Jesse was sprawled out on his bed in just his red and white checkered boxers and the white undershirt he'd worn all day. He had his laptop awkwardly perched on his chest with the screen angled down toward him as he watched Mary Stuart Masterson bang around a garage.
'Don't go mistaking paradise for a pair of long legs.'
Jesse couldn't stop himself from mouthing the lines along with her. Mary Stuart Masterson as Watts. The perfect woman.
His mind started to wander as he shifted his legs. He tried to imagine Beca as Watts, all scrappy with short hair and nose piercings an bandannas and speckled with grease and …
He laughed. He tried to imagine what it would take to convince Beca to dress like that, act out some sort of John Hughes-ian role play with him.
Even he had to admit, that might be taking his fandom a bit too far.
Jesse ran his fingers through his hair and stretched his limbs tight, his shirt riding up to show the faintest hint of belly.
'Beca as Watts ….,' he thought.
Jesse was woken up suddenly. He had drifted off.
*TAP*
He rubbed his eyes, and tried to focus.
*TAP*
The DVD menu looped back around for the third time, the sound of '80s pop filling Jesse's ears. He closed the laptop and sat up, removing his headphones.
*TAP*
Still a little disoriented from the nap, Jesse got up, and walked toward the source of the noise: the window over looking the quad. He scratched his lower thigh and adjusted the waist band of his underwear.
*TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP*
*TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP**TAP*
'What…?' Jesse mumbled as he watched a handful of pebbles hit the window, leaving a small scratch on the top right side.
'Hey!' He swung the window open, and peered down, squinting to make out the figures standing three floors below on the grass.
'Jesus, Stacie!' A voice that sounded suspiciously like Beca wafted up to him.
'Beca?' He yelled down. No one seemed to paying attention to him.
'What? The one stone approach wasn't working, so I kicked it up a notch. 'scuse me …'
'OK. But let's try not to break his windows.'
'Helloooo?' Jesse called down, waving his hands back and forth, trying to get Beca's attention.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse registered a flurry of activity, he glanced over to see what looked like 4 or 5 more people. He was trying to make out who they were-
WHACK
A small pebble hit Jesse square in the forehead. He moaned, and threw his hand up to his head.
'Oh, crap. Hey, Jesse. Are you alri- No more throwing things, Stacie!'
'Sorry!'
'It's OK,' Jesse shouted down, leaning his head out the window and massaging his forehead. 'I'm alright. What's going-'
WHAM
CRACK
The door to his room swung open, causing him to jump and hit his head on the upper window sill.
He heard a laugh from down below coming from who he presumed was Stacie.
'Jesse?' Beca was yelling up at him, but he was holding his head and backing over to his bed. He flopped down.
'Ow.'
'Yeaaah,' came a voice from the doorway. Amy was standing with her arms behind her back, shuffling her feet back and forth.
'Sorry.'
Jesse groaned and laid back onto the mattress, dangling his bare legs and feet off the side. 'Next time knock, OK?' He covered his eyes with his left arm.
'Yeah … You see I did, but I didn't really hear anything so I just decided to come in,' Amy deadpanned. 'They wanted me to check and see if you were actually up here.'
Jesse removed his arm from his face and looked over at her. 'Wait. What's going on?'
'Jesse?! Hello?' came from down below.
Amy strolled over to the window and bellowed, 'DON'T WORRY! HE'S FINE!' as Jesse clutched at his head.
'Please no yelling,' he muttered, sitting up, placing his hands on his knees and leaning forward.
He could hear what he presumed to be Beca fretting down below.
'Jesse,' she yelled up. 'Sorry about your head …. And your head. Can you come to the window for a sec, maybe?'
Jesse groaned and reached out his hand toward Amy. 'A little help,' he sighed. Amy pulled him up, a little too forcefully, and he stumbled over to the window.
'You alright?' Beca called up, her breath floating in front of her in the cold night air.
Jesse tentatively leaned his head through the window, giving second glances to Amy and the upper window sill. 'Yeah. I'm OK,' he said. 'So, what's up.' He managed a grin.
'Well,' Beca started. 'I, uh, did some more movie homework, and I figured that it was probably time I made some sort of romantic gesture. Soooo…,' she giggled nervously. 'Girls?'
A pair of floodlights snapped on and illuminated Beca. She was standing on the grass below, swimming in a trench coat much too big for her, and behind her were all the members of the Bellas.
'What are you doing?' Jesse laughed, shaking his head and smiling a toothy grin.
Beca sighed and shrugged. 'Oh, you'll see.'
Jesse laughed and furrowed his eyebrows, confused. The Bella's swarmed around Beca, hiding her from view. Aubrey stood in the front of the pack. She looked up at Jesse, winked, and blew a note into her harmonica.
The girls began humming a beat. He couldn't quite place it, but it was ethereal.
Aubrey began to sing.
love I get so lost, sometimes
days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
when I want to run away
I drive off in my car
but whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are
A wide grin spread across Jesse's face, and he turned to look at Amy inquisitively. She winked at him and started twirling around his dorm room.
Chloe stepped forward.
all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
The sounds of the group floated up to Jesse. And he couldn't help but laugh when the group parted, revealing Beca, struggling to hold an iPod dock over her head while the giant trench coat swallowed her up.
'I'm sorry! I couldn't find a boom box!' she quickly yelled before a smile spread across her face and she sang.
in your eyes
the light the heat
in your eyes
I am complete
in your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
in your eyes
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
in your eyes
I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
the heat I see in your eyes
Stacie and Lilly came forward for the second verse, but Jesse was too distracted. Even from three stories up, he could see right into Beca's eyes while she sang harmony for the other girls and kept the iPod dock held high.
As the song neared the end, the other girls gradually stopped singing and backed away, leaving Beca by herself, looking slightly embarrassed but determined. The last few lines were sung only by her.
I want to touch the light,
the heat I see in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
By the last bar, Jesse could barely hear Beca as her singing grew fainter and fainter. And then the song was over.
For a brief second, it was silent, and Jesse and Beca stared at each other before the rest of the girls started cheering.
Beca looked to either side and bit her lip while a smirk formed on her face.
Amy grabbed Jesse's shoulder. He looked at her.
'Well, what the hell are you still doing up here?'
As fast as his legs could carry him, Jesse flew down three flights of stairs and emerged out the front door of his dorm.
Beca had made her way over to the front entrance and was waiting for him 20 feet away.
They slowly walked toward each other, Jesse with a big grin on his face, and Beca seized with a fit of nervous laughter. They met face-to-face.
'So? How'd I do at this romantic gesture thing, nerd?'
'Well,' Jesse quipped, 'I can't say Lloyd Dobler was ever at the top of my list of romantic fantasies. But then again, you might be a little prettier than John Cusack.'
Beca leaned back. 'Only a little bit, huh? Well-'
Jesse grabbed Beca and pulled her into a passionate kiss, pushing his hands beneath the oversized trench and exploring every inch of her body.
AHEM
The two looked over at the group of girls standing a few feet away with smiles on their faces. Jesse and Beca moved slightly apart but kept their hands intertwined. It was at this moment Jesse remembered he wasn't wearing any pants.
'Nice legs, really,' Stacie said as she raised her eyebrows. Chloe gave her a punch to the shoulder, as Jesse blushed and tried to maneuver Beca in front of him.
'Hey,' Stacie quipped as she pointed a her pelvic area, 'When HE notices, HE notices.'
Beca felt a shiver run through Jesse.
'A little cold, are we?' She stepped back, took off the trench, and handed it to him.
Jesse sheepishly slipped it on. He reached out and pulled Beca close again.
'That was really great, guys,' Jesse said. 'Thanks. Really.'
'Hey,' Cynthia-Rose said, 'You make our girl happy, and that's all that matters.' She leaned in. 'And we better keep it that way, got it?'
Jesse nodded. 'Loud and clear.'
'Alright, girls,' Chloe said. 'We should be going. We've got to return these flood lights after all. Lead the way, Stacie.' Jesse looked at Stacie again.
'What can I say,' she said mid-shrug, 'HE's also pretty good at convincing people to let his master borrow stuff.' She sighed. 'Sometimes I wonder who's REALLY in charge.'
After the rest of the Bellas left, Jesse and Beca stood outside for a little while. She ran her hand through Jesse's hair.
He winced.
'Ow.'
"Oh, sorry," Beca said as she retracted her hand. "How's your head. I'm sorry about that … Here.' Beca put her hand on Jesse's shoulders, bending his head forward, and extended herself onto her toes. She kissed the top of his head. Jesse sighed, and Beca could feel his warm breath run across the surface of her skin 'Better?'
'Mhmmm,' Jesse moaned. "But I have to tell you that this draft is becoming a little too much to handle.'
Beca looked at the sorry sight of Jesse's bare legs sticking out the bottom of the trench like he was a flasher. She laughed. 'Well … My roommate is out of town,' Beca said, attempting a sexy voice and not doing a particularly great job at it. Jesse thought it was adorable.
With his arms still around Beca, Jesse moved them toward his dorm. 'Alright, rebel. Just let me get some pants.' He jumped. 'Oh…. frisky.'
Beca took her hand out from under the trench coat and pressed it into his back, moving them closer together.
'Pants? What for?'
Beca arched her eyebrows and looked up at him. Jesse grinned and pulled Beca close.
'Roll credits, John Hughes.'
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
EPILOGUE
Benji, fresh from a weekend trip back home, strolled into his dorm room and, without looking, slung his suitcase onto his bed and sat down on the small sofa he and Jesse had bought.
'Sup, Star Wars?'
Benji jumped and fell off the side of the sofa, crumpling into a heap of limbs and corduroy.
'Hope you don't mind,' Amy tossed off casually in her Aussie droll. 'Was a bit tired. Just needed a rest, you know. Very cold outside.'
Amy was sitting on the far end of the couch. She leaned back comfortably, as if she had answered all of Benji's forthcoming questions.
'Uhh, no. I mean,' he stammered, struggling to pick himself up off the floor. 'Jesse around?'
'Aww, you missed it,' Amy said, relaxing her body and slouching down into the cushions. 'We did this whole thing with a iPod and stuff.'
Benji waited for more explanation, but none came.
'So this is a good set up, yeah? You got your sofa and your swords and your magic … stuff. Yeaaah…' Amy trailed off.
Benji had managed to untangle himself and was standing off to the side. He started glancing around the room nervously, trying to find something to fill the uncomfortable silence.
'Ummm,' he sputtered, 'Do yoooou want to see the new magic trick I've been working on?'
Amy peered back at him with suspicion. 'Nah. Better not.'
Benji gulped and walked over to his desk. 'Well … Make yourself at home.'
A vibrating sound came from the sofa, followed by …
YOU. YOU GOT WHAT I NEED. BUT YOU SAY HE'S JUST A FRIEND. AND YOU SAY HE'S JUST A FRIEND. OH BABY YOU-
Amy maneuvered her cell phone out her pocket and pressed it up to her ear.
'What. Is. Up. Hoooomie?' Amy asked, emphasizing each word like it was its own syllable. 'Aww, yes. Sweet as. I-' Amy stopped suddenly and looked over at Benji, who was mumbling something under his breath.
I whispered in her ear, "Come to the picture booth. So I can ask you some questions to see if you are a hundred proof"
Amy dropped her phone, a refrain of 'Hello?' coming from the other end, and joined in.
I asked her her name, she said blah-blah-blah. She had 9/10 pants and a very big bra.
Benji stopped for a second, taken aback, especially as Amy grabbed her own breast at the end of the bra line. He tentatively continued.
I- I took a couple of flicks and she was enthused. I said, "How do you like the show?" She said, "I was very amused"
Amy and Benji were now in sync and their volume was increasing.
I started throwin' bass, she started throwin' back mid-range But when I sprung the question, she acted kind of strange.
Amy and Benji were both on their feet at this point, standing in the middle of the room and moving their bodies to the rhythm as much as their own internal metronome would allow.
Then when I asked, "Do ya have a man," she tried to pretend. She said, "No I don't, I only have a friend"
They were yelling now.
YOU. YOU GOT WHAT I NEED. BUT YOU SAY HE'S JUSTA FRIEND. AND YOU SAY HE'S JUST A FRIEND. OH BABY YOU. YOU. YOU GOT WHAT I NEED. BUT YOU SAY HE'S JUSTA FRIEND. BUT YOU SAY HE'S JUST A FRIEND. OH BABY YOU-'
'SHUT UP!' A voice from the hall carried into the room, breaking the spell that had taken Amy and Benji over.
They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, then lunged at each other, Benji's hands awkwardly fumbling as they looked for a place to rest. Amy, however, wasted no time, ripping off his belt and dropping his corduroys around his ankles. Benji let out a small shriek before Amy shoved him toward the door. She reached her leg around, kicked the door closed, and pressed Benji up against it, his butt, shielded only by a pair of black Batman underoos, narrowly missing collision with the door knob.
Their lips parted, and Benji opened his mouth, struggling to say anything and only emitting a series of overwhelmed noises.
Suddenly, he sputtered, 'Wait. Wait. I can't do this.'
Benji worked his way out from where Amy had pinned him. As she looked on, he waddled over to his side of the room, picked a T-shirt off the floor, and placed it over the cage he kept his dove in.
'She's sensitive,' he explained before shuffling back to door, leaning against it, and pulling Amy's hands back around him.
'OK,' he stammered. 'Now I can do this.'
Amy purred and leaned in for more.
THE END