"Chloe, I need them back." Beca blurted, not even saying hello when the redhead answered on the third ring. There was silence on the other end and Beca waited as patiently as she could as she darted through the throng of fellow student – she still couldn't believe she was one, ew – and pointedly avoided eye contact with everyone. "Chloe?"
"But I like them." Was the response she finally received and Beca rolled her eyes at Chloe's tone of voice. She was pouting into the phone, she could hear it, and she knew that Chloe knew she would.
"And that's great," she replied, her own tone clipped and breathlessly exasperated, "but people keep trying to talk to me." Chloe let out a loud, over-exaggerated gasp.
"The nerve." Beca's teeth grinding was audible.
"I will find you and I will hurt you." Chloe's laughter was loud, but not obnoxious or offensive. It was musical, like the rest of her, and the hair on the back of Beca's neck lifted at the sound of it, a slight shiver running down her spine.
"You love me too much." Beca rolled her eyes again at the undeniable certainty that she almost didn't need the phone to hear and tried to ignore the warmth growing in the pit of her stomach.
"What will you give me in exchange?"
"Exchange?" She baulked, indignant. "Chloe, they're my headphones!" She gestured pointlessly with her free hand as she dodged another student who was too busy texting to pay attention to where he was going. "Besides, do you really want to be responsible for a massacre? Because that's what's going to happen if I don't-"
"Oh my god!" Chloe interrupted with a laugh. "You're so dramatic. Fine, you can have your dumb headphones back." Beca stopped dead, right in the middle of the courtyard.
"Dumb? Excuse me?"
"Acascuse you." Chloe corrected and Beca could hear the smile in her voice even over the inner twitch that sounded every time that term was used. She made a disgruntled sound low in her throat, a grunt of sorts, but chose tobotherwise ignore the comment.
"Where are you?" She asked, starting forward again.
"Behind you." Beca frowned and pivoted on a heel, and another wind-chime laugh filtering in through the phone speaker.
"Gotcha." And Chloe's voice was closer now, close enough that it pulled Beca back in her original direction. Chloe's smiling face greeted her, red hair bobbing as she bounced to a stop and bright blue eyes glittering in the sunlight.
For a moment too long, Beca was struck dumb by the unexpected appearance and she simply stood there with her mouth hanging open as Chloe pocketed her phone. Then she noticed the headphones resting around the redhead's neck and pointed at them, sliding her own phone into the pocket of her jeans.
"Gimmie." Chloe's smile only grew as she began to remove them.
"What, no hello? Politeness is a necessity in our line of work, you know." Beca held her hand out.
"Well then it looks like I'm shit out of luck."
Chloe ignored the offered appendage and stepped forward into Beca's personal space. She inhaled sharply at the intrusion, but didn't move, heat prickling the backs of her arms.
"What do I get?" Chloe asked, lifting the headphones over the shorter girl's head. Beca blinked up at her, wide blue eyes taking in every curve and dip on Chloe's face.
"Umm..." Beca murmured distractedly, mouth suddenly a little dry. She licked her lips.
"How about..." Beca's heart lurched as Chloe tugged her forward by the headphones, pressing their bodies flush. "This." She finished, breathing the word against Beca's lips a second before she touched them with her own.
It was like fire in all its forms – slow burning ember to raging inferno – and it crept across every inch of Beca's skin until she felt like a living flame. Chloe's hands rested just below Beca's shoulders, palms flat against her collar bone, and the flesh beneath her shirt warm under the touch. Beca's eyes drifted closed as she felt her control fall away and she just let go.
Chloe licked a slow line along her lower lip and a small sound of surprised pleasure slipped free before she could stop it. Chloe smiled into the kiss and then deepened it. The fingers of Beca's right hand curled, clutching at something she could neither see nor comprehend and for one endless instant she was heavy and weightless all at once.
When the redhead eventually pulled back, it took Beca far too long to recover enough to open her eyes again.
"Umm..." she mumbled, drawing the sound out as she finally opened her eyes. Chloe's smile was soft, if not a little smug around the edges. "The was... what was... uh..." she trailed off, a blush colouring her face and neck as she registered the fact that they were standing in a very crowded part of the college. Chloe didn't seem to notice, or care, and she gave a half shrug.
"I got tired of waiting." Beca's blush darkened and Chloe chuckled. "You're kind of adorable when you're all flustered."
"Oh my god." Beca sounded like a mortified teenager, something that only served to further advance Chloe's perpetual cheeriness – something Beca hadn't thought possible. Her smile was blinding.
They just looked at one another then; Chloe all unabashed staring and Beca's darting glances. They looked until Chloe opened her mouth to say something and Beca realised she'd been staring at her mouth.
"You're going to be late for class." She said, with all the certainty of someone who could memorise a schedule in an eye blink
"Well you kind of stalled me." Beca pointed out and the other girl flashed a triumphant grin.
"You can take your hand back now." At the brunette's look of utter confusion, Chloe dropped her hand to rest it atop Beca's, which was gripping lightly at Chloe's hip. She pulled it back, lightning quick, and her blush returned anew.. "But you can put it back later." Stars twinkled in her eyes and she gave Beca's shoulders a gentle push. "You should get to class, but you should come over after. We can... talk." She smirked and Beca nodded dumbly before blinking and hauling her shoulder bag off to shove it into Chloe's arms.
The redhead arched a brow as Beca started peeling off her jacket. "A little warm now?" Beca threw her a glare and mumbled a low 'shut up' as she traded bag for jacket and slipped it back over her head. She looked back up in time to see Chloe sliding into the last arm and zipping it up.
"Hey!" The redhead started backing away and Beca made a grab for her, but years of choreography training allowed Chloe to dance out of reach. She grinned again.
"You can take it off me later." And with a wink, she turned away, leaving Beca to gape open mouthed – once again – after her. She blinked once, twice, and then said to no one in particular;
"What the hell just happened?"
"You've been propositioned." Fat Amy appeared out of thin air beside her, hair gathered into abpony tail near the top of her head and a slice of what looked to be a meat lover's pizza in her hand. Beca turned to look at her and saw that the other girl was watching Chloe leave, contemplation shifting her features as she took a bite of her pizza. "You know, I never really had her pegged as a lesbian." She glanced at Beca. "Obviously I knew you probably leaned a bit to the lezzie left, but I didn't think Chloe had it in her." She grinned and elbowed Beca in the ribs."Maybe she hasn't yet though." Beca just stared, lips twitching at the corners in a nervous tick kind of way. Fat Amy apparently took the look to be covetous and waved the pizza slice towards her. "Do you want some?" Beca wordlessly shook her head and Amy smiled, relieved. "Good, I hate sharing food." Her expression looked uncomfortable for a moment, pained. "Gives me hives."
And weirdly, things just went on as normal after that. The only thing that really changed was the nature of the teasing that the rest of the Bella's aimed at her, and she could totally roll with that.
Oh, and her and Chloe kind of made out now.
Like, a lot.
