Stacie wrapped her arm tighter around the sleeping girl by her side and smiled. All the difficulties from the past year seemed to vanish when she was with her. This moment, just being here with her, not worrying about exams or papers, not caring about having to drive back, made everything else they'd gone through worth it.

Stacie ran her hand down Aubrey's arm, kissing the blonde's shoulder softly. She remembered the time they hated each other and wondered what would have happened if they hadn't tried to get along, if Chloe and Beca hadn't liked each other and forced them to eat lunch together, if they hadn't been assigned that history project. Stacie wanted to think they would have found each other eventually, not because she believed in fate, but because she couldn't see herself with anyone else. It was probably strange to find the person you wanted to spend the rest of your life with at such a young age. Most people would say that they didn't know enough to know what they wanted, but Stacie knew she would never be as happy with anyone else as she was with Aubrey, and finding her this young only meant she'd get more time with her.

They were two weeks into their summer vacation after their freshman year of college, spending it at Stacie's family house in the Hamptons. They hadn't spent this much time together since last summer, they didn't get more than the weekend most of the time, and their few breaks. It hadn't been as hard as she thought it would be. She missed Aubrey a lot but they would see each other whenever they had time. Sometimes Stacie would drive up to visit her, or they would meet in the city. Stacie had a roommate so Aubrey only went to Princeton when Stacie couldn't make the trip there. They skyped during the week and texted constantly.

Stacie knew it had been harder for Aubrey. It wasn't as easy for her to make friends, and between her pre-law requirements and seeing Stacie, she didn't have a lot of time to have a social life at school. Stacie tried to convince her to go to parties whenever she visited but Aubrey didn't want to spend the little time they had together at some loud party with drunk people.

They saw Chloe and Beca whenever they went to the city. Chloe was studying theater at NYU and Beca was half-assing college for her parents and working part time at a record label. They would visit them sometimes, mostly Stacie since she was the closest one. They were going to join them later in the summer, but right now it was just her and Aubrey, and Stacie wouldn't change it for the world.

Stacie felt Aubrey stirring. She turned around to face the brunette and smiled when she saw her eyes were open. She ran a finger down her jaw. "Good morning." Stacie smiled and kissed her. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long." Stacie traced the necklace on Aubrey's neck, it was the one she had given her on prom night. Aubrey barely took it off. Stacie meant it when she said she'd always love her no matter what, she couldn't think of anything that would make this feeling go away.

Aubrey pressed herself to Stacie's body, her hands moving to the back of her neck. Stacie wrapped her arms tight around the blonde's waist and buried her nose in her hair. Aubrey placed a single kiss behind Stacie's ear and sighed contentedly. "I love you."

Stacie knocked on the door and waited. She never thought this would happen, let alone that she'd be the one doing it, but it needed to be done. She had waited until they were both done with finals and driven up to Aubrey's apartment. She tried to talk herself out of it the whole way there. She even stopped a couple of times, almost turning around, but she knew it was for the best.

The door opened and the smile on Aubrey's face when she saw her almost made her cry. "Stacie! What are you doing here? You said you were staying at school for a couple more days." She noticed the expression on Stacie's face and her smile fell. "Stace, what's wrong?"

Stacie swallowed the knot in her throat. "We need to talk."

Aubrey frowned and moved to the side, letting Stacie in. She had an idea what Stacie wanted to talk about but she didn't want to think about it. Stacie walked inside and sat down on the couch, her solemn look making Aubrey more nervous by the second. She tried to stall. "Do you want something to drink?"

Stacie shook her head and grabbed Aubrey's hand, pulling her down to sit next to her. She looked at their hands trying to work up the courage to say what she came here to say. "Bree, I think we should break up."

Aubrey didn't respond. She was expecting this, they'd barely seen each other these past few months and when they did see each other they had been too preoccupied by all the things they had to do to really enjoy being together. Stacie had tried her hardest to make it work, she gave Aubrey every second of her free time. Aubrey did too, but they were stretching themselves thin trying to make this work and it wasn't supposed to be this hard.

Stacie ran her thumb over Aubrey's hand. "I don't want to be the reason you don't get everything you're working for."

Aubrey's head whipped up. "You're not, you could never do that." She scooted closer to Stacie and cupped her cheeks. "You make me want to be better."

A tear rolled down Stacie's cheek and Aubrey wiped it with her thumb. "You don't need to be worried about being there for me on top of everything else you have going on. You stress out too much, I hear it when you call me. You feel like you're not giving me enough." She turned and kissed her palm. "You don't need more reasons to stress out."

Aubrey shook her head even though Stacie was right. "Stacie, please, don't do this now. We can go to the Hamptons like last year, just you and me. We'll talk after that."

Stacie pressed her forehead against Aubrey's. "If we go, I won't be able to do this. We have to do this, Bree, we're not working." She took a deep breath and ran her index finger over Aubrey's necklace. "My feelings haven't changed, I still think you're it for me, but we're just not there yet, I don't want to be in your way. Maybe someday we can be together again, when you're a lawyer and I'm whatever."

Aubrey closed her eyes and nodded. "Maybe."

Stacie kissed her forehead. "I love you."

Stacie dropped her bag on the floor and dropped on the bed groaning. She had spent most of the past year working as a research assistant to one of the professors in the engineering department. She was working over the summer too but she had two weeks before that happened so she decided to take a break from Princeton and come back to the city.

Someone knocked on her door and her come in was muffled by the bed. The door creaked open. "I really hope that meant I could come in." Beca stepped into her room and jumped on the bed next to her. "I had the doorman buzz me when you arrived. How are you?"

Stacie turned around to face Beca. "Tired. I had to catch up on a month's worth of work after finals." Beca tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. Stacie sighed. "I'm fine. It's been a year, you don't have to look so worried about me all the time. And I was the one who broke up with her."

"I still don't understand why you did that."

Stacie sighed "It was the right thing to do."

Beca shook her head and looked away. "Yeah, keep saying that, maybe you'll believe it someday."

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Did you come for a reason other than being a pain in the ass?"

"I'm sorry, Stace, I know it wasn't easy for you." Beca poked Stacie. "I just wanted to talk, I miss my best friend."

"Aw, I miss you too, Becs!" Stacie pulled a struggling Beca into an awkward hug. When Beca realized she wasn't letting go she relaxed into the hug. Stacie pat her back and let her go. "I'm glad Chloe's made you more huggable."

Beca made a show of straightening her shirt and patting down her hair with a huff. "Yeah, I've learned that struggling only makes it longer." Beca looked at Stacie and bit her lip. "I've been thinking about talking to Chloe about moving in together."

Stacie smiled. "That's awesome! Why hadn't you told me?"

Beca shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't want to rub it in."

Stacie pushed Beca's shoulder. "Don't be an idiot, you can tell me things. I'm glad you're happy, Beca."

"Have you gone out with anyone?"

Stacie half shrugged. "Nothing serious."

"Are you still planning on waiting for her?"

Stacie nodded. "As long as it takes."

Chloe opened the door and tackle hugged Aubrey. "I've missed you so much! I can't believe you're moving further away. What am I going to do?"

Aubrey patted Chloe's arm, which was the only thing she could reach with her arms mostly pinned to her sides by her hug. "You'll be fine, Chlo, it's just three more years. And Boston isn't that far."

Chloe squeezed Aubrey one more time then let go of her, scoffing. "Please, if I barely saw you these past couple of years, I'm not going to see you while you're in law school."

"You can come visit me." Aubrey sat and looked around. "The place looks really good."

"Yeah, it's really coming together nicely. It's pretty easy making design decisions with Beca." Chloe chuckled. "The only thing I'm not allowed to touch is her studio."

"Where is the hobbit? I thought she'd be here annoying me by now."

"Oh, Beca is out with people. She should be back soon." Chloe nodded.

Aubrey smiled sadly at her. "You can say her name, Chlo, it's okay."

"I know, I just feel weird talking about her with you."

Aubrey shook her head and placed her hand on Chloe's arm. "I know she's your friend, you don't have to feel bad about is she?"

"She's good, I guess. She came back a couple of weeks ago. She's been working on something with one of her professors but I don't really know what it is. Beca says it's big though."

Aubrey nodded. "Is she…" She exhaled loudly.

"She's not. But I don't think right now's the best time to reach out to her, you're about to leave again and you're going to have more work than ever."

Aubrey swallowed and her voice sounded strained. "I know, I know. I just... I miss her."

Chloe hugged Aubrey and rubbed her arm. "It'll be okay, sweetie."

Aubrey wiped her cheeks and straightened up. "I'm fine. I mean, I'm not but I will be, eventually."