I GUESS I DO

Chapter 9

"I don't really get what you mean…" Beca began slowly, placing Chloe's coke on the counter beside her and turning slowly to face Adam.

"Bullshit," Adam called without hesitation (Christ this guy was intimidating). "There's something up between you two and I want to know what."

"She's my girlfriend dude," Beca replied almost too easily. "Even if there was something up, it's not really your business."

"I beg to differ." Adam really looked intimidating now, even though he was still leaning against the counter with his arms folded, as he had been the entire time. "She's my little sister; that makes it my business if you're screwing her over."

(In any other situation Beca would probably have made a joke about how she was screwing Chloe, though she was normally under her… right now just didn't seem like an appropriate moment though.)

"What the hell makes you think I'm hurting Chloe in any way, shape or form?" Beca snapped; a sudden rush of adrenaline kicking in her fight or flight instinct (and she'd never been much of a runner).

"You're weird around her, like you're not always one hundred per cent comfortable…" Adam began, finding himself cut off by Beca before long.

"Oh, and that could have nothing to do with the fact that I feel weird being introduced to her family like this only to have them jump down my throat for being a little reserved?" (She wasn't sure where that lie had come from, though she sure as hell wasn't complaining).

"No, because it's something more…" Adam pushed, seeming unfazed by Beca's outburst. "It's like a tension between you," he surmised.

"A tension?" Beca couldn't help but scoff at the absurdity of the notion.

"A tension. It's like there's something between you. Something you're both ignoring," Adam pressed on.

"That's just stupid…" Beca brushed off, ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she knew exactly what he was talking about (goddammit what was it with her and emotions these past few days?).

"Don't try and play dumb with me Beca," Adam warned. "She's my little sister and I know her better than anyone, and whenever she's around you she's not herself. She's different. It's like she's got all this pent up emotion or something, and I don't know how well you actually know Chloe… but the first thing you learn is that she doesn't supress emotions, like ever."

"Oh trust me… I know." Beca couldn't help but smile, even in spite of the awkwardness of the conversation.

"Well then tell me what it is," Adam demanded. "Tell me what it is that's making her act like that around you?"

"You're the one that knows her so well… you tell me," Beca defended, her metaphorical walls having turned into a fully functioning castle, complete with moat and draw bridge, since the beginning of this conversation.

"I think you've done something on her," Adam theorised. "I think you've made her afraid to be herself around you, and if I'm right I need you to step the hell back from my sister and stay out of her life."

"Look," Beca began, never having been one to take bullshit (even if it was only for a fictional girlfriend). "I don't know how the hell you think you have any right to dictate my relationship with your sister, but let's make one thing clear here; it's just that. It's my relationship with Chloe. Not yours." She thought she was done at that, but as Adam went to reply a sudden wave of word vomit spiralled out her mouth before she had time to process what she was saying. "I love Chloe. I really do. She makes me smile like all the time even though she's a little perverse, she makes me feel like I'm a really great person, even though I don't think I am, and she's by far the most beautiful person I've ever laid eyes on. I mean we could spend a million years here and I still wouldn't be able to think on one thing that's made me worthy of having Chloe in my life. So don't you dare think for one second that you've any right to accuse me of even contemplating the notion of hurting her, because if there's one thing Chloe deserves, its happiness, and that's all I ever want to give her." (Wait… what?!)

If the atmosphere in the kitchen had been awkward before Beca's verbal throw down there'd need to be a whole new word invented for the feeling in the room now.

Adam seemed at a complete loss for words, as he stood, slack jawed staring at the brunette across the room from him while Beca… well, Beca was pretty sure she was brain dead or something. The words had just all exploded from the pit of her stomach without warning (like really, no warning what so ever. She wasn't aware she thought all this until about 2.5 seconds after Adam became aware), and now she was at a total loss as to what to say.

Thankfully (or maybe not so thankfully) it was the very red head they'd been arguing over that broke the silence.

"Would you two come one?" Chloe called, bounding into the room and coiling herself into Beca's side, completely oblivious to the tension. "The movie's about to start again," she informed them.

"Sorry…" Adam smiled easily. "We got lost in conversation."

"All about me I hope," Chloe smiled (oh if only she knew).

"Who else," Beca rolled her eyes at the red head. "Now come on, here's your coke," she added, handing the beverage to Chloe.

She was so going to leave it at that, content in walking from the room hand in hand with the other woman (because in coiling herself into Beca's side Chloe had obviously managed to entwine their fingers again as well), but maybe it was a result of her recent (accidental) revelation, or just a reflex from being unable to just walk away from an argument.

Either way the kiss she planted on the corner of Chloe's lips (like not actually a lip to lip kiss, which wasn't so bad… just kinda lower, lower cheek…?) wasn't entirely planned, yet not entirely unpleasant either.

Chloe to her credit only allowed the shock to pass through her eyes for the briefest of seconds before the warmest and most inviting smile Beca had ever seen split across her features (which kinda made Beca want to kiss her again).

"Let's go watch the rest of this film…" Chloe tried to keep her voice sounding casual for the sake of her brother being in the room, yet she found herself fighting back a huskiness lodged somewhere in the back of her mouth regardless.

"Lets," Adam nodded, pushing past the pair with a bowl of popcorn that'd apparently materialized while Beca and Chloe had been staring longingly at one another (not that "longingly" was a word either of them would ever use).

"What just happened?" Chloe questioned in a low mumble, neither of them following Adam to the door as the red head's shocked expression returned, though she still clung to Beca's hand as if it were the only thing still grounding her to reality.

"Long, long story," Beca shook her head, being in no mood to fill Chloe in on the conversation she'd just had (the conversation she'd had with her parents when they'd decided to get a divorce was probably less awkward than that one would be).

"I've time…" Chloe pushed, prodding the brunette gently in the side with her free hand. "I want to know what I done to deserve a lip graze like that?"

"Look, you took me here to play your girlfriend," Beca snapped suddenly, feeling dangerously close to revealing to Chloe what exactly had been said in the conversation. "I'm just playing your girlfriend," she shrugged, ignoring the way Chloe's fingers loosened around her own and the red head's face fell.

"Oh…" Chloe tried to sound upbeat (as if the fake enthusiasm wasn't more of a kick to the gut for Beca than genuine sorrow would have been).

"Just… just come one," Beca sighed, her own fingers tightening around Chloe's refusing to let the contact break. "Let's go back and watch this movie before your brother realizes he only made one of the popcorns."