DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PITCH PERFECT OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS. ALL WORDS AND MISTAKES ARE THAT OF MY OWN.

"You Look So Beautiful."

"You look so beautiful."

That was all it took for Chloe to surge forward and kiss Beca's lips – well that and the moment.

Beca was amidst everything Chloe; her lips, her breath, her perfume, the fingertips currently resting on her hip; the party quickly becoming a distant memory.

XXX

Beca had arrived late, obviously.

She had changed her outfit seven times, endured three melt downs regarding her eye liner and contemplated not turning up at all more times than she'd care to admit, but to the rest of the Bellas, Beca was just fashionably late.

Three years after graduating Barden, the Bella's were reuniting for Fat Amy's Birthday. Although it hadn't been too long since their last get together, Beca had still been looking forward to it. However, the more the date neared forward she beginning to have doubts; doubts that Chloe would cancel last minute and all the excitement Beca had been harbouring for the past month and a half would be quickly snatched away from her.

But Chloe never cancelled.

…And that made Beca even more nervous.

Beca realised she was in love with her best friend two and a half years into college. If she was being honest, she probably knew before that but she had spent a lot of time and energy dismissing her true feelings and inner thoughts on the matter.

"I'll tell her tomorrow" turned into "I'll tell her after Worlds" quickly developed into "After graduation; that makes more sense" until eventually Beca just lost her nerve and never said anything. It was these little reunions that sent her mind into overdrive a few weeks prior.

"I'll tell her tonight. I'll definitely tell her tonight."

Beca chanted those words throughout every Bella Birthday party and before the occasional coffee date when Chloe was in town.

But tonight, she had promised herself the time was now. In fact, if Beca didn't just outright say the words that had been swirling in her mind for best part of three years she felt she might internally combust.

"Beca!"

Before the DJ could even rest her eyes on Chloe's she was being enveloped into a tight and timely hug and all of sudden Beca was instantly losing her nerve again. Chloe's familiar touch and warmth completely snatching away the very little confidence she mustered up at the doorway less than sixty seconds ago.

I could tell her at Stacie's Birthday in a couple of months, couldn't I?

XXX

There was something different about Beca Mitchell half way through the party. She seemed less self-conscious and almost freer – like the way she was in college – and Chloe couldn't help but get lost in it.

Chloe was sinking further into the past familiarity of college life and even deeper into those feelings Beca always stirred inside her. Flashbacks of late night cuddles and exchanged whispers of their inner feelings and thoughts occurred whenever Beca brushed her arm or navy blue eyes lingered on hers for a second too long.

It resurrected those voices in Chloe's head.

"Does she feel the same?"

Chloe had asked herself that question countless times in the past and now she found herself asking more and more throughout the evening. There were so many occasions Chloe almost caved and asked Beca that very question in college, but she feared their friendship would suffer because of it.

So Chloe never did.

"You look so beautiful."

When Beca uttered those words, Chloe couldn't control her emotions anymore.

She no longer cared of the consequences; her curiosity and desire overpowering her rationality.

Beca's lips felt as soft as she thought they would and they moved over hers with more skill than Chloe could have ever imagined. The sparks flying between them caused Chloe to literally see stars – alright, maybe that was the alcohol – but Chloe had never been more sure that Beca Mitchell felt the same feelings Chloe had battled with for the last five years.

A tongue was swiping along her bottom lip and Chloe wasted no time parting them; the sparks developing into a clichéd fourth of July firework display on the back of her eye lids. She couldn't help but pull Beca impossibly closer.

XXX

Chloe had spent a lot of time arranging her outfit, the outfit she was constantly smoothing the creases out of whenever she sat or stood. It was a nervous twitch Chloe didn't care much for but the last time her and Beca spoke she hadn't been able to get it out of her mind.

It was in a coffee shop a few blocks away from the recording studio Beca worked at when Chloe had accidentally tripped over her own words. What started with their usual back and forth banter and flirty comments quickly turned into a dangerously close shave with Chloe's emotions.

"You forget I know just what to say to get you all flustered, Becs" Chloe teased over her latte.

"Isn't that the truth."

Beca dragged out the words with a smirk and an eye roll – that signature smirk that did thingsto her.

"You don't know even half of the truth."

Her response was met with a silence and an ungodly sense of panic in Chloe's gut. She quickly laughed it off with a wink and jumped into the first innuendo she could think of, hoping it would distract Beca from pondering the underlining meaning of her previous words.

Perhaps Chloe was being paranoid but Beca's demeanour the minute she walked through the door of the party made her nervous. It wasn't until a few hours and more drinks later Chloe finally allowed herself to relax, getting caught up Beca's usual humour and charm that effortlessly put her at ease.

"I think I'm going to get some air."

"Mind if I come with?"

Before Chloe knew it they were outside, the cool summer air tickled her skin as the music of the party faded into the background. Beca was taking a seat on the curb and pulling a cigarette from it's packet with her teeth.

"I thought you quit?" Chloe asked with the nudge of her shoulder as she dropped down bedside her.

"Yeah and then I got stressed about tonight" Beca deadpanned, offering her a small smile before lighting the offending item with a deep inhale.

"Why were you stressed?"

Chloe's mind was instantly returning to the pit of regret regarding their last meeting, before there was a hand on her knee; all her previous thoughts falling away and then Beca was offering her a drag. She hastily waved it away, her eyes urging Beca to answer the question.

"I love how you don't let this corrupt you" she smirked.

It was an attempt to deflect and distract Chloe from the question she had just asked. It was the oldest trick in the book, but she didn't want to push tonight.

She shook her head good naturedly with a smile for a reply.

But then Beca was tuning to face her square on with a glimmer of something in her eye. The brunette brought the cigarette to her lips – no longer making a conscious effort to blow the smoke in the opposite direction of Chloe - and taking her face in her hands.

The movement was so unexpected and uncharacteristic that Chloe froze, unsure of what to do. Beca was leaning closer and if it wasn't for the cigarette pressed between her lips, Chloe would have assumed Beca was about to kiss her.

Beca inhaled a long drag, before removing it from her mouth and flicking it away. A thumb softly ran itself over Chloe's bottom lip causing her breath to hitch. The DJ leaned even closer, blowing the smoke in between her newly parted lips causing Beca's to slightly brush over her own.

Chloe slowly inhaled the second hand smoke, her eyes fixed on the ones intently staring into her's, as her hand instinctively wrapped around Beca's wrist.

"Exhale."

Beca's voice was lower than a whisper. There was the trace of a smile and the glimmer of that something still in her eyes when Chloe blew the smoke into the summer air. It felt like she was in a trance, unable to speak or pull away from Beca's touch.

Not she wanted to – pull away that was.

Speak, maybe. The routine words, "Do you feel the same?" might have been on the tip of her tongue if she wasn't so lost in Beca's gaze.

"You look so beautiful."

XXX

Beca wasn't sure what came over her, but one minute she was suggestively blowing smoke in Chloe's mouth (which was weird, unhealthy and possibly gross – god, why did she even do that?!) and then she was telling Chloe she was beautiful in her next breath.

It seemed to happen in slow motion; the way Chloe's eyes flickered with something similar to desire and how she lunged forward attaching her lips to Beca's. In all honesty, Beca was contemplating pinching herself because surely this wasn't real.

But the knees gently knocking against hers told her it was.

The tongue that was exploring her mouth should have grounded Beca but it seemed to do the exact opposite. Beca was finding one of Chloe's hands on her waist, interlocking their fingers together in an attempt to get a grip on the moment between them. She felt the lips on hers twitch into a smile causing her to do the same.

Tonight she hadn't quite confessed what she set out to do, but surely kissing the woman she had been in love with for what felt like forever was more than progress, right?

Beca decided an explanation would suffice later because right now she was trying to communicate all of those words with her kiss but then Chloe was pulling away what felt like midsentence.

"What are we doing?" the redhead asked with the shake of her head and a giddy laugh.

The hand in Beca's was bringing back the flutter of butterflies she used to feel whenever Chloe laced their fingers together on campus and it caused her to smile even more.

"Making up for lost time?" Beca offered shyly.

"We're drunk" Chloe reminded coyly.

Beca smirked, "Speak for yourself."

Chloe was rolling her eyes and pulling her hand from Beca's. There was a sudden coldness from the separation, so she decided to trace circles in the brunette's opened palm resting on her knee instead.

"I'm sorry I, like, blew smoke in…" Beca trailed off, trying to suppress the blush threatening to colour her cheeks, "…I've wanted to tell you something since our last year of college."

Chloe was nodding whilst chewing on her bottom lip, "OK."

"I've been acting weird since we graduated and I know you've noticed, but the truth is, well the reason actually… I've been trying to tell you every time we've met up and I just-"

"Beca, get to the point."

Chloe was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk in anticipation wishing now was the moment she finally got an answer to her internal question. There was a smile on her lips as her back and forth strokes on Beca's palm became more frantic and impatient.

"I've been in l-"

"BECHLOE! Get your asses in here stat, we're singing Happy Birthday!"

Stacie was drunkenly leaning on the back door, visibly swaying on her feet and completely unaware of the moment she had just interrupted. Chloe and Beca's heads immediately shot around to their fellow Bella wearing a dopey grin and waving her hands in a frenzy; as if that movement would suddenly snap them into motion.

Chloe brought her eyes back to Beca, a feeling of hopefulness taking hold as she noted the annoyance in them. Beca shook her head with an almost sad smile and pulled Chloe to her feet; the movement calming Stacie's hollers.

I'll tell her after. Definitely after.

XXX