The Neighbour

Beca was attempting to put her key in the lock whilst juggling her phone, a cup of coffee and a new issue of a music magazine. Eventually, she carelessly dropped the magazine and put her phone in between her teeth, finally turning the key. Internally, she jumped in the air with a celebratory fist pump and pushed her door open.

"Hey, Beca."

The new and unexpected voice startled her, the phone dropping onto the magazine and the coffee burning her at the sudden jolt of the cup in her hand. She turned to see her neighbour smiling standing by her own door.

Chloe had lived across the hallway for the past three months. As much as Beca didn't like speaking to anyone in her building, Chloe was very persistent on her constant hi's and small talk.

"Hey."

She tried to sound cool and collected, fighting off the urge to violently shake the burning liquid off her hand with a loud aggressive "fuck" and smiled naturally, well as naturally as she could; Beca wasn't one to smile.

"It's really hot out there" Chloe exclaimed, pointing at the hallway window.

It was that moment Beca realised what the redhead was wearing. Her hair was tied back, sheen of sweating coating her forehead and Beca's eyes shamefully roamed her figure in the tight yoga pants and tank top. The other woman was beginning to catch her line of sight if the smirk on her face was anything to go by. Beca quickly snapped out of her trance and remembered Chloe had in fact said something.

"Um, yeah. God job the landlord fixed your AC last week."

Good save, Mitchell.

"You remembered!"

Beca is pretty sure she'd never forget.

Chloe had knocked on her door late last Wednesday evening, wearing nothing but a small pair of pyjama shorts and a bra. Beca had opened the door to then instinctively slamming it shut out of decency and embarrassment – yep, mainly embarrassment.

"Beca, open up - I need your help."

The brunette lifted her head from the door at that, her mind instantly landing in the gutter.

Come on, this isn't porn. She's hardly needs your help with... that kind of thing.

Beca opened the door, a tight and nervous smile on her face.

"You don't happen to know anything about fixing an AC, do you?" Chloe asked, leaning on the door frame. It took Beca a few more seconds than it should have to answer, as she was suddenly hyper aware of the almost naked woman moving closer in to her and the apartment.

"Um, I-"

"God, your apartment is so cool!" Chloe interrupted walking straight in. "This feels so nice!"

Chloe was currently walking closer and closer to the air conditioning in Beca's kitchen, her arms outstretched and occasionally fanning herself.

"It is so hot in my place that I might actually die."

Beca was unsure of what to do – she had never had anyone invade her kitchen half dressed before on the pretence (hey, she can dream...) of a broken AC.

"Why don't I take a look at it and see if I can fix it?" she asked patiently instead of grabbing the other woman by the shoulders and forcing her out of her apartment. If Beca was being honest, there is another room she would also like to invite her, but she wasn't about to ask that.

"That'd be great, Beca. Thank you."

The turn of Chloe's key in her door brought Beca back to the present.

"Yeah, sorry I wasn't much help trying to fix it."

Chloe laughed before turning back to the DJ awkwardly scratching the back of her neck.

"Beca, I think you trying to 'fix it' were the reason I got a completely new system for free, so I should be thanking you."

"Well in that case, I guess you're welcome" Beca mumbled, picking up the magazine and her phone from the floor, making a special effort not to spill her coffee again.

Chloe chuckled before gesturing to her apartment, "Right. I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah cool laters."

Beca quickly stepped over the threshold and shut her door, repeatedly banging her head against it.

Who the fuck says "laters" these days?

XXX

Chloe was coming back from a long day at work, putting the majority of her weight on the mirror in the elevator envisioning her couch she was going to collapse the moment she got home. The beeping signalling her floor brought her out of her daze and she rounded the corner.

Her eyes landed on the figure leaning on Beca's door; their posture was relaxed, almost sleepy looking and it suddenly slid down and slumped on the floor. As Chloe got closer, she realised the figure was in fact a very drunk looking Beca.

The brunette had her eyes closed, a pizza box tightly clutched under her arm and her phone blaring music quite loudly through the headphones attached to it that were resting wonkily on one of her ears. Chloe couldn't bite back her smile at Beca's adorable hiccupping and the goofy grin on her face.

"Beca?"

The DJ's eyes snapped open and she bolted up right.

"Huh?"

"Are you drunk?" Chloe asked smiling at the other woman's reaction.

Beca attempted to stumble to her feet, but failed before leaning back on the door.

"God, you don't miss a thing, do you?" her voice dripped with sarcasm. If it wasn't for her badly coordinated wink, Chloe would have thought Beca was annoyed.

"So why are you drunk at four thirty in the afternoon?"

Beca jumped up quickly, dropping the pizza box and grabbing the wire of her headphones to grasp her phone and stuffed in the back pocket of her jeans. Chloe couldn't quite help but note how close Beca's head was to hers, as the shorter woman pulled at the headphones and gently slipped them over Chloe's ears.

"Promotion at work" she said, bopping her nose softly.

Beca pressed the volume control button on the wire and the sound of Blur's "song 2" filtered through the head set. Beca was bobbing her head, a giant smile painted on her face, as if to say "Good song, right?"

Chloe couldn't help but beam back at her. She had always seen the other woman with a music magazine tucked under her arm or wearing headphones when she walked the hallway; if Chloe wasn't aware her neighbour was passionate about music this moment confirmed it.

Beca was still nodding her head and mindlessly tapping a beat to the song on Chloe's forearm. She couldn't help but note this was probably the most laid back and confident she had ever seen Beca – she liked it; it was actually kind of hot.

The music ended and before Chloe could recognise the guitar riffs starting another song, Beca was pulling them away as gently as she put them on.

"You looked like you needed a good song to brighten your day" Beca said, bending down to grab a slice of pizza. "Do you want some?" she asked, sliding back to her sitting position beside the paper box.

Chloe laughed, sliding down her own door and crossing her legs. She took a slice and both women toasted their slices of pizza. The music was still playing through the discarded headphones, loud enough that Chloe instantly recognised The Black Keys' "lonely boy".

"So congratulations on your promotion."

"Thanks, I'm actually really happy about it, but I feel that could be the vodka" Beca shrugged with a smirk, rubbing the crumbs off her fingers.

Chloe laughed, finishing the last of her pizza.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, hiking a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm sure I have more vodka inside" she added.

Beca handed her the last piece of pizza and closed the box shut.

"Yeah, lead the way" she smiled, offering her hand to help Chloe up.

Chloe and Beca had been sat on the sofa in Chloe's apartment for so long it was now dark outside. Beca had made herself at home immediately in the corner of the sofa and kicking off her shoes, whilst Chloe went straight to her kitchen cupboard to retrieve the bottle of vodka and some soda.

That was at least seven vodkas ago and they had been talking non-stop. Chloe always thought Beca was interesting; the mysterious and slightly awkward vibe drew her in just as much as the brunette's looks, but getting to know her these past few months had been difficult.

The woman now sat comfortably on her couch, telling a story about a drunken one night stand seemed the complete opposite of the quiet and reserved Beca Chloe had been making small talk with on her hallway.

The redhead couldn't help but enjoy her company. Beca was funny and sarcastic and she had this weird ability to make Chloe feel special, even though she was dressed in her creased work clothes, a peanut butter stain on her blouse from lunch and she was more than probably slurring her words.

Beca was drinking vodka straight (which was sexy as hell) and still had her headphones playing around her neck and if Chloe listened carefully she could make out the song.

Their conversation came to natural pause and Chloe could feel the fingers belonging to Beca tapping on the back of the sofa above her head. It was then she realised how close she was sat and the way she had un-be-knowingly gravitated towards Beca.

"Hey, do you have some headphones?" Beca asked suddenly sitting up on the couch.

"Yeah, why?" Chloe asked narrowing her eyes.

"Go and get them, I've got an idea."

The glimmer in Beca's eye was the same one that appeared outside and Chloe was already on her feet making her way to her bedroom excitedly. The redhead ran back, eagerly jumping on the sofa with her headphones.

The DJ pulled a earphone splitter out of her pocket and plugged it into her phone, attaching both her and Chloe's headsets into the other side. Chloe watched as she tapped her phone for a few seconds and dropped it onto the cushion. Beca shuffled closer and placed the headphones over Chloe's ears with a smile and another gentle bop of the nose like she had done before.

Once the brunette's headphones were on her ears too, she pressed play and pulled Chloe up with her hands and mouthed the words "dance" before swaying her body.

After a few seconds Chloe noted the song choice; it wasn't exactly the up tempo song she was expecting, nor was it one she knew, but she liked it. Maybe it was the way Beca was looking at her, perhaps the way there were fingers suddenly laced together (how'd that happen?"), but Chloe did as she was instructed and danced in the living room of her apartment with a drunk Beca from across the hall.

God, this was random but actually really nice.

Beca was running a hand through her hair, before it dropped onto Chloe's waist. There was the hint of a mischievous smile and a look that said "is this alright?" The redhead placed her arms around the smaller woman's neck and leaned closer, resting her body against Beca's with a look that she hoped shouted "God, yes."

A few songs passed and neither of them changed position, despite a change in beat, Beca kept her hands pressed against Chloe's hips, occasionally rubbing her thumb under her shirt, sending shivers up her spine.

Chloe was getting caught up in the moment.

The perfect moment created by Beca.

She felt herself leaning in closer, until Beca was pulling away slowly and removing Chloe's headphones with tender fingers.

"Do you want to go out sometime?" she asked, shouting over the music still playing in her ears.

She smiled shyly, before removing them and waiting on Chloe's response.

She needed time to process this. The woman Chloe had a crush on from the moment she moved in was in her living room, slow dancing with her and asking her out. She needed a minute for her brain to catch up with reality.

Before she could gather her thoughts Beca was opening her mouth to speak again.

"I know I'm drunk and when I'm sober I probably come off as weird and awkward, but the truth is I've wanted to ask you out for a while, I just haven't really had the courage and I didn't think you liked me. But now we're kind of drunk and dancing in your apartment. You're giving me these intense feelings right now and I want to ask, because I feel now is the moment, you know?"

Beca was rambling, Chloe needed to say something to stop her, but instead she just stood there, her arms still resting on the shorter woman's shoulders.

"It's alright if you want to say no. I mean I come off awkward and weird because I actually am! Saying no is OK; I'll just up and move my life to another apartment building and pine over my old neighbour whilst she stays here, even though I was here first..."

Beca was smiling now, the sound of Chloe's giggle causing that glimmer to sparkle in her eyes once more.

"How about I say yes to the date offer and we can both live peacefully in the same building?" Chloe smirked.

XXX