A/N: This is my first foray into writing Pitch Perfect fanfiction, so any feedback is welcome. I've been working on this (read: editing and re-editing) for a couple months now, and I figured I'd better get part of it up soon or I never would.

I'm not an expert on how the music industry works, so sorry for any inaccuracies.

The timeline may be a little off, but I went with the following:

Jesse graduated early and went to USC for film school (cut story line from PP2) and PP3 takes place approximately 3 years after the Bellas' graduation.

So, I guess, enjoy?

The last week had both flown by and dragged into eternity for Beca. After the Bellas had bid the USO goodbye, she had been whisked back to New York to attend countless meetings with studio execs, agents, producers, and lawyers, oh my! When she finally signed her name on the last page of her contract, the relief almost washed away the ache in her hand.

She walked into her empty apartment—Amy had gone home to Tasmania to visit her mother for a few days after everything that had happened with her father, and Chloe had decided to stay in Europe with Chicago for a while as they "got to know each other"—and instead of flopping down on her bed and not moving for the foreseeable future as she wanted desperately to do, she sat at the tiny kitchen table and thumbed through the contacts in her phone. When her finger landed on Jesse's name, she hesitated before calling.

She had wanted to call him the night of her televised performance to tell him the news. The Bellas had been her support system for years, but he had been a big part of it, too. He'd encouraged her with every step she took in her career (and in her life), even when that step meant moving to New York instead of to LA with him. She felt like he deserved to hear the news from her. And if she were being completely honest with herself, he was still the first person she thought of when something big happened to her.

She sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose and touched the call button. He picked up before she had a chance to change her mind.

"Becaw!"

In her empty apartment, she didn't try to hide the smile that lit her face. "Hey, Nerd."

"Haven't heard from you in a while. What's up?" She didn't point out that it wasn't common practice for exes to keep in touch regularly, but had to bite her lip to keep from doing so.

Beca stood up and began pacing the small apartment. "I have some news. Good news," she assured. "And I just…You've always been so supportive of my music and my career and I…I just wanted…" she rambled. When had she ever had to justify herself to Jesse (excluding fights, of which there were plenty)? Something amazing had happened—was happening—to her, and she wanted to share it with someone who would truly understand what it meant to her; someone who supported her and loved her; someone she loved. "DJ Khaled signed me to his label," she told him in a rush.

There was silence on the other end of the line, and she wondered if she'd made a mistake. Maybe he didn't care anymore. They hadn't been together in over a year, he had a new girlfriend. Maybe—

"Beca, that's amazing! That's—I'm so proud of you." She could hear it in his voice and it clenched her stomach in an old familiar way. "I didn't know you were looking to get signed."

She laughed, the tension draining from her shoulders. "Funny story." So she told him about the USO tour and being chosen by Khaled. And about Amy's father taking the Bellas hostage. He listened, putting in the proper 'uh-huh's and 'oh, my god's and, because he was Jesse, one 'Good song choice.' They fell back into their routine of witty banter and teasing as they talked, and it felt good and familiar and…she wasn't going there.

"So," Beca started. She wasn't sure how to broach the other news she had. She had to tell him—it would be awkward if she didn't— but she didn't want him to read into it. Or think that she was reading into it. She realized she was over thinking and finally just told him, quickly, "The label is sending me out to LA for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah?" Did he sound excited? Did she like that he did?

"Yeah," she breathed. "They want me to meet with some people out there." She waited a beat. "There's so many people, Jesse."

He laughed and she had to sit down. She missed that sound. "As a music producer, I feel like you should know that."

Beca rolled her eyes. "But as a producer, I was just one of those people. Now I'm on the other side and there are so many."

"You'll be fine, Bec. Great even." She could hear the sincerity in his voice beneath the laughter. "We should definitely hang out while you're here."

Beca froze. They could be themselves on the phone or through text. She didn't have to think about the fact that he had moved on; that he had a girlfriend and a cat; that he was happy without her.

She must have been silent for too long, because Jesse's voice, though his words were casual, held no small amount of trepidation when it filled her ear again. "Or not. I mean, you'll probably be really busy and have no time for us peons." He let silence ring once again.

Beca sighed. Jesse had always been someone she could be honest with, no matter how awkward the subject matter. "It's not that. It's…I'm not sure hanging with your ex is something your girlfriend would be ok with." I sure as hell wouldn't.

Jesse's sigh sounded relieved. "Ah, no worries there. I'm girlfriend-free at the moment."

"What?" Beca bit her lip and mentally crossed her fingers that he hadn't heard her elation in that one word.

He chuckled at her shocked outburst. "Lindsey and I broke up."

Beca took a breath to control the tone of her voice. "I feel like I'm supposed to say 'sorry' or something." She wasn't going to.

He laughed and her body reacted. "No. It's good. We weren't right for each other."

She bit her own tongue to keep it from spitting out the "Damn right," that entered her mind. "Good. I didn't wanna lie to you."

"You never have to lie to me, Beca." She heard something below the teasing laughter in his voice, but couldn't quite place it.

"I know." She knew exactly what the something in her own voice was and, in the privacy of her own mind, could name the feeling. Longing. So much longing. "I'll text you when I know my schedule and we'll meet up."

"Yes. Absolutely!" That was definitely excitement.

She knew the smile was in her voice, and she didn't care to hide it from him. "Bye, Nerd."

"Bye, Beca."

Beca sat staring at her phone for a moment after she ended the call. What the hell was she doing? She had meant it to be just a friendly phone call, but it had been way too easy to fall back into their old rhythm. It was Jesse; she didn't know how to be just friends with him.

She had no more time to contemplate it, however, as Amy came through the door not at all quietly and said only, "Get ready, Bitch, we're going out."

Beca was halfway through her second drink and Amy was on her sixth when the blonde let out a groan. "I love that woman, but a week with her makes me remember why I left Australia in the first place." After downing the rest of her drink like a shot, she flagged the waitress down to order another.

Three drinks later, Beca thought it was safe enough to tell her best friend about her call with Jesse. "So, I called Jesse today. To tell him."

"I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place." That was not the reaction Beca had been expecting. Amy had been the first one to take her out to "forget him" after their breakup. Three days after, to be precise. She had wound up in a corner, blubbering on some unlucky guy's shoulder while Amy found a much luckier fellow to spend her time forgetting Bumper with.

"I mean, you guys were perfect together. And the sexual chemistry—" The waitress chose that moment to return with Amy's drink, distracting the blonde like a cat with a glitter ball, in an answer Beca's prayers.

Beca heaved a sigh and played with the straw in her forgotten drink. "You know why. The long distance thing sucked. We never saw each other—"

"Bull!" Amy slammed her (empty) glass on the table for added effect. "You were scared." Beca's mouth opened and closed several times trying to refute her amazingly-still-kind-of-sober best friend. "Beca, we both know any label in LA would've jumped at the chance to hire you, but you never tried." Amy raised her hand to flag down their waitress for another drink. "If you can't admit it to me, at least admit it to yourself."

That night, lying in bed with Amy—Beca was barely able to get the grossly over affectionate blonde the ten feet to Chloe's bed as they stumbled in the door and had then been trapped in what she and Chloe had not-so-cleverly named the "Drunken Amy Cuddle"—Beca could admit that she had been scared to start life after college with Jesse. College had been a safe haven for their relationship to flourish. They lived next door to each other, but that hedge was still a comfortable degree of separation. They had their life together, but the college lifestyle kept a cozy distance between them.

The thought of moving across the country with him and starting a real life together—yeah, it scared the shit out of her. So when she landed the job at an indie label in New York, she took it. It quickly became clear, however, that though the small distance they had maintained at Barden had been comfortable, 3,000 miles was heartbreaking. So when, on one of their rare Skype calls, Jesse had suggested that they take a breather, she had agreed.

She flipped angrily, earning a groan from Amy that put a petty smile on her face. Damn it. She had overcome so many personal obstacles when it came to Jesse. From her fear of being left (thanks, Dad) to saying "I love you" (she had avoided him for a week after he'd said it the first time). She had conquered every one of them, because it was Jesse and he was worth it. So why had she given into her fears after fighting for so long not to?

Amy snorted and rolled, leaving Beca the options of being crushed or thrown off the bed. In a split second decision, as she wasn't getting any sleep that night anyway, Beca rolled out of bed, narrowly missing taking a double D cup to the eye. Huffing at the blonde, she shuffled to her desk and opened her laptop. Music always calmed her down.

"Why do planes fly so early? If the sun isn't in the sky, people should definitely not be."

Beca rolled her eyes for what she was sure was at least the 90th time in the last 45 minutes. "You could've stayed home."

Amy scoffed and stole Beca's coffee—the largest JFK had to offer at 4:30 in the morning. "I couldn't let you go alone." She took a long drink and handed the now empty cup back to Beca. "Besides, you practically begged me to come." Beca's exact words had been "I'm going to LA for a couple of weeks." Still, she appreciated having a friend along for the ride. Amy was a welcome familiarity in this whirlwind of so much that was not.

She had sat up all night at her mixing board three days ago asking herself why she was willing to leap out of her comfort zone when it came to her career, but when it came to her personal life—when it came to Jesse—she stood paralyzed, unable or unwilling to cross that threshold into the unknown. The answer she had finally come up with just as the sun had awoken had brought a sigh to her lips and tears to her eyes. If she failed at music, it would break her heart; if she failed with Jesse, it would shatter her being.

"Beca?" Beca was jerked out of her thoughts by Amy, now standing. "You ready?"

Beca realized passengers were lining up to board and stood herself. "Yeah. Let's go." Amy raised her brow and Beca saw the worry in her best friend's expressive face. Beca heaved her laptop case over her shoulder and shook her head.

Respecting her wish for space, Amy nodded and headed to get in line. "There's booze on this flight, yeah?"

"And this is home for the next couple of weeks." Beca had to clench her teeth to keep her jaw from dropping as she followed Marilyn, the label rep, into the biggest hotel suite she'd ever seen. "If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call. I'll leave my card and a copy of the itinerary on the table here." While Marilyn did just that, Beca was engaged in a heated, though silent, argument with Amy.

"No!" Beca mouthed.

Amy gave a huff. "She said anything," was her silent reply.

"Amy, I swear to—"

"The label will send a car tomorrow morning at nine for the studio tour. Until then, enjoy yourselves." Marilyn spread her arms. "Welcome to Los Angeles!"

"Yeah, so, where's the nearest massage parlor? I need to get my happy ending on." If Marilyn had misunderstood Amy at all, the hip thrust that accompanied the statement cleared things up pretty quickly.

"She's kidding!" If looks could kill…

"I'm not." While Beca's glare sent most people fleeing, Amy had developed an immunity after having it aimed her way on a regular basis for years.

"She is. She definitely is. Ok, 9 a.m. tomorrow, got it. See you then." Marilyn looked more than a little revolted as she let Beca push her out the door. Furiously turning back to the shameless blonde, Beca let her face do the talking. Seriously?

Amy shrugged. Whatever.

Beca shook her head and flopped face first onto the couch in the middle of the suite.

"Beca," Amy began slowly, "this whole thing has been happening so fast, we never really got to talk about how you're doing with everything." Beca turned her head to give Amy a quizzical look over the back of the couch. "I mean, you're obviously very stressed. And I never got an address for that massage parlor."

"I don't think a happy ending is what I need right now, Ames." She sat up on the couch. "This is amazing and nothing I ever dreamed of doing, but it's kind of perfect, you know?" Beca had never seen herself as a performer, but the Bellas had forced her to become one. And she found herself loving that rush she'd felt after her first ICCA finals.

Amy came to sit on the coffee table across from Beca. "It is. But it's also a lot of change. You're not great with change."

Leave it to Amy to always keep her grounded by pointing out her every fault. Beca had to smile, though. Amy could list every flaw you had and in the next sentence, tell you what an amazing bitch you were. "I'm working on it."

"Are you gonna see Jesse?"

Beca blinked at the sudden topic change. "I don't know." Her eyes looked everywhere but at Amy as her hands busied themselves twisting her rings. "Maybe." She decided that exact moment was a good time to unpack and nearly head butted Amy as she stood up. "If I have time," she threw over her shoulder as she rolled her bag into the nearest of the two bedrooms.

After years of dealing with Beca Mitchell's avoidance of feelings, Amy had perfected a system to get her to talk: don't let her run (aka trap and annoy). She walked in to Beca transferring clothes from her suitcase to the dresser.

"You have time tonight."

Beca faltered in her task. "What? Tonight?" Why was her voice so high? "It's our first night in town. We should go out, explore the city." She almost sprinted to the adjoining bathroom with her toiletries.

Keeping to the system, Amy followed. "Yeah, we could do that." She stood, arms crossed, in the doorway. A literal trap for the skittish brunette. "Or Jesse could show you around."

Beca busied herself with setting her things just so to avoid Amy's eyes. "What," she laughed awkwardly, "you trying to get rid of me?" She caught the blonde's eyes in the mirror and Amy quickly shifted her gaze. Relief flooded Beca and she whirled on her captor. "Seriously? We just got here."

Amy shifted from foot to foot in a dance Beca recognized as the Aussie's 'I've got a secret' tick. "Ok, all right, it doesn't have to be tonight. But I've seen the itinerary, Beca. You have plenty of downtime."

Beca crossed her arms. "Why are you pushing this all of a sudden? You were the one who told me to 'dump the ball and chain and live a little,' remember?"

Amy threw her hands up in exasperation. "Oh, come on, Beca. I'm the one who rescues the Bellas from a hostage situation, not the one you take love advice from." Beca couldn't argue the truth in that. She arched one eyebrow and waited for the blonde to crack.

"Look, you just haven't been as happy since you broke up with Jesse. I'm not the only one who's noticed."

Beca let out a long suffering sigh and sat on the toilet. No, she hadn't. And, apparently, she hadn't been doing as good of a job at acting as though she was "just fine" as she'd thought. "He suggested the break, Amy. He moved on. Just because they broke up doesn't cancel that out." She looked up at her best friend, pleading for understanding. "You were right. I was scared and I let it ruin one of the best things I've ever had." She wiped a tear that had stubbornly escaped from her eye. "Jesse and I are over."

Amy's hug was more uncomfortable than comforting in her current position, but Beca appreciated it all the same. A long moment passed before uncomfortable became painful and Beca managed to slither out from the cage of Amy's arms. She was at the threshold to the bedroom when she turned to ask, "Who did you have a date with tonight?"

"Hmm, well, mmm, uhhh."

A/N 2: Please let me know what you thought. I have more written and hope to finish the story fairly soon (no promises on that), and feedback may or may not help that process along.