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"So, I was in the shower with Tom-"
"Chloe, how many times do I have to say I don't want the details of any of your extracurricular activities? Especially right before we have sex?"
"Oh, yeah, no. Not where I was going. I ran into that girl from the activities fair. You know, the 'alt girl'? She totally lied."
"Hmm. Of course she did."
"But Aubrey, she can totes sing! We sang together, and she's got this super hot voice. I think you'll love it."
"Tell me you didn't ambush her in the shower."
"..."
"Chloe!"
"... She's coming to auditions!"
---
As she finishes singing, placing the cup on the stage and resting her elbows on her knees, Beca knows that she has this. Red (whose name she'll hopefully know soon) is blushing the perfect shade of pink, beaming at her. Blondie looks like she's just found a fly in her soup, but even though Beca was focused on Red during the song, she saw Blondie lean forward too. If they didn't invite her, she'd eat her headphones.
"I'm guessing I don't have to ask if you're accepting the late audition," Tommy says, eyebrow raised.
"Absolutely!" the redhead chirps. Blondie nods after a moment.
Tommy sighs. "C'mon, newbie, let's fill out your paperwork so we can all go."
Beca stands up, throwing a wink to Red before walking off the stage. She catches an excited wave back before she turns to see Jesse standing in the doorway.
"Lookit you," he jeers good-naturedly. "Didn't expect to see you trying out for one of the a capella groups. Aren't you too cool for school?"
She slugs him in the shoulder. "It's for my Dad," she says. "Long story. You hanging around after auditions to score brown noser points?"
Jesse follows after her and Tommy, down to the seats, where the coordinator hands her a sheet of paper to fill out. "My roommate was the last to sing, I was looking for him when I caught you up there."
"Well, he disappeared before I started, sorry." Beca sinks into a seat, starting to fill out the form. "See you at the station."
After a moment, Jesse stops staring at her and leaves, mumbling something. Beca feels her shoulders relax a bit. He's a nice enough guy, he just comes on too strong sometimes.
After penciling her schedule in, she looks up to see the auditorium empty. Frowning slightly, Beca stands and goes in search of the coordinator.
"Beca, right?"
Poking her head in the hallway off stage, she finds Red walking toward her. "Yeah," she responds dumbly. "You are...?"
"Chloe," Red says with a smile, holding out her hand.
"Nice to meet you. Again," Beca replies, shaking the other girl's hand. "And fully clothed," she adds with a wink.
"Disappointing, but I'll survive." Chloe winks back. "It's nice to meet you again." She wiggles the fingers of her hand. "I was actually looking for the paper, though."
Flushing, Beca shoves it at the other girl. "Right," she sputters.
Chloe hums to herself as she looks it over. "I didn't know you were in Dr. Taft's Biology course Thursday afternoons."
Beca raises an eyebrow. "Are you taking it?" The class was for underachieving freshmen and delinquent seniors, mostly. She doesn't know much about the other girl, but Chloe doesn't strike her as the latter.
"I'm his TA," Chloe replies. "I don't remember ever seeing you. I'd have noticed."
Laughing nervously, Beca runs a hand behind one ear. "Yeah..." She hasn't been to most of her classes, despite being a month into the semester.
Chloe reaches out, grabbing Beca's hand. "You should go, I try and keep Dr. Taft from making it too boring." She steps forward, fully invading the other girl's personal space. "I'd like to see you come."
Beca's intensely proud that she didn't choke at that. "I think I can make that happen," she manages to get out, her voice cracking slightly.
Chloe grins, and Beca's knees go weak. The ginger's thumb starts rubbing softly against the back of Beca's hand. "I can stop," Chloe offers. "If you want."
Beca smirks back, and tightens her grip on the hand in hers. "I'm good."
When their lips meet, Beca swears she's just been punched in the chest. In the best possible way.
---
She's doing a good job of hiding how pleased with herself she really is, Beca thinks as she watches her fellow initiates lose their minds in the stone amphitheater. The cheap beer is flowing freely, and despite the slightly horrifying oath Aubrey had made them swear several of the girls are getting pretty hot and heavy with the Trebles.
Jesse would have her get in on that. She doesn't quite have the heart to tell him there's a greater chance of her sleeping with his mother. No need to ruin his good night. So she's laughing at jokes she honestly doesn't get (she thinks they're movie references, from the few she does) and spends most of her time people watching.
Chloe is eye-fucking her every time she can manage to tear her lips from the boytoy. Any standards Beca has about that sort of thing goes out the window when the ginger bites her lip and just stares. So Chloe isn't interested in monogamy - this is college. Join the fun, right?
It's not like Beca is looking for anything permanent, either. LA is calling.
She watches Stacie tease Cynthia Rose semi-innocently; Lilly doing this strange dance where she just kind of appears and scares the shit out of everyone; Fat Amy and Aubrey getting wasted together and acting as if they've been friends for years. Everyone seems to be having fun, and Beca doesn't quite understand why she's not feeling it.
"I think I'm gonna go," she says abruptly.
Jesse stops mid-story and gawks. "What? Why?"
She shrugs, and hops off the stone wall she'd been sitting on. "See you." She sticks her hands in her pockets and starts walking around the crowd, her dorm on the other side of the amphitheater.
Beca's almost made it out of the party area when she hears her name being called. Withholding a groan, she turns to see Aubrey standing there. The blonde is barely upright, she's so drunk, but still somehow she seems so fucking perfect it makes Beca's teeth ache.
"What's up, Aubrey?"
The other girl glides to a stop in front of Beca. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay," comes out in a barely slurred tone. "You're leaving early."
Beca rolls her eyes. "It's after midnight and I'm tired. Can we talk tomorrow? At that ungodly-early rehearsal?"
Aubrey nods, but doesn't move. "Chloe was right," she says instead, and sways so dangerously Beca's moving to catch her before she falls.
"Whoa there," Beca says, and can't quite keep the smirk off her face. "You okay?"
Aubrey is holding onto Beca for support, and her eyes are boring into the brunette in such a serious manner it's almost funny. "Chloe said you had a hot voice, and that I'd love it."
That makes Beca's chest feel tight in a way that she can't tell is good or not, but when she opens her mouth to reply she finds it suddenly occupied by Aubrey's tongue.
Which is better, because Beca would've ruined this if she'd been allowed to speak, and oh my fuck is Aubrey a good kisser and she's got a tall, hot, bossy blonde hanging all over her and Beca is over the fucking moon.
Kimmy Jin is pissed when Beca finally stumbles in, but Beca's too punch drunk to do more than set her alarm and pass out with a grin on her face.
---
"I thought you were heading off with Tom after Hood Night."
"It's aca-initiation! Come on, Bree, I would never. I'd much rather cuddle with you. Besides, didn't you disappear for like an hour there? I almost thought one of the Trebles had wooed you away. Maybe Jesse, the new kid - he's cute. And he went missing around then too. He may have gone after Beca, though-"
"Seriously, Chlo'? 'Wooed'? Who says that anymore? And never a Treble, I can't believe you'd even suggest it."
"Sorry! Sorry. You're just not a romantic like I am."
"Hmph."
"So who was it? C'mon, Bree, tell meeee..."
"Whining isn't going to answer your question. We agreed, you have your items on the side, and I have mine. We don't talk about it."
"But you don't ever really have side things, Bree."
"..."
"You know, it's been a while since we talked about it-"
"Enough, Chloe. It's fine. We're fine. Can we just... not talk about it? Like ever?"
"So long as we can still cuddle tonight."
"Shut up and come here."
---
"I can see your toner through those jeans!"
Beca whirls around, arms held out in defiance. "That's my dick," she bites back, and she would laugh at the look on Aubrey's face if she weren't kind of hurt and completely confused. When Aubrey had asked her to stay back, she hadn't expected that.
She knows she's not the best with words, and sometimes has the emotional intelligence of a cactus, but Beca's fairly confident spending almost an hour with your tongue down a girl's throat says she most definitely isn't into Jesse. She's not sure if Aubrey is that insecure, that closeted, or was that blackout drunk, and definitely doesn't know which option is the one she wants to be true. Either way, Beca's pretty sure the argument may have ruined her chance of a repeat of last night.
She broods the entire way back to her dorm, and spends the next few hours making some really horrible, angsty mixes that she eventually gives up on. She notices Kimmy Jin get up and walk out, but doesn't bother to say anything. The girl hates her, so why try?
Eventually, Beca throws herself down on the daybed, arm draped over her eyes. It's ridiculous that she's letting that bitch make her feel like this. Controlling, obsessive, snobby, self-righteous-
The knock on the door startles her. A glance tells her that Kimmy Jin hadn't locked the door, so she calls out, "It's open!"
"I could've been a thief," Chloe scolds as she walks in, smiling at Beca. "Then what?"
Beca sits up quickly, running a hand through her hair to fix it as best she can. "Then you'd be a really shitty thief, announcing yourself first."
Chloe comes and sits next to the brunette, a goofy smile on her face as she reaches out to fix an outrageous flyaway on Beca's head. "I'd be a terrible thief," she admits with a wink.
Beca laughs. "I thought so." She breathes in deeply, catching the scent of the other girl. Freshly showered after their intensive practice session, Chloe smells like some sort of delicate flower - lilac or heather or something - and Beca feels like a total slob for not having even changed. "What brings you here?"
Chloe nudges Beca's shoulder with her own. "Just checking in. I know today was a rough intro to the Bellas. Aubrey can be a bit intense."
Beca had liked that about the blonde last night. "No kidding."
"You're not going to quit on me, are you?" Chloe asks, and there's that sensation in Beca's chest again because those perfect blue eyes are pouting at her and there's no way in hell Beca is equipped to deal with them.
"No," Beca croaks.
Chloe beams so brightly Beca swears she needs sunglasses. She's unprepared for the hug.
She's equally unprepared for the quick kiss Chloe plants on her. Or for how she immediately responds, hands fisting into Chloe's shirt as she pulls the ginger on top.
Chloe hums her approval into Beca's lips, hands quickly finding their way under her shirt to trace up the smaller girl's sides. Her nails press into Beca's skin, and she's sure the ginger is going to make her burst into flames.
---
Beca's dressed and early to the practice space the day of the SBT mixer. Aubrey's been sniping at her all week, and frankly it's less exhausting to just show up when expected. There's no repeat of the scene that first day, but the blonde has shown no sign of ever acknowledging that the two had hooked up on Hood Night. Beca's written it up as a loss, and kept her head down as much as possible.
Of course, if she keeps her head down any further she's going to fall asleep. The routine is so boring she might cry, and it isn't helped by the fact that everyone but the seniors suck at it.
Beca's the first one there, surprisingly. She drops down onto one the seats in the stands and leans back, letting her eyes drift shut. La Roux starts running through her head, and she hums a few bars under her breath.
A faint touch on her arm startles her, and she opens her eyes to see Aubrey crouched down, pulling back. "Jesus," Beca breathes out. "You scared me."
"I wanted to keep you from wrinkling your uniform," Aubrey says in reply, her eyes not quite meeting the other girl's.
Beca's wants to grab Aubrey by the shoulders and shake her, because she can just tell that's not all the blonde wants to say. Instead, Beca opens her mouth, which even she admits is rarely a good thing.
"Wouldn't want to ruin the perfect WASPy look you're going for," she sneers, sitting up and tugging her blouse straight. "People might talk."
"You're infuriating," Aubrey hisses as she stands back up, scowling.
Beca quickly stands too, getting in the blonde's face. "At least I'm honest," she retorts. "At least I don't hide from things that are different."
Aubrey gapes at her. "Aca-what?"
Taking a chance, Beca grabs Aubrey's face and brings it to her own, soundly kissing the other girl. "Can't pretend you're too drunk to remember that one," she says hotly, backing up.
Aubrey doesn't let her get away, though. She moves so fast Beca barely has time to catch herself before falling over the seats. The blonde towers over her, hands clenched into fists and shaking slightly.
Beca is a little scared.
"You think I don't remember?" Aubrey finally manages to get out through clenched teeth. "Do you have any idea how hard this week has been? Every time I see you, I just want to rip your clothes off and drag my teeth across your skin."
The shiver that runs through Beca is so powerful she practically lifts off the floor.
Aubrey grabs the back of Beca's head, bringing her lips to the brunette's ear. "I have to keep stopping myself from touching you, from pushing you down on the ground in the middle of practice and fucking you right there. I see you and I want to know what you taste like, smell like, sound like when I have you writhing beneath me. I want to hear you scream my name, and it. Is. Driving. Me. Crazy."
Beca is so turned on she's afraid to move, because if she does she's going to fuck Aubrey right then and there. Which doesn't sound like the worst idea ever, actually.
Before she can do anything, though, the doors are opening, and Aubrey springs back and is halfway down the stairs so fast Beca's head is spinning.
Chloe and Stacie walk in, and when they spot the two of them they both go quiet.
"Everything okay?" Chloe asks Aubrey as she draws up to her, reaching out to put a hand on the clearly agitated blonde.
"Fine," Aubrey says shortly. She refuses to look in Beca's direction. "Just thanking Beca for taking out those hideous earrings."
Just like that, Beca kind of hates Aubrey again. Even if she is still way too turned on to move.
---
"Chloe..."
"I don't really want to talk about it, Aubrey."
"Just... why didn't you tell me you were going to the doctor? There's nothing else, is there? You're not-"
"I'm not dying, goof. I just... can't sing as high anymore. I have to be careful, or it could get worse. I have to not sing as much, and this is the worst thing ever and why is it happening to me when I love singing and music is my life-"
"Shh, Chlo', it's okay. I'm sorry."
"Can we- I want to spend the rest of the weekend with just you. No distractions. Can we do that?"
"Rocky road and So You Think You Can Dance marathon?"
"I love you, Bree."
"Love you too."
---
It's been almost a week since Beca has seen Chloe outside of Bella's rehearsals. She freely admits it's pathetic how down she feels about it. Whatever they're doing, Beca's pretty sure she's actually far down on Chloe's social radar, and there's no reason for the redhead to give up any of her time for Beca.
Needless to say, this line of thought does nothing to help Beca's depression.
She misses the girl, though. Not just because of the sex, but because Chloe makes her feel special. Like Beca matters. Even when they just sit at a cafe after practice and talk about music, Chloe focuses on what Beca says and never once seems like she has anywhere better to be, or like Beca is wasting her time.
Maybe that's what being a friend is about. Beca's embarrassed to admit she's not sure. Her high school friendships were few and way too complicated. Not this this is exactly simple.
Still, Beca never thought her missing Chloe would result in this.
She's sitting in Biology, physically holding her eyes open with her fingers as Dr. Taft goes through slides on mitochondria or something (she should really get around to cracking the binding on her textbook). All because somewhere in the front of the pitch-black classroom sits a redhead who had looked so radiant upon spotting Beca, she'd been practically radioactive. Seriously, this whole not getting attached thing is backfiring in a major way.
The lights come on, and Beca is annoyed to realize she still managed to fall asleep at some point, because her eyes ache and her vision is blurry. She rubs at them with the heels of her palms.
"You came!" Chloe squeals, sliding into the seat next to Beca as the class empties.
Beca looks at her blearily. "If that was you keeping him interesting..."
Chloe winces. "Yeah, sorry. Slide weeks are beyond saving. Next week should be better." She leans over, bumping shoulders with Beca. "If you're nice to me, I'll even help you with your project."
"Project?" Beca asks in a panicked tone. "What project?"
Chloe laughs. "Thought you might have slept through that," she says with a giggle. "Don't worry, I'll give you the cliff notes."
"Thank god," Beca groans. "You're the best."
"You mean it?"
Beca blinks. That had almost sounded like a serious question, but when she looks at Chloe all she sees is a wide grin and twinkling blue eyes. "Are you kidding?" she replies anyway, even though Chloe does seem to be fishing. "Of course I mean it. You're amazing."
Chloe flushes, and damn if that isn't charming as hell. Beca can't help but smile. "In case you hadn't guessed by my allowing you to strong arm me all the time," she adds with a wink.
"You love it," Chloe teases, standing up. "C'mon, let's go get FroYo."
"Sure," Beca says, standing up as well. She's rewarded with a short, chaste kiss, and the smirk on Chloe's lips is borderline goofy. Beca loves it.
---
They're getting better. Even Beca admits that, as boring as the routine is, going through it so many times is helping the group learn to listen to each other. The other groups on campus have the benefit of more veterans than new recruits. It make Beca a bit nervous for next year, and incredibly pissed at all the old Bellas still at Barden who quit after Pukegate and left Aubrey and Chloe alone.
She's doing her best to follow the lame choreography, and sing the parts, and in general learn how to make music with her mouth. She watches videos online (only when there are no witnesses), and when she works on her mixes she can't help but wonder how they would work a capella. It's changing her sound, forcing her in different directions, but she likes it.
She doesn't want to run the Bellas. Beca doesn't even want to be in charge of the music. It'd be nice, but it's not her goal. Really, she just wants Aubrey to give her a chance. Just listen, and have an open mind. Because the blonde is seriously talented, and she knows that with four years of experience Aubrey could put together a routine much more easily than Beca could.
So Beca tries to do things Aubrey's way in hopes that eventually the blonde will loosen up enough to listen to Beca's ideas.
There are notable exceptions.
"Beca, I swear you're doing this on purpose," Aubrey scolds, hands on her hips as she scowls down at the other girl. "How is it you still can't follow the hand movement adequately?"
"I dunno," Beca replies with an eyeroll. "I mean, I'm so enthusiastic about making hand hearts. You can't see it?"
"Your attitude sucks," Aubrey grinds out. "If you hate it so much, why don't you just lea-"
"Aubrey!" Chloe interrupts, obviously upset. "Come on, we're all tired. Call it a day?"
The blonde sighs, shoulders slumping imperceptibly. "Fine," she says. "See you ladies tomorrow."
Beca wouldn't say she likes living dangerously, but it certainly feels that way when she drags her feet getting her stuff together. Chloe eyes her, but when Beca gestures covertly towards Aubrey the ginger nods and heads out as well.
"Hey," Beca says as she comes up behind Aubrey.
The blonde turns, eyes scanning the area to see they're the only two left. Which is something Beca's certain Aubrey's been trying to avoid. They haven't been alone together since before SBT, almost a month ago.
"Beca," Aubrey greets stiffly. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"I just wanted to say that I am trying," Beca replies after a moment. "I have this problem with letting my mind wander, and then I forget what I'm doing. But I'll definitely try to be more focused." It's not quite an apology, but Beca doesn't do those easily. This is the best she can offer.
Aubrey takes it. "Is it classes? We're not like the sports clubs, you don't kicked out if your GPA drops, but the Bellas have appearances to uphold."
"Not usually," Beca admits. She's still not really going to classes, but her grades aren't the worst ever. "I mean, sometimes, sure. Usually it's music." She takes a chance. "Sometimes it's you." Sometimes it's Chloe, but there's no way Beca is going to say that.
Aubrey flushes. "That's not terribly appropriate, Beca."
Beca smirks. "Neither is saying you want to have your way with me on the floor. Doesn't mean it's not true." She hopes it's still true.
She feels a bit bad chasing after Aubrey when her and Chloe are occasionally sleeping together, but at the same time it's not like her and the ginger are exclusive. Beca doesn't want to think about how that makes her feel, and despite Aubrey's controlling, neurotic, bitchy ways Beca's still totally into her. Besides, Aubrey probably already knew, being Chloe's best friend and all.
Beca would cross any of these totally awkward bridges when she came to them.
Aubrey's flustered now. "I'm sorry, that was super inappropriate of me, I don't know what I was thinking."
"Just shut up and kiss me, Aubrey," Beca says with an eyeroll and a smile. "I promise not to hold it against you." Beca's sure this will go one of two ways. Either Aubrey kisses her, or hits her. Either way it's an answer.
"I don't take well to your mocking me," is what the blonde says instead, drawing herself up and inward.
"Oh for the love of-" Beca snaps in exasperation. "Fine." She surges forward, lips eagerly connecting with Aubrey's. She digs her fingers into the back of Aubrey's neck, leaning her body into the taller girl's frame.
Aubrey doesn't respond at first, and Beca's heart is pounding so hard in fear she thinks it's going to come right out of her chest. Then Aubrey is kissing her back, hands grabbing Beca's ass to pull their bodies flush. Beca moans, and it's enough to drive Aubrey wild, because she's physically lifting Beca up, carrying the brunette across the room to put her back against the wall.
Beca's legs wrap around Aubrey's waist automatically, still fiercely kissing the other girl, and when the blonde's carefully manicured fingers find their way into Beca's pants the brunette is so breathless she sees stars.
---
"Aubrey..."
"Hmm?"
"Are those... scratch marks?"
"What? No! I'm working on this paper, Chloe, do you mind?"
"Your paper isn't due for another week, and those are so scratches! And not from me."
"This is my end of term paper, it's important that I take the proper time with it."
"Bree!"
"Fine, yes, stop laughing at me. They are scratch marks. So?"
"What do you mean, 'so'?"
"You almost seem jealous. What happened to not talking about it? I don't ask you about Tom, or Dick, or Harry, or whatever their names are."
"I haven't seen Tom in a few months, Bree."
"But you're seeing someone. Now I am too, and we're not going to talk about it, because those are the rules."
"... I'm sorry, you're right. None of my business. I'm just surprised."
"Why, because someone else actually wants me?"
"Aubrey, no! You know I don't understand why everyone doesn't want you as much as I do. I just thought... after all, we've been together for so long, and you never..."
"Spit it out, Chloe."
"You haven't been interested in anyone in a really long time, is all. I was beginning to think we'd need to talk about the arrangement."
"You look like you're about to cry, Chloe! It is not that serious, I swear. Just some fun. Don't forget, I love you. Anyone else is a distraction."
"So we don't need to talk about it."
"I'm good if you are."
---
Beca loves her mother. She really does - after her father ran off with the secretary, they had been each others rock. But she has never been so glad to leave home in her life, because her mother was this close to getting Beca to spill about her love life by the end of winter break, and she is sooo not ready for that heart-to-heart.
Not that there aren't other reasons to be glad she's back at Barden. Beca would never tell her father, but she's missed being here. She's missed the girls, missed their jokes and faces and even the way they'll drag her kicking and screaming out of her room for a party (Fat Amy is now notorious in Baker Hall for having thrown Beca over her shoulder and walking out).
She's also really missed Chloe and Aubrey. She misses Chloe's laugh, and the way Aubrey will occasionally surprise her before practice with her favorite flavored water. She misses discreetly throwing wads of paper at Chloe during Biology, and the shy look Aubrey gets when they cuddle.
Beca is prepared to admit that she's kind of royally fucked. Just not to anyone else, let alone her mother.
She's at the airport, waiting for Chloe to come pick her up. During one of their marathon texting sessions, Beca had mentioned taking a cab back to campus and Chloe had blown up her phone offering to drive.
They'd spent a lot of break texting. Aubrey was harder to talk to, their text conversations always strangely stilted. Instead, they had only spoken briefly on the phone Christmas day. The blonde's voice had been warmer than usual, though, and afterward Beca was forced to leave the house in order to get away from her mother's questions. Apparently, she'd 'had a look' on her face.
"Beca!"
She turns towards the sound of her name to see Chloe standing beside her car, waving excitedly. She shoulders her bag and heads over, bracing for the inevitable full-body hug.
Chloe doesn't disappoint, nearly bowling Beca over as she wraps herself around the smaller girl. "Hi," the redhead whispers into Beca's ear.
"Hey," Beca murmurs, clasping Chloe tightly. Chloe hugs are the best ever, and she's no longer embarrassed by how much she enjoys them.
"I missed you, short stuff," Chloe says as she finally releases Beca.
"Whoa, hold the phone. Short stuff?"
Chloe giggles.
"Soulless ginger." Beca punches playfully at Chloe's arm, and gets a stuck out tongue in response. "Put it away if you don't plan on using it, Beale."
She should know better than to bait her, because Chloe proceeds to grab the other girl's face and drag her tongue up Beca's cheek.
"Eeeeeww," Beca squeals, flailing away. "Groooosss."
Chloe's laughing so hard she can't breathe, and Beca's so happy she could cry. She wants to ask the other girl out, wants to do her damnedest to not fuck up a romantic date and walk on the beach and all the other cliches she can think of. But Chloe isn't a one-person type of girl, and Beca just knows if she asks she'll fuck everything up.
And suddenly Beca's thinking about Aubrey, because she wants all of that with the blonde too. It's confusing, and it hurts so much she has to actually fight back the tears.
Chloe notices. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asks, gently grasping Beca's arms.
Beca smiles and shakes her head. "Happy to be back," she replies, and it's true enough that Chloe slowly nods.
"C'mon," the redhead says, lacing her fingers with Beca's. "Let's get pizza and have a slumber party at my place. We can build a couch fort, so long as we fix it before Aubrey gets back tomorrow." She bumps her shoulder against the shorter girl's. "I'll even throw in some beer."
Beca's laugh is subdued, but genuine. "Illicit beer and a couch fort. You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet."
"Obvi."
---
Aubrey answers the door with a surprised look on her face. Beca stands there, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. She has a drink carrier in her hands.
"Beca?" Aubrey asks in confusion. "Chloe isn't here. She's at-"
"She's at a study session for some science project on something I can't even pronounce," Beca says, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "I came to see you."
Aubrey blinks. "Oh."
Sometimes the blonde makes Beca look like the emotionally adept one. "I come bearing drinks. May I come in?"
Aubrey flushes, and Beca tries to keep the goofy grin off her face. "Of course, please," Aubrey says, stepping back to let the brunette enter.
"I didn't know if you like to study with or without caffeine, so I got your usual vanilla latte, or there's chai."
Aubrey laughs, shutting the door behind Beca. "Chai has caffeine too."
Now it's Beca who's flushing. "Oops," she mutters, frowning down at the drinks.
"I study with caffeine," Aubrey assures the other girl. "So I'll take the latte, thank you."
Beca makes a show of sighing in relief before handing the drink over. "Crisis averted," she says with a wink, grabbing the chai for herself. She kicks her boots off before heading to the kitchen, putting the drink carrier in the trash underneath the sink.
"How many times have you been over when I'm not around?"
The question feels loaded, but when Beca turns to look at the other girl she only sees genuine curiosity.
"Just the once," Beca replies. Aubrey had caught an early flight home from Christmas, and arrived at the apartment to find Chloe passed out in PJs on the living room floor, surrounded by couch cushions, and a very hungover and disheveled Beca attempting to make coffee in the kitchen. "But Chloe definitely mentioned where the trash went several times." It had surprised Beca not one bit to learn that Aubrey was a neat freak.
"Ah," is all Aubrey says, taking a drink of her coffee. "Not that I don't appreciate this, but why the late night visit?"
Beca shrugs one shoulder. "I felt like I hadn't seen you outside of practice in forever." Not since Aubrey's return. She'd left soon after the blonde had returned, helping Chloe put the couch back together before running out the door. For some reason, she felt like she was intruding and the level of awkward was too much for her to handle. "I just wanted to see you."
Aubrey smiles shyly, ducking her head. "Dork," she says. "I missed you over break too."
Beca doesn't know who moves first, but somehow she ends up wrapped around the blonde, and she can feel some of the tension Aubrey always holds leak away. Chloe's the only one who can usually do that.
"Just don't tell anyone, I've got appearances to uphold," Beca teases, burying her nose in Aubrey's hair.
The tension is back. The blonde pulls away, tight smile on her face. "Your secret is safe with me," she says, her voice small.
"Whoa, Aubrey," Beca says, alarm in her voice. "I was joking, seriously. You can tell whoever. I don't care either way." Her chest tightens as she thinks of Chloe, but she's serious. She doesn't care if Aubrey wants to tell people about them. It might mean there was an actual them to talk about.
They haven't even gone on a date.
Beca is sleeping with the two hottest girls on campus, and she hasn't gone on a date with either of them. Every guy on campus would be giving her high-fives over it, and all Beca feels is sad.
Aubrey shakes her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make a deal out of it," she says with a sigh. "I know you didn't mean anything by it." She reaches out to briefly clasp Beca's shoulder. "I'm not going to say anything.
Beca's heart breaks, just a little. "Okay," she says easily. "Can we cuddle now?" Beca Mitchell, badass, reduced to begging for cuddles. What has the world come to?
"Only for fifteen minutes. I still have two classes to transcribe notes for."
Because of course Aubrey records her classes. Beca grins, and grabs Aubrey's hand to pull her to the couch. "Deal."
Half an hour later, Beca is finally pushed out the door, lips swollen from kisses and a hickey forming on her collarbone.
---
"You seem relaxed lately."
"Hm?"
"Seriously, Aubrey, what's going on? You've been happy lately."
"Aca-scuse me? I'm usually happy."
"You're usually a ball of stress and you know it."
"School is going great, the Bellas are coming together nicely, my father didn't have a single complaint last time we talked. Why shouldn't I be happy?"
"...Really? No complaints? Aubrey, that's great!"
"He's talking about having me intern over the summer for his friend in the state senate. Before law school."
"That's... wow. The whole summer?"
"I might have a few weeks off between the internship and school. I don't know yet. But my friend James, remember him? He would be there too. He's clerking all next year."
"He's the one you dated in high school, right?"
"...Chloe?"
"I'm happy for you, really. It's incredible news, Bree."
---
When Beca asks Chloe about the Riff-Off, she should have expected the ear-piercing squeal the older girl gave.
"Aubrey! I can't believe we almost forgot about the Riff-Off!"
"I didn't forget, Chloe," Aubrey scolds, and the ginger immediately looks abashed. Because Aubrey would never forget anything a capella related. "We needed to focus on the routine more."
"The routine is fine," Chloe dismisses with a wave of her hand. "The Riff-Off is tonight!"
"I have it under control. Now let's go through it again."
As the girls got into position, Beca couldn't help but mutter to herself, "What the hell is a Riff-Off?!"
Later that night, she finds out, and Beca's fairly certain it's the best thing since Eminem's 8 Mile soundtrack (she was nine, shut up). She wishes it could have gone on longer, but the look on Chloe's face when she broke out Dre was worth the confusion on Aubrey's. It surprises her how much they talk about music, and yet still don't know about each other. Beca hasn't told anyone except Jesse and Luke about her mixes, and even then it was only because they work at the station.
So even when Aubrey snaps at her about the loss, Beca's feeling too good to care (much). She finally separates from the group, and goes wandering back towards Baker Hall, humming No Diggity.
"Beca Mitchell."
She turns to see Chloe standing there, hands on her hips and slightly winded. She's obviously run to catch up with her.
Beca grins, and mimics the stance. "Chloe Beale," she replies teasingly.
"Did you seriously just rap Dr. Dre and expect to walk away unscathed?"
"Ooh, someone's been around Aubrey too much," Beca laughs, watching as Chloe starts to stalk towards her. "What are you gonna do, Red?"
Chloe doesn't break stride, but moves into Beca. Her mouth is hot against the skin of Beca's throat, and one hand is tangling itself in brunette locks while the other is forcing its way under Beca's shirt.
Beca moans, her hands coming up to pull Chloe closer.
"Better hold on," Chloe whispers, her breath washing hot over Beca's ear. "Because I am seriously turned on right now, and it is all your fault."
Beca barely manages to gasp an unapologetic, "Sorry," before her mouth is otherwise occupied.
They are incredibly lucky that no one walks by during the next fifteen minutes.
---
Beca really should be used to it by now.
There are two Aubreys. There's the one that most people see: Controlling, bossy, bitchy, neurotic, sharp-tongued and in general just unpleasant to be around. That Aubrey's smiles are fake most of the time, and her tone generally a mixture of polite condescension and frustration.
Then there's the other Aubrey, the one that Beca thinks only she (and probably Chloe) get to see. The Aubrey whose smiles are more nervous, yet genuine. The one who nerds out over her International Humanitarian Law course, and laughs at Beca's horrible jokes. Who is always looking to show she cares, who remembers Beca hates orange chicken but loves General Tso's. The Aubrey who always looks happier after a hug.
When it comes to Bellas rehearsals, that Aubrey is nowhere to be seen.
Beca honestly hadn't expected much when Chloe suggests she taker the solo. Aubrey continues to be hard on her, but she's fairly certain it's in part that Aubrey doesn't want to appear soft and let everyone know what's going on between the two of them. But, somehow, Beca thought they'd gotten close enough that she could at least present an idea without getting her head bitten off.
As has become routine, on days like this when Aubrey's especially frustrated (usually, but not always, with Beca), a look is exchanged between Beca and Chloe at the end of rehearsal. Chloe leaves with the others, and Beca stays behind to deal with the blonde.
"Hey," Beca says softly, getting Aubrey's attention. "Walk you home?"
For a moment, it looks like Aubrey might refuse. She gives a sigh, then nods, and Beca smiles because outside of rehearsals Aubrey's really bad at telling her no. She'd be lying if she said it didn't make up a lot for how she gets treated during rehearsals.
They gather their things and head out, falling into a comfortable silence on the way. Beca is trying to think of something to talk about other than music, because that's the one thing she and Aubrey never talk about, when the blonde speaks up.
"Did you know, when I first joined the Bellas we were the laughing stock of the groups on campus?"
Beca blinks. "What? Why?"
"The Bellas have always had looks, but not much talent. It was embarrassing the number of years we went without making it past regionals," Aubrey replies, her tone even. "My first year wasn't much better. We placed third, but that still wasn't enough." She laughs. "The High Notes and the Harmonics didn't even compete, but they still looked down on us."
Beca doesn't say anything, just observes the girl walking next to her. Aubrey seems strangely relaxed, almost carefree. It's beyond bizarre.
"My sophomore year, Lauren took over. She pushed us so hard, brought out the best in us. We went back to our roots, to the songs and routines that had worked so well years ago. We made semi-finals."
Aubrey stops talking, and they walk the next few minutes in silence. Beca feels like she's going to burst, so anxious is she to have Aubrey continue, but she keeps quiet.
"Alice brought us all the way to Lincoln Center last year," Aubrey finally says, and Beca's disconcerted to see there are tears in the other girl's eyes. "This routine was hers, and I fucked it up so badly everyone but Chloe and I was too ashamed to come back this year." She gives a strange hiccup of a laugh. "I was too ashamed not to."
"I get it," Beca says after a moment. She wants to say more, but knows not to. She has that kind of foot-in-mouth disease where it always backfires at the worst times. "Aubrey, I get it."
Aubrey doesn't look at Beca, but she hears her. She reaches out, grabbing Beca's hand and lacing their fingers together.
It's the first time Aubrey has held her hand in public, and Beca is so stunned she doesn't speak the rest of the way back to the apartment.
---
"Chloe, it's three in the morning. Why are you still awake?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"Chlo'?"
"Bree... are you falling for him?"
"What?!"
"This guy, whoever you're seeing. Are you falling for him? Because you seem different lately, happier, and I'm wondering if it's because of him."
"..."
"Oh, Aubrey, don't cry. It's okay, I promise. I'm not mad or anything."
"It's not okay! I don't know. I love you, Chloe, so much."
"I love you too. It's just... if you've found a guy, someone you can take home to your father, I don't want to get in the way of that."
"No! Absolutely that is not what is going on. I would never."
"Who is he, anyway?"
"I can't, Chloe. Anymore than you can tell me about whoever you've been spending time with."
"You ask me not to tell you."
"Yet you always do. Except for this time. You won't talk about who you're seeing suddenly, and that makes me think this one is special. Are you even seeing anyone other than your mystery guy? Or girl?"
"...No. Bree, what do we do?"
"I don't know."
---
It's such a strange mixture of feeling. Elation at winning; satisfaction a defending her friends; anger at Jesse and her father; relief at returning home to find all of the Bellas waiting.
All of it crushed by the disappointment she feels when she opens up about her music to them, and Aubrey shoots her down without even listening. Beca rarely shares it with anyone - even Chloe hadn't known, and they've been hanging out for months. She'd hoped, maybe here, fresh off a win...
Aubrey's the first out the door, which also hurts. Beca covers by rolling her eyes and smirking at the girls as they head out as well. They are all varying degrees of amused and in awe of her right now, and there's a lot of laughs as she waves goodnight. Only Chloe stays behind.
"Are you okay?" she asks once they're alone, reaching out for Beca's hand. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
Beca shakes her head. "They gave me ice at the station. It's fine." Her hand feels hot inside of Chloe's.
"Well, that's something," Chloe teases, dropping Beca's hand. "This is some really professional gear, Beca. I mean, I know I've been in here a few times before, so I must have seen it, but how long have you been doing this?"
"Since I was 14," Beca replies sheepishly, yelping when Chloe smacks her on the arm. "Hey!"
"You've been creating music all year, and haven't let me listen to it?" Chloe asks in disbelief. "Beca Mitchell, do I even know you?"
That's a good question. Running a hand over her hair, Beca shrugs. "I don't show a lot of people," she finally says. "It's not a big deal." It is.
"It is so! Can I listen? I bet it's awesome."
Secretly pleased, Beca nods. She hands Chloe her headphones before hitting play on her Proclaimers/David Guetta mashup, smiling wide at Chloe's ecstatic grin. Soon the ginger is dancing in place, eyes twinkling as she mouths along to the words.
"Beca, that was amazing!" the redhead gushes once the music stops. "You are seriously talented. Why isn't this on the radio station?"
"I've given Luke the mixes, but I don't think he's listened to any of them," Beca replies, slumping down in her chair.
"He's an idiot," Chloe states firmly. She stretches, and reluctantly moves away. "It's late, I should go."
Something's wrong. Beca doesn't know why she suddenly feels that way, but it's overwhelming her suddenly. "Chloe?"
The redhead stops with her hand on the doorknob, turning to look at Beca. "Yeah?"
Other than her hand, Chloe hasn't touched Beca all day.
Chloe is always touching Beca. Like, always. She's even gotten comments from some of the other Bellas, but they accept Beca's assurances of friendship because that seems like something Chloe would do, and she is closest to Beca.
Beca stands, moving straight into Chloe. There's almost no hesitance from the other girl as her arms come around, but it's still there. Beca buries her nose in Chloe's hair.
"What's wrong?" Beca asks, voice muffled.
Chloe makes a small, distressed noise, running one hand soothingly up and down Beca's back. "I wanted to talk about this tomorrow," the redhead says with a sigh.
Beca pulls away, her arms coming across her chest defensively. "Just spit it out."
"Beca, we need to stop."
Beca shrugs. "Stop what?"
Chloe runs a hand through her hair. "Having sex."
She can feel her body shrinking, feel herself collapsing in. "Are you going to tell me why, or am I just supposed to assume I did something wrong?"
"No! Absolutely not," Chloe replies emphatically. "I just... I know we never really talked about it, but I'm actually in a relationship."
Beca gapes. "What?!" Something shatters somewhere, but she doesn't bother trying to see what it was. She can't stop staring at Chloe.
"I have been for almost three years no," Chloe admits. "It's an open relationship - well, was. We've decided we need to focus on us right now."
"Are you fucking serious?" Beca blurts out, and she's too shocked to cry, or shout, or any of the other things she wants to do.
"We were just having fun, right?" the redhead asks, a hint of desperation in her voice. "I mean, we've always just been friends."
There's the shattering sound again. This time, Beca recognizes that it's something inside her breaking. She doesn't respond; she doesn’t have words for how her world seems to be collapsing. There's a roaring in her ears, making it hard to hear the words that come out of Chloe's mouth. She's having problems seeing, too, her vision blurring as she refuses to let the tears forming fall.
"...and you have Jesse, after all."
Beca hears that. "Get out," she snarls, drawing herself up as the anger washes through her. "I can't believe you would bring him into this. You know I'm not interested in him. I have never been interested in him."
Chloe flinches, and she looks so upset Beca strangely enough wants to console her for a moment. "But it hasn't been just me," she says, and it's almost a question.
"You never asked," Beca says accusingly. "If you had just asked, maybe it would've been just you." She can feel herself start to cry. "You never asked if it could be just you." She's so angry at herself, for letting herself get this emotionally entangled with someone she knew would never pick her, that Beca starts crying harder. "Get the fuck out."
Chloe's starting to cry too, and she looks so lost. "Beca," she pleads, and it looks like she's going to reach out for the other girl.
"She asked you to get out," comes from the doorway, and they both look to see a very, very angry Kimmy Jin. "So go away."
The redhead is out the door so fast Beca's head is spinning, but she can't deal with any of it because her heart is breaking into a thousand pieces, and it hurts worse than anything she's felt since her father left.
In the morning, she'll remember to be grateful for Kimmy Jin and her packet of tissues, can of 7-Up and super sugary asian candy.
---
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The bass in the club is so loud it makes Beca's chest vibrate. The drink in her hand is quickly being drained, and with her small frame she's getting drunk fast. None of it is enough to keep the voices out of her head.
"And I know you're hooking up with Jesse!"
"Jesus Christ, that's perfect. Of course you're here right now. I don't need your help, okay, can you back off?"
"I told you she wasn't a Bella."
"No, that's okay. You don't have to pretend you're allowed to have a say in the group, right?"
Their faces. No matter where she turns, instead of dancing college students she sees Fat Amy's face on the stage, confused and fumbling with the steps. Or Stacie's, who wouldn't even meet Beca's eyes. Jessica, who had been on the brink of tears.
Chloe, who had tried to support Beca and flinched as if she'd been hit when Beca had snapped.
Aubrey, who was trying so hard to not cry at Beca's well-intentioned betrayal.
She drains her cup and gets another. Luke has disappeared and she doesn't care. Fuck him.
She wants to explain herself better. It's been weeks since she and Aubrey have spent time together, and Beca's not quite sure if her actions tonight aren't because she's hurt and missing the blonde. It's the worst timing for Aubrey to abandon her, because she's fairly certain Chloe's broken her a bit, and while Aubrey wouldn't be a distraction she could have at least been there.
Jesse had tried to help. He put up with her moping around the station, and told bad jokes to cheer her up, and apparently he was the reason Luke had ever listened to her mixes. He's the reason she's finally getting somewhere, and all she wants to do is punch him in the face, because part of her blames him for the utter collapse of her non-relationships.
"And I know you're hooking up with Jesse!"
Both Chloe and Aubrey thought Beca was sleeping with him. The idea is so laughable, she can't understand why people keep assuming it. She's so not even into dudes, let alone Jesse.
It suddenly hits Beca. Had Chloe and Aubrey not shared that they were both involved with her? She hadn't brought it up with either of them. It seemed too weird to be like, "Hey, by the way, I'm sleeping with your best friend-slash-roomie too." But why wouldn't they have talked about it?
Were they both ashamed of Beca?
The idea sits in her stomach like a ton of bricks, and she barely makes it to the bathroom before losing the three drinks she's already consumed into one of the toilets.
When she stumbles back out to the bar, Luke is there with a drink for her. "You okay?" he asks.
He's right to be concerned. She's pale, shaking, and there's a wild look in her eyes. But she grabs the drink and drains half of it before giving him a smirk.
"Peachy," she says, and there's something about the way she says it that has him backing off. She pulls out her cell, ignoring the texts from Fat Amy and Benji and Chloe (she hasn't looked at any of Chloe's texts since their non-breakup) to pull up Aubrey's info.
[Can we tlk pls?]
Beca hits send before she can think twice about it. Her drink has no taste to it as she finishes, and then she's out on the floor losing herself in the music.
"And I know you're hooking up with Jesse!'
"...don't have to pretend..."
"...can you back off..."
"...did take us a little bit by surprise..."
"...pain in my ass..."
"...this is what I get for trying..."
"...she wasn't a Bella..."
[I cannot believe you snapped at Chloe, of all people.]
That would be a no on talking, then. Beca drops her phone on the ground, not even registering the sound of the screen cracking, and goes to get another drink.
---
"Are you ever going to start talking to me again?"
"Hi, Bree."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it. Why are you mad at me? She's the one who walked away after messing us up."
"You were kicking her out, Aubrey! Of course she walked away. Beca has too much pride to do anything else."
"It was her pride that lost semi-finals for us, Chloe!"
"I saw the score sheet. We lost by only a few points. Beca's the reason we got that close! We sounded so good, Aubrey. Why can't you see that?"
"We would have done better if she had just stuck to the routine."
"Do you actually believe that? Or are you just being stubborn? You know we sounded aca-amazing."
"..."
"And now Beca's gone."
"She left of her own volition, Chloe. Don't pretend otherwise."
"I'm going to my parents for spring break."
"Aca-what?"
"I need time to think. You do too. I'll see you when I come home."
"You are coming home, right?"
"Of course I am."
---
Spring Break goes by in a slow, painful blur. Her nights are spent at the station, where she doesn't have the heart to play her stuff more than once an hour. Her days are spent getting drunk and avoiding her father, who is the only person who comes looking. He finally corners her, and when he finds out she broke her cell phone, he spends the entire half hour ride to the mall scolding her.
When the guy at the mobile store offers to pull her contacts from the old phone, she almost tells him no. It's not like she's ever going to talk to any of her friends ever again. But her father would ask questions, and she's too busy trying to remain emotionally numb to fend them off.
By the time break is over, she reluctantly sobers up and heads out to find Jesse, because he's the only one who isn't breaking her heart on some level.
Except Jesse's mad at her, too. Even he thinks they had something more than friends going on (although at least he knows they haven't slept together), at which point Beca's prepared to throw her hands up and join a convent. So long as she can do her music, it'd be easier than college.
Beca's music has been languishing, though. Suddenly, it all reminds her of blue eyes, of hair the color of sunflowers and warm red bricks, of power ballads and hip hop. It makes her sad, which has never happened before, so she just doesn't mix.
She's broken, and Beca has no idea how to fix herself.
Of all the things that end up helping, it's movies. She watches The Breakfast Club on a whim, but soon follows it up with any other movie she can remember people talking about. The cliches don't bother her anymore: if anything, the predictability is soothing, a strange salve on her wounds.
She's in the middle of The Princess Bride (Chloe was fond of quoting it) when her phone buzzes. It's been weeks, so at first she doesn't react, just stares at it stupidly. When she finally picks it up, Chloe's name is staring at her, and Beca's heart stops.
She fumbles the phone, almost dropping it before finally getting the text open.
[Foot♪ snger in HS. DQd! Were going to NYC! ♥]
Beca's happy for the Bellas, she is. But even better is how excited she can tell Chloe is, how she can almost hear the redhead jumping around and clapping her hands.
Chloe reached out to her. That's pretty much the best thing that's happened in forever (never mind that Beca had spent weeks ignoring all of Chloe's texts, until they'd finally stopped).
[That's grt! Bet Aubrey's happy. When r u guys goin?]
She's barely put the phone down when it goes off again.
[What do u mean u guys? Beca, u hv 2 come back, w need u!]
[Even if I wantd 2, Aubrey wouldn't let me.]
[Pls? Come to rehearsal, w can work it out.]
[Dunno if that's a gd idea. Aubrey ws rly pisssed.]
[I want you to come.]
A warmth spreads through Beca as she reads Chloe's text. Even now, as the school year gets closer to ending, she still remembers every detail of that day in the auditorium, how it felt when Chloe first kissed her.
[Ok.]
---
"Chloe? Aubrey? Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Beca's nervous as the two look at each other, but hang back. After the pool, the girls had returned to the practice space to clean and plan. It's now so late it's early, but Beca's got this strange sort of courage running through her veins and she knows it's now or never.
"What's up?" Chloe asks as she draws up, hands stuffed in her back pockets. She's obviously tired, but the smile on her face is still bright.
"I have some things I want to say, and I need you guys to just listen," Beca replies.
"Okay," Aubrey says, a hint of trepidation in her voice.
Beca takes a deep breath. "First, I want to say sorry. Chloe, I never should have snapped at you. You have your own way of leading the Bellas, and I was too upset to acknowledge that. You're kind of the best person ever, always there when we need you, even when we don't see it."
Chloe is giving Beca one of the sappiest looks she's ever seen, and Beca is forced to look away or she'll just end up smiling stupidly back.
"And Aubrey, you worked so hard to turn us into an amazing a capella group. We wouldn't be where we are without you, and I'm so sorry I never actually told you that before. You're an amazing leader, even when we're all too self-involved to see it."
Aubrey won't look at Beca, but her ears are so red they look like they might burst into flames.
"So, I'm sorry I've been an ass." Beca shrugs helplessly. "I'm working on that."
"I can see that," Aubrey murmurs, and Chloe bursts into laughter.
"What Aubrey means to say is, apology accepted," the redhead says with a grin.
Aubrey nods, and Beca feels some of the weight lift from her shoulders.
"Good," she says, "because there's one more thing I want to say." Beca shuffles her feet before biting the bullet. "This entire year, I've been operating under the assumption that you two tell each other everything."
"Of course we do." "Obvi."
"But apparently you don't," Beca says, a little insistently. She sees when they both realize where this is going, but she doesn't let them say anything. "Because I'm fairly certain neither of you mentioned that you were sleeping with me. Both of you."
Chloe's jaw drops, and Aubrey looks like she might either throw up or faint.
"I don't know why you wouldn't share that. I don't pretend to understand how either of you - or your friendship - work." Beca nervously runs a hand behind one ear. "But neither of you would've thought I was sleeping with Jesse if you'd known." She smiles, a little sadly. "All year long, it's only been the two of you."
She waits for a moment, to see if either of them have anything to say. The stunned silence is deafening. Beca doesn't expect them to start tearing each others hair out, but she isn't quite sure what no response means either.
"It's okay, though," Beca finally says. "Things are different now, I get it. We're just friends, and I'm okay with that if you are. I just... I needed you - both of you - to know." It's possibly the most selfish thing she's ever done, but Beca's certain the friendship between the two seniors will survive.
The two girls are still standing there, at a loss for words.
After a moment, Beca nods and leaves them to work it out.
---
"You've been sleeping with Beca."
"Yes."
"How long?"
"...About a month after SBT."
"October? Aubrey, that's almost the entire school year!"
"It's only five months, Chloe. What about you?!"
"Auditions."
"Geez, really? You're unbelievable... are you laughing?"
"Come on, Bree, this entire situation is ridiculous. We've both been sleeping with the same girl for months and not known it."
"Why was Beca the one you couldn't talk about? I had to hear about all the others."
"Don't make that face, Bree, I don't sleep with gross guys or girls. And I thought you didn't like Beca for the longest time, and then when it seemed like you guys were becoming friends I worried you'd freak about me sleeping with another Bella."
"Well obviously not. Oh my god, Chloe, what have we done?"
"Aubrey, what are you talking about?"
"We both fell in love with her, didn't we? She's the reason you stopped seeing Tom and the others, and she's why you thought I had met some guy to bring home to Father. And now she probably hates us, and this is a huge freaking mess!"
"She doesn't hate us. I'm pretty sure she's in love with both of us. And then I had to tell her we couldn't have sex anymore, and you probably didn't say anything at all and just avoided her."
"..."
"Knew it. It's okay, we can fix this. If you want her back in our lives. Do you want that? Because I don't want to force it, but I think that would be amazing."
"...I do. How, though?"
"Easy! We woo her."
"I cannot believe you just said 'woo'."
"You keep saying that."
---
Beca's exhausted by the time they land at JFK. The past five days have gone by in a blur, filled with marathon planning and practice sessions. The new routine isn't that physically demanding, but she still aches from running through it so many times. She even dreams about it.
She's done nothing but eat, sleep, breath a cappella, and Beca's never been so happy to have someone's help in her life.
Aubrey has taken care of transportation, rooms, food, wrangling the girls into showing up where and when they need to. She'd talked to professors, arranged late turn ins on papers and projects, called families and bullied alumni into providing funds. She also helped Beca form up the musical portion of the routine, pointing out deficits in the sound and knowing exactly which girl could fill in.
Chloe has been there too, with a kind word or hug whenever tensions run high. Late night food runs, constant tea in thermoses, bad jokes, and once a forced break so they could all give each other mani-pedis. Her good cheer helped the others pull through. On top of that, she'd done most of the choreography, ensuring they weren't constantly running into each other.
If Beca wasn't so tired, she would've said something about how amazing they’ve been. As it is, she can barely keep her eyes open during the cab ride to the hotel, despite having slept on the plane.
Aubrey checks them into the hotel, handing out keys before herding them to the elevators. They have an early day tomorrow, doing a run through of their performance so the coordinators can plan lights and ensure the entire event runs smoothly later that night.
Lilly, Stacie, Denise and Cynthia Rose get off first, before the rest stumble out on the next floor up. A quick consultation results in Fat Amy, Ashley and Jessica heading to the right, leaving Chloe and Aubrey to drag Beca to the left.
It says something about her state of mind that Beca doesn't even realize the sleeping arrangements until they're all in the room. Even then, all she can do is blink.
"I'm gonna change," she says, taking her bag into the bathroom and closing the door.
She can hear them talking through the door, although not the words. Beca quickly throws on an oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts, brushes her teeth, then heads out.
Chloe and Aubrey have claimed the bed nearer to the bathroom, so Beca flops down on the other one. Her eyes drift shut almost immediately.
She doesn't notice when the lights are shut off, already dozing. Beca does notice when she's joined on the bed.
Chloe slides in behind her, arms snaking around Beca's middle and pulling her close. Aubrey scoots in close in front, face inches from Beca's and purposefully tangling their feet together.
Beca's heart is trying to decide t help but mutter to herself, whether ipt wants to jump out of her chest or stop beating altogether. "Guys?" she whispers, and hates how small and fearful it sounds.
"We had a long talk," Chloe says, her voice slightly muffled from being buried in Beca's hair.
"About you, in case you were wondering," Aubrey adds. Her words ghost across Beca's face, and it causes her to shiver. "We realized the big problem is we were all keeping secrets."
"Like the fact that Aubrey and I have been dating for the past three years," Chloe muses. "Which is why neither of us mentioned you to each other, because we didn't discuss when we slept with other people."
"Precisely." Even in the dark of the hotel room, Beca can see Aubrey wrinkle her nose. It's kind of adorable.
"Not that Aubrey ever really did," Chloe adds. "I always assumed she would leave me for some guy to bring home to her father, so I kept my options open in hopes it would keep me from getting too attached." She snorts. "That didn't work so well for me."
"Or me, for that matter. Because when I finally did meet someone, it ended up being some alt girl with these ear... things."
Chloe laughs, and squeezes Beca. The brunette feels like her body is on fire everywhere the other girls are touching her. "I never really felt anything for any of my hookups," Chloe continues. "Until you. I panicked, because I love Aubrey so much, and I knew I could never be the one to leave, and I didn't want to."
"I just didn't deal with it at all," Aubrey admits sheepishly. "I didn't want to think about how you made me feel, so I pretended like nothing was happening."
"So we're sorry. We both put you in the position of being the other woman, and that wasn't fair."
"But we'd like to try again," Aubrey says, and she reaches out to lace her fingers together with Beca's.
"If you want," Chloe adds, and it's quiet as she buries her head in Beca's back.
The brunette is definitely awake now, and yet she's still so tired. Her mind is slowly turning, and it feels like forever before she finally responds. "So let me get this straight," Beca says slowly. "You two are in a serious, committed relationship. Have been for three years. And now you both want to date me."
"Sounds right," Aubrey says nervously. Chloe nods against Beca's back.
"At the same time."
"We can work out the details, but yes," Aubrey replies. Her hand is sweaty within Beca's.
Chloe is holding so tightly it's getting hard for Beca to breathe.
"You mean I could've been part of the hottest threesome ever for the past year?"
Both Aubrey and Chloe burst into laughter, and Beca can't help but chuckle along. "Fuck. Why not. I'm already totally gone for you two as it is, it's embarrassing."
Chloe's squeal is so loud it startles Beca, who accidentally knocks her head into Aubrey's. "Ow!" the blonde exclaims, and then she's laughing again.
Beca joins in, not even caring that there are tears sliding down her face. She's so happy, and so relieved, and so tired, she can't help but completely break down. But Chloe and Aubrey are there, holding her tight, kissing away the tears, and she knows things are going to be better now.
---
Despite all the prep work that has gone into this moment, by the time their number is done Beca is so drained that she can't do more than hug everyone and laugh. They stumble off stage to their seats, and she smiles at Jesse, pleased to see his answering grin. He's obnoxious, and they need to have a talk, but he's also one of her only friends and she'd hate to lose that.
She settles into the seat, with Chloe and Aubrey on either side. Beca rests her head on Chloe's shoulder, pulls Aubrey's hands into her lap. They huddle down, lost in their own little world. There's another group on the stage, but the three girls can't be bothered to pay attention. Beca focuses on the sound of Chloe's breaths, on the pulse she feels in Aubrey's wrists. Nothing else seems to matter.
The next hour passes in a haze, and Beca finds herself dozing off. She knows it's a bit rude, but now that everything’s done it's like she can finally relax. Chloe is humming softly, somewhere above Beca's head, and it's not helping her stay awake.
Aubrey's hands suddenly tightening on hers gets Beca's attention. She opens her eyes to see the announcer walking onstage. He's saying something about how incredible the night has been, and how much effort everyone's put forward, blah blah blah. This is the moment, and Beca is suddenly more nervous than she's ever been before.
They win. Of course they win. The cheers inside of Lincoln Center are deafening as the Bellas swarm back on stage to claim the trophy, and Fat Amy is picking Beca up and practically throwing her up on their shoulders. She's laughing, and begging to be let down, and when she's finally dropped she ends up in Aubrey's arms.
"Hey there," Beca says with a grin, backing up slightly. They are on national television, after all.
Aubrey kisses Beca. It's quick, just a peck on the corner of her mouth, but it's still a kiss in the most public forum imaginable.
"Hey," Aubrey says back, and her eyes are twinkling.
Chloe glomps onto them, planting a wet kiss on both their cheeks. "We did it!" she squeals, hugging them both.
Beca laughs. "C'mon, lets head back to the hotel." She grabs Chloe's hand and starts dragging her away, knowing Aubrey will follow. "I figure we've got maybe an hour before Amy drags us out for a night on the town."
"What did you have in mind?" Aubrey asks once they get offstage, breathing hard and grinning widely.
Instead of responding, Beca kisses her. This time, it's a real kiss, and when she pulls back she turns and pulls Chloe to them.
"I think we have details to discuss," Beca says with a grin, before kissing the redhead. Chloe purrs into it, melting against them.
"Fuck details," Aubrey growls, her face flushed and eyes sparking. "I need you both naked in bed. Now."
Chloe nods. "Yes, please," she practically sings, and reaches out to smack them both on the ass. "Let's go!"
Beca laughs in delight. It's like sunshine has suddenly filled her body.
It's like she's suddenly come home.