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Chloe runs into the living room, frantically cleaning. Emily is following closely behind, trying to help, while Beca and Amy watch from the couch amusedly. "Emily, I don't know how you can dance so well when performing and then be about as graceful as a baby giraffe the rest of the time. How did you even manage to knock over the candle anyway? You got hot wax all over the carpet."
"I was trying to pick up all the coffee cups in my room and I tripped over it. I know how to get the wax out though, it's happened before. I'm just glad I didn't set anything on fire! Not that I've done that," Emily nervously laughs.
From the couch, Beca laughs, "Oh my god Legacy, you've totally set something on fire."
"It was only one time, and everyone was fine. I'm just not allowed to help set up the campfire anymore," Emily defends. She pouts like she had been hoping that was something no one would have to find out about.
Chloe adds, "That's probably for the best. Also, no more putting lit candles on the floor. Why would you even do that? And you can sit down Legacy, I'm not sure your help cleaning is much help anyways."
Emily sits down on the couch next to Beca, clearly relieved she no longer has to try and help. Chloe continues to clean and tries to pick up way more cups than she can hold to bring them to the kitchen. Finally, Beca asks, "Dude, why are you doing this anyway, it's not like Aubrey hasn't seen how messy we are before. You're going to be cleaning for days if you want the house to look like Amy hasn't spun through here like the Tasmanian Devil."
"Well if someone didn't leave coffee cups and Monster cans everywhere then maybe we'd look a little more like civilized humans," Chloe retorts. "I'm not even sure how you're even still alive anyway, you like, only drink caffeine. How have you not had a heart attack already?"
"Not sure, but I'm still going, so I think my heart and I are good for now," Beca responds. "But, you look like you might have one if you don't calm down, dude. Chill out, like I said, Aubrey has seen this place enough times now to not be horrified by the mess every time she walks in. We just don't let her see Amy's room, and we're good."
"I'm honestly a little afraid to go in there myself," Emily adds quietly.
Chloe stops cleaning and sits down on the couch. "Yeah Beca, but I'm a senior now, an actually graduating one, and I want Aubrey to see that I'm ready to actually live in the real world." She huffs out a breath and sags her shoulders. "Sometimes I'm afraid she's still upset that I didn't graduate with her, and now she thinks she's more of an adult."
Beca puts her hand on Chloe's knee, saying, "She doesn't think that Chlo. And besides, out of all of us, you are obviously the most responsible. It's not the highest bar, but still. Don't worry, just relax, let yourself be happy that we get to see Aubrey again! It's been so long."
Chloe takes a breath, and responds, "Yeah, yeah you're right. I do have a bunch of stuff planned for when Aubrey gets here. We're gonna watch movies, decorate gingerbread houses, and Jessica and I even picked us all out matching Christmas pj's!"
Beca looks offended and then narrows her eyes at Chloe, "I agreed to movies, and maybe gingerbread houses, but I draw the line at Christmas pajamas."
Amy leans into Chloe and asks, "Red, how did you get Beca to agree to movies and gingerbread houses? You're like a witch or something."
"I can be very persuasive when I need to be. And this is very important," Chloe replies, smiling proudly.
Amy laughs, "Ha, bet you can!", and winks at her and Beca.
Beca flushes and responds, "Oh my god, Amy. Not like that." But Chloe just laughs and wraps her arms around the shorter girl. Beca's redness grows deeper before she adds in, "Still not wearing the pajamas."
"I bet Chloe could change your mind about that," Amy laughs and winks at Beca again. Beca sticks her tongue out at Amy and tries to kick at her from across the couch but Chloe still has a hold on her.
"C'mon Becs, I want to show them to you before Aubrey gets here!" Chloe says as she stands up and pulls Beca with her. Beca, not the most enthusiastically, follows Chloe out of the living room and up the stairs.
"Hey guys, get down here now before the movie starts!" Chloe yells to the rest of the house, clearly in no mood to miss the beginning of the movie that is about to begin. Only Jessica and Ashley have decided to join her already.
As Beca and Stacie make their way down the stairs and over to Chloe, Beca asks, "What movie? You said we start watching them tomorrow after Bree gets here. That's all I agreed to."
Chloe looks and Beca like she's crazy and responds, "One of my favorite Lifetime Christmas movies is on tonight! I was telling you about it yesterday!" She throws her hands in the air, like she really, definitely, cares.
"Oh my god, Chloe of course you have a favorite Lifetime movie. That is so you," Stacie chuckles and replies as she walks past into the living room.
"If you've seen one Lifetime movie, you've seen them all, Chlo" Beca adds, clearly still not wanting to watch whatever movie Chloe is going on about.
"I resent that!" Jessica calls to Beca from the living room, an apparent fan of Lifetime, and its many movies.
"Good!" Beca calls back with laughter.
Chloe then asks, "Beca have you even seen one Lifetime movie?" When Beca doesn't immediately respond, Chloe takes that as a no and says, "Well that settles it, we're watching it. Then you can say that with at least some ounce of truth to it next time," Chloe beams and drags Beca over to the couch and underneath a pre-set-out blanket for the two of them.
Stacie leans over on the couch and tells Beca, "You have the backbone of a chocolate éclair when it comes to Chloe, Becs." Beca just scowls at Stacie as Chloe cuddles into her.
As usual, by the end of the movie, Chloe is completely passed out in Beca's lap. Though, this time, instead of Beca carefully waking Chloe up and walking her upstairs to her room, she just lets Chloe sleep. Once everyone else gets up, she readjusts them so they are both comfortably lying on the couch together.
"Hey Legacy," Beca whispers to the younger girl, "Can you bring over another blanket? Chloe and I are just gonna sleep on the couch tonight." Emily smiles and lays out another big blanket over Chloe and Beca.
"Y'know, you guys are so cute. You're like aca-wives!" Emily gushes to Beca.
"Shhh! Chloe's actually a really light sleeper. And, yeah yeah, we've heard all about it. All the time. Constantly," Beca responds. "Now go up to bed. And don't forget to brush your teeth. You had a lot of candy during the movie, don't think I didn't see. Night, Legacy," Beca smiles at the younger girl.
"Goodnight Beca," Emily says, smiling, before lowering her voice even more, "Goodnight Chloe." Emily then tries to quietly make her way up the stairs, leaving Beca and Chloe to sleep on the couch.
A loud bang in the kitchen brings Chloe and Beca to consciousness the next morning. "Oh my stars I'm so sorry guys, I was trying to be quiet but I stubbed my toe on the table leg."
"Oh, Legacy, it's fine-"
"Wait," Chloe cuts Beca off, "What time is it?" She looks at Emily expectantly, wide-eyed, and slightly panicked. Probably not the best way to start the day. I guess there's a reason Dolly Parton tells us to pour a cup of ambition in the morning, and not a cup of pure anxiety.
Emily, looking like she's thinking really hard, goes, "Uhh... maybe 2?" But she doesn't seem too sure about the answer. Chloe looks horrified.
"It's 2 pm?! Oh my god, Aubrey is probably here already! I still have so much cleaning to do! Oh my god," She jumps off the couch suddenly, accidentally pushing Beca over in the process. "What am I gonna do? Oh no, this is-"
"Oh my god, it's 10:30, Legacy. When was the last time you looked at a clock? Do I need to teach you how to read a clock?" Stacie calls making her way from the kitchen to the group.
"I lost my phone, I uh, thought I was better at guessing than that," Emily sheepishly responds, scratching the back of her neck nervously.
"Well yeah, you just about gave me a heart attack! Also, whoever has you for Secret Santa should really get you a watch." Chloe takes a breath and looks a lot calmer after. She sits back down on the couch, next to Beca.
"It's okay Chloe, we still have like two and a half hours until Aubrey gets here," Stacie tells Chloe. Chloe still doesn't look the happiest about the current situation.
"That's still late! I usually wake up at 8 at the latest. I still have so much cleaning to do before Aubrey gets here. And why did I wake up on the couch anyway?" Chloe, looking slightly distressed, asks Stacie.
"Chlo, calm down. We just slept on the couch after the movie last night. Everything's okay," Beca says to Chloe, putting a hand on her back, "And the place is pretty much clean. Look," Beca gestures around the downstairs.
After Chloe takes a breath again, she looks around and notices the kitchen and living room are much cleaner than usual. "Who-? I didn't do this all yesterday, I know it. What happened?" Chloe asks, looking bewildered at the fact the house does not look like complete chaos like usual.
"Beca got some of us to help clean this morning," Stacie smiles, "I already had my room clean, but Beca said she would owe us, so I thought it would be worth it."
"Us? Who did you get to help clean?" Chloe looks at Beca, confused but smiling.
"Just Stacie, Ashley, and Jess," Beca responds, "Jess and Ash were already helping you yesterday, so I thought it would be easy enough to get them to help today too. It was," Beca nods. Chloe then looks at Beca with such affection and, some (all) would say, obvious love, that Beca flushes immediately. When Chloe then hugs Beca and kisses her on the cheek, Beca flushes redder and squeaks quietly. She hopes it was quiet enough for no one to hear.
"Uh," Beca coughs, still very obviously red, "Well we should go get ready right? Because Aubrey?" She asks, trying to change the subject.
"Oh yeah! We should go shower," Chloe responds excitedly, hopping up, and dragging Beca with her.
"Mhmm, have fun you two," Stacie says, a smirk on her face. Beca looks unamused.
"Ha ha. Bite me, Stretch," Beca responds, with no bite to her words, but a scowl on her face. Chloe then pulls her away and they walk up the stairs leaving Emily and Stacie in the kitchen laughing.
"I'm so excited to finally meet Aubrey! Stacie and Chloe have told me so much about her," Emily gushes to CR, Flo, and Stacie, about 20 minutes later. She is bouncing on the balls of her feet, with either excitement or one too many cups of coffee. Stacie notes to buy more decaf at the store next time she goes.
"What kind of stuff did Stacie tell you?" Cynthia Rose asks, slightly amused at the prospect of Stacie going on about Aubrey to Emily.
"Well, a lot of it was about how she's gorgeous and stuff. But other than that Stacie said she was a really good leader to the Bellas and how she's actually super nice, even though she might seem tightly-wound sometimes."
"Damn, okay, yeah," CR replies, seeming satisfied with Emily's description of her former captain, "I thought Stacie would have just gushed about how hot she is for Aubrey." CR laughs at Stacie's scowl in response.
"Hey, it's not like I constantly talk about her! And I'm not 'hot for her' Cynthia Rose, that makes it sound like I just want to fuck her. I will have you know that is not the only thing I want," Stacie says, slightly offended by CR's assertion, "But anyway, I'm pretty sure she's not into girls, or all this flirting with her would have gone somewhere!" Stacie throws up her hands, exasperated by the fact that she has already used up all her tricks to get somebody to sleep with her. Yet Aubrey still doesn't seem to want her.
"Well, I still have money on you guys hooking up before we graduate."
"Don't you and Aubrey text like all the time? That has to mean something, right?" Emily suggests to Stacie, trying to lift her spirit somewhat.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she likes me, it could just mean she's addicted to her phone. Or maybe she texts everyone all the time," Stacie responds, clearly not letting herself think that she could even possibly have a chance with Aubrey.
"She totally doesn't, you and Chloe are the only ones that talk with her so regularly. And Chloe makes sure to call weekly so she can get updates on Aubrey and the lodge. You talk to her just because," CR mentions, like the fact that Aubrey could be into her, is the most obvious thing in the world.
"Whatever, I have to go run an errand, c'mon Legacy," Stacie responds, walking towards the door, Emily in tow. Emily smiles and waves to CR and Flo as she walks away.
Emily then leans in and whispers to Stacie, "Wait, where are we going?"
"Oh my gosh, these flowers are so cute! Who got them?" Chloe asks as she walks into the kitchen, eyeing the pink flowers on the counter.
"Stacie did, she said they're like, one of Aubrey's favorites. They're called Santa's Rose or something?" Emily responds, looking over her shoulder at Chloe from the table.
"Oh-em-aca-gee!" Chloe squeals, "They're the Winter's Rose Camellias! Aubrey does love those. Wow, Stacie totally has it bad for her," Chloe laughs, walking over to the table to sit with Emily.
"I know, right. But, it sounds like Aubrey might like her too, right? That's what CR said," Emily tells Chloe as she sits down. She looks hopeful like she's rooting for the two of them getting together, even before she meets Aubrey.
"Oh, she definitely does," Chloe says, nodding. "They're just both too stubborn to see it, or do anything about it."
"They aren't the only ones," Emily laughs. When Chloe looks confused Emily gets nervous, "Uh, never mind. Want a cookie? Stacie and I picked up some gingerbread ones after getting the flowers."
"Sure, I have barely eaten anything today, I'm too excited to see Aubrey again. It's been like 5 months!" Chloe says while grabbing a cookie from the box in Emily's hand.
"When is she gonna be here?" Emily asks, grabbing a cookie for herself as well.
"Oh my god, Aubrey's gonna be here in like ten minutes!" Stacie says, very loudly, walking into the kitchen. She's fixing her hair in the camera on her phone and looks quite nervous.
Chloe turns to Emily. "Ten minutes, I guess!" Chloe then hops up, and picks the few remaining things up off the counter, and puts them back in their respective homes.
When the doorbell rings, everyone immediately rushes to the door. When CR opens it and Aubrey walks in, Chloe, Beca, and Stacie all attempt to get past each other to hug her.
"Oh my god guys, let me at least set my stuff down first!" Aubrey says, laughing at the impatience of her friends, and their excitement to see her again. They back off enough to let her set down her bags. As soon as she does though, Stacie pulls her into a big hug.
"Hey, no fair!" Beca and Chloe say in unison, upset by the taller girl's action.
"Tallest first, shorties!" Stacie announces, sticking her tongue out at Chloe and Beca. She then releases Aubrey from her hug, and says, "So, did you miss me?" Aubrey just laughs and smiles at Stacie. She then goes to give hugs to Chloe and Beca.
"I missed all of you guys, the lodge gets lonely sometimes. But, I'm so happy to be here!" Aubrey smiles at everyone. She then looks to Beca, Chloe, and Stacie again. "Could you three bring my stuff up to whatever room I'm staying in?"
"Yep!" Chloe says, "And you'll be staying in Stacie's room with her! She's one of the only ones who has her own room. Didn't she tell you that?"
"Uh, nope!" Aubrey looks half-surprised and half nervous. "But uh, that's cool!" She smiles, though somewhat nervously, back at Chloe. She then turns back to the rest of the girls and continues to give out hugs and greetings.
Chloe, Stacie, and Beca make their way up the stairs to Stacie's room to set down all of Aubrey's stuff. As they are walking, Beca looks to Stacie. "Dude, Aubrey didn't look too happy to be staying in your room. What's that about?" She asks.
"Oh Beca, don't worry Stacie like that. Everything's fine, don't worry. She just didn't know!" Chloe tells both of them as they approach Stacie's room. When they walk in, both Beca and Chloe are surprised at the state of cleanliness Stacie's room is in. "Wow Stacie, your room has got to be the cleanest place in this house!"
"Well Aubrey is so particular and tidy and, stuff, so I just don't want to make her uncomfortable while she is staying in here," Stacie says, feeling a little bit self-conscious about the amount of effort she put in to make her room look so nice. It's usually fairly clean, but she is also known to have textbooks and papers all over her desk at times.
"I think it looks great," Chloe smiles at Stacie and then gasps. "I forgot I need to introduce Aubrey to Emily!" Chloe then rushes out of the room. The other two girls follow behind her, but not nearly matching her pace.
A while later, almost everyone is sitting in the living room chatting to each other.
"So, has anything interesting happened at the lodge recently?" Chloe asks, noticeably quite interested in Aubrey's lodge stories.
Aubrey laughs, "Chloe it's not always that interesting over there. We only get people stuck in bear traps like once a month now."
"Who would be stupid enough to get caught in a bear trap?" Beca asks, laughing.
"You would be surprised, Beca. Don't get too cocky over there." Aubrey replies to Beca. "Oh! But there was a real bear sighting the other day! That one was new, surprisingly. I was beginning to think the traps were just for people that didn't listen."
Jessica gasps and asks, "Were you alright? Was it angry?" She looks over at Ashley, frightened. Ashley does her best to relax her girlfriend.
"She was obviously fine dude, she doesn't look like she was involved in a bear attack. Plus, it was probably a black bear. All you need to do to get those to go away is be really loud. I've seen them before, they're pretty common around the forests near Seattle" Beca responds, evidently more knowledgeable about bears than the Wisconsinite sitting next to her.
"Surprisingly, Beca is right. Black bears aren't too hard to deal with. But enough about the lodge. Chloe, you told me you have some stuff planned for this next week, right?" Aubrey asks, turning back to Chloe again.
"Oh yeah! We have movies, gingerbread houses, and a bunch of other stuff! It's gonna be great," Chloe says while beaming at Aubrey.
"Sounds fun Chlo, I can't wait," Aubrey smiles back at her best friend, happy that she is so excited about everything.
"Okay, so Beca, could you and Stacie go get the sushi? It should be ready by the time you get there. The Chinese food should be delivered right around the time you'd get back," Chloe says to Beca a while later, when everyone is hungry and has decided what they want to order.
"Yeah, Chlo, we'll go pick it up," Beca says, standing up. "But for the record, it wasn't my turn to go, it was yours. I'm only doing this so you can hang out with Aubrey," she adds, pointing at Chloe with her eyes narrowed.
"And that's why you're my favorite. Drive safe!" Chloe calls as Beca and Stacie make their way out of the front door.
"Chloe, you have that girl wrapped around your finger," Aubrey tells Chloe once the other two girls are out of the house.
"Oh please, me? Stacie would do absolutely anything you tell her," Chloe laughs and replies as she turns back to Aubrey.
"I doubt that Chlo, she's just a nice person," Aubrey says, seemingly convincing Chloe as well as she is convincing herself. Which is to say, not very well.
Chloe then points at the flowers on the kitchen counter, saying, "Did you even see those? Stacie went out and got your favorite flowers for yesterday. I have never seen her do that before, for anyone." Aubrey then gets up and walks over to the counter. Her eyes light up when she sees the small vase of her favorite flowers. The ones that only bloom in the winter.
"I... didn't even know Stacie knew what my favorite flowers were?" Aubrey says, slightly confused, trying to remember when that could have even been a topic of conversation. She smells the flowers, and smiles softly, before walking back over to the table and sitting next to Chloe again.
"I'm telling you, she likes you, Aubrey," Chloe tries to tell Aubrey, but when she sees Aubrey look down and shake her head, she redirects the conversation. "So, what was up with your reaction to staying in Stacie's room?"
Aubrey shakes her head again. "How did she get her own room anyway? I thought only you had your own room," she deflects, seemingly not wanting to answer Chloe's question.
"With Emily joining we have ten people, and with me being in the master room alone, someone else was gonna be able to be solo. Stacie volunteered to have the room with the messed up venting as long as she got to be alone. Easier to concentrate on studying she said. But no deflecting Bree, what's up," Chloe asks Aubrey again softly while putting a comforting hand on her back, making sure she knows she is unjudged in whatever she needs to say.
"I'm just nervous Chlo," Aubrey sighs and looks down.
"About what? Are you afraid Stacie's gonna do something? I wouldn't worry about that, but I can talk to her if you want. And she already promised to sleep with clothes on while you're here," Chloe mentions.
"No, I'm not worried about her doing something, I'm worried that I will. This thing is getting so hard to ignore, Chloe," Aubrey sighs again. "I can't stop thinking about her. Even at the lodge, when I'm working. It's like half of my mind is dedicated to thinking about Stacie and wondering when she's gonna text me again. Now that I'm here like all I want to do is be with her. Next to her. Fuck, Chloe, I can't barely look at her without wanting to push her up against a wall and kiss her like my life depends on it! Because the longer I wait, and the more I think about it, the more it feels like it does," Aubrey drops her head into her hands and groans. "I don't know what to do."
Chloe, definitely understanding Aubrey's pain in this situation, just rubs her back and says, "Hey, it's okay Bree. Everything is gonna work out. If you still don't want to stay in Stacie's room by the end of the night, you can have my bed." When Aubrey lifts her head to look at her best friend, Chloe smiles reassuringly back at her.
A minute later, Chloe's phone buzzes and Aubrey asks, "Is that them?"
"Yeah, Beca says they'll be home in like five. C'mon, let's get out the plates and stuff." Chloe says in response, getting up and walking over to the cupboards in the kitchen. "Hey guys, they're almost back with the food!" She then calls to the rest of the house.
"Okay, it's almost time for the movie! Everyone has to wear their Christmas pajamas Jessica and I picked out. I gave them out yesterday, so you can go change now," Chloe tells everyone after eating. Aubrey then turns to Chloe, looking slightly confused.
"Chloe, was I supposed to bring Christmas pajamas? Because, you didn't tell me that, and also I don't own any," she says.
"Oh just wait, she has some for you too," Beca tells Aubrey, walking up behind her.
"Yep, I do! They're right over here!" Chloe then hands Aubrey a set of pajamas, folded nicely, and wrapped in a piece of red ribbon. "They're all matching! You're gonna love them," she adds. Aubrey smiles at Chloe as she takes the pajamas, but hums in uncertainty.
"Well, I'll go changed into them, thanks Chlo," Aubrey says, and heads up the stairs. When she makes it up to Stacie's room, she knocks on the door, waiting for Stacie's approval to open it.
"You can come in Aubrey, it's okay," comes from the other side of the door. Aubrey still slowly opens the door, not completely sure that Stacie's 'okay' means 'fully dressed'. After all, she does know how comfortable Stacie is in her body, and how much she doesn't really care how much people see.
"Aubrey, I have clothes on, you don't have to be so cautious. I changed in the bathroom anyway, so you don't have to see me naked this week. Unless you want to, of course," Stacie winks at Aubrey and smirks when she sees the older girl flush a light shade of red. "Plus, I did promise Chloe that I would sleep with clothes on while you're here." Stacie gestures to her pajama-clad tall figure.
"Wow, Stacie, such a gentleman," Aubrey quips back at Stacie. When she looks at Stacie's, admittedly low cut shirt, she laughs. The white top reads, "Merry Christmoose", and has a picture of a moose with multi-colored Christmas lights wrapped around the antlers. "Oh my god, those are the pajamas that Chloe picked out? Don't tell me they're all like that."
"I heard Jessica picked out the moose ones actually, and no they don't all say that. I think they look pretty cute though," Stacie responds. "The pants were too short for Emily and me though, so we had to cut them into shorts," she adds.
"Did you have to cut them so short though? Seems like overkill," Aubrey responds, looking at the very short shorts Stacie has made the pajama pants into. Aubrey does think they make her legs look really good though. She forgot how long they were. Damn her.
"What, you don't like them? I thought you would appreciate how good my legs look," Stacie wiggles her eyebrows at Aubrey, and smiles when she starts to laugh. "What do yours say?" When Aubrey unfolds the pajamas that were still in her hands, Stacie starts to laugh too. They read, "Catch Me Under the Mistle-toad", and have a picture of a toad in a Christmas hat hanging from a piece of red ribbon. "Oh my god, those are so much worse! Is Chloe trying to give you advice or call you a frog?" Stacie says through her giggles, eyes almost tearing up.
"She better not be calling me a toad," Aubrey says, noticeably not as amused as Stacie is about the situation. She narrows her eyes at Stacie. "What's so funny moose girl?" When Stacie continues to laugh, Aubrey swats her arm at her. Stacie starts to try to dodge Aubrey's arm, just laughing even more now.
"Get changed into your toad pajamas! I'll be downstairs waiting to see you in them," Stacie tells Aubrey as she runs out of the room, still trying to avoid Aubrey's arms.
Once Stacie is gone, Aubrey sits down on her bed. Or, the one she'll be sleeping in at least. Aubrey's mind does not leave Stacie though, and she thinks it probably won't be able to for most of the time she's here. Aubrey's liked Stacie for a while now, but man, spending this whole week staying in Stacie's room, she's not sure she'll ever be able to stop. As Aubrey gets changed into her pajamas, her mind shifts to thinking for a moment, 'Wow, Chloe was right, this room is freezing. How does Stacie sleep in here, let alone without clothes on.'
When Aubrey walks back into the living room, most everybody else is already seated. Jessica and Emily are passing out bowls of popcorn to everyone. As Aubrey looks around for a place to sit, she grabs a blanket and notices everyone else's pajamas. Ashley also has ones with a toad, Beca's say "Santa Jaws", and Chloe's and Jessica's both say "Duck the Halls". As her eyes keep scanning, she sees Stacie pat a spot next to her, smiling brightly. Aubrey takes her seat on the couch, in the spot Stacie had seemingly saved for her.
"Yay! I got my Bree," Stacie says, beaming, as Aubrey sits down, laying the blanket across the two of them. She immediately wraps her arms around her and sets her head on Aubrey's shoulder. The older girl laughs but makes no move to get out of Stacie's embrace. When she realizes Stacie probably has no intention of letting go of her, she relaxes into Stacie's arms, accepting the fact that she won't have the use of her arms for a while.
As everyone else sits down, the movie, Elf, Aubrey remembers, begins. Beca and Chloe are sat at the other end of the couch, also under a blanket, with Chloe completely cuddled up to the shorter girl. Jessica and Ashley have squished into a chair together, giggling and eating popcorn, seemingly completely content with the small space they are sharing. Aubrey thinks the couple is exceptionally cute and wonders if she and Stacie could be like that if they were together, before pushing the thought out of her mind, reminding herself that's crazy. She's brought back to reality she feels, more than hears, Stacie whisper, "Look at Beca and Chloe. They're so obviously in love with each other. Idiots."
Aubrey laughs quietly, "Yeah, I'm not sure how they don't see it. It's so obvious. Chloe is basically in Beca's lap." Stacie hums in agreement, arms still around Aubrey, but shifted down somewhat, almost around her waist.
"Hey, is this comfortable?" Stacie whispers to Aubrey again a few minutes later. She doesn't really want to move, but the position they are currently in doesn't seem to be the most optimal for Aubrey's arms, and the movement of them.
"I mean if I could use my arms to reach for some popcorn that would be nice, but you are warm and cozy," Aubrey replies, not really hoping that Stacie will back off completely, feeling quite safe in Stacie's arms. She does want popcorn though. When Stacie then pulls her into her lap Aubrey squeaks quietly, surprised. She settles in again though, and Stacie repositions her arms to better hold Aubrey's waist, letting her arms free to grab some popcorn.
"Is this better?" Stacie quietly asks. When she hears a content hum in return, she smiles and presses a feather-light kiss to the base of Aubrey's neck. She then feels Aubrey suck in a quick breath, which Stacie thinks is adorable, so she decides to do it again to see what happens. As she does, she keeps her mouth on Aubrey's neck just a moment longer and can feel the heat from Aubrey's probably flushed skin beneath her lips. Stacie hears a contented sigh in response and feels Aubrey relax into her even more. As she focuses back on the movie, Stacie thinks this might be the best thing that's happened to her since she met the blonde.
By the end of the movie, Aubrey is asleep in Stacie's lap, with her head on Stacie's shoulder. Chloe has fallen asleep in Beca's lap, and Emily is passed out in between the two pairs of girls. Beca reaches for the remote to turn off the movie and then quietly wakes up Chloe and Emily. "Hey, Chloe and I are gonna head upstairs to bed," Beca whispers to everyone while standing up, a sleepy Chloe leaning her head on the shorter girl's shoulder.
"Night guys," Stacie says quietly, trying not to wake Aubrey. She watches as almost everyone makes their way out of the living room, as she decides what to do with the sleeping Aubrey still on her lap. She decides it's probably best to wake her, rather than attempt to carry her up the stairs, just in case something goes wrong. She takes Aubrey's hands and rubs her thumbs across the backs of them, while whispering, "Hey Bree." Stacie hears her hum quietly, and stir slightly, but then she stills again. "Bree," Stacie says, a little louder, but still whispering. Nothing. She moves one of her hands up to Aubrey's cheek and brushes her thumb across it lightly, she then moves her mouth slightly closer to her ear, and one more time she tries, "Hey Bree, wake up." Stacie then feels the older girl stir more and knows she must be awake.
"Hmm, oh, sorry Stace, I never fall asleep during movies," Aubrey whispers, rubbing her eyes, before opening them to look at Stacie sleepily. She doesn't remember most of the movie, but she doesn't really mind, as Elf is not exactly her first choice of Christmas movie anyway.
"Maybe I'm just really comfortable," Stacie jokes, flashes a small smile at Aubrey. Aubrey lets out a small giggle in return, something she rarely does, which lets Stacie know that Aubrey really is quite sleepy still. "Okay, let's go upstairs Sleeping Beauty," Stacie says to the older girl.
"Aw, you think I'm beautiful?" Aubrey whispers sleepily, smiling lopsidedly at Stacie.
Stacie then lets out a quiet laugh, and says, "Okay yep, bedtime." Once they are both up off the couch, Stacie quickly folds the blanket that was draped over them and turns back to Aubrey. "Are you gonna be able to make it up the stairs without falling asleep?"
"Mmm, maybe," Aubrey replies, yawning. They then both walk up the stairs and to Stacie's room, Stacie walking behind Aubrey, just in case she needs to catch her if she falls asleep on her feet. When they reach Stacie's room, they both settle into their beds on opposite sides of the room.
"Goodnight Bree," Stacie whispers over from her bed.
"Night Stacie," Aubrey quietly replies. But the room is silent for only a few minutes, before Aubrey speaks again, just saying, "Stace?"
When Stacie hears Aubrey's voice again, she lifts her head, "Yeah?" She's slightly worried but has no idea why. She just hopes Aubrey hasn't decided she doesn't want to sleep in here for some reason.
"It's really cold in here," Stacie hears Aubrey say from across the room. She lets out a small laugh.
"Yeah, that's normal. Do you need another blanket? I can grab one from downstairs," Stacie says, moving to get out of her bed.
"Mmm, but you're more comfortable," Aubrey says groggily from the other bed. Stacie hears the words Aubrey says but doesn't want to let herself believe they could mean what she thinks they could.
Stacie, half-jokingly replies, "Well, there's room over here if you want." She makes sure to sound not too serious in her response, just in case Aubrey really was joking. But when she hears sheets rustling, she flushes slightly, thinking about the prospect of sleeping so close to Aubrey.
Aubrey then quietly pads over to Stacie's bed. She waits as Stacie gets up and allows Aubrey to slide into her bed first. Once they are both lying down, Stacie moves to the edge of the bed, trying to give Aubrey as much room as possible, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.
"Stacie, you look like you're about to fall off of your bed," Aubrey softly jokes. "I don't bite, unless you ask," she adds, to see if she can get a reaction out of the taller girl. When Stacie immediately turns over, eyebrows raised, Aubrey laughs.
"So, if I ask..." Stacie jokes back, and Aubrey swats at her shoulder, both of them laughing. Once they quiet down again, Stacie does move a little bit closer to Aubrey. The older girl then moves even closer and tucks her head into the crook of Stacie's neck.
"Goodnight, Stace," Aubrey whispers.
Stacie then carefully wraps an arm around Aubrey's middle, and quietly responds, "Goodnight, again, Bree." Stacie closes her eyes and feels herself begin to drift off to sleep, sure that this is going to be one of the best night's sleep she's had in a long time.
In Chloe's room, Beca helps the very sleepy, and slightly wobbly, older girl over to her bed. As Chloe gets into her bed, Beca asks "Hey, do you want me to stay in here tonight? I can, but I don't have to, cause, like I could totally-"
"Becs, you spend almost every night in here, you don't need to ask every time," Chloe laughs and says, pulling back her covers to allow room for Beca. She pats her hand on her bed next to her, signaling for Beca to get in.
"Right, yeah, of course," Beca responds, looking slightly embarrassed about her rambling. She then slides into Chloe's bed next to her. Chloe wraps an arm around Beca securely and kisses her on the shoulder. "Goodnight, Chlo," Beca adds quietly.
"Night Becs, love you," Chloe responds, sighing contently, and closing her eyes.
"Love you too, weirdo," Beca says before closing her eyes too. She falls asleep quickly, feeling comfortable and secure in Chloe's arms, like they could protect her from all of the problems and insecurities in her life.