Title: I Belong With You, You Belong With Me
Author: heartsmash
Rating: M, for later chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own these wonderful characters written by Kay Cannon and brought to life by Jason Moore.
Summary: Companion piece to "You're My Sweetheart." Jesse and Beca are apart for summer and this time around it's Beca's turn to meet the family. Named for another lyric from "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers.
Chapter One
Finals were officially over and the students of Barden University were bustling to pack up and move out for the summer. Seniors lamented over their four years at the school being over as they cleared out their dorm rooms and prepared for graduation that next week. Younger students clung to friends that they had made over the year, promising to keep touch over the summer.
Jesse was one of the students packing up his dorm room and his girlfriend, Beca, was sitting on bed watching the entire process disdainfully.
"This sucks," Beca said as she watched Jesse drop more of his stuff into a box. His parents would be there in the morning to pack the family car and head back up to Maryland for the summer. Benji had left several days earlier, which had given the couple a private place, which they didn't have in Beca's room thanks to Kimmy Jin. But having that private place had definitely given more reality to the couple being apart for the summer.
"When are you heading back home?" Jesse asked looking up from gingerly packing his movie collection, just as she had packed her vinyl collection the day previous.
"My dad is taking me to the airport tomorrow night," she responded glumly, bringing her feet up onto the bed and resting her head on her knees. She hated being that girl, the one that got depressed over her relationship. It wasn't her usual M.O. and that was throwing her for a loop. Her sarcasm and witty comebacks were at an all time low and she blamed the boy who was packing up his belongings.
"Don't do that," he said and stopped packing to comfort her.
"Don't do what?" she asked, putting her shoulders back and pushing away any feelings of upset.
"Don't be this Beca. It's not like the world is ending...unless it's the rapture and you know something I don't," Jesse joked. Her glare told him that his joke was a no go. Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Jesse asked his girlfriend again what was bothering her. "Beca, seriously what's wrong?"
Jesse sat next to her on the bed and she sighed.
"I don't know. I just...going home and dealing with my mom and her new boyfriend Steve sounds super entertaining and all but Chloe's moving to Miami and we're going to be apart…it's a whole hell of a lot of change really quick."
"For us it's the summer though. Three months. No big deal."
"How can you be so optimistic all the time? It drives me nuts." Beca said getting up from her sitting position, glaring down at him with her arms crossed.
Jesse shook his head and gave her a small smirk.
"Anyone is optimistic in comparison to you Bec," he said tugging her back down onto the bed and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "But to answer you, I can be optimistic because I know how well this has been going. I'm excited for everything that comes next and to learning more about you."
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his mushiness and instead focused on his last sentence.
"What have you learned?" she questioned with a kinked eyebrow
"You like coffee with sugar in the raw even though most places don't stock their coffee bars with it. I know that even though you're itching to get to LA, you enjoy being one of the Bellas and can't wait to take the reins with the girls next year and that you have nine tattoos."
Beca blushed and Jesse smiled, knowing that Beca rarely blushed and that biological response indicated the experiences that had allowed him to see all nine tattoos.
"Is that a blush I see?" Jesse questioned, acting overly shocked
"Shut up nerd," she said, smacking him lightly in the shoulder.
Beca agreed to let him finish up the one movie box that he had been packing but demanded that they continue her movication for the last night that they had before he went back home for summer.
"What's on the agenda?" Beca asked pulling a bag of microwaveable popcorn from her bag, which garnered a smile out from Jesse. She knew he would appreciate the small gesture especially since he had probably packed any stock of his go-to snack for movie watching.
"Annie Hall. It's Woody Allen being overly neurotic about love."
Beca shrugged not really knowing the movie, instead focusing on the snack preparation. In less than three minutes, she had popcorn perfection. Beca stacked the pillows to give them something to lean against. With everything set, Beca got onto Jesse's bed and under the covers. Jesse joined her after shutting out the lights, the starting up DVD providing the only light to the room.
The movie hadn't even made it twenty minutes and Beca could feel herself getting distracted from its overall plot. She knew it exactly where her head was at: already missing Jesse. Under the cover of majority darkness, Beca felt like she could confess.
"I'm going to miss you," Beca said. She didn't look at him when she said it, simply kept her eyes straight ahead. But his pulling her closer to his side proved to her that the words she said definitely meant something to him. Instead of paying attention to the movie, a cardinal rule for Jesse, he leaned down and kissed her.
Following his lead, she forgot the movie on in front of them wanting to just be close to him. Beca straddled him, which caused a look of shock and surprise to cross his face, only discoverable by the light and shadows cast by the playing DVD.
Beca's new position put her in perfect position to kiss him, the earlier kiss having made Annie Hall completely forgotten. His hands fell to her hips and his gripped them possessively as she leaned in to kiss him. The kiss started off clumsy, almost desperate in an attempt for her to show him how much she was going to truly miss him, just as much as he was her. Two pairs of lips moving against one another, a true showing of their feelings.
He cupped her face, before moving one hand up into her soft chocolate colored locks, enjoying the feel of the silken locks as they flowed between his fingers.
Jesse timidly traced the outline of her soft pink lips, a wordless request of entrance to her mouth. She gasped slightly allowing him in and he slipped his tongue into her mouth gently exploring the area, before meeting hers, making the encounter even more passionate.
Once again, time was lost to them, but far too soon they needed to breath. Slowly, reluctantly, they broke the kiss and pulled away. Jesse set his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes, she returned his gaze, her arms were still looped around his neck as his were at her waist. He was slightly flushed, but she knew that she probably was too.
She stared down at him, wanting to say so much yet not knowing where to begin. She wished she could put into words how much she going to miss him – how much she would miss him educating her on movies that she once thought were impossible to get through, how much she loved that he lived in the same building as her, providing this invisible safety net and how much she appreciated that he didn't put up with her shit, that he still wanted to be with her and around her despite everything she said and did.
Beca slid her arms around his torso as best she could and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Jesse held her to him and savored the moments that they had there. Behind closed doors, Beca was a different person. She let the walls come down and he savored the time that they had like that. They would have to fill the void for however long until they could see each other again.
She inhaled deeply trying to memorize his scent – a combination of cologne and soap. There was something about him that just drew her in, and made it impossible to want to leave.
"I can't believe I don't know this… but what cologne do you wear?" she asked quietly stroking his neck gently, "I'm going to have to buy a bottle so I don't lose the way you smell from my memory."
"Burberry Brit for Men," he replied
"Fancy," Beca responded, playfully nipping at his neck.
She snuggled further into his embrace, enjoying the warmth that he gave her with the covers surrounding them.
"We will see each other soon," he promised. "Your iMac has a webcam."
"Yeah, so?" Beca responded glumly. Seeing him over a webcam was not the same thing as seeing him in person.
"What I'm saying is, I'm not going to go a day without seeing your face or hearing your voice if I can prevent it."
Beca had come to the conclusion that being an adult really sucked. Popular culture had seriously let her down when it came to a summer break from college. Instead of catching up on sleep and being a general waste of life, she was working full time for a small record label for their A&R department. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to be doing but it was in the music field and it was her getting her foot in the door. Making music was the dream but she knew that there had to be stepping-stones to that point.
Slamming her bedroom door in her mother's house, Beca flopped onto her bed in exhaustion. Laying there, she did as she did every night – finding peace with her internship. It was a lot of work but at least it was in Manhattan and not Bumblefuck, Connecticut. On her lunch break, she actually got to experience little pieces of the city. Plus the job was paying her a salary, although meager. Most people she knew who had an internship was doing it for a stipend at the end of the summer or college credit, which was even worse.
However, it was a bitch and a half commuting from Connecticut. The Metro North railroad was unreliable and crowded.
It was already nearly 7 o'clock and she still had to eat dinner, shower and work on a project that her boss had given her. But for the moment, she pushed herself up and went to her computer. Logging into Skype, she called Jesse and waited to connect.
It was their weekly Skype date, which was padded by daily texts, and phone calls.
When an equally tired Jesse came on her screen, she felt her heart flutter. Like a little bitch. This was not the typical Beca but somehow he had beaten all her defenses into submission and she was fine with it. He looked adorable in a shirt and tie, the top two buttons at the collar undone and the tie undone.
"Hey you," she said softly. It was good to see his face. Sometimes only having his voice on the phone made her feel lonelier.
"Hey, how was your day?" he asked. She could see that he had some movie on in the background but it was something that she didn't recognize so they hadn't gotten to it yet in her movication. Such a nerd, she thought to herself.
"It was fine. More work, tiny pay. The usual. You?"
"I took that job at the consulting firm and honestly I'd rather be at the movie theater."
Poor Jesse. Much like her, he had such a clear job path for himself in mind and she was sure this summer job was only making his goal more apparent.
She used that thought aloud and he nodded in agreement.
"You're right. Just gotta keep chugging along."
"That's my little trooper," she said with a grin.
Beca would have been happier to be sitting side by side with him so that she could make him feel better. She knew him well enough by his body language and facial expressions that he was still not 100%. And to admit that she missed him...she's not sure that that would help him either.
"Can it be September so we can just be back at Barden and you'll be maybe a building away? Not five states?"
"I miss you too," she agreed and he smiled, she guessed that he wasn't sure that she missed him. He probably would be smarmy with the knowledge that she had actually gone out and bought a bottle of Burberry Brit for Men to spray on sheets.
"Maybe I can come up to Connecticut for a visit on a weekend? Still have to meet your mom."
Beca rolled her eyes. Carol Granger (formerly Mitchell) was no easy audience and she didn't want to subject Jesse to that.
"You met my dad and that's definitely the easier of the two parents on my end. My mom is…well, she has particular views on what a 'mate' should me."
"Mate?" Jesse asked her with a laugh.
"Yes, mate. I say that because after all the crap that went down with my parents' divorce, I don't think she's looking for love anymore. More so sustainability."
"Ouch, Steve is that great?"
Beca told Jesse about finding Steve in his boxers and t-shirt and her mother in a silk nightgown in the kitchen the other morning when her mother and he had played hooky from work. Beca had wanted to grab a banana or granola bar before going to the train and that was the sight that had befallen her excursion.
"I keep a stock of granola bars in my room now," Beca told him, pulling the box from the drawer and showing him as proof.
He laughed and she was glad that she able to get his mind preoccupied on other things for even a little while.
"I know you have to go eat and because I'm a wonderful boyfriend and I don't want you to have to walk in on the kitchen being used a sex den again, I'm going to let you go."
"Okay, I'll call you on my way home tomorrow," Beca promised him. With a last nod, he ended their Skype call.
Beca chewed her bottom lip pensively and pushed away from her computer. As she got out of the business clothing that she despised and pulled on more comfortable items, she struggled with trying to determine what would make Jesse feel better.
A/N: So this pairing has obviously inspired me for another story. Unknown at this time how many chapters it will be but if you guys have anything that you would like to see happen, please share. I love getting feedback and trying to incorporate your ideas. That's where my whole focus on writing meeting the parents has come from.