A/N - Almost called this update "Card" or "Envelope" because I wrote those words so damn much! So, please overlook my over uses of the words.
Surprise
"I think you're forgetting this totally wasn't my fault" Jesse whined, as he watched Beca's fingers wind so tightly around the envelope that the paper audibly crinkled.
"You want a bet? You were the moron that brought it over here" Beca whisper shouted through gritted teeth.
"Yeah and you told me to!"
"And you completely overlooked the actual envelope on my desk and went into my closet, who even does that?!"
"I thought that was where it would be" Jesse defended, pulling at one of the corners with a pointed stare and a frantic wave of his other hand.
"It was literally right in front of you, dude!" Beca yelled, her hand roughly colliding with her sternum as she pulled the card out of Jesse's grasp and closer to her chest.
Beca watched Jesse's eyes widen at the doorway of the kitchen, before he snagged the envelope out of her hands and shoved it harshly into the pocket of her jacket in a hurry. Beca followed his gaze until her eyes were trained on a very curious looking Aubrey leaning against the door frame.
The pair visibly stiffened at the new comer's presence, before plastering on less than convincing wide smiles.
"S'up, Cap."
Beca cringed at her own words with the crinkle of her nose, giving Jesse a less than gentle kick to the shins when he chimed in an even more awkward, "We're not arguing."
"OK, what's going on?" Aubrey asked with a raised eyebrow. When neither Beca nor Jesse were quick to answer, Aubrey warningly folded her arms over her chest.
"Nothing."
They spluttered out in unison, taking a conscious step back from each other.
Beca threw her hands deep into her pockets in an attempt to subtly shove the envelope further inside but due to the design of her leather jacket and the length of the card, she settled on clutching it in her fingers until her knuckles whitened.
With the quick clear of her throat, the brunette offered Aubrey her usual smirk before speaking, "Shouldn't you be checking all the banners are straight or something?"
Aubrey let out a bitter laugh before making her way over to the sink Beca and Jesse were currently leaning on, "Just getting some water because planning a Birthday party alone is hard work, you know?" the blonde counted, shooing them out of her way.
Beca shook her head; of course Aubrey would play that card. After a few drinks at the end of a Bella rehearsal a couple of nights ago, Chloe had drunkenly let it slip how she was convinced Beca was planning her a surprise Birthday party. Beca was unaware how much her facial expression gave her away, but she's sure she'll never forget how Chloe's face fell ever so slightly. Truth be told, Aubrey had been planning her best friend's surprise Birthday party long before Beca was even at Barden and anytime the young DJ attempted to help, Aubrey waved her off with a shrug and a mumbled "don't even pretend you want to help."
An audible humph and a glare was the only response Beca could muster as she watched her captain bring the glass of water to her lips with a shit eating grin.
"OK, so this is a great Birthday party atmosphere" Jesse sighed out, causing both women to scowl.
"Jesse, I'm pretty sure Trebles weren't invited."
It was no secret Aubrey had a less than healthy revelry with the Treble Makers, so Beca took Aubrey's moment of distraction to pull the envelope from her jacket and slip it into the back pocket of her jeans. She let out a deep breath, relieved the envelope was now safely out of Aubrey's sight.
Before Beca could completely relax, an arm was snaking around her shoulder, "Aubrey, can we start drinking yet?" Fat Amy whined, pulling Jesse and Beca into her embrace so they were brushing shoulders, "I'm sure Chloe wouldn't mind if we started without her" she added with a grin, letting her chin rest on Jesse's shoulder.
"How many times, Amy? No drinking until we surprise Chloe, OK?" Aubrey ordered, rubbing circles into her temples in frustration.
The blonde stood up straight, gently pushing Beca and Jesse away with a sigh, "Hey, what's this?" she announced quickly, pulling at the envelope from Beca's pocket.
"Nothing!"
Fat Amy tugged the envelope away from Beca's outstretched hand and took a step back.
"Give it back" Beca pleaded weakly as she watched her fellow Bella's eyes sweep over the name written upon it. She registered the flicker of recognition and then the wide grin that spread across her lips.
"Oh my god, Beca Mitchell actually wrote a Birthday card!" Aubrey yelled as she watched the encounter in front of her.
If this was any other situation, Beca would actually be offended by Aubrey's surprise, because, yeah, of course she would get Chloe a Birthday card; she wasn't a total asshole.
"It's not for Chloe" Beca hurried out, her eyes skittering nervously towards the door, praying that very person wouldn't walk through it at this very moment.
"Well the name on the envelope begs to differ" Fat Amy argued, waving it in the air and proudly using her finger to underline Beca's scribbled handwriting as well as her point.
"Yeah, well…" Beca trailed off, before making a poor attempt to intercept it.
"Ah-ah…" Aubrey scolded, snagging the card from Fat Amy with a smirk, "Now we're going to put this with all the other cards and gifts in the living room" she added before turning to leave.
Beca didn't even protest, nor did she follow the little voice in her head that told her to tackle Aubrey to the ground and rip the envelope into as many tiny pieces as possible. Instead, she just covered her face with her hands and watched through sprawled fingers as both Bella's left the kitchen, leaving Beca and Jesse to stare at each other in fear.
"Shit" Jesse whispered, "What do we do?" he panicked.
"Apart from quit college and forget the time I proclaimed my love for Chloe Beale in her fucking Birthday card?"
XXX
Beca threw herself down onto her bed and let out a sigh. The actual Birthday card she intended on giving Chloe sat on her desk like a bitter joke. The crisp envelope was leaning against her mixing board almost taunting her; how the hell did Jesse not see it?
She ran a hand through her hair before pulling her phone from her pocket. After a few seconds of staring at it, she decided texting or calling Chloe would only make things worse, so dropped it on the mattress with a groan.
Before rushing out of Chloe and Aubrey's shared apartment across campus, Beca had actually tried to secretly snag the envelope from the table of gifts in the corner of the living room, but it seemed Fat Amy had anticipated that and continued to patrol the area.
Leaving without seeing Chloe's entrance was probably the wrong thing to do but after a ten-minute wait, Beca grew restless and was no longer able to supress her desire to run back to her dorm. She envisioned her best friend's face of surprise as she walked through the door to be greeted by all of her friend's – the vision actually made Beca smile.
Aubrey had done a very good job of purposely letting little bits of 'information' slip, as well as bluffing the day of Chloe's surprise Birthday party – so much sure, Aubrey was one hundred percent certain Chloe wouldn't even be anticipating it to happen today.
Beca should be there.
She should have been one of the first people by the door, she knew that.
Her leg bounced nervously as she remembered the look of disappointment on the redhead's face just the other night. The DJ tried to convince herself Chloe wouldn't even notice she wasn't there, but not even she could make herself believe that.
Last week, whilst hyped up on Redbull and lack of sleep, Beca had been working on her Birthday mix for Chloe but things had taken an unexpected turn at around 5am. The mix that was supposed to contain a selectin of Chloe's favourite songs, other tracks and remixes Beca thought she would enjoy had developed into a symphony of emotions; deep emotions Beca was sure she would never reveal in a mixtape because come on, that was such a nineties cliché.
Instead of putting a stop to the ridiculousness, Beca had continued, secretly enjoying the way she began to feel lighter after each track. The DJ had gotten so lost in her work that eventually she had twenty songs – some of her own mixes – that explained just how much she loved her best friend. The lyrics were raw and honest and Beca had no doubt that if Chloe ever listened to this, she'd understand it's meaning completely.
In a moment of poor judgement, Beca had grabbed a pen and began scribbling her feelings into the blank Birthday card sitting on her desk before taping the USB to the corner and sealing the envelope.
She took a moment to reread her own words; they weren't perfect and nowhere near as poetic as she would have liked, but they were honest and they were hers – she was sure Chloe wouldn't want them any other way. With a soft smile, she slipped the card into the envelope and printed Chloe's name upon it before powering down her laptop and crawling into bed.
The next morning, Beca had actually laughed aloud at her actions from the night before.
There was no way Chloe would ever receive that card for her Birthday; last night was a moment of pure madness.
Beca couldn't lose Chloe's friendship; there was too much at stake.
That afternoon she had gone out and bought another card, made a different (platonic) mix and jotted down a generic, half assed Happy Birthday message before tossing the other into her closet, never to see the light of day again.
God, how she was wrong.
The sound of the phone chiming beside her pulled Beca from her thoughts. Whenever she saw Chloe's name light up the screen, Beca felt many things but dread was never one of them.
CHLOE [20:26]: Are you running late? :(
There was unusual sense of panic and even more dread settling in the pit of her stomach but judging by her message, it was clear she hadn't opened Beca's card yet. Stilling her fingers from the anxious drumming on her thigh, Beca took a deep breath and typed out a quick reply before making her way out her room.
It was time to face the music, almost literally.
XXX
Chloe was sat on the couch, finally glad she had a minute to herself. She took a swig of the very alcoholic drink Fat Amy had eagerly poured her and typed out a message to Beca.
Aubrey had done a rather awful job of fooling her into thinking a surprise Birthday wasn't on the cards this year because "I have so many assignments due." After a few days of resisting the urge to investigate, Chloe had finally caved and overheard her best friend discussing party arrangements for the week after her Birthday.
Chloe was so sure she'd had it all figured out, until she opened the door to her apartment and was greeted by a living room full of her friends. Her cheeks hurt from all the smiling, but she couldn't seem to push away the twinge of disappointment she felt when her eyes scanned the faces and Beca's wasn't among them.
Another sip from her glass almost caused her to break out in a coughing fit; what the hell did Amy put in this?
Her phone vibrated in her lap and Chloe's eyes eagerly read Beca's message.
BECA [20:27]: Sorry, Chlo, got held up. Be there in five. Happy Birthday!
Chloe rolled her eyes with a smile, Beca had said happy birthday via text message at least ten times today and each one still caused her stomach to do this weird flip-flop thing.
True to her word, Beca was walking through the door and instantly making her way over to Chloe. She threw herself down on the other side of the couch, attempting to squeeze her way out of the redhead's forceful hug with a groan before relaxing.
"Happy Birthday" she mumbled quietly by the shell of Chloe's ear. Beca's genuine tone made Chloe's grin widened and suddenly Chloe was lost in the moment; like she always was when it came to Beca.
"OK, gift time!" Aubrey announced, causing Beca to pull away much too soon for Chloe's liking as she was being gently pulled from the sofa by Aubrey. She beamed one last smile at Beca before finally pulling her eyes away and focussing on the table the blonde was proudly gesturing to.
Shamelessly, Chloe searched for a tag or card labelled with Beca's handwriting and spotted the white envelope straight away. It looked crinkled and worn; a lot like Beca had forcefully shoved it into her pocket on her way over here. In fact, now Chloe came to think of it, the DJ hadn't even put it on the table when she arrived a few minutes ago. Shrugging that thought away, the redhead reached for Aubrey's gift first, purposely leaving Beca's until last.
Finally, Chloe had opened, thanked and even paused for pictures with gifts and was reaching for the one she was looking forward to the most. She could see Aubrey's smirk and watched her best friend's eyes dart from Chloe, the envelope and to a nervous looking Beca – honestly, it was quite distracting.
Just as she pulled the flap of it free, Beca was standing by her side, "Can you, maybe, open this without a crowd?" she asked awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck.
Aubrey's weird interest paired with Beca's cute wonky smile instantly caused Chloe to nod her head, "Yeah, OK."
Chloe quickly led the brunette to her bedroom, one hand in Beca's and the other gripping the card. The moment the door was closed behind them, Beca pulled out another envelope identical to the first, "Look, there was a mix up with your card, so can you just open this one?"
Beca's voice was small and awkward as Chloe studied the similarities of the paper, "What mix up?"
The other woman's hand reached out to swap them, but hesitated before she sat down on the end of the bed, "I forgot it the first time I came over here. I wrote two cards and Jesse picked up the wrong one" she shrugged.
Chloe watched Beca nervously drag the toe cap of her converse into the carpet before she sat down beside her, "You wrote two?"
"Yeah" Beca paused as though she was in deep thought before she turned to finally look at her best friend, "Look, I know it sounds weird - intriguing even - but I really want you to open this one" she added.
Chloe smiled in an attempt to calm Beca's nerves and if the slump of her shoulders was anything to go by, it had worked. The DJ smiled back before blowing the air from her cheeks. A silence fell over them before the redhead took the offered card, so she was now holding both in each hand.
"OK."
Beca ran a hand through her hair and her fingers finally stopped drumming their nervous rhythm on her knee, "Actually, you know what, open both."
"Beca, I don't really know what you want me to do right now" Chloe laughed, letting her fingers run over the crease in the paper.
"No, um… just open them, Chlo."
There was a sense of uncertainty in Beca's eyes and Chloe couldn't pinpoint exactly why it was there. One second, she was almost begging her not to open it and now…
"Are you sure?" she asked, setting them down in her lap and placing her hand on Beca's knee.
"Yeah, just don't freak out" Beca shook her head with a light chuckle that still sounded worried.
Her fingers could feel the shape of a pen drive inside both envelopes in exactly the same spot – Chloe wasn't stupid; she was well aware of what those contained but she still couldn't figure out what "the mix up" could be. It couldn't possibly be what she thought, right? Beca didn't think of her that way, did she?
The curiously was too much and Chloe was quickly opening the card Beca had just given her first, anticipating the unknown. She ripped the paper and let her eyes trace the front of the card before opening it to read the message inside.
Happy Birthday, Chloe.
I hope you have a great day,
Beca x
She looked up at Beca in confusion, "All that fuss for this?" she asked with a smile.
Beca nodded with a smile of her own as she joined in with Chloe's soft laughter, "What about this?" Chloe pulled the taped USB from the corner and waved it at Beca.
"Open the other one."
Chloe did as she was told, setting the device in the space between them as she pulled the exact same card from the envelope she had already partly opened, "OK, same card" Chloe teased with a smirk.
"Yeah, but…" Beca's voice trailed off, as Chloe let her eyes sweep over the two paragraphs of writing scribbled inside it. She ran her thumb along the same branded USB before she started to take in the words Beca had written. Her penmanship was rushed, scribbled in fact but with each word, Chloe began to realise why.
Her eyes widened, before she reread it, slower and more attentive, not allowing any letter to go unmissed. This wasn't what she was expecting, or maybe it kind of was. Chloe payed no attention to the USB anymore as she clutched the card close to her chest like it was her most prized possession because in this moment, it actually was.
Her mouth was dry and the words caught in her throat, "Beca, I…"
XXX