The Heart of the Matter
Prompt from Tumblr User Anonymous: Bechloe au. Beca is in love with Chloe. Chloe is dating Tom. Beca drunkenly gets Chloe's name tattooed over her heart. Beca panics, but Chloe accidentally sees it when Beca is swimming in her pool.
It was another Bellas party, and half the campus seemed to be inside the Bellas House. Beca sat alone on the stairs, picking at the label on her beer bottle. Her gaze glued to her best friend, Chloe, and Chloe's boyfriend, Tom, dancing close together on the makeshift dance floor. She only looked away when Tom leaned down to kiss Chloe.
"Hey, short stuff," Stacie said, flopping down on the step next to Beca. "Whatcha doing sitting alone? I saw Jesse looking for you a few minutes ago."
"Really?" Beca asked, and Stacie nodded her head. "Did you see which way he went?"
Stacie smiled and pointed back toward the kitchen.
"Thanks," Beca said and ran up the stairs.
"You're going the wrong way," Stacie yelled up after her.
Beca kept going and made her way to her attic room, where she flopped face down on her bed.
"God, why does my life have to suck so bad?" Beca moaned into the blanket she was lying on.
Beca laid there for a few minutes, only lifting her head when she heard a soft knock on her door.
"Go away," Beca called out.
Beca heard the door open and let out a sigh. "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?" she mumbled.
"Beca?" Jesse's voice called out quietly as he came up the stairs. "Stacie told me you came up here. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Jesse," Beca said. "You can go now."
"Come on, Beca," Jesse whined. "I've been looking all over for you. Come dance with me."
"No," Beca said. "I don't want to dance. And I don't want to be at this stupid party, watching all these stupid people getting drunk and making out. I just want to be left alone."
"Are you jealous?" Jesse asked, flashing Beca his boyish grin. "Because I'm happy to volunteer to get drunk and make out with you."
Beca let out a heavy sigh. "No thanks, Jesse, I'm not interested. Like I said, I just want to be left alone, so could you please leave?"
Beca grimaced at the hurt look on Jesse's face and wished he would get a clue that she wasn't interested in him. The one person she was interested in had cerulean blue eyes and red hair and had probably already left the party to go home with her boyfriend, Tom.
"I guess I'll see you around," Jesse said as he left Beca's room.
The Heart of the Matter ~~
Beca was having a hard time being around Chloe. Every time she saw the redhead, she wanted to tell her how she was in love with her and to hell with the consequences. One day, they had a particularly rough Bellas practice, and Chloe was helping Beca with the choreography. Beca was anxious and stiffened every time Chloe came to help her.
By the time rehearsal was over, Beca was a mess. She grabbed her stuff and rushed out of the Auditorium without saying goodbye to anyone. Chloe had called after her, but she pretended she hadn't heard and kept walking.
Chloe could tell something was off with Beca, but she didn't want to push her to talk about it. She knew when Beca was ready, she'd come to Chloe to talk.
Beca found herself laying on her bed as thoughts of Chloe ran through her head. She could hear voices coming from downstairs and knew the girls were back from rehearsal. She also knew that any minute, one of them would be in her room to check on her. And she was afraid that one would be Chloe.
Beca sighed and sat up on her bed. She ran a hand through her hair and jumped up, grabbing her jacket before she ran from her room. She managed to avoid any of the Bellas in the main hall and hurried down the final stairway.
She had just placed her hand on the doorknob when she heard Chloe's voice.
"Beca? Where are you going? We're ordering takeout for lunch," Chloe asked.
"Sorry, can't. I already have lunch plans," Beca said, trying to look disappointed.
"Who with?" Chloe asked.
"Um, my dad?"
"You don't know?" Chloe asked, an amused smile on her face.
Beca rolled her eyes. "I'm having lunch with my dad, okay?"
"Okay," Chloe said, smiling. "Have fun."
Beca left, and CR looked at Chloe. "What's up with Beca lately? She doesn't hang around as much as she used to. Do you know what's going on with her?"
"I don't know," Chloe said. "She's been acting weird for weeks. I hadn't pushed her to tell me because I thought she'd come to me to talk about it when she was ready. But, she hasn't, and I'm starting to worry about her."
"I think it might have something to do with Jesse," Stacie said.
"Why do you think that?" Chloe asked.
"A few weeks ago, when we had that party," Stacie said. "I told her Jesse was looking for her, and she asked where I saw him. I told her the kitchen, and she went running up the stairs. Jesse asked if I'd seen her, and I told him she went up to her room. He went up to check on her and came down looking like Beca had kicked his puppy or something."
"Huh," Chloe said. "Maybe I'll talk to her when she gets back from lunch."
"Speaking of lunch," Fat Amy said. "Can we order before I starve to death over here?"
The girls all started talking at once as they called out their orders to Chloe.
The Heart of the Matter ~~
It was another Friday night, and the Bellas were once again at their favorite bar. Beca sat in the corner of their booth, sipping her beer and watching the girls dance and have a good time. Beca was in a good mood because Chloe didn't invite Tom this time, and she only left Beca's side to dance when one of the girls dragged her onto the dance floor.
Chloe was sitting with Beca when Stacie came over to drag them both to dance. Beca was just drunk enough to go. She and Chloe danced for a while before Beca called a time out so she could get something to drink.
"Get me a beer?" Chloe asked, and Beca nodded.
Beca stumbled slightly as she turned, and Chloe grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.
"I think I'm a little drunk," Beca said. "Send out a search party if I'm not back in ten minutes."
"I'll do something better," Chloe said, grabbing a napkin from a passing waitress.
Chloe searched her purse and pulled out a pen, and leaned over the table to write on the napkin. She handed the napkin to Beca, and Beca laughed when she saw what Chloe had written.
If found, return to Chloe with a heart next to her name.
"That ought to do it," Chloe said with a smile.
"Yep," Beca said, taking the napkin and shoving it in her pocket.
Beca turned to make her way to the bar to place her order. Beca got their drinks and was smiling when she turned to find Chloe to give her her drink.
Beca's smile fell when she saw Chloe and Tom dancing, close together. Chloe looked over and saw Beca glaring in her direction. As soon as Beca noticed Chloe was looking at her, Beca looked away. She looked back to see Chloe had started moving toward her.
"Shots, bitches!" Fat Amy yelled in Beca's ear while holding a tray of shots in her hands. "Here, Beca, you need to catch up."
Beca had never been so happy to see someone in her life. She grabbed two shots and drank them down one after the other. She saw Chloe moving closer and grabbed two more, downing those quickly.
"Beca?" Chloe said, now standing in front of Beca. "Maybe you should slow it down a bit."
"Why?" Beca asked, grabbing another shot. "You're not the boss of me."
"Leave some for the rest of us, Beca," Fat Amy said, moving away from Beca.
"Whatever," Beca said and downed the shot. She stumbled and dropped the shot glass onto the tray Amy was holding.
"Beca, let me take you home," Chloe said.
"I'm fine," Beca said.
"Is everything okay over here?" Tom asked, standing behind Chloe.
"Just dealing with a drunk Bella," Chloe said, looking over her shoulder at Tom.
"Of course, you're here right now," Beca mumbled and pushed away from Chloe. "I'm going home."
Chloe grabbed Beca's arm. "I'll take you."
Beca jerked her arm away from Chloe. "I can take myself home. I don't need your help. Could you just back off?"
Beca ignored the hurt look on Chloe's face. She turned and started making her way through the crowd and out the door.
"You okay, Chloe?" Tom asked.
"I'm fine," Chloe said and sniffled. "Just not fond of a drunk Beca."
"Do you want me to take you home?" Tom asked.
"No, thanks, Chloe said. "I have to make sure the girls get home safely, and it's going to take a while to round them up."
"Okay," Tom said, kissing Chloe's cheek. "Um, I'll talk to you later."
Chloe nodded and started gathering the girls to get everyone back to the Bellas House. As much as Beca's words hurt her, Chloe still wanted to make sure Beca got home okay.
~~ The Heart of the Matter ~~
Once Beca made it out of the bar, she started walking. She didn't want to go back to the Bellas house because she knew Chloe would confront her about her behavior, so she walked in the opposite direction.
"I'm a mess," Beca mumbled to herself. "Why do I continue to hurt the one person who has always been there for me? The one person I'm in love with. God, I'm so in love with her."
Beca was surprised when she felt tears on her face. She stopped to wipe them away, and when she looked up, she found herself in front of a tattoo parlor. Against her better judgment, she went in.
~~ The Heart of the Matter ~~
Beca woke the next morning with a pounding headache and the stale taste of booze in her mouth. She was still wearing the same clothes from the night before
Beca groaned as she reached her arms over her head to stretch.
"Shit," Beca yelped, grabbing her chest.
Beca frowned when she realized something was taped across her left breast. She opened her shirt and looked down.
"What the hell," Beca said, knowing exactly what she was looking at. "I got a tattoo?"
She jumped off the bed and ran to the full-length mirror hanging on the closet door and looked at herself. She ran a hand through her hair and slowly unbuttoned her shirt and let it slide down her arms to the floor behind her. She swallowed and licked her lips as she reached for the tape holding the bandage in place.
Beca slowly peeled the tape from her skin and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and peeled the bandage back and opened her eyes.
Beca let out a gasp, and her eyes widened in shock.
"Oh, my God!" Beca whisper-yelled.
"Beca!" Beca was startled when she heard Chloe call out her name from the bottom of the stairs leading to her room. "Are you up?"
Beca quickly pressed the tape back to her skin and grabbed her shirt from the floor behind her. She hastily put the shirt on and buttoned it with shaky fingers.
"Yeah," Beca finally called out. "I'm up."
Chloe appeared at the top of the stairs and looked at Beca.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah," Beca said. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You got really drunk last night," Chloe said. She walked toward Beca, holding out a bottle of water and some pain relievers. "I thought you might need these."
Beca took them from Chloe. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Chloe said and sat on the edge of Beca's bed. "Want to tell me what was going on with you last night?"
"I, um, I don't know," Beca said after swallowing the pain tables and chasing them down with the water. "I'm, uh, sorry about being such a jerk to you. You didn't deserve that."
"You're right; I didn't," Chloe said. "You've been acting weird for a couple of weeks now. What's going on with you?"
Beca looked down at the floor without saying anything.
"You know you can talk to me," Chloe said.
"I know," Beca sighed. "It's just the same old, same old with, uh, with my dad. I figure you're probably tired of hearing me complain about him."
"Beca," Chloe said, standing to face Beca. "I know you have problems with your dad. I also know that you always come to talk to me when you do. Something else is going on. What is it?"
"I had a fight with Jesse, and he won't leave me alone," Beca blurted out.
Beca noticed Chloe glance down at her chest before looking up into Beca's face. Beca pulled her shirt tighter together, hoping Chloe had not seen the bandage.
"When did you have this fight, and what was it about?" Chloe asked.
"A few weeks ago," Beca said, looking down at the floor. "He keeps asking me out, and I finally had to get mean and let him know I didn't like him like that. Now he keeps ambushing me to try to win me over, and he won't take no for an answer."
"Don't worry," Chloe said. "The girls and I have your back. We'll make sure you're not alone, so he can't ambush you. Okay?"
"Okay," Beca said. "Th-thank you."
Beca felt bad about using Jesse to explain away her behavior. It wasn't totally a lie. He had been bugging her to give him a chance; it just wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be to Chloe.
"You should have said something sooner, Beca," Chloe said. "You don't have to keep everything bottled up inside, you know."
"You're right," Beca said. "I'm sorry."
Neither girl had heard someone walking up the stairs and jumped when they heard Stacie say, "Hey, guys, the girls are heading to the diner for lunch and wanted to know if you wanted to join us."
"I could eat," Beca said, nodding her head, grateful for the distraction.
"We'll be down in a few minutes," Chloe told Stacie.
"Don't be too long," Stacie said as she made her way back downstairs.
Chloe turned to Beca with a smile. "You good?"
Beca smiled and nodded, "Yeah. Thanks."
~~ The Heart of the Matter ~~
Beca spent the next five days doing everything she needed to take care of her fresh tattoo. She grimaced every time she looked at it and was paranoid that someone would accidentally see it.
Several months pass, and things between Beca and Chloe are somewhat back to normal. Beca managed to keep her alcohol-induced tattoo under wraps (no pun intended) and had almost forgotten about keeping it a secret.
It was early May, and the Bellas had been working hard to perfect their routine for the upcoming ICCAs. Chloe planned a party to celebrate making it to the ICCAs again, inviting the Bellas to Aubrey's apartment for the celebration.
Aubrey sent out invitations and noted they should wear or bring their bikinis so they could enjoy the pool. Aubrey had purchased special guest passes for all the girls.
The day of the party came, and Beca was close to having a panic attack. She had not been able to come up with a good excuse not to go to the party. Chloe shot down every one of them, and today was the day of the party.
Beca decided the best thing to do was to wear a t-shirt and shorts over her bathing suit, and not get into the pool. She was feeling calmer as she got dressed, and slipped her feet into her flip flops.
"Beca, let's go!" Stacie shouted out from downstairs, where the other girls were waiting.
"Coming!" Beca shouted back and made her way downstairs.
The Bellas arrive at Aubrey's with snacks and drinks. After putting everything away, Aubrey led them to the pool.
"There's no one else here," Stacie said.
"I know," Aubrey said. "The Leasing Office said we could have it to ourselves for three hours. After that, it's open to everyone."
"Cool," Jessica and Ashley said, both removing their cover-ups and running to jump into the pool.
Aubrey and Chloe found two lounge chairs and sat to catch up. The other girls were in the pool. Beca made her way around the pool and was leaning over slightly, talking to Jessica and Stacie. Fat Amy used the steps to get out of the pool and walked to stand beside Beca. Beca caught movement off to her left and looked up in time to see Chloe remove her cover-up, exposing a lot of skin and a skimpy blue bikini underneath. Beca straightened up and couldn't help but stare.
Fat Amy saw Beca staring and looked over to see what Beca was staring at. She smirked and nodded her head as she reached over and pushed Beca, causing her to fall into the pool.
"What the Hell, Amy?" Beca sputtered as she rose from beneath the surface.
"You looked like you needed cooling off," Fat Amy said, laughing at Beca. Beca swam over to the steps and climbed out. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone.
"Dammit!" Beca said, shaking her phone. "That was not cool, Amy."
Beca stripped off her shorts and shirt and threw them down.
Beca heard a whistle and saw Stacie laughing with her phone in her hand. Beca flipped her off, causing Stacie to laugh harder.
"That's a keeper," Stacie said, taking a picture.
"Oh, send it to me," Chloe said.
"Done," Stacie said.
Chloe heard her phone ping and reached into her bag to pull it out. She looked at the picture and smiled.
"What's that?" Aubrey asked.
"Just a picture of Beca," Chloe said.
"I know that," Aubrey said. "I'm talking about that there." Aubrey placed her finger on the photo, and Chloe squinted to see if she could make out what Aubrey was pointing to.
"It looks like a tattoo," Aubrey said. "I didn't know Beca got a new tattoo."
"Neither did I," Chloe said. "I can't tell what it is."
"Enlarge it," Aubrey said.
"I wonder why she didn't tell me about it," Chloe said as she put two fingers on the screen and enlarged the picture. Chloe saw that it was indeed a tattoo and she enlarged it more to see what it said.
Once the tattoo came into view, Chloe let out a gasp.
"Oh, my God!" Aubrey exclaimed.
"What's up, Aubrey?" Stacie asked. She saw the look on Chloe's face and asked, "Is everything okay?"
During this time, Beca had taken a towel and dried off her phone, trying to get it to turn on. She sighed in frustration when it wouldn't come on, and threw the phone into her bag.
Amy was standing over her, looking down. "Beca, why do you have Chloe's name tattooed on your left boob?"
Beca got a deer in the headlights look and noticed Aubrey and Chloe looking at her. She jumped up, pushing past Amy, and hurried toward the door to go back into the building.
"Beca," Stacie said and started after Beca; Chloe stopped her.
"I think I need to handle this," Chloe said and hurried after Beca, calling out for her to stop.
Beca ignored her and made her way to the elevator. Chloe caught up and grabbed her arm. Beca immediately covered the tattoo with her hand.
"Can I see it?" Chloe asked softly.
"No," Beca whispered. "It was never meant to be seen by anyone, especially you."
"What does it mean?" Chloe asked.
"What?" Beca said.
"You once told me that you got tattoos of things that meant something to you," Chloe said, gently laying her hand on Beca's wrist and wrapping her fingers around it. "So, what does it mean to you to have my name tattooed on your chest?"
"Um," Beca said as Chloe gently pulled Beca's wrist, lifting the hand that was covering the tattoo. "It's not just on my chest. It's over my heart."
Chloe glanced down and said, "I see that now," as she gently ran a fingertip over her name. Beca let out a small gasp as a shiver ran through her. The touch and the shiver caused goosebumps to rise on her skin, covering her entire body.
"It's my signature," Chloe said. "How did you get that?"
"That night we were at the bar, and I joked about getting lost," Beca said. "You wrote on a napkin, If found, return to Chloe. I gave it to the tattoo guy and pointed to where I wanted it placed."
"When did you get it done?"
"Um," Beca said with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? For what?" Chloe asked, quirking her brow. "For getting the tattoo?"
"Yes," Beca said, and then started rambling. "I was drunk, and you were with Tom, but I wanted to be the one you were with, and I had just yelled at you." Beca let out a breath. "I was drunk, and it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Okay," Chloe said, looking into Beca's eyes. "So, tell me what it means to you."
Beca cleared her throat and looked down at her hands, surprised to see that they were being gently held in Chloe's.
"It means," Beca said and swallowed, clearing her throat again. "It means that my heart belongs to you."
Beca looked up when she felt Chloe squeeze her hands.
"Can I tell you something?" Chloe whispered.
"Sure," Beca whispered back.
"Tom and I aren't together," Chloe said, continuing to whisper. "He was upset with me because I spent more time with you and the Bellas than I did with him, and he gave me an ultimatum. I chose you."
"You mean you chose the Bellas," Beca said.
"I said what I meant," Chloe said. "I've known that my heart belonged to you for a while now. I also knew that I would have to wait for your heart to catch up to mine. I'm glad I don't have to wait anymore."
Beca blinked a few times and shook her head.
"Wait," Beca said. "Are you saying you like me?"
"No," Chloe said, leaning in close to Beca. "I'm saying I love you, Beca Mitchell."
Without a second thought, Beca leaned in and smashed her lips against Chloe's. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but Beca could feel Chloe's smile as they kissed.
"I love you, too, Chloe Beale," Beca said.