Aubrey Posen slicked back a stray cowlick in her almost perfectly placed blonde hair for what seemed like the tenth time that day. Standing in the dressing room at Lincoln Center about to preform with the Barden Bellas and her heart was pounding. She had a solo and she knew it had to be perfect. In her highly fueled anxiety, she could feel her stomach clench.
Not now, she thought to herself in a panicked state.
Just as she felt that her stressed filled body was about to unleash her stomach contents all over the small dressing room that was given to the only two juniors on the team, she felt two hands slide across her precisely ironed blouse and come to rest on her abdomen. Chloe Beale was everything to Aubrey. The only other junior on the Bellas, Chloe was Aubrey's girlfriend, best friend and the only one who knew about Aubrey's severe issues with anxiety. It was a rather embarrassing way for Chloe to discover Aubrey's little problem when a year ago Chloe surprised Aubrey with a scandalous outfit hoping to make their first time together something special only to have Aubrey loosen what seemed like a weeks worth of food over the wall of their shared apartment. Ever since then, Chloe had been incredibly sensitive to her girlfriend's problem.
"How are you feeling, baby?" Chloe questioned her blonde girlfriend gently. Placing her chin on Aubrey's shoulder.
"Nervous." Admitted Aubrey hesitantly, tilting her head to rest it on the girl embracing her. Chloe spun Aubrey around to face her, leaving her hands gently attached to her girlfriends waist and locked their eyes.
"You're going to be amazing, babe. Just breathe and don't look straight at the audience, okay?" Chloe reassured her girlfriend. "If you'd like, we could work out a little tension for you right now."
Chloe smirked at Aubrey's slightly surprised expression as the red head worked one of her hands to the back of her girlfriend's skirt and unzipped it quickly, letting it fall to the ground. Wasting no time, Chloe connected their lips in a soft kiss, which unclenched Aubrey's stomach and her body was hit with a wave of relaxation from the built up tension. Chloe continued her movements, slipping a hand lower and pushing Aubrey's underwear to the side swiftly.
Aubrey and Chloe were straightening up their skirts and donning their jackets when a loud rapping came from the door to the dressing room.
"You're on, girls!" Shouted one of the stagehands of the event from the opposite side of the door.
"Shit!" Aubrey exclaimed.
"It's okay, Bree! I'll go right now and distract Marissa, you just sneak in and pretend your hot little body was there the whole time." Chloe said to her girlfriend, shooting her a quick wink before quickly exiting the room.
It was just like Marissa, the current Bellas captain, to not send someone to grab the juniors from their separate dressing room when the other girls set out for the wings of the stage. Chloe sprinted out the door cursing under her breath. She could hear the performance of the Trebles, the all star boy group from Barden, ringing through the hall. She ran along the back of the stage and joined her team in the wings making her way right to Marissa so Aubrey's absence wouldn't be immediately noticed, although she knew her girlfriend wouldn't be too far behind her.
"Chloe, look at you, you're a mess!" Marissa exclaimed. Chloe allowed her to tie her yellow Barden scarf to her neck aggressively while she was being scolded. "You're unfocused, you're unreliable and your breath smells like egg," Marissa finished tying the scarf and snarled at Chloe, "like all the time."
Marissa snapped and Aubrey approached promptly appearing beside Chloe.
"I can't believe the Bellas are being passed on to you two slutbags after we graduate." Marissa barked harshly to the two girls in front of her. "Just don't eff up your solo!" She addressed at Aubrey coolly.
"I won't disappoint you," Aubrey started breathlessly, "my dad always, says: 'if you're not here to win, get the hell out of Kuwait." Aubrey finished confidently.
"Has your dad ever told you to shut up?" Marissa replied ruthlessly.
Aubrey looked to Chloe, taken aback. They walked forward with the group and prepared to go on stage. Aubrey felt her stomach clenching itself once more. She shook her head slightly in an attempt to make the dreaded feeling disappear. When it didn't, she looked to Chloe quickly.
"Okay!" Aubrey breathed out to Chloe. They shared a small smile and faced front, prepared to take the stage. Chloe quickly checked her breath in hesitation while she watched the Trebles belt out the last notes of their unarguably fantastic set.
The girls could hear the audience erupting in support of the boys' performance and as Aubrey swallowed her nervousness she was aware of Marissa adjusting her expensive breasts in preparation as she did before every performance since Aubrey had joined the Bellas. Aubrey couldn't wait for it to be her and Chloe leading up the Bellas. They would win the finals and everyone would be begging to be a part of their team. Her and Chloe would lead them to yet another win and Aubrey could finally feel like she was in control of herself and everything else for that matter.
The Trebles finally took their leave from the stage and the head of the boy group bounced over to the Bellas with a cocky smile.
"Ohhh! Good luck out there!" Bumper let out with a smirk, "Seriously, you girls are awesome-ly horrible!" He drawled. "I hate you. Kill yourselves. Girl power! Sisters before misters!" He ranted, mocking their immaculately dressed group.
"Ew." Marissa muttered before turning to face and address her team. "Alright, ladies. It's now or never! Hands in!"
All the Bellas smiled and threw their hands into the center of their show circle.
"One. Two." They chanted together and instead of three, all of them raised their hands in unison and recited an angelic note in a beautiful show of sisterhood and perfection.
"Up now, the Barden Bellas!" Announced the host and the girls took the stage.
Aubrey's show smile felt permanently plastered to her face and her hands dug into her side. She allowed her right knee to release and her heel popped perfectly off the ground in the Bellas signature pose. She heard the note from the captain's tuner and her clear count from one to four and then the Bellas came to life.
Marissa came out strong, her voice projecting through the auditorium like a clear angelic breeze. She came towards Aubrey, reciting the song perfectly. They spun through the choreography and for a quick second Aubrey let her eyes fall on the face of her girlfriend who through her notes gave Aubrey a supporting smile that rushed through Aubrey and propelled her forward into her solo.
Chloe watched as her girlfriend crossed the stage, singing strongly. She knew Aubrey was nervous, but so far, she was killing her solo. Aubrey hit her mark for the end of her solo and right as the note came to fall from her mouth, vomit came instead. Aubrey felt her stomach clench painfully and force all of its contents out forcefully. The Bellas stopped singing and the audience erupted with disgust. Chloe paused, shocked. She couldn't believe this happened on stage and was hit with a sudden concern for Aubrey and everything this would mean for her beautiful blonde girlfriend.
Aubrey was stunned in her position and held back tears, as she was sure, this was the worst moment of her entire life.