Title: Take Me All The Way Down
Chapter: 1/3
Author: jdc15
Rating: M/NC-17
Word Count: About 6.3k
Summary: Beca and Chloe force the rest of the Bellas, plus Aubrey, to join them on a weeklong road trip after the Worlds competition.
Note 1: Title taken from G-Eazy's "Let's Get Lost."
Note 2:
More angst…you've been warned.
Note 3: Go check out my tumblr: (www . staubrey-fanfiction . tumblr . com) It's dedicated to listing all of the best Staubrey fics I've found. You can also leave prompt there and I'll fill them!

Stacie

The day they win the Worlds Championship is a great day, probably tied with the day she received her acceptance letter to Johns Hopkins. The fact that they beat every other group at the competition, and are now ranked number one in the entire world, is kind of unbelievable.

The after party is amazing, which is to be expected, as Fat Amy was the organizer. There is not a surface that doesn't host at least one bottle of liquor, and Stacie's hammered within an hour. Aubrey shows up just as Stacie's taking a body shot off of Chloe's boobs, and she nearly chokes on the liquor when their eyes meet. Aubrey looks half intrigued, half weirded out, and Stacie gets that funny tightening in her chest that always shows up when Aubrey's around. She gives her a wave, and the blonde smiles and nods at her before heading to the counter for a drink.

Another hour later, no one's anywhere near sober and they while the night away playing stupid drinking games and taking racier and racier shots off each other. When Stacie's pressed to the bed by Aubrey and a shot is balanced on her stomach, she bites her lip, hard, abs twitching as Aubrey licks the salt off her skin. Their lips nearly brush when Aubrey takes the lime from her teeth, and Stacie is about to yank Aubrey down on top of her when the blonde straightens up with a wink and walks away.

/

The next morning, Chloe complicates everyone's life by announcing a road trip. She claims that everyone agreed to it the night before, and leaves absolutely no room for arguments.

"It's really short, only one week," she tells them. "None of you have anything important to do in the next week. The only ones going to grad school are Stacie and Jessica and they don't have to leave for another two weeks, I checked."

Stacie looks incredulously at Beca. "You're okay with this?"

"I kind of have to be," Beca mutters, looking slightly murderous. "If I bail on this, I've got no chance of convincing her to move to LA with me."

"Fine," Stacie sighs, and turns back to Chloe. "When do we leave?"

/

They decide to take three cars to avoid being excessively crowded, so Chloe, Aubrey, and Fat Amy volunteer to drive. Aubrey tried to weasel out, stating a responsibility to watch over the lodge, but Chloe stood firm: "you're the manager, Bree, you can do whatever you want."

They all regret the decision to try and get on the road by noon, because by half past one, Fat Amy is still nowhere to be found and it takes another hour for her to answer her phone. She claims to have been defending herself from a burglar, but her groggy voice and rumpled appearance when she finally rolls up says otherwise.

Chloe, to her credit, only yells a little, and then she's herding them into the cars and peeling out of the driveway before anyone can delay things further.

It's only when Stacie has called shotgun in Aubrey's car and is settled with a map in her lap that she realizes she doesn't even know where they're going on this stupid trip (which is starting to seem slightly less stupid now that she's sitting less than twelve inches from Aubrey). She rustles through the map but can't find any marked spots, and she looks questioningly at the blonde.

Aubrey shrugs and shakes her head. "Chloe's the only one who has an actual itinerary. She just gave me the address of tonight's hotel and told me to follow her there."

"Why is that not a surprise?" Stacie groans, pulling on her sunglasses. "I still can't believe I'm here right now. Where are we going today?"

"Asheville. North Carolina. I've been, it's really nice."

"Oh, I love Asheville. Okay, maybe this won't be completely unbearable," Stacie says with a laugh. Maybe she'll just stay in Asheville once they get there and they can pick her up on the way back to Georgia.

"I think this could be fun," Aubrey says, with half a glance at Stacie. "If we let it."

She turns the radio on and engages Jessica and Ashley in conversation, and Stacie is left to ponder exactly what she means.

/

She ends up texting Beca in an effort to get details of the trip out of her, but Beca claims Chloe has the itinerary well-guarded, even though Stacie is convinced that Beca is only saying that to cover her ass in case Chloe were to find out.

She glances at Aubrey. The girl is leaning forward in her seat slightly like she always does when she drives, hands gripping the wheel and brow furrowed. Stacie thinks it's cute, how hard Aubrey concentrates on the road, but she finds herself wishing they were alone in the car because the temptation to take Aubrey's hand in hers is mounting by the minute. It isn't like she thinks Jessica and Ashley would care, but they would absolutely blab to the rest of the girls and Stacie doesn't want anyone knowing anything, especially since she can't even be sure of where exactly she and Aubrey stand. So instead, she sighs and asks if they can stop for coffee.

Stacie texts Beca and Flo to let them know they're stopping, and they all decide to pull in to Starbucks. They make their way in to the mostly empty café and line up, Amy and Cynthia Rose pushing to the front and claiming they need caffeine immediately to help them deal with "sleep deprivation and driving a car holding nothing but the Mexican stripper and the crazy Asian." No one argues because, yeah, that really does suck. Stacie buys Emily a coffee because she feels sorry for the girl having to third-wheel with Beca and Chloe, and she buys Aubrey a coffee because she's cute and she tells her so when she presses it into her hand.

"Thank you," Aubrey says quietly, their fingers brushing when she takes the paper cup.

"No problem," Stacie says with a wink, and Aubrey's blush is almost enough to make her lean in and kiss her, but they're in public and she still has lot of doubts about how Aubrey feels about her, so she steps away and leads the way back to the cars.

/

She ends up falling asleep and when she wakes up hours later she's covered by Aubrey's jacket. She glances questioningly at the girl and Aubrey colors a little, but only says, "You looked cold."

"Thanks," Stacie says, and Aubrey nods but says nothing. Stacie risks a glance to the backseat and sees Jessica and Ashley asleep almost on top of each other. She smiles because they really are adorable, and then turns back to Aubrey and studies her until the girl looks back at her, eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"Nothing," Stacie shrugs. "You just look pretty." She does look beautiful; the sun is going down and the dark orange glow streaked across Aubrey's face makes it really hard for Stacie to keep her hands to herself.

"I—thank you," Aubrey stammers, bringing a clearly self-conscious hand up to run through her hair, and Stacie bites her lip because now it's adorably tousled and all she wants to do is run her fingers through it and—

"Should we stop for dinner?" Aubrey says, rather loudly, like she knows exactly where Stacie's thoughts were heading. "Jess? Ashley?"

They call in to the others that they're stopping. It's been close to three hours and Stacie starts to feel bad about sleeping through it, but Aubrey waves off her concern, reassuring her that she likes to drive and not to worry about it.

/

It turns out that Chloe pre-booked the hotel, which is good since no one else thought to ask about hotel arrangements. Once they've all scarfed down burgers from Applebee's, they split up into pairs for sharing rooms and pile back into the cars to head over. Stacie and Aubrey end up paired together, and Stacie feels weird about it, like she isn't sure whether to be happy or nervous, because she doesn't know how comfortable Aubrey will be with the situation. She risks a glance at Aubrey and finds the other girl looking curiously at her. She blushes and looks away quickly, burying her nose in her phone and letting Jessica and Ashley's chatter fill the uncomfortable silence.

/

It's nearly nine o'clock by the time they reach the hotel, and everyone is tired and cranky from either driving, bickering, or eating too many French fries. Stacie finds herself wondering whether they'll all last through the entire trip if they're already at each other's throats by the first night. The only person who seems to be in a somewhat decent mood is Chloe, but that's not a surprise to anyone.

They've been put in five adjacent rooms on the sixth floor, so they all squeeze into one elevator for the ride up. No one really says anything and there's a general feeling of resentment in the air. Chloe appears to be choosing to ignore it and hums softly to herself, arm linked with Beca's.

They spill out into the hallway with much cursing and stumbling over duffel bags, but finally they've paired off and everyone disappears into their respective rooms.

"Everybody better be down for breakfast at nine!" Chloe yells after them before Beca yanks her away.

/

Stacie can feel Aubrey's gaze on her back for the entirety of the thirty seconds it takes her to locate the key card and unlock the door. She grits her teeth and tries not to glance over at her as she pushes the door open.

"Which bed do you want?" she asks without turning around.

"Doesn't matter," Aubrey says, so Stacie drops her bag on the nearest one and unzips it, rummaging through it so as not to have to look at the girl.

"I'm going to take a shower. Do you need the bathroom first?"

"No, go ahead. Thanks," Stacie says. She almost wishes Aubrey wasn't so damned nice, because it makes it awfully hard to ignore her.

The blonde disappears into the bathroom and Stacie flops onto her bed, turning on the TV just for something to fill the silence.

/

As soon as Aubrey emerges from the bathroom with wet hair sending droplets of water over her shoulders, wearing a tank top and sweatpants, Stacie hops off the bed and announces she needs a shower too, not giving Aubrey a chance to get a single word out.

She lingers as long as she thinks she can get away with before returning to find Aubrey sitting on the bed, combing her hair and humming to some song that's playing on the television.

She looks up when Stacie walks in. "Hey," she smiles. "How was your shower?"

"Good," Stacie says awkwardly. "I was really sweaty, so—"

She realizes that is a ridiculous thing to say, so she cuts herself off, knowing she's bright red. She thinks she catches Aubrey smirking, just a little, but she turns away to look for her hairbrush and keeps her mouth shut.

She takes a seat on her bed and starts combing through her hair, wishing she could skip it and turn her lamp off but knowing that she'll never get a brush through it again if she doesn't do it now. She trains her eyes onto the TV where some obscure comedy show is playing. They sit in silence for close to ten minutes before Aubrey heaves a sigh and Stacie sees her sit up out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, you okay?"

Stacie shuts her eyes for a second. She had been about thirty seconds away from being able to go to sleep. "Yeah, I'm fine," she says, hoping her voice sounds steadier than she thinks. "Why?"

"I don't know, you're just…quieter than usual."

Stacie shrugs in response. She isn't quite sure how to respond to that.

"Did I do something?" Aubrey sounds strangely vulnerable and Stacie finally turns to look at her.

"No, Bree, you didn't do anything. I'm just tired, I think."

"Okay," Aubrey says. She looks unconvinced but thankfully doesn't press the issue.

"I'm going to go to sleep," Stacie says, hoping she isn't coming off as rude, but she probably is. "Sorry to be anti-social."

"It's fine," Aubrey says. "Sleep sounds like a pretty good idea." She laughs a little but it sounds forced, and does nothing to ease the tension. "Good night."

"Night." Stacie feels like a dick but she doesn't seem to be able to say anything remotely intelligent, so she clicks her lamp off and pulls the blanket up, staring up at the ceiling and clenching the sheet in her hands. She hopes Aubrey is done talking because Stacie's pretty sure she'll jump her if one more word comes out of her mouth.

/

She wakes up a few minutes before her alarm, curled into a ball with a pillow in her arms. She rolls over and stretches, eyes landing immediately on Aubrey. The girl is splayed out on her stomach, starfishing across the entire bed. It's kind of adorable and Stacie totally stares like a creeper until her alarm goes off, and she leaps off the bed and into the bathroom just as Aubrey is beginning to stir.

When she comes out a few moments later, Aubrey has opened the curtains and is standing by the window.

"Good morning," Stacie says quietly, forcing herself to make an effort, and is rewarded with a small smile from the other girl.

"Morning," Aubrey says, before gesturing at the window. "I hope it doesn't keep raining all day."

Stacie glances out the window and notices that it's pouring, the space heater under the window drowning the noise. "Oh, yeah. Hopefully it stops so we don't miss Asheville."

"You said you've been here before, right?"

"Yeah. I used to live in North Carolina and my cousin went to UNC Asheville for college. It's amazing here," Stacie says with a smile. She really does love this place.

"That's awesome." Aubrey tilts her head a little, and the feeble grey light coming through the window and playing across her face makes her look pale, almost ethereal, and Stacie feels ridiculously cliché for likening her to an angel, but that's exactly what she resembles.

"What?" she says, and Stacie realizes she's been caught staring.

"Nothing." Stacie pastes a smile on her face. "Are you ready to go to breakfast?"

/

Breakfast is overshadowed by a general gloominess; no one seems to have gotten enough sleep and the rain doesn't show any signs of letting up. Even Chloe seems uncharacteristically exhausted, and Stacie can't help wondering what happened between her and Beca the night before, especially since Beca isn't flinching from Chloe's touch like she usually does when they're in public. She raises her eyebrows at Chloe across the table and receives a blush in response, which means Stacie will absolutely be forcing details out of her later.

"So what are we doing today?" Ashley asks, and everyone looks to Chloe.

"Um…we were going to go downtown first, but the weather's not exactly ideal," Chloe stammers. She looks guilty, like the fact that it's raining is her fault.

"So what's the backup plan?" Fat Amy prods.

"Well…" Chloe looks helpless and turns to Beca for assistance.

Beca looks slightly panicked. "What?"

Chloe tries to glare at her, but clearly isn't able to, so instead her expression looks only mildly chastising. Beca opens her mouth, shuts it, and then says, "We could just go anyway?"

Chloe looks like she was expecting something totally different to come out of Beca's mouth (probably something along the lines of, 'we could stay in our hotel room all day and make out'), but she just claps her hands once and then announces, "Okay then. The show goes on! Everyone be ready to go in an hour!"

"What, so now the scrawny chipmunk's word is law?" Fat Amy grumbles. Chloe fixes her with a glare that could melt a steel beam, and Amy backs down immediately. "Chipmunks are cute," she backtracks. "I was calling her cute." She stands and hurries away, hands full of bagels.

Chloe looks at the rest of them like she doesn't know why they're still sitting there, so Stacie clears her throat and leaves the table. She shoots an amused glance at Chloe, but the girl refuses to meet her eyes, so Stacie flashes her a thumbs-up and walks away.

She gets all the way to the room before she remembers that Aubrey has the room key, so she stands outside the door like an idiot until Aubrey shows up five minutes later with a grin. "Forgot something?"

"Maybe."

Aubrey unlocks the door and then stands back to let her walk in. "What was the thumbs-up you gave Chloe for?"

Stacie laughs. "She and Beca totally hooked up last night."

"Oh, I know," Aubrey says, and it's so far from what Stacie was expecting her to say that she just stares at her. "What? They're basically in love with each other," Aubrey says with a shrug. "It's pretty obvious. Plus, I know Chloe well enough to tell when she got some the night before."

"Oh my god, are you serious?"

"What? It's true, and I'm happy for her. She was pretty tense about organizing this whole road trip thing, so I'm glad Beca's here to help her out, even if that girl still needs an attitude adjustment."

"She isn't that bad when you get to know her," Stacie protests. "I think she's adorable."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, definitely," Stacie says, biting her lip and grinning. Something about the way they're bantering back and forth is bringing back her good mood and flirty inclinations, and she's doing her best to put her doubts aside. Friends can flirt with each other. People do it all the time. "I'd hit that."

"Ew!" Aubrey squeals, throwing a pillow at her. "Don't even joke about that!"

"What if I'm not joking?" Stacie smirks.

Aubrey covers her eyes with her hands. "Stacie, oh my god, be quiet. I don't want to think about that."

"Don't be such a prude. Maybe you're the one who needs to 'get some.'"

Aubrey throws another pillow at her and turns away, but not before Stacie catches the blush on her face.

/

Stacie has to bite her tongue to keep from commenting on how cute Aubrey looks in her coat, hat, and scarf. She seems to be doing that a lot lately. "Ready to go?" she asks instead, pulling her own hat down over her ears.

"You look cute," Aubrey says unexpectedly.

"Thanks," Stacie says, wishing now that she'd said it to Aubrey first. "So do you."

/

Their hotel is only a five minute drive from downtown Asheville so they park behind a restaurant and hop out of the cars, scrambling to open umbrellas and huddle together, though the rain has let up to a light drizzle. "Where to first?" Aubrey asks, turning to Chloe.

"Well, I thought we could just maybe wander around? We can split up if we want, and maybe meet here for lunch in an hour or so?" Chloe looks like she wants to whisk Beca away and no one really wants to get in the way of that, so they all nod and disperse. Stacie steps closer to Aubrey, leaning down a little to ask where she wants to go.

"I don't know," Aubrey shrugs. "Wanna just walk around a little?"

"Sure," Stacie agrees, and she's careful not to stay too close to Aubrey as they set off along the sidewalk.

They wander along for a while in silence. Stacie kind of feels like she's home. She loves North Carolina more than anywhere else she's ever lived, and so many of her younger memories live in this city; Thanksgiving with her aunt and uncle, tours of the college after high school, weekend trips to music festivals.

"Want to get a smoothie?" Aubrey asks suddenly, pointing to a Jamba Juice just ahead.

The rain is starting to pick up again, so Stacie agrees and they duck inside, shaking their umbrellas off and leaning them by the door. The shop is nearly empty, so they go straight to the counter. They order and Aubrey pays before Stacie can stop her. She tries to hand her some money, but Aubrey waves her off with an amused smile.

"Where to next?" Stacie asks once they've left.

"The park?"

Stacie raises an eyebrow. "It's pouring rain."

"So?"

Stacie shakes her head. "Okay, the park."

/

They've just reached the park when a gust of wind steals Aubrey's umbrella, and it blows away before catching on a bench. Stacie doubles over laughing at her horrified expression, but it turns to a yelp when Aubrey shoves her and she lands on a nearby bush, sinking into it before bouncing back. Her umbrella flies away and she throws a punch at Aubrey that misses its mark. "You bitch!"

Aubrey's the one laughing now. "It's only fair." She extends a hand to help Stacie up, but instead Stacie yanks her down into the bush and tackles her. Their combined weight flattens the bush and they roll onto the ground, covered in leaves and seizing with laughter.

"Sorry," Stacie offers once she's caught her breath and they've climbed to their feet. "I couldn't resist."

Aubrey just shakes her head, reaching to pick bits of leaf out of Stacie's hair. "I should have seen that coming," she admits.

"You deserved it."

"Oh, shut up." Aubrey smacks her on the shoulder and wipes the rain out of her eyes. Their laughter trails away and they stand catching their breath, rain falling hard and fast over them. Stacie's hair is sticking to her face and she wishes she'd pulled it back before they left.

"God, I'm soaking wet," Stacie says, and suddenly realizes how dirty that sounds. Aubrey gives her a look, and there's a moment when they could laugh again, but it passes and is replaced by a much different feeling.

And then Aubrey kisses her, and it's so shocking but at the same time feels like something's falling into place. Stacie kisses her back instantly, her hands running up Aubrey's back to tangle in her hair. Aubrey tastes like peppermint chapstick and chocolate-raspberry and Stacie suddenly appreciates the Jamba Juice smoothie a lot more, because it tastes really fucking good on Aubrey's tongue when she flicks it into Stacie's mouth.

Aubrey nips Stacie's lip lightly before running her tongue over it, her hands squeezing Stacie's waist. Their noses brush as Stacie tilts her head to kiss Aubrey more deeply, and she really likes how it feels so she does it again. Aubrey whimpers a little into her mouth and she presses her body as close as possible into Stacie's.

Stacie tilts Aubrey's head back and her lips linger on her jaw as the rainwater runs down over them, fingers tracing her throat and scratching lightly over her collarbones. She's never kissed anyone in the rain before, and she has to admit that it's just as good as they make it seem in the movies. Maybe better. Aubrey gasps and her hand comes up to circle just once around Stacie's breast, and Stacie presses desperately into the touch, and then suddenly Aubrey's pulling away with a hand against Stacie's stomach to keep her back.

"What's wrong?" Stacie pants, leaning in again, but is stopped by Aubrey's hand pushing insistently against her. "Are you okay?"

"We—we shouldn't," Aubrey whispers.

"Shouldn't what?"

"Do this," Aubrey sighs. Her eyes dart around, settling everywhere but on Stacie. "Do anything, when all we have is two more weeks and then you're leaving."

Stacie lets her forehead fall forward against Aubrey's and they just stand together like that for long moments until finally Stacie pushes herself away and nods. "You're right. We shouldn't. It won't end well."

"No, it won't," Aubrey says, sounding both disappointed and relieved. "We should just go back to being friends."

"Friends," Stacie agrees. She takes another step back, feeling like her proximity to Aubrey is still muddling her thoughts. The rain comes down between them, its drops feeling suddenly colder than they did only moments ago, and she begins to shiver.

"Friends," Aubrey repeats. "Is that okay?"

It has to be. "Of course."

"Okay." Aubrey lets out a sigh. They stand there for another moment until Stacie clears her throat and moves away.

"I guess we should go back, then?"

Aubrey nods and Stacie turns her back on her, eyes starting to sting as she leads the way to the restaurant.

/

Stacie isn't particularly religious but she still begs god, or whoever, that they aren't the first ones to the restaurant. She lets out a breath when she sees Beca, Chloe, Fat Amy, and Cynthia Rose sitting together at a large table in the back, and rushes in to take the seat next to Beca. Aubrey follows a few steps behind her and squeezes in by Cynthia Rose. Beca shoots a questioning glance at Stacie, eyebrows raised, but Stacie just shakes her head and Beca looks away.

"So where'd you guys go?" Chloe asks conversationally.

"The park," Aubrey says. Stacie picks up a menu and looks it over, trying to forget the way Aubrey's lips felt against her own, how she was so warm in contrast to the rain, how her hand felt on her chest, even for just a moment, and—

She presses her thighs together under the table and shuts her eyes for a second, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, but is unsuccessful is removing the fog of sudden arousal that claims her body. She doesn't know why this is happening; all they did was kiss.

/

Despite the terrible weather, everyone seems to be fairly cheerful, and they discuss plans for the rest of the day. Stacie doesn't miss the fact that Beca and Chloe start holding hands halfway through the meal, and while she's happy for them, a sharp pang of jealousy hits her square in the chest. She picks her way through the salad on her plate, suddenly feeling sick. Aubrey is refusing to even look at her and she's starting to think their friendship is over.

"Are you okay?" Beca asks under her breath.

Stacie sighs and shakes her head a little. "I don't feel very well," she admits.

"What's wrong?" Chloe asks, noticing the exchange. "Stace, are you okay? You look kind of pale."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling well," Stacie repeats, standing up. "I think I might go back to the hotel, if you guys don't mind."

"Do you want me to come with?" Beca asks, half-rising from her seat.

"No, everyone stay here." She drops some money on the table and they wave her off sympathetically. She manages to make it into her car before she lets her head drop to the steering wheel and loses it.

She doesn't know why she's acting like this. It isn't like either of them said their friendship was over, so she tells herself to quit being such a little bitch and go back in there, but she can't so instead she finds herself putting the car in gear and pulling out of the parking lot.

/

As soon as she makes it the hotel room she sheds her clothes and steps into the shower, letting the hot water run over her body and wash away the morning's confusion. Suddenly tired, she leans against the wall, holding out her hand and mindlessly watching the water run down and over her palm, moving her fingers to make miniature waterfalls that splay in five different directions.

She thinks back to the park again, the shower making the memory that much more vivid. She tries to make herself be annoyed with Aubrey, for kissing her and then turning around and saying they can only be friends, but she can't. She begrudgingly admits to herself that starting something would be foolish, but can't help thinking that it would be worth it. She only wishes Aubrey would feel the same.

/

Its only when the water starts to run cold that she realizes how distracted she is. She shuts off the faucet and steps out, wrapping herself in a towel and gathering her clothes from the floor. She's looking forward to having a bit of time alone, maybe vegging out in front of shitty TV or taking a nap until it's time to meet everyone for dinner.

However, these plans are dashed when she enters the bedroom and a familiar figure is sitting on her bed. Stacie drops her clothes in shock and has to scramble to keep the towel up high enough around her chest.

"What are you doing here?"

Aubrey looks simultaneously guilty and determined. "I wanted to talk to you. I felt bad about what happened earlier, and…" She trails off and huffs a little. "Was I the reason you left earlier?"

"Kind of," Stacie shrugs, deciding honesty is the best option and trying to will her heart rate down. "But don't worry about it."

Aubrey wrings her hands in a way that tells Stacie she absolutely is worrying about it. "I'm sorry," she offers. "I shouldn't have done what I did, you know, in the park. It just made things way more complicated."

Stacie adjusts her towel a little and sees Aubrey's eyes drift to her chest. "Look," she starts. "I'm not mad at you, okay? You said we should just be friends, and I totally agree."

"Okay," Aubrey says, fidgeting with the sleeve of her button-down. "I'm glad you agree."

They stand for a moment, looking everywhere but at each other, before Aubrey clears her throat. "Well, I guess I'll take a shower," she says, standing and tucking her hair behind her ear. She's reminding Stacie a little of how she used to be in college, when anything and everything made her nervous, except now it's endearing instead of aggravating. So endearing, in fact, that Stacie reaches out to snag her arm as she passes. Aubrey stops dead and Stacie wants to kick herself, because now she has to find a way to explain that, but when she catches the look in Aubrey's eye she shoves her against the wall and kisses her instead.

/

There's no resistance in Aubrey's body as Stacie pins her to the wall, and her arms come up to cup Stacie's jaw. Aubrey pushes her back for just a moment, and Stacie is about to apologize when she realizes Aubrey just needed space to remove the towel. It slips down her body and pools on the floor, and Stacie starts to feel self-conscious when Aubrey's gaze roves over her body.

"Don't," Aubrey murmurs when Stacie moves to cross her arms. "You're perfect."

Stacie surges forward to kiss her again, beginning to unbutton Aubrey's shirt. She's hesitant, though, still unsure whether they will both follow through, even though she's currently naked with Aubrey's hands in her hair. When they're finally undone she peels the shirt back and Aubrey shrugs it down her arms, leaving her in a white bra, fringed with lace. Stacie runs her hands over it, feeling the small ridges in the material and wondering what the skin underneath would feel like. She decides that she can't wait any longer to find out, and Aubrey's breathing picks up as Stacie pops the clasp (with one hand, which she's pretty proud of) and the garment joins the shirt and towel on the floor.

She breaks their kiss for a moment, raising her hands to cup Aubrey's breasts. They're a perfect size and fit perfectly in her palms. She begins to knead them, thumbs pressing circles over her nipples, and Aubrey moans and yanks her back in for another kiss. This time, she slips her tongue into Stacie's mouth and then begins to maneuver her toward the bed.

When her legs hit the mattress, Stacie allows herself to be laid down onto it, Aubrey immediately straddling her and pressing her thigh between Stacie's legs. Stacie gasps and her hands fly to Aubrey's back, pulling their bodies together until their bare skin melds together. Aubrey hums lowly and leaves open-mouthed kisses across Stacie's neck. She lingers on her collarbones, lips closing over the protrusions, until Stacie flips them without warning and reaches for the button of Aubrey's jeans. She's suddenly desperate to touch her, so she slips her fingers under her underwear and begins working them against her as soon as her pants hit the floor.

Aubrey's head is thrown back, chest heaving, and she lets out a moan as Stacie slips two fingers into her and her mouth descends on her chest. She can't stop herself from scraping the nails of her free hand across Aubrey's ribcage and switching them until she's straddling the blonde, and the sound the girl produces in response is enough to make Stacie feel a little bit lightheaded.

She's not paying much attention to where Aubrey's hands are, so she's taken by surprise when one of them lands between her legs and then inside, matching the pace set by Stacie's. Stacie sits up a little until she can watch Aubrey underneath her, and observe how her expression changes when Stacie angles her fingers in a different direction. She grinds down onto Aubrey and leans into the hand that comes up to squeeze her breast. Aubrey rolls her nipple between her fingers, pinching a little when Stacie's fingers hit a particular spot inside of her.

"Right—right there," Aubrey gasps, and Stacie bites her lip, doing her best to repeat the movement. She's rewarded when Aubrey cries out and leans up on her elbows to meet Stacie in a kiss, moving her own hand more quickly between Stacie's legs. She slides her fingers out to circle around Stacie's clit before plunging them back inside and pushing Stacie backwards until she's flat on the bed again.

She trails kisses down her neck and to her chest where her lips wrap around her nipple, and Stacie raises her head to watch, mouth slightly open and breaths coming erratically. Finally Aubrey sits up and Stacie watches in amazement as she places one hand on Stacie's chest to hold herself steady before she begins rocking into her hand. Her blonde hair is wonderfully messy where it cascades over her shoulders, and Stacie tangles her hands in it, remembering how she'd wished to do exactly that in the car the day before.

Aubrey seizes suddenly and falls forward, and Stacie meets her halfway in a kiss. Aubrey's body relaxes after a moment, but she only pauses for a few seconds before her fingers resume their movements, hooking an arm around Stacie's thigh and guiding them to wrap around her waist before she begins thrusting into her. Stacie holds her down against her with her hands on her back, tracing patterns over the skin there until the heel of Aubrey's hand starts hitting her clit and she loses all motor functions. She comes quickly after that, gasping into Aubrey's mouth and then finally rolling over until they're on their sides facing each other.

She traces the lines of Aubrey's jaw as they kiss lazily, a shiver running through her when Aubrey's fingers slip out of her and her arm wraps around her waist. She kisses her deeply and Aubrey sighs against her lips, moving closer and draping her leg over Stacie's hip, bringing them as close as they can be. Stacie plays with the ends of her hair that fall down her back and slows the kiss to catch her breath a little.

She feels satisfied but at the same time there's something starting to nag at her inside of her chest.

/

The lie there under the sheet for close to an hour, the room silent except for the sound of the rain on the windows. They're just close enough for their noses to brush and Stacie plays absently with Aubrey's fingers, memorizing the shape of them.

Finally Aubrey clears her throat. "How do you feel?" she asks.

Stacie shrugs a little. "I don't know. Good, I think."

"Me too," Aubrey says softly.

"But I think we got ahead of ourselves," Stacie continues reluctantly. "Especially since we decided to avoid this."

"I don't want to jerk you around," Aubrey says. "I mean, I feel like I already kind of have, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Stacie says, because it isn't a big deal, not in this moment, when they're having this conversation. "Not any more than I have."

She feels Aubrey smile against her neck before she takes a deep breath. "I just—I like you," she admits. "And if you weren't leaving for grad school, I'd ask to date you, but you are leaving, and that's just how it is. And I'm happy for you," she throws in, "because you're going to do amazing things, but I still wish there was a way for this—us—to happen."

"Me too," Stacie says quietly.

They fall into silence and she leans her head on Aubrey's shoulder. Aubrey's arm comes to encircle her waist and she sighs against her skin, pressing a single kiss onto her shoulder. They stay like that until their phones buzz with a text from Chloe giving them a half-hour warning for dinner, and Aubrey disappears wordlessly into the bathroom with nothing but a squeeze to Stacie's knee and a small smile.