A/N: Wow... Apparently people aside from Zappa and I are actually into this idea. Thanks everyone for the reviews, especially you rps (Guest) because I can't actually send you a PM about it. So here we are, chapter 2. I hope everyone likes it, and if you do please leave us a review. We thrive on your attention!
The Bellas Relocation
"Would you look at that, a moving truck." Sheldon said happily as Leonard parked. The pair of them climbing out of the front of Leonard's car with Raj carrying the full bags of Chinese food climbing from the back. As the three took in the sight of a moving truck, a couple of figures currently unloading items from its open back, Sheldon was practically squirming with excitement. With a hopeful look on his face, he turned to the others and added, "Please oh please oh please let the infernal noise maker be moving out."
"Sheldon be nice, she's cool. She hasn't tried to steal Penny from me." Leonard admonished. Still thankful that the girl who had moved into the apartment above theirs not quite a year ago had never in fact even expressed any interest in his girlfriend. Most especially when he and Penny had not been together while he was dating Raj's sister, Priya, over the previous year.
In fact, they hadn't actually seen much of the short brunette girl over the last year. She spent most of her time alone in her apartment, or out doing things that the boys had never really discussed with her. Actually, now that Leonard gave it some thought, he realized he didn't even know what the young girl did. As far as he was aware, the only thing she did do was occasionally play loud music, which annoyed the hell out of Sheldon.
"Yeah, instead she stole Lakshmi from me." Raj said dejectedly, referring to the woman with whom he had briefly contemplated having an arranged marriage with, despite the fact that she and Raj both played for the same team.
"Raj, that was never going to work, and you know it." Leonard said as the group started walking towards the entrance. The Indian astrophsycist opened his mouth to protest, but then suddenly got really quiet as two attractive young women walked out of the building's entrance.
"If that's all it takes to be cool then I'm the coolest person you know." Sheldon said as they got closer to the truck and he attempted to get a view of the stuff that an older man was moving to the edge of the truck's bed so that it could be carried inside. Leonard was fairly certain that Sheldon was attempting to figure out, based on stuff being moved in, if these new neighbors would be as annoying as he found their current upstairs neighbor to be.
"It takes a little more than that." Leonard pointed out as the two girls walked up to the truck still seemingly unaware of the three scientists approaching the entrance.
"Ben, can you give me a hand with my telescope please?" Aubrey asked, knowing that Chloe's father was somewhere inside the truck, helping out by moving some of the buried stuff in the back towards the front so that she and Chloe would have an easier time. As she asked the question she spotted, out of the corner of her eye, three guys approaching.
"A telescope, that's promising." Sheldon said, looking over the contents of the truck to see if there's anything that would annoy him. From what he could see based solely on what was sitting on the edge of the truck, he couldn't see anything that would be more annoying than all the racket that Beca made about once every week or so.
"What was that?" Chloe asked just noticing the trio, having been so focused on what was left in the truck that she completely missed the three men who had been walking up the street A quick glance revealed three relatively normal seeming guys. One, the one who had just spoken up, was taller, looking a bit like a praying mantis with jerky movements of his head and a rather condescending manner if Chloe had to guess based on her first glimpse of him. Standing in the back of the three was an Indian fellow in a sweater vest a little taller than she was carrying a bag of what smelled to be Chinese food. The third man, shorter than the other two and wearing glasses, immediately made calming movements with his hands and spoke up.
"Nothing don't mind him, he's harmless. Mostly" Leonard said, hoping to keep the girls from interacting with Sheldon too much as he knew exactly how most people reacted to the rather quirky physicist.
"Hitcherhiker's fan, that's nice." Ben said with a smile as he found the telescope where it had been securely packed into the van before the long trip from Atlanta. Carrying it out and carefully handing it down to Aubrey, Ben took a moment to look over the three boys.
"Yeah, I've read all the books, except And Another Thing, but that doesn't really count anyway." Leonard explained before realizing exactly how nerdy that sounded. Attempting to cover for it he stepped forward and extended his hand towards the man who had spoken, Ben if he had venture a guess, and introduced himself, Sheldon and Raj. "I'm Leonard and this is my roommate Sheldon, we live in 4A. And this is our friend Raj, he doesn't live with us."
"I'm Aubrey and she's Chloe, we're moving into 5B." Aubrey said with a nod to the redhead, taking Leonard's hand when he turned to her. As she looked over the three newcomers, the blond let her eyes linger for a moment on the Indian man in the back with the bags of food. He almost seemed to be hiding back there, hoping no one would notice him. Something about him struck a memory in her, but she couldn't quite place it.
"Rats!" Sheldon replied upon hearing that Beca wasn't moving out. As his slightly whackadoodle roommate opened his mouth to start what would most likely be the next incarnation of the Spanish Inquisition, Leonard spoke up and cut him off.
"Sheldon, I told you to be nice." Leonard said once again, deciding it would be best to try and get Sheldon the answers he was looking for. He remembered vividly the reaction that Sheldon's questions had received when Alicia, the lady who used to live in Beca's apartment, and wanted to avoid a similar reaction here. "So judging by the Georgia plates, you guys came a long way. What brings you to Pasadena, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, I'm looking to be an actress and Aubrey's here for her doctorate work in astrophysics at Cal Tech. She starts in the fall." Chloe explained. Beaming at the three guys as she explained their situation. She knew that Aubrey was nervous but extremely excited about the chance to do her graduate studies at Cal Tech. "In fact, I have an audition for something coming up in a few weeks here. I'm totes excited about it, could be a great start."
"That's really cool, Raj is an astrophysicist and we all work there. And my girlfriend Penny is also an actress. She's been in a few things so far." Leonard said when Chloe finished, trying not to seem like he was bragging when he was talking about Penny being his girlfriend.
"Wait, are you Dr. Koothrapaali, from the People article like four years ago?" Aubrey asked as she finally realized why he seemed so familiar to her. Raj smiled weakly and shook his head, his gaze dropping to the ground as he attempted to sidestep towards the entrance. As soon as Leonard mentioned Dr. Koothrapaali being at Cal Tech the pieces clicked into place and she remembered the article that she had read about him in People four years earlier and about how he was an "up and coming star" in the field. "I have to say, Dr. Koothrapaali, I'm extremely excited to have a chance to work with you. I read a few of your papers on trans-Neptunian objects and I think that they were simply brilliant."
"Oh, Raj has moved on since then to a much more important field of study. He has become my assistant. We're looking into dark energy right now." Sheldon supplied, backhandedly brushing off the years of fruitless work that Raj had put into his other studies. "I'm sure he would tell you all about it, except that he has a pathological issue about talking to attractive women. He essentially won't be able to talk to you unless he's consumed an alcoholic beverage or two."
"MOM! I'll get that box." Chloe called out interrupting Aubrey as she started to answer Sheldon. From the corner of her eye the redhead had noticed her mother reaching for a particular box that Chloe had packed with extra care, and had planned to unload personally. She had been hoping that the box, which contained a few of her more, uh, personal items, would have been overlooked with all the rest of the boxes. Her outburst, however, drew everyone's attention into the truck and caused her mother to quirk a knowing eyebrow at her. Trying to cover her sudden interruption she added, hoping people would believe the lie, "It's, uh, some fragile mementos from, uh, our time at Barden."
"Sorry, dear. I'll let you two take care of this one, then..." Tracey said hiding her grin at her daughter's obvious embarrassment at the box and deducing the content. Deciding to help her cover it, she turned to the three boys and said, "So, can you boys tell us a good pizza place around here? We're going to be quite hungry when we get all this stuff upstairs, especially since we can't use the elevator."
"We tend to order from Graziano's." Leonard said, giving a knowing glance to Sheldon at the mention of the elevator. Seeing Raj trying to frantically gesture towards the door while Aubrey and Chloe's attention was diverted he added, "I'm sure there is probably a menu by the mailboxes."
"Thanks for the suggestion, we'll check it out." Ben said. Noticing Raj making his way towards the door, Ben gave a way and added, "Well, it was nice meeting you boys. I'm sure the girls will be see you around the building from time to time, but we have to get back to unloading. Have to have the truck back by 6:30 so."
"No problem, we'll see you around." Leonard said, adding a little wave as they headed for the building. Before going through the doors to the lobby he saw Aubrey and Chloe talking to each other and saw each girl look over their shoulders towards the building. "Raj, buddy, if you have to work with that Aubrey girl, you are screwed…"
"Shut up." Raj said weakly as they started making their way up the stairs. But by the dejected way his head was hanging, it was obvious that he was thinking the same thing. After they rounded the corner and were coming to the first floor, Sheldon stopped suddenly and turned to Leonard.
"Leonard, please do me a favor and don't fall in love with the redhead. You've clearly got a thing for actresses, and we don't need another Penny hanging out around our apartment and mooching off our food and wifi." Sheldon pleaded. It having just occurred to him that they might be looking at another Penny situation with the new actress in the building.
"You do know I'm back with Penny right?" Leonard asked. Shaking his head at the implication that Leonard would change his mind so swiftly about Penny.
"For now, but as fickle as she is, who knows how long that will last." Sheldon answered. At the unbelieving look on Leonard's face, Sheldon simply quirked an eyebrow and cocked his head at the ridiculousness of his roommate before turning to continue walking upstairs.
"There's just no winning with you is there?" Leonard asked, exasperated as he called after his Sheldon. With a growl he turned as well, continuing up the steps beside him with Raj trailing behind.
"I bet you're really regretting going to Princeton now aren't you?" Sheldon asked.
As Aubrey piled the last set of boxes into the lobby area, she looked around the room, surveying the mass of boxes and various pieces of furniture sitting there and wondering how it was that the last four years of her life with Chloe could be so easily squeezed into such a small area. Room enough that people could still walk around their stuff to get to the mailboxes. As Chloe joined her, with her parents right on the redhead's heels, Aubrey looked at the still bright and cheerful face of her long-time friend.
"Whew! That's the last of the boxes." Chloe said, beaming her smile around at three of the people she loved the most in the world. Looking to her mom and dad she added, "And look at that, plenty of time for you guys to go drop off the truck."
"Yup, we did good. I'm glad we didn't try and lug it all upstairs, however, because we'd only be half way done. In a way, I'm glad that you two are coming from the dorms. If we had had to move an apartment, or heaven forbid, a house full of stuff we wouldn't have been able to finish before midnight, I swear. I about broke my back with your box of shoes, Chlo-Bear…" Ben joked, stretching his aching back muscles for a moment. Both Chloe and her mom rolled their eyes, Ben had been giving the pair of them a hard time about the amount of shoes they claimed they had needed as long as the two could remember.
"Give it a rest, Ben. Though Aubrey's collection was considerably lighter. I'm surprised that after 4 years of living together our girl hasn't taught you a better appreciation for shoes and purses, Bree." Tracey said, swatting her husband's arm as she leaned against a stack of boxes.
"Believe me, she has tried. But I just can't be bothered to care. There are other, more important things to worry over than whether or not my shoes match my purse." Aubrey said, her breath coming slightly heavier than normal due to the amount of lifting and carrying she had been doing over the last few hours.
"As much as I'd love to indulge in shoe and purse related talk right now, I think we need to get the truck back. Dear, do you want to follow me in Chloe's car? I figure we can stop by that Graziano's place on the way back from dropping the truck off with pizza for everyone. Sound good?" Ben asked the three women, all of whom agreed. Tracey grabbed her purse, cell phone, and Chloe's car keys before giving each of the girls a hug.
"Ok, so I guess you guys can start hauling this all upstairs while we get the pizza. If you need anything, I have my phone so call me. Maybe you can ask some of those Cal Tech boys from upstairs to help too, they looked like good kids." Tracey said, gesturing with her phone to emphasize it as she nodded up the stairs.
"Nah, I think we got it, Mrs. Beale. I wouldn't want to inconvenience them, especially if I end up working with Dr. Koothrapaali, I don't want him to think I'm lazy or anything." Aubrey said quickly. She had seen Chloe's face light up and the redhead had started to turn towards her, her mouth opening as if to say that that was a great idea.
"Hmmm, fine. I guess we can do this ourselves. It's only five floors after all." Chloe said, a bit grumpily and making sure to emphasize the fact that they would now be walking up five floors with all their belongings.
"Hey, we aren't in the Bellas anymore, Chlo. This is the only way I have to make you do cardio now. So get on it! Oh, and make sure that one of those pizzas has extra cheese, please." Aubrey said, slapping Chloe's ass playfully like she used to do when the Bellas were running laps around the auditorium back at Barden. The action basically earned her a glare from the redhead that lasted for a few seconds before Chloe was smiling again at the fond memories of their college years.
"Extra cheese, got it. And pepperoni, if I recall, right Aubrey?" Ben asked, making note. When the blond just nodded eagerly he turned to his daughter and said, "And I know Tracey wants Hawaiian. I'll eat nearly anything, and Chloe inherited her mother's love of fruit on pizza, so I think we're set. We'll stop and get some beers and sodas on the way back too, I think I saw a grocery store a couple blocks away when we were driving over."
"Sounds perfect Daddy, thanks!" Chloe said, bouncing over and giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek.
"Anything for my baby girl. Come on dear, let's get going, we don't want to have to pay any late fees or anything." Ben said before turning to walk out to the moving truck. Tracey gave a last wave to the girls before following him out.
Chloe leaned on the boxes for a few minutes watching the door that her parents had vanished out, thinking about the past, the present and the future. The last four years had been an amazing experience for Chloe, leaving her with the other half of her bright and bubbly soul. Aubrey and Chloe had met their first day of freshmen orientation when they both moved into a dorm room in Baker Hall at Barden University, and the pair had been nigh unto inseparable since then. Together they had experienced the thrills and terrors of being freshmen, the joy of finding and joining the Barden Bellas a capella group, the pangs of heartache and disappointment, the pure bliss of budding love.
All of it, through all the trials and tribulations, had brought the pair of them here. Pasadena, California. Chloe aspiring to be the newest and brightest star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Aubrey looking forward to her graduate work as an astrophysicist at Cal Tech, which was something that still came as a shock to Chloe. When she had first met the blond in their freshmen year, Aubrey was all about being a doctor or a lawyer. Her dad had told her that there were only three ways to be a success in life. Run your own multinational corporation, fight tooth and nail in the courtroom day in and day out, or save people's lives. Those were the only options, and Aubrey had had no interest in going into business, so that left lawyer and doctor.
Of course, that all changed in their sophomore year when, after taking a required physics class, Aubrey had been forced to attend a lecture by one Neil deGrasse Tyson given to the Barden School of the Sciences. Chloe could still remember the look on Aubrey's face when the blond had walked back into their dorm room afterwards. It looked as though someone had opened the door to eternity and let Aubrey take a peak.
The very next day Aubrey had gone to her student advisor and told her that she wanted to change her major. The advisor, an old friend of Aubrey's father, had protested. He had said that there was no money to be had as a scientist, that there was no future in it. Aubrey persisted, pushing against all the comments that she knew were basically her dad's words funneled through his old friend. Eventually she gave up on convincing him and requested a new advisor. Reluctantly he gave in, let her switch advisors, and then shortly after, she switched from the law track she had been on to sciences, astrophysics to be precise.
"Hey! These boxes aren't gonna move themselves slacker. Come on and help me, besides, you have the key." Aubrey's voice broke through Chloe's trip back down memory lane and jolted the redhead awake. It had been a very busy few weeks and Chloe thought that everything must be catching up with her if she was standing around and daydreaming about the past.
"Alright, alright. Man, you really are an aca-slave driver…" Chloe said, reverting back to their old habit of adding "aca" to nearly everything, something that had amused everyone in last year's Barden Bellas to no end.
"Yeah, get that aca-ass moving and help me with these boxes." Aubrey said, grinning.
Five trips up and down the stairs later found the girls with a little more room in the lobby, and a lot more heavy breathing as they took a quick break, leaning against the wall by the broken elevator. Grabbing her bottle of water off the stack of boxes she had set it on, Chloe drank a long, refreshing swallow before handing it to Bree, who drank just as thirstily.
"I think we really should have asked those guys for help, Bree…" Chloe said, once her panting had subsided enough to talk.
"I don't know, you saw 'em all. I bet they couldn't lift a box up these steps if we were offering to have sex with 'em once they got to the top." Aubrey said, remembering the distinct lack of muscles on all three.
"Maybe, but still…" Chloe said, feeling her energy coming back slowly as they rested.
"But nothing, Chlo. Besides, they looked like they were bringing home their dinner, and would you really have wanted to interrupt them eating?" Aubrey asked with finality.
"Maybe…" Chloe said, but quietly so that the blond couldn't hear her. "You know, I figure another ten more trips like those last five and I think we'll basically be done… Might as well get started."
Aubrey was about to respond, agreeing with the redhead when her phone started ringing. Without even needing to look at it she knew who it was, the ringing a dead giveaway. Pulling her phone from her pocket she said, "Hold on, my sister's calling."
"Janet always did have great timing." Chloe teased as Aubrey answered. Though she secretly didn't mind the extra chance to rest. Taking her water bottle back Chloe took another, smaller sip as she heard Aubrey's side of the conversation.
"Janet, how are things in the Big Apple?" Aubrey asked, her sister having moved back out to New York after she had finished her time at Johns Hopkins Medical School. She still remembered how proud she had been, how proud their father had been, when Janet had finished her time there and chosen to return to New York for her residency.
"Not good little sis." Janet said. Aubrey could tell by the tone of Janet's voice alone that things were not good. She could practically hear her sister fidgeting, her nails clicking together nervously as she had since they were kids. After a brief pause to collect her thoughts, her sister continued, "Seth and I just had dinner with the parentals to talk about the pig roast."
"How's that bad?" Aubrey asked, concern rising in her voice. The Posen Family Pig Roast had been a tradition since Great-Grandfather Posen had put the finishing touches on the family house in upstate New York over a century ago. Every summer since Aubrey was born the family had gone up there, and taken part in the family tradition. It was nearly as big a deal as Christmas. Naturally since becoming so close with Chloe during college, the redhead had been at the roasts for the last four years as well. Aubrey tried to keep down the panic in her voice as she pointed out, "Chloe and I have our tickets booked already. We'll be flying out in like two weeks…"
"I'd cancel them if I were you. Daddy's pissed you didn't win the finals two years in a row." Janet explained, her voice laced with concern and worry for her baby sister. "Plus he didn't like how close you and that brunette seemed, and he's always wondered about you and Chloe. He doesn't want you coming, either of you. Grandma Posen's still flipping out that gay marriage is legal here. Also, you know how he feels about you having switched from Law to the Sciences…"
"But we did something really amazing last year with the help of that DJ 22 mix Chloe found, and gay marriage has been legal in New York for a year now. Also, he's known about me changing my field of study for two." Aubrey pleaded, devastation evident in her tone of voice. The loss, as her father saw it, this last year at the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella Finals in New York was still an extremely sore subject for her. Despite mixing up their set after a disappointing showing in the semi-finals, the Barden Bellas had only managed to place second. But, as her father said, "Second place is just the first loser."
Chloe, very much paying attention to the conversation now as she saw Aubrey on the verge of tears, heard the blond say in a pitiful whisper, "And I've never missed a roast."
"Just do yourself a favor and don't come. You'll be miserable." Janet said. Trying to spare her sister the pain that she knew Aubrey would experience if she were to be in their father's presence so soon after the Bellas second defeat. Gently she added, "I've gotta go, baby sis. I promise, Seth and I will come out and see you two as soon as we can get some time off. I love you, Bree."
"Yeah ok Jan, thanks. Love you too." Aubrey said hitting end. As soon as she did, the tears she had been fighting since the conversation started began to fall. One forlorn look to Chloe was all it took to get the redhead moving towards her as she said, "I've been basically disowned, just for being me."
"Oh sweetie." Chloe said, wrapping Aubrey up in a big hug. As she wrapped her arms around Aubrey Chloe heard the front door opening, but didn't care who it was. Right now, Aubrey was hurting and that's all Chloe could care about. "It'll be ok Bree, you know I love you. We can get through this. Your dad will come around. He'll learn to accept your choices, I promise. Or, if he doesn't, I'll kick his ass myself."
Aubrey laughed weakly at the thought of tiny, carefree, happy-go-lucky Chloe trying to take on her 6'3" ex-Marine father. The sheer ridiculousness of the situation soon had her giggling tear-filled giggles with Chloe. Over the redhead's shoulder she saw a pair of girls walking in through the lobby and surreptitiously trying to pass the pair of them without intruding. Both girls had blond hair, one with a very impressive chest for such a short girl. The two newcomers shared a knowing look with each other as they made their way up the steps. But it didn't matter, Aubrey didn't care who they were or what they thought. Choking back the last of her sniffles, letting the last of the giggles erase them from her mind she let go of Chloe and said, "Come on, Chloe, these boxes aren't going to move themselves. I want to have everything upstairs by the time Ben and Tracey come back, I don't need another breakdown when I tell 'em about the Roast happening here in the lobby."
"How you holding up Aubrey?" Tracey asked as she sat down next to the blonde, a paper plate in her hands with a few slices of pizza on it.
When Tracey and Ben had gotten back with the pizza the two girls were just coming downstairs to grab the last couple boxes left to take up. One look at the two girls and Tracey knew something was up. The sweating faces, the blotchy red cheeks, flaccid muscles were all expected as the girls had done a lot of hard work today. But the red rimmed eyes, the slight evidence of tear stains on the cheeks… Something had happened while they were gone. Naturally Tracey had asked, but she had only received a pitiful look from Aubrey and a "we'll talk about it upstairs" from her daughter. Once the four were all upstairs and the last of the boxes had been placed in the kitchen, Tracey had again inquired what had happened.
Haltingly, with sobs from Aubrey and one-armed hugs from Chloe, the pair had explained to Tracey and Ben about the phone call from Aubrey's sister, and what it all meant. Ben, being as emotional and loving as Chloe was, had immediately blown up, getting furious at Aubrey's father for his actions and ranting for a solid five minutes about what he'd do the next time he saw that man. Of course, the idea of Ben taking on her dad had had Aubrey laughing nearly as hard as the thought of Chloe doing it, and soon all three girls were laughing. It was only when Ben realized that his wife, daughter and adoptive daughter were all nearly in tears with laughter at his statements that he finally calmed down.
Tracey had, as soon as she had recovered from her bout of laughter, embraced Aubrey in a full-on Beale Hug. As Aubrey well knew from her four years together with Chloe and her family, the redhead's natural tendency towards invasion of privacy and hugs that knocked you onto your ass was an inherited trait. The same as the flaming red hair that engulfed her whenever she got a hug from Chloe or Tracey. When she felt Ben's arms and Chloe's wrap around her as well, Aubrey knew how lucky she was to have met Chloe her freshmen year.
Upon pulling back from the hug, Tracey had reached up and carefully wiped the tears off Aubrey's cheeks and said, "Well, if you ask me, dear, it's his loss. You know you're always welcome here in our family and we love you like you're our own daughter."
Naturally that had brought more tears to Aubrey's eyes, and Chloe's as well as the pair hugged in the middle of their new apartment in their new city on their new coast. A whole host of new experiences for the blond, and she was still a little bit rattled by it all. Nevertheless, at Tracey's words Aubrey smiled and said, "Better Mrs. Beale."
"You really should just call me Mom you know." Tracey said, wrapping an arm around the younger girl's shoulder. Sliding the slice of pepperoni pizza off her plate and onto Aubrey's she added, "Have another piece of pizza, it'll make you feel even better."
"Yeah, I would agree with that. This stuff really is good, we'll have to thank those guys in 4A." Chloe said, snagging another piece. With her long, delicate fingers Chloe happily plucked a couple pieces of pineapple off the top of her pizza and popped them into her mouth with a decadent smile.
"You know, Chlo, you make that look almost sinful…" Aubrey observed, smiling at the redhead who simply smiled even brighter.
"I blame her mother for that. That woman has been doing things with fruit to make men blush for many, many years…" Ben commented offhandedly, causing his wife to blush and his daughter to shriek.
"DAD! GROSS! I do NOT want to know what you and mom do behind closed doors!" Chloe said, throwing her dad a dirty look as he started chuckling.
"Who said we always close the door, dear?" Tracey asked innocently.
"Ok, you know what, I'm done with this conversation. I'm going to, uh, organize the bathroom or something…" Chloe said, wanting to get away from this. You'd think, though, that she would have been used to it by now. Her parents had been doing their utmost to embarrass their children since the kids were old enough to realize that parents were something to be feared. It always seemed easiest with their youngest daughter, however.
"No, no. Stay, Chloe. I promise, we'll behave." Tracey said, reaching out to grab hold of the younger redhead as she rose to walk away.
The four spent another couple of hours chatting, laughing and generally having a good time as they did some organizing of the various boxes and pieces of furniture that Aubrey and Chloe had brought from Atlanta. Finally though when Ben caught sight of his wife yawning, he looked at his watch and said, "Well, damn, would you look at that. It's nearly 9 o'clock here, which means it's midnight as far as we're concerned. I think it's time we went to our hotel for the night and left you two to get settled. We'll come by for lunch tomorrow, then maybe you guys can give us a lift to the airport, our flight leaves at 8."
"Awww, but we're having fun…" Chloe started to say, but only managed to get halfway through the sentence before a yawn obscured the rest of her words. "Oh, fine. Go on then. I still don't know why you guys decided to take the red eye back to Atlanta instead of spending another day here…"
"Well we thought about it, but we both have to work on Monday, and flying back tomorrow night means we have all day Sunday to rest up from the drive here. Don't worry, sweetie. We'll call you two in the morning and figure out something for lunch. I think I saw a Cheesecake Factory not far from here. Maybe we can do that for lunch. In fact, we can give your brother a call, see if he's able to join us too." Tracey said, getting up and moving to hug both the girls.
Ben stepped in next for his hugs before walking to the door. "Yeah, it'll just be like back at home. Assuming Junior doesn't have to spend all day tomorrow studying for his finals next week. Oh, and Aubrey, if your dad gives you anymore trouble, you be sure to call us straight away. We'll get him sorted out good."
"Thanks Ben. I appreciate it, really. In fact, you guys have been amazing these last few days helping with the move. I, we, appreciate everything you've done." Aubrey said, sharing a look with Chloe who nodded her agreement with the blond's words.
"Hey, like I said, you're family, Bree. And family sticks together. At least it should. And, speaking of sticking together, Chloe, try and visit your brother every once in a while, alright? I know he misses seeing all of us since he started at Cal Tech. He's thrilled that Aubrey's starting there, I think he's really looking forward to showing her around campus, and having the two of you so close." Ben said, holding the door open for Tracey to walk out.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time with him. He's only a few miles from here… In fact, I'm surprised he didn't try and come over to mooch free pizza from us. Too busy studying, I guess." Chloe said, walking over to stand by her dad and give him one last hug. As he started to close the door, though, she stopped him and said, "Nah, leave it open, it's really warm in here. Thanks, bye Daddy, bye Mom."
"Bye sweetie, we'll call in the morning. Take care of each other." Tracey called from the hallway. And with that, the pair vanished down the steps. Chloe sighed, leaning against the door as she listened to the sound of her parents' feet slowly getting quieter as they descended.
"Well, that's it, Bree. We've finished the move, except unpacking. Can you believe it? We're in California now." Chloe said, turning back towards the blond girl who stood in the middle of the room, looking at Chloe with a smile on her face.
"Well, yeah, I can believe it. That drive cross-country was enough to make anyone believe it. But, I know what you mean. Time to start our real lives now, isn't it?" Aubrey said, stepping slightly closer to the redhead.
"I know, I can't wait!" Chloe replied and started to close the door but stopped as she heard a noise from across the hall that sounded like keys rattling. Looking over she saw the door across the hall starting to open. Lingering for a moment to hopefully catch sight of another of their neighbors, Chloe heard Aubrey moving up beside her, no doubt curious as well.
As the door opened a girl walked out, Chloe took in her appearance from top to bottom. The girl was wearing heavy combat boots beneath a dark pair of skinny jeans. Covering her torso Chloe caught a brief glimpse of a maroon tank top before the girl turned to shut her door, leaving the redhead with only a view of a dark grey hooded sweatshirt that was unzipped in the front. As the girl turned back from closing her door, Chloe felt her breath catch a little at how simply beautiful she was with dark hair framing her face that was focused on her phone.
Chloe barely noticed the laptop bag the girl was carrying as she turned, completely oblivious of her audience of two as she started down the stairs. When Chloe finally found her voice again she said, "Score! Hot neighbor!"
"Mmmm, I don't know, Chlo. She looked a bit too 'alternative' for your tastes…" Aubrey said. Bumping the redhead with her hip to scoot her out of the door, she added, "You know what, I don't wanna be bothered anymore, I'm gonna close the door and just crack some windows. How about we sit and relax, watch some reruns of Grey's since your dad was nice enough to hook up the tv and bluray player?"
Absently Chloe agreed, her eyes lingering on the closed door for a moment before she turned back and smiled at Aubrey. "That sounds aca-awesome, Bree! I'll get us something to drink."