They were face to face for the first time since she moved. Minerva wasn't drinking her whiskey, instead of swirling it around the glass as if she were thinking about something. Aubrey held hers still.
Minerva was a half-feral wolf tamed only because it would get her more meat. It gave every one of their sit downs a dangerous vibe, but they had been friends for nearly their entire lives now. And besides, Aubrey was a wolf too.
Perhaps more feral than Minerva even.
"You aren't popular right now." Minerva stated, finally putting down her drink. "I need you to make a new fixation."
"Done."
Aubrey wasn't about to go to the block party. That would open a whole new can of worms that she didn't have the social energy to deal with. Beca's sporadic intrusions into her life were near the limit of what she could take. Constant contact with more than one person sounded exhausting.
The thing was, of course, she was homebound. She couldn't really show her face out in public, just because the neighborhood didn't know of her sins didn't mean there was someone waiting in the shadows. That was another thing too, she didn't have the energy to avoid all the paparazzi.
Her phone rang, pulling her back into reality. She looked around, unsure of where she put the device. It wasn't used for much, she bought it in cash from a cheap looking phone store that still sold flip phones. She didn't want the flip phone in the first place, but Minerva had demanded it so she sent a text to Minerva the moment she bought it.
"Yes?" She said. They had no use for greetings, either they knew who was on the line or refused to pick up.
"My sources say there is growing sympathy for you after your last stunt," Minerva said. "I'm quite pleased."
"You should be. I always deliver."
"I know. Go to the party, I have a plan."
By now Aubrey was used to Minerva knowing everything. She knew everything about her blonde in crime too.
(Right now Minerva was about to have a romantic dinner with her love. And then something forbidden in much of the world and illegal in parts. )
Aubrey sighed. They both learned early on if the other had a plan it was best to follow. That's how Minerva gained her empire, and that's how Aubrey got out of many scandals.
"Alright Minerva. Have a good dinner."
San Diego never really got cold, may be chilly, but never cold enough for snow. She stood in a thin trench coat looking at the door, unable to walk forward and open it.
'Are you a coward or a Posen?' Her father's harsh voice rang in her ears.
She clenched her teeth, she was a Posen damn it!
The rage boiled over and it carried her out of the house over a few hundred feet to where the block party thrived. The first thing she noticed was the sounds, Good Lord it was loud. She took a breath and tried not to panic at the noise.
Fuck the music was worsening her tinnitus. It was louder than the beating of her heart, louder than the roars of her father, so loud God above could hear. He must have liked it, no one was dead yet.
In her pocket, she had her weapon. Its metallic body felt cold and firm against her warm clammy flesh. She could do this, she would be fine.
"Hey!" Aubrey almost took out her weapon from the shock. Beca rapidly walked toward her and it took all of the blonde's strength of will to not attack the short DJ.
"Hi Beca." Aubrey fell into her coping mechanism, smiling without meaning it and being light-hearted when she wanted blood.
"Hello, I'm happy you made it. Come with me," Beca beckoned toward the house. ", we have food and drinks inside!"
The spread of food was terrifying to look at. Open half-used containers of store-bought spreads lay everywhere on the table. It was a den of bacteria and viruses. Aubrey looked around and tried not to grimace, who knew how long the food had been out?
Beca pointed her to the drinks, she was eternally grateful all the drinks were sealed single serve cans, not a big bowl everyone dipped in.
(In the circles Minerva and Aubrey ran in, bowls were very common among people you didn't trust. It was a taunt, a public display of trust or distrust that created enemies and friends in a single sip.)
"Have a beer and relax."
Aubrey sat on the couch watching the other Bellas interact with each other. It turned out they were all from the same high school, they were in high school acapella together and just stayed bonded for life.
Fat Amy, a rambunctious blonde with a "fat heart" as she described it, was currently belting out the lyrics to a Christina Perri song Aubrey felt was once popular but couldn't remember for the life of her.
Was she having the time of her life? Probably not, but she liked sitting still in the noise. For a few moments in her lonely existence, she didn't need a drink or a video to make her feel less alone.
The couch sank next to her, Aubrey looked up to see Beca hanging off the arm of the couch slowly sipping a cold beer.
"Hey." Beca said.
"Hi."
"I see you don't like parties."
Aubrey looked up, frozen in guilt. "No!" She shook her head.
"No, I like parties, this, they… there are a bit too many people here. That's all."
Beca shook her head, "No worries. I know, the Bellas are a bit of a handful. But, I couldn't think of a better way to welcome you to the neighborhood."
"Thank you." Aubrey said.
"Beer?"
"No thank you."
(The last time she drank with Minerva, well, her father got involved.)
Beca looked at her, and Aubrey was worried that the brunette took offense. She wanted to correct that, she had to live with them after all, but then Beca kept talking as if nothing happened.
"So what do you do for fun?"
"I read, I've been reading 19th-century dog-wolf novels," Aubrey said, the only thing she could think about really beside the party was her lengthy email-essay to Minerva that she had to polish up tonight.
(It was only 162 pages long. Bedside reading, honest.)
"Oh, like White Fang?" Beca asked. "Jack London?"
"Yes, personally I find old classics generally highly overrated, but I did enjoy White Fang," Aubrey said. "I thought Call of the Wild was a pastoral fantasy of the American male imagination."
Beca raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, I would argue that Call of the Wild was a better book than White Fang."
"Oh, really…"
Chloe frowned the moment she realized she didn't know where Beca was. Not that she was controlling of her wife, but she generally knew where Beca was and vise versa. It wasn't uncommon for them to send each other messages to touch bases.
She checked her phone in case she missed a text from her wife. There was nothing, except for a game notification.
"Hey, have you guys seen Beca?" Chloe asked a group of girls in the middle of karaoke.
It was Stacie's turn, so S&M was blaring through Beca's work speakers, and Chloe had to fight over the sound to be heard. Fat Amy noticed her and got the brunette science teacher to bring the song down a notch.
"Have you guys seen Beca?" Chloe repeated, her eyes flitting around the group of girls.
Fat Amy shook her head, while the others shrugged. Stacie thought about it for a moment before pointing towards the couch.
"I saw her with a new blonde, the neighbor from down the street that you both thought was a ghost or something."
All of her fear turned into curiosity. They had been together for far too long for Chloe to think that Beca would ever cheat on her, but she knew Beca. Beca had a hard time bonding with anyone, it took the Bellas a year before Beca would even talk to them outside of their club. If Beca brought a friend and was actually talking to them… that was interesting and Chloe needed to get a look.
They were sitting on the couch, Beca's voice carried through the room while the blonde's face told all. Beca was enjoying herself, and the blonde was too.
"Kazan's litter got killed by a lynx. White Fang's brothers, sister, and even his dad got killed by a lynx. I'm sorry, but there is no way someone could make the same exact plotlines without a coincidence!" The blonde said while Beca smiled.
"Well, I mean the opening lines to many songs sound the same. What's different is the lyrics and execution." Beca answered. "And there is sampling, like Camila Cabello's Bad Things and Fastball's Out of my Head. They are two completely different songs with nearly the same chorus."
"I've never heard of those songs before." The blonde frowned, and Chloe swore she looked like a golden retriever puppy.
(Yes she was really that blonde.)
"Really?" Beca's face lit up and she fished out her phone. "Here, you have to listen to Fastball. It's a great song."
They listened to the song together, and for the first time in her life, Chloe felt scared.
She spent much of the party watching the blonde and her wife, unsure how to react or approach. It wasn't that she had to approve of all of Beca's friends, that was absurd, but generally, Beca would have told her about the blonde by now and introduced her.
Chloe decided to take the initiative, "sack up", as Beca liked to call it. She walked over toward her wife of three years, beer in hand and smile plastered on her face.
"Hey Beca who's this?" Chloe asked, draping her arm over her wife's shoulders.
"Oh, Chloe this is Aubrey. Aubrey, this is my wife Chloe."
It had been three years since they got married, but Chloe's heart still fluttered every time she said the words. "My Wife." It took them so long because Beca refused to sign for a Civil Partnership, but they finally got the right to marry. 2013 had been the best year of her life, and she hoped Beca's too.
"Hello." The blonde said, smiling softly.
"Hello Aubrey!" Chloe smiled, "How are you liking the neighborhood?"
Something in the back of her mind told her she had seen this woman before, but Chloe couldn't place it. It felt familiar, something about trees, and lights… lights! Oh, she remembered this woman! She was the blonde who lived across the street who looked horrified at her lawn. Chloe had a sneaking suspicion that the people setting up Christmas decorations in the middle of the night were up to no good, after all who would want to do it then when you could do it in the morning with hot chocolate and your wife?
"It's nice." Aubrey said, almost as if she were asking the question, "Is nice an acceptable word?".
Chloe's heart melted, the poor woman was terrified.
"That's good! I hope you feel at home, every other Friday we host a party here, you're always invited. And if you ever want company just ring our bell!"
"Thank you?"
"What brought you here?" Beca asked, twirling her spoon through the cheap custard Aubrey bought from the nearby gas station.
"It was the cheapest area in San Diego." Aubrey shrugged.
Beca had brought over her soundboard, a few wires got loose and it wasn't connecting anymore. She couldn't afford a new one, and Aubrey had worked with electronics in a past life so the blonde was giving it a go.
"What brought you to San Diego? The Navy?"
Normally Aubrey wouldn't acknowledge personal questions, but it had been nearly three months since she had met Beca, and by now they were close enough for impersonal personal information.
"The Coast Guard, actually." Aubrey said, finally managing to thread a pesky wire through.
"Because you couldn't swim?"
Aubrey bit back a smile as she rolled her eyes.
"At least I'm tall enough."
Beca gasped and clutched her heart. Aubrey grinned and moved on, in between bites of horrid gas station custard.
"I enlisted and was stationed here for a few years. The VA is close by, and I managed to get a cheap loan."
"Oh that's cool." Beca finally took a bite out of her yellow dessert. "My dad used to teach at Barden University in Georgia, but then he transferred to San Diego State when I was young. He was heartbroken when I decided to "play music with weirdos" instead of going to State."
Aubrey snorted, before realizing her mistake as the custard flew out of her nose.
"Beca…"
The little DJ, wisely laying down her spoon, snorted too and started laughing.
"Dude your face!"