Worlds Collide
Chapter Four – 'A Good Day '
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Beca took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she was about to do. She was nervous, and looking straight into those bright blue eyes was only causing her head to swim further. From the moment that Chloe's face popped up on the screen, Beca had felt breathless. Chloe's eyes had been dancing and sparkling with happiness, her grin was stretched right across her face and she was currently shooting over a wink that Beca was sure would be the death of her as her heart literally skipped a beat or two.
"You can ask me anything" Chloe said looking straight into the brunette's eyes, and Beca believed her. Trusting people did not come easily to Beca, she had been let down many times before in her past and it had caused her to construct many a forebodingly high wall that most people just simply couldn't be bothered to try and break through. She hoped that Chloe might be the type of person to at least try, after all, as Stacie had mentioned before, it was a very unusual occurrence for the tiny brunette to even take notice of someone, let alone actively pursue them.
Beca took a calming breath in, eyes never leaving the gaze of the redhead and planted a smirk onto her face. "Well, my question, and feel free to say no if you don't want to or if I am crossing a line here..." another quick confidence building breath, "would you like to come to a party with me tomorrow night?" Beca held her breath as she studied Chloe's reaction, half afraid that the other woman would end the video chat in a flurry of disgusted jibes. However what she saw was possibly the cutest coy smile she had ever seen as Chloe dipped her head and looked back up at the screen through her eyelashes "Beca Mitchell...are you asking me on a date?" she blushed. Beca almost stumbled under Chloe's breathtakingly beautiful gaze and blushed profusely, the red racing across her cheeks. "Umm yeah, I am. Chloe, would you like to be my date for the most highly un-anticipated small gathering of musically nerdy people this side of the West Coast?" Beca chuckled. "I would love to" Chloe shyly replied.
Beca explained that her boss was throwing a party at her place for the staff, some friends and few clients. It was to be a small affair, probably no more than 20 people in attendance, but it had been made clear that attendance for all staff would be mandatory. Chloe seemed excited at the prospect of spending time with Beca and mingling with people that she worked and socialised with, not to mention the fact that during their texting marathon Beca had mentioned her best friend Stacie a few times, and after enquiring if she would also be there, to which Beca replied she would, Chloe seemed thrilled with the idea of drilling her for embarrassing information and stories on the now seriously blushing brunette. "What have I let myself in for?!" Beca jokingly grumbled. "You have a night of amazing fun in store for you Becs, I can't wait to get to know you better" Chloe beamed through the screen. Beca was impressed with the level of openness that Chloe was showing. She was glad that the redhead was so open and honest; it was refreshingly different from the standoffish players that Beca had encountered in her brief dating history. "I can't wait too Red" Beca responded with a huge smile.
Shortly after that Chloe had begrudgingly told her that she should probably get back out onto the shop floor and help Emily, and so they had signed off of their video chat with the promise that Chloe would text Beca later that evening and they could finalise what time and where to meet.
A few hours later and Chloe was waving Emily goodbye as she dropped her employee off at the young girls' apartment. The two had grown close over the time that Emily had worked for Chloe and she would regularly drop the younger girl home if she had stayed to help Chloe close the shop, both of them filling the small space in the car with laughter and singing along to the radio or whatever playlist was streaming through Chloe's phone. After rounding the corner of Emily's street, Chloe pointed her car in the direction of her best friend's house, taking only a mild detour to their favourite Chinese restaurant to pick up food for their evening together at the blondes house.
Aubrey heard a knock on her door and as she opened it was greeted by an extremely happy redhead. They had been friends for a long time, and although Chloe was easily the happiest person that Aubrey had ever known, even she could tell that there was a little something extra behind the wide smile and twinkling eyes that faced her. "Hey Chlo-bear, come on in" Aubrey exclaimed as she took the food bags and a huge bunch of flowers from her friends hands. "Wow these flowers are beautiful, as always, thank you!" Aubrey gushed. "Just one of the perks of having an amazing best friend who just happens to own the most bitchin flower shop in the whole of LA" Chloe joked. "Really Chlo...'bitchin'?" Aubrey laughed. "What, I'm not cool enough to pull it off" Chloe whined as she air quoted the words 'cool enough'. The girls giggled as they made their way to the kitchen, where Aubrey arranged the bouquet into a vase and Chloe dished the food onto two plates and grabbed two bottles of water from the refrigerator. They headed to the central unit of the kitchen and both took a seat on the stools that lined it.
Chloe proceeded to catch Aubrey up on all of the gossip of the day since they had last spoken on the phone earlier in the afternoon, the blonde eyeing her friend suspiciously as she excitedly jabbered on and on and on about how 'Amazing and Beautiful' Beca is and that she had asked Chloe out on a date. Aubrey was happy that this 'Beca' had obviously made such a good impression on her friend, however as the best friend she felt the need to have the necessary 'Now Chloe, I understand you're excited but please don't rush into things' talk with the excitable redhead. Chloe knew that Aubrey was just being cautious and only had her best intentions at heart and was able to successfully calm her friends worries about the 'quickness' of the situation. "Honestly Bree if you could see the way she is with me, all shy and cautious and adorable, you'd be gushing too. Everything will be fine, I'll go to the party, we will have an aca-amazing time and then I'll go home. And if for any reasons something goes wrong, I have this amazing best friend who I know will be there in a flash if I need rescuing; which I won't cause Beca is AWESOME" Chloe rushed out altogether too quickly for any normal ear to understand, but Aubrey was used to her friends rambling and just smiled warmly at her in response, nudging their shoulders together as a sign of silent agreement and acceptance.
Beca huffed for what felt like the millionth time since Stacie and she had started their video chat on Skype. Currently Stacie was bobbing in and out of the screen in various stages of undress as she tried on multiple different outfits. "Beca please stop grumbling and just help me pick which top best shows off my boobs" Stacie begged. "Stace, they all look good, I honestly don't know why you go to all this trouble to take a client out for the night. You're not interested in sleeping with him, your gay for Christ sake, so what does it matter whether or not your boobs look good?!" Beca was growing tired of this routine, it seemed that most of her Friday evenings ended the same way, with her and Stacie having the same argument/disagreement every time. Beca knew that a huge part of Stacie's job was making contacts and wining and dining hot shot newbies, taking them to clubs and bars and restaurants trying to lure them into signing a contract with the studio, but what she didn't understand was why Stacie put so much effort into flirting with people that she just wanted interested in; it baffled the brunette producer. Stacie had a reputation as being a player, but the truth was that although Stacie dated a lot; she never let it last for longer than a few weeks before she would find a reason to toss them to the curb. They never directly discussed it, but Beca was sure that Stacie was just as scared of opening herself up to someone, to truly be open with them and let them love her, or even let herself love them in return.
As Stacie tore off yet another outfit Beca could hear her voice carrying from slightly further off screen. "Becs did you give me back that red and black skirt, you know the one that is modest on you, but wicked short on me?" Stacie asked as she returned in front of the screen clad only in matching red lacy underwear and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "God dude, modest much?!" Beca huffed as she averted her eyes from the screen. "Yeah I have it here at my place, now can you cover your junk and actually sit and have a proper conversation with me?" Beca implored.
"Firstly shorty, dig it out cause in precisely fifteen minutes I will be at your door to collect it, and secondly, get a bottle of wine out and ready, because once I have changed into my skirt I promise we will sit down face to face and you can tell me all about how it went with the flower shop girl, I'm assuming that's why you are whining like a toddler and being completely inpatient! Ok midget?" Stacie smirked. Beca sat glaring at her friend through the screen. "Nod your head twerp so I know you understand the directions" Stacie sarcastically laughed and winked at the smaller brunette. Beca nodded her head, stuck her middle finger up at the screen and said "I'm gonna make you pay for that when you get here Stace, mark my words, you'll pay" and then Beca hit the button on the laptop to end the conversation.
True to her word, roughly fifteen minutes later Stacie was knocking at Beca's apartment door. Beca opened the door, took in the appearance of the leggy brunette and took a step back opening the door to let Stacie pass as she laughed at her. "Wow Stacie, I don't think you even need the skirt, you look HOT!" Beca managed to get out through fits of laughter. Stacie had rocked up at her apartment wearing a tight fitting (and yes very revealing) black top, oversized baggy grey sweat pants, black high heels and a leather jacket. "What look were you going for here...Olivia Newton John in her 80's music video?!" Beca could hardly contain her laughter and the pure look of annoyance on Stacie's face only made her laugh even harder. "Very funny shorty, you have my skirt here remember so I just threw some comfy bottoms on! Besides, I drove here so no one saw me" Stacie retorted like it was obvious she wouldn't have walked over here dressed like that. "Oh and Beca, seriously, you might want to update your insults, really...Olivia Newton John? I love you Becs but not everyone has such an eclectic taste in music, most people wouldn't even know who she is!" Stacie giggled at how the tables had turned as Beca now sported her usual 'I'm annoyed as hell' frown and scowl at her. "Shut up Stace" Beca grumbled as she led the way into the lounge.
She tossed the skirt over to Stacie as she sat herself back down in her spot on the sofa. Stacie caught the flying item easily and proceeded to take off her pants and replace them with the extremely short skirt. "Jeeze dude, couldn't you of gone in the other room to do that" Beca remarked as she looked down to her phone in her hand. Chloe and she had been texting sporadically over the course of the evening, Chloe informing her that she was having dinner with her best friend and that she would be leaving to drive home before it got too late. Beca was so caught up in reading the latest text that she completely missed the fact that Stacie hadn't responded in her usual suggestive reply, nor did Beca notice the huge grin that Stacie was currently sporting as she noticed Beca smiling wide at her phone. When Beca did look back up after firing off a text telling Chloe to drive safe, she was greeted with a fully clothed Stacie holding two filled wine glasses walking back through from the kitchen. She offered one to Beca as she sat down on the sofa and started with an enthused..."So".
"So...what?" Beca enquired. "So...tell me what happened earlier, I take it from the stupid grin on your face that you went to see the redhead?" Stacie replied. Beca filled Stacie in on the details of what had transpired between the two of them, stopping briefly for an annoyed minute as Stacie clapped and smiled like an idiot cooing over the coffee cup message portion of the story, only to be interrupted again when Stacie asked why she had called the redhead to ask her out instead of just asking over text. "To be honest Stace, I don't really know. We started talking about music and there's just so much we have in common that I wanted to make sure it was really happening ya know? If I had asked her out over text there would have been too many ways to interpret her response. You know me dude, I would of gone crazy analysing any response I got, so it was kind of a spur of the moment thing, I wanted to see her face when I asked her, gauge her reaction I suppose." Beca explained. If anyone else had asked her, Beca would have never in a million years opened up and answered honestly, but she knew Stacie well enough to know that she could speak openly.
"Aww Becs...you really like her" Stacie beamed, which promptly gained her a punch in the arm from the smaller producer. "Shut up Stace, you know I hate you right?" Beca jested.
Beca and Stacie continued to chat and finished their glasses of wine but before long Stacie rose to her feet and said "Well Becs, it's been a blast but I better get going and meet this client. I'm going to grab a cab from outside, do you mind if I leave my car outside your place tonight? I'll come and grab it tomorrow afternoon before we go shopping." "Wait" Beca said clearly confused. "Yeah that's fine about leaving your car, but when did we arrange to go shopping?" Beca asked puzzled. "You have a hot date tomorrow dummy, you don't seriously think I'm going to let you dress yourself do you? Besides, I'm going to this party too so I figure I can treat myself to a new outfit at the same time. I'll pick you up at 1:30 sharp - be ready!" Stacie commanded as she headed for the door turning at the last moment to blow Beca a kiss and shoot her a wink. 'Oh crap' Beca thought to herself, 'there's no way I'm getting out of this'. She slumped back onto the sofa and placed her laptop onto her lap. She logged onto Facebook and clicked on the 'going' button of the party event invitation. She also left a quick message for her boss in the private message section that read 'Hey Cynthia Rose, I thought I better let you know that as you are making me come, I am dragging another poor soul with me. I hope that's cool? xx'.
A few minutes later and Beca's phone flashed with an incoming message. 'Hey Becs, just thought I'd let you know that I've just got home. Hope you're having a good evening with Stacie. I don't want to interrupt, just wanted to say goodnight - Chloe xxx'. Beca smiled for felt like the millionth time that day as she typed her reply to the redhead. 'Hey Red, I'm glad your home safe :) Stacie left a while ago, she had an event to attend so it's just me and my glass of wine here now keeping each other company ;) xxx'. Chloe's response took a few minutes to pop up on her phone so Beca threw her legs up onto the sofa and settled her back against the armrest to get more comfortable. Chloe's reply came through and Beca's phone vibrated against her leg. 'Just a thought, but I'm settling in for the night, and wondered if you wanted to skype for a little while? If you are tired or busy though don't worry - Chloe xxx'. Beca didn't even need to consider it; she pulled Skype up on her laptop and clicked on Chloe's contact number. Chloe answered almost immediately, and the first thing that Beca noticed was how beautiful the redhead looked. Chloe was settled against the headboard of her metal framed bed. Her hair was piled loosely on top of her head in a messy bun, her makeup had been removed and she was wearing an oversized band T-shirt.
Beca gaped openly at the redhead and was only reminded of how to speak when she noticed Chloe covering her mouth with her hand to try and stop a giggle from emerging. "You ok there Becs, you look a little stunned" Chloe chuckled with a smirk on her face. "Umm yeah, fine yup, I mean I'm fine" Beca managed to cough out. "I umm...damn Chloe, you look beautiful" Beca finally managed to say shyly with a blush taking over her whole face. Once again Chloe giggled and with a huge smile said a shy thank you to the brunette. It wasn't until Chloe shifted up a little in her sitting position that Beca managed to see what was on the front of her t-shirt. "You like Taylor Swift?" Beca asked. "Yeah I love her music and her actually, she's so awesome and kind and did you know about all the charity work she does and all the kindness she shows to her fans? Aubrey bought me this shirt at the 1989 world tour concert we went to a few weeks ago!" Chloe said in an excited tirade of words. Beca laughed at the adorableness that was Chloe Beale rambling and told Chloe that yes, she was aware of how 'awesome' Taylor Swift was and that it was really nice of her friend to buy her that as a present. "You're not mocking me are you, little Miss Music Producer?" Chloe asked in a wary tone. "No Chloe I'm not, I swear! I like some of her songs and from a producer point of view a lot of her stuff is genious" Beca told her.
They continued to chat for a while longer before Beca noticed Chloe's eyelids starting to droop. "I better let you get some sleep" Beca relented as just on que Chloe tried to hide a tired yawn. "But I'm not sleepy" Chloe whined like a small child being chided about bedtimes. "You are adorable, and yes you are sleepy head. It's ok, get some sleep and I promise I will text you when I wake up in the morning" Beca replied. "Ok, you promise though right?" Chloe asked. "Oh and don't think I didn't hear the adorable remark" Chloe said as she winked directly at the camera on her phone. Beca blushed for the hundredth time and smiled at Chloe. "Goodnight Red" was the only response that Beca gave. "Goodnight Becs" Chloe replied as she smiled huge, Beca ended the chat and rested her head back on the arm of the sofa behind her. 'This has been a good day' Beca thought to herself as she readied herself to get up and get ready for bed. It was getting late and she had a busy day lined up for tomorrow; what promised to be a torturous shopping trip with Stacie, and then a hot date with whom Beca was fast beginning to think was the most perfect, gorgeous, amazing woman she had ever met.
A/N: once again I have been crazy busy at work so I apologise if this has taken me a little longer to put together! I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave a review if you feel inclined to do so! xoxo