Work Text:
"You know one of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t do enough experimenting through college.” Beca’s eyes snapped up to meet the redhead’s for half a second, and she felt her face flush as she started to sweat - and not because she was flush against the rest of her team.
“You’re so weird, I wanna go home,” she countered, rolling over only to be greeted by Lilly, who decided it was a good idea to lick her nose, and she sighed in defeat.
What the fuck, Beca? You’re over this crush. You have been for a year. Get yourself together. She jut meant in general. Your best friend, Chloe, was talking about experimenting, because she trusts you.
Beca’s mind was going at 1000 miles a minute, trying to rationalise what had just happened. She had to calm herself down.
“I’m all out of faith, this is how I feel.” Oh god, she thought, rolling into her back and shoving her fingers in her ears. “Cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor.”
Fuck it. “I’m going for a walk,” the brunette sighed, thankful for the extra room to move that Amy had left in her absence. “Cover your junk!” She stretched, grabbing her blanket and smokes from her bag before climbing out of the tent and making her way toward the campfire. A walk in the cool night air and some time to herself was all she needed.
Beca’s hands shook as she smoothed out the blanket over her legs, suddenly much colder than she’d anticipated, and thankful that the fire was still smouldering. The only other light was the flicker of her lighter as she put a cigarette to her lips and took a large drag, and watched as the smoke rose up into the cool night air, mingling with the smoke from the fire.
Fuck, why were these feelings coming back. Sure she’d looked at Chloe and longed for her for most of freshman and sophomore year, but she’d given up after a while - after lame flirting attempts and nights where she got a little too drunk to remember things she’d said. After a few dates with Jesse where she didn’t really feel anything but went along with it anyway.
Dry leaves crunching under feet behind her pulled the Bella out of her thoughts.
“Hey you,” the aforementioned redhead smiled softly at her friend.
Beca’s heart raced, like it did every time she saw that caring smile. “Hey,” she sniffed in response, not realizing that she’d started to cry.
“What’s up Becs?” Chloe climbed over the log and put an arm around the younger girl’s shoulder, making her shudder and close her eyes, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
The redhead took it upon herself to pull the blanket over her own legs and rub small circles into her friends arm. Beca rested her head on her friend’s shoulder in silence and sighed again, taking another large draw from her cigarette. It was enough.
“Hey,” Chloe moved her free hand under Beca’s chin and kissed her forehead. “You’ll be okay.” Two pairs of blue eyes locked on each other.
Beca flustered brain went into autopilot, her eyes flicking from Chloe’s eyes to her lips, to her eyes, and back down to her lips again. Her cigarette forgotten, flicked to the side somewhere, the younger girl’s hand came up to cup Chloe’s face, and all the redhead could do was smile that smile at her.
And then their lips were crashing together and Beca’s fingers tangled their way into Chloe’s hair. It was soft and slow and everything she’d wanted. Yeah, she’d kissed Chloe before, but it was always in a drunken mess or part of a stupid game of Bella’s truth or dare. But this. This was real. This was them on their own without a care in the fucking world.
Chloe was the first to break away, letting her forehead rest against the brunette’s own, her eyes searching for something in Beca’s silently.
The shorter girl tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. “Sorry,” she sniffed, a fresh batch of tears rolling down her face. She went to move her head back to its original position on her friends shoulder but was pulled into another slow and meaningful kiss.
It spoke more than the words left unsaid, and Beca sighed as she felt Chloe’s tongue ghost over her lip, a silent plea to let her in, and Beca didn’t care anymore. The tears came freely now, and she felt herself leaning into the kiss more, her friends hand soft and inviting playing at the hairs on the back of her neck.
This time Beca was the one to pull back first, not daring to lose contact, one hand against Chloe’s hip, the other on the back of her neck. Both girls' breath fell heavily, the scent of smoke and strawberries strong between them.
“I love you too,” the redhead whispered against the tiny girls’ lips, tears of her own slowly dampening her cheeks.
Beca moved to lean against her friends shoulder again, pulling out another cigarette and lighting up in silence.
A slender hand extended to take the cigarette, and Beca looked up at her, confused. “Experimenting,” the redhead giggled, wrapping her long fingers around the filter and taking an expertly long drag. Beca watched her lips as her friend exhaled.
“Experimenting my ass! You’ve totally done that before!” The younger girl laughed, taking the cigarette back as Chloe shrugged and got a swift jab in the side.
“Yeah,” she coughed, “glad I gave that up early.”
“I hate you,” Beca continued to laugh, standing and extending her arm to Chloe and pulling her up.
“No you don’t,” the redhead countered, kissing her on the cheek and lacing their fingers together as they walked back to the tent.