She had no idea what to do. Aubrey, after all, had backed away from the Barden Bellas for a number of reasons, self-preservation and ensuring she no longer tainted the proud institution of the Bellas among them, and she had even sacrificed her friendship with Chloe as a means to an end. She hadn't liked doing it, but her dad had pointed out that her humiliation should serve as a sign that she should stop searching for attention through performing, and that she should simply just double down and focus on getting into a good law school.

Ultimately, she had chosen to walk away. She knew she had been putting Chloe in a tough spot, to have to try and put together a competition-worthy group by herself, but she'd also known that Chloe wouldn't have a problem recruiting people: Between the two of them, Chloe wasn't the one with the grating, overbearing take-charge personality. People liked Chloe. They especially liked Chloe when Aubrey wasn't around.

Chloe hadn't felt the same way, and as much as she had tried to be understanding and sympathetic, she'd still felt the betrayal of Aubrey leaving the Bellas, the fact that Aubrey was choosing to walk away from something that meant the world to them.

And Aubrey respected Chloe's perspective. So she had promised that whatever happened, she and Chloe would still be friends, but that she just couldn't be a Bella anymore. It had been a struggle, not to join Chloe during the activities fair or during auditions; and had feigned ignorance of the fact that Tom, who had been their friend since their sophomore year, had been recruited by Chloe to help with the logistics of "kidnapping" the new Bellas for initiation.

She hadn't realized that by distancing herself from the Barden Bellas, she had been distancing herself from Chloe.

In the end, she and Chloe had agreed that while they were still friends, and lines of communication would always be open between them, they both could benefit from a little time and distance, some separation, so that Chloe could learn to handle being captain of the Bellas by herself, to create a relationship with the new recruits, and Aubrey could learn to hear about the Barden Bellas without feeling the pangs of guilt and betrayal at the fact that she had walked away from an institution that had been so helpful to her throughout her college life.

And now she had slept with one of Chloe's recruits. Three times. And had even been entertaining the idea of asking Stacie out and try to make a real go at dating.

She had been an instrumental, albeit unwitting, part of the Bellas' fundraising endeavor, and now she had a choice.

Because she knew Chloe wouldn't be happy with the turn of events. If she didn't jump to the conclusion that Aubrey had hooked up with Stacie to manipulate the freshman into being her eyes and ears into the Barden Bellas, she still wouldn't be happy that: a) their fundraising event had been Aubrey's idea, and b) Aubrey was sleeping with one of the new Bellas.

And Aubrey could only guess at what Stacie would have to say.

Never mind the fact that she hadn't known Stacie was a Bella until the moment she'd handed Aubrey a ticket to their event.

It was a choice, she knew, one she would have to make once everything came out in the open. Chloe had made it clear to her that if Aubrey walked away, she had to stay away, and her ignorance had made her break that promise. And she liked Stacie too much to avoid the party just to avoid the inevitable confrontation with Chloe.

But the place was packed, obviously a result of a successful PR campaign and word of mouth – although Aubrey wondered how they managed to keep quiet the fact that they wouldn't be serving alcohol – and by keeping close with the friends she had gone to the party with, Aubrey managed to not only avoid her acquaintances from the a cappella circles, but she also successfully avoided both Chloe and Stacie for a little while.

But her luck had to run out sometime.

She had been seeing Stacie around: it was kind of hard not to, when the girl was as tall as she was and was wearing ridiculous heels; not to mention the fact that her dress was eye-catching, the colors of the neon stripes on her dress shining brightly in the darkened room. And, well, Aubrey had been looking for her.

So when Stacie caught her looking, Aubrey couldn't help but smile, which only grew when Stacie smiled back and made her way closer. Vaguely aware that her friends had started to move away, Aubrey welcomed the hug that Stacie greeted her with, pleased that despite the fact that they have slept together, there was still a level of discretion to how they interacted in public.

"You came."

Aubrey smiled. "You asked."

"So if I asked you to—"

Aubrey laughed, interrupting the query. "Let's figure that part out slowly, shall we?"

Stacie laughed as well. "Now you're just making me want to know all the things I could get you to do."

"You'll have to ask first."

"I might even ask nicely." Stacie returned, her smile turning just a little bit mischievous.

She was so into this girl, Aubrey didn't doubt there were a lot of things she would be willing to do if Stacie asked nicely. She took a sip from her soda. "How'd you get around not serving alcohol?"

Stacie laughed. "Oh my God, you wouldn't believe–! We tried to get a license or whatever, but we couldn't, so one of the girls, Fat Amy, she–"

"You call her 'Fat Amy'?" Aubrey interrupted curiously.

"Yeah, she says it's so twig bitches don't call her that behind her back." Stacie told her. "Anyway, she has connections, right? And we're actually serving non-alcoholic everything, but don't tell anyone, because they totally think they're getting drunk."

Aubrey glanced around, and conceded that she probably wouldn't have been able to tell, either.

"But you're drinking soda?" Stacie asked.

"Yeah, it's…" Aubrey hadn't been sure if the drinks being served were alcoholic or not, but whatever the outcome of tonight was going to be, she had decided she would have to face it sober. "The auction hasn't started yet, and I'd like to control myself when that happens."

Stacie grinned, leaning in closer. "You're gonna try and bid on someone?"

Aubrey smiled. "That's the plan."

"And, in this plan of yours," Stacie idly traced Aubrey's collarbone with the tip of her index finger, "how much trouble can you and the Bella you're bidding on get into, in public and in broad daylight?"

"That's—"

"Stacie." A tall, short-haired brunette cut in, making Aubrey quickly create some distance between her and Stacie. The girl glanced briefly at Aubrey before turning back to Stacie. "CR wants to start the auction; Chloe said we should all head to the stage."

Stacie glared at the girl. "Yeah, okay. Thanks a lot, Ashley."

'Ashley' rolled her eyes, but didn't leave, apparently well aware that there was a chance that Stacie wouldn't heed the instruction immediately.

Stacie turned back to Aubrey. "You can only win the bid on one Bella, so choose wisely."

"Did I mention I had a plan?"

"I'm just saying." Stacie replied. "And you'll probably face stiff competition – literally – but I'm rooting for you."

"I don't want to know." Aubrey gently forced her to turn and follow Ashley, Stacie immediately complying and walking away with Ashley.

Ashley turned to Stacie as they walked towards the stage. "Who was that?"

"A girl I've been kind of seeing."

"Other than the other people you're also kind of seeing?" Ashley asked.

Stacie shrugged.

"Because you haven't been up close and personal with anybody else who paid for an auction ticket tonight." Ashley continued.

"Maybe she's loaded."

"Is she?"

Stacie actually had no idea, because other than Aubrey's bed, and the crisp, thick vellum of her calling card, there wasn't a lot Stacie had to go on in regards to Aubrey. She had friends in one of the more elitist sororities in campus, and her clothes looked like they came from an Anthropologie ad, but other than that?

Oh, and the sex was awesome, but Stacie's had sex with rich frat boys who thought jackhammer sex was a good thing, so abilities in bed didn't really translate to money.

Okay, so she didn't really know anything about Aubrey, and they really needed to start hanging out more socially than just hooking up for a few hours, so hopefully the result of the auction was a step in the right direction, since the rules would basically force them to spend time together in public, in daylight, and possibly even with a chaperone.

They start bidding with Amy, followed by Ashley, Beca, Cynthia-Rose, Denise, Jessica, and Lilly. Stacie's next, and they're ending with Chloe, since she knows the most number of people in the room.

Some, like Beca, had specified right away what they would be doing for the "date", and Stacie could only surmise whether the bid for Beca was for the sometimes-antisocial girl, or for the opportunity to hang out at the campus radio station.

Stacie hadn't made such a specification, so it was really free choice, and she wasn't going to brag, but Stacie may have preened a little when the bidding for her quickly escalated.

She might have deflated a bit at how quickly Aubrey gave up when the bidding broke into the hundreds, leaving her in the hands of two boys whose bidding went from harmless fun to impassioned claim for superiority, and in the end she was scheduled to go out with some douchey-looking frat boy who barely gave her a second glance when he was declared the winner. Which only fed to her belief that at one point, he'd been less interested in her than in beating the other guy.

But if she'd been riled up about that, it was nothing in comparison to watching the bidding for Chloe, because much like the bidding for her, it quickly went from loose change to a hundred, and the person driving the bidding?

Aubrey Posen.

Ashley nudged Stacie. "Isn't that your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Stacie grit out, her focus going from where Aubrey stood with her friends, calling every bid people made, to Chloe's obvious growing annoyance once she realized who was preventing the bidding to close. Stacie didn't know the story there, but clearly they had history. Messy history. Messy enough that Chloe was instructing some friends of hers by the stage to pool their money and beat Aubrey.

"What's going on?" Jessica asked.

Onstage, Beca kept the bidding going, despite Chloe's frustrated gestures to cut the bidding off, because Chloe had been the same person who'd told all of them the minimum amount they needed to collect, and what would be an ideal take at the end of their fundraising.

"Stacie's girlfriend is bidding on Chloe."

"You have a girlfriend?" Cynthia Rose asked, intrigued.

"We just hook up." Stacie said simply, before her jaw dropped slightly when Aubrey put an end to the farce by declaring "Five hundred."

Because, okay, yeah, that was enough to cover their entire travel expenses to North Carolina in January.

And apparently there was something Aubrey wasn't telling her about the whole ordeal.

Not to mention that while Stacie was a little annoyed that for all her claims that they were just hooking up, she realized she wanted to know more about Aubrey Posen. Or everything about Aubrey Posen.

Starting with why Chloe didn't want to give Aubrey the time of day.