At first, Beca only saw the hooded figure and thought she was going to die. Then she looked a bit closer, and breathed a sigh of relief. As her heart rate slowly returned to normal, Beca let out a shaky laugh and smiled. The hoodie was hers, and the totally bundled up person who was wearing it was none other than the one and only Chloe Beale.

Beca just sat on the floor, stunned by her best friend's sudden presence.

"Hey Becs," Chloe said, when she realized Beca wasn't going to respond any time soon.

"Whaa… You're… how?" Beca tried her best to string together a sentence, but was having trouble concentrating.

"Surprise?" Chloe said somewhat worried, thinking she broke her best friend.

As it sunk in that Chloe was actually here, Beca got mad. "What the actual fuck Chloe Anne? What are you doing here?! Why aren't you in Tampa with your family? Why did you come back? What is wrong with you? Is everything okay?"

Chloe looked at Beca slightly dumbfounded, obviously not expecting this reaction from the tiny brunette.

"I thought you'd be happy to see me. Obviously you're not though, so I can just lea—" Chloe trailed off, looking slightly wounded.

"Of course I'm happy that you're here, weirdo. It's just that... Well... I…" Beca started to look less angry and started to look more frustrated (and maybe even scared) with her inability to convey how she truly felt at the moment. If Beca was being honest, she wasn't entirely sure of all the feelings she was currently experiencing anyway.

Chloe, to her credit, just stood there, staring at her best friend who was still sitting on the floor, in the same position from where she fell a few minutes ago. Chloe knew that sometimes Beca just needed time to get her thoughts in order, and interrupting or pushing her before she was ready is not the way to go about it.

"I thought you were mad at me. Or dead. Or at least that something really bad happened to you that made you in capable of communicating in some form or another…" Beca said softly, as she slowly rose to her feet.

"Why?" Chloe asked curiously, wanting to laugh, but knowing that it would make Beca totally shut down.

"I haven't heard from you all day. I was worried that maybe you were ignoring me," Beca began, "because you always send me a 'good morning' text. At first I brushed it off as you probably just being busy, but then you didn't even respond to the group chat or anything. Plus, I didn't see any posts from you anywhere, when you usually always have posted at least 3 things by like, 9 am," Beca continued, before she sort of just stopped talking, embarrassed at how stalker-ish she sounded.

"Aww. Becs. I would never ignore you. You're too important to me. I'm sorry I didn't text you 'good morning' today. I was running around my house packing so I could drive here to surprise you. It's only about a 6 ½ hour drive, and I would've been here sooner but I had to stop and get gas a few times and pee and eat. But I'm here now!" Chloe concluded, summarizing her chaotic morning and drive to Georgia. She paused and then added, "do my good morning text really mean that much to you?"

Blushing, Beca nodded, and sheepishly whispered "it makes me feel special. Like I'm important enough in your life to, ya know, think of."

"I told you, didn't I – that we were gonna be fast friends? I could just tell, right away that you would change my life, and it's true. You are one of the most amazing people I've ever met Beca," Chloe stated sincerely. Beca flushed even more red if that were possible and looked away.

"But I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who feels this way," Chloe went on. "Don't think I forgot what you said earlier about you being all concerned for my well being either. I wouldn't have thought 'Badass Beca' cared that much about people."

"Only about you," Beca muttered, less quietly than she had intended. Chloe heard what she said, but decided not to tease her about it. Instead, she gave Beca a bone-crushing hug that lifted the girl off of her feet. Gently releasing her, Chloe looked around at the deserted station and said, "Well, now that I'm here, what do you wanna do? Are you hungry? It's almost 7 pm."

""Yeah, I could go for some food. You better cook though, if you actually want anything edible that's not from a box," Beca said, laughing.

As Beca locked up the station, and the girls began walking back to the Bellas house, Chloe grabbed Beca's hand and swung it gently between them. While they strolled the empty campus, Chloe told Beca all about the things she did for Christmas, and how her drive back to Barden was. Apparently, the new mixes that Beca had given Chloe as her Christmas present, combined with all the mixes she had been given previously, lasted about the same amount of time that it took Chloe to get home.


As they sat on the couch at the Bellas house eating their food, Beca had a nagging question, burning a hole in the back of her mind.

"You never answered my question earlier, Beale," Beca said randomly, between bites of her chicken teriyaki.

"Question about what?" Chloe asked, slightly confused.

"Why did you come back?" Beca asked, wanting to know why someone would willingly leave a group of people who loved them unconditionally. Beca herself had never had a big happy family, but thought it would be nice to experience, at least until she hit the maximum limit of her people interaction abilities.

Chloe reached over and grabbed Beca's hand. "I missed you," she said, simply.

"But don't you miss your family too? You hardly got to see them this year," Beca said, slightly concerned that the Beale's would hate her for taking their daughter away from them, because she was a needy, insecure little thing.

"There's a thing called 'too much family' as I'm sure you're aware of. But while I loved getting to see my family and catching up with everyone, I wasn't as happy as I could've been because you weren't there. They apparently could tell too, so they told me I could come back early, as long as I promised that the next time I go home that I needed to be happier, and that I brought you along with me. So now you've got plans for spring break," she said with a wink.

"Oh." Beca didn't really know what to say to that. The thought of meeting all the Beale's was initially overwhelming, but the more she thought about it, if they were anything like Chloe, she had nothing to worry about. Except maybe when she took a shower or something.

Looking back at Chloe's face, she could tell the ginger was lightly teasing, but also had an underlying look of worry. "Alright, if you're sure," Beca said. "It could be fun. I mean, spring break in Florida has got to be one of the most stereotypical college events ever," she added, jokingly.

"YAY!" Chloe clapped her hands excitedly and squealed like a child. "This is so exciting! There's so many things I want to do with you…" Chloe rambled on, but Beca stopped hearing what she said, and instead just looked at her best friend in amusement.

"We may need more than a week, if we're planning on doing all of that," Beca said smiling at Chloe's enthusiasm. It was slightly infectious, and Beca could feel herself already looking forward to March.

"It's going to be amazing. But enough about my break and our future plans. How was yours? What did you do here for a week all by yourself?"

"Oh, you know…" Beca said, trying her best not to sound like a complete loser. In reality, the majority of the socializing the brunette did was either due to various Bella activities or Chloe. "I worked at the station and made a few mixes. Caught up on some shows, slept a lot. Just the usual, I guess. It was pretty boring but relaxing too. And I didn't burn the house down," she added with a smirk.

"I'm so proud of you for not turning our home into a repeat of the convention center performance," Chloe said, leaning over to hug the girl she was squished on the couch with. The exact same couch Beca had spent the most of her free time laying on.

"Hey," Beca said, "That was NOT my fault."

Chloe decided to let it go, and instead, cuddled up to the brunette, who was still defensively going on about how 'something insane is always bound to happen when all the girls get together' and 'just because she was co-captain it didn't make it automatically her fault' and that if it was, Chloe, as the other co-captain, would then be just as much to blame as her.

"Beca. Beca. BECA!" Chloe tried to get the rambling girl's attention. "It's in the past. Forget about it. Focus on the New Year that's about to begin!" Chloe said positively. "What are you doing for New Year's Eve?"

"Um. Spending it with you?" Beca said, although it came out as more of a question.

"Well, I know that, silly. But I meant, do you have plans for tonight? What do you usually do?"

"Yeah. About that. I don't really do much for New Year's. It's dumb. Everywhere you go there are drunk people sucking face with each other. And the glitter. So much glitter. Everywhere. Yuck." Beca said, making a face of disgust when she thought about all of the past New Year's Eve holiday parties she had been forced to go to. "Plus, if I'm going to be staying up til midnight, it's not because I wanna see a ball drop from the sky. And what about those New Year's resolutions people always make?" Beca continued on her rant. "We all know you're not gonna keep them up past like, January 15th…"

"Oh Beca, you're so cute when you get mad."

"I'm not cute, I'm a—"

"A badass, I know," Chloe replied. "But a very cute badass."

Beca just rolled her eyes. "Why do you like New Year's so much, anyways?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, I just love love. It's amazing how you feel when the person you want to spend forever with, wants to do the same with you. Secondly, staying up til midnight is fun, especially when it's because you're having too much fun with the people you're with to go to bed. Also, I love new beginnings. Even if the people who make their resolutions aren't successful, they at least made an effort or wanted to change. Which is a start. And for those who are successful at keeping their resolutions or people who help them keep their resolutions, they are a better version of themselves. I think that better people are exactly what the world needs right now." Chloe finished, eyes sparkling brightly as she explained why all the things Beca hated, were actually great. "Oh, and by the way, glitter is amazing. Don't hate on glitter."

"I still think New Year's is stupid," Beca said, stubbornly, although she was trying to see Chloe's view point.

"Well, maybe this year will be different," Chloe said cryptically. "You've never spent New Year's with me."


For the next few hours, the girls just sat on the couch and talked. As it got closer and closer to midnight, the two girls steadily made their way through a bottle of wine. Neither one was drunk, but they were definitely more relaxed than they were at the beginning of the night. Turns out, a slightly inebriated Beca was a very honest and less guarded Beca.

Chloe told Beca her favorite parts of the past year. To her surprise, Beca was either directly involved with or at least remembered the majority of Chloe's favorite moments. It was truly a revelation to Beca that she was such an integral part of Chloe's life. She knew Chloe cared about her, because Chloe cared about everything, but this was on a whole new level. This was beyond Chloe's naturally loving nature. This was specific to Beca, and only Beca.

Beca had to think a bit harder, but eventually was able to come up with some memorable events of her own. Beca was not at all surprised though, at the extent of just how involved Chloe was in hers. Sure, the Bellas were grouped in for a lot of the memories, but many of Beca's favorites, were just the two of them hanging out on their own. Neither one actively doing anything out of the ordinary, but simply spending time with each other.

There was the time that Chloe and Beca tried to make cookies and ended up just eating the dough and getting stomach aches from eating so much.

There was the time they pretended to switch bodies and be each other after watching the movie Freaky Friday and drove all of the Bellas nuts.

There was the time that Beca and Chloe tried to decorate the Christmas tree and Beca ended up stringing the Christmas lights up on the wall like in Stranger Things, claiming that she was from the upside down.

There were many memories of when one of them had a bad day and the other brought over junk food and they watched reality TV to remind themselves how much better they were than the people on the screen.

But as she thought about it, most of Beca's favorite memories weren't even all that memorable, it was just how they were together. They didn't need fancy or adventurous, although they did that too. They could be hanging out doing nothing, and it wouldn't matter.

When Beca teasingly commented that 'all our best memories are of us together,' Chloe smiled.

"That's because it's true. I love all the Bellas, but I am especially thankful that you came into my life. You've made this year so special," Chloe admitted truthfully. "I can't imagine ringing in the New Year without you by my side."

Beca knew that Chloe was important to her, but didn't realize how much she meant to her, until Chloe said that. "I guess ringing in the New Year with you won't be totally terrible."

"Way to make it sound like a chore, Mitchell."

"No, but really. Thanks for being here. It means a lot to me that you care enough to want to be with me, especially when you could've been spending it with your family," Beca said sincerely, trying to convey how much the kind gesture actually affected her, without seeming too mushy. "It got kind of lonely being here by myself," she admitted.

"Nobody should be by themselves, let alone on a holiday. They should be surrounded by love," Chloe replied. "Speaking of love, have you got your eye on anyone lately?"

"Hahaha, nice try Chlo," Beca responded.

Chloe waited for a response, and when she got none, she gave the brunette a pointed look.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes," Beca relented.

"REALLY? Who? Do I know this person? Why didn't you tell me?" Chloe rapid fired off many questions. "Have you told them yet?

"If I did, I wouldn't be single now, would I?" Beca teased. "But honestly, it's because I am not brave enough to tell this person how I really feel about them. I don't want to ruin what we have."

"Ugh, you're no fun. But you should tell them some day. It's okay to be scared. The important thing is to do it anyway," Chloe said, trying to sound encouraging, but also a bit disappointed thinking Beca liked someone else. "Don't live your life full of regrets, Beca."

"We'll see," Beca said, trying to gauge Chloe's response to Beca's words. She looked at her best friend carefully, analyzing her facial expression. She looked as happy and sunny as ever, but was that maybe a hint of longing in her eyes?

"Maybe just text it to them, if you can't say it out loud," Chloe suggested.

Beca thought about it for a while. As she pondered everything she had and hadn't done, she kept circling back to one thing –her relationship with Chloe and how she wanted more. It took her a while to acknowledge the fact, and even longer to accept it, but she was in love with her best friend.

It took sharing their favorite memories of the year with each other to really push her past the breaking point though. The fact that Chloe made up so many of her positive memories was scary, for a person who was so used to being alone. Secretly she had always known that she had more than purely platonic feelings for Chloe, but when Beca thought about what Chloe had said about the amazing feeling you get when the person you want to spend forever with, wants to do the same with you, she decided she wanted to know how that felt.

"I just want to see you happy," Chloe said softly.

"You and the Bellas make me happy, Beale," Beca said. "I don't need anyone else."

"Stop stalling and get to texting."

Taking a deep breath, she decided to take a chance. Beca finally picked up her phone and said, "Okay."

*Ding* 11:54pm 1 message from Beca

"Hi."

*Ding* 11:54pm 1 message from Chloe

"Hi…?"

"Beca why are you texting me, I told you to text—" Chloe said.

Beca continued to stare at her phone, her hands slightly shaking, not daring to look up.

*Ding* 11:55pm 3 messages from Beca

"I love you.

"I mean, like, you don't totally suck."

"I guess."

*Ding* 11:56 pm 1 message from Chloe

"Okay, thanks? I love you too Becs. You know that though."

A loud huff could be heard escaping the brunette. Three little bubbles kept popping up and disappearing. Chloe could tell Beca was trying to type out something so she tried to wait patiently, even though the suspense was killing her.

*Ding* 11:58 pm 1 message from Beca

"No you nerd, I mean, like. I LOVE love you."

Beca looked at Chloe who gasped and dropped her phone. "Beca, that's not funny."

Beca just looked at Chloe, with a nervous smile on her face. "I wouldn't joke about this. Besides, you're the one who told me to not live life with regrets."

Chloe just sat there stunned. Beca cleared her throat.

"So anyway, that's how I feel. Maybe you could say something now?"

Instead, Chloe picked up her phone.

*Ding* 11:59 pm 1 message from Chloe

"You know, I've never had a New Year's kiss before. Have you?"

*Ding* 11:59 pm 1 message from Beca

"No…"

*Ding* 12:00am 1 message from Chloe

"Want to fix that fact?"

*Ding* 12:00 am 1 message from Beca

"Okay."

Upon receiving Beca's response, Chloe looked up at her best friend, knowing that what happened next would change everything. When she only got a steady, confident look in return, she knew what she had to do. 'Lord knows Beca probably won't do it' she thought to herself.

Chloe watched as Beca's eyes slowly flickered up and down from her face to her mouth and back again. She saw Beca's tongue poke out slightly to wet her lips and heard a small intake of breath, right before she closed the distance between them. It was a short, sweet kiss, but it left promises of many more to come.

As they slowly broke apart, Chloe looked at the time. 12:02 am. "Beca, you made it to midnight!" Beca smiled at Chloe, and said, "I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Have you made any New Year's resolutions now that it's 2018?"

"Yeah," Beca said, kissing Chloe again. "It's to do a lot more of that."

"Well, that is one resolution I'd be more than happy to help you keep. Happy New Year Becs."

"Happy New Year Chlo."

Up next, the epilogue!