The month after finals goes by in a blur. This New Thingplay a few shows in Florida, and Jesse stays in Miami so he can drive his own car back after the break and they can stop using Benji's to tour. Beca drives back to Savannah by herself, the trip long and boring without someone to talk to, but she stays mostly entertained with an iPod full of new music. Chloe also helps in the entertainment area with her texts and phone calls, but Beca tries not to think about the way the butterflies flutter every time Chloe's name pops up on the screen.
-xxx-
Beca's time in Portland is entirely too short. She catches up with family and old friends, all of them eager to hear about her second year at SCAD - something no one was anticipating after her protest at even going - and how This New Thing is, well, The Next Big Thing. Beca laughs off the compliments as crazy talk, even though they make her feel amazing. Savannah is no Los Angeles, but at least she's doing something with her life. She spends the most amount of time at home with Luke, who she has missed like crazy in the past year and a half since she last saw him. They stay up until the wee hours of the morning talking about everything, and once or twice she is even tempted to tell him about Chloe, but she's really not sure what to even say.
She texts with Chloe the entire time she's there, every text bringing a smile to her face, from the random notes throughout the day to the I miss you. Is it the 28th yet? that she gets almost every day. (Soon is always Beca's reply, and she doesn't let herself think about why she desperately wants to add I miss you too.) At night - early morning, really - when Beca lies in bed trying to fall asleep, they discuss things to do while Beca visits, but nothing really gets set in stone; they're both looking forward to the trip being a little spontaneous.
-xxx-
On the night before Beca's flight to New York, she's stretched out on Luke's floor, smiling as she reads a text from Chloe.
"So who's the lucky guy?" Luke asks, tossing a gummi bear at her head that she swats away before it makes contact.
"What?" Beca asks, eyebrows knitting in confusion. She isn't purposely being dense, she's just completely clueless as to what he means.
"Oh, c'mon, Beca. You've been attached to your phone since you got here and you smile at almost every text you get. So who is he? Is it that guy in your band? Is that who you're going to New York with?"
"What? No. I'm going to meet my friend Chloe."
"Hmmm... friend or friend?" Luke asks, waggling his eyebrows ridiculously.
"God what is with you people?" Beca sighs, moving from the floor to the bed, next to Luke. "First Jesse now you. Remember that band I made you listen to? The Flyaways?"
Luke nods. "Yeah, they were awesome."
"Chloe's the lead singer. Jesse and I played a show with them and Chloe and I ended up hanging out and becoming friends."
Luke nods. "Okay," he says, waiting a beat before continuing. "Bec?"
"Yeah, Luke?"
"If she was, y'know, friend not friend, we'd all be okay with it. You know that, right?"
"I'm not gay, Luke," Beca insists. "But considering how open everyone here is, yeah, I know they would be cool with it."
Luke says nothing further, just wraps his arm protectively around Beca.
-xxx-
Beca's waiting at the gate at four-thirty in the morning, which seems a little ridiculous, considering her flight doesn't leave until six, but she was concerned she would be late. Despite the early wake up, her mom had made her favorite waffles, and she'd shared a teary goodbye with everyone before Luke had taken her to the airport. As he hugged her at the terminal, he whispered 'Tell her to take care of you', before pulling her bags from the trunk and sending her on her way. Now she sat, alone, at Gate C17, just hours away from seeing Chloe.
Bored, and not yet willing to crack into a book, she picks up her phone and texts Chloe, hoping the other girl is already awake.
hey you. you awake yet or am i going to have to be bored for the next hour and a half?
When her phone rings less than a minute later, Beca smiles brightly.
-xxx-
The flight is boring, as most flights usually are, but she knows this one will be longer than most because of anticipation of who is waiting for her at the other side. As soon as the pilot announces they can turn on their electronics, she plugs in her iPod, scrolling through a playlist of songs that Chloe had sent her a few days prior.
The next thing she knows, the flight attendant is tapping her shoulder lightly, asking her to put her iPod away. She blinks slowly to take in her surroundings, realizing that she slept the entire flight away. She rolls head from shoulder to shoulder, stretching the crick in her neck, and smiles when the pilot announces they're about to begin their descent into the New York City. After she shoves her iPod in her bag, battery long dead, she continues to roll her neck to work out the 5-hour kink, and by the time they land, it's mostly gone.
Once they arrive at the gate, Beca stays seated, staring at the window as all the other passengers gather their belongings and fight their way for the door before she grabs her bags. She's never understood why everyone jumped up as soon as they could; it wasn't like they were going to get anywhere any faster in the tiny aisles. She has always hated crowds, but airplanes were the worst, so she chooses to let everyone filter out before grabbing her own bags and making her way into the airport.
After fishing her carryon from the overhead compartment, she switches on her cell phone, which immediately beeps to let her know she has a message. It's from Chloe, so she texts back to let her know they've landed.
thank god. i was starting to get anxious.
yeah? exactly how long have you been waiting?
too long. i'm at baggage claim.
Beca smiles at this and drops her phone into her bag while she locates the signs for baggage claim. She does her best to scale back her excitement and take measured, quick steps, but she can't help herself and is in a half-run by time she reaches the escalator down to baggage claim. She scans the crowd for Chloe as she makes her way down, but doesn't spot the flash of red hair, so she makes her way over to the carousel to wait on her bag. She taps her foot anxiously as she waits until someone grabs her from behind and she nearly jumps out of her skin. For a brief second, she thinks she's being mugged in broad daylight, and go figure that this would happen the first time she sets foot in New York. but then her brain registers the scent of lavender perfume and coconut shampoo and her heart skips a beat.
"Chloe," she breathes out before turning in the other girl's arms.
"Missed you," Chloe says softly, and they stand there for just a moment, staring at each other, leaning so close that Beca is almost certain she can already taste Chloe's fruity lip gloss, and she draws her bottom lip into her mouth, biting down with nervous anticipation. The kiss doesn't happen, though, because Chloe moves ever so slightly to the right to hug her tightly, and everyone else disappears and it's just the two of them.
"Missed you, too," Beca whispers into Chloe's hair, and she holds on just a little bit tighter when Chloe's lips press against the crook of her neck before she pulls away.
-xxx-
They take a cab back to Chloe's apartment and Chloe spends the whole time pressed up against Beca's side, reaching across to point out different landmarks, restaurants, and other random places along the way. Beca tries to listen, but mostly she's busy with not focusing on Chloe's breath (warm against her skin), or Chloe's right hand (casually resting half on Beca's thigh, half on her hand), or Chloe's hair (which smells so intoxicating Beca thinks she might be able to classify it as her own personal drug), or Chloe's mouth (which sometimes brushes against her ear when she whispers something about the city as they pass). When they reach the apartment, which is a gorgeous one bedroom a few blocks from the Chelsea Piers, Beca explores Chloe's living room while the other girl gets towels and blankets for her. ("I'd offer you my bed, but honestly, that couch is so comfortable. I've slept on it more than my bed," Chloe had explained.)
She is naturally drawn to the collage of pictures that nearly take up one entire wall, scanning them slowly for a glimpse into the side of Chloe's life that she's not yet privy to. The first picture she notices is the one of them at the beach. Converted to black and white and placed in a simple black frame, it looks more gorgeous than Beca remembered and it makes her feel strangely shy to have such an intimate moment hanging there on Chloe's wall for anyone to see. Another picture of the two of them - pressed close together on Beca's bed as Chloe had tried to get them both in the shot - catches her eye and she smiles. That particular picture had been Chloe's profile picture on Facebook for a while and more than a few comments had been about "how cute you two look together."
As her eyes scan the less familiar pictures, she notices two people who are in more than any of the others. One is a tall blonde, and Beca assumes this is Chloe's best friend Aubrey. The other is a guy – sort of chisled and handsome (in that jockish yet strangely adorable way) – is in quite a few of them. She's seen him before on Chloe's Facebook as well, and can only assume he is the infamous Tom, the one Chloe was no longer engaged to. They hadn't really discussed him since that first night they met, but Beca remembers Chloe mentioning that they managed to stay friends. Looking at those pictures, at how happy Chloe looks, Beca can't help but feel the tiniest twinge of jealousy.
"I see you found my pictures," Chloe says as she makes her way back to the living room.
"Not hard to miss," Beca says with a smile, turning to face Chloe. "They take up the whole wall."
"I like taking pictures," Chloe comments with a shrug. "They're not as good as yours."
Beca blushes and looks down to pick nonexistent lint from her shirt, chuckling lightly. "They're good. It's the emotion behind them that counts."
"Yeah, I guess," Chloe tells her as she steps closer. They just stand there, gazing at each other, and Beca feels that familiar pull; that inexplicable need to be near Chloe. Even though they're only inches apart, Beca wants to be closer; she can feel the weight of something between them, as if being in the same place has made it all real again. "You wanna shower before we go out?"
Beca nods, thankful Chloe interrupted her train of thought, because she knows already that it would have ended nowhere good. "Yeah, a shower sounds great," she tells Chloe and grabs a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom. She stands under the hot spray, replaying that moment in the living room again, and wonders if coming to New York was really the best idea.