After the USO Tour was over, Beca had packed up her stuff rather quickly and was moving into her new place in LA, but a week later.
The sooner, the better, she’d thought. She didn’t want to drag out long goodbyes with Amy, and especially not Chloe. It’s not like she wouldn’t see either of them again. Amy was now a millionaire and would no doubt be showing her face in LA, under the pretence of not knowing how to do her laundry, and therefore end up crashing at Beca’s for a few weeks, turned months. Not that Beca would be complaining. She’ll admit that it is strange to come ‘home’ to an empty apartment, after living with the Bella’s and then moving in with Amy and Chloe, the brunette had gotten used to having people around, her friends around… Chloe around.
She winced as she thought of the redhead, remembering her goodbyes to her former roommates, whilst a chauffeur from DJ Khaled waited outside for her. Amy had all but promised she’d see Beca within the next few weeks, claiming that maybe LA needs a bit of Fat Amy Winehouse, to which Beca rolled her eyes fondly and hugged her crazy, best friend.
Then there was Chloe, the redhead looking anywhere but at Beca, arms wrapped around herself, as if to keep herself from falling apart. The brunette’s chest ached heavily and her eyes began to sting as she wordlessly drew Chloe in for the briefest hug imaginable. It physically pained her to let go, place a chaste kiss to Chloe’s temple, then swiftly exit the apartment. No words were shared, not even an optimistic ‘see you soon’.
So here she was, in her new apartment in LA after a long day at the studio. She didn’t have the energy to cook, so she ordered pizza and collapsed onto the couch with an exasperated sigh. She’d been keeping herself busy since she arrived in LA, in order to keep her mind off of the redhead that plagued her dreams. Beca knew why her stomach clenched uncomfortably when she thought of Chloe, no longer the butterflies she used to feel when she’d see the redhead’s beaming smile or when Chloe would have a witty comeback and Beca would feel an odd sense of pride that the redhead understood Beca’s humour as well as she did.
Beca knew that if she lay there on the couch long enough, eyes closed yet still stinging, that she’d cry. She could feel a sob building in her chest, and a twinge of anger shoot through her, as the memory of seeing Chloe kiss Chicago, after Beca’s big opening performance, replayed in her mind’s eye.
The way she’d tugged him by his tie, the way he’d dipped her, the way her leg wrapped around his ever-so-slightly. Beca tasted iron and realised she’d bit the inside of her cheek too hard, drawing blood.
A tidal wave of self-loathing crashed over her, for a multitude of reasons, each one stronger than the next. Firstly, Chloe is her best friend, she should be happy for her, but she’s not. Then, there’s a small part of her, no matter how tiny, that still wonders if she’d been better off with her walls up, armour on, never having joined the Bella’s in the first place. Despite joining being probably the best thing that’s ever happened to her. But the real reason, the biggest reason, is that she fell in love with her best friend, she doesn’t know when, doesn’t know how, but it happened. She has a feeling that Chloe, at some stage, maybe had feelings for her too, and the possibility of that even being true, is what breaks her heart the most. The reality that Beca had been too late, too stupid, too scared to act on her own feelings, even though there was the slightest chance they’d be reciprocated.
The first tear sliding down her cheek, brings with it a heart wrenching sob, that the brunette’s powerless to contain. She doesn’t know how long she’d been on the couch wallowing, when a knock on the front door sounded. Suddenly Beca wasn’t hungry, the thought of food making her nauseous, and she briefly wondered if she should just let the delivery guy keep knocking until he’d give up and leave. But she’d feel bad for them having driven all the way here to deliver the pizza, damn Chloe and her stupid niceness for rubbing off on her.
Answering the door, looking like a mess, Beca thanked the guy, paid him and tossed the pizza onto the kitchen counter. She’d have it tomorrow maybe. It was her day off and she had no idea how she was going to keep herself occupied, to keep her mind off of Chloe.
Beca was woken up by the harsh sound of her alarm on her bedside table. She’d forgotten to turn it off the night before, to allow herself to lay in and wake up later than usual, but she’d been preoccupied with trying to get Chloe out of her head, that she’d just crawled into bed and cried… well, until she passed out basically.
Her phone chimed on the bedside table and Beca groaned. She wasn’t in the mood for weird texts from Theo that he assured were ‘banter’ but she didn’t really understand British humour, or the guys accent really if she was being honest. It chimed again and the brunette gave up any attempt at falling back to sleep, now in a shit mood that she was certain was foreshadowing the day ahead of her. With nothing to do but think of a certain redhead and overanalyse every single detail of every single interaction they’ve ever had since that damned activities fair back at Barden.
Reaching over, she grabbed her phone to find 27 missed calls, 18 unanswered text messages and 5 voicemails. She wasn’t in the mood to respond to any, seeing Theo’s name a few times, Amy’s, Stacie’s, CR’s, Aubrey’s and… she threw her phone so fast across the room, as if it’d burned her. Luckily it landed on something soft because she wasn’t planning to leave the apartment at all today, least of all to go and get a new phone.
Suddenly a loud banging on her front door echoed throughout the apartment. Beca scrubbed a hand over her face and sighed tiredly, feeling infinitely more drained than she did when she first woke up. Glancing at the alarm clock beside her, she wondered who in the fuck would be knocking on her door at 5:45am on a Saturday?
Not even bothering to check what she looked like in the mirror, she threw on a hoodie and sauntered towards the front door. The knocking having never ceased, not even for a second.
Losing what little patience she already had, Beca’s mind was conjuring up how to kill whoever was currently banging on her door, and wondering where she could hide the body, when she threw open the door and she froze.
Staring back at her was Chloe Beale. Both the last person and the very person she wanted to see.
Chloe’s hand was raised mid-air, as if to knock on the door again, her breath hitching slightly as she took in the sight of her best friend. Beca had slight bags under her eyes, hair up in a messy bun, wearing a familiar looking hoodie and sweats that… also looked familiar.
Beca heard as the redhead’s breath catch audibly, and yet she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, just stood there dumbly staring at the woman she just couldn’t get out of her head.
“Hi” Chloe breathed, her tense shoulders instantly relaxing as her eyes laid on her best friend. She’d been worried sick when she hadn’t received a text from Beca to let her know her plane had landed and that she was safely in LA. She’d asked the rest of the girls in the Bella’s Group Chat, and apparently Beca hadn’t reached out to anyone to let them know she was okay.
Chloe had been furious. Whenever any of the girl’s travel, they always text Chloe to let her know that they’d gotten wherever it is they were going, okay. She knew that Beca knew how badly she worries, and yet, whilst a part of her was still fuming at Beca, for not having checked in with her to let her know she was alright, seeing her now in all her bedhead glory with her signature pre-morning-coffee frown, she couldn’t help but feel relieved.
“What are you doing here?” Beca asked, her tone more confused than happy to see Chloe, which made the redhead tense up again.
“You weren’t answering your phone.” the redhead answered, her tone somewhat accusing.
“So you flew all the way to LA?” Beca’s brows raised, pure and utter confusion taking hold of her now.
“No one could get ahold of you. You didn’t let anyone know you got here safely and you know how I worry!” Chloe could feel herself getting worked up, her eyes starting to sting.
Beca rest her forehead on the door for a second to take a deep, steadying breath, before pushing the door wider and motioning for Chloe to come in.
The redhead hesitantly stepped into the apartment, her gaze never straying from the brunette’s face. She noticed Beca looked tired. Not just tired, exhausted. She wondered if Beca also had trouble sleeping alone, after sharing a bed for so long.
“It’s still early. I’ll take the couch and you can take my bed.” Beca said, moving to walk past the redhead.
She was stopped by a hand on her wrist, and then toned arms were wrapping themselves around her, Chloe burrowing into the crook of the brunette’s neck. Beca’s arms lay limp by her sides, she was at war with herself. She wanted nothing more than to hug Chloe back, to hold her and never let go, but she would eventually have to let go, and that’s what hurt the most.
Beca didn’t have the strength in her, mainly due to the fact she was beyond exhausted, to resist a hug from Chloe Beale. She awkwardly led Chloe backwards towards her bedroom, stumbling a few times along the way, not that that had made any difference, the redhead’s grip was still unrelenting.
Sitting down on the mattress, meant Chloe went with her, not that either of them cared at this point. Chloe was doing a very impressive koala impression, clinging to Beca like a lifeline, whilst Beca made sure they both lay comfortably before dragging the covers up, over them both.
“I can’t sleep properly without you.” Chloe admitted into the crook of Beca’s neck. Her lips whispering against the patch of skin, just beneath the brunette’s ear, causing a shiver to run down Beca’s spine.
“There’s a lot of things I can’t do properly without you.” Beca mumbled, already half asleep, unaware that the confession had caused a tear to slip from Chloe’s eye.
The last thing she felt before falling under, was Chloe snuggling closer and a whisper that sounded like, I love you.
When Beca next woke up, the sun was streaming through the blinds. She stretched and felt her foot hit something smooth and warm. Looking to her left, she found Chloe Beale gazing down at her.
“Were you watching me sleep?” Beca asked between yawns.
Chloe nodded, reaching over to tuck a stray strand of Beca’s hair, back behind her ear.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s creepy to do that?” Beca grumbled, her eyes on the comforter rather than the redhead’s.
Chloe lifted Beca’s chin gently and waited patiently until she gained eye contact before speaking.
“You talk in your sleep.” she said, her thumb caressing Beca’s cheek as she tried to read the brunette.
“What? No, I don’t. If I did, you’d have told me years ago. Or at least Amy would have.” she crease between her brows deepening, as she wondered what she would’ve said if she did talk in her sleep.
“Amy sleeps like the dead and snores like… I don’t even know like what.” Chloe raised a brow as a small smile quirked her lips.
“And you?” Beca asked, waiting with baited breath.
“I don’t snore!” Chloe poked Beca’s cheek and grinned when Beca rolled her eyes fondly.
“I know that! I meant why you haven’t ever told me.” the brunette asked, her voice getting quiet all of a sudden.
“Well, I was waiting for you to tell me when you were awake… I have been for years now.” Chloe explained airily, smoothing the crease between the brunette’s brows with the pad of her thumb gently.
“T-tell you what?” the brunette stuttered, a blush colouring her cheeks instantly as her gaze searched Chloe’s frantically.
“I” Chloe trailed the tip of her index finger down the side of her face, watching as Beca’s eyes fluttered shut.
She drew a heart on the brunette’s cheek with her finger, and heard Beca’s breath hitch. Chloe took that to mean that Beca knew what she meant.
“You” she whispered, now a hairsbreadth away from the lips she’d craved for 7 years.
Beca blinked open her eyes, took a deep breath and spoke the words so softly, if the redhead hadn’t been so close, she’s not sure she’d have heard it.
“I love you.” she breathed on a shaky exhale, her eyes flitting between Chloe’s own.
Chloe closed her eyes and rest her forehead against Beca’s, nudging her nose playfully.
“Say it again…” she begged, “Please.” she whimpered.
Beca brought her hands up to cup Chloe’s face tenderly.
“I’m so in love with you, Chloe Beale.” the words spoken causing a happy tear to fall down Chloe’s face.
“I love you too… so much. I always have.” Chloe grinned, before closing the already short distance, and bringing their lips together in a sweet kiss.
“Wow” Beca breathed. Chloe’s lips had been even softer than she’d imagined… and she had imagined, multiple times over the years. Probably an unhealthy amount for your best friend.
“That’s how I felt the first time I saw you.” Chloe admitted, now uncharacteristically shy. She bit her lip to stifle the beaming smile that was just bursting to break through.
Reaching up ever-so-slowly, Beca interlaced her fingers with Chloe and pressed a kiss to the back of each of her hands.
The gesture stirred something in the redhead, causing Chloe to capture Beca’s lips in a lingering kiss. The feel of the brunette’s hand reaching up to tangle in her hair and hold her closer, rousing a low moan to come from Chloe.
When they parted, Beca was now laying on top of Chloe, pressing kisses all over her face.
“I’m sorry I took so long.” she whispered, resting their foreheads together.
“Darling” Chloe nudged her nose against Beca’s to gain the brunette’s attention, as if the use of the new pet name wasn’t enough to completely captivate her.
“You are more than worth the wait.” the redhead promised her, lifting her head to place a chaste kiss to Beca’s forehead.
A shit-eating grin wormed it’s way onto the brunette’s face, before she kissed Chloe once more. Both of them content to spend the rest of the day in bed, showing each other just how much they love the other.
