Chapter Text
Chloe looked around her empty dorm room, trying to hold back a tear while she clung to the handle of her largest suitcase. When she’d started at Davis two and a half years ago she hadn’t ever imagined the world would one day be in the pandemic it now was. Hadn’t ever imagined the college would close its doors and turf it’s students out so they could ‘learn’ within the safety of their family’s homes. Chloe couldn’t even figure out how it was going to work. Training to become a vet required practical learning, not electronic. How much could she learn in her bedroom back at her parents house?
Her brow furrowed as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, her eyebrows rose when she saw ‘Beca’ on the screen. Beca never called her. They’d had the occasional FaceTime in the first couple of months that Chloe had been at Vet School, but nowadays it was just a text here and there, and usually in The Bellas group WhatsApp.
“Hey Beca—” she began but her words were quickly cut off by a breathless Beca.
“They’re locking down the city.”
Chloe hesitated. What was she talking about?
“What are you—?”
“LA. They’re locking it down.” Beca replied bluntly, and Chloe wondered if the woman was running somewhere. “Everyone indoors. Nobody comes into the city, nobody leaves the city. All from sundown tonight.”
Chloe swallowed loudly. She couldn’t work out why Beca was telling her this. She couldn’t exactly work out why Beca was out of breath. Was she panicking? Being in self-quarantine for an unknown amount of time with no human contact sounded like hell to Chloe, but she’d always assumed Beca liked being on her own.
“Come live with me?” Beca suddenly burst and Chloe’s mouth dropped open as her estranged best friend continued desperately, “I don’t want to do this quarantine thing alone. I know I’ll be working and stuff but you have your studies so it could totally work.”
Chloe hesitated again while she felt her heart and stomach begin to swirl. She’d worked hard these past couple of years to try to banish her deep unrequited love for the woman. And she thought she’d been successful. But the idea of being cooped up in Beca’s (admittedly large) LA mansion for an unknown period of time - possibly months on end - brought her unrequited love rushing back. This would be the most perfect situation.
“It’s making me a bit anxious that you’re not saying anything right now.” Beca admitted down the phone, clearly nervous as she rambled, “I know it’s a lot to take in and you literally have about 6 hours before sundown so you’d probably need to catch an Uber right now to get down here and it’s like a huge life decision because it means pretty much moving your whole life down here for like the rest of the year and I’m only giving you a few minutes warning and—”
“Okay.” Chloe blurted suddenly and she could practically hear Beca’s heart stop beating down the phone momentarily while she processed Chloe’s answer.
“Okay?”
“Yeah.” the redhead replied, a smile sweeping across her face, “Okay, I’ll get my Uber to redirect to LA. I’ll go into quarantine with you.”
“A-Amazing.” Beca stuttered, letting out a heavy exhale and it served to spread Chloe’s smile broader.
“Be with you in 6 hours?”
“Uh y-yeah. Yeah.”
—————
Chloe dragged both of her large suitcases up the long path and stopped at the large front door of Beca’s mansion. Her heart raced with excitement and nerves as she brought her hand up to pull the doorbell.
“Chloe!”
Chloe’s brow furrowed in confusion and she turned to look over her shoulder just as the large front door opened. Her heart sank as she saw Aubrey, Stacie, Bella, Jessica, Ashley, and Emily striding up the path towards her, all with their own suitcases. They were grinning and waving excitably at her. And that was when Chloe felt a wave of disappointment.
Because Beca hadn’t just invited her to join her quarantine. She’d invited the rest of The Bellas too. The redhead forced a smile onto her face, turning to greet Beca with her cheeriest of greetings. But to her surprise she found herself face-to-face with Fat Amy instead, Beca peering apologetically over the Australian’s shoulder.
[Two hours earlier]
Beca let out a satisfied exhale, her hands on her hips as she looked at her guest bedroom. She’d worked hard the past few hours since speaking to Chloe trying to rearrange the room so it was exactly how Chloe would like it. She was excited - if not a little apprehensive - about sharing a living space with her estranged best friend again.
She’d missed Chloe desperately. Had been so busy, and was aware that Chloe had been busy with school. But this awful pandemic was, in a way, a good excuse to spend some quality time together. Just the two of them.
Beca had been battling with a huge crush on Chloe for a few years now, and while she’d tried to quash it since they’d gone their separate ways a couple of years ago, the idea of being in close proximity with her again fuelled that crush once more. Beca was in deep. And she desperately hoped that perhaps this time in quarantine together might bring them closer. Perhaps she’d be able to persuade Chloe to become more than just friends with her..?
The doorbell rang and Beca’s brow furrowed. Chloe had arrived from Davis far sooner than she’d expected. She dashed out of the guest bedroom, and down the hallway, through the open living space and over to the front door.
But as she tugged it open her heart plummeted. Because stood before her wasn’t Chloe. It was Fat Amy and Lilly. Both with massive suitcases. Both grinning at her.
“What up Shawshank?” Amy greeted, before muscling past the petite brunette and entering the house. Lilly followed, muttering something. Beca’s mouth remained open in shock.
“What-?” she asked motioning to the suitcases. Though she had a sinking feeling she already knew the answer…
“We heard rumours the whole country was going to be locked down.” Amy explained with a huge exhale of relief while she sat on a particularly comfy couch, “So I suggested to The Bellas that we all quarantine together.”
“The Bellas?” Beca asked, the door closing over behind her. But the door was pushed back open before closing, and Beca turned to see Cynthia Rose and Flo stepping inside with big grins on their faces.
“Yeah.” Amy continued, reaching for the TV remote, “And we agreed you probably have the biggest most accessible place.”
“Right.” Beca replied, trying not to sound too irritated. What was this, college? She’d spent too long living alone here. Could she now share it with 10 other people? And where was everyone going to sleep?? She only had five bedrooms. There were 11 Bellas.
“Thanks Beca.” Cynthia Rose gushed, grinning as she clapped Beca on the back then headed over to the couch to join Amy in watching the TV.
Beca grimaced internally. This was going to be a looong year if they were all quarantined together until 2021…