Titanium by David Guetta ft. Sia.
It had been a week since Beca and Mia had made it back to Barden, and the DJ had only left the dorm to go to her classes and get food. She remembered spending most of her free time freshman year mixing and avoiding classes, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to make better grades this time around. Today, however, was a big step. Today was the day she started her job at the radio station. The first time, she had been nervous and excited about getting her start in the music industry; this time, she was more worried about the time/space mumbo jumbo that Mia kept spouting off.
"Hey, I'm Beca."
"Nice to meet you Becky, I'm Luke."
"No, Beca."
"Beca" he repeated and she nodded. "I see you've already gotten started on stacking CDs, nice to see somebody take initiative. Usually the new people just stand around."
"Well, I'm going to be doing it for the next year so I might as well get started."
"I like you Becky. You just might make me break my 'no freshman in the booth' rule." He turned as door opened and Jesse walked in.
"I'm Jesse!"
"You're late. Becky here will catch you up." He started into the booth before whipping his head around and pointing at them. "And no sex on the desk, I've been burned before."
She turned to Jesse and handed him a stack of CDs. "This is pretty much it, stacking CDs."
"So your name's Becky?"
"No, Beca, actually, he just says it wrong; I guess you can't change some things."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
He studied her for a moment and then his eyes lit up. "Hey, I know you!"
"Yeah, the car, you were the kid singing."
"And you were the girl getting out of the taxi. Does your dad drive a taxi?"
"No, he's a teacher here actually, English Literature."
Jesse's laugh was contagious. "That sounds . . . really boring actually."
"It is, trust me."
They worked in silence for a while before Jesse spoke again.
"So what's your deal? Are you one of those girls who's all dark and mysterious and then she takes off her glasses and that amazingly scary ear spike and you realize that she was beautiful the whole time?"
"You realize it makes you sound like a total douche when you say stuff like that right? I mean to expect someone to change their appearance just to conform to your narrow minded standards of beauty; that's pretty shallow."
His mouth worked but no words came out. Beca raised her eyebrows questioningly before turning back to the CDs. They passed the rest of their shift in silence.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beca made her way to the showers, her heart racing. She hadn't seen Chloe since the incident at the activities fair, and she was nervous about seeing her tonight. or at least, she hoped her time travel hadn't affected Chloe's decision to stalk her shower. They had seen each other just about everyday for the past 7 years, and after a week she missed the other girl terribly.
You shout it out,
But I can't hear a word you say.
Beca made her way to one of the stalls and hung her robe outside, her alto voice echoing in the quiet of the bath hall.
I'm talking loud,
not saying much.
The water was cold, and Beca waited before stepping into the spray.
I'm criticized,
But all your bullets ricochet.
Beca took a deep breath, Chloe should be there any second.
You shoot me down, but I get up.
"I knew you'd be a good singer!"
Whoomp, there it is.
Even though she was expecting it, the suddenness of Chloe's voice startled her and she dropped her shampoo.
"Dude!"
"How high does your belt go?"
Beca fought the urge to stare into Chloe's baby blues.
"My what? Oh my god!"
"You have to audition for the Bellas!"
"I can't concentrate on anything until you cover your junk."
Still true, but for a completely different reason this time.
Chloe, however, completely ignored her protests; which is something Beca had found out was usually the case when it came to being naked in inappropriate places.
"Just consider it, one time we sang backup for Prince. His butt is like so tiny that I can hold it in like one hand." She winked, and Beca almost died.
"Seriously, I am nude." honestly, she had been naked in front of Chloe so many times that it felt completely natural, but heaven forbid the time space continuum collapse, so she kept up her ruse.
"You were signing Titanium right?"
"You know David Guetta?"
"Have I been living under a rock? Yeah, I know David Guetta. That song is my jam, my lady jam."
Beca felt the blush rising to her cheeks, she knew all about Chloe's "lady jam".
"That's nice."
Very nice.
"It is, that song really builds."
"Gross."
Totally not gross. the opposite of gross in fact.
"Can you sing it for me?"
She wanted nothing more.
"Dude! No! get out!"
"Not for that reason!"
Beca had sung Titanium plenty of times for that very reason. And stripped to it. And hummed it against certain "sensitive" body parts.
"I'm not leaving here 'til you sing. So . . ."
Their eyes met again and Beca had to remind herself to breathe.
I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away.
Chloe's sweet soprano joined her, and she couldn't help the wetness that pooled between her legs. It wasn't her fault, really. After 3 years with Chloe, she had an almost Pavlovian response to that song.
Ricochet, you take your aim
Fire away, fire away.
Their eyes were still locked, and Beca couldn't remember Chloe's eyes ever being this blue.
You shoot me down, but I won't fall
I am titanium
You shoot me down but I won't fall
I am titanium
Their duet was over, entirely too soon for Beca's liking, and there was a moment's pause before she remembered that they weren't in the shower at their house, but rather in the dorm showers at Barden; 8 years in the past. Her eyes accidentally left Chloe's and raked down the older girl's body. Chloe didn't seem to mind.
"I'm pretty confident about . . . all this." She winked again, and Beca had know idea how she wasn't a puddle on the floor yet.
"You should be." She allowed herself one small smirk. It's what past Beca had wanted to do at least. "I still need to shower."
"Oh, yeah."
Tom appeared over Chloe's shoulder and the DJ felt like she had been punched in the gut. She had almost forgotten about that asshole. "You have a lovely voice."
Beca swallowed the growl in her throat. "Thanks."
The ginger grinned at her one last time before she left to continue god only knows what with mr-douche-dick.
The tiny brunette let out a small groan before turning the water back on, this time to cold.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beca opened the door to her dorm to find Mia studying on her laptop. The older girl looked up over her glasses at the sound of the door closing. "How was your shower?"
The DJ flung herself on her own bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Cold."
Mia snickered, and resumed typing. Minutes passed before Beca spoke again.
"You know he cheated on her. Like 5 times."
Mia looked up from her notes again. "Who?"
"Tom. That's how many she knew of anyway, there were probably more. But she didn't leave him. I know it doesn't seem like it, but she doesn't really think very highly of herself. I mean she knows she pretty, and she acts confident, but deep down she always thinks that she doesn't deserve much. But she does. She deserves so much better than that jerk."
Mia sighed, taking off her glasses and closing her laptop. "Uhoh."
"What?"
"I knew this was going to happen soon."
"What?" Beca repeated, turning her head to look at Mia on the other bed.
"You wanting to change history."
"I don't want to change anything."
"You do though. You want to save Chloe from the big bad wolf and be the knight in shining armor and all that jazz. But you can't. Anything like that would cause a time warp and then you and Chloe and everything else would be boom, gone."
"I don't care about being the knight in shining armor, I just want her to be happy. I'm going to make sure to be a better friend than I was last time, that's all."
"It's just going to get harder you know."
"I know." She felt the tears stinging her eyes. "I just didn't think it would be this hard."
"If you weren't totally opposed to physical contact, I'd giving you a hug, but since you are, I'm just going to say that I'm here if you ever need to talk about it."
"Thanks."
"Are you going to be ready for auditions tomorrow?"
"I'll manage." Beca slipped her headphones on, Titanium blaring full blast.