More Than an Experiment

Chapter 10: Right in Front of Me

*Beca's POV*
I've been going to Bella's practice for about three weeks now. Regionals are in about two months, so Aubrey has been seriously crazy. She lashes out on us when she stresses, and even almost puked once in the midst of an argument between her and I. The bitch literally puked all over the front row of people last year at the ICCA's during her solo, so it's no wonder she's a hard ass. I just wish I could've seen her humiliate herself like that in person. The YouTube video went viral though, so that's good enough for me.
We already had a small gig two days ago, but we were literally so fucking bad they kicked us out. It was just for a bunch of egotistical frat boys at their stupid fall mixer party though, so I didn't want to be there anyways. I was half way relieved we got kicked out. Aubrey, on the other hand, was (and is) so pissed she hasn't talked to us since. Chloe has been leading our practices for once, and she's honestly doing amazing. Practice is less tense, and we've all been enjoying ourselves more. I wish Aubrey wasn't so controlling, we'd have more of a chance.
Chloe and I have been subtly flirting, but neither of us have mentioned the night we kissed. I don't think anyone else knows about the kiss, but the Bella's have been eyeing the two of us. They've obviously taken note of the looks and flirting going on between us, we have undeniable chemistry. Chloe and I have known each other about a month now, but I feel like I've known her my whole life. I don't understand why she won't pull the trigger, but I guess I'm just too scared to do it myself. Apparently I'm not the only one waiting for someone to pull the trigger, because Cynthia-Rose came up to me yesterday while Aubrey was going on about something.

*Flashback*
"Hey Becs." Cynthia-Rose said to me as she walked up. I knew she was about to try to squeeze something out of me by the look on her face.
"I don't like it when people call me Becs by the way... but what's up?" I shyly asked. I was nervous to find out what she wanted from me.
"Oh, I just thought it was okay because Chloe calls you Becs all the time." She nudged me and winked.
I blushed, not realizing until now that Chloe is the only person I'm okay with calling me Becs. She noticed my red cheeks and chuckled a little bit. "So there is something going on with you and Red! I knew it!"
I was kind of upset someone else was calling her Red too, I wanted that to be my nickname for her. I was too embarrassed that someone noticed I was into Chloe to care about that, though. "No there's not! It's not like that...." I uncomfortably answered.
She smiled at me and sighed, lightly shaking her head. "Beca, I'm gay, I know two girls that have the hots for each other when I see them. You know you have the hots for Red, but you don't see the way she looks at you sometimes. Trust me when I say she has the hots for you, too." She cocked an eyebrow at me and gave me a friendly smile.
I smiled back at Cynthia-Rose. "Thanks..." I started. "But wait, what do you mean? How does she look at me?" I curiously asked, sounding eager.
She laughed. "Well, sometimes it looks like she's imagining herself ripping your clothes off, and sometimes she just stares at you in complete admiration. I honestly think it depends on if your tits are showing or not..." she playfully winked.
I laughed and lightly punched her.
"Go get that shit, Beca! Y'all would totally hit it off." She flashed me one last smile before she walked off. I didn't hear a single thing Aubrey just said, but oh well.

There has been a lot of sexual tension between Chloe and I lately, so I decided to make another mix of Titanium. I'm mixing it specifically for Chloe, making it build as much as I can without blowing the song out of proportion. If Cynthia-Rose was right and I can ever get lucky with Chloe, I want to play it in the background because I think it'd drive her crazy.
I was sitting on the grass in the quad working on my mix when I saw the reflection of someone coming up behind me in my laptop screen. I removed my headphones and turned around just in time to catch a juice pouch that was being tossed towards me. "What's up, loser?" A smiling Jesse asked, sitting down next to me.
      I awkwardly cleared my throat, the dude has a real habit of being slightly invasive of my personal space sometimes. "Oh, you know... just, like... stuff..." I said, closing my laptop after quickly saving my progress.
      He chuckled. "Whatever, Mitchell. Anyways, as much as I love stacking CD's with you–and I do, I really love it–I thought we could do something that doesn't make us wanna kill our selves." He said, pulling movies out of his backpack. To no surprise, he brought out one of the original Star Wars movies, along with a couple of other classics.  I still haven't told him I hate movies, even though he talks about them all the fucking time.
      I stuck the straw in my juice pouch and took a sip as I watched Jesse attempt to situate himself. "Can we do something else?" I asked before taking another sip of my juice pouch. God, I fucking love these things. "We can relive my parents divorce, or visit a gynecologist." I sarcastically suggested.
      He laughed. "What, do you not like movies?" He jokingly asked.
      I looked at him as I continued to drink from my juice pouch, avoiding his question.
      "Wait, seriously? Like any movies?" He asked, shocked. I lightly laughed before he continued. "How do you not like movies? Not liking movies is like not liking puppies!!" He exclaimed, with confusion in his voice.
      I laughed. "It's just that the endings are predictable; like the guy gets the girl, that kids sees dead people, and Darth Vader is Luke's father... and besides, I'm allergic to dogs anyways." I smirked at him. 
      He was looking at me in disbelief. "I can't believe you don't like movies... I am going to have to give you a movie education. A movi-cation! Then I can die a hero." He spoke pridefully.
      I smiled and playfully shook my head. "Yeah, sure! Maybe sometime between Bella's rehearsals, which are always."
      He smiled at me deviously. "Are you guys getting ready for the riff-off?" He asked me.
      Those were new words to my ears, and it honestly sounded like a shit show waiting to happen. I let my face drop as seriousness overcame me. "What the fuck is a riff-off?" I sternly asked.

      I pulled Chloe aside before practice began. "When were you going to tell us about the riff-off? The thing is in two damn days." I skipped straight to the point.
Chloe looked into my eyes before letting out a small laugh. "Becs, we told all of you about it yesterday. You must've been too distracted by what you and CR were talking about to pay attention."
My face flushed when I remembered we were talking about Chloe and I. "We were just talking about how hot you are, Red." I sarcastically said before winking, subtly flirting the way we have been over the last few weeks.
She seductively smirked. "I already know you think I'm hot, Becs. Your eyes don't lie, they never have."
I raised my eyebrows before leaning into Chloe's face, but stopped about 4 inches away. "Neither do yours, Red." I whispered in a husky tone. I thought we were just flirting like we always do, but Chloe's response shocked me.
She pulled back and looked at me lustfully before letting her eyes scan my body. "Well... I guess we'll have to do something about that sometime then." She firmly stated before winking at me and making her way over to Aubrey.
"Alright ladies, we're practicing for the riff-off today and tomorrow." Aubrey began, before letting Chloe continue. "Basically we have categories our songs have to match. One team starts singing a song in that category, and you keep going until you're interrupted by another team. However, when you cut someone off, you have to match their last word with your first." Aubrey nodded at Chloe's explanation and added "of course you have to remain in the same category, matching the key, and staying on relative tempo. Make sense?" Aubrey asked.
Multiple "yes's" filled the room although most of them were hesitant. We are all surprised Aubrey is talking to us today. Aubrey looked at Chloe and nodded.
"Okay! Teams are Chloe, Amy, Stacie, and Ashley. I'll take beca, Jessica, CR, and Denise. Lily will drum for both of us." Aubrey said while gesturing us to separate into our groups. I was surprised and slightly disappointed she put me on her team instead of Chloe's, but I joined at her side anyways.
"We'll do an easy category first..." Chloe began. "Love!" Aubrey exclaimed before Chloe could finish. Chloe looked at her and Aubrey playfully winked. Chloe sheepishly smiled and blushed, but neither of the girls knew I was paying attention to their interaction. What kind of secret game do they have going on between the two of them?
"Chloe, you guys start." Aubrey offered the floor to Chloe and her team first. Chloe whispered something to her team as they responded with nods. She began to sing, her girls joining her shortly after.
"All of me, loves all of you, love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections. Give your all to me, I give my all to you.."
Chloe sang beautifully, but she was staring at me the whole time. It made my stomach get the butterflies but also made it turn at the same time. What are her and Aubrey up to? Aubrey then stepped forward and cut her off.
"You and I, we don't wanna be like them. Nothing can come between you and I..."
Stacie stepped forward, cutting off Aubrey. The two have started to become good friends surprisingly.
"I think about it every night, and day. I'm addicted, wanna drown inside your love.."
CR cut Stacie off. It's obvious to everyone that CR thinks Stacie is hot, so when she approached Stacie quite sexually, Stacie quickly backed off.
"Love me like you do, la-la-love me like you do. Love me like you do, la-la-love..."
Chloe stepped forward again, and I couldn't wait to hear her voice. She looked me in the eyes as she sang, and I could feel tension building between us with every word.
"Love you... like I'm gonna lose you, and I'm gonna hold you, like we're saying good-bye. Wherever we're standing, I..."
I saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally blow our tension through the roof and I didn't hesitate. I stepped forward, towards Chloe, getting much closer to her than any of the other girls had, and stopped as she stood mere inches away from me. Our eyes remained glued to each other's.
"I found love where it wasn't supposed to be, right in front of me, talk some sense to me. Oh and I found love where it wasn't supposed to be, oh. Right in front of me, talk some sense to me."
Nobody interrupted as I sang. Chloe was smiling ear to ear when I finished and looked at me with lustful eyes. I looked around the room confused as to why nobody had interrupted me, but quickly came to realization when all the girls were either grinning or had their jaws on the floor. My stomach immediately dropped upon realizing what I had just sang to Chloe in front of all these girls.
Chloe noticed I was uneasy and pulled me closer to her before whispering "that was amazing, Beca. Can you meet me after practice?"
I felt my heart begin to race and my palms getting clammier by the second. I gulped hard and nodded. "Can we go to my room? There's something I want to show you..." I nervously responded.
Her face instantly lit up with a smile. "I'd love to, Becs."