Chapter 5 – The Day off Part 2

As soon as they arrived at the beach, Chloe was out of the car dragging Aubrey along with her. The pair ran straight to the water, laughing at each other. It was a typical Hollywood site and Beca loved it. Leaning against the car door, Beca admired as Chloe ran up the beach chasing away some seagulls. Thinking she was being discrete, Beca took her phone out of her back pocket and took a picture of the red head. After admiring the picture for a few seconds she was taken out of her day dream by Stacie's voice
"I don't think she's famous enough yet for you to get any money out of selling that picture. Unless you're keeping it for, um, 'Personal' use" Stacie air quoted. Shoving Stacie away from her Beca went to the boot of the car to grab their bags and the two brunettes walked down to the beach. Once they had found a spot on the golden sand, the pair stripped down to their swimmers. Folding her clothes and placing them in her bag, Beca's eyes quickly found Chloe who was now, after tackling Aubrey, making her way up to the two brunettes. Feeling something hard hitting her shoulder, she turned around she saw a bottle of sunscreen near her thigh and Stacie looking anywhere but at her.
"Ow! What did I say about not hurting the star of the movie? You could've just asked!" Beca said, rubbing her now bruising shoulder.
"I have no recollection of such conversation and I tried calling your name but you were again all up in your head! Now put sunscreen on me before I burn, I will not be burnt while trying to dance" Stacie said as she moved to sit in front of Beca, who was now kneeling and applying the sunscreen to Stacie's back.

Chloe was walking up the beach to where her favourite little brunette was when she felt Aubrey link their arms.
"well you've certainly woken up, if I knew all it took for you to get out of your post hangover funk was a leggy brunette in a one piece I would've found one sooner" Chloe said as she laughed at the face Aubrey made. Aubrey was defiantly not as open about her sex life as Chloe was. While both girls were bi, Chloe had always been the one to unintentionally flaunt her relationships with both men and women more than the blonde had.
"Oh shut up, all I needed was some food and some caffeine" Aubrey replied, brushing her hair away from her face
"but seriously Bree, what's going on between the two of you?"
"I could ask you the same thing Chloe, don't you think for a second I didn't notice you two disappear last night at the party" Aubrey countered, sending that look again to Chloe
"ok, noted. But tonight you and I are having some wine and we are having a good old fashion girls night were we discuss our lady crush's" Chloe said, grinning as she made her way up to the pair of said brunettes. Finally looking at the pair, Chloe stalled for a minute when she saw Beca rubbing sunscreen onto Stacie's back. An article Chloe saw about the pair reportedly being 'intimate' with each other came flashing into her mind but quickly went away when Beca noticed Chloe and stopped rubbing in the cream.
"Hey you haven't finished my back!" Stacie exclaimed, but when she saw Aubrey she quickly asked her to take up Beca's place, causing the blonde to blush profusely.
"Need some UV Protection there Red?" Beca asked, shaking the bottle of sunscreen at the red head, smirking.
"well you can never have enough sun protection" Chloe responded, taking her singlet off and revealing her taught, back and subtle abs. Beca nearly had a heart attack but managed to pull it together just in time for Chloe to sit close to her. Starting to rub the cream into her back Beca would be lying if she said it wasn't turning her on and with the way Chloe was leaning into her touch, Beca was pretty sure the red head was enjoying it. When Beca had finished Chloe turned around with a sly grin on her face and simply said 'your turn'.
Once the girls all had sunscreen on, they decided to go into the water. Once in the water, Beca revelled in the feeling of the cool water against the heat that was on her skin. Beca had always loved water, she would spend hours in the shower just watching the water and would spend even longer in the bath. Her mum used to say she was part fish. Diving under the water, Beca decided to have some fun with the others. Seeing Aubrey was a bit uncomfortable in the water and was slowly making her way in, Beca swam near the blonde and tickled her ankle with a bit of seaweed she had found. After hearing the blonde scream and run out of the water, Beca resurfaced and started laughing. The other girls laughed at the blonde's over-reaction and Chloe pushed Beca back under the water with a scolding look that wasn't serious at all.
once Aubrey was finally convinced back into the water by Stacie and after a promise that Beca would stay at least a metre away from her at all times the four of them were laughing and swimming in the water. After half an hour of them playing in the water, Stacie and Aubrey went to work on their tans and Chloe was sitting just at the water's edge, watching Beca in the water, diving under waves just to resurface and be dunked by the next wave. Watching Beca in the water was surprisingly peaceful for Chloe, who usually couldn't stay still for more than a few minutes. Seeing the absolute joy on Beca's face and she tried to catch a fish that was unfortunate enough to swim by her made Chloe grin even more. It was clear that the red head was falling for the small brunette, and fast. Chloe could hear her acting coach's voice in her head telling her that you should NEVER under ANY circumstance date a co-star in the middle of performing. But at this moment, Chloe decided that she didn't care. There was obviously something there between the pair and Chloe could actually see a future with Beca, which she never had with any of her past relationships. Chloe knew that Beca obviously had reservations about the whole thing, any one could see it. But Chloe was sure of one thing, and that was that she wasn't letting Beca Mitchell get away from her.
After a few more minutes of her thinking about how to woo Beca, her thoughts were pulled from her mind and no coherent thought could be made, as she watched Beca walk out of the water. Chloe's eyes memorised Beca's body, taking in how her legs seemed to go on forever, even though she was so short, and how the water dripped down her muscular stomach. Chloe was even more mesmerized by Beca's smile. The shorter girl was smiling a smile that Chloe hadn't seen. She was used to her smirk and cocky grin, but this one was different. It was like every weight Beca had on her shoulders before she went in the water had just disappeared. Chloe smiled back just as much, got up from her spot on the sand, walked over to the brunette and simply hugged her.
"Whoa, hey Chlo, miss me or something?" Beca joked as she reciprocated the hug.
"Shut up, you're ruining the moment" Chloe replied, smacking her lightly on the shoulder
"what is with all you girls and hitting me today? I am the star of this movie!" Beca said in her over dramatic way as she pulled away from the hug and started to walk along the water's edge. Chloe ran up to her and grabbed her hand.
"Wow, three days in Hollywood and you're already a diva" Chloe said as she started swinging their joined hands. The pair walked along the water's edge for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other's company. Deciding they should head back, they walked back to the other two girls who were taking a photo on Stacie's phone. Stacie saw the two approaching and took a quick picture of the girls holding hands before they noticed. Showing it to Aubrey, they shared a collective 'aww' at the cuteness of it all.
"HEY STACE! Check this out!" Beca yelled as she shook her self like a dog trying to dry themselves. Stacie just screamed at the shorter girl and proceeded to chase Beca until she tackled her and started tickling her until Beca said sorry. After the girls joined the group again, they all decided they should have some dinner, seeing as though they had effectively used up all their day light. Packing up their bags into the car they drove to a restaurant near-by. Walking in, they were quickly seated at a table for four and picked up their menus. The waitress came over and asked what they would all like to eat and the girls ordered; Aubrey a Caesar salad and sparkling mineral water, Chloe a chicken Kiev and coke, Stacie a duck omelette and creaming soda and Beca a steak and beer, supporting Stacie's theory that she is actually a man. Once they had ordered and had their food, conversation flowed easily. Beca had found a new passion for annoying Aubrey and bickered with Stacie about her food choices when Stacie tried to take a chip from Beca's plate. Halfway through dinner, Chloe decided to put her hand on Beca's thigh which caused Beca to again choke on her drink. After sending a reassuring smile at Chloe, the girl started drawing patterns on Beca's thigh. After dinner Beca excused herself to the restroom, while she was gone Chloe had asked for the cheque but the waitress had said that Beca had already paid for their meals. When she arrived back Chloe had tried to give Beca some money stating it wasn't fair she paid for everyone's meal but Beca said it was her pleasure which earned a go Beca from Stacie.

Back at the apartment building, Beca walked Chloe to her door and said her goodbyes with a simple kiss on the cheek, running back to the lift Beca heard her name being called. Turning around she saw Chloe blowing her a kiss. Walking into her apartment, Chloe headed for the shower to wash off the salt from the beach but her thoughts never strayed too far from Beca. Once showered and dressed in sweats and a top Chloe grabbed a bottle of wine and headed to Aubrey's apartment.
"Hey Bree, I come bearing gifts of wine" Chloe called as she went to the kitchen and pulled out two wine glasses. Hearing Aubrey walk out of her room Chloe went to the couch and poured herself a glass. After the pair caught up on the day, spoke about everything and anything a silence fell between the two.
"So are we going to talk about it or can I go to bed?" Aubrey asked, wanting to get it out of the way before tomorrow.
"Ok what is going on between you and Stacie?" Chloe asked, wanting desperately to know what was going on between the two.
"I know I like her and she seems to like me. She told me when you were walking on the beach with Beca that I wasn't just another fling to her and she wants to take me out on a date" to which Chloe squealed with excitement "but I told her after the workshop, I want to get to know her a bit more before I actually go for it with her. I mean you know the rumours about her! I just want to be sure she is actually serious about this" Aubrey explained sadly
"Bree you can't keep doing that. I know you don't want to get hurt but from what ive seen Stacie likes you, a lot! And who cares about the rumours about her! She is a nice girl and for some reason she likes your crazy butt so don't push her away" Chloe said as she cuddled up to Aubrey
"well you can talk, what are you doing about Beca?" Aubrey asked taking another sip of her wine
"I like her, a lot! And I know she likes me but she is so obviously against dating a co-star" Chloe said sadly
"did she say that to you?" Aubrey asked
"no but it's stuff she's said in passing" Chloe replied, sheepishly
"well then you don't know! Look how about we both see how things go at acapella boot camp and then we will decide ok?"
"always the voice of reason"
"yes I am now get off me I want to go to bed!" Aubrey said as she got up and went to bed, calling out night to the red head.

Back in her apartment, Chloe was getting ready for bed when her phone went off alerting her to a new text. Seeing it was from Beca Chloe smiled to herself while opening it. It was a picture message showing a picture of Chloe running along the beach chasing seagulls. The caption under it said:
Beca: I don't know how you can be so beautiful without trying but it's quite frustrating ;)

Laughing at Beca's attempt to hide the compliment with a joke, Chloe saved the picture and replied before climbing into bed
Chloe: thanks…. I think? Who knew Beca Mitchell could be such a sweet heart. Goodnight love, ill see you bright and early for boot camp xx