CHAPTER 13: I'VE NEVER FALLEN FROM QUITE THIS HIGH FALLING INTO YOUR OCEAN EYES
Beca slowly floated back into consciousness. She could feel heat at her feet that were hanging out of the soft quilt that her hands were twisted up in. She slowly opened her eyes to take stock of her situation.
After an incredible kiss with Chloe in the kitchen, she decided to lay down for a couple of hours on the couch in the living room. Chloe had suggested she lay down in the bedroom but Beca insisted she only needed a couple of hours and the couch would be fine. If she laid in the bed, she'd probably sleep the entire day away. Beca looked down at her bare feet that she could have sworn were covered by socks and shoes when she laid down. But now her jeans stopped at her ankles and her feet were being kept warm by the fire that was now burning in something that looked like the very first fireplace ever made.
While her body was waking up Beca looked to the right to see Chloe sitting in an oversized chair across the room. Her right leg was bent and tucked under her while her left foot rested on Tucks back as she read something. Beca's eyes fell to the floor to her trusty side kick who was now laying at the base of the chair Chloe was sitting in. She narrowed her eyes at the dog who was looking right at her. It was probably just her imagination but she could have sworn that Tuck narrowed his eyes at her teasingly. "Traitor" she mouthed to him.
Beca gently cleared her throat to speak, "hey" she said groggily. Beca watched as Chloe's head popped up and turned to look at her.
"Hey" Chloe replied with a large smile.
"What time is it?" Beca asked as she began to push herself up to a seated position.
"Just after 6." Chloe answered.
"Six?" Beca said loudly. "I'm so sorry Chloe. I didn't want to sleep all day."
"It's fine." Chloe said closing whatever she was reading and unfolding her leg. She put her feet far enough out on the floor to miss Tuck and stood up to cross the room joining Beca on the couch a few seconds later. "You were tired. And needed to rest." Chloe said tucking a stray strand of hair behind Beca's ear.
"What have you been doing all day?" Beca asked guiltily.
"Well. Milly came by earlier." Chloe began.
"Milly. So Lily really has a twin?" Beca interrupted her.
Chloe nodded emphatically. "I thought it was Lily the first time I saw her. You know how there is something that can help you tell twins apart?" Chloe asked, "Well, not them. They are identical. It's so freaky."
Beca smirked.
"Anyway" Chloe shrugged and continued, "She dropped of some fresh groceries and some mail." Chloe held up her reading material. "This is the script for my next movie. Aubrey mailed it, so I've been reading it for the last hour or so."
Beca looked at the large thick white packet that Chloe had laying in her lap.
"Before that, Tuck and I went for a walk which was nice. I found his food and your bag in your truck so I brought all that in." Chloe explained.
Beca nodded as she followed along.
"But other than that, I've just been" Chloe paused. She was embarrassed.
"What?" Beca asked.
"Just watching you sleep." Chloe admitted shyly. "Sorry … I just can't believe you're really here."
"I'm here." Beca said softly. She pushed herself up further so that she could kiss the redhead.
Chloe caught on and leaned down to meet Beca halfway. Their lips met tenderly as they kissed slowly. Chloe smiled into the kiss and pulled back slowly letting her eyes flutter open. "I really like doing that."
"Me too." Beca agreed.
The room fell silent as Beca laid back down on the couch. Chloe's hands found Beca's left foot and immediately began rubbing it gently, neither girl in a hurry to move or break their current bubble. Until Beca's stomach growled.
Chloe giggled as she turned her head towards the brunette. "When was the last time you ate?"
Beca shrugged from her position on the couch. "I had a coffee at the airport yesterday. And maybe half a bagel? I don't really remember."
"Babe." Chloe whined. "You're starving. I can make us something. It's been getting pretty cool here in the evening. That's why I have the fire going" she said as pointed to the fire just across from them. "I think Milly brought over the stuff to make a pot of soup. I can make that if you want."
Beca didn't hear anything after the word 'babe' fell from Chloe's mouth. She didn't think the redhead caught it because she continued speaking as if she'd said that to her every day for the last several years. It felt natural coming out of Chloe's mouth and it felt good to hear it.
"Beca?" Chloe questioned pulling the chef out of her thoughts.
"Hmm?" Beca asked looking into Chloe's twinkling eyes.
"Did you hear me?" Chloe asked.
Beca shook her head. "Not at all." She admitted with a smile.
Chloe's brow furrowed questioningly. "Oookaaay" She drew out. "I'm going to make us some dinner." She said as she patted Beca's leg a couple of times and lifted them off her lap.
Beca watched her circle around the couch and then lean over the back. "You want I wouldn't be opposed to you helping me. You know since you are the one here who is a professional chef." Chloe winked.
Beca tossed the quilt off of her and pushed herself up and then off the couch. She followed the same path Chloe took around the couch and grabbed the redhead's outstretched hand and allowed herself to be pulled into the small kitchen.
XxXxXx
At some point, Beca wasn't sure when, Chloe pushed herself up to sit on top of the already limited counter space. She was tearing off small pieces of the loaf of fresh French bread Milly had delivered as she watched Beca work in the kitchen. It was mesmerizing for her to watch Beca move through the kitchen so confidently. They'd made some small talk while Beca cut and chopped but nothing serious. But Chloe felt like the moment was safe to open up the lines of communication. Better to get it out there instead of putting if off she thought.
"You're sexy in the kitchen." Chloe said with a smirk.
Beca let out one single laugh that shook her shoulders. "You think?"
Chloe nodded. "I do."
Beca flashed a flirty smile over her shoulder as she continued her task. Her hands stopped instantly when Chloe spoke again.
"You should open your own restaurant when you go back to Cabo." Chloe said testing the waters. She noticed that Beca's actions ceased. She decided to continue, "you know, one of those ones where you cook in front so that everyone there can see how sexy you are."
Beca picked up the dish towel that was laying on the counter next to her. She wiped her hands and turned around to face the redhead and leaned back on the counter.
"You could just ask me Chloe." Beca said seeing straight through Chloe's comment. It was the tone of the actress's voice that gave her away. It was doubtful and gentle. It wasn't flirty like it had been seconds ago.
"Are you going to go back?" Chloe asked nervously. "To Cabo?"
Beca tossed the towel back to the counter and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "I don't know. I mean probably ... eventually." She answered honestly.
"Eventually." Chloe repeated.
"Yeah. But not any time soon." Beca smiled. "I meant what I said earlier Chlo. I want to be here with you. I want to see where this goes. What we can be."
"But I don't know how much longer I'll be here." Chloe said softly. "I'll have to go back to LA soon."
"Okay" Beca said with a shrug.
"You're going to come with me to LA?" Chloe questioned doubtfully.
Beca's face dropped. Maybe Chloe didn't want her to follow her to LA. Maybe she'd misunderstood.
"I mean, you freaked out in Cabo at those picture of us. It will be a hundred times worse than that in LA Becs. I know you don't want that kind of life." Chloe said looking intently at the chef.
"I did." Beca admitted. "I freaked out. But … I" Beca paused and thought carefully but there wasn't any other way to say it, "I just want to be with you. And I hope that it won't be like that forever? I don't know … I mean you would know better than me."
"It probably wouldn't be like that forever but it would for a while. Seriously though, what changed Beca?" Chloe asked. "I mean I want you to come because I want to be with you but … what changed in the last week? What you said … hurt me." Chloe admitted.
Beca pulled her hands from her jeans and crossed the room letting her hands land on Chloe's thighs. "I know and I'm sorry. Seeing you cry. Knowing that, I made you cry was so …" Beca shook her head. She didn't have the words that could effectively express how sorry she was. "But things are different know. Please believe me."
"What's different?" Chloe asked.
"I've been running from my past and I needed to deal with it." Beca began to explain. She hoped that Chloe would understand. "Back in Cabo when everything came out I knew that there would be things about me and my family that would come to light and I didn't want you to be involved in any of that."
Chloe looked confused as she listened carefully to Beca whose dark blue eyes looked up at her.
"My parents owned a few companies and I've been putting off selling them just because I didn't want to deal with the finality of it. I mean, there is no way I want any part of running my father's company, but I also didn't want to sell it because it's the last piece of my family that I have. And letting go of the businesses would be like getting rid of my parents." Beca shrugged. "It's dumb. I know."
"If that's how you felt then it's not dumb" Chloe interrupted.
"Thanks" Beca whispered.
"So you went back to New York and what? Sold all your parents things?" Chloe asked.
Beca nodded gently. "Well … yeah." She said with a smile that faded just as quickly as it had formed. "My dad." She took a deep breath knowing this was the part she didn't want to explain to anyone, let alone to Chloe. "He loved his family. And everything he did in business was so that me and my mom would never want for anything." She began. "But he had some questionable dealings."
Chloe wasn't sure the expression that formed on her face but she could tell that whatever it was alarmed Beca enough for her to blurt, "not like the mob or anything like that and nothing that was ever proven but" Beca stopped and dropped her eyes. "Anyway it was questionable and there will always be talk surrounding his name. I didn't want to that to be linked back to you in any way. I still might but it's better now that I'm officially not involved in my dad's companies. "
"I thought you said your dad invested in restaurants." Chloe said questioningly.
"Yeah at first." Beca answered. "Then New York real estate and property development which can be really cutthroat. He was accused of some dirty business practices while I was away at school. There was nothing really concrete but the rumors are out there."
"Beca." Chloe whispered. "Please look at me."
Beca raised her head and met Chloe's gaze.
"That doesn't have anything to do with you." The redhead said softly as she laid her hands on top of Beca's.
"No it doesn't and until two days ago, I've been on the board of directors as a silent partner. I've never voted. Never even attended any meetings." Beca said confidently. "And I wanted to sell it anyway but I never really had a reason to let go of them … until … you."
"Why me?" Chloe asked.
"I wish I knew" Beca smiled and shook her head.
"Don't laugh" Chloe warned.
"Seriously. I don't know Chloe but when I look at you I think of things I haven't thought about in years. I see things I didn't even think were possible." Beca replied.
"Like what?" Chloe questioned softly.
"A future outside of cooking for vacationers." Beca smirked. "I see someone who I want to be with. Someone who I can't seem to figure out how I've lived this long without."
Chloe blushed.
"And I know it's like so soon to be saying that, like I literally met you 8 days ago, and that freaks me the fuck out but … its how I feel." Beca whispered. "So I went back and I sold my parent's house and I sold my father's cars and I sold my father's businesses. So I could be with you. Without all of that hanging over my head. Over our head."
"Businesses?" Chloe asked.
"Oh." Beca said with a breath. "Yeah … JM Corp. And BFD Records."
"What?" Chloe asked.
Beca wasn't sure what she said to confuse Chloe but she could see from the look on the actresses face that something had her confused.
"My dad's company was JM Corp. His name was James Mitchell, he named it after himself." Beca said rolling her eyes.
"No. The other one."
"BFD Records." Beca said slowly.
"You owned a record label?" Chloe asked with large eyes.
Beca shrugged. "My dad did."
"Beca, you could have pursued your passion. You could have made music and you had your very own label to be able to do it." Chloe said quickly.
Beca shook her head. "I love music Chlo. I do. But my dad bought that label when I told him I wanted to be a producer. He never wanted me to struggle so he thought he could just give me that and it would appease me. We fought so hard about that because that's not what I wanted. I wanted to make it myself. I didn't want to do it because my daddy bought it for me."
Chloe nodded. She understood.
"So I dropped out of college and told him I wasn't going to work at BFD. I told him I was going to LA to make it on my own and he wouldn't allow it. He said I needed something to fall back on and that's when I decided to go to culinary school." Beca shrugged. "I think it worked out for the best because I love music and I really liked DJing at Mas a couple times a week but I love being a chef more."
"Okay?" Chloe questioned. "So if you're not going back to Cabo and you're going to come to LA with me … what are you going to do? For like a job?"
"I don't need a job." Beca said quickly. "I've got a super-hot actress sugar mama who will take care of me." She winked playfully.
"Oh really?" Chloe questioned with a giggle.
"Yeah." Beca smiled as she reached up on her tip toes.
Chloe shook her head and leaned down to meet Beca's lips with her own. Beca pulled away after a brief kiss, "plus I'm like super fucking rich sooo" She teased as she went back in and captured Chloe's lips with her own.
AN: Wrapping this up guys. I usually go longer than this but this story has one more chapter that will be posted on Sunday. Hope you are still enjoying this.
Song Title Cred: Billie Eilish; Ocean Eyes