Disclaimer: nothing is mine.
A/N: English is not my first language. Thanks to slackerD for the help.
"You don't seem like you're having fun."
Aubrey turned to look at the bartender who made the comment. The girl had been trying to flirt with her all the evening.
"Not that I blame you, with this music."
"Are you a music expert, Beca?" Aubrey asked, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow.
Beca looked down at herself, checking if she had her nametag on, and when she didn't see it, she looked up with a smile. Aubrey closed her eyes, self-reprimanding. Showing that she remembered the name she had been told at the start of the evening wasn't the best way to convey the message that she wasn't interested.
"Well, not an expert or anything." Beca shrugged, continuing to prepare drinks and passing them to the waiters. "But I know enough to know that this DJ isn't good."
"You could do better?" Aubrey egged her on.
"As a matter of fact, yes." The bartender nodded self-confidently.
"Oh, really?" the blonde's tone was amused and disbelieving.
"Really." Beca nodded again. "Why don't you find out yourself? I spin here too, once a week."
"And aren't you going to tell me when? How can I know when I'm supposed to come if I don't know the day?" Aubrey asked, leaning against the counter, and forgetting for a moment that she wasn't supposed to flirt back.
"No."
"No what?" Aubrey straightened herself, immediately fearing she had been made fun of.
"No, I'm not going to tell you the day." Beca grinned, unaware of the blonde's inner turmoil. "So you'll have to come here every day to find out." She winked at her before answering another client's call, leaving Aubrey to stare at her until she was stirred by someone hugging her from behind.
"Hey, Bree!"
"Chloe, please, don't yell in my ear. I'm not deaf yet, but I might become it if you continue to do it."
Chloe rolled her eyes at her best friend's typical response. "Ready to go home?"
"Of course." Aubrey immediately grabbed her purse and slid off her stool.
"Well, don't leave on my account if you're having so much fun." The redhead muttered, a little smirk on her face but saddened that once again her friend seemed to have passed a boring evening while she had fun.
"You'll come, right?"
'Or maybe not.' Chloe thought to herself as she heard the question the cute bartender asked Aubrey.
The blonde raised an hand to wave, not wanting to appear ill-mannered.
"See you soon!"
She ignored Beca's words and Chloe's curious glance and moved towards the exit of the club.
.
"I saw your friend again, last night." Chloe said while sipping her coffee.
"Uhm?" Aubrey murmured distractedly before raising her eyes from her work. "Who?"
"Beca?" Chloe looked at her pointedly. "The bartender?"
"She is not my friend."
"Did you tell her? Because when we talked-"
"You talked?" Aubrey interrupted her.
"Yeah, and she seemed pretty interested." Chloe confirmed.
"In talking to you. Obviously."
"In talking about you." She corrected Aubrey. "She was interested in you. We talked about nothing else."
"She found the right topic to get you to talk to her, nothing else."
"Aubrey. I'm not stupid." Chloe said, annoyed at her words being dismissed.
"I never said that." Aubrey frowned. "You're very intelligent."
"Not what I meant." Chloe sighed. "I like to think I'm pretty versed in recognizing when someone is interested in me or not, when someone is faking…if they have an ulterior motive or not. And Beca doesn't. Or, well, she does, since she doesn't care a bit about me and she only wanted to talk about you."
Aubrey bit her lips. She wanted to believe Chloe, but she had been burnt so many times before by people who had just used her to get closer to Chloe…
"Trust me?"
"You're not the problem, Chlo."
.
Aubrey sighed. Of course the one time she went to the club had to be Beca's day off. She looked around once more before glancing at her watch. It was almost time to get home, thank God.
"Last one."
She turned hearing the voice. "Beca?" she asked before she could stop herself.
"Oh, Aubrey, hi!" Beca smiled at her. "How are you?"
"I thought you weren't here."
"My turn to take stock." She huffed. "Had I know you were here I would have done it later. Can I get you something to drink?"
"No, thanks, we're probably going soon." Aubrey said searching with her eyes Chloe.
"Oh." Beca didn't hide her disappointment very well. "You should have asked for me."
"What's done is done." The blonde stated, while internally agreeing with Beca.
"No shit." Beca muttered. "Maybe you could not wait so long before returning, you know." She added later, louder, trying to sound nonchalantly but hope transpiring from her tone.
"Maybe." Aubrey smiled at her teasingly.
"Like…next Sunday?" Beca proposed.
She took out her iPhone and checked her agenda. "Impossible, it's Oscar night."
"Oh. Okay." She scrunched up her nose. "What about…"
Aubrey looked up at her from behind her eyelids, iPhone still in her hand. "Yes?" she said softly,
"You come when you can. As soon as you can. I mean." Beca fiddled with the spike on her ear. "You know where to find me. I'm always here. Every night, I mean. And if you don't see me, you ask for me. If you want, naturally. You ask for me. Beca." She grabbed the first glass that passed next to her and downed it, trying to stop her rambling.
"Okay." Aubrey simply said.
"Okay?" Beca asked. "Really?"
"Really." She confirmed, smiling widely at her cuteness.
"Cool." The bartender smiled back. "Cool." She repeated, nodding. "I think I need to get back to work." She added after a moment of silence.
"I don't want to keep you."
"I do." Beca replied before she could think about it. "And with that, I'm going." She took a step back, blushing. "Bye."
"Bye." Aubrey waved at her, a smile on her face.
"I don't know what you did, but keep doing it."
"Excuse me?" Aubrey turned around.
"I never thought I'd see my little badass stumbling over a case of beers because a pretty girl waved at her." A brunette girl in a waitress uniform was looking in the direction Beca had disappeared with a fond smile. "I'm Stacie." She hold out her hand. "Beca's friend."
"Oh."
"Not that kind of friend." Stacie added, seeing the hesitation on the blonde's face. She smiled as she saw the other girl relaxing, muttering an almost inaudible 'Good' before shaking her hand.
"I'm Aubrey."
"Oh, I know." Stacie smirked, before looking over a client who was signaling that he wanted to order. "Work calls, sorry"
"Don't worry, I was going to get my friend and head home." Aubrey waved her apologize away.
"Wait." Stacie had already started moving away when she stopped and turned around. "You said yes, right?"
Aubrey took a moment. "Sort of?" she answered, hoping that she had understood what she was being asked.
"Good. I would have hated having to spit in your drink next time. See you soon, then." Stacie turned on her heels to return to work.
"Wait. WHAT?"
.
"Big party going on?" Beca said returning to Aubrey's stool.
"We're celebrating Chloe." The blonde nodded towards the redhead standing beside her.
"Oh, hi!" Beca greeted her suddenly realizing her presence. "Your birthday?"
"No." Chloe and Aubrey exchanged a perplexed glance.
"Oh. Okay." Beca stood there awkwardly before busying herself preparing some drinks.
"Beca?"
"Uh huh?" she acknowledged Aubrey but continued working.
"Few days ago…what was going on? Which day was it?"
Beca stopped pouring. "Did I forget some anniversary? Before even starting dating?" She looked up like a deer caught in headlights.
"No." Aubrey spluttered. "I meant." She glared at Chloe who tried to stop her giggles. "When you asked if I could come here I told you I couldn't-"
"Because it was Oscar night." Beca concluded and Aubrey nodded.
"Did you watch it?"
"I was here. Working."
"And you weren't interested?"
"Not really." Beca shrugged. "I looked online who had won things like the Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing… and by the way, I completely disagree, but nothing more."
"So you don't know who won?" Aubrey continued inquiring, every question more incredulous than the previous one.
"No…Why?" Beca seemed to catch on that she was missing something and looked between Chloe and Aubrey, confusion clear on her face.
"She won." The blonde said slowly. "Chloe won the Best Actress in a supporting role award"
"Oh. Oh. Congratulations." Beca scratched her neck not knowing exactly what she was supposed to say or do. "Here." She handed Chloe a glass. "On me."
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry I didn't know."
"It's okay." Chloe smiled at her.
Beca smiled back, happy that she hadn't offended her. Then she turned towards Aubrey. "You went with her or you watched at home?"
Chloe burst out laughing.
"What?" Beca frowned. "What did I say?"
"Nothing, nothing." Chloe waved her concerns away. "I suddenly remembered something funny. In fact, I'm going to tell the others." She stood up and leant towards Aubrey. "Still have doubts? Because it's evident how much she is interested in me." She whispered in her best friend's ear.
"Oh, shut up." Aubrey swatted her away, but she was radiant, a blush on her cheek and a shy smile on her lips.
"I offended her, didn't I?"
Beca's question and Aubrey's laugh were the last things Chloe heard before leaving the two girls alone. She smiled to herself. She'll have all the time in the world to reassure Beca that she wasn't offended, after all she had the hunch that the bartender was going to be a new constant presence in Aubrey's life, and consequently, in hers.