Hey guys. I just wanted to say that I will update every 5 to 7 days, earlier if possible, but never later than a week. I understand that lots of writers are critical towards their work like me, so if you don't like my writing- just know I'm trying to improve every chapter. I hope I'm not boring and I'm creating some sort of entertainment to someone. If you're that someone, please leave a review of your thoughts. And if you're not that someone, please leave a review of your thoughts. My main focus is to improve my writing while creating an awesome story, so I strongly welcome criticism if there's any. Which I'm sure there is- everyone has their preferences. Oh, also fallow/favorite. Okay, that's it, I'll let you read now.
All Beca hears is some murmurs of talking patrons and a ticking clock that reads 8:30. The place is pretty empty as of now, only a few people scattered around the spacious room. Beca stands behind the bar, messing with her phone as she waits for someone to need a drink. She doesn't necessarily have to be 'working' right now, but she loves the confortable and home like feel that the room gives off. It's a lot better than her apartment and it gets her creative juices running. She lifts up her gaze and looks around. She cherishes these quiet times in the bar, though she might just look bored. People tend to pile in the most between ten and eleven-increasing the intensity and chaos of being in the place. But she doesn't mind, the bar fights are very entertaining. Until they're broken up, that is.
Ding.
Beca looks at her phone as I'd it just grew hands and flipped her off. Who would be texting her at this time? Scratch that, who would be texting her at all? It's not that people don't enjoy texting her, the just know she probably won't text back. She'd rather make calls-thinking it gets the message across faster. She opens her message notification to solve the mystery.
Girlfriend: Hey Becs :D
Chloe. That explains it.
Beca: Hi Chlo. You know, Luke will be very upset when he sees I'm texting my 'girlfriend'.
Girlfriend: Yeah, but you could have changed it anytime ;)
Beca: That's true :b what's up?
Girlfriend: I was wondering if you wanted to hang tomorrow? If you're free?
Beca: Lucky for you I am, wanna meet at the Starbucks near the hospital? At 2?
Girlfriend: Sounds great! Set you tomorrow Becs ;)
Beca: Night Chlo. ;)
"Yes. Yes, sir. I will...," Aubrey paces back and forth on the smooth pavement, her speed causing an illusion of a breeze in the dark night air. Even when her father can't see her, her head hangs down in shame while she talks to him over the phone. She had felt herself change when the call came. Her voice, body language, mood, and maybe even mentality- all changed in a matter of seconds. All from hearing the formal greetings of her father, and then returning it herself. There's a lack of emotion when she speaks to him the way he wants her to, she can taste it. She's not hopeful in their conversations, she's not herself. She strives to be someone better so her father will want and enjoy talking to her. That's what she believes will happen at least. "Okay, sir, I'll see you in July. Bye." She stuffs her hands along with her phone into her navy blue coat and looks up to a sympathetic Chloe. They're standing in front of a small vintage themed diner that the other Bellas are currently in.
"How'd it go?"
She breaths out of her nose, "He wants me to go home for the fourth of July. Do you want to come with me? I can't go there alone." The blonde asks. Chloe goes up and wraps her arms around her in a hug to which she returns.
"Of course, Bree. I'll be right there. Maybe we can even convince some of the Bellas to come." The redhead promises on her shoulder, nothing but care in her voice.
"That sounds great, thank you Chlo." Aubrey breaks the hug and gestures into the direction of their apartment. "I'm feeling a little tired, I'm going to head back." Chloe nods.
"Okay, I'll go tell the girls were leaving." She turns to go, but Aubrey grabs her wrist.
"No, you stay. Don't waste your night on me. I'm probably just going to sleep anyways."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, now go have fun." The blonde dismisses. She turns to leave when Chloe gets to the diner door, but stops short when the redhead calls her name.
"Hey, Bree?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't stress, alright?"
"I'll try." Aubrey smiles. Chloe smiles back before leaving. She shakes her head, her friend could definitely be a mom if she wanted to. A very good one.
Aubrey walks around on an unmarked trail, mentally pinning store locations she wants to revisit. She had intended to go home, but the city has a lot of distractions. And she's still trying to relax from her earlier conversation with her father. She stops abruptly from her aimless wandering when a large man nearly hits her with a door as he exits. She sees the sign on the building and notices it's a bar. With a shrug, she decides she could use a drink.
Beca looks to the door when she hears it open again. There's no bell, but there's a slight creaking sound. She notices it's the blonde she knocked down earlier, but the other girl hasn't noticed her yet. She looks over her appearance to see if it's good enough for a second impression, since the first didn't go so well. She'd thought the blonde had caught her staring but assumed she probably confused it for shock rather than admiration. Sure, she might be a little more attracted to guys, but she can still tell when she sees a pretty girl. Beautiful, even. The said girl now sitting near the end of the bar side closest to the door. She quickly approaches before the girl can comprehend who she is, and begins talking.
"Hey, I hope you're not here for revenge." Beca jokes. She frowns when Aubrey looks at her in confusion, thinking she probably looks creepy to the girl who doesn't recognize her. But then Aubrey is smiling and her frown disappears.
"Hi- It's you. And no, I don't plan on getting you back anytime soon." Beca smirks.
"Good, because I would hate to have to call security." She leans over the bar, moving closer to Aubrey, and whispers as if telling a secret, "By the way, you could have totally blackmailed me into giving you another Twix just now." Aubrey scrunches her eyebrows, but smiles.
"Another one? Do you always have a Twix on you?" Beca shrugs, pulling out a white hand towel from her apron. She places it on the spot next to Aubrey and attempts to wipe down the small space, but it looks like she's lazily dragging it from side to side. Cleaning is not her Forte.
"Uh, the owner kinda knows I love them, so he keeps them in stock for me here." She decides to use her job to change the subject, "So, what would you like to drink?" Aubrey looks to the bottles behind Beca, contemplating her options.
"Hmm, I'll take just whisky."
"Alright. Some whisky for the pretty lady." Beca smiles before turning to get the drink. Aubrey's eyes widen slightly at the compliment, but she quickly regains her composure and smiles to herself, since the brunette can't see her. After Beca sets down her drink she questions.
"Um, I don't mean to sound rude when I say this, but, what are you doing here?" It still sounds a little rude so she explains. "I thought you were an intern?" Beca gives a genuine smile towards Aubrey.
"You remembered?" Aubrey shrugs as if it's no big deal. There a look of nervousness on her face as she tries to think if it is weird that she remembered, and if she was caught, but Beca's words break her thoughts. "I work here. Mainly to not stay holed up in my apartment all the time." There's a short silence as Aubrey absorbs the information and sips her drink. Though she doesn't really know her, Beca can tell something is bothering the other girl. There are moments of hesitation before she finally asks, "Are you sure you're not mad at me? You look kind of upset." Aubrey looks up to the worried girl and quickly shakes her head.
"No, it's not you, just a bad call." Beca nods accepting the answer, smiling a small smile of relief.
"Okay." A man calls for her at the other end of the bar, yelling out his order. "I'm going to go make this guy's drink, but right after, I'm bringing you a Twix. I'm sure it'll make you feel better. And if not, you still get to eat a damn good candy." Aubrey chuckles at Beca's optimistic side.
When Beca gets to the middle of the bar, she turns to the shelf of drinks displayed on the wall and begins making the drink. Halfway through, she feels familiar arms wrap around her midsection from behind and she smells the man's cologne.
"Hey, Becky," Luke talks into her ear, "We're still on for tonight, right? Your place?"
Down the bar, Aubrey is doing her best to avoid looking at the couple. She stares down at her drink, but she can still hear the conversation due to the fairly quiet bar. Just after Luke's first sentence, she feels something uncomfortable and unsettling swirl inside her. What is that? It sorta feels like, jealousy? But that doesn't make sense, she has nothing to be jealous about. She shakes the thought away.
"Of course." Beca turns in his arms, putting her hands on his chest.
"Perfect, because I really need you tonight." He lightly squeezes her hips where his hands are placed.
"Yeah, me too." Beca barely gets out before Luke's kissing her. She pushes him back slightly, breaking the kiss. She briefly glances in Aubrey's direction- the girl still staring at her drink- before looking back to Luke. "Hey, I know you're excited, believe me- I am too, but you know how I feel about PDA. Save it for later and you won't have to stop."
"Good point." Luke nods. "Alright, Becky, I'll see you soon."
"Okay, can't wait. Bye, Luke." She smiles. He shows his charming smile before pecking her lips and leaving through the door behind the bar- next to the shelf of drinks.
"Sorry about that earlier." She says once getting back to Aubrey. "That was the- the owner."
"Oh, that's okay." She waves it off. "Is he your boyfriend?" She asks casually, not really sure why she really wants to know the answer.
Beca looks to the ceiling, trying to think of a good answer. She looks back to Aubrey, "Yes and no. I mean, I call him my boyfriend and he calls me his girlfriend, and we don't sleep with other people- but we're more like friends with benefits. There's no romantic feelings involved. We both are focused on work and don't want others developing emotional feelings for us, because that can be distracting. Gosh, that sounds cocky doesn't it?" Beca cringes at her self centered words. Aubrey giggles- causing Beca to beam.
"Maybe a little." She's unsure why she felt a little relief at Beca's non-romantic explanation of Luke, or why she still feels that weird swirl of jealousy. She's never jealous. Maybe she realized how lonely she is, and she's just jealous of their relationship. Yeah, that's got to be it. Even though she doesn't know why, she ignores the fact that she knows that that's not the real reason and weakly tries to convince herself. Hearing a chime, she checks her phone. Two missed calls from Chloe and Stacie, and a text from Chloe asking for her whereabouts. She sighs and looks to Beca. "I have to go. My friends are getting worried." Beca nods in understanding. The blonde pulls out her wallet to pay for the drink, but a hand being placed atop hers causes her to snap her gaze up. Beca notices too, a light tingling feeling where there hands are in contact.
"It's on the house." She says to Aubrey and removes her hand. She's as surprised as the blonde when the sensation goes away, but neither voices their thoughts. "Just let me go get my keys so I can drive you." Beca gestures to the back room.
"Drive me? Why?" She questions before Beca can leave. She's standing now, about ready to go.
"Because you're obviously drunk," Aubrey looks down at herself to see where the brunette got that idea from, "and I can't let you drive or walk home alone, it's dangerous."
"Thank you, but, I'm not drunk. I only took a couple sips of my drink." Aubrey explains.
"Really?" Beca tests, lifting her right hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three." Aubrey answers confidently, but Beca looks to her hand in confusion. "Hey! That's cheating, you lifted another finger after I said my answer." She accuses, pointing a finger at Beca's hand.
"Oh, no." Beca fakes worry. "Now you're seeing things. I can most definitely not let you go home alone in this state." She quickly disappears being the bar door and reappears not ten seconds later- with her keys in hand. Nearing Aubrey, she shouts over her shoulder. "Luke, I'm leaving! See you later!" They both hear the English man shout back.
"Alright, Becky! I'll see you in an hour!'"
"Come on, let's go." Beca grabs Aubrey's hand, pulling her to the entrance door. Both of them smile at one another. Okay, so that's new. Yes, Beca will hold hands with people sometimes, and some of those times she is the one to initiate the contact. But Beca is still Beca, she only does things when she has too. And she didn't have to grab her hand, and she doesn't have to be enjoying holding it right now. It's all willingly, that's the brainteaser. Once outside, Aubrey looks back to the bar.
"You're just leaving? Won't you get in trouble?"
The brunette waves it off and goes to the driver's side of her car. "Nah, I may or may not work there for free." She continues inside the car. "And before you say anything, it's in no way as payment to Luke for his...services. Actually, you could probably even say I don't work there. I just stand behind the bar and make myself drinks. Occasionally making others drinks too."
There's a comfortable silence throughout the ride- neither girl talking. Until Beca breaks the ice, that is.
"So, that call." She starts out. "I don't want to pry, but who got you so upset?" Maybe that's a little to far for someone you don't know. "Actually, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to. I know we don't know each other, so-"
"It's fine." Aubrey places a hand on Beca's shoulder to stop the younger girls rambling. She hesitates before answering. "Uh, it was my dad."
"Your dad?"
"Yeah." The blonde looks down at her fiddling hands. "He doesn't really approve of my career choice. He wants me to be a lawyer."
"And what do you want to be?" Beca shortly glances at the blonde, then returns her gaze to the road.
Aubrey shrugs, "I've kinda been set on a doctor since high school."
"A doctor?" Beca asks unbelievingly. "That's amazing- how can he not approve of that?" Beca looks over to Aubrey and shines an incredibly bright and proud smile. It causes Aubrey to blush slightly, along with warming her heart. She loves how this stranger already has faith in her. "I can understand if you said a McDonald's cashier or something, but no. You said a doctor and I can't see how that's anything but fucking awesome." That smile again- the one that does something to Aubrey.
"I know." Aubrey smiles down at her hands, but it's gone when she speaks again. "But all my family members and siblings are lawyers. Therefore, I'm the only one who doesn't live up to the Posen standards." Her voice becomes irritated. "And it gets me so mad, because I worked my ass off to get to where I'm at. But none of that matters, because in Richard Posen's eyes- I'm still his only child that failed him. I'm the disgrace to the family who he can't be proud of, and-" she cuts herself off and calms down with a nervous chuckle. "..I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you this. Like you said, we don't even know each other. I just meet you today and- and I just realized I don't even know your name, but I'm gonna guess it's Becky." Beca faces Aubrey.
"Hey, don't apologize for saying how you feel." She tries to comfort, but she's not sure how she's doing. "I'm sure I may look old, but my ears are still great for listening." Aubrey gives a small laugh and Beca grants a small smile on her face at her accomplishment. There's a short silence before Beca speaks. "I'm Beca, by the way. Luke just calls me Becky because he's an asshole."
"Aubrey. And you don't look old, trust me."
"No?" Beca smirks. Aubrey shakes her head, some pink on her cheeks. That wasn't flirting, was it? Because she doesn't flirt. Chloe and Stacie don't know that she knows about their bet on who can make her flirt back first, but flirting just doesn't come to her. She's tried- and been told she does very well- but she doesn't see the point or the want to flirt. So surely, this wasn't flirting. She composes herself from her miniature panic.
"No. I mean, I'm 21, and you look younger than me. You can't be over eighteen." She removes her thin scarf resting on her shoulders and sets it down, suddenly becoming very heated in the cool car. "Sorry, it's getting hot in here."
"That's okay. And you're close, I'm 20." The car comes to a halt in front of the address Aubrey gave Beca. "Um, this is you, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Thank you so much for the ride."
"No problem, glad I could be of good use. Thanks for the company." They smile. There's a moment of silence, both looking at each other- wanting to say something to keep them there longer but unsure of what to say- then Aubrey farewells.
"Goodnight, Beca."
"Goodnight, Aubrey." And with that, the blonde exits. Beca waves back in the car when Aubrey turns to wave at her from outside.
Inside her apartment, Aubrey is bombarded with questions about her whereabouts that transfers into questions of the mysterious driver that dropped her off. She's gives no answers to the latter questions.
Aubrey hears the doorbell from her room about 30 minutes after she arrives home from the bar. She assumes it's one of the Bellas coming over for who knows what since it's a pretty late hour. Her assumptions are denied when Chloe calls for her, furthering her confusion.
"Hey Bree? There something at the door for you!" She exits her bedroom and finds Chloe and Stacie looking at something left on the doorstep. When she looks, she sees her scarf with a Twix and a folded piece of printer paper on it. She finds her name written in print on top of the paper. It looks like the person tried to write nice, but it didn't come out too well- It's cute.
"Is this from the mysterious driver who brought you home? Are you getting some, Aubrey?" Stacie asks, peering over her shoulder at the items.
"What? No, and if you two must know, " Aubrey picks up the items and discreetly smiles at the Twix, "It was a girl who drove me."
"Is that a smile I see? Who is this person making my best friend smile?" Chloe catches. Maybe she wasn't so discreet.
"Yeah, who is this girl? I thought you would have started with me if you were experimenting." Stacie smiles with a wink.
"I- I'm not experimenting. A girl just gave me a ride, that's it. Her name is Bec-," Aubrey connects the dots, "..wait...short, brunette, and named Beca? Chloe, I think this might be your friend." Chloe gasps.
"You're sleeping with Becs?" She beams, very curious.
"What!? I didn't say that. I'm not sleeping with anyone, and I'm not interested in Beca. I'm not interested in any girl." Aubrey clears.
"Your blush says otherwise." Chloe teases.
"Oh my gosh, is Aubrey Posen thinking dirty thoughts about Beca?" Stacie had caught on to Aubrey's earlier stuttering, knowing the girl does it when she's nervous- even if she doesn't notice.
"It's not- I'm not- I- ugh! I'm going to bed." Aubrey can't find her words and leaves. "And I'm not blushing!" She shouts from down the hall.
"Whatever you say, Bree!" Chloe shouts back. Her and Stacie laugh at Aubrey's reaction.
"So, you think she likes her?" Stacie asks, both staring in the direction of Aubrey's room. Chloe shrugs with her arms crossed.
"I don't know, tough call. She never experimented back in school, so maybe she's finally curious. Even Posens aren't immune to temptation. Specifically one named Beca." Stacie nods in agreement.
"Hey, Becky. What took you so long?" Beca approaches her apartment door- where Luke's waiting for her. Which is weird considering he has a copy of the key. Maybe it's a respect thing.
"Uh, I had to drop something off real quick."
"Oh. Who was that blonde you were talking to at the bar?" He asks in a non-jealous, just curious tone.
"Some girl I met earlier today, I dropped her off too." Beca unlocks the door and they step inside.
"She was drunk?" Luke asks, knowing Beca hates certain social interactions. Driving someone she barely knows making that list.
"No, but I didn't want to make her walk. I pass her apartment on the way here anyways." Beca feels the need to explain. She takes off one of her summer night sweaters that she's wearing and hangs it on the coat rack. Luke does the same.
"I see. Are you interested in dating her?"
"Aubrey? No. You know I'm not looking for a relationship."
"And if you were?"
"But I'm not. Not after-," she sighs, "not after Liam." Luke places his hands on her shoulders.
"Listen, Becky, I know that was a tough blow, but you shouldn't let it stop you from finding someone."
"I know, Luke. But I'm perfectly happy with how things are now. I've got you. And I've come to terms with the fact that I will be alone for, like, the rest of my life. And I'm okay with that." Luke removes his hands.
"Okay, Becky. I just want you to be happy."
"Thanks, Luke." She hugs him, then grabs his hand- pulling him towards her bedroom. "Now come on, it's been too long." She smiles at his laughter.
"It hasn't been that long, I seen you four days ago."
"Exactly!" She says, causing another laugh.
Audrey sits criss-cross on her bed, opening the note left by Beca.
Hey, Aubrey.
Forgive me for disturbing you, but I notice you left your scarf in my car when I got home. I thought you might want it back. Oh yeah, and I also forgot to give you the candy, so that's here too.
-Beca
Aubrey looks down at the note. It's simple, nothing is really said, but she can't stop reading it over and over. She finally sets it down on her nightstand and lays down. She thinks, most likely over analyzing everything that happened throughout the day. But one thing is certain. She met a wonderful person.
Thank you for reading, and please leave a review. See you next chapter. Also, thank you to TheSandyToadfish, I didn't catch that when proofreading.
- Nessa
