Hiya! So, this chapter wasn't really in the original plan for this story (not that I have that much of a plan, lat's be honest) but I was inspired by the weather outside my bedroom window. This is really just a bit of fun this chapter so I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!
Happy snow day everybody! xx
The next morning, Chloe awoke to someone knocking on her door. She rubbed her eyes and went to open it.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" said Beca.
Chloe smiled as she remembered the day before.
"Yeah, but that's okay," she replied. "There are worse views to wake up to," she said with a grin.
Beca was stood in an oversized t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. Her hair was in a loose bun but most of it had fallen down in front of her face and she'd had to tuck the stray strands behind her ears. She looked gorgeous.
Beca blushed, but tried to play it off as a yawn. "Yeah, um, maybe you should check outside your window before you speak too soon.
Chloe turned and opened the curtains. Snow. A think layer of snow had fallen over the world over night. She let out a long whistle and when she turned bac to Beca, she had the biggest smile on her face. She paused, looking at Beca and Beca sensed that something was about to happen.
"SNOW!" she yelled and took off down the hall. Beca tried her best to follow but Chloe knew her way around the house much better than she did. Chloe banged on various doors and soon all the cousins were tearing about the house trying to find coats and shoes and hats as fast as possible. Beca just stood in bewilderment as they all piled onto the front lawn, jumping, shrieking, and tackling each other.
"Here." A coat was thrust in front of Beca's nose and after she took it, she noticed Benji was stood next to her. He passed her some shoes as well as a scarf. "They might be a bit big," he said as he pulled on his own. "We haven't had snow all together for about 6 years, hence the excitement," he added.
"You're not excited?" asked Beca.
"Oh I am! I just thought you should get to be excited too. Jesse kinda through you into a family who all have inside jokes and I just didn't want to be the outsider; I know what it feels like."
Beca felt sorry for him and thought it was sweet that he'd waited for her. "You ready?" she asked, "race you?" And before he had time to think, Beca was off into the snow.
A snowball fight had begun, boys vs girls. Chloe pulled Beca in behind a snow wall that they had built and she fell on top of her. The two girls smiled awkwardly at each other and Jessica and Ashley exchanged a look.
"Haha," Jesse yelled, appearing behind them, brandishing two giant snowballs. He launched them and Beca grabbed Chloe's hand and the girls scattered. Beca didn't know what had suddenly made her so bold.
Beca and Chloe hid behind a large tree. "We haven't won one of these for 9 years. This is gonna be our year, I can feel it," she said squeezing Beca's hand and Beca noted how natural it felt to be holding it.
"What makes you so certain?"
"We've got you," Chloe said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Chloe noticed how Beca smiled at the compliment, and also that she still hadn't let go of Chloe's hand. They stood just avoiding each other's eyes for a few moments before Aubrey found them.
"Oh great! We need to find Jessica and Ashley and make a plan," she panted, slightly out of breath. "Then what I think we should do is that they ambush the boys from behind and take out Benji. Then Chloe, you get Jesse, I'll get Bumper, and Beca, that leaves you to get Luke."
"Dude! He's like twice my height and much more athletic I would wager," Beca said indignantly.
"So, that's the plan, I'm gonna try and find the twins and then everyone into place. Got it? Good," continued Aubrey as if she hadn't heard Beca's protests and she ran off.
"It's fine. Remember, you're the reason we're gonna win this year," Chloe said confidently.
"Or how I be the reason you loose and Aubrey will hate me forever."
"She won't hate you forever. Although it will really help if you can take down Luke, sibling rivalry and everything, it would boost her ego if he can be taken out by someone as small as you."
"I, am not, small."
"I mean you are."
"Don't try me Swanson."
"Beale."
"What?"
"Beale. I'm not a Swanson, I'm Beale. Jesse's dad and my mum are cousins. My surname's Beale."
"Oh, sorry. Don't try me Beale," Beca resumed her sarcastic aggression.
"Are you guys ready?" Aubrey asked from across the lawn.
"On it!" called back Chloe. "You stand over there, I'll be just there," Chloe pointed. She pulled Beca into a hug that Beca wasn't prepared for and her stomach flipped. "You can do this!" she ran off.
Jessica and Ashley began their attack, sneaking up n the boys from behind. Jesse, Bumper, and Luke scattered but not before the girls got a few fistfuls of snow down their backs. They then turned their attention to Benji who fell in surrender within moments. He lay, defeated, covered in snow. The girls sat down next to him and watched the rest of the fight play out. Aubrey came a Bumper from the right. She seemed to have built a pile of snowballs about the same height as herself and was firing them faster than Beca could count directly into Bumper's face. He himself had one single snowball left and he sunk, defeated to his knees. Chloe, meanwhile had gone for a different approach; instead of many small snowballs, she had created one giant one and had found a small hill to place it on. As Jesse ran at her- she was hidden by the snow, - she pushed it casually down the hill. Jesse had just time to turn before it hit him face on, however this was a mistake. He had not had time to get out of its path and it hit the back of his legs, causing his knees to buckle and he lay, face down in the snow. Luke used the confusion to get away and came sprinting towards a tree. He took refuge behind it, thinking he could not be seen. Chloe looked around. She could not see Luke or Beca and began to wonder what on earth had happened. Just then, she heard a scream. The sort of high pitched scream that little girls are stereotyped to do. It was not a little girl however. It was Luke. Luke who had just received someone tipping about four tonne of snow down the back of his neck. He looked up and there was Beca, sitting in the branches of the tree, holding another handful of snow, waiting for his next move. Luke looked down, and got onto the floor. The girls had won.
Chloe came over to see what had happened.
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed at seeing Beca. "Well done!" she commented proudly.
"Yeah, um, that's great, but um, do you think you could help me down?"
The snow had really started to set in and soon after the snowball fight, they had all trooped inside. Beca checked her phone. 7 missed calls. All from her dad. Crap.
"Hey Dad."
"Beca, oh thank god! I thought maybe you'd tried to drive home!"
"I'm not stupid."
"Well, I'm so pleased you're okay, Beca."
"Yeah, sorry, we got into a snowball fight and I kinda lost track of everything."
"Ah," he replied knowingly. "Sounds like you really like this boy eh?"
Beca stood confused for a second. The she remembered that all she told her dad was that she maybe had a sort of date thing with one of Stacie's friends. "Oh, no Dad. I mean, he's nice and like, a friend and all but, nothing more."
"Well something special must have happened to get you to voluntarily take part in cold physical excursion."
"Har har, very funny," Beca mocked sarcastically, although secretly she knew exactly what special thing had happened to her, or who, that it. "Look Dad, I don't know if I'll be home today or not. I'll let you know, but I'm safe!"
"Alright Beca, love you!"
"Love you too."
Beca came back out of the room she'd been in. Everyone had left to some other part of the house except for Chloe. Chloe was sat at a large grand piano, picking out notes. Beca recognised the intro to Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars and stood in the doorway listening as Chloe began to sing. It was beautiful. She had the most gorgeous voice Beca had ever heard and part of her hated herself for falling for Chloe, but she knew she was. Beca kept listening and at some point, not knowing what came over her, she started her own melody. She joined in with Just a Dream and Chloe whipped her head around at the sound of Beca's voice. They continued on together until eventually sinking into a comfortable silence.
"Wow," Chloe said eventually.
Beca smiled. "You have," she took a breath, "the most beautiful voice."
The two girls kept looking at each other. It almost, almost felt like their faces were moving closer. The world seemed to disappear around the piano stool that they sat on until it was only them.
A loud crash came from the next door room and they were out of it. The temporary trance had been broken and the awkwardness grew both girls knowing what might have nearly happened maybe, but neither sure if the other had felt it.
"Um, we should, um, I'm mean…I was gonna show you those films!" she finally got out, pleased she had found something to say, and not used to not.
"Yeah!" Beca said enthusiastically. Under normal circumstances she would not have been excited about being forced to watch a movie, however the awkwardness had grown too much and she was pleased to have something else to do. The thought of getting to cuddle next to Chloe wasn't half bad either…
