In the blink of an eye.

An unexpected reunion

Over the next few weeks, Chloe and Beca kept texting back and forth about everything and nothing. They grabbed coffee a few times- Beca never actually drinking a coffee, went shopping together and every time they learned something new about the other. Five nights after their last coffee together, they still hadn't exchanged a single text or call. Chloe had been out with Aubrey and was on her way home now. She passed by the park near her house and shortly after, she reached the tiny workshop on the corner, run by Luke. The ginger stopped for a minute, confused why the lights were still on. Normally Luke closed at 5p.m. It was currently 9.30p.m. Chloe was curious why Luke was working late. He and Chloe had been on a few dates before she had been diagnosed with cancer again. The redhead walked to the entrance of the office, located a little further back on the property. Getting closer to the office, Chloe could peek in through the window. She saw a few people sitting around a table. One of the men held a cigarette in his hand, two others were talking, one was juggling poker chips and the only woman at the table was shuffling a deck of cards. She had brown hair that fell below her shoulders and she was wearing something black. Luke entered the room and pulled the little curtain behind the window shut, but before he had closed it completely, the woman sitting with her back turned to Chloe, turned her head. 

Beca? Chloe shook her head. Her eyes must've tricked her. The ginger turned back onto the sidewalk and went home. She kept thinking about the scene she had seen at Luke's workshop tonight. It looked like they were preparing for a game of poker. Out of the blue it hit Chloe. Could it have been Beca after all? Gigi mentioned she had caught her big sister playing with her friends. Had they done it at Beca's parents' house and moved to the workshop after Gigi had caught them? More and more questions popped into Chloe's mind, but she decided to drown them out for now. She would ask Beca about it when they would meet the next time.

It didn't go exactly as Chloe had planned it, as the next time they saw each other was at her birthday party in early March. This wasn't the occasion to talk to Beca about what the ginger had witnessed two weeks earlier.

"Chlo! Hey!" Beca cheerfully greeted and wrapped her arms around the ginger, "Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you, Beca." Chloe replied. Beca held out an envelope for Chloe. "Beca, you shouldn't have."

The brunette only smiled, "Open it." Chloe carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a white sheet of paper. There was some color seeping through the white, so Chloe turned the piece around to find a kid's drawing. "Gigi drew this one night when I was visiting her." Beca explained. The drawing showed Chloe, Beca and Gigi next to each other. Looking at it made Chloe grin from ear to ear.

"She would've wanted you to have this." 

Chloe didn't know what to say. She just embraced Beca in a tight hug, "Thank you so much. I love it."

The two women entered the living room, where the other guests were involved in conversations. Beca looked around the room. Except for Chloe she didn't know anybody, so she thought. Chloe had disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a glass of wine for Beca. "Come on. I'll introduce you to the others." Chloe introduced Beca to her best friend Aubrey first. "This is my best friend Aubrey."

"Hey, I'm Beca. Nice to meet you." Beca politely introduced herself. She hated this kind of forced conversation. "Aubrey. Nice to meet you, Beca." They chatted for a few minutes before Chloe wanted Beca to meet someone else. "He flew in from Spokane just to be here on my birthday! He's such a great friend," Chloe explained while walking over to the sofa, "Meet-"

"Jesse?!" Beca cut Chloe off and the man with brown hair and eyes turned around abruptly, almost spilling his drink. "Beca? What are you-? How do you know Chloe?"