A/N:
(UPDATE as of 12/25/15) Jeez, this one was my first ever fanfic. The Aftermath doesn't count, I wrote this before that. I'm currently cringing at some my previous work. I edited some things, not too different.
TITLE: The Endings Are The Best
SUMMARY: What is Jesse thinking when Beca obviously doesn't like him standing up for her? Takes place after Semi-Finals (Pitch Perfect), when Aubrey confronts Beca. Jesse's POV.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pitch Perfect, or any of the songs mentioned. *cough cough* (Universal Studios, CeeLo Green, B.o.B., Jessie J, Simple Minds, Bruno Mars, Pitbull, Miley Cyrus, and Gloria Estefan own everything)
"Your attitude sucks, you're a Grade A pain in my ass," Jesse overheard Aubrey fume. "And I know you're hooking up with Jesse."
'What?' Jesse thought. 'Better cut in.'
"Whoa, whoa Aubrey calm down, we're not hooking up, I swea-"
"Jesus Christ, that's perfect, of course you're here right now!" snapped Beca. Jesse was stunned. Of course Beca doesn't realize he's only trying to help. Of course.
"I don't need your help okay? Can you back off?" she continued, when Benji cut her off.
"Trebles?" he asked, oblivious. "It's time to bring the pain." Beca whirled around, and bit her lip.
"If this is what I get for trying..." and with that, she turned and headed for the exit.
'Wow.' Jesse thought. In his mind, he knew this was the part where the incredible sappy music started in a movie. But his life wasn't a movie. He liked a girl, and she flat out rejected his help, because... um... he actually had no idea. Beca was complicated. She had walls put up, surrounding and guarding her heart. She was like an armed fortress, with towering 30-foot black walls that should scare you shit-less, with guards trained to be deadly, guarding the one thing that could break her safe haven. One chip could make Beca panic, and reinforce her walls with steel plates and iron spikes. That safe sense of security she had were protected by an unlikable exterior. But Jesse could see through that. That's why he liked her, that's why he was drawn to her, that's why he couldn't understand why she pushed away anyone or anything that could possibly even think of liking her. If she didn't know why she pushed people away... that's it. Jesse would stop chasing her until she came to her senses. Maybe that would help her see that he wanted to help her, not harm her.
Jesse decided that he would push all the thoughts of beautiful rebel Beca, away from his mind. She was a distraction, nothing more. That night, Jesse went home for his weekly family dinner with his parents. He looked down at his plate, his hand frozen momentarily over his dinner. 'If Beca doesn't care... why should I?" he thought. He finished his food, and brought his plate to the dishwasher.
"Bye Mom. Bye Dad." Jesse said with a forced cheeriness in his voice, despite the emotion dwelling beneath the surface. Walking away, he waved down a cab, and rode back to Barden. Thanking the taxi driver and handing him a tip, he shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked slowly back to his dorm building, where hopefully Benji was already asleep. Taking the elevator up, then carefully placing the key in the lock and opening the door, Jesse collapsed on top of his bed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages.
'(5) messages from Beca Mitchell' the little screen read. Jesse paused. He had been getting messages all day, and he was tired of them. He deleted all of them. Throwing his hands over his head, he turned off the light, hoping for a restful night, Beca-free and peaceful.
Just his luck, his dreams were filled with the girl with a scary ear-spike, a sarcastic attitude, and one helluva smile.
.o0o.
The next morning was a Sunday, thankfully. Jesse was able to sleep in, and get away from his worries. Benji was there, practicing his magic in the dorm. He waved a hello before falling back in to bed, wanting nothing more to do than curl up on his bed, eat extremely buttery popcorn, and binge-watch 80's movies. So, that's exactly what he did. Gathering up Back to the Future, The Princess Bride, The Karate Kid, Top Gun, and Airplane, Jesse felt he was ready. His eyes scanned over The Breakfast Club, and he reluctantly picked it up, then set it down quickly. It was too painful, even if it was a great movie, to watch. The memory of lounging on Beca's bed, was to much to bear for him. He popped The Princess Bride in to his computer, and settled down with his big bowl of popcorn. Hitting the play button, he put his earbuds on as the title flashed across the screen. The grandfather starts telling the love story of Buttercup and Wesley. That's when he heard three quick raps on his door. Jesse ignored them, but still paused the movie, for what reason? Jesse really didn't know.
"Jesse I know you're in there, I can smell popcorn." Beca's voice floated in. Damn. Jesse pulled out one of his earbuds, and sat there. 'Should I open the door?' he contemplated.
"C'mon, open up." Jesse still sat there, a blank expression on his face. He yanked the second earbud out of his ear, and regretfully snapped his laptop shut, put it on his bed, and walked over to the door. He slowly turned the knob, and opened the door. Jesse was now face to face with the one person he did not want to see today.
"Hey." Beca started. "I tried to call you, I left a bunch of messages."
"Yeah, I got them." he stated, nodding a bit.
"I'm sorry that we fought, I was mad..." A sense of amusement filled him. She really had no idea why he was mad at her? This was weird. "and I overreacted, and I'm just Aubrey makes me crazy-"
"Seriously?" he asked slowly. "You think I'm mad because you yelled at me?"
"No, I know-"
"No, you don't. You think you know, but you don't." he said. She really was clueless. "You push away anyone who could possibly care about you. Why is that?" he questioned. Beca visibly paused before saying, "I don't know."
"Well, you better figure it out," he chuckled lightly."because I'm done with... whatever this is."
"Jesse-" she tried to stop him.
"I'm done." he said, shutting the door on her. It closed with a satisfying click. He turned around and sat back on his bed after hearing footsteps echo down the hallway. He scoffed at how naive she was being. She really had no idea. He went to pick up his bowl of popcorn, when Benji's magic sword box opened, causing one of the swords leaning against the outside of the box to fall over.
"Women." he shook his head.
"Yeah..." Jesse replied. Benji sank back down in to his magic box and closed the lid.
.o0o.
The next few days leading up to the ICCA's were filled to the brim with practice with the Treblemakers, especially since Bumper was not performing. They were better off without him, the stupid selfish jerk. The Trebles didn't need him. Taking Benji under their wing had helped make their performance of Bright Lights, Bigger City and Magic in tip-top shape. Now they were here, in the wings, ready to go on stage. The announcer was introducing them, and Jesse got the group together.
"On three." he said.
"One, two, three, SWAG!" the group cheered, running on to the stage. Jesse fell back behind the group. He was the last to go on the stage after all, with the exception of Benji of course.
"Hey." a voice said behind him. He turned and saw Beca and the Bellas. Gone were those flight attendant uniforms, and she looked amazing to Jesse. Those beautiful eyes, those full lips, and that- no. Don't go there. He reminded himself that she had to make it up to him, and find out what she had done. The Trebles did the opening, and Jesse's nerves went away like that. He swaggered in, kicked up the stand, fit the microphone into the hold, and started bouncing along to the beat.
"I been livin' for the weekend, but no, not anymore,
'cause here comes that familiar feelin' that Friday's famous for.
Yeah, I'm lookin' for some action, and it's out there somewhere.
You can feel the electricity all in the evening air.
And it may just be more of the same, but sometimes you wanna go where everyone knows your name.
So I guess I'll have to wait and see, but I'm just gonna let something brand new happen to me." Jesse sang clearly, putting all of his body into the music, moving with the beat.
"And it's alright. It's alright, it's alright, it's alright.
Bright lights in the big city, it belongs to us tonight" he finished strongly, letting the group decrescendo with the note. Benji appeared, walking past the line of Trebles, stopping next to Jesse. He 'magically' made his microphone appeared, and started singing.
"I've got the magic in me, every time I touch that track, it turns into gold.
Now everybody knows I've got the magic in me." his soprano voice floated over the background harmonizing. It was just like practice. Perfect. Jesse watched his friend solo, and he knew it was a very good choice to let Benji join the Trebles.
"When I hit the floor the girls come snappin' at me,
now everybody wants some presto magic." Benji sang, picking up the pace and volume. That's when Donald jumped in and started rapping like a boss.
"These tricks that I'll attempt will blow your mind.
Pick a verse, any verse, I'll hypnotize you with every line.
I'll need a volunteer, how about you with the eyes?
Come on down to the front, and sit right here and don't be shy." he rapped smoothly, showing off to the crowd.
"So come one, come all, and see the show tonight.
Prepare to be astounded, no ghost or poltergeist.
You know I'm no Pinocchio, I've never told a lie.
They call me Mr. Magic Man, I float on Cloud 9." Donald finished. The group started singing together for the big finale.
"I've got the magic in me! (I got the magic, baby)"Jesse and Benji went around 'freezing' everybody around the stage.
"Every time I touch that track, it turns into gold. (Yes, it turns to gold)
Everybody knows I've got the magic, magic, magic. (I got the magic, come on)
Magic, magic, magic. (I got the magic, come on)
Magic, magic, magic. (Clap your hands, come on)
I got the magic in me!" The cheers from the crowd were deafening, as they struck their final pose. They ended, and Jesse stood there, basking in their performance, drinking it all in. When he came back to his senses, he turned to his right where Benji was, and went in for a hug. They had both done great. The rowdy group of boys headed off the stage, happy that all of it was finally over, and their only worries now were if they won or not. As they walked over to their seats, which were unfortunately in front of the Bellas, the announcer introduced the Bellas. Jesse took his seat next to Benji and Donald, and reluctantly watched. It was only polite, right?
'Wait a minute...' Jesse thought. 'Beca has the pitch pipe? Huh.' He shrugged it off and focused on the stage. The Bellas had their heads down, and slowly started out on the beginning of Price Tag, by Jessie J.
"Seems like everybody's got a price, I wonder how they sleep at night.
When the sale come first and the truth comes second just stop for a minute and, smile." Aubrey soloed.
"Everybody look to the left, everybody look to the right.
Can you feel that yeah, we're paying with love... tonight." Chloe had taken over, and there was a 'dramatic' pause.
"It ain't all about that money."Lily rapped.
"It's not about the money, money, money,
we don't need your money, money, money.
We just wanna make the world dance, forget about the price tag.
It ain't about the, uh, ka-ching ka-ching, ain't about the uh, yeah, ba-bling ba-bling,
We just wanna make the world dance, forget about the price tag." Jesse looked on at the stage, annoyed at the flashy bright red lights. He nodded, thinking something along the lines of, 'get on with it' and sighed. He rested his head on one of his hands, not wanting to look. If he looked, he'd want to forgive her. That wasn't going to happen. Yet.
"Price tag, forget about the price tag."
"Hey, hey, hey, hey." Jesse heard Beca say. He pushed thoughts of her away, and tried to drown out the song. It wasn't working.
"Won't you, come see about me." Was he dreaming? Was this really that song? No, it couldn't be. He raised his head off his hand to look up.
"I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby." Jesse looked on in disbelief. It couldn't be happening. But it was. Beca was really up there, singing the ending to his favorite movie. He dropped his hand to the armrest and watched, drinking in the sight.
"Tell me, your troubles and doubts, giving me everything inside and out." Beca seemed to be looking right at him. Maybe she was singing to someone else? He looked behing him for a moment, then looked back to the stage in astonishment. She couldn't possibly be doing this for him... right? The rest of the Bella's were echoing Just the Way You Are' in the background.
"Don't you, forget about me." The Bella's had filed into a line at this point.
"As you walk on by... will you call my name..." Beca sang.
"As you walk on by... will you call my name..." Jesse just smiled, and nodded slightly. He noticed Donald look at him knowingly in his peripherals, then shift his attention back to the stage. How was he supposed to show her that he got her message?
"As you walk on by... will you call my name?" her voice crescendoed. Jesse smiled to himself, pumping his fist in to the air. Beca mirrored his fist on stage.
"I say la! La, la, la, la. La, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la, la, la." Beca had a huge smile plastered on her face, and Jesse couldn't help but smile again, too.
"Tonight. I will love, love you tonight,
give me everything tonight.
For all we know, we might not get tomorrow, let's do it tonight.
Forget what they say, all my care they play, I want you tonight.
Grab somebody sexy tell'em "Hey."
Give me everything tonight.
Give me everything tonight." the Bella's sang in sync together, and it sounded amazing. Cynthia-Rose took over with her rap.
"Take advantage of tonight (what's up).
'Cause tomorrow I'm off to do battle, perform for princess,
but tonight, I can make you my queen,
and make love to you endless.
It's insane to wait, and they ain't growin' money, keep flowin',
hustlers move beside us so I'm tip-toeing
to keep blowing, I got it locked down, like Lindsay Lohan.
Put it on my lap, baby,
I make you feel right, baby.
Can't promise tomorrow, but I promise tonight, darlin'."
"Excuse me, but I might drink a little more than I should tonight." Amy sure knew had to solo.
"And I may take you home with me if I could tonight, (Don't you forget about me)
And baby I will make you feel so good tonight,
Cause we might not get tomorrow, tonight."
"Night night night night na na na na na na oh."
"Hands up, I put my hands up,
Don't you forget about me, (Party in the U.S.A.)
Tonight, I will love love you tonight,
Give me everything tonight,
For all we know,
We might not get tomorrow,
Let's do it tonight!"
Jesse was officially the most stunned he's ever been tonight. The girls had finished beautifully, and they were a shoo-in for first place, for sure. He watched the girls share hugs on stage, then make their way over to their seats behind the Trebles. Jesse turned around, waiting for Beca.
"I told you. Endings are the best part." Jesse smirked at her, holding his arms out knowingly.
"You're such a weirdo." Beca replied and pulled Jesse in by cupping her arms behind his neck and leaned in for a passionate kiss. And that, was history.
SIX MONTHS LATER
"Listen up aca-ballers. I have been rejected by the army, shoved in to a Dora the Explorer backpack, and pushed in to the girls locker room wearing nothing but suspenders. But no matter, I am in a world that I love. And with the assistance of my boy Justin, I launch this years auditions. The most recent ICCA national champion winners get to pick the audition song."
Amy and Lily whispered to Beca on opposite sides of her. She grinned.
"All right nerds." Beca said. "Let's go with..."
THE END
A/N: Thanks for reading this story! Nothing belongs to me, again. Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review.
Until pigs fly,
FireTheCannon