A/N: We'll definitely meet more people from Beca's past, but for now, let's have a few dreamy chapters first! :)
Chapter 21
While they were driving to wherever Beca was taking her, Chloe couldn't stop stealing glances at the brunette. She still couldn't believe Beca wore a dress for her, and she was having trouble moving her eyes away from the brunette. Because Beca Mitchell in that dress was just drop-dead gorgeous and whenever the redhead's eyes wandered along that V-neckline, she felt like her legs were growing weak and her breathing was becoming rapid and shallow. She remembered Beca's comment when she told the brunette she looked different back when they were meeting for lunch for the first time in 8 years, and she just couldn't help but let her mind linger on that comment. Maybe she does have bigger b— Oh my God! What am I thinking?! I need to stop, I need air! Why is it so hot in this car?! Chloe was suddenly blushing furiously. Her cheeks were almost as red as her hair, and she clumsily went to open the car window, catching the brunette's attention.
"Chlo? Are you okay?" Beca asked, glancing at the redhead and noticing the blush in her cheeks.
"Yeah, I'm okay. It's nothing, just a bit hot is all." Chloe answered, trying to hide her fiery cheeks from the brunette.
"Okay… and why are you blushing?" Beca asked, amused.
"What? N-no, I'm not blushing!" And this only got Chloe to blush even more.
Beca laughed, deciding to let Chloe off the hook. The redhead was just too adorable and she didn't have the heart to continue teasing her.
Chloe cleared her throat, wanting to change the subject to avert attention from her blushing. So she asked while gesturing around the car, "So this is Charlie?"
Beca nodded, "Yep, this is my buddy Charlie."
Chloe grinned, and went to pat the radio lightly, "Well nice to meet you Charlie!"
Beca blinked, and then burst into laughter, "You are such a weirdo."
Chloe rolled her eyes, "Well this is called being polite you know."
"Oh, okay. I'm sorry." Beca was still chuckling, and then she suddenly lowered her voice to imitate a deep and masculine voice, "Well nice to meet you too, Miss Beale. You look extra lovely tonight!"
Chloe laughed, "Now look who's being a weirdo?!"
Beca grinned. She turned her head to look at Chloe for a second before returning her attention to the road. She wanted so bad to just reach out her hand and lace their fingers together, but she refrained herself. She knew they should take things slow, and she could do this for them. She wanted to be able to hold Chloe's hands one day again without having to worry if the redhead would flinch or feel uncomfortable, so she would wait, however long it took.
Chloe gazed at Beca's profile with a soft smile. Her heart was feeling all warm and fuzzy and this date was already starting to be pretty great and perfect, she wondered what would come next.
After a 35-minute drive, they finally arrived at the location that Beca picked for their date. Chloe looked out of the car window and was surprised to see that Beca had driven them to a small meadow in a quiet park.
Feeling her heart start to pound with excitement, Chloe stepped out of the car, and took a look around at where they were. It wasn't a very large park, but the scenery was even more beautiful than her favourite park near her apartment. It was late Spring, so the emerald-green grass was all nice and fluffy. And not so far from the spot she was standing, there was a small yet crystalline pond with feather reed grass surrounding it. Even with the gentlest breeze, the tall and elegant plants would wave in perfect synchronization, adding motions into the static landscape. And from time to time, gleaming ripples would break the still surface of the pond, in the most peaceful and harmonious way possible.
On top of all these, Beca brought them here during sunset. So in that sunset glow, everything was painted with a touch of gold, and it was breath-taking.
Chloe was almost afraid to breathe, fearing she would disturb the scenic beauty. It was unreal, because this place just looked like a postcard, and Chloe was in awe that Beca was able to find such a wondrous place around a busy city like New York.
"Do you like it?" Chloe smiled at Beca's slightly nervous voice.
"I love it." She turned around to look at Beca, and noticed that the brunette had already set up a blanket and a picnic basket near her car on the grass.
Beca smiled, gesturing at the blanket, "Want to sit down and watch the sunset with me?"
Chloe's heart instantly melt at how romantic this was. She excitedly bounced over to Beca and sat down beside her, before placing a soft kiss on Beca's cheek, taking the brunette by surprise.
"So how did you find this place? It's beautiful!" Chloe asked, chuckling inside at Beca's slightly flustered state.
"Uh… I came across this park when I was finding places to play my music. But this park usually doesn't have many people, so instead of playing my music, sometimes I just come here to write songs and stuff." Beca explained.
Chloe nodded, turning her attention back to appreciating the sunset for a while. Beca smiled, getting up to turn on the radio in her car and leaving the car door open so the music could reach where they were sitting. When she got back, she grabbed the picnic basket and started to take the food out.
"Okay, I have some chicken salad sandwiches, blueberry pie, pretzels and strawberries. And for drinks, I brought ginger lemonade and water—What?" Beca stopped mid-sentence because Chloe was looking at her strangely.
"They are all my favourites. You remember." Chloe whispered.
Beca smiled, "Of course I remember." She couldn't help but reach out a hand to brush a loose strand of hair from Chloe's face. Chloe closed her eyes at the touch, letting out a content sigh and Beca was mesmerized. Because the last rays of the sun lazily played over Chloe's dress and painted her hair in a more flaming colour, her face aglow. "I remember every little thing about you." Beca added in a whisper, dropping her hand.
Chloe opened her eyes, tears glistening in her eyes and she could feel warmth rushing through her entire body. She curved her lips into a blinding smile, before finally breaking eye contact with Beca to grab a sandwich from the plate on the blanket. Beca followed suit, and the two started eating their dinner watching the sunset, with the soft music coming from the car radio.
Without even realizing, it had already been 2 hours, and the two of them had been talking and laughing non-stop. They had talked about Chloe's vet school years, some weird people Beca met back when she was playing music on the street, the songs that the brunette was currently writing and so much more, and Chloe felt like she hadn't had such a good time for so long.
"…so then that giant Alaskan Malamute just tackled Emily to the ground and started licking her face! In the end Emily just gave up trying to stand up. She hugged him and stayed there on the ground for almost 20 minutes, until Cynthia Rose and I went to rescue her." Chloe chuckled at the memory and was excitedly telling Beca funny stories from her clinic.
Beca listened intently with a soft smile on her face. She loved that Chloe was able to find her dream job. And the redhead was clearly passionate about it. She would talk really fast, lips curving upwards in excitement, and there was a sparkly glint in her eyes that made Beca feel a little lightheaded. Beca tried to memorize everything Chloe said. Her heart still ached thinking about the fact that she missed 8 years in the redhead's life, but she was here now. She would learn everything in those lost years and she would stay in Chloe's life from now on, creating so many more new memories with the redhead together.
Chloe put the last bite of blueberry pie in her mouth and smiled at Beca, heartbeats thumping wildly. At first, she worried for a while if her stories would bore the brunette, because they normally did for anyone else she had dated. But then she saw Beca's soft gaze, she instantly knew that the brunette was genuinely interested, and she remembered it was Beca that she was talking to, not anybody else. Her heart swelled with happiness that she was finally able to find someone that would listen to everything she said, joking and laughing with her.
Chloe was just about to launch into another story about an adorable bunny she treated the other day, when Beca noticed that there was a little bit of custard from the pie left on the corner of Chloe's mouth. Without thinking, she reached out her hand.
"You got a little something there…" Beca whispered, wiping the custard away gently. And then, she lingered her fingers there for a few seconds, gazing intently at the redhead's lips before snapping her eyes back up to Chloe's crystal blue orbs, seeing that the redhead was already looking at her lips as well.
Beca leaned a little bit closer to Chloe and took it as a good sign that the redhead didn't move away. She traced Chloe's lower lip lightly with the tip of her thumb, continuing to lean in slowly, inch by inch and watching Chloe close her eyes under her feather-light touches. Beca closed her eyes as well, letting herself get lost in the sweet scent of Chloe's perfume and she could feel Chloe's breath on her lips.
But just when their lips were about to touch, a familiar melody came on the radio that somehow crept into their own isolated bubble. Beca snapped her eyes open, knowing Chloe heard that song too because the redhead had opened her eyes as well, looking surprised. So Beca quickly retrieved her hand and sat back, blushing lightly.
Chloe was also a little flustered, cheeks turning crimson. She let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding and felt her heart flip in her chest even though the kiss didn't happen.
After they both spent a few seconds calming down, they finally acknowledged the song currently playing on the radio. It was Photograph. Chloe's favourite song. They looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"Did you plan this? What are the odds that this song just happens to come on the radio?" Chloe joked, giggling.
"Yep, I went to the radio station earlier and blackmailed them to play this song at this exact moment. I'm very powerful Beale." Beca winked at the redhead.
Chloe laughed harder and just shook her head.
"Dance with me?" Beca said after a moment of silence.
Chloe looked up at Beca and felt her heart skip a beat at the soft look in Beca's eyes.
Beca stood up and extended her hand to Chloe with a hopeful look. Chloe took it and they started dancing slowly to the song in the middle of the meadow. Then suddenly Beca kicked off her boots.
"After all these years, I'm still pretty clumsy, as always. So you know, when I inevitably step on your toes later, it'll be less painful with my boots off." Beca said half-seriously, half-jokingly.
Chloe giggled and kicked off her shoes as well. So now, they were dancing barefoot on the soft grass, under the stars.
The sun was long gone by now, and since the park didn't have great lighting facilities other than a few scattered dimly-lit streetlamps, the moonlight became their primary light source. The soft white glow poured down from above, bathing them, illuminating the meadow. However, Chloe didn't even care if she could make out her surroundings at all, she only needed to be able to see Beca clearly. And that was enough, the rest all became silhouettes anyway. She didn't even feel scared in the rather dim park, because Beca was standing in front of her, hands resting on her lower back and holding her close. And she never felt safer.
Chloe broke her eye contact with Beca for a moment. She lifted her head up to look at all the stars above and was in awe. She didn't expect to see such a clear and silky sky with so many stars. It was so rare to see stars glittering in the sky in the city, and she couldn't remember the last time that she even took a moment to look up at the sky during the night.
After admiring the starry night sky for a while, Chloe looked back at Beca and suddenly forgot how to breathe. Beca never took her eyes off Chloe, not even for a second. The moonlight reflected in her dark blue eyes perfectly, and Chloe could see all the emotions in them clearly. Then just like that, she instantly lost interest in all the twinkling stars above her and couldn't move her eyes away from Beca's anymore, because those navy-blue eyes already had all the galaxy she needed.
A sudden breeze dishevelled Chloe's hair. She quickly raised her hand to tuck those loose strands back behind her ears while laughing, "This wind is messing up my hair!"
"You look perfect." Beca smiled and brought up a hand to softly caress Chloe's left cheek. Chloe instantly teared up. She blinked back her tears and leaned closer to rest her head on Beca's shoulder, closing her eyes. And the two of them just continued to dance slowly to the mellow sound on the radio, feeling as if the time had stopped and it was just the two of them, dancing barefoot under a star-speckled sky, feeling each other's heartbeats, in the warm spring zephyr.
A/N: Ughhh the almost kiss! So close! lol, I swear I'm not being evil, it's just… if these two lovebirds kissed right there, let's face it, they probably wouldn't be able to do anything else and I kind of need them to dance to that song for future reference and... (Okay I can't keep making this up…) Well now I'm seriously having second thoughts about this! I mean, is there anything more romantic than having their 'first official kiss in 8 years' under the stars?! Oh wait, there may be one tiny little thing... aaand I guess we'll find out in the next chapter :D
But what do you guys think? Did I do justice to their first date in 8 years? Let me know in the reviews? xx