Chapter Text
If there was one thing that Beca always needed, it was a cup of strong coffee. She lived on the stuff, completely addicted to the caffeine and absolutely reliant on its ability throw open the curtains of her brain. Beca Mitchell needed coffee like she needed air, so when she moved into a new apartment in Los Angeles, she knew that before unpacking a single box, she needed to find a place to get some coffee.
And that was how she found herself inside Holy Grounds, the local coffee shop that was just halfway down the block from her apartment. She opened the door to the shop and was instantly greeted with the comforting aroma of coffee beans. Beca breathed deep, savoring the smell and making her way to the counter.
Holy Grounds was surprisingly large for a locally owned coffee shop, with many overstuffed armchairs surrounding a brick fireplace on one side of the shop and several tables lining the walls. Plenty of room to do work when she got sick of the studio, Beca thought. She could easily set up her laptop and headphones in a corner to work on mixes and studio demos when she needed a change of pace. An eclectic mix of art hung on the dark blue walls, abstract paintings and photographs of sweeping landscapes. It was a nice atmosphere – comfortable, unassuming.
What really mattered to Beca, however, was the taste of the coffee.
Beca approached the counter and was greeted by a redhead whose smile was impossibly wide.
“Hi!” The barista said, grinning even wider (was that possible?) as her gaze bore into Beca. “Welcome to Holy Grounds!”
“Uh… thanks.” Beca said, slightly unsure how to respond to the bubbliness of the redhead. Beca didn’t exactly do people – she enjoyed the company of her headphones, and even small social interactions like ordering coffee were unappealing to her. Especially when the other person was apparently really, really excited about it.
“What can I get for you?”
“Just a medium coffee, please. To go.” Beca pulled her wallet out of her back pocket, handing over a few bills to the barista.
“Sounds great! That’s two dollars, out of five…” The redhead focused on the cash register, her bright smile relaxing into a happy grin as she counted out Beca’s change. “Here you go!” Beca nodded, slipping the ones back into her wallet. “What’s your name?” The redhead asked.
It was a normal question, Beca supposed, for a barista to ask when making someone coffee – but there were no other customers to get her confused with at that moment. It’s not like the redhead needed to write her name on the cup to identify her. Beca shifted uncomfortably, unsure why the woman was making small talk when Beca really just wanted to get her coffee and get out of there. There was something about the barista, though – her eyes were so blue, and they looked at Beca with a brightness that she had never before experienced in another person’s gaze.
So she found herself answering the question. “Uh… Beca’s my name.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Beca! I’m Chloe.” The redhead, Chloe, held out a hand over the cash register. Beca simply stared at it for a second before remembering that generally an outstretched hand indicates desire for a handshake. She took Chloe’s hand and gave it a firm shake, and then promptly shoved her hands back into her pockets.
“I’ll get your coffee!” Chloe gave her another dazzling smile and then turned around, a bundle of energy, to pour coffee into a cup for Beca. She glanced around the coffee shop again, taking note of the several students scattered around the tables, typing away on laptops with long-empty mugs at their side. Beca turned back to the counter as Chloe returned, coffee in hand.
“Here you go, Beca!” She passed over the coffee with a giant grin. Beca wondered if the redhead was ever not smiling. “I hope you enjoy it, and I hope we see you back here again!”
Beca gave the barista a small smile – more than most people got out of her – and a quick thanks, and then headed towards the door. It wasn’t until she was outside, making her way down the absurdly sunny sidewalk, when she noticed the writing on the cup. It was her name, spelled correctly, which was rare for someone to guess, and a small heart doodled underneath. Beca found herself grinning just slightly as she raised the cup to her lips.
Damn. That was some good coffee.
Chloe Beale loved her job. In fact, “love” was perhaps even too mild a word for her feelings – she adored her job. When her dearest friend Aubrey had proposed the idea of opening a coffee shop, their own coffee shop, after graduation, Chloe didn’t think it would be possible. Sure, Aubrey was getting a master’s in business and Chloe had years of managing a coffee shop under her belt, but local businesses rarely did well. She hadn’t believed they could ever actually pull it off.
But here they were, several years later. Holy Grounds was a successful coffeehouse and Chloe could not be happier with her life.
She and Aubrey still worked behind the counter of the shop frequently – they had other employees, bakers and baristas, and they both had to spend time dealing with the business aspects of their, well… business – but they both loved being in the thick of it and interacting with customers. That is, Chloe loved it; Aubrey was more interested in making sure things were running correctly by doing all the work herself. But Chloe didn’t mind – Aubrey was intense sometimes, but she loved her best friend and they worked well together.
At the moment, however, Chloe was in the back office of the coffee shop, dealing with inventory. It was mid-morning on a Tuesday and Chloe had been doing office work since she got in at the crack of dawn. She was not thrilled about it, to say the least. With a huff, she rose from her desk and stretched, shaking out the sluggishness that came with bending over paperwork for hours, and went out to the shop with a smile on her face.
“Aubrey!” She chirped, grabbing a giant mug and filling it with some coffee for herself, “I just cannot do more paperwork right now. I can’t.”
Aubrey glanced at Chloe and rolled her eyes. “I’ve got customers, Chlo.” She turned back to the gangly teenager who was peering up at their chalkboard menu with a look of confusion on his face.
“I’m taking a break.” Chloe said to no one in particular. She had accomplished quite a lot of work that morning, so she didn’t feel guilty taking a long, calming sip of coffee and strolling out from behind the counter to find a place to relax for a minute. Looking around the shop, she noticed a few of the regulars – the middle-aged college professor who loved to grade papers while stretched out on an armchair, a twenty-something couple who seemed to constantly be together in their shop, and a couple of students who were typing away at their laptops in between frenzied gulps of coffee.
In the back corner of the shop, however, a small brunette caught Chloe’s eye. A wide smile stretched across Chloe’s face as she recognized the woman huddled up behind a laptop – it was Beca, the girl who had come in the shop the day before. Chloe had wondered if Beca was new to the area and looking for a new coffee shop to frequent; the way the brunette had scanned the shop suggested that she was analyzing it for more than just a one-time cup of a coffee. The fact that Beca was back now told Chloe that she must have been right.
Beca was hunched over her laptop, a large pair of headphones over her ears and her brow furrowed in a somewhat adorable look of frustration. Chloe thought for a fleeting moment that she should leave Beca to her work, but her curiosity about the brunette got the better of her and she made her way to the back table, pulling out the other chair and taking a seat across from Beca.
It took a moment for Beca to realize Chloe was there – the redhead took a long, somewhat obnoxious gulp of coffee from her bright yellow coffee mug, and Beca jumped in surprise at the new occupant of her table. She yanked her headphones off her ears, letting them settle around her neck.
“Dude, what –“
“Hi, Beca!” Chloe said, smiling brightly. “How are you?”
"Uh… I’m fine.” Beca stared at Chloe, her eyes wide in confusion.
“Chloe, remember?” Chloe said, gesturing to herself with a grin. “I’m so glad to see you back here! So I take it you liked the coffee I made you yesterday?” She winked.
Beca was silent for a moment, eyes narrowed as she stared at the redhead. Chloe could tell that Beca wasn’t completely comfortable, but a lot of people reacted that way when they first met Chloe. She really wanted to know the brunette – though she couldn’t explain why, exactly – and she was willing to push through some social discomfort in order to make friends with Beca.
“Yeah…” Beca finally answered, “Yeah, it was good coffee.”
A warm grin spread across Chloe’s face. “Thank you!” Beca simply nodded and turned back to her computer, as if to dismiss the barista. Chloe wasn’t having any of that, though. “What are you working on?”
Beca let out a breath. Chloe worried briefly that she was bothering the brunette too much and should maybe back off, but her curiosity was stronger than her insecurity so she simply leaned forward, waiting for Beca to answer. “Music.” Beca said, looking back at her computer.
“Oh. Well… I love music. What kind of music, exactly? Are you a musician? What do you do?” The questions came out in a rapid fire, and Chloe blushed slightly as she watched Beca smirk at her. The girl had a pretty adorable smirk.
“I’m a DJ.” Beca said, grabbing her mug and taking a swig of coffee before continuing, “I spin at a few local clubs, and I am also trying to break into music production.”
Okay, so Beca was adorable and a total badass. Chloe was finding herself more intrigued by the second. “That is so cool! Music production? Like working with artists and putting stuff on the radio?” Beca nodded. “Damn, Beca. That’s hardcore.”
Beca’s cheeks tinted a pretty shade of pink as she blushed slightly. “Well, like I said – just trying to break into that business. Putting together demos and stuff… yeah.”
“Is that what you’re working on now? A demo?” Chloe really wanted to peek around at the screen of Beca’s laptop, but she figured that might be crossing a line of privacy. She refrained for the moment, folding her hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting.
“No…” Beca looked at her laptop and then back at Chloe. “I do my bigger projects at home, where I have all my equipment. Right now I’m just working on a mashup. It’s nothing special.” She shrugged.
“I love mashups!” Chloe exclaimed, “Once I heard this mashup between two Taylor Swift songs – I listened to that forever.”
Beca raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Taylor Swift, huh?”
"Don’t judge. This place is named after a Taylor Swift song, you know.” Chloe gestured towards chalkboard menu above the counter.
“Holy Grounds?” Beca gave a thoughtful nod. “And here I thought this might be some weird new-age church thing.”
Chloe chuckled. “No, no… we just couldn’t resist the T-Swift reference and the coffee pun. I’m not one to judge religion, but my coffee shop is definitely not one.”
“Your coffee shop?”
“Oh, yeah. I co-own this place with my best friend Aubrey – that blonde at the counter.” Chloe cast a glance over to her friend, who was currently rolling her eyes at something one of the baristas, Stacie, must’ve said.
Beca followed her gaze. “Yeah, she served me my coffee today…. Can’t say she was as, ah, friendly as you were.”
Chloe grinned. “Aubrey can be a little… intense. But she’s a great businesswoman, and an even better friend.”
“I didn’t know you owned this place, I figured you just worked here.” A slight smile played on Beca’s lips. “That’s… cool.”
“Thanks!” Chloe beamed. “Speaking of cool, can I listen to your mashup?”
Beca was clearly surprised by this request – her cheeks turned red and she bit her lip in hesitation. “I don’t know… it’s not finished. And I don’t really… well I don’t really know you.”
Chloe cocked her head to one side. “What better way to get to know someone than through music?”
Beca gave her a blank stare for a moment, and then let out a chuckle. “Huh. I guess you’ve got a point there.”
“So I can listen to your mashup?” Beca bit her lip again. “Please?”
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Beca pulled her headphones off her neck and slid the laptop so that it faced Chloe. She scooted her chair around, too, so that the two of them sat side by side. Chloe couldn’t contain her giant grin as she slipped the headphones over her ears – and damn these things must’ve been expensive, she could practically feel the studio quality just seeping out of them. She looked at the screen of the laptop: a program displayed several different audio files, stacked on top of one another. At the bottom of the page were a bunch of boxes that controlled things like “reverb” and “compression”. Chloe had no clue what it all meant.
“Okay,” Beca said, her voice muffled in Chloe’s headphone-covered ears, “Like I said, it’s not quite finished. So, it’s a little rough, I guess.”
“Just play it!” Chloe didn’t care how rough the track was – and she probably wouldn’t be able to tell anyway. She just wanted to hear some of Beca’s music.
The brunette pressed play and sat back, watching Chloe’s reactions to the song. She recognized the backbeat as the song “Lean On” by Major Lazer, though it was made much more interesting by whatever effects Beca had put on it. Chloe couldn’t tell what they were, exactly, but she knew it was different from the original song, and just… better. When the chorus came in, however, Chloe’s smile transformed into an open-mouthed expression of excitement. Beca had somehow layered Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” into the mix, and though Chloe would’ve thought the two to be an odd combination, it worked perfectly. Chloe couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off her face for the entire rest of the song, and when she looked over to Beca at the end, she saw that the brunette was smiling, too. It was small and definitely a little embarrassed, but it was a smile.
“Taylor Swift!” Chloe exclaimed, pulling the headphones off her head, “You were totally just judging me about Taylor Swift, and here you are using her in a mix! That was amazing!”
Beca shrugged, a blush lighting up her face. “I don’t know, it’s a little rough. And yeah, I definitely don’t like Taylor Swift…. It’s just for this one mix.”
“Whatever.” Chloe said, swatting Beca lightly on the arm. “You totally love Tay. You’re a Swiftie.” Beca rolled her eyes. “Seriously though, that was so great. Thanks for letting me listen.”
“Of course. I’m glad you liked it.” Beca gave a small smile, and Chloe decided that seeing a genuine smile on Beca’s face was probably her new favorite thing.
Chloe wanted to ask Beca more about her life – wanted to make her smile some more – but her plans to befriend the DJ were cut short as a long line started to form at the counter. Aubrey shot Chloe a significant look, and Chloe sighed, rising from her chair. “I need to go help Bree before this place is over-run. Lunchtime rush, you know.”
“Right. See you around.”
“Bye, Beca!” Chloe grabbed her empty mug and hurried back behind the kitchen, where she seamlessly fell into routine of filling mugs and wrapping up pastries for the customers eager for their caffeine fix. She worked steadily throughout the rest of the afternoon, but she couldn’t keep her gaze from wandering to a certain brunette sitting in the corner.