CHAPTER SEVEN
Beca roughly pushed the door of the coffee shop open, making her way quickly to the counter, her mind still working in overdrive. She just didn't understand how he could do this to her again; it wasn't fair. Ignoring Jesse and Benji's cheerful greetings as they spotted her, she quickly scanned the room for Chloe. Chloe hadn't replied to her text and if she wasn't here, she really didn't know what she was going to do; Chloe was the only person in her life who she really trusted, having proved multiple times that she would always be there for her, and she was the only person who would truly understand the situation she was currently in.
"What's wrong?" Chloe asked, concern spreading across her face as she took in Beca's dazed expression. Beca didn't reply, instead simply grabbing her wrist, pulling her to a more secluded part of the shop. "Beca, you're scaring me, what's going on?" Once they had arrived in the corner of the room, Beca took a deep breath, crossing her arms, before uttering a single word: "Luke."
Chloe stared at her, her eyes widening almost comically; Beca had refused to talk about Luke for months and Chloe knew that the fact that she was bringing him up now, completely out of the blue, was not a good sign. "Luke? What are you talking about?"
"We have to do this…thing for work and he's going to be there," Beca muttered quickly, avoiding Chloe's gaze as she stared at the wall behind her. "I can't do anything about it."
"What? How did that happen?" Chloe asked, gazing at her in disbelief, her eyes still wide from shock. Beca didn't reply, her gaze hardening as she thought about how messed up her life was about to become. After last time, she really didn't know if she could survive Luke ruining everything again.
Chloe continued to watch her for a couple of minutes, knowing from past experience that if she waited long enough, Beca would eventually open up to her on her own but before Beca could expand on her statements any further, Chloe's phone alarm went off and she swore under her breath. She switched it off hastily, shooting Beca an apologetic look, "Beca, I sort of have a meeting arranged with some suppliers now but I can totally ring and cancel with them now. Just give me a second, okay?"
"No, Chlo, it's…it's fine," Beca said quietly, moving her gaze to meet hers again, "I'm fine. You can go."
Chloe gave her a disbelieving look, her eyebrows raised, but Beca simply stared back at her, her eyes hard, as if she was daring her to disagree, and she sighed. Beca was already pretty stubborn on a normal day but when she was like this, nothing could get her to change her mind.
"It won't take long, I promise. Just stay here – I'll be back as soon as possible and then we can talk," Chloe finally said, surrendering. She really didn't want to leave her friend, especially not now but what could she do? There was no way that Beca would let her cancel the meeting as that would mean admitting out loud that she wasn't fine and that was something Beca would never do in public, even if it was blindingly obvious to everyone around her. "I'll get Jesse to keep you company, okay?"
"No, really, it's fine, you don't have to—" Beca started but Chloe was already gone, shooting her another concerned look over her shoulder. She groaned, lifting a hand to rub at her forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. After everything that Luke had done, she couldn't believe that he had the nerve to saunter back into her life again as if nothing had happened, claiming they were 'friends'…but most of all, she couldn't believe how much of an effect he still had on her. And she hated herself for it.
"Jess, I need you to do me a favour," Chloe said as she approached the counter, pulling the boy in question aside.
He glanced between her and Beca, a worried expression on his face as he replied hesitantly, "Sure, Chlo. Is Beca alright?"
"She's just a bit…fragile at the moment. Can you keep an eye on her for me and make sure she doesn't leave? I'll be back as soon as possible."
He nodded slowly, raising his hand to give her a mock salute and Chloe, satisfied, turned to exchange a few words with Benji. Thankfully, the morning rush was pretty much over by now and Chloe was certain that Benji would be more than capable of dealing with any customers that came through now by himself. Once done, she made her way back to Beca, quickly explaining the situation before leaving, promising that she would return within the next hour.
As soon as Chloe stepped outside the coffee shop, she let out another long sigh. She wasn't the type of person who hated people, preferring to try and see the best in everyone, but god, she really did dislike Luke. A lot. Every single time he had come back into Beca's life in the past, he had managed to hurt her and it made Chloe…sad. Despite her multiple attempts to try and get Beca to forget about Luke, it was clear that he still had a hold on her and she hated to see her friend looking so vulnerable. She vowed to herself that she would do whatever it took to make sure that things didn't end the same way this time...
"Hey, you okay?" Jesse asked quietly, hovering over Beca as he gazed at her with a troubled expression on his face.
"I really don't want to talk about it," Beca muttered in reply, avoiding his gaze. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something more but as he examined her face for a moment longer, seeing how visibly shaken she looked, he decided against it. If she didn't want to tell him, he wasn't going to push it.
He stood there, staring at her for a few moments more, a little unsure of what to do before simply sliding into the seat beside her without uttering another word. They sat in companionable silence like that for a couple of minutes, Beca lost in her own thoughts whilst Jesse continued to examine her with concern. He had absolutely no idea what was wrong but all he knew was that he really wanted to fix things and make her smile — or rather, roll her eyes — at him again.
It wasn't until a couple of customers suddenly walked in, chatting loudly to themselves, causing a distressed expression to cross Beca's face, that Jesse stood up again, tugging gently on her wrist.
"What are you doing?" she asked, slowly meeting his gaze and he was a little startled to see how guarded her eyes were; clearly, whatever had happened to her had affected her deeply.
"Let's go to the back," he said, still pulling at her wrist softly, trying to get her to move, "It's quieter. Less people."
Beca raised her eyebrows slightly, surprised that he knew her so well already, before nodding once, shooting him a grateful look as she stood up slowly, letting him lead the way.
"Do you want anything?" Jesse asked, as she sat herself down on the couch in the empty staff area, her gaze a little unfocused. "Beca?"
"No, I…I'm okay," she replied and as Jesse shot her a disbelieving look, she let out a sigh, continuing, "Can you just, I don't know, distract me until Chloe comes back? I need to stop…thinking."
Shooting her another concerned look, he nodded slowly, looking around the room as he tried his best to think of something that she would react strongly to that he could use as a suitable distraction. As he landed on an answer, he quickly moved away from her, grabbing his rucksack off the floor and looking through it.
"Okay, so I don't know what sort of distraction you had in mind," Jesse said, continuing to rummage through his rucksack until he eventually straightened up, walking towards her, triumphantly holding up a DVD case and a silver object in his hands, "but I have a juice pouch and Rocky."
"Jesse...how is that supposed to distract me? You know I think movies are boring…"
He smiled softly to himself; this sounded a little more like the Beca he was used to. He opened his mouth to reply, trying to inject as much enthusiasm as he could into his voice, hoping that if he acted like everything was absolutely normal, she would feel a little better, "I thought, uh, maybe you'd be distracted by…how awful it is? Although, can I just say, Beca, Rocky is amazing."
"You're a weirdo," she replied quietly, reaching her hand out to catch the juice pouch he threw at her, turning it over in her hands. "But…okay, I guess I can watch the stupid movie with you."
Jesse raised an eyebrow at her, slightly stunned by her reply, knowing that if it was any other day, she would have point-blanked refused…but hey, he guessed that if she was willing to try and go along with his method of distraction, he would run with it. He quickly sat himself next to her, perching his laptop on his knees before glancing over at her to find that she was staring at the juice pouch as if it was a foreign object, a frown on her face.
"Please tell me you've drunk juice before."
"No, I—Of course I have," she replied, after a beat, shifting her gaze to meet his, "It's not that."
Jesse held her gaze for a couple of moments, running a hand through his hair; her eyes were still guarded but yet, somehow, she managed to look so unbelievably vulnerable at the same time and Jesse wanted nothing more than to just give her a hug...but he figured that Beca wouldn't go for that. Instead, he simply nudged her shoulder gently, asking, "Are you sure you want to watch this? I admit, it wasn't the best idea that I've had given your…irrational hatred of movies so if you want to do something else, let me know, I swear I won't mind."
Beca started to shake her head slowly before stopping, opening her mouth slightly but no words came out. Jesse simply raised his eyebrows at her, once again nudging her shoulder as he shot her an encouraging smile, waiting for her to say something. Moving her gaze away from his and down to the juice pouch in her hands, she started turning it around in her hands again as she started speaking, "Jesse, do you…do you have any more of your music on your laptop?"
"You want to listen to my music?" Jesse asked, his surprise evident in his voice and as she nodded once, her gaze still fixed on the juice pouch in her hands, he smiled to himself, loading up some of his most recent pieces on his laptop. "Okay, I guess I can play you some stuff…just don't, you know, judge my editing," he added and she looked up at him, shaking her head, a hint of a smirk on her face.
Passing her an earbud, Jesse pressed play, leaning back against the couch, suddenly feeling a little nervous. He sincerely hoped that yesterday's piece hadn't been a fluke and that she liked his other work too…but the fact that she had actually asked him to listen to it was definitely a good thing, right? He shook his head, quickly pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind; this wasn't about him, this was about her. Glancing over at the girl in question, he was surprised to find that she had her eyes closed and was still turning around the juice pouch in her hands.
"Are you sure you've had juice before? Because, really, that's not how you drink it," he said and she opened her eyes again to stare at him, looking a little perplexed. He let out a mock sigh, tugging the juice pouch from her hands, poking the straw through it before giving it back to her.
"Thanks…" she replied slowly, bringing it up to her mouth and taking a sip, "Are you not having any?"
"I may be a weirdo," he stated with a shrug, echoing her words from earlier, "but I'm not insane. I don't go around carrying batches of juice, that's the only one I have."
"Oh, I'm sorry, do you…want it back?" Beca asked, offering it back to him awkwardly and he laughed, shaking his head, pushing it back to her.
Soon after that, they fell back into a comfortable silence, letting his music wash over them. Beca was glad that she had managed to muster up the courage to ask him to play something for her because there was just something so…calming about his work and that was exactly what she needed right now. She leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes again, forcing herself to focus on the music playing in her ear and she was surprised to find that it wasn't nearly as hard as she thought it was going to be. Jesse's music was fascinating to her, filled with intricate harmonies and meaning, and it was just so easy to lose herself in it and forget everything that had happened this morning.
Neither of them moved from their positions until much later when Chloe returned, poking her head through the door. She glanced at them both in surprise, picking up on Beca's relaxed expression, wondering what they were listening to.
"Hi, Beca?" she said, feeling a little like she was interrupting something, especially when both of them jumped, completely startled by her sudden appearance. "I'll be outside, okay? Let me know when you're ready to go."
Beca nodded at her before turning to Jesse, pressing the earbud into his hand. "Thanks, Jesse," she murmured as she got up from the couch, "For everything."
"Hey, there's no need to thank me," he said, shaking his head a little as he moved his laptop to the side, standing up as well. "We're friends and that's what friends do…" He trailed off as she simply stared back at him, her expression unreadable. "Aw, come on, we're totally friends. I don't give my juice pouches away to just anyone, you know."
She didn't react, continuing to stare at him, but he noticed a slight curve upwards to her lips and he grinned. They were definitely friends and although she wasn't going to admit it, he knew that she was aware of that fact.
"Beca…feel better soon, okay?"
She nodded.
"Right, so tell me everything that happened," Chloe said, as they entered Beca's room, sitting themselves down so that they faced each other, "Luke's…back?"
Beca nodded slowly, not really wanting to talk about it but knowing that she had to or she would do what she always used to do and push her problems aside and run, "Aubrey's organised some sort of individual project for all of us; we each have to go and talk to some music act and talk to their manager—"
"—And Luke's the manager?"
"Yeah," Beca confirmed with a sigh as she looked up at the other girl, "Chloe, he told Aubrey I was his friend and he insisted that he was paired with me. What am I supposed to do?"
Chloe cursed Luke under her breath, shaking her head, not quite believing what she was hearing. Luke knew how much he had hurt Beca and for him to worm his way back into her life again and claim that he was a friend? It was just cruel and Chloe wished that there was a way that she could make him – and the mess he was inevitably going to bring – go away. "Is there any way you can switch or something?"
Beca shook her head. "Aubrey hates me, there is no way she's going to go with that. I just…" she took a deep breath, forcing unwanted images of Luke out of her mind, "I just don't know whether I can handle seeing him again, Chlo."
"You'll be fine. You will, I promise." Chloe said firmly, her voice reassuring and Beca wanted to believe her, she really did but she…just couldn't. Her thoughts were already in turmoil and nothing had even happened yet. "You're not the same person that you used to be back then, Beca. You've changed," she continued and Beca raised her gaze slowly to meet hers, "You've grown. You're not as guarded as you used to be, you've let me in and I swear, we'll get through this."
Beca took another deep breath before nodding slowly. It was true, she supposed. Although Chloe had still been one of her closest friends a couple of months ago when Luke had betrayed her for the second time, it wasn't until the aftermath when she had finally let all her walls down and told Chloe everything.
"Do the meetings with Luke have to be formal?" Chloe asked, changing the subject slightly, "If they don't, text me and you can hold them in the shop and I'll make sure I'm there for moral support, okay?"
"I don't know, I guess I'll have to talk to them and find out."
"Beca, don't worry," Chloe said softly, "It's all going to work out, you'll see."
She sighed, shrugging her shoulders, leaning back into in her chair. Maybe Chloe was right, maybe she could get through this. She wasn't sure whether Luke would try and play the same tricks on her for a third time but if he did, she was positive that she would not fall for them again—no, she would not fall for him again.
"You were right about Jesse, you know," Beca stated moments later, staring up at the ceiling, feeling a whole lot better now that she had gotten the whole thing off her chest. After spending years pushing people away, she was glad that she had found someone who she could trust with everything that went on in her life. "He is a good guy."
"I know, I hired him," Chloe replied, laughing as Beca turned to roll her eyes at her, relieved that the normal Beca was slowly coming back.
