Prologue.
Three knocks woke Jesse up from his slumber. Three sharp, and loud for his hungover ass, knocks.
He pulled himself up, thinking his roommate lost his keys again and walked in heavy steps to get the door.
"Coming," he throatily said to the person behind the door when they knocked again.
Rubbing his tired eyes, he cleared his throat and unlocked the door. He stepped back in surprise when he saw who was at the door. "Hey," he greeted not hiding his surprise. "Beca," he called, remembering her despite the fact that he only met her once before, approximately two months ago.
"You remember me. Good," she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Of course, I remember you." She was kind of hard to forget.
He opened the door widely, "Um, c'mon on in." He frowned noting how anxious she was. "You okay?" he questioned when she zoned out while she stared at him.
"Not really." She snapped out of her thoughts. "Sorry for showing up unannounced." He shrugged. "Didn't think to even find you home."
He glanced at the time and saw that it was 3:15 pm. His hungover ass slept too much.
"I wasn't even gonna tell you but I can't do that. I just can't not let you know." She shrugged.
He was confused but decided to hear her out then ask questions.
"I'm pregnant," she informed, meeting his gaze. "And before you ask, yep, I'm sure it's yours. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure. I don't care if you choose not to believe me. I just figured it wouldn't be fair if I didn't let you know. Now if you excuse me, I have an appointment to get to." She turned on her heels.
"Wait," he called. She was already reaching for the door to open the car when he called. She dropped a bomb on him and didn't even give him time to process the fact that a good time wasn't the only outcome of the one night stand they had. "Can you reschedule your appointment? We need to talk."
She shook her head. "It's an important one."
"Oh, okay." He paused. "Well, are you keeping it— I mean the baby—I mean our baby?" he asked.
She looked surprised for a second and opened the door. "Yeah, I'm keeping it."
"You sure you can't reschedule? I don't think I'll be able to wait until you're free to talk about what we're doing about this. If we want to get married—"
"Dude, no," she interrupted. "Just keep living your life. I'll let you know later the due date and all."
"But I want to be involved." He frowned.
He didn't see a reason why he shouldn't believe her. She seemed sincere. The way she worded the news made it pretty convincing.
She looked less anxious yet not completely relieved, playing with her car keys. "I'm seeing my OB-GYN in thirty-five minutes to get an ultrasound... first baby ultrasound."
"Let me put some shoes on." He waited until she nodded. "Wait," he said as he got inside the house. He quickly threw some clothes on as well as his shoes and wallet before he rushed out of the house.
16 years later.
"Why are you mad at the door?" Jesse asked, looking up from his laptop as he laid on the couch.
"Slipped from my hand," Aiden mumbled, readjusting one of his earphones and walking towards the stairs.
Jesse glanced out of the window while the boy climbed the stairs and saw that Beca's car was still in front of his house. He could see her head against the wheel, which couldn't be good. Sighing, he closed the lid of the laptop then put it aside as he got up. "Didn't go well, huh?" he asked once she rolled the window down the moment he knocked on the glass.
"No." She ran a hand through her hair.
"Did he do something he should be apologizing for?" he wondered.
She shook her head in response.
"I thought you'd tell him once it's official, have you made up your mind already?" he wondered in confusion.
"Aiden overheard me and dad talk about moving over back to Barden and asked me if we're gonna be relocating then got pissed when I told him that if I did move to Barden he'll be staying here in L.A. with you." She blew a breath, rubbing her temples. "Am I a bad parent for not wanting him to give up his life here?"
"No," Jesse stated the obvious. "He'll come around… I'll talk to him."
"Thanks," she smiled curtly at him and he stepped back so she could drive off. Except, she didn't. She instead undid her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm not sure, it smells like something is burning," she mumbled in response as she walked around the car to look at the engine. He stood by her side as she checked some fuses.
"It's leaking," she informed and pointed at the engine's valve cover gasket.
Jesse nodded noticing the oil. "If it's leaking all the way up, it's surely dripping..."
"…on the exhaust pipe which of course gets hot and causes the god awful smell," she finished for him.
"Yep," he nodded. "Gaskets aren't that expensive," he told her when she let out a heavy sigh.
"But the labor will be," she muttered, scratching her temple.
"I can do it," he offered. "For free," he added when she snapped her head to look at him. "Wait, not for free, I'll have some of those awesome cupcakes you'd send with Aiden on holidays." He grinned at the eye roll he received. "I think it's a fair deal." He shrugged when she looked back at the car while biting her bottom lip.
"Very," she deadpanned. "How much time would it take to get it changed and when would you change it?"
"Not a lot of time and as soon as I can get my hands on a new gasket," he answered. "Tell you what, how about we go get what we need for the cupcakes as well as the kit?"
"Right now?" she said in surprise.
"Yeah, unless you have somewhere to be."
"No, I'm free for the evening," she replied.
"Your gasket is changed, where are my cupcakes?" Jesse asked upon entering the kitchen.
"They'll be ready in like five minutes," she nodded at the oven. "Shouldn't you go wash your hands first?" she wondered when he pulled the fridge door open and grabbed a beer.
"I plan to wash them, I just need this first, want one?" he was saying as he removed the cap and brought the beer to his lips. "Where is he?" Jesse lowered his voice a little as he handed her a beer.
"Upstairs," she informed, using the counter's edge to open the bottle.
"I saw him come into the kitchen earlier through the window, did you talk?" he wanted to know and she nodded.
"And?" he said in anticipation.
"I won't be going anywhere without him and I can't take him away from you so I'm staying in L.A."
"Beca, he loves you more and can barely stay over for a couple of days. I don't mind if you took him away... he could come over on holidays."
"Don't say that. Aiden loves you just as much. He physically can't stand it here because of his allergy to dogs. Where is your dog, by the way?" she asked, frowning, as she looked around, noticing the dog's absence.
"Jen took him," he answered, shaking the beer. "We broke up like five months ago, Beca," he reminded.
"Right," she nodded.
She had a lot on her mind and keeping track of his love life had no place in her busy mind.
"Where's your better half?" he asked, breaking the silence they got in as they sipped their beer.
"With her better half. I'm just the side chick except she calls me for parenting advice instead of regular side chick stuff," she deadpanned.
Jesse chuckled at her tone.
"What's for dinner?" Aiden was asking as he stepped inside the kitchen.
"Good question," Jesse quipped.
"Don't look at me, I'll be gone once the cupcakes are ready," Beca said when Aiden looked at her.
"Ever since Dad and Jen broke up, we've been eating pizza and while I love pizza I don't want to have it for dinner whenever I spend the night here," Aiden informed and received a glare from his old man.
"You could have mentioned something when I'd ask what you want for dinner," Jesse said not daring to look at Beca. Aiden was making him look bad in front of her. "Well, what do you want for dinner tonight?" Jesse asked when the boy shrugged.
"Anything is fine, Dad," Aiden said while Beca pulled the cupcakes from the oven.
"Would you guys like to have pasta?" Beca suggested, eyeing Jesse as she set the tray on the counter.
"Pasta sounds good," Aiden said. "Dad?" he called.
"Yeah," he nodded, pulling a drawer open and grabbing a handful of takeout menus. "I think I have the takeout menu of this Italian place that makes great pasta."
"Oh, Mom, make the pan one," Aiden requested.
Jesse looked between the two and was about to tell Beca she didn't have to but then realized it would be the first the three sat down for dinner together in years. He could remember the last time they had dinner on the same table: Aiden was barely five.
"I'd love to have some pan pasta," he said.
She thought about it for a second before she agreed.
"I'm good." Beca held up the beer she had yet to finish when Jesse offered her a drink from the bottle of whiskey he brought from his bar.
"You sure there isn't something I could do to help?" he asked, filling a glass of whiskey. He already set the table and felt pretty useless.
"There isn't much to do." She shrugged. "Pan Pasta is pretty easy to pull off."
"Hey, are you seeing anyone?" he casually asked moments later.
She frowned at the random question. "Why? Got someone you wanna set me up with?" she countered.
"Not exactly," he chuckled to himself. "It might be the liquor but I think I have a brilliant idea that might be the solution to all your problems."
"All of my problems, huh?" She rested her hands on the kitchen island, facing him as he stood on the other end.
He nodded.
"I didn't know you're aware of my problems."
"I know more about you than you think, Beca," he was saying as he refilled his glass.
"That's kinda creepy, but go on, what's your brilliant idea?" She watched him take a large sip of whiskey and set the glass down.
"Marry me," he told her and was met with a blank look. "Tax cuts," he continued. "You could use those marital tax deductions."
She rolled her eyes.
"Beca, you can't afford to live in L.A. anymore," he stated. "And you won't take child support."
"I'll figure something out," she mumbled.
"Marry me and get those legal benefits… as well a rent-free house."
This time she let out a humorless laugh.
"When did you get this idea?" she asked. "You clearly thought it through."
"While changing the gasket. I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't like that Aiden doesn't love me as much as he loves you. I don't know what went wrong. And, no, it's not the dog allergy. The dog's been away for quite a while now and whenever he's here Aiden stays in his room the whole time and we barely talk."
"He loves us the same," she told him sharply. "He's fifteen, Jesse. You know kids his age and their mood swings."
"Just think about it, Beca."
"No, I've worked so hard to make sure Aiden leads a healthy balanced life and this will fuck him up for sure."
"How will living with the two of us under the same roof fuck him up?"
"He'll get ideas, Jesse. He'll wish we'd get together. He'll want a regular family. I mean it must cross his mind sometimes but at least I know he accepts how things are."
"He also must know you're not doing well financially since he decided to work this summer so he could help pay rent."
"He told you that?" She frowned.
He nodded. "I asked what he wanted to buy with his paycheck then had to force it out of him when he wouldn't tell me. He resisted so much I legit thought he was in trouble."
"Well, I won't let him pay for anything either don't worry."
"It won't fuck him up if we told him from the get-go why we're getting married and why you're moving in with me."
"No," she said, shaking her head.
"Then take child support."
"We're done talking about this," she decided and went back to preparing dinner.
"Why are you like this?" he said in frustration, watching her cook.
"I can manage on my own. I don't need your help."
"I don't think it's healthy for a fifteen-year-old to worry about money when I can afford a good life for the two of you." He paused for a second. "What if he's treating me like a stranger because he thinks I don't care enough to step in?"
"I'll talk to Aiden and see why he's acting up," she told him.
"Will you think about my proposal, though?" He was met with silence. "We'll get a divorce once you're back on your feet."
He really hoped she'd say yes because he hated seeing her struggle. They weren't really friends or anything, they just had a kid between them who was basically the only reason they were in each other's lives. But it didn't mean he didn't care about her. Besides, he meant what he said about Aiden treating him like a stranger.
"Fine, then let me loan you money and you can give it back whenever you can," he added not baring the silence.
"What part of I don't need your help you don't get?" she wondered, looking him dead in the eye.
"It doesn't even count as help. It's your right as Aiden's custodial parent to take child support."
"I don't want your money, Jesse," she told him in irritation.
"I won't just sit back—"
"—Are you saying you'll take it to court?" she interrupted her expression hardening.
"Jesus, Beca, no, I won't try to take Aiden from you," he sighed.
She seemed ready for a fight and the last thing he wanted was to fight with her.
"He doesn't have to know, you know? We could elope and not let him or anyone know."
"No," she curtly said.
He sighed, watching her as she tucked the hair that fell on her face behind her ear. His eyes fell on the small triangle tattooed on her wrist that he had never seen before.
"When did you get that?" He nodded at the tattoo.
"Like a month ago," she answered.
"Why do you have a triangle tattooed on your wrist?" he went on to ask.
"Because I felt like tattooing a triangle on my wrist," she replied.
"What does it mean?" he wondered and saw the way her lips twitched a little.
"It's a triangle, pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?"
"You're not a hipster so, nope, it's not just a triangle."
"Feel free to guess what it really means," she told him, the annoyance gone from her voice replaced with slight amusement.
He wanted to help badly but couldn't exactly force her so he figured he'd let it go, pressing her wouldn't get him anywhere.
"Could it be the one who greeted death as an old friend?" he guessed and saw utter confusion on her face. "The tale of the three brothers," he added. "The Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter?"
"For someone who claims they know me, you'd think you would know that I don't like movies."
"Okay, I knew that. I know that you don't like movies, doesn't mean you don't watch movies. Harry Potter is an international phenomenal I assumed you would have seen it and the books were big before the movies were made," he explained. "Oh, I got it!" he exclaimed, a second later. "It's to express your undying love for Doritos."
"Yeah, and I have Mountain Dew tattooed on my butt cheek," she said in response making him laugh.
It was weird how one minute she was driving him crazy and made him want to pull his hair out of frustration and the next he's laughing at her deadpan joke.
"Dinner is ready," she told him, unaware that he was checking her out as she spoke.
"I'll go tell Aiden," he mumbled, bringing his glass of whiskey to his lips and turning on his heels.
"He's such a sweet boy," Beca was saying as she and Jesse sat in his living room watching some home videos from Aiden's childhood. The current video was from his seventh birthday.
"He really is," Jesse agreed, reaching to get a hold of the whiskey to pour himself some more. "We did well." He held his hand up for a high five. "C'mon, don't leave me hanging. We made a pretty awesome kid: we deserve some credit for having amazing genes."
"That's not how it works… that's not how anything works."
"Eh." He shrugged, still waiting for her to high five him.
"You're a weirdo," she told him, caving in and high fiving him.
"So are you," he replied, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch.
"No, I'm not."
"Oh, you totally are. Even the universe knows how much of a weirdo you are."
"The universe?" She was buzzed but he was completely trashed and very entertaining.
"Uh-huh." He pushed himself up. "The universe knows that weirdos are very important and need to procreate hence Aiden."
"Wow," she laughed. "So, you're telling me that our one night stand sixteen years ago was the universe's plan to get us to make a child solely because we're weirdos?"
"Exactly!" He nodded. "Don't laugh, I'm serious," he added when she laughed.
"Sorry," she apologized half-heartedly. "So, does this mean Aiden is also a weirdo?" she asked, taking a sip from her beer.
"A full-blooded weirdo." It was so hard to keep a straight face but she did.
"That's interesting," she clicked her tongue, checking the time on her watch. "I should head out," she told him. "It's getting really late."
"You've been drinking, it's not safe for you to drive," he slurred.
He was drunk as hell but he still had common sense. "Spend the night over."
"I'd rather not. You got coffee?" She needed to sober up before she got behind the wheel.
"Yeah," he answered and took her hand when she offered it to help him get up and laughed when she couldn't pull him upwards.
"Sorry," he apologized for eventually causing her to fall on top of him.
"It's fine," she mumbled, pushing herself up.
"Can I know why you'd rather not spend the night?" he went on to ask, watching her as she distanced herself from him.
"No particular reason I just want to maintain the boundaries we have," she told him, readjusting her shirt then tucking it into her pants.
"That's such bullshit, Beca." He shook his head in amusement, bringing his glass of whiskey to his lips.
"Excuse me?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Your walls aren't boundaries," he told her. "Wait, not walls. It's a fortress at this point. You've built a fortress around yourself to make sure no one could ever reach you."
His words made her uncomfortable but he couldn't see that, not when his vision was so damn blurry. His drunk rambling wasn't as entertaining when she was subject of the said rambling.
"What would it take to wreck it down? Some c-four, perhaps?" he went on to say and earned a snort. "Figurative c-four that is."
"And what is it exactly?" she asked.
She was standing right in front of him while he struggled to push himself into a sitting position on the couch.
"It's a combination of things actually," he told her and paused briefly to take a sip of his whiskey before he placed the glass on the coffee table. "First, you got excellent love-making because duh."
"Of course," she nodded along amused by how serious he was and sat down on the coffee table.
"Gotta get the sexy stuff right." He shrugged. "Second, patience. A whole lot of patience because you will try to drive whoever gets too close away and they have to become Joseph basically and roll with the punches."
"Who?"
"Joseph." He paused to hiccup. "The prophet whose brothers were jealous of because their dad favored him over them that they decided to kill him then changed their minds and put him in a well instead… it's a long story. There's this Broadway show that tells his story it's called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It's on iTunes, I highly recommend you listen to it."
"Noted." She wasn't going to listen to it.
"We're sidetracking." He inhaled deeply. "So, we got awesome sex." He held his index up. "Patience." He made the peace sign.
"Uh-Huh."
He took too long of a pause. "Wait, I'm thinking." He rubbed his face. "Right! Never ever try to "fix you"," he said, using air-quotes. "It's not their job. You're you and they gotta accept you the way you are and be supportive no matter what. And, that's about it, I think. The rest is regular relationship stuff that should be in every relationship not just one with someone like yourself."
"Didn't realize you know all about figurative explosives." She had to throw in a sarcastic comment.
Jesse grinned in response, not taking offense at her sarcastic jab. "I should get you that coffee now," he figured.
"I'll go make it myself." She worried he'd break something because he was very drunk.
"No, no, I got it." He stood up at last and led the way to the kitchen, humming under his breath a tune from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Beca was amazed by how well Jesse handled things: she really doubted he'd manage to put some coffee to brew. She felt a tad bad for underestimating him.
"You gonna wake up with a killer hangover, Jesse. You should drink some water."
"Huh?" He pulled his head back from the fridge after he pulled a jar of peanut butter from it.
"I said you should hydrate, you had a lot to drink."
"I'm not drunk at all you're just blurry," he countered and grinned when she rolled her eyes. "Want some?" He held a spoonful of peanut butter her way.
"No." The last thing she needed was sugar in the middle of the night. "You got peanut butter all over your face," she went on to tell him.
He tried to clean it and failed. Spotting a roll of paper towel on the counter, she grabbed it and tore some paper towel.
"God, you're worse than Aiden when he was a baby," she mumbled, cleaning his cheek, conscious of his hand on her waist.
"No, I'm not," he scoffed, placing the jar on the counter. "Bet Aiden never stood still when you'd try to clean his face."
"Good point," she admitted. "But you're holding onto me to stay put…" she assumed he was holding onto her because he was digging his fingers into her waist.
"All clean," she told him, eyeing his cheek.
"Thanks," he said in response, tilting his head to look at her.
She didn't realize how close he was until he was facing her. She should probably put some distance between them but couldn't exactly move when he had a hold of her waist and was leaning in.
"You still have some peanut butter," she muttered.
"Can you get it?"
"Sure," she mumbled and reached with the paper towel to clean the corner of his mouth. She was tempted to kiss him and the fact that he was in her personal space made it hard to resist the urge. "You're good." She looked up and didn't know exactly how to react when he pressed his lips against hers.
When she didn't kiss him back and sort of just stood there, Jesse pulled away. "I'm sorry," he apologized, dropping the hand that was on her waist.
"Don't be." She leaned up and kissed him, holding onto his shoulder and grinning when he kissed her back instantly.
It was impulsive on her part and she was blaming the alcohol in her system even if it wasn't that much.
"What are we doing?" she mumbled as he picked her helping her wrap her legs around his waist.
"Tonsil hockey," he answered, undoing the buttons of her shirt with one hand while his other hand supported her weight.
"You're such a weirdo," she said, pulling away to breathe.
He was breathing heavily and was looking at her funny. He was trying really hard to focus his vision and really look at her.
"Wow, you're hot," he noted, his eyes fixating on her chest. "Like, really hot. How are you single, again?" he leaned in when she cupped his face and pulled him closer.
"No one could get their hands on figurative c four," she answered.
"Shame." He shook his head.
"This is bad," Beca murmured as she laid in bed while Jesse puked his guts out in the bathroom attached to his bedroom—he was pretty sure he woke her up with his unpleasant vomiting noises. "We shouldn't have done this." She was groaning as he reentered the room.
"Shouldn't have happened. So, let's pretend it never did," she told him as he hopped back in bed.
"Okay," he mumbled, closing his eyes and wishing his hangover away. "You leaving?" he asked when she pushed the covers aside and sat on the edge of the bed, bending to retrieve her clothes from the floor.
"Yeah, dumbass, I'm leaving," she deadpanned. "Aiden could wake up and find me here. How the fuck we gonna explain that?"
"Relax. It's just sex. Not like we committed a crime." His head hurt badly and speaking made it worse. "Besides, it's still early. Why would he wake up so early on a Sunday?"
Jesse didn't hear Beca say anything else after that. He watched her with one eye closed as she finished dressing up then saw her walk out of the room.
AN: Hi, peeps. To those of you that have read the other stuff, I've posted on here, sorry for going AWOL and not updating. Stuff happens, you know? I'll spread you the details.
I named this story that I've had on my laptop for months (also unfinished) after one of Ben Platt's songs from his debut album, the plot doesn't really have anything to do with the song. I've just been listening to his music a lot.
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Let me know what you think in a review. Feel free to give me crap for not updating my other stories, we all know I deserve that.