before going to Beca's room. The brunette wasn't there when Chloe entered but she could hear the shower running through the bathroom door. She made herself comfortable on the brunette's bed and fished her phone out of her pocket to play the next level of Candy Crush. She knew that the game was stupid and addicting but it was fun to pass some time with.
A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and a towel clad Beca was drying her hair with a towel as she made her way to her closet without seeing Chloe. The redhead used the opportunity to watch the small brunette.
'Damn, I always thought she was hot, but her hair and those collar bones are really great to look at.'
"Dude!" Beca exclaimed and looked at Chloe incredulously.
"What?" Chloe replied confusedly.
"You can't say stuff like that!"
Chloe furrowed her brows. "What are you talking about Becs. I haven't said anything since you came out of the bathroom."
"But you said you thought I was hot."
Chloe raised her eyebrows. 'She couldn't possibly have heard what I was thinking, right? That would be ridiculous...'
"Of course I heard wh... wait, you didn't move your mouth right now. And what was that about thinking? Oh my god..." Beca's eyes had widened and her mouth had opened as she stared at Chloe.
"What are you talking about Becs?" 'Did she hit her head when she fell or something? Maybe I should call an ambulance...'
"No! I don't need an ambulance!"
"Becs, you're starting to creep me out. I didn''t say anything about an ambulance."
"You didn't. But you thoght about it Chloe. I think I can hear your thoughts..."
'Okay, that's it, I'm calling an ambulance.' Chloe thought and started to get up from Beca's bed.
"No! Chloe don't you see? Something weird is happening and I don't know why, but I can hear you. Let me prove it to you. Think something."
"Think something? Beca are you crazy?" 'I'm really getting worried now. She must have hit her head really hard, she's hallucinating.'
"I'm not hallucinating!"
Chloe stopped her movement and gaped at Beca. "How..."
Beca shrugged helplessly, eyes suspiciously shiny. "I don't know. Think something, please..."
'Um, elephant.'
"Elephant."
'Chocolate ice cream.'
"Chocolate ice cream."
'I have pink underwear.'
Beca rolled her eyes. "I have pink underwear."
Chloe was starting to enjoy herself a little. She didn't know what was going on, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have some fun with it.
'I love Aubrey Posen and am sorry for everything I ever did to her.'
Beca's mouth dropped open and her eyes narrowed. "I'm not saying that." She crossed her arms in front of her chest which made her cleavage much more noticeable.
'Oh my god, those things should be illegal. How did she manage to get such perfect boobs?'
"Chloe!" Beca exclaimed and let her arms fall. She grabbed her towel and pulled it up until it sat right under her throat.
Chloe blushed brightly but grinned none the less. "I'm sorry, okay? I can't control what I think. And just for the record, you have an awesome pair of mhh..." The redhead was interrupted by Beca's fingers on her face.
"Stop talking about that! I'm going to put some clothes on. Stay."
'I'm not a dog.' Chloe thought but continued grinning as Beca walked away from her. 'Her ass isn't too bad either... I wonder what...'
"Chloe! I can hear you!" Beca shouted as she jumped into her clothes.
The redhead was laughing by now. "I'm sorry Becs... I have a dirty mind, you already knew that."
"Yeah.." Beca grumbled. "But you usually don't think about me like that."
'If only she knew...'
"Wait, what?" Beca stopped what she was doing and put her head around the corner to look at Chloe.
"Nothing. Hurry up and change. We're having an emergency Bella meeting."
"What for?" Beca asked as she emerged from her closet in a loose black t-shirt and some comfortable shorts. She didn't wear any socks and her hair was sitting on top of her head in a messy bun.
'Ugh, look at those legs. Damn...'
"I don't even want to know what you're thinking right now." Beca drawled dryly.
"Sorry. Anyway, we're having a meeting to discuss your problem."
Beca raised an eyebrow. "My problem?"
"Well what would you like to call it?"
Beca glared at Chloe for a moment but eventually relented. She sighed deeply. "Fine. Let's go. Maybe someone has an explanation for this."
The two of them went downstairs together and were greeted by the sight of Jessica and Ashley in a heated Tekken battle on the PlayStation while Amy, CR and Flo cheered them on. Stacie was sitting on the couch and browsed through a magazine while Lily was doing something on her phone.
"Guys?"
"Hey Becs, are you feeling okay?" Stacie asked as Beca and Chloe sat down on the couch next to her.
The little brunette nodded. "Yeah, sorry for worrying you though. I have a slight problem."
"What kind of problem? Problems with your lady parts? I remember this one time Bumper and I sneaked away at a party and found ourselves in a field full of strange looking flowers..."
"Stop! Oh my god, stop! Chloe! I can see images as well! She was thinking about it and I saw red flowers and Bumper's j...mhhh" Chloe had clapped a hand onto Beca's mouth to shut her up. "There is no need to give us all mental scarring."
Beca held her hands in front of her eyes to get rid of the image but since the picture was in her head, no amount of hiding from the world could erase it.
"What is going on?" CR decided to cut in and ask the obvious question.
"Um.." Beca mumbled, not really knowing how to say that she could apparently read minds. She looked helplessly in Chloe's direction. The ginger decided to help Beca out thankfully.
"Becs can read minds."
There were ten seconds of silence until the girls started laughing.
"Good one Red. Now, seriously, what's up?" Amy asked when the laughter had died down a little.
"I'm serious. Something must have happened during the storm. We tested it. She can really hear my thoughts and she can apparently see images about what we are thinking of as well."
"Holy shit, you're not joking, are you?" Stacie exclaimed, eyes wide.
Beca shook her head. "No. And I don't like it. Has anybody got an idea how to get rid of it?"
"Woah woah, slow down shorty. Before we talk about that, we need some proof."
Beca shrugged. "Sure. Think of something."
'Hm, what to think about. Oh, I know. Hey Beca, when are you finally going to confess your feelings for Chloe? It's been a while since you broke up with Jesse and I don't want to walk in on you taking care of yourself another time.'
"Amy! Oh my god!"
"What did she think about?" Chloe asked curiously and the other Bellas leaned closer to hear the answer as well.
"Nothing." Beca said, face burning bright red. "I'm not repeating that Amy. Think of something normal!"
"You are so boring short stuff. Okay, give me a second."
'Hmm, think something, oh, right. Michael Jackson!'
"Michael Jackson. Although I don't get why you would think about him."
"Okay, that was creepy. Let's do a few more, I don't want to find out that you cheated later on."
Beca rolled her eyes. "I'm not."
'Okay, so, who let the dogs out?'
The small brunette furrowed her brows. "What? What dogs? We don't have dogs Amy."
"Hm, okay, that was impressive. Last one. You said you could see images? I'll show you one."
"Please don't..." Beca pleaded but was ignored.
Beca's eyes widened as soon as the image Amy was thinking about registered in her brain.
"Amy!" Her face had turned bright red again. The blonde snorted and nodded to herself. "Yep, I believe her."
Chloe looked at Beca and Amy curiously. "What did you show her Amy?"
"Nothing!" Beca exclaimed and shot a pleading look in Amy's direction.
"Well, a little something of this, a little something of that. Nothing important."
Chloe was about to ask for some clarification when CR interrupted her. "Woah, stop, so the little DJ can really read minds? How did that happen?"
Beca shrugged. "That's what we're trying to find out. We think it might have something to do with the storm but we've never heard of that kind of thing before. Do you have any ideas?"
The girls looked at each other with lost expressions on their faces and shrugged their shoulders.
Beca sighed and was about to upstairs and try to sleep this off when she heard Lily.
'This kind of thing happened to my cousin once. He was able to read our minds for three days. It went away after that though. We always speculated that it had something to do with the magnetic particles in the air during a storm but we never figured it out completely. We stopped investigating when it didn't come back after a few weeks. Maybe you should just wait it out.'
"Woah, Lily, I've never been able to hear you so clearly. Do you really think it will go away on it's own?"
The Asian girl shrugged. 'Probably. I mean, have you ever heard something about a person being able to read minds permanently? If this kind of thing can happen during a storm, I'm pretty sure you and my cousin aren't the only people to have experienced something like this. Give it a few days and if it won't go away, we'll start looking for some other solutions.'
"Thanks Lily. It's actually rather nice to talk to you. You should speak up more often."
Lily rolled her eyes. 'It's not my fault that you guys are deaf!'
Beca grinned. "Woah, girl, no need to shout."
Lily grinned back.
"Um, what was that about?" Chloe interrupted them when it looked like they were finished.
"Lily said that she knows someone that had this happen to him before and that it went away on it's own. So I think I'll just go to bed. Please be a little careful around me, I don't want to accidentally hear something private. I'll stay home for a few days and shut the world out with mixing."
"Um, I don't want to burst your bubble, but did you get your laptop earlier? I didn't see you with a bag."
Beca's shoulders slumped. "Right. It's still in the trunk."
She turned around and looked out of the window. The storm was still going strong, even if the thunder and lightning had abated significantly.
"No." Chloe said firmly as Beca took a step in direction of the front door. "You are NOT setting a foot out there again. Who knows what will happen this time? You could wind up with some superpowers or get hit by an actual bold of lightning. The only place you're going now is upstairs. Get some sleep and don't even think about leaving the house anytime soon."
Beca raised her eyebrows. "Are you putting me on house arrest?"
"Damn right I am! We have to keep an eye on you. I swear you get in the worst kind of troubles."
"That's hardly my fault. What am I supposed to do without my laptop?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you and your first world problems. You can get your laptop tomorrow, you're going to sleep now."
"But I need music to fall asleep..."
'Just use your damn phone girl!' Chloe thought loudly while she glared at Beca.
The small brunette scowled at the redhead. "Don't be sarcastic, that's my job. I'm going to bed now." With that, Beca said good night to everyone and vanished upstairs.
Amy nudged Chloe in the ribs.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Follow her! She can read minds! There is no way she is okay with that. She acted rather calm when she told us about it, but I can promise you that she is freaking out on the inside. Help her. I'll sleep on the couch tonight, you can have the room. Just don't do it on my bed please."
Scowling at Amy, Chloe grabbed her phone from the coffee table and made her way upstairs. 'Seriously, the nerve of that girl... It's not that I wouldn't have checked up on Beca but the girls are rather forceful today. I wonder what's up with them."
Chloe arrived in front of Beca's door and simply walked in. She had never bothered knocking when it came to Beca. That had led to some interesting situations over the past few years but after Beca's initial embarrassment had abated, she could laugh about it too.
When Chloe walked in she saw that Beca was lying on her bed on her stomach, feet up in the air and phone in her hands, fingers flying over the screen speedily. It looked like she was concentrating hard on something.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't distract me Chloe. I'm so close to beating the next level..."
Chloe rolled her eyes and sat down next to Beca.
'I sometimes forget that she is a closet nerd. But she looks really cute when she concentrates like that. It's a similar look to the one she wears when she is mixing, only less... mature? Yeah, more childish and happy. I really like that look on her.'
Beca groaned loudly a few moments later and turned onto her back so she could glare at Chloe.
"Dude! You are distracting me! I lost! Could you keep your thoughts to yourself please? And I'm NOT cute, didn't we already have that conversation a million times before?"
Chloe shrugged. "Yeah. But we are still disagreeing on the answer. I won't stop calling you cute until you stop doing cute things. End of discussion."
Beca rolled her eyes. "You're the worst. Why am I even friends with you? You don't respect my badassness."
"That's not a word."
"It so is."
"If you say so. And just for the record, you are friends with me because you love me. And because I am the hottest ginger you know."
'True. I love her.'
"Um, what? Beca?"
"Huh?"
"Don't pretend girl! You've never told me you love me to my face before. I know you do, it shows in everything you do, but you've never said it out loud like you mean it."
"Um Chloe..." Beca slowly got up from her bed and stared at the other girl. "I didn't say it out loud... I mean, yes, I do love you but I didn't say it out loud..."
Chloe's beautiful blue eyes widened. "What do you mean, you didn't say it out loud? You are the mind reader here... Why did I hear you?"
"I don't know. Maybe this stuff is infectious. Let's test this, can you hear me?"
Beca thought about something really hard, it showed in the lines on her pretty face, but Chloe didn't hear anything.
"Hm, strange, I'm not hearing anything."
"Maybe it was a coincidence? Or maybe I did mutter it... I could swear I didn't but maybe I'm still confused from earlier. I should really go to bed."
"Are you tired? I can leave you alone if you want. Maybe this will be gone in the morning?"
'Please don't leave me...'
"Um Beca, I heard that and I'm pretty sure you would never utter those words of your free will. Are you projecting your thoughts or something?"
The small brunette furrowed her brows. "How would I know? I'm not doing this on purpose. At least I don't think so." She was trying to forget about the things Chloe heard and just focus on the immediate problem.
"Think of something you want me to hear? Or try sending me something... I don't know how this works either."
"Um, okay, I'll try."
Beca focused and looked directly into Chloe's eyes.
'Chloe, I ate your chocolate muffin last week and blamed Amy when you asked me where it had gone. Ugh, I hope she can't hear this, otherwise I'm screwed...'
"... Beca."
'Oh crap, she totally heard that. Damn, why didn't I think about something else? She's going to kill me...' "Yes?" she squeaked.
"Why did you lie to me about the muffin?"
"Um..." her eyes were wide now.
"You know what this means, right?"
"...no?"
"We're going to get me a new muffin tomorrow. And you're paying."
"I thought we would stay inside until I'm normal again."
Chloe raised an eyebrow. "We? Did you think I would stay with you the whole time?"
"... Well... You know what? Yes. Yes I thought that you would stay with me until I'm better." Beca huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She was still standing in the middle of her room.
The redhead rolled her eyes. "I was playing you Becs. Of course I'm staying with you. But we can go to this awesome new muffin shop for half an hour. I doubt anything will happen."
"Not cool dude. And what if I'll hear all the thoughts of the people there? I don't want to know what they ate for breakfast..."
Chloe rolled her eyes and motioned for Beca to sit down next to her again. "You'll be fine. Now, are you really okay with all of this? I know you said you were fine, but this is a lot to take in."
Beca sighed and leaned back against her headboard after scooting a little further up on her bed. Chloe joined her a few seconds later.
"I'm not fine. But what can I do? There is nothing I can do to make this go away. I can only wait and hope this goes away. If it goes away..."
Chloe wrapped her arms around Beca and pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure this will go away in time. That's what Lily said, right?"
Beca nodded. "But I'm not sure Lily is right with this thing. I mean, have you ever heard about actual mind reading outside of fiction? I mean, yes, everybody has thought about wanting to hear what other people think once or twice in their life but actually being able to do it, is a completely different situation. If I knew that this was temporary I would enjoy it for a few days, but what if I'm stuck like this Chloe? I wouldn't be able to have a normal life. I wouldn't be able to have a normal job. I wouldn't be able to have a relationship. Having friends would be extremely hard."
"Stop, Beca. Don't over think this. We'll deal with one day at a time."
Beca was fidgeting nervously. "But what if..."
"No, stop it. We're not talking about what ifs. We'll deal with all your questions once they need answering. You'll only make yourself crazy otherwise.
"Chloe what should I do? I'm scared..."
"I know Becs. But we'll deal with it. Why don't you go to sleep now? I'm sure the situation will look much better in the morning."
"I guess you're right. Will you stay with me?"
Chloe grinned. "Of course. How hard was it? Asking that question I mean?"
Beca rolled her eyes. "Shut up. And you already knew that I wanted you to stay."
"Yeah, well, I'll go and change and brush my teeth. See you in five minutes?"
Beca nodded.
Five minutes later, Chloe came back into the room and joined Beca in her bed.
"Good night Becs. Don't think about anything tonight. Just relax."
"I'll try. Thanks Chlo, sleep well."
They snuggled up in each others arms and Chloe pressed an innocent kiss on Beca's cheek.
'I love you Becs. Sleep tight.'
A/N: Soo, a new story. But don't worry, I already have the chapters written, there are only three. I hope you guys enjoyed this, this is just a small story because the idea wouldn't leave my mind. To those of you who read my other stories: Sorry for not updating in a while, I had a lot of stuff to do but I've been and I am working on the next chapters to my other stories. Just had to figure out some stuff first for them. Oh, and this story was part of a present for NinaR22 for her birthday and she loved it. I hope you guys will like it too :)