"Beca!" Jesse whispered out of the side of his mouth "Define follow my lead. What's going on here?"

Beca gives him a nervous smile.

"Okay," Beca started "I didn't take you to this party so that you could network. I took you so that if I saw Luke, I wouldn't be alone."

"To make him jealous?" Jesse sounded flattered "Because of my studly good looks."

"No," Beca snapped, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she thought he was cute "because you're easy to trick. Now try not to talk."

"Why should I? You didn't bring me here for my mind." Jesse shot back.

"Hey, Becky!" Luke greeted them.

Jesse emitted a choking sound that Beca knew was a poorly hidden laugh. It was all she could do not to smack him.

"You okay, man?" Luke asked Jesse.

"Absolutely," Jesse answered smoothly offering his hand to shake "I'm-"

"This is Jesse," Beca interrupted, not wanting to let Jesse have control of this situation "he works at the station with me."

She interlaced her fingers with Jesse's, deciding to let Luke do the math. She saw Luke's eyes dart to their hands.

"Are you two..." he started.

"Yeah," Beca answered, attempting to plaster a blissful smile on her face "for a while now."

"Another office romance, Becky. Scandalous," Luke teased and Beca squeezed Jesse's hand threateningly to make sure he didn't laugh.

"What can I say?" Beca replied, letting go of Jesse's hand and letting her's travel up Jesse's arm.

"I'm very persuasive," Jesse pitched in, giving Beca a knowing smile.

"You know, Bec, there's someone I'd like to introduce you to," Luke turned around giving Beca the opportunity to glare at Jesse in an attempt to remind him to stay quiet.

At Luke's signal a tall, willowy blonde bounded over to them, flipping her hair over one shoulder.

"I'd like you to meet Vanessa," Luke looped his arm around her waist "my fiance."

Jesse felt Beca tense at his side. And why wouldn't she? Her ex's fiance looked like a walking J Crew ad. He knew he needed to pick up the slack while she processed this.

"Wow," Jesse blurted out "congratulations. Have you two set a date?"

"We've narrowed it down to one of the last two weeks of February," Vanessa told him "we have to see what happens with the venues we're interested in..."

"Jesse," he supplied his name for her "and this is my girlfriend, Becca Mitchell."

"Nice to meet you," Beca, back in the game, offered her hand to Vanessa.

"Vanessa, Beca and I used to work together at the radio station," Luke told his fiance, beaming down at her.

"Oh," Vanessa's eyes widened "you're the radio station girl. You don't look anything like what I pictured."

Beca laughed uncomfortably, not entirely sure that was a compliment. Actually, positive that it was not.

"Can I get you two some drinks?"

"Whiskey. Neat." Beca immediately responded with a tight smile.

"Some things don't change," Luke grinned at her "and Jesse?"

"Water," Jesse answered "I'm driving."

Beca squeezed his arm thankfully.

"I'll help," Vanessa added, hurrying after her fiance.

Beca let out a monumental sigh.

"You okay?" Jesse asked, prepared for the avalanche of insults he was probably about to get from his boss. But instead she just turned to him and asked-

"Can we leave?"

"I don't think we can," he told her, unable to ignore this sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach he got while looking at her like this "they're getting us drinks. They'll definitely notice if we leave."

"They're probably get distracted staring into each other's eyes," she grumbled.

Jesse laughed.

"That's a distinct possibility."

Beca stared at the door longingly.

"Are you sure-"

"Yes," he said forcefully.

She studied his face like she was testing how set he was on this decision.

"I've never seen you like this," Jesse told her "you're like the scariest human being I know. What's the deal with this guy? Is he like a Jedi? Or a wizard or something?"

After what had just happened and what was still to come, Beca knew she owed Jesse an explanation.

"Luke was my boss at the station two years ago when I was a freshman. We started hooking up and it was fine for a while but... I kinda started to have feelings for him. We both interviewed for this job here. An actual paying job. It would be a great opportunity for someone who wanted to make it in the music business. And I got it. But I was a freshman and Luke was a senior. I still had time and this would make sure he left college with a real job. So I turned it down, with every intention of marching to the station and telling him how I felt. And before I could he let me know that he had started seeing someone a month ago named Vanessa and it was getting serious. So he broke it off with me, took the job, and left. So... yeah," she finished lamely.

"Becca, I-"

"Don't," Beca told him "it was a long time ago. And I don't want your pity. I just..."

"What?" Jesse asked, desperate for some way to help her.

"I guess I just wanted to win this one," she said, looking at her feet.

"Win what?" he asked, confused.

"Win the break up,"

"Break ups have winners?" he asked.

"Yep," she said "this is the first time I've seen him in a year. I just wanted to look like I had it together and was going places. All I did was intern here over the summer when he was working at the New York office. That's it."

"Shut up," Jesse fired at her.

Her head jerked up in surprise and here eyes flashed with annoyance.

"There it is," Jesse clapped his hand enthusiastically "there's the Beca Mitchel I know. On her game and terrifying. The Beca I know is going places and she doesn't take shit from anybody. Definitely not some piece of eurotrash and his cardigan wearing princess. She eats those jerks for breakfast. Now tell me, do you want to win this break up?"

She smiled widely at him. Unable to contain how much he was making her day right now.

"Abso-fucking-lutely"

Author's Note: Hey all! I'm sorry for how long it took me to update and leaving you with another cliffhanger. I did write another Beca and Jesse story called "I Won't Tell If You Don't" that's also on in case you want something else to check out. In the mean time, thank you so much for reading and reviewing and please let me know if there's other people/things you want to see in later chapters.