Hourglass
Chapter 37
Mitchsen
Rating: T
Aubrey woke early the next morning, yawning as she sat up in her bed. It was the big day. Her graduation from Barden. At least, until she came back the next school year for her Masters. The blonde sighed, shaking her sleeping girlfriend awake. "Hey babe, you said you needed to get up early this morning." Beca stirred, groaning.
"I lied." She retorted before trying to go back to sleep. Aubrey chuckled, knowing full well that her girlfriend needed to do some last minute things at the radio station to close up for the year. Luke was obviously going to be busy with graduation and seeing that Beca would be staying for the ceremony, he asked her if she could do him a solid. To which she agreed. Luke, despite the nicknames, had been a good boss over the year.
"I don't think Luke will take kindly to you not showing up babe," Aubrey said, gently trying to prod Beca out of her bed though she sorely wished she didn't have to. But as things stood, there were a number of tasks she had to do that day. Her father had texted her and said he wanted to talk to her before the ceremony, offering a coffee as a bribe. Aubrey had really not wanted to, but she was kind of intrigued as to what was so important that her father wanted to meet her.
Beca moaned again, but opened her eyes, sitting up with a sheet covering her nude upper body. Chloe had graciously abandoned the dorm room for what was probably to be the last time the two would be rooming together. "The ceremony is at two this afternoon, right?" Beca asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Yes, they've probably already started setting up the quad for it." Beca nodded.
"Okay, well I'll be done in plenty of time before then," Beca said, leaning down to give her girlfriend a good morning kiss. Aubrey reciprocated before pulling back and nearly shoving her girlfriend out of the bed.
"Alright, Becs. If we continue you're more than certainly going to be late. And so will I." Beca nodded. Aubrey had told her about her father's summons. The brunette got out of the bed, picking up her underwear from their spot on the floor, pulling them on.
"Well, let me know how it goes? I don't know if I'll see you before the ceremony, but I'll definitely see you after. And you wanted to go out tonight? Since you had your family shindig last night." Aubrey nodded.
"Yeah, I don't care what we do. I just thought it would be nice." Beca grinned.
"Well, luckily for you, I have the perfect plan." Aubrey raised an eyebrow, but the look on Beca's face signaled that she wasn't going to tell her girlfriend what she had planned.
"Not even a hint?" Beca shook her head as she pulled one of Aubrey's shirts over her head, followed by a pair of her shorts.
"Nope. You'll just have to wait. But I swear you'll love it." Aubrey smiled, sitting up in bed, knowing that she probably would. Beca knew her better than most people. Besides maybe Chloe. But the redhead had four years of friendship on the sophomore.
"I trust you. Now you'd better get going." Beca nodded, grabbing her phone and keys, kissing Aubrey on the lips again before leaving her girlfriend to get ready.
Aubrey drove to the coffee shop that she agreed to meet her father at, seeing that he had already ordered them both a coffee and he was sitting at one of the raised bars by one of the windows. She went to seat herself next to her father.
"Aubrey." He said
"Dad," She replied, taking a sip of her coffee. She was surprised to learn that her father still knew her order, after all this time. "What's this about?" Might as well get right down to business.
"What? A father can't want to have coffee with his oldest daughter the morning before graduation?" Aubrey's eyes narrowed. This was extremely out of character for her father.
"You haven't seemed interested in my life or me for years," Aubrey said scathingly. Her father visibly recoiled, taking another sip from his cup to cover it up. Something that she would never have thought she'd see in her life. He was usually even more confident than she was.
"Well, you certainly are my daughter. Always straight to the point." He sighed. "Aubrey, despite what you must think of me, I've only wanted what I thought was best for you." He started though Aubrey had enough.
"And what exactly was that, dad?" She questioned bitterly.
"For you to follow in our family's footsteps. You've always had the most promise of all your siblings. You are more like me than Mark, Adam and even Casey."
"I am nothing like you," Aubrey said. "I wouldn't have thrown one of my kids under the bus for something they couldn't control." The graduate student barbed. "If this is the only reason you wanted me here, to trying to alleviate your conscience before I graduate and walk out of your life, so help me…" Aubrey was so close to just getting up from her seat and leaving. But her father grabbed her forearm.
"No. That's not what this is about. Not directly. It's about something your girlfriend said last night." Aubrey scoffed.
"What? That she offended you so badly that you don't want me anywhere near her?" Steven Posen visibly furrowed his brow.
"She didn't tell you about last night, did she?" Aubrey shook her head. The couple was otherwise engaged most of the night.
"What does that have to do with this?"
"Look Aubrey. The life you've chosen was not what I wanted for you. I'm sure you know that. But you're an adult. There's ultimately nothing I can do to stop you from doing what you want. But you're still my daughter." Aubrey raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure your girlfriend would like to tell you the story herself, but long story short, she's a keeper. If that's what you really want." Aubrey jaw almost dropped.
"Wait… What?" Steven took another sip from his coffee.
"I can tell by the way she talks about you that she is really in love with you. And if the way you were looking at her all night was any indicator, you feel the same." Aubrey blushed a little bit, somewhat surprised her father had picked up on that. "I'm not blind Aubrey. Though I bet right now you wish I was." He chuckled. "She is definitely unorthodox and I don't know if I like her or not. But she had the guts to stand up to me, despite the horror stories I know you've told her. She's tough, I'll give her that."
"You called me all the way down here to tell me that you begrudgingly approve of my girlfriend? Even though she could have probably told me that herself." Aubrey said, still trying to process everything
"No. I called you down here to have a cup of coffee with your old man one more time. I've given you no reason to continue wanting to be around family now that you are able to support yourself. And all things being equal that is probably for the best. You have your life, I have mine. I just wanted to tell you something before you walk out. You are still my daughter. You will probably not give me a second thought after today. But despite my disapproval of your choices, I'm still proud of you." He admitted.
Aubrey blinked. Once. Then twice. "You're what?" Her voice cracked.
"I haven't done a very good job of treating you like family for the last few years, Aubrey. I know that. But you get your stubbornness and bullheadedness from me. It's hard to accept that you didn't want what I had planned for you. And I don't know if I ever will. But despite all that, you've managed to graduate with honors, get accepted to an internship right out of college and find love. That's enough to make any respectable father proud." Aubrey sniffled. Those words were all she ever wanted to hear from her dad. And while there were still a lot of things wrong with their relationship, she could see he was trying.
"You know, that's all I ever wanted from you. For you to tell me that you were proud of me." Aubrey took a sip of her coffee to keep her voice from cracking. She didn't know why she was being so emotional. She was all ready to leave her family behind her and start her life, hopefully with Beca at her side. But then her dad goes and does something like this. Beca was right in the end. She still did really care about her family.
Her father gave her a reassuring smile. "I am proud of how far you've come in life Bree. You should probably thank your girlfriend for standing up to me." Aubrey gave her dad a confused look.
"I.. why?" Steven Posen laughed.
"I told you, your girl has balls." Aubrey laughed. She knew that Beca was one fiery badass when she wanted to be.
"I love that about her." Steven Posen patted his daughter on the shoulder. He would never understand her fascination with the same gender. But the young Beca Mitchell had been correct. His daughter was something special and he had done a spectacular job of messing that up over the last few years because of his attitude. It wasn't something that was going to change overnight. Maybe even ever. But he wanted to at least part from his daughter knowing that he was proud of her.
Beca returned back to her dorm room after she finished up at the radio station. She still had a couple of hours until the ceremony. She hadn't heard word from Aubrey how her meeting had gone, so she assumed that it was still going on. She really hoped that her words the previous night had gotten through to Steven. Aubrey was a special person, to anyone. If he couldn't pull his head out of his expectations for his daughter, he didn't deserve her.
The sophomore texted all the Bellas that hadn't yet gone home for the summer yet to confirm her plans. She figured that Aubrey would want to spend her post graduation night with some of her closest friends. Which had grown to be the Bellas over the year. Denise and Cynthia Rose had both taken off a couple of days ago, but the rest of the Bellas were free for the afternoon and evening.
She had planned for all the girls go head to the paintball field that Beca had taken her girlfriend to and have a few hours of fun. All of the girls seemed to be pretty excited about it and Beca hoped that Aubrey would be too.
She had a little bit of time to spare, but not much so Beca started going through her closet for an outfit. Most of her stuff was packed up in preparation to leave for Portland later that week, but she had left out most of her clothes, her laptop, and other necessities. She eventually settled on a pair of black denim shorts, a nice cream colored tank top and a pair of black sandals. She looked presentable enough, but she wasn't about to sit through a couple hours of graduation ceremony in a dress or anything.
She decided to curl her hair a bit, allowing to flow past her shoulders. And going back to her roots and applying maybe a bit too much eyeliner along with sticking in her ear spike. Aubrey still called them ear monstrosities, but in a more playful way than before. Beca suspected that the blonde actually liked them on her but would never admit to that out loud.
By the time she was done, it was time to head down to the quad and meet Chloe and the other Bellas. They all had managed to be able to come and support their graduating captain. Beca put her keys, wallet and phone in a small leather bag, slung it over her shoulder and headed down. She caught Stacie also on the way down and the two walked to their meeting place together.
"So, your girlfriend is finally graduating," Stacie commented.
"Yeah, it's fucking crazy. I'm so proud of her, though." Beca said happily.
"You two are spending the summer together right?" The shorter brunette nodded.
"Yeah, we're going to Portland for a month or so, then probably visiting Chloe in Florida in July. I'm not 100% sure of our plans afterward. Bree mentioned that she needed to go back home to pack up her stuff and move into her apartment in August, though. So, we'll probably be doing that." Stacie nodded.
"And you're coming back to Barden next year right?" Stacie asked unsure, biting her lip. All the Bellas knew that Beca's tenure at Barden University was forced and that she did have the chance to leave. But Beca nodded.
"Of course. I couldn't leave you, awesome nerds, now could I?" Beca teased. Stacie grinned.
"Great, it wouldn't be the same without you next year short stack." Beca frowned at the nickname but Stacie just chuckled.
"Beca! Stacie!" The two looked up to see Chloe waving at them. They went to join her. All the other Bellas seemed to be present already.
"So, you guys ready for tonight?" Chloe asked, asking about their paintballing surprise for Aubrey. Beca smiled, nodding.
"Yeah, it should be a ton of fun. It was great when it was just us two. But I'm sure it'll be way more awesome with most of the Bellas." Chloe nodded, before noticing her fellow Bella's captain approaching the group, dressed in her green graduation robes.
"Bree!" Chloe squealed before running and pulling her friend into a hug.
"Woah, hi Chloe," She said, a little surprised at her friend's excitement. But then she was jumped by the rest of the Bellas, piling into a group hug around the graduate student. "Oh hey, you all made it," Aubrey said with a laugh.
"Yes sir, captain sir." Fat Amy said. All the girls laughed.
"I think Chloe and Beca are your captains now ladies," She said, as all the girls untangled themselves from the hug.
"Yeah, but you're always going to be an important part of the team Bree," Chloe said to her best friend. Aubrey grinned at her best friend.
"Yup, what she said," Beca said, approaching her girlfriend, kissing her on the lips. "You look beautiful by the way." Aubrey scoffed.
"What? I'm just in my graduation robes, just like a couple hundred other people."
"But you're the only one that I have my eye on." A few of the Bellas let out sighs of awe. All of the girls thought that Beca and Aubrey's relationship, while not what they all initially expected, was cute and that they made a great couple. Chloe, as usual, quickly grabbed her phone, snapping another picture of the couple, Beca's arms wrapped around Aubrey's shoulders.
"Charmer." Aubrey accused her girlfriend. The brunette just shrugged.
"Hey, guilty as charged."
"Speaking of which, what in the world did you say to my dad last night?" She said as the Bellas started to disperse and find seats. Beca looked a little sheepish.
"I'm guessing that was what he wanted to talk to you about this morning?" The blonde nodded. "How bad was it?"
"It wasn't. Look, I don't have time to tell you the entire story, but whatever you said to him. Thank you, babe." Aubrey said, pulling her girlfriend in for a deep kiss, not caring who was watching. "I need to go. I'll find you afterward?" Beca nodded.
"Of course. I love you, babe." She said, squeezing her girlfriend's hand before the blonde hurried off. Before she had a chance to find Chloe, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see Aubrey's brothers, Mark, and Adam.
"We were wondering if you wanted to join us." Beca raised an eyebrow.
"We…" She asked for clarification.
"We as in Mark and I," Adam replied. "Don't worry about our parents and brat of a younger sister. As far as we're concerned, you're family already." Beca smiled. "We're not sitting with them anyways."
"Oh?" Beca was surprised. From what she had gathered from Aubrey about her brothers, they were always vying for their parents affection.
"Nope. It always gets competitive when we do. Posen family trait I suppose. But it's Aubrey's day. We thought it would be better this way. Besides, I didn't think you'd want to sit with our dear old dad, mom and baby sister." Beca snorted.
"Well, lead the way." She followed Mark and Adam back to where they were sitting. Mark sat down in the middle of the three open seats, Adam on the left, Beca on the right.
"So Beca. I'm curious. How did you manage to get our sister to stop with her hit and it quit it ways?" Beca blushed a little bit at the mention of Aubrey's bedroom tendencies prior to their relationship.
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, Bree is one hell of a catch, but she's never really shown interest in anyone before. Male or female." Adam remarked.
"I got lucky I suppose," Beca responded with a shrug. After all the drama the couple had been through over the last year, it certainly seemed like it.
"Well whatever it was, she seems happy. She was kind of oblivious to everything that didn't have to do with you last night. You should have seen her when you went off with our dad. She looked like she was going to throw up." Beca winced though Mark and Adam both laughed.
"Though it was nice to see baby Bree has got her nervous tick under control." Beca snorted at the nickname that Adam attributed to his sister. Though before she had a chance to respond, the Dean got up to the podium to start the ceremony.
It seemed like a long hour of student and faculty speakers and Beca trying to keep her eyes open as all the graduates got their diplomas. Luckily, Barden's graduating class that year wasn't overly huge. So when they finally got to Aubrey's name, Beca could hear herself, Aubrey's brothers along with a number of Bellas cheering the blonde's name.
Aubrey walked up on the platform with a huge smile on her face, her tassels on her robes proudly displaying her academic status. Beca clapped and cheered as Aubrey shook hands with a number of school officials after being handed her bachelor's degree. Beca could see even from her vantage point that Aubrey was brimming over with happiness. And the brunette couldn't have been any prouder of her girlfriend then she was in that particular moment.
Beca zoned out for the rest of the ceremony, which wasn't too long. Then the Dean took to the podium again, wishing everyone a good summer and leaving his good wishes with the new graduates of Barden University. After the ceremony officially ended, there were a number of green graduation caps thrown up in the air in celebration.
Mark, Adam and Beca got up from their seats to go find the newest graduate of the Posen family. With all the chaos, hustle, and bustle, Beca opted to just call the blonde, who picked up rather quickly. She told Beca that she was off somewhere changing out of her graduation robes and that she'd meet her under their tree.
Beca, along with Aubrey's brothers headed over to the meeting spot and before long they spotted Aubrey, all changed out of her graduation gown and into a floral summer dress. Beca was the first one to approach her girlfriend, not caring that her brothers were watching and wrapped an arm around Aubrey's waist, pulling her in for a kiss. Aubrey smiled as she kissed her girlfriend back before turning to her family.
"Hey, you two. What are you doing here?" Mark feigned shock.
"As if we'd let your girlfriend sit anywhere besides with us little sister. What kind of Southerners do you take us for?" Aubrey snorted, punching Mark in the shoulder with the arm that wasn't wrapped around Beca's shoulder. "Ouch. Hey. Rude." Aubrey just rolled her eyes.
"You deserve it sometimes you know." Aubrey retorted. Mark opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a loud squeal from a certain redhead.
"Breeeee!" Chloe said before barreling into the two Bellas, her arms enveloping both of them tightly. Aubrey was used to Chloe hugs of his caliber, but Beca was still getting used to them.
"Ugh. Chlo, can't breathe." Beca managed to choke out before Chloe begrudgingly let her friends go.
"Looks like Red here is as excitable as ever," Adam said dryly.
"You know it!" Chloe said brightly. She turned to Aubrey and Beca again. "Can I borrow Beca for a sec?" Aubrey nodded, a little confused.
"I'll be right back babe," She said, kissing Aubrey on the lips before heading off with Chloe.
"You are so whipped, aren't you little sister?" Aubrey glared at Mark who had a very smug look on his face.
"Well, at least, I have someone to do the whipping." She retorted. Mark just laughed.
"Touche." The three siblings heard their names being called. They turned to see their parents and youngest sister approach. Aubrey's mom pulled her into a hug.
"Congratulations honey."
"Thanks, mom," Aubrey replied politely. She turned to her father who placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Good job Sport." Aubrey beamed with pride. He hadn't called her by her childhood nickname since she was in middle school.
"Yeah, whatever. Good job Bree." Aubrey rolled her eyes at her sister's obvious disinterest in being there.
"You're so supportive Case. I don't know what I'd do without you." She said sarcastically. Beca was truly rubbing off on her. The youngest Posen was about to bite back, but their father stepped in.
"I've got to get to their airport soon kid. You said you're coming home in August?" Aubrey nodded.
"That's the plan. I need to move all my stuff out and into my new place." Her father nodded stiffly.
"Just give us a call when you plan to fly in. We'll have someone pick you up at the airport." Aubrey nodded, her father going back into business mode. But she had made some surprising strides with him for the two short days he had been there. More than she could have ever hoped before Beca. She had a lot to thanks the brunette for later.
"Can we go, dad?" Casey whined. Aubrey just rolled her eyes, but her parents nodded. Aubrey's mom hugging her one more time
"Tell that girlfriend of yours that I meant what I said." Her father said before walking off. Aubrey furrowed her brow.
"Looks like dear ol' dad is proud of his favorite kid." Mark teased his sister. Aubrey just rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"Whatever Mark," She said before Chloe and Beca reappeared.
"Here's your girlfriend back! I'll see you later Bree." Chloe said before winking and scampering off. The blonde turned to her girlfriend.
"What was that all about?" Beca shrugged.
"She wanted to talk about some Bella things before next year." Aubrey frowned. She could tell when her girlfriend was lying to her face. But she decided to not push it. For now.
"Welp Bree, we probably should get going too. I'm sure you want to spend some quality time with your friends and girlfriend." Adam said.
"Yeah. Hey. Call me when if you stop by Boston sometime." Mark said, unexpectedly hugging his sister.
"Oh yeah. Sure thing. I'll look you up." Aubrey said earnestly. Adam, who was never really much of a hugger just nodded to his sister and her girlfriend.
"When you stop by home, let me know," He said before the two brothers headed off. Aubrey, now left alone with her girlfriend, turned to the brunette.
"So…" She prompted.
"How's it feel? Finally having it all done." Beca asked, grabbing her girlfriend's hand, playing with her fingers. Aubrey just smiled.
"It feels amazing. I mean, I still have another two or three years for my Masters, but being done with my undergrad work feels so freeing." She said, pulling Beca closer and wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist.
"Well good. Because I've got a fun evening that I think you're really going to enjoy to celebrate." Aubrey smiled.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Lead on."
A/N: Ok. I lied. There's more after this. God. I keep dragging this out. I think one more? But I said that about the last chapter and well… Yeah. That worked out well. I thought it would be mean to not write out the paintballing session and the two packing up and heading off for the summer.
I could write that in this chapter, but I think that would be fun to have a stand alone one. Besides, there are a few more things I want to tie up.
Anyways. I don't know where the beginning of the chapter came from. And Aubrey's dad is really OOC here. I don't know if I like it really. I think I've portrayed him as the bad guy for so long and then well, in the last two chapters he just kind of isn't. Still not going to win any dad of the year awards. But I guess I envision Aubrey and her dad, at least, sort of making amends.
She hasn't forgiven him by any means. And he hasn't accepted her choices either. Again; like Beca and Steven Posen, it's a mutual respect. They agree to disagree I guess. And despite their bullheadedness, they are still family at the end of the day. Her brothers, well. That was just fun. I never really characterized them besides them being really competitive for their father's attention and approval.
And Casey is still just a brat.
Anyways, next chapter is going to be this final date and then the couple packing up and heading out. And that's where it'll end. If/when I write the sequel it'll probably be either a story about their summer adventures. Or perhaps Beca's sophomore year. Or I could be really lame and write her senior year like they did PP2, with obvious changes to fit the story universe. Oh well, plenty of time to think about that. I'm not going to be doing that anytime soon.
All mistakes are mine. Leave a review should you choose. Thanks for all the support guys. It really does mean a lot.
A Charmed Vampire