A/N: This one is a bit shorter, hope you enjoy it!
After the game, Beca and Chloe made their way to the dressing rooms to shower. When they arrived the other girls were already in various stages of undress. Beca quickly skipped to a free spot and sat down. At her high school she was always the last off the field and consequently the last to shower. She preferred the peace and privacy. There were never enough showers for the entire team and she hated having to wait after she already got undressed.
She was a master at stalling. She started to pull off her shoes and socks very slowly and remove her shin guards. She then proceeded to organize her bags in order to fit the gear in it, and got out her shower equipment. She did all of this so slowly that by the time she was done, most of the girls were already back in the dressing rooms getting dressed. Beca quickly undressed, throwing her blue uniform into her bag. She put on her flip flops, grabbed her towel, shampoo and body wash and made her way towards the shower. She hung her towel outside of the shower block.
A few girls were still showering and Beca immediately saw a flash of red. She allowed herself a second to admire the toned body of her captain, before quickly averting her eyes toward the ground. She walked towards the showerhead farthest from the other girls. She pressed the button and water began to fall. She couldn't hold in a loud squeak as the freezing water hit her. She heard a bubbling laugh and felt her face redden.
"You picked out literally the only cold shower. Come, this one is warm."
Beca looked up just enough to see Chloe press the button next to her. She made her way over and relaxed a bit under the warm water. She felt Chloe's gaze on her, but didn't want to look the redhead in the eyes, or anywhere else for that matter. She quickly started rinsing. After she massaged the shampoo into her hair, she held her head under the water and closed her eyes. The warm water was doing a great job at relaxing her tired muscles, and she temporarily managed to forget her surroundings.
After a while she realized the girls were supposed to go to Dawson's apartment together and they were probably waiting for her. She opened her eyes to see that the showers were empty, except for a certain redhead next to her. Chloe was looking at her and Beca blushed. She made her way out of the showers and started dressing as quickly as possible.
Chloe had followed her out of the showers and was sporting an amused look. She was still shooting glances at Beca and eventually couldn't help herself.
"I never figured you for a shy person, Beca Mitchell."
When Beca didn't really respond, save an inaudible murmur, she took it a bit further.
"You know you have nothing to be shy about, right? I mean, you should be pretty confident about all that."
The colour of Beca's face was now almost matching Chloe's hair. She really didn't know how to respond, so she started throwing the last of her stuff in her bag and quickly made her way to the door. Before she could reach it though, Chloe was calling her name.
"Beca, you forgot your towel."
Beca turned around, almost jogged towards the towel, grabbed it and made her way out of the dressing rooms. The girls had gathered outside, and before she had reached them, she had a bit of time to compose herself. She knew she could count on Amy's stories to offer some distraction, and she was relieved that nobody made a comment about the fact that she was still holding her damp towel.
Chloe joined them soon after and shot Beca a worried look. Beca avoided all eye contact with her captain, so Chloe walked to Aubrey and they led to group towards Dawson's apartment.
After they had arrived, Beca managed to obtain a desperately needed beer. To her relieve, Chloe was off preparing for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Soon, she was listening to Amy talk about all the hockey parties she had attended in Tasmania. Stacy joined the conversation as well, having some interesting stories herself.
They were interrupted by Chloe after a while. "Everybody please make a big circle, we're going to play a game."
Beca knew what game was coming, since Chloe had run everything by her the day before. She sat in the circle between Amy and Lilly. After everybody had found a seat in the circle, Chloe walked to the center of the circle. She looked a little bit nervous, but put up a big smile as she addressed the team.
"So, this game is meant to get to know each other better. One person starts in the center." She pointed to herself. "This person thinks of a characteristic they have. This can be anything, so for example hair colour or the state you were born in. Then you say, 'I like people who...' followed by your characteristic. Everybody who identifies with that trait then has to get up and switch seat. The person in the center should also find a new seat. One person will not have a seat, and she has to make up a new trait. Is that clear?"
All the girls nodded, so Chloe proceeded. "Okay, so I will start. I like people who like hockey."
Chaos immediately ensued as all the girls got up and started trying to conquer a seat. Beca was able to quickly slid into the seat next to her, where Amy was seated before. Chloe sat down beside her, and now Amy had nowhere to go. She tried to bodyslam Stacy out of her seat, but was unsuccessful, so eventually ended up in the center.
The next few rounds, Beca experienced the luxury of being able to stay seated. This ended when Chloe was in the center for a second time. Her playful smirk reminded Beca that she shared quite some facts about herself with the redhead the previous day. Now her captain was probably going to abuse her prior knowledge.
"I like people who like music."
Beca wasn't surprised that most girls got up, but she hadn't expected Aubrey to walk over and take her seat. Chloe plopped down next to Aubrey and Beca had nowhere to go. She cursed under her breath as she looked around. She hadn't really prepared what she was going to say, so she had to make something up on the spot. She eventually settled for "I like people who have blue eyes", because she could see who would have to get up. She quickly took one of the empty seats and watched as Stacy couldn't find a seat.
The next line could have been expected from the tall brunette. "I like people who have had sex."
Collectively all the girls' cheeks reddened, except for Amy's and Stacy's, and most of them got up to change seats. Beca was able to discreetly slide into the empty seat next to her. She was mildly surprised to see Aubrey get up as well. After everybody settled down and Amy was in the center once more, Chloe called for a break.
The game went on for a couple of beers, and as the girls got more inebriated, the traits they revealed became more personal. Beca was feeling relaxed and she was genuinely having fun. This may have been partially due to the alcohol in her system, but she also really liked the girls on the team. She did however began to feel slightly uncomfortable with the direction the game had taken. She had already admitted to having kissed a girl before, but every round the game was becoming less innocent.
Chloe was standing in the centre at the moment and she was trying to think of something to say. The alcohol had removed all restraints she had, so she was staring bluntly at Beca. Suddenly Beca got an anxious feeling, like something was off. She couldn't identify it for a second, before she looked at Chloe and realized the girl had a challenging look on her face and was staring directly at her. Beca had probably revealed more about herself in the last few hours than she had during her entire time in high school. The beers had helped throughout the evening, but right now they only made her more anxious. Chloe was going to say something most likely applicable to her, and most likely something she didn't want to share yet. The events in the dressing room earlier only strengthened this feeling in Beca. She could always lie and stay seated, but this could be just as revealing as getting up in most cases.
She felt the blood drain from her face and quickly got up before Chloe had said anything. This resulted in a shocked look from Chloe. She ignored her captain and excused herself as she made her way to the bathroom. Here, she splashed some water in her face to try to sober herself up a bit.
Meanwhile, Chloe had called for another break, as she walked towards the bathroom. She suppressed the urge to immediately knock on the door and managed to wait for a minute before she did so.
"Beca, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a bit of a headache, I think I just need to sleep it off."
Beca dried off her face and opened the door. She didn't stop in the doorway, but hastily made her way past Chloe to the door. On her way over she grabbed her bag and jacket. Chloe was on her heels, but she tried desperately to ignore the girl. She stepped out of the apartment, but before she could walk away, she was stopped by a hand on her arm. She spun around to face the redhead.
"Please tell me what is wrong," Chloe almost begged.
"It's nothing, probably drank a bit too much. I'm fine."
Chloe had to muster up all the courage she had for the next question.
"Do I make you uncomfortable?"
The sadness in her eyes caused a pang of guilt in Beca, who was desperately trying to get away without hurting the other girl.
"No, I just really want to get to my dorm right now. We'll talk later."
At that, she turned around. She felt Chloe's gaze on her back until she rounded the corner. The guilt she was feeling now made way for anger. She was angry at herself for screwing up a potentially great friendship and a great year, because she couldn't man up and keep her feelings in check. She had hoped that this year of college would be different than her last year in high school. Now she wasn't so sure. She had possibly already fucked it up, two weeks in. This must be some kind of record.