- Part 1 -
Arrhythmia
Every carpet, every floor,
Everywhere I look, I fall.
Climbing up the walls,
I'm climbing up the walls.
What goes on behind these doors,
I'll keep mine and you keep yours.
We all have our secrets.
We all have our secrets.
-Naughty Boy, Bastille
"What in tarnation?" The sheriff is standing on the stairs in front of the inn when they arrive. He takes one look at their frantic faces then looks off behind them, the deputy and doctor not glancing at them even once as they stare up at the sky.
Aubrey looks back at the smoke that billows off the dock and fills the sky like heavy thunder clouds. Her heart skips a beat. Maybe they can see it from Seattle. If they notice fire on the water, they might send in the Coast Guard. District 13 is located just across from the island. A real sense of hope grips her. The smoke is too dark to not be at least slightly visible to the mainland. Yes. She grabs Chloe's arm and squeezes it. Maybe something is finally working in their favor.
"What?" Chloe asks, glancing from her arm to Aubrey's face.
"If the Coast Guard sees the fire, they'll send boats," Aubrey whispers.
Chloe looks behind them at the smoke, her expression unreadable.
"The docks are gone," Jesse tells the sheriff. His eyes are shining, and it's hard for Aubrey to tell if he's more upset over the docks or whatever Beca said to him. But he doesn't look angry. At least not compared to Beca, who has her jaw clenched and her hands balled up into fists.
"What'd'you mean the docks are gone?" Mills jogs down the steps.
Jesse turns like he's oblivious to Beca still glaring at him. "We were just trying to get everyone off the island and -"
"And what?" Mills cuts him off.
"And someone blew the place to smithereens!" Fat Amy answers with wide, upset hand motions.
"Boom," Lilly mouths.
Mills looks at Fat Amy like it was her who caused the place to explode. "I told you to stay put in that church," he growls.
"And get bloody blown up there?" Luke asks.
"Where the hell's everyone else?" Mills asks.
The group of them fall so silent that Lilly is actually audible when she whispers "boom" again.
"You're tellin' me that there are people in that fire?" Mills asks. He turns and he looks at Aubrey, and every ounce of blame from his glare falls on her shoulders. She doesn't have to say anything for him to know the answer. He turns around. "Ike," he addresses Dr. Campbell, "We gotta get down there now."
"Let me get my bag." Campbell rushes back inside the inn.
They're already dead. Everyone has to be thinking it, but no one says a word.
"I need you to stay here," Mills tells his deputy, "If any of these kids try to leave, and I mean any of them, you have my permission to shoot them in the leg. No one leaves your sight for any reason. I don't care if they have to piss in a bucket right in front of you. Got it?"
"Got it." The deputy pulls his gun out of his belt and holds it awkwardly before he finds a comfortable position for it in his hand. If he can't figure out how to hold a gun, it occurs to Aubrey that he may have never actually shot one, outside of possible training, either. That isn't promising. He's young, probably younger than all of them, and his self-conscious demeanor has the ability to create a trigger-happy need to please.
"Good." Mills turns and walks to his car, followed by Dr. Campbell jogging out of the building after him. "Take everyone inside!"
"You heard the man," the deputy says and waves his gun, "Get in the lobby."
Chloe presses in closer to Aubrey's side as they walk to the stairs, eyeing his gun as it swings around in the air.
The deputy stares at them for several seconds before giving Chloe a suggestive head nod and a wink.
Aubrey possessively wraps an arm around her and pulls her in even closer. "Hey, Beca," she calls for the extra support, not taking her eyes off of him.
Beca slows down from where she's still walking beside a Jesse and waits for them to meet her near the top of the stairs. "Yeah?" she asks, "If you wanna tell me I just got us wrapped up in a hostage situation, I kinda already figured that out."
"We can address that later." Honestly, Aubrey didn't even think to blame her until Beca brought it up. They have bigger fish to fry right now, like how to escape this garbage ball without getting shot. She jams three fingers into the middle of Beca's back, urging her in the door faster. Near the back of the lobby is a couch and some chairs, and she follows the group toward them, the deputy only a few feet behind her.
"Way to go, Audrey." Luke flops down on one of the chairs and spreads out his legs.
"My name is Aubrey," Aubrey growls, "And coming back here was not originally my idea. I was just trying to give you what you want in the process of trying to leave."
"Whatever." Luke drapes his arms over the back of the chair and sighs.
The guys take up all of the chairs, and Fat Amy, Stacie, and Lilly grab the couch – leaving Aubrey, Chloe, Beca, and the deputy to stand. Aubrey briefly questions how much she cares about etiquette in her head as she walks around the coffee table and takes a seat on the edge, facing The Bellas. They can't even develop a plan – not with Barney Fife over there listening. She tosses her bag on the ground next to her and folds her arms. She feels like crying. But she can't. Not here in front of everyone.
Beca follows suit and throws hers and Chloe's bags on the floor next to Aubrey's then takes a seat on the table beside her. "Chloe, come sit," she says and pats the space between them.
"How can we just sit down?" Chloe asks, her voice shaking. She start to pace behind the table. "Someone just took a match to the entire dock. And now we're just going to give up and wait for them to light is on fire too?"
Aubrey turns to face her fully and frowns.
"No one is giving up," Beca says, "We all just need a moment to breathe and get our shit together. Sit down."
"Come on, Chloe." Fat Amy tries to make room for her on the couch, squashing the other two girls.
"You heard them," Barney Fife says and pulls a hard chair across the floor from its original location near the door. He pops down on it a few feet away. "Sit down before you lose a leg. It'd be a shame to shoot you."
Chloe immediately walks around the table and squeezes herself between Aubrey and Beca, the space between them not nearly as big as Aubrey thought. She grips the edge of the table until her knuckles turn white and stares at her knees.
"No one needs your input over here, Donut Patrol," Beca states.
"You not so much," Barney says and leans forward on his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. Donut Patrol might be an even better name for him than Barney. He isn't necessarily overweight, but he also has clearly never hit the gym. He looks like he has the potential to be a muscular guy, but instead, he's just…flabby.
"Now what?" Benji asks them.
There is a ceiling fan blowing directly down on Aubrey and her wet clothes, and it makes it difficult to think about much past being cold, damp, and uncomfortable. But she doesn't own a jacket that can hide Nikki's gun quite as well as Chloe's Yankees sweatshirt does. Nikki's death doesn't quite sink in yet, not when Cynthia-Rose's is still on the very forefront of her mind. She doesn't answer Benji's question. No one does. They're essentially trapped, unless they want to risk getting shot and try to team up on Barney. Her head is spinning.
"Stacie, how are you holding up?" Beca asks.
"I feel like I would know if something really bad had happened to her," Stacie says, "Y'know? But it just, it feels like any other time Donald has her. Like she's just out there perfectly okay." She shakes her head and wipes her face. "Where the hell could they be?"
Fat Amy reaches around Lilly and pats Stacie's knee.
"Fat Amy?" Beca asks.
Amy stops patting Stacie's knee and leans back against the couch. "This is a lot of horseshit," she whispers, "This is like if Quentin Tarantino made LOST only we weren't dead the whole time."
"They weren't dead the whole time on LOST," Chloe speaks up, frowning at Amy, "How could they be killed off if they were already dead?"
"It was purgatory," Aubrey comments. Maybe that's where they're at now. Purgatory.
Chloe scoots away from her, nearly pushing Beca off the edge of the table. "No, it wasn't."
"Okay." Beca places her hands on Chloe's shoulders and slides her back toward Aubrey. "Lilly?"
Lilly stares at Beca. "I only fear myself," she whispers.
"I'm fine, too," Jesse adds in.
Beca clears her throat, her lips forming an annoyed smile. "Chloe?"
"That theory was discredited by the creators," Chloe tells Aubrey, "It doesn't make sense."
Aubrey draws in a breath, tells herself she isn't going to entertain this, and then does it anyway. "Chloe, the show didn't make sense." That was the wrong thing to say. Chloe's jaw drops in full offense. But at least she looks engaged and not lost in another world. She almost resembles herself again for a moment. "And the ending sucked."
"You know what sucks?" Chloe asks and gives her a knowing look before leaning over closer to her. "Doctor Who."
Aubrey gasps. "Doctor Who is a classic, Chloe."
"No normal human can sit through all of those episodes," Chloe says.
Aubrey rolls her eyes and decides to drop the topic before she gets distracted. It feels wrong to be talking about TV when Cynthia-Rose is dead and the rest of them might be close to joining her. She taps her fingernails on the edge of the table, trying not to worry when Chloe looks down again once she realizes the conversation is over. They all just fall into a heavy silence.
Chloe's head lulls against Aubrey's shoulders and she intertwines their fingers in a weak grip.
Aubrey glances back at Barney. Hopefully, it won't take Mills long to realize everyone is dead and take care of their deputy problem, because the gun she's carrying feels like it has one too many bullets in its chamber at the sight of him.
xxxxx
"Guys, hurry up!"
"Some of us are carrying shit, Chloe," Beca said, looking over the top of a cardboard box as Chloe took off from the elevator down the hallway, "Maybe you should slow down."
"Slow down?!" Chloe spun around to walk backward, shooting Beca and Aubrey both a puzzled grin. "What?" She almost crashed into man stepping out of the door of his apartment. "Oh, shit, sorry." Her grin immediately turned apologetic and then sheepish as he walked past her without a word. "I'm just so excited!"
"No one could tell," Beca deadpanned.
"This is it." Aubrey pushed past Beca, shooting her a glare as Beca nearly dropped the box she was holding. It only contained clothes, but that was besides the point. Her sour look quickly dissipated into a wide grin as she caught up with Chloe and stopped in front of their apartment door. Their apartment. The apartment that belonged to them. She carefully placed the two boxes she was carrying down beside the door and pulled the key out of her pocket. "Are you ready?"
Chloe nodded and bounced on her heels. "Open it faster."
Faster? Aubrey fumbled with the key and slid it into the lock. She barely could turn it before Chloe was reaching over her and grabbing the doorknob, flinging the door open with a thud as it hit the wall behind it.
Chloe stopped bouncing. "Oh my stars!" She gripped the doorframe and leaned forward over the threshold, looking inside in wide-eyed wonder.
"Go in!" Aubrey smirked when Chloe didn't move and scooped her up, hauling her across the threshold.
Chloe shrieked and threw her arms around Aubrey's neck then burst into a fit of giggles. She smirked and pressed her face right up against Aubrey's cheek. "Are you declaring yourself my wife, Aubrey Posen?" she asked in a low, husky voice. "I'll say yes if I get to be the one to carry you through the bedroom door."
Aubrey rolled her eyes and put her down, purposely half dropping her. "I'm declaring you in the way," she stated and looked away to hide the redness in her cheeks.
Chloe grinned wider and smacked her arm.
"Wow," Beca said and put the box down, "I always thought apartments in New York were like cardboard boxes you had to share with fifteen other people. Your job really set you up with this place?"
"This is what happens when you put in some effort and work hard, Beca." Aubrey shared a look with Chloe and followed the mental countdown in both of their heads. 3. 2. 1. They both screamed, and Chloe took off toward the bedrooms as Aubrey made a beeline for the kitchen.
Beca covered her ears and kicked the door shut with her heel. "Maybe you should try not to get kicked out?"
Their kitchen was far bigger than Aubrey imagined it being. It wasn't anything grandeur, but it contained everything they needed and would easily still have room to move after they bought a table and chairs.
"I decided on my room!" Chloe shouted.
"Why do you need separate rooms?" Beca asked, "Don't you already sleep in the same bed?"
"Aubrey likes to have, like, space or something," Chloe called, treating the word like it was foreign.
Aubrey turned and doubled backed through the living room to get to the bedrooms, walking past where Beca was still standing near the door. "It's healthy to maintain space and personal boundaries, especially when you're living with somebody," she said matter-of-factly.
"Really?" Beca asked and followed her to the bedroom, "Because you guys had the entire Bellas house to yourself this past year and still slept in the same room."
Aubrey stopped inside the room Chloe claimed as her own. "It would have been too much of a hassle to move out Chloe's stuff," she said, "That, and she wouldn't get out."
"And you couldn't be the one to leave?" Beca asked, smirking.
Aubrey frowned at her. "No." Chloe's refusal to move had been less out of wanting to be near Aubrey and more out of trying to piss her off, and they had both clung to the room out of sheer spite, but Beca didn't need to know that.
"Whatever," Chloe said and turned around, leaning back with her hands using the windowsill to balance herself. "This is aca-awesome."
Aubrey felt a pang in her gut at the word. This was it. No more Barden. No more Bellas. She had dreaded this moment her entire college career. But now that she was here, with Chloe, she was so much more willing to accept it than she thought she would be. She could even safely say that she was eager to begin this new chapter in her life.
"Thank you for helping us move in, Beca." Chloe pushed herself away from the window and enveloped Beca in a tight hug, "We really appreciate it."
"Yeah, it was no problem." Beca shrunk under Aubrey's glare as Chloe kissed her cheek. "It's a place to stay for the summer that isn't with my dad."
Chloe pulled back slightly, holding Beca by the arms. "Oh, so it's not about spending an entire summer with your best friends?" she asked, her face too close to Beca's for Aubrey's liking.
"You know, I'm still kind of convinced that I need to sleep with one eye open or Aubrey might kill me," Beca answered and took a step back.
Good. Aubrey nodded and Chloe rolled her eyes.
"You guys are gonna learn to love each other this summer," Chloe said, "I can feel it."
xxxxx
"You guys should get comfy," Barney says, "Looks like there's some board games on the bookshelf."
Aubrey looks up as Fat Amy stands.
Barney immediately points his gun at Amy's leg.
"She has to get up in order to get to the bookshelf," Aubrey snaps at him, her heart thudding as images of Cynthia-Rose's bleeding out from a single bullet plague her mind. Her stomach cramps, an unfriendly reminder of how much she has thrown up and how little she's had to eat. It's hard to imagine who would want to play a board game in a time like this, but Fat Amy walks to the shelf and grabs Monopoly.
"I've caught bullets with my bare hands," Fat Amy tells Aubrey, approaching the table with the game. "They just happened to be the vibrating kind."
"And I just happened to throw them." Bumper raises his hand.
It's hard to believe that there was a point in time where Aubrey considered the things Chloe talked about doing in bed weird. The fact that she knows what a vibrating bullet is says enough about how far Chloe has dragged her from her comfort zone regarding sex. She wrinkles her nose and stands up since Amy would probably like to use the table.
"Why?" Beca asks, also standing.
"Nobody wants to know about that," Aubrey states, trying to steer Fat Amy away from an explanation.
Stacie leans forward. "I kind of want to know about flying vibrators."
"It's like target practice," Bumper says, "You gotta see if you can get it in the hole."
"Bumper doesn't have very good aim," Fat Amy says.
Chloe is still sitting in the middle of the table, listening very intently all of a sudden. She opens her mouth to speak, and Aubrey isn't even going to pretend to give a flying fuck about Chloe's opinion on this terrifying matter.
"No," Aubrey states firmly. Whether it's suggesting it to Aubrey, further inquiring on the matter, whatever it is, the conversation about throwing vibrators into vaginas ends here, and the answer to whatever Chloe has to say about the matter is no. She grabs Chloe by the arm and pulls her upright. "Moving on."
"Doesn't it hurt if he makes it?" Beca asks.
"Beca," Fat Amy speaks to her as though she's a child, "And flying vibrator is going to hurt no matter where it hits you." She kneels down in front of the table and opens the box.
Beca blinks. "Yeah, but…"
"We could try it," Jesse suggests and slides off the chair to sit down on the floor near the side of the table.
Aubrey has never seen Beca shut up so fast. She bets Beca will listen to her next time she's told to move on.
Stacie and Lilly join Fat Amy on the floor, freeing up the couch. Bumper and Benji follow their lead while Luke stays put on his chair.
At least the conversation is over. Aubrey grabs a pen as Fat Amy clears the things from the table then walks over to the couch and sits down near the arm as Beca pushes their bags toward her. She pulls a map from her pocket and unfolds it onto her lap. There has to be another dock. How there can be no second dock on an island boggles her, but none is labeled. She draws a large, angry 'X' over the burned dock then absently begins to write the names of the ten of them left alive down the side of the paper, unsure of what else to look for.
"What are you doing?" Chloe whispers, and Aubrey is surprised she isn't joining Monopoly. There is a large, floral printed quilt draped over the back of the couch, and she grabs it and wraps it around herself before sitting down next to Aubrey. Then again, Chloe has never particularly enjoyed Monopoly. She curls up into her and rests her head against Aubrey's shoulders as she looks down at their names on the map.
Aubrey folds it back up, resisting the urge to crumble it. "I don't know, Chloe," she replies and folds her arms. Her answer is bigger than Chloe's question. "I don't know."
Chloe wraps her in a tight hug and gives her a squeeze then kisses her shoulder. Her eyes are leaden with exhaustion and she gives Aubrey a second squeeze then slowly lowers herself onto her side and rests her head on Aubrey's lap.
"Here, sit up." Aubrey helps her prop herself up long enough so she can turn sideways and Chloe can snuggle up between her legs. "Better?" It's better for her with Chloe providing some warmth now. She tries to press herself closer to the couch, to hide that she's shivering, when a blanket flies out of nowhere and hits her in the face. She tries to catch it, but it falls from her arms and lands on Chloe's head.
Beca snorts and snatches the blanket back up, handing it to Aubrey nicely this time.
Aubrey stares at it.
"What?" Beca asks, "If you don't want it, I'll put it back."
Aubrey slowly takes it from her and covers herself up with it, being sure not to cover up Chloe's face in the process. She stuffs her map and pen between the couch cushions and sinks down.
"Not a big Monopoly fan?" Beca asks Aubrey and sits down in front of the couch. She waves a pack of cards in front of Chloe.
"Aubrey loves Monopoly." Chloe takes her cards as Beca starts splitting them in half between them. "I think it's the other players that are the problem."
It's their location that is the problem. It's their situation. It's that people are dead and they're playing card and board games. It's how close she is to breaking down into tears over Cynthia-Rose.
"You wanna play with us?" Beca asks.
Aubrey gently strokes Chloe's hair and shakes her head.
xxxxx
"You. are. such. a. cheater." Chloe shoved her card toward Beca with an exaggerated pout.
"You know, I would have thought Aubrey was the sore loser here." Beca smirked and took the card, adding it to the back of her stack.
Aubrey looked up from her book with a frown. "I am not a sore loser." She took a sip from her wine glass. "I just never lose."
"Hey, Bree, truth or dare." Chloe grabbed her beer bottle and spun around on her bottom to face Aubrey's chair. She wiggled her eyebrows and took a long swallow from the bottle.
"You're already playing cards." Aubrey flipped the page. "You can't play two games at once."
"I'm done with cards." Chloe took another drink of beer then placed her bottle down and gathered up hers and Beca's cards into a messy pile. Only half of them ended up in the box during a sloppy attempt to clean them up, and she dropped it all in Beca's lap. "Truth or dare?"
"Neither," Aubrey answered, "Ask Beca."
"Don't ask me," Beca said, stuffing the rest of the cards into their box.
"Why?" Aubrey asked, "Are you too scared to play?"
Beca looked up and arched a brow. "Says the person deflecting." Beca might have been kind of drunk, along with Chloe, and made a few barely audible chicken noises underneath her breath. The box of cards reopened as she tossed them to the side, spilling back out into the floor. "Well?"
Aubrey scoffed at their immaturity and Beca's audacity to make farm animals noises at her. "Fine." One question to prove she wasn't scared of the game (how could one be scared of a game they had never played?) wouldn't hurt. "Truth." She drank the last of her wine, which had definitely not been her first glass, and reveled in the floating feeling as she waited for Chloe to ask her a question.
"Do you like Queens so far?" Chloe asked.
Okay, that question was not so bad. Aubrey nodded and pulled her feet up onto the chair. Granted, they had only been in Queens for a little over two weeks, she loved it. "I think we made a wise choice moving here." She paused. "Beca, truth or dare?"
"Truth," Beca answered immediately.
"Really?" Chloe asked, taken aback.
"Really," Beca replied, "Aubrey would probably dare me to jump off the balcony or some shit." She tilted her beer bottle against her lips.
"There's a pool underneath," Aubrey replied, "You'd be fine."
"The road is under your balcony, Aubrey."
It was worth the try.
Beca raised her bottle. "Okay, well, you go first and lead the way."
Who would have guessed coming up with a question would be harder than answering one? "What's your GPA?" Aubrey asked.
"Why, so you can judge me harder?" Beca asked.
"There is no judgement here!" Chloe announced, "This is a judgement free game with absolutely no judgement!"
Beca glanced at her with raised eyebrows then sighed. "3.6," she answered.
"For serious?" Aubrey had definitely expected it to be lower than that. She would have guessed somewhere in the high 2s. Not quite smart, not quite special needs.
"For serious," Beca mocked her, "Chlo, truth or dare."
"Dare," Chloe answered immediately and downed the last of her beer, "Hit me with your worst."
"I dare you to convince Aubrey to sit on the floor with us, because she's making me nervous up there on her throne," Beca said.
Her throne? Aubrey had simply been trying to read a book and let them have their time together.
"That's a shit dare," Chloe said, standing up anyway. "Come on, Gorgeous." She wasted no time in grabbing Aubrey by the arms and pulling her to her feet, barely allowing her time to put her book down on the table. "You're so pretty," she breathed before dragging Aubrey across the room.
"And you're very drunk," Aubrey pointed out. There were only three of them, and since Chloe insisted sitting back down in a tight circle, it was impossible to escape sitting down next to Beca. Their knees bumped when Aubrey tried to sit crisscross, and Aubrey quickly bent her legs and wrapped her arms around them.
Beca side-eyed her, ignoring Chloe's judgement-free policy.
"Truth or dare, Becs?" Chloe asked.
"Dare," Beca answered calmly.
"Okay, I have one," Chloe said, clambering back to her feet, "But it requires shots first."
"You know it's illegal to serve alcohol to minors, right?" Aubrey looked up at her and frowned. The last thing she needed with Law School and her internship coming up was to go to prison because Chloe decided to get Beca (more) drunk.
"We don't have to worry about campus security anymore." Chloe leaned over Aubrey and pecked her lips. "B.R.B." She turned and took off for the kitchen, practically prancing.
"Do you regret saying dare?" Aubrey asked.
Beca didn't look up. "100%."
Chloe bounded back into the room with three shot glasses and a bottle of cherry vodka. She lowered herself to her knees and carefully poured them each a glass, remarkably not spilling any of it. "Ready?" she asked and lifted her glass, "A toast!"
Dear God, help them. Aubrey lifted her glass and prepared for something that would probably be even worse than whatever Chloe had in mind for Beca's dare.
"To Queens and the two queens surrounding me…"
Here it came.
"I am so glad that we are all three here conquering this city before we have to start work and Beca has to go back to Atlanta."
So far, so good. Aubrey waited for more.
"To Queens." Chloe clinked their glasses together.
That was it? Aubrey shared a look with Beca before downing her drink. It burned her nose and her throat and lit her stomach on fire in a way that made her want more.
Chloe finished first. "I dare you to kiss Aubrey."
Beca choked – full on spit vodka back into her glass and began to sputter.
"What the hell, Chloe?" Aubrey wasn't even sure that she had heard her right. Because it sounded a lot like she had told Beca to kiss her.
"We're all friends now." Chloe poured another shot into her own glass and passed it across the floor in Beca's direction.
"You have some serious misconceptions about the meaning of friendship," Beca rasped and coughed a few times. She picked up the full shot glass. "Dude, no."
"Who's scared now?" Chloe asked.
"I'm not scared." Beca lifted the shot glass to her lips and paused a moment. "Aubrey is just…"
"Just what?" Aubrey asked, suddenly more concerned about what Beca had to say than the whole kissing thing.
Beca tilted the glass and downed the vodka. "You," she answered simply and lowered the glass.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Aubrey asked.
"Do you want me to kiss you?" Beca turned it all around on her.
Not in the slightest. "I just want to know what the problem is," Aubrey answered, her words slurring together. She shifted around closer to Chloe so she could lower her legs. "I'm not pretty enough for you?"
"Seriously?" Beca asked, "You think me not kissing you has to do with whether or not I find you attractive?"
"I don't know," Aubrey answered. She was having a hard time piecing together any complex thoughts, but that was one reason she would choose not to kiss someone.
Chloe leaned in closer to Beca, mimicking her earlier chicken noises.
Beca turned her head and glared at Chloe. "You know what, whatever." She grabbed the bottle of vodka and tilted it up against her lips. "We're all gonna be so drunk, we won't remember this in the morning."
By the time Aubrey had a chance to process Beca's words, Beca's lips were already pressed up against her mouth – cool and firm, the complete opposite of anything she ever experienced with Chloe – and they both froze like that in shock. Kissing Beca was kind of like kissing a cherry popsicle. Only on a hot summer day where it wasn't entirely unpleasant, just awkward to have her mouth pressed up against something that wasn't moving. They stayed like that until Aubrey's lips parted on their own accord, and Beca finally put in some effort. It felt like her insides were shaking, only maybe it was Beca shaking on the outside. If Chloe lit her up like a fire in the middle of the tundra, then Beca cooled down the flames but like she was turning them into dry ice. The experience burned in an entirely different way.
Aubrey pulled away first. Pressed herself up against Chloe for the familiar warmth.
Beca sat down back on her heels and took another sip of vodka. "Aubrey, truth or dare?" she asked like the whole thing had never happened.
Aubrey swallowed. "Dare." She wasn't sure what she expected out of the answer. Maybe to get asked to kiss Chloe and return herself back to normal.
"I dare you…" Beca said, clearly thinking hard.
"Bree, relax," Chloe whispered so only she could hear and slid one of her hands under the back of Aubrey's shirt, gliding her fingertips up and down the length of Aubrey's spine.
"To call Chloe's mom…" Beca continued.
Aubrey tilted her head, and Chloe's hand froze.
"And tell her five super fun facts about dinosaurs…" Beca slid the bottle of vodka in Aubrey's direction and forced a smile at her. And Aubrey was pretty sure this was a more accurate example of what dares were supposed to be. Anything was better than what just happened.
"I don't know any facts about dinosaurs," Aubrey stated and took the bottle. Google would know. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened her web browser.
"You can't call my mom, Aubrey!" Chloe tried to cover her phone screen with her hand. "Are you crazy? Do you want me to die?"
Aubrey glanced at the time. It was only 9:30. She wouldn't be waking her up. Chloe's hands were in the way, so Aubrey scooted closer to Beca again and settled on a random page of facts before taking another swallow of vodka. She dialed Chloe's mom on speaker so she could talk and read at the same time.
"Oh my god." Chloe curled herself up into a tight ball and collapsed sideways on the floor.
"How is this dare affecting you more than Aubrey?" Beca asked.
Aubrey smacked Beca's arm to shut her up as the phone started to ring.
"Hi, Bunny!" Chloe's mom answered after two rings, "What happened? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
It was a lot of questions to process at once. "I'm okay," Aubrey decided to answer the last one only, ignoring as Chloe moaned into the carpet.
"Are you sure?" Chloe's mom asked, "It's late, and you don't really call me just to chat."
Beca nudged Aubrey's side.
"I called to tell you about dinosaurs," Aubrey blurted out and rubbed her side. There was silence on the other end. Her face started to burn as it sunk in what she was doing. Her entire body started to burn, and she suddenly wanted to join Chloe on the ground. "Did you know the T-Rex doesn't even qualify as one of the fifteen largest dinosaurs to walk the earth?"
"I didn't know that, Honey," Chloe's mom answered slowly, "You sure you're okay tonight?"
"Mhm," Aubrey hummed. She scrolled down the page. "Dinosaurs had giant fleas with beaks the size of syringe needles."
"Is Chlo there with you?" Her mom asked, "Is this a cry for help? Are you struggling with something right now, Aubrey?"
Beca quickly muffled a bout of laughter with her hand.
"No," Aubrey answered, realizing too late that she blurted out the word far too quickly. She took a deep breath. "No, I just wanted to tell you…" She found another fact as quickly as she could. "Prison officials in Guantanamo Bay used to use Barney as torture." Were these facts even real? She was tempted to click on the source.
Chloe's mom was silent for another moment. "I love you dearly, Bunny, but maybe Dad would be more interested in this than I am. Noah, do you want to talk to Aubrey about dinosaurs?!"
Shit. Aubrey panicked. "No, I only have two more to complete the mission!"
Beca lifted the bottom of her shirt to muffle the sound of losing her shit laughing, and Chloe made a noise that sounded like she was actually crying in pure distress into the carpet.
"The mission?" Chloe's mom repeated her words back to her, "Are you drunk, Aubrey?"
"No," Aubrey answered. Yes. And she needed more to forget this ever happened. She quickly grabbed the bottle and took another drink. "There is a Civil War parked theme in Virginia with dinosaur statues fighting soldiers that I presume are also statues."
"Is Chlo drunk too?" her mom asked, "Please, put her on the phone and go to bed."
Only one more. "Nicolas Cage once outbid Leonardo DiCaprio on a skull," she sputtered, "A dinosaur skull. Here's Chloe!" She quickly slid the phone across the floor like it burned to touch it.
Chloe didn't budge.
"She's listening," Aubrey said.
"Did you get her drunk, Chloe?" her mom asked.
That made Chloe lift her head. "Me?!" She propped herself up on her arms. "Mommy, Aubrey is a grown woman. She can make her own choices." She hiccupped. "She tries to even make half my choices!"
"And the other half she succeeds in making," Beca muttered through her laughter.
Chloe swung her arm in Beca's direction, missing by a long shot.
"Are you drunk too?" her mom asked.
"No!" Chloe answered defiantly.
"Dude, she is so wasted right now," Beca announced.
Chloe's jaw dropped. She scrambled into an upright position and began kicking at Beca.
Being kicked didn't make this any less entertaining for Beca. She fell on to her side, cracking up as she tried to block Chloe's feet with her arms.
"Chloe's kicking people," Aubrey stated.
"Chloe Beale!" her mother raised her voice.
"Everyone is just trying to get me in trouble!" Chloe whined.
"Don't raise your voice at me. It sounds like you're getting yourself in trouble right now," her mother said, "I find it hard to believe that Aubrey is getting you into trouble."
"She just called you to tell you about dinosaurs!" Chloe reminded her.
"And that was very sweet of her," her mother said, "At least she wasn't yelling at me."
Beca rolled onto her back, trying to catch her breath.
Chloe started kicking harder.
"Chloe, stop!" Aubrey giggled, trying to wedge herself between Chloe's feet and Beca.
"Girls!" her mom yelled, "I love you, but I am hanging up. Good night." She sighed. "If you're hungover in the morning and you need me to be on the phone with you until you're sure you're okay, call me."
Chloe stopped kicking and glared at Aubrey.
The phone clicked.
"Truth or dare, Chloe?" Aubrey asked.
"Truth, so you don't dare me to call my phone and tell her five more facts about dinosaurs." Chloe threw Aubrey's phone at her. "You guys are so mean!" She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand then grabbed the vodka bottle for another drink.
Aubrey wasn't going to lie. The thought if Chloe chose dare was there. She caught her phone and placed it on the ground beside her. She bit back a smug grin. "Did you like my dinosaur facts?"
Chloe put the bottle down and gaped at her. "No, Aubrey, I didn't!" She paused, fighting back a smile. "Except for that one about Nicolas Cage. But you didn't the have to tell it to my mom!" She grabbed a pillow off the couch and hit Aubrey with it.
"I never knew you were so violent!" Beca grabbed the pillow.
"I'm not violent." Chloe grabbed the edge of the couch to pull herself up and wobbled on her feet. She grabbed another pillow from the couch.
Aubrey tried to scramble to her feet to make an escape, got roughly three inches off the ground, then somehow ended up falling on her bottom again as the world tilted in a different time direction. Fortunately, Chloe didn't seem to have it out for her. She shouldn't really. Beca was the one who came up with the dare.
Chloe took a few steps toward Beca before she stumbled. She didn't even try to stop herself from falling. Instead, she landed on top of Beca and smacked her over the head with the pillow. "Gotcha!"
The pillow in Beca's hand made for a poor shield against Chloe's much larger one. With Beca trying to protect herself, and Chloe taking advantage of her failure, Aubrey sneaked in from behind and started tickling her sides.
Chloe shrieked and rolled over sideways, losing her pillow to Beca in a desperate attempt to block Aubrey's hands. She tried to breathe, and it turned into a loud snort that only caused her to lose it further. And snort again. She dissolved into a harder fit of laughter, and Aubrey stopped tickling her.
"Dude." Beca stared at her, her eyebrows raised high in amusement, "Breathe."
Chloe gasped a few times then rolled over onto her back, laughing too hard to make noise.
"I think she's done for," Beca said, starting to laugh along with her. "Chloe, stop!"
Aubrey wasn't sure how she went from reading a book to this. She burst into a hysterical fit of giggles, falling on top of Chloe, when Chloe snorted a third time during a failed attempt to get herself under control. Somewhere along the line, Beca fell over on top of both of them, and that's how the three of them ended up for the rest of the night.
xxxxx
"Hey, Aubrey." Beca's voice comes out tired and breathy, and she pats Aubrey's leg. "She's out."
Aubrey snaps out of her daze and looks down at Chloe as Beca gathers up the cards. Beca's right. Chloe is out like a light, her face tucked against Aubrey's thigh. She brushes Chloe's hair away from her face with her fingers and watches her breathe. Her chest rises and falls at a relaxed, steady pace, but every muscle in her body is tense, including her fingers, which are gripping one of the cards. Beca has to pry it out of her hand to put it away.
Beca tosses the cards on the floor behind her then lowers her head against the couch and closes her eyes.
"There's room at the bottom," Aubrey whispers.
Beca doesn't put up a fight. She picks herself up and crawls over their legs, squeezing herself into the area between Chloe's body and the back of the couch. Sighing, she tosses her shoes on the floor then tucks her feet underneath Aubrey. It's fine. Aubrey gets it. Everything is freezing.
Chloe is cocooned in her blanket, but Aubrey's is big enough. She struggles for a moment, not wanting to smother Chloe, then tucks pieces of the blanket between Chloe and the back of the couch, and allows Beca to use it too. Maybe it will make one of them warmer. She resumes stroking Chloe's hair, partially for her own comfort, and sinks deeper into the couch as the two of them somehow manage to sleep.
Behind every door is a fall, a fall.
And no one's here to sleep.
-Naughty Boy, Bastille