The next morning, Beca was greeted by both her manager and her personal assistant both donned in dark sunglasses and quieter than normal voices at breakfast in the hotel before checking out. Beca settled on her usual coffee and pancakes drowned in syrup. The other two merely drank their coffees in near silence as Beca sat down at the seat across from them.
"So, everyone enjoyed themselves last night I see! Amy, where did you even end up?" Beca asked while she swirled her pancake bite in the syrup on the plate before popping it in her mouth.
"There was an after party that involved an old warehouse, flaming gorilla titties and flaming giraffes, and some off duty then on duty fire fighters. I don't think I can divulge much more than that without a lawyer. And if reporters come snooping around you don't know anything. What about you, Short Stack? Where did you scuttle off to before the real fun started?"
Beca took a second to let Fat Amy's answer fully sink in. Then she realized that for all the questions that came flying into her mind, she really didn't want to know any of the details and it was probably for the best. Before Beca could answer, Jesse chimed in as he lazed back in his chair, pushing his sunglasses down lower on his nose. "Her lady love finally gave her a call. We have a big time date to plan for this weekend. Did you bring the list, Beca? Operation Capture Chloe needs to start soon if we're going to be set by Saturday night."
"Wait, we have to kidnap the ginger to go out on the date? What the hell did you get yourself into, Beca? I mean I'm down but that doesn't really seem like your kind of scene. It reminds me of this one time when I…"
Beca jumped in before the blonde could get any more crazy ideas. "No, we're not kidnapping her or planning on breaking any other laws in the process. It's just a date."
Jesse drained his coffee and set his sunglasses on the table. "Okay, I will admit the name still needs some tweaking but come on, Beca. This is pretty big for you, pursuing instead of being pursued? I can't think of any other time you've done that."
Beca couldn't deny what the boy was saying. As that reality started to sink in, Beca leaned back in her chair and put the fork down on the plate with a small clatter. She started to worry her lip and bounce her leg.
"Now you've gone and broke her. Way to go, genius. Listen up, Sprite. You are not getting cold feet. You are not going to doubt yourself on this one. You have got a kick ass team behind you in this. And, well, you're not too bad yourself. You are going to charm the pants right off of one Miss Chloe Flight Attendant who I'm sure has a last name but we'll get to that later." Amy grabbed a fork by her and started in on Beca's pancakes which were left unattended and lonely for the moment.
Beca's hands flew up to cover her face. "Oh my God, I don't even know her last name!"
"Don't worry. I don't know a lot of my guy's last names on the first date. Heck, I consider it a good date if I know their first names!" Amy did a "cheers" motion with her current bite of pancake towards Beca before she ate it.
Jesse grabbed a fork and joined in on the pancake buffet on Beca's plate. "You can't really call your one night stands dates, Amy."
Amy's fork pushed Jesse's away from the syrupy goodness she was determined to finish off. "Who says I can't? Anyway, we're talking about Beca here, not me. It'll be fine. We have all day to sort out the details. Operation Firey FA won't fail."
Jesse sat slack jawed. "Damn it. That's a good one. I was thinking all night too. The best I came up with was Operation FireFly."
"You should have just gone with Operation Catching Ladybug," Beca mumbled into her hands before bringing them back down to her lap.
Both Jesse and Amy looked back and forth between each other and the now quiet girl across from them.
Beca noticed the silence and looked up at her table mates and grabbed her coffee mug which she tapped her fingers lightly against as she held it. "You know, because she has that little ladybug tattoo on her wrist?" She watched as her friend's faces start twitching at the lips. Once it became apparent they were trying to hold back their laughter Beca rolled her eyes. "You know what, never mind. Continue with your brilliant plan making. I'm just the one going on the date. No biggie."
"Aww, no Short Stack. It is adorable but I have to admit, not once did I see this tattoo you're mentioning. You must have been scoping your girl hardcore to spot that detail. Or did she flash you little skin when we weren't looking?" Amy finished the pancakes in one last drippy bite and slid the empty plate back over towards Beca. Both Beca and Jesse looked at Amy sadly who just licked her lips and tossed her fork down. "Alright you turdburgers, I'm set for my morning now. I'm going to get on the phone and plan you the best damn date you've ever dreamed of. Fat Amy will get you laid by the end of the weekend, mark my words. Operation Panty Dropper is a go." The blonde stood up and left the table before either Jesse or Beca could interrupt or try and stop her.
Jesse looked back at Beca who was displaying a mixture of shock, impress, and fear across her face. "Maybe it won't be as bad as we think," Jesse tossed out hesitantly. "I mean, she is getting to know you pretty well now and it might be nice to just enjoy whatever she plans with Chloe without having to stress about making things perfect."
Beca let out a deep breath and blinked a few times bringing herself back into the moment. "Yeah, I guess it can't hurt. I mean, it will be me and Chloe together so what's the worst that could happen? Should I be afraid that it seems like she always wants people to drop their panties for me?"
Jesse brought his hand up to his chin in a thinking pose. "You know, I think it's a compliment in her own way. Let's just go with that for now. Deal?"
Beca looked back towards where Amy had left moments ago. "Deal."
"Honey, I'm home!" Aubrey pulled her trolley into their apartment, swinging the door shut behind her.
"Oh good, sweetheart! Come join me in the shower before Aubrey gets back. I think we have time for one more quick round in he…Oh, Bree, it's you!" Chloe said giggling as she stuck her head out of the bathroom from the hallway.
Aubrey could see Chloe was just wrapped in a towel with her hair up in a messy bun, fresh out of the shower. "Haha. Very funny, Chloe. You know it took me weeks to feel okay using the shower again after hearing about your little sexcapades in there. I cleaned it every time before I used it and I still felt dirty after showering." Aubrey made her way towards the bathroom to get to her room.
Chloe laughed some more at her blonde flatmate as she continued to get ready for her day. "Oh I know, Bree, and I apologized more times than I could count. And I cleaned the entire bathroom too even though it was just the shower that was "infected" as you called it. And I bribed you with dinner and that new Gucci you wanted, which you accepted so I think we're even. To be honest though, I don't regret the action, only the partner."
As she started to get settled and undress from her uniform to her robe, Aubrey looked over at the Gucci pouch that held her new purse which hung so fondly in her closet. "I did forgive you but it is just hard to forget. And when you keep bringing it up it makes it harder!" Once changed into her robe, Aubrey headed out into the hallway to continue talking to Chloe. "What are your plans for tonight and tomorrow. Your first Friday and Saturday free. We should go shopping tomorrow to celebrate. Or do dinner tonight after I wake."
Chloe hesitated as she looked back in the mirror at Aubrey who was now leaning against the doorframe in her blue , fluffy micro-robe with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "We could go shopping but I'm waiting to hear from Beca to see what our plans are." Chloe watched as Aubrey's brow crinkled and her eyes rolled upwards in thought.
"Beca. Beca. Do we know a Beca?" Aubrey asked after thinking a bit trying to recall some of the girls Chloe recently had training with.
This was one of the moments Chloe was afraid of. She knew how Aubrey felt about anyone hooking up with passengers. She was always judging Stacie for it, even if Stacie was just going to hang out with some of them and nothing more. Aubrey considered it like dating someone in the work place even though Chloe and Stacy didn't see it like that at all.
"We kind of do know a Beca. She was on our last New York flight," Chloe answered as she went about putting her make up on so she could vacate the bathroom so Aubrey could shower and then sleep. Aubrey didn't usually waste any time going to bed after coming back overnight flights. She hoped if she was vague enough she could quickly get out of the situation before Aubrey put the pieces together.
Aubrey had her look of concentration on again. "No, that was Stacy, you, and me. We didn't have a Beca on the flight."
Chloe was about to say something further when she saw Aubrey's eyes lift up to look widely into hers. "She was a passenger wasn't she?! Chloe, what have we talked about? Dating passengers only complicates things."
Chloe sighed and finished putting on her make up. "We are just going out on a date. Not getting married, Bree. She's nice. And what's worse really, dating someone either on crew or in the flight deck or a passenger. Those are the people we see most of the time anyway. We saw how the flight deck thing worked out for me."
The blonde watched as her flatmate quickly finished up in the bathroom and packed up her stuff to put away. She could see the frustration growing in Chloe's motions. The last thing Aubrey wanted to do was come home and fight with Chloe. The girl was smart but Aubrey was always afraid she might be too nice to everyone. It was an amazing trait to have in a flight attendant but it could get you in trouble outside of the aircraft. At least Stacie had a bit of an edge to her if people gave her any problems. She may seem like the ditzy kind of girl you could get away with anything with but Aubrey knew that was what let people feel safe around her. Stacie was a lot smarter than most would give her credit for and she didn't take any crap from people off the plane. Aubrey was shocked and proud how Chloe handled the Tom issue but Aubrey didn't think it should have even gotten to that point. But, at the same time, Chloe was smart too and Aubrey never wanted to fault her when Chloe just really wanted to see the good in all people.
"No, you're right. I'm sorry. And you deserve a nice time out," Aubrey said throwing in a tired smile for good measure.
Chloe halted her cleaning up and looked at Aubrey. When she saw the smile she knew Aubrey was at least trying even if she didn't agree with her actions. Chloe flashed her a large smile back as she finished up and headed towards the door, leaning over briefly to give Aubrey a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, love. Bathroom is all yours. You want me to heat something up for you before you sleep?"
The blonde rolled her eyes at her friend's overly friendly nature. It had taken her years to get use to but now cheek kisses, terms of endearment, surprise hugs and cuddles were a part of her daily life. And if she was honest with herself, she wouldn't change it for anything. "Thank you, dear, but I think I'm just going to sleep after my shower. Don't think you're getting away without telling me more about this girl before you go out though. I need to make sure she's not some crazy serial killer that is just leading our little lamb to slaughter. I'm claiming you for dinner tonight. No argument."
"Aw, Bree, you do care!" Chloe turned and grasped her hands over her heart and make sniffling motions as she headed into her bedroom and Aubrey headed into the bathroom. "And yes, I am all yours for dinner. We can have roomie night!"
Aubrey chuckled as she closed that bathroom door. Chloe closed her bedroom door behind her and leaned against it with a smile. "Well, that could have definitely gone worse although she has yet to hear what passenger it is. Maybe we need some wine for tonight. Yes. Definitely, wine."