5.

By the fifth time Aubrey has to deal with Chloe being shamelessly naked again, she has given up denying that she has also actually been thinking of Chloe naked. And by thinking, she means—well, it doesn't matter what she means. What matters is that she can no longer not think of Chloe naked because she has seen Chloe naked, her subconscious won't let her forget it, and by God and all the aca-gods. Aubrey. Hates It.

She hates that her roommate once had to run through their dorm hall practically in the nude, then strip and dress right in front of her. She hates that her one true teammate on the Bellas had to prove her being so by literally rising and standing by her side (while practically naked) when she refused to join the sisterhood of singing skinny-dippers.

She hates that she had to see her best friend nearly naked with an equally nearly naked guy just for her to realize that it isn't prudishness—a word Chloe so often tosses against her—that makes her so uncomfortable with the redhead's ease with baring skin.

Aubrey hates Chloe's lack of boundaries because it throws that boundary of boundaries right back at her face, straight through to her heart, and down to her gut.

Among all the things she hates that have led to this realization, right at the start of senior year, when the world seems to hate Aubrey as much as she hates it, she hates this the most.

But for all the hatred boiling inside her, Aubrey discovers she does not know the meaning of loathinguntil she meets Beca Mitchell. Or, rather, until Chloe meets Beca Mitchell—and meets her again, in the showers, and comes home a blabbering whirlwind of excitement and adulation. She tumbles over word upon word, leaving Aubrey open-mouthed in horror at her latest escapade. Even Tom shrugs in helplessness as he shuffles out of their apartment, the topmost buttons of his shirt still undone.

"Chloe, for serious, what is wrong with you?"

"Her voice, Bree, you should have heard it!"

"You can't just barge into other people's showers!"

"She sings so well, Bree—"

"I thought we were over this! Respecting other people's boundaries! Respecting yourself!"

"It's not like I ran through the halls again, Bree, and she didn't run away, either! She stayed, and sang—"

"—naked—"

"Well, Bree, duh, we were in the showers, what did you expect? Listen to her. Just listen to her!"

And Aubrey does, if only for Chloe. (Really: only for Chloe.) Despite the ever-growing, ever-sickening ire, she listens to the freshman. Through auditions, rehearsals, and (discouraged!) impromptu jam sessions, Aubrey listens until she can no longer bear to hear any more of Beca's light, effortless voice, whether in song or speech. Either way, it only leads her to hearing Chloe gush over the alt-girl more.

Just screw the fuck out of her already and leave me alone, Aubrey wants to snap. Then realizes why she doesn't want to.

Towards the end of the year, the only person Aubrey could hate more is herself.

By the end of it, she's also the one who gets stripped stark naked to her very core—by Chloe, no less, because of Beca, in the middle of an auditorium, and in front of every Bella. Sure, the stripping is metaphorical, more humbling than mortifying, but it is not something Aubrey will ever forget.

There are a lot of things about that year she never will.

Winning the ICCAs. Actually becoming better than Alice. Making lifelong friends with other Bellas, Beca included, despite the idiot's unabashed talent for breaking every rule Aubrey has ever kept.

Chloe at the championships, looking on wistfully from the wings as Beca and the Treble kiss, murmuring "I wish I could have that happy ending."

And Aubrey, hating nothing else but that boundary of boundaries, keeping her from doing anything about Chloe's wishes, and her own.

Until Chloe looks up at her, unravels the years, and reveals: "With you."