SunDanceQT: Well, I mean, Beca has kissed her multiple times now without much prompting.
Llamas1355: Eventually.
Thatmitchsentho: Who gave you the right to be so nice to me. Thank you. I work very hard trying to remember I am a person with a real life while spending most of my time emersed in every aspect of this story.
96itadakimasu96: It's about to hit the fan more soon.
Ash: Please spam me every chapter. I love it.
RJRMovieFan: You know what, it's not what I was expecting either. The conversation looked completely different in my head, then I started writing, and Beca was like, "No. I have some things to say."
Pixie1913: And there are more layers to come.


Arrhythmia


I know I'm not the center of the universe,
But you keep spinning 'round me just the same.
I know I'm not the center of the universe,
But you keep spinning 'round me just the same.
- Linkin Park


"Stop," Aubrey mumbles in a raspy voice. Someone is shaking her shoulder. Beca. She registers that much. "Stop, Beca." She turns to get away from her, but she can't go anywhere. Someone else is holding her. Chloe. She's on Chloe's lap, being cradled up against her, and she doesn't know why Chloe is holding her like she's a child. Her first instinct is to lay down on her own. She tries to lean to the side to find the floor, but it doesn't work as well as it should, and Beca catches her just before she falls over. She's situated back against Chloe again.

"You stop." Beca lets go of her after Chloe has her. "You're stubborn enough conscious. Jesus. You have to wake up."

Aubrey doesn't know what she's talking about. She turns her back to Beca. Chloe is actually really comfortable. She tucks her face between her neck and shoulder, and sandwiches her arms between them. Then she's out again, even though Beca keeps trying to wake her.

xxxxx

"I got you a present." Conrad slammed his hands down on the edge of her table.

For a moment, Aubrey thought he was talking to Brian. But no, he was looking at her. She looked up from her book, puzzled.

"You do know what a present is, right?" Brian asked, his nose still buried between the pages of the novel he was reading. "Outside of literary context?"

"What?" Aubrey asked, "Why?"

Conrad looked confused now. "What do you mean why?"

"It's not Christmas," Aubrey answered, "Or my birthday. Why would you even get me anything on those days?"

"What she's saying is, don't expect a Christmas card in the mail from her this year," Brian said.

Aubrey shot him a glare.

"Aubrey Whateveryourlastnameis," Conrad addressed her.

"Posen," Aubrey informed him before he could get any further.

"Forgive me, Aubrey Posen, I have been interrupting your study dates for almost three years now," Conrad said, "Are you trying to tell me, you still consider me just your barista? Are Brian and I not your friends?"

Had it really been that long? Had she and Chloe really been in Queens for over four years? Aubrey looked back and forth between Conrad and Brian. Did that make them friends?

"Of course, we're not friends," Brian said, "I invite her here, because she's the one person that always wants to read in silence and never talk to me, not because I enjoy her presence."

"You are rude," Aubrey informed him.

"So are you," Brian responded.

Aubrey frowned at him.

"Aubrey!" Conrad cried and began shaking the table – causing Brian to lift his cup of coffee so it wouldn't slosh, still not even looking up, "Why don't you love me?! I keep trying and trying, and you won't respond to my perfectly non-dramatic advances!"

Aubrey scooted away from him in her booth, closer to the wall. Not even Chloe was this dramatic. "You're going to break the table," she said awkwardly, trying to make him stop.

"It's my table!" Conrad shook it a few more times before stopping. He leaned forward with his elbow on the table and batted his eyelashes at her. "You're really going to like it."

"He got us tickets to Hamilton," Brian said, simply, like it was no big deal. Like Aubrey hadn't been trying for months. Like she didn't work extra hours just to have money set aside specifically to afford a ticket if she could ever somehow get one.

"What?" Aubrey nearly choked on oxygen. She scooted over so quickly that she almost slid ride off the bench. "Are you for serious?" He had to be lying. He was pulling her leg. They were about to tell her they were joking and laugh her out of the café. She shouldn't have gotten so excited. "You're not serious right now."

Conrad pulled three tickets from his back pocket and placed them on the table.

"These are mid-center orchestra seats." Aubrey gaped at them, "And they're for tonight?"

"Close your mouth, you're going to swallow a bug," Brian said.

"How did you get these?!" Aubrey's heart was pounding with excitement.

"A magician never tells." Conrad wrinkled his nose.

"He slept with a producer a few months ago after the guy came in here to buy a donut," Brian told his secret.

"Oh, there was no sleeping," Conrad said, making eye contact with Aubrey – which definitely only felt awkward to her. He waggled his eyebrows at her with a dreamy grin. "Surprise!"

Aubrey looked back down at the tickets and tried to hold back the fact that all she wanted to do was let out a shriek of pure exhilaration.

"Oh my gosh, are you smiling right now?!" Conrad slid into the booth beside Brian to sit across from her.

"Maybe," Aubrey answered.

Brian finally looked up. "You have facial expressions besides 'judgmental'? Holy shit."

"I have not let out my excitement yet," Conrad said and reached across the table to grab her hands. "We scream in 3, 2, 1?"

Aubrey quickly nodded.

"3, 2, 1," Conrad rushed through the numbers, and they both let out a shrill noise.

"You guys are ruining my book," Brian said and looked back down.

xxxxx

"She needs to wake up," Beca says, "She needs to go to a hospital."

Aubrey drifts in an out, unable to stay all the way asleep while they're talking, but unable to wake up either. It's like purgatory.

"Even if there was a hospital, what she needs is to sleep," Chloe replies.

"She passed out," Beca says, "Aubrey just fell to the ground in front of us."

"Because she is so tired right now. I keep telling you, she is a person. She is not a robot, Beca. She doesn't just function like a machine."

"Okay, but is more than just 'so tired'," Beca says.

"Of course it is. Someone has been pursuing her practically since the moment the we got here, and they have her running all over this whole island. She's barely slept. She's barely had anything to eat or drink. She's thrown up five times since yesterday, because of anxiety. And she keeps trying to run on fumes." Chloe is stroking her hair. Her voice takes on a whole new tone of empathy. "She's exhausted, and she's scared, Beca."

xxxxx

"Chloe!" Aubrey burst in through the front door then quickly shut it behind her.

Chloe walked out from the kitchen and leaned against the wall between the kitchen and the living room. "Hi to you too," she said with a puzzled grin, "What has you so excited?"

Aubrey didn't waste any time. "I'm going to see Hamilton. Like tonight. Help me pick out clothes."

"You got a ticket?" Chloe asked, elated for her, "How?"

"My barista slept with a producer," Aubrey said and dragged her down the hallway by the arm.

"I still don't understand how you have your own barista," Chloe said, "Also, I am pretty sure he's your friend, and you should stop referring to him as your barista."

"Because he's the only one who works there, Chloe." Aubrey ignored the last part.

"What is this place that you always sneak off to?" Chloe asked, "Who are these people that sleep with Broadway producers ?"

"That doesn't matter right now." Aubrey released her arm the moment they were in her room. It wasn't that Aubrey wanted it to be a secret. It was just…sometimes it was nice to have somewhere that was just hers. And people that were hers. "What matters is that I need clothes." She flung her closet doors open. Most of her things were packed for Beca's stupid wedding.

"Okay, okay. Thinking Broadway now. Are we talking fancy or not fancy?"

"I don't know." Aubrey forgot to ask them. "Should I text them? I should text them. I'm going to text them." She only had Brian's number. She dug her phone out of her back pocket and shot him a text. She got one back almost immediately.

'Oh, we're going fancyyy, Henny! -From Conrad, Not Brian'

xxxxx

"Is Aubrey okay?" Jesse asks.

"She's fine," Chloe snaps.

"Did you find the flashlights?" Beca asks.

"Uh, yeah. Here."

xxxxx

They decided on a white dress and a black leather jacket that actually belonged to Chloe - and flats, because trying to walk in heels in Manhattan was not about to happen. It wasn't as fancy as Aubrey wanted it to be (they hadn't given her a whole lot of time to think about this), but by the time she finished her hair and makeup, she felt good.

"These people must really like you to give you a ticket to Hamilton," Chloe said, fixing the collar of Aubrey's jacket as she waited for their car outside.

Maybe they did – but, also, she had been talking about it, and they also wanted to see it, and all they had to do was ask for another ticket, so she was probably just lucky. Aubrey changed the subject. "I think that's them," she said as a car came to a standstill and put its blinkers on.

"Why do you never believe anyone can like you, Aubrey?" Chloe asked, "Clearly, they enjoy having you around, or they wouldn't keep talking to you."

Aubrey swallowed thickly and looked at her. "I believe you like me." Maybe liked was a better word choice. No. Chloe still liked her. Just maybe not as much as she used to – as much as before Beca. They still lived together, they were still best friends, Chloe still made advances toward her.

"Good. Because I do." Chloe kissed her cheek then winked at her. "Have fun. Call me if you guys go out after and you need a ride."

Aubrey nodded. She caught herself waiting for Chloe to kiss her on the lips. More often than not, Chloe still did. It was just – she caught herself waiting. "Bye," she muttered and walked away.

"Bye!" Chloe called back, confused.

xxxxx

Every so often, Aubrey can feel cold water sliding down her throat. She doesn't really know how or why she's drinking anything, but she is.

xxxxx

"Is that your girlfriend?" Conrad asked as Aubrey shut the car door, "Aw, Aubs, she's so pretty!"

Aubrey opened her mouth to tell him no, but Brian already started to speak.

"Of course she's pretty," he said, "Have you seen Aubrey?"

"No," Conrad said, "I'm blind and driving the car." He laid on the horn as he began to drive. "Out of the way, People, blind man with passengers coming through!"

Aubrey blinked.

"What are we going to do when we don't see you for – how long are you going to be gone again?" Conrad asked.

"A week," Aubrey answered.

"I will text you every day," Conrad said.

"You don't have my phone number," Aubrey reminded him.

"I will think about texting you every day," Conrad corrected himself.

"You know you borderline creepy, right?" Brian asked him.

Conrad nodded. "I walk the edge like it's a tightrope."

xxxxx

"It's too quiet," Beca says, "Why hasn't anything happened? Aubrey is down. Now is the time for something to happen."

"Maybe that's why nothing is happening," Chloe says.

"You think they didn't mean to push her so far?" Beca asks.

"What can they possibly do to her right now?" Chloe replies.

"You know what they can do?" Beca asks, "They can kill us and let her wake up to it."

No. No. No. No. No.

Chloe tenses.

"What do we do if something does happen?" Beca asks, "We can't leave her here, even if they want to keep her alive."

xxxxx

"Where exactly are you going?" Brian asked.

"Um…" Aubrey stared out the window. This wasn't what she wanted to talk about. Beca did not get to infiltrate this too. "To a wedding."

"It isn't your wedding, is it?" Conrad asked in a panicked voice.

"No." Aubrey shook her head.

"Oh, good, I thought you didn't invite us." Conrad glanced back at her through the mirror. "You would invite us, right?"

Who would Aubrey be marrying? Not Chloe. She looked down at her hands and pressed her thumb against her palm. She would be marrying no one - that's who. She didn't even want to get married. Not to Chloe. Not to anyone. There was no need to think about it. She thought about it when she watched movies; that was enough. Hamilton suddenly didn't seem so exciting anymore.

"Can I be your maid of honor?" Conrad asked, "I look beautiful in drag. Like Joselyn Fox meets Courtney Act!"

"You look like Bianca Del Rio meets Trixie Mattel," Brian replied.

"Well, Bianca Del Rio is fantastic, so, not today, Satan, not today. Back to being invited to Aubrey's future wedding."

"I'd like to go home," Aubrey stated as they entered the parking garage.

"What?" Brian asked, turning in his seat.

Conrad pulled into the first available spot – ignoring the handicap sign. "Go home?"

"I'll take the subway." It wouldn't be fair for them to drive her back. Aubrey unbuckled her seat belt and go out. "Thank you for…" She made a hand motion then closed the door.

They both followed her out of the car within seconds.

"What the hell just happened?" Brian asked.

"You can't just want to go home," Conrad said, "This is Hamilton."

"He put his dick in a producer's ass to get us these tickets," Brian said.

"He's only saying it like that, because I'm a bottom," Conrad said, "I like directors. But no one here should feel bad. He was a very cute producer."

"I did not ask him to," Aubrey said stopping and spinning around.

"That's the whole point of it being a gift," Brian said.

"I can see that I hit something that I should not have," Conrad said slowly, "I'm sorry, Aubs."

"My name is Aubrey." Aubrey was going to destroy this. Whatever this was. Friends. Hamilton. Something. She was going to set it on fire right in front of herself - and she couldn't stop. All she could do was watch.

"I'm sorry, Aubrey," Conrad said, "I can see I made you uncomfortable."

Aubrey shook her head.

"No?" Brian asked, "You're totally okay?"

Aubrey nodded.

"You can just walk out of this garage and jump on the subway and be totally fine knowing you might never have another opportunity to see Hamilton, simply because you randomly changed your mind in the car for absolutely no reason?"

Aubrey clenched her jaw and nodded again.

"That's bullshit. Knock it off."

"I was just trying to get to know you," Conrad said, "You come to my café all the time and hang out with us, and we barely know anything about you after three years. I didn't even know your last name."

"Well," Aubrey said, tilting her head down as her vision started to blur, "Then I won't come back."

"What?" Brian asked.

"No," Conrad said, "No, that's not what I'm trying to say, Aubrey. You can't not come back. How do I fix this?"

How could he fix this? How could she fix this? She didn't want to not see Hamilton. Or not go back to the one place that was hers where no one ever spoke to her about Beca or knew that Chloe did not love her the same anymore. She straightened her dress to give her hands something to do and studied the cracks in the cement. She shouldn't have exploded over this. They didn't even know who Beca or Chloe were - she had made it a point never to talk about that so they would never press it like everybody else did.

"You know what? I'm going to hug you, and if you don't like it, there are a lot of dark alleys you can hide my body in," Conrad said, approaching her, "And we are going to put this car ride behind us like it never happened. Then we're going to go see Hamilton and have a great time, and then I am going to take you home to where you want to be. And then, tomorrow, you're going to show up to study, but you won't able to do it, because we won't be able to resist talking about Hamilton."

Aubrey froze up as he did what he said he was going to and wrapped her in a hug. It didn't last long. It was only a few seconds before he pulled away. "I'm sorry," she whispered, looking anywhere but them.

"It's okay," Conrad said, keeping one arm around her as he led them from the garage, "You know, I think that the three of us have some trouble filtering ourselves sometimes, and that's bound to get us into some trouble, but maybe that's why we spend so much time together. Right, Brian?"

"I don't know why I spend any time with you," Brian said, "But, sure, keep telling yourself it's that. Also, you may be handicapped, but you don't have a sign, so your car is going to be towed if you don't go move it now."

Conrad let go of Aubrey and went shrieking back into the building.

"You're stuck with us now," Brian said to Aubrey, watching Conrad run, "There is no escape. Trust me."

xxxxx

Aubrey is falling. Her eyes flutter open and she reaches out to grab whatever she can – only to find Chloe is still holding her.

"I'm just laying down," Chloe whispers, "My arms hurt. I think everyone is going to try to get some sleep." Oh. "You should keep sleeping too."

Aubrey rubs her eyes. They have a plan they have to follow. She shakes her head.

"It's okay. It's still early," Chloe assures her, "Beca assigned everyone times to be awake through the night. Hers is right in the middle. We'll go then. Please sleep."

Everything still feels so blurry, Aubrey thinks she might be dreaming. She listens and closes her eyes again, and waits to wake up for real.

Chloe covers her with her sweatshirt then tangles them up together and sleeps too.

xxxxx

Hamilton was everything Aubrey expected it to be and more – and, somehow, afterwards, they lured her into ice cream and walking The Highline so they could talk about their other favorite shows. For some reason, they were surprised that Aubrey loved Phantom of the Opera. Conrad's favorite was Kinky Boots. Brian liked Rent and Avenue Q.

"What's Avenue Q?" Aubrey asked.

Their eyes got as wide as saucers. "You have never seen Avenue Q?!" Conrad exclaimed, earning himself a few annoyed looks from other people who clearly preferred to walk The Highline for some peace.

Aubrey shook her head.

"That is what we are going to see next – as soon as you get back," Conrad said, "You are going to love it."

'No, she's not,' Brian mouthed, shaking his head. He just grinned wide when Aubrey caught him.

"We can do a rendition of it for you right now," Conrad told her.

Aubrey opened her mouth to stop him, but it was too late. He was already singing.

"The Internet is for porn. The Internet is for porn." Brian joined him too. "So grab your dick and double click for porn, porn, porn!"

"I'm sorry," Aubrey mouthed, cheeks bright red, to a very old, very unimpressed woman walking by them, "I don't know them." Dear god, where was the next set of stairs?

"Unfortunately, you do know us, Aubrey," Brian replied, "Unfortunately, you do."


Holding on,
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on,
To so much more than I can carry.
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down;
If I just let go, I'd be set free.
Holding on,
Why is everything so heavy?
- Linkin Park