CHAPTER 3: HERE WE GO

Day One

Early the next morning Beca slid her key into the door and entered the estate as silently as she could. Not that she would ever say anything to Amy but she was greatful that she was staying in the guest quarters when her alarm went off 20 minutes ago. She slipped on her black pants and tank top, grabbed her white chef jacket and walked out of the door quickly. She'd only gotten about 3 hours of sleep after leaving the club and stopping at her apartment to pack some clothes for the next 7 days. And now she was tip toeing through the mansion she'd bought with her inheritance money 4 years ago. The mansion that her and her best friend remodeled for their business. Their biggest money maker and the home she'd never spent a night in herself.

"Hey" Flo popped up from around the corner startling her.

"Jesus Flo" Beca said with her hand over her heart. "What are you doing here?" Beca asked breathless.

"Sunrise yoga. Which no one showed up for." Flo said angrily. "I re-arranged all the other bookings to be here for this and they didn't even come. Or cancel with Benji."

"Sorry Flo." Beca said with a frown. She hadn't met the group but she didn't like them already. "I doubt they will be up anytime soon. Benji said they were partying over here pretty late last night. He had to stay behind and pick up the mess at the pool after they finally went to bed."

"It's okay. Back home I used to have to herd goats at sunrise. So this is better." She shrugged as she made her way past Beca and out of the home. "See you later." Flo said over her shoulder.

"Yeah, later." Beca said as her friend exited the house.

XxXxXx

Chloe wasn't sure what woke her up. Maybe it was the cool breeze coming off the ocean or the rumbling of the waves early in the morning. The seagulls cawing in the distance or the smell of coffee that had somehow wafted up to her room. But either way she found herself with her eyes open laying in her bed watching the new morning sunrays dance across the ocean. She was content to do so, until her stomach growled. She slowly rolled over to her back and looked up at the intricate woodwork of her ceiling. She didn't notice it last night when she went to bed shortly after they had been safely returned home by Jesse. Most of the other girls stayed up but she and Jessica had dismissed themselves quickly to go to bed. She could hear them below her for a while until she finally fell asleep, exhausted by the argument she'd had with Luke and the traveling they'd done. She pushed herself up and let her feet dangle over the side of the bed as she reached for her phone, lifting it to bring it to life and show the time. 7:41am. She decided to ignore the 9 missed calls from Luke until after she'd gotten coffee in her system. Once her feet were firmly on the ground Chloe pulled a zip up hoodie from her bag and slid her arms through the sleeves to cover up her blue pajama camisole. Her feet carried her down the steps and towards the kitchen. She slowed when she heard the soft mumbling of singing coming from her destination.

'you just ain't right

Comes a time when you know you must let go

I know, I know

We fixed it, but it's broken'

Beca sang softly as she moved through the kitchen chopping up the various fresh vegetables that Flo had stocked in the house the day before. She'd plan on using them for breakfast or lunch so as she moved through she kept a list of things for Flo to have resupplied. It was a quite morning in the house with the guests still sleeping well past the 7am breakfast time. She planned on keeping it that way so she tried to keep her voice as soft and low as possible as she began to prep for the day.

'Got a feelin' we gon' get this wrong

And even I can't be this strong

It's the breath that you take right before you die'

"Hi" Chloe said her voice chipper but still laced with sleep.

Beca's head snapped up quickly as she placed the knife on the chopping board in front of her. She reached in front of her coat and pulled the towel out of the apron wrapped around her waist. "Shit" She mumbled seeing the bright blue eyes from the night before standing in front of her.

Chloe smiled. She'd recognized the DJ as soon as she saw her standing in the kitchen so she'd had a minute to let get used to the idea of seeing her again. Last night she didn't think she would and she'd be lying if she said the mysterious woman didn't cross her mind a couple of times before she finally fell asleep.

"I didn't mean it like that" Beca said quickly trying to recover. "Good morning." She said quickly. "What I meant was good morning. Which sounds nothing like shit actually." Beca rambled nervously.

"It's okay." Chloe said as she moved forward and slid into the bar stool that sat on the opposite side of the large kitchen island that Beca was working at. "B Mitchell" Chloe said reading the monogram lettering on Beca's chef jacket.

"Beca." The chef answered.

"Beca." Chloe repeated. "I'm Chloe" she said with a smile. "The coffee smells amazing."

"Shit" Beca winced as the word slipped from her lips for a second time in thirty seconds. "I'm sorry, would you like some coffee?." She apologized quickly. "And I'm sorry that I keep cursing."

"I have actually heard the word shit before. I may have even said it a time or two " Chloe teased as she watched Beca grab a mug from a nearby cabinet. "What can I make for you? Cappuccino? Latte?" Beca asked as she wiped out the mug quickly just for good measure. "We have all the flavors, vanilla, caramel, mocha. We have soy or alm"

"Just coffee" Chloe interrupted. She wasn't sure how long Beca would go on listing things and while she liked those type of drinks from time to time she really just liked to have regular coffee in the mornings. Nothing fancy.

Beca smirked. "Sugar? Cream? Or half and half?" Beca asked quickly.

"There sure are a lot of things in this kitchen." Chloe teased. "I don't have half of that stuff in my house."

"We have whatever you want." Beca smiled. "And if by chance we don't, I'll get it."

"Whatever I want?" Chloe asked teasingly with a raised eyebrow.

Beca slowly walked around the kitchen island towards the redhead who sat in the barstool. She suddenly felt the confidence she had last night as she regained her composure. She took the opportunity to take stock of Chloe. Her bare feet and perfectly painted toes. Her tone legs crossed to the side of the barstool. The short shorts she'd been sleeping in. Bright blue eyes. Gentle smile and bed tossed hair.

"Anything." Beca said as she sat the mug down gently in front of Chloe.

Chloe looked from the mug up to Beca's dark blue eyes as her voice filled her ears.

"Anything you want." Beca seemed to whisper.

"Oh my God please give me coffee." Stacie groaned as she entered the kitchen heavy footed. Unlike Chloe, she didn't bother putting anything over her thin pajamas before leaving her room. Her arms landed heavy on the island next to Chloe and her head immediately landed on her arms. "My fucking head hurts so bad." Stacie mumbled into her arms.

With their moment effectively broken Chloe spoke, "Two creams, no sugar."

Beca smiled and made her way away from the guests and back around the island. She pulled open a drawer and retrieved two plain liquid cream pods but before she could hand them to the redhead she heard, "Do you have vanilla?" Chloe asked softly. "If you don't its fine."

"Of course." Beca smiled as she put the originals back and found the two that Chloe requested. She sat them down along with a spoon in front of the redhead before turning back towards the cabinet to grab another mug. "What can I make for you?" She asked the brunette who still had her head laying on the counter top.

Stacie's head popped up, her eyes squinted almost shut, and her mouth dry.

"Anything" Chloe said to Stacie but looking up at Beca who stood opposite her.

The brunette chef smirked as she waited.

"Really?" Stacie grumbled.

Beca nodded.

"Can you make a sugar free hazelnut macchiato with an extra shot?" Stacie rattled off.

"Yes ma'am" Beca said with a smile before turning from the guests towards the expresso machine.

She worked quickly to make the coffee Stacie specifically asked for and tried not to listen to their conversation behind her.

"Maybe you should go put on some more clothes Stace" Chloe suggested softly. "Or a robe at least."

"Why?" Stacie asked loudly. "I don't fucking care. I'm sure she doesn't care." Stacie said motioning towards Beca's back.

"Good morning ladies." Benji greeted cheerfully as he made his way into the house. "How are we doing this morning?"

How he did it Beca didn't know. When he finally got back to the guest house last night he was exhausted. She'd made him his favorite grilled cheese sandwich right before she went to bed and that was only a few hours ago. She knows he got less sleep than her but yet here he was. Dressed perfectly looking like he'd slept for 12 hours.

"Good morning" Chloe said cheerfully to the man. "Beca was just making Stacie's coffee while she heads to her room to get dressed." Chloe said making eyes at Stacie.

"Perfect." Benji smiled. "I'll be happy to bring it to your room if you would like." He said to Stacie who moaned and rolled her eyes at her redheaded best friend. She pushed herself from the island and stomped back in the direction of her room.

"Anyone else awake?" Benji asked.

"No. They were up fairly late last night. I'm shocked Stacie is up this early." Chloe said bringing her coffee mug to her lips.

"What about you? You don't need sleep?" Beca asked as she sat the drink down on the counter in front of the platter Benji had retrieved from somewhere. Beca dusted the top lightly with some hazelnut powder before nodding to Benji that it was complete.

"Oh no. I went to bed right after we got back." Chloe smiled. "I need many many hours of beauty sleep."

Beca smiled. She liked this girl. She didn't seem like all the spoiled rich college kids who came through here living off of mommy and daddy's money. "Looks like you've had enough beauty sleep to last a lifetime." Beca said with a smirk. She turned quickly and returned to the chopping board to continue what she was doing before she was interrupted the first time.

Chloe could feel the blush on her cheeks immediately as she watched Beca chop the vegetables in front of her.

"So DJ by night and barista by day?" Chloe asked sipping her coffee as she watch Beca move through the kitchen.

Beca shrugged as she pulled out some eggs from the refrigerator. "Chef by trade. DJ by passion." Beca replied. "What can I make you for breakfast?"

"What's your specialty?" Chloe asked.

"Pancakes of course." Beca smiled.

"I love pancakes."

"So a regular coffee and pancakes type of girl?" Beca questioned as she began measuring out flour into a medium sized mixing bowl.

This time it was Chloe who shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a simple girl. Easy to please."

"Huh" Beca laughed.

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing." Beca replied quickly. "So where do you go to school?" Beca asked as she whisked the ingredients quickly.

"School?" Chloe asked quirking her head to the side.

"Yeah. School. Like college?" Beca replied.

"You think I'm in school?" Chloe asked with an amused look on her face.

"I mean, yeah. Are you not?" Beca asked confused.

"No. I didn't go to college." Chloe smiled.

"Oh" Beca replied quickly. "That's cool. I only went for a year before I went to culinary school. But I get it, schools not for everybody."

"No, it's not" Chloe agreed. She watched the chef closely to see if she was pretending or if she really didn't know who she was.

"Do you work?" Beca asked as she bent down and turned on the griddle.

"Yes." Chloe answered slowly.

Beca looked up at her curiously. "Is it a secret?" She teased leaning across the island and raising an eyebrow.

"What do you think I do?" Chloe asked still trying to figure out if Beca was playing her or not.

"Look that way" Beca said as she pointed behind Chloe.

"What? Why?" Chloe asked.

"Because I don't want you to see my secret ingredient. If you know what it is you won't need me anymore." Beca smiled.

Chloe rolled her eyes and turned around to face away from the chef. "So I need you now?"

"After you taste these, you're going to crave them. And I'll be the only one who can satisfy that craving so, yeah, you'll need me." Beca flirted shamelessly with the back of Chloe's head. "But if I had to guess, I'd say an elementary school teacher or a nanny or something." Beca said as she reached into the spice cabinet's looking for the nutmeg, cloves and her secret ingredient.

"Nope" Chloe smiled as she answered.

"Hmmm. Okay" Beca said thinking, "you have this sweet look about you. Like you only live to help people. So if you're not a teacher, I'm going to guess social worker."

"No." Chloe replied quickly.

"Give me a hint." Beca requested. "You can turn back around."

Chloe swiveled back around and rested her elbow on the counter in front of her and put her chin in her hand as she watched Beca pour some batter onto the hot griddle. "You don't know who I am?" Chloe asked seriously.

Beca looked up at her, "Should I?" She asked.

"No. Not necessarily." Chloe answered with a shy smile.

"Good morning" Aubrey moaned as she entered the kitchen. Directly behind her was CR and Jessica.

Once again being interrupted, Beca greeted the three women and asked, "Can I get you some coffee and something for breakfast?"

Aubrey took the stool next to Chloe and moaned in response while laying her head on her best friend's shoulder. Jessica and CR both asked for coffee.

"So what are we doing today?" Stacie asked as she re-joined the group after changing from her pajama's and into a blue bikini and sheer cover up.

"Honestly" Aubrey answered as a plate stacked with pancakes was sat in front of Chloe with a small pitcher of maple syrup. Moments later mugs with hot coffee were placed in front of CJ and Jessica. Chloe wasn't sure how Beca managed to get all those things done in such a short period of time. "I feel like I want to eat all these pancakes and then waddle over to the pool and fall asleep on one of those lounge chairs." Aubrey said as she picked up Chloe's fork and cut into the fluffy pancakes.

"Hey" Chloe whined as Aubrey shoved a forkful of her breakfast in her mouth.

"Oh." Aubrey moaned. "That's so good." She said as she pulled Chloe's plate in front of her and poured syrup over the stack.

"Here you go." Beca whispered as she sat another plate just in front of Chloe who turned back to see that Beca had replaced her stolen breakfast.

"Thanks." She smiled.

Beca winked before turning back towards stove.

XxXxXx

"You've been staring at the same place in that book for the last hour Chloe." Jessica said as she pushed her sunglasses from her face to rest on the top of her head. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah" Chloe said pulling her eyes from the book and over to her friend. "Just thinking."

"About?" Jessica asked.

Chloe sighed heavily. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Beca and another woman pulling groceries from several bags and laying them out of the kitchen counter space. "Everything with Luke." Chloe admitted.

"Want to talk about it?" Jessica asked.

"Not really" Chloe answered honestly as she turned her full attention towards the kitchen.

Jessica watched her friend watch the women in the kitchen. "She's cute."

"Hum?" Chloe replied quickly.

"Beca. She's cute." Jessica repeated.

Chloe turned back to her book to afraid that a verbal response would give away her unexpected crush.

"Hey." Jesse said entering the kitchen with Flo and Beca. "Need some help?"

"That'd be great. I need to go check off all the rooms to make sure they were cleaned properly." Flo said handing her grocery bag over to Jesse.

"Thanks Flo!" Beca called out as her friend left the kitchen quickly and made a bee-line for the stairs.

"How's it going?" Jesse asked. "How was lunch service?"

"Fine." Beca answered quickly. "No lunch. They just kind of snacked this afternoon. But I have a big dinner planned." Beca smiled. "Grilled tilapia with chipotle avocado crema and calabacitas" Beca said putting on her thickest Spanish accent. She glanced back outside to Chloe who she happened to have a clear view of in her lounge chair next to the swimming pool. Her pervious unfinished conversation with the beautiful redhead popped back into her mind.

"What do I have to do to get you to save me a plate?" He asked.

"Hey. Do you know who those girls are?" Beca asked.

"Yeah Becs. Like everybody knows them." Jesse answered as he rolled his eyes.

"No. Not everybody." Beca said quickly.

Jesse lowered his voice to a whisper "So, the tall scary looking blonde is Aubrey. She's Stacie and Chloe's lawyer." Jesse began, "I didn't know who she was until I read through the charter packet that Amy gave us that you refused to open." He teased. "The other blonde with wavy hair is Jessica. She's Chloe's stylist. Cynthia Rose who likes to be called CR is the one with the dreads. She's Chloe and Stacie's publicist. The superhot brunette is Stacie Conrad. She's a model and like number 1 of Maxim's hot 100 list." Jesse swooned.

Beca looked out to see said woman shamelessly laying topless on her chaise lounge chair but her attention was focused on the redhead. "And Chloe?"

"Only one of the most famous actress's on the planet Becs." Jesse rolled his eyes. "This is why you should watch movies. So that when one of the most beautiful women in the world waltzes into your million dollar estate, you know who she is instead of assuming she's a spoiled rich kid."

"She's an actress?" Beca repeated.

"Yep. And a good one." Jesse said looking over at the redhead. "It's a good story actually."

Beca listened to her friend carefully as he continued. "Last year she was nominated for an Academy Award so there was this big article on her in People magazine. Grew up in a small Georgia town. Parents divorced when her and her brother were young. Started acting on a soap opera, moved to LA and worked her way up from there." Jesse summarized what he remembered from the article. "Not the spoiled rich kid you thought she was." He looked back over to his friend who wouldn't or couldn't, he wasn't able to decipher, take her eyes off the redheaded actress. "Not everyone with money got it from their mommy and daddy." He said knowing it wasn't a fair comment to make. Beca wasn't spoiled or entitled. She didn't even really want her parents money and even when she got it she used it in a way that only benefitted the people closest to her including him, but he needed to remind his best friend that not everyone was in her situation. "Not everyone is like you."


AN: Sup guys. What do you think so far? Are you liking it? Do you think is sucks? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks as always for reading.

SONG CRED: P!nk: Where We Go