A/N: O M aca G, you guys. Thank you all for the outpouring of support on this one. All the favs, follows, and reviews after only one chapter was inspiring. You sure know how to make a lady feel special. :) Anyway - ask and ye shall receive. Here is chapter 2!


Needless to say, Beca didn't catch a whole lot of zzzs that night. Her brain was running a million miles a minute as she did her best to process this new information. Chloe wanted to experiment, in a sexual way, with Beca. Was there anything stranger than that sentence? Beca was overwhelmed with disbelief. I mean, the thought was completely insane! Chloe had gone straight to Crazy Town, without passing Go, and without collecting 200 dollars.

Sure, Chloe spent most of her time invading the personal space of others. She was a close-talker and the phrase "touchy-feely" didn't even begin to cover how physically affectionate she could be. And, yeah, Chloe was incredibly comfortable with her sexuality. She had no shame in discussing such things, and was never embarrassed about acting on those sorts of urges publicly. She refused to cover hickies, instead opting to wear them with pride like sexual badges of honor. The red head would often compare notes with Stacie, much to Beca's dismay, in shared spaces of the Bellas House and in front of all the other girls. Fat Amy would throw in her two cents here and there, and tell a few outlandish tales of sexual conquest all her own.

It should come as no surprise that all of these things made Beca very uncomfortable. She was a private person and believed that all matters pertaining to someone's personal sex life should remain, well, private. She didn't want to hear about the day Stacie had sex 14 times in 12 hours. She didn't want to hear about that time Fat Amy boned a guy in a vat of Jell-o after a particularly heated wrestling match. She didn't want to hear about the animal-like sounds that escaped Tom's throat when Chloe nibbled at his ear lobe. And she most certainly didn't want to talk about what it was like having sex with Jesse. She didn't want to talk about it with anyone. Not even with Jesse.

But that never stopped the Bellas from asking… constantly, shamelessly, incessantly. The truth about sex with Jesse was that it really wasn't something to write home about. It was good, but it was nothing special. Beca's relationship with the Treble was based more strongly on friendship and love than on sex. And that seemed right to Beca, seemed normal. They were endlessly supportive of one another, especially when it came to their career ambitions. That was exactly what Beca needed. She needed a cheerleader and a great teammate, someone she could rely on to bail her out of a jam (sometimes literally, she thought with a smile, flashing back to those few hours she spent in the Big House their freshman year). She didn't need a great lover.

Which is why when Jesse suggested putting things on hold before he left for film school, she didn't find herself particularly heartbroken. Jesse was still on her side. He'd still be there to support her however and whenever she needed him to. And, of course, she'd do the same for him. The break from more traditional "girlfriend duties," including sex, actually came as quite the relief to Beca. She had other, much more important things to focus on. Like her internship, Worlds, and, you know, with graduation from Barden quickly approaching, what she was going to do with the rest of her life was a pretty big stressor. And when she ultimately found herself in L.A., where Jesse was in film school, they'd pick up right where they left off. It was really kind of perfect.

All of this to say, sex was not particularly important to Beca Mitchell. She didn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about it, let alone doing it, and she spent exactly zero minutes talking about it. So this whole thing with Chloe's experimentation fantasies was particularly weird, to Beca, who had never really spent any amount of time thinking critically about her own sexuality.

It seemed to Beca that the very thought of being intimate with Chloe should disgust her. She thought she should have some sort of screaming, visceral "no way in hell" reaction. But she didn't. In fact, she was almost reaction-less. The idea wasn't repulsive, but it's not like it excited her either. Maybe she was still too stunned by the revelation of it to respond properly.

The problem was, Beca felt that Chloe deserved a response, an honest one, and she deserved it sooner rather than later. If Beca were to believe that Chloe was going to follow Aubrey's guidance, she'd be hearing about this topic from the other girl again soon. Probably very soon. She'd at least like to be prepared for that moment. Though ideally, she would beat the red head to the punch.

The whole ordeal – as in, Beca trying to identify her own emotions and then put words to those feelings – plagued Beca all day. This wasn't something she was good at. This is the kind of thing she'd normally go to Chloe to ask for help with. And the fact that that wasn't an option was so completely unfair, it had the brunette on edge. Combine that with her lack of sleep, the pressure to come up with a demo her boss wouldn't hate, and the severity of the current situation with the Bellas and you've got a pretty perfect recipe for Beca's total meltdown that day. It was just too much. Everything was too much. And, in classic Beca style, she decided that bailing was her best option. She wasn't sure how she'd make it back to campus, but she knew that she had to get gone. Stat.

An unexpected entanglement with a bear trap was basically the only thing that could have stopped her from leaving. Thank goodness the Lodge at Fallen Leaves was littered with them, because if Beca had learned anything in her 4 years at Barden, it was that bailing was never the answer. It always did more harm than good, both to Beca and to the people that she cared about most. Yes, bailing was a thing of the past for Beca Mitchell. Or so she liked to think.

So she felt really badly about blowing up at Chloe. She felt guilty about keeping her internship a secret from her (and from the rest of the girls) and she regretted implying that there were more important things than the bond of Bella sisterhood. It simply wasn't true. She could count on these girls for anything… which is what gave her the idea to ask Emily to collaborate with her. After the moment around the camp fire, all of the stressors – well, all of the stressors except one – felt pretty resolved, at least for the moment. The girls had "rediscovered their sound" and Beca felt confident they were going to put together a kickass set; she and Emily were going to create a demo that would hopefully wow her boss, or at the very least not disappoint him. Things were primed to move in the right direction, and a weight was lifted off Beca's shoulders. She felt like she could breathe again, though she hadn't been entirely aware that she was holding her breath in the first place.

This left her with only one pressing issue. What was she going to tell Chloe about this whole "experimentation" thing? Beca would be lying if she didn't acknowledge how full of remorse she felt after the argument with her best friend. It made her feel like she had to make it up to Chloe in some way. Like she had to do something for her, as an apology… because Beca Mitchell found herself so rarely capable of simply uttering the words "I'm sorry" in that particular order.

She can't say that her guilt didn't influence her decision. It certainly did. But how much it influenced her decision was anyone's guess, really. Did she want to do this thing with Chloe? Well, she's didn't not want to do it. Though she definitely needed to know what the ground rules were and the extent to which Chloe would like this experiment to go. The DJ felt she could pretty easily fathom kissing. And she felt like if Chloe wanted to touch her, feel her, that might be okay. But everything else her brain could think of made Beca feel weird, made her feel nervous and a little hot. She hoped that what she was willing to offer would be enough for Chloe. Then she started to panic. What if it wasn't?

She reminded herself to breathe. She really was jumping the gun here. She'd have to talk it out with Chloe. She reassured herself that Chloe was her friend, and she would never be mad at Beca for not wanting to do something. She'd just have to be up front and remain honest. She'd have to be both ready and willing to discuss all of this.

But that had Beca a bit worried. Talking about this stuff wasn't really her strong suit. But she'd never been more open with another person as she was with Chloe, not even with Jesse. There was something about the red head that had worked its way behind Beca's fortress-like walls, had seeped beneath her skin, had crawled right into her and taken up occupancy in her chest cavity. Chloe had forged through it all before Beca even had time to notice. If she could manage to have a dialogue with anyone about things that were sexual in nature, it'd be with Chloe.

And that's what Beca kept telling herself as she lay once again on the cold, hard ground of the tent, her best friend once again by her side. She listened carefully for Lily's steady breath beside her, listened for Amy's raucous snoring from the far side of the tent, listened for Cynthia Rose's gruff mouth breathing. She had to make sure all of the girls were truly asleep before she could say anything to Chloe. But after a solid hour, when she was certain each girl was fast asleep, Beca couldn't bring herself to say anything at all. Her brain told her muscles to move, but they didn't respond. She took a deep breath through her nose, holding it in for a moment before releasing it slowly through her mouth.

For a long moment, she sat still, listening to the symphony of breaths and snores surrounding her. Then, she willed herself to turn on to her side and was met with the extraordinary sight of Chloe's profile. The redhead looked so peaceful, so perfect, lying there. It was as if she was made of porcelain, a work of art that stole the brunette's breath away, and left her mouth dry. She reached out an arm and pressed gently on Chloe's shoulder.

"Chloe…?" Her voice was so soft she almost didn't recognize it. When no response came, she pushed the girl's shoulder a little harder and repeated a hair louder: "Chloe?"

The red head's muscles flexed in her sleeping bag. A quiet, slightly confused, hum escaped her as her body twisted. Beca saw the strain of her eyelids trying to open. She was awake, or at least almost so.

"Um, Chloe?" she questioned a third time. The slight nod of the woman below her gave her all the permission she needed to continue talking. "You know, um, that thing you – uh – said yesterday?"

Chloe's vibrant, blue eyes snapped open and flashed instantly to Beca's. There was something in them that Beca didn't quite recognize, like fear, but a fear that manifests itself in pure fortitude. The kind of fear that compels someone to experience a surge of courage.

But Chloe said nothing. She just stared at Beca, blinking only once. The brunette tried to form words, but her mouth felt full of cotton. She opened her mouth just to close it again. She was having a mental block on the "experimenting" word. For some reason, she just couldn't say it. Chloe knew what she was referencing, though. Based on her reaction, Beca was pretty certain of it and so she continued on without the word.

"Were you – uh – were you, like… serious about that?" she managed.

A brilliant smile spread slowly across Chloe's face. Something in her eyes sparkled, and she looked downright giddy. She looks so very… Chloe. Warmth flooded Beca's cheeks, and she hoped it wasn't a visible reaction. The way Chloe looked made her feel uncomfortable and she shifted awkwardly, breaking eye contact. Why isn't she saying anything?

As soon as the thought registered in her mind, Chloe began to speak and Beca's eyes instantly flickered back to the girl. "Yeah, Becs," she said. "Like, of course I did." Chloe's voice was hushed and gravelly. From sleep, Beca guessed, but the sound of it twisted Beca's insides. She felt a little sick and swallowed hard.

"I mean," Chloe continued, "who wouldn't want to experiment with you?" She raised a hand and brushed her fingers gently down Beca's cheek, whose eyes fluttered shut at the contact. "Just look at you. You're beautiful."

The sincerity in Chloe's tone clenched tightly in Beca's chest, like a clamp on her heart. Her brain felt tingly. She was light-headed, almost dizzy and, frankly, she didn't know what to say. Her physical response was surprising, to say the least, and she absolutely couldn't stop it. She couldn't remember ever feeling quite like this before, and she honestly wasn't sure what to make of it. This was all so… so… weird. What the fuck is happening to me?

She opened her eyes and looked back down at Chloe, who was looking at her like…like… Beca didn't even know. She'd never seen Chloe look that way before. She didn't recognize it. She couldn't make sense of it. She had no idea what was happening, but before her head could catch up, could reason again and tell her to stop, she was leaning down, touching her lips to Chloe's. A few long seconds passed that way. The moment felt frozen in time, to Beca. The noise of the girls surrounding them had faded completely, as had Beca's acknowledgment that they even existed. All Beca's brain could process was the feather light touch of Chloe's lips against hers. It was strange, so very strange, the way everything else had just completely fallen away.

Time began to move again as Chloe pressed her lips up into Beca's. A breathy sound she couldn't stop parted her lips as it escaped her. The red head took this as some sort of invitation, and sucked Beca's bottom lip into her mouth, sliding her tongue gently across it with a quiet, restrained moan. The pitch of it was surprisingly high and it temporarily took Beca out of the moment. It was a mental reminder that the person beneath her was female, was Chloe. And it was weird, but also not so weird? It wasn't bad, just… different. Chloe's hands rose to cup the sides of her face, fingers tangling into her hair as they gently dug into the flesh behind her ears. Beca felt the heels of her hands press against her jawline and a sense of panic began to seize her body, but then Chloe's tongue licked into her mouth and the panic was quickly replaced with something else. It was a feeling Beca instantly recognized but she delayed the acknowledgement of it for a minute longer, instead opting to reciprocate and groaned at the way Chloe's tongue felt against her own. Their lips moved effortlessly against each other as their tongues danced. And Beca… enjoyed it. This weird feeling that accompanied kissing her best friend. And she allowed herself to enjoy it as her right hand gripped tightly around Chloe's shoulder, trying impossibly to push the other woman further into the pillow. The side of Chloe's hip brushed against her as the red head shifted with an almost pathetic sounding whine.

What must have been a particularly loud snore from Fat Amy rang through Beca's ears, and suddenly all the thoughts she was holding back came tumbling down around her. The sudden realization of where she was, what she was doing, and who she was doing it with hit her like a bucket of ice cold water. Beca immediately pulled her mouth away from Chloe's, who emitted an odd squeak at the loss of contact. The brunette's fingers flew to her own lips in the shock of the moment. Her brow furrowed as confusion ran rampantly through her, shattering everything like a bull in a china shop. She looked down at Chloe, whose eyes opened and stared back at her, something like joy but also like mischief burned brightly within them. The older girl donned a stupidly large grin and she raised her eyebrows suggestively at Beca.

The brunette couldn't believe the audacity of it, the teasing confidence the other girl was sporting. She flung out an arm, swatting Chloe's shoulder rather forcefully.

"Ow!" was the hushed exclamation she got for the attack.

But Beca just looked down at her incredulously. Then quietly, but still conveying every ounce of complete hysteria she was feeling, she harshly whispered, "What the FUCK, dude?!"