A/N: A little bit of time jump to pick up the pace, let's get straight down to business, shall we?
ChloeMitch: Oh I won't add unnecessary drama for them. After all, I'm trying to take a relatively realistic route here so… :)
Chapter 13
Ever since their first text message exchange, the two soon started to text on a regular basis. And Chloe would always drag Aubrey with her to watch Beca perform at the bar, 3 nights a week.
Chloe had to admit that she missed Beca's voice, and every time the brunette sang, she couldn't help but stare at her in awe, trying not to think too much about the butterflies inside her stomach and her fluttering heart.
Normally, the brunette wouldn't have time to come to their booth and talk to them, they usually had to come up near the stage to say goodbye to Beca before leaving. But today, during one of Beca's breaks, she snuck into Chloe and Aubrey's booth.
Ever since Beca met Aubrey, she always felt like the blonde didn't like her. She would usually receive glares from said blonde for no reason. And Beca was extremely confused, what did she do to the blonde? She had been giving her free drinks for god's sake.
After sliding down into the booth next to Chloe, Beca saw that Aubrey was rolling her eyes, again.
"Aubrey, are you okay? Do you need to go to the doctors?" Beca asked in a concerned voice.
Hearing this, Chloe turned to look at her all confused, and Aubrey just eyed her suspiciously.
Beca smirked, "Because I can introduce my ophthalmologist to you. He's very good. I know this because I used to roll my eyes way more often than you. And look at me now, I barely roll my eyes 3 times a day. You know, Aubrey, there's no need to be ashamed, we are all here for you. It's just a disease, no one will judge you and think you are being rude to them. We can face it and help you to battle it together."
Chloe burst into loud laughter as Beca finished, leaning a little bit closer to the brunette subconsciously. Aubrey just gritted her teeth and said, "I'm going to the bathroom." Then she slammed her drink on the table and left.
Beca smirked again and looked at the laughing redhead, secretly loving that she could still make Chloe laugh like this.
Chloe calmed down after a while and said, "I feel like if I continue to drag Aubrey here, she's gonna develop a gastric ulcer or something from all the teasing."
Beca feigned offence, "How dare you?! Everyone loves the Mitchell charm and swagger okay?!"
Chloe giggled, "I'm sure."
The redhead laughed even harder when she saw that smug look on Beca's face and couldn't help but reach out a hand to push the brunette's face to the side.
Beca laughed as well. She dropped the smug grin, and smiled softly at the redhead, feeling her heart skip a beat at the happy and carefree expression on the redhead's face.
Later that night, when Aubrey and Chloe were taking a cab together to go home, Aubrey decided to speak, "You and the hobbit seem awfully close lately."
Chloe turned to give Aubrey a look, "What are you suggesting?"
Aubrey shrugged, "Nothing, I'm just stating a fact and I'm looking out for you Chlo. I don't want to see you getting hurt."
Chloe's face softened, "Thanks Bree, I appreciate it. But I know what I'm doing and we are just friends."
Aubrey nodded and sighed. One of the few flaws that her best friend had was that she could be too forgiving. She didn't know what exactly happened 8 years ago between Chloe and Beca, but at this point, she just had to trust Chloe that she indeed knew what she was doing. Because from Aubrey's point of view, it seemed a lot like the redhead was falling back in love with the hobbit.
Beca finished her shift and drove home at around 5am. She parked her car outside her apartment building and let out a content sigh.
Having Chloe back in her life was something Beca wouldn't even dare to dream of a few years ago. But now she got to see her three times a week, got to talk to her and laugh with her. She knew she was still in love with the redhead. In fact, she was sure she had never stopped loving her, even if she didn't get to see her for 8 years. And deep down, she knew, there wouldn't be another person in the world that she would love like she loved Chloe.
But she doubted that the redhead still felt the same about her. So, the best she could do was to be her friend and having a small place in the redhead's life was enough for Beca. Really. As long as Chloe was happy, Beca didn't really care about what happened to herself. After all, Beca always felt like she was the one that pushed Chloe away in the first place all those years ago. So, she didn't really have the right to fight for Chloe's love anymore.
"So?" Chloe asked expectantly, "How do you like New York so far?"
Beca smiled, grabbing Chloe's hand and then putting their intertwined hands inside the pocket of her winter coat. They were walking around the streets in the morning, after Chloe insisted that they should use the last day of Beca's stay to watch the sunrise outside.
The last two days had been amazing. Beca managed to forget all those troubles at work, all the pressure and all those harsh words thrown at her. She got to spend every second with Chloe, kissing her and holding her hands, and she started to feel like as long as she had Chloe by her side, she didn't have anything to fear and everything would be okay. And even though this was her first time being in New York, she instantly felt like home. Or maybe it was just Chloe. Chloe was always home to her. Whenever she was with the redhead, she would always felt safe and complete.
"Well, you still haven't answered my question, Mitchell!" Chloe squeezed her hand inside Beca's pocket, resting her head on Beca's shoulder.
"Let's see, it's rather cold, and there are often too many people on the street, you know how much I hate being in crowded space…" Beca stole a glance at the redhead, seeing a small pout started to form on her girlfriend's lips, which she just wanted to kiss away. But she continued, "But what can I say, my favourite thing about this city is a redhead who has ice cold hands and is currently trying to steal some of my pocket warmth away from my hand."
Chloe looked up at Beca, grinning.
Beca smiled at her, "And this one thing alone makes everything else irrelevant. So, to you question, I guess my answer would be I love it, but not as much as I love you." She leaned down to place a kiss on the redhead's forehead.
Chloe closed her eyes when she felt Beca's lips on her forehead and sighed happily, burying her face further into Beca's neck so the brunette wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.
"Sometimes, I feel like you are not from this planet." Chloe said, "And sometimes you say the cheesiest thing in the world but you don't even like cheesy movies!"
Beca chuckled, "Guess I must be a natural huh?" Beca squeezed Chloe's hand in her pocket, "But just for you Chlo."
Chloe leaned up and kissed Beca before resting her head on her shoulder again.
"But seriously, Chlo." Beca said after a beat of comfortable silence, "Those cheesy stuff is just between you and me. If you tell people, I will end you."
Chloe laughed, "Way to ruin the moment Mitchell!" She kissed Beca again, "I'm glad it's just for me."
When they were at a crossroad waiting for the traffic light, Chloe sneezed twice and started to shiver slightly. Beca noticed this. She opened her huge winter coat and grinned at the redhead, "Wanna get warm like sea otters with me?" She wiggled her eyebrows.
Chloe laughed, before she jumped into Beca's coat without hesitation, feeling Beca close the coat behind her back tightly. And the brunette's huge coat covered them both perfectly.
"You know, I'm starting to feel like you deliberately bring this coat here so you could do this." Chloe hugged Beca tight and didn't feel cold any more. These little gestures from Beca would always make her inside melt at how romantic they were, making her fall more and more in love with Beca.
Beca smirked, "I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, you haven't seen nothing Beale."
Chloe laughed, looking up at Beca, "I can't wait."
Beca looked down and grinned at Chloe, feeling that her heart almost hurt from how much she loved Chloe.
Just when the traffic light changed and they broke apart, preparing to cross the street, they heard a quite loud car horn from their right side. Chloe looked over, and saw a few of her classmates in a shiny Maserati convertible.
"Hey Chloe!" The guy who was driving the car yelled and waved at her.
"Hi Tom." Chloe nodded slightly at him and waved at her other classmates.
Beca frowned and looked over as well. She saw a tall, nice-looking raven-haired guy sitting behind the steering wheel and grinning at Chloe like crazy.
"Chloe, what are you doing outside this early in the morning? It's really cold!" Tom asked.
Chloe smiled politely, "Just taking my girlfriend for some sightseeing. She came to visit." Chloe linked her fingers with Beca's and slightly waved their intertwined hands at her classmates.
Beca smirked, seeing Tom's grin faltered a little.
But then Tom just shrugged, "Okay, do you guys want to join us maybe? We are going to play mini-golf! It's indoor so it wouldn't be cold." He offered.
Chloe glanced at Beca, before saying, "Thanks Tom, we have other plans."
Beca knew Chloe couldn't stand the cold and judging from the previous sneezes, she knew if they continued to walk around in the frigid weather, the redhead would definitely catch a cold. So, she softly tugged at Chloe's hand, "Chlo, it's okay, I don't mind. I wouldn't want you to be in the cold for too long. You'll definitely get sick."
Chloe looked at her hesitantly, "Are you sure? I don't mind being out here." The redhead insisted, but soon followed by another two sneezes.
Beca chuckled, "Really, now let's get you to somewhere warm, okay?"
Chloe smiled at Beca and placed a quick peck on her lips, "You are the best."
They then went over and got into Tom's car before going to the mini-golf court together.
–
This entire hanging-out-with-Chloe's-classmates thing was miserable for Beca, but she didn't show it since she could see the redhead was at least having some good time. First, that Tom dude was constantly flirting with her girlfriend. Beca was literally just sitting here! And she had to resist the urge to just go forward and punch the guy in the face. Fortunately, Chloe was trying her best to be polite and unresponsive to his constant flirting, which made Beca feel a little better. But still! What was that guy's problem?! Second, this mini-golf court seemed quite luxurious and was apparently filled with rich people as well. Beca didn't care about those stuff and she knew Chloe didn't either. But she couldn't help but still want to be able to give Chloe this type of life too. She knew Chloe would be just as happy walking around in the New York streets with her, but she wanted to be able to afford what other people could offer the redhead.
And then, all those pressure came back and in less than 3 hours, she had to go back to her miserable job, leaving her anchor again. She suddenly wanted to cry, so she quietly walked to the bathroom and locked herself in one of the cubicles, tilting her head back to force back her tears. She couldn't let them fall, since she knew Chloe would notice instantly if she cried. She wouldn't want Chloe to worry. It was just her pathetic career and she was stuck.
–
On the way to the airport, Chloe kept glancing at her girlfriend. Beca was awfully quiet after they left the mini-golf court. And she felt like something was bothering Beca. She asked Beca a few times about this, but the brunette would always say it was just because she was leaving her. Of course she would be sad.
Although Chloe felt like there was more, Beca's explanation made sense. She was sad too and after a few times asking if Beca was okay, she could see the brunette was getting a bit impatient. She wouldn't want their last hours together to be spent in arguments, so she just dropped it, figuring if it was anything big, the brunette would come talk to her.
A/N: We'll meet Beca's best friend in the next chapter, anyone wants to guess who that might be? ;)