I GUESS I DO

Chapter 8

"Whatever," Beca shot back, none the less standing as still as she could until Chloe finally did manage to unknot her.

"There… now was that so hard?" The red head smiled, gently pulling the hair piece out of Beca's hair and fixing her brunette locks back in place before looking into the DJ's steely blue eyes.

Something weird happened when their eyes locked though. It was something about the way Chloe was grinning down at Beca with a gentle half smile that Beca was returning with a bemused look (that she was desperately trying to control from morphing into a similarly mushy expression). There was just something oddly intimate about it.

One of Chloe's hands was still in Beca's hair too, and the other had somehow managed to position itself in a way that her and Beca's hands were brushing together down at their sides.

It felt oddly raw. It felt venerable. It felt like something that two people pretending to like one another should definitely not feel, like ever.

It was Beca that eventually cleared her throat.

"It was hard," she murmured, her cheeks flushing after what had happened (though she noticed Chloe was a little red looking as well, so maybe it was just the heat in this shop?). "You're in no way gentle."

"God you're such a pain," Chloe teased, rolling her eyes, yet silently thanking the gods for having that moment played down so easily (the feelings she may or may not have for Beca was probably something she should consider looking into any time other than the one week she's making the girl pose as her fake girlfriend in front of her family).

"Don't I know it," Beca agreed. "Now are you getting that or not?" She pointed to the offending item, still in Chloe's hand.

"Uh… no," Chloe smiled weakly, placing the head piece back on the stand and leading the way out of the store.

"So wanna tell me why we're here then?" Beca returned to her original question. "And this time if you try and lie to me at least do it well," she added, already seeing the clogs in Chloe's brain turning.

"I thought maybe you might want…" Chloe began in a rush, not getting very far before Beca silenced her.

"Chloe," the younger woman warned, stopping in her tracks and spinning the red head on the spot so they were face to face again. "For serious just spill. Don't make me use my "you made me come all the way down here card" so early in the game," she warned.

"Promise you won't question it?" Chloe sighed, averting eye contact with Beca.

"No," Beca shrugged.

"Fine then," Chloe rolled her eyes, suddenly annoyed. "Just forget it," she mumbled, turning again and making a move to get away from Beca.

"Chloe," Beca sighed, the puff of air that left her mouth turning into a soft sort of growl as she tried to pull the red head back. "Don't get pissy with me."

"Then don't question me." To be honest Chloe wasn't even one hundred per cent sure herself why she was so mad, she just suddenly felt comfortable with Beca's attack.

"I didn't say I'd question you, I just said I couldn't promise I wouldn't," Beca countered reasonably. "I mean I probably won't," she added.

"Well Jesus would it kill you to just make the trivial little promise and not be such a pain in the ass?" Chloe snapped, rolling her eyes.

"Okay what's the problem here?" Not that Beca hadn't sensed the hostility in Chloe's tone from the offset, but now it was just getting on her nerves. "Why am I suddenly public enemy number one? All I did was make a throw away comment and suddenly I'm getting my head bitten off," she fumed.