A/N: One shot based on the song 'Winter Never Comes' by Paper Aeroplanes. If you've not heard it, you should check it out.
Disclaimer: I don't own the song or characters.
Ask anyone where Beca Mitchell spends her winter and they'll all say the same thing. Anywhere warm. Ask anyone why Beca Mitchell spends her winter in warmer climates and they'll all say the same thing. She doesn't like the cold. Ask Beca Mitchell if they're right and she'll say one thing. No.
The truth is, winter had always been Beca's favourite season. As soon as the leaves began to show signs of falling, she got excited. She'd never been a fan of the summer; there were too many bugs and she burned way too easily, so as soon as it started to get cooler around September, she found herself unable to wait until the snow would begin to fall and the holiday season would begin.
Ask anyone close to Beca Mitchell what happened to change Beca Mitchell's opinion on winter so drastically and they'll give you a two word answer.
Chloe Beale.
Our sparks grew dim,
When the nights drew in,
The exit you made,
I associate with time of the year.
Beca and Chloe (also known as Bechloe, Bhloe, Shawshank and Ginger, Chloe and The Hobbit or Moms depending on who you asked) were the perfect couple. They were the kind of couple you'd find under the 'relationship goals' tag on Tumblr. They met in college, won a few a capella championships together, fell in love and the rest was history. Everything was amazing for them, after they graduated, Chloe got a job as a music teacher in an elementary school and Beca's career was progressing enough that she would surely make it big within a few years.
Through everything, they had always put their relationship first, making time for each other despite heavy workloads, late nights and clashing schedules. Nothing comforted them more than coming home to each other after a long day and just enjoying being in the company of the one that meant the most to them.
Nobody saw it coming. Everything was amazing, Chloe loved her job and Beca had finally finished producing the album that - when dropped - would be the breakthrough she was waiting for, guaranteed to win her a multitude of awards. Those closest to Beca even knew that she was planning to propose. She never got to do it though.
From the beginning of the relationship, Beca had always been the insecure one. She didn't think that someone like her could ever deserve someone like Chloe Beale. She worked through her issues though, and eventually realised that loving someone wasn't too bad after all. Deciding to propose was easy, doing the proposing, on the other hand, was a different story. She spent months picking out the perfect ring, asking for permission from Chloe's parents, talking to their friends about it, planning the perfect proposal that her girlfriend deserved.
By the time that Beca was finally prepared enough, and all the plans for the proposal were in place, her career had finally taken off. She had finally made it, and her life was perfect. The album she had produced went straight to number 1 and she had a lovely platinum record hanging on the wall of her studio. Most importantly, she had the girl of her dreams.
A week before she planned to propose, however, her world came crashing down. Chloe had been acting strangely for a few weeks, but Beca just put it down to the fact that the new school term had started and so she was stressed due to the increased workload. When the brunette walked in to their home one night in October, however, she didn't expect to be going to bed alone.
Beca was so excited, soon after she had got to work that morning, the first snowfall of the season had started. She loved the snow, and couldn't wait to get home to Chloe so that they could cuddle up on the sofa with hot chocolate and watch it fall through the window. The paparazzi had spotted her at lunchtime and followed back to the studio, but it didn't dampen her spirits too much; she knew that this would be the price of following her dreams and being successful. After what seemed like an eternity of meetings in the afternoon, she was finally able to go home to her girlfriend and enjoy her favourite time of the year.
It felt strange as she walked into the house after parking her car in the garage, there was usually some kind of music filling the space, be it coming from a stereo or from Chloe's mouth, it never failed to put a smile on the DJ's face when she came home to a familiar tune. It confused Beca as she made her way through to the kitchen, until she spotted a suitcase in the hall and she stopped in her tracks.
She stood staring at the offending object until she heard quiet footsteps walking down the stairs towards her and turned to face her girlfriend.
"Hey babe, what-" she cut herself off as she took in the sight of the redhead stood in front of her with puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks, "baby, what's going on?" she asked.
Chloe just sighed before descending the last few steps of the stairs and looking at Beca.
"I'm so sorry Becs, I can't do this anymore," she said, a fresh set of tears making their way down her face.
"Chlo, what're you talking about? I don't understand," Beca asked, tears welling in her own eyes.
"I thought I could deal with it all, you know? I thought that as long as I had you, nothing else would matter. I'd be the one you always came home to, so everything would be fine," the redhead started to explain through her tears, her heart breaking at the hurt on Beca's face, "but I can't do it Becs. I can't deal with the fame. I can't deal with having to share you. I can't deal with the rumours. I just can't do this anymore, it's too much. I love you Becs, but I just can't, I'm sorry."
Beca stood still, completely shocked by Chloe's words which had seemingly come out of nowhere.
"So that's it?" Beca began, "after everything we've been through, everything we've shared together, that's it? You're just gonna leave? You're gonna leave like everyone else in my life ever has? I thought you were different Chlo. I thought you were the one. You let me fall in love with you and actually believe that I deserved something good in my life, and now you're leaving?"
"Beca, I'm so sorry."
The brunette just shook her head and looked up at her (ex?) girlfriend through her tears,
"The hilarious thing about all this is that I had this massive romantic proposal planned out for next week," she said in a flat tone as Chloe gasped, "yeah, funny isn't it, I spent months figuring out your dream proposal and planning it. I guess I should be thanking you for doing this now, otherwise it'd have been pretty awkward in front of most of our family and friends next week," she said, letting out a humourless laugh.
"Beca, I'm so sorry, I had no idea."
"That's kind of the point Chloe, it was a surprise, there's no point in saying sorry, what use will that do? Is it gonna magically erase this conversation so that we can carry on as we were? No, it's not. Forget it, I guess I should have expected this eventually, do what you've got to do. I'll just get out of your way so that you can leave."
So I'll fly away when the leaves begin to fall,
Fly away when the cold wind blows against my door,
Fly away to hide beneath the sun,
I'm leaving in September,
So winter never comes.
So that's why Beca changed her opinion on what used to be her favourite part of the year. It's the reason she never wanted to feel the chill of winter, never wanted to smell the freshness of the air, never wanted to taste the sweetness of hot chocolate, never wanted to hear the sound of fallen leaves crunching underfoot, never wanted to see the glare of the sun reflecting off freshly fallen snow.
For Beca Mitchell, all of those things were ruined. For Beca Mitchell, all that mattered was the sun, the heat, and anything that numbed her senses enough to forget what she loved so much about the season she now associated with nothing but pain and sadness.
I still see your breath,
And the prints you left,
Your favourite coat,
The shoes you don't wanna wear when it rains.
Beca watched from the window as Chloe walked down the path towards the waiting taxi, breath showing in small puffs drifting above red hair as a result of the cold, the footprints she left in the freshly fallen snow leaving her with a sense of finality which she didn't want to think about just yet. She couldn't believe what had just happened, although a part of her still belonging to the teenager within her was saying 'I told you so'.
She had finally come to terms with the fact that putting your heart in someone else's hands wasn't bad after all. She had believed that allowing Chloe to knock down her carefully constructed walls to see the real her was the best thing she had done. She had finally accepted that love was one of the best things that a person could have in their life. She had been convinced that love was worth any potential heartbreak because she knew that Chloe wouldn't leave like everyone else in her life.
Boy, was she wrong.
As the days passed, it didn't get any easier for Beca to deal with. Chloe had moved the rest of her belongings out of the house while the brunette was at the studio one day, so Beca didn't have to worry about interacting with the redhead. The DJ had been almost impossible to contact, and her friends were understandably worried. Nobody could believe what had happened; Beca and Chloe were clearly made for each other, so the news was definitely a shock to them.
Beca couldn't bring herself to enjoy the cooler air that winter was fetching with it. She couldn't bear the thought of watching the snow fall through the window. Winter was no longer the source of relaxation it used to be. All it did was remind her of that night and the image of those footprints which had decided to brand itself into her mind. Thankfully, the snow had cleared up, but the memory was still there, etched into her brain, mocking her for ever being stupid enough to think that someone would stick around in her life.
After a few weeks, Beca got back into some semblance of a routine, throwing herself into her work as much as possible. Of course, she still couldn't get what happened out of her mind, but she usually managed to push it to the back to linger around until it brought itself to the forefront at night when she tried to sleep in the cold and empty bed which used to house a warm and loving redhead with no sense of personal space.
Everything was going back to being as normal as it possibly could after one's heart had been so violently ripped from one's chest. That is until one night when Beca couldn't find a particular AUX cable which she needed in order to use one of her older decks. She had looked everywhere, until she remembered the day that her bag had spilled its contents in the trunk of her car and realised that it must have been there. She can't have noticed it was there because quite truthfully she hadn't been in the trunk of her car in a while; now that Chloe was gone, she only bought minimal groceries and pretty much lived off of takeaways and eating out.
She headed to the garage and unlocked the car. As the trunk lid popped open, a familiar scent hit her, and the sight made her freeze. Sat there, as if proud of themselves for inflicting yet more pain on the brunette were Chloe's coat and shoes. Beca had completely forgotten that they were still in there, memories of the night that they were left there came flooding back as tears once again began to stream down the brunettes face.
They had been out on a date night a new restaurant that Chloe had been dying to try out. As they walked out of the building after a lovely meal, the heavens opened and it started to pour with rain. Obviously, it would have been too easy for them to have had an umbrella or had the car parked nearby in this situation, so they ended up soaked through as they ran to the car parked a block away from the restaurant, laughing all the way. As they reached the car, Chloe took off her coat and shoes and put them in the trunk of the car because they were extremely wet and 'they're my favourites, I hate them getting wet', which was quickly followed by a comment from Beca which ended up with a flustered redhead unable to wait to get home.
With all the excitement when they had finally got home, it had been easy to forget the fact that there was a coat and a pair of shoes left in the trunk, perfectly placed to make Beca break down when she next saw them.
She eventually moved from her spot on the garage floor, finding the cable and taking the coat and shoes into the house with her, where she proceeded to put them in the cupboard alongside her own, not yet quite ready to part with them. She took in another deep breath and allowed the scent to take over her senses before closing the door and swiftly moving to book a flight to somewhere warm where she could spend the rest of the winter, unable to deal with the feelings now associated with the season.
That's why, five years later, Beca Mitchell found herself on a plane to LA. She had waited for the leaves to begin to change colour, and once the first ones fell, she booked her flight out of the memories associated with the coldness of winter, and into the warmth that could no longer be found in her life. Warmth that had disappeared the day a certain redhead walked out, taking the DJ's heart with her.
Nobody questioned why Beca Mitchell would never be found anywhere near snow. Nobody questioned why Beca Mitchell was never rumoured to be dating. Nobody questioned why Beca Mitchell never stayed at home for the winter. One redhead had questioned all of these things once upon a time, but now she understood.
Beca Mitchell had been broken, and it was all her fault.
Chloe Beale had broken all of her promises. Chloe Beale had walked away. Chloe Beale hadn't dated in five years.
Ask anyone why Beca Mitchell was on her way to LA and they would all say the same thing. She's an amazing producer and DJ, she's spinning at some clubs, producing new music, being generally awesome. Ask Beca Mitchell why she was on her way to LA and she would stay silent for a while. Her mind, on the other hand would be full of red hair and cerulean eyes, of falling leaves and fresh snow, of suitcases and footprints, shoes and coats. She'd eventually come up with an answer, but the real reason that Beca Mitchell was on a flight to LA that day in September was so that winter never comes.
I'll fly away when the leaves have hit the floor,
Fly away when the cold wind blows against my door,
Fly away to hide beneath the sun,
I'm leaving in September,
So winter never comes.
A/N: I apparently have an inability to write fluff at the moment, sorry. I love this song, and the idea for this randomly came to me in the middle of doing an assignment. Fun fact: my assignment isn't finished yet. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, please review! Come talk to me on Tumblr: narwhalsarecooltoo.