Their fingers sat on the table centimeters apart. Chloe could feel the electricity coursing through her body from her fingertips, aching to reach out just a bit further. She needed to touch her, but would the touch be welcomed by her best friend? Her best friend that she has almost kissed a handful of times. Her best friend that has locked eyes with her with such intensity it made her want to burst into flames. Maybe it was just her, all in her head, and she couldn't bear the thought of putting herself out there, again, only to be rejected by her best friend. Especially since every time they've had an almost kiss, Beca would become more distant for days, sometimes weeks before being comfortable and letting her walls down again.

She tore her eyes away from their fingertips to look at Beca's face hoping to see those deep blue eyes staring back at her giving her the permission she desired. Instead, she looked up to see Beca stuffing a huge bite of burger into her mouth with her other hand. She couldn't help but chuckle. It never ceased to amaze Chloe how much food could fit in that tiny little body.

"What," Beca said with her mouthful of a second bite. "I'm so hunnngry. Practice was brutal today and I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"You missed breakfast? But it's the most important meal of the day." Chloe teased. Actually, she had been pretty bummed when Beca had missed breakfast that morning. Usually they ate breakfast together, drank coffee, and chilled before heading to their respective classes. It had been part of their routine since Beca's sophomore year.

"I woke up late this morning and had an early shift at the station, then Bella's practice, so I didn't have a chance."

"Oh you really must be hungry then, I've never seen you skip a meal." Chloe gave her a loving push. Beca just rolled her eyes and continued to devour her meal like it had been weeks since she had tasted food. Chloe just sat and watched her friend, even while she stuffed her face, Chloe couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked, it was enough to take her breath away, she almost forgot about her own food slowly growing cold in front of her.

"You gunna eat that?" Beca asked, and without waiting for a response reached over and grabbed a handful of Chloe's fries. It was something that couples would do….or best friends Chloe reminded herself shaking her head. Snap out of it Beale, she doesn't think of you that way. Beca had a boyfriend. Jesse and Beca had been together for nearly four years. Four years of Chloe watching helplessly from the sidelines, four years of flirting, four years of glances that seemed to want more, four years hoping that her best friend would wake up and realize that she'd loved her all along.

This is it, I'm going to tell her how I feel. Enough is enough, she's going to be graduating this year, this is my last chance or I may lose her forever.

Just as Chloe opened her mouth, Beca grabbed her wrist to see the time on her Smartwatch. Chloe got goosebumps on her arm when Beca grabbed her.

"Oh no! I'm late!" Beca jumped out of the booth, grabbed her purse, and shouted back as she rushed out the door, "See you later Chlo…"

Chloe sat in the booth, mouth hanging open in shock, where could she possibly be going?

Beca had just scored the most awesome internship ever with an actual music producer. It was her dream, well, sort of. She mostly just ran around and got everyone coffee, but at least it was a foot in the door. She felt bad for ditching Chloe earlier that day at the burger shop. She had seen the hurt and confusion in her best friend's eyes when she rushed out, but Chloe wouldn't understand. Chloe's life revolved around the Bella's and if she knew that Beca wasn't fully invested in preparing for the World's, she knew she'd just be letting Chloe down, and she couldn't bear to see her friend so upset.

Jesse had been dropping her off at the internship. It was nice that he had a car, since it would probably take a whole day if she tried to walk there from campus. "You need to tell Chloe." It was the same conversation the last three times he dropped her off. "She's going to know something is up. It's not like you to be all mysterious." He joked. Beca wasn't exactly one to share her personal business. It took years for him to slowly break down her walls.

"I can't," was her response every time. "I mean, I will, but not yet. She won't understand. I just can't give her another thing to worry about right now when she's stressing over World's."

"Beca, you are stressing her out by not telling her where you disappear to. You guys are like Lorelei and Dorothy, Thelma and Louise, Cher and Dionne?" He was reaching, Beca could tell as she gave him her best "annoyed" look. "Ok, not great examples," Jesse responded acknowledging the look he got too often, "but, you get what I mean. You guys are best friends. Shouldn't you be able to tell her anything?"

Beca knew he was right. She scrunched up her face. She hated when he was right. She would tell Chloe, but it had to be the right time. "I'll see you tonight at the party," She said giving him a kiss goodbye.

"Nothing's going to stop my girl," Jesse shouted.

"I don't know him," She Shouted back. He's such a weirdo.

It was hood night and the Bellas had a new freshman to initiate. Chloe wasn't overly thrilled to have a new voice added to the mix, but she had to admit, Legacy did have some pipes. When they got to the Treble house, she had one goal, to find Beca! Chloe made it up in her mind that she must've rushed off during their lunch date, not a date Chloe, because she had forgotten she had plans with Jesse. That wouldn't have been the first time. It did seem like Beca had a lot on her plate lately. She was always rushing out of the house, into Bellas rehearsal, out of Bellas rehearsal. The only time Chloe can think of Beca moving slowly was at the end of the night when she'd finally come home, march loudly and slowly up the stairs, and slam her door shut. It was usually followed by a loud sigh. Chloe wondered if there was something going on with Beca and Jesse. At that thought, she felt little butterflies swell in her stomach. Then she bumped right into him. "Jesse? Where is Beca"

He replied, "I thought she was with you."

Chloe was confused, "I thought she was with you?"

Ugh, What? This didn't make any sense. Chloe moved through the crowd of people, away from Jesse, towards the liquor. She needed to refill her yellow cup. She filled it and took a big gulp then pulled out her phone and texted with ferocity. "Beca where are you? We have a new Legacy named Emily! I need you here!" She wanted to say more, but was too sober yet at this point and knew better. She spun around and searched through the crowd of acapella singers for her bestie. Disappointment and something else…lingering in her heart.

Beca knew she was going to be in such shit with Chloe. She rushed as fast as she could out of the car and into the Bella's house. She had a coworker drop her off knowing that Jesse had to get hood night going. He was the senior leader of the Trebles and therefore in charge of organizing the whole event. She didn't even bother throwing her intern clothes into the hamper before putting on something "party acceptable." She glanced at her phone, 2 missed calls and 16 texts. All from Chloe except one. Jesse: "Why does Chloe think you were with me?" Shit. Ok I'll just get to the party, blow off any questions with compliments, and Chloe will forget everything. Beca smiled to herself. Chloe was so easy to please when she was drinking. A few compliments always did the trick, Beca could hear the sound of Chloe's giggles, and her blue eyes would sparkle in a way that Beca couldn't help but smile too. Snap out of it! Beca rushed out the door almost as quickly as she had gotten there and ran over to the Treble house as fast as her short legs could carry her.

Beca found Jesse first, ran over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. He started in again about telling Chloe what she's been up to. At that, she jumped up needing to find her best friend. It wasn't hard to find Chloe, she was in the middle of the party dancing seductively, Beca stood for a moment and watched as Chloe's red hair flew around her. She really was beautiful…I'll lead with that, Beca thought, pushing her way through the crowd. Cynthia Rose cut her off her path to hand her a drink. Beca grabbed it with a quick, "thanks," and kept making her way to Chloe. Sometimes, Beca felt completely powerless, like Chloe was a magnet pulling her in. Or that Chloe was like the sun and she wasn't strong enough to fight the gravitational pull. She didn't want to fight the pull, she liked the warmth that Chloe gave her. The moment Chloe saw Beca walking towards her, her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, and she ran to close the space between them, flinging herself at the short brunette. "OOF," Beca clung to her best friend, missing her touch, something that three years ago would have sent her running. Now, it was something she almost enjoyed, Chloe had broken down Beca's boundaries like no one else.

August 2013, acapella tryouts: "Okay nerds…" Beca was about to announce the song for the newest acapella recruits to sing when the auditorium door flung open. Red curls bouncing behind her, Chloe Beale made her way to the front, sitting down right next to the Bella captain. "Sorry I'm late," she announced to the group. "Chloe?" Beca asked, confused. She hadn't seen nor heard from Chloe since the beginning of summer. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh didn't I tell you? I didn't graduate, I failed Russian Lit. Now I get to stay and be a Bella again! Isn't that great!" Chloe beamed.

"Great? Um..yeah! Let's get back to the auditions. Okay nerds, the song is Icona Pop's I Love It." "Really?" Chloe interrupted, again. Then made the motion of zipping her lips when she got an icy glare from Beca in response. Beca wasn't sure what the return of Chloe would mean for her debut as Bella captain, would they be co-captains, would Chloe want her old room back at the Bella house or the much larger room that used to be occupied by Aubrey? Chloe was looking at her with those big blue eyes, bubbly as usual. Beca could only glare back.

The Bellas had slim pickings from auditions, but luckily with Chloe coming back, they only need to fill Aubrey's position. They acquired a new talent to join their team, Florencia, she seemed to have potential. At least she could remember the lyrics and sing on key. After the Bellas made their decision, it was time for hood night. They got Flo from her dorm room, had her say the oath, drink the boozy "blood of their sisters," but this time leaving out the part about the Trebles. The girls were excited to welcome their new Bella, so it was time to party, and they all headed over to the Treble house.

Beca was torn between spending her first hood night with Jesse as a couple and getting to the bottom of Chloe suddenly back at Barden. She decided she would go check out the drink selection instead when all of a sudden she was grabbed from behind. "Hey you," it was Chloe pulling her close, giving her sudden flashbacks to exactly one year ago when Chloe had told Beca they were going to be fast friends. Beca still was not used to the proximity in which Chloe liked to speak.

"Hey." Beca was never one to make small talk.

"You seem like you're not happy to see me," Chloe slurred obviously already a few drinks in.

"Yeah, um, I guess I'm just surprised to see you back here. I haven't heard from you since June, and then you just showed up at auditions like it was normal. Plus, you forgot to mention the fact that you didn't actually graduate. What's up with that," Beca questioned the now super senior.

"Hmph, I guess I was a bit embarrassed and I spent the summer trying to figure it out. But it means that I can spend more time with the Bellas and do the fall victory tour with you all!" Beca had forgotten that the team that won nationals was required to partake in a two week victory tour to kick off the next season. This was going to mean a lot of extra rehearsals, new songs to learn, and new choreography. Suddenly she was ecstatic to have Chloe back, she could mix the music and Chloe could handle choreography.

"We're co-captains?" Beca blurted out, not meaning to make it sound like a question so much as a statement.

"If that's what you want Becs. I have no problem taking a back seat to your ideas. You are the reason we won nationals after all. You make us the Bellas." Beca blushed at the compliment and suddenly it felt like it was just yesterday Chloe and her were together, it was so easy to pick up right where they left off.

They spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, and being goofy with the other acapella groups. At one point Fat Amy started a riff off that ended with the Treblemakers winning, she forgot the lyrics to Bye Bye Bye because she was so plastered. At that, Beca knew it was her job as captain to round up the girls and call it a night, after a quick goodbye kiss to Jessie. Beca grabbed Chloe by the arm, mostly to steady herself as they walked, but also because she really had missed her were giggling the whole way back to the Bella's house. "You're so drunk," Chloe slurred, giving Beca a nudge with her body.

"Am not," Beca shouted back," giving a more forceful nudge with a gleam in her eye, "you're more drunker."

"That's not even a word!"

"Oi you two keep it down. You want the neighbors calling the cops on us…again," Amy scolded them while barely keeping herself upright. At least they were able to get her to go with them this time. Some nights Amy would mysteriously disappear and not reappear for several days. She would tell elaborate stories of her sexual adventures upon her return, to the dismay of the Bella's who were forced to listen to the obviously exaggerated details, at least they hoped they were exaggerated.

When they reached the Bella's house, the girls dispersed to their individual rooms, except Chloe. She went over and collapsed onto the couch next to where she had stashed her bags earlier that day. "Why didn't you bring your stuff upstairs," Beca asked her, still smirking from their walk home.

"I wasn't sure where to put them. You all took a different room and I didn't want to intrude or make someone move out."

"You should have your old room," Beca said without thinking, "it is your's after all."

"Isn't Amy or Stacie in that room? I'm not making them leave."

"Actually, I took it," Beca responded.

"Why," Chloe asked, "Aubrey's was so much bigger. It's always been the captain's room for as long as I can remember."

"Well…I don't need a lot of space, and Amy has so much stuff." What she was saying wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't 100% the truth either. She had picked Chloe's room because it had been Chloe's room. Of the two former seniors, Chloe was the one that had always made Beca feel like part of the group, like she was important. Chloe smiled and grabbed her bags.

"Okay but I'm not kicking you out, we'll have to share." Beca smiled back at her, if she was going to share a room, she was glad it would be with Chloe over any of the other Bellas. There was only one problem.

"Um Chlo…there's only one bed. You don't snore do you," Beca said playfully, still filling the effects of their night of drinking.

Chloe hit her arm,"No! I don't snore! I don't mind sharing your bed." Then a big grin spread across her face, "Sleeeepover!" Beca rolled her eyes and helped her carry her bags up to her room, their room. They both changed and got ready for bed in different bathrooms on the second floor. After checking on the other Bella's, they crawled into Beca's bed, and said goodnight to each other.

"I'm really glad you're back Chlo," Beca whispered.

"Me too," said Chloe, sliding her hand along Beca's back and draping it over her side causing them to spoon. Beca stiffened for a moment, but the warmth of Chloe's arm with the mix of alcohol in her system drifted her off to sleep.