I have a laptop again and it feels soooooo good. Admittedly, this chapter is a little slow, but I promise next chapter is full of surprises! ;)

That thought; intimate, terrifying, and as shocking as it was- also didn't surprise her, on a deeper level. When she stumbled upon it, she had initially done so with an amount of wayward wonder- as if it was some corpse lying in the underbrush of the wilderness. Where it's discovery was like a slap to the face, the more it's thought about, the more it's presence there would make sense.

But still, she kept its discovery within herself private. Aubrey, Gail, nor Stacie would hear about it.

She chastised herself for it, eventually. It would be unprofessional and it would make things complicated; and Chloe cannot afford to make things complicated this early on in their friendship.

She kept a close eye on how the picture was being received- but not too close. The first of Beca's fan accounts obviously took them and ran with it- and Beca had received both equal parts praise and criticism for her choice in companions, as Chloe expected.

She can imagine Aubrey had seen the photos, but she had said nothing. Stacie offered her a simple, cheeky message of a pair of eye emojis and an attachment to the image. Chloe explained that it's hard to get lost out there, which they both know for truth.

By the following Wednesday, the hubbub about it had died down and she had yet to hear from Beca. Chloe couldn't help but wonder what she thought about the implication.

"Chloe," Gail snapped her back into reality; she'd gotten lost somewhere in dreamland amongst Gail's blabbering about…. something. Something that Chloe probably should've been listening to. "Don't forget to pick up your dress tomorrow- one o'clock,"

"Oh shit," She murmured, how did she manage to forget again? "The awards are on Saturday, aren't they?"

There's the briefest pause, before her agents next words are steeped in exasperation. "Yes, Chloe, they're on Saturday. Three more sleeps from now." Maybe she should get herself a weekly planner somewhere that she has to physically look at every day. "We need to be there by four, so I'll be over for hair and makeup around one-thirty." Her wall, her fridge- her forehead.

"How's Stacie getting there?" It'd be a lot nicer with a companion.

There's another silence. Gail is buffering, thinking. "Well, I was going to send Meghan to see she's well attended to,"

"Why don't you bring her here?" Chloe quickly surveys the living room- as if she hadn't lived in this apartment for over two years- trying to envision the stampede of people fitting there. She's sure that they all could. "Let's carpool,"

"You want Stacie to come get ready with you?"

"Yeah," Brightly, Chloe sits back down on the couch. "We're your two biggest clients, and I have tons of room. Plus, Stace and I are friends, it won't be weird,"

The offer evidently lifts Gail's mood- even just over the phone. "Oh, wonderful, then! I'll let Stacie know the plans have changed. Also," She pulls the receiver away from her head for a moment, checking the clock. Just past three. She better start thinking about dinner. "It's my mission tomorrow to interview a couple stunt drivers for Beca's video,"

"Oh-"

"Yes, you can let her know that by Friday I can have everything sorted out, so we can hammer down a date,"

"Okay." She dare not say a word that Beca hasn't contacted her since those paparazzi pictures went up. It wasn't like it was exactly out of character not to hear from her, but Chloe wasn't quite so sure why now felt different.

They part ways not long after that, and Chloe lies back, opens up the text message thread with Beca, and watches that little bar blink in the empty space.

It's not a big deal, she tells herself, you're only psyching yourself out.

She tells herself that a few times, before exhaling heavily, and forcing her thumbs to move across the board.

Hey, Becs! Remember I told you about my resources? Well, I should know the extent of what those are by Friday if you wanna start planning a date for us to head out there :)

Perfect. Friendly. Colleagues, there was nothing wrong with this text message. She squeezes her eyes shut and presses send before she can convince herself otherwise.

Thursday was brutally windy. By ten in the morning, when Chloe was walking from her car to the dress shop that did the tailoring for her, she was over the wind, and she was over her own obsessive thoughts that kept her checking her phone for any sign of Beca ever since she texted her yesterday afternoon.

The wind made things loud in her apartment, the way it beat against the windows. It made her feel especially lonely. She ended up not being able to stand it any longer, which is why she has forced herself out into the world barely out of her sweatpants.

Maybe she should go on vacation. Somewhere like Miami, or Hawaii.

After greeting the woman at the counter with her name and dress number, she took a seat while she went to the back room to begin rifling through dresses. Mentally cataloguing the pros and cons of Miami, she feels a buzz come from within her purse.

Sounds great! Check Instagram ;)

Chloe's heart skips a beat as she reads the reply from Beca- her relief almost a palpable being at this point- and quickly shifts gears into opening the app and typing in Beca's name. She clicks on her profile, and sees the most recent post.

EP COMING SEPTEMBER 2ND BITCHES!

Beca had captioned the photo- which was some cover art of the silhouette of a girl sitting on some kind of stone or brick ledge with angel wings- oh, no, sitting on an overpass. She'd named it "Angels on Earth", and if Chloe swiped; a track list.

I Thought I Died Inside

White Wine

Guardian Angel

Change Me (feat. Chloe Beale)

Lonely

Five songs, and she stared over and over and over at the one with her name attached. This was it. How many people were seeing this at the same time she was? How many people were clicking on her profile after seeing this "no name" collaborating with Beca?

She stared as long as she could, anyways, until the woman at the counter said with a happy sigh, "Alright, here it is! 612, would you like to try it on here to make sure?"

Chloe shakes her head; partially in response, and partially because she feels she needs it to refocus on the present. "No, it should be alright, thank you."

The woman nodded and placed the dress bag over the counter. Chloe paid for the alterations in something of a haze; she was aware of internally disciplining herself to stay in the present moment and not let her imagination run amuck, but it was easier said than done. It wasn't until she started her car that she realized she hadn't yet responded.

Chloe almost dropped her phone as she pulled it out in such a haste.

Amazing! This is so exciting!

Some animalistic part of her wanted to send a follow-up message with nothing but a spam of celebratory bitmoji's but she refrained from doing so, mostly to keep her own composure looking professional and collected. She felt as if she could use a glass of wine, but she knew she would have to refrain from doing that, too, as it wasn't even two o'clock in the afternoon yet.

Want to meet for late breakfast? Luke and I are on our way to Connaway's right now.

At this- her composure slipped through her fingers like granules of sand- she physically yelped. Chloe knew that she looked a mess, but just to assess the damage again, she quickly pulled down the mirror in her visor and observed herself.

Not fit to be seen in a fancy restaurant. Not fit to be seen by Beca. But how could she pass up this opportunity? Beca was inviting her out somewhere, for God's sake.

I'd love to! Mind if I show up a little late? I'm in the middle of some errands.

She watched as her message travelled through cyberspace, delivered, and was subsequently met with another. Beca was waiting near her phone, too.

Not a problem :)

She was going to meet them for food. Amazing. Perfect. Chloe responded by saying that she would text them once she was on her way, threw her car in reverse, and then made her way back through the city and towards her home. Impatiently waiting at every light. She'd like to think she made it home in record time, though the traffic was a little heavier than usual and it actually took her longer. But she sprinted to the elevator and down the hallway to her door to make up for it.

She didn't eat at Connoway's much. It was a little bit of a well-known celebrity hotspot, so it was best to avoid the paps and not go, most of the time. Beca must not have heard the memo- which checked out, considering she was still pretty new at this. But it was almost a sure-fire way to ensure another picture of them together. Another reason going out looking in this state wasn't in her best interest.

There would be no time to shower, Chloe already figured this on the drive home; so, she ran her brush through her hair a second time, threw it up in a bun, and got to work on her outfit. Something warm, and classy; she settled on a mustard yellow turtleneck that had been in her closet for some time, and a nice pair of jeans. She wasn't about to suck up even more precious minutes on a full face of makeup, either, so she left it as plain as she would risk it. A tinted moisturizer, a touch of blush, and some mascara.

Then she was texting Beca and damn near sprinting out of the door again.

By the time she reached Connoway's, the hour mark since Beca's first text inviting her had just passed a few minutes ago; Chloe felt a pit in her stomach- guilt for having kept them so long, though, rationally she knew that it was no big deal. This was typical LA time.

Beca had texted them with their location at the restaurant; which was inside, rather than the patio, which Chloe was thankful for. They were tucked into a table near the fireplace in the back corner of the lounge. They weren't difficult to spot, either; upon seeing them, Chloe actually had the thought that she would now be able to pick out Beca in any room. It was always an ability she'd innately possessed, when it came to those she cared about. She could find Tom in the middle of the bleachers during a highschool football game and she could pick Aubrey out in any crowded room almost immediately.

And this same sense now applied to Beca, as well. She was dressed in her usual Beca fashion- though, a little more cleaned up than usual. The clothing was higher end. But she was in a similar state of dress; a black turtleneck with a Nike windbreaker slung over the back of her chair. Not to mention, as far as Luke went- Chloe could spot the shimmering of two diamonds in his ears that made her second-guess whether or not he had always had them pierced.

Looks like they'd come into their first cheque since Beca's explosion.

"Freezing out there," She sighed as she approached the table. "Isn't it?"

"Who would've thought LA can actually get cold? And in August," Was Beca's response, her mouth curving upwards in a cheeky sort of grin that made Chloe's stomach melt.

She slung her purse over the back of her chair in a similar manner as Beca's jacket. "You'd be surprised," They hadn't ordered yet, by the looks of it. Yet, a glass of water and an orange juice sat in front of the empty seat that they'd left for her.

"Glad you could take time out of your busy schedule to meet us," Beca folded her hands on the table. "Between depleting your resources for me and spin classes, and all,"

Chloe shot her a dry, but good-natured look from across the table, picking up the menu. "The schedule wasn't so busy today. Do you guys already know what you're getting?"

The two of them nod, though this time it was Luke who spoke up. "Yeah, we've had time to look,"

That jolt of guilt shot through her again. "I'm sorry- it's actually a little busy out there,"

"Luke is just being a smart-ass," Beca scolds, and Chloe thinks she can hear a boot connect with the boy's shin from under the table. "We haven't been here that long."

"They have the best omelettes here," She pipes in quickly, flipping directly to the page she knew the omelettes were at. Should she ask Beca about the paparazzi pictures? No, no, she shouldn't.

"Good thing that's what I was thinking,"

Chloe spent a large portion of brunch wrestling the thought; it kept appearing, obsessively, and each time she tried to press it down into a smaller corner of her mind, it resurfaced louder than before. They spoke a bit of the music video to come, but mostly, Chloe listened to Beca open up about their upcoming ventures. She'd been approached for a photoshoot, and, as always, she was swamping herself in working on more music while they settled into their new location.

She spent a lot of this time studying the tiny shifts to the girl's face as she spoke about what excited her, what bored her. The difference was stark when it came to the light behind her eyes. She had it when she talked about music, and Chloe noticed the small furrow of her brow as she informed Chloe about a creative slump she felt she had with one of her songs- frustration, she soon knew- because it was missing something but she just wasn't sure what it was. She seemed bored with the idea of a photoshoot- apprehensive, even- but she seemed to understand that it was in her best interest to partake.

"We should probably get going," Luke said, fifteen minutes after they'd all paid their respective bills and they remained seated.

The idea of parting ways struck her with an unexpected degree of disappointment, but she nodded, too. He had a point.

Beca seemed thrown that she had spent so long talking; a conclusion that Chloe came to after noticing her cheeks quickly filling with colour as they started to gather their things to leave.

"This has been really nice," She felt it was pertinent to assure the other girl that she had a good time. "Thanks so much for inviting me out, I like spending time with you two."

Beca cleared her throat. "Yeah, yeah," And here she was- awkward again. It made Chloe smile. "Of course, dude,"

It made her heart tumble and skip. She could feel it trapeze around in her chest, watching Beca fidget with her hands as everyone rose to their feet around her.

Before she could think herself out of it, Chloe reached forward and pulled Beca into a hug. The girl made a small 'oh' sound of surprise as she did so, but she relaxed into it- somewhat- after a moment. This was good. Accepted.

So, she thought maybe she would push it a little further. As she pulled away, Chloe planted the faintest- most chaste kiss she could against the girl's cheek and watched as her ears immediately turned a beet red.

To her delight- she was very aware of Beca's gaze dropping to Chloe's mouth afterwards- if only for the tiniest fraction of a second. And Chloe, being as well read as she was into these kinds of situations, allowed her own to to peek at the shape of Beca's lips right after their gazes met again.

And then she smiled.

Chloe hugged Luke goodbye afterwards- though she spared him the kiss- and left with the assurance that she would contact them again the moment she knew more about Gail's findings, and with a skip in her step.

Chloe, she thought to herself, what the hell are you doing?