They settle into their seats – not front-half-of-the-theatre expensive, but good enough that Chloe knows Beca has spent quite a fair bit on the tickets – and don't have to wait long before a smartly dressed man steps up to the stage to address them. Beca pulls out a pack of tissues and grins at Chloe. Chloe rolls her eyes and smacks her on the thigh. She's smiling, though. "I'm not gonna cry."
Neither Beca nor Chloe have watched Wicked, but Beca knows from prior experience that Chloe Beale cries at nearly everything. Besides, they've both gotten rave reviews from Aubrey, Fat Amy, and Jesse ("You've never watched Wicked?! What kind of Barden Bella are you?!"), so Beca is almost 100% sure that her supply of tissues – she brought three packets – are probably going to be wiped out by the end of the show. She's just hoping she won't be doing any crying because well, that would be awkward. "You cried at The Little Mermaid. Sleepless in Seattle. Forrest Gump. Breakfast Club. Mean Girls. Ratatouille..." Beca mercilessly rattles off a dozen or so more titles before concluding, "You cry at literally everything, Beale. The reason why California is having a drought right now is because you're not there."
Chloe chokes down her laugh. "Those are all sad movies!" She protests.
Beca rolls her eyes. "Not all of them."
Chloe opens and closes her mouth, unable to come up with a convincing rebuttal. She settles with a self-righteous "Shh," before sticking her nose in the air and snapping her head back to the front of the stage.
Beca laughs and gets a death glare from Chloe just as the lights start to dim. The curtains are lifted to reveal a soft green glow and the clash of brass cymbals. Chloe lets out a soft excited sigh and leans back. Beca stifles a smile and turns her attention to the stage.
...
Beca sneaks a sideways peek at her friend and smiles faintly at her riveted expression. Chloe feels Beca's eyes on her and tilts her head slightly to meet her gaze. It's dark, but Beca can just about make out the irises of her eyes and the curve of her jaw. Moments like these – shared glances and tender, undisguised affection flitting through their eyelashes – moments like these make Beca surer than ever that Chloe means more to her than anything or anyone else in the world; sure that she'd been blind before but would never would be again. She'll never un-see the beauty of Chloe's smile or the gentle passion in her bright blue eyes.
Chloe loses it at the Elphaba/Glinda duet near the end of the show. Beca can see her shoulders shaking slightly and hear her hiccupping so hard that her entire body trembles afterwards. Oh Christ, she grumbles. She hesitates a while, then reaches out to place an awkward arm around the redhead. Chloe glances at her gratefully and leans her head on her shoulder, still sniffling.
Beca blinks and tries not to enjoy it too much because heck, this doesn't mean anything. Chloe leans her head on other people's shoulders all the time – although come to think of it those people mainly consisted of her and Aubrey – and she should stop feeling so goddamn happy.
She can't really help it, though, because Chloe's head on her shoulder feels really great and well, a girl can dream. "Don't you dare laugh at me," Chloe whispers fiercely, dabbing the tissues at her eyes.
Beca laughs. Chloe glares at her and she tries her best to disguise her laugh as a vigorous cough. "You look beautiful," Beca says, trying to change the subject.
"Nice try," Chloe scoffs. "Not buying it."
"You do look pretty nice," Beca says. "All the snot and stuff – really does wonders for your complexion, I think."
Chloe chuckles and blows her nose. "You really need to work on your pick-up lines."
...
The lights come on a while later and the first thing Chloe says is, "That was fucking amazing." Her eyes are shining and she looks so beautiful that Beca feels her heart start to ache.
When they step out into the cold night air, they're both still thinking about the musical.
The soaring voices and majestic violin and brass are still echoing in their brains. Beca and Chloe get music – music moves them, makes them laugh and cry, keeps them raw and trembling and alive. Music is what drew them together in the first place and it's what continues to bind them together, it's the foundation of an emotional connection so rock-solid that not even Jesse Swanson, with his boyish grin and kind eyes could replicate.
Each time Glinda and Elphaba do a duet, voices blending together perfectly like ethereal strands of light and dark, Beca is reminded of Chloe and the songs they've sung together. She's reminded of the way Chloe looks right at her whenever they sing, and how it always makes her feel like there's no one else in the world that matters, no one else in the world who could ever come as close as this to understand the music that plays in her head and in her soul.
Beca turns her head slightly so that she can see Chloe out of the corner of her eye. The redhead meets her gaze and smiles. It lights up her entire face and Beca finally realizes that the stupid damn cliché about your heart skipping a beat might very well be true because she swears it just happened to her. She tries not to think about the fact that medically, that's not very possible unless she's half-dead and lying in the emergency wing of a hospital somewhere and they're using a defibrillator on her chest and Chloe's looking down at her wondering what the hell has just happened.
She takes a deep breath and is wondering what she was thinking about before she got sidetracked to defibrillators and emergency wings when suddenly Chloe's hand is in hers and the redhead's beautiful voice is filling all the gaps in her soul that she never knew existed. "Something has changed within me," Chloe sings, voice all breathy and low and intimate, the way it gets only when they're alone together, the kind of pitch Beca knows is reserved only for her – "Something is not the same / I'm through with playing by the rules / of someone else's game."
Beca nearly stumbles over her own feet and gapes over at Chloe, who only gives her a wink and continues smiling and singing in tune to their footsteps. Too late for second-guessing / too late to go back to sleep. / It's time to trust my instincts / close my eyes and leap. It's cruel how the words seem so ridiculously fitting – it's as though fate's smirking down at them and screaming for them to open their damn eyes.
And Beca's eyes are open. She sees the dark blue sky speckled with a thousand shining stars in Chloe's eyes. She sees the love there and isn't quite sure if it's a friend-love, a sisterly-love or something... more than that. She's not sure if she's allowed to do anything more than silently ache for this wonderful woman in front of her, not sure if the stars in the sky are hers for the taking. Because she's tried to own this beauty before – and all she'd gotten was a handful of dust.
Chloe goes right on singing, no falter, no hesitation, not even when people they pass on the street stare at them – just belts out the lyrics like she's an actual Broadway singer and she does this all her life. No actually – like she's actually Elphaba in real life, reincarnated as a bombshell redhead with normal skin. I'm through accepting limits / 'cause someone says they're so. / Some things I cannot change / but till I'll try, I'll never know./ Too long I've been afraid of / losing love I guess I've lost.
Chloe pauses here, and there's barely a split second before Beca sings Glinda's part, voice strong and clear as it always is. Unlimited, together we're unlimited. Together we'll be the greatest team there's ever been. If we work in tandem. Chloe stops, turns so that she's facing Beca full on, and joins in so that they're both belting the chorus out together. There's no fight we cannot win, just you and I/ Defying gravity. With you and I defying gravity...
Beca's voice is all Chloe hears now, and it wraps itself around her like a warm, tender embrace. She's suddenly struck by how long it's been since they've sung together, and how it feels like she's coming home again. It's time to try defying gravity / I think I'll try defying gravity...
There's a violent tug at Beca's gut and she takes an impulsive step forward, eyes flicking down to Chloe's lips. The moon is shining down on them, illuminating part of Chloe's face just so, the curve of her nose and sweep of her lips. She has always been beautiful, but tonight, Chloe is radiant, glowing in a way that Beca has only seen a couple of times before. This moment they're sharing now – it's special, magical, almost, and she knows that she'll probably remember this – the way Chloe is looking at her now – for the rest of her life.