Worlds Collide
Chapter Five – 'The Mall'
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xoxo
Beca awoke in the morning to sunshine pouring through her window, 'Urgh why didn't I shut the blinds last night' she grumbled to herself, inwardly cursing as she rolled over to put her back to the window and pulled the covers up higher around her small frame. She had intended on going back to sleep for a while longer, after all it was a Saturday which meant no work for her today. However her brain had other ideas, as soon as she closed her eyes again visions of Chloe from the previous evening flew through her mind, and the memory of her promise of texting her as soon as she awoke this morning, filtered through. Beca leant over and grabbed her phone as she slid up to a seated position whilst unlocking the device. Pulling up her messages she smiled as she saw the last message that Chloe had sent her the previous evening before their Skype Chat. She typed out a quick 'Morning Red! Hope you slept well? As promised here is your morning message ;) – Beca xxx' and hit send as she rested her head back against the headboard trying to decide if she should lounge in bed for a while or get up and showered.
The decision was made for her when only a few moments later her message tone could be heard from her phone. 'Hi Becs and good morning! I'm so glad you remembered your promise :D I slept really well and woke up totes fresh and bright this morning – did you see that sunrise? It was magnificent! – Chloe xxx'. Beca smiled at the exuberance of the perky redhead. 'of course she's a morning person' Beca thought to herself, she should of seen that coming; from what she saw of Chloe in the short space of time since they had met, she could tell that the woman obviously had a very happy persona and just genuinely seemed to relish and take joy from all aspects of life. It was a quality that Beca admired, even if she didn't share the trait. 'Did I see the sunrise? Red I've literally just opened my eyes – What time did you get up if you saw it?' Chloe's response was instant 'I've been up since 6am, I like to go on an early run first thing in the morning before work, exercise is a great way to start your day off :D' she replied. Beca scoffed at the very idea of doing exercise, she walked to and from work and that was enough in her eyes. 'There's no way you could convince me that jogging is the best way to start my day' Beca replied.
'I never said it had to be running now did I…there's plenty of other fun ways to get your heart rate up in the morning Becs ;)' was Chloe's response. Beca could instantly feel her cheeks burning with a wicked blush and was silently glad that Chloe wasn't able to witness it for herself. 'Are you propositioning me Red? And before we even have our first date? Tut Tut :P'. Beca's replied. Her phone lit up with a response instantly 'Wow…sorry…I think you have the wrong number?!' Chloe joked back. Beca was grinning again, she found wit to be a very attractive quality in a woman and was pleased that Chloe could hold her own in the humour department. She texted the redhead back as she stood and lazily padded over to cupboard to grab out some fresh towels. 'Haha very funny Chlo! I've got to jump in the shower and get myself ready for the day…I've got a big date tonight and I kinda want to make a good impression ;) Speak a little later?' Chloe's response flashed up on the phone; 'Yeah of course, wow an important date huh, what a coincidence, I've got a hot date too tonight ;) – text me later xxx'
Beca showered and spent the rest of the morning mixing on her laptop, she was purposely ignoring the fact that a t-shirt that a particular redhead had been wearing last night had inspired nearly all of the songs she had been working on thus far. Her music normally reflected her mood and this mornings creations had a much lighter feel to checked the time and noticed that Stacie was due to pick her up at any moment so she saved the mash-ups to a new folder titled 'Swift for Red' and turned the laptop off. As if right on cue, Stacie called Beca's phone, the loud ringtone filling the apartment and informed Beca that she was outside by the car and that she better get her short legs moving because they only had a few hours of shopping time.
After Chloe had finished talking with Beca over text she had driven over to Emily's house and taken them both to the flower shop. Saturdays were always busy and after making sure that the store was all set up, cash in the register and all of the stock displayed neatly outside the entrance Chloe made her way into her office and sat down at her desk. Pulling out her phone she called through some of her occasional weekend workers in her contacts list to see if any would agree to work an afternoon shift on short notice. Chloe very rarely took Saturdays off, so she didn't have an extensive back up list of people who she could ask to help out, she was however, very pleased that one of Emily's closest friends, who had worked a few sporadic shifts for her previously, had agreed to lend a helping hand so that Chloe would have time to get ready for her last minute date tonight. She had no idea what she was going to wear and truth be told she was starting to panic a little. She really wanted to look good for Beca, she was extremely attracted to the brunette and was hoping that their date went well.
Chloe had worked herself up into a nervous state and upon calling Aubrey for advise of what to wear, had readily accepted the blondes invitation to head to the local mall and go shopping for what Aubrey called 'operation date wear'. They had arranged to meet outside of the Starbucks on the ground level at 2pm. The time was now 1:50pm and Chloe was making her way through the main doors as she strolled towards the coffee shop. She could see Aubrey already waiting outside of the coffee shop and wasn't in the least bit surprised that her friend was early; Aubrey had always been a stickler for timings and despised being late to anything, it was a quality that Chloe had inadvertently picked up on herself from spending so much time with Aubrey over the years. Aubrey spotted Chloe as she neared the shop and waved happily at the redhead. They greeted each other with a warm hug and chatted excitedly about which shops to head to first and what kind of clothes Chloe wanted to look for. Aubrey suggested that as it was a 'house party' maybe jeans and a top would be appropriate, and so off they headed up the escalator to find the perfect outfit.
They had been in five different clothes stores so far and Chloe still had no idea what to wear that night. Aubrey was busy scanning a rail and holding up various different items when all of a sudden Chloe heard a voice that she recognised all too well getting progressively closer to them. '"I'm warning you Stace, if you don't start picking out appropriate clothing options I'm going to turn and head straight out of here!" Beca grumbled as she walked next to Stacie glaring up at a pair of really short hot pants and a crop top that Stacie was currently showing her. Chloe turned and saw the back of Beca's head as she passed behind her looking the opposite direction to the redhead. Beca had clearly not spotted Chloe in the shop yet. The taller of the women grinned as she messed up the hair on top of Beca's head and said "Aww grumpy Beca is just so adorable! Stop whining midget or I won't help you find an outfit to impress 'the most gorgeous woman you have ever seen'" Stacie mocked as she air quoted the last part with two fingers of each hand. Beca gently shoved Stacie away and quickly tried to flatten down her now messy hair all the while looking at Stacie like she wanted to punch her. Chloe couldn't help herself and turned around completely to address the two woman behind her. "Excuse me but I couldn't help but over hear your conversation" Chloe said with a smug smile on her face. The sudden change in conversation alerted Aubrey and she walked over to stand next to Chloe, a confused expression on her face as to why Chloe would be interrupting a stranger's conversation.
Beca spun around and came face to face with Chloe, her face instantly blazing at the realisation and shock that a) Chloe was stood in front of her looking as beautiful as she always did, and b) that Chloe had also heard, through Stacie, what Beca had said about her. "I umm, hey, hey Chloe, she wasn't talking about you" she stammered out pointing at Stacie. "I mean yeah, of course she was talking about you, I haven't said that about anyone else, cos duh, look at you, you're gorgeous, and yeah, I'm stoked to see you, I mean it's great to see you, I don't say 'stoked', I don't know why I said that… Oh My God I need to stop talking now!" Beca rambled at an alarmingly fast rate. She looked helplessly at Stacie to save her as Chloe giggled at the adorableness that is a flustered Beca Mitchell.
"Well….." Stacie started, "I will certainly be using that whole exchange as future blackmail material" she joked, extending her hand to Chloe. "I'm Stacie, it's nice to meet you" the tall woman smiled shaking the redhead's hand. "It's nice to meet you too Stacie. I'm Chloe and this is my best friend Aubrey Posen" she said looking at Beca as means of an introduction. "It's nice to meet you Au..." Beca started but was quickly elbowed out of the way by Stacie who had not taken her eyes off of the blonde since Chloe introduced her. "Hi Aubrey, it's a pleasure to meet you" Stacie said as she threw a well-timed wink at the woman and ending up standing entirely in front of Beca blocking the blonde from the brunettes view. "What the hell dude?" Beca grumbled as she side stepped to the right and watched the colour rise in the blonde's cheeks before Aubrey quickly dipped her head with a shy smile whilst looking up at Stacie and saying hello in return.
"So…." Chloe continued now looking only at Beca, "You think I'm the most gorgeous woman you have ever seen huh?" Chloe teased. Beca raked a nervous hand through her hair which ended up nervously rubbing the back of her neck feeling the most embarrassed that she has ever felt. Deciding that she might as well just go for it now due to the fact that she couldn't possibly blush any harder than she already is, she said "Yeah I mean, have you seen YOU? You're gorgeous Chlo". Chloe's heart melted a little right there, right then, she was genuinely touched by Beca's words and in true Chloe fashion she scooped the smaller brunette up in a tight hug and placed a quick 'thank you' kiss on Beca's cheek. As she stepped back she noticed that Stacie was shooting Beca an amused look with her eyebrow raised which resulted in Beca punching her in the arm.
Aubrey had also seen the exchange and was looking directly at Beca with her own eyebrow raised but in an entirely unfriendly manner. "So Beca, as you know, I am Chloe's best friend and I think it only appropriate that I ask what your intentions for this evening are?" Aubrey stated in what Beca thought she was trying to sell as a threatening tone. "I intend to make her my sex slave obviously" Beca said in her best sarcastic tone. Chloe giggled again opposite her, raising her hand to cover her mouth from Aubrey's disapproving glare. Upon seeing the look on Aubrey's face Beca followed up by saying "Okay, obviously not a humorous person….My intentions are purely to make sure that Chloe has a great time." Now turning her head slightly so that she was directly facing Chloe she continued "I figure we can get to know each other better, have a few drinks and if Red here" looking back at Aubrey and pointing to Chloe with her thumb "is really lucky then I might even let her persuade me to dance" she finished with a smile directed at the now grinning redhead.
Aubrey looked on at Beca clearly unimpressed. "Hmmmmm" was the only response that she gave, as her stare seemed to harden even more at the small brunette. "Okay…" Stacie said trying to break the tension that was forming in the air between her best friend and the blonde woman opposite her. Stacie looked over at Aubrey and couldn't help but appreciate how attractive she was, in a sexy, stern way she thought. Before she knew what she was doing she had put on her best sultry flirty voice and was talking directly to the blonde saying "I tell you what, why don't you accompany me as my date to the party tonight and we can keep an eye on this little cute couple together, you never know, you may even forget all about them as the night goes on?" she shot a wink at Aubrey as she brushed her hand down the length of Aubrey's arm and expertly ignored the side glare that Beca was shooting her.
Aubrey stood shell shocked, one moment she was playing the stern best friend card to a little alt midget with monstrosities for ear piercings, and the next moment a VERY attractive woman is asking her to be her date. It was safe to say that Aubrey was thrown. Chloe noticed this instantly, she had also noticed the uncharacteristic shy smile that Aubrey had shown the taller woman previously and so she invoked her best friend duties and answered for her "She'd love to Stacie, although I would rather you two weren't spying on my hot date all night, so maybe less of the 'keeping an eye on us and more of the enjoying the party together'?" Chloe laughed. Beca loved to hear the redhead's laughter and figured that if it would make Chloe happy then she would gladly go along with it, even if she would be having words with Stacie as soon as they were alone. "Ok so it's settled, Chloe and I will be attending the party together as will Stacie and Audrey". Aubrey instantly bristled and corrected Beca with a harsh tight lipped: "It's Aubrey". Of course Beca knew this already, she just wanted to get her own back for earlier in the conversation and she found that she actually quite enjoyed annoying the tightly wound blonde.
"Right, well seeing as now both shorty and I need to find outfits for this evening, I think we better all continue off in our separate ways" Stacie smiled. Chloe raised an eyebrow at Beca at the use of the name 'shorty' and chuckled when Beca just gave an annoyed eye roll in response. "It was lovely to meet you both, oh and Aubrey, text me your address and I'll come and pick you up tonight. Shall we say 8pm?" Stacie continued as she slipped her card into Aubrey's hand and winked again, mainly just to see the blonde blush again, she found it rather cute. Aubrey took the card with a smile and confirmed that she would text her details to Stacie.
The girls all said their goodbye's, with Chloe engulfing Beca in yet another hug (this was something that Beca would need to get used to it seemed) and continued with their shopping. Aubrey of course had not taken long to get over her shell shock and realise that she had actually agreed to a date with the leggy brunette and would need to find something drop dead gorgeous to wear herself. She was on a mission and Chloe laughed at how the turn of events had landed them both with dates and going to the same party. On the other side of the mall Beca was grilling Stacie on how she was now going to be under the watchful eye of her date's best friend all night and warning Stacie that she better not cramp her style. Stacie laughed out loud at this and reminded Beca that she had in fact witnessed the rambling mess that the redhead had caused the self-titled 'badass' to turn into. Beca was defeated and she knew it "Dude I swear if you tell anyone, you're a dead man"!
A/N: I'm not going to lie, I really struggled to pull any time together to write this chapter (work was crazy busy again and I have a hen party to attend this weekend so I won't have time to write then) I hope this chapter doesn't come across as too rushed :/
I'm also not sure if people want a little side of Stacie and Aubrey or just keep the whole focus on Beca and Chloe…let me know if you have strong feelings either way and I will keep that under consideration!
xoxo