Disclamier: I don't own Pitch Perfect or the Imperial March
Last Time…
However, Aubrey soon felt her breath hitch and her eyes widen instinctively when a slightly digitized and muffled voice that she hadn't heard in YEARS broke through the line, "Hello?"
"No way," the blonde breathed in disbelief. "There's just no effin' way."
"Well hello to you too," the voice on the other side of the line said drily.
"Benji?" Aubrey asked in disbelief. "Is that really you?"
"Yes, and who is this?" Benji's voice zoned in and out of focus slightly as it sounded like he was moving around.
"Aubrey Posen," Aubrey responded in a clipped and curt fashion.
"Oh," Benji's voice was filled with understanding and just a little bit of relief that some random hobo and/or stalker hadn't gotten a hold of his cell phone number. "From Barden?"
"Yeah," Aubrey let her voice trail off slightly awkwardly. While she knew of Benji and his last minute induction into their then rivals, she never really talked with the guy. She was a senior, he was a freshman, he was a Treble, she was a Bella. The connection had just never really happened.
"So…" Benji, while Aubrey distinctly remembered the boy being rather horrendous at picking up social cues what with his cape and love of magic tricks, had instantly picked up on the awkward pause between the old college alumni. "Why exactly are you calling me Aubrey?"
Aubrey sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, sorting through her thoughts. She only had one chance at this and it had to go perfectly. "Well," she started off slowly, enunciating each carefully chosen word with great skill. "We, as in the Bellas from your freshman year, are in Los Angeles. We were supposed to be on a plane out to Hawaii but due to mechanical difficulties our plane was grounded and we won't be able to get out to Hawaii after all."
"I'm sorry," Benji said hesitantly, unsure of how exactly he fit into all of this.
"Anyway," Aubrey continued as if Benji had never interrupted her. "We attempted to find a hotel that we could stay in until we had everything figured out, but regrettably there was no vacancy at any suitable hotels in the area and as such we are in need of a favor."
"Right…" Benji was still confused as to where exactly his presence came into play. Chloe watched as her best friend did her own personal version of stuttering into the phone as Aubrey floundered for the best possible way to phrase this request. Finally, the (barely) patient redhead's tolerance ran out and she snatched the phone out of the flustered blonde's hand.
"Hi Benji!" Chloe chirped, yes chirped, into the phone. "It's Chloe Beale, the redhead Bella from Barden University. What my ever so eloquent co-captain is trying to say is that we need a place to stay because all the hotels are booked and you're the only number of anyone we've got out here in LA. Do you think you can help us out?"
"Hey Chloe," Benji said with an obvious chuckle in his voice. "And why didn't Aubrey just say so? That would have been easier."
"Well yeah," Chloe agreed with a grin in Aubrey's direction. "But she's Aubrey so that wasn't really in option."
"No kidding," Benji was chuckling again and Chloe faintly heard some papers rustling around as Benji paused for a moment. "Hey, if I give you guys an address to a restaurant, can you meet me there in like half an hour?" Chloe looked over at Aubrey and relayed the request to which the blonde looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, we can do that," Chloe passed on to Jesse and whipped out her own cell phone, Amy's wedged firmly between her shoulder and her ear. "772 Los Robles Avenue, and we're looking for a place called Emilio's Table," Chloe read back what she'd typed onto her own phone.
"Yup, sounds right," Benji confirmed. "Just tell the host that you're with Benji and he'll get you a table. So I'll see you guys in thirty minutes?"
"We'll be there," Chloe assured and the two ended the phone call. Chloe turned back to the Bellas and a slightly peeved looking Aubrey and asked, "Who's ready for lunch?" The women all grinned and they made their way out to where never ending taxis were parked.
Of course, Aubrey would only let them leave after threatening the man at the desk that if anything happened to their luggage, his family tree was going to be pruned very, very soon. The man had paled and babbled out reassurances that nothing would happen and that as soon as they had an address available, the airport would have it shipped to them, free of charge. Aubrey had huffed and stalked away, leaving an ashen faced man in her wake. Chloe just laughed at her best friend's antics and the women all piled into taxis, excited to catch up with one another after too much time apart.
A total of three taxis were taken, the address rattled off to each driver, and soon they were off. Aubrey and Chloe, who had ended up in a taxi with Fat Amy, both laughed loudly and often at the large Tasmanian girl's stories. If anything, Amy's life had gotten even wilder since she left college, a feat that impressed both the older women, and she had more than a few wild tales to spin. She even got the taxi driver to laugh, and he looked even more serious than Aubrey.
Finally, the taxi they were riding in pulled in front of a restaurant that immediately had Aubrey on edge. The neighborhood was slightly sketchy looking with more than a couple suspicious characters prowling around, and the store itself looked a little worse for the wear. Aubrey eyed the building cautiously, unsure of whether or not she actually wanted to go in. It took Chloe pointing out that while it wasn't necessarily a five star store front, there weren't any bullet holes in the walls or boarded up windows like that one pizza place she frequented all throughout med school and Fat Amy calling Aubrey a bizarre mixture of yellow-bellied and something about fish guts to even get Aubrey out of the car.
They paid the taxi driver who sped off, clearly eager to get the hell away from the lower end side of town they were now stranded in. Chloe and Amy each grabbed an arm and coaxed, read dragged, Aubrey into the establishment. As soon as they pushed through the grimy front door, they were greeted with a heavenly aroma that had all three of their stomachs rumbling simultaneously. The exterior of the store did its interior positively no justice. Sure, the place as a whole looked slightly worn in, but it gave the whole room a warm, lived in feel. Add to that intoxicating smells coming from the direction of the kitchen and the place immediately had all three women at ease.
However, they were surprised to see a line of people already waiting for a table in the already full restaurant. Chloe's shoulders sagged as she realized that she wasn't going to be able to sit down and chow down at once and her feet and stomach practically ached as one. Still, she strode confidently over to the host and smiled at the massive man manning the front podium. His muscles were easily the size of Chloe's head and every available inch of skin was covered in dark and intricate tattoos. Even the top of his bald head was inked.
"Hi," she said brightly, flashing the man another smile that he seemed completely unfazed by. "We were told to drop by from Benji?"
"Applebaum?" the man asked gruffly, his voice deep and dangerous.
"Yup!" Chloe sang. "The one and only."
"Right this way then," the man said and Chloe was shocked as she looked back and nodded to Fat Amy and Aubrey who pushed through the crowd of people to follow the man. He led them through a small door that was previously draped in cloth and when pushed away, revealed another, smaller dining room. The walls were decorated with the same sort of murals and motifs that had been in the front room, though there was only one table with a multitude of chairs around its edges. "I'll send in someone to take your orders in a couple of minutes," the muscle man informed them before moving out of the room, letting the curtains fall back into place.
The three women were silent for a moment, each looking around the room they were in and attempting to gather their thoughts, before Amy finally said, "I think we just met the Mexican mob."
"No, I'm sure that's not it," Aubrey assured her, though her words were slightly shaky and she didn't sound very confident.
"Did you see his muscles? He looked like he could take twenty dingos at once. Not even I can do that, and I'm the best dingo wrestler in all of Tasmania!" Chloe and Aubrey both searched for an answer to that (there really were none) but were thankfully saved by the curtain being moved and the same man leading in Lily, Stacie, and Cynthia-Rose.
"Hey guys!" Cynthia-Rose greeted the others with a grin.
Stacie however, just looked at them and said seriously, "I think we're in a mafia place. Did anyone bring cement shoes?" Again, Aubrey and Chloe were saved from trying to come up with a logical argument against the mob theory, by Jessica, Denies, Ashley, and finally Benji moving into the room.
"Hey Bellas," Benji said almost shyly, although he really shouldn't have worried. As soon as Chloe caught sight of the familiar little curly 'fro and the sheepish grin, she'd bounced out of her seat and all but crushed Benji in a hug.
"Hey Benji," she said in between squeezes, of which the poor man could give no reply. The rest of the Bellas all moved to give their old alum a hug and greeting, cheerful pleasantries all around. Sometime in the mass confusion of trying to organize ten people to a table, a waiter had come in and ferreted their drink orders out. Finally, all the Bellas were settled in at the table, drinks on the table, and menus in hand. "So Benji," Chloe asked conversationally. "What's good here?"
"Honestly, everything," Benji said with another sheepish grin. Chloe gave a mock scowl and whapped him on the upper arm with a rolled up menu.
"Not helpful," she grumbled though she was grinning and Benji merely shrugged.
"It's true," he supplied.
"Yeah, yeah," Chloe threw in an eye roll for good measure and went back to scanning the menu.
Suddenly, Stacie (ever blunt and up front) asked, "Is this a cover for the mafia."
Benji quirked an eyebrow and admitted, "I don't actually know. All I know is it has some of the best enchiladas in Los Angeles and it's not too far away from work. That's all I need." Several of the girls looked slightly unsettled that he hadn't actually dismissed the restaurant being host to organized crime, but their concerns were forgotten when the waiter came back promptly to take their orders. Sometime later, after the food had been delivered and devoured, all of the Bellas were leaning back contently in their chairs, their stomachs comfortably full, even Aubrey.
"That," Cynthia-Rose declared dramatically. "Was amazing." There were general murmurs of contentment from all around.
"So," Benji said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "You guys need a place to stay out here and all the hotels are booked, huh?"
"You got it," Chloe nodded.
"Well, I'd offer for you all to come stay at my place, but I've only got two bedrooms and one is an office and the other is the size of a shoe box," Benji said, his face twisted in apology. All of the Bellas felt their hopes crash and burn in disappointment. "But," Benji amended quickly, seeing the looks of despair quickly settling in on the various women's faces. "Let me make a couple of phone calls and see what I can do, okay?" Chloe nodded eagerly though Aubrey's nod was far curter. Benji smiled at the group before moving out into the main eating room which had emptied slightly. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number before putting the phone up to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hey what's up, Jesse?" Benji asked as he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms calmly.
"Not much man, I can't complain," Jesse said brightly and Benji could just tell that he would have a shit eating grin on his face. "What about you?"
"Well that's kind of why I'm calling," Benji shifted his arms around awkwardly for a moment, unsure of where to put them. "I'm kind of in a sticky situation and I was wondering if you could give me a hand?"
"Oh, yeah sure, whatever you need bud. Am I going to need garbage bags and a shovel?" Benji couldn't help but be kind of worried when the first thing that came to Jesse's mind when a friend said they were in trouble was the kind of trouble that required garbage bags and shovels.
"No, no garbage bags and no shovel. The Bellas group from our freshman year is having a reunion of sorts I guess and they're in town due to flight complications. Apparently every damn hotel in the area is booked."
"Well yeah," Jesse cut in with a snort. "Who wouldn't want to spend New Year's in Los Angeles? Aside from New York, it's like the number one place to be and a damn dream."
"True," Benji conceded. "Anyway, they need to a place to stay. I'd let them stay in my apartment, but there's nine of them and my apartment's tiny. Is there any way they could stay with you?"
"Ha, I wish," Jesse laughed shortly. "My building had a water main break Christmas Day. I've been camped out in Beca's spare bedroom for the past four days."
"Shit," Benji groaned and ran a hand over his face in a massaging effort. He racked his brain, trying to think of someone, anyone he could ask to house a couple of strangers, not even all nine of them, and coming up with a big old blank. Finally, he had to settle on the only possible solution left. "Do you think she would be cool with us letting the Bellas crash at her place?"
"Dunno," Jesse responded honestly. "She's still out tearing it up in Miami. Don't think she's been home in like two and a half months."
"Damn," Benji whistled. He knew it had been a while since he'd seen his friend but two and a half months was a surprisingly long amount of time in retrospect.
"But, this is Beca we're talking about. Remember that time she had that entire folk band of like eight vegan guys staying with her for a solid month?"
"But it's the Bellas…" Benji trailed off uncertainly.
He heard the soft whoosh as Jesse sighed into the receiver and then the other man was saying, "Why don't you give me like fifteen minutes, I'll give her a call and explain the situation and see what we can work out, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks Jess," Benji said in relief, glad that they at least had some semblance of a plan going on. Jesse didn't respond, instead ending the call to make another. Benji slipped back into the back room of the restaurant and addressed the Bellas. "So here's what's going on," he started to explain. "My apartment is like a shoebox and you won't all fit in it and the friend I was going to send you over to is currently staying somewhere else do to building problems. I've got another friend that we're trying to get ahold of to see if you can stay with them." The Bellas all nodded and sat at the table, quietly mulling over this new information.
"Say, Benji," Stacie piped up. "Are you in the mafia?"
The drink of water that Benji had just taken was promptly sprayed all across the table. "Excuse me?" he coughed as he wiped up as much of the water as he could.
"Well you're being really secretive and you keep referring to people as 'my friend' and 'we' and it sounds very mob-like," Stacie explained bluntly and with a straight face.
"No," Benji managed to sputter out between more coughs. "I am most definitely not a part of the mafia, thank you very much!"
"But you knew the guy here and all you had to do was say your name and they led you back here to this very mafia-ish room," Stacie pointed out.
"Are you shitting me?" Benji couldn't help from blurting out. Stacie just quirked an eyebrow expectantly.
Benji groaned and said, "No, I am not a part of the mafia. I come to eat here every Tuesday, that's why the guy knows me. And the only reason I get immediate service is my best friend's boss is that guy's cousin. Manny's got like fifty-billion cousins running around LA and all you have to do is drop his name and you're treated like family."
"Manny huh…" Cynthia-Rose jumped into the conversation with a disbelieving snort. "Sounds like a made up name."
"Yeah, that sounded too rehearsed," Fat Amy was quick to add her own two cents. "Definitely mob-ish."
"I once killed a man for the New Zealand mob," Lily whispered, though no one heard her.
"It's true!" Benji nearly shouted in hysteria. "My friend works for Manny at TurnStyle Records Incorporate as a producer and she and Manny are on really good terms."
"There you go with the 'my friend' thing again," Chloe couldn't stop herself from joining in to tease the poor man who was currently turning an interesting purple color. "If you're so close with this friend, what's her name?" Fortunately Benji didn't have to try and come up with a fake and undoubtedly horrendous cover name for Beca by his phone ringing. In all of his life, Benji couldn't name a time he was more grateful for his Imperial March ringtone .
"Hello?" he gasped gracefully into the receiver.
"Yo, Ben, Beca and I have a plan."
"So what's going on?" Benji asked nervously, acutely aware of all of the Bellas' eyes trained on him and straining their hearing to hear the other end of the conversation.
"So Beca said she's okay with it," Jesse announced dramatically into the phone, to Benji's immediate relief.
"She is?" he couldn't help but ask, more than slightly skeptical.
"Well sort of. She doesn't expect to get back into LA until mid-January so she says they can stay at her place since she won't be there. Anything they break, we pay for, and I have to lock up the Cave, but other than that, it's a go."
Benji let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding and said in relief, "Oh thank god."
"Yup," Jesse said as there was the sound of movement from the other end. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got to run back to the apartment and hide her pictures. Give me like an hour, okay?"
"You're going to clean up and hide your underwear aren't you?"
"Indeed," Jesse declared. "See you in an hour."
"Yeah, thanks, Jess," Benji said sincerely and ended the call. He turned back to the Bellas and said with a smile, "I've got a place for you guys."
"And just to be clear it's not with the mob?" Stacie asked deviously.
"For the last time, I'm not in the mafia!" Benji shouted. However, just as he'd finished, the large bulky man from earlier showed up and handed Benji a piece of paper.
He shot a disinterested look at the Bellas and said to Benji, "Mr. Applebaum, it's from our… friend in Miami."
"Right," Benji groaned, knowing exactly what was going to be on that sheet of paper. A quick glance showed a note scrawled out.
Benji, call me as soon as you're alone – B.
"Thanks Don," Benji nodded gratefully. "And the checks?"
"Don't worry about it," the man replied brusquely. "It's covered." Benji nodded absently, tucking the note into the back pocket of his jeans. The large man, Don, nodded stiffly to Benji and the Bellas before backing out of the room.
There were a few beats of silence before Stacie said, "Oh yeah, you're definitely in the mob." Benji rolled his eyes once again, not bothering to point out for the umpteenth time that he was not in the mob, and that he was in fact involved in the financial backings of film productions. It would be wasted effort at this point.
"As soon as you girls are ready to go, we can head out," Benji sighed.
As the Bellas sat around talking for just a little bit longer, Benji couldn't help but wonder how in the hell he was going to explain to nine overly-curious women how exactly he'd managed to procure an apartment for them to stay in with no current occupant that didn't make it sound like he was in the mob even more than he apparently already did. So far he had come up with nothing. Oh well. He'd cross that bridge when he got to it.
Baa baa baa baa, bum ba-da, bum ba-daaaaa,
Ba ba ba, baaa, ba-dum, baaa bum-dum
Baa bum, baa bum, ba-be-de-umptom
Ba badam, ba badiumtum, ba ba DAAAAAA
So you guys basically killed all of my review expectations, so I thought releasing this chapter about six days early was the least I could do. If it's a little rushed and a little shorter than usual, sorry. I wrote this entire thing last night in an effort to get it out to you guys.
Review goal: 140