Author's notes: Hey here is the third chapter. Finally getting to the better stuff now that things have been set up a bit more. Also I finally figured out how to add German lines to the story without the spell check losing its mind yay (sorry for bad German for those who speak it :S ) I know most people wont, but I think the story works well if you listen to the songs picked throughout it, since I choose them to match the mood
Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was I'd be much much richer
I got a girl crush, hate to admit it but
I got a heart rush, ain't slowin' down
I got it real bad, want everything she has
That smile and the midnight laugh she's givin' you now
-Girl Crush, Little Big Town
Chapter 3 – A Chance Meeting
Mina woke up to loud nocking on her hotel room door. She quickly scrambled out of bed before pulling on her bathrobe. Snarling, she muttered under her breath "Ich werde die Person dumm genug, um mich zu wecken töten"
As she dashed towards the door to commit bodily harm on the early knocker, she passed by a mirror and stopped to quickly fix her hair. It wouldn't do for her victim to see her less than composed and put together.
She wrenched open the door with her best ice queen of death face on. Pieter was outside leaning casually against the doorframe.
"Morgan liebling" Pieter greeted her sunnily
Mina growled at him "no German you Frühaufsteher Böse"
Pieter smirked and breezed past her into the kitchenette to raid her cupboard.
She slammed the door and stalked after him muttering a slew of German swearwords that would make a sailor blush. Pieter ignored her in favour of fishing out the coffee and turning on the kettle. Mina flopped onto the breakfast bench and propped her head up so that she could glare at her unwelcome interloper.
Pieter efficiently moved around preparing coffee for the two of them without speaking. His movements were very graceful courtesy of years of dance training and Mina took his gracefulness as another reason to hating him. She was always a slightly awkward dancer when they were at clubs and she envied his ability to dance without choreography.
Pieter set a steaming coffee mug in front of her and waited until she had downed half the cup in a few swallows before sipping his own delicately. Mina shuddered and put down her mug. Blinking a few times she focused on Pieter in a more coherent and less vengeful way.
He smirked as her and asked, "Awake now?" in a very smug voice
Mina scowled at him and replied in a lofty tone "Yes, though I still wish I wasn't" she rolled her eyes at him.
Pieter's smirk grew bigger "Shouldn't you be thankful that I brought you coffee this morning?" Pieter asked with a devilish grin
Mina scoffed at that "thankful? What that you stole my coffee and made me get out of bed? Perhaps I need a new lieutenant. My current on seems to be delusional" she mused while tapping her chin thoughtfully.
Pieter cracked up laughing
"Liebling you would never kick me out because then you would have to do choreography yourself. Also you love me too much" he finished with a grin
Mina grumbled something incoherent in German.
"No German" Pieter mocked
Mina fixed him with her most potent death glare "Ich hasse dich. Ich werde dich töten langsam genießen" and slumped forward onto the breakfast bench
"English hurts my brain this early in the morning" she added in a muffled voice and covered her head.
Pieter laughed, "You still don't wake up well do you schatz. Even back in college you were this bad. Age really hasn't improved you"
Mina grabbed a close by sugar sachet and threw it at his head. Pieter dodged it and continued to chuckle at her misfortune.
"I still don't know how you've fooled DSM into thinking you're an anal retentive early riser" he said in mock wondering tones
Mina snorted "I have a very loud, industrial strength alarm, coffee on timer and good time management skills" she replied in aloof tones "besides you know what they say on American sitcoms. Fake it till you make it. I'm just a fabulous actor"
Mina sat back up straight in her chair and chugged down the rest of her coffee. She placed her mug back down on the bench and gently slid it across the bench towards Pieter and the kitchenette. She looked at him with her best puppy dog eyes silently begging him for more coffee.
"No get it yourself" he replied with a snort
"Pleeeeeeaaaasseeee" she whined "take mercy on the poor soul who cannot wake up all chipper for their 7 o'clock morning run"
"Nein"
"I'm your Kommissar. I demand more coffee" she tried in her best authoritative voice
"Keinen Weg in die Hölle" he replied
"I hate you" She glared at him, before slumping back down onto the bench.
Pieter dropped his now empty cup in the sink. "Nein, tust du nicht"
"No German" she replied, before chucking another two sugar sachets at his head, this time one of them hit.
Pieter turned back towards her with one eyebrow raised.
"I remember when we were ten, you used to throw things at me then too. The difference is I thought you would grow out of it back then." He said in lofty tones
Mina raised her head off the bench to poke her tongue out at him
Pieter rolled his eyes
"Moving onto business," he declared "We need to pick up the detailed information package about our tour today. It has all the updated information and contact details on it. We can get it from Barden University round midday if we leave shortly. It's only about 40 minutes drive from here."
Mina straightened back up at the mention of work, focusing at the current problem at hand.
"What will the rest of the team do while we are away? We really cannot afford to lose more practice time." She offered, "Only one of us should go. The other can work with the team."
Pieter thought it over for a few moments "Ja, I will stay. The choreography was a little under our usual standard last performance. I want to make sure it doesn't continue to happen, not before worlds and not while we are trying to gain American recognition."
Mina nodded her agreement, happy to get a small measure of alone time
Pieter continued "It also has the added bonus of a possible chance meeting with that Bella girl you were interested in" He said with an eyebrow wiggle
"….." Mina was unable to make a suitable comeback to that.
Pieter laughed without humour, "You really can pick them liebling. First Emilie, now a girl on a rival team who lives in a foreign country. After all those times I played wingman for you." Pieter sighed, "You just never relaxed or let anyone else in, never gave them a chance."
Mina frowned at him "It wasn't right. They just never fit. Plus It's so frustrating being a girl and trying to flirt with other girls. You compliment them and they are all 'how sweet. danke". No NO, I'm trying to hit on you. It was intended to be sexual," she ranted.
"At least with Beca she seemed obviously into me. She appeared to be incapable of any lies and edits with the way she blurted out stuff" Mina looked down and toyed with her mug. "Your right though it is stupid. She has a boyfriend, probably only interested in experimenting in a threesome or some shit, not dating me."
Pieter walked around the bench to hug her.
"You'll find someone Mina. Have a little faith and patience" he consoled
Mina sighed "Yeah, just wish I could know the right person when I met them you know?"
Pieter let go and headed back to the sink with her empty mug in hand. Mina ran her hands through her hair.
"Well I should get dressed and start driving if I'm to be there at midday" Mina stated as she stood up and stretched. She walked over to kiss Pieter on the cheek
"You can see yourself out," she said with a smile
Pieter grinned back, happy to see this side of his best friend. It was a nice change from the professional Kommissar during practice.
"No appreciation" he mockingly pouted before gracefully strolling out to the door.
Mina smiled and walked over to the wardrobe to plan her outfit. She didn't want her rival's to see her as anything less than perfect. Just in case
-Page Break-
Beca woke the next day feeling like complete shit. Her eyes felt gritty and gummy and the sunlight streaming through the window was far too bright. She had cried herself to sleep the previous night after talking everything over with the Bellas. Fat Amy and Chloe had piled into bed with her to keep her company when they had carried her up from the sofa. Falling asleep being hugged by her two best friends had helped to make her see that she wasn't as alone as she thought.
Beca slowly dragged herself out of bed and staggered into the bathroom to try and wash away the very alarming streaked mascara, eyeliner, dried tears and generally shitty feelings.
After some heavy-duty makeup wipes and a full pamper routine, Beca exited the bathroom feeling a great deal more awake and human. She looked around at the clock to check the time. It was just after 11 am so the rest of the Bellas would be in class at the moment or out of the house.
Beca spotted the jacket she had borrowed off Jesse hanging over her desk chair. She felt suddenly furious at him all over again. She grabbed it and threw it into her empty laundry basket. This sparked a rampage across the whole room as she erased any and all traces of him. Every photo, gift or possession was thrown into the laundry hamper at high speed.
Finally Beca looked around the room, satisfied that she had removed every reminder. She grabbed the overflowing basket and took it downstairs. She placed a note on it begging the girls to drop it over to Jesse's for her, not wanting to have to see him again herself.
Returning to her room, Beca looked around at a loss of what to do now. Her eye spotted her notebook containing set ideas for the Bellas and she decided to work on their upcoming performance to keep her mind off Jesse.
Glancing at the clock to see that it was close to midday, Beca decided to head to the Bella's practice rooms since the acoustics were much more favourable than her bedroom. It also wasn't full of memories of Jesse.
With a solid plan in mind, Beca strode over to her wardrobe determine to look like she was strong and unfazed, on the outside at least.
-Page Break-
It was just after midday when Mina walked back outside the Barden Club's administration building. She had picked up the full run list and details of the f Bella's former tour. It was quite an extensive list so she wanted a few minutes to look it over.
Barden campus was sunny, green and open as she walked around. It was nothing in compared to Heidelburg University back in Germany, but it still had a sprawling open vibe and modern architecture that was pleasant nonetheless.
Mina wondered around the campus looking for a coffee stand and take away lunch so that she could review all the tour information while appeasing her very hungry stomach.
It was a few minutes into her quest when Mina stumbled across the signpost pointing to the music departments of Barden campus. Curious despite herself she decided to investigate the music facilities on offer at the university.
As she wondered down the main walkway, Mina spotted a coffee stand to the side of the path. The line was quite long but she took this to mean that they produced good coffee. Happy with her discovery of coffee Mina lined up and resigned herself to a bit of a wait
She was halfway through the line when she heard it. A girl's voice was floating down from the window above her head. It was a beautiful alto with a stage worthy quality to it. Mina closed her eyes to appreciate the vocal control evident in it, the pitch and tone was perfect. If this girl were auditioning for DSM she would have accepted her in a heartbeat.
Mina looked up at the open window and spotted the sign just next to it. The sign read in bold curling text 'The Barden Bellas'. Mina winced slightly; they had definitely underestimated the competition if they could all sing like that. She had also she had just inadvertently complimented the competition in her head.
The beautiful singing continued to haunt her, teasing her with It's melodious tones. She made a snap decision to see just who was singing, for competition purposes that was all. Mina moved out of line and quickly walked to the side of the building, scanning for a door. After a brief search she found it and quietly pushed it open, tiptoeing through the short corridor to the open doorway on the other side.
The room was wide and spacious. It's predominant wooden panels and floorboards made it look inviting as the warm summer sun streamed through the large windows at the back of the room, just above the small rows of beachers at the back of the room. The white boards and various props and costumes gave it a creatively messy feel, as Mina looked around.
"I'm standing on a bridge, I'm waiting in the dark, I thought that you'd be here by now. There's nothing but the rain, no footsteps on the ground, I'm listening but there's no sound."
Mina spotted the singer quickly. Mina blinked in surprise. It was the little mouse from the car show. She was standing about half way up the bleachers with her eyes closed. She had one hand resting on her stomach as she sung, concentrating on her diaphragm projection. Her brow was furrowed slightly and her head was canted to the side as she listened to the pitch and tone of the music.
"Isn't anyone trying to find me? Won't somebody come take me home?"
She was entranced watching her sing. Beca looked so beautiful and fragile in that moment standing in a beam of sunlight. The song was very melancholic and it seemed to translate perfectly with her sad demeanour and the dark rings under her eyes.
"It's a damn cold night, trying to figure out this life, won't you take me by the hand? Take me somewhere new, I don't know who you are, But I... I'm with you, I'm with you"
Mina watched as she breathed deeply controlling her air so she could reach all the notes with skill. Beca seemed so lonely in that moment and it broke Mina's heart just a little because she knew that the little mouse was hurting somehow. Her hands twitched with the urge to comfort her and keep her safe from harm.
"I'm looking for a place, I'm searching for a face, Is anybody here I know, 'Cause nothing's going right, and everything's a mess, and no one likes to be alone"
Mina's heart tugged at the lyrics. She knew what it was like to be alone and wanted to save her from experiencing it to.
Beca was enjoying the sun and the music. The song was edgy and more than a little sad and it matched how she felt right now perfectly. She listened to the music trying to lose herself in the song as she reached It's crescendo.
"Oh why is everything so confusing, Maybe I'm just out of my mind, Yeah-he-yaa, yeah-he-yah, yeah-he-yah, yeah-he-yah, yeah!"
She belted out the notes as she purged her feelings in the moment. She loved music and singing. It was always her home whenever things went wrong in her life.
A clatter of noise startled her and whipping around, she opened her eyes to see some overturned boxes next to the door. Next to them standing wide eyed was non other than DSM's smoking hot leader. Beca swore in surprise as she took a slight step back and slipped of the bleacher seat she was standing on in shock. She pin wheeled back over the seat falling hard in a tangle of legs and arms, hitting her head on the way down.
Beca ended up wedged very awkwardly between two benches on the floor. She groaned and closed her eyes, determined to stay down here forever after the Kommissar had seen that. What the fuck was she doing here anyway she thought with panic
She heard quick footsteps taking the bleacher stairs two at a time. Damn those long German legs she thought in a resigned way. Time to get more humiliated.
The Kommissar's face came into view looking down at her with a concerned expression. Beca gave half a thought that she could possibly be dreaming again about the Kommissar but dismissed it because her head hurt too much for it to be a fake.
" Beca are you ok?" the Kommissar asked with a worried frown
"Yeah just my dignity" she replied with a wince
The German girl's hands started to carefully touch and probe her hair
Beca found this way too close for comfort, and too nice for her liking so she started to struggle to get up. The Kommissar pushed her back down with ease and continued to feel around her head.
"You shouldn't move yet little mouse, you took a nasty fall and I saw you hit your head. I need to assess the damage before you move so you don't potentially make the injury worse" She commanded with a frown
Beca thought it was very, very bad that she liked how the Kommissar had held her down. She liked it much more than she had any right to. The girl's hands gently moving over her scalp made goose bumps start to rise up on her arm and heat rise in other areas.
This was so embarrassing. She had been singing and had fallen in front of DSM's gorgeous leader, who then had to check her out and the whole thing was turning her on. It was more than she could say for Jesse's performance over the last few months. She really needed therapy apparently.
The Kommissar finally let her up after determining it was just a nasty bump to the head and nothing more sinister. She helped Beca up to sit on one of the bleacher benches. Beca rubbed her head lightly before turning to the Kommissar suddenly.
"Hey! How did you know my name was Beca?" she asked suddenly
Mina mentally winced; she now officially looked like the biggest stalker in the world. Maintaining her outward appearance of calm she nonchalantly said
"Ohh we compile large folders of data on all our competitors. It really helps us to destroy them where they are weakest" There she though, hopefully the little mouse will buy into the ice queen act like everyone else.
Beca snorted "I suppose I can't talk, the Bellas have been doing their own research"
Mina's heart fluttered, so Beca had looked her up too then. She followed the Bella's gesture to one of the white boards. Written on it was a series of plans and information about beating DSM. Mina was flattered they took the competition between the two groups seriously but she was also disappointed that it hadn't been the type of 'research' she had originally thought.
Beca giggled a little "We never found your name in our research though, its only fair you tell me your name since you know mine" she smiled slightly at the Kommissar.
The Kommissar stuck out her hand "my name is Mina Hjort Sørensen" she said with a smile.
Beca placed her own hand in Mina's "Thank you for your help Mina" she grinned looking into her blue eyes.
"You seem much more approachable when you don't look like a BDSM sex goddess" Beca commented before face palming herself.
"Please forget I said that" she begged in a muffled voice, head still in hands.
Mina chuckled "Danke, kleine maus"
Beca groaned and struggled to find a topic that wouldn't make her say stupid things. "So what brings you to Barden University today" she asked curiously
Mina awkwardly held up the tour information for Beca too see.
"Ohh" Beca replied looking down "well you should have no trouble with that since your so attractive"
Beca cringed a little and that making a vow to shut up right now about Mina's attractiveness.
Mina while very flattered, decided that this was a good time to leave since she didn't want to rub in the tour loss or get into something that could end badly. She stood up and moved out into the isle steps of the bleachers.
"I should go now," she explained
Beca's eyes widened a little. She didn't want Mina to leave just yet
"Ahh wait" she said without thinking. 'Crap' she thought, 'now what?'
"Umm ahh about the tour dates…" she fumbled "You could talk to me … if you needed any additional information about them?." She finished haltingly. 'Smooth Mitchell', real smooth she thought.
Mina was pleasantly surprised "Ja that would be very kind of you" she agreed.
"Cool" Beca stood up and moved to join Mina in the isle. She pulled out a pen from her back pocket and wrote her number on the edge of the first page. Her hands shook slightly with nerves at how close they were. She hoped that the Kommissar didn't notice them.
Mina could smell her as she leant in to write. She smelt like wood, rose and something a little dusky, it was an addictive combination. Her entire right side could feel the heat generated from her proximity. She glanced down in surprise at the paperwork to see a phone number there. It seemed strangely personal n that moment, like they were arranging a date or chatting up one another. Mina felt a little tug in her chest. She really wished that was true.
Beca stepped back slightly and smiled up at the taller girl. They were still for a moment looking into each other's eyes. In that time it seemed as if they could see all this possibility stretching out before them. They were still close to each other and Beca's wide brown eyes transfixed Mina. A faint blush spread across Beca's cheeks as they continued to stare
Mina's mind was screaming at her to kiss her little mouse. She had never wanted anything more in her life. Her body started to lean a little closer. She could even see the other girl's pupils dilate as she breathed in her sent. The tiny rational logical side of her brain was yelling back though, that Beca was not available, that she had a boyfriend. It tore her in half with indecision
Without conscious thought Mina's hand rose of it's own accord and tucked a strand of Beca's hair behind her ear, gently brushing her skin. The soft touch of her skin snapped Mina back into control before she crossed the line and did something they would both regret. Abruptly she turned away before she could lose her self-control and stiffly strode back down the stairs, heading towards the door. Her hand continued to tingle where she had touched Beca's skin as she flexed it.
Mina repeated a mantra in her head 'she had a boyfriend, she has a boyfriend, she has a boyfriend" to stop herself from turning around and taking what she wanted. Her heart broke a little as she forced herself to walk away.
Beca was rooted to the spot at the gentle touch. A shiver ran up her spine as it stroked lightly over her ear. She was surprised when Mina turned and walked away, suddenly breaking the moment. As she watched Mina leave in shocked silence her hand came up to touch her cheek trying to hold onto the feeling of contact just a little longer.
She smiled slightly; perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult to get over Jesse after all.
-End Chapter-
German Translations
· Ich werde die Person dumm genug, um mich zu wecken töten – I will kill the person who was stupid enough to wake me.
· Morgan lieblin" – Morning darling
· Frühaufsteher Böse - Evil early riser
· Ich hasse dich. Ich werde dich töten langsam genießen – I hate you. I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly.
· Schatz – sweetheart
· Nein – no
· Keinen Weg in die Hölle – No way in hell
· Nein, tust du nicht – no you don't
Author's notes:
So thanks for reading. Please feel free to share any feedback on the chapter so I can make improvements. Sorry again about the German…