Chapter Text
Seven hours. Seven hours and no sleep. Aubrey thought she was going insane. Her arms had gone numb about two hours into the night, as Chloe stayed pressed tightly to her chest, and the blonde hated to think how it would hurt to straighten them out and get the feeling back.
And she’d spent almost all of the seven hours rehearsing the solo and changeover with Alice in her mind. If anything went wrong, she’d let down her family, the rest of the Bellas and especially Chloe. Chloe deserved the win. She deserved to beat the Trebles and that creepy asshole Bumper. She deserved to shove the trophy in Alice’s face and prove that they would be good enough to run the whole group next year.
She knew they were good enough anyway. They were aca-awesome together.
In the last two hours, her stomach had begun to feel like a tightly coiled spring, as if any morsel of food or drink would cause it to snap and push up her throat. That would not be good. It would be a disaster, actually.
Don’t tempt fate, Aubrey! She chided her thoughts and tried to wave away the sickly feeling in her belly, instead focusing on the sweet breaths hitting her neck. At least Chloe had slept; her girlfriend had dreamt straight through the odd sounds from outside their bedroom, the shouts and the knocks and the occasional moan.
It made her angry to think that Alice, supposedly perfect Alice, had been tricked (by the Treblemakers, no less) into making them stay here. On the most important night of their a-capella calendar. She vowed that if anything like this happened again, anything that made her girlfriend uncomfortable or scared, she’d quit on the spot and take her somewhere safe.
Just as she tightened her limp arms around Chloe, she shifted awake and stretched her legs out.
“Morning, Bree! It’s finals day!” She whispered in a chipper tone.
Aubrey rubbed her eye and nodded, the first yawn of the day already itching at the back of her throat.
“One more performance and we can enjoy summer.” She brushed a lock of flame red hair away from Chloe’s forehead and pressed a kiss to the pale skin, as she had done every morning that they woke in the same bed.
“You know, despite this place literally being the most disgusting building I’ve ever set foot in, I slept pretty well. Thankyou for holding me all night, babe.”
“No problem. Anything for you, princess.”
“Did you sleep well?”
Aubrey painted on a fake smile and nodded, “Like a log.”
It was only a tiny white lie after all; what could go wrong?