Chapter Six

"So I'm an Art major and I know I know, people always ask me what I'm going to do with it and my parents are still holding out hope that I'll wake up and want to be a doctor or something but Art is my passion, you know?"

Jesse nodded his head, trying to pretend like he was listening when he kept looking over the blonde girl's head to see if Beca had walked through the door yet. Some of the Bellas had already arrived. He could see Fat Amy talking to Bumper near the beer pong table, Cynthia Rose was dancing with two other Bella girls that Jesse didn't know the names of, and Chloe was making out on the couch with a guy that Jesse sincerely hoped was the same dude that she was in the mall dressing room with. But no Beca in sight.

He swallowed his disappointment with the last of his beer.

The girl - Amber? Amanda? - was still chattering away next to him but he couldn't even pretend to pay attention anymore.

"I'm going to get another beer," he said to her. "Do you want another?"

"Yeah, sure," she smiled and stroked his arm. "You're so sweet."

Jesse disentangled himself from her and walked towards the kitchen. After refilling his beer he headed out through the back so that he could circle the house without passing through the front room. He knew that it was rude but he figured that Amanda or Anna or whatever her name was could easily find someone else inside to listen to her rant about her intense passion for Art.

The adrenaline from performing was now wearing off and Jesse felt tired and sluggish, with a bad headache already coming on. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Really, he hadn't gotten much sleep for the past week because of rehearsals and papers that were due. It was all catching up to him now.

"Hey, Jesse. Leaving already?"

Jesse turned to see Donald sitting on the steps of the porch.

"Yeah. I'm pretty tired. Can you tell Benji I bailed early?"

"Dude, after that performance, any girl in there would happily jump you but you're going home alone?"

Jesse shrugged. "I'm not the one sitting outside and drinking alone," he pointed out.

Donald held up his cup. "Touché, man. But I'm just taking a break, getting some air. You're giving up completely. This doesn't have anything to do with a certain Bella that's missing tonight?"

Jesse stared him.

Donald chuckled. "I know. Donald sees all and knows all." He patted the empty space next to him. "Come sit by me, young Treble."

Jesse had to shake his head in disbelief at Donald's nerd speak but sat down anyway.

"So you've got it pretty bad for that new alt Bella, huh?"

"Her name is Beca," Jesse said.

"Beca. Huh." Donald nodded. "Alright, let me give you a piece of advice. Chasing after her like a puppy isn't going to do you any good. A girl like that, you have to let her come to you."

"How?"

"By being cool, man. Stop getting in her face so much. Make her think you're not available."

"Make her think I'm dating someone?" Jesse asked in confusion.

"No. Just let her see that other girls are interested and you might be interested as well."

"How do I do that?"

"You could go back inside, make out with a girl and let the other Bellas see you," Donald suggested.

Jesse thought about that and a part inside of him recoiled. "Thanks for the advice, dude. But I think I'm just gonna head home."

He put his cup down and started to get up.

"Suit yourself, man. Hey, you do know about the Bella oath, right?"

Jesse turned back. "What oath?"

"If a Bella sleeps with a Treble, she gets kicked out of the group."

"Seriously?" Jesse asked incredulously. That seemed a little extreme to him.

Donald nodded. "This girl Kori that I hooked up with on Hood Night got kicked out. She didn't even make it to the first practice. Something about vocal chords being ripped out by wolves. Let's just say she stopped talking to me after that."

"Beca never said anything."

"Maybe she felt like you didn't need to know." There was the implication that Beca didn't feel like Jesse had to know because she didn't plan on sleeping with him ever, but Donald thankfully didn't voice that.

Instead, Donald stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, if this Beca chick starts to like you then great. But you're a freshman, you're a Treble, you've got a lot going for you. You don't want to spend your entire college career pining over one girl. Believe me, it sucks."

Jesse looked at Donald, the shadow of pain flickering in the older boy's eyes. But as soon as it was there, it was gone. He was speaking from experience, Jesse knew. And as curious as he was about it, he also knew better than to ask. There were some scars that didn't need to be poked at.

"Beca...she's not just some girl," Jesse sighed. "She's different from anyone I've ever known. And yeah, she's prickly on the outside but...she's worth it. I just know it. I feel it."

Donald shook his head. "You've got it bad. You poor kid." He took a sip of his beer and raised the cup to Jesse in a toast. "Best of luck to you. I hope you get your girl, in the end."

Jesse grinned back at him. "Endings are the best part. You'll see."

X

When Beca walked into the station Jesse was already there. He had his back to her, shelving records while he swayed slightly and sang along to the song playing over the station speakers. She recognized the song. It was Smile Like You Mean It by The Killers.

Beca took a deep breath and tried to gather herself. Much to her dismay, Jesse's performance at the mixer had left its imprint on her brain and she had been having...dreams...for the past few nights. Dreams that she didn't need to be thinking about at this very moment.

Her eyes landed on the desk. Luke's precious desk. The very desk that Luke had told them not to have sex on within two minutes of Beca and Jesse meeting one another.

Beca was standing at the desk, reading the back of a CD, when Jesse's body pressed onto hers from behind. Her eyes closed as she felt his hands on her hips, her back flush against his chest.

"Jesse," she said, her voice hoarse. "What are you doing?"

"Breaking Luke's rule," he murmured, his breath hot on her ear, his thumbs now tracing circles on the bare strip of skin above her waistline.

This wasn't a good idea...this wasn't a good idea...

Jesse's lips lightly brushed her neck and fire burned through her body.

This was the best idea ever...

"Hey," Jesse said and Beca abruptly snapped back to reality, the memory of her dream falling away. "I didn't see you at the party the other night."

"Yeah, I was tired," Beca said, dropping her bag onto the table. "Didn't feel up to partying."

Jesse nodded. "How was your weekend?"

She had spent most of it with her headphones on her head, blocking out the world and fervently using bass notes and downbeats to drown out the images of Jesse singing...Jesse dancing...Jesse chatting it up with perky aca-groupies. She had obsessed over her music so thoroughly that she now had a fresh USB filled with new mixes in her pocket, ready to hand off to Luke. Even though by now Beca was pretty sure her boss was only taking her USBs to humor her and he wasn't actually listening to them. She had to keep trying anyway.

"Fine," she said. "Yours?"

"Spent most of it cleaning the Treble house. You can imagine how fun that was."

"Party got a little wild?"

"I guess. I wouldn't know since I bailed early."

Beca looked up in interest. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Performing is great but it usually leaves me exhausted afterwards, once the adrenaline rush is gone. And I was already really tired because of practices and keeping up with homework."

Beca nodded, trying to figure out how to ask the question she wanted to ask without actually asking it. "So you and Benji bailed early?"

"I did. Spent the rest of the night unwinding alone in our room with a couple of movies. Benji, believe it or not, was quite the party animal. He didn't come in until almost dawn. I think some of your fellow Bellas have taken a shine to him," Jesse chuckled.

All Beca heard was that he had gone home alone and she breathed a sigh of relief. And then she had to pause. What was wrong with her? It shouldn't matter to her whether or not Jesse went home alone. He could have a freaking orgy if he wanted to. It's not anything that should affect her.

She grabbed a cart full of records, ready to distract herself with work. But Jesse was suddenly by her side.

"Guess what."

She stared at him blankly.

"Not the guessing type?"

Beca wheeled the cart past him and over to the shelves.

"Okay, okay. You don't have to pull my leg." Jesse followed behind her. "I'll tell you. Bumper's giving me lead vocals at Regionals. Well, me and Donald."

Beca couldn't help smiling in spite of herself. Jesse was literally bouncing in excitement and, she suspected, probably from a caffeine high. "Wow. Congrats, dude."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not but I don't care, I'm too happy."

"I wasn't being sarcastic," she told him. "Seriously, congratulations. You...you deserve it."

Jesse beamed at her and Beca had to force herself to look away from that ridiculously adorable child-like smile, his dimples making him look even more boyish.

"Jesse," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Get to work."

"Oh! Right." He took his own cart and wheeled it over to the shelf adjacent to hers.

Beca watched out of the corner of her eye as Jesse whistled while he shelved the records, looking far too happy as he did the mundane task. He was wearing a grey denim button-down short sleeved polo today, neatly pressed and buttoned up to his collar bone like a good Sunday school boy. He looked exactly like the clean-cut, happy-go-lucky nerd she had gotten used to seeing nearly everyday for the past three months. Beca had a hard time reconciling this Jesse, her Jesse (Wait, her Jesse? No no no no no. Not her Jesse. Definitely not her Jesse) with the Jesse that she saw on stage last Friday night. The...sex god that had gyrated on stage and whose voice was as smooth as honey. How could they be the same person? How many more sides of Jesse did she not know?

And damnit, why was she so intrigued?

Suddenly, being ten feet away from him wasn't far enough and Beca spent the next half hour carrying boxes of records from the back room out to the front. Jesse had tried to help her but she brushed him off and he quietly went back to his own work.

Beca could feel him watching her as she opened up the boxes and methodically placed the records onto a cart. A month ago he might have pestered her until she talked to him but by now he knew how to bide his time. He had learned to use silences strategically to his advantage, having figured out that Beca opened up much more when she was given time and space. It irritated her how well he already knew her. Especially now that she was discovering that she didn't really know him at all.

She was about to give in and just break the silence between them when Jesse suddenly wheeled away his almost empty cart, disappearing behind the shelves. Beca huffed in irritation - at him, at herself - and turned back to her records.

The music that Luke was playing in the booth became more upbeat and she forced herself to put Jesse out of her mind as she alphabetized the records.

She'd only had about two minutes of peace when a baby's face suddenly appeared in front of her. Beca tried to keep a straight face and not give him the reaction that he wanted.

Next was Adam Lambert and Beca couldn't hold back a smile as Jesse aligned the record perfectly with his body. She wiped the smile away as he lowered the record and smirked at her. She pulled her cart along behind her, still trying to work though admittedly she couldn't concentrate anymore. A large eyeball appeared from between the shelves and this time Beca couldn't hold back her laugh.

She grabbed a record to place on the shelf but Jesse still had one more up sleeve. The face of a Ted Nugent record appeared in front of her and she smiled as Jesse lowered the record and copied the ridiculous expression, growling at her. She smirked at him. He really was a dork.

"Jesse?" Luke said from behind her.

"Yeah."

"I'm starving so could you..."

"You want me to get you lunch?"

Luke murmured his assent.

"You should probably lay off the burgers. You're not going to be twenty-two forever, you know?"

Beca couldn't quite believe Jesse's gall but then Luke was lifting up his shirt and showing of his admittedly quite impressive six pack.

"I think I'm good," Luke said."

Okay so she wasn't into Luke that way but she's a girl and not even she's immune to a hot guy showing off his body in front of her.

"He's good," she confirmed. "You're good."

Jesse looked dismayed. "And the chess match continues," he muttered and walked off.

"Uh hey," Beca said, deciding to take advantage of the few minutes that Luke was out of the booth. "This is my new mix. If there's anything you wanted to play..."

"Cool. I'll put it on the pile."

"Okay." She turned back to her cart as Luke returned to the booth.

She thought she saw him carelessly toss the USB onto a tray and she wondered how many of those he now had piled up in there. It didn't matter, Beca wasn't going to give up. She'd keep giving him her mixes until that booth was overflowing with her USBs and then he'd have to listen to one eventually...right?

That's what she told herself to stem the bitter wave of disappointment.

X

Beca hated to admit it but her dad was right, studying in the quad actually was nice. Although she mostly worked on her mixes instead of studying, Beca found herself out on the quad almost everyday. The warm Georgia sun along with the fresh Fall breeze made for ideal outdoor weather that she didn't mind taking advantage of. And it got her away from Kimmy Jin's deafening silence in their room. Always a plus.

But she should have known that it would only be a matter of time before Jesse found her. She's honestly surprised that it took him this long.

"What's up weirdo," he greeted her, tossing her a juice pouch.

"Okay..."

Beca watched him lay out a blanket beside her, making himself right at home like she'd invited him, and begin taking things out of his bag.

"What's this?" She asked, unable to hide the amusement in her voice.

"As much as I love spending time with you stacking CDs and I do. I love it, like, more than life. I figured we could do some other fun things that don't make us want to kill ourselves, right?"

She made a soft mumble of agreement as she struggled with the straw of the juice pouch. She didn't think she's had one of these since she was eight.

"So I brought some movies," he continued. "Jaws, E.T., Breakfast Club, Star Wars, and Rocky. Best scored and soundtracked movies of all time. That's what I wanna do when I grow up, I wanna score movies. Bring people to tears, you know, blow their minds. I feel like only music can do that."

Beca watched him as she sipped her juice, noticing that he stopped looking her in the eye once he started talking about his dream to score movies and can't help but think how adorable he looks when he's talking about the things he's passionate about. She shakes off that thought quickly.

"Yeah. You must really sweep your girlfriend off her feet."

Did she just say...? Where did that come from?

"Oh, I don't have a girlfriend."

"What!" She exclaims, purposely playing up her reaction while trying to suppress the butterflies in her stomach.

She'd figured out awhile ago that Fat Amy and Stacie had about a 0.08 percent chance of being right about Jesse having a girlfriend but it was still nice to actually hear him say the words.

"No." He shakes his head.

"You have juice pouches and Rocky!"

He quickly grasps that she's making fun of him and looks quite amused. "Okay. So what do you want to watch first?"

"Can we do something else?"

He turns his attention from his movies back to her.

She kept the sarcastic smile on her face. "We could relive my parent's divorce. Or visit the gynecologist."

"What, do you not like movies or something?"

Beca nonchalantly sips her juice.

"Like any movies?" He asks disbelievingly, his face screwing up in actual distress. "What the hell is wrong with you? How do you not like movies? Not liking movies is like not liking…puppies."

"They're fine. I just get bored and never make it to the end."

"The endings are the best part!" Jesse protested.

"They're predictable. Like, the guy gets the girl and that kid sees dead people. And Darth Vader is Luke's father."

Jesse looked like he couldn't comprehend what she was saying.

"Oh, right, so you just happened to guess the biggest cinematic reveal in history?" He asked incredulously.

"Vader in German means father," Beca said. "His name literally means Darth Father."

"So you know German...That explains why you don't like fun things."

Beca made a face at him.

"What you need is a movie education...a moviecation. And I'm going to give it to you."

"Yeah, in between Bella rehearsals, which is always."

Jesse looked at her sympathetically. "Are you guys preparing for the riff-off?"

"What the hell is a riff-off?"

"It's a competition between all of Barden's a capella groups. We get together at the empty pool, have our own a capella stand down, best team wins. Wait, how do you not know about this? It's tonight!"

Beca looked away from him guiltily, though what she had to feel guilty about, she didn't know. "I may not always listen when Aubrey talks. She has been wound up even tighter than usual though, and we are supposed to meet up tonight, which is a weird time to practice, even for her."

Jesse chuckled. "Well then Bumper's been stressing out about nothing if Aubrey hasn't even been prepping you guys."

"What's the point in having a competition between ourselves anyway? Won't there be enough competition come spring time?"

"It's fun," Jesse said and Beca made a face. "Okay, nevermind, that's not a good enough reason for you, Ms. Put Downer Of All Things Fun. Does there have to be a reason? Can't all we aca people get together and drink, have a good time, and challenge each other's vocal chops?"

Beca shook her head, wondering for the millionth time what she had gotten herself into when she joined the Bellas.

Jesse's eyes drifted down to her open laptop. "What are you doing? Oh cool, is that a mixing program?" He leaned in to get a closer look, his arm coming down on Beca's knee. The top of his head was right in her eyesight and whatever shampoo he used, it smelled nice. Not that she was sniffing him or anything. Because that would be weird.

"I'm uh, making mixes," she explained. "You know, mash-ups of songs, stuff like that."

"Is this what you've been giving to Luke?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping that if he likes something enough he might play it. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't even listen to them. Fifty bucks worth of USBs just rotting away in that booth," Beca sighed. She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, she really did. But she knew she wasn't successful.

"This is awesome," Jesse said, sitting back up. "I mean, not the Luke thing. Luke's a tool. But this is some pretty serious software that you've got."

"Yup. You're looking at the product of six months worth of tips from waiting tables."

"Wow. You, as a waitress. I never pictured it. Huh. You learn something new everyday."

"Come on, don't tell me you never did menial work in high school."

"I did, actually. Grocery bag boy right here, at your service." He tipped an imaginary cap to her and she laughed.

"So, what are you working on now? Can I listen?" He started to reach for her headphones but Beca abruptly slams shut her laptop.

"No!" She snapped. "I mean, uh, what I'm working on right now is not finished yet."

He nodded. "Okay, yeah, I get it. I don't really let anyone listen to my unfinished pieces either. But...do you think I could maybe hear it when you're done?"

He looked at her almost shyly and Beca was surprised at how timid and unsure he seemed. She wasn't used to this Jesse. The Jesse that she knew was confident and self-assured, almost to the point of being cocky. He was pushy and playful. He wasn't shy or timid.

"Do you write music?" She asked curiously.

Jesse scratched the back of his neck and looked away from her. "Since my dream is to compose music for movies, yeah, I do kind of write my own stuff."

"That's cool. What instrument do you play?"

"I play piano the most. I started having lessons when I was four. I also play guitar, violin, drums, saxophone, and trombone."

Beca's eyebrows raised. Color her impressed. "All of that?"

He nodded. "My grandpa was a Jazz musician. He's the reason why I started taking piano lessons when I was so young. Unlike my dad, I actually took an interest in his music and his instruments so he wanted to start my training as early as possible. He taught me to play the saxophone and guitar himself, I taught myself to play drums, and I enrolled in violin lessons at the same music school that I took piano lessons in. I learned trombone for my school's marching band in middle school. I guess if this whole composing thing doesn't work out, I can always join an orchestra or something. I was going to be a concert pianist, actually. I applied to Julliard and everything."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "My grandpa passed away last year, stomach cancer. The last talk that we had, he told me that he was really proud of me, of the musician that I've become, of the musician that I'm going to be. But he knows that playing other people's music isn't really what I want to do for the rest of my life. And that I should figure out what I want to do, what will really make me happy. My grandpa's never really understood my obsession with movies, but we've always bonded over great scores. Whenever he'd get sick of my going on about movies, or I'd get sick of his music, we would put on a movie that has a score that we both love. And we would just...watch and listen and be content with each other and our own respective passions. I want to be able to create something like that. Something real and meaningful that can bridge the divide between different people."

Beca didn't know what to say. She didn't expect this side of Jesse, a side that lived and breathed music as much as she did. A side that knows that music really matters and that it can make a difference in people's lives. Music can bond a grandfather and grandson, music can drown out the voices of parents yelling and fill the void that an absentee father left behind. Music is not just a hobby, it can be a way of living. Looking at Jesse now, she knows that he understands that.

"I started making mixes around the time my parents divorced," Beca said, focusing her gaze on the grass and not on Jesse's face. He shared himself with her so she figures the least she can do is share a little something of herself as well. "I had this stupid little start-up mixing program. The speed and sound quality was so horrible compared to what I have now but it allowed me to stitch different pieces of music together, to find the common thread in stuff that are so different, that shouldn't go together at all. But when you get it right, you can make something so beautiful. I guess I was trying to do with my music what my parents gave up on in their marriage."

"That...that's deep, Beca," Jesse said. She looked up but there was not a trace of anything mocking in his eyes. In fact, he was looking at her with something akin to awe and a deep respect.

"Yeah, well..." she shrugged and crossed her arms over chest, feeling uncomfortable and exposed.

"Hey, we have a few hours to kill before the riff-off," Jesse said. "Since my movies have been soundly rejected, how about we get something to eat? Donald told me about this pizza place a few blocks off campus that he says is really good. And I know, I know that you will sorely miss the paper tasting delicacies of the dining hall but I think I can survive one night without lead in my stomach, what do you think?"

Beca laughed. He was so ridiculous. "You're an idiot." She rolled her eyes. "Let's go, I'm starving."

Next up: Riff-Off and The Breakfast Club! :D

Passerby: I had no idea that the actors that played Bumper and Jessica are dating. That's pretty cool. But I feel like putting Bumper and Jessica together just because of that would be akin to pairing Aubrey and Jesse together just because the actors are dating. There's nothing in canon to really support it. Not that I'm personally against either pairing (maybe Aubrey and Jesse lol), it's just not for this fic.