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1.
Chloe’s not stressed about Bellas auditions. She’s not.
Okay. Maybe she is a little. If she and Aubrey don’t find some fresh new blood, those aca-bitches will probably fly back to Barden and choke them with their own scarves. So yeah, she’s a tiny bit stressed.
But that’s why she’s here, in the shower, with Tom. He is such a good distraction.
But clearly not good enough because even with his tongue in her mouth, she hears the voice of an angel.
And that angel is singing her Lady Jam.
“BRB Tom,” she says with a tight smile, pushing at his chest and slipping out of the shower, her wet feet slipping against the floor as she pads toward the voice.
She pulls open the shower curtain, smile growing wide as she recognizes the girl from the Activities Fair. The hot girl.
“You can sing!”
The girl whips around, eyes widening in an animal fear. “Dude!”
She tries to close the curtain, but when Chloe wants something, she’s a girl on a mission
They sing Titanium together, voices a perfect blend of softness and shower acoustics. Chloe’s never felt more alive.
She tells the girl to come to auditions, and she doesn’t say she’ll be there, but Chloe’s pretty sure she’s going to come.
Of all the secret shower jam-sessions she wasn’t meant to hear while in the shower with Tom, she’s never been more impressed than she was by this one.
2.
It’s the summer after graduation, and despite all her worrying about entering the real world, Chloe was able to do that more seamlessly than she expected.
She’d received a job to play music at the Children’s Hospital, which is both sad and rewarding. Music has always lifted her up, saving her from self-destruction and black-hole doubts. Now she gets to share that with kids, hoping that it could do the same for them.
And she gets to do that while living with Beca Mitchell.
Totes a win-win.
Why was she even afraid in the first place?
She enters their apartment after a really good day at work (Johnny Hammond received news of his full-recovery status today) only to feel something in the air that’s just… off.
Normally, Beca’s on the couch with her laptop at this time, but today the couch is empty, spare the TV remote sticking up from between the cushions.
“Becs?” She calls, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. When there’s no answer, she moves down the hall toward Beca’s bedroom.
Maybe she’s taking a nap.
“It’s just.. no. That’s not it,” she hears Beca say and Chloe pauses at the clear distress in Beca’s voice. “Jesse - no.”
Chloe leans her back against the wall, not wanting to interrupt. Jesse had moved to L.A. after graduation, but when Beca’s boss gave her an actual job at the recording studio she’d been interning at, Beca had decided to stay behind.
“No,” Beca says again. “That has nothing to do with this. I just… I don’t feel, like, that way about you anymore.”
Chloe’s eyes widen. She has a feeling she’s not supposed to hear this conversation, but her feet are glued to the floor.
“I’m sorry… I know… Okay. Bye.” Beca’s voice cracks and it tugs at Chloe’s heart. She peeks her head into the room.
“Beca?”
Beca glances up, her fingers immediately going to her eyes, but Chloe already saw the beginning of tears. She rushes into the room, scooping the smaller girl up in a hug. She holds Beca’s head to her chest, heart aching as Beca sniffles.
“I’m fine.” Beca says, but Chloe hushes her, hand rubbing at Beca’s back soothingly. “I’m fine, I’m fine.”
She knows she wasn’t supposed to hear that conversation, but as Beca gives into a singular harsh sob, the thought of Beca being alone right now makes her glad that she did.
3.
Chloe loves the 4th of July. It’s her favorite holiday.
Everyone is so patriotic and the weather is nice and she gets it off work. Plus, there’s a parade and fireworks and people who dress up their dogs in cute patriotic costumes.
What’s not to love!
Also, her mom holds the best 4th of July BBQ in Atlanta (and probably the whole United States), complete with her famous sweet tea and watermelon.
And this year’s is the greatest one yet, because she dragged Beca with her, despite Beca’s grumblings that she hates both the 4th of July and social family gatherings.
Still, she feels a little bad that Beca’s had to deal with Chloe’s crazy Uncle Steve and her little twin cousins Mike and Mark all day. That family is a nightmare.
When it gets dark enough for fireworks, Chloe pulls Beca by the hand up the stairs, through her childhood room (“Is that you? Your cheeks were so chubby” “Don’t make fun. I was an adorable child!”), and out of the window to the roof.
“What are we doing up here,” Beca asks, folding her knees beneath her as she sits on rough tiles of the roof.
“This is the best place to watch the fireworks,” Chloe explains as she climbs out of the window after Beca. Beca grabs her hand to keep Chloe from sliding down the roof in her low-traction sandals. “And Uncle Steve can’t find us here.”
Beca snorts. “Thank George Washington for that.”
Chloe grins and sits down, her bare leg pressing up against Beca’s. Despite the warmth of the night, goosebumps erupt over her skin. Which, yeah, that’s been happening lately around Beca.
Every time they touch, or when Beca looks at her a certain way, she feels the same breath of livelihood that exploded within her when she heard Beca singing Titanium in the shower during Beca’s freshman year.
Chloe knows what it means, she does, but she doesn’t know if Beca does, and she’s too afraid to ask.
So instead, she settles against Beca, their arms brushing and legs pressed together, watching the sky with patient anticipation.
Chloe waits, staring up at the stars and watching the lightning bugs twinkle against the fading sunset.
Beca starts humming softly, and Chloe watches her, indulging herself in the pretty way that Beca’a hair falls around her shoulder and how her crisp hum softens into light words.
“Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance, silver moon’s sparkling…”
Beca’s voice breathes life into the air and starlight into Chloe, and Chloe jolts at the words.
“So kiss me,” Chloe finishes, breathless and out of tune.
Beca blinks.
“Did I sing that out loud?” Her cheeks redden and Chloe knows knows knows what it means.
“Yeah,” she whispers, certain that of all the things secrets she wasn’t meant to hear, this was the best, the one she’s been waiting to collect in the jar of her soul, fireflies to flutter in her chest and light up every inch of darkness.
Beca stares at her, uncertainty beating behind her expression, and her eyes flicker down to Chloe’s mouth.
Chloe leans forward just as the first set of fireworks boom in the distance, her lips sliding over Beca’s and swallowing up all of the things Beca never meant to say, hearing them echoing around her chest to a chorus of explosions.
4.
Chloe knows love. Love is music and happiness and dancing in your underwear. Love is Titanium duets and vulnerable hugs and kisses shared on the roof of an old house.
Love is Beca.
And Beca is made up unsaid (but not unfelt) I love yous.
Like good morning kisses and picture messages of dogs in princess costumes with the caption this made me think of you.
Beca’s love is quiet in her words but booming in her actions and Chloe feels it in every atom of her body, a swell of life that constantly leaves her dizzy.
So dizzy that sometimes she doesn’t hear Beca when she speaks, her heart pounding too loudly in her ears, the sight of Beca rendering her momentarily immobile.
“What?” Chloe says, after having seen Beca’s mouth move, but not having heard the words.
Beca rewards her with a lovable half-grin, staring at Chloe while she flits around their kitchen in an old Barden hoodie and sleep shorts, gathering the ingredients to make pancakes.
“I said I love you, you nerd.”
Chloe pauses, eyes blinking slowly at the words that begin to tingle their way down her spine.
“I love you, too,” Chloe says, reveling in the way Beca smiles and goes back to her coffee and laptop.
“Cool,” Beca hums. “Because I mean it.”
Chloe’s heart pounds loudly, all of Beca’s accidental words beating out of her chest as if to make room for these new ones, entirely intentional and just for her.