A/N:

It takes a while since I have to write this in secret, but I finally did it :) Leave a review. Or don't. Be happy and free. Again, happy pride month :)

Don't own anything PP or FOB related.

Song this chapter: 'Of all the gin joints in all the world"

Chapter 4 - Table talk

Gradually, every Treblemaker gathered in the 'backstage' room. While Jeffrey's was not a large location, it was built out to host live bands from time to time. The former storage room was not big, but it held a couch, a chair, a table and a small refrigerator; in a corner a sink was installed.

Lilly was the first one to arrive and jumped on the sofa, grabbing a bottle from the fridge. She enjoyed the silence and relaxed. Emily entered a few minutes later and she looked up.

"Hey. Acoustics could be better" Lilly said. "I once played in a war bunker 1500 feet under with better sound."

Emily frowned but knew better than to ask about her statement. "…okay? I think it's good… nothing compared to this BA party a few weeks ago, but what can challenge an opportunity to play open air."

She let herself fall next to Lilly and closed her eyes to calm down. Her heart was still pounding a bit faster than usual, the game with Stacie was fun but it took a lot of her courage to go through with it, she had to admit. She was not as innocent as everybody thought but was never this sly on purpose.

The door was opened and Benji and Jesse came in. Benji got down next to Emily and Jesse launched himself into the chair, exhaling loudly. "Guys, this was aaaawesome. They love us!" he yelled, his eyes beaming.

Beca entered in a hurry a few seconds later, her face pale. She went straight to the sink and began to wash herself.

"Everything alright, Bec? You look horrible" Emily asked her.

"I'm g-" Beca breathed in and out a few times, like she was afraid to let other words than intended slip again. "… I'm good. Just… sweaty" She put her hat down, ruffled her hair and continued with the cat bath.

"No wonder, you really did great back there Bec!" Jesse turned his head to her, leaning his back in the chair. "You know, I think in the last song at this point where it goes-" he made some beat noises with his mouth, which didn't really have anything in common with beatboxing "-we maybe could bring some variation, like-" he continued to make some noises till Beca turned towards him, water dropping from her face.

"Dude, this isn't even over, let's finish tonight and I think about this next week, ok? I'm really not in the mood doing this right now, I mean this is what I do literally every day."

"Ok, ok, sorry. I'm just euphoric, all pumped up, you know me!"

"Yeah, unfortunately I do"

"Becaaaaww" Jesse pouted. "What happened back there, anyway? It looked like someone fell into your kit"

"Maybe" Beca scoffed between splashing water.

"I saw some red-haired girl paying her a visit" Emily stage whispered grinning.

"Really? Stepping up with your womanizer game?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

"Shut it. If anything, I fell deep into the idiot hole so can we drop it?"

"Alright, calm down. Just… happy for you." he said smiling, rewarded by Beca just rolling her eyes. "So, Ben. Who is this Aubrey you never told me about?"

Benji was deep in thoughts and turned to him. "Hm? Oh, she's just a college mate, we're in the same english course." They were actually good friends, but he chose to play it down.

"She is beautiful."

Benji just nodded his head. "Yup. Well, she and the others couldn't make it to our last performances. They're always busy with something, so I don't expect them to be around much" he shrugged.

"I'm sure we can change that. Did you see how she looked at me?" Jesse asked a bit dreamy.

"Nope. Anyways, Lilly we need to move your stuff a bit, it's too near to… " he started a conversation with the bass player about the location of their instruments and they soon were deep into discussion. His hands were fiddling with the label of his drink while talking to Lilly, his facial features hardened. Emily raised an eyebrow. It was obvious that he wanted to change the subject, but Jesse ignored it.

Beca's washing noises stopped and she took a towel and dried herself. When she joined the others, she shoved her knuckles on Jesse's head while passing him.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"You know, just for being so full of yourself" she grinned.

"I stuff you in the base drum, Mitchell" he retorted, pleased to see the drummer relaxing again.

They continued their break for a few more minutes before heading out for the second part of the evening.

A few minutes earlier

Aubrey arrived at the bar and joined Amy, who was still sitting there alone. "So, how did it go? Saw you shoving those bitches, nice move!" Amy complimented her.

Aubrey chuckled a bit. "You gotta do, what you gotta do. And they were annoying as hell… thank you by the way" She took her seat and ordered something new, she definitely had to wash her mouth after this red drink from kindergarden-hell.

"What for?"

"For making me get up there. Why does he drink this? It tastes awful" she said to Amy but was not really expecting an answer.

"Holy moly, look at them" Amy laughed at the sight of their friends. Chloe and Stacie arrived pretty much simultaneously, both having a long face. Stacie looked as if someone slapped her and Chloe had dark stains on her shirt.

"What happened to you?" Aubrey asked staggered. Chloe and Stacie looked at each other and recognized their misery. For a few seconds they checked each other out and none of them talked, but then they burst out with laughter and joined the others.

"I don't wanna talk about it. Let's just say this did not play out as I thought it would" Stacie waved her hand down, a beaten smile on her face.

"Got a cold-shoulder, Conrad?"

"No, I… not really? Actually, I did not. It was confusing. But it seems as if Chloe got a cold belly" Stacie poked in Chloe's stomach, grinning. "What happened back there?"

Chloe looked around and whispered flushing "I practically fell into the drum kit."

A loud laughter escaped her friends. "That was you?" Aubrey made big eyes. "I just heard the sound but wouldn't have imagined something like that… did you get hurt?"

"No, it was just embarrassing. Like a lot." Chloe thought of telling them about Beca's rambling but decided against it. It was too cute and just her memory.

"Told ya, shorty can be frightening" Amy commented.

Chloe gave her a skeptical look. "Not the first word I would use, but I fear it was not my smoothest move. What about you Aubrey, did you talk to him?"

"I did" she looked down and adjusted herself in her seat. "Well, I did not ask him out or anything but I'm almost sure there might be a chance to do this. Maybe later" Chloe gave her a wondering look.

"We're meeting them after the show. Didn't Ben speak to you? Oh, I forgot, you were busy falling" Stacie chuckled. "Sorry."

"Ha-ha." Chloe deadpanned. She didn't show it, but the thought of meeting them made her a bit nervous. This was either going to be a chance to make up for her clumsiness or for continuing it. Plus, Beca left really embarrassed. Hopefully she would join them anyway and could just forget about this incident.

All four carried on talking until the crowd slowly gathered around the small stage.

The second part began and when Emily hit the first chords of the next song, Stacie jumped from her stool. "Hey, what about dancing a bit? My butt is going to get flat if we continue just sitting here the whole night!"

"Yes! I'm in, girl!" Amy cheered and stood up, waiting eagerly for the others.

"Oh, I don't know, look at them, they're all tipsy and it's hot and you have to look out not to bump into everyone" Aubrey whined, her opinion of the trebles and the music lightly improved due to Jesse, but still not convinced of this whole situation.

"That's the point of dancing in a crowd, Ms. Teacher"

"I told you, this won't be a thing Stacie, stop it!"

Chloe chuckled at their friends shouting and simply stated "Well, I think I'm going, too. Come on, Aubrey, this will be fun!" With this, she got up and stood beside Stacie and Amy.

"Turn off the lights and turn off the shyness

'cause all of our moves make up for the silence

and oh, the way your make-up stains my pillowcase

like I'll never be the same…"

"Listen to him, turn off the shyness and move your slim booty, squib!" Amy shouted. Aubrey's jaw fell in shock and Amy knew she hit the point again.

"Let's go!" Aubrey grimly replied, moving past the others and into the crowd.

The Trebles were dismissed with loud cheering. It took them a while to pack every instrument and cable and the four women used the time to catch up with Amy and talked about anything and everything, until Benji arrived at the bar.

"Hey, we're finally ready. There's a table CR kept free for us, you coming?" He gestured in a direction, his impression groggy, but happy.

They got up and followed Benji to their table. It was in a corner, surrounded by two wooden walls, decorated with framed pictures of Jeffrey with guests and scenes from the pub. Jesse, Emily and Lilly already made themselves comfortable and greeted everyone. Benji maneuvered himself in the corner next to Jesse, leaving it to Amy, Aubrey, Stacie and Chloe to sit next to each other, across Jesse and Emily on the bench. Lilly sat on a bar stool, watching them all without expression.

A momentary silence fell over the table, until CR's voice made everyone's head turn. "Hey y'all, what's your poison? Jeffrey is buying a round." they arrived at the table and everyone ordered. When CR disappeared, Benji introduced his college friends and they all began chatting loosely with each other.

Jesse and Benji we're right in the middle of telling a story from another performance, when Beca made her way to the group, ending a conversation with another guest. She let herself fall next to Emily and was shortly greeted by the table, then they all continued to listen to the boys. Her clothes were different; the t-shirt was replaced by a green element tank top and the snapback was gone, brown and curly hair was hanging from her head, still a bit damp. She didn't recognize where everyone was seated until she looked up, her eyes meeting Chloe's.

Oh, god no.

She's here.

And even prettier than before.

Screw dignity, right?

Beca quickly looked away and leaned back, trying to mask her embarrassment by inquiring CR's whereabouts. When she found them, she gestured and ordered, what gave her a few moments before facing the woman across her.

"Hi there!" Chloe said with a voice that was only for Beca to hear, the group still following along some story. She gave Beca a warm smile; those toned arms and biceps of the short one in front of her alone made it quick for her to decide that she didn't want to continue this unusual clumsiness from before.

"Hey." Beca's eyes shot around as if they couldn't decide if they should go after these blue orb-like eyes, the self-made cleavage of Chloe's top, or the table, which was suddenly very interesting as well.

"I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable."

"What? No, there's nothing to be sorry about. Can we just… forget it? Like forever?" Beca managed to answer, a small grin escaping her face.

"Deal. If we add my failing body control to the list?"

Beca snorted but gave her an assuring nod. "My lips are sealed." She made a zipping gesture over her lips. "Although I'm afraid your actions were already noticed by hawk eye here, I don't know if they can drop it in the near future." She whispered and pointed to Emily with her thumb.

Chloe laughed, relieved that they weren't stuck with the former awkwardness. "Yeah, I also might have told the girls. Well, my wet shirt couldn't be overlooked."

"What wet shirt?" Beca raised her brows amused.

Oh boy. She realized that Beca didn't noticed any of that. "Uh, I don't know, I just forgot about it… forever" she winked, imitating Beca.

Even if she wanted, Beca couldn't have prevented that smile that escaped her expression while looking at the woman in front of her. Chloe had something that was pulling Beca towards her and she made some mental notes for possible lyrics in the future. Don't forget the notes about crushing for a potential straight, already taken or out-of-your-league girl, Mitchell. You know how that ends.

"I would say 'to forgetting', but that doesn't seem fitting" Beca said, lifting her glass.

"To making new memories?" Chloe suggested smiling.

"I'm fine with that."

They toasted and Chloe nodded to the stage. "So, that was a lot of stuff up there, where do you put all this?"

"I actually own a van for occasions like this, it's old and almost falls into pieces, but it works. I got it to transport my kit, but there's still a bit of space for a few amplifiers and Benji's keyboard, so most of our gear is in there."

"But you don't take all this home, do you?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Apart from the practically non-existing space in our dorm, Amy would strangle me in my sleep" Beca answered, which made Chloe giggle lightly. She didn't know Amy very well, but it seemed as if that would be something she was capable of. At least to a certain extent.

"We have rented a garage next to Paula's, where Jesse is working. She had no use for it, and it fits our needs, especially because there's no one living to it next door."

"That sounds really cool! And… how many clichés of a college rock band are you going to cover this semester?" Chloe teased.

Beca smirked, knowing that they already fulfilled a few unintentionally. "Well, if you're going to break my heart there's a pretty high chance of us writing a song about it." The words tumbled out of her mouth before thinking, it was the first thing that came to her mind - a lot of their songs had this topic (thanks to Benji and Jesse) after all. Bold again, are we?

Chloe was a bit taken aback but recovered quickly. "I'm sure there will be other things to make songs about" she replied smiling, lifting her bottle to drink, when she felt a lower leg stroking her own on the right. Her eyes fell to Beca's, which were looking back at her but showed no sign of connection to whatever happened down there. Then she heard a small coughing.

"Sorry." Emily mumbled in her direction and the stroking on Chloe's leg stopped. A few seconds later, Stacie tensed shortly beside her and Chloe knew what was going on. She continued her original action and turned to Beca again, covering up the events.

"So, I assume there's a lot of free pizza in the treble HQ's?" Chloe asked to carry on with the conversation.

"Hm, not as much as we would like, but there's some from time to time, depending on how Jesse behaved in his shift." Beca answered grinning and they continued with the usual conversation about toppings and if pineapple on pizza is okay or a devil incarnate. They settled quickly with accepting pineapple and hating anchovies.

Emily noticed Benji looking urgently to her while tipping his head in Stacie's direction, his lips formed to the slightest smirk. She knew he was expecting some more involvement on her side for their bet and she swallowed her nervousness. She enjoyed the earlier conversation with Stacie and was serious when she said she would like to get something else than money for this. Emily waited for everyone being engaged in a conversation and turned to the brunette towards her.

"You looked a bit out of breath earlier, did you have a chance to recover?" she asked Stacie, looking at her intensively.

"Hm? Why should I-" Stacie responded, than it struck her that Emily was up to playing again. "…-yes, I did. I had quiet to soothing view I have to say"

"Glad that I could be of service" Emily winked; her head supported by her arm which was set on the table. She lifted her right leg in attempt to find Stacie's, when she realized that she just started playing footsie with Chloe.

She swallowed and mumbled a small "Sorry" in the redhead's direction and adjusted her leg to the left, where it finally met Stacie's. The brunette was still surprised by the unexpected touch and tensed when she felt a stroke from her ankle to her knee.

Emily took a quick look to Benji, who was apparently following all this, a big grin on his face.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" she innocently asked Stacie.

"Y-Yes?" Stacie answered, feeling Emily's leg still on her.

"What do you think about this top, I mean, is it too 90's? Would you say that I can wear it this short? I'm not sure about the length, does it look cheap?" While Emily talked, she fumbled with the hem of her belly top, casually lifting it a bit from time to time, revealing even more skin.

Stacie's eyes were glued on Emily's stomach and bellybutton, which danced around in front of her. The view and the weight on her calf made her head spin a bit and her jaw fell slowly again. She didn't notice that she unconsciously leaned forward, presenting a view of her cleavage, which the guitar player secretly took some advantage of.

Stacie closed her eyes tightly to think clear again. I can do forward as well Ms. Applebaum.

"I think…" she took a sip of her drink "…that it looks…" and moved her bottle to fake-inspect the label, followed by locking her eyes on Emily's "…delicious." She slowly pronounced every syllable of the last word.

The younger one unclasped her top and raised one eyebrow. "I appreciate the honest answer."

In the corner of her eye she could see Benji involved in a talk with Jesse, Aubrey and Amy and she decided that he got enough entertainment. She let got of Stacie's leg and stood up.

"I'm afraid I have to excuse myself for a moment-" and with a suggestive look to Stacie she added "…or two." Emily squeezed past Beca who was obviously bugged by the interrupted eye contact while talking to Chloe. She made her way through the pub to the bathrooms, turning into the small corridor past the old non-functional cigarette automat and settled in the corner next to the chewing gum dispenser. What a TV move. I bet this does not even work.

She leaned against the wall, looking around while waiting. After a few minutes she started to count the colorful, too big round sweets that were locked in the orb probably for too long, when a voice reached her ear.

"Hey, stranger."