Beca came to a stop outside a door she presumed was Chloe's bedroom and watched as the redhead stepped over the threshold. The younger teen followed the senior, casting a curious eye around the room as she closed the door slowly behind her. On one wall was a giant framed poster of Justin Timberlake. On another wall was a giant framed poster for the movie 'Mean Girls'. And on the final wall, opposite the window, was a large wall calendar.

Beca smiled softly. This was exactly how she'd expected Chloe's bedroom to look. On the desk everything was laid out neatly, with every imaginable piece of stationary on its surface. There were words scrawled all over the wall calendar in a variety of sparkly colours thanks to, what Beca could only presume, was the huge pot of glittery gel pens on the windowsill.

The double bed was covered with a very cosy looking floral bedcover and pillows. Crammed on top of those pillows were several cushions of all shapes and sizes. And at the centre of those cushions, propped up perfectly, was a scruffy little teddy. The brunette watched as Chloe lunged for it, hiding it behind her back as she turned to look at Beca, clearing her throat nervously.

Chloe felt her heart thud as she realised that Beca had already spotted 'Cup-Cup', her treasured cuddly toy that she'd been given as a baby. She so desperately wanted Beca to think she was cool, but there was no way any 'cool teen' would have a teddy on her bed.

"Uh..sorry it's a little..messy?" Chloe said nervously, hoping it may detract Beca's attention enough that she would have time to hide her teddy from sight.

But Beca raised her eyebrows, "What're you hiding?" she asked slowly.

Chloe cleared her throat. Beca knew what she was hiding.. so the redhead slowly pulled the old teddy from behind her back then shrugged, "You know, just some dumb old teddy.."

Beca slowly moved towards the girl, smiling gently. She had no idea why Chloe was trying to act as though this teddy wasn't one of her most treasured possessions. Because it was so obvious that it was. It was missing an 'eye' it had been cuddled so many times.

Chloe held her breath as she watched Beca reach out and gently take the teddy. Aubrey had once told her it was too childish to still have a teddy on the bed as a teen, that's why Chloe had always hidden it from her any time the blonde had come round.

"Who's this little guy?" Beca asked kindly, and Chloe was surprised by the girl's reaction. Any time she had brought a boy over to 'study' and they had caught sight of 'Cup-Cup' they had immediately laughed at her. Chloe would be so embarrassed that she would work extra hard to be extra sexy for them so that hopefully they'd forget all about it. But Beca? No, she didn't make Chloe feel embarrassed at all.

So the teen smiled sweetly and said quietly, "This is Cup-Cup.."

"Hey Cup-Cup. Nice to meet you." Beca said politely.

Chloe took a deep calm breath. She couldn't believe how nice Beca was. How little Beca judged her. She just allowed Chloe to be herself all the time. No matter what. Even now, in the privacy of her own bedroom.

"I got him when I was born. According to Mom I used to curl up with him all the time and I could never sleep without him. Then one day…"

And Beca smiled as she listened to Chloe tell her a tale of the time she lost 'Cup-Cup' when they went away on holiday once. The brunette became entranced with how animated the senior was when she spoke. The way she moved her arms about to emphasise certain feelings. The way she skewed and contorted her mouth when she was explaining things. The way she scrunched her nose up as she paused to find the right words she was looking for. Beca was…besotted.

"…and that was when- oh…I'm sorry…" Chloe said, wincing slightly as she threw her hands to her face in embarrassment, peering between her fingers at the teen before her, "I started rambling."

Beca let out a soft chuckle, bringing her free hand up to pull Chloe's hands back, "No! It's okay!" Chloe brought her hands to her sides as Beca affectionately added, "I love listening to you talk."

Chloe felt her heart swell as the bedroom fell silent and Beca smiled softly at her. Wow. Beca was just…wow. Chloe couldn't even begin to count how many times the boys she'd used to date told her to shut up because she rambled so much. She had become so accustomed to that being a reaction that it was second nature for her to stop herself mid-sentence and apologise. Drake had never been one to tell her to shut up, but he had definitely never told her that he liked to listen to her talk. He used to always agree that she HAD been rambling and then went on to talk about some football match that he was looking forward to watching.

"Sorry, it's just..all the guys I've dated before-"

"-All those jocks were dicks!" Beca interrupted passionately, and Chloe bit her bottom lip as the brunette continued, "Chloe I…uh…I really like you..in a…you know…more than a friend way? Not that we're friends really but…I-I guess what I'm trying to say is..um..I could listen to you forever…"

Beca swallowed loudly, then grimaced, closing her eyes as she heard what she'd just said, "Ugh that…that was really sappy…forget I said anythi-"

Chloe let out a sweet giggle, reaching out and taking Beca's hands, including the one that held 'Cup-Cup', and squeezed them tight, "-I really like you too." she said softly, giving Beca a wink as she added, "In a more than friend way."

Beca blinked, a smile brushing over her face as she looked into Chloe's bright blue eyes, "Yeah?"

"Yeah" Chloe whispered.

The two teens stood in silence, smiling softly at each other. Beca felt weird. She'd never really told anyone she liked them before. Not quite this seriously. And not nearly this intimately. She still felt insanely inferior to the beautiful senior and found it hard to get her head around the fact that Chloe ACTUALLY wanted to spend time with her. That the girl wanted to kiss her. Talk to her. Have sex with her..

Chloe meanwhile was feeling just as surprised with how much her life seemed to have changed in a matter of a couple of days. She'd somehow fallen for someone in the year below her at school. A girl no less. And not just any girl, but the girl who happened to be the 'worst enemy' of her best friend.

On paper Beca was far from a match for the bubbly bright redhead. And yet Chloe felt no greater connection, no greater affinity, than with the beautiful teen stood before her right now. Because Beca seemed to give Chloe this overwhelming sense of calm. As though she could be exactly herself, her real self, and the brunette wouldn't criticise her for it at all.

Just as the teens began leaning their faces towards one another, a light knock was heard on the bedroom door. Both Beca and Chloe snapped apart as Chloe's mother stepped into the room.

"Oh..I see you've met Cup-Cup." Mrs Beale said with a kind smile, motioning to the scraggy teddy in Beca's hand.

Beca swallowed loudly then looked down at the teddy, letting out a small chuckle, "Oh yeah.." and she grinned, "..he's a cool little dude, huh."

"Definitely."

The older woman looked from the petite brunette who was looking down at 'Cup-Cup', over to her smiling daughter who was looking at Beca as though she were the most wonderful person on the planet. And it was in an instant that Mrs Beale wondered at what point these two girls had become friends. After all, Chloe had never mentioned Beca before..

"Will you be staying for dinner Beca? It's Mac & Cheese night.." Mrs Beale asked kindly, wanting to have a good reason to get to know more about Beca and Chloe's friendship.

Beca swallowed, smiling politely as she turned to the girl beside her, raising her eyebrows as she said, "Uh, well it's up to Chloe-"

"-It's not up to me, silly." Chloe said with a light giggle and a playful nudge, "Obviously I'd love for you to stay for dinner but only if you'd want to."

Chloe was so excited at the prospect that she'd be spending more time with Beca this coming evening than she'd expected, she hadn't noticed her mother furrowing her brow slightly with a curious grin. The woman knew her daughter well. Very well. And as such she could read her very well too. She knew something was up, but she couldn't quite work out what.

"Well, in that case yeah, I'd really like to stay for dinner please Mrs Beale."

"Alright then, I'd better put some more pasta on to cook." The older redhead said, raising her eyebrows with a kind smile before stepping out of the bedroom. Mrs Beale hesitated, then shut the door behind her. If her husband wasn't concerned then she didn't need to be either. Except..she had a better sense of things than Chloe's father did.

Chloe and Beca let out a long exhale each while they watched the bedroom door snap shut again. Chloe smiled softly as Beca handed 'Cup-Cup' back to her.

"Your Mom's sweet" Beca said conversationally and Chloe nodded in agreement while she placed her teddy back on the bed.

"Yeah, she's the best. I'm very lucky."

"And your Dad is..uh.."

"Protective?"

"I was going to say funny, but yeah protective is a good word to use to describe him. He was hot on it when I fell over the fence that's for sure." Beca said with an embarrassed chuckle, holding her arm up so she could inspect the graze on her elbow.

"Yeah, it's not the first time he's caught someone sneaking over that fence that's for sure.." Chloe said with a light giggle.

Beca felt her stomach knot a little in jealousy, and she couldn't work out why. It was a ridiculous feeling to have. It was a casual comment that hadn't been intended to be a dig at Beca, and the younger teen knew that, after all it was Chloe, the girl who would never do anything to consciously hurt Beca, she was sure of it. But the fact that Chloe had snuck guys into her house before made Beca feel somewhat jealous. She had foolishly thought she was the first person Chloe had tried to sneak up to her bedroom.

Beca watched Chloe bring her soft warm hands to the graze, and cup her elbow with them to inspect it closer. The brunette bit her bottom lip, toying with the temptation to ask her about those previous boys Mr Beale had caught. But a whole different sentence came out instead.

"I'm sorry I didn't punch Drake sooner."

Chloe paused, looking up and into Beca's eyes. Her heart had skipped a beat and was in the process of trying to return to a steady rate. She had no idea why Beca was apologising. She'd been amazing. She'd saved her from humiliation. She'd..protected her. And Chloe realised she hadn't actually thanked her yet.

"I sat in that cubical way longer than I should have. I should have walked out of there straight away and just thumped him-"

"Beca you did everything right." Chloe assured softly, shaking her head slightly, "If you'd have come out of that cubical sooner he would've seen you. I know how strong Drake is. He would've really hurt you." Chloe brought her hands from Beca's elbow and wrapped them around the girl's waist instead, "And I would've been devastated." she added with a whisper.

Beca felt the knot of jealousy in her stomach loosen, and she let out a sigh while she brought her hands to Chloe's shoulders. She liked the feel of Chloe holding her. And for the first time, the two teens just stood together, holding each other. Neither kissed. Neither spoke. They just stood there. A little nervously at first. But certainly not awkwardly.

"Your Dad would be furious if he found out we were dating, huh?" Beca said quietly after a few moments, breaking the silence.

A smile crept across Chloe's face and her eyebrows rose as she said quietly in a teasing tone, "Oh we're dating now are we.."

"I uh..I mean if you don't want to..then I guess..I mean-"

Chloe smiled sweetly as Beca got flustered, trying to find the words to help the situation. To help her out of the hole she seemed to be in. But to Chloe there was nothing to be flustered about. She wanted this too. Really wanted this. So she squeezed Beca's body gently.

"-Beca it's okay." she said kindly, with a little giggle.

"Yeah?" Beca asked, swallowing loudly as she raised her own eyebrows, wanting to make absolutely certain that she hadn't entirely freaked the redhead out.

"Yes Beca. We're dating." Chloe whispered as she slowly brought her face towards the brunette's. "And you're right, my Dad probably would be furious. But there's no need for him to find out yet."

"Cool.." was all Beca could mutter before Chloe gently placed her lips on hers and they slowly began kissing in Chloe's bedroom.