A/N: Short story based on something that happened to a friend of mine. Disclaimer: I do not own Pitch Perfect or it's characters.
Beca sat down with a sigh. She liked spending time with her mother, but hated the four-hour train ride she had to take to get back to Barden. Travelling on Sunday afternoon made it even worse, since the train was crowded, so she would probably not get any work done. She resorted to staring out of the window. The train hadn't left the station yet, so she could watch people run around frantically.
Just when she heard the whistle blow, indicating that the train would leave, she saw a flash of red pass the window. Moments later a gorgeous redhead appeared in the doorway of her compartment. She was still panting from the exertion. She looked around to find an empty seat. Beca did just the same and came to the conclusion that the best available seat was the one right in front of her. The redhead seemed to conclude the exact same thing. She made eye contact with Beca before walking towards the seat. Beca was caught in those bright blue eyes for a moment too long before she managed to avert her eyes.
She looked outside while the train was gaining speed, but her attention was elsewhere. She was all too aware of the redhead across from her. The girl had sat down and was still breathing heavily. She got out a water bottle, took a few sips and set it down on the table between them. Then she grabbed her phone and some earbuds and put on music. Currently she was mouthing along with the lyrics of the song that was playing.
Beca decided that it would be a good idea to listen to music for her as well, maybe she would come up with some new ideas for mixed. She got out her phone and started one of the playlists. Soon she was lost in the music and was no longer aware of her surroundings. She was also not aware of the fact that the redhead had not stopped staring at her for the last twenty minutes.
Her attention returned to redhead when she saw movement in her peripheral. She glanced at the girl and saw the she had taken out a small notebook and a pen. She jotted down something and tore the page out of the notebook. She then proceeded to fold up the piece of paper. She looked up at Beca, catching her eyes, and pushed the piece of table over the table in her direction. She nodded at it, encouraging Beca to pick it up.
Beca hesitated, but curiosity took over and she grabbed it. She slowly opened it and saw a message written in flowery handwriting.
You have beautiful eyes
It was a bit cheezy, but also very sweet, so Beca smiled at her. She received a wide smile in return. The girl was staring really intently at her and it was bordering creepy. Beca didn't really know how else to respond, so she went back to staring out of the window and listening to her music. And awkward silence settled between them.
The other girl was clearly determined to get Beca's attention, because moments later she was scribbling a new note.
You also have a beautiful smile
The girl had turned the dots over the i's into little flowers. She smiled at Beca while the brunette read the note and waited for a reaction. Beca looked up at here and considered her options. This train ride would last another three hours, so she could engage in a conversation now and kill some time, but the girl could turn out to be a creep or extremely boring, or she could ignore the girl and try to focus on her music. She decided on the latter for now.
The other girl seemed disappointed, but wasn't giving up that easily. She started scribbling a third note. After she had folded it up, she seemed to hesitate for a moment. She gave Beca the last piece of paper and looked at her expectantly.
Sorry if I creeped you out. Let's try this differently. Hi, I'm Chloe
Since Chloe clearly wasn't going to give up, Beca removed her headphones and introduced herself as well. This seemed to make Chloe's day, because the girl was beaming. She asked Beca what she was listening to, and just like that they were talking about all kinds of music. Beca found out that she had a lot in common with Chloe, they both loved music for one. Chloe told her about this group she was in called the Bellas. Beca told her about her internship at the local radio station. They discussed different artists they liked and suggested new bands for the other to listen to.
Conversation about music turned into conversation about college, family and everything else they could think of. After three hours Beca had the feeling that this girl knew more about her than all of her friends combined. She had had a lot of fun talking to Chloe and was sad that the train ride was almost over. Chloe was also attending Barden, so they might see each other on campus, but the current setting had something magical.
When the train drove into the station, Beca grabbed her bags and started getting up. She was stopped by a hand on her wrist.
"We should do this again some time," Chloe said, while looking up at Beca hopefully.
"I really don't like to make a habit of four-hour train rides," Beca responded.
Chloe didn't seem taken aback by the sarcasm. "I meant talking. Would you like to grab dinner some time?"
"I would like that," Beca confirmed.
