After adventuring San Fran for most of the morning the girls were getting hungry, mostly Fat Amy but they decided to grab something quick and eat in a nearby park. Chloe loved this park. It was halfway between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. You could see across the bay and the ocean hugged the coast everywhere you looked. Muir Woods was just across the bridge and Chloe knew that she had to take Beca there for a sunset one night. She accidentally got lost two weeks before and ended up stumbling upon the perfect spot to watch the sunset. She loved living here but always knew that something was missing. Maybe it was being a new places with no friends or family, but Chloe really knew that it was because Beca wasn't beside her along the way.
"How's everyone's lunch?" Of course Aubrey couldn't completely let go of her control issues, which is why she had to constantly check on the Bellas. She got the exact response she was looking for, just head nods and thumbs up. She chose a sushi place that also made burritos so everyone was pleased.
Chloe was sitting next to Beca who was listening to Emily rapid fire facts about Alcatraz between bites of her burrito. The younger girl was like Wikipedia, except when she made stuff up you could see straight through it. If only she could throw out lyrics like she did facts about random things - riff-offs would have been a lot easier and the Trebles could finally shut up about always winning. Beca could feel Chloe getting closer and she just smiled to herself while trying to listen to Emily. Aubrey glanced up at her best friend who looked like she was going to internally combust, the redhead was thinking about something and Aubrey could see it all over her face. She politely excused herself from the conversation she was sitting in on between Fat Amy and CR - they were discussing how Stacie managed to get out of this trip, but they both knew that she and Aubrey were talking (Which was still weird to talk about), so they tried to bring her up as much as possible. Those two lived on embarrassing people.
"Hey Chloe, do you mind if I borrow you for a second? There's something I wanted to talk to you about." Aubrey was coming to the rescue, just like she had done time and time before.
"Oh, totes. I was done eating anyway." Chloe gathered her trash and stood up. "I'll be right back you two." She smiled and walked off, knowing that Beca would be entertained enough to not miss her. Chloe could feel Becas eyes following her every move and she couldn't help but smile.
The two older girls walked on the sidewalk while watching people dock their boats, ride their bikes and even play frisbee. 'This is a weird place' Aubrey thought to herself. So far their talk had consisted of pointing out odd things and the quality of lunch - not exactly where Aubrey wanted the conversation to go.
"Do you remember the conversation we had 2 years ago?" Aubrey broke the silence with a heavy topic. Of course Chloe remembered it. She had gotten drunk at a party after her and Beca got in a stupid fight.
"I think I'm in love with Beca." Chloe always blurted out words when she was drunk, but something about this felt different to Aubrey, the way that Chloe spoke was heavy. Like she had been holding it in for way too long. They had been best friend for almost 5 years now and she knew when Chloe was drunk she would just word vomit and immaturely laugh it off. This time she wasn't laughing though, she was being upfront about her feelings about the short one for once. She started to cry after she spoke, she was now upset beyond anything the blonde girl had ever seen. Aubrey was at the Bella house when the fight started.
"Jesus Chloe, we don't always have to spend time together, I have a life too you know?" Beca was furious and she had no right to be. Every Saturday Beca would work at the studio until 3 and then she'd go to the store and get snacks for movie night. Except Saturday nights were Chloe and Beca movie nights. They would lay in the redheads bed, watch a movie and usually stay up talking about music or something random. This was a scheduled thing, it had been going on for a few months and it shocked Chloe when Beca cancelled the first time, only to sit in her room and work on mixes. She said she had to do it for a school project, but Chloe saw right through her lie.
"You've cancelled on me 3 times Beca, this has been our plan for almost 4 months and now you want to stop hanging out because you have a life? I call bullshit." The redhead was yelling, which caused the Bellas to walk out of the living room and wait in the kitchen. Mostly so they could be nosy, peek around the corner to stare and listen to see if the two would confess their feelings for each other in the heat of the moment. Chloe could see Aubrey standing in the hallway with her hands on her hips and a displeased look on her face, just in case she had to intervene.
"I have better things to do." Beca turned around and started walking out but Chloe didn't let her get far. She grabbed the younger girls arm and looked directly at her, she was on the verge of crying but she wouldn't let Beca see that.
"Let go of me, now." Beca was furious and she just wanted to get out of the same place as Chloe. Just being near her made everything blurry. Friends didn't have weekly dates to cuddle in bed and watch movies. Friends didn't look at each other the way they did. Friends didn't fall in love with each other and friends sure as hell don't start a friendship off by interrupting someones shower just to sing together.
Chloe let Beca go and ran upstairs to her room. She sat down on the bed, fighting her tears until she remembered there was a frat party tonight and that's exactly what she would do instead of mope over Beca. She jumped up from her bed, swallowed her feelings and started digging through her closet. A simple black dress would do the trick. All the attention would be on her tonight and that's exactly what she needed. Chloe got dressed quickly and headed to the party, she was ready to forget everything. 4 hours later she had to call Aubrey to come get her, she was too drunk to call for a cab and knew that her best friend would take her home. Plus Aubrey was number one on her speed dial and Beca was second. She was tempted to call the shorter pain in the ass girl to yell at her, but there was no point.
Aubrey brought her back to the Bella house and helped nurse her back to life. Aubrey had seen the girl drink, but never this much. It took her almost 3 hours to get Chloe somewhat sober and it was already 4 in the morning. Then Chloe said the words everyone already knew. Aubrey felt bad for the redhead because she was now crying uncontrollably and she had no idea how to make anything better.
"Are you going to remember this conversation tomorrow Chloe?" The blonde girl knew that drunk Chloe never remembered conversations, but Chloe was semi-sober right now.
"Aubrey, I'm serious. I think I'm in love with her and the worst part is that she won't ever love me." She hid her face in her hands and continued crying.
"Don't say that Chloe. I've seen the way you look at each other, it's like no one else is in the room - it's kind of gross but hey that's just what I think. She loves you too, I'm sure of it." The crying redhead looked up and smiled. "Anyone who doesn't love you is stupid and as much as I hate to admit it, Beca Mitchell isn't stupid. Well except for when she showed up to auditions and played with a cup that you insist on drinking out of." Aubrey laughed at how the stupid yellow cup kept coming up in her life.
"I hope you're right Aubs." Aubrey gave her the best smile she could. She already had a conversation a few months earlier with Beca who pretty much admitted the same thing, but of course let other things take over her mind, which was why she was being mean to Chloe. She was scared and it was strange to see Beca that way, Aubrey had always seen her as a confident-no shit taking-I'll kick your ass in a back alley type of person.
"Yes, I remember the conversation. What about it?" Chloe couldn't help but be embarrassed at how much of a drunk she was that night.
"Beca still loves you and I know that it's not my place to be in your relationship but I am your best friend and I want to see you happy. It's been a long time Chlo and you deserve it." She could see Chloe looking at Beca from where they were standing. The younger girl was laughing at something Fat Amy was doing and Chloe couldn't help but smile.
"Thanks Aubrey, that means a lot. I appreciate you being the middleman in everything" Both the girls chuckled, because everyone knew how nosy Aubrey was. "I think this time we'll get it right, at least I hope so." As she spoke they started walking towards the Bellas, who were now running around each other like little kids.
After wrangling up the Bellas they decided to start walking back to Chloes, it was just a few blocks away and they had to stop at the grocery store to pickup things to make for dinner but Chloe had a few tricks up her sleeve. There was a recording studio nearby and she wanted to check it out. She had made an appointment for the Bellas to do a walk through the day that Aubrey called her from the airport; after-all she was in the company of Emily and Beca, two people who were currently recording an album. Plus they were World champs and the owner of the studio was a Bella in the 80's, so they really had the hookup. They were a few streets away when Beca took out her phone and started looking on the map.
"I'm pretty sure there's a recording studio in this area." Of course she knew there was, after Chloe moved Beca had spent days researching places in San Francisco that had the space to do what she wanted. She even looked at apartments, in hopes that she'd have the guts to move and "accidentally" bump into the redhead - super cliche and a total movie script, but she didn't care. There were only 2 studios that had everything she needed and they were about to walk right past one of them. She was thinking about a way to get herself in the door and talk to someone about possibly recording there in the future, if everything worked out okay with her and the redhead.
"Well girls, Beca is right! There is one nearby. We actually have an appointment in 10 minutes so we better hurry!" Becas mouth gaped open. She had no idea Chloe had this in mind when she said they were going to explore. Like she needed another reason to be in love with Chloe Beale. The ladies rushed through crosswalks and past pedestrians to get to the studio on time.
"Ah you must be Miss Beale. We are so thrilled to have you and the Bellas here!" The receptionist was too peppy and everyone liked her except Beca, which really didn't shock anyone. "If you'll follow me we can set you up in the conference room and someone will be here shortly. I must say that I loved your Worlds performance!" She quickly left and the girls were giddy with anticipation.
"Ah, Bellas. I am the lead producer here at Bay Studios. I must say that I was impressed with your setlist at Worlds." He looked around the room and stopped on Beca. "Rebeca Mitchell, I take it?" He put his hand out for Beca to shake.
"Yes, that would be me." She shook hand and then returned to her seat by Chloe.
'Miss Beale said there was a possibility of her joining you. I've spoken with your boss in Atlanta several times and he said that you have great potential and after hearing all of the things you done with the Bellas from Miss Beale here I'm very impressed. Have you ever thought about working here or in LA?" Beca couldn't believe that a legit music producer was talking to her about working in LA. Most importantly Chloe dropped her name because there was no way she was that well known, well with the Bellas yes. But music producer? No way. She was still a small girl from Atlanta that was sort of creating an album with another small girl from Atlanta.
"I've thought about it, just never had the right opportunity." She replied, reaching for Chloes hand under the table. She was nervous and everyone could tell, but she kept her cool as casually as she could.
"Well after the walk through we have to sit down and talk about you relocating. We think you would be a great member to our team…"