Chapter Text
“This isn’t fair,” Beca grumbled, closing the passenger side door of Chloe’s car with far more force than necessary.
Chloe walked around the car and looped her arm through Beca’s. “It’s Bella Tradition.”
“Yeah, well, it’s stupid and I hate it.” Chloe began leading Beca towards the entrance of the liquor store while Beca continued complaining, her pout more than evident in her tone. “It’s my birthday, shouldn’t you guys be the one buying me drinks?”
Chloe looked over and found her suspicions confirmed, Beca had her bottom lip pursed out in an honest-to-god pout.
“It’s a rite of passage,” Chloe explained for the umpteeth time. “You turn twenty-one and you have to supply the alcohol for your birthday party.”
“I don’t even want a birthday party,” Beca whined, but she made no efforts to move away from Chloe even after they walked into the store.
It took somehow both more and less time for Beca to grow comfortable around her than Chloe anticipated, but now, at the beginning of Beca’s Junior year, she didn’t even blink twice when Chloe touched her.
At times getting Beca to warm up to her felt more akin to trying to gain the trust of a stray cat. It was all slow movements and obvious intentions. Now, however, Chloe was sure she had Beca all figured out. She knew exactly which glare meant she could cuddle up nice and close to Beca and which ones held more homicidal intentions.
But more than all that, Chloe knew that her knowledge of those Beca-specific tendencies came only paired with the honor of being Beca’s best friend.
Beca had called Chloe her best friend only a handful of times—usually with an awkward ‘dude’ tacked on afterwards—but it meant the world to Chloe everytime she did.
And Chloe also knew that one of the perks of being Beca’s best friend meant that she was one of the only people who got to see this adorable side of her, which only made the smile on Chloe’s face grow even wider at Beca’s entirely too grumpy expression for it being her twenty-first birthday.
Chloe bumped hip into Beca’s softly, holding onto her bicep even tighter. “Too bad, it’s tradition.”
“And why didn’t you care about rules and tradition when I dated Jesse? At least that way Aubrey would’ve probably murdered me Freshman year and I wouldn’t have to go to this stupid party.”
Chloe used her hold on Beca’s arm to lead her towards the refrigerated section full of the obscure craft beers she knew Beca liked. “C’mon, stop being such a party pooper.”
“It’s my birthday,” Beca pointed out unhelpfully. “I can do whatever I want.”
Chloe sighed. “Look on the bright side. You get to pick out whatever you wanna drink tonight instead of having Amy pick something out for you that’s probably definitely just Everclear and the first mixer she can get her hands on.”
“Oh god, the Aussie Special, don’t remind me,” Beca said with a roll of her eyes. “I had to spend all Summer repressing the memories from the Trebles ‘Annual Year End Bash’.”
“I’m surprised you had any memories from that night to repress.” Chloe, on the other hand, vividly remembered the state Beca was in that night. She had stopped drinking at a certain point to ensure that she could watch Beca and make sure she didn’t embarrass herself too much. “But I’m sure if I looked hard enough in my camera roll I could find the video of someone dancing on a table at that party.”
(Of course, drunk Beca was rather insistent and Chloe wasn’t a miracle worker.)
Beca dropped Chloe’s arm and turned to face her. “You told me you deleted all the evidence.”
“No,” Chloe said, walking past Beca and pretending to look at the variety of ciders further down the aisle. “I told you I made sure everyone else deleted their evidence.” She glanced at Beca who hadn’t moved from her spot, betrayal written all over her face. “I said nothing about the evidence that I may or may not be hoarding.”
“You traitor.”
Chloe turned back towards Beca with enthusiasm. “Ooh, maybe I should find it and we can watch it later tonight.”
Beca took a couple quick, determined steps in Chloe’s direction. “Don’t even joke about that.” She continued walking past Chloe and down the next aisle over, empty threats trailing behind her. “I’m not afraid to leave you here!”
“How?” Chloe picked up her pace to follow Beca, unable to contain her laughter. “I’m the one that drove!”
Chloe loved to have an excuse to dress up.
It wasn’t like she didn’t take pride in her appearance every day—she deliberately picked out her outfits every morning and rarely left the house without at least some concealer and mascara—but she also loved having opportunities to go above and beyond.
Chloe rifled through her lipstick, all various shades of red and pink with the occasional purple or brown that she bought as a one off and never used again. She made a small noise of triumph when she found the one she was looking for. It was definitely the most well-loved of all the tubes, but it was Chloe’s favorite shade for a reason, emphasizing her natural lip color perfectly.
She brought her face close to the mirror to apply her lipstick, popping her lips out once she was finished to check for any stray streaks or missed spots.
Once she was satisfied with her makeup, Chloe grabbed her dress off the hanger in her closet. It was a bit cold for a dress, but they weren’t going to be leaving the house and chances were by the time the night ended, she’d still be too warm.
Chloe undressed and slipped the dress on over her head, doing her best not to mess up her hair or makeup.
She walked over to open up the door to her bedroom in order to call for someone to help zip her dress up, but on her way noticed that some of her hair had chosen to have a mind of its own and run awry.
Chloe opened her door and walked back to the mirror to fix her hair. She was just finishing up when she saw movement in the reflection behind her as Beca appeared in her doorway.
“Chlo, I need your help, Stacie’s trying to make me—” Beca cut herself off and Chloe glanced at her through the mirror again to find Beca staring at her. “Woah.”
Chloe turned around with a small smile, her dress twirling around her hips. “That bad?”
Chloe knew she looked good.
She bought this dress knowing that it was doing her all kinds of favors, but also remained tasteful enough that Chloe didn’t feel like she was leaving more than she wanted on display. She did, of course, have dresses like that in her closet, but they were more suited for clubs and less so for her best friend's birthday party.
Chloe knew she looked good, and based on the look on Beca’s face, she agreed.
“No, um—” Beca finally tore her eyes away from Chloe’s body and up to her face. “No, you look fine.”
Chloe smiled to herself and decided not to comment on Beca’s word choice or the obvious ogling that was going on.
It wasn’t often that Chloe rendered Beca speechless, but when she did, it always felt like a special compliment all on its own.
Chloe turned around again, holding her hair up off the back of her neck. “Zip me?” she asked. She felt Beca walk up behind her. “What’s Stacie doing to you?”
Beca pinched Chloe’s dress at the bottom of the zipper right at the base of her tailbone to give herself enough tension to pull the zipper up, just as she had done for Chloe countless times before.
Chloe remembered the first time she had asked Beca to help zip her dress. She could feel Beca’s nervous energy practically seeping out of her as shaking hands brushed her bare back.
Beca was a lot more efficient with her zipping capabilities now, but without fail, the knuckle of her first finger brushed all the way up Chloe’s spine, leading the zipper to its destination.
Beca laid Chloe’s zipper down flat against her back and seemed to finally remember what she had been saying when she first entered Chloe’s bedroom. “Oh, she's trying to force me to do shots and—”
“Ooh, shots!” Chloe spun back around quickly enough that Beca must have been worried she was going to fall because suddenly she was holding Chloe’s shoulders to steady her, leaving them practically nose-to-nose.
Beca took a step backwards, but didn’t release her hold on Chloe’s shoulders. “No, Chloe, I really don’t wanna get too drunk tonight.”
“And you don’t have to.” Chloe started walking towards the door forcing Beca’s hands off of her, but she caught one of them in her own before it fell. “But c’mon, Bec, it’s your twenty-first birthday, you have to do at least one shot with us.”
“Fine,” Beca relented, following Chloe out of her room, “but you only get one!”
With Beca’s hand still held in hers, Chloe led them downstairs and towards the kitchen where Stacie and Amy were busy filling up shot glasses with the handle of tequila they had purchased earlier in the day.
“Oh god,” Beca muttered under her breath, and Chloe knew exactly why.
Beca had a history with tequila, one that may or may not have had everything to do with the video on Chloe’s phone of her dancing on a table along to Get Low.
In all honesty, Chloe was more impressed than anything with Beca’s ability to grind her hips so low so flawlessly while keeping her balance on the wobbly table in the Trebles backyard.
Chloe leaned back so only Beca could hear her while she whispered, “Want me to swap one of them with water for you when they aren’t looking?”
As much as Chloe would have loved to see a repeat of such events for her own personal pleasure, she also was fully prepared to fulfil her best friend birthday duties at any moment.
“No, it’ll be okay.” Beca took a deep breath while she looked at the overfilled shot glasses in something akin to horror. “Besides, it's just one shot, right?”
Chloe glanced over at Stacie and Amy waiting with overexaggerated smiles, both of them holding a shot glass in each hand. “Right, yeah. Totally.”
“Chloe,” Stacie said in a way that sounded entirely too serious for what the situation entailed. “I’m glad to see you convinced Beca to come to her senses and join us for celebratory shots.”
“Shot,” Beca corrected. “Singular.”
“Sure thing, shortstack. The night is still young.” Amy gestured towards the counter with the shots still in hand. “We have salt to your left and limes to your right, feel free to help yourself.”
Stacie handed Beca the fullest shot, tequila spilling over the rim and into Beca’s hand before she even had the chance to grab it. “Oh, Jesus, okay.”
Chloe grabbed her own shot from Amy and set it down on the counter in front of her. She sprinkled a small pile of salt on the back of her hand, first licking the spot to ensure that the salt would stick.
Beca licked the back of her own hand and held it out to Chloe. “Salt me, Beale.”
“You’re so bossy today,” Chloe teased, but she sprinkled some salt on the back of Beca’s hand nonetheless.
Beca had the audacity to look shocked before she spoke, “It’s—”
“Your birthday?” Chloe looked up at Beca with as close to a surprised expression as she could manage without laughing. “Wow, I had no clue.”
“Let’s get this show on the road, you two, I’ve gotta go make my rounds,” Amy spoke up, and Chloe was embarrassed to realize that she had completely forgotten that she and Beca weren’t alone. “To illegal underage drinking. Gone, but never forgotten. May you rest in peace.” Amy lifted her glass towards Beca and threw the shot back without even so much as a flinch, not even bothering with a lime chaser.
“I swear to god that woman has a stomach made of steel,” Beca whispered to Chloe, both of them still holding their own glasses.
“Well, I guess we all have to be good at something. Cheers!” Chloe tapped her glass against Beca’s before licking the salt off her hand taking her own shot, watching Beca quickly go through the same motions.
Chloe had already grabbed one of the limes and was sucking on it when Beca swallowed harshly, a deep shiver making its way through her entire body. “Ugh, why do we do this?”
Chloe grabbed a napkin to dispose of her lime rind. “For fun, duh.”
Distantly, Chloe heard the doorbell ring, but it was Amy’s reaction that caught her attention. “Ooh, that’ll be the boys.”
Amy left her post in the kitchen preparing more shots for the other Bellas, and made her way towards the front door where Chloe could see various shades of burgundy out the front window.
“Boys?” Beca asked, her face still twisted from the tequila.
“Here.” Chloe grabbed one of the wedges of lime from the plate in front of them and put it in Beca’s mouth. “Suck on this. B.R.B.”
Chloe had to keep herself from stomping over to the front door where Amy held it open for a line of Trebles walking through the door.
She kept a smile on her face in an attempt to seem like she had everything in control, but Chloe knew her eyes were probably a little too crazy to be natural.
Amy looked at her in a way that told Chloe she definitely had crazy eyes. “You good there, ginger?”
“Amy, I thought I told you this was a Bellas only party.” Chloe whispered through her smile. “Why are there Trebles here?”
Amy closed the front door once the last Treble had walked through. “I figured this estrogen fueled event could use a bit of testosterone to spice things up.”
“And you didn’t think maybe it wouldn’t be the greatest idea to invite Beca’s ex-boyfriend to her birthday party?” Chloe gestured over towards Jesse who looked a little bit lost in the Bellas’ house without Beca by his side.
Amy sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth. “Ooh yeah, that’ll be awkward. Someone probably should have thought of that earlier.”
Before Chloe had a chance to respond, Stacie’s voice trailed from the kitchen, “Amy! We need some more shots in here!”
Amy was already halfway gone by the time Chloe opened her mouth to speak. “Sorry, captain, duty calls!”
Chloe took a deep breath. At least it seemed that Amy had only invited the Trebels, and everything with Jesse aide, their two groups had grown close in the years since Aubrey's graduation.
What was the worst that could happen?
All Chloe had to do was make sure that Beca didn’t get stuck alone with Jesse.
Easy peasy.
Except for the fact that Jesse seemed to be drawn to Beca like a magnet and the two of them were already exchanging in a conversation. Alone.
Beca hadn’t expressed any hostility towards Jesse, but Chloe had seen what their conversations looked like since they broke up and they were…awkward to say the least. And that was exactly the reason why Beca usually came up with any excuse to promptly leave their little chats as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Before Chloe could take more than two steps towards Beca and Jesse, Benji stepped in front of her.
“Hey, Chloe,” he said, holding up a blue bottle of some type of alcohol that Chloe couldn't see. “Amy said that we had to pay for entry tonight.”
Chloe smiled at him because of course Amy said that, and of course Benji was the only one to actually bring something over. “Sounds about right.”
Benji gestured with the bottle. “Where do you want me to put this?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe saw Amy walk up to Beca and Jesse with her tray of shots and Beca grabbed one without hesitation. If Chloe hadn’t seen her take the shot, she would have known the moment Beca finished swallowing from the full body shiver she released when she handed Amy back the empty glass.
Chloe took the offered bottle from Benji. “Um, I’ll take it to the kitchen. Thanks, Benji.”
It was meant to be a quick task. Walk into the kitchen. Set the bottle of what seemed to be whipped cream flavored vodka down on the counter. Walk out of the kitchen.
But of course, as most everything else seemed to be going that night, it wasn’t nearly as easy as Chloe would have hoped.
Right as she stepped out of the doorway to the kitchen, Chloe was granted a front row seat to watch one of the Trebels walk right into Jessica causing her drink to spill all over the ground.
In reality the situation could have been much worse, thank god, and Jessica didn’t seem to have more than a single drop on her pants, knowing she could have walked away entirely covered. (Chloe always felt the utmost sympathy for someone with a ruined outfit.)
Ashley, who was standing next to Jessica when she got bumped into, was already cussing out the Treble that walked into her in a way Chloe had only ever seen her do when Jessica was involved.
The Treble must have been a freshman as Chloe didn’t know his name and he looked absolutely terrified of Ashley, which felt valid given the circumstances.
“Are you okay?” Chloe asked as she inspected Jessica to make sure she really hadn’t gotten more of her drink anywhere on her.
“Yeah, I'm fine. Don’t worry,” Jessica assured, smile set firmly in place. Honestly, she was the one person who gave Chloe a run for her money in the competition for cheeriest deposition. “Just have to clean this up off the floor and I’ll be good.”
Ashley promptly turned away from the nameless Treble and the sweet smile she gave Jessica would have given Chloe whiplash if she hadn’t seen this type of scenario play out countless times before. “I’ll go grab some paper towels.”
Jessica seemed to be Ashley’s exception, the one thing that always hit her right in the soft spots.
It reminded Chloe of her and Beca.
Back during Beca’s Freshman year when she was a broody ball of teenage angst, Chloe managed to slip through the cracks and continue pushing through until she met Beca’s soft interior.
Beca tried hard to keep up her tough exterior and poor attitude, but as she opened up to not just Chloe, but all the Bellas, they began to see her for what she truly is.
A big ol’ softy.
Beca did, of course, still have what seemed to be an innumerable amount of walls up, but she had allowed Chloe to move past the majority of them.
Just like Jessica and Ashley, Chloe was Beca’s exception.
As if she knew Chloe was thinking about her, Beca looked away from Jesse and right at Chloe. She kept eye contact long enough that Chloe knew it had to be intentional.
Chloe hadn’t even realized she turned to face Beca until they were making eye contact across the room.
“Do you need help cleaning this up?” Chloe turned back and asked Jessica, doing her best to keep the impatience out of her voice.
She didn’t have a problem if they did need help, but Chloe also had a feeling that Beca needed her just as much, if not more.
“No, I think we got it.” Jessica knelt down on the ground, taking the offered paper towels from Ashley’s hands when she returned. “Thanks though!”
Jessica had just barely finished talking before Chloe turned around. She beelined over towards Beca and Jesse before anyone else got in her way, like a woman on a mission—which wasn’t entirely off.
Chloe didn’t have a problem with Jesse.
He was nice, tall, handsome, a good singer, passionate about music. He was everything that should have made him a perfect boyfriend to Beca.
And he was.
Until he wasn’t.
Beca had never fully explained to Chloe exactly why they had broken up. She had simply texted Chloe one night over the Summer saying that they were no longer together. Chloe had called Beca soon after receiving the text, but Beca didn’t talk any more about it and Chloe didn’t push.
Chloe really didn’t have any problem with Jesse, but after him and Beca broke up, she became…wary of him.
He was one of her best friend’s ex.
It was the principle of the thing.
Which is why she had no problem walking up behind Beca and addressing him directly. “So sorry to interrupt, do you mind if I steal the birthday girl real quick?” Jesse opened his mouth to speak, but Chloe didn’t give him enough time to respond. “Great, thanks!”
“Took you long enough,” Beca whispered to Chloe low enough that Jesse couldn’t hear as they made their way towards the kitchen. “I’ve been staring at the back of your head for like twenty minutes.”
“It wasn’t that long.” Chloe had to resist the urge to look back at Jesse, to see if he was watching the two of them walk away. “Looked like you two were having fun though.”
No problems with Jesse at all.
Once they reached the kitchen, Beca turned around to face Chloe, leaning back against the counter. “Oh yeah, we were having a riveting conversation about gas prices.”
Chloe furrowed her brows. “You don’t even drive.”
“Yeah, I know.” Beca sighed dramatically in a way that told Chloe she was starting to feel her earlier shots. “I feel like we forgot how to have a regular conversation now that we broke up.”
There was only a minute difference right now, one that would have been imperceptible to almost anyone else, but Chloe could easily tell that Beca wasn't quite as sober as she had been before she walked away.
“How about this?” Chloe reached down to grab both of Beca’s hands, swinging them side to side in the space between them simply because she knew that Beca never shied away from her touch when she felt like this. “If I see you two together again, I’ll step in and act as a buffer. As your best friend, it’s my duty to make sure you don’t have any more awkward conversations tonight.”
Beca nodded her head slowly. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Chloe asked with a smile.
“Yeah.” Beca took control of their hands and Chloe easily let her. She stopped moving their arms and let go of Chloe’s hands. Before Chloe had the chance to reach back out, Beca changed tactics. She began running her fingers along Chloe’s palm and up her forearm, turning back once she reached her elbow to repeat the process again and again. “But you better catch up first. If we’re stuck together all night, we’re gonna have to be on the same level.”
Her arms twitched at the tickling sensation under Beca’s fingertips and Chloe fought the urge to pull away. “Oh really?”
“Oh yes. And you wanna know why?” Beca asked in a low voice, dropping Chloe’s hands to reach for the bottle of tequila still on the counter. “Because it’s my motherfucking birthday.”
Chloe felt her eyebrows spike up towards the top of her forehead.
If she wasn’t already convinced that Beca was less than sober, that would have done the trick.
Beca was certainly no stranger to expletives. Chloe had heard her fair share of colorful language coming from Beca’s mouth, but there was a difference in the way she used them when under the influence of alcohol.
Usually, Beca would use them when she was angry or upset or had just clipped her toe on the leg of the coffee table for the thousandth time.
When Beca was drunk, however, she seemed to toss them in wherever she pleased with little care about if her sentence made much sense grammatically. This particular instance was mild in the grand scheme of what Chloe had seen her say, but it told Chloe everything she needed to know.
Beca was definitely tipsy.
And Beca was also currently filling up one of the shot glasses on the counter to hand to Chloe who took it without further protest and brought it up to her lips to drink.
“Good job,” Beca said once Chloe swallowed, and before she even had a chance to finish bringing one of the slices of lime from the counter to her mouth, Beca was holding another full shot in front of Chloe’s face. “One more.”
“How many did you have?” Chloe asked around the lime between her lips. She had to look around Beca’s hand to make eye contact, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
“Shhh. I’m a lightweight,” Beca insisted, “you need more than me.”
Beca definitely was a lightweight, but Chloe had never heard her actually admit it before; which, if nothing else, was another indication of her slight intoxication.
It was getting harder and harder for Chloe to keep denying Beca of what she so obviously wanted, but Chloe had just made a promise to Beca she intended to uphold. “How am I supposed to take care of you tonight if you get me drunk?”
“But it’s my birthday, Chloe,” Beca pointed out again with a slight whine in her voice.
Chloe tried to hold her ground, she really did, but then Beca jutted out her bottom lip and looked up at Chloe with wide and pleading eyes.
That little minx.
She was using Chloe’s own tactics against her.
And worst of all, it was working.
Some small part of Chloe was proud that Beca had managed to master her signature ‘puppy-dog-eyes’, but the rest of her was annoyed that Beca decided to use her newfound talent against her.
It seriously wasn’t fair.
Chloe sighed and grabbed the shot glass out of Beca’s hand. She brought it to her lips, swallowing the alcohol fast in an attempt to stave off the inevitable burn.
“There you go,” Beca said under her breath and Chloe told herself the shiver that ran down her spine was just from the tequila. Nothing else. Beca held up the bottle again. “One more.”
“You said that with the last shot.” Despite her refutations, Chloe handed Beca the glass in her hand.
Beca smiled to herself as she filled the shot glass one last time. “And I probably mean it with this one.”
And really, how was Chloe supposed to say ‘no’ when Beca was being so adorable? Not that she really wanted to anyways.
Beca might have been a lightweight, but Chloe could handle her alcohol.
What was one more shot?
One more shot, as it turned out, was slightly less manageable than Chloe had anticipated.
She had fulfilled her promise to Beca thus far, ensuring that her and Jesse didn’t get caught alone anywhere, but Chloe’s excuses had gotten more flimsy as the night went on.
This most recent time after they found themselves in a group with a couple other people, Jesse being one of them, Chloe simply grabbed Beca’s hand and slipped away without a word. She walked them towards the kitchen, both of them stifling their giggles like they had just gotten away with something.
(Chloe didn’t have much of a reason to pull Beca away because they weren’t alone, but she did it nonetheless.)
Only dropping Beca’s hand once they reached the kitchen, Chloe walked over to their cupboard to pull out two cups.
“No, Chloe, I really don’t need another drink,” Beca groaned.
Chloe watched out of the corner of her eye while filling their two cups as Beca rested her head down on the counter, her forehead smushed against the granite.
“I have a feeling you’re gonna like this one.” Chloe set down the full cup in front of Beca. “Drink up.”
Beca lifted her head, a big red mark left on the middle of her forehead from the counter, and eyed the cup suspiciously.
Chloe’s hand stopped halfway on its journey of bringing her own cup to her mouth. “It’s water, Bec.”
“Oh thank god,” Beca sighed, and Chloe stayed frozen watching her drink all of the water in her cup in record time. Chloe only realized she was still staring when Beca finally looked up at her.
Chloe shook her head lightly, smiling to herself as finally drank from her cup.
Beca narrowed her eyes at Chloe, the slow fading red spot in her forehead betraying all of her attempts at looking stern. “What are you smiling at?”
“You,” Chloe easily responded, and the way Beca’s eyes seemed to double in size left a warm feeling in her chest. She felt her smile grow even wider, but covered it by taking another sip of water.
She loved these moments with Beca.
Not just the ones where they were alone, but the ones where Beca seemed unafraid to be silly in a way she hadn’t seen her act with anyone else.
The ones where Chloe could be totally and completely honest, knowing that whatever she said, whatever happened, it would all be okay because it was Beca.
She hadn’t found a good way to describe what it was that made Beca different from everyone else. Words seemed to fail her in a way they never had before with Beca, and, to Chloe, that said more than any order or amount of words ever could.
She was just Beca.
And somehow that made all the difference in the world.
And in that moment, Beca was still looking at her and Chloe felt that warm feeling flood her entire body, slithering up her neck and making it nearly impossible to breathe properly.
She hadn’t even said anything. She didn’t need to. It was enough.
Right about when Chloe became concerned she would begin to go lightheaded if the moment went on any longer, Stacie walked into the kitchen and it was like the spell was broken.
Chloe took a deep breath and looked down at her cup, taking the last few big gulps needed to finish off her own water. She chanced a look at Beca once she finished and found her looking down at her own empty cup with slightly flushed cheeks.
Even with how words failed to describe those moments with Beca, Chloe wished they didn’t so maybe she could have a chance to know what Beca was thinking.
To know if Beca sometimes felt like she couldn’t breathe when Chloe was around.
To know if Beca felt the thick, inexplicable tension in the air that Chloe was too afraid to try and understand alone.
To know if Beca wanted to learn where it came from.
Together.
Stacie closed the cupboard door that she had apparently been rummaging through and set down one of their big plastic bowls on the counter.
Beca was watching her in confusion, but as Stacie began cutting out slips of paper and writing down peoples names, Chloe had a suspicion she knew exactly what was happening.
“Oh my god, is this what I think it is?” Chloe asked Stacie.
“You bet your sexy little butt it is.” Stacie wrote Beca’s name down on one of the slips and placed it in the bowl.
“Is what what you think it is?” Beca asked, completely lost. Before Beca could figure out what was going on, Chloe grabbed her hand and dragged her back out to the living room. “Oh god, what’s happening?”
Chloe smiled to herself, pulling Beca along. “Shh, it’s fun, trust me.”
“Where are you taking me?” Beca protested, but she followed Chloe nonetheless. “I don’t even know what’s happening right now.”
Amy let out a loud groan as she plopped down into the beanbag chair that she always needed help getting out of because it was too low to the ground. “Seven minutes in heaven, Shorty. Keep up.”
Beca turned to Chloe right as she sat down next to Cynthia-Rose on the couch. “Seven minutes in heaven? Chloe.”
“Beca.” Chloe mocked her tone and Beca had the audacity to look offended. “Just sit down, nothing bad's gonna happen.”
“Why don’t I trust you?” Beca asked.
In lieu of a response, Chloe gave Beca a bright smile that she knew did nothing to ease her trepidation and patted the cushion next to where she was sat.
Beca might have been complaining about playing seven minutes in heaven, but Chloe knew better.
And more importantly, Chloe knew Beca.
If she didn’t want them to play, she would have been much more vocal about it, citing the birthday excuse more times than Chloe could count before leaving the living room altogether.
Chloe knew Beca.
If Beca didn’t want to be there, she wouldn’t.
“This literally doesn’t even make sense.” Beca sat heavily down on the couch next to Chloe. “It’s just us and the Trebles.”
Really, it shouldn’t have been a space big enough for two people, maybe one-and-a-half, but instead of sitting anywhere else, Beca chose to sit right next to Chloe. Even if it did force her to be squished between the couch’s armrest and Chloe’s side.
Not that Chloe was really complaining.
Chloe leaned over to whisper in Beca’s ear, not that the distance was very great to begin with. “You can’t seriously tell me there’s not someone here you’ve thought about kissing before?”
Beca turned towards her, leaving them almost nose-to-nose, and Chloe felt that same feeling as before deep in her chest.
The one that only Beca ever seemed to be the cause of.
But before Beca could respond, Stacie walked back out into the living room, breaking whatever moment they were having for the second time that night.
“Okay!” Stacie said, addressing the entire room. “As per birthday tradition…”
“Again with the tradition,” Beca mumbled to Chloe next to her and Chloe gave her a soft elbow to the ribs.
Stacie held the bowl out in front of Beca.
“…Beca gets to pick first.” Beca glared up at Stacie and Stacie wiggled the bowl in front of Beca’s face and threw a wink back down at her. “Happy birthday, babe. Choose wisely.”
Beca rolled her eyes, but brought her hand up to pick one of the pieces of paper out of the bowl without any protest.
She wasn’t quite sure why, but Chloe felt nervous as she watched. Beca grabbed a paper and brought it towards her lap. Chloe wasn’t looking down at the paper while Beca opened it, but instead she was watching Beca’s face as she read over the name.
Beca tensed up next to her and Chloe could see the brief panic pass over her face.
Chloe looked down at the slip of paper in Beca’s hands and understood exactly what had just happened.
Written clear as day in a messy, bold script.
Jesse.
“C’mon, shawshank, who’d you pick?” Amy asked from the beanbag chair, but neither one of them looked at her.
“I-um—” Beca fumbled over her words.
Chloe knew she had to do something— anything to save Beca from the potential awkwardness and embarrassment of having to be locked in the hall closet for seven minutes with her ex-boyfriend.
She snatched the paper out of Beca’s hands and crumpled it up before anyone else could read what it said.
“Wha—” Beca tried to ask, but Chloe didn’t let her finish.
Instead, Chloe said the first thing she could think of.
“It’s me.”
(In retrospect, there might have been better solutions, but it did the trick.
And besides, she had a duty as Beca’s best friend that she had all intentions of upholding.)
“Ooh, a little bit of captain on captain action,” Amy commented from across the room while a couple other people in the room made their own teasing reactions.
Chloe didn’t even think to look at Jesse.
Stacie set the bowl down on the table with a grin. “Alright, ladies, if you’d follow me.”
The journey to the hall closet wasn’t a long one, but Chloe swore she could have counted each time her heart beat along the way.
(She told herself it was the residual adrenaline from Beca nearly having to do this with Jesse.
It worked well enough.)
Stacie turned around once they reached the closet and Chloe chanced a look at Beca for the first time since saying that she was the one who had been chosen.
She was so focused on “fulfilling her duties” that she failed to consider what Beca’s reaction might be.
Looking at her didn’t clear anything up, however.
Chloe prided herself on being able to know Beca better than anyone else, but that didn’t mean she knew everything .
Like this moment, where Beca was looking at Chloe with an expression she couldn’t place, Chloe felt like she didn’t know Beca at all. Like there was still so much left to learn.
The look was gone almost as quickly as it came, and Beca was looking at Stacie who Chloe only just realized was speaking.
“Chloe, I’m assuming you know the rules, but I'll go over them for our little rascal.” Stacie reached over to ruffle Beca’s hair and Beca swatted her hands away. “The timer starts once the door closes, and the door has to stay closed until the seven minutes are up. You don’t have to kiss, but it’s a great way to pass the time.” Stacie winked at Beca and Chloe had to fight back a laugh at the expression she pulled. “It’s your choice if the lights are on or off.”
“On,” Beca interrupted. “Definitely on.”
“Relax, B, live a little.” Stacie placed her hand on Beca’s shoulder. “Now get in the closet.”
Stacie used her hold on Beca’s shoulder to guide her into the closet. She then used her hand to gesture towards the open door with a flourish as Chloe followed Beca in.
Stacie began closing the door behind them, but stopped before she finished. “You two need anything before I start the timer? Chapstick? Condoms?”
Beca reached for the door handle and tugged it from Stacie’s grasp to pull the door closed. “Goodbye, Stacie.”
However, right before the door closed, Chloe caught Stacie mumbling under her breath, “Someone’s eager.”
Chloe smiled to herself at Stacie’s comment and kicking some of the shoes in the closet to the side, clearing up a space on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Beca asked.
Once there was enough room, Chloe crouched down, being mindful to not accidentally flash Beca while trying to sit down in her dress.
“Sitting.” She looked up at Beca from her spot on the floor. “You really wanna stand for the next seven minutes?”
Beca nodded her head dumbly, and Chloe wondered if it was because she was nervous. “Yeah, fair. Smart.”
Beca moved to sit in the small space next to Chloe on the floor, leaning back against the wall of the closet.
“So…” Beca held the last syllable far longer than necessary before continuing. “What do you wanna do for the next six-and-a-half minutes?”
“Well, there’s the obvious,” Chloe offered, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the eye roll Beca gave in response. She leaned back against the wall and lolled her head over to continue looking at Beca. “For the record, this wasn’t what I had planned for your party.”
“You mean getting locked in a closet with me wasn't a part of your master plan for the evening?” Beca teased. “I was starting to think you liked holding me in small spaces with you against my will.”
Chloe felt herself smile. “You can’t tell me we didn’t have a good time in your shower.”
“You trapped me in there and forced me to sing your ‘lady-jam’.” Beca was obviously trying to go for ‘appalled’ but she was falling somewhere much closer to ‘adorable’.
“Yeah. A good time,” Chloe pointed out. “But I wasn’t talking about this”—she gestured around the closet with her hand—“situation. I was talking about your party in general. This was supposed to be Bellas only, but I guess Amy thought that bigger would be better.”
“Eh, it’s not so bad.” Beca shrugged. “At least she kept it in the a capella family. And it could be worse, I could be in here with Jesse.”
“You’re welcome for that by the way.” Chloe leaned over, not that there was much distance to cover, and bumped into Beca’s side to jostle her slightly. “There’s literally nothing worse than playing seven minutes in heaven with your ex.”
Beca let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’ve played this before?”
“We did it at almost every party I went to in high school. You haven’t played?”
“Do I honestly strike you as the type of person who went to parties and kissed my friends in my free time?”
“No,” Chloe considered. “I guess not.”
There was a lull in the conversation and Chloe found herself wondering how much time they had left. She wished she had thought to grab her phone, but she left it up in her bedroom because her dress didn’t have pockets—which honestly felt like a crime against both fashion and convenience.
“Is it not weird?” Beca asked after what couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds (something Chloe would have been more sure of if she had some way to carry her phone in her dress.)
(Seriously. Dresses with pockets. It’s not that hard.)
Chloe turned to Beca and found her looking back expectantly. “What?”
“Wanting to kiss your friends,” Beca clarified.
Chloe hummed to herself while she considered Beca’s question. “It can be, but only if you let it, I guess. Sometimes you can just let things be uncomplicated.”
Beca smiled at Chloe, but one of her eyebrows slowly traveled up her forehead. “Literally everything about that sounds complicated.”
Chloe rolled her eyes playfully. “You need to learn how to have more fun.”
Beca let out an indignant scoff. “I can be fun.”
Chloe raised her hand to her chest to mimic Beca’s hurt. “I know that,” she insisted. “I’ve seen you spend many nights in front of your computer for hours working on your mixes.” Chloe winked at Beca. “Looks real riveting.”
“Bitch,” Beca whispered harshly. “Just because your idea of fun is holding people hostage when they’re vulnerable doesn’t make that a universal experience.”
“Do you want me to make you sing right now too, because I'm sure we could figure something out.”
Beca smirked and Chloe barely had time to prepare for her response. “We aren’t wearing too many clothes for your standards right now?”
Chloe had to bite back a smile.
Beca was teasing.
It certainly wasn’t the first time, but it also wasn’t something that she did often, so when Beca did play along Chloe couldn’t help but to take advantage of the situation.
Chloe scooted closer to Beca, dropping her voice slightly. “Again, I think we could figure something out.”
“Again,” Beca goaded, and Chloe felt her chest grow inexplicably tight, “that’s more your idea of fun, not mine.”
“Well then…” Chloe leaned impossibly closer to Beca, enough so that she could feel Beca’s breath on her cheek. “By all means, Beca, show me how you have fun.”
Looking back, Chloe should have realized the implications of what she said. Should have had at least one single moment of forethought dedicated to understanding that she practically asked for this to happen.
But in the moment, Chloe was nothing but surprised when Beca closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to Chloe’s.
It was soft and gentle and had caught Chloe entirely off guard.
It was also brief.
Almost as quickly as Beca had kissed her, she pulled away, looking like she was just as shocked as Chloe by what she had done. Beca opened her mouth to apologize, but Chloe didn’t let her get the words out.
Instead, Chloe kissed her.
It took Beca a moment to kiss her back, but once she did, Chloe felt like her world had been upturned.
To put it plainly, Beca was a seriously good kisser.
(She wasn’t one to brag, but Chloe had been told one multiple occasions how good of a kisser she herself was, so she felt more than qualified to think such a statement.)
Chloe had to choke back her gasp when Beca’s tongue brushed the seam of her lips.
Oh.
So that’s how Beca wanted to play this.
Well, two could play at this game.
Chloe parted her lips, but instead of granting Beca the access she had been asking for, she pushed forwards, licking into her mouth.
Beca was the one to make the first noise, a small groan at the back of her throat that came right after a breathy gasp that Chloe definitely wasn’t going to forget the sound of any time soon.
That one small noise, that little bit of confirmation that Beca was enjoying this, lit a fire deep in Chloe’s chest.
She brought her hand up to the back of Beca’s neck and used her hold to dictate the angle of Beca’s head. Before Chloe could use the new angle to her advantage, Beca’s tongue was in her mouth quick enough that Chloe knew it had to be in retaliation.
And the thought excited her.
She couldn’t hold back her gasp this time when Beca’s hand brushed the top of her thigh, fingertips just under the hem of her dress. And Beca stayed there, forcing Chloe to realize the purposefulness of the action.
Chloe felt like she was losing her mind.
The very mind that chose that very moment to fill in quite a few blanks of the different things Beca could do with her hand if she only slid around to the inside of her thigh and slightly higher.
Which was an entirely inappropriate thought to have about her best friend, but Chloe couldn’t help herself.
Certainly not while Beca’s thumb was brushing back and forth against the bare skin of her thigh and her tongue was busy meeting Chloe’s own stroke for stroke in what was undoubtedly one of the best kisses Chloe had ever experienced.
A knock on the closet door startled them both apart and for a moment there Chloe had forgotten about the party.
For a moment, it was just her and Beca.
“One minute warning, lovebirds.” It was Stacie and her timing that seemed to be just spot-on all night long.
“Fuck,” Beca cursed under her breath, and thanks to the lights Beca had insisted they keep on, Chloe could see a light blush dusting her cheeks.
She could only imagine that she herself was in a similar state.
Chloe heard herself let out an awkward, breathy laugh before she could stop herself. “Yeah.”
“We should probably…” Beca trailed off, gesturing around the room unhelpfully while pointedly avoiding eye contact with Chloe.
Chloe nodded her head slowly. “Yup.”
Beca stood up off the floor, reaching for Chloe once she was standing. She helped Chloe up off the closet floor, once again being mindful of her dress. Somehow having a fashion faux pas seemed even more mortifying after having Beca’s tongue down her throat just a minute ago.
“Thanks.” Chloe hated how breathless she sounded, but could do nothing to stop it.
“Wait.” Beca pointed to Chloe’s mouth and then gestured to her own. “You have some lipstick.”
“Oh.” Chloe used her hand to wipe around her lips, hoping the blush burning on her cheeks wasn’t too noticeable. “Did I get it?”
The chuckle Beca gave in response was enough of an answer for Chloe. “Almost.” Beca lifted her hand up towards Chloe’s face. “Can I?”
Chloe nodded her head, untrusting of her own voice.
When Beca’s hand found her cheek, cradling it gently, Chloe was almost positive she was going to be kissed again.
Her lungs were burning as Beca’s thumb brushed against her bottom lip and only then did Chloe realize she was holding her breath. With the slightest bit of pressure, Beca tugged Chloe’s lip, causing her to release an airy sigh that, to her own ears, sounded entirely too desperate.
Beca used her hold on Chloe’s cheek to tilt her chin upwards, her thumb this time swiping right underneath Chloe’s, most assuredly, swollen bottom lip.
Chloe looked down as Beca pulled her hand back, the pad of her thumb now colored ‘Kiss N Tell’ pink.
Before Chloe had the opportunity to do something stupid, like follow her impulses and grab Beca to kiss her again with abandon, Beca took a step backwards.
Beca opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to think better of it and stopped herself. She took about two seconds to look around the closet and took a deep breath before finally deciding to address Chloe. “Um, thanks.”
“For kissing you?” Chloe asked, her heart racing.
Beca’s eyes widened. “No,” she squeaked out before clearing her throat. “No, that was—yeah.” Chloe knew exactly what she meant. “But, um, thanks for making my birthday fun. I, uh, I’ve had a really good time tonight.”
“Oh.” That was probably the last thing Chloe had expected to hear. Honestly, up until that point, Chloe was worried Beca would have described her birthday as anything but fun. “Me too.”
Beca looked like she was going to say something else, but Stacie—again, impeccable timing on her part—chose that very moment to open up the door to the closet.
“You two have a good time getting frisky?” Stacie asked as soon as the door was fully open.
Chloe couldn’t help the onslaught of memories brought on by that one single sentence.
Ones involving the warmth of Beca’s body pressed against hers
Ones involving Beca’s hand on her thigh.
Ones involving Beca’s tongue in her mouth doing sinful things that Chloe was almost positive she could still taste.
Beca walked out of the closet, purposely bumping Stacie with her shoulder as she passed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Yes.” Stacie turned on her heel to face Beca. “Yes, I would.”
Beca only made it a couple of steps before looking back at Chloe who had yet to move from her spot. “You coming, Chlo?”
“Yeah.” Chloe took a deep breath and nodded, hoping her smile looked confident enough. “Yes.” She walked out of the closet and looped her arm through Beca’s to walk back into the living room.
It was just a drunk kiss with her best friend.
Hell, it wasn’t even the first time Chloe had been in a situation exactly like this one before, and nothing about those kisses was ever complicated.
Who’s to say this would be any different?