A/N: Wow, I can't believe it's almost 2018! This year had definitely had it's ups and downs but I'm excited to see what next year has in store. I'm not making any resolutions, but I will try and be better at posting. Hopefully at least once a month or so. No promises though—change doesn't happen overnight. This is just a quick little fic I wrote on my phone to get away from family for a while. It's going to be a 3-shot.

It was December 30th. Beca was sulking around the Bella house, by herself. All the rest of the Bellas had gone home for the break, but Beca wasn't going anywhere. She would've gone home to see her mother, but getting to Portland, Maine from Atlanta, Georgia right before Christmas would've cost the brunette $560 to fly on United and over $600 on Delta. Beca loved her mom, but she was also a broke college kid. However, she would much rather be alone, than entertain the idea of going to be with her father and step-monster.

As each of the Bellas left the house after final exams were completed, they all said goodbye to one another with warm wishes for the new year. Chloe was the last to leave, on the morning of December 23rd. Chloe only had to go to Tampa, Florida, which was about half a day's drive away. Chloe hated leaving Beca alone, but seeing as she had skipped going home during both fall break and Thanksgiving break, she figured she should at least go home for Christmas.

Chloe had invited Beca to come with her, but Beca declined, citing her desire to make extra money at the radio station, and working on her mixes. That was a partial lie. Yes, she'd be working more hours, but there was a high probability that no one would be listening to the campus radio seeing as almost all the student body most likely went home. Secretly, Beca would've loved nothing more to spend the holidays with Chloe, but she didn't want to seem clingy or dependent. She was a bad ass and bad asses don't need cuddle buddies.

The next 7 days without the Bellas in the house went by the same way. Beca got up around 8:30 am, ate a late breakfast, and lounged around the house. She then watched some random things on Netflix, ate lunch and then went to the station around 12 pm. There, she spent the next 6 or so hours running the booth and making mixes. Every mix Beca made lately, seemed to remind her of a certain redhead. After she had successfully made a new mix or got hungry enough to quit (whichever came first), Beca would lock up the station and go back to the Bellas. There, she would make a quick and easy meal, and then return to her permanent residence on the couch that she usually shared with Chloe during Bella bonding nights.

The morning of the 31st started out just like all the other days since the Bellas had gone home. Little did Beca know, that it would NOT end the same. Beca moped around the house, kind of sad that she had nobody to talk to. Chloe had been sending her texts and funny snaps all week, but today she hadn't gotten anything. No pictures of what outfits Chloe was deciding between to wear. No Facebook status informing the world of Chloe's plans for the day. No Instagram notifications of whatever food Chloe was consuming at the moment. Not even her usual good morning text filled with emojis and excessive punctuation marks. Nothing at all, anywhere. She was even silent in the Bellas group chat.

At first, Beca hated the group chat, because any time anything happened, her phone would blow up. But then she realized how much she loved the girls and began to actually read the messages, instead of just opening the conversation to get rid of the little notification button. She was overwhelmed at the multiple threads happening at the same time, but it was fun to see how all of her friends were spending their holiday. Beca was a rare contributor to the conversation, but decided to send out a very generic 'Good morning Bellas. Hope everyone's holiday breaks are going well, looking forward for you to come back to Barden soon' type of thing. Immediately, she got back a bunch of messages from the girls.

"Beca! Break is going great, but I can't wait to come back to school! I miss you!" –Emily

"Happy holidays to you too, hobbit." –Aubrey

"Sup B? Christmas was awesome. Happy holla-dayz." –Cynthia Rose

"Hope you're doing well too! We're having a great break. See you soon." –Jessica (and Ashley)

"Hey Shawshank! You're alive! I would've thought you'd die being in the Bella house all by yourself." –Fat Amy

"The hunter and I have had a very wonderful break, if you know what I mean ;)" –Stacie

"I lit a Christmas tree on fire." –Lily

They asked Beca how campus was, all deserted, and everyone talked about the presents they had received. They complained about some of their relatives, and talked about some fun ideas for the Bellas to do when they all got back next semester. All the responses that poured in to Beca's rare text made her smile, but it faded a bit, when she realized one person still hadn't messaged her back. The only one, if Beca was being honest, that she really wanted to hear from. The same person who had been radio silent all day. Beca was super tempted to text the group chat to see if anyone had heard from Chloe when she realized she was just being ridiculous. 'I'm sure Chloe is fine, she's probably just busy with her family.' Beca rationalized, while also considering how creepy it was that she knew Chloe's schedule and got notifications whenever the ginger posted about something.

Eventually, Beca couldn't stand to be in the empty house any longer, so she made her way over to the radio station. Beca immediately because engrossed in her mixes and had queued up enough music for 4 hours, so that there were no interruptions to her creative process. The blasting music in her earphones made it so that she didn't realize the door to the studio had opened and there was a large hooded figure looming over her, just watching. The person was observing Beca closely, fascinated by the way the equalizer bars jumped up and down on the screen, and silently laughing at Beca's concentration face that could be seen through the reflection of the glass windows surrounding the studio booth.

When Beca turned her head to adjust a level, she caught a glimpse of the person who had been looking at her so intently. She let out a loud screech, knocking over a pile of stacked CD's and falling off her chair in the process. Beca's head immediately jerked back, because when she fell, she was still wearing her headphones and they hadn't been disconnected. At first, Beca only saw the hooded figure and thought she was going to die. Then she looked a bit closer, and breathed a sigh of relief. As her heart rate slowly returned to normal, Beca let out a shaky laugh and smiled. The hoodie was hers, and the totally bundled up person who was wearing it was none other than the one and only Chloe Beale.

To Be Continued