A/N: After a secondary viewing, I decided I liked Beca/Chloe much better than Aubrey/Chloe. This was intended to be a more epic multi-part drama but I was in the mood for fluff instead. Written on my iPad as usual (but as far as I can see free of autocorrect failures), title stolen from Kings of Leon...also as usual, come to think of it.
The thing Chloe liked best about Beca was that she didn't make her feel like an experiment. She loved Aubrey, she did, with all her heart, but there was something about her that made Chloe feel like she was an experiment, part of the college experiment, and when they graduated, Chloe would be put behind her, just another piece of her college experience, one that she would giggle about scandalously with her suburban mom girlfriends in 10 years.
But Beca wasn't like that. Beca had taken her by surprise, come into her life when she least expected it and tipped it on its side.
"I dated a girl in high school," she said, offhandedly one day as they sat in the rehearsal room together long after everyone else, even Aubrey, had left.
"What?" Chloe sat up a little straighter, suddenly a completely active participant in this conversation instead of just peacefully enjoying Beca's company.
Beca shrugged, fiddling with her hair. "For a little while. You know, high school politics, it wasn't meant to be."
Chloe looked down at her hands. She knew all about that, and she nodded. "Yeah, that happens," she agreed. "Aubrey's my first real girlfriend."
"Why do you put up with her?" Beca pulled her hair up-she had a habit, Chloe noticed, of pulling her hair up when she was anxious about something, although Chloe couldn't pinpoint, exactly, what she might be nervous about. "I mean, she basically treats you like shit."
Chloe bit her lip. She'd never really considered that part of their relationship, probably because she didn't want to. "She isn't always like that," she said, but even before the words were out of her mouth she wasn't sure she believed it.
"Sure," Beca agreed. "Well, just so you know, I think you could do better."
The way she was looking at Chloe didn't occur to her until later.
Not that she did anything about it. She was happy with Aubrey, or at least she could tell herself that and make herself believe it. And it was true that Aubrey wasn't mean all the time. She was hard on Chloe because she wanted them to do well, that was all. Because she loved Chloe and wanted her to be successful. And besides, she could be sweet sometimes...when no one else was around. As if some part of her was ashamed by Chloe's existence and didn't want to let people know about her. She loved Aubrey, but she couldn't get rid of the nagging voice of Beca in the back of her head: "you deserve better".
"What did you mean, 'I deserve better'?" Chloe asked the next week when they found themselves alone in the rehearsal hall again, a coincidence so un-coincidental she (conspiratorially, hopefully) thought that Beca had planned it.
Beca pulled her hair up again, shrugged, got really interested in flipping the white board. "You know, someone better. Someone who doesn't treat you like something she can micromanage, for one thing. And someone who is comfortable enough with herself that she isn't afraid to show the world how she feels about you. Someone better."
Chloe pretended to stack sheet music. "I don't think I'm going to find someone better," she said softly. "not here, anyway."
That was when Beca kissed her, soft and sweet and gentle, loving in a way that no one-not even Aubrey-had kissed her before, grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her in, so close their noses were touching, like the night after auditions when Chloe was tipsy, except this time they were both stone cold sober, and kissed her so sweetly that Chloe almost wanted to cry. Instead, she kissed back, and when they finally broke apart, Beca smiled. "Yes you can," she said, and walked out of the rehearsal room leaving Chloe feeling dizzy in the best way possible.
Five days later, Aubrey broke up with her. Well, that was when she did it officially, although it was abundantly clear to Chloe what her plan was when she didn't say a word to her, not a single word, for two entire days. She gave a little speech about how they'd spent two "very formative" years together and that she didn't want to discount the time they'd spent together but that she could no longer be Chloe's girlfriend, and Chloe nodded woodenly at her, picked up her purse, and went to the first place she thought of.
Beca was there waiting for her, as if she'd known, as if somehow, her brain had picked up Chloe's wavelengths and come to her rescue her. "I'm okay," Chloe said, and Beca took off her headphones and looked at her curiously.
"If you have to tell me you're okay without me even asking, who are you trying to convince?" she asked. Chloe sat down next to her, nudged her. "I see that philosophy class is working out really well for you," she quipped, and then hesitated. "Aubrey broke up with me."
The smile faded from Beca's face almost as soon as it had appeared. "I figured."
Chloe shrugged. "We weren't really speaking, so it was really only a matter of time. Plus," now it was her turn to twirl her hair. "It's like you said, I can do better."
Beca climbed down off the risers to sit next to Chloe, studying her for a long time, maybe a minute and a half, opening and closing her mouth several times like she was trying to say something but thinking better of it, over and over. Finally, after a nearly imperceptible pause to gather her courage, she reached over and took Chloe's hand in her own.
Chloe smiled, looking down at their hands for a moment before tilting her chin up and pressing her lips against Beca's, an answer to her unspoken question. Yes, she could do better, and as a matter of fact, she already was.