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Beca groaned when she felt a weight bouncing on her bed.
“Get up!”
Ugh, Stacie.
“Go away,” Beca mumbled but her voice was muffled by the pile of blankets she was under.
She flinched when the pillow covering her face was yanked out of her reach and her bright bedside lamp shone over her eyes.
“Get up!” Stacie said again forcefully, trying to shove Beca’s tiny frame out from her curled up position.
“Stop!” Beca growled, turning to glare at her friend and almost falling from her bed. “Leave me alone!”
“We’ve left you alone long enough, Bee,” Stacie said. “No more moping. We’re going out and having fun.”
“I’m not moping,” Beca said petulantly, aware her argument held no ground.
“Sure,” Stacie mocked. “You’re not moping over the fact one your best friends went away to film school across the country. There’s no reason whatsoever that you haven’t left your bed in three days. Or showered.”
“I hate you,” Beca grumbled but ended up getting up and making her way to her en-suite bathroom.
“Just be glad it was me who got here first and not Amy!”
Beca shivered as she took her clothes off and turned on her shower head.
Stacie was right. Amy would have been much, much worst.
//
“Where are we going?” Beca asked.
She was still crabby but after a long shower and eating some of Stacie’s pancakes, leftover cranberry juice and eggs, she felt more like a person than she had for the past three days.
She still missed Jesse terribly but it didn’t feel like the end of the world anymore.
“A party,” Stacie said, cleaning the remnants of their breakfast-for-dinner feast.
“What party?” Beca inquired, rolling her eyes.
It was like talking to a toddler sometimes.
There was a beat of silence until Stacie turned to her with what could only be described as an evil smirk and said the three words Beca was dreading to hear, “A Halloween party.”
“No.” Beca said forcefully, getting up. “Nu-uh Stace. No freaking way. I agreed to go out but I’m not going to a goddamn Halloween party!”
“Beca, hear me out!” Stacie used her long legs to get to Beca faster than she could run away, which was really unfair. “You’re gonna like it, I promise it!”
“Why don’t I believe you?” Beca asked sarcastically.
“Hey!” Stacie pouted. “If you don’t like it, we can leave after half an hour, okay?”
Beca sighed deeply. She knew she should get out of her apartment. And Stacie was usually a good time, had a great taste for parties and always kept her end of the bargain when promising something.
There was only one thing…
“I don’t have to wear a costume, do I?” she grumbled, already dreading it.
“You’re gonna like it, I promise!”
//
Beca hated to admit, but Stacie was right.
Her friend had dressed Beca in what she called “Bad Sandy” look, all black platform heels, leather pants, cropped shirt and leather jacket matched with messy hair and dark makeup. It made her feel good and badass.
With Stacie wearing Sandy’s cheerleader outfit and Amy doing a somewhat recognizable attempt to go as a quarterback in a letterman jacket, they looked like a mismatch group of friends from the 80’s. Beca could work with that.
They arrived at a nondescript bar that, thankfully, wasn’t overflowing with customers.
“I feel like we’re part of a bad joke,” Amy commented in her usual booming voice. “A bad girl, a cheerleader, and a quarterback walk into a bar…”
“Please don’t finish the sentence,” Beca pleaded. “I need alcohol in me to follow your train of thought.”
“Oh, I’ll take you up on this offer, little one,” Stacie said with a little shake, already scanning the crowd with a look Beca recognized as her hunting look.
“No thanks, I brought my own,” Amy produced a flask from her jacket and took a sip.
Beca had learned a long time ago not to question her or drink from whatever bottle Amy had with her. It never ended well.
She walked up to the bar and ordered her beer and Stacie’s frilly drink. The DJ currently playing was kinda good (as expected from anyone playing from a top 40 playlist) and Beca was tapping away to the beat while she waited when she saw her.
The most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on.
With black converse shoes, skinny dark jeans, and a tight white tee, the girl attracted a lot of looks from all over the bar. She certainly attracted Beca’s. Her messy red hair tied up in a high ponytail was also doing things to her heart rate.
Beca watched transfixed as the girl made her way over to the makeshift dance floor and started moving her hips effortlessly to match the beat of the songs, never sticking to the same dance partner for longer than one song.
She was so entranced by the mystery woman that she didn’t even notice her drinks had arrived.
Beca shook her head trying to get out of her reverie. She hoped she wouldn’t be distracted by the girl all night, it’d make her a terrible company to her friends.
//
“Where’s Amy?” Beca asked when she finally made her way back to their table.
“Found someone to dance with,” Stacie said, nodding towards Amy and a zombie guy who were tearing up the dance floor with their bold moves.
“And you didn’t?” Beca gave her an incredulous look. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Hey, you know I never do anything before taking my first drink of the night,” Stacie said, twirling her straw and taking a sip of her drink.
Beca shrugged, sipping her own beer before feeling her eyes drifting to the dance floor again. It wasn’t hard to find the mysterious redhead; she had an energy about her that simply drew Beca to her. And she still wasn’t sticking to the same partner for longer than one night.
She got spun around by her current partner and Beca found herself locking eyes with the brightest blue orbs she had ever seen. They were electrifying.
Beca shivered all over.
She was rudely brought back to reality when Stacie shoved her hard enough to almost drop her beer.
“What the fuck dude!”
“You were eye-fucking Mystery Red!” Stacie grinned at her. “Congrats!”
“Uh, thanks?” Beca said confused, taking a big gulp of her drink to try and cool down. “You know her?”
“Sort of,” Stacie said nonchalantly. “She comes here every Halloween. Dances all night but never with the same person twice,” that much Beca had noticed, Stacie, thanks. “I’ve danced with her a couple of times. Different nights, obvs.”
“She’s beautiful,” Beca sighed, looking for the girl again, but not finding her.
“Good luck trying to tap that,” Stacie snorted.
Beca scowled, the protest in her lips dying when a light giggle sounded behind them.
“Hi,” an airy voice greeted, causing Beca to almost fall from her seat when she saw it was the mysterious redhead. “I'm Chloe,” she extended her hand.
“Hi,” Beca squeaked back, causing Stacie to snort again. “I’m, uh, Beca,” she grabbed the offered hand and the electric feeling she had felt earlier came back in full force.
“Hi, Beca,” Chloe’s bright smile was radiant. “Wanna dance?”
Beca’s eyes widened and she only managed to nod with her mouth hanging open like a fish out of water, but apparently, it was enough for Chloe.
Chloe took her hand and dragged her to the middle of the dance floor where a hot and upbeat song started playing. She put her arms around Beca’s neck and started moving expertly to the beat of the song while Beca just stood there, immobile.
“Just relax!” Chloe shouted in her ear, getting so close Beca’s senses were assaulted with her jasmine perfume. “Have fun!”
Beca still had enough of her senses to nod again. Chloe was right; she had her for one song and she was gonna damn well enjoy it!
//
(When the song ended much too soon, Beca felt herself getting inexplicably sad. It was one song, one beautiful woman. It wasn’t the end of the world.
When Chloe simply looped their hands together and twirled her around for another song, she pretended not to notice the also inexplicable happy dance her heart did).
//
Chloe, much to Beca’s and everyone in the club’s surprise, ended up dancing with only Beca for the rest of the night.
When they were probably on their fifth song in a row, Beca finally worked up the courage to ask.
“Uh, are you sure about this?” she took a deep breath. “There are probably other people here you wanna dance with.”
“I’m right where I wanna be,” Chloe replied sweetly, causing Beca to blush and smile goofily back at her.
Beca kept that in mind when a random guy complained about her “hogging the pretty woman” and took pleasure in the displeased look on his face when she told him that Chloe was free to do whatever and she simply smiled and tugged on her hand at the start of another song.
It was an amazing feeling.
It felt even more amazing at the end of the night when, as the party winded down and people started going home (or to parties that were still happening), Chloe looked up shyly and asked.
“Walk me home?”
“Sure,” Beca smiled. “Let me just grab my things.”
//
“What the hell was that?” was the first thing out of Stacie’s mouth as soon as Beca got back to their table.
Beca knew she hadn’t stayed there all night; they’d bumped into each other on the dance floor throughout the party. Stacie with a couple of different partners but Beca always with Chloe.
“What?” Beca asked with a sly smile, grabbing her things.
“You! And Mystery Red!”
“Her name is Chloe,” she dropped a couple of bills on the table, shoving them towards Stacie. “And I’m walking her home.”
Stacie narrowed her eyes at her.
“How did you do it?” she inquired.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Beca narrowed her eyes back at her, not liking what her tone implied.
“What’s the catch here, Beca? What did she do to you?”
“First of, she didn’t do anything to me, Stacie! You saw what happened!” Beca was shocked at her friend’s implication. “Are you saying a girl can’t keep her interest in me all night?”
“Come on, Bec, you know that’s not—”
“You know what, fuck you,” Beca grabbed her things forcefully, an angry look etching her features. “I’m taking Chloe home.”
“Beca!”
//
“Is everything alright?” Chloe asked as soon as Beca rejoined her.
“Yeah,” Beca grumbled, feeling her irritation melt away slowly once Chloe laced their fingers together again.
Her hands were chillier than before, but there was still a comfortable warmth radiating from them. From Chloe. It kept pulling Beca further in.
“My friend was just being a jerk,” she said as they exited the bar.
The air outside was definitely chillier and it made both of them shiver.
“Here, take this,” Beca said, taking her jacket off and dropping it over Chloe’s bare shoulders.
“Thank you,” Chloe smiled and they started walking, side by side, towards where Chloe lived.
It was a nice, quiet walk; Beca didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with inane chatter to make it less uncomfortable. It felt good, Chloe felt good; she wanted more.
“This is me,” Chloe said finally, bringing them to a halt.
Beca looked around. They were in a relatively deserted area and the only actual place nearby was… the cemetery.
“Where?” Beca asked, confused.
“Over there,” Chloe gestured vaguely somewhere and before Beca could look, she continued. “Thank you for tonight, Beca.”
“We should do it again sometime,” Beca said expectantly.
She was expecting Chloe to smile sweetly and, maybe — hopefully — give Beca her number but, instead, the smile she gave her had a hint of sadness and it tugged at Beca’s heartstrings.
“I wish we could… But I don’t have much time,” Chloe said, leaning in to kiss Beca before she could question what the hell was that supposed to mean.
Their kiss was electric, like everything they’d done all night; but it was also tinted with sadness and a sense of finality Beca wasn’t too fond of.
“Chloe…” Beca sighed when their kiss ended.
“Goodbye, Beca,” Chloe said, squeezing Beca’s hand one last time with her own, now completely cold, one.
And then she left.
//
Beca was left standing, dumbfounded, right where Chloe had left her for what it felt like hours. What the hell had just happened?
It felt like she had been dumped. Except that was not what their kiss told her. It was very confusing.
Another breeze picked up, stronger this time, startling Beca out of her reverie long enough for her to realize she had left her jacket with Chloe. Part of her wanted to forget about it and leave it; but another, bigger part of her, wanted to use the opportunity to go after Chloe and ask her what the hell had happened.
So she did.
Except she still had no idea where Chloe had left to, her only option being the cemetery. So she took a deep breath and got in, figuring Chloe had taken a shortcut or something.
The breeze picked up again and, this time, Beca was sure she smelled Chloe’s perfume; it was the same soft jasmine scent she had felt at the bar. So she followed that.
She ended up finding her jacket strewn over a random tombstone.
Now Beca was sad; finding only her jacket meant either that Chloe had discarded it like a piece of unimportant garbage or that she had accidentally dropped it and didn’t bother picking it up.
Either way, things didn’t look too promising for Beca.
Dejectedly, she went to pick up her jacket and couldn’t help but gasp at what she saw. There, in the stone, was a beautiful picture of Chloe over the saying:
Chloe Anne Beale
1961 - 1987
Always loving
Always loved
Now forever dancing to her own beat