Chapter Text
Chloe sat comfortably in the middle of her living room floor with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Her long blonde hair was neatly up in a bun, and her eyes were closed. She found that meditation was the best way to start the day. It cleared her mind and helped her to pass the time as she waited for her morning coffee. Usually, Chloe had no problem slipping into her morning meditation. However, today she couldn't focus. No matter what she did, her mind kept wandering.
Lately, Chloe had been feeling like there was something missing from her life. She should've been happy. She had everything she wanted, a great job, a nice home, a dependable boyfriend, and the best friends anyone could ask for. But no matter what she did, Chloe couldn't shake this empty feeling she had inside.
Chloe's meditation was cut short by the sound of her front door open and then being slammed shut.
"Oh, my God, I need coffee," Chloe's roommate, Cynthia Rose, said, announcing her arrival. "Coffee, coffee, please. Please, love me right!"
"Rough night?" Chloe asked, getting up from her meditation.
Cynthia Rose just groaned as she poured herself a cup of coffee. Chloe likewise grabbed her signature white mug that had Feminism written on it in bright pink letters. The blonde scanned her roommate's face to see if she could see what she was thinking.
"So you didn't come home again last night," Chloe teased, probing for information.
"Oh, you got busy," Cynthia Rose said, deflecting the question.
"I think it's very cute that you have a girlfriend," Chloe said with a giant smile. "You guys have been together for like four months now, right?"
"I don't have a girlfriend," Cynthia Rose defended.
"And Denise.."
"Is a girl, who is my friend, who I see..."
"On consecutive nights, and whose company I enjoy more than anyone else's in the whole entire world," Chloe said, nudging her roommate.
"Whatever. Kindly leave your heteronormative label," Cynthia Rose started to say before Chloe cut her off.
"In a motherfucking box, to the motherfucking left," Chloe sang.
"Thank you!"
"You love her," Chloe smirked before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Whatever," Cynthia Rose said, rolling her eyes.
Chloe was going to say something else, but before she got the chance, she heard a moan coming from the direction of her bedroom. She looked to see her boyfriend making his way towards them.
"Morning, ladies," Chicago said before getting his own cup of coffee. "Wow, did I sleep late or what?"
"Mm," Cynthia Rose
"Morning," Chloe said with a fake smile as her boyfriend kissed her cheek.
"Sorry, morning breath," Chicago chuckled, and Chloe gave off a fake laugh. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up."
Once he was gone, Cynthia Rose cleared her throat.
"Yes?" Chloe said, turning her attention to her roommate.
"Are you gonna break up with him, or..."
"We are just settled into a routine. We don't have to be all over each other to prove that we're in love," Chloe scoffed.
"Sure, lit, but also you hate him, so..."
"Have you talked to Aubrey lately?" Chloe asked, trying to change the subject.
"No. Why?"
"She and Stacie broke up last night," Chloe said somberly.
"No way!" Cynthia Rose said in shock.
"Yep," Chloe nodded.
"Shut the front door! How long had they been together?"
"Nine years," Chloe said, holding up nine fingers causing Cynthia Rose's jaw to droop.
"I know. It's crazy," Chloe added.
"Did she say why?" Cynthia Rose asked.
Chloe shook her head no.
"Dude, we should cutwork and have a girl's day!"
"I can't today. We are making some big announcements at work today about transitioning to an online platform."
"Everything you said just like... sucked."
"Look, Aubrey's not going to want to cut work either. Trust me. She will be okay unlit tonight."
"Party pooper," Cynthia Rose whined. Chloe responded by simply sticking out her tongue.
****
A few hours later, Chloe Beale stood a the head of a long conference table. The blonde was wearing a gray sweater with a blue skirt with white snowflakes on it and log grey boots that went up to her knee. At only 29, Chloe had worked her way up to the top of Career Transition Counseling as the companies head manager. And while many of the people she managed were much older than her, there was no one more qualified or passionate than Chloe.
As the time approached for her to start the meeting, there was only one problem. The new girl, Beca Mitchell, hadn't shown up yet. Beca had been sent by corporate to Omaha to spearhead the online portion of their new pilot program. Chloe had never actually met Beca in person. Their only communication had been over the phone or via email.
The blonde sighed as they reach time for the meeting to begin She gave Beca a 10 minute grace period. However, once that time was up, Chloe saw that her employees were starting to get restless and decided that it was best to start the meeting without her.
"First, I just want to say how thrilled I am to have everyone under one roof, and let me be the first to welcome you all home," Chloe said to bring everyone to attention.
She glanced toward the door before continuing.
"I know there's been a lot of whispering about why we're here, retailers are down twenty percent auto industry is a dump, the housing market doesn't have a heartbeat it is one of the worst times on record for America, this is our moment."
Before she could go any further, Chloe was interrupted by the conference room doors opening franticly. In walked a small brunette. Chloe felt her heart skip a beat. The look of the new girl was enough to take her breath away. The brunette was wearing a dark black suit coat with a matching skirt and a blue and white dress. Her long brown hair was up neatly in a ponytail, which was cute yet professional. She was also super short. Even in heels, she was shorter than the blonde, who was only 5'4", which meant that Beca couldn't be over 5'2".
"Sorry, I'm late," the smaller woman said, entering the room before taking her place at the conference table.
****
By the time she reached the conference room, Beca Mitchell was arguably having the worst day of her young life. The 23-year-old had slept through her alarm and had been playing catch-up all. But even worse than that was the fact that she woken up to a text from her boyfriend Jesse that said, "I think it's time we c other people." After four long years, he was cruel enough to throw it all away over a simple text. Beca had been crying her eyes out on and off all day. The only thing that kept her going was the fact that she had to give the most important presentation of her career today. Unfortunately, it had taken her longer to compose herself than normal. Hence why she was late.
However, as Beca entered the conference room, she felt her spirits lift as Ms. Beale greeted her with a friendly smile and warm blue eyes. Beca felt her chest grow tight as she realized this was the woman whom she had talked to on the phone. She was more beautiful than she could of ever possibly imagined.
"Is that Ms. Beale?" Beca quietly asked a coworker named Ryan Bingham. Beca had met Ryan early that day, where he bragged to her that he spent three hundred twenty-two days on the road last year. Which meant that he "had to spend forty-three miserable days at home."
"Yeah, that's her," Ryan confirmed
"God, she is hot, Beca whispered.
"Yep, Ryan said, unfazed.
"Like super hot," Beca said loud enough so that only she and Ryan could hear.
"Please stop saying," Ryan said, turning to Beca making her blush.
Thankfully Chloe was too busy with her presentation to notice the two were doing. Beca, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off Chloe. The way her long blonde hair just flowed naturally behind her added to her beauty. And those long grey boots she was wearing, along with the rest of her outfit was filling her mind with dirty thoughts. Beca would be more than happy to let Chloe walk all over her.
"And with that, I would like to turn the time over to our newest team member, Beca Mitchell," Chloe said, turning to the smaller woman.
Beca took a second to compose herself before starting her portion of the presentation.
"If there's one word I want to leave you with today, it's this..." Beca said as she pulled up a slide that said "Glocal."
Ryan and the other tried to pronounce the word. However, rather than correcting them, Beca changed to the next slide, which read "GLOBAL ---> LOCAL."
"Our global must become local," Beca said, taking her place next to Chloe at the front of the conference room.
"This company keeps twenty-three people on the road, at least two hundred fifty days a year. It's expensive, and it's inefficient. When I came to corporate three months ago with this, they told me, and quite astutely - it's only a problem if you have a solution. Well, today, I stand before you with just that," Beca said, clicking to her next slide. The slide showed an animation of one monitor becoming multiple monitors, all tied into a central switchboard in the middle of a map of the country.
"Thanks to modern technology, you can start the morning in Boston, stop in Dallas over lunch and finish the day in San Francisco. All for the price of aT1 line. Our inflated travel budget is eviscerated by eighty-five percent... And most importantly to you guys on the road... No more Christmases in a hotel in Tulsa...No more hours lost to weather delays... You get to come home." As she concluded her remarks, Beca looked over to see Chloe beaming at her. The tiny burette felt her heart skip a beat, and she couldn't stop herself from giving a soft smile back.
Damn it, Beca thought. She hadn't even worked a full day, and she was already crushing on the boss. However, Beca's joy was short-lived. Her smile quickly faded from her face when she looked down to see Ryan scowling at her. However, Beca ignored the older man and instead turned her attention to a mock firing over zoom to show the employees how she envisioned her plan would work.
Upon finishing her remarks, Beca returned to her seat next to Ryan. And while he was clearly irritated, Beca couldn't tear her eyes off the blonde and her soft blue eyes. Chloe gave a few closing remarks before dismissing her staff. As everyone else was leaving, Beca raced up to the blonde.
"Hey, Beca, amazing job today," Chloe said as she gathered up her things from the conference table.
"Hey, I just wanted to apologizes for being late. I just lost track of time editing my slide show. It won't happen again," Beca said nervously.
"Oh, no worries," Chloe said, waving her hand in the air. "These things happen when you're new. After all, it's only your first day. I imagine you are still getting used to the time zone."
"Yeah," Beca said.
"So, what made you want to come out to Omaha?" Chloe asked
"It's going to sound funny, but I actually followed a boy out here. My college sweetheart, Jesse, got a job out here, and I wanted to be near him," Beca said, wincing at the thought of how perthitic it must make her look to someone like Chloe.
"Oh," Chloe said as the smile faded from her face.
"But before I got here, he found someone else and broke up with me. So I'm single as shit now." Beca said, trying to clarify. She was horrified at the words coming out of her mouth. But she couldn't help it. She just couldn't seem to think straight around the blonde.
"I'm sorry, Beca," Chloe said, reaching out to touch her on the shoulder. "That must have been hard."
"The worst part was he did it over text," Beca sighed.
"Well, if he is like that, you are better off without him," Chloe said with a soft smile. She then pulled Beca in for a hug. Usually, Beca hated being touched. However, this was nice. Too nice. The smaller woman knew that she was in trouble when she felt the blonde pulling away from her.
"I look forward to working with you, Mrs. Beale," Beca said with a grin.
"Totes, and you and call me Chloe, Beca," the blonde said with a wink.
***
After the meeting was a blur for Chloe, Ryan asked to speak to her about the companies new plan. However, the blonde wasn't in the mood for a debate. So instead, she decided to take the rest of the day off, figuring that Ryan could wait until tomorrow. On the drive home, Chloe couldn't stop thinking about Beca. There was something about the smaller brunette that she couldn't shake.
It wasn't just Beca, though. Her story about her boyfriend really got her thinking. Did she really want to stay in a relationship with someone she wasn't in love with? Maybe Cynthia Rose was right.
The blonde was in such a deep thought when she got home that she didn't notice the light in her room was on.
"Chicago?" Chloe practically screamed as she bumped into the older man.
"I'm sorry, I was just here cleaning up a little bit 'cause I know how busy you've been. You busy bee," Chicago said with enthusiasm.
"You were in my room cleaning it?" Chloe asked with one eyebrow raised curiously.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was supposed to be a surprise," he sighed.
"Chicago," Chloe said, sitting on her. She motioned to the older man to join her. "Let's talk."
"Okay," Chicago said, sitting next to her.
"Are you happy?"
"Yeah, of course, I'm happy," Chicago said, resting a hand on his girlfriend's bar knee.
"Cause I don't know if I'm happy anymore," Chloe said honestly.
"Oh, my God!" Chicago said with a sigh of relief. "Wow, that is so good to hear."
"Oh!" Chloe said with a whistle. "Thank God."
"I haven't been happy for such a long time," Chicago said with a smile.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," Chicago chuckled.
"Oh." Chloe chuckled.
"Yeah. Honestly, I almost cheated on you last week," Chicago said, shrugging his shoulders.
"With who?" Chloe said with a shocked look on her face.
"Uh, Flo from work," Chicago said awkwardly.
"Great!" Chloe said, embracing the awkwardness.
"Well..."
"I guess this is it, then."
"I guess."
"Hm."
"I don't know. We were just together for so long, I..." Chloe started to say.
"Thought this was gonna be a bigger deal," Chicago said, finishing her sentence.
"I know."
"But I do love you, Chloe, and I always will."
"I love you, too," Chloe said with a soft smile.
They both sighed as they hugged one last time.
"Chicago, I am going to take a shower. Please don't finish cleaning my bedroom while I'm in there," Chloe said sternly.
"Okay, good call."
Chloe watched as the older man left her room. She then went into the bathroom and peeled offer her clothes. As the shower's hot water poured over her skin, Chloe felt as if a huge burden was lifted off her shoulders. And while it was true that a part of her would always love Chicago, she would be lying if she said she wasn't excited for the next chapter of her life to begin.