Beca Mitchell never liked parties. Beca Mitchell wasn't supposed to attend parties. She hadn't that kind of reputation. She was more known to be the stay at home, on her computers, and create some new mixes, some new music kind of girl. Her number one fan was Jesse, which to be honest, she couldn't count as a fan given the fact that he was his brother-in-law and she was pretty sure the guy was simply trying to be nice to her. Because even with her worst mixes, he would bump his head in rhythm while listening to it and smile cheerfully. He was simply polite. He wasn't objective at all.
Beca Mitchell was that introvert, most-likely-to graduate, shy student. Her best friends were probably Jesse and Benji, which, when you thought about it consisted of simply his step-brother and the other school's greatest nerd. It might be kind of sad to a certain angle, but Beca Mitchell liked it this way, it was a simple and an easy friendship she managed to have with both boys. It wasn't complicated and sure, sometimes they would bother her, sometimes they would argue, but most of the time it was simply the three of them hanging out and it was nice.
Until the day when Jesse Swanson barged into her room at five in the afternoon on a Friday and started yelling that they were invited to a party.
"Dude no," Beca scoffed, "I have my chemistry homework due for Monday morning, and that's way more important than a bunch of sweaty teenagers drinking for the first time." She stated.
"You're a sweaty teenager who's never drink yet," He stated, and she simply rolled her eyes.
"It's still a no."
"Chloe will be there," He carefully waited for her reaction.
Well then maybe Beca would consider it.
/
She thinks agreeing to come to the party might have been her worst life choice. Especially since she had been standing in one corner for thirty minutes and still managed to get bumped into, twice. She kept sighing, and thinking of a plausible pretext for Jesse to take her home, but whenever she would come up with an idea, she would spot Jesse somewhere in the room either dancing with that blonde woman he had a crush on ever since pre-school, or having the time of his life socializing (Which, who does that?), and she would never tell him directly, but she didn't want to ruin his fun, so she tried to convince herself that this party didn't suck.
Which was terribly false.
She was in a room filled with people who actually mocked her every day at school, for being a top grade-A student (Which, when did have good results became such a bad thing?). Mocking her for the way she dressed (And she had heard tonight, seen even, people passing by her and whispering to each other while staring at her red suspenders and her beige cardigan, before laughing off. Beca felt stupid for dressing up like that, why Jesse couldn't tell her that navy blue-shorts and high grey socks were a no-go?)
She thought of walking home, because the more she was staying, the less she could bear the top-40s playlist blasting through the speakers, but it was a thirty minutes walk home and she was not in the mood for that. So, she chose to ignore them.
Ignoring people, she had learned to do that even since junior high, when she had come back to school for the first time after her mother had passed in February. She had ignored the pity looks of the teachers, and the small whispers from her classmates. She had ignored the laughter. She hadn't ignored the insults though, she couldn't. She had punched eight-years old Ethan for saying Beca's mom would come back for Halloween to haunt her down. She had broken her wrist for the first time that day and her father didn't ground her, if anything he wanted to punch the father's kid who had almost laughed when he heard what Ethan had said. Mr. Mitchell kept his calm, even though Beca could see his knuckles turned white and his jaw clenched that day.
But now trying to ignore poor songs choice it was something that was beyond her.
She looked at the bottom of her red plastic cup, wiggling it just to assure herself that it was, indeed, empty.
She sighed. Her throat was dry, and if she was about to attend this party for a few hours well then she would definitely need more lemonade.
She walked through the crowd of dancing bodies, totally ignoring Jesse calling her name (Damn she wished Benji would be there). She walked to the kitchen, where she was met with another person, a blonde woman, with a strong accent (Australian she thinks) and apparently eager to fight the person in front of her.
She knew Bumper. Bumper was that piece of shit who kept insulting and mocking absolutely everyone in the hallways of the school. Spending more time in detention or ditching class whether than attending them. Bumper won't graduate high-school, and to be frankly honest, Beca couldn't care less about him failing. If anything, she may would enjoy it just a little. To be fair, she had a lot of being-pushed-against-the-lockers or throwing-all-her-books-to-the-ground stories with him to tell.
She simply did her best to ignore both person here and looked on the table for non-alcoholic beverage. She did have this chemistry homework to focus on tomorrow after all, maybe she would even start it tonight if they didn't come home too late.
"What are you doing here Mitchell?" She ignored the voice.
"70's called and they're looking for their suspenders!" Bumper kept going on, she ignored him once again.
"Hey!" He pushed her, she rose her eyes up to him, angrily. "Someone's mad," He smiled, he probably had too much to drink, she clenched her hands into fists.
The Australian woman had gone off, somehow Beca had only realized now. Some Carly Rae Jepsen song was being played at the moment, blasting off the speakers with absolutely every bodies jumping from the ground and every one chanting along the lyrics.
Bumper was still in the kitchen with Beca, trying to push her boundaries and to be honest she had no idea why. Maybe he was even more of a jerk once he had been drinking.
He pushed her again, hard enough for her back to hit the fridge and her glasses to fall off from her nose. She was about to pick them up because there was no way she would spend a whole evening totally blind around people she did not know (This party sucked, big times).
"Don't mess with me Mitchell," He said, smirking, stepping forward, and she didn't have time to do anything that she already heard him step over her glasses. She thinks her heart cracked at the same time her glasses did.
He went off, laughing, finishing his drink before tossing his cup aside, not caring one bit about the fact that it landed on the floor and not in the trash at all. She really wanted to punch him right now, but to be fair, she didn't know if she could stop herself if she would throw the first hit, so she bottled up the anger.
/
"You O.K there?"
Beca had been trying to figure out how to repair her broken glasses for a whole fifteen minutes now. Trying to find another way than simply putting duct tape to get both sides to hold together, because yes, they were broken right in the middle, and if she wasn't the school Nerd's already, she sure was going to be now.
She actually hit her head against the desk while standing straight when she heard someone talking to her. She sworn, holding the back of her head and muttering another "Fuck". She blinked a few times, while turning around to the source of the voice and simply froze when she saw who it was.
"I was so sure Beca Mitchell didn't swear," She said, with a smile, allowing herself to enter the room.
"I wasn't stealing," Beca blurted out, cursing herself right after the words slipped from her mouth because now Chloe would definitely think she was stealing.
"I'm pretty sure there's nothing interesting in my Dad's office to steal anyway," She said with a laugh, stepping closer.
"Your?" Beca frowned, "That's your Dad's office?" She seemed confused, "That's your house?" Certainly, she understood what Jesse meant now when he said "Chloe Beale would be here".
"Why, you don't ask about whose house you're going to when you go for a party?"
Chloe was right, Beca should have gotten more information about what the party was for, and who was hosting it. Now that she thought of it, it was even kind of weird to not have wondered at all ever since Jesse dragged her here. She was so sure it was Aubrey's party, Aubrey always threw parties. Aubrey was one of the school leads. Aubrey was known by everyone and worshiped by Jesse who was totally head over heels for her. Beca never really noticed Aubrey. She noticed Chloe though.
Bubbly and adorable Chloe Beale, who is Aubrey's best friend but also part of the tutoring group, and part of the Bella's A-Capella club. Chloe Beale who was one of Barden's finest student and the most-likely-to-succeed. That one person absolutely everyone adored, and loved, and who had the most piercing blue eyes in the whole universe.
Chloe Beale who was an absolute angel but also looked like a walking sinful thought just by wearing those short black shorts and that dark leather jacket, and those smoky-eyes. Chloe Beale who was having Beca Mitchell on the verge of the heart attack simply by looking radiant and flawless and enlightening the whole room with just a smile.
"What were you looking for then, if it wasn't something to steal?" She wondered, standing right in front of her, and Beca tried to step back, but she was soon stuck between Chloe Beale and her father's desk, and there were so many wild thoughts running through her mind at the moment, but none of them would be reasonable.
"Duct tape," She simply said, even though she knew she would sound lame, but she was starting to panic. "Bumper broke my glasses," She eventually explained, she had no idea why she kept dragging herself to loser-city but she didn't seem like she was much in control of anything at the moment.
"It's right here," She leaned in closer, both hands resting on the desk behind Beca, trapping her, while her right hand started to slowly go down to the second drawer, before opening it while Beca could feel her whole body being set on fire due to the proximity.
Chloe smiled, grabbing the tape, holding it between two of her fingers and at Beca's eye sight. The brunette simply mumbled a "Thank you," grabbing the duct tape and taking out both sides of her glasses before taping them together and putting them back on her nose.
Chloe was still here when she looked up, looking at her with that same angelic smile. Chloe was the walking vision of perfection, Beca was sure.
"I look ridiculous," She said, looking down. She hadn't crossed a mirror just yet but she knew white duct tape and black glasses wasn't a turn on.
"You look adorable," Chloe said, and Beca blushed. "And I love those suspenders," She continued, grabbing both of them between her thumbs and index, letting herself feel the fabric. "It suits you," She winked, voice low.
At first Beca Mitchell thought that maybe Chloe Beale had been a vision. Because she barely blinked that she was already gone. All she remembers is a wink and the scent of her perfume floating in the room, that being the only solid proof that someone had been in the same room as her in the first place.
She took a couple of minutes before telling herself that she should go downstairs and continue the rest of the party.
She spotted Jesse and Aubrey talking on the couch of Chloe Beale, and she let a smile creeping on her face because she knew she would have something new to tease him about now. She just wished she wouldn't break his heart so she wouldn't have to break every single bone in her body. Jesse could be annoying and a little too much half of the time, but he was still part of her family and she still appreciated him enough (Not that she would ever tell him that, ever).
She spotted Beale in the middle of the dancefloor, and she watched her for a few seconds. Observing her from the stairs she had stopped walking down. She was moving graciously to the rhythm of the music, and it was mesmerizing.
Chloe Beale noticed Beca Mitchell while she was dancing in the crowd, she saw her holding the rail of the stairs as if her life depended of it. She saw the way her face seemed to have illuminate somehow. She saw her broken glasses on her nose and her cute suspenders and she saw the way was looking at her. The way her cheeks would gain a taint of red simply by observing her roll her hips to the melody of Shakira. She played with it, with the fact that she was being observed. She smiled at her, brightly, gesturing her to come downstairs but she simply shook her head from afar, blushing a little more.
Chloe Beale always noticed Beca Mitchell.
Beca Mitchell was starting to think this party wasn't the worst of all in the end.
/
Jesse was too drunk to drive, so Beca had grabbed his key and exited him outside of Chloe's house before he would pass out somewhere. Because quite frankly, she wasn't sure she could drag his dead body anywhere all by herself.
She thrown him in the car, buckling up, shutting down the car door while listening to him complain about how he wasn't that drunk, and how he could drive and how the party wasn't dead yet so they couldn't leave.
Except that Beca was tired, and she was still thinking of that chemistry homework, and they were out of non-alcoholic drinks and she could swear that the more they would go further into the night, the more the music sucked.
"I lost my phone," Jesse mumbled, almost half-asleep already.
"Are you sure it's not in your pocket?" She watched him look into every single one of them before looking at her with his big puppy eyes and a small nod.
"I'm going to look inside-"
"Don't," She unbuckled her seatbelt, "Don't move I'll be back in five minutes."
She grabbed the car keys, exiting the vehicle and going back in. She smiled when she passed by a wasted Bumper puking in the front yard. "Loser" she muttered to herself.
She passed the front door, looking first to where Jesse had been seated last, and trying to see if the device hadn't slipped between the cushions of the couch.
She probably spent five good minutes looking like a fool with her hands inside the couch, finding leftovers of chips and snacks wrappers, and some coins there but no Jesse's phone.
She had wanted to insult the people passing by, that were giving her weird looks for her behavior, but she was too tired to fight it, so she ignored them simply.
Until she felt someone tap on her shoulder, and she turned around, frowning.
"Are you looking for this?" She saw Chloe holding Jesse's phone and Beca sighed in relief, grabbing the device.
"Fuck yes!" She looked up at Chloe, blushing slightly. "Thanks."
"Yeah well, someone might try to steal it if we weren't in 2018 and this weren't a flip phone," She laughed, and Beca smiled.
"It is pretty old yes, but he is old fashioned so…"
"Are you leaving already?"
"Yeah actually, I'm driving him home and I have lots of work for Monday so… I better get going." Beca said, starting to step forward, just when Chloe was walking forward.
"Will I see you around Beca Mitchell?" She said with the widest smile.
"Not if I see you first," She blurted, and immediately cursed again. "That was so lame I'm so sorry," She hit the front of the sofa with her legs, falling into it, "Fuck me," She groaned. She was a mess around Chloe Beale.
"Would be my pleasure," She winked and Beca looked straight up at her, not sure of the actual words she had heard. She did not imagine those words. Not with the way Chloe was looking at her. But maybe Chloe was drunk, and maybe Chloe didn't know just how lame she actually was just yet. Maybe Chloe would ignore her on Monday and everything would go back to the way it was.
But for now, Chloe leaned in and pressed her lips onto Beca's cheek before whispering her a good night, before leaving into the crowd once again.
Beca is pretty Chloe's lips are the softest things that ever touched her skin. Beca is pretty sure Chloe's lipstick left a black mark on her cheek. Beca is pretty sure Chloe's kiss left a red mark onto her heart.
She couldn't fight the smile growing on her lips, she didn't try to fight it. She readjusted her glasses on the top of her nose, and got up eventually, because Jesse was still in the car.
The poor boy was fast asleep in the engine when she arrived, but she didn't mind. She put on one of her mixes for their drive home and she thinks the smile never slipped away from her face until she fell asleep that night.
Maybe Chloe Beale would remember Beca Mitchell on Monday. Maybe this party did not suck after all.
