Again, I don't own Pitch Perfect.

Sorry in advance for misspelling and bad grammar. English is not my first language. I'm opened for critiques and suggestions though.

Thanks for reading.

In the last chapter, we were left hanging on the night of Beca and Ashley's 5th anniversary. So... here it goes. It's September 26th 2025 in L.A. At night.

After a candlelight dinner and a long walk by the beach, Beca and Ashley decided to join their friends at one of Beca's karaoke bar in L.A.. They occupied a table by the corner of the VIP room. After a couple of toasts and congratulations, they just hang out as usual.

Just a 5th anniversary. No big deal. Right? Maybe. We'll see.

"Hey, Beca. Tell us. And be honest, Dude." Patrick starts with a sly smile. "Who's your favorite character in our girls show?"

Beca certainly knows that answering that question will only lead to a group feud. Nevertheless, she smirks and says, "Caleb. Duh. With that genius brain, that scowled face, the badass attitude that could melt into a giant puddle because of Hanna? It explains itself, dude. Not to mention that killer body. And I'm gay."

Everybody laughs while Troian teases, "Wow. Instantly. Without hesitation. Ash, you've got yourself a competition here."

"Oh, I don't worry at all." Ashley responds casually. Yet Beca can see a hint of sly smile by the corner of her lips.

"My love here, is as straight as a rainbow. So, nope. Not worried at all." Ashley adds before turning to Beca, inching her face closer to Beca's with devilish smile and says, "Besides, I don't think she will prefer that-" she points her chin towards Tyler who's sitting in front of her, "-than all of this." She finishes with husky voice, biting her bottom lip seductively as she gestures her hand to her body.

Beca visibly gulps, earning a whole-heartily laughter from the group.

With a huge grin, Ashley kisses her girlfriend's cheek and says, "Judging from that face, I don't think I have a competition, do I Dear?"

Beca chuckles and shakes her head lightly. Then she purses her lips, humming with a mocked thinking face. "I don't know, Hon." She sighs over dramatically. "Maybe I need uh... more persuasion? I mean it's been five years. Maybe..." She glances at her girlfriend playfully, purposively trailing off the end of the sentence and leaving it hanging.

"Hey!" Ashley exclaims with a pout, slapping Beca's arm playfully. "It is not what I heard this morning. Or in the shower. Or in the car after dinner."

A loud, "Ew... gross." and scrunched faces are coming from their friends while Beca barks out a carefree laughter. Then Beca laces her fingers with Ashley's, kisses the tip of her nose lightly, and says with a goofy grin, "It's you, pretty weirdo. It's always and only you."

Ashley huffs, still supporting that endearing pout Beca loves the most. "You need to do more than that to make me feel better. Or you're going to sleep on the couch tonight."

Upon seeing her girlfriend's childlike clingy manner that she loves and adores, Beca laughs again. Then she kisses Ashley's forehead before she says, "I," followed with a kiss on the tip of Ashley's nose, "Love," and finished with a gentle lingered kiss on the half-pouted half-smiling lips, "You." She pulls back slowly and asks, "How about that?"

Ashley tries unsuccessfully to hide the grin on her face. But, the twinkle in her eyes gives her away. She rolls her eyes in mocked annoyance and grumbles, "It will do. For now. But you have to make it up for me tonight."

Seeing through her girlfriend, who is trying failingly to hide her smile, Beca suppresses her grin and says, "Yes, My Lady. Your wish is my command."

Tyler laughs, raises his glass, and jokingly says with a wink, "Well, you know where to find me, DJ. In case... you know... you change your direction."

Ashley throws a handful of peanuts towards Tyler, which he unsuccessfully ducks, earning another bark of laughter around their table.

Keegan shakes his head lightly and says, "Five years together, and you two still go at it worse than horny teenagers."

"What can I say?" Ashley smiles smugly. "My girlfriend has a great talent using her fingers. I guess the years being a DJ has its own benefit...s."

That earns other mocking comments from the group.

After the laughter unwind, Ian adds, "How about the girl casts?"

"Oh no no no no." Beca answers, wiggling her index finger. "I'm not falling into that trap, Ian."

"You are no fun at all, another Mitchell." Shay comments.

Ian changes the question while wiggling his eyebrows. "Your favorite pairing?"

"Spaleb definitely." Beca answers without hesitation. Again.

Ashley gasps mockingly and retorts, "How could you?"

"Sorry Hon, but I really want to know what kind of monsters two geniuses can produce." The DJ says nonchalantly. "And no." She adds with bored-looking face. "I don't enjoy seeing Hanna and Caleb playing tonsils tennis. Especially when you always force me to watch the show with you."

Ashley turns to her girlfriend with mischievous smile as she says, "I've never heard any complains about the extracurricular activities we do after watching the show."

"Duh." Beca replies smugly. "Because I didn't. Complain. Ever."

Another laughter erupts from their table.

"So you prefer my fiancé doing that tonsils tennis with Caleb instead, huh?" Patrick responds, narrowing his eyes with a mocked hurting face. "I thought I was your best friend."

Beca scoffs, "Tone down the drama, princess."

Keegan argues, "No way. Spencer is supposed to be with Toby. They are made for each other."

Patrick playfully puts his hands on Keegan's neck as if he wants to choke him. "Man, you need to stop touching my fiancé."

Troian takes a picture of them and laughs at her fiancé.

"Come on, Patrick." Keegan says with a mocked terrified look on his face. "You know that it was all just an act. You know that Troian loves you, man."

Just as Patrick puts down his hands, Keegan adds, "But Spencer loves Toby."

And yeah. Another laughter comes out. They are loud.

Then Patrick sips his whiskey and raises his right eyebrow at Beca as he asks, "How about you, Dude? After six freaking seasons, did you ever get jealous or angry of Haleb's sex montages?"

"Meh..." Beca just shrugs and keeps sipping her iced tea slowly.

Troian furrows her eyebrows curiously and says, "Yeah, there were so many hot scenes between them through all seasons, tiny bit. I don't believe that you never got upset or at least irritated."

After putting her drink down, Beca casually says, "Well, of course I got jealous sometimes." Then she points her chin towards Keegan, "But like Keegan said earlier, it was all part of an act. And I know her... you know... her uh... face and expression when we uh... ehem... doing it, you know. And what she shows on the scenes are not her... uhm... real enjoying being pleasured face?"

"Babe!" Ashley slaps Beca's arm playfully with her eyes so wide, comically surprised.

"Eeew..." Sasha scrunches her face. "We so do not need to know that."

Beca laughs and looks at her blonde girlfriend, who is sitting next to her and sending her a deathly glare.

"What?" Beca retorts with a smirk. "They asked, I answered!" After getting an eye roll from her girlfriend, she turns her attention back to the group and nonchalantly says, "Besides, it's not like I could complain or do anything about it anyway. You know. Knowing your line of work."

Ashley clears her throat, "You mean our work, Babe."

Beca simply rolls her eyes while Ashley narrows her eyes at her and smirks devilishly as she says, "She is not allowed to be jealous anyway. Not when every time I go to her DJ-ing gigs, I have to restrain myself from punching and slapping every men and women who throw themselves at her in the DJ booth. Right, Honey?"

Upon hearing the punctuation on the word honey, Beca just shrugs her left shoulder, trying to look cool when she responds, "Yes, my dear."

Everybody laugh at the couple, except Tyler, who makes a whip noise and teases, "Dude, you are so whipped."

Although she is glaring at Tyler, Beca admits –to herself obviously, that being with Ashley has softened her edges in so many ways. She has become more open with people and doesn't really mind the PDA.

Okay, scratch that. She even enjoys the PDA. Err...

Okay! Stop narrowing your eyes doubtfully, folks! Guilty as charged. She loves it. Loves it loves it. Can you blame her? When your girlfriend is as stunning as Ashley is, you too would've been proudly showing the world that she's yours. Like all the time.

Sasha, the youngest among them, gets curious. "But seriously. Did you two ever get angry or argue about that? Like, ever? Even Hudson got upset sometimes. Especially when we haven't seen each other in a long time."

"Hmmm..." Ashley mocks a thinking look. "Well... We had our fair share of fights. Let's just say that we handle it really well. I mean, really... really... well... We have our ways."

The way she ends the sentence with a mischievous wink makes sure that everybody gets the idea. But Sasha narrows her eyes and innocently asks, "Really well, how?"

Shay sighs and says, "I think she meant a lot of hot and steamy of angry and make up sex, Sasha."

"Oh... that... um... okay." Sasha stutters with her cheeks blushed.

Everybody just laughs and teases Sasha for being so naive.

Yet Beca rolls her eyes playfully and says, "Oh, get your head out of the gutter, Shay. She meant we are doing really well at communication. Whenever we are in doubt, we talk about it. That's it." She pauses to sip her drink, and then adds, "And yeah, the sex do help. A lot."

Then everybody barks out another laughter. Told you. They are loud.

With a deep contented sigh, Beca looks around her. And she couldn't help but wonder how she got here. Ten years ago, or even six years ago, if someone had told her that she would be in a long term relationship with a wonderful woman, have a group of friends -other than Donna and Harvey obviously, that care about her and she pretends not to care about, Beca would have scoffed and told them to fuck off.

Seriously. You and I know that for sure.

It would've been like an unrealistic dream comes true. Which is unrealistic. And Beca did have this kind of life before, but it didn't turn out well. However, life seems to have another plan. So, here she is, sitting and laughing among her best friends with the love of her life snuggling up on her.

Then Beca lets her mind wander back to the time she met Ashley for the first time. Well, maybe it's a little bit of sugar coating to say they met. More like collided to be exact. With Beca's iced tea spilled all over Ashley. Yep. Lucky Beca, right?

Flashback: 5 years and 6 months ago.

Beca was at the first party that she had ever attended. Well, more to Donna and Harvey's demand anyway. They were very adamant for her to come and celebrate her own new established records label. She agreed to go with the conditions that nobody should know who she was or even talk to her at all. And as usual and always, Harvey would be the one who gave the speech.

It was obvious that Beca felt very uncomfortable and bored out of her mind at the party. And to make it all worse, she just had to bump into someone, spilling her iced tea all over the other person.

Beca was ready to apologize. But suddenly, she lost her ability to produce words as her body froze up and her jaw dropped when she looked up only to find a very breath taking and stunning blonde, who happened to have a pair of gorgeous blue eyes, right in front of her.

Beca didn't even realize how she looked like until Donna nudged her on her shoulder. Aware of her dumbstruck reaction, the DJ rolled her eyes and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry." Then she pulled out a grey handkerchief from the pocket on the left side of her pants. "Here, use this."

That blonde was brushing her hand on her red dress before she looked up and saw the thing that Beca offered. The blue-eyed blonde raised her eyebrows comically, taking the handkerchief and asked, "People still bring this stuff?"

"Uh... Yeah? I guess? Uh... I mean, I do." Beca stuttered, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. Beca only dared to steal a couple of glances towards the blonde, who was gently pressing the handkerchief onto her dress.

"This won't do. I need to go to the bathroom to take care of this."

"Again, I am so sorry." Beca grimaced apologetically. "I wasn't paying attention at all. My middle name is klutz. Maybe it should've been my first name."

The blonde girl simply giggled upon seeing how nervous the brunette was.

Upon hearing the sweetest amusing tone that caught her ears, Beca shot her eyes up and stared at the blonde in awe.

"It's okay, Klutz." Ashley said with a knowing smirk. She was confident about her appearance, and it was common for people to stare at her the way Beca did. Then she offered her hand for a handshake. "Well, my name is Ashley. Ashley Benson."

With her cheeks blushed furiously, Beca cleared her throat, trying unsuccessfully to calm her nerves when she muttered, "Uh... actually... that's not my real name."

"Hmmm..." Ashley smiled teasingly. "So, are you going to leave me hanging uh..."

"Uh... Sorry." Beca quickly took Ashley's hand, shaking it lightly. "Beca. Beca Mitchell."

Their hands lingered on longer than necessary until Beca heard Donna cough lightly. Beca pulled her hand back, shaking her head lightly to get her mind out from the dazzling smile of the blonde before she said, "This is Donna Paulsen."

Ashley stared at Donna questionably. "Donna Paulsen as in..."

Beca furrowed her eyebrows, puzzled by the way Ashley trailed off her end of the sentence.

Knowing just how oblivious Beca could be, Donna just rolled her eyes, sighing before she put on a smile and said, "Donna Paulsen as in Beca's personal assistant Donna Paulsen."

"Oh." Ashley smiled and then offered her hand for a handshake. "Well, Donna Paulsen as in Beca's personal assistant Donna Paulsen, I'm Ashley. As in Ashley Benson."

"I know who you are." The red head responded with a genuine smile as she shook Ashley's hand. "Great show by the way."

"Thank you." Ashley smiled even wider.

As she pulled back her hand, Ashley turned to the brunette and said, "Okay then. I will go to the bathroom and clean up. Nice meeting you... Klutz."

Without thinking about it, Beca blurted out, "You can give Donna your number. I will pay for that dress. Or do whatever it is to make it up to you."

After a second of being taken aback, Ashley smirked and teased, "Are you trying to get my number, Beca Mitchell?"

"No. It's not what I meant." Beca said frantically with her eyes widened. "I uh... was thinking that... your dress is ruined... uh... Donna could..."

Ashley and Donna chuckled upon seeing how Beca turned into a bumbling mess.

"I was kidding, Beca. Don't sweat it." Ashley said, suppressing her grin before she added with a knowing wink, "But I think it's too late to warn you about that."

Was it hot that night, folks.

Beca's face was blushing red with a nervous smile. No. hold that. Not a smile. A grimace. Then she looked down at the floor while shuffling her feet. Yep. Couldn't be more obvious of how nervous she was.

Amused. That was how Ashley felt by seeing the brunette's shy behavior. Charmed to be precise. She wondered how a person could be so awkward yet so adorably sweet and cute all at the same time. To say that she was attracted to the brunette would've been an understatement.

Then Ashley's smile became wider as an idea popped into her mind. "Tell you what. I won't press any charges if you agree to grab a drink with me after I deal with this mess."

Stunned by the fact that such a beautiful lady had asked her for a drink, Beca froze up for a second. She was indeed surprised that anybody would've taken a time to talk to her. You know, since she didn't have the most welcome vibe. She practically had the words Fuck Off, printed boldly with black ink on her forehead. Not to mention her heavy eyeliner and ear piercings that didn't exactly say I'm warm and fluffy. Come and be friends with me.

Seemed to see that the blonde was interested with the brunette, Donna did a favor to the very stunned Beca by answering, "Don't mind her dumbstruck. It is her way to say that she would be glad to have a drink with you."

Beca snapped her head to Donna and shot her a warning glare that said, "What the hell?"

Donna just rolled her eyes at Beca and turned to smile at the blonde.

"Very well then." Ashley beamed. "Do you mind waiting for me by the bar? I'll be just a minute." Then she walked towards the bathroom.

After making sure that the blonde was out of hearing range, Beca turned to Donna and scolded, "What the hell, Donna?!"

"Stop being so dense, Monkey." Donna said with bored-looking face. "She is obviously attracted you. You'll thank me later."

Little did she know, she would be thanking Donna for the next five years. And maybe more. Who knows. However, at that moment, Beca groaned and stomped her tiny feet to the bar.

Beca was nourishing another glass of iced tea by the corner of the bar when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder and found that Ashley was beaming at her. She couldn't help but grinning back at the blonde.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Ashley said as she slid on the stool next to Beca.

"It's okay." Beca answered with a shrug. She tapped her fingers nervously on the glass while her eyes wandered around, looking for Donna because the crowds were starting to creep her out.

"Are you always this nervous around people?"

With a tight lipped smile, Beca sighed and answered with raised eyebrows. "Try full blown panic to be precise. You know, crowds."

Ashley hummed curiously but she tried to start a conversation anyway. With a playful tone, she asked, "So, tell me Beca Klutz Mitchell. What brought you here tonight if you are not so comfortable with the crowd?"

Beca certainly couldn't tell her the truth, but she didn't want to lie either. So she chose to give a vague response instead. "I uh... kind of obligated to show up. I guess."

"Oh. Let me guess." Ashley chirped instantly. "You know the owner. They are your friends and they force you to come. Am I close?"

"Uhm... Something like that."

When Beca didn't ask her anything, Ashley chuckled and teased, "It's not an interrogation you know. So you can ask me back."

Beca chuckled nervously at the blonde's bluntness. "I'm sorry uh... Ashley. I'm just uh... not really good at this."

"At talking with people?"

"Well that... and uh... especially with some- someone who has crazily captivating blue eyes." Beca stammered nervously. She didn't mean to flirt but the words just flowed out of her mouth. And of course she regretted it instantly. "Crazily? Really, Mitchell? Is that how rusty you are?"

Ashley knew that it was the most common over-kill type of flirting. Yet she giggled and blushed like an inexperienced teenager. Maybe it was because of the way Beca saying it. It was way too far from being flirty, and certainly too specific to be just a casual compliment. Let's just hope that she didn't see it as creepy.

Beca didn't seem to notice though as she quickly tried to cover up the embarrassment. "What about you? What brings you here tonight?"

"Well... I'm in this line of business. So I got invited by proxy."

"So... you must be in the showbis. An actress, maybe?"

Ashley chuckled at Beca's statement. She thought the brunette was playing her. "What gives, Sherlock?"

"Well, first of, you said you are in this line of business." Beca started, looking very serious with her eyebrows narrowed into her thinking face. "If you are a singer or someone who works with music, I would've known. Second of, you don't seem like a business type of person, no offense. And uhm... Donna did mention about a great show? So..."

Ashley's eyes widened in surprise and her lips formed into a huge grin before she exclaimed, "You honestly don't know!"

"Uh..." Beca looked confused. "And what is it that I'm supposed to know?"

Ashley just stared at her with comic surprised look.

Thinking like she had offended the blonde, Beca hurriedly said, "I am truly sorry if I've offended you. I didn't mean to do that. I'm not an outgoing person. So I'm kind of outdated."

Ashley threw her head back, laughing whole-heartily for seeing how innocent the brunette was.

Beca just stared at her with puzzled look since she didn't understand why the blonde had laughed. The laughter was delightful though, and she couldn't help but staring at Ashley when she noticed how attractive Ashley was when laughing.

The blonde's eyes formed into a perfect crescent. The blue part of her eyes looked so bright with a glint of tears, glimmering as the light reflected on them. The dimples on her cheeks matched the crinkle by the corner of her eyes in such a natural way. Her cheeks became rosy red. But, the best thing that caught Beca's attention the most was its sound. It sounded crunchy yet soft at the same time. It was so light and joyful. Unknowingly to Beca, a soft smile appeared on her own face.

"I'm so sorry Becs." Ashley said, still grinning while wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes. "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just... How? Have you been living under a rock?"

Beca was taken aback by the nickname and the familiar words. She hadn't heard anyone called her with that name for more than four years. A realization finally hit her; Ashley's eyes were the same color with the person that she hadn't been thinking for a while now. Hadn't.

In addition, if Beca looked deeper, they kind of had the same cheery bubbly personality. These insights certainly made her wonder whether or not she was attracted to the blonde because of the resemblance. She was so lost in her thought that she didn't realize Ashley was waving in front of her.

"Earth to Beca."

"Uh... I'm sorry." Beca blinked to pull her mind back to the person in front of her. "What did you say?"

"Are you okay? You were kind of spaced out for a minute."

"Yeah. I was uh... You know what? Nevermind."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. So uh... Where were we?" Beca tried to change the subject. "Ah... Why did you laugh?"

Ashley seemed to understand not to push the brunette, and intead, she asked in comic surprise, "You seriously don't recognize me?"

"Uh... Should I?... Recognize you? I mean, have we met? Or have I spilled my drink on you before that I don't have any recollection about?"

Again, Ashley was amused.

It's not like she liked to throw her celebrity status card or anything. She's not that kind of person. She just found it hard to believe that there was any teenager or young adult that didn't know her from a certain TV series. They'd made quite a successful rating this year on their first season. Besides, she was the main character in a famous cheerleader movie a couple of years back. Being not recognized was a little bit unusual for her.

With her eyes narrowed, Ashley stared at Beca, intrigued as she asked, "Have you heard of a TV series called Pretty Little Liars?"

"Aaahh..."

"Aaahh... as in aaahh I recognize you now or aaahh I finally realize why I don't know you?"

Beca chuckled and said, "It's the latter."

"You don't know Pretty Little Liars?"

"More like I don't know any kind of TV series or movies. I'm uh... not big on visual entertainment called movie or TV series."

"Wow."

Beca just shrugged nonchalantly, sipping her iced tea to cover up the nervousness.

"You, Beca Mitchell, are weirdly interesting."

Beca raised an eyebrow doubtfully because she wasn't used to that reaction. Usually people would've at least laughed at her and asked her the reason behind, recommended her their favorite movies, or worse, pushed her to watch movies with them.

"You're not going to ask me why or push me to watch any movies?"

"I'm sure as hell curious. But who am I to ask or judge what you like or not like to do."

Again, Beca raised an eyebrow with a doubtful scoff.

"What? People have their own personal quirks. I, for one, sure have one hell of personal quirks on my own."

Impressed, Beca tried to suppress her smile and asked, "Do I get the honor to know one of Ashley Benson's quirks?"

"Sure you do." Ashley replied nonchalantly, and then she smirked and added, "If you tell me why you don't like waching movies or TV series."

Beca laughed. She couldn't even believe that she could laugh so freely around a stranger she just met less than an hour ago. A little bit amused and a lot impressed, Beca pressed her lips with a tight smile, nodding her head as she said, "Well played, Benson. Well played."

Then they fell into a comfortable silence for a while. Well, maybe not so comfortable because they were busy thinking about how easy it was for them to converse with each other. The attraction to each other was new to both of them.

Ashley took a sip of her drink, trying to muster some courage to say, "So, just so we clear here, I don't want to have any angry girlfriend giving me a third degree for monopolizing you tonight."

Beca snorted knowingly, smirking and teased, "Smooth. And subtle. Really."

Ashley blushed for getting caught. When Beca didn't say anything more, she simply asked, "Well?"

It took a couple of seconds, but Beca finally casually answered, "No. No girlfriend. Or boyfriend."

Maybe it was just a gut feeling, but Ashley was sure that Beca wasn't done yet. So she waited for a second. And it was like the universe confirmed her previous guess. Without looking at Ashley, Beca muttered, "As the matter of fact, no friends at all. So don't worry. You might be monopolizing me tonight, but there is no one that will mind about it."

"My gain then." Ashley beamed at her. But then she continued half-jokingly, "Wait. But you are not a felon on the run or a psycho, right?"

With a pursed smile, the DJ simply said, "I might be."

Upon seeing Ashley's smile that had faltered, Beca snorted and said, "Easy there, Benson. I'm not a felon or a psycho. Honest. Unless being an independent who enjoys being alone way too much is considered as a felony, then nope."

A relief sigh escaped from Ashley's lips, and before she knew it, her lips blurted out, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Enjoy being alone too much. Someone broke your heart and you don't believe in anybody anymore?"

Beca took a moment by sipping her drink before she nonchalantly answered, "I just do better on my own."

Ashley scoffed, "No offense, Becs. But it is the lamest excuse. Everybody is good on their own. But we are certainly better when we're not."

"Works for me."

"Huh." Ashley narrowed her eyes, smiling teasingly as she said, "Stay longer. Be friends with me. I believe I can break you."

"You can try. But I won't be so sure if I were you. Just don't blame yourself when you fail."

"Does it mean you agree to be my friend then, Mitchell?"

Beca's eyes widened. Yep. She fell into that trap. Yet she laughed lightly and said, "You're good at this game, Benson."

"So it seems." Ashley responded with a smug smirk. "Ready to be changed by the mind blowing Benson Method?"

With an undermining scoff, Beca sarcastically said, "Good luck with that. Just don't hold your breath."

"Oh, I won't." Ashley chirped cheerfully. "You won't even know when it's done."

Beca rolled her eyes yet a light tug of smile appeared on the corner of her lips.

"Oh, by the way." The blonde gestured her hands towards the said stuff over Beca. "That irritated vibe you keep around you, the dark eyeliner, and those ear piercings you use to scare people off?"

Beca raised an eyebrow as if daring the blonde, expecting an insult coming her way.

"They don't work for me."

And again, Beca was amused. She covered it with a scoff before she said, "Oh, you just wait and see."

"Nu uh." Ashley said, wiggling her finger and smiling confidently. "You, wait and see."

Beca just rolled her eyes again, trying so hard to hide the grin that pushed to surface.

Ashley grinned smugly upon seeing the not so subtle joy in Beca's eyes. Then she asked, "So, why the handkerchief, Romeo? Were you not born from this century?"

Suddenly, the light in Beca's eyes dimmed slightly, but she put on a weak smile and said, "Well, it's just a habit I've carried ever since I was a first grader."

Beca stopped out of hesitation. But she could see that Ashley was waiting silently. So she continued, "I was a clumsy kid."

"You mean a clumsy person." The blonde corrected playfully, flicking her eyes towards Beca's glass of iced tea.

With half a chuckle, the DJ confirmed, "Well, you witness that first-handedly. Anywaaaay, when I was in the first grade, I usually scratched my face with many things. You know. Crayon, dirt, food, paint, glue, blood, sand. Just anything with color really. So my mom, she uh... she taught me that it's better to be prepared and she always slipped one handkerchief into my pocket every day."

The hint of sadness in Beca's eyes and voice were quite obvious. So Ashley assumed that mother must be a soft spot to touch. She put her hand cautiously on Beca's and squeezed it gently as she said, "She is a very smart lady, Becs."

Surprisingly, Beca didn't mind being touched by Ashley. She put on a tight appreciative smile though. She was trying to decipher the meaning of this... weirdly good feeling she was having.

"I think, she must've anticipated that years later you would've spilled your drink all over me."

Beca barked out a loud laughter and retorted, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

When Ashley's cheeks were flushed in red, Beca nervously muttered, "I'd really like to believe that she anticipated me spilling my drink on you today."

And... just like that. They both were falling into this nervous shy weird awkward silence.

Yep. Beca was hooked to the blonde since the first sight. They kept on talking for the whole night by the bar about everything and nothing at all. Even unaware when the party started to unwind. Before they knew it, Donna came to inform them that it was already two in the morning and Beca had to go home.

"I'll uh... walk you to your car." Beca said automatically.

Ashley bit her bottom lip to suppress a grin, and after she could compose herself, she nodded and said, "Sure."

Beca could see that Donna was smiling knowingly from Ashley's back. With Donna trailing them not so far from behind, they walked side by side closely, their shoulders bumped into each other's a couple of times.

"Well..." The brunette was obviously nervous about what she was about to say when she pushed her hands into her jeans pocket. "I never thought that I would ever say this after a party. But uhm... I really have a great time tonight. Uh... talking with you."

"It's not that hard right?" Ashley said with a smirk. When she realized how nervous Beca was, she added with a shy smile, "I'm glad you do. And just so you know, I also have a great time tonight talking with you."

Beca couldn't help but grinning from ear to ear. Then they arrived near a silver BMW.

"This is me." Ashley said.

Beca shuffled her feet back and forth, rubbing the back of her neck nervously before opening the back passenger door for Ashley. "It's uh... very nice meeting you."

"It's very nice meeting you too, Beca." Ashley said before leaning in to kiss Beca on the cheek.

And damn it! Beca was flushed in red. She felt some kind of electric sensation spreading, tingling on her cheek where Ashley' lips had touched. It was a very unfamiliar yet welcomed feeling. She didn't know why, but she had this urge to see Ashley again.

Beca closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and clenched her hands in the pockets. "It's now or never, Mitchell." That was the pep talk she gave to herself before blurting out, "Do- doyouwanttograbcoffeesometime?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

Beca took a deep breath, feeling how silly she must've looked like. She rubbed the back of her neck again for the umpteenth times that night -it's going to need a moisturizer for the scratch, with her eyes fixed on her boots. "I uh... I'm wondering, if you uh... you know, want to grab coffee sometimes... with me?"

Shocked? Stunned? Surprised? Amused? Amazed? Yep. Amazed. Ashley didn't think that Beca would ask her out. So excuse her for looking silly with her mouth opened by then.

When she didn't get any response, Beca glanced expectantly at Ashley. When she saw the seemed like a shocked look on Ashley's face, she rambled, "I mean you don't have to. You can say no. Well, it will be better if you say yes though. But why would you? Who's crazy enough to agree on going out for coffee with a stranger they just met? Ugh... I'm so bad at this. I'm so sorry, my bad, just forget that I asked. We can pretend that I've never asked. Can we?"

Ashley chuckled with rosy cheeks and replied, "I can be crazy enough."

This time, it was Beca's turn to be frozen up with her jaw dropped open. Why wouldn't she? She had just rambled out of her mind frantically like an idiot yet this gorgeous blonde agreed to go out with her. Lucky her. Right?

"Well, you know." Ashley teased upon seeing Beca's dumbstruck expression. "Crazy enough to take an offer to grab some coffee with a stranger. Especially when the stranger is very adorably cute."

"I am so not adorable nor cute, Benson."

"Who said I was talking about you?"

"Wha... I thought... wait, what?"

Ashley barked out her delightful laughter –in Beca's opinion, upon seeing Beca's manner. Then she took Beca's hands in hers, smiling softly as she said, "You are definitely something else, Beca Mitchell. I was kidding, silly. Of course I was talking about you."

"Oh. You're apparently not only crazy. But also mean."

"Now, give me your phone." Ashley stuck her hand out.

"What? Why? Don't you have your own phone?"

Ashley snorted, "You really don't know how to do this, do you?"

"You have no idea." Beca rolled her eyes. "Now, why would you need my phone?"

"To put my number on it. Duh. We need to communicate about the time and place of that coffee you've asked me. Becs... in this century, we, modern people, use this kind of rectangular device. You know, to communicate. It's called a phone. A cell phone."

"Haha. Very funny." Beca rolled her eyes in mocked annoyance as she handed Ashley her phone. She watched intently as the blonde put her number on it.

"There. My number's on it. And I've already texted myself to get your number. So, it's too late for a second thought if you want to bail on the date." Ashley winked as she hands back Beca's phone.

"So, it's a date, huh?" Beca couldn't help the knowing smirk on her face.

Successful in getting Beca's attention on her not so subtle attempt to reassure the meaning of the so-called coffee meeting, Ashley smiled cheerfully. With an effort to seem nonchalant, Ashley shrugged and said, "It can be a date. I mean, if you want to."

Beca chuckled real softly and said, "It's a date then."

Ashley beamed at her and leaned in to kiss her cheek again. "It's settled then, Mitchell. Call me about the details."

Again, Beca was stunned by the kiss. But she quickly put on her charming lopsided smile. "Yes ma'am."

After that, Ashley got into the car and then Beca slammed the door gently. They waved goodbye by the window. Beca watched as Ashley's car turned at the corner of the street before walking- no, scratch that. She was skipping her feet to her waiting car. When she slid inside, Donna was smiling and looking at her knowingly.

"Shut up, Donna." Beca muttered with her cheeks turning red.

"I didn't say anything."

That was their first meeting. Seems cool, right? Well, the next five years were uhm... more colorful. Let's start with the fact that it took Beca six months to officially ask Ashley to be her girlfriend. It happened because Beca needed to be sure that she wasn't into Ashley for some unresolved first love or anything.

At first, Beca couldn't deny the resemblance between Ashley with her first love. Someone with red hair, but personality wise had the similar attitudes. And let's not pretend that we don't know who it is. Because we do.

Well, that was just one reason though. The other was that Beca being Beca; she had always been terrified to put herself out there, let alone to admit that she had feelings to other people. It wasn't her zone and forte. She avoided that like a plague. However, after months of constant texting, midnight calls, several casual coffee and lunch dates, getting drunk together, and one hell of a trip to the hospital, Beca was finally certain about her feelings towards the blonde.

So, six months after the first encounter and two months after the incident that required a trip to the hospital, Beca officially asked Ashley to be her girlfriend.

In case you're wondering how, she sang a song. Of course. She's Beca Mitchell. But not only a song. She made a dinner reservation exclusively only for the two of them at a rooftop restaurant. After dinner and pleasantries, Beca serenaded Ashley with a love song. While playing a piano. Yep. All out.

When the song ended, Beca asked, "So uhm... Do you maybe uh... Want to make it official? Be my girlfriend? Or uh... something like that?"

Ashley chuckled. Yeah. Chuckled. And Beca felt like an idiot, thinking that why would anybody date her.

"I thought I was already your girlfriend." Ashley said cheerfully. Then she wrapped her arms around Beca's neck and added, "You know. After you told me that you love me two months ago at the hospital."

A face-splitting grin appeared on Beca's face but she suppressed it instantly and nonchalantly said, "I didn't say I love you."

"Nu uh." Ashley said in confusion. "You did."

"I said..." Beca trailed off with a smirk. "I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Haha." Ashley rolled her eyes and slapped Beca's arm playfully as she said, "Very funny, Mitchell."

"It's my middle name!" Beca exclaimed. "Beca Ste-funny Mitchell."

Ashley couldn't help but chuckle with an eye roll.

"Pun intended." Beca added with a smartass smirk.

"Just kiss me already, girlfriend." Ashley demanded with a pout.

And Beca complied. Whole-heartily. No need to get into the details. You know how to kiss.

.

.

You do, right?

End of Flashback.

Okay, folks. That is the second chapter. Their anniversary night isn't over yet. But I have to wrap this chapter in regard of the chapter's tittle.

I have a surprise in the next chapter. Until then, sit tight and make good choices.

Oh. About the song Beca had sung to ask Ashley to be her girlfriend. You'll find out later.