"How long have we been together, Beca?" Chloe asked her girlfriend as they got dressed for the day, shoving clothes onto their own bodies from within their shared bedroom.
"Is this a test?" Beca responded carefully, not wanting to get the wrong answer.
She held up her fingers and started counting them off to determine how long they'd been dating. But once she got past twelve, she lost count and had to start over again.
"No, of course not!" The redhead laughed, pulling down her shirt before hooking her arms around the other woman's waist. "I just had a thought."
"Oh no."
"Don't you oh no me, missy." Chloe chastised.
"Last time you had a thought, you forced me to go out on a double date with Aubrey and Jesse." Beca said flatly, cringing over the mere memory of that disastrous night.
"Hmm. Well, it's nothing like that." The chipper young woman assured her with a smile.
"Better not be. Double dates are bad enough already without them being with your best friend and my ex-boyfriend, who were probably both plotting my demise."
"They were not!" Beca had a tendency to be so negative sometimes, but Chloe thought that it might be a good thing, because at least they balanced each other out. "Anyway, I was thinking maybe we could make a trip to the animal shelter today. We could adopt an animal together."
Beca stared at Chloe in disbelief.
"What? Are you allergic or something?" She wondered with her eyebrows furrowed at Beca's unreadable expression.
The corners of the younger woman's mouth twitched upward and she brushed a curl back under her girlfriend's ear.
"Chloe Beale, did you just ask me to have a furry child with you?" She queried brightly.
Chloe immediately grinned, relieved that her girlfriend didn't seem taken aback by the idea of getting a pet together. It would make their shared apartment a lot less lonely and plus, she thought it would add a certain new layer of seriousness to their relationship.
"Yes, I diiiid." Chloe sang.
"Oh, geez. Are you going to ask me to marry you next?" Beca asked with a laugh, causing Chloe's eyes to suddenly become downcast.
She thought about the ring box stuffed into the pocket of her winter coat. Then she managed a fake laugh, hoping that the woman next to her wouldn't be able to tell how insincere her laughter really was.
"Of course not." She murmured lightly, moving away from her partner in favor of grabbing her things.
"Shit." Beca cursed, realizing that she'd just said something completely stupid.
By the way Chloe was acting upon hearing that statement, she had been planning on proposing sometime soon. The thought of getting married really freaked her out. Beca had lived through her parents' divorce and she didn't want to have to live through her own. All that could be avoided if she just didn't get married.
"Chloe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." She begged, grabbing her girlfriend's hands when they reached for her cell phone. "Please, look at me."
Beca felt the familiar blue orbs fall onto her own, noticing that they were beginning to be filled with tears. Good job, loser, you made her cry, she thought to herself. She hated it when Chloe cried. It made her feel like her heart was rising up through her throat, which was something that was absolutely not supposed to happen, last time she checked.
"I love you." Beca reminded her as Chloe started texting someone, her thumbs flying across the keyboard of her cell phone. "Please don't text Aubrey about this. Please. I get that she's your best friend, but she doesn't have to know every time we have a fight."
"Is this a fight?" Chloe shot back. "I'm just frustrated, Beca. We've been together for two years and you haven't budged when it comes to making thing serious between us."
"I haven't budged? We're living together if you haven't noticed!" It was practically impossible to win an argument with Chloe; Beca didn't know why she was trying.
"You said no to joint bank accounts."
"Because that's stupid." Beca reasoned, being reminded of one too many Judge Judy reruns.
"You said no to buying a house." Chloe countered, her eyes trained on Beca like a hunter getting ready to shoot a defenseless fawn.
"Because we can't afford it." She was getting exasperated now.
Beca always had to be the realistic one, because Chloe was too optimistic for the both of them. She was prone to flights of fancy and it was always Beca who had to bring her back down to earth and tell her things like they couldn't afford a house or walk around the house naked like Chloe enjoyed doing.
"And now you're saying you don't want to get married." Chloe's voice broke.
Beca frowned, feeling guilty. "I never said that."
"You didn't have to."
"Chloe, please, let's just go look at puppies." She begged, not wanting to fight when it was a Saturday morning, one of the few days a week they actually got to spend together.
Both of them were quiet for a moment before Chloe shoved her phone into her bag. She turned back to look at Beca, a tiny smile coming to her lips.
"Alright," She conceded. "Puppies now, serious talk later." Chloe reasoned before leading them out of the apartment complex and down to their parked vehicles.
That was another thing they hadn't settled on. Chloe thought they should share a car, but Beca insisted that since she was finishing senior year at Barden and Chloe had to get to work, that it would be an inconvenience to have to share a vehicle. Chloe had this romanticized version of how relationships should work, and sometimes, it was a little too much for her girlfriend to take.
"I'll drive." Beca announced, opening the driver's side door to her beaten up Dodge Neon.
Chloe rolled her eyes at the display of dominance, sliding into the passenger seat and hooking in her seatbelt. She fiddled with the stereo, a 6 disc CD changer that Beca had installed herself. When she heard the opening notes to Titanium, her eyes flickered over to her girlfriend.
"What's this?" She raised her eyebrows, not having heard this song in years.
"Titanium, duh. It hasn't been that long since this song came out." Beca frowned, starting the car.
"No, I mean, this CD, what is it?" Chloe sounded legitimately curious. She skipped to the next track and her eyes widened. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Maybe." A smirk settled onto the sarcastic woman's visage. "Yes, I made a mix CD full of songs that remind me of you, now can we not talk about it because I feel really ridiculous right now."
Beca covered her reddening face with her hands while her girlfriend made what could only be described as pterodactyl noises.
"You HAVE to make me a copy, cuddlebear!"
"What the hell did you just call me?" She snapped out of her slight embarrassment to comment on the use of a very corny pet name.
Chloe started giggling. "I'm sorry, that was really mushy. I forgot you hated pet names. But really, can you make me a copy or am I going to have to steal it from you?"
"I'll make you a copy." Beca muttered before clamping her mouth shut.
She was still irritated that her secret mix had been discovered.
"You're great." Chloe cooed in her ear, kissing the side of her head. "I love you."
Beca smiled, turning her head and capturing her girlfriend's lips in a sudden kiss.
"Good. Alright. To the animal shelter!" She threw a fist through the air as if she were a superhero and then backed out of the parking spot.
The two young women made their way to the animal shelter, where there were many animals to choose from. They talked as they walked through the door about what they were looking for, having already decided on a dog. Beca kept insisting she didn't like cats ("cats are dicks") and anything more unusual would be too much for them to deal with, being new pet owners and all.
Once in sight of puppies, Chloe was reduced to a squealing mess. She picked up every canine in sight, cuddling their faces and covering them with kisses to assess which one loved her the most. Beca set her eyes on a particularly mangy looking mutt that hung in the back away from the others. She approached him carefully, offering her hand face up to the animal. He sniffed her hand before giving her one quick lick and no more. She locked eyes with him, immediately feeling a kinship with the dog.
"Chlo! Come here and look at this one!" She shouted, startling the dog a little. Beca apologized to him, ruffling his ear as her girlfriend came to look at him.
"That one? Are you sure? He looks a little…sick." Chloe looked down at the animal with distaste.
"Don't be all judgmental, he's just antisocial and weird and we can love him and make him feel better and give him a good home." Beca sounded totally adorable.
Chloe bent down and inspected the dog before locking eyes with the brunette.
"Oh, god. You're the dog, aren't you?"
"What? No, that's stupid…well. Maybe he reminds me of me a little." She admitted, feeling lame.
"You really want him?" Chloe asked, trying to figure out how attached her girlfriend was to the dog.
It was kind of cute if you squinted, but it wasn't exactly a show dog by any means. Beca merely nodded, sticking out her lower lip for effect. The redhead immediately caved, sighing.
"Fine, but I get to name him." She demanded as she stood up, glancing back down at the animal.
"I guess that's fair. As long as it's not something really lame." Beca shrugged, smiling at the dog and talking to it quietly under her breath.
Chloe sighed. "I thought we were getting a puppy, he looks pretty old."
"He's only a month and a half old." The woman who ran the shelter told them, walking up behind the two women. "We found him living on the streets. He's never lived in a residential home as far as we know, but he behaves well. It shouldn't be too much trouble training him.
"Does he already have a name?" Chloe asked, worried that she wouldn't get the privilege of naming the animal and that he'd have a horrible name they both hated.
"He doesn't really answer to anything yet, so you can train him to answer to any name you choose." The lady told her, holding up some paperwork. "He has all of his shots and everything, if you two are serious about wanting him, you can fill out the paperwork."
Beca got up from the floor. "I'll fill it out." She announced, stepping over and taking the clipboard. She started hastily filling in the forms while Chloe gaped at her quick decision making.
"I've got it!" Chloe yelled, running over to her girlfriend. "Courage!"
"As in Courage the Cowardly Dog?" Beca scoffed. "That's…well. That's kind of badass, actually. Come here, Courage!"
The dog didn't come. But he did look at her.
"Courage." Beca murmured to herself as she scribbled in the name box on the form.
After the proper forms were filled out, they were given his paperwork and a collar/leash combination, along with a pair of official tags. The women walked out together, Beca holding tightly to Courage's leash. She turned to her girlfriend and smiled more widely than she'd ever seen her smile before.
"Let's go to Pet Smart!" Beca said, glancing back in the rearview mirror at the dog in the backseat.
Chloe rolled her eyes but she was smiling too, her hand grasping for Beca's. She held her hand in her own, kissing it.
"It's cute to see you so excited about something."
She'd originally wanted something cute, like a small yappy dog, but seeing Beca this happy made her happy. Besides, she was right, this scrappy little canine did remind her of the scrappy little brunette beside of her. His fur was even the same color as her hair. When Beca pulled out of the parking lot, Chloe found herself leaning over to pet Courage in the backseat.