Maybe it was the strict Southern upbringing, or just the fear of disappointing her father, but nothing about letting loose and giving free reign to reckless behavior had ever appealed to her.

Aubrey had never been one for losing control in public – partly why the events in the 2011 ICCA Finals at the Lincoln Center had been so humiliating and mortifying – and when she had first heard stories about college life and how alcohol was for the most part free flowing in college parties, she had made it a point to build up as much a tolerance as she could, short of being mistaken for an alcoholic.

Watching the Barden Bellas lose their inhibition throughout the night, with Fat Amy acting as their bartender and most of the girls just pouring into their cup whatever bottle of alcohol was nearby, mixing the drinks they were consuming, and all Aubrey could think of was what would surely be a deadly hangover for all the girls in the morning.

It was probably the worst possible moment to realize just how much she had outgrown college parties.

Because it had been a while, for her, since she last attended such a party. She had climbed the corporate ladder fairly quickly, turning in lots of overtime to make up for her lack of years of experience, and she had swiftly gone from happy hour with coworkers after office hours and mandatory company events to client dinners and company galas. She still enjoyed going out with friends to bars and clubs, but she honestly can't remember the last time hardcore social drinking had been enjoyable for her.

It didn't help that the Barden Bellas were giving her a really wide berth, careful to steer clear of where she was seated on a chair by the kitchen island. The tiny girl who had first answered the door that afternoon, Florencia Fuentes – "Flo" – had emerged from where Jessica had told her to run and hide, and kept asking within Aubrey's earshot why the demon captain that resided in her teammates' nightmares was invited to Chloe's party, which just served to remind Aubrey how separate her life was from these girls. The hushed conversation she wasn't supposed to hear and the deliberate way they all tried to avoid interacting with her was absurd, but understandable, but avoiding her and where she was situated was just ridiculous because the kitchen island was where the chips and most of the alcohol were, but Aubrey needed to amuse herself and watching the younger girls try to avoid her was as cheap a thrill as she could find under the circumstances.

Okay, sure, she and her friends got drunk, too. But between her reluctance to indulge in too much recklessness and the fact that one never knew just whose phone was taking pictures or recording video at any given moment – not to mention her brief claim to fame of internet infamy courtesy of losing her lunch at the Lincoln Center – Aubrey could never really loosen up, not like the Bellas were doing at the moment, not like she had often witnessed Chloe let loose.

And Chloe was really letting loose. After finishing – single-handedly – the bottle of tequila Aubrey had brought, Aubrey had watched the redhead gulp down drink after drink, all the while directing the evening's activities, culminating in her latest endeavor.

Chloe sidled up to Aubrey, and gazed at her thoughtfully – or perhaps she was trying to reconcile the sight before her in her alcohol-addled, inebriated state – and pursed her lips. "Are you really back?"

"It seems like it."

"I didn't like it when you were gone." Chloe confided. "You graduated, and whoosh," she mimicked with her hand a smooth getaway. "But you're here again."

"Yes." Aubrey acknowledged, unsure of just where Chloe was going to take the conversation. Because when it came to a drunk Chloe, she could never be sure if Chloe was going to flirt with people, or be brutally honest with them. On a few rare occasions, a weepy Chloe had also made an appearance. The fact that Chloe was still upright, however, informed Aubrey that at one point someone – she was willing to bet it had been Beca – had started substituting water or really watered-down drinks for Chloe's drinks of choice.

Chloe regarded Aubrey. "You were gone, and now you're back."

"Yup."

Chloe chuckled wryly, amused. "And I'm still here."

And Aubrey wished, for the first time since she'd stepped foot in the Barden Bellas' household, that neither of them had been drinking, because that was as good an invitation as any to ask Chloe just what the hell she was still doing in Barden University, two years after she was supposed to graduate, but it didn't seem like a conversation they should have when they were both (in Chloe's case, extremely) inebriated.

"I know, I know, you're thinking to yourself, 'what the aca-fuck, Chloe' and I'd probably give you an honest answer, but you don't really want to hear it, and did you know you're dating Stacie?" Chloe asked.

Yes, Chloe was extremely inebriated. Aubrey glanced past Chloe, and noticed that the rest of the Bellas were all staying in the living room area of the main floor. And judging by the way they kept looking wistfully into the kitchen, where the alcohol was, they had obviously been directed to stay there.

"Like, how did that even happen?" Chloe continued. "I knew you were hot for Conrad, and I don't blame you, but you stopped calling, and she hasn't been a nun, and – ohmygod you're the Treble she's boning."

"What?" Aubrey asked, confused, sharply turning away from the living room to stare at Chloe.

"Wait, what?" Chloe asked herself, reviewing what she'd just said. And laughed. "Well, not 'boning', obviously, because… right. And you're obvs not a Treblemaker. Because that's a whole other… yeah. No, I was telling Stacie she was being kinda obvious about dating someone but not telling us about it, so I figured it had to be a Treble, because why else wouldn't she tell anyone, and I thought, she knew you liked her, and I knew you liked her, and we all know you don't like the Trebles – except Unicycle, which, where did that even come from – but if she was boning a Treble, she obviously can't tell me, because I'd tell you, and you'd send out wolves to rip out her vocal cords, which you can't, because we need her as a soprano, but she's not 'cause she's dating you which means you were the Treble I thought she was dating this whole time and wait you've been dating since before Thanksgiving?"

Aubrey wasn't nearly drunk enough for this. She frowned down at her drink, wondering if she could count on her alcohol consumption tolerance to keep her just on the right side of sober, because she evidently needed to drink more to keep up with the stream of thought that was Chloe Beale.

But somebody was clearly catching up to Chloe's alcohol intake.

"Hey girlfriend because-I-can-say-that-now." Stacie greeted, sidling up to Aubrey and wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close against her chest. "What're you talking about?"

"You've apparently been boning a Treble." Aubrey told her.

"Since Thanksgiving." Chloe added.

Stacie scrunched up her face in disgust. "Ew, no. Also Aubrey will stop dating me if I do, so no."

Aubrey paused, and preened, smiling up at Stacie, because even drunk, that evidently still held true for the younger woman. "You're awesome."

"I know, right?" Stacie replied, grinning down at Aubrey before leaning down for a kiss.

Chloe watched them for a moment, uncaring if it was rude, but figured if people decided to display some PDA, that was on them if people watched. She was drunk, but she knew Aubrey wasn't someone who enjoyed displaying affection in public, so for her to be so willing to do that with Stacie? "We should totes play Truth or Dare."

"Will you remember anything we tell you in the morning?" Aubrey asked, breaking her kiss with Stacie to give Chloe a sidelong glance.

Chloe frowned, giving the question considerable thought, before she concluded, "No."

"Didn't think so." Aubrey turned back to Stacie, who was using her index finger to trace her facial features, and smiled knowingly at the girl. "You're drunk."

"Just a little," Stacie admitted. "Why aren't you?"

"Consumption tolerance."

"Gesundheit."

Aubrey rolled her eyes at both Stacie and Chloe. "I have a high tolerance for alcohol. Chloe knows this."

"But you always lose at drinking games." Chloe frowned.

Aubrey shrugged.

"I don't know what you three are getting up to in here," Fat Amy started, entering the threshold of the kitchen, "but half the girls want to start a movie, and the other half wanna start playing Never Have I Ever and try and get Beca drunk, we need one or all three of you to break the tie."

"We can't do both?" Aubrey asked, while both Chloe and Stacie declared "Get Beca drunk."

"Yes!" Chloe exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and almost immediately swaying when she did, causing both Stacie and Aubrey to reach out in case she fell. "Whoa." She kept her arms out, gaining equilibrium, before turning to grab Aubrey's outstretched hand and pulling. "I'm gonna get you drunk."

"You know that your kink is not my kink, right?" Aubrey reminded, allowing Chloe to pull her to the living room, while reaching out behind her to take hold of Stacie's hand to join them.

"Yeah, obviously," Chloe laughed, glancing behind her at the two girls. "No offense, but who knows what you're into to get Stacie to commit to only spreading her legs for you."

"Oh my God." Aubrey groaned in mortification, disbelieving the fact that Chloe actually just said what she had.

Behind her, Stacie tried to figure out if she should be more offended for herself, or on Aubrey's behalf.

Beca looked so hopeful when the trio joined the group in the living room, it actually hurt Aubrey to see the disappointment in the younger girl's face when Fat Amy announced the movie had been nixed for the game. Beca apparently knew why they were playing Never Have I Ever, or this wasn't the first time the Bellas were playing it for the sake of getting Beca drunk.

However.

When Chloe handed Aubrey a shot glass for the game, Aubrey shook her head. "Oh, I'm not playing."

"That's not an option." Chloe told her.

"It'll have to be." Aubrey replied.

The girls around them stared at them, watching the exchange, because they all knew Chloe always got what she wanted, but then they also knew that when Aubrey applied her will upon anyone, the best option was surrender. In their entire experience, with one notable exception, Chloe had always adhered to what Aubrey wanted. But then again, they were on Chloe's turf now.

Chloe frowned at Aubrey. "But why?"

"Because I don't want to." Aubrey stated plainly.

"Because you always lose at this game?" Chloe questioned.

"Because I actually have the option of not playing this game." Aubrey corrected.

Chloe cut a glance at Stacie, who sat beside Aubrey, and decided to try her luck with the younger girl. "Stacie, make her play."

Stacie internally winced, having hoped she would go unnoticed, and turned to look at Aubrey, ready to do what Chloe had told her, except then she paused.

Because she knew some of the things Aubrey had been through in the past year, and there was a good chance the near-Puritanical existence that had been Chloe's experience with Aubrey was far removed from the details of the confession Aubrey had told her back in Philadelphia. She didn't know all the details yet, but she knew the rough basics, and she knew that a lot of it weren't good.

And most of Beca's most daring acts had been under the watch of the Bellas, so while they knew all the things to say to get Beca drunk, there was a likelihood that there were things Aubrey would rather not have come to light.

And as curious as she was about what those things were, Stacie knew, that there were just some things that didn't need to come out with their friends around as witnesses.

Stacie looked at Aubrey, who looked back at her with an unreadable gaze, as if daring her to make the choice on her own. She smiled faintly, letting Aubrey know that while the words were joking, she knew exactly what she was doing. "Let her be boring."

There were distinct groans of disappointment from Chloe, Fat Amy, and Cynthia Rose, but Stacie kept her gaze on Aubrey.

Aubrey smiled at her, whispering softly, "thank you."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm awesome." Stacie reminded, grinning as she gently cupped Aubrey's cheek with her hand and drew her in for a kiss. To Aubrey, she whispered, "but keep count of how many shots you owe me."

Aubrey grinned, keeping her voice as low as possible to ensure only Stacie heard her. "Love you."

"Don't you forget it." Stacie whispered back, and moved closer to Aubrey as she faced the circle, only to find everyone staring at them. She frowned back at her friends. "What?"

"Nothing." They all said in unison, most of them turning to pay close attention to Cynthia Rose and Lilly pouring the shots.

Fat Amy, however, stared at Aubrey and Stacie for a whole moment longer before confirming, "yeah, no, this must be what going mad feels like."

Stacie glanced behind her at Aubrey, who shook her head.

Aubrey had always hated Never Have I Ever as a game, primarily because it was like a shaming contest, both for those who didn't go out on a limb to try new things, and also for people who liked to do exactly that. It also didn't have a clear "winner", only people who were either extremely sober, or people who were extremely drunk. It was the same reason why she hated Truth or Dare.

It was easier, in high school, because pretty much everybody had the same experiences, so the game tended to tie pretty quickly.

But in college? She can't count the number of times she'd ducked out or just started making out with whomever she was dating at the time as soon as the idea of playing either game started being floated around. The latter was extremely difficult at Bella parties, but the part of her that desperately wanted to belong, that desperately wanted to fit in, wouldn't let her just opt out and be the uncool girl at the party who wouldn't play.

The irony that just when she finally started gaining the experience to earn some level of Never Have I Ever notoriety, those exact same experiences made her reluctant to have them revealed, was not lost on her.

Her friends in New York weren't much into parlor games or slumber parties, but she knew most of them had experiences that far eclipsed her own; not to mention they were the peanut gallery to her retelling of most of those experiences, so she'd never had to worry about how they would react if they ever had to play Never Have I Ever.

The Bellas were a different story.

Because she liked to think that these girls respected her. She knew that these girls were afraid of her. And she had cultivated that fear, practically reveled in it. She liked that their fear of her was keeping them from prodding too much into her relationship with Stacie, that even Fat Amy was keeping her nosy nature in check, and despite the high fives she kept dispensing, Cynthia Rose didn't even need Denise to remind her not to ask questions.

Aubrey would like to believe they were just that respectful and trusted Stacie to know what she was doing, but Aubrey knew exactly how much the Barden Bellas lacked any concept of personal boundaries – which was, after all, how her freshman team captain had managed to get her to admit to being attracted to other girls – and she knew it was only their fear of her that kept them from pushing for information.

And, just as she had predicted, everyone only really started relaxing around her when alcohol was involved, and she watched on with amusement as the game of Never Have I Ever devolved into a drinking game once Beca stopped remembering what a turntable was - and Aubrey wondered if anyone was sober enough to remember to make fun of Beca for calling them "the round things that you fiddle with" – and the way the Bellas pretty much dropped to sleep where they sat in the living room. Thankfully, Stacie had started faking her shots when Aubrey told her to, around the same time the brunette had decided to ignore the fact that they were still around other people and tried to sit on Aubrey's lap, so Stacie still had her wits about her when Chloe face-planted onto the couch and fell asleep.

Some, like Denise and Jessica, just called it a night and trudged off to their respective bedrooms. Ashley left to get a glass of water and never returned. Chloe just let her body drop from a sitting position to lie on the couch. Beca somehow ended up on the same couch Chloe was on, laying down on the opposite end. Flo had arranged throw pillows and a blanket on the floor and fell asleep there, while Cynthia Rose occupied the other couch. Fat Amy declared she had to get her phone charger from her room and never came back, and Lilly had simply disappeared at one point.

Stacie took stock of her fellow Barden Bellas, decided they were out for the night, and wordlessly stood up, taking Aubrey's hand, and led her out of the living room. They took a detour through the entryway, picking up Aubrey's bag, before heading up the stairs to the bedroom Stacie shared with Chloe.

After their individual nighttime rituals, and wordlessly figuring out their sides of the bed, Stacie faced Aubrey, undeniably amused, because the twin bed was easily the smallest bed they had shared since they started sleeping together. She grinned. "So about that hotel room…"

Aubrey laughed lightly. "Didn't think this one through, huh?"

"Shut up." Stacie groaned, before employing her easiest solution and moving closer to Aubrey short of laying on top of her.

"That's one solution." Aubrey mused, once they were reasonably settled, as she wrapped an arm around Stacie's waist

Stacie rested her head on Aubrey's shoulder and smiled at her. "Thank you for putting up with tonight."

"It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought." Aubrey admitted.

"Because there was alcohol."

"Oh, I know that." Aubrey quipped. "But it was a lot less violent reaction and invasive questions than I expected."

"Because they're afraid of you." Stacie told her. "They're waiting until you leave before asking me for all the details."

"I bet."

"So you're gonna have to start buying my discretion."

Aubrey laughed. "Not so subtle way of asking for gifts, I take it."

Stacie laughed as well. "Don't think I haven't noticed that I don't have a Valentine's Day present, Aubrey Posen."

"It's in my bag."

Stacie lifted her head to gauge the distance from the bed to said bag, realized one of them would actually have to leave their comfortable position to get it, and sighed, turning back to Aubrey. "Will I like it?"

"Would you like the visual companion book of concept designs for a Dune movie?"

Stacie gasped. "They're making a Dune movie?"

"They were. Or they have. I don't know. I know you like Dune, but everyone I asked who would know about it just shook their heads and won't even try to explain it, so… book." Aubrey shrugged.

Stacie smiled, and leaned in, meeting Aubrey's lips in a kiss and moving closer as she covered Aubrey's body with her own. After a few minutes, she pulled back and pouted. "Tell me again why we're not doing it right now in a hotel room."

"Because your friends like to speculate and you wanted to prove a point?" Aubrey mused.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Who needs friends."

Aubrey chuckled, even as she started trailing kisses down Stacie's chin and along her jaw, smiling against Stacie's skin when the brunette tilted her head to allow her better access to her neck. "Eleven."

"Hmm, what?"

"Eleven shots."

It took Stacie a moment before she made the connection to what Aubrey could be talking about. "Do you remember any of those eleven shots?"

"Maybe." Aubrey allowed, concentrating on one part of Stacie's neck.

Stacie smiled mischievously at her. "Tell me."

Aubrey hummed, a little reluctant.

"Fine." Stacie rolled her eyes. "Tell me the most scandalous."

That was easy. "Taken a sex trophy."

"You perv! What did you get?"

"Your towel from the hotel."

"You klepto." But was Stacie inwardly preening that Aubrey had taken a souvenir from their first night together? Definitely. "One more?"

"Hate sex."

Stacie's jaw dropped, and she stared disbelievingly at her girlfriend. "No way."

Aubrey shrugged. "She was hot."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Stacie gazed speculatively at Aubrey, never wavering, until Aubrey rolled her eyes and nodded slightly. Stacie grinned excitedly. "Can I guess?"

"Sure."

"Been walked in on."

Aubrey paused, and then nodded. "And been walked in on, with company."

"Equally the worst."

Aubrey chuckled again, examining her handiwork on Stacie's neck and grinning with pride before looking at Stacie. "That's not how superlatives work."

Stacie laughed. "Tell me more."

"Stace—"

"Please?"

Aubrey sighed in defeat. "Partner fell asleep during."

"If I tell you mine-"

"No."

Stacie pouted.

"Said the wrong name."

Stacie's drew back, staring at Aubrey with awe and amusement, once more with her jaw dropped. "No way."

"Oh, yes."

"You?" Stacie asked incredulously. "I mean, I know how that happened to me, I don't know their names for sure most of the time, but you?"

"I'm not proud of it." Aubrey said defensively.

Stacie rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I'm surprised you've never had sex while your roommate was asleep."

"It's just rude." And she'd been pissed when she watched Chloe sheepishly take a drink at that statement, avoiding Aubrey's gaze.

"You know, there's a way for you to cross that off your list and take the shot next time and get back at Chloe." Stacie told her coyly.

Aubrey smiled wryly. "I'll live without taking that shot, thanks."

"Offer stands." Stacie shrugged, and grinned down at Aubrey. "I just remembered it's Valentine's Day."

Aubrey lifted an eyebrow in skepticism. "You 'just' remembered?"

"I made you a promise about Valentine's Day." Stacie reminded, her fingers already starting to undo the buttons on Aubrey's pajama top.

Aubrey furrowed her brow, not recalling said promise. She did not, however, stop Stacie's progress.

Stacie leaned in close and took a playful bite on Aubrey's lower lip before soothing it with her tongue, huskily whispering against Aubrey's lips, "I said we'd both get laid on Valentine's Day."