When Chloe invited her for a sleepover, Beca wasn't quite sure what to expect. Something always happened, and it wasn't always good. There was that time when Chloe had forced Beca into a Disney marathon, and another - particularly painful - memory of when they gave each other makeovers. Beca hated makeup, apart from her trademark eyeliner, but she had to admit Chloe was particularly good with it, even if she had gone slightly overboard and made Beca look like a hooker. That first look in the mirror was awkward - well as awkward as anything ever gets with Chloe. But so far today, everything had been fine. Suspiciously.
After dinner (Beca's favourite - sometimes she wondered whether Chloe's level of knowledge about her bordered on stalkerish or not), they changed into pyjamas, then went out to the garden. Had she mentioned that Chloe's garden was literally a jungle, complete with very strange-looking plants? Of course, Chloe was fine with this, like she was with everything. For God's sake, though, half the plants were the same size, if not taller, than Beca.
Eventually, Beca decided that after the twentieth time she got hit in the face with a trailing branch, she'd had enough.
"Chlo?"
"What, Becs? It's only a garden! Don't tell me my little badass is afraid of a couple plants?" As ever, Chloe had seemingly read her mind. They both pretended not to notice Chloe's use of the word 'my'.
"Pffff, what!" she said, too quickly, because Chloe could not know about her stupid fear of poisonous plants. "No! Never! Why would I be worried about plants? And for the last time, I'm not little! I'm fun-sized!"
"Yep, the perfect size for a lot of fun!" said Chloe, winking at her flirtatiously, and Beca couldn't quite control the blush that immediately spread to her face. So what if she had feelings for Chloe? She's content with her as her best friend. Definitely. Yep.
But then they had finally arrived on the main lawn area thing, and the grass was pristine. Beca wondered quite how such perfection could be right there, in the middle of all the wilderness of the rest of the garden. And she was definitely talking about the grass, not Chloe.
It was only then
that Beca actually began to take in what Chloe had been carrying. She didn't quite know how she had missed it. You were distracted by Chloe, whispered a little traitorous voice in her head, but she ignored it, and focused instead on the monstrosity currently invading the grass.
"Chloe, that tent is possibly visible from space."
"Well, at least we won't get lost!" Chloe said, grinning, and as usual completely ignoring Beca's protests. "Right, you're good with instructions, help me with this."
"Excuse me?! It's bright orange! How can you stand to look at it without going blind!" Beca interrupted, dumbfounded. "And anyway, I defied the aca-Nazi. I'm pretty sure instructions and me don't really get along."
"Oh shh Becs, these ones can't talk back, you're fine. Now help put this thing up, don't just stand there like a lemon!"
"But it's so ugly! I am not sleeping in that!"
"Well, you could sleep outside on the grass if you really wanted to!"
"Okay, fine, but I hate it."
"It never did anything to you!"
"It offended my eyesight!"
"Oh no, you poor thing. How will you ever recover?"
"You could give me chocolate?"
"Nice try. Now get over here."
Beca went to help, reluctantly grumbling about the disgusting tent and how she needed to get herself a new best friend. Unfortunately, Chloe overheard the last part. "Sorry Becs, you're stuck with me. For life, remember?"
And Beca, against her wishes, smiled the special smile that she saved for Chloe, and only Chloe.
After much wrestling with the tent, it had finally been set up. Beca stood back to examine the results of her hard work.
"It's quite... small, isn't it?" Small was a bit of an understatement; despite the huge armful Chloe had been carrying, there was still only what looked like barely enough room to fit Beca in, let alone Chloe and all their stuff as well.
"Yeah..." For a minute Beca saw Chloe's face fall slightly, and it made her feel so much like something was desperately wrong that she immediately spoke up.
"Hey, it's okay, we'll just have to cuddle!"
Chloe looked at Beca in shock, and to be honest, Beca was pretty surprised at herself as well. Had she, Beca Mitchell, Queen of Badass, just offered to initiate cuddling? Whipped, that voice whispered, but she brushed it to one side. It was too late to back out now, so she went back to her default awkward setting.
"I mean, um, if that's, er, okay with you?"
The smile she got in reply almost split Chloe's face, it was so huge, and it took Beca's breath away. And also made her want to jump Chloe right there. And... do other things. She shut off that part of her brain hastily and focused on getting her sleeping bag, which Chloe had been carrying as well, into the tent. She felt kind of bad for making Chloe carry her stuff, but hey, it wasn't like Chloe had given her a choice.
When all their stuff was in the tent, they stepped (well, Chloe stepped, Beca fell. Why did she have to be so damned clumsy all the time?) into the tent. And of course, the universe hated Beca, so she ended up right on top of Chloe. Her brain took advantage of the new position, immediately thinking up new possibilities to make the most of their current situation.
"Beca?" Chloe's voice brought her back to reality.
"Yeah? What?"
"You're squishing me."
"Um... sorry." She tried to move off Chloe, but all their bags stopped her. "Er... Chloe?"
"Yes?"
"I... um, can't move," Beca said in a rush.
"Sure you can, Becs. So can most people. I know you're weird, but you're not that weird." she giggled.
Beca loved the sound of Chloe's giggles, but she actually couldn't move without Chloe's help.
"Um, Chlo... I think if we both move at the same time, we'll end up in a, well, a not-so-awkward position, okay? Ready? One... two... three... move!"
A lot of scuffling and fidgeting later, they finally got into a more comfortable - but no less squished - position.
"Hey, Chloe?"
"Yeah?"
"You're my best friend, you know."
"Good to know you haven't replaced me yet, Becs."
"Well, I advertised, but no one replied."
"Awwww, you must have been so sad. Let me cuddle you." And before Beca could protest (not that she really wanted to, but she had a reputation to live up to) she was wrapped in Chloe's warm arms. She relaxed, not fully understanding why she was being hugged but accepting it all the same.
Beca loved Chloe's hugs: they never failed to make her feel better. She assumed it was the same for Chloe, who looked like she needed one right now, so hugged her back gently, feeling Chloe's sharp intake of breath at the sudden contact.
It was only then, hugging Chloe, that Beca finally realised just why everyone needs to have a hug. Nothing she had ever experienced before quite compared to the feeling of just holding Chloe, and being held in return. They had said everything they needed to say in this hug: how Chloe was happy that Beca had finally let down her guard and hugged her; how Beca was actually enjoying this; how neither of them minded the size of the tent, and so on.
Well, except for one thing.
Beca knew, understood, why what she had been trying to tell Chloe for the past few months had never worked out. And in that moment, she realised why the universe had seemed to conspire to hate her every time she started to explain her feelings to Chloe. Because it had been waiting for right now: the perfect moment. So she pulled back from the hug, not letting go, and just looked at Chloe. At how beautiful she truly was. At her eyes. At her nose and its slight dusting of freckles (what? It was an adorable nose!). At her lips.
They both leaned in at the same moment, and Beca silently thanked the universe for sending her Chloe, for letting her invade Beca's shower, for the millions of little things that Chloe did that made her happier every day, for...
And then their lips touched, gently, oh so gently, and she surrendered herself to the kiss. There were no fireworks, instead something more like a steady flame, burning brightly in her mind. It was like they had already done it a thousand times; it was addictive; and Beca only wanted more.
And Chloe gave her more, kissing her back eagerly, but not too much, as if she could somehow sense how much this kiss meant to Beca, to them both, and as they both pulled back, smiling, they knew they were in this together.
"I still hate this tent."