AN: Okay so this is my second fic that I collaborated on with my best friend, who is the hardcore Sherlock fan and we just decided to do a crossover! Anyways this is how much we were able to do before she abandoned the story, so I wanted to see if this would be worth continuing by myself. Also sorry if Beca seems a bit OOC. I should just shut up now on with the story!
Beca set the last box down with a grunt. "Jeez Chlo, how many boxes of clothes did you bring?"
"Oh shut it! You're the one that brought all the heavy stuff!" Chloe glared good-naturedly at the young DJ.
Beca huffed "Trust me, I was definitely hating my ridiculously heavy equipment by the second flight of stairs."
With a soft smile, the redhead walked up behind the shorter woman and gently put her hands on the DJ's taut shoulders. Beca stiffened at the contact but slowly relaxed as Chloe started her soft ministrations on the brunette, rubbing out the knots in her shoulder and neck. She leaned close to the younger girl's ear and whispered "Thanks Becs, for carrying our stuff to the dorm," in a way that made Beca's breath hitch and her heart start pounding.
Beca leaned back further into Chloe as she let her eyes flutter shut. She didn't exactly know when Chloe stopped rubbing her shoulders and started to just hold her in the center of the dorm, but she was quickly snapped out of her reverie by a loud bang in the hallway. Both girls jumped away from each other as Stacie bounded into the room, "Hey guys, are you gonna go down to the welcoming party? Bree, CR, Amy and I were gonna head down there now if you want to join! Mama's got to find her some nice British ass for her 'hunter' if you get what I'm saying" she ended with a sultry wink.
With that, the voluptuous brunette rushed right back out of the room, leaving the two flustered girls to straighten out their thoughts. Once they composed themselves, they shared a small smile and headed out the door, ready to take Britain by storm with their girls.
All the while, a certain curly-haired detective-in-the-making was trying his best to hide the evil glimmer in his eyes that wanted to reveal itself as he watched two other boys unpack their stupid belongings in the dorm room built for three. Of course he'd already formulated his own deductions about the two; the one with brown tousled hair and an olive tan had come from America and was hanging up posters containing different men riding surfboards in the sea as well as an atrociously morbid one of a half naked woman. (Note: Sherlock was definitely not one to be looking for those sorts of mental images.) It was already obvious enough he was apart of the studying abroad program… the lot of them came from a university in Georgia, that was all he knew… also that there were tons of them staying there for at least two semesters.
The other boy was English like he was but was just as annoying with tidy ginger hair that stuck to his forehead oddly. Seemed like a fairly normal university student but clearly having no sense of intellect, he could tell just by how he spoke and his general gesticulations-a bit of a grand deduction to make about a stranger, but he was definitely sure of that particular one.
How long had he been sitting down on his bed? Strange… because the American was now approaching him with a goofy grin that had him almost wanting to huff in annoyance and walk out the room all together. "Hey! I'm Tom. Don't think we've ever met before but since we'll be roommates, might as well get to know each other, yeah?"
Squinting his eyes from their normal almond shape he spoke out a brief reply: "I suppose."
The other seemed slightly offended by the response the exact opposite of being prolix but shook it off with a small laugh. "Okay. Well, what's your name?"
"Sherlock."
"Weird name." Surprisingly enough his own easy-going nature was a shock to himself… by now he'd be insulting the other boy for being so impertinent and ignoring him for a while until he allowed himself to socialize properly.
Time to scare him off.
"Markings on your neck."
Tom furrowed his brows then tried to see what exactly the British one was speaking about but resulted in looking like some drunk bird craning his neck around. "Huh?"
"There are three brown-purple spots on your neck and your lips are bruised in the slightest. If I were smart enough I'd say you just snogged a girl and got rather rough about it."
Busted. The one with lighter hair raised both of his eyebrows and raised up his hands as if surrendering. "Whoa, whoa. Sorry. Didn't want to be inspected here, just trying to be your friend."
"I don't have frrrriends," he announced with a faint cringe, turning his head to the side a bit as if dismissing the other boy. Go away. Leave me alone. Don't let your idiocy rub off on me. Oh, wait, it won't. Well, that was enough to have the American walking off to go finish his tasks on the other side of the room. The ginger was smirking to himself as he laid down a grey blanket on what would be his bed-good they were isolated from where Sherlock was… didn't want any sort of contact with them as much as he wanted a friend. Secretly.
Maybe one day. Maybe.
Beca finally made it into the warmth of the radio station. Ugh why does it have to rain so damn much here? At least they play some good music at this station. She walked fully into the station,and just stopped, scanning the shelves upon shelves of records and cds, with glazed eyes. She just stood there slack-jawed until her eyes spotted a mass of curls duck around one of the shelves.
"Uh, Hello?"
Hell. A person. He'd been hoping no one would see him eyeing the vast variety of music selection there was in the warm room… no one else had come in anyways so it was unexpected. Sherlock slowly walked around the corner, head cocking to one side for a half-second. "...Thought I'd be alone in here."
"Oh uh sorry, I'm Beca. I signed up for the internship here. Uh who are you?" To say Beca was nervous was an understatement. Something about this boy just made her hyper aware of herself. She nervously rolled one of her many bracelets around her wrist, but yet she refused to break eye contact with him.
There was evidently a level of cheek inherent in him in the way his face seemed to subtly shift into expressions and the almost catlike security even when he was being awkward (and that was the case at the time). It wasn't quite immense cockiness but it hovered close and could teeter over any day. "Sherlock." His response was short… either whatever he said was an empire state building of text or it was something brief like then. His arms wrapped across his frame, expression tagged as faintly dour yet at the same time intrigued-in a way.
The awkward moment soon passed and Beca finally relaxed a bit. "Cool name." Do all British people have cool names, because if so, then I am definitely moving here. They lapsed into a comfortable silence as she moved away from him, scanning the albums and drifting deeper into the safe haven that was music for her.
When her lips worked around the word 'cool' his eyebrows shot up at first but soon furrowed in a slight haze of confusion. As if he were used to half-compliments… that was what that was, right? 'Cool'. Usually a good term that people used. Standing up straight and quietly clearing his throat, he looked to the door and was half thankful no one else was going to walk in yet wanted some other people there so it wasn't just them. Odd. "...You listen to that?" Sherlock took a few steps towards her, looking at the CDs she was speculating and noticed it was the pop and hip-hop and techno sort of genre: exactly the opposite of what he was into.
Broken from her daydream of steamy shower encounters involving a certain redhead with a blush, she looked up towards the boy. "Huh? Oh yeah. I mean I really listen to everything but I want to actually be a DJ so I usually work with these genres." Why did I just tell him that? Oh my god I hope he doesn't notice my blush. She hastily set the David Guetta album back onto the shelf and tried stop the dirty thoughts she was having toward her bestfriend.
"A DJ…" he trailed off, head tilting to the other side a bit this time clearly depicting his bemusement. "What a contrast to what I want to be. A detective of sorts." Truthfully he hadn't the slightest clue why he was letting her in on any piece of information about himself because that wasn't what he normally did. "Your eyes are hazy, are you thinking about something important?" Yes, he'd certainly achieved the capability of being able to read a human being's body language to the point where he could describe (in detail using correct terms, mind you) a specific person's mood or emotions or thoughts. Quite the upper hand, really.
"What? No!" She deflected a little too quickly. She internally cringed at how on edge she sounded. Now she was certain he could pick up on what was going through her mind, because he was a freaking detective for Christ's sake! Maybe she can try and play it off… "It wasn't anything important just…" thoughts of a very different ending to that shower came flooding into her mind, with wet skin and labored breaths.
"You know that pupils dilate when you're thinking about something interesting, right?" A-ha, completely busted, she was. Probably letting her imagination wander too far ahead, not that he had any right poking around her business but there was something that compelled him to find out what it was all about-unless she pushed the opportunity away.
Ah, screw it. I might not tell him exactly what I'm thinking but what the hell. "I was just thinking about this song, it brought back good memories." She sighed with glazed over navy blue eyes. Of course she was vaguely aware that he was trying to get inside her mind. She never lets anyone do that, but at the moment, she didn't care. For some odd reason, she didn't feel the need to be guarded with this quiet boy. She felt like she could be somewhat open here in his presence and not regret it later on. Not unlike what she felt around Chloe, just not quite with the same intensity as with Chloe.
Not so oddly enough Sherlock rarely associated songs with memories… that would only ruin the song itself and if he were to go back and listen to it again he wouldn't want mental images rushing through his brain. That'd have him painted with confusion, which was what he was feeling then… only a smidge. But that emotion was fleeting and he shook it off as he blinked a few times then started walking towards the section of albums that held more rock and alternative like The Ramones and Arctic Monkeys; positively more his taste of music. "Sentiment," he mumbled to himself with a secret scowl, fingers curling around a record then moved towards the machines to start playing better songs over whatever rubbish was plummeting through his eardrums.
Nearly instantaneously, Beca picked up the beat of the song and began to tap it out onto the shelf in front of her, while humming the song. Without skipping a beat, she flawlessly began to sing and harmonize the hook and chorus of The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy. With her eyes closed and a content smile curling her lips upwards at the corners, she seamlessly mixed in Miss Jackson by Panic! at the Disco. As the song faded in to nothing, she slowly opened her eyes and shared to no one in particular, "Man, I love that song."
All right, he had to admit that he almost scolded her for starting to sing along (was that even necessary to begin with?) but when he heard familiar lyrics he stopped himself from acting upon it, brows knitting together as he listened to the mixture. Certainly she knew enough about the newest songs in most genres… especially since she knew the words by heart. Soon he was finding himself wandering back over to the wooden shelves and finding the Panic! at the Disco album, handing it to her. "Mix them." Should know how to anyways; it'd be good practice for her and he wanted to see what she was capable of anyways, might as well waste a good slice of time while they were both in there.
As she grabbed the album, she donned her characteristic smirk. "Well since you asked so nicely." Good-natured sarcasm dripped from her words as she went to get her laptop she decided to bring by chance. Wow. Didn't think I'd actually need this today. She settled into the worn, but comfortable couch and slipped on her headphones. She already had a good idea of what she wanted to do to each as she already had both songs at her disposal on her computer, she buckled down and got to work. Her brows furrowed as her tongue stuck out in concentration; the music was flowing through her veins giving her a better high than the best drugs (trust her, she knows all about that). Her fingers moved across the keyboard, not once did they slow down. A fire of passion and determination lit up her eyes, and she tuned out her surroundings, surrendering completely to the music.
Wasn't so bad… if he could bloody hear what she was up to it would've been much better but he knew that impeding a concentrating person's thought process would be sinful-well, that was him being rather melodramatic about it but the statement remained as it was. From time to time (not too often though) he'd take a glimpse back at the girl and observe her facial expressions as she worked; the headphones she wore didn't leak out any music to hear over the song that was already playing aloud, sadly… but he would manage. However curiosity spiked him as he noticed a certain something: with a slight horizontal tilt of the head she would remove her eyes from one side of the laptop screen to the other, lips perking up into a very brief smile that was gone before he knew it was there. Craving more data on why that was as it was, he uncrossed his arms and ankles and pretended to go look around the room more but shifted his eyes in the area where she sat; a photograph of a girl with autumn red hair had been pulled up on the right side which he knew was why she would occasionally let her dimples crease against her skin. Not a family member like a sister or cousin… someone their age, the adolescence in the stranger's face was strongly present. A friend or girlfriend, perhaps, yet that was only a guess he made within the six short seconds of peeking.
Okay this is almost finished… done! With a satisfied smirk she pulled down her headphones and looked up to see Sherlock sitting down at the desk looking mildly disinterested. "Do you want to hear it?" Although he didn't move at all, she knew that his curiosity was spiked. Without further hesitation she unplugged her headphones from the jack and let the opening chords drift out into the air. She sat back in satisfaction as she listened to the finished product. As the last chord played out into the atmosphere, she looked in the direction of the boy, who had a ghost of a smile on his face, but of course quickly steeled his expression. Right then she knew that they were going to be friends in time. She checked the time on her phone and jumped up, putting all of her stuff hastily back into her bag. Shit! I need to get to the diner to meet with Chloe! "I'm really sorry to run out of here but I have to go meet someone in… three minutes! See ya around!" And with that she dashed out of the radio station onto the darkening campus.
The following day was madness with all the stress of trying to locate certain classes and shuffle around groups of other young adults with the same intentions. Somehow the young-looking blond had made it on time thanks to a swift cup of coffee and tea, like a cat as he was edging the classroom door open-he didn't think and stop to consider that it was a tad inappropriate to do without knocking, bordered on rude, but a small breath of relief whizzed past his lips as he noticed around twenty people already inside (yet that was still a small amount compared the many more attending). John was his name, John Watson. He'd been going to the university for two years and was a junior by then, already focusing on becoming an army doctor which was what he'd always wanted to get into: the medical field. Parts of him wanted a dash of danger to be added to it, which was why he slapped 'army' onto the title mercilessly. Might as well.
Carefully snaking past the group of students huddled near the door, which was an immensely unreasonable place to be, he sat himself down towards the front but not smack in the middle since he hated having attention drawn onto him. In fact, that's what he was attempting to avoid if anything… no fingers pointing at him or eyes glued onto his countenance, no thank you.
Man this campus is really confusing. Why are these people walking so slow? Oh my God I'm gonna be late to my first class! Chloe broke into a run, her hair whipping in the wind like a wildfire, trying to make it to her first pre-med class. She burst into the lecture hall out of breath and panting with only a minute and a half to spare. Taking a second to compose herself, she let her eyes scan the rows of seats. Noticing that the hall was practically full, with only a few scattered seats in the back corners and only one up near the front next to a blonde that looked rather young, she set her eyes on the seat in the front. Once she settled in and brought out her supplies, she looked to the boy with a bright smile. "Hi! I'm Chloe Beale! What's your name?" She chirped in an excited tone.
Peering up at the high-pitched voice through blue-grey eyes John cleared his throat and began his introductions. "Oh, um. I'm John. John Watson." Truly he was a bit bashful around other people yet still friendly nonetheless… being on the rugby team had its advantages but he was looking for some other new friends for the year, a fresh start (not entirely). There were a few minutes until the course began-AP Chemistry-so having a conversation with the girl would at least make a those minutes go by swifter. "I think I knew someone named Chloe when I was younger," he remarked for really no reason, mouth twitching to the side as he looked forward towards the board again, eyes dropping down to the desk they sat at soon after.
She gave him another mega-watt smile and leaned back in her chair. "So what are you majoring in?" The young redhead may always be friendly but with this boy, she already felt the pull of a friendship. This is going to be a great year. I can tell already. Noticing that the professor was going to start any moment now, she leaned slightly towards him and said in a quieter voice, "You know what, how about we go grab lunch later? I really want to get to know you, I have a feeling we are going to be fast friends." And with that she turned towards the front and opened up her notebook.
Before he was allowed the chance to even begin answering her question he realized the class would begin; didn't want to keep on chatting with someone he barely knew and miss valuable information since he rarely got above a B in science courses ever. It'd be a miracle to ace one of them but that was if he met some science whizz who could aid him whenever he wished… right, as if that could happen? The blond sat up in his chair with his spine in a straight line, attention focused solely on the words the professor was saying. Just the usual introductions though, but he'd have to train himself to absorb information like a sponge in order to pass.
Chloe leaned back in her chair, having already made concise notes for this section of the lecture. Science always came naturally to the bubbly redhead. As she glanced around the room, frantic movements to the left caught her eye. When she turned her head, she found the source of the motion to be John desperately trying to keep up with the professor. The longer she sat there, the more desperate John seemed to become. She really felt sorry for him because he just seemed so lost.
As the class let out Chloe rushed to catch up to the downtrodden blond and sidling up beside him. She lightly nudged him with her shoulder. "Hey if you want, we can go grab a bite to eat, and if you want you can borrow my notes for a little bit" she offered with a warm smile.
"Thanks," he murmured, adjusting the straps on his backpack as his lips edged up towards the ginger. "Um, yeah, that'd be nice. Don't think I'd fit in with my mates on the rugby team." John wished he could zip up his lips then and prevent from making himself sound like a lame person around other people when he just wanted a few more good friends… two or three or more. The girl was enthusiastic about being close to him which was a kind start since barely anyone came up to him, put on a wide grin and said, 'Oh, you're cool, let's be friends!'. If anything, that was more rare than finding a slab of pure gold.
The two walked across the quad towards the diner in comfortable silence. Finally Chloe decided to speak up."So you never did tell me what you're majoring in. Oh wait, let me guess! Are you actually an art major? Or maybe a philosophy major? Oh wait I know! How about-"
"Actually, I'm thinking of becoming an army doctor. So I'll go through medical school and all of that." Was it rude to say she was extraordinarily bubbly?... Hopefully not, because she was rather hyper or perhaps there were one too many ounces of enthusiasm pulsing in her veins. "In the mood for pizza or something? The food here's a lot better than in secondary school-er, high school." He began leading them towards the front; there was a thankfully wide selection of foods to choose from but of course everyone just loved pizza so he wanted a slice of that before they ran out.
"Oh totes! I love pizza!" She bounded through the double doors towards the seemingly never-ending array of food. "Oh my gosh Beca would love this place! I swear she eats more food than all of the Bellas combined, and she still is a tiny little thing. I don't know where she puts it all," Chloe gushed. It was startling how often her thoughts turned to the short brunette, but she couldn't find it in her heart to care. I have to bring Beca here sometime! She grabbed a piece of pizza and some salad and made her way towards the booth John chose. He was already sat with his pizza slices. "So what did you not really get during the lecture?"
By the time Chloe sat down he'd already taken four bites of his pizza solely being that hungry to eat something. "Oh, yeah, I'm not that good at taking notes so I guess I just write down whatever I see," he admitted with a very faint pink blush splashing onto his cheeks. "I dunno. I'll figure it out. But you said someone's name earlier, like Rebecca or something? I'm guessing that's your friend?" Best friend, rather. Maybe that year he'd find one who wouldn't ditch him for another person after half a year of losing interest.
"Oh Beca? Yeah she's pretty much my best friend besides Aubrey. I'm actually rooming with her while we're here and I'm definitely not complaining!" She punctuated with a giggle. But really, she just knows this year is going to be amazing, especially rooming with the young DJ. "But for the notes, it's really about getting down the big picture and anything you aren't really familiar with. Here, I actually did that for my notes so if this makes sense then feel free to borrow them!"
Wow, if cheeriness could kill then he'd be six feet under with rotting bones. But the offer was entirely warmhearted of her so why not? "Thanks. I think maybe later on in the year when it gets harder." John felt like he wouldn't survive through that class and it was merely the first day being in it; if that wasn't discouraging then he was the Queen of England. "Anyways," he began as he cleared his throat with a small smile, "how're you liking it here so far? It's a lot different than America so it must've been a big change, driving on the other side of the street and all that."
"Oh it's definitely different than what we're used to, but I love it so far! The campus is so beautiful and the campus radio station? It plays the best music! My friends and I are really into music so its def a plus that they play good music here. I just hope my friend Beca's mixes get on the air soon. I mean she's a DJ and she is just awesome at it! She is so adorable when she's working on a mix, see when she concentrates really hard she does this thing where she sticks her tongue out… oh don't tell her I told you that! Anyways we are all in an a capella group back home called the Barden Bellas. We actually won the ICCA's last year and I love all those girls with all my heart!" She finished out of breath. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even realize how crazy she must have seemed to John.
'Whoooooa' was the only thing going through his head during her entire rambling. After blinking a few times he swiped his tongue across his lower lip and took a sip of water with a nod as if acknowledging everything she'd said. "You do a cappella? That's interesting… I don't really do much except rugby but sometimes it's brutal. Guess you get used to it after a while." Actually it was rough most of the time which was why he had bruises along his knees, arms, and chest with the occasional marking on his cheek. It was that or football but he was terrible at football even though it was just kicking around a ball.
What? What is "rugby"? She had never heard of that sport but she was guessing it was a contact sport? "Rugby? I've never heard of that before? Is it like footba- Becs! Oh my gosh what are you doing here? Come on have a seat! This is John, he's in my Chem class. John this is Beca, my roomie and best friend!" Beca ducked her head in embarrassment, red tingeing her cheeks. "Hey Chlo, I'm just grabbing some food, uh let me just get my food and I'll sit down." As she walked away, Chloe couldn't help but stare at her ass. I mean come on that's not fair! She was roused out of her thoughts by Beca coming back and sliding in next to her.
"Jeez Becs! Are you feeding an army?" Beca wasted no time in digging into her four slices of pizza, a salad, some chow mein, a bowl of cereal, and a club sandwich. She didn't even acknowledge the other people in the booth until she had already finished the sandwich, salad and three slices of pizza. As she wiped her mouth she mumbled something that resembled a "hi nice to meet you." As she looked up from her food she was met with two people with their jaws slack just watching her. She swallowed her bite of food. "What?" At that, Chloe burst into laughter and John just looks over at her. "Wow you weren't kidding about the food. Um, hey, I'm John. She was just talking about you and your music…?"
Beca had just taken a huge bite of pizza seconds before he spoke, what lovely timing. After an internal groan and chomping it down she nodded. "Yeah, I want to be a DJ after I'm done with this place. I mean it's cool and all, I just want to be out there already."
"Yeah, out there and singing with the Bellas, right?!" Chloe had that overly jovial shine to her face as she stared expectantly at the brunette.
And of course she moved her head up and down in another nod, focusing on finishing the freshly-baked pizza in her hands. Truthfully John found her quite amusing, the Americans weren't as bothersome as he thought but he knew there were so many others that could have that sort of potential that could drive him up the wall.
Forty seven minutes and three pizzas later they were all finished with lunch and parted ways at last, Beca and Chloe walking off together (didn't need to say what they were thinking about, right?) while John nervously headed to his next class, crossing his fingers that he wouldn't suffer in it like the one before.
First weeks of school are always tediously long and filled with a mixture of bafflement, apprehension, and excitement; that was exactly how it went, then the second week came by and everything went downhill. Not that every junior in the university wasn't accustomed to getting mountains of school work day by day but things had just gotten terrible. Seemed like they were all approaching a final exam even though the semester was nowhere near halfway done… probably a fifteenth of the way there to be honest.
And as far as Sherlock was concerned it was absolutely horrible; his roommates always invited girls over so they could kiss on their beds and sometimes have loud copulation while he was trying to sleep. Hell, he was so close to giving into his thoughts and smashing them all over the head with a pillowcase filled with bricks. However that would get himself into trouble so he thought of a more direct way to get them out or for him to leave their sex cave. Really, that's practically what it was.
"What do you mean the rooms are all full?!" he asked with a faint scowl, eyes glancing down to the paperwork the desk lady was looking at.
"I'm sorry but you'll have to manage with the two roommates you have until there's another spot that opens-which is rare. I'm sure it isn't that bad."
Oh, how he wanted to explode like a tampered chemical experiment. "They have booming coitus in my room."
"...Coitus?"
"Sex." The woman made an 'o' shape with her mouth and nodded, feeling more sympathetic towards the young man but knew that nothing could be done to help him out.
"I don't believe there's a loophole in which I can find you another dorm to stay in, unless someone offers you a room."
"...I have space," a voice called out from nearby, and Sherlock spun around to see a boy with blond hair, a tan jumper, and jeans shyly walking towards them. "No one's in my room, actually. I'm on the third floor."
Knitting her brows together the woman checked on her computer and noticed that there indeed was space in his room… convenient how that all fell into place. "Oh. Thank you very much, Mr…?" Her expression was one of those 'trying to be polite here so please tell me your name' looks.
"Watson. John Watson," he said with a small smile as Sherlock gathered his thoughts together about the person he would from that point be rooming with.
Once everything was arranged (which didn't take over a minute or so) John led them up a few sets of stairs and down the hallway on floor three where their room would be. His belongings would be put in there once he checked it out.
"Thank you," Sherlock said to the other politely, a very, very miniscule smile curving his lips up.
John nodded and opened the door to his dorm room, letting the other curly-haired one in. "Sure, yeah. I don't know if you like it or not… you can find somewhere else if-"
"No. No, it's fine…" It was the same size as his other room filled with the two idiots, barely decorated. That would have to change a bit or else he'd get bored inhabiting the place. "I'm Sherlock, by the way."
"Oh, yeah. Cool. I'm-"
"I know."
"Right." Silence permeated the air as John shuffled around a few things on his bedside table and wandered back over to where Sherlock was. "You should probably get your stuff by the way. I know it's dull around here so you can put up posters or furniture or whatever else you want."
Thank the gods that for once each of them were already content with someone-he'd already deduced that John wasn't one to be kissing girls all the time even though he probably had his fair share of girlfriends. He had a sheepish personality but that wouldn't annoy him like it would with the extraverted bigots back on the second floor. Maybe having a roommate wouldn't be so bad… but that was just his gut feeling.
A week later and John was drowning in Chemistry. The notes that he took were confusing and the content they were covering was a foreign language all together. He finally decided that he needed help. So, after class that Thursday, the blonde- haired boy waited outside the lecture hall for a certain redhead. They hadn't really been able to talk much after that first day so he hope she would still have that offer standing. As the red head bounced out of the hall, happy as ever, John finally stepped away from the door. "H-hey Chloe, uh I was just wondering if I could still take you up on that offer, you know, for studying? I have no idea what that professor is talking about most of the time," he nervously chuckled while scratching the back of his head.
The ginger was not expecting the boy to actually speak with her again after that first day. She realized how crazy she must have sounded to him after she made her way back to the dorm. But, nevertheless she was excited that he took her up on her offer. "Hey John! Yeah of course I could help you out, when do you want to meet up?"
"I was actually hoping we could do it as soon as possible, I'm dying in this class."
"Oh totes! I'm free later tonight if you want? I can come by your dorm or you can come by mine, but Becs will probably be mixing, so if you don't mind hearing the occasional scream when it isn't working out then you'll have loads of fun!" she finished with a soft giggle.
"Do you mind coming over? It would probably be better, my roommate is usually quiet so.."
"That sounds awesome!" She pulled out her pen and gently grasped his hand. "Here's my number, just text me your dorm hall and number and I'll come by around five, sound good?"
"Y-yeah, sounds great," he replied, still a little startled from when she grabbed him.
"Alright see ya later!" Chloe called over her shoulder as she bounded away, unaware of a certain tiny DJ waiting for her with narrowed eyes.
What the fuck was that? Is Chloe actually into that guy as more than a friend? But Beca quickly steeled her emotions as the older girl skipped up to her immediately pulling her into a bone-crushing hug, wrapping her arms around the petite girl's shoulders as Beca's arms instinctively found Chloe's waist. "Becs! What are you doing here? I thought you had a class right now?" With that Chloe pulled back, while still maintaining contact with the young girl, she lost her smile and was staring intently at Beca silently urging her to explain.
"My professor got sick, and she cancelled class for today, so I thought I would surprise my favorite redhead and invite her to lunch with me," Beca filled in and gave Chloe a sly smirk, which the older girl actually swooned at.
What the hell?! Get yourself together Chloe she's your best friend. You've only seen each other naked, and sang a duet in the shower. It's not like she likes me, she's straight. Wait, why do I care if she likes me? Oh my god am I- Chloe was brought out of her thoughts by a hand waving in front of her face. "Earth to Chloe! I'm sorry I should have made sure you were free before dropped in like this, I should just go then." Beca started to ramble, gradually getting quieter, until she stopped completely, looking down and scuffing her boots on the ground.
"Becs, oh Beca yeah I would love to join you for lunch," she said with a shy smile. With that one sentence the brunette seemed to be revived. She was also feeling more courageous and decided to find more out about what was going on with Chloe and that John guy.
They walked in companionable silence towards their new favorite diner with their arms linked and soft smiles adorning their features. After they were settled in a corner booth with their food already ordered, they dove into conversation. "So you and that guy from a few weeks ago, you guys were pretty chatty after class." Beca probed, trying to maintain an indifferent expression.
Chloe's eyes snapped up to the DJ when she heard the slight edge to her voice. She was confused as to why the younger girl sounded almost angry.
"John, his name's John."
"Yeah okay cool."
The redhead was taken aback by Beca's behavior. "Yeah it is. He's a sweet guy and I'm going to go over to his dorm later tonight," she said through a clenched jaw.
When Chloe started to spoke again Beca was not prepared for what came out. Oh my god she's going out on a date with him. She visibly deflated after that revelation, although it was unknown why that actually affected her that much. Chloe watched how Beca's eyes, which were previously burning into her with a feverish intensity, dropped to her lap as she shrank into herself with her arms wrapped around her thin frame. Chloe instantly regretted what she said once she saw the effect it had on the petite woman. Her heart clenched as Beca stood up abruptly and threw a wad of bills on the table. "You know, I just remembered I have homework to do. Have fun on your date tonight, Chloe." And with that, Beca was gone.
By the time Chloe shook herself from the confrontation, there was no sign of the brunette. What the hell just happened? The waitress came at that moment, setting the food down in front of the stunned woman. With confusion etched on her face, Chloe looked up to the kind-eyed waitress. Before the redhead could voice her confusion, she spoke up "I saw the whole thing, so I cancelled her order, and your meal's on the house, hon so don't you worry about it okay?" she finished with a small smile. Chloe didn't trust her voice so instead she just nodded and tried to convey how much that gesture meant with her eyes.
The rest of the day went by in a blur for Chloe and she didn't even realise she was already at her dorm room door. She was disappointed when there was no sign of the DJ in the room. But as she looked at the time she knew whatever happened between her and Beca would have to wait, because she had to go help John study in about thirty minutes. With a heavy heart, the redhead gathered her materials and headed towards Baker Hall
When she arrived at John's dorm, room 221, Chloe took a few seconds to reign in her emotions before finally knocking on the door. In a few short moments she heard a muffled "Just a second!" and the sound of feed padding up to the door. With the American ushered through the door accompanied by a sigh of relief, they settled down on the floor, spreading their things across the carpet on his side, ready to tackle the chemistry course head on.
No matter how hard Chloe tried to concentrate on the work laid out in front of her, her thoughts always seemed to land back on Beca. The blond-haired boy could tell something was bothering the fiery girl after she spaced out for the fourth time in twenty minutes. Even though he barely knew the girl, he wanted to help her get back to her bubbly personality that he had grown rather fond of in the short time they have been acquainted.
Just as he set his note book aside to ask what was wrong, the door to the dorm room burst open and a perturbed-looking detective walked into the room, whose eyes immediately narrowed at the sight before him. He came back to the room to get some peace from the incessant grumbling coming from a certain petite DJ and the dark cloud surrounding her down at the radio station only to be met with this scene in front of him.