Chapter 7
"I dare you."
Beca's words kept repeating over and over in her mind. Chloe had been staring at the empty doorway for fifteen minutes, despite knowing the brunette was long gone. Beca had called her bluff, and there was no way she was going to assign the girl another week of detention, even if she wouldn't be the one to monitor it.
Chloe sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, finally looking away from the door. She had tried her best to keep everything completely professional with Beca, and felt she had done a pretty good job aside from a few lingering looks. What Chloe wasn't prepared for was the almost overpowering urge to chase after her and apologize for shutting her out, or how awful she felt now that the brunette was gone.
It frustrated her to no end that Beca was right. Beca might have kissed her first, but Chloe didn't exactly put a stop to it. No, instead she had given in to the attraction and completely lost control. Worst of all, she really didn't regret it. She definitely regretted risking her job, possibly regretted losing control of her emotions, but kissing Beca had put all past experiences to shame. The girl was impossibly skilled, her tongue, hands, and hips all moving in a synchronized rhythm without a hint of hesitation. She left zero doubt in Chloe's mind she'd done it before.
After she finally recovered the presence of mind to push Beca away, Chloe took the mixed signals to a new level and gave the girl her phone number. She shook her head, mumbling, "What the hell were you thinking, Chlo?" She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she knew exactly what she was thinking. She wanted more. She wanted more anything with Beca. The brunette was just…hot. There was no other word for it. Chloe had never been so attracted to someone so quickly, and it was only magnified when she heard Beca sing. On top of that, the girl was smart; probably smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for due to her 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. To Chloe, there was nothing more attractive than confidence, and the brunette radiated it, from the bar pierced through her cartilage to her trademark smirk that made Chloe want to pin her against the wall and reduce her to a begging, quivering mess.
Her head told her she was playing a dangerous game, but her intense attraction for Beca was clouding her better judgment. She knew she needed to get her feelings for Beca under control, but the brunette certainly wasn't making it easy for her; the smoldering stares and sharp retorts packed full of innuendos sent Chloe's mind into overdrive. Instead of squashing the sexual tension between them, Chloe had only allowed Beca to heighten it. She couldn't help but remember just how much control the brunette had over her tongue, and imagine how Beca would choose to further demonstrate that fact.
Chloe shook her head to clear her thoughts, standing up from the chair and gathering her things. She left the building, reinforcing the thought that anything that happened between her and Beca would only end badly for her. She just needed to get through these last two days of detention, and then avoid the brunette. Barden wasn't a large school by any means, but Chloe was certain that after another week or two she would develop a rhythm during the day that didn't involve being alone with Beca Mitchell.
Beca pulled open the door to Pastarelli's Pizza and spotted Stacie sitting in their favorite booth. She immediately felt her body relax a little, an easy smile falling across her lips as she sat down across from her best friend. "Thanks dude, I needed this," she said, pushing the menu aside. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and shot off a quick text to her dad, letting him know that she was eating with Stacie and would be home later.
A waitress came over with water for both of them, and asked if they wanted the usual. Both girls nodded, grinning at each other. They came here all the time, and always ordered an extra large pizza with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, green peppers, and onions.
"Anytime, Becs. Now tell me what's going on," Stacie replied, her grin fading into a worried expression.
Beca hesitated, but once she started speaking, the words tumbled out of her mouth easier than she had expected. "So you know how you and Amy dared me to get Ms. Beale's number and get her to go on a date with me?" At Stacie's nod, she continued, "Well, yesterday in detention, I kissed her. And then she kissed me. And then we kinda started making out on the table."
Stacie's jaw dropped as she tried to process her friend's words. "Seriously?"
Beca nodded, "Seriously."
Stacie stayed silent for a moment before asking, "How was it?"
Beca smirked at her, replying, "Dude, Stace, have you seen her? It was fucking hot!" Thoughts of Chloe's lips and tongue moving against her own filled her mind.
Stacie snapped her fingers in front of Beca's face, bringing her out of her daydream. "Stop fantasizing, Mitchell. Tell me everything."
Rolling her eyes, Beca responded, "I don't kiss and tell details, Conrad. Anyways, she eventually shoved me away, and I was late for dinner with dad and Shelia so I left. But not before I got her number!" she finished triumphantly. "Told you that would be easy."
"You actually got her number? How do you know she didn't give you a fake one?" Stacie couldn't believe Beca had actually gotten Ms. Beale's number.
Beca snorted, "Because I called it and her phone started ringing. Did you know her ringtone is Hit Me With Your Best Shot?"
Stacie couldn't stop the grin that covered her face. "That's awesome. And props, Becs, you've got more game than I thought."
"Maybe not," Beca scowled. "When I showed up for detention today, she had done a complete 180 and was frozen solid. Barely said two words to me and called me Ms. Mitchell, which has never happened before. There was some serious chemistry between us, but she denied it."
"What do you mean? Define 'serious chemistry'." Stacie didn't look convinced, and Beca ended up telling her all about what happened in detention. When she finished, Stacie was studying her across the table with a thoughtful expression.
"Whatcha thinking, Stace?" Beca asked.
Stacie opened her mouth to speak, but paused when the waitress returned to set the steaming pizza between them on the table. They confirmed that they were all set, and each took a slice. After a few minutes of silent chewing, Stacie spoke up. "What do you want to do, Becs?"
Beca looked at her blankly. "You mean besides finishing this pizza?" she asked, taking another bite.
"Do you like her? Do you want to kiss her again? Maybe somewhere other than her mouth?" Stacie questioned, emphasizing the last one with a smirk of her own.
"Oh, well, I don't know. I mean she's obviously sexy as hell," Beca mused, thinking about Chloe again. "I'm not really interested in a relationship or anything, not when I'm moving to LA at the end of the year."
Stacie pressed on, "Who said anything about a relationship? What you told me sounds like straight up lust, dude. Besides, when was the last time you got some?" Beca pursed her lips as she thought about it, apparently taking too long as Stacie interrupted, "Okay, way too long if you have to think that hard. Jesus, Becs, if you say Carrie I'm going to slap you. That was like 6 months ago!"
Beca shrugged, replying, "I told you, I spent the summer working on my music. I didn't get out much."
Stacie rolled her eyes, "And I'll bet your music reflects all that pent up frustration. Come on Becs, would you do her?"
She didn't hesitate, "Fuck yes! Again, have you seen her?"
Stacie grinned. "Okay, then let's figure out how to get you laid, Mitchell." Beca looked at her friend warily. "Aw come on, don't you trust me?"
Beca let out a short laugh. "Nope, I don't trust you at all."
"Liar. This is my area of expertise. Start taking notes," Stacie bragged, knowing Beca wouldn't argue with her.
Beca sighed, resigned to the fact that there was no way Stacie would drop this now. "Okay Stace, what do you have in mind?"
Stacie sat back, studying her friend for a minute or two before commenting, "Popping open another button or two on that shirt is a good place to start."
Beca arrived home to find her father sitting at the table reading and Sheila standing near a pot on the stove. She grinned and dropped into a chair at the kitchen table.
"So the warden let you leave early for good behavior?" her dad asked, looking up from his book.
Beca rolled her eyes, replying, "Yep. I was a perfect angel."
Sheila didn't bother to turn around from the stove as she said, "Not possible."
"What's not possible is for you to cook something edible," Beca retorted. "Dad, I thought we agreed she had to be supervised in the kitchen at all times?"
"Excuse me, young lady," Sheila snapped playfully. "I am a grown ass woman, and if I want to cook myself dinner, I will."
Ben mumbled, "And by cook dinner, she means stir a pot of canned chicken noodle soup."
Beca cracked up laughing as Sheila spun around to glare at her husband. "Watch it, Benjamin, or I'll decide to cook dinner for real this weekend," she threatened, her glare turning into a smirk at the terror on Ben and Beca's faces. "It's been a while since I've made lasagna…" she trailed off, spinning back around to stir her soup.
Ben and Beca exchanged horrified looks across the table. Sheila had attempted lasagna one time. Beca had reasoned that it was hard to screw up their simple recipe; she herself had successfully made the dish when she was 13. They weren't sure where she had veered off track, but the finished product had been hard and lumpy, with enough salt to bring tears to Beca's eyes with each bite.
Ben reacted first. "Oh honey, you can't cook dinner this weekend because…um because…" Beca's eyes widened as her dad stumbled over his words, clearly failing miserably at making something up on the spot. He recovered just as she was about to rescue him. "Because I have a surprise for you! We're going away for the weekend! Just the two of us, because I missed you so much while you were in New York."
Sheila began pouring the soup into a bowl, asking over her shoulder, "Where are we going?"
Ben shot Beca a panicked look, causing her to mouth 'San Francisco?' at him with a questioning look.
"San Francisco!" Ben responded enthusiastically, winking at his daughter. "We haven't been in forever, and I thought we could go back to that amazing seafood place we found."
Beca raised her eyebrows at her dad, a grin spreading across her face. She quickly looked down at her phone to hide her expression, as Sheila joined them at the table with her bowl of soup.
"That sounds lovely," she said, blowing at the steam rising from the bowl. "You don't want to make it a family trip?" she asked.
Beca quickly interjected, "Oh, I already made plans this weekend with some friends. I'll be fine here."
Sheila studied the brunette carefully, her eyes narrowing. "If you throw a party and trash this house, your punishment will make a week of detention will seem like a relaxing spa visit. Got it?"
Beca saluted her and responded, "Yes ma'am! Don't worry, I was just going to have a few friends over to help me with some of my songs."
She rose from the table, grabbed her backpack, and headed upstairs to her bedroom. A pile of homework was staring her in the face, but her mind had made its way back to Chloe. Beca grabbed her notebook full of song lyrics and began writing her thoughts down on paper. After about thirty minutes, she tossed the notebook onto her desk beside her mixing equipment. Homework forgotten, she grabbed her guitar, running her hands familiarly over the instrument, and began to play around with different melodies. Time slipped away as she strummed softly, her fingers nimble over the strings, completely losing herself in her music.
A/N: I struggled with this chapter. It's mostly setting up the next string of events, so my apologies that's it's a bit short. I have a general idea of where this story is going, but am always open to suggestions of scenes/interactions you'd like to read about. Review or PM me if you've got one. Thanks for Readin' and Reviewin'!
As always, thanks to my beta Ravenclawsome33! Calling all Titanic fans out there, whether you're out and proud (AS YOU SHOULD BE!) or still pretending you don't love it, check out her new Bechloe Titanic AU "When The Ship Docks, I'm Getting Off With You"