(This is based off the song's music video, not the lyrics)
(Beca's POV - The girl obviously being Chloe and the guy being Tom)
I couldn't believe I was going to see her again. It didn't seem real. I couldn't even remember the last time I saw her. Almost three months, probably. I missed her so much. We had said we would visit one another once a week, and that we would call each other whenever we had the chance, but that never happened. Now we lived two cities apart and all I wanted to do was run away to her tiny apartment.
She couldn't come to my city this time, it was my turn to visit her. I didn't mind, not at all. Her city did scare me a little, just because the crime rate was slightly higher and she lived in the bad part of town. But every urban area had its rough spots. I didn't let it bother me. We were supposed to go to her place but she wanted to do something else, although she hadn't told me what it was yet. She was like that - impulsive, unpredictable. It was good though.
So I stood at the metro station, alone. You could probably tell from my stance and mannerisms that I was impatient but I tried to hide it. I bounced my leg slightly where I stood, and my hand idly fiddled with a button on my sleeve that dangled a bit past my wrist. I kept looking up and down the track, not sure which way the car was actually going to come. I didn't use the metro much. It was sort of out of the way and I didn't like the way it made me feel, usually because of the crowds. For some reason that day, though, it was practically empty. I was relieved.
When the train finally did come I practically ran into it. The few other people that had been at my station with me went into separate cars, all wanting their own privacy no doubt. I didn't reject the seclusion either. I liked it. Always had. I took a seat in the back of one of the cabins - the window seat, like I usually did - and stared at the passing landscape. All I could wonder was how much longer it would be until I saw her.
There were a few stops before hers and it was an agonizing wait. She texted me and I was surprised I got it on a train. She explained wanted to go visit a friend. We had met before. We had all gone to school together a few years back. He had always just been an acquaintance and nothing more, I couldn't get attached to him. His spontaneity and confidence was admirable, though, I'll give him that. I had always been the awkward one, standing by myself, and was shocked when she came over to me one day at a concert and struck up a conversation. I didn't leave her alone since then, we were joined at a hip - but that was a result of both of our efforts, not just mine. So when she moved I didn't know what to do.
Finally, at the third stop, she walked onto the train. I noticed her, poking her head through the door first, looking adorably curious, before entering the cabin. She looked to her left and right, spotted me, and a smile spread across her face stretching from ear to ear. I quickly stood from my seat and she gave me a hug, one which I had to try desperately not to return with startling eagerness. We sat back down together and she didn't mind when I took the window seat, even though I offered it.
She told me about what she had been up to. She was working on her singing, though she had always been a realist and she knew it was unlikely that would get her a steady income, so she was waiting tables too. She shared an apartment with her best friend Aubrey, that much I already knew, and she had been having a few problems getting the rent in on time. Even when she was talking about these heavier, iffy things, she had that same happy inflection her tone always sported. I couldn't stop smiling to myself like an idiot. I was just so glad to be around her at all. Sometimes I worried that she forgot about me.
The train stopped and we got off. I followed her, not familiar with the setting and still not knowing completely how the metro station even worked - which was very embarrassing in a hectic, busy city. When we approached the doors to leave and go out onto the street, I saw him walking towards us. She got the same look on her face that she got when she first saw me and it made my chest constrict. She hugged him. Longer than she had hugged me? I couldn't tell. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, if you could even call it a glance, and gave me a weak hand gesture that might have been a wave. I sort of nodded at him, smiling, but only because she was around, not because of him.
He walked us down the street, talking the whole way about different things we were going to do that day, about things we might do, and about things we definitely weren't going to do. I half-listened and I couldn't tell if she was doing the same thing. She just sort of glanced at him from her peripheral vision every now and then, smiling.
He led us to some weird area practically covered with graffiti. He told us that this was where he and his friends would hang out when they got bored. It didn't look like much to me but she seemed impressed. I really couldn't tell what this area ever would have been used for so I stopped trying. She went and hoisted herself onto some weird round metal thing and I joined her at her side. We started talking about things from our past, unearthing forgotten inside jokes and embarrassing moments we had together. At a point she grabbed my hat from my head and tried to put it on, waving it just out of my reach before letting me have it back. I was blushing slightly and she pointed it out, poking my cheek with her index finger and laughing to herself.
He had been walking around, trying to balance on other scattered metal beams and doing it pretty well. He kept glancing at us, even though I never looked at him, I could feel it. She wasn't paying any attention to him and it got on his nerves. Pretty soon he did something about it.
He made his way over to us and sat down casually, like he was settling in to join our conversation instead of interrupting it like he did. When he sat he got in between us, also using my shoulder as support while he lowered himself down. There was barely enough space for him to sit. I sort of felt like it was obnoxious but she didn't address it and just kept talking. He interjected and changed the topic more to himself. I don't think she noticed but to me it was pretty blatant.
We left from there shortly after - he wanted to go somewhere else. This entire time he never really told us our destination until we reached it. I could tell that she liked how spontaneous and impulsive he was, she felt like we were on an adventure or something. I didn't know how to feel about it.
When we were walking down a street together in a row of three, her in the middle, she extended her arms and wrapped them around both of our necks, tugging us in closer. She said something about how this was going to be a great day. I agreed with her, but subconsciously I knew I would be enjoying it a lot more if he wasn't there.
As we descended a small stone stairway, he randomly jumped off of it, skipping probably four or five steps. When he landed he acted like he had just jumped off a cliff and survived. She taunted him lightly for how impressed he was with himself and he brushed it off like it was nothing, but I had a feeling his ego was bruised. I also had a feeling his ego definitely needed some bruising.
He wanted to head somewhere else in the city that he claimed was too far away to walk - it would waste time. So he led us into the metro tunnels, which I hated, but I didn't say anything. She abruptly challenged him to a footrace and the two took off down the steps into the subway. I just quickened my pace slightly, not wanting to run.
When I turned the corner I was faced with those glass door things that I never properly understood how to use. My cheeks turned a deep red as I saw them already past this dreaded obstacle. I approached it and sort of just stood there, hoping she might notice me and help me out. All I could do was watch them get closer and closer to one of the tunnels, farther and farther away from me - the stranded person obviously unfamiliar with this system.
Thankfully my desperate gaze must have been felt by her and she looked over her shoulder, spotting me. I gave her an awkward wave and gestured to the barrier in front of me. She smiled and shook her head back and forth slightly before skipping back towards me, grabbing me by the front of my jacket and tugging me through with ease. I stumbled after her.
They talked throughout the entire ride about something I didn't relate to. I was too awkward to change the topic and she was so immersed in the conversation she didn't notice how unincluded I was. So I just sort of stood alone, not sure whether or not to sit down. People looking at us probably thought I wasn't with them. I wanted to listen to music but was worried she might try to talk to me and I would seem disinterested.
We got off and walked a bit before reaching a convenient store. He told us to wait outside while he went in and got us some beer and cigarettes. He was underage but he claimed that the owner "owed him one". I decided not to ask. She and I sat down on the curb for probably five minutes.
I took this time alone with her to talk as much as possible. We weren't going to get much more one-on-one like this. She asked me if I had ever gotten a certain tattoo I wanted and I said I had. It was on the front of my shoulder, so she immediately grabbed my jacket and tugged it off of me to see. It was of a small vinyl record. I like music, what can I say. I put my jacket back on once she was satisfied with what she got to see.
Finally he came back out, holding a six-pack of beer and a pack or so of cigarettes, looking like he had just won the lottery. She and I stood up, and she hugged him, and again, I felt my chest constrict. He had a smug smirk on his face that I really wanted to wipe off with a fist, although I knew that would never happen.
We wanted to go somewhere that nobody would really see us - one thing we all agreed on was that we didn't like bars. He led us behind some apartments that all had the lights off. It was only like, 10 at night. I assumed only old people lived there.
He took out a beer while she tugged a few cigarettes from a pack. She lit one for herself and then one for me. I had never smoked before but was embarrassed to admit that. I thought she didn't either, I was pretty sure it was her first time too. I had a feeling she didn't like it but at least she could pretend she could handle it. The taste was foul and it burnt my throat. I didn't see the appeal. Looking at her from the corner of my eye I saw her just exhaling it like it was nothing. I took another drag and this one went in too deep, I could feel it in my lungs. Involuntarily I started coughing, doubling over a little. They laughed at me initially, but when it took me a good thirty seconds to recover she asked me if I was okay. I said I was. He hadn't stopped chuckling to himself, and allowed himself to impersonate my coughing fit at least three times before we moved on.
We stood on a bridge where cars occasionally passed beneath us. She tried to drop rocks on them for a few minutes before we left - a police car making its rounds. Although I don't think that was illegal, we were sort of disoriented from drinking so it would just be best to avoid the law for now. I could easily picture him doing something smart-ass-like to a cop and getting us all arrested.
There was an abandoned underpass thing not far off with a completely out of place shopping cart laying in the middle of it. He said that there weren't any stores that had shopping carts for at least three blocks all around, so it was really weird. She sat on the side of it, swinging her feet while he went over to a nearby wall with a marker and wrote something on it. When I looked I saw it was a picture of three stick figures. Two of them had longer hair (girls) and one was a dude. One of the girls was significantly shorter than the others. I almost pointed out that it wasn't to scale and I wasn't that short but I didn't.
Once he finished that completely random drawing he looked at her and the two locked eyes. He gestured slightly to she shopping cart then wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. She and I both caught his meaning at the same time. I went over and got the cart upright and she immediately got inside of it, already giggling to herself. He promptly came over, grabbed the handle of it and started pushing her up and down the tunnel, with her laughing the entire way. The sound of her laugh just made me smile no matter what was going on.
Occasionally he would push her over to me and she would try to kick me, and I would just laugh with her and back away. He spun her around in circles, popped a wheelie with the cart, and went all over for probably half an hour before he got tired. It was getting late. Maybe around 1. She and I would have to head back to our individual cities soon, even though I hated to say it.
He was aware of the time and he said that he wanted to make just one more stop before we had to leave. When we got there it was just some weird little park, empty because of the time, although it looked unused anyway. There was an extensive swing set with tires attached. We sat on two of them, her half on his lap. I didn't look in their direction because whenever I did my chest hurt. Instead I was trying to smoke again. I didn't like it but I just wanted to show them both that I could do it if I wanted - I wasn't a total wimp.
At one point I did glance over, possibly at the worst time.
They were kissing.
I felt my heart shrivel up into nothing and I quickly looked away. It was like all of the energy in my body had just been drained from it and I could barely move. For some reason I wasn't surprised but damn did that hurt like hell. I flicked my cigarette to the dirt.
She then shot off of his lap and moved over to me, touching my knee and gesturing that we should get going, her smile huge and her enthusiasm not as contagious as it usually was for me. I gave her a half-hearted smirk back and got to my feet, though not without significant effort, then followed her. It took him a few seconds to trail along after us.
We walked in silence for the first time since we had met up. We dropped him off at his house then headed to the metro, still not saying a word. At a point I had opened my mouth, wondering whether or not I should ask about the kiss, if I should ask about her relationship with him, but I was too scared and never said anything.
The streets were absolutely empty. I felt absolutely empty. I knew that as soon as I was alone I was just going to start crying. I tried not to let my sadness show through, really I did, but I don't think it worked very well for some reason.
We cut through an alley as a shortcut, one we had taken earlier with him, when she suddenly stopped walking. I stopped too and turned to look at her, about to ask what the problem was. She had a weird look on her face that I had never seen on anyone before.
She took a step closer to me and I didn't move away. She was acting odd. That was when she grabbed the front of my jacket, pushed me against the wall at my back, and kissed me - hard. I was shocked. Unable to react. She didn't seem to care that I wasn't reciprocating at all, and instead broke away ever so slightly, our faces a centimeter apart at maximum.
She whispered something to me, the feeling of her warm breath on my lips making my heart swell. She told me that she noticed how I had been acting. The looks I would give her when I thought she wasn't looking. The looks I would give him when I caught him flirting with her. The tension between he and I because we were both vying for her favor - although he was too stupid to notice how much I cared about her. She noticed it all. She had only kissed him on a whim and it hadn't felt right, she said. But it felt perfect when she kissed me. Her words. Not mine.
I didn't know how to respond. I just sort of stammered out nonsense. It made her giggle slightly. She whispered to me again, saying that she always thought my awkwardness was sort of cute. My cheeks turned red and she reached up, poking one of them with her index finger like she had earlier. Then she kissed me again and I reacted accordingly that time. We stayed in that alley for a good ten minutes or so before we realized we really did have to catch our train.
She held my hand on the walk there. She snuggled against my side on the ride. When she had to get off, her eyes brimmed with tears and mine did too. We had no idea when we might see each other again. I only asked her to do one thing: Not to forget about me. Instead of answering verbally she just kissed my cheek and hugged me tightly, almost possessively. Then she left.
I sat back down and stared out the window. And I started crying. It wasn't from sadness and it wasn't from happiness. It was from the abrupt overflow of emotions I dealt with all at once.
I meant to her what she meant to me. That blew my mind.
The next day I made a hundred different arrangements and started to plan a move. I needed to be closer to her. All throughout the morning and afternoon I expected some sort of contact from her but I didn't get anything. I knew she got home late at night and thought she would be too tired to try and get to me, but I was wrong.
At midnight when I was getting into bed, my home phone rang. When I answered, it was her. She told me that she was going to move to where I was, because she felt like she needed to be near me in order to function properly. I told her the plans I had made earlier and we laughed together for a minute straight. We talked for hours.
As we lulled each other to sleep with the sounds of our gradually slurring voices, she mumbled something right as she lost consciousness.
She said she loved me.
I said I loved her too. The response I got was a snore.