"What is wrong with me?"

Jesse smirks and starts, "Well—"

Beca holds up a hand. "Actually, don't answer that." She's been pacing the space between Jesse and Benji's beds for the better part of the last hour (Benji, thankfully, had taken one look at Beca's disgruntled expression and conspicuously hurried out, claiming he had to go to the library to study).

"You're overreacting," Jesse says. He's stretched out on his bed, back against the wall, with a half amused, half concerned look on his face.

"I know," Beca huffs. "I can't help it!" She plops down on Benji's bed and rakes a hand through her hair.

"You're cute when you're frustrated," Jesse says with a dopey half-grin on his face.

Beca narrows her eyes. "I am not."

"Okay, listen. You've been stressing about this Chloe thing for, like, two weeks. How about you just ask her why she didn't tell you about the surgery?" Jesse suggests, annoyingly reasonable as always.

"And the guy at the club."

"And the guy at the club," Jesse repeats, rolling his eyes.

"I can't."

"And why is that?"

"She'll ask why I waited so long to talk to her about it," Beca says, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So?"

"So I can't tell her that I like her." Beca stands and begins pacing again.

Jesse runs a hand down his face. They've had no less than six of these conversations in the last week and a half. "Why not?"

Beca shakes her head. "Because."

"Because? What are you, twelve? That is not a reason."

Beca's response is to throw one of Benji's pillows at him. "Because there's no way in hell Chloe likes me back."

"Have you ever heard the expression 'you never know until you try'?"

"You are such a cliché."

"From what you've told me, Chloe didn't even tell Aubrey that she was back on campus or that she was having surgery. So there must have been a reason and the only way you'll know is if you fucking talk to her."

Beca stands in the middle of the room, shifting from one foot to the other. "No."

"Bec—"

"I said no."

Jesse raises his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Keep your pants on, jeez." Beca immediately reddens. "Did you just—"

"No."

xxxxxx

In her defense, Beca does consider talking to Chloe. But every scenario she comes up with in her head ends either awkwardly or violently. Not that she thinks Chloe would actually hit her if Beca confessed her feelings, but she's never had to deal with this whole gay thing before. Not that Beca's gay. She just has a… Chloe issue.

It's a good thing Aubrey finally decided to listen to Beca's ideas, because pulling together an entirely new set list complete with new outfits and new choreography takes up almost all of Beca's time. She'd spent almost two full days (and nights) picking songs and mixing them together. If rehearsals had been tough before, they were grueling now that the date of the ICCAs loomed ever closer. Beca tries to act, well, not awkward around Chloe but she must be a terrible actress because—

"You're acting weird."

Beca winces. "Thanks, Aubrey, you give the best compliments."

Aubrey rolls her eyes. "You're being… twitchy."

"It's nothing," Beca says, toying with her bracelets and looking at the floor.

"Are you nervous for nationals? I know we haven't always gotten along, Beca, but I trust you and I am confident we are going to kick some aca-ass," Aubrey says, and tentatively pats Beca on the shoulder.

Beca smiles. "Thanks." Aubrey nods before walking away to rein in Stacie's self-groping. When Beca turns around to rejoin the group, she finds Chloe standing in very close proximity behind her and jumps. "Ack!"

Chloe bursts out laughing. "You should have seen your face!"

Beca frowns, her face reddening. "You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days if you don't stop sneaking up on me, Beale."

"Sorry," Chloe says, trying to sober her expression, but her lips twitch and a few giggles escape.

Beca crosses her arms. "Laugh it up, Chloe. It won't be so funny when I actually do die," she says, but she can feel a smile tugging at her own mouth. It's impossible to not catch Chloe's infectious, well, perpetual happiness.

"I'm CPR certified," Chloe offers, still trying to suppress her laughter.

"Good to know."

"Hey, do you want to hang out after practice?" Chloe leans in towards Beca, her breath tickling the brunette's ear. Beca swallows hard. "Aubrey's been going crazy with the choreography for this new set," she whispers.

"Crazier than usual?" Beca jokes, her heart quickening because Chloe's so close Beca can smell her perfume. It's borderline intoxicating.

Chloe pokes her in the side. "Is that a yes?"

Beca totally intends to say no. She should say no, because finally voicing her feelings for Chloe (even if it was just to Jesse) made the whole thing infinitely more real, and terrifying, and her body has a pretty extensive track record of betraying her when she's in Chloe's company. She's about to say no, in fact, when all of a sudden her mouth says, "Sure, you can come over to my room."

"Great, thanks!" Chloe squeals, kissing Beca chastely on the cheek and bounding away. Beca presses a hand to her face where Chloe's lips had just been and suppresses her urge to run out the door immediately.

xxxxxxx

When they arrive at Beca's dorm room, Chloe tosses her bag on Beca's desk chair and says, "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back." With a smile, she ducks out the door. Beca waits a few seconds to be sure she's gone and then quickly dials Jesse's number on her cell phone.

After two rings, Jesse answers. "Hey, Becs. Sup?"

Beca glances furtively at her door, as if to make sure Chloe had really left. "I'm in my room. Chloe's here. Well, right now she's in the bathroom."

There's a moment of silence. "And?"

"I don't know what to do!" Beca exclaims, and sits down on her bed.

"What do you two usually do?" Jesse asks, a tinge of confusion in his voice.

"I don't know… we talk, or listen to music."
"So do that."

Beca sighs. "I'm not really sure why I called you."

Jesse laughs. "It's fine. Are you going to tell her?"

"No," Beca says definitively.

Jesse begins to chant, "Do it, do it, do it."

"You're not helpful," Beca says, rolling her eyes.

"You're welcome. Let me know how it goes."
"Bye," Beca says, and ends the call. She holds her head in her hands and takes deep breaths.

The door opens. "I'm back," Chloe says, and sits next to Beca. The redhead frowns. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," Beca says, looking at the wall behind Chloe's head.

"Are you sure? You've been acting sort of strange lately. Like… twitchy."
Beca laughs. "That's what Aubrey said."

Chloe leans back against the shelves over Beca's bed. "So it's not just me. Seriously, Beca, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I—well, okay." Beca twists the rings on her fingers nervously. "Uh… Well, um—"
"Beca, what is it?" Chloe interrupts, a look of concern on her face.

Beca decides to start with what she judges as the least offensive of the things that have been plaguing her. "Why didn't you tell me you were having your nodes removed?"

Chloe looks down at her lap. "I was scared. I didn't know how affected my voice would be after and… I don't know. I didn't want to worry anyone." She looks directly into Beca's eyes, and for a moment Beca forgets how to breathe. "I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings. That was the last thing I wanted to do."

"It's okay," Beca says and, because she doesn't really know what else to say, she leans over and awkwardly wraps her arms around the redhead. Chloe squeezes her arms tight around the younger girl's shoulders. When they break apart, Chloe smiles at her.

That was fairly well-received, Beca thinks. She takes a deep breath and gathers her nerve. "Okay, so over spring break, I saw you," she says. Chloe frowns confusedly. "At that club, the Garage," the brunette elaborates.

"Oh," Chloe says quietly.

"You were sort of attached to some guy's face," Beca says and then winces internally. That was really sensitive, Mitchell, she chastises herself.

Amazingly, Chloe laughs. "It wasn't my finest moment."

"You didn't tell me you were back on campus."

Chloe's expression softens. "I know," she says quietly. "I didn't tell anyone. I was upset because I had just found out that we were in the finals and I had gone ahead and had the surgery. I just wanted to forget about it for a while." There's a moment of silence, with the two just looking at each other. Then Chloe frowns. "Wait," she says. "Why were you at the Garage? You're not even twenty-one."

"I got bored over spring break and Luke, the radio station manager, had said he could get me in," Beca explains.

Chloe looks at her with a strange expression on her face. "Are you, you know, seeing him?"

"What? No," Beca says, with a sort of shocked half-laugh. "Why? Are you seeing the guy you were with?"

"Just… wondering. And no," Chloe says, scrunching up her nose. Adorable, Beca thinks. "To be honest, I don't even remember his name."

Beca coughs. "Slut," she says, imitating Fat Amy. This earns her a pillow-whack from Chloe. The redhead flops down on her back, pulling Beca down next to her.

"I'm glad you're not seeing Luke," Chloe says, so quietly Beca's not sure she heard her correctly. But before she can ask why, Beca's phone lights up. It's a text message from Jesse. Did you tell her yet?

Chloe leans over her shoulder. "Tell me what?"

Beca flinches. "How do you know it's about you?"

Chloe turns so she's facing the brunette. "Is it?"

"No."

"You're a terrible liar."

"No I'm not." She's stalling.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm—"

"Beca."

Beca caves. "Okay, but it's nothing important. Jesse's an idiot."

"I don't believe you," Chloe says. "Is it what's been bothering you?"

"You could say that," Beca says, not meeting the redhead's breathtakingly blue eyes. She fidgets with her earrings, her bracelets, anything to avoid an imminent confession.

Chloe puts her hand on Beca's arm. "You can tell me."

Beca stares at Chloe's hand. "Do I have to?"

"Yes." The hand squeezes gently.

"Or what?" Still stalling.

"Or else."

"Or else wh—"

"You know what?" Chloe stands, abruptly cutting Beca off. "This is ridiculous. I'm leaving." She turns to grab her bag.

Beca sighs. "Okay." Chloe smiles and sits back down. "You're using your powers for evil."

Chloe rolls her eyes. "Get on with it."

Beca takes a deep breath. "Jesse may or may not think that I haveacrushonyou."

"Huh?" Chloe frowns.

"Jesse thinks I like you," Beca says, feeling her face heat up.

"And do you?" Beca swears she sees a smile play on Chloe's lips.

"It's possible," Beca says, covering her face with her hands.

"How possible?"

Beca groans and peeks at Chloe through her fingers. "Pretty possible." There's a beat of silence before Chloe bursts out laughing. Full-on, doubled-over, bad-sitcom laughter. "Hey!" Beca grumbles, annoyed. "You could be a little more sensitive than that."

Chloe wipes at her eyes. "I'm sorry," she gasps out, trying to control her giggles.

Beca crosses her arms over her chest. "I was lying. I actually hate you."

"No, you don't understand." Chloe takes a steadying breath. "Aubrey thinks I like you."

Beca raises an eyebrow, trying not to feel too hopeful. "And?"

"It's pretty possible it's true."

Beca can't control the smile that stretches across her face. "Oh."

"Yep," Chloe says, also smiling.

"I still hate you."

"I hate you too," Chloe says, and suddenly her face is very close to Beca's.

"How much?" Beca whispers, eyes on Chloe's lips.

"This much." The redhead closes the gap and holy shit Chloe is kissing her.

Beca is kissing Chloe and Chloe's has one hand on her cheek and one on Beca's knee and somehow Beca's hand is in Chloe's hair and Chloe's tongue is in her mouth oh my God. It's over way too soon, but it's probably for the best because Beca's heart is pounding so erratically it's very possible she's going to drop dead, right there in her dorm room.

"Well," Chloe says, catching her breath, "that wasn't awful."

Beca lightly punches Chloe in the arm. "You're mean."

"I know," Chloe says, and puts her hand on the back of the brunette's neck, pulling her in for another kiss.

Beca makes a mental note to not kill Jesse later.

xxxxxxxx

It's really no surprise when the Bellas win the ICCAs two weeks later.

No, the surprise (for most of the Bellas, anyway) was when Chloe pulled Beca in for a victory kiss after their win was announced.

Fat Amy is her usual diplomatic self: "I think they caught it from Cynthia Rose!" she shouts, pulling her shirt up over her mouth. "Does anyone have a surgical mask?" Cynthia Rose takes a deep breath and blows, full force, in Amy's face.

"I was kidding," the blonde insists, and everyone laughs.

When Beca finally makes her way back to her seat, Jesse taps her on the shoulder. "I told you," he says, "endings are the best part."

Beca rolls her eyes, and slings an arm around Chloe. "You're such a weirdo."

A/N: Well, there you go, kids. Hope you've enjoyed this fic. Your support has been awesome. You guys rock.

And to the guest who asked when Beca snapped at Chloe, it was after the semi-finals when Beca sang "Bulletproof" and Aubrey was all "I knew she wasn't a Bella!" and Chloe was like "Aubrey, don't" and then Beca was like "No, that's okay, you don't have to pretend you have a say in the group." Burn.