Chloe's POV
I haven't felt like this since I was in high school. I didn't think it was a crush at first but as soon as I laid eyes upon the brown-haired blue-eyed beauty, I knew it was real. As I said, I haven't felt this way ever since I was in high school when I was crushing hard on Courtney Edwards - the most popular girl in school. I knew I had no chance in Hell with her but I couldn't help but develop a crush on her that lasted all through high school. I used to think about her from time to time but now I've moved on - eight years later I've moved on.
It's a beautiful summer day in Atlanta and I'm walking down the street to Bantam Royal Records - one of the best music stores in town and the only one that still sells classic vinyl records. I love music but I'm not a collector of records. I prefer my music to be downloaded onto my phone and it's not like I have a record player just lying around my apartment anyway. As I said, I'm going to the record store but I'm not going there for the music, I'm going to see her - Beca. Just thinking about her sends chills down my spine, in a good way, of course.
I first encountered her last week when I was getting a present for my best friend Aubrey for her birthday. I wanted to get her something different from what I usually get her and since she loves music like me, I wanted to get her a record of her favourite band, Ace of Base. I went into the record store and that's when I saw her. She was sorting and stacking records across from me and I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was so cute and so hot. She was only small, probably five-two, with long and thick chocolate brown hair and dark-blue eyes. She wore dark eyeliner, dark nail polish with multiple earrings in her ears. She had this badass exterior that I just couldn't get enough of.
She wore jeans, boots, a shirt with a flannel over the top and that's the style that she wears to work every single day. I know because I've visited the record store every day since I met her and I haven't been able to stay away. She hasn't spoken to me much though. She gives me the standard "hello" when I walk into the store and asks me if I need any help but I always say no. We haven't conversed any more than that but I have caught her looking at me a few times. I'm not sure if that's because she's checking me out or if she thinks I'm some weirdo who goes into the record store and doesn't buy anything. I feel like an idiot for going in there and not buying anything but I'm only there to stare at the cute brunette.
I arrive at the store and I peer my head in and see Beca working behind the counter as she writes something down on a clipboard. I notice that she's left-handed and she has to curl her hand around so she doesn't smudge her writing. I walk into the store and pretend to look at the records in front of me but really, I'm just checking out the cute employee behind the counter. I really want to talk to her. I just want to say something, anything to the woman. I'm not going to get anywhere if I just stare at her from a distance. It's not like she can read my mind.
Come on, Chloe, boss up and just talk to her!
Okay. Okay, I can do this. I can do this. Yes, I can. I begin hyping myself up to talk to the woman and when she comes to me, I freeze.
"Hi," she smiles.
"H, hi," I just manage to voice.
"Do you need help with something?"
"Ah... No, I'm okay thanks."
"You say that every time you come in here. Are you sure you don't need a hand?"
I swallow hard and I feel my body begin to heat up. Even though it's summer, the air-conditioning in here is amazing but right now I feel like it's been turned off and I'm left to melt.
"Ah... No, I'm just looking." I tell her.
"You're sure?" She chuckles and I'm pretty sure a piece of me just died from her cuteness.
"Ah... Y, yeah... Y, yes... Yes. Yes, I'm sure."
Oh my God... Get it together, Beale!
"Okay, well, if you need me you know where to find me."
"O, okay."
Why can't I stop stuttering? Ugh! Beca smiles at me before walking off and I take the opportunity to check her out. My God... I gulp and wipe my brow. I need to get out of here. I completely failed at having a normal conversation with her and I KNOW she thinks I'm a weirdo. I've been coming here every day for the past week just to look at her. I don't know her last name so I can't stalk her on social media. If I just knew her last name I'd be able to look her up and find out some more things about her. I want to impress her somehow but I don't know anything about the woman so I can at least relate to her or pretend to if the need arises.
Okay. That's it. I have to make a decision. I can't keep going on like this. Taking a deep breath, I pull out a random record and take it to the counter, my legs feeling like jelly along the way.
"You found something, huh?" Beca smirks.
"Ah, yep..." My hands are shaking when I slide the vinyl over to her.
"Oh, A Night at the Opera, nice. Bohemian Rhapsody is a great song."
I look down and realise that I picked up a Queen album.
"Yeah, it is." I haven't listened to much Queen in my life since I'm not one for classic rock and roll but I'll pretend that I do for the sake of this gorgeous woman.
"Another good band is Guns N' Roses." She tells me, scanning the record through.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah. They're good."
"I'll... I'll look into them, then."
"That comes to twenty dollars and forty-two cents."
I grab my purse from my bag and pull out a twenty-dollar bill but I don't have any coins on me and I left my card at home. Dammit! I know exactly where it is, too. I left it on the kitchen counter when I bought a top online and forgot to put it back in my purse.
"Ah... I'm sorry, I, don't... I don't have any change..." I'm so embarrassed right now.
I just want the ground to swallow me whole. I wasn't planning on buying anything today but I should always check to make sure that I have enough money just in case. Idiot, Beale!
"You know what?" Beca slides the record over to me and takes the twenty. "Don't worry about it."
"W, what?"
"It's only forty-two cents and I don't think Queen are short of money."
"Are, are you serious?"
You seriously need to get that stuttering under control, girl...
"Yeah. My boss isn't in today so he won't know. I'll just put the forty-two cents in myself at the end of the day."
"Oh my God. That's so sweet of you." My cheeks flush and I feel like I'm going to combust I'm so hot.
"You're welcome...?"
"Oh! Chloe. Chloe Beale." I extend my hand.
"Beca Mitchell." She slips her hand in mine and shakes it.
I gasp at the softness of her hands as electricity sparks inside me. I'm touching her! And I got her last name! YES!
We shake for a few seconds before we pull away.
"So does this mean that you're not coming back for a while until you need another record?" Beca asks.
"Umm..." I honestly don't know how to answer that question. "I don't know. Probably."
Probably? What the Hell!
"Oh... Okay then." Beca shrugs and looks away from me. "Enjoy your record then."
"I, I will. Thank you, Beca."
Filled with embarrassment, I take my record and leave. It's no better when I go outside since it's boiling hot and I feel like I'm about to collapse from heat exhaustion. I just need to go home and calm down...
~
I get home and put my head against the back of the door and groan.
"Oh, no. What happened this time?" Aubrey asks from the kitchen.
Aubrey is my best friend and we share an apartment together. We've been best friends since college and when we graduated we decided to move to the city together. Right now, I'm in vet school while she works at a camp about an hour out of the city. She works on Fridays and weekends. It's a lodge where companies bring their employees to build teamwork skills. She's very good at her job but that's because she's a bit of a control freak. We've had many arguments in the past about her controlling nature but we always sort things out and move on. We don't like being mad at each other and it makes it really awkward since we live together so it's best to just make up and get on with our lives.
"I made a complete fool out of myself..." I groan as I make my way over to her.
"What did you do?"
"Well, I actually got the courage to talk to her today."
"That's good!"
"Yeah, but I was a mess. She probably thinks I've got a stutter or something!"
Aubrey just laughs at me, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"I bought this then she asked me if I was going to come back now that I got my record and I said probably not!" I show Aubrey the Queen record.
"That's not too bad. I mean, you have been going there every day this week and not buying anything."
"I know... I wanted to talk to her every time I went there but I chickened out... BUT I got her last name."
"Oh! Good! Now, are you going to be up all night stalking her?"
"You bet I am! I need to figure out what she likes and see if she's single."
"Then will you FINALLY ask her out?"
"Yes, I will."
"And what are you going to do if she's taken?"
"Then I'll crawl into a hole and cry until I'm dead."
"I still think you should have asked her out ages ago."
"And what? Embarrass myself even more?"
"At least you wouldn't have built up more feelings for her."
"I don't think that would have mattered. She's so cute."
"Well, show me a photo then."
"I need to find her first." I sit at the kitchen bench and type in Beca's name on Facebook and surely enough, her name pops up straight away. "There she is!"
I click on her profile and look at all the photos that I can see since she's got a private account. Oh my God. She's so hot.
"Here," I give Aubrey my phone and she begins flicking through the photos.
"She looks very... alternative..." She says with a raised eyebrow.
"Cute though."
"I suppose if you're into that sort of stuff. Are you going to add her as a friend?"
"Hell no! I only just spoke to her today. I'm not going to add her. She already thinks I'm a freak so I'm not going to be extra weird and send her a friend request."
"Why not? She's single."
"She is?" I snatch my phone back and look at her information. Her relationship status reads single. "She is! Yes!" I pump my fist in the air then do a little dance.
"Calm down, Chlo,"
"No way! She's single!"
"Yes, but does she like girls?"
I stop dancing and look at Aubrey.
"Why do you always have to ruin my good time? Why can't you just let me live in the moment for a second? A second?"
"I just don't want you to get your hopes completely up."
"This is me, Aubrey. Once I have my mind set on something, I go for it."
"Well, can you do us both a favour and ask her out tomorrow?"
"I need to study her first, Bree. I need to get to know her so I can rock up tomorrow confident and impress her."
"Well, I wish you all the best with the alt-girl."
"Her name is Beca," I remind her, suddenly getting protective of the woman who's not even my girlfriend yet.
"Good luck with Beca, then."
"Thank you."
For the rest of the night, I stalk Beca's profile. I find her on Instagram as well but nothing else. I can't find any evidence that she was in a relationship or any evidence about her sexuality either. Looking through her photos, she's mostly with girls with one guy thrown in there but he doesn't seem to be intimate or anything like that with Beca. The only intimate pictures are her with girls that I presume to be her friends. Some pictures are of Beca hugging them and sitting on couches with their legs thrown over hers, and some are even photos of the girls kissing Beca's cheek but I know that they were just being stupid and having fun.
I don't even realise that it's one o'clock in the morning when I'm lying in bed and aimlessly looking through Beca's Instagram, completely eyeing her off in every photo. She's so cute... She absolutely rocks the badass look. Aubrey's right - she is an alt-girl but that's what makes her so attractive, well, to me anyway. She has this "I don't give a shit" attitude and it's SO hot.
I still can't get the little conversation that we had earlier out of my head. I know I was a stuttering mess but at least I talked to her. Her smile and her laugh is what sticks with me the most. I'm so surprised that she doesn't have a romantic partner. How could she not have one? Am I the only one who thinks that she's attractive? Or is everyone just as scared as me to talk to her because she IS attractive and they don't want to embarrass themselves as I did? Probably the latter.
Tomorrow I plan to ask her out. I've been listening to a lot of old rock and roll bands so I've got something to talk to her about if things go awkward. I still don't know lots about her but I plan to once I ask her out. I just hope to God that she says "yes". I don't even know if she's into girls but one can only hope...