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Beca thinks this might be the most hungover she’s ever been. That’s certainly what it feels like, as she groans and rolls over, head throbbing as she tries to suppress the sudden and unwelcome urge to vomit.
Her eyes squint open a fraction as she tries to take in her surroundings - and she really shouldn’t be surprised at where she’s ended up.
It’s Chloe’s room. Although not exactly Chloe’s room any more - not since the Bellas moved out to make way for the next generation of acapella nerds. It feels sort of bare without Chloe’s things everywhere, and all Chloe’s photos of them have gone; but it still feels familiar, comforting, even.
Groping for the side table, Beca finds the water Chloe always puts by the bed after a heavy night, breathing a small sigh of relief as she sits up to gulp down a few mouthfuls. She groans again and closes her eyes as her head throbs violently, massaging her temples to try and relieve the ache.
She should probably have known this would happen. Even when she’d first agreed to come to the ‘First Annual Bellas Pre-Christmas Holiday Reunion Extravaganza’ (TM Fat Amy), she’d known it was a recipe for drink-related disaster.
Bellas and booze go hand-in-hand but with all of them descending on their old Bella house, (which was thankfully vacated for the Christmas period), things were bound to get even more out of control than usual. But that didn’t stop her booking flights to Atlanta literally within the hour.
It isn’t that LA isn’t great - her career’s going well, the climate’s gorgeous and the music scene is incredible – she’s just kind of lonely. She misses the Bellas - even if they are completely insane. She misses the partying, and the singing and even the endless movie nights (although she’d lie about that if you asked her). Most of all she misses Chloe.
But no. There’s no way in hell she was going there. She is a super cool, up-and-coming DJ, who in no way spends half her life pining over her best friend.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that. She thinks, with just the tiniest hint of bitterness.
A shower. That’s what she needs. She tosses the sheets back, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, taking a deep sigh as she struggles to summon the energy to move.
Her head pounds and she groans as she reaches for a towel and slowly pads across the room, eyes still half-closed against the light pouring in through the blinds.
Still half-asleep, she shuffles downstairs and into the bathroom - grateful that none of the other Bellas got there first- and slips off her pyjamas, (which are apparently Chloe’s), before getting into the shower. She turns the water up as hot as she can stand with hands that are even clumsier than usual and stands, soaking up the warmth.
Her eyes are already closing again when she hears the bathroom door creak open, and she’s about to tell whoever it is to just leave her the fuck alone when the shower curtain is flung back and –
“What in the name of fuck?”
Beca falls back against the wall, fairly certain she’s going to have some sort of panic attack. Because this is absolutely the least possible thing in the fucking world and Beca so wishes she could blame the drink, but no hangover in the world could explain what she is seeing right now.
Because what she’s seeing right now, is her. And this can’t be real, because the other Beca is just staring back at her with a look that’s both strange and weirdly familiar at the same time.
“Beca,” says the other Beca gently, like she’s afraid that she’ll break her if she speaks any louder -which if she’s honest, isn’t entirely unjustified, “It’s me, Chloe. Now please don’t freak out, but I think we may have swapped bodies last night.”
At these words, Beca finds she can’t really breathe, and she also can’t look down because she knows if she does, she’ll see something that she’s definitely not capable of dealing with right at that second. Almost unwillingly though, her head flicks to the mirror on the opposite wall, and she nearly screams when she sees ginger hair and bright blue eyes staring back at her – because there is absolutely no way this can possibly be happening, and –
“Jesus Christ, why am I naked?” She grabs immediately for the towel, suddenly violently aware of the fact that she has just seen Chloe naked. Again. And that that shouldn’t be the biggest issue she’s having right about now.
She closes her eyes and breathes in slowly through her nose.
“Chloe, please tell me you know what is happening?”
And try as she might, she can’t keep the fear out of her voice, which she realises now isn’t actually her voice - and the sound of Chloe’s voice coming from her mouth does nothing to make this in any way more okay.
“Well, either we’ve both gone insane, which might actually be the most plausible option here, or, like I said, we’ve swapped bodies.” Chloe says calmly. Beca can’t help noticing that there’s a strangely Chloe-like expression of determination on her face (which is still, worryingly, Beca’s face).
She looks at Beca as if waiting for an answer, but with none apparently forthcoming says, “Well I don’t know about you, but I am not explaining this to all the Bellas, unless we actually want to be institutionalised. So that just leaves us with trying to figure out what happened on our own and fixing it.”
And something inside Beca snaps at this, because honestly.
“Seriously Chloe, how can you be this calm? This is literally the most insane thing that has ever happened to anyone! Ever!”
Chloe sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose (which again, is still Beca’s nose. Beca feels unlikely to ever be more comfortable with that fact). “Well, I don’t see that we have much of a choice, Beca.”
As if on cue, Fat Amy’s voice carries upstairs. “Short stack! Ginger! It’s gift-swap time, you coming or what?”
“Just a minute!” Chloe yells downstairs, before turning back to Beca. “Now look, we are going to go downstairs, we are going to swap presents, and we are going to act like absolutely nothing is wrong. Can you do that for me?”
Somehow, even in Beca’s body, and with Beca’s voice, Chloe manages to be completely Chloe - and that at least, is a little reassuring. So she swallows and nods, and is only slightly perturbed at the sight of bright red hair bobbing in her frame of vision.
Stay calm, Beca thinks, willing herself to do just that. We just have to get through today.
Chloe takes her hand as she steps toward her, squeezing it tightly, and giving Beca her best reassuring smile.
“Now let’s get you some clothes on, yeah hot stuff?” She says, with a wink that makes Beca blush - and even though Beca knows she only did it to lighten the mood, she can’t help but be embarrassed at how easily Chloe gets to her.
They emerge from Chloe’s room some time later, after helping each other pick the perfect outfits so that, in Chloe’s words, “Everything looks just as it’s supposed to.”
Beca had rolled her eyes at that, but she still helped Chloe fix her eyeliner when the other girl managed so smudge it halfway down her own face. It had been awkward applying it to someone else, and even more awkward staring into her own eyes as she did it, but checking it over afterwards she was surprised at how normal it looked.
Maybe the girls wouldn’t notice a thing.
But as they stand outside the living room, presents in hand, gathering up the nerve to finally face them, Beca isn’t so sure. She bites at her lip nervously as she prepares for what will surely have to be some sort of Oscar-worthy performance in which the awkward, sarcastic alt-girl transforms herself into the world’s bubbliest ray of sunshine.
She chances a glimpse over at Chloe who smiles back at her warmly. Seeing the sincerity and calmness radiating from her both reassures Beca a little, and makes her think that maybe Chloe has the harder job of the two.
Even with everything, Beca can’t see anyone but Chloe smiling back at her.
“Let’s do this.” She says quietly, stepping into the room, only to be greeted by cheers from the Bellas, who were all waiting to begin swapping their gifts.
“FINALLY! Ginger, get your sexy arse down here so I can give you your pressie!” Yells Fat Amy, throwing a cushion at them to emphasise her point.
It takes Beca a moment to realise that it’s her that’s meant to respond, and with one final look at Chloe she moves towards Fat Amy, doing her best to assume Chloe’s normal (and totally excessive) levels of enthusiasm.
“Yeah, that sounds… aca-amazing! Here! I got you one too! I think you’re going to love it!” She hands over the present with what she hopes is a realistic Chloe-grin on her face, (although the vaguely confused look on Amy’s face as she accepted it suggested that she hasn’t quite pulled it off).
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Chloe handing over Beca’s gift to Stacey, smirking at Chloe’s attempt to pull off the patented Beca Mitchell eye-roll while Stacey pesters her about whether she had finally tried out that vibrator she’d got Beca for her birthday, “Because honestly Beca, you’re single now, and this could revolutionise things.”
She shifts her attention back to Fat Amy as she unwraps Chloe’s gift, which turns out to be the special edition Magic Mike XXL DVD. She honestly tries to look amused when Amy starts going into way too much detail about “The things she would do to that Channing Tatum fella”, but completely fails to look anything but horrified.
As the Bellas continue to swap presents, Beca tries her best to be Chloe - all smiles and enthusiasm and heartfelt thanks – and frankly, it’s a little exhausting. She also suspects it all comes across as a bit too awkward to be a realistic Chloe, and she can see from here that Chloe’s attempt at being Beca is way too enthusiastic. Especially when Aubrey proudly presents her with an organiser/diary combo and Chloe manages to seem practically giddy about it.
Despite this, everything seems to going fine, (or as well as it could do, at least), until out of the blue Aubrey grabs Beca by the arm and pulls her aside to stand just outside the doorway to the room.
“So?” She whispers harshly in her ear, “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
Realising she is now trapped with an overly-aggressive seeming Aubrey, Beca falls back to her usual methods of deflection. “Er what are you talking about Aubs… everything is totes fine!”
Aubrey rolls her eyes. "Don't pull that shit with me Chloe, like you don’t know. You and Beca have both been totally weird all day, so I know something happened. Please tell me you actually told her this time."
"Told her...?" Beca stutters, a little thrown by the turn this conversation seems to be taking.
"Seriously Chloe, what is your problem? I'm talking about the fact that you've basically been in love with that ridiculous hobbit for over four years now! You know, if you don't finally grow a pair and tell her this weekend I'm going to have to do it for you!"
And not for the first time that day Beca suddenly finds herself unable to breathe. Because this really can’t be happening. The idea that Chloe could like her - could even have been in love with her for all this time, seemed somehow crazier than the fact that she was literally trapped in Chloe's body right now.
"Aubrey, you can't be serious… Me and Beca? It's just not.. Possible." She manages to get out, her head practically spinning as she tries to process what Aubrey’s telling her.
"And why not?” Aubrey demands. “You think she doesn't like you back? That girl was practically attached to you at the hip for four years - she probably spent more time in your bed than her so-called boyfriend's that whole time! And you two have hardly kept your eyes off each other since we got here."
She crosses her arms and huffs out a breath, her expression softening a little. "Also, frankly you are way too good for her - and she'd have to be a complete idiot not to love you back."
Beca swallows, trying to keep her breathing even as she realises that Aubrey’s right. Maybe it is that simple.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess she'd have to be."
She glances back through the doorway to see Chloe laughing and joking around with Emily and feels something in her chest constrict. Even when she’s pretending to be Beca she’s always still just Chloe. Her Chloe, maybe, if she asked.
"Right, so that settles it! You need to get right back in there and go get your girl.” Aubrey says, giving Beca a gentle push in the direction of the room. “You know what my father always says -'if you don't take life by the horns, the bull will rip out your insides'."
Beca laughs, "You know, that's actually one of his better ones. I mean, still totally horrifying, but I get it."
She takes a step back towards the room while Aubrey nods encouragingly, as if afraid she might change her mind at any minute. Not that there's any chance of that now. Not now she knows Chloe could feel the same way back.
Beca's never felt so sure about anything in her life.
Even being trapped in Chloe's body, (whilst definitely both very serious and seriously fucking weird), can't compare to the importance of this. Well, maybe a little, but Beca is struggling to focus on that right now, because she knows that this is it. This is the day she finally tells Chloe what she means to her.
"Hey, Chl- I mean Becs," she says, stumbling a little over her words as she leans to tap her on the shoulder, "could I borrow you a sec?"
Chloe stops speaking to Emily and looks up at her, her grin wider than anything Beca had seen on her own face before.
"Sure thing - Em, I'll be back in a minute and we can totes talk some more about the Bellas set. I think you've got some super ideas there sweetie."
Beca tries not to smirk at her completely un-Beca-like reaction as she takes her hand and leads her upstairs, heading for the privacy of Chloe's old room. She closes the door firmly, after checking for any stray Bellas who may have followed them up there (because seriously those girls know nothing about boundaries), and guides Chloe to sit on the bed.
“Beca, is everything OK?” Chloe asks, the curiosity showing on her face. “I know it’s totally weird having to pretend we’re each other, but we’re going to have to go back down soon or they’ll just come and drag us back down.”
Beca looks away nervously, clearing her throat as she tries to figure out where to begin.
“So.”
Sat in a room with Chloe, Beca realises that however much she wants to tell her, she is totally unprepared for this conversation. She shifts a little in her seat and clears her throat, wiping her palms against her jeans as she tries to figure out where to begin.
“Soooo?” Chloe repeats, drawing out the word as she pokes Beca in the ribs to get her to look at her.
“So Aubrey mentioned something.” Beca’s not entirely sure it’s the best place to start, but she has to start somewhere.
“OK, Aubrey mentioned something.” Chloe repeats, pokin Beca again and giggling as she rolls her eyes at her. “You going to give me any clues here Becs? Because I’ve got nothing.”
Beca takes one last breath, blurting it out before she can overthink it further. “She said you might like me. Like, like me, like me. Or whatever.”
Chloe stops laughing then and Beca is almost too nervous to look at her to see what her reaction might be, but when she does, Chloe’s giving her a searching look.
“And what do you think about that, Beca?” She asks, and Beca can hear in her voice how unsure she is, and suddenly she doesn’t know what to say, because she’s never heard Chloe sound so fragile, and she knows that she could hurt her if she isn’t careful in what she says next.
“Come on Becs, don’t leave me hanging here.” Chloe asks nervously, and the fear in her voice finally spurs Beca into action, and she flashes her a quick, reassuring smile.
“So… Posen kind of said I’d have to be an idiot to turn you down…” She looks down at her hands, checking for Chloe’s reaction out of the corner of her eye as she realises she’s definitely past the point of no return. “And I guess I kind of agreed with her on that one.”
At that, Chloe snorts loudly, her laughter ringing out as Beca turns back to her with a horrified expression.
“I mean, that’s not really the reaction I was going for there, Chlo.” She mutters indignantly, as Chloe descends into an even bigger fit of the giggles. “If Posen was wrong, or if… I mean, whatever, if you’re not interested we can totally just forget I said anything…”
She’s cut off when Chloe pokes her again hard in the ribs.
“Forget it? You’d better take that back right now Mitchell! I have been waiting years for you to say that to me!” She teases, grinning widely. “I just never thought I’d be hearing it from me! I mean, you seriously couldn’t have waited?”
She nudges Beca in the side again, as she looks back at her sheepishly. “Well I guess I just wanted to get it out there, you know? I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time…”
Chloe finally stops laughing and takes her hand, threading their fingers together and smoothing her thumb over the inside of Beca’s wrist. “But you did mean it? Seriously now?” she asks, looking into Beca’s eyes as if hoping to find some reassurance.
“Of course I did Chlo.” She answers softly. “You mean the world to me. You always have. I guess it just took me a bit longer to realise what that meant.”
Beca, shifts a little, embarrassed at how much emotion she’d let slip - but before she can move away, Chloe lifts her chin and kisses her softly on the lips. Beca closes her eyes and leans into the kiss - and as she does her stomach flips, her head spinning as if the world had fallen off its axis.
But when she opens them again, and it’s Chloe’s face she sees staring back at her instead of her own, Beca heaves a sigh of relief.
“Well, thank fuck for that.”
Chloe laughs again, loudly, and Beca is almost unspeakably relieved to hear her voice now that it is definitely not coming from Beca.
“Well, I am a great kisser.” Chloe says, winking at Beca before slowly leaning in again, stopping with their lips just a fraction apart. Beca grins as she closes the gap, kissing her firmly for the second time.
“Yeah,” she says, “You really are.”