Chapter 3
A particularly loud snore in her ear woke the blonde from her deep sleep. The sun was peaking through the hotel blinds, bathing the room in a soft glow. Aubrey lifted her hands to rub the sleep from her eyes when she realized her movement was restricted. Someone was wrapped very tightly around her body, locking her arms to her sides. It took her a moment before she remembered where she was and with whom she was sleeping. The blonde turned her head slowly to look back at the redhead who was tucked into her neck. She had forgotten how cuddly Chloe became when she drank since the woman typically spent her drunken nights with more suitable partners. She also had forgotten about her incredibly loud, drunken snores. Aubrey reached over to the bedside table and grabbed her phone to check the time. She still had about an hour before her alarm was set to go off but she was already wide-awake. As a Posen, she was taught that lying in bed awake was a massive waste of time and unacceptable. She figured she should hit the hotel gym for a run. It would be good for her body to get some exercise with all of the sitting she had been doing in the car lately. The blonde slowly and quietly extricated herself from her snoozing best friend, placing a pillow in her arms to hug instead. The redhead made a brief noise of protest before nuzzling into the pillow and returning to her obnoxious snores. Aubrey smiled a bit and shook her head before bending down to look through her suitcase for running shorts and a Bellas t-shirt. The blonde headed to the bathroom to change and walked past Beca's bed before doing a double take. It was empty. Where's the hobbit? Her stuff is still here and so is our stuff so I guess that's a good sign. I still don't trust her though. Maybe I should text Robbie. Aubrey opted to change in the open considering the only other inhabitant of the room was dead asleep. She picked her phone back up and searched through her contacts. Yeah, it couldn't hurt to text him for a little help. I need to know if I can trust her.
Aubrey: Hey, how's my favorite police officer and cousin?
Robbie: Good morning, Aubrey. I'm pretty sure I'm the only police officer you know. What do you want?
Aubrey: I need you to run a criminal history on someone.
Robbie: Aubrey, I can't just do that. It has to be related to a case. If I get caught looking up random people's criminal histories for personal use I could get into a lot of trouble.
Aubrey: Look, I'm on a road trip with Chloe and she picked up a hitchhiker. She thinks we should trust the girl but I'm wary of her. I'm just trying to be safe.
Robbie: Just ditch the hitchhiker. End of problem.
Aubrey: If I do that, Chloe will be pissed at me. We're supposed to be on vacation in San Diego for a few weeks – it will be unbearable if she's mad at me the whole time. Please help me out here.
Robbie: …
Aubrey: What do you want in exchange?
Robbie: Hook me up with a hot girl from your group in the fall.
Aubrey: Fine. Now please, let me know what you find. Her name is Beca Mitchell. She's 19. Father is Stanley Mitchell. She's lived in Atlanta her whole life as far as I know.
Robbie: Got it. Hit you back later.
Aubrey picked up her headphones, iPod, and room key before heading down to the hotel gym. It was a fairly nice gym with floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto a courtyard behind the hotel. The only thing that really mattered to Aubrey in a gym was that the equipment was clean and functional. That the room was empty was just a plus and not really surprising considering it was six-thirty in the morning. As the blonde began her warm-up jog she noticed a small brunette sitting on a bench at the far end of the courtyard. So that's where she went. Beca had woken up at about six that morning and could not fall back to sleep. It was partially due to the fact that she had gone to bed so early the night before and partially the crazy snores coming from the bed next to her. Plus, she had this melody stuck in her head. She had been working on it for weeks and felt inspiration hit her as soon as she awoke. She threw on her chucks and grabbed her guitar before heading out to the courtyard to work on it. Aubrey watched as the tiny woman strummed on the acoustic guitar and then stopped to scribble in a notebook beside her. She repeated this cycle over and over as Aubrey broke into a sprint on the treadmill. The blonde noticed the familiarity and ease with which Beca played the guitar. She definitely was well practiced and though Aubrey could not hear the music she could tell the brunette was talented. After finishing a fifty-minute run and a ten-minute cool down stretch, the tall woman grabbed a towel and sauntered out into the courtyard. She listened to Beca humming the same melody that she heard when she woke up in the backseat two days ago and with the guitar added it sounded much fuller. She did not recognize the song and walked closer to Beca to listen better. Beca was in her own world, frantically writing down chords for the guitar and notes for the vocal melody. She did not notice that she had an audience until it suddenly got dark – someone was blocking the sun. Beca raised her sapphire eyes to see a very sweaty Aubrey wiping her neck with a towel, standing directly in front of her. She took in the blonde's skimpy running shorts showcasing her long toned legs and the form fitting t-shirt now soaked to a darker shade of grey. She had to admit, while she didn't enjoy the blonde's personality, the woman definitely had a smoking hot body. Beca raised her eyebrow at Aubrey, silently asking her why she was standing in front of her.
"I saw you out here while I was running. I thought you said you couldn't sing?"
"I don't believe I was singing just now."
"You were humming and it looks like writing a song. You don't do that if you can't sing."
"Like I told Red, last night - I never said I couldn't sing. I said I don't sing."
Aubrey's moss eyes flashed in irritation. She had been about to compliment the brunette on the song but was once again annoyed by her. Beca's mouth twitched up into a small smirk. She enjoyed getting under this woman's skin.
"We need to be ready to be picked up in an hour. Don't be late!"
"Sir, yes, sir," Beca shouted and mock saluted.
Aubrey rolled her eyes at the gesture and walked back into the hotel. Fifteen minutes later, Beca keyed into the hotel room with her guitar slung on her back while carrying three bagels with cream cheese and three coffees which she picked up from the complimentary hotel breakfast. Chloe had just woken up and was checking social media on her phone from the bed. The blonde was in the shower removing the post-run filth from her skin. The redhead squealed when she saw Beca carrying breakfast into the room and quickly got up to help her carry it to the table in the corner.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm dying for some caffeine."
"No problem. How'd you sleep, sir-snores-a-lot?"
"Are you suggesting that I snore?"
"No, of course not... I'm telling you, you snore. You were sawing wood this morning."
The redhead reached out and playfully hit Beca's arm as the brunette chuckled.
"That's not nice. I can't help it. I always snore after drinking," Chloe whined.
"Do you always turn into a koala with your sleeping partner too?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Chloe winked at the brunette and began to giggle.
Beca's face flushed a light pink and she stuttered out a few non-words in response before shoving a bagel into her mouth. The two continued to eat their breakfast in content silence while the blonde completed her shower. Once Aubrey was finished, Chloe quickly took over the bathroom. Beca got up from the table and picked up her mostly dry clothes from yesterday, packed them into her duffel, and lined her bags up by the door. She laid down on the bed and messed with some mixes on her phone to kill time before they had to leave. Aubrey sat at the table eating the remaining bagel and applying her makeup. The silence between the two women was not nearly as comfortable as it had been between Chloe and Beca. While finishing her eyeliner, Aubrey received a text and after reading it, she felt like her head was going to explode from anger. She jumped up from her chair and leapt onto the brunette's bed, straddling the young woman.
"Dude, what the fuck!?" Beca exclaimed. She was somewhat aroused but mostly terrified.
"YOU LIED. AGAIN."
"What are you talking about? GET OFF OF ME YOU PSYCHO!"
Chloe heard yelling and quickly jumped out of the shower, running immediately into the room. She was very confused and slight annoyed to see Aubrey straddling Beca on the bed.
"BREE! What is going on here?"
Beca looked over and her jaw dropped. For the second time that morning, Chloe had rendered her speechless.
"BECA IS A LIAR!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT."
"Guys, calm down. I'm sure we can work this out."
"Chloe, I can't concentrate until you cover your junk," Beca blurted out while averting her eyes.
At this comment, Aubrey looked over at her best friend to see her stark naked and dripping wet from the shower. She looked back at the brunette to see she was more than a little flustered. After being roommates for three years, seeing Chloe naked didn't even faze the blonde anymore.
"Oh, yeah I'm pretty confident about all this," Chloe stated gesturing to her body.
"You should be," Beca muttered only loud enough for Aubrey to hear. The blonde filed that away for later.
"Besides, it's only fair that you see me naked since I saw you last night."
"You what? When was that?" Aubrey screeched.
"Wait, what? You said you couldn't see much because it was frosted." Beca felt mortified.
"Relax, Bree. I walked in on Beca singing in the shower last night. It's not that frosted Becs, I just really wanted you to sing with me."
"Chloe, for the love of Aca-gods, get a towel." Chloe huffed and walked back to the bathroom to grab a towel.
"Can you please get the hell off of me now? You are seriously deranged."
"NO! You still owe me-us an explanation."
"FOR WHAT?"
"Ladies, seriously, need you to stop yelling. Aubrey, get off of her. What is this about?" Chloe stated, trying to turn the shouting match into a civil conversation.
Aubrey huffed before she climbed off of the bed and Beca.
"She lied. She is a criminal."
"What are you talking about?" Beca protested as she sat up from the bed.
"I asked my cousin Robbie to look into her and he sent me this." Aubrey handed her phone over to Chloe. Chloe's eyes grew wide as she read Beca's criminal record out loud.
Petit larceny, age thirteen.
Petit larceny, age fourteen.
Drunk and Disorderly, age fifteen.
Breaking and Entering, age fifteen.
Assaulting a law enforcement officer, age eighteen.
Resisting arrest, age eighteen.
Disturbing the peace, age eighteen.
Beca held back the tears threatening to escape. People never gave her the benefit of the doubt when they learned she had a record. Those charges didn't tell the whole story but nobody ever wanted to hear about it.
"Like I said, you lied! You said you'd never been to prison." Aubrey yelled pointing at Beca.
"I haven't. I went to juvenile detention a few times and jail briefly," Beca responded defiantly.
"Ughhh, stop mincing words. You committed crimes, therefore you are a criminal."
"Look, I made some mistakes when I was young. I had some things going on in my life, that I didn't know how to deal with at the time. I'm not the same person anymore," Beca explained.
"You were literally charged with assaulting an officer six months ago!"
"That charge was bullshit. You have to let me explain," Beca pleaded while looking at Chloe who had been silent during this exchange.
"No, I don't. I'm done listening to your lies. Get your stuff and find your own way to California. We are done here."
"Bree. I think we should hear Beca out," Chloe spoke up giving the brunette a reassuring smile.
"Chloe, get your head out of your ass. It's not a hat!"
Beca's eyebrows shot into her hairline. Even she knew that was too far for Aubrey. Chloe looked like she might start crying.
"Chloe. I'm sorry. That was mean. I just don't think we should trust her anymore."
"Everyone deserves a chance to explain themselves. Go ahead, Beca."
Beca took a deep breath and began to tell her story of that fateful night.
"Okay, so I worked at the college radio last year. It was part of how I saved money for my move to L.A. I had a pretty good reputation as a DJ already from high school and they let me start playing my own mixes at the station. This led to me being hired for some parties here and there. I was hired for a party at an off-campus house at the end of the semester before the holidays. I didn't know the people there at all. I was playing on the second floor near the stairs so everyone could hear and see me. The place was packed with tons of students and everyone was pretty wasted. Then at like one in the morning, there was loud knocking on the front door. One of the kids opened the door and it turned out to be a police raid. Apparently, one of the neighbors was annoyed with the kids constantly throwing parties so they called in an anonymous tip that there were minors drinking and doing drugs in the house. Everyone was obviously underage, including myself though I was not drinking or partaking in any drugs. The cops started flooding into the house grabbing anyone they could. I quickly threw my mixing equipment into my case and ran to a bedroom. I was on probation still from my previous offenses, so I desperately needed to get out of there. It wasn't that tall of a house so I figured I could just jump out the window and make a run for it. As I dropped from the window, an officer happened to be walking underneath it heading to check the backyard and… I landed on him. I'm obviously not that heavy but my equipment adds like fifteen pounds and it's hard. I knocked him unconscious. I felt bad but I couldn't stay so I got up to run but another officer grabbed me. That's how I ended up getting charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace. If that hadn't happened, my juvenile record would have been expunged on my nineteenth birthday and you wouldn't have found any criminal activity under my name. Also, if your cousin had looked more closely he would have seen that the assault charge had been dropped."
Beca had been staring at her hands while she told the story but now looked up to see both girls with their mouths hanging open in disbelief. She awkwardly shuffled side to side before walking over to grab her bags. Suddenly, Aubrey erupted into laughter and Chloe followed suit. The brunette turned around to face the two girls as they continued to laugh so hard that tears were rolling down their cheeks. Beca was thoroughly confused. Sure, Stacie and Amy had laughed at the story back when it had happened but she didn't expect Rambo to find it amusing at all. She became distracted watching Chloe laugh. The redhead seemed to lose herself in the joyous emotion – it was a good look for her. Soon the two hyenas caught their breath and looked back at the brunette.
"Okay, so you're not a violent criminal. I feel a bit better knowing that. I would like to hear about the other charges though before I let you tag along the rest of the trip," Aubrey bargained.
"No. I already told you, I was going through some stuff in my life and I didn't handle it well. I haven't stolen anything since I was fourteen and I haven't touched alcohol since I was fifteen. That's all you need to know," Beca replied firmly.
"Okay, I'm getting back in the shower. Bree, you need to finish your makeup and pack up your bags. Becs, can you go get a luggage cart?" Chloe knew the best way to end an argument was to give people separate tasks and move them forward from the issue. Beca nodded and grabbed the room key before slipping out. Aubrey looked at the time and decided to let it go for now. As Chloe lathered up her hair she thought about what Beca had just revealed to them. She desperately wanted to know more about this mysterious woman and her obviously troubled childhood. Aubrey was right about one thing. Chloe liked to find people who needed help. Aubrey called it "saving" or "fixing" but that's not how she thought of it. In her mind, these people needed some TLC and why shouldn't she provide that? She had a lot of love and joy in her heart. It was only right to share it if she could. A few minutes later, Aubrey walked into the bathroom to talk to Chloe about something she and the brunette had said earlier.
"Chlo, you said you sang with Beca last night?"
"Oh my god, Bree, yes. It was a-ca-amazing. I came back to get my wallet and she was singing Titanium in here. She's totes talented."
"I knew that bitch could sing. I found her in the courtyard this morning and I think she was writing an original song. I hate to admit it, but she sounded decent. I wonder why she says she doesn't sing."
"I don't know but I'm going to do my best to get her to sing more today. Maybe she'll do some of whatever song she was writing."
"Call me crazy, but her secretive behavior thus far makes me think she would not be interested in sharing that."
"Well, I'm finished and getting out. If you don't want to see me naked for a second time today it's time to leave."
Aubrey shook her head and exited the bathroom. Beca was sitting on the bed again, toying with mixes on her phone with her comically large headphones over her ears. The blonde looked over to see that the luggage cart was packed with both hers and Beca's stuff. The brunette was seriously frustrating to Aubrey – one minute she's getting them breakfast or packing up luggage and the next she spitting out some sarcastic, snarky response. She picked her purse up off the bedside table and exited to the lobby to take care of checkout. Twenty-five minutes later, all three girls and their luggage were back at the mechanics getting settled into the repaired SUV.
"Okay, ladies. We have a six-hour drive to our destination in San Diego. We are not stopping at all. So if you have to pee, do it now before we go."
"Breeeee, could we maybe make one stop along the way? I want to see the Grand Canyon."
"Chloe, no. We do not have time. You wanted us to vacation in San Diego, not road trip around the west. This is what we planned. Don't you want to relax on the beach and soak up the sun?"
"Um, I take it neither of you are great at geography?" Beca piped in. "The Grand Canyon is way north of here – like five hours north. It's not on the way at all."
Aubrey was torn between being annoyed that the hobbit knew this and she didn't and being relieved that someone was taking her side for once. Chloe looked genuinely surprised that the park was that far. She felt a little betrayed by Beca but agreed that it was way too much of a detour for them to justify the trip. As the girls got onto the highway heading west towards California, the redhead turned in her seat to look back at Beca. The brunette was typing furiously on her phone.
"Who're you texting?"
"Jesse. I totally forgot to ask him last night about coming to get me today."
Chloe frowned. She sort of forgot that Beca wasn't going to be around after they got to San Diego. She knew she shouldn't get attached but it was hard. There was just something special about this girl. She also for some reason did not like the idea of this guy coming to get Beca. This was an usual feeling for her and she couldn't figure out what it was… she'd have to talk it through with Aubrey.
"So is Jesse, Stacie's boyfriend?" Chloe asked hopefully.
"Ha, definitely not. He's Stacie's cousin. I've known him almost as long as I've known Stacie. He's from Boston but used to spend his summers in Atlanta at Stacie's house. The three of us would hang out all summer long going to concerts and sneaking into clubs to hear the newest DJs. He's going to UCLA now and wants to score movies for a career. I guess he got an internship in L.A. so that he could stay year round. It'll be good to see him again and catch up."
"That's great," Chloe replied with a fake smile on her face. She desperately wanted to change the subject. "So, how about you play us some of your mixes you were talking about DJ? I'm in the mood for some music. Aubrey, you good with that?"
Aubrey nodded her head. She didn't want to admit it but she was genuinely curious as to how talented this small woman really is in regards to music. Beca took the aux cord and plugged it into her phone queuing up the latest mix she had finished. A mashup of Titanium and Bulletproof played through the SUV. Chloe smiled. She knew Beca picked this one just for her. After about four mashups, Aubrey spoke up.
"You're very good at this. I could definitely hear this playing a popular club. How long have you been doing this stuff?"
Beca was caught a bit off guard by the sincerity in the blonde's statement. Chloe had been praising her talent since the first song. Somehow, it meant a little more coming from the former naysayer.
"Thanks. I've been really into music since I was about twelve but didn't start mixing until I was fifteen. It's fun to play around with songs, putting something that seems totally unlikely together and creating a brand new meaning out of them. But I don't just want to make mashups or mix. Like I said, I want to be a music producer."
Chloe observed Beca as she spoke and could see the enthusiasm in her face when she talked about her dream. That right there – that was what was special about this girl. Aubrey was starting to get it too. Though she was driving, she could hear the way Beca talked about music. There was sheer passion in her voice. Maybe Chloe was right about this girl.