When he woke up three hours later, Jesse was still suffering from a killer headache—His stomach didn't feel well either.
He shouldn't have had so much to drink the night before going out camping with his son.
His hangover was the worst one yet and Aiden wasn't blind to it.
Determined to bond with his son, Jesse insisted they didn't change their plans.
"There's no reception here," Aiden noted as he looked at his cellphone. "I'm supposed to let mom know we made it safely."
"We'll see if there's reception up that hill," Jesse figured nodding at the nearby hill that he dreaded climbing—he wasn't in his best shape.
"No, you don't understand. Mom will freak out if I don't at least send her a text," Aiden explained.
"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Jesse asked, failing to find a solution himself. "Drive back into the city for reception?"
Aiden stayed quiet for a few seconds before he shook his head.
"That's what I thought," Jesse mumbled as he unfastened his seatbelt. "C'mon, let's set our tents."
The tents took less time than Jesse estimated mainly to how fast Aiden figured the whole thing out and managed to follow the instructions to a T in record time.
The father wasn't of much a help because his mind was too preoccupied: he couldn't stop thinking about Beca and what happened between them less than 24 hours ago.
It wasn't the greatest sex he ever had but it was definitely something.
'Pretend it never happened,' he snorted. 'Like that would ever happen.'
True, he was drunk…okay, wasted, but he didn't regret it. She made up her mind about what came next and he nodded along because his hungover ass couldn't say anything.
"Dad?" Aiden called snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" He tilted his head to look at him.
"Would this be enough for the night?" the fifteen-year-old asked gesturing at the twigs and branches he had gathered.
"Uh, yeah." Jesse nodded.
He was really impressed with Aiden because the boy hadn't complained once ever since they got there. His bet was that Beca made him promise he'd be on his best behavior.
"Did you find reception up there?" Jesse wondered, nodding at the hill.
"Yep." Aiden placed the twigs and branches near the larger pieces of wood that Jesse collected then straightened up.
"Cool." Jesse held the shovel towards Aiden. "Wanna dig? I've already cleaned the spot."
"Yeah, sure." Aiden accepted the shovel and went on to dig while Jesse went to get tinder from his car in order to start the campfire.
Having spent most of the day getting settled, they didn't do much talking. It wasn't until nightfall that awkward silence fell. Jesse hated that he had no idea how to get Aiden to give fewer monosyllable answers to his questions.
He struggled to keep a conversation once he ran out of things to ask. Silence meant thinking. And, since Jesse's mind seemed to favor events of the prior night, he went there.
"Hey, Aiden," Jesse called once the inappropriate thoughts in his head got too inappropriate and he had to stop thinking about Beca. "Did your mother ever tell you how she and I met?" he wanted to know.
"You met a frat party," Aiden stated.
"No, that's where we met. Not how we met," Jesse pointed out.
"Then, no, I don't know how you met," Aiden figured.
Jesse grinned because Aiden seemed intrigued. "It was a Friday, I was out to drink the night away," Jesse recalled. "I had too much to drink and was throwing up in a gardening pot when I heard arguing." He paused. "There was really loud music playing, to this day I have no idea how I heard the arguing in the first place. I decided to go see what's up." He sighed. "It was all so blurry but I saw it when your mom sucker punched the dude she was arguing with and he did not like it."
"Did he hurt her?" Aiden questioned.
"I was afraid he would because your mom is five-two and the guy's like a foot taller than her. I walked up to them and tried to play the hero. Mom told me to back off." Beca actually told him to fuck off but he wasn't going to tell Aiden. "She then left."
"What about the dude she punched?"
"He just stood there, holding his cheek."
"Then what happened?" Aiden urged.
"She went into the house where they were throwing the party so I followed her." Jesse shrugged. "I got her a cold beer to ice her hand with. She took it and thanked me. I could tell she was annoyed so I figured I should do something about that. I asked her if she wanted to play beer pong and I offered to do most of the drinking so she wouldn't have to and she agreed." He was surprised that he didn't end up at the hospital that night for the amount of liquor that he consumed.
"Wonder why mom punched that guy," Aiden mumbled to which Jesse shrugged.
"Ask her when you get home."
"I will," Aiden said in response.
Camping went okay for the most part. There was some progress because Jesse did manage to get Aiden to stop giving curt answers. He was however unsuccessful at getting his mind off of Beca. It was becoming a source of annoyance: he was a grown ass man, why he was hung up was beyond him.
He wondered if it was because she told him that it's a one-time kind of thing. He wondered if it was because he couldn't have her again.
He also wondered why he drove to where she worked. Too late to think of a reason when he was walking to reception and asking for her.
Jesse held his breath when she came down shortly after he spoke to the receptionist. She looked so professional. Her hair in a ponytail, her white shirt tucked into her black skirt, and holy shit did she look hot.
"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked upon reaching him, worried that something was wrong with Aiden.
"Uh, yeah, yeah," he mumbled, still checking her out. "Camping went great." He finally met her gaze and saw confusion.
"Oh, okay… well then what do you want?" she questioned. Yeah, why was he there? He didn't know where to begin. "Dude, spill it out. I have to go back to work."
"When is your break?" he asked.
She was very puzzled as she arched an eyebrow. She then glanced at her watch. "In a couple of hours."
"Okay. I'll be back then. I wanna talk to you about something but I don't wanna keep you from work." He left before she could say anything, cursing himself for how weird he was acting.
She came out holding her lunch bag and started making her way towards him when she spotted him. He finished was left in his hipflask in one breath and climbed out of the car, regretting the amount of liquor consumed so early in the day.
He hated himself for turning to alcohol so often but shoved that very thought of self-loath to the back of his mind.
"There's this park nearby I spend my break at," she told him, nodding for him to follow her. They walked in silence. Upon reaching the said park, Beca picked a bench. She offered to share her lunch with him as they sat down: He declined.
"So," he sighed, breaking the silence they got in, as she ate her lunch.
She looked up from her tuna rice salad while chewing. "This is about the other night, isn't it?" she guessed when never finished his sentence and just stared at her instead.
"I thought we agreed we're gonna forget that ever happened," she continued when he nodded.
"I can't," he mumbled, rubbing his face. "I can't forget that ever happened. I don't even remember it that well but I can't get my mind off of it… I can't get my mind off of you," he confessed, frowning when she rolled her eyes.
"What do you want, Jesse?" she asked.
"You," he answered, hesitantly reaching to place his hand on her thigh.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," she told him as she eyed his hand.
"Um, can I know why?" he questioned.
"Are you seriously asking me that?"
He shrugged, digging his fingers into the fabric of her skirt. "We're both single and like each other." The last part got her snorting.
"I was drunk and so were you."
"You weren't that drunk: you knew very well what you were doing." He was well aware of how bold it was to challenge her like that yet he couldn't resist it.
"I know that I won't be doing that again," she said in annoyance.
"So you're not denying that liquor has nothing to do with your attraction to me." Very bold. The glare she shot him was scary but he knew he was right.
When she said nothing in response, he subtly rubbed his hand against her thigh half-expecting her to tell him to knock it.
"Jesse, we can't," she said at last. "Once things go south we won't be able to stay out of each other's' lives. We're stuck in each other's lives for good, man."
"I see your point," he mumbled, withdrawing his hand and running it through his hair. "But we're both adults here and it's just physical."
'Is it, though?' He heard a voice in his head say and ignored it.
"I don't take risks when Aiden is in the mix."
He threw his head back and groaned, "I can't believe you're using Aiden to keep yourself from having some fun but it's fine I guess."
"Excuse me?"
"When was the last time you had any fun?" he asked ignoring her obvious irritation with what he just said. "You got way too uptight for your own good, Becs. This isn't like you."
"You don't know shit about me, so stop acting like you do."
"You need to loosen up a little, Becs, that's all I'm saying."
"And fucking you is your idea of loosening up?" she said, giving him a look of disbelief.
"Hey, come on, we're just talking, don't leave," he said, sobering up a little when she packed what was left of her lunch and got up.
She ignored him and proceeded to walk away.
"Shit," he murmured, jumping after her. "Beca," he called. "Becaw!" He was in a bad shape that it took him a while to catch up. When he did, he reached for her arm to get her to stop. "Would you stop and listen to me for a second?" he panted.
"No, you listen to me." She pulled her arm from his reach. "You're a fucking know-it-all alcoholic selfish asshole and if it weren't for Aiden I wouldn't waste one second of my time with you—" She pushed him away when he shut her up with a kiss. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"It works in movies," he said with a shrug, unfazed with her insults from moments ago. "And you did kiss me back," he pointed out. It was for a half a second but still counted.
"Fuck off!"
"Will you punch me if I don't?" Why he found pissing her off amusing was beyond him.
"I might."
He swallowed not because he felt threatened but because her death glare was such a turn on. "Go ahead. Bring it on, Million Dollar Baby," he grinned.
"Don't test me, Jesse," she warned to which he shrugged.
"Here's the deal, I'm gonna count to ten and if you don't punch me by then I'm gonna kiss you."
"You're such a creep." She rolled her eyes.
"Ten, nine, eight…"
"As annoying as you are right now it's not worth fucking your face up," she admitted while he continued to count. Glancing at her watch, she sighed, "I need to head back to work."
As she turned on her heels, she felt his hand on her arm. He pulled her back, confusing her when he dipped her before he leaned in. "And, one." He expected her to pull away like she did when he previously kissed her but she surprisingly kissed him back and even let him slip some tongue.
When she broke the kiss, she had her hand on his cheek, her thumb rubbing his cheekbone.
He swallowed yet again no longer finding the whole thing amusing—he was pretty sure kissing her sobered him up good—he pulled her up and watched her blow a breath.
He wondered if he should apologize for what he just did but didn't because she didn't seem to mind kissing him.
She murmured something he couldn't hear because he was too consumed in his own thoughts then rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her walk away.
Jesse knew he fucked up. Big time. He wasn't sure why he had to act like a total dickhead around Beca. He thought it would be funny, he was just messing with her but when he gave it more thought about it he realized how much of an asshole he was for acting the way he did.
He spent the better part of what was left of the day trying to think of how he could apologize. He knew she wouldn't want anything expensive other than that he got nothing. 'I really don't know her,' he realized.
He racked his brains and thought back at everything he knew about her while trying his hardest not to let his thoughts get perverted which was a struggle.
Jesse had just worn a pair of sweatpants when he heard his doorbell ring. He grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it on, zipping it halfway as he walked down the stairs to get the door.
"Beca," he said in both puzzlement and surprise. "What are you doing here—wait, did you change your mind about punching me in the face?" he asked, pointing at her clenched left hand.
When she rolled her eyes, he took it as a no and stepped back.
"Uh, well come on in," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hey, so, I'm sorry about earlier." He closed his eyes momentarily.
"I'm sure you are," she murmured, looking around them. "I really don't like you, Swanson," she told him.
"I got that," he said in response.
She's so infuriating and it and he still found it hella hot— It was the disapproving and authoritative tone of her voice.
He lost track of the insults she was spouting his way but came back to reality when he thought he heard her admit that he's all she'd been thinking about and just wants him out of her head.
"I'm sorry, what was that you just said?"
He was dumbfounded.
"Oh my god," she murmured before looking at her watch. "Look, I only have an hour." She sighed noting his very shocked expression. "Don't just stand there and look at me all weird. It was your idea after all." She shrugged. "You know what? Nevermind." She turned on her heels.
"Wait, wait, wait," he said, snapping out of it.
"So, you're in?" she checked.
"A hundred percent." He rested his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him.
"Good," she mumbled, cupping his face and leaning up.
An hour later, they were both lying in bed sweating and out of breath.
Beca got up less than a minute later and started looking around of her clothes.
"Could you stop watching me get dressed? It's kinda creepy," she said as she hooked her bra.
"Sorry," he apologized and made no effort to look away. He watched her pace to the bathroom attached to his bedroom, assuming she was going to check how she looked in the mirror. He thought she looked perfect. When she came back, her hair neatly tied in a ponytail.
"Damn," he murmured, staring still, and earned her attention. "How are you single?"
"There's more to a person than their looks, Jesse," she said.
"Exactly." He sat up. "You're a decent human being judging by how well you've raised Aiden and you're really hot."
"I can't take all the credit for raising Aiden, though, now can I?"
"Please, we both know that you're the one who's doing the actual parenting." He just followed her rules and tried not to fuck up too much when it came to Aiden. Whereas she made all the major calls.
"I don't have time to date," she told him.
"You can make time if you really want to."
"Well, then I don't want to make time for some dude who'd either end up acting like I'm his mom or like he's Aiden's stepdad."
"What kind of men do you attract?" He frowned.
"Assholes," she told him, meeting his gaze, a small smile on her lips.
The way she said it while smiling made it feel less insulting and more endearing.
She smoothed down her shirt. "This was interesting."
"Very," he agreed.
"But this is it, Jesse. And, I mean it this time."
"Yup." He'd very much love to hook up again but she made the calls.
Also, why on earth couldn't he form actual sentences when she's looking him in the eyes.
She nodded curtly before turning on her heels.
He blew a breath watching her disappear into the hallway then ran a hand through his hair.
AN: Thank you so much for your feedback. You're so nice, it too wholesome darn it!
I hope you like this chapter and I look forward to reading what you thought of it.