After a few minutes more, Chloe slowed down to a walk and Beca came up behind her panting slightly, "Man, I'm so out of shape", the DJ said, which earned her a snort from her friend. "Not funny, dude", Beca protested but Chloe cut her off, "Yes funny, but come along now, we're almost there." The redhead offered her hand again and Beca took it without hesitation. Chloe now lead her through a small clump of bushes and then down a short but relatively steep incline flanked by more greenery. Suddenly, the two girls emerged into a clearing and Beca stopped short, taken aback by what she was seeing. Chloe had relinquished her hold on the DJ now and was standing a few paces in front of Beca. The redhead was gazing out over the frozen lake. On the opposite side some buildings of the campus were visible with wide lawns and some trees spread between them. Currently, everything was covered in a layer of ice and snow but in summer the view from this position would surely offer a spectacular array of colors. "Chloe, this is a beautiful place. I never knew this was here. How did you find it?" The redhead turned around to face Beca, whose face still showed surprise, but didn't speak right away. Instead she bit her lip – a nervous tick of Chloe's that the DJ had come to notice over the past year. Not wanting to press her friend for information and afraid that she had ruined Chloe's good mood with her question, Beca waited, hoping that her friend would speak eventually.
"You remember when we lost the semifinals and you'd left the Bellas and everything seemed to be falling apart?" Chloe said finally. Beca's heart sank right into her stomach as she recalled that time. "Yeah, I remember", she mumbled, avoiding Chloe's gaze and still feeling ashamed of walking out on her friends back then. "Hey, look at me", the redhead said immediately and she moved towards the DJ. "I just wanted to say that back then I spent a lot of time alone, walking around campus and thinking. And one day I stumbled across this place and immediately fell in love with it. Then I would come back almost every day to listen to music and think about how …", she trailed off. "How what?" Beca said curiously. Chloe let out a sigh as if she had resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't keep the truth from Beca, "I kept thinking how you had changed the Bellas and made us better and how much I missed you and hoped you'd return."
Beca didn't know what to think or say. Yes, Chloe had been the one to text her when the Bellas had eventually gotten into the finals but she'd never known or even dared to hope that the redhead would miss her. Maybe she wasn't imagining or dreaming that Chloe was a real friend? After all, the events of the last two days would speak for that, the DJ reasoned. "Beca?" Chloe's voice sounded worried as she took another step towards the DJ. "Sorry, drifted off, again. Sorry about that. What you just said…I never knew…I mean", she stuttered, unable to say what was on her mind. Chloe seemed to see her friend's internal struggle and, in a gesture that she hoped would give Beca the confidence to reveal her thoughts, the redhead closed the gap between them and took Beca's hand yet again. At her touch Beca looked up and saw a kind of loving care in Chloe's eyes that she couldn't remember ever seeing anywhere. Even if she had wanted to keep her thoughts to herself, she couldn't have done it. The desire to share them with her friend who seemed to care so much about her was irresistible. "Look, Chloe", she began, raising their joined hands and looking at them, "I felt really bad for what I'd done and for walking out on you guys but the most horrible thing was that … that I thought I'd never get to see you again. And now that you said you missed me I am just so taken aback that you cared about me that much", she finished, saying everything as plainly as possible. Even though the DJ felt a bit embarrassed she needed to see Chloe's reaction and forced herself to meet the redhead's eyes. "Beca, I … I had no idea. I mean, it means the world to me to hear you say that you missed me", Chloe said and embraced Beca. Beca returned the hug and then chuckled, "Actually, I should say that I DO really care about you and certainly DO NOT want to lose you." Chloe pulled away, a questioning look on her face, "But that IS what you said, Becs." Smirking, the DJ clarified, "Well, I was kinda talking about the past, right, and so I thought it would be good to tell you that I still feel the same now." At that Chloe actually laughed out loud, "Then, Beca, I guess I should update my statement too to say that I care about you too and don't want to lose you either." And in a rather official yet funny gesture the redhead extended her hand and said, "So, we really are friends now?" Beca smiled broadly and shook Chloe's hand saying, "Yes, definitely!"
"We should head back. It's getting late", Beca said after a short silence which the two friends had spent gazing into the distance, each lost in her own happy thoughts. Chloe lifted an eyebrow and said teasingly, "You afraid of the dark, Becs?" "Actually, yes", the DJ replied simply and truthfully and wondered how this confession had come so easily and automatically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you", the redhead apologized immediately but Beca found that she didn't need an apology. She knew Chloe hadn't meant to make fun of her so she waved her hand and said, "Na, don't worry, it's alright and it is kinda lame." "It is not lame to be afraid of the dark or anything for that matter!" Chloe reassured her friend and lead the way back up the hill and onto the path back to the main part of the campus. Most of the walk passed in a pleasant silence in which the girls just enjoyed each other's company but when they reached Chloe's dorm Beca said, "Thanks so much for the great day, Chloe. I loved every minute of it!" The redhead gave her a radiant smile, "So did I and Beca?" "Yes?" "I'm afraid of narrow spaces", she added, shrugging lightheartedly. "That's good to know", Beca said hesitantly, unsure of how to respond to this confession. Her expression made Chloe laugh, "Hey, I just thought we should be even." "Fair point", Beca laughed and then sneezed and rubbed her hands together to warm them. She was getting rather cold, not having expected to stay outside as long as they had done.
"You wanna come inside and warm up?" Chloe asked, "I got coffee and some cookies." Beca's heart jumped and so did she, literally, "Absolutely, that would be awesome!" For a moment the redhead stared at her friend surprised by her behavior but then chuckled, "Well, come on then, Madam excited". And she stuck out her tongue at Beca before turning and leading the way to her room. The DJ stood rooted to the spot for an instant bewildered by her own antics but then just decided to go with it and not over think.
To be continued…