It had to be the cardio. Definitely, whatever planned torture had made their captains smile so sweetly at each other on initiation night, it had to be the cardio. Or so Ashley never stopped telling her in their first few days as Bellas.
But weeks into the semester, Jessica had already become comfortable enough around Ashley to seriously remind her that the cardio was good for her, no matter how much Amy (comfortable about discomfiting everyone) tried to convince them otherwise. And Jessica actually liked the workouts, though she dreaded and suffered other things: one-on-one percussionist training with Aubrey, for example. (That, Ashley was quite good at, and had already earned her some not-so-icy smiles from the senior.)
As for Jessica… well, imagining karaokes was much harder when the person that they were supposed to be was actually standing a foot from you, acting just like the machine by spelling out what you had to do and scoring how well you did it. And dragons? Did Ashley even know everything about dragons when she compared Aubrey to one? Because Jessica could feel Aubrey's eyes on her, focused and expectant, whenever they went through the vocal exercises. And she had read a thing or two about not looking into the eyes of those creatures…
So, yes, after a month or so, Jessica was still afraid of Aubrey. Ashley, behind the mask of nonchalance, still got flustered too. But gradually, their intimidation had also been tempered by awe. It was impossible not to admire how the blonde could break down all the sounds in a song, match and make them herself, and explain how to do them to the team. She preferred songs from the previous century, true; both Jessica and Ashley begrudged that, though not as openly as their fellow freshman, Beca. But as far as Jessica was concerned, such knowledge of a body of songs, and how to handle it, was impressive in itself.
Moreover, any doubts they had about Aubrey's capability to lead them to a championship after Lily showed them the video of last year's ICCA Finals had disappeared. Aubrey—and Chloe—were for real. They had proven as much one day, when, at Amy's and Stacie's prodding, to the redhead's obvious amusement, and despite the blonde's obvious hesitation, the two had sung a duet. Chloe sang the melody and Aubrey sang the harmony while tapping the lid of the grand piano in accompaniment. At an apparent instrumental interlude, they also picked up on the appropriate tunes without faltering.
"Wow," Ashley had whispered. "If only we could do that too." Beside them, Denise nodded, then glanced at Cynthia Rose.
It was the first time any of them had seen Aubrey ease into a song, rather than zero in and march into it. It was also the first time they had seen Chloe's megawatt performance smile (something she always tried to teach Beca, in good humor and in vain) soften into a more contemplative expression.
"Now, ladies," Aubrey said afterwards, coming back into drillmaster mode, "We did that to show you what two people can do if they put all their effort into making one number. It doesn't matter how simple, complex, difficult, or old a song is—what matters is you understand how to complement and carry one another."
"Not all two people are us, Bree," Chloe then quipped, with a wink. But Aubrey let the comment slide: "Imagine what we could do if all ten of us did the same for I Saw the Sign. Learn your piece, follow the pace, and sing along."
And sing along Jessica and Ashley did—from the beginnings of rehearsals so early Amy said they might as well be running on Australian time, through to the ends of practices that lasted past Stacie's preferred "bed times."
They both felt it was the least they could do to make sure they didn't get on the wrong side of their captains. What they didn't realize was that it would let them see an entirely different side of them too.