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Dysrhythmia
And the boss is always right,
You're missing half the point of life,
Standing on a darkened beach in Seaside Heights.
- Brook Pridemore
"Let's try calling her," Julia suggests, "Her stuff is still here. There's no signs of a break in…" She pulls her phone from her pocket and searches for Beca's number. It rings twice before Beca answers.
"What's up, Mrs. B?"
Aubrey snatches the phone. "Where the hell are you?"
"Beca Mitchell speaking," she changes her tone.
"I'm serious, Beca, where are you?"
"I didn't realize I needed permission to leave the house." A horn blares in the background.
"Are you driving?" Beca doesn't even have a… Aubrey looks around for her keys. "Did you steal my car?"
"Is it really stealing if plan to return it?"
"I need that to get to work in the morning." Okay, so maybe she has other options to get to work, but that's besides the point.
"I'll be back before morning."
"Tell me where you are or I'm going to put a BOLO out on my car," Aubrey states.
Beca is silent for a moment. "You're right. Your brother is an idiot. He left the address for his hotel on a sticky note. It was on your car window. Hey, as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, I'm about to go through that really long tunnel."
"What do you plan to do when you find him, Beca? Beca?" Aubrey pulls the phone back to look at the screen. Beca hung up on her. "You know what," she hands the phone back to Julia, "It's fine. Let her knock his lights out." She paces the room once then stops and takes a breath. Just let it go. She'll be back.
"You wanna go find her, don't you?" Julia says.
Yes. "She stole my car." Aubrey marches out of the room. She stops in front of where Noah is seated on the couch. "I need to borrow your truck."
Noah looks from her to Julia who shakes her head. "Your mom says no."
"I'm worried you're going to fall asleep behind the wheel, Aubrey. It's late. You're tired. If you're going anywhere, especially in our car, it's going to be as a passenger. Do you even know where Beca is going?"
"Seaside," Aubrey answers, "Seaside Heights."
"Where at in Seaside Heights?"
"…a hotel."
"Okay. How many hotels are in Seaside Heights?"
More than Aubrey wants to admit. "Can we leave her behind?" she asks Noah.
"Excuse me?"
Noah rubs the smile away from his face. "You can try."
"I think I'd rather just Dad take me."
Julia smiles at her. "No." She pats her arm and walks past toward the door. "It's both of us or no one at all."
Aubrey stares down the hall, weighing her options. She could let it go. Go to bed. Let Beca bash her brother's face in. But it isn't just that she's worried about what Beca will do to him. There's a small part of her worried about how her father or JJ might retaliate. Beca has no idea what she's dealing with.
"Take it or leave it," Julia says.
Aubrey heaves a sigh. "Take it."
xxxxx
"You sure you're up for this?" Noah asks while studying the GPS, "It's quite a drive."
"It's two hours," Aubrey says.
"That's quite a drive," Julia agrees with Noah, "Four hours round trip. And that's not counting how long it'll take to even find Beca. You're going to be very tired."
"What if I'm wrong about him?" Aubrey asks, "What if he is malicious and it's a trap?" It's doubtful, but she tries to sound convincing.
"Okay. But maybe try to get some sleep while we're on the road. I'll text Beca – see if I can figure out a more precise location." Julia turns to face forward in the front passenger seat.
There is not a chance that Aubrey is going to be able to sleep right now. It doesn't matter how tired she is. Beca stole her car to go after her brother. She buckles her seatbelt and rests her head against the uncomfortably cold window. Maybe she should have moved to Florida – it's warm there. And there's Disney World. She could ride It's A Small World a hundred times in a row if she wanted too. Her hand comes up to touch her necklace. "Can you turn on the heat, please?"
"It is on, Sweetheart."
Oh. She releases the necklace and wraps her arms around herself, tucking her hands beneath them. She's going to – the second the words 'kill Beca' enter her mind, she wishes she could unthink them. They carry too much weight. It may be an idle threat, but it's a revolting thing to think.
"Is this really about your car?" Julia asks, "She's going to bring it back and you can tell her everything on your mind then, you know?"
"I told you – I could be wrong about my brother."
"Or maybe you're just scared because you don't know exactly where she is right now."
It's not an unfounded fear. For all she knows, someone could crash into her car and drag Beca somewhere they'll never find her. She can track someone through the woods – not through the entire tri-state area. It's stupid to go somewhere alone without telling any of them exact location. It's stupid going somewhere alone in general. Beca doesn't even want answers – she wants some sort of revenge. Revenge on the wrong person.
xxxxx
"She still hasn't answered any of my texts. I don't think she's going to," Julia says, "What do you want to do?"
Hit Beca (gently) with a two by four. There are lights up ahead – bright, colorful, swirling lights. It's a long shot, but – "I know where my brother might be." If she can't find Beca, she can hope he isn't at his hotel and find him instead. He might be the last person she wants to see, but he's also the only person who knows where he's staying. "Drive toward the lights."
"Is that a ride?" Julia asks, leaning forward to watch the lights spin through the air. "That looks horrifying. What happened to good old fashioned ferris wheels?"
"People want thrill rides," Noah answers, "No one gets thrilled by a ferris wheel."
"I do."
Noah stares at the road.
"Since when is being three hundred feet in the air-"
"Two hundred," Aubrey interrupts her, "The average ferris wheel is about two hundred feet. The one here is actually only a little over a hundred feet."
Noah chokes.
Julia turns to look at her.
"But there's one in Dubai that's 500 feet," Aubrey tries to save herself, "I like the ferris wheel." She looks at Noah. "It might be busy. Maybe we should find parking here."
"I think I'll try my luck at Princess Parking."
"Princess Parking?" Julia asks.
"You know who taught me that?"
Aubrey can guess.
"Conrad. He said that's when you find the good parking right in front of where you want to be."
"Oh," Julia hums, "Princess Parking. Nice."
Aubrey leans her head back against the seat. "You're not going to find anything closer."
"Oh, I'm going to find something closer," Noah replies, "Even if it takes all night."
All night? "Can you at least let me out?"
Noah slows the truck until he finds a place to come to a full stop. "You'll be thankful when it's time to go and we don't have to walk to the car."
"Do you want backup?" Julia asks as Aubrey gets out of the truck.
"No." Aubrey shuts the door.
"Text us when you're ready," Julia says during the process of rolling down her window, "Or if you need anything." She rolls the window right back up, and Aubrey watches the truck drive away.
The air is thick and briny and the stench of fish nearly gags her. For a fraction of a second, she's back on the docks, joking with Chloe about eating seafood for dinner. She grabs for Chloe's hand, but catches air instead. The emptiness beside her bring her back to the present – where she's standing on the side of the street, alone. She crosses her arms and tucks her hands beneath them, gripping her jacket against her palms, and longs for Chloe's arm around her as she begins her trek toward the boardwalk.
People are milling around – closing up their tiny shops, lingering outside restaurants and ice cream parlors. She tries to window shop as she walks toward the beach, but all she sees is the broken glass at the Maritime museum and the dark windows of the ice cream shop.
The truck pulls back up beside her, window rolled back down.
"We decided to follow you," Julia says.
"But your mother wanted to warn you so it wouldn't be creepy," Noah adds.
"It's still creepy," Aubrey replies, not looking at them, "And overbearing. How did you get around the block so fast?"
"It was your mom's idea."
"Excuse me?" Julia says, "What I recall is you saying you didn't feel right letting her walk alone and I said I agree."
"Meaning you had the idea."
"I didn't outright say we should follow her."
"Neither did I," Noah says.
"You're driving the car…"
"You gave me the look."
"What look?" Julia asks, "This is what my face looks like. You see it every day."
"Which is how I know you have looks."
"Okay – what does the look on my face say right now?"
"You're causing a traffic jam," Aubrey points out and they both look at her.
"I thought traffic jams were normal here," Julia says, "They're literally everywhere." The car behind them honks. "Oh, Honey, beep back – it'll make us look like we fit in."
Noah lays on the horn and what sounds like everyone in a five miles radius responds.
"Oh, I get it." Julia smiles. "It's like wolves howling at the moon. Do it again."
"Why do parents find satisfaction in embarrassing their children?" Aubrey picks up the pace.
"Embarrassing?" Julia turns to Noah. "Did you hear that? She thinks we're embarrassing. Are we embarrassing?"
"I think we're copacetic."
Aubrey thinks she hopes they run out of gas while following her down the road. She resolves to ignore them. Thank God they have a truck and not a jeep, or they might follow her across the very beach itself. She can't imagine how Chloe dealt with them driving her to school every day. Or maybe she took the bus.
"Are you pretending you don't know us?" Noah asks.
What could have possibly given it away? The boardwalk entrance comes into view. "Don't follow me on foot." Of course they would have to find parking in order to do that; maybe the idea of 'Princess Parking' isn't such a bad thing right now. "Just…meet me by the arcade in an hour." That should give her enough time to find her brother and have a talk with him as well as give Chloe's parents a specific time to call the police if they can't find her.
"One hour, at the arcade," Julia confirms, "Got it." Her punctuality gives Aubrey at least some relief. "Aubrey?"
Aubrey stops walking. She already knows the gist of what Julia is going to say. "Don't slug my brother in the face. Got it." There are places a lot lower than his face that will cause sufficient pain.
"Or Beca, if you happen to find her. Promise me."
She's asking for a lot now. "Or Beca."
xxxxx
"It's a shame, you know," Chloe said.
"What is?" They had found an empty bench facing the ocean, and Aubrey was focused on the waves crashing against the shore as they ate their respective snacks. Chocolate covered strawberries from the fudge shop for her. And Chloe had fries that had to be more salt than fry. It didn't seem like anything could be a shame.
"That they make you wear clothes on the boardwalk."
Aubrey looked at her. It was impossible to tell who she was talking about – Aubrey, herself, a random passerby – so she opted for a exaggerating an appalled frown.
"I mean, you can literally look at the beach and see people in their bathing suits. What's the big deal about covering up on the boardwalk?"
"At least if someone saw a person drowning they'd have to strip off their clothes while running across the beach?" Aubrey tried to humor her. "You could watch."
"This is real life; not an episode of Baywatch."
"Well, that's fortunate. Because if they ran like they do in Baywatch, the person would already be dead by the time they reached the water. And people do strip off their clothes before jumping in the water to save someone – at least the smart ones do. All that fabric weighs you down. Wait, where are you going?"
Chloe placed her fry container on the seat after standing up. "To drown."
"This cover cost too much to be throwing it haphazardly in the sand."
"So you'd just let me drown?"
"Of course not. I'd alert a life guard."
Chloe thought for a moment. "Would you at least administer CPR?"
"Are you seriously willing to risk a rib fracture for that?"
"I never understood why we need so many ribs to begin with."
"They protect your heart," Aubrey replied, "And your lungs. Both of which are absolutely vital to survival." She finished off the last of her strawberries to turned back to the water again – looking for dolphins, not drowning victims.
"I'd never guard my heart from you."
The implications didn't go unnoticed. "Nor your fries from the seagulls," Aubrey pointed out.
"They need to eat too." Chloe's words said one thing while a longing look at her fries being devoured by the cockroaches of the air said another.
"I'm sure they're starving." Particularly the fat one pecking the others away.
Chloe remained silent for a moment. "I know I am now."
xxxxx
Seagulls have always been Aubrey's least favorite bird. Instead of a pleasant melody, they sound like they're screaming. Tonight, she kind of enjoys them – minus the screaming. She kicks someone's dropped fry out into the open where the birds pecking around the boardwalk can see it. It becomes a battle between three birds, and she finds herself internally cheering when the skinniest one wins. Motivation triumphs. Chloe would have enjoyed that too.
Enough getting distracted. She's here for a reason.
To her right, someone at a game stand throws a dart at a balloon. It pops with a sickening cracking sound.
Relax, Aubrey…
She follows the flashing neon lights and tries to block out the screams of people on the rides. They're not shrieking in terror, she tells herself, they're having fun. They want to feel afraid. They aren't dragging fear behind them on a chain.
In the distance, she finally sees her destination – the arcade. If her brother is anywhere, that's where he'll be. That is if he's still the same person she knew him to be. Her nerves flutter in her stomach, and she reminds herself she's not here for him. She's here to find Beca and go home.
She walks into the building, past two teen girls that remind her too much of herself and Chloe playing Dance Dance Revolution. If he's here, he'll be one of two places. Pinball or the claw machine. The claw machines are within view, so she heads there first. At least a dozen brightly colored machines line the wall. And they're all surrounded by ten year olds.
"Aubrey?"
She turns around. He's standing in front of her looking truly surprised by her presence. "Is this what you wanted? Because here I am." She's just not here for him. "What do you want?"
"I just want to…" Either he doesn't want to tell her or he doesn't even know himself.
"What?" she presses. Her nostrils are flaring and he looks like a deer caught in the headlights of her stare. "What?" she tries to ask a little more calmly.
"How did you do it?"
Aubrey is going to need him to start elaborating – and do it fast.
"How did you just…leave?"
"I got accepted into college. It wasn't that difficult," Aubrey answers.
"You know what I mean."
She does know what he means this time. He wants to know how she had the balls to apply to somewhere so far away – and then follow through with walking out the door. She wants to say she had support, but she didn't – not really. Unless the distant memory of the person who introduced her to Barden counts. She hadn't found support until she got there. And now Chloe is…. "Do you know why people jump from burning buildings? Because a high probability of not making it is still better than the alternative. Why do you care? Where are you staying? I need to go retrieve my car."
"What?"
"You're lucky you're here and not getting your balls torn off by Beca," Aubrey explains, "You left your address where anyone could find it. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
"Because of the short girl?"
"Because of the anyone. You should be relieved Beca is the only one who found it."
"You just implied I should be scared of her."
"You know what," Aubrey says, "I'm beginning to see the problem here. Mom and Dad had a limited amount of brain cells to pass down and they ran out by the time they got to you."
"That does explain our sister," Liam replies.
"What's her name?" Aubrey asks.
"Whose?"
"Our sister's, you absolute dolt."
"Evelyn."
That's a beautiful name. Evelyn. Aubrey hopes that wherever she is she's happy. They stand there silently – awkwardly as she waits for him to give up the address to where he's staying. And when he doesn't, she realizes she's going to need a new tactic. "I need a favor," she states, "Are you still able to win at these ridiculous games?"
"I am the master," Liam replies.
"Win me that." She nods toward the ten foot alligator hanging from the wall.
"It's like a thousand tickets. Aubrey, that will take forever."
Aubrey folds her arms as best she can. "I have time."
"What do I get in return?"
The audacity. "You ruined my life. Is that not enough?"
"It's not my fault-"
"The woman I love is in a coma because you are an idiot. Just win me the fucking gator." Aubrey ducks her head as a few parents of young children look her way. "Sorry," she mouths. "My mo- Chloe's mom and dad are supposed to be meeting me here. They'll wait. I'll come back to help you load it into the truck. Now give me the address."
"Fine. Sunrise Motel. 202 Boulevard. It's a few blocks down that way."
Aubrey follows his gesture with just her eyes. "What room?"
"108."
That's all she needs to know. "Tell me how much it costs for the alligator. I'll write you a check." Not about to wait for a rebuttal that will only hold her up longer, she pulls up Noah's contact on her phone while walking away. He's least likely to ask a thousand questions.
Aubrey: Going to find Beca. My brother will meet you at the arcade.
It barely takes a minute for her to receive a text back – from Julia. Her plan would have probably gone a lot smoother if they weren't sitting next to each other in the truck. Without reading it, she tucks her phone back into her pocket.