Hiya all! So, this chapter took a little longer to write...I am now working on building the story and working on how to move from the intro to where I ultimately want it to end. So from now on, chapter may take a tad longer to write, just simply because I now have to think of stuff.
P.S. This chapter is the build up to Bechloe. From here on out, it WILL be a thing. So get excited!
Again, any prompts or suggestions are welcome!
Please enjoy, and dont forget follow/fav and comment!
Chapter 4
Later that day, Beca and Jesse were lounging in Beca's dorm room, while Jesse persistently tried to coax Beca into watching a movie with him—for the better part of the last hour, I might add.
"But Becs! 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' is a classic. How could you possibly have never seen it! How?!" he had practically screeched.
Thankfully Kimmy Jin was out. Beca's pretty sure she had mumbled something about a party before the mysterious Asian had abandoned the dorm. And thank God she was out now, or she's pretty sure Jesse's high pitched squawking would have earned her a glare hard enough to burn right through her skull.
"Isn't it a chick movie? I think the better question is why have you seen it", she replied, pointing a length of licorice in his direction and then forcefully chomping off the end of it.
"Fine, fine. I give up", Jesse chuckled, throwing his hands up in defeat. "So did you find anything worth signing up for at the Activity Fair? Anything worthy of the ol' Beca Mitchell name?"
Rolling her eyes at her friend's antics, Beca scrunched her nose thinking back to the countless booths she had visited earlier that day. "Nah, no clubs really caught my eye". "I told you about the DJ's right?" she added with complimentary eye roll.
"But I did manage to score a gig at the radio station. It's an internship or something, but at least it'll be music related. Maybe my dad will ride with that."
"No way", Jesse's eyes grew double in size, as his face was instantly consumed by a mega-watt smile. "I signed up at the station too! How awesome is this?!"
"Damn, just when I thought I was rid of you", she teased with a lopsided grin, chomping on another piece of licorice. "So how did the Truh-blah-muckers thing go?"
"Its Treblemaker's, Beca. And it went pretty well I think. I mean Benji may have scared them off a little with his magic stuff, but I think he'll make up for it with his voice at auditions."
"And his passion, don't forget his passion", she mocked, dramatically holding her hands over her heart and pretending to swoon. "Isn't that what all of your stupid romcom's say?"
"Shut up", Jesse shoved his friend playfully. Glancing a look at the time on his phone, Jesse heaved himself off of Beca's bed. "Alright well, I'd better head back to my room, its getting pretty late".
"Okay, see ya later. Don't forget your rape whistle", she teased. "Remember: don't blow it unless your actually being blown" She teased. "Unless your into that kind of thing", she added, with a playful eyebrow wiggle.
"Right, I'm sure Jennifer, is actually a guy", He said opening the door to leave.
"Hey, you never know."
"Later loser", Jesse calls as he makes his way down the hall.
It was getting pretty late. Looking at the clock on her bedside table, Beca could see it was a little past 12:00 am. She didn't technically have class tomorrow—as they didn't officially start until the next day—but she did have to show up to a few classes to pick up her syllabuses and buy her textbooks—which she would probably never even open.
Stopping to look around the room for a second, Beca realized that this was the first time she had been alone for more than a second in the room. It wasn't a bad room by college standards. It was clean, had a fairly sizable window, and as her dad had mentioned, it did have A.C. Kimmy Jin would probably be back soon from her party, so Beca took a few minutes to just relax alone in her room, and take in all that had happened during the day. Sure, she didn't actually want to actually be at Barden, but like any other freshman, regardless of her feeling for the school, her first day was a lot to take in.
Knowing she probably wouldn't fall asleep for a little while anyway, Beca decided to go take a quick shower. Baker Hall's freshman wing only offered co-ed bathrooms, and in the 15 hours Beca had been at Barden, she learnt very quickly how awful those were during prime times. So, she figured she would get her shower out of the way now while no one was around to bother her, and hopefully by the time she was done she would actually be tired enough to sleep.
Beca quickly changed out of her clothes, rushing just in case Kimmy Jin returned home with her posse of Asians. "Seriously, how does THAT girl have friends…and so many of them! It was only the first day, afterall?!" Beca thought to herself, for the thousandth time that day. Shrugging on her bathrobe and slipping into her flip flops, Beca grabbed her towel and shower caddy full of supplies, ready to make her way to bathroom
Walking down the deserted hallways of Baker Hall, Beca began humming to herself. It starts out as nothing in particular, just a steady beat that Beca finds her mind currently occupied with, until it naturally works itself into David Guetta's 'Titanium'.
Pushing the door to the bathroom open, Beca was pleased to see that the room appeared empty.
"You shout it out,
But I can't hear a word you say…" she sings softly to herself.
Stepping into one of the middle stalls, Beca deposits her towel and robe on the side hook and reluctantly steps into the grungy shower. She hangs her shower caddy on another hook and turns the water on, still singing to herself as she waits for the water to warm up.
"I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away,
Ricochet, you take your aim,
Fire away, fire away…"
"You can sing!" a familiar voice says exuberantly from behind Beca.
"Dude!" Beca responds in shock, whipping around only to be met with the sight of a naked woman.
Beca's quick to reach for the shower curtain and yank it safely back into place, only for the redhead to dismiss Beca's actions and immediately swing the curtain open again.
Beca averts her eyes quickly at the sight of the naked girl, as she tries desperately to cover her own bits with anything in sight. In the brief moment before averting her eyes, Beca was able to make out the distinct black marking of a tattoo just below the other girl's left breast. Since finding out she didn't have a soul mate, Beca had made it a sort of habit to scan other people's bodies for that tell tale marking, in hopes of finding someone else like her. She hadn't looked long enough at the girl to make out what the word read—nor would she have been able to, as the word was partially concealed by the swell of the redhead's breast—but she had seen enough to know that the word was there. "Great, another one bites the dust", Beca though to herself. She did it to herself, and she knew that, constantly seeking out other people's soul mate markings and all, but still, every time she saw some else's tattoo it killed her a little bit inside.
"How high does your belt go", the other girl asks with eager eyes, reaching around Beca to turn the showerhead off.
"My what?!" Beca replies with a shaky voice, awkwardly covering herself in the corner of the stall.
"Where's that rape whistle when you need it?" Beca thought to herself.
"I'm Chloe. We met earlier at the Activity Fair", the redhead said innocently, as if they weren't currently in this situation. "You have to audition for the Bella's" she added emphatically.
"I can't concentrate on anything until you cover your junk."
"Ooh, you have a bug tattoo? I have a bug tattoo!" Chloe said energetically, having noticed the grasshopper tattoo on Beca's mid-arm. "Look, see", she said show off the small ladybug tattoo on her right hand.
Since that dreaded morning two years ago, Beca had added several markings to her skin. At first she had done it to lessen the the nakedness she felt without her own soul mate marking, but as time went on—and her sexual escapades grew—she realized that the additional ink could act as a sort of diversionary tactic; the more ink she had on her skin, the less obvious it was that she was lacking that one critical tattoo. And so far, her method had worked perfectly. She found that even stark naked, with her many other tattoos, no one ever seemed to notice that she didn't have a soul mate tattoo, instead assuming it must be hidden amongst the other ink somewhere.
"Seriously, I am nude!", Beca huffed, looking anywhere but at Chloe.
Beca thinks this must be what it's like to be a spider trapped inside of a toilet bowl. All she wants to do is get the hell out of this stall—of this bathroom, of this situation, of this school—and into some clothes. But, with Chloe continuing to narrow in on her, she was stuck, helplessly corralled into the corner.
"You were signing 'Titanium', right?", Chloe asked, again moving closer to Beca.
Shocked by the redhead's musical knowledge, Beca's head snapped up to look directly into Chloe's piercingly blue eyes. "You know David Guetta?"
"What, have I been living under a rock? Yeah. That song is my jam. My lady jam", Chloe said coyly.
"That's nice."
"Yeah it is! That song really builds", Chloe replied, punctuating her words with a seductive wink. "Sing it for me?" She then added with a hopeful expression.
"Dude, no! Get out." Beca said with a combination of shock and terror on her face, again trying to move as far away from the other girl as possible. Damn wall.
"Not, for that reason. Look, I'm not leaving here until you sing. So…"
Beca suddenly felt herself blush. Adjusting the loofa and shampoo bottle in her hands to better cover herself, Beca looked up at Chloe with trepidation.
Chloe feigns a yawn, as if to say, "I've got all day".
Swallowing hard, Beca reluctantly begins to sing. Honestly, at this point she would do just about anything to get the crazy redhead out of her shower ASAP. Don't get her wrong, Beca's not usually opposed to a face full of naked girl, but under these circumstances…not so much. This was not sexy; this was just uncomfortable.
"I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose,
Fire away, fire away…", Beca began, hesitation evident in her voice.
"Ricochet, you take your aim,
Fire away fire away", Chloe joins in, their voice melding together in perfect harmony.
Chloe smiles softly at Beca as they continue to sing, their gazes locked in on one another.
"I am titanium."
There's a beat of silence once the two have finished singing. Chloe just stares at Beca with a satisfied smirk, while Beca's confidence slowly starts to return, actually impress with how well their two voices had sounded together.
Suddenly uncomfortable under Chloe's gaze—and nudity—Beca averts her eyes away from the redhead's gaze.
Catching on, Chloe casually replies, "Yeah, I'm pretty confident about…" "all this", she says, motioning to her fully exposed body.
"You should be", Beca mutters, accepting the towel Chloe politely hands to her and promptly wrapping herself with it.
"I'm just gonna shower…" Beca says quietly, hoping Chloe gets this hint.
"You have a lovely voice", a tall—NAKED—boy suddenly says, coming up from behind Chloe. Beca can clearly make out the boy's own tattoo. The name 'Sandra' was scrawled horizontally across his right bicep, curving slightly to follow the arc of the boy's arm. "Sandra is definitely not Chloe. Not even close", Beca thinks.
"THANKS", Beca bites out, praying for this weirdness to end already.
The boy motions his head for Chloe to come back to wherever they had been prior to this lovely conversation. "Oh", Chloe says innocently, catching onto his suggestion. "Oh so now she can take a hint", Beca thinks.
"See you at auditions…?" Chloe says, staring into Beca's eyes with pure optimism.
"Beca", Beca supplies.
"Beca." Chloe says with a soft smile, as if getting the feel for the other's girl's name on her tongue.
"Bye, Beca", Chloe finishes, softly emphasizing Beca's name.
Waving a final farewell, Chloe allows the boy to pull her away from Beca's stall, leaving a shell shocked Beca standing alone in the corner
"What the fucking fuck?" Beca mutters under her breath, turning to her shower, silently hoping the hot water could wash away the awkwardness she just endured.
XXX
3 Days Later…
Beca stood outside of the Barden Performing Arts Building, contemplating whether or not she should go in. She had made up her mind earlier that day that yes, in fact, she would audition for the Bella's. Chloe's insistence combined with her father's staggering lack of support over her radio internship really left her with no other option that to audition. After all, if she had any hope in hell of moving to L.A. next year, she would have to join at least one club to satisfy her father's conditions—so why not this?
However, as she walked up the steps to the building, she suddenly found herself ridden with doubt. While singing was totally in Beca's wheelhouse, this—Acappella—was most definitely not. And these girls. As so clearly demonstrated at the Activity Fair, these girls were most definitely not the type of girls Beca would typically—or ever—be associated with. And too add to all of this…Aubrey clearly hated her already. How could she expect any of the other girls to accept her into their group when she was so clearly going to be their exact opposite?
But then again, Chloe had seemed to like her enough—maybe too much even—and that other girl—Stacie, was it?—seemed to share Beca's crude sense of humor and love for embarrassing others. So maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It was just music after all, and music was Beca's lifeblood.
"What the hell", she said to herself. Squaring her shoulders and letting out a determined breath, Beca finally pushed the door opened and made her way inside.
Beca hung back while the other singers auditioned, still somewhat unsure of what exactly she was doing here. Her skepticism only grew as she saw how horrible the auditions were. With the exception of a few decent singers, including Benji and Jesse, the auditions were for the most part, a hot mess. One girl even burst into tears during her audition.
And then Beca saw Stacie saunter out onto centre stage…
Stacie's audition was amusing to say the least. She spent the majority of her audition running her hand seductively down her body, only to stop when she grabbed onto her boobs for dear life. At first Beca thought she was serious, she had listed her hobbies as "the E! Network and cuticle care" after all. But when she saw Stacie throw Aubrey a teasing wink after one particularly raunchy move, she knew it was all an act—probably an attempt on Stacie's behalf to get a rise out of her perfectly proper girlfriend.
Beca couldn't help but laugh at the reactions Stacie's audition earned from the other audience members—clearly having not caught onto the joke of the whole thing. Beca's pretty sure she even saw one guy have to cover himself with a clipboard during her performance.
And then the lineup was done, and the boy Justin was calling out for any final performers. Beca's mouth suddenly went dry and her feet seemed to be stuck in place. "Sack up, dude", she chastised internally, and finally willed herself to take a single step forward, just peaking out from behind the stage curtain. Though, she still couldn't force herself speak up.
Beca didn't think anyone could actually see her, and she was again contemplating whether or not she should just bolt for the door. But apparently her movement—as minimal as may have been—caught the attention of a certain redhead.
"Oh wait, there's one more!" Chloe jumped in, waving for Beca to emerge like Quasimodo and take centre stage.
Nervously stepping out onto the stage, Beca waves her hand in an awkward gesture, never breaking eye contact with the clearly satisfied redhead.
"Uhm…I didn't know we had to prepare that song…" Beca states uncomfortably, and while it is the truth—given that she had thrown out the Bella's flyer the second she was out of eyesight from the girls' booth—she did know the song—not to mention having just listened to it on repeat for the last 20 minutes or so—she still wasn't prepared to sing it right this second. If she was going to do this, she wanted to do something she knew she would kill, not just something she threw together on the spot.
So she did what she knew.
Cringing as she dumped the cup full of pens onto the desk in front of Chloe and Aubrey—catching the blonde's accompanying scowl—Beca sat herself down on front stage and began singing, using the plastic cup as a percussive instrument of sorts.
Beca had spent the better part of her sophomore summer learning how to 'play cups' among other things. As part of her 16th birthday present, her mom had taken her to an Atlanta production of 'Stomp'. Utterly inspired by the show, Beca began experimenting with various sounds and mock-instruments, oftentimes overlaying these raw sounds into her mixes and mashups. Beca experimented with cups, trash cans, whistles, even simple sounds like clapping and breathing. And it worked; the resulting thuds, squeaks, and thumps were a unique addition to the otherwise electronic tracks Beca typically produced. Then one day, in the midst of her 'Stomp' obsession, Beca stumbled upon a YouTube video of two girls singing along with a cup. Of course Beca was instantly hooked, and so she spent five hours straight teaching herself the specific cup movements and learning the song—though, the song really only took 20 to learn. And just like that, Beca had mastered 'playing the cup'—not to mention having gained one kick ass party trick to show off. It turned out to be a real babe magnet.
So Beca figured for her Bella's audition, why not whip out her handy dandy hidden talent? It had always worked on all the drunk girls in high school. Aubrey was gay after all, maybe this would finally wipe that scowl off of her face for good.
And so she sang.
"I got my ticket for the long way round,
Two bottles of whiskey for the way…"
Chloe was instantly mesmerized, both by Beca's angelic voice and her apparent cup-handling skills…who knew?
"She's pretty good with hands, huh?", Stacie leaned in from behind Chloe and Aubrey, to whisper in their ears.
"Stacie!" Aubrey snapped back in a hushed voice.
"Just saying", Stacie defends, holding up her hands in surrender. "She'll be great with those flight attendant fingers you love so much, Bree." "Among other things…" she added, leaning into Chloe with a cheeky grin.
Chloe didn't acknowledge the girl though, her eyes permanently fixed on Beca, taking in every last sound, move, and expression the younger girl made. She just seemed so relaxed; so consumed by the music. Chloe knew from the shower incident that Beca had a great voice, but this just further proved Chloe's hunch: Beca couldn't just sing, she knew music, felt music. This girl HAD to be a Bella, and Chloe was going to make sure of that.
"You're gonna miss me when I'm gone", Beca finished, turning the cup upside in one final motion and shrugging at the two girls into front of her—completely unaware of any of the other people in the audience.
"I thought it was two girls, one cup!", Bumper—the arrogant leader of the Treblemakers—yelled from his seat, failing to keep his laughter at bay. "Aubrey, why don't you join her up there, since you already suck and clearly know how to blow." "Not to mention the shit-show that is the Bella's".
"Excuse me Bumper, is your family tree a fucking cactus? Because you are one serious fucking prick", Stacie yells back, jumping to her girl friend's defence.
"Hey Conrad, did you know they used to be called "Jumpolines" until your mom jumped on one?" Bumper countered, singing the chorus of 'Stacie's mom' to 'himself'.
"Psh. She still wouldn't hop on your dick."
"Right…thanks. I'm just gonna…go" Beca says—mostly to herself—and walks off stage.
"Becaw, hey!" Jesse calls once Beca is backstage.
"Hey dude", she replies casually.
"I didn't think you would actually show." Of course Beca had told Jesse all about the shower incident—as it will now and forever be known—once she was back in the safety of her own room. She had ranted to him over text for a good hour about how 'pervy' the whole thing was and then how, as if the naked ambush wasn't enough, the strange redhead had demanded that she sing for her and then again demand she audition for the Bella's. Jesse was on the floor with laughter over Beca's detailing of the incident, but he had to agree with the 'pervy redhead' on this one. Beca needed to join a club to satisfy her dad's conditions, and hey, Beca loved music, she liked to sing, so why not join the Bella's. Plus, Jesse would—fingers crossed—be a Treble, so they could be 'Acappella Pals' together.
"Yeah well, I've seen first hand that girl's lack of boundaries", she said motioning back to Chloe, "I really don't want to see where all that crazy takes her when she's mad. So…here I am."
"You'll love it! Just wait, Becs."
"Fine. But I this turns to shit, I'm blaming you, Swanson", she joked, poking him in the chest with her index finger.
XXX
Later that evening, Beca was shrugged over her desk, eating microwave macaroni and working on a mix. Kimmy Jin had again run off to hang out with her squad of Asians, leaving Beca alone in their shared room. Usually Beca preferred listening to her mixes, or just music in general, through her headphones. Whenever Jesse would ask why, joking that her headphones had become an extension of Beca herself, she would simply shrug and say the bass sounded better with them than through speakers. However, Beca had been stuck for the past two hours on this one mix. She's been working on the mix for about a week now, and its almost done…but there's just something that's not right. Or maybe missing. Beca hasn't figured it out quite yet. But she will. So she unplugged her headphones from her computer and let the music fill her room, hoping that maybe this way she would be able to place her finger on exactly what's keeping this mix from perfection.
She was mid-mouthful when someone banged loudly and her door…
"Campus police", someone said in an overly dramatized male voice.
Dropping her mac and cheese back onto desk, Beca paused her mix and went over to answer the door.
Before she could even make out who the visitor was, a black hood was suddenly thrown over her head and secured around her neck.
Struggling against her captor's hold, Beca was about a millisecond away from going full on Rambo on the person, when her captor let out an amused giggle.
"Beca, relax. It's me, Chloe", she said softly, doing her best to stifle her laughter. "I'm technically not suppose to tell you who I am or what's happening, but you seem feisty; like you might have a shank on you or something. And I value my life, thank you very much."
"Did you seriously just say 'shank'?" Beca asked sarcastically, still struggling to get the hood off.
"I can be street. Now stop struggling."
"Dude, first you assault me in the shower. Now your kidnapping me. What's next? Are you going to harvest my organs and sell them on the black market for drug money?"
"Oh, hush."
"Seriously, where are you taking me?" Beca asked, suddenly concerned that a stranger had just bagged and abducted her from her music and mac and cheese.
"Initiation. Now shhh, and let me lead."
*Thud*
"Oww! Dude, you just lead me into a wall!" Beca huffed.
"Oops", Chloe giggled.
XXX
"Welcome ladies. You nine have been specially chosen to join the Bella's sisterhood. The Bella's is a well respected and time honored institution of Barden University, dating back to 1979. With the Bella's name comes certain responsibilities and expectations. Once a Bella, you are expected to carry yourself with grace and perform to perfection. I do not take this group lightly, and neither should any of you. Please understand that once your hoods are removed, you will be asked to pledge yourself to the Bella's sisterhood. If any one you are unprepared to meet the standards of a proper Bella woman, I suggest you raise your hands now, and you will be escorted out." After allowing for a pregnant pause, the melodic voice continued. "Alright then. Without further adieu, ladies…our Soprano's: Jessica, Mary Elise, Lilly. The Mezzo's: Cynthia Rose, Denise, Kori. And our Alto's: Fat Amy, Ashley, and…Beca."
Then suddenly Beca's hood was pulled off of her head, leaving her disoriented as her eyes adjusted to the room.
"Welcome to the Bella's!" Chloe cheered next to Aubrey.
"More like welcome to the Barden Babes", a voice whispered from behind Beca. The unexpected voice had started Beca to say the least, making her jump, and possibly stopping her heart for a brief moment. Whipping her head around, Beca was met by Stacie, sporting an amused grin and clutching a handful of black hoods in her hands.
"Dude! Does no one in this group understand personal space", Beca said dryly, holding an unsteady hand over her heart as she tried to calm the rapidly beating organ.
"Trust me, you'll learn to love it", Stacie winked at Beca.
"Yo twiggies, when do we get to celebrate?!" Amy interjected. "I'm like a diabetic, but instead of needed sugar every few hours, I needs me my booze, bitches!"
"Amy, calm down. Pledge first, party second" Aubrey said with a militaristic bite. Leaning into Chloe and craning her head around, so the other girls could neither hear her nor read her lips, Aubrey whispered, "Are you sure this was a good idea?".
"Relax. Just give it a chance Bree" Chloe said, rubbing Aubrey's arm soothingly.
"No, Amy! Not the wine! That's the blood of our sisters!" Aubrey shrieked.
XXX
Walking along with her fellow Bella's—because that's a thing now, duh—Beca and the other girls followed as Aubrey and Chloe lead the group to what appeared to be some sort of outdoor amphitheatre.
Stopping once the group reached the upper rim of the theatre, Aubrey turned to the girls with a smile—the first smile Beca thinks she's ever seen from the blonde. "Alright Bella's, welcome to your first official Hood Night party. Have fun, mingle, and represent the Bella's well." With a final nod of her head, Aubrey motioned the girl's in, standing to the side as the group began to disperse into the small crowd below.
Stacie hung back with Aubrey, wrapping a supportive arm around her girlfriend's waist. "Come on babe, lets go get a drink". Tightening her grip on Aubrey's waist in a reassuring hug, the blonde turned to give her girlfriend a hesitant look before letting out a calming breathe and leaning in to kiss the brunette softly. Aubrey always did a fine job of hiding her insecurities and doubts to the rest of the world behind a mask of confidence and poise. Stacie however, could read Aubrey like a book; she always seemed to know what the blonde was thinking, and more often than not, knew just what the blonde needed to help ease her doubts. And right now, she knew her girlfriend was seriously doubting her ability to whip this group of misfits into a presentable group of girls, worthy of the Bella name. Stepping out of the kiss, Aubrey gave a determined nod of her head. "Okay. Let's do this. I'm going to need liquor in me if I have any hope of dealing with these girls tonight."
Beca stood in the top row of seats, off to the side, watching as the two girlfriends made their way down the theatre stairs. Beca watched in amusement as Stacie delivered a swift slap on the ass to the blonde, earning a surprise yelp in response and then what Beca can only assume was an accompanying string of hushed chastisements.
Beca stood for a moment, simply taking in her surroundings. She could not believe that this was her life now. Of course she was no stranger to late night parties and booze, but Beca couldn't believe she was now partying with these people, people who sang show tunes and Mariah Carey all day, for fun. It was like she had been abducted from her life and then sold to the circus. God, there was even a kid riding a unicycle around the main stage. But she had to suck it up. This was what she signed up for. This was going to get her to L.A. So she slowly made her way down from her high perch and over to join the group of celebrating singers, or to at least watch from a closer distance.
Spotting her instantly, Jesse scrambled over a few rows of benches to meet up with his tiny best friend.
"Becaww, B-bb-becawww" Jesse slurred, bracing his body weight on the back of a row of seats. "Do my eyes deceive me, or are you a Barden Bella?" Beca figures he must have indulged in a little pre-party fun, either that or he chugged an entire keg in the ten minutes the party had been happening, because he was clearly struggling to even keep his eyes open.
Beca raised her eyebrows as she evaluated the state of the boy in front of her. "You're really drunk right now. You not gonna remember any of this tomorrow."
"I-I'm not drunk. You're just a little blurry."
Beca chuckles under her breath. "Really? Could you pass a sobriety test right now?" She asks, playfully shoving him backwards.
Jesse stumbles at first, but quickly catches himself on the backrest of the bench behind him, playing off his stumble by springing back forward into Beca's hand. "See, I come right back!"
"Sure, okay…"
"I'm going to get you a drink. You-you need a drink. You need to get on this level."
"I don't think that's possible, but knock yourself out—not literally. Jesse don't actually knock yourself out!" She calls out to her stumbling friend, already on his way to retrieve her drink, only to be distracted by the boy on the unicycle.
"Yeah, he's not coming back."
"Who's not coming back?"
Beca turns her attention away from Jesse's drunk antics to see Stacie standing next to her with two drinks in hand. Stacie shoves the one drink into Beca's hand. "It's beer. I figured it was probably a safe bet. You look like a beer girl."
"Thanks…" Beca shifts uncomfortably in place, unsure as to why Stacie had left the heart of the party to come take to her. Scrambling to think of something else to say Beca suddenly asks, "So you an Aubrey, huh?"
"Yeah." Stacie smiles softy and looks over to where her girlfriend is dancing down below. "We've been together about a year and a half now."
"I thought you were a sophomore?"
"Oh, I am." Stacie shifts her attention away from the blonde at back to the tiny brunette next to her. "I grew up only 15 minutes from Barden. When I was a senior in high school, my friends and I used to drive over here and sneak into whatever college party we could find that night. I met Aubrey at one of those parties. I went up to the DJ—if you could even call him that. It was more like some random kid with a laptop—to request a song, and Aubrey was there arguing with him about his song selections. We started talking a little bit after that and things just fell into place. I actually took her on our first date that very night." Stacie smiled fondly at the memory.
"And you guys ended up being soul mates?"
"Yeah", she nodded. "Listen. I know she can be a little difficult at times—"
"You're telling me", Beca scoffed, interrupting Stacie.
"As I was saying… I know she can be difficult, but it comes from a good place. She just wants things to be perfect. I know that not always realistic, but for her, it has to be. Her parents never really took her out of the shrink wrap. I promise she's actually a really good person, she just needs to learn to trust a little. Don't let her neurotic tendencies ruin the Bella's for you, it really is a great group."
"Yeah, okay…" Beca says, rolling her eyes. Aubrey is the biggest thorn in her side she's ever encountered—and Beca doesn't get along well with almost anyone…so that's saying something. She finds it incredibly hard to believe that that aca-Nazi down there actually has a heart, let alone uses it. But whatever, at least she's not her girlfriend—that's Stacie's problem.
"Hey girls!" Chloe chirps happily, walking up the concrete steps to the two brunette's.
"Hey Chlo", Stacie raises her drink to the redhead. "Right then…" she says turning back to Beca, "I'm going to get back to the party. Have fun!"
Stacie shuffles out of the row, swaying her hips as she goes and allowing Chloe to scoot around her to stand in front of Beca. The redhead grabs Beca by the wrists, ignoring the drink in her hand, and pulls her in close so that they are standing nose to nose.
"Hi!"
"Hi…"
"I'm sooo glad that I met you. I think that we're going to be really fast friends."
"Yeah well, you saw me naked so…" Beca sang, punctuating her sentiment with a quick wink.
"Yeah I did", Chloe giggled with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
Beca would've sworn that the older girl was wasted out of her mind given the way she was acting, but they had just arrived and Chloe hadn't seemed drunk earlier. Plus, Beca didn't smell alcohol on Chloe's breathe—and trust her, given how close the two were standing, she would definitely smell it. "Wow, this girl has serious boundary issues", Beca thought to herself.
Chloe finally let go of Beca's wrists, stepping out of the brunette's personal bubble and leaning her butt against the bench behind her. Chloe didn't say anything more, she just stood there with a dopey smile on her face.
Growing uncomfortable with the silence and staring, Beca found herself spewing out the first question that came to mind. "So where's Frat Boy McGee?" Cringing at her own words, Beca gave herself a mental palm to the face. Alas, her stupid, stupid mind.
"Who?" Chloe didn't seem offended at all by Beca's snide comment.
"You know, your boyfriend…", Beca gestured with her hand, "the one you were in the shower with…naked. Actually, scratch that. The one we were in the shower with naked" Beca finished, with eyebrows raised in a "duh!" expression.
"Oh, Tom!" Chloe chirped with a smile. "He's not my boyfriend", she dismissed with a casual throw of her hand. "Well, I mean he used to be. We dated back when I was a sophomore. But be aren't together now", the redhead replied, totally unaffected with sharing such intimate details of her life to a practical stranger.
"So you were just in the shower with him…naked…for what, a tea party?"
"No, silly!" she laughed innocently. "When neither of us is with someone, we occasionally help each other out. You know, make sure the motor is still running, service the parts, and all that jazz."
"Gross. Okay, I get it," Beca reached out to stop the disturbing hand gestures Chloe was making. "It's called being friends with benefits. No need for the innuendoes."
Chloe chuckled at Beca's reaction, deciding to change the topic. "So is that Jesse kid your boyfriend? Cuz Aubrey certainly thinks so. And P.S. if he is, you're probably going to have a hard time with that given Aubrey's strict 'no Treble's' rule…unless of course, you want your vocal cords to be ripped out by wolves."
"Dude, NO! Oh my God, no. Jesse's my best friend. He's like my brother", she said dramatically gabbing. "That would be sooo wrong. Oh my God, no."
"So, no then?" Chloe teased.
The party went on this way for another two hours. Beca and Chloe sat away from the party down below, joking around and enjoying each others company—which for Beca, was unheard of. Beca didn't enjoy anyone's company, sometimes she couldn't even stand herself for too long.
Beca was participating in the conversation, but she mostly just enjoyed watching the redhead speak so animatedly about anything and everything. Beca didn't know why, but for the first time EVER, she felt herself drawn to another person besides herself, genuinely interested in their life, and actually wanting to impress them. Unlike with Jesse, Beca didn't feel the NEED to TRY and not be a bitch back, she truly wanted to be nice to Chloe, and found herself naturally engaged with the other girl.
So Beca sat with Chloe for two solid hours, completely wrapped up in the older girl's charm and optimism—which with anyone else, she would have thought contrived and have found incredibly irritating. But not with Chloe.
They were currently engaged in a discussion about concerts: how many each girl has been to, who've they've each seen, who was the best live, and who they would each like to see in the future. Chloe was in the midst of telling Beca all about The Return of the Spice Girls Tour circa 2008, when she suddenly stopped midsentence to look Beca dead in the eyes.
"Do you wanna get out of here?" Chloe shifted uncomfortably in her seat, nervously playing the rim of her solo cup. The otherwise exuberant and confident redhead, now seeming so timid and unsure of herself.
"Uhm. Yeah, okay." Beca of course knew what that phrase usually meant, and if in fact that was what Chloe was currently getting at…well, she would be more than happy to get into that.
"Okay!" The redhead perked up, returning back to her usual self. "Why don't we go back to my place then? Is that alright?"
"Yeah, totally. I kind of got stuck with the roommate from hell, so it's probably best we avoid my room at all cost."
Chloe gave an amused smile and then proceeded too latch herself onto Beca's left arm, tugging the smaller girl along and away from the party.
"Wait." Beca says, bringing the two girls to an abrupt halt.
"What?" Chloe asks worriedly.
"Isn't Baker Hall that way", Beca says pointing in the opposite direction they two were currently headed.
"Yeah, so?"
"I thought we were going to hang out at your place?"
Catching onto Beca's line of thought, Chloe quickly jumped in. "We are. I don't live in Baker hall, Tom does. Aubrey and I rent a student apartment over by the rec centre."
"Great, so I can look forward to many more awkward run ins with the boy who saw me sing naked…joy", Beca replied sarcastically. Chloe smirked at the memory, grabbing Beca's arm again and continuing to lead the younger girl in the direction of her apartment.
"Don't worry, Tom's room is on the complete other side of Baker from yours. He's in the senior all boys wing. You probably won't even see him again."
"If he's in a completely separate wing, why were you two in the freshman bathroom?"
"There's rules about hooking up in the bathrooms. You can only do it in the coed ones…Something about rape policy and what not. So we used the freshman one. Pretty lucky too, or I wouldn't have heard your voice", Chloe stated simply. "You're really good by the way. It actually pisses Aubrey off how good you are" Chloe said, giving Beca a side glance and a guilty smirk.
"Yeah, well…just another thing to add to the list then I guess."
The two continued on on their walk, not saying much after that. Beca simply allowed Chloe to lead her along, while the redhead hummed happily to herself. At some point on their journey, Chloe had slipped her hand from Beca's arm to lace her fingers together with Beca's. Usually Beca wasn't one for outward displays of affection—actually choosing to avoid affection all together—but with Chloe it was different. Honestly, whereas Beca would usually jump away from even the slightest of touches from another person, she hadn't even noticed when Chloe made the move to grab onto her hand. It was all very strange and unsettling…yet, entirely natural at the same time.
"Welp, here we are."
Beca only had a second to look up at the old brick building before Chloe was eagerly pulling on her arm and racing the two of them inside and up the stairs to her apartment.
