Beca looked around the diner and liked the way the place was decorated. The tables were all different sizes and none of the chairs matched, and the walls were covered with banners of bands and false versions of famous paintings were painted everywhere.
Beca was happy that there were so many things to look at. It created some much needed distraction from Chloe who was sitting across from her and who looked, like always, beautiful. She still looked tired, though, and the dark circles under her eyes Beca noticed at the Bella practice earlier that day were still there. I hadn't even noticed it in my father's house, maybe because the lighting there is better? Maybe because I was a bit nervous? Who knows?
This was first time she and Chloe actually chose to spend time with each other, and she suddenly felt very nervous.
What if we will have nothing to talk about? What if we start talking about, god-forbid, the kiss? What if we argue again? If someone would have told me a week ago that I would be sitting in a diner with Chloe now, I would have laughed at them. So much has happened in four days.
"You are staring at me." Chloe spoke up, and smiled at Beca with raised eyebrows. She glimpsed at Beca's hands fidgeting nervously above the table, and fought the urge to grab Beca's hands to calm them.
"Sorry." Beca quickly glanced around the diner again, and Chloe smirked.
"Do you like the diner?" Chloe asked.
"Yes. It's awesome." Beca answered. "I never knew this place existed. It's beyond cool."
Chloe smiled, she silently felt impressed with herself for bringing Beca to a place she liked so much.
"I'm glad you like it." Chloe answered, feeling smug.
"This place would be a nightmare for anyone suffering from OCD, though..." Beca lightly joked.
"Yeah, that's why Aubrey never comes here – everything in here irritates her..."
"No wonder I like it so much, then. Who paints all the artsy stuff on the walls?"
"The owner of the diner gets art students from Barden to paint his favourite paintings on the walls, so the walls change almost every year."
"It's cool of him to involve the art students."
"Yeah… The self-portrait of Frida Kahlo is my favourite." Chloe pointed to the painting, not taking her eyes off Beca as she did. "It's the one painting in the diner that stays unchanged."
"That unibrow though…" Beca remarked. "Is that what made her famous? Was it like, fashion?"
"No, she is the most interesting artist to have ever existed in my opinion. She overcame a lot in her life and her paintings portrayed so many subjects nobody spoke about back then… She truly knew herself and was, or seemed, fearless."
"You know a lot about her?" Beca asked, impressed.
"I have a few books about her, so, I guess I know a bit, but I'm still no expert. You can borrow the books if you want."
"She stares at me." Beca observed, with mocked horror, and smiled at Chloe.
"Yeah, but that's her intention. In all her paintings she looks at the viewer. As if she challenges you to do what you fear most in life." Chloe's hand moved ever so slightly towards Beca's, but she instead grabbed her menu and started to page through it.
"We can all learn from her, I guess." Beca eventually spoke up. Chloe's hand that just moved to hers did not go unnoticed by Beca, and she felt weirdly disappointed that Chloe did not take her hand in hers.
"Yes. For instance, you want to be a dj, Beca. Go for it." Chloe looked at Beca, who pointedly looked down. "Frida Kahlo would've." Chloe lightly joked, and Beca smirked.
"Can you imagine her jamming up a mix?"
Chloe laughed. "Not really…"
"I can't just leave for LA with nothing." Beca realistically began to explain.
"You can start here. You will at least make a name for yourself and it will be easier for you to adjust when you eventually go to LA."
"I guess. I keep giving my mixes for Luke to play, but he doesn't. So that's all I did so far to follow my dream…"
"I'm sure he will play it eventually. In the meantime we should get you a few venues in clubs around town, so that people can get to know your music. And we must think of a plan to change the Bella's set so that we can include some of your material…"
Beca felt her heart swell. Chloe hasn't even heard any of her mixes yet, but she already had so much confidence in her. Nobody has shown so much confidence in me before – Chloe doesn't even know me so well, yet she believes in me.
"Beca? You're zoning out…"
"It's just, uh, you are so excited about my mixes, which is totally appreciated and all… But you haven't even heard any of my mixes yet. What if you hate it?" Beca worriedly spoke up.
"I won't. I'll love it. Besides, you are a great singer, so at least I know that much." Chloe smiled encouragingly at Beca.
"How can you be so certain that you'll love it?" Beca still felt unsure.
Because I love everything about you. Chloe thought, and she cleared her throat.
"Play some of your mixes to me tonight?" Chloe suggested.
"Kimmy-Jin is there tonight, though. She probably still has friends over, discussing fungal growth or something…"
"That's weird…" Chloe frowned, but smiled. "You do have headphones, so I can listen to it while they are there discussing, uh, fungal growth?"
"But I don't want her or her friends to be there when I play a few songs to you. They're going to spoil the moment."
"Will it be a moment?" Chloe smirked.
"Uh..." Beca retracted, but was luckily saved by a waitress standing at their table, asking for their orders.
"Do you guys know what you want yet?" A haughty looking waitress asked Beca and Chloe.
"No." Beca answered.
"We have been talking too much... Give us a couple more minutes to decide please?" Chloe asked the waitress, who rolled her eyes.
"My shift ends in 5 minutes." The haughty looking waitress answered. "You'll have new waitress by the time you make up your minds." The waitress turned and walked towards another table in the diner to clean some plates off.
"Good. I wouldn't have tipped her anyway." Beca dryly remarked, and Chloe giggled.
"Maybe she's just tired." Chloe defended the waitress, and they stared at each other.
"You look tired." Beca suddenly remarked and Chloe lifted an eyebrow.
"Thanks?" Chloe answered, but she smiled at how awkward Beca looked when she tried to correct herself.
"You don't look bad. You always look good. You just look tired, not bad." Beca quickly explained.
"I always look good?" Chloe smirked.
"Well, you look well-kept."
"Well-kept?" Chloe was smiling widely at Beca.
"I don't know. You look like a tidy person." Beca ended feeling very defeated and she wished the earth would swallow her in whole.
"I am tidy." Chloe nodded and smiled at Beca who was blushing so much now that she looked as if she suffered from light sunburn.
"I'm not tidy." Beca confessed awkwardly.
Chloe smiled. She is such a weirdo.
"You also look tired." Chloe picked up the conversation again. "And bad." Chloe laughed.
"Well, I'm a bad-ass, Chlo – there's a lot you don't know about me."
Did she just call me 'Chlo'?
"No way! You're too sweet to be a bad-ass." Chloe laughed, and Beca gave her a dirty look.
"Fine. You're a bad-ass." Chloe agreed, still smiling at Beca who now smirked at her. "There's actually a lot I don't know about you, Beca."
"Well, I will tell you what you want to know, I guess I just don't know where to start. Should I start with my childhood, my high school days, my friends, my music taste, my favourite food…?"
"You're indecisive." Chloe interrupted, nodding at Beca with a mischievous grin.
"And you are…" Beca sputtered.
"What am I?" Chloe challenged Beca, causing her to release a breath she didn't know she was holding, and she stared for a bit too long into Chloe's searching eyes.
Beautiful. I can't believe that I actually kissed you last night.
"Bossy." Beca smiled, happy that she saved herself.
Chloe laughed. "Only when I don't get what I want. Or when I'm not in control of what I'll get."
"What do you want?" Beca now challenged Chloe.
You.
"A lot of things." Chloe commented, looking distractedly away from Beca, breaking her intense navy blue gaze.
"Do you think you'll eventually get what you want?" Beca asked after a short thoughtful pause, wondering why Chloe's demeanour changed so quickly.
"I don't know." Chloe finally answered and she lifted her shoulders impatiently, still avoiding Beca's gaze.
"We should probably decide what to order, though." Chloe changed the subject and grabbed her menu closer to her again. "I'll have a cappuccino and some pancakes. I'm in the mood for something sweet…"
"Hey, I'll be your new waiter for the night." A new good-looking waitress interrupted Chloe. The waitress was staring at Beca with a teasing expression on her face, waiting for the brunette to make eye-contact with her.
"Lauren?" Beca finally noticed the waitress, she too has been reading the menu, but her thoughts were still trying to figure out Chloe's words so she didn't pay attention to anything else.
"Wow, it took you ages to look up and see me." Lauren laughed.
Chloe eyed Lauren curiously.
"I knew you worked as a waitress but I didn't know you worked here?" Beca asked, who genuinely looked surprised.
"Aah, Beca, and here I thought you came all the way just to visit me at work." Lauren pouted.
"No, I never even knew this place existed." Beca explained. She quickly glanced at Chloe who was staring at Lauren indifferently. Before she could introduce the two to each other, Lauren spoke.
"Yeah, it's a pretty cool place to work. I mostly work night shifts. That's why I'm usually awake when you knock on my door for some coffee and milk." Lauren explained, winking at Beca.
"Chloe, this is Lauren. Lauren this is Chloe." Beca introduced the two to each other, ignoring Lauren's comment.
"Nice to meet you." Chloe greeted, unenthusiastically.
"Likewise." Lauren sweetly agreed. She eyed Chloe suspiciously and Chloe stared back with a look of absolute disinterest.
"So, you are a senior at Barden?" Lauren asked Chloe.
"Yes. How do you know?" Chloe asked. She shifted impatiently on her chair, wanting Lauren to leave. Aubrey telling her earlier that Beca was a womanizer, suddenly made her feel very jealous. I mean, Lauren is such a flirt. I hate the way she looks at Beca. Does she even know her? How close are the two of them exactly?
"I've seen you around campus." Lauren explained, again with a very sweet tone of voice Beca has never heard her use before. "You're climbing up the social ladder, Beca, hanging with the cool seniors now, are we?" Lauren joked playfully, and lightly rested her hand on Beca's shoulder.
"We sing a cappella together." Beca simply replied, wanting to move Lauren's hand away from her shoulder, but she also didn't want to be rude.
"And we became fast friends." Chloe added, and grabbed Beca's one hand laying above the table affectionately closer to her. Beca blushed and was sure that this was probably one of the most uncomfortable moments of her life.
"Oh… Beca has never mentioned you before?" Lauren asked, coldly watching Chloe's hand intertwined with Beca's.
"Beca isn't much of a talker, especially if she's tired. Right, Becs?" Chloe asked Beca, who nodded obediently, not knowing what to do else really. Did she just call me 'Becs'? And she's holding my hand, wait, is she jealous?
Lauren rolled her eyes and didn't reply.
"I think we need to buy Beca some coffee and milk, don't you Lauren? Then she can stop bothering you so late." Chloe suggested cheerfully.
"Please, no!" Lauren laughed. "That won't be necessary. Beca's random visits brighten up my day, or well, nights."
"I can imagine." Chloe dryly commented and she gave Beca an irritated glance.
"Okay!" Beca intervened, breaking the tension. "All this talking about coffee makes me crave a cup."
"One cup of coffee?" Lauren gave Beca a beaming smile, and began to scribble on her small note-pad.
"Yes, thanks, make it one coffee and one cappuccino…" Beca ordered, remembering what Chloe wanted. "And pancakes?" Beca glanced at Chloe, who nodded distractedly.
"Coming up!" Lauren gave Beca a radiant smile, nodded curtly at Chloe, and walked towards the kitchen.
Beca and Chloe both stared at each other and the silence was tense. Why did Chloe react so weird to Lauren?
"Is that the girl you want to ask to the wedding?" Chloe asked Beca, annoyed.
"Yeah…" Beca answered cautiously.
"She likes you, Beca." Chloe observed.
"I never realised, actually…" Beca explained. There were signs that Lauren liked me, but I just ignored it. Why is Chloe so concerned over Lauren liking me anyway? It has nothing to do with Chloe, but then why does it feel as if it does have something to do with her?
"It's obvious." Chloe interrupted, folding her arms. "But it's not my business, so I'll drop it."
"Thanks." Beca gratefully agreed. We have gotten along so well tonight, I don't want Lauren to spoil our evening.
But Chloe still looked bothered. "Do you like her?"
Chloe's bluntness threw Beca a bit off guard.
"As a friend, sure. She is always friendly, which is cool, but I'm not interested in more than friendship with her."
"So you're not interested in her?" Chloe concluded, feeling a lot more comfortable and satisfied than a minute ago.
"Nope." Beca replied, watching Chloe's reaction carefully.
"Oh, okay." Chloe answered unaffected, but internally she did a happy dance.
"And if I did like her, would it have bothered you?" Beca dared to ask. She still had too many questions about what just happened.
Yes. I would've hated the bitch. Chloe thought bitterly.
"No, not at all. Like I said, it's not my business." Chloe answered nonchalantly.
Beca still felt unconvinced, however.
If Chloe didn't care, why did she ask? And if she does care, does it mean she cares because she likes me? Urgh, so many questions! She called me 'Becs' though, so she was totally jealous. Or is it just wishful thinking? Probably. I want her to be jealous so therefore I think she is...
"One coffee!" Lauren was serving them their orders, and her presence broke Beca's thoughts. "A cappuccino…" She placed the cappuccino lazily and loudly in front of Chloe, spilling a bit in the process. "And here are the pancakes."
"Thanks." Chloe thanked Lauren coldly, wiping the spilled cappuccino with a napkin.
"No problem." Lauren looked at Beca. "Will I see you tomorrow night after your night shift at Barden FM?" She asked Beca hopefully.
"Uh, maybe…"
"You work Sunday nights there too?" Chloe interrupted Beca.
"Only every second Sunday. Jesse and I rotate, he worked last Sunday." Beca explained, and Chloe nodded.
"That sucks. But I'm sure all your hard work will pay off eventually." Chloe assured Beca.
"Yeah, I told Luke that I will work every Sunday if he plays my mixes, but he told me to be patient…" Beca added, but Lauren interrupted her.
"Well, I have amazing coffee in my dorm room. So you're always welcome." Lauren assured Beca. "Oh, my manager is calling me…" Lauren waved to the manager and returned her attention to Beca and Chloe. "If you guys want anything else, just call me." She spoke to them with a more professional tone of voice, and walked fleetingly towards the strict looking manager who sat in the corner of the diner.
"I hope she gets into trouble for being such a shitty waitress." Chloe huffed, but the manager only joked with Lauren, who laughed loudly in response before walking towards the kitchen area.
"You can be quite mean, Beale." Beca smirked.
"She did spill my cappuccino." Chloe answered promptly, smiling slightly, and Beca grinned.
"And there goes her tip as well." Beca sighed, making Chloe smile properly.
"No, that will be mean."
"How about we meet up tomorrow during the day, and then I'll play you some of my mixes? If you don't have time, then its fine, I just thought that tomorrow will be perfect…"
"I'd love to! I have time." Chloe eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Cool…" Beca smiled, feeling glad that Chloe agreed. And glad that she will see Chloe again tomorrow.
"Yeah." Chloe and Beca smiled and stared at each other for quite a while, both forgetting about the pancakes that were getting cold on the table.
I could stare at her the whole day. It's not even awkward. Staring at her just makes me so happy. And Beca's staring at me too, with her trademark smirk I just want to kiss away and…
Beca's phone rang inside her sling bag, pulling them both out of their trances. Beca quickly got her phone out of the bag, and rolled her eyes.
"It's my dad. I'm not answering." Beca switched off her phone and threw her phone irritably back into her bag.
"He probably wants to apologise." Chloe suggested.
"Yeah, maybe…" Beca answered, looking unconvinced.
"Have you and your father always struggled to get along?" Chloe asked, trying to sound as if she wasn't prying.
My mother will marry the guy, so it's a good thing to know more about him. Tonight I saw a side of him that I didn't like, and if there are more bad sides to him I don't want my mom to marry him.
"Since I could remember, yes. He has, well, moods. He is very dedicated to his work in chemistry, and at times he never even came home for days. He slept at the labs and he just, I don't know, he was never 'present', if that makes sense? My mother is awesome, though, and she tried to make up excuses for him. He emotionally manipulated her to always apologise to him when he was a tool."
"I think I should discuss this with my mom…"
"You can, but I know my father. He can appear very sweet. He says the right stuff and does all the right things, until something goes wrong. Then he takes it out on everyone. He targets the places that hurt the most. For instance, my mother works as a nurse. She loves her job, but he always looked down on her. Told her she is just every doctor's little "bitch", that she will never earn enough money to pay the bills - like he did back then. He told her so many times how worthless she was, it was, yeah, horrible. And she finally left him after being married to him for 10 years. He always focuses on my academics and on me being gay to get to me. It unfortunately always does get to me…"
"You shouldn't let him get to…"
"So he decided to get engaged with your mother. A successful lawyer with a daughter," Beca pointed her head to Chloe, "who's not gay, excels in academics and who is, well, perfect in every aspect he wanted me to be…"
"I'm not perfect…"
"And it felt as if he finally got what he wanted in life. And maybe he has, but he was a douche towards your mother tonight as well, so I don't really think he has changed a lot. Which is unfortunate, but I could be wrong." Beca ended, feeling very drained. She was happy that she finally explained herself to Chloe.
"He doesn't even like dogs and he always refused to get us one." Beca smiled bitterly. "But now he has the all 'American labrador' to go along with his perfect family…"
"Stop!" Chloe looked angry. "We are not perfect, Beca. When my father passed away my mother and I were both a mess for so long… Sometimes I feel as if I will forever be a mess because my father died. There are so many things I wish I said to him…" Chloe began to sob a bit, and Beca felt her heart drop, feeling furious with herself for making Chloe cry. Me and my big mouth...
"Chloe…" Beca grabbed Chloe's hand, but she pulled her hand away to wipe the tears from her face.
"No. You don't know a thing about me or my mother or our past. What we went through. My father bought us Pluto two days before he died in a car accident, and that's why we have him. Saying that we are perfect is fucking unfair of you. As if we never went through shitty times, as if we never had to fight for anything." Chloe glared at Beca who was shocked silent. Chloe never cursed.
She must be so pissed at me right now for saying all of that stuff… And Chloe is right - I had no right to make judgments about them. I'm such an asshole.
"Sorry… I got carried away… I didn't mean to upset you." Beca quietly spoke.
"And your father is an asshole. I can't believe my mother is engaged to him. And I thought he loved our dog." Chloe sobbed, and Beca felt horrible for thinking how adorable Chloe looked when she sobbed about the dog.
"Maybe my dad does like Pluto? Who can hate him? I, for one, love him. He is soft, cute and he likes chewing on that plastic bone of his, and he seems intelligent too. I heard somewhere that poodles are more intelligent than labradors, but Pluto will totally beat any poodle in any competition. He will even beat those big French poodles who think they're so superior to other dogs... Pluto has that bright, humble-dogish look about him…"
"Shut up." Chloe laughed a bit through her tears at Beca.
"Sorry for crying." Chloe embarrassingly apologised.
"No, I'm sorry. The past few days have been, well, emotional." Beca remarked understandingly.
"You can say that again…" Chloe grimly agreed, and wiped the last tears from her face. Beca was relieved that she wasn't crying anymore.
"Maybe we should call it a night?" Beca asked.
"Yeah. We haven't even touched the pancakes."
"Oh well."
"Are you still hungry?" Chloe asked, remembering that Beca said that she was still hungry when they left her father's house.
"Not really." Beca shrugged.
"Okay, I'll pay the bill."
"I'll pay." Beca quickly got up, but Chloe stopped her.
"You can pay next time. We can come during the day again when there are better waiters."
"It's a date." Beca agreed, and frowned when she realised that she called it 'a date'.
Chloe smiled at Beca, her eyes still a bit red.
"Uh, just like a meeting where we will spend time together here again. A time where we talk, laugh and make each other cry. You know, the usual..." Beca jokingly corrected herself.
Chloe laughed. "Sounds wonderful. Except we need to work on the crying part…"
"Yeah, I hate it when you cry." Beca confessed with a pained expression, and Chloe felt touched by Beca's words. "Sorry, I was such a douche."
"It's fine, I mean, maybe our outbursts were necessary? And I hate it when you cry too. When you cried last night I just couldn't take it and…"
Chloe stopped talking, and they stared at each other awkwardly.
And you kissed me and I kissed you back. And it was amazing… Beca ended the sentence in her mind.
"I'll go pay quickly at the counter. I don't want to wait for Lauren to bring the bill." Chloe stood up quickly and looked quite flushed as she walked towards a lady standing behind a till.
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Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favourites! I appreciate it. :) Sorry for the wait. Next chapter will be out middle September. My studies will keep me too busy, but I will complete this. :)