Author's Notes: Hey again! So, this idea came into my head the other day when I was going on a walk, and it would not leave me alone. Right now this is looking to be at least a twenty chapter or so fic. I have a few chapters already written and will most likely update every three days or so. I hope you like this! Reviews, favorites, and follows are always appreciated! Not only do they make me feel incredibly flattered, but your feedback totally boosts my confidence. Obviously, I don't own Pitch Perfect. If I did, that ridiculous kiss at the end would not have happened. I mean, Jesse acts more like an annoying brother to Beca than anything.
A day has passed since the crushing loss at Semi's, and Aubrey still couldn't go more than an hour without feeling as if she was going to stress vomit. Her father had already phoned her, and the entire call was laced with disappointment. Acapella was already seen as a complete waste of time to retired military man, and now it seemed as if his point was only further proven by his daughter's embarrassment. Add to that the stress of finals, hearing back from graduate programs, and preparing her Valedictorian speech, and the blonde was completely at her wits end. The only thing anyone could compare her to was a ticking time bomb, and no one would want to be anywhere near her when it finally went off.
Deciding that prolonging the inevitable was pointless, Aubrey purposely walked towards the Bella's rehearsal space to clean it up. Their year was over, and there was no sense in leaving the room filled with nostalgia. Her plans took a drastic detour however when she walked into the space and the sound of the grand piano being played filled the room. The notes were played and tied together so effortlessly, and Aubrey found herself unconsciously leaning against the wall to listen to the beautiful melody.
When the sound ended, she walked further into the area and couldn't believe what she saw. There sitting on the piano was none other than Beca Mitchell; the girl who single handedly ruined her senior year. "This space is only for Bellas. I believe I made it quite clear that you are everything but Bella material."
It was obvious that the freshman was caught off guard. The way she whipped her head around and jumped slightly were dead giveaways of that much. Yet, the moment those navy eyes took in the person who had joined her, the same steel determination appeared along with a pinch of annoyance. "Pretty sure I already told you that you're not the boss of me," Beca stated with the same tone of indifference that always got under the senior's skin.
Long legs took purposeful steps until she was directly in front of the girl who drove her to the edge of her sanity effortlessly. Her jaw clenched and hand moved to be placed on her hip in an attempt to show power. Control. The only vice that she would ever need in life. "I thought I would adapt your obvious lack of listening skills. Perhaps then you would understand how completely maddening it is to give orders and have them constantly ignored." Aubrey's lips pursed soon after she was done speaking. It was one of her trademarks when she was livid. Her green eyes were swirling with fury that was just dying to be released as she waited for Beca to counter. The other girl always had to have the last word if their past interactions were anything to go by.
'That damn smirk,' Aubrey thought to herself as it made it's appearance on the younger Bella's features. All that facial expression ever brought was trouble, and to say the senior was not in the mood would be the biggest understatement of the year. "Good, maybe after that you can try pulling that stick out of your ass and treating everyone like your friends instead of robots. I mean seriously, I get treating me the way you do since you don't even like me, but Chloe? You don't even give her a chance to speak half the time."
And that was it. That was all it took for Aubrey's anger to bubble over. The mention of her leadership skills and treatment of her best friend were just the reminder of two other failures that she could not handle being thrown on her plate on top of everything else. The pile was already much too big for any other additions. "Why did you even have to join in the first place? It is obvious that you've never cared for anyone but yourself. While your cry against society will be seen as cute for a few more years, your obvious issue with tradition shows your underlying issues with any form of commitment. You said yesterday that you were trying, but we both know that is not even remotely true! You never once tried to follow the order of things and give it your absolute best. As soon as your realized that you weren't going to get your way, you became a pain in my ass, and I'm sick and tired of your whining."
By the end of her rant, Aubrey's chest was rising and falling due to the emotion that joined her words. If anyone would take a moment to stop and take a closer look, they would realize that the only way the blonde would know any of the deeper issues she just said would have to be from her paying much closer attention to the DJ than anyone ever noticed. If they thought back to it and truly watched, people would see the looks thrown Beca's way or the way the senior's face morphed into one of confusion from time to time in the freshman's presence.
Beca's own anger wasn't faring much better. After all of the outbursts that her teammates had witnessed, it wasn't exactly a secret that the freshman didn't handle extreme emotions very well. She easily became overwhelmed and would push away anything that hit too close to home. Almost every single one of Aubrey's words hit far too close to home. Her commitment issues and problems with societal views were both tied to her father which was a subject that she did not like anyone speaking of. "I'm getting the weirdest sense of deja-vu through this conversation. You don't know me, Aubrey, and making assumptions just makes an ass out of you. I mean, that's what I've heard anyway." The freshman crosses her arms over her chest and leaned against the piano. She could never figure out what it was about the other woman that got under her skin and made her body hot all over. Very few people ever got a reaction from her. Ever since her parents' divorce, Beca was a pro at indifference and keeping people at a distance. Yet with Aubrey, she always went back for more. Their conversations never ended in anything else other than fighting, but the brunette always went back. "Let's get one thing straight though, I care. Yeah, Chloe had to literally barrel her way into my life to get me to do this, but I care about everyone including you. I fought you so hard because I knew we wouldn't win with that tired setlist, and I knew how much winning meant to you. I couldn't care less about a stupid trophy for a hobby that I thought was stupid a few months ago, but I cared because you wanted it."
That was the last thing Aubrey expected to hear from the younger girl before her. She would have expected her to say something like that for Chloe, or well, just about anyone else on the face of the planet, but not her. Beca represented everything that terrified the blonde. Her actions were reckless, she had very little respect for authority, and did not have any concrete life plans. The freshman quite literally represented everything her father had told her to never become. She was hard on the other girl due to the fact that her narrow minded views that were fostered by Colonel Posen himself constantly told her that she was not one to be trusted; that she would ruin everything. Beca only further supported such ideas by constantly trying to take away the only thing Aubrey has ever been taught to possess. Control was like a security blanket for the senior, and she absolutely despised situations where she lacked it. With the younger Bella, Aubrey constantly felt out of control, and that was not acceptable. Her curiosity was not acceptable and needed to be squashed the moment hazel eyes landed on those ear monstrosities and heavy makeup.
Beca realized that she wasn't going to get anything out of the senior which filled her with a disappointment that she couldn't quite place. She should be filled with satisfaction due to the fact that she finally was able to get the last word against the blonde, but she was expecting Aubrey to have more of a reaction to her revelation. A revelation mind you that she had not even planned on saying out loud. But, instead of sitting there and forcing them to talk about all of the things that they really should get out, the freshman took the road most traveled in her life and ran. She stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets and walked out of the Bella rehearsal space feeling confident that the pang she felt in her heart would dissipate with time. Right? Right.