Please bear in mind, I'm not sure with Miss Anna Camp's eye color is in the movie so please excuse that mistake—if it happens to be wrong. Also, I apologize if this is crappy.
Don't own anything, except for whatever mistakes this little story has.
~;~
The sun has just set when my all time best friend, Aubrey Posen, called me from our small living room. "Chloe, come on! If you're not here in five minutes, I will start the movie without you!" she shouts and I just have to roll my eyes at her antics.
Geez, she is such a dork sometimes. But she is a serious dork and I know she would keep her word and start without me so I hurriedly put on my shirt and all but run towards where the blonde is. "Hold your horses, Aubrey, I'm right here. Geez, woman."
She glances back to me from where she was ready to put on the disk into our player. She rolls her eyes before smirking up at me. "Hey, no need to take out your anger on me just because your brunette crush is out with somebody else on Halloween."
Pain shots right through me just thinking about Beca going out with Stacie for the night. I feel foolish thinking that Stacie had the hots for my best friend but apparently, she likes her own best friend. A fool, indeed.
My expression must have fell since Aubrey was now looking at me in a mixture of regret, sadness and anger.
"I'm so—" she starts but I cut her off immediately by holding my hand up.
I shake my head to stop her from protesting. "No, don't be. Sure, I'm hurt, but I have you for tonight, remember? And besides, I really don't want to go to the party the Bellas planned out just in case they are there."
She nods in understanding and smiles weakly at me. I return the action but I falter when I see her face morph into a heartbroken look. I raise my brow in question.
She shrugs before saying with a smirk, "So now I'm the third choice? Oh dear, what has the world turned into?" she asks dramatically, complete with a hand on her forehead and a scowl on her lips.
I gape at her for a second before dissolving into giggles. Yep, I have the dorkiest best friend in the entire world, but I'm very thankful for her. "Oh gosh, Aub, I haven't laughed like that since I heard of Beca's plans yesterday!" I pause and give her a grin before sincerely saying, "Thank you, Aubrey."
She smiles at me, stands up and walks towards our small couch before plopping down and patting the space beside her. I happily oblige and once I'm seated, I happily snuggle up on her side.
"So, are you ready to start our horror movie marathon, Red?" she asks and I hum in acknowledgement, trying not to laugh upon feeling the vibrations on her chest when she spoke since my head is resting on her chest.
She only grins at me in response and presses the play button on the remote.
Halfway through the movie of the classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, we hear a knock on our apartment door.
I look up from my position and stare at Aubrey questioningly. She shrugs and stills. We both wait for a few more seconds but all we hear is silence in the dead night.
"Creepy," I mutter and Aubrey seems to agree with me since she visibly swallows hard.
She takes a deep breath, probably to steady her voice, before saying, "Must be some drunk playing tricks on people."
I look at her weirdly before shifting my gaze towards our clock. "Seriously, Aub? It's like twenty minutes past seven o'clock still."
She rolls her eyes again. "Chlo, it's either that or getting scared and possibly dying from anxiousness. So what's it going to be?"
I mimic her previous actions. The girl is such a drama queen sometimes that I chose not to answer her and instead, settled back to my previous position.
We are so absorbed with the movie that we almost missed another knock on our door. I clutch tight onto Aubrey's side and will myself to hide on her side. We listen and once more wait in anxiousness in the silence to hear another noise to alert us that somebody is outside. But when none came, my heartbeat increases incredibly.
"Bree?" my voice comes out shaky and I'm sure Aubrey's feeling the same way since a drop of sweat trails down on the side of her head.
But then her eyes flash in determination and before I knew it, she's nowhere near me and is now standing in front of me with a pan on her hand. When in the world did she get that?
She catches my gaze and lifts her finger up to her lips. I nod in understanding.
She then slowly and cautiously walks towards the door and I follow behind her silently.
"Aubrey, what if it's Leatherface?" I ask anxiously as my eyes look all around, already formulating an escape route in my head just in case. And since I'm so absorbed in my thoughts, I don't notice Aubrey's sudden halt, causing me to bump into her shaking back.
Why is she shaking though?
"Aubrey? Are you cold?"
She doesn't answer me, making me worry. I reach out, touch her shoulder, give it a little squeeze and turn her my way. It is there and then when I realize she was shaking trying to hold in her laughter.
I huff then cross my arms over my chest. "And pray tell; what's so funny?"
Unfortunately, my annoyed look must have been the cherry on top since she laughs, out loud. I quickly cover her lips with my hand.
"Aubrey!" I hiss out, "do you really want whatever's out there to know that we're here inside?!" I question hysterically, my eyes shifting from her now apprehensive blue eyes and the innocent door.
I let go once I'm sure she wouldn't try that stunt once again. "Sorry," she sheepishly says before steeling herself once more. She's like a switch sometimes.
Trying to reign in my amusement, I gesture for her to get her butt moving and she obeys, but not before huffing indignantly at me. I just smirk at her head.
"Quit smirking, Chloe," she says and my jaw drops in astonishment.
"How did—"
"Oh, I know you, Chlo," she looks back at me over her shoulder and adds, "so stop it."
I stick my tongue out at her and she shakes her head in silent laughter.
We have arrived at the foot of our door and we just stand there as still as a statue. Sadly, my patience is too short so I nudge Aubrey's side and gesture for her to open the door.
Her eyes widen at my request and she whips her whole body towards me. "Why me?!" she sort of half-shouts, half-whispers.
I look at her incredulously. "Are you serious right now?"
She frantically nods her head and I sigh in exasperation before pointedly looking at the pan on her hand.
"Because," I drag out, "you have the pan."
Her gaze then follows mine and realization slowly takes over her features. "Oh," is all she says before practically throwing the pan out to me.
The only thing I was able to do before the pan hit my stomach is widen my eyes in surprise. "Oof," I squeak out in pain and catch the pan before it had the chance to make any more noise.
Once the pain subsides, I glare at a sheepish-looking Aubrey.
"S-sorry?" she stutters out and I only toss back the pan to her in reply. To my surprise, she gives it back to me—a little bit more gently than before. I throw it back to her and she catches it before flinging it back to me.
Our little Frisbee-ish game gets disrupted by another knock on our door. This time, the knocks are coming out in succession with a little rhythm in it.
My brow reflexively arches in question at my equally dumbfounded best friend. She quickly recovers though and peeks through the peep hole. But then she faces me again, now with a confused look.
My brows furrow. "What's wrong, Bree?"
Fear flashes in her eyes as she faces me in contemplation. She bites on her lower lip as now concern shows on her features.
Now I'm getting worried. "Aubrey? What's wrong?" I reiterate.
"Chloe," she then shifts uncomfortably on the spot, "there's…"
Now I'm annoyed. "Aubrey, just spit it ou—"
"Chloe, there's no one there!"
And now that shut me up.
"Chloe?" my best friend calls me as I'm distinctly aware her hand on shoulder and shaking me gently.
"What do you mean there's no one there?" I shout out and see her wince at the volume of my voice.
She clears her ears and I can't help the involuntary way my eyes roll. "I mean it like how the sentence means, Chlo. There. Is. No. One. There."
I gulp audibly and try my best to stay calm. "Okay," I say and survey Aubrey's face with my eyes. I know she's freaking out on the inside so I hold my hand out to her.
She looks at me curiously.
"Give me the pan, Aub."
She pauses for a second but then reluctantly gives me the utensil. I smile victoriously then grip the doorknob. I face my best friend and she seems to understand since she holds the knob as well.
"Okay. On the count of three, we'll open the door, alright?"
She nods and I start the countdown.
"One… Two..."
"Wait!" Aubrey suddenly whispers. I turn to her with an eyebrow up.
"Should we open the door after three or on three?" she questions with all seriousness and all I can do is gawk at her, bordering between amusement and annoyance.
"If I didn't know any better, Stacie and you are like soul mates or something."
Her face falls and I instantly regret it. She may have teased me about Beca and Stacie earlier but I know that hurt her as well. That's why we planned on spending Halloween together and wallow up the pain from unrequited love.
"Hey now, Chlo, we'll talk about this later, alright? Right now, we have other problems," she says soothingly as she flicks her head towards the door.
I nod and smile slightly. Aubrey's right. We'll worry about our love lives after we make sure we can survive the night. Sure, I may be exaggerating right now but when my mind's on overdrive, any thought is considered plausible.
Once again, we place our hands on the handle. But before I restart my counting, I turn towards my blonde friend and jokingly remark, "Oh by the way, we open the door after three." I don't give her anytime to respond as I started counting. And as we reached three, we slam the door open and I jump out first, the pan in my hand in a position to strike anyone or anything that dares to come near us.
With mad yet anxious eyes, I scan our front yard and see nothing out of the ordinary. Aubrey heaves out a sigh of relief from my back.
"Huh, seems like somebody just wanted to prank and scare us." I say, my tone filled with relief. But as my gaze landed on Aubrey, I become frightened—again—upon realizing she was as white as a sheet. Her eyes wide, fright swirling within them as I take notice for the first time the shadow that stands out above my head. I pay it no mind however and instead, focus on my frozen best friend.
"Br—"
My sentence never really gets completed since something hairy touched the juncture where my neck and shoulder meet. Reflexively, my hand shoots up and the pan makes sweet contact with whatever that spooked the life out of me.
Whack!
The sound resonates as if we were in a cave that got followed by a pained groan. I wince internally upon imagining myself in the position of whatever I just hit.
"Oh god, Stacie! Are you freaking alright?! Freaking hell, Chloe! What the hell did you do that for?!"
Wait, is that… Beca?
Puzzled beyond belief, I turn around and lo and behold, Beca's there patting and checking a whimpering Stacie who has covered her rapidly bruising forehead. This time, I do wince; both from Aubrey's glare and Stacie's obvious distress as she tried in vain to blink back tears.
I throw the offending pan out of my way and quickly power-walk towards my three friends. "Oh my gosh, Stacie, I'm so sorry! I… I didn't know it was you. I mean, since when were your hands so hairy? I mean, I really am sorry!" I ramble out as I frantically check anymore injuries with my eyes.
From my peripherals, I catch a glimpse of Aubrey standing abruptly and all but dashing towards our apartment.
"It-it's alright, Chlo. I know y-you didn't mean i-it," her voice shakes and I just know she's close to tears. She's just stubborn enough not to show any sign of weakness.
Beca sighs beside me and forlornly says, "Guess your plans are ruined for the night, Stace."
Aubrey shows up with a bag of ice in her hands and she gives it to Stacie who accepts it gratefully before wincing after putting the cold bag on her forehead.
The aforementioned brunette sighs as well and turns to face me. I cringe at the sight of the bruise. Damn, I have a nasty sort of uppercut-pan-ish…
"I'm so—" I start but Stacie stops me from sputtering out another ramble.
"Chloe, seriously, I don't blame you. I mean, we'd have the same reaction if that ever happens to me so it's no biggy, really."
She smiles at me and that relaxes me a bit. But then, my brain catches up with Beca's words. I face her and ask, "Plans?"
She looks confused for a second before recognition dawns on her. She grins big, which actually gives me goose bumps since it's so out of Beca's character. She shifts her gaze towards Stacie just as the other brunette catches her gaze.
I, in turn, glance at Aubrey and give her a curious expression since it looks like Stacie and Beca are communicating telepathically with each other. "Is that even possible?" I mouth to my best friend and she shrugs in response.
A cough breaks our silent exchange and Aubrey and I both turn towards our respective brunettes. It's then that I take notice of Beca's get up.
She's wearing a long-sleeved white lace button-up shirt that's rolled up until the elbow, topped by a black vest, a sash loop, belt buckles and a gun loop on her upper half. Her hands are covered with palm gloves and on her right wrist is a black wrist wrap. Her brown pants tucked in a lighter shade of brown stylish boots. Her costume got completed by the sword on her waist and a brown bandana on her head.
My jaw drops to the ground after my assessment—and no, I was not checking her out. She looks… Damn…
She chuckles at my dumbfounded look before spreading her arms wide and twirling in place. "What do you think?"
What do I think? I think she looks hot, sexy and undeniably beautiful. I open my lips to answer but as my gaze made contact with her smoky blues, my throat dries.
A cocky smirk forms on her lips. "Chloe?"
"I think," I pause and cough. Hoping that my voice lost some of its raspiness earlier, I blurt out, "why are you a pirate?"
She chuckles then rolls her eyes. "Duh, because you said you like pirates," she explains like it's the most obvious thing in the world and my heart soars at the admission. She glances quickly at Stacie and Aubrey who were silently exchanging a few words.
She leans into me and whispers, "How about we get out of here and leave those two alone?"
She then plops down, her back facing me. I just stare at the back of her head.
"What's up, Chlo?"
"Beca… what are you doing?"
She looks back at me over her shoulder and raises her brow in question. "We're getting out of here and I'm going to give you a piggy back ride."
As soon as she says the words: getting out of here, I glance down at my attire. A shirt with the words Barden University on it and cozy blue printed pajamas with fluffy slippers as footwear. Going out with a well-dressed Beca Mitchell while looking like this? Yeah, not gonna happen.
We seem to be on the same line of thought since Beca's fingers are under my chin and lifts my head a bit. She looks straight at me and says honestly, "You're beautiful, Chlo, with whatever you're wearing."
I blush at the intensity of her gaze and the meaning of her words.
"Besides, today's Halloween. Nobody will question what you're wearing and not a lot of people are out tonight since they're at parties," she grins at that and I punch her shoulder jokingly.
She pouts and all I can think of is kissing it away but then she squats once more and urges me to get on her back.
"Beca, are you serious? We'd look silly!"
She huffs, stands up again and puffs out her chest in indignation as she faced me once again. "I'm stronger than I look, Red," she looks down and I mimic her actions. "Besides, I'm sure you don't want to ruin your fluffy slippers and it's dark out. No one will see us, better yet, no one will care."
I roll my eyes playfully and grin at the use of her cliché nickname for me. She replies with a smirk that always makes my knees tremble. She then squats back down for the fourth time tonight, her back facing me. I let out a sigh at her stubbornness and climb on just to satisfy her.
She suddenly shoots up, making me grip her neck and waist tightly in surprise.
"Geez, Chlo, you're like a snake. But, please, do me a favor? Loosen up a bit before I faint from lack of oxygen supply."
I can just hear the smirk in her voice and a shy smile forms on my lips. "Sorry," I mumble out but I'm completely content to where I am right now. I nuzzle her neck and she squeezes my legs in acknowledgement.
"Damn you two, go get a room!"
Of course, not all good things last but before I can speak, Beca beats me to it.
"Speak for yourself, Stacie! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! We're off!" she shouts back to them.
And then she jogs out into the night.
"Beca? Where are we going?"
"Patience is a virtue, princess."
I'm glad she can't see me right now since I'm sure my face is taking up a dangerous shade of red just from her term of endearment.
Silence takes over us once more and the only thing audible is Beca's light footfalls and her breathing. Suddenly, confusion creeps into my mind.
"Beca?" I call out and she hums in question. "I thought you and Stacie were going out tonight?"
"Yeahp, that's the plan."
"So, why?"
She sighs and quickly glances up at me. "The plan was to spend the night out," I open my lips but she continues, "but not with each other. You'll see in a bit, Chlo. Like I said, patience is a virtue."
"You should know by now that I'm not patient," I grumble unto her shoulder and she chuckles lightly. The journey to where we were headed is spent in silence.
After walking out in the dark chilly night for about fifteen minutes, I can make out in the far end small flickers of light.
"Becs?"
"Just a few more minutes, princess."
I nod and grip her slightly tighter.
"Chloe?"
I hum in reply.
"Do you trust me?"
I huff indignantly. "What kind of question is that, Beca? Of course I trust you; otherwise, I shouldn't have come with you in the first place."
I felt her chuckles and I smile contentedly as I rest my head on her shoulder.
"Good. Because I need you to close your eyes."
The question is at the tip of my tongue but I withheld to prove to her that I do trust her. "Okay, done," I whisper to her ear and she shivers. I'm not sure why she shivered, it may be from the cold or because of my actions, but I'm going with the latter making me giddy with smugness.
After some time of being blinded, I feel Beca placing me down carefully on the ground.
She then circles around me and places her arms on my waist. She leans in and hoarsely whispers, "You may open them now, princess."
A gasp escapes me as I take in my surroundings and I walk out of Beca's embrace.
I'm totes sure we're in the pool but this time, it's surrounded by colorful lanterns, carved pumpkins and glow sticks.
In awe, I will my brain to memorize each and every decoration but then I freeze as I catch a glimpse of a checkered red blanket in the middle of it all with a picnic basket on top of it.
"I hope you didn't eat yet," Beca says as she glances up at me from where she took a seat on the spread out blanket.
I shake my head and she pats the space beside her, just like how Aubrey did it back at our apartment. I happily oblige, of course.
As soon as I took a seat, Beca opens the basket and the wonderful smell of food floods my senses. My mouth waters in hunger and I distinctly hear Beca laughing quietly.
She places the variety of food on the blanket. Homemade lasagna, some fruits, a diet soda and two bottles of water is what I see. She even has Halloween-decorated chocolate cupcakes for desert.
My stomach grumbles causing my face to flush in embarrassment. Beca smiles warmly at me, which is not helping my beet red face at all.
She takes out a plate and a fork and knife before cutting a big piece of lasagna as I watch on from the sidelines in curiosity. I follow the plate as Beca gets a small piece and holds out her fork near my lips.
My face burns and I shyly take the offered food. It goes on just like that. Beca feeding me as she occasionally eats some of her own, and before we knew it, we were lying on our back as we face the night sky filled with stars.
Comfortable silence surrounds us and I snuggle deep into Beca's side.
"You know," Beca says, breaking our quietness of the night, "never in a million years did I think that I'd enjoy it here at Barden. I never thought I'd enjoy the company of other people and make friends or frenemies," she chuckles and all I did was listen as I look at her face that had the most open expression that I had ever seen since we met.
"I never thought I could mend the relationship I have with my father and be civil with my stepmother. I never thought that I would study for exams, but of course, I could blame that on a certain redhead."
It's my turn to chuckle softly as Beca's gaze shifts down and makes contact with mine. "But," she whispers, "Do you know what the best part of it all is?"
I shake my head as I got lost in her eyes, my heart drumming like crazy in my chest. And for some reason, Beca's face got impossibly nearer to mine. "What?" I whisper back.
She smiles at me genuinely, caringly, and dare I say it, adoringly. "I never thought I'd bump into a certain blue eyed, redheaded angel in that activities fair on my first day. The same day that made me nervous and giddy deep inside. The same day that made me feel the long lost emotion I thought I would never be graced with again in this lifetime."
"Beca?"
Overwhelming emotions cloud my senses. Is Beca doing what I think she's doing?
She takes my hand in hers as her lips are just mere millimeters from mine. "Chloe, on that fateful day, you made me feel special. You made me feel comforted and most of all, loved. As cliché as it sounds, as soon as our gazes met, fate has sealed the deal. When I was younger, I've always wished upon a star that I'd find someone whom I can love and care for unconditionally and they return the favor. After my parents divorced, all my wishful thinking went down the drain until you and I sang together and you smiled at me. Granted, that was sort of a creepy smile but…"
I laugh loudly at that and punch her shoulders again. Her breath tickles my lips as she too exhales out a laugh.
"What? It's true!" she argues and I can't help but smile.
Her face turns serious once more. "I know I'm far from perfect and that I'm too damaged but if you'll let me, I will make you feel special in every way, just like how you make me feel. I'll treat you the way you deserve to be treated, like a princess. If you want me to be a pirate, so be it. If you want me to be a knight, so be it. If you want me to be a prince, so be it. Chloe, all I need is a chance to show you I can be all of those."
Tears are now cascading down my cheeks as I gaze lovingly at my anxious brunette. I laugh silently. Why should she be scared? That was like the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.
But I think Beca took my laugh the wrong way since hurt flashed through her eyes so I quickly cup her cheeks, forcing her to look at me. Unfortunately, she closes her eyes.
"Beca," I whisper, coaxing her to let me see her real, sensitive self. "Becs, open your eyes. Please?"
That did the trick.
I smile at her reassuringly and kiss the tip of her nose. I back away slightly and see relief in her features. "There's one slight problem though," and there it is again—the look of vulnerability and worry. "I don't want you to be a pirate, a knight or a prince."
Her brows furrow in confusion and I think I fell in love all over again. "I want, no, need you to be just you. Beca Mitchell, my bad ass DJ extraordinaire."
She sighs then grins widely. "If you want me to be just me, then so be it." To my surprise, she closes the gap between us and I know we could make it.
"It's not going to be easy," she says in between pecks and I smile in our kiss.
"I don't care."
"I sometimes tend to close off out of the world and leave you in the dark," she says.
"Then let me be your light."
She laughs. "That was so cheesy."
I huff in faux annoyance. "Way to ruin the atmosphere, Beca."
She grins. "One more thing, though."
I pause midway from giving her another peck on the lips. "What?"
"Be my girlfriend?"
All I did as a response is kiss her senseless under the stars.
And here I thought my Halloween's bad.
~;~
Hope you enjoyed this little one-shot I wrote in between updates!
