"It's been two years Becs. I don't think I can see her again so soon." Stacie says falling onto the sofa at her friend's house.
"Oh my god, you're still in love with Aubrey? I'm not letting you get out of this. If I have to go you have to go. It's not going to be fun for either of us. Maybe when you see her again you'll finally be able to get over her." Beca says in response while making coffee for the two of them.
"Yeah tell me about it. Nothing I do gets me over her. Maybe I can avoid her the whole time." She says putting her head in her legs in frustration.
"You're going to ditch me as soon as you see Chloe again. You two always liked each other. You're toner for each other was obvious to all us Bella's." She says lifting her head and turning to where her friend was standing.
"Stace, you can't avoid her she's the one that planned this Bella's reunion. You haven't even tried being in a relationship with anyone since her. I don't have a toner for Chloe she's just a good friend. She's flirty that's just how she is. You've got three days before we leave for the retreat. You better get yourself together for seeing Aubrey again." The smaller brunette says as she hands Stacie a cup and sits next to her on the sofa. Both women staying quiet for a while just drinking their coffee.
"So were picking up Jessica on the drive down there right?" Stacie asks trying to think of something to end the silence.
"Yeah we are, we will be the first Bella's reunited before the retreat. Aubrey has the whole thing planned out." Beca says rolling her eyes that Aubrey would have it all planned out.
"I would expect any different from Bree." Stacie smiles slightly thinking about her ex-girlfriends obsession with having everything planned out.
"Can we watch a movie? Oh and order in a pizza. I'm gonna need something stronger than coffee too." Stacie says as she makes herself at home at Beca's curling up on the sofa.
"No to the movie, you know I hate them. Yes to pizza always and when do I not have alcohol in the house?" Beca's says glaring at her friend for suggesting a movie.
"Becs, you always fall asleep anyway. Fine let's find something on TV instead." She picks up the controller and flicks through the TV trying to find something she can watch.
The two brunettes sit watching a reality singing contest show, both judging everyone on it, eating the pizza they ordered and drinking lots of alcohol getting very drunk. Time had passed and Stacie eventually fell asleep on Beca's sofa.
The next day Stacie woke up with a hangover. Something she hadn't experienced in a while. She noticed Beca had already woken up and had gone. A tray had been placed on the table next to the sofa with coffee and a pill on it to help cure her hangover. She noticed the time and rushed out the house as soon as she finished her coffee using her key to lock the door behind her.
"Stacie, you're late again. You have to stop being late. I can't cover for you again. The boss is breathing down my neck waiting for you." A small blonde says when she spots Stacie entering the salon.
"Sorry Lisa, it's not gonna happen again I promise. I stayed at my friends last night. It is at the other end of the city. Have many people are waiting for me?" She asked rushing to the staff section at the end of the salon quickly to put her stuff down. As she comes back out she gets stopped in her tracks at who she see sitting in the waiting area. Her eyes froze not moving from the blonde in front of her.
"Stace, that's your first client for the day. She requested you. Annie has taken two of your other appointments from today as you were late, but this one refused and said she'd wait. Do you know her or something?" The small blonde says as she walks up to Stacie noticing she wasn't really listening to her and moves her eyes to where the tall blonde was sitting.
"Yeah, she's my ex-girlfriend." She says still not taking her eyes off her.
"Wait what, that's THE Aubrey you're always talking about? She's hot. Shame she's a heartbreaker. I'd still so do her." Lisa says eyeing up the woman in the room In front of them.
"Lisa, seriously? Yeah that is the Aubrey. We both better get to work I guess, the boss won't like us talking." Stacie says as she goes into the room and gets the form from the front desk that says what Aubrey wanted doing. Her heart racing as she approached the blonde not prepared nearly enough for seeing her again before the retreat in two days.
"Bree."
"Stace, hey how have you been? It's been so long." She says as she stands up and heads closer to Stacie.
"I've been good, working mostly. Yeah it's been two years." She says almost angrily to the blonde for being there. She leads her into the salon and shows her a seat opposite her.
Stacie starts to work on Aubrey's nails not saying anything to each other for a while.
"I miss you Stace. I know I messed up two years ago. I got afraid… I got afraid of us. Of everything we were becoming. I was afraid you were going to be the one to ruin it and I went and fucked it up instead. I'm sorry I hurt you so much. I regretted it right the way." Aubrey says pleading to get the brunette to finally listen to her.
"This isn't the place for this Bree. Yeah you did hurt me, you broke my heart. I hadn't let myself fall in love with anyone before you and I haven't since." She says not looking up at the blonde and staying focused on her job.
"Well do you get a break? Maybe we could go grab a coffee together and talk. I want everything to be okay between us before the retreat." Aubrey asks but with little hope she will get what she wants seeing how Stacie is acting around her. Stacie takes a while before she answers the blonde making the atmosphere between them really awkward.
"No I was late to work, so I won't get a break. I finish at 4 though, if you still want to grab a coffee then." She says as she finishes working on Aubrey's nails on one hand. She waits for her to give her the other one so she can continue working.
"Oh. Yes sure I can come back here at 4. I really want to talk we ended in such a bad place. Why were you late for work? She says changing the subject from their relationship knowing that Stacie wouldn't want to be talking about it anymore.
"I stayed at Beca's. It's over at the other end of the city. Took me ages to get home and I was late, I lost two clients already today. Last time I'm staying there when I have work the next day." Laughing at herself slightly at how stupid she sounded complaining about her life to her ex.
"Are you and Beca? She was cut off by Stacie before she could finish the question.
"No we're not. She's just my best friend. We were drinking and I passed out on her sofa. Why does that bother you if I was with her?" She asks looking up for the first time since she started working on Aubrey's nails.
"No it doesn't bother me. I was just curious, you sounded like you maybe were in a relationship with her. So are you with anyone?" Asking as she looks into the brunettes eyes who was staring into hers.
"No I'm not, I tried for a while but I gave up on relationships. What about you? Are you with anyone?" Moving her gaze and starting to work on Aubrey's other hand.
"Nope, I'm single. Since we broke up I couldn't be with anyone else. I hated myself for so long for what I did to you Stace."
"We'll talk about that later Bree. No bringing up our history while I'm trying to work. So how is law treating you?" Changing the subject from their past.
"It's going good; I was swamped with 5 massive cases all at the same time over the last few months. That's why I planned the retreat I needed a break. Chlo thought it would be a good idea to get all the Bella's together again. It's been too long since we all got together." She gave the brunette a smile even though it was ignored as she wasn't looking at the blonde.
"Wow, did you win the cases? It will be fun having all of us together again. I missed seeing everyone. Oh wait don't answer my first question I just remembered you can't ever talk about your cases. Sorry" she remembered when they were together she always used to quiz Aubrey on her cases but she would never tell her anything.
"Yeah we will have so much fun together, I have lots planned. There will be free time to do whatever we want to do also." After she says this she notices Stacie has now finished working on her nails, but has yet to let go of her hand.
"I'm done now; you can pay in there when you're ready. I'll see you at 4 right?" She asked as she finally let go of Aubrey's hand.
"Thank you Stacie, wow they look gorgeous." She says looking at her nails. "Yes of course you will. I'm looking forward to it. Would you rather go for dinner instead?" She asks courageously hoping that Stacie would want to.
"Sorry but no coffee is fine. I'll see you later I've got other clients waiting I've got to go." She says as she heads into the waiting room to talk to two people that were sitting in the waiting area. She leaves Aubrey alone she gets and goes through to pay then leaves the salon.
The day had passed by quicker than Stacie wanted it too. She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall and saw it said 3:45. She was in charge of closing up the salon that day. She started to put everything away ensuring that it was clean and tidy ready for the next day. She saw Aubrey through the window not surprised she was there earlier than planned. She checked all the doors but the one she was leaving from were locked ready. She grabbed her stuff and left to meet Aubrey taking in many deep breaths.
"Hey Bree, are you ready to go?" She said startling the blonde who hadn't noticed Stacie approach her.
"Hey Stace, yeah of course I'm ready. How was work?" She asked starting to walk to head to the coffee shop. She moves her hand next to Stacie's trying to bring herself to have the courage to hold it.
"It was good; I met my quota for the day still even though I was late. Where are we going? We just passed a coffee shop?" She says confused that they had walked by a shop a few doors down from where Stacie works.
"No we're not going there. Keep walking Stacie. I'm not telling you where we're going." She said grabbing Stacie's hand this time.
"Bree I'm not going to dinner with you. I already said no. Why can't we just go into that coffee shop? It's really nice in there." Turning her head back towards it, but not removing her hand from Aubrey's.
The two of them walked down the street holding hands the whole way there. When they arrive at a different coffee shop, Stacie realises that it's the same one they used to go to when they were a couple. She steps back away from Aubrey finally letting go of her hand.
"I thought coming here would be fun. We used to love it here Stace." She says as she opens the door to let Stacie go in first.
"Yes we did but when we were a couple Bree. I've not been able to come here since we broke up. It was too painful for me." She takes a seat exactly where they used to sit two years ago.
"Why did you do it Bree? If you were worried I was going to do it? Why couldn't you have just told me? Then you wouldn't have had to break my heart. I cried every night for so long Bree, you really hurt me. I'd still be a mess now if it wasn't for Beca convincing me to carry on without you. I've never felt so hurt before Bree. I never thought you would hurt me like that ever. I just don't." Tears streaming from her eyes as she says everything she had wanted to say for the past two years. She got cut off by her tears leaving Bree to answer her questions.
"Stacie I'm sorry, you don't know how sorry I really am. I don't know why I didn't say anything. I just got so scared and insecure at the thought of you doing it, that I fucked up and did it myself. I wish I hadn't ever done it Stace, I really do. I honestly regret it every day. I was heartbroken too I lost the one person in the world I loved the most. I hated myself for doing it. I still hate myself for doing that to you. If I could go back in time I would. I would have made sure that I didn't do it, that I let you know how I felt. We could still be together then. I miss you every day Stace is there any way we can work this out? I want to be with you again." She looks straight at the brunette before her both crying and looking into each other's eyes seeing pain and loss for each other.
"Maybe you should have believed in me more. That I loved you with all my heart and that I had no intention of ever cheating on you. You were the one I wanted Bree. I saw my future with you. It hurts me so much seeing you again after two years. Sitting hear listening to you begging for me to come back. I'm sorry but I can't do this I have to go. I don't know why I agreed to do this. It's too painful Bree."
Stacie gets up and leaves making Aubrey sit there alone crying at being rejected by her. The two women both feeling hurt by the way their relationship had ended. Neither of them understanding how the other truly felt about the break up or about exactly how the other feels.
