Chapter 2.

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.

Aubrey blindly swings her arm towards her bedside table and pats for the blaring sound of her phone going off. Peeking out of one eye, she checks the time at the top of the screen and groans when she reads 8:15. With a frustrated sigh, she presses the Call button and rests her phone on her head.

"The diner better be on fire," she croaks, disregarding the apparent tiredness of her voice.

"One of these days, you will regret saying that." Beca's voice rings in her ears and if she isn't already so tired, she'd just hang up the phone to let Beca realize that she's the one who'll regret calling her in the first place.

"Is that day today?"

"No."

"So what do you want?" There's a slight pause. "Beca, what do you want?"

She hears Beca's heavy sigh and then, "I have to go deal with a family emergency or something. I need people to cover my shift."

"What?"

"There's been a situation regarding the Stepmother or something. Everyone else said that they'll help double up to pick up my slack. But I need someone to work today and Friday lunch. Cynthia Rose said she'd cover your shift tonight since she's trying to avoid Stacie because of some gambler girl named Santana from Ohio – I don't know. So can you do it?" She rubs the sleepiness out of her eyes as she attempts to follow along Beca stumbling over her own words. Finally, she hears Beca call for her. "Aubrey. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important and no one else can do it since everyone's pretty much already here."

She affords herself a couple of seconds in thought to process everything. She's still not used to Beca calling her, let alone asking for favors.

"Fine."

She doesn't say anything else, just prepares herself to go back to sleep. She's ready to turn over when she hears Beca.

"Okay, um, cool. You come in at 1 today and work until 9, by the way."

She doesn't hang up. She probably should since this conversation is more than finished. Instead she waits for Beca to sputter out random words while she imagines her coworker staring at her phone wondering if she's already hung up. It gives her some level of satisfaction listening to Beca awkwardly handle herself on the phone. At least that never gets old.

/

She catches maybe an hour more of sleep until she concedes defeat and rises from bed. It's the trouble with being a light sleeper. It's a shame too since she'd finally gotten to a good part of her dream. She can't quite remember it, just knows that she was being rescued by a certain wild animal in the forest. It's the first time in a long time that she's even remembered her dreams. She's sure that there's some dream analysis that could explain any of it, but none of that can give her another hour of sleep, so she lets it go.

After begrudgingly getting out of bed and readying herself for the day, she sets to her kitchen to find that her cereal is nearing empty and her refrigerator has nothing save for half container of milk.

It comes as a surprise to realize that there isn't any decent food around the house. But the past few days have just somehow thrown her off her groove. She usually does her groceries after she stops by the diner during her day off, but having to clean up after Bumper's mess with their new employee has changed those plans.

Not to say that Ruby is a mess. The other employees have taken a liking to her no problem. And she'll freely admit that she's one of the most beautiful people she's ever seen. Ruby knows how to work in a diner and how to work the customers. She's the kind of team player that Aubrey would want in her own diner. But she can't deny that ever since Ruby stepped into town, her life's somehow taken a step out of its boring but safe routine.

She can't – and shouldn't – blame it on that, but a part of her does anyway.

Still a little sleepy and hungry, she counts her frustration out in ten seconds before pulling her keys from the hook and shouldering her purse as she heads to the grocery store.

.

"That'll be $10.70." The cashier, a plump redheaded woman with a hairnet, starts to bag three packs of Lean Cuisines on sale and two bottles of Gatorade.

"Okay." She opens her purse and paws for her wallet. Panic starts to settle in when she can't find it after rummaging through her things and quickly searching through the side pockets.

"Ma'am, if you don't have the money for this, then I'm going to need you to put this stuff back."

She breathes hard through her nose and does her best not to glare at the cashier. "I have the money. I might have just forgotten my wallet at home, hang on."

"We have customers waiting."

She stops her search and turns around to find no one in their aisle. She looks pointedly at the cashier just staring back at her. "I think you'll be fine. This won't take too long." She plops her purse down on the counter and speeds her search for any bills and change that she may have forgotten to put back in her wallet.

"Lady, please."

Just as prepares to sternly talk with the cashier she hears a voice beside her.

"Aubrey?"

She freezes in her spot and can already see how disastrous this is going to turn out to be.

"Ruby. Hi." She gathers enough courage to look up from her purse and offer a polite smile. She's a lady after all.

"Look, lady. If you don't have the money for it, I'm going to ask you to go put these items back. There are customers waiting."

"I can wait," Ruby says, leaning on the edge of the conveyer belt, a small smile plastered on her face.

She lets out a strangled laugh. "I think I forgot my wallet at home but I'm sure I have like a twenty folded up somewhere in here." She pushes through all of the clutter and prays that a ten dollar bill and some quarters suddenly appear.

"I can just add your stuff to mine. I'm only buying duct tape and chips."

"No, I couldn't. It's fine, I'll just put it back."

"Really, I insist. I don't mind." Ruby shifts her focus to the cashier, reading the name on her nametag. "Louise, right? How much is her bill?"

"Ruby, really-" She tries to interrupt, but Ruby only offers her a reassuring smile before continuing her conversation with the cashier.

"$10.70."

"Okay, well if you could just ring these two up with hers, that'd be great."

Defeated, she slings her purse onto her shoulders and dips her head. "Thanks," she offers lamely. "I'll pay you back at work later."

"Sure, that's fine." Ruby pays for their groceries and thanks Louise before picking up the three bags together with one hand, her other hand extending for her to lead the way. Silently, she walks a little in front of Ruby until they've exited the store and have stepped to the side.

Ruby hands her two bags to her. "Here you go, Boss."

"Thanks. You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I know. But it's not a big deal. I didn't mind it."

"Well, thank you. Like I said, I'll pay you back tonight at work. I just forgot my wallet."

"That's fine. There's no real rush or anything."

She finds that she's not sure how to end their conversation like a normal human being. So she doesn't; instead she abruptly expresses her goodbyes before turning away and heading to her car.

"Hey, wait. Aubrey!" She slows her walking down to a full stop until Ruby's taken the steps to catch up to her. She puts on a polite smile and straightens herself out with some dignity. She's a lady, after all. "Do you recommend any good places for lunch that isn't the diner?"

"Um…"

"I don't have anything against the diner or anything. I just thought I'd try to check out the town, you know?"

Staring up at Ruby, she realizes that the handful of names of her favorite dining establishments have somehow eluded her. But Ruby just stands patiently in front of her. "There's Fosters down at Maple St. They have some pretty good burgers."

"Do you wanna join me for lunch?"

The question surprises her. She's known this woman for no more than 48 hours and yet here she is asking her to join her for lunch. It doesn't mean anything because Ruby is new in town and would probably just generally like the company of someone she knows dining with her, showing her around town. It's a friendly gesture of a stranger doing her best to familiarize herself with the environment. She understands this idea completely. It's how she and Chloe became best friend years ago, so she knows.

But standing in front of an expectant Ruby, a tentative smile on her face, makes her feel like it's something more. She has nothing concrete to base these feelings on except for her increased heart rate and the sudden appearance of fluttering in her stomach.

"No." She opens her mouth and she doesn't expect to hear her voice say it. She fights outwardly cringing at how loud and how quick she throws the word out.

"Oh."

Internally berating herself for her lack of tact, she takes a deep breath before trying again. "Sorry, I can't. I just have a bunch of stuff to do today. Sorry." She repeats the last part for good measure. That should compensate for it.

Ruby bites her bottom lip and stares at her before nodding and placing that impeccably bright smile back on her face. "Okay. Well, maybe next time or something?

"Maybe next time."

"Thanks for the recommendation."

"You're welcome."

Ruby eventually bids her farewell and heads to her own car. She stealthily sneaks glances towards the red Camaro a few spots away. When Ruby's car pulls out of its spot, she casually pulls her phone out of her pocket and pretends to read a text even as she steals glances of the retreating Camaro.

When she buckles into her seat, she shakes her head at how silly she feels after the whole thing. She internally scolds herself for acting so strangely and unlike herself. But the moment soon passes when she hears her stomach growl and remembers why she's at the grocery store in the first place.

/

Beca practically ambushes her by the time she walks in the diner fifteen minutes before her shift starts. It's one of the few times that Beca ever willingly approaches her so she guesses that this is a serious situation. It's not the way she wants to start her shift since her morning has been far too strange for her liking. Beca practically falls over herself when she gets her tiny foot caught on one of the rugs.

She hears the words awkwardly stumbling out of Beca's mouth. She's at least glad that the she's a lot more composed and better adjusted than Beca is. How Chloe's supremely outgoing and social self can handle someone as socially inept as Beca is beyond her.

She does her best to focus but she's failing. The words are slow in processing themselves in her brain and when Beca stares up at her with an impatient expression of concern and mild panic on her face, Aubrey just shakes her head.

Beca's out of the diner in a flash and she has just enough time to turn around to see Beca speeding out of the parking lot. When she returns her attention to the diner, Fat Amy gives her the thumbs up.

"You almost gave the girl a heart attack," Fat Amy tells her as she walks up next to her by the register at the front.

"What? Why?"

"Did you not hear what she said to you?"

She shrugs the concern and starts shuffling through the schedule. "I was never good at paying full attention to her. You know that. What did she say?"

"She asked if you were gonna fire her in the event that she doesn't come back on time."

"What'd I tell her?"

"You won't. But I thought you were going to because you didn't answer right away."

She waves the idea off and puts the papers back where she got them. "She's not gonna get fired. She's the one with our music. We need her."

She starts making her way towards the back but Fat Amy doesn't let her; she just narrows her eyes a little and staring at her. "Something's weird about you."

"What are you talking about?"

She scoffs before rolling her eyes and pushing past Fat Amy. "I'm going to find out about it. I'll be the Australian version of Sherlock Holmes.

"Get back to work, Sherlock." Fat Amy obliges but not until she signals to Aubrey that she'll be keeping an eye on her. She purses her lips and waits for Fat Amy to be done with her shenanigans before heading towards the back and starting her shift.

She greets Lilly and Luke at the kitchen and asks how the morning shift went filling her attention with work.

/

It's a miracle she succeeds in leading the group to sing during performance hours with just how distracted and unfocused she feels today. A couple of the other girls ask her if she's okay but she chalks it up to her shift change and tiredness. They all seem to take it without much trouble, but Chloe zones in on her during a lull late in the afternoon.

She notices Chloe tapping her pen on her order pad just watching her from the other side of the counter. She pretends she doesn't see her best friend observing her and attempting to dechiper her by busying herself with wiping down the counter.

After cleaning the entire counter until it practically shines, Chloe leans forward. "What's with you, girl?"

"Nothing. The change of scenery is just throwing me off a little bit."

Chloe surveys her, considering how genuine her answer is before she asks, "Is that all?"

"Of course. Why?"

"Nothing. Something's just…different."

"Nothing's different. I'm just tired."

Chloe eventually relents and drops the subject altogether, and asks her about what she'll be doing with her early night off. She's certain that Chloe will broach this subject again later, but as long as it's not right now, she couldn't care less. She humors her best friend and tells her that she's going to pick up some pizza after work and watch Chopped on Netflix.

.

By the time the dinner rush comes into full swing, she thinks she's ready to just go home and plop into bed. It's been a while since she's worked an earlier shift and has almost forgotten how much busier things are around these these peak hours.

Coming back from the backroom with a new stack of takeout boxes, she almost collides into Ruby. She'd have fallen on her ass and dropped the boxes if it wasn't for Ruby's quick reflexes. She feels hands grip her arms keeping her steady and upright.

With a small smile, Ruby releases her hold. "You all right?"

"Yeah, thanks," she says softly, her heart beating quickly from all the adrenaline.

"Do you need help?"

"No, no. I'm good thank you. Sorry about that, should have been more careful."

"Sure, no problem. Are you-are you working right now?" Ruby asks as she's slowly pulling her leather jacket off to hang on the wall.

"Yeah-yes, I am."

"Oh. That's cool. It looks super busy out there."

She thinks she hears Ruby sound sad to find out she's working a much earlier shift but she's probably just imaging it. Besides, she's been tired all day.

"Yeah."

As the two of them stand in front of each other, she discovers that this feels all too familiar. She's unsure how to proceed with this particular interaction. It's not until Ruby points at the takeout boxes in her hands that she remembers where she is and what she's doing. Without another word, she rushes back out to the main room and hands out the boxes to her customers.

As she starts cleaning up the table, she throws a glance towards the back where Ruby and Lilly are somehow making and succeeding in having a conversation. It's an unusual sight since Ruby doesn't look like she's straining any effort to listen or trying her best to run for her life. She should be surprised because as much as she loves her friends and coworkers, it takes a while to warm up to a lot of them. But newcomer Ruby in her combat boots and leather jacket looking like some kind of motorcycle gang member is making friends with everyone with a snap of the fingers.

At this point she thinks that if Ruby can befriend Lilly and Beca, she can befriend anybody.

She doesn't have the chance to wonder for too long about this when she goes to help out Jessica at the register ringing up her customers.

After her shift ends, she finally clocks out and takes off her apron even as she gives orders to the night shift workers coming in. Chloe gives her an amused smile as she leans on the counter just watching her.

"I forget how much busier things are during normal hours," she comments as she wraps her scarf around her neck.

"You can always come back, you know. I think your self-exile thing has gone on long enough."

She laughs a little, grinning at her best friend. "Yeah, I know. But I like the night shift."

Chloe mutters something under her breath before giving her an all-too bright smile.

"What?"

Chloe shakes her head. "Nothing. Nothing."

"Don't tell her I asked this, but how's Beca?"

Chloe sighs, her playful demeanor changing. "She's pretty upset for being tricked into spending time with people she doesn't know or like because her mom thinks she should extend an olive branch to her dad. She feels really awkward hanging around all of them."

"When does she not feel awkward?" Chloe looks pointedly at her.

"She hates being around old people she doesn't know-"

"She hates being around people," she corrects.

"-yeah, but apparently this 'old hag' – her words, not mine – dislikes the Stepmonster as much as she does, so they're bonding over that."

"I always figured your girlfriend was really an old grumpy woman at heart."

"Yeah thanks," Chloe says, playfully shoving her shoulder. "Don't you have a pizza to annihilate tonight and a bunch of Chopped episodes to watch?"

"Yes, I do."

She hugs her best friend before making her way to the door. But when she sees Ruby take orders from a table towards the back, she remembers something. She pulls some money out of her pocket and counts up the right amount.

"Oh! Before I forget, give this to Ruby."

"Eleven dollars? Why?"

"I owed her from earlier today. I realized I wasn't working the night shift tonight and she's busy now, so I don't wanna interrupt her."

"Okay, sure. I'll give it to her."

She waves goodbye to her coworkers and takes in the cold Georgian evening air, holding the door open for a group of people coming in for dinner.

When she pulls out of her spot, she takes a quick look back at the diner and swears that Ruby's staring back at her.

/

With her supreme deluxe pizza and bottle of beer set up in her living room, she starts flipping through her Netflix account until she finds the last episode she watched.

As she gets herself comfortable on the couch, she quickly scans through her phone and the notification on the top captures her attention. It's the same voicemail from the day before. She wishes that she'd deleted it after listening to it. She always says that but she never actually does. She'll worry about that tomorrow. Right now she's working on enjoying her early night and sleeping in.

In the middle of her movie, she gets a text from Chloe.

Gave Ruby the money.

Thanks. Did she say anything?

Nope, just said thanks.

She closes the message and pushes the phone to the side. She does her best to center all of her attention on the episodes, but she's lost her focus. It's nothing new especially with how the day's gone for her.

She spends the rest of her night looking at the screen and missing what's happening. All she sees in her mind is a replay of her encounter with Ruby at the grocery store in her mind over and over again.

/

She spots Ruby perusing the bins outside of Kimmy Jin's thrift store during her jog to compensate for eating half of the pizza box the night before.

The town is small, the town square even smaller. The idea that she'll run into people shouldn't be something that shocks her. But it's the idea of running into Ruby that irrationally puts her on edge that she feels like she's going to hurl. She doesn't understand any of it and wonders why this is happening to her in the first place (she disregards the possibility that the Universe is punishing her for ignoring her mother's phone call). All she knows is that somehow her harmless jog through town becomes unexpectedly complicated.

She's not sure if this is some kind of test from the Universe, but she thinks the Universe should stop.

She jogs in place right behind some bushes peeking over it to see where Ruby's headed. When she sees Ruby enter the store, she takes that as her cue to keep running with her head down.

She thinks she's in the clear when she passes the door. Her moment of invisibility is short-lived when she hears an already too-familiar voice calling after her.

"Oh hey, Boss." Slowing to a stop, she turns around and jogs back, her breathing a little heavy.

"Hi, Ruby. How are you?"

"Not too bad, out shopping." She points a thumb back behind her.

"That's cool. I'm just going for a run." She wants to slap herself for sounding so stupid because why else would she be wearing ugly sweats and running shoes if she's not running.

"Right. Thanks for the recommendation yesterday, by the way. You know, Fosters. The bacon burger was definitely worth the trip."

She nods already feeling the burn in her lungs. "Sure, not a problem."

Kimmy Jin interrupts their conversation with a grimace on her face as she holds up a lamp, undoubtedly for Ruby.

"Are you going to buy this, Miss, or what?"

She nods towards Kimmy Jin staring at them. "Hi, Kimmy Jin."

Kimmy Jin blinks a couple of times, her facial expression not changing once. How she and Beca have endured years of sharing the same apartment baffles her, but figures it's best not to think in depth about the subject. She turns back to Ruby. "Anyway, I'll let you get back to your shopping. I'm gonna finish my run. I'll see you later at work."

She waves goodbye and sets off to put as much distance between them. She does her best to remain composed in her run because she can just feel eyes watching her. She turns onto the first corner and leans on the wall, trying her best to catch her breath.

/

Ruby's already helping Cynthia Rose with her tables by the time Aubrey gets to the diner. She takes that as an apology from the Universe and busies herself with her own work.

Every now and then, after she rings up a customer or while she's clearing a table, she'll look up and find Ruby across the diner. She doesn't mean to, but her sight just gravitates towards her. She'll pause what she's doing and just watch Ruby smile and joke with the customers, brunette tresses swishing by when she walks away to get their drinks.

It scares her a little (okay, a lot) to basically creep on someone she's known for no more than a couple of days. She's usually better about self-control but right now she just can't help herself. She's at least glad that she's not being super obvious about it. She's fairly certain that she's being subtle about the whole thing. But just in case she's not, she makes a point to turn her back towards Ruby when she turns away.

The stream of customers throughout the late night keeps everyone occupied enough that the next time she gets a chance to take a real breather, her shift is almost over.

She's making notes for herself by the front counter when she hears Jesse intercept Ruby on her way to put away her apron. She tries not to eavesdrop but she can't help it (it's that strange lack of self-control thing again). She pretends to get up from her spot, her pad of paper and pen still in hand and stands by some of the shelves just by the kitchen entrance so she can hear better.

"Hey, new girl."

"What's up?"

"My name's Jesse."

"Ruby."

"Nice to meet you, Ruby. Anyway, I'm not sure if anybody's invited you yet, but a bunch of us are gonna meet up for dinner tomorrow over at Bernadita's and then back at the house for our weekly movie night."

"Oh, that's…cool."

Aubrey can already hear that little-boy-at-Christmas kind of excitement through Jesse's voice. "Yeah! We do it every Friday night. Anybody from the diner is welcome, and that includes you."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

She pushes her way towards the room once she's done dallying around with her pen and paper. She greets the two of them still hanging around at the back before minding her own business and putting her things away. She leans her head just a little towards them when she hears them resume their conversation.

"Oh, Ruby. Just to sweeten the pot: if you go, you would tie with Aubrey for number of times she's gone to Movie Night."

She does her best not to react when she just knows that there are eyes focused on her.

"What? Just once?"

Jesse responds with an amused laugh. "Yep! Just once. And that one took a lot of trickery from Chloe and Fat Amy to even happen. Benji wanted to do a magic trick to do it, but we might have gotten fired if it didn't work out."

Ruby whistles. "Wow, that is tempting."

She can see out of the corner of her eye Jesse nodding his head, a smug grin on his face. "Maybe I'll go, we'll see."

"We're counting on you, Ruby Tuesday," he says finally before walking towards his workstation. Ruby chuckles as she calls out her goodbye to him. She catches a glimpse from the corner of her eye of black boots facing her.

She looks up from her spot. "Night, Boss."

"Night." A part of her wants to add something like "have a safe drive home" or "see you tomorrow" but thought better against it.

She watches Ruby zip her jacket close and make her way past the kitchen and towards the main room.

As she picks her things up, she finds a red scarf beside her and instantly recognizes it to be Ruby's. She prohibits herself from thinking why she even recognizes it in the first place.

She can let it stay there for Ruby to find the next time she comes back to work. Or she can take the five seconds to run up to her and give it to her. Rolling her eyes at herself for unnecessarily making her own life difficult, she picks up the scarf and rushes towards the front. She waves goodbye to the others before pushing the door open and getting hit with the nip of the cold air. "Ruby!"

Ruby stops in her tracks, a blank expression on her face with her hands tucked in her jacket pockets. Standing shouldn't look so attractive, but she can't dwell on that now. Aubrey takes the opportunity to jog the last few yards until they're face to face once again. She extends her hand up to show Ruby her scarf.

"You forgot this. Jesse said you-so I thought I'd just-um, since I was leaving too," she mumbles, the last few words tapering into a whisper.

"Right. Thanks." Ruby accepts her scarf and wraps it around her neck. She starts to walk away and towards her car until Aubrey calls back for her.

"You should go," she starts to say even though she doesn't know how to end it. "You should go to the movie night."

"Are you going?" she asks.

"Wha-oh, no, I don't think so. There's a lot to do around here."

"Right."

"I just figured it'd be a good way to welcome you to town outside of the diner. Plus, Jesse's a good guy and I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun."

"Why does that sound like a set up?" Ruby questions, tilting her head to the side.

"It's not," she says a lot harsher than she intends. She mends her tone this time. "I just mean that he really loves his movies and he'd be excited to have people share that with him."

"I'll consider it. I still have to get my apartment in order; it's still pretty empty."

She stares at Ruby's lips moving, a small stream of air coming out from the cold. When Ruby licks her lips, a chill runs down her spine and Aubrey completely blames it on the weather. She jerks up when she hears Ruby call for her, her attention finding its way back to Ruby's eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Aren't you freezing?"

Ruby shrugs. "Not too badly."

"Really?"

"I grew up in the north. It gets plenty cold up there."

She lets out a groan and it somehow makes Ruby laugh, an idea that she hasn't even entertained but finds she likes to hear. "So, like, this is basically summer weather for you?"

Ruby shrugs again, a small smile on her face. "Something like that."

"Oh god, I couldn't handle that."

"I'm sure you could manage." Aubrey doesn't realize that they'd spent the last minute or so talking until they arrive in front of Ruby's car.

"Nice wheels," Aubrey offers, motioning towards Ruby's red Camaro.

"Thanks, it was my grandmother's."

"That doesn't sound very badass."

"Was it supposed to be?"

"I don't know. I mean, someone like you with a car like this has to have some kind of bad girl image, right?"

She watches Ruby drum her fingers on the hood with confusion etched on her face. Aubrey thinks she's said something wrong or offensive by how quiet Ruby's gotten. She's ready to take back whatever offending sentiment it is she's said until Ruby speaks up.

"Why are you-" Ruby stops herself and takes a breath before trying again. "Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?"

She can't contain her surprise fast enough; it's a thought that has never once crossed her mind. "What are you talking about?"

"Ever since I got here, you've done a pretty good job avoiding me. You even worked a different shift yesterday. And now we're just chatting like a couple of schoolgirls."

"I hardly think we were chatting like schoolgirls just now." She's fairly certain that she and Chloe chat like schoolgirls. How she talks with Ruby feels nothing like that. Most chatty schoolgirls don't feel like knots in their stomach and the possibility of puking out her dinner at the thought of talking to each other.

"This is the most amount of voluntary conversation you've had with me. Every time I run into you either at work or in town you look like you can't leave fast enough. I mean, if it's about the job, I'm sorry. But I had a deal with Bumper and a deal's a deal."

Aubrey looks down and away as she pulls her jacket around her. "Look, I'm sorry if I've made you feel unwelcome around here. It's been a really off week. The last couple of days have been really weird for some reason. I'm not avoiding you."

"I mean, I know that I just popped up out of nowhere."

"No, it's fine. It's really okay."

"You don't have to like me. It's fine if you don't-"

"No, I like you!" she practically yells aloud, her voice echoing in the emptiness of the night. She scratches her forehead and tries again, giving herself sometime to calm back down. "I mean, I don't hate you or anything. I had to cover for Beca yesterday, in case you were wondering why I switched shifts."

She can see Ruby's jaw clench, considering her words. "So you don't hate me?"

"No. Whatever's happened the last couple of days wasn't about you. We're good."

"Okay." Aubrey can sense that her new coworker wants to say something else. What comes out is nothing but a puff of air visible under the streetlamps. "Well, have a good night."

She doesn't look assured in the slightest, but she lets Ruby go as she heads to her own car. When she looks at her rearview mirror, she sees the red Camaro pass her by. Before she puts the car back into gear, the red blinking light from her phone catches her attention. When she checks the screen there are no new messages. It's just the voicemail she still hasn't bothered to delete.

Not feeling up to dealing with it, she turns her phone over on the passenger seat and drives home already wishing to be home in her bed.

/

When she goes into the town square the next day before heading to work, she catches herself looking around for a certain someone. They've ran into each other a couple of times already, it almost feels like it should be a thing. It's an irrational thought, much like most of the thoughts pertaining to her coworker (and something she totally, totally despises), but she can't shake the feeling off.

She can't quite put her finger on it, but she has a hunch that it feels it's a lot like disappointment.

.

Aubrey finds herself with a rare Friday off ahead of her.

She planned on staying longer at the diner to get ready for the weekend after she finishes Beca's lunch shift for her, but Fat Amy kicks her out. She tells Aubrey to go away and do something else with her life that doesn't involve the diner. She normally doesn't let the other girls boss her around because she's always afraid that the diner will somehow burn down or one of the girls gets arrested but after the week she's head, she thinks she could use the time off.

So she goes home and parks herself on her living room floor with half a bottle of wine, a stack of magazines, her computer, and the three binders for her Dream Diner scrapbook. They're binders she's kept since she started working at Barden for the last six years while still in college. Each binder has a table of contents, all color-coded and organized in sections with sub-sections tabbed in matching colors. Each section has swatches, handwritten notes and cut out pictures of what her dream diner would look like; from the kinds of booth seats and tables to the kinds of dinner ware to the designs of uniforms for the staff.

Ever since she'd been a teenager, she'd always wanted to run her own diner. She started seriously considering the possibilities when she began working for Barden. But it wasn't until the rift with her father that she began trying to make it into a reality.

She spends the next few hours flipping through magazines and surfing various websites for ideas and plans. Eventually, after finishing the bottle of wine and tiring her eyes, she plops herself to the couch for a well-earned nap.

.

She's a little groggy and definitely hungry when she wakes up a little after dinner time. As she rubs the sleep out of her eyes, her gaze comes into focus on the binders on the floor. Sighing, she picks them up and puts them back in the closet; her dreams will have to wait another day.

She heats up one of her Lean Cuisine dinners with a glass of water and flips through the television. She loses interest soon after she finishes her dinner. She thinks about going back to the diner, but after looking through her binders, she thinks against it.

It's still early for a Friday night and she can usually rely on working at the diner. But tonight, much like the last week, has thrown her for a loop and she's not sure what to do with herself. It's far too early to go to bed on a Friday night so she's left with the only viable option she can think of.

.

The drive takes her a lot longer than she remembers the last time she was here. She doesn't usually travel more than a couple of miles from the town square, but Jesse lives in his parents' old house in the more rural parts before retiring in Miami with all the other people. It takes her a while to recall how to get there especially since the last time she'd gone had been almost a year ago. She ends up circling back the same street struggling to remember where he lived.

She feels confident about knocking at the right house when she sees Jesse's Toyota corolla parked in the driveway.

She hesitates pressing the doorbell, her hand hovering in the air with her finger just centimeters away from the button. With a small bout of courage, she leans forward, her finger eventually pushing it. She can just hear the bell chime in from inside.

She readies to press the button again when the door before her opens.

"Aubrey!" He greets, shock in his voice.

"Jesse, hi."

"This is a surprise. What are you doing here?"

"You invited me, remember?"

"No, of course. You're right, I did. I just wasn't expecting you. I thought you'd be off working or doing something important and official or something."

"Nope, not tonight."

"Well come on in!" He stands back and pushes the door a little to make room for her. She clutches at the ends of her scarf and scans the room quickly. It looks exactly the same as the last time she'd been there. A lot of magician's gear is scattered around the dining room and she has to remind herself that Jesse and Benji are roommates.

"I'm sure that everyone's going to be super excited about this. By the way, here you go." He rummages through his pocket until he comes up with a gold star sticker. She laughs despite herself.

"Thanks."

"Don't forget to stick it on the board so the other lonely star finally has a partner." She playfully shoves him forward to the master bedroom-turned in-house theater. Why they've turned the biggest room into a hobby area is beyond her, but then again she can't really talk much. Her apartment is pretty bare and most of it isn't even being used.

"You're just in time for the second movie, so this is perfect timing."

Just before Jesse opens the door, he grabs her by the shoulders and stops her right beside him where the rest of the group inside can't possibly see.

He pushes the door open and exaggerates clearing his throat. "Guess who's here."

"The pizza delivery guy!" Aubrey rolls her eyes when she hears Fat Amy's booming voice.

"No. Even better!" With an excited grin, he beckons for her to show herself. Feeling put on the spot, she hesitates until he's pulling her by the arm.

She waves awkwardly at them trying to somehow disappear with all of her coworkers' eyes gawking at her. It's Fat Amy that bounces back from the apparent shock of her presence.

"No offense, Aub, but you're not better than the pizza delivery guy. Unless you are the pizza delivery guy."

"You're here!" Chloe jumps up from her seat on the recliner and rushes towards her best friend. "What are you doing here? I thought you had plans?"

"Plans changed," she says vaguely. As she looks around the room, her sights land on Ruby sitting at the edge of the second couch towards the back. "Plus I, uh, didn't want to tie with the new girl for last place."

Laughter fills the room as the rest of her coworkers turn to look at the new girl sitting in the back. Ruby just shrugs. "I guess I'll have to go twice as much as she does to keep up."

"That won't be hard!" Cynthia Rose jokes.

Eventually, the room settles back down and resituates themselves back into their seats. She makes her way to the back and points at the empty spot beside Ruby on the couch. There are still pockets of space around the room for her to pick, but she wants to make a point that she's not some kind of hater like Ruby thinks she is.

"Is someone sitting here?"

"All yours," Ruby says as she pulls her legs up from the floor and crosses them underneath her.

She doesn't want to spend the next two hours feeling awkward and so unlike herself so she decides to take matters into her own hands.

"Ruby, listen," she starts to whisper. "About last night-"

"Don't worry about it. We're good, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"We're all good, Boss." Ruby puts a hand on her shoulder and she feels the warmth of the pressure pass through her sweater. The reassurance on Ruby's face is good enough for her to drop the subject altogether. Ruby pulls her hand back and places it on her shin.

"So what are we watching?" she asks finally while everyone in front of them are calming down.

"Moulin Rouge." She can't help the excitement on her face when she hears that they're watching one of her favorite movies.

"Who picked it?"

"I did."

"Really? It's my favorite movie."

"Yeah? Mine too."

"Is it because the color red is in the name?" she asks, a smirk on her face.

Ruby chuckles beside her and leans to her side a little until the side of her knee is touching Aubrey's thigh. "I didn't think about that. I just like the singing."

Their small moment is interrupted when Jesse shushes Cynthia Rose and Chloe from their mild argument about redheads and presses the play button. The opening music booms through the surround sound speakers and all of them are at once captivated by the screen. She looks away from the screen to find Chloe looking at her, a smile on her face. She waves at her best friend who waves back before returning her attention back onto the screen.

Chancing a glance to her side every now and then, she sees Ruby mouthing along the words to the movie.

She doesn't think she could have wiped the smile on her face if she tried.

/

The next morning, she decides to treat herself to brunch before heading to work later that afternoon. It's something she learned from her mother, treating herself right whenever she gets the chance, especially since she'd grown up with work hard, work harder mentality her father's instilled on her.

Having gone to Jesse's movie night has proved to be a success and she feels good today. Even with her mother's voicemail haunting her from her phone, she wants to keep this day a good one.

So she'll take it as a sign from the Universe when she collides into Ruby on her walk to Fosters.

"Ruby!"

"Hi, hey. Sorry about that. Are you all right?" Ruby asks, holding her up, one hand on Aubrey's arm, the other in her hand.

"I'm great. I mean, I'm fine. Thanks." She straightens herself up after Ruby lets go of her. Before her brain has a chance to catch up with her mouth, the comment's already been made. "You have good reflexes. Are you a cat or something?"

Ruby laughs but shakes her head. "No, not a cat. It supposedly runs in the family, so."

The lull in their interaction proves to be as good a time as any to help continue redeeming herself. "I know you're probably busy but I'm already headed to Fosters if you want to maybe grab some brunch. They have weekend specials that you might like, and I thought that-"

"You don't have to prove that you don't hate me. I believe you," Ruby says, interrupting her. Aubrey takes a calming breath. She expected that response and many others like it, but she came prepared (that's the key to success) with a variety of responses.

"No, I know. I'm usually a lot better than what I've been the last couple of days. It's just been an off week. I promise. So I'd like to replace your first impression of me with a better one."

Ruby chuckles and takes a step forward until they're facing each other. "All right. Lead the way."

Aubrey smiles, a genuine one, and they make their way down the street.

"Beca would never believe how nice you're being."

"Well I'm nice to everyone but her so probably not."

"Are you guys not friends?"

She taps her chin and scrunches her face in thought. "It's complicated. Chloe wants us to be friends but I think we're just really good at tolerating each other."

"Oh, okay. I get what you mean."

As they turn the corner, she changes the topic.

"Anyway, enough about Beca. How cute was Ewan McGregor last night, right?"

"I don't know, I couldn't take my eyes off of Nicole Kidman the whole time."