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Beca had never been a big fan of parties, she didn’t mind the smaller ones with people she knew, but the big ones…. Yeah, no. She’d pass on those.
After freshman year, when they all moved into the Bellas house to join Chloe, a lot of big parties were had. Her fellow Bellas loved to party. Chloe, Stacie and Amy were often the instigators, unsurprisingly. Beca tolerated them when they were at their house since if she got bored or sick of it, her room and trusty noise-cancelling headphones were just upstairs.
However, if she just so happened to be spotted at someone else’s house party, or in the club, just know she was dragged there by her Bellas. Either that or their secret weapon had been unleashed upon her.
And that’s how they got her this time. Standing in the crowded kitchen of some stranger’s house, pressed up against the fridge because her arm was currently stuck behind the back of some girl who was tongue deep in some guy’s mouth.
She had been reaching for the fridge door to find a drink more her style, such as a beer since the island in the kitchen was filled with spirits including about 10 different varieties of vodka, when said girl had been pinned up against the fridge by said guy, leaving her stuck in the position she was currently in.
Reaching out with her free arm, she tapped the guy gently on the shoulder. “Excuse me?”
No answer. Well that was if a loud groan didn’t count as an answer, though she was pretty sure that wasn’t intended for her. She peered down to see the girl's hand was down the guy’s pants. Gross.
Losing her patience now, and her will to live along with it, she let out a huff and shoved the guy with force this time.
“What the fuck dude?” He muttered, the girl now also turning her head to glare at Beca like she was the one who was inconveniencing them.
“Oh hi, you can see me now? Good. I would like my arm back if that’s okay with you?” Beca retorted, signalling down at her arm trapped between the girl’s back and the fridge door.
The girl reluctantly lifted her back the tiniest bit, but it was enough for Beca to take her arm back.
“Thanks.” Beca said, making sure to flash them both her fakest smile as she walked off.
Since she still desperately needed a drink, and getting a beer had proved to be too complicated of a task, she resorted back to the kitchen island. Casting her eyes across the variety of spirits, she eventually decided on mixing strawberry vodka and pink gin, because why the hell not. She poured them both into her plastic red cup and chugged back the concoction, wincing as the liquid burned its way down her throat. At that moment she debated simply just leaving. She couldn’t see the evening getting any better. Might as well cut her losses.
But then she saw her. The one the Bellas had weaponised to get her here. Red waves bouncing out around her, a beaming smile lighting up her face; she looked like she was having the time of her life. On the contrary, Beca was sure this was what you experienced before you entered the gates of hell. Well that was until she had spotted the redhead. If Chloe ever came out one day and told her that she was an angel sent down to earth to spread joy and sparkles and rainbows and shit- Beca would believe her in a heartbeat.
Chloe had spotted her too now and Beca quickly plastered a smile on her face as the redhead began to skip over, her smile growing impossibly bigger the closer she got to the brunette. Seriously, it almost looked like those people in the ‘Smile’ movies. But like a million times more wholesome.
Beca was snapped out of her thoughts first by something cool pressing against her arm and looked down to see Chloe’s hands there, her thumb ring digging into Beca’s forearm.
“Hey you,” Chloe chirped just millimetres away from Beca’s face, giving the brunette’s arms a light squeeze. The way she had been dancing Beca thought she might’ve been tipsy, but she didn’t sound drunk at all.
That was the funny thing about Chloe, sometimes you could think she was acting drunk but really that was just her personality. Endless energy, excitement and a lot of dancing, that was Chloe summed up.
“Hey,” Beca replied, attempting to give her most convincing ‘I’m having a great time’ smile. But she had this annoying thing where she struggled to lie around the redhead, when it didn’t count for anything real at least.
Chloe pouted at her. “You’re not having fun?”
“I’m tolerating it,” Beca shrugged, giving up on maintaining her fake smile now as the redhead’s eyes bored into her.
“Maybe that’s because you’re spending all your time in the kitchen instead of where all the fun is,” Chloe responded, pulling at Beca’s arms until they were resting on her hips.
Beca snapped her arms back and folded them across her chest. “Oh really? There’s actually somewhere in here that’s fun?”
Chloe nodded her head, a grin on her face. “Yes.”
“And where is that? Because I’ve been in every room of this house and everywhere sucks just as equally as the other…” Beca complained.
“With me.” Chloe responded and Beca couldn’t decide if she was joking or not. Her lips were pressed together in a line and her eyes were wide but not giving anything away, Beca couldn’t read her. But then Chloe was speaking again, “The fun is with me, duh. You haven’t been with me all night. I’ve missed you.”
“You have?” Beca replied a bit wordlessly. Why on earth would Chloe be missing her? She was pretty sure she was the worst company to have in a party setting.
Chloe nodded back at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Of course! I always miss you when you don’t come out with us.”
Beca felt her cheeks warming and decided maybe she would leave the kitchen now. And it had nothing to do with the fact that the kitchen lighting was perfectly highlighting the deep red spreading across her cheeks at the tiniest comment from Chloe. Definitely not for that reason.
“Okay well, let’s go then.”
“Perfect!” Chloe squealed, grabbing both of Beca’s hands as she did so.
Beca questioned a lot of things when she was around the redhead, most of them she ignored and pushed to the very darkest, dustiest corner of her mind. But some she couldn’t push down.
Before she came to Barden, Beca thought she knew herself very well. One thing she had always despised was physical touch - it just wasn’t her thing. It was something she hadn’t liked since she was young. When her grandma would come and press a wet kiss to her mouth as a child, or her dad would pull her in for a hug after winning an award at school; it all felt very violating to her. And when she got older and realised she didn’t have to stand there and accept it, she made sure everyone knew she wasn’t a fan of it. But then came Chloe.
Originally she thought that maybe Chloe had fucked up her brain because of how insane of a second interaction their little shower moment was. Maybe that moment had allowed the redhead to slip through some cracks in Beca’s walls that Beca herself didn’t even know were there. But whatever it was, Beca just couldn’t say no to her. Hence why she was used as the Bellas’ secret weapon against the brunette.
Another thing that she tried not to think about too much was not only the fact that she tolerated Chloe touching her, but the fact that she didn’t even mind it. If she really thought about it, it filled her with a strange warm feeling inside. But she didn’t like to think about it, so that was that.
“Jake actually asked me to go grab a bottle of wine from the cellar, you wanna come with me?” Chloe said as she began to drag Beca out of the kitchen by her hand and guide her through the crowd.
“Sure. Who’s Jake?” Beca yelled over the music, which was much louder in this part of the house.
“Beca, that’s whose house we’re in…” Chloe laughed, resulting in Beca’s cheeks returning to their earlier shade of red. Luckily they were out of the bright lighting of the kitchen this time.
“Oh..Right.” Beca muttered. This was exactly why she didn’t like big house parties that she got dragged into attending- she didn’t even have any idea who’s house she was in.
Chloe continued to pull Beca through the crowd, weaving her way through the people with ease. If it was Beca leading them through the crowd they would probably still be trying to make their way out of the kitchen. It felt like everyone could feel the redhead’s presence near them and simply made way for her. And if that were true, Beca wouldn’t be surprised, it was pretty impossible to ignore her. She glanced down at Chloe’s hand, fingers laced with her own as her strong arms pulled her along, and bit back a smile. A lot of people wanted Chloe, not only was she gorgeous but she was really fun and people liked that. But despite all the people that wanted her, Chloe always chose Beca. She was the one that the redhead always wanted to be around. The thought made Beca’s stomach flutter…
The brunette was too lost in her thoughts to notice that they were now approaching the cellar door.
“Wait, we're going down there?” Beca burst out, immediately stopping in her tracks as she eyed the cracked open door, which revealed nothing but total darkness.
“Yes Beca, you do know what a cellar is right?”
“Yes I know what a cellar is but dude… I just don’t like them.” Beca gulped as she watched Chloe stroll halfway down the stairs.
Chloe turned around and raised her eyebrows and Beca watched the smirk forming on her lips with a sigh. “Beca Mitchell…. you’re not scared are you?” The redhead teased.
“I’m not scared, okay. They just creep me out.”
“Well then I think you should come down after me and make sure I’m okay… anyone could get me in the dark,” Chloe said with a mischievous glint in her eyes, before disappearing down into the darkness below.
Beca let out a sigh. “Guess I’m doing this then.” And with that she made her way down to the bottom of the stairs.
It was so much darker down there than she had thought, even with the light from the open door she could barely make out all of the wine racks. She definitely couldn’t see Chloe anywhere. “Chlo?” Beca called out, but there was no reply. Beca’s heart was starting to race now, god she really hated cellars.
The clanking of wine bottles could be heard from further back in the cellar, the sound slowly getting closer. Beca took a step back, the door was just there, she could make it. But before she had a chance to run, footsteps came charging towards her.
“BOO!” Chloe yelled as she jumped out in front of the brunette who let out a high pitched shriek.
“DUDE!” Beca gasped as she stared wide-eyed at Chloe, as the redhead pulled the cord flooding the dark room with light.
“I’m sorry… that was evil of me,” Chloe apologised, but she could barely hide her smile, even in the dimly lit room her smile still shone bright.
“Yeah it was,” Beca crossed her arms and looked away from the grinning redhead.
“How ever can I make it up to you?” Chloe asked, fluttering her eyelashes at Beca who flashed her a stern glare.
“You can get the fucking wine so we can both get out of here quicker!” Beca not-so-politely suggested.
But before Chloe had even turned around to get the wine, the door slammed shut.
Beca snapped her head in the direction of the door. “What the fuck??”
“I’m sure it was just the wind…” Chloe suggested unsurely.
“Chloe there’s no wind. We’re inside. And there’s not even any windows down here… god,” Beca argued, beginning to panic.
Chloe scurried over and took Beca’s hands in her own, caressing them with her thumbs. “Hey it’s fine, we’re not locked in or anything. The door just closed.”
Beca let out a breath and nodded her head. Chloe was right, she was being dramatic. But just to be sure, she headed up the steps to go and check.
She reached for the handle and pulled it down but nothing happened. She tried again, pulling it back harder this time. Still nothing. She wiggled the handle…. nothing was working.
“Chloe…. The door won’t open.”
“Hm? What do you mean? Are you sure?” Chloe questioned from in between two of the wine racks where she was looking for the wine Jack had asked for.
“Yes I’m sure. I’m trying to open it right now!”
“Okay stay calm it’s okay, let me try.”
Chloe had strangely large biceps Beca noticed as the redhead was yanking at the door handle. She knew Chloe worked out but…. wow. Her thoughts of a post-workout sweaty Chloe were unfortunately interrupted as she caught sight of the handle looking like it was wobbling too much for her liking. Beca quickly put her hand over Chloe’s to stop her from pulling at it any further.
“Wait, let’s not break the door handle,” Beca warned, not wanting to make their situation even worse. Though at least she was away from the party now, and with Chloe… so it didn’t completely suck.
Chloe nodded at her, dropping her hand from the handle and perching down on the top step. “So what do we do now?”
Beca didn’t answer, she had already made her way down the stairs and begun pacing in front of the wine stands. She was racking her mind for an answer to why the door had locked. Had someone knocked it and it accidentally locked? Had someone locked them in there on purpose?
“Hey Becs, I think you need to sit down… you’re walking really fast right now.” Chloe was back at the bottom of the stairs, arms reaching out to stop the brunette from spinning out any further.
“Why the fuck did he want wine anyway… I’m pretty sure people don’t drink wine at these types of house parties… Oh my god this is a set up. Yup, we’re gonna die in here.” Beca declared, barely even noticing Chloe’s hands on her arms as she had been stopped in her tracks.
“Beca… we are not going to die,” Chloe said, flashing Beca a reassuring look before furrowing her brows, “You know, you’re usually the type to see reason. No one at this party has any reason to want us dead!”
“You don’t know that… okay fine. Maybe not you…” Beca glanced at Chloe with her wide baby blue eyes and pouty lips. She looked like a little lamb that would be in a Disney movie. “Okay so definitely not you, but me… I’m sure I’ve made plenty of enemies.”
“Becs literally where is all this coming from?” Chloe said, a concerned look painting her face.
“Do you not watch horror movies?” Beca asked.
“I thought you didn’t like movies.” Chloe questioned, raising an eyebrow at Beca, trying to catch her out.
“I’ve grown as a person okay,” Beca objected, avoiding Chloe’s gaze and tapping the toe of her converse against the wooden post to the side of her.
“Right, ‘cause of Jesse… I know,” Chloe muttered and Beca detected a hint of annoyance in her voice. She always listened happily whenever Beca would talk about him, but when she mentioned him she always spat out his name like she was chewing on a piece of dirt.
“What’s your problem with Jesse?” Beca asked, eyes following the redhead’s back as she walked over to the side of one of the wine rack shelves and slid her back down it until she was sat on the floor against it.
“I don’t have a problem with Jesse,” Chloe shrugged, avoiding Beca’s gaze. Now Beca definitely knew something was up, Chloe never avoided her gaze. If anything, sometimes Beca prayed she would just so she could have a short break from the super intense eye contact she usually gave the brunette.
Beca walked over to where Chloe was sitting and sat down beside her, leaning back against the side of the wine stand next to the one the redhead was leaning against. Chloe was fiddling with her thumb ring and chewing on her lip like she was finding the words to say what she wanted to say next. So, Beca waited patiently for her. If Chloe had a problem with Jesse she wanted to know, and not because she was ready to fight to defend him. In fact, she didn’t know exactly why it felt so important to know Chloe’s opinion of him. She just needed to know.
“It’s just….” Chloe started before pausing again. She brought her gaze up to meet Beca’s eyes, blue orbs staring right at her with an intensity that made Beca feel suddenly nervous. “What do you like about him?”
The question sounded innocent enough, though it wasn’t what Beca was expecting. It should be easy for her to answer though. “Jesse? Well I don’t know.. I like how passionate he is about what he loves, and… Uh. I like watching him perform- yeah he’s a good performer. And… I mean yeah. I just like him as a person I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Yeah.. Chloe what is this? Can you just be direct with me, ‘cause I don’t know what’s going on right now…”
Chloe let out a small sigh and stared ahead for a minute. After a few more minutes of total silence, Beca thought Chloe had forgotten she’d even asked her a question, but then she opened her mouth to speak again. “What do you like about me?”
“What?” Beca responded, unsure if she’d heard the redhead correctly, but Chloe didn’t respond. She was still staring ahead at the wall in front of her. Beca let out a breath and turned away from Chloe to stare at the wall too. She may have drunk too much to answer this question in the way sober Beca would want her to. “What I like about you? I like how passionate you are too. The Bellas and performing mean so much to you and everyone can see it and you’d do anything for it, like dude you demanded me to sing in…. well you know what happened. But I guess it worked cuz you got me here. Your passion inspires me though, I think it’s good to have something you so fiercely believe in and are dedicated to. I guess you’re a pretty inspiring person- I mean like objectively. Not just to me. I think a lot of people probably feel inspired by you. And I like your positivity. Sometimes it’s annoying when I’m in my ‘the whole world sucks’ mindset and just want to, you know, wallow in it all. But then you’re kind of like this light. You’re like the sun. Yeah. You’re like the sun in a way where I couldn’t function without you. Like if you disappeared everything would be totally fucked... I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re just…. important. And I also love your smile, it makes me feel so…” She trailed off getting lost in imagining Chloe’s smile before realising where she was.
Oh god. Her eyes widened. Had she said all that out loud? Maybe she had just thought it in her head and Chloe was still sitting there waiting for an answer to her question.
Beca let out a shaky breath and slowly turned her head to look at the redhead.
Chloe’s eyes were wide and glossed over with what appeared to be tears. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth like she was attempting to stop those tears from rolling down her cheeks. Somewhere in the middle of Beca’s speech, or more like confession, Chloe had turned to face her fully. Her knees were tucked into her chest and she was gripping them tightly with her hands.
Oh fuck. She had said all that out loud.
Beca tried her hardest to avoid Chloe’s eyes, they seemed to be asking a million questions, none of which Beca wanted to answer.
What the hell was in the air down in this cellar? Sure she had a bit to drink, but surely not enough to make a massive speech about why she liked her best friend. It made her sound like she had feelings for Chloe. She didn’t have feelings for her… did she? And why had it been so easy to talk about Chloe but so hard to talk about what she liked about Jesse?
God. She’d rather take the psycho killer locking them down there and her brutal murder being imminent than whatever was coming next.
“Beca..” Chloe finally broke the silence, shuffling closer to Beca.
Before she could get too close, Beca jumped up, slapping her hands on her thighs as she did so. “You know what, just forget I said that. I’m gonna try get us out of here.” She began to walk back over to the stairs but didn’t get very far before being stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist.
Beca stared down at Chloe’s hand on her wrist, before blinking back up at the redhead. She had a sympathetic look in her eyes, it made Beca feel slightly nauseous. She just wanted to forget about it, she didn’t want Chloe to say anything now. If Chloe didn’t say anything she could just forget it ever happened and chalk it down to having too much alcohol. It could also be the perfect excuse for why she would never go to one of these things again.
“I want to talk about it.” Chloe said as she dropped Beca’s wrist from her hand.
Beca looked at the redhead, she had a determined look in her eyes. She wasn’t going to drop this was she? Beca let out a sigh of defeat, but didn’t move any closer to Chloe. “What is there to talk about?”
“All that you just said about me… do you really mean it?” Chloe asked, her eyes wide with what looked like hope.
“I mean, yeah. You’re my best friend, like of course I like things about you or we wouldn’t be friends, right?”
“But you didn’t have that much to say about Jesse,” Chloe pointed out.
“What does Jesse have to do with this?” Beca snapped back, a little harsher than she intended.
Chloe looked startled for a second but then she recovered her composure and took a step towards Beca. Beca tried to take a step back but the back of her ankle hit the bottom step behind her. She had nowhere to go anyway, they were locked in there.
“He’s your boyfriend and you couldn’t think of more to say about him other than that you think he’s a good performer,” Chloe pressed further.
“No, I said I like watching him too, and that he’s passionate!” Beca argued, though it felt rather pointless since she agreed with Chloe. She didn’t know why she couldn’t think of more to say about him either. Jesse was a nice guy. He treated her well. He was stable. He was good for her.
She looked back up at Chloe. Everything about the redhead was intense. When she looked at Jesse it was like that feeling you would get as a kid when the ice cream van came and you got an ice cream, but then after you ate it all the excitement would fizzle away and you’d forget all about it until the next time you heard that melodic tune coming down your street.
When she looked at Chloe, it felt like her whole world was on fire. What she felt when she looked at her was like if you were told to put your hands into a bowl of boiling water and have no reaction - it would be impossible to ignore. She couldn’t not have a reaction. Everytime the redhead touched her it was like it burnt her skin and she felt it there hours after. She would sit in her bed and trace over the spot she’d touched and could still feel her hands there. It almost felt dangerous, it made her feel daring, like holding your hand over a candle and lowering it closer and closer to the flame.
When she looked at Chloe, she also saw herself. She could see that Chloe really saw her, she always had. Nobody ever understood Beca, not really. People had their assumptions, some close to the truth but never quite there. Chloe didn’t even have to say two words for Beca to know she saw her. Right from the start.
Being with Chloe was like swimming in a pool with no bottom, or floating through the vastness of space - there was no end to its possibilities. You didn’t know what it would hold or what you would discover but you wanted to explore it. You wanted to dive deeper. Chloe was deep. Chloe knew exactly what Beca needed without her ever having to say a word. Chloe made her feel alive.
Beca broke out of her thoughts to look back at her, but the redhead had minimised all the space between them and was now standing directly in front of her. Her vanilla perfume was burning her nostrils and Beca could feel her warm breath hitting her lips. She felt dizzy. Chloe’s eyes were scanning her own, knowingly.
Of course. She had been a fool not to realise. Chloe already knew. Chloe always knew things about her before she even realised them herself. Chloe knew exactly what she was thinking and the small smile now pulling at her lips told Beca that Chloe knew she knew now too.
“Chloe..” Beca mumbled, she could barely even get her name out. She was focused too hard on trying not to move a muscle, acutely aware that Chloe’s lips were just inches away from her own.
Beca felt Chloe’s hands on her hips, and when she didn’t move or protest, she felt them move around to her back, slipping under the hem of her shirt until they landed on the small of her back and pulled her forward so her hips were pressed against Chloe’s. It took everything in Beca not to give in to the shiver threatening to run down her spine. Her body felt on fire, it felt like Chloe’s hands were going to leave scars against the skin on her back. She never felt this with Jesse.
“Beca, there’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now…” Chloe started. Beca let out a shaky breath before the redhead could even finish. Her whole body felt like it was vibrating with anticipation for something. She wasn’t dumb, she knew what she wanted to happen next, but she still didn’t want to acknowledge it yet. Not unless she absolutely had to. Which, with the way Chloe was now slowly trailing her hand up Beca’s back beneath her shirt and round to her hip, was possibly going to be very soon.
“What is it?” Beca managed to get out, though it once again came out as barely a whisper. She could hardly even focus on forming words whilst Chloe had her hands on her and was pressed up against her the way she was. It felt like she was drowning in her, and if this was drowning she never wanted to come back up for air.
Chloe stilled her hand on Beca’s back and pulled her head back ever so slightly, just enough for her to search Beca’s eyes. She was looking to see if it was okay to do what she was going to do next.
Beca parted her lips to verbalise some sort of permission but all that came out was a whimper. Chloe seemed to take that as what she was looking for and moved in closer. She dragged her hand back up Beca’s back and flattened her palm against it, pushing Beca in so her body was completely flush against hers.
Beca’s breathing was uneven now, she hadn’t moved an inch in the past 5 minutes but felt like she was in the middle of running a marathon. She didn’t think her heart had ever beat this fast before, if she didn’t know any better she’d think her heart was trying to leap out of her chest and into Chloe’s. And when Chloe’s nose gently brushed her own she thought she was having a heart attack.
The redhead’s every breath was tickling Beca’s lips and the brunette could barely stand it any longer. She felt like she was going to explode with all the anticipation that was bubbling up inside of her. But then Chloe closed the distance and placed a soft kiss to her upper lip. It was barely there but Beca let out a heavy sigh at the contact. Then Chloe did the same again but with her bottom lip. The contact was so brief it was making Beca feel crazy. Did Chloe want her to go insane?
The redhead leaned in again and this time Beca thought it would be the real deal, but all she felt was Chloe’s lips brush past her own before planting a soft kiss against her cheek. A whine escaped her mouth but she was past caring. She felt Chloe’s lips forming a smile against her cheek… Was Chloe teasing her? Then a giggle fell from Chloe’s mouth.
“Sorry,” Chloe chuckled, to a very disoriented looking Beca, “It was too easy..”
At that, Beca was briefly snapped from her trance. “Are you saying I’m easy, wow Chloe you know what-“
But before she could finish Chloe’s lips were on her own and there was nothing teasing about it this time. Well, not if you didn’t count the way Chloe’s hands danced dangerously close to the waistband of Beca’s jeans…
Chloe’s lips were so soft against her own. It was different than Jesse, he had stubble on his chin and above his lip that Beca found prickly and irritating. He kissed her harder than this too, it was always either too soft or too hard and sometimes it took them a while to get into a good rhythm. Chloe was kissing her like she knew every beat that came next, her lips moving in perfect time with Beca’s.
Beca let her hands find Chloe’s hips and she bunched up the fabric of her dress, yanking her impossibly closer. The moan that fell from Chloe’s lips at that had Beca reaching out for the bannister beside her to stop herself from falling to the floor. Chloe pulled back briefly to let out a chuckle and moved Beca around until she was standing on the next step up and pressed up against the bannister.
Beca thought back to earlier and how she had been in a similar position before. Except she was a bystander caught in the way of someone else being pressed up against something in the midst of a makeout. She would never have guessed she would end up in a similar situation but with Chloe.
Chloe’s leg sliding in between hers quickly snapped her back to her reality, a reality she could still barely believe was real, and before she knew it Chloe’s lips were back on her own, hungrier this time. Her kisses were harder now but passionate, oh god how she loved Chloe’s passion.
In the same motion as before, she grabbed Chloe’s hips and pulled them towards her but this time the moan that was let out was her own as she realised she had pulled Chloe’s thigh harder against her. She barely even had time to process the fact that she was practically one hip rock away from riding Chloe’s thigh before the redhead had taken her parted lips as an invitation to slip her tongue inside Beca’s mouth.
And when Chloe’s tongue brushed against her own as she lightly ran her nails against her back, Beca felt herself coming undone and she couldn’t help herself anymore; she rolled her hips down against Chloe’s thigh but this time Chloe’s moan was louder than her own. She grabbed the back of Chloe’s head with one of her hands and kept her other one on the redhead’s hip. She didn’t want her going anywhere. Not now. Not while she was the most alive she had ever felt.
She heard some noise up at the top of the stairs but could barely process it with Chloe’s mouth on hers and the way she was clutching at Beca’s hips, guiding them down against her thigh.
But then their perfect secret world was shattered when a loud voice yelled from the top of the stairs. “I told you it would work!!!!”
Beca very, extremely, begrudgingly pulled away from Chloe to turn and see who she needed to kill for ruining their moment.
That person was none other than her best friend (the one she didn’t have confusing feelings for), Fat Amy. The blonde was standing in the doorway of the now open cellar door with her jaw hanging open. More people began to filter into view, and there she saw the rest of her fellow Bellas stood there. She even saw Lilly collecting cash from Jessica and Flo in the back.
Beca could barely even process any of it though, she was still in a haze. And when she looked at Chloe, the redhead was in a similar state. In fact she hadn’t really looked at Chloe properly since before they had started kissing… Her lips were chapped and still parted like she was still half frozen in the act, not wanting it to be over yet, and her eyes were so dark. Beca didn’t even think it was possible for those blue eyes to ever not look so bright. And the redhead was focused on Beca’s lips in a way that made Beca’s knees nearly go weak again but ironically Chloe’s thigh was holding her up from its position in between her legs.
“Um hello guys, we are here you know,” Stacie’s voice uttered from the top of the stairs, pulling Chloe’s attention away from Beca’s lips. She didn’t look happy about it though, which made Beca’s stomach flip.
“What. Do you mean it… worked?” Chloe breathed out, her eyebrows knitted together in pure bewilderment.
Chloe was more breathless than Beca thought she would be and it made her hips twitch in a way that she definitely could not let happen whilst the Bellas were all watching. She gently pushed Chloe’s hips back until her thigh wasn’t pressed up against her anymore and tried not to whimper at the loss of contact.
“Well I basically promised Jake that I would let him kiss me if he asked you to go down into the cellar and get him some wine… which I can’t believe you fell for by the way. Like who drinks wine at a house party?” Stacie explained, throwing a hand on her hip and shaking her head at them.
Beca looked to Chloe as if to say ‘I told you!’ but Chloe was already looking at her with a knowing smile on her face.
“Yeah and Lilly had noticed that the cellar door locked from the outside so..” Cynthia Rose added.
“SO, I decided it was finally time to lock you guys in a closet… or cellar. So you would finally confess your obvious feelings for each other.” Amy boasted, trying to emphasise that it was her idea that had worked so well.
“Yeah cuz it was really starting to drive us all mad…” Stacie agreed.
“All the pining…” Ashley added.
“The longing stares from across the room,” Jessica followed.
“I thought I would’ve been taken out by something before I saw the day you kissed. So thank you for this. Now I can die my inevitable death peacefully,” Flo said, throwing her hands together and nodding her head at Beca and Chloe.
“Okay Flo let’s not bring the mood down with the death talk again,” Stacie sighed.
“This is my truth, am I not allowed to say that?” Flo retorted.
“It’s a free country,” Amy pointed out.
“I’m just saying this is a happy moment!” Stacie countered.
“Yeah cuz we really thought this was never gonna happen...” Cynthia Rose stated, still looking in slight disbelief about what they had just witnessed.
“Actually I knew it would,” Amy argued back, throwing her index finger in the air.
Whilst the Bellas talked amongst themselves at the top of the stairs, Chloe leaned in closer to Beca again. “I guess we fell right into their trap….” She bit her lip before continuing like she was hesitant about what she wanted to say next. “Do you… regret anything…?”
Did she regret anything? Beca thought back to 2 minutes ago when Chloe’s tongue was in her mouth and her hands were all over her body and she was grinding down on her thigh…. But also in this moment she felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She felt like herself, she felt free. Yeah, no. She didn’t regret a thing.
“I think for the first time in my life I don’t regret a decision,” Beca confessed, flashing a coy smile at the redhead.
Chloe chuckled and laced their fingers together and they stared at each other smiling, the commotion being made by the Bellas at the top of the stairs fading into the background.
As she got lost in Chloe’s eyes, she let the warmth take over her and felt her heart buzz in her chest in a way it hadn’t in forever.
Maybe parties weren’t all that bad.