The Aubrey/Chloe friendship in Pitch Perfect means everything to me, clearly. Spoilers for both movies.
Heavily-implied Aubrey/Stacie, so if that's not your thing, you probably shouldn't read this.
And this can be read as a sequel to Welcome to the Lodge at Fallen Leaves, or a standalone. Whichever works for you.
Inspired by Electronis Zappa's Fireside Chat.
(ETA: edited to fix some continuity errors. Cheers.)
"It's not that I don't understand why you don't want to leave the Bellas," Aubrey said softly, taking a sip from the cup of (very spiked, very Irish) coffee she held in her hands. "I just don't understand why you would stall your own life for three years just to stay."
Chloe sighed. She knew the conversation had been a long time coming, since she had been avoiding every and any one-on-one time with Aubrey since the second time she had failed Russian Lit and stayed at Barden. Except for one particular exception, she and Aubrey hadn't really spent much time together in recent memory. Because just as she knew Aubrey to the letter, Aubrey knew how Chloe worked. However, with Beca's recent emotional withdrawal and the Bellas all working towards graduation, Chloe had realized how much she had missed talking to her best friend, which was why she had relented when Aubrey invited her to sit at the campfire. But that question? "You think I haven't asked myself that question every day for the past few years?"
"I'm sure you have." Aubrey answered. "So my next question is, what answers have you come up with?"
Chloe shook her head, glancing away from her best friend's knowing gaze and directing her own to the camp house beside the fire pit. "I don't know." She finally turned back to Aubrey. "I'm not like you. I didn't plan my entire future up to the last detail, that every step was heading somewhere."
"You know that isn't true."
"Yeah, the 'running a retreat' thing is still a surprise, but you own your own business and make a lot of money. That was the plan, right?" Chloe asked.
"Plans change."
"But I bet your girlfriend didn't mind this particular change of plans." Chloe pointed out. "At least you got the girl."
Aubrey narrowed her eyes at her. "So this is about Beca. Again. As usual."
"Aubrey."
"Chloe, you're..." Aubrey exhaled. "You're one of the best people I know. Top two, probably."
"Stacie wins top spot?"
"No, you're tied, because she can be really selfish but we both like her being on top."
Chloe laughed at that, because that kind of innuendo just spoke of Stacie's influence on Aubrey, and it was always nice to see Aubrey less guarded than she usually was.
"The point is," Aubrey digressed, "you've always drawn people to you. You're kind, and generous, and-"
"And some day my prince will come." Chloe interrupted. "This isn't just about Beca, Aubrey."
"You say that, but is that really true?" Aubrey glared pointedly at her. "And I did an actual course on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, do you want me to start using that?"
"Seriously?"
"It was one of the requirements."
Chloe shook her head. "No, I think I'd prefer talking to my best friend, thanks."
"Then you really need to, how did the troll put it? 'Sack up, dude.'"
Chloe laughed again. "You really shouldn't be saying those words."
"The point." Aubrey pointed at her. "Is that you deserve better than to time-share the hobbit with a Treblemaker. He never understood her the way you did, and I don't know how much times have changed, but you would never have let her unravel like this."
"I don't know, I've been pretty stressed." Chloe admitted.
"Because you've somehow convinced yourself that the fate and future of the Bellas rest on your shoulders." Aubrey reminded. "And, I know I helped make you think that, when we were captains, but that girl Emily's a Legacy. She knows the Bellas, she knows what it means. You've got to start letting things go."
Chloe gave her a sad smile. "But you left."
Aubrey frowned, confused.
"When you graduated. I let you leave, and," Chloe shrugged. "You just never came back."
"Chloe..."
"I know, not literally, I mean you'd drop by to see Stacie, but we stopped having, you know, this," Chloe motioned to the two of them as they were now, sitting together, alone and actually talking.
"And that's my fault?" Aubrey asked defensively.
"When you and Stacie started dating, you two made arrangements, plans on when and where you'd meet." Chloe argued. "When you graduated we didn't even set a standing Skype date."
"Yeah, because I'm neglectful and she's flighty." Aubrey protested. "If we had plans - set plans - it was a constant reminder that there were two of us in the relationship."
"You were my best friend!"
"And I would do anything for you!" Aubrey declared. She shook her head. "I let you take Beca into the Bellas, against all my better judgment - and thank God that worked out. But we're family, Chloe. You and me, remember?"
Chloe smiled faintly. "Chaubrey forever."
"Chaubrey forever." Aubrey agreed. "Stacie and I have standing dates because that's just how our relationship works. But I would have been on a plane to see you the minute you asked me to. Just because I wasn't around didn't mean I was gone." She gave Chloe a pointed look. "And don't think I've forgotten who's been avoiding me and my calls for nearly two years running."
Chloe looked away guiltily. "What? Who? I don't know what you're talking about."
It was true, though, whether or not she admitted it. When Aubrey and Stacie started dating, and Aubrey made the occasional trip back to Barden, it had been on Chloe's second year of her extended stay at Barden; and if Aubrey had been disappointed in the fact that Chloe had deliberately failed Russian Lit during their senior year, they both hadn't known what to say to each other regarding the fact that Chloe hadn't tried much harder the second time around. The fact that the Bellas now gave more credence to Aubrey's role as Stacie's girlfriend than as Chloe's best friend was enough proof of how they had both allowed their friendship to wane in the succeeding years.
"Let's be honest, we were both surprised when you finally asked me for help about Worlds." Aubrey said.
"Yeah, because you wouldn't commit to helping because you were 'busy'." Chloe made air quotes with her fingers.
"I just didn't see how I could have helped." Aubrey admitted. "My taste in music's been described as straight-up white-girl radio with a cross-section of musical theater; and you were always the one who came up with choreography. I can put the fear of aca-gods into them, but how far would that have brought you?"
"But you came through."
"Because Stacie called me up to complain that an aca-dictator had taken over Chloe Beale's body." Aubrey told her. "And then there were emails from Fat Amy. And Cynthia Rose. And Ashley. And Jessica. Even Lilly complained. Trust me, when Ashley and Jessica both email to complain that someone's being a psychotic dictator, having known me at my finest dictatorial form, then you know there's a problem."
"And what do you think?"
"The same thing my own best friend told me three years ago." Aubrey smiled faintly. "Maybe someone needs to loosen the reins a little bit."
"Really? Not tell me to get my head out of my ass because it isn't a hat?" Chloe retorted.
"That too. But Chloe, seriously. You could pass Russian Lit any given day. Failing it's funny once, maybe-but-not-really twice, but three times, and heading for a fourth? You're better than that." Aubrey said softly. "And if the emotional paralysis still won't leave you alone, you can have a job here, we'll set up something for you."
"It's not so much the emotional- wait." Chloe looked at her, curiously. "Here? Really?"
"It's not teaching music to children, but we do need nightly entertainment around here. How's your exotic dancing?" Aubrey quipped, laughing when Chloe shoved her. "Hey!"
"You can't pay me enough." Chloe remarked. "Frankly, I'm surprised your counselors haven't been formed into an a cappella group."
Aubrey smiled. "Drunken campfire singing doesn't really lend itself to seamless harmonies."
"Who's drunk?" Fat Amy asked, coming up to them, trailed by the rest of the Barden Bellas. "I could use some buzz."
"We don't serve alcohol to paying guests until their last day." Aubrey informed her. She turned when she felt a familiar hand rest on her shoulder and squeezed, and she smiled at Stacie as the younger girl walked past to sit on a chair.
"That still blows my mind." Ashley muttered audibly to Jessica, then ducked behind the blonde when she saw Aubrey glare at her.
"This is kind of a private-" Aubrey saw Emily holding a bag of marshmallows, and sighed in defeat. She really wasn't about to disappoint and demoralize a Legacy. "Oh, marshmallows. Yay."
"S'mores, actually." Emily said, gesturing to Lilly, who carried the chocolate and crackers.
"Of course." Aubrey allowed. She took another sip of her coffee.
Chloe squeezed her arm in a silent gesture of gratitude for allowing the rest of the group to join their campfire talk. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Well, the tent got really boring." Cynthia Rose admitted.
"We really thought you'd at least let us sleep on actual beds," Jessica agreed. "With the day we had, and everything."
"We're fully booked." Aubrey smiled apologetically. "It was a tent or the gym."
Stacie gave her another 'WTF?' look, the both of them knowing there were better tents than the one the Bellas were staying in; a look which she ignored.
"What were you talking about?" Fat Amy asked, as Chloe handed out skewers for them to roast marshmallows with.
"Chloe's hat." Aubrey deadpanned, making Chloe throw her a disbelieving look.
"I know what you mean." Beca agreed. "It's just too hard wearing too many hats, you know?"
"And you have such a tiny head." Aubrey commented.
"As opposed to your over-inflated one." Beca returned.
It was a testament to the growth of their friendship that Aubrey took that one without retaliation, and merely raised her cup in concession.
"It's just everything's changing so fast and I'm putting this much pressure on myself, you know?" Beca continued. "I don't want to fail."
Aubrey glanced at Chloe, who was watching Beca. How the girl who had joined the Bellas without a care in the world ended up caring about so many things, Aubrey knew, could be blamed almost entirely on the redhead who cared about everyone.
Aubrey knew because Chloe had done the exact same thing before, with a girl who only cared about her own goals and ambition, but made - forced her, really - to care about a group of misfit freshmen (and Denise).
When Chloe confessed to being scared, Aubrey couldn't help but feel bad that with Chloe's earlier confession, Aubrey had played a part in instilling that fear, that she'd never reached out to Chloe to tell her that life after Barden wasn't so bad, that there were a lot of good things in the world outside.
So maybe she'd squeezed Chloe's arm a little too tightly in her attempt at reassurance.
As everyone talked about their post-graduation plans, Aubrey cut a glance across the fire, and met familiar green eyes with a knowing gaze.
Aubrey knew Chloe wasn't the only one she owed a talk to about the future.
