Chapter 5: Merry Christmas Bechloe
The Bellas were preparing for their big Christmas bash in which they would invite all the acapella groups from campus. It was definitely Chloe's favorite time of the year. She always loved picking out sweaters to wear, decorating the house, the music, the smells, food, weather, everything. This year they were going to do secret santa. Since they were college students they figured it best to save their money and just do one gift instead of 9. Beca, however, hated the holiday. Too much festivity and love floating around made her ill some days.
"I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas" was playing on Chloe's portable speaker in the kitchen when Beca came down at around ten in the morning.
"Well hey, sleepyhead!" She looked up from a bowl of some type of batter and smiled brightly at Beca who looked a bit disheveled.
"Why is there so much clanging going on?" Beca grumbled.
"Baking, silly!"
"Urrrggg…" Beca sat at the counter and put her head down.
"The others went out to shop for the party tonight, so why don't you help me?" Chloe turned around to check the cookies that were in the oven.
"Mmm. Hard pass." Beca rested her head in her hand.
"Let me rephrase." Chloe walked around the kitchen counter and grabbed Beca's shoulders. "You are going to bake with me today." She whispered in Beca's ear. Beca still wasn't thrilled, but it was hard to say no to that Chloe.
"Okay what do I do?"
"Put food coloring in those four small bowls and then mix the dough in each of them so that the coloring is even."
"I'm going to get colors all over my hands!" Beca whined.
"Oh stop being a baby, that's why we have soap." Chloe nudged her.
They spent the rest of the morning baking and cleaning dishes just to use them again for more baking. Beca thought it was a pointless vicious cycle.
"Okay this should be the last batch. Hopefully it will be enough for the party tonight." Chloe took a step back and looked at all the baked goods on the counter.
"Yeah, it took 12 hours to make and it'll take 12 minutes for it to all be gone." Beca shook her head.
"Quit being such a downer." Chloe flicked some left over icing from her spoon on to Beca's face.
"Oh no you didn't." Beca froze for a moment before turning towards a slightly scared but smiling Chloe. Beca quickly scooped some brownie mix from a bowl and rushed at Chloe. Before she could run Beca grabbed her and ran her hand all over Chloe's face.
"Eww! Stop!" Chloe squealed and giggled simultaneously. She grabbed whatever she could reach on the counter and tossed it at Beca's face.
"Aw man, Chlo!" Beca laughed as she grabbed her eye. "You got it in my eye."
"Ohh...sorry." Chloe stepped right up to Beca and reached up to help her clear her eye. She started just wiping flour and icing from her face but then changed to gentle caresses along her cheek and chin. Chloe continued stroking Beca's face as her eyes darted back and forth between Beca's. Beca stood frozen, trying to read exactly what was behind Chloe's gaze. She felt herself leaning forward and Chloe glanced at her lips. They were inches away when the door burst open and they both flew apart from each other, pretending they were cleaning up the mess.
"Did we interrupt?" Fat Amy looked suspiciously between Beca and Chloe.
"Just baking!" Chloe grinned.
"And not the fun kind." Beca smirked. Chloe playfully slapped her forearm.
"And a food fight?" Fat Amy pointed at their faces.
"Oh, yeah!" Chloe grabbed a towel and wiped her face. "Beca was just acting out because she didn't want to help in the kitchen." She laughed then tossed the towel at her.
"What can I say? If you make me bake, you're going to get some icing on your face." Beca shrugged. The two of them exchanged awkward glances, not sure about what was happening just moments before.
As the party guests slowly started to trickle in, Aubrey and Chloe helped each other put the finishing touches on their outfits and hair.
"Do you think Howie will show up?" Aubrey asked while she fiddled with her hair in the mirror.
"Of course he is." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Every acapella event he ends up flirting with you. And half the time you end up making out."
"Oh don't judge." Aubrey's face turned red. "Anyone you're hoping to see tonight?"
"Not really." Chloe inadvertently glanced up at the ceiling knowing Beca was probably lying down on her bed right above her.
"You seem like you've had a bit of a dry spell lately." Aubrey turned around, only slightly concerned.
"Yeah, I guess I don't have as much fun floating from guy to guy as I used to. Different priorities." Chloe shrugged.
"Well...if you see someone you like tonight, just get them under the mistletoe." Aubrey winked and nudged Chloe. Chloe laughed and pulled out her phone as Aubrey left.
Chloe: You coming down for the party?
Beca: Is it mandatory?
Chloe: yes…
Beca: nice try, I'd rather work on my mixes
Chloe: but after all the work you did to help me bake today don't you want to see the fruits of your labor?
Beca: not really lol
Chloe: please...it won't be as fun without you
Beca: maybe…
Chloe: I'll just come get you in awhile if I don't see you ;)
Beca: yeah yeah…
Aubrey came back in to grab something and saw Chloe smiling dumbly at her phone.
"Ohh...special someone?"
"No, just a friend...they made a joke. It was funny." Chloe shoved her phone in her pocket. "Alright let's party!" She grabbed Aubrey's arm and walked out to the main room.
Fat Amy was in charge of drinks so pretty much everyone was tipsy. Chloe was happy to see that all the food was being enjoyed by all. Aubrey was ready to start the Christmas Karaoke festivities. The other bellas were having a blast dancing and finding boys to flirt with (except CR). And still no Beca…Chloe went into the kitchen for a drink and looked upstairs with squinted eyes. She was about to make her way up to drag her party pooper friend down to the party when Jesse walked in...with Luke. Aubrey had come around the corner and saw rage in her best friend's eyes.
"Chloe...you okay?" Aubrey followed Chloe's gaze and saw Luke and cursed to herself.
"I'm going to kill him. Who the hell does he think he is just walking into our house?" Chloe muttered and took an angry step forward as Aubrey grabbed her arms and pushed her back.
"No, no, no. We will get him to leave without making a scene. Just calm down." Once Aubrey was sure Chloe would stay put she went and dragged Jesse into the kitchen.
"Why did you bring that asshole here?" Chloe growled and stepped right in Jesse's face. He raised his hands in surrender and looked at Aubrey in confusion.
"What? We work together, and I thought he had a thing with Beca?"
"You don't know?" Aubrey put her hands on her hips. Chloe let out a deep sigh in realization.
"Of course she didn't tell you." She shook her head.
"Tell me what?" Jesse looked back and forth between the two women.
"Luke fucking beat her up. She should've been in the hospital from it except she's the most stubborn human being I've ever met." Chloe folded her arms.
"Are you serious?" Jesse's eyes turned dark.
"I had to stitch up a gash on her head he gave her from his rings and her hand was swollen for days." Chloe hissed.
"And she probably had a broken rib, that took forever for her to get over." Aubrey added.
"Guys, I'm so sorry. I had no idea." Jesse put his hand over his eyes. "I'm getting him out right now. Don't worry." He left to go take care of Luke while Chloe headed for the stairs just to make sure Beca didn't see him. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she saw Beca frozen midway down the steps, looking at Luke who had his hands around some girl's waist. Before Chloe could blink she saw Beca start to lunge downstairs to go for the attack. She pulled an Aubrey and grabbed her around the waist.
"Don't, Beca!" She pushed with all her strength to get Beca back up the stairs. "Jesse's getting him out. Come on." Chloe pushed Beca into her room and shut the door.
"Okay, look." Chloe clapped her hands preparing to debate with Beca. "You never interacted with him tonight. Nothing happened. He's going to be gone. So don't let this make you shrink back into your little hermit hole, okay? I want to have fun with my best friend tonight. And just because you saw him doesn't mean I should get punished. So if-"
"Chloe." Beca held back a smile as she interrupted. "Its fine. I just saw him and wanted to punch him again is all. We can go back down in a few minutes."
"Good." Chloe sighed in relief.
Downstairs Jesse gave Luke a shove. "So you like beating up women?"
"What the hell, dude?" Luke growled as he stepped away from the girl he was dancing with.
"You beat Beca up? That's where you got that black eye awhile back." Jesse remembered now how Luke had said is was a random bar fight.
"Please that bitch came at me first." Luke rolled her eyes.
"Even if that were true, explain her having broken ribs and stitches while you just have a bruise."
"Back off, fag." Luke shoved him back. The party goers all got quiet so all you could hear was the music.
"You need to leave, dude." Jesse ignored his comment but stared him down.
"And what are you gonna do?" Luke stepped towards him, a couple inches taller. Unfortunately for Luke, Howie was behind him about six inches taller.
"You hit a girl?" Howie tapped him on the shoulder. Luke turned around and looked up nervously at Howie. "I'll give you five seconds to get out of here you homophobic asshole." Howie held up five fingers.
"Fine, fine!" Luke held up his hands. "This is bullshit anyway." He mumbled as he stormed up the door. Aubrey walked over once Luke was gone and patted Jesse on the arm.
"Thanks, Jesse."
"I'm just sorry I brought him here. Oh damn...I bet I'm not going to have a job now after the break." He groaned. "Oh well. Totally worth it."
"And, Howie." Aubrey narrowed her eyes with a mischievous grin. "That was hot. I almost wish I could've seen you knock him out in one punch."
"He's not worth a sore hand." Howie shrugged and smiled confidently.
"Wanna dance?" Aubrey grabbed his hand.
"Duh." He finished his drink and followed her.
Chloe checked downstairs and then walked back into the room, "Alright little hermit the coast is clear." Beca got up and reluctantly followed her. The karaoke battle was in full force. Chloe made Beca sing "Baby Its Cold Outside" since she loved how their voices harmonized so well together. Later, she drug Beca into the kitchen and basically force fed her their baked goods they had made earlier. While Beca was fixing herself a drink, Chloe came up behind and snuck a Santa hat on her head.
"What the-" Beca reached up to take it off but Chloe grabbed her hand.
"Oh just drink some more you won't even realize its there." Chloe grinned. Fat Amy came in taking pictures of everyone.
"Santa!" She shouted. "Smile!" As Fat Amy held up her phone Chloe quickly leaned over to put her head on Beca's shoulder and smiled while Beca frowned. "Perf!" Fat Amy pumped her fist.
Aubrey glanced away from Howie and saw Beca and Chloe hanging out in the kitchen. She made her thinking face and walked over to them.
"Hey guys." She glanced between the two of them.
"Hey, Bree." Chloe chirped.
"Have y'all given your secret santa gifts yet?"
"Oh!" Beca nearly jumped. "I got you Aubrey. I'll be right back." She turned to jog up the stairs. Aubrey closed her eyes trying not to think about what hideous gift her little frenemy had gotten her. But before Beca returned she grabbed Chloe's arm.
"Hey, so there's a lot of cute eligible guys. I mean, me and Beca have gotten over most of our differences but why would you want to spend the whole party with Beca?"
"She'd probably leave if I let her out of my sight." Chloe shrugged.
"So? Let her, we force her to do so much as it is."
"Aubrey…"
"I didn't mean to sound mean. I just worry about you. I want you to find someone again, its been a long time."
"Aubrey, I can handle that myself." Chloe gave her a disapproving look. Before Aubrey could press, Beca hopped back into the kitchen.
"Here." She held out a small package. Aubrey set her drink down and opened her gift. It was some sort of soft covered book? No,a scrapbook? Aubrey studied it and then gave a quizzical look at Beca. She flipped the cover open and found several pictures on the first few pages of Aubrey's first year as a Bella with some decorations. She kept flipping through it and found more pictures throughout her four years. The last page was from the current year with inside jokes written in the margins with stickers and mementos. There were five pictures cut up to fit on the page of the bellas from this year from various bonding moments. Aubrey actually got choked up as she saw the writing on the back cover that read, 'You are the best badass aca-leader the bellas ever had. Thanks, aca-bitch. - Beca.'
"Beca…" Aubrey swallowed. "Where did you even get these photos?"
"Well… a lot from Chloe. But the ones from your first year I had to contact several people just to see if they had any pictures of your group. When I finally found someone they insisted we meet for lunch since we're technically bella sisters. And that was the longest hour of my life." She shuddered remembering the lunch with the over enthusiastic retired bella.
"I love it." Aubrey clutched the book to her chest.
"Well, I mean I know how obsessed you are with the bellas." Beca shrugged. "Figured you could have a memento." Aubrey stepped closer with her arms out.
"Don't hug me!" Beca stepped back.
"I don't take orders from you." Aubrey smiled as she wrapped Beca in a tight hug.
"Aww!" Chloe looked on the verge of tears. "I love you two." She wrapped her arms around Aubrey and Beca too. Beca just deadpanned and looked at the ceiling waiting for the ladies to release her.
"You are a constant surprise Beca Mitchell." Aubrey wiped her eye, trying not to tear up. "I'm going to put this away so it doesn't get ruined out here." She left to go put the scrapbook away.
"You can be so sweet." Chloe pinched Beca's cheek playfully.
"Better quit touching me or I'll leave."
"No you won't." Chloe linked her arm in Beca's and pulled her into the living room where the excitement was.
Fat Amy was on her third straight karaoke song as many of the guests had left and everyone else was too drunk to care. She had strayed from the Christmas theme and was now singing "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys and adding in her signature Fat Amy moves: a mix of some gyrating, hula hooping, surf pose, and slapping her belly.
"Get it girl!" Stacie had taken some money out of the monopoly box in the closet and was tossing it at Amy like she was a stripper. "Whoo!" Beca was pretty out of it and was swaying her phone light like she was at a concert while Chloe tried to keep her eyes open leaning on her shoulder. Lilly was behind the tree reading a book that wasn't in English. The others had passed out long ago and gone to bed. Aubrey was resting in a chair with her head on her hand grinning at her rag-tag group of bellas, slightly wishing Howie had stayed.
The song ended and Fat Amy shut down the machine. "Alright aca-bitches. I can't blow your minds anymore tonight. Gotta get my beauty sleep!" She stumbled upstairs. Aubrey and Stacy stood up and they both looked at Beca and Chloe cuddled asleep on the couch.
"They're cute." Stacie swayed, looking down on the two. "Think they'll ever realize it?"
"I doubt it. Beca's too stubborn." Aubrey shook her head. "Well...night Stace."
"Night, boss." Stacie carefully made her way up the stairs trying not to fall. The sound of Aubrey closing the bedroom door made Chloe's eyes open slowly. She blinked and rubbed her head, observing the surroundings of an empty downstairs. Empty, except the brunette who's shoulder she had her head resting on. She smiled, watching Beca sleep and her chest rise and fall slowly.
"Hey, Becs." She whispered and nudged her slightly.
"Hmm…" Beca groaned.
"I got you for secret santa. I need to give you your gift."
"Oh?" Beca's attention was a little more focused now as she opened her eyes.
"Its in my room. I'll go get it." Chloe patted Beca's thigh and stood up, catching herself as the room started spinning. Beca slowly pulled the blanket off and stumbled slowly in the direction of Chloe and Aubrey's room. She stood in the hallway as Chloe came back. Chloe silently closed the door and took a step and realized Beca was right in front of her. She slipped the envelope into Beca's hand. Beca sleepily opened it and had to focus her eyes to see what she was looking at.
"Awesome!" She looked up in Chloe's eyes. "I've always wanted to go to a DJ competition!"
"You're not just going, look closer." Chloe nodded. Beca froze. "I signed you up for the one in Miami this summer. I snuck into your room and stole one of your demos and sent it in. They contacted me a couple weeks ago to say you're in."
"This is the best!" Beca leaned forward and pulled Chloe into a hug, much to the surprise of the redhead who barely had time to react before Beca released her grip. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Maybe to thank me you could let me have that extra ticket so I can go to cheer you on?" Chloe nodded at the tickets and winked. Without hesitation Beca handed her the extra ticket, analyzing the card with the info about being a contestant.
"Oh, hey Becs?" Chloe smirked when Beca made eye contact again. Chloe pointed her finger at the ceiling above them at the entrance to the hallway. Beca looked up and saw the mistletoe.
"Its a rule after all, right?" Beca shrugged. Chloe just nodded slowly. Beca leaned in and kissed her for several seconds and leaned back, as Chloe put her hand around her neck and gave her another quick kiss. They separated and watched each other's eyes for a moment.
"Merry Christmas, Chlo."
"Merry Christmas, Becs."