Chloe didn't sleep that night. The shock of a girl's pronouncement of affection for her wasn't something that had ever happened to her before. She hadn't even thought about Beca that way. But as with all things, once an idea is said aloud it's impossible to remove it from your mind. Chloe lay awake all night staring at the ceiling and going over every moment she and Beca had shared. She smiled when she thought about Beca, every night that they partied the fun had felt infectious, as if they could do anything because they were young and wild and carefree. But those nights felt like a lie to Chloe, she was so meticulously careful with everything that she couldn't understand how she could just let it all go for another crazy night.

It was as if Beca brought out her wild side, and Chloe made Beca wilder. It was a frightening and fun mixture, something that Chloe hadn't seen before. Maybe Beca was just confusing her feelings with the closeness of friendship? Chloe didn't know much about Beca's past at this point but she knew that Beca was prone to doing stupid things when she was drunk. Chloe decided to talk to Beca the next day and sort out what she was feeling. A tingle of dread went down her spine as she rolled over to try to get some sleep, how do you even start that conversation? What on earth was she going to say?

They were both dreading it. Both waiting for it to end. God it was awkward. Chloe had come to Beca's room to talk about 'the phone call'. Surrounded by people they had left the dorms and talked on their way to the library. The two-minute walk had never seemed longer to either of them.

Beca explained that this was just part of her routine, it was just something that she did. She set herself challenges and that's all this was about, Chloe was just another number. Chloe wasn't convinced. Beca wasn't sure she had even managed to convince herself. Sweep it under the rug, pretend it never happened – these were concepts Beca was comfortable with.

"I just set challenges for myself. It's really stupid but I do this all the time. It'll go away", Beca could hear how desperate her voice sounded. She knew it wasn't true.

"Ok, I understand." Chloe paused before pushing a perfect strand of red hair behind her ear. "I guess I just want to make sure you're comfortable. I don't want things to get weird or anything."

"me neither"

"ok, then I guess we just forget about it?" CHloe looked unsure.

"yep, it's forgotten. Vodka hey? crazy stuff?" Beca chuckled awkwardly.

"Vodka." Chloe agreed.

Thankfully alcohol saved them from each other's awkwardness. The weekend was filled with so many boozy moments and drunken rampages that the space that had existed between them was immediately closed, in fact the pair bonded so much that they became practically inseparable in the course of a few days. They threw up together after swallowing two litres of milk, they lost a 3-legged race together, and they sat on the floor of a pub for several hours just so Beca could win a bet.

The photos that followed the weekend had stills of Beca and Chloe with big smiles, standing arm in arm or standing side by side with milk dribbling down their chins. It would be easy to say that they quickly became great friends but both of them could feel a slight pressure in the backs of their minds. The idea that one liked the other wouldn't go away, every moment seemed to be comprised of a heightened reality. Every movement Chloe made was counteracted by Beca and vice versa.

They couldn't have known the trouble they would get into by getting in this deep. By opening themselves up completely for friendship they allowed other possibilities to creep in and take root.