Pitch Perfect 1. Chapter 1

**Hi :) I couldn't get this idea out of my head no matter how hard I tried so I thought I'd write it down and see what happened... I hope you enjoy it!  
**

* * *

**C**HAPTER **O**NE

If there was one thing that Beca hated about her job, it was that she had to be at the studio at eight o'clock sharp every morning because, to put it simply, Beca Mitchell was not a morning person. At all. Rubbing at her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up a little, she stumbled into her favourite coffee shop, nearly crashing headfirst into a leaving customer. She mumbled a quick apology before roughly beginning to push past the queue of people inside, making her way to the counter; something that was easier said than done, thanks to her size. Ignoring people's complaints behind her as she reached the front of the counter, she scanned the room for Chloe, one of her best [okay, _only_] friends from college who also happened to be the owner of the shop, hoping that she was free so that she could get her coffee quickly and make her way to work. To this day, she still had no idea why Chloe had been so persistent on being 'friends' with her but she guessed it had some perks; thanks to Chloe, she _never_ had to queue for coffee in the mornings. Or pay.

"Where's Chloe?" Beca asked, eyeing the man [or…boy?] behind the counter warily as she failed to spot the redhead. She really didn't need this today; Aubrey, her boss, had already yelled at her last week for being late and having 'an attitude' and ugh, she really needed to get her hands on that cup of coffee and get out of here before she gave Aubrey another reason to shout at her.

"Sorry, Chloe's out at the moment," the boy replied, smiling at her widely, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Beca sighed, squinting up at him, a slightly annoyed expression crossing her face at his been a regular visitor to Chloe's coffee shop for the past few years, she recognised him to be one of Chloe's many baristas but she had no idea what his name was or, more importantly, whether he could be trusted with her long and complicated coffee order. She continued staring at him, unsure of what to do [and _okay,_ maybe he wasn't so hard on the eyes, in a sort of dorky, boy-next-door kind of way…not that she would ever admit that out loud] until he cleared his throat, a wide grin still gracing his face and she sighed once more. This really wasn't her day.

"What time will Chloe be back?" Beca asked, her eyes quickly flicking up to the clock, wondering if she had enough time to wait for Chloe to return, get her coffee and make it to the studio before eight…or eight thirty…or nine… Screw Aubrey, Beca knew that she wasn't always punctual every morning [okay, that was a lie: she was never punctual. Ever.] but she also knew that she was good at her job and so far, she had never missed a deadline so…really, what was the problem? Besides, it was in everyone's best interests that Beca got her coffee made _correctly_ [in other words, by Chloe and not by this weirdly cheerful guy] because when she didn't, well, let's just say that she wouldn't get any work done at all_—_

"—Aw, come on," the guy said, a smile still plastered on his face as he raised his hands up in mock surrender, "I swear I won't poison your coffee. I'm like the most amazing coffee maker in this city!"

Beca raised her eyebrows as she shot him an incredulous look, accompanied by a roll of her eyes. Who even said things like that? "Look, no offence, but I really don't have time for this," she started, a slight hint of exasperation in her voice as she realised that he wasn't going to let her go without serving her. "Just, I don't know, make me a latte or something."

He nodded at her, still grinning widely and okay, seriously, what was wrong with him? Why the hell was he so cheerful? It was seven in the morning! "Okay, one latte _or something_, coming right up!"

"Oh, wow, you are such a dork," Beca replied, shaking her head before squinting at his name badge in an attempt to make out his name as she added dryly, "And Jesse, you should really let other people tell you that your coffee is amazing; it doesn't quite work if you say it yourself." He simply shrugged his shoulders, completely unfazed by her comments, before moving away to start her order.

Five minutes later and Jesse was handing her a coffee cup over the counter and she breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the warmth from the polystyrene cup flood through her hands. She really didn't know how she would survive without coffee; it was, together with music, her everything.

As she took a sip, relishing the taste of the drink, her eyes widened as she realised that this was definitely not the latte she had ordered but instead, her regular coffee order. How the hell had he managed to pull that off?

"You alright?"

Beca turned, only to see Jesse, still grinning at her [was his face incapable of any other expression or something...?] from the counter and she simply rolled her eyes again. "I've had better," she called out at him before turning to leave, biting her lip to stop herself from smiling as she heard him chuckle behind her. That was...interesting.

It was only until she got outside and took another sip that she registered the messily scrawled note on her cup:

_Have a nice day :) _

_PS – Next time you see me, I expect you to shower me with compliments about how amazing this cup of coffee was. _

She blinked hard, raising a hand to rub at her eyes a little as she wondered whether she was imagining the whole thing...because, god, who left messages for complete strangers on _coffee cups_? That was just plain weird. After ten whole seconds of staring at her cup and realising that, no, she wasn't dreaming and the message was real, she reread it, rolling her eyes at his words. This only proved that what she had told him back in the coffee shop was completely true: he was such a dork...but hey, she guessed he hadn't done so badly with her order; of course, it wasn't as good as what Chloe would have prepared for her but it was close. Very close.

Okay, screw it, she really couldn't taste the difference and that annoyed her more than it should.

* * *

"Hey, Chloe," Jesse called out, glancing up from where he was wiping down the counter as he saw the familiar redhead enter the shop, "Your friend stopped by earlier this morning. I think she was a little upset not to see you here."

"My…friend?" Chloe asked, a perplexed expression crossing her face as she frowned, trying to remember whether she had organised a meeting with someone this morning. "Which friend?"

Jesse shrugged his shoulders, quickly conjuring up an image of the girl and describing her as well as he could, "Yeah, you know, the girl that always comes in at seven? The one with the ridiculously long and complicated coffee order and the, uh, amazingly scary ear spike?"

"Oh, Beca? Shit, she is going to kill me," Chloe replied, her eyes widening slightly. "She didn't yell at you, did she? She's really not a morning person."

Jesse laughed, shaking his head in response as he continued wiping down the counter. Although he didn't normally take the morning shift, he had seen the girl – Beca – a couple of times before and he found her absolutely fascinating. She was one of those mysterious girls who seemed completely unapproachable [although this could be just because he was seriously scared of her ear spike…that thing looked _dangerous_] but he had witnessed her joking around with Chloe in the past and god, she was really, really pretty when she smiled. "Don't worry, Chlo, I handled it."

"Wait, she let you make her coffee?" she asked, her surprise evident in her tone of voice. "Beca Mitchell accepted coffee from a total stranger? How did that happen?"

Jesse shrugged his shoulders again before leaning against the counter, shooting Chloe a wink, "I guess no-one can refuse this face," he quipped before raising his arms to cover his body, letting out a yelp of surprise as Chloe threw an empty cup at him.

"Get back to work, Jess," she said, pointing a finger at him threateningly and he raised his hand in a mock salute before turning back towards the counter to finish wiping it down. "Oh and do me a favour and text Benji, will you? Stacie's ill and I need someone to cover the afternoon shift."

"Will do," he replied, nodding once as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and started composing a text to the boy in question. Once he had pressed send, he sat himself down besides Lilly, quickly checking to see whether the shop was empty before standing up again, grabbing his laptop from the staffroom and loading up a movie. The shop was practically always devoid of customers in the short period between the morning and lunchtime rushes and Chloe didn't really mind what they did during that time, as long as they kept their eyes on the door and were ready if a customer did walk in.

As the opening credits started, he found himself reflecting his day so far. Today had been an…interesting morning. He had already been intrigued by Chloe's friend before today but now, well, now he couldn't stop thinking about her, as creepy as that made him sound. She was just so sarcastic and blunt and, frankly, it was refreshing. Plus, her expression when she had realised that he had managed to remember and _make_ her usual intricate order was so…endearing that it was totally worth the extra effort. He just hoped that she had found his message on the cup that he had scrawled on in a moment of inspiration [okay, he knew that it was a total cliché but hey, he watched a lot of movies and it always seemed to be a move that worked with girls] and that he would see her again soon.

"Hey, Beca?" Jesse dragged his eyes away from his computer screen as he overheard Chloe talking on the phone. "Sorry I wasn't here when you stopped by this morning, I had some other business to attend to—_Yes_, it was more important than your coffee order! Besides, I heard Jesse took care of you. Although, not going to lie Beca, I can't believe you let him make you your coffee! I thought you said that your coffee order was sacred and that only I was allowed to make it—_No_, Beca, of course I'm not jealous, it's just that, you know, it's you!"

Chloe paused, her eyes meeting Jesse's and she shook her head in amusement. "Yeah, I know, he's a _massive pain_, he won't stop eavesdropping on my conversations and everything—Yes, he's listening to me now. Okay, I'll let him know. See you tomorrow, Beca."

She hung up the phone before turning towards Jesse who just looked at her expectantly, a smile on his face. "Beca says to tell you that the coffee was the absolute opposite of amazing and that she will definitely never trust you with her coffee order ever again." She threw another cup at him as he gasped in mock indignation at her words before adding, "But between you and me, I'm still in disbelief that she let you make her order."

He chuckled to himself, "I told you, Chlo, no-one can refuse this face. You should like stick a picture of my face on the outside window or something - it might help us attract more customers."

"_Get back to work_," she said once more, shaking her head as she retreated into the stock room. "Or, even better, tell Benji to hurry up and get here so that you can leave and I won't have to put up with your eavesdropping ways any longer!"

Jesse simply laughed in response - he knew from working shifts here for the past year that Chloe was way too nice to hold a grudge – before returning to his movie. Sometimes he wondered how he had ended up having to pull shifts at the local coffee shop to make ends meet whilst he worked towards his dream of scoring movie soundtracks but there were days like today where he guessed it wasn't so bad.


	2. Chapter 2

**C**HAPTER **T**WO

"Hi Jesse," Benji greeted as Jesse entered the shop at six the next morning, "I didn't know you were coming in today."

"Yeah, I wasn't exactly planning on being here but apparently Stacie's still ill and Lilly, well, I don't really know what Lilly's doing so here I am," he replied, dropping his stuff off in the staffroom before returning to the counter and sitting himself down beside Benji. He had been a little irritated that he had to work a shift today as he had been planning on spending the whole day at the piano, working on the composition he was currently halfway through writing but Chloe had texted him last night asking if he could work this morning and he wasn't the type of guy to just leave her hanging. Besides, he couldn't seem to get Chloe's friend from yesterday out of his head [and if he was being honest, he didn't really want to] and taking the morning shift meant that he might get to see her again.

"Oh right, well, I guess you're stuck with me for the next couple of hours then."

"Hey, no, I like working shifts with you," Jesse said quickly, giving the other boy a reassuring smile. Benji hadn't been working at the coffee shop for very long and he was still quite nervous and jumpy around the rest of the team despite them constantly trying to make him feel at home. Jesse really did like working with him though; he was one of those all-round nice guys who was very easy to get along with, even if he did seem to have a slightly odd obsession with close-up magic and was actually wearing a _cape_ when he had first met him. "It's way better than working shifts with Stacie and listening to her talk about all the men she's 'hunted'. Kinda makes you nervous, you know?"

Benji swallowed and nodded, his face visibly pale as he remembered the last time he had tried to have a conversation with the girl in question – it had _not_ ended well. Stacie didn't seem understand that there were certain things about her life that should not be shared, especially not with her fellow colleagues and worse, with the _customers_. Fortunately for her though, Chloe was way too nice to really do anything about it, except to make sure that she was always on the afternoon shift where there were less people and therefore, fewer chances for her to share her stories about her multiple…conquests.

"Boys, stop talking and open up, will you? I'm not paying you two to sit around and chat, I'm paying you two to make coffee!" Chloe called from the stockroom and Benji nodded, hopping off his stool and walking over to open the front door to the shop.

"Really? And here I thought you were just keeping me around for my charm and wit," Jesse said in reply, winking at Benji who was laughing quietly. "Not to mention, as we discovered yesterday, my absolutely irresistible face-"

"—Jesse, sometimes I seriously wonder why I hired you. Now, please, get to work, it's already quarter past!"

"Aw, you don't mean that. I know you love having me around, Chlo," he called back before accepting a stack of empty coffee cups from Benji and starting to prepare for morning rush.

They quickly settled into a rhythm as people started to filter in, Benji taking the orders whilst he made the coffee. It wasn't until he heard several annoyed grumblings behind him that he momentarily turned away from the drink he was currently preparing to see Beca, pushing her way through the queue, an irritated look on her face.

"Hey, Beca," he greeted, shooting her a smile as he walked towards the counter, handing a filled coffee cup to a waiting customer. "What's up?"

"Where's Chloe?" she asked, ignoring his question as she eyed him suspiciously as if he was hiding her and he simply grinned back. She really was fascinating. Most girls that he knew would have cracked by now and given him a smile or something but from Beca, he had so far managed to get absolutely nothing.

"Chloe's in the back," he replied, completely unfazed by her tone, pointing in the direction of the stockroom, "Want me to grab her for you?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Why do you think I'm asking?"

"To be honest, I really don't know," he said shrugging, as he accepted another empty cup from Benji and started on another order. "I mean, why would you want Chloe to make your coffee for you when you've experienced my epic coffee-making skills?"

"Just get Chloe for me," she said, letting out an audible sigh, not bothering to come up with a response to his, frankly, ridiculous comments. As usual, she was running late and she really couldn't afford to waste time on this dork, especially when it didn't look like he was about to stop talking any time soon.

He grinned at her once again, quickly finishing up the coffee he was working on before raising his hands up in the air as he walked towards the back room to grab Chloe. "I'm going, I'm going, please don't shoot me! Or, worse, stab me with that crazy-looking ear spike you've got."

She rolled her eyes again but gave him a small nod in gratitude as he returned, Chloe following him. "Hey, Chloe," she greeted her friend, "Can you fix me up with my usual?"

"Well, actually…" Chloe started, her eyes flicking between Beca and Jesse thoughtfully, "No, I can't." Beca groaned audibly, rubbing at her forehead impatiently as she waited for Chloe to explain herself. "Okay, so maybe I _can_ make it but I'm still finding it hard to believe that you let Jesse here make you your coffee and I kind of want to see it happen for myself…so if you want your coffee, ask him."

"You have to be kidding me. Chloe, seriously, what the hell? Why am I even friends with you?" Beca groaned again as Chloe did nothing except smile mischievously at her, tilting her head towards Jesse who was standing behind them awkwardly, trying his best to not look like he was eavesdropping [but, of course, he totally was]. "I'm not about to ask him to make my coffee for me again, I already had to live through yesterday's—"

"—Hey, hey," Jesse interrupted, his eyes comically wide as he clutched at his chest dramatically, "There's no need to get personal, my heart can only take so much."

She rolled her eyes. "You see what I'm talking about?"

Jesse chuckled to himself, walking back towards the counter where Benji was standing, staring bemusedly at the three of them. He grabbed an empty cup from the counter and started making up her usual order, even though she hadn't technically asked for it.

"Benji, you got a pen?" he asked as he pressed a lid onto the cup, smiling at the other boy as he threw him one. Jesse quickly scrawled a message on the cup as he had done yesterday before handing it over to her.

"Thanks…I guess," she said reluctantly as she took it from him before turning to glare at Chloe again, "Are you happy now?"

"Yep, I'm perfectly happy now, Beca," she replied, grinning, "Now get to work before your boss yells at you again. I'll see you later?"

She muttered something inaudible back and turned to leave, sighing as she noticed that like yesterday, the dork had written another message on her cup.

_I'm not going to give up. I know that one day you'll recognise that I, Jesse Swanson, make the best coffee in the world. :)_

* * *

"So how was he?" Amy called out, as soon as Beca entered the booth that they shared at the studio. "I want to know _all_ the sordid details," she added, giving her an overly exaggerated wink.

Beca raised her eyebrows, still clutching her cup of coffee as she sat down in her chair, swivelling around to face her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know, the guy you've just laid. Was he hot?"

"What?" Beca exclaimed, nearly dropping her cup – her _precious, coffee filled _cup - in surprise, "Dude, no! How did you even get to that conclusion?"

"Well, you just came in here looking way happier than you normally do _and_ you're only fifteen minutes late," she replied with a shrug before continuing, "which can only mean two things: either you've just been laid or you've just discovered the magic of ice-cream on toast."

"One, I swear to god, nothing happened so get your head out of the gutter," Beca replied, trying not to think about the whole Chloe incident this morning and _Jesse_ and his incredibly dorky smile and overdramatic ways. She really didn't know why he got on her nerves so much but god, he really did. He just wouldn't stop grinning at her and making stupid jokes and he was so unlike any guy she had ever met before and _ugh_ she couldn't stand it. "And two, ice-cream on toast? That sounds disgusting."

"What's not to like? It gives you a perfectly plausible excuse to have ice-cream for breakfast…and okay, so maybe I don't eat the toast and just eat the ice-cream but still…" Beca rolled her eyes before loading up the computer and plugging her headphones in, not bothering to respond as Amy went off on a tangent about her love for ice-cream.

"Oh and by the way, Flatbutt-who-may-or-may-not-have-been-laid-this-mo rning, Aubrey wants to see you," Amy said several minutes later and Beca swivelled around again, letting out an audible groan. "…Or yell at you. She does seem to like shouting at you, doesn't she? Did you do something to her in a past life? Like, I don't know, kill her pet dingo or something?"

"What? Aubrey wants to see me?" she asked, stumbling slightly as she quickly stood up, grabbing her bag and making her way out of the room, praying that Aubrey wasn't about to have a go at her for the third time this week. "Couldn't you have told me that earlier?"

"Well, I _could _have," Amy replied, "but then I thought to myself: what's more important? Telling Beca that Aubrey wants to see her _or_ keeping her here and interrogating her on her sex life? I think we both know that I, as always, made the right choice."

"Amy, I told you, nothing happened!" she yelled back, shaking her head. To this day, she still had no idea why she was the one always getting shouted at by Aubrey and not Amy; yes, so she knew she wasn't always here at eight o'clock sharp but come on, Amy spent most of her time watching videos of crocodiles wrestling on YouTube [seriously, what was with that?] instead of working like she was supposed to.

"Beca, finally, what have I told you about being late?" Aubrey said, as soon as she stepped foot into her office, already glaring daggers at her, "If you keep this attitude up, I swear, I will not hesitate to fire you."

Beca sighed, zoning out as Aubrey started yelling at her for basically just…existing, wondering why Aubrey had even bothered to hire her in the first place. All Aubrey ever seemed to do was have a go at her to the extent that Beca seriously thought she just did it as a way of releasing her stress. She guessed she couldn't complain though; it had always been her dream to be able to produce music professionally and if she had to put up with Aubrey's temper in order to be able to work here and do that then she would do it without complaint [well, without much complaint].

Ten minutes later, Aubrey finally let her go and she made her way back to the booth, pulling her phone out of her pocket and groaning as she read the new text displayed on the screen.

_You totally like him_. – Chloe

She shook her head in irritation, shoving her phone back in her pocket without replying. One of these days, she was actually going to kill Chloe.


	3. Chapter 3

**C**HAPTER **T**HREE

"So, spill…what's up with you and Jesse?"

Beca groaned in response, reaching over her desk to grab a pillow to throw at Chloe's head. "God, no, please don't go there. I don't even know the guy, let alone _like _him_._ I mean, come on, Chlo, I've only spoken to him for like, what, ten minutes? As far as I'm concerned, he's just an infuriatingly cheerful and all-round annoying dork."

Beca had absolutely no idea why she had agreed to Chloe coming around after work; the redhead was seriously impossible to deal with sometimes, especially when she got some stupid idea like this one in her head. This wasn't the first time it had happened and she knew from past experience that it was actually physically exhausting trying to get it through Chloe's head that she did not like whichever guy that Chloe was convinced she did.

"You let him make you your coffee!" Chloe replied, effortlessly catching the pillow that was thrown at her, turning it around in her hands as she grinned at her. "That's like a total declaration of love, coming from you."

"Hey, I only did that because a certain someone wouldn't make it for me!" Beca exclaimed in response, rolling her eyes, feeling the beginnings of a headache starting to creep up on her. "God, Chloe, if I knew you were going to be this weird about it, I would have just gone without coffee for a day."

Chloe simply raised her eyebrows at her, still smiling at her mischievously before adding, "You guys would be super cute together."

She groaned again. Why had she agreed to Chloe coming over? She should have known better. "I swear to god, if you don't shut up now, I'm going to find somewhere else to get my coffee from in the mornings."

"But then you'd have to queue _and_ pay," Chloe said, letting out a gasp, her eyes wide. "There is no way you would do that."

"Watch me, Chlo," she replied, shooting her a look of disdain, "Just watch me. If boycotting your shop gets you to stop talking complete rubbish about me, I will totally do it." Chloe just laughed in reply, completely ignoring her friend's threats and Beca sighed, wishing that she could rewind time and not let that dork make her coffee for her. The whole thing was causing her way too much trouble and it was making her head hurt.

"You could totally do a lot worse than Jesse though," Chloe added a couple seconds later, "He may be annoying sometimes but he's a good guy. Better than, you know, Luke, the last guy you dated."

"Are you sure you don't want me to set you two up instead? You sound smitten." She deadpanned, closing her eyes as she prayed to god that Chloe would stop talking soon. "…And we are _not_ talking about Luke."

Chloe rolled her eyes, going silent for a few minutes causing Beca to breathe a sigh of a relief, still keeping her eyes closed. All she wanted now was for Chloe to leave so she could just go to sleep and forget that this absurd conversation had ever happened.

"I'm just saying, you should think about it." Chloe piped up again, just when Beca had thought that the conversation was finally over. "I mean, he's—"

"—That's it, I'm never coming to your coffee shop again."

* * *

"Jesse? Did you ride your bike here this afternoon?" Chloe called as he walked into the shop, ready to start his shift. He nodded, approaching the counter, unsure of where this conversation was going. "I need you to deliver a coffee to someone for me."

"Okay, am I missing something here? Since when do we deliver?" Jesse asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he swung his bag off his shoulders, nodding in greeting to Stacie who was sitting behind the counter, absentmindedly filing her nails.

"We don't. This is just an, um, 'I'm Sorry' coffee."

"An 'I'm Sorry' coffee…?" he echoed incredulously, staring at her in confusion. Chloe came up with the weirdest ideas sometimes.

"Yep," she said, skilfully avoiding his sceptical gaze as she continued, "I may or may not have annoyed Beca and she may or may not have boycotted this shop all week so yes, I'm sending her a coffee to apologise. It's a thing."

"If it's an 'apology coffee' - which, by the way, Chloe, is _definitely_ not a thing – why am I delivering it? Surely you should be the one going?"

"Well, yes, but I can't exactly leave Stacie here by herself," she said, pointing at the girl in question who just shrugged before returning back her nail filing. "Don't tell me you don't remember the last time she did a shift when I wasn't here to supervise. I mean, she nearly—"

"—Okay, okay, I get your point. I suppose I can go," he interrupted quickly, wincing a little at the memory of Stacie single-handedly seducing all the male [and some female] customers by doing some, frankly, disturbing things on the tables. Jesse was pretty sure Benji was still seriously traumatised by the incident…and who could blame him? It had been scary.

"All you have to do is drop the coffee off at the front desk and then come straight back. Don't go and deliver it to her in person because you're probably the last person she—Um, never mind. Just go." She said, a rather guilty expression suddenly gracing her face as she grabbed a napkin and scribbled down an address.

"...Chloe, what did you tell her?" Jesse asked, eyes wide as he stared at her suspiciously. "You didn't tell her about that time when I tried to serenade some girl and instead, ended up tripping over my own feet, drenching her with coffee, did you? Or that time I worked a shift after a night of no sleep and tried to charge someone five hundred dollars for a cup of coffee…and when they objected, insisted for a good ten minutes that it was the correct price and that it was so expensive because we were using the _best coffee beans in the whole world_?"

"Nope," she replied, raising an eyebrow at him as she handed him the coffee and the address to the studio where Beca worked, "Although, Jess…you tried to charge someone five hundred dollars for coffee? When did that happen and why am I only just hearing about it now?"

"Um, no, I definitely never did that. Ever. Forget I even said anything." He said quickly, swallowing hard as he grabbed the coffee from her and turned to leave. "I'll just go. Right now. Bye."

"He totally did," Stacie commented from behind the counter. "It was hilarious. Like, seriously, Chlo, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen."

* * *

"Hi, um, can I leave this for Beca?" Jesse asked as he walked up to what he assumed was the front desk of the building, Chloe's 'apology' coffee still – sort of - warm in his hands. He received no reply; instead, the girl sitting there simply looked him up and down for longer than was comfortable and he ran his free hand through his hair awkwardly before clearing his throat.

"_Hello_ there," the girl finally said, winking at him, "Are you the guy Beca, also known as 'Flatbutt', laid the other day?"

"W—What?" Jesse choked out, his eyes wide. That had definitely not been the response he had been expecting to his perfectly reasonable request. "No! I'm just here to deliver this coffee on behalf of one of Beca's friends. Did she say something or…?"

"Oh, no, don't worry," the girl replied, "It's just that she claimed nothing happened the other day but you should have seen her, she totally looked like she was on some sort of sex-induced high and I—"

"—Um, so can you give this to Beca?" he interrupted, a little shell-shocked by the girl's ramblings, not really sure what to make of them. Plus, he really, really didn't want to hear about Beca's sex life…or anyone's sex life, for that matter. He had already heard more than enough stories, thanks to working shifts with Stacie.

"Well, I could," she said, tapping her face thoughtfully as she considered his request, "But that would involve a significant amount of cardio and, no offence, but I don't feel like getting up, even if it's for a fine piece of ass like yourself."

"Isn't that, you know, your job? I mean, aren't you supposed to be manning the front desk?" He asked, ignoring the latter part of what she had said. This was seriously getting _weird_.

"Nope," she replied innocently, "I have nothing to do with the front desk. I'm just sitting here because the front desk people are out and this chair is way comfier than the one in our booth." She paused, suddenly reaching out and grabbing his shirt as she tugged his face towards her, whispering loudly in his ear, "Please don't tell anyone I'm here or Aubrey will set her pet dingoes after me."

He blinked hard as she released him, stumbling backwards, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times as his brain tried – and failed – to understand what had just happened.

"Look, if you want Flatbutt, just go straight down that corridor and take the second left."

He nodded slowly, readjusting his grip on the coffee before turning to go. He knew that Chloe had specifically told him not to personally deliver the coffee but he didn't really have a choice; this girl was seriously scaring him and he didn't particularly want to stay here chatting with her any longer. Plus, he wasn't about to turn down a chance to get to wind up Beca again; she was sort of adorable when she was annoyed, especially because she was so…small. Before he had managed to leave though, the blonde girl roughly grabbed his shirt again, slipping a piece of paper into his front pocket and patting his chest a couple of times. "That's my number. I might not be able to make time for you as I'm already struggling to juggle my many boyfriends but feel free to give me a call if you want me to show you a good time and I'll try my best."

As soon as she had let go of his shirt, Jesse quickly backed away from her, rapidly walking in the direction she had indicated, glancing behind him a couple of times to ensure that she wasn't following him. He was seriously freaked out. He breathed a sigh of relief as he finally found the correct door, knocking on it once before pushing it open. Why on Earth had he agreed to deliver this coffee for Chloe?

"Okay, what the fuck are you doing here?" Beca asked as she turned around, her eyebrows raised in disbelief as her eyes landed on him. "Are you stalking me or something? Because if you are, for the love of god, please stop."

"No, I, uh, Chloe sent me? I was supposed to leave this at the front desk but, uh, some girl ambushed me and started talking about dingoes and slipped me her number and it was pretty scary, like, I was properly afraid for my life, and I—"

"—Calm down," she said, rolling her eyes as she quickly realised what had happened. Who knew that all it took was a couple of minutes in Amy's company to reduce the dork into this quivering wreck... "Amy's completely harmless, I swear. Now what's this about Chloe sending you here?"

Jesse took a deep breath, pushing all thoughts of the crazy girl at the front desk out of his head as he handed her Chloe's 'apology' coffee which was, unsurprisingly, not very warm anymore. "Um, Chloe says sorry." Beca blinked at him, a small smile gracing her face as she accepted the coffee and he took a moment to take in his surroundings, his eyes widening as he saw all the music equipment. "Hey, what's all this? This looks pretty awesome."

Beca sighed. "Look, unless Chloe told you to stay and chat – which I highly doubt she did, given what she's supposedly apologising for – do you mind leaving? I'm pretty busy at the moment."

"Wait, what's she apologising for?" He questioned, as he did the opposite of what she had asked, walking over and plonking himself down on the empty chair on the opposite side of the room. He didn't normally work the morning shifts at the coffee shop and he had no idea when he would get to see her next [that is, if she ever forgave Chloe and started coming again…] so he wasn't about to waste this opportunity to get to know her a bit better. She really was a mystery and he was determined to figure her out.

She stared at him for a couple of seconds before shaking her head, turning away, a slight flush creeping up the back of her neck. _Interesting_. "Come on, you might as well tell me. I mean, you know Chloe's absolutely terrible at keeping secrets; all I have to do is ask her about it and she'll spill."

She swivelled back around to face him, an irritated look on her face as she started to stare at him again. She clearly didn't want to divulge any information about whatever she was mad at Chloe for but hey, Jesse had never been one to back down from a challenge and he was not about to start now. "Did it have anything to do with the fact that you apparently came into work the other day on a, and I quote, 'sex-induced high'? You can tell me, I won't judge."

"What?" she spluttered, "Oh my god, I am going to kill Amy." He shrugged, grinning at her smugly; he knew he'd be able to break her. One to Jesse, zero to Beca. "If you must know," she said, with a sigh, knowing that he was right about Chloe being unable to keep secrets and that it wouldn't make any difference if she didn't tell him what they had 'fought' over [she wasn't exactly mad at Chloe, she was just…making a point] because he would find out one way or another, "Chloe wouldn't stop going on about what great boyfriend material you are and it was very, _very _annoying."

He blinked in confusion [when he got back to the coffee shop, he was definitely going to have a talk with Chloe…] before pretending to fall off his chair, flailing his arms around wildly for dramatic effect. "Your words wound me, Bec. You don't think I'm 'great boyfriend material'?"

She rolled her eyes, biting her lip hard to stop a smile escaping as she watched him. This idiot really was too much for her to handle. "Oh, I'm sure you sweep your girlfriend off her feet. I mean, what girl could resist that level of acting talent?" she deadpanned, shaking her head at him. "And please, don't call me Bec - only my dad calls me that. Now, seriously, can you please just go?"

"Oh, I don't have a girlfriend," he replied as he straightened himself back up on the chair, still grinning ridiculously at her. "And fine, I'll go…but only if you explain what all this equipment is for first. I'm intrigued. You work in music?"

Beca sighed. What did she need to do to get him to leave her in peace? If she didn't get this mix finished today, Aubrey was – literally – going to kill her. "Yeah, I produce music," she finally said after staring at him for a couple of seconds and realising that there was no way in hell that he was going anywhere until he had gotten a proper answer out of her.

"Oh, that's cool," he replied, _still _grinning at her as he got up to stand behind her as she turned towards the screen and explained what she was doing as quickly as humanly possible, her mouth falling open slightly as he managed – for the first time since she had met him – to actually sound serious and make some surprisingly insightful comments about her work.

"You know about music?" she asked, eyebrows raised. Maybe he wasn't such a dork, after all…

He nodded once, his gaze weirdly intense as his eyes landed on hers. "Yeah, I've always wanted to score movies. Bring people to tears, blow their minds? I feel like only music can do that, you know?"

And she did.


	4. Chapter 4

**C**HAPTER **F**OUR

"Uh, Chloe?" Jesse asked, as he casually sauntered in to the shop the afternoon after his visit to Beca's workplace. "Want to tell me why you've apparently been telling everyone that I'm 'great boyfriend material'?"

"Want to tell me why you _never came back _yesterday?" She shot back, as she crossed her arms, her eyebrows raised. "Seriously, Jess, couldn't you have texted me or something? I had to get Lilly here to cover for you."

He winced, turning towards the girl in question, quickly apologising, "God, I'm so sorry, Lilly. I just kind of lost track of time." The other girl looked at him for a few seconds before nodding once, giving him a thumbs up as she whispered something inaudible under her breath. "I swear I'll make it up to you; if you ever can't make a shift, just text me and I'll be there, okay?"

No matter how hard they had all tried over the past few months, Lilly was still just as quiet as she had been on her first day which meant that she was, under no circumstances, allowed to work the cash register and take orders…which was probably a good thing, Jesse supposed, as god_,_ when it came to preparing coffee, there was no-one as speedy as her. Now that he thought about it, Chloe really had managed to assemble quite an…unique group of employees: Benji often came to work wearing a cape, a light saber in his hand, Stacie was a ticking time bomb who could start seducing customers at any moment, Lilly worked shifts in almost complete silence and then…there was him. It was a miracle, really, that the shop was still up and running.

"So, anyway, Chloe, you think I'm great boyfriend material? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm _flattered_," he said, batting his eyelashes at her as she rolled her eyes, grabbing a cup and throwing it at his chest. "I didn't know you felt that way about me but—"

"Shut up," she replied as she pointedly looked away from him and towards the door, praying for a customer to walk in and interrupt their conversation. "It's not what you think."

"Then what is it?" he asked, still grinning at her smugly.

"It was nothing, really," Chloe muttered with a sigh, cursing Beca for telling him and hoping that Jesse wouldn't ask too many questions as there really was no way to explain the situation without embarrassing herself or, worse, inflating his ego even further. Unfortunately, she also knew from working in such close quarters with him for the past year that he was incredibly persistent [and this was coming from the girl who had ambushed Beca in the shower during their first year at college and basically forced her to become friends with her] and that he wasn't going to let this go.

Sighing again, she decided to just go with the truth, selecting her words very carefully and keeping the whole thing as ambiguous as possible, hoping that he would have the decency to not make her expand on what she was about to say. To be honest, even now, she wasn't exactly sure what she had been thinking when she kept bringing up Jesse the other night but she hadn't seen Beca actually _joking _with a guy since the Luke fiasco months ago and, well, it had been nice to see. In retrospect, she guessed she could have been a little bit more subtle about the whole thing but...what was done was done.

"Beca, she's been through a lot," she said, before pausing, trying to think of a suitably vague way to phrase her next words, "She just…finds it hard to trust people, especially guys, so I was just—"

"—Using me to demonstrate how brilliant and charming, not to mention, ridiculously handsome, members of the male population can be?" he quipped, quickly interrupting as he sensed how uncomfortable Chloe sounded; it was an unfamiliar tone to hear in her voice and Jesse didn't like it one bit. Besides, what Chloe was alluding to sounded like stuff that he was sure Beca would prefer to keep private and he wasn't about to push Chloe for any details, despite how intrigued he was - he wasn't that type of guy. Chloe shot him a grateful look, looking visibly relieved before picking up yet another cup and throwing it at him, her usual cheeriness returning. "Your ego really needs to be taken down a notch."

"Stop throwing cups at me!" he shouted as he raised his arms up to cover his body, glad that he had managed to defuse the tension in the room, "Lilly, help me out here, make her stop!"

Lilly just stared blankly at them before shrugging her shoulders apologetically, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "I have a shrine dedicated to snails built out of those cups in my room" as she turned away from them. Jesse frowned at her for a moment before shaking his head: he must be going crazy. There was no way she had just admitted that, right?

* * *

Beca threw herself down on one of the chairs at the back of the room as she waited for all the other junior producers to file in, hoping that Aubrey wasn't going to be keeping them here for very long.

"Hello everyone," Aubrey started, as soon as everyone was sat down, smiling tightly at the small group as she stood at the front of the room, her posture, as always, perfect, "I have called you all here today to make an extremely important announcement. In order to judge the progress that each one of you has made during your time here so far, every one of you will be set their own individual project over the next few weeks—"

"I have to admit, Flatbutt, I was a little disappointed," Amy leaned over to whisper loudly in her ear, "I can't believe he didn't call me. I mean, who could resist my sexy fat ass—"

"Dude, shh," Beca replied hastily, as she tried her best to focus on what Aubrey was saying and ignore the ramblings of the talkative girl beside her, "This is really not the time. Tell me afterwards, okay?"

She pointedly turned her gaze to the front again, hoping that if she didn't respond, Amy would get the message and stop talking, frowning as she heard Aubrey begin to threaten them all. What had she missed? "Do not mess this up. You will not get a second chance and I will not hesitate to fire all of you if—"

"—But seriously, Flatbutt, why aren't you tapping that?" Amy continued beside her, seemingly oblivious to Beca's attempts to get her to be quiet, "He is a fine specimen, if a little jumpy…"

"Wait a second, are you talking about Jesse?" She asked incredulously as the significance of what Amy had been saying for the past few minutes slowly registered in her head.

"If that's the name of your little coffee delivery boy then yes," Amy replied, winking at her obnoxiously as she waggled her eyebrows. "You know, I felt him up yesterday and he was definitely hiding a nice set of abs under all that plaid…kinda makes you wonder what else he's hiding, if you catch my drift—"

"—Okay, one, he is not _my_ delivery boy," Beca said, rolling her eyes, "And two, ew, please stop talking." Although she had discovered yesterday that maybe, just maybe, Jesse wasn't as dorky as she had initially assumed, seeing as he seemed to have a wide knowledge and passion for music [not to mention, he had shown a genuine interest in her work], she really, really didn't want to think about him like that, especially since he seemed to be popping up everywhere in her life lately.

"Beca, Amy," Aubrey said, fixing them with a steely gaze, her jaw twitching, "Is there something you would like to share with everyone? Because if there is, please, by all means, come to the front…but if not, then do everyone a favour and _shut up_." Beca swallowed hard, shaking her head once in response as everyone turned around to face them. "Oh, I'm sorry, was that rude?" Aubrey continued, taking a step forwards towards them, staring at them sternly, "I am trying to run a respectable studio here and if you two are just going to sit here and constantly talk over me then you can both go and pack your bags right now."

Beca muttered an apology, biting her lip to stifle a laugh as Amy started making obscene gestures at Aubrey as soon as her back was turned. Most of the time, Amy was more trouble than she was worth but at least she was entertaining.

* * *

_Chloe, I managed to escape work early, are you at the coffee shop? – Beca_

_Nope, not at the moment but I'll be there in about an hour? Feel free to wait for me there though. See you later :) – Chloe_

"Hey," Beca greeted as she walked into the almost empty shop, spotting Jesse and another boy sitting behind the counter, their eyes fixed on a laptop screen.

"Hey," Jesse replied automatically, shooting her a quick smile as he momentarily glanced up from the screen. "Chloe's not here."

"Oh, I know, I'm waiting for her to come back," she said, perching on top of one of the tables as she eyed the two boys suspiciously. Both of them looked completely _mesmerised_ by whatever they were watching and she sincerely hoped – for everyone's sake – that it wasn't because they were watching porn. "What are you two watching?"

"Uh, Star Wars," he answered, his gaze still locked on the screen and she rolled her eyes. Of _course _it was Star Wars. "It was Benji's turn to pick."

"Aren't you two supposed to be working?"

"There's no-one here," he said, looking slightly pained as he tore his eyes from the screen for a moment, gesturing around him, "Unless…you want a coffee?" She shook her head in response. She was _not_ going down that route again even though she was exhausted after her day at work and was really craving some caffeine, especially because she didn't particularly want to fall asleep on Chloe later; she knew from past experience that if she fell asleep, Chloe would not hesitate to start throwing things at her until she woke up.

"Want to watch with us whilst you wait for Chloe?" He offered, pointing at the seat next to him.

"Uh, no, not really," she replied as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, flipping through the screens as she tried to find something on there that would entertain her for the next hour. "I'm perfectly fine where I am."

"What, do you not like movies or something?"

"Nope," Beca said, her eyes still on her phone as she shrugged. "They're boring and predictable and I can never make it to the end." She looked up quickly in alarm as she heard a weird noise, followed by a "What the hell's wrong with you? The endings are the best part!" as Jesse almost fell off his chair - for real, this time - in shock. She pulled a face, faintly remembering him saying something about how he wanted to score movies in the future...her feelings on movies were something that she probably shouldn't have admitted to him…

"How can you not like movies? Come on, you might as well watch with us - Chloe won't be back for a while and Star Wars is amazing, I promise."

"No offence, but sitting through Star Wars again is really the last thing I want to do right now…or ever," Beca stated, rolling her eyes as the boy next to Jesse actually _gasped_ at her words. She raised an eyebrow, squinting at him, her eyes widening as she realised that the black material on his shoulders was a real-life cape. Oh wow...

"Beca, Beca, Beca," Jesse said, shaking his head at her in mock disappointment, "This is serious. You need a movie education – no, a moviecation – and it's going to start right now." He pressed a button on the laptop, muttering a quick apology to the boy next to him before coming around the counter to where she was sitting, his fingers wrapping themselves around her wrist as he started tugging her backwards.

"Jesse, what the hell are you doing?" she asked, desperately attempting to pry his fingers off her, trying hard not to think about the fact that, for such a dork, his grip was surprisingly strong…like _Luke_ strong and she was pretty sure that Jesse didn't work out as excessively as Luke did, if at all. Then again, if what Amy had said earlier was true—No, she was not going there. "Let go of me!"

"You're watching this movie and you're going to appreciate it," he said and she sighed, giving up on trying to shake him, letting him drag her towards the laptop. "It's one of the best scored movies of all time."

"Like I said, I've seen Star Wars already and it was absolutely terrible..." Beca replied as she slowly sat herself down on the chair next to him. She blinked hard as she heard gasping again, turning quickly to face the boy sitting on Jesse's other side who was suddenly looking very pale and nauseous and _oh god_, was he—

"—Congratulations, Beca. I think he's hyperventilating," Jesse noted dryly as he leaned over to pat the other boy on the back, "You alright there? I'm sure she didn't mean it like that." He made a face at Beca as he got up and poured a glass of water, offering it to Benji.

"Star Wars…" Benji managed to splutter out in between gasps as he accepted the water gratefully, taking a sip, "…is life-changing."

Oh dear god.

As Jesse pressed a button on the laptop screen and the movie started up again, Beca sighed, mentally preparing herself for an hour of pure boredom. She hadn't been lying; she really wasn't a movie person at all and no-one, especially not the boy beside her, was about to change that. Quickly sliding her eyes over to Jesse and making sure that he was fully engaged in whatever sci-fic shit was happening on the screen, Beca slowly slid her phone out of her pocket, quickly sending a text.

_Hurry up, Chloe. I need you to save me from the horrors of Star Wars. – Beca _

"Focus," Jesse said, shooting her a look as he noticed her texting someone from the corner of his eye and she let out a groan. "This moviecation isn't going to work if you're not paying attention!"

"I don't want a moviecation," Beca started, before rapidly falling silent as Benji shushed her, not wanting to set him off again.

She sighed, reluctantly fixing her gaze back on the screen, hoping that, somehow, the movie would magically become marginally interesting but, unsurprisingly, it didn't. She only managed to last five minutes before her attention wandered again, her gaze moving from staring at the street outside the window to the ceiling and, as she noticed a slight movement from her left, to Jesse. Beca raised her eyebrows as she watched him, taking in his completely captivated expression and how his face twitched in response to a particularly dramatic moment and, oh wow, was he actually…_mouthing the words_?

"Hey, you're missing it," Jesse commented softly, tearing his eyes off the screen briefly to look over at her, a slightly concerned expression on his face. "You okay?"

Beca nodded, slowly moving her gaze to the screen once more but, like before, she soon found herself watching Jesse again. Though she hated to admit it, Jesse was slowly growing on her. His enthusiasm for absolutely everything was sort of infectious…and endearing…and okay, maybe she had been wrong about him - he wasn't _that _annoying.

"Hi Beca," Chloe's voice piped up from the door much later and all three of them looked up from where they had been sitting for the past hour, Jesse quickly going to pause the movie, "I've just got to sort a couple of things out first but then we can go, okay? Jess, Benji, can one of you do me a favour and make me my usual?"

Jesse nodded, as he got up from his chair, Benji hovering behind him as he walked over to sort out the coffee, grabbing two empty cups on the way. He figured that even though Beca hadn't explicitly asked for a coffee, she would appreciate one anyway…well, maybe. She was still a total mystery to him but the longer he spent in her company, the more fascinated he was by her: how could someone not like movies? He just didn't understand it.

"Here you go," he said with a grin, as he handed her a fresh cup of coffee moments later and Beca rolled her eyes as she read the message he had inscribed onto it:

_May the Force be with you :)_

As Chloe reappeared from the backroom and pulled the two boys aside for some business-related chat, Beca quickly rummaged through her bag for a pen, smiling triumphantly as she found what she was looking for. Without letting herself think it through too much, she grabbed a napkin from the counter and scribbled something down before innocently straightening up, swinging her bag across her shoulders as she moved to stand by the door, waiting for Chloe to finish.

"See you tomorrow," Chloe finally said with a wave and Jesse nodded, watching them leave. It wasn't until five minutes later that his eye landed on a napkin on the counter, a single word scrawled on it and he grinned to himself. He was finally getting somewhere.

_Dork_.


	5. Chapter 5

**C**HAPTER **F**IVE

Beca was surprised to find that she was the tiniest bit disappointed when she walked into the coffee shop at seven o'clock on Monday morning and Jesse wasn't there. It wasn't that she particularly wanted to see him or anything – because, really, she _didn't_; she couldn't deal with his cheeriness this early in the day – but she was sort of intrigued to find out whether he had found her note that she had left him.

Shaking her head as she pushed all thoughts of Jesse to the back of her mind, she made her way through the crowd in her usual manner, ignoring the complaints and threats from the other customers, spotting a rather flustered-looking Chloe in the middle of preparing multiple orders. Before she could start waving her arms in order to try and get her friend's attention, a voice suddenly spoke up behind her and she whirled around in alarm to see…Star Wars boy, smiling at her nervously.

"Hi, Beca. Do you want your usual?"

She blinked hard, trying to work out how he had appeared from absolutely nowhere before frowning a little as what he had just said registered in her brain, "You…know my name and my coffee order?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" he replied, looking a little perplexed as he continued to smile at her before adding, "You're Chloe and Jesse's friend…and maybe, my friend too?"

Beca stared right back, her mind going blank as she gaped at him, speechless. Ever since her parents' divorce all those years ago and then her whole…thing with Luke – which she definitely wasn't going to allow herself to think about right now - she hadn't exactly been very fond of _people_ and vice versa and it was just surreal to hear him admit out loud that he wanted her to be his friend, especially since the last – and only – time they had spoken, she had insulted the movie that had 'changed his life' and caused him to have a small panic attack in the process.

All of a sudden, she felt a bit suffocated, her instinct to bolt kicking in and she glanced over at Chloe, wondering if she could demand that Chloe made her coffee instead…but as she met Star Wars boy's hopeful gaze again, his eyes looking at her gently, she bit the inside of her cheek hard, forcing herself to stay quiet, subtly squinting at his name tag as she tried to make out his name. She could do this.

"My usual would be great, Benji, thanks…and please, tell Jesse that he is not my friend."

Benji let out a laugh, turning away from her as he started preparing her order, happily whistling to himself and she smiled softly as she watched him, slowly feeling much calmer as she waited.

And waited.

And _waited_.

"Uh, Benji?" She called, as her eyes glanced up at the clock and realised that it was already half past and that, oh god, Aubrey was definitely going to kill her. "Is it…ready?"

"Yeah, sorry, I, um, I thought I'd lost it and that Jesse was going to kill me but then I found it and—" Benji mumbled nervously as he appeared in front of her again, quickly shoving a warm cup into her hands as he shot her an apologetic look.

"Whoa," she said, taking it from him as she eyed him curiously, "Slow down a little, what are you talking about?"

"It's nothing, I've said too much, I—I, um, I have to go. See you later, Beca!"

Beca raised her eyebrows as she watched him go, wincing as he nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to get away from her. What...What had just happened? As she took a sip from her cup, walking towards the door, a familiar scrawl caught her eye and she rolled her eyes, suddenly realising why the boy had seemed so nervous. Poor, poor Benji.

_I am not a dork - it's not my fault if you hate movies and all other fun things :( But don't worry Beca, I haven't given up on your moviecation, there is still hope for you yet!_

Quickly turning around and grabbing a napkin from the counter, she scribbled down a reply before folding it up and leaving it hidden in exactly the same place as she had the other day.

_This is just proving my point: You are __**such**__ a dork. _

Beca had absolutely no idea why she was responding to his message and encouraging him further but there was just something about his continuous attempts to involve her in his life, whether it was through persistently sending her these ridiculous messages on coffee cups or through his 'moviecation' plans for her, that reminded her a little of Chloe and…maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if she was — sort of — 'friends' with him. And Benji.

* * *

After having arrived to work a whole hour later than when she was supposed to and being shouted at by Aubrey _again _[much to Amy's amusement…], Beca decided that she would make a serious attempt to be on time for the rest of the week and so, there she was, walking in to the coffee shop at quarter to seven the next day. Before she managed to get anywhere near the counter though, she ran headfirst into someone's very solid chest and let out a groan as she heard a familiar voice.

"Someone's happy to see me," Jesse quipped, grinning down at her as he gripped her shoulders, gently helping to straighten her up. "I mean, if you wanted to see me this badly, all you had to do was get Chloe to call me and—"

"—In your dreams, dork."

He laughed, keeping one hand on her shoulder as he led her firmly towards the counter, guiding her towards one of the seats that surrounded it. She sat down, shooting him a grateful look as he grabbed an empty cup and started making her coffee for her without asking and he just grinned back at her, humming an unrecognisable tune under his breath.

"So, I've been wondering, how did you end up here anyway? I thought you said you wanted to score movies..."

"I still do — that's always been my dream," he replied, looking up in surprise at her question and shooting her a small smile, "But it just hasn't been easy getting my work out there, you know? And, well, I sort of needed to get money from somewhere so…here I am."

Beca nodded, shifting in her seat, feeling a little uncomfortable as she detected a slight bitterness in his tone. This wasn't the overly optimistic Jesse that she was used to and it unnerved her more than she would like to admit. "Hey, I'm…I'm sure you'll get your break soon," she said after a beat of silence and he shrugged at her as he continued making her coffee, a smile slowly making its way back onto his face again.

"You haven't even heard any of my stuff. For all you know, it could be complete rubbish. I could be the worst composer ever."

She rolled her eyes before meeting his gaze again, throwing caution to the wind as she said, "Then let me hear something you've written."

"Really?" Jesse asked, his eyes lightening up and she felt oddly pleased at herself, knowing that she was the cause of it, "You'd listen to it?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I would."

He grinned at her as he handed her a cup and she opened her mouth to say something further before swearing as her eye caught the clock, realising that if she didn't leave soon, she was going to be late _again_. Quickly excusing herself, shooting him an apologetic look, she turned to leave, stopping briefly to wave at Chloe who was busy watching one of her barista's every move with an intensity that was slightly alarming.

"Have fun storming the castle!" She heard him shout at her as she pushed the door open and she turned around to shoot him a quick look of confusion because, really, what the hell did that mean? He simply laughed, shaking his head at her as he grabbed a stack of empty cups from Stacie, beginning to prepare an order for another customer. She was in dire need of a moviecation and somehow, he was going to find a way to give her one.

* * *

"So…you totally have a crush on Chloe's friend," Stacie commented later, after the morning rush had ended, as she pointed her nail file at him, swivelling around in her chair to face Jesse.

"Uh, no, I don't," he shot back automatically, crossing his arms defensively, his eyes quickly flicking to where Chloe was sitting at the other side of the room, hoping she hadn't heard.

It was true, he _didn't_ have a crush: okay, so maybe he found Beca fascinating and maybe she never failed to make him laugh with her witty retorts and odd quirks [and _okay_, maybe she was attractive too] but half of the time, he was pretty sure that she only put up with his antics because she had to and that she didn't like him, like, at all…and, well, there was no way that he was going to admit to having a crush on someone who didn't even like him as a friend…not out loud, anyway.

"You totally do," Stacie repeated, ignoring his attempts to deny it as she continued, "But don't worry, Swanson, I won't tell. In fact, I'll do you a favour: next time you're on a shift with me and she's here, just say the word and I'll cover for you so you can jump her bones in the stockroom - it's totally soundproof."

He stared at her, eyes wide as he opened his mouth to, once again, deny what she was saying before the latter part of what she had said sunk in and he spluttered, choking on his own saliva.

"What? Wait a second, Stacie, have you…" She winked at him. "Oh my god_, _I am never going in there again. Does Chloe know?"

"Nope…and don't you dare tell her! She's only just let me take the morning shifts again," Stacie replied, before looking in Chloe's direction wistfully, adding, "It was back when Chloe didn't feel the need to supervise me and I—"

"—Fuck," Jesse swore loudly, putting his hands over his ears in an attempt to block her voice out as she started describing exactly what had happened in immense detail.

"Yes, I did," Stacie said, idly waving around her nail file as she continued, oblivious to the distress she was causing the other boy, "That is _exactly_ what I did in there."

A couple hours later, after having spent the rest of the shift pointedly ignoring Stacie, Jesse opened the door to his flat, swinging his bag off his shoulder as he grabbed some juice from the fridge. As he sipped his drink, moving into the living room, his eyes landed on the piano in the corner and he recalled Beca's words from earlier. Taking a deep breath, he sat down, placing his fingers on the keys and pressed a couple down experimentally, letting the notes ring out in the silent room. Before he knew what he was doing, he had abandoned his juice, his hands flying up and down the keyboard as he slowly began to craft an intricate melody, his thoughts consumed by one thing only: her.

Okay, so maybe he did have the tiniest of crushes. He was so screwed.

* * *

"Hey, Beca," Jesse greeted, trying his hardest not to wave too enthusiastically at the girl in question as she walked in an afternoon a couple of days later, "You have a minute?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Chloe to get back. What's up, dork?"

Jesse grinned at her as she sat down facing him and without letting himself chicken out, he quickly pulled his laptop out of his bag, placing it on the counter, loading it up.

"If you're about to try and make me watch a movie, it is not going to happen," she warned, eyeing his laptop suspiciously and he shook his head.

"No, no, I, uh, I wanted you to listen to something," Jesse said, running a hand through his hair nervously as he offered her his headphones. She took them from him gingerly, unsure of what to expect, placing them over her ears as he pressed play.

Beca blinked in surprise as she heard an expressive melody filter through the earbuds, starting off quite slowly and sustained, the uncomplicated, yet memorable, tune supported by softer bass chords before it quickly evolved into an upbeat, lively theme. She closed her eyes, letting herself absorb the piece as it continued, its form becoming more and more layered, all the different parts complimenting each other perfectly. There was no denying it, the music itself was absolutely beautiful but there was something just a little…_off_ about it as a whole.

"You wrote that?" she asked, feeling ever so slightly shell-shocked as the music died away and he nodded apprehensively. She opened her mouth a couple of times as she tried to find the right words to explain how she felt about it but nothing came out.

"That bad, huh?" he prompted, his tone light but she could see the disappointment in his eyes and she hurriedly shook her head. "I mean, I know it's a bit rough but I thought it was, um, okay…"

"No, that's not it, Jesse, it's…" she paused, stumbling over her words a little as she continued, "It's great, really, it is, I swear—" He looked up at her, a smile slowly creeping his way across his face, his brown eyes meeting hers and suddenly, she realised exactly what had felt so wrong about the piece, "—But the editing? Not so great."

Jesse pulled a face, muttering something about not being able to afford the right software, and she sighed, hoping that she wouldn't regret what she was about to do. "Do you have the individual parts saved on your laptop?" she asked and he nodded in response, shooting her a curious look as he gestured towards a folder on his desktop screen. Sighing again, she picked up her bag from the floor and pulled out her own laptop, setting it up on the table.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't reply; instead, she quickly opened up the email browser on his screen and sent the files he had indicated to herself. Once done, she opened them up on her own laptop, sliding her headphones over her ears as she started layering the different parts for him properly, paying careful attention to the full track that he had shown her in order to ensure that each part entered the way he had presumably intended them to.

"Oh," Jesse said, his mouth falling open slightly as he realised what she was doing, her fingers flying over the keys rapidly. "You really don't have to do that for me."

"It's no big deal," she replied with a shrug, trying her best to ignore the fact that he was staring at her intensely, as she continued working. "I can't let you go around with this dodgy piece of editing and—Oh god, I'm talking really loudly, aren't I?" She cleared her throat awkwardly, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed as she lifted the headphones from her ears, biting her lip. He simply grinned back at her, tugging her headphones from her hands and putting them over his own ears, his grin getting even wider – if possible – as he listened.

"This is really good," he said loudly, his voice raised and she rolled her eyes, somehow knowing that he was only talking loudly to make her feel a little less like an idiot, "Now I'm the one yelling, right?" She rolled her eyes again. "But, seriously, Beca, thank you."

She shook her head at him, reaching up to lift the headphones off his head, twisting them in her hands as she looked down at her lap, avoiding his gaze. "Hey, it's all yours," she said quietly, "Jesse, you're…talented. Really, really talented."

Jesse stared at her silently, his mouth tugged up into a smile. Hearing those words coming from her meant a lot to him as he knew how hard it was to get anything out of her, especially a compliment.

"Can I have that in writing?" Jesse quipped, breaking the silence that had fallen and she glanced up at him incredulously, unable to stop a laugh escaping. "Oh and_ there it is!_ Look everyone," he gasped, as he gestured to an imaginary audience, his eyes wide, "Beca's capable of laughing!"

She rolled her eyes, hitting him on the shoulder. This dork was seriously too much sometimes…but god, he was good at composing.


	6. Chapter 6

**C**HAPTER **S**IX

"What's up, Flatbutt?" Amy greeted cheerfully as Beca flung herself into her chair in their booth with a loud groan, putting her head down on the table as she rubbed roughly at her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up a bit. "You look like a dingo's crawled up your ass."

"What…What does that even mean?" Beca mumbled, lifting her head up slightly to glance at the other girl, jumping in alarm as she found Amy standing right over her, examining her with a thoughtful look on her face. "Dude!"

"You look even grumpier than you normally do," Amy commented, reaching her hand out to gingerly pat Beca's head once before starting to tap out a catchy beat, humming to herself happily. Beca groaned again, reaching up to shove her hand away, slowly sitting up properly.

"My head is _not_ a drum," she gritted out, shooting a glare at the other girl who simply shrugged back in return, completely unfazed by her response. "If you must know, I didn't get much sleep last night…and no," she continued with a grimace, as Amy started miming thrusting actions, complete with some truly disturbing sound effects, "_that_ wasn't the reason why." Amy shrugged again, looking like she didn't completely believe her, perching herself on the edge of Beca's desk as she started humming to herself again.

The truth was, she hadn't been able to sleep much last night because no matter how hard she had tried, she couldn't stop thinking about the piece of music that Jesse had shown her yesterday. Beca hadn't really been expecting him to be _that _good when it came to writing music and she couldn't quite get her head around it. She had lain in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling as she tried her best not to think about how amazingly complex and just…beautiful his piece was and at around four in the morning, she had finally caved, loading his piece onto her iPod and listening to it on repeat until she fell asleep [but no-one was going to find out about that. Ever.]

"Hey, Beca, is that from your delivery boy?" Amy asked suddenly, her eyes honing in on the coffee cup in the middle of her desk and before Beca could blearily lift her arm to move it out of Amy's reach, the girl had grabbed it, turning it around and examining the message written on it with interest:

_Check your emails :)_

"Is he sending you naked pictures or something?" Amy asked curiously, an eyebrow raised as she took a loud sip from the cup. "Because if he is, I am totally staying right here until you open your email. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing those abs of his in their naked glory—"

"No! Amy, go back to your own desk and please, give me back my coffee," Beca begged, slumping back down onto the desk as she covered her ears to drown out whatever Amy was saying but unfortunately, the girl simply just leaned closer and spoke even louder.

"Flatbutt, you really should reconsider your decision not to tap that: he's way better looking than any of the guys back in Tasmania but that could just be because he has teeth—"

"Amy, please shut up…" she muttered threateningly and she heard a loud laugh before the room fell silent again. She kept her head down for a further ten minutes, taking deep breaths before slowly lifting her head up again, feeling a tiny bit more awake.

Sliding her eyes over to Amy and checking that she was suitably preoccupied, Beca loaded up her computer, opening her email browser as she scanned through her inbox. To be honest, she had absolutely no idea what the dork had been talking about in his message on the cup this morning as she definitely hadn't given him her email address... She had tried to subtly interrogate Benji to find out exactly what Jesse had meant but he had proved to be completely unhelpful, ignoring her questions and instead, showing her a rather disturbing magic trick involving a hamster and—

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_So…I've been thinking and I've compiled a list of movies that I'm determined to make you watch as part of your moviecation. Look at the attachment and tell me if there's anything that catches your eye :)_

Beca blinked hard, rubbing at her eyes, wondering if she was hallucinating. She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting to find in her email inbox but this…this definitely wasn't it. Pointedly ignoring the attachment, she quickly tapped out a reply.

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell**

_Do I even want to ask how you got my email address?_

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson**

_You indirectly gave it to me yesterday...  
PS – Just click on the attachment! :)_

Beca sighed, realising that he was telling the truth – she had, after all, emailed his music files to herself from his email account and she guessed it wouldn't have been too hard for him to search through his sent items to find her address…but, seriously, who did things like that? – before taking a long, calming sip from her coffee and typing a short reply.

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_I'm not clicking on it, dork. Like I said, I hate movies. __**All **__movies. This 'moviecation' of yours is not happening._

With a roll of her eyes, she minimised her e-mail window, loading up the mix she was currently in the middle of working on, letting herself get lost in her music. It wasn't until twenty minutes later that she decided to take a short break and although she tried her best to distract herself by listening to Amy sing some stupid made-up song about peanut butter and doughnuts, she couldn't stop herself from clicking on her email browser again and checking to see whether Jesse had replied. She frowned slightly when she found nothing in her inbox; it wasn't like Jesse to go to all this trouble to track down her email address and then…give up.

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_You're not actually offended, are you?_

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_What? No, I had to deal with some customers... Wait, is that concern I hear in your voice? :)_

Rolling her eyes, she closed her email browser again, for some unknown reason a little relieved at the fact that his lack of replying wasn't her fault, and returned to her mixing…but she couldn't concentrate. Instead, all she could think about was Jesse and his music and his ridiculous abuse of smileys in his emails and…she caved, clicking on her email browser again. Seriously, where had her willpower gone? This was _pathetic_.

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_If you don't click on that attachment, I will spam your inbox with movie trivia.  
You have been __warned__. :)_

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_Don't even think about it._

Letting out a half-hearted sigh, she slowly moved her mouse towards the attachment, clicking on it.

"Oh god," Beca muttered, rolling her eyes as her senses were suddenly invaded by an extremely long document with an obnoxiously large and brightly coloured title at the top. Once her eyes had managed to adjust, she rolled her eyes again as she reread the title – BECA'S MOVIECATION PLAN [aka a list of movies that will blow Beca's mind with their epicness] – he really was such a dork.

"What's a 'moviecation'?" Amy asked, suddenly appearing behind her, leaning over her shoulder to read the document. "Is that what the kids are using as a code word for sex nowadays?"

"Amy, no! Don't even go there," Beca replied, quickly scrolling down, relieved that the rest of the document was written in a normal, black font. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to live in Amy's head, all she ever seemed to think about was sex, food and…dingoes. "It's just some stupid thing Jesse's planning to, uh, attempt to educate me about movies."

"Are you sure about that?" Amy asked, her voice suddenly low and serious, causing Beca to glance at her in surprise. Amy held her gaze for a couple of seconds before collapsing with laughter, raising her eyebrows comically high as she winked, continuing: "Are you sure he's not trying to educate you on your…_moves_, instead?"

Still laughing, Amy sauntered back to her side of the room and Beca threw her – now empty – coffee cup at her retreating back. She was impossible. Returning her eyes back to the screen, she started scrolling down the list again, slightly alarmed as she realised that half of the movies he had listed were ones that she had never heard of before whilst the other half were, well, cutesy animated films.

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_There is no way I'm watching a Disney movie with you._

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

…_But you'll watch the rest of the list with me? :)_

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_In your dreams, dork._

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_:(_

"Oh and Flatbutt, by the way," Amy said suddenly before she could type out a reply, clearing her throat awkwardly, "I think Aubrey said something about wanting to see us…like, uh, two hours ago."

"Amy!" Beca exclaimed as she rolled her eyes exasperatedly, grabbing the other girl by the arm as she dragged them both out of the room. "Are you trying to get us both fired?"

* * *

Jesse hummed under his breath as he sat by the counter, rereading Beca's replies to his emails, feeling pretty pleased with himself that he had managed to get her to read the list that he had made. He wasn't quite sure how this moviecation was going to work, seeing as he rarely saw her for more than ten minutes at a time, but he was determined to find a way. If she had been any other girl, he would have just asked her to come over to his during the weekend [in a purely platonic fashion, of course] but he was pretty sure – no, completely sure – that if he asked _Beca_ to come over, she would just roll her eyes and say no immediately...but hey, Jesse liked his challenges and he would make this work. Somehow.

"Jesse, why do you look like you've just won the lottery?" Chloe asked, eyeing him suspiciously as she suddenly appeared beside him.

He quickly minimised his email inbox, turning around to face her, shielding his laptop screen from her view. It was a bit of an irrational response, seeing as he knew that Chloe wouldn't mind if he was emailing Beca, but he…didn't really want to talk about it. He had made real progress with Beca lately – she had even, to his complete surprise, tidied up his composition for him yesterday and genuinely seemed like she had enjoyed listening to it – and he didn't want to risk damaging things by involving other people and having to go around delivering apology coffees on Chloe's behalf again.

"Uh, no reason," he replied, avoiding her gaze as he ran a hand through his hair awkwardly, "This is how I always look!"

"You're a pretty terrible liar," Chloe said, shaking her head as she stared at him for a little longer than was comfortable, "But…_okay_, I won't ask any questions. Can you go to the stockroom and grab me some cups? We're nearly all out at the front."

Jesse started to nod before remembering what Stacie had told him she had done in the stockroom and he froze. He really, really didn't want to go into that room again if he could help it. "Can, uh, Benji go instead?"

"Jess, what's wrong?" Chloe asked, raising her eyebrows at him. Jesse had been acting seriously weird today and Chloe wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. He had been zoning out from her and Benji all morning, constantly checking his emails and it was more than a little worrying.

"I'm fine," Jesse replied, shoving his hands in his pockets as he continued vaguely, "It's just…the stockroom…and Stacie…and yeah…"

"Okay, what did Stacie do now?" Chloe questioned with a sigh as she crossed her arms, waiting for Jesse to explain. Sometimes she wondered why she had hired Stacie in the first place, she was way more trouble than she was worth.

"Absolutely…nothing," he said quickly, straightening up and shooting her the widest, most innocent grin that he could manage. He may have been disturbed by what Stacie had told him but that didn't mean he wanted to get her into trouble. "Nothing happened. Forget I ever said anything."

Chloe sighed again, throwing one of the last remaining cups at him - she really needed to stop doing that, it wasn't like they got these cups for free – as she continued to stare at him, "Jess, tell me what happened."

Ten minutes later and Jesse found himself in the stockroom, trying to push all thoughts of what Stacie had confessed to him to the back of his mind as he searched for cups. Once he had retrieved them, he quickly walked back to the front room with a shudder, pulling out his phone as he typed out a text:

_Stacie, I'm sorry, please don't kill me :( - Jesse_

_What did you do?! – Stacie_

* * *

"Do you two think that this studio is a joke?" Aubrey gritted out as Beca finally stumbled into the room, Amy in tow. "I asked to see you over two hours ago."

"Sorry, Aubrey," Beca muttered quickly, sitting down, shooting Amy a glare as the other girl did nothing except for smile widely at Aubrey, "We…We got distracted."

Aubrey let out a loud sigh, glaring at both of them before standing up from her chair, towering over the two of them as she started talking again. "As you know – or maybe you don't because as I remember, you two were rudely talking over me – I am setting each junior employee an individual project which they will work on alongside their usual duties. Each one of you has been assigned an act and you will spend the next few weeks talking to them, talking to their managers and finding out exactly what they want. Once you have done that, you will talk to me and report your findings and I will tell you what to do next. Do not mess this up."

Beca groaned inwardly as she listened; this sounded like it was going to involve a lot of extra work and, to make things worse, it wasn't even the side of music production that she enjoyed. She zoned out for a moment as Aubrey continued talking, wondering whether she could bribe Amy with icecream to do her part for her...

"Beca, yours is a…complicated situation. The manager claims that he's a 'friend' of yours and despite my repeated suggestions that he went with Cynthia Rose instead, he insisted that he wanted you—"

"Sorry, Aubrey, but what are you talking about?" Beca interrupted, looking up at the girl, a perplexed expression spreading across her face as she tried her best to ignore Amy's exaggerated wink at the word 'friend', "I don't have any friends that are managers..."

Aubrey simply shrugged before continuing as if she had never been interrupted, "Seeing that he is a 'friend', that gives you an advantage over everyone else which means that you must deliver. Or else."

Beca blinked at her, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at Aubrey's melodramatic ways as she racked her brain, wondering if she had missed someone. If she was being completely honest with herself, there weren't _that_ many people that she would call her 'friend' and out of those people, she was certain that none of them were in this business. The only person that she knew that was a manager was—Her blood ran cold. He wouldn't dare, would he?

This could _not_ be happening.

"Beca, are you even listening to me?"

She nodded numbly, staying completely silent and unmoving throughout the rest of Aubrey's talk, a million thoughts running through her brain. Once Aubrey had finally dismissed them, she quickly walked out of the room, leaning against the wall as she roughly pulled out her phone, forcing herself to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm down:

_Chloe, I need to talk to you. Now_. _- Beca_

"Are you okay, Flatbutt? You want me to grab you a doughnut?"

"No, no, I—I need to go," she managed to mutter before breaking out into a fast walk as she made her way back to the booth, paying no attention to Amy's frantic calls of "Beca, come back, you know I don't do vertical running!", grabbing her bag and running down to the coffee shop, three words resonating in her brain.

_Luke was back._


	7. Chapter 7

**C**HAPTER **S**EVEN

Beca roughly pushed the door of the coffee shop open, making her way quickly to the counter, her mind still working in overdrive. She just didn't understand how he could do this to her again; it wasn't fair. Ignoring Jesse and Benji's cheerful greetings as they spotted her, she quickly scanned the room for Chloe. Chloe hadn't replied to her text and if she wasn't here, she really didn't know what she was going to do; Chloe was the only person in her life who she really trusted, having proved multiple times that she would always be there for her, and she was the only person who would truly understand the situation she was currently in.

"What's wrong?" Chloe asked, concern spreading across her face as she took in Beca's dazed expression. Beca didn't reply, instead simply grabbing her wrist, pulling her to a more secluded part of the shop. "Beca, you're scaring me, what's going on?" Once they had arrived in the corner of the room, Beca took a deep breath, crossing her arms, before uttering a single word: "_Luke_."

Chloe stared at her, her eyes widening almost comically; Beca had refused to talk about Luke for months and Chloe knew that the fact that she was bringing him up now, completely out of the blue, was not a good sign. "Luke? What are you talking about?"

"We have to do this…thing for work and he's going to be there," Beca muttered quickly, avoiding Chloe's gaze as she stared at the wall behind her. "I can't do anything about it."

"What? How did that happen?" Chloe asked, gazing at her in disbelief, her eyes still wide from shock. Beca didn't reply, her gaze hardening as she thought about how messed up her life was about to become. After last time, she really didn't know if she could survive Luke ruining everything again.

Chloe continued to watch her for a couple of minutes, knowing from past experience that if she waited long enough, Beca would eventually open up to her on her own but before Beca could expand on her statements any further, Chloe's phone alarm went off and she swore under her breath. She switched it off hastily, shooting Beca an apologetic look, "Beca, I sort of have a meeting arranged with some suppliers now but I can totally ring and cancel with them now. Just give me a second, okay?"

"No, Chlo, it's…it's fine," Beca said quietly, moving her gaze to meet hers again, "_I'm _fine. You can go."

Chloe gave her a disbelieving look, her eyebrows raised, but Beca simply stared back at her, her eyes hard, as if she was daring her to disagree, and she sighed. Beca was already pretty stubborn on a normal day but when she was like this, nothing could get her to change her mind.

"It won't take long, I promise. Just stay here – I'll be back as soon as possible and then we can talk," Chloe finally said, surrendering. She really didn't want to leave her friend, especially not now but what could she do? There was no way that Beca would let her cancel the meeting as that would mean admitting out loud that she _wasn't_ fine and that was something Beca would never do in public, even if it was blindingly obvious to everyone around her. "I'll get Jesse to keep you company, okay?"

"No, really, it's fine, you don't have to—" Beca started but Chloe was already gone, shooting her another concerned look over her shoulder. She groaned, lifting a hand to rub at her forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. After everything that Luke had done, she couldn't believe that he had the nerve to saunter back into her life again as if nothing had happened, claiming they were 'friends'…but most of all, she couldn't believe how much of an effect he still had on her. And she hated herself for it.

"Jess, I need you to do me a favour," Chloe said as she approached the counter, pulling the boy in question aside.

He glanced between her and Beca, a worried expression on his face as he replied hesitantly, "Sure, Chlo. Is Beca alright?"

"She's just a bit…fragile at the moment. Can you keep an eye on her for me and make sure she doesn't leave? I'll be back as soon as possible."

He nodded slowly, raising his hand to give her a mock salute and Chloe, satisfied, turned to exchange a few words with Benji. Thankfully, the morning rush was pretty much over by now and Chloe was certain that Benji would be more than capable of dealing with any customers that came through now by himself. Once done, she made her way back to Beca, quickly explaining the situation before leaving, promising that she would return within the next hour.

As soon as Chloe stepped outside the coffee shop, she let out another long sigh. She wasn't the type of person who hated people, preferring to try and see the best in everyone, but god, she really did dislike Luke. A lot. Every single time he had come back into Beca's life in the past, he had managed to hurt her and it made Chloe…sad. Despite her multiple attempts to try and get Beca to forget about Luke, it was clear that he still had a hold on her and she hated to see her friend looking so vulnerable. She vowed to herself that she would do whatever it took to make sure that things didn't end the same way this time...

* * *

"Hey, you okay?" Jesse asked quietly, hovering over Beca as he gazed at her with a troubled expression on his face.

"I really don't want to talk about it," Beca muttered in reply, avoiding his gaze. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more but as he examined her face for a moment longer, seeing how visibly shaken she looked, he decided against it. If she didn't want to tell him, he wasn't going to push it.

He stood there, staring at her for a few moments more, a little unsure of what to do before simply sliding into the seat beside her without uttering another word. They sat in companionable silence like that for a couple of minutes, Beca lost in her own thoughts whilst Jesse continued to examine her with concern. He had absolutely no idea what was wrong but all he knew was that he really wanted to fix things and make her smile — or rather, roll her eyes — at him again.

It wasn't until a couple of customers suddenly walked in, chatting loudly to themselves, causing a distressed expression to cross Beca's face, that Jesse stood up again, tugging gently on her wrist.

"What are you doing?" she asked, slowly meeting his gaze and he was a little startled to see how guarded her eyes were; clearly, whatever had happened to her had affected her deeply.

"Let's go to the back," he said, still pulling at her wrist softly, trying to get her to move, "It's quieter. Less people."

Beca raised her eyebrows slightly, surprised that he knew her so well already, before nodding once, shooting him a grateful look as she stood up slowly, letting him lead the way.

"Do you want anything?" Jesse asked, as she sat herself down on the couch in the empty staff area, her gaze a little unfocused. "Beca?"

"No, I…I'm okay," she replied and as Jesse shot her a disbelieving look, she let out a sigh, continuing, "Can you just, I don't know, distract me until Chloe comes back? I need to stop…_thinking_."

Shooting her another concerned look, he nodded slowly, looking around the room as he tried his best to think of something that she would react strongly to that he could use as a suitable distraction. As he landed on an answer, he quickly moved away from her, grabbing his rucksack off the floor and looking through it.

"Okay, so I don't know what sort of distraction you had in mind," Jesse said, continuing to rummage through his rucksack until he eventually straightened up, walking towards her, triumphantly holding up a DVD case and a silver object in his hands, "but I have a juice pouch and Rocky."

"Jesse...how is that supposed to distract me? You know I think movies are boring…"

He smiled softly to himself; this sounded a little more like the Beca he was used to. He opened his mouth to reply, trying to inject as much enthusiasm as he could into his voice, hoping that if he acted like everything was absolutely normal, she would feel a little better, "I thought, uh, maybe you'd be distracted by…how awful it is? Although, can I just say, Beca, Rocky is _amazing._"

"You're a weirdo," she replied quietly, reaching her hand out to catch the juice pouch he threw at her, turning it over in her hands. "But…okay, I guess I can watch the stupid movie with you."

Jesse raised an eyebrow at her, slightly stunned by her reply, knowing that if it was any other day, she would have point-blanked refused…but hey, he guessed that if she was willing to try and go along with his method of distraction, he would run with it. He quickly sat himself next to her, perching his laptop on his knees before glancing over at her to find that she was staring at the juice pouch as if it was a foreign object, a frown on her face.

"Please tell me you've drunk juice before."

"No, I—Of course I have," she replied, after a beat, shifting her gaze to meet his, "It's not that."

Jesse held her gaze for a couple of moments, running a hand through his hair; her eyes were still guarded but yet, somehow, she managed to look so unbelievably vulnerable at the same time and Jesse wanted nothing more than to just give her a hug...but he figured that Beca wouldn't go for that. Instead, he simply nudged her shoulder gently, asking, "Are you sure you want to watch this? I admit, it wasn't the best idea that I've had given your…irrational hatred of movies so if you want to do something else, let me know, I swear I won't mind."

Beca started to shake her head slowly before stopping, opening her mouth slightly but no words came out. Jesse simply raised his eyebrows at her, once again nudging her shoulder as he shot her an encouraging smile, waiting for her to say something. Moving her gaze away from his and down to the juice pouch in her hands, she started turning it around in her hands again as she started speaking, "Jesse, do you…do you have any more of your music on your laptop?"

"You want to listen to my music?" Jesse asked, his surprise evident in his voice and as she nodded once, her gaze still fixed on the juice pouch in her hands, he smiled to himself, loading up some of his most recent pieces on his laptop. "Okay, I guess I can play you some stuff…just don't, you know, judge my editing," he added and she looked up at him, shaking her head, a hint of a smirk on her face.

Passing her an earbud, Jesse pressed play, leaning back against the couch, suddenly feeling a little nervous. He sincerely hoped that yesterday's piece hadn't been a fluke and that she liked his other work too…but the fact that she had actually asked him to listen to it was definitely a good thing, right? He shook his head, quickly pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind; this wasn't about him, this was about _her_. Glancing over at the girl in question, he was surprised to find that she had her eyes closed and was still turning around the juice pouch in her hands.

"Are you sure you've had juice before? Because, really, that's not how you drink it," he said and she opened her eyes again to stare at him, looking a little perplexed. He let out a mock sigh, tugging the juice pouch from her hands, poking the straw through it before giving it back to her.

"Thanks…" she replied slowly, bringing it up to her mouth and taking a sip, "Are you not having any?"

"I may be a weirdo," he stated with a shrug, echoing her words from earlier, "but I'm not insane. I don't go around carrying batches of juice, that's the only one I have."

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you…want it back?" Beca asked, offering it back to him awkwardly and he laughed, shaking his head, pushing it back to her.

Soon after that, they fell back into a comfortable silence, letting his music wash over them. Beca was glad that she had managed to muster up the courage to ask him to play something for her because there was just something so…calming about his work and that was exactly what she needed right now. She leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes again, forcing herself to focus on the music playing in her ear and she was surprised to find that it wasn't nearly as hard as she thought it was going to be. Jesse's music was fascinating to her, filled with intricate harmonies and _meaning_, and it was just so easy to lose herself in it and forget everything that had happened this morning.

Neither of them moved from their positions until much later when Chloe returned, poking her head through the door. She glanced at them both in surprise, picking up on Beca's relaxed expression, wondering what they were listening to.

"Hi, Beca?" she said, feeling a little like she was interrupting something, especially when both of them jumped, completely startled by her sudden appearance. "I'll be outside, okay? Let me know when you're ready to go."

Beca nodded at her before turning to Jesse, pressing the earbud into his hand. "Thanks, Jesse," she murmured as she got up from the couch, "For everything."

"Hey, there's no need to thank me," he said, shaking his head a little as he moved his laptop to the side, standing up as well. "We're friends and that's what friends do…" He trailed off as she simply stared back at him, her expression unreadable. "Aw, come on, we're totally friends. I don't give my juice pouches away to just anyone, you know."

She didn't react, continuing to stare at him, but he noticed a slight curve upwards to her lips and he grinned. They were _definitely_ friends and although she wasn't going to admit it, he knew that she was aware of that fact.

"Beca…feel better soon, okay?"

She nodded.

* * *

"Right, so tell me everything that happened," Chloe said, as they entered Beca's room, sitting themselves down so that they faced each other, "Luke's…back?"

Beca nodded slowly, not really wanting to talk about it but knowing that she had to or she would do what she always used to do and push her problems aside and run, "Aubrey's organised some sort of individual project for all of us; we each have to go and talk to some music act and talk to their manager—"

"—And Luke's the manager?"

"Yeah," Beca confirmed with a sigh as she looked up at the other girl, "Chloe, he told Aubrey I was his _friend _and he insisted that he was paired with me. What am I supposed to do?"

Chloe cursed Luke under her breath, shaking her head, not quite believing what she was hearing. Luke knew how much he had hurt Beca and for him to worm his way back into her life again and claim that he was a friend? It was just cruel and Chloe wished that there was a way that she could make him – and the mess he was inevitably going to bring – go away. "Is there any way you can switch or something?"

Beca shook her head. "Aubrey hates me, there is no way she's going to go with that. I just…" she took a deep breath, forcing unwanted images of Luke out of her mind, "I just don't know whether I can handle seeing him again, Chlo."

"You'll be fine. You will, I promise." Chloe said firmly, her voice reassuring and Beca wanted to believe her, she really did but she…just couldn't. Her thoughts were already in turmoil and nothing had even happened yet. "You're not the same person that you used to be back then, Beca. You've changed," she continued and Beca raised her gaze slowly to meet hers, "You've grown. You're not as guarded as you used to be, you've _let me in_ and I swear, we'll get through this."

Beca took another deep breath before nodding slowly. It was true, she supposed. Although Chloe had still been one of her closest friends a couple of months ago when Luke had betrayed her for the second time, it wasn't until the aftermath when she had finally let all her walls down and told Chloe everything.

"Do the meetings with Luke have to be formal?" Chloe asked, changing the subject slightly, "If they don't, text me and you can hold them in the shop and I'll make sure I'm there for moral support, okay?"

"I don't know, I guess I'll have to talk to them and find out."

"Beca, don't worry," Chloe said softly, "It's all going to work out, you'll see."

She sighed, shrugging her shoulders, leaning back into in her chair. Maybe Chloe was right, maybe she could get through this. She wasn't sure whether Luke would try and play the same tricks on her for a third time but if he did, she was positive that she would not fall for them again—no, she would not fall for _him_ again.

"You were right about Jesse, you know," Beca stated moments later, staring up at the ceiling, feeling a whole lot better now that she had gotten the whole thing off her chest. After spending years pushing people away, she was glad that she had found someone who she could trust with everything that went on in her life. "He is a good guy."

"I know, I hired him," Chloe replied, laughing as Beca turned to roll her eyes at her, relieved that the normal Beca was slowly coming back.


	8. Chapter 8

**C**HAPTER **E**IGHT

Through a combination of being unable to sleep very well, despite having a certain dork's music playing in her ears, and wanting to see Chloe before she went to work and had to face the _Luke_ situation by herself, Beca arrived at the coffee shop at six o'clock, a whole hour earlier than normal.

"Beca?" Chloe asked, quickly walking around the counter to greet her friend, looking more than a little perplexed by her friend's appearance. "Are you…okay?"

"Don't worry, Chlo. I'm fine," Beca replied, shooting the other girl a small smile, "I just couldn't sleep so I thought I'd pay you a visit instead."

Chloe nodded sympathetically, opening her mouth to say something more but before she could, the growing line of customers outside caught her eye. "Lilly, Benji, are you two ready to open?" she called, giving Beca an apologetic look, and as she got their confirmation, she stepped past Beca to open the door, letting the customers file in.

"Right, sorry, where were we?" Chloe asked, as she swung her attention back to her friend, pulling her to a free space at the counter, away from where Lilly and Benji were starting to take and prepare the first orders. "Are you sure you'll be alright today? I can totally take today off and keep you company if you want."

"No, it's okay, I'll manage," Beca said, giving Chloe a grateful smile. Letting Chloe into her life after the Luke fiasco had been one of the best decisions she had ever made and she was really indebted to the girl; she was completely sure that, without her, she definitely wouldn't be the person she was today. "You were right yesterday, Chlo, everything's completely different now than it was back then and I…I'm _not_ going to let Luke screw with me again."

Chloe grinned widely at her, clapping her hands in approval, bouncing a little on her feet. After witnessing just how broken and betrayed Luke had left her the last time she saw him and spending weeks trying – and failing – to convince Beca that it wasn't her fault, hearing her saying something like that really brought a smile to her face. "Do you know when you're supposed to be seeing him?"

Beca shrugged, shaking her head slowly, "No clue. I guess I'll have to sort it out later." After her talk with Chloe yesterday, Beca was no longer as worried about not being able to cope with seeing Luke again because she knew that Chloe had her back; no, instead, she was on the verge of being really, really…_angry _with him. Hadn't he betrayed her twice already? Hadn't she made it clear the last time that she saw him that she never wanted to speak to him again?

"You're still more than welcome to bring him here," Chloe said, gesturing around the coffee shop with her hands and Beca nodded, shooting her another grateful smile. Although it was easy for her now to rant at an imaginary Luke, she knew that it was going to be difficult to be in the same room as Luke and see him smile at her and act like nothing had ever happened, like he had never hurt her, like they were 'friends'…but with Chloe here, maybe she'd manage to handle the whole situation with dignity. "You want your usual?"

Beca nodded again and Chloe gave her a small smile, turning around to grab an empty coffee cup but as soon as she lifted it up from the stack—

"—No, Chloe!" Benji exclaimed, suddenly appearing out of thin air, his cape swinging wildly around his shoulders. "Chloe, you…you can't use that cup!"

Chloe paused, staring between Benji and the cup in her hand suspiciously, an eyebrow raised. "Benji, what are you talking about? What's wrong with this cup?"

As Benji glanced nervously over at her, his words coming out in bits and pieces as he tried to explain away the situation, Beca quickly realised what was going on, the back of her neck growing warmer alarmingly quickly. "Oh god_, _not again. How many times do I have to tell the dork to stop making you do this? Seriously, Benji, just give it back to him next time, it's not fair on you."

Benji simply smiled at her, looking a little sheepish as he shook his head. "It's okay, really. It's not a big deal."

"Okay, someone please tell me what's going on," Chloe interrupted, still holding the empty cup in her hand, an incredibly confused expression on her face as she moved her gaze from Beca to Benji and then back again. "What's…wrong with this cup?"

"Jesse, he, uh, he's gotten into the habit of leaving me messages and—never mind," Beca said, trailing off quickly as she realised how _lame_ the whole thing sounded out loud.

Chloe blinked hard at this information, staring at Beca, the sides of her mouth starting to turn upwards, "Let me get this straight, Jess leaves you messages on coffee cups…every morning?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it. Jesse always leaves her messages," Benji confirmed from behind her, briskly nodding his head as he brandished a new cup from somewhere within his cape – a cup which, presumably, had Jesse's writing on it – swapping it with the one in Chloe's grasp. "And Beca replies! On _napkins_!"

Beca groaned loudly, pretending to be very, very interested in the coffee maker behind Chloe, doing her best to ignore the way the other girl was eyeing her with a mischievous grin on her face. She really didn't know how Jesse's habit of leaving her messages had gotten so out of hand but she hadn't had the heart to stop him, especially since he had been so…nice to her [and okay, maybe, just maybe, she looked forward to reading them every morning].

"Don't say anything, Chlo. Don't even think about it."

"I didn't say anything! I swear I didn't!" Chloe exclaimed, giving her friend the most innocent smile she could muster as she started making Beca's coffee, using the cup that Benji gave her. She wasn't at all surprised that Jesse had decided to leave messages on coffee cups because she knew how many rom-coms the boy liked to watch; no, she was more surprised that he had left them for _Beca_…or, rather, that Beca had let him leave them for her.

"Here you go," Chloe said, handing Beca her coffee with a flourish moments later and Beca let out a mock sigh, rolling her eyes, as she glanced down to read Jesse's message.

_Hope you're feeling better today! :) Swing by here later, I've got an __awesome__ movie that I want to show you…_

"Do you want a pen?" Chloe asked, causing Beca's head to shoot up as she glared at her. Chloe simply laughed at her reaction, winking at her as she added, "Or a _napkin_?"

"Please stop," Beca begged half-heartedly, covering up the message with her hand, acting like it didn't exist. After knowing Chloe for so long, she knew that the girl was not going to let this go…and, well, she wasn't about to make things worse for herself by replying to Jesse's message in front of her. Instead, she waited until Chloe had turned her back and walked over to the other side of the counter to give Benji a hand before quickly grabbing a pen from her bag, writing a response on a napkin and hiding it in the usual spot.

_How many times do I have to tell you that you're not giving me a moviecation?_

* * *

"Whoa, Flatbutt! Are you…are you actually early?" Amy exclaimed loudly, as Beca walked into their booth, coffee cup in hand, at quarter to eight. "I'm so proud of you, I think I might cry massive crocodile tears of happiness."

"Please don't," Beca said, putting a hand up to stop the girl from speaking any further before smelling a…odd scent in the room. She quickly whipped her head around to find Amy perched on her desk, a pizza box precariously balancing on her knees. "Are you seriously eating pizza? At quarter to eight?"

"Stop looking at me like that, Flatbutt. Pizza tastes even more amazing when you eat it for breakfast…well, okay, this is my third breakfast but it still counts—"

"Third breakfast?"

Amy frowned, looking like she had said something ridiculous, grabbing another slice of pizza from the box and waving it at her dangerously as she spoke, "Of course, Flatbutt. They say you should have three meals every day—"

"—Exactly. They say you should have three meals a day, not three of every meal!"

Amy shrugged, taking a large bite from her pizza, making some disturbing noises of pleasure as she swallowed. "It's the same thing as far as I'm concerned," she said once she was done, giving Beca another shrug, "…but I suppose now I know why you've got such a flat butt, Flatbutt."

Beca rolled her eyes, turning away from Amy momentarily as she loaded up her computer, taking a sip from her coffee cup. Although she was sometimes annoyed by Amy's ramblings – especially when it was the day before a major deadline and Amy just wouldn't shut up – she was grateful for them today… There was no better distraction, after all, than just listening to the things that came out of the Australian girl's mouth.

"Oh, Beca, some hot-sounding British guy called for you about five minutes ago," Amy said suddenly, her mouth full of pizza, and Beca groaned inwardly, digging her nails slightly into her palms. So much for Amy being a distraction. "Is this another one of your booty calls? Like your coffee delivery boy?"

Beca shook her head hard, avoiding Amy's gaze as she replied stiffly, "No, definitely not."

Amy frowned at Beca's reaction, noticing the way she tensed visibly at her suggestion. "Did he hurt you, Flatbutt? Because if he did, I swear, I will unleash the Amy force on him. Once I'm done with him, he'll look like a scrambled egg," Amy growled, once again waving around a slice of pizza to prove her point, "He'll be so scrambled that he'll just be a mush of egg and onions and peppers and mushrooms and—"

"—I get it, Amy," Beca interrupted quickly, seeing Amy's eyes start to glaze over at the thought of scrambled eggs, "But…thanks, I guess."

Amy smiled widely at her, returning back to her pizza eating and Beca let out a sigh, pulling her phone out of her pocket, quickly tapping out Luke's number…and then cursed herself under her breath because _god_, she really shouldn't still remember it.

"Hey, Becky," Luke said as he answered the phone and Beca dug her nails a little harder into her skin to stop herself from being distracted by his British accent and just…_him_, "How are you doing? I haven't spoken to you in ages—"

"—Luke, I didn't call to chat," Beca replied, gritting her teeth, "I'm only calling you because you lied to Aubrey and said that we were friends—"

"—But Becky, we are friends," he said, "You're not still mad at me, are you? I said I was sorry!"

She gritted her teeth even harder, her hands clenching themselves into fists. "Sorry for what, Luke? Sorry for _abusing_ our relationship? Sorry for—" She shook her head hard, abruptly stopping as she forced herself to take a deep breath and keep things as professional and detached as possible, "Look, Luke, just tell me when you want to meet so we can get this over with."

"This afternoon works for me, how about four o'clock?"

"Fine," Beca replied shortly, "Meet me at Chloe's with your act, I assume you still know where that is...and don't call me Becky. It's _Beca_."

"Sure, I'll be there," Luke said and Beca unclenched and re-clenched her fists at how completely unaffected he sounded, as if he had no idea how much _shit_ he had put her through. "...But you always let me call you Becky back when we were together—"

She hung up, violently pressing the end call button, causing Amy to pause mid-bite, her eyes wide. "You okay there, Flatbutt? Want me to scramble him up?"

_Chloe, Luke wants to meet today. Can I bring him to yours at 4pm? – Beca _

_That's absolutely fine, I'll be there. I'll close the shop up for a bit whilst you have your meeting. – Chloe_

* * *

"So, Jess, I heard something interesting from Benji today," Chloe said as soon as he entered the coffee shop for his shift and he froze, glancing up at her in alarm.

"What are you talking about, Chlo?" Jesse asked as he quickly racked his brain. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything _too_ embarrassing lately… "Were you guys discussing the masterpiece that is my face again?"

Chloe rolled her eyes, quickly throwing an empty cup at him, ignoring the way he pretended to stumble backwards. "No, he was telling me about your, um, coffee cup message exchange with Beca."

Jesse groaned, quickly straightening up, cursing Benji under his breath. He really didn't want to have this conversation, especially with Chloe, not just because she was Beca's friend but also because she was, you know, his boss and he was pretty sure that she wouldn't think that writing on coffee cups was a good way to spend his time. "It's nothing, I swear."

Chloe eyed him suspiciously, watching as he ran a hand through his hair nervously. She counted to five before deciding to just ask the question that had been on her mind since this morning. Subtlety, after all, had never been her strong suit. "Jesse, do you _like_ her?"

Jesse spluttered, running his hand through his hair again, his gaze moving from Chloe to the door and back again, wondering whether he would be able to run out of the shop without her following him and demanding an answer. By this point, Jesse was fully aware that his tiny crush on Beca was no longer so tiny… He couldn't help it; she was so sarcastic and witty and endearing and so unlike any girl he had ever met and, on top of that, she appreciated his music and…okay, he was in serious trouble, especially as he knew that Beca didn't feel the same way about him; she couldn't even admit out loud that they were _friends_. Still, Jesse had tried his best to push his feelings aside for the sake of their…whatever they were but maybe he hadn't done as good a job as he had assumed, judging by the way Chloe was looking at him.

"Jess, I don't mind either way," Chloe said, giving him a reassuring smile as she took a step towards the frazzled-looking boy.

Jesse sighed before giving her the smallest of nods, knowing that Chloe wasn't about to let it go. "I'm screwed," he said dejectedly, hanging his head. "Look, Chlo, trust me, I know she doesn't like me like that – or even, sometimes, at all – so don't worry, I'm not going to do something stupid—"

Chloe shook her head, shooting him a sympathetic smile. "That's not true, Jess," she said gently, feeling more than a little guilty for bringing the whole topic up, "Trust me, if she didn't like you at all, she would have put a stop to all your messages by now."

"You think?"

Chloe nodded. "Jesse, she likes you, even if she won't admit it."

* * *

Beca pushed the door to the empty coffee shop open at quarter past four – there was no way she was going to be on time for Luke, of all people – spotting Luke casually sitting at one of the tables near the back, absentmindedly flicking through his phone. Her mouth went dry as she stared at him; it was one thing to talk to him on the phone but it was another to see him, in the flesh, in Chloe's coffee shop again. She forced herself to move her gaze away from him as she felt her breathing become slightly unsteady, her eyes landing on Chloe who shot her an encouraging smile, giving her a thumbs up. Beca nodded in response, flexing her fingers slightly as she took a deep breath. She could do this.

"Hey, Becky—_Beca_!" Luke greeted as he spotted her, standing up from the table as he gave her a smile. She pointedly ignored him, throwing herself down in the seat opposite him, crossing her arms.

"Why are you alone?" she asked, keeping her voice as cool as possible, avoiding his gaze. His eyes had always been one of her favourite things about him and—no, she was not going to go down that route. "I thought I told you to bring your act with you."

Luke shrugged, suddenly looking a little embarrassed, "Sorry. I was going to but he's having some sort of mini-tantrum at the moment." Beca raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to continue. "Ever since he sung backup for John Mayer, he's turned into a cocky little thing and he thinks he's better than anyone else—"

"—Better than me, you mean," she said, cutting in quickly, wanting to get this conversation over as soon as possible.

"No, of course not," Luke said, with a shake of his head, his gaze fixed on hers, "You know I think your work is great and...he will too."

Beca raised her eyebrows at that statement, her eyes widening in disbelief as she dug her nails into her palm. "Are you kidding me right now?"

Luke winced, giving her an apologetic smile as she glared at him, wanting nothing more than to wipe it off his face. She just didn't understand how he could sit there, talking to her as if he had never done anything to her, as if he had never betrayed her in the worst way possible. "Look, Bec, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that I took it—"

"_Twice._"

"—I'm sorry, I really am," Luke finished earnestly and after a second of them staring at one another, she forced herself to look away from him because god, those eyes… Instead, she quickly moved her gaze to the counter, biting her lip hard as she spotted Jesse there, mouthing a 'You okay?' She gave him a tiny nod and rolled her eyes as he started waving a DVD case wildly at her, pointing at her, and then at himself, and then at the DVD.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Luke asked as he followed Beca's gaze, looking Jesse up and down, an expression of disapproval on his face, "He doesn't really look like your type."

"Right, because _you _would know what my type is," Beca said sarcastically, letting out a bitter laugh, ignoring the slightly hurt look that Luke shot her because, what the hell? What right did he have to be hurt? "But no, he definitely isn't my boyfriend, he's just…some guy that I know. It's nothing."

"Some guy, huh?"

Beca shook her head at him, quickly changing the subject, suddenly uncomfortable. She didn't want Luke to know about Jesse because, well, he was a good guy and she didn't want to involve him in all her mess. "Luke, look, I'm not talking business with you if your act isn't present. When can you get him to come?"

"Uh, no idea," Luke said, with a shrug of his shoulders, "Bumper's unpredictable."

Beca sighed, shooting him another glare. "Like I said, I'm not doing this until you're both here so…call me when you know." With that, she got up from the table, walking over to Chloe, forcing herself not to look back.

* * *

After giving Chloe a quick debrief and explaining the situation, once again thanking her for allowing her to meet Luke here, she walked over to Jesse, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. She figured that after everything, maybe, _just maybe_, she should watch one movie with him.

"Hey, dork," she said, frowning a little as he didn't turn around immediately; instead, looking very absorbed in the cups he was stacking. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, Beca," he eventually muttered before turning around, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable as his eyes bore into hers, "Maybe it's the fact that after what Chloe said this morning, I thought that maybe things would work themselves out…but then I find out that you just think of me as 'some guy_'_?"

"You heard that?" Beca asked, ignoring the part about Chloe as clearly it wasn't a conversation that she had been present for, and as he shrugged his shoulders, turning away from her again, she shook her head, grabbing his arm and tugging him towards the staffroom.

"Beca," he started hesitantly, as soon as they were in private, a troubled expression on his face, "If you think I'm…annoying or whatever, just tell me and I'll stop bothering you—"

"Jesse, no, you don't understand," she said, quickly cutting him off, "What I said, that's not what I meant."

"Then make me understand," he replied, his voice harder than usual, a flash of hurt passing through his eyes as he crossed his arms again, "Because I heard you loud and clear."

"Jesse, I…look, Luke, he's…He's my ex-boyfriend," she finally said, slightly surprised by how much she wanted to make things right, "And I just…I don't want him knowing about the people I care about because he has a habit of screwing everything up and—" Her voice broke slightly and she stopped speaking abruptly, taking a deep breath to steady herself.

Jesse simply stared at her, her words sinking in and he felt the slightest twinge of guilt for getting mad at her when it had all been a complete misunderstanding; she didn't just think of him as 'some guy', no, she _cared_ about him. As he continued to watch her silently, his brain still trying to make sense of the whole thing, especially as he had the feeling that she had just revealed way more information than she had intended, he could see her eyes hardening at his lack of response and she slowly shifted her gaze away from his. He blinked, hastily opening his mouth to speak as he took a step towards her, without bothering to pause and think his next actions through:

"Hey, come here," he murmured softly and when she didn't move, her gaze still on the shelf behind him, he slowly moved closer, tugging her gently into his arms as he pulled her into a hug. "Beca, it's okay, I get it."

Almost immediately, he could feel her stiffen and he winced inwardly, cursing himself in his head for acting without thinking; this was Beca and like he had told himself yesterday, he was pretty sure that _hugs _weren't exactly what she wanted. He quickly loosened his grip, letting his arms slacken a little, giving her the option to pull away if she wanted to but to his surprise, she didn't…so he didn't either, instead, pulling her the tiniest bit closer.

"Jesse?" Beca said quietly, a few moments later, her words muffled slightly by his chest, and he leaned back so that he could see her face properly, "We're friends, okay?"

"Even if I'm a dork and a weirdo and _oh, so, annoying?_" he quipped, grinning widely at her, and she just sighed in mock exasperation, leaning back to punch his shoulder lightly, glad that he knew her well enough to not make a big deal out of what she had just admitted.

"You forgot idiot," she deadpanned but she couldn't help but grin into his chest anyway before stepping back, out of his grip, "Now where's that movie you wanted to show me? It better not suck or I swear to god, I'll take back what I just said."


	9. Chapter 9

**C**HAPTER **N**INE

"So, Beca, are you ready for your moviecation?" Jesse asked cheerfully as he walked back out to the front of the coffee shop, Beca following him. Beca just shrugged her shoulders in reply, even though she knew that he couldn't see her, feeling more than slightly relieved that despite their...talk just now, things had pretty much returned to normal between them. She didn't know how or when it had happened but there was no denying that Jesse had become quite a significant part of her daily life and she was glad that she hadn't messed things up with him. Yet.

"This isn't a moviecation, this is just me, agreeing to watch one movie; don't get any ideas." Beca informed him quickly, waving a hand at him in what she hoped was a – sort of – threatening manner, as she realised he was staring at her, waiting for an answer to his question. She moved to stand beside him, placing her other hand flat on the counter, relishing the coolness on her skin as she tried her best to push all thoughts of Luke aside and focus all her attention on Jesse, her _friend_. Jesse simply grinned down at her, his hands casually shoved into his pockets, completely unbothered by her reaction, looking so ridiculously happy that she had agreed to watch a single movie with him that she couldn't help but roll her eyes, adding, "This will probably be the only movie that I'll ever watch willingly with you so you better make your choice wisely, dork."

At her words, Jesse frowned suddenly, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought hard. To be honest, he hadn't been expecting her to agree to watch a movie with him without a fight and now that she was agreeing so easily? He wasn't quite sure what to do. He grimaced slightly as his brain began working in overdrive, a million different movie choices flashing through his head; this was his chance to show her that not all movies were – in her words – terrible and convince her that watching them with him wasn't so bad…and maybe, just maybe, turn moviecations into a regular occasion. Shaking his head slightly, trying to clear his head a little so that he could make an informed decision on which movie to watch, he grabbed his laptop from his bag, placing it on the counter. He quickly loaded up the moviecation list he had made for her several days ago and began scrolling through the choices; he needed to pick the _perfect_ first movie for Beca.

"Hey, dork, don't think too hard," Beca said sarcastically, standing up on her tiptoes in order to tap his head lightly with her fist as she realised what he was doing, his eyes scanning the list at an alarming pace, muttering various movie titles under his breath, "I don't want you to hurt yourself, it's just a movie."

Jesse grinned widely in response, reaching up to catch her first with ease as he gently pulled it away from his head, continuing to scan the list rapidly, "That's where you're wrong, Beca. It's not a movie, it's _the_ movie," he stated, as solemnly as he could manage, "It's the movie that could change your perspective on all other movies, it's the movie that could make you realise that you need this moviecation, it's the movie that could change your life…it has to be absolutely perfect and I just—"

"—Okay, okay, I get it," Beca cut in hastily, rolling her eyes at his overdramatics…but there was a small part of her that couldn't help but feel a little touched that he was putting so much thought into it; Luke had never done anything like this for her and he had been what? Her boyfriend? She shook her head hard, pushing those traitorous thoughts to the back of her brain again as she forced herself to stay in the present and not allow the events of the past to consume her. Taking a deep breath, she nudged Jesse's shoulder as she spoke up again, hoping that he wasn't going to spend much longer looking through his list; she needed a distraction. "Dude, you are definitely overthinking this. If you don't hurry up and pick a stupid movie soon, I swear, I'm not watching anything with you."

Jesse glanced up at her in alarm, his expressive eyes wide, before relaxing again as he realised she was, sort of, kidding, a hint of a smirk playing on her lips as she took in his reaction. He shook his head lightly, returning his gaze to the screen as he resumed his scrolling; Jesse prided himself in knowing his movies inside out – he normally had a movie ready for every possible situation – but even he could admit that picking just _one_ for Beca to watch was hard. He had never met anyone who disliked movies as much as she did and he had no idea what genre of film she would find least difficult to endure… The only thing that he knew - if what he had concluded from their email exchange the other day was correct - was that if he wanted her to take his idea of a moviecation seriously, then picking a Disney movie was out of the question [which was a shame, really, because The Lion King? Awesome movie].

"What was the movie you said you were going to show me this morning? Can't we just watch that one?" Beca prompted with a loud sigh, tapping him on the head again to get his attention as a couple of minutes passed and Jesse was still scrolling through the list, a look of utter concentration gracing his features. The longer he continued to scroll, the harder it was getting for her to keep a grip on her emotions and forget about Luke...

Jesse frowned in response, lifting his gaze to meet hers and she raised an eyebrow at the seriousness of his expression. He clearly wasn't kidding about this moviecation of his. He stared at her for a beat, his eyes fixed on hers before running a hand through his hair as he began to explain his thought process, stumbling on his words a little. "Well, to be honest, I didn't think you'd actually agree to watch a movie with me so I just brought along one of my all-time favourites...and don't get me wrong, I'm like over the moon that you've agreed to your moviecation but I just don't know whether you'll like the movie I've brought or whether it's, you know, _the_ movie."

"Jesse, let's just watch whatever you've brought," she said firmly, with a roll of her eyes. He frowned again, an unsure expression crossing his face and she sighed loudly; she clearly needed to change tactics. Twisting her lips into a smirk, she added, "Seeing as it's one of your favourite movies, I'll swear I'll hold back on any comments about how awful it is…"

"Thank you, Beca. So much. I really appreciate your self-restraint," Jesse said dryly, his lips quirking slightly but her words had the intended effect. Without wasting any more time, Jesse started rummaging through his bag, retrieving the DVD that he had waved at her earlier triumphantly, before pulling up two seats, gesturing for her to sit down beside him.

"Okay, let's do this," Jesse said, taking a deep breath as he inserted the DVD into the computer, handing her the DVD cover, "The Breakfast Club, 1985. One of the greatest movies ever made—"

"—Oh god, is this going to be a whole hour of people just eating breakfast?" Beca asked, cutting off his monologue as she turned the cover over in her hands absentmindedly without reading it, "Because, trust me, I see enough of that here every single morning."

Jesse stared at her, his eyes widening in mock outrage as he clutched his chest dramatically as if her words were actually hurting him inside. "Please tell me you didn't just say that," he said and for a split second, Beca was afraid he was going to do something ridiculous like get down on his knees and _beg_...but to her relief, he stayed put in his seat, "And for your information, Beca, it's not just one hour, it's _ninety seven minutes_ of brilliance."

Beca simply raised an eyebrow at him; she wasn't going to lie, although she had heard about The Breakfast Club in passing before, she had absolutely no idea what it was about. However, what she did know was that whether or not it was just about people eating breakfast [and judging from Jesse's reaction, it definitely…wasn't], there was no way she was going to like it. Movies had always bored her: she hated how predictable they were and how all the loose ends that had been created were somehow perfectly wrapped up in an happy ending in a space of one to two hours. Real life just wasn't like that. Still, she was determined to stay awake for the whole movie and keep any negative comments to herself; Jesse's almost-childlike enthusiasm for movies was so infectious and…appealing that she didn't want to put a damper on it. She had never seen anything like it, especially not from a guy her age, and it was fascinating to watch. More importantly though, his enthusiasm was doing an excellent job of distracting her from today's events.

"Wait a second," Jesse suddenly said, breaking the short silence that had fallen, jumping off his stool as he remembered something, grabbing his bag from the floor again, "I got you something."

Beca blinked at him in surprise as he started going through his rucksack again [seriously, how much stuff had the dork stuffed in there?]. He had...got her something? Beca raised her arm to catch the object that he threw at her a couple of seconds later, rolling her eyes as she realised what it was. "Seriously? Juice, again? You are such a weirdo."

Jesse grinned widely, settling back beside her, a juice pouch in his own hands. "Well, you didn't even seem to know how to open one yesterday which _obviously_ means you've been deprived of juice your whole life so, you know, I thought I'd teach you…uh…the juice way of life."

"The juice way of life?" Beca echoed incredulously, eyebrow raised.

"Uh, yeah, forget I said anything," Jesse said, clearing his throat awkwardly, the faintest flush rising on his cheek as he realised what an idiot he sounded like. Be cool, Jesse, _be cool, _he muttered in his own head. Running a hand through his hair, he quickly moved his gaze away from hers, landing on her unopened juice pouch and without saying another word – partly because he was afraid that if he did, more word vomit would come out – he tugged it from her, piercing her straw through it before handing it back to her.

"Seriously, Jesse, I can open it myself…but thanks," she said, giving him a small smile as she took it from him, "Now can we please get the movie over with?"

Jesse grinned in response, giving her a mock bow – which was, admittedly, a little awkward-looking, considering that he was already sitting down – before reaching over to start the movie. "Your wish is my command, m'lady," he quipped, cheerfully ignoring Beca's muttered pleas of "Never call me that again" beside him.

"As I was saying before you interrupted me, The Breakfast Club is one of the greatest movies of all time; it's one of those movies that everyone needs to watch. It's definitely not about people sitting around eating breakfast, it's way, way deeper than that," he said, shaking his head a little as he recalled her earlier statement, "'The Breakfast Club' was just a nickname for detention at the school attended by the son of one of John Hughes' friends and…what?" He trailed off as he realised Beca was staring at him, a distinctively amused expression on her face, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing, keep going, I'm listening."

"Hey, I'm full of fun facts," he said, a little defensively, but he stopped speaking, feeling a bit embarrased; he was fully aware of his habit of rambling on about movies - his friends from college always used to tease him about it - but he just couldn't help it, they were all so fascinating to him. Without saying another word, Jesse redirected his gaze to the screen as the trailers finished and the movie began.

As the first couple of minutes of the movie passed, Jesse staring at the screen in an almost reverent silence, Beca let out a small sigh; if she was going to watch this movie then she'd much rather do it with Jesse's commentary than without it. His facts – although she would never admit it to him – were sort of interesting…well, okay, maybe it wasn't so much the facts themselves but the way his eyes lit up, a smile tugging at his lips, when he stated them, the depth of his passion for what he was talking about shining through. Either way, she really, really didn't want to sit in silence for an hour, left to her own thoughts.

Turning over the DVD case in her hand, quickly scanning the back for inspiration, she opened her mouth to speak, "So, tell me, dork, what _does_ Judd Nelson eat for breakfast?"

"Like all misunderstood rebels," Jesse started slowly, trying to keep his voice as serious as possible, his eyes still fixed on the action on the screen, "he feeds on hypocrisy…and black coffee to help with his morning dumps. I don't know if the coffee he drinks is as good as my coffee because I think we can both agree that I am pretty skilled in the coffee-making department but—"

"—You're an idiot," she replied with a roll of her eyes, hitting his shoulder lightly as she bit her lip to stop a smile escaping.

Jesse shrugged in response, his lips twitching a little as he also did his best to fight back a smile. "Like I said, I'm full of fun facts," he stated before glancing over at her momentarily to check that she wasn't _too_ bored [although how anyone could be bored whilst watching The Breakfast Club, he had no idea] "You're okay with this movie, right?"

"I'm fine," she said, giving him a reassuring nod as she pointedly turned her attention back to the screen, taking a sip from the juice pouch in her hands. "Just, uh, keep talking to me or I might fall asleep."

Jesse rubbed his chin absentmindedly at her words, a slight wince on his face as he replied, "As much as it pains me to talk throughout a movie, I guess I can't have you falling asleep, especially not during The Breakfast Club. You have to make it to the end; the ending is the best part."

Beca shook her head lightly before settling next to Jesse again, her eyes refocused on the screen as she started watching the movie properly, letting Jesse's voice guide her through the scenes. To her surprise, when she actually concentrated on what was on the screen in front of her, pushing all her negative opinions on movies to the back of her mind, she found that watching a movie with him wasn't the _worst _thing in the world; in fact, she was – dare she say it – enjoying it. [But only a tiny, tiny bit]. There was just something about Jesse's enthusiasm and interest in movies that made her want to understand and feel the same way about them, if only to appease him.

As she split her time between watching the movie, becoming oddly invested in the fate of the five teenagers, and watching Jesse when he wasn't spouting off random facts for her benefit [because it turned out that his habit of mouthing words extended past Star Wars and although she felt a little creepy for staring, it was fascinating to watch…], she felt herself relax more and more. This moviecation of his, it wasn't so bad. At all.

"Okay, so this is the greatest ending to any movie. Ever," Jesse stated as the first notes of 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' started playing, glancing over at her and making sure that she was still awake, "This song launched Simple Minds in the US. It perfectly sums up the movie, it's equally beautiful and sad and—Hey, are you crying?"

"I—no!" Beca replied, blinking _hard_, avoiding his concerned gaze. She wasn't crying, her eyes were just...a little wet. It had absolutely nothing to do with the movie itself [she had to hand it to him, the ending really was good] or how completely and utterly overwhelmed she was by the realisation that, somehow, Jesse had managed to take her mind off the whole Luke situation and made her feel like everything in her life was normal when, in reality, it was nothing of the sort. No, she…she just had something in her eyes. That was _it_.

Jesse, to his credit, didn't say a word, turning back to the screen as if he had never noticed anything and for the second time today, she was glad that he knew her so well. They watched the end of the movie together in a comfortable silence and she watched, ever so slightly amused, as Jesse raised his fist at the same time as Judd Nelson.

"So, Beca, there's no denying that I have absolutely awesome taste in movies, right?" Jesse asked, turning to her as the credits started rolling and she stifled her urge to burst out laughing as he abruptly stood up, bowing to an imaginary audience. He was such a dork.

"It was…okay," she replied, waving her hands dismissively, knowing that his actions would get even more ludicrous if she agreed to his statement and she wasn't quite sure whether she was ready for that; after all, he was already bowing like a lunatic...

"Okay?_"_ Jesse echoed in disbelief as he mimed staggering backwards in shock; he was absolutely certain that she had liked it but he was more than willing to play along if that was what she wanted. "The Breakfast Club, Beca, is not just okay! It's brilliant, fantastic, a masterpiece, it's, uh, any other positive adjective you can think of…"

Beca rolled her eyes at him, standing up from her chair, walking over to hit him on the shoulder to stop him from speaking any further. As he locked his gaze with hers, a smile tugging on his lips, she took a deep breath, hoping that he wouldn't make too big a deal of what she was about to say. "I guess you're just going to have to continue with my moviecation, dork - I clearly don't know anything."

He grinned. _That_, he was more than happy to do.

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright?" Chloe said softly, glancing up at her friend from her position on Beca's bed later that day, "I mean, I know you told me you were fine but it couldn't have been easy seeing Luke again."

Beca nodded slowly in agreement, leaning back in her seat as she took a deep breath, her fingers fidgeting absentmindedly with a pen, trying to put her thoughts into words. "I don't know. I won't lie, Luke being here, in the flesh, threw me a little but…it definitely wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, especially knowing that you were there the whole time."

"I told you it was going to be okay...but still, Beca, you seemed a lot more relaxed than I thought you were going to be," Chloe observed thoughtfully, sitting up properly, as she locked her gaze with Beca's, "From how you were yesterday, I was afraid, for a moment, that it was going to be like _that time_ all over again."

Beca nodded. She was perfectly aware of how she had acted after Luke had left her the second time – and also very aware that without Chloe, she definitely wouldn't have been able to pick herself up and rebuild her life – and a big part of her was surprised that she wasn't having a greater reaction to his reappearance in her life. It was definitely a good thing though; she wanted to be strong when facing Luke again as she needed to get across that she didn't need him anymore and that she was never going to forgive him for taking what was hers. Things weren't the same anymore and like Chloe had mentioned several times over the past forty eight hours, she had somehow managed to build up her own little support system since the last time they had crossed paths and it was making all the difference: she had Chloe to rant to, she had Amy to distract her and, well, she had Jesse, her…_friend_?

As she relayed this to Chloe, she sighed loudly as the girl's eyes lit up at the last part, the redhead instantly distracted from all thoughts of Luke. Beca seriously didn't know why she kept bringing Jesse up whilst talking to her as she knew from past experience that Chloe was stubborn when she got an idea like this in her head but it was like she couldn't get him out of her system. He was everywhere.

"Chloe, stop," Beca said, rolling her eyes as she threw the pen she was holding at an innocent-looking Chloe in order to stop her from speaking, "I swear to God, he is just a friend."

Chloe shrugged, still smiling at her, starting to tease her friend again before abruptly stopping, deciding not to say anything further on the matter except for a simple "Just…be careful with him, alright?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll figure it out," Chloe said rather cryptically, pointedly avoiding her gaze before smoothly changing the subject, filling her in on a rather disturbing story involving the stockroom at the coffee shop and one of her more...sexually active employees_._


	10. Chapter 10

**C**HAPTER **T**EN

"Hey, Benji," Beca called as she spotted the boy in question standing behind the counter, a bright blue cape adorned with multi-coloured stars draped proudly over his shoulders, "Is that a…new cape?"

Benji turned to the sound of her voice, shooting her a wide smile as he walked over, his cape swinging wildly behind him as he bobbed his head quickly, "Hi Beca! Do you like it?"

Despite, as usual, being completely shattered this early in the morning, she couldn't stop herself from smiling in response to the boy's cheeriness; she liked Benji, she really did. He was just so eager to please and so innocent and, like Jesse, his enthusiasm for everything was truly contagious. "The cape's awesome, Benji," she replied, nodding her head affirmatively…and in a way, it was. There was just something about Benji that made the whole outfit work. Sort of.

"Thanks, Beca," he said, his smile growing wider at her words before gesturing towards the backroom with one arm, "I have a spare if you want?"

She bit her lip hard, wincing inwardly as she quickly averted her gaze from his, trying to think of the best way to let him down easy; sure, she had gotten rather fond of Benji and his love of capes and magic [and of course, Star Wars] but she was pretty sure she'd never like anyone enough to wear a cape for them, especially in public. "Oh, no, don't worry, Benji. I, uh, I don't think I'd be able to pull it off."

Benji frowned, shaking his head at her as he began earnestly assuring her that she could, in fact, pull one off and she just smiled back, not saying another word. Realising that she wasn't about to change her mind any time soon, he finally shrugged, a smile still gracing his face as he turned from her slightly to begin putting together her coffee order for her – well, okay, not her coffee order, more like…Jesse's edited version of it – whilst continuing to make small talk with her.

Several minutes later, he handed Beca a coffee cup and as she turned away from the counter to leave the coffee shop and make her way to the studio, she took a sip of her cup, suddenly freezing, a horrified expression crossing her face as her tastebuds were not greeted by the familiar, warm, _comforting _taste of caffeine as she was expecting but instead, a cold liquid that she recognised almost immediately as being…juice.

"What the…?!"

Beca cursed under her breath, whipping her head back round towards the counter, quickly finding Benji and shooting him the deadliest of looks even though she knew it was most definitely not his fault. Benji simply gave her a small smile in response, now too absorbed in another customer's order to notice the intensity of her glare and she gritted her teeth together hard. She was going to kill the dork. Quickly glancing at the clock, she let out a groan as she realised that if she wanted to make it to the studio on time and avoid Aubrey's wrath, she couldn't afford to wait around and ask Benji to make her a proper coffee...which, now that she thought about it, was probably what Jesse was counting on. He knew her way too well.

_Don't kill Benji, it's really not his fault :) _

_PS - Don't kill me either. _

Beca shook her head, biting her lip as she roughly grabbed a napkin from the side, quickly scribbling down a message and leaving it in the usual spot.

_Oh, you are going down._

* * *

"What's up, Flatbutt—Whoa, okay, what's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing, everything is _just fine_," Beca gritted out, gripping her coffee cup a little tighter than usual as she flung herself down into her seat, leaning back to glare at the ceiling, "Can you do me a massive favour and order me some coffee?"

"Uh, Beca, you're holding one in your hand," Amy said slowly, sounding her words out as if she was talking to a small child, promptly getting up from her seat and grabbing the hand holding the coffee cup, pointing at it. "Coffee, hand. Hand, coffee. Repeat after me—"

Beca rolled her eyes, quickly snatching her hand back from the other girl as she let out a long sigh. "It doesn't have coffee in it, it's filled with juice," she explained without going into any specific details about her morning because ugh, she was going to kill him. Ever since her freshman year in college, Beca had relied on caffeine to get her through the mornings and people did not take her caffeine away from her unless they wanted to face her wrath.

"Sweeeeeet," Amy said, sounding way too cheerful as she drew out the word, turning back towards her desk and holding up her own cup of coffee towards Beca, "Want to swap? I have some doughnuts in my desk that would go perfectly with juice—"

"_Please_," she replied, shooting the girl a grateful smile as Amy promptly swapped their cups, humming to herself as she went back over to her own desk, pulling open the top drawer and examining the doughnut stash she had inside thoughtfully. Beca watched, more than slightly baffled, as Amy took a doughnut out, holding it up to the light before shaking her head, disapproval clear on her face as she scrutinised it. She quickly replaced it in her drawer, choosing another one and going through the exact same process. It wasn't until seven doughnuts later until she nodded, satisfied, taking a bite.

"Oh, by the way Flatbutt, Scrambled Egg called for you," Amy said, in between bites of her doughnut and sips of juice. Beca blinked hard, staring at her in complete confusion before remembering what Amy had said yesterday about wanting to...scramble Luke and she groaned, pulling out her phone and tapping out Luke's number [god, she really needed to wipe that stupid chain of digits from her head], her previous juice dilemma suddenly seeming very insignificant.

"Hey, is this…Becky—Beca?"

"Uh, yes, of course it's Beca," she replied slowly before shooting Amy a look as the other girl started humming a little too innocently, pointedly looking at the wall behind her. "What do you want?"

"Hey, Beca. I managed to get Bumper to agree to a meeting…" Luke paused, as if he expected Beca to _congratulate_ him or something and she gripped the phone hard, not allowing herself to say a single word, "…so if you're free at around one, we could meet to discuss the details.

Beca sighed, gritting her teeth as she quickly ended the conversation, hanging up before shooting Chloe a text, letting her know to expect her later and not to bother closing the shop down for her today; she had managed to survive talking to Luke yesterday and she felt confident that she would be able to do the same today. She wasn't going to let him get to her, not again, not _ever. _All she had to do was last through the next couple of weeks and get this assignment of Aubrey's over with as quickly as possible so she could go back to her Luke-free life again.

Shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of all thoughts of Luke, she loaded up her computer, wanting to lose herself in her work before groaning as she made the mistake of glancing at her email inbox. Today was really not her day.

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_On a scale of 1 to 10, how mad are you at me?_

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_11._

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

…_So, uh, I take it you're not in the mood to watch a movie with me later?_

_PS – In my defence, I was just being an __awesome friend__. It has become blindingly obvious to me that you have been deprived of juice all these years and I am just trying to rectify this great wrong. [Besides, don't tell Chloe but juice? Way better than coffee.]_

Beca sighed at the screen as she read his latest email, biting her lip as she fought the urge to roll her eyes at his logic. She guessed that she couldn't be that mad at him after all he had done for her lately without knowing it, even if he had committed a serious offence this morning [in Beca's eyes, anyway]. Plus, after yesterday, she wasn't completely against watching another movie with him as the experience had been, surprisingly, quite bearable. Okay, maybe a little more than bearable, it had been…_nice_. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she tried to think of a suitable response to his email but before she could type a single word, the email icon on her browser started flashing again as multiple emails began flooding in,

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_Beca? You still there?_

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_Are you really, really, really mad?_

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_I'm sorry - you're always right, I'm always wrong. :(_

Beca shook her head, finally succumbing to her urge to roll her eyes at him, even though he obviously couldn't see her, quickly typing out a response to placate him and hopefully stop him from abusing her email account any further:

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_And don't you forget it, dork._

* * *

To no-one's surprise, Beca had once again arrived to the coffee shop later than expected, roughly pushing the door open at quarter past one. She nodded quickly in greeting to Chloe who simply gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs up, tilting her head towards where Luke and another boy were sitting near the back of the room, before returning to the order she was in the middle of preparing.

"Hey, you must be Bumper? I'm Beca," she greeted slowly as she made her way over to them, completely ignoring Luke's presence as she stuck out her hand to the boy standing beside him. "It's nice to meet you."

Beca frowned as she received no reply, the other boy simply grimacing in disgust at her outstretched hand. Her frown became deeper as a couple of seconds passed and still, no-one moved, the boy – Bumper – just giving her a contemplating look as he stared at her. Feeling more than a little disconcerted, Beca pulled her hand back as she continued to awkwardly wait for a response to her perfectly normal greeting. Had Luke told him something about her or…?

"—Eh, I suppose you're not bad. A little on the short side but I can work with that," Bumper eventually said, as he slowly looked her up and down suggestively, his eyes finally stopping as they landed on her…chest? "If you ever want to ride the Bumper machine, just give me call," he said, moving closer to her, his face suddenly alarmingly close to hers, his breath uncomfortably warm on her face as he continued speaking, "I'm up for anything, anywhere—"

"Ew, no! What the hell's wrong with you?" Beca exclaimed, split between being completely stunned and completely _outraged _at his words, as she hastily shuffled away from him, feeling extremely self-conscious under his wandering gaze, "You can't just say stuff like that to me."

"Why not? Look, little girl," Bumper retorted with a shrug of his shoulders, ignoring the almighty glare that Beca directed at him in response to being referred to like that, "I couldn't care less whether you work with me or not. I don't need you, I sang backup for John – _fucking_ – Mayer, for god's sake. I'm only here because Luke clearly wants to get into your pants and I mean, I guess I'd be up for a threesome if—"

"—Bumper!" Luke said warningly, his hand quickly whipping out to grip the boy's shoulder hard in an attempt to stop him from speaking any further; he had done enough damage already and he had only been in the room for what? Five minutes? "You said you'd behave."

Beca just gaped at them both, a distinctively horrified expression on her face, unable to believe that this was actually happening to her. Jesus, Aubrey's assignment was quickly going from being bad to being unbearably awful.

"Let's…get down to business," Luke finally said as he gestured for them to sit down, pointedly ignoring Bumper's suggestive nod at his words. Beca sighed loudly, taking a deep breath as she dug her nails into the palm of her hand; the only positive thing about Bumper was that he was making Luke, of all people, seem ever so slightly more tolerable. "Bumper was quite well known as the lead singer of an a cappella group in college and now he does a lot of acoustic stuff—"

"An a capella group? Seriously?"

"I'll have you know that I am a legend," Bumper replied, shooting her a look of disdain, "Both in bed and out. You don't know how many pairs of breasts I've signed—"

Beca sighed again, averting her gaze from both of the boys, unable to decide who was worse. This was going to be a very, very long few weeks.

* * *

"Are you still mad at me?" Jesse called out to her, as soon as Bumper and Luke had – finally – left, shooting her a wary look as he beckoned her over. "I took a leaf out of Chloe's book and I made you an, uh, apology coffee?"

Beca rolled her eyes, making her way towards him even though she really needed to get back to the studio to get some work done, accepting the coffee he handed her. She guessed it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to sit here for a couple of minutes with the dork; after all, she needed something to get her mind off the trainwreck of a meeting she just had and, well, Jesse had proved himself time and time again to be a brilliant distraction.

"I knew you couldn't stay mad at me—okay, okay, I'll stop," he said, raising his hands up in surrender as Beca shot him a warning look. Clearing his throat awkwardly as he ran his free hand through his hair, he opened his mouth to speak again, quickly changing the subject, "So, uh, I recognised that guy you were with just now."

"Well, of course you would," Beca replied, sitting herself down on the other side of the counter, facing him, her eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion, "Luke was here yesterday—"

"—No, no, not him," Jesse said, shaking his head quickly as he continued to stack cups, glancing up at her momentarily, "The other guy that was with him. That was Bumper, right?"

Beca nodded slowly, her eyebrows raised in surprise. Jesse was the last person [with the expection of Benji] who she would have expected to know who Bumper was; they were polar opposites and she couldn't quite see how they would have ever met.

"I don't know him personally or anything, if that's what you're wondering," Jesse continued, sensing her confusion, "He just had a bit of a reputation amongst the people of…this thing I used to do at college."

Beca blinked, raising an eyebrow as Jesse suddenly stopped stacking, sticking his hands in his pockets awkwardly. "Well, _that_ doesn't sound shady at all," she deadpanned, referring to both Bumper's alleged 'reputation' [although she was pretty sure she could guess what that was about…] and Jesse's vagueness about whatever he had done. She eyed him suspiciously, her curiosity growing as Jesse pointedly avoided her gaze, saying no more on the matter. Beca waited a couple more seconds, just in case he decided to speak as she took a sip of her coffee [and thank god, this time it really was coffee] before she sighed, prompting him, determined to get the rest of the story out, "So…you guys went to the same college?"

"No, we didn't, that's not how I know him," Jesse said after a beat, still looking completely flustered as he stumbled slightly over his words. "You know what? Forget I said anything." It wasn't that he was embarrassed about what he had done in college or anything because it had been, hands down, one of his favourite parts of his time there; no, he was slightly hesitant about telling her because he knew Beca well enough to know that she would make fun of him for it and he…he didn't know whether he'd be able to take that from her, especially when it had been something he had been so proud of and had put a lot of effort into.

"You're making absolutely no sense today, dork, you know that?"

Jesse shrugged, half-hoping that she would drop it and Beca squinted at him again, a frown on her face. Jesse was acting seriously weird right now and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Racking her brain, she thought back to the – frankly, disturbing – conversation that she had shared with Bumper earlier and she suddenly burst out laughing, her eyes widening as her brain started to connect the dots.

"No way, did you do a capella too?" She managed to splutter out, still laughing uncontrollably, her laughter only growing in magnitude as Jesse slowly nodded once, looking more than a little helpless as he took in her reaction. She grabbed the edge of the counter with one hand to steady herself, her shoulders shaking; being part of an a capella group at college was just so…_Jesse_. "Wow, I didn't think there was a way for you to seem even dorkier to me but congratulations, you've managed it."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a bit of organised nerd singing," Jesse retorted, a little defensively, as he crossed his arms…but as Beca continued to laugh, her eyes lighting up in amusement, he decided that even if she was laughing _at _him, he really didn't care. In that moment, Beca just looked so happy and carefree and beautiful—and god, he needed to get a grip on himself before he did something he would regret. Shaking his head hard, he shot her a grin; screw it, it didn't matter if he would have to endure her making fun of him for the foreseeable future, as long as he could keep her laughing like that. "You don't know what you're talking about, we were awesome, Beca. Like cooler than cool."

"Seriously?" Beca asked, eyebrows raised, giving him a disbelieving look, "I hate to break it to you but I'm a hundred percent certain that 'cool' is not the right word for it."

Jesse tilted his head to the side thoughtfully at her words before quickly walking around the counter, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to where he had been standing, sitting her down as he awkwardly rummaged through his bag for his laptop—

"—Uh, Jesse? That might be easier if you, you know, maybe let go of me?"

Jesse glanced back at her, a perplexed expression on his face and she simply looked down at where his fingers were still clasped tightly around her wrist. He blinked hard at the sight, releasing her as if he had been burnt, quickly muttering an apology; _that was _s_mooth, Jesse, so smooth_. Clearing his throat, he hastily retrieved his laptop – Beca was right, it _was_ easier to pull his laptop out of his bag with both of his hands free – and loaded it up, navigating to the Treblemakers' YouTube channel.

"Okay, watch this and tell me it's not a tiny bit cool," Jesse said as he scrolled down the page, locating the video of his last performance with the Treblemakers at the ICCAs in his senior year, ignoring Beca's choked laughter as she read the name of the group [Treblemakers, really? That was an awful pun], "I bet you won't find it so funny after you've seen how incredibly amazing we were."

Beca rolled her eyes, biting her lip hard to stop herself from replying as she turned her gaze towards the screen. She wasn't quite sure what to expect but, as always, Jesse's enthusiasm was overwhelming and she sincerely hoped that what he was about to show her wasn't some lame video of people singing lame songs completely out of tune because she didn't think she'd be able to hold back on her, uh, less than positive comments if it was.

"Dude, can you even sing?"

Jesse simply shrugged his shoulders, handing her his headphones without looking at her and Beca winced inwardly, preparing herself for the worst. She blinked, more than slightly amused, as the video started and a bunch of boys in _matching maroon jackets _[seriously? What was with that?] ran onto the stage. Oh dear god, this was not going to be good. Beca quickly scanned their faces as the music started up, glancing up at Jesse in confusion as she failed to spot him – he couldn't have changed that much since college, right? – but instead of receiving an answer, Jesse just nudged her shoulder gently, tilting his head towards the screen and she sighed softly, refocusing her gaze. She bit her lip as she watched the boys on stage carry out some questionable choreography, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the sheer absurdity of it all, but as a very familiar-looking dork suddenly walked out onto centre stage, confidently flipping a microphone stand up with his foot and began singing, her mouth went dry.

Jesse was right, this wasn't funny. At all.

"Told you," Jesse said, looking incredibly smug as he glanced over and saw her watching him sing, completely transfixed. He nudged her shoulder again, shooting her a cheeky grin as he got up from his seat in order to bow at an imaginary audience, "I'm awesome, right? Not dorky at all."

Beca rolled her eyes half-heartedly in response, reaching over to punch him lightly on the shoulder to get him to shut up without taking her eyes off the screen, fighting a shudder as his voice continued to fill her ears, hoping he didn't notice how much it was affecting her…because god, his voice was good, like ridiculously good [and that was saying something, considering what she did for a living]. The dork seemed like a completely different person in the video, full of confidence and…_swagger_ and it was completely and utterly unnerving and she clenched her hands together as she fought the urge to close the laptop screen and do something stupid like ask him to sing to her in person_._

"Okay, so you can sing," Beca relented, taking a deep, calming breath as she continued to watch him completely own the stage, his voice still causing unwanted chills to run up her spine, ignoring the way his grin grew impossibly wider at her words, "But it doesn't change the fact that you're still a total dork."

A dork that kept surprising her over and over again.


	11. Chapter 11

**C**HAPTER** E**LEVEN

Jesse couldn't help but hum to himself cheerily as Beca left to return to the studio where she worked, his day suddenly a lot brighter. There was just something about spending time with Beca that put a smile on his face, especially when he managed to make her smile herself like he had done today as he got a feeling that she didn't do it too often unless it was around people she was comfortable with. Plus, the fact that she had clearly enjoyed his singing was definitely more than a little bit of an ego boost, especially considering how much she had been against a capella before he had shown her his Treblemakers' video, and he wondered whether, instead of sending her messages on coffee cups every morning, he should just serenade her in person—okay, no, that wouldn't work, even if it was a total rom-com move. Beca wasn't like every other girl and he was pretty sure that if he started randomly singing to her in public, she would never talk to him again. And that would really, really suck.

"So, Jesse, I see you're finally making progress with Chloe's friend," Stacie remarked thoughtfully from behind the counter, interrupting his thoughts as she addressed him for the first time since their shift had started two hours ago.

"I thought you weren't talking to me," Jesse said, moving around so that he was facing her properly as he shot her a nervous smile. Stacie, it had turned out, was still pretty annoyed at him for spilling the details about her stockroom…_escapade_ to Chloe and had completely refused to talk to him throughout the whole shift so far. She had even ignored him when he had tried to get her attention by mentioning some stupid E-network show that he knew she was obsessed with and would normally go on and on about. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you are but I assumed you were still mad at me..."

"I'm not mad," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders and Jesse squinted at her, furrowing his eyebrows as he tried his hardest to work out whether or not she was telling the truth. "I'm just…curious." He frowned at that, running a hand through his hair as he leant against the counter, waited for her to explain further, fully aware that a curious Stacie probably wasn't a good Stacie to be around, especially not if her attention was focused on him. "Who were those guys she was with earlier?"

"Uh, the blond one is Beca's ex-boyfriend," he said, a little warily, not really sure where she was planning on taking this, "And I have absolutely no idea who the other guy is to her." He frowned again as he realised that he had never asked how Beca knew Bumper. He sincerely hoped that they weren't friends or anything because he had heard some truly terrible stories involving him through the a capella grapevine and he knew that Bumper had a tendency to treat people badly, especially girls…and if he was planning on treating Beca in a way that wasn't entirely respectful, well, Jesse wasn't going to stand for it.

"Damn, that's her ex-boyfriend?" Stacie whistled, pulling her nail file out of her pocket as she settled back in her chair, a distinct tone of admiration in her voice. "I wouldn't mind a piece of him, did you see his body? Those abs…" She trailed off hastily, noticing the slightly crestfallen expression on Jesse's face, waving her hand dismissively at him as she added, "Uh, don't worry, you're not terrible-looking yourself. I mean, you're not blond guy standard but like, you're not ugly or anything."

"Thanks, Stace," he said dryly, cutting her off as he gritted his teeth slightly, "That means so much. You're really helping to build my self-esteem up; I don't know what I'd do without your encouraging comments."

Stacie simply scoffed at him, shaking her head, muttering something about him already having a gigantic ego before going back to singing the praises of Beca's ex-boyfriend…which he pointedly ignored because, well, he wasn't going to lie; when he first saw the guy, his thoughts had run a similar course to Stacie's. How was he supposed to complete with _that_? Jesse knew he wasn't terrible-looking [as Stacie had just so kindly told him] but her ex had all those tattoos and that British accent and sort of looked like he had just stepped out of a movie and, if he was being honest, he had felt more than a little intimidated. Plus…was he really her ex? He didn't know what normal people did but he certainly never met his ex-girlfriends for coffee on a daily basis like Beca seemed to be doing [partly because he was always the one who had been dumped—but hey, he was over it. Sort of.] but then again, she had seemed quite torn up over him after the first time he had stopped by for coffee and—

"—Chlo, does Beca have a boyfriend?"

Jesse whipped his head up to stare at Stacie, his eyes widening in alarm as her words sank in, quickly rushing over and putting a hand over her mouth in order to stop her from asking any more outrageously inappropriate questions. "Stacie, no! What are you doing?" He kept his hand there until he was sure that she wasn't going to say anymore and thankfully, considering that Chloe hadn't reappeared from the backroom, it seemed like she hadn't heard…because god, that would have been embarrassing.

"Revenge is sweet," Stacie stated simply when Jesse had finally retrieved his hand, giving him an overly innocent smile before returning to her nail filing again, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Hey, you said you weren't mad at me!"

"Yeah, well, I lied," Stacie replied with a careless shrug of her shoulders, waving her nail file in Jesse's direction threateningly. Jesse quirked his eyebrows at that, tilting his head to the side slightly as he widened his eyes and gave her the saddest face he could manage. "No, don't you dare look at me like that, Swanson," she said, taking the opportunity to whack his head with her file, ignoring his yelp of surprise; she had to hand it to him, the boy really did have the whole puppy dog eyes thing down.

He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling at her response as he continued to stare at her, eyes wide, knowing from past experience that Stacie would eventually crack under his gaze. "Okay, fine, I forgive you," she muttered five minutes later, roughly pushing him away as she returned to filing her nails, ignoring the little victory dance that Jesse was doing beside her. "I don't know why you're reacting like this anyway, I just trying to do you a huge favour; don't pretend like you haven't been wondering whether or not she's already taken."

"I—I _haven't!_" Jesse replied, quickly sobering up, avoiding her gaze. It was half-true; he hadn't been thinking about that, not because he didn't want to know but because he hadn't wanted to allow himself to consider the possibility that she had a boyfriend… He was well aware by now that he was in way too deep and knowing that there was no chance in hell that she would ever consider him as more than a friend because she was already with someone would sort of suck.

"Want to try that again? More convincingly, this time?" Stacie asked, one eyebrow raised as she stopped filing, an amused expression crossing her face as Jesse continued to refuse to look at her, steadfastly staring at the counter.

"Oh, Jesse," she said sympathetically, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder, shaking her head in mock pity, "She's really got to you, hasn't she? Tell you what, I know a couple of girls – or guys, if you're into that sort of thing – that I can hook you up with if you want? You know, so you can get all that sexual tension out of your system? I find it always works, just last week, I was in the library—"

"—Okay, please stop talking, I don't want to hear about it," he interrupted quickly, his eyes widening in alarm at her words, hands instinctively going up to cover his ears in an attempt to block out her voice, "And Stace, you're not setting me up with anyone, I'm absolutely fine."

"It's your loss," Stacie said with a shrug of her shoulders before continuing on with her story, completely ignoring Jesse's grimace beside her. "So, anyway, like I was saying, I was in the library trying to get some studying done when—"

"—I think I preferred it when you were mad at me," Jesse muttered, shaking his head as he started wiping the counter roughly, surrendering himself to ten minutes of listening to another one of Stacie's disturbing…hunting stories. This was not what he had signed up for when he had taken this job.

"Stacie, please stop," Chloe called from the back a couple moments later and Jesse breathed an audible sigh of relief as Stacie abruptly ended her story, mock bowing in the redhead's direction. Stacie simply rolled her eyes in response, flicking her nail file at him and he pretended to stagger backwards from the, uh, practically non-existent impact, _nearly_ crashing into the counter, causing her to smirk at him smugly.

"Okay, you two, get back to work," Chloe said, suddenly appearing in front of them, shaking her head slightly in amusement at their antics [shifts were always the most…eventful when Jesse and Stacie were working together] before turning to him, her eyes glinting mischievously. "Oh and Jess, by the way…Beca doesn't have a boyfriend."

Jesse swallowed at her words, unable to stop himself from flushing hard as he crossed his arms defensively, hastily spluttering a "Hey, I didn't ask! It was _her_!" He shot a glare at Stacie, who simply laughed loudly at him, before returning to wiping down the counter, ducking his head slightly to hide the smile that was slowly making his way across his face.

She was single.

Don't get him wrong, he was more than happy to keep their relationship platonic if that was what she wanted [because, you know, it was better than not being friends with her at all] but, well, a boy could dream, right? At least now he knew there was a chance, even if it was a very, very, _very _small one. Jesse shook his head hard, pushing all those thoughts to the back of his mind as he tried to get a grip on himself. It wouldn't do him any good to overthink this; he just needed to let their relationship run their natural course and not do anything stupid and ruin their friendship because, at the end of the day, he'd…he'd settle for whatever made her happy.

Lifting his head slightly, he squinted at the two girls suspiciously as they exchanged an indecipherable look before simultaneously eyeing him and smiling a little too widely. "Remind me to never sign up for shifts with you again, Stace," he grumbled, completely mystified, glancing back and forth between the two girls, "I'm totally sticking with Benji from now on; us guys have to stick together, I don't get all your girl codes."

* * *

"Hey, Flatbutt. Did your meeting go well?" Amy asked as soon as Beca walked in, turning around in her chair to face her, another doughnut in her hand. Beca just shrugged vaguely at her in response, not wanting to go into any details about her meeting as god, she still couldn't believe that a person like Bumper existed, let alone that she was going to have to work with him for the next few weeks.

As she took her usual seat, dropping her bag onto the floor, she shot Amy a curious look as she realised that the other girl was still examining her, a thoughtful expression on her face. Amy stared at her for a couple more moments before raising her eyebrows, giving her a suggestive wink as she added, "Okay, so your meeting went _very_ well. Did you take a bite out of that scrambled egg? I thought you didn't like him but then again, hate sex is quite—"

"—What?" Beca exclaimed as she gave the girl an incredulous look, shaking her head firmly, trying not to think too hard about what her last statement was implying because if she was right in assuming that Amy was referring to Luke as the 'scrambled egg' then that would mean… "Dude, _no_! If you must know, the whole thing was awful."

"What was? The sex…? What was wrong with it?"

Beca sighed, shaking her head again. This was definitely a topic that she didn't want to discuss. Not now. Not ever. "Look, nothing happened, okay?"

"Hmm, well, if it's not him that's got you looking so happy then it must be…" Amy trailed off, abruptly standing up and twirling her hand around in a circle for a good five minutes, causing Beca to roll her eyes, before pointing straight at her as she decided on an answer, "Coffee delivery boy?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not _happy_," Beca replied, tapping her fingers on the desk as she turned away from Amy, loading up the computer and plugging her headphones in. "Besides, what does Jesse have to do with this?"

Amy just shrugged nonchalantly, taking another bite of her doughnut, not bothering to swallow as she opened her mouth to speak again. "You always look like you've just been laid whenever you've come back from seeing him…and you might not think you're happy right now but I recognise that look on your face, Flatbutt: it's your I've-just-had-sex face."

"Okay, that is so not true," Beca countered, spluttering slightly as she looked up at Amy in alarm [before grimacing slightly as she got a good view of the half-digested doughnut inside her mouth], rearranging her face into the most neutral expression she could manage. There was no denying that Jesse had somehow managed to pry his way into her life and _yes_, maybe she did enjoy his company and _yes_, maybe he did make her laugh with his comments…but there was nothing more to the whole thing than that and she most certainly didn't look like how, uh, Amy said she looked like after being in his presence.

"So…did you see him?"

Beca sighed, biting her lip slightly as she avoided Amy's gaze, pretending to be very absorbed in the loading screen of her computer, fully aware that this conversation wasn't going to end well for her. "Well, yes but—" She trailed off in order to take a deep breath as she heard Amy's victorious outburst of "Crushed it!", whipping her head around to shoot her a glare as the girl started punching the air, "No, okay? Just no. He's a friend."

"Friends with benefits?"

"_No_. Just a friend!" Beca exclaimed before shaking her head again, knowing that there was no point in wasting more of her time trying to convince Amy of the truth because, like Chloe, she was extremely stubborn when she wanted to be.

It was actually getting a little weird, having to constantly explain to everyone that her and Jesse were just friends and she had absolutely no idea why everyone seemed to think otherwise, especially because one, he was definitely not her type [clean-cut, dorky guys? No thanks] and two, half the time he was so ridiculous that she couldn't even take him seriously. [But...he did have an impressive musical knowledge that Beca always appreciated in a guy, plus, god, that voice of his was pretty damn impressive, not to mention all that confidence he had exuded in that video he had shown her—and _okay, Beca, stop, I think you've made your point._]

"How's your project going, anyway?"

"Eh, it's alright," Amy replied, waving her arms around carelessly, nearly dropping the rest of her doughnut on the floor, causing both of them to gasp in alarm [the last time Amy had dropped a food item on the floor, she had insisted in holding a funeral for it and the whole ordeal had traumatised both of them] "I've got these two girls, Jessica and Ashley. They seem nice and all but they're very quiet; we had a meeting the other day and it was like they weren't even there the whole time. I tried to bribe them to talk to me with chocolate icecream but it didn't work… Seriously, who refuses chocolate icecream?"

Beca just laughed, rolling her eyes, glad that she had successfully managed to change the topic onto something that she was more comfortable discussing. She couldn't blame those two girls for seeming quiet; if she was just starting up in the music industry and had to work with Amy, she was pretty sure she would have been intimidated by the girl's extroverted ways too. After all, even after having worked in such close quarters with Amy for a while now, there were still days where Amy said things that literally made her jump in alarm.

"You're more than welcome to swap with me; this guy that I've got, Bumper, he's a total…dick."

"You know, Flatbutt," Amy started, abruptly standing up in her chair as she stared down at Beca and Beca couldn't help but lean back in her seat in slight apprehension, eyeing her warily, "if they're causing you any trouble, I will totally wrestle them into oblivion for you. Just say the word."

Beca watched, wide-eyed, unable to stifle her snort of laughter as Amy started striding across the room, waving her arms and feet around wildly as she – presumably – wrestled with some imaginary figure. Her laughter simply grew as Amy started adding in sound effects and shouting nonsensical things like "I am going to flatten you into a scotch pancake and fry you like bacon!"

"—Amy, what are you doing?"

Amy jumped, completely startled, pausing mid-kick to turn towards the doorway, her face paling as she saw Aubrey standing there, giving them both an utter look of disapproval. She coughed awkwardly, putting her foot back down as she stuck her hands in her pocket, "Uh...I…Um…"

"I don't want to hear it." Aubrey said, cutting her off as she shook her head, glaring at both of them before turning to Beca, her glare only increasing in intensity. Beca frowned, shifting backwards in her seat, frantically racking her brain as she tried to think of something that she had done wrong in the past few days. She was pretty sure nothing serious had happened… "Beca, have you read my email yet? I sent you a track to listen to a couple of days ago and I still haven't had a reply. This is completely unacceptable and I swear, if I don't get a reply soon, I am going to fire you."

She blinked hard. "Um…what are you talking about?"

Turning quickly towards the computer, she opened her email inbox, scanning through the emails she had received in the past few days – and, thanks to Jesse, there were quite a lot; even though half the time she didn't bother to reply to his emails, he still kept insisting on overfilling her inbox with movie suggestions – her heart sinking a little as she located the email Aubrey had been talking about. She hastily turned back towards the door to apologise to Aubrey but the girl had already gone and she winced, knowing that she was going to pay for that later.

"_Awkward_."

Pointedly ignoring Amy's remark, she opened up a new email window, rapidly typing out a message:

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_Okay, you need to slow down on the emailing a bit, dork. I just got in trouble with my boss because I missed an important email that was buried beneath all of yours..._

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_Oh shit, Beca, I am so sorry. I didn't realise this was your work email address. Do you have a personal email account or something? I have so many moviecation ideas to fill you in on and so little time!_

_[PS - I'm kidding, I really am sorry.]_

Beca rolled her eyes at his response, split between being amused that he had actually _swore_ [even if it was in an email] because it wasn't exactly something that she had heard him do too often and being amused that, as usual, he managed to turn the whole thing back to his moviecation. She wasn't going to lie though, she was sort of looking forward to whatever he had planned; there was just something about being in his company that made everything, even _movies_, seem a tiny bit better. [Still, if she had the choice, she'd much rather listen to more of his music or…watch more of his a capella videos [!] than watch a movie but Jesse had proved to be impressively persistent about the whole moviecation thing.]

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_Nope. This is my only email account._

**To: Beca Mitchell  
From: Jesse Swanson **

_What? That's crazy! How can you not have a personal email address?_

She frowned, her hands hovering over the keys as she thought hard about his seemingly innocent question. To be honest, she wasn't a hundred percent sure of the answer but she guessed it was mostly because she had never felt the need to get one before, as strange as it sounded. After all, her only real friend throughout college had been Chloe and, well, she saw Chloe on a daily basis.

Beca sighed audibly, her hands still over the keys, trying to work out what to tell him. She didn't exactly want to go into the reasons why she didn't have an email account because it probably didn't paint her in the best light…and besides, she was almost certain that if she explained why, he would force her to make one _just for him_ or something equally ridiculous. Still, there was no denying the fact that she found his emails amusing and that she liked reading them when she was taking a break from her work and…okay, maybe she didn't really want him to stop and if she was going to put an end to him emailing her through her work account, well, there was only one other option.

Sighing again, she quickly typed out a familiar sequence of digits, praying that he wouldn't read too much into it:

**To: Jesse Swanson  
From: Beca Mitchell **

_310-356-4738_

Several moments later and her phone flashed, indicating a new message and she rolled her eyes at the simple text that appeared on her screen:

_:) - Jesse_

_I'm going to regret this, aren't I? – Beca_

_Nope, this is great. Don't pretend like you don't love talking to me, Beca; my wit and charm knows no bounds! :) – Jesse_

She rolled her eyes again, biting her lip to stop herself from smiling. He was just too much.

_You're an idiot. – Beca_


	12. Chapter 12

**C**HAPTER **T**WELVE

About half an hour had passed since Beca had texted Jesse her number and she was more than a little surprised that her phone had gone completely silent during that time as she had been expecting Jesse to take complete advantage of what she had done and text her a couple of overly enthusiastic messages about whatever movie he was currently watching [and wanted her to watch too]. In fact, it was odd, really, that he hadn't replied to her last text because this was _Jesse_—and okay, maybe she was overthinking this. She shook her head hard, pushing all these thoughts to the back of her mind as she pulled up her email inbox again, scrolling down until she reached the email that Aubrey had been referring to earlier, sticking her headphones in her ears as she double-clicked on the track that was attached. If she didn't want Aubrey to act on her threat of firing her, she really couldn't afford to be distracted, _especially _by Jesse [because, well, he was probably one of the biggest distractions she had ever met in her life and she already had Amy rambling on about the texture of chocolate spread in the background…].

Still, she couldn't help but slowly slide her eyes over to her phone again as soon as she was one minute into the track [which, by the way, Aubrey, was awful. She didn't know who the track was by but it was so…old-fashioned and cliché and everything that she hated and she sincerely hoped Aubrey wasn't expecting a positive response to it because she wasn't going to be getting one], a wry smile slowly making its way onto her face as she noticed that she had a new message: she knew he'd cave eventually.

_Beca, I need to ask you something extremely important. You have to promise to be completely honest with me, okay? Like, seriously, I want the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if you think it'll hurt my feelings or whatever. – Jesse_

Beca blinked at the screen as she read his text, her mouth suddenly feeling a little dry. This was not what she had been expecting to find when she had navigated to her inbox in order to read his text; this sounded extremely serious and for some inexplicable reason, as she reread his loaded words, she felt more than a little nervous. She wasn't used to receiving such formal sounding messages from Jesse and, she couldn't believe she was thinking this, but reading messages from Jesse that didn't contain smileys just seemed wrong.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to ground herself a bit, she slowly typed out a response agreeing to his cryptic request, her heart racing as she frantically racked her brain, trying to figure out where this was going. What…what did he want to ask her? She bit her lip hard, praying that he wasn't about to ask her about Luke and everything that had happened between them because she…she just didn't think she was ready to share. Don't get her wrong, she liked Jesse, she did [even if he had been a complete idiot this morning and swapped her coffee for juice], but she had only ever truly opened up to Chloe about her past and she didn't think she could go through all that again, not right now...and especially not via text.

As her phone beeped again, signalling that he had replied, she bit her lip hard. Whatever it was that he was going to ask her, it couldn't be _that_ bad, could it? Slowly, ever so slowly, she pressed down on the enter key, doing a double-take as she read his text:

_What are your feelings on musical films? :) – Jesse_

Beca breathed a sigh of relief, involuntarily rolling her eyes as his words sank in before cursing herself under her breath for getting so worked up over absolutely nothing; this was Jesse, of course his 'important' question would involve something stupid like this.

_What the hell? How is that an important question? – Beca_

_How is that not? – Jesse_

_Okay, I'm sorry but please remind me: why are we friends? – Beca_

_Because I'm awesome. And so are you. :) – Jesse_

Beca shook her head at his words, unable to stop a small smile from escaping despite still feeling a little annoyed at herself for acting like such an idiot. Jesse just had a talent of making everything seem so easy and uncomplicated when her life was nothing of the sort at the moment, especially with Luke [and Bumper] in the picture…and it was nice. More than nice.

"Flatbutt, you're wearing your sex face again. Are you watching coffee delivery boy porn over there? Or…are you just eating a chocolate bar? If you're doing the latter, uh, why aren't you sharing? And if you're doing the former—actually, I'd be up for sharing the coffee boy porn too."

"—Wait, sorry, what are you talking about?" Beca asked, her eyebrows raised as she glanced up from her phone, realising that Amy was talking to her, only managing to catch the - disturbing - latter half of whatever she had said.

"Your sex face," Amy replied simply, looking at her as if she was crazy for not understanding sooner [and okay, at this point, she probably was; after all, this was a topic that Amy managed to bring up at least five times a day], "Come here, I'll show you what you look like."

Beca shot her a wary look as Amy enthusiastically beckoned her over, arms flailing around wildly, and after a moment's hesitation, she got up and walked over to the other girl's side. As she arrived there, leaning over her shoulder to see what she was doing, her eyes widened as she watched Amy navigate to YouTube and prod at the keyboard a couple of times, the words '_dingoes in heat'_ appearing in the search field—

"—No! I am not watching this again," Beca exclaimed, her hand flying up to partly shield her eyes as Amy clicked on the video, one that she was, unfortunately, very familiar with [It was one of Amy's 'all-time favourites' and there were days when she would play it on repeat until Beca threatened to destroy her doughnut stash or, quite literally, threw something at her head], "I do not look like that."

"It's a compliment, Flatbutt. Dingoes are magnificent creatures," Amy said solemnly, looking more serious than Beca had ever seen her before turning back towards the screen, typing something else into the search field, "You want to watch this cool video of numbats I found? It's got a song and everything."

"What's a numbat—actually, no, don't worry," she hastily said as Amy's eyes lit up and she opened her mouth to explain, knowing from past experience that Amy's explanations on animals, especially those native to Australia, were always long-winded and not worth listening to, "I, uh, I need to do something."

Beca quickly retreated back to her desk, seating herself down before jumping in alarm as her phone started beeping uncontrollably, frantically vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out suspiciously, her heart sinking a little as she momentarily wondered whether it had broken [because god, with all the work that Aubrey had set them over the next few weeks, she really didn't have time to get it fixed] but as she stared at the screen, her eyes widened in disbelief as she realised that all the beeping was because Jesse was, quite literally, flooding her inbox… What the hell?

_We could totally be the next, I don't know, Batman and Robin? – Jesse_

_Or maybe, Harry and Ron? – Jesse_

_Han Solo and Chewbacca? – Jesse_

"Flatbutt, what's going on over there?" Amy asked, turning around in her seat, her eyebrows raised as she whipped her head around at the constant barrage of beeping, "Did you just set off a rape alarm?"

"No, I—It's just my phone," Beca managed to reply as she hastily turned her phone on silent, shooting Amy a look of utter exasperation as the other girl began a round of the 'Bed Intruder' song [it was a wonder that she managed to get any work done, considering the amount of time she spent on YouTube, memorising the lyrics to pointless songs…], hitting her own chest in order to make a beat. She spent a couple of moments distracted by Amy's suspiciously polished impromptu performance before realising that her phone was still vibrating uncomfortably in her hand. Quickly dropping it on her desk as if it had caught on fire, she stared at it incredulously as it continued shaking across the table, the screen lighting up every few seconds. What was he doing?

"Beca, you might, you know, want to do something about that," Amy said, lowering her voice to a mock whisper as she gestured to Beca's still vibrating phone as soon as she had finished off the song with a victorious punch of the air. "I think someone wants to talk to you..." She nodded slowly in response, feeling a little shell-shocked as she roughly grabbed it from the table, her eyes widening in alarm at the sheer number of new messages she had received, each of them just containing a pair of names, quickly shooting Jesse a text:

_You keep this up and I swear, I'm never talking to you again, you weirdo. – Beca_

Beca breathed an audible sigh of relief as her phone suddenly stopped vibrating, thankful that Jesse had got the message. Sure, she had learnt to appreciate his persistence and enthusiasm over the past few weeks but this, well, this abuse of her phone was verging on being too much for her to handle. She could deal with the coffee cup messages every morning and she could deal with the occasional email [because emails were so much easier to ignore] but she had accumulated over twenty texts in the past five minutes and it was getting to the point of being, frankly, ridiculous, even for him. The dork clearly didn't know when to stop, a fact that was proved seconds later when,

_Sherlock and Watson? – Jesse_

_Schmidt and Jenko? – Jesse_

_That's it. I'm switching my phone off. – Beca_

Beca frowned at her phone, rubbing at her forehead in slight frustration as it instantly began flashing again. Don't get her wrong, she knew that by giving him her number, he was going to use it…but it had never crossed her mind that he was going to use it like _this_. He was literally texting her non-stop and she really didn't know what to do about it.

_Shrek and Donkey? – Jesse_

_Frodo and Sam? – Jesse_

She sighed loudly, throwing her phone into her bag, unable to deal with the whole situation [or rather, unable to deal with _him_] right now. She really needed to get some work done before she lost her job and that was something that was impossible to do with Jesse's constant interruptions.

Despite what she had told Jesse though, her phone was still on and later, after she had actually managed to make some progress with her work and had sent an email to Aubrey giving her a brutally honest opinion of the track she had been sent, she couldn't help but feel ever so slightly amused by the alert that she found on her phone signalling that she had received forty six new texts since she had last checked [seriously forty six!]. Scrolling to the latest text she had received, she quickly opened it, raising an eyebrow in surprise as she found that it didn't contain, as she had predicted, another pair of characters from some stupid movie but instead,

_Beca, um, I'm really sorry. I think I might have got a tiny bit carried away. – Jesse_

_A tiny bit? – Beca_

_Okay, a lot. And I'm sorry, really, I am. I swear I'll make it up to you. God, I'm not doing very well today, am I? :( – Jesse_

Beca shook her head lightly as she read the message, biting her lip as she tried her best to hold back a wry smile. She wanted to be annoyed at him for his antics, she really did…but there was just something about the sheer earnestness of his apology that made it almost impossible. Besides, she guessed if she really thought about it, all he had been trying to prove [in his own, over the top, ridiculous Jesse way] was that they were _friends_ and she couldn't exactly hold a grudge against him for that, could she? It was…nice, she supposed, that he cared enough about her that he had spent the last half an hour continuously texting her, even if it had almost driven her crazy—and okay, she could forgive him. Just this once.

_Don't worry about it. – Beca_

* * *

Jesse grimaced, cursing himself violently under his breath as he stared at the phone in his hands in disbelief at what he had just done. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just play it cool for once in his life? He wasn't even sure exactly what had triggered his, uh, spamming of Beca's phone just now except that, okay, maybe he had gotten a little too excited by the fact that Beca had given him her number because, uh, this was _Beca_ and this was the last thing he had expected her to do, especially after his little swapping-her-coffee-for-juice stunt this morning. [Plus it helped that, thanks to Chloe, he now knew that she didn't have a boyfriend and…yeah.]

Once he had started texting her, he just hadn't been able to stop, adrenaline rushing through his veins and movie characters floating through his brain. His fingers had moved involuntarily, sending text after text even though she had clearly started to get pretty annoyed by him…and who could blame her? After all, he had spent the last five minutes scrolling through their completely one-sided conversation, his eyes widening in absolute horror and embarrassment as he realised the sheer multitude of texts he had sent her in the last hour and oh, god, Beca was right: he was such an idiot. He had just managed to get her to warm up to him enough for her to give him her number and here he was, completely abusing it and probably making her feel like she never wanted to talk to him again.

"Are you alright there, Jess? What's wrong?" Chloe asked, suddenly appearing beside him as she examined him, a slightly worried expression on her face as she took in his clearly distressed state. He had been in an annoyingly good mood all shift [to the extent that both Stacie and her had thrown various objects at him to get him to_ shut up_] and she wondered what had happened to make him look like this so quickly.

"I'm an idiot," Jesse announced dejectedly, echoing the thoughts that were running through his head as he shrugged his shoulders miserably at the redhead, "I am an actual idiot."

"That you are, Jesse. Glad you finally figured it out." Stacie piped up from beside him and Chloe turned to shoot her a look of warning. Stacie simply rolled her eyes in response, unfazed, as she let out a small laugh, leaning over to pat Jesse's shoulder in mock consolation, "Don't worry, Jesse, I know plenty of girls who dig that sort of thing. Once, I met this girl in the gym changing room and she told me that she met this guy—"

"—Stacie, you're not helping," Chloe cut in quickly, shaking her head firmly at the brunette to get her to stop speaking before she launched into another one of her sex-filled stories, as she moved her gaze back to Jesse again, her eyes filled with concern, "Jess, seriously, you okay?"

"Nope. I don't think I'll ever be okay," Jesse said gloomily as he slumped down onto the counter dramatically, covering his face with his arms as he sighed, "God, Chlo, what's wrong with me?"

"Do you really want to know the answer to that, Swanson?" He heard Stacie ask, her voice slightly muffled by his current position, "The list is endless. I mean, first of all, you talk too much, especially about movies that no-one cares about, your ego is way too big, you—"

"—_Stacie_!" It didn't take long before he felt Chloe's hand on his shoulder, her grip reassuring as she leaned down to his level, her concerned eyes finding his. "Ignore her, Jess. You're not an idiot, well, most of the time, anyway. Tell me what's wrong and I'll try and help, I promise."

Jesse sighed, shaking his head as he slowly dragged himself back up from the table with a groan, shooting Chloe a grateful look before his eyes involuntarily slid over to his phone which still had his conversation with Beca _proudly _displayed on the screen [if he could even call it a conversation…] and to his absolute horror, before he could react, Stacie had followed his gaze and had stuck her hand out, successfully removing it from his reach.

"Stacie, give that back!" he pleaded, his heart racing as Stacie raised her eyebrows, giving him an innocent look as she dangled his phone in front of him, laughing as he attempted desperately to retrieve it. "I'll do anything, just give that back."

"Stace, maybe you should. I mean, if he doesn't want you to read it…" Chloe said, glancing between the two of them, a worried expression still on her face. It was no use though; Stacie simply shook her head, an overly amused smile on her lips as she glanced at the screen, causing Jesse to drop back down onto the counter again, hiding his face as he cringed at his own stupidity and the humiliation that was inevitably about to come.

"Oh my god," Stacie exclaimed gleefully as she started scrolling, causing Jesse to let out a muffled moan of anguish. "_Oh my god_. Chloe, you have to see this, this is absolutely hilarious."

"Stacie, stop, I'm not reading it." Chloe replied, putting her hand up to push away the phone that Stacie was now wildly sticking in her face as she turned back towards Jesse, putting a hand on his shoulder again, "Jess, whatever you did, I'm sure it's fine. It can't be _that _bad."

"Nope, you're wrong. It really is that bad," Stacie supplied helpfully between gasps of laughter as she continued scrolling up through the conversation. "Chloe, this is _priceless_. I don't think I've ever seen anything so funny."

Jesse groaned, burying his head further into the counter, feeling his face getting uncomfortably warm as he flushed with embarrassment at Stacie's reaction. He knew he had a habit of getting carried away sometimes, especially around girls he liked or when he was talking about movies, and this had involved both of those things at the same time and god, he had reached a whole new level of idiocy and—

"—Oh my god, no way, there's more? Jesse, just how many texts did you send her?"

"Wait, is this about Beca?" Chloe asked, quickly pulling on the back of Jesse's shirt to get his attention as realisation sank in, her previous concern disappearing from her voice, "Okay, Jess, what did you do?" He groaned again, slowly lifting his head up from the counter, his face still pink, his eyes widening in dismay as he watched Chloe finally accept his phone from Stacie, beginning to read the conversation on the screen, a smile playing on her lips.

"Oh no, please don't read it Chloe," he begged half-heartedly but it was too late and he watched miserably as her smile got wider and wider until she glanced over at Stacie and they both collapsed in hysterics. "I hate you two," he mumbled, putting his head back down onto the counter. Today was really not his day. "Don't mind me, I'm just going to go and crawl into some ditch somewhere far, far away after my shift…"

"Aw, no, come on, Jess, it's not that bad," he heard Chloe say and he glanced up momentarily to shoot her an incredulous look, eyebrows raised. "Okay, fine, it's pretty bad," she corrected with a shrug of her shoulders, "But honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. It doesn't sound like she's holding a grudge. She's probably forgotten all about it by now."

Jesse didn't reply, still mentally cursing himself. After he had realised what an idiot he had been, he had sent her an apology text and tried to smooth things over and although she had pretty much told him it was fine, the whole thing was still so embarrassing; he was a grown man, for god's sake, not a fifteen year old boy hyped up on hormones and sugar. He needed to get a grip.

"Okay, Swanson, you clearly need my help," Stacie said minutes later, her voice grave as she patted his back and he lifted his head up quickly at her words, his eyes widening in alarm, "I have a plan."

"No, I—I'm fine, I don't need your help," he replied, gritting his teeth as he stared at her, shaking his head adamantly, knowing from past experience that Stacie's 'plans' were often outrageous; the last thing he wanted was for Beca to get involved in all that, not when he had proved that he was perfectly capable of making a mess of things all by himself.

Stacie scoffed at his words, her eyes raised in disbelief as she pointed at his phone and he sighed, letting out another groan. He was really never going to live this down. "Don't worry, Jesse, I have it all under control."

Without further ado, he snatched his phone back away from her gaze, pointedly walking to the other end of the counter as he ignored her laughter behind him, his fingers moving over the keys as he typed out another apology.

_Stop, I said I was over it. - Beca_

_You promise? - Jesse_

_Yes, you idiot. Now go back to telling me about whatever terrible movie you're currently watching, all this apologising is getting weird. - Beca_


	13. Chapter 13

**C**HAPTER **T**HIRTEEN

_Beca, meet me after work? I need to talk to you about something :) - Chloe_

Frowning again at Chloe's cryptic text, Beca pushed the door of the coffee shop open, raising an eyebrow in confusion as she found that not only was Chloe not there but neither was Jesse. Instead, the only person behind the counter was a brunette girl, one that, thanks to Chloe, she had heard plenty of…disturbing stories about. Beca sighed to herself; due to being forced to listen to Amy ramble on about her multiple boyfriends on a daily basis [boyfriends that Beca wasn't entirely sure actually existed but Amy had threatened to turned her into a mashed potato – complete with garlic and herbs and butter and onions and many other ingredients – when she had tried questioning her further so she now just gave her the benefit of the doubt], she had heard more than enough sex-related stories and, well, she didn't particularly want to hear anymore. Before she had the chance to hide and wait for someone else to return though, the girl in question glanced up, spotting her, smiling a little _too_ widely at her as she beckoned her over.

"Hi, Beca," the brunette greeted as soon as Beca had hesitantly made her way over to the counter before lowering her voice, giving Beca an overexaggerated wink as she added, "So, I've been wondering: what do you think about Jesse? He's not too hard on the eyes, right?"

Beca frowned, raising an eyebrow as she bit her lip hard at the other girl's words, taken aback by her forwardness [not to mention, of course, the completely _inappropriate_ topic of her question…], especially because they had never really spoken before. "Uh, I'm sorry, I don't…I don't know you?"

The other girl simply shrugged, looking completely unbothered by her less-than-enthusiastic response as she quickly introduced herself, "I'm Stacie. You might not know me but I know _plenty_ about you." Beca raised an eyebrow again; she wasn't particularly surprised that the girl – Stacie – knew who she was [after all, she had been spending more and more time at the coffee shop lately] but she didn't particularly like the way she emphasised the word 'plenty'… She opened her mouth to question Stacie further but before she had the chance, the girl had already continued speaking.

"There's not much you need to know about me," Stacie stated with a shrug, waving a nail file around dismissively, before leaning over the counter towards Beca, causing her to back away ever so slightly, "…except that I have a lot of sex. Just yesterday, I was in the supermarket aisles and there was this guy on a ladder stacking cans and I—"

"—Dude, no offence but I really don't want to hear about this. I know I'm a bit early but is Chloe here?" Beca interrupted quickly, her eyes widening in a mixture of horror and disgust as Stacie ignored her, continuing to recount the events of her day as if she had never spoken, using her hands to...illustrate the story. Beca grimaced as Stacie started explaining _exactly _what she had done to the guy, biting her lip as she made a mental note to never let Amy come within a ten foot radius of her as god, they were both just as blunt and open about everything as each other and it would definitely not be a good thing if they were ever introduced.

"But anyway, that's enough about me," Stacie finally said and Beca breathed a sigh of relief, feeling slightly violated by the unwanted images Stacie had put into her head, before sighing audibly as the girl added, "Chloe's still out, she should be back in about half an hour though."

"Okay, great, I'm…I'm just going to sit over there," Beca replied slowly, gesturing towards a table next to the front door, wanting to get as far away as the girl as possible before she launched into another story. To her surprise though, as soon as she had turned to go, Stacie's hand had shot out and grabbed her arm and Beca glanced down with a frown before lifting her gaze to shoot her an incredulous look, "Uh, can you…let go?"

"Nope," the girl replied with a shrug of her shoulders before beckoning to the seat opposite her, her tone suddenly authoritative, "Sit down." Beca raised her eyebrows, shaking her head as she stayed exactly where she was and Stacie just shrugged again, "Suit yourself."

A beat of silence passed, Beca eyeing the other girl suspiciously before finally, Stacie opened her mouth to speak again, a slow smile making its way across her face as she fixed her with a calculating stare. "So, now that we've gotten to know each other…" Stacie started, causing Beca to give her a look of utter disbelief [because if that was what she thought the last few minutes were about then…wow. Just wow. Then again, she guessed she did know more about the girl now than she was ever going to need to...], "What _do _you think of Jesse? He's got a strong jawline, broad shoulders, not to mention those _eyes—_"

"—Uh, I'm sorry, where are you going with this?" Beca hastily interrupted, backing away ever so slightly, taken aback by the sudden change of subject. Why was it that everyone she spoke to in the past couple of days seemed to want to talk about Jesse? Don't get her wrong, she liked him and all but this...this was getting ridiculous.

"I'm just saying, he's cute in a boy-next-door type of way," Stacie continued, completely unfazed by Beca's outburst, "Plus, like, I know you can't tell thanks to all those stupid shirts that he likes to wear but I know for a fact that he works out and that he's got a nice set of abs on him—"

"—Beca?" Beca breathed a sigh of relief, turning towards the sound of Jesse's voice to her left, biting back a smile as he came into view, a slightly lopsided grin on his face because _god_, even despite his incessant texting earlier, she didn't think she had ever been so glad to see him. His smile fell a little as he noticed Stacie beside her, an overly innocent smile on the other girl's face, "Oh god, Stacie, what did you say to her?"

"Don't you worry, Swanson. I told you I had it all under control," Stacie replied, smiling sweetly at him before getting up from her chair. "I'll leave you two alone," she said with a laugh as she gracefully dodged the cup that Jesse threw at her, walking off towards the staffroom, winking obnoxiously over her shoulder as she added, "Be safe! Use protection!"

Jesse grimaced, flushing slightly at the implications of her words [he was actually going to kill her later], quickly shooting Beca an apologetic look before all of a sudden feeling a little queasy as he wondered exactly what Stacie had just been telling Beca about him. Despite claiming to want to 'help' him, he knew that whatever she had said was most likely not in his favour [after all, he still wasn't completely convinced that she had forgiven him for telling Chloe about her little…stockroom incident] and he knew he needed to do some damage control. Fast. "Beca," he finally said, running a hand through his hair nervously, "I don't—I, uh, look, whatever Stacie told you about me, I swear it's not true."

Beca blinked, an amused expression slowly crossing her face as she watched Jesse get increasingly more flustered in front of her eyes; clearly, he had automatically assumed that Stacie had told her something embarrassing about him [which, come to think of it, would have been a much better first conversation to have had with the brunette...] and oh, she was going to have some fun with this. "Are you sure about that, dork?" she asked, keeping her expression as neutral as possible whilst raising her eyebrows slightly, "I mean, she was _very convincing_."

Beca watched in satisfaction as Jesse shook his head hard, continuing to deny whatever he thought Stacie had told her, reached up to rub at the side of his jaw with a pained grimace. It was weird, really, to see him like this because she was used to being greeted by the overly persistent, annoyingly [well, sometimes] self-assured Jesse but she wasn't going to lie, seeing him so rattled, well, it was more than a little funny. Twisting her lips into a smirk, she casually repeated Stacie's – real – words from their conversation just now, hoping to throw him even further, "So, let me get this straight…you don't have nice abs?"

He blinked hard, physically recoiling in disbelief as her words sunk in, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times as he struggled to form a sentence, "No, I—uh, wait, what_?!_" Beca simply raised an eyebrow at him, more amused than she had been in months_,_ and Jesse paused abruptly, taking a deep breath as he mentally told himself to pull it together. She gave him an innocent smile as she watched him slowly regain his composure, a grin slowly making its way across his face as he started to look more like the excessively effervescent dork she was used to talking to. "I…yes, I do," Jesse finally said with a nod as he straightened up, leaning towards her as he winked, adding, "Isn't it obvious?"

Beca tilted her head to the side as she examined him, pretending to seriously consider his words [because, okay, she could admit that there was some grain of truth to what Stacie had told her; she wasn't blind, there was no denying that Jesse had a certain...appeal but he just wasn't her type, despite what Chloe or Amy or whoever else seemed to want to believe] before just shrugging her shoulders, giving him the most indifferent look she could manage. As he clutched his chest dramatically at her reaction, moaning something – ridiculous_ –_ about how she was always stomping all over his manliness, she scoffed, leaning over to hit him on the shoulder with a roll of her eyes: "Idiot."

Beca watched, a little bemused, as Jesse suddenly sobered up again at her comment, his eyes meeting hers, "I…Beca, I really am sorry for earlier, by the way. I don't know what came over me, I just—"

"—Dude, stop, I said it was fine," she cut in as he started to launch into another apology, rolling her eyes at him in exasperation. He shut up abruptly, a sheepish look on his face and she rolled her eyes again, standing on her tiptoes to pat him on the head in a pitying manner [and okay, _maybe_ she had to wait until Jesse realised what she wanted to do and ducked down ever so slightly to make it easier for her...sometimes she hated being short]. "Don't worry, I know how difficult it is for you to control your weirdness," she said, in a consoling fashion, a smirk crossing her face as he mock pouted at her, "Just try harder next time, okay?"

Jesse just laughed, nodding once before effortlessly reaching up to push her hand away from where it was still hovering near his face. "So, when are you next free for part two of your _awesome_ moviecation with your _awesome_ friend?" He asked, as soon as Beca had retrieved her hand, his words causing her to roll her eyes at him again, "I've got a whole bunch of movies picked out for you."

She pursed her lips, thinking hard, not even bothering to try and pretend like she didn't want to arrange something with him because she could tell by the slightly smug look on his face that he would instantly know she was lying. It was strange, really, and for the millionth time, she stopped to wonder how on Earth he had managed to get under her skin like this. If someone had told her a couple of months ago that she would find herself enjoying a movie, let alone enjoying one in the presence of a guy like Jesse, she would have burst out laughing…but now, well, now it wasn't so funny. But in a good way.

"Uh, I don't think I can do any day next week because I've got loads of work I need to do and I can't really get away from the studio," Beca said eventually, shooting him an apologetic look, biting the inside of her cheek as she watched his face fall ever so slightly in response to her words. As she stared at him for a beat longer, her mouth had opened again and without even knowing what she was doing, she added, "But I can do Sunday?"

He nodded slowly, his grin returning with full force as he started to enthusiastically fill her in on his plans for her moviecation before his smile faltered slightly as he remembered something, "Wait, Beca, I forgot. I'm not working on Sunday?" She nodded in understanding, shrugging her shoulders lightly, for some inexplicable reason, feeling way more disappointed than she knew she should be at this news; after all, it wasn't like she wasn't going to see him at all over the next week. Jesse had a habit of appearing everywhere…and yes, _okay_, she sort of liked it, even if she kept trying to tell herself she didn't. A moment of silence passed, Jesse simply eyeing her, giving her a calculating look before adding, "But I mean, I guess I can come in anyway?"

"No, don't worry," Beca said, shooting him a smile, because only Jesse would want to come into his workplace on his day off just so that he could continue to educate her on movies. "It's your day off, don't come in just for me?"

Jesse opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to argue before closing it again, nodding slowly as he lifted his gaze to meet hers and she frowned at the mysteriously indecipherable look on his face. He took a deep breath, as if he was psyching himself up for something before adding casually, "Okay, well, in that case…why don't you come over to mine?"

She stared at him, giving him an incredulous look [because out of everything that she had been expecting him to say…_that _wasn't it and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about them taking their friendship outside of the coffee shop] and as a minute went by and she didn't reply, he ducked his head down, breaking eye-contact, running a hand through his hair in what she was beginning to realise was a nervous tic of his, "Or…not. I—You know what? Forget I said anything, I'll come here on Sunday, okay?" He lifted his head back up, smiling at her, his eyes warm as he started rambling on about movies again, "You're going to love the movies I've picked. I figured that because you so clearly enjoyed my a capella video – don't even try to deny it, Beca, we were amazing and you know it – I'd go for a musical film for your next moviecation session? There are so many classics: Grease, RENT, The Sound of Music—"

Beca shook her head slightly at him, rolling her eyes as he waved his arms around in order to emphasise what he was saying. She guessed it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if she went over to his; they were friends, after all…and look at him, the dork was clearly harmless. "Text me your address," she found herself saying moments later, smirking as he stopped mid-sentence, gaping at her in complete surprise, "And when I say text me your address, I'm expecting _one_ text, not seventy three."

* * *

Jesse couldn't believe his luck, he really couldn't; not only had Beca forgiven him for his embarrassing stunt earlier, she had also agreed to another moviecation [and at _his _place too]. To be honest, he had been expecting Beca to put up a fight about the whole thing or just refuse altogether but to his astonishment, she had done nothing of the sort. He guessed that was what he liked about Beca though; that despite everything he had learnt about her, she never failed to surprise him and keep things interesting.

"Earth to Jesse," Beca said dryly, waving a hand impatiently in front of his face and he blinked, refocusing his gaze, shooting her a grin as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, quickly typing out his address. "God, you are such a weirdo."

He just shrugged his shoulders, still beaming at her, unfazed by her words; her agreeing to another moviecation so effortlessly had put him in such a good mood that he was positive that nothing would be able to put a damper on it, especially not Beca herself. "There's nothing wrong with weirdos, Beca," he said gravely, "Besides, it's not like you're not a weirdo too."

Beca raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms as she stared up at him defiantly and he couldn't help but grin even wider because god, she was so small and, despite the ear spike, he was pretty sure she couldn't hurt him. Maybe. "Excuse me? I am_ not_ a weirdo."

"You totally are," Jesse informed her, patting the hand she was resting on the counter, letting out a laugh as she whipped it away from him, her eyebrows still raised, "But it's okay, us weirdos can stick together and—"

"—Hey, Becky."

Jesse lifted his head in surprise to glance at the door as he watched Beca instantly freeze and pale, his eyes darkening slightly as he spotted the familiar-looking blond man walking towards them—okay, so he had been wrong a few seconds ago; if anything could put a damper on his good mood, _this_ was it.

"Luke, what are you doing here?" Beca asked flatly as she slowly turned to face the other boy, her expression suddenly hard and Jesse rubbed his face a little nervously, wondering whether he should leave them alone and call Chloe. "And I told you, don't call me that."

Jesse glanced between the two of them as an awkward silence fell, both of them just staring at each other, before clearing his throat, slowly backing away, able to _feel_ the tension in the room but before he could get very far, Beca's hand had whipped out to grab his sleeve, effectively keeping him where he was. He shot her an unsure look – the last thing he wanted to do was eavesdrop on a conversation between her and her ex-boyfriend, especially when she hadn't exactly been very open [or open at all] about the details of their relationship in the past – but Beca simply turned away from Luke slightly, shooting him a panicked look as she mouthed a single word: _Stay_. She didn't want to be left alone with Luke, not when she had absolutely no idea what his motives for coming down here to find her were, and having Jesse beside her made her feel a little...calmer, _safer_.

Jesse nodded slowly as Beca released his sleeve, staying where he was; he wasn't going to lie, he didn't particularly want to stay because not only was the atmosphere in the room suddenly so suffocating but, well, seeing Luke just served as a painful reminder that he was definitely out of her league…but he couldn't exactly walk away, could he? She had actually asked for his help, something that he knew didn't exactly come easily to her, plus…there was something extremely untrustworthy about this guy and he didn't want to leave Beca alone in his company. He watched wordlessly as Luke simply smiled, glancing between the two of them before sticking his hand out towards him, "So, Beca, introduce me. Who's this?"

Beca didn't reply, giving him an incredulous look and after a moment's hesitation, Jesse slowly shook Luke's hand, wincing inwardly at the unnecessarily strong force that the other man instilled into his handshake [seriously, what the hell? Was he trying to break his hand or something?]. "I'm Jesse," he said, smiling politely through his gritted teeth, "I'm just a friend of Beca's?"

The other man nodded, a slightly smug look crossing over his face, causing Jesse to frown, feeling a little self-conscious all of a sudden. "Nice to meet you," he replied coolly, in that annoying British accent of his [it was weird, he had absolutely nothing against British accents in general – in fact, he quite liked them – but coming from Luke? It just got on his nerves], "I'm Luke. Beca and I, we go way back."

"Luke, what are you doing here?" Beca repeated, interrupting the stare-off that was going on between the two boys, "You can't just turn up like this. If you want to see me, text me first."

"Beca, come on, don't be like that, we're friends," Luke said, moving his gaze from Jesse to Beca, a slight hardness to his tone and Jesse raised his eyebrows a little at the sudden change, "I already said I was sorry, how long are you going to hold this over me? We're going to have to see each other a lot over the next few weeks so can we please be professional? It's hard enough handling Bumper, I don't want to be fighting with you too—"

"—I'm sorry, _professional_?" Beca asked, her voice slightly higher than usual, and Jesse took a small step in her direction as he sensed her sudden distress until his arm was touching hers, fixing Luke with a hard frown as he felt her lean against him ever so slightly, "Did you really just say that to me?"

"Becky, I said I was sorry," Luke repeated, "How many times am I going to have to say it until you believe me?"

Jesse glanced down at Beca as he heard her take a deep breath, shifting more of her weight against his arm, looking visibly shaken by…whatever they were talking about and he couldn't help but cut in to the conversation, hoping to steer some of Luke's focus off of Beca and onto him instead. "Beca," Jesse stated firmly, "Her name is _Beca_."

Luke raised an eyebrow as he looked at him before just shrugging casually, waving a dismissive hand in his direction, "Not that it's any of your business but...old habits die hard. She always used to let me call her that back when we were—"

Jesse squinted at him in disbelief because god, this guy was a complete dick [and that wasn't a word he used lightly about people, preferring to try and see the best in everyone] as Beca interrupted again, "—Luke, seriously, what did you want?"

"I just wanted to give you this," Luke said finally, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a USB stick, handing it over to her with a smile, as if he hadn't realised the negative effect his actions had just had on the other people in the room, "It's got samples of Bumper's tracks on it so you can get a feel for what he's about."

"...And you couldn't have emailed me this?"

Luke didn't say anything for a moment, the smile on his face faltering slightly as he shot Beca an indecipherable look, "Well, I guess I could have but I…I wanted to see you. Jesse, man, do you mind giving us some space?" Jesse eyed him suspiciously before glancing down at Beca, not daring to move away and leave her with him unless that was what she wanted, before shaking his head at Luke as Beca didn't say anything, her eyes looking a little unfocused.

"Look, Luke, I think it's better if you go," Jesse said, keeping his tone cool as he gestured towards the door, wanting to get him as far away from Beca as possible and after a moment of hesitation, Luke simply sighed, nodding, muttering something about how he had already said sorry. Jesse watched, satisfied, as Luke turned and walked out the door without a backwards glance before spinning Beca around to face him, his eyes scanning her face worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, his arms gripping her shoulders lightly. As Beca didn't reply, still looking quite shaken by what had just happened, he gently tugged her closer, looping his arm around her waist as he pulled her into a hug. He cursed Luke in his head as he felt her take a deep breath against his chest, wondering what he had done to her to make her so vulnerable and not at all like the usually confident Beca he was used to deflecting teasing remarks from. "If you want to talk about it, I'll listen, you know," he said, moments later, but he felt her shake her head, stepping out of his grip as she ducked her head down, avoiding his gaze.

"I know," she said quietly, because she knew he would listen, _of course_ he would, "But I…I just can't."

Jesse nodded slowly, knowing not to push her any further and instead, he gave her another concerned look before sliding his phone out of his pocket, "Do you want me to call Chloe and ask her to hurry up and get here?"

Beca glanced up at him in surprise before swallowing, giving him a grateful nod. "That'd be great, thanks," she said, slowly, "Thanks…for everything."

He shook his head dismissively, waving a hand at her as he dialled Chloe's number, "Don't worry about it," he told her, his expression sincere before sliding her eyes over to her again and deciding that okay, maybe the best thing to do was to lighten the mood a bit, "It's the least I can do after harassing your phone earlier." She smiled a little at that, sitting herself down opposite him, feeling extremely grateful that he had been here with her because with all the things that Luke had just said to her, she was pretty sure she wouldn't have survived it alone.


	14. Chapter 14

**C**HAPTER **F**OURTEEN

"Are you sure you're okay?" Chloe asked, turning to face her friend properly as she pushed the door open to her apartment, her eyes quickly searching her face for any sign of unease. "You definitely look a lot less shaken than you did when I arrived at the coffee shop but from what Jesse told me, Luke's appearance didn't go down so well?"

Beca shook her head, taking a seat on Chloe's sofa, kicking her shoes off as she thought out loud, "I'll be okay, really," she said, "I guess it just…_stung_ to hear him tell me to be professional after everything that happened."

Chloe nodded in understanding, seating herself beside her as she reached over to place her hand on top of Beca's, giving it a reassuring squeeze, "I've said it before and I'll say it again: Luke's a complete jerk and you deserve so much better."

"I know," Beca replied slowly, choosing her words carefully as she tried to express what she was feeling, a whole myriad of emotions running through her head, "I know I should hate him for what he did, I do…but I can't. Not properly, anyway. There's always a tiny part of me that wants to, I don't know, forgive him? I know that makes me an idiot but I...I can't help it."

Chloe shook her head. "No, of course it doesn't," she said, "Luke was such a massive part of your life – I mean, you guys pretty much dated throughout college _and _afterwards – so it's completely normal to feel like that, especially when he keeps reappearing uninvited?"

Beca nodded, leaning back into the sofa as she lost herself in her own thoughts again. She didn't know why but something was stopping her from telling Chloe the other reason why she had been so shaken by Luke's visit; the fact that after weeks and months of wishing for it, she had finally heard Luke admit that 'he wanted to see her' and now that she had gotten what she had wanted so desperately, she didn't feel any sense of satisfaction at all. Instead, she just felt…empty and it was unsettling.

"What did you want to talk to me about earlier?" Beca said, moments later, turning towards the redhead, giving her a slightly apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to keep talking about Luke."

"Don't apologise," Chloe cut in quickly, with an adamant shake of her head, "Never apologise for that."

Beca gave her a grateful smile before nodding at her to continue and Chloe cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, her eyes scanning Beca's face, before slowly opening her mouth to speak again, "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't actually mad at Jesse for earlier...but clearly you're not so it's fine. It's nothing."

Beca blinked, raising her eyebrows at her friend, taken by surprise, all thoughts of Luke temporarily pushed aside, "You know about the texting?"

Chloe let out a soft laugh in response, shaking her head in amusement, "It's Jess, of course I know. He's not exactly the most subtle person, is he?" Beca smiled at that because she guessed it was true; after all, he _had _sent her a million and one texts in the space of an hour [okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration but…whatever] "It's just that he felt awful about the whole thing and I thought I'd make sure you weren't holding a grudge because if you were, I'm sure we'd all be hearing him moan about it for days."

"Don't worry, I'm not mad at him," Beca replied slowly. "He's been really good to me, he handled the whole Luke situation really well?" she said, biting her lip as she remembered how he had stood solidly beside her through it all, no questions asked, and the firm tone he had used as he had ordered Luke to leave, before noticing the way Chloe was staring at her, reaching up to give her a light shove, "Chloe, stop looking at me like that. For the last time, there is absolutely nothing going on, we're just friends."

"I wasn't going to say anything!" Chloe said defensively, putting her hands up in surrender before fixing her gaze on Beca again, her expression suddenly serious, "Have you told him? About Luke, I mean."

Beca shook her head. "No, I haven't told him anything," she replied, "It's not that I don't trust him or anything like that, I just…_can't_. You're the only person I've ever told and I…I don't know where I'd even start. I want to keep him out of it anyway, it's not fair to drag him into all my mess."

Chloe pursed her lips thoughtfully, looking like she wanted to say something on the matter but instead, she just nodded slowly before changing the subject in an attempt to lighten the mood. Although Beca couldn't see it yet, Jesse was really good for her and vice versa and Chloe was confident things would work themselves out eventually. It was inevitable.

* * *

For once in her life, Beca was early and she had absolutely no idea what to do with herself. She hadn't planned on being early - far from it - but it was Sunday and she had been free all morning, mindlessly walking around her apartment as she tried – and failed – to force herself to sit down and get some work done. In the end, she had given up, putting on her shoes and making her way towards Jesse's apartment before she really knew what she was doing.

Now that she was actually here though, she couldn't quite bring herself to knock; instead, she had been standing outside his door for the past ten minutes, trying to look as casual as possible to the people walking past as her mind worked in overdrive. She just…didn't know what to expect and that put her on edge; after all, apart from that one time when he had dropped off Chloe's apology coffee at the studio [but she figured that didn't even count, considering that they weren't even friends then], she had never seen him outside the coffee shop. She just hoped that being away from the neutral ground of the coffee shop wouldn't make things weird because, well, although she would never admit it to his face [because _god_, the dork had a huge ego already], she...she liked having him around; she liked being able to tease him and get teased right back, she even liked his overenthusiasm [sometimes] but most of all, she liked the way he had defended her from Luke without even knowing what was going on. It was...nice.

With a sigh, she steeled herself, raising her hand to knock on the door twice, hoping that he was one, actually home at the moment and two, that she hadn't come at a bad time for him.

"Beca, hey!" Jesse greeted cheerfully, giving her a slightly crooked grin as he pulled the door open fully. She gave him a small smile in response before taking in his wet hair, shooting him an apologetic look as she realised that, yep, she had definitely come at a bad time.

"Hey, dork. Sorry, I know I'm early but…" she trailed off as her eyes glanced down momentarily and she noticed the very _unbuttoned_ state of his shirt, her breath catching slightly as she realised that what Amy and Stacie had alluded to was completely and utterly true.

Oh dear lord.

"Okay, Jesse, are you trying to prove a point or…?" she asked, swallowing hard as her eyes slowly skimmed passed the toned muscles of his chest, resting on the light smattering of hair near the waistband of his jeans before shaking her head _hard _as she realised what she was doing, guiltily dragging her gaze quickly back up to his face, hoping he hadn't noticed.

Jesus Christ, what the hell was wrong with her? It wasn't like she hadn't seen a shirtless guy before; after all, Luke had the - really annoying - habit of showing off his abs to unsuspecting strangers all the time back in their college days. Get a grip, Beca, it's only Jesse.

As Jesse raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, she sighed, biting her lip as she gestured towards his mid-section and he glanced down, blinking in surprise at what he saw, his hands quickly flying up to the buttons as he hastily started to do them up. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, I, uh, I just got out of the shower," he explained, giving her a sheepish grin, one hand raising up to point at his still-damp hair, the other continuing to button his shirt up, "I wasn't expecting you for another hour?"

She nodded once, pointedly keeping her eyes on his face and not allowing them to wander any lower again, especially not when he had just mentioned showering, a groan escaping her lips as he raised his eyebrows at her, a slow smug smile crossing over his face, his eyes glinting mischievously at her as he opened his mouth to speak—

"—Don't even think about it, weirdo," she said, holding up a hand to stop him from speaking as she roughly pushed past him, elbowing him in the ribs as she heard him chuckle behind her, sounding _way_ too pleased with himself. Pushing all thoughts of Jesse's half-nakedness to the back of her mind [something that was, to her chagrin, much harder than it sounded], she let her eyes scan the room, registering the numerous movie posters stuck on the walls, the DVD cases lining the shelves and the piano to the right, covered in sheet music, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the sheer…Jesse-ness of the place.

"Yes, Beca, feel free to come in," Jesse said dryly as he rubbed his ribs – god, she was stronger than she looked – closing the door behind him as he moved to stand beside her. "Are you okay, by the way? Last time I saw you, uh, you know…" he trailed off and she turned to face him, breathing a small sigh of relief as she realised that his shirt was now all buttoned up [because god, she was already having a hard time trying to forget about what was under there…], giving him the smallest of nods.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, shooting him a smile, trying to end this line of conversation as fast as possible, not wanting to think about Luke, not when she had already spent all of Friday _and_ Saturday dissecting the whole thing with Chloe, "I was just a bit…taken aback by Luke's appearance, that's all."

Jesse frowned a little at her choice of words, his eyes searching her face for a few moments, but eventually, he decided to let it go, a grin slowly making its way back across his face as he turned to the open room, gesturing wildly with his arms, "So, what do you think? I mean, I know it's a bit small but it's pretty amazing, right?"

"Yeah, amazingly dorky," she shot back quickly, immensely grateful for his change of subject, rolling her eyes at his loud gasp of indignation. She took a step forward, her eyes scanning the room again, biting back an amused laugh as she spotted the absolutely gigantic cardboard cut-out of what she was pretty sure was a _Star Wars _character in the corner, "Oh my god, no way. I can't believe you have one of those—actually, no, what am I saying? Of course I can. This is _completely_ unsurprising."

"You're wrong, I didn't exactly choose to have that here," Jesse replied, leaning against the wall, suddenly looking a little defensive as he explained, "Benji actually gave that to me a couple of weeks ago, he said he wanted me to have it as a, uh, 'token of our friendship'?"

"You're kidding."

"Nope, he pretty much forced it onto me. He's a cool guy though and I didn't exactly want to say no to him? Besides, sure, it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to having a life-sized _stormtrooper_ in my apartment but I can roll with it if it makes him happy." Jesse finished with a shrug as he eyed the obnoxiously large cut-out thoughtfully before sliding his eyes back over to her, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards as he casually added, "Don't pretend like you're not wishing you had one too, Beca. I can see right through you."

"Oh, trust me, that is definitely not what I'm thinking about," she replied, shaking her head adamantly, her eyes still fixed on the stormtrooper, "I don't even know what I would do if I had one of those."

"Well, you better get thinking," Jesse said cryptically and Beca shot her head up to stare at him in confusion, watching warily as he leant closer, a grin playing on his lips, "The last I heard, Benji had a matching one of these that he was planning on gifting to you."

She stared at him, her mouth falling open slightly as she gaped at him, completely horrified at the implications of his words because Jesus, how the hell was she going to get out of that? Benji was lovely, he really was and Beca didn't want to hurt him but if it meant having to take one of _those _home with her…

As her mind continued to work frantically, desperately trying to come up with a plausible excuse to give Benji if he tried to present her with a cardboard cut-out of her very own, Jesse suddenly collapsed into laughter beside her, his shoulders shaking and she let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding as she realised he had been kidding.

"Your face! That was priceless," he exclaimed, doubling over and she grimaced at him, reaching over to hit him on the shoulder, shaking her head at him. "Oh man, I am totally telling Benji that you really, really want one."

"Don't you dare," she said, hitting him again, "I will actually kill you."

Beca groaned as Jesse just grinned at her, straightening up a little as he tugged her in the direction of the cut-out, still laughing uncontrollably. "Come on, Beca, you know you want one—wait, _oh my god_, is it taller than you?"

She glared at him as he started laughing even harder, hitting him once again in an attempt to get him to stop. "It's life-sized, you idiot," she said, gritting her teeth, roughly pushing his hands away as he tried to position her in front of the cut-out so that he could compare their heights, "Of course it's taller than me."

"I know, it's just a _lot_ taller than you and—" he trailed off, mumbling something inaudible between gasps of hysterics and she rolled her eyes, slowly walking away from him, biting her lip before she did something stupid like – god forbid – laugh in front of him. She had to admit, the whole thing was so Benji that it was sort of funny, plus, Jesse's laughter was so contagious that she couldn't stay mad at him for talking about her height…or rather, her lack of it.

"Aw, come on, you know it's hilarious," she heard him say from behind her and she groaned inwardly as he effortlessly spun her around, his eyes glinting as he noticed her expression. "Ha, I knew it!" he said triumphantly, raising his fist, as he watched the neutral expression she had been trying so hard to maintain break, a smile reluctantly crossing her face. "Don't worry, Beca. If Benji doesn't have another one, I'll personally buy you one for your birthday. Or two. Or three. Or…_a whole squad_?"

Beca rolled her eyes at him as she shook her head in exasperation, not even bothering to respond, instead, simply biting down on her lip to stop her smile from getting any wider. She would not give him that satisfaction, not when he was still grinning so stupidly at her. After a few seconds of further chuckling from Jesse, she pointedly turned her back on the cardboard stormtrooper, glancing around the room again before slowly walking over to the piano in the corner. He followed, his laughter slowly dying away as he finally regained control over himself again, watching as she gingerly sat herself down on the stool as she eyed the messily scrawled writing on one of the pieces of paper that were strewn all over it, "You play?"

As she got no response, she glanced up to look at him, noticing the overly amused expression on his face and she grimaced because god, what was she thinking? "Sorry, that was a really stupid question," she said quickly, shooting him a glare as he cheerfully started agreeing with her, before returning back to examining the sheet of paper in her hand, trying to make sense of it.

"Move over," Jesse said, a few moments later, nudging her gently with his hip as he moved to sit beside her, tugging the sheet music from her hands and placing it upright on the music rest on the piano. "Want to hear it? It's very much a work in progress so it's a bit rough but I quite like it so far? I mean, obviously you don't have to listen to it if you don't want to but—" he stopped speaking abruptly, clearing his throat, eyeing her a little hesitantly through the corner of his eyes.

"—Hey, no, I want to hear it," Beca said, cutting him off, glancing at him in surprise as she sensed his sudden uncertainty, "Do you not let people listen to your music often?"

"No, it's…it's not that," he said, shaking his head, keeping his eyes trained on the sheet music in front of him as he continued, "It's just that I've been working really hard on this and, well, your opinion matters to me."

She smiled softly at that, giving him a reassuring smile, even though from the way he was staring straight ahead, she wasn't actually sure if he could see it. "I get it," she said finally, "Back in college, I was always making mixes of songs and I knew they were good and all but I still found it hard to muster up the courage to let Luke listen to them and…" she trailed off, suddenly freezing as she was reminded of Luke and the betrayal it had eventually led to and she gripped the edge of the piano seat, abruptly changing the subject with a shake of her head, "Play it for me."

Jesse stared at her, looking like he wasn't quite sure what happened, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say more but as she shook her head at him again, he simply shot her a slightly concerned look before nodding, resting his fingers on the piano keys. Beca watched, fascinated, as his eyes narrowed in concentration as they skimmed the sheet music, his fingers moving rapidly up and down the keyboard as he started playing, a beautifully delicate tune filling the room. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes as she just allowed herself to _listen_, unable to stop a shiver from passing unwantedly through her body as he abruptly began humming beside her, the melody his voice was carrying complementing the music that his hands were creating perfectly. She had thought his music had been great when it was solely instrumental but when it was accompanied by his voice? It was even better.

"What do you think?" Jesse asked, as he let the music die away, shifting his position on the stool so that he could see her properly, a hopeful look on his face as he waited for her reaction…and although she had wanted to come up a suitably teasing comment in response, she couldn't, not when he was looking at her so imploringly and not when he had been so good.

"It's great, Jesse, really," she replied honestly with a nod of her head, smiling at the way he grinned at her, taking a mock bow. "I don't get it, how are you still working at the coffee shop?" she asked, as soon as he had sat back down again, before hastily backtracking as she noticed the wince that spread across his face at her words, "Shit, sorry, I didn't mean it like that—"

"—No, it's okay, I know what you meant," Jesse replied, cutting her off with a slight shake of his head, as he shrugged, "I don't know. Every time I apply for a job, I get told that I'm either 'not right for the role' or I'm not experienced enough? I don't know whether that's a cryptic way of telling me I'm not good enough or—"

"—They're idiots," she said interrupting, hesitantly placing a hand on his shoulder as she continued, "You're really good, Jesse."

He shrugged again, giving her a small smile and she bit her lip, unable to find the right words to tell him exactly what she felt about his music and banish his rare show of self-doubt; Beca had never been great at expressing herself through words and this was a prime example of that. As he continued to look at her, his eyes a little wistful and unfocused, she suddenly had a brainwave, rummaging through her pockets, producing her iPod triumphantly. Jesse blinked as he registered her actions, shooting her a look of confusion but she simply shook her head, handing him her headphones as she quickly looked for the track she wanted him to hear.

As she pressed play, she smiled at the way his eyes widened in instant recognition, physically recoiling in surprise. "You put my track on your iPod?" he asked, a grin slowly spreading across his face as he continued to listen to his own composition before turning to her, his eyes locking with hers, filled with an intensity that she had never seen before, "That's…that's incredible, Beca. Thank you."

"It's nothing," she said, a few moments later as she ducked her head, the back of her neck feeling uncomfortably warm from the way he was staring at her and the seriousness of their conversation, "Just…don't give up, okay?"

He nodded at her, still grinning widely before getting up from the stool and bowing at her again before making a big show of offering her his hand and, with a roll of her eyes, she took it, allowing him to pull her up. "Come on, let's go and get this moviecation started," he said with a lopsided grin, bounding off towards the kitchen, seemingly back to normal, and she slowly followed him, rolling her eyes again as she watched him pull out two juice pouches from the fridge. What was his obsession with juice? It was plain weird.

"Dude, you really don't need to do that," she said with a shake of her head as she watched him stick the straw into one of them before handing it to her, "I told you I can open it myself…?"

Jesse simply shrugged, pausing to take a sip from his own juice before reaching his hand out to grip her shoulder, tugging her towards his movie collection on the far side of the living room, rambling on about the various movies that he wanted to show her. She zoned out from what he was saying as he started quoting the dates of the movies, along with all the different awards they had won [seriously, who knew things like that off the top of their head?], choosing instead to focus all her attention on the way his eyes were lit up excitedly, his head bobbing up and down a little, his lips moving at lightning speed and she couldn't help but smile because god, it was infectious.

_Jesse _was infectious.


	15. Chapter 15

**C**HAPTER **F**IFTEEN

It was surprising, really, how _natural_ this whole afternoon had felt so far. Jesse hadn't been sure what to expect when he had woken up this morning – after all, not only were they going to be outside of the coffee shop and in his flat, but they were going to be completely alone – and had spent the whole day pacing in his room, hoping that being away from the coffee shop wouldn't make things awkward. He knew it was strange, to be over-analysing the situation like this, but Beca wasn't like anyone he knew and he…he desperately wanted things to go well because he liked having her around. [Not to mention, you know, the fact that he liked _her._]

Once she had actually arrived though, a smile on her face [and for once, she was early_; _that had to mean something, right?], he wondered why he had even been worried in the first place_…_until he realised, with a twinge of embarrassment, that he was standing there with _his shirt undone_. Still, he had recovered well [or so he hoped?] and they had fallen back into their usual ways and it had been…easy, comfortable, fun. Plus, her reaction to him had been intriguing, to say the least; he wasn't a hundred percent sure if he had imagined it or not but he was pretty sure he had caught her checking him out and getting the tiniest bit flustered.

"You're not going to make me watch three hours of Glee, are you?" Beca asked, interrupting his thoughts as she quirked an eyebrow at him, realising that he was lost in his own world, as she slowly ran a finger across the spines of the DVDs on the shelf directly in front of her, half-heartedly reading their titles.

Jesse blinked hard, spluttering, completely taken aback by her words. "What? _No_! Beca, Glee is a TV show, it's not a movie...unless, of course, you're talking about 'Glee: The 3D Concert Movie', released in 2011, but somehow I don't think you are." He paused, squinting at her suspiciously as he noticed her staring at him with an amused expression on her face, her eyebrows raised. "Wait, I see what's going on here. You're baiting me on purpose, aren't you?"

"Yep," she replied simply, a smirk plastered on her face as she shrugged at him, rolling her eyes as he mock-pouted at her, crossing his arms defensively, "But, out of curiosity, why the hell do you know so much about Glee? Should I be worried?"

"Hey, the first season was actually quite good? It kind of went downhill after that, what with all the continuity issues and—okay, stop it, you're doing it again," he said as he stopped speaking abruptly, noticing her smirk getting wider as she watched him get carried away again over Glee, of all things. He grimaced, mentally scolding himself; he really needed to start thinking before speaking and going off on tangents about things that he was pretty sure – no, _completely _sure – she didn't care about but…there was something about Beca that made it way too easy to just be himself and ramble on about whatever was on his mind.

"Don't worry, dork, I get it," she replied as she reached over to pat him on the shoulder sympathetically, "Glee must be like heaven for you, considering your weird a capella history—"

Jesse chuckled at that, shaking his head at her as he winked, interrupting, "—And don't _you_ worry, I won't tell anyone how much you enjoyed watching my 'weird a capella' performance."

"In your dreams."

He quirked an eyebrow at her as he slowly opened his mouth, completely ready to recreate the video in real life [hey, once an a capella guy, always an a capella guy... he wasn't one to shy away from giving impromptu performances, especially not now] but before he could, Beca had kicked him lightly on the shin as she fixed him with an exasperated look, "Don't even think about it, weirdo. You start singing and I swear, I will walk out of the door right now."

Jesse just grinned in response, noticing the way she was trying her hardest to bite back a smile, knowing that despite what she had just said, she had enjoyed watching his video. Still, he wasn't about to risk her actually acting on her threat, not when he still had a moviecation to give her, so instead, he made a big show of zipping his mouth before promptly beginning to silently carry out the choreography in the video.

"Jesus Christ_,_" he heard her say, her eyes widening in horror as she watched him exaggerate all his moves, his arms flailing wildly, an annoyingly smug grin on his face, before reaching up to grab the nearest DVD she could find and throwing it at his chest.

Jesse stopped moving abruptly as the DVD hit its target and fell onto the floor, letting out a gasp as he turned it over with his foot and read the title, "Beca! You can't treat Chicago like that! Or, any movie! That's…disrespectful!" He picked it up, shooting her a slightly insulted look [because, really, no-one treated his DVDs like that and got away with it, not even Beca], quickly opening it up and checking that the DVD was still intact - from the way his chest was now sort of sore, he guessed she had thrown it pretty hard... - before breathing a sigh of relief and replacing it on the shelf.

"Disrespectful? Really? That's the word you're going for?" she echoed, giving him a disbelieving look and as he continued to stare at her, looking so damn hurt, she sighed, surrendering to his gaze, "Fine, I'm sorry, okay? Now can we please get this over with?"

Jesse nodded, a grin slowly returning to his face as he scanned the shelf, pointing out a couple of DVDs, "Okay, so I've got Grease, Hairspray, Moulin Rouge, Phantom of the Opera, RENT, Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Sound of Music, West Side Story—"

"—Wait, I get a choice?"

He blinked, a little startled by her question. "Uh, yes?" he replied, "Although now that I think about it, they're all absolute classics so I guess I'll add whichever ones you haven't seen to the list of movie options for next time?"

"Oh, there's going to be a next time, is there?" she commented, glancing over at him, her eyebrows raised, "You sound pretty confident about that." He smiled hesitantly at her in response, running a hand through his hair a little awkwardly, as he panicked inwardly, suddenly hoping that he hadn't seriously misread her signals; he had been pretty sure that she had been enjoying herself but…maybe he had been wrong?

As she tilted her head at him, her lips quirking up slightly into a smirk as she sensed his uncertainty, he breathed a sigh of relief, realising she was just messing with him, and he leant over, simply saying, "It's inevitable. You'll be back." She raised an eyebrow at that, crossing her arms and she looked so thoughtful, like she was seriously considering his words, that he couldn't help but open his mouth to speak again, his eyes glinting at her in amusement, "Besides, I'm sure you'd come over again, even if it's just to see your good stormtrooper friend over there—"

"—Okay, we're not having this conversation again, you weirdo," she cut in quickly, hitting him on the shoulder, the oddly serious atmosphere in the room quickly dissipating as she rolled her eyes at him, "Now, seriously, pick a movie: I don't care what we watch? All I ask is that if it has to be some film with people singing in it, you don't pick something that's so cheesy it's nausea-inducing because I've seen enough of those in my lifetime."

He shot her an affronted look at that [what was wrong with cheesy movies?!] before nodding slowly, taking a step back as he scanned the shelves of DVDs, looking for something that would best fit her description before finally settling on one, pulling it out and showing it to her, asking if she had seen it. As she shook her head, he grinned, gesturing for her to sit down on the sofa as he placed it into the DVD player.

"Right, so 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street', 2007. It won two Golden Globes, one for 'Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy', one for—Okay, sorry, I'll stop. I'm rambling again, aren't I?" Jesse said, running a hand through his hair a little self-consciously as he noticed the way she was staring at him, a completely bemused expression on her face. God, again, he really needed to start filtering what he was saying, it was beginning to get more than a bit embarrassing.

"No, it's okay," she said slowly, her eyes tracking his every movement, "Keep going, I'm listening, I promise."

He eyed her warily, taking a seat beside her as he continued filling her in on all the random facts about the movie that he had accumulated over the years, about to press start on the remote control when he remembered something, abruptly shooting up from the sofa again.

"Uh, what's wrong?" Beca asked, glancing up at him in surprise as she stood up as well, following him into the kitchen, slightly confused. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, no, I'm fine," he replied cheerfully, as he quickly grabbed a bowl from inside one of the cupboards, "I just remembered that I have popcorn in here. Popcorn makes any movie a thousand times better."

She rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head as she watched him rapidly prepare the popcorn with ease, as if it was something he did every day [and now that she thought about it, maybe it was_? _He did seem to watch a lot of movies...] As he tipped the kernels into the pan, she looked around the room absentmindedly before her eyes settled on the fridge, her next words spilling from her mouth before she could stop them, "Dude, do you have any more juice?"

Jesse chuckled to himself in response, glancing in her direction, his grin growing wider as she instantly scowled, as if she couldn't quite believe what she had said. Without waiting for her to retract her words, he quickly walked over to the fridge, grabbing another juice pouch and opening it before swiftly pushing it towards her.

"I knew I'd win you over," he said smugly, laughing as she scowled again, both at what she had done and at the fact that – once again – he had ignored her and opened the juice pouch for her again. "Admit it, Beca, juice is awesome."

* * *

As always, watching a movie with Beca was an…interesting experience. He had never met someone who disliked movies as much as she did and even though it pained him to do it, she had once again asked him to talk through the movie to prevent her from 'falling asleep' [her words, not his] so he had done just that. He guessed it wasn't a massive sacrifice to make – after all, he had watched this movie enough times that he could quote most of it off by heart – but still, he was pretty sure that only Beca could get him to do it. She had seemed to enjoy the movie though, especially when it got particularly bloody or when he had started singing along loudly and intentionally out-of-tune, and he supposed that was what really mattered.

"Hey, weirdo, it's getting late, I should probably get going?" Beca said, as the movie ended, glancing over at him from her position on the sofa and he nodded slowly, raising his eyebrows slightly as she showed no sign of _actually_ moving. Instead, she just sat there, staring at him in complete silence for a couple of moments and he cleared his throat a little awkwardly, confused by the whole situation, causing her to blink, a startled expression on her face as she hastily stood up.

Jesse followed suit, still a little perplexed, a frown slowly crossing his face as he glanced outside, noticing how dark it had gotten without him realising it. "Come on, I'll walk you home," he said, ignoring her protests behind him, as he quickly walked to his bedroom and grabbed his Treblemakers hoodie from his bed, pulling it on.

"You really don't have to come with me, dork," she insisted, eyeing him a little warily as he ignored her once again, quickly putting his shoes on.

"Of course I do," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he straightened up, dropping his voice to a mock whisper, widening his eyes dramatically as he added, "Who else is going to protect you from the _big, bad world_?"

Beca groaned at his antics, rolling her eyes as she shook her head at him, before making a show of looking him up and down like she had done the other day in the coffee shop, "Not you, that's for sure."

Jesse raised an eyebrow at her, tilting his head slightly as he leaned over, hoping he wasn't going to regret what he was about to say, "Really? Because when I opened the door earlier, I'm pretty sure that's not what you were thinking about me," he said, grinning widely as she pursed her lips, her arms crossed, before pointedly turning away from him and promptly walking out of his apartment without waiting for him to follow. He laughed; that reaction had to mean something, right?

"The size of your ego is ridiculous," she muttered as soon as he had caught up with her, something that wasn't too hard considering the difference in their heights, "_You_ are ridiculous."

"Ridiculously awesome?"

"Nope, ridiculously annoying," she shot back immediately, giving him an exasperated look and he blinked, smiling slightly as he noticed the way her mouth was slowly quirking upwards in amusement despite everything she had just said. Beca was definitely tough to crack but slowly, _ever so slowly_, he was getting there, he was sure of it.

"Nice try, Beca. I know that's not what you really think," he said, cheerfully, taking the tiniest step towards her as they walked out of the apartment building side by side. Sliding his eyes over to her, he opened his mouth to speak again with the sole intention of riling her up just..._because_. "Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy my company today. I mean, what's not to enjoy? Movies, juice, my awesome face—"

"—You are seriously deluded," she replied dryly, rolling her eyes at him and he grinned back, pretending to physically recoil from her words, stumbling slightly on the sidewalk, "It's a wonder you've made it so far in life."

"You know, I think I'm going to start taking all your insulting comments as compliments," he said, unfazed, falling back into step with her as he turned to face her, giving her the most earnest look he could manage, "So, _thank you_. I really appreciate it."

She scoffed, shaking her head lightly as she continued to walk, keeping her gaze focused on whatever was directly in front of her, refusing to make eye-contact with him, "Whatever makes you feel better, dork."

"Again, thank you."

"Idiot."

"Thanks."

"—Okay, stop," she said, finally whirling around to face him, her exasperation only increasing as he simply shrugged at her, a triumphant grin plastered all over his face. He knew he could get her to turn around. "You are actually ridiculous."

"I know, we went through this a couple of minutes ago, remember?" he replied before instilling some mock-concern into his voice as he reached over and placed a hand on her forehead, "You okay?"

He laughed loudly as she grimaced, roughly pushing his hand away from her head before fixing him with an irritated look as she asked, "Why do I put up with you?"

"No, Beca, I think the real question is: why do _I_ put up with you?" he countered, shooting her a smile so that she would know that he wasn't being serious…although he was pretty sure that they both knew that he would put up with anything if it meant that he got to continue spending time with her. "I mean, all you ever do is throw abuse at me. There's only so much a guy can take, you know?"

Beca seemed a little taken aback by his words, swallowing once, before breaking eye-contact and they walked in silence for a couple moments, Jesse starting to panic inwardly. She _had_ to know he had been joking, right? God, what was wrong with him? Why did he even decide to joke about that in the first place? He was an absolute idiot sometimes… "Beca, I swear, I didn't mean it—"

She shook her head, cutting him off, "No, I know you didn't," she said quietly, still avoiding his gaze as she stared at the sidewalk, "I guess, I'm just glad that you, you know, put up with me." He blinked, surprised by the sudden seriousness in her voice, biting his lip to hold back the quip that was forming on the tip of his tongue against his will, as she continued, a little hesitantly, "I never did properly thank you for staying with me the other day when Luke was there so…thanks."

He blinked again, noticing the way her shoulder tensed at the mention of Luke and he bit his lip a little harder, quickly placing his hands on her shoulders as he spun her around, gently lifting her head up, locking his eyes with hers, "Well, actually, I'm pretty sure you did...but hey, come on, you don't need to thank me," he said, "That's what friends are for, right?"

She held eye-contact with him for a few seconds before slowly nodding and he smiled at her before starting to walk again, not saying anymore on the matter as he wondered for the thousandth time, what on Earth Luke had done to her to make her so vulnerable. Sure, he hadn't known the guy for very long but god, he already hated him. As he slid his eyes over to her, noticing the way she had crossed her arms around herself, shivering a little, presumably from a combination of Luke and the cold, he wordlessly shrugged off his hoodie, handing it over to her.

"Oh, no, don't worry, I'm fine," she said, jolted out of her thoughts as she glanced up at him in surprise, her hand instantly rising to push it back towards him, "My place's not much further, anyway."

He shook his head, searching her face for a second before promptly deciding that the atmosphere was _way_ too serious, especially for this late at night, lowering his voice as he leaned over, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Don't worry, Beca. I'm not doing this because I – _god forbid_ – care about you and want you to stay warm," he said as she continued to push his hand away, protests falling from her lips, "I'm doing this because I can't have you dying before I get the chance to tell Benji to buy you a giant cardboard stormtrooper?"

She blinked at him, letting out a breath as she glanced up, a reluctant smile appearing on her face at his words. Jesse really was the best distraction; she didn't know how but he always seemed to know what to say to take her mind off Luke and, well, she didn't know how she had managed to get by for so long without him—and okay, whoa, where had that come from? Shaking her head, she eyed him again, an amused glint in her eyes, "Okay, stop right there. What did I say about the stormtrooper?"

"That you don't know how you've managed to live for so long without one in your life? That you would really, _really _like your awesome friend Jesse to get you one?" He asked, smiling at her innocently, chuckling to himself as she cocked her head to the side, fighting the urge to laugh. Taking a moment to pull herself together, she slowly rearranged her features into a neutral expression, fixing him with a wary look. "Come on, Beca, just take it," he said again, pushing his hoodie towards her once more, "It won't kill you, I swear."

As she started protesting again, her arms still wrapped tightly around herself, he sighed, realising that he was going to have to try a more drastic tactic. Sliding his eyes over to her contemplatively, he took a deep breath before quickly leaning over, flinging his free arm around her shoulder as he placed her in an awkward headlock, "Look, Beca, if you don't want the hoodie, I guess we'll have to share body heat instead; like I said, I can't have you catching pneumonia and dying on me—"

"—Okay, _okay_, dude, give me the stupid hoodie," she gritted out as she abruptly stopped mid-stride, desperately attempting to wriggle out of his hold, her efforts getting more frantic as he just laughed at her. After a few moments of more struggling, he finally loosened his grip, letting her go as he handed his hoodie over.

"God, you are such a weirdo," she stated as she took a step back from him and he just shrugged, a smug smile crossing his face as she slowly tugged his hoodie on, looking immensely displeased about the whole situation, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing as it literally engulfed her small frame.

"What's so funny?" she asked, as soon as she had finished rolling up the sleeves in an attempt to make herself look a little more presentable, eyeing him warily.

"You? It's just that you're so…small," he shot back, laughing as she tilted her head to the side, squinting up at him, before promptly hitting him on the shoulder again...though this time, there was some force behind it…and it didn't look like she was going to stop any time soon. "Beca! Stop! I take it back!"

"You better," she said, shooting him another glare, and he just laughed because he really couldn't take her seriously, not when she was buried underneath a mass of material. "I am _not_ that short." He raised an eyebrow in amusement, leaning over to pat the top of her head, his laughter just growing as she whirled around to face him, giving him an indignant look as she started hitting him again.

"Okay, okay, you're not short at all…!"

* * *

Jesse wasn't going to lie; he was more than a little disappointed when they finally arrived at the street where her apartment was located, his attempts at getting Beca's mind off Luke and whatever that jerk had done to her seemingly successful as they continued to tease each other all the way up to her door [his arm getting very sore in the process…but in a good way. He guessed.] It was just so easy to be around her and he was having way too much fun and he didn't really want it to end.

"Hey, so this is me," Beca said as she gestured behind her, still smiling from some stupid joke that he had just told her. He nodded in response, sticking his hands in his pockets as he grinned down at her, shifting his weight slightly so that he could lean against the wall. She watched him silently for a few moments, her expression unreadable as her eyes searched his face before she opened her mouth to speak again. "Thanks for today," she said slowly, before twisting her lips into a smirk as she added, "The movie was…_bearable_, I guess."

Jesse pulled a face at her, shaking his head before replying, an easy smile on his lips as he pushed himself off the wall again, getting ready to leave; he wasn't a complete idiot, he wasn't going to ruin their day by pushing it any further and doing something that he was pretty sure they'd both regret. "Anytime. I guess I'll just…see you when I see you?"

Beca nodded, giving him one final smile as she pushed open the door to her apartment, closing the door behind her, jumping slightly as her phone suddenly beeped, the noise eerily loud in the silence of her apartment. She pulled it out of her pocket, a wry smile crossing her lips as she read the message:

_Goodnight, Beca :) [PS - Don't worry, I'll text Benji about that stormtrooper...] – Jesse_

'_Night, weirdo. – Beca_


	16. Chapter 16

**C**HAPTER **S**IXTEEN

Even though somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it was a totally creepy thing to do, Beca ended up falling asleep in Jesse's hoodie that night, completely exhausted from their – admittedly quite enjoyable – afternoon. There was no rational explanation for it, really, except that his hoodie was warm and _comfy_ and okay, she had no idea what cologne Jesse used but maybe, just maybe, it smelt good too. When she woke up and realised what she had done though, she had hastily pulled it off in alarm, stuffing it into her bag with the intention of returning it to him as soon as possible, feeling extremely embarrassed and ever so slightly guilty because really, who the hell did things like that?!

Unfortunately for her, as soon as she walked into the coffee shop the next day, Stacie took one look at the bunched up Treblemakers hoodie in her hands, her eyes widening in recognition as she raised an accusatory eyebrow at her. "Okay, wow, like I'm not going to lie, I totally didn't think Swanson had it in him to get that far this quick...but you have to admit, I was right about him, wasn't I?"

"Uh, I'm sorry but I'm really not following," Beca said slowly, eyeing the brunette girl warily [out of all the people that worked here, why oh why did she have to bump into _Stacie_ today?], quickly pushing the hoodie back in her bag to hide it from the other girl's almost predatory gaze, "Can you get Benji for me?"

"What's there to follow? You saw him naked, didn't you?" Stacie asked, ignoring the latter part of what she had said, her eyebrows still raised as she leant over the counter towards Beca, "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate him? I'm thinking that he's a solid seven, maybe an eight—"

"I—_What_?" Beca exclaimed, feeling herself flush slightly as she couldn't help but remember the state of undress that Jesse had been in when she had arrived at his flat and–god, she was not thinking about that again, not when she had only just managed to forget about the whole thing…sort of…okay, maybe not. "Did Jesse say something to you or…?"

"Nope, Jesse's not exactly the type of guy that sleeps with girls and then goes around telling everyone about it but...you're holding his '_precious Treblemakers_' hoodie which he normally doesn't let out of his sight so…" Stacie trailed off, casually waving her wrist around instead of continuing her sentence, her words causing Beca's mouth to fall open in horror as she realised exactly what Stacie had been alluding to previously and Jesus, she could not deal with this right now. Or ever.

"Dude, no. You have it all wrong," she stated firmly as soon as she had recovered from her shock, trying her absolute best to explain the situation away because dear god, this misunderstanding could not get back to Jesse [or worse, Chloe]. "Jesse and I, look, we're just friends, okay? He just gave me this because I was, I don't know, cold and I forgot to give it back—"

"—Wait, cold after sex?"

"_No_!"

Stacie pursed her lips, looking thoughtful, her eyes searching Beca's face for a moment before speaking again, "Okay, so I guess you didn't sleep with him," she eventually conceded, her tone a little disappointed, "But yet...somehow you did manage to see him naked. How does that work?"

"I didn't—It was a mistake—Uh, can we please stop talking about Jesse?" Beca said, fumbling through her sentence, feeling her cheeks get uncomfortably warm [damn it] at the memory. This was getting really weird, really fast.

"Nope," Stacie replied as she leaned even closer, her eyes glinting deviously as she examined Beca's face, the motion causing her to flush even harder, "You're blushing. That totally means you think he's at least an eight and above. I haven't seen him naked for a while so who knows? Maybe I'm not giving him as much credit as he deserves—"

"—What? No! I'm not _blushing_," Beca objected automatically before the implications behind Stacie's words registered properly in her head and she raised an eyebrow, adding, "…Wait, you saw him naked?"

"Oh, don't you worry, Jesse's like my annoying brother, I would never go there," Stacie said casually, ignoring Beca's muttered protest of 'I _wasn't_ worried' as she continued, "But there was this one time when he decided to serenade some girl he was trying to impress mid-shift but he tripped and drenched both of them with coffee and, well, he had to take off his shirt and get changed…and okay, so he may be out of bounds for me but I couldn't help but take a peek." Stacie shrugged, pointing down towards her crotch area as Beca stared at her, mouth open, her brain struggling to catch up with the girl's incredibly fast ramblings, "Don't look at me like that, _he_ was curious, okay? He's a hunter."

"You…you call it a dude?" Beca finally managed to say, not really sure what to make of the whole story—hell, not sure what to make of this whole conversation.

"You have a problem with that?" Stacie asked, eyebrows raised challengingly and Beca hastily shook her head, biting her lip hard, "By the way, has he serenaded you yet? That's a totally classic Swanson move for impressing girls—"

"—Dude, _no_. How many times do I need to say it? We're friends, Jesse isn't trying to 'impress' me._" _Beca said with a sigh, shaking her head lightly as she moved her gaze away from Stacie to scan the room, wondering where the hell Benji was. She really didn't want to talk to the brunette any longer, the whole thing was making her incredibly uncomfortable…

"Wow, if that's what you really think, Swanson is doing an even worse job than I thought," Stacie mused, half to herself, half to Beca and Beca frowned in slight confusion as she continued her frantic scan of the room. She had absolutely no idea what Stacie was talking about, Jesse...Jesse definitely wasn't trying to impress her; he had said it himself countless times before, they were just _friends _and—

"—Benji!" she called as she suddenly spotted a distinctive cape-wearing figure coming out of the staff area, grimacing a little as her voice came out more high-pitched than usual but god, she was so glad to see Benji right now. The other boy glanced up at the sound of his name, shooting her a smile as his eyes lit up with recognition.

"Hi, Beca!" he greeted, bounding up towards the counter before noticing Stacie and shooting her a nervous look; he was still quite traumatised from all the sexual stories he had been forced to listen to since he started working here and to be honest, he didn't think he would ever recover and forget about them. They were just too...explicit. Stacie just rolled her eyes at his reaction, slinking away as she muttered something inaudible about Jesse under her breath. "How's it going?"

"I'm…I'm good," Beca replied, still feeling a little shell-shocked by the conversation she had just had, glancing up at the clock slightly and frowning as she realised that, thanks to Stacie's ramblings, she was definitely going to be late. Again. "Mind quickly making me my usual?"

Benji nodded, brandishing a coffee cup from within his cape as he started preparing her order. She shot him a grateful smile, peacefully watching him for a few moments, before her eyes widened in horror at his next words. "I have something for you in the back room, by the way. Jesse texted me last night."

No way. He didn't, did he? He wouldn't dare…

"He said that you saw the stormtrooper that I gave him and—"

Jesus, this was really not her day; was this all some sort of twisted punishment for being a complete weirdo and sleeping in Jesse's hoodie last night? With a sigh, Beca zoned out from what Benji was overenthusiastically saying as she racked her brain, trying to come up with a suitably polite way to refuse. Benji was probably the nicest, most innocent guy she had ever met and she really didn't want to hurt his feelings…but on the other hand, there was absolutely no way that she was about to take a gigantic cut-out away with her, partly because uh, _no thanks_ and partly because she was not going to give Jesse that sort of satisfaction.

"Wait, I'll go and get it now," Benji suddenly said, abandoning her coffee as he cheerfully walked over to the back room and Beca let out a groan, squeezing her eyes shut, feeling uncomfortably guilty for what was – inevitably – about to happen. She was going to kill Jesse when she next saw him. This was not funny at all. How could he do this to her? How could he do this to Benji?

"Beca?" Benji asked as he reappeared moments later, his voice gentle, "Are you okay?"

Taking a deep breath, she braced herself, slowly sliding her eyes open, her mouth falling open in surprise as instead of the life-sized stormtrooper that she was expecting to see, Benji was standing opposite her, hands outstretched, a coffee in one hand and a…_miniature stormtrooper_ _figure_ in the other. She glanced up at him, her eyebrows furrowed slightly as he pushed them towards her and after a beat, she took them both from him.

"I–I don't know, I wanted to get you something because you've been really nice to me and Jesse said you'd like this," Benji said, looking a little unsure, "I mean, I know you don't really like Star Wars but Jesse insisted and–"

"No, no, it's great. Thanks, Benji," she said, still a little confused to why the stormtrooper she was now holding was much...smaller than she had expected but as she read the message on her cup, she cursed both Jesse and herself under her breath, instantly realising what had happened:

_You totally fell for it, didn't you? Oh man, you don't know how much I wish I was there to witness your face right now... :)_

Oh, he was going down.

"Did you want to leave that for Jesse, by the way?" Benji asked, seconds later, tilting his head towards the Treblemakers hoodie sticking out of her bag.

Beca shook her head, taking a moment to collect herself, still incredibly annoyed that she had fallen for his trick before replying, "Nope. Tell him I'm keeping his precious hoodie as revenge."

"…Revenge?" Benji echoed, his brow furrowed, "Beca, did he…did he do something to you? If he did, I can always try talking to him, if you like—"

"—Oh, no, don't worry about it," she cut in, quickly shooting him a reassuring smile, touched by the sudden concern in his eyes. Benji swallowed once, still looking a little worried and Beca smiled at him again. "Benji, I promise, it's nothing serious," she said firmly before glancing up at the clock again, shooting him an apologetic look, "I really need to get going in a second but thanks so much for the coffee and the stormtrooper? I, uh, I love it, really."

* * *

"What's up, Flatbutt?" Amy called as soon as she walked in, heading straight towards her desk without looking at the other girl, her brain completely occupied by the task of coming up with the best way to get revenge on Jesse for the stunt he had pulled, "I told you guys she was going to be late."

Beca frowned at that, spinning around to glance at Amy, her eyes widening in alarm as she saw the – frankly – weird sight of Amy, Luke and Bumper sitting in some sort of circle on the floor, a half-empty pizza box beside them. What the hell was going on?

"Hey, Beca," Luke called, raising a hand in greeting as he promptly stood up, brushing off his jeans and she frowned again, her blood running cold at the sound of his voice, her mind still trying to process what was in front of her.

"Sorry, Flatbutt," Amy said apologetically, her gaze fixed on Bumper as she continued speaking, "These turdburgers showed up an hour ago and I tried to get rid of them, I swear I did...but then they offered to buy me pizza and I couldn't resist."

"I'm sorry, _turdburger_?" Bumper said with a scoff, narrowing his eyes at Amy as he puffed out his chest, "If anyone's a turdburger, it's you, not me." Amy just shrugged nonchalantly, reaching over to pityingly pat him on the head a couple of times, causing the other boy to smirk, simply leaning over to touch her chest in return and—

"—Okay, someone please explain to me what the hell is going on." Beca said, tearing her gaze away from the incredibly disturbing sight in front of her and instead, deciding to just stare straight ahead at the wall, "Luke, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to text me before coming over."

"I know, I know," she heard him say from beside her and she gritted her teeth; she was _not_ going to let him mess with her head, not again. "But Bumper wanted to talk to you and—"

"—No, I didn't," Bumper interjected quickly, suddenly jumping up from the floor and moving towards her, "_I_ don't want to be here. By just being in the same room as you, little girl, I can already feel your musical incompetency affecting my vocal chords..."

Beca frowned, whipping her head around to stare at him. What was his problem? She hadn't done anything to him [except for, you know, being late], she didn't deserve to be spoken to like this...and she wasn't about to take this any longer, not when she had already been having such a weird morning.

"Luke, Amy, can you step outside for a moment? I need to talk to Bumper alone," she said, clenching and unclenching her fist by her side. If there was one thing she absolutely couldn't stand, it was people insulting her music.

"Okay, dude, seriously, what's your problem with me?" she asked evenly, as soon as Luke and Amy had left, Luke looking incredibly uncomfortable as Amy reached up to loop her arm around his, literally dragging him outside, a wide grin on her face as she muttered something about scrambled eggs.

Bumper shrugged in response, flinging himself down in Amy's chair, a sour expression on his face as he replied, "Look, little girl, the truth is, I sang backup for John Mayer _and_ I'm an a capella legend; I had offers from people much more capable than you to produce my first album?"

"Okay, so…why are you here then?" Beca asked, trying her best to keep her voice neutral and detached when really, all she wanted to do was punch him in the face for calling her 'little girl' again. This was only the second conversation she had ever had with him but god, he was a complete jerk.

Bumper shrugged again, fixing her with a piercing stare, "Trust me, I don't want to be but Luke insisted that I go with you...but mark my words, if you screw this up, I swear, I will _ruin_ you."

Beca breathed out slowly, not really sure what to do with this new piece of information [what the hell was Luke playing at?] except to force a smirk onto her face, beckoning him over to the computer as she handed him her headphones. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to screw it up," she said confidently as she pressed play on the edited versions of Bumper's tracks that Luke had given her the other day. "I may not have plenty of experience but I know what I'm doing."

"These are...alright, I guess," Bumper said slowly as soon as the track had ended, completely avoiding her gaze, causing Beca's smirk to grow wider. Oh, she was _good_.

"Look, Bumper, this isn't exactly the perfect situation for me either. Luke and I…we're not on the best of terms," she said, after a moment's silence, "But…truce?"

"Truce." he replied finally, before dragging his gaze to meet hers, his usual judgemental expression back on his face, "I suppose you'll do, little girl." She rolled her eyes, wincing a bit at the nickname, but didn't push it any further. Instead, she started showing him her plans for his music, her fingers tapping at the keyboard rapidly as she flicked between the windows on the screen.

"Uh, should Luke be here?" Bumper asked moments later, quickly lifting his head to glance around the empty room and she shook her head in response.

"Nope," Beca replied without moving her eyes from the screen, "Amy will take care of him."

And she was right: an hour later, Amy returned, a slightly traumatised-looking Luke trailing behind her who didn't waste any time in dragging Bumper back out with him. It turned out that Amy hadn't been joking when she spoke about 'scrambling' Luke up; Amy was crazy, yes, but she was also fiercely loyal and _no-one_ was going to hurt her Flatbutt and get away with it.

* * *

_Okay, that stunt with Benji and the stormtrooper? Seriously not cool. – Beca_

_What are you talking about? It was hilarious—no, I'm hilarious.__ :) – Jesse_

"Beca, hey!" Jesse greeted cheerfully, as soon as she stepped into the coffee shop the next morning, waving her over with a grin on his face as he passed an empty stack of cups to an Asian girl that she rarely saw working there, "What's up?"

Beca narrowed her eyes at him in response to his casual tone, pointedly ignoring his words as she walked up to the counter, placing both of her hands face-down on the surface as she glared up at him, "Don't even try: you're still not forgiven for yesterday."

She bit her lip as Jesse cocked her head at her thoughtfully before leaning towards her, widening his eyes as he gave her the most _pathetic_ look she had ever seen on any grown man. "I'm sorry, Beca," he said, his eyes still wide but his façade breaking slightly as he couldn't help but smile at her crossed arms and completely unimpressed expression; trust Beca to be the only girl that didn't fall for his puppy dog eyes that he had spent years perfecting, "Please forgive me?"

Beca rolled her eyes, a traitorous laugh escaping from her lips as he leaned even closer, his eyes unblinking as they quite literally _bore_ into hers and she reached up to push at his chest, "Dude, stop."

He shrugged, his face millimetres from hers and she inched backwards slightly, for some reason suddenly uncomfortable by his proximity and the way he was staring so earnestly at her, his breath warm on her cheek. "Say I'm forgiven first," he said again, grinning at her cheekily, "_Please_?"

She sighed.

"Okay, fine," she finally said, unable to stay mad at him when he was looking so ridiculous, reaching up to push at his chest again, "But, dork, for your future reference, this...look you've got on your face? It's _seriously_ unattractive."

Jesse simply laughed, to her relief, straightening up again, moving to grab a coffee cup from the stack, beginning to make up her usual order. As he glanced up at her again, a smug smirk slowly making its way across his face, she groaned, knowing that she wasn't going to like whatever he was about to say.

"So…I'm attractive normally? Is that what you're saying?"

She spluttered a little, taken aback by his remark, unable to stop her mind from flashing back to the conversation she had with Stacie yesterday and how, to her complete annoyance and horror, she had realised that she agreed with Stacie's comment about him being _at least_ an eight. He wasn't her type but still, he wasn't exactly hard on the eyes, was he? God, what had Stacie done to her?

Jesse was her friend. Her dorky friend. Her dorky friend that she was supposed to be mad at, not thinking about in this ridiculously _inappropiate_ way.

"You wish," she finally retorted before biting the inside of her cheek hard as she realised how unconvincing she sounded and how, judging by the look on Jesse's face, he knew it too. She frantically racked her brain, trying to think of a way to one up him and wipe the smug smile off his face, smiling slightly as she recalled how flustered he had been the last time they had spoken at the coffee shop and all of a sudden, she knew what to do.

"So…what's the deal with you and Stacie?" she asked slyly, sliding her eyes over to him.

"I—Uh, nothing? Why?" Jesse replied uncertainly, his head shooting up to stare at her, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, suddenly looking extremely awkward. "What did she do now?"

Smirking triumphantly at his discomfort, she leaned closer to him as she remembered the conversation she had shared with the brunette yesterday. Oh, this was going to be _good_.

"Don't worry, she was just telling me all about how you serenaded some girl and drenched coffee all over yourself?" she said, laughing as Jesse almost dropped the coffee he was preparing for her in surprise, looking suitably mortified and god, once she had started, she really couldn't stop. Getting him all flustered like this, it was way too much fun.

"Plus, she seemed convinced that you were hitting on me or something and I—" she trailed off, noticing Jesse's suddenly wide eyes and slightly flushed cheeks as he started spluttering inaudible words under his breath.

"Oh my god," he said, taking a step back from her, looking even more horrified than he had been a second ago, "Oh my god, she didn't, did she?"

Beca blinked, raising an eyebrow as she watched him become steadily more agitated, his hands shaking ever so slightly as he continued to make the coffee, completely avoiding her gaze. Sure, she had been expecting a negative reaction to her words but this…this was a bit much, even for Jesse and his over-dramatics. She cleared her throat, deciding to throw him a bone and help him out, shooting him a smile as she joked, "Uh, are you alright there, dork? Should I be, I don't know, _offended_ by your reaction?"

She watched curiously as Jesse swallowed once, slowly lifting his head and locking his gaze with hers as he spoke again and she blinked in surprise at the seriousness of his expression, "No, no, Beca, you're—" he paused, shaking his head distractedly as he started again, just as sincerely as before, "Beca, any guy would be lucky to have you."

Beca stared at him, her eyes widening slightly, having expected him to just smoothly wave the whole thing away with one of his ridiculous quips not…_this_. This was different, this was serious. She felt her mouth go unexplicably dry as he continued to look at her, his eyes fixed on hers, his gaze unmoving as he waited for a response. Several long seconds passed before she slowly dragged her gaze away, breaking eye-contact, feeling oddly elated by his words and the way he was staring at her and god, it was _too much_. She had always been awful at dealing with situations like this, she hated taking compliments and she just, she didn't know what to do except to simply say, "Thanks, I guess…?"

"I mean it, Beca," he said firmly with a nod of his head before straightening up again, frowning slightly as he sensed her unease. Chloe hadn't been joking all those weeks ago; Beca really did seem to have some trust issues and he had the sneaking suspicion that it was all Luke's fault [god, he couldn't stand that guy]. In an attempt to lighten the mood again, he handed her the coffee, his usual easy smile making its way across his face as he glanced at her bag, catching a glimpse of a familiar piece of clothing sticking out of it.

"So, I've got a question for you: why are you carrying my hoodie around? Do you like it that much?"

Beca rolled her eyes, grateful for the change of subject, as she accepted the coffee whilst simultaneously tugging Jesse's hoodie out of her bag, pushing it towards him, "No, you idiot. I'm _giving it back_." He shrugged, sticking his hands in his pockets, making no move to retrieve the hoodie from her and she frowned up at him in confusion.

"Now that I think about it, I don't know if I actually want it back," he said casually, grinning at her as he continued, "I know you told Benji you were keeping it for 'revenge' but that's such a weird thing to do that I don't know if I really believe that. Want to know what I think?" Beca shook her head firmly with a groan, knowing from the way he was smiling at her that she should expect the worst. "I think you want to keep it so you can think of me all day, every day…and if that's the case, well, I can't exactly take it away from you—"

"—Oh my god, you're _impossible_, you know that?" she said with a scoff, "Just take your stupid hoodie back. We are not having this conversation."


	17. Chapter 17

**C**HAPTER **S**EVENTEEN

Beca guessed she shouldn't have been so surprised to find that, ten minutes later, Jesse was still stubbornly refusing to take back his hoodie, even going as far as to _pretend it didn't exist_, despite the fact that she was, quite literally, pushing it into his face.

"Dude, seriously, just take it back," she said exasperatedly for the thousandth time as she continued to frantically wave it in front him, feeling a little frustrated by his point-blank refusal.

She just didn't get what he was trying to do; she faintly recalled Stacie telling her that he normally never let his hoodie out of his sight so…why on _Earth _was he standing here right now, trying to get rid of it so badly? It made absolutely no sense to her whatsoever and it was, frankly, getting more than a little infuriating.

Jesse just shook his head in response to her request, a small smile gracing his lips as he finally replied, acknowledging his hoodie for the first time in the past three minutes: "Nope, I want you to keep it."

"But…_why_?"

He shrugged his shoulders, giving her another easy smile, a smile that just riled her up even more because, god, she was still holding his hoodie in her hands and why, oh _why_, was he being so incredibly stubborn about this?

"Jesse, come on," she repeated, with a sigh, "Just take your hoodie back. I don't want it, it's completely useless to me?"

"I already told you, I'm not taking it back...but don't worry, I'm sure you'll find _some_ use for it," he said, still grinning at her, as he – once again – pushed the hoodie back towards her, "Besides, it looks better on you than it does on me."

Beca raised a confused eyebrow at him, watching curiously as he suddenly cleared his throat, abruptly ducking his head down as he quickly broke eye-contact with her. She still had absolutely no idea what he was playing at but as several minutes passed and it didn't look like Jesse was about to move his gaze from the _floor_ any time soon, she let out an audible sigh, promptly shoving his hoodie back into her bag – making a mental reminder to deal with it, deal with _him,_ later – as she reached over to tap him on the shoulder, getting his attention again. She watched, completely baffled, as he slowly lifted his head up, swiftly glancing at her hands and giving her a triumphant grin as he noticed they were - finally - empty and hoodie-free.

"You're so weird, you know that?" Beca told him, shaking her head at him in exasperation as he started nodding cheerfully in response, filing away this whole...conversation for analysis later.

She didn't know what frustrated her more; the fact that, for some inexplicable reason, he wouldn't take his stupid hoodie back or the fact that, despite him proving on multiple occasions that he could read her like an open book, she didn't seem to understand him at all. His actions, they just weren't making any sense to her; in fact, god, if she really thought about it, she didn't even know that much about him, apart from the fact that, you know, he liked movies and was a talented musician. They didn't tend to share many serious moments and when they did, they were nearly always about _her_ [and Luke], and she was surprised to find that her lack of knowledge about Jesse actually _annoyed_ her. More than she'd ever admit, anyway.

"Look, if you're not going to take your hoodie back - which, can I stress once more, is really _weird_ of you - can you at least take this?" she asked, promptly changing the subject, feeling more than a little guilty as she realised that _yep_, he was definitely a better friend to her than she was to him, as she pulled the stormtrooper that Benji gave her yesterday out of her bag and shoving it towards him, "I really don't know what I'm supposed to do with it."

Jesse blinked at her once before glancing down at her hands, his lips quirking upwards in amusement at what he saw grasped between her fingertips before quickly shaking his head.

"Nope, I can't help you there," he said, a grin spreading across his face at the way she grimaced at his words, "I mean, one, Benji was pretty insistent about wanting to get you a gift so it'd be plain rude if I took it from you and two...I think I'm too, uh, tall to accept it?"

She stared at him, frowning in confusion, her heart sinking a little because, once again, _what the hell was he talking about?_

"Aw, come on," Jesse said, his bottom lip jutting out ever so slightly as he mock-pouted at her, "Please tell me you got the irony of the stormtrooper's size. I thought about this really hard, Beca!"

She frowned again, racking her brain as she tried to figure out the cryptic meaning behind his words but as she carried on staring at him, looking increasingly perplexed, Jesse let out an audible sigh, leaning over the counter, the beginnings of a smirk starting to appear on his face as he explained, "It's a _miniature_ stormtrooper for a _miniature_ person!_"_

Beca gaped at him in surprise, relief flooding through her as she realised that what she wasn't completely understanding this time was another one of his ridiculous jokes and not something more serious…but as he indiscreetly glanced between the tiny stormtrooper in her hands and the top of her head, an overly amused expression on his face, the full meaning of his words hit her and she glared at him, reaching out her fist to punch him lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh my god, you _idiot,_ I cannot believe you just said that to me."

He grinned, shrugging at her, before promptly wincing as Beca started hitting him again with a bit more force, hastily pushing her arm away before it did any more harm, letting out a relieved sigh as he spotted a familiar redhead in the corner of the room.

"Chloe!" he called, as Beca took a step closer to the counter, continuing to attempt to land punches on him, their arms and fingers tangling together as he tried his hardest to protect himself, "_Save me_! I'm being attacked!"

Chloe glanced upwards, surprised to suddenly hear her name, a bemused expression appearing on her face as she walked towards them and observed what they were in the middle of doing. "Jess, Beca," she addressed them calmly, feeling a little like she was talking to two _kids_, rather than two adults, "Does one of you want to tell me what's going on?"

"She won't stop hitting me!"

"It's not my fault, he started it!"

Chloe couldn't help but laugh softly as they instantly started squabbling again [because really, in her opinion, they were _adorable_] before rolling her eyes lightly, a habit that she had picked up from Beca herself, moving to stand between them. "Seriously, what's going on?" she repeated, her amusement shining through in the tone of her voice, her eyes flickering between the two of them.

Beca took a deep breath as she stilled her hands momentarily, glancing up at Jesse, not wanting to speak over him again but he simply shot her an easy smile, keeping his mouth shut as he gestured for her to start.

"Chlo, he made fun of my height," she said bluntly, shooting him another glare as he instantly put his hands up in surrender, muttering something about it _'just being a joke...but, Chlo, you've got to admit, she's really very short_'. He grinned in response, pointedly moving his gaze from her face to the stormtrooper figurine and back again and god, so yes, he was her friend and yes, maybe she did need to try harder to get to know him as well as he seemed to know her but…right now, he was being impossible.

[Although, okay, maybe the whole stormtrooper thing was more than a _little_ funny…]

"Sorry, Jess, you're on your own here," Chloe replied, a few seconds later as she glanced between the two of them, completely mystified, feeling like she was missing something and Beca grinned triumphantly in response, starting to hit him again.

"_Chloe! _Do something!"

"Okay, okay, Beca, stop," Chloe started, her hands reaching out to grasp Beca's wrists, gently pulling them towards her and Jesse grinned victoriously as Beca reluctantly returned her hands to her sides, narrowing her eyes at him. "…and, Jess, get back to work; Lily's good but she's not _that_ good."

Jesse nodded slowly, shooting them both a grin over his shoulder as he quickly walked off to help Lily out, muttering a quick apology to the other girl and, as usual, not receiving anything substantial in response [except for a '_I like to set fire to trees and dance around their burning trunks_', a comment that he didn't really want to spend too long pondering about because, uh, it was sort of worrying…]

"Beca, out of curiosity, why do you have Jesse's hoodie?"

Beca blinked in surprise at Chloe's words, quickly moving to shove her bag behind her back [because Jesus, she still hadn't figured out why he hadn't wanted it back and the whole thing was really starting to bug her] but it was too late and Chloe's fingers had already wrapped themselves around the handle, tugging it closer so she could get a better look, a weirdly _satisfied_ smile appearing on the redhead's face.

"I…I honestly don't know," she replied slowly, with a shrug of her shoulders, squinting at Chloe suspiciously as the girl continued to stare at the hoodie, grinning so hard at the sight that it actually looked painful, "Okay, what's up? Is there something wrong?"

"Nope, nothing's wrong," Chloe said, quickly glancing up at her as she shot her an innocent smile that Beca _really_ didn't like the look of. "I'm just curious, that's all."

Beca narrowed her eyes at her, raising an eyebrow. She knew Chloe well enough to instantly realise that the other girl was hiding something from her and god, if there was one thing that she was going to do today, it was to get to the bottom of this, especially as it clearly involved Jesse and the hoodie that she was really starting to hate.

"Did Jess give it to you?" Chloe asked, still grinning at her and ugh_, _thanks to her slightly disturbing conversation with Stacie yesterday, she knew exactly how the whole situation looked and what conclusions Chloe was most likely forming in her head and _no_, she could not have this conversation again.

"Chlo, it's not what you think. He just lent it to me on Sunday and I—"

"—Wait a second, you saw him on _Sunday_?" Chloe repeated, her eyes widening in surprise, her grin getting even brighter, if possible, "That's where you went?! Oh my god, we are _so_ talking about this later after you finish work."

She groaned. Stupid Jesse and his stupid hoodie. [His stupid hoodie that was, admittedly, one of the comfiest things she had ever worn...but which she had _definitely _not slept in since Sunday night. Maybe.]

* * *

"Stacie, there you are," Jesse called, as soon as he saw the brunette enter the shop later that afternoon, beckoning her over, "We need to talk."

Stacie paused at the sound of his voice, swiftly swearing under her breath. She had sort of been hoping to avoid seeing him today, even going as far as to make sure they weren't on the same shift. She knew exactly what he was going to say to her; she knew that he probably hadn't appreciated the little…conversation that Beca and her had shared yesterday even though, _really_, she had been trying to help; Swanson was doing such an _awful_ job at asking her out that honestly? It was getting embarrassing, not only for him but for his family, for everyone around him and for the whole male population…

Taking a deep breath, she made her way towards the counter, forcing an innocent smile onto her face. "What's up, Swanson?" she asked, leaning across the counter, patting him on the shoulder in greeting, "You okay?"

Jesse instantly frowned at her casual demeanour, shooting her a look of disbelief as he pushed her hand away. He had successfully managed to push all his annoyance at Stacie to the back of his head when he had joked around with Beca earlier that morning after she had dropped some very _worrying _hints about what she and Stacie had discussed…but now that he was finally seeing the brunette in person, he was not amused. At all.

"_What's up?"_ he echoed incredulously, "Are you seriously asking me 'what's up?!'"

"Calm down, Jesse," Stacie said, with a roll of her eyes as she moved around the counter, placing her bag down on the floor before seating herself beside him, "There's no need to get your panties in a twist."

He narrowed his eyes.

"—Uh, there's no need to get your _boxers_ in a twist?" she tried again, eyebrows raised as she promptly pulled out a nail file and began filing her nails idly; maybe if she continued ignoring the elephant in the room, he'd eventually leave her alone, "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you wear under there, I've only ever seen you half-naked and—"

"—_Stacie_," Jesse said warningly as he shifted slightly closer to her, his eyes hard, "This isn't funny."

She sighed, glancing up from her nails to properly look at him, realising that he wasn't about to let this go anytime soon. "Look, Swanson, I swear, I didn't mean any harm," she said finally, "But, uh, you don't seem to be getting anywhere with her so I thought I'd just try and give her a little push in the right direction. For your sake."

"...By telling her about that time I spilt coffee on myself whilst I was, uh…talking to _another girl_? By telling her that I'm, and I quote, 'hitting on her'?" he exclaimed, grimacing a little as his voice came out hoarser than he had intended and he closed his eyes for a second, forcing himself to stay calm. Think happy thoughts, Jesse, happy thoughts… "How is that supposed to be at all helpful?"

"What? You weren't 'talking', you were full-on _serenading_ her, you were singing and dancing and—Okay, sorry, I'll stop," she said, taking a deep breath, feeling the tiniest twinge of guilt as she took in the distressed expression on Jesse's face; yes, he was utterly insufferable most of the time but as she had told Beca yesterday, he was sort of like the annoying brother she had never had, "I swear, I never said anything about you hitting on her…not explicitly, anyway. She was just holding your precious little Glee Club hoodie and I jumped to conclusions and I—"

"—A capella," he corrected instinctively, "Not Glee Club, _a capella_."

She rolled her eyes at him - only _Jesse_ would care about something like that - before continuing to, sort of, apologise.

"It's okay," he cut in eventually as he watched her explain, realising that she was telling the truth about her trying to be helpful and that the whole thing wasn't some sort of twisted plan of hers to screw with him like he had originally assumed [besides, he _supposed_ he could see where Stacie had gotten confused; after all, she knew just how much that hoodie meant to him...], "I just—I really care about her, okay? I don't want to mess it up."

Stacie nodded and they fell into a peaceful silence, Jesse packing his laptop away into his bag as he got himself ready to leave and return home when suddenly, Stacie spoke up again, her words bringing a smug smile to his face.

"Swanson, if it helps," she said, "She thinks you're at _least_ an eight, maybe even a nine."

"Who doesn't think that?" he quipped, laughing as she flicked her file at him, the previous tension between them instantly subsiding as they returned to their normal, teasing ways.

* * *

There was no point in trying to deny it: Beca was really, _really_ not looking forward to this conversation that Chloe wanted to have with her after she discovered Jesse's hoodie in her bag. She just didn't know what to tell her or what she wanted to hear; her and Jesse, they were still friends [that's _all_].

The only thing that had changed was that she now had a men's hoodie stuffed in her bag and a miniature stormtrooper displayed proudly on her desk [although, thanks to Amy, she wasn't quite sure whether she could ever look at that stormtrooper in the same way again; the Australian girl had gotten a real kick out of the whole thing and had promptly proceeded to pull out a dingo figurine from the depths of her own desk, spending a good hour demonstrating the various _sexual positions_ that she could create with them by moving their arms and legs and, god, the thought of associating something that naïve, _innocent _Benji had given her with sex was, frankly, disturbing and too much for her to handle and—yeah, she wasn't going to think about it anymore.]

"Right, Beca, it's time to spill," Chloe said, as she perched on the end of her bed, grinning up at her, looking way too excitable and hyped up for this time of the day and Beca groaned inwardly, knowing that this conversation was, most likely, going to be unbearable, "Why didn't you tell me you were seeing Jesse on Sunday?"

"Because I knew you were going to react like this?" Beca replied dryly, rolling her eyes at her, "Chlo, honestly, nothing happened, okay? He just invited me over to watch a movie. That's _it_."

Chloe frowned slightly at her words and her dismissive tone, her smile faltering for the tiniest of seconds before she tried again. "Come on, there must be something more to that story," she said, her tone probing, as she smiled up at Beca again, "I mean, he gave you his hoodie! Trust me, that's a pretty big deal."

"Uh, no, it really isn't?" Beca replied, determined to give absolutely nothing away [not that, you know, there was anything to give away in the first place...], "He lent it to me when he walked me home—_stop it_, Chlo, he was just being a good friend – and yeah, that's pretty much it."

"But yet, for some reason, you still have it," Chloe said, eyebrows raised, glancing over to her left where the item in question was hanging off the back of her chair, all maroon and _annoying_.

Beca sighed at the reminder, slowly starting to tell her about how she had tried to return it to him but he had refused, hoping that she would be able to shed some light on his weird behaviour but instead, Chloe simply smiled widely at her, shooting her a wistful look and Beca blinked, eyeing the girl warily.

"Okay, Chloe, come on, what are you not telling me?" Beca said, leaning forward, fixing the girl with a suspicious look. "We both know that you're absolutely terrible at keeping secrets so whatever it is, you might as well tell me now before I force it out of you."

Chloe pulled a face, quickly glancing up at the ceiling in an attempt to avoid her gaze but Beca shook her head, reaching a hand out to tilt her face back down until she could make proper eye-contact with her.

"Dude, _spill_. You know you want to."

The redhead sighed, grimacing slightly as she closed her eyes, knowing that Jesse would actually kill her the next time he saw her if she told Beca…but also knowing that she couldn't keep this to herself any longer, she just _couldn't_. Still, if she had to tell, she could be vague about it. Right?

"Beca, look, it's nothing, really. It's just that, that hoodie, it means a lot to him," Chloe said, waving a hand dismissively as she rambled on, picking up speed as she tried to get it all out as quick as possible, "And I suppose I was just a bit surprised to hear that he gave it to you but hey, it makes sense, I guess. He _likes_ you, after all—um, I mean, you guys are friends and he's a nice guy and of course he would give you his hoodie to keep you warm and—"

"_Chloe_," Beca said, cutting in hastily, "Mind getting to the point? You're not making any sense and—Oh my god, no way."

She froze, suddenly picking up on Chloe's subtle emphasis of 'likes', her mind flashing back to Stacie's comments about Jesse wanting to impress her and her 'if that's what you really think, Swanson is doing an even worse job than I thought' and how Jesse had insisted that she kept his hoodie and the way he had got so flustered earlier and Chloe's constant attempts to try and get her to consider him as more than a friend and…Jesus Christ, how the _hell_ had she not picked up on this before?

"Fuck," she swore loudly as realisation sunk in, a million and one thoughts rushing through her brain, "He _likes_ me? What the hell? Chloe, why didn't you tell me this before?!"

As soon as Chloe had nodded slowly in confirmation, having the decency to look more than a little guilty at spilling Jesse's _tiny, little_ secret, Beca leaned back against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut. How had she not seen this sooner? It was blindingly obvious now that she really thought about it; god, she was pretty sure even Amy suspected it and she had only been in his presence for what? A couple of minutes?

She just…She just didn't know what to do. She liked Jesse, sure, but not like _that_.

She couldn't.

"Beca, don't worry, it's _Jesse_," she heard Chloe say simply, minutes later, as if that explained everything. "It'll be fine, you'll see."


	18. Chapter 18

**C**HAPTER **E**IGHTEEN

_Beca, are you there? I haven't seen you for a while so yeah…just wondering if you're okay. :) – Jesse_

_Hey, it's me again… You're not mad at me, are you? – Jesse_

_Wait, if this is because of the stormtrooper thing, I swear it was a joke! – Jesse_

_Beca? – Jesse_

_Um, so apparently Benji hasn't seen you in three days either…where are you?! – Jesse_

_Beca, hey, I'm starting to get really worried. I tried to ask Chloe about you today but she completely avoided the subject and looked all jumpy… What's going on? – Jesse_

_I'm sorry for all the texts, by the way. I just…text me back, okay? – Jesse_

* * *

Beca sighed, restlessly turning over in her bed, a million thoughts running through her mind, groaning as she couldn't help but glance towards her desk, her eyes falling on Jesse's hoodie that was still in her possession. It had been about a week since her rather..._enlightening_ conversation with Chloe and Beca had been doing her absolute best to avoid everyone and everything. She knew it was immature, she did, but she just didn't know what to do and she needed time and space to figure it out. Jesse was her friend and she really didn't want to hurt him, not when he had been so good to her, and she needed to think everything through properly and work out the best plan of action.

The thing was, she hadn't properly considered _anyone_ in that way since the whole Luke fiasco months ago and now that she knew that Jesse liked her in ways that weren't purely platonic, well, it made her more than a little bit nervous. It was irrational, she knew it was, because, deep in her heart, she knew that Jesse would never ever betray her trust like Luke had…but still, she couldn't help but think that she had thought the exact same thing about Luke all those years ago and _what if she was wrong_?

There was also, of course, the little fact that, yes, okay, so maybe she enjoyed his company and maybe she thought he was easy on the eyes but she didn't think she liked him like _that_. [Or, more specifically, she didn't think she liked him as much as he, according to Chloe, liked her].

She liked things how they were now.

She liked being his _friend_…and she really didn't want things to change.

With a sigh, Beca slowly pulled herself out of her bed, walking over to her desk, her hands reaching out to smooth out the fabric of Jesse's hoodie before she could stop herself, her eyes moving from her iPod which had Jesse's composition on it to her computer that had the moviecation list that he had made for her all those weeks ago saved on the desktop to her phone which had almost twenty unread messages from him.

She sighed again.

What she was doing, ignoring him, it wasn't fair. He really had been a good friend to her, even going as far as to stick by her and defend her from Luke, and this new piece of information that she had learnt about him from Chloe didn't change that fact. She needed to talk to him, sort things out, stop running away from reality and before she knew it, she had roughly grabbed her phone from the table, scrolling through the messages he had left her, feeling guiltier and guiltier as she kept reading, before quickly typing out a text:

_I'm fine. – Beca_

Taking a deep breath, she pressed send before placing her phone face-down on the table and returning to her bed, Jesse's hoodie clutched between her hands, as she tried her best to get some sleep…

She would deal with this tomorrow.

* * *

Jesse was confused, completely and _utterly_ confused.

He just didn't understand what had happened or what he had done. As far as he was aware, everything had been going more than reasonably well between him and Beca but for some unknown reason, she had started completely ignoring him. He had sent numerous texts to her at various intervals during the week but he had received absolutely nothing in reply, except for a simple – and completely unsatisfying – two-worded text at four o'clock this morning. It just didn't make any sense and even though Benji, who had been on morning shifts for the past few days, had told him that he hadn't seen or heard from Beca either, he had decided to swap shifts with him today _just in case_ she happened to come in.

At around eleven though, he realised, his heart sinking, that Beca was definitely not going to be appearing any time soon and he gritted his teeth slightly, quickly moving to the stockroom to find Chloe, determined to ask her, for the fifth time this week, what the hell was going on. He sincerely hoped that Beca's sudden change in behaviour wasn't anything to do with Luke because god, if it was, he was actually going to kill the guy.

"Chloe, do you have a spare second? I need to talk to you," Jesse said, his eyes narrowing at the way the redhead jumped at the sound of his voice, turning around and focusing on a spot just above his shoulder. That was another thing that was confusing him; Chloe, who was usually quite laidback around him, had been acting all nervous in his presence this week and he couldn't quite figure out why…

"Um, sure," Chloe replied, a little shakily, as she took a deep breath, causing Jesse to narrow his eyes once more, moving her gaze slowly upwards to meet his. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Beca," he said simply, frowning at the way Chloe suddenly tensed, freezing momentarily before she ducked her head down in an attempt to avoid his gaze but wait, had that been a look of…guilt on her face? "Okay, Chlo, what did you do?"

Chloe's head shot up again, her eyes wide, as she opened her mouth, words spilling out, her hands frantically moving by her side, "Jess, I swear, I didn't mean to tell her but she asked why you didn't want to take your hoodie back from her and I—"

"—What did you do?" he repeated, his voice a little harder than usual as he promptly cut her off, but even as the words left his mouth, he instantly knew what had happened. Chloe had always been awful at keeping secrets.

"Jesus, Chlo, you didn't," he said, a little hoarsely, reaching a hand up to rub at his chin in sudden frustration, "Is this why she's been ignoring me?"

Slowly, ever so slowly, Chloe nodded and Jesse shut his eyes, his heart pounding as he realised exactly what this meant. This was possibly the worst way for Beca to find out about his growing feelings for her and the fact that she appeared to be ignoring him for it, well, that wasn't a good sign…

Still, his feelings aside, he couldn't help but wonder whether he had been wrong about the status of their friendship; he had thought that they were better friends than this, he thought that they were close enough that she could talk to him about the whole thing [as awkward as that conversation would have been], not just ignore him completely and shut him out of her life as if he never existed.

"God, does she even like me? As a _friend_?" he asked, feeling a little lost as he echoed the same question he had uttered to Chloe all those weeks ago.

"Of course she does, Jess," Chloe said quickly, reaching her hand out to rest on his shoulder, feeling even guiltier as Jesse flinched at her touch; she was definitely going to have to make it up to him, one way or another, "She's just trying to get her head around everything but I swear, I'll—I'll fix this, I promise."

He shook his head at her disbelievingly, walking out of the room without looking back. He guessed he wasn't particularly surprised that Chloe had told her - his little secret was bound to get out at some point and if he was really honest, he was shocked that she had lasted this long - but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

What hurt more even more though was that Beca hadn't even given him the chance to explain his side of the story_._ It was like he had absolutely no say in the matter and he wasn't worth her time anymore and it...it just really, really hurt.

* * *

Beca frowned as she heard the sound of knocking on her front door that afternoon. It was a Saturday and as far as she was aware, she hadn't made any plans today. Instead, she had spent all morning trying to muster up the courage to go over to Jesse's apartment and explain exactly why she had been treating him in the way that she had been.

She sighed as the knocking continued, slowly walking over to the door, her heart suddenly beating really fast as it occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, it was Jesse himself...but then she shook her head hard, breathing out deeply as she reminded herself that she had never given him her address. It couldn't be Jesse. If it was, that would bring up a whole _new _set of problems and—no, it definitely wasn't him.

"Beca, hi," Chloe said, as she quickly pushed her way into the apartment as soon as Beca had opened the door, a really sheepish look on her face, "Sit down, we need to talk.

Beca blinked at her, a little confused, but followed her to the sofa, reluctantly seating herself down as she waited for her to explain. She had the sneaking suspicion that whatever it was that they apparently needed to talk about involved Jesse…and she wasn't quite sure whether she wanted to do that, especially since she hadn't spoken to the boy himself yet.

"Beca, I…I know that you're still trying to get your head around everything," Chloe said, still feeling awful about the whole situation and hating the fact that she was stuck in the middle of the two of them, trying to smooth things over on both sides, "But you need to talk to Jess soon. He's confused, Beca. He doesn't get it, he doesn't know the whole story, he thinks you don't even like him as a friend, and it's…it's not fair to him."

Beca swallowed. She wasn't stupid; she had known that what she was doing to him wouldn't have affected him positively, far from it, but hearing how he was feeling from Chloe, first-hand, it made her feel unbelievably terrible.

"I know," she replied, after a beat, giving Chloe a small, sad smile, "Trust me, I know."

Chloe nodded in response and they fell silent for a few minutes, Beca's mind still frantically trying to process what had happened over the past few days. She knew she needed to talk to him, she did…and she would. Eventually.

"Look, Beca, for what it's worth," Chloe said, suddenly breaking the silence, "You don't need to worry. It's _Jesse, _he'll understand."

* * *

It was about two hours after Chloe had left and Beca was pacing, still trying to work out exactly what she was going to say to Jesse when she next saw him. This situation they were in, it was definitely not ideal, but it…it wasn't his fault. It wasn't like he had tried to force his feelings onto her or anything; no, he had done the complete opposite, he hadn't even mentioned it, he hadn't even _tried_ to make a move. He had been respectful, kept his distance, been a good friend and he deserved to be treated better by her.

Beca blinked, jolted from her thoughts as her phone suddenly started ringing, the ring tone obnoxiously loud, and she pulled it out of her pocket, her eyes widening slightly as she saw who it was. She took a deep breath, swallowing once, as she slowly accepted the call, holding her phone up to the side of her face.

She could do this.

She had to.

"Jesse, hey," she started hesitantly, half-scared to hear about his reasons for calling her, "I'm…I'm really sorry, I know I've been awful and—"

"—Hey, Beca!" she heard him say cheerfully through the phone, interrupting her sentence, and she paused, frowning. Something was wrong; that reaction, if what Chloe had said to her earlier was true [and she figured that the redhead _definitely _wouldn't have the heart to lie to her, especially not about this], that reaction wasn't quite right.

She frowned harder as he started rambling about nonsensical things, telling her about a tree that he had seen earlier that was shaped like a cloud, and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling another immense wave of guilt spread over her as she realised exactly what was wrong.

"Jesse, are you…drunk?" she asked slowly, even though, from the way he was still rambling about that stupid tree, she knew that he definitely was.

It was weird to even think of Jesse and alcohol in the same sentence because she had always associated him with his childlike enthusiasm and optimism for absolutely everything and it made her instantly uneasy, especially as she knew that it was most likely her fault that he was drinking at four o'clock in the afternoon...

"I'm not drunk," he retorted before he fell silent and Beca shut her eyes again, listening to the sound of his heavy breathing.

She needed to fix everything before it was too late.

She didn't want to lose him.

"Maybe I _am_ drunk. I don't know anymore," he said, a few seconds later, sounding completely lost before he took a deep breath, his tone full of sudden wonderment as he told her, "Hey, you know, 'drunk' is a funny sounding word, isn't it?"

"Um, sure, sure it is, Jesse..." she replied slowly, biting her lip as he started repeating the word over and over again, his diction getting less clear as he continued but not wanting to hang up, not until he did.

"I…Beca, it really hurts. Why does it hurt?" he asked suddenly and Beca winced, both at his words and at just how miserable he sounded.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked as she clutched the phone to her face a little harder, hoping he didn't mean that he was hurting in a literal sense because she didn't think she could deal with Jesse being physically injured on top of everything else that was currently going on. As she got no response, Jesse seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had even spoken, she tried again, her voice a little louder, "Tell me where you are, I'll come and get you."

…But by then, it was too late and Jesse had dropped the phone and Beca's eyes shot open as all she heard from the other end was fumbling and pacing and the distinct sound of something [or someone] falling and she swore loudly.

Without wasting another second or letting herself think her actions through, she had swung her bag over her shoulders, getting ready to go, but as soon as she pushed the front door open, she turned back around and grabbed Jesse's hoodie off her desk as well, remembering what Chloe had said to her about her stupid_, irrational_ actions making him question whether they were even friends anymore.

She needed to show him, in some way or another, that she still cared about him.

[Just not in the way that he perhaps wanted her to...]

* * *

It didn't take long before she was standing in front of Jesse's apartment, banging on his front door, hoping that he was inside, breathing a sigh of relief when he finally opened the door and looked physically unharmed…before she was overwhelmed with guilt all over again as she took in his seriously dishevelled hair and clothes.

"Hey, Beca!" he greeted, a lopsided grin on his face, seemingly recovered from his miserable state fifteen minutes ago when he had accidentally ended their phone call, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just…checking on you," she replied slowly, as she pushed past him and into his apartment, grabbing a cup from the kitchen counter and filling it with water, handing it to him as she slowly pried the beer bottle from his hands, "You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," he retorted stubbornly, nodding his head a grand total of seventeen times before tilting it to the side as he rubbed his eyes, taking a sip from the cup she had just given him, "You're just…blurry. But I'm not drunk, I swear!"

She shook her head lightly, an unwanted smile creeping across her face at his words, but as he moved to rub roughly at his eyes again, still looking a little perplexed by her 'blurriness', she reached up and gently pulled his hands away before he seriously injured himself and dragged him towards the front room, seating him on the sofa.

"Come on, dork," she said hesitantly, as she gingerly sat herself beside him, fixing him with an attentive gaze, "Tell me more about that tree you saw."

She smiled despite herself as he nodded happily, launching into the exact same story that he had told her over the phone, lifting his arms and moving them around wildly in a bad attempt to help illustrate his story.

After Jesse nearly whacked her on the head a couple of times though, his hand-eye coordination lacking a little in his current state, she quickly reached up and grabbed his hands, pulling them into her lap as she continued to listen to him speak. He had gotten to the part where he was describing _exactly_ what type of cloud the tree had looked like when she felt his fingers slowly shift and slot themselves between hers and she let him, partly because she knew that he wouldn't have done such a thing if he was sober and partly because, to her surprise, the gesture wasn't entirely unwelcome.

This was _Jesse_, he wasn't going to hurt her, he wasn't Luke.

"Do you want to go and see the tree?" he asked her, cheerfully pulling their intertwined hands towards him as he bounced a little on the sofa and she bit her lip in amusement; trust Jesse to be such an overly cheerful drunk. "We can totally go and see the tree right now. It's amazing, I promise. It will blow your mind, change your life, it's the _best thing ever_. Let's go. Let's go now."

"I—No, Jesse, I don't think that's the greatest idea," she said, pulling him back down as he tried to stand up, giving him an apologetic smile as he pouted at her, looking genuinely put out by her refusal to go, "You can, uh, you can show me tomorrow, okay?"

She smiled as he nodded, before launching into another description of the tree [god, he was actually obsessed with the thing...], leaning back against the couch as she just watched him. She would talk to him as soon as he was a little bit more sober and she would make things work. She had to. He had become such a massive part of her life without her even realising it and she couldn't let him go. Not like this.

"Hey, Jesse," she said, as he suddenly stopped talking and let out a yawn, gently retrieving her hands from his as she patted his shoulder lightly, "Get some sleep. I promise I'll speak to you tomorrow, okay?"

"No, no, no, stay," he replied, one of his hands reaching out blindly towards her, his fingers wrapping themselves around her wrist, his previous cheeriness suddenly gone, replaced by a look that was much more sober and _miserable-looking_, "Beca, don't…don't go."

She stared at him.

"Okay," she finally whispered, letting herself be dragged back to the sofa, watching a slow smile creep across his face as he grabbed her hand again, holding on tightly, "I'll stay."

And she would. She wasn't going to leave until she had spoken to him properly. What she had done over the past week, it hadn't been fair on anyone, especially him.


	19. Chapter 19

**C**HAPTER **N**INETEEN

The first thing that Jesse registered when he woke up the next morning was that his neck was really hurting and his head was pounding painfully which could only mean one thing: he was hungover. He groaned, keeping his eyes shut, trying his hardest to remember what had happened last night and coming up completely blank, starting to roll over with another groan when he registered the weight of someone's head on his shoulder and—_wait_, what? His eyes flew open in shock, his eyes widening in utter disbelief as he turned his head and saw Beca, of all people, sleeping beside him in what looked like his Treblemakers' hoodie and okay, seriously, what was going on?!

"Oh my god, oh my god," he muttered to himself as he hastily sprung up from the couch, being careful not to disturb her, walking to his bathroom and splashing some water in his face, rubbing at his eyes as he tried his best to recall the events of last night, "What the…_hell_?"

Come on, Jesse, you can do this, you can remember. You went to your usual shift, confronted Chloe…found out that Beca knew you liked her and that was why she was ignoring you…came back here, started drinking…and then what had happened? He frowned, unable to put the last piece of the puzzle together, still failing to understand why Beca was here, in his apartment, after days of absolutely nothing.

"Hey," he heard Beca say as he reappeared in the living room, her voice still hoarse from sleep, and he turned to face her, rubbing at his chin in slight frustration at the blanks in his memory as he watched her slowly sit up properly, her hand reaching up to massage her neck, a wince on her face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…fine," he replied slowly, even though inside, he was still having an internal freak-out; thanks to Chloe, he knew that Beca had been avoiding him because she knew all about his _feelings _for her and to suddenly see her here, apparently concerned about him, it was too much, it made no sense.

Beca raised an eyebrow at him as he stood there just frowning at her, squinting up at him for a moment, her eyes searching his face. He wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for but it seemed that she quickly found it as seconds later, she promptly got up from the sofa and made her way towards his kitchen without looking back. After a second, he followed, his brain still working in overdrive, still attempting to fill in all the blanks of last night, still wondering why on Earth _Beca_ was here.

He blinked in confusion as he leaned against the doorframe, watching as she poured out a cup of water and pushed it into his hands, feeling a little dazed; hungover or not hungover, this was getting really weird.

"Where's your aspirin?" she asked, making things even weirder, and he slowly tilted his head towards one of the cupboards, unable to stop himself from gaping at her as moments later, she pushed a pill into his hand as well.

"It won't work unless you actually take it," she said dryly, eyebrow raised after another few seconds had passed and he was still standing there, staring at her, still trying – and failing – to process what was happening. "Hey, are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"I, uh, I don't really remember anything about last night," he finally admitted, moving into the room and resting his weight against the counter as he slowly tipped back the pill, wincing a little at the pain that the motion caused to his head, "I'm sorry, I just—I don't get it: why are you here?"

"You drunk-dialled me last night," she replied bluntly with a shrug, as she glanced up at him, and he quickly closed his eyes, feeling a wave of mortification spread over him.

Of course, he had drunk-dialled her; out of the two hundred contacts on his phone, _of course_ Beca was the one person he had drunk-dialled.

"God, I'm sorry, Beca," he mumbled, keeping his eyes shut as he ran a hand through his hair a little awkwardly, "This is so embarrassing. I—Look, I don't usually drink that much and I'm really, really sorry, you didn't have to come over, let alone stay with me and—"

"—Don't, Jesse. It's okay," she said, interrupting him, and he slowly cracked his eyes open to look at her in surprise, just managing to catch her shake her head slightly as she took a step towards him, suddenly looking very serious as she locked her gaze with his, adding, "It's the least I could do after…_you know._"

He swallowed at the implication behind her words, crossing his arms a little defensively, unable to tear his eyes away from her even though there really was nothing that he wanted to do more in that moment. Considering the events of the past week, there was absolutely no way that this conversation was going to end well for him...

...Although she _had_ stayed with him when she really didn't have to [and yes, that was most definitely his Trebles hoodie that she was wearing] so he guessed that was something.

Maybe.

"Jesse," she started hesitantly, taking another small step forward, and he felt his heart sink; he didn't know if he could take hearing exactly why she had ignored him from Beca herself. "What I did, ignoring you, I shouldn't have. I guess I just panicked and I needed some...time to think about everything but the truth is, I don't—"

"Beca, I get it, you don't need to explain yourself to me," he cut in hastily, in an attempt to prevent her from finishing her sentence, his heart pounding almost painfully in his chest as he finally managed to muster up the strength to slide his gaze away from hers and to the floor, "I get it. You don't like me like _that_ and you don't want to be around me because it's weird and awkward and—"

"—No, no, that's not what I'm saying," she said and he glanced up at her again in disbelief, watching as she swallowed, wincing slightly and his heart sank again; clearly, what she had meant wasn't what he had thought she had meant and—Jesse, _be cool_.

She tried again.

"Look, Jesse, you're…you're my friend," she told him tentatively, taking yet another step closer until she was within touching distance of him, her eyes locked onto his face, tracking his every movement, and he stared right back, unable to move, unable to even _breathe_. "I don't want to—" she trailed off, a brief look of frustration passing across her face, clearly struggling to find the correct words to express how she was feeling, and he gave her a small smile of encouragement, his heart still hammering away in his chest except that now, there was a little, tiny glimmer of hope there; she had said they were friends...

After several more failed attempts at forming her next sentence, she eventually just tilted her head at him, a calculated look in her eyes before she closed the distance between them, pulling him into the _briefest_ of hugs and his mouth fell open in surprise. He kept his hands firmly by his sides, not wanting to make things even more awkward than they already were as he closed his eyes once more.

"I'm sorry...for everything," he heard her say quietly as she released him, taking a step back, looking like she couldn't quite believe what she had done, "I just—_I don't want things to change_."

He swallowed thickly. He was positive that she knew that what she wanted was probably not possible; everything was just so much more complicated now that she was aware that his feelings for her were much greater than they should be…but he supposed he could try his best to make things right again.

He didn't want to lose her.

She meant too much to him, he was in too deep.

"Beca," he started slowly, as he opened his eyes to look at her, running a hand through his hair, "I just want you to know that whatever happens, I _swear_, I'm…I'm not going to do anything that makes you uncomfortable or—"

"—I know," she replied simply, cutting him off with a shake of her head, "I know." He breathed a sigh of relief, sticking his hands into his pockets awkwardly as they stared at each other silently for a couple more seconds before he narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously as a slow smirk began to appear on her face.

"Let's go, weirdo," she said, and he couldn't help but smile a little at the fact that she had returned to calling him that, returned to teasing him, "You promised that you would take me to see some tree that was shaped like a cloud last night…"

He stared at her, his mouth falling open slightly, startled by her sudden change of subject and what she had changed it to…but hey, if she wanted to act like things were normal, as if they hadn't just been discussing the fact that she knew about his growing feelings for her, well, he could roll with it.

He guessed.

"Um, what are you talking about?" he asked, with a frown, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, although he had a bad feeling that this had been something he had said whilst intoxicated and…great, just great, "A tree that...looks like a cloud?"

Beca nodded, a smirk still playing on her lips, as she watched him frantically trying to rack his brains and work out what she was talking about. "I have to say, I'm a little disappointed," she told him and he glanced up to see her staring at him, eyebrows raised, looking rather amused, "You said it was going to change my life, that it was the best tree ever…"

"Wait, I said _what_?"

Beca laughed at his confusion and, after he had gotten over his initial twinge of embarrassment, he gradually joined in because _Jesus_, he had said some weird things before whilst drunk but this, this topped them all.

"Hey, dork," she said as her laughter eventually subsided, suddenly fixing him with a hesitant gaze, "Seeing as I'm here, uh, if you want, we can watch a movie? Continue the 'moviecation'?"

He stared at her, gaping once again but then slowly, ever so slowly, he nodded, a genuine smile creeping onto his face at the fact that she had just offered to do the one thing that he knew she wasn't particularly keen on _for him_. For the first time in the past week, he felt like everything would be okay between them, that they could somehow make everything work. It would be more than a little awkward, sure, but it was worth it.

She was worth it.

* * *

Being around a _sober_ Jesse and knowing what she now knew, it definitely wasn't easy, not only for her but for Jesse too. Despite them managing to re-establish a semi-normal banter between them, she could tell that he was still wary about being around her, awkwardly trying not to cross any boundaries, over-analysing his every move and she knew it was weird, she did, but she sort of wished Chloe had never spilled his secret, she sort of wished she had never found out, she sort of wished the last week had never happened.

…But it would get easier over time and things would return to how they were.

She hoped.

"What do you want to watch?" Jesse asked her, as she slowly trailed her finger along the spines of the many DVDs that he had stacked up on the shelves of his living room, scanning the titles, as usual slightly surprised by how many she hadn't even heard of before.

"I don't mind," she finally replied, because really, she couldn't care less which movie they watched as long as they watched one; what Chloe had said to her about Jesse doubting their friendship thanks to her actions during the past week, it had kept playing over and over in her head and she needed to fix it, she needed to prove to him that they were still friends despite everything that had happened, and, well, offering to watch a movie with him was one of the only ways she knew how. "You can pick?"

He nodded at her, slowly moving his gaze along the shelves thoughtfully before sliding one out, popping it into the DVD player without consulting her and then, in true Jesse fashion, excusing himself to make popcorn, promptly walking back into the kitchen. She gingerly sat herself down on his sofa as she waited for him to return, a smile creeping onto her face as her eyes absentmindedly moved from the piano in the corner of the room, covered in sheet music with his writing scrawled all over it, to the stormtrooper cut-out that Benji had given him which was still proudly standing in the corner of the room, to his wall of DVDs and—

"—Catch," she heard Jesse call from behind her and she turned, instantly reaching out her hands as she realised that there was a _juice pouch_ soaring at her and then pulling a face as she failed to grab hold of it. He laughed as he watched it fly past her and fall onto the floor and she shook her head at him as he walked back towards her, a bowl of popcorn in his hands.

"Nice catch," he said, ignoring the slight scowl on her face as he placed the bowl down on the table in front of her before reaching over to pick the juice pouch up and passing it to her. She slowly took it from him, staring at it and it was stupid, she knew it was, given everything that had happened over the past week, but the first thought that came into her mind was that this was the first time that he hadn't opened it for her and—_god_, Beca, stop.

"Hey, Beca, what's up?" Jesse asked, glancing at her curiously as he slowly lowered himself onto the couch and she looked up, her reply dying on her lips as she frowned, noticing the way he made sure that he was a safe distance from her, seating himself on practically the _other side_ of the sofa and before she knew what she was doing, before she could stop herself, she had reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards her.

"Jesse, it's fine," she told him, "Don't overthink it."

He blinked at her, glancing down and staring at where her fingers were wrapped around his, an unsure expression on his face but slowly, she felt him relax, allowing himself to be tugged towards her, a slightly sheepish smile on his face as he nodded in response to her words. He quickly settled himself beside her, balancing the bowl of popcorn on his lap as he pressed play on the remote control and she smiled as he started launching into his usual stream of movie trivia, his eyes lighting up. For once, she found herself _properly_ listening to his facts, absorbed by the facts themselves and the way he was so enthusiastic about everything, so absorbed that when he suddenly stopped speaking, she glanced up at him in complete confusion.

"You can open that, you know," he told her, tilting his head towards the still unopened juice pouch in her hands and she blinked, a little startled by his words, before she eyed him, locking her gaze with his as she slowly handed it over, not quite sure what she was doing but yet, knowing that it was just _wrong_ if he didn't open it for her. It was…tradition.

Or something.

Jesse stared at her, giving her a puzzled look, but it wasn't long before realisation dawned on him and she watched as his eyes widened in surprise, a slow smile appearing on his face as he wordlessly took it from her, sticking the straw through it and passing it back.

"Thanks," she said as she accepted it, smiling back at him, glad he had understood what she had wanted without questioning it or making a big deal out of it because now that she thought about it, it really had been quite weird and—okay, _moving on_. "Now, what were you saying about the movie…?"

She leaned back against the sofa, reaching over to grab a handful of popcorn as she focused her gaze on the screen, letting Jesse's voice wash over her, determined to concentrate on what was happening and take his 'moviecation' seriously…but about twenty minutes in and her attention had started to waver and she slid her eyes over to Jesse, recoiling ever so slightly as she realised that he had been staring at her, a completely undecipherable expression on his face.

"You okay there, weirdo?" she asked, once she had recovered from her initial shock, grabbing another handful of popcorn from the bowl resting on his lap just to give her a distraction, something else to do except to stare right back at him because his gaze was so…intense, it was unnerving, jumbling up her thoughts, making her think _weird_ things.

Jesse nodded slowly, an apologetic smile reappearing on his face at her words. "Sorry, I, uh, I didn't mean to stare but I was just wondering..." he trailed off, clearing his throat awkwardly, and she eyed him curiously, gesturing for him to continue, "...why are you wearing my Trebles hoodie?"

She glanced down in surprise, forgetting that she had put his hoodie on late last night when it had gotten colder in his apartment because she, well, she had nothing else to wear except for that [she was pretty sure that raiding Jesse's closet would have been both creepy and unhelpful, given their current situation...]. She felt herself flush, even though it was a stupid reaction because it wasn't like it _meant_ anything [and besides, he had given it to her, hadn't he?], and as she slowly moved her gaze back up again, she was surprised to see that Jesse's expression was completely unreadable again.

"I guess you were right, I did find some use for it," she finally said before she forced a smirk onto her face, trying to cover up the sudden, irrational discomfort she was feeling as she spoke again, "I'm still of the opinion that a capella is totally weird and _lame_ but, I have to admit, this hoodie of yours, it's pretty comfy."

"It's a joke," she said dryly, nudging him in the ribs as Jesse did nothing except to continue staring at her and she started to wonder whether he was actually offended by her calling a capella lame but, after a few seconds, his usual easy smile returned onto his face as he slowly nudged her back.

"So, I was right, was I?" he asked, sounding more and more like the Jesse she knew, his grin growing wider as he leaned his head towards her, adding, "Can I have that in writing?"

She grimaced, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes at him, shaking her head. "Dude, stop," she said as he continued to talk about how he was _always_ right, pointedly turning her gaze back towards the television screen. "You're missing the movie," she stated wryly, tilting her head towards the screen, rolling her eyes once again as he mock-gasped from beside her.

"No way," he said, "Have I converted you? Have you finally seen how amazing movies are? Do you know what this means, Beca?_ I can finally die a hero_."

She rolled her eyes again, shaking her head at him, proceeding to tell him just how boring she was finding the movie [which was only half-true…], pretending to be seriously unamused as he continued to call her bluff even though inside, she was beyond relieved that he was back to joking with her in his usual manner; sure, she had only been away from him for a week but she…she had missed this.

She had missed him.


	20. Chapter 20

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY

It was weird, it really was, but for some reason, Beca hadn't felt so calm in a very long time. She knew that, given their current situation and what she now knew about Jesse, she should be having the complete opposite reaction to everything that was happening but there was something strangely…_therapeutic_ about watching the movie with him in his apartment, in his hoodie, with a juice pouch in her hand; in other words, there was just something comforting about being surrounded by _Jesse _and although she wasn't quite sure why and didn't particularly want to question it, she was just glad that things were back to normal.

Sort of.

As the movie had continued, Jesse had slowly returned to his usual, laid-back self but there were still moments where she'd catch him staring off into the distance in the middle of the movie [which was pretty unheard of for him, considering how captivated he usually was by them], an undecipherable expression on his face, or moments like right now when the movie was drawing to a close and they had both reached into the bowl precariously balancing on his lap at the same time and he had accidentally grabbed her _hand_ rather than popcorn and—

"—Oh god, I really didn't mean to do that, I swear," he said hastily, looking everywhere _but_ at her as he instantly retracted his hand, his movements so fast that he managed to send popcorn flying everywhere in the process. "Oh _god_," he repeated, with a groan, his eyes wide as he stared at the now popcorn-covered floorboards and even though she knew that it was totally inappropriate, she just couldn't help it; he was looking so dazed and confused and _lost _that…she had to laugh.

Jesse swung his head around to look at her, his expression still one of complete horror and embarrassment at what had just happened, but it wasn't long before she could see the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily, his eyes crinkling, and he collapsed into laughter as well. They sat like that, simply staring at one another, both of them getting closer and closer to full-on hysterics when, thanks to him shaking so hard, the rest of the bowl fell off his lap as well.

"Well done," she managed to say dryly between gasps of laughter as even more popcorn ended up on the floor and the bowl clattered around the hard wooden planks before finally coming to a stop with a resonant bang, "_Well done_."

He shook his head at her, still laughing, as he stood up, brushing off stray bits of popcorn from his jeans. Once he was done, he moved to pull out the vacuum cleaner from one of the cupboards, beginning to clear up the mess.

"Do you need me to do anything?" Beca asked, as she slowly walked over to him, making sure not to stand on any bits of popcorn, as he started it up.

"No, don't worry, it's okay," he said, gesturing for her to sit back down with his free hand, before he caught her eye and his expression became distinctively guilty as he added, "Besides, this is all my fault anyway."

She frowned.

"Jesse…" she said, hesitantly placing a hand on his arm, the action causing him to stop vacuuming for a second as he turned to face her, his eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. "It's not your fault. Like I said before, don't...don't overthink things," she told him, fixing her gaze on his face as she gripped his arm a little tighter, hoping that her words got through to him because she was really starting to hate the awkwardness that now existed between them.

As he didn't say anything in reply, still looking unbelievably guilty, running a hand through his hair, she took a slow step towards him, mentally bracing herself as she uttered the three words that she never thought she would say to anyone out loud again:

"I trust you."

He stared at her, his expression quickly becoming indecipherable as his eyes bore into hers and she swallowed, shifting a little on the spot, her instinct telling her that she should retract the words — take them back before anything bad happened — but she forced herself to take a deep breath, stop thinking so hard and instead, focus on Jesse...and as the seconds passed, her eyes locked on his, she started to feel a little calmer.

What she had said, it was the truth; he had proven time and time again that he had her back and...she just knew that he wasn't going to hurt her, wasn't going to do anything to make her feel uncomfortable. As Chloe had so succinctly summed it up yesterday, he was _Jesse_.

"Jesse, I trust you," she repeated slowly, her hand still gripping the upper part of his arm, the words falling from her mouth marginally easier than they had done the first time.

He stared at her a little longer, his eyes searching her face for a second, before he simply nodded at her once without saying anything; instead, he just slowly started up the vacuum cleaner again as he resumed his cleaning up but this time, she could see the distinctive outline of a smile on his face. She shook her head lightly as she watched him walk around the room; once again, he had shown just how well he knew her, shown that he knew exactly when to push her and when not to, shown that he understood that what she had just told him was a big deal without her even saying anything.

As he started humming absentmindedly to himself under his breath, Beca still left to her own thoughts, she recalled the promise she had made to herself the week before last, the week before her world had turned upside down, and she vowed that she would carry it out: even if it was hard and unnatural for her, she would try her best to make things even and put herself into a position where she knew him as well as he knew her.

It was only fair, after all.

* * *

Today was really not going the way Jesse had thought it was going to go but he definitely wasn't about to complain or question it. Not only was Beca actually in his apartment, talking to him, after a week of absolutely nothing but there were little things, things that he didn't even think she was aware of, that gave him hope that they'd eventually be more than okay despite the inevitable awkwardness that still lingered between them; little things such as the fact that she had actually offered to watch a _movie_ with him, the fact that she had given him her juice pouch to open, even though she had protested every time he had done it for her in the past, the fact that she was still wearing his Treblemakers hoodie, its size engulfing her, and, of course, the fact that she had just told him, to his face, that she trusted him.

Okay, so maybe he couldn't exactly categorise that last thing as being 'little' as he could instantly tell from the way she had swallowed, looking like she wanted to bolt, that admitting that she trusted him had been no easy feat for her and as he continued to stare at her, slightly blown away by her confession, he vaguely recalled what Chloe had told him all those weeks ago after he had dropped off her 'apology' coffee to Beca, and he smiled: _she just finds it hard to __trust__ people, especially guys._

They would get through this...rough patch.

He was sure of it.

"Hey, Beca, do you want to go and grab some lunch?" he asked, as he finished cleaning up the last bits of popcorn, glancing over to where she was standing before recoiling a little in surprise when he saw that she was staring right at him, her brow furrowed, her gaze a little unfocused. "Beca?"

She shook her head, seemingly coming to her senses, as she slowly gave him a smile and a nod. "Sure," she said, "Lunch sounds good."

He shot her a grin in response as he stowed away the vacuum cleaner again and began pulling on his shoes and, after a moment's hesitation, she wordlessly did the same.

"Are you okay?" he probed, as he led her outside of the building and towards one of his favourite Italian restaurants around the corner, Beca still silent by his side, looking like she was deep in thought. Clearly, admitting that she trusted him was an even bigger deal than he had initially assumed and, if this was Luke's fault [which, by this point, he was ninety-nine per cent sure it was...but then again, maybe he was just being biased], he was going to do his absolute hardest to make sure that they were never alone in the same room again.

"I'm fine," she replied, falling into step beside him as she stuck her hands into her pockets […or _his_ pockets? After all, it was his Trebles hoodie so—okay, Jesse, that's really not the most important thing to be thinking about right now] before slowly glancing up at him, a myriad of emotions crossing her face as she took a deep breath, an action that made him frown immediately. _Damn _Luke.

"Jesse…tell me about yourself," she eventually said, looking suddenly uncomfortable, but she kept her eyes on his face all the same.

He blinked.

Uh, what?

"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Jesse?" he eventually quipped, not really sure where she was going with the whole thing but deciding that he _definitely_ needed to lighten the mood. He promptly stuck his hand out towards her as he continued, smiling triumphantly as she blinked once, twice, and then shook her head at him, rolling her eyes, stubbornly refusing to shake his hand, no matter how many times he waved it in her direction, "As you can tell, I'm awesome, like _the best_. My likes include, uh, cheese, hailstones, compasses_—_"

"—I'm being serious, you weirdo," she cut in, as he started listing the most random things he could think of, edging towards him just a bit so that she could elbow him in the ribs. Jesse glanced down at her, a satisfied grin appearing on his face as he noticed the way she was biting her lip; a sure sign that she was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Okay, okay, what do you want to know?" he asked, holding the door open for her as they arrived at the small restaurant, leading her towards one of the empty tables near the back.

"I don't know," she replied, with a shrug, "Anything, everything."

Jesse raised his eyebrows a little as he sat himself opposite her, leaning back in his chair, waiting for her to explain further because her request, it had come out of nowhere and to be honest, he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"I just—I don't know, I feel like you know me a lot better than I know you and I…" she trailed off, making a vague gesture with her hands as she stared down at the menu in an attempt to avoid his gaze and he blinked again, taken by surprise.

He wasn't quite sure what he had expected her to say but _that_ definitely wasn't it.

"Hey, come on, that's not true," he said quickly, instinctively reaching out a hand to place over hers in reassurance, before pulling it back when he was just a few millimetres away from making contact…and then he remembered what she had said to him about _not overthinking_ it and with a slight grimace, he reached forward again, slowly – and hesitantly – lowering his hand onto hers, glad that she seemed to be too lost in her thoughts to have noticed his major faux pas.

As he made contact, she instantly glanced up at him, a look of surprise passing across her face but she didn't move her hand so he didn't either. "Look, I'll tell you what, we'll play a game," he said, leaning across the table slightly, locking his eyes with hers, and he couldn't help but grin at her involuntary scowl at his use of the word 'game'. "Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I forgot you don't like fun things…" he added, as casually as possible, laughing as she instantly slipped her hand out from under his, reaching over to poke him repeatedly in the shoulder, mock-glaring at him.

"Take that back," she said, returning back to her side of her table, crossing her arms, and he opened his mouth to reply but before he could get any words out, a waitress appeared to take their order and he shrugged at her, pasting an innocent smile onto his face. She just rolled her eyes in response, placing her order with a slight shake of her head and he did the same.

As soon as the waitress was gone though, it all started again. "Take it back," she repeated, her voice hard, though the corner of her lips was quirking upwards and Jesse knew she didn't _really_ care whether he took it back or not…but, ten minutes later and she was still stubbornly insisting that he took it back so he eventually conceded to her request, pulling a face as she gave him a victorious smirk:

"Fine, fine, I take it back," he said, holding his hands up in surrender, a smile on his face, glad that they were still, sort of, able to tease each other this easily, "You, Beca Mitchell, you are the _master_ of fun things, no-one knows how to enjoy themselves like you do…"

"And don't you forget it, dork," she replied smugly, still smirking up at him as she leant back into her chair, "Now, come on, tell me about this game of yours..."

"Okay, we take it in turns to ask questions," he told her, "You can ask me anything you want to know about me but in return, I get to ask anything I want to know about you."

Beca raised her eyebrows at him as soon as he finished speaking, crossing her arms once again as she gave him an incredulous look and he just stared back, unfazed, still smiling at her. "That sounds like a terrible game," she remarked dryly, "Actually, I don't even think you can call that a '_game'._"

He shrugged. "Oh, I'm sorry, I guess not everyone can be as fun as you, Beca-the-master-of-fun-things," he said, his eyes wide as he mock-pouted at her, causing her to roll her eyes at him again as she quickly reached out to jab him in the shoulder as she asked – no, _begged_ – him never to call her that again.

"Hey, you were the one who wanted me to acknowledge it," Jesse replied, holding his hands up in mock-surrender, a grin on his face, "But, seriously, are you in?"

"You're an idiot," she told him, with a shake of her head, as she tore her eyes away from him momentarily to accept the food that the waitress had just brought them, "So…I can ask you anything?"

Jesse nodded as he took a mouthful of food, surprised at just how hungry he was…but then again, he guessed he hadn't exactly had anything to eat since last night [the popcorn didn't really count, considering he had – _stupidly_ – spilt it everywhere in his panic]. "You can ask me anything," he confirmed with a nod, once he had swallowed, "But I get to do the same to you."

He frowned, narrowing his eyes slightly as Beca considered his words, looking suddenly uncomfortable, shifting in her seat as she stared at her food, absentmindedly moving it around her plate, and with a jolt, he realised that maybe he hadn't worded his 'game' as well as he should have. [Okay, Beca was right, it was a lousy game…but whatever, he was sure it would serve its purpose just fine.]

"Beca, I'm not going to ask about…_you know_," he said slowly, vaguely, not really sure what the best way to approach the situation was. She glanced up at him, a look of confusion passing across her features and he sighed, running a hand through his hair as he clarified, "The 'Luke' thing...?"

She stared at him, looking more than a little taken aback by his words and he narrowed his eyes, wondering whether he had read the whole situation wrong. "I know you won't," she replied slowly, meeting his gaze, the hidden meaning behind her words clear in the warmth of her eyes – _I trust you_ – and he smiled in response.

"I'm in."

* * *

Beca wasn't quite sure how this 'game' of Jesse's was going to go but she guessed there was no harm in playing along; after all, she was the one that had brought up wanting to know more about him in the first place and besides, she knew that despite Jesse saying that it would give him the chance to ask her 'anything', she…_trusted_ him enough to know that he wouldn't go anywhere near the whole Luke situation with his questions.

"Do you want to go first?" she offered, in between taking another mouthful of her food, keeping her gaze locked on his...before eyeing him suspiciously as he nodded, a mischievous grin appearing on his face as he started thinking of a suitable first question to ask her. "Oh god, I'm going to regret agreeing to play your game, aren't I?" she asked, groaning as he did nothing at all to appease her fears but instead, grinned that little bit wider at her…and though it pained her to do so, she found herself grinning back. As she had learnt over these past weeks, Jesse was just infectious that way.

"Okay, I'm ready. Here's your first question: brace yourself," he said, still grinning stupidly at her, "Beca...What's your favourite movie?"

She rolled her eyes.

She really should have seen that coming.

The _dork_.

"You can ask me absolutely anything and _that's_ the first thing you want to know?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow and he just shrugged in response.

"Hey, movies are awesome, okay?" he said, with a shrug, laughing as she just rolled her eyes again, "Answer the question, Beca."

She pursed her lips, thinking hard, trying to think of a movie she had actually enjoyed, not too surprised when the only ones that came to mind were the ones that she had watched with him...but even out of those, she couldn't say that she had _enjoyed_ any of them; no, what she enjoyed, it was listening to Jesse's endless stream of [useless] facts, watching the way he mouthed the words, smiling at how his eyes lit up in response to a particularly dramatic scene.

"Wow, question one and you're already stuck," he said, a look of amusement on his face as he watched her visibly struggle to come up with an acceptable answer before he eventually decided to help her out a bit, "It's okay, don't worry, I already know what your favourite movie is."

She blinked.

"You do?"

He nodded confidently and she frowned, narrowing her eyes at him as he leaned towards her. "It's _clearly_ the Star Wars movies," he said conspiratorially, his voice hushed, "I mean, I saw how much you wanted to take my stormtrooper cut-out home—"

She rolled her eyes, instantly hitting him on the shoulder – Jesse and his _stupid_ stormtrooper – before falling into deep thought again, still trying to think of a suitable answer to give him and eventually, she came up with one:

"The Breakfast Club," she told him, quickly shaking her head as Jesse immediately asked her why she had picked that one, a look of surprise on his face, "No, it's my turn."

He mock-pouted at her, eyes wide, but she just shrugged, telling him that it wasn't _her_ fault that the rules were this way…although, honestly, she couldn't care less about the rules. The truth was, she was just buying some time before he inevitably asked her why she had picked 'The Breakfast Club' when it was his turn because she didn't quite know how to say out loud that she had chosen that movie in particular because it had been the movie that they had watched during their first 'official' moviecation, the first time she had realised just how much she valued his company, without making things awkward again.

But she'd think of something.

She had to.


	21. Chapter 21

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY-**O**NE

To say that Jesse was surprised by Beca's answer to his first question was an understatement. He didn't know exactly what he had been expecting her to give him as an answer – maybe just a sarcastic quip about how she hated every single movie in the world and didn't have a favourite one – but he definitely hadn't expected her to pick 'The Breakfast Club' and he was dying to ask her why.

'The Breakfast Club' had always been one of his personal favourites, thanks to its storyline and brilliant soundtrack, but somehow he doubted that it was [apparently] Beca's favourite for the same reasons. After all, she hadn't exactly seemed _that_ engrossed in it when they had watched it together all those weeks ago…although, now that he really thought about it, she had seemed a little teary-eyed towards the end? He had always just chalked that up to being something Luke-related [_everything_ that affected Beca in a negative way was Luke-related, as far as he was concerned] but who knows? Maybe he was wrong.

"—Right, here's your question," Beca said, her voice cutting through his thoughts, and he glanced upwards to meet her eyes, shooting her an encouraging smile as he took another mouthful of his food, "Why do you like juice so much?"

He blinked, shrugged, pretending to think hard. There wasn't exactly a reason for it – he liked juice because, uh, he just liked how it tasted _–_ but hey, he could have some fun with this. After everything that they had been through this morning [and last night; although, thanks to the _lovely_ after-effects of alcohol, sarcasm intended, he still wasn't quite sure what had gone down but at least the aspirin he had taken was working and his head was no longer pounding so much], he wanted to keep things as light as possible with this 'game'.

Or try to, anyway.

"Juice is a wonderful beverage," he started dramatically, grinning at the way that Beca instantly rolled her eyes at him as she put another forkful of her food into her mouth, "It reminds me of my childhood, it reminds me of…summer, it reminds me of the innocence that—"

"—Are you even listening to yourself right now? Please tell me you're not being serious."

He trailed off, staring at her, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible, but as Beca stared right back, her eyes wide, gaping at him in utter disbelief at the words that were coming out of his mouth, he couldn't help but start laughing.

"Of course I'm not being serious," he said, shaking his head at her, fighting back the urge to stick his tongue out at her as she called him an idiot under her breath, "I just like juice because I like juice? You have to admit, it _is_ pretty good…"

He grinned as she scrunched up her nose a little but eventually [and reluctantly] nodded once; her reaction didn't faze him in the slightest, he knew that he had managed to convert her to what he had – sort of stupidly – coined all those weeks ago as being the 'juice way of life'.

"My turn," he said, narrowing his eyes at her as he watched her take a deep, steadying breath, before moving her gaze down to stare at her plate; what was she so nervous about? He had promised her that he wasn't going to ask her anything about the whole 'Luke' situation [he wasn't that type of guy, he wasn't about to take advantage of this situation and risk losing her trust, especially when he had just gained it], even though as the weeks went by and he got to know Beca better, his curiosity about it just grew and grew, so this reaction was a little…odd, to say the least.

"So...Beca, why is 'The Breakfast Club' your favourite movie?"

He raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair so that he could see her better as she did nothing but continue to stare at her plate, biting her lip, an all too _serious_ expression on her face…

…So much for keeping things light.

"I don't know," Beca started hesitantly, lifting her fork to push the last remnants of her food around the plate, "Uh, it was a good movie? I mean, the whole storyline, all the stuff with Claire and Ben and—"

"—Ben_der_," he corrected automatically, eyeing her suspiciously as she winced, slowly raising her head up to properly look at him, a distinctively guilty expression on her face. He squinted, his eyes searching her face, trying to work out what was going on but he came up blank.

By this point, he was pretty sure she wasn't telling him the complete truth but…why on Earth would she be lying about her favourite movie, of all things? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"You're a terrible liar," he commented, as casually as possible, forcing a small smile onto his face even though he was seriously confused by the whole turn of events, "Even Chloe could have done a better job…"

Beca raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"…Okay, maybe not," he amended, knowing that Chloe was so awful at keeping a straight face that she probably wouldn't even be able to lie convincingly to a _baby_, "But that was pretty close."

Jesse slowly crossed his arms, watching as she sighed, opening her mouth and closing it a couple of times, waiting patiently for her to formulate an answer, his intrigue growing with every second that passed.

"It's complicated," she finally replied, shifting in her seat, looking so uncomfortable that Jesse wanted nothing more but to take back his question and change it to something more light-hearted...but it was too late and she opened her mouth again, starting to awkwardly stutter out an explanation, "I don't know how well you remember but it was the first movie we watched; I was dealing with a lot of…Luke stuff that day and you managed to take my mind off it and I guess it was the first time that I really saw you as a friend and…yeah. I know it sounds stupid but—"

"—Hey, no, it's not stupid," he quickly cut in, as he watched her expression grow more uneasy and unsure as she continued, giving her a genuine smile as he tried his best to hide his surprise at her answer. "It's not stupid at all."

Beca really was full of surprises today and it was starting to throw him off a bit. He couldn't quite get his head around the fact that she had gone from ignoring him for a whole week [to the extent that he was starting to think that maybe they weren't even going to be friends anymore] to suddenly telling him that she trusted him and admitting that her favourite movie was 'The Breakfast Club' because of _him_. It was weird, _really_ weird, and he just didn't understand what was going on. Maybe Chloe had said something to her? She had told him that she was going to 'fix' their whole situation, after all.

Whatever the reason for her change of attitude was though, he wasn't going to complain; after everything that had happened, he was more than happy with the fact that Beca was actually talking to him and he…he would work at trying to get rid of any awkwardness between them and be a good friend to her, even if he would probably always want more.

It was better than nothing.

* * *

The silence that had fallen after she had confessed to Jesse exactly why she had told him that 'The Breakfast Club' was her favourite movie was…_uncomfortable_. She wasn't even sure why she had decided to tell him the truth but she had panicked, hadn't been able to come up with a reasonable lie, and he was looking at her with a slightly hurt expression on his face as he realised that she wasn't being entirely honest with him and she just couldn't take it. Hurting Jesse was the last thing she wanted to do, especially after everything he had done for her.

"Are you finished?" she asked him, in a lousy attempt to break the silence, gesturing at his plate that was clearly empty and he blinked a couple of times, refocusing his gaze on her face before slowly nodding and calling a waiter over.

"I guess I know what we need to do now," he said, a couple seconds later as they waited for someone to bring their bill to them and she blinked, eyeing him warily, feeling her heart pound the tiniest bit quicker for absolutely no logical reason as he locked his eyes with hers.

"We're going to have to rewatch 'The Breakfast Club'", he told her, his usual warm smile slowly returning to his face, "I mean, seriously, Beca, you thought his name was _'Ben'_?"

She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at the graveness of his tone, beyond grateful that he was doing what he did best and relieving the tension between them again.

"What's the problem? Ben, Bender, it's practically the same thing," she said, as nonchalantly as possible, waving a hand around vaguely in the air, her attempts at keeping her laughter at bay failing as he gasped audibly, an outraged expression on his face.

"It is _not_ the same thing!" he exclaimed, a little too loudly, before quickly apologising to the table behind them as they turned their heads around to glare at him, lowering his voice back to a normal level again, "Have I taught you nothing through your moviecation?"

She shrugged.

"I guess not," she said, even though she was sure that they both knew that wasn't entirely true, "I suppose you're just going to have to keep trying."

Jesse grinned, nodding at her, as he fished into his pocket for his wallet, glancing at the bill that was now on the table before starting to count out some notes and her eyes widened slightly as she realised his intention.

"Wait, Jesse, you don't have to," she said, quickly reaching out a hand to grab his arm in an attempt to get his attention but instantly releasing it as he froze at her touch, his head shooting up to stare at her in alarm. She muttered an apology, wincing slightly at how uncomfortable he now looked as he ran a hand through his hair, before opening her mouth to speak again. "Seriously, let's just split it."

He stared at her for a couple of moments, his expression unreadable, before he slowly nodded, putting down his half of the bill and she did the same. Once they had gathered their bags and pushed the door of the restaurant open, walking outside, he turned to her and she was glad to see that he was looking slightly less awkward and more like his usual self; she guessed it was going to take a while before things between them would be totally back to normal…

"So, what are you doing now?" he asked, as he stuck his hands into his pockets, leaning against the wall. "I mean, I know that you weren't exactly planning on coming to mine this weekend and—"

She winced, biting her lip, before shaking her head at him as Jesse immediately backtracked, swearing that he didn't mean it to come out like it did and she knew he was telling the truth…and besides, what he had unknowingly implied was sort of true, wasn't it?

"It's okay, don't worry," she said, before sliding her phone out of her pocket and checking the time, her heart sinking slightly as she realised that it was later than she thought it was and she really needed to get back and finish working on Bumper's tracks before tomorrow morning or risk facing Aubrey's wrath.

As she relayed this information to him, he nodded, pushing himself off the wall, moving to stand in front of her. "I'll walk you back," he offered, a little hesitantly, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets and although her first instinct was to refuse and tell him not to, she bit her lip again, forcing herself to remain silent, knowing that if she refused, it would make the situation ten times more awkward and that was definitely something that neither of them needed. Instead, she just nodded and he smiled in response, falling into step beside her as she started walking in the direction of her apartment.

"It's your go," he prompted, after they had walked for a couple of minutes in a companionable silence, and she pursed her lips as she tried to think of a good question, before recalling something he had said earlier when he had provided a joke answer to the first question she had asked him.

"What _was_ your childhood like?" she asked, glancing at him through the corner of her eyes, unable to stop herself from smiling softly at the way his eyes lit up as he started enthusiastically filling her in, wishing that hers had been as great as his had clearly been.

"It was awesome," he told her, with a wide grin, "There was lots of…juice drinking and movie watching." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him as they continued walking, her jaw twitching slightly in amusement. "Seriously though, you would have hated it," he continued and she raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I have a younger brother and sister and we're all big movie fans; we spent loads of days just holed up in one of our bedrooms, watching movie marathons…"

He trailed off, a wistful expression on his face, and she smiled. "I wouldn't have hated it," she told him truthfully, "It sounds…nice. Way better than mine."

Jesse glanced at her in surprise, clearly wanting to ask her to expand on her cryptic statement, but she shook her head slightly. "Not now," she said quickly, not really in the mood to tell him all about how her dad had left them when she was ten, instead opting to ask him to continue to talk about his own childhood.

He eyed her inquisitively for a few seconds, his eyes searching her face, before slowly nodding, carrying on as if she had never spoken, launching into a story about how he had come home one day from school to find his six year old brother dressed in all his sister's clothes, and she couldn't help but smile at the warmth of his voice as he spoke; clearly, family was important to him.

"Hey, so this is me," she said as they finally arrived at her door and he glanced up, surprised, so caught up in his story that he hadn't even realised where they were.

Jesse nodded, moving to lean against the wall of her apartment building, watching as she fished in her bag for her keys. "I'm glad I drunk-dialled you last night," he told her seconds later, a solemn expression on his face, and she lifted her head up to shoot him a smile.

"Me too," she said sincerely, before twisting her lips into a smirk as she leaned towards him slightly, "but seriously, Jesse, if you don't find out where that 'cloud-shaped' tree is and take me to see it—" She trailed off, laughing as he groaned, flushing slightly, running a hand through his hair.

"Please tell me that was the only embarrassing thing I said last night," he said, his voice pleading, but she just shrugged at him even though it was; he had been so obsessed by that tree that he hadn't spoken about anything else for hours.

"You'll never know," she told him, still smirking, as she triumphantly located her keys, pulling them out as she turned towards him properly. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Jesse nodded at her, smiling, watching as she entered the building and raised a hand up in farewell, a gesture which she slowly returned. The whole afternoon—in fact, the whole _weekend_ – had gone better than she had imagined and yes, things weren't quite like they had been before [and they would probably never be] but she…she could definitely work with this.

* * *

When Jesse walked into the coffee shop the next afternoon for his shift, he was not at all surprised to find that Chloe had left an 'apology' coffee for him on the counter, the cup clearly labelled with _'Jess, I'm sorry'_, though the red-head herself was nowhere in sight. He smiled slightly to himself as he picked it up, moving to place the rest of his stuff in the staffroom; he guessed he couldn't be annoyed at Chloe because even though she had spilled his secret, she clearly hadn't meant to…and besides, whatever she had said to Beca in an attempt to 'fix' things, it had worked—

"—So, what did Chloe do?" Stacie asked from her position behind the counter as he reappeared, tilting her head towards the coffee cup in his hand and he jumped, startled, not having registered her presence in the shop until now.

He took a deep, calming breath as he gingerly sat himself down beside her, running a hand through his hair as Stacie did nothing more except to stare at him expectantly, tapping her nail file on the counter a little impatiently. This wasn't exactly the topic that he wanted to discuss right now but if he didn't tell her, he knew that she would easily be able to get the information out of Chloe, so he braced himself, quickly summarising the whole situation.

"She told Beca that I liked her," he said, with a shrug, avoiding her gaze as he took a sip of the coffee, shaking his head slightly as he instantly recognised it as his usual and—god, he really needed to remind Chloe that 'apology' coffees were _not_ a thing.

"Seriously? How did she take it?" Stacie asked, her eyes widening in surprise, the hand that had been using the nail-file to pat out a beat on the counter pausing in mid-air...before she blinked, realisation passing across her face, as she added, "Actually, don't bother; from the amount of morning shifts you've been taking lately and the distinct lack of Beca this past week, I think I know the answer."

"Hey, I only took one morning shift," he said defensively, partly because it was true and partly because he didn't really want to focus too much on the implications of _why_ there had been a 'distinct lack of Beca'. He really had to try to move on, it wasn't...healthy.

"Shit, she's ignoring you?" Stacie asked, paying no attention to his comment as she glanced over at him, a rather odd-looking expression of…wait, was that…_concern _on her face, "You okay, Swanson?"

"I'm...I'm good," he replied slowly, still avoiding her gaze, "I talked to her and it's fine now; we agreed to try and make this work and stay friends despite…you know."

Stacie blinked at his words, staring at him, reaching a hand out to tilt his chin towards her, her eyes intensely searching his face and he shifted in his seat, all of a sudden uncomfortable under her gaze. "So you're just…giving up on her?" she asked lightly as she slowly crossed her arms, her eyes still locked on his, a clear look of disapproval on her face.

"Don't look at me like that, Stace," he said, running a hand through his hair, feeling increasingly jittery as their conversation continued; he definitely shouldn't have said anything, especially to Stacie, of all people, "I—Look, she clearly doesn't like me in _that _way so…what else am I supposed to do?"

Stacie just shook her head at him, her lips pursed. "Anything," she told him simply, waving the nail-file in his direction, "Anything is better than just giving up?"

"Stace, I'm not _giving up,_ that isn't what's happening here. I'm just doing the right thing," he said, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice as Stacie just raised her eyebrows at him disbelievingly but, to his relief, she fell silent...

...For a grand total of three minutes.

"You're wrong, you know," Stacie said suddenly from his side and he sighed, wondering whether he could just pretend like he hadn't heard her, "She does like you, she just doesn't know it yet. Trust me, Swanson, I know what I'm talking about."

He scoffed, shaking his head lightly as he forced himself to push down the unwanted feeling of _hope_ that her words ignited in him; come on, Jesse, be realistic. Don't go down that path. "Stace, she ignored me for a week, I think it's pretty obvious how she feels," he said, clenching his hand slightly in response to the twinge of...rejection he could feel in his chest.

Stacie simply shook her head at him again and he rubbed his forehead in exasperation, cursing her in his head for being so stubborn, before groaning as he noticed the sly expression that was slowly appearing on his face. "_Stacie_, no. Whatever you're planning, don't go through with it."

She just smiled, gracefully getting up from her chair to serve a customer that had just walked in as she threw a completely unreassuring, "Don't worry, Swanson, I have it all under control!", over her shoulder.

He groaned; that was exactly what she had said the last time and he really, _really_ didn't need her interference right now.


	22. Chapter 22

**C**HAPTER** T**WENTY-**T**WO

To say that Jesse was unamused when Benji had apologetically texted him last night and told him that he had to swap his morning shift with Stacie today because there was some magician convention he just _had_ to attend was a complete understatement [though Benji did say he would bring him back an autographed magician's hat and wand so that was something, he guessed…okay, maybe not]. Morning shifts meant that Beca would most likely be making an appearance at some point and Stacie and Beca? Not a good combination, especially after Stacie had refused to reveal the details of her new 'plan' to him yesterday; instead, just casually flicking nail files at his forehead every single time he had tried to ask until it had gotten so sore that he had eventually stopped.

"Hey, Swanson," the brunette greeted as he walked into the coffee shop, looking awfully chipper as she looked up at him from where she was sat behind the counter, rubbing her hands together in a decidedly suspicious fashion.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Don't even start, Stace," he warned, waving his hand at her, "Don't even _start_."

Stacie just smirked at him, shrugged, and then proceeded to start stacking the coffee cups, keeping her eyes locked on him as he walked over to join her, tracking his every movement, every _twitch_. "My plan's foolproof," she told him, as she had done at least thirty times yesterday, her voice baiting, "You're going to love it."

He sighed, shaking his head at her. "I guarantee I won't," he retorted quickly as he ran a hand through his hair in slight frustration, "Please, _please_, don't go through with whatever you're planning."

Stacie just smirked again, leaning over to pat his arm in mock-reassurance, "I'm sorry, Swanson," she said, as innocently as possible, before widening her eyes and lowering her voice as she continued, "But you really need my help…and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you in your time of need? I mean—"

"—This is not 'my time of need'," he cut in, his tone defensive, as he ran a hand through his hair again; at this rate, his head was going to be an absolute mess by the time his shift ended…although he supposed it didn't matter, it wasn't like he was trying to impress anyone; he had agreed to stay friends with Beca and that was _that_. He was a man of his word.

"I beg to differ," she objected, shaking her head at him pityingly, her hand still resting heavily on his arm despite his multiple attempts to remove it, her nails digging into his skin, "You were on the verge of giving up on her!"

Jesse sighed exasperatedly. No matter how many times he had tried to explain the situation to her, she just hadn't understood; it wasn't that he was 'giving up', no, it was that Beca had made it blindingly obvious that she didn't reciprocate his less-than-platonic feelings for her and he wasn't about to risk ruining their friendship by bringing up the matter again. Besides, yes, maybe he did have a giant stormtrooper in his apartment and seemed to have an obsession with 'cloud-shaped' trees when drunk but he still had _some _degree of dignity left; chasing after a girl that was clearly not into him and would probably never be? That was not exactly a situation that he wanted to be in, even if it was _Beca_.

"Stacie, for the last time, I didn't give up," he finally said, his voice firm, "Just…drop it, please"

"Nope, sorry, I can't do that," she replied, giving him what he assumed was supposed to be an apologetic look, "There is no way I'm about to let you get friend-zoned, Swanson. I'm telling you, she _likes_ you and the worst thing you can possibly do right now is act like normal and make her forget about your little crush on her. Don't let her get too comfortable—"

"—Hi, Jess."

Jesse turned, catching sight of Chloe for the first time since she had revealed to him that she had spilt his secret, shooting Stacie a glare as she unsubtly cleared her throat, coughed twice, glanced between the two of them, before finally creeping away to the other side of the counter, leaving them alone.

"Hi, Jess," Chloe repeated hesitantly, biting her lip as she slowly met his gaze, "I really am sorry for telling Beca. I didn't mean to, I just—"

"—Chloe, it's okay," he interrupted, putting out a hand to stop her from talking any further, sensing how uncomfortable and _truly sorry_ the redhead was for spilling his secret, "You're forgiven."

Chloe blinked in surprise, staring at him, eyes wide, clearly not expecting to be forgiven so easily but Jesse simply stared back, giving her a small smile. As she stared at him for a couple more seconds, a look of realisation crossed her face and she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly. "Did Beca talk to you?" she asked, and he nodded slowly in confirmation, "How did it go?"

"We sorted everything out, we're friends, it's all fine," he said, waving a hand around vaguely, but before he could explain anything further, Stacie had hopped off her stool and started walking back towards them until she was standing right beside Chloe, giving him a disbelieving look and a scoff as she rolled her eyes.

"Sure, Swanson," she said, shaking her head at him, "It's all fine except for the part where you've given up on her." Chloe frowned at the brunette's words, glancing up at him, a hint of confusion creeping into her eyes but it instantly vanished and transformed into something indecipherable as Stacie continued: "Chloe, back me up here: tell him he shouldn't give up on Beca. You know as well as I do that she likes him back."

Chloe pursed her lips thoughtfully, tilting her head at him, wordlessly meeting his gaze and he ran yet another hand through his hair as he started to feel more than a little exposed under her all-seeing, all-knowing gaze.

"Jess, I don't think you should give up," Chloe finally said, her voice so quiet that, for a second, he wasn't even sure if he had heard her correctly but as Stacie gave him a triumphant look and a '_I told you_', he knew there was no mistaking what she had just said.

He blinked at her a couple of times, frowning slightly in confusion; sure, he had been able to easily brush off the words when Stacie had said it but coming from Chloe, it was different, it changed things. Chloe was Beca's best friend and…if she didn't think that he should give up then did that mean that there was a chance that _maybe_, just maybe, she liked him back?

"Chlo, I don't understand what you're trying to say," he replied slowly, feeling a little dazed as he rubbed at his chin in slight frustration, a million conflicting thoughts flying through his brain. "I…shouldn't give up?"

Chloe sighed, shaking her head, reaching a hand out to rest on his arm as she explained. "Jess, I'm not saying that she _likes_ you but I'm not saying that she doesn't either," she said slowly, and he raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms, not quite sure what to make of that cryptic and rather unhelpful statement, "Beca, she's…she's complicated, she has a lot going on and I—Jess, I'm sorry, I wish I could explain everything to you but it's not my story to tell."

Jesse frowned at that, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. "Luke?" he asked, biting the inside of his cheek as Chloe nodded slowly, avoiding his gaze. Somehow, everything involving Beca seemed to come back to Luke and whatever he had done to her…and he just didn't understand it, didn't even have the _faintest_ idea of what had happened between them, except that he had betrayed her trust and it had affected her really strongly.

"Okay, sorry to interrupt but this is getting seriously depressing," Stacie cut in, looking between the two of them, her eyebrows raised, a bored expression on her face, "Can we open up yet?"

Chloe blinked, her eyes glancing up at the clock, before nodding at Stacie as she saw what time it was. As Stacie breathed a sigh of a relief and moved to open the front door, Chloe turned her head back to look at him once more, meeting his gaze. "She likes you a lot more than you think," she said softly before she took a step backwards, leaving him to his own thoughts.

He sighed, moving to stand near the machines, beginning to start serving customers, his arms and hands moving on autopilot, more confused than ever. After last weekend, he had thought him and Beca had finally reached a good place, a compromise of sorts, but now he wasn't so sure. Maybe things were more complicated than they seemed and...god, he _hated_ Luke.

He continued serving customers, his mind not really focused on what he was doing and it wasn't until he felt a stabbing pain from his foot that he blinked hard, jolted back to reality.

"Fuck, Stacie, what the hell?" he said, reaching a hand out to push her away as he glanced down and saw her standing on his foot, her heel digging into him. She just shrugged, giving him a slightly apologetic smile as she tilted her head subtly towards the door to where Beca had just entered, heading straight towards them.

He took a deep breath, his eyes locked onto her form, tracking her every movement, making his mind up. There was no point in dwelling too hard in what Chloe had said, no, he needed to let things play out, run their natural course and just…be _cool_ about everything. He had promised Beca he would be her friend so that was what he needed to be. [For now.]

"Hey, Jesse," she greeted, with a smile, and after a prod in the side from Stacie, he slowly smiled back. "You okay? You look a little…off."

He turned to shoot Stacie a quick glare as he heard her scoff loudly from beside him before dragging his gaze back to Beca, forcing his smile back onto his face. "I'm fine," he told her, pushing all thoughts of his earlier conversation with the two girls to the back of his mind as he continued, "Do you want your usual?"

"Sure, that'd be great," she replied and he nodded, moving to grab a coffee cup and starting on her order before he lifted his head up to glance at her as he heard her speak again. "It's your turn." He blinked a couple of times, raising his eyebrows, surprised that she wanted to continue playing his 'game' and that she actually remembered whose turn it was.

As Stacie leant over to prod him again to get him to react, he instantly reached out his hand to grab hers, stopping her from making contact, giving her an exasperated look. "Stace, _go away_," he hissed, keeping his voice low, hoping that Beca couldn't hear what he was saying, "This is not the time for your 'plan'."

Stacie just shrugged, shaking her head, staying exactly where she was and Beca raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two of them suspiciously. He cleared his throat, grabbing her attention once again as he quickly decided on something to ask her, "Okay, Beca, here's your question: how did you meet Chloe?"

Beca nodded, seating herself opposite him as he continued preparing her order, her eyes becoming slightly unfocused as she started to retell the story. "I met Chloe in my first few weeks of college, I was…" she paused suddenly and he lifted his head up to see her biting her lip, looking incredibly awkward all of a sudden, and he gave her an encouraging smile. She took a slightly shaky breath, avoiding his gaze as she continued, speaking as fast as was humanly possible and he frowned - surely there was nothing Luke-related in this story, was there? - before his jaw dropped as he registered exactly what she was saying: "I was, uh, just minding my own business in the shower, singing to myself, and she walked in, complimented me on my voice and I haven't been able to get rid of her ever since."

"...Wait, so Chloe walked in on you naked?" Stacie asked, whistling slightly in approval as Beca nodded, looking more than a little embarrassed as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. He stared, his eyes widening, biting the inside of his cheek _hard_ to stop himself from thinking things that he really shouldn't be thinking about but it wasn't quite working and—

"—Swanson, you're spilling coffee all over the machine," Stacie said, prodding him in the side and he swore loudly as he glanced down, feeling himself flush as he quickly righted the cup in his hand, ducking his head to avoid meeting Beca's gaze.

Well done, Jesse. So much for playing it cool…

* * *

The silence that had fallen ever since Stacie had unhelpfully pointed out that Jesse was spilling the coffee everywhere was…uncomfortable, to say the least. It didn't take a genius to figure out the reason why he had spilt it – this was like the popcorn situation all over again but _worse_ – and Beca wasn't sure what to say or do. Jesse was studiously avoiding looking at her, wordlessly cleaning up the mess he had made, and she wanted to tell him that it was _okay_, they were okay, but she didn't feel comfortable doing it when Stacie was staring at her, scrutinizing her every movement.

"So…uh, are you guys playing 'Truth or Dare' without the dares?" Stacie asked in an attempt to break the silence, glancing between the two of them as she absentmindedly tapped her nails onto the counter, "If you are, I have some great questions that you can ask, Beca."

She blinked, leaning backwards away from the girl and her crafty gaze as Jesse's head instantly shot up in alarm. "Stacie, _no, _don't even think about it," he warned firmly, waving the cloth in his hand at the girl, and Beca nodded quickly in agreement. She was pretty sure she knew what type of questions Stacie was going to suggest and things were already awkward enough as it was; god, she was a complete idiot, why had she decided to tell Jesse the whole truth about how she had met Chloe? She should have known it would have led to this...

Stacie just shrugged, causing Beca to bite her lip, stifling a groan, as she leaned over the counter, her eyes sparkling. "Beca, go for…favourite sexual position? Best place he's ever had sex? Most perfected skill—"

"—Oh my god," Jesse cut in, his eyes widening in horror and complete mortification, at exactly the same time as her firmly uttered, "Dude, _no_"…but Stacie just continued, her questions getting increasingly more graphic. She watched, wide-eyed, as Jesse quickly stopped what he was doing, moving to grab Stacie's arm and tugging her away from where she was currently leaning over the counter, her face inches from hers, as she pelted questions at her.

"God, Beca, I'm really sorry about…this," he apologised, waving his free arm in Stacie's direction, meeting her gaze for the first time since he had accidentally spilt the coffee and it was weird, but as she stared into his eyes, she couldn't help but feel a smile threatening to break out onto her face at the sheer _ridiculousness_ of the situation they were in and soon enough, she could see his lips twitching too.

"Swanson, let go of me," Stacie said, as she struggled to free herself from his grip, before turning her head back towards Beca, giving her a pleading look, "Come on, Beca, at least ask him something like 'first kiss'? That's a perfectly innocent question." Beca blinked, raising her eyebrows, slowly shaking her head; sure, it wasn't as suggestive as the other questions she had put forward but still, there was no way she was about to ask _Jesse_ about any form of kissing…

"I swear I'll go and leave you alone if you ask him that," Stacie finally offered, meeting her gaze challengingly and she blinked again, sliding her eyes over to Jesse, giving him a slightly helpless look as she raised an eyebrow at him, as if to ask him _'What now?'_.

She watched as Jesse swallowed, glancing between her and Stacie, before taking a deep breath, releasing Stacie's arm as he glanced up at the ceiling, keeping his gaze there and Beca's mouth fell open slightly as she realised what he was about to do. "Um, when I was eight, a girl in my class bribed me to kiss her in exchange for a pack of Skittles," he said rapidly, breathing an audible sigh of relief as mere seconds later, Stacie nodded, looking incredibly satisfied, her heels clacking loudly on the floor.

Once she had finally gone, Jesse gradually lowered his gaze back down, sticking his hands into his pockets a little nervously, and she forced a smirk onto her face, knowing that for the sake of keeping things as normal as possible, she needed to try and turn their whole conversation so far into a joke before the awkward tension between them escalated any further.

"A pack of _Skittles_?" she echoed as she raised an eyebrow at him, smiling slightly as she watched his shoulders relax a little, his hands making their way out of his pockets as he began preparing her order again.

"Hey, Skittles are awesome," he told her seconds later, his usual smile slowly but surely making its way back onto his face, "Best sweets ever."

She shook his head at him lightly, rolling her eyes, proceeding to tease him as she normally did and by the time he had finally completed and handed over her order, a simple :) inscribed on it, things were sort of back to normal. Still, she couldn't help but wonder whether their relationship was always going to be like this, always tiptoeing around _it_…

As she turned to go, raising her hand in farewell, she overheard Stacie loudly calling out to Jesse and she instantly stilled at her words. "Swanson, that blonde in the corner just asked for your number," the brunette said, "Want me to give it to her?"

It was stupid, it was, but before she knew what she was doing, she found herself sliding her eyes over to the corner, checking out the girl who Stacie had been referring to, instinctively biting her lip when she saw an undeniably pretty, tall blonde girl sitting there. As her lip started to hurt and her nails started to dig painfully into her palms, she shook her head hard, dragging her gaze away.

Okay, what the hell was she doing? Jesus, she had really spent way too much time with Chloe, letting her brainwash her; she didn't like Jesse like that, she really didn't, and he was free to give his number to whoever he wanted to. She took a deep breath, pushing down the weird feeling that was rising up in her chest as she forced herself to walk out of the door without looking back and finding out what Jesse's response was, an action that was surprisingly harder than it sounded...and, she faintly noted, harder than it should be.

Again, what the _hell_.

* * *

"Flatbutt, you're late again," Amy called out cheerfully as soon as she walked into the booth, her coffee still safely gripped between her hands, "Did you get ambushed by a…dog on your way here?"

She blinked, staring at the girl. "Uh, I'm sorry…a dog?" she echoed, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. Sometimes – okay, most of the time – she really didn't understand what Amy was talking about but today, when her mind was still busy dissecting her irrational reaction to the blonde stranger in the coffee shop, what Amy was saying made even less sense than normal.

"Yeah, well, I was going to say dingo," Amy explained, waving her arm around, her usual morning doughnut in her hand, "but they're not exactly native to America, are they?"

Beca rolled her eyes, nodding at her once, before slowly sitting down in her seat but mere seconds later, Amy had suddenly appeared beside her, tugging on her arm, and she sighed, glancing up at the blonde, praying that she wasn't about to lecture her on the brilliance of dingoes _again_...

"Flatbutt, Aubrey wants to see you."

She sighed again, wincing. She really didn't need this right now, not when she was already so confused by this morning's events. Unlike all of the other times that Aubrey had called her to her office, she knew exactly what Aubrey wanted to talk to her about today and it wasn't going to be pretty; after all, if she remembered correctly, her last meeting with Bumper and Luke had ended up with her – rather unprofessionally – _shutting Luke out of the room_ and leaving him alone with Amy, of all people…and if there was one thing that she had learnt from her time with Luke, it was that keeping him excluded from things was not a smart move, he liked to be in control.

"Hey, Aubrey," Beca said as she hesitantly hovered by the door to Aubrey's office, slowly sitting herself down as the blonde beckoned her in, "Amy said you wanted to see me?"

She instantly opened her mouth to start apologising for the whole Luke situation but before she could speak, Aubrey had already quickly fired a question at her. "Why haven't you arranged a meeting with me yet?" she asked, her arms crossed, and Beca blinked, perplexed, not understanding what she was talking about.

Aubrey sighed, her lips pursed slightly, giving her a disapproving look as she continued. "You were supposed to arrange a meeting with me to discuss your progress with your project so far," she explained, causing Beca to wince, faintly recalling Aubrey telling them that weeks ago and she hastily apologised.

Aubrey shook her head again, letting out another sigh. "It's alright," she said, waving her hand around dismissively and Beca raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I called Luke yesterday and he said that things were going fine so you can just keep doing what you're doing."

Beca frowned, her mouth falling open at what she had just said. Luke had said things were going 'fine'? That was so unlike the Luke she knew and as she replayed all their recent encounters back in her mind, she was suddenly even _more_ confused, a million of unanswered questions darting around in her mind. Why had he even come back into her life in the first place? What did he want? Was he…was he playing her again?

_Luke, we need to talk – Beca_


	23. Chapter 23

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY-**T**HREE

No matter how hard he tried, Jesse couldn't quite figure out what had just happened. All he knew was that Stacie was now innocently serving customers on the opposite end of the counter from him, acting like she hadn't just shouted out that one of their regular customers had asked for his number [a regular customer that they both knew was _happily engaged_], and he now had to deal with the aftermath of her outburst. It was times like this when he really hated working shifts with Stacie...

"Hey, Jesse, I'm not quite sure what Stacie was talking about but…I didn't ask for your number," the blonde said hesitantly as she approached the counter, looking incredibly uncomfortable as she continued, "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're a nice guy and all but—"

"—Don't worry about it, I know you didn't," he cut in quickly, waving a hand dismissively at her, forcing a smile onto his face despite the flush of embarrassment he could feel working its way up his neck at the whole situation [god, why couldn't Stacie stop meddling with his life for once?], "I'm really sorry about all this, I don't know what's gotten into her. She claims she's just trying to help me but..."

"Girl troubles?"

"I guess you could call it that," he deflected as best as he could, giving her a shrug, not really wanting to go into the whole story, especially as more than enough people knew already. After promising her a free coffee the next time she came in as compensation for Stacie's actions, she finally left and Jesse wasted no time in walking over to Stacie's side of the counter, eyeing her suspiciously as he started to demand answers from her.

"Okay, Stace, what the hell was that for?" he asked, his voice firm as he moved to stand beside her, "You know she's engaged—no, you know that _I_ know that she's engaged! Her boyfriend proposed to her right here when we were both on shift!"

Stacie just grinned in response, pausing to flip her hair over her shoulder casually before responding, an action that made him grit his teeth because _of course_, she found this funny. Of course she did.

"Swanson, calm down, it's not a big deal," she finally replied, reaching around the coffee machine to pat his shoulder lightly, her words making him splutter in protest because seriously, what? How was it '_not a big deal'_? "It's all part of my master plan," she continued, "I told you, I have everything under control, don't worry about it."

He blinked, raising his eyebrows, crossing his arms. "Wait a second, what you just did...it had something to do with Beca?"

Stacie glanced up from the coffee she was currently in the middle of making, giving him a weird look, staring at him as if he was a complete idiot. "Uh, of course it was," she replied, before narrowing her eyes at him, scrutinising him, "What did you think it was about?"

Jesse shrugged, deciding that it was probably not the best idea to admit that he thought it had just been Stacie...being Stacie. "Never mind," he deflected quickly, running a hand through his hair as he quickly changed the subject, "Stace, I don't get it, how was that supposed to be at all helpful?"

Stacie glanced at him again, tutting at him lightly as she gave him a pitying look, "Oh, Jesse," she said, in a rather condescending tone, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder once more and he frowned slightly, shrugging her hand off, "You know nothing, do you?"

"Stacie_, _come on..."

She let out a long, drawn out, exaggerated sigh and Jesse stuck his hands in his pockets, fighting the urge to throw something at her as he waited for her to hurry up and enlighten him because..._really_, he didn't get it.

"Okay, look. I'll make it simple for you," she said with a smirk, and he glared at her. "As I said before, she likes you, she just doesn't know it yet," Stacie explained slowly, putting her hand out to stop his automatic protests as she continued, "…and trust me, there's no better way to make her realise her feelings for you than to introduce another girl into the picture."

Jesse blinked, realisation slowly sinking in. Surprisingly [considering how 'helpful' Stacie's plans had been in the past], what she was saying did make sense – that is, if Beca really did like him – except for one little thing… "Stace, how was that supposed to work when Beca wasn't even in the shop when you started yelling across the room? I mean, I don't know what you—"

"—Swanson, please, I'm not a complete idiot," she said, giving him an affronted look and he shrugged apologetically as he moved to help her with the order she was preparing, "She _was_ still in the shop. My plan worked perfectly."

"It…did?"

Stacie nodded, a smug smile tugging at her lips as she turned to face him. "I'm telling you, she was totally checking that girl out: fists clenched, tense shoulders, everything," she said and he raised an eyebrow at her, gaping at her in surprise.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yep. If you don't believe me, try bringing it up next time you see her," she replied, suddenly sounding so cheerful that he couldn't help but narrow his eyes, knowing that he wasn't going to like the next words that came out of her mouth. "You can thank me at your wedding…or when you two follow my lead and defile the stockroom, whichever comes first—"

"—Okay, please stop," he said with a groan, not wanting her to continue down the path she was currently heading down and explicitly remind him of what had happened in that stockroom, before he narrowed his eyes at her once again, hastily changing the subject, "So…were all those questions you suggested part of your plan as well?"

Stacie glanced up at him, a distinctively guilty expression passing her face as she waved her hand around vaguely, "Oh, uh, that...that wasn't anything to do with it. I just couldn't help myself, it was too funny watching you two squirm. My bad?" she said with a shrug, shooting him a winning smile, "But seriously, Swanson, don't give up. It's only a matter of time…"

He rolled his eyes, deciding for once, to let it go. After all, if what Stacie was saying was true – and at this point, he was pretty sure she wouldn't lie to him about anything Beca-related – then it was real, physical evidence that he did still have a chance with Beca...

* * *

Beca wasn't sure what to expect when she pushed the coffee shop door open for the second time that day, her mind whirling with unanswered questions about Luke. She just…didn't understand why he was suddenly back in her life, reappearing completely out of the blue, and she wondered why she hadn't stopped to properly question his motives until now. She guessed she had been too caught up in the _past_ and the whole thing with Jesse and—

"—Hey, Beca, are you alright? You just missed Chloe but I can always give her a call if you want?" She glanced up at the sound of her name, a smile slowly making its way onto her face as she realised a confused-looking Jesse was standing in front of her, clearing wondering why she was back so soon.

"No, it's okay," she told him as she followed him inside, forcing unwanted images of the blonde to the back of her mind; she had been so preoccupied with thinking about Luke that she had forgotten all about what had happened this morning but now that Jesse was here, right in front of her, everything was coming back to her. "I'm just here to meet…"

"…Luke," he finished for her, his eyes growing hard as he moved his gaze towards the doorway, slowly straightening up and crossing his arms. "Beca, I—do you want me to, uh, sit with you?" he offered, a little awkwardly, as he lowered his gaze again, concern creeping into his eyes, "I mean, I know it's not really any of my business but…"

She blinked, biting her lip as she slowly shook her head. As much as she wanted to accept his offer – and she did, there was just something about Jesse that…grounded her, especially around Luke – she knew that if she wanted answers from Luke, this was something she had to do alone. "Don't worry, I'll be fine," she replied, mustering up the most grateful smile she could, "But…thanks, Jesse."

He nodded, his eyes still searching her face and she forced herself to turn away before she lost her resolve…but before she knew it, she felt his hand on her arm and she glanced back at him in surprise. "If you need anything, I'm here, okay? Just give me a shout."

Beca met his gaze, her nerves settling as he gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded again, wordlessly moving in Luke's direction. She could do this, it'd be okay; Jesse was right there. Taking a deep breath, she continued walking until she was right in front of Luke, narrowing her eyes a little at the way he was staring at Jesse but before she could say anything, he had noticed her presence and the look was gone, replaced by a smile.

"Hey, Becky—"

"—_Beca_," she corrected, gritting her teeth, and Luke had the decency to look embarrassed, reaching up a hand to scratch at his neck as he shot her an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I forgot," he said, as he followed her towards a table near the back, taking a seat opposite her, "It's hard to shake old habits, you know?"

She just shook her head at him, leaning back in her chair as she crossed her arms defensively. She wasn't going to let him get to her, not this time. Not when she had so much she needed to ask him, so much she just didn't understand.

"So…uh, Beca, what is this about? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see you but as far as I'm aware, everything with Bumper is going fine?"

She took a deep breath, slowly lifting her gaze to meet his, trying to keep her cool as she spoke. "Why are you back, Luke?" she asked bluntly, jumping straight to the point, "I just—_I don't get it_."

Luke raised an eyebrow, giving her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you back?" she repeated slowly, deliberately, clenching her fists under the table as he did nothing but continue to stare at her as if he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, "Why did you go to all that trouble to talk to Aubrey and tell her we were 'friends'? It doesn't make any sense."

"Because, Beca, we _are _friends. You're overanalysing things," he replied calmly, slowly crossing his arms as he smiled at her, and she unclenched her fists, flexing her fingers, "Bumper has great potential and I needed someone that I trusted to produce his first tracks and you're the best person I know in this industry so—"

"—Stop it, Luke," she cut in with a shake of her head, refusing to let him spin the situation into something that it wasn't as he had done to her countless of times before, "We both know you're lying so just tell me the truth."

Luke sighed, a guilty look appearing on his face as he leaned back into his chair again, his eyes meeting hers, and she swallowed, forcing herself to remain composed and get through this. "Beca, we…we had some good times together, didn't we?" he asked, his voice _frustratingly_ nonchalant as he continued to stare at her.

She blinked, slowly raising an eyebrow, her fists still clenched in her lap, her nails starting to dig into her skin. "What? I'm sorry but where are you going with this?"

"I just—Look, I made some mistakes, I know that now," he said, suddenly leaning across the table, his hand reaching out towards her, his mouth twisting into an apologetic smile and she instantly squeezed her eyes shut.

_Don't fall for it, Beca. Not again._ _He doesn't mean it when he says he's sorry, you know that_.

"I shouldn't have done what I did," he continued and she bit her lip, forcing herself to block his words out, cursing the fact that, despite everything, he still had this effect on her, "And I…I want to make it up to you. I want you back."

Her eyes flew open.

"You have got to be kidding me," she stated, staring at him in disbelief, the words that months ago would have made her the happiest person alive causing her to recoil from him in horror…and then she wondered why she was so surprised by his confession. It made perfect sense; after the first time he had betrayed her trust, he had come crawling back to her in the exact same way, showering her with the things she wanted so badly to hear and she had believed him. But this time, it was different. She knew better.

"Luke, you just don't get it, do you?" she said with a slow shake of her head, taking a deep breath, mustering up the strength to continue, "After what you did, you and me, it's never going to happen again."

Luke blinked at her, looking like he wanted to protest before his expression grew harder as he leaned back into his seat again, his eyes fixed onto hers, his scrutinizing gaze making her instantly uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat, her eyes momentarily landing on Jesse, feeling herself calm slightly as she realised that he was watching them intently from behind the counter, his eyes alert.

"Oh, I see what's going on here," he said coolly, crossing his arms, and she blinked in confusion as he slowly followed her gaze towards the counter, "This has absolutely nothing to do with what I did, does it? You like him."

Beca shook her head, biting her lip. "Luke, stop, he has nothing to do with it," she said, as firmly as she could despite the panic she could feel starting to rise in her chest; the last thing she wanted to do was to drag Jesse into all her…mess. "This has _everything_ to do with what you did."

"—What do you see in him anyway?" he continued, completely ignoring her protests, clearly eyeing Jesse up, "I mean, he's alright-looking but…" She bit her lip hard as Luke trailed off, casually gesturing towards himself, his eyes meeting hers again defiantly, as if he was daring her to disagree.

She took a deep breath, feeling a little sick from the direction this conversation was heading in. "Luke, _stop_," she repeated, her voice coming out much louder than she had intended it to, "It's none of your business. He's just a…friend, okay? Leave him out of it, this is between you and me."

Luke stared back at her for a couple of long seconds, a thoughtful expression slowly appearing onto his face as he pursed his lips but before she even had the chance to process what it could possibly mean, her worst fears were suddenly realised as Jesse started walking towards them, having clearly overheard her raised voice. He stopped once he was in front of their table, his eyes clouded with concern as he glanced between the two of them.

"Hey, Beca, is everything okay?"

She forced herself to nod and give him a smile, biting her lip again as he took a step closer to her, placing a hesitant hand onto her arm. "Jesse, I'm fine," she told him, trying her best to ignore his troubled look, "Really, I promise."

He stared at her, an unsure expression crossing his face, his hand still resting on her arm and try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to shrug it off. It wasn't even that unwelcome, given the situation; in fact, if anything, it was calming her down a little. "I'm fine," she repeated, giving him a small smile, "I'll be okay."

Jesse squinted slightly, taking another step towards her. "Are you sure?" he asked, as he lowered his voice, bending down until he was closer to her level, "Beca, my offer from before still stands; if you want me to stay, I will—"

"—She said she was fine so back off," Luke interrupted coolly, standing up and taking a step towards Jesse, a calculating expression on his face as he carefully picked out his next words, "You're not her _boyfriend_."

Jesse blinked, recoiling, quickly straightening up, his gaze moving from her to Luke and then back again, and she winced at the expression on his face, hating the fact that once again, Luke had demonstrated his uncanny ability to locate people's weaknesses and focus on them, twisting situations to his advantage. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, knowing that she needed to step in before things escalated any further and Luke ruined everything. Again.

"Luke, drop it," she said firmly, though she kept her eyes locked onto Jesse, willing him to understand that it wasn't that she didn't want him here, it was that she _couldn't_ have him here. He didn't know what he was getting himself into, he didn't know what Luke could do. "Jesse, I'll be fine."

"...Okay," he said slowly, giving her one last look as he took a step backwards away from them, an unreadable expression on his face, and she closed her eyes, knowing instantly that she had screwed up, that he didn't understand at all, "_Got it_."

She instantly got up from her seat, completely ignoring Luke's smug smirk, as she quickly caught up with him, reaching out a hand to grab his wrist, tugging him towards her. "Jesse, I...I'm sorry, I know you were just trying to help," she said as he finally turned around, his expression still indecipherable as he met her gaze, "It's just that, Luke and I, you don't know the whole story, you don't understand."

Jesse blinked at her, giving her a slightly disbelieving look as he carefully – but firmly – pried her fingers off him. "Of course I don't understand," he told her slowly, defensively, and she bit her lip, knowing that she fully deserved whatever he was about to say. "It's not like you've told me anything about him, is it?"

Beca stared at him, picking up on the hurt lacing the edges of his eyes, reaching out her hand again, opening her mouth to speak but before she could, a look of regret passed across his face as he took a deep breath, shaking his head lightly. "I shouldn't have said that," he said slowly, running a hand through his hair, "You don't have to tell me, that wasn't fair of me to say. I just—Look, finish up with Luke, do what you have to do and I'll…talk to you later, okay?"

Beca nodded numbly, watching as he turned away and walked back towards the counter, and although he had been the one that had apologised, she knew that this whole thing, it wasn't his fault.

It wasn't his fault at all; no, it was hers.

She stared at his retreating back, her mind reeling, wanting so badly to make things right, wondering whether she had misjudged this whole situation; she hadn't wanted to tell Jesse about the whole 'Luke' thing because she didn't want him to get involved, especially when Luke was back in her life again and she knew exactly what he was capable of, but she was clearly hurting him more by not telling him so…

"Jesse, wait," she said, making up her mind, waiting until he had turned around again before slowly tugging him towards the backroom, completely ignoring Luke's protests from behind her. As he stood in front of her, she took a deep breath, emphasising her next words as well as she could, "It's your turn."

He stared, giving her a perplexed look as he wordlessly crossed his arms.

"The game," she explained quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on his, "It's your turn, _ask me what happened_."


	24. Chapter 24

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY-**F**OUR

The speed at which things had escalated ever since he had – rather foolishly – tried to intervene in the conversation that Luke and Beca were having was almost too much for him to process. His head was spinning, filled with an unsettling mixture of dislike, anger and…_rejection_ from the way Luke had instantly called him out, telling him the one thing that he already knew so well – he wasn't her boyfriend – but now there was also an undeniable feeling of guilt bubbling to the surface as his mind kept replaying the way he had unfairly accused Beca of not telling him anything about Luke when it really wasn't any of his business, something that wasn't helped by the fact that here she was now, standing in front of him, practically _ordering_ him to make her tell him.

Don't get him wrong, he was still dying to know what the deal with Luke was [damn Luke] but finding out this way, it just wasn't right. Whatever Luke had done had clearly been something that had hurt her, something serious, and her previous refusal to go any further than acknowledging the blonde boy in his company must have been for a reason. If she was going to tell him, he wanted to make sure she had thought through her decision properly.

Jesse sighed, running a hand through his hair as he carefully scrutinised Beca's appearance — the way she was nervously biting her lip as she met his gaze, the way she seemed jumpier than usual — and he knew that although he would probably hate himself for it later, he had to put a stop to it before she said something she would regret.

"Beca, now's…not the time," he said slowly, "I'm on strict orders not to leave Stacie alone for too long and you've got to deal with Luke." She stared at him, a confused look starting to appear on her face, her mouth opening to object and he sighed again, taking a step towards her, hesitantly reaching up to grip the side of her arms as he continued, locking their gazes. "Beca, I don't…I don't want you to tell me because you feel like you have to," he said softly, "I promise, I don't mind either way; what I said before, I shouldn't have, I didn't mean it—"

"—Jesse, I'm not going to change my mind," she told him firmly, smoothly cutting him off, the look in her eyes growing steadily defiant, "I want you to know."

He sighed again, staring back at her, feeling a little unsure about the whole situation, still not entirely buying what she was saying; after all, she hadn't even given him one single clue about what had happened between her and Luke in all the weeks that they had known each other and for her to suddenly want to tell him? It felt…off.

"Tell you what," he said, giving her a small smile, "Take some time to think about it and if you still want to tell me tomorrow, I'll be more than happy to listen."

She shook her head.

"Jesse, I'm not going to change my mind," she repeated, before she slowly licked her lips – and he tried his hardest not to stare because seriously Jesse, this was not the time for those sorts of thoughts – eyeing him up, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face as she suddenly spoke again: "But you're right, this isn't the time. You know where I work, right?" He blinked down at her in surprise, before nodding slowly, not quite sure where this was going, "Meet me there at around five, we'll go back to mine and we'll talk there."

Jesse blinked again. Maybe he had misjudged the whole situation, maybe she really did want to tell him; after all, hadn't she admitted to him last weekend that she trusted him? As she continued to stare back at him, looking more confident about her suggestion with every second that passed, a slow, genuine smile started to make its way across his face.

"So, uh...should I bring a movie tonight? Juice? Popcorn?" Beca raised an eyebrow at him, rolling her eyes and he shrugged, a little apologetically, "Okay, I'm sorry, it's clearly not the time for jokes…"

She rolled her eyes again, reaching up to hit him on the shoulder. "That's not it," she said and he glanced down at her in confusion, his eyes narrowing at the smirk that was playing on her lips, "You're just not funny. At all."

He gasped at her, clutching his chest in mock-outrage. "That hurts, Beca," he said, "That _hurts_."

Beca just laughed, shaking her head at him, before she tilted her thumb towards the door and he instantly sobered up, remembering who was outside. He slowly followed her out, his eyes darkening as he spotted the blond, reaching his hand up to touch Beca's shoulder, getting her attention once more, repeating his words from earlier: "If you need anything, just ask, okay?"

She nodded, giving him a grateful smile, taking a deep breath and heading over to handle Luke. He watched her go before turning towards the counter, groaning as he saw a rather smug-looking Stacie staring at him, her eyebrows raised, knowing that the brunette had come to the wrong conclusion about what they had been doing in the backroom [or, more specifically, _who_ they had been doing], hastily walking over to explain before she did anything too embarrassing.

* * *

Beca was surprised to find that she didn't regret her — rather spur of the moment — decision to tell Jesse about the Luke thing; no, if anything, she was weirdly…calm about it. Maybe it was because it was about time she told him, after everything he had unknowingly done for her, or maybe it was because she _trusted _him, or maybe it was just because even though he clearly wanted to know what Luke did, he had given her an out, not wanting to push her into doing anything she didn't want to do.

What she wasn't so calm about, what she couldn't quite get over yet, was that Luke seemed to be back to his old tricks. He clearly wanted something from her, that much was obvious – every single time he had wormed his way into her life in the past, it hadn't been for _her_ – but the question was…what?

It just didn't make any sense.

Beca sighed, jabbing at the keyboard more violently than was completely necessary, shutting down the editing she had been doing on one of Bumper's tracks, her mind working in overdrive; sure, she was determined not to fall for Luke's manipulative ways, his clever words, but none of that would matter if she couldn't figure out what he was up to before it was too late and he screwed up her life again.

"Flatbutt, you okay?" Amy said, suddenly flopping the upper part of her body down on her desk, causing Beca to jump in alarm, blinking twice before she slowly – and painfully – edged her hand out from where it was trapped between the keyboard and Amy's face with a wince.

"Dude, what are you doing? You know you could have just brought your chair over right?" she said dryly, hastily pushing her own chair backwards as Amy started to climb up onto the desk properly, her arms and legs flailing everywhere. The other girl simply let out a muffled grunt as she continued to manoeuvre herself up before finally rolling over, propping her head up with a triumphant grin.

"What's wrong, Flatbutt?" she asked, completely ignoring Beca's raised eyebrows and unimpressed stare, "You and coffee delivery boy get into a fight? Because if you want wrestling tips..."

She blinked, frowning. "No, uh, we're fine, it's just—"

"—Wait, wait, wait, stop, can you get me a doughnut first?"

Beca sighed, shaking her head. "Get it yourself," she said, reaching a hand out to prod Amy's shoulder, "And for the love of god, please get off my desk. You're sitting on my keyboard and you know Aubrey will kill me if I have to get it replaced."

Amy just shrugged, quickly shifting and pulling the keyboard out from underneath her before fixing Beca with a steely look and a pout. "Flatbutt, the doughnuts are all the way over there," she said, waving her hand in the direction of her own desk, "I just got comfortable, don't make me move."

She let out another sigh, staring back at Amy for a few long seconds, before caving, lacking the energy to argue with the blonde girl, knowing how stubborn she could be. She quickly retrieved the box on her desk, passing them towards her, rolling her eyes as the girl started – literally – singing their praises, waving doughnuts around, getting sugar _everywhere_.

"Jesus Christ, stop," she said, reaching up to prod Amy again, this time a little harder, leaning back in her chair with a satisfied smile as the other girl stopped singing, stilling her movements, taking a bite from her doughnut.

"Okay, Flatbutt, continue," she ordered, her mouth still full of doughnut, "What happened? If it's not coffee boy then it's…that other boy of yours?"

She frowned, shaking her head. "He's not _mine_," she corrected, slowly breathing out, "But…you're right, it's Luke. I just don't know what he's up to."

Amy hummed for a few seconds, a weirdly serious expression crossing her face as she took another bite of her doughnut, considering her words. "If you want, I can call Bumper and ask him what that British scrambled egg is up to?"

"No, it's fine, you don't have to do that—Wait, dude, why do you have Bumper's number? Even _I _don't have that."

"I, uh, ah, you know, um…I—Hey, look, it's coffee delivery boy!"

Beca frowned, squinting at Amy suspiciously, trying to work out what was going on, but as Amy just gave her an innocent smile, tilting her head towards the doorway, she reluctantly dragged her gaze away, spotting a rather confused-looking Jesse hovering there. She grimaced, realising that the two of them were in a rather...odd and completely unprofessional position at the moment, not knowing how she was going to explain this away.

"Coffee boy, do you want a doughnut?" Amy said, interrupting the slightly awkward silence that had fallen, sitting up and gesturing towards the box of doughnuts by her side. Jesse blinked, still looking like he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing as he walked towards them, running a hand through his hair.

"Uh, sure?"

Amy grinned, grabbing a doughnut from the box, raising her hand up, tilting it backwards at an angle and Beca groaned, instantly realising what she was planning to do, quickly opening her mouth in an attempt to stop her: "Amy, seriously, don't throw it—

"—_Noooooooooooo!"_

Beca instantly pushed her chair backwards, getting out of the way as Amy dived dramatically for the doughnut that was quite obviously never going to make it into Jesse's hands [with an accompanying "I'll save you!_"_], wincing as both Amy and the doughnut hit the floor.

"Flatbutt, we have a problem," Amy said glumly from her position on the floor, glancing between her and the now…smashed-up doughnut, "Do you want to do the honours?"

She shook her head, shooting Jesse a glare as he moved to stand beside her, trying his best to stifle his laughter at the whole situation as he smoothly grabbed an intact doughnut from the open box. "Amy, do we have to? Can we please just let it go for once?"

Amy shook her head, her eyes wide, giving her a miserable look as she stubbornly pointed at the doughnut. She gritted her teeth, sensing the way Jesse was staring at her curiously, letting out another sigh, not quite sure what to do. If she went through with Amy's _stupid_ ritual, Jesse would never let her live it down but on the other hand, if she didn't, the blonde girl would never get off the floor.

Breathing out slowly, she shot Jesse a warning look as she walked up to the doughnut, reluctantly bending down and saying _goodbye_ to it, whipping her head back to glare at Jesse as she heard the distinctive sound of his laughter from behind her. She shook her head, mouthing a clear and - she hoped - threatening 'Shut up' to him as he just shrugged, still laughing, looking borderline hysterical at what had just happened, that is, until…

"Coffee boy, it's your go," Amy called, lifting her hand to point in his direction with a sombre expression and Beca smirked, giving him a smug smile as his laughter died on his lips, actually looking around for a second as if there was someone else that Amy would be referring to as 'coffee boy'.

"Oh, no, I couldn't," Jesse said hastily, shooting Beca a helpless look and she simply shrugged her shoulders innocently in response, tilting her head towards the doughnut. He crossed his arms, now the one giving _her_ the glare, as Amy suddenly jumped up, grabbing him by the shirt until he was standing in front of the doughnut, an expectant look on her face. Jesse craned his head back to look at Beca again but once again, she shrugged, biting her lip to stifle her laughter – maybe Amy's ritual wasn't so stupid after all, this was priceless – and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Uh, okay," Jesse started slowly as he stared down at the doughnut, a slightly incredulous look on his face as if he couldn't quite believe what was happening, "Goodbye, doughnut?"

Amy beamed, letting go of Jesse and bending down to pick up the remnants of the doughnut from the floor before promptly throwing it in the bin with a flourish, yelling out a "You were a good friend!" as it hit the bottom. As she slowly turned around to face her, she bit her lip, stifling a groan, knowing exactly what the Australian girl was about to ask.

"Dude, no, I am not singing the song," Beca told her, with a firm shake of her head, quickly gathering all her stuff together, "I'm going. Right now."

"…Song?" Jesse echoed, still bearing a look of utter incredulity on his face before his eyes met hers and a slow smile started to play on his lips, "I want to hear this. Come on, Beca, sing it for me."

She shook her head again, shooting him a glare before quickly swinging her bag over her shoulder and grabbing Jesse's arm, tugging him out of the door before she was made to sing Amy's ridiculous, ten minute long funeral song; the song which she, obviously, did not know all the words to. Or the dance moves.

_Obviously_.

"Sorry about that," she said, waving her arm around vaguely as she pushed the door of the building open with her free hand, "Amy gets rather…attached to her food." Jesse just grinned in response, shrugging, wordlessly nudging her shoulder with his as they continued walking, making their way to her apartment.

It was strange but thanks to Amy's over-the-top, crazy antics, she had almost forgotten the reason why Jesse was even here in the first place…but now that they were alone, it was all coming back to her and she felt herself sober up immediately. She knew that she had to tell him – she _wanted _to – but quite honestly?

She didn't even know how to start.

* * *

Jesse could tell by the way that Beca hadn't said a single word to him ever since they had stepped out onto the street that her mind was…somewhere else and he wondered what she was thinking about, whether she was having second thoughts about telling him.

As they reached the door to her apartment and she started rummaging through her bag for her keys, he ran a hand through his hair, his words – for once – failing him. He wanted to let her know that it was _okay_, that he honestly didn't mind what she chose to do despite the fact that he had implied otherwise earlier that day, but he just didn't know how to. Instead, he just settled for a simple [and he hoped, effective], "Are you sure about this?"

Beca glanced up at him, her eyes meeting his, before nodding once, silently opening the door and pushing it open. He followed her in, feeling a slow smile making its way across his face as he took in his surroundings: the music equipment lined up along one side, the records filling the bookshelves, Benji's little stormtrooper figurine proudly displayed on her mantelpiece and then he frowned because…

"...You don't have a TV?"

She blinked at him, raising an eyebrow and he inwardly cringed because seriously, Jesse, was that really the most important question to be asking right now? No, no, it was not. "Why would I?" she asked slowly, her eyebrow still raised, but he could see the faint hints of a smirk starting to break through her previously serious expression, "It's not like I watch TV. Or movies."

"You don't watch TV either," he echoed, suddenly feeling a little sick at the revelation despite his brain telling him to get a grip and focus on the situation at hand [but when had he ever been good at listening to his brain?], "Oh my god. Oh my god."

Beca rolled her eyes, pausing to hit him on the shoulder as she pushed past him, beginning to pull her shoes off and after a minute of gobsmacked gaping – only Beca could do this to him, _only Beca_ – he slowly did the same.

"How can you not watch TV _or_ movies?" he said as he straightened up again, "It makes no sense…just…how? You're missing out on so much, Beca, what do you even do with your days—" She rolled her eyes again, clearing her throat, slowly crossing her arms as she stared up at him defensively and he trailed off a little awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

"Are you done?"

Jesse nodded, giving her a sheepish grin as he followed her to the sofa, seating himself beside her, turning so that he was facing her properly. He really needed to just…shut up and let her talk, let her tell him what she wanted and not ask for anything more.

This wasn't about him, this was about her.

* * *

Beca took a deep breath as she leaned back into the sofa, her eyes fixed on Jesse's, mustering up as much strength as she could to get through this. She knew now, without a doubt, that she wanted to tell him about the…history that she shared with Luke but the only person she had ever told was Chloe and even then, Chloe had already guessed most of what had happened. She had never had to tell everything to someone from the _beginning_ and even after spending the whole walk back to her apartment pondering how to do it, she still wasn't entirely sure.

But she had to try.

"Are you sure about this?" Jesse asked again, looking a thousand times more serious than he had been mere moments ago, "You know you don't have to if you don't want to, right?"

Beca smiled, nodded. "I know," she told him [because she did; if there was one thing that she was completely sure of right now, it was _that_] "But I want to…so, ask me?"

She kept her gaze stubbornly on his face as he narrowed his eyes slightly, tilting his head, giving her one final chance to opt out, to end the whole thing, but she didn't take it. Instead, she just inched forward on the sofa a little, bringing her closer to him, giving him an expectant look as she slowly crossed her arms. "Okay, uh…What happened between you and Luke?"

Beca took a deep breath.

This was it.

"Luke and I, we met in college," she said slowly, hesitantly, deciding that it was better to just start right from the beginning. "He was in charge of the radio station that I interned at and, at first, he didn't take any real notice of me," she took another deep breath, spurred on by the way he was listening so intently to her every word, "but then I started giving him some of my own mixes to play and everything changed. Suddenly, he wanted to be my best friend, gave me a slot on the station of my very own, showered with me compliments about my work…and I guess that should have been my first clue…but I was naïve, _stupid_ and—"

Beca trailed off as Jesse shook his head firmly at her, wordlessly reaching out his hand to place on top of hers, his thumb rubbing calming patterns on her skin as he waited for her to continue, giving her an encouraging smile. She nodded slowly, closing her eyes as she drew in another deep breath, focusing on getting through this, strangely comforted by the feel of Jesse's hand on hers.

"We dated," she continued, "And…he was great, things were great. He was attentive, he seemed as interested in music as I was, and I…I thought he really cared about me." She paused, swallowing as all the memories that she had tried so hard to block out started to resurface, feeling Jesse shift from beside her, gripping her hand that little bit tighter.

"It was in my senior year when everything went wrong," she said, her voice sounding weirdly unfamiliar as she continued, "He had already graduated but he hadn't gotten anywhere yet and we both ended up applying for the same internship. He got it and I…I was genuinely happy for him, you know?" Beca paused again, taking another deep breath, her eyes still shut, feeling Jesse inch towards her again until their arms were touching, his hand still over hers, and she let herself lean against him ever so slightly, out of instinct, more than anything. "We went out celebrating that night and he…he drunkenly told me that the portfolio he had submitted, it…"

"It was made up of your stuff," Jesse finished quietly from beside her, his tone grave.

She nodded slowly, feeling a little shaky, but she gritted her teeth, bracing herself as she started talking again, knowing that she had to get through the whole story. "I confronted Luke the next day and he acted all innocent, claimed he didn't know what I was talking about and then…he broke up with me before I had a chance to do it myself. I called up the company, tried to explain the situation but they just shut me down, telling me not to be _bitter_."

She slowly cracked her eyes open as she heard Jesse's sharp intake of breath from beside her, giving him a small, sad smile as she met his gaze, surprised by the hardness of his eyes. "The thing is, Luke was always manipulative, good with words, and about this time last year, he came back into my life out of nowhere, apologised profusely and after months of wearing me down, I eventually forgave him…but then, he did it again."

Beca tilted her head slightly, taking in another unsteady breath, more relieved than anything else that she had finally gotten the story out there, that there were no more secrets between them. Jesse continued to stare at her, his expression unreadable, his eyes boring into hers, and she shifted, suddenly feeling more than a little self-conscious and uncomfortable. "Jesse, I know the whole thing probably sounds stupid but music is my _everything_ and—"

"—It's not stupid at all," he cut in smoothly, his gaze intense, his jaw tensed, "I get it. I completely get it."

She blinked, surprised by the seriousness of his tone and by his words, before remembering with a jolt that, unlike Chloe, Jesse was a musician, he lived and breathed music, he could relate to her in a way that Chloe just couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

_Jesse understood her._

As he continued to stare at her with troubled eyes, she slowly breathed out, turning her palm upwards, wordlessly edging her fingers between his, slotting them together.


	25. Chapter 25

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY-**F**IVE

"Beca, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," Jesse said slowly, breaking the silence that had fallen and she dragged her gaze away from their hands to look at him, swallowing at the sincerity in his eyes, "I'm sorry that you had to go through all that—"

"—Don't be, it's not your fault," she interrupted quickly, with a shake of her head.

Jesse didn't say anything for a moment, his gaze growing steadily more intense by the second, so intense that she found that she couldn't look away or even _breathe_. "I'm still sorry," he said, taking a deep breath, his voice sounding hoarser than usual as he ran his free hand through his hair, "I can't believe he did that."

"It's not your fault," she repeated slowly, still holding his gaze.

Jesse just shrugged, looking like he wanted to say something further, but when he spoke again, it wasn't to apologise. "Can I ask you something, Beca?" he asked hesitantly, and she nodded, tilting her head, gesturing for him to continue, "Why is he back?"

She bit her lip, shrugged, not really knowing how to answer because she still wasn't sure what Luke's motives were herself. "He's just here for...a work thing."

"A work thing?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow, and she quickly filled him in on what he had told Aubrey and how he had wormed his way back into her life for the third time. Jesse frowned at her words, leaning away from her slightly, his eyes alert, "You don't think he's trying to…" he trailed off, waving his free hand around vaguely.

"Honestly? I don't know."

Jesse frowned again, looking unsatisfied by her answer but he didn't say anything more, simply observing her silently. She watched him for a few more seconds before closing her eyes, leaning back against the sofa, a small smile gracing her lips as she felt him grip her hand a little tighter. If she was honest, she wasn't even sure why she had decided to reach for his hand in the first place but strangely, it wasn't the slightest bit awkward, given their situation; no, it was…nice. Jesse had proved time and time again that he had the ability to ground her, take her mind off Luke, and this was no different.

"You okay?"

Beca cracked her eyes open again, glancing over at him, biting her lip as she contemplated his words. "Yeah, you know what? I think I am," she replied, surprised by just how true it was. Everything with Luke, it was in the _past_ and sure, maybe he was back in her life again, but she had Chloe, she had Jesse, and things would be okay. She was sure of it.

They fell into a comfortable silence again, just…thinking, but as time went on, she could see Jesse's gaze darkening, his expressive eyes growing unreadable, and she frowned. "Hey, are _you_ okay?" she asked, slowly raising an eyebrow.

He shook his head lightly, his eyes a little unfocused, absent-mindedly running his thumb against the skin of her hand, the sensation making her bite her lip just…_because_. "I can't believe someone would do that," he muttered quietly, an unfamiliar tone to his voice, "I swear, the next time I see Luke…"

She blinked, frowned, quickly reaching her free hand out to grip the side of his chin, tilting his face towards her, locking their gazes, ignoring the barely noticeable widening of his eyes at her actions. "Jesse, don't, he's not worth it," she told him firmly, shaking her head at him, "Promise me you won't do anything stupid."

Jesse didn't say anything, his expression still indecipherable, but she could feel him clenching his jaw underneath her fingertips, his grip on her hand getting uncomfortably tight, and she knew she had to do something – _anything – _to stop his train of thought before it was too late; after all, one of the main reasons why she hadn't told Jesse about Luke until now was because she didn't want him to get involved, didn't want him to get mixed up with Luke's manipulation and his games, and his current reaction was the last thing she wanted.

"Promise me," she repeated, keeping her gaze on his.

Jesse swallowed, reaching up to gently pry her hand away from his face until he was holding both of her hands in his lap, the tension in his shoulders slowly dissipating as he continued to meet her gaze.

"I promise."

She smiled, content with his answer, but as he didn't smile back, his expression and posture still a little _too_ stiff, she forced a smirk onto her face, deciding that she needed to lighten the atmosphere as soon as possible and distract him.

"Besides…" she said, tilting her head at him, making a big show of looking him up and down, "You couldn't take him on."

Jesse blinked, taken by surprise, before he slowly smiled, carefully disentangling their hands so that he could raise his own up in mock-outrage, and she bit her lip at the sudden loss of contact. "Hey, what are you talking about?" he said, his eyes starting to regain their usual sparkle as he nudged her shoulder with his, "For all you know, I could have a black belt in martial arts."

She raised her eyebrows. "Do you?"

"I, uh, I _could_ have!"

She laughed, elbowing him in the ribs, hard enough that he winced. "You are such an idiot," she said, and he smiled.

* * *

After weeks of confusion and cursing Luke in his head for 'whatever' he had done, it had been almost surreal to have Beca sitting beside him, telling him everything that had happened. Hearing her story, it made him rethink their own relationship and see things from a different perspective; it made him realise just how significant the fact that she had told him that she trusted him was. Plus, she had willingly reached for his hand during the whole story, actually _interlinking_ their fingers and, well, he didn't want to dwell on it too much and get his hopes up, but that was a good sign, right?

"Hey, Benji—Wait, are those snails in the cups?" Jesse frowned, his thoughts suddenly disrupted as he stared down at the counter a little disbelievingly, seeing four coffee cups lined up in a row, Benji carefully tearing up bits of lettuce and placing it into each one. "Is this for one of your magic tricks?" he asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"No, um, Lilly came in yesterday with four snails, one for each of us," Benji explained, straightening up and scratching his neck nervously, "She told me they were from her personal shrine and, um, I'm not quite sure what to do with them."

Jesse blinked, his jaw dropping open, his gaze still fixed on the four cups in front of him, hastily taking a step backwards as Benji suddenly picked a cup up, brandishing it towards him, "Do you want yours?"

He firmly shook his head, putting his hand out to shove it back towards him. "No, uh, I'm good," he said with another shake of his head, before glancing up at the neon-coloured, _flashing _magician's hat on the other boy's head, wondering why on Earth he hadn't noticed it until now. "Nice hat," he said, with a smile, "How was the magic convention?"

Benji beamed up at him, quickly launching into a description of the magic convention, actually bouncing on the balls of his feet in his excitement and before Jesse knew it, Benji had grabbed a _matching hat_ [and wand…] from his bag and handed it towards him.

"I promised I'd get you one!" he exclaimed, as he pushed it into his hands, "Do you like it?"

Jesse swallowed, turning it over in his hand, forcing a smile onto his face. "Uh, it's great, Benji," he said, "Really, thanks."

Benji grinned and they fell into an easy conversation as they served customers – some of them kindly complimenting Benji's outrageously bright hat, others giving him a slightly odd look – until Jesse's blood ran cold as he heard a very familiar British accent calling his name. He clenched his fists, taking a deep breath as he lifted his gaze to meet the other boy, forcing himself to remember the promise he had made to Beca yesterday. He wouldn't do anything rash, he'd remain calm, even if all he really wanted to do was punch Luke in the face for all the pain and hurt he had caused Beca.

"Luke, Beca's not here," he said curtly, eyeing him warily, feeling Benji twitch nervously beside him at the suddenly tense atmosphere, "Do you want to leave a message?"

Luke shook his head, his blue eyes glinting at him, his expression unreadable. "I came to see you," he said and Jesse blinked, tilting his head slightly, slowly putting down the coffee cup he was holding, moving around the counter to face him properly.

"What do you want?"

Luke just shrugged, the _epitome_ of cool, as he leaned over the counter, pointing a threatening finger at him. "Stay away from her, man," he said, his voice hard, "Stay away from Beca."

Jesse blinked again, his eyes widening in disbelief, shoving his hands into his pockets and forcing himself to take deep breaths. The guy had some nerve; seriously, _stay away from Beca_? Really? If anyone needed to stay away, it was him. Hadn't he done enough? He had pretended to date her, stolen her music, betrayed her trust and—

"—Look at you, you're pathetic," Luke continued, a slow smirk starting to emerge onto his face, as he pointedly looked around the shop, "You're way out of your league, she's never going to like you back. I mean, come on, you're working in a coffee shop, for god's sake. Beca's better than that, better than you."

Jesse took another deep breath before he gritted his teeth, flexing his fingers inside his pockets. He didn't know what sort of game Luke was playing at but what he was saying, it was scarily accurate and it was really starting to touch a nerve.

"Get out," he said quietly but firmly, pointing a hand towards the door but Luke just laughed, looking completely unaffected. They stared at each other in silence for a couple of moments, both boys just eyeing each other up, before he felt Benji shift from beside him.

"Leave Jesse alone," he said, piping up, "He's not pathetic, he's a great friend."

Luke just laughed again, shaking his head, raising an eyebrow as he absorbed the…thing Benji was wearing on his head. "Yeah, I'm sure he's a brilliant _friend_," he said, with a smirk, "But man, that's all you're ever going to be. The sooner you leave her alone, the better."

Jesse bit the inside of his cheek, forcing himself not to argue back. He had _promised_ Beca he wouldn't get involved and he wasn't about to go back on his word, even if it was getting steadily harder to keep complete control over his emotions. He just needed to block the other boy out, ignore him, but, god, he wasn't a saint and he only had a limited amount of willpower and if Luke didn't leave soon…

"Get out," he repeated.

"Why should I?" Luke replied with a shrug and Jesse sighed again, rubbing his forehead in frustration.

As Luke began taunting him again, he didn't respond, refusing to let Luke have that satisfaction, simply crossing his arms, glaring at the boy. It wasn't until he noticed Benji suddenly moving in front of him, his hand outstretched, that he spoke again, his alarm clear in his voice, "Wait, Benji, don't—"

"Hi, I'm Benji," he said cheerfully, a grin plastered on his face, ignoring Jesse's protests from behind him, "It's really nice to meet you, Beca's told me so much about you."

He frowned. What was Benji doing…?

"Uh, it's nice to meet you too," Luke said slowly, narrowing his eyes, hesitantly reaching out to grip Benji's hand and shake it but before Jesse could register what had happened, before Luke had even made proper contact with Benji's hand, he suddenly whipped his arm backwards, physically recoiling from the counter, an indignant expression on his face. "What the fuck was that?!"

Jesse blinked, glancing between Benji and Luke in complete confusion, until he saw Benji bend down and retrieve a snail from the counter and it clicked. He burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking as he met Luke's gaze, seeing the look of horror on his face.

"Holy shit, what's wrong with you?" Luke said, "Why would you try and put a snail into my hand?"

Benji just shrugged innocently, tilting his head towards the doorway as he silently watched the snail in his hand, and after a few more seconds of cursing, the British boy left, shooting them both glares over his shoulder.

"That was _awesome_," Jesse said, still laughing, "Seriously, Benji, that was so cool."

Benji smiled, placing the snail back into one of the cups before he turned around again, a sincere expression on his face. "You have my back, I have yours," he said, and Jesse smiled, nodding, waiting until Benji had thoroughly washed his hands before he held his hand up for a high-five.

To think that all it took to shake Luke up was one of Benji's magic tricks…

* * *

"Hey, Chlo, watch this," Stacie said, spotting Beca walking into the coffee shop near the end of the day, a grin slowly creeping onto her face, "You'll love this, I promise."

Chloe frowned, hastily shaking her head as she saw what – or rather, who – Stacie was looking at. "No, Stace, don't, come back," she started, but it was too late and the brunette had already made her way over to Beca, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Hi Beca," Stacie said, waving at her, looking a little too cheerful for her liking, "Have you heard from Swanson today?"

Beca narrowed her eyes, biting her lip, glancing at Chloe for help but the redhead just shrugged back, knowing that no matter what she did, there was no stopping Stacie once she got started. Beca sighed, resigned to the fact that she was going to have to sit through this conversation whether she liked it or not, hesitantly replying. "Uh…no, not today. Why?"

Stacie just shrugged, carelessly tapping her nails against the counter. "No reason, I just wanted to know how his date went," she said casually and Beca blinked, her eyes widening, suddenly feeling uncomfortably alert. "Did he tell you? Some really pretty blonde asked him out—"

"—Stacie, stop it."

"Chloe, shh!"

"Anyway, like I was saying," she said, shooting Chloe a miffed look and Chloe sighed, biting her lip but remained silent, "Swanson had a date with a hot girl today – like seriously, she's at least a nine, I didn't even know Jesse had it in him to bag someone like that – and I was just wondering how it went, that's all. Did he mention anything to you? If he did, I want to hear all the sordid details..."

Beca swallowed, feeling her fingers clench instinctively at the mention of the blonde girl that she had seen in the coffee shop the other day [because yes, Stacie was right, she was really pretty], before she bit the inside of her cheek hard as she realised exactly what she was doing and _Jesus Christ_, why did the blonde bother her this much?

The only explanation she could come up with to rationalise her behaviour was if, you know, she _liked_ him, but there was no way – _no fucking way_ – that, after everything that they had been through in the past few weeks, after all the awkwardness, that was the reason why.

So...what the hell was wrong with her?

"No, uh, he didn't say anything," she said slowly, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible, meeting Stacie's gaze, "That's…great for him."

Stacie eyed her for a few moments, her gaze scrutinising, and she shifted in her seat, hoping that the flush she was starting to feel rising up the back of her neck wasn't about to spread onto her cheeks. She really needed to get a grip on herself; she was the one that had made it clear to Jesse that she wanted to be friends – just friends – and he was free to date whoever he wanted.

"Okay, sorry, I can't take this any longer," Stacie said suddenly, breaking the silence, and she glanced up at her in surprise, "I lied."

Beca blinked, mouth falling open. "Uh, what?"

"I lied," Stacie repeated, with a shrug, "Swanson, he doesn't have a date today. The whole thing with the blonde, I made it up."

Beca blinked again, biting her lip, trying to ignore the fact that she could feel relief flooding through her system at her words – god, maybe she had just been spending way too much time with Jesse lately – before narrowing her eyes at the brunette warily as she fully registered her words. "You...made it up? Dude, why would you do that?"

"Oh, Beca…" Stacie said pityingly, reaching across the counter to pat her shoulder sympathetically, and Beca recoiled, glancing over at Chloe in alarm but the redhead was simply staring at her, a scarily knowing look on her face, as if she could see right through her, "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

Stacie laughed, patting her shoulder again, and she grimaced, reaching up to pry her hand away. "That you're in denial? You totally have a crush on Swanson, it's so obvious."

Beca spluttered, crossing her arms defensively, even though that was the exact, same, _traitorous _thought that was still running through her mind despite her multiple attempts to squash it. "I do _not_," she said, gritting her teeth, once again looking towards Chloe for help, "Chloe, tell her."

Chloe just pursed her lips, her expression unreadable, and she slowly rolled her eyes, wondering why she had even bothered asking Chloe, of all people, for help. Beca stubbornly held her gaze for a few seconds, refusing to give anything away – not that, there_ was_ anything to give away – before Chloe turned, exchanging a look with Stacie, and the brunette let out an audible sigh before walking away from the two of them, leaving them alone.

"Beca…"

"Don't 'Beca' me, Chloe," she said, cutting her off with a shake of her head, her heart pounding inexplicably hard in her chest, "We're friends, that's it."

Chloe sighed, leaning forward. "Just hear me out, okay?" Chloe said, her eyes filled with concern, and Beca reluctantly nodded, gesturing for her to continue, "You haven't dated - haven't even considered - another guy since Luke and I just think that Jesse would be good for you—"

"—Chlo, how many times do I have to tell you? I don't like him like that!"

Chloe just smiled secretively to herself, shaking her head. "Just...think about it, okay?"

* * *

She didn't think about it. She didn't think about it when she went back to Chloe's apartment and Chloe kept giving her furtive looks when she thought she wasn't paying attention [Chloe was anything _but_ subtle]. She didn't think about it when she went home and collapsed on the sofa, the same sofa where she had sat yesterday afternoon, her fingers held tightly between Jesse's. She didn't think about it when her eyes landed on the miniature stormtrooper figurine that she had placed on display, her lips quirking upwards as she recalled the obnoxiously large cut-out in his apartment. She didn't even think about it when she plugged her iPod in whilst she was preparing dinner and the first song that came on was the composition that he had played for her all those weeks ago.

It wasn't until she was getting ready for bed and she automatically reached for his hoodie like she had done so many nights in a row that she froze, letting her hand drop back down to her side, suddenly replaying the day's events in her head and—_god_, okay, she couldn't avoid thinking about it any longer.

Beca sighed, throwing herself onto her bed, pointedly leaving the hoodie on her desk, burying her head into her pillow with a groan. Nothing made any sense anymore. She had been sure, _so sure_, that she didn't like him as more than just a friend but now, thanks to Stacie and Chloe and that stupid blonde, she was unbelievably…confused.

Jesse was…a complete dork, so unlike her. He was the guy who had been annoyingly persistent since day one, the guy who had spammed her phone and reduced it to a vibrating mess, the guy who had the nerve to replace her coffee for juice.

…but he was also the guy who could take her breath away with his music, the guy who could make her sit through movies without wanting to fall asleep within the first five minutes, the guy who could convince her to take a stormtrooper figurine home. The guy who made her laugh, the guy she trusted, the guy who understood and—_Jesus Christ, _she just didn't know anymore and it was so frustrating.

She buried her head deeper into her pillow, half of her hoping that it would swallow her whole and she wouldn't have to deal with all these…feelings but instead, it just gave her a headache and she groaned again, turning onto her back, staring at the ceiling, cursing the whole world under her breath.

* * *

She caved and grabbed his hoodie at two o'clock in the morning.


	26. Chapter 26

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY **S**IX

Jesse was…conflicted. He knew that he should probably tell Beca about Luke's unexpected appearance in the coffee shop yesterday but he just couldn't bring himself to. Beca just looked so exhausted and _out of it_ this morning that he didn't want to make things worse, stress her out even more, so instead, he just swallowed, pushed the whole thing to the back of his mind – he'd tell her later – and forced a smile onto his face as he greeted her.

"Hey, Beca. Are you okay?"

Beca glanced up at him tiredly, reaching up to rub at her eyes a little as she approached the counter, an action that caused him to wince. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said slowly, "I just—I didn't get much sleep last night, I had a lot on my mind."

"Luke?" he asked with a frown, eyeing her with concern as he grabbed a cup from the counter, automatically making up her order, not really liking how subdued she seemed; sure, Beca was never completely herself in the mornings but this, this was just _odd_ and all his senses were suddenly alert. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Jesse frowned again as a look of surprise passed Beca's face before she slowly shook her head, biting her lip, shifting uncomfortably on the spot. "No, I, uh, I wasn't thinking about Luke," she finally replied, waving her arm around vaguely, "I was just…thinking."

He narrowed his eyes, his curiosity – and concern – only growing as Stacie suddenly popped up from behind him, silently glancing between the two of them with a worryingly devious smile on her face, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder consolingly before she left again, flicking her hair smoothly over her shoulder.

_What was going on?_

Beca remained silent, her eyes a little unfocused as she watched him, and he pursed his lips, continuing to make up her order. If it wasn't Luke that had got her so worked up then what...what else could it be?

"You sure you're okay?" he asked, one final time, as he finally handed over her coffee, attempting to scrutinise her face for any clues but coming up blank. Beca just nodded, swallowing once before meeting his eyes, giving him the smallest of smiles.

"Don't worry about it, I'll figure it out," she said, accepting the cup from him, jolting back a little as his fingertips accidentally brushed against hers, her eyes flicking up to him in alarm. He stared, frowning at her reaction, running a hand through his hair, his heart sinking, his mind racing; what she had been thinking about, it wasn't…it wasn't _them_, was it?

"Beca..." he started awkwardly, his eyes laced with concern, taking a step towards her, "That was an accident, I wasn't trying to—"

"—I know, I know," Beca cut in, shaking her head at him, hesitantly reaching over the counter to lightly grab his arm, her fingers slowly trailing down his skin until she found his palm, turning it over, holding it in hers. He swallowed, suddenly unable to breathe, desperately hoping that she would meet his eyes so that he could try and make some sense of the whole situation but she simply continued staring downwards at their hands, avoiding his gaze, biting her lip.

"Beca?"

"Don't worry about it, okay?" she finally said, slowly lifting her head, and he frowned once again as he noticed her flushed cheeks and darting eyes, "Everything's fine."

* * *

It wasn't true. Things _weren't_ fine.

Beca had spent most of last night restlessly turning in her bed, trying her best to make sense of her whole situation - make sense of what this…thing between her and Jesse was - but she kept going in circles and it was driving her absolutely crazy.

Did she like him as a friend? Yes.

Did she like him as more than that? Yes. No. […_Maybe_.]

She had eventually fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning, his Trebles hoodie awkwardly clutched between her hands and when she had been rudely awakened by her alarm soon after, she had grimaced, composed herself, pushed all thoughts of Jesse to the back of her mind. She could get through this, she would…

…but then she had stumbled into the coffee shop and seen the boy himself standing there, his eyes filled with concern for _her_, and her whole plan had gone out of the window. She hated feeling like this – she hated being so confused, so unsure – but Jesus, with everything going on, with Chloe, with Stacie, with Luke, she just didn't know how she felt about anything anymore.

The worst thing was, she knew that Jesse knew her well enough to know that something wasn't quite right, something she wasn't telling him, and she knew _him_ well enough to know exactly what he was thinking when she had instinctively recoiled as his fingers had accidentally brushed against hers, the sensation sending an unwanted warmth to creep up the back of her neck [god, Beca, get it together].

Before she had really registered what she was doing, she had reached out to grab his arm, initially meaning to just rest her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to get rid of the awkwardness that was slowly - but surely - creeping into his face, but her hand had somehow found its way into his hand and she had done the complete opposite.

Way to go, Beca. Way. To. Go.

"So, Flatbutt, you know how I'm your favourite Australian?"

Beca blinked, groaning, resting her head onto her desk, really not in the mood to play along with Amy's ramblings right now. She had too much to think about, too much to figure out, but of course, the whole world was against her today and Amy's butt was suddenly in her line of view as she ungracefully plonked herself down on the table. She let out a long sigh, slowly lifting her head up, warily eyeing the girl, hoping that whatever it was that the blonde wanted to talk about, it wouldn't last long.

"Why have you never taken me to that coffee shop of yours?" She blinked again. "I'm just saying, from the looks of your coffee boy," Amy continued, ignoring the way that Beca instantly blanched at the term, her heart racing involuntarily, "there's some good looking man-candy there and…you know how much I appreciate man-candy; I eat them up like cheesecake. Or lick them like I lick chocolate éclairs."

Beca shook her head slowly, forcing images of Jesse out of her head as she pictured the only other boy that worked at Chloe's, _Benji_, and god, there was no way that she was ever going to let Amy loose on him. He was just too innocent, too sweet, and just…no.

"The other guy's not really…your type."

Amy just shrugged, reaching her hand out to pat the top of her head a couple of times before slowing her motions down until she was just stroking her hair, an action that was ever so slightly unnerving. "I'm not picky," she said, with a shrug, "As long as he has teeth and he's fully functional down under—"

"—Dude, please stop," she said, lifting her hand up to push Amy's arm away, her eyes wide with alarm and a badly disguised disgust, "This is exactly why I have never taken you there."

Amy pouted at her and she just stared defiantly back until the other girl evenutally rolled her eyes, let out an exaggerated sigh, before bouncing over to her side of the room again, grabbing her third doughnut of the morning.

Beca exhaled, resting her head on her desk again, returning back to her thoughts and...feelings, and five minutes later and she was still in the exact same position, even though her phone was vibrating uncomfortably in her pocket. She sighed, took a deep breath, counted to five, pulling it out and cursing as soon as she saw the name flashing on the screen. Today was really not her day.

"Luke, what do you want?" she said as soon as she had jabbed the accept button, tiredly holding it up to her face.

"Hey, Beca. I just wanted to talk," he replied, his voice effortlessly calm as per usual, "How are you?"

Beca slowly raised an eyebrow, pulling the phone away from her ear slightly, squinting at it suspiciously before returning it to the side of her face, gritting her teeth. "I thought I made it pretty clear that I didn't want to talk to you," she said, "Luke, if you don't have something you want to say, I'm hanging up right now."

"So…I take it this hostility is because your _friend_, Jesse, told you about our little, harmless conversation yesterday?" Luke asked, still sounding as cool and unruffled as ever, clearly oblivious to how much she didn't want to be talking to him right now and—Wait a second, what did he just say?

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," he replied after a pause and she narrowed her eyes, straightening up in her chair, instantly alert, her heart sinking.

"Jesus Christ, Luke, what did you do?"

"It's not a big deal," Luke finally said and she groaned inwardly because when was anything 'not a big deal' when it came to Luke? "I just had a talk with him, that's all. Man to man and—"

She swallowed, swiftly hanging up whilst he was still talking, leaning back in her chair, her mind returning back to Jesse but for a whole different set of reasons. Why hadn't he mentioned anything about Luke this morning? Surely the fact that Luke had apparently spoken to him was something that she should know? And…more importantly, what the hell had Luke said?

* * *

Two hours later and Jesse was still replaying this morning's events over in his head, trying his absolute hardest to work out exactly what Beca had been so worked up about and what was up with all the mixed signals she was sending him. In the space of five minutes, she had gone from physically recoiling from his _accidental_ touch to grabbing his hand and he just…he just didn't get it but he desperately wanted to.

"Swanson, you look like you're thinking too hard," Stacie commented from beside him, reaching up to pat his cheek pityingly, "Want me to help you out?"

He raised an eyebrow, slowly crossing his arms as he took a step backwards away from her, eyeing her warily, gesturing for her to continue.

"Beca totally had a sex dream about you last night," she said casually, with a shrug, and he blinked, spluttering, eyes wide; he was about ninety-nine percent sure _that _wasn't what had kept Beca up…right? Stacie laughed, rolling her eyes, looking way too pleased with herself as she muttered a 'priceless' under her breath before she amended her previous statement, "Okay, maybe not a sex dream but...she was definitely thinking about you."

"And you know this how?"

Stacie rolled her eyes again, giving him a look of disdain, not bothering to come up with a response to his question. Instead, she just crossed her arms, eyeing him up, before confidently offering her hand out for him to shake and he raised his eyebrows, completely confused. "Swanson, I'll bet you five dollars that she kisses you by the end of this week."

He blinked, staring at her hand, his eyes slowly widening in disbelief. "Stace, come on, I'm not betting _on myself_," he eventually said, more for the sake of saying…something rather than anything else; Stacie sounded so sure that, well, he couldn't help but wonder whether she was right. After all, she had proved to be scarily knowledgeable on the subject of him and Beca so far and—stop it, Jesse. Focus.

"Because you'll know you lose?"

"No, because…just because, okay?"

Stacie rolled her eyes once more, shaking her head at him in that same pitying, condescending fashion that he had grown weirdly accustomed to over these past few weeks before she remembered something, reaching over the counter, holding up a familiar object in her hand: "Jesse, before I forget, here's your phone."

He squinted at her, giving her a suspicious look, hastily walking over to retrieve it. "Okay, Stace, why have you got my phone?"

Stacie just grinned, laughing as he frantically scrolled through his messages, her laughter only growing as minutes later, he lifted his head, a defeated look on his face as he found absolutely nothing unusual on there.

What the _hell_ had she done?

* * *

As soon as Beca had finished work for the day, she texted Jesse and invited herself over, her mind swirling with questions and it wasn't long before she was outside his door, knocking repeatedly on it until he answered. Whatever was going on between…them, that wasn't important right now; no, she needed to know what Luke had said, whether he was trying to mess with Jesse, because that…that had been the _one_ thing that she hadn't wanted to happen.

"Hey, Beca," he said, as soon as he opened the door, frowning slightly as she just nodded wordlessly in response, pushing past him and into his apartment. He let the door shut, slowly following her, watching as she took a deep breath, composing herself. "Are you okay?"

She slowly turned around, lifting her gaze to meet his, crossing her arms, her expression giving nothing away. "Why didn't you tell me that Luke spoke to you?"

Jesse blinked, taking a step towards her, his eyes still locked on hers. "I was going to tell you but you just, I don't know, you looked so…distracted this morning," he said, and she swallowed, knowing _exactly_ why she had seemed that way, "But, really, don't worry about it, everything's fine."

She narrowed her eyes.

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing."

"_Jesse_," she said, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair, looking suddenly uncomfortable. She stared at him expectantly, slowly unfolding her arms as she realised that he wasn't about to tell her anytime soon, reaching out an arm to grip his sleeve as she tugged him towards the sofa, seating him down, meeting his gaze again. "Jesse, tell me," she said quietly, "I need to know."

Jesse sighed again, leaning back, moving his gaze up to the ceiling as he started speaking; slowly at first but rapidly gaining speed, "He just…I don't know, he told me to stay away from you? And that, uh, you were out of my league because I'm a lowly coffee shop boy and you're off doing amazing things and—"

She cursed Luke under her breath [because _seriously_? What right did he have to tell Jesse to stay away from her?], clenching her fists, her outburst catching Jesse's attention. He slowly met her gaze again, his eyes instantly filling with concern as he studied her. "Hey, Beca, it's fine. Honestly, it's…okay."

Beca shook her head. "It's not okay," she told him firmly, "I'll talk to him, you shouldn't have to deal with all his…mind games, it's not fair on you." Jesse opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to protest again, but as she shook her head once more, he closed it, remaining silent. "How did it even happen? Did he come and find you?"

"Yeah, he, uh, he just walked into the coffee shop," he told her, with a shrug, before his eyes lit up a little as he remembered something, letting out a laugh, and she raised an eyebrow in confusion. "And then he wouldn't leave so Benji tried to put a snail into his hand..."

Beca blinked, stared, her mind struggling to process what he had just said. "I'm sorry, he tried to..._what_?"

Jesse grinned, nodding a couple of times. "Yep, you should have been there, Beca," he told her, his smile growing wider as he replayed the scene in his mind, "It was so awesome."

She laughed softly, unable to imagine _Benji_, of all people, standing up to Luke and having the guts to try and put a snail in his hand but hey, maybe she had misjudged Benji, maybe he could handle the likes of Amy and—okay, no, Beca. Too far.

They fell silent, the atmosphere in the room thickening as Jesse continued staring at her, his gaze intensifying, slowly inching his hand towards hers and carefully prying open her still-clenched fist, and she let him, suddenly unable to tear her eyes away from his.

"Luke has a point though," he commented minutes later, his eyes still locked on hers, and she frowned, slowly shaking her head, "I _am_ just a coffee shop boy—"

"Jesse…"

"No, I know there's nothing wrong with it but I just—I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my life, you know?" He said thoughtfully, and she nodded slowly, wordlessly slipping her fingers between his like she had done the last time they were in this position, waiting for him to continue, "I think that maybe I've gotten too comfortable with how things are lately, maybe I need to take a step back, reconsider, start _really_ applying for jobs?"

"Go for it," she told him after a pause, tightening her grip on his hand, and he smiled at her, nodding once.

Jesse continued watching her, his eyes unmoving and she swallowed thickly, suddenly reminded of what she had spent all night thinking about, shifting slightly as her eyes involuntarily trailed down the side of his face, along his jawline, before landing on his mouth. She swallowed again, fixated, unable to move her gaze away even though her mind so desperately wanted her to, and she held her breath, feeling herself gravitate towards him, inching ever so slightly in his direction, her heart racing against her will…

...but then, the distinctive notes of 'Sexy and I Know It' started blaring out of his pocket and Jesse blinked, shooting her an unreadable look as she instantly jolted away from him, staring, wide eyed. He blinked once more before coming to his senses, hastily whipping his phone out of his pocket, staring at it in utter disbelief.

"What the f—_oh my god, _Stacie," he muttered under his breath, turning to give her a look that was equal parts apologetic and…mortified as he quickly pressed a button on his phone, holding it up to his face as he quickly spoke to whoever was on the other side.

Beca exhaled slowly, leaning back, closing her eyes as she took the opportunity to compose herself, her heart still pounding, feeling a little breathless. There was no denying it anymore, she clearly…_liked_ him [a bit, just a bit] but Jesus, what was she supposed to do? She forced herself to take another breath, fighting down the panic that was starting to rise in her chest, slowly cracking her eyes open, her gaze landing on Jesse once more. He gave her a slightly lopsided smile as he noticed her watching him and she hesitantly returned it, feeling all of a sudden much calmer, more relaxed, as his eyes found hers.

It'd be okay. She'd figure it out.

"Sorry about that," Jesse said as he hung up, grimacing slightly, gesturing with one hand towards his phone, "Uh, that was Benji. I hate to do this but he's got himself stuck in a box so…"

"I'll go, don't worry about it," she told him, giving him a slightly shaky smile, "Besides, I need to…talk to Chloe."

He frowned, fixing her with a curious look but she just plastered a more convincing smile onto her face, slowly disentangling her fingers from his as she stood up, pulling out her phone to text Chloe. As soon as she had finished, she turned to him, taking a deep breath, forcing a smirk onto her face as she noticed his concerned expression.

"Nice ringtone, by the way," she commented, as dryly as she could given her current mental state, her lips quirking slightly as she watched him run a hand through his hair, looking instantly embarrassed.

"That was Stacie's fault, she changed it," he explained, waving his arm around vaguely, before taking a step towards her, a glint that she wasn't quite sure she liked the look of slowly making its way into his eyes, "But hey, I guess it isn't a bad choice..."

Beca stared, eyes wide, as he suddenly struck the most ridiculous pose she had ever seen on any self-respecting guy, his hands on his hips, grinning stupidly at her. She rolled her eyes, reaching out her hand to hit him on the shoulder, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"You are _such_ a weirdo," she told him.

[But she liked him anyway...and maybe, just maybe, that was okay.]

* * *

_Chloe, I need your help. – Beca_


	27. Chapter 27

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY **S**EVEN

Beca's thoughts were still in a state of disarray when she arrived at Chloe's apartment; half of her mind still reeling over her little…revelation regarding Jesse whilst the other half tried desperately to work out a plan of action. She needed to talk to Chloe, needed someone to make her see sense, but the problem was, she couldn't quite bring herself to admit _i__t _out loud.

"Beca, what's wrong?" Chloe said, sitting opposite her, her forehead furrowed with concern, uneasy from her friend's silence, "It's not Luke again, is it?"

Beca shook her head, swallowing hard, slowly clenching her fists together in her lap. "I just…I think you might be right," she eventually muttered, shifting in her seat awkwardly, fixing her gaze on the ceiling, away from Chloe's piercing gaze, "About, you know, uh, Jesse."

She winced inwardly, feeling herself flush uncomfortably, her nails starting to dig into her palms, biting her lip hard as she heard Chloe's suspiciously innocent "What about Jesse?" several seconds later. She slowly dragged her gaze down, a scowl involuntarily crossing her face as she saw a grinning Chloe leaning forward in her seat, looking way too smug for her liking.

"Beca, I'm sorry, I don't understand," Chloe said, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "What am I right about?"

She glared.

"_Chloe_," she warned, gritting her teeth ever so slightly as Chloe just laughed at her reaction, "You're not helping."

Chloe shrugged, still grinning. "If you don't tell me, I can't help you," she sing-songed, and Beca glared a little harder at her, remaining silent, until Chloe took another look at her, her eyes softening ever so slightly, "Just say it, Beca. It's not that hard."

She swallowed thickly, dragging her gaze back up to the ceiling again, taking a deep breath. "I think I might…" she trailed off, biting her lip, suddenly unable to finish the sentence, even though the words were _right there_. She forced herself to take another deep breath, clenching her fists again, as she started again. "Maybe I, uh, like him more than I should..."

"More than you 'should'?"

"Chlo, we're friends," she said slowly, meeting Chloe's gaze again, shifting slightly under the intensity of Chloe's scrutinising eyes, "I was the one that made it clear to him that we were friends and that was it and I just…I don't know what to do." She blinked, grimacing, as Chloe suddenly threw a pillow in her face, taking her by complete surprise, "Hey, what was that for?"

"You two haven't been 'just friends' for weeks," Chloe said, shaking her head, and Beca frowned, slowly raising an eyebrow, "Beca, you _know_ he still likes you – oh, come on, it's obvious – all you have to do is tell him how you feel."

She swallowed hard, biting her lip. "It's not that simple," she said.

Chloe pursed her lips, shaking her head again, leaning forward, her expression softening as she examined her again. "Beca, why are you trying to talk yourself out of it?" she asked, and she just shook her head, shrugging her shoulders, not entirely sure of the answer herself. "He likes you, you like him, just give him a chance," Chloe said gently, before giving her a calculated look, reaching over to take her hand as she added, "He's not Luke."

"I know he's not," Beca replied slowly, memories of the countless times that Jesse had been there for her, in a way that Luke had never been even when they were 'together', flashing through her mind. She knew he wasn't like Luke, she _did_, but there was still that tiny part of her brain that just wasn't sure whether she could do it, whether she could put herself out there in that way again.

"Then what's the problem?" Chloe asked, giving her a concerned look, lowering her voice as she leaned forward again, choosing her next words carefully, "Beca, you are…over Luke, right?"

She bit her lip as she considered Chloe's words; she was certain that she was over him as a person but yet, what he had done to her, how he had taken advantage of their relationship, betrayed her trust, those were things that she wasn't sure she was fully recovered from. Beca exhaled, leaning back in her seat, squeezing her eyes shut, forcing herself to weigh everything up as rationally as possible. Jesse was_…_Jesse and in many ways, he was so unlike her – so optimistic, so patient, so persistent – but despite everything, she _trusted_ him and it worked. They worked.

[It was as simple as that.]

She slowly cracked her eyes open, confidently raising her head up to meet Chloe's gaze as she made up her mind. "Tell me what to do," she said.

Chloe grinned, clapping her hands enthusiastically, making a noise that was suspiciously close to a squeal, her eyes glazing over slightly as a million [and three] different scenarios started piecing themselves together in her head.

* * *

_Beca, I have another idea! Recreate that scene from Romeo & Juliet and climb through his window! :) – Chloe_

_Please tell me you're not being serious right now. – Beca_

* * *

Even after months of knowing Benji and hearing about all the 'magic' tricks he liked to perform, the sight of seeing the boy _stuck in a box_ was still pretty…surreal and his mind was struggling to process it. He shook his head lightly as he walked over, biting the inside of his cheek hard to stop himself from laughing as Benji's head slowly popped out, a mixture of distress and embarrassment written all over his face.

"What happened?" Jesse asked, scanning the box curiously as he offered Benji his arm, attempting to tug the boy out…but _god_, he really was stuck, "How did you even fit inside here in the first place?"

Benji gave him a helpless half-shrug in response as he squirmed around, looking more uncomfortable by the second, and Jesse just shook his head, giving the boy his other hand, pulling harder until he was finally free. Jesse took a step back, slowly raising an eyebrow in amusement as Benji instantly flopped down onto the floor with a groan, lying face-down.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Benji replied, "I just—Your legs kind of go numb when you've been stuck in a box for so long, you know? I'll be fine in a second, don't worry."

Jesse laughed, moving to sit beside the boy, patting him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Magic trick go wrong?" he asked as Benji slowly lifted himself up with a nod, wincing a little, "Maybe you should stick to the close-up stuff?"

"No, it's…it's okay," Benji replied, shooting the box a wary look, "I've nearly gotten the hang of it."

Jesse narrowed his eyes.

"Okay, maybe not…but I will!" he amended, turning to give him a sheepish grin, and Jesse just shook his head again, his lips curving up in amusement. "Thanks for saving me though," he added, "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

Jesse shrugged, running a hand through his hair, mulling over Benji's words. He had absolutely no idea what would have happened between him and Beca if Benji hadn't called [and Stacie hadn't changed his ringtone to something stupid] but she had been staring at him, at his _mouth_, for long enough that he had been sure, so sure, that she had been seconds away from kissing him…

"Your timing could have been better but it's okay," he eventually replied, swallowing hard.

"Beca?"

He frowned, glancing over at the other boy, narrowing his eyes again as Benji just shot him an innocent look before casting his gaze upwards, staring at the ceiling. "Um, Stacie may have cornered me last week and explained the whole situation," Benji admitted, his words coming out in a rush, "She's, um, she's pretty…_scary_ when she's determined."

Jesse sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Stacie's right though, you know," Benji added quietly, and Jesse glanced over, raising his eyebrows, shooting him a questioning look. "Beca likes you, I can tell, and things will work themselves out. I know they will."

"I know," he replied confidently, giving the other boy a smile as he replayed the evening's events in his head, for the first time truly meaning what he was saying, "I know they will."

* * *

_If you want, I can totally close down the coffee shop for you tomorrow morning so you can serenade him? :) – Chloe_

_Want to hire me an orchestra whilst you're at it? – Beca_

_I can't tell if you're being serious or not. If you are, I have a friend of a friend who I could ask… – Chloe_

_Dude, no! – Beca_

* * *

To her surprise, Chloe turned out to be completely and utterly unhelpful; instead of offering her sensible suggestions to how to deal with…Jesse, she had taken to bombarding her phone with ideas that were getting more and more ridiculous, her thoughts straying into the [dangerous] realm of sunshine and cheesiness and stuff-that-Beca-was-never-going-to-do. What didn't help matters was that one, Chloe's constant texting throughout the day just reminded her of that time a certain boy had done exactly the same thing and two, she still had absolutely no idea how to handle _it_...but she wanted to figure it out, more than anything, because this feeling of not…knowing? It was overwhelming, frustrating, annoying, and she didn't know how much longer she could put up with it.

Beca sighed, pushing the door to her apartment open, cursing inwardly as she felt her phone vibrate at the exact same time, hoping it wasn't Chloe again. She slowly pulled it out, grimacing as she saw not one but five more texts from Chloe, rolling her eyes as she read each one. This was getting completely out of hand and she just, she needed to stop it. She exhaled, tapping out a quick reply to Chloe before stuffing her phone back in her pocket, turning around in the direction that she had come in, determinedly heading towards Jesse's apartment, not yet sure what she was going to do but knowing that she had to do _something_, anything.

It wasn't until she had arrived outside his front door for the second day in a row that she paused, her hand hovering in mid-air, momentarily wondering whether she was really ready to do this, ready to see him again now that she knew everything that she…knew.

She bit her lip, steeled herself, and then knocked.

She could do this.

"Beca?" Jesse said as he opened the door, staring at her, his eyes wide with confusion, "What are you doing here? Not that I mind, I just, uh, I wasn't expecting anyone?"

She shrugged, smiling slightly as she took in his dishevelled hair and attire, feeling suddenly much less nervous now that she was here in front of him; being in his company never failed to calm her down and this was no exception. Whatever happened, everything would be fine, she was sure of it.

"Hey, you're okay, right?" Jesse asked, still watching her with a perplexed expression on his face, as she wordlessly followed him inside, slowly running a hand through his hair.

"I'm fine," she replied, with a nod, lifting her gaze to meet his, biting her lip as she hesitantly continued. "I just wanted to ask you something," she said, and he tilted his head slightly, silently gesturing for her to continue, his eyes alert, as he took a step towards her. "I, uh, I just..." she trailed off, grimacing slightly, not quite knowing how to bring up the subject of _them_, feeling more awkward by the second as Jesse continued to watch her, leaning against the wall, patient as ever. "I, uh, can we watch a movie?"

She frowned as soon as the words left her mouth, biting the inside of her cheek hard. _That_ wasn't what she had meant to say…and she could tell by Jesse's incredulous expression that he knew it too. "Uh, sure, I guess?" he replied slowly, his eyebrows furrowed as he took yet another step in her direction, placing a hand on her shoulder as he guided her towards the shelves of DVDs, his touch making her bite her lip, an overwhelming feeling of frustration invading her whole body. All she had to do was _say it_. "So…what do you want to watch?"

Beca shrugged slowly, lifting her hand to point at a random case, glancing over at Jesse as she heard him laugh behind her. "Let me get this straight," he said, giving her an amused look, "You came all the way over here because you wanted to...watch E.T?"

"It's, uh, it's a good movie," she said, with a grimace, knowing that she wasn't convincing anyone but not knowing what else to do, what else to say, "And I don't have a TV so…"

Jesse just laughed again, shaking his head lightly, before smoothly pulling the DVD out, his hand warm on her shoulder again as he gently pushed her towards the sofa. She slowly sat down, leaning back, closing her eyes. This was ridiculous, she was ridiculous; she just needed to say it or, failing that, _show_ him.

It wasn't that hard.

"Hey, you're definitely okay, right?" she heard Jesse say moments later, feeling him settle beside her, close enough that their arms were brushing, "I mean, you're right, E.T is an awesome movie but…"

Beca slowly cracked her eyes open as he trailed off, forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm fine," she repeated firmly before locking her eyes with his, gesturing towards the TV screen with one hand, her other hand simultaneously reaching for his as she spoke again, keeping her tone as conversational as possible, "So, tell me, what makes E.T an 'awesome movie'?"

She bit her lip as she watched Jesse's eyes narrow almost imperceptibly as she edged her fingers between his, pulling their hands into her lap, but to his credit, he didn't react; instead, he just gave her an unreadable look before slowly beginning to recite facts and she realised, with a jolt, that if she really wanted this, wanted _him_, she was going to have to do better than this. After all, Jesse had promised her weeks ago that he wasn't going to make a move, he'd be her friend_, _and if there was one thing that she had learnt about Jesse, it was that he was a man of his word.

As Jesse slowly moved his gaze towards the screen, drawn in by the sounds of the movie starting, silently mouthing the words to the opening scene, she smiled softly to herself, gripping their hands that little bit tighter. How could she make him understand what she wanted without having to…say it out loud? She kept her eyes trained on him as she racked her brain, replaying all their previous encounters in her head, all their conversations, all their jokes, hoping that a solution to her current…predicament would make itself clear to her, grimacing as she came up blank.

"Are you hungry? I have some popcorn in the kitchen if you want?" Jesse asked five minutes in, turning to look at her, and she slowly shook her head before staring at him, her eyes wide, as she abruptly remembered a conversation that had taken place in Chloe's coffee shop several weeks ago between her, Stacie and Jesse, and all of a sudden, she knew what she had to do.

But first, she needed to go and buy some Skittles…

* * *

_I've got some spare coffee cups lying around that you could use to make a life-sized model of the two of you and give it to him? – Chloe_

_Chloe, what…what the hell?! - Beca_

* * *

Jesse wasn't quite sure what had just happened; not only had Beca turned up on his doorstep unannounced and suggested that they watched E.T but as soon as he had offered to make some popcorn, she had suddenly froze, quickly excusing herself from his apartment, promising that she would be back soon. He stared at the spot on the couch where Beca had been twenty minutes ago, _holding his hand_, feeling a little shell-shocked. The thing was, if he really stopped to think about it [and he guessed, right now, he didn't have a choice], she had been acting odd around him ever since she had told him about her history with Luke and he exhaled heavily, wondering whether this, like everything else, was somehow connected to Luke.

As he heard a knock on the door, signalling Beca's return, he slowly got up from the sofa, pasting a smile onto his face as he opened it, a smile that was quickly wiped away as he took in her hesitant expression and the way she was biting her lip as she met his gaze.

"Beca, are you sure you're okay?" he asked, for the third time that evening, gently reaching forward to place a hand either side of her arms, tugging her inside, "If this is about Luke, you know you can talk to me, right?"

Beca blinked, giving him a surprised look, before shaking her head. "Jesse, I swear, I'm fine," she said, before taking a deep breath, locking her eyes with his as she spoke again: "I have something to give you."

He frowned, keeping his eyes on hers as he felt her reach for his hand, gently uncurling his fingers, pressing something into his palm, wondering what was going on. As she tilted her head downwards, he slowly followed her gaze, blinking in surprise at what he saw, his previous confusion doubling.

"Uh, thanks?" he said, glancing up at her again, his eyebrows raised, "But you know I have food in here, right? In fact, I actually think I have Skittles in my room—"

Jesse blinked again, stopping mid-sentence, as Beca grimaced, her hand whipping out to snatch the packet back, shaking her head at him. He shot her a confused look, his eyebrows still raised, patiently waiting for her to explain.

"Jesse, you're not getting it," she eventually said, and he frowned at the hint of frustration in her voice. What...What wasn't he getting? He slowly ran a hand through his hair, racking his brain, trying to understand what was happening, why nothing that she was doing was making any sense to him anymore. "Jesse," she said again, shifting uncomfortably on the spot, reaching for his hand again, pressing the packet into his skin once more, "_I'm giving you Skittles_."

"I know you are," he replied slowly, feeling a little dazed, "but I don't quite underst—"

He trailed off, vaguely remembering restraining a meddling Stacie in the coffee shop as he had been forced to blurt out the story of his first kiss, the story of how he had been bribed by a pack of Skittles, and then it hit him, so hard that he jolted backwards, eyes widening, heart pounding.

"You're giving me Skittles," he said slowly, just to be sure.

Beca lifted her head, a look of relief passing across her face as she unwaveringly met his gaze, nodding once.

He took a step forward.

* * *

_Recreate the way that we met and just jump into his shower ;) – Chloe_

_Chloe, I swear to God… - Beca_

* * *

Beca held her breath as Jesse came closer, their eyes locked, until he was standing right in front of her, his mouth curving up into a wide grin. Without saying a word, he gently tugged her hands into his, interlocking their fingers as he gradually bent his head down until their noses were almost touching, his breath warm against her skin. She stared at him and he stared back, both of them unmoving, just waiting for the other to act, and she wondered whether he could hear the sound of her heart pounding frantically in her chest or even the sound of her thoughts racing through her head.

She knew that all she needed to do was just tilt her head upwards, close the gap, but she..._couldn_'_t_. Not yet. Instead, she bit her lip, watching transfixed as Jesse narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, an easy grin still plastered on his face as he opened his mouth to speak, his words taking her by complete surprise:

"So, I have a question for you: which colour Skittle is your favourite?" he asked conversationally, his voice remarkably steady despite their close proximity, and she frowned, slowly raising an eyebrow in disbelief, her eyes widening, "Personally, I like the red ones but hate the green and I—"

"—Jesse, shut up," she cut in, biting her lip as he completely ignored her, continuing to speak as if she had never interrupted, and she frowned again, freeing one of her hands from his grip, determinedly grabbing the front of his shirt and tugging him that tiny bit closer.

"Seriously though, which colour is your favourite?" Jesse continued, his eyes glinting down at her in amusement, "If you say green, I don't know what I'll do…"

"I said _shut up_," she repeated, before pulling on his shirt again, closing the distance between them, leaning forward to press her mouth firmly against his, her lips curving into a satisfied smirk as he did exactly that, her hands looping themselves around his neck, his moving to rest against her waist.


	28. Chapter 28

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY **E**IGHT

Despite the fact that Jesse had a little, _tiny_ inkling of what was about to happen, thanks to the Skittles packet that he had haphazardly shoved into his pocket a couple of seconds ago, the feeling that coursed through his veins as soon as Beca roughly grabbed him by the front of his shirt, her mouth landing on his, was still one of surprise. After weeks of desperately trying not to get his hopes up, repeatedly convincing himself that nothing was ever going to happen between them, and weeks of ignoring Stacie's [unsubtle] and Chloe's [slightly more subtle] encouragements, to have Beca here, her hands slowly sneaking their way around his neck and pulling him infinitesimally closer, it was completely surreal and his mind was struggling to catch up. He knew that he should be reacting, doing _something_, but instead, all he could do was stare at her, wide-eyed, his hands falling to her waist…and it wasn't long before she noticed.

Jesse watched helplessly, mentally chiding himself for being such an idiot, as Beca tilted her head slightly, creating some distance between their faces, her fingers still firmly pressed against the back of his neck as she stared up at him.

"Hey," she said slowly, biting her lip and fixing him with an uneasy look, "You did…want this, right?"

Jesse blinked at her words, staring back and meeting her gaze, the way her expression was gradually becoming indecipherable, _harder_, serving as a catalyst and finally spurring him into action. Without wasting another second, he bent his head down, closing the gap between them once more, sending her the widest, most reassuring smile he could manage as he gripped her hips a little tighter and kissed her. It wasn't long before he felt her respond, her lips moving against his, one of her hands snaking their way into his hair, and he retaliated, pressing his palm against her lower back, pulling her flush against him.

He was still grinning at her when he released her mouth again, leaning back so that he could properly look at her face, his grin only growing wider as he took in her flushed cheeks and smile. They stared at each other wordlessly for a minute, their eyes locked, both a little breathless, and when he finally opened his mouth to speak, the first thing that fell out was a dazed-sounding "I can't believe you tried to bribe me with Skittles."

Beca blinked, slowly raising an eyebrow as she disentangled her hand from his hair, moving it back down to rest against his neck again, before she smirked, her eyes glinting up at him in a way that was all too familiar.

"You should have seen some of Chloe's suggestions," she told him, and this time, _he_ raised his eyebrows, shooting her a curious look. "If she had her way," Beca continued, her smirk growing wider, causing him to narrow his eyes in apprehension, a collage of the many 'ideas' that the redhead had come up with in the past piecing themselves together in his head, "I would have serenaded you in your shower."

Jesse stared at her, his eyes widening, his jaw dropping open slightly, before vaguely recalling the story that Beca had told him about the way that she had met Chloe. As Beca continued to smirk at him, looking distinctively amused by his sudden speechlessness, he bit the inside of his cheek, hastily composing himself.

"That would have worked too," he told her seconds later with a grin and a shrug, quickly removing his hands from her waist and taking a step backwards as she rolled her eyes, sliding his hands from her neck and aiming her fists at his shoulder. "Hey, I'm just saying!"

"You are such a dork," she told him with another roll of her eyes as he raised his arms up to shield himself, pretending to physically recoil from every 'hit' she landed, adding in the odd sound-effect as he staggered backwards.

"But you gave me Skittles anyway," he replied, fishing the packet out of his pocket and waving it at her as evidence as she instantly opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to protest, her fists still flying in his direction. "_Skittles_, Beca. You can't argue with that."

Beca rolled her eyes once more before slowly lifting her head, properly meeting his gaze, her expression softening a little and her lips forming a half-smile as she stared up at him. He fell silent, his arms returning back down to his sides, waiting for her to respond. "Yeah," she said after a beat, swallowing once, "I guess I did."

Jesse grinned at her, watching as she shifted uncomfortably on the spot at the sudden silence that had fallen, biting her lip, and he reached his free hand out, tugging her back towards him, leaning down to press a chaste kiss to her cheek. "I'm really glad you did," he told her sincerely, waiting for her to nod once before straightening up as he spoke again. "Now come on," he said, tilting his head towards the television against the wall, "We have to watch the rest of E.T, you left right before the best part!"

Beca grimaced, shaking her head. "Do we have to?"

"Hey, weren't you the one that said it was a, and I quote, 'good' movie?" he teased, biting back his laughter as she grimaced again, looking suitably embarrassed. "But I'm sorry, we must; no movie can be left unfinished, Beca!"

Beca raised an eyebrow, giving him an incredulous look, but she wordlessly followed him over to the sofa anyway, settling beside him, and as she tugged the Skittles packet from his fingers, all he could think about was how she had exceeded all his expectations once again.

* * *

Beca wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting to happen once she crossed the line between friendship and…_more _by giving him that [damn] Skittles packet, but this, well, this wasn't it; here she was, sitting on his sofa by his side, [watching him] watching a sci-fi movie and it was almost like…nothing had changed, even though she had kissed him and he had kissed her. The only real difference between today and all the other 'moviecations' that he had given her in the past was that she now had a packet of Skittles clutched between her fingers instead of her usual juice pouch and that Jesse was no longer so jumpy whenever their arms accidentally brushed. It was so unbelievably normal, _natural_ even, that she wondered why she had been so worked up about it all.

"You're staring," Jesse commented without turning his head, his eyes still fixed on the screen, absorbing whatever action was going on [she had stopped paying attention long ago], "And…you're missing the movie."

"Sorry," she replied, even though she wasn't sorry at all, continuing to stare intently at the side of his face, her eyes tracing the outline of his jaw as he slowly mouthed the words, as always completely in sync with the actors on the screen.

If she really thought about it, she guessed she shouldn't have been so surprised by the normalcy of their current situation despite everything that had happened because this was _Jesse_, but for the first time in a long while – or rather, the first time since the Luke fiasco – she felt a lot lighter, a lot more like herself, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. [In fact, if anything, it kind of…scared her. Just a little. But…she could get used to this.]

"Still staring."

Beca blinked, slowly rolling her eyes at him even though she knew he couldn't see her, his attention ninety-nine percent captivated by the _alien_ on the screen [the weirdo], but dragged her gaze away from him anyway to rest on the Skittles packet in her lap.

"Hey, I have a question for you," she said moments later, remembering something he had told her earlier, biting her lip in amusement as he tore his eyes away from the screen as if it pained him to do so, giving her an expectant look, "Why do you hate green Skittles?"

Jesse raised an eyebrow, seemingly taken aback by her question, and she felt the back of her neck grown uncomfortably warm, feeling a tiny bit embarrassed for asking in the first place. "There's no reason," he replied, with a shrug, "I just don't like them? They taste weird, they look weird."

"They _look_ weird?" she echoed disbelievingly, giving him an incredulous look as she simultaneously opened the packet in her hands, beginning to fish inside for some green ones. "They all look the same!"

"No, they don't; the green ones stick out and I just—" he stopped mid-sentence, suddenly noticing the growing collection of green Skittles in her hand, and she glanced up at him, shooting him a smirk, a laugh escaping her lips at the distinctively wary look on his face. "Beca, don't even think about it."

She shook her head, triumphantly setting the packet down on the table in front of her as she finished picking out the green Skittles, before turning to him, silently holding her hand out in his direction. Jesse pulled a face, slowly taking one from her, eyeing it apprehensively as he turned it over in his fingers, making no move to put it anywhere near his face, and after a couple minutes of silence, she rolled her eyes, reaching out her hand to grab it back, being careful not to tip the rest of the green Skittles in her hands onto the floor.

"I'll eat the green ones," she said with another roll of her eyes, popping it into her mouth as Jesse glanced up at her, surprise written all over his face, before tilting her head towards the packet in front of her, "You can have those."

Jesse stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes unreadable, before he grinned widely at her, reaching out with one hand to grab the packet. As he successfully retrieved them, he glanced over at her again, shooting her an oddly calculated look before hesitantly sliding his arm around her shoulders, wordlessly pulling her against his side, and she let him, a smile involuntarily twisting her lips at both his uncertainty and his subsequent actions.

"Oh no," he uttered seconds later, and she lifted her head up in alarm, raising an eyebrow at the almost accusatory look on his face, "You made me miss the best part! We _have_ to rewind it."

"Dude, no," she replied quickly, shaking her head. "I swear to God, if you rewind it, I'm leaving," she told him, even though she knew it wasn't completely true; she had no idea where this thing was going or, more specifically, what would happen between them, but so far, it was…_nice_.

* * *

An hour later and Jesse was still struggling to process everything that had happened, continuing to have difficulty accepting that she had _kissed _him, even though from the fact that she was currently nestled against his side, eating all the green Skittles [not to mention allowing him to rewind the movie back just so that he could watch his favourite scene again], it was clear that things weren't quite the same as they had been yesterday. It was just strange, he guessed, to finally have this happen after all the weeks of wanting and wishing, but he certainly wasn't about to complain. Instead, he just instinctively tightened his grip around her shoulders as they silently watched the final moments of the movie, smiling softly as she made no move to pull away from him as the credits started rolling.

"So…" Beca started, twisting her head to look at him, biting her lip, "It's getting late."

Jesse nodded, raising his head and glancing up at the clock hung slightly lopsidedly on his wall, noting the time, before returning his gaze back to her face. "I'll walk you home?" he suggested, not entirely sure what to make of the oddly uncomfortable expression on her face, "I mean, only if you want me to…"

She blinked at him, looking seemingly relieved at his answer – and he mentally filed the whole moment away for later analysis – before popping the last Skittle into her mouth, shifting against his shoulder. "Sure, that sounds good," she said, with a nod, returning his smile.

"Race you to the door?"

Beca blinked, raised an eyebrow, shooting him an incredulous look, but he just grinned a bit wider, carefully removing his arm from around her, jumping up from the sofa and quickly making his way to the door. As soon as he reached his destination [in record time], he turned around, laughing as he saw Beca still sitting in the exact same position, looking on with an amused smirk on her face.

"Idiot," she called out, shaking her head at him as she slowly pushed herself off the sofa, walking towards him, "That's what you are: an idiot."

He shrugged, completely unaffected by her words, holding the door open for her as they began to make their way to her apartment; as far as he was concerned, 'idiot' was no longer an insult, coming from her.

* * *

The truth was, she had been half-expecting Jesse to ask her to _stay_ even though she knew that he wasn't that type of guy – more specifically, he wasn't like Luke and all the other guys she had 'dated' in the past – and she had been pleasantly surprised when the thought hadn't even seemed to cross his mind, simply offering to walk her home as he had done every other time she had gone over to his.

They headed in the direction of her flat, easy conversation flowing between the two of them, and it wasn't until they reached her door that she became distinctly aware that her phone was vibrating frantically in her pocket. She didn't check it, trying her best to ignore it for the meantime, too preoccupied by the way Jesse was staring right at her, his arms awkwardly by his side as he watched her prop the front door open with one foot.

"I'll…see you tomorrow?"

"Uh, sure," she replied, with a nod, but he made no move to leave and she made no move to step inside her apartment. She wasn't entirely certain what she was waiting for and she was growing more uncomfortable as the silence drew on but all she knew was that she couldn't turn away, not yet.

"Hey, Beca…" he said suddenly, taking a step towards her, and she met his gaze almost defiantly, holding her breath as she felt his hands brace either side of her face, tilting her chin up towards him as he fleetingly pressed his mouth to hers for the second time that day before pulling away with a grin. "Goodnight."

She smiled at him, nodding once, slowly raising an eyebrow and narrowing her eyes as Jesse suddenly grimaced, pulling a face.

"I can taste green skittles," he explained slowly, gesturing towards her with one hand, a sheepish grin on his face, and she laughed, rolling her eyes at him.

"'Night, weirdo," she told him, giving him one last smile before turning and walking into her apartment. As soon as she was inside, she found herself smiling to no-one in particular, feeling remarkably content, though as her phone vibrated once more, she rolled her eyes, quickly pulling it out of her pocket, typing out a text without properly looking at her inbox, knowing exactly who was [still] texting her.

_Chloe, stop texting me. – Beca_

She bit her lip, her fingers hovering uncertainly over the keys, counting to three in her head before she tapped out another message.

_It's…done._ – _Beca_

She didn't have to wait long before she got a response from Chloe – an _'oh my god_'' followed by a long line of questionable looking smileys – and in exactly thirty minutes time, she rolled her eyes as she heard a repeated string of knocks on her front door, the person on the other side seemingly on a mission to break it down if she didn't open it soon.

"Oh my god," Chloe said happily as soon as she opened it, echoing the words in her text, grabbing her by the hand and leading her into her [own] apartment, pushing her down into a chair, "Tell me everything!"

Beca exhaled, rolling her eyes as Chloe squeezed her hand, looking like she was struggling to _breathe_ in her excitement, before biting her lip, giving her a shrug. "I, uh, I may have…kissed him," she eventually said, eyeing Chloe with a certain degree of apprehension.

Chloe shook her head, gripping her hand even harder and tugging on it until their faces were remarkably close; in all the years that she had known the girl, it had become quite obvious that Chloe did not understand the concept of personal space.

"Beca Mitchell, you're not getting away with that," she told her, still shaking her head in disapproval, "After watching you dance around each other since day one, I want to know all the details."

She blinked.

"That is not what happened," she said, pointedly ignoring the last six words that she had just said, "This…this is a _recent_ thing."

Chloe raised her eyebrow, shooting her a completely disbelieving look as if she couldn't quite get her head around what she was hearing, and Beca instantly knew that she was going to dislike the redhead's next words.

"Oh, please," Chloe started, shaking her head, leaning her face even nearer to hers, causing her to pull back slightly, "You've liked him since the very first day you met him!" She opened her mouth to protest because it was simply not true but Chloe just shook her head again, cutting her off. "Beca, you let him make your _coffee_."

"You really have to get over that," she responded dryly, rolling her eyes at Chloe's guilty expression before continuing, "Besides, I let Benji make my coffee too so this point you're making, whatever it is, it—"

"—Benji doesn't count!"

She raised an eyebrow, firmly pulling her hand out of Chloe's grasp, slowly crossing her arms as she waited for the other girl to explain.

"No-one can refuse Benji," Chloe stated, shrugging her shoulders, and Beca blinked, her eyebrows still raised, automatically opening her mouth to object, before her eyes caught the stormtrooper figurine still standing proudly on her mantelpiece and she closed it again, swallowing hard. Okay, maybe she had a point about Benji…but not about everything else.

"Now, come on, I want to know what happened," Chloe said, leaning forward and grabbing her hand again, her eyes sparkling with excitement once more, and she groaned, wondering what on Earth had possessed her to text Chloe and tell her that things had…changed. "Beca, you know I'm not going to leave until you tell me, right?"

She nodded, exhaling, before awkwardly stumbling through the evening's events, grimacing every single time that Chloe stopped her to ask her questions or to expand on what she was saying, eventually shutting her eyes as she felt an uncomfortable [and completely unwanted] flush starting to rise across her cheeks when she reached the Skittles part of the story.

"That is the most adorable thing I've ever heard," Chloe said, as soon as she had finished, and she slowly cracked one eye open, biting her lip hard at the sight of Chloe's beaming smile.

"It is not," she retorted with a firm shake of her head, sliding her eyes shut again, "It is anything but adorable."

They fell into a comfortable silence, sitting side by side, and she let herself really think about the consequences of today; sure, nothing had seemed to have changed that much between her and Jesse but it had only been a few hours and who knew what tomorrow would bring? Plus, of course, there was still Luke to factor in. The last time she had spoken to him face-to-face, he had made it explicitly clear to her that he 'wanted her back' and he had even searched Jesse out and threatened him; somehow, she didn't think that he was going to accept the…change in her relationship with Jesse easily and bow out of her life. No, this was definitely going to complicate things and she wasn't entirely sure what to do about it.

"Beca, you are…happy about this, right?" she heard Chloe ask moments later, and she slowly opened her eyes, surprised by the concern on the other girl's face. She pondered her question for a second, forcing herself to push all thoughts of Luke to the back of her mind, instead focusing solely on how natural and _easy_ things had been earlier, back when it had just been her and Jesse alone in his apartment.

"Yeah," she finally said, biting her lip, meeting Chloe's gaze as she gave her a half-smile, "I think I am."


	29. Chapter 29

**C**HAPTER **T**WENTY-**N**INE

Despite his numerous attempts to avoid dissecting yesterday's events in his head, trying his best to clear his mind and focus on the piece he was currently in the middle of composing, he had found that he just couldn't stop thinking about everything, thinking about _Beca_, so in the end, he had surrendered to his thoughts, lying back on his sofa, sliding his eyes shut. Things between him and Beca after she had given him that pack of Skittles had been easy, maybe a little too easy, and though he hated himself for thinking it, he couldn't help but wonder whether she would regret kissing him in the morning; after all, he knew better than most that Beca's past relationships [or, more specifically, past relationship with Luke] hadn't exactly been particularly…pleasant [understatement of the century, Jesse] and it didn't take a genius to figure out that she still wasn't completely recovered from everything that had happened.

The thing was, now that she had kissed him whilst wearing her signature Beca Mitchell smirk and made the first move, and he had gotten a taste of what could potentially happen between them, he wasn't about to let her go, even if she turned up the next morning and said otherwise.

"Swanson, are you even listening to me?"

Jesse blinked, coming to his senses, blinking once more as he registered Stacie's face millimetres away from his, a look of utter disapproval spread across her features. "Uh…hey," he said, slowly leaning backwards, realising that she was waiting for him to give her an answer to a question that he had definitely not been listening to, "Uh, hey, Stacie."

"Don't 'Hey Stacie' me," she replied, giving him an affronted look as she crossed her arms, fixing him with an impenetrable glare, causing him to swallow and awkwardly run a hand through his hair. "Okay, Swanson, what's up with you today?"

"I, uh…nothing," he said, avoiding her gaze, staring at the neat line of stacked cups just behind her shoulder, "I'm fine. Absolutely fine. More than fine; in fact, I'm _great_."

Stacie rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue disbelievingly at him and he groaned inwardly as she reached behind her to pull a chair up, seating herself beside him. "Swanson, we've got…" she paused, momentarily glancing up at the clock on the wall, "…about ten minutes before we open so unless you want me to force it out of you—"

"—I swear, I'm fine," he said, smoothly cutting in, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze for a couple of seconds before standing up, sticking his hands into his pocket. "Look, I'm just going to go and, uh, do…something in the back, okay?"

Stacie raised an eyebrow, her eyes narrowing, pursing her lips as she shot him a calculating look but to his relief, she didn't say another word. He exhaled, slowly turning around as he made his way towards the staffroom, his mind racing; the truth was, after spending the whole of last night overanalysing everything between him and Beca, he was feeling slightly on edge about seeing her again, even though he hated himself for not being able to just stay cool. Yesterday had been great, _really_ great, but he needed to see her again and find out exactly where he stood before he could let himself properly enjoy the memory.

"Swanson, you owe me five dollars," Stacie called out, as soon as he had raised his hand up to push the door open, causing him to frown, his eyebrows quirking, before he froze, remembering the bet that Stacie had tried to get him to agree to at the beginning of the week, slowly spinning around again.

This was really not what he needed right now.

"Uh…what?" he said, trying to feign innocence, swallowing as Stacie's eyes flashed and she shook her head at him, a devious grin spreading across her face as she walked towards him, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Stacie laughed loudly at that, taking another couple of steps towards him until she was close enough to reach out and poke a perfectly manicured finger into his chest, using it to punctuate her next words: "Swanson, please," she said, slowly rolling her eyes, and he swallowed again, resisting the urge to push her away and do something stupid like…run. "You know exactly what I'm talking about; Beca kissed you just like I predicted so...pay up."

"No, she didn't," he retorted immediately, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible, even though his brain was involuntarily recalling memories of that _kiss_ and he could feel a smile threatening to break across his face, despite all the conflicting thoughts he had been having. "I swear, she didn't kiss me."

Stacie just rolled her eyes before prodding him in the chest again, this time a little harder…in fact, a _lot_ harder. "Five dollars, Jesse," she repeated, before rolling her eyes once more as she noticed his badly disguised wince, "You are such a girl."

"Nothing happened," he told her as he simultaneously reached up and pushed her hand away, "Just…let it go."

Stacie frowned, shaking her head, reaching out her hand again to grab his sleeve, dragging him back towards the stools they had just vacated, seating him down as she scrutinised his face. "So, she kissed you," Stacie stated, pointedly ignoring his repeated protests, "But you're…not happy about it?"

Jesse swallowed, but remained silent.

"Oh, come on, Swanson," Stacie said, rolling her eyes at him, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently, "I know she kissed you, Chloe texted me about it last night."

He blinked, his mouth falling open slightly, gaping at her. "Chloe did what?" he echoed, even though he had heard her loud and clear, grimacing and rubbing the side of his jaw as Stacie just smirked at him, looking remarkably pleased with herself. "If you knew…what happened, why didn't you just say so earlier?"

"Because it's way too much fun messing with you?" Stacie replied with a shrug, still smirking. "So, what's wrong? I thought you would have been over the moon that you finally got your seven minutes in heaven with Beca but…"

Jesse grimaced, mostly at her choice of words, as he slowly crossed his arms, lifting his gaze to meet hers. "Don't get me wrong, I am happy," he told her carefully, "I just…after everything, it seems too good to be true, you know?"

Stacie blinked, shaking her head. "Do you know what you need to do?" she asked, and he raised an eyebrow, giving her a shrug, "You need to stop thinking." He pulled a face as Stacie stood up, tapping her fist on the top of his head, "Seriously, Swanson, you're going to hurt yourself if you think that hard. I'll take care of this, okay?"

Jesse gaped, quickly shaking his head at her. "No, don't," he said, as Stacie continued to grin widely at him, her eyes glazing over, "Stacie, whatever you're planning, _don't_ _do it._"

* * *

After finally managing to get Chloe to leave her apartment at around midnight, a feat that was much easier said than done [she had no idea how or why but Chloe's excitement had only seemed to grow as the night had gone on until, to her absolute horror, she had made it her personal mission to try and mention the word _Skittles_ in every single sentence], Beca had headed straight to bed, exhausted by everything that had happened. She still wasn't sure what she was going to do about the whole Luke situation or what things between her and Jesse would be like in the morning but what she did know was that she felt a lot more comfortable about pulling on Jesse's Trebles hoodie before she went to bed which...was something.

She guessed.

In fact, now that she was currently standing outside Chloe's coffee shop, pointedly ignoring people's comments that she was blocking the doorway, she sort of wished she still had his hoodie with her, just because there something about it that helped ease her nerves. She breathed out, mentally chiding herself in her head as she pushed the door open, feeling equal parts disappointed, equal parts relieved, as she saw Stacie standing behind the counter, already beckoning her over, Jesse nowhere in sight.

She didn't regret…giving him the Skittles, not even a tiny bit; no, she just hadn't been in this sort of position for a long time and she wasn't entirely sure what to do next, especially because she could already tell from the way Stacie was grinning at her that she knew what had happened and wanted to discuss it. She sighed, slowly making her way over, eyeing the other girl warily.

"Congratulations," Stacie said, looking her up and down, an all-knowing smirk on her face, "It's about time you came out of your denial."

"I was not in denial," she immediately retorted, crossing her arms, even though okay, maybe she was right. _Maybe_.

Stacie just rolled her eyes, not bothering to argue back, instead refocusing her gaze onto the coffee she had been in the middle of making, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly in a way that Beca wasn't sure she liked. "I like you Beca, I do," she said, her tone flippant despite the seriousness of her words, "But if you hurt Swanson…"

She swallowed, biting her lip, before she lifted her gaze until she was staring directly at the other girl's head, "I won't."

Stacie grinned, seemingly satisfied by her answer, passing the finished coffee to another customer as she started speaking again, her eyes lighting up. "So, tell me, how was he?" she asked, her smile only growing wider as Beca instantly started shaking her head, protests falling from her lips, "Good kisser? Bad kisser? Actually, how would you rate him on a scale of one to ten?—"

"—We're not discussing this," she cut in, putting her hand out, biting her lip hard as she felt an unwanted flush spread across her cheeks at the memory, a fact that Stacie was quick to comment on. "I'm not blushing," she said, lying between her teeth, "I'm _not_."

Stacie laughed. "You totally are," she replied, smirking, before leaning over the counter again, her next words coming out as a conspiratorial whisper: "Look, Beca, if you ever want to jump him in the stockroom, just let me know and I'll make it happen. In fact, I can even tell you which shelves are the most...stable."

Beca stared, her mouth falling open, not entirely sure how to respond except to flush even harder. Stacie just continued laughing before turning around, calling out for Jesse, and she forced herself to take a deep breath, her lips quirking upwards as he came into view, walking towards them, nearly tripping over a chair in the process.

She could do this.

* * *

Whatever Jesse had been expecting to see when he reappeared from the stockroom in response to Stacie yelling his name, this wasn't it. Beca was standing there, her cheeks bright red, shifting on the spot uncomfortably as Stacie just laughed loudly and…_oh god_, what the hell had she said? He swiftly made his way over to them, walking straight into a chair in his haste [smooth, Jesse, real smooth], feeling increasingly nervous as Stacie turned around, shooting a wink in his direction as she mouthed something that he couldn't quite make out [or rather, didn't _want_ to make out] before walking away to continue serving customers.

He stopped walking as soon as he was standing in front of Beca, sticking his hands into his pockets as he watched her swallow as she met his gaze, biting her lip, and he prayed that his fears from last night weren't about to come true.

"Hey," he said slowly, dragging out the word, keeping eye-contact with her despite the almost painful pounding of his heart in his chest.

Beca was silent for a few seconds, seemingly composing herself, and Jesse fought the urge to close his eyes, his hands forming fists inside his pockets, but then her lips twisted into a half-smile, half-smirk as she reached a hand out to tug on his sleeve, pulling him closer as she replied: "Hey, weirdo."

He grinned down at her, a wave of relief spreading through his body, cursing himself for being an idiot and overthinking everything last night, as she kept her gaze on his, slowly pulling his hands out of his pockets, sliding her fingers in between his. "You want your usual?" he asked, his grin growing wider, fighting the urge to…break out in song, a capella style.

"Obviously," Beca replied, smirking up at him, "I mean, it's not like I'm here for you, am I?"

Jesse laughed, straightening up, carefully freeing one of his hands as he gestured around the rest of the shop. "I wouldn't be surprised," he told her with a shrug, "Everyone else is."

Beca rolled her eyes, her mouth twitching as she tried to hold back her laughter. "In your dreams, dork," she told him, shaking her head as he pouted at her, clutching at his chest with his free hand, "In your dreams."

Jesse grinned at her, continuing to gesture wildly until she rolled her eyes once more, reaching out to still his motions, adjusting her grip so that both of his hands were in hers again, and it was in that moment that he knew for certain that all the weeks and months of wanting this, not to mention dealing with Luke, it was all worth it.

"Swanson, I hate to break up this _disgustingly_ adorable display," Stacie said minutes later, sauntering over, smirking at the way both of them instantly blanched at her words, Beca hastily releasing his hands, "But Chloe's not paying you to flirt with her best friend so…"

He pulled a face as he waved Stacie away again before shooting Beca an apologetic look as he quickly turned to start making up her usual order, his hands moving on auto-pilot.

"I'll see you later?" he asked once he had finished, sliding the coffee in her direction, and she smiled up at him, nodding. After she had accepted the coffee, she suddenly straightened up, biting her lip as she scanned the room, grimacing as her eyes fell on the other customers in the queue, before returning her gaze to meet his, awkwardly shifting on the spot. Jesse slowly raised an eyebrow in response, frowning slightly, before he let out a quiet laugh, bending his head down to her level. "See you later, weirdo," he said into her ear.

"I think that's my line," she replied dryly, but she turned anyway, pressing her lips against his cheek.

* * *

What she had stupidly failed to take into account this morning during her unnecessary panicking over what she was supposed to do next now that she had kissed him was that the boy in question was _Jesse_, the boy who never failed to make her feel relaxed around him, and their interaction in the coffee shop earlier had been as natural as always; in fact, if anything, it had been _better_.

The problem, of course, was that a certain blond boy had always had the best timing in the world when it came to meddling in her life and as soon as she had arrived to work, flinging herself into her chair whilst simultaneously rolling her eyes as Amy offered her a doughnut from her precious stash, he called her, his name lighting up her phone screen.

"Luke, what do you want?" she said, instantly alert as she reluctantly accepted the call, "What did I say about calling me? I don't want to talk to you; if you want my help with Bumper, just send an email."

She gritted her teeth as she heard Luke chuckle on the other end, the sound that would have once upon a time made her smile in response now having the complete opposite effect. "Good morning to you too, Beca. It's nice to know that you're still not a morning person; you haven't changed at all, you know that?" he replied cheerfully, and she gritted her teeth even harder as he continued, his next words sending a chill down her spine, "Besides, this is important: I have a proposal for you."

Beca frowned instinctively, sliding her eyes shut, leaning back in her chair. "What sort of proposal?" she said slowly, even though she really didn't want to know the answer; after all, whenever Luke had asked for something from her in the past, it had never ended well.

"I want you to…" he paused, letting the silence stretch between them for a couple of seconds, and she forced herself to take deep breaths, trying her hardest not to let him affect her, focusing on _Jesse _and how remarkably...content she had been with everything going on in her life a mere two minutes ago. "Come out to dinner with me next week."

She blinked, frowning once more.

"What?" she said, frantically shaking her head even though she knew that he couldn't see her, causing Amy to glance up in alarm, sidling over to her desk, muttering unsubtle threats about fried eggs and...bacon, "Luke, no. There is no way that I'm having _dinner _with you, especially after everything you've done."

"Yes, you will," he insisted, sounding so effortlessly confident, completely ignoring her repeated objections. "Beca, I meant it when I said I wanted you back," he said, and she squeezed her eyes shut again; she really couldn't deal with this right now, "We were great together and look, I just, I need you, okay? I know you think you like that Jesse guy but come on Beca, you deserve a better guy than that. He works in a coffee shop, for god's sake, he has no ambition, no—"

Her eyes flew open, her free hand involuntarily forming a fist in her lap, her nails digging painfully into her skin.

"Go to hell, Luke," she told him, meaning every word.

"I'll pick you up from your place at seven next Friday," Luke said, pointedly ignoring her outburst, and she gritted her teeth again, wordlessly accepting the doughnut that Amy was trying to push into her hand, beginning to roughly tear it apart, not even caring that she was getting crumbs all over her table and that Amy would probably make her sing her made-up funeral song for them as soon as she had finished the call. After everything he had taken from her [in all sense of the word], and after threatening Jesse, did he really think she was going to agree to go out with him? Seriously?

"Luke, I'm not going to dinner with you," she told him firmly, her fist still clenched, "Not now, not ever."

Luke fell silent for a couple of seconds and she held her breath, wondering whether it was safe to hang up, but then he spoke again, his tone still frustratingly friendly despite the careful choice of his words that followed, "You know, I do have Aubrey on speed-dial; I could always tell her about our last meeting with Bumper and how you unprofessionally shut me out of the room..."

"You wouldn't dare," she cut in, her eyes widening in horror.

"I guess you'll find out, won't you?" Luke replied, and if she closed her eyes, she could almost see his raised eyebrows and pleased smirk as he smoothly manipulated her with his words once again. "Look, _Becky_, I'll give you until tomorrow to think over it and work out what you want to do," he said lightly, as if he was doing her a favour, "But it's not a big deal; it's just dinner between two old friends, nothing more, nothing less."

"We're not friends," she told him, biting the inside of her cheek hard as Luke just laughed on the other side in response.

"I'll be waiting for your call," he replied, before swiftly hanging up on _her_.

She swore.


	30. Chapter 30

**C**HAPTER **T**HIRTY

Although it had been almost two hours since Luke's phone call, Beca couldn't stop thinking about his dinner 'invitation' no matter how hard she tried. She was just, for a lack of a better word, _frustrated_; frustrated with Luke, frustrated at the situation that he had smoothly manipulated her into and, more than anything, frustrated with herself. After everything that had happened between them, she should have known better and she just couldn't believe that she had let herself be sucked into one of his games all over again.

What didn't help matters was that she still couldn't quite figure out what he was planning. Luke had told her time and time again over the past few weeks that he wanted _her_ but with Luke, words were just words and she had learnt not to trust a single thing that came out of his mouth; no, he was definitely up to something, she was sure of it but the question was…what?

As her phone beeped, temporarily jolting her out of her thoughts, she let out a sigh, leaning back in her chair as she roughly pulled her phone out of her pocket, her eyes scanning the screen even though she knew exactly what it was going to say:

_Twenty two hours. – Luke_.

Beca exhaled, biting her lip, fighting the urge to throw her phone across the room; instead, she just clenched it between her fingers as tightly as she could, willing herself to stay cool. If she wanted to foil Luke's plans, whatever they were, she needed to keep a level-head and analyse the whole situation calmly, even if, right now, she couldn't quite see a way to get out of his request. Despite all her complaining about Aubrey and despite Amy's crazy antics, being able to work with music on a daily basis meant everything to her and she wasn't about to risk having Luke ring Aubrey and give her [even more] reasons to fire her…but on the other hand, after everything, she didn't particularly want to see Luke in person ever again, let alone have dinner with him _alone _because that exactly was what he wanted and—

"—You should let me take care of him, Flatbutt; in Australia, they teach us how to wrestle crocodiles before they teach us how to read," Amy said, suddenly stepping forward and miming a couple of punches in her direction to prove her point, causing Beca to recoil backwards, her eyes wide.

"No, they don't," she retorted, lifting her hands up in order to shield her face from Amy's flailing arms, sighing as Amy ignored her and continued speaking as if she had never interrupted. She slid her eyes shut, trying her best to drown out Amy's voice as she returned back to thinking about the whole Luke situation. There had to be a way out, there just had to be; after all these months of rebuilding her life and getting herself to a place where she was finally _happy_, she wasn't about to let Luke win again.

"Amy, what are you doing?" she asked in alarm, cracking her eyes open once more as she felt Amy's hands bracing either side of her face, tugging her forward, "Let me go."

Amy didn't reply, simply continuing to pull her until her head was buried into the other girl's shoulder. "Don't worry, Flatbutt," Amy said reassuringly, patting her back with more force than was strictly necessary, causing to utter a muffled string of curses under her breath, "The next time I see him, I'm going to show him what happens when he messes with one of my dingoes."

Beca sighed, reluctantly surrendering to Amy's embrace, letting the other girl explain exactly what she was planning to 'unleash' on Luke until…

"Dude, what the hell? Did you just _smell_ me?"

She slowly raised an eyebrow as Amy suddenly fell quiet and she took the opportunity to pull away from the girl, staring at her, crossing her arms. Amy gradually met her eyes, giving her a sheepish grin as she shrugged once. "All this talk about fighting is making me hungry," she explained, waving her arm around vaguely, "Want to split a pizza? Or three?"

Beca rolled her eyes, leaning back in her chair again but eventually nodded anyway, watching in amusement as Amy grinned widely in response, jumping up and making her way towards her side of the room to order some, her fist in the air.

As her phone flashed in her hand, she took a deep breath, slowly shifting her gaze downwards onto the screen, her lips quirking upwards as instead of another countdown text from Luke, she was greeted with a picture of a whole batch of familiar-looking objects:

_I have some juice pouches with your name on them :) – Jesse_

She smiled as she read the accompanying text, bringing her phone towards her as she quickly tapped out a reply,

_Have I ever told you that you're such a weirdo?_ _- Beca_

_I'll be there around seven. – Beca_

Whatever happened with Luke, whatever he was planning, she just had to keep reminding herself that things were different now; she had Amy, she had Chloe, she had _Jesse_, she wasn't alone.

It'd be okay.

* * *

Jesse wasn't exactly sure why but it was getting increasingly hard to concentrate on the piece that he was currently in the middle of editing on his laptop during the downtime between the morning and lunchtime rush; maybe it was because his mind was failing to cooperate with him and kept replaying all his interactions with Beca over the past day, making it hard for him to focus…or maybe it was because Stacie had been breathing over his shoulder for the past ten minutes, sighing loudly every time he moved his mouse.

"Okay, Stace, what do you want?" he finally asked as she sighed once more, swivelling around to face the brunette in question, slowly raising an eyebrow at her, "I really need to get this done and you're being seriously distracting."

Stacie just gave him a triumphant grin in response, reaching up to smoothly flip her hair over her shoulder as she replied. "Why, thank you," she said, seating herself down in the seat beside him despite his half-hearted protests, "I just came to collect my five dollars."

He narrowed his eyes at her as she stuck her hand in his direction, palm upwards. "No, you didn't," he said, slowly shaking his head, "If that was all you wanted, you would have just asked for it."

Stacie shrugged, a devious smile making its way across her face. "Pay up, Swanson," she said, pointedly tilting her head towards her still outstretched hand. He squinted at her, scrutinising her features, trying to work out what she was up to but to no avail. "Come on, Swanson, we don't have all day."

Jesse sighed, shaking his head once more, before slowly reaching for his wallet, pulling a note out. "I don't even know why I'm paying you," he said, still clutching the note between his fingertips, "I didn't even agree to this bet."

Stacie laughed, grinning at him as she reached forward, gracefully plucking it out of his hand. "Now that we've got that out of the way," she started, and he groaned in response; at this rate, he was never going to be able to finish editing the last few bars of his composition, "Let's talk."

"Let's talk?" he echoed, eyeing her warily, slowly crossing his arms, already knowing that he wasn't going to like what she was about to say next, "About…what?"

"What do you think I want to talk about, Swanson?" Stacie said, with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, tapping the heel of her shoe against the floor impatiently, "Unicorns? Flying pigs? The moon—"

"—_Stacie_."

Stacie rolled her eyes once more, reaching over to pat his cheek a couple of times until he squinted at her again, reaching up to remove her hand.

"I want to talk about Beca," Stacie stated, shaking her head at him, "_Obviously_."

He groaned.

"I don't know what I'm more offended by," Stacie continued, fixing her eyes onto his face, completely ignoring his reaction, "The fact that you weren't going to tell me that Beca finally kissed you _or_ the fact that you still haven't told me every single detail about it."

"You knew what happened already!" he protested, running a hand through his hair, "Chloe told you!"

Stacie shrugged, waving a hand around vaguely. "That's different," she said, leaning forward and patting him on the cheek again, "I want to hear everything from you."

Jesse blinked, his eyes widening in alarm as he realised she was totally serious. "Stacie, I'm not talking about this," he said, shaking his head, tilting his head backwards as she inched closer, her eyes narrowed, "It's private!"

Stacie didn't respond, continuing to move forward, and he quickly looked around the shop, trying to find an escape route but instead, all he could see was…Chloe.

"Chlo, help me out here," he called, as he watched the redhead approach, an unreadable expression on her face, "Stacie's harassing me."

Chloe glanced between the two of them, her expression thoughtful, before she suddenly grinned, slipping into the seat on his other side, her eyes twinkling. "Sorry, Jess," she said, and he groaned once more, "I'm with Stacie with this one; I want to hear your side of the story too."

He exhaled, his eyes flicking between the two of them, both girls bearing equally mischievous grins, before he simply slumped onto the counter, face-down, narrowly missing his laptop. "We're not talking about this," he said firmly, his voice muffled from the position he was in, "You already know what happened!"

"No, we _are_ talking about this," Stacie said cheerfully, exchanging a look with Chloe above his head before they both nodded in sync, each girl sliding a hand under his arm and pulling him back up from the counter. "We're talking about this, Swanson. You don't have a choice."

He sighed, closing his eyes.

These two girls were going to be the _death_ of him.

"Right, start from the beginning," Stacie ordered, pointing a finger in his direction, Chloe nodding in agreement, "I want to know everything from when she first got to your apartment yesterday, to when she gave you that pack of Skittles, to this morning's little exchange."

"I'm not telling you two anything," he said, shaking his head, crossing his arms, "We've got about twenty minutes until the lunchtime rush starts, I'm perfectly capable of staying silent for that long."

"Jess, you don't have to tell us _everything_," Chloe tried, ignoring Stacie's indignant protests beside her, giving him an encouraging smile. "Just, I don't know, give us a brief account of what happened?"

He shook his head again, keeping his mouth shut.

"You're no fun, Swanson," Stacie said moments later, shooting him a look of utter disapproval, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a nail-file, aiming it at his forehead, "After everything I've done for you…"

Jesse grinned in response, giving both girls an apologetic shrug before turning back towards his laptop, plugging his headphones into his ears, getting back to his editing.

* * *

As promised, by the time seven o'clock rolled around, Beca was outside Jesse's apartment, standing outside his door. She had tried her best to stop thinking about Luke and his phone call the entire day, Amy and pizza proving to be relatively good distractions, and she was determined to continue doing so tonight. Everything between her and Jesse had been going so well, more well than she had ever expected, and she wasn't about to let Luke, of all people, indirectly mess that up.

Beca took a deep breath, lifting her hand up to knock but just when she was about to make contact, she paused, a soft smile making its way onto her face as she heard the distinct sound of someone playing the piano inside. She let herself listen for a minute, her hand falling back down to her side, not wanting to interrupt, but as the music showed no sign of stopping and people walking past were starting to give her odd looks, she hastily knocked on the door.

"Hey, Beca," Jesse said, giving her an easy grin as he pulled the door open, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied, smiling up at him as convincingly as she could, doing her hardest not to think about Luke.

Jesse frowned, narrowing his eyes as he took a step forward, his fingers circling her wrists as he gently tugged her towards him. "No, you're not," he stated, his voice laced with concern, and she slowly raised an eyebrow at him, shooting him a curious look. "If you were fine, you would have commented on this," he explained, releasing one of her wrists to gesture towards his chest, and she blinked, shifting her gaze, her eyes landing on the stormtrooper print on his t-shirt. She stared at it for a few seconds, taking it in, before moving her gaze back up to his face, and despite everything, she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, her lips twitching involuntarily.

"I bought it especially for you," he said, as he tugged her inside and closed the door behind him, "I thought you'd appreciate it." She rolled her eyes once more, turning to face him, her mouth opening to shoot back a retort but she closed it again as his expression grew serious as he studied her. "You sure you're okay?"

She nodded, smiling at him, but she could tell that he wasn't completely convinced by the way he continued to stare at her, his eyes unreadable. She shifted on the spot under his gaze, biting her lip, before she quickly turned away, walking past him and to his kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water just for the sake of doing _something_. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Jesse about Luke's phone call, no, it was more that she didn't want to put a downer on their night before it had even started, not when she still hadn't figured out how to deal with the whole situation.

"Beca, you know you can talk to me, right?" Jesse said hesitantly, slowly tracking her every move with his eyes as he leant against the doorway, his arms crossed, "I'll listen."

She glanced up at him in surprise, taking another sip of her water before walking over to him, meeting his eyes.

"I know. Trust me, Jesse, I know," she assured him, giving him a grateful smile as she reached out with her free hand and tugged one of his arms loose, turning it over. "That's not why I…" she trailed off, shaking her head, biting her lip as she tried to find the right words to express what she so desperately wanted him to understand. "Look, I just, I don't want to talk about it. Not tonight."

Beca winced inwardly, biting her lip once more as she watched Jesse's eyes flash, filled with a mixture of hurt and confusion, before he refocused his gaze on hers, a look of understanding suddenly crossing his face.

"Okay," he replied slowly, "We won't talk about it."

They stood there in silence for a moment, both of them just studying the other, before she took a deep breath, taking a step closer. "Jesse, it's not you," she said, offering him a tentative smile as she slid her fingers between his, running her thumb along the top of his hand, "It's me." He blinked once, twice, his eyes still steadily focused on hers but she could see his lips twitching at her choice of words out of the corner of her eye and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"What were you playing before I got here?" she asked, smoothly changing the subject, tugging him towards the piano in the living room, her hand still in his, "Was it another one of yours?"

Jesse nodded as they came to a halt in front of the instrument in question. "Yeah, there's an internship opportunity a few blocks away that I wanted to apply for and I, uh, I've been working on some new pieces," he told her, running his free hand through his hair. "I'm still trying to fine-tune everything and make it perfect but—

"—Play it for me," she said, cutting in, pushing him towards the piano, releasing his hand as she pointedly tilted her head towards the keys, "I want to hear it."

* * *

It didn't take a genius to work out exactly what was bothering Beca – in all of the weeks that he had known her, it had become clear that only one thing, one _person_, had this effect on her – but if she didn't want to talk to him about it, well, he wasn't going to push it, not yet. Instead, he just refocused his attentions on how she had slipped her hand into his, remembering the days when she had been reluctant to even accept a _hug _from him, and how she was now sitting beside him on the piano stool, close enough that her shoulder was touching his as he played his piece for her. He took his eyes off the keys for a second, sliding his eyes over to her, a smile making its way onto his face as he saw her nodding her head along to the music, her eyes closed. She had made it explicitly clear that the reason that she wasn't telling him about Luke wasn't because of him and for now, he was okay with that.

"Right, that's…all I've got," he said, as he reached the end of his work-in-progress, gradually lifting his fingers from the keys, letting the notes ring out into the room. "What do you think?"

Beca slowly cracked her eyes open, turning to him, a genuine smile on her face. "It's great," she told him, and he smiled back, "Really, Jesse, it's great."

"You think? I'm not quite sure about this transition here; I don't know what it is about it but it's just not right," he said, pointing towards a particular section of the sheet music, and she frowned, shifting in her seat, leaning more heavily against his side as she tried to get a better look.

"Play that bit for me again?"

He glanced at her in surprise, shooting her a curious look, but he did as she requested. As he lifted his hand from the keys again, he turned to face her once more, his curiosity only growing as she scanned the sheet music, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Maybe you should try something a bit more like…" she paused, quickly lifting her cup of water to her lips and making sure it was completely empty before smoothly turning it upside down, balancing it on her lap as she tapped out an alternative beat, humming the melody over the top.

Jesse stared, his eyes flicking between the cup in her hands and her face, taken aback by the fact that she was not only giving him suggestions but that she could clearly hold a tune. "Wow," he said, unable to help himself, "You've got a really good voice."

Beca bit her lip, shaking her head, her cheeks flushing slightly, looking suddenly self-conscious. "Not really," she said, ignoring his protests, "Singing's not my thing."

"Well, it should be," he told her, smiling at the way she was still blushing, her eyes averted. "You could have totally made it into the Trebles even though, you know, you're a girl." She glanced up at him at that, a smirk twisting her lips, and he coughed, awkwardly running his hand through his hair before placing his fingers onto the piano keys again as he experimented with the alternate rhythm that she had suggested, not entirely surprised when it made the transition sound a lot smoother.

"This is amazing, Beca," he told her, grabbing a pencil from the top of the piano and beginning to make the suitable alterations, "Seriously, thanks."

"It's nothing," she replied, shaking her head, "What you do, that's amazing."

He met her gaze again, shooting her a grin, before returning back to his sheet music, quickly scrawling onto the paper.

"Hey, Jesse?" he heard her say moments later, causing him to glance back at her, his eyes instantly narrowing in concern as he took in her serious expression. "Luke called me," she said, staring straight at the piano, her jaw tense, and Jesse frowned, wondering why she had suddenly changed her mind about telling him what was troubling her, "He wants to have dinner with me next week and I was wondering…" she trailed off, biting her lip, keeping her eyes facing forward, even though he was sure she could feel his eyes burning into the side of her head, "I was wondering if, maybe, you'd come with me?"

"You want me to come with you," he echoed, his eyes wide, "To dinner. With Luke."

She turned, meeting his gaze, giving him a hesitant smile.

"Yeah, I do."


	31. Chapter 31

**C**HAPTER **T**HIRTY **O**NE

Beca wasn't sure who was more surprised by her sudden outburst: her or Jesse. She hadn't been planning on mentioning Luke's dinner invite at all, wanting to have one night without thinking about the situation he had so skilfully manipulated her into, but Jesse had been so patient with her, so _accepting,_ that it had come out without her even consciously thinking about it. She guessed it made sense to ask Jesse to accompany her to dinner, seeing as he had this innate ability to make her feel grounded in Luke presence…but on the other hand, she also knew that Luke wouldn't be happy about it at all. Maybe that was what she needed to do though; maybe she needed to fight back, not just agree to everything he tried to blackmail her into, maybe she needed to try and throw _him_ off a little, give him a taste of his own medicine.

The thing was, from the way she could still feel Jesse's eyes burning into the side of her head and how he hadn't uttered a single word for what seemed like hours, she wasn't so sure it was a good idea after all. They were friends – okay, _more_ than friends – but yet, asking him to come to dinner with her ex-boyfriend after everything that she had told him about their shared past, well, maybe that was asking for too much.

"Jesse, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to," she said hesitantly, staring straight ahead, shifting uncomfortably on the spot under his unmoving gaze. "Just, I don't know, forget that I said anything. I'll be fine." She held her breath, sliding her eyes shut as she listened to Jesse exhale quietly from beside her, feeling weirdly disappointed by the whole turn of events. She didn't know how she expected him to react – after all, if she was in his position, she knew that she would have immediately refused – but his silence was more than a little unnerving.

"Hey, come here," she heard him murmur a couple of seconds later, so quietly that she nearly missed it, his body inching closer to hers despite her continuing to face forwards, away from him, her heart beating inexplicably fast. "Beca, look at me," he said, as he gently rested two fingers against her cheek, tilting her head towards him. She exhaled shakily, counting to five in her head before slowly cracking her eyes back open to look at him, meeting his gaze as steadily as possible. "If you want me there, I'll be there, okay? I promise."

"Yeah?"

Jesse nodded once, holding her gaze as he gave her a smile that was just as reassuring as it was sincere, and she slowly smiled back, feeling herself relax once more. It was still strange to her to have someone that she could rely on, someone that wasn't Chloe, but it was definitely a _good_ kind of strange.

"Besides, you know me," Jesse added, breaking the silence, giving her that all-too familiar lopsided grin of his, "I'd never give up the chance to have dinner with Luke."

Beca stared at him for a second in slight disbelief, taken aback, before she rolled her eyes, letting out a soft laugh. Jesse continued grinning right back at her, his eyes bright, and she couldn't help but reach out and push him lightly, smirking as he nearly lost his balance in his surprise.

"Smooth," she commented dryly as he straightened himself back up on the chair, running a hand through his hair, still grinning widely at her. "But…thanks," she added, leaning over to press her mouth against his, "Really. For everything."

Jesse shook his head, his hands reaching out to frame her face, his thumbs smoothing over her cheeks. "It's what I'm here for, right?" he told her, his eyes warm and overwhelmingly sincere, before he shot her another one of his trademark grins as he tilted his head towards his laptop, "But hey, if you want to repay me, I have a _ton_ of editing that needs to be done."

She met his gaze seriously, her hands reaching up to rest on his arms, nodding. "I'd be happy to do it, really," she said earnestly, "I mean, it's the least I can do after—"

"—Bec, I was just kidding," Jesse cut in, with an easy smile and a shake of his head, and she winced slightly, not at what he was saying but at the actual words themselves. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, frowning slightly, angling her face towards him as he had done before, his eyes immediately laced with concern.

"It's…nothing," Beca replied as convincingly as possible, her eyes clouding over slightly as she turned the empty glass in her hands around. "It's just, uh, no-one's called me that in a very long time."

As Jesse shot her a questioning look, his eyes scanning her face, she sighed softly, lifting her head up to meet his gaze. "It doesn't have anything to do with Luke," she said, unable to help a wry [and slightly inappropriate, given the circumstances] smile cross her lips as she felt Jesse relax beside her, his arm slowly looping itself around her shoulders, tugging her flush against his side. "My dad used to call me that back when I was younger," she explained quickly, still holding eye-contact with him, "We're not exactly on the best of terms, we, uh, we don't really speak much nowadays. Or, you know, at all."

She fell silent, leaning her head against Jesse's arm as she felt his fingers grip her shoulder more firmly, the pressure strangely soothing. "I'm sorry, Beca," she heard him murmur quietly, his voice slightly muffled by her hair, and she shook her head immediately, twisting her head up to shoot him a smile. "Don't be, I'm fine," she told him, meaning it; after all, what happened with her parents, what happened with Luke, absolutely none of it was Jesse's fault.

"Besides, it sounds different coming from you," she continued, biting her lip as Jesse slowly raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to explain herself. She grimaced, shifting awkwardly under the weight of his arm, feeling an unwanted flush creep up the back of her neck even though she hadn't actually said anything out loud yet. "It's, I don't know, it's sort of…nice."

"Nice?" Jesse echoed, a hint of amusement in his voice, and she narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms defensively as he began to laugh softly, an unmistakably smug grin appearing on his face.

"_Maybe_," she conceded before pulling away from his side, giving him a light shove as he continued laughing, his eyes glinting down at her. "Come on, weirdo," she said, tugging on his sleeve, rolling her eyes at him as he stuck his tongue out at her, "Show me what editing needs to be done."

* * *

Despite the fact that Beca had seemed determined not to bring up their upcoming dinner with Luke again, except to quickly ask him what night he was free as he said goodnight to her on her doorstep, it was all that Jesse could think about the next day. He just didn't know what to expect or what was going to happen, especially because he figured that Luke wasn't exactly going to be pleased that he was tagging along [understatement of the century] and who knew what he was capable of. There was also, of course, the family issues that Beca had hinted at which made him think that, contrary to his previous beliefs, not _everything_ was Luke's fault; still, the fact that she had started to confide in him without him having to say anything, well, that was progress, right?

"Hi, Jesse," Benji greeted as he walked into the coffee shop to relieve Jesse of his shift, his Star Wars backpack proudly slung over his shoulder, "You, um, you do know that you have a snail on your shoulder, right?"

Jesse glanced up distractedly at the sound of his name, his eyes slightly glazed over, still in deep thought. Benji squinted at him for a second, his head tilted, before slowly walking around the counter towards Jesse, waving his arms around in his direction.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Jesse said, taking a step backwards in alarm, his eyes wide.

"You've got a snail on your shoulder," Benji explained again, looking a little flustered, a confused look starting to appear on his face, "I was just trying to get it off for you, that's all."

Jesse blinked, the other boy's words finally sinking in, and he grimaced, giving Benji an apologetic look as he bent down, allowing him to remove the snail with a flourish and a slightly unnerving bang. "Lilly, this really isn't funny anymore," he called out to the girl in question, not entirely surprised when instead of a response that actually made sense, he received a couple of disturbing mutterings about fire and babies in return, "Just…keep the snails to yourself, okay? Chloe's going to kill you if she realises you brought another one in."

Lilly just shrugged, still whispering about wanting to 'burn things for fun', reaching over to grab the snail back from Benji and sticking it in her pocket before she walked out of the door, her hand raised in what Jesse assumed was a farewell. The two boys exchanged bemused looks, both of them trying to comprehend what had just happened, before Benji shook his head, letting out a quiet laugh as he removed his bag from his back, placing it onto the counter.

"Hey, um, are you okay?" Benji asked quietly as he turned to face him, his concern evident in his tone of voice, "You seem a little…out of it today."

Jesse glanced at him in surprise, quickly nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, giving him a smile of gratitude, "I've just got a lot on my mind, that's all."

Benji nodded slowly, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times as he took a step closer, his eyes scrutinising. "How are things going with Beca?" he asked carefully, nervously scratching the back of his neck as Jesse shot him a curious look, "I, um, I spoke to her yesterday and she seemed happy but just…be careful, okay?"

"Be careful?" Jesse echoed, slightly bewildered, not quite understanding what Benji was getting at, "Of…Beca?"

Benji quickly shook his head, so fast that Jesse winced, leaning backwards slightly. "No, no, not of Beca," he clarified, his expression grave, "Of that friend of hers; you know, the one that came here and tried to threaten you that day." Jesse blinked, taken aback by just how insightful the other boy was proving to be, but he nodded, giving him a grateful smile; Benji really was one of the most genuinely _nice_ guys he had ever met. "I'm happy for you though, for both of you," Benji continued, with a sincere smile, his eyes warm, "I'm glad everything worked themselves out."

"Thanks, Benji," Jesse replied, before his eyes fell onto the boy's backpack and he added, "You up for a Star Wars marathon this weekend?" Benji grinned widely, nodding enthusiastically, his eyes immediately lighting up. "Awesome, I'll text you later then, okay?" he said, raising his hand up, smiling as Benji immediately high-fived him.

As Benji started setting up for the afternoon shift, he turned to finish packing his bag but before he could swing it over his shoulder and head back home, he heard the unmistakable sound of high heels tapping against the floor, grimacing slightly as he lifted his head up and saw Stacie walking in.

"Don't even think about leaving, Swanson," she called out as she made her way towards the counter, waving a finger threateningly in his direction, "You still haven't told me what happened with Beca; I want to know every little detail about the kiss."

Jesse groaned audibly, shaking his head as he pointedly continued to zip up his bag, ignoring both Stacie's expectant looks and Benji's nervous twitching. "I'm not telling you anything," he said, repeating his words from yesterday, "It's _private_."

Stacie shrugged, slowly prying his bag away from him, carefully digging her perfectly manicured nails into his skin as he refused to let go, until he finally surrendered, cursing her under his breath. "I tell you everything about _my_ sex life," she pointed out as she roughly pushed him into a stool.

"I never asked you to!"

Stacie shrugged again, her eyes narrowing as she pretended not to hear his repeated protests and instead, turned towards Benji who was glancing between them and the door, looking like he wanted to bolt. "Benji, do me a favour and hold him down, will you?" Stacie asked, rolling her eyes as Benji immediately froze, his mouth half open. "Oh, don't chicken out on me now, Applebaum. Just make sure he doesn't get up."

Benji stared at her, his mouth still wide open, but he didn't move from his position, his eyes starting to glaze over, looking increasingly uncomfortable. Stacie just rolled her eyes again, muttering something about having to take matters into her own hands, suddenly taking a step forward and getting way too close for comfort as she swiftly stuck her hand into his front pocket, pulling out his phone.

"Hey, what are you doing—_give that back!_"

Stacie grinned smugly at him, shaking her head, skilfully evading his attempts to retrieve his phone. "Stop it, Swanson," she said, giving him a disapproving look, "You can have your phone back as soon as you tell me everything that happened with Beca."

Jesse groaned, slumping down onto the counter in defeat. "Stace, you already know what happened," he said slowly, tilting his head so that he could see her better, "I really don't understand why you – and Chloe, for that matter – want to hear it from me."

"The quicker you tell me the story, the quicker you can have your phone back and leave," Stacie informed him, sounding way too gleeful for his liking, as she patted him on the head in mock consolation, "It's not that hard, Swanson, just tell—hey, are you free tonight?"

Jesse blinked, sitting up suddenly, his eyebrows raised in confusion, instantly groaning as Stacie waved his phone at him, the screen of which was flashing. "Give me that," he said, making another attempt to retrieve it but to no avail, Stacie quickly moving it out of his reach once more.

"Nope, I'll handle it," Stacie said, perching herself on top of the counter, her thumbs poised over the keys, "So...are you free tonight?"

Jesse sighed exasperatedly before nodding once, eyeing her with a mix of trepidation and frustration. "Cool, well, you've got a date with Beca tonight," Stacie told him as she finished typing before frowning suddenly, slowly raising an eyebrow as she continued, "And…some guy called Luke? Sounds kinky."

"No, _trust me_, it's really not," he said, shooting Benji a reassuring smile as the other boy stared at him in alarm, clearly recognising the significance of the name. "Just give me my phone back, Stace."

Stacie glanced between the two of them suspiciously, her eyes narrowed, before sighing loudly as she tossed the phone in his direction. He caught it with one hand, giving her a triumphant grin as he swung his bag over his shoulder, making his way out, before groaning in embarrassment as he glanced down at the screen and read what she had sent; he really needed to change his phone password or, better yet, find some way of hiding it from Stacie…

* * *

_I'm free. What do you want me to wear? Or not wear? ;) ;) ;) – Jesse_

_What the… – Beca_

_Stacie, give him back his phone. – Beca_

* * *

When Beca had called to confidently 'accept' Luke's dinner invitation, feeling a lot more relaxed about the whole thing now that Jesse had promised to come with, she hadn't been particularly surprised to find Luke trying to throw her off once again, suddenly claiming that he was busy all of next week and that the dinner had to be tonight instead. With an exasperated sigh and a roll of her eyes, she had agreed to the change of date, not because it was what Luke wanted but because she wanted to get the dinner over and done with and find out what the hell Luke was up to as soon as possible. Nothing he had done so far made any sense to her and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. She _had_ to.

"Hey, Beca," Jesse greeted warmly as she opened the front door ten minutes before Luke was supposed to arrive, a grin on his face. She stared at him, her mouth agape, taken aback by the fact that he seemed to be in an actual suit, rather than his normal jeans and shirt combination. Jesse slowly raised an eyebrow at her as she remained silent, a confused look appearing on his face as he hastily glanced down at himself and then back up again. "I, uh, I thought I should dress up for this," he explained, running a hand through his hair, awkwardly meeting her gaze, "Do I look like an idiot? I don't really wear this sort of thing much but I can, uh, go back and change, if you want."

Beca laughed, shaking her head, gesturing for him to come inside. "That's not exactly the word I'd use," she said, watching amusedly as Jesse instantly relaxed, straightening up. "For a dork, you clean up reasonably well," she told him, reaching up to pat him on the cheek, smirking as he narrowed his eyes, smoothly catching her hand in his.

"_Reasonably_?" he echoed, eyebrow raised.

"I guess you'll do," she said, her smirk still firmly in place despite the fact that he was now tugging her forward until he was close enough to press his lips against her cheek.

"For what it's worth," Jesse murmured as he leaned back so that he could see her properly, his eyes appreciative, "You clean up _reasonably_ well too."

Beca smiled, ducking her head slightly as she felt her cheeks flushing involuntarily under his gaze. "I, uh, I didn't tell Luke you were coming," she said, biting her lip, struck by the sudden need to change the subject, "I figured it was better this way."

She glanced back up at Jesse as she heard him laugh in response, grinning widely at her. "Oh, this is going to be fun," he said, his eyes lighting up, looking weirdly pleased with himself, and she rolled her eyes, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Behave," she warned, with another roll of her eyes, "This dinner is already going to be hard enough to get through as it is, I don't want to have to deal with you two trying to one up each other all night as well."

Jesse met her gaze again, sobering up immediately, gently slipping his fingers between hers as he pulled her closer. "Bec, I promise I'll be on my best behaviour, okay?" he assured her, his expression completely serious, "I swear I won't try and provoke him, even if he _really_ deserves it."

"I know you won't," she replied slowly, giving him an apologetic smile as she tightened her grip on his hands. "I didn't mean what I said just now, not really."

Jesse smiled, shaking his head, pulling her flush against him. "I know you didn't," he said, gently resting his chin against the top of her head, "Dinner's going to be fine, you'll see." She gave a noncommittal hum in response, praying to god that he was right because if not, she wasn't quite sure what she'd do. They stood there completely motionless until they both heard a loud, distinctive knock on the door, and Jesse leaned back, their fingers still interlocked, his eyes scanning her face.

"You ready?"

She swallowed, nodding once.

_Showtime_.


	32. Chapter 32

**C**HAPTER **T**HIRTY **T**WO

Even though Jesse was well aware of the fact that Beca had asked him to accompany her as a form of support and that he really needed to try and stay calm for her sake, he couldn't help but feel incredibly on edge himself as they walked towards the door. He hadn't seen Luke face-to-face since that day he had come into the coffee shop and tried to make him stay away from Beca and although he had always been taught to forgive and forget, he still couldn't quite get over the sheer nerve and audacity of the other boy. Of course, there was also the fact that Luke seemed to want something from Beca and knowing what he now knew about their shared history and after witnessing first-hand the damage that the Brit had already caused, well, if Luke wanted to get anywhere near her again, he was going to have to go through him first.

"Hey, are you okay?" Beca asked as they reached the door, making no move to actually open it but instead, turning towards him, raising a questioning eyebrow as she stared up at him. "You're looking a little...pale."

Jesse swallowed, mentally telling himself to just _stop thinking_ as he forced a smile onto his face, hoping it was reasonably convincing. "I'm great," he told her, his smile becoming the tiniest bit more genuine as she shook her head, shooting him a look of disbelief. "I mean, this wasn't exactly how I imagined our first date to go but hey, I can roll with this."

Beca stared at him for a second, her eyes widening imperceptibly before she scoffed, rolling her eyes at him, a reluctant smile creeping onto her face. "This is a date, is it?" she asked, smirking as he cleared his throat, feeling the back of his neck getting uncomfortably warm as he awkwardly stuck his hands into the pocket of his trousers.

"Maybe?" he tried hopefully, pulling a face as she laughed softy, reaching up and patting him on the cheek, trying his hardest to regain his cool. "To be honest, I'm not really sure what this is."

Beca nodded in agreement, letting out another laugh at the bizarreness of the situation they had found themselves in, before meeting his gaze again, sobering up just a little. "Tell you what, dork," she said, taking a step forward, and he smiled instinctively at the familiar nickname, "let's just call this 'dinner'. If we get through this then we can, you know, try this whole, uh, first date business again."

As she finished clumsily stumbling through her words, pointedly avoiding eye-contact with him and clearing her throat in a similar manner to the way he had done mere seconds ago, he grinned, bending his head down slightly so that he was closer to her level. "Sounds good to me," he told her, giving her an easy smile.

She held his gaze for a moment longer, opening her mouth to say something further but she closed it again as they both heard the sound of another, more impatient series of knocks, causing them both to straighten up, completely alert. Jesse nodded encouragingly at her, tilting his head towards the door, his eyes following her every move as she took a deep breath, composing herself, before raising her hand and turning the door knob.

"Hey, Beca," he heard Luke greet in that distinctive, smooth British accent of his and he took a step forward, moving into sight, subtly resting the palm of his hand against Beca's back as he watched her shoulders tense in response. "How are—Okay, what the _hell_ is he doing here?"

Jesse ran his free hand through his hair, staying silent as he watched Luke's eyes harden immediately, his previously calm expression morphing into a glare that was quite obviously directed at him. He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to hold the other boy's gaze as he simply gave him a shrug in response, feeling unashamedly satisfied as Luke muttered something under his breath, looking more irritated than he had ever seen him.

"I invited Jesse to dinner with us," Beca explained, unable to suppress a smirk at Luke's reaction, his normally faultless composure finally showing some cracks, "You have a problem with that?"

Luke shook his head slightly, refocusing his gaze on Beca as he crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe, effectively preventing anyone from leaving the apartment. "Yeah, I do," Luke retorted, his voice hard as he waved his hand in Jesse's direction, "He's not coming with us. I need to speak with you alone."

Jesse glanced between the two of them, not entirely sure what to do except to shrug casually at Luke once again, shifting forward and making sure he had the other boy's attention before slowly and _deliberately_ sliding his arm around Beca's shoulder. Beca glanced up at him, her initial surprise fading away to amusement as she leaned into his side before refixing her gaze on Luke again.

"Sorry, Luke," she said, with a smirk, "He's coming. It's not negotiable."

Luke stared at the two of them, his eyes narrowing in annoyance, his jaw twitching, and Jesse felt himself relax, feeling a lot calmer and assured about their whole situation; there was no doubt about it, Luke was manipulative, cunning, _smart_, but he wasn't invincible. Far from it.

He bit the inside of his cheek, wondering whether he had gotten ahead of himself as a contemplative look began to surface on Luke's face, his confident façade slowly but surely falling back into place. "I have Aubrey's number on my phone," the boy in question said casually, making a show of pulling his phone out and lightly tapping on the screen with his fingers, "I can always give her a call, if you want…"

Jesse blinked in confusion, tilting his head as he tried to place the name but before he could finish doing so, he felt Beca tense under his grip, clearly distressed by what Luke was suggesting. He glanced down in alarm, subtly running his thumb against her arm as he watched her bite her lip, suddenly looking unsure of herself, her eyes fixed on the phone. Without wasting another second, knowing that he needed to step in before this whole situation spun out of control, he quickly stuck his free hand in Luke's direction, shooting him the brightest smile he could manage given the circumstances.

"Hey, man," he said, ignoring the way both Beca and Luke were staring at him incredulously, "It's, uh, nice to see you again."

Luke raised an eyebrow in disbelief, making a noise of disapproval, pointedly ignoring his outstretched hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Luke asked, directing his attention onto him and away from Beca as he had hoped, "This is none of your business so for the love of God, stay out of it."

Jesse shook his head, giving him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, but I can't," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Look, I'll make this simple for you," he continued, taking strength from the fact that Beca was now quite obviously leaning against his side, silently encouraging him to keep going, "If you want to have dinner with her tonight, I'm coming too."

Luke held his gaze, his eyes unblinking, and Jesse stared right back, not giving anything away. As both boys showed no sign of ending their staring match, both of them just as stubborn as the other, Beca cleared her throat, stepping forward, getting both of their attentions.

"Luke, it's up to you," she said slowly, her expression unreadable, "You either have dinner with both of us or we don't have dinner at all."

Luke sighed, letting out a low hum of frustration, before he nodded quickly, dragging his gaze back up to meet Jesse's again. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?" he said coolly, though he didn't move from his position from the doorway, simply continuing to stare at him. "But, just so you know, Beca," he continued without moving his head, "This isn't over."

Jesse slowly raised an eyebrow in response, crossing his arms as he tried his hardest to work out what Luke's plan was and what he wanted with Beca. The thing was, if he didn't know better, he could have sworn there was a hint of vulnerability, maybe even a hint of _desperation,_ in his eyes...but then he blinked, and it was gone.

* * *

If she was being completely honest with herself, Beca had still been having doubts about asking Jesse to come along to dinner with her right until the moment she had rested her hand on the door, turning the knob to reveal Luke on the other side. It wasn't that she didn't trust Jesse or didn't want him there; no, it was that she had no way to predict how Luke was going to react and whether Jesse's presence would simply make everything worse. Now that she had witnessed the way Jesse had managed to smoothly direct Luke's unwanted attention away from her and the way that he had managed to keep her calm without even thinking about it though, well, she knew that she had made the right decision.

"You okay so far?" Jesse asked quietly as they followed Luke out of the apartment building, shifting towards her slightly. She nodded in response, shooting him a grateful smile, feeling herself relax as Jesse's arm found its way around her shoulders again, the weight comforting.

They walked in silence for several minutes, Luke always a few steps ahead, not ever turning his head back to look at them or give them an indication of where he was taking them, until finally, he came to an abrupt stop, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently as he waited for them to catch up. As they reached him, she glanced up at the sign on the door incredulously, slowly raising an eyebrow.

"I thought you were going to take me out for dinner," she said, looking at Luke for some explanation as to why they were quite clearly in front of a bar and not a restaurant.

"Yeah," Luke replied with a half-hearted shrug, tilting his head accusingly in Jesse's direction before pushing the door open and stepping inside. "So did I."

She stared at his back, frowning slightly in confusion, but followed him inside, sliding into a chair opposite him. Luke leant back in his seat, eyeing them both, and despite everything, despite Jesse's solid, steady presence beside her, she couldn't help but feel a chill wash over her.

"Luke, what do you want from me?" She asked bluntly as several minutes passed, overcome by the need to break the silence, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. She exhaled heavily, biting her lip as Luke merely lifted his head, glancing at her, shooting her a perfectly crafted look of curiosity, as if he had no idea what on Earth she was talking about. "I just don't get it," she continued, pouring her pent-up frustration over the whole situation into her next words, "I don't get what you could possibly want from me...and don't say you want _me_ because we both know that's bullshit."

Luke simply shrugged, tapping his fingers lightly on the table as he calmly redirected his gaze until it landed on Jesse. "So, Jesse," he started smoothly, not bothering to reply properly to her outburst, causing her to bite her lip again, this time even harder. "How's working in the coffee shop going?"

Jesse narrowed his eyes at the sudden change of subject, glancing at her and noticing her irritated expression, his hand finding hers under the table as he shot her a reassuring smile. "Answer her question," he said firmly, moving his gaze back to Luke again.

Luke shook his head, an oddly twisted smile making its way onto his face. "I don't think so," he replied evenly, sliding his hands face-down onto the table, leaning forward. "If Beca wants answers then she's going to have to do things my way. Alone."

Beca swallowed, eyeing Luke warily, feeling incredibly uncomfortable under his gaze. She knew that he was most likely bluffing and trying to get her to play along with his games but, on the other hand, what if he wasn't? What if this was all a misunderstanding and all he really wanted was to talk to her, explain everything—okay, _no_, what the hell was she thinking? This was Luke. When had anything ever been straightforward with him?

"Actually, Jesse, man, do me a favour and get us some drinks, will you?" Luke continued, leaning back in his seat and shooting the other boy an almost predatory smile as he gestured towards the bar, "I need to have a quick word with Beca."

Jesse stared at him, raising an eyebrow in utter disbelief, his eyes hardening in a way that Beca was unfamiliar with as he slid his fingers between hers, still gripping her hand tightly under the table. "If you want a drink, get it yourself," Jesse shot back firmly, his jaw clenched, "I'm staying right here."

Luke just laughed softly, meeting his gaze, and Beca watched as they stared at each other, unreadable, impenetrable expressions on both of their faces. Sensing that neither of them was going to back down and that if she didn't step in, the tension in the room was going to spin wildly out of control, she quickly cut in, hoping that she wasn't about to make a huge mistake.

"Hey, Jesse," she said, reaching up and tilting his head towards her with her free hand, furrowing her eyebrows in concern as she took in his unfocused gaze. She smoothed her hand over his cheek, waiting until he made eye-contact with her until trying to get his attention again. "Hey, Jess, mind getting me a beer?"

Jesse blinked in surprise, frowning slightly as he shot her a questioning look but she simply shook her head, mouthing the words '_Trust me'_. He kept his eyes on her for a few more seconds, his indecision clear in his face, but eventually, he breathed out, granting her the tiniest of nods. She shot him a grateful smile in response, pulling him closer and briefly pressing her lips against his cheek, relieved that he was going along with what she wanted; don't get her wrong, she didn't want to send him away, far from it, but this...this had to be done.

"I'll be fine, I promise," she murmured softly into his ear, quietly enough so that only he could hear, letting him go as soon as she felt him nod. She watched silently as Jesse turned his gaze towards Luke again, shooting him a warning look, before sliding out of his seat, making his way towards the bar, stopping every few steps to glance over his shoulder.

As soon as Jesse was out of earshot, she redirected her attention onto Luke again, gritting her teeth and hoping that for once in her life, things between them would go her way. "Okay, what do you want?" she asked him, crossing her arms and trying her best to remain as emotionless as possible, lest she lose her cool.

Luke just shrugged, his gaze still fixed on Jesse's retreating back, and she bit her lip, narrowing her eyes, her instinct telling her that this wasn't a good sign at all. "I get why you like him, I do," Luke remarked evenly, dragging his words out slowly as if he had all the time in the world, "But you have to know that it's not going to last, right?"

She frowned, shaking her head, unable to help herself from responding, her next words falling from her mouth before she had a chance to really think her actions through. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Luke shrugged again, finally shifting his gaze back onto her, his expression unreadable. "Beca, I'm not an idiot," he started, his words causing her to frown, slowly raising an eyebrow, "I'm aware of the fact that I'm not your favourite person in the world but despite that, despite everything, I _know_ you." She stared at him, scoffing slightly, gesturing for him to carry on, wondering where on Earth his line of thought was going.

"Oh, come on, Becky," he continued, and she grimaced at the nickname, digging her nails into her skin, "I know why you like him, I mean, he's a...decent guy, the safe choice, but can you, of all people, honestly say that you want to be with him forever?

She gaped at him, immediately opening her mouth to retort before pausing, faltering for a split second too long as she considered his words; she liked Jesse, she did but _forever_, well, that was a very long time...and didn't she know better than anyone that relationships, if that was what this was the start of, were unpredictable? She had seen her parents' relationship fall apart, she had seen her relationship with Luke fall apart_, _and who was to say that, eventually, the same wouldn't happen with this? On the other hand, this was Jesse, Jesse who had proved himself to be trustworthy, dependable, and if it was going to work out between her and anyone in the world, well, she guessed she'd like it to be with him.

"I didn't think so," Luke commented, the sides of his mouth beginning to twist into a distinctively smug smirk as Beca remained silent, trying to sort through her thoughts, "You know, I actually feel kind of sorry for the guy. He really doesn't know what he's gotten himself into, does he?—"

"—Luke, for the last time, what do you want?" She interrupted, waving her hands about in a badly disguised frustration at both the boy sitting opposite her and this whole situation. "I find it hard to believe that you invited me to dinner to discuss _this._"

Luke just shook his head, giving her an almost mocking smile as he leant back in his seat again, looking completely at ease. "You know, if you had come to dinner alone tonight, I would have told you everything," he said, and she narrowed her eyes, trying to work out whether he was telling the truth before deciding that, _no_, he probably wasn't. "I guess it'll just have to wait until next time."

"Next time," she echoed faintly as his words sank in, her eyebrows slowly raising incredulously, "What makes you think there's going to be a 'next time'?"

Luke just smiled again, his amusement clear in his eyes, causing her to clench her fists under the table, keeping them firmly locked against her side as she forced herself not to do something rash [but well-deserved] like punch him in the face. "Oh, there will be," he replied simply, a knowing glint in his eyes, "And next time, you'll come alone."

"Or what?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders, moving his gaze towards where Jesse was leaning against the counter, watching their every move. "I hear Jesse over there's trying to break it into the music industry," he said carefully, eyeing the other boy calculatingly, "I know my fair share of people around here and let's just say that I can make things very hard for him—"

"—This has nothing to do with Jesse, this is between you and me," she cut in quickly, stopping him from going any further, her heart sinking in her chest as she clenched her fists up once more, feeling more than a little nauseous at the way things were going, "Leave him out of it."

Luke shrugged, leaning over the table and shooting her an almost predatory smile. "I will if you do the same," he offered, sticking a hand out in her direction, presumably for her to shake. She eyed it warily, keeping her own hands firmly on her side of the table as she tried to decide what was the wisest course of action, her head spinning, thoughts all jumbled up.

"Bec, you okay?"

She glanced up at the sound of Jesse's voice to see him hovering over the table, two bottles in his hands. She shot him the most reassuring smile she could manage as he passed one over to her before he slid into the seat beside her again, his concern for her written all over his face, clearly not buying it.

"So? What do you want to do?" Luke prompted, his eyes never leaving her face, ignoring Jesse's questioning look.

Beca exhaled slowly, glancing over at Jesse again, feeling his hand find hers under the table, his thumb absent-mindedly tracing patterns on her palm as his eyes worriedly searched her face. She closed her eyes, leaning back against the chair, trying to weigh up both sides as well as she could in her head as she quickly made a decision; _yes_, maybe this was all a trick, maybe he was simply lying to her face like he had done so many times before but was she willing to risk it? Was she willing to put Jesse's chance of getting the break he so desperately deserved into danger?

No way.

Reluctantly opening her eyes again, she bit her lip, lifting her head up and meeting Luke's questioning gaze, giving him the smallest, most inconspicuous of nods.


	33. Chapter 33

**CHAPTER THIRTY THREE**

Although he had absolutely no idea what Luke and Beca had discussed whilst he was at the bar, he knew from the moment that he sat back down and took in Beca's distraught expression that Luke had the upper-hand again. Somewhere, deep down, he knew that this wasn't his fault at all but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt in his chest as he watched Beca bite her lip, looking so unsure and vulnerable and _hopeless_. Why hadn't he just insisted that he stayed at the table, even though Beca had promised him that she would be alright? After all, he knew what sort of person Luke was and had heard about the games he liked to play and _damn it_, he should have seen something like this coming.

"Bec, I'm...I'm sorry," he murmured quietly, as soon as an unbelievably smug-looking Luke had excused himself to get a drink, leaving them momentarily alone.

Beca glanced at him, her surprise evident on her face as she gripped his hand that little bit tighter underneath the table. "For what?" She asked, her forehead starting to furrow as she tilted her head in confusion.

He gave her a small smile, running his free hand through his hair, watching silently as she met his gaze for a few seconds before looking away, biting her lip as she fidgeted with the bottle in front of her.

"You know what," he said carefully, gently sliding his fingers onto her cheek, tilting her head back towards him. "Look, Beca, I don't know what he said to you but it's—"

"—Jesse, stop," she cut in, suddenly looking uncomfortable, shifting awkwardly in her seat. "I'm fine," she told him, rather unconvincingly, pausing to lick her lips, her next words coming out a little hollow, "He didn't say anything to me."

He slowly raised an eyebrow at her, letting her know how much he _didn't_ believe the words that were coming out of her mouth but she didn't say anything further, simply averting her gaze and taking a sip of her drink, so neither did he. If she didn't want to tell him right now, well, that was fine...but he'd get to the bottom of it eventually.

He had to.

* * *

It didn't surprise Beca in the slightest that her attempts at trying to act like she was completely fine weren't working on Jesse as he seemed to know her better than she knew herself; no, if anything, what she was surprised about was the fact that instead of bringing the topic up again, or even asking if she was alright once more, he simply remained uncharacteristically quiet until Luke returned to the table, his forehead furrowed in thought, expression unreadable.

"Well, this is awkward," Luke commented dryly as he slid back into his seat, glancing between the two of them, his fingers lightly tapping against the bottle in his hands as he skilfully ignored the scoff and accompanying glare that she gave him in response.

"Luke, just go," she said, turning to Jesse for backup and frowning instantly as she saw that he was still staring straight ahead into space, showing no sign that he had even heard Luke's previous remark. She scanned his face for a few seconds, noting the way his jaw was clenched ever so slightly and the way he was gritting his teeth, and she squeezed his hand gently under the table in an attempt to get his attention, frowning harder as he returned her gesture almost hesitantly.

"Luke, seriously, _go_," she repeated, not taking her eyes off Jesse, her heart feeling heavier with every second that he continued staring ahead, detached from their current situation. "You've got what you wanted."

At that, Jesse finally turned his head to look at her, his eyes unreadable as they locked onto her face, searching presumably for some answers, and she, in turn, closed her eyes, knowing that she couldn't give him the answers he wanted because of the deal she had just made with Luke. It just wasn't fair; what gave him the right to be able to just walk into her life and screw everything up again? Hadn't he done enough?

Apparently not.

"So, Beca, I've been wondering," Luke started, his voice dripping with false cheeriness, clearly enjoying the way things were going, "When did you two get together? The last time I saw Jesse, he was still pining over you like some little—"

"—Luke, I swear to god, if you finish that sentence..." she warned, her eyes still clamped shut as she fought the urge to punch something, yell, _scream, _exhaling heavily as Luke stopped speaking abruptly, revelling in the sudden silence. "Just go, okay? Please."

As she heard no response from Luke or Jesse, she slowly cracked her eyes open to see Luke eyeing her, a slow smile creeping onto his face. She bit her lip hard, shaking her head at him, shooting him another warning look, but to no avail.

"I'm just curious, Beca," he said, with an easy shrug, his eyes glinting dangerously in her direction, "I mean, as far as I can remember, you were pretty adamant that you two were 'just friends'? What made you decide to give him a chance? Did you feel sorry for him or something? He does work in a coffee shop, after all..."

Beca stared at him, her eyes widening from a combination of disbelief at the sheer nerve of the boy sitting opposite her and Jesse's grip on her hand becoming almost unbearingly tight, clearly affected by his words. She glanced at Jesse out of the corner of her eye, biting the inside of her cheek as she watched him breathe heavily, obviously struggling to remain calm, an unfamiliar but yet distinctly identifiable feeling of _protectiveness_ surging inside her. Jesse had been so patient, so good to her, and she wasn't about to let Luke target him like this; no, even if Jesse was bound to ask questions about her 'deal' with Luke, she knew that she had to take care of this herself and keep him out of harm's way.

She took a deep breath, plastering on a smile, a wave of confidence washing over her, for once positive that what she was doing was the right thing to do; Jesse would understand, she was sure, he always did.

"Luke," she said, waiting until both him and Jesse turned to look at her with contrasting expressions on their faces, before she continued, "_Shut the fuck up_."

As both of them stared at her in surprise, their mouths falling open, she allowed herself to smile, just for a second. "We're going," she said, adrenaline still pumping through her veins at finally being able to render Luke speechless as she abruptly stood up and tugged on Jesse's arm, meeting Luke's eyes and shooting him a fake smile as she added, "Have a good evening."

She waited, a little impatiently, until Jesse stumbled onto his feet before taking his hand again and dragging him towards the doorway. Once there, she pushed open the door, walking outside without looking back, feeling weirdly _good_ about herself; the only problem was, even after they began walking in the direction of her apartment, Jesse continued to remain completely silent, his brain struggling to fully register what had just happened. He didn't think he had ever seen Beca look so in control and _confident_ around Luke and although he was relieved that she wasn't shaken up by their encounter with the British boy, he couldn't help but be suspicious and wonder what had changed.

"You okay there, weirdo?" Beca asked, sounding unusually calm given the circumstances, eyeing him curiously, "I mean, you're kind of...staring."

He glanced at her, taking the time to look her in the eye, searching for any signs of the vulnerability that he had seen in her face when he had rejoined the table after leaving the two of them alone but coming up blank. Instead, Beca just stared right back, slowly raising an eyebrow, waiting patiently for an explanation.

"I'm just...surprised," he said slowly, feeling increasingly uneasy, sticking his hands into his pockets awkwardly, shifting his gaze to stare straight ahead. "I mean, look, I'm not an complete idiot, I know that Luke said something to you whilst I was away that bothered you and I just..."

He paused, trailing off as Beca suddenly came to a halt beside him, slowly turning around to face her, his eyes narrowing as he watched her composure falter, just for a second. "Bec," he started, taking a step forward, but she cut him off almost immediately, shaking her head, shooting him a pleading look.

"Jesse, I swear, I'm fine," she insisted, and he frowned, wondering exactly who she was trying to convince: him or her. "Let's just go home, okay?"

He sighed softly, immediately sensing just how unwilling she was to talk about whatever had happened between her and Luke, meeting her eyes and nodding once, giving her a tentative smile. "Okay," he said, his smile growing a bit as he felt Beca hesitantly tug his hand out of his pocket, grasping onto it. "Let's...go home."

As they started walking again, hand in hand, he didn't try and bring up whatever it was that she was hiding from him again, instead allowing her to skilfully change the subject, teasing him like she always did. He was sure that she had her reasons for not telling him, and now that he had witnessed first-hand that Beca could stand up to Luke and have the final word, he felt a little less concerned about her safety...but yet, he still wasn't completely keen on her doing this alone; no, wasn't the point of tonight to prove that when they did things _together_, it was better?

Still, he supposed there was nothing that he could do about the whole situation right now; if Beca wanted so desperately to act like everything was fine, well, he guessed he could play along until he worked out what his next move should be.

* * *

From the moment that Jesse started speaking to her after leaving the bar, she knew that she was treading on dangerous ground but yet, she was still confident that she had made the right choice by agreeing to keep Jesse out of her whole business with Luke; sure, she was well aware that he wasn't going to like her keeping secrets from him and she had no idea how to deal with it just yet, but Jesse was so incredibly talented and she wasn't about to be the one that put his chances of getting the break he deserved into danger. Of course, there was also the fact that when he had agreed to be her friend, her...whatever he was now, he hadn't fully understood the sheer magnitude and severity of her history with Luke and part of her wondered whether he would still be here, by her side, if he had known what he was getting himself into beforehand.

"Hey, so, uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Jesse asked hesitantly as they reached her doorstep, still eyeing her carefully, mentally noting her every move.

She tilted her head upwards so that she could see him better, halfway through nodding her head and opening her mouth to agree with what he had just said when she paused, narrowing her eyes, focusing on the underlying, almost undetectable, concern for her in his expression.

"You can come in, if you want," she said slowly, meeting his gaze, knowing that if she wanted to keep her agreement with Luke a secret, as well as keep things relatively normal between her and Jesse, she needed to smooth things over before it was too late. She watched unblinkingly as a flash of surprise crossed his face before he gave her a shrug and a small smile, following her inside.

"Hey, Beca," he said suddenly, as soon as he had stepped into her apartment, immediately getting her attention, "Can we, uh, go to mine instead?" She turned around again, leaning against the wall as she cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion, smiling despite herself as he ran a hand through his hair in response, shifting on the spot, shooting her a sheepish look.

"I just, uh, I would sort of like to get out of this," he said, gesturing at the now slightly rumbled suit he was wearing, his embarrassment growing by the second, the faintest hint of a blush starting to appear on his cheek, causing her smile to grow even larger. "And somehow," he continued, looking her up and down, his trademark grin starting to make its way onto his face, making her narrow her eyes at him suspiciously, "I think that sharing clothes is only going to work one way."

She stared at him, rolling her eyes, stepping forward and giving his chest a light shove, trying to ignore how solid it felt under her fingertips as she replied. "You're such a charmer," she told him, rolling her eyes once again as Jesse shrugged, still grinning, finally starting to look more like his usual self, and maybe, just maybe, she allowed herself to think, everything would turn out okay.

"It's working, isn't it?"

"Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better," she replied, unable to stop herself from laughing at the way he pulled a face at her, sticking his tongue out. "Just give me a second to change and then we can go to yours, okay?"

As Jesse nodded, still pulling ridiculous faces, she leaned up onto her tiptoes to press her mouth against his cheek for the briefest of seconds before pulling back ever so slightly, meeting his gaze. "Thanks for tonight," she said quietly, not entirely sure whether she was thanking him for accompanying her to 'dinner' with Luke or for not pushing her to tell him what had happened or both.

Jesse just shook his head, his hands reaching up to rest against her waist as he replied. "Don't thank me yet," he said, giving her an easy smile as she raised her eyebrow in confusion, waiting for him to explain, "I'm planning on continuing your moviecation tonight."

She rolled her eyes, not bothering to argue with him but instead, simply nodding in response, returning several minutes later with his Trebles hoodie pulled over her head, her lips twisting into a smile as his eyes lit up in recognition and he beamed at her.

* * *

The longer he spent with Beca, the harder it was getting to remember how shaken she had been after her talk with Luke earlier; here she was, half-nestled into his side, throwing out sarcastic comments about just how nauseatingly cheesy the movie he had chosen was, sounding so..._normal_ that he couldn't help but wonder whether he had been mistaken about the magnitude of the whole thing. Then again, her reaction when he had brought it up earlier hadn't exactly been that convincing and..._god_, he was so confused and he didn't like it, not one bit. What he needed to do was to take some time to reflect on the evening's events, try his best to work out exactly what had happened and then, if he needed to, take the necessary actions. Even though Beca seemed desperate to keep him out of the whole thing, he wasn't going to let Luke manipulate her again; no, he had done enough.

As Beca yawned beside him, her head tilting forward involuntarily until it rested against his arm, he shook his head once in an attempt to clear it, focusing on their present situation. "Hey, Beca, we don't have to finish watching the movie right now if you're tired," he said, shifting slightly underneath her weight, smiling softly at Beca's incredulous expression, looking like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, "I'm serious, we can always continue this another time."

"No, no, it's okay," she said, even as she reached up with one hand to rub at her eyes, clearly exhausted, "Keep watching, I'm awake."

Jesse eyed her for a few seconds, taking in the way her eyelids were fluttering closed and the way she was leaning more heavily against him with every passing second, before shaking his head, reaching around her for the remote, switching the TV off. As she shot him a grateful smile, slowly beginning to stand up, he hesitantly reached forward, pulling her back towards him.

"If you want, you can stay over tonight," he said slowly, instantly shaking his head as Beca's eyes widened, suddenly looking much more awake and wary. "Not like that," he corrected with another shake of his head, eyeing her with concern, "You just look really tired and I, uh, I thought it might be easier if you stayed. You can take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch? I mean, only if you want to, I—"

"—I get it," she cut in smoothly, saving him from further embarrassment, falling silent for a second before lifting her head, giving him a smile and a nod. She trusted Jesse, she did, and she knew that when he asked her to stay over, that was _all_ he meant.

As Jesse made no move to get up from the couch, still watching her intently, she gently tugged on his hand, spurring him into action, smiling as he eventually stood up, tilting his head towards the rooms in the back. Once she was ready for bed, she followed him to his bedroom, unable to help the smile that graced her face as she stepped inside because it was just so _Jesse_. On one side of the room, the wall was lined from top to bottom with movie posters whilst on the other side, there were numerous photos hung up, Jesse bearing his usual wide grin in all of them, wearing a very familiar looking hoodie. As she took a step closer, wanting to examine them in more detail, she felt herself yawn again involuntarily and she grimaced, turning as she heard Jesse chuckle softly beside her, watching her patiently as always.

"They'll still be here when you wake up," he teased, tilting his head towards his bed, "Get some sleep, okay?"

She nodded, walking over and seating herself onto his bed, raising an eyebrow at him in confusion as he slowly followed her, stopping when he was several feet away, shifting awkwardly on the spot. "Uh, Jesse...?" she prompted, narrowing her eyes, trying her hardest to figure out what was going through his head until he shrugged, a little sheepish, and it clicked.

"Wait, you were actually being serious about sleeping on the couch?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, smirking as Jesse ran a hand through his hair, the faintest hint of a blush appearing on his cheeks as he continued to hover nervously beside the bed. "You are _such_ a nerd," she told him, rolling her eyes as she moved to kneel on the bed, reaching forward to wrap her fingers around his arm. She waited until he glanced down at her hand in surprise before pulling on it roughly, smirking again as he stumbled, falling, narrowly missing her as he face-planted _oh so gracefully_ onto the mattress.

"We can share," she said, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes again as he lifted his head with a groan, staring at her wide-eyed. "Now come on, move over, I'm tired." He held his position for a few more seconds, still visibly stunned, before she prodded his side repeatedly and he eventually rolled over until he was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling.

"You okay?" she asked, as he remained motionless, eyeing him suspiciously. "I mean, if you really want to sleep on the couch, I'm not going to stop you," she quipped, a little relieved as he turned to face her, a smile on his face, "I swear I won't be offended."

"No, it's not that," he said slowly, almost distractedly, smoothly sliding an arm around her shoulders as he pulled her closer. "I just—Look, Bec," he started, and she closed her eyes, biting her lip, the atmosphere in the room suddenly becoming uncomfortably serious, and she forced herself to stay calm and breathe, "You don't have to tell me what happened today but just...be careful, okay? Promise me that."

"I promise."

* * *

Like he expected, Beca fell asleep first, her face half-pressed against his side, looking more peaceful than he had ever seen her. He tilted his head back, watching her sleep, before slowly reaching around her body for his phone, knowing that no matter what she told him, no matter what she promised, there was no being 'careful' around Luke and that he'd be an idiot if he let her deal with this by herself. Making sure not to disturb her, he gently freed his arm from underneath her, grasping his phone in both hands as he quickly typed a message.

_Chlo, do you have Luke's number? - Jesse_

_Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't. - Chloe_

_I have to. You know I do. - Jesse_


	34. Chapter 34

_six months anniversary = extra long chapter :)_

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR**

The first thing Beca registered when she was rudely awakened by an unfamiliar [and _way_ too cheery for this hour of the day] ringtone was that her face was almost uncomfortably pressed up against something warm. It wasn't until she blearily tried to tilt her head back into a more comfortable position that memories of last night started to flood back and she realised that not only was she sleeping in Jesse's bed, apparently nestled deep into his side, but her left arm was also wrapped tightly around his waist and—_damn it_. Cursing softly under her breath and blushing hard, she slowly started to extract her arm back to her side as quietly and as stealthily as she could, hoping he wouldn't notice, but before she could get very far, she heard a low, very amused-sounding chuckle from above her. Her eyes flew open at the unwanted sound and she grimaced as she was met with a grinning Jesse staring down at her as he slid his hand over hers, slowly but firmly pulling it back to its initial position.

"Don't say anything," she warned as he opened his mouth to speak, looking equal parts smug, equal parts amused, his thumb now purposefully tracing patterns against the top of her hand, "Seriously, Jesse, don't even think about it."

Jesse shrugged, his eyes glinting mischievously at her as he completely ignored her threat and narrowed eyes. "I wasn't going to say anything," he said, his grin growing wider at her raised eyebrow and the way she was still trying her best to retrieve her traitorous arm. "But, just so you know, I'm totally cool with this," he continued, gesturing between them with his free hand, causing her to shake her head a little, rolling her eyes, shooting him another warning look. "I mean, I never had you pegged as being the cuddling type but—"

"—Shut up," she quickly interrupted, shooting him the dirtiest look she could muster. "That is _not_ what's happening here. Whatever this is, we're not, uh, we're not..."

"Cuddling?" Jesse supplied unhelpfully, his grin growing impossibly wider as she grimaced, giving him the smallest of nods. "Well, that's where you're wrong, Bec," he replied, lowering his voice to a mock whisper as he continued, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut because _dear god_, it was way too early in the morning for this. "This is most definitely considered cuddling. In fact, if you look at where your arm is right now—"

"_Jesse_," she cut in, still trying to free the arm in question, hoping that her cheeks weren't as red as she feared they might be, "Shut up."

As he fell silent, she slowly cracked her eyes open again, narrowing them instantly as she saw him staring down at her, his gaze almost challenging as he shrugged, slowly and deliberately opening his mouth as if to speak again. She eyed him for a second, weighing up all her options in her head before biting her lip, deciding that she couldn't have him rambling on about stupid _cuddling_ any longer. Throwing caution to the wind, she stopped resisting his attempts to keep her arm wrapped around him and instead, leaned into his embrace, gripping his waist tightly so that she could use him as leverage. Holding back a smirk as she heard his sharp intake of breath, she quickly manoeuvred herself so that she was sitting on top of him, legs either side of his body, staring down at him, her hair dangling dangerously over his face.

"What were you saying?" she asked innocently, letting a smug smile grace her face as she watched him visibly swallow, his eyes meeting hers. He stared at her for a few seconds, his surprise clear in his eyes, for once seemingly speechless. "Jesse?" she prompted, smirking as he shifted his head slightly, seeming to come to his senses a little as his hands found her waist, gently supporting her. "You okay there, dork?"

"I, uh, I'm good," he said slowly, shooting her a sheepish smile, "I have absolutely nothing to say about what you may or may not have been doing earlier?"

She grinned, patting him on the cheek as she bent her head down until she was close enough to see the almost imperceptible widening of his eyes at her actions. When she was sure she had his full attention, she lowered her face even more but before he could lift his head and close the gap, she simply climbed off him, leaving him with a smugly muttered "Good answer", smirking at the low groan that followed.

As she got off the bed and stepped onto the floor, she wasn't at all surprised to feel Jesse's arm inching itself around her waist again as he spun her back around to face him. She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to say something, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before settling on something:

"That was mean," he finally said, mock-pouting at her, and she shrugged in response as if to say 'so what?' The only problem was, as soon as she tried to step out of his grip, she realised that he wasn't budging at all; in fact, his hands were tightly interlocked together, keeping her in position. As she shot him a questioning look, staring up at him, he simply mimicked her shrug, his eyes laced with amusement, staying completely silent. With a sigh and roll of her eyes, she slowly stepped forwards, towards him, quickly standing on her tiptoes to press her mouth firmly against his, rolling her eyes once again as she felt him smiling smugly in response, his arms slackening behind her.

"So, what are your plans for today? Got any more dinner dates planned?" he asked jokingly as she pulled away from him slightly, gazing up at him, and although she was sure his intention was to keep things as light as possible, she could easily detect the underlying concern in his gaze. As she silently stared back at him, memories of what had happened between Luke and her last night flooding back, she couldn't help but give him a small smile despite everything, because only this guy, this _dork_, could make her forget about all the other crap currently going on in her life. "Bec?" Jesse prompted, as she continued to stay silent, a frown starting to make its way onto his face, "Are you okay? I meant that as a joke, I didn't mean—"

"Jesse, it's fine, don't worry about it," she quickly reassured him, reaching forward in order to interlock their fingers in an action that was so natural to her now, focusing on pushing all thoughts of Luke to the back of her mind, determined not to let him mess with her even though he wasn't physically in the room. Taking a deep breath and plastering a smile onto her face, she tilted her head up, locking their gazes, replying to his earlier question. "I guess I'm just going to go to work as usual but afterwards, there's this weirdo I know that I might go and visit."

"Weirdo?" Jesse echoed, eyebrow raised, a look of relief flashing across his face at her answer, "I'm sure he's not _that_ bad."

"Oh, trust me, he is," she said, with a smirk, letting out a laugh at the way Jesse instantly stuck his tongue out at her, pulling a face, "He's a _total_ weirdo...but I like him."

* * *

Jesse wasn't entirely sure whether to be concerned or relieved that Beca was still trying her best to act like the events of last night had never happened, smirking and teasing him like normal. He knew for certain that she was hiding something from him and although he was sure she had good reasons for doing so, he couldn't help but feel slightly on edge about the whole thing, even though he had woken up to find Beca curled around him, her hands gripping his shirt.

His fears were proved to be somewhat justified when they walked into the coffee shop together half an hour before the morning shift was supposed to start and Beca's smile faltered as she caught sight of Chloe, quickly letting go of his hand and making her way over to her without saying a word, simply shooting him a reassuring look over her shoulder. Jesse stared at her retreating back, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times as his brain tried to process what had just happened, still wanting so desperately to understand exactly what he was dealing with here. Before he could get very far though, Stacie sauntered over to him, slowly tugging his backpack out of his hands as she searched his face, eyebrow raised.

"Swanson, what's wrong with you?" she asked, pushing him into a stool behind the counter, ignoring his half-hearted protests, "I mean, Beca's wearing your Glee club hoodie—okay, fine, _a capella_ hoodie — which means she must have slept over at yours but for some reason, you still look like shit." He raised an eyebrow at her, crossing his arms defensively, keeping his mouth shut until she sighed, rolling her eyes, amending her previous comment. "Okay, maybe not 'shit' but you definitely don't look like a guy who got laid last night. I mean, trust me, I would know—"

He shook his head quickly, shooting her an almost pleading look as he replied, choosing his words carefully, relieved when Stacie fell silent immediately, squinting at him. "It's got nothing to do with that," he said, ignoring the way Stacie's eyebrows rose up significantly, glancing between him and Beca a couple of times, a look of intrigue appearing on her face. "It's...nothing, really. I'm fine, Beca and I are fine, it's all fine."

Stacie stared at him, disbelief clouding her expression, reaching behind her and pulling a chair up beside him, seating herself down. "How many times do I have to tell you that you're an awful liar?" she asked, giving him a half-apologetic shrug as he frowned at her in response, beginning to open his mouth to retort. "You're not convincing anyone."

"Stace, it's fine—"

"—Look, Swanson, I'm only going to say this once so listen up," she said, cutting him off, waving her manicured fingers dangerously close to his face, causing him to lean back in alarm. "Even though you're way too cheerful in the mornings and sing obnoxiously loudly _all the time_, you're more annoying when you're like this...so if you want my help, just ask."

Jesse stared at her, his eyes widening in surprise, gaping at her as he tried to decide whether to focus on her offer or avoid the subject altogether; don't get him wrong, he was touched that she wanted to help him, he was, but everything that was going on revolved around Beca and he didn't know how she'd react if he decided to confide in Stacie, of all people. Exhaling slowly, he pushed all thoughts of Beca and Luke to the back of his mind momentarily as he sat up straight in his chair, plastering a grin onto his face.

"Wait, no way, was that a hint of affection I detected in your voice?" he asked innocently, his grin becoming more genuine as Stacie immediately narrowed her eyes, making an obscene gesture in his direction. As she reached for his bag, beginning to whack him with it, he put his hands up in surrender, protests flying from his mouth.

"Thanks, Stace," he said seriously, once she had finally stopped hitting him, trying to catch her breath, his bag slipping out of her grasp and onto the floor, "I appreciate it."

She shot him a dirty look in response, shaking her head as she waved her hand dismissively at him. "Whatever you say, Swanson," she muttered, "Whatever you say."

* * *

Despite having tried her best not to dwell on what had happened with Luke last night, Beca decided to pull Chloe aside as soon as she entered the coffee shop because she knew she had to tell _someone_ about it all; from past experience, she was well aware that dealing with Luke and his games all by herself would prove to be a fatal mistake and she wasn't about to fall into that trap again, not when she had so much more than just her music to lose this time.

"He made me promise to keep Jesse out of everything," she said slowly, biting her lip as she recalled what Luke had ordered her to do. "He said that if I didn't, he'd make things really hard for him and I—"

"—You said yes, didn't you?"

"Chlo, I had to," she replied, meeting the other girl's concerned gaze, digging her fingernails into her palm, "I didn't have a choice."

Chloe nodded in understanding, pursing her lips as she thought hard about what Beca had just told her, wondering how it fit in with the cryptic texts that Jesse had sent her in the early hours of the morning. As Beca shifted on the spot, looking uncomfortable under her gaze, she narrowed her eyes, honing in on the flash of guilt and uncertainty that she saw on her face and the way her eyes flickered almost involuntarily over to Jesse and then back again:

"Wait, Beca, you did tell Jesse about all this, right?" she asked, leaning forward across the table, letting out a soft sigh as Beca immediately bit her lip again, closing her eyes. "Beca, you have to tell him. I know you think you're doing the right thing by keeping it all a secret but this is exactly what Luke wants."

Beca shook her head, slowly cracking her eyes open again, turning her head slightly so that her gaze was on Jesse, a faint smile gracing her lips as she saw Stacie in the process of hitting him with his own rucksack, his arms flailing.

"I can't risk it, Chlo," she said quietly, not taking her eyes off him, "I want to tell him and I know I should but Jesse, he...he really deserves this break and I'm not going to be the one that takes it away from him."

"I get what you're saying, I do," Chloe replied, reaching forward and taking her hand, the action causing her to drag her gaze back to the redhead again. "I just don't think that keeping it from Jesse is a good idea—"

"—Wait, so you think I _should_ risk it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in disbelief, crossing her arms almost defensively, "You think I should risk Jesse's career just so Luke doesn't get his way—"

"No, of course not! Jesse's my friend and I don't want to see him get hurt any more than you do," Chloe interrupted hastily, quickly shaking her head, and Beca shot her an apologetic look for jumping to conclusions, gesturing for her to continue. "I just, um, I just think that you need to give him something to work with."

As Chloe bit her lip, averting her gaze, gripping onto her hand more tightly in the process, Beca squinted at her, wondering what was going on in that head of hers; she wasn't entirely sure what she had expected Chloe to say when she recounted yesterday's events but this reaction was plain _weird_. In all the years that she had known the other girl, Chloe had proved to be one of the most loyal people she had met, someone who would never put her friends in danger, so for her to be sitting in front of her right now, telling her to go against Luke's orders regardless of what he could do to Jesse's future career, well, something just wasn't right.

"Did Jesse say something to you? I mean, he's been with me since last night but..." she trailed off, her eyes narrowing further as Chloe cast her eyes skywards, pointedly keeping her mouth shut. "Okay, what did he say?" she asked firmly, tugging Chloe's hand that was still in her grasp towards her, making the other girl reluctantly meet her gaze, "I need to know, Chlo."

"He, um, he asked me for Luke's number," Chloe said carefully, after a minute's deliberation, and Beca instantly grimaced, biting her lip hard; the last thing she wanted was for Jesse to go after Luke and make himself vulnerable for her when it had nothing to do with him. "Beca, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, he's probably just curious...and besides, I'm not going to give him the number unless you want me to," Chloe quickly added, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, even though Beca's eyes had now glazed over, her mind conjuring up multiple scenarios where everything went wrong; Jesse getting repeated rejections from music studios because of her, Jesse's life getting ruined by Luke, Jesse deciding he no longer wanted to deal with all her secrets and leaving her...

"Chlo, what should I do?" she asked softly, feeling a little lost. She had been so sure that she had made the right decision by not telling Jesse this morning but now that she knew that not only did Jesse know that she was hiding something but he also wanted to talk to Luke behind her back, well, she wasn't so sure anymore.

"Did Luke ever explicitly say that you couldn't tell Jesse?" Chloe inquired, her eyes laced with concern as she leaned across the table again, invading her personal space. Beca bit her lip, thinking back to that night, running through their short conversation in her mind before slowly shaking her head, realising that Luke had never said anything of the sort, just heavily implied it. "Then tell him," Chloe said quietly, "It'll be better that way, for all of us."

Beca exhaled slowly, breathing heavily, trying her hardest to sort through her thoughts and work out exactly what to do. Deep down, she knew that Chloe was right and that she needed to tell Jesse, especially since he had asked Chloe for Luke's contact details, but yet, there was still a part of her that was scared of what Luke might do if he found out that she had gone against him.

"Beca, whatever you decide, I'm behind you a hundred percent, okay?" Chloe said, breaking the silence that had fallen, her hand still clasping hers. She nodded, giving her a grateful smile in response before shifting in her seat self-consciously as Chloe suddenly looked her up and down, her eyes narrowing. "Hey, is that Jesse's hoodie?" Chloe asked, her eyes now lighting up for a different reason altogether, "Did you stay at his last night or something?"

Beca raised her eyebrows, taken aback by the sudden change of subject, quickly shaking her head as Chloe grinned toothily at her. "Stop it, Chloe," she said, before Chloe could open her mouth and start asking probing questions, "We just, uh, slept together, in the literal sense."

Chloe eyed her suspiciously, looking thoughtful for a second before shooting her a cryptic smile, an unreadable expression on her face. "How's that going, by the way?" she asked, leaning across the table once more, her eyes bright, "Minus the Luke stuff, of course."

Beca shrugged, glancing over at Jesse, smiling as she realised he was staring at her, his eyes unblinking. "You were right about him, Chlo," she said simply, shrugging once more, dragging her gaze back to Chloe once more, not missing the smug grin that was now plastered on the other girl's face.

"I'm always right," Chloe replied, her eyes sparkling.

* * *

Once Beca had left the coffee shop, heading back to her own apartment to get changed into clothes that actually fit her before she went to work, leaving him with a kiss and a promise that she'd stop by later, Jesse quickly pulled Chloe aside, wanting to explain his reasons for sending her those texts last night. Before he could say anything though, Chloe shook her head, stepping forward and pressing her hand over his mouth as she spoke over his muffled protests.

"Jess, I'm not giving you Luke's number," she said slowly, firmly, holding eye contact with him, letting her hand fall limply to her side once he had fallen silent, listening intently to what she was saying. "Whatever you're thinking of doing, it's not a good idea."

"You don't even know what I'm thinking of doing," he countered, though it came out a bit weak, seeing as he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do once he had the number either; after all, even if he did manage to get Luke's number from somewhere, would Luke take his call and agree to speak to him? Probably not.

"Jess, stop," Chloe said, with another shake of her head, her expression more serious than he had ever seen it. "Going after Luke isn't going to help matters," she told him, "Beca, she...she's trying so hard to keep you safe and just, please, just let her, okay?"

Jesse narrowed her eyes, shooting her a look of confusion, not entirely understanding what she was talking about. "I wasn't planning on going after Luke; I, uh, I just wanted to know why he was doing this and what he wanted with Beca," he replied slowly, before frowning as the second half of what she had said sank in, "What do you mean by 'she's trying to keep me safe'? Safe from what? Luke?"

Chloe sighed, biting her lip, glancing up at him hesitantly. "Talk to her, Jess," she said quietly, waiting for Jesse to meet her gaze before continuing, "It's...complicated."

"Chloe, I've tried talking to her already," he replied, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice because god, he was getting sick of all the secrets and games that Luke seemed to be playing, "I brought it up multiple times last night but she kept shutting me down. She doesn't _want_ to tell me and I can't exactly make her—"

"—No, you're wrong. She wants to tell you, Jesse, she does," Chloe insisted, interrupting him with a shake of her head, "Don't give up on her."

Jesse exhaled, running a hand through his hair, forcing himself to think back to this morning and the way Beca had gravitated towards him in her sleep, her arm wrapped around him tightly, looking so _peaceful_ and happy, and he nodded slowly. Chloe stared back at him for a few seconds, her expression unreadable, before she nodded too, moving away from him without another word, beginning to stack coffee cups against the wall behind the counter. He took another deep breath, steadying himself, before walking over to Stacie, helping to prepare the counter for the morning rush, not noticing the curious look on her face before it was too late.

"So...all this has to do with that Luke guy, does it?" Stacie asked, seconds later, glancing over at him slyly, ignoring the way he froze, his hand momentarily stuck in mid-air, "You need me to seduce him or something?"

He stared at her, raising an eyebrow, leaning against the counter, arms crossed. "And how is that going to help?" he asked dryly, once he had finally gotten over his shock that Stacie had clearly been eavesdropping on his conversation with Chloe, wondering just how much she had figured out.

Stacie just shrugged in response, shooting him a grin. "You wanted to know what Luke was up to, right?" she asked, and Jesse eyed her warily for a few seconds before giving her the tiniest of nods, curious to see where this was going but at the same time, knowing that he probably wasn't going to like what she was about to say. "I can get guys to tell me anything," she said confidently, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger, "All I have to do is kneel down and—"

His eyes widened, quickly raising his hands up to cover his ears, humming loudly to himself until she stopped speaking, giving him a rather disapproving look. "I, uh, I appreciate the offer," he said slowly, "But _that_ is not happening."

"You sure?" she asked, with a shrug, looking way too innocent for his liking, "He's hot, I wouldn't mind."

"Stacie, _no_."

* * *

When Beca arrived at the studio, walking into the booth she shared with Amy, she wasn't at all surprised to see Amy already there, two half-empty pizza boxes beside her. What she was surprised to find, however, was a familiar and very unwanted man perching on her desk, eyeing Amy warily.

"Luke, get out," she said curtly, moving around him to place her bag onto the floor, not bothering to make eye-contact with him. "I've got loads of work to do because, as I'm sure you're already aware, this stuff with Bumper needs to be finished in two weeks and unless you want me to do a terrible job—"

"Forget about that, it doesn't matter," Luke cut in, waving a hand dismissively at her. "I just—"

"It doesn't matter?" she echoed, interrupting him, her eyebrow raised, completely taken aback by his reaction, "What are you talking about? Isn't Bumper supposed to be _your_ responsibility?"

Luke just shrugged, stopping mid-sentence, breathing hard. "I don't care about Bumper, he's an idiot," he said slowly, staring at her like she was the crazy one, and she raised her eyebrows even higher in utter disbelief because seriously, what the hell was going on right now? How could this one person, this one guy, continue to keep confusing her like this? "All of this, it has absolutely nothing to do with him. Just meet me for dinner tomorrow night, please."

"Luke, I'm not going anywhere with you unless you tell me what you're up to," she said, trying to stay calm, even though all she wanted to do right now was punch something and let all her inner frustration out.

"You already know," he replied quietly, "Think about it."

"You think I haven't thought about it already?" she asked dryly, throwing her hands up in annoyance, seeing Amy's eyes widen considerably from across the room as she stared at them both, the pizza slice in her hand dangerously close to falling onto the floor. Luke simply shrugged once more, staying silent, and she narrowed her eyes, not entirely sure what he was waiting for but not being able to deal with it anymore. "Jesus Christ, Luke, just spit it out."

Luke exhaled, hesitation clear in his eyes, muttering something inaudible under his breath before speaking again. "Beca, why do you think I'm a manager now?" he asked, his voice coming out a little hoarse, looking weirdly desperate, his eyes flashing. She pursed her lips, tilting her head to the side, wondering what he was getting to; she supposed it _was_ strange that Luke was a manager now, seeing as the reason he had stolen her music in the first place was to get ahead in the music production business but she had never given it much thought, chalking it up as just another part of his elaborate lies.

"I, uh, I don't know," she replied honestly, crossing her arms defensively, still mulling over his question in her head.

"Look, just meet me tomorrow night and I'll explain, okay?" he said, plastering a rather unconvincing smile onto his face, not waiting for her to respond as he walked out of the door without looking back. She stared at the spot where he had stood in silence for a minute, not entirely sure what had just happened or what she was supposed to do next.

"Flatbutt, do you want some pizza?"

She glanced up, her thoughts interrupted, hastily shaking her head in alarm as she saw Amy standing on top of her desk, balancing the pizza box precariously in one hand, a pizza slice in the other.

"Don't throw it," she warned, eyeing her warily, continuing to shake her head. Amy pulled a face in response, muttering something about her desk being too far to walk to and before she could open her mouth to retort once more, Amy had proudly announced that she had been working on her aim and launched the pizza slice at her, only for it to land on the floor. It was nice, she guessed, that _some_ things never changed...


	35. Chapter 35

**C**HAPTER** T**HIRTY** F**IVE

Though Beca tried her best to focus on the familiar, yet still ridiculous, funeral proceedings that Amy was now carrying out for the pizza slice she had dropped on the floor, she found that her thoughts still kept straying back to what Luke had said to her on the phone and she couldn't help but continue to wonder exactly what he had meant when he had asked her why she thought he was a manager now. If she really made herself think back to their college days, she clearly remembered him showing an interest in music production, in _editing_, but she wasn't entirely sure, even now, whether that was another part of his games or whether that was really what he was passionate about. On top of his cryptic words, Luke had also forced another dinner invitation onto her and not only did she really _not_ want to go, especially alone, she still wasn't entirely sure just how much she should tell Jesse. She was positive that if she confided in Jesse, he'd understand completely, maybe even help her, but she couldn't risk putting his career prospects in danger, not when he, unlike Luke, had worked so hard to try and get a break… Of course, on the other hand, if she kept quiet, Jesse would get more suspicious than he already was and—_god_, why couldn't her life be simple for once?

Clenching her fists and swearing steadily under her breath, she returned to her desk, slumping down and laying her head on the cool surface. She was getting so sick, so _tired_, of dealing with Luke and all the games he liked to play, and she just wanted everything to stop. She needed it to.

"Okay, Flatbutt, what's up?" Amy asked, stopping her supposedly heartfelt monologue about what a _tragedy _the 'death of the pizza slice' was and instead, moving over to perch beside her, patting her repeatedly on the shoulder with more force than was strictly necessary. Beca winced, burying her head deeper into her arms but remained silent, not entirely sure how to explain the whole situation to the blonde because it was just so...complicated. "Come on, you can tell me," Amy continued, sounding weirdly cheery, given the circumstances, "I'm your favourite Australian, remember? You can trust me."

Beca sighed, sliding her eyes shut for a second, trying to compose herself, but as Amy continued to pat her shoulder and showed no sign of leaving her alone any time soon, she slowly lifted her head back up to face her, biting her lip at the borderline reproachful look on the other girl's face. "You're the _only_ Australian that I know," she corrected with a wry smile, hoping that Amy wouldn't press the subject any further.

Amy scoffed in response, shaking her head, eyeing her suspiciously. Still continuing to pat her on the shoulder, her hand getting increasingly heavier, she hummed to herself for a moment before speaking again. "Does this have anything to do with why you were so late this morning?" she asked, her eyes still narrowed, staring at her intently, "I mean, usually you're late but today you were _really_ late."

Beca blinked, raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't that late," she said, a little defensively, feeling her cheeks flush as she remembered exactly where she had been this morning, participating in activities that, okay, _maybe_ resembled cuddling [but it totally wasn't; Beca Mitchell did not cuddle, thank you very much], and then having to run from the coffee shop to her own apartment to get changed out of Jesse's hoodie and into slightly better fitting clothes, making her later than usual.

"Yeah, you were," Amy insisted, her eyes narrowing even further, nearly going cross-eyed, as she noticed the faint blush on Beca's cheeks. "Wait, were you and coffee shop boy," she paused, shooting her a wicked grin as she waggled her eyebrows, making obscene gestures with her hands.

"—Dude, _no_," Beca cut in hastily, feeling her face grow hotter at what Amy was unsubtly suggesting, "There's no particular reason why I'm late, okay? Just drop it."

Amy fell silent, observing her with continued interest, her eyes scanning her face in such a way that Beca found herself wanting to cover it with her hands and save herself from any further embarrassment. Instead, she bit her lip, forcing herself to remain cool as she slowly turned away from Amy, switching her computer on and logging in. Breathing a sigh of relief as she managed to get to her desktop without Amy saying another word, she began sifting through her emails, noting a couple of 'really urgent' emails from Aubrey but as she started to type out a response to one, she heard Amy clear her throat loudly from beside her and she sighed again, knowing that the girl was stubborn enough not to let this whole thing go.

"So…where were you this morning?" Amy asked casually, almost _innocently_, still perched on her desk, tapping the surface lightly with her fingers.

"Chloe's coffee shop," she replied quickly, not moving her gaze from the screen, gesturing towards the coffee cup on her desk with one hand, the cup clearly bearing one of Jesse's trademark messily-drawn smileys.

"I know that part," Amy said, and she could almost hear the other girl rolling her eyes in exasperation, "My question is, where were you _before_ that?"

Beca bit her lip hard, feeling herself flush again as memories of how she had woken up curled beside Jesse came flooding back and how, though she had been hesitant about staying over at first, the whole thing had seemed weirdly okay and weirdly _right_.

"Beca? Flatbutt?"

"I was, uh, I was at Jesse's," she said eventually, turning her head and just managing to catch Amy's over-exaggerated fist pump and exclamation: 'I knew it, I _knew _it!' She shot Amy a warning look, rolling her eyes as the girl proceeded to roll off the desk, doing a little victory dance accompanied by what seemed to be her own body percussion and damn it, she was not going to let this happen again.

* * *

Even though Chloe had seemed convinced that Beca did, in fact, want to tell him what had happened between her and Luke when he had left them alone, Jesse wasn't entirely sure whether he believed her; he had, after all, tried to get her to open up about the whole thing more than once since the dinner but each time, she had avoided the subject, shut him down. He guessed there was nothing more he could do except to just wait it out and hope that she'd confide in him eventually and, in the meantime, do his best to keep her away from Luke. With a sigh, he shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, focusing on all the _good_ that had happened yesterday, from Beca agreeing to stay over to her ending up curled against him as if it was her second nature, and, of course, the fact that Beca was currently standing outside his doorstep, two afternoons in a row, her eyebrow raised.

"You okay, dork?" she asked, clearly confused by his silence, "You look kind of…distracted."

Jesse shook his head again, giving her a sheepish smile as he stepped aside, letting her into the apartment and closing the door behind her. "I, uh, I just wasn't expecting you till later," he explained, hoping that he sounded reasonably convincing since the statement wasn't entirely untrue before frowning as he noticed that she was dragging a bag behind her. "Okay, Bec, I have a question for you," he said, glancing from her face to the bag and back again, "What's in the bag? You're not bringing a dead body into my apartment, are you?"

Beca immediately rolled her eyes at him, but he noticed the beginnings of a blush starting to rise on her cheeks and he squinted at her, starting to get increasingly curious. "You'd be the very last person I'd ask to help me hide a body," she told him, rolling her eyes again as he gasped audibly, putting his hand over his heart and staggering backwards a few steps, "You'd probably faint at the sight of one."

"Your words wound me, Beca," he replied, giving her an easy smile, "For all you know, I've seen thousands of dead bodies."

She blinked, raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms, her amusement clear on her face. "Have you?" she asked, smirking as he shifted on the spot, running a hand through his hair, making a mental note to think before he spoke next time.

"Uh, maybe," he said, "In…movies."

Beca grinned widely at that, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. "Don't worry, dork," she told him sympathetically, stepping forward and onto her tiptoes to pat him on the cheek a couple of times, "You might not be able to help me if I accidentally kill someone but, hey, I'm still here, aren't I?"

Jesse smiled, nodding, slowly leaning down to catch her lips before pulling away and moving to relieve her of her bag, frowning again as she held on to it tightly, the flush in her cheeks quickly returning. "Okay, seriously, what's in the bag?" he asked, eyebrow raised, "I'm curious."

Beca sighed, biting her lip, lifting her head to meet his gaze, an unreadable expression on his face, making his heart instantly sink. "I don't want to tell you," she started, and he opened his mouth to retort but before he could, a wry smile crossed her face as she continued, "I don't want to tell you because you're going to laugh at me."

He blinked, taken aback by her answer, before shaking his head, taking a step forward and tugging her towards him, staring down at her. "I swear I won't laugh," he said unblinkingly, giving her the most winning smile he could manage, "I _swear_."

Beca just laughed softly, freeing her hands from his grip, attempting to move past him and into the main living area of his flat but before she could, he quickly blocked the way, crossing his arms, shaking his head once more. She stared at him, grimacing, her cheeks growing redder by the second before she finally sighed, opening her mouth to speak, clearly knowing that he wasn't about to give up soon.

"It's just, uh, an extra set of clothes," she finally said, as quickly as possible, her words slurring in such a way that she hoped that he wouldn't be able to decipher them. Without waiting for him to respond, she ducked under his arm and attempted to slide past him once again but as before, he gracefully blocked her way again, his hands reaching forward to wrap around her waist.

"Clothes?"

"Yeah," she said, "In case I, you know…"

He stared at her, eyebrow raised, still not completely understanding what she was getting at but as Beca shot him a look, not bothering to clarify her words any further and instead, crossed her arms defensively, her cheeks still bright red, it suddenly hit him. He grinned widely at her, his eyes lighting up, so very amused by just how much she wanted to keep it a secret from him.

"Don't laugh, Jesse. Seriously, _don't_," she warned, waving a finger in his face, "It's not funny, okay? I was really late today and I—"

"—So, you're planning on staying over tonight, are you?" he asked, smoothly cutting in, still grinning widely at her, especially as she stopped mid-sentence, staring at him, blushing even harder, momentarily lost for words. As she showed no sign of recovering and speaking to him again, he bit the inside of his cheeks in an attempt to stop himself from bursting out laughing [because only Beca, _only Beca_, could get this worked up about something like this].

"Hey, you're always welcome to stay over here," he replied once he had properly composed himself, watching as Beca instantly relaxed, looking slightly less uncomfortable than she had been a few seconds ago, waiting until he had her full attention before continuing, "And by 'here', I mean at my apartment, in my bed—"

"—You're an idiot," she told him, as she immediately reached out to shove his chest lightly, rolling her eyes, but she was smiling again so he just smiled back, catching her hand with his. "Seriously, why do I put up with you?"

He shrugged his shoulders, letting her lead him into his living room as he replied. "Because you can't resist my wit and charm," he told her, ignoring her immediate scoff and roll of her eyes, "And because I have an endless supply of juice at my apartment and everyone loves juice, even you."

"Okay, weirdo," she said, cutting him off with one hand, turning around to face him, her eyebrow rising incredulously, and he suddenly cleared his throat, awkwardly running a hand through his hair, remembering exactly what he had been doing right before she arrived, "Want to explain to me what all this is?"

* * *

Though she could feel Jesse shifting uncomfortably behind her, clearly nervous about whatever was going on in his living room, she didn't prompt him for an answer; instead, she let herself examine the room more closely, noting that his sofa had been pushed against the wall and in its place, stood a table and two chairs. As she slowly walked towards the table, noticing that there were plates and cutlery all set out, as well as a _candle _proudly standing right in the middle, she swivelled to face him again, his intentions becoming clear to her. Jesse instantly averted his gaze from hers, staring up at the ceiling, muttering something inaudible under his breath, and she smirked, moving steadily towards him until he was forced to meet her eyes again.

"I, uh, I may have gone a bit overboard," he said, sounding embarrassed, "I just thought that since dinner didn't go so well yesterday, what with the whole Luke-being-present thing, we could maybe, I don't know, try again?"

"It's five o'clock," she reminded him, her smirk growing wider as he instantly opened his mouth to retort, "It's a bit early for dinner, don't you think?"

"I know, I know," he replied, averting his gaze once again, his hand running through his hair, messing it up even more. "We can forget about this, if you want. I don't mind, I just, I thought it might be nice, that's all."

He fell silent, still refusing to look at her, his cheeks definitely turning red and okay, yes, maybe she felt more than a little bad for teasing him now because if she was honest, _really honest_, this was nice. More than nice. No-one had ever made a gesture like this for her before – not Luke, not any of the other guys she had dated in the past – and sure, maybe it was more over the top than anything she would have normally gone for but it was so _Jesse_ and maybe that wasn't a bad thing.

"Hey, no, this is cool," she said, stepping forward and tugging the front of his shirt to get him to look at her again, giving him a smile as he met her gaze, "Even, uh, even the candle."

Jesse blinked, quickly shifting his gaze towards the candle and pulling a face. "I'm honestly not sure where that came from," he said, shaking his head a little, his hands coming to rest against her waist, "I think it might be one of Lilly's - she's always threatening to burn things for fun - but, uh, I just found it lying around the apartment and I thought it might, you know, add to the atmosphere and all."

"Add to the _atmosphere_?" she echoed, smirking again, and he shrugged sheepishly at her. She grinned, reaching for his hand and pulling him towards the sofa, waiting until they were both sat down before speaking again. "It really is too early for dinner," she explained, leaning back but not letting go of his hand as she continued, "But…thanks, really. You didn't have to do this."

"I wanted to," he replied, turning towards her and giving her a smile, his expression growing serious as he searched her face. She exhaled slowly, meeting his gaze as steadily as she could, her gut feeling telling her that despite all his joking, despite how cheerful he seemed, he was still worried about what Luke had said to her last night, and she bit her lip as seconds later, her suspicions were proved correct.

"Bec, I talked to Chloe today," Jesse started, sounding a little unsure of himself, staring down at their interlocked hands, "and I'm okay with you not telling me what happened – really, I am – but just, look, if there's anything I can do, anything at all…"

She bit her lip as he trailed off, moving her gaze from his face which had his concern for her written all over it, to the table that he had carefully laid out, candle and all, and _screw it_, he deserved to know. Keeping him in the dark wasn't going to help anyone and besides, it wasn't like Luke had explicitly told her that she had to remain silent about the whole thing.

"Jesse, I talked to Chloe today too," she said, repeating his words, slowly turning to look at him again, waiting for him to meet her gaze before continuing, "I know you asked her for Luke's number." Jesse blinked, a guilty look crossing his face, opening his mouth to retort but she shook her head, placing her free hand over it. "I don't want to keep things from you," she told him carefully, "I don't, I swear, but I just, I don't know whether I can risk it."

"Risk what?"

Beca exhaled, leaning back against the sofa, sliding her eyes shut, her head spinning as she attempted to piece together her next sentences. "Nothing happened, not really," she started, feeling Jesse's gaze on her, his hand gripping hers a little tighter, "He just said that I had to leave you out of everything or he'd—" She faltered, biting her lip, memories of last night flashing in her mind and it was only when she felt Jesse's arm wrap itself around her shoulders, wordlessly pulling her against his side, that she managed to continue, "He said he knew some people in the industry and that if I involved you in our…business again, he'd talk to them. About you."

As Jesse didn't say anything in response, she slowly opened her eyes again, frowning at the clear look of indecision on his face as he contemplated her words. "Jesse?" she prompted, starting to get worried by his continued silence, "I'll handle it, okay? You don't need to worry, it'll be fine, I swear. Just don't do anything stupid."

Jesse met her gaze, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, still deep in thought and she just stared back, leaning more heavily against his side. She waited a minute, two, three, before Jesse suddenly shifted, slowly removing his arm as he stood up, walking over to the piano in the corner and retrieving an envelope.

"Take it," he said, making his way back over to the sofa and sliding it over to her, though his voice came out almost unfamiliar, unsure. She frowned, reaching for it and turning it over in her lap before raising her eyebrow at him, giving him a curious look, not quite understanding what was happening.

"What is it?"

Jesse didn't answer straight away, seating himself beside her again, and her heart started beating uncontrollably, somehow knowing that what he was about to say wasn't something she was going to like. "Let's say, _hypothetically_, that I don't apply to any internships for a while, I don't submit any anything," he said carefully, averting his gaze, and she quickly shook her head, protests flying from her mouth, instantly realising what she was holding in her hand: his application form, "Would that mean that, _hypothetically_, Luke would have nothing to blackmail you with?"

"Jesse, take it back," she said firmly, pushing the envelope back towards him as if it was on fire, but he refused to take it, slowly crossing his arms, "Don't be an idiot."

"Bec, listen to me," he told her, shaking his head, and her eyes widened in disbelief as she realised just how serious he was and _god_, she really didn't deserve someone like him. "I'm not going to sit around and let you get blackmailed by him like this, especially not when I can do something about it."

She stared at him, watching him exhale heavily as he waited for her to respond, and after a moment's consideration, she shot him a wry smile, pulling the envelope back towards her, standing up and walking over to her bag, placing it carefully inside.

"What are you going to do with it?"

She smiled, turning around to see him standing behind her, his eyes searching her face. "Post it," she said simply, reaching for his hands again, "You're going to keep applying to these internships and you're going to get something, no matter what Luke says or does."

Jesse stared at her for a few seconds before he nodded, silently surrendering. "Thank you," he murmured, pulling her towards him, resting his forehead against hers, and as her hand slid around the back of his head, her fingers entangling themselves in his hair, she felt him kiss her harder and with more intention than he had ever done before. She smiled against his lips, tugging him closer, feeling him start to coax her mouth open as he backed her up against the table, and if it wasn't for the fact that its corner was now digging uncomfortably against her skin and she was sort of afraid that she might get burnt by his 'atmosphere-enhancing' candle, she was sure she would have no objections to continuing.

"Jesse, wait, stop," she said, reluctantly and firmly pulling away, one hand still in his hair, the other lying flat against his chest. He glanced down at her, meeting her gaze as he took deep breaths, steadying himself, before giving her an apologetic look.

"Sorry," he said hastily, pulling a face, looking more than a little embarrassed, "That was completely my fault, I didn't mean to get carried away and I—"

She stared at him, eyebrow raised, a slow smirk appearing on her face as words continued to spill from his mouth, his cheeks growing redder by the second. "That's not why I pulled away," she told him with a shake of her head, before smirking again as she registered exactly what he was saying, "Wait a second, _that_ was what you consider getting 'carried away'?"

"I, uh, no, not quite. I just, you pulled away and I guess I...panicked," he said awkwardly with a shrug of his shoulders, but he was grinning now, especially when she rolled her eyes and called him a dork before explaining the correct reasons behind her actions. Jesse immediately started apologising again, his eyes earnest, but she simply smirked once more, pulling him around the table and towards the sofa, reaching for the hem of his shirt and twisting it around her fingers, watching his eyes darken several shades as she kissed him again.


	36. Chapter 36

**C**HAPTER** T**HIRTY** S**IX

Though it had been clear for weeks now that Jesse harboured feelings for this girl, this weirdo with the earspike, it wasn't until he was lying beside Beca in his bed, reflecting on the evening's events, that he realised the sheer magnitude of them. Not only was she smart, witty, beautiful, but she was also _loyal_; loyal enough to keep on encouraging him to pursue his dreams and apply for internships even though it meant that Luke would continue to hold something over her. She had made the decision look so easy too, instantly shaking her head as soon as he had tried to hand her his application form and insist that he was okay with it, and god, he liked her. _Really liked her_.

"Get some sleep, weirdo," Beca said softly from beside him, and he turned, his lips quirking slightly as he took in the way her body was carefully angled away from his, her hands glued to her sides, obviously trying to avoid repeating the events – _the cuddling_ – of this morning. With a grin, he purposefully shifted himself towards her, sliding an arm around her shoulders, his grin growing wider as she instantly froze, lifting her head to give him a dirty look.

"If it's any consolation," he started, trying his hardest to stop himself from laughing at the way she squirmed, prodding him repeatedly in the ribs, "Technically _I'm_ the one doing all the cuddling here; you're completely innocent."

She narrowed her eyes at him, shooting him another look. "For the last time, this is not cuddling," she said, with gritted teeth, eyes bright, but she stopped moving all the same, biting her lip and leaning into him ever so slightly, "I don't _do_ cuddling." He grinned, tightening his grip on her, pressing his mouth against her hair before slowly closing his eyes as she fell silent, her breathing becoming steadier. It wasn't until ten minutes later when she suddenly shifted, slowly pulling his hands away from her and sitting up again.

"Hey, Jesse, are you still awake?"

He cracked an eye open, his eyebrows immediately furrowing with concern at the hesitation in her voice, his heart starting to beat faster, wanting so badly to reach out for her again and try to get rid of it but instead, he just stayed quiet, giving her a nod, completely awake now. Beca took a deep breath, tearing her gaze away from him and down at her lap, fidgeting with her hoodie [or rather, _his_ hoodie], and still, he waited, his gut instinct telling him that was the best thing to do right now.

"Luke, he, uh, he wants me to go to dinner with him tomorrow," she finally admitted, and his heart sank, not entirely surprised by her words but disliking them wholeheartedly all the same, "I don't want to go but I think I have to. I need to know what he's up to."

Jesse nodded, moving to mirror her seated position, reaching forward and pulling her hands into his lap, waiting until she had made eye-contact with him before responding. "Do what you have to do," he told her, "and if you want me to be there just let me know, okay? I promised Benji that we'd have a Star Wars marathon but I can always cancel, I'm sure he wouldn't mind—"

"—Stop, Jesse," she interrupted, shaking her head firmly, "You know you can't be there; no, you know I won't let you be there." Jesse immediately opened his mouth to protest but before he could get any words out, Beca had cut him off again, speaking over him. "I'll be okay, don't cancel on Benji," she said, but she shot him a grateful smile anyway, "I'll have dinner with Luke and then afterwards, I'll come and join your nerdathon."

Jesse watched her for a few seconds, his mind whirling as he debated whether to push the matter any further but eventually, he just nodded once more, his eyes light, his tone teasing as he replied. "You, of all people, want to watch Star Wars with us? Seriously?"

Beca grinned, a look of relief flashing across her face at his reply. "It wasn't _that_ bad last time," she said, remembering the first time she had watched Star Wars with the two boys all those weeks ago, back when she still wasn't entirely sure what to make of either of them. "I mean, sure, I nearly made Benji hyperventilate but—"

"_Nearly_?

She rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms defiantly, until he shrugged his shoulders, looking unbothered by her reaction. "You know, I thought you were the biggest dork ever back then," she told him, leaning forward to pat him on the cheek, so immensely grateful that she had bothered to get to know him and give him Skittles, and for everything that had happened in between.

"And now?"

Beca smirked widely, her hands sliding around the back of his head, roughly tugging him towards her. "Now I _know_ you're the biggest dork," she said, as she closed the distance between their faces, before pushing him back down onto the bed, burying her head into his side as she slid an arm around his waist, imitating their positions from this morning. "Don't even think about it," she warned, as he immediately grinned, opening his mouth to comment, and after considering her words carefully and remembering just how hard her pokes were, he closed it again, staying silent. [For a grand total of five minutes but hey, who was counting?]

* * *

Although Beca felt marginally better about having dinner with Luke after talking to Jesse and realising that he had her back no matter what happened, her general opinion about the whole thing remained the same; she didn't want to go, especially alone, but she had to. After all, she knew from past experience that trying to avoid Luke would only lead to more frequent and more serious threats, and besides, she really needed to figure out exactly what he wanted from her before it was too late and he turned her life upside down again.

"You coming in, miss?"

Beca blinked, muttering out a quick apology as she took a step backwards from the doorway of the restaurant that she was currently blocking, sliding her eyes shut as she moved to lean against the wall instead. Considering the fact that she had reluctantly agreed to meet Luke ten minutes ago at this very restaurant, she was pretty sure that he was already inside, but yet, she couldn't quite bring herself to step over the threshold, make herself vulnerable to him again. The truth was, although it made her sound like the most selfish person in the world, given what Luke had threatened to do, she really wished she had accepted Jesse's offer to cancel on Benji and come with her.

Taking a deep breath in an attempt to rid herself of all negative thoughts, she shifted on the spot, forcing herself to think back to this morning and how she had woken up to the sight of Jesse's grinning face hovering over her, slowly but firmly pushing all her nerves and doubts to the back of her mind. As soon as she felt steadier, calmer, she cracked her eyes open again, biting her lip a little harder as she was greeted with Luke, standing right in front of her, his lips quirked in what she was pretty sure was _amusement_ as he watched her.

"Have you got a table?" she asked bluntly, stepping past him and into the restaurant, her fists clenching instinctively at the sight of his smug grin and the realisation that after everything, after Jesse, he still had a significant effect on her.

"Hi to you too, I guess—"

"—Luke, I'm really not in the mood for this," she said, cutting in, gritting her teeth slightly, and Luke shrugged, leading her towards a table, an easy smile still on his face. As soon as they had both sat down and quickly scanned the menu, she didn't waste any more time, crossing her arms as she leant back against the chair, eyeing him suspiciously. "What do you want from me, Luke? Why did you want me to have dinner with you?"

Luke blinked, a look of surprise flashing across his face, before he let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "You still don't get it, do you?" he asked, and she bit her lip, squinting at him, wishing that he'd just come out and _say it_, instead of playing all these cryptic mind games, "Let's just…eat first, then we'll talk."

"No, let's talk first, then eat," she retorted automatically, her nails digging into the palms of her hands, leaning across the table to get her point across, her eyes meeting his, "I just, I don't get it, Luke. What could you possibly want from me? If you're planning on stealing my music again, I swear to god, I'm going to—

"—That's not why I'm here," Luke said, smoothly interrupting her, and she slowly raised an eyebrow in surprise, especially because he sounded more _sincere_ than he had ever done before. If he wasn't here to steal her music again and he didn't want her back, well, what did he want? It just didn't make any sense and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of his answer. "Look, Beca, let's just eat first. Please. I swear I'll explain everything afterwards."

She stared at him, her eyebrow still raised, arms still crossed. As Luke showed no sign of backing down, meeting her gaze stubbornly, she sighed loudly. She didn't know whether he was being completely truthful when he said that he would explain everything 'afterwards' but what choice did she have? If she wanted answers from Luke, she was going to have to play along, even though her brain was screaming at her to just walk away, find Jesse, _leave_.

"Okay," she finally relented, hoping she wasn't making a huge mistake, "Let's eat."

* * *

When Jesse had agreed to having a Star Wars marathon with Benji a couple of days ago, he never imagined that it would turn out like this; here they were, in his apartment, Benji sat next to him all decked out in Star Wars merchandise, halfway through watching the first film, and though he'd usually be glued to the screen, swept up in all the sci-fi action, he just couldn't concentrate. All he could think about was Beca, wondering what was happening between her and Luke, wondering whether Luke was trying to blackmail her again, wondering whether she was okay. Jesse let out a sigh, clenching his fists together, forcing himself to focus on the screen in front of him because he knew, deep down, that worrying like this wasn't going to do anyone any good. He needed to just stay calm, try his best not to dwell about what might or might not be happening at this very moment, and _watch the film_.

"You're distracted," Benji commented quietly from beside him, his eyes still fixed on the screen, and Jesse jumped, startled, shooting him a guilty look, even though he knew that the other boy probably wouldn't pick up on it. "What's wrong, Jesse?"

Jesse shook his head slowly, swallowing. "It's nothing," he replied, running a hand through his hair as he began humming fragments of the Star Wars soundtrack in his head, hoping it would help to distract him from thinking about Luke, "Don't worry about it, just…carry on watching."

Benji contemplated his words for a few quiet seconds, his head tilted, before he suddenly sprung up without warning, sending his limited edition lightsaber flying dangerously near Jesse's face, causing him to jump back in alarm, his hand shooting out to catch it.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Jesse asked, as his fingers curled around the lightsaber, gently passing it back to the other boy, not entirely sure what was happening. Benji just shrugged in response, promptly sitting back down again, shooting him a sheepish, apologetic look as he reached for the remote control, switching the movie off without saying a word. Jesse blinked, his eyes glancing between the now black screen and Benji's face, slowly raising an eyebrow in confusion, wondering what was going on. "Uh, I'm sorry for not paying attention…?"

Benji shook his head, hesitantly inching his hand towards Jesse before thinking better of it and retrieving it, awkwardly sticking it into his pocket. After taking a deep breath, he met Jesse's gaze again, his expression incredibly solemn as he opened his mouth to speak, his tone soft, careful, despite Jesse's continued bemusement at the whole situation: "So, um, where's Beca today?"

"What?"

Benji just shrugged, starting to fidget with the hem of his t-shirt, patiently waiting for an answer, knowing that Jesse had heard his question perfectly well. Jesse stared at him, his mouth slowly falling open, realising that although he had tried to avoid discussing Beca with Benji, not wanting to be _that guy_, Benji knew more about the whole Luke situation than he let on.

"I'm worried about you, Jesse," Benji said slowly, as Jesse continued to gape at him, still looking stunned by his words, "And…I'm worried about Beca."

Jesse shook his head, forcing himself to plaster a smile onto his face, feeling overwhelmingly guilty for making the other boy worry like this. "It's okay, we're handling it," he said, as reassuringly as he could, but as Benji simply returned his smile, the smile not as bright as it usually was, Jesse sighed, shaking his head again. "Beca's having dinner with Luke right now," he finally admitted, wincing as he watched Benji's forehead immediately furrow, concern suddenly written all over his face.

"She's...having dinner with Luke?" Benji echoed, though it came out more like a statement rather than a question. Jesse ran a hand through his hair, nodding slowly, feeling a bit better about being able to talk about it, having it out in the open. Benji bit his lip, looking thoughtful for a second, before he sprung up from the sofa once more, this time making sure to hold on tightly to his lightsaber lest it whack Jesse in the face, gesturing towards the other boy as he spoke again: "Okay, let's go."

"Go where?"

Benji stared at him for a second, his eyes flashing, before proudly raising his lightsaber in the air as he replied. "To find Beca, of course," he said, speaking over Jesse as he started to protest, insisting that it was fine and that they should just continue watching the rest of the Star Wars movies like they had initially planned to do. "Beca's my friend too," Benji retorted, as he walked towards the door, not waiting to see whether Jesse was following him, "I want to make sure she's okay."

Jesse ran a hand through his hair again, slowly standing up and making his way towards the other boy, shooting him a grateful look. "You're a good friend, Benji," he said, as he reached him, "You're a really, _really_ good friend."

Benji just gave him a wry smile in return, awkwardly lifting his free hand for a high-five. "No," he replied, as Jesse smiled back, raising his own hand, "You are."

* * *

Though Beca had endured more than her fair share of awkward dinners in the past – dinners with her ex-boyfriends, dinners with _Chloe's_ ex-boyfriends, dinners with her dad and her stepmother – this one was definitely the most awkward. Neither of them had said a word since Luke had insisted that they eat before discussing whatever it was that he had asked her here for; instead, both of them chose to just stare at each other, arms crossed, eyes locked, silently daring the other to speak. As the food arrived, Luke tilted his head towards the plates but Beca just stared stubbornly back, refusing to touch it until Luke did. With a sigh, Luke reluctantly tore his gaze away from hers, slowly and deliberately eating a mouthful and, after a moment's hesitation, Beca did the same. They ate in silence, Beca's mind whirling as she desperately tried to figure out exactly what he wanted from her, or what was going to happen next, but despite all her thinking, despite all her worrying, nothing could have prepared her for the words that actually came out of Luke's mouth as he finally pushed his plate away, finished with his meal.

"I'm sorry, you _what_?" she asked, eyebrow raised, hoping that she had misheard and that this was all some cruel, sick joke.

"I need your help, Beca," Luke repeated, slowly moving his gaze towards the ceiling, his words causing Beca to swear under her breath, not entirely sure what was happening but not entirely sure that she wanted to find out either. "Look, I know that I'm not your favourite person right now but—"

"What gave you that impression?"

Luke shot her a look, and she bit her lip, leaning back into her chair, clenching her fists together as she waited for him to continue speaking and hopefully explain what the _hell_ was going on; however, instead of finishing his sentence like she had thought he would, Luke simply continued staring at her, suddenly looking a little unsure, and she frowned, raising an eyebrow again.

"Luke, unless you tell me what you want in the next five seconds, I'm leaving," she said, forcing herself to remain calm, breathing deeply. This dinner was going from being incredibly awkward to incredibly _weird_. What did Luke need her help for? And…why would he come to her, of all people? It wasn't like they were friends or anything – far from it – despite what he had kept insisting all those weeks ago and what he had told Aubrey.

Luke took a deep breath, casting his eyes skywards again, swallowing once, twice, before speaking. "You're the only one that can help me, Beca," he said, "I, uh, I need you to teach me how to edit music."

She stared at him, hoping once again that she had misheard him, but as Luke didn't say anything else, simply continuing to seem extremely interested in the pattern on the ceiling, she swore loudly, swiftly muttering out an apology as the people on the table behind them turned around, giving her affronted, offended looks.

"You have got to be kidding me," she said, in a slightly quieter voice, fists clenched harder than before, her nails digging painfully into her skin, "Please tell me you're kidding."

Luke just shrugged, slowly shaking his head, meeting her gaze, and she frowned, biting her lip hard, as he had the audacity and nerve to _smile_ at her, as if what he had asked of her was no big deal, as if they were actually friends and she owed him this. "Look, Beca, life's been hard for me lately and I'd really appreciate it if you—"

"Life's been hard for _you_?" she repeated, her eyebrows raised in disbelief, "Seriously? Jesus Christ, Luke, do you even realise what you did to me?"

"I know I made a mistake and I just—"

"—God, just stop," she said, cutting him off, standing up and throwing her hands in the air, so sick of listening to him, so sick of all these games. Given all the times that Luke had lied to her, she wasn't even sure whether he was being completely truthful with her right now but even if he was, she just…this was too much. "I can't deal with this right now."

Ignoring Luke's protests from behind her, she blindly stood up, walking straight out of the restaurant without a second glance, her head spinning. She stumbled towards the nearest bench, seating herself down, covering her face with her hands as she tried to process what had just happened. Half of her wished she had stayed in the restaurant for a little longer to find out exactly why Luke had made such a odd, and _stupid_, request, whilst the other half was relieved to be outside, surrounded by fresh air, as her mind got clearer and less muddled with every breath she took.

Beca continued to sit there, unmoving, her head still in her hands, her breathing still heavy, until she froze, straightening up in alarm as she heard someone calling her name. With a sinking heart, she slowly cracked her eyes open, praying that Luke hadn't followed her outside to continue their conversation because quite honestly, she wasn't quite sure what to say to him or whether she was even ready to face him again. Squinting in the direction of the voices, she breathed a sigh of relief as instead of seeing Luke's blond head, she saw two guys running towards her - one of them with a glowing lightsaber in his hand - matching looks of concern on both of their faces.

As they got steadily closer, she stood up, biting her lip as Jesse's frown got more pronounced, waiting until he was a few metres away from her before pausing, slowly and deliberately opening his arms out towards her. She dug her teeth into her lip a little harder before walking forward, burying her head into his chest, feeling his arms wrap around her, shuddering slightly.

"You okay?" she heard him whisper, his tone quiet, worried, and she nodded, meaning it; what Luke had said to her was confusing and impossible to understand but now that she wasn't alone anymore, she felt a little calmer, more able to deal with everything.

As Jesse released her, still frowning, she took a step backwards, taking a deep breath, forcing herself to smile at the two boys, trying her best to convince them that they didn't need to worry about her; however, as Benji glanced towards the restaurant across the road and then back to her again, opening his mouth to speak, her smile quickly vanished, replaced by a look of confusion.

"Beca, what did Luke say to you?" Benji asked quietly, his eyes nervously darting all over the place, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right. Beca stared at him, slowly raising an eyebrow, wondering exactly how much he knew about the whole situation because as far as she could recall, she hadn't ever mentioned Luke to him before. She turned her head, shooting a questioning look at Jesse, but he simply shrugged in response. "I, um, I figured out most of it by myself," he added hastily, looking suddenly guilty, his cheeks going red, gesturing towards a tree several metres away as he continued, "I can, um, stand over there if you want to talk to Jesse alone?"

Beca blinked, slowly shaking her head, taking a step forward, towards him. "No, stay," she said, giving him a smile, realising that she didn't care that Benji knew because not only was it _Benji_, who was just so overwhelmingly nice and patient and good, but because she also knew that Jesse wouldn't be standing here in front of her right now if it wasn't for Benji - because he had _promised_ her he wouldn't come - and despite all her insisting that she'd be okay going to dinner with Luke alone, she was so glad that they were both here.

"We'll figure out how to deal with this together," she said, leaning back as she felt Jesse's arm wrap itself around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest, "And then…we'll watch Star Wars."

"Sounds good to me," Jesse said, pressing his mouth briefly against her hair, tightening his grip, and she smiled at both of them, so grateful that she had these two nerds in her life, even if one was still brandishing a lightsaber in her direction and the other had a t-shirt on with a stormtrooper print.

* * *

**As usual, thank you so much for all the reviews/PMs, it blows my mind to think that there are people still reading this... :) I don't know if it's just me but the B/J world seems really...quiet at the moment so give me a shout if you're still alive?!**

**PS - Although there's still a fair amount of stuff to get through, _the end of CB is definitely in sight_ so if there's anything you want to see in future chapters, let me know now!**


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