I'm trying this new thing where I don't cut away. It's very hard, and it means this update if very long.
But you know when the important part of the scene ends and you want to cut away and be like "and the rest of the meal went fine"? I'm trying this new thing where I don't do that, and instead I make myself write the whole thing, start to finish.
It's weird to say, but I feel like every interaction carries weight with these two. Especially these first ones. I know I can't write like this forever - that agreeing to write every single ounce of dialogue shared is a check I can't cash, but something about these two in their first moments… idk.
Let me know if it's dragging. Let me know if you agree or disagree, and why. Matter fact, just let me know. Let me know that I'm not screaming into a void.
A month later
Beca resisted the urge to pull up her bustier top as she sat in a secluded corner of Intersection- a restaurant that was so nice, she had actually asked Fat Amy what she should wear.
(And when the Australian said, "your birthday suit and that patented BM grimace," she just decided to pick the most expensive thing she owned - designer slacks, designer top, heels.)
Beca nudged her tiny fork out of square of her plate, then back again.
What could she even eat with a fork that small? A single crouton?
Beca huffed out a sigh. She'd never been to a place this fancy. It wasn't her.
She thought back to how she had asked for a menu, only to find out that 1. there was an unchangeable tasting menu, and 2. they had already dropped off a copy. She sighed a little louder at her awkwardness, and then she reached for and downed the rest of her champagne.
Her date was late, but that wasn't the problem.
Well, that wasn't the only problem.
Beca just felt like such a fish out of water. The restaurant was immaculate - top of the line furnishings and finishes, with low, warm light. The table cloth was white and felt expensive, and even the tiny fork was heavy, like it was made of something pricier than Beca's silverware.
Which, ya know, it probably was.
She knew that she should've made something up about being busy, but she figured that when Chloe Beale personally texts you to ask you to dinner - fake dating or not - you just have to go with it.
They hadn't been able to get together in the last month due to Chloe's filming schedule. Beca almost thought that they would never actually see each other again, and that the only differences in her life would be the additional 30k instagram followers that she got after the People announcement and the absolute grilling that she got from her brother when he called earlier today.
But then Chloe had texted her, and Beca had said yes, and now she was sitting alone at a very fancy, very expensive restaurant.
Although, maybe it was better that Chloe was late.
It gave Beca some time to be incredibly awkward by herself, with only the waitstaff and the few other patrons to witness her ridiculousness.
She picked up the tiny fork, holding it by both ends at eye level.
Maybe I should Google which wines pair with teeny, tiny bites of butternut squash?
"Hi, hi, sorry I'm late!"
Beca dropped the fork onto the table, and it bounced off and clattered onto the floor. Chloe Beale had finally arrived, it seemed, and she looked stunning but also way more casual in her green blouse with puffy sleeves and some dark jeans, hair up and pulled away from her fresh, make-up-less face.
Beca pushed her chair back to stand up - should they hug? Kiss? Oh my god do I have to kiss her? - but Chloe waved her off.
"No, please, sit," she insisted. "I'm so, so sorry. Ti kept us over, and I just- gosh! I should have texted or something, but we kept running this one scene, and it was really challenging because-"
"It's cool," Beca cut her off. "I haven't been here that long."
"Did you order? It would totally be okay if you did," Chloe rushed as she reviewed the paper menu. She glanced at the back - wine listings, all of which were out of Beca's budgeted price range, even for a glass - before setting it back down in front of her.
"I don't think there are, like, options?" Beca said awkwardly. "Isn't it a tasting menu or whatever?"
"Oh, no," Chloe replied quickly. "Besides, they're not even serving the cotija sweet potatoes tonight. I'll ask."
The waitress had given the pair an appropriate amount of time to get settled and chose that moment to come back with two fresh glasses of champagne.
And Beca was able to see what she assumed was a pretty typical experience in Chloe Beale's presence. The young woman set down Beca's glass first, then went to set Chloe's down, glancing up to excuse her reach, recognized Chloe, almost dropped the glass, righted herself, and stood up stock-straight.
"Hi, I- I'm Ashley, I'll be helping you out tonight," she started to say, and Chloe turned to her with a bright smile.
"Hi Ashley! I'm so sorry, is Flo still the head chef? Can you tell her that Chloe Beale is here? I'd love to say hi."
Beca felt her face heat up as the waitress excused herself as quickly as possible.
"I come here, like, all the time," Chloe said. "Or I used to, until…"
She gestured over Beca's shoulder, and the producer glanced behind her to see two indiscreet men with their cameras pressed to the outside glass, taking pictures of them.
"It's useful, when you want to do something like- well, like this," Chloe went on to explain, using small, awkward hand gestures, like she was put off by the whole idea. "Now I usually just order out, but it's not the same. It's nice that they're usually good about not letting fans in, though."
Beca's mind was reeling.
It'd been a month, but she still had her reservations as to why Chloe Beale - of all people - needed a fake girlfriend.
Now Beca was starting to think that maybe she was right- maybe Chloe was a stuck-up superstar. She went to paparazzi restaurants, asked for the chef,planned to order off menu- yet she had the nerve to talk shit on people that just wanted to tell her how awesome she was?
"But that's usually cool, right? Getting to meet fans?" Beca asked, knowing that her judgmental affect was creeping into her tone.
Chloe was taking a drink of her champagne, and she rolled her lips together as she pulled the glass away. Beca could tell that the actress was thinking of the appropriate thing to say, and she tried not to look too annoyed.
She hated being handled.
"Most of the time, I love meeting fans," Chloe said finally, looking away. "They're, like, so amazing. But when I'm just trying to eat or get gas or make a Costco run-"
Beca couldn't hold back her laugh, and Chloe's piercing blue eyes quickly returned to her.
"You- uh," she stammered. "You still do all that stuff? You don't have, like, people for that?"
"No, I do," Chloe sighed. "But-"
"Hi," a male voice cut in, and the two women broke their attention suddenly. A slightly-less-young, turtle-like bearded man - wearing a black tie, instead of the greens that everyone else was, so a manager, Beca surmised - was standing at the edge of the table.
"I hope I'm not interrupting, but I just wanted to let you know that my name is Theo, and I'm going to be around to make sure that you have a wonderful meal this evening."
His British accent threw Beca through a loop, and she squinted slightly as she scrutinized this new dude.
"But we were just starting to like Ashley," Beca said sarcastically, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chloe smile and quickly try to cover it.
"I needed Ashley to help me out in another section," he replied with a tight smile. "And Ms. Beale, you'll be happy to know that Head Chef Florencia has offered to come out at the end of the meal to see how you liked it. She also said you could order whatever you like."
Chloe straightened back up, and Beca watched as she flashed a brilliantly staged but believable smile.
"How sweet of her," she said. "Because I don't think I could eat all of this anyway!"
The manager laughed politely.
Beca almost grabbed Chloe's tiny fork to stab it into her eyeball.
"Beca, do you like sweet potatoes? Cotija cheese?" Chloe asked.
To save any more time feeling awkward and snobby, Beca nodded.
"Then you have to try their take on it - it's literally the tits. Can I order for both of us?"
Beca felt her eyes going crosseyed from nodding so much.
Please just make it stop.
"Awes," Chloe agreed. "Then let's do a sweet potato dish- Flo knows what I like. And- hm, is the fall paella good? Yeah? Okay how about one of those. And you can just bring those out together, we'll share. And maybe if someone could whip us up an amuse-bouche? And an aperitif? That's too kind, thank you. And how about two of the chablis - this ginger needs her jiggle juice!"
Smiling ever-so-graciously, the manager - whose name Beca had already forgotten - turned to Beca expectantly.
"Anything else I can get for you this evening?"
A dictionary, maybe.
"No, thanks," Beca replied with a tight-lipped smile. She grabbed her fresh glass of champagne and took another generous swallow.
I should probably slow down on the drinks, she thought sullenly. Before I do something really stupid like drop my fork.
Oh wait I already did that.
"Maybe dessert," Chloe added quickly. "But I won't know until the end!"
"Right," the manager said, and he performed a quick scan of the table.
"I'll go ahead and get that started for you, and I'll also bring you a snail fork, Miss Mitchell - sorry, looks like we missed yours."
Beca flushed as he stepped away from the table.
"I didn't even give him my name, how did he- wait, snails? Did you order us snails?"
Chloe giggled, shaking her head as she finished the last of her champagne.
"They don't serve meat here, it's just the name of the fork, I think," Chloe explained with a bit of a teasing lilt to her tone. "You didn't want to tell Theo that you dropped yours on the floor?"
Beca blanched, attempting to hide her pained, embarrassed expression behind her hand as she pinched her nose.
"You saw that?"
"Don't worry, I was the only one," Chloe said, and Beca pulled her hand away just in time to see Chloe reach across the table and touch Beca's other hand with a sly wink.
Beca recoiled instantly, pulling her arm away, and Chloe's eyes widened.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so-"
"No, it's my fault," Beca asserted, moving her hand back to where it was hovering just a breath's away from Chloe's. "I, uh, I don't do well with being touched. At least not by surprise."
"I just thought-" Chloe started to say, then stopped. She sighed, and her shoulders dropped a couple inches. Her gaze fell to the table between them, and then she looked back up at Beca.
"I thought maybe if we gave them their picture, they'd let us eat in peace."
Beca grimaced as she felt her face burning.
This was a business arrangement - one that she agreed to. She knew what she was getting into, at least to some extent. She knew what dating entailed. And she knew what Chloe expected, more or less.
So why was she being so friggin' awkward about it?
Just sack up, dude!
"Yeah, okay, cool," Beca replied, taking a deep breath before reaching forward herself this time and putting her hand on Chloe's. Chloe immediately pushed their hands back towards the space between them, turning her hand over so that their palms were open to their glasses, and Beca watched as she interlaced their fingers.
Beca knew she wasn't smiling, but she tried to push her discomfort aside as she stared at their joined hands.
She ran her thumb over Chloe's thumb.
I wonder how she gets them so soft.
Chloe cleared her throat, and Beca looked up suddenly. Her expression was hard to read - especially for someone like Beca, who didn't spend much time trying to read other people's expressions, unless they were obvious - but it resembled the one that Chloe had had in their first meeting.
Closed off, brow furrowed. Thinking hard.
Beca wondered what she was thinking about - but she didn't have to wonder for long.
"I- I never said thank you," Chloe stammered. "For doing this. You didn't have to, and I know that-"
"You're good, dude, seriously," Beca replied sharply, then sighed. "I know this is a- a thing. Or, like, not a thing, but… it's your life. I know this is part of the whole-"
Beca went to fan her hands out in a, "what a wild and crazy situation we've found ourselves in" type of move, but her hand was still caught up in Chloe's, and she ended up pulling hers with her as she gestured. Chloe's concentration broke as she smiled at their hands, their fingers stretching to almost break contact, and then, as Beca settled her hand back down, Chloe tightened their fingers back together.
Suddenly feeling awkward, Beca felt her arm stiffen as she tried to leave her hand as still as possible.
"Whatever," she blew out. "No problem. You're welcome. What were you saying? Before turtle man showed up?"
Chloe tilted her head with an amused little smile.
"Turtle man?"
"I don't remember his name," Beca bristled, and she instinctually tightened her fingers around Chloe's. Chloe squeezed back, and Beca tried not to react.
"You were talking about fans. Or errands or something."
Chloe's face fell, and Beca immediately felt guilty for trying to push the topic.
"We don't have to talk about it," she added quietly.
"No, I-" Chloe started, then stopped. She was thinking again, and Beca huffed out a loud sigh.
"Stop thinking about what you're going to say," she said forcefully. "Just say what you're actually thinking. I'm not gonna, like, tweet it."
Chloe pulled her bottom lip behind her teeth, and then she reached for Beca's half-empty second glass of champagne. She used her eyes to ask Beca the question on her mind, and Beca nodded with a small smirk.
Chloe drank the rest of the champagne in one go.
Then she took a deep breath.
"Sometimes I just want to feel normal," she sighed exasperatedly. "Sometimes people treat me differently or expect me to be something I'm not. They want me to be that bubbly, sexy girl that they see on the screen, and I just- I can't all the time. And sometimes they're, like, really creepy. Creepier than me, even. But if I say 'back off' or 'leave me alone' - like, that might be the only time they ever see me. That might be the only impression of me that I'll ever get to give them. And gosh, it just sucks sometimes!"
She slammed their joined hands down on the table, and Beca recoiled in amused shock.
"Oh- okay."
"Did you know I never finished college?" Chloe went on. "There I was, paying my way through yet another semester of failed classes in the only way I know how - and yeah, it was exotic dancing, sue me - and someone says, 'you're pretty enough to be in a movie!' So I did! And I'm here now with a career of dumb movies and even dumber boyfriends and- and- I couldn't even pass Maps!"
Chloe was nearly yelling at the empty champagne flute in front of her, breathing hard, and she had tightened her fingers into a vice-like grip around Beca's.
It took Beca squeezing them back before the actress finally relaxed her hold and looked up.
Chloe's eyes were crazy wide and a little wild, and Beca tamped down her smile into a semi-serious frown.
"'Maps'," she echoed quietly. "You mean geography?"
Chloe used the side of her pointer finger and her thumbnail to pinch Beca's thumb.
"Ow!"
"That was so not the take-away from that story."
"No, I know," Beca breathed out, and at Chloe's frustrated expression, she sighed and tacked on, "I'm sorry, dude. That's rough."
"It really is," Chloe agreed.
Beca let the moment breathe as Chloe stared off into space, seemingly processing everything she had just said.
Beca wondered if maybe this wasn't something that she thought about a lot.
Or, if, maybe, this was something that she thought about a lot.
So before she could stop herself, she was talking again.
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"What?" Chloe asked, eyes falling back on Beca.
Her hair was pulled back, away from her face, and so Beca could see each valley of her cheekbones, the slight curve of her temple, and the dip in front of her ear, just above her jaw. Could see a small scar on her forehead. The blues in her eyes.
Gosh, she's so pretty.
Even when she's staring at me.
Expectantly.
Questioningly.
… oh, right, we were talking.
"Like, are you going to do anything about it?" Beca asked.
But she realized halfway through the question why Chloe had responded the way she did- how idiotic and presumptuous it was, to put the onus of her own safety and happiness on herself when clearly she just wanted to be taken more seriously and have her own life.
To not have people like Beca, who were constantly judging her.
"I'm sorry- I just… I thought maybe you had a plan or something," Beca said before Chloe could respond. "Going forward you should just- ya know, do you, I guess."
"Ladies? May I offer you your first course?"
Beca pulled her hand out of Chloe's as the manager re-approached, staring at the vast nothingness beside their table.
She tried to tell her brain to look up at Chloe, but she couldn't do it. She knew she was probably beet red, and she felt nearly lightheaded from even the smallest bit of contact between them.
And Chloe totally noticed. She had to have noticed. It was like a big neon sign was hanging above her head, reading "I think you're hot!" - or "I don't get out much!" - or maybe even "Being a jerk is easier than being vulnerable!"
Beca chewed on the inside of her cheek.
She was definitely overthinking all of this.
Will you just be a normal person? she berated herself. Just have one single iota of chill.
But then she remembered the context- that she - an awkward and slightly unhinged irregular person - was fake-dating and possibly crushing on a gorgeous, possibly-also-unhinged movie star with a penchant for winking.
And maybe it was just the champagne, but Beca finally cut herself some slack.
You don't have to be anything, she told herself.
Just get through the night.
She didn't even realize that the guy was explaining their food until he said something about pistachio and disappeared again, and Beca resumed her attention on the table in front of her.
But all she found was the smallest portion of food she had ever seen.
It was maybe two bites, and it was bright purple, covered with startlingly white foam and little green shavings. The colors made Beca think of some half-remembered cartoon- they were so saturated, even in the dim, warm light.
The click of a phone camera went off, and she looked up just in time to see Chloe taking a picture.
"I'm not in that, am I?"
Chloe smiled as she rolled her eyes good-naturedly before narrowing them at her.
"Becs, I'm not sure what you're not getting about the whole 'fake-dating' thing, but having you in the picture would actually be a good thing," she replied.
Publicity.
Social media.
Right.
… did she just call me "Becs"?
"But no," Chloe went on. "I just got your plate. I'll post it later so we don't get mobbed."
"Oh, that reminds me- hey! Guy! What's his fuckin'- dude!"
Chloe's eyes widened as Beca flagged the guy back over to the table.
Theo!
That's his name.
"Is everything to your liking?"
"Yeah, totally, this thing is… fine. Edible, even," Beca attempted to cover as she stalled. She had about seven ounces of liquid courage to spend, and she was determined to use them well. "Delicious. I can tell just by the, uh, smells. Aromas, I mean."
She could see Chloe's mouth had dropped open into pure shock, but she pressed on.
"Can't wait for the rest of the meal - it's honestly probably going to be one of the best ones I've ever eaten. But those dudes, with the cameras?" she said, thumbing over her shoulder roughly. "I think they got their shots. Can you tell them that we'll be out later? And ask them to, like, chill?"
To his credit, once he saw them, Theo had the decency to look embarrassed by how close the paparazzi had gotten.
Good, Beca thought. He should.
"No, certainly, of course."
"We're cool with pictures at the end," she added slowly. She didn't want to fuck this up any further and not actually get the shots that they needed to sell this thing. But if she were actually dating Chloe Beale - which would be… good? bad? annoying? god, what a mindfuck - she would want some privacy.
"I will tell them to wait by the valet," Theo agreed with a slow nod. "And, for what it's worth, Ms. Beale, I'm sorry-"
"No, I- wow. Thank you," Chloe said, and Theo scurried off.
Bravery reserves depleted, Beca reached for one of the new glasses that had been set on the table with the morsel of cartoon food and brought it forward, sniffing it cautiously.
"So why is this purple too?" she wondered aloud, focusing her attention on the coupe glass in her hand in an attempt to distract from what she just did. "You see two women out together and immediately give them a lavender drink? Feels like I'm being hate-crimed."
She smirked at her own joke, but Chloe didn't respond, so Beca took a steeling breath before glancing over at her.
That concentrated, distant look was back- but this time, Beca could see that Chloe was looking across the table at her face.
At her- wow.
At my lips.
Without any conscious thought on her part, she let her tongue breach her lips, ran it along her bottom lip, because maybe she had something on them?
She didn't, but she watched as the distant part of Chloe's gaze faded, and Chloe's lips parted as she watched Beca's tongue trace across her lip.
What is happening.
WHAT is HAPPENING.
"Did I-" Beca broke the tension, huffing out out a laugh and setting her glass down. "Was that bad, to ask them to leave? I'm sorry, that was, like, way too much."
"No," Chloe said softly, blinking out of whatever she was thinking to meet Beca's eye. There was a lot of emotion in them - too much for Beca to parse - but then Chloe smiled.
"I just- I forgot that you were allowed to do that," she laughed quietly, almost to herself.
"Well, yeah," Beca said brusquely. "I mean, of course I can. But you could too. They're not, like, entitled to your whole life or whatever."
Chloe smiled even wider at that - an honest-to-goodness, full teeth, crinkle-eyed smile - and Beca let heat bloom over her cheeks as she rolled her eyes playfully.
Maybe Chloe Beale was a stuck-up superstar. Maybe she was just as nice as she seemed.
Didn't matter either way, because apparently Beca was just going to keep being attracted to her. Like a freight train with no breaks, Beca knew that path was set.
Crash and all.
"A toast," Chloe said. She picked up her mysterious sparkling light purple beverage and held it out in front of her, and Beca did the same.
"To what?"
"To us," Chloe smiled. "To the two most amazing women I have ever met-"
"Wow, okay. Godspeed," Beca replied solemnly. Chloe giggled, and Beca felt her nose scrunch up slightly as they clinked glasses.
They kept their eyes locked on each other as they sipped, but Beca had to look away when she found she could hardly drink anything when the glass's brim made contact with her wide smile. The drink was gin, and sweet, with just a little bit of lemon to round off the floral taste of lavender. She let the bubbliness slink around the sides of her tongue, savoring it, then swallowed roughly.
"Okay, walk me thought this, Beale," she sighed. "How do we eat whatever the fuck this is."
Chloe smiled as she picked up the tiny fork - Beca did the same with her replacement one - and then, following Chloe's lead, they both scooped up the entire bite of food.
"It's an amuse-bouche," Chloe explained.
"You say that like I'm going to know what it means."
Chloe shook her head and gestured with the fork.
"With the drink, it's supposed to prepare you for the meal," she went on. "They take all the flavors and palette that they want to convey with the other courses and make a single bite hors d'oeuvre."
She popped the whole bite into her mouth and let out a small, satisfied moan.
Beca looked away.
Okay, so I'm definitely a little tipsy, at least.
Because that was sexy.
That shouldn't be sexy, she's just eating food!
But then Beca did the same with her bite, and she had to hold back a moan of her own.
It was tangy and sweet, and the creamy foam just melted away as she crunched into what was evidently a pickled beet, with just that last little nuttiness of the pistachio rounding out what was a shockingly huge flavor for a single bite of food.
"Good, right?" Chloe asked over the rim of her cocktail.
"Man, how did they do that?" Beca hummed. "Holy crap."
"And that's just what she had ready to go," Chloe replied. "Whenever I order out, they don't do the whole dining experience, so you don't get the amuse-bouche or the aperitif or anything. I always ask Flo to recommend something, and her notes are always like, 'cut ten grams of cucumber and sprinkle with celery salt.'"
Beca made a grab for her cocktail as Chloe laughed.
"As if I have any fresh produce on-hand while I'm filming," she sighed. "I barely get home to shower, let alone shop."
Even without any context, Beca made a sympathetic noise into her drink.
"Like tonight," Chloe went on. "I have to be back onset at 4 tomorrow."
Beca nearly choked on her drink, just barely holding back from spitting her last mouthful back into the glass.
"Chloe," she coughed. "That's in, like, less than five hours."
"I know," the actress lamented. "I was going to invite you for that sleepover, but…"
Beca nodded one too many times towards her now-empty coupe glass. She almost got distracted enough to focus on the whole sleepover thing, but then she remembered what Chloe had just said.
"That's, like, crazy hours," she said, and Chloe shrugged. "You left at, what, 10:30?"
"Yep," Chloe confirmed. "And then we start night shoots on Saturday, I think. And they already think we're going to run long on production. At least through the first week of October."
"And then you start your next one?"
Chloe nodded.
"And I have so much more to do before then," she sighed. "I really need some time in between to learn my lines and get into character. I'm not ready for it at all."
"Well, it's just a movie," Beca said off-handedly, and Chloe gasped.
Uh oh.
"'Just a movie'!?" Chloe repeated in appalled tone. "Movies are my life!"
"So is now a bad time to tell you that I don't like them?" Beca hedged, and Chloe scoffed with a wide, amused smile.
"You don't-"
"Ladies, how are we doing?"
Beca was laughing with her teeth fully covering her bottom lip as she looked up at Theo.
"You all like to move fast around here, don't you?"
Theo smiled indulgently, but Chloe actually laughed out loud. It was a long, goofy laugh, and Beca glanced over - Chloe's eyes were shining, and she was smiling so broadly. Her face was a little rosy, and her head was tilted back, showing off the long, elegant lines of her chin and neck.
Okay, I am definitely beyond tipsy.
Because she is the prettiest person I've ever seen.
"I'll be right back with the next course," Theo excused himself, grabbing the now-empty plates with a smug smile.
Still grinning, Beca turned back to Chloe and gestured to the drink that she had yet to finish.
"Bottoms up," she teased.
Chloe gasped indignantly in a mock-affronted tone.
"Beca Mitchell, are you trying to get me drunk?" she shot back, and Beca leaned in conspiratorially.
"It's not me," she whispered. "It's the restaurant. They must hate us, because I have never eaten a meal this fast."
Chloe had finished her cocktail and leaned in to match Beca, glancing around furtively.
"They don't want anyone to know we ordered off-menu," she said in a low voice. "Ruins the experience."
"About that-"
"I know," Chloe sighed. "Am I not the absolute worst?"
Beca laughed, big and bright, and Chloe matched her with an ecstatic giggle.
"I hate doing it," she confessed. "I wouldn't do it if I was anywhere else- to anyone else, but Flo is, like, a friend. And with the costumes and the re-shoots and the filming schedules, I just get-"
She blew out a short, quick, loud sigh and gestured across the table.
"Okay, you talk now," she said. "Who are you? What are you working on? What are your wildest dreams and biggest fears? Tell me about your first time having sex."
"My first- what!" Beca laughed. "You're drunk!"
"I'm not drunk, I'm a Gemini. Wait you're not a Capricorn are you?"
"Virgo," Beca responded, and this time she actually saw Theo coming with their plates.
"Wait, a Virgo?" Chloe asked. "When was your-"
"Are we ready for the main meal this evening?" Theo asked charmingly. Both women gave haphazard, assenting gestures and encouraging noises until Theo set down their plates, with the potato dish in front of Chloe and a vibrantly-colored rice dish at Beca's setting.
"So tonight, we have the roasted sweet potatoes with garlic-infused olive oil and cotija cheese," Theo began.
"Which are so good," Chloe cut in.
"I believe the exact words were, 'the tits,'" Beca shot back.
"Because they are," Chloe countered.
"Your words, not mine," Theo tacked on. "Though they are quite delicious."
Beca covered her giggle with a hand as Theo went on.
"And the autumnal paella, with carrots, parsnips, and butternut squash, topped with pomegranate arils and hojiblanca olives from the south of Cordoba," he continued, letting a small smirk grace his weird, reptilian face.
"But your meal won't go south with these badboys in there," he joked.
"Oh, honey-" Beca sighed.
"Theo, that was-"
"-we didn't like that at all," Beca finished.
Chloe reached up to pat him on the arm.
"It's okay," she comforted him. "What about the wine?"
"Sorry, yeah," Theo sighed in a sort of resigned acceptance. "The wine. Uh, it's a Chablis, from the Chablis region of France, 2011. It has the typical fruit notes of a Chablis - specifically the softly exotic aromas of white peach and passionfruit - and it has a focused and linear finish."
"Sounds delicious," Chloe said encouragingly.
"Or like a farmer's market," Beca added sarcastically.
"Okay, I'm going to-" Theo said, throwing two thumbs up and towards his shoulder. "Enjoy."
Theo stepped away, and Beca took a deep breath in, inhaling the rich smells of the delicious-looking food in front of her, and she smiled.
She was actually having fun.
Not that she thought dinner was going to be, like, disastrously awful. But she did think that she'd be in her head the whole time, wondering what to say or what they would talk about. At the very least, she thought she would be awkward enough to ruin the conversation flow.
She was happy and actually quite surprised to find that Chloe was right - they absolutely did get along.
Somehow, Chloe's infectious charm and Beca's biting sarcasm left room for this playful banter that she absolutely did not expect, from herself or from anyone that she was in conversation with.
It was refreshing, like that cool wind that came down from the mountains.
Or, like a chablis, apparently, she thought as she sipped the wine.
Now if only I could get over this dumb crush, we could actually be friends.
"Okay, where were we?" Chloe asked as she began to load potatoes onto a small plate.
"Well, I'm not going to tell you about my first time," Beca said with a bit of bite in her tone. Then she gestured down to her dish and the small plate next to it. "Should I…?"
"You absolutely should!" Chloe grinned.
Beca just rolled her eyes.
"No, Beale, the food," she explained with fake exasperation - undercut slightly by the goofy grin she couldn't keep off her face. "We can do this, like, tapas-style?"
Chloe nodded, and Beca grabbed her spoon to start doling out paella.
"You asked what I was working on," Beca stalled with her eyes down on the task in front of her.
It was easier to talk to Chloe when she could focus on something else, instead of having to look at her.
"And also your wildest dreams and fears," Chloe replied cheekily. Beca glanced up to see that she was offering her the small plate, and the pair traded their servings across the table to get the other dish.
"Well, I want to talk about work," Beca shot back, but then she sighed.
"Or I don't, actually."
Because work was just… not good.
It wasn't like they were freezing her out. They weren't trying to get her to quit. But someone, somewhere in Residual's team was absolutely out to get her.
Or, more likely, they were out to take Beca's role for themselves.
Beca took a bite of the sweet potatoes - and Chloe was right, they were decadent and flavorful and scrumptious - as she wondered if there was even a future for her at Residual Heat anymore.
When they plucked her off the deejay circuit when she was only twenty-two, she had been beyond ecstatic. They'd put her in rooms with some of the best artists at the time, because those artists had requested her. She'd gone toe-to-toe with them and their teams, and she produced the hell out of some of those tracks.
Now it was, what, three years later?
God, she felt old.
Which was ridiculous, because everyone else at her level in the company was much older than her.
Things moved fast in this town, and her name had filtered down the celebrity pipeline after no Grammy wins - like everyone just forgot that almost all of the songs she produced had made the final albums, and some had even charted pretty high on Billboard.
And that she wasn't even of age to legally rent a car.
She was supposed to be a prodigy, but it seemed like now, her bosses felt like they bet on the wrong kid.
She glanced up at Chloe to find the woman surreptitiously watching her from behind her wine glass.
"I'm working with a kid named Pimp-lo, if that's any indication of where I'm at currently," Beca tried to joke, but it fell flat when she couldn't get quite the right tone. "And here I thought I made his track better - or, at least, radio-appropriate - but guess which of us has 'four million hits on Soundcloud and, like, ten million videos on TikTok'?"
She threw her hands up in an imitation of the gesture that Pimp-lo had made earlier today and nearly knocked over her wine.
"Oh, I shouldn't have done that," she whined.
Chloe still hadn't said anything, and Beca - terrified of what a silence might mean during this part of the conversation - continued talking.
But she kept her eyes down as she worked food onto her fork.
"Whatever, I guess I just make lame stuff now," she said. "Which is, like, totally fine, except that I love making music and I'll literally never be able to stop and if my music is bad now then I'll just fall farther and farther into obscurity."
Chloe hummed around a bite, and Beca looked up to see her nodding.
"Well, they're stupid," she said sagely, and Beca rolled her eyes. "I like your music."
Beca blinked, fork stalling halfway to her lips.
"You know my music?"
Chloe smiled softly.
"What, did you think I was just going to fake-date someone that I didn't believe in? Yeah, of course I like it," she said simply, with no hint of teasing - but she turned her attention back on the food in front of her. "It's conceited to say, but attaching a name to mine means that person is going to, like, blow up. And before, I feel like I didn't take that seriously enough."
Beca squinted down at the colors on her plate as she chewed.
The juxtaposition of cartoon-like food and this very serious topic was making her head swim.
No, you idiot, that's the alcohol.
Chloe Beale liked her music.
Chloe Beale believed in her music enough to choose her to fake-date.
Chloe had messed that up in the past?
Had boosted somebody up that didn't deserve it?
"And anyway, I know what it's like to look back on your body of work and be, like, unimpressed," Chloe continued. "Like this premiere we're going to in November…"
Chloe trailed off, and Beca watched as she dragged her fork around the few potatoes still left on her plate.
"That bad?" she winced.
Chloe looked up then, and, instead of responding right away, she set down her fork and reached for her wine glass. Beca could see the way that she dredged up a smile - one that didn't quite reach all the expressive parts of her face.
"To borrow your word, it's a little lame," she explained.
"Yeah, but aren't all movies kinda lame?"
That got a real reaction out of Chloe - the spark came back into her eyes, and her tongue was in her cheek as a wry smile stretched across her face. She gestured with the wine glass in her hand.
"You're messing with me."
"I'm actually not."
She narrowed her eyes again.
"You don't like any movies?" Chloe asked. "None?"
"They're fine!" Beca protested. "I just get bored and never make it to the end."
"Because they're predictable?"
Beca nodded as she shoveled more paella in her mouth.
She was always just the slightest bit embarrassed to say that movies weren't her thing, especially in LA. It sure seemed like everyone else was allowed to have their own opinions - like, "that singer is overrated" or "the song was better before" - but the second she said she didn't like movies, she was the pariah.
But as Chloe regarded her closely, sipping her wine, Beca didn't feel like she was judging her. It felt more complicated and gentle than that.
Great, she thought. Now I'm drunk AND romantic.
Definitely only doing water from here on out.
"I don't buy it, Mitchell," Chloe said finally. "I bet you cried at the end of Marley and Me just like the rest of us."
"That's a dog movie, right?" Beca asked, and Chloe nodded with bright eyes. "A dog movie where the dog dies at the end- yeah, that's original."
"It's not about the ending!" Chloe jumped in. "It's about the journey."
"The journey of getting a dog - one that probably tests them, that's probably a rascal, that they ultimately grow to love, and then it eventually dies- and they decide that their relationship is worth it or they need to grow up or- whatever," Beca ranted. "It's a metaphor. And an overdone one at that. Pass."
Chloe kept up a skeptical gaze as she switched back to her food - but the expression lost a little of its bite as the redhead yawned.
"Okay, well what about Razzie-honored, love-making movies?" Chloe asked sleepily. "I promise, it's not a metaphor. Although I suppose the ending is pretty predictable, the way I-"
"Ya know," Beca cut in as her fork clattered to her dish. She heard Chloe giggle. "I bet I could guess."
She didn't need to think about Chloe like that.
She didn't need to think about Chloe onscreen, being undressed.
Someone slipping her skirt down her skin, revealing a glimpse of lace.
Her leg, stretched out, taut.
Her eyes, hooded as she smiled, then gasped.
Sweaty and wide-eyed, mouth agape-
Yeah.
I definitely don't need to think of her like that.
"Bathroom," she said suddenly as she pushed her chair back, not looking at Chloe and not waiting for her response. "I'll be right back."
She passed Theo on the way, who pointed her in the right direction. Down a slight hall, removed from the dining area, and Beca made her way back to a series of individual doors without gender signs on them. She chose one at random and stepped inside, finding an empty, single-person bathroom.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
Well, at least I'm not as drunk as I thought I was.
Mirrors were the best drunken litmus test for her - if she couldn't hold her eye, or if she had a glassy, far-away, dead-shark-eyes look, she knew that she was too far gone and needed to find a way home, leave her car wherever it was.
But despite the low lighting - even in the bathroom, guys, really?! - Beca knew she was okay. She felt more than comfortable driving home after drinking some water.
… so then why do I feel so giddy?
She flipped on the water to distract herself, to give herself something to do.
Hands under the automatic soap dispenser, then under the water.
She knew why she felt giddy.
She knew why there was a slight blush on her cheeks, and why she couldn't stop smiling.
And it was absolutely stupid.
She should not be crushing on Chloe Beale.
There was so much that could go wrong with having a crush on someone whose career she was trying to help.
It wasn't fair- to Chloe, to her team, to Residual- even to herself. She wouldn't have pursued Chloe anyway, but she absolutely couldn't now- not when they were spending time together in, like, a contractual way.
She had little to no experience with the matter at hand, but she assumed that fake-dating only worked when everyone knew what cards everyone else was holding.
And yet, Beca wanted to keep this hand close to her chest.
It's only six months, she thought as she stepped back into the restaurant.
She could handle that.
Could hide a crush that long.
Especially if full months would pass where they didn't even see each other.
Just get through the night.
And the week.
And the month.
And the-
She stopped her thoughts as she stepped back up to the table.
Chloe looked up as she approached, and Beca watched as a slow smile made its way onto her face. She looked exhausted, so it all started at her eyes as they turned up around the edges, twinkling, then cheeks lifting, and finally the corners of her mouth, pulling slightly like she didn't mean to- like the only thing she could do was smile, when she was that happy.
And Beca smiled back.
Fuck.
She slid back into her seat with a sigh.
"So my first time was back in high school-"
Chloe's whole face lit up, and Beca started to laugh, and Chloe did too. They both dissolved into uncontrollable giggles, and every time Beca would try to stop - to drink water or quiet down - she would look at Chloe trying to stop and start all over again.
Which only made it that much funnier when Beca saw Theo starting to approach their table.
"Oh my gosh, he's back again!"
Theo gave a slight bow as he stepped up next to the table, and the women finally got their giggles down to a reasonable level.
"How's everything going so far? Good, I take it?"
"Fantastic," Chloe grinned, letting a last chuckle escape.
But Beca dropped her smile and shrugged nonchalantly.
"Eh, it's all right," she got out before Chloe threw her napkin across the table at her.
"Becs!" she laughed.
"Fine! I'll admit it; she picked a good restaurant!" Beca sighed dramatically. "I can't remember the last time I stayed up past… midnight?"
"Oh my gosh, is is that late?" Chloe flushed, and Beca immediately matched her mood. "I really should-"
"Yeah, you need to-"
"I'm so sorry, but can we-"
"Yeah, for sure," Beca nodded. "And I can drop you off."
Chloe smiled at her, eyes glowing in the warm light that surrounded the table.
"Yeah?"
"Of course," Beca replied, with another slight roll of her eyes. "It's the least I can do. Can we get a box, so she can take all this with her? Is that dorky?"
"Sure, let me get that for you," Theo said as he grabbed the plates. "And Flo will be right out."
Beca let a comfortable silence settle over them as she sipped her water.
She looked at Chloe Beale - actual, factual Chloe Beale, actress extraordinaire - across the table from her. But she didn't look like an actress extraordinaire or a superstar or any of those words that Beca associated with her before.
She just looked like a beautiful woman, drinking wine and grinning.
"This was fun," Beca said finally, but Chloe looked behind her, and her whole face lit up and-
"No!" Chloe shouted, and Beca nearly jumped out of her chair. She spun around quickly - that sounded like a happy no, didn't it? Was there such thing as a "happy" no? She was ready to stand and - she didn't know, punch someone? Maybe? But all she saw was- a woman around their age? In a white chef's uniform. With-
With a fucking candle-lit cookie.
The woman stepped up to their table - and considering there really weren't any other patrons back here, Beca knew where she was headed anyway - but she set the cookie in front of Beca as she sported a wide grin.
"Miss Mitchell, thank you for spending your birthday with us," she said sweetly, with a thick Central American accent. "And Chloe, always a pleasure."
"Did you dudes, like, Google me or something?"
"I don't know what you mean," Flo smiled.
Chloe gasped excitedly.
"Oh my god should I sing? Happy birth-"
"Don't you dare, Beale."
"Fine. Flo, good to see you!" Chloe said instead, jumping up and throwing her arms around the chef. She hugged her back, but Chloe whipped around to look at Beca while she still had her arms around her.
"Don't think I'm letting you get away with not telling me that it's your birthday!" she screeched, and Beca just laughed as she blew out the candle.
(Wish? No, she didn't make a wish. Wishes were lame. Wishes were for four year olds or the delusional.
Was she thinking about Chloe, when she blew it out?
… maybe.
But she was also, like, looking at her.
That was normal.
And if her brain said, I want to do this again as she looked at Chloe and blew out a candle, was that a wish?
No way.
Wishes were lame.)
"We're coming back to that," Chloe warned, and then she turned back to face Flo.
"How's Micah? And Daniel? Is he still in school? Is he still having trouble with math?"
Beca tuned the pair out as she pulled the candle out of the cookie. She broke off a piece and popped it into her mouth. It was just a sugar cookie, but somehow Flo or her team had made it taste amazing, of course.
Like a proper birthday treat.
She took another bite.
So yeah, she could've told Chloe that she was busy, or that it was her birthday at midnight so she didn't necessarily want to go out, but she didn't actually think that it was going to be a big deal. She had plans later in the week to see some friends, and she was having lunch with Amy tomorrow- or, today.
She couldn't believe that these people had blown up her spot.
And in front of Chloe Beale, no less.
But eh, whatever.
It'd been a good night.
"And by the way, how was everything?" Flo asked suddenly, turning to include Beca in the conversation. Theo had come back, and as he handed something to Chloe, and then the box of food to Beca, Flo reached out to clap him on the shoulder.
"Was this guy not terrible?"
"He was impossible," Beca groaned.
"Becs!"
"He was rude, he made terrible jokes-"
"Beca!" Chloe cried out again as she laughed. "Quit it!"
Beca held her hands up in surrender and smiled as Chloe went on.
"He was great, Flo," she said seriously. "And the food was amazing."
"That part, I agree with," Beca grinned.
Chloe looked like she was about to say something else, but instead of words, a huge yawn came out of her mouth.
"Are you all-" she started to say, but Beca stood.
"C'mon," she said softly. "Time for you to get home."
"Would you like to go out the other way?" Flo offered. "We can have your vehicle waiting for you."
Beca froze. That would be a perfectly logical thing to do, but they needed pictures. It was literally their whole point in coming here. What lie- what fabrication could she even come up with to justify-
"S'good," Chloe yawned again. "We can handle it."
"Are you sure?" Flo offered again, and Chloe nodded.
She leaned down to help herself to the rest of Beca's birthday cookie, and Beca couldn't hold back her grin.
Dinner, with Chloe Beale.
Birthday dinner.
At a very, very expensive restaurant.
Wait-
"Wait, we have to pay," Beca said suddenly.
"Ms. Beale has already taken care of it," Theo started to explain, and Flo knocked him on the back of the head playfully.
"I told you, they were not intended to pay!"
"And I told you, she refused!" Theo countered back as they walked to the front. "She was actually quite mean about it."
Beca laughed loudly as Chloe sidled up next to her.
"It's the least I could do," she said softly, using Beca's words back against her, and Beca turned just a bit so she could see Chloe in her periphery.
No make-up, and hair pulled back, eyes shiny with sleep- and Beca had never seen a more beautiful person.
And she couldn't even blame the alcohol at this point.
"Happy birthday," Chloe whispered.
"Thanks," Beca blushed. "It was- ah, it was a good one."
Chloe was beaming, and she made a move to wrap her arm around Beca's, where it was bent to carry their leftovers. Beca nodded, and Chloe's hand curled around her bicep. She felt Chloe nestle just the slightest bit into her bare shoulder.
"You look really good tonight," Chloe hummed, so quietly that Beca wasn't even sure she heard her right.
"Wha-"
"Ladies," Theo cut in. "Your chariot awaits."
"Dude, just stop," Beca sighed.
"Boooooo!" Chloe giggled, and Beca could feel the laughter in her chest, where it was pressed against her arm.
Wow, that feels good.
"Are you sure you would not like to avoid this?" Flo asked as she peeked through the window. "There are many people here who are taking pictures."
Beca felt herself tense up, and Chloe squeezed her arm a little tighter. Beca switched her takeout to her other hand, shaking Chloe's arm so they were holding hands instead of- well, instead of whatever they were doing before.
"We'll be fine," Chloe assured her - although, whether that was for Flo or for Beca, Beca didn't know.
"Just keep moving, no matter what they say," Chloe said in a low voice as Theo was handing Beca her jacket back. She let go of Chloe- but only for a moment, because as soon as her hand was through her sleeve, Chloe had reached for her again.
"Just keep moving, and this will be over before you know it."
Beca took a deep breath. Through the window, she could see her little grey Prius - leased, but not too old - idling in the circle drive.
And around it, there were people.
Like, tens of people.
Just standing, waiting for Beca, with their cameras and their questions.
She stood there, counting to ten, trying to regulate her breathing, and Chloe stood next to her. She didn't squeeze Beca's hand or nudge her forward. She waited, and Beca waited.
And then Beca nodded.
"All right, let's go."
Beca puffed out her chest, and Theo moved to open the door.
"Come back any time," Flo said, patting Beca's arm as she passed. "Any friend of Chloe's is a friend of mine."
And then the flashes started.
"Chloe!"
"Chloe, over here!"
"How was dinner?"
"Beca, this way!"
"Give us a smile!"
Beca grimaced as she beelined it to the car door. Some valet was already holding the passenger side open for Chloe, and Beca nearly shoved her inside and slammed the door.
She looked up and was immediately blinded by a flash.
"Beca, what's Chloe like?"
Flash.
"Beca, is this the real deal?"
Flash. Flash.
"Beca, over here, Beca!"
The paparazzi were closer on this side, and both Beca and the valet had to push them back so they could get the car door open. She could hear the shutters on their cameras.
"Beca, is Chloe good in the sack?"
Flash.
"Beca, how much is she paying you?"
Beca clenched her jaw as she forced the door open enough for her to get in. Leftovers still in her lap, she slammed the gas, and the car revved threateningly as it stayed in park.
"Woah, Beca!"
"Don't hit us!"
The crowd parted a bit as Beca threw the car into drive, and she didn't gun it quite as hard as they pulled out onto the street.
"Okay, that was wild," Chloe laughed. "I haven't seen a crowd like that since- oh my god, Beca. Are you okay? Hey."
Beca's breath was coming in quick, short gasps, and as Chloe reached for her, she pulled her arm away.
"Don't- don't touch me," Beca heaved. "I'm not-"
"Do you need to pull over?"
"No," Beca gritted out, grabbing her phone and unlocking it, handing it to Chloe. "Just- just put your address in."
The road stayed straight as she focused all of her attention in front of her.
Her ears were ringing, like she was at a concert.
Dimly, she was aware that the stereo was playing the lofi playlist that Beca had on before dinner.
Consistent bass, with slow jazz.
Piano.
Static.
Bird sounds.
Her heart still pounding.
She took a deep breath.
That was…
"Head east on Melrose Avenue, then turn left on Crescent Heights Boulevard."
"Can you turn the voice off?" Beca asked in a quieter voice. "Please. I can just look at it."
She glanced over to see Chloe nod, and she quickly took stock of the woman.
She had her lip pulled between her teeth, eyes down on the screen, but she glanced at Beca as the producer looked over. Beca could tell that she wanted to say something to make her feel better. Which, in most situations, Beca would shut down on principle. She didn't need comfort or pity or whatever condescending, contrived emotion Chloe was going to try to offer with perfected sincerity. She didn't need anything, from anyone.
Except right now, she did feel like she could use someone.
She'd never experienced anything like that in her life.
That was madness.
That was the kind of thing that made Beca want to crawl into a hole and die there.
That was something that no person in the world should ever have to deal with- and Chloe dealt with it all the time. Not to that extreme, probably, but comparable at least. She was probably constantly thinking about how she could get somewhere or do something without paparazzi or fans or whomever swarming her.
Beca glanced at the phone for directions as she thought back to the beginning of the night, how she'd been so accusatory about Chloe meeting fans.
If it was anything like that, Beca was of a wholly different opinion now.
She took another deep breath.
I'm not built that way, she thought.
Beca wasn't the type of person that could turn it on, be who someone needed her to be. If she was tired or hungry, or mad at something, everyone knew. Not only that, but they stayed the fuck out of her way until she dealt with what needed dealing with.
But Chloe- Chloe didn't do that.
Deep breath.
Beca could tell that Chloe wasn't like that.
From the way she treated people around her, and from the way she talked about fans earlier - Beca knew that Chloe was an actual good person.
Someone who wasn't fucked up about everything like Beca.
Someone who could touch people without flinching, or get through a meal without second-guessing every other decision she made.
Deep breath.
Another.
Another.
"I'm not like you," Beca said aloud.
Beca could see Chloe shift uncomfortably in her seat, and Beca flushed.
"I'm not- ah," Beca grimaced. "I didn't mean-"
"No, I get it," Chloe replied, and Beca could hear the sadness in her tone. "I'm not everybody's cup of tea."
Beca pulled onto the freeway, sparing a sideways glance at Chloe.
She had her arms folded over her chest, and she was leaning against the window, staring straight ahead, eyes drooping slightly.
She'd probably worked for- jesus- sixteen hours today? And she still made time for this? Had a wonderful meal with Beca, small-talked to Flo and Theo, dealt with the paparazzi.
She had to be back on set in less than four hours, and Beca was trying to have this conversation?
Right now?
She pushed her thoughts down and turned up the music.
She saw Chloe lean further against the door, shifting away slightly as she tried to get more comfortable, and Beca smiled, just a bit, though her heart was still trying to find its regular rhythm.
Chloe Beale was an anomaly.
A beautiful, pure-hearted, disastrously weird anomaly.
And why did I think that I might actually get over my crush?
Beca let herself focus on the road as the mellow music continued to play. The freeway still had a few cars on the road, even for past 12 on a random Thursday.
Well, it wasn't random to her.
Her 26th birthday.
She hadn't been expecting anything, really. She wasn't even going to tell Chloe - though, she wondered if the actress would find out eventually.
It was one of those things - after a while, birthdays just became days like every other one.
But she couldn't shake the feeling that this one was special.
She felt invincible. Powerful.
Happy.
It wasn't like she was particularly sad before, but this was different. She was energized, like she'd been charged up to 110%. Maybe it was the leftover adrenaline from the paparazzi, but she felt a little high.
Like she was floating, but also like she was in the surf, waiting for that pull of the next wave, that tug around her waist.
When one of the rare songs on the playlist that had lyrics came up, she sang along, quietly and to herself. She got off the highway where her phone told her to and was able to navigate her way to the gate at Chloe's neighborhood.
"Hey, Chloe," she went to say, and when she turned to ask Chloe to talk to the guard, Chloe was out.
Eyes lightly closed, and lips parted.
She's cute when she sleeps, Beca thought.
Okay that's actually the most disgusting thing I've ever thought.
"License, please? Who are you here for, miss?" the guard asked, pulling Beca out of her thoughts.
"Oh, I'm- I'm just driving my, uh, my friend home. My girlfriend. Chloe Beale," she said as she fished out her license and handed it over.
The guard checked his list, reviewing it slowly. He checked it against her license.
"Rebecca Mitchell?"
"That's me," Beca swallowed as she blushed. "Yep."
"Go on up- and thanks for getting her home safe," the guard smiled as he handed her back her ID. Beca nodded abruptly, tossing her license into the cupholder and pulling through the gate. She let the phone's navigation guide her up to what looked like a reasonably large home, with white brick and black trim, and she turned down the music.
"Chloe," she said softly.
She thought about nudging her awake.
But she wasn't quite there yet.
"Hmm?" Chloe hummed as she awoke. "I like your singing voice."
"Hah, thanks," Beca replied. "We're, uh, we're at your house. You're home."
"Oh," Chloe chuckled. "Already?"
"Already."
"Okay," Chloe sighed. "Thanks for the ride. And happy birthday."
Beca stifled the urge to run around the car, to open the door for her and help her out.
To walk her to the door.
To help her with her keys.
To look at her, under the dim light of the porch-
Chloe opened the door, and Beca's weird mini-fantasy popped like a bubble.
"Oh, you forgot the-"
The door shut, and Beca waited as Chloe walked - sans leftovers, with heavy, sleepy feet - all the way around to the side of the garage, disappeared, and then there was a flash of the porch lights and Beca knew she was safe.
It wasn't until Beca was back on the freeway that she realized what she had been singing.
Eyes blue,
like the Atlantic-
and I'm going down, like the Titanic.
good lofi is hard to find.
spotify user ineverwantedaspotifyaccount, playlist is 9/22/22, 12:30a