A/N: BG-13 - Aubrey's plans never fail. *shakes head vehemently*, JustLikeBrookDavis - Yeah, that was kind of a give away, wasn't it. Oh well, enjoy, NZfulla - That's so sweet. I am glad you are enjoying it and I hope that you continue to do so. It's about to get interesting.
Beca was enjoying a quiet afternoon of avoiding studying for her finite final when her phone went off. She read the caller ID, Aubrey Posen. She was so not in the mood to talk to her so she hit ignore, which was a mistake because ten minutes later there was a pounding at the door.
She looked up in confusion, her headphones slipping off her head in the process. She wasn't expecting anyone and Jesse, the only person who stopped by uninvited now, was in class. Then a thought occurred to her. Dare she hope that it was Chloe?
She opened the door, her heart beating a little quicker than before. When she saw Aubrey on the other side she knew that she should have anticipated this. She wasn't an easy person to ignore. "Hey," she greeted the blonde.
Aubrey nodded and brushed past Beca into the room. She was wearing a sweet smile, too sweet, which was never good. She had a bad feeling about this. "Beca, I'll get right to the point. You know I'm not one to ask favors."
Beca snorted, "No, you usually just tell people what to do."
Aubrey almost gave a snarky reply before she thought better of it, reminding herself that she was here to convince Beca to do something she really wasn't going to want to do. She schooled her face into a pleasant mask of innocence.
"Well, now I'm here to ask," Aubrey said pointedly.
Beca saw the change in expression and was even more wary now. Nothing about this situation was going to be good. She could feel it in her bones but nagging curiosity demanded that she hear what Aubrey had to say.
"To make a long story short a few actors dropped out of the play I am directing for my senior project and I can't find any replacements so I was wondering if there was any way I could persuade you to help me out?" Aubrey put on her best begging face and crossed her fingers. She didn't want to have to pull out the big guns.
"What?" This was not what Beca had expected. She hadn't even known that Aubrey was a theatre major. Her skeptical expression prompted more persuasion.
"If I don't find people to fill these roles I will not be able to put on the play and then I'll fail and then I won't graduate and then my father will come back from Afghanistan and kill me and.."
"Woah, woah," Beca interrupted her, "That's a lot of information to process there." She considered for a few moments, enjoying watching her (sort of) friend squirm. She considered drawing it out even longer but she'd rather not entertain Aubrey for any longer than necessary. " I'm not saying yes but what would I have to do?"
"Ah ha!" Aubrey clapped her hands together and sat down on Beca's bed. "It's a one act musical so all you have to do is learn a few lines, three songs, and a little choreography before senior gala week. You'd kind of be saving my ass... again." She added that last part even if it was only partially true. In the end it was Aubrey that was going to be doing Beca the favor.
Beca's head tilted slightly as she thought over the proposition. "That sounds like a lot of work, how fast do I have to learn it."
She was only considering this because she felt a weird sense of camaraderie with her former nemesis now that they had put their differences aside to share the pitch pipe, and because she really did believe that Aubrey's dad would do something crazy if she didn't graduate. They had actually kind of bonded over their father issues in the weeks before the ICCAs. Also, it never hurt to have someone like Aubrey owe you a favor.
"Two weeks," Aubrey said.
"Uh...?!" Beca's eyes widened. She wasn't really that familiar with theater but it sounded like a really short amount of time to learn everything that Aubrey had mentioned. She remembered what a pain it had been to learn the Bella's routines and how stressful it had been to re-learn everything for their new and improved finals routine, and they had longer than two weeks to do that.
"Chloe's going to be one of the other leads," Aubrey said.
"I'll do it," Beca said without thinking.
Aubrey's face widened in a knowing smile. She had been waiting for just the right time to fire her kill shot. Yes, her plan was definitely coming together. Now, if she could just get her cohort on board.
One hour later...
770-896-1343: Jesse, it's Aubrey. We need to talk.
Jesse Trebble: Aubrey?! Where did you get my number? What's going on?
770-896-1343: I have my ways. Listen, I know you and Beca broke up and that she's head over heels for Chloe. I have a plan. Are you going to help me or not?
Jesse Trebble: How did you find all this out?
770-896-1343: Never mind that. Are you in?
Jesse Trebble: Depends. What do you have in mind.
770-896-1343: You, Beca, and Chloe in my senior project (one act musical) You and Beca playing characters vying for Chloe's character's heart.
Jesse Trebble: What?! This is pretty crazy... I don't know.
770-896-1343: Just say yes. It's going to work. My plans never fail.
Jesse Trebble: Then yes, what do I have to do?
770-896-1343: Good! Meet me tomorrow night at 7 for the first rehearsal. Chloe doesn't know Beca's going to be involved.
Jesse Trebble: Umm, okay? Are you sure about this?
770-896-1343: Just be there. I'll fill you in oh phase two after rehearsal.
The theatre was dark when she walked in but Beca knew that Aubrey had to be close on her heels. If she was late it would the first time that it had happened since they'd been introduced. It was one minute to seven and she was starting to think that she was in the wrong place when the lights kicked on. She spun around, expecting to see Aubrey but it was Jesse instead.
"Hey, what are you doing here," she asked, confusion coloring her features.
He smiled as he casually strode towards her. "I got roped into doing this too." With that he tossed a copy of the play onto the table at the side of the stage.
"Oh," she replied still surprised, "I didn't know you and Aubrey even talked."
"Well, she was pretty desperate for a male lead and I can't resist a lady in need so here I am." He spread his arms wide as if presenting himself to the non-existent audience.
"And he's humble too," she said with extra sarcasm.
"Yes, well, I am all things virtuous and charming," he replied. He slid onto the table, picking up the script in the process and settled there, looking quite comfortable. Just when she thought her eye roll was going to go on forever they heard a door close at the top of the elevated seating area. Aubrey strode towards them, a confident smirk playing on her lips.
"There are my little actors," she said loudly so that it demonstrated the excellent acoustics of the room. She walked slowly down the steps, making as dramatic an entrance as possible.
Beca watched her descent, her eyes darting to and fro, searching. "Aren't we missing someone," Beca asked, worried that Aubrey had tricked her into doing this and that Chloe wasn't really coming.
"Nope," Aubrey said as she stood aside to show them that Chloe was trailing behind her. They reached the stage area and Beca zeroed in on the readhead. She checked her over visually and determined that she was still as gorgeous as ever. She wasn't sure what she had expected to feel when she saw her again but it was all still there the little flip of the stomach, the catching breath, and the sweaty palms. All sure signs that she was in so much trouble.
It was just, now that she was getting more comfortable with her feelings for Chloe, she was even more aware of all of her attractive qualities. Those tiny things about the redhead that made adrenaline race through her body and made her react like an lovesick idiot.
Both girls sat in the front row of seats while Beca leaned against the side of the table Jesse was sitting on. "I have one question," Beca said when she had determined that they were all comfortable.
"And what's that," Aubrey replied.
"Well, in the script you have one girl, Ella, and these two guys who are after her. So, what part am I playing?" Her eyes strayed to Chloe who was waiting intently for Aubrey to answer. Apparently, they were both wondering the same thing.
Aubrey couldn't suppress a sly grin. "I'm glad you asked," she looked from Beca to Chloe and back again, "I couldn't find another guy to fill the role so I decided to make Jack a girl but keep the same name. So, that's who you're playing and obviously Jesse's playing Henry. That leaves Ella for Chloe to play. Lesbians are very in this season," Aubrey said, quite pleased with herself.
"What?" Chloe's surprise was palatable. She hadn't signed up for playing out her real life love triangle on stage, though she should have guessed that Aubrey would pull something like this. Jesse didn't seemed as surprised as she and Beca did though which threw up a red flag but she didn't dwell on it too much, being more alarmed by the fact that her character kissed Beca's in one of the scenes she had read after Aubrey had given her the script.
Aubrey nodded solemnly and crossed her legs. "Yep, now if everyone wants to open your scripts we're going to do a quick read through so you can get acquainted with your parts."
Chloe rolled her eyes. Of course, Aubrey would just assume that she would be okay with this. Vowing to have a strongly worded conversation with her best friend later, she dutifully opened her script and tried to ignore the tumult of emotions welling up in her chest.
Except that was hard when she could feel Beca's gaze on her, the intimacy of it tugging at her until she looked up and met dark blue eyes. It was there buzzing beneath her skin the undeniable, unfaltering connection. They were both bound by its power. She crossed her legs and tried to ignore the need that had ignited inside her.
