A/N: I'm posting all my Bechloe fics from AO3 here because my beta told me so. Enjoy?
/
It's not that Beca has a crush.
It's not, no matter what Jesse says.
It's just that… well…
Chloe's smile was really nice, okay?
And it's not that Beca has been staring at it because she hasn't.
It's just hard not to notice that blinding grin aimed at her, giggling, after she's dropped hydrogen peroxide all over her jeans during chemistry class.
It's also really hard not to be flustered when she passes by Beca in the halls and waves, or when they're in music class, harmonizing with the rest of the class some lame school approved set, and those baby blue eyes catch hers and wink.
It was not a crush, okay?
Beca was just a useless bisexual that didn't know how to act around nice, pretty girls.
"Sure," Jesse says skeptically after Beca explains for the thousandth time she does not have a crush. "You never act like this around Stacie."
"Ew, dude, gross," Beca frowns and closes her locker. "Stacie is, like, my best friend."
"I thought that was me," Jesse pouts but it turns into a smirk when Beca punches him in the arm, cursing him under her breath. "You're not blind, though. You can know hot Stacie is."
"So?"
"So, my point remains, dude!" Jesse exclaims loudly, earning himself another arm punch as they walk through the halls. "Stacie's hot and you don't act like an idiot around her because you don't have a crush on her."
"I don't have a crush on anyone!" Beca hisses just as they make their way through the cafeteria doors and she ends up bumping on someone on their way out.
"Oh!" Hands close around Beca's upper arms keeping her from tumbling to the floor and dragging her unsuspecting victim with her. "Sorry!"
And it's just Beca's luck that the person holding her awfully close now is none other than Chloe freaking Beale, making Jesse grin madly at her side like the fucking Cheshire cat.
"Oh, hi Beca," the redhead smiled once she recognized Beca and oh, wow, that smile really was blinding.
"Chloe," Beca managed to squeeze out, blushing madly. "You… you're still holding me."
"Sorry," Chloe's smile didn't diminished, but she let go of her — not before smoothing her hands over her covered arms to clean the wrinkles.
Oh God, Beca wants to die right then and there.
At her side, Jesse coughed loudly, startling Beca, she shoots him her most convincing glare.
"So," he says, that stupid grin still gracing his stupid face. "If you ladies excuse me, I'll go get my lunch now."
"Right," Beca says, focusing on the girl still standing in front of her.
Jesse gestures madly behind Chloe's back urging her, Beca assumes, to make a move.
She looks back into bright blue eyes and yeah, Beca's just fucked.
"I…" she sighs, trying to gather her thoughts. "I should get too. My lunch, I mean."
"Right, yeah" Chloe nods, no longer invading Beca's personal space. "I'll see you in chemistry later?"
"Yeah," Beca even manages an awkward grimace now that Chloe was at a safe distance.
She was safe.
"Bring extra pants!" The redhead shouts over her shoulder as she skips away.
Okay, scratch that.
/
"That's called not-a-crush now?" Jesse says, his smug tone muffled by the chicken sandwich he's currently scarfing down.
"Shut it," Beca threatens, pointing her pasta laden fork menacingly at him.
"You know she has a crush on you too, right?"
"I said shut it!"
/
Thankfully for Beca, Chemistry was a Jesse-free period for her.
Unfortunately, it contained her other, more annoying best friend and certified genius Stacie Conrad and Chloe — who came along with the lovely bonus of her own best friend Aubrey Posen.
Pure joy.
Usually, Chloe and Aubrey were paired together just like Beca and Stacie. But for this stupid, hydrogen peroxide incident inducing project, the professor decided for some reason to mess with this perfectly good system and Beca and Chloe ended up paired together.
They'd probably work well together too if Beca managed to act like a normal human being near Chloe. Which she didn't. Hence the accidents.
"Hey partner," Chloe greets her at their table. "Do you mind if I work the chemicals today?"
Beca grunts out a response, but didn't manage to hide her blush, which made Chloe giggle and Beca flush even further.
Stupid, stupid project.
It was ruining her reputation.
But the fact was that writing was really best for her because she could focus on making her handwriting look legible and not on the adorable way Chloe's face crunched and her nose wrinkled when she concentrated.
She knew very well how that ended.
/
They made it through the class without incident but Mr. Craig was really testing Beca's patience with this assignment.
"Like I said before you started this assignment, it'll be worth 30% of your final grade and you'll have to present your final results in a presentation at the end of next week."
That meant she had to spent time with Chloe outside of class! This was just messed up.
"I guess that means we'll have to meet some time to put together our presentation, right?" Chloe says by the end of the class as they gathered up their materials and cleaned up.
"Yup," Beca grumbles, already dreading it.
She's made a fool of herself in front of Chloe enough already, in her opinion.
They were both walking, Chloe towards the bus stop and Beca towards home since she lives close enough to school to not need her father's ride outside of rainy days. It weirdly felt as if Chloe was walking her out of class, though, like, you know, friends or girlfriends.
And they were neither one or the other.
It was probably just because they were both going in the direction of the bus stop. Right?
Right.
Beca would have probably dismissed the whole thing as a fluke if she hadn't walked straight past the bus stop and Chloe hadn't followed her.
"Uh, Chloe," Beca frowns, stopping dead in her tracks so abruptly Chloe ended up bumping into her. "We passed the bus stop."
"Oh," the redhead's eyes widen and she bites her bottom lip as if getting caught doing something she shouldn't. "Yeah."
"Where are you going?"
"Uh... I just wanted to walk you to wherever you're going?" she says, smiling shyly and making Beca's brain short circuit.
"What?" Beca laughs nervously. "Why, I mean, wha—?"
"Well, I was talking to Stacie the other day about what happened in chemistry and she said it was because you had a crush on me and —"
"She said what now?!" Beca screeches.
Dead. Stacie was a dead woman walking.
"Yeah, well, it's just…" a faint blush rose on Chloe's cheeks then, as she looked down at her feet. "I kinda have a crush on you too."
Beca was so busy planning Stacie's demise that she thought for sure she had misheard the last part of what Chloe said.
"Wait," she interrupts Chloe's rambling again and noticed, for the first time, the faint blush covering the other girl's ears and nose. "You have a crush on me?" she asks dumbfounded.
"Yes?" Chloe grins sheepishly. "I was working up the courage to ask you out and I thought it'd work it best if I walked you to whatever you're going instead of making you stop at the bus stop and doing it in front of people."
A slow smile spread across Beca's face as she processed the other girl's statement. A real, genuine, smile she was sure was gonna split her face in half.
"You… have a crush on me," she repeats dumbly.
"Yes," Chloe agrees, mirroring her smile.
"And you wanna go out with me?"
"Yeah."
Confidence surges in Beca then, her smile morphing into a smug smirk. "Are you free Saturday?"
"Yes!" Chloe exclaims, she surges forward then, pulling Beca into a tight hug.
Beca can feel the excitement rolling off of her classmate.
"6PM, burgers and the arcade?"
"I'd love to," Chloe says softly right in Beca's ear, giving her goosebumps all over. "Text me where?"
When Beca nods in response, Chloe smiles again and with a kiss to Beca's redden cheek she retreats. "See ya then!"
"See ya," Beca says dumbly, putting a hand over where Chloe's lips had touched. Her skin felt like it was on fire.
Okay, so maybe Beca had a crush.
It was a good thing Chloe had a crush on her too.