You guys are the best for all your continued love of this story. As promised, a longer chapter this time.
Also, to geler7, I've read the review you left (I'm not going to post it here though cos it's basically a thesis) like a million times because it's one of the nicest reviews I've ever gotten. I mean I don't even know where to start with thanking you and all that shit, so just know that it made me smile, like a lot more than is okay.
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Here's a summary of how the remainder of the film went: It sucked. It sucked ass, but on the plus side, once Chloe got over Beca snapping at her the pair resumed toying with one another's fingers, so complete bust? Not quite.
Still though, Beca would take a million mundane films any day over where she was right in this instant now.
A ballroom. Not just any ballroom either; a ballroom full of people that shared DNA with Chloe, therefor (probably) making them just as perky as the red head was (Beca had been too scared to do proper research on this theory after her first two introductions had ended in hugging).
Beca figured the safest place to loiter was far enough from the "annoying relatives no one really likes" table so as she wasn't actually spoken too by them, but also close enough so no one else dared to come talk to her. It was working too (her father's wedding rehearsal had taught her a lot more than that his wife to be was a bitch).
Chloe on the other hand had happily branched out to mingle (of course apologising profusely to Beca before she left). Not that the brunette minded; after her conversation with Adam, the almost kiss with Chloe and the mini argument that'd resulted, she figured it was safest to keep at arm's length from the red head for now.
That didn't mean she couldn't stare though (like seriously, was it just her or was blue like the hottest colour Chloe could wear? Not that she thought that… actually, yea, she did. There wasn't even a point in denying it at this stage), and staring was exactly what she'd been doing when her loitering plan was foiled.
"You've taken my spot." The voice from behind her caused Beca to start, and she almost spilled her vodka when she done a dramatic jump and turn to come face to face with her attacker.
The man she came face to face with was handsome. Like not "one exception to being gay" handsome, but she could tell he had no problem with the ladies. She could also tell right away he was related to Chloe. He looked nothing like her on the surface, with sallow skin and chestnut hair, but it only took her looking into the guys eyes to tell instantly that they were in some way genetically connected.
"I didn't realize I'd kicked over a reserved sign when I stood here," Beca shot back, playing the guy off cool as she still wasn't sure if he was a hugger or not.
"You didn't. It is however a little known fact that I like to stand just far enough from the "annoying relatives no one really likes" table so as they won't talk to me and also just close enough so no one else dares talk to me." (it was like looking in a mirror).
"Well there's space all around me," Beca commented, making a sweeping motion with her arm. "And I dunno, that old lady over the far end of the room looks like she's got a pretty wide perimeter created around her too," she added, tilting her head to the battle axe in the corner, nursing what was more than likely poison in her frail old lady hands.
"That's my aunt Mary." The stranger explained, following Beca's line of vision. "And there is no safe perimeter with her. She's been known to cross busy streets to annoy people."
"Even better…" Beca shrugged nonchalantly.
"Now you're just playing hard ball… I think we could get along," the stranger commented, smiling enthusiastically at Beca (please don't hug, please don't hug, please don't hug).
"Something tells me that probably won't be happening," Beca shrugged. "But you can keep wasting all these conversations on me if you so wish."
"Oh snarky… I like it." (Not a hugger, just a perv).
"Snarky and gay… still like it?" Beca fired back at him, her eyebrow quirking of its own accord.
"Dammit…" The stranger sighed. "Now I look like a dick."
"Your hair's almost the same colour as your face… I kinda presumed you were a dick anyway," Beca shrugged, insulting this man further being the only way she knew to let him know it was cool.
"Screw you, I'm just sallow skinned," the man glared, smiling none the less. "And my name's Daniel by the way, I'm Rachel's cousin."
"My name's Beca," Beca replied, figuring it was best to give this guy a chance now that he'd stopped his awkward flirting. "And I'm Chloe's date…" (that felt odd to say).
"Wait… you're Chloe's date? She actually brought you home with her?" Daniel's jaw almost hit the floor.
"Okay I can't tell… are you shocked Chloe's gay or that she's flaunting it?" Beca questioned, unsure where the wide eyed look she was receiving was coming from.
"Oh please," Daniel snorted. "I've been best friends with Chloe since before we could walk and when we were in first grade she told me she thought our female teacher had really pretty eyes… I've known since then," he laughed.
"Well, dare I ask why the slack jawed expression?" Beca enquired, intrigued by the stir she was causing with Daniel.
"How well do you know Chloe?" Daniel asked instead (what was it with people and questioning their relationship? I mean you'd swear everyone thought they were faking it or something… oh my god, Chloe's family are psychics!).
"Pretty well…" Beca shrugged, sensing from his expression he was waiting for more of an answer than that. "We both go to Barden and we're both on the Bellas together and I guess we just clicked right away… I mean it's lame but she's kind of my best friend too... ya know?" Beca wrung her hands awkwardly to try and escape from the fact that that was the second admittance she'd made today in regards to the red head (pull your shit together Mitchell).
"Well then you probably know she doesn't like bringing people home… cos of her dad and all." (Well, she could have guessed, but she didn't actually know).
"Oh right…" Beca nodded; yet again stumped by the enigma that was Chloe's father (she didn't even know the guy's name yet).
"Yea, I just figure she must really trust you if she's okay with brining you back here and all." Beca knew she was supposed to take this as a compliment, but it was probably the fact that she knew the alternative truth that really turned her gut when Daniel said it.
"Yea…" Was all she could think to say to cover the semi-awkward silence that followed. "You don't hate me do you?" She blurted suddenly, shocking herself with the statement (though not as much as she could tell she'd shocked Daniel).
"Uh… I've known you for maybe three minutes," he needlessly reminded her. "Why would I have reason to hate you? Have you killed my puppy and this is your way of telling me?"
"Uh no… I just… I dunno, I think her brother hates me, and I want to ask you something so it'd help if you didn't," Beca explained briefly (Jesus, she couldn't have just said that in the first place and saved a whole lot of weirdness?).
"Adam doesn't hate you," Daniel laughed. "He's protective. Like super protective of her because of the whole thing with her dad, and you know, she's his little sister, that's just his job. I guarantee you though, as long as you're not hurting her he'll be fine with you. As for needing to ask me something, I'd love to have a threesome with you and another girl, just not my cousin," he concluded, smiling teasingly.
"Well now it's just awkward cos that's exactly what I was going to ask," Beca dead panned, rolling her eyes to the heavens and causing Daniel to laugh. "Seriously though… I was actually wondering what that whole thing with her dad was. I mean, she's never really uh… told me, and not that I'm being nosey or anything, but I can just tell it upsets her and I dunno… I just wanna be able to know what's going on with her I guess," (Okay, so maybe part of it was nosiness, but the majority of that feelings crap Beca had just spewed was 100% true).
"Oh no," Daniel warned. "Oh hell no, it is so not my place." He shook his head vigorously at Beca. "I don't even know the whole story. I actually think Aubrey's the only person Chloe's ever really told, and Adam kind of just knows be default," he explained.
"Oh…" Beca sighed (so much for that).
"It's nothing you need to worry about though," Daniel tried to comfort her. "I mean it's nothing like… you know… illegal or anything that happened to her. It's just… it's just a thing, and if you want to know more than that, then Aubrey or Adam are the people to talk to."
"So much for that then," Beca couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever chance I had of Adam telling me, Aubrey for sure hates my guts," she explained.
"Now that I can believe," Daniel snorted. "I mean I've met the girl twice, and I'm about four hundred per cent convinced that the fact I've changed majors three times since I started college wants to make her rip her eyeballs out in frustrations." Beca laughed hard at this statement, being fully able to believe it. "She. Doesn't. Know. Me." He emphasised each word, as if even the thought of her irrational hatred pained him.
"Trust me when I tell you I know exactly what you're talking about," Beca agreed, almost ready to hug Daniel just out of the sheer joy of someone else finally understanding how crazed the blonde was (like that's how cracked Aubrey was; Beca was genuinely considering physical contact). "So basically I'd have more chance getting information out of your aunt Mary," she added, almost causing Daniel to choke he laughed so long.
"You can but try…" Daniel motivated once he'd regained composure.
"Try not, fail not," Beca quoted perfectly.
"That was deep right there," Daniel snorted.
"I'm not just a pretty face," Beca informed him with a teasing smile.
"No. I can tell already you're more than just your good looks," Daniel agreed.
"Not trying to steal my girlfriend, are you little cousin?" Chloe's voice suddenly called from behind Beca, her question causing Daniel to laugh.
"Just in time Chloe, I was just about to add how that made you so lucky to have her in your life," Daniel added without hesitation (so apparently social skills were hereditary).
"Oh I'm sure," Chloe chuckled, now having reached the conversation as she wrapped her arms around Beca's arms and rested her head on the brunettes shoulder.
"He's been trying to lead me astray!" Beca feigned shock as she spoke, at the same time sliding her hands up to wrap them around Chloe's palms, the comfort she got from having skin to skin contact with the red head being something she instinctually went in search of at this point.
"Daniel, how dare you try and charm the gay out of Beca," Chloe scolded. "Don't worry babe, we can have wild sex tonight to remind you of how much you like the ladies," she added.
Beca could feel her ears burn at the comment, and was almost sure the heat was traveling through her cheeks as well, but tried to play it off, knowing Daniel would doubtlessly pick up on it otherwise, and comment on it without fail. It apparently worked.
"I so didn't need to hear that," Daniel sighed, pinching his brow and scrunching his features, as if trying to physically push all unsettling thoughts from his mind. "Believe it or not that's not an image of you I wanted in my head Chloe."
"Ew, pervert. I never asked you to visualise it!" Chloe disentangled on hand from the body of limbs she'd created with Beca to slap Daniel across the side of the head.
"But you said it!" Daniel fought back.
"Yea, for Beca's dirty little mind to process, not yours," Chloe shot back.
"Well then next time, say it quietly or maybe not when you're in front of a single twenty-one year old male," Daniel suggested.
"Fine then," Chloe shot him a challenging look before adjusting her head on Beca's shoulder so her breath was floating directly into Beca's ear. "I don't actually need to say anything dirty," she whispered slowly, the hairs on Beca's neck standing on edge. "Your hands tightened around my palms like thirty seconds ago. I already know what's going on up there." Beca's strangled whimper only confirmed her thoughts.
"Well this conversation suddenly became one I want to leave," Daniel sighed, scanning the room around him to try and find another conversation to join. "I think I'm just going to find my table," he conceded, realizing most people were beginning to take their seats now anyway.
"Believe it or not that's actually why I'm here," Chloe informed him. "You're at the same table as me and Beca… and when I say that I mean I made some place card adjustments, but it all worked out in the end," she added somewhat sheepishly.
"I was thinking I wouldn't have been put at a table for the bridesmaids," Daniel snorted.
There were probably about five hundred speeches between each course. Apparently waiting until the actual wedding to wish Rachel and whatever her husband's name was (it began with "J" or "G" or something and really Beca should remember it because it was said at least once per speech. Then again maybe if she wasn't starving to death because of the shitty portion size her memory would've been better) the best of luck in their marriage was too mainstream. Instead everyone and their mothers found reason to tap their glasses and call the room to attention.
Chloe and Daniel of course kept a running commentary on each person giving a toast, with Beca joining in once she'd gotten used to their banter ("Oh, another speech about how in love they are… original." "Hey that's my mom!" "Oh, shit I didn't…" "He's kidding Beca." "Asshole.").
"You know what, I can't take this anymore," Beca groaned after almost two hours. "I'm going to stretch my legs… I'll be back when I see them start to bring out desert."
"You're a wise one," Daniel nodded, having had the same idea himself between the starters and main course.
"Just don't be too long," Chloe smiled at the brunette. "I don't think I can handle Daniel on my own."
"I promise, I won't be," Beca returned the grin.
Her fingers had been woven with Chloe's on the table for the majority of the meal and when she rose from her seat she pulled the red heads hand to her mouth to brush her lips across it and give it a soft squeeze. She could see Chloe's expression melt when she done so and in turn felt her own insides turn to mush, deciding then and there to leave before she went for a kiss somewhere a little more daring (again).
Chloe knew she wasn't being in any way subtle, but she still couldn't help but stare as Beca wandered off.
"You're disgusting," Daniel commented, causing Chloe to jump (she may or may not have been so caught up in Beca she forgot he was there… maybe).
"What? Why?" Chloe enquired, finding his random acquisition odd.
"You're so… in love," he spat out the last two words as if they were a bad taste in his mouth. "It's just sickening to watch."
"Don't be an ass," Chloe chuckled, brushing off the comment and throwing her napkin at him.
"It's true though!" He fought. "The pair of you are just so in love with one another and at first it's kind of cute but seriously… your hands were having sex on that table for a while there," he shuddered.
"You should've seen the footsy we were playing," Chloe once again brushed off his comments (because yea right, like they were true. She didn't love Beca, and Beca most certainly didn't love her.).
"I wouldn't even be surprised." Daniel rolled his eyes to the heavens at her comment.
"Oh come on, give it a rest," Chloe sighed.
"I swear to you I'm not making this up!" Daniel insisted, a little offended by Chloe's lack of belief. "I've never seen you like this with someone before Chlo'…. You two are in love, like for real in love. You can't stop touching one another, but like it's not in a 'I want to be near you all the time' kind of way… it's just like… it's like it's just second nature for you to be so close and like… as one," he tried to explain.
"Okay, now you're just talking out your ass," Chloe laughed, trying in the meantime to push off an oddly unsettling feeling she was beginning to get in her chest.
"Whatever Chlo'," Daniel sighed, unwilling to argue. "Deny me all you like, just don't deny her, or yourself. She really cares about you. I mean even I got that and I still have the mental age of a ten year old most of the time."
"How do you even know?" Chloe snapped back accusingly, feeling an uneasy feeling rise in the pit of her stomach (probably something to do with the fact her cousin was getting closer and closer to saying something she wasn't quite ready to hear out loud).
"Look, I don't know what the deal is with you two, or how serious you are," Daniel began cautiously, knowing that by now he was probably getting on Chloe's last good nerve. "I just know she's the first person in a really long time you've let see past those shiny, preppy, enthusiastic, walls Chloe, and even more than that, I think she's the very first person you've actually wanted to see past them." (yup, there it was… a big, fat, ugly, truth bomb).
"Why does it even matter to you?" Chloe groaned in exasperation. "Since when do we do that thing where we get overly involved in one another's lives?"
"Because Beca's cool," Daniel shrugged simply. "And I'm also pretty sure she's one of those one in a million people that are willing to help you take them walls down whenever you let her."
If it were any other conversation Chloe would have smacked Daniel for staring so smugly at her once he'd concluded his speech. She couldn't though. Instead she felt like a million different voices had filled her head at once. A different question for each syllable Daniel had just spoken and not one of them she was ready to answer.
"Deserts!" Chloe blurted suddenly, her mind having gone into overdrive to try and change the subject. "People are getting their deserts," she realized, watching as a variety of cakes and ice-creams were brought out.
"Thank god you got the hidden message in what I just said there…" Daniel dead panned.
"No… I mean Beca said she was coming back for her desert," Chloe reminded him. "She must be in the bathroom. Immah go get her."
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"Hello? Aubrey Posen speaking."
"Uh hey Aubrey… it's uh… it's Beca. Could I talk to you for a sec?"