Just the Way You Are.
Disclaimer: Some of this dialogue was quoted from the movie, and I don't own any of it. I also don't own Anna Kendrick or Skylar Astin. *cries*
Truth be told, Beca wasn't new to being lonely. After her parents divorced, yeah she shut people out, that was just what she did. Running is easier than facing your problems head on and for Beca it worked. It was supposed to be the first fun vacation she was taking in five years, and she's wondering how she could only be here for an hour and she's already contemplating jumping over her balcony and running home and her mother has been pestering her about college and it's getting really hot and she wants to just be home already or anywhere but here and- it just sucks. A lot.
"And Beca, darling, you really should consider what a great opportunity this is-"
"Mom, I'm just going to go down to the water for a little bit. Cool off," Beca interrupts. "I'm feeling faint. Dizzy." She doesn't wait for an answer. Beca takes off down the hallway and speeds down the stairs and finally slows when a salty tang wafts in the air, fills her senses, allows her to breathe again.
Clad in her signature sneakers, jeans, and a plaid shirt, Beca walks down the beach, running farther away when the water tries to soak her feet, and constantly wipes her nose with the back of her hand (nails painted black, of course). She walks for who knows how long. The petite brunette finally relents when she knows she can no longer see her hotel and she is lost and she doesn't know where she's going. She's never felt more relieved in her life.
"You're a bit overdressed for the beach, y'know." Beca looks up. A tall brunette boy sipping on a juice pouch stares down at her.
"Maybe I'll get heat stroke and die. If I'm lucky." The brunette boy cocks his head to the side, wondering if she was joking or not. He was kind of hoping he she was. There's not really a good response to that.
"Um. Okay. Juice pouch?" He outstretches his hand with another juice pouch that seems to have magically appeared out of thin air. But Beca merely shakes her head. He sits down beside her. "My name's Jesse, by the way." Beca looks out at the ocean forlornly. She just wishes she knew where she belonged. She hasn't had a home in so long. "So what's your name?" She quickly glances at him, looks back to the ocean. "Are you okay?"
Her answer comes quiet and hollow. "Yes."
"Bullshit." Her head rears up to look at him quickly. An eyebrow raised, arms crossed defensively over her decidedly small frame.
"You know what is bullshit? The fact that I'm being forced into college without any say in the matter. So you can just keep the bullshits to yourself." He is stunned into silence. They stay silent for a few minutes, both watching the waves. She sighs, muttering a curse under her breath and turns to face him. "My name. It's Beca."
"What's wrong?" And suddenly she's telling her life story to a guy she's only known for like three minutes. She wonders what makes him so different, why she's even giving him all of this information about herself without so much a second thought. She decides it's comforting that she will probably never see him again.
"And yeah, so I just really want to move to LA and produce music. Music, it kind of means the world to me. I've wanted to move to LA after high school since I was thirteen years old. Music- it's my sanity, it's the only thing that makes sense. And now I'm being forced to make a four year pit stop somewhere I don't even want to be and- wait, why am I telling you all of this?"
Jesse just shrugs his shoulders. "I get it." Beca raises an eyebrow at him. He realizes it's her trademark "Are you kidding me" face. "I mean, I get the whole music thing."
Beca's features shift and her mood becomes visibly lighter. "You like music?" she asks eagerly. The corners of Jesse's lips rise into a grin and he nods. "Only music has the power to make you feel things you never even know you could feel." Beca nods, urging him on. "I don't know, I guess I agree with what you said, it's the only thing that makes sense. I love movies- what?" Beca eye rolls dramatically at him. "You don't like movies?" She shakes her head, eyes wide. "I mean, how can you not like movies? Movies are like the best things ever created in the history of the world."
Another "Are you kidding me" face is elicited from Beca. "The history of the world?" Jesse nods. "I don't know, I just get bored and never make it to the end."
Jesse is unable to even attempt to fathom what Beca is saying. It simply doesn't make sense. "The endings are the best part."
"Dude no, it's the worst part. Endings like that don't happen in real life. All movies do is set you up for disappointment in reality." She moves to get up and leave. Jesse stands up as well, blocking her from walking back to her hotel. Beca sighs. Clingy, this one is. "Do you know where the Carousel hotel is?"
"Yeah, actually, I'm staying there with my family as well. Seventh floor." He smiles. He will get to see more of the girl with the amazingly scary ear spike and tattoos. She just shakes her head and follows him. The cocky bastard. "You know, I don't want to write the movies, I want to score them. Write the music that goes with every scene, I feel like only music has the power to do that. To control your emotions."
For some reason, that fact that he's still around irks her a little. She reminds herself that she must not get attached. "Yeah, you must really sweep your girlfriend off her feet." She doesn't really know why she says it.
Jesse rolls his eyes. "I don't have a girlfriend." He bumps his hip against her. She bumps back so hard he stumbles and almost falls in the sand. "You're kind of tiny for such a lethal person. Like five feet of pure steel."
"I'm five foot two," Beca mutters to herself. "Are you always this annoying?" He nods. "Figures. I always get stuck with the weirdos." They walk in relative silence until they part at Beca's door. "Uh, thanks for today. It was…nice." She gives him a small smile. He is such a goner.
"Yeah, um, yeah, it was nice." Real smooth there Jesse. You'll really pull her in with that line. "I'll see you 'round?"
Beca nods, "Sure, nerd," and shuts the door behind her.
...-...-...
It's almost ten o'clock, and Jesse's praying that he's not too early, so before he can chicken out of it, he knocks on her door. Thank God, she answers. Bed hair and all. Once she sees it's Jesse, she straightens up and touches a hand to smooth down her ruffled hair. "Jesse? What are you doing here at…ten of ten in the morning." He walks right inside, and Beca rolls her eyes at his arrogance.
"I was thinking, since you hate movies, and that really ought to be changed by the way, I would take you to see one." He shrugs, once, twice, three times.
"And you thought this movie was so important that you had to wake me up before noon- while I'm on vacation by the way, which is so not cool- and would barge into my room without so much as a 'Yes Jesse, you may come in'". Beca sighs.
"How did you manage to say that all in one breath? And yes, the movie is that important. Come on, we can go back to our spot on the beach."
"Our spot? I don't want to watch a movie. And I have very strong lungs."
"One, Yes, our spot. Two, too bad, I'm forcing you to watch it. It has the best ending ever, which I know you'll enjoy. And thirdly, wow. I am impressed with your lung capacity."
Beca laughs a little and looks longingly at her bed. "All right nerd, whatever you say. Just give me ten minutes."
Beca walks back towards her room when she hears a high pitched voice that she absolutely despises. "Beca, who was that at the door? Especially so early, I'll say." Beca rolls her eyes. Jesse sits down on Beca's bed, intrigued by the dysfunctional mother-daughter dynamic that had so been described to him the day before.
"Nothing life threatening, just someone that I met at the beach yesterday. He's forcing me to watch a movie with him. It's probably going to suck, but the nerd persuaded me." Beca gives Jesse a small smile. Is Jesse imagining, or did she wink at him too?
"Oh, well, alright, just be home by eight. We need to discuss when you'll be moving to your father and Sheila's for college. I doubt you want to use a dorm when you could have an entire house at your disposal. And don't forget, we also need to schedule that tattoo removal, pronto. Don't do anything stupid. And don't disappoint me, Beca. Be on time or suffer the consequences!" Beca's mother yells this as she walks away. Jesse sees how Beca's posture has changed dramatically. Instead of standing tall, her shoulders are slumped forward and it looks like she has shrunk a few inches. Her fingers ghost over a tattoo on her shoulder, the one she is most likely supposed to have removed.
"So…that's my mom. Um, let's go. I have a towel and my phone and no more sneakers so…" She just shrugs.
"For the record, Beca, I think your tattoos are awesome. They sort of define you." Jesse looks at her earnestly.
"Thanks. Let's go before my mom comes back." Beca closes the hotel door behind her. She holds the towel and her phone. Jesse holds the movie and his laptop. Before they step out of the hotel, Beca puts and hand on his arm and stops him. "I know, that, my mother can be a handful at times, and I think you defending me was really…sweet." She stops before she makes herself cry or do something stupid like fall into him arms, which look fantastic, by the way. The nerd must work out.
"That's nice of you to say. It's just- I don't think it's fair for your mother to try and change who you are and she shouldn't do that. It's your body. And it's your life. And as your mother, she should accept you for who you are. Not for who she thinks you should be."
"I wish she would just understand that I'll never live up to her expectations, or to be who she wants me to be." She sighs, looks at the floor with an expression that can only be described as defeated.
"I think you're fine just the way you are." He sings the last part loudly and off key. Beca tries not to laugh, but fails. He is such a nerd.
"Oh my god, stop," she groans. "You'd be the first to say that." Jesse grins.
"Bet I won't be the last."
A/N: So let me know if this is any good. First time writing Jeca stuff that is actually decent. I'm hoping to turn this into a multichapter story if this gets a good response. Reviews make my day! (because they are virtual hugs from Skylar Astin. I don't question this logic)