Beca was walking slowly towards the student parking area where the car-wash was to be held.
The brunette spent a lot of time dressing up for the occasion. She was wearing a simple black dress over her blue bikini, because she reckoned it would be a bit weird to wear a jeans and a t-shirt over a swimsuit on a hot summer's day. She never really wore dresses, so she felt a bit uncomfortable as she walked on campus.
When Beca turned around the corner of the Humanities Faculty building, she finally saw the parking area in the distance. Some of the Bella's were already there.
Beca could make out the silhouettes of Fat Amy talking to a bunch of people and Stacy dancing on an enormous pickup truck, to the delight of many Barden football players. The music was loud and she suddenly felt a bit nervous about the car-wash.
"Oh god, I can't believe I'm going to do this." Beca anxiously spoke to herself, as she began to jog to the parking lot. "And why is everybody always earlier than me, it is only 5 minutes to 10, for fuck's sake." Beca glanced at her watch just to make sure.
She only had a few steps more to jog towards Aubrey, who was already in her bikini, sitting upright at a desk counting dollar bills, when she heard an angry voice speaking to her out of nowhere.
"Beca, you are late. Again." Chloe harshly spoke, eyeing Beca with an annoyed expression.
Beca wanted to answer, but she was speechless. Chloe looked beyond hot. She was wearing a red bikini and her legs looked as if it went on for miles. Her red hair hanged loosely on her tanned shoulders and her blue eyes looked bluer than ever. Chloe looked perfect.
"Do you like what you see, Beca?" Chloe teased. Beca checking her out thrilled her.
"No, you just frightened me when you crept up on me like that." Beca defended weakly, cringing at her lame excuse.
Just look at her forehead or something. Beca advised herself, she did not want to look at Chloe's body and definitely did not want to look into Chloe's blue eyes.
"Sure." Chloe winked.
"I thought it began at 10am?" Beca asked, trying to change the subject. She saw a light scar on Chloe's forehead, and wondered silently how she got that.
"We started 30 minutes earlier. Aubrey and I tried to call you last night, but you did not answer your phone." Chloe answered. She looked at Beca expectantly, waiting for some sort of explanation.
"Oh. Well, it is not my fault you guys change the plans constantly." Beca lamely defended herself, distracted by Lily who ran around a car with a very dirty cleaning-cloth. Cynthia Rose chased her with a water-gun, laughing.
Everybody was already in their swimwear.
"You should wear dresses more often. You look nice." Chloe complimented, nodding her approval as she checked Beca out.
"Don't you have cars to wash or something?" Beca angrily asked, stamping her foot irritatingly on the ground for effect. She was tired of Chloe having the upper-hand in their conversation since she arrived.
"Don't stamp your tiny foot at me." Chloe laughed. She is so cute.
"It is not so tiny." Beca angrily answered, which caused Chloe to grin.
"Come on, enough of this, you can start in your dress until you get more comfortable to wash in your bikini. We have a lot of cars to wash, Beca." Chloe pointed to a lot of cars standing in cue behind her.
"What do you mean we have cars to wash?" Beca asked.
"We will be working in teams. You and I are in a team." Chloe simply explained.
"Why?"
"Blame Amy, it was her idea. We are all competing in teams together, and the team who washes the most cars wins a bucket."
"A bucket?"
"Yes, a bucket. That bucket." Beca looked to where Chloe was pointing, and she saw a canary yellow bucket standing on the desk where Aubrey was still sitting, and the bucket had pink fluff sticking out from it. On it was a sign that read: 'The Best Wash-aaa Bel-laaa'.
"Who would want to win that?" It was the ugliest fucking bucket Beca has ever laid eyes on.
"As I said, blame Amy, she brought it along and suggested this whole thing. Aubrey agreed, saying it can be good for team-building and…"
"Beca!" Luke interrupted Chloe as he greeted Beca. He was shirtless and he pulled Beca in for a tight hug.
Chloe looked pained as she watched the pair.
Beca felt embarrassed, and broke the hug quickly.
"Chloe, this is Luke. He is my boss at the radio station." Beca introduced hastily.
"Oh, so you are the guy that makes Beca late for almost all her rehearsals?" Chloe responded, sweetly, but her eyes were cold. "I'm Chloe."
"Nice to meet you. Yeah, sorry about that. When I was a freshman I went through the same, it will get better." Luke laughed as he hugged Beca again with one arm. "Fat Amy invited me today."
"Oh, and why does it look like you are also washing cars?" Chloe responded sceptically, looking at his bare chest. He was also holding a cleaning-cloth.
"Uhm, yeah, Fat Amy makes us wash cars." Luke laughed, he pointed at Fat Amy laying down on a deck chair, sipping a cocktail. "But ah well, at least we are having a good time. And Stacy and Amy gave us some shots to drink, so it makes it more fun." Luke explained.
"I will keep that in mind when you make me stack albums next time." Beca responded, sarcastically.
"Don't get ideas." Luke laughed.
"It was nice to meet you. Come on, Beca." Chloe pulled Beca away from Luke and started to walk towards the cars they had to wash. Luke watched them walk away with a confused expression and Beca weakly turned and waved at him, before staring curiously at Chloe.
"What was that?" Beca asked the redhead. Chloe did not respond, but merely busied herself with a water hose, spraying a car.
"We need to wash cars to win, remember, talking to guys with English accents won't help us get anywhere." Chloe muttered.
"Were you jealous?" Beca jokingly asked. Obviously Chloe was not jealous, but the idea humoured her.
Chloe's eyes glanced to Beca's in surprise, and she blushed.
"You were jealous?" Beca incredulously asked.
"I was not jealous!" Chloe snapped, but again avoided Beca's eyes.
"You don't like it when your stepsister gets a bit attention, then, do you?" Beca laughed.
"Stop with the stepsister bullshit!" Chloe looked angry.
"Okay, sorry. I joked." Beca answered. She surrendered her hands in the air.
"Get the soap." Chloe curtly demanded, pointing at a bag. Beca sighed and searched for it in the bag, while feeling seriously confused.
Why would Chloe be jealous of Luke? And was Chloe jealous or was she just being a bitch, like always?
"Heya sisthe's." Fat Amy was walking towards them, obviously unaware of the tension between the two of them. "How's it going?"
"We haven't even washed one car yet." Chloe answered, annoyed. And if anybody will call us sisters again, I will physically attack them.
"Me too, I haven't washed any car. But Jim, Luke and Steven have. They already washed 7 cars for us." Fat Amy laughed. "For us, meaning, for Stacy and I. The conquerors." Fat Amy ended her sentence dramatically.
"That is cheating!" Beca exclaimed irritated, while she poured soap on the car Chloe was busy spraying with water.
"Yeah, well. Uh. You guys did not honestly think these hands would wash a car, now did yah? Watch and learn, aca-bitches, watch and learn. We will be the winning team today." Fat Amy slowly and triumphantly lifted her hands to the sky.
"But how did you manage that? How did you make the guys wash the cars for you?" Chloe asked, interested. If she could avoid washing cars, she would do so gladly as well.
"Well, Stacy and I dance on that big pickup truck over there, and in return for our dancing we assign guys to the cars we want washed." Fat Amy pointed to Stacy, and surely enough, Stacy was dancing on a giant pick-up truck in a way that would make any stripper feel proud.
A guy loudly screamed: "Yeah!" as he handed Stacy a bunch of dollars. Stacy excitedly took the money and pointed towards a very dirty car, throwing a cloth at the guy. Beca has never seen a guy so excited to wash a car before.
"So, you make them pay you for dancing like strippers, in exchange for them to wash cars?" Beca summarised their business scheme, sounding quite impressed.
"Yeah." Fat Amy mumbled, looking proud.
"Come on!" Chloe grabbed Beca's hand and led the way to the truck.
"No, Chloe, I am not going to dance like a stripper."
"Beca, I am very competitive, we will do this." Chloe responded, her grip tightened around Beca's hand as she made her way through a bunch of students, all cheering for Stacy on the truck.
"Wait!" Beca exclaimed, sounding desperate. "Please? Can we not do this?"
Chloe stopped walking and looked at Beca, who was looking worried. Chloe's features softened at the sight, but she quickly thought of a plan to persuade the brunette. "Beca, if you do this, I will call your dad and tell him that we both can't make it to dinner tonight. How does that sound?"
Beca shrugged. It was a good deal.
"Fine." Beca murmured, folding her arms.
Chloe beamed, but quickly frowned as she observed Beca's dress again.
"What?" Beca flatly asked, as she saw Chloe grinning at her in her signature predatory-like style.
Chloe did not answer Beca.
She roughly pulled the dj closer to her. She lowered her face to Beca's neck, and softly breathed into the dj's ear: "We will win this if you dance in your bikini."
Beca gulped. Her heartbeat was going a thousand miles an hour. She was shocked senseless by Chloe's action, but she quickly gathered herself. Two can play at this game. Beca pulled Chloe in tighter, causing the redhead to yelp in surprise.
"Okay." Beca breathed into Chloe's neck now, and she felt satisfied when she felt Chloe's body tensing against hers.
Beca broke the embrace and pulled her dress over her head. She smirked at Chloe, who was staring dumbly at her now very exposed body in a bikini.
"Do you like what you see, Chloe?" Beca sweetly asked, happy to use Chloe's words against her.
"No, I…" Chloe responded hesitantly, hating the fact that she was blushing.
"Let's do this!" Beca grabbed Chloe's hand, sensing she would not get a response from the redhead.
Chloe smirked as she followed Beca, loving the fact that Beca was the one in charge all of a sudden.
"Hey Stacy?" Beca screamed over the loud music, as she climbed easily onto the massive pick-up truck while helping Chloe up as well. Stacy stopped dancing and looked curiously at Beca and Chloe. "Up for a bit of competition?"
Stacy did not have time to respond, because Chloe was already dancing and the crowd screamed loudly in appreciation. They were literally throwing their money at Chloe. Beca winked at Stacy glaring at them.
Beca was entranced by Chloe's dancing for a while too, and when the redhead smirked at her, she decided to start dancing as well. Chloe smiled at Beca's attempt to dance like a stripper, causing Beca to stop and to roll her eyes. Some of the guys in the crowd laughed as well, so Chloe protectively walked towards Beca, and started to use the dj as a stripper pole. The crowd cheered again, the dj's embarrassment long forgotten, excited about the girl-on-girl action displayed before them.
"Leave the stripper-dancing for the pro's." Chloe whispered to Beca, standing inches away from the brunettes face, and smirked when she heard and saw Beca gasp. Chloe moved effortlessly along with the rhythm of the song, making use of Beca in every way she could think of.
Why did I agree to do this again? Beca silently asked herself as she felt Chloe touching her waist while performing a complicated move. "Oh, shit." Beca tensely breathed, and Chloe smiled. She enjoyed every moment of the dj's discomfort.
Beca decided to convert her focus to the crowd. The other Bella's were watching the turn of events, all now cheering Chloe on as well. Aubrey watched too, with her mouth open, as if she was deciding whether to put stop to the madness or not.
"Come help us to collect the money!" Chloe mouthed at Aubrey, who also noticed Aubrey staring at them, and Aubrey promptly climbed on the pick-up truck as well.
Aubrey grabbed money from the guys and threw cloths and soap to them, and ordered them away to cars that still had to be washed. Disappointedly they walked away to the cars, and some did not even bother to go wash a car at all. They were enjoying the show too much.
In all fairness, the Bella's were now making money by dancing like strippers, and Aubrey reckoned a lot of cars would drive away later that day without getting washed at all. But they needed the money, so she was happy to go along with it. For now.
Meanwhile, Stacy decided to continue to dance along with Cloe and with Beca, who looked quite happy to be Chloe's dance-pole. Together she and Chloe were working the crowd, and even Fat Amy got on the truck and performed her signature mermaid-dance, to the entertainment of everybody there. Chloe never let go of Beca the whole time, and she smiled when she realised that Beca was not so uncomfortable anymore, but even joining and dancing along with her at times.
It went on like that for quite a while, until Aubrey eventually and finally decided that they made more than enough money. She loudly blew her whistle, and Cynthia Rose ran to turn the music off.
Chloe, Stacy and Fat Amy stopped dancing, and cheered and clapped at the crowd in gratitude for their support. Beca waved at them too, and again saw Chloe smirk at her awkward gesture. "What?" Beca asked, feeling stupid. "Nothing." Chloe answered sweetly, as she watched Aubrey blowing her whistle again.
"Thank you, guys, for your support. You are awesome! The car-wash is over now." Aubrey announced loudly. The crowd let out moans of disappointment, but soon lost interest when they saw the Bella's climbing off from the truck.
The other Bella's awaited them, looking absolutely delighted. They made a ton of money.
"I'm so happy you guys did that! It means we don't need to wash cars the whole day." Jessica spoke, appreciatively.
"Yeah, that was super hot." Cynthia Rose agreed. "We need to go out and celebrate this! We made almost one thousand dollars the last time I counted, and that was like 20 minutes ago."
"Yeah bitches, let's go celebrate tonight at Bingo's! It's ladies night! Meaning we all need to get laaiid tonight, ladies." Fat Amy joked, making everybody laugh.
"Okay. Let's go out and celebrate, uh, this, but keep in mind that tomorrow is Saturday. We will be rehearsing for 6 hours, and I won't be lenient on you guys for having hangovers this time around." Aubrey strictly said.
"Urgh, guys, today was so much fun. And I can't wait to go out hunting tonight." Stacy added, excitedly, ignoring Aubrey's warning.
"Everybody can pick up their own messes, and then we can meet each other at 8pm at Bingo's." Aubrey spoke, annoyed that she can't get the Bella's minds off getting laid.
"No, Aubrey, wait." Chloe cheerily spoke up. "Who won the bucket?"
"Oh, I thought that was just a joke." Aubrey responded, pointing at the canary yellow bucket.
"You guys won." Fat Amy quickly spoke, as she looked at Beca and Chloe. "Stacy and I don't want it. And it was sort of a joke. I mean, I only brought it here because I don't want it anymore."
"Yeah!" Chloe screamed, ignoring the fact that it was a joke, and she roughly hugged Beca. "We won!"
These hugs are getting out of hand. Beca dryly thought, as she let Chloe hug her, feeling quite emotionally drained by the day she has had so far.
"Now, that that is sorted, I guess we should clean up and we will see each other at Bingo's later. Does everybody have transport to get there?" Aubrey asked.
"Yeah, I don't have a car. So…" Beca answered.
"I will pick you up." Chloe quickly assured Beca. The Bella's looked surprised. Beca and Chloe surely got along a lot better the past two days.
"Cool." Beca shrugged, and Chloe smiled. Both looked at each other for a while, smirking, totally oblivious to the Bella's looking at them knowingly.
"I also don't have a ride." Jessica awkwardly spoke up, looking hopeful that Chloe would be happy to pick her up as well. When Chloe said nothing - she was too busy concentrating as she helped Beca into her black dress again - everybody again gave knowing glances at each other as they left poor Jessica hanging.
Fat Amy finally spoke up.
"I will lift you, mate." Jessica smiled relieved at Fat Amy, and the Aussie smiled back.
"Okay, clean up everything, Bella's, or I will make you practice for 7 hours tomorrow." Aubrey spoke up, pointing towards the empty soap bottles and dirty washing-cloths, feeling confused just like the other Bella's at Chloe's and Beca's, friendliness.
Before Chloe could walk away to help the Bella's clean up, Aubrey pulled Chloe to the side.
"Chloe, what is up with you and Beca? I can see your toner from here, or shall I be blunt and call it a boner?" Aubrey silently asked, frowning.
"What?" Chloe replied surprised.
"Don't play dumb. First you use Beca as a stripper pole, then you guys hug and share meaningful glances, and you willingly suggest to pick her up tonight, as if it is the most natural thing in the world." Aubrey felt quite annoyed that she had to explain herself.
"You criticised me for not getting along with Beca, and now that we are, you question that as well?" Chloe was upset with her best friend.
"Chloe, you are my best friend. I know when you like like someone. Beca is bad news, I don't want you to get hurt." Aubrey explained herself.
"How would you know if she is bad news or not? You don't even know her!" Chloe was losing her temper. Aubrey had no right to tell her that she liked Beca, or to judge the dj. But Aubrey's words nagged at her.
Aubrey has never lied to me before, why would she lie to me now? I don't like Beca, or do I?
"Let's not speak about this now." Aubrey decided.
"We will not speak of this ever again, Bree. You are ridiculous!" Chloe laughed crazily, and Aubrey raised an eyebrow at Chloe, the redhead's reaction confirmed her suspicion, but she said nothing.
"I need to go help the others clean up this mess." Chloe walked off, and furiously began to help Lily throw soap bottles into a garbage bag.
"That bottle of soap is not empty." Lily softly spoke up, but Chloe did not hear her and she furiously threw the bottle into the bag as well.
"You noticed it too, Captain?" Fat Amy spoke to Aubrey.
"What?" Aubrey jumped, she did not realise that Fat Amy was standing so close to them.
"Chloe and Beca? The connection?" Fat Amy smirked.
"Yes, I noticed." Aubrey answered. "When did you notice?"
"Ah, like, uh, weeks ago." Fat Amy smiled.
"Weeks ago? Aca-scuse me?"
"Aca-believe it. I sorta suggested the teamwork thing today, to see if they, you know, would finally click. And my plan worked, I mean, I did so not foresee the whole stripper montage, but that helped a lot so…"
"Amy! You did that on purpose?"
"Yeah, and no, I might have suggested some of it and they followed the trail, it was fun." Fat Amy exchanged, not even pretending to look guilty.
"Aubrey, come help us tie up this bag up, please. I already broke a nail and you know how sensitive I am when it comes to my cuticle care." Stacy yelled. Cynthia Rose was holding a bag in position as Stacy struggled to tie it closed.
"Coming!" Aubrey yelled. "Don't tell anyone, Amy. Let's watch this thing unfold for a while before we interfere."
"Yeah, I think the Bella's all know already, or at least suspect something. Except for our little love birds, naturally."
"Great." Aubrey shrugged, as she walked to help Cynthia Rose and Stacy with the bag, feeling worried about her best friend.