Jesse lowered a box of vinyls in front of Beca. Grabbing the one with bright red letters, he hummed while looking at it. “She is your manic pixie dream girl,” he said, pointing out on the title of the record.
Beca just furrowed, utterly confused, “a what now?”
They almost forgot that Stacie was there as well, when the girl jumped in, “oh my god, she totally is!”
“Why are you here?” Beca snapped, trying to sound annoyed.
“Told you, I had to ask Jesse something about the proposal,” the other girl replied.
“So ask and go away,” DJ huffed.
“Oh, no, now it’s getting interesting,” Stacie offered a smug, toothy smile.
“I hate you both,” the tiny brunette said.
“Beca, c’mon, don’t be so grumpy,” Jesse jokingly bumped her shoulder.
“Yeah, Beca, the sooner you accept that she is your MPDG, the better,” the other girl added.
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Beca grabbed the record from Jesse’s hands, studying the cover.
“I’ll explain,” he jumped in.
“Please do!”
“It’s a movie thing,” the guy stated.
“Of course it is,” eye roll could almost be heard.
“It’s a character that teaches broodingly soulful young people to embrace life with all of its infinite mysteries and adventures,” Jesse explained, slowly pointing out, trying not to lose Beca’s attention.
“You have to admit, Chloe did teach you to loosen up a bit,” Stacie jumped in.
“Yeah, and now you have to make a big romantic gesture to show her how much she means to you,” he pointed out.
Beca’s face became way too serious in a moment, “that’s not gonna happen,” she stated firmly.
“Beca…” Jesse said in a friendly tone.
“No, guys, enough. For years all I’ve been hearing is that Chloe has feelings for me, enough!” she stood up, records long forgotten on the table.
Stacie and Jesse tried to interrupt her speech, but the tiny brunette was too wound up to let them cut her off.
“No, no buts, no what-ifs, no nothing, she is my best friend. Even if she had any resemblance of feelings for me, that is not up to you to say… it is an invasion of privacy!” she grabbed her jacket, manically gathering her phone and sunglasses from the table.
“We are sorry,” they said at the same time.
“You should be, I have to go. And I know you, don’t say anything about this to Chloe.” Beca rushed out without looking back.
She couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason why she was pissed off all of a sudden. It’s not like this is the first time they were talking about Chloe’s feelings, but it is the first time in a long time that Chloe is actually dating somebody. If she had feelings for Beca, she wouldn’t be dating that Chicago dude. She wandered around town for a while, ending up in a place she didn’t expect.
“Your fiancé is an ass,” Beca said without a hello.
Aubrey rolled her eyes, moving from the door and letting the angry brunette in, “what did she do?”
“She and Jesse ganged up on me.”
“About what? Ear monstrosities? Your brooding? The fact you refuse to smile like a normal person?” Aubrey and Beca developed a strange form of friendship, they were bickering, but nowadays, it was more for fun than anything else.
“Chloe,” Beca murmured while slumping down on the couch.
“I should have guessed,” the blonde grabbed the bottle of water and put it in front of the angry girl.
“Yeah,” she huffed.
“Well, you should tell me about it,” Aubrey learned from Chloe how to talk to upset Beca, and she is trying not to be too pushy.
“This is weird, and I don’t know why I came here, I should go,” DJ said and made a motion to get up.
Aubrey cut her off with a stern voice, “Beca, sit down… and tell me what is going on.”
“They say Chloe is my manic pixie dream girl.”
“What?” the blonde had almost the same reaction as Beca when she heard the phrase for the first time.
“Something from the movies, I don’t know.”
“And that got you upset because?”
“Because she is not my anything!” Beca snapped. She took a deep breath, her eyes were getting teary, and her throat was closing up.
“Oh, Beca…” Aubrey grabbed her hand.
“Please don’t,” the brunette whispered, barely holding tears in.
“Talk to her, that is all I am going to say,” Aubrey squeezed her hand, trying to convey her support.
Beca took a deep breath and whispered, “I’ll try.”
Stacie (5:35 PM): is Beca with you?
Chloe (5:35 PM): No, why?
Stacie (5:41 PM): Oh, nothing. Just checking
Chloe (5:41 PM): Stacie….
Stacie (5:42 PM): Geeee, easy with passive-aggressiveness
Chloe (5:42 PM): What did you do, Conrad?
Stacie (5:45 PM): Nothing!
Stacie (5:45 PM): It’s Jesse’s fault
Chloe (5:46 PM): What is!?!
Stacie (5:51 PM): We might have suggested that you are her dream girl
Chloe (5:52 PM): I am going to kill both of you!
Chloe (5:52 PM): why the fuck did you do that?!
Stacie (5:53 PM): I’m sorry, it was just teasing, like we did million times
Chloe (5:55 PM): Call me if you find out where she is
Stacie (5:56 PM): Chloe, c’mon, we didn’t mean anything by it
Stacie (6:03 PM): Chloe…
Stacie was looking at her phone with a frown on her face, “she is pissed.”
“I really don’t see the point in all the drama,” Jesse said while rummaging through records Beca didn’t bother to take with her.
“Yeah, yeah, if she tells Aubrey, I am so dead,” the brunette stated.
“Wow, great priorities Conrad,” he teased her.
“My life is at stakes, that’s a high priority,” she huffed overdramatically.
“Maybe we should look for Beca,” he suggested.
Stacie shook her head, “she will call when she wants to be found, give her some space.” Her phone started ringing at that moment. “Oh shit, it's Aubrey, I have to take this.” She jumped and tried to sound breezy. “Hey babe.”
“Hey, I’m just letting you know that I’ll order some Chinese for tonight, are you going to be home soon?”Aubrey didn’t sound upset, Stacie for a moment thought that Chloe didn’t call her to tell her about the current situation.
“Yeah, in about an hour. See you soon”, the brunette confirmed.
“Okay, bye Stacie”, she hung up without saying anything else.
“I am so fucked”, Stacie winced while looking at her phone.
“That didn’t seem like “I am fucked” conversation”, Jesse pointed out.
“She said bye Stacie, do you know when was the last time she called me Stacie?”, the girl asked, receiving a negative head shake. “When I accidentally scratched her car”
“I remember that... she was so pissed”, Jesse stated.
“I am so dead, have to go, wish me luck”, she was still in her over-the-top manner.
“You are going to need it…”, he joked.
“I’m blaming it all on you, just so you know!”
Stacie entered her home like she was entering a courtroom. It was easy to spot Aubrey on the couch, reading a book. So she timidly whispered, “Hey”.
The other girl barely even looked at her, she just shortly replied with “hey”.
“So, I’m guessing Chloe called you”, Stacie sat down next to her fiancé.
“Guess again”, the blonde said, not looking up from her book. “Beca was here”, she added.
“What?”, Stacie was surprised by the answer, she knew her friend and her fiancé were not enemies, but let’s face it, they were not the closest of friends.
Aubrey finally snapped the book shut and turned to face Stacie, “are you and Jesse insane? Like for real? I told you not to meddle, why couldn’t you listen to me!?”
“I didn’t! Jesse started it”, brunette tried to defend herself, but angry Aubrey never actually listened to the other side.
“Sure, for fuck sakes Stacie, it is not anybody’s business to meddle. Beca is a very private person, and her and Chloe’s relationship is something none of us should talk about”, she got up from the couch, standing in front of Stacie like she was scolding her.
“I disagree”, the brunette snapped. “Yeah, they are our friends, and they love each other, we should help them when they are acting like imbeciles”.
“Has either Chloe or Beca said that they romantically love each other?”, Aubrey huffed, even more annoyed than before, receiving a head shake from her fiancé. “See, that’s what I’m talking about, all we can do is guess, and ruining a friendship over a guess is a stupid thing to do!”
“But Bree c’mon, you know that there is something so special”, Stacie stack to her guns, she firmly believes that Beca and Chloe are perfect for each other.
“I know nothing!”, the blonde almost yelled.
“Actually, you are the only person that knows”, Stacie smirked, she always admired her girlfriend and how she is loyal to her friends. But she also knew that if anybody knew what kind of feelings Chloe has for Beca it would be Aubrey. “Like I would believe you when you said you don’t know how Chloe feels.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about. Find a way to talk to Beca, she is pissed”, the blonde dismissed Stacie’s accusations and changed the subject. “Now, dinner is almost here, go pick a movie, I’m done fighting with you”.
Beca (9:23 PM): Hey
Beca (9:23 PM): you awake?
Chloe (9:25 PM): Hey Becs, yeah
Chloe (9:25 PM): What’s up?
Beca (9:27 PM): Can I stop by?
Chloe (9:27 PM): Sure, you don’t have to ask
Beca (9:28 PM): I’ll be there in 10
Chloe (9:28 PM): You have the key, let yourself in, I’m just going to jump in the shower
Beca (9:29 PM): Cool
Chloe got out of the shower and headed out to her living room where she found Beca staring at the muted TV.
“Hey you, what’s going on?”, she asked, taking the seat next to her friend.
“I wanna talk to you”, the brunette said while turning off the TV.
“All right, is everything okay?”, Chloe decided to act like she has no idea what happened today because she knows that Beca has to get it out on her own terms.
“I don’t know anymore”, DJ huffed.
“Becs, breathe, I am here, I’m not going anywhere”, ginger said.
“How can you be sure?” the other girl whispered.
“How can I be sure about what?” Chloe didn’t want to presume, didn’t want to jump the gun, so she slowly spoke, making sure Beca explains everything she is feeling.
“How can you be sure that you are not going anywhere?”
“Why would I?” Chloe simply said.
“I don’t know, people leave,” the brunette shrugged, almost defeated, she almost looked like a lost kid.
Chloe grabbed the other girl’s hand, “I’m not going to leave you Beca, what is going on,” she finally asked.
“They say you are my manic pixie dream girl,” the brunette blurted it out.
“Okay.”
“I Google it, read about it… and, you might be…” Beca said while pulling her hand out of Chloe’s hands.
“Is that a good thing or?”
“I don’t know, that depends,” the brunette was staring at her hands, concentrating on the other girl’s voice, not on her own fears and insecurities.
“Depends on?” Chloe was patient, calm, somebody had to be because Beca looked like she was ready to pass out.
After a few moments, DJ spoke again, “well, you… you might not want that role”.
“What would that role entail, Becs? Tell me.”
“You, standing with me at the end of the movie,” the brunette said, thoroughly confusing the redhead. Chloe didn’t say anything for a hot minute, and Beca spoke again, “I shouldn’t have started with movie references.”
Chloe chuckled, “yeah, you don’t make any sense,” she said it with a smile, urging the brunette to continue.
“They all joke about us, you must know that”, Beca looked at her asking for confirmation, and Chloe nodded, all too aware how their friends call them aca-moms, star crossed lovers, Bechloe, and so on. And until now it was all in good fun.
“Im not bothered, I was not until today”, the brunette added.
“Then why today? What’s different?”, Chloe asked, almost whispering.
“You are dating, I… I… well I… I don’t know, I just couldn’t listen to them list the reasons why we are perfect for each other when we obviously are not”, DJ blurted out without thinking.
“We aren’t?”, ginger curiously asked, raising a brow.
“Well no, if we were you would be dating me, not that dude”
“You never asked,” Chloe whispered, and Beca would miss it if she were not so in tune with the other girl’s voice.
Beca got lost in her thoughts for a moment, she was thinking about the lightness, the comfort, it was so easy to talk to Chloe, even if she was talking about the redhead herself. Somehow admission just flew out of her mouth.
“You are right, I never did,” she said and put her head down. She was never brave when it comes to emotions. That was always something Chloe did better, she knew how to handle so many emotions, while Beca always stumbled in the dark.
Chloe pulled her out of her thoughts once again, “are you going to ask me now?”
“Aren’t you taken?” the brunette said bitterly, not looking up.
“Beca, just please, for once, I beg you, take the thing you want, don’t overthink, just do it,” Chloe pleaded, taking the other girl’s hand and tangling their fingers together. It was all it took and Beca did, she closed the gap between them, slowly, timidly, like she was kissing for the first time. When they stopped to take a breath, Chloe whispered, “go out with me, please,” and brunette just kissed her once more.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” they giggled and continued kissing.