Hey! This is a quick thing a wrote to not let this fandom around without something for Valentine's Day.
Enjoy it!
"Happy Valentine's day!"
"You're one day late." Aubrey said, looking up from the coffee table to the redhead that just entered their apartment.
"Yes. But guess what? Chocolate is way cheaper today." Chloe said, hanging her coat and purse (she did learn that lesson, Aubrey thought) and taking three boxes of heart-shaped chocolate out of it.
Aubrey grimaced at her friend. She could totally see Chloe taking the longer walk back home from school, so she could find a shop with chocolate at those prices. She sighed, turning a page from one of the books she had splattered in front of her.
"I'm not going to nurse you after your sugar rush." Aubrey advised, bringing her attention back to her notepad.
"Nope," Chloe said, popping the 'p'. "It won't be necessary. We are sharing them." She sat at the ground beside Aubrey.
"No, thank you. I know your plan." Aubrey said, not stopping making notes in her neat calligraphy. "It sound innocent now but then it becomes a movie night, then you want to open a bottle of wine and there goes all my study night."
Chloe pouted. Yes, that was her plan.
"Come on, we never have time for anything anymore." The redhead insisted.
"That's what we signed up for. Law school, vet school. It will be over soon." Aubrey reasoned, turning the page and making more notes.
"But it's Valentine's day!"
"No, this was yesterday." Aubrey laughed. "By the way, how was your date?"
Chloe rolled her eyes, resting her back against the sofa. "Disappointing. He kept comparing dates to football matches. I didn't get it at all."
"I'm sorry." Aubrey said, in a tone that left a this is what you get for going out with literally anyone.
"Then let's have a fun night." Chloe whined.
"I'm not that sorry." The blonde said dropping her pencil.
Chloe laughed and took an arm Aubrey did not offered, laying her head onto her shoulder. "Bree, please. Just tonight. I promise I'll let you study all the other days of your life."
Aubrey frowned. That would be terrible. The thought that Chloe would not fulfill her promise made her soothe her features.
"Okay." The blonde said and Chloe. "But no wine, please. I can't handle your hangover."
Chloe rolled her eyes and extended a hand and helped Aubrey get up with her. "You know that's an impossible request." Chloe said very seriously before giggling two seconds later and making Aubrey forget what she was standing against.
Somehow, they ended up in their tiny bathroom. Chloe inside the empty bathtub with a glass of wine half-empty and Aubrey sitting on the ground with her back resting against the wall. If the blonde was sober, she for sure would've had stomped her foot against that arrangement, but after two a.m., she couldn't really argue against her best friend's ideas anymore.
Aubrey's books and notepads were forgotten in a corner and Chloe found a Valentine's Day playlist on Spotify. She sang along with George Michael when Careless Whisper came on and almost teared up singing both parts of Endless Love; Aubrey watched nestle in the couch, clinging to her glass of wine and laughing like she did only when alcohol or Chloe were in the scene.
The empty boxes of chocolate were laying around somewhere in their living room and kitchen, with at least three empty bottles of a cheap wine they bought in a grocery store nearby and the empty cartons of Chinese food they ordered. All their discarded stuff lead in a trail to their actual spot by the bathroom, where their last bottle of wine was one shared glass away of being empty.
"This is so stupid." Chloe said, and Aubrey wasn't so sure anymore about what she was talking about. She just kept listening to her voice even if her word didn't mean a thing. She just kept following Chloe everywhere because what else was she supposed to do? How else the world worked if not following that ray of sunshine wherever she decided to go? Aubrey shook her head, dismissing her drunk thoughts and thanking God she didn't had classes next morning.
"What is stupid?" She managed to ask the redhead.
"Being in an empty bathtub." Chloe said.
"Then get out of it." Aubrey said.
"I'm filling it." Chloe said getting up and turning the water on.
Aubrey sighed. That was not what she meant. Why had she agreed with this whole night again? She remained sitting on the ground, her head too dizzy and her body too heavy to get up. The sound of running water was soothing and she felt like she found a peaceful mental place to be.
She watched as Chloe prepared a ridiculously bubbly bath that smelled surprisingly good although she did not used the oils Aubrey herself would. The redhead ran around their place and found a few scented candles and lighted them up by the counter.
Aubrey could only think about how she liked more the nighttime then the daytime. Their neighborhood was never quiet, New York never slept, but the night made it look a little less trashy. The sounds of cars were rarer, and you could almost listen to the sound of the moonlight touching the extern walls. Or maybe she was just really hammered. (Amy said she was a lightweight once and she protested. She never thought Amy could be right about something.) She sighed, sipping what was left of wine in her glass.
"What are you doing?" She managed to say in a raspy voice when Chloe took off her shirt.
"I'm going in." Chloe said in the same tone she used to say that people who didn't like puppies were bad people. The tone she used for things that were obvious.
"Oh." Aubrey said but didn't move.
Lesson number one about being friends with Chloe: you see her naked. Several times. In the most unexpected situations. For no reason at all, sometimes.
Aubrey still remembers Beca's haunted face sharing her first-time experience. And honestly, she couldn't even remember her own. They shared a dorm room during college, so it probably happened in the very first day. Her drunk mind was failing on her and it was delightful.
Chloe got in the bathtub and squealed. She got her hair up in a messy bun and Aubrey defined it as lovely, with her baby hairs falling against her neck and the freckles on her shoulders exposed like a sky full of stars. She let her head fall against the wall with a small 'thump' and it didn't even hurt.
"You are a lightweight." Chloe said with a soft voice.
Aubrey chuckled slightly with her eyes closed. Why was that so funny, anyway?
"Come here." The voice came from the darkness and she opened her eyes to find Chloe with her an arm extended in her direction.
Aubrey hesitated. Why should she? Why shouldn't she?
Lesson number two about being friends with Chloe: she has no idea what personal boundaries are.
Lesson number one about Aubrey: she is terrible at saying no to Chloe.
She took off her clothes, hanging them on a hook and poured the rest of the wine from the bottle in her glass before going in and settling herself against the opposite side of the tub.
Their legs touched under the layer of foam, and suddenly the world was too warm, too soft, too alright to be true. They just laid there for what seemed hours, Aubrey was sure she was seconds away of falling asleep when she heard Chloe's voice.
"Thanks for spending Valentine's day with me."
"We are officially two days after said holiday." Aubrey mumbled without opening her eyes.
Her head was uncomfortably nested against the wall, but she could thing of worse things. Like not being there in that bathtub with Chloe. That sounded way worse.
"Yeah, but, thank you anyway." Chloe said. "You are my favorite person."
Aubrey grinned, feeling Chloe's knees against hers. "I know."
"I'm not saying that because I'm drunk." Chloe said in her same obvious tone.
Aubrey hummed, agreeing.
"Or because you pull up with all my bad ideas." Chloe continued, and Aubrey felt her shifting in her place.
"You have a lot of them." Aubrey said, barely opening her eyes and giving Chloe a soft smile. "But yeah, who else would do that? We are a team."
Chloe laughed sweetly, and their eyes met. She had no words for Aubrey. No words for what she meant, and she also didn't think there was a name for the number of inches she felt like the blonde occupied in her heart.
"Are you still marrying me if we don't find anyone else in – what's left now? - five years?" She asked.
"Great example of a terrible idea." Aubrey said, and they laughed. She nudged Chloe's hip with her toe. "But yes, we'll do it, of course. It will be the first of a new series of bad ideas."
Chloe seemed to relax and rested her back against her side of the tube again, smiling adoringly at her friend.
"I could live with that." Chloe said, smiling satisfied and feeling all the love in the world as Aubrey nodded with her head and rested her head back against the wall.
Thanks for reading! Maybe you could drop a review and let me know your thoughts?
Happy Valentine's day, everyone!