A/N: This was just a little idea tht popped into my head while listening to Natalia Kills and considering the convention performance in PP2. For the sake of this story we're all just going to pretend Jesse isn't a thing (that's pretty much how I live my life anyway) and I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out but I like it enough
Beca has one or two regrets associated with her time as captain of the Bellas. You would think that not reminding Amy to wear underwear when they were performing for the President would be her biggest regret but you'd be wrong. No her biggest regret was making that damn mash up of promises and problem. It wasn't that she didn't like the mix, she was actually pretty pleased with it, it was what happened after she played it for the Bellas that caused her regret.
The girls had loved it, immediately riffing out parts and harmonies to accompany the lead vocals. Beca grinned broadly at the feeling of having done something right. They had somehow, miraculously after the fiasco that was the Kennedy Centre performance, been booked to perform at some convention or other, Beca wasn't a sure on the details. Details were Chloe's department. They had wanted to try something different and this definitely fit the bill. Over the next few days Beca heard the tinny sounds of the mix spilling through Chloe's earphones almost constantly. Even though she reasoned that Chloe was listening to it on repeat while she worked out choreography in her head, it still gave Beca a little thrill to know that Chloe was enjoying something she created. The way the redhead subconsciously bobbed her head and rolled her hips as she listened didn't hurt either; even if it did cause Beca to blush furiously the few times she'd been caught staring by one of the other girls. So initially Beca didn't regret the mix at all.
The regret began around a week after she had first played it for the girls. They had broken the song down and assigned parts and vocally it was pretty much there, now it was time to add choreography. If Beca hadn't considered the salacious nature of the songs when she was making the mix, her response to Chloe's unconscious dancing should have maybe tipped her off. But true to form the brunette remained oblivious right up until the moment Chloe gave them a brief demonstration of how she saw the routine. All she could think as she watched the redhead shake her ass and perform other actions that she believed might actually be illegal in some of the more conservative states was that she sincerely hoped her jaw wasn't hanging open.
Chloe Beale was a gorgeous individual; that much was blatantly obvious. Her bright smile could sell toothpaste and those eyes, a girl could drown in that blue, not to mention she basically exuded cheerfulness like actual sunshine flowed through her veins. She had an unassuming confidence that made her instantly attractive. Chloe Beale dancing however was on a whole other level. The purposeful swing of her hips and the steely look in her eyes as she gyrated to a particular lyric had Beca squirming in her seat. Her mouth was dry and she physically couldn't tear her eyes from the other girl. If the building had caught fire Beca would have burned to death watching Chloe dance. The song ended and Chloe took a second to catch her breath. Around her Beca could hear the other girls commenting on the routine but she didn't register a single word as she valiantly tried to stop herself from decomposing into a puddle of heat after what she had just witnessed.
"So what did you think Becs?" Chloe asked her. Beca blinked a few times, drying desperately to return moisture her her dry throat. "Beca?"
"Yeah...that was great! Great job Chlo," she managed to say eventually, her voice sounding a little hoarse and earning her a smug, knowing look from Stacie.
"Yeah I think our captain is definitely down with the new choreography," Fat Amy scoffed. Beca clenched her jaw; she knew two Bellas who would be doing dish duty for the next week.
If Beca thought watching Chloe demonstrate the routine had been a special type of torture having to learn it was something else entirely. Chloe wasn't great at respecting personal boundaries at the best of times but now every practise involved her hands on Beca's body or her body pressed against the smaller girls; it was driving Beca insane.
Chloe was standing behind Beca, her hands wrapped around the DJ's wrists moving her through the moves as she sang the lyrics that accompanied the movement.
"Sweat, dripping down your chest."
Beca could feel Chloe's breath against her ear, it was incredibly distracting.
"You're so tense Beca," Chloe remarked, bringing their joined hands back to the first position again. "You need to relax and really put your hips into it," she illustrated her point by pressing her hips hard against Beca's and rolling them. "Do you need me to give you a back rub?"
Beca's brain short circuited entirely having been caught off guard by Chloe essentially grinding against her.
"What?" she managed to spit out.
"To help you relax," Chloe explained, continuing to run through the motions of the dance with Beca's hands as she spoke. If Beca had been in full control of her brain she might have noticed Chloe's lips pulling into a slight smirk at the effect she was having on the brunette.
"No I...I'm fine, I've got this," she mumbled and tried to wriggle out if Chloe's grip to give her back some of her sanity.
"Alright," the redhead shrugged. She offered Beca a bright smile before moving on to correct Emily on something.
"Damn you've got it bad short stack!" Stacie's amused voice sounded behind Beca, making the captain jump slightly.
"Shut up!" she rolled her eyes at the taller girl, unable to come up with a better retort because her brain was still booting up after being short circuited by Chloe.
"I still don't understand how you haven't made a move yet," she said in a more serious tone, casting a glance to where Chloe was still helping Emily. "Even I'm starting to feel sexually frustrated from being around all this unresolved sexual tension."
"Gross!" Beca wrinkled her nose at what she deemed unnecessary information. "And you know why!"
Stacie was the only Bella who Beca had actually admitted her feeling for Chloe to. The rest of them knew because it was glaringly obvious but Stacie was the only one who'd had confirmation. She had managed to get the information out of Beca one night while they were both ridiculously drunk. Beca had been a little annoyed that she'd let it slip but she supposed Stacie wasn't the worst person to talk to about her feelings for her co-captain; at least it hadn't been Amy.
"She doesn't feel the same why," Stacie said in a mocking imitation of Beca, rolling her eyes at the smaller girl. "Seriously Beca, are you really that dense? Red's toner for you is visible from space!"
"It's not...she doesn't...that's just not true!" Beca huffed over her stumbling words.
"You want proof?" Stacie said, her hands on her hips her eyes trained on Beca. She'd had enough of the oblivious DJ; it was time to push. She hadn't been lying when she said the UST was starting to get to her. "Watch her when she teaches the others the choreography and compare it to how she shows you. She just loves an excuse to get all up on you."
Beca looked over at where Chloe stood beside Emily talking her through a particular section of the routine and that's when she realised; Chloe was standing beside Emily. Anytime she was showing Beca something she always stood behind her, pressed closer than strictly necessary. Beca's brow furrowed at the realisation. Stacie smiled triumphantly as she saw the wheels begin to turn in Beca's head. Before she had a chance to think on it any further Chloe was calling for them to do another run through as a group to check their progress.
The other problem with the choreography was that Chloe was almost constantly beside Beca throughout the routine. It was Chloe's hips she rocked into when they lined up, it was Chloe's hand she held as they turned, it was Chloe pressed against her back, the redhead's gloriously firm ass pressed against hers. It was an exciting kind of torture; the thrill of feeling Chloe's body move against hers and the ache that it was nothing more than dancing to the other girl.
"That's great girls," she smiled cheerfully at the group when they finished. They broke off to grab their water bottles and catch their breath before packing everything away.
"You're going to want to stretch Becs, or your thighs will be killing you tomorrow!" Chloe sidled up to the DJ, stretching her arms up over her head, pulling her tank top up giving Beca a glimpse at the tight abs that hid beneath it.
"Sure thing Chlo!" she nodded, forcing herself to look anywhere but in the direction of the redhead who had now locked her arms behind her back pushing her ample chest out towards Beca.
"Come on, lay down I'll help you," Chloe pointed to the mat behind Beca.
"It's fine," Beca shrugged off the offer. "I'll stretch I swear."
"You won't and I'll have to listen to you complain tomorrow!" Chloe replied pointedly. "On the mat now Mitchell!"
Ignoring the shiver Chloe's demanding tone had sent down her spine Beca reluctantly dropped to the mat. Chloe stood at her feet and motioned for Beca to raise her left leg. She positioned Beca's foot against her shoulder and leaned in towards the brunette on the floor.
"Really push back into me," Chloe instructed, leaning further into Beca. The brunette on the floor was close to hyperventilating as Chloe bounced back and forth slightly really working out her hamstring. "Hang on."
Chloe, still holding Beca's foot against her shoulder, dropped to her knees. Beca swore she felt the onset of cardiac arrest set in when Chloe placed her hand on the back of her thigh just above her knee and once again leaned towards Beca to stretch out the muscle. It was all Beca could do to keep breathing as naturally as possible as Chloe switched to stretch her right leg.
"There! How does that feel?" Chloe asked, dropping Beca's foot but still kneeling between the younger girls legs.
"Yeah, uh huh, great! Thanks," Beca managed to say her throat was dry and tight.
"That should help but if you're really sore tomorrow I can rub you down," Chloe smiled, getting to her feet and walking away to grab her bag. It was just as well too because Beca had literally choked at her last comment.
"Funny...Chloe didn't help anyone else stretch after practise," Stacie smirked down at her small friend who was still lying on the floor 5 minutes after Chloe has walked away and everyone started to leave.
"Fuck. Off. Conrad!" Beca groaned. She was having enough trouble trying to organise her thoughts without this crap from Stacie. The other girl simply giggled at Beca's response and held out her hand to help her up.
"I'm just saying," Stacie held her hands up in surrender. She wanted to push Beca into making a move on Chloe but she knew if she pushed too hard Beca would go on the defensive. The two girls headed out the door together.
"So say you're right, which I'm not by the way, but say you were right that Chloe treats me differently at practise; I don't see how you think that means she likes me back!' Beca said after a few minutes of walking in silence. Stacie responded with a light chuckle.
"It's not just at practise Beca! Chloe is always finding reasons to touch you or be close to you," she pointed out what should have been glaringly obvious to the other girl.
"Well yeah but that's just Chloe," Beca shrugged. "She's a touchy, hugging kind of person! She's like that with everyone."
"Maybe so but she doesn't hug or touch any of the rest of us half as much as she does with you," Stacie countered. "Last movie night Legacy went to sit on the couch beside you and I honest to God thought Chloe was going to take her down."
"You're making that up!" Beca huffed.
"I'm not," Stacie laughed.
"It doesn't make sense," Beca sighed. "This is Chloe we're talking about here, if she likes me then why hasn't she made a move, huh? She's not exactly shy when it comes to going after what she wants!"
"The answer to that one, Shorty, is that Red is almost as oblivious as you are. Almost," she answered. "She's afraid of making a move and freaking you out because she doesn't want to lose you as a friend."
Beca stopped walking and stared at Stacie wondering if her words could actually be true.
"That's all I'm going to say on the subject, you have to figure it out for yourself," Stacie said as they started walking again. "But if you do decide to make a move I wouldn't mind a heads up because none of us really want to be in the house when all that sexual tension finally gets resolved. I bet Chloe gets loud!"
"Stacie!" Beca screeched and slapped her friend's arm in response to the lewd comment.
Another day, another Bellas practise, another few hours spent being gloriously tortured by the goddess that is Chloe Beale. Beca wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. The urge to throw caution to the whim and push Chloe against the wall and kiss her senseless was growing with every press of the redhead's hips against hers. She made it to the end of practise without acting on that impulse, barely but she made it. And again she found herself lying on the mat with Chloe leaning over her stretching out her hamstrings. It was a good thing Cynthia Rose came over to ask Chloe about something because Beca was 5 hot seconds away from flipping over and pining Chloe to the mat. Beca drew in a deep breath as Chloe walked away.
It was a Friday night and most of the Bellas were heading out to blow off steam. Stacie could be heard making pointed comments about finding someone to help her deal with all the second hand UST as she headed out the door. Beca would have joined them but she had an early shift at the radio station the next morning before a full day at her internship and didn't feel like having a Bella hangover for that. She had thought she was alone in the house until she walked into the kitchen to to grab a bottle of water and found Chloe making herself a cup of tea.
"You didn't go out?" Beca asked, raising her eyebrow at the ginger who was never usually one to turn down a chance to party.
"Nah, I have a paper due Monday and I haven't started yet," she explained,
"Think we're starting to zero in on why you've failed to graduate three years in a row," Beca joked earning herself a twinkling giggle from the other girl. A comfortable silence fell over them as Chloe prepared her tea and Beca examined the contents of the cupboard.
"I got your name, hanging from my chain, don't you want to claim my body like a vandal," Chloe sang as she waited for the water to boil.
The way she was moving her hips could only be described as sinful and Beca lost it. She couldn't take it anymore and without thinking she pounced on Chloe, pining the redhead against the counter with her hips and joining their lips in a passionate kiss. Chloe responded instantly her tongue darting out to meet Beca's as her hands found purchase in the DJ's hair. The kiss was explosive; more like an atomic bomb than the fireworks frequently described in romantic comedies as all the sexual tension between them poured into the kiss. They parted, panting desperately, and it took a few seconds before Beca's brain kicked into gear and she realised what she had just done. Before she had time to panic or back pedal Chloe was pulling her in again, rejoining their lips as though she needed it as much as the oxygen they'd been gasping for.
"Took you long enough," Chloe grinned when they broke apart again.
"Shut up!" Beca half growled. Any comeback the redhead might have had dissolved into a whimper as Beca pressed her hips firmly against Chloe's and kissed her once more.
Maybe Beca didn't regret the mix that much after all.
