A/N - Okay, so I've done plenty of research and I'm pretty sure Avalon tickets are not that hard to get but please... roll with it, as if they were like the Golden Tickets from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! I've also never stepped foot in a nightclub before so forgive my excoriatingly painful attempt at knowing how one operates...
Huge thanks, as always, to my wonderful beta... couldn't do this without you!
Also, just wanted to add that I am truly touched and humbled by the welcome back, and have appreciated every message and review. Thank you :)
.oOo. Chapter Thirty Eight .oOo.
Chloe's backyard was full of laughter, and the sound of wine glasses clinking together as the host of the Avalon pre-party swept out onto the patio with a tray, laden with nibbles and dip.
Chloe had dropped the girls off to stay with David's parents in their holiday rental as soon as she'd returned home from work. She had then rushed back to the house to get ready for what Stacie had already called, the best night of her life. The excitement at getting tickets to Avalon was palpable, but when Chloe told the small group they had VIP access, courtesy of Beca, the level of enthusiasm had risen ten fold.
Walking carefully in her ridiculously tall, but favourite, Christian Louboutin heels, Chloe presented Aubrey with the heavily laden food tray. The blonde set her glass down on one of the small tables to help herself to a couple of mini bites, before taking the tray and handing it off to the next person.
"Anyone need a top up?" Chloe asked, looking around the group.
"Think we're good Clo," Stacie nodded back. She could tell Chloe was on edge about the evening in the way that she was unable to sit still for too long. "Are we waiting for anyone else to join us?"
"Lilly is going to meet us at the club tonight as she's got to work late," Chloe replied, after a moment. "It's just the five of us leaving from here. I've asked for the car to be here by nine."
"Yo, I'm so excited about tonight," Cynthia Rose grinned, taking a sip of her drink. "I've wanted to get into Avalon for ages."
"Yes, it should be quite a pleasant evening," Aubrey interjected, formal as always, wiping her fingers delicately on a napkin.
"Hey Aubrey?" Stacie called out to the blonde.
"Yes?"
"Can I... just... while your suit is nice, clubs can get... pretty warm; hot even. Are you going to be comfortable in... that?" Stacie gestured towards the three piece suit and formal blouse Aubrey was wearing.
"I'm perfectly fine. This is my favourite suit," Aubrey blanched.
"And it's lovely," Stacie countered. "But this is a night to let go a little. You know, shake it up?"
"I'm not following," Aubrey bristled.
"What Stacie is trying to say to you Bree, is that I think she wants... needs you to unformalise a little!" Chloe chuckled, shaking her head in mock seriousness at Stacie stating the obvious.
"Unformalise?" Aubrey looked confused for a moment. "Is that even a word?"
Chloe playfully shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm perfectly fine, thank you," Aubrey repeated, a little stiffly, turning to Stacie. She was unsure why Chloe had invited her along for the evening, as clubs were not really her thing. Still it had been a while since she and Chloe had had the chance to catch up so she figured she'd come along for the ride. She was also quite keen to see a different side to Beca.
"Are you though?" Stacie grinned, cocking her head to the side. "Chloe, how about you let Aubrey borrow your Alexander McQueen little black dress?"
"Not for me to decide but sure, if you want to borr-" Chloe began.
"-I'm not a doll and I don't need to be dressed in-" Aubrey interrupted.
"-Live a little Aubrey!" Stacie teased, winking at Aubrey because she knew it flustered the blonde.
"I'm not sure changing my outfit could be considered living a little," Aubrey sighed, shaking her head slightly.
"You've got such a hot figure," Stacie continued, letting her eyes roam all over the blonde in a very obvious way. "Don't you want to be shaking your ass on the dance floor in something less... officey?"
"I certainly won't be shaking anything on the dance floor tonight, thank you," Aubrey bit back.
"Chloe! Aubrey needs something stronger than wine!" Stacie called out. "She needs to be shaking that beautiful butt some more!"
In exasperation, Aubrey huffed, "Why are you making it your mission to-"
"-Because you need to live a little," Stacie repeated before turning to the youngest member of the group. "Look how you always have the lovely Emily dressed in formal suits and boots every day for work, and then look how she's dressed up tonight. She's freaking hot!"
"I... just..." Emily blustered but didn't know what to say to herself being dragged into the conversation. She looked to Chloe for back up.
"You really do look great, Emily," Chloe smiled, chucking at Emily's bright red cheeks.
Emily looked down at herself, her short, black and silver dress hugged her curves in all the right places and was long enough to be respectable but short enough to showcase her long legs. She blushed even harder before taking a huge gulp out of her glass of wine.
"Honestly, if you want to dig in my closets, help yourself," Chloe offered.
"Oooh yay!" Stacie clapped her hands together in glee, as she jumped up from her seat and headed towards the house.
Aubrey harrumphed and went back to her wine.
.oOo.
The car arrived promptly at ten to nine. Stacie immediately began ushering everyone out towards the highly polished limousine. She knew the driver by sight and nodded politely to him as she held the door open for everyone to step into the vehicle. She shook her head playfully at Aubrey as she unbuttoned her jacket before sliding onto one of the soft leather seats.
She hadn't been successful in persuading Aubrey to get changed but the blonde had acquiesced and let Stacie fix her hair differently.
Chloe locked her front door, and followed the group to the waiting car. "Everyone got everything?" She asked, poking her head through the door to the limo.
"Everyone's tits and bits are inside the vehicle, just get in Chloe!" Stacie called out.
"Sorry I didn't meet you at the door, Miss Beale," Franz, the driver, tipped his hat towards Chloe.
"Not a problem, I know there was a keen bean in the group," Chloe smiled, her eyes automatically tracking Stacie. He smiled knowingly, and gave Chloe a polite nod. She'd known Franz for a few years and he was quite a stickler for the rules and the formalities. "Thank you for your usual promptness."
Franz, again, nodded back towards her, holding the door for Chloe as she slipped in and took a seat next to Cynthia Rose.
"Oooh champagne!" Stacie yelled as the door was closed softly.
"I don't think we're in the car long enough for that..." Chloe started to explain, smoothing her dress down to avoid getting too creased on the journey to the club..
"I can do a bottle in an hour..." Stacie grinned. "Ladies?"
"Do you have to pay for the bottle service, Chloe?" Aubrey turned to ask Chloe, quietly.
"I do, but it's okay," Chloe replied with a smile and a nod.
"She should be asking before opening the bottle without..." Aubrey paused as the sound of the cork popping interrupted what she was going to say.
"Aubrey, it's okay... it's not worth worrying about."
"It's a two hundred dollar bottle of champagne!" Aubrey protested.
"-Then have a glass and enjoy it," Chloe smiled at her friend.
Not ready to give up the matter, Aubrey stated, "You should have a word with your accountant sometimes and see how he or she likes how you spend your money."
This actually sparked a thought for Chloe, though not what Aubrey was suggesting. "I... yeah, actually, that's not such a bad idea," Chloe muttered as Stacie began pouring the champagne into flutes. Aubrey raised an eyebrow in Chloe's direction. "I've not spoken to him for a while and should warn him about what's going on with David and me. But this is not a conversation for now, let's try and enjoy the evening."
"Of course," Aubrey smiled and accepted the glass handed to her.
Chloe pulled her phone out of her purse and quickly sent a message to Beca.
message from chloe.m, to beca.m - 20.51 - Hi! We're just leaving! C x
message from beca.m, to chloe m - 20.52 - Great, see you in a bit
message from beca.m, to chloe m - 20.57 - X
.oOo.
The ride to the club was fairly uneventful and the mood in the car was light. Everyone was in good spirits and even Aubrey seemed to have left some of her stuffiness behind, as Stacie had kept her flute flowing with champagne.
"Miss Beale, I'll need to drop you here," Franz spoke politely as the car pulled into the parking lot opposite the club. "There's a no stopping sign-"
"-It's okay Franz. We can walk from here," Chloe called back, collecting her purse from the seat next to her as the vehicle stopped.
Cynthia Rose was the first out of the limo, her excitement evident on her face as she gazed over at the pale coloured building across the street that was adorned with dark fascias and decorations.
"Thanks so much for this!" She gushed as Chloe stepped out onto the asphalt.
"You're so welcome," Chloe smiled, grabbing Cynthia Rose's arm for a second before walking up to the driver's window. She discreetly handed Franz a generous tip.
"Thank you Franz."
"You are very welcome Miss Beale. And you'd like picking up at three, is that correct?"
"Yes please. I'm not really sure what time we'll be kicked out but three sounds a good time," Chloe explained.
"No problem, you've got my number and can always let me know if you are going to be late, or if half the party wants to leave early. I'm yours until eight in the morning," Franz smiled through the window. Chloe was one of his favourite clients and he didn't mind not having a concrete plan.
"That's really kind of you, thank you," Chloe cast her eyes over the group standing slightly away from the conversation. "I'll be in touch."
"Have a great evening!"
"And you... I mean... whatever it is you'll be doing, I hope it's pleasant," Chloe bumbled out. Franz nodded politely and Chloe turned to join her friends.
"Everything all right?" Aubrey asked, linking her arm with Chloe's.
"Absolutely, just confirming pick up times. Shall we?" She gestured towards the building opposite.
They headed towards the crosswalk and the entrance to the club, following a few couples and a small group of men who turned around to look at them all a few times. Chloe instinctively kept her head down, not wanting any attention on herself when she just wanted a night out with her friends.
They neared the entrance, right in the middle of the main building and paused behind the line of people as they waited for their purses and identification to be checked. The group of guys were still whispering to each other and throwing not so subtle glances behind them.
"Excuse me?" One of them spoke softly, looking directly at Chloe. "Are you the actress Chloe Beale?"
"No, I'm not," Chloe smiled politely.
"Are you sure? I mean..." the guy chuckled. "... you do look like her."
"I get that a lot," Chloe nodded, turning away from him slightly.
The man turned back to his friends, shrugging his shoulders but looking back at Chloe regardless.
"Can I get your number anyway?" He chuckled. "Buy you a few drinks when we get inside maybe? My name's Dave."
Something inside Chloe's gut twinged so painfully that she immediately felt sick. Of course he had to share a name with her ex-husband. "I'm sorry, I don't give out my number to strangers."
"Why not?" Dave persisted.
"I've had some bad experiences with doing that in the past, so I don't give out my number anymore," Chloe said politely.
"I don't have to be a stranger," Dave continued, ignoring his friend's tug on his arm to pull him away and hissed a comment of 'she's not interested dude'.
"I'm flattered, but I don't think I'm in a place to be dating right now. I have to say no," Chloe said a little firmer as Stacie and Aubrey stepped forward.
"What about you then?" Dave spoke to Stacie, sizing her up.
"Boy, you couldn't handle me," Stacie laughed out.
"Try me," Dave grinned.
"I don't mind giving you my number, but I would only do so as friends," Stacie offered.
"I've got enough friends," Dave leaned towards Stacie. "I'm looking for something extra, if you know what I mean."
"Unfortunately I do," Stacie said. "And believe me when I tell you again that you couldn't handle me."
"We could always test that theory. I'm a pretty intense guy myself."
"Yup, we can definitely see that," Aubrey muttered beside her.
"What's your name?" Dave asked.
"Laura," Stacie lied.
"Laura... nice. Take my number and give me a call later. We can hook up or grab a drink or-"
"-Perfect. Let me have it."
"Don't you want to put it in your phone?"
"Nope, I've got a good head for numbers," Stacie shook out her hair a little, matching the intense stare she was receiving.
"You're not going to call me, are you?" Dave muttered, after a few seconds.
"Probably not," Stacie admitted, wrinkling her nose a little. "It's not flattering if you ask for a friend's number, get rejected and then try it on with another, is it?"
Dave grinned slyly and nodded, "I guess not, have a great evening."
"And you."
Dave turned back to his friends just as they stepped up to the doormen.
"Why didn't you just tell him no and then ignore him?" Cynthia Rose asked as Stacie joined her back in the line. "Wouldn't that have been easier?"
"Yeah, but it took the attention off of Chloe so..." Stacie smiled, gesturing with her hand for everyone to step forward as she spotted a small and very discrete VIP sign on one of the two doors to the building. The doorman immediately stepped forward and raised his hand in an attempt to stop them.
"Good evening," he said politely. "Are you guests of Avalon tonight?"
"We are, yes," Chloe replied. She cast her eyes over her shoulder at the line of people behind her who were watching the interaction as they waited for the club to open.
"May I take your name please?" He asked, doing a quick double take at Chloe.
"Um, Chloe Mitchem-Beale," Chloe said quietly, ignoring the murmurings going on. She heard her name echoing behind her at least four times as she reached into her purse for the tickets that Beca had given her a couple of days ago. She pulled them out of the envelope and showed them to the doorman, who took them from her.
"Ah, our guests of Miss Mitchell," he nodded. He discreetly turned away for a second and spoke into a small microphone tucked into the sleeve of his suit jacket.
"I just need your party's identification... my apologies but it's the club policy."
"That's no problem," Cloe said, dipping her hand into her purse for her driver's licence and holding it out to the bouncer to check.
"Ma'am," he said politely, handing back the card, after barely looking at it. Chloe was acutely aware that people were taking photographs of her, as she talked with the doorman. "Is this all of your party?"
"No, we have another joining us in a little while. May I leave her ticket with you?"
"That's okay ma'am, if you just leave her name here and ask her to come and find me... I'm Lloyd, when she arrives, I'll see to it that she joins your party straight away."
"Thank you Lloyd," Chloe smiled at him.
"My pleasure."
Lloyd unclipped the rope that held back the crowd and gestured for them to follow. Holding the door open for them all to pass through, he bid them a pleasant evening.
"It's very dark in here," Aubrey mentioned, as they climbed the small set of steps that led up to the main dance floor. There were soft spotlights on the stairs, a pleasant aroma of oranges and cinnamon and an energetic beat coming from the hidden speakers.
"Where do you think we should be going?" Emily asked, even though there was only one possible route to take. They paused at the top of the stairs.
"Um, Beca said she'd reserved... weeeeeah!" Chloe squeaked out as someone poked her in her side and she spun around to see her assailant.
"You made it!"
"Beca, hi!" Chloe breathed out, enjoying the playful look on Beca's face.
"So glad you all could come tonight," Beca waved shyly at the group that had all turned to look at her. "I can't stay long as I've got to do a sound bite before going on stage but thought I'd come say hi."
"Yo, I'm so excited about tonight," Cynthia Rose said, offering a fist for Beca to bump.
"Good, great," Beca nodded back.
"Hope you've got some good tracks lined up?" Cynthia Rose asked.
"Hopefully some good ones, yes... I'm trying out a couple of new beats tonight; something I threw together last night so I hope it goes down well," Beca replied with an air of confidence. She turned to Aubrey and nodded a little stiffly. "Are you all here?"
"We're just waiting on Lilly," Stacie explained.
"She's your PR guru, right?" Beca turned to Chloe who tried to school her features, surprised that Beca would remember the details from a few weeks ago.
"Yes, she handles the press releases, social media and interviews for me," Chloe explained.
"Cool, cool... so do you guys want to head on to the reserved section, it's all ready and waiting for you," Beca asked. Aubrey gave a rare smile in the brunette's direction. "You can get some drinks or something and I'll leave a word with Lloyd to bring Lilly to you when she arrives?"
"We've already sorted that out with him. I'll text her so she knows to ask for him," Chloe smiled. "Are you able to join us for a little while? Have a quick drink maybe?"
Beca checked her watch, her face showing that she really didn't have the time. "I'll come over a bit later on. I've got to dash back in a second."
"Of course," Chloe smiled.
"Um, do you want to... sort of..." Beca gestured with her hands to get everyone to move towards the roped off areas in the centre of the dance floor. Everyone seemed to understand what she was trying to do and turned around collectively.
"How many patrons does the venue hold?" Aubrey asked politely, as they began to walk over to the VIP section.
"Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, there are usually around fifteen hundred. Mid week, maybe around twelve hundred."
"It's Spanish Baroque architecture, isn't it?" Aubrey nodded appreciatively and Beca recognised her attempt at making conversation as they walked to their spot for the night.
"Honestly, I have no idea!" Beca chuckled. "I've never asked. I mean, I can find out for you."
"Oh, please don't go to any trouble on my behalf."
Beca shrugged her shoulders, "Um, all I know is that they redid this dance floor a couple of years ago and they're looking to upgrade Bardot next."
"Bardot?" Cynthia Rose asked.
"Yeah, it's the venue upstairs."
"Oh, right."
"We can go up there later, when I've finished my set. I'm on until two, then Miley Virus will be-"
"-Who?" Chloe laughed.
"Miley Virus," Beca grinned. "Great guy, sick beats."
"Oh!"
Beca nodded towards the left hand side of the VIP section. "I'll have to leave you here for now, but I'll come find you later, okay? Thanks for coming, everyone."
"Thanks for the tickets!" Emily grinned, clapping her hands together.
"You're welcome. My friend Amy is working tonight but she might pop by later on. Just, you know, to warn you..."
"It would be lovely to see her," Chloe said kindly.
"And Luke's here somewhere. He doesn't usually come along on a Friday night but he decided to tonight. He's usually in the booth, drinking beer with me, but he said he'd be out on the dance floor tonight," Beca explained, missing Aubrey's expression. She looked at the time on her phone. "Shit, I've got to go. Guys, everything is on me tonight, so please enjoy yourself!"
"Thanks again Beca!" Stacie called out and everyone else echoed the sentiment.
Beca nodded a little shyly, before lowering her voice, "Um, Chloe, can I... can you...?" she gestured with her head for the redhead to break away from the group.
"Yes?" Chloe asked, a little surprised as she took a few steps away from her friends. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine..." Beca grinned, her eyes shining a little bit.
"Okay?"
"I just wanted to know who that guy was, who you were flirting with outside," Beca cocked her head to one side.
"Huh?" Chloe was not expecting that question, and honestly wasn't sure what Beca was asking about.
Beca started gesturing with her hands, a sure sign she was a bit flustered. "In the line, before you talked to Lloyd, you were talking to a guy. I just wondered who he was."
"You were watching us?" Chloe drew back a little.
Beca's eyes went wide, and she was suddenly shaking her head no. "No! That would be weird and creepy."
"Beca?"
"No, I wasn't, I swear!" Beca gulped out, wishing her face wasn't as pink as it was. "Okay, so I was in the security suite talking to Gus when you and the girls showed up. He was getting pretty excited and I let it slip that we are friends so he let me stay there a little longer."
"So you were watching out for us to arrive?" Chloe mused, secretly loving the low level panic on Beca's face.
"I mean, I was in the booth when you messaged so I just walked up front to make sure you got in okay. That's all."
"Uh huh," Chloe suppressed a grin.
"Well, yeah. I wasn't sure you'd actually come," Beca admitted, her head dropping a little.
"Why wouldn't we?" Chloe asked, confused.
"Not getting into that right now!" Beca laughed. "So, who was the guy?"
"Do you mean the guy that asked for my number?" Chloe asked.
"I guess so."
"He was no one," Chloe shook her head.
"Didn't look like that," Beca said, her eyes overly bright. She was chewing on her bottom lip and finding a smudge on the floor rather interesting.
Chloe raised an eyebrow in Beca's direction, before choking down a real urge to laugh. "Beca Mitchell, are you jealous?"
Beca drew back a little and glanced over Chloe's shoulder to see if the others were listening. She could feel her cheeks reddening even more and was thankful for the club's dark mood lighting.
"Um, no!" She blurted out, suddenly embarrassed at asking Chloe the question.
"He didn't know who I was, so-"
"-Um, yeah, you are already trending on Instagram so I'm guessing he did."
"Instagram? I haven't uploaded any pictures on there for ages,"
"No, your hashtag is trending," Beca explained.
Chloe grinned, "And how would you know that?"
"What?"
"That my hashtag is trending..."
"Oh, yeah, um, I... well, I guess... I follow... you,"
Chloe leaned forward and got impossibly close to Beca's ear, "Here's a little secret, I follow you too."
"Yeah, that's a little creepy," Beca breathed out, trying not to notice how intoxicating Chloe's perfume actually was.
"And stalking me on the security cameras isn't?" Chloe laughed, pulling back.
Beca blinked hard, looking a little lost and Chloe wanted to take the teasing back, thinking she'd gone too far. The brunette shook herself a little before looking at the time on her phone again, "Shit, I've got to run. Have fun!"
Chloe watched Beca turn and quickly make her way to a side door, sliding through the opening with ease. She grinned after her and walked back to re-join her friends.
.oOo.
It was just after twelve and the club was jam packed with energy. Beca usually sold out tickets on the nights she performed, but Ted, the events manager had swung by with an update to say that there were over five hundred people lining up outside the club waiting to get in.
Beca had a fleeting thought that they might have been there to try to catch a glimpse of Chloe, rather than listen to her music but she dismissed the thought, not caring for the real reason why people were there as long as they were having a good time.
She lined up a couple of familiar tracks that she usually played when she took a short ten minute break around midnight and left the booth for a few minutes, leaving Ted in there, watching the crowd. She used the staff restroom and checked her clothes weren't too sweaty before heading to the crew room to grab a drink.
Her booth was air conditioned but she felt particularly hot that night. She loved having people she knew out on the dance floor and had peered out of the small window to see if they were having a good time a few times but she was also nervous and wanted to make a good impression in front of Chloe and her friends.
She was just heading back to her recording decks when she saw Luke loitering by the door.
"Hey loser," she called out playfully, giving him a one armed hug. "You made it!"
"Hey yourself and yes, I did. The crowd is insane tonight Beca," Luke said, taking the water bottle from Beca's hand and taking a healthy gulp.
"Get your own!" She growled, snatching it back, unable to stop the smile creeping on her face. She loved Luke and how supportive he was to her.
"I'm on my way to join the girls but I thought I'd better come along and say hello. Everything going okay?"
"Yeah, it's all good. I've got to hop back in, but see you later for a drink?"
"Of course. Have a great night."
"You too!" Beca nodded, heading back into the studio. She pulled out her phone and laid it on the counter next to her laptop and she put one of her favourite songs on to roll over next.
message from beca.m, to chloe.m - 00.26 - Hope you are having a great time?
message from chloe.m, to beca.m - 00.28 - Hi! OMG Becs! This is truly the shit! You are incredible! We've not sat down all night, it's THAT'S GOOD!
message from beca.m, to chloe.m - 00.30 - Glad you are having fun
message from chloe.m, to beca.m - 00.31 - Thank you so much for this! Are you able to join us soon?
message from chloe.m, to beca.m - 00.32 - I miss your face!
message from beca.m, to chloe.m - 00.33 - No, but I finish my set at about 2
message from chloe.m, to beca.m - 00.34 - Awes!
message from beca.m, to chloe.m - 00.36 - You can come up here for a bit, if you want to?
message from chloe.m, to beca.m - 00.37 - Seriously?
message from beca.m, to chloe.m - 00.39 - Yeah, just get Luke to bring you up
Lining up the next mash up, she scanned the crowd to check everyone was still enjoying her tracks. The next song was one of her new ones and while she didn't usually talk to the club over the speakers, she pondered for a moment whether to announce who she'd had in mind when she put it together. Instead, she slipped her overly large headphones back on over her head.
Lost in thoughts, she was almost surprised by the soft knocking on the door and a shock of red curls coming into view.
"Okay to come in?" Chloe asked, her megawatt smile firmly in place.
"Sure," Beca nodded.
"So this is your lair, huh?" Chloe asked, as she stepped into the booth. Beca watched her face change from blissfully happy to inquisitive as she looked over the vast switchboard and mixing station.
"So what is all this stuff?" She asked, tentatively reaching out with her hand to touch some of the equipment but withdrawing at the last minute.
Beca slipped one of the headphone cups from her ear and pointed to the large turntable to her left. "This is a Lazy Susan and this holds my snacks and my drink and it's a surprise to see which I get when I reach out for something."
"Uh huh!" Chloe laughed loudly.
"This is a MA Lighting Grand MA3 Light board," Beca indicated to her right. "This allows me real time control of up to a quarter of a million parameters... see the lights out there on the dance floor that darken slightly and then flicker with the beat?"
Chloe peered out of the porthole window to see what Beca was showing her. "I mean, I can't see them doing that?"
"No, and that's the point but the change is supposed to be so subtle, you don't notice. It's just an additional sensory source that you didn't know you needed!"
"Oh, I get it," Chloe nodded appreciatively.
"And this is a Denon DJ unit, I can control the speed of the track here, with these two dials..." Beca showed Chloe as she was talking. "The interface panel here allows me to see what I'm doing."
"I thought you just loaded everyone onto a program onto your laptop and pressed a few buttons," Chloe admitted.
"Well, that's kinda true," Beca laughed and reached to her far left, where her laptop was balanced on the edge of the table, and queued up another couple of tracks so there was no break in flow. "See this is a two deck console, so I can layer a piece on top of the first and second ones. A bit like background noise, I guess. What I can also do with this is fade out the left side of the room and play a different track so which way you turn in the room can determine what you are hearing."
"Oh gosh, that's so clever!"
Beca shrugged her shoulders but was enjoying Chloe's interest in what she did.
"Then we have the mixer here, which is good at capturing audio from various sources. It's probably my favourite bit of kit as it's so versatile. This is a polyend tracker, see the four controllers here..." Beca pointed to what she was talking about and Chloe leaned in a little closer. "... these are used for direct sound processing and I pretty much use them for the beats; kicks, snare, metal, perc, tone and chords."
"I'm so impressed by you right now!" Chloe breathed out, standing back upright. "I literally have no idea about any of what you just said."
"It's just stuff that makes music," Beca brushed off the compliment.
Giving the younger woman a look, Chloe admonished her, "Don't do that!"
"Do what?"
"Don't dismiss what you can do. You've got a packed dance floor out there and people have come to listen to you, and what you can do. I mean, this is the first time I'm hearing some of your music and it's amazing."
"Well, technically, you've heard some of my stuff before... on the radio and-"
"-You're not very good at taking compliments, are you?"
Beca paused for a few moments before continuing in a small voice, "No, not really. But I do appreciate everything you've said."
"The girls and I are having an absolute blast tonight, even Aubrey is letting loose!" Chloe giggled.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously... she undid the top button of her blouse about an hour ago!"
"Whoa!" Beca laughed.
"I know, right?" Chloe said, reaching out and grabbing Beca's arm.
"Ow!" Beca pulled away and Chloe blanched, remembering the evening before when she'd patched up Beca's elbow.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?"
"It's okay," Beca said, rubbing her fingers over the bandage on her arm. "It doesn't hurt."
"Want me to take a look at it?"
"No, honestly, it just caught a little, it's okay," Beca smiled. "Don't look so worried!"
Chloe blinked a couple of times, before shaking herself and continuing. "Tell me about the rest of the equipment?"
Beca grinned and continued. "This is my chair and it spins really fast!"
Chloe playfully punched Beca's arm, "Funny, aren't you?"
Beca flashed Chloe with a shit-eating grin.
"So what happens now?" Chloe asked, nodding towards Beca's laptop. "Do you have, like a playlist, or something?"
"Well, I've got about a hundred and forty tracks for tonight's line up so I watch the crowd and if the beats aren't being received well, then it's pretty easy to switch it up or blend it with something else. Every twenty minutes or so, I'll slow the track down, give people a chance to catch their breath or something."
"There's a lot of thought that goes into this, isn't there?"
"I mean, I guess. I couldn't do this every week. I don't have the time to make enough music."
"Wait?" Chloe held up her hand. "You have to do new music each time you come here?"
Beca nodded, "Yeah, I can use some favourites but people come out to have a good time and they want to hear different tracks. It's harder when I'm out on the stage, and have to do it live."
"You go out there?" Chloe pointed through the window.
"Sometimes, it depends on the theme for the night."
Chloe's eyes were wide with a new appreciation for the work that Beca had put together. "This must take you weeks to put together."
"I wish!" Beca laughed. "I only get the theme on Sunday night for the week, so this gets thrown together in a few days."
"How long does a track take you to put together?"
"A couple of hours."
"You produce a hundred and forty tracks in five days?" Chloe's voice was high pitched and very squeaky.
"No!" Beca grinned. "I've got hundreds of half done material in a catalogue so it's just a case of tweaking some."
"But you must work twenty hour days?"
"Yeah..." Beca breathed out, and Chloe's mind immediately went back to the court case when it was discussed how little time Beca had. "More like eighteen hours a day usually but, it's probably nothing like you do."
Chloe shook herself a little, "What do you mean?"
"Your work, acting. Always on the go all the time."
"Not really," Chloe tried to explain, "I mostly sit around in my trailer or in a makeup chair until I'm called."
"I'm sure there's more to it than that," Beca laughed, moving over to keep an eye on the crowd. She saw something in the distance that caught her eye and flinched, before spinning round to face Chloe, her eyes wide and her mouth falling open in shock.
"What is it?" Chloe asked, quite concerned by the look on Beca's face.
"Um Chloe, why is your best friend sucking face with mine?"
.oOo.