Belong To Me (Bechloe)

seven.

Chloe's POV

"How much do you want me to pay?" I ask, getting out my purse as we finish our meal... and another bottle of wine.
"Hey, it's chill, I've got this," Beca replies instantly, lightly batting my hands away. I try to ignore the feelings that arise when her skin comes into contact with mine, but it's the kind of sensation you don't forget quickly.

Beca goes up to the bar and pays for the meal whilst I grab my jacket from the chair and slowly stand up. Luckily, I haven't quite drunk so much that I can't walk straight. I shrug on my leather jacket and walk over to Beca.

"You look really good in that, you know," Beca says, and I swear she gives me a proper look up and down. I unintentionally start blushing profusely, so try to cover it up with a comment.
"Thank you. You don't scrub up too bad yourself." I wink and laugh a little, before walking out of the restaurant with Beca. After several paces, she turns to me.
"That isn't true though. I mean, look at me. I wouldn't exactly call myself stunning right now." She shrugs and looks up at me.
"I mean... I would." I smile at Beca somewhat bashfully and hope she takes what I say in the right way. I'm not entirely sure if I'm trying to flirt with her, but the words are just coming out.
"You would say that though, you're meant to say nice things about me to make me feel better." Beca half-shrugs and smiles back at me.
"Oh, whatever." I roll my eyes, pretending to be over-dramatically unimpressed with Beca's untrue comment.

We walk back over to Beca's car and she turns on the radio as we get in, then starts the car. She drives us back towards her apartment, staring forwards as she drives. It's not that she's antisocial, she just likes to concentrate. And God, she looks cute with her little furrowed brow, slightly scrunching up her face.

"There are other things in this car you could look at, you know," Beca says, glancing over at me. Shit.
"Who said I was staring at you? I was actually looking out your window, I'll have you know. God Beca, you're so big-headed!" I joke, trying to deflect the attention away as quickly as possible.
"Oh my god. Chloe Beale, you are such a freaking liar!" Beca laughs. "I know that because you're so crap at lying." She smiles smugly before turning her attention to the road once again.

I think she knows. I think she can tell I like her - she basically just acknowledged it - but never takes it any further. Not in that way, of course, but she just seems to accept that my obvious hints are just something that happens. I think we both have, to be honest. And even if it's unrequited, it's not exactly easy to stop.

~~~

"Can't you just improve a chord sequence like you did before?" I ask as we sit together on one of Beca's sofas.
"I don't know... I had something to go from last time."
"Beca, do you actually have any self-confidence?" I ask, my eyebrow raised.
"Of course... when I'm faking it." Beca smiles up at me innocently from where she's slouching next to me. "But I guess you guessed I don't fake things around you, Chlo."
I smile, despite knowing I read into everything she says way more than I should.

"How about..." I say before singing a short progression. Beca considers it for a moment, before singing her own sequence; an edited version of mine.
"Exactly." I grin. "You've got something already."
"You don't... happen to have any lyrics lying around, do you?" Beca says somewhat jokingly, but I can hear the hopefulness in her voice. "It's just, I'm hopeless at condensing anything I feel into little four-line verses."
I pause for a moment. I mean, I do write some of my own stuff - I write it on my phone... but it's all too embarrassing.
"Nothing that's any good," I say in a rushed manner, looking down in my lap as I chew my lip. Beca pulls her legs up onto the sofa and sits up.
"No, I wanna hear it," she says, leaning forward a little on her knees, reaching her hand out to lift up my chin.
"Nope," I say slowly, glancing sideways at her.
"Come on, Chlo. Literally anything is better than what I have, considering what I have is absolutely nothing," she persists. I roll my eyes and shake my head. Beca lowers her hand from my chin slightly before suddenly tickling me.
"Beca, oh my god... Don't do that. Please stop. BECA!" I shriek, unable to stop myself wriggling uncontrollably as she mercilessly tickles me.
"Oh, it is ON!" I shout and start tickling her back.
"Nooo stop!" she laughs. "Agh!"

We continue to tickle each other until we're both breathless and exhausted, which takes a surprisingly long time.

"I didn't realise you were so ticklish," Beca says from where she's lying on the floor - I pushed her off the sofa five minutes ago.
"There's quite a few things you don't realise about me, you know," I say pointedly. Beca's face clouds over briefly in contemplation before she looks up at me.
"Nope. Can't think of any. Care to explain?"

I smile bemusedly. So damn aware yet again. I figure that she must be oblivious - it's impossible to keep up the 'oh I'm so unaware' act for that long.

You've kept an act up for over 5 years though, Chloe, you know that. Hiding your sexuality isn't exactly the definition of being open with your best friend, is it?

Okay, so I mentioned to her that I regretted not 'experimenting' before, but since then? Nothing.

But what else could I say? 'So about that experimenting... I figured out I can't do that, seeing as I'm already hopelessly in love with you.' Like, what kind of messed up conversation is that?

Just finish things with her in your mind before they've even started, Chloe, and it'll all turn out fine.

Ha, like that's ever gonna happen though.

"You always do that." Beca's now sat beside me.
"Huh?" I say, whipping my head around.
"Disappear in the middle of things. A lot seems to go on up there." She leans forward again and taps my forehead gently. "Do you wanna talk about anything?" she adds quietly, completely different to the badass Beca she pretends to be.

I shake my head a little.
"I'm fine Bec, honestly," I say as I feel her hand on my back. She leans her head on my shoulder and hugs me tight - something I can't help but reciprocate.
"I know I live like 5 hours away now, but call me anytime and I'll be there for you. I'd drop everything to make sure you're okay, you know that?" Beca murmurs and then giggles softly. "God, I swear you make me so soft. Just think, 7 years ago, if I hadn't been singing in the shower, I could still be maintaining that hardcore reputation."
I laugh.
"But then we wouldn't be friends and you probably wouldn't be co-signed by DJ Khaled. So you gotta make some sacrifices."
"True. So I guess I have to thank you for invading my personal space that time."
"No worries, anytime," I reply happily, causing Beca to laugh.
"Oh I know you mean it, you still do it." She stops. "Well, did. Until we stopped seeing each other, of course. I'm sorry it's been so long." She sighs.
"You say that as if we had some massive breakup, Bec. We've both been busy, it's fine. We're here now," I reply, stroking a few strands of hair out of her face. What can I say, I'd love to invade her personal space even more.

"Yeah, and I'm promising I'll text you as soon as you leave, okay?"
"... On the edge of being obsessive, Beca, but I'll take it," I joke.
"Shut up." Beca hits me lightly. "I guess I'm sorry for caring about you then, Chlo."

A few moments pass and Beca looks up at me again.
"Do you wanna watch a film or something? It's just I'm kinda cold and I want an excuse to wrap myself up like a burrito."
Laughing, I look back at Beca.
"You're actually so weird."
She shrugs a shoulder and stands up.
"What good came from being normal?"

-
Ahh I'm just thinking about how much I love bechloe like wow they're both so pure and lovely
I just wanna write a million fanfics tbh 😂

Side note: I apologise if updates aren't as regular as usual, I've got a load of exams going on atm, but it's only for about a month or so then I'll have so much time on my hands and it'll be awesome 🎉