The Weight of Unraveling

Part 4

In Chloe's arms, Beca found an all new stage of acceptance. She closed her eyes and let the other girl's thumbs slip under the edge of the tee shirt she had borrowed, and brush lightly against the bones of her hips. There was only one thing going through her mind at that moment- euphoria.

"How are you and Jesse?" Chloe asked, her lips nearly touching Beca's ear again.

"Jesse?" Beca returned, her eyes still closed, lost in the moment. "Who?"

"The Treblemaker."

"Oh. Him. We're just friends."

Chloe's lips got closer, so that when she spoke, they brushed the other girl's ear. "Why is that?"

"He's not my type," Beca replied, and tilted her head to one side, baring her neck to the other girl. She really had no idea what she was doing, or what she expected, but it was impossible not to react when Chloe was being so... Irresistable.

Even so, moments ticked by before either of them moved or spoke again. And then the redhead whispered, this time her lips brushing the skin stretching beneath the brunette's ear, "What is your type Beca Mitchell?"

Releasing a quiet sigh, the younger girl's eyes opened. She was suddenly back in the moment, and realizing what was happening made heart flutter. Chloe had her hands on her waist, and her lips on her neck and she'd just asked Beca a question that was liable to get her into so much trouble. She had to provide the perfect answer, and so she said, "I'm not really sure what my type is. How about you?"

Chloe's thumbs stilled, her breath pressed warmly against Beca's skin. She hesitated in her answer, her chest rising and falling to meet Beca's back, the brunette's damp hair cool against her cheek. "I have an idea," she cooed, "But I'm not ready to find out if it's possible." She let her hands fall then and then she slid out from behind the other girl and moved to the other side of the room. "What sort of tea would you like later?"

Beca blinked, stunned at the sudden loss of contact. "I, um..." She ran a hand through her hair. "What kind of idea?"

"Oh, it's really not important," she said, picking up a large tin off of her desk. "Anyway, I have green, mint, chai, cinnamon..."

"Chloe."

"I have some breakfast tea too," she continued, "But it's late, so."

"CHLOE."

The redhead sat the tin back down. "Beca. I really don't know how to respond to your question. I meant what I said. I have an idea of what sort of person I'm into, but I'm not ready to experiment with that yet. Alright?" Her words came out a bit more stern than she had meant them, but it was unavoidable. It was a sensitive subject. Still, she didn't want to leave the air heavy, and so she added, "What do you want to do until the lights come back on?"

Beca felt a little bit ruffled, and a lotta bit confused. So she just played with the hem of her shirt. "I dunno. Whatever you want." Then, because it was on her mind, she said, "I can leave if this is weird for you." It was still storming, but now the atmosphere felt funny, and she kind of just wanted to get away.

The angst that had settled on the redhead's shoulders melted away. "Oh Sweetie," she frowned, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like it sounded." She stepped back up, took the younger girl's hands in hers. "I bet I have battery on my Mac. Do you want to watch a movie?"

"I dunno.."

"It's only seven. We could have a move marathon."

Beca opened her mouth to say that she didn't usually watch a lot of movies, just as she had with Jesse, but no words came out. She thought about laying in Chloe's bed, under her blankets, incredibly close to the other girl, the laptop laying on their legs. She thought about rolling over... "Okay," she said.

Chloe smiled brightly, and then she turned, got her Mac off her desk, unplugged it from the power cord and then came back to the bed. She pulled down the comforter and then the sheets with one hand and then hopped up, sliding her legs beneath the covers. Then she leaned forward, opening the Mac and then sitting it on her nightstand, and patted the matress with her hand.

"Wait," Beca said. She tilted her head to one side. Did Chloe want to spoon with her? She swallowed, and then she went to the bed, crawled up and sat, kinda awkwardly, on the edge. "Do you want me to...?"

"Don't be silly," Chloe said. "Lay down."

The brunette did as she was asked and she lay down, so her back was once again against the other girl's chest. And then once they were like that, Chloe's arm wrapped around Beca's stomach.

"What do you want to watch?"

Once again submerged in euphoria, Beca couldn't think of a single movie. "Could we nap instead?"

Chloe propped herself up on one arm, and looked down at the side profile of the younger girl. Her eyes scanned the sweep of her jaw, the gentle curve of her ear, the soft skin of her throat. She lifted her hand and stroked the side of Beca's face. Being around her was deafening. It was as if the volume of everything but her reduced to zero. Chloe couldn't pretend to not know why. She just didn't want to accept it. She was a Senior in college, and before Beca arrived, she'd had no trouble going on dates with guys and ya know, being intimate with them. It wasn't anything especially exciting, but it kept her satiated. Only now...things were different. "If that's what you want," she said, her voice quiet in the darkness. "I'll have to blow out the candles. I don't want to leave them burning if we're going to be asleep."

Beca rolled over, onto her back, and looked up into the redhead's face. The closest candle was on the nighstand and it offered little illumination. So Chloe's face was shadowed, and she could barely make out the glimmer of her eyes. "Chloe, what did you mean by experiment?"

"Let me blow out the candles, and then..."

"Just tell me."

"Don't you want to nap?"

"Chloe. Please."

There was a long silence, and then- "What did you think I meant?"