A/N: I own nothing. The characters aren't mine, nor are the songs, shows or records referenced. That is all...

I've fallen out of favor and I've fallen from grace
Fallen out of trees and I've fallen on my face
Fallen out of taxis, out of windows too
Fell in your opinion when I fell in love with you

Falling- Florence + The Machine

Chapter One: Aubrey

She didn't mean to invite the whole gang on her summer vacation. It was an accident, if anything, because the words just slipped from her mouth over dinner at the cafe without passing through her internal filter first. They were meant for Chloe's ears alone, but as Chloe flashed her an uneasy smile and Jesse perked up at the mention of free lodgings and a dock with a rowboat, she couldn't take it back.

Chloe didn't want to go alone. She didn't want one last summer before they both had to go their separate ways as grad school took over. She didn't want to feel anything. She needed a buffer and Jesse, with his eager smile and pleading eyes, was the perfect candidate.

Beca seemed to reflect exactly how Aubrey was feeling inside, her face contorting into an uneasy smirk as Jesse flung an arm around her shoulders and exclaimed "Doesn't that sound amazing, Bec? We could spend the whole summer together! Fishing and swimming and drinking. We could even go to the beach..." He trailed off as Beca simply nodded and looked down at her plate of french fries, unsure of how to respond to his urging. "Are you okay? We don't have to go..."

"Oh, come on Beca!" Chloe reached across the table and grabbed her forearms, rubbing them playfully and keeping her eyes forward to avoid contact with Aubrey's. "It'll be so much fun! I'm going to be in New York next semester and Bree will be in Boston, so how often will we see each other? I want you there." She flashed Jesse a warm smile before sitting back against the booth and withering as her arm brushed against Aubrey's. "I want you both there."

"Are you sure it's okay?" Beca asked Aubrey, who looked up from her milkshake and whose eyes were seemingly swimming in tears as they stared back into her own. "Do you really want us there all summer? I don't want to put you out."

"It's fine." Aubrey murmured while giving them a tight smile and fishing for her wallet in her purse, ready to end this dinner before she agreed to anything else. "The more the merrier. It'll be a blast."

As Jesse started to make plans with Beca to fly down together, Aubrey turned and looked at Chloe for a moment, meeting her eyes and reaching for her hand under the table. Their fingers brushed and intertwined for a moment before Chloe pulled away and looked down at her half-eaten platter, suddenly uncomfortable as a flush worked its way onto her ears and neck.

When did I lose her?

The house has been in her family for years, the seldom-used vacation home of her grandparents who rarely left the city and their busy lives. It sat empty all summer, save for a week or two when Thomas Posen would pack up the family car and drag Beau and Aubrey off to the house against their will. There were no grand family vacations to the Grand Canyon or Disney World with a father like her own. Instead, they would pile into the Buick and drive from their home in Wilmington to the large house just minutes from Myrtle Beach. Aubrey and her brother would mope the entire time while their father fished and smoked cigars and grilled dinner for them every night. There was no television, phone, or kids around to keep them occupied; just a den full of musty novels and a record player that barely worked. It was torture.

It was heaven.

It was everything that she needed after nearly falling apart before finals. It was the perfect place to relax for a while and just have some peace before she had to start all over again in Boston. Before law school would take over her life and consume her with mnemonics and term papers. Before she lost her best friend to medical school and the bright lights of New York City. Before someone else saw everything that Aubrey did and stole her heart away.

Before her heart broke apart completely.

The peace and quiet would come eventually, Aubrey promised herself as she popped open the back of her father's Jeep and started to heave suitcases out of it. The ride from the airport to the house had been pleasant, but as they pulled in front of the house and everyone got a good look at their accommodations for the next two months, the bickering began.

"This is just like Dawson's Creek", Chloe breathed out as she spotted the small creek in the back of the house and the rickety row boat that was tethered to the dock. "It's perfect!"

"If this is Dawson's Creek", Jesse teased while poking Chloe in the arm," then I get to be Pacey!"

"What?!" Chloe exclaimed while pushing him back and trying not to laugh. "That's not fair! Pacey was my favorite. You can be Dawson. You have a huge forehead just like he has."

Beca shook her head as her boyfriend bantered with her best friend and joined Aubrey at the back of the car, spotting her laptop under a duffle bag and hoisting it over her shoulder while shooting Aubrey a small smile.

"It's going to be a long summer, isn't it?"

Aubrey laughed, finally allowing herself to relax as the pair continued fighting as they walked up the path to the house, and Beca had to bite her own lip to stop herself from grinning.

"Yeah, but it'll be nice." She smiled and thrust a suitcase into Beca's arms while shutting the trunk and cocking her head. "Let's go inside. I'll make Mimosas and we can ignore those two. Start the summer off right."

The genuine smile that Beca gave her in return reassured her and made her think that maybe this wasn't a bad idea. That maybe they would all get along and no one would get hurt.

That her heart would make it through until fall.

Chloe slept in a tank top and boy shorts, half covered by a blanket that she always managed to kick off in her sleep. One arm tossed haphazardly over the edge of the bed while the other was thrust under her pillow, in a position that Aubrey couldn't possibly understand the appeal of. It suited Chloe though and as Aubrey slinked out from behind her and reached for her pajama bottoms, which had somehow made it across the room in the midst of their drunken make-out session the night before, she couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked. It suited Chloe and she loved it. She loved this.

She loved the bitter taste of Chloe's lips as they crashed against her own, mumbling endearments between moans as they slipped out of the living room and upstairs. She didn't care that Beca would flash her a knowing smirk and that Jesse would raise an eyebrow when she joined them at the breakfast table later. She didn't mind when Chloe would refuse to acknowledge it, covering the bruises on her collarbone with a t-shirt and not saying a word as she slid pancakes onto her plate and kept her eyes downcast. It had always been this way. What about this situation would make her think that it would ever change?

Chloe was ticklish on her upper arms, where the freckles were scattered and dark from afternoons in the sun. Her skin was especially sensitive in the morning when a tickle of a finger or a brush of a foot on a calf could send her through the roof. Giggling and squirming until she stopped Aubrey with teasing fingers or lips pressed against warm skin. The brief moments where they acted like they actually enjoyed the situation before they eventually pulled apart and went downstairs, back to the company of their flirty friends and where none of this was acknowledged. Where the lingering glances and brief hidden touches were enough until Chloe got drunk enough to forget again.

Don't ask Aubrey why it mattered. Why it hurt. Why it made her cry sometimes as she laid in her bed and stared up at the cracked ceiling, alone and simmering in her racing thoughts.

They were just friends.

Chloe hooked up with a girl from the pub on the first weekend of the summer. Pulling the drunken co-ed up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door behind her as they sunk onto her bed. Their drunken giggling and moans filling the wooden house as they got louder and louder, forgetting that they weren't alone.

Joe's Pub was the only place in town that sold alcohol and the old barkeep ignored Jesse and Beca's awful fake IDs as he poured them mixed drinks with a wink. He could remember what it was like to be young and stuck in a small town and desperate for fun. Aubrey thanked him with a tiny smile as he just shook his head at their IDs and told her tall tales of what life used to be like while her friends had a blast in the tiny bar.

Jesse and Beca had argued over which song to pick from the juke box, but finally managed to come to an agreement on Patsy Cline's Crazy. The tears filled Aubrey's eyes as the pair started to slow dance in a corner and Joe slid a Sloe Jin Fizz across the bar to her, somehow understanding the hurt in her eyes without a single word. The drink was sweet and exactly what she had needed after a day in the sun, exploring a local farmer's market before having dinner and spending some time at the beach. The day had been perfect. Or at least she had thought so until everything turned to ruin in front of her eyes.

Jesse was whispering something in Beca's ear and had a hand placed on the small of her back, pulling her against his body as they swayed. Chloe used to dance with her like that, in quiet nights back at their dorm before winning took over everything. Her head resting in the crook of Chloe's shoulder and inhaling the sweet smell of floral shampoo as Chloe hummed along to the soft music and moved with her in time to the beat.

Now that girl was downing shots with a blonde in a college sweatshirt, trading jokes and stories as they flirted and couldn't stop touching each other. It ached. It made the tears sting in her eyes and her hands shake as she tipped the glass back and finished her drink. Licking her lips as she placed the glass back onto the bar and tried to keep her cool, flashing Joe a tiny smile as he just shook his head and frowned.

He refilled her glass over and over and kept telling her stories, not minding that she didn't say much as she took everything in. She couldn't look away. She didn't want to look away.

There wasn't enough alcohol in the bar to block out what she was hearing now, sitting on the floor in front of her bed and crying into her knees as she clutched them to her chest. Her whole body ached. Her head was pounding and her stomach was churning, but she couldn't stop listening. She couldn't climb into her bed and shut it out. She needed to feel this pain to stop herself from falling for that girl each time she looked at her.

Jesse and Beca had passed out on the couch in the den when they had all stumbled into the house, drunk and warm and cozy as she crawled on top of him and slept against his chest. Chloe's moans in the old house were enough to wake the girl though and Aubrey stiffened as her bedroom door opened and Beca shuffled inside, slightly wobbly but still standing.

The girl sat next to her on the floor and reached out for her hand, taking it in her own and squeezing it gently as Aubrey cried harder. She hated crying over something that didn't matter. Chloe didn't want a relationship. She didn't want to complicate things. She didn't want to lose her best friend.

How was this any better?

Beca was pulling her in for an awkward hug and as her tiny arms wrapped around Aubrey's body, she relaxed and sobbed into her t-shirt.

"I'm so sorry", Beca whispered as she rubbed Aubrey's back and tried to soothe her. "I thought that you two..."

"We're nothing", Aubrey murmured while pulling away from Beca and smiling sadly at her. "Go to bed, I'll be okay."

It was easier to lie than face the truth.

Beca helped her clean the house the next morning while Jesse and Chloe slept their hangovers off. For being so annoying, she was actually surprisingly helpful and as they dusted the living room and pulled blankets off of the record player and book shelves, Aubrey was glad for the company. She didn't want to be alone after a night like last night and somehow Beca understood, rising at the crack of dawn and wordlessly picking up a towel and furniture cleaner as she joined Aubrey in the den.

Once she took the dust heavy blanket off of the record player, Beca stared down at it and smiled as she took in the beautiful instrument. It was meticulously kept and she had always dreamt of owning one just like this. It was perfect.

"Could I borrow the Jeep?" Beca softly asked while eyeing the puny collection of records next to the player. "There's a record shop in town and I want to get some stuff that will actually sound decent on this thing. Do you mind?"

Aubrey shook her head and thrust the keys into the girl's hands, taking over the job of making the living room homey as Beca raced upstairs to grab her shoes and her wallet.

She came back hours later with her arms laden with records. She had everything from The Beach Boys to Michael Jackson and as she placed them on the kitchen table with a grin and allowed her friends to look at her new additions, Aubrey knew that inviting her had been a good idea.

She had picked something up for all of them, so they would all have something to enjoy during the evenings in front of the fire. So they could all feel at home.

Kaleidoscope Heart for Aubrey, still in the plastic wrap and glistening as Aubrey ran her fingers over the track listing and couldn't wait to sing along to her favorite selections. Parallel Lines for herself, her favorite record and a gift for the house since she had her own vintage copy at home that had belonged to her mother. Back in Black for Jesse, who threatened to sing You Shook Me All Night Long if they couldn't listen to it first. Abbey Road for Chloe, which made the girl tear up as she thanked Beca and stared down at the record.

Somehow, Beca figured that Chloe would love that record, but Aubrey knew the truth. She knew that Chloe loved The Beatles and always cried to Something when Aubrey played it in their dorm room. That she imagined her future when Because played. That Here Comes The Sun always made her giggle like a child.

Aubrey knew the important things. She pushed for Beca to play that record first and as the funky intro to Come Together filled the living room, Chloe reached out for her hand and held it tightly, pulling her down onto the couch while Beca put the rest of the collection away and Jesse played air guitar along with George Harrison.

"I'm sorry." Soft words whispered into her ear as she clutched at Aubrey's bicep and stared into her green eyes. "Please forgive me."

She could never stop loving that girl.

Beca had been wearing t-shirts lately, trying to hide the tan lines from her nosy friends as they lazed around the house and wasted the first few glorious weeks of their break. She didn't want them to question what she had been doing when she snuck off with Jesse, clutching his hand and walking out the back door of the house as they went on adventures.

Aubrey knew better, spotting the bikini that Beca air dried each afternoon on the tiny balcony that was a feature of her guest bedroom. It was navy blue and had tiny polka dots on it as it hung off of a crooked nail protruding from the balcony, drying in the warm afternoon sun and wavering back and forth every so often when a breeze hit it. She saw it as she swept the leaves and bugs from the pool, sweeping the brush along the top of the water and trying her hardest not to smile at Beca's secret life.

It was kind of ridiculous that she got embarrassed over going wading in the creek with her boyfriend, but somehow it wasn't out of place coming from Beca. She was a strange girl and remarkably shy for someone who has a dream of entertaining crowds of people with her music. It was endearing though and Aubrey just shook her head and tucked this information into the back of her mind, promising herself to never reveal it and mortify the girl.

It didn't stop her from feeling a pang of jealousy as Jesse and Beca snuck back onto the property an hour later, their cut off shorts soaked and their feet dirty from the shallow and rocky water. She gave them a tiny grin while discarding the leaves and when she turned back around from the garbage cans, Jesse had planted a tiny kiss on the top of Beca's head, smiling as she squirmed in his arms and murmured soft words that made him smile.

She was happy for them. She just needed to keep telling herself that.

It was a Thursday and somehow, Beca had managed to find marijuana in the tiny town. Aubrey begged her, practically pleading with her, to not bring drugs into the house but she simply laughed in her face and promised to get her so stoned that she wouldn't even remember tonight.

Aubrey Posen did not get high. She hated the smell of marijuana and the idea of losing control while ingesting something from dubious origins. She hated the feeling of smoke filling her lungs and choking her as she coughed and gasped for breath. There was a reason why she had only smoked cigarettes once in her life, sneaking one off of the back porch with Beau the summer before her senior year in high school. Future lawyers did not get "stoned".

She just couldn't help herself though when she walked into the dining room and saw the trio passing the joint back and forth, blowing smoke rings and relaxing as soft music played in the background. They were laughing and smiling and the sly smile on Chloe's face as she held the joint out to her best friend was irresistible.

One time couldn't hurt, right?

That was what she kept telling herself as one joint turned into two and two turned into four. It was nice to actually let loose and her laugh came a little easier while her ever present anxiety seemed to disappear. The last joint in the stash was dwindling down to nothing though and while Beca and Jesse were chatting quietly about some music artist, Aubrey turned her attention to Chloe. She offered her the tiny remaining portion of the joint and grinned when Chloe frowned and made a face. She was adorable.

"You didn't save me any", Chloe pouted while sticking out her bottom lip and fluttering her eyelashes. When Aubrey smiled, Chloe bit her lip and softly said "There's only one solution then. We'll have to shotgun the rest of it. Lemme see that."

Aubrey passed her the joint and Chloe studied it for a moment before taking a long drag, the end of it turning red as her breath mixed with the flaming herb inside. Once her mouth was full of smoke, she motioned for Aubrey to lean close to her and placed a thumb on her lips, tracing the outline of the bottom one before easing her finger between the pair and gently opening her mouth.

Aubrey closed her eyes as Chloe leaned close and held her breath as their lips nearly met. Chloe grabbed her shoulder and held her firmly in place while she slowly and teasingly let the smoke slip from her lips and into Aubrey's open mouth.

It was warm and her head was swimming and she wanted desperately to cough, but she was too entranced in Chloe's presence. In her half-closed eyes and flushed cheeks. In the way that her nails were digging into her shoulder on accident, not knowing that she was sending shivers of pain through her body. In her scent and her beauty and in…everything.

As the last bits of the smoke entered her lungs, she couldn't stop herself when she leaned close to Chloe and pressed her lips to her swollen ones, her lungs aching for relief as she held the smoke in and ran her tongue along Chloe's bottom lip while the girl kissed her back.

Jesse and Beca were stunned for a moment, but soon started to laugh and cheer their friends on. They had been waiting for this moment to happen for three weeks now and who cared if it took getting the pair baked for it to happen? It was awesome.

Chloe was the first to pull away, looking up at Aubrey with confused eyes and a stunned expression on her face as she tried to put everything together. As the realization of what had just happened finally sunk in, the girl's face reddened and she quickly rose from the table, nearly knocking her chair backwards as she ran from the group and upstairs.

They all seemed to sober up as the smoke slipped from Aubrey's lips and lingered in the air, hanging for a few moments before dissipating and leaving behind a reminder of what had just happened. Beca followed after Chloe and Jesse shook his head sadly while taking the still burning joint off of the table and extinguishing it before pulling the girl in for a hug and telling her that it would be okay. That she had done nothing wrong.

Then why did it feel like she had just ruined everything?

Aubrey snuck into Chloe's room once Beca came back downstairs, standing in the doorway and gazing at the girl who was lying on her back on the bed with a pillow over her face.

"You're going to smother yourself if you keep that up."

"Is this a joke to you?" Chloe asked while removing the pillow and glaring up at Aubrey. "Do you think that this is some kind of game? You know that we can't do this."

"Why no-"

"-You know why!" Chloe exclaimed, sitting up on the bed and running a hand through her hair as fresh tears sprung to her eyes. "I'm not willing to lose you to this...fling that we have. I'm not ready for this. I'm not..."

"Gay?" Aubrey whispered while leaning against the wall and blinking back her own tears. "Then what was the other night, when we kissed and you took my top off? Or that first weekend when you brought that girl back here and slept with her? That all sounds pretty gay to me."

"You know what I mean, Bree." Chloe mumbled while swiping a hand over her eyes and shaking her head. "I don't want you to hate me. I don't want a break-up to ruin us. I don't want a...phase in my life to ruin everything that we've built together. I'm sorry."

Aubrey shook her head in disbelief as Chloe laid back down and rolled on her side, pulling her knees into her chest as she fought back tears. Fear was going to keep them apart? What was scarier than denying the attraction that they shared, the spark that happened whenever their lips met? At how easily it felt to kiss and touch each other. At how much it hurt to ignore each other after sharing a bed at night.

"Fuck you." Aubrey whispered before slamming the door behind her and running to her own room.

Somehow, those words slipping from her lips hurt more than any rejection from Chloe ever had.

"One and two and a-three and four", Jesse counted aloud downstairs as Aubrey heard the floor boards creaking below her room. They were dancing, like they did most evenings when they thought that their housemates were upstairs sleeping. Beca had been shy to his advances at first, but he was goofy and funny and made sure that he didn't step on her toes as they danced to the old records that Beca had picked up a few days ago in town.

It was ridiculously cute and when they weren't looking one evening, Chloe had captured a few stealth photos and messaged them to their fellow Bellas, cackling when Beca found out and nearly punched her in the mouth. She didn't stay angry for long though, softening when she saw the picture that Chloe had taken and admitting out loud that it was kinda cute.

It wasn't making Aubrey feel any better now though, as she laid in her bed and sobbed into her pillow while replaying her fight with Chloe. Her heart was aching and she couldn't understand why Chloe couldn't just love her. Why she couldn't hold her and kiss her and let her know that she wanted to spend every moment with her. That she loved her the best.

Her sobs were shaking her whole body, but she could hear the door creek open and knew that it was Chloe, since we could still hear the couple downstairs dancing. She didn't look up as Chloe entered, but she didn't look away either. She just tried her best to calm her breathing and wiped her face off with the back of her hand. She couldn't let Chloe know that this whole thing was ripping her apart. She had to be strong. She couldn't give in.

"I'm so sorry", Chloe whispered while smoothing Aubrey's messy hair back and releasing it from the sloppy ponytail, stroking the locks as they fell in waves upon her shoulders. "You're not just a "phase" or whatever dumb thing I said in my room. You're everything."

She was easing herself onto the bed now and wrapping an arm over Aubrey's torso as she spooned her from behind, cradling her shaking body close to her own and placing soft kisses on the back of her neck.

"You did nothing wrong."

The lips were moving from her neck to her cheek and Aubrey squeezed her eyes shut as she bit back a moan, her sobs suddenly forgotten as Chloe placed open-mouthed kissed down her jaw until their lips met in a passionate kiss.

"I love you."

Aubrey pulled away as Chloe whispered those words into her neck, sliding her fingers down to her pajama bottoms and fumbling with the drawstring until the knot finally loosened. It was the first time that she had ever heard those words slip from Chloe's lips. She had imagined a million more romantic instances of this happening in her dreams, but this was okay. It was enough.

"I love you too."

And she truly did, even if her heart was still aching and her body felt used. Those words were enough for now. They were everything.

It was all she had ever wanted.

A/N: As the summary states, this is a Jeca and Chaubrey fic. There will be four chapters, each focusing on one of the characters as the summer progresses. The next chapter will focus on Jesse. If reviews are your thing, go ahead and leave one. Feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading!