#pitchmas

Beside her, Chloe sniffed a little louder, and if Beca had turned her head she’d have seen Chloe’s chin start to wobble the way it did when she was trying her best not to cry.

“So this is our last Christmas here. Together.”

“I guess so, yeah.”

Beca squeezed Chloe’s hand, and Chloe squeezed back.

They wouldn’t mention this later when they left the movie theatre and Chloe wiped her eyes and laughed and gushed about how much she had loved the movie.

It wouldn’t come up on the subway ride back to their apartment, or when they ate dinner in front of the TV.

But maybe when they were lying back-to-back in that tiny bed they shared.

Maybe Beca would roll over onto her back, and maybe Chloe would do the same.

“I don’t want you to go.”

Chloe’s breath would fog up the air. Their apartment was always in the extremes of temperature. Too hot or too cold but never comfortable.

“I know,” Beca would reply. “I don’t think I want to either.”

Some things are easier to say in the dark.

“But you have to.” A statement, not a question. Beca had to go.

“Yeah.”

The rays of the rising morning sun would chase away those words spoken into the cold night air, and they’d both pretend it never happened. 

Besides, it wasn’t even December yet. They had time.

The next time Beca’s impending move was brought up it was the first weekend in December. 

Beca was on the sofa typing at her laptop while Chloe searched for the decorations that had been haphazardly tossed into their storage closet the year before. 

“Bec? Can you give me a hand?”

“Uh huh, just a sec.”

She hit a few more keys, closed her laptop, and then joined Chloe at the closet.

“I thought you came out of that?” Beca asked, smirking as Chloe handed her a box of tangled lights.

“Funny,” Chloe said. “Did you finish what you were working on?”

“I was just ordering something,” Beca said, taking the bag of baubles that Chloe handed her next.

“A Christmas present? For me? Beca, you shouldn’t have.”

Beca laughed but dropped her eyes to her sock-covered feet. “I was just getting some boxes, you know, so I can start packing.”

“Oh.”

“I probably shouldn’t leave it last minute,” Beca said, already regretting saying anything. 

“No, that makes sense,” Chloe said, trying to ignore the pit in her stomach. “Um, can you put those down somewhere and help me grab the tree?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Beca had avoided talking about the move ever since she’d told Chloe about it last month, but it was like a third person living in their apartment. They kept bumping into it.

It was all Beca could think about, mostly because of how much she didn’t want to go. 

But L.A. was calling. Her future was calling. Everything Beca had ever wanted was calling. Beca had to answer. She had to go.

And anyway, it was only the first weekend of December. They still had time. 

A few  weeks later Chloe dragged Beca along to Christmas drinks with her colleagues. It had become a bit of a tradition which Beca went along with because she had never been very good at saying no to Chloe.

Besides, who was she to turn down an open bar?

Beca was ordering herself and Chloe another drink when one of Chloe’s work friends, Abbie, joined her.

“So I hear you’re moving?”

“Oh, yeah,” Beca said. “I got a new job in L.A.”

“Exciting stuff!”

“Yeah.” Beca took a drink of her beer, and cast her eyes around the room for Chloe. 

“Well don’t sound too happy about it,” Abbie said.

Beca laughed. “No, I am excited, obviously it’s just…”

“Chloe?’

“Yeah.”

Abbie laughed and shook her head. “Have you ever thought about maybe just telling her how you feel?”

Beca felt her ears get hot and she whipped around to make sure she wasn’t overheard. “What are you talking about?”

“Look, me and you aren’t exactly friends, right? We see each other once a year at a holiday party, or when Chloe gets me to tag along to one of your sets. We hardly know each other and even I can see how you feel about her.”

Beca took another drink. It seemed pointless arguing.

“Say I tell her, then what? We spend our last week together in awkward silence?” Beca shook her head. “It’s easier this way.”

Abbie nudged her in the ribs and nodded to where Chloe was standing. “She’s looking for you. That’s what she does when you’re apart. She looks for you. She talks about you. I don’t think this is as one-sided as you think it is.” 

As if on cue, Chloe’s eyes found Beca’s and her face broke into a grin.

“It’s Christmas,” Abbie said. “What do you have to lose?”

Everything.

The party lasted a few more hours and Beca and Chloe stumbled into their apartment after midnight, both closer to drunk than tipsy.

“I might have one more,” Chloe said, already reaching for the bottle of wine on the counter. 

It seemed like a bad idea to Beca, but she was past the point of making sensible choices. She grabbed a beer out of the fridge and popped it open. 

“What was Abbie talking your ear off about?”

“Huh?” Beca asked, not looking up from her phone. With one eye closed she scrolled until she found a suitable Christmas playlist and hit play. 

“Abbie,” Chloe said, tapping Beca on the head to get her to look up. “You guys looked like you were having an in depth discussion about something. 

“Oh, that. It wasn’t anything interesting, she just asked about the new job.”

“Oh,” Chloe said. 

“Let’s talk about something else,” Beca said. “I’m sick of thinking about L.A. and the new job and…” 

And leaving you. 

Chloe finished her glass of wine and took hold of Beca’s hand, tugging her to her feet.

“What are you doing?” Beca asked.

“We’re dancing,” Chloe said, pulling Beca closer. “We never got the chance at the party.”

Beca reached for her phone. “Let me put a better song on.”

“No, I like this one,” Chloe said.

Beca shrugged and turned up the song before setting it back on the counter.

Mud’s ‘Lonely this Christmas’ played out of their bluetooth speaker as Chloe set her hands on Beca’s hips.

Beca put her hands on Chloe’s and they swayed awkwardly on the spot until Beca started to laugh.

“I feel like we’re at a middle-school dance or something.”

Chloe laughed too. “That’s because you’re so stiff.” 

She took hold of Beca’s left hand with her right, and pulled her closer.

They fell into a more natural rhythm, their bodies fitting together like they were made to be there. Everything was quiet, save for the music, and their faces were centimetres apart.

Beca could feel the heat rising to her cheeks despite the near freezing temperature of their apartment.

“I’m so proud of you, you know?” Chloe said.

Beca swallowed and cleared her throat but couldn’t find the words to respond. 

“You’re going to be amazing out there,” she continued as they continued to slowly dance around their tiny living room. “The world is going to see how brilliant and talented-”

Beca cut her off with a kiss.

“I’m sorry,” Beca said, a little out of breath when they broke apart. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Don’t,” Chloe said, her fingers touching her own lips as if checking they were still there. Checking if that had really just happened. “Don’t say sorry.”

Chloe closed the gap between them again, and soon they were tripping over themselves as they tried to get to the bed without separating.

Chloe’s dress was unzipped and discarded and Beca lost some shirt buttons as it was pulled off her, and they fell back onto the bed in a haze of wine and beer and things that had been unsaid for too long.

Chloe kept murmuring Beca’s name and Beca answered each one with a reassuring “I’m here.”

When it was over they lay tangled in bed sheets and each other’s arms.

“I love you,” Beca said, her voice so quiet Chloe might have missed it.

“I love you, too,” Chloe replied. Her voice cracked and soon tears were spilling down her cheeks.

The shadow of L.A. and Beca’s new job - new life - hung over them. It was so heavy it almost blocked out the moonlight. 

They woke up the next morning with hangovers and hickeys and pits in their stomachs.

It was Christmas Eve, and Beca had a little over a week left in New York. They were running out of time.

Beca watched as Chloe walked into the kitchen pulling on one of Beca’s old t-shirts. She felt almost breathless with longing and grief of the life she could have and the one she was moving away from.

“Coffee?” Chloe asked, not turning back to look at her.

“Please.”

Beca didn’t know what to say. 

How was she even going to begin this conversation?

“Look,” Chloe said. “Last night…” She trailed off. Beca knew she was giving her an out. She was leaving space for Beca to say it was a mistake. They were drunk and emotional and it didn’t have to mean anything. Chloe was giving Beca the chance to walk away.

But Beca didn’t want that. 

She was still leaving for L.A., but that didn’t have to mean the end of this thing that was only just beginning.

“Last night was everything, Chloe. I meant what I said. I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time. That isn’t changing because I’m moving to L.A.”

Chloe swallowed and her eyes shone with tears again. “I meant it too. But I don’t know where we go from here. You’re leaving, and I’m… I’m not.”

Beca shuffled forwards and sat at the edge of the bed, still wrapped in the bedsheet. The bruises left by Chloe’s mouth shone against her pale skin. 

“What if you did?”

“What?”

“What if you came to L.A. with me?”

“Beca, are you serious about this? About us?”

“You know I am,” Beca said, holding out her hand for Chloe to take. “Chloe, I don’t want to do this without you. I can’t do it without you.”

Chloe crossed the room and took hold of Beca’s hand. 

“Come with me,” Beca said. “They’re paying for me to move. There’s an apartment waiting for me - for us - and I can afford to cover you until you can find a new job.”

Hope seemed to blossom and grow in Chloe’s chest. 

She poured herself a glass of wine and walked over to the sofa. She sipped it while reading again all the messages from the various Bellas as they related their arrivals, their plans and their holiday wishes. 

After another glance at the television, still showing ads and snippets of news stories, Chloe pulled a throw blanket over her barefeet and legs. She straightened her robe before bending her legs. Resting her cheek on her knees, she looked over at the tree. 

Was it just last week that Beca and she were making plans? 

Beca was free of Jesse. He wanted a life in Los Angeles and she wanted to see if the Bellas could repeat. Chloe had to admit, she had no idea what she would have done had Beca left.

The thought caused a lump in her throat.

Chloe corralled her thoughts back into a recap of why she was at Barden, in the Bella house, alone, on Christmas Eve. 

Finals week, Beca had practically crowed with the news that her father and stepmother (step monster, Chloe could almost hear Beca say), were taking a cruise for the holidays. Beca had planned to stay and work at the radio station, but had grumbled about Christmas with her father. Now she was off the hook.

So Chloe had cancelled her plans to head to New York. Watching New Year’s Eve on television was the same no matter where she was at, and she had no one to hang with in Times Square anyway. It seemed a no brainer, to stay in the Bella House with Beca. Just the two of them for a week? Chloe thought she had died snd gone to heaven.

Chloe sighed and closed her eyes. The program started up, but she didn’t really want to listen to Hugh Jackman. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to hear Sheryl Crow. But she left it on in the background as she remembered the phone call that had thrown everything into disarray. 

“Oh my god, Chloe!”  Beca’s eyes had widened as she walked back into the living room where Chloe was placing a garland carefully around the tree. 

Chloe had looked up, smiling. But something in her tummy tightened at the look in Beca’s eyes. 

“Campbell sent my tape in. I got selected.” Beca’s voice shook with excitement.

“For what?” Chloe got down off the step ladder and crossed closer to Beca. 

Beca looked down at her phone before she answered. “I’m going to sing for the President.” 

Chloe blinked as the television program erupted with applause, breaking her rumination and introducing the President and First Lady. She smiled, and swallowed. Christmas Live in Washington meant Chloe was now alone with her glass of wine and half decorated living room, happy for Beca and missing her like crazy. 

She put her legs down and reached for her glass again.

Then she froze. Had she heard something? Her heart started to beat fast. No one else was supposed to be here. 

Chloe tossed off the light blanket and stood quietly. She picked up her phone, thumb ready to call security, and listened again. 

There was definitely a noise coming from the kitchen.

Frowning, she looked around. Seeing an umbrella in the stand near the front door, she crept over to claim it. Then she followed the sounds.

After a deep breath, she slowly pushed open the swinging kitchen door with the hand holding her phone, umbrella brandished above her head. “Who are you?” She tried to pitch her voice in the lower register her node surgery had provided.

“Shit.” 

The intruder jumped and spun, scattering popcorn kernals everywhere. 

“Are you crazy? You scared the shit out of me!” Beca leaned back against the counter, hand on her chest, and breathing hard. 

“Beca?” Chloe lowered her arm. The frown on her face deepened as the program in the living room started to introduce singers. “You’re in Washington.”

Beca laughed and looked down at the floor. After shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she managed to speak again. “Live for pay per view, yesterday. Tonight is tape delay on cable.” 

Chloe looked toward the living room, then back at Beca. “You’re here!” 

“Yeah, crazy lady. I wasn’t gonna leave you all alone for Christmas eve after you stayed for me.” Beca grinned and straightened up. “Want some popcorn?”

Chloe nodded her head quickly. She leaned the umbrella against the table. “Let me get a broom and clean this up.” 

Beca snorted. “I got it. Go watch Sheryl Crow. She was awesome.” Beca winked and shooed Chloe out of the room.

Bemused, Chloe returned to the sofa and sat down. Only half of her attention was on the show. She kept staring at the kitchen door, willing Beca to walk through and prove she was really here. 

Soon, the smell of fresh popcorn and butter filled the air. Beca padded in, now barefoot, but still wearing the jeans and flannel she had worn for traveling. “I wasn’t sure I was going to make it,” she confessed as she landed on the sofa next to Chloe. “Half the flights are overbooked and a bunch more cancelled. They were really pushing people to take vouchers to give up their seats, especially those of us who were traveling alone.” She grinned at Chloe and popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “Yourmydyngrna.”

“What?” Chloe laughed as she watched Beca, her heart lighter than it had been in days. 

Beca swallowed, “If anyone asks, you are my dying grandma. It was the only way people would leave me alone about my damn seat.” She grinned. “But it got me here.”

Chloe laughed. “You are crazy, you know that?”

“Nah, you are the crazy lady.” Beca’s eyes danced. “You tried to bean me with an umbrella.”

“You didn’t tell me you were coming.” Chloe protested, but took a handful of popcorn and nibbled at it. 

Beca laughed out loud. “Then you’da been pissed if I’d been knocked to standby.” She paused and looked at the television. “That’s weird. There was a whole set by a choir in this section.”

Chloe was distracted and followed Beca’s gaze, then looked at her again. “I’m sorry, I still don’t get it. The screen says it’s live.” 

“Isn’t that weird?” Beca grinned again. “Wait till after this commercial.” When the program continued, she pointed to fine print on the bottom of the screen. “There. Taped live.” She looked at Chloe. “It’s why I had to be there a couple of days ago. There was a tech rehearsal to give the crews the timing and light cues and stuff.” After another handful of popcorn, she continued. “Last night we did it live for some pay per view station. But tonight on regular cable, it’s on tape. For all I know, I’ll be one of the pieces cut for commercials.”

“They better not.” Chloe replied hotly. “I’ll get every Bella alumni to call and complain until they at least release your piece onto YouTube.”

Beca smiled and leaned closer. “I get a copy, I promise to show you.” She lifted her hand to brush an errant popcorn kernal from beside the corner of Chloe’s mouth. 

Chloe swallowed hard. Without thinking, her eyes still on Beca’s, she kissed the fingers lingering on her cheek. 

Beca felt her breath catch. It was her turn to swallow hard. She let her thumb caress Chloe’s cheekbone, all playfulness forgotten.

Chloe leaned into the caress and smiled. “Missed you.”

“Me too. I mean,” Beca’s voice cracked. “I missed you,” she finished softly. 

Chloe turned her head to kiss Beca’s palm. 

Beca felt a shiver take her. “It’s weird. Like, with Jesse. My dad likes him, the damn step monster likes him.” She swallowed past a lump in her throat. “But it was like a chore, you know? Make an alert to call him, make an alert to have lunch with him. Make an alert to make an alert.” She shook her head. “We could go days without a word before one of us remembered we were supposed to be a couple.” She softened her voice again. “I don’t think it’s supposed to be like that?”

Chloe turned to look into Beca’s eyes. “No?” Her voce was equally as soft. 

“No,” Beca rubbed her thumb across Chloe’s cheek bone. “Before I came to Barden, I never thought about dating and shit. I had my music and that was enough.”

“And now?” Chloe tilted her head to one side and smiled encouragingly. 

“Now?” Beca smiled back. “I don’t need alerts to remind me to make an alert to talk to you.” She leaned closer. “I just keep singing that Clarkson song: My life would suck without you.”

Chloe nuzzled Beca’s nose. “Funny. I was thinking the same thing. 

As their lips touched and they slid closer together, the popcorn was forgotten. They didn’t even hear Beca’s voice float from the television.

Beca swallows down the lump in her throat and feels her stomach drop. Her heart hammers hard in her chest and she feels a familiar pain, one she didn’t know was still settled in there. People walk in between them and the burnette hardly registers that she’s in the way until someone bumps her shoulder, snapping her out of her spiralling haze. 

“Sorry-” The other woman apologizes, bending down to pick up a knit glove off the ground.

“No, it’s okay…I’m sorry.” The brunette replies, picking up the other one that had landed right at her feet. “Here you go.”

“Thank you!” The woman says, taking her glove and disappearing into the crowd.

When Beca redirects her focus back to the redhead, she realizes she’s already noticed her and the pair meet eyes for the first time in five years. She rises from her place on the bench and adjusts her crossbody bag.

“Beca?”

Beca maneuvers through the herd of people separating the two of them, until she’s a mere foot away from her.

“Chloe…hi.”

“Hey.”

The two women hold each other's gaze before Beca breaks eye contact to turn her head downward. 

“It’s been…a while.” She looks back up at the redhead.

“Yeah. It has.”

“I uh…didn’t know you were back in New York.”

“I moved back a few months ago.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you heading?”

“My parents' place in Portland. What about you?”

“Seattle. Denver first, though.”

“Wait, Denver?”

“Yeah,”

“My layover is in Denver, I think we’re on the same flight!”

“Oh, seriously? Same gate?” Beca says, flashing her pass in Chloe’s direction.

“Yeah, looks like it,” Chloe says, checking her boarding information on her phone.

“Huh. Coincidence.”

Chloe gestures down the terminal. “Are you heading there now?”

“Yeah.”

“You want to walk together?” Chloe tries carefully as she readjusts her crossbody strap.

“Sure.” 

 The pair begins to walk down the long hallway, silence lingering between them as the bustle of the airport seems to swallow them whole.

“I really need to find coffee and-”

“Not the airport kind.” They both say simultaneously.

“Exactly,” Chloe finishes, chuckling at Beca. “You read my mind.”

“I was always pretty good at that, wasn’t I?” Beca speaks the thought before she can catch it. She bites her cheek, overthinking it before Chloe eases the worry.

“You were.”

Another pause.

“You- you look good,” Beca says, glancing back over at the redhead.

Chloe flashes a delicate smile, one that doesn’t quite meet her eyes.

“You do too, Bec.” She says, nudging Beca with the elbow holding her jacket.

“New York’s always looked good on you, though.” She follows, “Something about it.”

‘It’s you.’ Beca wants to say, because it’s true. But she doesn’t.

“It might just be all the fatigue. Don’t be fooled.” She settles on instead, earning another giggle from Chloe.

She ignores the way Chloe’s laugh makes her feel.

“There’s a Starbucks up here, if you want to stop.” Beca points.

“You already know I do.”

The two continued walking ahead to where the end of the line was. 

“Are you still in Brooklyn?” Chloe asks when they finally come to a stop, wheeling her carry-on suitcase to stand upright beside her.

“Yeah, I uh…moved out of the apartment though.”

“I mean, I figured you would. That place was a shithole. I’m glad you got out of there.” 

“Yeah, me too. I have a real bed now, which is… 

‘Lonely.’ She thinks.

“a step up.” She swallows, shifting forward as the line moves.

“Totes,” Chloe says with an awkward chuckle, following her forward. 

Beca can sense the tension radiating somewhere between them.

“How are you? How’s vet school?” She says when the silence feels too long.

“I finished Vet school, last year actually,” Chloe says.

“You finished?!” Beca says excitedly, a wide grin on her face.

“Yeah! I actually did pretty well Bec, you would’ve been proud of me. It was really hard.”

“Dude, I am proud of you! That’s huge, congratulations!” Beca says, gently bringing her hand up to squeeze Chloe’s elbow, falling into an old natural habit.

“I knew you would do well.”

“Thank you!” Chloe says bashfully.

“That’s seriously so cool Chlo, I’m really, so happy for you.” Beca smiles at her genuinely. “So you’re officially a vet now?”

“Yes! I’m at a general practice in Park Slope.”

“Ohhh, so you’re in Brooklyn again?”

“I’m over in East Village! So I’m not too far. I always loved Brooklyn. I had hoped I would come back to the area eventually.”

“Yeah, you were overseas for a minute, right?” 

“I was supposed to be. Some last-minute thing happened, and they needed Chicago in Atlanta. So we were there for a while. I actually ended up going back to Barden for Vet School.”

“Oh, seriously?” Beca questions, trying to ignore the tiny sting of hearing Chicago’s name.

“Yeah, it was kind of a last-minute decision for me, and they definitely weren’t my first choice for Vet School, but you know, you go where life takes you.”

“Yeah, no, for sure.” Beca nods as they inch forward again in the line.

“What about you, though? Are you still with Khalid?”

“Yeah, yeah. Mostly producing. I do have some of my own stuff in the works again. I took a break from it for a while but, now it’s almost done.”

“Beca, that’s awesome. I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks, Chlo.” Beca smiles gently, holding the redhead's gaze.

“I can help whoever’s next!” The barista at the counter interrupts their swirling thoughts.

“Could I please get a name for the order?”

“Chloe.”

“Okay, and what can I get for you?”

“Can I please get a grande soy caramel brulée latte, no whip?”

Chloe turns to the brunette.

“You still drink americano’s, right?”

The corners of Beca’s lips turn up as she looks at the redhead, surprised, and then she turns toward the barista. “Yeah, uh…tall iced americano please.”

Chloe unzips her crossbody bag and pulls her card from her wallet.

“I can get mine,” Beca says, pulling her phone from her hoodie pocket.

“I’ve got it,” Chloe says, reaching over to the terminal to tap her card.

“You don’t have to-”

“I know.” Chloe shrugs, lowering her voice a little.

“It’s just coffee.” She says, looking back up at Beca after putting her card away.

“You’re all set.” The barista says, smiling at the pair.

“Thank you,” Chloe replies, as Beca continues to look at her.

“You really didn’t have to do that,” Beca says softly, as they both walk towards the end of the counter to wait for their drinks.

“It’s fine, I still owe you about a hundred coffees from when we lived together.”

“You really don’t…I-”

“It’s fine, Bec. I wanted to.”

Chloe turns to retrieve her chapstick from her bag, and Beca purses her lips, trying to hide her smile as she looks down at the floor.

Once their drinks are ready, they continue making their way through the terminal, sleeves brushing as they walk in tandem with each other. The terminal only seems to get louder as they approach their destination, with the sounds of overlapping conversations, rolling of luggage and a small child crying somewhere in the distance filling the air.

“So,” Chloe says as she uses her eyes to navigate, “how long are you home for?”

“Just a few days. Long enough to visit with my mom. Long enough to remember why I was willing to move down to Georgia.”

Chloe chuckles. “Makes sense.”

The pair passes a wall of windows. Planes sit idle, wings dusted with what little snow was falling from the gray sky.

“I always forget how weird airports feel around the holidays,” Beca says after a beat.

“Don’t you still travel for work a lot?”

“Yeah, but this is different. There’s just so many people and every space feels like the busiest place on earth.”

“Well that’s true. You still hate crowds I take it?”

“Yeah. Some things never change.”

They slow just before reaching their gate, the overhead sign with their flight number glowing back at them.

“Guess this is us.” Beca says as she scans the crowd of people also waiting at the gate. 

“C’mon.” Chloe says as she guides them through the crowd to a little space back by the window. “Feels less claustrophobic when you’re by the window.”

“It does.” Beca says, taking a sip of her americano.

After a few minutes, the plane begins boarding, and a voice calling for the different groups keeps interrupting their small talk as it crackles over the loudspeaker. The two women gaze out the window as a plane takes off down the runway. The snowflakes seem to fall in slow motion, scattering themselves on the ground and the hats of the ground crew.

“I forgot how magical a New York winter feels.” Chloe voices after a moment. “It feels like a movie.”

“Yeah, when the temperature isn’t in the negatives,” Beca replies, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pocket.

“Remember that holiday market a few blocks down from the apartment? Ugh, they had the best boozy hot chocolate.”

“Oh yeah, I remember. That’s the only reason I went with you every year.”

“Oh c’mon. You loved looking at all the little craft booths! You even found that little cardinal ornament thing for your mom one year.”

“Yeah, okay. They had some interesting stuff, I guess.”

“Do they still do it every year?”

“I don’t know I haven’t been since…”

‘You left.’

“...it’s been a few years.” Beca lands.

Before Chloe can respond, another announcement is made over the loudspeakers. “Now boarding Main Cabin Two. Main Cabin Two, now boarding.”

Beca checks her phone and glances up at the group as they begin to move towards the gate entrance.

“That’s me.” She says.

She adjusts her backpack strap up onto her shoulder and looks at the redhead, who is clearly a little disappointed. 

“See you in Denver?” She asks, flashing a small smirk at Chloe.