Disclaimer: I own nothing! Not these characters, nor the situation, nor the song used in the titles or the text. That is all!
Under My Skin
Chapter Four: Love, Sex, And Magic
Hale 202. Hale 202. Where the fuck is Hale 202? Who in their right mind has a weekend class?
Beca was racing down the corridors of the Hale building on campus, looking for Aubrey's Free Market Economics class. She was desperately late, a product of her late breakfast with Aubrey and taking a quick nap while Chloe showered. Now…she was screwed.
"Ms. Posen", the professor snapped as Beca slid into the packed classroom. "Well, we're so lucky that you've graced us with your presence this morning! Please, have a seat so class can begin."
Beca rolled her eyes as she slid into a chair at the end of a row of desks and put her stuff on the desk, smirking as the professor glared at her while she noisily pulled her stuff out of her bag. Once she finished, he turned around and started to write on the grease board with a marker. She tried to understand what he was scribbling on the board, but it could have been written in Japanese and she would have understood it better. There was a good reason that she was a music major. This was…insanity.
"What's up his ass?" Beca asked the person next to her, who was hurriedly marking down notes into his notebook. The look that he flashed her, of confusion and borderline disgust, made Beca sure that she was trapped in the body of a social pariah. Great.
"O…kay." Beca whispered while flipping open her own notebook and writing something down about Cap and Trade, whatever that nonsense was. It was all very confusing and she soon found herself staring down at the paper, drawing music notes and writing random lyrics as she tried to think about her next mix.
Aubrey wouldn't mind, right?
"Ms. Posen? Aubrey?!"
The voice was like nails on a chalkboard as it called out her name, pulling her from the depths of sleep. She blinked her sleep-heavy eyes and looked down at the notebook that she had apparently fallen asleep on. Amidst the scribbled lyrics to Titanium and Bulletproof and random economic facts, there was a puddle of droll.
Oh God. Aubrey's going to murder me.
"Miss Posen, could you please tell the class what has been so enlightening about your notes?" The professor asked while smirking, gazing down at Beca and shaking his head. "You've been like that for the last ten minutes and I'm sure that we would all be very interested in hearing what you've found so… scintillating in that notebook."
"Um…I love economics!" Beca announced, pasting on a smile and trying her hardest to act like Aubrey would, even if this was a situation that Aubrey would never get herself into. "Cap and…um…Trade is my passion. The reason I get out of bed in the morning!"
Too far, Posen. Too far!
"That's lovely." The professor muttered while frowning at Aubrey. "Well, Ms. Posen, since you find economics so fascinating maybe you could explain the chart on the board to the class. Here's a marker, go ahead and mark the supply and demand axes and then explain the principal behind the theory."
"That's okay, you'd do it better." Beca mumbled into the hands that had crept over her brushing face, begging her body not to collapse into a puddle of goo as her stomach started to turn.
Not this. Anything but this.
"What's that, Ms. Posen?" He asked while holding out a marker. "Please, don't be shy. Dazzle us with your economic prowess."
Beca just shook her head in defeat and took the marker from his outstretched hand, easing herself up from her chair and trudging up to the board. She gazed at the black outline of a graph and shook her head in disgust at the two unlabeled lines, travelling in opposite directions and meeting at a singular point labeled "x". Beca Mitchell didn't get nervous, but as she stared at it and swallowed heavily a few times, she could feel her own anxiety start to build and a cold sweat break out on her back.
"Think like Aubrey." She whispered to herself as she pulled the cap off of the marker and shoved it onto the back of it. "What would Aubrey do?"
Her mind was spinning in circles as she eyed the puzzle and tried to work her way out of it. Be smart, Mitchell. For once in your life, don't be a complete idiot. You've got this.
"Aubrey?" The professor called out her name teasingly, finding humor in her struggle with the simple graph. "Would you like someone else to handle this? There's no shame in admitting that you're stumped and sitting back down."
What would Posen do…
Beca opened her mouth to respond to his teasing, but groaned as nothing came out. Instead, her stomach chose that moment to violently twist and turn, aching as her hands reached down to grab at it.
Oh no…
She puked. All over the grease board and the floor in front of it, ruining the graph that her professor had spent so much time on as the contents of her stomach showed no mercy.
"I'm so sorry", she mumbled as she turned and looked at her professor, grimacing as he shook his head and started to pack up his stuff.
"Class dismissed."
Well, that was one way of getting out of Economics.
"What happened to my shirt?" Aubrey asked Beca as she flipped over the grease board in their practice space, exposing Aubrey's flowchart of the steps needed to win a national championship. "It's all wet and you-" Aubrey leaned close to Beca, sniffing her for a moment before pulling back, "-smell terrible."
"I barfed in your economics class." Beca mumbled while shuffling through Aubrey's backpack and finding the sheet music needed for today's practice. "Your professor is a dick, by the way."
"You what?!" Aubrey yelled, covering her face with her hands and growling. "How on earth did you manage to puke in my economics class? I hope that you didn't do anything to upset Professor Edwards. He's my thesis advisor and an old friend of my father's."
"Oh...shit." Beca's eyes widened and she backed away as Aubrey paled and stepped towards her while clenching her hands into fists. "I may have been...slightly sarcastic when he asked me to diagram on the board. And I might have been...a little late to class."
"Beca!"
"What?! It's not my fault that he's a jerk. And it's not my fault that swapping bodies with you means that I also get the weakest stomach on the face of the earth. He made me nervous."
"Oh my God..." Aubrey trailed off, sitting on a folding chair and clutching her pounding head in her hands. "I completely forgot that I have a family dinner tomorrow. My dad has probably heard about what happened today and he's going to kill you. I'm dead, my life is over!"
"Aubrey..." Beca trailed off as Aubrey stood up and stomped towards her, ready to punch her straight in the face. "I'll fix this. I don't know ho-"
"-Yes, you will fix this!" Aubrey snapped while placing her hands on Beca's shoulders and pushing her against the wall. "I don't have enough time to prep you for a dinner with my dad, so we need to come up with a plan. Maybe...no that wouldn't work."
"What wouldn't work?"
"I was thinking that you could just bring me along, but my father knows me a little better than that. He knows that I would never associate with someone that has giant holes in her ears."
"You are such a bitch. What do you suggest that I do then?!"
"I don't know..." Aubrey shook her head, loosening her grip on Beca's t-shirt and pacing as she tried to figure out what they could possibly do. "Maybe you could br-"
"-Hey guys!" Chloe bounced into the room, tossing her backpack over a chair before turning and grinning at the pair. "What are you two up to?"
"Um...nothing." Aubrey smirked while tapping her combat boots against the linoleum floor beneath her. When Chloe seemed to melt, Aubrey had to bite back her laughter. She seriously falls for this? Gross.
"Aubrey was just talking about her family dinner tomorrow and how she'd love to take you along for..."
"Moral support!" Beca exclaimed while forcing a grin onto her face. "Would you come with?"
"Of course!" Chloe grinned while throwing her arms around her best friend and pulling her in for a hug. "Your mom makes the best food."
Crisis adverted.
"Okay guys, we're going to change up practice a bit!" Beca announced as she stood in front of her fellow Bellas. The looks of happiness on their faces, along with Aubrey's sour expression, as she suggested a change was enough to bring a grin to her face. "I thought it might be nice to take a break from our routine and to have some fun. I want you guys to tell me what you'd like to sing. The most popular pick wins and we'll just play around with it. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
"I don't think that's a good idea!" Aubrey announced while standing up quickly from her chair and gaining everyone's attention as it fell backwards and clattered to the ground. "I just..." She trailed off, flushing as everyone shot her glares and disbelieving expressions. "I thought that maybe we should stick to the routine since the competition is so soon."
"That's sweet, Beca." Chloe smiled at her and rubbed her arm while picking up her chair and unfolding it so she could sit back down. "But Bree is right. It'll be nice to actually have a little fun instead of working so hard. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
The girls were surprisingly shy now that they had a little voice in the group and Beca shuffled back and forth in her high heels as they all looked up at her with stunned expressions. This is how Aubrey feels when she has to stand up here? God, I'm going to back off a little. Tough crowd...
Thankfully, Fat Amy's hand shot up after a moment of thought and Beca nodded at her while smiling.
"I think it would really be awesome if we sang Lady Marmalade." Fat Amy grinned awkwardly as everyone started to sigh and protest. "What! Moulin Rouge is the best musical ever and it's a song about being a prostitute! What's not to like?"
"That's a...nice suggestion, Amy. But maybe we should pick something a little tamer for practice." Beca shot her a tight smile and Amy just shrugged while sitting back down and pouting. "Anyone else?" After a few silent moments, Cynthia Rose raise her hand and Beca said "Yes, Cynthia?"
"Um…" Cynthia trailed off as she glanced at Stacie and slowly stood. "I think that we should sing the song Smell Yo Dick by Riskay."
"Aca-what?!" Aubrey nearly shouted as she glared up at Beca and mouthed No.
"I second that." Beca replied while raising her eyebrows at Aubrey. Don't give us away, dumb ass."I really don't think that song is appropriate and who here actually knows it?
"I know that song!" Amy grinned as she slapped Cynthia Rose's hand and stood up, bounding to the front of the room and pushing Beca over so she was front and center. "Ahem. Prepare to be in awe!"
"Amy, that's not a good id-"
"-Why you coming home, at five in the morn'? Something's going on, can I smell yo-"
"-That's enough!" Chloe shouted while standing up as well and shooting Aubrey a pleading look, begging her to take control of the practice. "Let's try Call Me Maybe! Doesn't that sound fun?"
"I think we should sing the song that I suggested", Cynthia spoke-up as Stacie's face grew red next to her, knowing exactly where this was heading. "We could dedicate it to Stacie, in honor of what I walked in on last night."
"You bitch!" Stacie shouted while lunging for her, grabbing her plaid shirt and ripping it before Chloe got between them and tried, but failed, to pull her away.
"Guys! Knock it off!" Aubrey shouted as she tried to get in between the two fighting girls, shaking her head as they bickered back and forth at an indiscernible rate. "This is practice, not fight club!"
"Ooh, fight club!" Amy shouted while running over to the girls, ready to get in on the action.
Beca just stood at the front of the room, smirking and shaking her head as the entire practice fell apart in front of her. Jessica was crying, Amy was acting like a referee and commentating, and Chloe was taking gratuitous peeks at Aubrey's butt as they tried to pull Cynthia's hand from Stacie's long locks.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Aubrey trudged back to her dorm room, worn out from the disastrous practice and wanting to just collapse onto her bed and fall asleep. She didn't care if Kimmy Jin stared at her or plotted to murder her while she slept. She just wanted to sleep. Sleep was good.
Jesse Swanson didn't care. He was sitting on her bed when she opened the door, grinning at her and pointing at a pair of movie tickets that he held in one hand. What in the hell? Does no one lock their doors around here?
"Hey, Jesse..." Aubrey smiled at him while throwing her stuff in her closet and begging herself not to scream. "What are you doing here? How did you get in here?"
"Kimmy must have forgot to lock the door. I saw her heading out with her friends and knocked, but no one answered. Luckily, she left the door open."
He smiled at her, thinking nothing of the fact that he had broke into her dorm room and Aubrey had to fight herself from smiling back. He was like a puppy and she knew that smile all too well. She had seen it every day from Chloe and it was addicting. Somehow she understood Beca's warning clearly as her palms started to sweat and she couldn't stop looking at his beautiful eyes and crooked smile.
Oh no.
"So, do you want to catch a movie with me?" He asked hopefully while holding up the pair of tickets. "The old movie theatre in town is showing Star Wars this weekend and I thought that maybe we could grab a bite to eat and then check it out. I know that you hate movies, but this movie is different. This...", he trailed off while grinning and gesturing wildly with his hands, "is different. You'll like it."
He was flashing her puppy dog eyes and biting his lip as he held out a ticket for her to take. She had seen the movie a million times, the product of having a sci-fi addicted father and big brother, but how could she say no to him?
How could she say yes? He was a Treble and she would be breaking one of the cardinal rules of being a Bella if she went out with him. Still... What would Beca Mitchell do?
"Sure." She smiled while taking the ticket from him and putting it carefully into the pocket of her jeans. "It sounds like it won't suck too badly. "
Shit.
She was falling for a Treble and Beca was going to kill her when she found out that she was leading on someone that she had no interest in.
Somehow though, Aubrey didn't even care. Game on, Mitchell.
A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay. I really didn't imagine getting so behind on all of my stuff when I started my rewrite, but here we are in July now and I left everything sit for a while and collect dust. Hopefully you guys are still interested in this fic though and liked this chapter. I promise that it won't take another month to update again. Review if you'd like, they really mean a lot. Or come and visit on tumblr, link's in the user profile.
This chapter was for teasingyourtears. She asked for it, so here it is. Read her stuff! It's pretty great.
Coming soon...updates to 10 Things, Breathe Again and my Chaubrey fics plus something completely different...see you then.
