A/N: Hello you lot! I feel like I've been away for far too long, even though it's only been a week or something :P
Anyway, the lovely storiesaddiction gave me a prompt and I thought I'd give it a go. This first chapter is a bit of a slow start but I have some, hopefully, interesting and exciting things planned!
I do not own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters.
"Beca, you got a minute?" Beca's dad, John Mitchell, asked as she cleaned up spilled alcohol from the front of the bar.
"What's up?" She asked, still cleaning.
"Bumper quit last night," he said, moving behind the bar so he could talk to her properly.
"Good. He's a tool," Beca replied.
"Well he's a tool we need to replace," John said with a sigh. "I met with a girl about your age this morning. She'll be starting tonight, and you'll be showing her the ropes."
"Dad!" Beca said with a groan. "Why can't Stacie do it?"
"I made you the manager, Becs," he said. "Training new employees falls under your job description. Plus, Stacie would almost definitely just try to sleep with her."
"Please don't make me do this, you know I suck at this kind of thing," Beca said, resisting the urge to pout.
"You get on well enough with the customers," he pointed out.
"I'm serving them booze, they'll love me no matter what," she replied.
"Look, she's just moved to town and she's a nice girl. Just show her what to do and try to smile. I'm not asking you to date her or anything," he said.
"But-"
"End of discussion, Becs. She'll be here at seven and her name's Chloe."
At 6:45pm the door to the bar opened. Beca, who was standing and talking to Stacie, turned to greet the customer.
"Hey, what can I get you?" Beca said, forcing a smile. A stunningly pretty girl with lightly curled ginger hair and shockingly blue eyes approached the bar, nervously. Beca swallowed slightly, taking in her appearance.
"Hi. I'm Chloe. Chloe Beale, I'm supposed to ask for Beca?" Chloe said, with a smile that seemed a lot more genuine than Beca's was.
"Ooo you're the new girl!" Stacie said, leaning over the counter, exposing a substantial amount of cleavage. "You're hot."
"Uh, thanks?" Chloe said, eyeing the girl nervously. "Are you Beca?"
"No!" Beca and Stacie said at the same time.
"No, I'm Beca," the smaller brunette said, nudging Stacie out-of-the-way. "That's Stacie. Welcome to Holden's." Beca gestured around at the bar.
"Can I ask, why is it called Holden's when the owner is called John?" Chloe asked.
"My dad owns the place and he used to be a comparative literature professor. 'The Catcher in the Rye' is his favourite book. Hence the name," Beca said. "Come on then, I'll take you out back."
"How many times have you said that, Beca?" Stacie said, winking at Chloe.
"Shut up, Stacie," Beca replied, leading Chloe away from the bar. They entered a room that had a couple of sofas, a fridge and the door to her dad's office. "You can hang your coat and bag and stuff over there," Beca said, gesturing to the row of hooks on the wall. Beca knocked on her dad's office. "She's here," she said. John opened the door and then greeted Chloe warmly.
"Nice to see you again, Chloe," he said.
"You too, Mr. Mitchell," she replied, shaking his hand.
"Please, call me John," he said. Beca rolled her eyes slightly. "I see you've met my daughter, Beca. She'll be the one keeping an eye on you tonight and showing you how things work."
"Great," Chloe said, smiling at Beca.
"Well, go on then Beca, no time like the present," he said nudging her back towards the bar.
"Come on, newbie, let's get started," Beca said with a sarcastic enthusiasm. Chloe followed her back into the bar, a smile still fixed to her face. "You're way too cheerful," Beca mumbled.
About an hour later and Chloe had pretty much learned how everything worked. She had perfected pulling a pint after a few attempts and had no trouble in working the cash register. Something which had apparently taken Beca weeks to learn, according to Stacie. The only thing she couldn't work out is why Beca seemed so cold towards her. It wasn't that she was rude or anything, just... distant. When the small brunette went on her break, Chloe decided to ask Stacie about it.
"Oh, don't worry about her," Stacie replied. "She's just like that. She has this badass rep she likes to put out, but once you get to know her, you'll find out she's a big softie at heart."
"Really?" Chloe asked, a little relieved.
"Well, no, I wouldn't say softie. But, you know, nice enough," Stacie said with a shrug.
"Oh," Chloe said.
"So John says you're new in town?" Stacie asked.
"Yeah, my boyfriend and I moved here about a week ago," Chloe said, her smile slipping slightly.
"Quit standing about, you two," Beca said, returning from her break.
"Sir, yes sir!" Stacie barked back, nudging Chloe so the redhead would smile again.
"Sorry Beca," Chloe said, moving from behind the bar to go and collect glasses.
"Be nice," Stacie muttered.
"I am being nice," Beca muttered back.
"Jesus, if this is you being nice, I'd hate to see you pissed."
"Keep this up and you will do," Beca replied before moving to serve a customer.
At 2am, the last customers staggered out of the door.
"Get the doors, Stace," Beca said chucking her keys to the taller brunette. Stacie shut and locked the doors before flicking the main lights on. Beca went to the plugged in laptop that was hidden behind the bar and switched off the music that had been quietly playing. She then closed it and packed it up. "Okay, you can head home newbie," Beca said, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
"You don't need help cleaning up?" Chloe asked, puzzled.
"We've got it," Beca replied stretching and hearing her back crack slightly. "I'll show you the exit we use." Once Chloe had collected her things, Beca lead her to the door that lead to the alley that ran alongside the bar. She walked her through the alley and onto the street. "Are you okay getting home?"
"Sure, I live like, five minutes away from here," Chloe said.
"Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow then," Beca replied, standing awkwardly. Chloe smiled at the brunette and gave her a hug. Beca froze, completely taken by surprise. "I guess you're a hugger, then."
"And I guess you're not," Chloe said, laughing before she let her go. She gave a cheery wave as she headed home. Beca returned to the bar in a bit of a daze.
"She's nice," Stacie said, having collected up all the glasses from the tables.
"Yeah," Beca said, opening the cash register and totalling up the amount. "How did I do? Was I friendly?"
"Uh..." Stacie said. "You weren't not friendly."
"I came across like an asshole, didn't I?" Beca said with a groan.
"Not really," Stacie said, "just like, you know, you." Beca groaned again. "Why do you care?"
"I don't," Beca said, defensively.
"Ohhh, you like her, don't you?" Stacie said, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
"No," Beca said, warningly.
"Oh but you do!" Stacie said. "Is this your first crush since she-who-must-not-be-named?"
"We are not having this conversation," Beca said, slamming the register closed.
"Fine," Stacie said, still grinning at her friend who was now blushing. "But she said she has a boyfriend, and they're living together, so, you know, be careful."
"You don't need to worry about me. I don't have a crush," Beca said, slightly confused by the way her heart seemed to sink.
"All the tables are clean, can I go?" Stacie asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah, go on, get out of here," Beca said, before walking Stacie safely through the alley.
"Don't stay here too late, okay?" The tall brunette said. Beca gave her a half-hearted wave but didn't answer as she wearily returned to the bar.
An hour later and Beca finally arrived at her apartment. She dropped onto her couch and switched on the TV, not bothering to go to bed because she knew that she wouldn't sleep. This didn't bother her so much. What did bother her was the fact that she couldn't seem to shake Chloe from her mind. She couldn't explain why the redhead seemed to have burrowed her way into her head, but she was really annoyed that she had.
Around five minutes after leaving the bar, Chloe arrived home. As quietly as she could, she turned the handle and slipped inside, locking the door behind her. She slipped off her shoes and tried to make her way upstairs.
"Where have you been?" A low voice said from the living room. She sighed.
"Work, Tom. Remember? I started my new job tonight," she said, trying not to sound exasperated.
"It's after 2am," he said, moving from the living room to the hallway where she stood.
"It's a bar. The place only closed ten minutes ago. I told you I'd be working seven 'til two," Chloe said.
"And I told you I didn't want you working in a bar," he said, a nasty edge to his voice.
"We need the money," she said, softly.
"Then get a job some place else," he said, taking a step towards her.
"No where else is hiring," Chloe said, her voice shaking. "Please, Tom, not tonight," she added, pleading. He gave a snort of laughter.
"Okay," he said. Chloe shut her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. She didn't see him clench his hand into a fist.
A/N: Okay, so let me know what you think! Good? Bad? Boring?
Also, don't worry. 'We Could Be More' has not been abandoned!