- Part 1 -


Arrhythmia


And when she says she wants somebody else,
I hope you know, she doesn't mean you.
And when she breaks down and makes a sound,
You'll never hear her the way that I do.
And when she says she wants someone to love,
I hope you know, she doesn't mean you.
- Howie Day


"Why?" is the only word Aubrey can muster as she reaches their room about five feet in front of Chloe. She slows down as she steps on the grass and practically has to drag herself to the building, bracing herself against the wall beside their door once she gets there. She closes her eyes and wipes the sweat away from her forehead with the back of her hand as she tries to catch her breath.

Chloe only stops when she crashes into the door then stands there with her forehead pressed up against it. "I'm going to pass out," she whines, "Or throw up. Maybe both." She slides her head down the door and places her hands on her knees, dropping her bag. "Why didn't you stop running?"

"Me?" Aubrey shakes her head. "Because I wanted to win! You're the one who wanted to race in the first place."

"I didn't know it was that far." Chloe inhales deeply and straightens up. "And I won."

"What?" Aubrey's arm slides down the wall until it's at her side. She scrunches her brows and shakes her head. "No. I got here first."

"I touched the door," Chloe explains, turning to face her, still panting. She motions toward the wall. "You stopped."

Aubrey's jaw drops. "That's not fair!" She folds her arms and frowns. "You didn't even tell me we were racing until after you started running."

"Aubrey, everyone knows you have to touch some sort of finish line to win!" Chloe exhales a long breath and pushes back a few strands of loose hair that are sticking to her face. "My lungs aren't what they used to be in Middle School track."

Aubrey rolls her eyes. "Because you're lazy when it comes to running," she points out. "And the finish line is usually designated before the race starts."

"Hey, Aubrey?" Beca walks around the corner of the building and stops a few feet away from them.

"Not now, Beca," Chloe says tersely. "Why would you think the finish line would be somewhere other than the door?"

Beca puts her thumbs in her pockets and rocks back on her heels, staring at them with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.

"Why wouldn't it just be the general area?" Aubrey sticks out her hand and motions to the space beside them.

"What? Why would it be just the general area?" Chloe looks around then looks back at Aubrey with a raised eyebrow. "That could be literally anywhere."

Aubrey shakes her head. "No, it would obvi-"

"Aubrey," Beca tries again, cutting off her explanation.

"Shut it, Beca," Aubrey snaps. "Obviously, it would be in the area of your destination."

Beca raises her hands in the air and looks down at the grass. "I'm just here on behalf of someone else."

"I didn't run all that way here to not get here first," Chloe states. She looks serious and nowhere near budging. The look of regret about the entire race written all over her face is almost amusing. No. It's definitely amusing.

"Well, if we're playing by your rules, it should be whoever gets inside first." A smug grin tugs at the corners of Aubrey's lips. "Which won't be you, because I have the key." She reaches in her pocket and pulls out the room key, dangling it in the air as she steps on the mat.

Chloe narrows her eyes and sidesteps in front of the doorknob.

"You two are ridiculous." Beca breathes a laugh and folds her arms, casually leaning against one of the apple trees.

"Really?" Aubrey asks Chloe, tilting her head to the side with a grin. She holds the key up in front of her, taunting her with it as she waits for her to give up and move.

Chloe knits her eyebrows together and holds a hand out flat underneath the key.

Aubrey slowly lifts her hand so she's holding the key above Chloe's head.

"That's not funny." Chloe frowns deeper and stands up on her tiptoes, reaching for the key, failing as Aubrey stands up on her toes as well. "Aubrey…"

"Hm?" Aubrey spins the keyring around her finger.

Chloe's eyes follow the key for a few seconds before she lowers herself flat on her feet again. She takes a deep breath in and out, putting her hands on her hips. "Fine." Her expression softens, but her tone is still bitter. "You win. I don't actually care that much."

The sudden shift catches Aubrey off guard. She catches the key mid-spin and closes it against the palm of her hand as she lowers her arm. Her smug smirk changes to suspicion and she wrinkles her forehead, trying to guess Chloe's next move. Maybe it's a ploy to get Aubrey to offer over the win to her. God so help her if Chloe starts crying to play on Aubrey's sympathy. "You're in front of the door," she points out.

"Oh, right." Chloe rolls her eyes at herself. "Sorry." She steps to the side, out of the way. She glances between Aubrey and the door. "It's all yours."

Aubrey's feet remain firmly rooted to the welcome mat. She opens her mouth to speak, but she's unsure of what she wants to ask. She has a lot of questions ranging from wondering what changed so quickly to needing to know if Chloe is suddenly mad at her. It's difficult to word everything into one.

"Are we going in?" Chloe asks. "If not, we're going to have to change here out on the grass in front of Beca. Also, I'd like to shower, and if you won't shower with me, it's going to take forever. I mean, it would take forever either way, but -"

Aubrey already forgot Beca was even standing there. "Beca can leave," she answers.

"I would prefer to leave," Beca replies, not moving from her spot against the tree.

"Good." Aubrey turns around for a microsecond to look at her. "Bye." She'll see enough of Beca later - all week, unfortunately. But fully dressed from now on. In her own clothes. She decides she'll figure out what happened with Chloe changing her mind inside and opens her hand, moving the key to between her thumb and finger so she can stick it in the lock.

"Ha!" Chloe springs across the welcome mat at Aubrey and tackles her against the wall, using one hand to tickle her neck and the other to tickle her side.

Aubrey shrieks and crashes into the bricks, desperately clinging to the key as her hands go up in a futile attempt to block Chloe's hands. She scrunches her shoulders up to protect her neck and tries to turn around, but this just gives Chloe better access to both of her sides and she falls down against the wall, taking Chloe down with her. "Chloe, stop!" She drops the key and quickly begins feeling around for it, trying to cover it with the palm of her hand. "Chlo-" She can't get out anymore legible words through her own laughter.

"Sorry, Aubrey." Chloe presses quick kiss to the side of Aubrey's head as she grabs the key. She scrambles to her feet and jams it in the lock, swinging the door open so quickly that she falls inside with it and lands on her hands and knees. "Oh!" She uses the opportunity to turn around and grab her bag then takes off inside, half crawling toward the bathroom until she's able to push herself onto her feet. "Treble!"

Aubrey gasps for air and looks at the ground beside her, almost convinced she'll be wrong and the key will be there. Her sanguine turns into indignation and she pouts as she yanks the key out of the lock. "I still won!" she yells in the door. "I got here first! You're the Treble!"

Beca laughs inwardly and pushes herself away from the tree with her arm. "Let her have her moment of triumph." She walks over to Aubrey and offers her hand to help her up.

Aubrey glowers at her hand and pushes it away then grabs the doorknob and uses it to hoist herself to her feet. "I was here first." She's not sure why she cares if Beca knows this. She straightens her clothes and posture to look more presentable and hopes the warmth she feels in her cheeks isn't making them as red as she thinks.

"Yeah, but you're not going to change her mind about it." Beca reaches over and shuts the door, isolating them outside.

"Well, I'm not going to change my mind about it either." Aubrey slides the key back into her pocket. "I got here before she did." It didn't actually feel like a big deal until Beca started talking about it. She doesn't feel the need to rub in her win to Chloe outside of teasing her. Beca, on the other hand, needs to know she didn't lose.

"You do realizing that winning, losing, right, wrong, they're not always at black and white as you think they are, right?" Beca asks slowly, like if she speaks too fast Aubrey might not understand. "There's a color in between them. It's called 'gray'. I'm sure if you want, Chloe can teach you all fifty shades of it."

"What do you want, Beca?" Aubrey folds her arms. She knows what Fifty Shades of Gray is, and it's Beca who needs a lesson on how sex works. Rated a fucking 5. Her cheeks suddenly feel even hotter and she has to look down at the grass for a moment to calm down.

"We were supposed to go to, y'know…" Beca points behind her. "To the thing."

Aubrey looks up and in the direction Beca is pointing. "Use your words," she says in the same slow tone Beca used on her.

"We were supposed to…" Beca sighs and looks around, craning her neck to look around the building. She turns back and looks anywhere except for at Aubrey, puffing out her cheeks as she exhales. "…go see about the body this afternoon."

This afternoon. Aubrey blanches at the thought of forgetting something she had scheduled. "I spent the afternoon with Chloe." She doesn't feel guilty, but the dire need to go back in time and cancel with Beca rather than forgetting she had something to do begins to make the gears and cogs pop out of place in her head. With all the thoughts running through her mind about the events of the past few days, why did she think that she and Beca were supposed to go some other time? What other time would they even have to go? Dr. Campbell and she had both clearly told Beca to come back in the afternoon.

"No, I know," Beca assures her way too quickly, "I was just thinking we could go back tonight. I was doing a lot of thinking about what happened and –"

"Why would you come to talk about this when Chloe is here?" Aubrey glances at the door, double checking that it's shut all the way, then takes a step closer to Beca. "This isn't the time."

"No, I know. That's not why I came."

"Then why are you here, Beca?" Aubrey presses, getting more irritated by the second – and also nervous. God forbid Chloe were to find out she isn't getting ready because she's outside with Beca.

"I couldn't come over to see my aca-good friend Aubrey?" Beca deadpans.

The corners of Aubrey's lips twitch and she tightens her grip on her bag. "I'll text you later." Fighting with Beca isn't worth potentially ruining a date with Chloe or losing Beca's trust in the matter at hand. She turns to walk to the door, but Beca quickly steps in front of her. Taken aback, she straightens her posture and looks down at her, sizing her up. "What the hell?"

"Hey." Beca puts her hands up. "Yo, I'm just here because Stacie sent me to get you."

Aubrey realizes her face is starting to hurt from frowning. "Okay, listen to me," she says slowly to make sure Beca hears all of the words, "One: Next time, tell me why you're here the first time. Two: Tell Stacie if she wants to see me, she can text me. Three: Don't let there be a next time." She plasters on a fake smile that hurts the muscles in her face even more. "Okay?"

Beca gives her an incredulous stare. "You want me to walk all the way back to Stacie without you to tell her to text you to walk to her room? "

Aubrey nods, leaving out the part that she doesn't actually plan to walk to Stacie's room after receiving the text.

"Seriously?" Beca snorts. "Hey, I'm no one's messenger boy. I'm a delivery boy."

Aubrey furrows her brows. "Are you quoting Shre-" She lets out an involuntary shriek and jumps back as Beca tickles her side. Not waiting for another attack, she swings her bag back then socks Beca in the shoulder with it as hard as she can.

Beca snatches the bag out of her hand and jogs halfway down the sidewalk with it before turning around to hold it up in the air. "Now what are you going to hit me with?"

Aubrey spins on her heels to face her. "My fist," she supplies.

"Oh." Beca looks at the ground for a moment, clearly not having thought that one all the way through. She shrugs and peeks in the top of the bag.

"Hey!" Aubrey yells, walking swiftly toward her. "Hey, hey, hey! Okay!" She grips the top of the bag, squeezing it closed. "This had better be quick." She yanks the bag back into her own possession and holds it to her chest with her arms crossed against it.

"That's what she said?" Beca jokes and elbows her lightly in the arm. She walks toward the hotel entrance in an unhurried pace.

Aubrey walks a half a step behind her, carefully determining her actions. She decides to be the bigger person and not elbow her back twice as hard right before she has plans. She takes one longer stride so she's walking beside her. "So, are you like a kind of vampire?" she asks, keeping a straight face.

Beca shields her eyes and looks up at the sun. "I'm gonna go with no on that one."

"Oh, no, not that kind," Aubrey clarifies, watching her look at the sun. "The kind where you're amiable at night and a dick during the day."

Beca lowers her hands and raises her eyebrows high on her forehead, staring at Aubrey for a good five seconds. "Me?" She points to her own chest.

"Mhm. " Aubrey tears her gaze from Beca and looks down at the inn's stairs as she climbs them.

"Me?" Beca repeats. "I'm the dick?"

Aubrey rolls her eyes. "No. The other Beca that won't leave me alone."

Beca pulls open one of the inn's doors and holds it open. "You hit me." She turns her head to watch as Aubrey pulls open the door on the other side and lets herself in.

"Oh, are you're saying you didn't deserve it?" Aubrey stops inside the door and looks around. Somehow it seems even bigger inside than before. A chill runs down her spine. She slips the handles of her bag onto her wrist so she can rub her hands up and down the goosebumps forming on her arms.

Beca stops beside her and looks directly at her. "Are we ever going to be nice to each other?" she asks in a tone that Aubrey can't quite distinguish between serious and joking. The internal debate only lasts a few seconds.

The stand where the piano music box rested when Aubrey and Chloe first arrived is empty, and suddenly bits and pieces of Maggie telling the sheriff it had gone missing while he was trying to investigate Tyler's death spring to mind. She walks away from Beca to the table and looks down at the specks of dust gathering on the wood. She swallows thickly, remembering holding it and thinking this place might not be too bad.

"Okay, look," Beca says and follows her. She moves to put her hand on Aubrey's arm but changes her mind as soon as the pads of her fingers brush against Aubrey's bare skin and drops her hand awkwardly back down to her side. "I didn't mean to be like…that."

"There was a music box here when Chloe and I first got here," Aubrey says. She traces her finger across some of the dust, trying to compare the music she heard when she first arrived and the music she heard over the phone in her head.

Beca stares at her for a few seconds before it sinks in that Aubrey doesn't care what she has to say. "Well, you know, in that case," she places the palms of her hands on the table and looks away, anywhere but at Aubrey, "I totally meant to be like that."

The words Beca is making register as rambling in Aubrey's head. "It's was stolen when Ty-"

"Hello?!" Stacie shouts from the stairs. "Could you have taken any longer?" She jogs down the stairs.

Beca gives her a tight smile. "No 'congratulations, you managed to convince Aubrey to willingly blindly follow you'?"

Aubrey opens her mouth to inform them she's right there listening to the conversation but changes her mind because Beca does have a point.

Stacie stops in front of them. "We're on a strict time schedule."

Beca stares at her. "Why?" she whispers.

Aubrey isn't sure if she's concerned or relieved that Beca has no idea why Stacie asked for her. At least they're on some sort of time schedule that seems like it will get her back to her own room quickly. She refolds her arms and turns to the side so she can see both of them without looking back and forth between them.

"We're in a hurry," Stacie tells Beca, "I'll text you."

"Does no one want to talk to me in person today?" Beca asks.

Aubrey draws in a breath, realizing if they're still talking, Stacie's version of a time schedule may very well be the same as Chloe's. "Um," she's not actually sure what she wants to say but she knows she's going to have to be confident about it, "I actually have errands to run right now."

Beca turns and looks up at her, her eyes narrowed. "You're on an island."

"Bye, Beca." Stacie waves at her then wraps an arm around Aubrey's shoulders, half dragging her until Aubrey stops stumbling from the sudden movement and walks along beside her. "I don't know how to be a lesbian." She pats Aubrey's arm then shrugs. "But it's time to figure it out."