In hindsight, following Lily to the basement could have been a really bad idea, but it was late and Beca was tired. They had just finished their third rehearsal of the week and because all the girls’ schedules were different, it wasn’t rare that the only time they had free led to the rehearsals finishing after 11 PM.
That day was no different and Beca was rubbing a sore spot that she could reach on her back as Chloe’s voice was heard in the auditorium.
“Good job today girls. If we continue that way, we definitely have a shot at beating Das Sound Machine at Worlds.”
Beca bit her lip to prevent a groan from leaving her mouth. She loved Chloe, of course she did, the ginger was her best friend and co-captain, but something had gotten into her this year and she was slowly turning all the Bellas insane with all these rehearsals.
Chloe still didn’t know about the internship that Beca had gotten at Residual Heat because if she did, Beca was pretty sure Chloe would officially lose her mind and no one needed to see that. It’s been hard, hiding something like that from the person she considered the most important in her life.
A lot had changed in the past three years in Beca’s life. She was still in Atlanta and not in LA like she planned to be since she learned what music was at a young age. Not only was she still a Bella, she was co-captain and now lived in the infamous house with the rest of the people that she now considered her sisters. For someone that never had a lot of girl friends growing up and always considered herself a loner, the brunette had to admit it was awesome-- not that she’d ever tell them that.
She would often woke up to the sound of Emily and Chloe harmonizing in the kitchen or Stacie and Amy arguing about something stupid. So she’d go downstairs and shoot them all a glare for preventing her to get the 12 hours of sleep that she claimed she needed but as soon as Cynthia-Rose handed her a cup of coffee with a wink, the DJ calmed down and watched as her friends lived chaotically around her.
But the biggest surprise had been how easily she let Chloe insert herself in every part of Beca’s life. From the moment the bubbly girl had burst into her shower during her freshman year, the two of them had been inseparable. Chloe had a way to make you trust her instantly-- maybe it was those hypnotizing blue eyes, who knows. All the DJ knew was that no matter how hard she tried to keep her walls up, even after she joined the Bellas, the ginger took them down brick by brick with a contagious smile and calming presence.
Before she knew it, the girl knew about her parents’ divorce, how she was bullied in high school, how she was embarrassingly still afraid of thunderstorms and many more things that Beca never intended to share with anyone ever. But instead of being self-conscious about Chloe knowing all the things, she was grateful for it. Because it meant that when two of the Bellas would start screaming at each other too loudly in the house, something that reminded Beca too well of her parents’ midnight fights, Chloe would intervene and calm them down, shooting Beca a reassuring wink. It also meant that when it rained a little bit too hard at night, Chloe would fall asleep on the left side of the bed instead of the middle because she knew Beca would come join her at some point and cuddle her for comfort. The ginger would wake up when she felt the bed dip and she’d throw an arm over the shorter girl’s stomach, mumbling something about how she was cold and she was glad Beca came to warm her up.
So the two co-captains had grown into a routine together. They worked well together-- they complemented one another. So much that the rest of the Bellas joked about them dating a lot. Something that made Chloe giggle and Beca blush furiously every time.
But this year had been weird, what with Chloe only focusing on the Worlds and Beca hiding her internship from her and they were almost kind of pulling away from each other which sucked. But Beca was never good at talking so she let Chloe do her thing and she did hers, hoping things would go back to normal soon. For now, she’d just suffer through these excessive rehearsals and hope she wouldn’t die from exhaustion from juggling college, the Bellas and the internship.
The DJ turned to the right and jumped when she saw Lilly right next to her, looking at her expectantly.
“Fuck!” Beca said in surprise. “You scared me, weirdo” she muttered going back to her task. Lilly mumbled something that she couldn’t hear. “What was that?”
“I have to show you something,” could be heard in a whisper.
Beca stopped moving and looked around, hoping there were still a few witnesses around her. Stacie and CR were chatting on the stands and Chloe was helping Jessica with some dance moves. She snorted when she saw Emily between the two, practicing the dance moves they were doing shyly to herself. Beca returned her attention to her friend.
“I’m not really interested in seeing your knife collection again, Lilly” she said, getting up with a groan. Her legs were aching and she longed to be in her bed soon. Maybe even Chloe’s since it was more comfortable than hers and didn’t have Amy snoring less than two feet away.
Lilly shook her head and just made a hand gesture for Beca to follow her. Beca sighed and looked at her phone, lighting up the screen to reveal a picture of Chloe and her at one of the parties at the Treblemakers’ house that they had at the beginning of the year where the DJ can be seen graciously licking the side of Chloe’s face. Things could get weird when Beca and Chloe were drunk.. Her phone told her it was 11:24 PM and Beca was tired but she figured Lilly wouldn’t stop until she just showed her what she wanted to show her so it was better to get this over with now.
She gestured to Chloe who was looking at her, silently telling her she was leaving with Lilly and that she’d see her later and somehow, the ginger understood what she was saying and gave her two thumbs up.
“Seriously if it’s something that can potentially hurt any of us, I want it out of the house. I’m pretty sure Legacy will have a scar on her forehead for the rest of her life because of your throwing stars,” Beca warned when she saw they were going in the direction of the Bellas’ house.
Lilly didn’t answer-- or Beca didn’t hear her answer she wasn’t sure, but they finally made it home and instead of going up the stairs where all the bedrooms were, the girl Beca was following took the direction towards the basement. The brunette stopped in her tracks.
“Dude no. I’m not going there,” she said trying to keep the fear from appearing on her face. She heard stories about this basement for two years now and she’s pretty sure she heard laughter from down there when she was home alone once.
Lilly opened the door and turned towards Beca. “It’s important.”
Beca tightened her lips together and tried to think about whether it was a good decision but her brain was just as tired as she was so she ran her hands through her hair. “Fine,” she conceited and turned on the flashlight on her phone.
If she died in this basement, she was gonna haunt the Bellas so hard.
She followed her housemate down the stairs that led into a pit of darkness and she frowned at the smell. Something was definitely rotting in here. Lilly said something that couldn’t be heard and Beca heard a click. She froze in her movements but then saw the flickering light of a lamp that was trying its damn best to open, finally letting a dim light shine.
The room under the Bellas’ house was immense and if it weren’t so scary, it would have been a great place to have their house parties. There were a couple of couches that were collecting dust and a TV that looked like it belonged in the 50s. Lilly led her to a big shelf that was full of random knick knacks and the dark haired girl pulled out a walkman to hand it to Beca.
The DJ hesitated but took it and frowned when she saw it was the only thing in here that wasn’t covered in dust which means it had been utilized not too long ago. Probably by Lilly.
“What is this?” she asked unceremoniously, kind of annoyed that she was brought into the basement of nightmares just for that. Music was her everything, just like everyone that lived in this house, but because of how much she loved music, she made sure to always have the best performing device to play music on so she definitely had no use for an old walkman.
“I use it to time travel.”
Beca didn’t even spare Lilly a look and yawned. She loved these girls to death but she didn’t have the energy for this right now. She flipped the walkman over and saw the name “Brittany” on the back which means the device probably belonged to a girl with that name. Well she saw everything she needed to see.
“Right,” Beca deadpanned. “On that note, I’m going to bed,” she said turning away and she felt a hand on her arm. She instantly flinched and the hand disappeared. She turned to face Lilly who looked apologetic, forgetting the only-Chloe-can-touch-Beca-without-warning rule.
“I’m not kidding. I was doing a Satanic ritual the other day and,” Beca’s eyebrows knit together but Lilly blew past it. “and I noticed it. I played with the buttons and ended up in the past. I got to visit a hospital during the Plague. It was awesome.”
The DJ stayed quiet for a long time, trying to process the words that were said to her in this instant. She was confused by the fact that this was the most she ever heard Lilly speak since they met but also because the words made absolutely no sense. Either she was already sleeping and imagining the weirdest dream ever or she was way too sleep deprived and her mind was playing tricks on her. Either way, there was no way this was happening.
“Okay,” Beca said nervously after a while, not knowing what else to say. She imagined Chloe was getting ready for bed right about now and she was so jealous.
“I thought you could use it. To go in the future.”
“Why… would I wanna do that?”
Lilly sighed, almost as if she was annoyed that Beca didn’t understand why she didn’t want to go in the freaking future.
“Because if you go in the future and you find out whether we lose Worlds or not, you could either make Chloe calm down or make us work even harder.”
Maybe Beca was way too sleep-deprived but what Lilly was saying was actually making sense. The only thing that didn’t work was the simple fact that Magical Time Travelling Walkmen didn’t exist.
“That’d be cool,” the brunette said slowly. “Too bad this is a walkman and not.. a time travel machine.”
“Try it, I figured out the commands. All you need to do is put the headphones on and decide where to go but I can do that for you.”
“Lilly, I’m really tired and--”
“Please, Beca. Just try it.”
The captain sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. Some interactions with these girls felt like a daydream sometimes and she’d been pinching herself to wake up for three years now but nope, this was really her life.
The sooner she’d deal with this, the sooner she’d be able to curl up in a bed so she nodded. Lilly smiled devilishly and Beca felt a cold shiver down her back at the sight. She sat down on a chair nearby and her friend handed her the headphones. She cringed at the thought of putting headphones on that other people have also used but she did it. Lilly fidgeted with the walkman in her hands.
“I’m going to forward you two months into the future because that’s when Worlds is,” Lilly explained in a hushed voice.
“M’kay,” Beca said in a bored tone. She allowed herself to close her eyes because if she had to go through this, at least she’d get some rest. She figured she’d stay in this chair for the next two minutes, pretend to be disappointed with Lilly when she’s not magically traveled to the future and then join Chloe in her bed for a good night of sleep and lots of cuddling that she’ll pretend to hate.
“Just press the rewind button when you wanna come back. Good luck, Beca'' was the last thing she heard before her limbs suddenly got heavy and her head collided with the wall behind her with a thud. She saw a bright light behind her closed eyelids before falling into a slumber.
. . .
When she regained consciousness, she got up from her chair in a hurry and took the headphones off aggressively. She was about to yell at Lilly asking her what the fuck just happened but her fellow Bella was nowhere to be found. Actually, nothing around her was familiar to her. She seemed to be in a small studio apartment God knows where because Beca had never been there before.
She cringed when she saw how messy the apartment was. Half full cardboard boxes could be found stacked on top of each other everywhere, barely leaving space to walk and it looked like whoever lived there was moving. There were two beds in the apartment, separated by a rack that was still full of clothes. She rubbed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them again, she’d be back in the creepy basement but alas, she seemed stuck in this random place.
A loud honking made her jump and she walked over three boxes to get to the window. Her mouth dried up when she saw the dozen yellow cabs on the street below and the buildings that screamed only one thing: New York City.
What the fuck was she doing in New York City? She was pretty sure Worlds were in Copenhagen, not New York. And whose apartment was this? Her thighs collided with a small night table and she got the answer to her last question when she looked down at it.
With shaking hands, she took a picture framed that displayed a picture of the Bellas at their graduation. Something that hadn’t happened yet. She snorted when she saw her typical frown that she did whenever a camera was pointed at her and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Chloe in the green graduation outfit, an arm around Beca’s middle and a bright smile that could cure the darkest of diseases. Next to the picture frame was an alarm clock that indicated it was 11:53 PM, the same time that she left the basement and it was also May 16th but Beca almost had a heart attack when she saw the 2017 next to the date.
She was in 2017, not 2015 which was the year that Beca woke up this morning in.
Instead of making her go two months in the future, Lilly sent her two years into the future.
Wait, Lilly’s machine worked?
On the night table was a small note. “Becs! Don’t forget drinks with Bree tonight! Love you xx” she read and traced the two kisses at the end of the note. She knew it was Chloe’s handwriting but the Becs could have tipped her off anyways because Chloe was the only one that called her that way.
She could deduce a lot of information from this note. First, that this was in fact her future self’s apartment but also it seemed as though Chloe lived there with her. A smile appeared on her face at the thought before she could stop it. Living with Chloe in New York City sounded good. Really good in fact.
She could also guess from the note that they were still in contact with Aubrey. She wasn’t annoyed at that since she and Aubrey managed to become good friends, especially after the blonde stopped being her captain. And since she knew how important the girl was to Chloe, she was glad to know they still talked.
She glanced behind her to take a look at the full apartment and suddenly became glad to see packing boxes because it meant she was leaving this shoebox of an apartment soon. She looked behind the rack at the bed that looked like it hadn’t been touched in weeks and frowned, wondering if that was where Chloe slept.
Though, there were some textbooks about exotic animals on the bed that was where Beca assumed was hers so that confused her because there was no way her future self suddenly developed an interest in becoming a veterinarian and she knew Chloe had always loved animals.
She made her way to the kitchen and hurried to the fridge when she saw pictures on it. Excited at finding more things that were going to happen, she looked at them one by one. Some of them were pictures that had already happened in her lifetime but she looked closely at the new ones. There was some of Chloe and Aubrey, some of Beca and Chloe just the two of them or with Amy and some with all the Bellas on a beach or all wearing roller skates and one with-- holy shit is that DJ Khaled?
She suddenly heard a key in the lock and her eyes grew wide. Looking around, she looked for a place to hide but the apartment was so damn small, there was nowhere she could go. Instead, she decided to stay frozen in place, hoping that would somehow make her invisible.
Chloe was the first one to appear in Beca’s field of view but the future version of herself was closely behind. Present Beca was thankful to notice she still looked pretty much the same and Chloe-- well Chloe looked just as breathtaking as she always did.
Beca had seen the ginger in every light possible, from hangover to all ready for a date and she could say without hesitation it was impossible for Chloe to look bad and that future version of her confirmed it.
“See Becs?” Chloe said pointing at the alarm clock, “Told you we’d make it home before midnight.”
Future Beca sneered. “Oh right. Because 11:57 isn’t midnight,” she said with her usual sarcasm that made Present Beca snort. She clasped her hand on her mouth, but the two women didn’t turn in her direction which obviously meant that they couldn’t see nor hear her.
Beca stopped, trying to figure out how the hell she ended up in this situation but as soon as she started cursing out Lilly, Chloe spoke again.
“You had fun, though. Admit it.”
Beca leaned on the counter and even though she had no idea how their drinks with Aubrey went (given the fact that it was happening in two years), she knew that if Chloe said she had fun, that meant she did.
“Mhm yeah it was nice,” Future Beca said absently, taking off her leather jacket. She threw it carelessly on top of the rack and went to the kitchen, right next to Present Beca and opened the fridge. She pulled out some orange juice and opened a cabinet to grab a glass.
Present Beca watched timidly as the two women seemed to move with ease around the apartment, as if they’ve been doing this forever-- and in a way they have. Beca had always known Chloe and her worked well in a house together but they were also sharing the place with 7 other girls so it was nice to know it worked well with just the two of them too. Beca bit her lip at the thought of getting to spend that much time with Chloe one on one, in a little home they built for themselves.
“I’m glad we had a chance to catch up with her. It just sucks that Stacie couldn’t take the night off.” Chloe said and Present Beca frowned, what did Stacie have to do with this?
Future Beca took a sip of her glass and joined Chloe at the bed.
“Yeah. I mean I facetimed Stacie last week and she said she was doing really well. Bella is taking everything out of her but she loves being a mom.”
Beca’s eyes bulged out at the new information. Stacie. A mom. Holy shit.
Chloe put a hand on her heart while taking off her makeup in front of her mirror. “I miss Bella already.” Beca silently handed her the same glass of orange juice and Chloe took a quick sip before handing it back to her.
Future Beca hummed, looking uneasy, “Me too. I’m really sorry I’m making us move on the other side of the country.”
The DJ’s eyebrows lifted and she was pretty sure her heart would stop beating soon by the amount of times it had skipped a beat because of every new information she was learning. Damn Lilly and her stupid magical walkman or whatever. Chloe instantly turned around to face Beca who was fidgeting with her hands on the other side of the bed, the glass of orange juice now empty on the night table. The redhead sighed and sat at the foot of the bed, giving Beca a sign to sit next to her. Younger Beca got closer, her interest at its peak.
Chloe took Beca’s hand as soon as she sat down and intertwined their hands and the 2015 version of Beca smiled at the gesture. If they lived together, it meant they were still close but it was nice to know they were still that close. Beca loved the feeling of the ginger’s hand in hers, she always had. It happened more often than not that Chloe would grab her hand randomly when they were walking to class and she would always shoot Beca a wink and the DJ would cough to hide the fact that she wanted to smile.
“How long have you been feeling guilty over this?” Chloe asked and Beca shrugged, making the present version of her roll her eyes. She hadn’t changed that much in 2 years. “Honey, I told you I want to go to LA.” Woah Los Angeles? That was fucking sick. “It’s scary and new and sure we have no idea what’s awaiting us but you know what matters? It’s that at the end of the day, I’m gonna fall into bed with you. Whether the bed is in New York or in Los Angeles. I can’t wait to begin this adventure with you.”
Younger Beca smiled at the same time of Future Beca. The bubbly girl always knew the right words to comfort her. She didn’t know why they were moving to Los Angeles but the thought of always falling asleep next to Chloe sounded good. Sure, Beca was confused as to why the redhead made it seem like she was sleeping next to her everyday when there was a perfectly good bed next to them but it also didn’t surprise her that much. She once heard Chloe mumble sleepily that she slept way better when Beca was there with her and the latter could say the same thing.
“I love you, do you know that?” Future Beca said and Beca was surprised at how easily it slipped out of her future self’s mouth. Even after three years of friendship, she had trouble saying it to her best friend but this version of her just said it, like she had said those words hundreds of times before.
The ginger smiled and brought Beca’s hand to her lips, kissing the back of it, an action that made Younger Beca blush furiously. “I do, but it’s always nice to hear it again.”
Present Beca chuckled at Chloe’s antics and she was about to look away to discover more in the apartment because there was no way Future Beca was going to repeat the words a second time but she surprised herself.
“I love you so much. I’m so glad we’re doing this together.” She took a breath. “To be honest, I’m nervous but I know that… this is what I want. And having you by my side means the world to me. I wouldn’t be doing this without you.”
Present Beca gulped at the seriousness of her voice. She could hear just how much she meant it and that scared her, Beca was never so easily vulnerable with someone like that and it took a lot for her to tell her true feelings. But this Beca seemed to have no problem with that anymore. She wondered what was going to lead her to this place in her life where she could just say she loved Chloe Beale like it was the easiest thing in the world.
Although, Beca can admit loving Chloe Beale was the easiest thing in the world. She was pretty sure everyone that knew her fell in love with her a little bit. At least, that’s what Beca told herself.
She knew that whatever was awaiting her in two years was going to be scary, but she also knew it would be okay because the redhead would be by her side and life was always a bit less scary when she had Chloe’s hand in hers.
It all got even more real when she saw her future self get closer to Chloe and she instantly knew what was going to happen but she still took a sharp inhale when it actually did. Chloe closed her eyes and so did Beca and then their lips connected. Present Beca gripped her seat with white knuckles, unable to look away from the two women kissing. It was a kiss that revealed a lot of things; it was obvious that it wasn’t the first kiss they had shared by the way both women knew exactly what to do with their lips and their hands. Future Beca’s hands flew to red hair while Chloe pulled her lover closer by the hips.
Present Beca couldn’t look away from the scene and she swallowed thickly. Instead of feeling weird over the fact that she was currently seeing herself kiss her best friend, all she felt was jealousy. Jealousy over herself because this current version of her didn’t know what Chloe’s lips tasted like and she wanted to find out so bad. She was hit with the realization that the version of herself that she was now, in 2015, was also craving the bubbly girl with every inch of her being and she wiped her sweaty hands on her leggings.
She needed to go back to her Chloe.
She looked at the floor to find the walkman and found it near a box labeled “bhloe” and rolled her eyes, knowing that Amy must’ve wrote that. She quickly put on the headphones and anxiously flipped the device at least 3 times before finally finding the Rewind button. She took one quick look at the two girls on the bed and bit her lower lip, an easy sense of calmness filling her heart at the knowledge that her future self was happy with the woman she loved the most and so could she.
She closed her eyes and pressed the button, hoping that it would work. She felt the same feeling of heaviness in her arms and legs and her head became too heavy to hold straight. Bright colors flashed in her head and soon, everything shut down.
. . .
She awoke with a gasp, her whole body lifting up from the chair. Lilly stood up at the same time with a curious expression and accepted the walkman that the DJ handed her.
“So?” Lilly said, waiting to know if it worked the way she hoped it would.
A million things flew to Beca’s mind, the first thing being “You sent me two years into the fucking future you psycho!” but instead all that came out was: “I need to talk to Chloe.”
Not even feeling the ache in her legs anymore due to the adrenaline, she sprinted up the stairs. She ran past Stacie who was studying for her physics exam in the living room, ignoring her calls and flew up the stairs two by two to go to Chloe’s room. The redhead’s room was unfortunately the one at the end of the long hallway but she made it there soon enough. Her hand was on the handle when she realized she’d scare the living shit out of Chloe if she just rushed into her room with the speed of a madman.
She took a deep breath to calm herself down and knocked two times, before opening the door. She found Chloe on her stomach in boxer shorts and a pink tank top, scrolling through her instagram feed on her bed like she did every night before sleeping.
“Hey,” Beca said, releasing a breath, suddenly very nervous.
Chloe’s piercing blue eyes met hers and a smile instantly appeared on her face, making Beca’s heart skip a beat. She was aware she just technically saw her, but that was her Chloe. The version that she knew, not this future version of her that Beca will know in two years. This was the Chloe that was still the captain of the Bellas and that was redoing her senior year for the fourth time and that helped Beca study whenever she was struggling in a class.
She knew that Chloe well. She loved that Chloe.
“Hey you,” the ginger said in a soft voice. “What were you doing with Lilly?”
Beca tucked her hair behind her ear and suddenly wished she had changed from the clothes she wore at rehearsal before going here but it was too late now. She sat with her legs crossed on the bed and Chloe mimicked her and they were suddenly facing each other closely. Beca had a flash of her future self sitting next to Chloe on their bed in New York City. She couldn’t believe that this was where they were heading in life. She focused back to reality, she thought of how beautiful Chloe looked right now, with her wet hair in a bun and her face free of makeup. Her heart tugged when she looked at the lips, the lips she’d be able to kiss in the future whenever she wanted.
And how much she wanted to kiss them at this moment.
“Becs?”
The younger girl’s eyes flew back to her eyes and blushed when she realized she’d been looking intensely at Chloe without saying anything for a while.
“Um,” Beca swallowed thickly and cursed herself for being so damn bad at talking. There was no point of being shy right now, she had the literal proof that Chloe liked her too in front of her less than 3 minutes ago. “I uh-- what would you say if I said I wanted to… kiss you right now?”
Instead of having confusion written all over her face like Beca was expecting her to have, Chloe smiled softly and licked her lips.
“I would say… that I want you to,” she said in a gentle voice, filled with emotions. Beca’s heart grew ten sizes and she exhaled loudly, making the redhead laugh softly.
“Okay, cool.” Beca said nonchalantly, leaning back on her two hands with a teasing smile. There was a beat of silence and then Chloe scoffed.
“Are you kidding me?” The girl said with offence and surged forward, clearly not wanting to spend another second without kissing Beca.
The brunette barely had time to close her eyes before Chloe’s lips crashed onto hers. Her lips this time, not her future self’s lips. So she was the one that could taste the pink lips that seemed to be made for hers. The faint smell of Chloe’s mango lotion surrounded them as Chloe’s body moved completely on top of her. There was no space between them anymore and Beca was overwhelmed by how euphoric she felt at this moment. Chloe’s lips took her bottom lip between hers as she held herself up with two strong arms while Beca’s hands roamed everywhere, wanting to touch every inch of the redhead.
When the need to breathe became necessary, Chloe pulled away and pressed her forehead against Beca’s. They both sighed happily in unison and smiled at each other at the action.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” Chloe admitted in a whisper, as if she was afraid to break the magic of this moment.
Beca squeezed the hands that were on her partner’s hips, “Then there’s no need to stop.” Chloe grinned and leaned down to kiss Beca again. The latter reciprocated the kiss with hunger and she was amazed at how long it took them to do this when it felt this fucking incredible.
. . .
When Beca woke up the next morning with Chloe half on top of her and a mouth full of red hair, she convinced herself that she had dreamt this glimpse in the future but she knew that what happened with Chloe was just the beginning of something extraordinary.