"Come on Becs, let me teach you! It's Thanksgiving!" Chloe pleaded, pouting a little, eyes wide and puppy dog like as she looked at Beca. Chloe's flame red hair was tied in a high ponytail, an apron tied around her waist, the ingredients for a Thanksgiving spread in front of her.
Beca rolled her eyes as she looked at Chloe. She could never say no to Chloe, especially when she pulled that face.
"Chloe… I just wanna watch the game with the girls, come on dude…" Beca frowned, protesting feebly.
It was her best kept secret; she could cook, she was pretty good at it in fact, but she chose not to and as such the Bellas all assumed she couldn't (and there was that one unfortunate incident with the toaster, but in Beca's defence she had been distracted by Chloe's very low-cut tank top).
"But Beca… Aubrey bailed on me this year because she's going to see her dad overseas, you wouldn't leave me to cook Thanksgiving dinner all by myself would you?" Chloe tilted her head to one side, her pout only getting bigger as Beca signed.
"Fine, fine." Beca sighed, using the hair tie on her wrist to tie her own hair back in a similar fashion to Chloe's. Secretly, she was thrilled. The idea of getting to spend some quality one on one time with Chloe was incredibly appealing, for reasons that she wasn't fully willing to admit to yet.
Chloe squealed happily in delight as she set the ingredients in the order she'd need them, Beca making her way over to where Chloe stood, "Alright, come here, you can start by peeling the potatoes, carrots, and yams."
She handed the vegetable peeler to Beca who frowned slightly, "Um Chloe, little problem?"
"Huh?" Chloe turned to her with a slight frown as she pulled the wrapping off the turkey.
"I'm left handed. This is a right handed peeler." Beca grinned as she waved it in the air.
"Oh. Of course!" Chloe smacked a hand to her forehead, "Sorry Beca, totally slipped my mind." She took the peeler from Beca and put a chopping board, a sharp knife, and some onions in front of her, "Chop these instead, we want them in little pieces."
Beca nodded, awkwardly starting to chop the first of the onions as Chloe started to tear the chunks of stale bread and stuff them into the turkey along with some apple chunks and sage. The brunette looked up from the job she was doing with a frown.
"Um… are you… sticking your hand up a dead turkey's ass?" Beca asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"Yeah?" Chloe chuckled at the look of disgust on Beca's face, "Why else do you think it's called stuffing?"
"I didn't think you actually, y'know, stuffed it." Beca grimaced. Yes, she was a good cook, but she'd never had to make stuffing from scratch.
Chloe just rolled her eyes, putting the turkey into the oven and turning to Beca, "Oh honey, no those are too big." She frowned slightly as she saw the size of Beca's onion chunks, "Here."
Beca had been rather childishly doing a terrible job on purpose in the hopes that Chloe would make her leave, but it seemed the redhead was hellbent on teaching her how to make Thanksgiving dinner.
Chloe stood behind Beca, her front flush with the short brunette's back, arms snaking around her waist and taking the knife from her to show her how to slice the onions. There was a deep blush on Beca's face as she felt how close Chloe was stood to her, her breath hot on her neck, all of the hairs on the back of it standing on end.
"See, like that." Chloe smiled softly as she set the knife down, moving from behind Beca to peel the vegetables.
"Um yeah… I- I can do that." Beca mumbled, dipping her head as she carried on chopping the onions, hoping that if Chloe had seen how red her cheeks had gotten she'd just assume it was the heat in the kitchen.
Chloe set the peeler down with a sigh, turning to Beca with a smile, "I've been wanting to do this for years…"
She walked over to Beca, taking the knife out of her hand, setting it down as she spun her on the spot, Beca's back against the counter.
"Chloe what're you-" Beca blushed softly, cut off as Chloe put a hand on the back of her neck, pulling her into a deep kiss, a hand on her lower back as she pulled her as close as possible.
After a brief moment of hesitation Beca began to kiss her back, hands reaching up to untie Chloe's hair, hands tangling in it as their lips collided, Chloe sliding her tongue across Beca's bottom lip as the brunette opened her mouth allowing her to deepen the long awaited kiss.
"Beca. Beca. Earth to Beca?!" Beca shook her head to rid it of the mental image, blushing again as she realised that Chloe had been trying to get her attention.
"Sorry. What's up?" Beca smiled, trying to suppress the daydream she'd been having as she looked at Chloe. Because right now, all she wanted was the redhead to pin her against the kitchen island like she just had in her head.
"Can you chop the rest of these vegetables whilst you're there? Potatoes into small chunks, yams into big chunks, carrots into small pieces?" Chloe grinned, wondering what had got Beca so distracted and flustered.
"Sure." Beca nodded with a tight smile, her eyes wandering to Chloe's lips briefly before back to the vegetables in front of her.
They worked together in relative silence for a good ten minutes, Beca trying desperately to think of anything but the idea of Chloe's lips on hers, of her hands on her body, of her fingers in her hair. Taking a deep breath, Beca shook her head a little as she tried to focus on the vegetables. It became harder for her to do that though, as Chloe stepped behind her again, pressed close as she put her hands on top of Beca's.
"Your technique is a little clumsy, here, try this instead." A little clumsily given that Beca was left handed rather than right handed like Chloe, the redhead demonstrated a more efficient rocking motion.
Beca went crimson, her eyes on Chloe's hands on hers, her mouth suddenly dry. Chloe was looking over Beca's left shoulder, her breath tickling the brunette's ear. Beca closed her eyes, swallowing hard as she tried to keep her composure.
"Ah, shit!"
Beca's eyes snapped open as Chloe cried out in shock, her brow furrowing a little as she looked down. She could have sworn the chopping board was white not red. Oh.
"Ow. Ow. OWWW." Beca felt her right hand starting to throb with pain.
"Becs, I'm so sorry!" Chloe exclaimed, a little pale as she moved from behind Beca to pick up her right hand and inspect it, "Oh god, we've got to get you to the emergency room, that's going to need stiches. I'm sorry, it's because everything's backwards because you're left handed. Oh shit."
Beca looked at the deep cut across the palm of her right hand, wincing as the pain started to register with her, "It's okay." She mumbled, "You didn't mean it, it was an accident." She smiled gratefully as Chloe handed her a towel to wrap around it, panic written in every line of her face.
"I'm really sorry Becs… shit there's a lot of blood…" Chloe frowned, going to the living room to tell the Bellas what was going on as she grabbed her car keys.
"C'mon sweetie, let's get you to the ER." Chloe put an arm around Beca's waist as she guided her to the car.
Two hours later, Beca sat in the ER waiting for her name to be called, Chloe pacing frantically in front of her.
"Chloe, it's fine, will you just sit down?" Beca frowned, holding the towel against her hand as she tried to ignore the throbbing pain.
"It's been two hours Beca! What the hell is taking them so long?!" Chloe asked, spinning on her heel to look at Beca, "What if you were to bleed out?!"
"It's Thanksgiving. There's hundreds of people here with holiday related injuries, I'm sure if they thought I was in any real danger they'd have seen me earlier." Beca smiled reassuringly, hand still tightly wrapped in the now ruined tea towel.
Chloe sighed, sinking into the seat next to Beca, head in her hands, "I know… god I can't believe I cut your hand like that…"
"It's alright Chloe. You didn't mean to. I hope…" Beca frowned slightly, a smirk on her face.
Chloe gave her a playful shove, "It's your fault for being a lefty, I was all back to front!"
"Oh gee, I apologise for being born like this, it's almost like I had no control over it!" Beca rolled her eyes, enjoying the distraction from the pain in her hand.
"I'm not the one who's been distracted all day!" Chloe scoffed, "What exactly were you thinking about so hard anyway?"
Beca felt a blush spreading across her cheeks as she looked away, looking at the floor, "N-nothing." She lied. Badly.
Chloe raised an eyebrow, "Beca? What's up with you lately?" The past few months, Chloe had noticed that Beca was becoming more and more distracted, and she was worried that there was something wrong.
"It's really nothing Chloe." Beca shook her head.
"Beca Mitchell?"
Before Chloe could press her for any details, Beca's name was called, the brunette standing up to follow the nurse to a treatment room.
"Want me to come with you?" Chloe offered, not wanting to let it go just yet.
"Nah it's okay." Beca shook her head, "You know how you get with needles." She winked at Chloe as she left her alone.
When she returned twenty minutes later, she had a big dopey grin on her face.
"Chloe!" She cried, the redhead frowning a little, a smile on her face.
"Hey Becs. Feeling better?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Yup!" Beca grinned, "Look, my hand is allll better, it only took nine stiches and some very nice painkillers."
"Ah." Chloe nodded. Suddenly it all made sense, "I'd better get you home then huh? Amy called, the turkey burnt because she forgot to take it out of the oven, so we'll stop and get pizza on the way back."
Beca grinned inanely as Chloe put her arm around her waist again to guide her to the car, the brunette letting out a happy smile.
"You know, I'd never let anyone else hold me like this… you make me feel safe Chloe…" Beca hummed, letting her head rest on the red head's shoulder.
"Thanks Beca." Chloe laughed softly, "I'm glad I make you feel safe."
"You do." Beca nodded, a serious look on her face, "I wish you liked me the same way though…"
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked, a soft frown on her face as she opened the passenger side door for Beca, who sighed heavily and dramatically.
"You know…" She waved her now bandaged hand vaguely, "All warm inside. Like I'm invincible, like I can do absolutely anything."
Chloe got into the car next to Beca, a soft smile on her face as she turned to the brunette, "I do feel like that Beca. You're my best friend."
"No!" Beca huffed, shaking her head, "Oh you don't get it…"
"Then explain it to me." Chloe put a hand on Beca's shoulder, knowing that it was perhaps a little unethical to take advantage of the fact of the fact that Beca was a little more loose lipped than normal, but maybe she'd finally get to the bottom of what was bothering her.
"It's… oh it's too hard to put into words. But I've felt like this forever. Like- like everything suddenly made sense in my head? My music sounds better now…" Beca turned her head to smile at Chloe, "And it's because of you. You make everything better."
"Beca…" Chloe's face broke into a watery grin, "That's so sweet…"
"Do you um… can I just… ughhhh this is so hard!" Beca threw up her arms in exasperation.
"I think I get what you're trying to say." Chloe smiled.
She leaned in, so her face was a few inches from Beca's pausing briefly as their eyes met, watched a slight blush spread across Beca's cheeks. The brunette swallowed, her eyes once again flicking down to Chloe's lips. Even in her slightly drug addled state she couldn't quite bring herself to believe that Chloe felt the same. The redhead grinned as she could her breath mingling with Beca's.
"Yes." She whispered, tucking a lock of Beca's hair behind her ear, "If the question you were trying to ask is 'Can I just kiss you?' then yes."
Beca couldn't hold back the small gasp that left her lips, grinning as she closed the gap between them at long last, her lips brushing against Chloe's, feeling a tingle go through her whole body as she did what she had been wanting to do for years, since they had met at the Activities Fair three years ago. Chloe wasted no time in returning the kiss, a hand snaking into Beca's hair as she pulled her closer, her tongue swiping across Beca's bottom lip as she deepened the kiss. It was three years of longing, of chance looks and lingering eye contact, poured into a single moment of passion and admittance. Admittance that they were more than just friends, admittance that they had feelings for each other, admittance that they had never just been in it for the a cappella.
Beca eventually pulled back, breathing heavily as her forehead rested against Chloe's, a ridiculous grin on her face.
"Wow. That was better than I had ever imagined." She panted slightly.
"Thought about it a lot have you?" Chloe asked, a similarly stupid smile on her own face.
"Maybe… especially when you stand behind me and breath on my neck…" Beca blushed a little.
"I should have tried to teach you how to cook sooner." Chloe chuckled.
"As much as I appreciate cooking lessons that end in me being lightly stabbed…" Beca rolled her eyes, "I have something to tell you… I um, I actually do know how to cook. I just don't wanna cook for all the Bellas all the time." Beca bit her lip as Chloe scoffed.
"You can cook?!" Chloe asked, frowning, "Since when?"
"Since I was about… ten? After my dad left, mom didn't really feel like cooking. Didn't feel like doing much really… so I learnt to cook, to keep house, all that. It made her life easier, and it turns out I can cook pretty well." Beca shrugged.
"But… the toast incident?" Chloe asked, eyebrows raised.
"Oh. That was… well… you um- you were wearing a very low cut tank top…" Beca muttered, a deep shade of scarlet as she looked at her hands.
"Ohhh…" Chloe laughed, "I see."
They were silent for a few moments, soaking in the moment where they had finally acknowledged how they felt about each other.
"I love you Chloe." Beca whispered, not looking up from her hands, still unsure that Chloe felt exactly the same way.
Chloe gently used her hand to lift Beca's chin so that the brunette was looking into her eyes, "Even though I stabbed you a little?" She grinned.
"Weirdly, I might love you more…" Beca mused, biting her lip a little.
"I love you too Beca. Even though you lied about not being able to cook." Chloe pressed a kiss to Beca's lips, this time soft and tender.
"You know what… despite the nine stiches and the light stabbing, this might be the best Thanksgiving ever." Beca grinned.