Stacie Conrad's thighs look amazing.
It's not like Beca to notice her roommate's quads, or even know what quads are, but damn, they must be that sexy part of Stacie's legs that have toned in strength, sitting high and proud on her legs, opposite an equally impressive ass that's refusing to be ignored in her lululemon pants. Beca's breakfast scrambled eggs nearly fall out of her mouth when Stacie's up on her tip-toes, reaching for the cereal box above the fridge.
"Fuck," Beca blurts out, "Stace, why do you look like that?"
Stacie looks over her shoulder, smirking as Beca's hand is jutting out, pointing at her legs. "I think you know why." She winks.
Stacie hasn't shut up in the past few months about her new spin class Aubrey's been taking her to, and slowly, Beca's gaped in horror and fascination as supplies in their kitchen went greener and greener, organic, grass-fed, full of antioxidants, and infused with vitamins. Which was fine, and took some getting used to, but all and all, Beca could deal just fine with it. Usually working all day, she'd only get home around 8PM, and by then Stacie and her blonde girlfriend would have already had dinner, and happily serve her their gluten-free experiments.
But then Stacie's thighs started looking amazing.
"No, I mean whhhhhyyyyy do you look like thaaaat," Beca garbles out with such a whine even Stacie can only smirk with sympathy.
"Oh Becs," she sighs, tossing some fresh blueberries into her cereal bowl, "You need to get laid." She places a clean spoon on her tongue slowly, sensually, and then closes her mouth on it.
"Don't do that," Beca grimaces, though she can't help the twists in her lower abdomen at the thought of a tongue on her, "Jesus, don't do that, dude, that's like incest."
Stacie laughs as she fills her bowl with milk and checks her phone. "You gotta get out there again, Becs, the german chick was like a year ago."
Beca ruffles her hair with frustration. "It was eight months ago," she says slowly, "And I didn't want to get involved with a client."
"She's not even signed to your label. I think she literally doesn't even live in this country."
"Whatever!" Beca snaps, "I just-it didn't-It was gonna be messy!"
"I tell you what's messy," Stacie says between chomps of breakfast, and points her spoon at Beca, "Your baggage."
"I do not have baggage."
"Everyone has baggage, Bec," Stacie says with a raised eyebrow, "I use sex to escape reality, Aubrey's terrified of turning into her father, and you can't open up to a single living person."
"Stop pointing your spoon at me."
Later that night, Stacie stops by Beca's room to tell her she's showering, and lifts her pyjama shorts up to reveal her upper thigh.
"Beca thinks I'm sexy."
Beca's mouth opens so widely it almost hurts. "NO," she gapes at Stacie, her eyes frantically travelling back to Aubrey, "I did not say that."
"Whatever," Stacie rolls her eyes and turns to Aubrey, who's already making an amused face, "Beca thinks my legs are hot hot hot."
"Well, she has good reason to think that," Aubrey replies, tracing a light circle on Stacie's thigh.
Beca's about to respond with something very witty (just wait for it) when the microwave beeps, and decides instead to simply grunt a disgusted noise and gets up from her chair, leaving the two in the living room to search for another beer in the fridge. She can hear them giggling to each other, scooting closer and closer on the couch. Stacie, legs for days, stretched out across to the ottoman, and Aubrey's upper thighs resting on her hips. Beca smiles a small smile to herself as she fills a bowl with new popcorn. The pair was quickly coming up to their one year anniversary, and what started off as a quick and dirty hook-up from the neighborhood bar turned into something really quite special. Beca didn't want to go as far as to say Aubrey was The One or anything, but she could definitely say she'd never seen her friend so happy in her life. Aubrey, a drill sergeant of sorts at a corporate training camp facility, sort of fell into the roommates' lives with a colourful burst of energy, and Beca was glad for it.
"Beca," Aubrey calls at her from the other room, "You know, you're always welcome to a spin class!"
Beca was about to retort with a snide remark when suddenly her hands stilled above the sink. She'd never actually considered going to these spin classes. It seemed silly, to pedal on a stationary bike, when you could just as easily go for a run in the actual nature, for free. But it'd really seemed to change Stacie's life, and Beca knew Aubrey had some secret tie-ins with her gym, this class could be free of charge. Beca glances quickly at the calendar. It has been a little over two weeks since she'd last worked out in any capacity.
"You know what, Aubrey," Beca says when she re-enters the room with the popcorn. "Why not?"
The squeal is immediate from Aubrey, and Stacie's plugging her ears with a grin. "Oh my god, it's going to change your life!" Aubrey's yelling, her hands shaking and twiddling in the air.
"I don't know about that," Beca makes a face at Stacie.
"Not with that attitude, Mitchell," Aubrey retorts, grabbing her phone and firing off some fast texts.
Stacie leans over to glance at Aubrey's screen. "Amy?" she asks, popping a kernel into her mouth.
"Yeah, she's the best beginner instructor, Beca, you're going to love her," Aubrey says, still clicking away, and Beca's already regretting this. There are beginner levels? A series of small dings brings Aubrey's smile down. "Damnit," she says, "Looks like Amy's all full tomorrow."
"Whoa, tomorrow?" Beca asks, "I didn't say I wanted to do this tomorrow."
"Well when else are you going to do it, Beca?" Aubrey snaps, "That's exactly what quitters say, they put things off until tomorrow, they place their goals far into the distance with no deadline in sight, and before you know it, you're dejected and alone, sitting on your couch, licking buttered popcorn off your fingers, waiting for midnight so you can finally say you should go to sleep."
Stacie stifles something in her throat.
Beca clears hers. "Okay. Tomorrow it is."
Another ding at her phone and Aubrey's face now lights up. "Chloe's free!"
Stacie groans and tries to take the phone from her girlfriend's hand. "Babe, not Chloe, that's way too advanced for her."
"No, it'll be great," Aubrey replies, nudging Stacie's hands away, texting a reply. There's a moment of silence as she's texting and smiling, and Stacie sends Beca a glance she's can't quite place. Finally Aubrey puts her phone down and lifts her head to Beca, her face completely calm and collected. "Beca."
"Aubrey."
"Chloe is one of my best friends from college, and –"
"College. What's that thing again, Stace?"
Stacie grins.
"Anyway," Aubrey says, "Chloe is one of my best friends from Barden, she's like, the best person I know. She's one of the head instructors, and she has 9AM class tomorrow with a whole ton of openings."
"Three guesses why," Beca sighs.
"You've been up earlier on a Sunday," Stacie says.
"It's an advanced class with choreography," Aubrey says, "But Chloe's such a sweetheart you won't have to do anything you don't feel comfortable doing. Just go at your own pace."
"I wish I could see this," Stacie smirks.
"You're not coming with me?" Beca asks her incredulously.
Stacie shrugs in response. "I need my beauty sleep."
Aubrey elbows her, but rubs it affectionately when the brunette makes a face. "I'll come with you, Beca," she says, her smile still beaming. She checks her watch. "We should leave to get there at 0810 hours so we've got enough time to get there, and we should wake up even earlier to get a protein shake in, though, so maybe we should head to bed soon."
Beca glances at the clock. 9:23PM. She groans.
Someone swears his true love until the end of time/Fire Away, Fire Away/Another runs away /Richochet, you take your aim/Seperate or United?/Fire Away, Fire Away/Empty or insane?/Shoot me down, but I won't fall/To be yourself is all that you can do/I am Titanium
The blare from her iPhone rings harshly in her ear, and though the mix is great (thank you very much), Beca struggles to turn the alarm off. Before she's had a moment's worth of silence to groan and stretch, her door's being pushed open already by an enthusiastic and very bright yellow Aubrey Posen.
"Finally!" she shouts, "I've been waiting all morning for your alarm to go off, come on, get up, Beca, you need to drink and digest this smoothie!"
"No, nope," Beca groans, covering her face with a pillow. Given the choice between a smoothie and more sleep, the choice was evident.
"I really wouldn't recommend skipping breakfast, Beca," Aubrey sighs as she reaches to pull the covers off. The grip on them is quick as lightning.
"And I really wouldn't recommend robbing me of my snooze minutes."
Aubrey's hands are up in defeat as she purses her lips. "We're leaving in half an hour!" she shouts before closing the door behind her.
They arrive with a little over ten minutes to spare. The gym is just as pristine and smelling of lemon as she'd thought it would be. In the distance, you can hear some pump-up music, drifting into the lobby, where the people at the front desk are dressed in casual whites, with groomed back hair and a friendly smile to accompany their kind eyes. "Welcome to Spin," the man at the front says with a smile, "Is this anyone's first time?"
"I'm Aubrey Posen," Aubrey says, giving him her ID card, "This is my guest, it's her first time here."
The man nods and brings up a pad of paper with a bright green pen and hands it to Beca.
"Alright," he says, "Welcome to Spin. I'm going to need you to fill out some information here, nothing major, just want to make sure we have all of the basic information we may need in case anything goes a little wonky."
Oh good lord. She's woken up early to work out at a place where people use medical terms such as 'wonky'. She grabs the pen and begins to fill out the emergency contact information sheet. Two are required, and after a quick scan of some fine print, she realizes it's a paper stating she won't be holding the gym responsible for any health complications that may arise during the class.
"Wonky, hunh?" she asks, "Is that what they're calling heart attacks these days?"
The man laughs shyly, and exchanges a glance with Aubrey. "Nobody has a heart attack," he says carefully, though he's smiling though it, "We like to call it wonky. Light-headedness, dizzy-ness, general fatigue from a hard class. You know."
"Oh yeah," Beca responds passively, returning the pad to him, "You know."
The man keeps her gaze for a moment, unsure if she's being serious, or sarcastic, or what on earth she's doing really. But instead he laughs it off, glancing down at the paper. "Beca," he reads out, "Is that short for anything?"
"What do you think?"
"Oh-KAY, Beca!" Aubrey says loudly, grabbing at her hand, "If we're all finished up here, we're going to go change."
The man nods and signals to them the changing rooms. Aubrey's pulling at Beca already as the DJ's blowing kisses to the man. "See you later!"
He raises a shy hand to them. "Bye."
Aubrey's got an impressive upper body to compliment her legs. Beca thinks this over while they change quickly into sportsgear and Aubrey's clad in a tight grey sportsbra that helps show off her strong shoulders.
"Beca."
"Hm?"
"Stop staring at me and change."
Beca dug deep into her sock drawer for the most presentable sportsbra she could find that still fit; a cheap impulse purchase bulky black bra that she reveals after removing her coat. She pulls on a white wifebeater and strips down to her jogging shorts. Alright, so she won't be competing with Fergie's workout gear, but the feel of the gym is getting her comfortable. She's never been in a changing room with such different shaped bodies of all sizes, the women friendly and talkative, everyone here for a different reason, and respectful. Aubrey grabs her water bottle to signal to follow her, as Beca puts their last bag into the locker.
They pass a long hallway until they enter Room 6, a slot on the front of the door for replaceable placards. This one said:
10:00AM-11:00AM
Course: SPIN – INTERMEDIATE CHOREO
Instr: CHLOE
Beca knocks on the door for good luck before following Aubrey into the room, and cringing when she realizes the music she'd heard from outside in the lobby was on full-blast in this room. She glances around and amongst the dozens of bikes, there only seem to be ten people in the class.
Aubrey's hopping over to the instructor who seems busy connecting her laptop to the speakers.
Someone taps Beca's shoulder from behind. She spins to see the same friendly face of the man at the front. At this proximity, she can see his crooked nametag on his shirt.
"Jesse," she reads, "That's a cute name, did you pick it yourself?"
He tilts his head to the side and smiles. "I did, actually, thank you." He points at the workout room. "I'm here to strap you onto your bike."
"Oh my. How chivalrous."
"Yes, we're sorry we were all out of horses," he says, "I see your friend at the front there is signaling you to go over."
Beca spins around to see Aubrey's excited smile and crazed waving over. "Oh," she says softly, "Oh god, please no, we don't need to be in the front."
Jesse laughs. "I'm sorry, you need to be with her, you're her guest." Beca sputters with a sad face but he only gently nudges her forwards. "Come on."
They move towards the front and Jesse fiddles with the bike seat beside Aubrey as Beca glares at the blonde. "I hate you."
Aubrey's already on her own bike and pedaling slowly to warm up, sipping at her water bottle. "What?" Aubrey shouts, feigning ignorance, "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the music."
"All good," Jesse says behind her back, and she hears a confident tapping of the seat. She turns to get up and onto the bike, as Jesse patiently clicks her foot onto the right pedal. Oh good god, what has she gotten herself into.
"Good morning everybody!" Beca hears a crisp and thrilled-as-fuck-to-be-alive voice come in through the speakers, and already she wants to throw up. She glances down to lift her right foot off the bike, but Jesse's already locked it in, and is finishing strapping her left foot down, too. "Welcome to our spin class, I hope you're all getting your heartbeats up. Let me know if you're having any trouble with your bikes."
Jesse smiles kindly at her and pats her back. "You'll be fine," he says. Fine, he chooses, instead of great. Or safe.
"What?" Beca shouts in his face.
"I said break a leg!" he says with a bigger smile, and pats her back again.
"One thing I'd like to know," Beca hears through the speakers once more, "Is if it's anyone's first time here today?"
Beca breathes through her nose calmly as she lifts her legs and practices a spin with the pedals attached. Not too bad. She can see it'll go easier. Feeling more confident, she raises a hand high in the air and lifts her head to Chloe.
...
..
..
Alright.
So.
She's not quite sure what she was expecting, considering she knew Chloe would be the same age as Aubrey, and is literally a fitness instructor, and has already proven she has the voice of an ecstatic angel, but the girl climbing down from her bike with her perfect legs and hopping over to Beca is unfairly gorgeous, it seems like this whole morning has been a trap. With fiery-red hair tied neatly into a ponytail, Chloe has bright, cobalt blue eyes that are no match for her even brighter, kind smile. Her sports top hugs her perfectly, strong at her shoulders and breasts, lower and cut off at her waist, where Beca can see hints of her defined abs.
Fuck.
"Hi," Chloe shouts at her over the music with a huge smile, her hands on the front of Beca's bike, "I'm Chloe!"
"Hi."
Chloe bends down and quickly checks her gears. She places her hands on Beca's ankles and checks their placements on the pedals. She makes a face when her finger graze Beca's skin, and god, Beca's glad the lights are dimmed. Beca nearly topples off the bike from the contact but grips the handlebars tighter. "Sorry," Chloe says with a wink, and Beca's careful to steady her breathing, too, "You must be Aubrey's friend!"
"Yeah."
"Well, you look like you're well strapped in!" Chloe says, and Beca can only raise her thumb up. Like a fucking idiot. Chloe taps Beca's handlebar. "Listen, don't push yourself too hard," she says kindly, her eyes locking with Beca's, and the brunette can feel her neck grow hotter, "If you don't feel you can do something, just slow yourself down! No judgement here, okay?"
Beca nods. "Okay."
Suddenly, those blue eyes are coming straight at her face, and Beca finds herself remembering to breathe, but not too loudly, not in her face, but don't forget, as Chloe's right hand dips down between their bodies. Beca's eyes travel downwards, past Chloe's well-toned biceps and down her long, strong forearm, as she watches Chloe turn a circular knob clockwise between Beca's legs. Jesus Christ.
"This is the knob for your speed, have you ever ridden a bike with one before?"
Beca nods again.
"Great, keep a close watch on it and don't be afraid to slow down or speed up!" Chloe smiles brightly and retracts her hand from between their bodies. Somewhere, Beca can hear Chloe tapping the water bottle on the side of her bike. "And make sure to stay hydrated!"
Beca's nodding and nodding like a bobble-head until she realizes Chloe's waiting for an actual answer. "Yeah-yes! No, for sure – you're- you got it."
Very smooth as always, Mitchell.
Chloe smiles widely yet again. She makes a move to go, but she suddenly squints and looks over Beca, slowly. She shifts her hand onto Beca's on the handlebar and leans in closer to her. "Have fun," she says genuinely, making sure Beca's really listening.
Which she isn't.
Because Chloe smells like a sunflower goddess.
And is apparently so fucking good at her job.
And there are the softest strands of red hair along the smooth pane of skin on her neck.
And Beca just wants to (kiss) bite into it and make her scream out in blind ecstasy
You spin my head right round right round
"Beca! Are you paying attention?" Aubrey's voice is shrill and Beca's head snaps to attention. The class has begun and Chloe's on her bike at the front of the class, spinning with casual confidence to the beat of the music.
Right round when you go down when you go down down
"Alright everybody!" Chloe says brightly, adjusting the microphone on her cheek, "We're going to start things off nice and slow, pedal together, and pedal strong!"
You spin my head right round right round
Beca's legs spin slowly and uncomfortably as she hits some tension immediately, lowering to spin the knob between her legs counter-clockwise. No. Wrong move. Clockwise. That's better.
Right round when you go down
This song has always been one of Beca's favourites, but right now, it's kicking her ass. She sees out of the corner of her eyes, the other riders in the room all pedalling together, Aubrey included, chest up and eyes focused, they move up and down on their bikes as one, and Beca's struggling to find the supposed 'beat' they're moving to.
"Here comes the drop, everybody, and we'll move into our side-steps!" Chloe announces into the room, and there doesn't seem to be anybody raising their hands and asking what that is. There's a short moment right before they start when Beca thinks Am I going to die on this bike –
Hey, walk out that house with my swagger
Hop in there with dough, I got places to go
The room starts moving. Like literally moving. Using Chloe as their leader at the front of the room, people are shifting to the right and left of their bikes, edging out with their shoulders, pedalling faster and faster to the rap, and she's feeling the burn on her legs already.
"Left! Right! Left! Right!" Chloe's announcing, and this whole thing looks so fucking easy when you're watching her move. God, her legs look amazing. Beca's eyesight is completely glued to the redhead's upper thighs and strong arms that flex with every shift of her upper body. A part of her is so glad this is what she's supposed to be doing.
People to see, time is precious
I looked at my cotty, are you out of control?
Around her, everyone shifts comfortably, leaning off their bikes and still pedalling like their lives depend on it. Feeling brave, Beca grips the handlebars tightly and leans to the right.
Okay. Let's not do that.
"You're doing fantastic, two more!" Chloe shouts.
Time starts to slow as it apparently speeds, and Beca finds herself dragging her feet to the beat, concentrating on just .
Don't let her see you stop.
The songs flip by as Chloe leans back in her bike, stretching the loose material of her top to reveal her smooth stomach, and Beca's legs pedal faster.
Chloe taps her laptop pad twice and a new song comes on. The beats change and the tempos ease comfortably for the class, everyone adjusting perfectly to the shifts in the music. Everyone, of course, except for Beca.
New choreography comes up, incorporating your arms, your stance on the bike, your head positions. Each one, Beca tries carefully, before bowing out and continuously pedalling. Every song or so, Chloe announces a short break and free ride as bikers re-hydrate and wipe sweat off their foreheads. Beca grabs desperately for her water bottle, feeling both feverish and cold at the same time.
"You okay?" Aubrey mouths at Beca at their first break, and Beca can only muster a weak smile.
She's quite dehydrated and so very, very tired, but it's not in her to quit. Soon after a new song begins and Chloe's body is gliding along her bike again, and it's motivation enough.
It's around their fourth break when Chloe finally shows the first sign of actually being tired. She grabs her bottle and squirts a quick blast of water into her mouth before slamming a towel in her face and wiping down quickly. She glances around the room, making sure everyone's fine, exchanging a smile with Aubrey, and catching Beca's eyes. She winks at the girl, and Beca starts to feel faint.
No, really.
Chloe starts up again. "I love this song, guys, so pedal like the devil's on your heels, in three…two…one!" She snaps the volume up and the music blasts as everyone pedals fanatically.
If you like to gamble, I tell you I'm your man
You win some, lose some, it's all the same to me
Beca's water bottle clatters loudly in its holster as she struggles to grab onto her bike. Oh god she's going to faint. She's apparently ten years old again and she's going to faint.
Chloe's pedalling quickly to the song and in the corner of her eye, she can see the beginner fading fast. Readjusting her microphone, she shouts, "Hey, I'll be with you in a moment just after these reps!"
It takes a moment for Beca to realize Chloe's speaking to her, but it helps when a few of the other bikers suddenly lift their heads, searching for the recipient of Chloe's abnormal announcement. This can't get any worse. If there was a way Beca could duck her body out of the way, or disappear completely, she would. But as of now, it seems anyone who can see Chloe can also see Beca's useless, useless body, hanging on by a thread.
Beca raises a hand, but lowers it immediately when she sees it shaking. "No problem!" she wheezes, unsure if it even carries across the room, but the redhead smiles in response and turns her attention back to the mirror.
"And four more! One! Two!"
Beca's stomach lurches as she finally grinds her feet to a halt on the bike.
Don't let her see you faint.
Do not let her see you faint.
The room is fading in and out and Beca knows she's in trouble. She glances to her side to see Aubrey, eyebrows knit with concern.
"What's wrong?" she mouths.
"Nothing," Beca decides to shout back, but she's already leaning down and unclasping her shoes from her bike. She snaps the left one off and leans onto the right side of the bike when some soft hands grab hers and undo them for her instead.
"Hey," Chloe puffs softly in her ear, "Are you okay?"
Don't say you're going to throw up.
Don't say you're going to throw up.
"I think I'm going to throw up."
"Okay, lean on me."
Beca not so much leans on her as she allows Chloe to grab her arm, sling it around her shoulder (my that's a soft but strong shoulder) and Chloe's carefully but quickly ushering her out of the room.
The door bursts open and the bright white hallway lights blind Beca's vision for a moment, but she continues to walk in the direction Chloe's steering her.
Don't throw up on her.
Do not throw up on her, Beca Mitchell.
Her feet hit something solid but hollow, and the familiar sound of a plastic garbage can knocking against the wall hits her ears, and dammit if it isn't music.
"Jesse!" Chloe yells down the hallway, "Need support!"
Beca's hands grasp the edges of the garbage can as she leans forward. Her eyes slowly start adjusting to the bright lights and she can see the garbage can only contains empty Vitamin Water bottles.
A warm hand lowers onto her back and she can feel her hair being brought back behind her ears. Somewhere in the distance, the door to Chloe's room opens, the music blasting, then closes, and all is silent once more.
"Breathe," Jesse says calmly, rubbing slow circles on her back, "You're okay."