A/N: Greetings old friends! Here is chapter 26 featuring jealous Chloe (for possibly the last time), a bachelorette party, some flirting, more interruptions, and quite a few songs namely 'Crawl' by Chris Brown; 'Crazy' by Ne-Yo ft. Jay-Z; 'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran; and 'There Goes my Baby' and 'Here I Stand' by Usher.
Enjoy the shenanigans or some mentions of?
The next chapter should be up tomorrow.
PS: for the guest who requested 'The Scientist', I don't think it would fit anymore in the coming chapters but I did use it in the 15th chapter of the first fic ('Your Love is a Song') with 'Fix You'. So if you haven't, check it out ;)
I don't own pitch perfect.
"Stacie." Amy said in a serious tone after a few round of drinks. They were at what was now known to them as 'their local bar'. In four days, it would be the bachelorette. And in seven days, it would be the wedding.
Yep, the past four months in prep for the wedding was a woozy, but then again with Aubrey at the helm, Stacie was actually surprised they didn't get married in two.
Currently, however, they were at said local bar, having a their last share of drinks before they get caught up in wrapping things up with work and the whole whirlwind of said wedding event.
Stacie checked her phone, Jesse and Beca were supposed to join them but the two were running late, Jesse having dropped by Beca's office on the behest of his boss about a possible project they want the music producer and DJ.
Luke was supposed to join too, but there was an event at the club and he wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly if Beca was joining them. He figured Beca deserved the time off with her friends too.
"What is it Amy?" she finally asked with genuine curiosity.
"So who is it? I mean, you never asked me. I don't think you asked Shawshank. It doesn't take a genius to know that Chloe is automatically Aubrey's. So who is it? Who is your all-important Maid of Honor?"
Stacie held back a laugh when she saw Amy still looking deadly serious. "Well, I was going to ask Cynthia Rose since I didn't want you or Beca to fight for the role. I didn't want to do what you did with Luke, and even if I did, Aubrey would have said no. But…" Stacie started to explain before giving Amy an innocent looking smile. "See, Bree has this plan. Apparently she's done watching from the sidelines of the whole Beca and Chloe thing…"
"Ah, so you're choosing Shorty then?"
"Technically it's Aubrey, but yeah." Stacie concluded. "Sorry about that."
"No, no, that's actually pretty brilliant!" Amy then said with a huge devious grin that spelled trouble. "Especially now that the Aca-Nazi is part of our plans."
Stacie was going to say something about Aubrey's many botched attempts for a plan when Beca and Jesse finally came in. "Speak of the devil!" Amy exclaimed as the two of them reached the bar.
"Nice to see you too, Amy." Beca then greeted as she pulled herself up on a bar stool.
"So, have you told her yet?" Amy then immediately asked, not giving Beca a moment's peace. After the whole stunt that Beca pulled with the kids in Chloe's program, the two have been making progress, spending more time together, with Beca helping Chloe out. The kids loved it, of course, and if Aubrey's constant Chloe recap was anything to base Beca's progress on, it sounds like they were actually already dating.
Well, kind of.
They just haven't really gone out on an actual date. And Beca's been planning with her three accidental confidants a super romantic date – although they've also scrapped every idea they ended up having because they were all pretty much 'been there, done that' – and a way to let Chloe know about the secret of Beca's memories before anyone else figures it out.
AKA, before the Bellas or Aubrey figure it out too. Because Aubrey would definitely tear into Beca and rip her apart if that means straightening her out.
But Chloe's been still hesitant to agreeing with either lunch or dinner.
And every time Beca tried to get the words out to Chloe it's either Luke is having a crisis at the club and calls her, Stacie and Amy inadvertently walk in on them, Emily starts freaking out about something and runs into Beca, Ghost starts to jump onto her or tackle her playfully in a park and knock her over, or people recognize Beca on the streets and the conversation drifts away from the point.
Beca released a deep sigh in response and Jesse shook his head helplessly.
"If you guys turn off your radar on important things going down, maybe I can actually get a word out." Beca then said sounding rather frustrated about it.
"But how is the memory business?" Stacie asked, taking a sip of her drink while Beca and Jesse waived at the bartender to give them their usual.
"Great really. I'm apparently still 'blocking out' a few things, my doctor thinks that it's my subconscious' way of telling me that I'd really rather not remember them. But you know what? I kind of do. The good times and the bad, they're important to me now. I want the sun, true, but I want to remember the rain too. Understand the scars they left behind, whatever those memories are."
"Wow, Shawshank, you still haven't had a drink and you're getting all deep now." Amy commented and Beca shrugged.
"I've been talking to artistic people and scientific people combined." she gave as her response.
Stacie decided to wait until Amy had left – Bumper having picked her up – before asking Beca if she would be okay with being Stacie's Maid of Honor.
Jesse walked back with her and Beca to the DJ's rather posh flat. Beca didn't want the night to end just yet, having missed really getting together with her friends and just hanging out. They spent some time catching up on other things going on in their lives, with the wedding and getting Chloe back all they ever talked about, they really barely have heard anything about what each of them were doing.
And when Stacie finally asked it, Beca in all her drunken state simply said yes with a goofy smile.
"Do you think I should leave a note for her to read in the morning, I don't think that registered in her brain." Stacie said to Jesse as Beca started singing – rather passionately too – along to the music on the radio.
Why did I change the pace
Hearts were never meant to race
Always felt the need for space
But now I can't reach your face
So where
Are you standing now
Are you in the crowd of my faults
Love, can you see my hand'
I need one more chance
We can still have it all
"She gets mad at me when I start singing when I'm drunk, and here she is…" Jesse rambled as a response while shaking his head before turning to face Stacie. "I think she'd remember. But just to be safe." he shrugged.
Stacie did what Jesse told her while sneaking up a glance at Beca putting up a performance in her living room. Stacie couldn't help but chuckle.
If we crawl
Till we can walk again
Then we'll run
Until we're strong enough to jump
Then we'll fly
Until there is no wind
So lets crawl, crawl, crawl
Back to love, yeah
Back to love, yeah
"Okay, that's about enough for you." Jesse then said when Beca jumped up the sofa trying to do some interpretative dancing of the song. He rushed towards her, getting her down before she attempts to jump and get herself hurt.
"Do you think if I sing really loud, Chloe would hear me?" Beca mumbled as she leaned on his shoulders and Jesse sighed.
No matter how strong of a fight she was putting up Beca still gets disheartened.
She still gets scared that she won't ever get the chance again.
That no matter how much Chloe still loved her, they were just too broken.
Stacie smiled somberly at that, and while it broke her heart, she was resilient for her friends. She could see it, Aubrey could too, even if Beca's strengths and insecurities would fail her.
And because of that Stacie knew that she had to lend her strength to one of her best friends.
"Probably not Becs, but I know for sure Chloe's thinking of you all the time. If you wanna serenade her though, we can do that tomorrow. When you're sober."
"Promise?" Beca asked.
"Yes." Stacie said with a grin, helping Jesse to tuck her in.
Everybody sees it's you
Well, I never wanna lose that view
Beca mumbled the song while they helped her into bed and Stacie tried to suppress a chuckle. "Thanks." Jesse then said to her, finally braking her attention from Beca.
"You know Treble, I never once imagined this is where we'd end up to be a few years ago in Barden, but you've really stepped up to be one of Beca's best friends."
"I had a good teacher and role model." Jesse said with a smile. It was compliment that Stacie would take any day. "Any insider info on what's still stopping Chloe from trying again?"
"Nothing really other than she blushes and smiles that goofy smile of hers a lot whenever she thinks of Beca or Beca does something incredibly romantic – which in these days pretty much means all the time – and it's driving my fiancée nuts, and by extension me too, that Chloe's still hesitant. I can't blame her though."
"I'm not either, just wondering if there's any way we can help them get there."
"Don't worry Jess, if we come up of something, you'll hear about it. Especially with your help with our last revengenda plan. You're like the second honorary Bella and all." Stacie replied with a wink as they excited Beca's room and made their way to the door.
Stacie led the way and chuckled, Jesse staring back at her confused. "What do you mean second?"
But Stacie never gave him a reply.
The answer should have been obvious.
Chloe wasn't entirely sure what she was doing but she wanted to change things up a bit. Beca's the one who, without fail, have been doing the kindest, sweetest acts she could think of.
The never ending stems of flowers, which Michelle had started to translate for her in case the message has been going over her head, the help, the interest in her projects, the quiet moments after work with their coffee or tea.
It only felt natural, really, to return the gesture.
And so, Chloe has found herself with a box of cookies she baked herself and thermos of hot chocolate she made from a recipe that Paul had shared to them one afternoon. For some reason, Chloe couldn't really put a finger on, she was a bit peeved that the recipe used German chocolates. But, oh well. It was good hot chocolate.
Lately it seems
Like every song I write is about you
Oooh, I love your style
That's what you do to me
That's what you do
That's what you do to me
That's what you do
Chloe found Beca at her studio, relaxing on her favorite chair, headphones hanging on her neck like always, singing along to a song only she could hear playing faintly from her headphones.
And it just don't make no sense
How my swagger is crooked
If you ain't by my side
That's what you do to me
That's what you do
That's what you do to me
That's what you do
It was so typical of her, so Beca in all ways, and Chloe just couldn't help how cute and adorable she looked trying to be all professional music producer extraordinaire when she was still wearing combat boots.
Just call me crazy
Insane, deranged
It don't matter to me
Call it what you want to; I don't care
And it doesn't make a difference 'long as she's there
Just call me crazy
Lovin' you is crazy
Crazy is what I'll be
Ooo, crazy, ooo, crazy, ooo
Just call me crazy
Chloe was about to enter when a rather swift 'get-out-of-my-way' blonde rushed pass her by the door and headed straight to Beca. "Oh Beca, it's been good to see you!" Chloe heard her say in a British accent as she lunged at Beca for a hug. Beca clearly didn't even notice her, jumping out a bit on her seat. Chloe was starting to get really riled up with all her touchy-feely with Beca, invading her personal space, like who the hell does that?
…You do Beale… but that's a different point… Chloe thought to herself.
But before Beca could address her 'aggressor', as Chloe would like to call her, Beca noticed her, pulled away and went straight to where Chloe was standing.
"Chlo!" Beca said all excited as she reached for the box in her hand. "You okay?" Beca then asked when she let go of a deep sigh.
"Yeah, yeah. Just, sorry…. I didn't know you were busy. I made you these." Chloe replied, handing Beca a box. Beca immediately grabbed a cookie, her face lighting up like a child – a good indicator that Beca totally loved the cookies – before turning to finally acknowledge the blonde.
"Sorry about that Amber. It's good to see you too." Beca quickly replied before turning to Chloe. "That's Amber Sparks, she's the artist I worked with in London before. I'm supposed to produce a track for one of my artists with her as a featured guest. In exchange, she made me promise to produce a track for her next album." she then explained. "It'll be a quick meeting for just some details on the song, wait for me?" Beca asked.
Considering it was a Saturday and Chloe really had nothing much to do, Chloe agreed.
She does, after all, want to make sure that the Ambre girl behaves properly around Beca.
Not that she's jealous or anything.
She totally wasn't.
Amber was just incredibly talented in an annoying way. And she just happened to be a fine specimen – Chloe wasn't blind to not know that – who has arms all around Beca, like how dare she!?
Okay, maybe she was.
Especially when she had to watch Amber get all flirty and touchy-feely with Beca all the time, placing a hand on her shoulders, or her arm, trying to lean in over her shoulders when Beca's showing her something about the song – because she kept wanting to change the arrangements and the lyrics, and seriously how did Beca manage to finish her first album in record time again? The woman was impossible to work with?
Especially with all the incessant flirting!?
"Ten pounds says, she's going to complain forever that Beca's all oblivious again." she then heard a man with British accent whisper to another man whose hands he was holding.
"That's already obvious Jack." he replied. "Double it on her trying to make an obvious move that goes past our Mitchell's head."
Chloe looked up just as the two approached the couch she was sitting on. "Oh, hello, you're new. My name's Milo, I'm really just here to watch but I'm one of Beca's mates back in London. Are you one of her mates here?"
"Sorry about that. We usually just deal with Kaelyn. The name's Jack." the other guy then said before Chloe could reply. "I was Beca's old assistant."
Chloe was about to reply when two more people entered the room, a rather slick and dashing tall man with a dazzling smile…
…and Luisa. Of course, Luisa.
Like this day couldn't get any worse.
"My, my, who do we have here? This should definitely be interesting." Luisa then said, catching Milo and Jack's attention.
The tall man with Luisa turned to look at the DSM leader before turning to face Chloe. "Hmm, I don't believe we've met in person but if I had to take a guess, you're Beca's Chloe, right?" he asked and the two Brits gasped.
Chloe wasn't entirely sure but she blushed a little when he said 'Beca's Chloe'.
"My name's Fitz." he then said.
Yep, day couldn't get any better.
"So you're the asshole Luke punched." Chloe then commented, blue eyes glaring at him, and Fitz laughed.
"You might say that." Fitz replied with a good humor. "I've learned my lesson though. Really we're just here to make sure Amber doesn't do anything stupid. She's been demanding to get to work with Beca again. I'm amazed we ever finished her first album without difficulty before with all, well… she's talented but she's rather difficult sometimes."
"That's because Beca was only happy when we get things done perfectly and in record time." Jack replied. "Every other time she was miserable. And Amber wanted her happy."
"How else can she try her seduction eyes?" Milo retorted.
"Seduction eyes?" Chloe asked, flaring up a bit.
"Relax, little miss sunshine in the booth can try anything she wants but I don't think our little DJ would even realize it, not when all she thinks about is a certain redhead." Luisa replied with a knowing smile.
Not that it did much to appease her. Chloe turned back to the booth, watching Beca do her thing while Amber is bringing up her flirting skills to full force. While it was true that Beca didn't seem to notice it, Chloe still found that she could barely contain herself. All she wanted was run into the booth, grab Beca, and kiss her.
Kiss her hard.
Mark her, stake her claim on her. Make it clear to the singer that Beca was hers.
That Beca was hers… Chloe's thoughts echoed.
Just like she's always been Beca's.
A truth she knew from the moment they met in Barden.
Chloe sat and watched Beca work with a keen eye at Amber. She tried to calm herself down and when they seemed to be done, Chloe took that as her cue.
"So, drinks after? It's always good to celebrate." Amber started saying.
But before she could even convince Beca to say yes, Chloe reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together. "Hey Becs, I was thinking of grabbing a quick bite by that café you love before dropping by to visit Ghost. He's with you now, right?"
"So the cookies were to butter me up, sly move Beale." Beca then replied with a chuckle.
"No, the cookies were for you, silly." Chloe replied, tucking a lose strand of the DJ's hair behind her ears, her fingers gently brushing Beca's cheeks.
Beca smiled. "Well I'm glad."
"Ghost?" Amber asked, trying to get herself involved in the conversation.
"Our dog." Chloe simply replied, placing an emphasis on the 'our' part.
Amber was about to say something else but Fitz thought it would be best to cut in and distract his talent at that point. Luisa dropped by to say hello and tease Beca a bit about Amber, all of which didn't really make an impact on the DJ. Jack and Milo also said their hellos.
They managed to make it out alive after that, before Amber could undoubtedly throw a tantrum, they're hands still intertwined. As soon as they stepped outside, the early spring breeze greeting Chloe, refreshing her, she finally released a breath she had been holding since that brief interaction with Amber. Beca turned to look at her with a quirked eyebrow and Chloe bit her lip.
"Sorry, it's just… I don't like her."
"Amber?" Beca guessed and Chloe nodded. Beca hummed thoughtfully before responding. "I mean, I'm not a fan of how she gets all handsy sometimes, but she's okay. I mean she's like that to some of her friends on rare occasions too."
Rare occasions, right. Probably just to put Beca at ease about it all, Chloe thought, which she did not like at all. "Beca, she's practically trying to seduce her." Chloe all but blurted out and Beca laughed hard, like she was telling her a joke.
The laughter died out however when Beca saw the serious look on Chloe's face. "Oh, you weren't kidding."
"Does it look like I am? Seriously though, everyone else could tell!"
"Huh." Beca replied, realizing things for the first time. "Don't worry Chlo, I'll make it clear to her." she simply said in reply to reassure the redhead.
"Make it clear to her that what?" Chloe asked for clarification and Beca chuckled, a smirk forming on her lips.
"I think the answer to that is pretty obvious Beale." Beca replied, stepping up closer to Chloe, inching a little to close the gap between them, letting the little distance between their lips linger while Beca looked deep into Chloe's eyes. "And if you can't figure that out…" Beca said in a whisper, Chloe feeling her breath graze her lips lightly, before the DJ shrugged and pulled away. The smirk on her face getting bigger.
"Okay girls, normally I don't condone any of this, but I think we really need to make something happen here." Aubrey said in hushed tones. They were at a private room of the club Beca and Luke owned for Aubrey and Stacie's bachelorette party. Beca was doing a special set of remixed love songs for Aubrey and Stacie at the moment, and Emily, Cynthia Rose, and Stacie were busy talking to Chloe about the whole Amber incident.
From what she heard from Chloe, she hated the most currently loved international pop star. She hated that she would get all over Beca, even when Beca brought it up to her that she wasn't comfortable with all the handsy affections.
Or that she was in love – apparently Mitchell actually said the exact words, as she heard from Kaelyn who reported it back to her once Aubrey deemed it necessary to know some insider info about the whole incident – with someone else.
But no, instead, Aubrey had the pleasure of meeting Amber during a Bellas brunch the other day, claiming it was a coincidence that she just happened to run into Beca that morning.
And she could see why Chloe's all unsettled, despite Beca's lack of attention of the girl. She's actually really beautiful, Aubrey wasn't blind to not see that. She was also incredibly talented, as evidenced by her ridiculously large fan base.
Really, she'd be glad to get rid of the girl soon.
"How about you focus on your wedding first, cap?" Jessica then suggested. "Or for that matter this party for you and Stacie?"
"Yeah, and then we can think of something after your busy honeymoon." Amy added, wiggling her eyebrows to drive home the point. "Don't get me wrong, I'm always eager for some mischief to be managed but I think Shawshank just wants to do things her way right now. If things still don't progress, then I say we go do it."
"Or we can always just try our hand for some mischief when Beca gets back here. She did say this was her last song of the night." Ashley spoke up.
"Then we need to come up with a plan. How about – " Aubrey started to say before Stacie interrupted her with a kiss on the cheeks.
"No scheming. You owe me a dance." Stacie simply said, grabbing Aubrey's hands.
And how could Aubrey disagree?
So honey now
Take me into your loving arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart
I'm thinking out loud
Maybe we found love right where we are
They were all idiots.
As much as they craved the mischief of their younger days how could they all be blind that they really didn't need to intervene?
It felt cold, really cold, during the early days of the break up where everyone's worlds were shattered along with Beca and Chloe's.
But then slowly, it was warming up. The sun started to peak out of the clouds little by little. In truth, Flo thinks it all started back in New York.
And sure, it took time. Like a whole lot of a long time. But then again, it took Beca a long time to process and realize she was in love with Chloe too.
Sure, she wasn't there to see everything, but she was there in a few of Beca's quiet moments of uncertainties. She was there at Barden, tuning in to her show when she all but declared her love for her.
And Flo was sure that she would be there, along with the Bellas, to see the happy ending that Beca and Chloe deserved come to fruition.
All in due time.
I've been waiting all day to wrap my hands
Around your waist and kiss your face
Wouldn't trade this feeling for nothing
Not even for a minute
And I'll sit here long as it takes
To get you all alone
But as soon as you come walking my way
You gon' hear me say
They all heard Luke singing as he burst in to the room, crashing the party, with Kaelyn in one hand. He was soon followed by Beca who was shaking his head with a chuckle.
"This is a bachelorette party Luke, what on earth are you doing here?" Aubrey demanded.
But Luke ignored her and kept singing, along with the song the usual house DJ was playing. Clearly already a few drinks in.
There goes my baby
(ooh girl look at you)
You don't know how good it feels to call you my girl
There goes my baby
Loving everything you do
Ooh girl look at you
"Come on Bree, we all know Luke's already an honorary Bella from the very start. Be nice." Stacie then said.
She was quickly followed by Denise in approval. "Besides, what's a Bellas' party without Luke crashing it?"
Flo chuckled at that last comment. "Are any of our other honorary members going to drop by?" she turned to ask Emily who was sitting next to her.
Emily shrugged. "Benji said he's going to just hang out with the guys tonight and Amy said that she explicitly made it clear to Bumper to not pull off any pranks."
"Which means they would most likely show up at some point. There's no chance in hell Bumper would let it slip."
"No, come on Flo, they wo-" Emily started saying. "No, they actually would. Remains to be seen I guess."
Flo chuckled Yeah, sometimes her friends were helpless idiots, most of the times clueless too. But that's why she loved them anyways.
Even Lilly agrees with her on that.
At some over the night, the Bellas moved their party at Beca's flat, nearly missing Jesse, Benji, and Bumper's attempt at sneaking in and crashing the party.
It was a more private affair then. Plus the comforts of knowing they could party hard all night long and not worry much about where they would wake up in the morning was an added bonus. That and they didn't need to yell to talk to each other anymore.
Beca had hit play on her playlist and Stacie took that as her cue, stepping up to sing along with the song currently playing to serenade Aubrey.
You're like a mirror to my soul, but a queen (My queen)
And finally now I know just what that means (Oh yeah, yeah)
You're the blessing that I never thought I would get
And to the Lord I humbly bow my head
The Bellas were back to their old routines of teasing and catcalling when Jessica looked around and noticed that Beca had disappeared.
She turned to Ashley who was standing next to her to ask if she had seen where Beca disappeared to.
But before she could ask anything, Ashley had cut her in with a question of her own.
Just remember that
"Have you seen Chloe?"
Both she and Jessica had become curious at where the two could have gone to. Before any of the other Bellas could notice that the two were gone and make a fuss about it, particularly Amy, they decided to get to the bottom of it.
Stacie's voice echoed through the halls.
No matter how far I go
And no matter how long it takes
No one or nothing can change
Forever yours here I stand (Here I stand baby)
That's when they finally found Beca and Chloe talking in her home studio.
"They look happy." Ashley commented.
"They look in love." Jessica then corrected and Ashley couldn't help but agree. The two had been flirting with each other all night long.
So maybe they were taking the long route back to each other, but Ashley couldn't help but think that maybe that's just how things were supposed to be.
They were on the right track.
Maybe no mischief needed to be managed after all.
However, Ashley was wrong, because as they soon proceeded to make their way back to the party, Amy had found them, sporting a wide grin.
So maybe mischief might still inevitably happen after all.
"I'm just saying, I had fun tonight. Clearly you haven't lost your touch." Chloe said with a grin. "And glad that no one unexpected stole you away from the Bellas."
"Are we still talking about Amber? She's not… never was, the two of us, a thing. Although you pointing out that she might have a thing for me certainly cleared up all of the teasing from my other so called friends."
Chloe nodded. But Beca could tell she wasn't entirely reassured by that.
"Chloe, look, I told you." Beca said in a more serious tone. "I told you that even if it takes all of my remaining life, I'll never stop. Winning you back, professing my love, all that." Beca said with a light smile.
And Chloe couldn't help but blush a little as she chuckled. "I know. You said that over and over again already."
"But?" Beca asked.
"What makes you think there's a 'but'?" Chloe threw back.
"Just…" Beca said, carefully choosing her words. She didn't want to sound like she's complaining or anything, but the whole 'Chloe refuses to go on real date' thing was bugging her still. Like she's still afraid to try again, afraid that Beca would break her heart again.
"I won't ever walk away again, Chlo. I hope you know that." Beca finally said, her eyes seeking Chloe's own.
"I know." Chloe replied in a whisper before placing a soft sweet kiss on her cheeks. Beca smiled, Chloe's effect on her never ceases to change or fail. The kiss was enough to for her to melt away.
"Chloe, I, well, I think you should…" Beca started saying as soon as Chloe pulled away.
She was going to do it. Say it. Let Chloe know the whole truth.
But then they heard a loud crash coming from the hallway. Chloe was quick on her feet and, without fail, the Bellas were all gathered outside and eavesdropping, sans Stacie and Aubrey who were still with some of their 'bachelorette party crashing' friends.
Once Beca stepped out, arms crossed above her chest, she noticed the houseplant she kept near the door to her studio had cracked open. It seemed the Bellas were all leaning towards the door, careful to hide their presence form them, what with the door in question being slightly opened and peering out through the hall.
Beca took a shaky breath, her frustrations about the interruptions hitting its peak.
But one look at Chloe said it all, she could let the redhead handle this.
And as for what she was going to say?
Beca knew there would be a time for it.
And that time was sure to come soon.