Chloe sighs and rolls over for probably the thirtieth time, groaning quietly in exasperation. It's two thirty a.m. and she's exhausted from the days events, but for some reason she can't sleep. She tries everything, including counting sheep, but gets distracted by other thoughts – mostly thoughts about one particular brunette sleeping in the adjacent room – and is nowhere closer to falling asleep than she was two hours ago. Frustrated, she pulls the covers over her head, but that only makes her sweaty. Finally she gives up and gets out of bed.
She leaves the room in search of warm milk, but on her way back she notices a sliver of light coming from underneath the door of Beca's room. She knocks softly on the door and calls out, "Beca. You still awake?"
Beca frowns, plucks her earphones out of her ears and calls back, "Chloe? Is that you?"
Chloe pushes open the door and gives her a sheepish grin. "I couldn't sleep," She says.
Beca returns the grin with one of her own. "I couldn't either," She admits, patting the spot on her bed next to her. Chloe sits down next to her and takes a sip out of her mug. Beca gestures at her computer screen. "Wanna hear what I've done for the blue city soundtrack so far?" She asks, looking so shy and uncertain that Chloe has to bite back a laugh.
"Of course I do," Chloe says, settling back against the wall. Her hands are clasped carefully around her mug of milk, though, so Beca reaches out to stick the earphones into her ears for her. It feels just like those late nights perfecting the Bella set list before Nationals, where they'd work together on mash ups till the sun came up and then stumble together to their morning classes looking all pale and zombie-like the next day.
Once Beca has gotten the earphones in Chloe's ears, she turns back to her computer and starts pulling out audio files. Chloe sneaks a peek at her and thinks, not for the first time, how beautiful she is, her dark hair falling in curls around her face, her small nose scrunched up in concentration, eyes shining in a way that makes Chloe's heart swell. Her beauty isn't loud or flamboyant or flashy, it's the kind of beauty that doesn't make a big deal about itself, the kind of beauty that's quiet and understated but undeniable nevertheless.
Beca finds the right file and turns to Chloe. She catches her staring and smiles, a little uncertain. "What're you lookin' at, Beale?"
"You're beautiful," Chloe says simply, reaching out with one hand to tuck a strand of lose hair behind her ear.
Beca flushes a deep crimson. "N-not really – I mean– um, t-thanks." She stammers. "You're um... You're not too bad yourself."
Chloe laughs. "Just show me the soundtrack, Mitchell."
Beca bites her lip. "It's not final or anything, I'm still working on this part where the bass clashes a little with the violin. And there's also this other part that sounds way too cheesy..." She trails off. "I'm being weird, right?"
"Yes." Chloe reaches out to hit the play button. She takes Beca's right hand with her left and closes her eyes, letting herself fall into the ebb and flow of the music, occasionally taking a long sip out of her mug. Beca sneaks several nervous glances at Chloe, but the redhead only grins widely and bobs her head to the music, looking so dorky and ridiculous that Beca feels her anxiety gradually give way to tender amusement. Chloe stops to comment on the soundtrack every once in a while, so when she stays silent for a while Beca realizes she has fallen asleep sitting up, hands still clasped reverently around the mug.
"Oh God," Beca grumbles. "You can't be serious." She pries the mug out of Chloe's hands and settles her into a lying position, propping her head up with a pillow. It takes so much maneuvering on her part that she's sure Chloe will wake up, but the redhead does the opposite – even starts to snore a little. Beca pulls the blanket over the redhead and goes back to working on the soundtrack.
It's almost three a.m. when Beca finally feels like the frenetic jingle of her nerves has calmed down sufficiently for her to sleep. She sets her laptop on the bedside table and gets up to turn the lights off. Chloe frowns and mutters something unintelligible, eyelids fluttering open. "Sorry," Beca says. "Hey – dyou, um, want me to go over and sleep in your room or-"
"Don't be 'n idiot," Chloe says, speech slurred by sleepiness. She turns to the left to give Beca space on the right side of the bed and says nothing more.
"Umm... Okay." Beca shakes her head and settles into the space gingerly, knowing that all her effort in calming her nerves has pretty much gone to waste because there's no way she's going to be able to sleep with Chloe this close to her. The redhead has no such qualms, however, because barely five minutes later, she's snoring quietly again and is snuggling into the curve of Beca's stomach. A couple of minutes later she even wraps her arms tightly around Beca and the brunette is not quite sure if she's doing it subconsciously or consciously and either way, it's driving her crazy.
Beca falls asleep eventually to dreams of a redhead with crazy bright eyes and a beautiful smile.
...
Chloe wakes up to the sound of Beca's phone ringing. She groans and slaps it, but that doesn't really make it stop, so she rolls over and whispers to Beca, "Your phone is ringing." Beca pulls a face, but gets up and climbs across Chloe to get to her phone. She sees the name vibrating on her phone screen and hangs up. She goes back to bed and pulls the covers over her face.
Chloe frowns. "Who was it?"
"Aubrey," Beca mumbles. Chloe shakes her head at her. "She's going to yell at me about action plans and it's too early in the morning for that," She whines.
Chloe raises an eyebrow. "Action plan...?"
Beca's phone rings again, but she only buries her head into her pillow and makes no move to pick up. Chloe sighs and does it for her. "Hey Bree."
"Oh. Hey Chlo." She can hear the surprise in Aubrey's voice, but that quickly gives way to suspicion. "How come you have Beca's phone so early in the morning? Where's that girl?!"
Chloe presses the phone into Beca's hand. "What's up, Posen?" Beca asks, sounding very reluctant.
"Were you having sex?!"
"What?! No we weren't," Beca says, wincing at the volume of Aubrey's voice.
"Ugh, phew," Aubrey sighs, sounding slightly calmer.
Beca narrows her eyes. "What d'you mean 'ugh, phew'? You're the worst wingman ever."
Chloe raises her eyebrows in amusement. "Wingman?" She mouths, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Beca sighs and leans back so that her head is on Chloe's shoulder, as though she actually needs physical support for the momentous task of dealing with Aubrey Posen.
"I was just worried you were moving too quickly, that's all," Aubrey snaps. "So if you weren't having sex then what are you doing? You know, with her. You were supposed to call me to report your progress today and you didn't." She says accusatorily.
"Aubrey, it's eight a.m., 'today' is hardly over. Second of all," Beca scoffs, turning her nose up snootily, "I'm not a horny adolescent guy, there are plenty of things we could've been doing other than sex." Chloe's other eyebrow shoots up at this, and Beca has to bite back a laugh.
"Tell me everything!" Aubrey demands. "Now!" Beca rolls her eyes and tells her that they went to see Wicked together last night. Chloe smiles at this, and Beca can't help whispering, "Save me, Beale, your best friend is loco."
"I heard that!" Aubrey yells. "You know what? Forget it. Let me talk to Chloe. You're impossible."
Beca hands the phone to Chloe, looking sly and apologetic at the same time. "She wants to talk to you."
Chloe laughs and takes the phone. She listens to Aubrey's indignant rant about how she's perfectly sane, thank you very much, and rather tolerantly waits for her best friend to finish listing all the horrible things she'll do to Beca if the she hurts Chloe or, God forbid, break her heart. Eventually Aubrey runs out of breath and Chloe jumps at the opportunity to steer the conversation away from Beca's potential death. Aubrey asks something and Chloe's eyes take on a slightly gentler shade of blue when she turns to meet Beca's indignant gaze. "Yeah, she's been... She's been pretty good to me." The redhead shifts her bodyweight slightly and smiles as Aubrey yabbers on. "Nah," She says, "I don't think you have to bash her head in right now. But I'll definitely let you know when she deserves a good bashing."
Beca narrows her eyes at her. "Bashing...?"
Chloe laughs and takes her hand in hers. She pauses to listen to Aubrey's subsequent tirade, but five minutes later Aubrey hangs up with promises to Skype later, and Chloe passes the phone back to Beca.
"What did she say?" Beca asks curiously. "At the end?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Chloe says, winking. Beca responds by whacking her on the head with a pillow and jumps back, cackling.
"You're dead, Beca Mitchell," Chloe says, picking up a pillow of her own. Beca wiggles her butt and sticks out her tongue. Chloe guffaws and chases her through the house.
Beca grins and thinks that she could get used to a thousand Sunday mornings exactly like this one.