First chapter here! So to explain something before you guys start: the words and their descriptions (the italicized parts, basically) are actual passages from the book, The Lover's Dictionary. I might find words not from the book and create my own descriptions along the way, but for now I'm taking from the book, since that is what this story is based on.

And yes, I did take the name Iris from another fancfic, Hate Finding Username's Falling For You. If you guys aren't reading that fic, well, it's time to quit missing out on something amazing.

Hit me up for any questions, and let me know your thoughts when you're done. Hope you guys like it :)

CHAPTER ONE

aberrant, adj.
"I don't normally do this kind of thing," you said.
"Neither do I," I assured you.
What we really meant to say was: "I don't normally feel this good about what I'm doing."

He's not sure what he's doing. He's pretty sure he's checked his watch every twenty seconds since he sat down, and people are starting to stare at the way he's furiously tapping his fingers on the tabletop like he's a crazy person. He can't really say he blames them. He thinks he just might be crazy for having agreed to do this.

On Jesse Swanson's junior year at Barden University, he had broken up with his girlfriend Iris, a girl he thought he had been dating exclusively for nearly two years, only to find out, two months before the end of that year, that she had been cheating on him. She had been cheating on him for six months, and needless to say, he had been devastated.

Those last two months and the summer after that had been spent curled up in his childhood bed watching a slew of gory action and horror movies, and, on occasion, meeting up with both his high school and college friends to get mindlessly drunk.

Speaking of his college friends, he really wants to kill them for this.

Those last two months in Barden, the Treblemakers, his fellow acapella group members and second family, could hardly take their friend's despondent whining and over-all girl-from-a-chick-flick-who-just-got-dumped attitude. Seriously, it was messed up. A man like Jesse should not be acting this. He might as well have been eating a tub of ice cream while sobbing in front of the TV (but no, popcorn was his comfort food of choice, so he ate bowls upon bowls of it).

So the Trebles decided to help him move on. And in normal-guy, not-Jesse logic, that meant finding him a new girl.

And because the Trebles have a tendency to be inherently stupid in the worst of situations, they set up a profile for Jesse on one of Barden's online campus dating sites. He's pretty sure it was Bumper's idea, since he's the only one who doesn't actually seem forced when they all take credit for it together.

First of all, it wasn't like Jesse really needed help finding a girl. He knew he was a good looking guy, and he was well-aware of his charm and the effect it had on women; he had enough aca-groupies to prove it. No, Jesse definitely didn't need much help in the dating department. The problem wasn't that he couldn't find a date, the problem was that he didn't want to find one.

Secondly, why the hell did the school have its own dating site anyway? That in itself should have set off warning bells. But no. The Trebles, always delusional first and sensible a far second, jumped at the chance in desperation to bring back their friends' high spirits.

They had kept it from Jesse, spending the summer sharing the profile's password and taking turns scoping out the site, looking for potential relationships and one night stands for him to meet with once they got back to Barden. Needless to say, Jesse had flipped when he found out.

It's only been a month since the start of the year, and he's been on three dates already, with three different girls who were either too slutty or too perky to qualify for a second date, or even a night back at the Treble house. He knows he weird but Christ, did his friends know him at all?

This is his fourth date. He had protested fervently, with the excuse that third time should have been the charm and it definitely wasn't, but the guys were having none of that. So here he is, sitting in a booth at one of his favorite diners off-campus, waiting for his (his friends') fourth attempt at online dating.

She's twenty minutes late.

Okay, so he knows it shouldn't bother him that his date's not showing up because it's not like this was his idea anyway. And really, he doesn't even want to be here. He's doing just fine, thank you very much.

But it bothers him, it really does.

Twenty five minutes late. Five minutes more and then he'll leave.

Jesse is so bothered by the fact that some stranger has rejected him before even meeting him. Does she even know anything about him? If not, then why is she standing him up right off the bat? Did she meet some other stranger on the way to the diner and find him more interesting, and decide to ditch him here for that stranger? Is he really just second-best-walking-over material? Just like Iris thought so…

Okay, so maybe he really does have issues that need working through.

"You Jesse Swanson?"

He tries not to jump at the sound and looks up to find a girl with messy auburn hair and blue eyes—and wow even with her standing over him, he can tell that she's incredibly short—standing next to his table. She's standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a bored expression on her face.

"Y-yup," he manages to choke out. "Are you Rebecca?"

Her nose wrinkles in disgust at being called by her full name (which he will consider adorable later on, but right now he's just uncomfortable). He's too distracted to notice how her eyes quickly flicker to the side. "Don't call me that. It's just Beca."

He nods slowly, barely registering the gesture he makes for her to sit until he realizes she's taking her seat across him. Sensing his discomfort, she raises an eyebrow at him expectantly.

"So, uh, Beca…"

"Look," she cuts off. "Let's get one thing straight, I'm not here because I want to be. In fact, if I could have it my way, my name wouldn't even be on that stupid site in the first place. I'm only here because my 'friends' thought it was a genius idea and gave me no choice."

Beca tilts her head to the side and Jesse finally notices the two girls shamelessly watching them from the window outside the diner. There's a tall brunette with possibly the biggest… guns and the lowest cut shirt he has ever seen, giving him a wink and what looks like a growl as she curls her fingers to wave hello. And then there's an obese blonde grinning at him holding two thumbs up before proceeding to mime some extremely disturbing pelvic thrusts nodding suggestively at them both…

Wow. And he thought his friends were weird.

Jesse gulps wide-eyed at the sight then turns back to Beca, who simply rolls her eyes, completely unfazed at her friends' antics. He chuckles. "Don't worry; I was set up by my friends too. Although, they're not nearly as... encouraging as yours seem to be."

She directs her eye roll at him this time. "So what does that make you then? Some desperately lonely dork whose friends took pity on and set up because he hasn't gotten any since losing his virginity?"

He strikes a hand to his chest, feigning a look of pain, still trying to ignore her nosy friends outside. "Ouch."

Beca's rolling her eyes at him again, and he has half a mind to make a night out of counting how many times she does that.

"I don't normally do this kind of thing, okay? It's ridiculous," she sighs, resting her head on one of her hands.

Jesse takes that moment to really look at her. There's a tattoo peeking out of her shirt from her left shoulder, her eyes are heavily covered in dark make-up, and he counts three different piercings on her right ear alone, and is that an ear spike?

Yep, Beca definitely doesn't look like the kind of girl who does this kind of thing. She also doesn't seem like the kind of girl who has friends, especially not the friends who were pulling up chairs in front of the window.

But she does have friends, and she is here, and even with her dark make-up and surly expression, she's obviously attractive.

Jesse knows he shouldn't be, but he's intrigued.

"Hey," he says, urging her to look at him. "I don't normally do this either. But since you're not going anywhere," he nods to the blonde and brunette who are watching comfortably from their seats and—where did they get that popcorn? "And I'm not going anywhere either. I mean, you did keep me waiting for half an hour, so I might as well get my time's worth and some food before back to campus."

The corner of her mouth twitches in what definitely does not look like a smile, as she decides to roll her eyes at him yet again. It's not a real smile, but it's a twitch, so he decides it's a smile anyway. He grins at her and waves to one of the waitresses and orders for them both.

His interest has been peaked. And when that happens, there's no going back.

"So what's your deal?"

Beca looks up from her plate to stare at him in confusion. "What?"

"What's your deal?" he repeats. "Are you one of those girls who's all dark and mysterious, but then she takes off her glasses and that amazingly scary ear spike," he raises his eyebrow at the one hanging on her right ear, "and you realize that, you know, she was beautiful the whole time?"

She narrows her eyes at him. Is this guy for real? "I don't wear glasses."

"Well then you're halfway there," he smirks.

Up until this moment, they had been eating in a fairly comfortable silence, occasionally glancing over at Fat Amy and Stacie who alternated eating and yelling out too many sexual innuendos to not get arrested for public indecency. (Why did she call these girls her friends again?) But now that they didn't have their food to distract them, Jesse seemed to have recovered from the initial awkwardness of their first conversation, and was now ready to take things head on.

She has no idea what she's in for.

"So how does that ear spike work?" he tries, after their previous exchange of words had failed to strike up an actual conversation. "Do you wear it for fun or is it a safety precaution too? Have you ever poked someone's eye with that thing?"

Beca's eyebrows shoot right to her hairline, and she instinctively tugs at the said ear spike. Jesse is smiling cheekily at her reaction, and okay, so maybe she's never poked anyone with it, but it's definitely not too late to try.

"You're a weirdo," she says simply.

Jesse just snorts and picks up a French fry from his plate. "Yeah and so are you," he points at her with his fry. "Which is why, after this date, we're either going to be best friends or lovers."

"Please don't say lovers," she tells him, making a face. "And this is not a date."

"Sure it is!" he exclaims, biting into another two French fries, still smiling. What is it with this guy and smiling? "I'm pretty sure meeting after talking on an online dating site makes this a date; a blind date, even."

"That wasn't me you were talking to."

"That wasn't me either. We were both set up, which still makes this a blind date."

"This is not a date!" she hisses. Jesse raises his eyebrows and slowly raises both his hands up in surrender. He's grating on her nerves. It's not like she came here willingly; she's tired and all she wants to do is crawl into bed or open the mix she's working on and she's had a really bad day okay? So sue her for being a bit prickly at the moment.

"Okay fine," Jesse says. "This is not a date. This is just two people getting acquainted over burgers and fries."

She's not sure she prefers this forward, oddly-humored Jesse to the awkward, nervous Jesse that she met when she came in. But either way, Beca tries (tries being the operative word) to manage a smile at him. Jesse is weird; and way too cheerful for her taste, but he seems nice enough. She figures hanging out with this weirdo for one night wouldn't be so bad.

Jesse's grin grows inexplicably wider at her attempt to smile, and she tries not to wince. His eagerness is making her uncomfortable, because really, no sane person should be that happy all the time.

They chat a little more (well, Jesse tries to chat; Beca just makes faces and gives sarcastic remarks) and order again. She mentally commends him for his, so far, good taste in food. The burgers were great and she doesn't think she's ever had a milkshake as good as this. So props to him. This is really the only way to put Beca at ease. Give her some good grub and she'll deem your existence acceptable.

They're each having a slice of chocolate cake (she's never understood the point of sharing food) when she looks up at the clock above the register and finds that it's almost 10 p.m. Beca's not exactly an early-to-bed-early-to-rise person, but she has an early class tomorrow and a mix to finish and she gets even crankier than usual when she doesn't get at least seven hours of sleep.

"I need to go," she tells him before pulling out her wallet from her jacket pocket.

Jesse holds a hand out to stop her. "No, let me."

She's about to give him her share in protest but Jesse's already handing back the bill to their waitress, giving her his most charming smile and calling her by her first name. So he's that type of guy.

He offers to drive her back to campus and walk her to her dorm, despite her insisting that she's fine, she doesn't need protection. He smirks and tells her he knows that, pointing to her ear spike, but since they're both heading back the same way, it would be downright rude for him not to give her a ride home.

Beca looks at him, trying to measure if the nice guy thing is just an act, or if he really is one of those dorky nice guys that are a novelty find.

"I shouldn't just be getting in some random stranger's car."

Jesse rolls his eyes. "You know my name, right?" She nods. "And we I go to the same school?" She nods again. "Then I'm not a stranger."

It's her turn to roll her eyes but he just laughs, opening the door for her like the gentleman he apparently is. She's walking her way to the only parked car in front of the diner when she hears, "Uh, Beca?"

She turns to look at him and finds that he's still standing by the door. "What about them?"

Beca turns to where Jesse is gesturing to and sees both Stacie and Fat Amy snoring in their seats outside the window of the diner. Oh right. No wonder it had gotten so quiet.

"Just leave 'em," she says, smirking devilishly. "They'll be fine."

That's what they get for dragging her here in the first place.

Jesse's eyebrows are bunched together, trying to read her expression, because she can't actually be serious. Bystanders walking past are all staring at the two girls curiously, but apparently Beca is serious and already walking to his car, so he has no choice but to follow. She gives him a reassuring nod and he opens the car door for her, turns on the engine and drives away, albeit still hesitant to leave two girls in such an odd position.

She's not going to let Fat Amy and Stacie stay like that all night, of course not. She's already texted Cynthia Rose to ask her to pick them up. But she's enjoying Jesse's sudden discomfort over her harsh and bitchy move, so she doesn't mention that by now somebody's already on their way to help the two snoozing girls who are more than capable of fending for themselves.

They drive in silence until Jesse pulls in to the campus parking lot and jogs around to actually open the door for her. (It's not impressive, no.)

He still insists on walking her to her dorm (the gentleman act is still not impressive), despite the fact that it's only a five minute walk away and she can easily handle herself for five minutes. (The Bellas like to tell the story about that one time at a frat party when some idiot tried to hit on Beca and ended up getting hit by Beca instead. They like to joke that Fat Amy's not the only one who has an inner kraken waiting to be unleashed.) So they walk in relative silence until they reach her dorm building.

They're at the front steps when Jesse smiles at her and says, "It was shockingly nice to meet you Beca."

She quirks an eyebrow at him and smirks, "I guess you weren't so bad either, dork."

Jesse smirks right back and takes a step closer, leaning in slowly as his face levels down to hers. (She's short, okay?) Beca has half a mind to punch his face out of the way before he does anything really stupid, like kiss her.

His face is centimeters away from hers when he just stops leaning in and laughs at her expression. Her eyebrows are bunched over the bridge of her nose and she definitely has her I'm-about-to-punch-someone face on. He pulls away completely, still laughing, and she tries to ignore the sudden hitch in her breath and the way that her heartbeat seems to have slowed down back to its original pace. (She didn't even notice it was beating so fast.)

There is no other way to respond to Jesse's laughter than to roll her eyes at him. He just shakes his head at her and steps back.

"I know what you're thinking," he calls to Beca, now that he's four feet away and continuing to walk backwards. "You think this is the last you've seen of me, but I promise you it isn't… Especially now that I know where you live."

"Yeah, whatever weirdo," Beca says with a scoff. "That doesn't sound creepy at all."

He chuckles at her dripping sarcasm and calls out again, "Goodnight Beca."

She smirks back at him before closing the door behind her and walking up to her room, ignoring the heat rising in her cheeks and no, she is not smiling okay? Beca Mitchell doesn't smile.

Measure the hope of that moment, that feeling.
Everything else will be measured against it.