My hand felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as I raised it to Chloe's door, knocking two steady times. She answered it before I even had a chance to let out the nervous breath I had been holding in. She looked perfect. Like she usually did. And, like usual, she greeted me with an extremely warm hug. One of the hugs that you cherish and read into later, wondering, "Was there something more to that?" Now I didn't think that my analyzing all physical contact we had was crazy, because she really did like me. My suspicions were valid.
"Nice to see you too!" I exclaimed, not hesitating in returning the hug.
"It's always nice to see you!" Chloe said in her perky voice, her happiness and smile contagious. Then again I always smiled when I was around her anyways. How could you not? She was a literal ray of sunshine. Oh God my thoughts were cheesy.
When she finally let me go I felt terrible, almost immediately gravitating back towards her but somehow managing to remain rooted to the spot. I had been to Aubrey and Chloe's place before. Apparently Aubrey wasn't here, which might have been why Chloe invited me over. Either way I didn't care. Spending any amount of time with her seemed like everything else about my life was unimportant in comparison.
"Come in, come in!" She opened the door a bit wider and stepped aside. I walked inside, standing in the hall until I heard the sound of her closing it behind me. She came up at my back but didn't say anything. I hovered, not saying anything, knowing that the redhead was mere inches from me. I was so tempted to just move back, wishing that she would wrap her arms around my middle and we could just stand there and it would be perfect. But instead she cleared her throat a bit and tapped one of her fingers on the headphones that hung on my neck, "Listening to something?"
I opened my mouth to respond, gesturing to the ipod that was stuck in my front jacket pocket, but she held up her hand to stop me, "Wait, is it my lady jam?" I smiled at the reference to our time in the shower and laughed a bit, "Or maybe some Bruno Mars?" She winked at me and I nearly melted into the floor. That comment made me think a bit.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "You know, I always wondered if you were singing to me that night..." I trailed off, hoping that she had been. Frankly, I had been singing Just A Dream about her. But I would never confess that.
She blushed a bit, looking a put caught off guard. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face, "Well, I um..." I had never seen Chloe at a loss for words, but lets say calling it adorable would be the understatement of the century. I just let out a small laugh at her and watched her cheeks light up with a blush. She playfully punched my arm, "Oh like you've never done anything sappy for me!"
I glanced subconsciously at my ipod in my pocket, thinking about all the mixes I had made while I thought about nothing but her. Seeming to have read my mind, her hands lunged forward and took the headphones from my neck before I could do anything in protest and put them to her ears, giving me a look full of expectations. Getting her meaning, I tugged my ipod from my pocket and scrolled through a playlist I had actually labelled, "Redhead". Probably a bad idea because if anyone found my ipod they would want an explanation. I didn't even care. The first thing in that playlist was a combination of Titanium and Just A Dream. I had made it right before the ICCA's, when my feelings about Chloe were getting more and more hard to ignore. I played it for her.
She gasped and mouthed, "My lady jam!" pointing to the headphones energetically when Titanium started up. When the Just A Dream part kicked in I saw her pretty blue eyes getting distant. We stood there, her listening to my mix, me awkwardly fumbling with my hands in my pockets since it was silent on my end. I had to maintain a fairly close proximity to her, the length of the headphone cord not being that long. She seemed to be pretty immersed in it. In my music. I had always been really flattered that she took such an interest in it, even when she first found out I liked that stuff. The thoughts made me smile like an idiot to myself.
It felt like forever until she finally slid the headphones from her ears and put them gently back around my neck. There was another pause. I opened my mouth to ask what she thought about it-
-when she looped her thumbs in my belt loops and tugged me into her, lips finding mine automatically. I gasped a bit, surprised at the sudden advance but not at all rejecting it. My arms found their way around her neck, fingers absentmindedly fiddling with her fiery curls. It was only at moment that I wondered what my past-self would be thinking right now. Not too far back past, more like before I joined the Bellas past. I definitely wouldn't imagine myself entangled with some girl. But she really was so far from just "some girl". She was Chloe Beale. My secret infatuation. The perfect, peppy redhead. The girl who hit the base-notes in our historical final's performance. The girl who had changed my life for the better and made every second of it seem like heaven. She was intoxicating. She lit up a room. She took my breath away. She was flawless.
And she was mine.
She pulled back, resting her forehead against mine, smirking at me, "You're really talented, you know that?"
The complement caught me off guard but it made me blush all the same, "You like it, then?" She wasn't getting any closer but she wasn't getting any farther. I felt her breath on my skin, I could smell her hair. This was just how close I wanted us to be at that moment. Any farther would have left me wanting more and any closer we would have been kissing again. Although I had no problem with that I wanted to talk to her for a bit.
"Like it?" She seemed offended I would even suggest it, "I love it. I love all your music..." It seemed like she might add something but then decided against doing so. What would she have said? I had an idea or two.
At this point there was no doubt in my mind that I was head over heels in love with Chloe. I just didn't know if the feeling was mutual and would like to know for sure before making the emotions vocal. But why had she hesitated? Did she love me too? I felt like if she told me that I would pass out. I didn't feel like I could be loved, or even liked for that matter. Especially not by someone as gorgeous and wonderful as this redhead. But here she was, forehead pressed against mine, complementing the second most important thing in my life; music. The first most important thing in my life at the moment was her. But I wasn't going to say that aloud either.
"That's sweet of you to say..." I replied lamely. But it was what I was thinking! For some reason when I was with her everything seemed so natural, so normal and right. I hoped that she felt that too. Like we sort of clicked at some point.
We stood there for a long time. I felt her fingertips drumming gently on my hips, making chills go up my spine. My head was spinning with lust and desire but I knew that I didn't want to rush into anything. This was technically our first date. Not yet.
"So..." I finally muttered, "...what do you have planned for tonight?"
She smirked devilishly, making my brain come up with all kinds of inappropriate images of what might transpire, "I told you Aubrey wasn't home..." What was she implying? I watched her bite her lip with dazzling white teeth as she looked me up and down, getting her meaning.
"Um," That one word changed the mood entirely, "Nothing personal but isn't sex on the first date kinda..." I couldn't find the right word, but made my expression show I didn't much approve of it. She understood, I think. And even though that clearly wasn't what she wanted she was willing to do whatever I wanted. Which made me smile a bit.
"We could watch a movie if you want..." She said, knowing that was far from what I would want to do. Laughing at her own joke she gave me another suggestion, "Or we could cuddle on the couch and you could play me more of your mixes."
"I'll take the second option." She planted a soft kiss on my lips before pulling away and walking further into the apartment, me at her heels. And that's exactly how we spent our night. However the entire time I was secretly thinking in the back of my head how our next date would "go down".