Chapter 9
Somehow, she managed to make it till Saturday without texting Beca. She had concentrated on the Bellas and on work but it didn’t mean the hockey player left her mind. It didn’t help that the Bellas were practicing the same exact routine for the Semi-Finals so she didn’t have to learn anything new. Chloe found out that she had the talent to sing, dance and think of Beca all at once.
She got to the arena earlier than usual that day because she was anxious to see the girl who had been on her mind since last week. She can’t believe it had been a week already since they kissed. Chloe swore she could still feel what it felt like to kiss her sometimes, to have the shadow of her lips on hers.
She closed the door of her car and froze when she saw the familiar brunette make her way to the arena, the heavy hockey bag on her shoulder.
“Beca!” she called out before she could stop herself. The hockey player turned at her name and stopped in her tracks when she saw Chloe approaching her.
“Oh. Hey Chloe.”
“Are you feeling better?” the ginger said when she had finally caught up to her.
“What?”
“You were feeling sick.”
“Oh right. Yeah, I am.”
There was a beat of silence as they both stared at each other. Even their first conversation hadn’t been this awkward. Chloe wondered how they got to this point in so little time. Could one simple kiss really destroy everything that Chloe had done to get to know the hockey player? She refused to let that happen.
She started walking in the direction of the entrance and Beca followed her. “I finished my essay last night. The one I was telling you about, on animal philosophy? The one that was kicking my ass?” she said, trying to make the conversation light.
“Yeah?”
“I think I did okay.”
“That’s cool.”
Silence again. Thankfully it was a short distance between the door and the locker room and the Dames who were already there having a conversation easily hid the fact that the two were quiet. Beca went to her corner to start getting ready and Chloe stayed at the door, her heart heavy on her chest.
“Hey Chloe,” Emily said warmly.
Chloe instantly smiled. The girl was so sweet and kind of reminded her of a younger her. “Hey Legacy.”
Emily beamed at the nickname. From the corner of her eyes, Chloe could see Beca looking at them. But since she was too stubborn to actually start a conversation with them, she just went back to putting her uniform on, her face blank from any emotion.
Once again, practice was uneventful, even with Beca there. When she was usually fast and reckless in her movements, this time she seemed to take it slower. Maybe because she was still a little bit sick, maybe because she didn’t want to risk getting injured, Chloe wasn’t sure but she’d like to think Beca wouldn’t do that to her.
Beca disappeared in the showers right after practice so Chloe decided there was no point really sticking out around any longer. Beca needed more space and the redhead had invaded her personal life way too much already to deny her that right now.
After talking to Luke for a few minutes, she made her way to her car. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground until she heard a voice call her name.
“Chloe?”
She wasn’t sure who she expected to see in the arena Kennedy’s parking lot on a Saturday morning but it certainly wasn’t her ex-boyfriend Tom. Tom who had cheated on her and she had to find out by a random girl sending her a text telling her the boy hadn’t told her about her existence and she was so sorry.
“Tom?” She looked around, seeing what was here for him since he played football, not hockey. “What are you doing here?”
“I came here to see my buddy Jack play. He has a game here at noon.”
Chloe noticed that the arena’s parking lot was in fact full of cars. Way more than usual.
“Oh.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m a trainee with the Dames’ athlete trainer”
He nodded. “Cool.” There was a pause and then he looked at his watch. “Listen the game doesn’t start for another hour, if you want we could grab some coffee and--”
She took a step back, a tense feeling setting in her stomach.
“No, thank you.”
He took a step forward, with an easy smile on his face. “Come on, don’t be like that, Chloe. We ended on such bad terms I just wanna make sure you’re alright.”
“Tom, I really don't feel comfortable--”
“I just want to talk, don’t make it into a big deal. I just think--”
“Everything okay, Red?” A voice cut him off and she looked to her right to see Beca. The girl put her hockey bag down and crossed her arms to appear intimidating and somehow, even though she was 5’2 and Tom was 6’1, he seemed uncomfortable.
“Yeah, dude. Just inviting her for coffee, that’s all.”
Beca looked at her and Chloe gulped. “Becs, this is Tom,” she said to her, knowing fully Beca knew who Tom was. She had told her by text a few weeks ago and the hockey player’s immediate reply had been “I’m going to punch this guy if I ever see him.”
“Tom.” Beca repeated and then looked at the footballer. “You’re Tom. The ex-boyfriend who cheated on her.”
He got a weird look on his face, almost guilty-looking but not quite. “Uh, I mean it was a long time ago. I definitely regret it now and--”
Beca’s fist collided with his face before he could finish his sentence. It happened so fast Chloe hadn’t even seen her get ready for the hit. She gasped loudly as Tom and Beca cried out in pain at the same time. Tom’s hands flew to his nose and he turned away from them and Beca cradled her hand closer to her body.
“Holy fuck that hurts. Oh my God?” she said, her face in evident pain as she shook her hand a little and looked at Chloe with wide eyes. “Why don’t they tell you it hurts this much in movies?”
Chloe finally got over her shock over what just happened and took her hand carefully, completely forgetting about the boy next to them who was still crying out in pain. “Are you okay? Why would you do that?”
Beca held her other fist to her forehead and looked at the sky, like she was trying to keep herself from crying. “I thought that was gonna hurt a lot more for him than me. Fuck!” Chloe handled her hand gently, touching her knuckles to make sure nothing was broken. She was going to have a nasty bruise tomorrow.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Tom finally said with one hand still on his nose. There wasn’t any blood so thankfully it wasn’t broken that’s for sure.
Beca took a step towards him, “You want me to finish the job, football boy?”
“Jesus fuck--” he said, taking a step back and he looked at Chloe with a panicky expression. Chloe could only gape at him and finally he shook his head and left. Beca followed him with her eyes to make sure he wasn’t turning back and when the glass door closed behind him, she released a breath. She looked at her hand in Chloe’s hands and put her other one on her shoulder, as if she was leaning on the ginger.
“You okay?”
Chloe looked at her with wide eyes, still slightly confused as to what the hell just happened. “Am I okay? Are you okay? Why did you punch him?” She hated violence and if she had seen the punch coming, she would have definitely stopped it.
But.
It did happen and it was… kinda hot.
“I told you I would if I ever saw him,” Beca said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Chloe’s worried expression softened and she looked at the hockey player, amazed at the person that was in front of her. Beca was looking tenderly at her and everything felt okay again. Seemed like a punch in an idiot’s face was the lid they needed to keep everything contained once again.
Chloe released a breathy laugh in disbelief. “Come on, we’ll get you home and I’ll take a look at that hand.”
She didn’t need to take a look at her hand that bad, it was obviously not broken. Even if it did hurt for Beca, there wasn’t much Chloe could do about it.. But Chloe had missed Beca so much and it felt so good to be in her presence again. It finally stopped feeling awkward so she was going to take advantage of it.
She knew Beca knew that by the twinkle in her eyes but she seemed to want the same thing because she nodded with a smile on the corner of her mouth.
Chloe followed Beca’s car to her dorm building and she tried to forget the fact that when she was there last week, they had ended up kissing. Beca was waiting for her at the entrance and she looked just as nervous so Chloe pretended everything was fine for her sake.
“Alright, take me to your humble abode, Beca Mitchell,” she said with a smile. She took Beca’s uninjured hand and swung it comically as they walked inside. Beca rolled her eyes but her face was split in a grin so Chloe knew it was okay. Finally, they stopped in front of a door and she let go of her hand so Beca could unlock it.
“I hope Kimmy-Jin isn’t there,” Beca whispered and opened it a little so she could look inside. She breathed out and swung it open when she saw her roommate wasn’t there.
The room was small with two beds on each side of the room and Chloe easily guessed Beca’s side was on the right because of the mess and all the music equipment on the desk. She looked at the textbooks on the bed and the floor and the opened closet revealing clothes barely hanging on hangers. There were shelves filled with vinyl records and some band posters.
The hockey player looked nervously around the room and closed her closet after putting her hockey bag in it. “I didn’t know I’d have company,” she tried to explain.
Chloe shook her head and sat on the bed, making herself bounce a little. “I understand why your roommate hates you now.”
Beca laughed, continuing her little clean-up. “Shut up. The only person I have over is Jesse and he’s just as messy as I am so he can’t say shit.”
Chloe didn’t particularly want to talk about Jesse so she changed the subject. “Do you have ice? For your hand.”
“Um probably in the kitchen,” Beca said and didn’t move. Chloe looked at her expectantly until the girl realized she needed to go get the ice and the redhead didn’t know where the kitchen was. “Oh! I’ll be right back.”
Chloe laughed as Beca scrambled out the room. She stayed on the bed for 5 seconds before her curiosity got the best of her and she went over to Beca’s desk. Her laptop was hooked to her computer as they both displayed some sort of music program and a pair of expensive headphones attached to her laptop. The redhead’s fingers lingered on them but she didn’t pick them up because she didn’t want to betray Beca’s trust like that.
She wondered what kind of incredible things she’d hear if she were to put them on. She was pretty sure that just like hockey, Beca’s music would be a reflection of herself; subtle but bold. Beca was someone that was overlooked most of the time because of her small height and quiet demeanor but once you got to know her, she was someone that stood firm in her opinions and didn’t take shit from anybody.
Hence the bruised hand she was going to get soon.
“You can put them on if you want to,” Beca’s voice interrupted her thoughts, referring to the headphones. She had a paper towel with ice wrapped in it on her hand which was basically the reason Chloe had come here in the first place so her job here as “Nurse Beale” was done.
“Are you sure?”
Beca nodded, a soft smile on her face. She sat on the edge of the bed, close to the desk. “I usually don’t let anybody touch them but I seem to be making a few exceptions for you so why not,” she said shyly.
Chloe sat down at the desk chair and put on the headphones. Beca reached over her to start the music from the start and Chloe’s heart picked up at the coconut scent coming from her hair. It was gone in seconds and suddenly, the ginger was only focused on the music that had started playing.
“I find songs with the same chord progressions and create a track that blends them all together. This is the new baseline, this matches up the downbeats and I’m just going to let you listen to it now,” she said loudly so Chloe could hear her over the headphones.
She was right when she expected her music to be just another thing Beca was excellent in. Then a soft voice started singing and butterflies swarmed in her stomach again at the sound of Beca’s voice. She hadn’t heard it in so long and it sounded just as perfect as she remembered it.
“You’re singing!” she said with a grin on her face. She probably talked louder than she expected because Beca flinched a little and then blushed before nodding. “Beca, this is really good!”
Beca took off her headphones, hands brushing against fiery red hair. “Right, let’s stop this before we get a noise complaint.”
Chloe wasn’t embarrassed. She took Beca’s hands and tugged on them so she’d bend slightly forward, bringing their faces close to each other. “You are so talented, Becs. How do you know what songs would go together?”
Beca shrugged and Chloe figured that was just something the hockey player was born with, she couldn’t really explain it. She looked at her in awe. She couldn’t believe this small little girl who had more talent in her than anyone else Chloe had ever met was sitting in front of her, looking like she didn’t realize how wonderful she was.
“You’re amazing,” she couldn’t help but say.
Beca shrugged again and Chloe surged forward, making Beca fall on her back on the bed with a yelp. Chloe was on top of her, pinning her down and started tickling her. Beca started squirming underneath her, laughing as she tried to breathe at the same time.
“Come on! Say you’re amazing! Say it!” she yelled over the laughter. Her fingers were moving fast on Beca’s body; going from her stomach to her neck.
Beca’s legs were swinging in the air, trying to move but Chloe was also pretty strong. Finally in between breaths, she said “Okay-- Okay stop I will!” The redhead stopped tickling her but kept her thighs on each side of Beca’s waist. The hockey player took a few breaths to calm down and Chloe looked at her, the joy in her chest making her feel like she was floating.
Finally, Beca opened her eyes and different shades of blue met. The hockey player opened her mouth and Chloe was ready to hear the words she wanted to hear but instead the lips formed a smile.
Before she realized what was happening, Beca took her by the arms to shove her down the mattress and climbed on top of the redhead, exchanging positions. Chloe gaped at her as Beca raised an arrogant eyebrow. Her mouth dried up and she probably felt more turned on than she ever had in her entire life.
“What do you have to say about that, Red?” she said in a husky voice from having laughed so much.
Chloe couldn’t think of anything in response right now. Chloe Beale, the girl who could small talk her way into anything she wanted, who spoke to strangers in coffee shops and became friends with waiters in restaurants, had no idea what to say right now.
All she could concentrate on was Beca’s body touching her, pinning her down by the shoulders with her hands and her legs holding Chloe’s body. She closed her mouth and swallowed and Beca seemed to realize the situation they were in too because her face turned serious and she pinched her lips together.
Suddenly, Beca bent down and attached their lips together for the third time ever. Chloe kissed back instantly, grabbing the back of her neck with force. Beca moved her body so she could lay down fully on top of her and the redhead made a sound at the feeling of her body laying on hers.
After a few seconds, Chloe shifted positions once again so she could take full control. She moved their bodies so that Beca’s head would hit the pillow and she kept one hand on her neck while the other one was holding herself up. Beca kissed her fervently and her hands moved around Chloe’s back until she finally settled them on her hips.
Chloe swiped her tongue on Beca’s bottom lip and the girl moaned slightly, letting Chloe’s tongue in. She pulled away for a second to move angles but Beca must’ve thought she wanted to pull away from good because she picked her head up to follow after her. Chloe smiled teasingly which made Beca bite her lip gently and the redhead instantly felt the warmth in the pit of her stomach.
She suddenly remembered what happened last time they did this and she detached her lips from Beca’s with a sound. Chloe looked at her closed eyes and heaving chest before Beca finally came back to reality too. Her pupils were dilated and Chloe was pretty sure her own eyes looked pretty similar.
“What are we doing?” Chloe asked, slightly breathless. She didn’t want this to end weirdly again.
“I don’t know,” Beca whispered. “But I don’t want to stop.”
That was basically the confirmation that Chloe needed to prove that the hockey player wasn’t going to freak out again so she bent down and kissed her again. Beca accepted the kiss happily and everything felt full. It was all tucked and safe in her heart once again.
Both too caught up in each other, they didn’t hear the door unlock until Kimmy-Jin stepped into the room. Chloe picked herself up but didn’t move away from on top of Beca and she was pretty sure Beca’s face turned redder than her hair. Kimmy-Jin looked at them with the most annoyed expression Chloe had ever seen on a person but the senior simply smiled at her.
“Hey, I’m Chloe. I would shake your hand but I’m kind of busy,” she tried to joke the tension but Beca’s roommate didn’t seem amused in the slightest. Beca muttered an “Oh my God” while she hid her face in Chloe’s neck.
“I expect her to be gone when I come back, Beca,” Kimmy-Jin said, throwing her bag on her bed and leaving.
“Okay, bye!” Chloe said in a cheerful voice and looked back at Beca with a smile. It took two seconds of silence before they both burst into laughter and Chloe let herself fall on Beca’s body. Their bodies shook with laughter and stayed in their embrace with Beca’s arms around her and Chloe’s face in dark hair.
It took them some time to calm down and finally, Chloe moved on her back next to Beca as they both released a breath at the same time.
“I should go,” Chloe said against her will. There was nothing else she wanted to do more than stay here but Aubrey was probably wondering where she was and she had school work to do.
Beca seemed to feel the same way because she sighed. “Yeah I guess you should before Kimmy-Jin sees you here again or you’re gonna get added to her black list.”
Chloe got up and bent down to put on her shoes while Beca stood up and fixed herself up a little. She had the I-clearly-just-made-out-with-someone look and the fact that Chloe knew it was her that had been kissing hermade her feel all sorts of tingly. When the redhead stood up, Beca had a nervous expression on her face and Chloe made sure to keep things light and far from awkward.
She hugged Beca like she always did when they said goodbye and smiled at her warmly. “Bye Becs.”
“Bye Chlo,” Beca said and opened the door from her after pulling away from the hug.
“Don’t forget to ice that hand, okay?” Chloe said, walking backwards a couple of steps.
“Will do.”
She winked at Beca and then walked down the hallway feeling the hockey player’s eyes on her the whole time. When she reached the stairway, she allowed herself to squeal a little before continuing her route. She didn’t know what today had meant and she was determined to not pressure Beca too much into it because it felt great.
She could take it as slow as humanly possible if it meant she got to kiss Beca like that again.