Author's Note: Hey guys, I just want to point out something really quickly: I know Benji acted pretty out of character in Chapter 8. I know I probably could've made that part better, and I hope this doesn't make you lose faith in this story. I appreciate everything!
Chapter 10
Chloe's POV
I'm getting more and more excited as I drive home, curious as to what Beca has in store for me tonight. The only hint she's given me was "You'll love it", but that doesn't help my case at all. There's a lot of things I love. But as long as she's there, I probably will love it.
I pull into the parking lot of the apartment complex and trudge up the stairs to my apartment, and I stop when I see a sign on the door. It's made out of pink construction paper, and there's purple flowers all over it in the shape of a heart. The words "I LOVE YOU" are spelled out with macaroni noodles. I grin from ear to ear as I pull it off the door, and I gasp when I open it. There's candles on the floor, leading a path to the kitchen. I follow it and see Beca sitting on the island with a bouquet of roses, and the sight of her leaves me breathless. Her hair is flipped to one side and curled, she has a light coat of makeup on, and she's wearing a semi-short, flowy bold red dress with spaghetti straps. She smiles when she sees my reaction, and she stands up and walks over to me, reaching up and kissing my cheek lightly.
"Welcome home. Go get ready." She smiles at me. "How'd you like the sign?" She asks as she turns away, putting the flowers in a cup with water.
"You wasted macaroni noodles." I tease after a second, and she turns to look at me, her face falling. "But I love it." I add, and her face lights up with happiness.
"Good. That took me three hours to get right." She says, and I laugh. "Now go! Get ready!" She walks over and pushes me out of the room, laughing.
"Fine, bossy." I say as I walk away, and I hear her laugh again. I close my bedroom door behind me and open my closet, flipping through my dresses to decide what to wear. I decide on a simple lavender dress with one strap, and I put on my lavender heels to go with it. Going with the purple theme, I apply light purple eye shadow and touch up my eyeliner and mascara. I quickly pull my hair back in a bun, knowing that it will take me forever to do anything else with it.
Beca turns to look at me as she hears my footsteps back in the kitchen, and I can't help but laugh at her reaction. She freezes in place, a smile on her face, and her eyes trail up and down my body several times before I walk over and wrap my arms around her.
"Hey." I say, leaning down to kiss her cheek.
"You look amazing." She whispers, and I laugh.
"You look surprised." I tease as I walk away, going straight to the roses. I inhale their scent for a minute, lavishing in my happiness.
"I see you like them. I didn't know what you'd like, so…" She trails off nervously, then wraps her arms around my waist. "Come on, time to go." She drags me out of the apartment and into the parking lot, and my jaw drops when I see a limo waiting for us. She smiles and walks over to it, holding the door open for me. I get in, and she shuts the door and gets in on the other side. She leans over and quickly puts a blindfold on me, then grabs my arms and puns them to my sides when I try to protest.
"It's part of the surprise." She says, and I groan.
"You're lucky I love you." I growl, and she laughs.
"Oh, I know." She laughs again, then I feel her lips against my cheek. I jump a little at the unseen act, and she laughs even harder. "So jumpy." She says joyously.
"You're really happy right now, aren't you?" I ask, turning my head in her direction, and she kisses my lips delicately in response. She pulls away before I get the chance to kiss back, and my lower lip falls into a pout.
"Cheer up." She says, then grabs my hand tightly in hers. "Just The Way You Are" comes on the radio, and I start singing, smiling at the memory. Aubrey could not have picked a better song that night. Beca starts layering in with "Just A Dream", and my smile widens. Suddenly, the limo comes to a stop, and the radio cuts out.
"Stay." Beca says, and I hear her door open, then close. Suddenly, mine opens, and she grabs my hand and helps me out. She grabs both of my arms and starts lightly pushing me forward. I smell the air, the aroma of fire and pollen filling the air.
"Where are we?" I can't help but ask, and I feel Beca shaking a little- from nerves or laughter, I can't tell. The weather is unseasonably warm for October, so I know she isn't cold.
"We're here." She pulls my blindfold off from behind me, and I gasp at the scene in front of me. We're by a lake, and there's rose petals scattered all over the ground, along with candles. There's a small bonfire a couple of yards away, with a blanket and a picnic basket next to it. Beca takes my hand and pulls me over to the blanket, and she sits down and pats the spot on the blanket next to her for me to sit. I oblige, and she grabs the basket silently, pulling out two sandwiches, two wine glasses, a bottle of wine, and some water. She pours a glass of wine and hands it to me, then pours the water for herself and sips it, smiling at me.
"You did all of this for me?" I finally ask, awe saturating my voice. She smiles and shakes her head at me.
"Not for you, but for us." She amends, and I smile back at her in astonishment.
"Beca Mitchell, you never fail to surprise me."
"I'm glad. Now, there's actually something I want to talk to you about." She sets her glass down and looks at me, and I gulp involuntarily. She hears it and laughs. "It's not bad. It's just an idea Emily and I came up with earlier." I relax a little and take a sip of my wine.
"What's up?" I ask, and her whole face becomes animated with excitement as she starts talking.
"We were thinking, since I'm struggling with my album right now, maybe we could get the Bellas back together, and we could all make music together? Like, you guys could be my background music slash partners, and we'd get to sing together, and it'd be just like old times, only better because we'd be getting paid for it!" Her eyes search my face for something, and my grin widens.
"I think it's an amazing idea." I whisper, then lean over and wrap her up in a hug. She hugs me back, laughing with happiness. "I'm down." I pull away and look into her eyes, and she leans up to kiss me. My heart races at the contact, despite the fact that we've probably kissed each other thousands of times by now. I throw myself into the kiss enthusiastically, wrapping my arms around her neck and allowing my lips to part slightly. She chuckles and pulls away abruptly, laughing at the look of despair on my face.
"I planned this night perfectly. I'm not letting you end it early." She grabs a sandwich and shoves it toward me, and I take a bite out of it, trying not to laugh when she looks slightly shocked.
"You were supposed to grab the sandwich." She says, shaking her head at me and taking a bite out of the other one.
"Well, I wanted to be the one to surprise you for once." She gives me an incredulous look and sets her sandwich down, taking my face in both of her hands.
"Chloe Beale, you surprise me every day." She whispers softly, and a thrill goes up my spine at her words.
"Well then, my mission in life has been completed. I can die in peace now." I joke, and she whacks my arm. "Kidding." I add, and she relaxes her position a little.
We finish our drinks and sandwiches in silence, and she stands up and grabs my hand as soon as we're done, pulling me to my feet. I open my mouth to ask where we're going, but she presses a finger to my lips and drags me to the edge of the water.
"I've got my ticket for the long way round, two bottle whiskey for the way…" I look around in bewilderment until I see a small boat on the lake. Inside the boat is Aubrey, Stacie, Amy, Emily, and Cynthia Rose. Aubrey winks at me, then they continue to sing. I look over at Beca as she joins in, and she turns to face me, taking both of my hands in hers.
"And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow, what do you say?" They all cut off and look at me intently, and I peck Beca on the lips before I join in.
"When I'm gone, when I'm gone, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone…" Beca and I stop as she kisses me, and we can still hear the others in the background.
"I love you." She pulls away just enough to rest her forehead against my chest, wrapping me in a tight embrace. I hear the soft "awwwwws" from the Bellas, but I ignore it as I wrap my arms around Beca, kissing the top of her head affectionately.
"I love you too, Becs. Forever." I smile into her hair, and we stand just like that for what feels like forever before she finally pulls away.
"Let's go home." She smiles at me, and I nod, releasing all but her hand as we walk back towards the limo. Once we get in, I rest my head against her shoulder, closing my eyes as she lightly traces patterns with her thumb on my hand.
"Chloe, get up! You're going to be late for work!" Beca's voice yells at me, but it sounds far away. I roll over and groan, then her words hit me.
"Shit! What time is it?" I ask and sit up groggily, rubbing my eyes.
"It's almost seven." She throws something at me from across the room, and I realize it's my scrubs. "You don't have time for a shower." I nod in agreement and quickly take my sweats and T-shirt off, suddenly realizing I don't even remember going to bed last night. I pull the scrubs on and roll out of bed, missing my footing and landing face-first on the floor.
"Ohmygosh Chloe, are you ok?" Beca quickly runs over and helps me up, then roars with laughter when she sees I'm ok. I attempt to glare at her as I stand up and finish getting dressed, but the humor on her face gets me laughing too.
"Ugh, I don't want to go in today." I sigh as I look at my phone, seeing three missed calls from Tom. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" I ask, then I truly look at her. Her hair is still curled from last night, but it's rattier from sleep. Her makeup is a little smeared (but in a sexy kind of way), and I realize she looks just as tired as I feel.
"I just woke up." She yawns as she pulls her sweats off and grabs a pair of jeans off the floor, quickly sliding into them. I admire her for a minute, then walk into the bathroom and wipe my makeup off. No way am I going to work in two day old makeup. I quickly reapply, keeping it light; some concealer, a little eyeliner, eyeshadow, and mascara. I go into the kitchen and grab a granola bar, eating it as I slide my jacket on.
"Here." Beca appears in jeans and a black and red clad sweater, handing me my purse. I take it from her, then grab her arm as she turns around. She turns back to me with a look of happy surprise coloring her face, and I tilt her chin up to kiss her.
"Thanks, baby. I'll see you after work, but don't forget to talk to the Bellas today." She nods, and I quickly kiss her one more time before I turn and walk out the door.
"Hey Tom, I'm on my way. Sorry, I slept in." My excuse sounds feeble even to myself, but I pray he accepts it as I speed down the highway. I'm only going five miles above the speed limit, but I still feel guilty about it.
"Whatever, Chloe. You better get here soon." He definitely isn't happy, but he doesn't sound super pissed either, which is a good thing.
"I'm on my way right now." I say, turning off the highway and onto 54th street. "I'll be there in about a minute."
"Alright, see you then. We need to talk when you get here." He sounds serious, which worries me.
"Ok, bye." I hang up and put my phone in my purse, then turn into the parking lot of the clinic. I quickly get out and run into the building, almost forgetting to lock the door behind me.
"Chloe. Perfect, you're here!" Angelica, my co-worker, smiles at me, and I smile back when I see her, my nerves calming a little.
"Hey Angie. Where's Tom?" She points to the back room, and I give her a grateful smile before stealing away to the room.
"Hi Chloe." He says as I walk in, his back turned to me. He has a pen and clipboard in his hand, and he's scrawling away at the paper at a rapid pace. He turns around and smiles at me, putting the clipboard and pen on the desk.
"Hey Tom. You wanted to talk to me?" I ask, and he nods, his smile fading. He walks over and stops just in front of me, so close I can feel his breath against my forehead. When we're this close, I have to tilt my head up to truly look at him, and it makes me uncomfortable.
"Yeah. There's something I've been meaning to tell you."