Wrong (right) Time, Wrong (right) Place

Chloe was sat in a crowded restaurant, her table for two wedged in between a family of four with a screaming toddler and an old married couple. The Mother from her left shot her yet another apologetic look as she tried to calm the child who was having another melt down about her peas touching the mashed potato on her plate. Chloe tried to communicate she understood but she was sure her facial expression was saying something else right now.

The redhead had been sat at this very table for the past twenty-five minutes waiting for her "date" to actually show up. Stacie had bragged about this "super hot" music producer she met in her old apartment building who was "totally" Chloe's type so much she eventually caved and agreed to the blind date Stacie was itching to set up.

Almost thirty minutes of waiting, a twenty dollar cab ride and two hours of getting ready wasted; Chloe began to gather her purse and phone from the table, intent on making her way home and calling Stacie the minute she walked through her door.

"Hey, Chloe, right?"

A breathless brunette was calling out as she rushed over to the table, causing Chloe to automatically sit back down. She isn't sure why she didn't just walk out there and then, but she believed in giving people the benefit of the doubt.

"Yeah. Beca?"

Beca pulled the leather jacket down her shoulders and quickly slid into the chair across from her.

"That's me, I kinda got caught up at-" she brought the glass of water that had been poured into a glass the moment Chloe sat down and hiked her thumb over her shoulder. Chloe waited patiently, until the woman didn't even bother to finish her sentence.

"So, have you ordered, or...?"

Chloe took a deep breath and decided to scan the menu in front of her in an attempt to calm her annoyance.

"No, I thought it would be polite to wait for my date" she said through gritted teeth, with an overly upbeat tone to her voice.

"Alright, cool" the brunette nodded, "So I guess with half an hour alone you've already read that menu extensively and you know what you want, right?"

Chloe wasn't sure if Beca was joking or being sarcastic, but either way she didn't appreciate it. Before she could respond, she was talking again.

"Do you mind if we, like, don't do starters? It's just I'm in a rush and I have to get back to that thing."

There was that thumb hiked over her shoulder again.

Chloe looked at her in astonishment, a complete utter disbelief in the rudeness of the woman before her, when a waiter was stood by the table asking for their order.

Beca immediately ordered a drink and downed it the moment it was set on the table and then proceeded to order another one without even bothering to ask Chloe if she wanted a refill.

"No, I'm fine for a drink, thank you" she muttered under her breath watching as Beca checked her phone for hundredth time since she arrived. If the music producer heard her, she didn't bother to acknowledge it out of ignore or lack of actually caring.

She typed something into her phone, before she broke the silence.

"So, what do you do, Chloe?" she asked, without even taking her eyes from the screen in her hands.

"I teach music" the redhead said flatly, downing the last of her drink.

"What, like at a school?" Beca asked, finally parting from the device and shoving it back in her pocket.

"Yeah, I teach at a middle school."

"Is that what you've always wanted to do or did you just end up falling into it?" she folded her arms on the table and leaned closer. For a moment it almost looked like she was genuinely interested in what Chloe had to say.

"I've always been really passionate about music. It's a connection I can never really explain but I've always felt this pull to it. Like, hearing one song can completely change my mood, you know? You're once horrible day at work can turn into the complete opposite once you hear that certain song or it could bring you to tears on the happiest day of your life if you listen close enough to get lost in it."

Beca smiled; an actual real smile and nodded with a sense of strong conviction. Chloe noted the difference in her demeanour, she was finally engaged in the conversation, no longer searching for her phone or downing her drink and it made her think perhaps Beca had just made a bad first impression that could still be redeemed.

She snapped out of her thoughts, returning the bright smile back to Beca, before clearing her throat.

"Yeah, well I always wanted to teach, so teaching music was a no brainer."

If Chloe thought Beca was capable of redemption, she sure as shit couldn't have been anymore wrong. The one glimmer of hope from the fifteen minute mark of the date was shattered soon after. It seemed Chloe was on a blind date with a fish, who drank eight gin and tonics - yes, she counted – and proceeded to pay more attention to her phone than her date and ate her lasagne as quickly as possible. Beca even had the audacity to ask Chloe if she could "hurry up eating" because she had "somewhere to be."

Chloe felt as though she was making all the effort to actually start a conversation, which usually ended abruptly as she would be interrupted by a text tone or a drunken belch. The redhead spent the entire time wishing she had just walked out the moment she stood up when Beca arrived.

The music producer polished off the last of her drink the very moment a waiter was taking away Chloe's plate.

"Right, so do you want me to pay?" her tone seemed begrudged.

"No, I'd rather just-"

Before she could finish Beca was leaning forward and empty the contents of Chloe's glass.

"Great, thanks. It was nice to meet you and everything but like I said I've got to jet, so... Bye."

And with that Beca was picking up her jacket and power walking out of the restaurant, her phone quickly pressed to her ear.

Chloe watched in dismay before she finished the end of her sentence aloud "...I'd rather just pay for my own meal and drinks..."

Stacie was never setting her up on a blind date ever again.

XXX

Beca settled down into her window seat, scrolling through the playlist she had created in the airport lounge. As she was resting her headphones onto her ears, a couple with a baby walked down the aisle and Beca had no shame in chanting "Don't sit next to me" repeatedly as they continued their walk further down the plane. She let out a sigh of relief, pushing play on the volume control of the headset.

Ten minutes later and two people settled in the seats beside her, the plane was making its way to the runway and the pilot's voice amplified through tenor. Beca blocked it out, as she currently battled with the teenager beside her in an attempt to commandeer the arm rest on her right.

About two hours and after a forty minute nap Beca was ready to stretch her legs and was excusing the people on her row of seats politely. A quick glance at the redhead on the end caused Beca to falter for a moment; she was sure she looked familiar.

The music producer shook the thought away, continuing her route down the plane but couldn't help steal side glances at her the moment she returned to her seat.

It was probably around the fifth hour of the flight when Beca had an epiphany. The redhead sat on the aisle was in fact one of Stacie's friends.

Carla? Catharine? Clara? No, wait, Chloe! Her name is Chloe.

Beca remembers the date she made the other woman endure a month or two ago. It was an absolute car crash from the moment she arrived late. Beca was the one at fault that night, utterly and completely - in fact, she found herself thinking back to that evening with a sense of regret and shame.

The brunette wasn't in a great place when she agreed to Stacie's blind date who was "super hot" and "totally" her type. It seemed the taller brunette wasn't taking no for an answer and after a lot of convincing, Beca finally caved; purely because Stacie had told her Chloe was really looking forward to it.

Beca wasn't.

At that moment in time, Beca had just split up with her girlfriend, someone she considered she was deeply in love with. She couldn't help but let out a scoff at that, god how stupid she had been. After Jen had ripped out her heart and basically stomped on it, they entered into a toxic and fucked up cycle of ignoring each other during the day and sleeping together after Jen had failed to secure a meaningless hook-up on the weekends.

The passion of their former nights together was still there but it had changed; it was no longer loving or intimate and instead rushed and almost animalistic. It didn't help that Beca had to get drunk before hand in order to suppress the tears she was sure would fall if she wasn't wasted the minute Jen knocked on her door.

Beca was still in love with her, so much so she was blind to see how the other woman was using her for sex. It was a really fucked up situation that put Beca off dating for a long time. Once she had come to her senses, her mind would often wander back to her blind date with Chloe and the scolding she received off Stacie the next day.

She hoped Chloe hadn't noticed her because Beca wasn't sure she could have that conversation, especially with another three hours stranded in the air with nowhere to go other than the smelly restroom.

XXX

Suddenly Beca was majorly aware of the lack of a teenager between them, potentially blowing her cover. She had caught Chloe glancing over a few times now and it was only a matter of time before she was experiencing the same epiphany Beca had an hour ago.

Where the hell is that kid?

Beca finally pulled her headphones off, before boldly sliding into the newly vacant seat beside her.

She decided she was going to play this cool.

"Hey, I'm Beca" she offered her hand out, resting atop of Chloe's arm rest. The redhead turned to face her before nodding and making no signs of shaking her hand.

"Yeah, I know. I remember you."

Beca noted her tone was as annoyed as it had been the night of their previous date and she honestly couldn't blame her.

"Look, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about our date that happened a couple months back. I know I wasn't very good company and I was rude and making you pay the bill was the biggest dick move ever. I really am sorry about it."

The music producer leaned further away, studying the other woman's facial expression; it seemed to softly slightly before Chloe was nodding.

"OK, well thanks for apologising but I'm not really interested in conversing anymore. I think we got to know each other well enough before" she replied, bringing her eyes back to the book on her knee.

"Stacie told me I really hurt your feelings and I probably should have called or texted or something to apologise. Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry."

Before Beca could shuffle back into her seat, Chloe was looking back up, "Hurt my feelings? You're so full of yourself, aren't you?"

"I-I just-what?" she stuttered out in disbelief. Beca may have decided to play this cool but perhaps Chloe hadn't.

"You are by far the rudest and most obnoxious person I've ever met and you think I'm going to just accept a crappy apology and chat for the rest of the flight?"

"No, that wasn't my intention at all, I just thought I'd be a decent person and apologise for my behaviour."

"Well don't bother and don't start thinking you had that much of an effect on my feelings either" the redhead warned, dropping her book onto the folding table and storming down the plane.

Wow.

Beca was not expecting that reaction; it was actually kind of hot. She was also strangely happy Chloe had stood up for herself, knowing she deserved every word.

Her eyes flickered to Chloe who hadn't gotten far and was currently pacing by the toilet door, her eyebrows furrowed together as she muttered something to herself. The look on her face seemed like a combination of the previous anger and a slight repentance. Her expression was rather cute.

Oh my god, what is happening to me right now?

After a couple of minutes of waiting, Chloe returned, dropping down into her seat.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have blown up like that. I don't know what came over me" she breathed out nervously.

"Chloe..." Beca placed a hand on the other woman's arm, thankful to see it wasn't pushed away, "...It's fine; I deserved that."

The redhead smiled a small smile, unknowingly increases Beca's confidence, "Besides it was kind of hot" she added.

"Seriously, you're going to say that right now?" Chloe asked with another wave of anger in her voice. Beca scrunched up her face, ready for another scolding; it seemed Chloe was completely crazy; which was kind of appealing...

"Yeah, why not, right? I sure didn't pay you any compliments on our date."

And with that sentence, Beca had an idea.

"Hey, why don't you just remain natural for, like, thirty seconds whilst I give you all the compliments I owe you from that evening?"

Without even waiting for an answer, Beca gave a gentle squeeze to the arm still under her hand and plunged straight into the list she had created an hour ago whilst she contemplated apologising or not.

"First and foremost, you looked amazing in that black dress. I really liked the way you spoke about music, I don't think I've ever had someone sum up the feeling music gives me before but you just did it effortlessly..."

Chloe opened her mouth to speak but Beca cut her off, she really wanted to get this off her chest even if she wasn't one hundred percent sure why.

"... I thought the way you tried to make conversation with me the entire evening was actually really courageous because I think you knew I was a total dick the minute I sat down, but the fact that you tried to make the best of things actually had a very lasting effect on me. Your smile is like one hell of a thing, I don't think I've ever seen one as bright before."

"Beca-"

"And your eyes, dude, don't get me started. Oh and the way you calmed that kid down during takeoff was nothing short of magic I'm sure" she gestured to the sleeping toddler in the next row of seats beside them.

"And I really-"

Beca was quickly cut off by a palm pressed to her lips.

"Stop. Talking" Chloe said sternly, the signs of a smile tugging at her lips.

The brunette continued to speak, her words muffled by Chloe's hand. The redhead couldn't help but abandon her unfazed facade; a laugh spilling from her lips.

She held out her index finger, pointing it at Beca's face as a warning, before slowly removing her hand with raised eyebrows.

"And I think you're really hot when you're angry" Beca spat out quickly, Chloe's hand snapping back to her mouth playfully. The shorter woman raised her hands in surrender before Chloe was removing it again and the two started at each other in silence with smiles on their faces.

Eventually, Chloe broke the silence.

"You remembered the dress I wore?" her voice was timid.

Beca smiled at her, "Of course, how could I forget a dress like that?"

Chloe smiled shyly.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure you did the dress a favour" she winked.

"Do you-"

"Look, I'm really-"

They both spoke at the same time, causing both of them to lightly chuckle.

"Go on" Beca whispered.

"You were going to say you were sorry again, weren't you?"

Beca nodded, "Yeah. The thing is I wasn't ready for that date. I'd just got out of serious relationship and Stacie kept asking and asking; well you know what she's like, right?" she laughed as Chloe nodded.

"So I'm sorry if I did or didn't hurt your feelings" she smiled, lightly bumping the other woman's leg with her own.

Chloe returned the smile, "So I was going to ask if you wanted to start again?"

The redhead offered her hand out, before clearing her throat, "So I'm Chloe, it's nice to meet you."

Beca took the hand in hers and held it a little longer than necessary before smiling back at her.

And Chloe couldn't help but think back to the glimmer of hope she had felt during their date when Beca folded her arms on the table.

She really hoped Beca just seriously sucked at first impressions and first dates.

XXX