So here it is guys! Thanks for being so patient with me. I found this ending hard to write that's why it took so long. Hope you enjoyed the story.
August
LA now weighed on Beca's mind like a brewing storm that she wanted to avoid instead of a thought she once looked forward to. She needed to start preparing; she needed to find a job or something to support herself when she had to pay for things like rent or food. She needed to find a place to live. All the time she had spent in July thinking that she would just "get to it later" were now over and she was running out of "laters".
She and Chloe never talked about it, for everything else they talked about they never mentioned what might actually happen when the summer ended and they were faced with the farewell that they were both unwilling to say before. It came down to Beca realizing that she was less willing to confront the inevitability than she thought she would be. LA had been her dream ever since she discovered her passion for music, it had been all she'd ever wanted growing up and now it was so close and she just wanted was more time.
Chloe had noticed Beca's change of attitude, her sudden melancholy but she hadn't known how to bring it up. Beca had hidden it and it was only ever truly evident when Beca thought Chloe wasn't looking. But when Chloe returned from the store in the early afternoon she found Beca's lap top open to apartment listings in LA. Seeing the apartment listings was like a punch in the stomach and Chloe needed to sit down to process it.
" Hey did you need help with…" Beca stopped when she saw what Chloe was staring at. The grocery bags lay completely forgotten on the kitchen floor while Chloe looked at the computer screen.
" Looking for apartments?" Chloe asked her gaze shifting to Beca and seeing the brunette staring at her feet.
" I thought I better start." Beca answered trying her damnedest to appear nonchalant but failing miserably. Daring to venture into the living room Beca found Chloe's usually warm and inviting persona absent and Beca felt for the first time timid around the redhead. She didn't know how Chloe was going to deal with the end of the summer given how she handled the end of the school year.
" Oh." Was Chloe's only reply and Beca found herself wishing that Chloe might say anything more than that. Get angry and start yelling, even throw something. Anything would have been better than the one syllable response she got.
" Who are we kidding Chloe? What did we think was going to happen when the summer was over? We can't just stay here for the rest of our lives. As much as we both might want to." Beca offered sitting down next to Chloe. Chloe couldn't look at Beca, she didn't want to be angry with the brunette but she found that she was. Maybe it was the naïve and her over bubbly nature that people always made fun of her for that made her think that maybe, just maybe Beca would agree to come to New York with her.
" I don't know what I thought. But seeing you actually looking for apartments makes it more real." Chloe said. It was a naïve hope that somehow the new evolution of their relationship, they haven't talked about what they were officially. Beca didn't like labels and they didn't really need one when they were so far removed from the real world. It was sudden, their relationship was still in the fledgling stage, and in fact that was probably why Chloe felt so strongly about it. They were stuck in the honeymoon phase where it was easy to believe that their feelings and their relationship would always be as it was. The real world hadn't invaded their happy bubble yet.
Beca reached for Chloe's hand and squeezed it gently.
" What do we do?" Beca asked desperately. She'd finally found what she thought she could do without, Chloe had been responsible for opening Beca's fortified heart again and Beca didn't want to lose that. But LA was her dream. And she couldn't give that up.
" I don't know."
" We both have commitments on opposite sides of the country." Beca stated.
" I have a job waiting for me in New York." Chloe said, her tone implying that Beca didn't have an actual commitment in LA. Not yet anyway.
" That's not fair Chloe." Beca said running her hands through her hair. She would love to fall back on her usual defensiveness but she didn't doubt that Chloe had faith that she would succeed in LA. Chloe's confidence in Beca's music mixing ability had been something that Beca had leaned on during some of the times when nothing she was coming up with sounded right and she was hopelessly blocked.
" I'm sorry. Maybe you could just come to New York for a few months maybe get a job at one of the clubs there?" Chloe knew she shouldn't be asking but she couldn't not ask.
" I can't Chloe. LA is my dream."
" I know, I just had to ask." Turning her body towards Chloe cupping the side of Chloe's face and making the red head look at her. Bringing their lips together desperately, hoping to portray everything she felt into one kiss. Vaguely Beca could feel Chloe's hands bunching the fabric of her tank top but the moment Chloe's nails scratched along the small of her back suddenly that was all Beca could feel. Throwing her leg over Chloe's leg Beca groaned at the increased contact.
" Bec…we need to talk about this." Chloe insisted as Beca's lips moved down her neck and just the tip of her tongue running along Chloe's pulse point and feeling Chloe shudder.
" We can talk later." Beca replied pressing her hips down against Chloe's and knowing that she had won when Chloe's fingers dug into her skin keeping her there. Beca knew that this was a particular weakness of Chloe's, whenever Beca took charge. Chloe had tried to explain it once but it didn't matter the reason behind it, all that really mattered was that it affected Chloe in such a way that it evoked the sounds that Beca most loved to hear. Like the whimper that escaped Chloe's lips as Beca bit down on her collar bone.
Things were quickly escalating and neither one of them dared to stop, even if it was only until they went up into the bedroom. Chloe was sure it wasn't fair for someone to be as good of a kisser as Beca was; the brunette took her breath away so effortlessly. Especially the hunger behind Beca's kisses, the way she couldn't seem to get quite close enough but kept trying shifting closer and closer until she had Chloe pinned against the couch cushions.
Afterwards when they lay tangled in each other on the floor, lying on the brink of falling asleep Beca didn't even try and fight the smile that tugged at her lips when she felt Chloe's figures in her hair. Forcing her eyes open Beca found Chloe staring at her, bright cerulean eyes speaking the words that the red head didn't.
" I love you." Chloe whispered, the words washing over Beca. Instead of feeling the terror that Beca expected to feel when she heard those words Beca just felt the most amazing warmth surround her entire body, more notably her heart. When Beca started to respond Chloe shook her head telling Beca that she wasn't finished yet. " I've loved you since that day at the activities fair when you told Aubrey that you thought acapella was lame and I thought she was going to kill you."
" I thought she was going to full on lunge at me." Beca remembered.
" The thought did cross her mind. But I started to fall for you in that moment. And I've loved you every day since. I know love terrifies you and you don't have to say it back. But I wanted you to know." Chloe finished pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and waited to see what Beca's reaction would be. So far she couldn't tell how Beca was going to react, at least she took it as a positive that Beca wasn't moving away.
" The night after the disaster at semi-finals. After I said that thing to you and you looked at me so hurt. I was too angry to really notice. But I remember that once I had calmed down a little bit from it all I was so sick with how I had treated you. There you were taking a chance on me, you didn't need to take me into your world but you did. You didn't need to be my friend but you were. I fell in love with you then." Seeing Chloe's face brighten when she said the words Beca didn't regret saying them for even a fragment of a second. It was true; she was completely in love with Chloe. And if the smile on Chloe's face was any sign Beca would say it a hundred times a day just to see the happiness on Chloe's face.
" Say it again." Chloe requested.
" I love you." Beca repeated.
Somehow three little words were able to take away the dread that had been following the two of them around for the past few days. Though if either of them had cared to look at it fully they would have realized that the words didn't stop time, they didn't make the summer any more permanent. They were just words. Words that they had been saying to each other in a million little ways for months.
When their last week was upon them it was like a dark cloud had descended over them and they weren't able to shake it. Beca's flight to LA was booked and Chloe was due to drive to the city on the same day, the real world was crashing in on them whether they were ready for it or not. They made their promises, even a schedule of who would call whom and when, Skype dates that would somehow take away the loneliness the distance brought. It wouldn't, but neither of them had the heart to admit it.
The lull of the waves crashing into the shore was still as soothing to Beca as it was the first time Chloe had dragged her down to sit. She was going to miss it, sure there were beaches in LA probably better ones even with warmer weather. But that wasn't the point, this was their beach. Nothing would make any other beach in the whole world better than this one. Because while she was there Chloe was in her arms.
" What time do you have to go tomorrow?" Chloe asked suddenly. Beca glanced down at the head of red hair.
" The cab will be here around 8." Beca answered releasing her hold on Chloe when she felt the older girl begin to shift like she was going to sit up.
" It's going to be hard." Chloe mused while she ran her fingers along Beca's leg.
" But we can do it."
" I know. It would just be so much easier if I knew when we'd be together again." Beca nodded her agreement but she didn't know what to say to that. With their careers leading them to opposite sides of the country it wasn't like they could make a plan for one of them to move to be with the other.
" We'll make it work."
Later that night while they lay cuddled together, Beca's arms tightly around Chloe neither of them were sleeping. The clock on the bedside table said that it was close to midnight and both of them desperately needed sleep for the long day of traveling that they had in store for them. But sleep didn't come.
" Go to sleep." Beca said softly running her hair soothingly through Chloe's red locks.
" I can't. It's our last night." Chloe explained.
" Do you regret it?" Beca asked seeing Chloe's eyes dart up to meet hers.
" Regret what?"
" If we'd just left things at the beginning of summer, maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad that we're leaving now. I don't regret any of this summer, even the fights we've had. But maybe it would have been easier."
" It might have, but I'd take three months with you over spending the rest of my life not knowing if we would have been perfect together." Chloe answered definitively.
" I love you."
Chloe woke the next morning to an empty bed, somehow she'd gotten used to that over the summer months. Beca was surprisingly an early riser and was usually down in the kitchen cooking or working on her mixes. What was new though was the note folded on Beca's pillow waiting for Chloe. Before opening it she sat up, hoping to shake the sleep from her mind before reading the note.
Chloe,
Don't be mad but I called the cab company and had them pick me up early. I'm terrible at goodbyes and I knew that if I actually had to do it I would lose my nerve. This summer has been the best time of my life, you've taught me how to love you've shown me happiness. I love you so much Chloe I wish that it were possible to express it in words.
Love always,
Beca
Chloe folded the note back up; she hadn't realized she'd started crying until her vision was suddenly blurry. She stumbled out of bed and even though she knew that Beca was gone she still searched the house for her, looking for any small sign that the brunette might have stayed. But she found none, like she knew that she would. Looking at the clock Chloe found that it was just after 7:30, Beca was probably at the airport by then.
Unlocking her phone Chloe found she had a text message from Beca waiting for her.
Good morning beautiful. I love you. – B
Waiting impatiently as the ringing continued before Beca picked up the phone. When she heard the other line pick up Chloe leaned against the counter for support.
" I should be mad at you for leaving without saying anything." Chloe started, but her tone lacked any actual animosity.
" But…?"
" You're lucky I love you."
" I'm sorry, I just couldn't do it."
" I know, it's okay. Did you get to the airport okay?"
" Yeah, my flight starts boarding in like half an hour."
" You'll call me when you land and get settled in?" Chloe asked hopefully.
" Of course. We have a Skype date tonight remember."
Beca sat back in the uncomfortable airport chair and listened to Chloe's voice, it wouldn't be the last time that she heard it but it still felt like it. Going from seeing Chloe every day, all day for three months to not seeing her at all would be a big adjustment. One that Beca didn't know if she was going to be strong enough to cope with. She knew she was being stupid, who in their right mind would actually get lucky enough to start a relationship with Chloe and then endanger it by going across the country? If it was anyone it would definitely be Beca. But she had to try, she had to know that she went to LA and she tried to become something in the music industry there. If she didn't, the probability of her blaming Chloe was enough to scare the shit out of her. So she was going to be hopeful, she was going to hope that everything would work out because that was all she could do when she boarded her plane to LAX.
Epilogue – Six Months Later
" Chloe seriously you have got to stop moping around." Chloe turned and buried her face in her pillow, she didn't want to greet the sun that was shining unapologetically through her window. Nor did she want to look at Aubrey's concerned gaze. Chloe didn't have to tell Aubrey what happened, Aubrey had come home to find Chloe crying while curled in a tiny ball under her covers. Somehow in the mixture of sobs and sniffling Aubrey had gathered that Chloe and Beca had broken up. Since then Aubrey had been lucky if she was able to get anything out of Chloe as to why.
" I'm not moping."
" If you want me to go to LA and kick her ass I will. If she thinks that she can dump you once she made it big over there she's got another thing coming." Aubrey offered. It hadn't taken long after moving to LA for Beca to find an agent and to begin working on her first album that went multi-platinum in weeks.
" She didn't dump me." Chloe said finally, she could practically feel the confused look Aubrey was giving her burning a hole in the back of her head so she turned and looked up at Aubrey.
" She didn't break up with you?"
" No. I broke things off with her."
" What? Chloe why?" Aubrey demanded standing up off of the bed. Sighing angrily Chloe sat up and met Aubrey's gaze with defiance she hadn't seen since they were both Bella's.
" She's in LA, she's just made it big, having a girlfriend here isn't going to do her any favors and I can't expect her to be loyal to me when she has every hot girl in LA throwing themselves at her." Chloe said.
" Beca would not cheat on you Chloe."
" I know that. But she is about to go out and live her dream and I don't want to hold her back. I want her to experience everything and go to clubs and bars and not have to worry about getting home to call me for our phone dates." Chloe tried to explain.
" So you broke up with her for her benefit?"
" Yeah. Now leave me alone." Chloe said laying back and pulling her blanket over her head. She felt sick, she couldn't get the look on Beca's face out of her mind. The way the brunette's face crumbled and she tried desperately not to cry. It had made it all the more difficult for Chloe to do what she thought she needed to do, but she was determined that what she was doing was right.
" You at least need to eat something and you're parents have stopped calling you and started calling me. They're worried about you and they want you to meet them for dinner tonight." Aubrey said standing, using her best Bella's captain no-nonsense tone.
Chloe hadn't wanted to get up and get ready to meet her parents, and even the act of it felt like it was taking longer than usual. Instead of her usual 20 minute shower she usually took she must have stood under the near scalding hot spray for almost an hour. Afterward she pulled her hair back into a pony tail and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, her parents wouldn't care if she wasn't dressed in her usual perk and bright colors.
Walking into the small diner, it was one of their favorite holes in the wall places that they'd been coming to since Chloe was a little girl. It reminded Chloe way too much of Andy and Nora's diner, but Chloe couldn't tell her parents that. They wouldn't understand. Sebastian stood to greet his daughter while Virginia threw her arms around Chloe's shoulder and brought the younger girl to her and held her in an almost bone crushingly tight hug.
" We ordered you the hot chocolate." Virginia offered ushering Chloe to one of the seats. Chloe offered a soft smile but it was clear to both her parents that Chloe was only moments from crumbling.
" I suppose it would be silly to ask you how you're holding up." Sebastian was terrible when it came to the emotional comforting of his children, he would support them endlessly and defend them until his dying breath. But if they came to him for advice he knew to direct them to their mother.
" I'm breathing, that's something at least." Chloe offered stirring the hot chocolate that had been placed before her.
" Sweetheart, if it was going to hurt you this much why did you do it?" Virginia asked.
" Because I couldn't hold her back anymore. She just made it big, she's going to go off and I just…" Chloe stopped, she was tired of explaining it already and she had only explained it to Aubrey and now her parents.
" Noble as your intentions were don't you think you should maybe ask her input on if she thinks you're holding her back?"
" I know what she would say." Chloe offered quietly. It seemed so unlike Chloe not to be her usual happy self, and it killed Virginia to see her daughter like that.
" She would tell you that you were being stupid." Sebastian said probably harsher than was needed but the fact was he liked Beca and Chloe together. He had never seen someone make his daughter so happy and he didn't think that Chloe throwing that away for however noble the reason seemed was good enough.
" Sebastian!" Virginia hissed.
" Mom it's okay." Virginia was about to say something when something caught her eye out the window behind Chloe. For several minutes the older woman was silent, when even after a full minute had passed and Virginia hadn't said anything Chloe looked up and saw that something had Virginia's attention. Turning over her shoulder Chloe saw who had caught her attention and Chloe's jaw dropped. Standing on the side walk just outside the diner Beca stood looking at them.
Chloe didn't even know that she was moving until she felt the coolness of the outside air and was standing in front of Beca. Beca looked timid, like she wasn't sure if her presence would be welcome, she didn't know if it would be after all Chloe had just broken up with her.
" Hey." Beca greeted cautiously.
" What are you doing here?" Chloe asked her voice little more than a whisper.
" You broke up with me, you didn't think that I would just let that happen without coming to meet you so we can talk about it did you?" Beca asked.
" But how did you know where I'd be?"
" I called Aubrey, I asked her where I could find you when I landed." Beca replied waving at Virginia and Sebastian through the window.
" I told you why I did it Beca." Chloe said pulling Beca off the middle of the sidewalk closer to the side of the building.
" I know why you did it. But you didn't even give me a chance Chloe. You had already made up your mind before even talking to me about it. I thought that we were doing fine and had no idea that you were even having doubts." Beca insisted, the middle of a New York sidewalk wasn't exactly where she wanted to do this but she didn't know if she could wait.
" We need to talk about this. But this is not the place." Chloe insisted hailing a cab. When one of the yellow cabs that were so iconic to New York pulled up in front of them they got in. It was strange being together now, had it been even a week ago they would have been holding hands, they would have been touching in some way instead of trying to be as far away from each other as possible.
Beca was angry and she was hurt and she was finding it harder and harder not to show it. Chloe had blindsided her with everything and before Beca even knew what was happening she and Chloe were broken up. When the cab pulled up in front of Chloe's apartment building the red head dug out the cash that she needed and handed it silently to the driver before following Beca out. They had gone inside the apartment and shed their jackets before another word was spoken. Chloe didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't unlike Beca to remain quiet when she was uncertain.
" Do you want something to drink?" Chloe offered trying to ease the tension as best she could.
" I want an explanation." Beca replied her tone biting.
" I told you why."
" You said you didn't want to hold me back. That's an excuse not an explanation. What the Hell are you holding me back from?"
" You have your career and everything you've ever dreamed of."
" No, I had everything that I wanted. I had my career and I had you. Then you went and you decided that what we had wasn't working for you and instead of talking to me like you always tell me to do you broke up with me. Maybe I had a bigger impact on you then I thought." Beca crossed the living room into the kitchen where Chloe stood. " What happened, we were good. What happened?"
Chloe looked at the brunette, aside from the slightly darker tint of her skin from all the sun she was getting in LA Beca looked just the same. Fame hadn't really changed her although she was only beginning to feel it. Chloe watched as Beca slowly reached out and hooked her fingers on Chloe's allowing their skin to brush but not completely touch.
" Is there someone else?" Beca asked quietly.
" No." Chloe answered quickly, she didn't want Beca to think that there might be someone else. No one else existed in Chloe's world than Beca, there was no one else that Chloe wanted to be with.
" Then why, please tell me what did I do wrong?"
" You didn't do anything wrong." Chloe said insistently forcing Beca to look at her.
" Got a funny way of showing it." Beca mumbled.
" I'm sorry, I couldn't do the distance anymore knowing that there were hundreds of girls that are going to be throwing themselves at you and knowing that you're going to be tempted but you're going to be good and come home so that you can Skype me or call me. But that's not fair to either of us." Chloe ranted, she'd been a lot nicer when she had explained that to Beca, she'd thought her words out and made things sound a little less pathetic. But now that Beca was standing in front of her after flying several thousand miles to talk to her Chloe was crumbling.
" Chloe, I don't want any of those girls I just want you. Just you."
" That might not always be the case!" Beca couldn't believe that Chloe was being so self-conscious, it was so unnatural. Beca sighed and opened her bag digging for something and finding what she was looking for she held out a folded and slightly wrinkled piece of paper. Curious as to what Beca could be giving her Chloe opened the paper and looked at it, her eyes skimming over the words before she realized what it was.
" Is this for real?" Chloe asked finding her voice.
" Chloe you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Unless the reason you broke up with me is because you don't want me, then you're just going to have to deal with me in your life." Beca said a hint of her trademark smirk re-emerging on her face.
" So you're taking the job?"
" I started looking for DJ-ing jobs a month or two ago and my production company said they don't care if I live in New York." Beca replied.
" You're moving to New York?"
" I'm moving to New York."
Chloe didn't know how to express to Beca the happiness that filled her except to bring her lips to Beca's. Brushing her lips against the lips she'd missed so much over the past few months. She'd forgotten the subtle ways that Beca would kiss her that had the power to make her toes curl and her entire body warm. Her memories and her imagination didn't do Beca's kisses justice as she was reminded when Beca's had cupped the back of her neck and deepened their kiss, mingling her tongues.
Pushing Chloe against the counter Beca heard Chloe gasp and couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips breaking their kiss Beca looked up at Chloe. Their foreheads resting against one another, breathe mingling together.
" I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
" Me to. But it's okay now. We're together now."
" Together."