The next night Beca had been hijacked from her room and blindfolded. She had absolutely no idea where Chloe was taking her but she was told to look hot. She wasn't a huge fan of dresses so she wore jeans, black, suede boot heels and a plain white t-shirt and hoped for the best.
'Okay, we are nearly there!' Chloe squealed with excitement.
Beca nearly covered her ears at the high pitched squeal but smiled none the less as she seemed to be climbing down steps.
'Okay, now take off your blindfold' Chloe instructed, excitement in her voice.
'SURPRISE!' Beca opened her eyes and an instant grin reached her face. All the Bella's had done this for her? There were streamers and party hats and booze. Lots of booze. All outside in the same place where the initiation party was held.
'Aww you guys! What is this even for?' Beca asked, she had never had friends like these before and it brought a warmth to her heart that she could never explain.
'We won the finals!' Aubrey emerged from the crowd holding two glasses of champagne and coming over to hand one to Beca. 'We couldn't have done it without you. I am so happy to be a part of this amazing singing group, and I am proud to call you all my friends, in this giant, random family.' Aubrey smiled a sincere smile as cheers erupted from the crowd.
They all chatted amongst themselves and then Fat Amy stood up to make an announcement 'I must admit, I called in a favour. And here is our entertainment for the night!'
On cue, the boys from the treblemakers made an entrance and started singing the exact song set that the girls had sung the night previously. Jesse took over the lead on his and Beca's song from the Breakfast club, earning him a scoff and a smirk as he continued singing. When they had finished the girls clapped and Jesse came over to Beca.
Everyone watched to see what would happen between the two.
'We wanted to personally congratulate you girls on your first win at the ICCA's! We are crashing your party now, Amy only technically invited us to perform'. Everyone clapped as the music was turned up with the two groups singing and dancing.
The attention had been taken off the two, finally as they walked over to sit down.
'So..' Beca started.
'So..you look nice, I've never seen you all dressed up and girly before' Jesse said teasingly, 'are you going all girly and soft on me-ouch!' Jesse grabbed his arm where Beca had hit him and feigned hurt.
Beca smiled 'you deserved that. Nice performance before, I mean it certainly wasn't as good as the real thing but maybe I could teach you a thing or two' she said playfully.
'Oh you will, will you? I'm pretty sure I'll be doing all the teaching tonight' Jesse responded back cooly, downing the rest of his gin and coke.
'Hey I do not need to be taught how to drink' she responded, now laughing as she tried to skull her own drink and failed miserable taking a big gulp instead.
They were interrupted by Amy walking over and sitting next to Beca. 'Oh hey you two lovebirds, you remind me of two of my friends back in Tasmania. They dated too..except they were related..but other than that it's completely the same.'
Beca just laughed, she was getting used to Amy's ridiculous Australian stories, even if she didn't quite understand them.
Amy broke the silence again 'I'm so glad I played match maker with you two, it's not as if everyone can be good at everything but well, here I am'. Jesse smiled, wondering where she came up with all of these random outbursts.
'Nah, I think I'm the one doing all the match-making tonight' Jesse winked at Amy who looked confused. In perfect timing they heard Bumper running and jumping on Donald's back with all the guys hi 5'ing him. They had decided to forget the 'Bumper being a dousche' thing, it wasn't as if they weren't all happy for him getting his big break.
'Ugh, who invited him' Amy said to no one in particular. As if on cue Bumper came over to the three singers. 'Saw your performance last night Amy, I know you were thinking about taking me home while singing that song.' He winked at her and bent his leg onto the bench next to her.
'I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than think about you Bumper' Amy said with a bored look on her face. 'Who even invited you?'
'Um my bro over here, Jesse, obviously' Bumper said putting his arm around him. Jesse gave Amy a sly wink as she stalked off to get another drink, with Bumper clearly following her.
'You set that up?' Beca asked shocked that Jesse had even thought there was something going on.
'Ah uh' he said nodding, 'I'm pretty sure like every treble guy is into one of you girls'.
'Oh really?' Beca questioned innocently, 'even you?'
'Well I guess there's this one girl' He said, their faces getting closer together as she tried not to break a straight face.
'She sounds awesome,' Beca said, still trying not to laugh.
'Yeah she's okay' Jesse responded, he managed to be serious which got him a disbelieving look from Beca.
'Im joking', he laughed as he grabbed her hand in his, intertwining their fingers.
Beca stared at their hands together, it was as if she'd never held hands with anyone before, which she had, it wasn't that. She simply hadn't experienced that feeling of being wanted and appreciated. She was beginning to like it more and more.
Suddenly, she looked up at him bravely, 'do you want to go on a date Jesse?' She paused waiting for him to answer, then added 'with me..' As if he might not realise who she meant.
He looked surprised at first, not expecting her to ask him or say yes when he asked her, but managed to say 'yeah, I'd like that'.
As they held hands they talked about all kinds of random things until they were interrupted by loud voices coming from the centre of the party. They both looked over to see what was going on.
Amy was covered in vodka, looking really unimpressed at Bumper who had clearly thrown it all over her.
'Okay I didn't mean that' Bumper said holding both his hands up as if surrendering.
Amy didnt say anything, but she was glaring daggers right towards Bumper, as if she was getting ready to pounce.
'Well okay I meant to do that but look, you can't say you weren't singing about me and that you were singing about another guy because we know it's not true' Bumper said conceitedly.
'Well maybe you should learn to sing, then girls might be able to try and sing about you'
'Ohhh I think you're coming down with something Amy, a fever, because I'm just so hot you're body doesn't know what to do to cool you down'
'Nah that's because I have IBS, Irritable Bumper Syndrome' Amy said holding her stomach. (A/N this quote is off the gag reel on YouTube)
'Yeah well maybe if you weren't so stupid you'd remember to fuel the bus so you can get to your gigs without calling your favourite Bumper for help.' They were yelling now and everyone at the party had stopped to watch them.
'Well maybe I wouldn't forget if I wasn't too busy being hit by flying Mexican food!'
They were both tired from the yelling and staring into each others eyes.
'Are you as turned on as I am!?' Bumper continued, still yelling.
'Yeah i am' she responded, also still yelling.
They then crashed into each other macking on in the middle of the party. Everyone looked at them and then looked away disgusted, the girls knew that Amy loved all her boyfriends in a twisted way, they certainly didn't want to know what she would do to a guy like Bumper. And all the boys new just what Bumper was like and they all shuddered at what he would do to Amy. As they tried to move while continuing to make out they narrowly missed Benji as he was walking passed to go to the drinks table. He shuddered not wanting to know what sick twisted things they would do to each other tonight.
Wanting to move away from the two's public make out sesh, he practically ran to the food table to grab a few grapes. Benji had been enjoying his night, he was slightly drunk and had been leaving Jesse and Beca to themselves, they were just so cute sitting their holding hands. He knew how much Jesse had liked her. Especially considering how Jesse had never stopped talking about her. Seriously, ever. But he was happy for them none the less.
He had spent most of the night doing shots with Donald, that was until he had seen a questionable moment between him and Stacie, and now both had conveniently disappeared to...somewhere. Taking a seat with his bottle of vodka he sat and watched the rest of the party dance. He had been sitting there for a while when he felt someone move next to him. He looked up to see Chloe sitting next to him.
Benji had already gone red in the face as he focused on his vodka bottle.
'Hey stranger' Chloe chirped, as if she had not even noticed the boy embarrassedly avoiding looking at her. 'You having fun tonight?'
She looked at him expectantly waiting for an answer. 'Um, yeah I am, Chloe...I um, I'm so sorry about the other day..I just, um...I didn't know that you were..you know.'
'Wait why are you sorry?' She questioned, still seemingly oblivious to the boys embarrassed glances at the floor.
'I just um' he let our a long sigh before he continued, 'I didnt mean to walk in on you, you know, while you were um..kinda naked' he flushed redder, if that was even possible.
'Oh that, it's fine really. I'm pretty comfortable being naked, and pretty proud of my body so..yeah'. She said as if it was no big deal, but smiled as she realised he was clearly embarrassed by the situation.
'Well, I think you definately have something to be proud of' he responded this time looking her in the eyes.
She smiled a sinister grin, she might as well have some fun with the innocent boy, he was so adorable! 'Well, now that you have seen all of this..' She gestured to her body, 'let's see you then, I mean, it's only fair right?' She let a small pout creep onto her face and tried not to giggle as she saw an indescribable look fall upon Benji's face. It was a cross between surprise, embarrassment and another look that was asking if she was joking or not.
He must have decided she was joking as he let out a small laugh and said 'you're joking right?' His voice cracked as he said it and she tried her best to keep a straight face.
There was a few moments of silence as he looked at her in disbelief as he stood up nervously. His hands couldn't stop shaking as he slowly - very slowly - put his hands to the top button on his button up shirt. He looked rather handsome, with a button up shirt done up to the top, in a shade of blue-grey. He was wearing a maroon, V-neck jumper over the top of it accompanied by dark blue skinny jeans and grey sneakers.
Benji had a million things going through his head as he had stood up, he reached for his top button, undoing it as slowly as humanly possible. When he had finally undone the first button, he paused, looking at her. She merely raised an eyebrow to show him that she was deadly serious.
With his mouth falling slightly agape, he swallowed hard then slowly reached for the next button, all the while maintaining eye contact with Chloe, watching each others every move. He finally undid the second button and once again looked at her, hoping that she would suddenly say this was all a joke.
Benji not being the most experienced person with girls was understatement of the year. He knew that Chloe had been with at least a few guys and was clearly more experienced at this than he was. He watched as her brow remained quirked, as she slowly broke eye contact to look him up and down, as slowly as she could.
Suddenly he felt extremely self conscious and he contemplated saying no to her request but then he thought about how he finally had felt connected to the trebles. They believed in him. What would they think if he were to show weakness? He certainly didn't want to find out.
With a swift movement he removed his V-neck jumper, and gaining some confidence knowing that his treble brothers would be proud, he gave her a smirk as he threw the jumper into Chloe's lap. If it was a game, he was determined to win, even if he had to pretend he was comfortable with this.
As Benji smirked and his shirt landed in her lap, Chloe nearly gasped, but quickly pulled her self together last minute even though her mind was racing. Was he...enjoying this? Sure she'd been with loads of guys, a respectable number of course, but she had definitely had her fair share of stripteases in her time. Chloe liked to think of herself as pretty open when it came to sexuality. Why shouldn't she be? She enjoyed the physical aspects of sex, hey she even liked learning a thing or two. She'd had a few relationships but nothing overly serious, she was only 22, she just wanted to have fun.
As she watched Benji slowly continue to unbutton his shirt, she wondered if he was actually doing this, should she say something? But then she would lose their little game, she wasn't sure if he was playing along or was happy to be naked for her.
He had finally gotten to the last button of his shirt, he gave her a small smile as he saw her focussing on his hands. He finally let his shirt fall open, to either side if his stomach. As she looked onward, she had to concentrate super hard not to let her mouth fall open in shock. Benji had abs, really nice, solid abs, they were well defined and there was definately six, chiseled abs staring back at her. His jeans hung low revealing a V peaking out the top of them on either sides. Chloe had seen a lot of good bodies in her time, but Benji had to have the most impressive set of muscles she had seen in a fair while.
He caught her gazing on him, feeling really self conscious about himself. Did she think he looked good? Was she gazing at him because she liked what she saw? Or because he was nothing compared to the guys she had been with?
He finally shrugged his shirt off, once again revealing ripped, huge, biceps. She simply watched and looked over the upper half of his body, catching herself before she started drooling, she stood up abruptly.
'I was just screwing with you,' she said trying to come across as nonchalant. He had a look on his face that she couldn't seem to pick. Was he sad? Did he want to keep on stripping for her? She started to walk forward to hand him his jumper but tripped on a rock below her, he suddenly reached out to make sure she didnt fall. She looked up at his face as he kept his arms on her shoulders to steady her. Was she..nervous? She was never nervous! She tried to talk and then she felt herself heating up as she stared at the big muscles engulfing her. His eyes were staring at her so earnest to check if she was okay.
She stood up straight and handed him his jumper, keeping a one meter distance between them at all times. She then walked off.
Benji was so confused, did he do something wrong? He had only really taken his clothing off with one girl so he didnt really know what girls thought of his body. He didn't think he looked bad, but with someone experienced he worried that she didnt think he looked good enough for her.
He thought to himself, 'she must have been unimpressed and walked off to save me the embarassment'. He quickly did his shirt buttons up and started walking back as he put on his jumper.
Benji went and sat with Beca and Jesse, and of course his bottle of vodka. 'Hey you', Jesse said happily, 'having a good night?'
Benji didn't reply. He simply took a swig of straight vodka from his bottle then smiled at the entwined hands of the new couple -if that's what they were. He was feeling really drunk as he continued to drink from the bottle.
'Why are girls so hard to figure out?' He finally said looking at both Beca and Jesse questioningly.
They looked a bit taken aback at first, Benji not exactly being the type to wallow in self pity, especially when it came to girls.
'I guess the answer depends on which girl you are trying to figure out?' Beca responded slyly, wondering which Bella he might be into, if she was one.
Jesse tried to take a smoother approach to the situation, shooting Beca a look before beginning. 'Benj it's not like you to be upset over a girl. But, take me and Beca for instance, it's taken us ages to finally get together and I still can't figure her out.'
'I know, it's just. Well. I don't really know, I think I disappointed her..physically..she's just so beautiful and we've been friends for a little while now I guess and I'm not saying she wants me or anything like that.' He paused while the thought about what he was trying to say. 'I guess I just didn't expect her to up and leave like that. She looked at my abs and then that was it she got up, really quickly, and practically ran away from me.'
'Show us' Beca said simply, while getting a disbelieving look from Jesse in the process.
'Oh not like that, I just mean show us and we can tell you why she ran away. Trust me, I am a girl after all, and relax dude you know I'm still kinda yours' she said looking at Jesse and rolling her eyes as he grinned ear to ear at the thought of her being just his.
'Sure why not dude, we couldn't be worse than this mystery chick was' Jesse said laughing to lighten Benji's mood.
Benji was pretty drunk and thought 'ah, hell with it' as he stood up and lifted up his shirt slightly, just enough to see his abs.
'Dude you are totally ripped' Beca said shocked at the magic experts ability to stay in shape.
Even Jesse was impressed, 'yeah I doubt she was running because you looked bad. You need to show me how you got those by the way.'
Benji perked up after this, letting a small smile appear on his face. 'So what do I do then?' He said, taking another big gulp of vodka.
'Go find her, ask her why she ran off? You know, you still haven't said who it is yet.' Jesse pointed out, hoping his friend was drunk enough to tell.
'Chloe' he said as he walked off to find her.
'Chloe? Wow. She would eat him alive.' Beca said shocked that Chloe was Benji's mystery girl.
'I duno, I reckon Benji might pack a bit more of a punch than we first thought' Jesse replied slyly, 'do I sense a bet coming on?'
'I think so,' Beca smiled back. '10 bucks Chloe eats him alive' she said holding out he hand for him to shake.
'You're on, i think he'll surprise us all' Jesse replied watching Benji's retreating back.
'Look at us being all helpful', Jesse said leaning in to give Beca a light kiss. She kissed him back, still holding his hand of course. Pulling away after a few minutes she replied 'um I think I was the only one helping' trying not to laugh.
Jesse simply ignored her and kissed her again. Interrupting them once more, they both looked over to where the yelling was coming from.
Fat Amy and Bumper seemed to be having an interesting time together, they would mack on, then stop, fight about something, then get back to kissing. At least they had moved to the side though, where no one had to watch anymore. Bumper's leg was stretched out in front of him while he was kissing Amy. Unluckily for Benji he didn't see it coming this time and took a drunken stumble over his foot. They were too engulfed in each other to even notice. He shuddered once more before walking to keep looking for Chloe.
Benji finally saw Chloe chattering away to Stacie who had suddenly reappeared. 'Thats convenient timing' he thought as he walked up to the two. He approached them quite quickly, as if he was on a mission, the mission being talk to Chloe.
'Hey, we need to talk' he said, giving her zero chance to respond before he dragged her a couple of meters away from Stacie, who was now talking to Lily and Cynthia-Rose.
'Hey what's the deal?' She said, she realised that she must have came across as annoyed because his smile faltered. She thought about correcting herself but she decided not to bother after her performance earlier - he must have thought she was a massive mess.
'Why did you run off so quickly?' He demanded, looking at her directly in the eyes, at least, as best he could while he was this intoxicated.
'I didn't' she responded as she began to walk away again. He grabbed her wrist to stop her and turned her to face him.
'Were you really that disappointed in what you saw before?' He said, this time his voice was quiet and his gaze was on the floor between them.
'Thats what you think happened back there?' Chloe asked, her mouth slightly agape. He really didnt see her blush? Or get all awkward?
'Well I don't know, you tell me' he still wasn't looking her in the eye.
'I can't believe you think I am like that' she whispered.
'No, I don't, really it's just..I duno you walked off so fast and I thought u were...I thought that you were pretty unimpressed. Look I'm not very good..with girls. And well I really like that we are friends; you're so nice to me. I just don't want to screw it up.' Benji finally finished as she stared at him.
'Benji, you have one of the best set of abs I've ever seen, like really, how you are that into magic and still look like that? Ill never know. But I like that we are friends too, and I was just messing with you as a joke between friends because you were embarassed. I just freaked out because I was nervous..and I'm never nervous. Like ever.'
He thought about this for a moment and then it was his turn to show a sinister grin. He walked closer to her and grabbed her hand, whilst putting his other hand on her waist. If Benji was good at one thing? It wasn't magic. It was dancing. So he began to lead her as he leant his head to the side of hers and whispered 'I make you nervous huh?'
She was a bit speechless and immediately regretted telling him that. She regrouped and managed to get out a 'no'. She frowned, she didnt even convince herself with that. Chloe had to admit, Benji could really dance, he gracefully lead her around to the music. How romantic was this? She found herself wondering how he wasn't good with girls, he was basically perfect, with his body, his innocence, his moves and how nice he is? Who wouldn't want a guy like that?
They stopped dancing as he leaned her backwards over his arm. Pulling her up, he stood back and bowed while grinning.
'Sorry, had to pay you back for earlier' beginning to walk off back to the party. Chloe didn't know whether it was the alcohol or genuine feelings that was making her want to rip Benji's clothes off. As if automatically, she called out his name. As he turned around she jumped on him, snagging her arms around his neck, and kissing him. He seemed so surprised she was worried he wasn't going to kiss her back, but he finally seemed to catch on.
A nearby Stacie quietly 'awed' whilst talking to Donald. 'They are so cute!' She squealed. 'Do you think we should tell everyone yet? She said on a serious note.
He shook his head, 'we'll tell them later, I'm so glad that you're officially my girlfriend' Donald said as he kissed her on the cheek.
'I'm so glad that the no treble-boning rule has been lifted' Stacie replied relieved, kissing her boyfriend and once again leading him to his car, what could she say? She was kind of a sex addict after all, as Donald was already finding out. He certainly wasn't complaining though. As they walked off, they just missed Beca and Jesse hiding in the shadows.
Beca looked around the corner of the bush she and Jesse were hiding behind, watching Chloe and Benji kiss and then stop and smile at each other. They had just watched Stacie and Donald walk right past them, Beca had been suspecting them dating for weeks, at least now she knew she wasn't going insane and that there was actually something happening between them.
Slowly reaching into her pocket, Beca pulled out a ten dollar bill and gently slapped it into Jesse's hands. He didn't even respond, he simply smiled brightly at her as she rolled her eyes.
Looking around at all the couples Beca finally said 'wait a minute, where's Aubrey?'
Jesse, also looking around 'and where's unicycle...you don't think they? No they wouldn't...would they?' Beca let out a laugh, 'that aca bitch is gonna get it tomorrow. They watched as their friends all seemed to be pretty damn happy. They were mostly making out, but Beca couldn't be happier for them all. If this was what having best friends was like, she definitely wanted them to stay.
Taking one last look at all the couples, her and Jesse walked back to her dorm.
They each walked drowned in their own thoughts, until Jesse broke the silence.
'And we all lived happily ever after'.
Beca gave him a playful push and rolled her eyes. 'You're such a nerd'.