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Beca knocked on Aubrey's front door, shaking snow off of her boots. She didn't know much about weather but she knew it wasn't supposed to snow this much in fucking Georgia. But there was some catastrophic weather event happening and not only was it snowing in Barden, but it had been snowing non-stop for two days.
News stations were calling it a miracle, a once in a lifetime occurrence. Beca called it cold and miserable. The university had closed classes due to the unprecedented weather and then Amy had opened her mouth.
A long weekend getaway with the Bellas wasn't exactly a terrible idea, but Beca much would have preferred waiting until the weather was at least decent. Warm even. But the girls had outvoted her and the long weekend was planned. She protested that she had a shift at the station, which was still functional, but Chloe had solved that problem.
"That's fine," Chloe said. "Aubrey has a constitutional law tute she doesn't want to miss as well. You guys can come up the next morning together." Beca shot a look at the blonde. She was the only person who looked as put out as she was about the impromptu trip.
"Sure," she said. "You may as well stay here the night and we'll leave as soon as we can in the morning."
"Yeah okay," Beca said. "We can split the driving if you like." Aubrey nodded and the girls continued talking excitedly about their weekend. Beca couldn't bring herself to the same level of enthusiasm.
She loved the girls, she really did. But a confined space with ten girls, plenty of alcohol and no welcoming climate outside could lead to disaster. There would be truth or dare, which Beca hated. Or never have I ever, which was just as bad. Because yeah, she loved those girls, but there were parts of her life she kept to herself. Or at least to herself and Chloe, but under the pressure of alcohol and her fellow Bellas she might let more of those parts out and she wasn't exactly comfortable with them being common knowledge.
Like they still didn't know how Chloe had managed to persuade her to try out for the Bellas. A very naked Chloe Beale standing confidently before her in a shower stall was a pretty persuasive bargaining chip. Chloe could have asked her to assassinate the president and she probably would have.
And they definitely didn't know about what had happened at hood night. It was one time, they were both incredibly drunk, and in retrospect Chloe and Beca mutually decided it would be better for them to stay friends. One drunken, though pretty steamy make out session hadn't ruined the friendship. But that didn't mean it needed to be fodder for the Bellas.
After her station shift, she had driven to Aubrey and Chloe's apartment and toted her duffle bag upstairs. It wasn't too late, around nine thirty. She knocked on the door quietly and Aubrey opened it a moment later.
"Hey," she said, holding the door open.
"Hey," Beca said. "Thanks for letting me crash here."
"No problem," Aubrey said. "Have you eaten dinner?"
"Yeah, before my shift, but thanks," Beca said. "Have you heard from the girls?"
"Just a text to say they'd arrived but that the roads weren't that great," Aubrey said, worrying. "Trying to drive it again tomorrow could be dicey."
"We'll have to wing it," Beca said. "No idea how much snow is gonna fall between now and tomorrow. And the girls would be disappointed if we didn't try."
"Yeah," Aubrey said. Beca could see that she still wasn't entirely happy to be going on the trip anyway. "You know where everything is if you need it."
"Yeah, Bree," Beca said. "I just want to shower and crash out, I'll take the first shift of driving tomorrow." Aubrey nodded and headed toward her own bedroom.
When Beca got up the next morning, Aubrey had already made coffee. They didn't really speak as they got their stuff together, it was too early for that. Beca figured she may as well have a look out the window to see what she'd be driving into. She almost spat her coffee out when she pulled the curtain back.
"Aubrey?" she called. "I don't think we're going anywhere." Aubrey came out of the bedroom carrying a bag and looking heavily confused.
"What? Why?" Beca just held the curtain and pointed.
Snow blanketed every surface before them. Deep snow. It was at least three feet deep. Beca could see it banked halfway up the parked cars, the sidewalk was lined heavily with added inches due to the plow that had carved its way through.
"Whoa," Aubrey said. "I had no idea it was snowing that hard."
"Yeah, so I dunno if we're going to be able to get through that," Beca said.
"Definitely not," Aubrey agreed. "The girls will be bummed."
"I'll take a couple of pics and send them to Chlo," Beca said. "She'll understand." She pulled her cellphone out and snapped a few shots of the snowy surroundings, sending them to the redhead. Her phone buzzed almost straight away, and she answered it.
"Hey," came a static-laden Chloe. "I'm glad you texted."
"You got the pictures?" Beca said. "We can't drive through that."
"Yeah, no way. We only just made it through and it was nowhere near that bad," Chloe said. "We're actually snowed in at the lodge. But the couple caretaking here are really great, they said since we could be here a little longer than planned they don't mind if we spill into the next room. They had some no shows as well."
"You guys are okay for food and stuff though?" Beca asked. Aubrey shot a concerned look at Beca.
"Yeah," she said. "Amy smuggled in more food than planned, so we're covered."
"Okay," Beca said. "I'll let you go, conserve your battery or whatever. Let us know if they manage to dig you guys out?"
"Will do," Chloe said. "Tell Bree I said hey." Beca hung up and turned to Aubrey.
"No point even trying to get to the lodge," Beca said. "They barely made it through. But they're safe and everything."
"Good," Aubrey said. "They'll be fine, they've got the food and all the alcohol."
"Almost all the alcohol," Beca corrected. "I've got a bottle of scotch and a bottle of vodka in my bag. Vodka because Stacie wanted a backup and scotch because I prefer it."
"So - since the weather is that shitty," Aubrey said, "Do you want to just stay here? I've got enough food and stuff here, and with everything on campus pretty much closed now it might be better than going back to the dorm." Beca paused and ran through the options quickly.
"Uh, yeah," Beca said. "Thanks. I mean, I've got everything I need since we were going away for the weekend. And it sure beats dragging my stuff back out in that." They both turned back to the window.
"I know this is supposedly a catastrophic weather event," Aubrey said, "But it's also kind of beautiful. I've never seen this much snow in my life."
"You're from North Carolina, right?" Beca said.
"Yeah, Jacksonville," she said. "We got maybe an inch once in a blue moon. This is incredible. I bet it snowed all the time in Maine."
"Constantly," Beca said. "Sometimes we had up to seventy inches over a winter."
"But you keep saying that you hate winter," Aubrey said, a little confused.
"Yeah," Beca said. Aubrey noticed her tone change, and the slight difference in her demeanor so she didn't push it but there was clearly a reason there.
"Well, since we have a whole weekend free that we didn't plan," Aubrey said, "I'm going to do the nerdiest thing in history and do some classwork. But you can help yourself to whatever."
"Hey, if we don't have to drive anywhere, I'm planning on crashing out again," Beca said. "I've had work after class the past two days and Bellas the day before that."
"Go ahead," Aubrey said. "If you haven't surfaced by lunch I'll knock. Food."
"Thanks," Beca said. She headed back into Chloe's room and sent a quick text to update her dad with the altered plan, stripped her jeans off and pulled her pajama bottoms back on. She could sleep for another two hours and it would still only be mid-morning. So she set an alarm and got back into bed, falling to sleep as soon as she'd warmed up.
Aubrey didn't need to wake her, she got herself up once the alarm went off and took a hot shower to wake herself up. She threw some clothes on and headed out into the living room. Aubrey was parked at the dining room table, a few books spread out before her, her laptop, and some notebooks.
"Hey," Aubrey said, looking up. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good," Beca said. "Chloe's mattress kicks the dorm mattress' ass."
"Hungry?" Aubrey said. "Help yourself to anything you like."
"Sure, thanks," Beca said. She made herself a couple of sandwiches and some coffee, offering to top Aubrey up as well. Then she pulled her laptop out, along with her headphones to work on some mixes.
It was a pretty boring, but productive way for both of them to spend their days. They were both a lot more introverted than a lot of their fellow Bellas, and were perfectly content doing their own thing and not getting in each other's way. Beca's stomach was beginning to grumble later in the afternoon and she wondered how long had passed.
It was late enough that she wouldn't seem like a weirdo if she suggested dinner. She tugged her headphones off and saw that Aubrey was already in the kitchen, pulling some food out of the fridge.
"Hope you don't mind," Aubrey said. "I had a craving for pizza and I know nobody is going to deliver in this, and I'd feel bad for ringing a delivery through anyway. But we have dough in a can, which is passable, so I figured making pizza wasn't such a bad idea."
"No that's cool," Beca said. "I was totally starting to get hungry."
They decided to just make the one, though Beca couldn't understand why Aubrey didn't want pineapple on her half. But it was cheesy and saucy and Beca felt a lot better after she'd finished.
"Anything you had planned for tonight?" Beca asked. "More homework?"
"I'm pretty much caught up now, thanks to not going away this weekend. So I was just going to watch whatever was on, eat some popcorn," Aubrey said. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah. I mean, we do have all this alcohol, though. We should at least put it to good use," Beca said. "How do you feel about cracking open the vodka?"
"I'd feel more favorable about the scotch, to be honest," Aubrey said. "I'll get glasses." She left and reappeared a moment later with a pair of shot-glasses and a pair of lowball tumblers with ice. Beca went and got the scotch from the bedroom.
"Sweet," she said. She uncapped the bottle and poured them both drinks in both sets of glasses. Aubrey downed her shot first, so Beca followed suit.
"What do you think the girls are doing?" Beca asked, throwing it back.
"Drinking," Aubrey said. "And playing either truth or dare or never have I ever."
"Bonus for us then," Beca said. "I fucking hate both those games."
"Me too," Aubrey said. "Taking advantage of people in an inebriated state in order to obtain information they otherwise wouldn't disclose. Like Stacie can drink a lot before she even gets tipsy, and I don't drink much. It's not exactly a competition. Call me repressed, I like having privacy."
"I'm with you," Beca said. "My shit is my shit. I don't like talking about myself with that bunch of crazy extroverts. I barely like talking about myself at all."
"I've noticed," Aubrey said. "Chloe says that you talk to her, though."
"Chloe is… disarming?" Beca said. "I feel like everything I tell her she's keeping in confidence."
"She is," Aubrey assured her. "She hasn't told me anything, and I'd be the one she told. But it's the same with us. She knows all my secrets."
"You have secrets?" Beca said. "Wow."
"Of course I do," Aubrey said. She poured them both another shot. "And it's not that I'm hiding anything, I just know that one fact generally leads to ten questions, especially if Amy and Stacie are involved."
"Preach," Beca said, clinking her glass with Aubrey's and slamming her drink back. "Like I don't care if they know I'm gay, but dude, I don't want to answer fifty thousand questions about what girls are my type, or what I have or haven't done in bed." Beca didn't even realize she'd disclosed something that personal.
They kept talking as they kept drinking, ignoring the television as the shots were being knocked back easily. The scotch was just over half gone and both girls were happily drunk. Aubrey was laughing uproariously at Beca's story of how she had told Jesse she wasn't interested in a relationship with him.
"So I told him we had a lot in common," she said, "like the fact that we both like being up close and personal with vaginas."
"Preach!" Aubrey said. "Penises are not attractive and they have no business being anywhere near me." Beca's jaw dropped.
"Aubrey Posen, are you telling me that you're a fellow homo and I haven't known this entire time!?" she exclaimed.
"Hey I didn't even know you were gay til a couple of hours ago," she returned. "And what does it even matter?"
"Um," Beca said very deliberately, "if I had known that there was even the tiniest chance that you were into chicks, I would have been trying to hit that all year." Aubrey's jaw went slack and her cheeks were pink.
"Seriously?" she said.
"Duh," Beca said. "You're totally hot. Do any of the other girls know?"
"Just Chloe," Aubrey said slowly. "I might have made out with her sophomore year." Beca laughed and Aubrey looked a little put out until Beca cleared something up.
"Don't worry, I made out with her at the start of the year," she confessed. "She's beautiful and all but she and I are just friends. It was nothing. It was all the Boones Farm and she walked me home coz I wasn't going to make it otherwise." Aubrey was surveying the shorter girl intently.
"You really think I'm pretty?" she said self-consciously.
"I said totally hot, not pretty. Aubrey, you are not only the most gorgeous of all the Bellas, but you're probably the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen in person," Beca rambled. At that statement, Aubrey leaned over and kissed her heatedly.
"Whoa, dude, what are you doing?" Beca asked, moving back.
"Kissing you," Aubrey said. "Yes, I know we're drunk. But it's been a really long time since anyone called me gorgeous, and an even longer time since... Well."
"You shouldn't sleep with me just because I called you gorgeous and it's been a while," Beca said.
"I get that you're trying to be chivalrous," Aubrey said. "But how about we deal with the aftermath in the morning? Because I've had a lot of fun drinking with you tonight, and you're cute, and you also smell really good." Beca still looked apprehensive, but at the same time she looked like she very much wanted to cave in.
"Aubrey..." she said. She wanted to sleep with her, of course she did. Aubrey sighed, pulled out her cellphone and turned the front facing camera on, flicking it to record.
"I, Aubrey Posen, being of sound mind and judgment, am planning on taking Beca Mitchell to bed and screwing her brains out," she said. "I am making this decision of my own accord, under no duress." Then she put it down.
"Good enough?" she directed to Beca.
"Works for me," she said, leaning forward to fuse their lips together again.
The first thing Beca noticed in the morning was how hard her head was pounding. It was hammering at the inside of her skull with relentless vigor. Second was the fact that someone was underneath her. There was definitely a body under hers. Third was that both she and the person beneath her were naked. Skin on skin, completely nude. Fourth was that it was Aubrey.
"Oh god," the blonde said painfully. "Man I haven't been hung over like this in a long time." Beca lifted her head enough to look at her.
"Me neither," she said. "Kill me now." She rolled off and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the throbbing in her skull.
"And we have to talk about the obvious," Aubrey said. "But my vote is that we shower and drink coffee first."
"Agreed," Beca said.
"I'll shower first," Aubrey said. "And I'll put the coffee on while you take yours."
"Okay," Beca said. She felt the bed dip as Aubrey got up and disappeared. The blonde came back clutching two bottles of water. One was half empty and she handed the full one to Beca, who smiled in thanks. She drank the water as she listened to Aubrey in the shower. She was beginning to remember the events of last night, all of them accompanied by a bottle of scotch. Possibly even featuring a bottle of scotch as opposed to being accompanied by it. She was remembering lots of kissing. And then she remembered the sex. And from the flashes of the previous night piecing themselves together in her brain she was pretty sure it was good sex. Really good sex, even.
She wondered how Aubrey was feeling about it now. As for herself, she had no regrets. Sure there had been a definite haze of alcohol, but they had both wanted it. And enjoyed it. Her body was aching in that pleasant way only a good round of sex could bring. She heard the taps go off and got up to assemble her own stuff for the shower.
When she was finished Aubrey was waiting with a mug full of coffee. It turned out they had slept fairly late into the morning.
"There's Tylenol on the counter if you need it," she said. Beca tipped two out and drank them with her coffee.
"Thanks," she said. She sank into the chair opposite the blonde, and the two of them sat in silence for a few moments.
"So last night," Aubrey said delicately.
"Yeah," Beca said.
"We slept together," she continued. "I don't remember all of the finer details but I do remember that I instigated it, and I remember enjoying it a lot."
"Me too," Beca replied with a smile. "So you don't regret it?"
"No," Aubrey said simply. "I don't."
"Good," Beca said. "Neither do I. I feel pretty good actually. So once I've finished this life saving coffee, I'm volunteering my amazing cooking skills to make us both breakfast."
"You can cook? Since when?" Aubrey asked.
"Um, when was I going to be doing all this cooking in the dorms?" Beca asked. "Just because I don't, doesn't mean I can't." Aubrey held up her hands in surrender and they finished their coffee together before Beca commandeered the kitchen, banishing her to the living room. She could hear the smaller girl singing as she cooked, and the smell coming out of the kitchen was pretty good.
After a while Beca appeared with glasses of juice and cutlery, and then went back for the plates, setting them down on the small dining table.
"What's this?" Aubrey asked.
"French toast," Beca said. "But I've noticed you're not a sweet kind of girl, you're more savory. So instead of sugary and syrupy toast it's herb and cheese with bacon."
"Oh sweet Jesus that sounds amazing," Aubrey said. She took a bite and let out a groan. "So good."
"Why thank you," Beca said. They ate for a few moments.
"You watch me enough to know I don't like sweet foods much?" Aubrey said.
"Just one of the little things I've noticed," Beca said. "Like you absolutely cannot have your hair loose during cardio and you probably played piano as a kid because sometimes when we run scales your fingers move like you're playing along."
"Beca..."
"It's hard not to notice you, Aubrey," Beca said. "It's cool, though, I don't expect you to like, suddenly take an interest just because I drunkenly told you that you were hot."
"You think you're not noticeable?" Aubrey said. The brunette just shrugged. "You're a five foot nothing tattooed DJ, Beca. People notice you. And it's not just that. People look at you when you walk into a room. You've got a vibe."
"A vibe?"
"Yeah, a vibe."
"That's very clarifying, thanks," Beca said.
"I'm not good at explaining myself with abstract concepts," Aubrey said. "But trust me, you're not going unnoticed. Not by me." Beca offered her a small smile.
"That's sweet," she said.
"Are you going to tell the others about your cooking skills?" Aubrey asked.
"Are you insane?" Beca asked. "As if I want to spend all weekend cooking for the Bellas. Because that's what would happen."
After they'd eaten, Aubrey took the plates out and they moved into the living room. Aubrey tossed the remote at her.
"Watch whatever you like," she said. "I'm not really fussed." She had a book in her hands.
"Me either," Beca said. "Well, that's a lie. I don't do movies. Let's hope there's something funny on, something mindless I don't have to think about. That's about all I can handle right now." She found 30 Rock and settled into the couch. She slumped against Aubrey's side, and the blonde ditched the book, one arm resting along the back of the couch. If Beca had been six inches taller it'd be around her shoulders.
It wasn't really snowing much any more, but it was still chilly. Aubrey had made them both more coffee, though she also brought water out so they could keep rehydrating. She'd also grabbed a throw from the linen press and brought it out to cover them up.
At some point during the afternoon, they dozed off on the couch together. Beca was still lying against Aubrey's side and Aubrey's arm was now wrapped around her. Beca woke first and was happy not to move for a while. It didn't feel wrong to be snuggled up next to the blonde like that, and had it not been for a pressing need to use the bathroom, she would have stayed there even longer.
After she'd finished, she headed into the kitchen to see about making dinner. She heard Aubrey getting up and moving about, and eventually the other girl came in and poured herself some juice, offering some to Beca as well.
"What are you cooking?" she asked, looking at the floury mess on the bench.
"Well, pasta," Beca said. "Because even though you and Chloe don't cook very much, you still have a pasta roller in your cupboard."
"Blame Chloe," Aubrey said. "She is the worst for buying things she swears she's going to use but never does. So you're making your own pasta?"
"Sure," Beca said. "It's surprisingly easy. Wanna learn?"
"Yeah," Aubrey said. She pushed her sleeves up and Beca began explaining what she'd done so far to catch her up.
The pasta ended up turning out pretty good. Aubrey had learned how to make pasta and a simple sauce from Beca, surprised that she was both such a good teacher and such a good cook. They were dishing it up together when Aubrey spoke.
"Can I just say that I'd like to avoid the alcohol tonight?" Aubrey asked. "I'm still not quite up to scratch after last night's efforts."
"Oh god no," Beca said. "Water is fine." They ate back at the dining table.
"I tried teaching myself to cook from cookbooks once," Aubrey said. "Everything turned out just okay. Not great."
"Cookbooks are a good starting point, but half of cooking is instinct," Beca said. "My grandmother taught me when I was a kid. "
"I can totally picture you in a kitchen wearing an apron down to the floor," Aubrey said, laughing. "A little step stool so you could reach the counter."
"That's exactly what it was like," Beca said. "I own three cookbooks, and they were all hers. She's made all these annotations and corrections, and there's no way I'm ever getting rid of them." Aubrey paused for a moment. It was nice to hear something personal about her.
After dinner they did the dishes together, singing along to the music courtesy of Beca's phone and Aubrey's Bluetooth speaker. Aubrey could not believe how much fun she was having doing stupid domestic things with Beca. And of course, listening to her sing. She had a voice like silk, and it was a treat to hear it without all the other Bellas behind her.
"You're staring, weirdo," Beca said, flicking the dish towel at her.
"Yep," Aubrey said. She felt suddenly bold and stepped toward the other girl. Beca's eyes widened in surprise but she didn't move away. The taller girl backed her into the counter slowly and Beca dropped the towel.
Aubrey's hand found Beca's jawline. Beca ducked her head but Aubrey pulled it back up. "I want to kiss you again," she said softly. "No alcohol this time. Just me, kissing you." She pressed their lips together before Beca had a chance to respond, but the way she reciprocated the kiss clearly indicated that she didn't mind in the slightest.
Beca's hand reached into her hair as the kiss grew in intensity. Aubrey began pushing her hoodie up, stripping it up off of the smaller girl.
"You sure this is something you want?" Beca asked against her mouth as the item fell to the floor, easily forgotten.
"Yes," Aubrey said. "I want you, Beca." Beca didn't question it further, tugging the threadbare knitted cardigan from Aubrey's shoulders as they shifted toward the bedroom.
It was different, the second time around. Neither girl could remember their first encounter very clearly, but this was something new. Their eyes met and held, the hands moved surely and firmly against each other's skin, and the arm Beca threw over Aubrey's body afterward was clutched tightly as they regained their breath.
It was growing dark outside now, and the bedside lamp was throwing a warm yellow glow around the room. Beca looked at the blonde next to her. She was beautiful. And it was weird, but she felt… safe. Calm. So she took a deep breath and a gamble on sharing something without the shield of alcohol to hide behind.
"I hate the snow," Beca said quietly, sitting up so she could tie her hair up again, "because it reminds me of my dad leaving me as a kid." Aubrey's hand was caressing her lower back as she rolled onto her side so she could face her better. She could feel the older Bella's eyes on her.
"How so?" Aubrey asked.
"It was a big snowfall when I was seven," Beca said. "Mom and I were out in the backyard making snowmen, we'd just finished off the two that were supposed to be us. He'd come out and said we should make one that matched him while he went to the store. Sounded like a great idea. When we were done we went inside to warm up and he was gone. Note on the kitchen table. I didn't even realise what it was at the time, what it meant. Took a good few days for it to sink in." Aubrey sat up, pulling the sheet with her. She wrapped an arm around Beca's shoulder, pulled her a little closer.
"That's horrible," she said.
"Mom later told me that things had been strained, but she'd had no idea they were that bad," Beca said. "I cried when his snowman melted. And yeah, I guess the snow reminds me of that feeling. Doesn't matter how hard he tries, all I know is that he bailed without a word when I was seven and he's never explained or apologised. I know he's like, trying to be all involved in my life now, but I can't just erase that from my memory. Sometimes I think I'm never going to be able to forget the look on my mom's face." She wriggled back down into the bed, Aubrey following and the older girl wrapped her arm over her waist. She kissed the back of her shoulder softly.
"Thanks for sharing that with me," Aubrey said. "I know it wasn't easy."
"I don't like talking about him," Beca admitted. "I don't hate him, I guess maybe when I was younger I did. It's more… disappointment."
"It's okay to be disappointed in your parents, Beca," Aubrey said. "God knows we all go through that."
"So grandma taught me to cook," Beca said. "Because I was there most afternoons while mom worked. She worked so fucking hard, Bree. But it didn't matter, however tired she was when she got home, we had dinner together and we talked. A lot of the time I cooked for her."
"Your mom loved you," Aubrey said. "Mine was kind of the opposite. Dad was always at work, mom was always doing god knows what. But Anthony and I always had dinner together, alone. It wasn't a happy childhood, even though we had every material thing we wanted." Beca kissed her softly, but Aubrey decided not to let her go, rolling the smaller girl underneath her and deepening it.
The next morning they woke wrapped in each other's arms. It was surprisingly comforting, and they didn't feel awkward at all. The lack of hangover made it a lot better than the previous morning.
They got up together and Aubrey declared it was her turn to cook, insisting she could handle pancakes at least, and Beca made them coffee. Her phone had a couple of texts from Chloe so she replied to those while she waited for breakfast. Apparently the snow had began to melt and it looked like they'd be able to leave around lunch time. As she filled Aubrey in on this information, Beca noted that she looked kind of adorable in long, warm pajama pants and a tee shirt, hair messily tied up on top of her head.
"What?" Aubrey asked.
"Nothing," Beca said. "You're ridiculously attractive, that's all." Aubrey blushed - Beca felt that it only proved her point. She brought the pancakes down and they demolished the lot.
"I think the next thing on my list for today is a bath," Aubrey said.
"I'll clean up," Beca offered.
"Well, you could," Aubrey said, biting her lip as if she were thinking something else. Eventually she said what she was thinking. "Or you could join me." Beca cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Join you?"
"It's not like you haven't seen me naked on multiple occasions now," Aubrey said. "Come take a bath with me. We'll sit in the hot water, make out a little. If it goes further, it goes further."
"Hell yes," Beca said. "Don't need to ask me twice."
The bath was plenty big enough to accommodate the both of them. Beca nestled between Aubrey's legs as they settled into the hot water, fingers unconsciously tangling together as they relaxed. The blonde let her lips graze along the crook of Beca's neck, somewhat enjoying the fact that the small hairs on the back of Beca's neck stood up. They didn't even talk. Just sat in the water, eyes closed as they relaxed against each other for a long time.
Eventually Aubrey's hands reached up and untied the bun Beca had thrown her hair up into prior to getting in. The brunette really did have gorgeous hair, and the humidity in the bathroom meant that it was curling at the ends.
"The girls will be back soon." Aubrey said, fingers stroking through her hair. "We should maybe talk about what we do from here. Because the girls are basically going to know the first time we're in a room together. So next week."
"Um... I don't know," Beca said, eyes slipping closed. "I don't regret anything we've done. And I would honestly like it if we could go out sometime and see what might happen. If you'd be interested of course."
"That sounds good," she replied. "I'd like that. I don't date much so maybe if we just quietly try it out? That sounds bad. I don't mean keeping it a secret."
"No I know," Beca said. "We could maybe tell Chlo first and then just see how it works out before we make it a thing and tell the other girls." Aubrey shifted, water ebbing slightly as she did, and kissed her, Beca's neck craning back so she could reach. They made out for a while, until Beca began to get sore from being twisted in the tub.
"Do you think we've got enough time for one more round?" Aubrey asked as her hands moved in the water to slide up Beca's torso.
"Well, we're getting pretty good at it, so I'm going to say yes," Beca said, capturing her lips again.
Later that afternoon, Chloe had texted to tell Aubrey they were almost home, which snapped the two girls out of the little bubble they'd been in. Beca reluctantly packed all her stuff back into the bag in Chloe's room and dragged it out to the hall.
"Snow's eased up," Aubrey said, pointing out the window. Beca joined her to look outside.
"Yeah," Beca said. "I might try make a run for it now."
"You don't want to hang around to see Chloe?" Aubrey said. Beca bit her lip.
"Is it weird if I say no?" she said. "I kinda wanna prolong the bubble for a bit longer. But by all means, you guys can talk about… this. If she picks up on it, which she probably will."
"Okay," Aubrey said. "Will you text me once you get back to the dorm? I know it's not far, but still."
"I will," Beca promised. She tugged her beanie on and looked up at the blonde. In lieu of some awkward farewell, she just lifted onto her toes slightly and kissed her gently. Aubrey's eyes were lightly fluttering closed when she pulled away, so she brushed one last kiss to her lips before she left.
Chloe arrived not half an hour later, brimming with stories about what they'd gotten up to snowed in at the lodge. Aubrey listened intently, laughing at the antics of the snowbound Bellas. Chloe gave her a funny look.
"You're being weird," she said.
"No I'm not," Aubrey said. "Just listening to the stories."
"Well, what did you and Beca do?" Chloe asked.
"Just hung out," Aubrey shrugged. "It just made sense for her to hang around here where there was food and a proper heating system, unlike the dorms."
"You guys didn't spend the whole weekend fighting did you?" she asked.
"No, not at all," Aubrey assured her. "We… definitely have a better understanding of each other." Chloe beamed, glad that her two best friends had gotten along so well.
"Good. I need to text her to tell her I'm back, I promised I would," Chloe said. "Shoot, my phone's dead. Can I borrow yours?"
"Sure," Aubrey said. Chloe picked it up and saw that Aubrey had changed her lock screen to a picture of snow-covered Barden.
"Oooh nice shot," she said.
"Yeah, the snow up here was really pretty," Aubrey said. "There are more photos if you want to have a look." Chloe began flicking through the gallery, and Aubrey suddenly realized what else was on that phone. She made to move across the room and snatch it from Chloe's hand.
"I, Aubrey Posen-" she heard. The blonde paled knowing what the next part of that video contained.
"Aubrey?" Chloe said with a curious smile. "Why have you got a recording of you saying you're about to screw Beca's brains out?"