Belong To Me (Bechloe)

thirty six.

Beca's POV

"Alone at last," Chloe mumbles as I close the door.
"That's a strong reaction to have, I thought Aubrey was your friend?" I joke. Chloe slaps me playfully on the arm.
"You know what I meant, I just wanna be able to spend time with you."

I gulp. I wouldn't tell Chloe this, but sometimes she's intimidating. Not in a scary way, just that she usually knows what she wants and it's overwhelming - in a good way though, I guess. It's just, I'm new to understanding these feelings, so it's hard to avoid making rash decisions.

"Pizza, ice cream and a chat?" I ask with a smile, referencing our typical hangouts at Barden. I kinda miss those days, if I'm being honest. I can't really imagine I was that open with whatever I chatted about, but at least it was an opportunity to get to know Chloe - and an excuse not to be in my dorm with Kimmy Jin.

"Of course," Chloe replies, walking back over to the sofa. She looks so at home here, it's kind of adorable.

I order her favourite - hawaiian - before sitting down on the edge of the sofa arm, tilting myself back until I'm lying down; my head in Chloe's lap.
"I wish you'd been this physical before now." Chloe laughs.
"God, no. If I'd been any more openly affectionate to you without knowing I liked you, everyone would've been constantly facepalming around me wherever I went. Besides, I think things worked out alright like this eventually, don't you?"

I look up into her eyes, sucked in for the millionth time by their beautifully expressive nature.

"Well, some things haven't exactly worked out great. But that's not because of you." Chloe sighs, her mood quickly changing. "I don't know what to do now. I feel like I don't have a direction. I'm not training to be anything, I don't really have a home... I don't wanna go back to being without you, Bec."
"Then don't," I say suddenly, without stopping to properly think. But honestly, why would I need to think over the obvious decision? "Stay here."
"You're joking, right?"
"No?" I raise an eyebrow at her surprise. I presumed that was what she was hinting at.
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not? I have space."
"I never knew you had a spare room."
"Well, I mean, I kinda do, but it has all my mixing stuff in it. Anyway, that's not really what I was thinking." I wink in an over the top nature, causing Chloe to laugh loudly. "What? We've slept in the same bed a million times before."
"I know that."
"Besides, I think lying with you last night was pretty great."
"I don't disagree. I just wasn't sure you'd still want me that intensely," Chloe replies as I sit up and slide into the seat next to her.
"Hmm." I laugh. "Yeah, it was more that I get cold easily," I say jokingly.
Chloe gasps in mock mild offence and folds her arms.
"Is that right?" Then she shakes her head and laughs. "No, I'd love to stay. If I can keep you warm, then that's a bonus."

At this point, I hear the intercom beep, followed by "Pizza's here."

"I'll go get that. Seeing as you're gonna live here, could you get out some plates?" I ask Chloe as I stand up. "And you can help yourself to other drinks if you like. I think there's lemonade," I call as I head out the door to collect the pizza from the ground floor.

~~~

"This is probably gonna sound like a crazy idea," I say, several slices of pizza down the line. "Though most of my ideas recently have been crazy, so I guess that makes it normal. But anyway, I reckon you'd make a good teacher. You're - for the most part - always positive, which would be good, and, from what you've told me, kids don't really give you as much anxiety."

Chloe looks at me, resting her elbows on the table.

"I mean, it's not the worst idea." She smiles and leans back in her seat.
"Well, it was just a thought," I mumble into a slice of pizza.