After a small ordeal that involved getting Luke past the bouncers, the three of them finally made their way into The Canary- it was something of a shock to Chloe, at first, considering it had been so long since she'd gone anywhere like this, but it quickly became familiar. Beca, however, made no move when it came to hiding her bewilderment of the whole place- not that Chloe blamed her.
Welcome to the Big Kid table.
They skirt around the dancefloor- watching B and C Listers bump and grind while the bass reverberated through their bones. No huge names here tonight by the lack of fuss being made, but the night was still young. Once, she saw Drake.
They ascend the stairs to the booths and manage to find an empty one overlooking the dancefloor. She wasn't sure if she was keen on dancing tonight- though, she itched to do so. But, she felt like Beca wasn't the type and anyways, she was lacking her usual liquid courage.
"This is insane." Beca simply states- or shouts, to be heard over the music. Chloe finds it endearing how the girl talks a big game in her music but is like an alien at all of these kinds of events, it's so foreign to her. She feels a bit like she's corrupting some kind of innocence to Beca.
"It takes a while to adjust," Chloe agrees, but sits back to take it all in.
The first thing she'd thought when she'd seen Beca was that she was surprised; she'd never seen the girl dress so feminine before. She wore something of a pantsuit, and bangles, and more makeup than she usually does- and not just around the eyes. She'd actually toned those down a bit.
Honestly, she looked sexy.
So Chloe allows herself another peek, now that they're away from the chaos and can relax.
"Do we have to go up to the bar?" Beca asks, pointing down past the dancefloor to the light-up blue bar. Everything was a neon blue, here. Chloe shakes her head.
"Not up here. Someone will come around," As an emphasis, she points past Luke and Beca's side of the booth towards the second bar on this upper section; it was separated by glass and Chloe could see various bartenders shaking drinks, pouring liquor, and even a chef sauteing something over the stove. Luke and Beca both crane their heads to see where Chloe was pointing.
Luke's face lights up. "There's food here, too?"
"A couple of appetizers. Nothing too messy but, a few things."
"Wow." He's awestruck.
Chloe giggles- the two of them, she decided, she loved to show new places. She should make a habit of it. "Yeah, so, I guess we can settle in." Beca nods her agreement, but Chloe notices the way her fingers fidgeted with each other as she clasped them on the table. Nerves. She doesn't have to even take a second thought that her first drink will be down in a matter of moments. "So," She hedges instead, trying to keep Beca's thoughts preoccupied so she doesn't do anything like spiral internally. Chloe knew the feeling. "Tell me what you're thinking for this video- my agent offered to help,"
This piques both of their interest. "Help?" Beca repeats, as if she wasn't sure of the word.
Chloe shrugs. "Yeah, I mean- if I'm going to be in it, I'm part of the project, right? That means you have access to my resources."
"Resources?" She echoes again, just as a cocktail waitress comes around. They all order drinks, and Chloe can see that the two of them still aren't sure to which extent her 'resources' reach.
"Like, if you need funds for anything," She tries again. "Just, tell me what you have in mind and I'll see how I can help,"
"Well," Beca's fingers claw at each other desperately. The dancefloor below them vibrates. "We're gonna do Test Drive, right?" Chloe nods in acknowledgement. "So, we were thinking, obviously, something with a car, whipping it around kinda, you know?" She's nervous. Moreso than usual. Chloe finds herself with the distant wonder if Beca had been chasing around the idea of this being a 'date-date' all morning as she had been- but then again, why would she bring Luke if she wanted alone time? Fear? Either way, she keeps her face passive as she listens. "We were kinda also thinking that it would be cool to go do that out somewhere a bit more barren? Towards Nevada? There's a bit of desert out there,"
She nods again, and then smiles her encouragement when she realizes that that was all she was getting out of Beca, for the moment. "Great! That sounds fun,"
"Yeah," Luke pipes in now, leaning forwards in his seat a bit. "I've been scouring Craigslist and Kijiji for some old beaters that it wouldn't really matter if we wrecked a bit, doing doughnuts and stuff-"
"Obviously we're going to be safe," Beca interjects quickly. "But, just in case."
"And that's what you want?" An idea is forming in her head, and she doesn't think it's impossible. "For your video, that's what you have in mind- a beater?"
Beca shrugs, and Chloe thinks she can see a hint of a blush. "Well," Shit- hopefully she didn't think that Chloe was crapping on her idea. "I mean, if we can find an old crappy charger or something, it would be cool,"
"So, you'd want a sports car?" She thinks she can see what Beca's vision was- some sports car whipping around in the desert, careless, free. It was cool. People would eat that up.
Beca, seeming to clue into Chloe's prying, slowly brings her eyebrows down as she lets out an uncertain, "Yeah?"
Feeling satisfied, Chloe sits back in her seat and tries to keep her smug grin to herself. She'd make this work for Beca. Show her that she's worth something here in this partnership- she wasn't just using her. "I think I can help."
"Your… resources," Luke clarifies, sounding just as uncertain as Beca. "Cover that?"
"I'm pretty certain they will, yeah," She's already reaching into her purse, pawing around for her phone to open her text messages with Gail. "And don't worry about anyone getting hurt, either,"
Stunt driver and a sports car. Charger, if we can.
She hits send and returns her attention to the two across from her; who are clearly trying not to gape at her. She's fairly certain that Beca would have no issues hiring a stunt driver and paying the deposit on the stunt car, but that's what having an agent was for; Chloe would have no idea where to go to do such a thing. She doubts that Gail does, either, but she can deal with the headache of finding out.
Their drinks arrive shortly after that, and as she predicted; Beca sucks hers back and orders a second, clearly relieved to have something in her system. Even Chloe has to be careful to watch the amount she drank; the longer they sat here, the more enticing it is to just order another- and then, another. Luke and Beca sure are. But Chloe hopes to keep at least some of her wits about her; the threat of embarrassing herself in front of them isn't exactly what's stopping her, rather than the excursion of leaving the club and getting to the car that she's worried about. Paparazzi are prevalent but they thicken their swarms around closing time in desperate hope to catch a half-decent shot of someone looking a mess to sell to tabloid magazines. Bouncers will do their best to send them away, but; in all honesty, having the occasional photo spring up does nothing except publicize the club more, so their efforts aren't exactly at one-hundred-percent.
So, she sits back, and chit-chats, nursing her third fruity little cocktail of some sort and wondering again if they're going to be getting up from this table at all over the night.
"Sorry," Beca leans forward,propping her head up onto her hand as her elbow rests on the table. "I don't mean to pry- but I need to ask again; what made you want to retire from porn?"
The brunette was clearly fascinated with her line of work. Chloe didn't really blame her; she's pretty certain she would be too if she was in Beca's shoes- and admittedly, it was kind of nice for someone to be interested. It was a nice change.
She gulps back a bit more of her drink. "It's just an unpleasant business," She shrugs. "Like- the work is honestly not the worst thing someone could be doing,"
"I would imagine not," Luke smirks, earning himself a sharp elbow to the ribs from Beca beside him. Chloe tries hard not to giggle, but continues instead.
But the business side of it- a lot of really shady shit goes on, you know? You see a lot of… kinda messed up stuff, but it just comes with the territory." This seems to grab their attention- some little spark ignites behind Beca's dark blue eyes that she can see even in this lowlight. She wants to know what Chloe means by that. Of course, if she ever asked, Chloe wasn't even sure where to begin. "And, the repercussions," She blurts out. "I was getting kind of tired of everyone looking at me like I was… gross."
Shit. The liquor had her admissions ready before she could even think to stop it. She didn't like to admit that to anyone; hardly ever even herself, because she never wanted anyone to look at her like the way Beca and Luke were, now.
Pity.
She never wanted to come across as some poor, young girl who made a wrong decision that now haunts her. Because, truth be told; she didn't regret it, not entirely. It had gotten her where she was now and she was very comfortable with that- in fact, it was safe to say that she was a hell of a lot more grateful than she was regretful about the whole thing.
Chloe's about to blabber on about how it wasn't what she came to LA to do, anyways, but Beca's seemed to finally have digested Chloe's words as she sits back in her own seat, too, grabbing her drink from the tabletop. "Fuck 'em."
Luke smirks. "Amen to that,"
Chloe can feel a heat creep into her neck, clawing its way into her cheeks. To give herself something to do, she begins sucking back the dregs of her own beverage.
"The shady shit- yeah, I get that part," Beca continues. "But with the other stuff; fuck them, honestly. You work your ass off doing something that really only a small fraction of people would be able to do in the first place," She finishes her own drink and sets it down with a little bit more force than Chloe thinks was meant. "And not only that- you made it to the top of the game. Working high-end." The heat was definitely in Chloe's cheeks now and she even thinks it's headed up to her ears; like her whole internal temperature was rising. "Nobody knows what the hell you've had to do or see to get where you are, so fuck them. You have guts."
This pep talk was something Chloe hadn't expected. She's kind of speechless- and clearly, Luke gives his approval, too, as he lets out a low whistle. "Mitchell, that was quite the speech!" He reaches over and gives Beca a hard, but respectful, thump on the back. Beca scowls for the sake of it, but Chloe can see she's not actually mad.
Someone… supported her? It never really felt authentic coming from Gail. Suddenly, Chloe's parched. And it's perfect timing, too, as their waitress stops in.
"Anything else?" She asks, reaching for the empty glasses.
"Shot platter." Chloe says, beaming up at her. "On me."
Used to this kind of thing, the waitress nods and whisks away. Beca and Luke, however, wore expressions that conveyed their various degrees of surprise, and elation. And maybe- just maybe- concern, having noted the closeness of this pep talk and Chloe's sudden desire to be inebriated.
"You're right," Chloe says, in hopes to ease some of this tension she's feeling. "I guess it just becomes a lot after a while. I've enjoyed this break, though,"
There- the distraction she needed, that couldn't be missed- a bassline that pumps into one ear and out the other, that's identifiable by the first note. Heartless. Though it's been slightly remixed by the DJ to flow effortlessly from one song to the next, she smirks over at Beca, who groans.
"You'd never think someone would get tired of their own song," The girl mutters darkly, pouting as she props her head up under her palm again. Luke gives her a good-natured laugh. "Makes me worried that everyone else is getting sick of it, too,"
Chloe can see where she's coming from. All too often, radio DJ's shove a song so far down someone's throat that it soon grows tiresome. "Well," She reaches across the table, placing her hand atop of Beca's free one. "It hasn't lost its ring to me," And Chloe winks for good measure, giving Beca's hand a squeeze and retracting it before she could let it linger too long. "And I've listened a lot."
Beca looks up at her from under her lashes- they weren't too heavy, she hadn't opted for fake lashes, nor did she even think that Beca used black mascara. There's a silent thankfulness in her gaze that creates a warmth around Chloe's heart, that truly tells her that she'd said something right.
The waitress comes back around and sets the shot platter in the middle of the table. Twelve shots. They cheer for friendship and throw back every single one.
By the time that ordeal is over, Chloe knows it; she's tipsy- probably a lot more than tipsy, and the second she stands is going to determine just what level she's at. But she feels happy; and she can tell that Beca is probably on a pretty similar level, though she can imagine that the little brunette may have a higher tolerance built up. But even Luke is being a little bit more relaxed in his actions, indicating that he, too, is feeling the desired effects of the alcohol.
And within a few minutes, to Chloe's shock- they're all paying their bills and rising to hit the dancefloor.
She was right about seeing where she stands the second she rose to her feet; and she hadn't felt like this in a long time. She could wager on a hangover tomorrow. Her brain was happily swimming as the three of them made their way down the few steps, weaving between bodies before they could find a bit of space that was willing to accommodate them.
It's common knowledge that alcohol inhibits personal restrictions. Chloe's had her fair share of personal experience to vouch for the validity of that. She finds herself having another one of these experiences as she watches Beca move; her motions are fluid; for someone as stiff, and often awkward as her, it was the last thing Chloe expected. Aside from music, she'd never seen the girl so confident. In the way she moved, the way she clearly felt moving.
It was enamoring. Chloe moved with her, but her eyes never left Beca. She found herself falling into step with the shorter girl; every turn, every drop, every laugh, every time Beca threw her a carefree, elated grin. It was a lack of restriction she'd only ever witnessed with Beca before as she watched her perform that first night they met; though, she'd caught glimpses of it as they recorded together.
Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Chloe decided that this was what she wanted to see from Beca all the time. It was magnetic.
Beca found a way to surprise her every time.
She found herself fighting the urge to reach out and grab her. Chloe wasn't even sure how, in what way- she just knew that the way she moved was irresistible, or dangerously close to being so. Had she been a few more drinks in, Chloe wondered if she would be able to fight the urge. As it was now, though; she kept her wits about her in regards to personal boundaries, and enjoyed the company.
For once, she enjoyed the nightlife.
Maybe she'd just been missing the right company all of this time.
They don't quite stay until close, but when she can tell things are starting to wrap up, she sneaks to the bathroom and calls Bumper after excusing herself around a couple of girls who looked vaguely familiar doing a line of cocaine off of their iphones. He tells her twenty minutes, and the three of them grab a parting drink. Bumper calls as he rolls onto the street, and they fight their way to the exit.
The bodies are thick here, as they aren't the only ones working on leaving the club. It must be about one-thirty, she imagines; and they'd missed their window to avoid the influx of departures.
"It's gonna be chaos out there," She tells them over her shoulder, hoping to prepare them at least a little bit.
Once they're through the doors, it's less congested; but it just makes room for the new bombardment of paparazzi flashes. She can hear the bouncers doing their usual mantra; telling the vultures to step back, but she still lifts her hand over her eyes in an attempt to shelter out some of the flashing, and extends her freehand backwards. It was easy to lose the group upon exit.
The soft hand that enters hers tells her that it must be Beca who she caught ahold of, and she smiles to herself. At least she'd found an excuse to make contact in some way tonight.
"Let's find Bumper!" Over the conundrum, she has to shout. They stagger through the cleared path as paps shout Beca's name a few times- and a few even call her by Maria, indicating that at least she was recognized by some, meaning that Gail would be happy if any photos surface. Maria Fortune, out and about.
There's a honking from the other side of the street that alerts them to Bumper, who managed to park in all of the frenzy. The second that Beca's back hits the seat, she sighs. "That was insane," She mutters, eyes wide. "I've never had so many people recognize me."
And the second that Chloe's own back hits the leather of the passenger side, she's reminded of how much she's had to drink again. Swimming. "Yeah," She sighs; there was always a relief that came with escaping the hoard and reaching the vehicle in one piece. "It's definitely not the highlight."
Bumper puts the car into drive and begins to maneuver the bodies in the street. That's when Chloe remembers.
"Hey!" She whips around in the front seat to eye Luke and Beca. "Luke, you can't drive. You've been drinking."
"Bumper offered to drive us back," He gestures to the other boy behind the wheel, even reaching across the vehicle to give him a tight squeeze on the shoulder and then a fond slap. "Good chap, he is,"
"Oh," Chloe sits back in her seat.
"Yeah, we're not so far out, anymore," Beca adds now, tucking a lock of brown hair behind her ear. "We moved, remember?"
"Right," Car rides had always made Chloe sleepy, ever since she was a small child. She remembers every long drive, sleeping nearly the whole way in a variety of uncomfortable positions that she made work. And with the liquor in her system, she feels this almost immediately once they start moving at a regular pace.
It's a concentrated effort to stay conscious until they stop at their new place; the details of which Chloe isn't even in the headspace to comprehend taking in. But she says a goodbye and a thank you to the both of them for joining her, and then, it seems, she's suddenly at her apartment, and Bumper is rousing her.
He sees her up, and Chloe manages to undress and take her makeup off before exhaustion drags her to bed.
Bzzz bzzz bzz-bzz-bzz-bzzz! Bzzz bzzz bzz-bzz-bzz-bzzz!
The vibration rippled through her mattress and into her skull, coaxing Chloe out of a dreamless sleep.
Ah, yes. She was right. There was a hangover.
Groaning, she reaches out for her phone without opening her eyes. When she gets ahold of it, she takes a deep breath before peeling open one eye to see who was calling her. Reluctantly, she slides the answer button, puts it on speaker, and shuts her eye again.
"Hello?" She greets, not without letting her agony slip through her voice.
"You sound wonderful," Gail quips on the other end. Chloe can tell she's driving again. "How did last night go?"
"Went well," Chloe buries her face as far into the mattress as she could. "You got my text?"
"That Beca wants a stunt driver and a sports car?" In response Chloe grunts ambiguously. It feels like her tongue is glued to the roof of her mouth- the second she has the willpower to stand water will be her first move. "I can figure that out, we can pull a bit of funding, I'm sure, if we brand Hot House somewhere in the video. Otherwise, the funding is entirely up to Beca- but I'm also quite sure that it won't hurt her pockets too much these days."
Right! Gail cleared her schedule today. That piece of good news jogs Chloe's memory, and she grins to herself, despite the pounding in her head. "I'll run it by her."
"Fantastic," Chloe braces herself against the mattress, pushing herself up by one arm and grabbing the phone in her other hand. The rush of blood to other extremities gives her a sort of vertigo that makes her groan, unintentionally in response. Gail's voice is intrigued. "Oh? Did it not go as well as you said? Have I missed something?"
"What?" Chloe rubs her temples. "No, no, I just sat up."
Her soul urges to go forth to the washroom, or the kitchen- wherever there's a tap available, really- but her body resists. She needs more time to settle before she gets too ahead of herself. "Oh, good, because my next remark was going to be a praise,"
She knits her brows together. "What do you mean?" Washroom. Water.
"You were lucky enough to get photographed,"
"Ah," She fakes as much enthusiasm as she can muster. "Good job, me!"
"Don't be such a smart-ass," Gail tuts. "I suppose because you're asleep you haven't seen the news,"
"News?" Okay, time to get up.
"Well, you're clickbait,"
Clickbait? "Care to elaborate?"
"I'm just getting to the office, Chlo," As if on cue, she can hear the car door close behind Gail as she's disconnected from the car radio, and Gail's voice becomes clearer. "Just Google yourself! Or, well, Maria,"
She tries to pull the filing cabinet from her mind as she leaves the call with Gail- recalling as much as she could about the night. She didn't blackout, that's for sure- but, had she managed to do something embarrassing without remembering? Did she have a nip slip? No, she couldn't have. Either way, Gail congratulated her, so it couldn't be too bad… could it?
Despite her body still calling for water, she sits back down on the edge of her bed, opening Safari and frantically typing Maria Fortune into the search bar.
Unsurprisingly, her page on Pornhub and Hot House come up first, but as she scrolls, she sees it under the 'News' section:
Beca Em and Pornstar Maria Fortune Spotted Holding Hands While Leaving Lavish LA Nightclub.
Chloe clicked on the link, and, that's right- they did hold hands- the photo the paparazzi snapped of the two of them leaving the club headlined it. Luke trailed behind looking a little bit like a lost bodyguard. But the two of them were smiling to themselves, heads ducked a little against the camera flashes, navigating the crowd in search of Bumper's car.
She forced herself to skim the article, although it didn't help her headache at all.
Newcomer Beca Em was seen leaving The Canary in the early hours of the morning with pornstar Maria Fortune. Beca has previously been linked with Fortune when she posted a photo to Instagram-
She supposed it was a bit of a juicy scoop. A breakout star like Beca, barely into the LA scene, but clearly on the rise- and, if her lyrics were anything to reveal, a lesbian- suddenly linked to a slutty pornstar? Well, isn't that interesting. How random, of all people, that she would choose a pornstar.
She should be happy, though, that the world ought to think they're screwing.
Scoffing to herself, Chloe carelessly tossed her phone back against her pillows and finally pushed herself to her feet to get that glass of water.
What's the move from here? Once the music video comes out, people will put two-and-two together that they're most likely nothing more than work colleagues, though there will definitely still be the skeptics. But… is that the best move? Does she want people to think they're screwing?
She pauses, the rim of her glass pressed firmly against her lips as she comes across that thought. Do I want people to think we're screwing?
Do I want to be screwing?
The thought trails by her brain, and in this state, she is just barely able to catch the coattails of it. But once she does, it needs more time to process. Chloe swishes it around in her skull like it was a wine tasting.
To her ever-building surprise, the answer was clearly not so simple.