"You said, remember that life is,
Not meant to be wasted,
We can always be chasing the sun!
So fill up your lungs and just run,
But always be chasing the sun!"
- "Chasing the Sun" by Sara Bareilles
With solidified plans to meet later in the evening for Beca's show, Aubrey and Chloe bid the DJ farewell. Aubrey had been forced to drag Chloe from the entryway of Beca's apartment and Jesse had been forced to do the same to Beca, who he had to remind several times about an important meeting she needed to finish preparing for. Chloe clutched tightly to her best friend's hand as the pair made their way to Aubrey's car, chattering incessantly about the morning's developments. There was a time when Chloe's early morning enthusiasm might have grated on the blonde's nerves, but that time was long gone and Aubrey couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as she freed her hand to unlock her car. Chloe bounded around to the passenger side, making it into the vehicle before Aubrey even had a chance to open the driver's side door. The moment Aubrey had herself buckled in, Chloe unleashed all the energy she had pent up in thirty seconds it had taken the blonde to join her in the vehicle, rounding on Aubrey to question her.
"Okay, so were you like, not going to warn me about how pretty Beca is? The way Mark talks you'd think she's the devil incarnate!" Chloe huffed, crossing her arms at Aubrey, who just sniggered. "What's up with your weird feud with her, anyway? You guys seem like you should get along!" Chloe insisted, but the blonde refused to reply for dramatic effect, instead focusing on pulling out of her parking spot and heading towards the location of Chloe's appointment. Eventually, Chloe exhaled dramatically, sinking back into her seat, arms still petulantly crossed. Aubrey cast her a smirk.
"I'm not sure Beca isn't some sort of hell-spawn, Chlo," the blonde deadpanned, choosing to continue before Chloe could get a word in. "In all seriousness, I respect her, but we got off on the wrong foot. You know how I am with first impressions, now ninety-nine percent of what she does irritates the hell out of me. It's not like she's my biggest fan, either."
Chloe was scowling pensively at Aubrey, but seemed reasonably satisfied with her friend's answer. For the entire duration of the morning, Aubrey and Beca had bantered, at times less than amicably, and now the redhead was very curious as to why this was. Both were equally passionate about their lines of work and both were equally as knowledgeable about their sides of the business, though, she supposed, that could have been a source for animosity, just as much as it could be the source for friendship.
Chloe sat in silence for a moment longer, her mind working in overdrive as she thought over her extremely productive morning. She had spent the entire drive to Beca's mentally preparing herself to meet the notoriously intimidating DJ, only to have her expectations totally flipped. Chloe had been prepared for Beca to want to take complete control over the development of the album the redhead hoped to release, but instead, the DJ had continuously reassured and complimented Chloe. Beca wanted Chloe's input and she respected the work the singer had already done. The brunette had asked Chloe to walk her through the intended direction and overall tone of the project, only offering suggestions when Chloe specifically requested them. Once it became clear that Beca was actively interested in what Chloe wanted, not what she thought the redhead should want, Chloe felt as if an impossibly heavy weight had been lifted.
Slowly, day by day, Chloe was finally regaining control of her life. She couldn't remember the last time she was this happy.
Speaking of which…
"Oh, damn it!" Chloe blurted out of nowhere, finally noticing that Aubrey had been driving the familiar route to the redhead's psychologist's office. "Do I have to go?" Chloe whined, feeling instantly nauseated by the idea of having to face Doctor Cooper. She began to pout. Chloe positively dreaded these appointments. They had a special talent for plunging her into an absolutely foul mood, there was nothing that could knock the wind out of her sails quite like drumming up what had caused her to require a psychologist's care in the first place.
Noticing the familiar down turn in Chloe's mood, Aubrey reached across the car to ruffle her friend's hair. Chloe tried her best to look indignant, but succeeded only in looking miserable. It was Aubrey's turn to frown when Chloe sighed dejectedly as the blonde parked the car in front of the building. Aubrey hated seeing Chloe like this- drained of life and humor. The emptiness in Chloe's current expression was eerily reminiscent of the Chloe she'd encountered in the weeks immediately following the redhead's attempted suicide. Thinking of it made Aubrey feel like someone was twisting the dullest, rustiest blade imaginable into her stomach.
"It'll be alright, Chlo," Aubrey breathed, making a rare initiation of contact as she grabbed her friend's hand to reassure her. "Think about how well this morning went!" the blonde insisted, a huge weight lifting off her chest when she saw the familiar, fiery spark return to Chloe's eyes. "Plus, we're going out tonight!" Aubrey added conspiratorially, making Chloe smirk.
"Alright, alright," Chloe agreed after a moment, her learned dread for her weekly appointments alleviated as she allowed the buoyancy she'd felt upon leaving Beca's to return. "Just text me when you're done meeting with Mark, I'll be at the gym." Chloe remarked, opening the passenger side door. She quickly retrieved her gym bag from behind her seat and slammed the door shut, throwing Aubrey a cavalier salute. The blonde shook her head and blew her friend a sarcastic kiss before pulling away.
In the rearview mirror, Aubrey watched Chloe take a deep breath to steel herself, looking up at the office building's façade with trepidation.
As Chloe breathed in she reminded herself to focus on all the good her morning had brought, and what the rest of her day promised. Think of Aubrey, think of Adam, Chloe thought to herself, as she did every time she needed positivity to ward off sadness. Think of your music, think of Beca, she added to herself after a moment. A grin spread across her face as she began to make her way into the building, bolstered by her revised personal mantra for happiness.
Aubrey. Adam. Music. Beca.
XXX
Jesse was mercilessly teasing Beca from his spot in the driver's seat, having fallen into a habit of volunteering to drive ever since it had become clear that Beca had no intention of selling her old, beat up Prius that she'd owned since high school. He was baffled as to why she had yet to invest in a new car, or a driver, as her explosive success could afford her either option, but Beca was adamant about keeping around the beat up, green vehicle for as long as she possibly could.
Jesse ritualistically teased Beca, to keep her grounded, he claimed, but the DJ could throw it back equally as hard. Banter was a strong foundation for their friendship. Today, he was going on and on about how she had behaved when Chloe was leaving, taking it upon himself to make joking assumptions about the impression the redhead must have made on her to have the DJ looking like "someone had stolen her favorite toy."
At this comment, since they were stopped at a red light, Beca reached across the middle console to hit Jesse on the back of the head. He reached up to grab where he'd just been struck, but burst out laughing nonetheless.
"I'm sorry, Beca, it was just so adorable," Jesse snorted, easily deflecting a second attack the DJ tried to inflict. "I've just never seen someone blow apart your carefully crafted nonchalance with such ease!"
"Oh, fuck off, Jesse!" Beca cried, gathering her belongings as her friend pulled into the parking lot of the office where she was meeting with Cynthia Rose, her manager and close friend of three years. "I'm heading to the gym after this since it shouldn't take too long, I'll see you once you're done with the big, bad director!" She added, jumping out of the car the second he had stopped, eager to avoid hearing more of his perspective about her morning with Chloe. Beca shut the door, turning to wave goodbye to Jesse, who had opted instead to make kissy-faces at her. She rolled her eyes and stuck up her middle finger, for good measure, before going inside the office to report her presence to Cynthia Rose's secretary.
Beca had only just sat down in the lobby when Cynthia Rose emerged from her office, beaming at the DJ.
"What the fuck is up, girl! I'm glad to see you!" Cynthia Rose enthused, throwing her arm around the girl's shoulders when she drew near. Beca laughed at her manager's joy, knowing how glad the other woman was to have the DJ back in her office. In order to finish setting up her label, Beca had taken a short, month long break on her music front, only returning to playing shows within the last week. While she had seen Cynthia Rose countless times in the capacity as a friend, the two hadn't had an actual meeting in quite some time.
"I'm glad to see you too, man," Beca replied, throwing herself on the couch in the manager's office before the other woman had a chance to do the same. She immediately laid back against the throw pillows and covered her eyes with her arm, she needed a nap at some point in the day, she was exhausted. Cynthia Rose scoffed and moved to her chair, leaning back and propping her feet up on the desk. "What'd you want to talk about?"
"Alright, there's a couple of things," the manager sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "There's a charity show coming up that's being hosted by Seward Industries and another label, they want you as one of the headliners," Cynthia Rose began, holding up her hand to stop Beca from inevitably interrupting. "And you already know Mark Seward is making is usual unveiling threats, so obviously you can say no if you're ready to lose the mask."
When Beca had first started as a DJ, she had only been seventeen. Her mother, a Broadway choreographer, had been adamant about her daughter at least attempting to attend college, effectively banning her from spending her time trying to break into the business. However, Beca had spent her senior year of high school, and subsequently the summer after, making a name for herself in increasingly prestigious clubs. Her mother's dancers and friends frequented most of the places Beca played, so she'd incorporated a silver and gold Venetian masquerade mask into her image as a way of keeping her mother from finding out what she was doing. People were enthralled by the mystery; so naturally, the mask had stuck, even after she'd become famous. She was even more adamant about keeping the mask around now, as Cynthia Rose had led a very uphill battle to, thankfully, keep Beca's real identity a secret from almost all of the public. People knew who she was, but they were more than happy to keep her secret in exchange for countless favors, like special appearances, early previews of music, or the chance to guarantee a feature from the DJ. It was just nice to be able to walk out of her house without being mauled by paparazzi, or walk around a crowd after a show without being hounded. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate her fans, she loved them, but large groups of people tended to freak her out.
"Damn, has anyone ever told you to lead off with the good news?" Beca growled, uncovering her eyes to glare at Cynthia Rose.
"It's your call," the woman shrugged, already knowing what Beca's answer was going to be. When Beca made no further protestations, the manager continued. " And I know you've been busy setting up your label, but did you get a chance to bring me anything new?" At this Beca smirked and sat up, fishing around in her bag for a flash drive she had loaded a dozen or so new mixes and songs onto that morning.
"Here," she said, tossing the drive to Cynthia Rose. "I'll probably have some new stuff after this weekend, too, inspiration struck this morning." Beca beamed, earning a raised eyebrow from her friend.
"Yeah? What brought that on?" Cynthia Rose questioned skeptically.
"Alright this is going to sound weird and obsessive, but this morning Posen brought over this girl that I'm going to officially sign once she gets out of her other contract. You should see her, dude, she's fucking gorgeous… And her voice…" Beca sighed, shrugging her shoulders in lieu of explaining herself further. She looked at Cynthia Rose, who wore an expression of complete shock. "I know, I know, it's a little weird." Beca added defensively, earning a laugh from the other woman.
"No, it's not weird, it's sweet," she began, laughing harder when Beca groaned. "Seriously, who is she? You've never been inspired by a girl before, so she must be pretty hot."
"I mean she's not just hot," Beca defended, causing Cynthia Rose to laugh again. "She's super... I don't know, magnetic. She's Chloe Beale." Beca finished lamely. Words aren't really her forte.
"Like, pop star Chloe Beale?" Cynthia Rose asked, seeming even more shocked than she did before. When Beca nods, the other woman whistles. "Yeah, she's a looker. Aubrey brought her over for you to sign? What about Seward?"
"That's the strange part, they said Mark almost ruined Chloe's life," Beca frowned, sighing after a moment. "I don't know, Aubrey was really weird about the whole thing. I know she's meeting with Mark today to get Chloe out of her contract, but to be honest I think she's literally going to murder him."
"I wouldn't put it past her, Aubrey's a bad bitch," Cynthia Rose mused, clearly appreciative of Aubrey's notoriously vicious attitude. "I know Chloe kind of disappeared, some people think she went to rehab, but that kind of thing always goes public."
"Like I said, weird." Beca agreed.
XXX
Chloe was running on the treadmill at the gym, her scowl only slightly alleviated after three miles. It usually takes about six to get out of her post-appointment funk. She smiled slightly, though, when one of Beca's mixes was the next song to blare through her headphones.
When the artist in question exited the locker room, headed towards a personal trainer with a yoga mat tucked under her arm, Chloe panicked immediately, fumbling to switch the song, because how weird would that be if Beca heard her casually listening to her music?
Pull it together, Beale, she's not a fucking vampire, she can't hear your music, Chloe scolded herself, cranking up the speed on the treadmill slightly.
Chloe contemplated moving to a different spot in the gym, fearing that Beca might catch sight of her exercise-reddened face clashing horribly with her hair.
She immediately changed her mind when the trainer and DJ began doing yoga and she caught sight of Beca's ass, continuing her run with a smirk on her face.
XXX
Beca supposed she was the only person who could leave a yoga session so sufficiently annoyed. She had only picked up the hobby at Jesse and Cynthia Rose's insistence, both claiming it would help alleviate her irritable attitude… it hadn't. Still, it was better than jogging. Beca hated cardio.
When she entered the locker room, it was thankfully empty, save for one other running shower. Grumbling to herself about how sore and sweaty she was, Beca grabbed her shower caddy and shower shoes, which she kept in a reserved locker at her gym, and headed for the last stall. As she went, she began to absentmindedly hum the tune of "Titanium" to herself; it had been stuck in her head ever since hearing Chloe sing it earlier that morning.
By the time she had stripped down and hung up her towel, setting the shower to a scorching temperature to alleviate her muscle pain, she was singing fairly audibly. The song and the memory it brought of the redhead and her piano playing helped to dissipate the annoyance her freakishly peppy yoga instructor had inflicted.
She stepped into the shower, singing in earnest, and was ready to stick her head under the stream of water when she heard a loud exclamation from behind her.
"You can sing!" Came the enthusiastic cry. Beca hurriedly whipped around to face her assailant, fully prepared to beat off a rabid fan or gym dwelling vagrant. She was met with a pair of huge, blue eyes, which were widened with delight.
"Dude!" she squealed, yanking the shower curtain closed. The person on the other side, however, insistently flung it back open. Those eyes seemed awfully familiar.
"How high does your belt go?" her guest questioned, leaning across the stall to turn off the water. Red hair flashed across the DJ's vision. Chloe?
"I don't know! Oh my god!" Beca breathed, shrinking into the corner and trying to cover herself as much as humanly possible. She pointedly directed her gaze towards the ceiling immediately upon noticing how very naked Chloe was. The redhead in question, however, did not seem intent upon leaving, hands casually on her hips as if there was nothing unusual about the situation.
"Why did you tell me you couldn't sing!" Chloe demanded, taking a step closer to the brunette.
"I can't concentrate on anything you're saying until you cover your junk!" Beca snapped. Chloe laughed when she noticed the effort the DJ was making to not look at her, but didn't allow the discomfort of the DJ to dissuade her.
"For serious! I knew you could sing!" Chloe retorted smugly. Beca's mouth was twisting into a wry smile as she reached for the shower curtain in an attempt to recover some dignity. The DJ was fully unprepared for what Chloe was going to say next. "You just got even hotter!" the redhead admired, causing Beca to literally jump. Her face grew even redder, if at all possible, and she completely lost her grip on the shampoo bottle she had been using to try to cover herself. "Oops!" Chloe giggled as Beca turned towards the wall and pressed herself against it.
"Seriously? I am nude." Beca proclaimed, sending a withering glance over her shoulder. Her intimidation tactic failed miserably, and Chloe barreled on with her interrogation.
"You were singing 'Titanium!'" the redhead declared, feeling quite proud that she'd managed to get the song stuck in the DJ's head. At this, Beca smiled slightly, looking over her shoulder and making eye contact with Chloe for the first time since she'd entered the shower stall.
"I'm actually kind of surprised you know David Guetta." Beca said appreciatively, stopping her eyes just before they wandered to Chloe's chest.
"Have I been living under a rock?" Chloe replied sarcastically. Beca raised her eyebrows incredulously. "That song is my jam," Chloe stated. Beca's confusion must have been evident because before she could ask what the hell Chloe meant, the redhead spoke again. "My lady jam." Chloe added, her tone very conspiratorial. Beca's mind raced for an explanation of what that could possibly mean, hurriedly finding the blush-inducing answer.
"That's nice." The brunette muttered, turning to face the wall once more as a rush of dirty, but very appealing images involving the other girl popped into her head.
"It is," Chloe agreed. "That song really builds."
Beca turned around just in time to see Chloe wink at her.
"Gross." The DJ whispered lamely. She needed to get Chloe and her magnificent tits out of her shower, fast. No such luck, though.
"Will you sing it for me?"
"Dude, no! Get out!" Beca exclaimed. This was getting unbearable.
"Not for that reason!" Chloe scolded, rolling her eyes at Beca, who looked ready to shove her out of the shower. "I'm not leaving here until you sing, so…" Beca shot her a dirty look over her shoulder, attempting once again to scare the redhead off. Instead, Chloe just sighed dramatically and adjusted her hands on her hips, looking towards the ceiling so she at least wasn't staring at Beca's ass. She really wasn't going to leave, the brunette realized.
With a sigh, she turned around, fixing her eyes somewhere over Chloe's left shoulder. Chloe, however, took this opportunity to rake her eyes up and down the DJ's body, which the redhead instantly determined she greatly admired. Beca made nervous eye contact with the singer, before taking a calming breath.
Beca began to sing the chorus of "Titanium," her heart fluttering painfully when Chloe effortlessly joined in. They held eye contact the entire time, a smile, and then a grin, spreading across Beca's features. Chloe looked extremely pleased, both with how good they sounded together and how Beca actually seemed to be having fun.
Beca switched from startled to giddy beyond measure as the two finished the impromptu duet, finally allowing her gaze to travel over the redhead's body. Chloe, meanwhile, was smirking devilishly. She had gotten her way and Beca may or may not have been checking her out.
"Oh, yeah, I'm pretty confident about all this." She joked, gesturing to her breasts. Beca's eyes widened and she instantly looked away, but she regained her composure enough to respond somewhat wittily.
"You should be."
Chloe realized that the brunette was once again looking painfully awkward, so with a small exclamation of "oh," she turned around and grabbed Beca's towel for her, extending it like a peace offering towards the other girl. Beca grabbed for the towel and quickly held it over her chest before looking up at the shower head.
"I… still need to shower." Beca murmured.
"Oh, totes! I'll see you tonight then!" Chloe declared, leaning forward to give Beca a quick kiss on the cheek.
She then proceeded to bound away from Beca's shower, leaving behind a very confused DJ. Beca stood frozen, clutching her towel with one hand and her cheek with the other, until the sound of Chloe leaving the locker room jerked her back to reality.
Alright, my beta isn't with me for the moment so this is rouuuuugh.
I apologize for the long delay, I had half of this done, but then I moved into my new apartment on my college's campus last week and repeated binge drinking took precedent. Because I'm responsible. And take really good care of myself.
Please share all thoughts, comments, and concerns!