Chloe really should have seen this coming.

She's definitely the kind of person to whom this would happen.

Still, here she is, packing her suitcase for the next chapter in her travel adventure and finding herself completely blindsided by how hard it is to move on from Beca.

Which is ridiculous. They aren't together. They'd talked about how not-together they are. It should be a non-issue because they're so not-together. It should be that simple. Chloe should be able to throw a wave and a smile over her shoulder at Beca and board her plane without ever looking back.

And yet.

It's her own fault, really. It's so easy to be around Beca. It feels natural, as if they were meant to have met. They're so different from one another, but somehow they're on the same wavelength. It has to be the music. That's it. Beca lives and breathes music. She's also kind, honest, and totally adorable. Even though she'd probably glare at Chloe if the word "adorable" was so much as whispered in her presence.

Chloe should have known better.

She's not stupid. She knows her feelings won't change a thing. She's still getting on a plane tomorrow and leaving.

Beca isn't going with her. Beca is staying in Munich, along with a much larger piece of Chloe's heart than she would really like to admit.

Chloe folds her last blouse carefully, placing it neatly into the suitcase she's packed and repacked and rearranged no fewer than four times so far. She'll probably redo the whole thing at least once again before she actually leaves for the airport tomorrow.

She's pretty much ready to go. She's checked into her flight on their mobile app. She's seen the big tourist draws in Munich, along with more of the local haunts—all thanks to Beca, of course. She's got her S-Bahn ticket to the Munich airport. She's memorized the route from her destination airport in Krakow, Poland to her hotel. Her suitcase is packed, and she's left an outfit out for tomorrow.

Chloe stares at her suitcase, eyes traveling over its contents without really seeing any of it.

It doesn't seem like Beca's having all that hard of a time moving on. If she's honest with herself, Chloe knows she should have seen this coming, too. Hadn't Beca told her, after all, that what she does is run? Beca had always been honest with her about what was going to happen at the end of Chloe's time in Munich. Beca had avoided labeling them, mostly for that reason.

Chloe hasn't really heard from Beca in a while. Well, two days. Not since their electric scooter date. Which wasn't a date, exactly, but was more of a… well, it was basically a date. She knows Beca is okay; they have been sending brief texts back and forth, but nothing of any substance. It makes sense. Chloe's leaving tomorrow, so Beca is protecting herself. Chloe doesn't fault her for it.

They'd agreed to meet up one more time for dinner at the same bierhaus Beca had taken her to earlier. A sort of farewell dinner that Chloe already knows is going to be, as everything with Beca always has been, fun and exciting and bittersweet and painful. Chloe takes a deep breath.

Maybe it would be better for her to cancel and save them the trouble. She can already picture the way Beca's going to spend the dinner rubbing awkwardly at the back of her neck, her eyes darting around the room. She knows it isn't that Beca is uncomfortable, but rather that Beca can't stand goodbyes.

More than once, Chloe has caught Beca watching her, a strange expression on her face. Chloe never called her on it, though. She knows Beca's struggling with this whole thing just as much as she is.

That's the worst thing about this. Chloe knows perfectly well that Beca feels the same way about her. She can lie to herself all day, pretending that Beca doesn't care, but it's simply not true. Beca cares so much more than she feels comfortable with revealing.

A knock on the door startles Chloe, causing her to emit an involuntary little squeak of surprise. She looks at the closed door, already knowing who is standing in the hallway beyond it. She draws her lower lip into her mouth; it's too late to cancel their evening after all.

She moves mechanically toward the door, her stomach fluttering with the same nerves she'd felt upon first meeting Beca. As she did then, too, she has to pause for a moment with her hand resting on the handle. She takes a deep breath. Another. Then opens the door, fighting a strong sense of Deja-vu.

The little smile-smirk that Beca gives her, though, is different from the one she'd given when they'd first met. This one is softer, more open, and is accompanied by a little, "Hey." Beca, no matter how unwittingly and unwillingly, has become familiar. Her presence wraps Chloe in complete comfort.

Any thought that Chloe had had of cancelling their evening flies out the window at top speed and tips headlong over the balcony to shatter into fragments on the concrete below.

"Hi," Chloe replies, her eyes drawn for the first time to the food containers Beca holds in her hands. "Is that..."

Beca glances down at the containers in her hands. "Oh, yeah. From the same bierhaus restaurant we went to before. It's kind of raining, so I thought, you know, instead of going out, maybe we should just stay in?"

Chloe hadn't even noticed the rain; as soon as Beca points it out, though, she can hear it gently pattering on the roof above. "Sure," she agrees easily. "But don't you think it's more romantic to kiss in the rain?" She has no idea what makes her say those words, but they escape from her lips before she can even try to stop them.

Color rises in Beca's cheeks unexpectedly and she glances downward with a small huff.

Her embarrassment surprises Chloe, and she tries to backtrack. "Um, I didn't—"

"You have a balcony, don't you?" Beca interrupts, arching an eyebrow as her color returns to normal. "We can always kiss on that."

This time, it's Chloe who finds herself tongue-tied. Before she can come up with any kind of counter, Beca continues.

"Unless you were hoping for one more stroll through Munich?" she offers. "Which would be fair."

"Tempting," Chloe muses, regaining her voice, "but a night in sounds really nice, too."

Even as she finishes her sentence, she kicks herself mentally. Spending any more time alone with Beca is only going to make leaving her so much worse.

"Great," Beca grins, her smile widening and eyes sparkling with amusement. "Are you gonna start by inviting me in?"

Chloe laughs quietly and rolls her eyes at the old joke. "Are you a vampire or something?" she asks playfully as she steps aside, gesturing Beca into the room. "Always having to be invited in."

Beca steps inside, shrugging off her jacket in a move that really shouldn't be sexy but totally is. "Nah, but how cool would it be if I could turn into a bat?"

"I'd rather not get rabies," Chloe teases as she closes the door and locks it.

Beca's smile changes into a smirk and she fires back, "I only bite if I'm asked to."

It startles a laugh out of Chloe, full and free, and she knows Beca won that round. "Speaking of," she begins, leading Beca to the balcony, "did you have a client last night? I was kind of surprised you were even free tonight."

It's Saturday, and typically, Beca's time would be booked.

Beca's expression shifts minutely, a flicker so quick that Chloe can't be sure she hadn't imagined it. "Nah. I haven't really had clients the past few days."

"Slow time?"

Beca shrugs. "I guess. What have you been up to?"

Chloe flicks open the latch on the room's patio door and helps Beca carry the food out to the covered balcony, where they can eat on the little table and will be sheltered from the rain. Out here, the smell and sound of the rain ensnares Chloe, heightening her senses. "Mostly packing, honestly," she answers. "Some walking around. And figuring out where I want to go after Krakow."

"Poland?" Beca asks, sounding surprised as she settles into one of the chairs and divides the stack of containers between them. "What're you going to do there? I've never been."

"I guess there's a lot to do in the main city square. Lots of good food, lots of history. It looks beautiful online."

Beca smiles faintly, her eyes not quite meeting Chloe's. "You'll have to send me pictures."

"Y—yeah," Chloe breathes, the weight of her departure suddenly weighing heavy on her lungs. Desperate to change the subject and avoid the sad awkwardness she'd been dreading, she asks, "What did you bring to eat?"

"Oh, uh," Beca starts, opening the containers and naming each dish as it's exposed. She'd brought what seems to be samples of German essentials; schnitzel, spaetzle, white asparagus with hollandaise, various meats and cheese, and a huge pretzel. "And there's always…" Beca trails off, lifting the lid off a final container to reveal two slices of chocolate cake. "I got the order right this time," she grins at Chloe.

Chloe smiles back, surveying the food. "This is really nice, Bec, thank you."

"Anytime," Beca replies, looking out over the balcony railing to survey the sprawl of rainy Munich. Her posture is just a little too rigid, her tone a smidge clipped.

Chloe instantly knows there's something Beca's holding back. Her first impulse is to start questioning, but she catches herself. She knows Beca well enough by this point to understand that Beca will open up when she's ready. So, to pass the time, Chloe starts on the meal, trying to savor every bite. She doesn't know when she'll be in Germany again, and she wants to memorize its flavors.

Beca eventually tears her gaze away from the rain-soaked city to instead focus on their meal. It's several minutes before either of them breaks the silence, though Chloe's fairly certain she can hear the whirring of Beca's mind.

"So, uh, actually…" Beca breaks the quiet first, clearing her throat and looking almost nervous.

Chloe swallows her most recent bite of food and rests her fork against the edge of her plate, waiting patiently for Beca to say what she needs to say.

"Sorry I haven't really been around much the last few days," Beca says slowly. She presses her lips together and runs her tongue over her teeth before continuing, every word spoken almost cautiously. "I've been kind of... arranging things."

"Things?" Chloe asks, surprised. The script is, as is always the case with Beca, not what she had expected.

"Yeah. Um, the day we did the scooter... thing," Beca reminds her, waving a hand in the air aimlessly, "I got an email from my old boss in LA. The music production studio?" the pitch of her voice raises, making it sound like a question.

Chloe's heart speeds up and she nods uncertainly, her stomach fluttering with a mixture of anticipation and nerves.

"Yeah," Beca says again, "so I guess my boss kind of—on a whim—shared some of my old demos with a few different production studios, and this place in New York got back to him. They're interested. In what I can do," she adds, an afterthought.

Chloe's jaw drops. She knows she must look ridiculous; Beca starts to smirk at her, but Chloe recovers quickly enough to speak first. "Beca! That's amazing! You—congratulations!"

"Oh, uh, thanks," Beca says, blinking a little.

"No, really, that's—what's it called, the place in New York?"

Beca screws up her nose in thought. "BFD? I'd never heard of them, but I guess it's an up and coming company."

"That could be an amazing opportunity," Chloe hedges, craving more details.

"Yeah, I… yeah."

"Beca."

"Hmm?"

"Did you give them an answer?" Chloe actually thinks she might explode if Beca doesn't start giving details.

"Oh. Well, it doesn't really work like that. Like, I have to interview and stuff," Beca clarifies, looking more awkward by the second.

Chloe forces herself to calm down and count to five before asking her next in a series of questions; as excited as she is for Beca, she doesn't want to force her into doing anything she doesn't truly want to do.

"Do you want to interview?" she eventually asks, taking a bite of asparagus to seem nonchalant.

Beca hesitates, then gives a single jerky nod. "Yeah, it—it's terrifying," she huffs with a little smile, "but I said yes. To an interview. Terrifying and exciting," she adds, another afterthought.

"It definitely is both terrifying and exciting, for sure," Chloe agrees. "Though I'd have said you were crazy if you hadn't agreed."

"It feels a little crazy to interview anyway," Beca shrugs, now reaching for her slice of cake. "It's been so long."

"Maybe. But they're going to love you. How could they not?" Chloe asks before she can stop herself. Her face warms and she tries to hide it by taking another bite of her food. "So, uh, is it over Skype or phone or…"

"No, they want to show me around in person," Beca mumbles through her mouthful of dessert. "I have to go over there."

"That's a good sign! When?"

"I fly out tomorrow."

The words land between them, flopping unexpectedly onto the table. For a moment, Chloe simply looks at Beca and Beca simply looks at Chloe.

"Tomorrow…" Chloe trails off. Tomorrow is turning out to be a big day.

Beca nods maybe over-enthusiastically. "I checked, and our flights are actually pretty close together. We could—we could go to the airport together, if you want."

Chloe doesn't want to go to the airport together at all, because every additional minute she spends with Beca, it becomes that much harder to be able to leave. At the same time, it would also mean prolonging the time they have together.

"That would be awes," she says, now starting on her own slice of cake.

"Cool," Beca sighs happily, sitting back in her chair. "And, uh, also, I quit my job as an escort."

"You did?" Chloe asks, surprise rippling through her.

"Yeah. I mean, I wasn't going to, because if this whole interview thing doesn't work out… well, I still need a job," Beca says practically. "But I was thinking about it, and I decided that even if it doesn't work out, maybe it's time for me to try to, you know, figure things out."

Chloe knows she's smiling like an idiot, but she can't help it. "Bec, that's… I'm so proud of you! That takes a lot."

Beca smiles at her happily. "You inspired me, I guess."

And Chloe doesn't really know what to say to that—her heart is beating too loudly for her to really think of anything—so she settles for a wink and another bite of cake. Beca's eyes don't leave her as she eats, searching her expression until it starts to make Chloe self-conscious.

"Do I have something on my face again?" she asks, mostly teasing.

Beca blinks and seems to shake herself. "Oh, no, just… what about you?"

"Hmm? What about me."

"You know," Beca lifts one shoulder. "With the vet stuff. With Aubrey. With singing and all that."

"Oh." Chloe again pauses, resting her fork on the table. "That."

Beca grins crookedly at her but doesn't say anything. She pushes away her now-empty cake container.

"I… don't know," Chloe says slowly. "I've been thinking and… I don't know."

Beca shrugs. "You don't have to know right now," she says softly.

"Yeah, I…" Chloe sighs. "I know that I can't stay here forever. But… vet school has always been the plan, but I don't know… what if I don't get accepted anywhere?"

The question seems to catch them both by surprise; Chloe hadn't realized that such a prospect frightened her so much, and Beca stares at her for a moment, blinking slowly.

Beca recovers first. "You'll get in," she says, eyes wide. "You're really smart. And, you know, on the off chance if not, there are other options."

"I suppose."

Beca watches her, expression turning calculating. "I could see you as a music teacher."

"Yeah?" Chloe asks, surprised again.

"Definitely."

"I have thought about that before, actually."

Beca lifts a hand to her chin, narrowing her eyes in thought. "It would suit you, I think."

Chloe snorts at her ridiculous expression. "I would want to do elementary school, probably. Because—"

"Because you could teach them to love music," Beca guesses. It's not a question.

Chloe stares at her. Is it really possible that Beca already knows her that well? "I… yeah, exactly. You just… exactly."

"I like that. You'd be great at that, too."

Chloe toys with her napkin, the harder part of Beca's question bouncing around her head now. "I think I should call Aubrey," she eventually says.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Just to see," Chloe shrugs, a finger tracing absently over the details in the grain of the wooden table. "I miss her."

"I hope it works out between you two."

"Me too."

They both fall quiet, the gentle rain the only sound breaking the silence. Chloe shifts in her chair, a weird mood settling over her and pressing on her lungs. She finds herself thinking that if she and Beca had met sooner—maybe while they'd both been at Barden—they each could have figured out their lives that much sooner.

Maybe sensing Chloe's shift in mood, Beca clears her throat. "So, do you want to watch a movie or anything?"

"A movie would be good," Chloe replies gratefully, her wishful thinking scattering to the wind as she and Beca rise simultaneously from their chairs to clear the table.

It doesn't take long to gather the empty food containers and utensils. With another look over the balcony at the darkening Munich horizon, Chloe follows Beca back inside the room and slides the patio door closed. They place the food containers on the room's service cart and, without further ado, Chloe climbs onto her king-sized bed, props a pillow against the headboard, and leans back against it.

Still standing at the foot of the bed, Beca hesitates, her eyes flicking in the direction of the armchair as if she isn't sure if she should join Chloe. Refraining from rolling her eyes in amusement, Chloe pats the space next to her on the bed pointedly.

"Right," Beca mutters before joining Chloe on the bed. The mattress dips and moves as she crawls on her hands and knees to get to the head of the bed, and for some reason, the sight makes Chloe's stomach flutter. Reaching her, Beca also props a pillow against the headboard, glancing up at the bottom of the storage cabinets above their heads.

"Comfy?" Chloe asks.

"Yep," Beca says happily, settling back against her pillow. "Uh, I guess now we find the movie channel?"

"Thought you didn't like movies," Chloe remembers, reaching for the remote. "You sure about this?"

"Just don't pick a boring movie," Beca teases.

"I'll do my best."

She clicks the remote to turn on the TV, not sure what to expect. The first channel seems to be a news broadcast, given in German. She frowns and clicks the remote, scrolling through channel after channel, hoping for something watchable. Except...

Beca laughs as Chloe circles back all the way to the original news broadcast. "It's in German. All of it."

Chloe huffs. "I know we're in Munich, but every channel is in German? Really?"

Beca bumps their shoulders together playfully. "It's all good. Or I should say gut."

"Okay, let's just…" Chloe trails off, scrolling back a couple of channels until she goes back to what could be a German soap opera. She gestures to the TV, an actor's dramatically brooding face filling the screen. "What do you think he's saying?"

"Hmm," Beca muses, staring at the screen for a moment. The actor mumbles something in rapid German, his face twisting. "I think he said, 'I had a bad chalupa for lunch and now I regret it.'"

Chloe lets out a snort.

"All right, let's see you do any better, nerd," Beca goads her.

The soap opera cuts to an actress, tearful and heavily pregnant. She stares beseechingly at the handsome actor, asking him something in a quavering voice.

"Okay, so," Chloe gets ready to translate, "she said, 'This is what happens when you swallow watermelon seeds.'"

Beca's lips twitch as she stares at the TV. "Interesting, interesting. I could see that."

"I'm so good at German."

"Definitely," Beca says, looking over at Chloe, locking eyes.

Chloe's breath catches in her throat; she hadn't expected Beca's face to be quite so close to hers.

The world around them fades away until Beca consumes Chloe's every sense. She's very aware of Beca, of every quiet breath she takes, of the blue of her eyes. She's most aware of Beca's proximity to her, the space of only a few inches separating them.

Beca's eyes flick down to her lips. "What happens now?" she breathes.

"I don't know," Chloe whispers.

Beca lifts a shoulder. "Maybe it's time for both of us to go home."

A dull pain races through Chloe's chest at the thought. "I… I don't want to go home without you."

Beca's eyes close and she takes a deep breath. "Chloe, we can't… tomorrow, we're both—"

"I know."

Beca's eyes open again. "Okay," she sighs, but then a corner of her mouth quirks up. "You want to play twenty questions?"

Chloe nods, her breath catching in her throat. Allowing her own eyes to drop to Beca's lips, she asks, "Can I kiss you?"

It's Chloe's question, but it's Beca who moves first. A hand rises to cup Chloe's cheek gently at the same time Beca's lips meet hers. She starts slow and soft, all gentle pressure that only builds when Chloe sighs into it, parting her lips.

Beca's lips, soft and slightly chapped, meet hers again and again, each time at a new, more perfect angle. The hand on Chloe's cheek slides around to the back of her neck, as if Beca instinctively knows the angle of the kiss is harsh.

Chloe's own hands move, one bracing herself up on the mattress and the other resting on Beca's hip. Under her touch, Beca is warm and solid. Their breath mingles, and Chloe is able to taste the hint of chocolate on Beca's. Chloe's lower lip is snared gently between Beca's teeth; it pulls a soft whimper from within her chest and Beca smiles into the kiss, pressing closer.

Chloe has never been kissed like this before, so slow and thorough. She's had her share of good and great kisses. Every kiss with Beca prior to this had been nothing less than amazing. But this is different. Chloe had always believed her body belongs to her, and to her alone. Right now, though… yours, she thinks as Beca deepens the kiss. I'm yours.

The curl of Beca's tongue around her own makes Chloe's fingers curl into the denim at Beca's hip. She pulls, guides, until she's lying on the bed with Beca half on top of her.

"Chloe," Beca breathes, pulling back slightly, and for a second, Chloe's terrified she's about to stop. But then Beca's mouth descends along her jaw, until Chloe has to tilt her head to expose more of her neck to Beca's lips. Her fingers wind themselves into Beca's tresses, and when Beca pauses at her pulse point, Chloe knows she must be able to feel how quickly her heart is pounding.

At the first touch of Beca's tongue on her skin, Chloe gasps and arches. Again, Beca pauses, only to pull Chloe's skin into her mouth more firmly, marking her. Chloe chokes on air, desire welling inside her and building low in her gut, and her hands drop to Beca's backside, pulling her hips forward.

This time, it's Beca who gasps, a broken breath leaving her and dissipating over Chloe's overheated skin. "I…"

Drawing her lip between her teeth, hoping above all she isn't reading things wrong, Chloe takes her hands from Beca's ass to instead reach between them, unbuttoning Beca's top. Beca goes still above her but doesn't say anything. Her breathing becomes rapid puffs as Chloe undoes the last button and the shirt falls open.

Chloe just looks for a moment, stares at Beca's chest in her simple black bra, before reaching to touch her gently. Beca's eyes flutter and her head drops so she rests her forehead against Chloe's.

"Chloe," she whispers again. "You know—"

"I know," Chloe says, her hands sliding over Beca's bare skin to rest on her lower back. "But I don't care."

Beca stares down at her for a moment, eyes jumping between each of her own. Chloe waits, her entire body screaming for Beca's touch. When Beca sits up, Chloe's stomach plummets. But then Beca allows her shirt to slide the rest of the way from her shoulders and reaches to the headboard; she flicks a little switch, and the room lights go out as soft light emits from above the bed.

Chloe blinks up, surprised. "How did you know about that?"

Beca smiles down at her, features soft in the warm lighting. "I saw it the first time I was here."

Chloe gives a small laugh that breaks off as the tips of Beca's fingers toy with the hem of her shirt. They trace back and forth for several long seconds, until Chloe becomes impatient. She reaches down and sits up so she can whip the shirt over her head and off the side of the bed. Beca's eyes drop immediately, and when Chloe lies down again, she pulls Beca back down on top of her.

Beca kisses her again, deep and searing, again breaking away to kiss down her jaw, her neck, her chest. She shifts again, her thigh landing high between Chloe's. Fire races down Chloe's spine and she arches, her own hand winding into her hair.

"Bec," she gasps, and Beca's lips return to hers.

"You're so beautiful," Beca says between kisses. "So, so beautiful."

Completely overwhelmed, Chloe squirms under Beca, trying to pull her closer. Her hands slide over Beca's bra strap, and she drags her nails lightly down Beca's back until she finds the waistband of her pants. Beca stills over her as Chloe's fingers slide around her hips to rest at the button of her jeans.

Beca pulls away so they can look into each other's eyes. "Chlo…"

"Do you—" Chloe has to pause to moisten her lips. "Can we—"

"Are you sure?"

"Completely." Chloe doesn't hesitate. She has no reason to.

Beca's eyes flutter again, and when she looks at Chloe, it takes Chloe's breath from her lungs. "Okay," she says, pressing a gentle kiss to Chloe's lips. "Yes."

With trembling fingers, Chloe opens the button and draws down the zipper.


They'd taken a train to the airport. They'd gone through security together. They'd wasted as much time as possible wandering the hallways between gates, hand-in-hand as they looked through the ridiculously overpriced shops before returning to Beca's gate, as her flight leaves first. Chloe knows they've only delayed the inevitable, though, and before she's entirely ready (not that she'd ever really be ready), it's time.

The desk attendant calls for boarding and, though it'll take a little while until Beca's zone is called, Chloe knows they have to say their goodbyes.

"So," Beca starts, glancing over at her.

"Yeah," Chloe sighs, something in her chest giving an uncomfortable tug.

"Yeah."

They look at each other for a long moment.

"Um—"

"Beca—"

They try to speak simultaneously, and it breaks off into an awkward laugh. Beca rubs at the back of her neck.

"You go first," Chloe says, knowing Beca would rather get it out of the way.

"Well," Beca huffs with a small smile. "I was just gonna say that I'm glad you were bored enough in Munich to hire an escort to play twenty questions."

Chloe feels a corner of her mouth lift. "I'm glad, too."

Beca grins at her crookedly, then rubs at the end of her nose with the palm of her hand. "Um, what were you gonna say?"

"Oh, uh, I was going to say that I'm glad it was you," Chloe says delicately. Because it would have been entirely inappropriate to voice what she'd really been wanting to say—Take me with you—and what she ended up saying is completely true anyway.

Beca gives her that signature close-lipped smile. "So, um, I don't know if this interview… I mean, it's still early stages," she says, as though she isn't almost guaranteed the job. Chloe knows she'll get the job; how could she not? "But either way, I think I'll be staying there—New York—for a little while. And, you know, if you want, when you get back—"

"I'll call you," Chloe promises, entwining their fingers together. "Definitely."

"I don't know for sure what'll happen."

"Neither do I. We match."

"Cool," Beca laughs right as the desk attendant calls for final boarding. "I should—"

"Totes," Chloe says, trying to force a smile as they stand from the uncomfortable gate seats.

Beca checks that she has her bag and hadn't left anything behind before meeting Chloe's eyes. "Good luck out there, Chlo," she says, blinking more often than she normally might.

"You too, Bec," Chloe manages, her own eyes starting to sting.

There's a beat of silence where Chloe isn't sure if they should kiss or not, but the crowd around them makes the decision for them. Instead, she pulls Beca into a tight hug, burying her nose into her neck and inhaling the scent of her shampoo.

She hadn't known Beca long, but Beca feels like home.

Beca has to pull away first. With a nod and a vague gesture in the direction of the dwindling line to board the plane, she starts walking. Chloe thinks she might make some parting noise, but her own throat is too tight to respond.

Still, she watches as Beca joins the line, watches Beca had her boarding pass to the ticketer to be scanned. With barely a glance back and not much fanfare, she watches Beca turn and enter the tunnel, and then she's gone.

Walking to her own gate, Chloe smiles. She's definitely texting Beca as soon as she lands.