the bellas’ rehearsal room was full of noise, voices overlapping while chloe tried to clap out the beat and get everyone back on track. someone had the windows open, so the late afternoon air drifted in while the sound of everyone warming up carried down the hallway.

you stood near the piano with your sheet music, quietly going over your harmony while the others talked through the arrangement.

“hold on, hold on,” chloe called. “let’s run that again from the top.”

everyone moved back into place, which meant you ended up where you usually did lately, right next to stacie.

it wasn’t really planned. somehow you two just kept ending up next to each other every rehearsal.

stacie stepped into place beside you and lightly bumped your shoulder with hers, giving you a quick sideways glance and a small smile.

“okay, i swear i didn’t follow you this time,” she said quietly. “you just keep ending up next to me.”

she pushed her hair back over her shoulder and glanced down at your sheet music for a second.

“you good on this part?” she asked, nudging your arm again. “because if i mess it up i’m blaming you.”

it had gotten easy talking to her like this. over the last few rehearsals it had turned into little things, standing together during warmups, sharing a water bottle once, whispering comments while chloe tried to keep everyone focused.

stacie leaned a little closer while the rest of the group kept talking across the room.

“also,” she said a little quieter, “i was probably gonna go grab something to eat after this.”

she looked at you again with a small grin.

“you can come if you want.”