Archive of Our Own

One day, she’s going to know. She’ll know your birthday, your middle name, where you were born, your star sign, and your parents names.

“It’s my birthday,” Beca whispered to herself only just realizing it herself.

“What?” Chloe asked surprised.

“Oh, nothing,” she said trying to cover up the fact that she just uttered that statement aloud.

“Your birthday is not nothing, Beca. We should celebrate,” Chloe insisted with a huge smile that Beca had only seen once before.

“If you insist,” Beca mutters defeat before being swept away by the redhead for a spontaneous and unintentional birthday celebration.

“So...a scorpio then?” Chloe asks as they are stargazing later that night.

“You bet.”

“Makes so much sense,” Chloe mutters moving ever so slightly closer to the younger girl.

“You know, Beca, you’re really mysterious,” Chloe blurts out one night while Beca is sitting at her desk working on a mix.

“Mysterious how?”

“I’ve known you for six months and don’t even know your middle name or really anything about you,” Chloe elaborates.

“Mysterious indeed,” is all the Beca offers in return.

“Oh, c’mon. At least give me something,” the redhead pushed now facing the younger girl who still hasn’t taken her eyes off her laptop.

“You’ll have to work for it,” Beca decides.

“Being your friend for six months is work enough, Mitchell. The least you can tell me is your middle name,” Chloe shoots back.

Beca falls into silence with her concentration face on. Chloe sighs heavily and collapses back into the younger girl’s bed leaving her to her mix that she is so determined to finish tonight. Chloe feared that the younger girl was never going to let her in enough to find out all of the details that drive her insane at night. She feels like their friendship will only be that. A friendship. Never faltering much beyond that even though that is all Chloe could ever wish to happen.

“Alexandria,” Beca whispered quietly several minutes later.

Chloe was confused at first but as the recognition hit her a smile slowly grew across her face. Maybe she was getting somewhere with this reserved alt girl after all.

“Why don’t you ever talk about your parents?” Chloe blurted without really meaning to. Her curiosity with the younger girl was getting unbearable and she needed the answers to these questions that kept her up at night.

“No point in dredging up those memories,” Beca replied without any intention to have this conversation with Chloe.

“Did something happen?”

“What’s it to you?” Beca shot back defensively. Chloe’s face visibly falls at Beca’s harsh tone. “I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s not something I like or want to talk about.”

“Okay,” was all Chloe could muster as a response.

--

“You already know that my dad’s a professor here. He left my mom when I was younger and we haven’t gotten along since. Until more recently. My mom, well, Lisa went downhill after he left and things were never really the same for her or for us. I haven’t seen her in awhile and am only just now starting to re-establish some kind of a functional relationship with my dad. Satisfied?” Beca rambled completely out of the blue.

Chloe sat there stunned with this sudden revelation. It had been hours since she had brought up Beca’s parents and they were now sitting in the library in a closed off room by themselves. They’d been sitting in almost complete silence since she originally brought them up. So this sudden outburst was entirely unexpected but extraordinarily welcomed.

“Very,” Chloe responds with a smile reserved only for Beca.

She’ll know how old you were when you learnt to ride a bike, how your grandparents passed away, how many pets you had, and how much you hated going to school. She’ll know your eye colour, your scars, your freckles, your laugh lines and your birth marks. She’ll know your favourite book, movie, candy, food, pair of shoes, colour, and song

Over the past year Chloe had the joy of slowly unravelling the mystery that is Beca Alexandria Mitchell. She’s even discovered Beca’s dislike of the usage of her middle name and will never let her live it down. She just can’t help it when Beca makes that utterly displeased scrunched up adorable face of hers when the name ‘Alexandria’ comes out of Chloe’s mouth. But at the same time as Beca is completely displeased with it she’s starting to love the sound of that name coming out of Chloe’s mouth. But if anyone were to ever call her out on that tiny smile that slipped out every time it was uttered she would refuse profusely. Especially because then Chloe’s teasing would only intensify. And their feelings for each other would only intensify as well.

Her eyes are a dark stormy blue, much like herself. She has a scar on her right knee from a biking accident she had when she was 8. Her mother had tried to teach her to ride a bike only to neglect her and let her fall in the street right onto a piece of broken glass that resulted in a trip to the hospital. She never really was interested in riding bikes since then. In the summer, a couple freckles tend to come out on her face even though she refuses their existence. It makes her ten times more adorable and it makes Chloe sad when they start to fade. Her laugh is constant and contagious. Especially when it’s one of her rare genuine laughs that Chloe is learning how to get out of her. Those laughs make Chloe fall ten times harder every time she has the pleasure to hear them.

She hates movies. Not because she gets bored with them halfway through and just doesn’t get to the ending but if anyone else were to ask her that’s what she would say. She hates movies because she can’t stand to see the happy endings. Because nothing in life is actually a happy ending like they see in the movies. The same goes for most books. So why indulge in that when you can indulge in other things that are far more realistic.

On occasion she will buckle down and watch a movie with Chloe but will often complain if there are ever too many cliches. More often Chloe can convince Beca to read a certain book and as they begin to spend more and more time together they often find themselves with their legs tangled together while they separately read. They chalk up their close proximity to the fact that they have limited space and it’s the most comfortable way to effectively take up a good amount of space.

She would kill for a milkshake at any hour of the day and would stuff her face with Maltesers until it made her sick if she could. But Chloe tries to teach her some self control but can’t help to indulge in a good milkshake at least once a week. So they often find themselves in the diner just around the corner almost every Friday or Saturday night ordering the biggest and best milkshake the place has to offer. They fall into the habit of only buying one and splitting it. They chalk this up to the fact that they like the same milkshake and it saves them money. But they’ve started alternating who pays and ordering a second shortly after the first is finished.

Beca always wears her converse or combat boots. It’s always one or the other unless it’s a special occasion. And then, she’ll complain all day.

Chloe learns this over Christmas break when she drags Beca to her hometown for the entirety of break. Chloe’s family always goes to mass on Christmas Eve and this one is no exception.

“You can’t wear those to church, Beca,” Chloe says upon re-entering the bedroom they were sharing.

“Why not?” Beca questioned.

“It’s not proper attire. You have to wear your best on Christmas Eve, anyway,” Chloe said trying to defend the rule that she know is ridiculous.

“This is my best,” Beca quipped. Chloe rolled her eyes and moved towards the younger girl.

“We both know that’s not true. Now, some different shoes please,” Chloe nudged gently.

“Fine,” Beca mumbled in defeat as she dug through her suitcase again. Luckily she had thrown in some black flats at the last minute just in case something like this happened. She knew it would but she was really hoping that no one would notice her shoes until it was too late. Leave it up to Chloe to ruin that.

“See. All better,” Chloe said motioning to their reflection in the full length mirror on the opposite side of the room.

“Yeah, whatever, You’re lucky I love you,” Beca muttered as she left the room not fully realizing the extent of the words she just uttered.

Chloe stood in her place smiling like a child on Christmas morning, which wasn’t too far from what was going on.

“I love you too,” Chloe whispered mostly to herself because Beca was already at the top of the staircase. She didn’t know the younger girl could still hear her but that sentence was what caused a soft smile to be on Beca’s face for the remainder of the night despite spending it in such an unfamiliar setting.

She’s going to know why you’re awake at 5am most nights, where you were when you realised you’d lost a good friend, why you picked up the razor and how you managed to put it down before things went too far. She’s going to know your phobias, your dreams, your fears, your wishes, and your worries.

Beca (5:04 am): any chance you’re awake?

Beca (5:16 am): no such luck. alright. come by when you’re up.

 --

When Chloe’s alarm went off she slowly reached for her phone to turn it off only to see missed texts from Beca. She read them after unlocking her phone effectively silencing the alarm but awakening her brain quickly. Beca being up late was no surprise to Chloe but the texts were. Usually Beca stayed up late working on mixes but when she was in her music mode her phone and other people usually didn’t matter and went completely ignored for hours at a time. So having these texts were concerning to say the least.

 --

Chlo (9:28 am): are you up?

Beca (9:31 am): barely but yes

Chlo (9:41 am): on my way.

 --

Chloe threw her bag over the console and into the passenger seat as she tumbled into her car. Once the car was on she began making her way from her apartment to Beca’s dorm at a slightly illegal speed. Her mind was racing with so many thoughts as to why Beca was asking for her so early in the morning and even better why and how she was still awake? Had she fallen asleep at all or had she been up all night? Had something happened?

These thoughts barely stopped long enough to properly find a parking spot and make her way up to Beca’s dorm as quickly as she can manage. She found the door and composed herself long enough to at least knock lightly.

“It’s open,” Beca’s muffled voice replied.

Chloe opened the door slowly inspecting the room before making her way fully inside. She closed it gently behind her despite the fact that Beca was alone and obviously somewhat awake.

“What’s up, Bec?” Chloe asked worry etching in her voice again.

“Just,” Beca paused clearly hesitating in whatever she was going to say next. “Just sit and listen to that, alright?”

“Um. Okay. Is everything alright?” Chloe asked her worry becoming even more evident.

“Everything’s fine. I just want you to listen to that because music is better than words sometimes,” Beca continued with a soft smile effectively taking away some of Chloe’s worry. She nodded gently and sat down in the computer chair and putting Beca’s headphones onto her head and hitting play.

The music slowly built and it became evident that these were a handful of Chloe’s favorite love songs that were flawlessly mixed together by none other than one Beca Mitchell. It was the perfect mash up of With Ur Love by Cher Lloyd and Titanium by David Guetta and samples of a couple others. The realization and recognition slowly hit Chloe and her mouth dropped. She was speechless for the remainder of the song. She fell into silence once it ended and slowly took the headphones off placing them onto the desk. She looked over to the younger girl who had her gaze fixated on the ground.

“Beca,” Chloe said softly but the younger girl didn’t move her gaze. “Beca, look at me.” She merely shook her head refusing to take her gaze anywhere near the redhead. “Beca Alexandria Mitchell. Please look at me,” Chloe said calmly moving to sit next to the younger girl.

Her gaze slowly made it’s way to Chloe’s only to reveal slightly teary eyes. Chloe put both of her hands onto Beca’s cheeks and began to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes with a soft smile on her face. When Beca returned the slight smile Chloe leaned in and kissed her gently much to Beca’s surprise but she returned the kiss eagerly.

“What took you so long?” Chloe asked despite the delay also being her own fault.

“What took you so long?” Beca shot back with a light hearted laugh.

“I wasn’t sure this is what you wanted,” Chloe reveals honestly.

“This meaning what?”

“A relationship. You being my girlfriend and my being your girlfriend,” Chloe elaborated with that smile of hers that is only meant for Beca.

“Well, I do and I have for a long time,” Beca responds with an even brighter smile.

“Good,” Chloe whispers leaning in for another kiss.

One of Beca’s biggest fears and reasons for holding back in telling Chloe how she felt is that everyone will leave her. Or not stay long enough to get to know her. It happened when she was younger and instilled this irrational fear and phobia of letting people in close enough to hurt her. So she put her guards up and reinforced her barriers with a sarcastic and sometimes rude front. She didn’t want anyone to be able to get close enough to tear her down and leave her empty and broken. She never wanted to feel like that again and she wanted to be absolutely sure before she took that risk. She was 90% sure the morning that she told Chloe how she felt and was 100% sure when she kissed her. She finally put everything on the line and was the happiest she’s ever been.

Beca worries sometimes that she’s going to lose the one person she ever bothered to fully let in. And every time she brings this up Chloe shoots it down immediately filling the room with promises of never leaving her because what they have is different. They spent a year and a half being just friends even though they were constantly pushing those boundaries for their whole “friendship”. They never really were just friends they were always something so much more. But it stayed unspoken until Beca of all people got the courage to do something about it. What they have is different. What they have is special and neither of them are ever going to let that go.

It’s during a stupid game of Never Have I Ever with the Bellas that they admit that they are dating. And it’s during a stupid game of Never Have I Ever that Chloe learns of something that breaks her heart entirely.

 --

“Never have I ever kissed someone in this room,” Fat Amy blurts out staring right at Cynthia Rose who she knows for a fact has kissed someone in this room. Before CR even gets her hand on the drink in front of her Beca and Chloe both take a drink silencing everyone in the room.

“Oh, that’s right,” Chloe says slowly remembering that the rest of the girls have no idea.

“Don’t be so shocked guys,” Beca cuts in.

“I’m just shocked that you two finally admitted it,” Fat Amy disrupted again and giving herself a hi-five. They all laughed and went back to the game.

 --

At this point in the game they had gone through every sexual and simple thing that any of the girls could think of. And some of them were significantly drunk at this point as well but they continued the game anyway but on a heavier note. Some of the questions started to drift off into the deeply personal category some 15 minutes previous and some of the girls were picking really deep and invasive questions. But no one thought it was going too far until a certain question was blurted out by one of the girls.
“Never ha-have I ever,” she dragged out the ‘r’ as her inebriated brain thought of something, “thought of hurting myself.”

Beca was significantly drunk and without realizing what she was doing at first started to reach for her cup but stopped once she touched it. She may be drunk but eventually she was able to process how huge of a mistake that would have been so she retracted her hand casually. Or at least she hoped it was casual and that everyone else was too drunk to notice. Mostly everyone was. But Chloe still picked up on it and processing what that meant immediately started to sober her up.

“Never have I ever,” Fat Amy began trying to keep the game going but Chloe’s mind started drifting elsewhere.

She stopped participating in the game entirely and slowly over time everyone else became uninterested in it as well and went about their own drunken conversations. How had she not known this about Beca? And how was she going to bring it up to her?

“You alright, Chlo?” Beca asked because even in her slightly drunken state she knew when something was up with the redhead.

“Just thinking,” Chloe whispered back trying to put on a gentle smile.

Beca widened her eyes at her but eventually gave up at trying to figure this out now. She was too drunk to figure it out, “Will you tell me in the morning?”

“Will you?”

Beca sat there looking at her not fully understanding what that meant until, “Oh.” Chloe looked at her with sad eyes but nodded as a way of responding. “When I’m sober,” Beca promised and even took out her phone to put in a reminder.

The name of the reminder is what really caught Chloe and fully sobered her up, “the razor story”.

Shortly after most of the girls had retired back to their dorms the ones who had sobered up leading the way for those that were still significantly drunk.

Chloe led Beca back to her dorm and she collapsed into bed pulling Chloe with her. Beca kissed her gently before lulling into sleep leaving Chloe to ponder in her mind a little longer before she eventually fell asleep as well.

--

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Chloe smiled kissing Beca on the forehead moments after her eyes at fluttered open.

“Morning,” Beca grumbled clearly dissatisfied that she was awake.

“Well, technically it’s not morning anymore,” Chloe noted as she looked at her phone while reaching for the bottle of advil that wasn’t too far away. “It’s almost 1 pm.”

“Ugh,” Beca mumbled as she took the advil that was being held out for her and the glass of water that soon accompanied it. She was lucky to have someone like Chloe who knew just what she needed when she needed it. She didn’t even usually have to ask. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“Any chance we can just lay in bed for another hour?” Beca asked hopefully.

“Sure, why not. But no sleeping,” Chloe agreed.

“Deal,” Beca replied burying her head in Chloe’s neck as they got comfortable again.

 --

A sudden and abrupt sound came from one of their phones immediately disturbing their peace. Beca groaned while Chloe reached for her phone only to find out it wasn’t hers but Beca’s causing that ungodly sound.

“Here,” Chloe whispered giving Beca her phone to stop the noise that was coming from it.

“It’s mine?” she questioned confused.

“Apparently.”

Beca unlocked her phone to be greeted by its reminder that she forget she even set. Immediately the memories came flooding back and she remembers just what happened in that game of Never Have I Ever from the night before. She groans again and puts her phone down after getting rid of the reminder entirely and turning back to Chloe.

“I forgot I set that reminder,” Beca starts off.

“So did I,” Chloe adds in because she honestly did completely forget about the reminder. She didn’t forget the story that needed to be told but she did forget the reminder to tell the story.

“Right, so,” Beca began.

“You don’t have to tell me now,” Chloe reassured.

“No. It’s okay. I should tell you,” Beca assured the redhead.

“Okay. How about after we get lunch?” Chloe offered.

“Sure, that sounds good.”

They fell into a silence while Beca tried to figure out how to tell this story. Chloe began running her hand up and down Beca’s back and tracing swirls onto her lower back.

“I was 14, I think, when things got pretty bad. I was in a bad place and put up so many walls that I cut everyone off from my life and it got depressing. And I thought about it - taking my life a couple of times. But when I got that razor in my hand...I just couldn’t do it. So I threw it out. That night a song came on when I was watching videos and it just hit me. The song was So Cold by Ben Cocks. And it just hit me so hard, you know? And that’s when I really started to get into my music. From that point forward it was just me and my headphones,” Beca whispered gently.

“Music saved you,” Chloe whispered in response. Chloe wrapped her arms tighter around the younger girl and pulled her closer than physically possible placing another kiss onto her forehead.

“Yeah, yeah it did.”

Her dream was to go to L.A. and drop out of college. But after her first year she decided to stay for the next three and finish up. Luckily enough for them both Chloe had decided to stay as well and they can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like if Chloe had left because then their relationship never would have started. Or at least it wouldn’t have until a couple years down the line.

The dream of L.A. quickly fell into the far back of Beca’s mind as her relationship with Chloe progressed further. She decided that wherever Chloe shall wander is where she will wander as well. They had something special and they weren’t going to let it go merely because of something as stupid as where they would live. But still L.A. was a dream in Beca’s mind. A far off dream that she would lay to rest and let new dreams takeover. Dreams that involved living with Chloe wherever they both decided to go, marrying Chloe and even the chances of maybe raising a family together. She was open to it all and let all of those dreams fill in her mind and she almost didn’t miss her dream of L.A. because the ones with Chloe were more than enough.

Chloe knew all of this. She had similar dreams for them as well but never did she forget about Beca’s dream of L.A. so when she booked two flights out to LAX for a month that summer and rented a small apartment for the two of them she didn’t even bat an eye at the cost. She just booked it all without even telling Beca.

 --

She finally tells her a week later after Beca comes to Chloe’s apartment after a long day of finals. Beca walks through the door with a huge sigh and then immediately collapses onto the couch soon to be followed by a rather chipper Chloe.

“What’s with that smile?” Beca asks noticing the massive smile adorned on the redhead’s face.

“I have a surprise for you,” Chloe said simply.

“Oh,” is all Beca can reply with because Chloe has that look in her eye and she’s pretty sure she knows where this is leading.

“Get your head of the gutter, Mitchell. That comes later. This is an actual surprise,” Chloe says with a playful grin which is greeted by Beca’s smirk. “We’re going to L.A.”

“What?” Beca asks completely taken aback.

“We’re going to California. In June. For a whole month,” Chloe said each sentence with a slight pause between to let them sink in while also taking the opportunity to get closer to the younger girl.

“Chlo, are you serious?” Beca asked still processing this moment.

“Completely.”

“No freaking way,” Beca uttered quickly pulling Chloe down to her. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Bec,” Chloe said before being taken into a powerful kiss that left them both breathless.

She’s going to know about your first heartbreak, your dream wedding, and your problems with your parents. She’ll know your strengths, weaknesses, laziness, energy, and your mixed emotions. She’s going to know about your love for mayonnaise, your dream of being famous when you were five, your need to quote any film you know all the way through, and your fear of growing older.

It’s in the nights leading up to when they left for L.A. that Chloe finds out that Beca’s been slowly building her relationship with her father again. It’s then that she finds out that she may have interrupted a father-daughter bonding event that was supposed to happen sometime in June. It’s the next day that she officially meets Dr. Mitchell as Beca’s girlfriend Chloe instead of Beca’s friend Chloe. And he loves Chloe almost instantly and is entirely accepting of the idea and wishes the both of them the best of luck on their trip with promises to bond when they return. And a million reassurances that they will be safe on their trip as well.

She knows that sometimes when things get rough Beca tends to see the worst and try to run. But Chloe doesn’t let her. She would never let her run away. Not now. Not ever.

Beca is laziest in the early morning or when she really doesn’t want to do something. So it’s no surprise that when she put off her packing until the day before they leave she’s refusing to get out of bed.

“Come on. You have to pack today. You’ve been putting it off for two weeks and we leave tomorrow,” Chloe said pulling the blankets away from the younger girl’s face.

“Can’t you pack for me?”

“Not unless you want to tell me stories about little Beca and at least help me a little,” Chloe offered because maybe just maybe she could make this work to her advantage.

“Hmm,” Beca sat up a bit looking at a cheerful but impatient redhead before making her final decision. “Fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Now what do you want to know about the miserable and annoying baby me.”

“Anything,” Chloe said surprised that the brunette was actually complying to this deal. She made her way towards Beca’s empty suitcase that was sitting next to her already packed one. “What do you want me to pack?”

“Anything you think I’ll need and wear,” Beca replied not the least bit worried about what comes with them to L.A. because she’s sure Chloe will think of everything.

Chloe began throwing in the essentials and then turned to Beca, “Well, get to the storytelling, Mitchell.”

“When I was 5 I wanted to sell balloons on the street and make other kids smile. I never wanted to be something like a firefighter or a cop or a teacher. I just wanted to make kids smile,” Beca softly confessed to the redhead who was listening carefully from across the room.

“That’s adorable, Bec,” Chloe chimed in.

Beca laughed before continuing, “I think the best part is that I wanted to be famous for it. I wanted to be famous for selling balloons on the street and making kids smile.”

“That makes the story even better,” Chloe chuckled as she continued packing some of Beca’s favorite shirts.

“And when I was a little older than that I would run around the house claiming that I was the next Peter Pan and I never wanted to grow up. And I’d quote Peter all day long and drove everyone around me insane,” Beca said with a nostalgic look on her face. “I never did want to grow up. It scared the hell out of me and still does sometimes.”

“No one wants to grow up. Growing up is a scary thing but you’ve got me. We’ve got each other,” Chloe added moving over to the younger girl to wrap her up in a tight hug.

“You always know when I need a hug,” Beca whispers resting her head on the other girl’s shoulder.

“I know. It’s like we can read each other’s minds.”

“Yeah, it is,” Beca laughed her smile and happy mood returning. “Now let’s finish up this packing because I have better things to do.” Chloe raised her eyebrows at the brunette only to be answered by a wink and a sly grin.

She’ll know your bad habits, your mannerisms, your stroppy pout, your facial expressions, and your laugh like it’s her favourite song. The way you chew, drink, walk, sleep, fidget and kiss.

Chloe can see Beca’s impatience almost immediately after they hit security at the airport and join the long and winding queue. She was picking at her nails and tapping out beats while looking around making her one of the most suspicious looking people in the entire airport. And it was making Chloe nervous and impatient just watching her.

“Beca, would you relax?” Chloe questioned pointing out what Beca was doing.

“Sorry. I didn’t even notice,” Beca murmured feeling slightly ashamed.

“It’s fine, babe, it’s just that you’re making me nervous just watching you,” Chloe assured her taking the younger girl’s hand in her own and squeezing. “We’ll be through in no time.”

“If you say so.”

If Chloe was given the opportunity she would record Beca’s laugh and play it on repeat. Only the really genuine ones that only she can elicit from the brunette. Those are the absolute best. They make her heart swell with emotion and she falls in love all over again anytime she hears that genuine laugh. Beca’s laugh is like a drug that Chloe wants a lifetime supply of. She feels like she might just stop breathing if she could never hear this laugh again. Her laugh is one of the best things about her. One of the things that she could never, ever get tired of.

Her kisses are another thing Chloe could never, ever get tired of. Every single time they kissed it was like her heart swelled and her stomach filled with butterflies while a million fireworks went off. There was no one thing that could describe what it was like to kiss Beca Mitchell. But she sure as hell could try.

She’s going to know that you’ve already picked out wedding flowers, baby names, tiles for the bathroom, bridesmaid dresses, and the colour of your bedroom walls. She’s going to know, get annoyed at and then accept that you leave clothes everywhere, take twenty minutes to order a Starbucks, have to organise your DVD’s alphabetically, and check your horoscope… just incase. She’ll know your McDonald’s order, how many sugars to put in your tea, how many scoops of ice cream you want, and that you need your sandwiches cut into triangles.

It’s about a week into their trip to California that Chloe realizes Beca has a wishlist for her wedding. It’s in the form of snippets of notes on her phone in texts to herself that Chloe just happens to stumble upon when she was supposed to be looking for directions. She sees little notes about flowers and dresses and names. It’s the first time that Chloe realizes that Beca definitely wants kids. She had her suspicions before like when she told the balloon story but this was solid evidence that she did. Having names picked out and thrown about in random texts here and there was solid evidence of this desire. And the knowledge of this is part of what keeps Chloe’s beaming smile placed on her face for the rest of the day and well into the night.

“Do you really have to leave your clothes everywhere?” Chloe called in annoyance from their bedroom.

“Well, I don’t have to but like I’m going to,” Beca quipped.

“I know you do this in your dorm but I didn’t realize you’d do it anywhere and everywhere you go,” Chloe complains.

“Yeah, well we’re here for another two weeks. Why not make it like home?”

“Just keep it in the bedroom, shortstack,” Chloe called with a smirk.

“You did not,” Beca started making her way to the bedroom where Chloe stood with a sly smirk.

“What? Call you shortstack? Yes, I did,” Chloe replied confidently.

Beca didn’t even have a smart comeback to that one so she was just going to have to let it go. She took a moment of consideration before lunging for Chloe and pushing her back against the wall kissing her fervently like her life depended on it.

“Beca, seriously! Just get your usual,” Chloe complained.

They’d been sitting in Starbucks for at least 15 minutes while the younger girl tries to decide what she wants. The key word here is ‘tries’ because she takes ages to even decide if she wants a coffee, tea, milkshake, or frappuccino. Meanwhile Chloe’s known what she’s wanted since they walked in.

“I don’t have a usual,” Beca shoots back as she scans the menu again.

“Of course you don’t.”

“Do you want to stop for ice cream?” Chloe asked as they were on their walk back to the apartment for the last time.

“Sure,” Beca mumbled quietly.

“How about we sit outside?” Chloe directed.

“Sounds good to me,” was all Beca could offer as she plopped down onto a bench not far from the ice cream shop.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a few,” Chloe decided heading into the shop by herself.

She knows that Beca is getting nostalgic and just wants to take in the view of it all before they head back home tomorrow. This entire month has been so surreal. Neither of them really wants to go back to the real world. They’ve been quite comfortable in their little bubble of two only being disrupted when they’d call home and talk to friends or family. But even then they still consistently had each other. When they go back home they won’t be living together. Or rather that’s how it’s going to be for now. Chloe could always ask Beca to move in with her in her apartment. But she’s not really sure if that would be the best idea with her already sharing the apartment with Aubrey. Maybe though she could convince her.

Before Chloe even ordered their ice cream she took out her phone to call Aubrey.

“Well, look who it is. The neglectful best friend of mine who took off to Cali for a month,” Aubrey greeted.

“Nice to talk to you too,” Chloe replied sarcastically.

“How’s your last day going?”

“Alright. Bree, I have a question and you need to promise not to freak,” Chloe said as she jumped into line.

“What is it?” Aubrey asked hesitantly.

“I want to ask Beca to move in with me,” Chloe blurted out and took a deep breath just waiting for Aubrey to freak.

“Okay,” Aubrey responded after a moment.

“Okay?”

“Yeah, just keep it down and keep it in the bedroom,” Aubrey said seriously.

“Seriously? You’re okay with it?” Chloe questioned in shock. She thought it was going to require at least some persuasion.

“As long as she helps with the rent,” Aubrey added.

“Of course. Thank you so much, Bree,” Chloe replied enthusiastically.

“You’re welcome and good luck with the whole asking her thing,” Aubrey said before hanging up the phone.

Chloe turned cheerfully just in time to order their ice cream.

 --

“Here you are,” Chloe called passing a cone of two scoops of mint chocolate chip to Beca who was sitting peacefully on the bench.

“Thank you, Chlo,” Beca whispered a smile taking over her face as she realized that Chloe had gotten her exactly what she wanted.

“We can read each other’s minds, remember?” Chloe asked with a smile before turning to her own ice cream.

“No kidding.”

She’s going to know how you feel without you telling her, that you need a wee from a look on your face, and that you’re crying without shedding tears. She’s going to know all of it. Everything. You, from top to bottom and inside out. From learning, from sharing, from listening, from watching.

Once the rush of getting through the airport and getting to the gate was over and they had settled into their seats on the plane a whole new feeling washed over them. They were going home and leaving this wonderful place that they had gotten to know over the past month. So many memories were made here and they were both sad to leave. No words needed to be exchanged on the subject they both just knew.

“Bec, time to wake up,” Chloe whispered nudging the girl next to her who had fallen asleep on the flight home.

“I don’t wanna wake up,” Beca mumbled in response.

“C’mon. Time to wake up. We’re landing soon and I have a question for you,” Chloe offered her a gentle kiss to try to get the younger girl to wake up.

“Is this question that important?” Beca mumbled not wanting to be disturbed from her sleep.

“Well, you tell me. Will you move in with me?” Chloe asked with a small smile that only grew when Beca’s eyes shot open.

“What?”

“Well, that wasn’t really the reaction that I was expecting,” Chloe said with some discouragement.

“Of course I will, Chlo,” Beca said quickly pulling Chloe closer to her to give her a reassuring kiss. “I would love to.”

“Good.”

“Is Aubrey okay with this?” Beca asked hesitantly.

“She said as long as you help with rent and that we keep it in the bedroom that she’s fine with it,” Chloe smiled.

“Sounds like her,” Beca laughed because of course that’s one of Aubrey’s concerns. “Now I can’t wait to get home.”

“Me, neither.”

“I love you, Chlo.”

“And I love you.”

She’s going to know every single thing there is to know, and you know what else? She is still going to love you.