Los Angeles felt like the foreign country by the time they returned from their honeymoon, having spent the last week of it in Australia where, much to Beca's excitement and Chloe's amusement, Chloe had found a wildlife preserve that allowed Beca to hold not only a koala, but also a baby wallaby, thereby fulfilling Beca's destination requirement. The photos of the events had replaced the photos of Chloe that had been Beca's lock and home screens for months, and though she knew Chloe was a tiny bit miffed, Chloe seemed to be tickled pink about Beca having photos of herself holding fuzzy marsupials as her wallpapers made up for it.
But it made her happy, and she knew Chloe knew she'd replace her photos in a few days or a couple weeks, probably with pictures from their wedding or other honeymoon things. Chloe had spent forty-five minutes of their flight home sorting such photos on Beca's phone into an album for future quick access - and then AirDropping them to herself to do the same.
"Hey, babe?"
Beca glanced up from the basket from which she was pulling their just-washed vacation laundry. "Hmm?" She snapped one of their dozen Barden Bellas/Athletics/Dance club tees and folded it, tossing it onto the growing stack on her desk by the closet. She didn't even bother sorting them by original owner anymore.
Chloe was on her stomach on the bed, laptop in front of her. "The Elementary department's doing a barbecue for the Fourth. Wanna go?"
"I think Capitol's doing something," she replied, folding yet another tee.
"Oh. Okay."
She slowed her folding, noticing it wasn't a Barden shirt but rather one from Chloe's academy. She added it to the stack. "Yeah, let's do your school thing," she amended. "I'm always dragging you to my shit." She looked over at Chloe, watching her light up.
"Yay! I'll RSVP us." Chloe was giddy and Beca smiled, going back to her task.
One of her basketball team shirts from high school had somehow made the trip to the southern hemisphere - it was mandated to remain buried at the bottom of the drawer, but Chloe had a habit of digging it out and wearing it, and then teasing Beca mercilessly about being a jock, which was hilarious because Beca's foray into athletics had been short-lived. She wanted to impress a guy on the Varsity basketball team, so she tried out for, and shockingly made, the JV team as a sophomore. Only she sprained her ankle at her fourth game, and when her teammate Jennifer brought her flowers and candy as a get-well gift, she forgot about the guy and became very good friends with Jennifer. And then quit the team. She had yet to share with Chloe that those were the details of the origin of Jennifer that Chloe knew existed. Beca smiled, thinking it probable that Chloe wouldn't insist on wearing that shirt if she knew the backstory. Maybe she should tell her...
"And I like going to your stuff," Chloe continued as she clicked away on her keyboard. "It's aca-awesome going to parties with celebrities. But I don't mind showing you off to my work friends."
Beca snagged the pile of underwear and socks out of the bottom of the basket and tossed them onto the desk to sort them and hopped up to sit next to them and work. "You're telling me I'm just a trophy wife?"
"Not just a trophy wife," Chloe said, smiling at her over the screen of her computer. "You're a few other things, too."
"Oh? Do tell."
"You're a great housekeeper."
Beca scoffed and pitched the socks she'd just folded together across the room, missing Chloe but managing to at least get them onto the bed. "Fuck you."
Chloe laughed and retrieved the socks, tossing them back and actually making it in the basket. She nodded proudly. "Which one of us played JV basketball again?"
"Fuck. You." Beca smiled and resumed matching socks. "So what else am I?"
"A decent singer," Chloe said, rocking her head back and forth in thought.
"Decent?"
"An okay lover."
"Now I know you're bullshitting me. There's nothing 'okay' about my game."
Chloe laughed again, and though she continued to list off things she apparently considered Beca to be (or not be), Beca was only half-listening, watching her ramble and gesture emphatically, the way her eyes were alight with joy and humor as she teased Beca about whatever. This whole deal wasn't half bad, not that she was still in doubt. Chloe made her grossly happy, every day. And until they lived together, she never would have taken the time to match her socks; she threw them all in the drawer and called it a day. But Chloe made her want to keep house, or more accurately, keep a home. She hadn't stopped thinking about their conversation one of the last nights in New Zealand, and the concept - no, it wasn't a concept anymore - the fact that in the not too terribly distant future, she would be folding tiny socks and tiny T-shirts and tiny everythings.
She didn't know how this was her life.
But she wasn't complaining.
"What day is the barbecue?" She asked, noticing Chloe had stopped talking.
"Uh - July fourth?"
Beca rolled her eyes and set to sorting her underwear from Chloe's, pretty much the only thing they did keep separate nowadays, but even that was up for debate from time to time. "What day, not date. This jet lag is killing me."
"Oh! Monday night."
"Today's Thursday?"
"Friday," Chloe said with a chuckle.
Beca sighed. "I'm a mess. I have my PR meeting on Monday."
"On the Fourth of July?"
"I told you they wanted to see me as soon as we got back." She huffed a laugh. "Come to think of it, maybe it's for the best that we aren't going to Capitol's party."
"So I guess congratulations are in order."
Beca was sitting in one of the hundred conference rooms of Capitol Records' iconic building; she'd been the first to arrive for this surely terrible meeting and chose to sit on the side of the table that let her see out the windows - and be the closest to the door. Her public relations team sat opposite her, or partially opposite - Chantel, whom she mostly liked, took the head of the table, and Andre sat across from her. She thought it ridiculous she had a PR person at all, let alone two. But at least she'd gotten to know Chantel over the past few months as she escorted Beca to and from press events.
"Yeah, thanks," she answered Andre, who was smoothing his purple satin tie down his chest.
"I'm sure you understand why we're meeting?"
She bit her tongue on the response she wanted to give. "Because I threw a wrench in your grand plan to make me a superstar by exercising my right to marry the person I love?" Close enough.
"Were you ever planning on informing us?"
"We only found out because I checked photos you'd been tagged in on Instagram. Chloe's posted a few from your wedding and honeymoon," Chantel said, sounding a lot more sympathetic than her counterpart. "You could have told us. We wouldn't have stopped you - we just like to know what we're working with."
Sorry. Not sorry. "Sorry."
Andre sighed and flipped through the bound print-out in front of him - a literal map to Beca's intended career path with the label. She'd only seen it once, and was so skeeved out by it she refused to keep a copy in her possession. He crossed out entire pages, stopping after crossing out another half-page. "You already messed things up going on national television and announcing you were engaged. It's getting around now that you got married. We need to put out a statement." He drew a firm X over a paragraph of text. "Charlie's camp won't be happy. They were really banking on this."
"Charlie who? Banking on what?"
"Charlie Puth," Chantel answered hesitantly.
"The two of you were going to start being seen together."
"What?" she said, incredulous.
"Staged, of course," Chantel rushed. "We'd never ask you to cheat on Chloe."
She looked back and forth between them - Andre, stern and scribbling notes, and Chantel, looking a little sad. "You were going to ask me to - sorry, stage me cheating on Chloe? For publicity?"
"Yes," Andre answered simply, still writing, and then picking up his phone to type something. "If you would have read this when it was provided to you, you would know that."
She was incensed. "This is bullshit. You don't get to fuck with my personal life."
"Technically, we do. Or did you not read your contract either?"
Beca glared across the table at Andre. Technically he was on her team. It was his job to boost her popularity and thus, success. But right now, he felt like the devil incarnate. And she felt like her contract had become a deal with said devil. "I read it."
"Then you read the section regarding public relations."
Beca tried to run it back through her memory - the contract was huge, and yes, she'd had legal counsel help her decipher it. She remembered that public relations services would be provided, but couldn't recall specific details. "I didn't know it meant you'd stage shit like that. Make me look like a cheater. How is that good for me? That makes me look like an asshole. And it would make Chloe look like an idiot for staying with a cheater!"
"You wouldn't actually be cheating -"
"Shut it, Chantel," she bit, not even bothering to look at the girl.
Andre's phone vibrated and he glanced at it. "We can get Zayn. Even better."
"The One Direction douche?" Beca said, almost speechless. "I am not agreeing to this!"
"No? I can try to get Demi. I was talking to someone on her team last week and they're ready to have her be seen as openly dating a woman, and you being attractive and out would be a perfect -"
"You can fuck off," she said, pushing her chair away to leave, but stopping herself. "Can I fire you? Or do I not have that right either? Will you fire yourself? Since you think you can be in charge of me, I want you to fire yourself."
"These are your options, Beca," Andre said, rubbing his hand over his shaved head.
Beca had the extreme urge to smack him upside it. She bet it made a really satisfying sound. "No." She pressed her index finger into the table between them to count off her responses. "My options are to make music people want to listen to. To live my life as openly or privately as I see fit. To show girls that they can make it in this gross, patriarchal society and industry. To be seen as a woman who is in control of her career and her life." She paused, needing a fifth statement to drive it home. "To not be ashamed of who I am or who I choose to be with." She slammed her palm on the table, wedding band clacking loudly to nail her points home, and sat back, fuming.
"I'm not implying you have to be ashamed of who you are. I literally just suggested you could date Demi -"
"Jesus Christ, I am not fake dating Demi Lovato!" She shoved herself backward and launched out of her chair, pacing. She wanted to run, but she had to stay in the ring. This was her fight to win. "So, what, we put out a statement that I got married and follow it with paparazzi photos of me cheating on my wife the next day? Wow, I'm really someone for girls to look up to, aren't I? Come the fuck on."
"Beca," Chantel said hesitantly, and Beca stopped pacing, letting her speak. "We - we will come up with a different plan. Without staged relationships."
Beca watched Chantel exchange looks with Andre, and while it seemed Andre was in charge of the grand plan, it definitely looked like he just caved with one pointed look from Chantel. "You fucking better."
"Will you please rejoin us?" Chantel said, gesturing at Beca's discarded chair.
She sighed and returned to the table. "Fine."
"Thank you." Chantel was smiling, obviously trying to get Beca to calm down. "Let's move past that aspect of the plan, and instead put together a statement about your marriage, hmm?"
Beca sat forward. "Okay. And I'm done with dealing with this bullshit. I'm finding a manager."
"Chlo? I'm home!" she called when she didn't see Chloe in the living room or kitchen. There was no response, but she could hear music as she approached the stairs. "Chloe?" she called again, climbing to the second level.
"In here!"
Beca followed Chloe's response and the music to the bathroom, where Chloe was reclining in the bathtub in a sea of bubbles, lights off, candles lit, a half-empty glass of wine on the edge of the tub, and an acoustic playlist Beca had made for her playing through their portable speaker.
"Pampering yourself, are we?"
Chloe smiled and opened her eyes. "I was just going to do it to shave, but then it became a whole thing," she said with a shrug. "How'd it go?"
Beca sighed and ran her hand through her hair, taking a seat on the closed toilet lid.
"That well, huh?"
Beca half-smiled. "You know, I just wanted to make music. I didn't…" She sighed again.
Chloe sat up, her playful air sobering. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you, but don't freak out, because it's not happening." She watched Chloe fidget a little, and then nod. "They were upset because our getting married got in the way of the affair I was apparently going to have with Charlie Puth. Though to be honest I don't know why - I mean, cheating on my fianceé, cheating on my wife - who cares, what's the difference, right?"
"What? Beca, that's crazy."
"You're telling me! They literally wanted to stage me cheating on you, with another musician, to boost my image. Because being a slimeball cheater is good? I don't even know. I told them fuck no. And then, like it was their choice of scandal partner that I had a problem with, they offered up Zayn from OneD and Demi Lovato."
"These people are trying to stage you cheating on me?" Chloe was working on standing up to get out of the tub, but Beca held out her hand, shaking her head.
"Stay. I told them to fuck off. I don't care what the vague clause in my contract allows them to do. I am not agreeing to anything that's designed to come between us like that. God, I hate this industry. Well, this side of it, anyway."
Chloe stayed in her bath, but slid around so she could reach out and rest her hand on Beca's knee, slowly soaking through the denim. "Baby, I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
Beca sighed, hating herself for what she was about to say. She'd argued with herself about it the whole drive home, because it wasn't fair to Chloe.
"Can you make your Instagram private? And only give people we know access? If you tag me in things, people can find it on my profile. It's how word's out that we got married. And why I had to have that meeting today."
Chloe recoiled a little. "Why is it a problem that people know we got married?" Beca knew social media was important to Chloe; it was how she kept in touch with her friends and family. "I can't share photos of our life?"
"You can, just...God, Chloe, I'm sorry. You should be able to do what you want. I just...okay, if you don't want to make it private, can you just ask me before you post something about us or with me in it? I feel like such a fucking diva right now. Chlo, I'm so sorry. This is new to me, I don't know how to deal with it yet and I have people telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing..."
"No, it's…" Chloe shook her head, sinking back into the tub to tuck her knees up to her chest. "I understand." She laughed, a little bitterly. "We were just talking about how cool it is to go to your parties with celebrities. Apparently you're the celebrity now."
"You're going to have to remind me of people's names. I'm so bad at names." Beca followed a step or two behind Chloe through the school's parking lot toward the football field. She was dragging a cooler on wheels behind her which slowed her down, being laden with ice, soda, and beer that had been Chloe's assigned contribution to the party.
"Of course!"
"I can't believe you guys are having a party on the football field. My friends tried that once; got caught, detention for a week."
Chloe laughed. "Perks of being the faculty instead of the students." She glanced over her shoulder. "You got that, babe?"
Beca gave an exaggerated grimace and yank of the cooler to make her laugh. "Not all of us can have the light and easy task of carrying our purses. But I guess if you have to haul yours that contains everything but the kitchen sink, that's close enough. Also, it's fucking hot out here."
Chloe stuck her tongue out at her and smiled, leading the way toward the small crowd on the football field. "It won't be so bad on the grass. And that's why I made you wear that hat," she said, pointing at the flat-brimmed, white Miami Heat snapback from own collection she'd forced Beca to wear. 'Force' wasn't really the right word; Beca had no aversion to hats, but Chloe was so tickled by the "swagger" the cap gave Beca that she insisted upon it, and Beca still hadn't really figure out how to tell Chloe 'no' in most situations.
Crossing the field at the fifty-yard line, Beca noticed they'd set up a white pop-up tent where several people congregated, blue smoke rolling out of it - the home of the grill, it would seem.
"I see Suzanne and her husband; let's set up by them," Chloe said, pointing toward a couple sitting in lawn chairs, the man with a thick streak of sunscreen down his nose to block what his visor couldn't.
"Is she the Bella fangirl?" Beca asked, running through the names and stories Chloe had shared with her over the last school year.
"Yes, but she's the sweetest. Suzanne!" she called, waving. "And it's her husband that vetted our pre-nup, remember."
Beca watched them embrace as she caught up, happy to stop dragging the cooler across the field that fought her every step of the way, wheels digging into the turf. She waited awkwardly behind Chloe as they exchanged their hellos, and then Suzanne noticed her and lit up.
"You brought Beca!"
"I did!" Chloe stepped aside to pull Beca to her side. "Beca, this is Suzanne Washington. She teaches Fourth Grade."
"Nice to meet you." Beca held out her hand to shake in greeting, but found herself enveloped in a hug instead.
"Congratulations! I couldn't be more excited for you both. I always knew, from your first performance at the ICCAs together, that you and Chloe had something special."
Beca made a face at Chloe over her friend's shoulder. "Um, yeah, thanks?"
"Chloe, I can't believe you took an entire year before bringing her to a faculty event." Thankfully, Suzanne released Beca to stare pointedly at Chloe.
"I know, she's just been really busy," she heard Chloe start, and decided it was a good time to take her moment's leave.
"I've been to a couple things. I guess we just kept missing each other. I'm going to go put the drinks with the other stuff over there," Beca said, pointing at the aluminum picnic tables she'd spotted that appeared to be the established home of refreshments.
It really was hot as balls, but that was to be expected in the middle of summer, in the early evening, in July, in California. She was grateful Chloe had talked her into shorts (after talking her out of her jeans, heyoooo), because she would be dying if she was in jeans for this. She'd also been talked into wearing a tank top that sported an American flag, "Because we're proud to be an American, Beca!" To which Beca had rolled her eyes and commented on the state of the impending Presidential election.
But at least she wasn't completely suffocating. "Hey, I got drinks. Okay to park it here?" she asked a man that appeared to be somewhat in charge. He was wielding a pair of tongs, anyway.
"Sure thing!" The man traded the tongs to his left hand and extended his right. "I'm Austin."
"Beca."
"I don't think I've seen you around before. Your husband a teacher here?"
"Wife," she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder in Chloe's general direction.
A look of recognition swept over his features, even beneath his sunglasses. "Ohh, you're Beca Mitchell."
"Well, Beale. But yes."
The man took a drink of his beer and shook his head. "My girlfriend used to talk my fucking ear off about your girl. Like she was the worst person in the world. Which is hilarious because I'm pretty sure she was a Care Bear in a former life."
Beca pressed pause on her instant offense. "Your girlfriend is Anika Schmidt?"
He nodded. "I see we've both heard plenty."
Beca shook out her hands. She knew Chloe and Anika had buried their hatchet by the end of the school year, and Austin seemed an innocent party, probably supportive of his girlfriend through the drama just as she had been of Chloe. "You could say that," she said with a wry smile.
"If I'm remembering right, you got a few words in with Anika, too."
Beca rubbed the back of her neck, glancing away. "She uh...said some pretty nasty things."
"She...I'm not going to make excuses for her. What she did was really uncool. I'm sorry about it all."
"Yeah. Me, too." Beca was definitely sorry about it all - sorry that Chloe had gone through what she did.
"Beca!"
She turned, hearing Chloe calling her in the distance, waving her hand for her to come back.
"Looks like your little lady's calling. We'll come say hi later. Anika's picking up Colton from her parents' and then she'll be here."
"Colton?"
"Her son."
Chloe was too invested in her conversation with Suzanne for Beca to interrupt with her astonishment that the woman who was once the meanest person Beca had ever had the displeasure of encountering apparently had enough compassion to be a mother. So instead, she worked on getting comfortable on the blanket Chloe had laid out in her absence and nursed the bottle of Dos Equis she'd brought back with her from the cooler.
But sure enough, an hour later, give or take, she spotted the blonde crossing the field, a little dark-haired boy running ahead of her, jumping randomly until he took off in a full sprint toward Austin, who swept him up and onto his shoulders. She watched the couple say their hellos, and she was shocked it was the same Anika Schmidt she'd yelled at in the parking lot last year. Then she noticed Austin gesturing in their direction.
"Uh, Chlo?" she said, interrupting the conversation to nod at the approaching trio.
"What's up?"
"Incoming."
She watched Chloe trace her line of sight and then she actually lit up and waved at them as she set her beer aside. "Hey, you guys!" She moved to sit up on her knees and held out her arms. "C'mere, Colton!"
"Miss Beeoh!" Austin swung the boy down, legs kicking before he was even on the ground, so he could take off toward them, barreling into a laughing Chloe. Beca watched them, how Chloe exaggerated his impact to send her onto her back where he giggled in her arms as she wrestled him a little.
The thought dawned on her that she'd never really seen Chloe interact with kids in an affectionate way - sure, she saw her with her students and she wasn't not affectionate, but she was every bit their teacher. And the way Beca's tween and teenage cousins had acted toward her at Thanksgiving certainly didn't open any doors for affection.
Beca always saw girls talk longingly about their ovaries hurting, when they saw a baby or an attractive man; she never understood it, since carrying and birthing children was pretty much last on her list of earthly desires.
But right now, watching Chloe play with that little boy, her ovaries hurt.
Chloe sat up just in time for Anika and Austin's arrival. "Hi!"
"Colton, you're squishing her, come over here," Anika said, only glancing at Beca so far.
"Oh he's fine," Chloe said, arranging the boy Beca wagered to be four-years-old in her lap. "Anika, you ah...remember Beca?"
"Yeah." Anika did more than glance, looking at Beca with a measure of trepidation that Beca felt probably matched her own. "Glad you could make it. Congrats on the wedding."
Hesitant as though she seemed, her tone didn't seem false. "Thanks," Beca hedged cautiously.
"This is my boyfriend, Austin."
"We met," Austin said, nodding at Beca.
"And this," Chloe said, using a playful voice, "is Colton." She tickled the little boy's stomach, making him squeal. "Colton, can you say hi to Beca?" The boy curled into Chloe a little, instantly shy, making Chloe laugh. "It's okay. She's a nice lady. She's my wife."
He wriggled a little in her lap, eyeing Beca hard until he wriggled his way out of Chloe's arms to stand, eye to eye with Beca as she sat on the ground. "Hi," he said quietly and then ran to hide behind Anika.
"He's shy around new people at first," Anika explained. "Give him a bit and you won't be able to get rid of him."
Beca leaned to see the boy peeking at her from behind his mother, and she pulled her sunglasses down to wink at him, sending him into hiding again.
"You guys mind if we join you?" Anika asked, gesturing at the empty grass beside Chloe and Beca's camp.
"No, totally," Chloe said, popping up to take the blanket from under Anika's arm and help her get set up.
Funny how much could change in a year.
Beca was a cheeseburger, a hot dog, a plate of chips and salsa, a cup of fruit salad, and three beers in as she used Chloe's lap for a pillow, staring at the night sky to wait for the fireworks to start when she heard a quiet voice next to her.
"Miss Beeoh?"
Beca smiled at Colton's version of Chloe's name. L's were hard for him, no doubt.
"Psst, Miss Beeoh."
Chloe was chattering Anika's ear off, and Beca reached to tap her shoulder since Colton was failing to get her attention when his little brown-haired head popped into view above her, eyes wide. "Miss Beeoh, I got my soccer ball."
It took Beca another few seconds to realize she was the "Miss Beeoh" whose attention was being requested. "You do?"
He nodded. "Wanna play?"
She felt a hand on her shoulder, Chloe's, she knew, squeezing a little. "You want me to play soccer with you?"
"Uh huh!" As quickly as he appeared, he was gone, and then she felt a sticky hand on hers, pulling.
"He wants to play soccer with you," Chloe said, smiling down at Beca. "You better go."
"I…" she started, and then decided to just go with it. "Okay, buddy." She pushed herself to her feet, smiling at the boy grinning up at her, now holding a junior-sized soccer ball. "Lead the way."
Playing soccer with Colton, it turned out, was less soccer and more kicking the ball his way and waiting a minute or two for him to chase it down, stop it, take careful aim, and then kick it wildly in what was surely intended to be her direction, but rarely on target. Thankfully, his little legs didn't wield a lot power, especially at a distance, and she didn't have to chase it much.
"Here, come closer," she called, waving him in. "Stand on that line." She pointed at the forty-yard line and watched him sprint to it to align his feet perfectly with the white line. She stood across from him on the forty-five. "I'm going to kick it to you. Try to stop it with your foot. Okay?"
She didn't have the best aim herself, but the short five yard distance narrowed her room for error and she tapped the ball with the side of her foot his direction, watching him watch the ball intently until it rolled to him, where he more or less attempted to jump and land on the ball with both feet.
He stopped it, at least. She had to give him that.
"Good job!" she encouraged, clapping. "Now, watch my feet when you kick it back to me."
She did her best to corral his crazy pass to make it look like she knew what she was doing, and he laughed but she figured he was laughing because he was having fun, not because she was being mocked for her skill. Given he was four-years-old. "Your turn," she said, watching him hop to attention and do a little better at stopping the ball that time.
"Can I play?"
Beca jumped, startled by Chloe's voice behind her. "Oh, hey."
Chloe slipped her arm around Beca's waist and hugged her into her side to press a kiss to her temple. "You guys are adorable."
"Hush," Beca said bashfully, wrenching out of Chloe's hug in time to catch Colton's wobbly pass.
"Miss Beeoh! You wanna play with us?"
"Can I?"
"Yeah!"
"Whose team should I be on?" she asked, lifting her hands in an exaggerated shrug.
Colton's hand shot in the air, along with his body as he jumped. "Me! Me! Me! Me!"
"Sorry baby," Chloe said, stepping to Colton's side of the field.
"Traitor," Beca whispered, making Chloe giggle.
"Go, Colton, go!" Chloe cheered as she jogged alongside him toward Chloe's straw hat that had become a sort of makeshift goal at some point during their game.
Beca was walking backwards, ready to [loosely] defend her goal, and she let the ball roll right between her legs to cross the invisible line that the hat marked, scoring a goal. She groaned dramatically as Colton and Chloe cheered, and Beca swept him up in her arms, lifting him up and then swinging him down to settle on her hip. "You beat me!"
"I win!" he cheered, hands over his head.
Beca noticed Chloe had gone quiet, and she glanced over at her, finding her frozen in her spot a few feet away, fingers touching her lips as she watched them. Beca smiled at her, knowing Chloe's ovaries were hurting, too.
"Let's go get ready for the fireworks, okay?" she said to Colton, letting him down to run back to the rest of the group, leaving Beca and Chloe behind. "You coming?" Beca asked, holding her hand out for Chloe to take.
She was surprised when Chloe didn't just take her hand, but pushed completely into her space to pull her into a kiss, one Chloe was not being conservative with.
"I wanna show you my classroom," Chloe said between kisses.
"I've seen it," Beca answered, confused and more than a little distracted.
"No," Chloe said, pulling back. "I wanna show you my classroom."
"Oh." Beca stared at her. "Oh. Oh. Yeah. Yes. Yes show me your classroom."
"It's so empty," Beca said when Chloe unlocked the door to Room 17.
"Summer." Chloe closed the door behind them and Beca heard the telltale click of a lock just before she was whirled and pushed up against it, mouth promptly reclaimed by Chloe.
She sighed against it, clutching at Chloe's waist to pull her closer. As soon as Beca needed a breath, Chloe moved to her neck. "What's gotten into you?"
"So hot," Chloe said, hands already under Beca's tank top and pushing their way higher.
"Playing soccer?" Beca asked, still confused but caring less and less.
Chloe shook her head and Beca decided to stop asking questions, instead running her hands up Chloe's back until they were tangled in her hair, holding on as Chloe's lips and teeth pulled at her neck. A thigh found its way between hers and pressed up into Beca without hesitating and Beca moaned.
Last time they'd done this, a quickie in Chloe's classroom, it was during the school's Prom and Chloe had been on high alert the entire time, shushing Beca or keeping her hand over Beca's mouth to keep her quiet.
That didn't seem to be the case this time as hands grazed over Beca's chest and then fell to her hips to tug Beca away from the door and turn her to walk them through the classroom until she felt Chloe's desk pressing into the backs of her thighs. She was about to sit when she felt hands working on the button fly of her shorts and decided to give Chloe a few more seconds until her shorts fell to her ankles. Then she sat.
And she watched Chloe kneel.
"Shit, Chloe…" she breathed, running her hands through Chloe's hair as hands ran up her legs to push her thighs apart, and Beca held on as Chloe leaned in, tongue pressing against the cotton of her underwear, but with a sharp tug she felt them pulled aside and then Chloe's mouth was on her.
Beca didn't know if it was the slight buzz she had going, or the thrill of this being one of her fantasies, or the ridiculous things Chloe was doing with her tongue, but a sledgehammer had been taken to her arousal, as if it was a carnival game, and sent it rocketing toward the sky.
"Oh my God, baby, what are you doing to me?" she breathed down at Chloe, who glanced up at her under heavy eyelashes and only did more of whatever it was.
She didn't bother trying to drag it out; Beca let her climax take her when it wanted, and apparently it wanted to show up in what had to be no more than a few minutes.
She tugged at Chloe, pulling her back to her feet and down into a kiss, both breathing hard. "You gonna tell me what that was all about?" she said when they finally parted.
Chloe laughed airily and took a step back, bending to fish Beca's shorts off the floor and slip them back up her legs. "I didn't want to say it before, and ruin the moment."
"Why would it ruin it?" Beca asked, hopping off the desk to finish pulling her shorts up and button them.
Chloe draped her arms over Beca's shoulders, tucking her hair behind Beca's ears. "Because watching you with Colton is what was so hot."
Beca's immediate reaction was shock, but then she remembered Chloe playing with the boy when he first got to their barbecue, and how it had made her insides twist in a pleasant way. It hadn't sent her libido through the roof as it apparently did for Chloe, though. Which was totally, one hundred percent fine. "Yeah?" she responded with instead, settling her arms around Chloe's waist.
Chloe nodded and dropped her head to nuzzle into Beca's neck, and Beca had a moment of self-consciousness now that the fog of lust had cleared, knowing she probably smelled like sweat and sunscreen.
Chloe didn't seem to mind, though. "I want to have a baby with you."
Beca smiled and wiggled her shoulder so Chloe would lift her head. "You will. We'll get started on it soon, okay?"
Chloe grinned. "How soon?"
"Whenever you want."
"Tomorrow?"
It made Beca's stomach flip flop, but she nodded. "Tomorrow, if you want."
