Note: I haven't written a fic in so long so I'm rough around the edges lol. Honestly, this is just a random idea that sprung and I just had to write it. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
1
"Hey Beca?" A tall man with blonde hair, holding a cup of coffee from Starbucks, calls out to the brunette who's currently working on a track.
"Yeah? What's up, Ron?" Beca looks up, her eyebrows furrowed, feeling a little bit annoyed by the distraction. She was on a roll already.
Ron waves, signaling for her to come to his office. Beca groans internally before locking her computer and pushing herself up. She walks towards her boss' office and once inside, he asks her to close the door.
"Oh, we're closing doors now?" She asks.
Ron rolls his eyes. "I have something to tell you." _
Chloe stood outside her school, her phone in her hand as she constantly checks the time. Weird, Beca's never this late. Chloe thought. She unlocks her phone and dials Beca's number. This was her fourth call and the other three went straight to voicemail. Chloe sighs. She was about to send a text when Beca's car suddenly pulls up, tires screeching and all that. Beca quickly gets out of the car and runs to Chloe.
"I am so sorry. I got caught up at work. " She says as she pulls the redhead's bag from her shoulder and snatches the book she was holding.
"No, it's okay." Chloe smiles as Beca opens the car door for her. "Thanks." She says before getting in. Beca then opens the back door to put Chloe's things and sprints towards her side of the car.
"So," Chloe begins as they were both buckling their seatbelts. "Should we go to Dencio's or the diner around our block?
Beca looks at Chloe, "Uh, I was thinking of taking you out tonight. You know, somewhere... nicer."
Chloe smiles. "Oh? What's the occasion?"
Beca opens her mouth but the words won't come out. "Uh-um," she stammers, "no occasion."
Chloe shrugs, "Alright, if you say so."
"La Mère? When you said 'somewhere nicer' I didn't think it'd be here, Becs." says the redhead when they pulled up at the front of the restaurant.
Beca just smiles and gets out of the car. Before Chloe could open her door, a man dressed in a fancy red top opens the door for her. "Bonjour, belle." He greets, smiling as he extends his hand to help Chloe out of the car. She smiles at him, "Merci." She says with a terrible French accent.
Beca cleared her throat and once Chloe was out of the car, the man turns to Beca. "I'll just park this then." he says, his tone wasn't so friendly now. Beca rolls her eyes as she watched him get in to her car.
Chloe giggles before hooking her arm around Beca's. "Come on, grumpy."
Once inside, Chloe couldn't help but admire everything. She unhooked her arm from Beca's as she stared at the huge ass paiting of a naked lady while Beca walks towards the receptionist.
"Babe, let's go." Beca calls out. Chloe smiles. She loves it when Beca calls her 'babe'. A waitress guides them to their table and Beca courteously pulls out the chair for Chloe. "Oh, thank you." Says Chloe. Beca sits across the redhead and thanks the waitress for handing her the menu and she quickly glances at Chloe who was already studying it. Beca's fingers tap on the menu while she's holding it and Chloe notices this. This is just one of the things that Chloe's noticed that Beca does when she's nervous, or has something to say. Chloe opted to not ask because she's learned that if the brunette wanted to talk about something, she'd open up about it. Chloe would get lucky sometimes if she asks, but most of the time, Beca would just shrug.
The two ate in silence for a couple of minutes until Beca cleared her throat.
"I- I have news."
Chloe looks up and smiles reassuringly. "What is it?"
"I got promoted... today?"
"Are you asking or are you saying?" Chloe smirks.
Beca mentally smacks herself. "Yeah, no. I got promoted today."
"That's good news, Beca! But.. why do I get the feeling that you're not happy about it?"
Beca looks down on her plate. "I am. It's just that.. they want to transfer me to uhm- California."
Chloe's eyes widen. "Wow! That's- that's awesome! Didn't you always want to move to California? This could be it Becs!"
Beca tries to force a smile, "Yeah.." to no avail. "I just- I like what we have goin' on here, you know? Our apartment, our neighbor that lets me kidnap their cat, Amy living across the street-
"Yeah, those are great Beca, but you've always wanted this, right?"
"I'm not so sure anymore."
"Just think of all the amazing things you'll get to do, the places you'll get to, the people you're gonna meet." Chloe encourages.
Beca sighs. "I don't know, Chloe. I really don't know."
Chloe grabs Beca's hand. "Hey, just think about it, okay? It might be the change you've been waiting for."
Beca grunts. "I have until Friday to decide."
Chloe's grip on Beca's hand tightens, "Follow your dreams, Beca." She smiles.
After dinner, the drive to their apartment was pretty quiet. Normally, they'd listen to music but this time no one even dared to connect their phone to the audio system or turn the radio on.
It wasn't a comfortable silence nor an awkward silence it was just... Silence. Beca was deep in her thoughts while Chloe.. Chloe had a million things running in her head but she's trying to shut them out by looking out the window.
Once they arrive outside, Beca helped Chloe out of the car, brought her things for her and once inside, Chloe took her things and quickly said goodnight. Beca just nodded and went straight to the balcony for a fresh air. She's always loved this bit of their apartment. The noise, the smell of a car clutch burning, some street lights flickering. Nothing about it was glamorous but Beca loved all of it. She fishes out a joint from her bag and lights it up, and just as she did, their neighbor Josie pops up from her own balcony.
"Oh, hey there Beca." She says, a cigarette hangs in the corner of her mouth waiting to be lit.
"Hey." Beca greets as she tries to keep the smoke inside. Josie signals to borrower Beca's lighter and Beca leans in to hand it over.
"So what's in your mind?" Josie asks. "I noticed that you usually come out here to think, so." She shrugs, blowing out a distorted smoke ring.
Beca takes another hit as she considers talking to Josie about what's in her mind. "I- I got a promotion. I'm not so sure if I want to take it though."
"Promotions always sound nice, man. Like, hey, here's more work, but we're giving you more money too. So, what's holding you back?"
"They want me to move to L.A. and I've always seen myself in L.A. you, know? But it didn't happen right away, and now I'm here and I like it. I like what I've got goin' on here. My apartment's decent enough, all this shit," Beca spreads her arms as a notion, "and Chloe. But lately I've been feeling like I want something more out of my life, you know? A change or some shit."
"Then L.A. doesn't look so bad if you're looking for that change, right?"
"Yeah." Beca replied as she stubbed her joint. "But- I don't know."
"You gonna take your girlfriend with you?"
"What- no. She's not my girlfriend."
"Josie's eyes widen. "No shit? You serious?"
Beca nods.
"Damn. 3 years of being your neighbor- and I just assumed you and Chloe were a thing. Sorry."
"It's alright. This isn't the first time someone's speculated that we're together." Beca admits.
"You're too lovey dovey with each other and the eye fucking is too much, you sure there's no underlying... Feelings?"
Beca hums. "Nah. I'm sure."
Chloe had just gone out of the shower and felt bad for being a little cold to Beca the moment they got home. She comes out of her bedroom and can hear Beca talking. She was about to join in when she hears her name.
"-and I just assumed you and Chloe were a thing. Sorry."
Chloe hears the rest of the conversation and hearing Beca say "nah, I'm sure" stung her a bit. She wasn't sure why. Sure, she had a bit of a crush on Beca but that was it, nothing more to it. She pulls herself together and joins Beca.
"Hey, Josie." Chloe greets the woman on the other side. "You got any more of those?" She signals to the second cigarette that Josie was about to light up. Josie turns to her back, grabs the pack and tosses it over to Chloe. "Thanks." Chloe says as she leans over to pass it back in exchange for the lighter.
"I thought you quit smoking?" Beca asks.
"I did, yeah. It's a bad habit. I quit for a while then get back to it eventually." Chloe shrugs.
Beca hums. "Okay."
They all stood in silence until Josie clears her throat and stubs her cigarette. "I'll leave you to it then." She winks before heading inside.
"So..." Chloe begins. "She thought we were a thing?"
Beca smirks. "Yeah. You heard that?"
Chloe nods. "I wanted to ask you.. Have you ever thought about how easy it would've been for us, if we- you know. Got together?"
Beca's eyebrows furrow. "I've never really thought about it. Why'd you ask?"
Chloe shrugs. "I don't know. It just seems like it'd be so easy. My parents love you, your mom loves me. We have the Bellas rooting for us.." she trails off.
"It might be easy, or it might be not. I mean, what if we did get together, and things just don't go our way? Plus, I'm not.. you know, at least I think I'm not.
Chloe nods. "I know. It was just a thought, Becs. Don't let it get to you." She smiles reassuringly, trying to mask the little hinge of pain she felt.
Beca just nods, "Okay."
Chloe puts off her cigarette and trashes it into the ashtray. "I should go to bed."
Beca watched as Chloe disappears into the hallway to her bedroom. She shakes her head before heading into her own bedroom.
Beca laid on her bed thinking about what Chloe had said. What did Chloe mean by those things? Is she into me? I know she swings both ways, but why me? Beca asks herself. Why does it bother me now? Do I like Chloe too? Well, I mean she's not bad. She's.. great. She always smells nice and she's made an effort to learn how to cook the food that my mom cooks for me. She really does take care of me, huh? She's also really... Sexy. Beca mentally slaps herself. "Dude, what the fuck?" She says out loud.
Chloe was also in her bed thinking. God, now I think I probably scared her off. I didn't mean anything by it, did I? I mean, Beca's really sweet but I doubt she'd feel the same way. Wait? The same way? It's only a crush, Chloe. What are you doing thinking about feeling the same way? Chloe turns to her bedside table and grabs her phone. She was contemplating on sending Beca a text but she opts out of it and dials Aubrey's number instead.
A few rings later and the blonde picks up.
"This is Aubrey Posen."
"Hey, Bree." Chloe greets. "You know you don't have to keep saying your name when you answer a call, right? Just say 'hello'."
Aubrey laughs, "It's a force of habit, Chloe. So, what's up?"
"I have a- uh, a situation."
Aubrey hums. "Are you still pining over Beca?"
Chloe gasps. "I am not! I don't do pining. What are you talking about?"
"Let's see. Hmm. Whenever you call me- if you're excited about something or just really miss me you go like 'HI AUBREY!!' but whenever you feel sad, or mostly hung up on Ear Spikes, you just greet me with what you just did. A very flat 'Hey, Bree'. So am I wrong or am I right?"
Chloe sits up and rests her head against the headboard. "Do you think I'm in love with Beca?"
"Do I think? No. I feel it. I see it. Don't you?"
Chloe shrugs. "I don't know. I haven't really felt what being in love is. I mean, sure- I've had relationships but those are just for fun. You know, nothing serious."
"I know, but what do you feel whenever you see Beca?"
Chloe bites her lip as she lays down, "Home... She feels like home."
Aubrey hums. "And what does home feel like?
"It feels safe, like I'm cared for and protected and I can just be myself with no one judging."
"You know deep down, Chlo, that you're in love with Beca. You're just hiding it because you're scared that she'll cut you out of her life because you think that she'll get the idea that you're only being nice to her because you want to be in a relationship with her. She and I might not get along sometimes, but come on, you have to give her more credit than that."
"You're right." Chloe sighs. "I've been wanting to tell her but she's got this big promotion that came up and she has to decide if she wants to take it because they're gonna be relocating her and I don't want to mess up her thoughts."
"What have you got to lose, Chloe? Do you really want to spend the rest your life wondering if you and Beca could've been?"
Chloe sighs. "I don't know. Honestly."
"You can't live like this, Chloe. You love her. Don't say that it's just a silly crush when you've been pining over her for years and years now."
Chloe sighs, "I guess I do love her."
The next morning, Beca woke up to the sound of her alarm blaring through the speakers hanging in the four corners of her room.
"Fuck.." she mutters as she grabs her phone and rapidly taps on the 'stop' button. Once the ringing had stop, Beca puts her phone back on the nightstand and rolls back, burying herself under her blanket.
A few minutes later as sleeps starts to settle in again, her phone rang once more. She grunts before turning back and grabbing her phone. Ron. She groans before swiping to answer.
"Hey boss, what's up?" She asks, groggily.
"Good. You're awake. What time are you gonna come in? I've got a client that wants to meet up later."
"I'm feeling a little under the weather. But I'll come in after lunch if that's okay with you?"
"Sure. Get some meds in your system. You can come in at 5, the client isn't free until 6 anyway."
Beca sighs in relief. "Thank you."
"5, okay? I want to run some things with you before meeting this guy."
"..kay."
She abruptly ends the call and puts her phone in silent before placing it back on the nightstand. She rolls back and tries to sleep again to no avail.
She stares at the ceiling, feeling a little bad for lying to her boss. Truth be told, Beca just wanted to spend a few hours with Chloe since it was Tuesday and the redhead didn't have classes on this particular day. Beca sighs. She gets up from her bed and ties her hair in a bun before heading out of her room. She makes her way to the kitchen and immediately opens the fridge.
Beca groans. "Nothing. Always nothing." She rolls her eyes as she slammed the fridge door shut.
"Hey, you okay?" Chloe asks as she stepped foot into the kitchen startling the brunette.
Beca held on to the counter. "Jesus, you scared the shit out of me."
Chloe giggles. "Sorry. You're a bit grumpy this morning. Had a bad dream, sweetie?" Chloe coos.
Beca rolls her eyes. "I'm hungry."
Chloe laughs. "Of course you are." She walks past Beca and reaches for a glass. "Get changed. Let's have breakfast somewhere else."
The pair walked to the diner around the block and after breakfast, they both agreed to take a walk in the park.
"Should I go get my car?" Beca asks.
Chloe hums, "Let's just take a cab."
They arrived in Central Park and they head down to the pond. Beca watches as Chloe walked ahead of her, eager to watch the ducks floating around.
Beca stood a few meters behind Chloe wondering, what the hell is it with ducks?She smiles as Chloe crouchers to get a closer look at the ducks.
Chloe notices that the brunette is nowhere near her so she looks back. "What are you doing there, weirdo? Stop checking me out."
Beca turns red as a tomato. She shakes her head. "I am not checking you out."
Chloe stretches a hand out, "Come here." She says softly.
Beca moves to stand beside Chloe. "Come down here." Says the redhead.
"Uh, no, I'm good."
"Come on Becs. They're just ducks."
Beca slowly crouches down to Chloe's level.
"What is it with you and these ducks?"
Chloe bites her lip before saying something. "Well, I just find them cute, you know?"
Beca laughs. "That's it? I thought you'd have a deeper meaning to your duck obsession."
Chloe looks at Beca, her face suddenly serious. "You know those spirit animal things, right?"
Beca shrugs. "Don't particularly believe in them, but yeah."
"Okay. So, this is a gonna sound weird and don't laugh, but I had a dream like two days ago where a duck just appeared in our apartment."
Beca snickers.
"I said don't laugh!" Chloe lightly slaps Beca's arm.
"Sorry, sorry. So what was this duck doing in our apartment?"
Chloe shrugs. "I don't know. In my dream I was just sitting on the couch and it just, 'poof', just appeared right in front of me."
Beca raises her eyebrows, "Just appeared? Well, that's weird. What's this got to do with the spirit animal thing?"
"Well, obviously, I googled what it means, and it meant a lot of things but the one that stood out was that if it appears, then I... need to face whatever it is that I'm hiding from."
"...and what are you hiding from?"
Chloe sighs. "My feelings."