Beca didn't need to be at the local 24/7 grocery store at midnight. Her puffy eyes and sunken face weren't necessarily the signs of someone who should show face to the general public, no matter how late at night it was. She had nobody to blame but herself as she shuffled her feet through the grocery store's sliding doors, reveling in the cool air conditioned air, a stark contrast to the muggy Atlanta summer night.
It wasn't her fault for forgetting to replenish her sacred stash of her favorite food in the entire world. Well, half of the cabinets in the kitchen were bare, so it wasn't shocking that their also was no trace of her white cheddar Cheez-Its, except for the empty box with a scattering of crumbs at the bottom. It had been a week (or maybe it was an eternity) since she had been laid off of her job as a junior producer at Residual Heat. She wasn't fired, something that her old boss made sure to constantly reiterate as he looked at her with pity in his eyes.
She should have seen it coming, she even predicted it herself the week before. It didn't mean she wasn't crushed. So did losing her job mean that she was supposed to start looking for a new one? Absolutely not. She had decided it was best to not leave he dingy little apartment until she either ran out of food,her landlord came banging on her door for rent, or if she ran out of white cheddar Cheez-Its. The latter of which finally pushed her out of her hibernation. Half awake and half aware she followed the familiar path to her favorite snack aisle.
She panicked when she didn't see the familiar box, only rows of the original snack and other various cheese flavors, but no white cheddar. Then on a whim she glanced up and lo and behold, there was a row of boxes of her favorite flavor on the top shelf. Naturally the one shelf Beca couldn't reach. She could jump and maybe reach the second shelf from the top, but there was no chance that she would reach the box containing the only true flavor residing in her heart.
For the first time in months she felt life stir in her veins. She should have known that it would by her white cheddar Cheez-Its that would revive her. She glared up at the boxes high above her head. She had zero control over her life in essentially every aspect, but she would be damned if she would also be controlled by a box of her favorite snack. She bent her knees, readying herself for the kill as if she were a lion in the wild.
She launched herself off of the ground, only to have her fingers skim across a box of pepper jack Cheez-Its, right below her main goal. She tried again and again, no less than ten minutes passed as she finally stuffed her hands in the pockets of her sweats and just stared at the boxes towering above her.
She could feel herself get agitated, frustrated, and knew that it wasn't all because of the stupid box of Cheez-Its. How was she supposed to do anything with her life if she couldn't get a single box filled with white cheddar goodness? She knew she was being a little dramatic, but she had finally pulled herself out of bed to simply meet failure again.
Life sucked.
Beca didn't finally leave her stupid apartment to only be defeated by a box of of her favorite snack. She took one last leap only to knock down a box of original Cheez-Its. She huffed and spun around on her right foot with every intention of storming out of the stupid grocery stores. Her plans were foiled when she bumped into a tall figure. She blinked a couple times to reorient herself, and when she finally got a glimpse of the person she had bumped into, she just stared.
Who could blame her? The figure was a tall and gorgeous brunette. She was wearing a pair of shorts that Beca felt should be illegal, how fucking long could a pair of legs get? She had never been more thankful for the Georgia heat. She finally met the eyes of the taller woman, and tried to the stop the blush that she knew would inevitable bloom across her cheeks at the sight of a pretty human.
The stranger looked at her, amusement sparkling in her eyes, "Do you need help?"
Beca felt her stomach sink, "How long have you been here?"
The tall brunette grinned, "Long enough,"
Beca grumbled under her breath, she had both failed to acquire her snack and had made a fool of herself in front of a goddess.
When it became clear that Beca wasn't going to say anything else the stranger smiled before asking, again, "So, do you need help reaching that?"
A month ago, Beca would have told the person in front of her to fuck off, because Beca didn't need help. But that was a month ago, she didn't really have much of a reputation or pride to uphold anymore so she sighed and moved out of the way to let the taller woman have access to the evil shelf.
The brunette casually reached up and grabbed the precious snack box, but didn't relinquish her hold of the box to Beca.
"I'm Stacie," she said, "and you can have the box if I get your name and number."
Wait what.
Beca stared at her blankly, because gorgeous women don't just ask Beca for her number. It was like the law of the world, good things don't just appear in front of Beca. It was a bit of a cynical way of viewing the world, but it was all Beca had ever known.
"I-I'm Beca," she stuttered out, and Stacie smiled at her.
"Well Beca, I just need ten numbers, and this lovely box is all yours," she said waving the Cheeze-Its in front of the shorter girl.
A few minutes later, and Beca's number was put into Stacie's phone and a box of Cheeze-Its was safely tucked underneath her arm. An hour later and they were standing outside the grocery store, with easy conversation flowing between the two. A few hours later and they were still talking, with a Friday night date tucked underneath both their belts. When they finally parted ways Beca just felt so much lighter.
She could finally see a semblance of hope for the future, and she wasn't surprised that it only took a box of white cheddar Cheez-Its to make it happen
A/N: That was fun to write, I know grocery store meetings and whatever are fairly common fanfics, but I feel like making it Steca is a nice change. I have a few ideas about expanding this world, to include maybe a series of like food related one-shots that follow their relationship. But let me know what you think.