Pitch Perfect 1. Chapter 1

**A/N-So I don't know what I'm doing here but here it goes slight AU Beca/Jesse – oh and I don't own Pitch Perfect or anything else that seems familiar – enjoy**

**Chapter 1-**

The room was quiet and bathed in moonlight. Beca walked into Jesse's dorm room without a word. So quietly Jesse didn't hear her come in, so quietly that when she appeared on top of him, the surprise took his breath away.

Beca straddled Jesse on his bed, kissing him fiercely. He soon recovered from the shock of seeing her there and began to kiss her back deeply, his hands lightly roaming her body, brushing his fingers along her rib cage. His kisses became more passionate and needy trailing down her neck, his hands making quick work of the buttons on her shirt and relieving her of it. Beca ran her hands through his hair and moaned softly at his every touch.

Jesse's mouth worked its way back to Beca's ear, his breath warm against her skin.

"Beca," he whispers, his breath husky and soft, "you know you want me."

Beca couldn't deny the claim and went in for another passionate kiss…

_BEEP …BEEP…BEEP_

Beca rolled over reaching her hand out and flinging it wildly to shut off the alarm. She rolled back on to her back, refusing to open her eyes yet, she exhaled.

"Damnit" She cursed, not sure if she was angry that she just had a sex dream about Jesse, or because she woke up before it got any further.

Definitely the first, it had to be, she didn't feel _that_ way about Jesse. She barely tolerated working with him, well maybe more than barely tolerated, on occasion he could be amusing and charming and sometimes he was thoughtful, wait, she is digressing. The point is…wait, what was her point? She groans in annoyance as her eyes scan the room, landing on the clock. Crap! She's going to be late for work now, stupid Jesse, stupid dream, stupid boss who gave her the stupid morning shift at the stupid bookstore!

Beca threw on some semi-clean clothes from the floor, wiped the excess eyeliner from under her eyes and quickly combed her hair. She double-checked her reflection in the mirror before she ran out. Crap, why do her cheeks still look so flushed?

Before her thoughts could wander back to what had gotten her so worked up, she was already standing at the coffee kiosk on route to the bookstore. Caffeine could solve all of her problems.

She placed her order and patiently waited for the guy to fill it, or as patient as she could be, tapping her foot an checking the time on her phone often.

"Here you go Beca," Benji handed her the glorious life force and that earned him a genuine Beca smile.

"Benji, you know you are my favorite person in the world right now, right?" and at this moment, Beca meant it.

Benji smiled and nodded, as he did every morning, before his attention was back on _his_ favorite person in the world, Chloe Beale, the bubbly red head was behind her in line, and if she didn't run now she would be forced to have an all too alert conversation with her.

Using her best stealth moves, she made it to the campus bookstore, and managed to sneak in without her boss seeing her. She lounged herself against the back wall, trying to appear bored and not like she just ran in.

"Real smooth Mitchell," Beca's eyebrows shoot up to her hairline, hearing the familiar voice. She turned around attempting to look nonchalant as her eyes zeroed in on the source of the comment. He was not supposed to be working today. Nonetheless, there he was her dream in real life. His eyes twinkling in amusement, his hair never properly combed, - did he even own a mirror? - his smile lighting up his whole face with dimples that could melt a girl into a puddle on the floor. Not Beca of course, just random non-present females, or so she's heard of or seen on occasion in the bookstore. What?! We are not talking about her and her nocturnal fantasies! Jesse was chuckling lightly.

"You know you only get away with being late every other morning because I punch your time card for you, yet you never bring me a coffee?" his mock hurt voice and smug grin meets her cold stare.

This merely earns him an eye roll and a slight scoff.

Jesse, undeterred by her, continues on in his work whistling - yes whistling … at 9am… on a Saturday - a song she can't quite place. Eventually, the desire to know the name of the tune gets the better of her, and after an hour of trying to ignore him, she breaks.

"Fine," she exasperatedly sighs, "what song is it?"

"Forest Gump Suite, by Hans Zimmer", Jesse seems proud he's won this round, and incredulous at the same time.

This is their game. He hums and whistles, and she 'names that tune'. Music is a good neutral territory for them, as it is a passion for Beca and well Jesse seems to have a decent knowledge of it and an ability to hum and whistle on key. Not that Beca noticed his vocal talent of course; this was just what helped her get through the hours stuck in the campus-used bookstore. It was a way to interact without actually communicating, and that's the way Beca liked it. It 'ad been 2 months and she hadn't had to make almost any small talk. Sharing, bad. Music, good.

"I never heard of it? Who's Hans Zimmerman?" Beca, genuinely at a loss, looks to Jesse for an answer.

Jesse however, is incredulous, sputtering and barely able to form sentences.

"WHAT?! You've never seen Forest Gump? With Tom Hanks? He won the Oscar! HANS ZIMMER, Beca! Multi award winning composer Hans Zimmer?! My personal idol! Are you serious right now?" He finally gets out.

Beca just shrugs her shoulders.

"So does that mean its movie music? Because then I definitely wouldn't know it." Beca reasons, not seeing the big deal.

Jesse has stopped stacking books and now has given his full attention to Beca. His eyes wide and his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Do you not watch movies Beca? Like any movies?" He asks, somehow even more shocked then before.

She just shrugs her shoulders again.

"I saw a porno at a high school party once. I liked that movie," she winks at him and then continues, "no dude, seriously though, movies are boring and I fall asleep before I can make it to the end." She says, wondering why it's so important she _watched movies_.

Jesse doesn't know what to say, so instead he feigns a heart attack clutching his chest and drops dramatically to the ground and rolling to his back. This earns him another eye roll.

"You, Beca Mitchell, will be the death of me, talk about invalidating my entire life!"

Before he can continue his rant, the chime of bells alerts them to a customer and now they have to pretend they do actual work here. Meaning Jesse will deal with the customer, and Beca will hide as far away from additional human contact as possible. Jesse jumps up, brushing his clothes of dust and attempting to not look like he was rolling around on the ground. Beca scurries off behind some old Physics books, which conveniently hides her petite frame from view. She uses this time to inspect her co-worker, and reaffirm that her dream didn't mean anything to her. She just shouldn't talk to Amy and Stacie after their human sexuality class anymore, that's all.

With this thought freshly in mind, who should walk in but, Stacie? The leggy brunette is scantily clad for this time of year and her top shows off an excessive amount of cleavage. Normally Beca doesn't care what anyone does, but for some reason, the sight of Stacie makes Beca's stomach twist up in a knot. She exhales slowly and leans forward so she can hear their conversation.

"…I can check but I don't think we have any used copies of that addition." Jesse tells Stacie, trying desperately to maintain eye contact and not ogle the sultry co-ed.

Stacie leans forward on the counter, crossing her arms and pushing her already ample cleavage into his view, she pouts and looks up at him, "Please I really need it", her voice is breathy and she gives him a very suggestive look.

Beca notices Jesse's eyes shift down briefly and the slight gulp before he nods, and goes to desperately search the stacks for her.

Beca's stomach lurches again. She decides to make this the day she talks to more customers. She casually strolls out as if she hadn't been eaves dropping, and waves at Stacie.

"Hey what are you doing here?" Beca asks.

Stacie instantly drops her sex kitten routine and moves into her usual friendly easiness she has with Beca, describing her class transfer and the need for new books. Beca isn't listening to a word; she is quietly seething as she waits for Jesse to get back with a book she knows they don't have.

"…but that's what you get for having a three-way with an Indian guy.", Stacie laughs now, apparently there was a joke and Beca missed it, she knowingly smirks and shakes her head at Stacie. She really should listen to people when they talk; then she wouldn't be caught so off guard. Then again, she is never sure if she really wants to know the set-up to all of Stacie's sex stories.

Jesse returns in a huff. Stacie, in a flash, is cozied up to his side. He makes a grand display of not having her desired book and offers to help her find it online. Stacie all of the sudden remembers she must be somewhere, but slips Jesse her number and tells him to call her if he finds it. She leaves the bookstore with a wink to Jesse and a "see you in class Beca".

Beca looks over at Jesse, who has smugly put the number in his back pocket, and now has a determined look as he begins to fix his gaze on the computer screen, no doubt searching eBay for the book that will win him the heart of the girl of his dreams.

She is torn between, throwing something at him or just disappearing in the stacks for the rest of the day, as she debates this he looks up and motions her to him. With a loud sigh she walks the five feet to the counter. Jesse then triumphantly turns the screen towards her, and with no small amount of theatrics, announces.

"Beca, this is Forrest Gump." his hand flourishes around the screen like he's Vanna White, as the opening credits begin.

"Seriously? You want me to watch this?" Beca grumbles.

"Well yeah, I didn't just put this on for my benefit, though it clearly will be. You my dear are in dire need of a movie education and I am just the man to give it to you. Now sit," he points to one of the stools he has cleared of books for her, "since work is often slow here to say the least, we should be able to get in at least one movie a shift. I will try to stick only to the best-scored and sound tracked films, as that's where my passion lies. It's what I'm majoring in you know, composition. I want to be able to move people, make them laugh and cry and I feel like, only music, can do that." He's been speaking more and more enthusiastically, his eyes lighting up and gesturing in his dramatic fashion, which has brought his arm in contact with Beca's arm twice now since the beginning of his speech.

She tries to ignore the tingles the touches send through her, and instead is trying to work on that listening thing. That doesn't seem to help. His words are exciting her, he loves music, it's his passion too, and he wants to share it with her, everyday. She wants to scoff or role her eyes but then, his giant brown orbs take her in and she can't stop, she could get lost in them for an eternity. She feels a blush creep up the back of her neck and her heart begin to race that feeling in her stomach is back. Beca's eyes flash to the clock in the back she has another 3 hours on her shift… Nope, this is not happening today.

Beca sprints to the back door, gathering her things with a meager excuse about a "family emergency" after pretending to glance at her phone. Jesse doesn't buy it, but what can he do. With that she runs out and doesn't stop running until she gets to her room where she collapses on her bed and prays she won't dream of Jesse.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Thank you to everyone who read and followed the first chapter. So with that encouragement here you go.

**Chapter 2**

"Benji, you know you are my favorite person in the world right now, right?" Beca said to Benji, and he smiled before turning away from her; who was coincidently his stepsister and definitely _not_ a morning person He let out a soft sigh as he redirected all his attention on Chloe.

Chloe Beale was a senior, she majored in being wonderful and he wasn't even sure she needed coffee to be a morning person, she didn't need anything she was perfect already.

On bold days Benji looked her in the eye when he gave her, her coffee, this was a bold day. This time he would say "Good Morning", this time he would let his fingers barely graze hers, this time he would be bold, he would be fearless. He would ask her out! Ok maybe not that far, but he would talk to her, and was going to do it now!

He turned to her bracing, himself for greatness, he looked her in the eyes, he smiled and then… he froze. Time stood still as he was unable to work his mouth or hands. All he could do was stare into Chloe's blue sparkling eyes, she was mesmerizing. Eventually he was taken from his musings after an eternity. Or 30 seconds, it's hard to say.

"Um, is that mine?" Chloe asked hopefully of Benji, pointing at the coffee cup still in his hand.

"Oh, um, yeah, I mean, why wouldn't it be, yes I mean of course, here you go." Benji sputtered, trying to regain some semblance of composure and narrowly avoids dropping the coffee.

Chloe takes it from him with a sympathetic smile and disappears into the throngs of students.

"So much for greatness." He mumbled to himself before he continues to serve customers.

* * *

Knock, Knock, Knock

"No one's home"

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Go Away"

Knock, Knock, Knock

Beca groans and rolls herself off her bed, walking in a huff towards the door, and flinging it open angrily. "God, cant you take a hint?" she yells.

Beca finds Benji, chuckling softly in her hallway. She rolls her eyes. "Ugh fine, it's just you, come in." She turns around and flops back on her bed.

"I thought you said I was your favorite person in the world this morning?" Benji, innocent and sincere as always, looks almost hurt by her outburst, and probably would have been if he hadn't known that this was Beca's default setting. The last 3 years had taught him that much. While Beca wasn't the easiest person to get to know, she couldn't seem to keep her guarded and cold demeanor up with Benji. Although she did manage to keep it up with his mother, her father, her professors and her last 2 roommate; both of which ended up lodging formal complaints, which is why she has a single room this year.

Beca gives Benji a half-smile, her voice heavy with sleep, "So what's up? You know this is my 'nap hour'." her eyes are closed again and she's settling back into her pillow, the fact that she has a soft spot for her innocent step-brother is the only reason he is being given the opportunity to speak, and wasn't reduced to ash in the hallway.

"Beca," he begins hesitantly, "I tried, I really tried to talk to her today, and I froze up, like an idiot." He plops into her computer chair, dejected, and slumps his head down.

She pops open an eye to look at him and sighs, resigned to the fact he isn't going to let her go back to sleep, she sits up on her bed and tries her best to be comforting.

"There, there," she says stiffly, sticking out a hand, and mechanically patting his back. "You're not an idiot Benji, you shouldn't let Chloe intimidate you, I mean she's just a girl, not like you haven't talked to one before."

Clearly, this was not the right thing to say. Benji brings his head up in horror to meet Beca's gaze

"Beca, she is not just a girl, she's THE girl, she's Chloe Beale, the perfect girl!" He says defensively, as he straightens up.

"Riiiight, sorry about that, of course." Beca is being sarcastic, but Benji never seems to pick up on it.

"It's ok, you thought it would help." his breathing now returning to normal, "Beca, what should I do?"

"Why are you asking me? You know relationships aren't really my thing, or people for that matter."

"Beca." It's a plea, and Benji looks at her with those lost, hopeful eyes.

She can't help it, she feels the need to look out for him, she didn't want anything to do with her dad's new family when he decided to get remarried her freshmen year, she was determined to ignore them completely in fact, but Benji is like a lost puppy, and you _can't_kick a puppy. He's so trusting and naïve and is constantly getting taken advantage of, so Bad-Ass Beca had to step up and protect him.

She protected him from the girl in his Freshmen Bio class, who was using him to 'write' her term paper, while she went out with the guy she actually liked. She protected him from his sophomore roommate, who thought it was funny to lock him out in the hallway every weekend. And she protects him from himself, when he gets particularly down, and feeling like he isn't good enough for something, or someone, in this case. So, here she was, trying to protect and solve confusing life situations for Benji.

"Benji, why don't you get involved in something she likes, take an interest, is she in any clubs you could join? Then you would have something in common to do together."

This time, Beca knows she has said the right thing, because Benji's eyes light up at the idea. "That's brilliant Beca! I knew you would know the right thing to do!" With that, he scurried out of her room and down the hall, off to join into Chloe's life.

"Well, now I'm up." Beca sighed, she went to her computer chair, and lost herself in her music and mixes, hoping that Benji didn't get hurt in his current endeavor, he really was a good kid.

She couldn't help that she always referred to him in those terms, Beca was only a year older than Benji, but life had made her much more callused and untrusting, and Benji, well Benji had Darth Vader on his sheets, so yeah, he was definitely still a kid.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N So once again I dont own Pitch Perfect, its characters or any of the other movies that Jesse references. Thanks for the love so far guys and I dont think I'll be keeping the updates up at this pace but I had this idea in my head and it just keeps flowing out. Anyway would love your feedback. Enjoy :) - (newly edited by my amazing Beta) **

**Chapter 3**

Next week is Thanksgiving break, and while normally the idea of not going to class or work excited Beca, the idea of having to spend said time off with her father and oh-so-happy step family was not of interest to her. She would stay in her dorm room, since her dad was just off campus. This means she wouldn't have to spend the whole break with them but, the lovely day of giving thanks would be mandatory. With the relatives and the preening and the inedible food that Sheila still attempts to make, even after last year's debacle with the fire department. Beca took pictures of all the firemen and posted them on Instagram. For some reason her father did not appreciate her way of capturing the events of the day.

It was enough to make her consider taking her mom up on her offer to spend the holiday break with her…or at least it would have, had her mother made the offer at all.

Beca's mother was spending this year giving Thanks for Pina Coladas and the spray of the ocean at a resort in Maui with her current 'boyfriend' Roberto, Beca used the label loosely, knowing the poor guy wouldn't last until Christmas.

Beca only heard from her mother a few times a year and not on days with significance, just whenever she was taking another vacation or when she needed to tell someone she got carded. She would ramble about how fabulous her life was, and then would sigh and say she wished it wasn't so busy and they could see each other more, and then just as suddenly as the call started, it was over, with her mom saying how glad she was she was doing so well at school and everything else.

This wasn't true though, Beca wasn't doing well at school or in life. She didn't lie to her mother, it wasn't necessary, her mom was too self-absorbed to notice that Beca hadn't spoken, other than the initial greeting, and so was happy deluding herself with however she pictured her daughter's life. Who was Beca to break her out of that fantasy?

This maternal ambivalence coupled with her father's abandonment and then later betrayal. Yes, Beca counts remarrying someone with children a betrayal. This has all left Beca a closed off and independent person; she seeks comfort and escape in music. She trusts music not people.

The "Badass" persona started at 14, which, was after her mom, upon turning 40, decided that she would like to pretend she was 17 again. So what better bonding activity then matching belly rings? While getting pierced, Beca decided a nose ring would suit her better, but after a week of bad allergies, she got it removed. This Beca decided to follow with a tattoo and then another and then another. She did it for a reaction that never came. Not that she would admit that was the reason she got the tattoos, or the ear spikes.

Beca's parents gave up on her, so she gave up on the world. No point in investing in people if they are only going to disappoint you. So she hid herself in her room behind her headphones and dark eye makeup. She discouraged anyone from trying to befriend her in high school. She made the girls swim team cry once, she wasn't even trying that time. So, don't invest in anyone, never get disappointed.

And this brings Beca to today.

She's actively trying not to invest in the guy sitting next to her in the bookstore. He's explaining why the score to Raiders of the Lost Ark is so thematic and moving and Beca is trying not to fall asleep on the stool, not because falling asleep would be rude, but because she might fall off, again, and Jesse might have to catch her and she can't be in that position with him. Not again.

"Here," Jesse throws something at her. A juice pouch? Seriously? Are we in pre-school? She would complain out loud, but well, she is thirsty and strawberry-kiwi is the bomb.

Jesse respects Beca's privacy and never pushes for a real exchange, he's happy to just be near her. Beca appreciates that. And the juice pouch. And the company, even if she won't admit that last part.

"So, any plans for break?" Jesse asks conversationally.

"Not really, just avoiding my dad and hiding in my dorm room." She shakes her head and finishes off her juice pouch in a loud slurp.

"Really? You're staying at the dorms over break?" His voice slightly higher than usual, she was used to disbelief from people, but there was something else- was he excited? Hopeful?

"Yeah, I'm staying in my dorm. My dad is a professor here, so he lives just off campus, but we don't exactly get along," Beca is speaking matter-of-factly, like everyone's parents are on the faculty.

To his credit, Jesse doesn't react to her personal admission; he simply nods understandingly and speaks.

"I'm staying on campus too, I have a makeup paper to do for my Ancient History class, didn't do well on midterms and the professor is letting me do the paper to pull up my grade." He takes this opportunity to look at Beca and search her eyes for any reaction, her eyes are unfocused and he isn't sure if she is even listening to him so he tests her, " I'm sure you'll probably be spending time with your boyfriend, but I think we shouldn't waste the opportunity to continue your movie education."

Beca was listening to Jesse talk; she just had been very careful ever since the "Forest Gump incident" to not look in his eyes. So she was certainly not going to gaze in his eyes while he was sitting so close to her and asking her to spend time on her break with him, while unsubtly asking if she had a boyfriend. No, definitely not looking in his eyes.

Before Beca can respond to Jesse's request, the bell on the door rings.

Seriously who needs books 2 days before break? She's caught off guard as Benji strolls through the door.

"Hey Beca," Benji is in a good mood, and for some reason that makes Beca nervous; also he never visits her at work, so he must have a good reason.

"Hey Benji what's up?" Beca says while walking towards him her stance less standoffish than usual.

"Oh! It couldn't be better Beca, well it could be, I mean, that's always a possibility, but I mean it's a good day Beca, a good day! You will never guess what happened!" Benji is talking a mile a minute his joy only increasing as he rambles on. "I talked to her today!" His grin is splitting his face and his smile causes Beca's own smile.

"That's great Benji! So did you ask her out?" Beca is all sincerity and concern with Benji. Benji gulps his happiness waning at the question.

"Well no. But I found out she's in the schools acapella group and that they are doing a show over break. They are missing a couple people because, I guess not everyone could stay."

"It's great you talked to her Benji, are you going to go see her perform? You could maybe take her out after." Beca is really trying to see why he is so excited about this conversation and it is escaping her.

"Well, no, not seeing her perform, Beca, performing with her. See they needed people remember, and well… I-volunteered-us-both-to-help." He said the last part all in one breath.

"YOU WHAT?!" Beca shrieked, "You volunteered me for an activity! And not just any activity, a singing activity?! Are you crazy Benji?"

"Beca listen! Before you say no, there is an upside for you," Benji looks at her earnestly and she knows he's using his pleading voice in hopes of softening her.

"Like what?" her voice is challenging, arms crossed, none of her softened demeanor is shining through, she is in full-fledged bitch mode and Benji knows it. He treads lightly.

"The performance is for the local homeless shelter, so it's on Thanksgiving Day, which means… I just got you out of dinner on Thursday." He sing-songs the last bit, "I already told mom and Dr. Mitchell about it and they said it would be fine." Benji looks much too pleased with himself at this declaration, he knows it's a trump card, but Beca thinks she should make him sweat it, even if she doesn't have to go to dinner she still has to interact with people and then sing in front of them.

This exchange is all occurring in front of Jesse, who hasn't moved from his spot behind the counter, captivated at the scene unfolding in front him, wishing he had some popcorn, but also grinning ear to ear.

It was at this point that Beca remembered she and Benji were not alone; she looks towards Jesse and notices his expression. "What are _you_ smiling about?" She points at him and Jesse puts up his hands in mock surrender.

"I swear I wasn't smiling, that's just the way my face always looks." Beca bites the inside of her cheek, he is not charming and she is not going to dignify that response with a grin.

She turns her attention back to Benji, letting out an exasperated sigh, "It's only the one show right? And you _are_ going to ask her out afterwards?"

Benji nods silently not wanting to give Beca a reason to change her mind.

"Fine, but you owe me. Big."

"Yes, yes of course! Thank you Beca you're the best sister ever!" Benji approaches to give her a hug, despite Beca's protests, in fact he goes so far as to pick her up and spin her around, before sitting her back down.

This scene is highly comical to Jesse. Watching Beca be flung around like a rag doll against her will is just too much; which is why Jesse can't seem to stop the laugh that escapes his lips. Another of Jesse's 'annoying' habits is how infectious his laugh is. So after his first audible chuckle, Benji, already riding a wave of joy, is laughing with him. Beca's face is now beet red, garnering only more laughter from the boys.

This earns them a scowl from Beca, as she runs to the door and shouts over her shoulder,

"Congratulations Swanson you get to lock up tonight!"

"I'm Benji, by the way," Benji extends his hand to Jesse.

"Jesse," he says standing up and shaking his hand good-humoredly, "So, what's the deal with your sister?" Benji quirks his eyebrow at the question.

"What about Beca? I mean she can be a little rough around the edges, but she's a good person. Why? What did she do?" Benji's voice is cautious Beca often leaves a wake of destruction behind her, so he wasn't sure what to expect from the poor guy who worked with her all day.

"Oh no, she didn't do anything, " Jesse waves his hands dismissively to put Benji at ease, "I just mean she doesn't talk about herself a lot. I didn't even know she had a brother who went here."

"Oh, yeah, Beca doesn't like to share a lot. You get used to it though. I mean it's taken me a few years, but she's nicer to me than most people," Benji looks lost in thought like there is something he wants to say, thinks better of it and turns to leave.

"See you at rehearsal," Jesse calls out waving a hand at his new friend. Jesse sees all new acquaintances as future friends.

"Wait, what rehearsal?" Benji pauses in the doorway and turns around in confusion

"For the Thanksgiving performance I'm in the acapella group too," says Jesse proudly.

"Oh, are you friends with Chloe then?" Benji is hopeful and then worried what if this guy likes her too? Benji doesn't like confrontation, oh no what if he's her boyfriend and he just heard him talk about wanting to ask her out. This is bad.

Jesse chuckles, "Yeah, of course I'm friends with Chloe; she's kind of friends with everybody."

Benji lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"I don't want to intrude Benji, but can I ask you something?"

Oh no, here it comes, he's going to want Benji to fight him to the death for Chloe's hand just like Kirk and Spock. Benji braces himself for the stand down.

"Does Beca have a boyfriend?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N- I know its short this time, but I had a really hard time with this chapter for some reason. I hope I captured Jesse's voice properly. Thank you for the reviews and the follows and favorites, you have no idea how happy the notices make me. Enjoy! (newly edited thanks to my awesome Beta ) **

**Chapter 4- Jesse & Chloe**

Jesse had a smile on his face long after Benji left; a smile that lasted while he closed up the bookstore, a smile that was starting to cause pain to bloom along his cheekbones, but he didn't care. He kept watching his feet as he walked for fear he might float away.

Jesse let his mind go back to this afternoon, was she going to say yes to the movie, would she have told him the truth about the boyfriend? Beca was single, very single, according to her brother. That meant he had a shot.

He had a plan, and now he just needed help executing it.

This is how he found himself at an apartment complex just off campus. He briskly walked up the three flights of stairs and knocked on the door.

"You look like the cat that ate the canary," Chloe giggled and welcomed Jesse into the apartment, "so are you going to tell me why you look so happy or do I have to guess?"

"Chloe, I need to ask for a small favor and then maybe a big one." Jesse was beaming at her. Chloe's curiosity was definitely piqued.

"Ok Swanson, what kind of favor could make you this happy?" She quirked her eyebrow up at him

"So you know a guy named Benji right?"

Chloe nodded slowly, not sure where he was going with this.

"And he and his sister are going to be helping us with our charity performance next week?"

Chloe nodded again, she had only just made the arrangement this morning and she was curious how he knew about it already.

"And we all agreed to keep the choreography simple and do simple pairing up dances for the event."

Chloe nods again, it was her idea in the first place.

"Can you switch my partner?" Jesse asks.

"That's your favor? Why? Did something happen where you pissed off Ashley? Why would that make you so happy? Ashley is a perfectly nice girl," Chloe says, looking very pointedly at Jesse now.

"It's not about Ashley, Chloe," Jesse is suddenly nervous to say it aloud and runs his hand around the back of his neck to scratch it. He had been so confident about this plan before, now he was second guessing himself "It's about who I want you to change my partner too. Will you make Beca dance with me?" Crap did he just say that sentence out loud? It sounded less juvenile in his head.

Chloe's face breaks out in a huge grin now as all the pieces fit together in her mind, her eyes twinkling with mischief, "You LIKE her!" She is now jumping on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands.

Jesse's grin turns sheepish as all the blood rushes to his face, hands shoved in his pockets as he looks up at the ceiling, "Yeah I do" It's a simple admittance and he hopes Chloe doesn't push for more.

Chloe being Chloe is not going to let it go at that. Chloe dated Jesse's older brother, Paul, her freshmen year. Things didn't work out when he transferred to Michigan State the following year, but Chloe had stayed in touch and befriended Jesse when he came to Barden. So no, Chloe was not going to drop the fact, that Jesse appeared to have a major crush on someone for the first time since high school.

"You aren't getting away with this that easy; you want me to rearrange a perfectly choreographed number so you can dance with your crush?" She's teasing him now, "I'm gonna need more information if this is going to be worth my while." She settles into her purple armchair, crossing her legs and waiting expectantly.

Jesse groaned audibly and plopped down on her sofa. He knows she won't do it if he doesn't tell her more. He exhales loudly and with a resigned tinge to his voice. "What do you want to know Chloe?"

Chloe giggles and rubs her hands together excitedly and thus the interrogation begins. "How did you meet her? How long have you known her? When did you know you liked her? What do you like about her? Have you guys talked or hung out yet? Do you know if she likes you back? How do you know her brother?" Chloe leans forward inching closer after each question, waiting anxiously for all the details.

Jesse leans back on the sofa and closes his eyes, allowing himself to collect his thoughts.

His mind recalls every interaction together since the first day they met. He needs to give Chloe enough information to make her happy so she won't ask more questions, but he certainly wasn't going to tell her everything.

"We met 2 ½ months ago when I started working at the used book store, she works there too, and most of our shifts are together." He says, though this is because he requests the same shifts as her, also not important for Chloe to know

Chloe pokes his leg chiding him, "I asked you more than that."

Jesse's mind travels on a journey of all things Beca, What did he like about her? Talk about a loaded question. Beca intrigued him, I mean of course she was attractive, the smoldering eyes, the devilish smirk, oh god her body, but it wasn't just that, she was different. She was a challenge, ah and did Jesse love a challenge. She intrigued him; he had never met anyone like her before. For instance, how on earth could anyone not like movies?

As closed off as she is though, she sits through movies with him; that has to mean something right? They even have a couple inside jokes, ok not really, mostly she laughs when he does something stupid, but that's enough for him. She has a great laugh, and maybe he dropped something once or twice just to hear it, Chloe doesn't need to know that part either.

Jesse sighs again, " I've liked her for…awhile I don't know exactly when it happened _(this is a lie)_, but I do now and I like her laugh and I think she's really attractive. We haven't hung out outside of work. And Benji came into the bookstore today to tell her about signing them up for the performance so that's when I met him." Jesse opens his eyes and turns to look at Chloe, seeing if she'll accept what he's offered.

"Ok, I'll assign Beca to be your partner." Chloe barely has the sentence out of her mouth before Jesse has jumped up and pulled her into a bear hug.

Chloe is laughing now, "OK, OK Jesse. So what's the big favor you want?"

He lets her go now, his eyes are twinkling and his smile stays impossibly large. "So Benji likes you, like a lot, and I was thinking that we, the four of us, could all go out together after rehearsal one of the nights. Beca will definitely go if it's for Benji. It doesn't have to be a date-date just, you know, friends out together somewhere dark, and somewhere she can't avoid being close to me."

Chloe thinks it over, "Does she avoid you normally? Don't get me wrong, I like her" she says, but this means nothing as Chloe likes everyone.

"I just worry about you." Chloe searches his face for a crack of doubt, none, OK. "Benji is a nice guy, though not really my type… I guess I can take one for the team." She winks at him slyly this time, "but, you can't pimp me out for every date with her, you will have to man up and do the rest on your own."

"I swear I will. Thanks so much Chloe, I'll owe you for eternity if this works out the way I know it will."

Chloe has more questions, but Jesse has gone back into his head and is walking out her door.

He's sure he has a shot now. They are going to get to spend break together, rehearsals and a performance give him an excuse to hold her in his arms and sing to her. And maybe even dinner and drinks! If this isn't his shot he doesn't know what is.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N I don't own Pitch Perfect or its characters. Please enjoy :) (newly edited by my amazing Beta!)**

**Chapter 5**

They were at a diner just off campus; he ordered a chili cheese fry appetizer. He had ordered it for himself, but there were clearly too much for one person to eat alone. She reached over and grabbed a fry and then another and then another. He tried not to let his amusement show as he gently pushed the plate a little more towards her. Sharing food is so intimate and personal and Jesse chose to take it as a good sign for the evening. She was comfortable with him and that was a good start.

He really couldn't believe his luck. How had he ended up here alone in a booth with Beca Mitchell after their first rehearsal together? This was going better than his original plan and he hadn't even bothered to ask why, if he stopped to question it, she might disappear. So he just kept trying to live in the moment and would follow wherever Beca led.

Beca is going to kill Benji. String him up by his toes, cover him in honey and leave him to the animals of southern Georgia. Not only did she just go through a 4-hour dance rehearsal, but also Chloe the Nazi-choreographer thought it would be a brilliant idea to partner her with Jesse. The annoying, infuriating, irritating, persistent, juice pouch loving, movie-nerd with the eyes that unravel her insides, Jesse.

GARGH! She could scream, except that she can't, not when he looks at her like _that_, she can barely speak. The fact that he was holding her and spinning her all afternoon, it was like little fires on her skin everywhere he touched. So when he asked her if she wanted to get something to eat after rehearsal, she couldn't think of a decent excuse not to and she was definitely hungry, that was a lot of cardio. A girl has to eat, right? Nothing wrong with getting something to eat with a dance partner/Co-worker/Guy-who-makes-her-stomach-do-bac k-flips?

So that is how she ended up here, at a diner, eating chili cheese fries in a booth, sitting across from Jesse. She is literally going to kill Benji. She can't believe he left her to fend for herself, not that she thinks Jesse is a serial killer or anything, the dork is harmless. It's just, he affects the way her brain works, and damnit all Benji! Why did he talk her into participating in a damn acapella group?!

"So… do you think you have all the choreography down now?" Jesse asks as he takes a drink from his glass, trying to ease her into conversation.

"Yeah, it's not that complicated, just a couple turns and spins." Beca does not make eye contact as she shoves another fry in her mouth.

He tries a new tactic, "I didn't know you could sing?"

"Well, how do you know I _can_ sing? We only danced today. I could be terribly tone deaf for all you know." Beca hasn't looked him in the eye in over 20 minutes and she feels her resolve and sarcasm coming back.

"Well, Chloe wouldn't have let you in if you couldn't." He leans back making himself comfortable on his side of the booth arms stretching out across the top and speaks so matter-of-factly, like he knows what Chloe would or would not do, for some reason this makes her suddenly dislike the red head.

This reminds Beca, "So you and Stacie, huh? That still going on?"

"What?" He looks so confused, his brow furrowed and a puzzled expression in his eyes. Score one for Beca.

"You_ know_, Stacie, Stacie Conrad," she starts waving her hand descriptively, "tall, brunette, 9 face, 9 body, you know Stacie!"

"I know who Stacie Conrad is, I just don't know what you meant by me and Stacie- we aren't a thing, and were never a thing. Why would you think that?" He's leaning forward on his forearms now, forcing her to look at him. He is biting his bottom lip and looking at her with that Ugh stupid smug, sexy look, ew not sexy, she didn't say sexy.

Beca responds by rolling her eyes and keeps it together, mostly…well at least on the outside. "I'm not stupid Swanson. Stacie is insanely hot, I know her, she's in my human sexuality class. She was in the bookstore a couple weeks ago, she gave you her number and I know what Stacie does with guys she gives her number too, she over shares personal information. _So_" she waves her hand in a circular motion waiting for him to get it.

The light of recognition dawns in his eyes. Somehow he looks smugger than before and leans in closer, "Didn't know you were paying so much attention to me Mitchell." Then the cheeky bastard winks at her. Winks! Doesn't deny or accept the claim. Just winks.

So infuriating! Just then the waitress returns with the burgers they ordered and Beca is spared having to come up with a response as she focuses all her attention on her burger.

Jesse begins to eat too, noticing how Beca is studiously examining the sesame seeds on her bun. They eat in relative silence until Jesse decides to try again, "Burgers here are really good." Beca nods in agreement without looking up; her burger is almost gone now. "You and Benji come here a lot?"

Beca shrugs and raises her eyes, carefully looking at his shoulder and not into his eyes, "Not really, I mean I do but Benji likes to eat at home a lot, says he finds it comforting. I prefer food that hasn't been burnt to a crisp." She pops the 'P' in crisp as she places the last bite of her burger in her mouth.

Jesse pulls a twenty out of his wallet to cover the bill that Beca hadn't even noticed was on the table. "Dude, no, I can pay for my own food"

Jesse waves her off, "I'm a gentleman Mitchell, but, I wouldn't want to insult your feminist sensibilities, so, you can pay next time." Smoothly getting up from the table and winking at her again while offering her his hand. She ignores it.

"What makes you think there will be a next time?" She says challengingly, crossing her arms and turning on her heel to walk away from him, he pushes open the door for her and follows her out.

"Well, now that I bought you dinner, you owe me, so I figure you'll want to make it even, or you can stay in my debt I wouldn't mind that either." He walks next to her and almost wraps an arm around her, but stops himself and shoves his hands in his pockets to prevent himself from touching her, hoping she didn't notice his blunder.

Her only response is an eyebrow quirk in his direction and a quickening of her pace. He speeds up his pace to match hers and now they are practically running alongside each other. At this point, Jesse notices he has no idea where they are racing to, not that he cares, he would follow Beca anywhere she was willing to let him. Beca takes advantage of his mental distraction and zooms ahead throwing herself on the steps of Baker Hall. This pulls him out of his revelry and he trips on the edge of the sidewalk, falling almost flat on his face. He catches himself, not completely ungracefully and looks around for Beca. She is slumped down on the top step, laughing manically and breathing hard after the sudden burst of exertion. Jesse doesn't think she's ever looked more beautiful, so genuine and unguarded, he leisurely crosses the last few feet between them and sits down next to her on the steps, his eyes taking in the gentle slope of her neck and the crinkling of her eyes as her laughter slows. They sit in comfortable silence, enjoying the crisp night air and looking up at the myriad of stars.

He is so close to her she can feel his body heat radiating from his side. Its sending shivers through her body. It's like she is under his spell. She can't stay in this state so she has to break it.

"Thanks for dinner Swanson", Beca doesn't even roll her eyes when she says it, lifts herself up, and just like that, she's gone.

Beca walks into her dorm room, a small smile playing on her lips as she flips the light switch on.

"Jesus Benji! What the hell? Why are you here? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she jumps, seeing her brother.

Benji just grins at her boyishly, "I just wanted to see how your date went and I figured you wouldn't tell me in front of people tomorrow at rehearsal."

"First of all, not a date, just grabbed burgers with Swanson. Most people eat dinner in the evening, it was food. Not like it was fun or anything. Second, I'm still mad at you for making me interact with people today, not limited to, but including; dancing with Jesse for the better part of 4 hours."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure you were laughing down there, and I only laugh when I'm having fun, and you just told him thanks for dinner. Sounds like a date to me."

"Ok I was laughing at him- which is different." Benji continues to smile at her knowingly. Useless frustrating brothers!

"Damnit all Benji! It wasn't a date!"

"Fine, you don't count it as a date, it wasn't a date, you just went to get food with a friend. Seems to me you had fun, regardless of what you call it."

"No."

"No, what?"

"No, Swanson is not my friend and no, it wasn't fun."

"Really? Not even like a little fun? Like an m&m's worth of fun?" Benji sighs loudly,

"Fine, maybe one of those brown m&m's." Beca rolls her eyes at him and drops down on her bed, taking off her shoes and lounging back on the mound of pillows. "My legs are so sore; I may kill Chloe before you get a chance to date her, if she keeps this up."

"She just wants us to be really good for the performance and you and I need more work since we don't know any of the dances already." Benji reasons

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's all for the greater good and all that. So back to the main point of all this; did you ask her out after rehearsal?"

"Um, well no, we talked a little bit, she said, I had really nice footwork," He smiles genuinely at her. "She was kind of busy talking to Aubrey about stuff so… I figured I could ask her tomorrow." He nervously scratches his head, looking at her to see if that's ok with her.

"But, you are going to ask her?" Beca prods him; she knows he won't do it if she doesn't keep encouraging him.

"Yeah I will, I totally will, just working myself up to it and I think it will be better if we already are talking before we got out you know? So that she's comfortable with me?"

It's so sweet the way he thinks about other people before himself, Beca envies and pities him that way. She really hopes Chloe doesn't break his heart; maybe she should have a talk with her tomorrow, girl to girl, and just explain if she breaks his heart Beca will break her face. Yes that's what she'll do. Someone has to watch out for Benji, poor kid wears his heart on his sleeve.

"So you want me to walk with you to rehearsal tomorrow?" Benji wants to make sure she goes.

"All right, turn my light off on your way out," Beca is exhausted.

Benji is almost out the door, but then stops and turns, "You know, I'm sure Jesse thought it was a real date." He dodges the pillow Beca throws at his head and pulls the door closed laughing at his sister. He really wishes Beca could just trust people. She deserves to be happy too.

Beca is on the edge of consciousness almost enveloped in blissful slumber, when her phone beeps. She flops her arm blindly to the floor fishing her phone out of her jeans.

**From: Unknown**

**Sweet Dreams Mitchell :)**

She's going to kill Benji for giving Jesse her number, but that's for tomorrow, tonight she has some sweet dreams to get to.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N- Thank you for all the follows, favorites and reviews, I'm happy to know anyone is enjoying this and reading it. Last chapter the line about the m&m's was taking from She's All That- Kudos to all of you who caught it.**

**Also, please note, I did change the rating to M for some swearing and for more sexual situations in future chapters.**

**Once again I do not owe Pitch Perfect, its dialogue or characters. Only the plot is mine. With that please Enjoy **

**Chapter 6 **

So the next few days go surprisingly well. Apparently vocal rehearsal is a lot less intense than those dance rehearsals were. Since Beca and Benji were just replacements they didn't need to learn any solos just some harmonizing parts. She is partnered with a perky brunette named Ashley, who is also an alto, to help her learn her part. She was surprisingly nice and helpful; Beca almost liked her, if she were the type of person who liked people.

When they are taking their water break Beca noticed Benji's dance partner, Jessica? Was that her name? Regardless, the tall blonde with freckles was staring at him and smiling while he did some scales with Jesse at the piano. As she continues to look between them she wonders if this blonde isn't the real reason Benji hasn't asked out Chloe yet. Before she can question either one of them, her thoughts are interrupted by Ashley sitting down next to her on the bench invading her bubble of personal space.

Ashley nudges her in the side "I didn't realize you and Jesse were together until Jessica told me today. You should have said something earlier. Totally makes sense why he asked to switch dance partners" Ashley is simply trying to be friendly but Beca is mortified.

"What? I'm not dating Swanson. We just got food after practice a couple times…" Beca looks shell-shocked and her eyes absently wonder to the piano, to Jesse tracing the lean muscles of his back and graceful way his hands glide across the piano. She looks back to Ashley after not finding any more clarity from her revelry, "Jessica told you this? That we're dating and he asked to be my partner?" Her voice growing incredulous and slightly louder as recognition is setting in.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude. Jessica told me what your brother told her; I figured he would be the one to know. Was it supposed to be a secret?" Ashley looks a little hurt and confused by Beca's out burst and really wants to make things right with her. "Skittles?" She pushes the bag towards her hoping candy will make them friends again.

"No, I'm good." Beca pushes the bag away and strides over to Benji determinedly grabbing him by the collar and leading him outside the auditorium. Her eyes are murderous. "What the hell Benji? You're telling people I'm going out with Swanson? That he asked to be my dance partner because we're a couple? Are you out of your god damn mind?"

"Beca calm down, I mentioned to Jessica that you guys went out, you are the only one that doesn't seem to think its a date, I was just getting a second opinion. Jessica is really good to bounce stuff off of like that. Don't be mad at her if she said something, I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it," Benji is nervous and somehow gotten himself cornered against a wall and a flight of stairs by the main entrance adding to his anxiety of dealing with a very angry Beca. "Come on, let's go back to practice and you can yell at me all you want later." He extends his hand to grab her shoulder, she shrugs him off and begins pacing and gesturing wildly.

"Are you serious? I thought this whole thing was about Chloe? Why do I feel like you are trying to play matchmaker for me? I'm fine with my life and choices, I'm not lonely and I certainly don't need you set me up with Jesse fucking Swanson!"

Benji in the midst of all this starts laughing. "Wow, just wow Becs!"

"What? What the hell are you laughing at?"

"You," he points at her, "like him."

"No I fucking don't!"

"Yeah Beca you totally do, you remember Justin "fucking" Carlson?" He raises his hand in air quotes around the name. Beca lowers her eyes, she doesn't like where this is going.

"You dated him your freshmen year, you were lovesick for months. Don't pretend that you don't know who he is or how you referred to him every time you fought. It's the only time you use fucking as a middle name and the only time you use the word fuck in general. "

"Justin and I, we didn't date... we just... hung out a couple of times... occasionally we had sex afterwards. I certainly was not lovesick about him. If I referred to him as fucking Justin or Justin fucking Carlson when I was angry the bastard probably deserved it, he was a liar and a complete douchebag and what the f-," she corrects herself, "hell does any of this have to do with Swanson? "

Benji looks at her a long time, he watches how tense and rigid her body is, how lost she looks, Beca is scared. Benji knows he should stop pushing her now, so he chooses his next words carefully wanting to give her something to think on before he leaves her, he knows she wont come back inside today. "In case you were wondering, I never said he asked to be your partner. I'm going back to practice now." He moves to go back inside.

"If you didn't tell Jessica that, than who did?" Benji didn't expect that, he turns back to look at her again, Beca has calmed down some, less rigid and angry but still lost and afraid.

"I don't know Beca," He shrugs and then scratches his head, "but ask yourself; why you are so angry about this? The idea of you dating a nice guy that might have arranged to dance with you, your first move is to bite my head off about it. Not exactly the standard reaction."

As if on cue.

"You guys ok out here?"

Both Beca and Benji snap around to see Jesse standing in the doorway an easy smile on his face.

"Yep fine," Benji calls out, using the distraction to run inside the building.

Seeing Jesse only fires Beca up anew. She storms towards him, "Swanson!"

"Yeah," he turns to face her.

"Did you tell people we're dating?"

"No, of course not." He looks sincere, Beca cant tell for sure so she simply questions him again, " Did you tell people we went on a date the other night?"

Jesse smirks, flattered now that she has actually called it a date and this gives him a shot of confidence, "No of course not Mitchell, I'm a gentlemen, I never kiss and tell." Then winks at her cheekily.

She scrutinizes him moving closer to him, her finger poking into his chest as she asks, "Did you get me switched to be your dance partner?" Her eyebrow raised and her voice eerily quiet.

Jesse's face falls, "Who told you that?"

"So you did. Why, why would you do that?" It's almost a whisper. She's still close to him but no longer poking him in the chest.

He exhales slowly and just looks at her his brown orbs taking her in and staring deeply into her eyes as he takes a step closer to her; it causes her to take a step backwards so he tries again. This continues until Beca is pressed against the brick wall.

"Beca, I, I thought it was obvious," his eyes search her face for some recognition, "I like you Beca," he takes one more step towards her and now his body is almost flush against hers less than a breath of space is left between them, "I like you, and proximity is kind of a big deal when you like someone," his hand gently tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "even if they don't like you back." His eyes are watching her for a sign of how she feels about what he just admitted. She's just staring back so he leans in more his eyes flickering between her eyes and her mouth.

Oh Shit! Beca can't move, she can't breath, she can't think properly. This is not how she thought this was going to go. He likes her? Shit! Fuck! Shit!

He's looking at her like _that _again and his gaze just dropped to her lips. She swallows thickly her heart is racing she can feel his breath on her cheek now. Beca is cornered, scared shitless staring up at Jesse's perfect pink lips. She feels him move closer now, this is it, her chance to see if real life Jesse is as good a kisser as dream Jesse was, and with that thought she realizes that this, isn't a dream, kissing him here, in the real world, has consequences and heartache none of which she is prepared for.

"Jesse, I," her voice is barely above a whisper, "I can't," then Beca does what she does best, she pushes him away and she runs. She runs away from Jesse and any feelings that he might stir up inside of her, she pushes those feelings deep down.

Love doesn't exist, only in the stupid movies, the movies that Jesse loves, the movies he made her watch. A smile begins on her face at the thought of watching movies with him. She pushes the thought away. He'll only hurt her in the end.

Pain, hurt, abandonment those things are all real. Those things she has felt, and you open yourself up to them when you let people in, people, who claimed to care, but they always leave and it always hurts. Beca runs back to her dorm and climbs into bed. She turns her phone off. She doesn't want to talk to anyone right now. The tears silently make their way down her cheeks and she rolls to her side and pulls the blankets over her head trying to block out the remaining light streaming through the window as the sunsets.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N - For those of you still reading thank you so much. I would really love to hear from you all and know what you think. Last chapter the appearance of the skittles was a nod to "Caffeine Boost" which if you havent read that yet, you need to- like now. Also, I dont own Pitch Perfect or any of its characters and I hope you enjoy :)**

**Chapter 7 – Love Makes Fools of us All**

Jesse's POV

Jesse is an idiot. He is staring sadly into an empty space, a space that once was occupied by Beca. His arms miss holding her and spinning her and guiding her through the routine. She had felt so right in his arms like she was made to fit in them. All the lyrics taste bitter on his tongue. They meant something to him before, but now without her, they're just words.

They had gone out after rehearsal and he thought it had gone well, she even called it a date, but it turns out he was wrong. He thought she liked him too, wrong again. He thought she wanted him to kiss her, looks like he was wrong about that as well.

Today is supposed to be their performance and she isn't here. She never came back to rehearsal that day or the day after that. He shouldn't be surprised she didn't show up today, but he had hoped she would. She won't return his calls or texts. Benji hasn't talked to him since that afternoon either, Jesse feels too guilty to try to press him about his sister. He's an idiot. He _knows _this. His plan had gone more terribly wrong than he ever could have imagined. Beca is avoiding him, Benji cant look him in the eyes, Chloe is shooting him dirty looks, or as threatening as a look from Chloe can be, and Aubrey is freaking out on everyone about todays performance, which is now going to be 'off' because they are missing a person, which means he's pissed off the whole team, no one likes being yelled at by Aubrey, and its his fault they are missing someone.

His professor is going to kill him; he still hasn't finished that paper for Ancient History class, and now will probably fail. _Jesse is an actual idiot. _

Benji's POV

Benji is an idiot. He knows this for certain. He really messed up. He pushed Beca too far, he knew he shouldn't have left her alone with Jesse, he doesn't know what she did but he feels too guilty to look Jesse in the face. He knows she probably crushed him. She's angry, really angry, not just at other people this time, but him included. She won't answer her door or her phone.

He's an idiot, he did all this to impress Chloe, perfect, beautiful Chloe, and now… he isn't even sure she's the one for him anymore. Don't get him wrong, Chloe's still wonderful as ever, its just, he likes talking to Jessica more, she makes him feel things, she listens when he talks, she likes his card tricks, she shares her Twix with him everyday at practice even though she said its her favorite candy, she shares it with him.

So here he is, holding Jessica in first position before the performance, excited and full of butterflies, nervous to look at Jesse who he knows is angry and embarrassed at standing out here alone, afraid to look at Aubrey, because well Aubrey really scares the shit out of him, and he cant bring himself to look at Chloe, the girl he did all this for and he has somehow betrayed her too with his new feelings for Jessica. _Benji is an idiot._

Jessica's POV

Jessica feels like an idiot. She didn't know that she wasn't supposed to say anything to anyone about Jesse & Beca. She thought they were a cute couple. Now everything is all messy and icky. Jesse is sad, Benji is sad, Beca stopped coming to rehearsal, and Aubrey is mad at everyone. She just needs to get through this performance today without anything else bad happening.

She's having trouble concentrating on her steps, because she's dancing with Benji. She likes him and can't tell if he's interested. She thought she was being kind of obvious about liking him; she's been flirting with him all week long. She laughs at all his corny but cute jokes; listens to his stories about magic camp and she even shared her Twix with him. She's been waiting for him to ask her out after rehearsals, but he hasn't. Maybe, he just doesn't like her at all. _Jessica is an idiot._

Beca's POV

Beca is an idiot. She _knows_ she's an idiot. It doesn't stop her from doing stupid things though. She had wanted him to kiss her in that moment, hell she had even dreamed about it, but she had stopped herself. She doesn't know why. That's a lie, she _does _know why, because she was scared, because she's an idiot.

She's locked herself in her dorm room for two days straight. Ramen noodles, dr. pepper and snickers bars are more than enough to sustain her, she should be able to hide out here until classes start up again. Her phone is still off. Benji will probably be mad at her. She knows the performance is today, but can't bring herself to go. She hopes this doesn't screw up his chances with Chloe, if it does, she wasn't worthy of being with Benji anyway, she should know better than to judge Benji on what Beca does or doesn't do.

She really wishes she had twizzlers right now, those were what she lived on for the whole week after she and Justin fucking Carlson broke up. She was in love with him, or at least thought she was. Her dad was marrying Sheila the step-monster and she was going to bring him with her to the wedding as her date, meeting the family is a pretty big step for her. He didn't "do" weddings he said. No matter how she may have felt or thought she felt about him, he didn't feel anywhere near the same towards her. He used her, he lied, and he slept with her roommate.

Beca does her best thinking with twizzlers, it might be the way they bend so she can play with them while she eats them or the straight sugar rush to her brain or even the chemical reaction of Red Dye #5. Whatever the reason, it was her consumption of twizzlers that led her to her revenge plan. Beca slashed the tires on Justin fucking Carlson's motorcycle and poured sugar in his gas tank and then she replaced her roommates shampoo with Nair. Natalie did not look good bald. The visual of a bald screaming Natalie stills makes her smile to this day. A week later Natalie moved out and Beca had a single for the rest of the semester. Justice served.

The problem is that twizzlers might not be able to fix things this time. She doesn't need to inflict pain on anyone else; she just wants to protect herself. So what's the best way to do that? Don't let Swanson in. Problem; too late for that, he's already in, already taken her out, already made her start to feel things. So what does she need to do now, since going back in time isn't an option? Avoid seeing Swanson altogether. The problem with that plan is that she has to work with him still. So how does she get out of working with Swanson? She can't just quit the job, its part of her Econ grade this semester. She could get her shifts changed so they wouldn't have any more together, no that's a problem because 1) if Jesse isn't there she'll have to be on time because no one else will punch her in and 2) She'll have to actually talk to their smarmy boss, Luke. Luke is every guy you wanted to sleep with rolled into one. Perfect face, chiseled abs, piercing blue eyes, tattoos, sexy British accent, he probably played sports and has a band. He is more than aware of his affect on the female species and it makes him unbearable to talk to, about anything. If there is one thing that turns Beca's stomach it's a tried and true operator. So, maybe she needs twizzlers to help her come up with a good plan. Of course its thanksgiving today, so everything is closed. It appears even her idea to get an idea is terrible.

Beca groans and throws herself back onto her bed. _Beca feels like an idiot._

Aubrey's POV

Aubrey is livid. This was supposed to be a simple performance. But now they are down a person. So all the couples are 'off', Jesse isn't singing with any feeling, Benji and Jessica keep messing up their steps. Dammit, why is she surrounded by idiots?


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- Thank you for the reviews and encouragement, Im really excited about this chapter I feel like everything else was exposition and now we are getting to the good stuff or not, you tell me. I dont own pitch perfect or any of its character. The plot only is mine. Enjoy :)**

**Chapter 8**

"Jesse, you are going to become a permanent part of my couch if you don't get up soon," Chloe is standing over him, looking at him disapprovingly with her arms crossed, " Not, that I don't enjoy your charming company, but seriously, its been a week. Why can't you go back to your dorm room?"

Jesse rubs the sleep out of his eyes and sits up on the couch. " I told you my roommate's girlfriend is visiting him and he has had a sock on the doorknob all week. I don't know about you but I don't want to see any parts of Bumper I haven't already seen."

Chloe makes a slight grimace and nods. No one wants to see Bumper naked and in a compromising position, she wonders at the idea that such douche bag has a girlfriend. "Fine, certainly don't want you to be emotionally scarred for the rest of your life. But, " she covers her nose, " you seriously need a shower, like now." She shoves him into the bathroom and tells him he can have coffee only after he has scoured his body of filth.

Jesse let's the hot water run down his body, as he stands motionless under the spray. Bumpers nocturnal activities aren't the only thing he's avoiding at Chloe's place. He has other friends on campus he could crash with, but then he might see _her_. He can't handle running into her unprepared again. The first time was bad enough…

_Last Friday…_

_Jesse had made his way to the student union around noon; he needed water and aspirin to nurse his horrible hangover. He had gone back to his room after the horrible performance the previous night with his good buddies Jack Daniels and Jimmy Walker and tried to numb himself from the pain he was in. _

_He was grabbing a bag of pretzels when he saw her… She was carrying her weight in red Twizzlers up to the counter; he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, how pretty and soft her eyes were without all the black eyeliner she normally puts on, the fact that she was clearly still wearing her pajama pants, but that did nothing to diminish how great her ass looked in the flannel pants and are those bunny slippers on her feet? _

_He should say something to her, anything, or maybe he shouldn't maybe he should hide. His head was throbbing and the room was moving around again. He took one step towards her as she finished paying for her candy and turned around, she was facing him. She looked surprised to see him, maybe sad? Disappointed? He couldn't say, it hurts to think right now; it hurts to be this close to her._

_Beca's eyes are wide and she opens her mouth to say something, and then closes it again. He raises his hand and waves slightly "Hey", he looks at her sheepishly willing her to acknowledge him, they are only a few feet apart but it feels like a chasm is between them. _

"_Um, hey," Beca shuffles her feet and stares at her bunny slippers. She raises her eyes slowly to meet his, and then her expression changes, " You look like shit." _

_Before Beca can finish her sentence Jesse is vomiting up his friend Jack all over the floor of the student union. _

_Smooth Swanson, that's how you win a girl over, puke on her bunny slippers. _

_He's not sure when she left after that but he knows by the time the room stops spinning and he's finished emptying the contents of his stomach she's long gone. _

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Jesse, are you ok in there?"

Chloe's voice pulls him from his thoughts. "Yeah, fine, be out in a minute!"

He's not fine. But, he needs to pretend to be. As nice as Chloe is she wont let him hide here forever.

He sighs pulling on a clean pair of boxers and jeans, and steps into the small kitchen.

"Coffee?" Chloe hands him a hot cup.

"Yeah, thanks, still a little groggy." He seats himself at her little dinette made entirely of garage sale finds and hand-me-downs.

"So what's your plan for tonight?" Chloe asks brightly. Seriously? She's only been awake maybe an hour longer than him, how is she perky already?

"Um… I was gonna stay in… watch the game…"

Chloe quirks an eyebrow up at him, "Oh, which game?"

Dammit! He should have known better, Chloe follows sports. "Curling" Nice save.

"No, you don't watch Curling Jesse. You aren't fooling anyone. You need to get out and have some fun."

He sighs and hides his face in the coffee cup taking an extra long gulp.

"Jesse? I'm not gonna let you wallow in my apartment for the rest of the year." He just takes another swig from his cup, she sighs, "Quite frankly you're cramping my style. How am I supposed to bring the cute guy that I met the other night back to my place, if you are camped out on my couch?" Her voice is somehow teasing and kind at the same time.

"I promise Bumper's girlfriend goes back to Georgetown tomorrow and I will be out of your hair then."

"That still doesn't answer what you are doing with your Friday night? Come on Jess, Dean, the cute guy I told you about, invited me to a party at his frat house tonight, it'll be fun." Her smile is hopeful and persistent.

"Ok, I'll go. What else did I have to do tonight anyway?" Chloe pleased with her self claps and giggles. "Alright I have classes to get to but I'll be back by 7 to get ready for the party. See you then." She smiles widely again and is gracefully out the door.

This will be ok, a night of beer pong and loud music, a frat party is just thing to get his mind off of _things _and its somewhere Jesse can almost guarantee he wont run into Beca.

xx

_The Twizzlers betrayed her, she went to get her decision-making tools Friday morning, or more accurately noon, but it was morning to her since she had just gotten out of bed. Who should she run into? Jesse Fucking Swanson! _

_He was clearly hung over, she didn't know what she felt or what she wanted to say to him, she certainly wasn't expecting to see him so soon after, "the incident". He must hate her right now. She knows he would have had to perform alone yesterday, she knows he had a solo too. She didn't expect to feel so guilty when she saw him though or so affected by him, her heart is racing and her palms are getting sweaty as she holds on to the plastic bags. (Dammit, get it together Mitchell! He isn't even touching you!) She certainly didn't expect for him to puke right there in the middle of the student union, he must have drunk a lot last night. Poor Guy. Wait did she just think that? No, she doesn't feel sorry for him. She was actually thankful for his "illness" it gave her an opportunity to escape. _

_She got back to her dorm, turned her phone back on again and called Benji. He had left her quite a few messages. They're back to being ok it seems, he apologized a lot. He apparently is smitten with his dance partner, Jessica, and is working up the courage to ask her out and has given up on his pursuit of the beautiful unicorn that is Chloe Beale. So her little stunt didn't hurt his chances, meaning he has no reason to be angry with her, which is a relief. He also said he hadn't talked to Jesse but that he didn't think he was angry with her either. _

_Fucking Jesse, it always comes back to him. He left her messages too, like a lot and texts. Apparently he is sorry and wants Beca to forgive him. He was worried about her too. What's that about? Of course there were no messages from yesterday, the day he probably is mad about. Her ruining his big solo or whatever, she's sure that pissed him off. _

So here we are a week and twenty pounds of Twizzlers later and all she's come up with is to call in sick to work all week. She cant get away with it for any longer, yesterday Luke told her if she wasn't in the hospital she better be at work on Saturday.

Times like these Beca is glad she doesn't have much of a social life. She puts on her headphones and lets the sounds of Florence and the Machine sooth her as she pulls and samples other artists to layer on top of the track. She's been lost in her mixing for almost two hours now, when she hears a frantic banging on her door.

Lowering her headphones to her neck she calls out, "Come in."

Its Benji, that's not a surprise but as he steps in she sees he's holding someone's hand, Jessica, well good for him, I guess she said yes.

She smiles her least sarcastic smile as they come in and stand awkwardly in the middle of her room.

"So what's up?"

"Hey Beca, so this is Jessica, you remember Jessica, from the thing… anyway her older brother is in a frat and the DJ they hired got sick and can't do the party they are hosting tonight, so anyway I told Jessica that my sister does that, that she is super good and awesome and amazing at it and she would totally love to DJ her brothers frat party last-minute as a personal favor to her brother who she loves a great deal?" Benji hasn't breathed from the time he walked into the room. Beca slowly registers what he is saying.

"Seriously?" She quirks her eyebrow up but the rest of her face is unreadable.

"Yeah, seriously, it's a paying job, free beer, and you can play anything you want. Jessica and I will help you bring all your stuff over too." Benji is pleading hoping that doing what she loves is enough of an incentive to leave the room she has barricaded herself in for the last week.

"How much?"

Benji nods to Jessica and she speaks for the first time since coming into the room, her voice high and sweet, "$500 is what Dean promised the other DJ so I'm sure you would get the same." Jessica radiates innocence.

The level of adorable puppy-ness is too much for Beca. "Ok, what time does it start? You are both helping me set up and carry the equipment over though." She looks at them both pointedly.

"It starts at 8:30, we'll come by at 8 to help you set up. You're the best Beca," Benji looks like he might explode from the excitement of her saying yes.

"We'll go tell Dean right now!" Jessica is practically vibrating with joy.

Beca tries not to laugh at the pair thinking how alike they are, she's happy for her brother he looks happy, and he deserves that. This party will make it up to him for her bailing on him last week. Even though he said he wasn't mad, Beca doesn't like to disappoint him. Plus the money doesn't hurt. Honestly though she would DJ for free.

It's what she wants to do when she gets out of Barden, move to LA and DJ. The deal she made with her Dad is that she has to graduate from Barden with a degree (in something) and he'll pay her way in LA for the first year. She interned the last two summers out there trying to set up connections and has already sent out resumes for this summer. So the opportunity to do what she loves, even if it is for a bunch of drunken frat guys isn't a bad way to spend her Friday night.

xx

Beca looks herself over in the mirror. She is ready to DJ this party. Her eye makeup is dark and smoky, her lips are glossy, her hair is styled up in a braid that wraps around her head to keep it out of her way, skinny black jeans, kick ass boots, tight slightly low-cut top and a large stack of rubber bracelets. Beca is a badass and she can handle this situation.

Her equipment makes it safely to the frat house where she quickly setups in the designated area with the help of Benji & Jessica. Once she has her mixes set up on a playlist. She walks over to the keg to get a drink and introduce herself to Jessica's brother.

"Hey so I'm Beca," she extends her hand for him to shake.

Dean looks her over appraisingly, probably wondering if she's up to the task. "Look forward to seeing what you got Beca. These mixers usually run until around 2am we'll need you to stay until then, but after that you leave even if the party is still going. We appreciate you doing this on such short notice. You get half the payment now, the rest at the end of the night." He hands her a white envelope with cash, "Sorry it's not that we don't trust you, it's just, we've been burned before." He smiles encouragingly and then heads over to the front door so he can check ids and stamp hands.

Beca makes her way back to her equipment and puts on her headphones. She starts up the first song a mash-up of 212 and Bust-a-Move, she looks around at the co-eds bobbing to the music and a small smile plays on her lips. She is in her element and happy. She owes Benji for this one not the other way around.

xx

Left to his own devices all day (read as watching rom-coms on Chloe's couch) Jesse really doesn't want to go to the frat party now.

"But, I don't want to go Chloe. I'm not up to it." Jesse is yelling at Chloe through her bathroom door. She's been locked in there since she got home. Why do girls spend hours in there only to emerge looking like they did when they went in? He doesn't get woman at all, clearly, since he's very single after last weeks disastrous attempt at wooing Beca Mitchell.

"Stop whining Jesse and go put on a clean button-up, I like the black one." Chloe retorts.

"I'm not whining. Come on, I can just drink here; I really don't want to be with a bunch of people. Please Chloe." Ok that time it was more like a whine.

"We already decided on this Jesse, you are going. You need human interaction. Drinking, partying, meaningless hook-ups, it'll be a fun time. Dean said they supposedly got an awesome DJ last-minute. Someone his sister's boyfriend knows. " She walks out dressed in a black bandage dress and heels.

"You must really like this Dean guy?"

Chloe giggles, " You think he'll like it? We met at the library after I had been studying for hours and so I want him to see me in a more flattering light."

"I'm sure he'll like it Chloe."

He's buttoning up the shirt she suggested.

"You mind driving my car? I can't drive while I'm wearing these heels."

Jesse nods and takes the keys. He doesn't know how anyone could walk in shoes like that let alone drive.

"Hang on to the keys, if it goes well with Dean tonight I'll be staying at his place and you'll need a way to get home, " Chloe winks, " Also, feel free to bring someone back here, condoms are in the top drawer of my night stand, but, Jesse," Her face is now serious," no sex on my teddy bears."

He laughs and shakes his head as he follows her out. It can't be that bad right? It's just a party.

9:00pm

The party is in full swing as they walk up to the house, they can hear the bass beats from a block away. Maybe Chloe's right; this _will _be a good party. Chloe introduces Jesse to Dean they shake hands warmly. Chloe and Dean make their way to the dance floor and Jesse is off to find the keg.

9:15

Jesse has found the keg 3 times already; it was easier after the first time and is now making his way to the luge out back. Drinking here at least is cheaper than drinking at home.

10:25

Suitably drunk Jesse is sitting on a couch near the keg sipping a beer, he's completely lost track of Chloe and figures her night will be going as she hoped it would. Although he isn't sure he will be in any shape to drive back to the apartment.

10:30

Benji leans over Beca trying to yell above the music. "Can you play something slower?"

"What?" She takes the headphones off and leaves them around her neck,

"Something slower? I want to dance with Jessica." Benji gestures between himself and his female equivalent.

Beca simply nods and gives him a sly smile and she moves into the next track a remixed version of Addicted to Love by Florence and the Machine, the one she had worked on earlier today.

Benji lights up and leads Jessica to the dance-floor, or rather the area of the house that they had moved all the furniture out of to use as a dance floor.

_The lights are on, but you're not home…_

Beca watches Benji and the other couples holding each other on the dance floor embracing the slower pace she has set. She notices Dean is dancing now with a pretty red-head her dress is a little slutty for Beca's taste, then he turns her and she can see her face, Chloe? I guess everything worked itself out. It's a little too after school special for her all these lovey-dovey happy people. On that note Beca decides its time for a refill on her beer.

_Another kiss is all you need…_

God! These couples are everywhere, and what is up with all the slutty dresses she thinks as she spots a brunette straddling a guy on the couch near the keg. She smiles to herself feeling superior to all the people in love as she fills her cup again. Her way back to her booth gives her a better angle of the couple and she's pretty sure the slutty brunette is Stacey; she laughs to herself about that, of course because Stacey is THE slutty brunette. All of this self-superiority results in Beca tripping over a lamp cord causing a thud loud enough to make her the center of attention for a 4-foot radius; she jumps slightly and shrugs her shoulders apologetically. It's not too much to distract anyone from their good time for more than a moment.

_You like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah…_

A moment is all it takes to effectively ruin her night though. The couple kissing on the couch stops momentarily and she can now see the guys face plainly... its Jesse.

Beca feels like she was just punched in the gut, the wind rushes out of her lungs she drops her cup on the ground and runs towards the side door to get some fresh air.

_You're gonna have to face it you're addicted to love…_


	9. Chapter 9

**AN - Thank you for the follows and favorites, Last chapter I got some mixed reviews, not sure if you didn't like the writing or just the cliff hanger but here you go. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own pitch perfect or its characters. Songs in the last chapter are Florence & The Machine- Addicted to Love and the 212/Bust-a-move mash-up is available on the newest CD from Pitch Perfect that also includes her revamped Cups single. **

**I hope you all Enjoy :) **

**Chapter-9**

Jesse isn't sure what just happened. He was sitting there drinking his beer minding his own business when Stacey sits down next to him. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asks.

"It's a free country." It is. She pushes herself into his side and gets her mouth close to his ear, she whispers, "So you never called me." Her voice is breathy and her hand is now resting on his thigh. He thought she had been forward at the bookstore, now she was being blatant in her interest.

" I didn't find your book," He says still looking into his beer. He knew it wasn't what she had meant. The truth was, he hadn't wanted to call her. He actually forgot about having her number all together until he found it as bits of paper in his laundry a week later.

It's not that Jesse is blind, Stacey is super hot and he would be an idiot to not find her attractive, but he just doesn't like her. She wasn't a challenge in any way and that bored him.

Stacey is not one to be refused easily.

"No, silly," she giggles, "not for the book," and with that her left leg is swung across his hip and she is now straddling him her face impossibly close, "for this."

Now she's kissing him, its passionate and fiery and he reflexively kisses her back, his beer forgotten and his hands on her waist. But it just feels wrong… it feels incredibly wrong. This is isn't what its supposed to be like. Stacey isn't the one he wants to hold and kiss. Jesse is making his move to stop it before it can escalate any further, when a loud noise interrupts them. His eyes flicker to find the source and there in the middle of the party is Beca standing next to a broken lamp. She looks right at him and he sees the look on her face, she looks so upset and hurt, she drops her cup and runs out of the party. Shit!

"I'm really sorry Stacey, I just, you're not the right girl for me." He pushes her off his lap and runs the way he saw Beca exit, hoping she hasn't gone far.

XX

Oh my God! Oh My God! Why cant I breath properly. Beca is pacing back and forth near a row of bushes just outside of the house. She knew it. She knew he was hooking up with Stacey, that lying bastard.

She can't believe she felt bad for him last week. I'm sure she was in his bed waiting for him to return with supplies. She normally can spot a player a mile away but Jesse the movie-nerd fooled her. Gah! How could she have been so stupid? She almost let him kiss her! Where would she be now if she had? Her flight instincts were right to warn her about him.

"Beca! Hey Beca! There you are!" Jesse is trying to get her attention as he runs to where she is pacing on the grass. His breathing labored, as drinking and running do not mix.

"Are you ok?" He's worried about her; she had looked so hurt when she ran out.

"Am I ok?" Beca's eyes are full of fire and she shoves him in the chest making him lose balance and back away from her.

"Am I ok?" Her voice is growing shriller and louder by the second. She is on the offensive stalking and murderous. Its terrifying and kind of hot if Jesse allows himself that thought. (Keep it together Swanson, now is clearly not the time for that)

"Am I ok? What do you think? Do I look ok to you?" She's practically spitting at him her words hold more than an edge they are meant to slice through his façade and lies.

"Beca calm down. Why are you so upset? What happened? Are you hurt?" Jesse's voice is calm and his eyes are full of concern, his hands are firmly holding her shoulders trying to keep her stationary in front of him.

She raises her eyebrow at him, "are you kidding me? What happened? You were making out with Stacey Conrad! You fucking liar! You said you weren't a thing that you were never a thing! You lied to me" tears are swelling in her eyes now as she beats his chest with her fists erratically trying to channel all of her hurt into physical pain for him.

"What!" He drops his hands from her like she's on fire; Jesse can't believe what he's hearing. He rakes a hand through his hair, she's angry with him? " You're mad that I was kissing Stacey?", he speaks slowly to her like she's a child.

She replies with a determined 'what the fuck do you think Im mad about' look, arms crossed, she humors him though with a slight nod. Just to make sure he knows _why_- He's being yelled at. Because she is not stupid, and she will not be lied to or taken advantage of.

"I am really trashed right now but I'm still pretty sure you don't have the right to get mad at me about that! And, for the record, I didn't lie to you; nothing _was_ going on between Stacey and me! She jumped me five minutes ago! Not that any of this is your business," Jesse is furious. What right did she have to be mad? He's the one who was rejected; he's the one who has nursed a broken heart all week. "Why do you care anyway?"

He looks at her for a response. Her shoulders are slumped and he can see the tears rolling down her cheeks now, it softens him. He realizes his mistake._ She does care._ He kissed Stacey and _that _hurt her.

_He is an idiot._

He relaxes and raises his hand to cup her face; he wipes away the tear that's fallen on her cheek with his thumb. She doesn't pull away at his touch, but lets him keep his hand there. He's just staring at her speechless trying to understand this tough yet fragile creature that is looking up at him from behind black eyeliner and tears.

"Beca," he's speaking softly, gently he doesn't want her to run off again, "when I told you how I felt, you said that you couldn't do this, you ran away," he's bracing himself for whatever her reaction might be to his next words, "I thought that meant you didn't want this, that you didn't want me the way that I want you. Was I wrong?" He's staring at her looking to see if she confirms or denies his suspicions. She stares back wordless and blinks owlishly. He wants her even more than he did before, the week of being away from her and now being this close to her is like being able to see in color after only having seen the world in black and white.

"Beca?" It's a question it's a plea. He just needs to know. Because those tears and the flash of anger that seemed a lot like jealousy have given him hope. That maybe he was right before about all the other things and only wrong about the last one. She can make or break his whole world with a single word and he's holding his breath, waiting to know what will become of him.

"Jesse" It's a whisper, her hands are resting on his chest and she's gazing back into his eyes as lost as she's ever been, "You swear about Stacey, never before tonight?"

"Never, I swear Beca. I promise I don't want her, I never did. I only want you." His hand moves a stray hair off of her forehead. He's being so gentle and so kind with her now, she doesn't know how to react so she stays frozen. Does she believe him? She really wants to.

"Jesse, I still can't," her voice is soft and unsure, she's afraid.

Jesse isn't letting her go now, not when she didn't deny she felt something for him too. His hands slide down her back to rest on her waist and he pulls her the rest of the way to him so she is now completely flush against his body. The action sends a shiver through Beca and she looks down trying to break the spell his eyes have cast on her.

"Why can't you Beca?" His eyes search her face. She isn't looking at him anymore and merely shakes her head no; she's not going to tell him.

He racks his brain for keys to the puzzle that is Beca Mitchell. _He knows the languages she speaks __Sarcasm & Music. Somehow he doesn't think serenading her is the right call at the moment. _

He lightens the tone of his voice, "Are you already married?" He sees the sides of her mouth start to quirk up at the end as she shakes her head no.

"Are you in the witness protection program? You ratted out the asian mafia, that's where you got your tattoos isn't it?" She bites her lip and raises her eyes back to his and shakes her head no again.

He gasps, "Wait, are you really a dude? Because I'm not gonna lie, that would be a deal breaker for me." She is smiling full now and slaps him in the shoulder playfully. "Dork."

Jesse had dissolved all the fear that had welled up inside her, She's smiling, her real smile and its for him, she could stay with him quietly in this moment forever.

Then it dawns on Beca, its quiet. Crap, the music. "Jesse, I have to go finish DJing the party we'll talk after ok?" She disentangled herself from his arms and starts to walk away from him.

He doesn't want to let her go; this moment feels so good, so right. Jesse does something he thinks he might regret later, but he's fueled by her smile and an obscene amount of alcohol so, he grabs her hand and pulls her back into him, she looks surprised but she doesn't run. That's all the encouragement he needed, Jesse lips are now crashing into hers, he's kissing her and she's kissing him back.

He kisses her the way he's wanted to since the day he met her and like he may never be able to kiss her again. He's pouring all his feelings into this one kiss. Its Passionate and needy but gentle and loving at the same time. His tongue is exploring her mouth wrestling against her tongue. His left hand is tangled in her hair his right arm is wrapped around her waist pulling her impossibly closer to him.

Space, time, life and death it all flashes and dies away in a brilliant light while he's kissing Beca. Everything about it feels so right he never wants to kiss anyone else ever again. All too soon though, air becomes a problem and he has to let her go. He slowly unwinds his arms and pulls back his face to look at her.

"We'll finish this when you're done?" He says more of a statement and less of a question. He looks for a sign of regret or anger. He doesn't find any there and smiles.

"Yeah, when I'm done," Beca's eyes are twinkling and her smile looks like it might split her face in two. She's embarrassed and tries to cover her face with her hand.

She turns to walk into the house, resisting the urge to glance back over her shoulder , but she can feel his eyes and she knows he's still staring at her.

_Not a bad party at all_


	10. Chapter 10

Benji closes his eyes resting his head on Jessica's shoulder as she lays hers against his chest. They continue to dance to their own slower rhythm despite the upbeat mixes Beca is currently playing.

He sniffs her hair and wonders what shampoo she uses. He could ask her, and she would tell him, because they are dating. He smiles at that thought. He cant believe he was so lucky to find her, that she wanted to be with him, especially since he thought the girl for him was someone else entirely.

That's why you go to college he supposes, to be introduced to new things, new people and new ideas. You just have to keep yourself open to those new things and not fixate only on what's familiar or you could miss out on something great. Case in point the goddess in his arms right now.

Benji allows his eyes to drift towards the DJ Booth and the petite brunette spinning and mixing the room into submission. She looks happy, and he suspects the fact that Jesse has been by her side most of the evening has something to do with it. It's a relief to him, to see her happy like this, really happy not just laughing at a joke or smiling for someone else but truly happy.

He worries about her a lot; she's not as tough as everyone thinks, ok maybe she is, but only on the outside. He gets to see her softer side and he knows she's hurting and lonely. He wants to help her the way she always helps him. So that's why he lied to her today, well not lied so much as orchestrated things without telling her about it. That's totally different right?

_Wednesday night…_

"_I'm worried about Jesse, he has been moping on my couch eating Nutella straight from the jar." Chloe voiced her concerned while sipping her pop. _

"_Beca hasn't been to class or work all week and she is eating red Twizzlers, that's always a bad sign." Benji adds while eating his second slice of pizza. _

" _I just feel horrible, it's really all my fault. I shouldn't have told Ashley about their date, I just thought they were so cute together. I didn't know it would cause all of this." Jessica pouts and gestures her hands in a circle. _

_Benji puts his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer to him, "No, this is not your fault, you had no way to know how Beca would react. She is sort of… out of left field sometimes (That's the Benji way of saying bat-shit crazy)." _

_Chloe sighs heavily and shakes her head, "So they're both miserable and avoiding each other."_

"_Its such a shame Beca is so stubborn about this stuff. She looked so happy right after their date last week, I haven't heard her laugh with anyone like that in awhile." _

_At this point Dean enters the conversation, "Dude, were you stalking them? How would you know that stuff?"_

_Benji sheepishly smiles at Jessica's brother and shakes his head, "No, I was waiting for her at her dorm room. She's on the first floor that faces the front and maybe I made sure her window was cracked to hear how the end of her evening went." _

"_Benji that could have been dangerous, what if she had brought him upstairs?" Chloe waggles her eyebrow at him._

"_Oh, that's the other reason the window was cracked – it allows for a fast escape." Benji explained matter of factly, eliciting a round of laughter from the table. _

"_Seriously though, he really seems __to make her happy she just freaks out about labels and stuff. Beca has some trust issues since her parents divorce." Benji is looking at Chloe and Jessica willing them to believe him. He wants them to know its not Beca's fault that she is, well the way she is._

_The girls both nod their heads understandingly with an "oh" and a "that's too bad". _

_Dean interjects again, " I don't see the problem, they like each other, but she doesn't want a label or whatever, so get them together somewhere and get them drunk and nature will take its course." _

_Chloe squeals so loudly that all the other patrons in the restaurant turn to stare, "Dean you are so brilliant," she rewards him with a kiss on the cheek, "I can totally drag Jesse out!"_

_Benji shakes his head sadly, "No, Beca doesn't really "go out" especially when she gets like this, she isn't a people person." _

"_She did the acapella concert, or was going to, that has people," Jessica offered. _

"_No she was just doing that as a favor to me," Benji looks down at his food not wanting to address why he had wanted to join in the first place. _

"_Really?" Chloe chimes in, "I thought it was because she was such a good vocalist, she seems to really like our music theory class." _

"_She does love music, she doesn't really like to sing in front of people though, Beca wants to be a DJ, and she interned last summer at Capitol Records in LA." _

_Jessica almost jumps in excitement, " Benji your sister is a DJ?" _

"_Yeah, that's what I said." Benji looks at her side ways as if his last sentence confused her. _

"_Dean didn't you say the DJ for your fall mixer cancelled?" Dean nods, " Well why don't you hire Beca? Chloe can get Jesse to come too. It will be perfect." Chloe nods in agreement. _

_Benji pulls Jessica a little tighter and thus the plan was hatched._

…

1:30am

Benji nudges his sisters arm, "Hey Beca, Jessica is tired I'm gonna walk her home. Are you gonna be ok?"

"Sure, I'll be fine. You two have fun." With a wink she adds, "Make good choices."

2:00am

"Its 2, that means you're off the clock now right?" Jesse whispers into Beca's ear. He's standing behind her and just barely grazing his fingers on the small of her back. She nods slowly in the affirmative. "Can I drive you home, then?"

Beca turns her head slowly back towards him, hoping he can't see the goose bumps that have broken out all over her skin due to his proximity. Eyeing him carefully, "You sure you're good to drive?"

He smiles and nods, " Haven't had anything but water for the last few hours," his voice gets a touch lower, "I'm good."

A small smirk appears on her face, "perfect, you can carry the equipment, make sure you don't break anything." She removes her headphones from her neck and turns away from him with a small shrug.

Jesse's head falls and a soft chuckle escapes his lips.

Beca makes her way to find Dean after she gives Jesse some detailed instructions on how to deal with her equipment. The party has wound down significantly now and a lot of people are passed out randomly here and there.

Dean apparently had already "retired" for the evening with his date, but he left the envelope for her to be delivered at 2, or so explained the half asleep/half drunk frat guy who had given her the envelope.

The night had definitely not gone the way she had expected, not that she had expected much, but Jesse kissing her senseless was not on her agenda. Not that she's complaining about it, if anything the encounter has only made her want him more, because real life Jesse is a better kisser than dream Jesse was. Beca was grateful for the dim lighting to conceal what she assumed was a blush rising up her cheeks.

The problem from a few weeks ago still remains, real Jesse can still hurt her, and he did already. Albeit unintentionally.

Although he was right, it's hard to blame him for it since she had rejected him (Hard but not impossible), he wasn't doing anything technically "wrong". If she had let him kiss her before, it wouldn't have even been an option for him to kiss Stacey and one he says he wouldn't want if he had her. She really wants to believe that's true.

She wanders back to the front of the house and finds Jesse patiently waiting for her. His hands are in his pockets and somehow he looks boyish and sexy at the same time.

He has everything packed up according to her directions and is waiting for her before he begins loading it into his car.

Jesse picks up one of the larger boxes and Beca grabs her lab top bag. It takes two more trips before they get all of her equipment safely into his car. They walk back and forth in silence. Beca studiously is trying not to stare, but out of the corner of her eyes she notices his muscles flexing slightly under the weight of her equipment and remembers how strong and safe those arms made her feel when they were wrapped around her. She traces the lines of jaws as they slightly clench at the excursion and are captivated when her eyes land on his perfect pink lips.

Get it together Beca, god its just Jesse! Her eyes snap back, her subconscious is not on her side it seems.

Jesse opens the car door for her, always the gentleman, and offers her a hand, which she rolls her eyes at.

"So where to Mitchell? Diner is still open can I buy you some fries?"

Beca shakes her head no, "I'm pretty tired, it's been a long night and I'd really like to get to bed."

"You're wish is my command, milady," Despite his signature goofy grin, he looks disappointed, but figures if she wont talk at the diner he's got her captive for now.

"So, about earlier…" Jesse begins.

"Yeah..."

"Are we going to talk about it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"No, I'm saying, no Jesse, I still can't."

"Why not? Are you telling me you didn't feel anything when I kissed you?" He knows she did otherwise she wouldn't be in the car with him right now. Would she?

"That's not the point Jesse!"

"Really, I'm pretty sure that _is_ the point Beca. I like you and I'm pretty sure you feel the same way about me so what is the problem?" Jesse's voice is exasperated and confused.

"I, just can't ok, I'm not really good with… people." Beca looks guiltily at her feet and hands and anything that isn't him.

"I'm not asking you to run for student body president, I'm asking you to go to dinner or even coffee with me, just me." Jesse turns his head to look at her; he's staring at her like _that _again. She feels herself wavering his eyes melting her resolve.

She drinks coffee everyday what's the harm in letting him buy one for her. It's not like she doesn't enjoy his company,"I could do coffee…" Dammit! Those eyes have messed up her thoughts again.

A smile slowly breaks out on Jesse's face. "Alright, coffee it is."

She isn't sure how long the car has been stopped in front of her dorm she just knows Jesse is holding her hand and looking into her eyes and she feels elated and lighter than she has been in a long time, and all she had to do was agree to coffee.

Jesse brings the hand he's been holding to his lips and kisses it lightly, "It has been a lovely evening Ms. Mitchell. May I walk you to your door?" He knows he's being cheesy but he can't help himself.

"Okay dork, but only because I need you to carry up my stuff." She's fighting back a smile at his antics.

He drops her hand and comically clutches his chest, "That hurts Beca, you just want to use me for my body." He's joking around, she knows this, he didn't even add a wink or eyebrow waggle, but instead of a patented eye-roll Beca's cheeks start to redden so she turns her head away and exits the car so she can compose herself.

_Get some Self Respect, and get it together Mitchell._

It appears Jesse did notice as a smug smile is now on his face, "It's ok Mitchell, you know you want me." _Shit!_

Beca's equipment is all safely in her room now and so is Jesse, he's surveying her bookshelf with interest until she sees something pass behind his eyes.

"I should probably go, it's late," he says abruptly, with his hand on the doorknob he turns back "Beca?"

"Yeah?"

"I, I just wanted to say, I had a really good time with you tonight."

"Me too, Goodnight Swanson."

"Sweet Dreams Mitchell."

**A/N Don't hate me this chapter just felt so awkward and blah. I promise I'll make the next one better. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Wow you guys are really great, Im so thankful to everyone for reading and reviewing. To be warned there is a little smut in this chapter but nothing graphic. Once again i own nothing familiar and Enjoy. :) **

"Come on Beca; Are you honestly trying to tell me you aren't dating Jesse?" Benji throws a pillow at her playfully.

She dodges it easily, " yes, honestly we aren't dating. We're just friends. We get coffee together sometimes."

"Ok, you might be able to convince someone who didn't work at the coffee kiosk of that. But, you two have gotten coffee every day together for the last two weeks. In fact twice on Friday."

Beca noncommittally shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention back to her computer screen. "I like… coffee."

"Beca…"

"Benji don't you have a girlfriend you could be bothering instead of me?"

He glances at the clock on his phone, "Not for another hour," a large smile now on Benji's face at the thought of seeing Jessica, "Fine, you aren't dating him, how about we have a non-double date this weekend?"

She rolls her eyes, "No."

"Beca, I'm bringing Jessica to dinner Sunday to meet mom and it would be really nice if you brought Jesse too, it would take some of the pressure off."

"Hard Pass, I'm not doing 'family dinner night' and I'm not going to subject Jesse to my dad. Besides I already have other plans for this weekend."

"Those plans wouldn't happen to be with the guy you aren't dating, would they?" Benji quirks his eyebrow at her, clearly he isn't letting this Jesse-thing go.

"That, would be none of your business," she replies with a smirk.

"Your dad asked about you last week, what reason do you want me to give this time for you ditching dinner?"

"Benji you don't have to tell him anything, if he wants to talk to me he has my number. He knows I have no intention of trying to stomach what Sheila tries to pass off as food. No offense. He has a PhD I'm sure he can operate a cell phone if he really wanted to know where I was." Benji lets out a long sigh; they have this conversation almost every week. He knows his mom isn't the greatest cook, but he also knows that's not the real reason Beca doesn't come to dinner on Sunday nights.

Benji gets off the bed and heads towards her door,"Well if you change your mind, which I hope you will, Mom's making pot roast and there will be more than enough for you and Jesse."

"Not gonna change my mind." Beca's eyes are still locked on her computer screen.

"I need to get changed for my date with Jessica, I'll see you later." Benji gives a small wave goodbye.

"Tell Jessica, I say 'hi' and have fun tonight."

XX

"Hey Donald can I ask you something?"

"Sure man, what's up?" Donald nods without looking away from his game, it's a timed mission, gotta have priorities.

Jesse breathes out slowly, slightly embarrassed about the topic he is going to bring up, but if you can't talk to your best friend about girls, than whom can you talk to?

"So, what would you say is the longest you've been with a girl before you started having sex?"

Donald laughs a little and a sly smile creeps onto his face, "Well in high school I dated a girl two years before we had sex, but it was also our first time. Which is probably not what you're looking for is it? Who cant you close with?"

"Just a hypothetical question, not talking about anyone in particular." Jesse doesn't meet Donald's eyes and pretends that he is really interested in beating the bonus level.

"Mmhmm, wouldn't be asking because of that little Goth chic you been hanging out with lately?" Donald isn't blind and Jesse isn't subtle, of course he would know who this is about.

"Its embarrassing ok," Jesse sighs throwing his controller down giving up on his game and runs a hand through his hair, She won't admit we're together or going out or like anything. I really like this girl and I don't want it to turn into casual sex, I don't want to be fuck buddies. I want something real with her." Donald nods and gestures for Jesse to continue. "But, I _really _want to have sex with her. We've been fooling around for the past couple weeks and she seems good to go with the physical stuff. I just, I need her to admit that we're something first. Am I crazy?"

Donald pats Jesse on the back, "Nah man, I get it, nobody wants to be somebodies dirty little secret. So if she doesn't want what you want, plenty of other fish in the sea."

"You're right." Jesse knows Donald probably is right; the problem is he doesn't want anyone else. Beca has already ruined the idea of any other woman for him, he can't go back from where he is he's already fallen too hard, he doesn't want much just for her to acknowledge that they are together in some capacity. He doesn't need to be her boyfriend – just needs them to agree that they are in fact something. Because the idea of being nothing to her is too much for him too take.

XX

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Come in, " Beca singsongs, she's excited; Jesse said he had a surprise for her tonight. Not that she spent the last half hour fussing with her hair and makeup or changed her outfit three times in anticipation of him coming by, that totally didn't happen.

"Hey," Jesse walks in with his supplies in tow and begins to set up his laptop for what has become their now weekly movie night.

"So what's my surprise?" Beca brings herself into a kneeling position and is practically bouncing on her bed; she doesn't try to hide her enthusiasm from him. In fact she's been hiding less of herself in everyway lately, Jesse just makes her feel safe like she doesn't need to hide.

He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her body flush with his, "hmmm, I don't know Mitchell? You don't seem that excited, are you sure you even want it?"

She pouts ever so slightly and batts her eyelashes at him, "Jesse, please," as she runs her fingers up his arms and into his hair giving it a slight tug.

She's entirely too cute like this, he throws his head back in laughter, "Alright you win," he removes one of his arms from her waist to reach into his back pocket and produces an envelope with a flourish and hands it to her.

She disentangles her arms and he takes a step back releasing her fully as she accepts the envelope gingerly. Quirking her eyebrow and giving her signature smirk as she opens it.

Beca's eyes bug open slightly, "You got us tickets, to David Guetta?" It's more an exclamation than a question. "Oh my god Jesse! Thank you, thank you, thank you." At this point she has jumped on him like a spider monkey her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands cradling her ass like they were made to hold it.

She squeals even louder as she examines the tickets over his shoulder more closely, "These are front row Jesse! Front row for David Guetta! You are the absolute best boyfriend ever!"

Beca doesn't realize what she just called him, she's too excited and caught up in the moment, but Jesse does and it's all he's wanted to hear. His lips are crashing against hers hard as he walks them back to the bed.

He lays her down softly his hands roaming every inch of exposed skin, his lips blazing a trail along her neck. He reaches a spot that elicits a soft moan from her and his hips buck into her responsively.

Her response is immediate, her hips rolling up to meet his, her fingers are scraping against the base of his scalp like she knows he likes, she's tilting her head giving him better access to her throat.

He begins to nibble on her ear and whispers, " You're so beautiful Beca." His warm breath sends shivers through Beca as her eyes roll closed at his marvelous touches.

His hands now are under her shirt his fingertips barely touching her smooth stomach up to just below her bra.

His kisses are feather light along her jaw working his way back towards her mouth.

Beca desperately wants him and he's torturing her. They haven't had sex yet, a couple heavy make out sessions but he always leaves before anything more can happen.

Its like they've have had a whole month of foreplay and now she needs some release or she'll explode.

"Jesse," she pants breathily, "don't stop."

She can feel him smile against her skin and he presses a soft kiss to her neck before he brings his head up to look at her. He pulls his hands from her shirt and now is resting his weight on his left forearm and moves the stray hairs off her forehead with his right hand.

His eyes are locked with hers, "Beca," his pupils are wide and he's looking at her like _that_ again making her stomach flutter, " I don't want to watch a movie tonight? Do you?"

She shakes her head softly, "No."

His eyes gleam, and he leans back down to kiss her neck again. He whispers against her skin "Whatever should we do then?"

Beca moans softly as he sucks on her pulse point, but he releases her and waits for a response. Resuming the same hands off position he was in a moment ago.

God, he's gonna make her say it, she bites her lip her eyes are filled with lust and she pushes herself up on her elbows bringing her body flush against his, "Jesse," she rolls her hips into his, he groans at the friction, "I want you."

He can't restrain himself anymore, Jesse spends the rest of the night worshipping her body and making her scream his name until they both pass out from exhaustion in a sweaty heap on her bed.

XX

Beca wakes up to Jesse's warm breath on her neck and his arm draped over her waist. She closes her eyes and snuggles her back closer into his chest and feels his arm tighten around her.

Beca is not a morning person, but if she could wake up every morning in Jesse's arms she might become one.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N - So thank you to everyone for all the reviews, favorites and follows. I'm so happy this is being enjoyed :) **

**Disclaimer, I dont own Beca, Jesse or anything else Pitch Perfect related, nor do I own any of the movies Jesse references. **

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as the last :) **

**Chapter 12**

When Monday finally comes around Jesse and Beca have to leave their sex hazed bubble and step back into the real world. Jesse is in dire need of a shower and clean clothes, both of which are unfortunately back at his dorm.

"Swanson, where you been all weekend? Not that I care, but your buddy Donald came by looking for you yesterday." Bumper asks as he notices Jesse trying to sneak in without being noticed.

"Ok, I'll give him a call later, I had my phone off."

"You had your phone off? And you didn't sleep here all weekend, you dog! What's her name?"

Jesse's eyes twinkle and a sly grin slips onto his face, "I don't know what you're talking about Bumper, but I gotta get a shower and get to class."

"Don't hold out on me bro. Is she hot? She have a friend, hook me up?"

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

He shrugs, "Not so much, long distance is hard and you can't hold back this much sexy man goodness from the ladies."

Jesse shakes his head in disgust, "Dude, there's still nothing to tell, and even if there was, no girl for you."

"Sure Swanson," Bumper rolls his eyes and goes back to whatever it is that Bumper does when Jesse is gone, no one wants to know about that.

XX

Beca showered and changed in peace being free of any annoying roommates, but evidently there was no shortage of nosy people in her life after she left her room.

"Oi! Flat-butt! Wait up!"

Beca huffs but stops walking and waits, "Hey Amy, What's up?"

"Did you do the assigned reading over the weekend?"

"Nope, sorry I forgot."

"Beca, I know why I didn't do it, " She points to herself, "I was being an athletic supporter to the men's swim team," she waggles her eyebrow, "if you know what I mean, (people on the moon know what she means) but I thought you were a nun?" She looks geniunly confused as if Beca should in fact be wearing a habit right now.

"I have a life Amy," despite Beca's best efforts the words don't have the same bite as they normally would; she adds an eye roll for emphasis, it doesn't help her cause. Her weekend's activities had left her in entirely too good a mood and it was showing.

Amy quirks an eyebrow at her and gets uncomfortably close to her face examining her, Her eyes widen "You had sex!" she leans closer, if that was possible, making Beca squirm under her gaze, "and it was good."

Beca wants to say something anything, but she can't, she's too stunned at Amy's psychic ability, her mouth is agape and her cheeks are turning red. "Ummmm, I ah."

As if the situation couldn't get any more awkward.

"Hey guys what are we talking about?"

"Hey Stacey, Beca was just about to tell me who tamed her wild beast this weekend?"

"Oh spill! Do we know him? Is he cute? How big is he?"

"Oh My God you guys! I'm leaving." Beca turns on her heels and walks as fast as is acceptable without looking like she is fleeing from a crime scene.

Had she known what awaited her at her next destination she would have crawled under a rock and died.

"Hey Beca! Where's your "coffee friend" today?" Benji apparently is in a teasing mood.

"Can I please just have my coffee, and go?"

"Nope, sorry." Benji shrugged his shoulders like he had no choice but to interrogate her," your Dad said he tried calling you Saturday night and Sunday about dinner and it went straight to voicemail both times. I thought that was interesting considering all my calls went to voicemail as well."

"Yeah, the battery died on my phone, have to go to the apple store and get a new one this week."

Benji nods, accepting her excuse and proceeds to make her usual order, however just as he is about to hand it to her…

_Chime, Chime_

"Beca? Isn't that your text alert?"

"No, must be someone else's." He's holding her coffee hostage now.

"Beca…"

_Chime, Chime_

"Benji…"

_Chime, Chime_

There is no denying it's her phone now. Dammit. "Fine, I had my phone off this weekend. Are you happy now? Can I please have my coffee?"

Benji smiles widely at her, "If I give you your coffee, you'll stop answering my questions. So why _did_ you turn off your phone Beca?"

When did he learn to negotiate? Apparently she's taught him too well. She files this away for later punishment.

Right now the coffee is more important. "Why do you think? I didn't want to be disturbed."

"Yeah that's not good enough Beca. So here's the deal you either tell me why, or… you come to dinner Sunday night and bring the guy you aren't dating. Choice is yours." He raises the cup over his head, well out of Beca's reach.

"Benji I swear to god I will get you fired if you don't give me my coffee now!"

"Tick-tock Beca, Coffee is starting to get cold." Benji was enjoying this way too much.

"Dammit Benji, I was with Jesse ok! Are you satisfied? Now give me my god damned coffee!"

Benji is laughing at his sister lowering the coffee back into range for her to be able to grab it.

"Beca why would you not want to be disturbed, while you were with Jesse, all weekend, what _were _you doing?"

Beca snaps the cup out of his hands, "_I _hate you."

XX

For the first time Beca is excited to go to work, not because of Jesse (ok maybe it is). It's only been a few hours but her body feels cold and naked without his arms wrapped around her.

She sneaks in through the back to start her shift trying not to draw extra attention to herself. She said she was excited, not on time.

"Hey there," Jesse appears out of seemingly nowhere making her jump.

"You scared me," she turns slapping him playfully in the chest.

He wraps his arms around her waist and brings her closer to him, "So looks like we don't have much to get done today, I think we need to continue your movie education. I brought the DVD I had planned on showing you this weekend," he drops he his lips to her ear, "before we got distracted."

His breath is warm on her neck, but it's the memory of their 'distractions' that sends a shiver down her spine.

She slings her arms around his neck and raises an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

He pulls her in closer so his hips are cradling hers, "Oh that _is_ so," he lowers his face and rubs his nose gently against hers.

Beca bites back a retort that is on her tongue and instead leans up to kiss him. Every time Beca kisses Jesse she's amazed at how it affects her. They shared a lot of kisses over the weekend; some gentle, some feverish, some passionate, and some tender and some that made her knees go weak. However, none of the kisses diminished her feelings for him, the weekend wasn't one of sexual tension being quenched but one of a fire being ignited within her.

She somehow needed him more than she had before, but it wasn't just the physical connection she wanted with him she found herself wanting to watch his stupid movies and to talk to him about her day. This is more than lust. Beca is on the verge of calling him something more than her "friend" if only to herself.

Jesse pulls back breaking the kiss moving his head so his forehead is leaning against hers, "no fair trying to distract me again Mitchell," he is looking at her adoringly and she knows he doesn't mind at all, " its time you watched Casablanca."

She sighs and lets him lead her behind the counter to a sitting position on the floor with his laptop propped on his knees and Beca nestled into his side.

The movie starts and its in black and white, yeah Beca isn't going to stay awake for this, she allows herself to fall asleep on Jesse shoulder.

She awakens to Jesse mouthing along with the characters onscreen. "Louie I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." She couldn't agree more.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N - Thank you for all the love guys. I was re-reading a couple of chapters and yeah this is defenitly fluff, but I feel like I need more fluff in my life. So to all of you who have followed, favorited and reviewed. Thank you. For those that are reading and loving but not reviewing - let me know you're out there. :) **

**Chapter 13**

For the first time in Beca's life things were going really well. She survived the semester with passing marks, she's avoided all family interactions despite it being the "holiday season" and then of course there's… Jesse.

They have been "together" for 3 months now. That's the term when he pressed her about what they were that she gave him. ("We're together ok, and I don't want to be with anyone else" "So exclusively together?" "Yes Dork") She doesn't refer to him as her boyfriend, but she has stopped throwing things at Benji when he does.

They have movie night every Saturday in her room and sometimes they watch the movie, either way Jesse always ends up staying the night. They grab dinner at the diner twice a week, he calls it "their place" she teases him and pulls a face when he does but secretly, she likes it. He booked them a hotel room for after the David Guetta concert, it was the best New Year's Eve she'd ever had. She likes that he wants to share things with her and that he thinks ahead like that, the dork makes her happy, what can she say.

All things considered, Beca should have expected the phone call she got that morning. Because when things are going really good, that's when they are most likely to go bad, at least in the life of Beca Mitchell.

6:00am

"Hi sweetie! How are you?"

"Mom?" Beca's voice was still heavy with sleep.

"I'm sorry did I wake you honey? I forgot all about the time difference!"

"What time difference? New York's in the same time zone."

"I'm in Venice! I just got engaged! The wedding will be this summer in Hawaii and I really want you to come honey!"

"Congrats Mom and to Carlos too, right?" Beca tries her hardest to keep the incredulous tone from her voice.

" No sweetie, Roberto, remember you met him at Christmas?"

"No mom, I didn't but yeah I'll try to be there."

"Oh sweetie, you have to! You can even bring someone if you want to; Roberto's family is renting the entire hotel for the event! We'll take care of your plane tickets too, first class all the way sweetie!"

"Yeah ok, I'll be there."

"Oh Beca-bear I'm so happy! I'll email you all the details when we get back to the states. Love you bye!"

"Bye, ma" her voice echoes in her ears as her mother's line has already gone dead.

Of course she's getting married… again… to a guy whose family can afford to rent an entire hotel for the weekend. Her eyes would be rolling if they weren't already closed.

Beca doesn't like to call her mother a gold digger, out loud, but her second marriage was definitely not for love, the guy was like 100 and the marriage ended at his funeral. Her next marriage wasn't for love either, but that one Beca suspects was more about lust; she married her tennis instructor, who was barely older than Beca, in Vegas. That marriage ended in an annulment after she found out Julio just wanted a green card. So, Roberto (?) will be number 4, this should be interesting.

She rolls back over and snuggles into Jesse's chest, not wanting to think about it and lets herself pretend for a few more hours that her mother hadn't called.

9:30am

Beca wakes up this time in a much more pleasant fashion. Her lovable nerd had slipped out to pick up breakfast while she slept and the aroma of waffles, bacon and coffee is filling the room.

"Beca," Jesse's sing songs her name, "time to wake up."

Beca slowly opens one eye to the site of Jesse sitting at the foot of her bed setting up a make shift picnic for their morning meal. She props herself up on her elbows, "Excuse me, do I know you?"

Jesse's eyes twinkle and he plays along, "You're right, this must be the wrong room, I'll go." He stands up to leave before Beca's hand grabs his and gently pulls him back towards the bed and into a kiss.

He pulls back, "I really should go my girlfriend is expecting me and she _is _the jealous type."

This earns him a jab in the shoulder, " I am not!"

"Oh really? I'm pretty sure you were the one who climbed me like a tree after I got out of Composition last week because I was 'talking to a girl too closely'." He uses air quotes to make his point, chuckling and enjoying that she's upset about the word jealous and not the word girlfriend. It's only the second time he's called her that, he still gets a small thrill from the sound of it.

"That's completely circumstantial, maybe I just thought you were really hot that day?" She counters with her patented smirk.

She _had_ been jealous , the girl in question was tall, blond and busty, Beca decided to stake her claim by jumping Jesse on the spot and promptly brought him back to her room where she screwed his brains out. She found out later that said girl was the classes T.A. and that Jesse was getting a list of additional research materials from her.

"Also, I don't recall you complaining about it?"

"Wasn't complaining, just making a point," he kisses her lightly on her nose, " so we have your coffee," he hands her the cup, " and waffles with maple syrup, butter and bacon." He places the take out box on her lap and places another light kiss to her lips.

Its moments like this that Beca thinks she loves him more than anyone she's ever known and that she should let him know how much he means to her. But before she does her inner voices start in, they tell her he_ is_ a wonderful guy and he deserves someone better than her, that he will figure that out sooner or later and that people like her don't get happy endings. Just look at her parents.

Ugh, and now Beca remembers the first time she was awoken this morning, a grimace crosses her face as she contemplates the conversation she had with her mother hours earlier.

Jesse notices the change in Beca's expression, "Hey what's wrong? Your food ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Just remembered something I have to do."

"Doesn't look like anything fun." He pouts at her, "do you have to do it today?"

"No," she shakes her head. She's smiling, but it doesn't reach her eyes. He wants to ask her more about what's making her so sad. He knows better than to push her, she'll tell him in her own time.

"Good I have plans for us today."

"Plans? Do they involve me leaving this bed?" She raises an eyebrow and pouts as she takes another bite of waffle.

"Beca, do our Sunday plans ever require you to leave bed?" He winks and gives her one of those grins that makes her insides melt. "I have an 80's movie marathon planned for us." He shows her the half-dozen DVD cases in his bag.

Beca groans, "not what I was hoping for Swanson."

"Come on Becs, clearly you had a deprived childhood these films are a right of passage."

She knows he's just teasing her, but the words about her childhood sting anew after her mom's phone call and she doesn't have the heart to make a witty comeback.

"I guess I did," all the humor and lightness of the moment is overshadowed with Beca's words. Jesse immediately notices the shift and takes her food away from her and places it with his on her desk.

Wordlessly he sits next to her on the bed and places an arm around her shoulder, ready to sit with her as long as she needs him too. He knows her parents divorced when she was young and that it messed her up, but she doesn't ever talk about it, or them for that matter.

She has a far away look in her eyes and he can see the tears welling just below the surface.

"My mother called me this morning," her voice is cold and distant, "she's getting married…again, in Hawaii this time. To some guy she hasn't even known a year. This will be number four for her. It's not like this is gonna be the last time though so, the question is should I bother to learn her new last name or not?" Her voice is laced with bitterness and sarcasm now.

Jesse watches her face harden as she speaks, and he begins to see the girl he had met at the beginning of the year with all of her sharp edges. The girl who didn't want to let him in. He doesn't like seeing her this way. He squeezes her shoulder gently and takes one of her hands in his, rubbing her knuckles lightly with his thumb.

His touch brings her back, she turns and looks into his eyes for a long time and he sees her eyes soften a little around the edges.

"Jesse," her voice is barely above a whisper, " she's the reason…I mean they both are… but, I…" Beca can't seem to find the right words, she's never been good at expressing her feelings, and no one ever cared enough to listen before, so she never got a lot of practice.

She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and begins again.

"When you asked me 'Why I couldn't do this', all those months ago, that's… I mean this… she… is the reason why." She swallows hard and opens her eyes, still looking off into the distance finding it too hard to meet Jesse's eyes, afraid that she might break down and cry if she does.

"Beca, Beca look at me please," Jesse takes her face in his hands and gazes into her eyes, "Beca you are not your mother." She tries to turn her head away, "Hey no, look at me. You are amazing, and beautiful and talented Beca. And I, I love you." He's wanted to tell her for the last week, but wasn't sure how she would react.

"No you don't," she shakes her head sadly.

"Yes, I do," he needs her to know he means it.

"No Jesse, you don't," her voice is determined and serious.

He presses a kiss to the top of her head, "Beca I think I'm qualified to be the judge of what I do and do not feel. And I, Jesse Swanson, am in love with you, amazingly scary ear spike and all."

She smiles at him sadly and shakes her head again, " No, you don't. I'm sure you think you do right now, but you don't. You don't know me well enough to say that, and when you do you'll change your mind and you'll leave."

This was not the reaction Jesse had expected to saying 'I love you'. He knew that this was Beca and she wasn't going to jump in his arms and say it back; he had hoped she would, but didn't really expect it.

Jesse thought it would freak her out or that she might try to run away again like she did when he first tried to kiss her.

But this, her not believing him, its beyond what he can fathom. Beca is so amazing and she doesn't even realize its_ possible_ for someone to love her, and the idea breaks his heart. He resolves to show her over the next few months how wrong she is.

"Ok, I'll drop it… for now." She nods satisfied with his answer.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N- You guys are really amazing readers. I was going to wait until Monday to post this but I thought you all deserved it early. Enjoy :)**

**Chapter 14**

Despite the morning's romantic declarations and emotional reveals, Jesse insisted that Beca watch all of the movies he had brought with him.

Snuggled together in Beca's bed watching the glow of Jesse's laptop their day went as follows:

"So that little kid with braces grows up to be a hobbit?" Beca asks over a mouthful of popcorn.

"Yes, he's Samwise in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I'm saving those for a rainy day though, and I own all three extended additions." He smiles as if this is a point of pride for him.

"Dork."

* * *

"Seriously they think you can put a car in reverse and take off miles? That's like the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Shh! Don't question the premise, its called suspension of disbelief Beca. Its essential in all John Hughes' films, try to just enjoy the experience, and Matthew Broderick's comedic timing."

* * *

"Beca, Beca! Wakeup you're gonna miss the best part. "

She yawns, "Isn't he governor that cheated on his wife with the nanny?"

"Well now he is, but he used to be an awesome action star."

"Yeah, I don't think I'll stay awake for this."

* * *

"Wouldn't the alien die if he ate Reece's pieces?"

"Shh, Beca he's an alien breathing oxygen just go with it."

"Did you bring any candy with you?"

"Yes, here's your sour patch kids and milk duds, make them last we still have two more movies to go."

* * *

"Wow, I can't believe he didn't win the fight."

" I told you that not all movies are predictable. Just have to give them a chance."

"Jesse?"

"Yes?"

"I'm out of milk duds."

He sighs and hands her his half empty bag of m & m's.

* * *

*Sniffle*

"Beca? Are you crying?" Jesse turns to face her.

Beca wipes the tears away with the back of her hands, "Jesse, that was a really good movie."

"Yeah its my favorite too." He strokes her face and gently kisses her on the forehead, then her nose and then her lips.

Then suddenly the kisses aren't so gentle and his tongue is begging entrance to her mouth. Their bodies are in sink and Beca's now straddling his hips her hands are in his hair and she slowly begins to writhe against his body.

His lips are now moving down her neck, his hands going from her hips to swiftly removing her shirt (technically his shirt) he revels in the site of her breasts and her milky skin, kissing each and every square inch of her bare chest.

Beca arches her back to give him better access as her eyes roll back and her mouth is parted in an 'o' shape. " Jesse," she moans.

They never bother to get dressed on Sundays, why bother if you spend all day in bed? Jesse is only in his boxers now and Beca having been relieved of her shirt (his shirt) is now only in a pair of boy shorts. She can feel his arousal growing through the thin fabric and feels the warmth pooling at her core.

She wants him, she needs him, her hands begin to rub his length through his boxers and slowly tease him through the slit in the front, "Oh god Beca," Jesse groans.

He flips her on her back and begins kissing her more passionately grinding his hips down into her. She moans again at the delicious friction he is creating.

Its while they are in this compromising and almost blissful position that Jesse decides to try telling her again. "Beca?"

"Mmhmm"

He kisses her neck and then whispers into her ear, "I love you."

"Ok," her voice is soft and breathy; She bites his bottom lip and looks into his eyes that are now almost black, "please could you just fuck me now?"

"God yes."

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

"No one's... home" Jesse is still kissing her neck making her voice breathy.

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Go Away!"

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Beca, open up!"

_Shit!_ Beca recognizes the voice and jumps off her bed throwing on her bathrobe, "Just a second dad."

Jesse's face blanches this is not how he wanted to meet Beca's father, naked and clearly in the middle of "something" her scurries around the room putting on his jeans and his discarded shirt from the floor.

Beca looks to Jesse with a quick nod to make sure he's decent and opens her door slightly. "Hey dad, what's up?"

Dr. Mitchell raises his eyebrow at her taking in her appearance and the very flustered looking boy he sees sitting in her room. "I've been trying to call you for the last couple weekends but you haven't been answering, so I thought I would extend the invitation in person."

"Invitation to what dad?" Her voice is terse, her relationship with her father is strained at best and this situation certainly isn't going to help it.

"To Dinner Beca, Sheila is making a turkey next Sunday, thought it would be nice since you had to miss thanksgiving this year."

"Not sure how I survived without it."

"Beca… I'm trying here. You can even bring your friend." He motions towards the still flustered Jesse.

"If I say yes? Will you leave?" He nods. "Ok fine we'll come to dinner."

"Excellent, I'll tell Sheila. Dinner's at 6pm" He smiles and walks away.

Beca slams the door and lets out a loud groan. "Well that killed the mood." She flops onto her bed.

Jesse looks up at her with a sheepish grin, "so did I just get invited to meet your family over dinner?"

Beca rolls her eyes; her parents really know how to ruin a Sunday.

_**XX**_

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, there's still time for you to back out." Beca stacks the Physics books roughly on top of each other.

"I _want_ to go Beca," Jesse is smiling widely at her, she's cute when she's nervous.

"Really, its gonna be super lame, and we'll probably have to eat afterwards too since its unlikely that Sheila will make anything edible for dinner." She sighs loudly and starts a new stack because she can't reach the top of the old one.

"When my Dad asks you questions, you don't have to answer him. Especially if it's about us, ok?" She raises her eyes to look at him to see if he's run off yet. Nope still standing.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting your family Beca," He's smiling wide as ever, he really is looking forward to this. Meeting the parents is a big step one that he is flatter she is willing to take with him. He's also hoping to gain some more insight into her childhood, she hasn't mentioned anything else since the conversation that had last weekend about her mother.

"Ok you're meeting my dad and _Benji's family_. You grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting, you are not prepared for the level of dysfunction that you are going to be subjected to tonight."

Jesse crosses the room and wraps his arms around her waist, "Beca, its gonna be fine, its one dinner, and we'll get through this together." He presses a kiss to the top of her head.

She sighs loudly and leans into him, "Maybe we should have a code word for when you've reached your limit of Mitchell Family bonding, like – Physics Book?" she points to her inspiration.

"If it would make you feel better, we'll have a code word." He kisses her on the temple, "Relax Beca, it's gonna be ok."

XX

"Physics Book! Physics Book!"

"Beca calm down we're still in the drive way," Jesse tries to comfort her as he holds back a laugh.

"No, no, no, I didn't agree to this." Beca is shaking her head and walking backwards towards the car.

"Beca, its just dinner," Jesse wraps an arm around her and tries to lead her back to the house.

"No Jess, her car is here!"

"Whose car?"

"My Aunt Betty's!"

XX

"Beca darling, don't you look…older," Betty's voice dripped with disdain as she sipped on her old fashioned.

"So do you Aunt Betty," Beca replies through a tight-lipped smile. Jesse squeezes her hand reassuringly under the table. She had had a death grip on it since they entered the house.

Beca's Aunt Betty was her father's much older sister, she never liked Beca's mother and by extension herself. During the divorce her aunt tried to get Beca to disown her mother and when Beca didn't, she tried to get her father to send her to boarding school.

Beca avoids seeing her when at all possible and on the occasions she is subjected to her company her aunt tries to make sure Beca is acutely aware of her disapproval. She feels Beca should be more "grateful" for the opportunities given to her, whatever that means. Beca suspects it means that her aunt is just an old bitter spinster that's jealous of Beca because she isn't as miserable as she is.

Benji isn't here tonight, Damn him. He probably knew Aunt Betty was coming he doesn't like her either.

"So Beca, where did you and Jesse meet?" Dr. Mitchell asks while eating his biscuit.

"At work," Beca answers slowly and bites off the consonant at the end.

"And how long have you two been together?" Sheila chirps brightly.

Beca shifts her gaze to the opposite end of the table, "a while."

"Really? Why haven't you brought him around before? Benji brings Jessica twice a month." Her tone is incredulous and her eyebrow is raised. Like Beca would make this shit up.

Aunt Betty decides to join in on the patronizing, "Yes, Beca, your father never mentioned you having a boyfriend before. Sweetie, there's no shame in being alone. Not _everyone_ can be as popular as your cousin Jamie."

Her Aunt Betty _really_ likes to bring up her cousin Jamie, she's 2 years older than Beca, and Jamie went to Yale and is currently at NYU law school. _Her parents_ do things in a way that Aunt Betty approves of Beca finds her nauseating.

If Beca could stab her Aunt with her butter knife, she would. Instead she rolls her eyes and smiles, "Oh, Jesse's not my boyfriend we just fuck on top of physics books at work."

Jesse almost chokes on his water and Beca yanks him from the table.

"We're gonna go dad, see you around campus." With that they sprint to the door.

XX

_That _had not gone the way Jesse had planned. Parents normally love him, but these people. He simple shakes his head as he follows Beca to the car.

Beca hadn't been kidding about her family being dysfunctional, Jesse felt like he was in a scene from one of those awkward holiday movies. These people are fucking nuts. They just inappropriately insult each other and then sit in awkward silence.

She wasn't joking about the food either. Dr. Mitchell clearly hadn't married Benji's mom for her culinary skills, no one seemed to be eating at dinner. He wondered that they even bothered serving it, for crying out loud how do you make a turkey _green_? That can't be healthy. He ate the carrots, well some of them (ok fine, they were disgusting and he spit them out into his napkin) and pushed the rest of the food around to give the appearance of having been eaten.

"Beca? Are you ok?" He asked opening the door and helping her in the car.

"I'm fine, GAH! I just hate those people! What the hell an Aunt Betty ambush? Do you see what I mean they are ridiculous?" To say Beca was 'worked up' would be an understatement.

They ride in silence for a while before Jesse asks, "Fries? At our Diner?"

"Yeah," she breathes out slowly and a smile spreads across her face, "that sounds really good right now."

**Additional A/N- to anyone who can guess which movies Jesse & Beca watched I will give you credit in the next chapter. I would love to hear from you all and am open to prompts. Reviews are love. :) **


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N- Movies used in the previous chapter- The Goonies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, ET, Rocky, Terminator and the Breakfast Club. No one got all six correct. But, a lot of good tries. So I know last chapter was more of a filler chapter and I feel like this one is too. As long as you guys keep reading it, I'll keep writing it though. **

**Chapter 15**

Wednesday morning and Beca is running behind, if she got up when her alarm went off she wouldn't have this problem, she had broken her alarm clock 2 months ago by throwing it at the wall, so there hadn't actually been an alarm to wake up to, so clearly she isn't at fault.

She waits for Benji to make her coffee and he motions her closer to talk while he works. "Beca do you want to drive together Friday?"

"Drive where?" It's too early for questions or thinking of any kind.

"To Charlotte," his eyebrows shoot up like this is the most obvious thing in the world, "to watch the ICCA Semi-finals. Jessica hasn't stopped talking about it all week. Their a cappella group is competing. Didn't Jesse tell you about it?"

Beca is surprised but tries to play it off, "no, he didn't."

"Oh, I'm sure that _doesn't mean_ anything Beca, he probably didn't want you to drive that far by yourself or he was going to ask you about it today." Benji nods reassuringly, clearly she didn't play it off well.

"Jessica wanted me to ride in their team bus, but it's for group members only. So, I'm going to follow them in my car." Benji seems saddened by not being able to ride with her, but excited to go nonetheless. Benji could be excited about some really crappy stuff sometimes. Seriously who likes long car trips?

"So, Do you want to drive together? We can take turns its like 4 hours there and 4 hours back." His eyes are so hopeful and pleading, he hands over the coffee to her. Beca cant bring herself to kick the puppy, "Yeah sure, text me about it later, I may not remember agreeing to this since I haven't had my coffee yet." She raises her cup in mock salute and then runs to her music theory class.

XX

While this is one of the few classes Beca enjoys her mind is preoccupied with what she fears is her eminent breakup. Her mind is running through a plethora of worst-case scenarios and her insides are tangled in knots. What has Jesse fucking Swanson done to her?

Dammit! Why would Jesse not tell her about this? Doesn't he want her there? She thought that he cared about her; hell he claims that he loves her. This only proves her right though. He met her insane dysfunctional family, she started telling him stuff about her mom, sharing her messed up self, she's so stupid of course he's gonna start pulling away. She continues in her melancholy haze as she walks through the doors and across the quad.

"Hey Beca!" The all too perky redhead bumps into her shoulder.

"Hey Chloe, what's up?" Beca tries to keep the strain out of her voice.

"Are you coming to cheer us on this weekend?"

OH MY GOD! Seriously the universe is just trying to rub in how much Jesse doesn't want her.

She swallows, remembering she is in fact going, "yeah I am, and Benji and I are driving up together."

"Oh its gonna be so much fun Beca, we always go out after the performances to celebrate with the other groups and we're totally gonna win, we're the tits!"

They reach the fork in the sidewalk and this is where Chloe takes her leave, "Ok I'll see you there. Bye, Beca!" she bounces her way towards her next Technicolor adventure.

Beca shakes her head trying to rid herself of all the horrible gnawing feelings going on inside of her. Shit now she feels like she's going to cry. Swanson can't do this to her! Who the hell is does he think he is?

With that thought freshly in her mind she makes her way towards the English building where she knows she'll find him getting out of class.

Beca is strong, she is determined, and she is going to tear his fucking head off.

She spots him jogging down the steps and makes her way towards him, "Swanson!"

She sees him stop to look around and try to figure out where the voice came from, but she is lost in the throngs of students, she would not have this problem if she were taller.

"Swanson!" This time he spots her and a huge grin breaks out on his face and he races to where she is standing.

Beca has a plan she is prepared to level him and… why is he smiling like that?

Without a word Jesse scoops her up in his arms and kisses her, his lips are soft and his tongue is licking the inside of her mouth, he is kissing all of the thoughts from her head, now is not the time for him to be such a _good kisser_. Her hands are in his hair trying to bring him impossibly closer. When Jesse finally finishes kissing her soundly in front of everyone on the quad, he lowers her back down and puts his lips next to her ear, "Hey Mitchell."

She did _not_ expect him to do that, her legs feel like jelly and he just sent shivers down her spine Damn him! She composes herself, or attempts to, all right after a few minutes she still doesn't have her shit together but she decides she needs to handle this.

He has already taken her hand and slotted his fingers in between hers and is walking them in the direction of the bookstore.

Beca drops his hand and smacks him in the arm, "What the hell Swanson?"

He chuckles, " Did I embarrass you Mitchell? You can't stay mad at me." He pulls her back into his arms and is making puppy dog eyes at her. "Do you forgive me? Please, pretty please," he leans his forehead against hers so she has no choice but to relent to the chocolaty spheres.

She smacks him in the chest, "No I'm not mad about the kiss you idiot!"

He pulls back from her feigning serious injury at her attack and then looks confused, "Then what are you mad about, what did I do?"

Beca has regained her momentum, eyebrows quirked, arms crossed, badass attitude locked and loaded, "Its about what you didn't do Swanson. Did you think I wouldn't find out? Why wouldn't you tell me?" Despite her best efforts her voice is almost pleading by the last sentence.

Jesse is dumbfounded, he has often thought of himself as great boyfriend material, he remembers birthdays, he brings flowers, but once again Beca Mitchell has him at a complete loss for words, "Becs, I don't know what I did or didn't do. But, I'm sorry and if you tell me what it was I can make sure I never do it again."

Her eyes narrow, "Why didn't you tell me about Friday?"

Jesse opens his mouth and then shuts it again, "That's why you're mad at me?"

"Of course it is. My boyfriend is in the semi-finals and I have to hear about it from Benji. I hadn't even had coffee yet! Benji said Jessica has been talking about it all week! All week Jesse! Benji is driving his car behind the bus for the 4 hours it takes to get there. He asked me to drive with him; he assumed I was going too. He was surprised that I didn't know anything about it!"

Beca stops for a moment feeling faint, she hasn't taken a breath since she began yelling at him and it's making her feel woozy.

She shakes her head slowly, "I knew I shouldn't have brought you to dinner, I knew you wouldn't want me anymore. "

Jesse has simply been staring at her, the corners of his mouth tilting up and his eyes gazing at her adoringly. "Beca," he leads her to sit with him on a nearby bench, "Beca, I just thought it wasn't the type of thing you were interested in and I didn't think you would want to waste your time." He pushes her hair behind her ear gently, "Do you know how much it would mean to me if you were there? I know you think a-cappella is lame and its 8 hours of driving just for a 5-minute performance, but I would love to show you off for all the a cappella world to see. "

"You're an idiot, has anyone ever told you that?"

He smiles widely at her again, "Yeah, but I'm _your_ idiot."

Beca feels relief flood her body, she bites her lip, "So dinner with my dad didn't scare you off?"

"No, not even close, although not gonna lie I _was _afraid to eat that green turkey, you weren't kidding about the food. But, its going to take a whole lot more than that to get rid of me Mitchell," He winks at her and leads them towards work.

XX

Jesse is setting up a movie on his laptop. He's on a remake kick, so they are watching both versions of Ocean's Eleven today. Beca doesn't see the point in it, and Jesse told her that was exactly the point.

Beca snuggles herself next to him and sips on her juice pouch. She doesn't even fight it anymore; she likes them, and him. He wraps his arm around her and settles back for the movie, gently stroking her arm with hand.

"Jesse?"

"Yeah," he replies while keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I thought you were ashamed of me, and didn't want your friends to see us together."

He pauses the movie and gives her his full attention, "Beca you don't have to apologize. I should have told you about it, it was stupid of me not too regardless of the reason and I promise you will never have to find out what I'm doing from anyone else again. Ok?"

"Ok," she breathes out. Maybe he really does love her.

"Besides, there are a lot of a cappella groupies at these events, need someone to fend them off of me." He teasingly pinches her side, earning him a jab with her elbow. She might love him too.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N- Thanks for all the reviews and follows guys it really makes me feel loved! So Enjoy the next chapter :) **

**Disclaimer- I dont own pitch perfect or anything else familiar. **

**Chapter 16**

Well this is definitely something. 4 hours in the car with Benji (fortunately he let her sleep for most of it) and now she's in an auditorium full of people excited about and anticipating the Semi Finals of Organized Nerd Singing.

Benji leads her to their seats_. How did he get them reserved seats?_ Before she has a chance to ask he's pulling out a foam finger with a treble cleft sign. _Where the hell did he get that and will she have to beat anyone up for making fun of him for having it? Her gaze sweeps through the crowd and she realizes, no she probably wont. _

It takes all of Beca's will power to not laugh out loud at the group on stage; they literally have sock puppets on their hands. She can't believe she's dating one of these a cappella nerds.

Speaking of which, where_ is _her nerd? She hasn't seen Jesse since this morning before he got on the team bus. He wanted to ride with her, but Aubrey said the team had to travel together and that Benji's car was not an "approved mode of transportation". Beca had eyed Benji's rusted 94 Honda Civic and had to agree it probably was _questionable_ for a long trip. Which begged the question why the hell was she going to be in it for 4 hours? Oh right, she can't say no to her dorky stepbrother.

"Look there they are," Benji pointed excitedly towards the back of the auditorium just left of center. "See, there's Aubrey out in front giving them a pep talk, although Jessica says they aren't very peppy." Benji's eyes look concerned as if peppiness was essential to life.

When Beca had been with the group (less than a week) she hadn't really had much to do with the blond captain. Apparently though she's a real bitch. In Beca's experience though that's why she's in charge, bitches get stuff done (herself included).

She can just make out Jesse standing in the back of the group with the other guys laughing and not paying attention to Aubrey's 'non-peppy talk'. Beca continues to stare in Jesse's general direction until his eyes meet hers. While he had been smiling before his smile is even wider now, it makes her heart flutter to know it's because of her. And, maybe just maybe, there's a smile on her face too now.

She can't believe she had been so worried about him not wanting her here. He had called her three times that morning to make sure she was awake and on her way and even made Benji bring her coffee. He knows her too well. She has to admit that she likes that.

She looks over at Benji, who is waving and smiling at Jessica, and all seems right in the world.

"Beca, look they're on next." Benji directs my attention to his program. _When did he get a program? _

She sees Jesse, and everyone else, take their places on stage and then she's assaulted with real music – beat boxing and rhythm and then Chloe and Ashley come to the forefront:

_Can we pretend that airplanes  
In the night sky are like shooting stars?  
I could really use a wish right now  
Wish right now, wish right now_

_Can we pretend that airplanes  
In the night sky are like shooting stars?  
I could really use a wish right now  
Wish right now, wish right now_

Beca hears the crowd cheer and watches the row of judges (Benji had pointed them out to her earlier) bobbing their heads.

_Yeah, I could use a dream or a genie or a wish  
To go back to a place much simpler than this  
'Cause after all the partyin' and smashin' and crashin'  
And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion_

Beca's jaw drops in astonishment. Holy Shit! Jesse can rap! My god and he looks so confident and sexy as hell, she's tempted to jump him right now on stage. How had she not known about this side of him?

_And all the pandemonium and all the madness  
There comes a time where you fade to the blackness  
And when you starin' at that phone in your lap  
And you hopin' but them people never call you back_

_But that's just how the story unfolds  
You get another hand soon after you fold  
And when your plans unravel in the sand  
What would you wish for if you had one chance_

Beca is squirming in her seat now as Jesse's voice does all manner of things to her insides. He moves center stage and rolls his hips and she bites her lip. _Damn son!_

_So airplane, airplane, sorry I'm late__  
__I'm on my way so don't close that gate__  
__If I don't make that then I'll switch my flight__  
__And I'll be right back at it by the end of the night_

Chloe has started the chorus again, but Beca's eyes are still on Jesse. He's mesmerizing her and she suddenly feels at a great disadvantage that he has this kind of power over her when he sings, but at this exact moment she doesn't care.

Jesse doesn't rap the next section another guy she doesn't know steps forward, he must have been one of the people on vacation over thanksgiving break, he's tall with hipster glasses and some really crazy looking hair.

They really are good, she's impressed and it looks like the crowd is too.

_Can we pretend that airplanes  
In the night sky are like shooting stars?  
I could really use a wish right now  
Wish right now, wish right now_

_Can we pretend that airplanes  
In the night sky are like shooting stars?  
I could really use a wish right now  
Wish right now, wish right now_

_I could really use a wish right now  
I could really use a wish right now  
Like, like, like shooting stars  
I could really use a wish right now  
A wish, a wish right now_

Jesse sings the last line while looking at her with his signature grin and she does not melt into a puddle right there, definitely not.

The audience roars in applause, and seriously those _are _groupies up front! Beca may have to punch someone tonight yet.

* * *

They win of course, how could they not? And now they are all at some bar nearby celebrating with the various other Aca-people (Jesse's word not her's). Benji and Jessica are snuggled in a booth together talking quietly together. She enjoys seeing him so happy.

Jesse hasn't left her side since they got there. Even when he is talking with his other friends and teammates he always has an arm around her waist or his hand entwined with hers. He introduces her proudly as his girlfriend, (they hadn't officially agreed on that title, but she didn't mind the sound of it and let it slide) to everyone on the team. It was a little overwhelming, but Beca actually found herself enjoying her time with these people. They were nice, odd in their own ways, but accepting. No one batted an eye at her tattoos or her ear spikes they seemed to take her as she was. She could see why Jesse liked being apart of the a cappella group.

They slipped into a booth with Donald, evidently Jesse's best friend ( also he was the other guy she had seen rapping on stage), and his girlfriend Lily. Jesse's arm is wrapped around her shoulder and she nuzzles herself against his chest and lets contentment overtake her.

It was all those warm and fuzzy feelings that kept Beca distracted from noticing the small stage and karaoke equipment being set up at the other end of the bar.

Aubrey suddenly has a microphone in her hand and is calling for everyone's attention; the normally uptight girl appears to be slightly slurring her words and using the mic stand to keep herself upright.

"My fellow aca-people, tonight we celebrate our win and another step towards our greater victory of being this years ICCA Champions! Woo!" The entire bar cheers, Aubrey composes herself, "Now I expect you all to get up here and prove what makes Barden the best a cappella group in the country!"

Aubrey begins to sing a Taylor Swift song, while dancing around the stage and earning leers from several of the usual patrons.

Beca would find it amusing if Jesse and Donald hadn't just left the table to go sign themselves up as well. Dear lord, of course Jesse sings karaoke too. She rolls her eyes and appreciates the fact that at least he isn't trying to make her do it.

Beca awkwardly sits staring at Lily across the booth; She should try to talk to her right? Since they are in the booth alone, "So… how long have you and Donald been together?"

Lily's lips definitely moved but she couldn't hear anything; the bar is kinda loud, "What?" she yells slightly to indicate the need to speak up.

Lily huffs more audibly than her words and simply pulls out her phone and indicates towards Beca's as well. _Seriously?_ _She's gonna text her across the table?_ Beca obliges her though and soon they are having a nice conversation without words. Lily sends her several pics of her and Donald over the last year, they really are cute together, odd but cute.

Beca figures Lily might be the one to ask about embarrassing pics of Jesse. She is rewarded with a YouTube link of Jesse singing in a dress in the middle of what appears to be a Halloween party. Beca saves the link for future blackmail and makes a mental note to never do anything embarrassing in front of Lily. It's the quiet ones that keep the most secrets.

Jesse and Donald finally return to the booth looking smug and excited. _Nerds._

"So what were you two ladies chatting about?" Jesse asks nervously, glancing between the two girls not sure if leaving them alone had been a good idea or not.

Beca and Lily simply look at one another and shrug their shoulders knowing grins on both their faces.

"That can't be good." Jesse pokes Beca in the side and Donald simply wraps an arm around Lily, "I think it's adorable."

"So what are you two singing?" Beca asks, shifting the attention off of her self.

"Suit & Tie," they say in unison.

"Jinx."

"Double Jinx."

"Buy me a coke."

The guys break down in laughter and Beca rolls her eyes, "seriously how do you two have girlfriends?"

Jesse leans in and whispers into Beca's ear, "oh I can think of a few reasons," he kisses the outer shell of her ear lightly and presses another feather light kiss to her neck. Beca does not shiver and press her legs together at the feel of his lips.

She simply takes a long sip of her beer, but Jesse's smug grin lets her know she isn't getting away with anything.

Chloe and Ashley have just started singing Party in the U.S.A., when Beca hears her text chime go off, assuming its another text from Lily she looks at it immediately. She should have checked who it was first.

_Sender: Mom _

_Beca! The Date is set June 21__st__! You should come for the whole weekend there will be a carnival of festivities. _

_Attachment._

_Beca checks the photo it's a picture of her mothers hand with 4 carat diamond ring sitting on her left ring finger with a caption underneath- Thought you would want to see the ring. _

Somehow her mother just knows, knows she was enjoying her life. Before Beca can put her phone away, it chimes again.

_Sender: Mom_

_Attachment._

_The photo this time is of a bright orange, yellow and pink floral dress. The caption reads- your bridesmaids dress, don't you love it?_

Beca excuses herself to go to the restroom, knowing it to be the one place Jesse wouldn't try to follow her. She walks into the open stall and leans her forehead against the cool metal door.

She doesn't want to go through this again another wedding, another moron who asks her to call him "dad" and calls her "pumpkin". There's a lump in her throat and a knot in her stomach, she hasn't told her dad yet, she wonders if he knows, he always gets a sad look in his eyes every time her mom gets married. She doesn't like being the one to tell him. Its like he still cares about her in a really weird way, like he knows getting remarried a dozen times isn't going to make her happy the same way Beca does, accept Beca is angry at her mother for it, but her dad… he seems to pity her. Somehow that's worse. At least to Beca it is. To be pitied means to be thought of as weak, and she decided long ago to never let that be her.

She breathes out slowly and bangs her head on the door again. Beca decides she simply won't think about it again tonight, and with that Beca is at the bar double fisting shots of tequila. No better way to _not _think about something then to make sure you can't think _at all_.

"Woo!" Beca calls requesting another round.

"Hey Becs, I think you better slow down tiger," Jesse takes a shot out of her hands and slides it back to the bartender with a motion to cut her off.

"Jesse," she says playfully, "I'm trying not to think."

"Oh yeah?" He raises his eyebrow, smiles his smile, and joins her at the bar, "and what are we trying to not think about Miss Mitchell?"

"Stuff," she slurs out. Jesse motions for some water and pretzels for her.

"Yeah what kind of stuff Becs?"

"I just don't like her, ya know? Like I love her or whatever… but I don't like anything she does."

"Who Becs?" He quirks an eyebrow waiting for a response, but she isn't listening to him.

"And I don't like Pink! Or Orange! Or Yellow! I like Black! Black and Blue and Jesse." She slams her hand on the bar for emphasis.

"Ok, lets go get you some air." Beca can walk but she is leaning heavily into Jesse's side. She enjoys how warm he feels, his smell, his cologne and a little sweat and some thing else that mixed all together is just, Jesse. She finds it comforting and soothing.

"Jesse? You wanna know something?"

"Sure, Beca," he chuckles softly as he walks her into the parking lot leading her towards the team bus.

"I like your butt." She pinches his behind with the arm that's wrapped around his waist and giggles.

He jumps slightly and squeezes her tighter continuing to laugh at his drunken girlfriend.

"You know what else?"

"What Becs?"

"I really like it when you sing, like it does things to me, and I wanted to jump you and fuck you in front of everyone at the competition today."

"Oh, really?" his face is red but he's still laughing, "Is that a fact?"

Beca nods seriously as if this conversation would ever happen while she was sober.

"And, Jesse know what else?" he shakes his head waiting for the next embarrassing and revealing thing to come out of her mouth.

"I like you."

He kisses her forehead lightly, " I like you too."

"No, but Jesse. I really like you. Like, I don't like people, almost ever or at all, I don't like my family, and sometimes I don't like Benji, but don't tell him he'll be sad." She stops walking and so does he, her tone becomes sober, "I don't like being places with people or around them," her hands are resting on his chest and her head is tilted up just looking into his big Bambi eyes, "but, Jesse, I like you, and for you, no matter how many other people were around I would go anywhere."

Jesse feels his heart swell, he strokes the side of her face lightly and she nuzzles into it, its time to try again.

"Beca, I love you."

"I love you, too."

He feels like his heart might explode, his eyes are glistening, he's never been so happy in his whole life. He lifts her petite form in his arms and kisses her so fiercely he's worried about them falling over.

"Jesse," she sighs into his mouth.

"Yes my love," if she wasn't drunk no way he would have gotten away with that.

"Too, many, clothes."

He carries her onto the team bus and they climb into the farthest row of seats, kissing and stroking each other passionately.

"Jesse?"

"Yeah?" All of his focus now on getting off his pants and trying to find a condom.

"I … I …"

Beca runs across the aisle into the bathroom just in time to avoid a mess.

Jesse zips his pants back up and runs a washcloth under some water. He gently massages her back and dabs her face clean.

She rests her head on the side of the toilet and looks up at him with glazed eyes, "I really do love you Jesse."

He sighs and kisses her forehead gingerly, " I really love you too."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Jesse wakes up happier then he has ever been in his entire life. He is a man in love. The object of his affections is lying in his arms, and she loves him too. If you could die from happiness, Jesse would be a dead man. His life isn't his anymore, he gave her his heart, but she gave him hers in return. He isn't sure how he got so lucky, but he is determined to never let Beca go now that he finally has her.

* * *

Beca thinks it may have become Jesse's personal mission in life to make her a morning person. She finds it difficult to be angry when she wakes up to his adoring eyes or when he's brought her breakfast in bed, or when he decides to wake her up in _other ways_.

This morning Jesse has decided to wake her up by placing feather light kisses to the skin under her tattoos, she had once explained to him that the skin is a little more sensitive there and he takes ever opportunity to give it "special" attention. For some reason it's the feather light touch of his lips that excites and soothes her at the same time. She feels herself shiver and her skin breaks out in goose bumps.

Lying here in bed with Jesse, the man she loves, the man who hasn't run away (yet) she feels content and safe. She exhales softly letting a smile overtake her face while keeping her eyes shut.

"I saw that," he whispers into her skin, his voice is always sexiest in the mornings, just another way he's conspiring to make her a morning person.

"You saw nothing," Beca holds her eyes closed more tightly and tries to dampen down her smile.

Jesse however, decides that tickling her will be more effective now in waking her up and has Beca squirming and gasping for breath because of how hard she is laughing.

"You win, you win," she surrenders and opens her eyes to see him staring at her adoringly with his signature grin on his face.

"Damn right I do," pulling her into him and placing a languid kiss on her lips.

"Beca?"

"Yeah Jess."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing you say that," and with that Jesse proceeds to keep Beca awake and in bed for another couple hours. _He really is determined to make her a morning person. _

* * *

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not Becs."

"Because, I'm not exactly meet the parents material," she sweeps a hand over her body.

"Beca they are going to love you just like I do," Jesse kisses her softly on the forehead. He's been trying to convince her for the last hour to meet his parents during Spring Break. She agreed to going to Cape Cod with him but changed her mind after he mentioned meeting his parents while they were there.

"Jesse, its not a good idea, cant we go somewhere else for Spring Break? Myrtle Beach? Gettysburg? The Student Union?" She pretends to be very interested in the out of date history books in the storage room.

Jesse decides to change tactics, " Beca I think we already proven you are not the best judge of what a _good idea is_," he moves her hair to the side and begins placing kisses on her neck, "I Seem to recall you not thinking _this_ was a good idea either." His voice tickles her ear and sends shivers down her spine.

"Jess…" She meant it to be a protest but it comes out more as a sigh of encouragement. Damn him!

She feels him smile against her skin, "I'll take that as a yes, good thing too or would have had to find someone else to use your plane ticket."

Beca pulls away her eyes widen, "You already bought me a ticket? What made you think I was going to say yes?"

He chuckles and pulls her close, " So that _was_ a yes."

She groans, "Ugh fine it's a yes. If this goes badly, remember you brought this on yourself."

"I'm not worried in the least Becs."

* * *

"Morning Beca, you want your usual?"

She nods at Benji, not awake enough to form words.

"Hey I wanted to talk to you about Spring Break, Jessica said some of the a cappella people are renting a beach house together in Daytona, are you and Jesse going?"

"No, we're going somewhere else…"

"Oh really?" He sounds so disappointed, Beca suddenly feels guilty for not being able to go with him, which is replaced by feelings of relief when she thinks about spending a week with a dozen a cappella people in a tiny rental house, which is replaced by fear as she thinks about meeting Jesse's parents instead. GAH! _Too many emotions for one morning!_

"So where are you guys going then?"

Beca hides her face in her coffee cup, "Cape Cod."

"Isn't that where Jesse is from?" Benji raises an eyebrow at her and Beca mumbles a reply into her cup.

"What was that?" A smile now on his face, he knows he's clearly embarrassed her and what else are brothers for.

She mumbles more audibly this time her cheeks turning a deep pink, "he-wants-me-to-meet-his-family."

Beca braces herself for the teasing, but instead Benji's words are soft and sincere, "You really care about him don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I do, I'm really worried about going though."

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure its gonna be great," He gives her a reassuring smile before going back to work.

Beca sighs, "I sure hope so."

She's terrified of this trip. Her own family doesn't like her, what if Jesse's family hates her? What if they see immediately what she's known all along, that Jesse is too good for her and ask him to leave her? What if he listens? This trip is going to be a disaster. She dejectedly wanders around the quad until its time to meet Jesse before they leave for the trip.

Beca is helping Jesse pack his bag; with her less than stable childhood she has become an expert at packing, Jesse having no such experience has procrastinated until Beca got here to help him.

"Jesse, you don't need all these movies, but you do need more clothes, where are all your shirts?" She removes a dozen DVDs from his suitcase.

"You know if you didn't steal my shirts I _would_ have more."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," a sly smirk on her face. _Several of his shirts are currently packed in her bag._

"We really should be in your room, that's where I suspect all my stuff is anyway." He gives her a wink before grabbing his toiletries and zipping up his bag.

"Ok ready to go?"

"Yep all set"

* * *

**A/N Ok I know this is short, especially after the wait, but I wanted to put all of Jesse's family stuff in one chapter but its not finished yet, so I thought I would give you all the prologue to spring break early. Hoped you Enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer- Nothing familiar is mine, sadly I do not own Pitch Perfect. **


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N- So this chapter is a little longer but I really wanted to keep all of Spring Break in one chapter. Remember reviews let me know if you are enjoying so dont forget to share the love. Enjoy :)**

**Chapter 18**

Beca & Jesse took a cab to Jesse's house he had gotten them an earlier flight and wanted to surprise his family.

"So what do I need to know?"

"Usually we have a few family get-togethers during the break, so don't worry about remembering everyone's names you'll get it eventually."

"How many family members am I meeting exactly?"

He shrugs, "I don't know my folks, my older brother, my little sister, my grandparents and then a few of my cousins. Just a few people, its not like everyone will be there."

"None of that was reassuring Swanson," Beca has only gotten more anxious during the cab ride, they have passed several nice residential areas and appear to be heading to the obscenely large homes in the gated communities.

The cab stops at a large grey and white Colonial home with beautiful brickwork and a lush garden landscape.

"Jess anything else you want to tell me?" Her eyes are wide and she feels her heart race quicken. _Crap these people really aren't going to like her._

"No, don't think so," he pulls their bags out of the trunk and pays the cab driver.

"Its gonna be fine Becs." He gives her a reassuring squeeze and leads the way.

Jesse opens the door and calls out, "Hey anybody home?"

"Jesse! You're home" A girl half the size of Jesse with his brown eyes and a mop of blond hair runs across the foyer and jumps into his waiting arms.

"Hey kiddo, you miss me?" He sets her back down and ruffles her hair.

"Jesse, don't mess up my hair." She pouts.

"Beca, this is my sister Brianna, Brianna this is my girlfriend Beca."

"Nice to meet you Beca," she holds out her hand and Beca takes it.

"Nice to meet you too Brianna."

With that she runs back up the stairs yelling, "MOM! Jesse's here! He brought a girl!"

A middle age woman with auburn hair that's neatly coifed and classically dressed descends the stairs; she has a warm smile on her face, "Jesse! Oh sweetie you're already here we weren't expecting you until after dinner."

She pulls him in for a hug and gives him a kiss on the cheek, "You just get more grown-up and handsome every time you come home."

"And this must be Beca," she squishes her in a hug, "well you are lovely dear and it's so nice to finally meet you, Jesse has been talking about you since September."

"Thank you Mrs. Swanson it's very nice to meet you too, thanks for letting me stay here."

"Oh its our pleasure dear, why don't you kids go freshen up and get settled in and then come down, I have lots of Jesse's baby pictures for you to see Beca." Mrs. Swanson has the same twinkle in her eyes that her son gets and she feels how much she already likes this woman.

"Mom, could we skip the pictures please," Jesse pleads with his mother.

"It's a mothers right to embarrass her son when he brings a girl home, so stop complaining and take your bags upstairs."

Jesse huffs and motions for Beca to follow him, he insists on carrying both of their suitcases, up to his room.

"So September?" She smirks at him.

"My mom's old she's probably going senile, she has no concept of time."

"She seemed pretty spry to me."

Jesse face reddens slightly, " I may have mentioned I worked with you before we were together…"

"I'll just ask your mom, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to tell me what you said about me in September," Beca can barely hold in her laughter and her smile is straining her cheeks as she watches Jesse grow more and more embarrassed.

He nods his head, "ok you've had your fun, are you finished now?"

"Nope," and she saunters across the room swinging her hips with extra emphasis.

"That's it," he grabs her hand, "you're going down Mitchell." He pulls her to the bed and begins tickling her mercilessly.

"Jesse…(laughs) stop… (Laughs) Jesse… (Laughs) please…"

"Nope, those aren't the magic words."

"Jesse…(laughs)…you win…"

He stops tickling her but stays hovering above her on his bed, she's breathless and smiling up at him, he thinks not for the first time that he's never seen her so beautiful and now his breath has been taken away.

"Beca?"

"Yeah Jesse?"

"It was the first day we worked together at the bookstore."

"What was?"

"The day that I told my mom about you."

"I didn't even talk to you that day," Beca is embarrassed and incredulous at the same time.

He smiles sheepishly, "I know, but I got to hear your laugh."

"Jess," she strokes his hair and looks deeply into his eyes, "I'm sorry, I don't remember that."

"That's ok Becs I didn't expect you too. Its kind of embarassing actually; I tripped over the front stoop and knocked over a whole cart of books, and you laughed, and I was hooked."

Beca wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him deeply, trying to pour all of her appreciation for everything he is to her.

Jesse breaks away first, "Becs, we should go downstairs, cause if we don't now," he bites his lip with lust in his eyes and gazes down longingly at her body.

"Yeah you're right, that wouldn't be a good first impression for your family." She jumps off the bed and smooths down her hair and clothes attempting to make herself look presentable.

"Jesse, You coming?"

"Yeah I just a need a sec to a calm down."

"Alright well don't take too long, your mom has baby pictures to show me." She shoots him a sly grin and jogs down the stairs with Jesse trailing behind her.

Jesse and Beca settle down in the living room on the aptly named love seat.

"So how was your flight dear?"

"Good, nothing too exciting, no attempted terrorist attacks," Jesse explains.

"So Beca dear, tell me all about yourself."

"Not much to tell, I'm in my junior year at Barden, I'm originally from New York and I have plans to move to LA after graduation to pursue a career in the music industry as a producer." Beca picks nervously at the non-existent fuzz on her jeans.

"Los Angeles, that's exciting. Do you have family there?"

"None that I'm aware of," Beca smiles nervously.

"Jesse has been talking about moving out to Hollywood since he was a little boy, always fascinated with movies. You know he wanted to go live with the Swiss Family Robinsons?" Mrs. Swanson has a teasing tone to her voice and Jesse's cheeks begin to flush again.

"Mom, I was 8, can we _not_ talk about me? Where's dad?"

"Oh he's working late tonight so he would have more free time once you and your brother got in. Paul isn't set to arrive until the morning though, wanted to drive himself instead of flying out like a normal person, he's bringing a new girl with him, Brenda I think."

Jesse leans over to whisper in Beca's ear, "My brother brings someone new home every break, they're always nice but none ever stick around very long." He gives her a light squeeze.

For some reason that information isn't comforting to Beca, she wonders how many girls Jesse has brought home before, if she'll be here for the next break.

"Well I'll give your father a call and have him pick up some dinner on his way home, Beca dear do you like Chinese?"

Beca nods in the affirmative smiling, she had teased Jesse about his life being a Norman Rockwell painting before but she had never realized how true it was. It was so warm and comfortable, for the first time since Jesse invited her here she wasn't nervous.

* * *

"Jesse? Are you asleep?"

He yawns softly and tightens his grip around her waist, "Almost."

"Your family is really nice. I'm glad you convinced me to come."

He lightly kisses the back of her neck, "Me too. They like you, you know?"

"Really?"

She feels his chest rumble against her back, "Yeah Becs, Brianna wouldn't have subjected you to her entire Disney princess fashion show otherwise."

"She doesn't do that with all the girls you bring home?" She uses her teasing voice, but she really wants to know how many other girls there were.

"Nope." He says very softly.

"Jess? Brianna really didn't like any of the others?"

Jesse is silent for a beat only increasing Beca's fear, his voice is hesitant, "It's kind of a moot point Beca… I never brought any other girls home before."

Her heart swells in her chest, he_ really_ loves her, Beca is grateful for the darkness of the room, her face has broken into a smile so wide that she would be embarrassed for Jesse to see.

* * *

Beca wakes up the next morning in an empty bed to the sound of laughter and the smell of bacon. She emerges from Jesse's room wearing one of his t-shirts and a pair of her flannel pajama pants.

The whole family is up, Jesse's brother has arrived with his flavor of the week and they are eating breakfast and talking and laughing together. From the top of the stairs she can see into the kitchen, she doesn't mean to eavesdrop but the scene is so idyllic that she doesn't want to disturb it.

"Oh Paul, just wait until you see the girl your brother brought home, she's quite a looker." She sees Jesse's dad elbow him in the chest and give him a waggling eyebrow.

"If she's that pretty what she doing with Jesse?" Beca sees who she assumes is his older brother tease him and fling a grape at his head.

"Paul, don't play with your food. How old are you?" Jesse's mother gives him a chastising look, "Jesse dear, why don't you go get Beca, I don't want her to miss breakfast."

Jesse looks grateful for the opportunity to excuse himself and proceeds up the staircase.

"Hey there you are!" He greets her with a smile and a kiss, "You sleep well?"

"Yeah I did, thanks."

He leads her into the kitchen and pulls out a chair for her with a place setting already made up and a buffet of food to choose from on the table. She is met with a chorus of 'Good Mornings' from the entire Swanson clan.

"Beca, Beca, you're awake, you can have your orange juice in my Cinderella cup if you want." Brianna hands Beca the glittery pink glass and Beca graciously accepts it.

"Thank you Brianna." She notices Jesse didn't sit down but instead is pouring himself a cup of coffee, "Jesse could you grab me some coffee too?"

He nods and grabs another cup as the rest of the family continues in animated conversation. Beca eats almost in silence as she tries to take it all in.

"So what are you kids planning to do today?" Jesse's father asks over his scrambled eggs.

Paul and Jesse share a look and then reply in unison, "taking out the boat."

"Boys we have been over this before, it's a yacht not a boat," their father corrects them sternly.

The boys have matching smirks as they both try not to laugh at their father's obvious irritation.

Jesse's mom gently places a hand on their father's arm, "Dear, they're just trying to get at your goat, _they know what it's called_." Mrs. Swanson has the same twinkle in her eye again, and Beca gets the impression this is not the first time she's settled her husband regarding their sons nor she suspects will it be the last.

Paul stands-up abruptly still stifling his laughter, "We'll meet you guys at the dock in about an hour, we're gonna go unpack and settle in." He gives Brenda a wink and pulls her after him.

"We should get ready too, Becs?" Jesse extends a hand towards her and waits until she takes it.

* * *

"You were quiet at breakfast everything ok?"

"Yeah, just enjoying my coffee," she smiles, "sorry I didn't bring my sailor outfit for this afternoon," she shoots him a flirty wink as she buttons a shirt over her bikini top.

"You know we don't have to go out on the yacht I can keep you here, until we find something you_ do_ have the appropriate apparel for," he wraps his arms around her waist, "I already have few ideas."

"Tempting Swanson," she eyes his still shirtless form, "very tempting, but I'll have to pass," he pouts at her and gives her his patented puppy dog eyes.

She bites her lip, this man will be the end of her, "rein check for tonight?"

He places a languid kiss on her lips; "I'll hold you to it Mitchell."

She pulls away slowly running a hand down his chest and stopping at the waist band of his board shorts dipping a finger just underneath the edge, "I'm counting on that." Her signature smirk on her face as she watches Jesse gulp and his Adam's apple bob.

He grabs a shirt and then her hand, "C'mon lets go before I cash in early."

* * *

The yacht is beautiful; no way it could be mistaken for a rowboat, hence why Mr. Swanson's sons find it so easy to tease him about it.

Paul & Jesse begin preparing for cast-off, Brenda is tanning on the deck and Beca takes a walk around the cabin hoping to find a place to dock her iPod.

"Hey there you are," Paul pops his head through the door, " Jesse was worried you tried to jump ship while we weren't looking."

She laughs softly, " No just looking for a place to dock my iPod," Paul pushes on a flat panel on the counter it flips opens and reveals a docking station.

"There you go," He smiles warmly. Paul looks a lot like Jesse, similar build, same brown eyes and hair but the mouth and jawline are very different. There's also a lot more arrogance surrounding Paul, he leans against the counter hands in his pockets like he's posing, "So, Jesse says you go to Barden."

"Yep."

"Yeah I went there for a bit, wasn't for me. Michigan seems to be working out well for me. Do miss the southern girls, " he winks and Beca rolls her eyes in return, "Can't beat that Mid-western hospitability though. Well if you'll excuse me, I don't want Brenda to get lonely."

Beca searches through her playlists and docks her iPod, making sure she doesn't break any another secret compartments. She then emerges from the cabin to see Jesse at the steering wheel.

"Beca," he waves her over, "you wanna steer?"

"I think you invent activities that require you to put your arms around me," she steps in front of him and he places his hands on top of hers on the wheel.

"I plead the fifth," she can feel him smiling against the back of her head.

"So when did you learn to sail?"

"When I was a kid. It was always my dad and my thing. Paul was always too busy with his various girlfriends."

"Yeah he seems like a regular ladies man." Beca replies sarcastically.

"It's the Swanson charm, ladies can't resist us."

Beca laughs heartily and lets the sea air fill her lungs.

They spend the whole day on the water, enjoying the coastline and each other's company, until its time to go home. Jesse brings them back just before sunset, evidently they have a clambake to get to. Seriously these people can't be real.

* * *

"So whose house are we going to again?"

"Our Aunt and Uncle's" Paul answers smugly.

"And they live on the same beach as you guys, only 2 houses down?"

"Yeah, hence why we are walking." Jesse slots his fingers through hers and swings their arms back and forth while humming.

"Dork"

"Yes, but I'm your dork."

* * *

Beca meets another dozen family members whose names she probably wont remember before Jesse walks her back to his house for the night.

"You know we didn't have to leave if you didn't want to, I'm not tired."

"No I was ready to leave, we'll see them all again at my grandma's tomorrow night."

He unlocks the door and follows her inside his fingers just grazing her lower back.

Beca absently runs a hand along her forearm, "I can still feel salt on my skin from this afternoon you mind if I take a shower before bed?" Beca turns around to find Jesse staring at her hungrily.

Without a word he licks up her neck and sucks on her earlobe, "Yep salty, normally you taste sweet" his voice is now husky and low, "shower sounds like just the thing."

Beca feels herself getting flustered and nervous, they had never tried shower sex before. The communal stalls at Barden always seemed so unhygienic that they never attempted it, and with her having a single they always had an available place.

Beca isn't able to continue any more thoughts as Jesse sucks and licks her neck and shoulders then he's lifting her to the counter so he can bury his face in her breasts, swirling his tongue around all the exposed skin he can find. She feels her body quiver and her breathing grows haggard; he really does have a _marvelous mouth_. She arches her back trying to give him better access to her breasts in doing so she smacks her head on the kitchen cupboards.

"Ow!" she sits up suddenly aware of her surroundings again,"Jesse… upstairs! Now!" She gasps.

His eyes dart up, "Right, not in the kitchen," he tosses her over his shoulder and runs them upstairs to his room throwing her on his bed. He locks the door and stalks back to the bed pulling off her jeans in one fluid motion. He discards his shirt adding it to the pile of unwanted clothes, his eyes are full of lust as he rakes them over her half naked form.

Beca doesn't think she's ever been so turned on.

"Hey," he kisses her softly on the lips.

"Hey," she looks up at him through heavy lidded eyes.

"Still want that shower?"

"I think I _really_ need it now." She gives him a wink as he helps her off the bed. He unlocks the door and chases her playfully down the hall.

He locks the bathroom door behind them, just to be safe, and turns on the steam shower. "Ok it'll take just a minute to heat up," he turns and sees Beca is no longer wearing the string bikini she had on a moment ago, "Fuck me," he breathes out.

"That's the idea."

Beca trails her hands up and down his chest playing with the light smattering of hair as she stands on her toes, pushes her naked body against him and nibbles along his jaw. His eyes are closed and he lets out a soft groan. His arousal pushed hard against her thigh through the board shorts he still has on. His hands are caressing her ass and back lightly tracing patterns.

"Jesse," her voice is breathy, "don't you want me?"

His eyes pop open in disbelief, how could she even ask, but he sees the look in her eyes and knows she's teasing him, "So, so much Becs."

She pulls away from him and opens the glass door to the shower crooking her finger motioning him to follow, "Then do something about it."

Something snaps inside Jesse, the rest is a blur, in fact everything is blur, Beca is the only thing that remains in focus. He has her pinned against the tile walls thrusting in and out of her slower and then faster, he feels the moist steam envelope them and her fingers digging into his shoulders. He hears her cry out in ecstasy and then he cums too and he sees fucking stars before he's panting and slowly lowering Beca to a standing position.

She places soft wet kisses on his chest, "We are definitely doing that again while we're here."

He discards the used condom in the trash, "If you insist."

They proceed to actually clean themselves in the shower and then walk back to Jesse's room wrapped in clean towels both in a state of post coital bliss.

* * *

Having met most of Jesse's family the night before she is surprisingly relaxed as they drive to his grandmother's house.

"Isn't 3:30 a little early for dinner?"

"So here's how it works, we get there, drink, eat around 5, everyone takes a nap, drink some more and then everyone goes home by 7."

"Your family group naps?"

"You have to if you start drinking that early." Jesse nods matter of factly.

"Oh and Becs, make sure you load up on Grandma's cheesy potatoes they go fast."

"Ok I'll be sure to knock your cousins over for some," she winks at him.

They walk up to the small-secluded cottage-like home and knock on the door. One of Jesse's cousins, Brent (?) opens the door, "Jesse good to see you," he gives him a one armed hug, "Beca, you look like you need a drink," he hands her a mimosa before she's even inside.

"Thanks," she smiles and downs it quickly.

Jesse leads her through the house, there are family pictures lining every wall and mantle, evidence of dance recitals and soccer games littering curio shelves. The house smells like a wide array of mother watering things, and while Beca didn't think she was hungry she feels now that 5pm may not come soon enough. Jesse rounds the corner and brings Beca with him to the kitchen.

"Jesse!" a small woman with white hair gives him a hug.

"Hey Grandma, I want you to meet someone, this is Beca, my girlfriend, Beca this is my Grandma Swanson."

Beca extends her hand, but the small woman disregards it and nearly squeezes the breath out of her, "Its lovely you to meet you Beca, please make yourself at home, we don't stand upon ceremony here. Jesse your grandfather is downstairs watching the baseball game tell him to go get me another bag of ice from the freezer. Oh here take these with you," she hands him a platter of cocktail shrimp, "No good letting everyone drink on an empty stomach."

Before Beca can comment his grandmother has already disappeared into the kitchen. Jesse leads her down the flight of stairs carefully balancing the tray of shrimp in his hands.

"I've got shrimp," he bellows down the stairs, half of the shrimp are gone by the time the platter is set down on the table by the cousins and uncles scurrying around the rec room.

"Grandpa, grandma wants another bag of ice from the freezer."

"Oh Jesse, didn't see you come in," His grandfather crosses the room to hug his grandson, "and who is this pretty lady?"

"Grandpa this is my girlfriend Beca," Jesse's face shines with pride every time he gets to introduce her.

He smiles warmly at Beca and extends a hand for her to shake. "Oh the ice, almost forgot."

"Don't worry about it grandpa I'll get it just tell me where it is." Jesse is directed to a back room and leaving Beca alone for the first time with his family.

Beca finds an open space on the couch to relax in. She glances around at the smaller children playing a game together and Jesse's uncles complaining about the downfall of major league baseball, she watches with wonder and thinks she understands for the first time why people always talk about family like it's a big deal, because it is a big deal.

Time seems to fly by, before Beca knows it she's had two helpings of cheesy potatoes and everything else Jesse's Grandma put on her plate, she isn't sure how many drinks she's had as Jesse's Grandpa never lets her glass get more than half empty before he tops it off for her. After all that food and liquor she sees people napping throughout the house, Jesse groggily leads her to a guest room and she cuddles down next to him to partake in the Swanson family nap.

Beca wakes up well rested and sees the rest of the family slowly milling about as well. She finds Jesse chatting with Paul watching the basketball game in the kitchen.

She walks up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist. "You napped a little longer than everyone else Becs, Mom and Dad already left. Probably say our round of goodbyes and then get going ok?"

"Ok, sorry I didn't mean to sleep so long."

He chuckles, "And you doubted the validity of the Swanson group nap." Beca doesn't try to argue merely smiles.

Beca is nearly crushed to death as all of Jesse's relatives hug her goodbye. His grandma sends them with a pound of her homemade peanut butter fudge to take to school with them and admonishes Jesse to drive safely.

And as abruptly as it all started it was over and Jesse and Beca were quietly driving back to his parent's house. Jesse is chatting animatedly and singing along to the radio.

*Sniffle*

A single tear rolls down Beca's cheek.

"Beca? Are you ok? What happened?"

She shakes her head and tries to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Did someone say something to you at my grandparents?"

"No, Jesse, Everyone was wonderful to me… I never knew families could be like that. Thank you for letting me be a part of yours." She looks at him eyes glassy and full of love.

Somehow Jesse always seems to know what she needs, he doesn't say anything just reaches over and gives her hand a squeeze and he keeps it there the whole ride home.

* * *

The rays of sunlight cutting through the blinds awaken Beca; she rolls over and buries her face into Jesse's chest trying to hide from the day. The soft rise and fall of his chest tells her he's still asleep but he reflexively tightens his grip on her waist as she snuggles in closer to his body.

Beca finds her thoughts lingering on this last week with Jesse and his family, seeing "his world" and realizing that some people _do_ get happy endings, people like Jesse. She hopes maybe they can be each others happy ending, maybe his goodness will balance out all of her dark and twistiness and for the first time she thinks her life could be more than she ever hoped it could be before.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

She isn't exactly sure what's different between them since they returned from Spring Break but she knows that something is. It all feels just a little lighter, a little easier; Beca wonders how she ever functioned without Jesse in her life.

Their first night back he unpacked his things in her room not wanting to disrupt his roommate or be late for class on Monday. It was a flimsy excuse but Beca didn't mind. As the week progressed instead of taking things back to his room more items seemed to appear. She noticed more DVD's making their way on to her shelves and her sheets now always have the distinct smell of his cologne on them, not that she minds. In fact if she's honest with herself she likes having him around all the time.

Benji had teased that she and Jesse are an old married couple; her response was to pour an iced coffee on his head.

So _maybe_ he does sleep over every night now, but it's only because she asks him too, he never assumes. And _maybe_, the twice a week dinners have turned into almost every night. And _maybe_, _just maybe_ he's referred to her dorm as home on several occasions.

No matter what you call what they are doing right now Beca knows one thing for sure, she's happy. Jesse makes her happy and she likes to think she makes him happy too. She's been thinking about the future recently, their future and she really wants it to work.

_So naturally,_ _she's avoiding him_. It's not anything he did. No, this is about something Beca did, or is going to do. She got a response from Capitol Records regarding her internship application for the summer, they want her, they were impressed with her work last summer and plan on extending her responsibilities. It's an amazing opportunity, she's excited about it, but it means being away from Jesse. She wants to go, and a year ago she wouldn't hesitate, in fact she didn't hesitate. She doesn't know how Jesse will respond, if he'll want to break up with her, if he'll be happy for her, if he'll be angry. So until she works up the courage to tell him she's going to avoid him, that's the mature thing to do right? She plops herself down on a bench under an old oak tree in a more quiet section of campus, hoping to find some clarity.

"Hey Beca!" Amy sits unceremoniously down on the bench next to her effectively disrupting any and all quiet ponderings of Beca's.

"Hey Amy," she sighs as the buxom blonde makes herself comfortable while eating what appears to be eating an entire box of Krispy Kreme donuts.

"So… are you gonna tell me now?"

"Tell you what?"

"You never gave me the dirt on who your beast tamer was?"

Beca rolls her eyes, "that was intentional Amy."

Amy not one to be deterred by Beca's sarcasm she simply continues like Beca hadn't spoken. "Its fine I guess, I mean everyone _knows _you're taping the man candy from the bookstore. I just wanted some more juicy details."

Beca's eyebrows shoot up, she was _not _aware her sex life was common knowledge. Its not that she's ashamed of Jesse, far from it, its just she thinks some things should be private, like everything in her life.

She glances at Amy sideways trying to keep her face expressionless, "I don't know what you're talking about Amy."

"Come on twiggy," she licks the glaze off her fingers before proceeding to the next donut, "It's been like what 5 months? You have more spring in your step than a kangaroo on walkabout and Stacey says you two are always going at it like dingoes in heat whenever she goes by the bookstore."

"You two have been spying on me!" Her voice is incredulous.

"Umm…ah…umm…"

"Amy?"

"Well, no… " Her eyes look up towards the tree branches avoiding Beca's gaze.

"Amy?" Her voice is sterner this time.

"Stacey was maybe trying to hit that, and he blew her off so… she was going to find out why and she maybe happened to see you two doing some stuff when she went by the bookstore…and maybe we both were curious if it was still going on and went back a few more times after that."

"That's just creepy Amy," She gives her a disgusted look.

"Don't blame me, you two were the ones putting on the free show." Amy adds in several hip thrusts in Beca's direction.

Beca makes a mental note about blocking out the glass door at work. She sighs in defeat, "Ok fine, we're together."

"Yes thanks, already knew that. So like how together?"

"Like together-together, I don't know." Beca shrugs her shoulders she has no idea what Amy is getting at, although she rarely does.

Amy eyes her like she's an idiot, "How do you _not_ know? You're hitting that on the regular right?" Beca nods slowly.

"You guys do other clothed activities together?" Beca nods in the affirmative again.

"You guys went on spring break together?" Beca nods, feeling her cheeks flush from the memory of their trip.

"Yeah you're Swan together." Amy nods as if she has now explained the mysteries of the universe to Beca.

_Swan together?_ What the hell does that mean?

"Yeah I'm gonna go, but good talk." Beca backs away slowly hoping Amy won't follow her it appears she is safe as Amy has already diverted her attention to a new chocolate glazed confection.

At least Amy's antics served to distract her from her real problem at least for a little while. Beca's phone alarm goes off. Crap! Time for work, she forgot about seeing Jesse there. Hopefully they'll be busy and she can avoid talking to him.

She arrives at work early for the first time ever and tries to make herself busy, or at least _look_ busy.

Despite the fact that Beca is avoiding Jesse, she's surprised he hasn't come to find her yet. She emerges from the back room an hour later and realizes she's alone. Jesse didn't show up for his shift. She's nervous and worried he never misses shifts. She stops and decides to send a quick text before her imagination can run wild.

_To: Jesse Swanson _

_Hey where are you? Are you ok? _

The next 2 minutes pass agonizingly slow as she waits for his response. Silently praying that he isn't dead in a ditch and she had wasted their last day avoiding him. Before her thoughts can become any more morbid her phone Chimes.

_Sender: Jesse Swanson _

_Yeah, Sorry called Luke, he knows. Chloe had car trouble and needed help. I'll be in later. _

She should be relieved he's not dead; she should be relieved he's not here right now; she had been avoiding him anyway. For some reason though she's _not_ relieved her stomach is in knots.

So instead of focusing on her summer plans and what she is going to tell Jesse, she is seething silently at Jesse for well… she isn't quite sure. The later it gets the angrier she becomes.

With 10 minutes left on her shift she finally swallows her pride and decides to text him.

_To: Jesse Swanson_

_Leaving work. Where are you? _

Before she hits send she hears a door open and in walks the man himself. He smiles at her like nothing happened and starts unpacking his things. His nonchalance only serves to infuriate her more.

She grabs her bags more loudly than necessary and begins to walk out the backdoor.

"Hey Becs, where are you going?"

"To my dorm, have fun cuddling with Bumper tonight."

Jesse is dumbfounded and simply stares after her, he's going to have to fix this, he really doesn't want to cuddle with Bumper, he just needs to figure out what he did first.

* * *

Beca practically runs back to her dorm. Her insides are twisted into knots and she isn't sure why.

_So he didn't show up for work. No big deal. So he was helping Chloe, the perfect female specimen who is his good close personal friend, why should that bother her? So he was gone for 4 hours and didn't think it was important to let her know where he was_. _No big deal right? _

She throws herself on the bed, but it smells like him, and she doesn't want to be around him right now or anything that reminds her of him. She surveys the room and sees traces of him everywhere. She has to get out of there.

* * *

_Knock Knock Knock_

"Benji are you there?"

"Hey Beca," Benji opens his door and lets her in, "what's up?" Beca doesn't typically seek him out, but he feels that isn't something he should comment on now.

"Nothing, just wanted to see how my favorite brother was doing," she gives him a half smile and sits down on his bed and begins fidgeting with the rings on her fingers.

He raises an eyebrow in disbelief, "I'm good Beca, just studying. How are you?"

"What class are you studying for? I could help quiz you."

So Beca stays and helps him prepare for his biology test. They go over and over the material until Benji knows it cold. They don't talk about the why she's really there or why she's acting strangely.

After 3 hours of laborious studying Benji stands from his desk stretching his arms above his head.

"Beca I'm supposed to meet Jessica for dinner, you wanna join us?"

"No, that's fine, don't want to be a third wheel. You kids have fun."

"Are you sure? Its not a big deal."

"Yeah you go ahead, I have a mix waiting for me at my dorm that's not going to finish itself," She gives him a forced smile and slips out his door.

* * *

The sun is just setting as Beca leaves Benji's; all the scenery and buildings look like dark shadows against the orange expanse of sky as she makes the walk back towards Baker Hall. The weather is warm now but there is a chill in the air and Beca draws her arms around herself diminishing her already tiny form in the darkness.

The events of the day seem to be telling her to just go. He wont care, and why should she. He shouldn't change her life plans, she doesn't need to ask permission to go. Why should she even care about what he thinks?

Oddly enough though the thought stuck in Beca's mind is _"You're Swan together"._ She still doesn't know what it means, but she knows that this is more than anything she's had with anyone before. She knows it's the first time she ever considered _not _doing something she loved just to be with _someone_ she loved.

Lost in her thoughts, not for the first time today, she almost trips going up her stairs. She looks to see what caused her stumble and spots a shadowy figure slumped over asleep.

"Jesse?"

He rubs the sleep from his eyes and smiles groggily at her. "I knew you had to come home sometime."

"Why didn't you go cuddle with Bumper?" she's still not happy with him, even if she isn't exactly sure why.

His eyes twinkle up at her, "He doesn't smell as good as you."

Nope not gonna work, Beca spreads the sarcasm thickly "Then I'm sure _Chloe_ would have been more than happy to let you stay with her after keeping you most of the day already. I'm sure she smells lovely."

Jesse stands up with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Beca? Are you seriously jealous of _Chloe_?"

"No!" That comes out much louder than she intends.

He raises his eyebrow in disbelief.

"I'm not jealous! I just had something important to talk you about today and you didn't think it was important to show up or tell me where you were, so I made the decision without you."

"Becs, I answered your text and told you where I was. You think I wanted to spend all afternoon fixing Chloe's alternator?"

"I think you did. I think you like coming to the rescue. Being the knight in shining armor saving the damsel in distress and all that shit. Doesn't Chloe have her own boyfriend to do that stuff for her?"

He shrugs and runs a hand through his hair, god she seems really upset about this, "She said Dean isn't very handy and they had a fight about something earlier today, she didn't want to call him."

Beca groans in frustration, this conversation has gotten seriously derailed. "All of this is besides the point, I'm done talking to you Swanson." She uses her card to open the building door and begins the ascent to her room, Jesse is right behind her though.

"Beca, wait," he grabs her arm and makes her face him, "I'm sorry ok, I didn't know you needed me today."

She pulls her arm away, " I don't need you," her voice cracks as she tries to speak over the lump in her throat.

"Beca," his voice is soft and pleading he can't stand it when she's upset with him, "_please_, tell me what you want me to do."

She can feel the tears building just below the surface. She doesn't _know_ what she wants him to do. And there it is, Beca doesn't know what she wants anymore, she used to know, with extreme clarity. Then the man standing before her came along and has muddled everything and she can't think straight anymore.

"I got offered an internship in California," Beca's voice is barely above a whisper.

Jesse's eyes go wide, "that's what you wanted to talk to me about?"

She nods slowly avoiding his eyes, she's afraid of what she'll see in them.

Jesse wraps his arms around her waist and tilts her head up forcing her to look at him and see the pure love there. "I'm gonna miss you like hell," he runs his hand along her cheek and presses a soft kiss to her lips.

"I'm gonna miss you too," she lets the tears fall freely. She feels so much sorrow and relief and she can't hold anything in anymore.

He places his hand on her cheek and wipes away her tears. "Don't cry Becs, it's not the end of the world, its just the summer. We'll make this work."

She buries her face in his chest letting his presence comfort her, "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah," he grins his goofy grin, "lets go home."

* * *

**A/N- So last chapter I made an attempt at "smut" and it just wasn't working so I went back and edited it out. If thats what you are looking for Bitty and AmazinglyScaryEarSpike have some great stuff. But its apparently just not in my skill set. **

**So this chapter I thought was important in their development as a couple. Let me know you guys are out there still, reviews are love. Hope you Enjoyed :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 – New York**

"Beca dear, I thought you said you were going to come for the whole weekend?"

"Plans changed Mom, I got an internship for the summer so I can only be there for the wedding I'll need to fly back the next day."

"But Roberto and I were really looking forward to getting some family time together."

"I'm sure it will all be fine Mom, I'll get a late flight out Friday night so I will be there all day Saturday, I won't miss any of the pre-wedding rituals."

Her mother clearly was distressed and was fretting more than usual, " You promise we'll do _all _our rituals?"

"Yes mom I promise."

"You're still coming to my dress fitting next week right?"

"Yes mom, I told you I would be there and I will," Beca hadn't discussed it with Jesse next week are the ICCA finals in New York, she was still trying to figure out how to do both without introducing Jesse to her mom and vice versa.

"Oh good, I'm so nervous about the dress this time its not my usual style, but Roberto's daughter really liked it, you'll be able to meet her when you pick up your bridesmaid dress."

"Yeah!" Sarcasm dripping off every syllable her mother didn't notice. More stepsiblings this should be an _extra_ fun marriage.

"Alright well I will see you next week at Kleinfelds, take care dear, its good to catch up like this. Love you, kisses."

"Bye, mom," and once again Beca's voice echoed in her own ears as her mother had already dropped the call.

This time Beca didn't have Jesse there to snuggle into to help her forget her troubles. He was at another mandatory practice. Aubrey had tripled the schedule for rehearsals because of the impending finals and she wouldn't accept anything less than victory for her senior year. Bitch yes, but getting it done.

Beca understood. She really did. She thought of it as a dry run for how she would fair during the summer. So far it had been good, she had more time for her mixes, she did have to eat dinner alone most nights, but the sex had been incredible. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

But sometimes, like right now, Beca missed having Jesse with her. His calming presence, his strong arms wrapped around her, his goofy sense of humor lightening the mood. She was gonna miss him a lot.

* * *

Jesse didn't know _how_ he was going to make it through a whole summer without Beca.

Aubrey was in psycho leader mode making them practice 10 hours a day until their performance next week. He had to leave Beca early every morning and often came in after she was already asleep. It had only been going on for a little over a week. He missed her. She wasn't even gone yet and he missed her.

Now Jesse was not needy or co-dependent by nature. He just missed her, he missed how she fit perfectly in the crook of his arm, he missed the smell of her hair, he missed watching her eyes light up when she finished a mix and didn't know that he was watching her while he studied on the bed. It was a foreshadowing of all the things he would miss while she was in LA over the summer and he didn't like it one bit.

It made every small moment spent together now that much more meaningful and precious. He had thought sex with Beca was intense before but now, even though it was less frequent, when they had done it, it had been otherworldly. He wanted to savor every second that they had together before the summer.

"Why so glum Chum?" Donald knocks Jesse's shoulder as he takes a seat next to him on a bench in the auditorium.

"Oh," Jesse was now forced out of is own head, "nothing."

"Yeah right," Donald rolls his eyes and nudges him in the ribs, "for real though, what are you overthinking?"

"I'm not over thinking it!"

Donald quirks an eyebrow.

"Ugh, fine, its about Beca," he sighs in resignation.

"Of course it is, what else would it be about?"

"She got an internship in LA for the summer at Capitol Records."

"Good for her, so why are you upset?"

"Because I'm gonna miss her, 3 months is a long time to be across the country from someone you love."

A knowing smile appears on Donald's face, "using the "L" word now are we?" he chuckles softly watching a sheepish grin appear on Jesse's face, "Its just the summer man, it will all work itself out. Where are you interning at?"

"I have a couple options all east coast though," Jesse takes a large swig from his water bottle, "How much longer you think the she-devil is gonna keep us here tonight?"

"Probably not too much later, otherwise she'll face a mutiny. Lets see if we can get Uni to 'persuade' her to let us go early."

* * *

Beca examined her reflection in the full-length mirror of Kleinfelds. She was disgusted. She looked like she was being eaten by a tie-dyed Georgia O'Keefe painting, and as awkward as the dress was on Beca it was flattering on her future step-sister Amber, Amber was Roberto's daughter from his previous marriage.

Amber was tall and curvaceous, empirically attractive, blond haired with olive skin and dark eyes. Clearly these dresses had been chosen to offset her height and dark features. Somehow this monstrosity of a dress served to make her more attractive. Beca held in the desire to punch her in her little button nose as Amber pivoted in front of the mirrors.

"Isn't this wonderful? All us girls out together! My two favorite daughters, just one big happy family!" It's possible Beca's mother had actually deluded herself into believing that sentence, or suffered a head trauma recently, either way Beca knew now was not the time for honesty. With a plastic smile and as much enthusiasm as she could muster, "it really is great mom."

"So Amber are you still bringing Joe to the wedding?"

Amber shrugged noncommittally, "I'm not sure, I'm keeping my options open, but I will be bringing someone for sure."

Beca's mother began to brag , "You know Beca, Joe got his MBA from NYU. He works on Wall Street."

"So you're waiting to see if he gets indited or not to see if he's available for the wedding?" Beca tries to stifle a laugh at her own humor.

Amber turns and shoots Beca a look that could kill, her voice is haughty, "Oh and who are you bringing to the wedding? Judy says you haven't had a boyfriend in _years_."

Really, she wants to go there? Alluding to being on intimate terms with her mother acting like she _knows_ her life. Bring it bitch, it's on. "Don't need a boyfriend to have an orgasm, and by the stick shoved up your ass you haven't had a decent one in years."

Beca's mother and Amber gasp at her outburst. In a hushed tone her mother continues, "Beca you can't say _orgasm _in Kleinfelds, it's uncouth."

"You're right I should go, I have another orgasm waiting for me at my hotel." Beca leaves Kleinfelds quite pleased with herself and grabs a cab to Jesse's hotel.

* * *

"Oh sorry Chloe, the front desk said this was Jesse's room."

"Beca I didn't know you were coming this weekend." Chloe doesn't seem that happy to see her, she's in her robe and she hears the shower running, she's probably "entertaining."

"Hey Chloe, is that room service?" Jesse walks out of the bathroom wearing just a towel, "Hey Beca, you're here," a smile spreads across his face.

Beca's jaw hits the floor; she looks back and forth between Chloe and Jesse trying to wrap her head around the obvious betrayal. Her hands slowly clench into fists.

Jesse notices the change in her demeanor, "Beca, I know this looks bad, but it's not what you think."

"Really what do I think Jesse?" Her voice is much shriller than she intended.

"Beca nothing happened." His eyes are pleading and he's walking towards her slowly with his hands raised in surrender.

She takes in the room clothes scattered on the floor, both of them fresh from a shower. But, it's the look of guilt on Chloe's face that settles it for her.

She wants to throw barbs and witty retorts at him; she wants to leave in a dramatic and dignified flourish. She wants to toss him into the deepest reaches of space. But she can't do any of those things right now, because she can actually feel her heart breaking and it's taking all of her composure and resolve to hold herself upright.

She feels like her legs are lead and she can see herself moving in slow motion she takes three large steps and is holding the door open, "Goodbye Jesse" her bottom lip is quivering but she refuses to cry and then she's running down the hall to the elevator letting the tears flow freely.

"Beca! Beca! Wait! Come back! Nothing happened Beca!" Jesse is chasing after her as fast as he can while keeping himself decent.

Beca is pushing the elevator button "come on, come on" _Ding,_ the doors open.

"Beca!" He grabs her arm as she jumps into the elevator unable to pull her out he follows her in.

Beca is sobbing hysterically now she can't hold back her tears. And now she's trapped in a small space with the one person she doesn't want to see her cry.

"Beca," his voice is soft and he puts his hands on her shoulders.

She jerks away, "Don't touch me you lying bastard. I should have known this would happen." Her voice is angry and hard despite the tears running down her face.

"Beca I swear nothing happened, have I ever lied to you before?" Her eyes search his face; he hasn't lied to her before.

"Something was going to though wasn't it? If I hadn't decided to surprise you tonight?" She feels the sadness and anger permeate every organ.

"Beca no, I swear, I don't feel that way about Chloe."

Her eyes are still incredulous, " You expect me to believe that? That you don't have romantic sexual feelings for Chloe Beale?"

"Yes, because it's the truth."

"Jesse I'm not being paranoid or jealous she was in your room, in your fucking robe!"

"Listen to me ok, Chloe got drunk at the bar downstairs, she was upset, she and Dean broke up this week. She was getting really loopy and so I was taking her back up to her room when she puked all over her and me in the elevator. My room was closer so we went there to shower and change. I swear Beca its all true. I can show you the elevator."

Beca contemplated his story for a long breath "Alright, show me the elevator." Jesse walked her down the hotel corridor towards the elevators by the restaurant and gestured for her to look inside. The cleaning ladies had already been called but they were stilling working on the vomit-smeared interior.

"I can show you our clothes that have the vomit on them too, they're back in my room?"

Beca nods her head in the affirmative, but doesn't speak she is putting together everything she saw with everything he is showing her weighing the situation carefully. It is adding up but something is gnawing at her, something isn't _right._

It was Chloe's face.

They are almost done with their elevator ride and Beca hits the emergency stop button. Jesse's eyes fill with panic, "What are you doing Beca?"

Beca ignores his question and slowly paces in front of the doors, "I believe Chloe got drunk and puked on you both."

A look of relief washes over Jesse's features and he takes a step towards her, but she stops him short holding up her hand.

"The thing that doesn't add up for me is _Chloe_."

He tilts his head in confusion and widens his eyes, he actually reminds Beca of a Labrador when he makes that face.

"She looked guilty Jesse. Why would Chloe look guilty if nothing happened?"

Jesse somehow looks even more confused than he was before and shakes his head, "I don't know Becs, you can ask her. Maybe she felt embarrassed about getting sick? But I swear Beca, on my movie collection, that nothing happened." He places his hand over his heart.

If she weren't mad at him right now, she would think he was being adorable.

Instead she unclenches her jaw and pushes the button on the elevator to continue their ascent to Jesse's hotel room. She does allow herself to look him over, taking in his half naked form that's only being concealed by a thin hotel towel and bringing to mind all of the plans she had for him before Chloe opened his door.

Jesse knocks on the door, no answer. He tries again, "Hey Chloe, its me, I don't have my key can you let me in?"

This time they hear movement and the door slowly opens to reveal Chloe in a black teddy and high heels. She giggles softly.

Her face drops as she sees Beca standing next to Jesse. Jesse's eyes look like they might bug out and Beca looks murderous.

"What the hell Chloe?!" Beca lunges forward but Jesse catches her before she can lay a hand on the red head.

The shock causes Chloe to stumble backwards and fall onto the bed.

"Chloe, I think you should leave, now," Jesse's voice is serious and stern.

Chloe's voice is playful despite the situation, she lounges back and crosses her legs as if she had intended to be on the bed the whole time, "that's not what you said when you were kissing me earlier."

Beca stops struggling to attack Chloe and turns her attention towards Jesse, and that's when she sees what she had feared, regret, "That's your definition of nothing!"

"Beca, let me explain," Jesse's voice is desperate.

She slaps him hard across the face, "How can I believe anything you say? Are you proud of yourself? You've been lying this whole time- how many were there?"

"Beca, c'mon don't be like that, lets talk about this."

"No, I've had enough of your lies, this is over." Beca slams the door behind her and runs out of the room.

**A/N- OK before everyone starts freaking out and hating me. The idea that Chloe has had been harboring a crush on Jesse has been in the works for a while. Jesse hasn't seriously dated anyone before Beca while at college and nothing makes someone more attractive than being unavailable. **


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

When Beca's parents told her they were getting a divorce, she didn't cry. She was 12.

She didn't wail and moan. She didn't throw things. She sat calmly on the couch and nodded as they explained to her what was going to happen, silently retreating to her room when they were done.

She had accepted it as inevitable; she had recognized the signs, it's not like her parents were the first ones to ever get a divorce.

When Beca's parents had their day in court, she didn't cry. She was 13.

Not when her mom admitted her infidelity or when her dad said he wasn't sure they were ever in love. She kept herself comfortably numb by putting in her ear buds and drowning out the world with Jim Morrison.

When Beca's dad proposed to Sheila, she didn't cry. She was 18.

At their wedding she smiled for pictures and snuck drinks from the bartender. It's easy enough if you have boobs.

And When Beca caught her now ex-boyfriend Justin Carlson screwing her roommate in their room, she didn't cry then either. She ate her weight in red twizzlers and plotted their demise. Which, if she says so herself, was brilliantly executed.

She didn't cry because she had expected all of those things, because everything in her life eventually fell apart. People abandoned her, they betrayed, they were expected because happiness didn't exist for people like Beca Mitchell.

Then she met Jesse fucking Swanson and she turned into a sprinkler system. When Beca left Jesse's hotel room she experienced more emotions than she ever knew she had and despite her best efforts the tears began silently running down her face as she wandered aimlessly down the elevator and into the hotel lobby unsure of where to go.

Jesse had made her _believe_ that he loved her. Not only that, he had made her _feel _loved. Made her feel apart of his family. Made her love him too.

She had let her guard down with him, depended on him. She was planning a future with him. She had seen what life could be like with someone like him, what it would be like to not be afraid and broken, to not expect it all to fall apart. She was beginning to believe in a happy ending for herself, one that included Jesse.

But it was all a lie.

He was with Chloe, or would be. It didn't matter. People like Jesse _got _their happy endings, but they got them with people like Chloe, not her.

Her stomach clenched and her chest ached. Everything within in her wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

She felt another wave of tears beginning and ducked into the lobby bathroom to hide from prying eyes.

* * *

Donald & Lily walked into the hotel hand in hand. They had just come from a romantic night out on the town. They had decided to call it a night early so they could rest before the competition tomorrow.

Lily spotted Beca as she ducked into the lobby bathroom. She silently indicated to Donald where she was going without alerting him to Beca's presence.

It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

* * *

"What the hell are you thinking Chloe? Why would you say that to her? Are you trying to ruin my life?" Jesse is pissed and confused and heartbroken. Beca thinks he lied to her and she just walked out because of Chloe.

"Chloe I think its time you left." His voice only growing more irate as Chloe continues to stare at him silently. He grabs some clothes from his suitcase and stalks into the bathroom slamming the door behind him.

He emerges fully clothed and still fuming, "Chloe what are you still doing here? I thought I asked you to leave."

"Jesse, you don't really want that." Chloe is trying to be seductive, pouting her lips batting her eyes, using a breathy voice and still scantily clad lying across his bed.

"Yes, I do." His voice is harsh.

"Hey don't get mad at me, I didn't _lie _to her, we did kiss and you didn't ask me to leave then. Are you gonna tell me you _didn't_ enjoy kissing me? That there _aren't_ sparks between us?" She walks across the room stalking him like he is her prey, preparing to pounce on him.

Jesse pinches the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, clearly Chloe is not going to make his life easier, "First of all Chloe that kiss was like a year ago at Spring Break. I honestly can say all I was feeling were the effects of Senor Frogs happy hour. Why would you make it sound like it happened an hour ago? What would possess you to do that to Beca to and Me? Seriously? You're right, I didn't ask you to leave then, because I was passed out so I wasn't in a position to."

Chloe is undeterred by Jesse's rebuttal and gives him a lecherous look, "Jesse, I notice you didn't say you didn't enjoy kissing me then. You know for a bright guy you can miss the obvious sometimes," she licks her lips, "I'm offering you me, clearly an upgrade from your little angry 'Friend'. "

"Chloe, this may come as a shock to you, but I don't want to sleep with you, I never wanted to sleep with you, I'm not big on my brother's sloppy seconds. And you kissing me while you're falling down drunk does not constitute a magical moment between us. You and I _ were_ friends. But, I want Beca, I LOVE BECA, no one is an upgrade from her, she is the most wonderful person I've ever met in my entire life. Can you comprehend what I'm saying to you?" His eyes are hard and his jaw tenses as he crosses his arms over his chest, making his entire demeanor stalwart. "I don't want to have to say this again Chloe, get out."

Shock and disbelief are the only words that can describe the feelings of Chloe Beale at this exact moment. She has never been turned down… by anyone… ever. She isn't sure what the appropriate response is or if he really just rejected her while she was in lingerie.

She picks up his robe from the floor so that she has something to wear back to her room but before she puts it on she gives Jesse a smoldering look, "Jesse, just so you know this offer will be good for the rest of the night," she sweeps a hand down the swell of her hips, "you know where to find me _when_ you change your mind." She winks and saunters out of his room.

"Ok, that just happened." Jesse shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts, he needs a way to fix this with Beca.

After all that happened, he knows a simple explanation won't cut it. This calls for some sort of grand gesture and probably groveling, maybe extravagant gifts, but she has to take him back right? She has to. Jesse feels the tightness in his chest as he acknowledges to himself that she doesn't _have_ to do anything. She's leaving for California in a month and if she gets on the plane angry with him he may never get a chance to see her again let alone win her back.

Jesse's eyes lit up, he had an idea.

* * *

Beca having composed herself and fueled by Lily's silent comfort left the hotel. She hailed a cab and got in a fluid motion. You can take the girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl.

"Where to?"

"Katz Deli"

"Got it"

Beca paid the cabbie and went inside. She took in the well worn tiles and tattered booths smiling at the comfort of knowing somethings don't change. Despite that thought Beca found the familiar smells of pastrami and corned beef only churned her stomach. She stepped back out onto the street and her wave of nausea seemed to pass.

She hailed another available yellow chariot.

"Where to?"

"Brooklyn Pool"

"No problem."

Beca paid the cabbie and stood in line for the club.

She had spent many a night of her youth here with her fake id. She felt the base beats wafting through her, but she couldn't seem to find solace in the music, every song seemed to be playing her heartstrings. Jes-se, Jes-se, Jes-se. Faster and then slower, but always the same words Jes-se, Jes-se, Jes-se. She had to get out of here. She once again walked out on to the busy streets of New York.

She didn't flag a cab this time. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go. She walked in silence letting the sights and sounds flood her senses. She became lost in the sea of people. Letting the flashing lights and roaring traffic drowned out all of her inner voices.

The great thing about New York is that it's the city that it never sleeps, in a city of over 20 million people you can be completely alone but never on your own, regardless of the time of day.

_Chime, Chime_

Beca pulled out her phone and smiled softly at the message on her screen.

* * *

**A/N- This is an interlude of sorts. There isn't much forward action. But I know you are all breathing a heavy sigh of relief after hearing the full story of Jesse and Chloe. **

**Thanks for all the feed back on the last chapter, you guys spoil me :) **


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N- Thank you to all the readers for sticking with me. Also thanks to all the new readers. Your reviews really kept me going. I'm so sorry about the delay. Life got in the way. But I want to thank my awesome Beta - OneShotWoman and also special thanks to Sandra-5 for brainstorming with me and helping me get over my writers block. So without further ado... Enjoy!**

**Chapter 22**

"Oh my god! I can't believe he did that to you!" Stacey says as she hands Beca her flask with a flourish.

"I did not have him pegged as a cheater; I really thought he was your swan. Sorry flat-butt." Amy said, attempting to comfort her.

"Yeah well, he did, and with Chloe Beale no less." Beca took another spoonful from her carton of ice cream, at least there were two men who would never let her down, Ben and Jerry.

"I hate that bitch! You know I heard she was sleeping with her Econ professor last semester just to keep her GPA up?" Stacey began filing her nails and punctuating her thoughts by stabbing the air.

Beca laughed bitterly at that, "Seriously? Nice to think little miss perfect isn't so innocent after all."

"Who ever told you that girl was innocent?" Stacey uttered in disbelief.

"Or perfect? I mean my sex ass is pretty amazing, but even I'm not perfect."Amy replied, while reaching over to steal another bite of Beca's ice cream.

Beca shrugged, "I guess it was implied."

"Yeah, no, like, Chloe is nice enough, as long as you don't get between her and what she wants." Stacey crosses the room and plops on her bed still gesturing with her nail file like it was a sword, "I heard, freshman year she wanted to date this upperclassmen, but he had a girlfriend already, so she started a rumor that he was cheating on her so she would break up with him."

"Did that really work?"

"Yeah, it totally did, the girl was so upset she left Barden. Amy, where did she transfer to again?"

"Umm, somewhere cold, like, Ohio or something?" Amy gave up any pretense of sharing the ice cream and took the whole carton from Beca.

"Anyway Beca, the point is Chloe is a bitch, and you shouldn't let her win so easily."

Beca looked dejected, "I appreciate the support girls. I really do. I don't have a lot of friends who are girls. But let's be honest, it's not really a competition, this," Beca did a sweeping motion of her hand over her body, "can't compete with perfect little Chloe."

Stacey rolled her eyes, "First of all, Chloe is NOT perfect. We just told you she's a manipulative bitch. Second of all, Jesse is totally into you, so that already puts you ahead in this race. I mean, Beca, you guys weren't even together yet and he wouldn't sleep with me. You really think he would sleep with someone while you were together?"

Beca's eyes widened at the memory of the frat party, how she had assumed Jesse would be into Stacey, and how he had followed her and kissed her for the first time. She felt a faint blush appear on her cheeks from the thought.

"So," Stacey nudged her arm, "what are you gonna do to get your man back?"

Amy claps her hands and them rubs together vigorously, "Oh yeah, let's get that bitch. Ooh and can we order a pizza too?"

Beca looked at both Stacey and Amy's earnest and slightly diabolic faces. She's touched. She wasn't lying when she said she didn't have a lot of girl friends. If you had asked her this morning, she would have been at a loss to give you the name of one.

Is it possible that she had misjudged everyone she knew? Chloe wasn't sweet and innocent; Stacey and Amy _were_ her friends…And Jesse…shit… What was she going to do?

"Well, first things first," Beca stood up and wiped her hands clean, "we are in dire need of Twizzlers."

* * *

"Dude?" Bumper poked Jesse's shoulder with a ruler; he leaned down closer to his ear, "DUDE, WAKE THE FUCK UP!"

Jesse slowly opened one eye, his head was pounding and he had a sharp pain in his right shoulder, "Leave me the fuck alone." he blindly swung his arm toward his obnoxious roommate.

"Seriously, I don't give a shit what you do Swanson, but you passed out on top of my laptop on MY DESK, SO MOVE!"

Jesse slowly raises his head and realizes that Bumper apparently is justified, he _is _sleeping on top of Bumpers desk. He rolls off with a thud and crawls to his bed.

Jesse tries to take stock of the situation this morning. The sharp pain in his shoulder could be attributed to the stapler he was lying on, his head is pounding no doubt due to copious amounts of alcohol he seems to recall being in bar. While Jesse doesn't seem to remember how he had gotten home last night, he is more disconcerted to realize he has no idea why he has on plaid golf pants and a pink shirt, these were not his clothes. _Fuck! What did I do last night? _

* * *

Chloe paced around her apartment trying to figure out how to handle things with Jesse.

She had attempted to seduce him and he _turned her down_. She still couldn't believe he never came to her hotel room that night.

While she had worked harder at getting some guys attention over others, the lingerie move ALWAYS worked. It even worked on that married Econ Professor.

Then after their win, she tried to get him drunk on champagne and he wouldn't even look at her!

Maybe Jesse's gay? No, she knew for a fact he wasn't. Gay would make her ego feel better though.

Clearly she would need a new plan of attack.

* * *

"Donald?" Jesse groggily says into the phone.

"What's up Bro?"

"Were you with me last night?" Jesse's voice was hesitant; he prayed he hadn't done anything stupid.

Jesse heard Donald chuckle into the receiver, "You don't remember anything do you?"

"Well, bits and pieces, I remember singing karaoke, and then drinking, and then drinking some more…Then I'm waking up in my room with someone else's clothes on. So yeah, I have no idea what the fuck I did last night."

"Relax man, Lily and I were there the whole time. We didn't let you do anything too stupid."

Jesse exhaled slowly, "Thanks man, um, so do you know whose clothes I'm wearing?"

"Oh that was awesome, you were doing car bombs with this guy at the bar and then you both got really excited because you were the same height and went in the bathroom and switched clothes – he was like 50 or something. Good times, good times."

"But that's it? Didn't do anything else stupid?"

"I didn't let you call her, don't worry." Donald reassured him.

"I wasn't… I mean… I don't care… um…"

"Dude you went on for like 2 hours last night, about how what happened with Chloe in your hotel room wasn't your fault and how much you _LOVE_ Beca and needed to win her back. You left her a dozen messages while you were sober this week, I sure as shit wasn't gonna let you call her drunk too."

"Thanks for looking out for me."

"Yeah, no problem, basketball later?"

"Yeah sounds good."

Jesse ended his call. He was relieved he hadn't done anything too stupid last night. The aspirin he had taken was already working its magic; the pounding in his head was reduced to a dull throbbing.

However, there seemed to be nothing for the tight pain in his chest. The pain had been there for almost two weeks. His thoughts drifted back to that night in New York…

_She wasn't taking his phone calls. She had left the hotel 2 hours ago; the woman at the front desk saw her leave! He had left half a dozen messages already, apologizing and trying to explain what happened. _

_She wasn't in any of the restaurants or shops in a two-block radius of the hotel, he knew that because he had checked, and left his number with all the managers in hopes of finding her. He may have said she was his kidnapped fiancée to garner their sympathy and help, but that's not the point._

_Jesse dropped back on his bed, silently cursing himself for letting her getaway. _

_They won the ICCA's the next night, it was the last thing on his mind and victory of any kind didn't mean anything without Beca there to share it. Chloe's ridiculous behavior only increased with all the celebrating and he bought a plane ticket to return to school ahead of the team, not wanting to be trapped on a bus with Chloe in her current mood._

Jesse pulled himself from his recollection and tried to distract himself by watching a movie.

Up until now, Jesse had firmly believed the endings were the best part of a movie, but now, it was Beca. Beca leaning her head against his shoulder, or Beca throwing popcorn at his face, or Beca making comments about all of the obvious plot holes, she had become integral to the movie watching experience.

All of the things that Beca hated about movies, Jesse loved.

He liked that they were predictable; he liked knowing that good would triumph over evil, that a minimum of 3 people would survive the serial killer, and that the guy _would_ get the girl. He could go into a film, confident of its outcome and just enjoy the ride. He liked being moved, not only by the storytelling but how much more complete it was, with the accompanying score.

Movies could transport you to another world, but Jesse only wanted this world now, the world that had Beca Mitchell in it.

Jesse had to get Beca back. That's what the hero does; he goes and gets the girl. He was sure of it. He just wasn't sure how to go about doing so.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N- Ok so you all hate me for taking so long. I'm sorry. But I promise I haven't abandoned the fic. Thanks to all my new readers and followers the ongoing support is motivating and gives me the warm and fuzzies. So I hope you all Enjoy :) **

**Chapter 23**

"So what happened here?"

"I dropped it."

"Ma'am this doesn't look like you dropped it. What really happened?"

* * *

_Flashback…The day after the ICCA finals…_

_Beca paces her dorm room filling a box with all of Jesse's things. She couldn't take the reminders of what they once had. Tears stream down her cheeks as she pulls one of Jesse's well-worn shirts from the box and breathes in his lingering scent. She's just torturing herself, she knows that, but she holds the shirt to her face again and cries into it. The shirt isn't as comforting to cry into without its owner, she really misses its owner._

_In this moment of vulnerability Beca's phone rings._

_She takes a calming breathe and rolls her eyes as she answers her phone, "Hi Mom." She had been expecting this call._

"_Beca where are you? We have a second fitting today for my dress." Her voice evident with her frustration. _

_"Why aren't you worried about me? I could be lying in a ditch right now?"_

_"Are you?" Her mother's voice is incredulous._

_"No."_

_Her mother sighs loudly, "than why is that even part of this conversation?" She has never understood her daughter's sense of humor, in fact there is very little about her daughter that she understands. _

"_Mom, I'm back at the dorms. I took the train last night."_

_Beca's mother groans in frustration, " You know I really shouldn't be surprised after your little outburst yesterday. This is MY wedding Beca. Can't you think of anyone else beside yourself? I guess none of this should be a shock to me, you were always a selfish child."_

_Beca can't believe her ears at her mother's audacity, and at the same time she isn't surprised at all._

"_Calm down mom, I'll be there for all the dress fittings for your next wedding." Beca's tone is bitter amplified by her own broken heart._

"_What is that supposed to me?"_

"_Seriously? This is wedding number four mom, what makes you think this will be the last one?"_

"_I can't believe you would say that to me! Don't you know me better than that? Clearly you don't and clearly this is not important to you. I think you should know, I asked Amber to be my maid of honor this morning because she really cares about this marriage!"_

_Beca's hand is formed into a fist, her knuckles turning white and her face is turning red as she struggles to maintain her self-control. She didn't want to be her mother's maid of honor, again, but that wasn't the point, it hurts to know how little your parent thinks of you." I just don't have the energy to be the parent in this relationship anymore." She spits out through gritted teeth._

"_Rebecca Ann Mitchell! Where the hell do you get off saying things like that? I am your mother, and you will treat me with the respect I deserve! Who taught you it was ok to say these things to me? Was it your father? Is he trying to poison you against me?"_

"_This has nothing to do with Dad."_

"_Beca, how can you continue to be so selfish? You know how important this is to me, you know how much I want us to be one big happy family and you still seem determined to ruin things!" Her mother's voice is strangled as if she is on the verge of tears._

"_Mom," her voice is exasperated, " I will be there for the wedding. I promise not to insult Amber or Roberto at the wedding. Ok?"_

"_No, it's not ok! I want you to try for once Beca. Just try to think about someone other than yourself."_

"_Screw you Mom!"_

_The rest was silence. Her mother had hung up the phone and for Beca that was the last straw. Her own mother didn't love her how could she have expected Jesse to? All of Beca's anger and frustration surged as she threw her phone at the wall effectively shattering the screen and damaging the sim card. _

* * *

"I. Dropped. It." Beca quirked her eyebrow at the Verizon employee, the look on her face daring him to disagree with her again.

The clerk rolls his eyes and goes in the back to get Beca her new phone.

* * *

Benji was still worried about Beca, she hadn't seemed to be doing well when he saw her last week.

...

_Knock, Knock, Knock_

"_Beca?"_

"_Beca isn't here. A hollow shell remains in her place." _

"_Beca come on open up." _

_She shakes her head 'no' wordlessly as if she can be seen through the door. _

"_Beca, I'm not leaving until you let me in. I even brought you coffee and waffles."_

"_With extra whipped cream?"_

"_Of course."_

_Beca grudgingly walks to the door and opens it wordlessly, she turns around and walks back into the room a dazed expression on her face._

_Benji makes himself comfortable and watches hear eat in silence. He's relieved she let him in. He was worried she wouldn't, she has been barricaded in her room for almost a week and wasn't answering her phone, and he couldn't leave her any more messages because her voice mailbox was full. He takes in the scene before him. A cardboard box is in the middle of the room overflowing with what he assumes are Jesse's possessions. Empty take out boxes and tissues litter the floor. Beca is in pajamas and looks like she hasn't bothered with showering lately._

_Beca polishes off the last of her waffles, "Thanks Benji" her voice is barely above a whisper. _

_Benji smiles softly, "Your welcome."_

"_I don't want to talk about it," Beca crosses the room to throw the take out container in the trash. _

"That's ok," he keeps his voice soft not wanting to speak more loudly than she had.

_She meets his eyes fully for the first time since he entered the room. He notices how red and puffy they are. His badass Beca has been crying. It breaks Benji's heart to know someone hurt his sister so badly._

"_He's an idiot," Benji whispers._

_Beca's eyebrows rise to her hairline, " You… you know what happened?"_

"_No, and I don't need to. I know you." _

_Benji wraps his sister in his arms and hugs her, this time she doesn't protest but hugs him back tightly. _

"_I love you sis. Let me know if you need anything." _

_Beca is dumbfounded at the current role reversal between her and her stepbrother. She leans further into the embrace, " I love you too Benji." _

…

That was the last time he had seen her in almost a week. So one can imagine how surprised he was to see her out and about looking showered and content leaving the Verizon store.

Without a second thought he runs over to her before she has a chance to get away.

"Hey, Beca!"

She slows her pace and allows him to catch up to her, "Hey Benji. Just the person I was going to come see today."

For some reason Benji finds her smile disconcerting, "Are you ok?"

"Not yet, but, I will be soon." Her eyes sparkle and she stops walking and holds his gaze, "Benji I need your help with something and I need you to not ask any questions. Can you do that for me?"

"I promised I would be there for you Beca, whatever you need I'm your guy."

"Great!" Beca begins walking again and animatedly starts to tell Benji all about her plan to get even with Chloe Beale. She knew it was a risk to include Benji after him being smitten with her for so long, but his unwavering loyalty as a brother over road his longtime crush.

* * *

Donald leans over Lily and places his chin on her shoulder, "Whatcha workin on?"

She continues to stare at the computer screen but stops typing to answer him, "Just working on something to help Beca." Her eyes sparkle with mischief causing a slow grin to appear on his face.

"Well that's adorable," he kisses her cheek and goes back to studying. Donald learned long ago to not question what made Lily tick. He simply loved her for who she was and enjoyed the ride. And the look in her eyes told him he would no doubt enjoy whatever she was "helping" Beca with.

* * *

_You're just too good to be true, _

_Can't take my eyes off of you,_

_You'd be like heaven to touch, _

_I wanna hold you so much,_

_At long last love has arrived_

_And I thank God I'm alive_

_You're just too good to be true_

_Can't take my eyes off of you. _

_I love you baby,_

_And if its quite alright_

_I need you baby _

_To warm the lonely nights_

_Oh pretty baby _

_Trust in me when I say_

Jesse's voice could be heard across the entire campus echoing off of the dormitory walls and carrying his heartfelt song to all the residents within.

He had been outside Baker Hall for the last 20 minutes attempting to serenade Beca. It would seem that she wasn't home or she really didn't want to talk to him. He should take the hint. But he doesn't.

He gets someone to let him in and he makes his way to her room. He knocks and waits. And waits. And waits. He doesn't hear any sound from within, no breathing, no papers shuffling, no chimes of her opening a program to work on her music and he decides she really isn't home.

Dejectedly Jesse packs up his guitar and heads back to his dorm room.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Chloë settles into a seat at the library and prepares to study for finals when she notices several people whispering behind her. She shakes her head, no reason to get paranoid; it's a library people whisper here. What Chloë thought had been an anomaly seemed to only get worse. She turned her phone back on after she left the library to discover 14 new calls from unknown numbers. So that was weird.

Chloë entered the computer lab to finish her English paper, it was here that not only did she feel eyes on her and suspect the hushed conversations were about her as she passed, but it was the giggling and pointing that seemed to shake Chloë to her core.

"What is so funny?" She snapped at a cluster of sophomore girls.

All three girls turned away sheepishly and muttered, "nothing," before exiting the lab.

"You're the girl from the video right?" A junior guy asked her leaning in and not so discreetly trying to look down her top.

"What? What video?" Chloë answered the guy sitting next to her, she felt like she had dropped into the twilight zone.

"You haven't seen it yet? Here," he turned his computer screen towards her and hit play on a YouTube link.

There in streaming 720p were Chloe's drunken antics from spring break and last spring break set to Pink's 'Slut like you'. Chloe's cheeks began to flush red, this was mortifying, she began to stutter in disbelief, "How… where… who showed this to you?" she pleaded with him.

"It's on the university site, there's a link on the academic schedule pages, its been up since last night."

Chloë ran from the computer lab as fast as her legs could carry her. Tears welling in her eyes, she almost ran into a bulletin board and there looking back at her was a picture of her own face with the line for a good time call with her private cell number underneath. Now she knew what those unknown callers were about. _Oh God. _

She would never be able to show her face on campus again and she needs to get her phone number changed a.s.a.p.

* * *

Beca couldn't sleep. She should be able to she's exhausted from being out late the night before with Benji hanging the posters to advertise Chloë's 'skill set'. Chloë Beale was humiliated thoroughly. She had caught a glimpse of her leaving the computer lab on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Or at least looking as upset as Beca had been that night she found Chloe in Jesse's hotel room. Regardless, Beca should feel better about it; she got her revenge… like she wanted… it somehow didn't feel like enough. Chloe got what she deserved. But Beca didn't feel satisfied. What now?

What was she going to do about Jesse? She didn't want to hurt him. She couldn't. She still loved him. Even though he hurt her. Even though she can't get the images of him together with Chloë out of her head. Ugh! She's gonna be sick again. She needs some air.

* * *

Jesse can't sleep. He tosses and turns, he flips his pillow over to the cool side, he listens to his iPod, he does push-ups, he tries to watch a movie and he even tries to get to sleep by sheer force of will, but to no avail_._ He's awake and his mind is restless.

His eyes shift to the neon numbers of his alarm clock 2:37am. He breathes out a heavy sigh and swings his legs over the side of his bed. He decides despite the late hour he needs some fresh air.

* * *

Beca is now sitting on a bench under an old oak tree. One of her favorite places to come and think, despite the late hour, or early hour depending on your definition of 2:30am. It was the same bench she had found herself on when trying to decide whether to go to LA, the same bench Amy had told her that she and Jesse were 'swan together'. Several Google searches later and Beca had discovered that Australian Swans mate for life and are completely monogamous.

Beca pulls her knees to her chest and wipes the tears that have started to fall as she thinks about Jesse and the future they weren't going to have anymore.

* * *

Jesse walks aimlessly he can't explain how he ends up on this side of campus and while some found the bearded oaks "creepy" in the moonlight Jesse thought it was romantic. He meanders towards the benches in the center of the quad wanting to savor the quiet magical moment around him when his heart stops.

"Beca," he breathes her name just above a whisper, positive his eyes are playing tricks on him. He blinks, but she's still there when he opens his eyes.

He moves forward tentatively, "Beca?" his voice is slightly louder this time.

Beca lifts her eyes at the sound of her name, her breathe hitches, Jesse.

Their eyes lock onto each others and Jesse continues his approach. If this were a movie the score would be swelling as Jesse comes closer to where Beca is rooted in place.

Jesse kneels in front of her on the bench taking her tiny face in his hands; he needs to touch her to feel her again to make sure she isn't just a dream. His eyes are glassy and imploring, his voice is sincere, "Beca, I'm so sorry, you have to know how much I love you. Nothing happened with Chloë, we did kiss but it was a long time ago and it didn't mean anything. Beca please say something."

Beca looks at Jesse unblinkingly, her senses assaulted by him actually being here in front of her she's not sure whether this is real, but she wants it to be. His hands are warm on her cheeks and the smell of him is overwhelming any other smell. He's everything she's missed and needed to feel whole again. Beca decides to let her heart make the decisions for her instead of her head this time.

"Jesse, do you still love me?"

He moves to sit on the bench next to Beca, taking both of her tiny hands into his larger ones. His voice is hesitant but hopeful, "Beca I never could and never will stop loving you. I'm so sorry that I made you doubt that for even a minute. Beca I need to know, do you still love me? Because if you do, then I have to tell you that I never want to be away from you again and I'm not letting you go for a moment for the rest of our lives."

Beca looks deeply into Jesse's puppy dog eyes and moves into his lap slipping her arms around his neck and gently strokes his hair absently with her left hand, "Well then, you better hold on tight."

Jesse's face breaks into a huge smile and his heart almost beats out of his chest, and without a word he kisses her softly, sweetly, lovingly prepared to make up for all the nights they had spent apart.

No more words are spoken as the young lovers reunite passionately under the oaks trees.

* * *

**A/N- Thank you all my readers especially those of you have reviewed and prodded at me to keep going. Had some more instances of life getting in the way again so your support and encouragement helped a lot. Will only be one more chapter to wrap up some loose ends and maybe an epilogue if that's of interest to anyone. **


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Pitch Perfect, Humor, Romance