Important chapter. Let's say hi to another person? :) i had legit nothing to do today so i wrote it all in like, eight hours. i feel kind of naked without bold in my a/n... ew.

Chloe finally made out the guts to go say hi to her apparently pianist of a neighbor. "Hey, Bec. Heard you play some," she noticed the girl raise her brow at the new nickname. "It was real nice."

"Thanks, it's fun too," Beca smiled. "Did you need something?"

"Um," she started. "I thought you were going to be a waitress or something so I decided, 'Why not!' I was hungry anyway."

"Oh, have you eaten already?" The brunette hadn't eaten lunch, she'd run out of lasagna by then. She was starved.

"Nah, actually. Watching you play is just way too interesting than eating." She saw Beca's face turn a little flushed when she peeped out a thank. Chloe giggled at the sight.

"Uh, if you want, there's a cafe a couple blocks down," the pianist was getting really flustered. It was too cute, the ginger didn't stop her. "Well, you probably know it. I mean, maybe you don't. I'm not sure. They got like, coffee and bagels. You know that place? Well, every cafe probably has bagels. Unless they're a poor-ass business, then maybe they don't." The shade of red grew darker and darker by the sentence. Chloe finally put her hands and stopped the younger girl.

"Beca. Breathe." She laughed at her and continued. "That would be great. But I insist on paying." The shorter one opened her mouth to protest, but Chloe got to the words first. "No buts." The thing about three jobs, no heat, and not even a plate in the apartment bothered her. She knew that the least she could do was try to help her pay for the things she could.

They walked down the sidewalk side by side not saying much. The chill of late mid December plus the blows of gale had them walking close to each other. Beca was very conscious when inhaling and exhaling, but her newest friend was close enough to make her stop. The got in the shop and took a seat by the window to put their things down. For Chloe, that was a jacket. For Beca, it was a sweater. For Chloe, a bagel and some decaf. For Beca, some soup. Finally Chloe started the conversation. "So for how long have you been playing piano?"

Beca took a moment to swallow before thinking. "Uh, like..." she checked her watch. "Four hours twenty three minutes and... forty-five seconds or so."

"The hell does that mean?!" The red didn't understand how anyone could possibly ever learn an instrument in almost an instant.

"Well, the keys are like the frets on a guitar. The black keys are a half-step, the whites a full-step. Except B and C and E and F, because those..." she thought for a moment trying to think of the right word. "Those are like a full-step that don't need a half. Maybe."

"What?" Chloe was lost at the word "frets." It was all interesting to her though. "So what instruments you play then?"

"Guitar, of course. I used to sneak into the band room in high school and try out the cello. Um... I can do drums, but I'm not too great," the girl in front of her scoffed doubting Beca could ever be "not too great" at anything having to do with music. "And like, just different kinds of strings, like ukulele or banjo." Beca smiled, happy she could remember all of them.

"And apparently piano now," Chloe gawked at the number. "I tried it in middle school, but then my friends quit so I did too. Wasn't really into it much. Singing in an acapella group in college though, that was fun."

"Ooh, acapella?" Beca made a face. "Fun."

"Hey!" she exclaimed lightly slapping her arm. "Aubrey did it with me. We were called the Barden Bellas."

Beca couldn't contain her laugh. Chloe noted the way she squinted her eyes and her shoulders moved up and down in rhythm to the laugh. "That's probably one of the lamest things I ever heard."

"It wasn't!" she said taking a sip of decaf. "We competed in tournaments, and even occasionally did pretty well. Don't tell me you never went through a phase through college."

"Ha! I didn't because I didn't even go to college, so fuck me up."

"Gladly," Chloe winked. Beca's face turned to a deep red the way it had before. Except she wasn't nervous, just scared. Petrified even, that anyone would say such a thing to her. Of course, she had practically set it up for her, but that one word statement made her hand shake under the table. She knew Chloe was kidding with her, but the thought of being this comfortable around anyone suddenly hit her.

Once the flush was gone they were back to it again. "So the Barden Balls was were you and Aubrey met?"

"Bellas," Chloe faked glared at her. "But no. We'd played volleyball against each other in high school. She was in our 'rival' school."

"Scandalous."

"Yeah," she snickered. "Our games were always neck to neck. I'm pretty sure we won as many as we lost against them, so we were tied for first in the county and the four surrounding until our last game which they won by only two points. Two damn points. You know how frustrated I was?"

"That must've sucked." Beca was never good at helping people with their issues, and it was probably showing then. "You guys ever beat real good though?"

"Oh yeah, once, we got them really good. We won by like, seven I think. It was a really good one for us," Chloe smiled. For the first time, Beca really watched Chloe smile. Anyone, for the matter, actually. She looked into her eyes for a half a second. She never looked people in the eye, always at their eyebrows or the bridge of their nose. No one had ever called her out on it, and she had taken a selfie where she was looking at herself the way she looks at other people and it looked just fine. When they met eyes, the tiny brunette felt something bust open inside her, although it didn't last long.

With one glance out the window, the world stopped.

One the other side of the busy street stood a woman. But not just any woman, a tall one with light brown hair and grey-blue eyes. Her eyebrows were arched perfectly and full lips. Someone could easily say she looked flawless, anyone who knew her could say her personality was a perfect mix of crazy, nice, and funny. Even her slightly crooked teeth matched her. She was undeniably pretty. Even to Beca.

"Bec, you still here?" Chloe asked seeing that her friend was staring out the window.

"I- I'mma be back in two seconds..." she whispered while still staring out the window. "Just... just two."

She put on her sweater and hurried out the cafe door. Luckily, the crosswalk was letting people go then. The little woman made her way behind the much taller woman as she called out, "Stacie!"

It didn't even take a second time for Stacie to hear her name to turn around and jump into Beca's open arms. "Mitchell! Holy shit! Where the hell'd you go?" Ironically, she was being held by the brunette well. "Oh my god, where've you been?" She began to sob into her shoulder as she was being let down, but still hugging her. "I- missed you- so much." Stacie managed through gasps of air. "I- thought you- you were dead."

"Come sit down with Chloe, my neighbor, and I. I'll get you some coffee or something." Beca's eyes stung, but she didn't dare let a tear fall. "And I guess I missed you too," she smirked.

Chloe sat at the table watching the interaction. She saw the way Beca allowed this new woman to hug her and cry on her. When Chloe touched her, she would move away or flinch, but this girl just went straight in and the skittish girl let her. Chloe wouldn't admit it, but she was jealous. She wanted to see who this person was and decide if they really deserved it. For a moment she thought that, but in the next she realized how dumb she was being. The tall, beautiful woman probably knew Beca well and they were most likely very good friends. She watched them come back to the cafe smiling and laughing at each other while coming in.

"Hey, sorry 'bout that. Chloe, this is Stacie. We went through grade school together." She smiled at Stacie, like they were sharing some joke telepathically.

"Hey, nice to meet you," the tallest of them greeted.

"Hi," Chloe returned. "You guys were best friends?"

"Oh yeah, I'd wish I could say more than that but-"

"Shut up, Stace," she turned deadly white, making Stacie's flawless laugh even better.

"Love ya too."

"Mh," Beca hummed, still smirking. "Thank you so much, Chloe. I really wanna catch up with my bes' frien'" she looked up at Stacie. "We'll hang out later?"

Now Chloe felt terrible for feeling jealous. Stacie, way prettier than her, in her opinion, was silly and nice and she couldn't help but want Beca, who was the person she just wanted to be comfortable around and her be comfortable around herself. It seemed as though her little crush was chill with everyone around her, meaning Aubrey and Stacie. Beca was the water, she was the island.

Back at Beca's apartment, Stacie, like everyone, had asked about the cold. Except this time, the guitarist/pianist/a ton of other shit gave a different answer. "Yeah, I'm not completely set for money. Can't really get the heat yet," they set down their stuff and sat on the wooden floor next to each other. "So what brings you to the every so lovely Boston?"

"I got a really good job offer for the summer and they just wanted an interview. What about you? How long you been here?"

"Well. It's really complicated, Stace. And it has to do with 'The Disappearance of Beca Mitchell.' Makes me super emotional when just think about it. I'd hate to ruin our little reunion with some deep shit."

"Okay, but of or when you're ready to let it out, come to me, yeah?"

She looked up to her best friend and let a genuine smile slide onto her face. "Of course."

"Alrighty, you mind if I crash here? I was going to go to a hotel before you kidnapped me and forced me to hang out with you."

"Dude, you're the one who bear hugged and cried all over my sweater."

"I was worried about you," she moved Beca's hair to look at her face better. "I kinda still am."

They sat in a peaceful silence until they fell asleep, the taller girl's head in the other's lap. Beca was never sure why she only ever let Stacie touch her this way. Before they were friends she was always jumpy around her, like when she would just put her hands on her she would arch her back and pull away. Now they were closer than she ever was with anyone. That she wanted anyway. Mr. Mitchell... she still got nightmares from him. He never went full on, but at times it sure looked like he was about to. When he was around, she wasn't friends with Stacie. They had met at one the the frat parties when she was a drug addict for two months. Her now best friend was the one who took her in, who shook her out of her bad choices. She was very emotional at the time and let a lot of thing out, like about her mother and father. She never told Stacie about her father's death though. No one knew about that one. Beca wasn't just an emotional wreck at the time. Naturally, she was silly and sometimes, maybe on a good day, she would say or do the stupidest things that made them bond well. They so well, some people (like Chloe) thought they had a thing for each other. Chloe suspected Beca said that she was asexual because she wanted to stay with Stacie. Which was dead wrong. Stacie was great, but Beca had never questioned herself because of her best friend. Which was odd because Beca never felt like she needed to prove herself to the tallest or to Aubrey, but Chloe? Chloe was definitely someone else, she just couldn't put her finger to what it was about her. Her smile? Her laugh? The way she jokes mad when she could never even imagine a negative emotion on her? What was it?

Heya, long-ish-er? Thanks so much for the support like always, y'all are too nice. Tell me what you think.. :)