The Way You Make Me Feel
She wasn't lying, "I've failed Russian Lit three times so I could be a Bella!" was in no way a lie. Chloe Beale did fail Russian Lit three times. Obviously to be a Bella.
Right?
Wrong.
Yes, Chloe Beale loved being a Bella, glorified in it even, but she couldn't for the life of herself wrap her mind around Russian Literature. Science? Sure. Math? Yep. But Russian Lit?
Hell no.
So, here the girl was, all in her redheaded glory, sat cross legged on her bed with books and study notes based around the Russian language scattered across the mattress. Sighing for the umpteenth time, she looks up to the clock mounted on the wall and realizes that she's been studying for at least three hours.
She's barely learned anything.
"Great..." She mumbles low to herself. Staring back at her notes, she shuts the book over and tries to memorize what was wrote.
After a few moments, she angrily opens the book again. "Ugh!" Frustratingly, the redhead grabs the notebook only to chuck it to the end of the bed.
It falls off the edge only adding to her anger.
Falling onto her back in annoyance, she lets her head rest on the pillow beneath. Exhaling loudly, she stares at the ceiling in hopes of a miracle happening.
Seconds later, a light tap comes from the door followed by a soft, "Chlo?"
It's Beca.
"Yeah?" The redhead calls out, her stare on ceiling still.
The door clicks closed as Beca makes her way in, she takes slow cautious steps while approaching her friend. "Everything okay?" She carefully asks as she sits on the edge of the bed.
"Everything sucks." Chloe answers with a huff.
Chuckling, Beca looks at the pile of notes laying on the bed, "That's a little dramatic, don't ya think?"
"Not if it's the truth..." Comes from the redhead, who turns on her side away from the brunette.
Rolling her eyes fondly, Beca reaches out to rub a soothing hand on Chloe's back, "I'm sure it's not that bad." She assures. Suddenly, the redhead flips back around to look at Beca, startling the girl, "Really? Because this is the literal worst right now!" Chloe exclaims, sitting up to be eye level with Beca. The brunette watches as Chloe brings her hands to cover her face, "If I fail then I'll have to redo my senior year. Again."
"Don't get me wrong," Beca starts, bringing her hands up to remove Chloe's from her face, "But, didn't you fail on purpose the last three times?" She cautiously asks.
Barking out a laugh, Chloe shakes her head, "No, of course not," She answers before adding, "I only used that as a cover-up."
"What about being a Bella?"
"I love being a Bella. You guys are my family," Chloe looks to Beca, "So... that part may have been a teeny bit true," She says, a small smile creeping up her face. It's gone once she looks back to her study notes, "Ugh..."
Following the redhead's gaze, Beca gives the hands in her own a reassuring squeeze before picking up one of the notebooks. Skimming through it she glances back to Chloe, "What are talking about? You'll ace this dude."
"But I suck at Russian." Chloe says falling dramatically back.
"You don't suck," Beca reassures, chuckling at her friend. "You're a hell of a lot better than me. That's for sure."
"Yeah, because you never made the stupid decision to take it." Chloe retorts.
"Chlo, even if I did. I'd be the one out of us that would suck." Scrunching her face, Beca's eyes glance left, "That didn't sound how I thought it would."
Her attention is brought back by the small giggles from her friend. Seconds later, the giggles turn into a full blown out laugh, echoing throughout the room.
Bubbling over in laughter, the brunette finds herself lying beside her friend after joining in. Regaining her breath, Beca tilts her head toward Chloe, "You'll ace this dude." She says, repeating her earlier words.
"You really think so?" Chloe asks, her eyes wide and innocent as they search Beca's for an answer.
"I know so." Beca states confidently.
Suddenly they find themselves staring at each other, both remaining quiet and just enjoying the momentary calm atmosphere.
Out of nowhere, Beca bounces up from the bed, "That was super cheesy..." She says making Chloe giggle, "You are cheesy," The redhead says.
"I doubt it."
"You are..." Chloe says, trailing it off before adding a teasing, "I know so."
Rolling her eyes, Beca lifts the fallen book off the floor, "That didn't even make sense."
...
To Jesse (7am): Dude.
To Jesse (7:06am): Dude?
To Jesse (7:20am): Jesse, wake the hell up.
From Jesse (7:23am): Jesus Beca, it's a Saturday
To Jesse (7:24am): Finally!
To Jesse (7:24am): I need your help, man.
...
Making her way downstairs, Chloe let's out a huge yawn while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Stumbling her way into the kitchen of the Bellas house, she realizes it's oddly silent. Shaking it off, she continues to open the fridge door.
Minutes later, she hears footsteps come from behind. Glancing over her shoulder, she watches as Beca makes an appearance through the doorway, "Morning," She greets.
"Good morning, Beale." Beca says sitting at one of the kitchen stools. "How's the studying going?" She teasingly asks and lets out a laugh when Chloe turns her face up. "Great then, I assume."
"Oh, it's great alright," Chloe says, "Infact, I even got more of it to do today."
"What if I told you, you didn't?" Beca throws in casually.
"Then I'd say, you're out of your mind." Chloe pipes back, equally as fast. She glances over to catch Beca nod her head, "You'd be right, then." The younger girl says. "I'm completely insane."
"Oh, I know."
"Coming from the girl who barged into my shower stall..." Beca chimes in, smirking as Chloe sends her a wink.
She watches as Chloe grabs an apple from the fruit stand before making her way towards the door. "Off to study I go!" Chloe sings, tying to sound less depressed about it than she actually is. As she enters towards the hallway, Beca springs up from the stool.
"Okay, so fun fact..." She trails off, grabbing hold of Chloe's wrist, "I wasn't kidding."
"Wha-" Before Chloe can even protest, Beca is pulling her along towards the stairway.
"I'm still completely out of my mind, but..." Tipping her head at the stairs, she says, "Go get that cute butt of yours dressed."
…
Today was Saturday.
Today was meant to be a study day for Chloe. The last thing she expected was her best friend to drag her out of her room.
Who would have thought? Beca Mitchell willingly going out to the fresh outdoors.
Chloe felt like she was dreaming.
Which is why she was currently staring at Beca, eyebrows raised in disbelief as the two of them sat inside Beca's car.
"An arcade?"
"Yes." Beca tips her head, twisting so she could face the girl. "It'll be fun!" She tries to sound encouraging.
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Beca Mitchell?" Chloe asks, in all seriousness. She's honestly worried that Lily has cast some voodoo spell on the girl.
"Murdered her in cold blood, and hid the body last night," The younger brunette answers, snickering as Chloe rolls her eyes before being lightly shoved.
"Ah, there she is," Chloe smiles.
"So..." Beca trails off, tipping her head towards the arcade their currently parked outside off, "Shall we?"
Giggling, Chloe nods, "We shall." As she goes to open the door, Beca halts her. "Hold on, wait for just a second." The brunette scoots out of the car, quickly jogging around the front. Chloe tries to keep her giggles intact, but fails as Beca opens the door to repeat her last question.
"Shall we?" She asks, holding out a hand.
"You're such a dork," The redhead laughs, her eyes crinkling at the sides as she reaches for her friend's hand.
"I'm no such thing Ms. Beale." Beca says, shutting the door after her and locking up the car.
"Oh, I think you are Ms. Mitchell." Chloe says teasingly, pulling the girl along by the hand towards the entrance. "And just for the record, prepare to have your ass kicked!"
"Oh," Beca raises her eyebrow's, a smirk flying to her face, "do you speak to your mother with that kind of language?!"
…
Raising her hands in victory, the brunette looks to the ceiling, "That was for you, MJ." She says while blessing herself.
Chloe looks on from the side, with amused eyes, a soft grin on her lips. She nearly jumps out of her skin as Beca lets out a, "I AM THE MASTER!"
"Beca, would you chill!" Chloe squeals, grabbing onto the girls arm. "And just because you were able to dance to Thriller, on easy I might add, doesn't automatically make you the master."
Scoffing, Beca brings her eyes to Chloe's, "You're just jealous."
"We weren't even against each other!" She replies in between laughter.
Sighing, Beca hands the controller over to Chloe, "Okay then, smartass, it's your turn."
Muffling her giggles, Chloe takes the controller from Beca, their hands brushing along each other, "I'll show you how a real master dances."
"Oh, please do." Beca eggs her on, her eyes involuntarily roaming down the redhead's body. When she notices herself doing this, she snaps her eyes back up to find Chloe smirking at her. And all Beca could do was gulp.
Suddenly she glances to the song selection and notices that Chloe is still on the Michael Jackson section. Her eyes widen when Chloe picks-
"The Way You Make Me Feel..." The redhead sing songs to her, a glint in her eye. She even selects the hardest difficulty.
"Oh, so that's how this is," Beca nods, her eyes looking to the side. When the first notes hit, she brings them back to the other girl.
And of course, Chloe is good.
Okay scratch that, she is incredible.
The redhead moves her hips to the song, copying the dancer on the screen. Her eyes catch Beca's from the side and she gives her a wink before going into an impromptu dance move.
Beca's eyes follow as Chloe bends low to the ground, her mouth going dry and when the chorus hits and Chloe flicks her hair bringing herself back into a standing position, Beca almost about dies. And it shows, as she brings a hand to her heart, almost falling back.
"You Really Turn Me On..." Chloe sings to her and in a sudden instant Beca fires the next line back at her, "You Knock Me Off Of My Feet..."
The song dwindles down to its end, and Beca feels like she can finally breathe again. Chloe struts her way towards the brunette, who's leaned up against the wall, and smirks. "You okay, Becs?" She teases, "You look a little... flushed."
Beca sends her a glare, pushing off the wall, "I need a drink."
Chloe follows behind, grinning victoriously. When they reach the small vending area, Beca is fast to get herself a bottle of Mountain Dew.
"Seriously?" Chloe's face morphs into one of disgust as she stares down at the green liquid.
"Don't you dare insult my Mountain Dew." Beca warns, unscrewing the cap before taking a large gulp.
"Okay, okay," Chloe raises her hand in surrender, moving towards the bottles of water.
"Ugh..." Beca calls out, "That's so boring." She stares at the clear drink.
"And yet it's ten times better than that sugar monstrosity." Chloe chimes in.
"You sound like Aubrey." Beca voices, scrunching up her face. "Don't turn into Aubrey the second." Suddenly she feels a sting on her arm, "Don't speak about her like that," Chloe glares, "She's still one of my best friends."
Pulling a Chloe move, Beca raises her arms.
"Anyway," Chloe speaks, "What should we do now?" She questions, her eyes flickering across all the arcade games.
"Mini-golf?" Beca suggests, taking another sip.
Chloe lets out a laugh, making Beca raise an eyebrow. "What, you think I can't play?" The younger of them questions. All Chloe does is smirk while taking a drink from her water. Tipping her head back, Beca gestures to the door, "Come on, Beale. I'll show you who's boss."
…
Chloe stands astonished as Beca hits the ball into the hole.
This is the sixth time she's got it, in a row.
Beca walks towards her, a satisfied smirk on her face. Chucking the golf club to her, "Your turn," she says as Chloe barely catches the object.
Gulping, the redhead takes a few steps near the standing point. She can faintly see the hole from over the small bridge that is set up in the middle.
"What's wrong?" She hears Beca's overly smug voice, "You nervous?" She teases.
Clearing her throat, Chloe quickly shakes her head, "Nope." She tries to sound convincing. "Not in..." Bringing her arm out, she steadies it before bringing it down to hit the golf ball, "the slightest..." She trails off, eyes watching the ball.
It barely goes through the bridge, before it's falling backwards down the small hill leading to the bridge.
She sighs. A frown forms on her face as Beca falls into a fit of giggles behind her.
"Yeah, sure." Beca says, walking up beside her. When she notices Chloe's saddened state, she reaches over for a new ball. "Hey, I'll show you how to do it."
Chloe follows Beca's movements as she sets the ball in front of her. Just as she's about to move out of the way for Beca to step up, her breath hitches as she feels the girl come up behind her.
"First you gotta get the stance correct," Beca says, her breath hitting the redhead's ear. She brings her arms around Chloe's waist to hold onto her hands. "And your hand placement needs a little adjustment." She uses her hands to fix Chloe's on the golf club.
As she's doing this, Chloe feels like she might combust by the proximity of them. Brushing this aside, she attempts to concentrate on the brunette's words of wisdom.
"...once you've got that, all you have to do is pull back-" Beca's voice brings her back into the moment, as their joined hands pull the club from the ground, "-and then lightly swing. Not too hard, not too soft." The girls soothing voice says as she brings the club to the ball.
They both watch as the ball flies over the hill, through the bridge and into the put.
"Bingo." Beca whispers, not moving from her position. After a few moments, she must realize their closeness and pulls back, missing the look of sadness wash over Chloe's face from it.
"Thanks." Chloe says, going back to focus on the game.
…
"Thanks for today, Bec," Chloe says as they both return to the car after many hours at the arcade.
"You're welcome." Beca replies, giving her a sheepish smile when their eyes meet.
"Guess I'll be going back to studying, eh?" Chloe voices with a sigh.
"Yeah, about that..." Beca speaks up, her voice sounding mischievous. Chloe catches on and snaps her head towards her, "Beca..." Her voice warning.
"Today feels like a day for ice cream, don't you think?" Beca raises her eyebrows.
Chloe rolls her eyes and shakes her head, "I guess." She giggles. Suddenly she remembers something, "When did you get a car?" She questions as Beca reverses out of the parking lot.
"Uh..." Shrugging, Beca replies, "I didn't."
"Don't tell me you stole a car." Chloe jokes, but lowkey worrying on the inside.
"That's exactly what I did."
"WHAT?"
"From Jesse!" Beca protests. "I stole it from Jesse!" She exclaims. "Jesus woman, calm yourself." She laughs as Chloe stares daggers at her.
"Thank God." The redhead falls back into the seat, "I thought you were going to go to jail. Again."
"That was one time, Chlo!"
"Still counts."
"Shut it."
"Make me."
And all Beca can do is raise an eyebrow at her.
…
Ice cream is great, Beca thinks as she scoops up another spoonful into her mouth, careless of the mess. She got herself a combo of mint, chocolate and vanilla. Something Chloe found rather odd.
The latter of the two was currently watching the other, a small grin peeking out of their lips. Chloe brings a spoonful of her strawberry ice cream to her mouth, savouring the taste.
"This is so good," She hears Beca say, and she nods in agreement.
"You have such an odd combination there." Chloe voices, tipping her head at the ice cream Beca was devouring.
"Odd but damn, is it fit for a God." Beca says, making them both chuckle.
"You're so weird," Chloe says. Beca halts her movements, and instead points her spoon at the redhead, "That's my line."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Chloe brings her hand to her heart, "I never realized we were bringing copyright infringement into this, my bad."
Beca brings the spoon back to her mouth, rolling her eyes. Suddenly she catches sight of Chloe's strawberry flavoured ice cream, "You know, I've never actually had that flavour before."
"What?!" Chloe exclaims, sounding like she was just insulted. "How?"
Shrugging, Beca replies, "I don't know, I guess I just never tried it."
"We're going to change that today."
"We are?"
"Yep." Digging the spoon into her ice cream, Chloe holds it up to Beca. "Here."
At Beca's questioning stare, Chloe rolls her eyes, "Come on, open up," She says bringing the spoon closer to the brunette's mouth.
As Beca opens her mouth to protest, the spoon is shoved into her mouth. "Dude!" She exclaims as some of the ice cream drips onto her chin.
"Oops!" Chloe lets out one of those sweet giggle's of hers and brings a hand up to Beca's chin, using her thumb to remove the ice cream.
Beca feels her heart beat up from the touch and fails to notice Chloe's hand linger for a few seconds. Chloe brings the hand away, but not before licking the ice cream off her thumb.
Yep, Beca's heart is really feeling it today.
…
It's the evening when Chloe and Beca find themselves back at the Bella household. Chloe isn't afraid to admit that she really enjoyed her day out with Beca.
The only thing that was on her mind was that the day as a whole felt very much like a date.
A date with Beca Mitchell; now there's something that's crossed her mind more than she'd like to admit.
And now, sitting beside the brunette in Jesse's car, she kinda wishes this day never had to end.
"So..." She starts, staring at the house in front. "That was a nice day."
"Yeah," Beca agrees with a nod. "It was." Running a hand through her hair, she bites her bottom lip, "Guess I should get this car back to Jesse." She announces.
"Yeah-" Chloe trails off, unfastening her seatbelt. "Or..." Turning to face the brunette, she shrugs, "You could instead come up to my room and watch a movie?" She suggests, rather sheepishly.
Beca, who had been staring at the Bellas house, suddenly brings her eyes to Chloe's pale blues. "Really?"
Reaching over the panel, Chloe unbuckles Beca's seatbelt, "Yeah." Smiling she tips her head towards the house, "Come on," She teases.
And Beca feels her heart beat up once again as she stares at her with those big puppy eyes of hers.
Sighing, Beca lets a small grin grace her features, "But what about Russian L-"
"It can wait." Chloe interrupts and Beca's smile widens. "What have I done?" She asks, bringing a giggle out of Chloe.
"Alright," Beca says, shutting the engine of the car off. "To your room it is." She halts as the words really hit her, but shrugs it off and instead opens the door to her side. As she's about to step out she feels a hand on her wrist pull her back in and a pair of soft lips land on hers.
She's left frozen on the spot for a few moments and only when Chloe brings her face back does she snap out of her daze.
"Wha-" Seeing the beaming grin on Chloe's face, she shakes her head, "What was that for?" She questions, feeling a smile tug on her lips.
Shrugging, Chloe replies, "It felt right."
"Can we do it again?" Beca asks and Chloe giggles before nodding and leaning in to capture her lips once again.
Beca this time, lets herself get lost in the kiss. One of her hands falling onto Chloe's cheek as the redhead brings her arms around her neck pulling her in deeper.
Suddenly Chloe pulls back a few inches, leaving Beca to chase after her.
"Not that I don't love this, but..." Finding Beca's eyes, she lightly cringes, "we're kind of making out in Jesse's car."
Beca's face falls as realization dawns on her, "Oh my god, you're right." She exclaims. Suddenly she's out of the car, and at Chloe's side in an instant. Opening the door, she pulls Chloe up by the hands, "Let's go-" She says just as Chloe's to her feet, but before they can move, she finds her lips captured once again.
And all she can do is smile into the kiss.