It was almost midday when an absence of warmth beside her dragged Beca out of her sleep and she looked up to see Chloe already sitting at her desk. "Mm… It's early…" the brunette mumbled when she saw the clock on her roommate's desk showing 11am. "I know, go back to sleep," Chloe replied, silently praying that she could spend an extra hour on her essay. She cursed when she heard movement from the bed and waited as Beca walked over to her side. Thankfully, instead of a scolding she received a kiss on her cheek and the brunette walked away to get some clothes from her wardrobe. "I'm going to run out and get some breakfast, do you want some?"
Chloe hesitated and then said, "Sure," and directed a smile in Beca's direction.
Beca pulled on her shoes and nodded before picking up her purse and heading outside towards the shops. As the cold air whipped around her arms she regretted not grabbing a jacket and picked up the pace as she walked. The convenience store was only a five minute walk away, but Beca kept going for another ten minutes until she reached a quaint little café on the corner. When she had seen Chloe sitting at the desk already at work, she figured that it would only be counterproductive to pull the redhead away from the work that was pushing her to such extreme lengths. It would only be for another hour or so, and Beca figured that it would be easier getting the girl to eat than it would be to stop working.
She left the café and tried to walk as fast as possible without spilling the hot chocolates that she was holding whilst balancing a bag of two croissants in her arm. A short while later she arrived back at the dorm room and kicked the door twice to knock, realising that she had left her keys at home. Chloe opened the door and instantly returned back to the position that she had been in: hunched over her book and scanning it for more quotes to use and analyse. Realising that she wouldn't get much out of her girlfriend for the next hour, Beca sat down on her bed next to the desk and placed her purchases on the small free space on the table.
She took off the lid to the hot chocolate and broke off a piece of croissant before dipping it in the liquid, then leant forward to her girlfriend's mouth. "Open," she instructed, and Chloe looked at her briefly before allowing the food to be placed in her mouth. She smiled gratefully before turning back to her work, and continued to be fed until there was nothing left but the hot chocolate by itself. Beca had been eating her own breakfast in between feeding Chloe, and she picked up both of the drinks before saying, "Come on, let's go hand your essay in. We can drink these on the way."
It took a while for Chloe to stop proof-reading her work as they walked along and actually drink the hot chocolate, but eventually they arrived at her professor's office and she had no choice but to give it in. "Ah Chloe," the dark haired man said as he looked up from his desk. "Let me guess; the introduction is shorter than you would like and you feel like you overused the word onomatopoeia again because there aren't many strong alternatives?" The redhead smirked at how well her professor knew her but proceeded to correct him, "Close. The introduction is shorter than I would like but I think I spent too much time on the connotations of the food at the buffet, and not enough about the juxtaposition of chapters six and seven.
He nodded once as if to say, "Of course, how silly of me not to realise." Noticing the small brunette standing in the doorway of his office, he peered over his glasses at Beca and beckoned her over. "And you are?"
"Beca Mitchell, I'm Chloe's girlfriend. And I have no idea what either of you just said," she confessed with a smile.
"Is that so? I take it you're not an English student then?"
"No sir, I'm in Philosophy but my heart lies with Music Technology."
"Ah, both of which were never my forte in school. Well I wish you the best with them, Miss Beca Mitchell, and I trust you look after my eager student. She likes to throw herself in at the deep end," he said with a coy smile.
"I'll be sure to take care of her," Beca said, and allowed Chloe to lead her out of the room after saying goodbye to the man.
"He seems lovely," she said when they were far enough away from the office that there was no risk of being overheard. "He is," Chloe replied with a smile. "Some days he's completely mad and literally runs around the tables, but at least it makes class interesting."
"I'm pretty sure my philosophy teacher is going to either fall asleep or drop dead any time soon, he's that boring and motionless."
"Mr S is cool. He's started to go grey but he's only in his late thirties."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you have a crush on him," Beca said with a teasing wink.
"Ew! Gross! He's more like a cool uncle than anything else. But I will admit that I'm kind of in love with his mind."
"Who wouldn't be?"
They dragged their butts to Bella rehearsals and received a scolding from Aubrey for being ten minutes late. Thankfully before the blonde could start to list off the benefits of punctuality, Fat Amy walked in fifteen minutes late and took the spotlight away from the two girls. "Do you want to come with me to Leslie's smoothie place after rehearsal?" Chloe whispered into Beca's ear, cautious not to incur the wrath of her best friend again. "Sure," Beca replied with a smile, but the glee was short lived as Aubrey spun around and began barking orders to stand over here and then spin over there.
Many twists and turns later, they were finally released with promises of aching limbs in the morning. Slowly the two girls headed over to Leslie's bar and ordered their usual drinks, and after a quick catch-up with the owner they wandered to a table by the window. The day had started to warm up and after the gruelling cardio session, Beca's blood was pumping around her body. She pushed up the sleeves of her shirt and Chloe noticed a small tattoo that had caught her eye before on the younger girl's arm. "What's the story?" she asked, gesturing to the image.
"It's boring really, you don't want to know."
"Let me guess; it was a drunken mistake on a Saturday night?"
"Not quite," Beca replied with a weak smile and figured that it wouldn't hurt to explain the real reason behind the cricket on her arm. "My little brother – Noah, who I told you about before – he used to call me a cricket every time that I sang. I think he had a storybook about crickets singing, and he just liked constantly referring back to it."
"That's sweet. When did you get it done?" Chloe asked and began running a finger up and down the slender green character.
Beca swallowed the lump in her throat as she took another sip of her smoothie, and then replied, "It was coming up to Noah's thirteenth birthday, and was only shortly before my eighteenth as well. I managed to find a place that didn't bother asking for ID, despite my childish height."
"Why didn't you just wait a few months until you could get it legally?" Chloe said, aware that she could be stepping on risky territory.
"I couldn't wait. He died on the Wednesday and his funeral was on the Saturday – I wanted to at least show it to him before they put him in a box for good."
Silence hung in the air as Beca played with the straw in her drink, and Chloe thought back to their previous conversation about her little brother. "He just made it all stop" Beca had said. It was a curious thing to say, but now it made sense. "I'm sorry," Chloe apologised, but the words didn't seem enough. Nevertheless, Beca shook her head as if to shake off any emotions that she was feeling and said, "It was hard to keep it quiet, especially from the newspapers. A thirteen year old killing himself isn't really a common occurrence in our town." Unsure of what to say or do, Chloe squeezed the younger girl's hand and pretended not to see the tears gathering in her eyes.
She took their empty glasses up to the counter in order to give Beca a few moments to compose herself, and then returned after a couple of minutes. "You ready to go?" she asked, and Beca nodded back brightly as if the previous conversation had never happened. Maybe some things were just easier to cope with if they weren't dwelled upon. They left the parlour and stepped out onto the street hand in hand, gradually making their way back to Chloe's apartment. When they arrived, they were pleasantly surprised to find the place empty and completely Aubrey-free. Both of them couldn't help but smile as the blonde had a habit of scoffing every time they went more than two feet closer to each other.
"Do you want to watch a film?" Beca asked, but Chloe shook her head. "Do you want some coffee?" Again, Chloe shook her head but this time she subconsciously bit down lightly on her lower lip as well. She took a step closer to Beca and slowly moved the brunette's jacket off her shoulders and threw it to the side. "I want you," she said so quietly that Beca thought she imagined it at first, but soon she was scooped up in Chloe's arms and their lips were pressed together in a mix of heat and passion. She tried to somehow wrap her legs around the older girl's body, but as long as they were still vertical it didn't seem to be possible.
Neither of them had the patience to wait until they reached the bedroom and so Chloe allowed herself to be lowered onto the floor, Beca in the most dominant position above her. She felt a knee press in between her legs, and her hands frantically searched for the hem of Beca's clothing in eager attempts to limit the amount of layers between them. First she pulled up the younger girls vest top to reveal a plain black bra that looked incredibly hot above her obvious hips, and she felt her own shirt been pulled eagerly away. Beca leant down and joined their lips together again, this time sliding her tongue against Chloe's only increasing the heat between them.
Their stomachs pressed together and Chloe craved for more skin to skin contact, prompting her to discard her own jeans and then Beca's. Meanwhile the younger girl made sure to dispose of both their bras and moved slow kisses down Chloe's neck before leaving hot imprints of her mouth on her breasts, enjoying the feel of the older girl heaving beneath her. Just when she thought she had Chloe exactly where she wanted her; the redhead flipped their positions so she was now on top and in charge. She kept her face close to Beca's and found reassurance in her loving cobalt eyes, as her fingers ran teasingly along the inside of Beca's thigh. The smaller girl's hips bucked slightly, silently begging to be touched and it didn't take long before Chloe gave into her demands.
After a while they lay there; chests heaving as their lungs gasped for breath until Beca eventually found the energy to say, "After that… and Aubrey's workout… I won't be able to move tomorrow." Chloe nodded in agreement, not feeling any shame in watching Beca's chest rise and fall as it glistened slightly with sweat. She couldn't help but lean over and place more tender kisses on her pale skin, entangling their legs together again. Beca seemed to willingly submit to the kisses at first, but her eyes were distracted by something in the distance. Chloe glanced up before kissing and pressing her tongue against her skin in an attempt to bring her attention back to their activities.
Beca took in another breath and tried to focus on her girlfriend as she could feel her mouth move lower and lower, but she couldn't help but notice how much the shadows beneath the tiny crack at the bottom of the front door looked like shoes. It was almost as if someone was standing outside, maybe not watching them but listening to their moans undulating through the air. "Chloe…" she cried out as the girl's tongue finally reached the heated spot between her legs again. Her back arched slightly and her head rolled back for a second, but as she lifted it back up and looked at the door, the shadows moved.
She jumped back and reached for something to clutch to her body with one hand whilst grabbing onto Chloe with the other. "Babe, what is it?" Chloe asked, suddenly panicking at her girlfriend's abrupt movement. "There was someone there. There was someone outside." Chloe swiftly turned around to look at the door before reaching up and grabbing the blanket from the back of the sofa, pulling it around both of their bodies. "Are you sure?"
"Completely – I could see their feet beneath the door."
Dubiously, Chloe stood up and picked up her clothes before pulling them on. Beca did the same. "It's probably just some drunk perv from down the hall," Chloe said unsurely. Beca nodded with equal uncertainty as she pulled her jeans back on, wishing that she could stay at the apartment for the whole night. "I should probably go," she said, looking nervously at Chloe. "Are you sure? You can stay here if you want."
"I'm covering Jesse's night shift at the studio, but thanks. I'm just going to head home and get changed before going over to the radio station."
"Okay… but call me, okay?" Chloe said with urgency in her voice and placed a soft kiss against Beca's lips. "I will," the brunette replied, and smiled at the redhead before picking up her bag and cautiously heading out the door.
She glanced down the corridor and turned back into the room as she said with a joking smile, "You're right – just some perv from down the hall." Chloe smiled back, but both of them heard the slight weakness in Beca's voice. Nevertheless she shut the front door behind her and walked out of the apartment, trying to pick up the pace on her way back to her dorm room. For once, she actually couldn't wait to be back in the tiny room with the familiarity of Kimmy Jin sitting at her desk.
Determined to get home as soon as possible, she turned the corner with quickness in her pace and talked herself out of looking behind her. It felt like someone was following her, but only stupid girls in predictable horror films looked behind them. Baker Hall was only next door to Chloe's apartment block but Beca took the back entrance, not too keen on the idea of passing the stoners that seemed to gather most nights in the front hallway. She was walking along the path at the side of the building when someone overtook her, and it all seemed perfectly fine until the figure spun around and stopped directly in her path. Her heart rate quickened as she tried to see the person's face, but it was disguised so well by the blanket of night.
Beca opened her mouth and took one step back; preparing to break into a run but before she could move the figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light. The identity of the figure took her aback and she opened her mouth wider to shout, but soon it was covered by a heavy hand clad with leather. "Don't scream," the voice said, and her heart sank as her body jolted against the brick wall.
