#established bechloe

Chloe bounces back towards her, her autograph clutched tightly to her chest like it is the light of her life. Beca is still bewildered that Chloe hadn't wanted her to get one for her in favor of "living the full experience and I just want to feel like a regular screaming fan without a girlfriend who hangs out with her all the time Beca!"

"Fine then," she had said, and a week later she had gotten them free tickets and seats to the concert that the rest of the world had been dying to see.

"You do know that I could have gotten that for you like a month ago right?" Beca asks now, finally getting the chance to straighten away from the grey wall that she had been chilling with. Chloe glares at her, half-heartedly, and Beca couldn't help but pinch her cheek.

"A month ago we hadn't even been dating, and you know how much I hate feeling like I am entitled to everything just because I have a foot in the door."

Beca hums in acknowledgement. "I know, Chlo. But still." She leads them towards the exit, withdrawing a hand from her pockets to signal the doorman as they draw near.

Chloe ignores the sentiment. An elbow digs into her ribs even as they both mutter a thanks in their step over the threshold. "How did I do?"

The lights of downtown New York plays a concert of their own at the sidewalk beneath their feet. "Honestly?"

"Yeah."

"It was funny. You were freaking out like a blushing schoolgirl."

Chloe wacks at her arm, and it doesn't stop even as Beca tries to dodge the attack. "Beca!!"

The amusement that had been bubbling inside her chest all evening finally climbs up into her throat. "What?" She is full on chortling now, trying to not let herself get hit at while at the same time making sure that they don't venture off onto the road. "I'm being serious! You were like," she makes a exaggerated face, tapping onto her toes like the cement is hot, "Oh my god, it's Taylor Swift! Please sign my bra!"

Chloe lunges at her, her notepad now a sharp jab into Beca's ribs as she punches her side. "You're so mean!" A pout forms onto her lips even as Beca can tell that she is struggling to not give into her grin. "Like," a breath expels into the air in correspondence with another hit, "so mean. I don't even know why I put up with you sometimes."

"Because you love me," she says, not even caring that they are starting to attract attention. Let the people see. "And because you want to get in my pants."

That was apparently not the right thing to say, because the punches come in full force. "I. Hate. You."

"YOU SAID TO BE HONEST STOP HITTING ME!"

"I didn't mean that honest!" At least Chloe has withdrawn enough for her to actually see where she is walking. Oh, a fire hydrant. "I meant like, was I or was I not subtle enough to not scare Taylor off back there in my fangirl enthusiasm."

Beca smirks in the obvious refusal of commentary on her latter statement. "Nah, she loved you. I can tell."

Chloe huffs, but there is the ecstatic flash of pearly whites. "There. That wasn't so difficult was it?"

"Oh it was extremely difficult. Like I feel like I need to wash my mouth out with soap after what I just said."

Their driver hurries over to open the side door, "Oh really? Then I guess I should hold off my girlfriend duties for the rest of the night after we get back to your place. Pity too, since I am so happy that you did this for me tonight. I don't think I've gotten the proper chance to thank you earlier."

Now it is Beca's turn to act out in indignation. "Chloe Beale I do not appreciate you feeling the need to make me apologize for every little thing that comes out of my mouth. It's not fair."

"Not every little thing. Just some things. Like saying that I am a blushing little schoolgirl and wanting my bra signed. You know that I’d only take it off for you."

*****

“Exactly! So we need to go buy our decorations if we’re gonna stick to our plan!”

Beca sat up, brows furrowed, hair sticking up at every possible angle.

“I knew that plan would come back to bite me.”

“Come on, up! Up! Up!” Chloe said, each up punctuated by a clap of her hands. 

Begrudgingly Beca climbed out of the safety and warmth of bed and made the quick cold dash to the shower. She felt herself relax as the hot water came sputtering out of the shower head and chased away the cold of their bathroom.

Their plan - or Beca and Chloe’s awesome best Christmas ever, as Chloe had dubbed it - had been finalised only a few days before.

It was their first real Christmas living together as a couple that would be spent just the two of them.

Chloe’s mom had video called her and said that as all her kids were grown up now, her and Chloe’s dad would be going on vacation for Christmas from now on.

Chloe had pouted and pleaded but her mom’s mind was made up. She said they had to start making new traditions now that they were getting older, and Chloe should do the same.

Chloe was still miserable when Beca had gotten home from work late that night.

“You know, we could start making our own traditions,” Beca said, trying to coax Chloe out of her bad mood. “That’s the fun part about growing up, right? When you’re a kid you just do what you’ve always done, but when you grow up and you start your new family, you get to try new things. Mix things up a bit. Create new traditions that you get to pass on.”

“I guess,” Chloe mumbled, allowing Beca to put an arm around her and squeeze her into a side hug.

“Come on,” Beca said, squeezing again, “let’s think of some things we can do.”

And so they spent the next hour making their plan.

“The Christmas decorations go up the first weekend in December,” Chloe said, writing the first part of their plan. “So we should buy decorations soon.”

“Okay,” Beca said. “But no lights that make noise or dancing Santas or anything.”

“Agreed,” Chloe said. “How do you feel about flashing lights?” Beca pulled a face. “Me too.”

“Christmas Eve we get take-out,” Beca said, realising this was her only Christmas tradition she wanted to carry over. “Chinese.”

“Sure,” Chloe said. “But you’re skipping ahead. We have a lot of December to fill. Christmas movies every weekend until Christmas Day.”

“Christmas movie,” Beca said. “You get one per weekend.”

“Two,” Chloe said, grinning, knowing she would win any negotiation.

“Fine. One on Saturday, one on Sunday,” Beca said.

“Deal,” Chloe said. “Naturally Christmas music while we decorate.”

“Naturally,” Beca said. “But no Glee cover versions.”

“But-”

“No.”

“Ugh, fine.” 

“Christmas sweaters?”

“Sure.”

“Matching?”

“Absolutely not.”

It carried on like that until they had their December planned out. And Beca wouldn’t admit it, but she was actually kind of excited about their first solo Christmas. They had spent last year with Chloe’s family, and the year before they hadn’t been dating so while Chloe had gone home, Beca had hung around in New York with anyone she could find who was still in town. 

She’d had no desire to go back to her home town for Christmas for a long time now.

So she was excited to have Christmas plans that she could look forward to.

That was until Chloe had woken her up at 8 am on a Saturday so she could drag her around a Christmas market in New York.

“Is it gonna be crowded?” Beca asked, gratefully accepting a cup of coffee from Chloe as she left their bedroom, now fully dressed.

“Maybe,” Chloe said. “If we get there early enough it shouldn’t be too bad. Plus it’s not even December yet. I think it’ll get busier the longer we leave it.”

“Maybe next year we should do our Christmas shopping in June,” Beca said.

“I know you’re kidding but I promise you my Aunt Cheryl was fully wrapped by August,” Chloe said. “Anyway, don’t worry about the crowds. I’ll make sure you don’t get lost.”

“Okay, take it easy, you’re like an inch taller than me,” Beca said, rolling her eyes.

“If you say so,” Chloe said. “Okay, it opens soon, are you ready to go?”

They left their apartment, made the short but freezing walk to the subway, and about half an hour later they reached their stop. 

“Hot chocolate?” Chloe asked, taking holding of Beca’s hand and pulling her towards where the market was set up.

“Good idea,” Beca said, shivering, her breath coming out in white clouds.

Beca looked around while Chloe ordered their drinks. It wasn’t too busy yet, she was glad to see, but she knew it was only likely to stay that way for another few hours. She hoped she’d be back in their apartment by lunch, but Chloe likely had other ideas.

“Here you go,” Chloe said, handing over a cup. “So, where first?”

“Lead the way,” Beca said, gesturing towards the many stalls laid out in front of them.

They spent the next few hours weaving through the crowds as they looked at every stall. Chloe bought them almost matching Christmas sweaters - one for Chloe reading ‘I’m on the nice list’ and one for Beca which said ‘I’m on the naughty list’ - to which Beca had tried to protest.

“Are you telling me you’ve been a good girl this year, Beca? After the noises you made last night?” Chloe asked with a wink, causing Beca to blush furiously and stop complaining. 

“I’m not wearing it in public,” Beca muttered. 

“Duh, they’re for Christmas Day,” Chloe had replied, pulling her towards another stall that sold Christmas tree ornaments.

Chloe picked up some generic baubles, as well as some that seemed more personal to her. She grabbed a dog, a treble clef, and a teacup. 

“Spotted any that speak to you?” Chloe asked.

Beca shrugged, but her eyes were fixed on what looked like a little ornament of a carton of Chinese takeout. 

“This one?” Chloe asked.

Beca cleared her throat. “Yeah,” she said, trying to avoid Chloe’s eyes as she picked it up.

“What about the red panda?”

“Oh I didn’t even see him!” Beca said, almost squealing. 

“Get the guitar too,” Chloe said, laughing at Beca’s reaction. “Then we have three each.”

“Okay,” Beca said. “I’ll get these, you bought the sweaters. Do you wanna get a star?”

“My Mom is gonna send our old one with some other bits, if that’s okay?”

“Fine with me,” Beca said before she paid and they carried on walking, Chloe’s hand never leaving hers the entire time.

Chloe bought them some lunch once they reached what seemed to be the end of the first half of the market. They still had to walk down the other side so Beca was predicting they’d be here another hour at least.

“Doing okay?” Chloe asked, knowing how much Beca hated crowds.

Beca nodded, loosening the scarf around her neck as they sat at one of the picnic tables set out by the food stalls.”How much longer?”

“We can stop whenever you want, Becs, you know that right?” Chloe asked, looking at her with concern filled eyes.

“I know,” Beca said, smiling, waiting for her Mac and Cheese to cool. “I was just wondering.”

Chloe pulled up the list on her phone and started ticking things off.

“It looks like we’ve got everything we came for. We can head back now if you want?”

“You wanna see the rest though, right?” Beca asked.

“Well, yeah, but I can come back another time.” Chloe said.

Beca shook her head. “I’m good. We can see the rest. Just promise I won’t have to move out of bed until at least noon tomorrow.”

“And that’s different from how you normally spend your Sunday?”

“Sorry, I should have clarified, you’ll need to stay in bed with me.”

“I guess I can agree to that,” Chloe said. 

-

It was a week later and Chloe was dragging their newly purchased tree into their living room, close to the window so it could be seen from outside.

She was wearing a Santa hat, had tinsel wrapped around her neck like a scarf, and was singing along to their Christmas playlist. 

Beca was sitting on the arm of the sofa, getting seemingly more and more frustrated as she tried to untangle the lights.

“These are brand-new lights,” Beca muttered. “How are they already tangled?”

“Give them here,” Chloe said. “You just don’t have the magic touch.”

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“Very funny,” Chloe said, holding out her hands for the lights.

Beca handed them over but before she could say anything else, she was cut off by her phone buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out and sighed, lowering the volume on the music.

“It’s my Mom,” she said, pressing the green button and moving out of the living room and towards the bedroom. “Hey mom.”

Chloe frowned and bit her lip, wondering if she should continue.

This was something they should be doing together, but she also knew Beca usually ended up in a crappy mood after she spoke to her Mom.

Their relationship had been strained for as long as Chloe had known Beca, but she never really found out much about it. Beca didn’t speak about her much, and always clammed up whenever Chloe would ask, even now. 

Chloe focused on detangling the lights, but decided she wouldn’t do any of the actual decorating until Beca came back.

It was almost an hour later when Beca came out of their bedroom and dropped onto the sofa beside Chloe.

“You okay?” Chloe asked, looking up from her phone.

Beca gave a non-committal grunt and turned to look at the tree. “You didn’t make much progress. Couldn’t untangle the lights?”

“Please, I did that in like 5 minutes. I wanted to wait for you.”

“I’m sorry,” Beca said, running a hand through her hair. “I didn’t mean to take that long but…” Beca shook her head as she trailed off. “It doesn’t matter.” She pulled out her phone and restarted their playlist which had ended while Beca had been talking to her Mom. “Ready to carry on?”

Chloe smiled and nodded, and the two returned to their tree.

When it was decorated with a combination of the new stuff they had bought together, and the old stuff Chloe’s Mom had sent they both stood for a minute, smiling at their handiwork. Chloe’s arms came to wrap around Beca’s waist, her chin resting on Beca’s shoulder.

“I love it,” Chloe said, giving Beca a squeeze and kissing the side of her neck.

“Me too,” Beca said. 

The soft white lights wrapped around the tree glowed with warmth against the now dark sky, the streetlights below barely reaching the window of their apartment. 

It filled Beca with a feeling of cosiness and contentment that she didn’t usually associate with this time of year. Or any time of year for that matter.

“You know, if you wanted to talk about stuff with your Mom you can?” Chloe said, cautiously, feeling Beca tense beneath her arms.

“I’m good,” Beca said. “What movie are we watching?”

“Elf,” Chloe said, squeezing Beca even tighter.

-

Two weeks later, Chloe woke up in the middle of the night freezing cold and instinctively reached out for Beca. When her hand met cold sheets instead of Beca’s warm body, she opened her eyes, frowning.

It was then she realised she could hear Beca’s voice coming from the next room. She checked her phone and saw it was almost 2 am.

Frowning, she stepped out of bed and into the living room, pulling on her robe as she went.

“Mom, I can’t have this conversation with you again,” Beca said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she paced the living room. “I’m not in Barden anymore, Mom, I can’t just come over. We’ve been through this, I’m in New York.” 

Chloe watched as Beca traced one of the ornaments on their now dark tree with her finger.

“Look, I’m gonna go, okay? It’s late. Yeah. Yeah I know.” 

Chloe heard Beca suck in a breath the way she always did when she was trying not to cry.

“I love you too,” Beca said, her voice breaking. She swallowed hard, forcing her voice to stay steady. “I’m gonna call Grandma tomorrow, okay? She can check on you.”

When she ended the call she jumped as she felt Chloe’s arms wrap around her, but she soon relaxed into her. “Did I wake you?”

“No,” Chloe said. She tugged Beca’s hand and pulled her towards the window. “Look, it’s snowing.”

They sat on the floor, the Chloe’s back against the wall, Beca’s back against Chloe’s front, and they looked looked out the window, watching the snow drift down, turning yellow as it fell under the light of the streetlights.

They were quiet for a while until Beca finally spoke.

“She’s drinking again,” Beca said, tapping her phone against her leg. “She’s been calling more and more. Wanting me to go over. She… She’s always had trouble with her short term memory, and it only gets worse when she drinks. She thinks I’m still in Georgia.”

“I’m sorry Becs,” Chloe said. “It must be hard being away from her at times like this.”

Beca sniffed and rested a hand on Chloe’s leg, her thumb brushing against the soft fabric of her pyjamas. “Does it make me a shitty person if I say I’m glad I’m not in Georgia right now?”

“No,” Chloe said. “Of course not.”

“I don’t… I don’t like seeing her like this. It just… It reminds me of being a kid, a while after after they got divorced but before my Mom lost custody. She drank a lot then. Sometimes it was kinda fun. She’d let me skip school and we’d go on these adventures together or we’d stay up late eating pizza and playing video games. And then… It was like flipping a switch. She’d just… change. She used to scare me.”

Chloe’s grip tightened around Beca’s waist, and she pressed her lips into the back of her head.

“She knows I’ll only visit when she’s sober. And maybe that makes me selfish. I know I should be there when she needs me. She’s my Mom. I love her,” Beca said, cutting herself off as her voice broke again. 

“I know,” Chloe said, softly, pulling her closer. “You’re allowed to put yourself first. You shouldn’t go back to an environment that’s bad for you. And you’re the least selfish person I know. I love you, so so much.”

“I love you too,” Beca said, wiping her eyes as they continued to watch the snow which had only gotten heavier. “It wasn’t all bad,” Beca said, after a while. “Before she started really drinking, we had some good times together, just the two of us. For years. Christmas Eve was always my favourite day of the year.”

“Chinese takeout?”

“Yeah,” Beca said with a small laugh. “She’d order my favourite and we’d have like a slumber party in the living room, watching movies and drinking hot chocolate. She said if I could stay awake until midnight, I’d be allowed to open one present. I never made it,” Beca said, smiling at the memory. “Even when things were really bad, when her drinking was at its worst, that was the one day that would always be good. Christmas wasn’t really the same when I had to move in with my Dad and Sheila. He tried but I guess I was just too angry and closed off by then.” Beca turned to face Chloe now. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For giving me a proper Christmas. For giving me new traditions and letting me reconnect with old ones. For being you.” She leaned forward to kiss her, and Chloe knelt up to meet her halfway.

-

“Chlo’ if I’m out of scotch tape can I use masking tape?” Beca called from the bedroom, two days before Christmas.

“No,” Chloe called back from the living room. Beca’s last present for Chloe had finally arrived, so she had spent the last few hours locked in their bedroom wrapping presents.

“I have more clear tape,” Chloe said, rummaging in a kitchen drawer until she found some.

“Don’t come in!” Beca said, in a panicked voice. She opened the door and quickly closed it behind her. 

“Here,” Chloe said. “Are you gonna be much longer? I’m bored.”

“Almost done,” Beca said, returning to their bedroom and shutting the door.

-

“Here you go,” Chloe said, handing Beca her container of take-out Chinese and a pair of chopsticks.

“Thank you,” Beca said, grinning as she dug in. Chloe set two mugs of hot chocolate down on the coffee table, and pressed play on Netflix. 

“Thank you for tolerating all my movies this month,” Chloe said, smiling as the opening music for Home Alone played.

“This one gets a free pass. It’s a classic.”

“I agree.”

“So,” Beca said, swallowing a mouthful of orange chicken. “If I stay up until midnight do I get to open a present early?”

“Sure,” Chloe said, grinning. “But you’ve been yawning since 6:30, I don’t think you’re gonna make it.”

To her credit, Beca lasted until 10:30 pm, falling asleep with 20 minutes to go in Home Alone 2. 

When Chloe switched the movie off, the only light in the room was coming from the tree and the string of fairy lights around their window. She thought that Beca looked beautiful in the soft glow of the lights, her face relaxed and free of the stress she had been carrying around the last few weeks.

Still, she was a little disappointed she hadn’t made it until midnight, there was one gift she had wanted to give her tonight.

-

The next morning, Chloe tried to coax Beca out of bed at 7 am, with promises of coffee and pancakes for breakfast, but Beca would not budge.

“But it’s Christmas morning,” Chloe pouted.

“It’ll still be Christmas morning in an hour,” Beca mumbled, tugging Chloe back to bed, and curling around her to stop her moving again. “You don’t need to be up so early, you’re not 6.”

“And you don’t need to sleep all morning, you’re not 15.”

“Touche,” Beca mumbled. “Merry Christmas by the way.”

“Merry Christmas,” Chloe said, grinning.

After another 40 minutes of dosing in bed, Beca finally let Chloe drag her up.

They ate breakfast in their Christmas pyjamas, and then, at Chloe’s request, they got dressed in their almost-matching sweaters and took a selfie in front of their tree.

As they exchanged gifts, they both got increasingly more nervous. Something neither of them realised as they were too preoccupied with their own nerves to be focused on the other person.

“I, um, actually have one more for you,” Beca said, standing. “Two seconds.” She moved into the bedroom.

“Yeah, I do too,” Chloe said, reaching towards the back of the tree where the final present was hidden.

After a few minutes of silence, Beca spoke up from the bedroom.

“Chlo’, can you come in here for a minute?”

Chloe suddenly got a weird feeling in her stomach, and the corners of her mouth twitched into a smile.

“Actually Beca, I kinda need you in here,” Chloe said.

There was a small silence.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“It can’t wait?”

“No.”

Another small silence.

“Meet halfway?” Beca asked.

“Okay,” Chloe said. She stood from where she was in the living room and moved so she was in front of the window.

Beca left the bedroom, something held behind her back, and she walked until she was standing in front of Chloe.

Without a word, they both dropped to one knee.

“Chloe Beale.”

“Rebeca Mitchell.”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes. Will you marry me?”

“Duh.”

They both laughed and kissed until they had to stop, happy tears streaming down both of their faces.

“I know we haven’t been officially together that long,” Beca said, wiping her eyes as she slid the ring onto Chloe’s finger. “But you’re my soulmate. I don’t ever want to be with anybody else.”

“I love you so much, Beca. I feel like I waited my whole life for you,” Chloe said, sliding the ring onto Beca’s finger. “I want spend the rest of it with you.”

“Best Christmas ever,” Beca said, still laughing and crying.

“Almost as good as the year we got a Wii,” Chloe said, earning a smack on the arm from Beca. 

“I love you.”

Chloe searches the audience for the culprit, finally spotting her. There’s no mistaking her; the girl is grinning proudly, unembarrassed even as others in attendance turn to stare at her. Her eyes are focused on Beca, clearly waiting for some sort of response. Chloe’s jaw clenches in anger. The girl is gorgeous. And she’s a redhead.

Chloe tries to shove down her immediate jealousy, knowing instantly that she’s overreacting. It’s just another intense fan, no big deal. Besides, Beca’s probably really weirded out by it. She’s not usually the type to enjoy something so forward.

She looks back to Beca, expecting her to ignore the panties entirely. However, Beca, finally catching sight of the garment, raises her eyebrows in surprise and smiles awkwardly at the girl who threw them. Then, without pausing her singing, Beca bends down to snatch up the thong, twirling it around her finger a few times before tucking it into a front pocket so that it hangs out for the whole arena to see. Then, she winks directly at the girl.

The air rushes out of Chloe’s lungs. Her first reaction is one of mild disgust. Who knows where those panties have been? Well, actually, she has a pretty good idea, and ew. Beca needs to wash her hands, like, now.

However, her disgust is almost instantly shoved aside by furious disbelief. Her Beca just put some other girl’s underwear in her pocket. No. Unacceptable. Now that girl is probably getting all sorts of mixed messages, especially because Beca’s relationship status isn’t officially known. How dare Beca do that? No. Just no. Did Beca forget who she was dating? Is that all it takes? Some lacy panties tossed up on stage during a sexy song? During her sexy song?

Chloe sees red. She’s so angry that all she can do is glare at Beca, who finishes the song only to sing three of her other chart-topping hits immediately after. Chloe barely hears them, blood still pounding in her ears. She knows Beca keeps glancing at her, confused by the death glare she’s transmitting, but she can’t bring herself to stop. Beca should know by now how jealous she gets.

“Okay, I’m going to turn it over to an instrumental piece I composed and produced a while ago, so hang tight and I’ll be back soon!” Beca’s voice, resonating over the arena, crashes into Chloe. Beca’s taking her usual intermission about three songs earlier than she normally does.

Chloe looks up to see Beca jogging off stage and directly toward her, concern written over her flushed and slightly sweaty face. Chloe raises an eyebrow, waiting. Beca has some explaining to do.

“Chlo, you okay?” Beca asks when she arrives next to Chloe. “You’re looking a little off.”

“Oh, am I?” Chloe fires back, taking satisfaction in the way Beca hesitates before responding.

“Yeah, um, you look kind of pissed.”

“Hmm, I wonder why,” Chloe spits, feeling her temper rise again. No way can Beca be that clueless.

Except – “Um,” Beca says quietly, looking lost. “I wonder why, too.”

Chloe raises her eyebrows imperiously and gestures sharply down at Beca’s pocket, from which the offensive black thong still dangles. Beca’s gaze follows her point, and Chloe can tell from her puff of breath that she’d forgotten the panties were still there.

Beca looks up at her sheepishly, but Chloe doesn’t give her time to defend herself.

“Beca Mitchell, you put some – some floozy’s panties in your pocket right in front of me!” she yells, knowing that the sound of Beca’s instrumental break and the screaming of Beca’s fans will prevent her voice from traveling far.

“That?” Beca asks incredulously. “Ah, come on, don’t call her that. It was just so the girl wouldn’t feel bad. You know I like to make them happy!”

That was the wrong thing to say. “Now she thinks you’ll be making her very happy!” Chloe argues back, leaning forward to get into Beca’s face.

Beca rolls her eyes at the implication, making Chloe’s hands clench into fists. “Chlo, you know it isn’t like that. It’s just something fun, a joke. It went with the song.”

Chloe opened her mouth to tear into Beca again when Beca interrupts, looking at her seriously. “Besides, babe, how many pairs of underwear have you thrown at random singers?”

Chloe blinks, sidetracked. Damn. Beca knows her too well. She can remember at least three separate incidences where she’d thrown either panties or a bra up on stage. And those were just when she was sober.

Forcing herself to rally, but already feeling her anger abate, Chloe replies, “That’s… that’s beside the point! You shouldn’t have done it! She’s basically asking you to cheat on me!”

Beca smiles at her slightly, as if sensing that their fight is already on its way to being over. “Dude, calm down, it doesn’t mean anything! And, remember, they all think I’m single, so….”

Chloe crosses her arms with a huff, glaring away from Beca off to the side.

The concluding measures of Beca’s instrumental break permeate the air and Beca raises a hand to reach out to Chloe. Chloe only turns away further, still annoyed. Beca sighs and says, “Look, I gotta go. I’m sorry, I swear it’s nothing. Here –”

Chloe glances at her to see that Beca has taken the panties out of her pocket and is trying to hand the garment to Chloe. Chloe wrinkles her nose and says sharply, “No, thanks.”

Beca takes her hand back and sighs again. “Can we talk about this after?”

Chloe doesn’t respond.

She feels Beca’s eyes on her, full of worry, and has a flash of guilt for making such a big deal out of it. Before she can say anything to amend it, though, Beca turns away to jog back on stage to her yelling fans. She moves to where she’d already placed the flowers and the beautiful drawing and drops the thong with her other souvenirs.

As Beca greets the crowd without glancing at her, Chloe lets her stance and posture relax, dropping her crossed arms to let her hands play with her jeans. She knows she overreacted. Beca’s right; she’s thrown enough undergarments on people’s stages to know that it really doesn’t mean anything. It’s a fun joke meant to flatter the artist, not meant to lead anywhere. And even if that girl did have hopes for a good time in return, Chloe knows in her soul that Beca would never do that to her. To them.

What they have is too important.

Chloe sighs, already regretting how she’d handled that. She glances up at Beca, who has still not looked her way. Chloe bites her lip; she hopes that Beca’s not distracted now, worrying about the status of their relationship instead of focusing on her music and her fans.

Releasing her lip to quirk her mouth thoughtfully, Chloe knows she needs to think of some way to make it up to Beca. She wants to capture her attention and make the biggest apology possible. She thinks for a moment until her eyes fall on the pile of souvenirs. She smiles slightly, a plan forming.

With one last look to Beca on stage, her eyes closed and singing her heart out, Chloe turns and rushes away, down the backstage steps until she finds an exit sign. She follows that to end up near the side of the fan section. Ducking and weaving around the hordes of hysterical concert-goers, Chloe makes her way to a stadium exit. She flashes her security pass at a guard, who lets her leave the arena and move into the main part of the building where Beca’s voice is much more muted. Her eyes land on the main front doors, and she dashes out and onto the street.

Her head swivels as she tries to spot any kind of convenience store or retail outlet, anything that might have what she’s looking for. Not seeing anything, she jogs around the Target Center, eyes scanning desperately. She knows Beca’s going to notice her absence before long, and, while a small part of her takes petty satisfaction in knowing it will teach Beca a lesson, her rational side knows that she needs to minimize Beca’s anxiety over their argument. She pulls out her phone and types frantically into Google Maps, knowing she won’t get anywhere by running around.

The first result to pop up is just over two blocks away. Perfect. Glancing at her phone to confirm the street name, Chloe starts jogging again, moving quickly to get where she wants to go. She can see people stopping to stare at her, and she doesn’t blame them. She knows she must look insane, now running at full speed to get to her destination.

She’s there in minutes, breathing hard, thankful for her gym routine. She dashes inside the store, moving immediately to the section she needs. She grabs the first item she sees and flies toward the register, not looking at the size or price, only wanting to check out and get back to Beca as soon as she can.

The saleswoman stares at her when she practically tosses the item onto the counter and bends to dig in her purse for her wallet. Chloe sends her a bright smile, trying to hide her heavy breathing. The woman doesn’t comment, only smiling tightly back before scanning the purchase and taking Chloe’s offered debit card wordlessly.

“Can you cut the tags off, please? I don’t have scissors on me,” Chloe remembers to ask at the last second. The woman – her name tag says Karen – only nods and grabs scissors on her desk, removing the tags with a quick snip.

Item paid for, Chloe shoves it and her card back into her purse, denying the offered bag. With a rushed “Thank you!” she sprints back out of the store and all the way back to the Target Center, nearly plowing down an elderly man on the way.

Legs burning, she launches herself into the building, holding up her security pass in a sweating palm like a shield. She’s granted access into the arena and backstage area again to resume her previous position just off stage and in view of Beca. The whole thing had taken less than fifteen minutes.

Chloe doubles over, her hands on her knees as she catches her breath, a stitch in her side. She dimly wonders if she should focus more on cardio and less on her arms at the gym, but she really likes how her shoulders look. Finally drawing in one last huge gulp of air, she stands upright to see Beca still singing powerfully on stage. She’s got Beca’s set list memorized and is relieved to have only missed about four songs.

As Beca’s current song draws to a close, her eyes flick to where Chloe stands. Even from off stage, Chloe can see the relief in Beca’s eyes as she sends her a small smile. Chloe’s heart pangs; Beca had definitely noticed she’d left. Guilt claws at her, but she knows exactly what to do to make it up to her girlfriend. She digs in her purse, pulling out the gift and holding it at the ready, hidden behind her back.

Chloe waits patiently as Beca’s show winds down, reaching the finale before too long. Beca had chosen to end every show with a mashup of the two songs she always says started it all. Chloe approves of her decision wholeheartedly. As the opening chord of the mix of ‘Titanium’ and ‘Cups’ permeates the arena, goosebumps rise on her arms and a chill runs down her spine.

Chloe waits until Beca reaches the chorus of the song, the part of ‘Titanium’ when Beca’s eyes will lock, as they always do, onto hers as they are both sent back in time to Barden’s showers. Her heart thuds in time with Beca’s voice, waiting, straining her patience until –

Beca’s gaze meets hers, open and loving as always. Chloe pulls her arm out from behind herself to reveal the panties she’d just purchased. Beca’s eyes widen in surprise, and Chloe laughs as she lifts her arm to throw the panties, tumbling through the air only for Beca to catch them deftly in her left hand.

Miraculously, Beca’s singing continues uninterrupted by the flying lingerie. She winks at Chloe, then lowers her hand to half slide the panties under the waistband of her jeans, letting them flop out at the top. The audience goes absolutely wild, as does Chloe’s pulse. She glances into the crowd, already knowing what she’ll see. Sure enough, several members of the front rows, including the girl who first threw the underwear, are looking in her direction, clearly wondering who had tossed the garment from backstage.

Chloe looks back to Beca, who’s still staring at her. Chloe takes a deep breath, tilting her head to the side in a question. Beca nods once, heading into the final bars of her song. Chloe steels herself with a roll of her shoulders, ready for what this decision will mean for her. For them. She had guessed this would happen when she first ran out of the arena. It’s time, and it’s a good way to ensure that everyone knows Beca is hers and hers alone.

Beca concludes the show on a high note (literally) and the arena erupts with sound. Beca bows once, an awkward smile on her face that makes Chloe laugh; Beca always has been bad with compliments. She turns to Chloe, eyebrows raised in one final question, giving her the chance to change her mind. Chloe falls even more in love with her at the gesture, but she’s sure about what she wants to do.

With a final deep breath, Chloe steps out onto the stage, dazzled by the lights and the noise and the people, but keeps her eyes on Beca. Beca will hold her steady. She reaches Beca’s side in almost no time at all and automatically winds an arm around her waist. Beca throws an arm over her shoulder, drawing her even closer until Chloe can feel Beca’s heart pounding, strong and steady.

Beca raises her free hand, gesturing for some quiet. The noise level drops instantly, making Chloe revel at the power Beca has.

“So, I know there have been some rumors going around about me lately,” Beca says into the mic, still slightly breathless from her finale. “And while Tom and Hayley are both good friends of mine, I just have to say – the only person I want in the entire world is this girl next to me. Everyone, meet Chloe.”

Chloe gives an awkward sort of half wave as she senses the eyes of almost 17,000 people landing on her. Not sure what else to do, she does what comes naturally. She turns to Beca, reaches out to touch her face, and leans in to kiss her fully.

A wave of sound washes over her. Anyone in the main area of the building might well think an explosion had occurred; Chloe knows her ears will be ringing for days, but she doesn’t mind. When the kiss breaks, Chloe looks at the crowd, squinting against the bright lights to see that everyone in residence is standing, clapping, screaming, giving her and Beca a standing ovation. It’s overwhelming. It’s excessive.

It’s beautiful.

They stand there for what feels like an hour but is surely only a few minutes before the stage lights are turned off and Beca’s leading her backstage again, scooping up the gifts her fans had given her.

“So, that was okay?” Chloe asks quickly as they walk, wanting to make sure Beca is fine with going public with their relationship.

“That was more than okay,” Beca replies, her voice hoarse from the performance. “It’ll be different now, but also easier in some ways.”

Chloe smiles slightly. “No more excited fangirls,” she teases gently, gesturing to the thong Beca had picked up.

“Nah, I just need you to keep tossing panties at me and I’ll be good,” Beca responds, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye.

“Mmm. Did you like that?”

“I did,” Beca nods. “I’m assuming that’s where you disappeared to? Because I know they aren’t yours. Unless you wrestled them off some poor girl?”

Chloe wrinkles her nose at the thought. “Nope, bought them. Look, I’m sorry I went off earlier,” she adds, glancing at Beca.

Beca smiles and stops walking. Chloe looks around to see they’d somehow arrived at her dressing room already.

“It’s okay,” assures Beca quietly. “I’d probably be a little jealous if someone was throwing their underwear at you, too.”

“Well…” draws out Chloe, thinking. “I bet I can make it up to you?” She draws her lower lip into her mouth, moving close to Beca and trailing her fingers over Beca’s stomach.

Beca’s eyes darken and she moves closer as well, her breath ghosting over Chloe’s lips as she replies, “Gonna throw more clothing at me?”

Chloe smiles sweetly and whispers, “No. I’m going to tear clothing off of you.”

Quick as a flash, Beca opens her dressing room door to gently toss her gifts inside on the floor before turning back to Chloe. She grabs Chloe’s hand and the next thing she knows, Chloe is being ushered into the room and lifted onto the couch before Beca slams and locks the door behind them.

One afternoon, Chloe ran into Beca’s father on campus. It wasn’t the first time the two would see each other, it happened quite often actually. Professor Mitchell teaches his classes in the same building Chloe has most of hers, so it’s not that uncommon for them to bump into each other from time to time. He would always stop and say hi whenever he sees his daughters best friend. Chloe knows how Beca feels about the man, but she can’t not talk to him. She doesn’t want to be rude.

The more she talks to him though, the more she sees the resemblance to her girlfriend. He’s very reserved at first, but loosens up quite quickly. Chloe thinks Beca’s dad is very friendly and he seems like a nice guy. She feels a little bad when she thinks about that. All she’s heard from Beca is that he’s not and that’s where her loyalty is. With Beca. So she’s friendly whenever they see each other, but she makes sure she doesn’t tell him anything Beca wouldn’t.

That one afternoon Chloe runs into Professor Mitchell again is no different. They engage in friendly but superficial conversation and Chloe is about to walk away when he stops her.

“Chloe... “ he starts hesitant.

“Sheila and I would like to invite you and Beca to lunch next week.” Chloe doesn’t really know what to say and feels a little uncomfortable.

“I know I shouldn’t involve you in this, but… I don’t know, maybe you could ask her?” Chloe sees the sad but slightly hopeful look on Professor Mitchell's face and feels a little bad for him.

“I- I don’t know… This isn’t any of my business.” She sees his face drop.

“Yeah, okay.... I’ll ask her. I can’t promise anything… But I’ll try.”

“Thank you, Chloe. That’s all I ask. Thank you so much!” She sees his face light up a little in relieve.

They say their goodbyes and Chloe walks out of the building. During her walk towards the Bella house, she wonders how’s she’s going to bring this up with her girlfriend. She thinks the best way to go is to just not make a big deal out of it and keep it light.

When she gets home, Beca is sitting at the kitchen table staring at her computer screen and headphones on. Chloe get herself and Beca a drink and decides to rip of the bandate right away.

“I saw your dad on campus today.” She tells Beca as she places the drinks on the table.

“Hmm..? Beca takes her headphones of her head and leaves them hanging around her neck.

“I said I saw your dad on campus today. He came over to say hi.” Beca looks a little irritated already.

“He invited us to lunch with him and Sheila next week. He wanted me to ask you if you would consider it?” Chloe looks at Beca and sees her face drop instantly.

“No.” Beca is very resolute and Chloe knows better than to press the issue. This isn’t worth a fight.

“Okay. I’ll tell him next time I run into him.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll text him.”

“Okay babe.” Chloe leans forward and kisses her girlfriend. Thank god the conversation wasn’t that bad.

A few weeks later

It was a Wednesday afternoon when Stacie heard a knock at the door. She walked over to open it and found Professor Mitchell standing awkwardly on the other side.

“Hi.” He starts. “I’m Professor Mitchell, Beca’s dad.”

“Oh yeah, of course! Hi Mr. Mitchell, come in!” Stacie opens the door fully to let him in.

“Beca isn’t home yet, but she’ll be here soon. You’re welcome to wait. We’re all in here.” Stacie point at the kitchen and leads the way.

“Hey daddy Shortstack!” Amy comes bouncing down the stairs and walks straight to the fridge. “You want anything to drink?”

I takes Beca and Chloe another half an hour to get to the Bella house and by this time Professor Mitchell has loosened up and talking and joking with the girls. They remained sitting at the kitchen table as Jessica and Ashley started cooking dinner.

The front door suddenly swings open and the girls hear Beca say: “Oh my god, it’s smells amazing in here! I’m so hungryyyyy.” As the two girls walk into the kitchen Beca stops in her tracks when she sees her dad sitting at their kitchen table.

“Dad! What are you doing here?”

“He came to see you of course!” Jessica answers cheerfully. “We invited him to stay for dinner. It’s almost ready!”

Beca’s face hardens, but is immediately comforted when she feels Chloe put a hand on her lower back. “Whatever, I’ll go wash up.” Beca says before she turns around to walk upstairs. The noise in the kitchen grew quiet after the Bella’s witnessed Beca’s cold reaction towards her dad, but leave it to Amy to lighten the mood.

“Someone didn’t have their coffee this morning…”

The other Bella’s let out light chuckles hoping to ease the tension in the air.

“Alright you flatbutts… I need to see a man about a horse. Make some room for that awesome smelling dinner!” Amy walks out of the room and all the Bella’s look at each other, making noises of disgust and start talking again.

“She’s an interesting character, that one.” Professor Mitchell says to Stacie who’s standing next to him.

“You can say that again.” Stacie answers as she starts setting the table for dinner.

Dinner is very uncomfortable. At least, in Beca’s opinion. The rest of the Bella’s love the company of Beca’s dad. He’s friendly, charming and cracking jokes all through dinner. As soon as everyone had finished eating, Beca stood up saying she had to get to work, she had an important paper to work on along with the Bella’s new set. She quickly says an awkward goodbye to her dad and bolts up the stairs. Chloe shows Professor Mitchell out and follows her girlfriend upstairs.

When Chloe arrives in her and Beca’s bedroom, she finds the brunette laying on the bed with her eyes fixated on the ceiling.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Chloe says softly as she sits down on the bed next to Beca.

“No.” Beca answers instantly.

“Are you sure babe? It might help-”

“I’m fine!” Beca cuts Chloe off before she can say anything else. She already feels tears threatening to spill over at any moment.

“Becs, I’m on your team. Always. But I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me. Please don’t shut me out...”

Beca lets out a heavy sigh as the tears start slowly rolling down her cheeks. Chloe notices right away and shifts closer to her on the bed. The redhead hugged her girlfriend tightly. After a moment, Beca puts her head on Chloe’s lap and lets out everything she had been holding in. Chloe pulled the brunette even closer and kept quiet until Beca’s sobs died down. She strokes her fingers through Beca’s hair for comfort as well as encouragement.

“My dad and I used to be really close.” Beca starts.

“When I was growing up, my mom always said we were two peas in a pod. He was basically my best friend.” Chloe notices Beca losing herself in the memory as she continues.

“When I was about 12 years old, my parents started fighting a lot. It was like they just didn’t understand each other anymore. Every day was filled with yelling, crying… I had gotten my first mixing board for Christmas that year and I used the music to drown it out. To not have to listen to it.”

Chloe wants to say something, but she’s afraid it might stop Beca from talking at all. So she just listens and as she keeps stroking the brunettes hair.

“The fighting kept getting worse and worse. At first they would try to keep it down. Try to hide it from me, but eventually they apparently didn’t even care anymore. All they cared about was hurting the other.

I was old enough to know where this was going. I knew it would end in a divorce. I was just a kid, but I knew there was no saving this. I wasn’t even sure they wanted to. I starting thinking about what it would be like, you know… I figured that, as I was 13 now, I would have a say in where I wanted to live. I didn’t have to think about that long, obviously I wanted to go with my dad. I was sad thinking about leaving my mom, but he was my buddy. I started to, kind of, prepare I guess… for what was coming. Starting to think about what I would take with me and what I would leave at my mom’s house. I didn’t tell my mom for obvious reasons.

On the 22nd of October in 2005, they had the worst fight ever. I had just come home from school and they were already screaming at each other. They almost didn’t even notice me come in. I told them that I would do what I always do, go upstairs and put on my headphones. As soon as my bedroom door closed they picked up right where they left off.

I had a feeling that this was the one, you know… The one fight that’ll change everything. I’d heard them yell the words ‘having enough’, ‘divorce’ and ‘leaving’ at each other. So I started to pack. It wasn’t that hard, because I had already figured out what I would take with me.

I heard the noise downstairs settle a bit, I could hear my mom crying. I opened my bedroom door to go downstairs when I hear the front door open and close with a bang. I ran back into my room and opened the window. I saw my dad walk towards his car. I called out to him, yelled for him to wait. But he didn’t. He only looked up at my window once, just before he drove away. I was sobbing at this point. I felt like my dad didn’t care about me at all. He just left me.

I could still hear my mom downstairs, sobbing uncontrollably. I just went into action-mode I guess. I unpacked my bag, put everything back in its place and calmed myself down. Then I went downstairs to check on my mom. She was sitting on the couch, tears rolling down her face, staring into nothing. When she noticed me she gave me a small, sad smile and turned away again. I went and gave her a hug, walked towards the kitchen and started making dinner.

That was the last time I saw my dad for about four years. He left us, he left me, a 13 year old, to take care of her broken mom.”

The last few tears fell down Beca’s face as the brunette shifted her gaze towards her beautiful girlfriend.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, it’s just I never really liked telling this story and-” Chloe quickly cut her off with a kiss, knowing that Beca could ramble on and on after she opens up about something.

“You have nothing to be sorry for..” Chloe starts and raises her hand when she sees that Beca is about to say something. “I’m just glad you told me now. I hate seeing you like this, especially when I don’t know what’s bothering you.”

“I know I can close myself off and put up a wall. I know you hate that. It’s just... I’m still so angry, you know?”

“I understand and it’s normal to still feel angry or frustrated, but you’re dad is trying to make things better. No matter what he does, you just shut him out, you don’t let him apologize or even have a conversation with you. Why? Why can’t you give him a second chance? You said you guys were close before.” Chloe asks, wiping the last few tears from Beca’s face.

“I don’t know. He just promised that he would never leave me, that he would always be there for me. But he betrayed my trust and you already know I don’t have much to begin with.”

“Did he ever tell you why? Has he explained to you why you couldn’t go with him?”

“No… I never really gave him a chance…” Beca answers quietly while looking down.

“I mean… It’s absolutely not okay to not talk to your kid for four years, but maybe talking to him will help you. Maybe hearing his side will help you forgive him and just… move on?”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right… He does seem to want to make an effort. I’ll talk to him the next time I see him.”

“Great!” Chloe says happily “Now come closer so we can cuddle.”

Beca rolls her eyes, but doesn’t hesitate to move closer to her girlfriend.

“I’m really proud of you Becs.”

“Thanks Chlo.”

“I love you.”

Beca’seyes widened as she took in Chloe’s hopeful expression, Stacie’s predatorygrin, Emily’s overwhelming excitement (she was practically vibrating and lookedto be on the verge of tears), and the box of matches in Lilly’s hands that hadappeared out of nowhere.

Panickingslightly, Beca deadpanned, “I’m notdoing the obstacle course.”

“Oh, butit’s a fundraiser for –”

“Chloe,I’ll die. I will literally fall and break my neck and die. I’m not going to diefor an ugly rat that’s not even endangered.”

Chloestuck out her lower lip in a small pout. Beca stared back, refusing to show anysign of weakness, but she knew she wouldn’t last long. Surprisingly, though,Chloe’s gaze wavered first.

“Fine,”Chloe puffed, turning away from the obstacle course and leading their group inthe opposite direction. “I don’t want you to die.”

“Is Becanot… flexible enough for that?” Stacie asked as they walked, using her most innocent-soundingvoice.

“Shut up,”Beca growled over Chloe’s giggle. “I’m plenty flexible. I just don’t wannadie.”

“Uh huh.”

Decidingthat she was too dignified to respond, Beca looked around in disgust at themass of people milling around them in close proximity. Yet another personbumped into Beca, a massive and idiotic-looking jock this time. She turned toshoot him a venomous glare; amazingly, he glared at her just as harshly.

“This isso fun!” Emily was completely beside herself. Chloe agreed enthusiastically.Lilly’s smile widened frighteningly. Stacie pointed and laughed at the bitterexpression on Beca’s face.

A trickleof sweat ran down Beca’s back. She desperately wanted to go home.

Suddenly,Chloe’s hand squeezed hers tightly and yanked her to a stop.

“Look!”Chloe exclaimed, nodding her head to the left. “It’s Tom.”

Becasquinted against the glare of the sun, looking past the cloud of smokeemanating from a group of High Notes members. Finally, she spotted Tom standingwith several other frat boy buddies, shirtless in the heat. She felt a stab ofannoyance when she saw how perfect his sculpted upper body looked; clearly,he’d been working out since The Shower Incident more than two years ago.

“That’s myex-boyfriend,” said Chloe. For a moment, Beca wondered why she’d said that –obviously Beca knew who Tom was – until she realized that Chloe was talking toEmily.

“Well,kiss me so he sees,” Beca said grumpily, irritated by the huge smile that hadbroken over Tom’s face at the sight of them. Or, more likely, at the sight ofChloe.

Chloenarrowed her eyes at Beca suspiciously before leaning in to press a soft kissagainst her lips. Beca smiled into it; she knew Chloe would never miss theopportunity to kiss her. And shewould never miss the opportunity to show her hot girlfriend off to the world.

“Hi Chloe!”

Beca’smomentary contentment was shattered by the sound of an overenthusiastic malevoice. Chloe pulled away so suddenly that Beca lost her balance and teeteredforward, bumping into Chloe’s shoulder. From behind them, Stacie emitted asnort of mirth that she tried (unsuccessfully) to cover with a cough.

“Hey,Tom!” Chloe responded happily to the shirtless boy that had appeared next tothem.

“And hey,uh… Brianna?” Tom asked uncertainly, looking at Beca.

Beca grimacedbefore turning to glare at the object of her annoyance. “It’s Beca,” she muttered,hating how big and brown his eyes were. And how close his bare chest was tothem all. Or, more specifically, to Chloe.

“Right,Beca, sorry. So, you two are…?” Tom trailed off, gesturing jovially betweenBeca and Chloe. Beca thought it made him look moronic.

“Yep! We’vebeen together for a few months now,” Chloe said, wrapping an arm around Beca’swaist and pulling her against her side. Instinctively, Beca rested her arm overChloe’s shoulders, wanting to make their relationship status exceedingly clearto the idiot boy standing in front of them. Stacie coughed again.

“That’sawesome!” enthused Tom. “And I’m assuming these are some other Bellas?” helooked behind Beca and Chloe questioningly.

Emily andStacie both greeted Tom (Lilly had disappeared into the crowd). Stacie winkedflirtatiously, making Tom’s smile widen and his chest puff out even further.

Becawanted to punch him.

“I heardyou guys have been killing it at Nationals the last few years,” continued Tom,“I gotta say Chloe, I’m really happy for you.”

Chloesmiled warmly at Tom and thanked him, sounding surprised but happy. Becarestrained herself from rolling her eyes and settled for grinding her teeth.Stupid Tom and his stupid compliments and his stupid chest.

“What areyou doing here?” Chloe asked in a somewhat higher-pitched voice than usual.Beca’s frown deepened.

“Oh, I’mrepresenting Alpha Gamma Delta for the obstacle course,” said Tom, pointing at thecourse like they couldn’t see it for themselves. “Gotta show off these guns forcharity,” he added, flexing rather unnecessarily. “Do the Bellas have acompetitor?”

Becaactually felt Chloe deflate next to her, like some kind of human-sized balloon.It was alarming, to say the least. She glanced over and saw the disappointedlook on her face, and beyond her, the absolutely devastated expression onEmily’s.

Becasighed. She felt an elbow in her side, courtesy of Stacie. She sighed again.

She reallyhated disappointing Chloe.

“No,actually,” started Chloe, “we don’t –”

“Yes!”blurted Beca, already hating herself. Chloe turned, dislodging Beca’s arm overher shoulders to stare at Beca with a mix of adoration and confusion. “I’mdoing that. The obstacle… thing. Of course. Anything for the wombats, right?”she added halfheartedly.

“Molerats,” Emily stage-whispered.

“Hmm,” Becagrimaced.

There wasa very awkward pause as Tom’s eyes flicked between Chloe’s thrilled expressionand Beca’s unhappy one.

“Riiiight,”he said slowly, “So, it’s starting soon, we should probably get lined up?”

Beca’sstomach dropped; she hadn’t been expecting to act on her impulse so quickly.Too late now, though. “Yep,” she said, gently detaching Chloe’s arm from aroundher waist, “let’s, uh, line up, or whatever.”

“Beca, youdon’t have to,” Chloe whispered as she started to follow Tom to her demise.

Forcing asmile (that, judging by Stacie’s raised eyebrows, must have looked painful),Beca glanced back and said quietly, “It’s all good, I want to.” It wasn’ttotally a lie; Beca did want to show up Tom and prove herself. She just didn’tnecessarily want to do it on an obstacle course to benefit ugly, non-endangeredrats.

As shewalked toward the course’s starting line with Tom, Beca overheard Stacie say,“It’s fine, she wants to prove she’s bigger. If you know what I mean.”

“But she’sso small,” Emily’s confused voice was the last thing Beca heard before she wasout of earshot. She sighed yet again.

Glancingback at her, Tom smiled encouragingly as he led her closer to the start of thecourse. Beca tried not to glare back too obviously. Stupid Tom with his stupidsmile and his stupid arms.

Once theyreached the course, they were met with a familiar-looking blonde girl. “Heythere!” she said extremely enthusiastically, making Beca take a step back. “Ifboth of you just want to sign this waiver form, releasing Barden from any andall legality regarding injury, maiming, or accidental death! There areparamedics here, but remember, don’t fall unless it’s actually happening!” Ohno. It was rape whistle girl. Beca groaned internally; could this get anyworse?

“And itlooks like you two are the first ones here, so you can run it against eachother!” rape whistle girl practically shouted in excitement as she handed themwaiver forms on a clip board.

It gotworse. Beca had only wanted to prove she could do the course; she didn’t thinkshe’d actually have to compete against stupid shirtless Tom. She really hadn’tthought this through at all.

Tom signedhis form without reading it and turned to look at Beca expectantly. Beca gloweredat the waiver, positively seething. Why did she have to get so jealous? Sheknew that her relationship with Chloe was solid, so why did she feel the needto prove herself in possibly the most moronic way ever?

The rape whistlegirl cleared her throat loudly, staring pointedly at the clipboard in Beca’shands. Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Beca hurriedly scrawled her name on the signatureline and handed it back to her.

“Perfect!”the girl cheered. “Time to get started!”

Tom wasalready on the starting line, stretching his arms to make his muscles pop. Becalooked away, reluctantly moving to stand next to him at the start.

“Goodluck, and no hard feelings,” Tom said congenially, reaching out a hand to shakehers.

“Uh huh,” Becasaid, grabbing his hand and letting go quickly. She had to beat him.

“Competitorsready!” called rape whistle girl, attracting the attention of people passingby.

Becaturned to the course, taking in the field of tires, the crawling net, and thewall ahead, behind which hid the monkey bars. Great. She took a deep breath;she could do this. It wasn’t that bad, right? She had years of Bella cardiounder her belt. She could win. For Chloe. Or, wait, for the sewer rats, orwhatever the hell it was. She could win.

“Get set!”A whole crowd had formed to watch them now.

Besideher, Tom had lowered himself to a runner’s crouch. It looked impressive (stupidTom and his stupid legs), so she imitated him. Time to beat this pretty-boy.

“Yeah Beca,you got this!” a familiar voice shrieked, shattering her concentration. Becaglanced to the side to see Chloe standing along the course cheering her on,looking both parts amused and nervous. Stacie and Emily were beside her –Stacie mimed lifting her shirt to flash her, and Emily had covered her eyes in anice vote of confidence.

“Go!”screamed the rape whistle girl.

Tom wasoff like a flash, starting on the course by the time Beca realized what hadhappened.

“Shit!”she swore loudly, launching herself to the first obstacle, the sideways tires.Tom was already halfway through them by the time she stepped into the firstone. She jogged through them as quickly as she could, internally thankingAubrey’s insistence to “lift those knees, Bellas!” throughout Bella cardio. Hertoe caught the edge of a tire once and she heard Chloe cry out as she stumbled,but she managed to catch her balance and made it through the tires relativelyunscathed.

She madeit to the low-hanging net, Tom already having thrown himself under it. Thankfully,his height and muscle mass (both stupid) were more of a hindrance than a help; hestruggled to remain low enough to the ground to successfully crawl under thenet.

Sparing athought to the sorry state her skinny jeans (why the hell was she even in jeans in this heat?) were going to be in afterthis, Beca dropped to the ground to Army-crawl under the net. Knee, elbow,knee, elbow, she made her way across the ground, blood pounding in her ears,muffling the sound of the cheering crowd. She passed Tom less than halfwaythrough with a smirk, then kept going. She finally reached the end, pullingherself out from under the net with a groan.

Becaglanced back to see Tom still struggling with the net. For the first time, sheallowed herself to think that she might actually win. She was more than halfwaythrough already!

“Woo, goBeca!” she heard Emily call out. The cheer acted as a shot of adrenaline to herveins; Beca sprinted forward, full of disbelief at how well she was doing, andthrew herself at the slanted wall ahead.

Unfortunately,she was a little overenthusiastic; she rammed the wall at full speed and hershoulder bounced off its surface, sending her staggering backward. Clutchingher shoulder, she heard Chloe’s sympathetic groan accompanied by the sound ofTom running toward her – he had escaped the net obstacle at last.

“The rope,Beca! Use the rope!” Stacie’s shriek rang out over the crowd, drawing Beca’sattention back to the wall in front of her. Sure enough, there, hanging fromthe top of the wall were two knotted ropes, obviously meant for use in scalingthe obstacle.

Annoyedthat she’d missed those the first time, Beca seized one of the ropes and bracedher feet on the wall. It wasn’t easy, and she knew Tom was hot on her heels,but she managed to scramble up the slanted wall with the assistance of herrope.

Shedropped to the other side, by some miracle without breaking anything, and lookedto the final obstacle: the monkey bars. Beca swallowed. She’d always beenhorrible at monkey bars.

But Tomhad reached the top of the wall behind her and Chloe was cheering her on –cheering for her, not for Tom, thestupid, really very nice ex-boyfriend – and Beca knew she had no choice.

Shestepped forward, preparing to jump to the first one – Jesus Christ, those werehigh, didn’t they have a step up she could use? – when Tom flew by her out ofnowhere. He leapt right to the second bar, bypassing the first and swinginghimself forward to the third.

Beca knewshe had only seconds to catch up. She flung herself up to the bar, grabbinghold with both hands. Without hesitating, she swung forward, managing to catchthe second bar and switch to it with relative ease. That wasn’t so bad. Sheallowed herself a small smile – she had a chance.

She swungto the third, then the fourth, and was surprised to notice she was almosthalfway. She glanced ahead and horror (or maybe sweat) trickled down her spinewhen she saw that Tom only had three rungs left before the finish. The only wayfor her to catch up would be to skip bars like he’d done at the beginning. Ithad looked easy enough, she just needed the momentum.

She coulddo this.

Becakicked her legs out, gathering energy. Her eyes locked on the second bar fromher and she prepared herself to release. She felt her body reach the peak ofthe swing, felt her fingertips release one bar and extend for the other andthen –

The barshe’d been aiming for slid from her sweaty palms and she was falling, falling,until she landed with a thud on her back, bouncing her head off the ground. Theair whooshed from her lungs and her eyes slammed shut automatically.

The nextmoments were full of hazy confusion. She heard the collective gasp of thecrowd, one voice standing out above all the others, then the pounding of feetrushing toward her. She didn’t at all fancy getting trampled, so she forced hereyes open and drew a breath, squinting in the direct sunlight.

The first faceshe saw was Lilly’s, strangely enough, despite her earlier disappearance. Lillystooped alarmingly close, her features blurring until Beca felt an unmistakablewetness graze the tip of her nose; Lilly had licked her. Lilly pulled back(thankfully) to clear Beca’s line of vision. Chloe’s anxious face appearedabove her, as did Stacie’s, Emily’s, and finally, Tom’s.

“Beca, ohmy God, are you okay?” Chloe’s frantic voice filled the space between them.“Did you lose consciousness? Did you hurt your back? Did you break anything?”

“Uh,” saidBeca.

“Medic!” bellowedChloe, directly into Stacie’s ear.

“Chlo, I’mfine,” Beca grumbled, trying to sit up. The last thing she needed was a medicto haul her away on a stretcher and force her to wear one of those awful neckbraces.

“Woahthere, tiger, go slow,” Stacie reached for her arm, helping to haul her to herfeet. Once standing, Beca stumbled a little to the side, but Tom caught her andheld her steady against his still-bare chest. It took her a second too long torealize what was happening; when she found herself confronted with all thatskin, she jerked away sharply to stand on her own.

Becalooked beyond Emily’s concerned face to see the rape whistle girl pointing agroup of bored-looking paramedics in her direction.

“Hey, it’sall good. I’m fine!” Beca called, waving her arm. “You can, like, go away.”

“Okay, butdon’t forget, you signed the waiver!” the girl yelled back as the paramedicsturned away. Unfortunately, most of the crowd present was still staring at her.Didn’t they have anything better to do?

Becarolled her eyes. She really just wanted to leave and go home and have Chloegive her a massage. Before she could tell this to Chloe, though, she felt a tapon her shoulder and turned.

Tom lookedat her apologetically. “Hey, sorry about that,” he said, “If I’d seen you’dfallen, I’d have gone back before finishing.”

“Really,I’m fine,” Beca said, annoyed by how nice and perfect Tom was being. It wasrude of him, she thought. “It’s all good.”

“Okay,well, if you’re sure, I’m going back to join my bros,” Tom said, gesturing overhis shoulder. “It was great to see you again, Chloe, and I’m happy for you andBeca.” With a nod to Stacie and Emily (Lilly had vanished again), he jogged offas the rest of the crowd dispersed.

A handsmoothed across Beca’s lower back and she relaxed into Chloe’s touch. “You sureyou’re okay?” Chloe murmured, slipping her hand into Beca’s

“Yeah,just a little bruised,” Beca replied, trying to seem macho while wincing.

“Just abruised ego, you mean,” Stacie said with a wry smile.

Emily nodded,“Yeah, Beca, I can’t believe you body-checked that wall without seeing therope.”

“Thanks,guys,” Beca grumbled as they walked away from the obstacle course.

Chloe smiledand said gently, “Well, you are an idiot. I don’t know why you got so jealousof Tom.”

Becaglared back, affronted, “I wasn’t jealous!”

Chloelooked at her with raised eyebrows; Stacie laughed out loud and Emily lookedaway pointedly.

“I… fine. I was jealous,” Beca groaned,embarrassed. “Happy?”

“No!” Chloeburst out, gesturing wildly with her free hand. “You have no reason to bejealous and hurt yourself over it!”

Becalooked at the ground ahead of them as they walked. A Frisbee flew by and nearlytook out Emily, who dodged it at the last second. Beca threw a glare in thegeneral direction it came from.

Finally,Beca risked a glance at Chloe and mumbled, “Yeah, well. It’s hard not to bejealous when my girlfriend looks like a model and Tom was being really nice andhas all that muscle.”

“He didlook yummy,” Stacie supplied most unhelpfully.

“I don’tcare what he looks like,” Chloe said firmly. “He isn’t you. You are beautifuland wonderful and perfect, even if you do get jealous. Bec, I love you with allthat I am. I chose you for a reason. You have no reason to worry about anyoneelse.”

Becasmiled a little, unexpected happiness washing through her as she looked down athers and Chloe’s entwined hands. She had been pretty lame about the wholething. Tom really seemed like a good guy, and she knew Chloe would never cheaton her.

“Sorry,”she eventually said, “Got carried away.”

Chloeleaned into her, tugging on her hand. “It’s okay, no harm done.” She pursed herlips and added with a wink, “Well, at least I hope not. I need your body in topshape.” Beca immediately felt herself blush.

“Ugh, youguys are so hot,” Stacie whined.

“Stacie!”Beca hissed over the sound of Chloe’s giggle. “There are children present,” shesaid, gesturing to Emily, who wrinkled her nose.

“It’sokay, Bec,” Chloe soothed, “come here.” And she reached her free hand to turnBeca’s face toward hers for a small kiss. They were in public, so it couldn’treally go anywhere, but it still made Beca’s body hum and her heartbeatstutter. She was never going to get tired of kissing Chloe.

Theirmoment was shattered by Emily’s excited squeal; Beca broke away to see thatshe’d spotted a cotton candy cart ahead. Based on the group of people runningin a circle around it, she gathered which student organization was running thestand. All proceeds were to go to the naked mole rat, of course.

“Ooh,Beca, can we get some?” Emily begged, practically bouncing on the spot.