Chapter 11
Chloe woke up by an alarm going off but it didn’t sound anything like her usual alarm. It was music that she didn’t recognize but the beat was soft enough to not make the shift from asleep to awake brutal. The warm body pressed against her stirred and Chloe opened her eyes to see the back of Beca’s head, her messy dark hair going in all directions.
Chloe took a moment to take a note at how they were sleeping. She distinctly remembered falling asleep facing the wall but she had always been a cuddly sleeper so she wasn’t surprised she woke up with her arm around Beca’s middle and their legs tangled. She was pleasantly surprised to feel Beca’s arm on hers to keep it in place.
Beca reached a blind hand to her desk and closed the alarm on her phone without moving positions. She released a long sigh and Chloe basked in the beauty of this moment. Waking up next to Beca, the sun shining through the curtains and giving the room a golden glow. She didn’t want to say anything, afraid that a sound would make it all go away. Besides, it wasn’t like the moment needed words; it was already perfect.
They had gone to bed way later than intended last night, way too late for people that needed to wake up for a hockey practice the day after. Kimmy-Jin was gone for the night and Beca had explained exactly how she mixed two songs together for hours. Explaining how to make the rhythm sound nice together, creating baselines to match the downbeats. It was complicated and Chloe had been in awe at the fact that Beca was self-taught.
At 2 AM, Beca had let Chloe sit in the desk chair and gave her the controls. Beca had watched her from the bed, a second pair of headphones on her head and she had let Chloe try out the program. She gave her a few tips here and then but mostly let her do the work.
An hour later, the redhead had something that was beginning to sound like actual music and Beca had given her the biggest grin she had ever seen. Seeing the smile on Beca made her feel proud, prouder than she had ever felt. Even prouder than that time in third grade she won the spelling bee in front of the whole school. With her heart leaping out of her chest, she had attached her lips to Beca’s who accepted the kiss without question.
They fell into bed and kissed until they were too tired to move their mouths properly. Beca had given her an oversized tee and some sweatpants that were slightly too small for the night and Chloe had gotten in the same bed as hers without them once talking about it. The redhead smirked remembering Beca’s flushed face when she took off her shirt and bra in front of her to change into her shirt.
For someone that liked talking as much as she did, the redhead quite liked the way Beca and her didn’t need to talk to understand each other. It’s like no matter what was happening, they understood each other. Both of them, always moving in the same direction.
At least, Chloe hoped they were.
Beca’s breath steadied again and Chloe guessed she had fallen back to sleep instantly. She smiled to herself, imagining how pretty her face must look right now but she didn’t want to risk moving and waking the hockey player. She stroked her hair carefully to fix it a little and enjoyed the moment.
Soon enough though, the alarm rang again and this time, Chloe reached over to close it for good. Beca groaned and Chloe propped herself up one arm to finally get a look at her side profile. She couldn’t resist her temptations and leaned down to kiss her jawline gently. She traced it with her lips, one kiss at a time until she reached her ear.
“Time to wake up,” she whispered and felt Beca shiver a little when she spoke. Beca’s lips quirked up and she finally opened her eyes.
“Careful, Red. A girl could get used to this,” she said in a husky voice.
Chloe felt her mouth dry up at the sound of the low voice. There was nothing that Chloe wanted more than getting used to this. She smiled and patted Beca on the butt.
“Come on, number 47. You have to be in the arena in an hour.”
“You’re so lame,” Beca breathed out in a laugh but she got up nonetheless. Chloe stayed in bed, scrolling through her phone lazily while Beca got ready. It felt nice, domestic even, to just exist in this room together.
Beca yawned the entire time, looking pretty groggy. It wasn’t really a surprise that Beca wasn’t a morning person and like everything else she did, Chloe found it adorable. She took a picture of Beca while she was sitting on the floor, making sure she had everything she needed in her hockey bag and another one as she was just standing in the middle of the dorm on her phone. She didn’t care if it made her creepy, Beca was just so beautiful.
She put on Beca’s hoodie, one that made Chloe’s entire world smell like coconut and she changed into her leggings from yesterday. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. It was a Barden Dames hoodie, with the logo of the team in the front. When she turned around, the hockey player was already looking at her with an indescribable expression.
“Alright,” Beca said after a beat, grabbing her keys. “You wanna ride with me or take your car?”
The underlying question was “do you want to come back here after the practice or go back to your place?” and Chloe already knew the answer.
“We can carpool.”
Beca smirked, “Yeah?”
Chloe bit her lip, knowing Beca saw right through her. She took a step towards the hockey player and hooked a finger around the hem of her pants. Beca raised a brow but let Chloe pull her closer so their hips could touch.
“Yeah, it’s good for the environment.”
Beca scoffed out a laugh. “Right. The environment.” She looked down at their bodies. “Because from what it looks like, you’re just trying to get into my pants.”
Chloe hummed and brought her face close to Beca’s, their lips almost touching but not quite.
“Oh, I definitely am,” the redhead said in a seductive voice. Then, she backed away with a smile and picked up Beca’s hockey bag to hand it to her. “Ready?” she asked in a sweet voice.
The brunette seemed frozen in shock for a few seconds and Chloe smiled at the effect she had on the girl. Finally Beca snapped out of it, licking her lips and nodding with forced casualness. “Yep, let’s do it.”
Chloe wasn’t lying. She had never been the kind of person to treat sex as taboo and she had a very positive sex life. She had no problems with one night stands and she had not shied away from bringing a few guys or girls home to have fun for one night. The thing is, since developing her massive crush on Beca over 4 months ago, she had not slept with anybody, the brunette taking up all the place in her mind.
And now that she was regularly making out with Beca, some make out sessions that ended up with one of their shirts off or both-- she was growing antsier at the thought of getting to see Beca’s body. She would wait until Beca was ready of course but she wasn’t shy on giving away hints that she was ready. Chloe was definitely attracted to Beca and she was not shy about it.
The farthest they had gone was last Wednesday when Chloe invited Beca over to do some school work. It had ended up with them both in their bras, a hickey on top of Beca’s left breast and both of their jeans unbuttoned. Unfortunately, Aubrey had come back early from her class and Chloe never got to know where it could have gone if they hadn’t been interrupted.
She knew it was a weird thing. The fact that they never spoke about it. Maybe they should but Chloe felt as though this thing with Beca was so delicate, she didn’t want to risk shattering it. She knew she was falling for the girl. Faster than expected too.
As she looked at the girl who was driving right now, she thought maybe she had started falling the moment she made the first eye contact with those steel blue eyes as blood dripped down from her nose.
Chloe couldn’t help it. She felt complete with Beca around.
The hockey player looked to her right for a quick second and smirked.
“Why are you looking at me like that, weirdo?”
“ I’m falling in love with you ” almost came out of her lips. It was right there, ready to roll out of her tongue but instead, she shook her head with a smile.
“Just lost in thought.”
“What I would give to see what you think about in that head of yours,” Beca teased.
“Mostly just puppies.”
Beca barked out a laugh and Chloe smiled as they pulled into the arena. It was earlier than she usually got there, given the fact that she didn’t have to put any uniform on which was the reason the Dames got there at that time. She didn’t mind, though.
When the girls entered the locker room together, Stacie and Cynthia-Rose were already there and seemed delighted to see them come in together.
“Is this a walk of shame?” Cynthia-Rose asked and Stacie laughed.
“Shut up,” Beca said, settling down next to them.
“I think it is,” Stacie taunted Beca. She grabbed Chloe’s hand and made her sit down on the bench too. “Tell me everything. Is Beca a freak in the sheets?”
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Beca turn beat red and Chloe laughed.
“This is not the walk of shame,” she explained. “Though, I’m kinda curious too,” she stage-whispered and winked at the number 47 who was pretending she didn’t hear what she had just said. “Becs, wanna enlighten us?”
“I am not participating in this conversation,” she muttered, adjusting her shoulder pads.
Stacie narrowed her eyes like she was trying to see inside Beca’s head. “I think she’s vanilla. She looks boring.”
“Thanks, Stace.”
“I think she could be fun,” Chloe said, crossing a leg over the other.
“I can see that too,” Cynthia-Rose joined the conversation. A few girls filtered in the locker room but they paid no attention to them.
“I think you have to bring it out of her,” the ginger teased and Beca looked at her with an annoyed expression.
“What about you, Beale?” Stacie said. “Freak in the sheets?”
Beca cleared her throat awkwardly and focused on putting her uniform on.
Chloe smirked. “I know how to have some fun.”
“Jesus fuck--” Beca mumbled to herself.
“Atta girl,” Cynthia-Rose said and high-fived Chloe.
“I bet you’re great in bed.”
“Stacie!” Beca said, suddenly rejoining the conversation. “That’s not the kind of thing that you usually say out loud.”
Stacie looked affronted that the hockey player would say that to her. “It’s a compliment! Are you telling me I don’t look like I’m great in bed?”
“I don’t-- I don’t think about you in bed .”
“Stop lying, Mitchell. You wanna tap this so bad.”
Chloe laughed when Beca rolled her eyes. Fat Amy entered the room and plopped down next to Chloe.
“What are we talking about, bitches?”
Cynthia-Rose answered, putting on her protective pads. “Beca’s sex life.” The girl in question sighed heavily, looking at the ceiling.
“What sex life? My grandma has more action than her.”
“Gross,” Beca muttered.
“What’s gross is the fact that you haven’t gotten laid in forever. What happened to that weird dude that’s obsessed with you?”
Chloe’s fingernails dig into her thighs but thankfully it went unnoticed. Beca side-eyed her nervously and then shrugged. “He’s not-- I’m not interested in him.”
Stacie was still in her bra and she seemed to have no interest in putting more things on. “So are you interested in anyone? I know you must have feelings under that broody exterior.” Chloe perked up at the question and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t interested in the answer.
Cynthia-Rose jumped in. “Maybe feelings for a certain red--”
“Did you guys all make a deal to be as annoying as possible today or something?” Beca cut her off and looked Stacie up and down. “And will you please get ready? We have a practice today that’s why we’re here. Hockey. Not my love life.”
“What love--”
“Amy! Get ready. Now!”
Beca’s tone was final and the girls seemed to get the message, listening to the captain’s orders. Chloe observed Beca closely, the way her lips were pinched together and her jaw was clenched. She wondered why the girl had gotten so upset at the fact that her girls asked her simple questions. Was Beca ashamed of possibly having feelings for someone? Was it because that person could be Chloe?
There was light chatter in the locker room until it was finally time to get on the ice. Beca seemed concentrated and Chloe knew she didn’t like to be interrupted when she was in that zone so she let her go. She was already on the home bench when Luke sat down next to her. He seemed amused about something.
“What?” she asked with a smile, wanting to know what was funny. He shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just-- your sweatshirt.”
She frowned, looking down at what she was wearing. She thought it was a pretty hoodie and green happened to look great on her so she wasn’t sure why it was funny.
“It’s the Dames hoodie.”
“Oh I know,” he said mysteriously and she shoved him a little.
“Why are you laughing, you weirdo?”
He looked at her with wide eyes and his eyebrows raised. “Christ, you’re even speaking like her now. I knew you were close but wow.”
“Who?”
“Beca. First you wear her hoodie and now you talk like her.”
Chloe paused. He wasn’t there to see them both enter the arena together so she wasn’t sure how he could have known it was Beca’s hoodie. It could’ve been anyone’s on the team and she was pretty sure they also sold them for anyone to buy.
“How do you know it’s hers?”
He looked at her weirdly and pointed to her back. “Her name is on the back. They’re personalized sweatshirts.”
She straightened up on the bench. She twisted her neck in a weird angle and managed to catch the last few letters of Mitchell on the back. “Oh.” She hadn’t even seen it when she put it on but the thought that Beca chose this hoodie for her to wear made her heart flutter. She didn’t know how to describe the way it felt to be wearing something that was so obviously Beca’s.
“Did you not know?” he asked, slightly confused.
“No, I--” She looked over on the ice where the girls were doing suicides. “She just handed it to me this morning and I took it.”
“Ah,” he said. “Well remember the rule, no sex in the locker room.” Her heart skipped a beat and he chuckled at her, making sure she knew he was joking. “You know, it’s a shame you’re not interested in working here. If you weren’t graduating this year, we could have taken you on the team. We could definitely use a girl like you.”
She felt a weight on her chest at the words. She was probably going to graduate this year. Leave all of this behind. The comfort of the Bellas, the people she knew around campus, the teachers, the Bellas’ house, the Dames. Beca. Next year, she’d be completely elsewhere and Beca would leave for LA. She wasn’t sure she was ready to leave this place yet. She liked how homey the Barden campus felt to her.
She didn’t say anything and focused on the girls skating on the ice in front of her, suddenly feeling pretty anxious about the future. She wondered if there was a way to stop the time and live in this for the rest of her life.
After the practice, Beca took a shower as Chloe made sure Stacie’s knee was okay. She fell on it pretty weird but the worst that was going to happen was a nasty bruise on top of it. She tapped her leg when she was done and Stacie pulled her pants down again.
“You like her.”
Chloe got to her feet and her back thanked her when she finally straightened it after bending down for so long.
“Yes,” is all she replied. You didn’t need to be a genius to know she was talking about Beca.
“She likes you too.”
“I don’t know.”
After Beca’s reaction earlier, she wasn’t sure what to believe.
“How could you not know?”
Chloe finally looked at Stacie. “Did you see her reaction earlier?” Stacie opened her mouth and then closed it, smiling. “What?”
Stacie shook her head, making sure no one could hear their conversation in the locker room. Everyone was still there except for Beca who was still in the shower. Somehow, the captain managed to convince them all to never take a shower at the same time as her because the dark-haired girl liked her privacy.
“You got it so easy with the captain, you forgot she doesn’t like answering personal questions. I knew she wasn’t going to answer it. She never does.”
Oh.
That actually made a lot of sense.
She knew the girl on such a deep personal level now that she forgot the only reason they got to that point was because she had to make a deal with the hockey player, forcing her to tell her things. She smiled, a weight lifting off her shoulders.
At that moment, Beca came out of the shower room and Chloe looked at her. She was drying her hair with her towel, looking distracted but the redhead’s heart still skipped a beat. Her entire body was craving Beca and she swallowed dryly as she watched her neck with droplets of water dripping on it. She imagined sinking her teeth into the skin as her body and Beca’s formed one. She imagined Beca’s body under hers, shaking with pleasure.
She caught Stacie’s knowing eyes and ignored her, walking to Beca. The hockey player looked surprised when she saw Chloe rushing to her.
“Whoa. Hey.”
Chloe licked her lips, “Kimmy-Jin’s still gone, right? Wanna head back before she does?”
Beca looked at her and seemed to realize exactly what was happening inside her head because she turned serious in a matter of milliseconds.
“Okay.”
…
Chloe traced with her finger the bruise that Beca somehow had in the middle of her back. She had no idea how someone could even get a bruise on this part of their body but she wasn’t that surprised Beca had one. The hockey player’s body seemed to have a few bruises and scars here and there, probably from being so reckless while playing hockey. Chloe had made sure to kiss every single one that she saw.
The hockey player sighed happily and Chloe pressed her bare chest against her back. She kissed her shoulder and her neck with wet lips and licked on her earlobe until Beca squirmed away with a soft laugh.
“That was pretty great,” Chloe whispered and Beca turned around so they could face each other. Beca’s pupils were still slightly dilated and her face was glowing from the sweat. Chloe was pretty sure she had never looked more gorgeous than right now.
Just tell her.
“Yeah, it was.”
Say it, Chloe. Say you have feelings for her and that you want to date her. You just slept together for God’s sake, that has to mean something.
“Now I can answer Stacie and Cynthia-Rose’s question.”
You’ve never shied away from that stuff before why can’t you do it now?
Beca laughed and pushed her away. “Shut up.” Chloe immediately came back, putting a protective arm around the girl’s waist.
“Stacie seemed to really wanna know what you were like in bed.”
It was stupid that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. At this point, there was no doubt in mind that Chloe was in deep for the naked girl laying beside her.
“And she will never know.”
She stayed silent for a moment, appreciating Beca’s fingers on her back that were tracing circles. Their legs were tangled and she couldn’t tell whose body parts belong to whom. It was like they formed one together. Fuck it.
“So um… What does this all mean?” she asked, forcing herself to sound casual. Beca frowned in question and Chloe just gestured at the two of them. The hockey player seemed to get it because she tensed.
Chloe regretted asking immediately.
“Oh. Uh I mean I don’t know.” Beca said, avoiding eye contact. “Aren’t you graduating in like two months?”
It was three months actually but the hockey player made a good point. She was going to have to leave soon, it didn’t really make sense to start a relationship now. Her heart rate picked up again at the thought of having to leave this place. It all felt so overwhelming. The semi-finals were so soon and then the ICAAs were just a few days after graduation. Then it would all be over.
Chloe’s nodes had been an inconvenience but they mostly ignored it by making her sing the low notes instead so it wasn’t that worst. She was pretty sure her doctor would yell at her if he found out but what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. Singing was her true passion and she’d do anything to keep singing.
She wondered if there was a way she could stay in the Bellas forever. She wasn't ready to say goodbye.
“And besides, I’m gonna move to LA probably soon.”
Right. Because Beca didn’t want to stay here. She wanted to become a music producer in LA and she was probably going to succeed because of how talented she was.
“Yeah.” She swallowed and smiled. “I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We’re having fun.” Blatant lie. She wondered if Beca could tell.
If she didn’t know Beca better, she wouldn’t have caught the sudden flash of hurt in her steel blue eyes but it had been there. Her face turned neutral again before Chloe could say anything.
“Cool.”
There was a beat of silence. The last thing Chloe needed was to fuck this up after it had all come together perfectly so she changed the subject.
“Mind if I check my phone?”
Beca moved so Chloe could roll over her easily to get out of the bed since it was still in her purse at the door. She felt Beca’s eyes on hers as she stretched a little, completely naked in the apartment. It was kind of cold, though and she looked at the ground to see what she could wear.
The green jersey caught her eye and she didn’t have to think twice before slipping it on. The material was not the softest on her skin but when she put her hair in a bun and looked at the hockey player on the bed, it was definitely worth it. Beca was looking at her with hungry eyes, like she was currently looking at the hottest thing she had ever seen in her entire life. It felt pretty good.
She smiled innocently at Beca and looked at her phone. Aubrey had called her over 5 times and sent her texts all about the semi-finals and how apparently the Bellas weren’t ready. Chloe wasn’t sure how they could not be ready when it was the same set than Regionals but whatever.
“Aubrey’s freaking out, I should go.”
Beca hadn’t snapped out of her gaze. She moved back to give Chloe space on the bed and swallowed audibly. “I’m pretty sure she can wait.”
Warmth immediately flooded the pit of her stomach and she decided that Beca had a point. She closed her phone without thinking twice about it and as soon as she fell into bed, Beca climbed on top of her.
Aubrey could definitely wait.