The next morning all the gloomy clouds that were hovering over the city had disappeared. Instead, the sun smiled on all of them. Children playing on the streets, teenage boys hanging around on the benches and teenage girls deliberately passing by. The weather hadn't been this nice for a while, so everyone was enjoying it to the fullest.
Benji and Lily were sitting on their porch. Benji was watching a group of teenagers play basketball while the little girl was taking care of her baby doll.
"Hello boy, hello girl, and hello doll." A tiny brunette smiled as she sat down next to the two children.
Benji looked at the woman. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he frowned.
"Oh right, I'm sorry. My name is Beca.. Hello." She said, reaching out her hand to greet the little boy. He crossed his arms across his chest, not taking the brunette's hand.
"Mommy told us not to talk to strangers." Lily said.
Beca turned around to smile at the little girl. "Ahh, see. I'm not really a stranger, I live there." She said, pointing at the house on the other side of the street.
"Wrong. That's where mister Jesse lives." Benji said.
"I know, he is my best friend. I moved in yesterday and I'm sharing the house with him." The brunette smiled.
An awful noise suddenly interrupted them. Beca cringed, looking around to see where it comes from when Benji tapped the brunette on her shoulder to make her look at him before putting his hand back on his ear again. "That's our grandmother! She's praying." He said.
Beca raised her eyebrows. "Oh god, I'm so sorry for you. I'll try to do something about it." She said, standing up and walking over to the street to get a good sight of the house.
"Hey grandma! Grandma! Over here!" She yelled to the open window, jumping up and down, waving her hands. The old woman stuck her head through the window, searching for the person that interrupted her prayers.
"Hey there, Jennifer Lopez." Beca exclaimed, making Benji and Lily laugh.
Iris looked at the tiny brunette. "What do you want? I was praying to God!" she yelled, annoyed that her prayers had been interrupted again.
"You were not praying to him, you were torturing him! You are also ruining these children's faith in music, so please don't sing." Beca pouted, putting her hands together.
"And who are you to say those things to me?" Iris said sternly.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I forgot to introduce myself." The brunette smiled. "I'm Beca Mitchell, your new neighbour and Jesse's friend."
"Jesse's friend? Do you live together?" Iris asked, looking at the girl disapprovingly.
"Well not together together, but yes." Beca stated.
A taller man with brown hair and brown eyes walked out of the house to stand next to Beca. "Good morning Iris, don't mind my friend. She can be mischievous sometimes." he said, nudging the brunette.
"No Jesse, I'm serious." Beca said, turning back to the old woman. "Listen, if you are so fond of singing, I will come and teach…."
"What's going on here? What's this noise so early in the morning!" Chloe interrupted the brunette, sticking her head through another window.
Beca turned her head to look at the person who interrupted her, but stiffened when she saw Chloe. Her red hair was shining brightly in the sunlight, her deep blue eyes sparkling like diamonds, furrowing her eyebrows with anger, yet looking incredibly cute. The most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Beca let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, wanting to say something, but the words couldn't find their way to her lips. She only managed to bring her hand to her chest to feel her own heartbeat. Everything else seemed to fade away. She couldn't see or hear anything else. Her heart started to beat even faster when Chloe looked at her with confusion on her face, asking what the brunette was looking at. Beca didn't say anything. She just kept staring and smiling sheepishly till the redhead went back inside. "Red." She mumbled to herself, finally being able to speak again.
"Sorry, did you say something?" Jesse asked
"What? No, I didn't say anything." She responded before running back home, leaving Jesse clueless about what just happened.
Jesse apologized to the old woman and was about to head back home as well when he suddenly heard really loud music. He looked around, but realized it came out of his house. Everybody stopped with whatever they were doing, whispering to each other with confusion on their faces as a mix of 'What's your name' and 'Red' was filling the air. Jesse shook his head, smirking as he sat down on his porch, enjoying the music and confused faces around him.
It didn't take long for everyone else to loosen up and enjoy the music as well. Everyone except Chloe that is. She dropped her head on her textbook and covered her ears with her hands. Feeling annoyed, she got up and walked out of the door only to see the whole neighbourhood partying outside.
She made her way to where her mother was standing, seeing a smile play at the woman's lips. The redhead folded her arms across her chest and furrowed her eyebrows, watching her step sister dance to the music.
Ey girl, what's your name? Baby what's your number?
'Cause girl you got me, got a brother wondering
If you want a homie and a lover
I can be your friend till the end.
Loving her was red.
I'm going crazy
Burning red
Cause I wanna know if I can love ya
Darling it was red!
Chloe paid attention to the lyrics for the first time, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks but still managing to keep a stern face.
Beca came back outside as soon as the song ended, enjoying all the cheering and amused faces around her. Lily excitedly ran up to her and hugger the brunette. "That was fun!"
"Lily, come here!" Chloe shouted, getting the attention of the other woman as well.
Beca lifted the little girl up and made her way to the redhead and her mother.
"Hello, I'm Beca." She smiled, reaching out her hand.
"I know, everyone kind of heard it this morning." Jennifer laughed, shaking her hand.
"I didn't know Jesse had such a beautiful neighbour." Beca shot out.
"What?!" Chloe frowned angrily.
"I was talking about your mother." The brunette smiled. "Jennifer right? You are a very beautiful woman"
"Yes, Jennifer. Thank you." She grinned, blushing.
"Okay, let's see. This is Benji." The brunette gestured at the boy. "And this my sweetheart Lily." She continued, putting the girl down. "And you are?" she said, looking at the redhead.
"Not interested." Chloe replied.
"I can see that on your face." Beca smirked. "Anyway, nice to meet the rest of you.
"Nice to meet you too." Jennifer smiled. "I saw so much life in our street for the first time today."
"I know. It's kind of a boring street." The brunette cringed. "But don't worry. Now that I'm here, everything is going to change." She said confidently.
Jennifer couldn't help but smile at this younger woman who seemed so full of life. Anyone would feel happy around her.
Beca quirked an eyebrow and smiled at Chloe. "Just one thing, though. Is she in a bad mood or was she born this way?"
"She has always been like this." Lily shot out, earning herself a light slap on her shoulder by the redhead.
Jennifer shot a warning look at her daughter, motioning that she should watch her attitude and turned back to Beca. "Don't mind her."
"Oh not at all. Must be a childhood problem." She smiled. "I will see you guys at 7!"
"At 7? Why?" Jennifer frowned.
Beca laughed in amusement. "For dinner at your place. I'm your new neighbour, so obviously you will invite us, won't you?"
"Oh, right. Sure!" Jennifer breathed out.
"Actually not 7. Make that 8, because I'm a bit busy." Beca was about to turn around, but stopped for a moment. "By the way. After I go, she will be mad at you for inviting me to dinner. But don't worry, it's a childhood problem." She laughed and walked away.
When they were back inside, Chloe slammed the door shut and turned to her mother. "What was the need to invite her for dinner?"
"Don't act like you weren't there! She invited herself. And I don't even mind, she's seems like a wonderful person, I don't understand why you're acting this way." Jennifer exclaimed.
"I'm inviting Amy and Aubrey too then." Chloe took out her phone and searched through her contact list as she saw Amy through the window, standing at her door with a cream mask on her face.
Chloe opened the door. "I was about to call you. The new girl invited herself for dinner, I want you to come to dinner too."
Amy walked in. "I can't, I have a blind date!"
Iris approached the two women. "A blind date? Is that a date with a blind man?"
"No, blind date means a date with a man who has never seen me." Amy sighed.
"And when he sees you, he will be blinded with shock." Aubrey laughed, standing at the door. "Hi, guys."
"Very funny. Anyway, that's all I had to say. Bye all!" Amy turned around and walked out of the door.
"Bye ball!" Aubrey yelled after her, before walking over to Chloe and pull her in for a hug. Chloe immediately forgot why she was angry. Her best friend always managed to make her forget all her problems. She grabbed the blonde by the waist and dragged her along to her room. "Thanks for stepping by, I was about to call you. You have to stay for dinner."
"Sure, but why all of a sudden?" Aubrey questioned.
"I'll tell you after you tell me how your date went!" Chloe sat down on her bed and tapped the empty space beside her for the blonde to sit down next to her.
"Right. My date." The blonde looked away from the other woman's eyes. "It was nice."
Chloe quirked an eyebrow. "Look at me, what's wrong?"
The blonde looked back up. "Nothing. It was nice. She was nice. We talked a lot and I enjoyed myself more than I expected. And" Aubrey closed her eyes "…and I think I like her." She breathed out.
"You like her?!" Chloe was excited to hear that her best friend liked women, though she didn't know why.
Aubrey smiled at the excitement on her best friend's face, feeling relieved that she took it well. "Yes I do, I'm taking her out for our second date next week." She blushed. "But enough about that, what did you want to tell me?"
"Forget about that! My best friend just told me she likes women, I'm not going to let you change the topic that easily." Chloe smiled playfully.
"It's no big deal. Men or women, it's the personality that counts.
"Sure. I hope she won't turn out to be as annoying as Beca though." Chloe didn't mean to say that, she didn't even know where that came from.
"Who?" Aubrey frowned
"It's Jesse's best friend from across the street. She moved in with him, and invited herself for dinner at our place. Who does that?"
Aubrey raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so that's why you want me to stay for dinner."
"Yes, I just can't stand her. She thinks she knows everything, laughing and joking about stupid things." Chloe was rubbing her fingers against each other.
Aubrey chuckled at the redhead's movements. "Why are you so nervous then?"
"What? I'm not nervous. What are you talking ab…" Aubrey cut her off.
"You always do that when you're nervous." she gestured at the other woman's hands.
Chloe got up. "You're hallucinating. Let's go help my mother getting dinner ready." She said, walking over to her door.
Aubrey sighed, but followed her best friend.
When the two women entered the kitchen, they were met with a tiny brunette wearing an apron.
Beca looked up from the soup she was stirring. "Where were you? Dinner is not going to make itself." She turned to the blonde. "You're a new face. Let me introduce myself, I'm Beca." She smiled.
"I'm Aubrey, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too." Beca replied before running back to Jennifer. "No Jenny, that's too much salt, let me help you."
Chloe raised an eyebrow and looked at her best friend. "Jenny? She already nicknamed my mother! Do you see what I mean."
"There's nothing wrong with that, Chlo."
The redhead rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, not you too."
A/N: I know im taking things very slow, but im planning on making a long fanfic. So please have patience!