And oh, I lost it all when I got hurt

And I can feel you even now

Breakin' horses in the sky

I can taste you in my rage

And in the sweat upon my brow

The air was crisp, revitalizing. It makes you feel like anything can happen. The sky above her is clear but she can see what's coming in the distance. The calm before the storm. She's ready for it. Excited even. It's supposed to hit later this evening and she's prepared to hole up in her apartment and ride it out. Not that tonight will be much different from every other night for the past three, okay four, months. But the impending storm at least gives her an excuse for why she stayed in all night, again.

[Jesse] movie & beers tonight? they're showing jaws at the Logan at 8

sorry J - gonna just stay in and work on some stuff.

[Jesse] you can't stay away forever you know

you underestimate me.

[Jesse] I saw her today. if it makes you feel better - she still looks miserable.

She's about to respond but a voice takes her attention away from her phone

"Hey Bec, what's good today?"

She smiles and walks over to the counter.

"Alex, you ask me that every time and I never have a good answer."

"Ah well, what you don't realize is that I'm not even looking for a good answer! I just want to know what's going on in that big, weird brain of yours." The shop owner smiles goodnaturedly, raising his eyebrows as a challenge to Beca. She swears she can see a twinkle in those big, brown eyes of his. She might be a little bit in friend love with him. She returns the smile, shaking her head when she puts both hands on the counter, leaning forward and looking him square in the eye.

"Okay then...what's good today? Hmm let's see. It's Friday night, I'm 25 years old, and I'm about to spend another weekend alone in my apartment, feeling sorry for myself, wondering how the hell I got myself into this mess. And then immediately remembering that it's because I followed my stupid heart and told my best friend of 6 years that I love her only to have her stare at me like I'm an alien. Oh wait, you wanted something good. But you know what? I have nothing good to tell you. Nothing, Alex! Nothing. My life is nothing without Chloe in it."

Her voice has maybe raised four octaves and people are definitely staring and Alex's eyes have grown four sizes as well. She honestly doesn't care about the other people in the store or the fact that they just witnessed her mini freakout. She's frozen in place when she feels another hand on hers. She looks up to see Alex looking at her, a crease in his forehead, his eyes sad and empathetic. She can practically hear the wheels turning in his head, knowing he's searching for something to say. She grabs his hand, and offers a sad smile.

"You don't need to say something. Maybe we can just pretend this never happened though?"

He chuckles and is about to say something but a crack of thunder interrupts, making them both jump. Rain and hail soon follow.

"Ah shit. Okay I'm gonna go grab what I need and get out of here before it gets any worse out there."

He nods, and as soon as Beca turns around her stomach turns and her heart feels like it's going to pop out of her chest because not only has a bookstore full of strangers witnessed her freakout, but the one person she's been both avoiding and only thinking of for the past four months is staring right at her from the travel books section. They can only stare in shock at each other and Beca is about to turn around and walk out but Chloe is moving towards her and her feet are planted to the floor. She hasn't seen her in so long and she didn't realize exactly how much that hurts until she's standing right in front of her. Feeling her presence. Smelling that perfect Chloe smell. Eyes as blue as the clearest sea. Her tongue feels heavy, her mouth dry. And she is suddenly back to that moment she would like nothing more than to forget forever.

"Hey," Chloe says breathily. It's sad how one word can almost make her forget all the heartbreak, all of what's happened, all the times she's told herself that she's better off without the redhead. Without her best friend.

Beca swallows hard, and takes a deep breath. "Hi," she says a little too forcefully and Chloe chuckles. She can't help but laugh at herself too and she brings her hands up to her face, taking solace in the darkness of her closed eyes and covered face. A siren goes off and she takes her hands away, looking at Chloe for a moment, her expression matching the wide eyes.

Alex comes around from the counter and raises his voice above the sirens. "Okay everyone, let's get to the back room, it's not safe out here in the stacks". Several customers start to move to the back, but some decide to leave, running out the door. "Come back, it's not safe out there!" Alex yells, but between the sirens, howling wind, and pounding rain, his pleas are lost. Beca turns back to Chloe and before she knows it, stacks of books are falling, lights are going out, and the door is blown off its hinges. They fall to the floor in the midst of the chaos, books falling on them. Beca loses Chloe for a second, the redhead is nowhere in sight.

"Chloe!" she desperately yells. "Chloe, where are you!?"

Suddenly it all goes quiet. The sirens, the wind, the rain all quiet down. That's when she hears a small voice "Beca?"

"Chloe?!" A body emerges from a stack of books and Beca breathes an audible sigh of relief when Chloe's head pops into view.

"Oh thank God. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I think so, you?"

Beca nods silently before she answers. "Yeah yeah...Alex? Alex where are you?"

"I'm here!" a voice shouts over by the counter. She turns around and sees him lying not far from the door, sitting himself up to lean against the counter.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just a little banged up. But I'll live," he says smiling.

"Good. I like you alive. Do you think it's over? The sirens stopped."

"I don't know, but it seems to have quieted down at least. So I'd say y -"

His words are cut short when a piercing sound comes out of nowhere and she sees nothing outside but black and gray chaos. The windows shatter and suddenly Alex is ripped away. Ripped away like he was never there and the scream that comes out of him is almost inhuman. She'll probably hear that sound forever.

"ALEX!"

She can't even begin to cry because suddenly she feels her own body being ripped away and she's holding on to dear life to a pole. A pole she's always hated because it was in the middle of the damn store and never made any sense. But right now it's the only thing between her being alive and her being sucked outside. She sees Chloe begin to move towards her, but its not on her own accord. The force of the tornado is trying to suck her out too. Beca sees the love of her life being taken away from her in front of her eyes and in that moment, she is not herself. She reaches out and grabs Chloe, pulling the redhead into her, while holding on to the pole with every fiber of her being.

She manages to pull Chloe into her, hugging her tightly, and tries to gain a better grip on the pole.

"I got you...I got you," she says, her face pressed into Chloe's head. The pressure is almost unbearable, she feels like her skin is going to be ripped from her body. Chloe holds onto her, arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Don't let me go, Beca!" Chloe yells.

She can't explain how she's able to hang on, but she doesn't question it. All she can focus on is keeping them from being taken away by this storm. She hears screams from people around her who didn't make it to the back room. She also sees more than one person ripped away in a second, taken through the wide open store front like dust into a vacuum. She looks up to see the roof peeling away, like it's being painted over with sky with swipes of a giant paintbrush. The walls and columns rattle. Books are flying everywhere.

"The roof is gonna collapse!" Beca yells and Chloe looks up in response, fear widening her eyes.

"We have to try and take cover somewhere!"

"Where!?" Chloe yells and Beca doesn't have an answer. She frantically searches the store and sees two of the shelves have fallen into each other forming a sort of teepee. Books flood the open space.

"Over there!" Beca shouts, motioning over to what she hopes is some sort of refuge. "If we can get over there between those two stacks and bury ourselves in books, maybe, just maybe we won't be crushed."

She thinks she feels Chloe laugh, her head buried in Beca's chest, and her suspicions are confirmed when Chloe lifts her head up, shaking it from side to side, and there's an unfathomable smile on her face. She too is wondering how the hell they are in this situation right now.

"How the hell are we going to get over there?" Chloes asks, her eyes searching Beca's face for an answer.

Beca thinks for a moment before shifting her body so that her back is against the pole, all the while hanging on to Chloe, who moves with her. She knows all they can do is make a move and hope they won't get sucked out. But she's pretty sure the only outcome here is stay holding on to the pole and get crushed or try and make it to the maybe life-saving teepee and probably get sucked out of the store. Her heart leaps when she sees something that she never thought the sight of would bring her such joy. It's one of the rolling ladders, fallen and stuck under books and another shelf. Hopefully anchored enough for them to use it as a bridge to their safety.

"Chloe, whatever you do, don't let go of the pole until I say , okay?"

"Okay!" Chloe yells, nodding along with her response. Beca shifts so Chloe can hold onto the pole where she just was. She looks at Chloe briefly before launching herself at the ladder. The moments between the pole and the ladder feel like they move in slow motion, but at the same time are over before she knows it, and she feels the wood beneath her grasp and she hooks her arm around it and holds on for dear life. She looks back at Chloe and motions for her to grab onto her.

"Grab my legs Chloe! Use my body to climb over here!"

She sees Chloe nod, but she stays frozen. Their eyes meet and she can see the fear on Chloe's face.

"Chloe! I know it's scary but please just trust me!'

Chloe nods again and pushes herself off the pole and reaches for Beca, successfully grabbing her legs and pulling herself up the brunette's body.

"Good job! Okay...we just got to make it a few more feet. Don't let go of me!"

They manage to crawl their way over to space between the fallen shelves, but the second Beca thinks they have a reprieve, everything goes black and suddenly she can't feel Chloe anymore.

A/N: I watched Into The Storm and also have had Delta Rae on repeat lately. Lyrics are from their song, Chasing Twisters. The picture of Beca holding onto Chloe while a tornado threatens to take her away was stuck in my head, and also them being forced into a situation together and having to face some conflict in their relationship. thanks for reading, you beautiful human.