Chapter 5

Friday - April 22nd

Over the past week at work, it had become a habit, during lulls in their schedule, to observe their co-workers. Not all of them, specifically the pair of girls sitting in the cubicle across from them, perhaps six steps away. Beca had been informed that the blonde, seemingly uptight one's name was Aubrey. She always had a perfect posture, a quick stride and looked to be full of purpose at all times.

The other girl was very different. Stacie was her name. Tall brunette, the name mentioned most often by the males in the office, even by some of the females. Beca didn't really appreciate the tone used to describe the girl. She had been caught in a conversation with her in the bathroom. Much like Chloe, Stacie was bubbly and talkative. Some around the office had commented on her overtly sexual nature in a negative way. Beca didn't really see it like that. Stacie was proud of the way she carried herself, there was an ownership to her image. The musician found it admirable.

These two had provided Beca and Chloe with a strange type of entertainment. Theoretically, Aubrey should find Stacie to be deplorable. She was noticeably messier than the blonde, much louder and didn't appear to be as skilled at the job. Their cubicle should have been a shouting cage on most days.

In reality, it was oddly quiet. Aubrey wasn't as uptight when she was with Stacie. The fact that the other girl was slower than the blonde in certain situations didn't seem to deter her. Chloe and Beca would sometimes hear Aubrey slowly explain things to Stacie, never becoming annoyed when she wasn't able to grasp a concept. It was endearing.

Stacie, for her part, always looked to be in awe of her partner. Normally, Beca and Chloe could hear the brunette describing an event that happened the previous night, usually something mundane. Aubrey would continue to work, not looking like she was paying attention. When asked a question though, she would give short, accurate replies. However, when Aubrey was doing the talking, Stacie would only reply if needed, intently listening. Whenever she did something right, Aubrey would give her some small compliment, usually not even looking at her directly. If she did though, she would see Stacie's face fill with happiness at gaining her approval.

"What's happening today?" Beca asked, peeking around Chloe to get a better look at the other two girls.

"Stacie seems to be angry at her computer," Chloe replied.

Beca looked curiously at Aubrey, who hadn't even glanced at the annoyed girl next to her. "Why hasn't she asked for Aubrey's help?"

Chloe shrugged.

Shortly afterwards, even Aubrey seemed fed up with Stacie's problem and looked to be aiming to help her. She was brutally rebuffed by the other girl who seemed to be intent on trying to fix the problem herself. The next minute, Chloe and Beca watched as the pair went back and forth with Aubrey attempting to help Stacie.

Eventually, Aubrey pushed the other girl away gently, took control of the computer and corrected the problem.

Stacie was visibly angry. Refusing to acknowledge the blonde. Aubrey returned to her own computer, seemingly not bothered by the reaction.

"Aubrey's messed up big time," Beca commented.

Chloe smiled. "I wouldn't be so sure." She gestured towards Stacie.

The animosity from her face had dissipated and she was looking at the blonde. She tapped her shoulder, getting her attention. The observing pair couldn't make out the words spoken by Stacie but a small nod from Aubrey indicated that it was probably good.

Once Aubrey turned back to her work, the taller brunette was still looking at her. She moved her chair a little closer to the blonde before laying a small kiss on the cheek and returning to her own work.

This time, it was Stacie who would miss out on the joy she inflicted upon her co-worker. Luckily, Beca and Chloe were there to witness the normally composed girl blush and hold back her smile.

"They are so cute!" the redhead said.

Beca concurred.

Another week passes. Another week in which Beca found herself in Chloe's house on at least three more occasions. All were work related but Beca complained less each time it happened.

Friday - April 29th

Chloe considered it a simple interaction to invite a friend over to her house. She had done it before with other co-workers at her previous jobs, with other students in college and with random people she had met at all sorts of other places. Basically, it wasn't hard. When most people hear of free food and the chance for fun, they are on board.

Beca Mitchell wasn't most people. She would be reluctant. Chloe had thought about the best way to approach her with the question. Doing it first thing in the morning would give the brunette too many opportunities to back out.

The clock was nearing five, when they would leave for the weekend.

"Beca, do you want to come over to my house?" Chloe asked.

Beca looked at her strangely. "But we've finished all our work."

"I meant just to hang out."

Beca grinned. "I've heard about that," she said. "It's what friends do, isn't it?"

"I forgot you were the lone wolf type, who cannot be tamed by the normal conventions of friendship."

Beca looked to be actually considering her proposal which surprised the older girl. Chloe had been prepared to beg, as desperate as that sounds. Just to seal the deal a little more, she decided to give Beca a push.

"I mean, it's okay if you don't want to." She cast her eyes down. "I'll just spend another Friday night alone, on my couch, slowly waiting for death," she said, feigning sadness.

"You're laying on the guilt here a little thick"

Chloe was not dissuaded. "I think I'll stop on the way to pick up a bucket of ice cream, maybe shovelling that inside of me will make me happy."

"I recommend 'Ben and Jerry's Phish Food'."

The redhead groaned. "Come on, Becs, it's not like I'm asking you do something crazy here."

"Don't you have other friends you could do this with?"

Chloe clenched her fists. This was starting to become somewhat frustrating. She opened her mouth, ready to deliver an angry response about how she had specifically asked Beca because she wanted to hang out with her and for the other girl to take that as a compliment and just say yes. Just for once.

She was cut off by the brunette. "I'm kidding, Chlo," she said. "I'll come over."

The redhead frowned. She was not amused at having to work for something she herself was offering. "Do you think you'll be able to handle it?" she asked. "It's clear that thing hanging out business isn't really your forte. Since it's your first time, we'll just watch a movie or something."

"I don't like movies," Beca replied.

"That's ok." Chloe thought about what else the pair could do, mentally going through her apartment looking for things to entertain her guest. A devious idea came to her, one she knew Beca wouldn't like but she had agreed at this point and there was no backing out. Not on Chloe's watch.

"We could have a sleepover!" she shouted. "I haven't had one in years."

It was Beca's turn to groan.

Despite Beca's hesitation, Chloe would swear the other girl was enjoying herself. The evening had started off with the brunette schooling Chloe on how to create the best hot chocolate. It was an arduous process that she felt was unnecessary right up until she tasted it. Flavour wise, it was a standard chocolatey taste right off the bat, certainly creamy but nothing special, then hints of strawberry came through, crystals of flavor dissolving in her mouth. It was glorious.

Chloe decided to go through all the stereotypical sleepover activities with Beca. Most of it would be new to her. First, makeovers. After some physical resistance, Chloe got her way. The redhead focused on accentuating Beca's best features and actually tried to give her a proper makeover. She opted for green eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and a light pink lipstick.

Beca was gorgeous, that was one of the things Chloe had noticed about the other girl when they had first met. Also, she made it look effortless. There was an elegance to the way she carried herself. Chloe tried to capture that with her makeover. It wasn't like her to take a fun activity so seriously but for some reason, she wanted to do Beca justice.

Her efforts were not in vain though. When the brunette looked in the mirror, Chloe could see the subtle widening of her eyes. She had definitely liked it.

Now it was Beca's turn. Chloe wasn't expecting a regular makeover. She would have been disappointed if it was. To start, everything seemed normal. Beca chose a peach eyeshadow with a coral lipstick, things that worked well on the redhead. Then the weirdness began. Beca picked up the eyeliner pencil and began drawing. She started just below her eyes, using a lot of the pencil. Chloe could feel shapes being formed and then filled in. Throughout the procedure, Beca's face was one of deep concentration, contorting Chloe's head gently to see her work better.

Once she was done, Chloe looked in the mirror. Beca had drawn two vines just before her eyes that extended across her cheeks towards her ears. The vines had small leaves coming off them. Her forehead contained a larger leaf that extended down to the bridge of her nose.

"Beca, this is beautiful," Chloe said. "I love it."

"You sorta remind me of a nymph so I went for something natural looking."

Nymphs. Mythological creatures usually depicted as beautiful young maidens who love to dance and sing. Their habitats are forests and streams and they tend to be mischievous. Free spirits. Chloe blushed. Only Beca would compare her to Greek and Latin spirits so nonchalantly.

Next activity. Talking about boys.

Chloe had planned this as a way to get to know if Beca was into anyone in the office. The redhead started off by talking about a made up person. She didn't have her eye on anyone at the moment so this would have to do. There were mentions of Jake Gyllenhaal, Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Craig to make it seem more realistic.

Beca decided to take the name of the game literally and began talking about Abraham Lincoln. The next ten minutes were spent with Chloe getting no closer to learning about Beca and gaining a vast amount of useless knowledge about Honest Abe.

From the look on her face, Beca must have thought her joke was hilarious.

Chloe quickly shifted them to playing truth or dare.

Predictably, Beca went with dare. Chloe started simply with the cinnamon challenge. One tablespoon of ground cinnamon was administered orally. Beca didn't make the rookie mistake of breathing in which would cause her to cough. Unfortunately, she was not able to produce enough saliva to swallow and had to spit it out.

Because Beca chickened out and went with dare, Chloe did the same. Beca asked her to eat a raw egg. It seemed simple enough. She cracked the egg into a bowl and spooned it into her mouth. It went down quickly and Chloe thought she had won. This was when the brunette grinned mischievously. Beca began talking about salmonella and how raw eggs are notorious for brimming with them. Salmonella discussion quickly shifted to food poisoning and the symptoms of said illness.

Chloe couldn't keep her eggs down for much longer and spent time retching into the toilet. Beca held back her hair, trying not to laugh.

The older girl chose not to speak to the brunette for a while afterwards. Beca made her a cup of ginger tea to make her feel better along with an apology. There was still a lingering smile at the corners of her mouth.

Once Chloe had finished sulking, she suggested binge watching tv shows. Beca didn't object to this, settling down into the couch. Chloe got the pair a blanket and they snuggled up together. She rested her head on Beca's lap as they watched the screen. The redhead felt it was justifiable compensation for the egg incident. No complaints came from Beca, she just smiled at her.

Once it got to around eleven o'clock, Chloe had begun to fall asleep. The last time she had organised a sleepover, she was around thirteen, full of energy and able to stay up all night. Now, with a nine to five job and responsibilities, even their small slew of activities took it out of her.

A fight was about to ensue in a second so she needed to jolt herself up for the next few minutes.

"Beca, there is enough room on my bed for the both of us, do you want to share it with me?" She asked tentatively. Previously, when this topic had been broached, Beca had reacted poorly. It had hurt, she wasn't going to admit it to the other girl but it had.

Beca nodded. "If I do anything weird during the night, don't hesitate to kick me off."

The pair changed into their pyjamas. Chloe's were a very light shade of pink with puppies on them. Beca wore polka dot night shorts with a grey shirt.

Beca was looking around Chloe's bedroom. The redhead had loved it the moment she had set foot in it. The bed was adjacent to the far wall in the center. When Chloe work up, she would be able to see the view of the park as it stretched across before hitting city blocks as sunlight beamed through the window. The walls were a beige which allowed any light to be reflected creating a warmer, more natural glow. The moonlight did the same thing. Other than that, she had a wooden wardrobe and a bedside table.

It was sparse and she liked it that way, it made the room seem much bigger than it was.

Once in bed, the first minute of sharing was awkward at best. Beca laid rigidly looking straight up. It was clear that she still wasn't completely comfortable with the situation. Chloe appreciated that the brunette had been willing to do this for her.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't do either of them any good for her to remain in that condition. Beca wouldn't get any sleep and Chloe would spend time worrying about Beca's comfort meaning she would also get no sleep.

The redhead needed to make the other girl relax.

"Tell me about something that worries you," Chloe asked, still looking up to the ceiling.

"Right out of the blue, what brought on the question?"

Chloe turned to face Beca on the bed. "It's just, I don't want our friendship to be superficial, you know?" Beca looked at her skeptically from the corner of her eye. "I want to be the person that you feel you can share anything with," she continued. "I don't want our friendship to be just us joking around the office. I want you to come to me when you're not having a good day, or when you just want someone to talk to."

Chloe searched Beca's eyes, looking for any sign that her message got through.

"I guess that's my worry. That our friendship will turn into all my other ones. Friends just because I know them. Because I have them as a friend on Facebook. Acquaintances at best," Chloe finished. She regretted saying the words. They sounded needy and had the potential to spoil what had been a nice evening.

Beca was smiling though, still looking at the ceiling. "Our friendship isn't superficial," she said. "Because I only have one friend and it feels like she's all I'll ever need."

The brunette had pressed a shotgun over her chest, right above her heart and pulled the trigger. Chloe's mind was still reeling from the words, unsure if she had heard right. Her blood vessels were filled with gunpowder that had just been ignited and all that energy needed to go somewhere.

She flung herself at the unsuspecting girl, smothering her in an embrace. It was an uncontrollable force guiding her, not that she was putting up much resistance. Beca was giggling from underneath her. Chloe nuzzled her face against the other girl's neck.

"I can understand why you don't say things like that often," Chloe said. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Beca just continued laughing.

"Well?" The redhead asked expectantly.

"Well what?"

Chloe rolled off the girl who was probably struggling to breathe. She still kept rather close to her though. She noted that Beca was far more relaxed than earlier, now looking at her instead of straight up.

"Are you gonna tell me about something that worries you?"

Beca looked to be thinking about her answer.

"I feel like I'm wasting my time," she finally said. Beca now looked dispirited, the smile from earlier practically vaporized.

"How so?"

The brunette sighed. "I'm spending eight hours a day on a job I don't really care all that much about. My passion is in music and I haven't done anything coherent in years, not counting two weeks ago. Combine the eight hours of work with the eight hours of sleep I'm supposed to be getting and I'm spending two-thirds of my life doing nothing of value."

"Why're you still working at Pitch Perfect then?"

"Job security mostly. I couldn't depend on my mother for the rest of my life and who knows how well my musical career would have gone."

Chloe got up from the bed suddenly and walked over to one of the cupboards. She knelt down to one of the lower drawers where she kept a bunch of miscellaneous things that had nowhere else to go.

In the back corner was a small varnished wooden box with a golden metal latch.

The lamp next to the bed was turned on illuminating the bed. Chloe placed the box in between the two of them. Beca sat up against the headboard waiting patiently.

The redhead unhooked the latch and opened the box. Inside, the contents looked to be leaves made from a soft fabric. The leaves were all different colors, mostly different shades of green like lime, jade and emerald. There were a few red and yellow ones as well.

Chloe began moving the leaves away to reveal what they were obfuscating. A clay object similar to the shape of a teardrop. On one side were orifices scattered seemingly at random. It was green in shade much like the leaves but there was a brightness to the color that shone in the light. The other side of the object had a peacock on it, the blue of it glittered.

"This is my ocarina. My little brother wanted one after playing some game. Being young at the time, he got bored of it within a week," she explained. "Eventually, it ended up in my possession and I've kept it since."

"Are you any good at it?"

"Back when I first got it, I spent some time trying to play it but could never get the hang of it. To be fair, I didn't try very hard." Chloe then handed the ocarina to Beca.

The brunette handled the instrument delicately, her eyes were lit up. Chloe felt like she had made the right decision.

"I've had it since I was 9," She said. "And I want you to have it."

Those same eyes shot up to meet hers. "Why?"

Chloe took one of Beca's hand into her own, feeling the warmth of her friend against her. It had become one of her favorite things. It just felt right sometimes. She'd begun to do it subconsciously, reaching for the other girl's hand, almost like she needed confirmation that Beca was there.

"Because you'll be much better at it than I ever could be. It'll give you an incentive to work on your music, knowing that by not learning to play it, you're letting my gift go unappreciated."

Beca played with the ocarina with her free hand, running her fingers over the holes and the peacock. "Thank you, I don't feel right taking this from you. It must mean something if you kept it for so long."

Chloe grinned. "It does mean a lot to me but I could never work out why," she said. "Now I know. I think it was waiting for you. For me to give it to you."

"You're putting a lot of faith in me when I've given you no reason to," Beca replied. Chloe wanted to argue against it but the brunette had more to say. "I'll try not to mess it up."

"Me too."

A quick lesson on how to use the instrument was given. Chloe didn't know much apart from how to hold it and where to blow. Even with that paltry amount of instruction, Beca took to it naturally. She couldn't play much more than a note but she had picked it up faster than the redhead had.

Throughout the rest of the night, there was something different about Beca. Whenever Chloe looked into her eyes, there was something there. The hour was late and the two of them were beyond exhausted but Beca's eyes didn't display any such characteristics. It was most prevalent when the two made direct eye contact.

Chloe wasn't sure if Beca was aware it was happening but whatever it was, the redhead found it difficult to look away, she was intrigued.

Chloe liked it. It was comforting.

Later into the night than planned, they fell asleep. It was only after they both agreed to shut up so that sleep would come to them. This was followed by poking, provoking the other to talk and generally messing around. Basically doing anything but sleeping.

Chloe awoke in the middle of the night to find her limbs entangled comfortably with Beca's

She felt safe. This was strange because she lived in a good neighbourhood and for all intents and purposes, she had felt safe before Beca was there.

No, safe wasn't the right word to use. Comfortable was correct but didn't encompass the feeling. The same could be said for warm.

The time combined with Beca's arms around her weren't really allowing her to think clearly about something this complex but she persevered. Nuzzling against her friend, she inhaled slowly, allowing herself to indulge in Beca's scent.

It wasn't a feeling. More a fact that had become apparent to her. It explained why she had been so eager for Beca to visit her home, why she had felt strange when Beca took the couch each time.

Beca belonged here.

That was the only answer she needed.

She lifted herself off the bed a little so she could get a view of the brunette's face. The light from the window illuminated Beca's face. Her hands moved a little at the change in their positions, like she was mourning the loss of the presence next to her.

As she looked at the peaceful girl on her bed, Chloe was almost sure that Beca would never find out just how glad she was that Beca was there.

Part of me wants to find out why I'm drawn to you.

Part of me wants to just indulge in the moment.

No part of me wants you to leave.

Thanks for reading! Keep the feedback coming.

As always, I'd like to thank all those who followed and favorited the fic. Chapter 4 got the best response so far. Thanks to Joshifer4Everlark and until its gone for their reviews.

The chapter 5 cover image is up on my tumblr.