Should've never come to this fucking thing, she's not even here, why did I fucking both—

"Beca!"

It's kind of sad how much Beca's heart jumpstarts at the sound of Chloe's voice.

"Oh, hey, Chloe," Beca trails off, looking around for something to lean against. She settles for taking a quick sip from her cup instead, but it goes down the wrong pipe and she sputters, bending over to try and live.

Almost instantaneously, there's a hand on her back, rubbing comfortingly as Beca recovers from a mild case of choking. Chloe hands her a yellow cup, but Beca shakes her head.

"Dude, no, I don't think drinking vodka will help, but thank you."

"It's not vodka," Chloe replies brightly, thrusting the cup into Beca's face again. "It's water."

Beca glances up and makes eye contact with Chloe, and, is it just her, or is there something different about Chloe's eyes?

Chloe nudges her with the cup again, and finally, Beca takes it. After a few quick sips, Beca gestures towards Chloe's face. Concern abruptly crosses Chloe's features, but relaxes into a flirty smile as soon as Beca speaks.

"What did you do to your eyes? They're more vibrant than usual. I don't remember them being that... Mesmerizing in the Starbucks lighting."

Beca takes in Chloe's grin, plays back the last few seconds in her mind, and quickly turns mortified. "Oh my God, okay, can we just pretend I didn't say that?" She turns to her cup of some sort of punch, eyeing it warily. "Something funky's in this."

Chloe raises an eyebrow. "So you don't think my eyes are mesmerizing and vibrant?"

Beca's cheeks flush. "That's not what I said."

"You're cute when you blush," Chloe notes, all smiles once again. She takes Beca by the hand. "Word to the wise, though, if you're on a date with someone, maybe don't try to take back any compliments. Gives the wrong impression."

And then Beca's being given a tour of Chloe Beale's Barden.

"Jeez, do you know everybody?" Beca asks, after tugging the yellow water cup free from Chloe's hand and drinking a bit.

Chloe laughs, a little louder and a little more carefree than when they'd first met up at the party, but even though Chloe's had a few alcoholic beverages, her energy hasn't really wavered.

"No, I just know a lot of these people. It's an a cappella party. We're kinda close-knit," she explains, and duh, how did Beca not notice before that these people are all singing nerds.

"Oh, right, that's like, a thing now," Beca deadpans, pushing the cup back into Chloe's hand. Chloe pulls the cup of punch from Beca and takes a long swallow. Somewhere along the way, Chloe decided that each of them carrying two cups was ridiculous, so they would share each and hold hands in between.

It didn't feel that gross, holding hands, when it was Chloe holding Beca's. Chloe pulls Beca along to a bench at the edge of some trees, away from the house.

"We haven't really had a chance to chat," Chloe states, putting her cup down and getting Beca to do the same. She takes both of Beca's hands in her own. "So, you want to mix music?"

Beca chuckles a little embarrassedly. "Yeah, I'm hoping to move out to L.A. and start paying my dues as soon as possible."

But Chloe doesn't laugh. She nods enthusiastically, "Yes! Your mixes are so good! Any club would be lucky to have you!"

And even though Beca doesn't have to elaborate, even though Chloe hasn't asked and doesn't even know to ask, Beca continues, "I actually, um, I want to produce music. Like, other people's music, I want to help people's creativity flourish and help make new music and provide soundtracks to people's lives."

She flushes when she realizes just how much more she let slip than she meant to, and inwardly curses the alcohol she's been throwing back at Chloe's side.

"That's so cool! Who do you want to work with?" Chloe's so into this conversation, so genuinely interested in the plans Beca has for the future that Beca slips. She slips just a little bit down the slope of infatuation and knows that she could fall in love with this girl.

So they chat about Beca's future Grammy-winning career, Chloe's interest in teaching kids about music, and what their time at Barden has looked like thus far.

Beca gets lost in the exuberance dancing in Chloe's strikingly blue eyes. She gets taken in by the ease of the conversation, the automatic comfort she feels in Chloe's presence.

When Chloe gets up sometime later, Beca doesn't even question it, just follows the gorgeous senior, hanging tightly to Chloe's hand.

Yeah, she'd follow this girl anywhere.

They head back inside the party just in time for the countdown to midnight.

"I don't kiss on the first date," Beca says, a reflex and an excuse all rolled into one.

Chloe winks. "Neither do I." She pulls Beca in closer anyway.

"So what is this?" Beca asks, automatically wrapping her arms around Chloe's body.

"This is the second date," Chloe smirks as everyone moves down the countdown from two to one.

At zero, Chloe leans in, but it's Beca who acts without thinking, cranes her head up, and presses her lips to Chloe's.

It's cliche, straight out of the disgustingly mushy romance movies Jesse sometimes makes her watch, but even knowing all that, it's the best kiss Beca's ever had.

"Go out with me," Beca says as soon as she pulls away, mind whirling.

"When?" Chloe asks, and maybe it's just in Beca's mind, but she swears the other girl is breathless.

Beca grins up at her and takes Chloe's hand. "Right now!"

THE END.