Chapter 5
"I think we need a Bella meeting"
Stacie's eyebrow quirked.
"Ok, maybe that's a bit melodramatic and besides Amy isn't here... it's also gonna be kind of awkward with Chloe in the room too, soo..."
"Hey there you are! " Chloe appeared with the open bottle of wine and her phone in her hand. "I'm ordering."
Her smile faltered. No Beca?"
"Sorry Chlo. I think she's gone to sleep." The blonde paused. " Look, I think we at least should tell Stacie what's going on. She's not stupid."
"Yeah Chlo, if there's something going on with you and Beca, then I think we should know. It affects of us you know," she said softly, reaching for the redhead's arm. "And besides, you're our sister. I want to..." she looked at Jessica. "We want to help."
Chloe sighed and then choked out a sob. "That's it you see, Stace, there's nothing going on." She quickly smiled and with the trademark puppy eyes, "Can we just get Pizza and chill ? I'm starving."
Stacie gave her a look. "Fine. OK. We'll order pizza, And then you can tell us just why Beca is making my favorite redhead cry. And if you can't give me a good enough reason not to go up and kick the little DJs butt all the way to Copenhagen... "
"You'll do no such thing, Stacie Conrad" Jessica interjected with mock severity. "It's not really Beca's fault." Chloe looked at her blonde sister and smiled, pleased that Jessica had Beca's back too.
It felt like forever before the other Bellas had gone up to bed, leaving Jessica, Ashley, Stacie and Chloe by the fire, tucked up in Blankets. Cynthia Rose had offered to carry the sleeping Ashley upstairs for Jessica, but the blonde had insisted that she was fine. She'd then offered to carry the not-sleeping form of Stacie upstairs, with a lecherous wink that got her, as she expected, nowhere.
Chloe wasn't really in the mood to recount the tale of last night, so she let Jessica tell Stacie, with the redhead giving sad little murmurs in the affirmative to corroborate the narrative. The tall brunette had moved around to cuddle her captain as the redhead began to cry softly.
"Dammit Chloe, I..." Stacie sighed heavily. "I could have sworn it was only a matter of time before one of us caught you two going at it on the kitchen counter."
"Stacie!" Chloe swatted at her with a free hand, before her face split into a wry grin as she was so obviously now imagining the scenario. Her face then immediately fell. "Yeah, but she doesnt even like me that way."
"That's what I don't understand," Stacie said softly, stroking the redhead's arm, "you two are so obviously so unbelievably gay for each other."
"I'm not gay Stacie"
"Oh but you are. Oh you so are. OK, maybe not man-hater gay, but gay like me." Jessica quirked her eyebrow at this, but the brunette carried on, " you've openly admitted being in love with Beca, right?"
"Yeah, Stacie. I am. I don't think of myself as being gay, I'm just me. I've never had any interest in girls before, but yeah, I'm...I'm sexually attracted to Beca. And...I'm in love with her," she continued quietly.
Stacie pulled the watery-eyed redhead close as Jessica cuddled her from the other side.
"I'm right about Beca. I know I am." Stacie kissed the top of Chloe's head.
Beca woke. She checked her phone. 5.34am. More importantky though, there was a message. From Chloe.
12.06. Chloe: Night Beca.
She'd not used her usual nickname, it was all quite cordial, no kisses or cute emoticons, but all the same, she had made contact. Beca smiled and then frowned. It was adorable (yeah, yeah it was adorable) the way Chloe always (or at least until two night ago) sent her a goodnight text and now she felt guilty (guilty?) for having not seen it when it came in.
Despite the confusion she was going through, she'd really missed her best friend, and she felt a real bitch for doing this, but after or maybe because of, last night's dream, there was no way she could face interaction with Chloe today.
Sighing, worn down with her growing reluctance to deal with this, she picked up her laptop, and made her way downstairs and out of the Bella house.
"Oh thank god I was right!"
"Jesus Christ, Stacie! What the hell are you doing out here?"
"Besides freezing my tits off you mean?" Stacie smirked. "Waiting for you."
" Huh?"
"Yeah, I knew you'd try and sneak out without having to see Chloe again."
"I wasn't try..."
Stacie cut her off. " Bullshit Mitchell."
"No, seriously dude. I got class."
"At 6am? Come on, don't lie to me Beca." Stacie's voice had softened with the reassuring smile she offered her shorter friend. " I know."
Beca looked at Stacie with a hardness reminiscent of the freshman walls she arrived at Barden fortified with. "You know? Well of course you do," she said with venom that almost (almost) made Stacie wince. Stacie sighed, shaking her head and taking Beca's hand. The shorter brunette puffed her cheeks and then let of a long breathy sigh. The venom had gone as she offered a quieter, "Of course you do." She looked up at Stacie sadly.
"Come on short-stack, I'm buying you a coffee."
As they approached The Coffee Place, she did have to chuckle to herself at the general nature of the name of the cafe. She had no realization of the agony the owner the owner had gone through to name the place, having been through countless coffee-based was almost named 'Whole latte Rosie' in honor of AC/DC.
"Er Stace, this place doesn't open until 7."
" Oh, it's OK, Anna's opening today, she'll let us in." Stacie took Beca's hand and led her to the door. She tapped on the glass and the blonde-haired girl pulling chairs off tables, looked up, smiled brightly and scurried to the door, unlocking it and letting them in.
"Hey Stace! Hey Beca!" The blonde smiled a wide bright smile to rival the most dizzying of Chloe's.
The use of Stacie's shortened name went unnoticed, as did the way the beautiful blonde's arm stretched out to touch the taller brunette's arm as she beckoned them in.
"Hey babe, can we get a couple of coffees?" The blonde's eyes lit up with a smile to match.
"Sure. The usual?" Stacie nodded and the barista told them to go sit down and she would bring them right over.
Stacie led them over to a corner, Beca looking at her inquisitively.
She sat in an uncomfortable silence not really knowing what to say, waiting for whatever it was that Stacie was going to say. She sat studying her chipped nails until she was brought out of her reverie by the sound of the coffees being set on the table. The subdued DJ looked up to see the cute blonde sitting down on Stacie's lap, wrapping her arms around the taller brunette's shoulders and kissing her in a gentle greeting.
Beca's jaw dropped, as Stacie turned to the smaller brunette. "This is my girlfriend, Anna. So tell me. How long have you been trying to convince yourself that you're not in love with Chloe, Beca?"
A/N This was going to be longer. I had a different chapter end in mind, but ill leave that until the next one now. Let me know what you think. Bbb
