Aubrey's perfect senior year has only three components. Spending the year with Chloe as her roommate, winning the ICCA finals, and finding her soulmate. Two out of three isn't bad, right?
"You surprise me, Stacie." Aubrey was smiling as they meandered back to Aubrey's car. She dangled her paper dragon puppet on the thin wooden rod in front of Stacie's face. "I'd never fancy you for a puppetry aficionado."
Stacie tossed her head back, laughing as she used the big red lips attached to a hand puppet to press a paper kiss to Aubrey's cheek. "What can I say; I have a weakness for Jim Henson and The Muppets."
"I never thought I'd find a puppet museum interesting. So thank you."
They'd arrived at Aubrey's car. Stacie bowed before opening her door. "Glad to be of service."
When trying to decide a unique yet not cliché place to take Aubrey, Stacie had meticulously researched some of the lesser-known but interesting activities to do in Atlanta. She came across this puppet museum – The Center for Puppetry Arts. They spent the better part of the day there exploring the exhibits and watching a show.
The museum had two signature galleries and one special exhibit. The first gallery they visited was dedicated to Jim Henson, widely known for creating The Muppets and Fraggle Rock. Stacie was most excited about this particular gallery since it included all things Sesame Street, a show she'd grown up on despite being a brainiac as a kid. The other signature gallery was more global in nature, exploring the traditions and history of puppets from across the world throughout time. Aubrey seemed quite interested in seeing how time and global culture affected puppetry.
There was also a special exhibit featuring the work of Tarish Pikins, aka Jeghetto. It explored his imaginary and inventive world of 5P1N0K10 (Spinokio), an Afro-futurist universe. The exhibit dove into his characters' backstories. This exhibit was hands-on, and Aubrey and Stacie could manipulate the larger-than-life-sized puppets as they walked through. Then Stacie bought tickets for "5P1NOK10 (Spinokio) A Hip Hopera Performance," a musical performance that transported them to an Afro-futuristic post-apocalyptic realm with puppets as the main characters.
"So. Dinner," Aubrey asked cautiously.
"God, yes," Stacie spouted. "I'm afraid of what we might walk into if we go back to your house."
"Aubrey chuckled. "I suppose you're right. Ideas?"
"I'm glad you asked," Stacie replied and directed her to a place called Buckhead Wing Company. Once they were seated at a high-top table in the bar area, a server came over with menus. Later she came by with a plastic bucket.
When the girls looked confused, she said, "Trivia Night. A buck a person." Aubrey excitedly forked over two dollars and received their scorecard and a pen in return. She confidently told Stacie, "we've got this in spades."
After looking over the menu, they decided that Aubrey would be in charge of making the final decision on answers and writing them down, mainly since she was ordering a salad for dinner. Stacie was ordering buffalo wings, so it didn't make sense for her to be the scribe.
"Are you sure you won't mind my hands being messy?" Stacie was actually concerned with how Aubrey saw her since Aubrey didn't seem the eat with your hands like a caveman type of person. The blonde assured her that wasn't a problem since it was theoretically quite tricky to eat buffalo wings without a bit of mess.
"Thus why I'm ordering a salad," Aubrey grinned.
Trivia Night was a hit, and Aubrey called it as soon as she dropped her money in the bucket. She and Stacie came in first place well ahead of all the other teams. It took them a few questions to find their groove, but soon they realized each other's strengths and were quick to agree on answers.
When Stacie had finished eating, the server dropped off disposable hand wipes for her to get as much sauce as possible off her hands. Without realizing what she was doing, Stacie moved her stool right up against Aubrey's. Stacie realized one of her legs was pressed against Aubrey during the final break.
She guiltily jumped back and excused herself to the restroom. After splashing some water on her face and telling herself to get a grip, Stacie returned to the table a bit more composed. She couldn't let her attraction to Aubrey show lest she draw attention to herself.
Soon they were headed back to Barden with their cheap plastic trophy and $20 gift card for their next visit to Buckhead's. "I had a good time today, Stacie." Aubrey glanced over to her passenger, not taking her eyes off the road for long.
"I'm glad; me, too," replied Stacie. "With both our roommates now official, I'm sure you and I'll be seeing a lot more of each other. Ummm, if that's okay with you, of course," Stacie stammered. She'd been okay around Aubrey all day and wasn't sure why she'd suddenly gotten nervous on the way home.
"I'd like that," Aubrey said quietly.
And so the school year went. Aubrey continued to be hard-nosed at Bellas' practices yet much softer when she and Stacie were alone. Stacie tried to not become attached to Aubrey since this was her last year at Barden. Once the co-captain graduated, the hunter could have a wider range with less guilt. But the more time she spent with Aubrey, the less time she wanted to let the hunter roam.
Occasionally, Chloe would beg Aubrey to go out with her and Beca. Aubrey would then convince Stacie to join them so she wouldn't feel like the proverbial third wheel. Stacie noticed that, while Aubrey was less uptight with the four of them, she still wasn't as loose as with Stacie alone.
When competition season arrived, Aubrey became even more rigid in her ways with the Bellas. Stacie's heart hurt since she knew how kind and gentle the co-captain was when she wasn't trying to win a capella championships. Despite Aubrey's time around Chloe's soulmate, Aubrey was also alienating Beca at practice which put a wedge between her and Chloe. Even though Aubrey had been friends with Chloe for almost four years, Beca was still the redhead's soulmate and would be Chloe's first priority.
The Bellas somehow made their way through Regional competition with the same tired arrangement they'd repeatedly done. During the Semi-Finals, Beca tried to mix things up by an impromptu mixing of "Bulletproof" and "I Saw the Sign." Afterward, Aubrey was livid with Beca, which led to another blow-out argument. Beca quit the Bellas before Aubrey could throw her out.
Back on campus, Beca refused to talk to Stacie about the competition or anything much at all. She knew how much time Stacie spent with Aubrey off-campus and was being weird about it. The Bellas had come in third at the Semi-Finals and hadn't advanced to Nationals, so the Bellas didn't have practice over Spring Break. When Stacie invited her roommate to come home with her, Beca declined. Chloe was having surgery to remove her throat nodules during Spring Break, and Beca was going to hang out with Chloe to help take care of her.
Aubrey received the call that the second-place team from Semi-Finals had been disqualified, thus moving the Bellas into Nationals. She notified all the Bellas to cut their Spring Break short and return to Barden. Except for Beca. Of course, Beca wasn't a Bella anymore since she'd quit, so it didn't come to much of a surprise.
Stacie came back from Spring Break early and found Beca hanging out in the dorm room. "I thought you'd be with Chloe," she said. "How'd her surgery go?"
"The doctors are optimistic. She has another week of vocal rest." Beca chuckled. "You can imagine how hard that is for her."
Stacie told her that Aubrey had called a Bellas' practice for the following afternoon since they were back in the competition and were headed to New York City. "You should come."
"I quit. Remember?"
"Whatever, Shortstack. I don't think we have a chance without you, though. Maybe you can work things out with Aubrey."
Beca rolled her eyes. "Just because you spend all your extra time kissing Posen's ass doesn't mean I have to." Stacie could feel the flush in her cheeks because she'd hoped nobody had noticed how much time she was spending with Aubrey rather than out hunting. "Besides, I need to go see my dad."
Stacie texted Chloe that she told Beca she should show up at practice the next day and encouraged her to do the same. At practice, Chloe actually stood up to Aubrey by breaking her vocal rest and shouting at her that she invited Beca back because Beca made the Bellas better. Aubrey about blew a gasket, then all the girls decided to chime in about how they felt about the situation, most siding with Chloe.
That caused Aubrey to become unhinged which started a free for all melee. Amy, Chloe, and Lilly were trying to grab the pitch pipe from Aubrey. C.R. tried to 'save' Stacie by grabbing her tits. Of course, Stacie always had her B.U. rape whistle stuffed in her cleavage. She retrieved it and started blowing on it. Jessica sat in the stands crying with Ashley comforting her. The Bellas were an absolute train wreck.
Beca walked into the rehearsal room amid all the ruckus. Once the room had calmed, she apologized to Aubrey. As Beca talked, Stacie could see the wheels turning in Aubrey's mind, processing. Slowly, bit by bit, the Aubrey that Stacie knew emerged. The blonde accepted Beca's apology and even turned over the pitch pipe as a symbolic passing of power over the group.
After Beca led them in a fantastic mashup of Bruno Mars' Just the Way You Are and Nelly's Just a Dream, Aubrey's attitude toward Beca changed drastically. She was a totally new person around the Bellas, much more like the one Stacie had grown to adore when they were alone. Stacie could tell her relationship with Chloe wasn't as strained as before. Aubrey was even more cheerful on her and Stacie's outings.
After that point, everything had improved. Beca and Chloe's relationship was going more smoothly now that Beca and Aubrey weren't at each other's throats. Secretly, this made Stacie happier, too. Beca was her best friend, and Aubrey was her soulmate, even if the blonde didn't know it yet. And the more she saw of this Aubrey all the time, the more she wanted to put the hunter out to pasture.
Since Chloe and Beca had accepted they were each other's soulmates, they tended to be inseparable. However, Aubrey extracted a promise from the redhead to have a roommate night at least once a week so they wouldn't lose touch with their friendship. "Feels weird, this being our last year," Aubrey mentioned as she cooked dinner for only her and Chloe.
The redhead sat at the bar, sipping on a glass of wine. "It does, doesn't it? This seems to be shaping up to be an almost perfect year. I had you as my roommate; I found my soulmate; we are going to nationals. What more could I ask for?" Aubrey just hummed and stirred her sauce.
"What about you, Bree? What would make your senior year perfect?"
"Spending the year with you as my roommate and seeing you happy, even with a hobbit." Aubrey flashed a smile at Chloe so she'd know Aubrey was teasing. "Check." She ticked off an invisible mark in the air. "Winning the ICCA finals. And finding my soulmate." The last statement was made wistfully as she gazed down at her ring.
Chloe slid off her barstool and went over to wrap her arms around Aubrey's waist. "Why do I feel like there's more to that last part than you're letting on?"
"Dinner's almost ready." Aubrey took in a deep breath, then blew it out. She avoided the soulmate conversation at all costs but knew Chloe would probably drag it out of her.
"Dude, you know they talk to each other about everything." Beca was chewing on a red Twizzler as she lay on her dorm bed.
"Are you sure Chloe heard Aubrey, right?" Beca nodded her head furiously. "Do you think she might just be jealous because of you and Chloe?"
"Nope, I asked. Chloe was pretty clear. Aubrey said she felt a connection to you, like the one Chloe explained she feels between us, the soulmate connection. She likes you, dude. Like a lot."
Stacie began nervously twisting her ring around her finger, guilt pooling in her gut. She decided to simply avoid Aubrey as much as possible outside Bellas. She only had to hold out a few more weeks until graduation. Then Aubrey would leave Barden, leaving Stacie to figure out how to deal with the whole soulmate situation later.
Since Beca had been given control, she created a whole new musical arrangement for the ICCA Finals, which might allow them to win. Despite having given Beca artistic control over the music of the Bellas' set, Aubrey still kept the girls on a tight practice schedule. She made sure everyone was well aware that she and Chloe had never made it to the Finals before. While the others had three years ahead of them, this was the co-captains' last chance to win the trophy before graduation. If Stacie thought the blonde was rough on the group before, she was almost militaristic before finals. Distancing herself from Aubrey proved quite difficult, but Stacie had decided she had no other choice.
The ICCA finals were at the Lincoln Center in New York City that year. Rather than get multiple hotel rooms, Aubrey found a five-bedroom AirBnB right on a main subway line to get them to the Lincoln Center. Beca and Chloe claimed a room together right when they got there as well as Jessica and Ashley. Cynthia Rose and Denise had agreed to share a room. On the way to the house, Aubrey decided to let Lilly have a room to herself, leaving her rooming with Stacie.
Stacie had avoided Aubrey on the subway from the airport and didn't care who she was partnered with. She found a room with two single beds and began unpacking. Stacie took a long look at her soulmate ring, then realized she'd forgotten to reapply the coating before they left Barden. The following day would be when Stacie would typically reapply, but the Bellas would be busy.
The other girls seemed otherwise occupied elsewhere in the house, so she took advantage of the time to take care of her ring. She took her special makeup bag into the adjoining bathroom and found a cotton ball and her nail polish remover. As she cleaned off the old coating, her ring became more and more silver, the platinum color shining through. She stared wistfully at the ring, thinking of Aubrey, before starting to coat the platinum ring with the substance.
"Stacie! Stacie!" Aubrey's voice rang out as the bathroom door flew open and hit the brunette in the back.
Stacie heard the clank of glass against porcelain, and a pit opened up in her stomach as she watched the last of the compound go down the drain. She quickly used the nail polish brush to coat what she could of her ring, trying to sop some liquid from the sides of the sink.
"What?" she barked as she spun around to face Aubrey.
The excited look on Aubrey's face fell. "I just… ummm, I wanted to show you my soulmate ring. It turned platinum."
Shame caused Stacie's cheeks to flame; however, she refused to let on. She took a deep breath, hoping she'd gotten enough coating on her own ring to block the connection. Stacie grabbed Aubrey's hand and looked at her ring. "Nope," she said gruffly. "Still weird. And still no soulmate."
With that Stacie turned around, glad when Aubrey left without saying another word. "One week," she muttered to herself. "I've got one week to decide how to fix this."
When Stacie finally came out of the bathroom, Chloe was sitting on the other bed, glaring. "You didn't have to bite her head off, you know. I saw it. Her ring was platinum. And did she want to share her moment with me? Her friend of four years? No. She wanted to share it with you."
Stacie huffed. "Why? She barely knows me."
Chloe shook her finger at Stacie. "You know that's not true. She's spent more time with you this school year than anyone, even me. I know Beca told you what she said." Stacie hmmpfted. "That Aubrey feels a connection to you. She loves you, Stacie. Aubrey wishes you were her soulmate, rings be damned. Hell, I don't know what happened to her ring after she came to show you. You probably cursed it."
Because of the volatile situation and the need to concentrate on their upcoming competition, Chloe suggested that she room with Aubrey and Beca stay with Stacie. Stacie repacked her things and moved into the room her roommate was in. "Seriously, Beca? We have to share a bed?"
"At least it's a queen-sized bed," Beca chuckled. "You shouldn't have snapped at Aubrey. She's already on edge enough as it is. You know how important this is to her and Chloe."
The Bellas got to practice twice in the Lincoln Center, and soon their big day had arrived. Chloe convinced Aubrey to let the girls go casual with their outfits – a new look to go along with their new musical sound. Surprisingly enough, Aubrey agreed without much of a fight.
While the music had echoed off the empty auditorium walls during practices, the sound seemed to be absorbed by the audience members during performances. The Bellas had the unfortunate luck of performing right after the Barden University Treblemakers. They always seemed to outshine the Bellas and come in one place above.
The Bellas were huddled in a group before they went on stage. Beca was trying to pump them up. "I love you, awesome nerds," Stacie's tiny roommate said. Then Stacie heard Amy say something about them having fat hearts. But Stacie had her eyes locked on Aubrey who was pointedly trying not to look at Stacie. The group ran out on stage to the audience's cheers and did what they came to New York City to do, to sing and perform.
"I can't believe it! We won; we won!" Beca picked up Chloe and swung her around in a circle. Amy ran around with the trophy over her head. Then the girls huddled together, hugging each other with tears flowing freely. For the first time in four years, not only had the Bellas beaten the Treblemakers, they won Nationals.
The Bellas made their way back to the AirBnb to clean up before they went out for dinner. Only Chloe and Aubrey were old enough to drink, so they couldn't go out and party. Therefore, the party would simply have to come to them.
Beca had disappeared somewhere with Chloe, so Stacie took a long, steaming hot shower. She let the water pound the stress out of her shoulders as she washed away the sweat of the lights and performance. She finished by turning the hot water off and shocking her body with cold, stunning her skin, to wake herself up.
She came out of the shower, a towel wrapped around her body and another around her long, dark hair. Stacie was startled to see Aubrey in her room. "Oh, I can leave," Aubrey said quietly as she diverted her eyes.
"No, it's okay. Is your room…" Aubrey nodded, acknowledging that her room was being used in ways she'd rather not be present for. "Let me grab some clothes and get dressed, okay?" Stacie rummaged through her clothes, quickly grabbed what she would wear for dinner, and retreated to the bathroom.
When she came out, Aubrey was still there. Silent. While Aubrey quietly watched, Stacie sat cross-legged on her bed, making an intricate braid in her hair. "How can you do that without a mirror," she finally asked.
Stacie smiled. "Lots of years of practice. I started braiding my own hair when I was about six."
"Of course, you did," replied Aubrey with a soft smile. "Such an over-achiever, even in first grade." They sat in silence some more. Oddly enough, despite recent events, the silence wasn't uncomfortable. "Stacie, did I do something to upset you?"
The brunette dipped her chin to her chest, hiding her face. "No," she mumbled.
"Is it my imagination that you've avoided me the last few weeks?" Stacie was quiet. "I'm about to graduate, and frankly, I'm going to miss the hell out of you. I didn't expect to miss you before I graduated."
Stacie sighed. "Aubrey, I've enjoyed our time together. Really, I have."
"Have you?" Aubrey asked. "Because you seem to have checked out of our friendship from where I'm standing."
"Friendship?" asked Stacie. She squinted her eyes together and took in a deep breath. "Aubrey, I need to come clean with you."
"Then it seems we both have some things we need to get off our chests." Aubrey reached over and grabbed Stacie's hands. "When Chloe and I first brought you into the Bellas, you made it quite clear about the hunter."
Stacie couldn't hide her smirk. That was the first time she'd ever heard Aubrey talk about the hunter. He was persona non grata when she and Aubrey spent time together.
"Then you and I started spending time together," Aubrey continued.
"I thought we always had a good time, Bree."
"I did. I… just thought maybe the hunter had decided that college wasn't the place for him." Aubrey's shoulders slumped forward. "Then, these past few weeks, you've been avoiding me. I figured you'd just been out on the prowl again."
Stacie's heart shattered. The pained look on Aubrey's face was more than she could bear. "Aubrey, I…"
"No, wait. Let me finish." Aubrey paused and dabbed the corner of her eye with her finger, blotting out the tear that was about to fall. "Chloe's been my best friend since we both started at Barden. But this year, you've become only the second true friend I've had here. Then when you started avoiding me, I realized that I might be falling for you."
Stacie closed her eyes, not sure what to do. "Oh, Aubrey, come here." She pulled the blonde into her, and they sat for a moment, soaking in the closeness. "You could have talked to me, you know."
"No, I couldn't," Aubrey said into Stacie's chest. When Stacie asked her why she felt that way, Aubrey replied with two words. "Soulmate ring."
Stacie pushed Aubrey back from her chest, where they could see eye to eye. "Aubrey, can I talk now?" The blonde nodded. "I have a confession. And when I tell you, you're probably going to hate me." Stacie hung her head down in shame.
Using two fingers, Aubrey lifted Stacie's chin up to peer into her eyes. "I could never hate you, Stacie."
Stacie went back to the bathroom and got a cotton ball and her bottle of nail polish remover. When she returned, she sat as close to Aubrey as she could. "You know I care about you, right?" Aubrey nodded. "I think I just got in over my head, too much brain for my own good. I had good intentions when all this started."
"It's okay. Just tell me."
Stacie gave Aubrey the short version of her senior project and how it'd been bought out by a corporation. She'd kept some of the substance so she could have some of the fun at college that she missed out on during high school.
"Truth be told, I didn't think I'd find my soulmate so quickly. To be honest, I didn't want to. I never even dated in high school because I was too busy. Then, I started spending time with you. And you were so… perfect. Are so perfect."
Confusion showed in Aubrey's furrowed eyebrows. "Stacie. No matter our feelings, we have soulmates to consider."
Stacie began to scrub the fresh layer of compound off her ring. The longer she cleaned, the more silver it became. She slipped it off her finger to ensure the inside was substance free. The more silver her ring became, the more silver Aubrey's became. When she was done, Stacie reached over and grasped Aubrey's hand. She lifted it to her lips and kissed Aubrey's ring.
Aubrey could only stare at the two rings. "So earlier, my ring really did turn platinum. Because you were cleaning yours to put more of that gook on it?" Stacie nodded. "Then why did you get so angry at me when I came in to show you?"
"I-I-I was afraid you'd hate me," Stacie said weakly.
"Oh, Stacie," Aubrey crooned, taking the younger girl's face in her hands. "I told you, I could never hate you. I love you." She then began to smile as if she was holding back a laugh.
Stacie tipped her forehead to meet Aubrey's. "What's so funny?" she asked.
"A week or so ago, Chloe asked me what would make my senior year perfect. Know what I said?" Stacie shook her head. "Spending the year with Chloe as my roommate and seeing her happy, winning the ICCA finals, and finding my soulmate."
