Late Night Shopping

Beca doesn't make a habit of leaving her apartment after midnight, but this was an emergency.

After a very late finish at her internship at nine o'clock that evening she intended on going home, grabbing something quick to eat and begin working on a new mix. She had had this beat stuck in her head all day and by eight-forty five it was becoming impossible to ignore. Once entering her apartment, she threw her bag by the door, kicked off her shoes, and sunk into her sofa with a very loud sigh. Today had been a long day and finally being home felt heaps better than she imagined it would three quarters of the way into her shift. Turns out 'making coffee and grabbing burritos' all day is a much more tiring job than she'd first thought.

A failed attempt at making an omelette and a fight with the smoke detector later, Beca decided ordering a pizza would be better for both her and her kitchen. Once the food arrived, she finally got to work on her laptop. It was strange how the simplest motion of just putting her headphones on could calm Beca immediately. Music could effortlessly change how she was feeling three minutes ago, and that's one of the many reasons why she loved it so much. Suddenly all the stress of her day peeled away from her and she was just lost in the music. All sense of time disappeared, and before she knew it two hours had already flown by and Beca hadn't even got the chord progressions down yet. She was completely absorbed in her work, right up until her trusty headphones tripped out, making a very loud and high pitched screech before falling silent. Shit.

This is what brings Beca tightly gripping a brand new (did she mention expensive?) pair of headphones at the back of a strangely long queue, donning her pyjama shorts under a pair of sweat pants and a very thick winter coat over a tank top. Beca had been living in New York for longer than six months now, but it still baffled her how true that "the city never sleeps" statement was; even at seventeen minutes passed midnight on this almost freezing Wednesday morning. Why the hell are people even out and about at this time? She thought to herself as the queue made very little progress of shortening.

Bouncing on the balls of her feet she scanned the amount of people in line and rolled her eyes. Eagerly tapping her fingers on the box, she cast her eyes around the store. She was positioned near the mobile phone accessories aisle and she began mindlessly looking at the endless array of brightly coloured phone cases on display. Standing on her tip toes and taking one more look at the queue in front of her she thought of abandoning the headphones and just returning home; that was until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Before Beca even had the chance to turn around she heard a voice directly behind her "Which colour do you think suits this best?" There definitely wasn't anybody stood there less than fifteen seconds ago, because as soon as Beca gets a glance of the woman before her, she's certain she would have noticed. Wow. That is the only coherent thought she can scramble together right now.

The woman wasn't much taller than Beca, with long red hair that was tied up in a messy bun. She stood there waving a phone in one hand and two phone cases in the other, giving Beca a warm smile that seemed to take over her entire face. Her lips were moving now, but Beca was too lost in the oceanic blue of her eyes that she wasn't hearing anything she was saying. Get your shit together, Mitchell. "...I feel like this orange is too in your face, but I fear the blue is too bland, you know?" Beca does in fact not know, and if it was any other stranger in this store asking her the same ridiculous question she would probably tell them to get lost, but for some reason, she can't bring herself to dampen this girl's passion regarding iPhone cases right now. "Um, get the blue one, it matches your eyes" Wait, what, did that seriously just fall out of her mouth?! "I mean – you – it's, like four dollars cheaper, so..." she manages to stammer out. After making instant eye contact with the ground, all her hope willing it to swallow her up, she finally gives in, looking back up at the now entertained red head.

"Good save" she mutters with grin, stepping forward and offering her hand out "I'm Chloe" Taking the offered hand in hers and giving it a slow shake "Um, Beca..." Chloe doesn't retract her hand immediately, and Beca swears it lingers just a little longer than normal "...and I swear I'm less awkward in the day time" she smiles whilst finally pulling her hand away. The red head muffles a small laugh and quarks her eyebrow in response, "So you don't usually give out compliments as easy as that then?" Beca can feel her face getting hot; as the information printed on the headphone box in her hands starts to look extremely interesting.

"Who's to say that was a proper compliment?"

She has no idea where that came from, but mentally high-fives herself for gaining her composure so quickly and she can't help the smirk that takes over her face. "Do you usually walk around stores late at night, complementing woman?" questions Chloe with a serious expression on her face. Beca's smirk is long gone now, but she lets out a nervous giggle before breathing "Only the pretty ones". Chloe seems to hum in approvable, smiling brightly at the DJ and holding her gaze. Beca can feel her face returning to its previous flustered state, and points at the blue phone case in aid as a distraction, causing the red head to look down at it.

"Have I sold you on it then?" she adds. Chloe looks back up at her, nodding. "It was the first one I picked up, and first choice tends to always be the right choice, right?" she replies bumping Beca's arm with her shoulder as she begins to move into the queue, adding a suggestive wink for good measure. Beca lets out a small chuckle and returns her smile, as the now considerably short line moves at a quicker pace than earlier and before she knows it she's parting ways from Chloe with the intended purchased headphone and a unexpected, but not unwelcomed grin on her face from their interaction.

Chloe watches Beca as she makes her way to the automatic doors, taking a left onto the street. Quickly thanking the cashier and sticking the blue phone case in her bag, she rushes over to the exit and into the harsh New York winter whilst spotting the woman in question a couple of yards away. "Hey. Beca!" she yells, quickening her pace to catch up with her. Chloe falls in step with her, as Beca turns. Reading the shorter woman's expression, she sees no reason stopping her from asking her desired question. Confidence was never something that she struggled with. In fact, she had been told on numerous occasions that she could come across too forward; not that that bothered her in the slightest; she knew it was part of what she liked to call the "Chloe charm".

"How about you give me your number, so we can meet up in the daylight, and who knows, maybe I'll convince you to give me that 'proper compliment?'" Beca stopped walking; staring at her, mouth agape. She had never quite met someone like this before. Chloe just seemed to interject herself into their conversations without so much as a hello or any form of pleasantries so far, and Beca wasn't sure how she felt about it yet. However, she was definitely sure of one thing; she needed to see Chloe again. "Yeah, that sounds nice." She hummed, watching as the woman began fishing her phone from her bag, "Alright. It's a date" she said as she passed the device to Beca's hand, already open in the 'add new contact' application. Her eyes widened, as she locked them with Chloe's.

Wait, a date?!

Beca wasn't sure what she was getting herself into, but she couldn't wait to find out...