Aubrey does her research.
The day the Dean of Students confirms the rumors circulating around Barden, student life becomes nothing short of chaotic. There's masked fear and rowdy eagerness, plus an overabundance of curiosity that Aubrey isn't quite sure is healthy.
(She won't admit it aloud, but she's curious, too.)
Aubrey Googles.
She prefers books – the steady, sturdy feel of them in her palms, and the smell, and the little thrill of accomplishment that she experiences each time she flips a page – but most books regarding Vampires are now outdated, and the newly published ones have already been checked out from the library before Aubrey has the chance to get there, herself.
Most of the new information – the accurate information – can only be found online, at the moment; it's only been a couple of years since a single coven, and then slowly more, exposed themselves to the world, and even still, they haven't been known to excessively interact with the living. Aubrey limits her search to scientific articles and academia websites, ignoring the trash headlines and unconfirmed speculations as much as possible, but there are still large gaps in the public knowledge regarding Vampire culture and habits, and it bothers Aubrey immensely.
She likes to be prepared, but no matter how much time or energy she is willing to devote to this project, she can't possibly be prepared when no one in the world seems to really know anything about their impending visitors.
From what Aubrey understands, they're still largely nomadic, and she hasn't heard of many who settle in one place for very long. She wonders if that will change, now that they've alerted the humans to their presence.
Aubrey is nervous, and she can't quite decide whether she wants to join her friends in their blatant excitement for the coven's arrival to campus, or if she wants to hide in her room and pretend that such wild, dangerous creatures do not (and will never) exist in this world.
Still, she respects them, to a degree. After all, the Vampires probably didn't have to call ahead and arrange for accommodations; they could just… show up, effectively terrifying (and, perhaps, terrorizing) the resident human population. It's nice that they have accounted for human emotion, and have allowed people like Aubrey to collect whatever knowledge they can prior to their arrival.
It's a generosity that Aubrey acknowledges the Vampires don't have to extend, and she's appreciative of it.
Aubrey still hasn't made up her mind about her feelings, but she also isn't given that much of a chance before Chloe bursts into her room and announces, only a single day prior to what Aubrey has internally dubbed The Vampire Invasion, that the campus is hosting a blood drive in honor of their guests.
It's a strange feeling that overcomes Aubrey then, because the reminder that these creatures literally survive off the blood of living people – people like Chloe, and Aubrey, and all of their friends – is more than a little terrifying. Still, Aubrey recognizes that the Vampires are still people, and they must survive somehow; it's safest that they provide blood that is volunteered, rather than forcing the Vampires to find it elsewhere.
Aubrey isn't sure she wants to think too hard about the alternative, actually, so she obediently tags along with Chloe, who prattles on about how Stacie and Amy have already donated, and the rest of the Bellas are planning to stop by in between classes. Chloe also tells her that the Trebles (under Jesse's advisement) have agreed to chip in, as well.
Chloe speculates that the support of the acapella groups is what prompts the cheerleaders to offer theirs, as well (those attention-seeking bitches will do anything to upstage the growing popularity of acapella at Barden, Aubrey scoffs to herself), which obviously means that the football team is donating, too – and if the football team is donating, well… pretty much the whole campus will make their way to the blood drive by the end of the day, Aubrey's sure.
She remains mostly silent as they wait their turn, and she's still quiet when the nurse directs them to their seats, because her thoughts are still essentially just a hurricane that's utterly wrecking her from the inside out. Eventually, though, she's forced to sigh when Chloe bites her lip as they're settled on the reclining chairs with needles jammed into their arms.
"Does it bother you?" The redhead inquires, her voice soft and kind and all kinds of understanding. "Helping them?"
Aubrey shakes her head. "No," she replies earnestly, because it isn't helping them that makes her anxious. "I just wonder what they're like. They could be horrifying, Chloe. Everyone is so excited for them to come here, but they must create horror stories about Vampires for a reason, right?"
"Maybe," Chloe replies agreeably. "Or they could just be misunderstood. Vampire stories have existed for centuries, Bree, and only a few of them paint pretty pictures. It's probably really hard to beat that reputation down, don't you think?"
Aubrey quirks a smile at that and fondly shakes her head, because it is just like Chloe to give even Vampires the benefit of the doubt.
"That could be true," Aubrey confesses softly, wincing a little and scowling as the nurse swaps out the now-full vial of blood for an empty one and shifts Aubrey's needle around just a little too roughly for comfort. "But we don't know anything, Chloe. They could kill all of us in the blink of an eye, if they really wanted to. I don't mind helping them," she shakes her head. "Truly, I don't," she insists. "I just wonder if our 'help' will be enough."
"Well," Chloe replies thoughtfully, head lopping just slightly to the right, and Aubrey only stares at her and smiles, and thinks that if her girlfriend maybe sometimes resembles a puppy, just a little bit, then she's the most precious puppy Aubrey's ever seen, "they've been other places before here, you know," Chloe tells her. "And I'm pretty sure that we'd know if those other visits had ended in the slaughter of humanity," she teases with a wink and a wide grin.
It's a fair enough assertion, and it's one which Aubrey has been a bit too preoccupied to really consider; for the moment, it's enough for Aubrey to concede Chloe's point.
"I suppose you're right," she nods, offering a thin, practiced smile to the clumsy nurse at her hip, who withdraws her needle and tells her to lie still for a few minutes, gesturing to the basket of cookies on the small table between her and Chloe's chairs.
"And if I'm wrong," Chloe giggles, "at least they hypnotize you before they eat you alive, right?"
Most of the material Aubrey's dredged up on Vampires denies that the hypnotization is a necessity, actually; from what Aubrey's learned, it's more of a kindness that they can choose to offer their victims, in the event that they feel so inclined. She guesses that makes sense, though, because – for the Vampires – blood is probably just blood, regardless of its carrier's state of mind.
Aubrey doesn't mention that to Chloe, though, and instead leans over to sigh softly against her cheek, just before she presses her mouth against it.
Chloe beams, and Aubrey melts in her seat, silently attributing her mild lightheadedness to the blood she's just basically sacrificed.
Aubrey trembles from the moment she wakes up, far before the sun rises, despite knowing that the campus guests won't arrive until nightfall. The entire campus – staff and students alike – are joining for their reception at eight.
Chloe notices, but doesn't mention it, smiling and gently folding a soothing kiss across Aubrey's forehead before shooing her out the door for a run, during which Aubrey knows Chloe will burrow back beneath the blankets for a few more minutes of sleep.
It's very early, and the blonde can't really be upset with the redhead for needing a bit more rest, so she chuckles a little and obligingly digs a pair of running shorts and a sports bra from her drawers before Chloe loses patience.
Aubrey slips her earbuds into place and walks the few blocks to the park, quickening her pace to a crisp jog as she laps around it once she gets there. She'll admit that she isn't entirely paying attention to her surroundings; she's in her own head, pretty much the same as she has been for the past two weeks, since the Dean's announcement.
She wonders what they'll be like. Every account Aubrey's found thus far details that the Vampires look human enough, but she wonders if it will feel any different to be around them. She wonders if they breathe – and if they do, is it for their own comfort, or the public's? She wonders if they are cruel by nature, or irrational – or perhaps they are reasonable, and nearly human in their behaviors? She wonders if they feel cold to the touch, or if that's only a myth. She wonders exactly how strong they are, in comparison, and how frequently they actually require that kind of frightening strength. She wonders –
Well, Aubrey wonders why she just felt a crunch beneath her shoe.
Aubrey slows and backs up a few paces, realizing she'd trekked the rather familiar trail around the park and through the slightly wooded back space in order to make her jog last just a little bit longer. There's no trodden path, Aubrey knows, but she runs this area all the time, and has never before seen anyone else out here – at least, not this early in the morning.
Still, she turns around and spies a girl, seated on the ground and leaned up against a tree, blinking owlishly at what Aubrey can now detect as a shattered pair of headphones. She's dressed in jeans and a ratty pair of Converse shoes, and there are metal things in her ears that Aubrey can't help but think are absolutely hideous, but smooth-looking brown hair mostly masks their presence. Slim, small fingers lower a cell phone from her ear as she gently tosses it to the ground, one of her many silver rings tapping softly against the screen in the process. Her eyes are a steely blue that's much darker than Chloe's, but they're entrancing – and Aubrey realizes this only once she acknowledges that she has yet to actually say anything, and this girl doesn't look eager to be the first to speak.
Not that she should. Aubrey did just break her headphones, after all.
Aubrey yanks her own earbuds to dangle around her neck, and swallows only once before profusely apologizing and folding her fingers around her abruptly nauseous stomach.
"I'm so sorry!" She gasps out. "It was an accident. I was just running, and I suppose I wasn't paying attention the way I should have been, and I just – oh," she sighs out, pressing her palm into her forehead to stop her own rambling. "I'm very sorry," she repeats sorrowfully. "I'll pay for a replacement pair. They don't look cheap. I – " Aubrey flounders. "I'm sorry," she whispers one final time.
"Dude," the girl frowns sincerely. "Calm down. It's fine. It's not like you did it on purpose. I've got more."
"No, please," Aubrey insists. "How much were they? I don't have cash on me now, obviously," Aubrey bumbles and gestures to her obvious lack of clothing – and, honestly, is it even legal to be this embarrassed before the sun's even come up, while standing with only a sports bra for a top in front of a complete and total stranger, in front of whom she's just positively humiliated herself? "But I promise I'll get you the money."
The girl looks amused, and smirks not at all briefly as her eyes flicker not at all quickly across every exposed inch of Aubrey's chest, torso, and legs.
"Seriously?" Aubrey raises her brows reflexively. "I just broke your very expensive headphones, and you're more worried about checking me out?" She scowls, and firmly plants her hands against her hips.
"Well, you know…" The girl grins wolfishly. "Priorities," she shrugs, then boosts herself up from the ground and wipes her dirty palms against her jeans. She then spreads one out to Aubrey, and matches the blonde's incredulous green gaze with a mesmerizing blue one of her own. "Beca," she says.
Aubrey's fingers instinctively dart out to grasp the ones offered to her, and she swallows once more before a soft chuckle beneath Beca's breath startles her back to reality.
"Aubrey," she shakes her head eventually, ducking her eyes to the left and feeling oddly… aroused? No. No, she has Chloe for that, and no one on this blessed Earth can make Aubrey feel the way that Chloe does. No, no, this cannot be happening. So Aubrey quickly decides that it didn't happen, and that she isn't feeling this way, and clears her throat and her mind, all at once. "Aubrey Posen."
Beca grins, in a sort of amused but also slightly mocking way that Aubrey instantly feels wildly confused about, before replying, "Well, it was really nice meeting you, Aubrey Posen, but I should probably get going. Apparently it's time for people to start waking up, now, so I should probably move the rest of my breakables before someone else decides to stomp on them," she smirks, gesturing vaguely behind her in the direction of a laptop and a cell phone and an iPod scattered on the ground.
Aubrey flushes furiously when the playful remark permeates the fog that's clouding her mind, but she scowls through it, and murmurs, "Well, maybe you shouldn't leave your things lying around."
"It's still dark out, and I'm off the path," Beca deadpans. "What about my location says, 'beware of joggers smashing your shit?'"
"I – " Well, she's crass, but she might maybe be right, too. Aubrey huffs. "I'm sorry," she repeats again, defeated.
Beca shrugs, bending to gather her things, and Aubrey certainly does not stare at her rounded ass, hugged through a pair of impossibly tight skinny jeans.
At least, she doesn't stare long enough to be noticed – but, if forced heavily enough, she could probably recount a pretty vivid image of its shape…
"No big. Don't worry about it, Posen. See you around," Beca smiles over her shoulder and flips two fingers up in a nonchalant wave goodbye.
Aubrey releases a heavy, baffled breath before realizing that the now-useless headphones are still in the dirt, and Beca had neither offered nor requested any information that might aid Aubrey in replacing them. Her name will have to be enough.
"Damn it," Aubrey scowls, scooping up the broken cups and twining the cord around them, tightly clenching them in her fist as she jogs back home.
Aubrey tells Chloe about her mortifying encounter as soon as she returns and realizes that Chloe is not only awake, but also making breakfast.
"Aw, Bree," Chloe giggles, leaning against the counter in preparation to flip the pancake over the stove, when ready. "You have a crush!" She declares delightedly.
"I do not, Chloe," Aubrey rolls her eyes exasperatedly. "And even if I did, shouldn't you be upset about that?"
"Why would I be?" Chloe frowns, before spinning around to check on her meal. "I know you love me, Aubrey. It's okay if you have a tiny crush."
"I don't have a crush," Aubrey insists firmly. "I just- I felt badly. I broke her headphones. And look!" Aubrey holds up the mess of evidence, still bundled around her hand. "They're really nice ones, Chloe. I should've been paying attention," she laments softly, and drops her face into her palms at the breakfast bar.
"It doesn't sound like Beca was all that worried about it, sweetie," Chloe reminds her gently as she rolls the pancake onto its back. "Priorities, remember?" The redhead giggles again.
Aubrey huffs, and indignantly replies, "For serious, though, Chloe! Who does that?"
"… I'd totally forget about a busted pair of headphones if you were half naked in front of me, too," Chloe replies, winking at Aubrey, who really just cannot control the overheated temperature of her face, today.
"I'll have to find her to compensate for the damage," she groans, electing to ignore her girlfriend's flirtatious jibe altogether.
"How?" Chloe asks, grinning. "You only have her first name."
And… Aubrey hadn't really thought of needing a last name, but it's not like 'Beca' is all that uncommon. That's actually- a pretty sizeable complication.
She groans and drops her head on the countertop.
Author's Note: So, like… I can't decide if I suck for writing this, but it's happening, anyway. I'm out of classes for the summer, and the new PP movie is giving me all kinds of Beca-feels in literally, like, every way. It's ridiculous.