I really appreciate the reviews guys! I'll keep trying to hammer this story out as well as the other one I've got up right now.
Important: Yes, I did delete this chapter and re-post the edited version - a drastically different version, as you can tell. I re-read the old one and realized that in my haste, it completely missed the tone and purpose I was going for. So, I wrote this up - it's still short, but it's tweaked to better serve the story.
It had been about five months since the Aubrey thing. 'Thing' being the little meet up in the record shop that progressed into a full-blown friendship between the two women. The past handful of months consisted of meet-ups whenever their busy schedules allowed it- sometimes they would see each other three days in a row, other times they'd go weeks with just a text in between. This would be one of those times. Beca hadn't seen Aubrey in nearly three weeks due to the blonde's latest merger at work, and a short vacation to New York to visit her fiancee's family. Beca would be lying if she said she didn't miss the girl.
The brunette had just finished one of her last shifts at the dog pound and was anxiously waiting for the blonde to pick her up. With her community service term pretty much finished, Beca felt the need to do something about her plateaued career. Luke had recently presented her with a few offers from smaller clients, but Beca wasn't really interested in starting a new contract with artists she didn't know. In fact, she'd been feeling inspired lately to produce some originals. She wanted to run it by Aubrey first, however. The blonde always knew what to do.
Aubrey strolled into the facility at 3pm on the dot, and if looks could kill . . . Aubrey would have a long trail of bodies.
That was the other thing.
Sometime within the past few months, Beca started looking at Aubrey differently. Not that she'd ever admit it, but Beca had developed a crush on the gorgeous blonde. A teeny, tiny crush that would in no way affect their friendship or her behaviour towards the older girl. . . Nope, not one bit.
Not even when they sat on the sofa, their legs eventually tangling up whenever they would watch a movie. Not when Aubrey would come up behind Beca on her laptop and wrap an arm around her neck, asking about her new mixes. Not when Beca found herself being the one to initiate the hug before they parted; or caught her own gaze lingering on the blonde when she was busy in the distance. And not when Aubrey passed out on Beca's bed that one night and Beca thought she was the most beautiful, graceful, snoring little monster in the entire world. Yep, definitely not then.
. . .
Fine. It wasn't like Beca even had a chance though. In fact, Beca could not understand how so many people could know Aubrey and not follow her around like a lost puppy.
It was the way that the blonde asserted herself that Beca admired. Aubrey had such a strong, domineering personality; her way of speaking, her thought process, her ability to take her resources and turn it into success - let's not even get into discussing her looks - were all things that slowly drew Beca in. Even small things that had originally annoyed or distanced the brunette, she learned to find endearing.
Beca kept her thoughts at bay, however; because Aubrey was off limits.
She was engaged to be married and that was that. Not to mention how weird it would be for them to date - they were such good friends at this point; she didn't want to do anything that might tip the balance. Liking Aubrey Posen was a bad idea in itself, and so Beca pushed it to the back, furthermost parts of her mind.
Although, it didn't stop Beca from visually admiring her friend every now and then - such as in the current moment, when the blonde marched into the dog pound calling every set of eyes to her attention.
Underneath her spring trench coat, Aubrey was dressed in snappy business attire from her earlier meeting. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her pursed lips were painted a vibrant red. She didn't look all too pleased.
The dogs in the kennel barked at the new visitor furiously, earning a forceful "Shh!" from Aubrey and a pointed finger. The dogs immediately went silent.
Beca smiled at the dramatic entry. "Congratulations. You're terrifying." She said, crossing her arms in amusement.
The corner of the blonde's eyes creased as she gave the brunette a look. "I just spent the last 3 hours arguing with some complete assholes about why they can't just steal my Bayside merger." Aubrey said, almost stomping as she came to a halt in front of her friend.
"Someone's trying to take your merger?" Beca asked, suddenly concerned.
"No," Aubrey responded, huffing an angry breath. "They already did!"
Okay; now Beca understood why the blonde was so angry. This couldn't be good. Aubrey had been working on this project since before Beca and her even met, and had spent the past month ironing out the conditions and administrative part of the agreement. It was supposed to be a game-changer for Aubrey's company.
"Well maybe you can fight it," Beca suggested. "Who took it?"
"Fucking New Rendition Records."
Beca blinked. "What?"
"I know. It's fuckery. The documents had already been signed, but New Rendition found a loophole that allowed them to buy out the company. Fucking grimy dirty dickweed two-faced executives, doing negotiations behind my back. Those stocks should be mine!" Aubrey tightened her lips as a faint red glow worked its' way up to her cheeks. "Excuse my French."
Beca didn't know whether to laugh at the blonde's colorful language, or continue to be very concerned. She hadn't seen Aubrey this pissed off since . . . Well, ever. Take the annoyed face Aubrey had made the time Beca stole her cup at auditions, and then times that by 10,000. Beca decided to just let the girl vent. "But why would they want Bayside? They're an industry giant on their own."
Aubrey shook her head. "They don't want Bayside - they just don't want another competitor in the market. If I had the merger, my company would easily be head-to-head with them and their other labels."
"Sounds like they're scared of a little competition."
"They're not scared - they're dirty. I wouldn't do business with them even if my career depended on it." Aubrey said with a huff.
Beca decides to tactfully omit the fact that New Renditions was and always has been her dream label. Instead, she crossed over to the blonde and placed a tentative hand on her forearm. "You okay?" She asked, knowing she wasn't very good at the whole comforting thing.
"I'll be fine."
"What are you going to do?"
The blonde crossed her arms. "Well, John wants to try to sue them for everything they've got. He wants to represent the case himself." Aubrey said. Beca bit the inside of her lip: John was Aubrey's fiancee. "I'm not sure if I want to take it in that direction. It'll be messy."
"You wanna talk about it? Let's grab some food and head back to my place." Beca suggested. After all, they were still standing in a dog pound. Beca assumed that the blonde had been so terrifying that not even the other volunteers on shift wanted to tell them to take their issues outside.
Aubrey agreed to getting food, but passes on the going back to Beca's place (she had lots of calls to make tonight). They go out to a little Pho restaurant near Beca's apartment, because it's a Vietnamese food kind of day. Over their meal, the blonde keeps mentioning her indecision about starting a lawsuit against New Rendition. It's not long before Beca realizes that it's not Aubrey who's pushing the subject, it's John. Apparently, he can be very opinionated. It doesn't take Beca too many questions before Aubrey decides to ban the subject of her fiancee from the table, and instead launches into telling the brunette about a new lemon detox she wants to try. Talk about having no transition.
When Aubrey drops Beca off, they share and hug and Beca gets out of the car - but not before asking a simple question.
"Bree?" Beca asks, hanging onto the frame of her open door.
"Yes?"
"How come you never let me meet John?"
The blonde frowns slightly. "I didn't know that you wanted to."
"He's a huge part of your life that I know nothing about; isn't it weird that we've never met?"
"I've never given it much thought. But if you want to meet him, I can arrange something."
There's a pause. Beca didn't particularly want to meet John, she was only wondering why Aubrey hadn't made the move to have them meet. In fact, up until today, the blonde hadn't really mentioned him in all the time Beca and her had spent together. Was she over thinking it- or was it weird? Unable to articulate her thought process, Beca gives a small smile instead. "A guy who could win over the Posens? I'd like to meet him."
It's a Sunday night and the studio is empty, save for Aubrey and Beca sitting in the only lit room in the building.
Unable to find an artist she approved of to do background vocals for her mixes, Beca had run into a rut with her originals. She didn't want to use her own voice, because then she'd never want to hear it being played (which is essentially super counter-productive). It hadn't taken long for Beca to call up Aubrey and beg her give it a shot.
"I don't sing anymore, Beca."
-"It doesn't mean you can't!"
"It also means I don't want to."
-"Come on, just one night. Give me one hour of studio time and I'll show you how great you sound."
"You haven't heard me sing in 7 years, Beca."
-"But I've remembered it every day since."
"Stop kissing ass; I am absolutely not singing for you."
-"Aubrey. . ."
"No."
- "Bree. . ."
"I'll hang up on you."
-"PLEASE!"
"Dear lord, my ear drums."
Give or take, it took a couple more phone calls of similar harassing nature to drag the blonde out and into the studio. Beca had just finished showing Aubrey the mixes she wanted to work on for the night. There was one track in particular that she wanted Aubrey's vocals for - a sort of retro mash up for two hit singles that were popular nearly a decade ago. We Found Love by Rihanna, and Titanium by David Guetta. Maybe it was a little out of Aubrey's element (clearly, the songs were not from far enough to into the past), but Beca was sure she could do great if she just let loose a bit. And she was doing great. Sort of.
As of yet, the current situation had Beca wondering if she should fetch a bucket.
"You still throw up when you're stressed?" Beca asked, giving the blonde a concerned look.
Aubrey jutted out her chin, unabashed. "It happens, okay? Doctors say it's a healthy expression of my sympathetic nervous system."
"Are you going to be-"
"- I'll be fine. I just haven't sung in a while, and so I'm nervous."
"I didn't know you could get nervous." Beca said, receiving a rather dirty look from her friend.
"I'm not a machine, you know."
Beca shrugged. "Debatable."
To be fair, if anybody had the machine-like tendency to compartmentalize everything and anything, it was Aubrey. Hell, one look at Beca's apartment and anyone could tell Aubrey had been there - that, or Beca had finally invested in some much needed home cleaning services. Not very likely for the short brunette.
It was like Beca had gotten a roommate she'd never asked for. A roommate that touched everything.
The blonde, who had been crouched over with a hand on her stomach, straightened up. "You know, I am doing you a favor and I can leave anytime, shorty." She asserted.
Beca let out a chuckle. "Shorty? It only took you five months to bust that one out."
"Well, I didn't want to make you self-conscious of being 3-foot nothing." The blonde quipped.
Beca crossed her arms, accepting Aubrey's challenge with a smirk. "It's convenient being short; y'know, being able to stretch without hitting the ceiling."
"- I bet it's convenient to still pass for children's admission at the cinema." The blonde added, taking the banter in stride.
"That, and being able to walk outside without my head entering the heavens,"
"- walking under a horse and not even noticing."
"Not hitting birds with my face."
"- not having far to fall when you trip."
"Less chance of being struck by lightning." Beca grinned. "Are you jealous yet?"
Aubrey bit back a laugh. "Oh certainly." She drawled, regarding the brunette in amusement.
Beca nodded to her mixing station, trying to get them back to work. "Pull up a chair, blondie. I'll show you what we have so far."
Aubrey sat beside Beca and the brunette placed a pair of giant headphones on the blonde's ears. It looked a little silly, but not necessarily misfitting for the business woman. Beca couldn't help but bite back a smile at how the headphones seemed to take up half of her friend's head. She played back the twenty seconds that they had been able to record before Aubrey started feeling sick, letting Aubrey hear it for herself.
Aubrey bobbed her head to the beat while listening, taking off the headphones and leaving them around her neck when she was done.
"That sounded awesome." She said, excitement in her voice.
Beca tilted her head. "You sounded awesome."
"Yeah, all four seconds of my voice?" Aubrey asked.
The brunette shrugged, leaning forward and dangerously close to Aubrey's face. She carefully unhooked the headphones from around the blonde's neck, and placed them onto her own. "Well, that's why you're gonna go back in there and do the rest of the song." She said, letting her eyes flick to the recording booth and then back to the blonde in front of her.
Beca was very aware of how close she was to Aubrey. She allowed herself a peek at Aubrey's lips, usually pursed so tight - now resting in an amused half-smile. If she just leaned in just a few more inches, she would be able to press her lips to Aubrey's . . . But feeling like she'd already crossed the line of the blonde's personal space, Beca quickly let herself fall back into her chair.
The blonde stayed put, cocking an eyebrow slowly.
"What?" Beca asked.
Aubrey moved her shoulders with a measured shrug. "Nothing."
"Nothing?"
The blonde's lips were pulled into a tight line once again. "How many of your clients have you slept with?"
Beca nearly jerked out of her chair from the question. She crossed her legs, trying to mitigate the discomfort. "W-what?" She sputtered.
Aubrey's eyebrow raised to join the other. "That many? Interesting."
"I don't sleep with my clients." Beca said, feeling the need to defend herself. She let her expression turn sheepish. "Well, at least not while I'm working with them."
"Oh, how very noble and professional."
Beca let out a laugh, dismissing the comment. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you sound jealous right now."
The blonde shot her a terrifying look and let out a short 'pffft'. "Please, as if I'd want STD-riddled girls anywhere near me." She said, her nose upturned towards the ceiling - a habit of hers when it came to defending her honor, so it seemed.
"Or maybe you just don't want them anywhere near me." Beca teased, enjoying how it easy it was to rile up the blonde. Though said in jest, the blonde's response caught her by surprise.
Aubrey squared her shoulders, keeping fierce eye contact with her friend. "Believe me, Mitchell - if I was interested in bedding you, I'd have you flat on your back faster than you could fall."
The brunette felt her breath hitch. She didn't doubt that for a second.