They're doing a reading in health class the day they come back from break. She reads the article quickly and finishes the questions with ease, leaving the last thirty minutes of class to herself. All she can see is the view of the back of Jesse's head, his chin resting on the edge of his desk. He's been on that page for at least the past fifteen minutes.
He mumbles something completely incoherent, making it hard for Beca to ignore him.
Something about the way his breathing was so soft and even made her think that he was asleep or something.
That's when she surrenders and finds herself grinning.
She looks around cautiously before leaning in close to the back of his neck, blowing softly on the little hairs on his skin. He jumps into the air and crashes right into Beca's nose, now fully awake and alert.
"Ow!" She hisses, rubbing her nose frantically to soothe the pain.
"What the hell were you doing?!" He groans quietly, looking around to see if anyone's noticed. Thankfully, most of the people were busy chatting or studying. His neck hairs were standing on end, and his face was flushed an embarrassed pink tone. He doesn't dare look down in fear of seeing a puddle of drool on his desk.
"Dude, what were you doing?"
"I didn't get much sleep last night, okay?" He admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "My sleep schedule's been messed up."
Jesse Swanson, the happiest of the morning people species, was actually cranky.
"Oh. So, were you asleep on purpose?"
He rolls his eyes. "No?"
She blinks, confused. Did bright, happy, Jesse just roll his eyes at her out of annoyance? Not that he wasn't allowed to, but it was definitely not very characteristic of him to act, quite frankly, like her. "I was just asking... Honestly, you should be thanking my ass because if Keener caught you, you'd be dead."
"Yeah, thanks."
He rubs his eyes and shakes his head to wake himself up a little, rubbing his temples as he gets to reading.
He doesn't even acknowledge her almost bruised nose. She's just back to staring at the back of his head.
No offense, but he was being kind of an asshole.
"Bec?"
She lifts her head from her worksheet and takes her earphones off at the sound of his voice. "Mhm?"
"I'm sorry about this morning." Jesse musters, offering an apologetic smile. He was standing in front of her table, having finally shown up for lunch. He had one hand in his pocket and the other holding a brown paper bag.
"Everyone has those days. I mean, come on, you put up with me most mornings." She forces out a light laugh. His sour mood sort of rubbed onto her. Plus, her nose still hurt.
He gives her a doubtful stare, but shrugs it off. He places the bag on the table, nudging it towards her. "I got you something to make up for being an ass."
She stares at the bag with a quizzical brow, but takes a peek at it anyways. "I'm not even surprised."
"Yeah, well you know what they say... A juice pouch a day—"
"—keeps the doctor away." She snorts, poking the straw through the hole in one swift motion.
He gives a hearty chuckle, still standing before her. "Well, I've gotta go help out Benji on our psych project. Um, see you during free?"
"Uh, I actually got a job at the mall, so..."
The excited look on his face is genuine, which surprises her. "Really? That's great, Beca! What store?"
"Pompeii Records, next to Chipotle."
"Did you send in your application with a picture of your massive vinyl collection?" He muses, smugly smiling at the brunette, who was rolling her eyes. "So does this mean it'll be harder to fit in your movications into your schedule?"
He tries hard to not let his disappointment show through. Their eyes meet for a second, and suddenly Jesse finds himself silently cursing his eyes for being a dead giveaway of his emotions. Her guilt is visible on her face, and he feels awful about it.
"I guess. We still have lunch..."
He was being selfish. Now he felt bad. "Honestly, Beca? We don't have to watch movies. You don't have to have movications. I mean, I've tried getting you to like movies for so long now and you still fall asleep half the time. Just say the word and we can stop."
She has no idea what to say. She hates watching movies, anyways. She shouldn't feel bad, but she does. It's not that she wishes she liked watching movies, because she doesn't. She likes Jesse's company. She likes that he's so passionate about movies. It makes watching movies that much more bearable, even with his fun facts.
"The movies you pick out aren't that bad."
His eyes light up.
She smiles.
She only ever sees him at health class and lunch. Their after school hang outs stop altogether, and it feels weird, if she was being honest.
Every time he wants to hang out, she's busy working. Every time she suggests a time, he's got piano lessons or he's got errands to run. It's frustrating.
"What's up, weirdo? Listen, I've got a really good movie for you to watch but we have to watch it all the way through so maybe my place after school?"
She gives him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, nerd. I'm taking the closing shift tonight."
She hates the way the expression on his face falls.
"Oh! It's fine! I've got to practice for my recital, anyways..."
She doesn't miss the disappointment on his face, even with that big smile plastered on it.
"Whatcha doin' after school today, weirdo?" He gives her a lopsided smile, eyes bright and hoping.
She hates the way they dull when she says she's busy yet again.
"Oh. No, it's fine. Movies can wait, right?"
The third time he asks that week, he's much less optimistic. It shows in the way he was dwindling his thumbs together, and the hopeful glint in his eyes was barely there.
She hates how she had to turn him down every single time. She hates that he's so understanding, yet hopeful. She hates how guilty she feels, because she shouldn't feel guilty, anyways. She can do whatever she wants, and she knows it, yet she still felt bad, for some strange reason.
"I'm sorry, Jess. I can't."
But when she can, he can't.
"I'm free all day on Saturday. Maybe we can watch that movie you're so eager for me to see?"
She expects him to scream "yippee", maybe jump for joy or something. She doesn't expect him to frown guiltily.
"I have piano lessons that day, plus Maddie's gymnastics meet in the evening." He explains.
She hides her disappointment with a shrug. "That's okay. I'm free after three thirty on Sunday. Does that work?"
He strokes his chin. "I think it should. I'll let you know, alright?"
She's actually excited for movication that weekend. It's a strange feeling.
She really does miss spending time with Jesse.
She spends most of her time at Pompeii, mostly stacking CDs and lazily stocking the store. Luke, the manager, sometimes makes her get him a snack from the food court, which annoys her. He has a nice accent and an amazing body, which is a plus in Beca's book. By the middle of April, she's earned a good amount of money with her 10.50 an hour.
So when her mother, of all people, forces Beca to hang out with her and Allen in New York that Sunday, she's unexpectedly upset the entire day. She was really looking forward to hanging out with him after almost a month.
"It's okay. We'll figure it out," he reassures her, but she can't help the bitter feeling she has towards her mother that entire day.
It takes them two and a half lunch periods, basically three non-consecutive days, to watch The Pianist. To give perspective, it normally takes them one lunch period and a free fifth period to finish a movie. Plus, the movie was played over a span of an entire week with all of the various things the two had to do in between each day.
They don't even need to share headphones, but he insists. The movie contained hardly any dialogue, rather the scenes were accompanied by piano pieces, and Jesse wanted Beca to hear the brilliance of it all.
She ends up really liking the movie. It was one of the first to really move her (My Girl did not count..), and Chopin's music was beautiful. The only odd thing about it was that Jesse hardly talked throughout the duration of it. She's kind of worried.
"Are you alright, Jess? I didn't hear one fun fact come out of your mouth. It's concerning," she jokes, but the distant look in his eyes made her think he wasn't in the particular mood.
"I started piano lessons when I was five and at age eight, I was slowly losing interest in the instrument. I hated those long days where I spent hours practicing a single piece for a recital, when all I wanted to do was go outside and play baseball with my brothers. I watched this movie when I was eight. My mom thought I'd enjoy it, but she had no idea that it was rated R," he chuckles. "My mom held my hand the entire time."
"So holding your mom's hand made you want to play the piano? Okay, Oedipus."
He playfully rolls his eyes at her smug smirk. "No."
"You know I'm joking. Tell me more fun facts, come on then."
"Oh, I wasn't done. Basically, this movie made me fall in love with piano again... And it made me fall in love with movies in general. The cinematography, the direction, everything. But mostly the score. This movie wasn't even nominated for anything music related, but that didn't matter to me."
"You must've been a blast as an eight-year-old."
"That's the thing! I wasn't."
Beca bites back a sarcastic remark for the sake of the passion in his eyes. Something about the way he spoke about movies was admirable, special, even.
"I spent all of my days inside, playing until I face-planted onto the keys, fast asleep. I tried so hard to win state that year, but I couldn't even place in the top five. So I came back and won the next year."
"Well aren't you a success story waiting to be published?"
"Aw, come on, Beca. How'd you pick up your passion for music?"
Immediately, she feels her walls going up. Painful memories flood her brain, and she feels the strong urge to grab her iPod and drown the world out in music. "I don't remember," she lies, but he can see right through her. "Came naturally, you know."
He gives her a long look, like he was studying her. She stays silent.
"...Adrien Brody won an Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal in this film."
"It was my parents' divorce." She blurts out unexpectedly. She breathes deeply, shutting her eyes to avoid his response. She hopes that if she just kept talking, she couldn't go back, and she wanted that. She's tired of the walls and she trusts Jesse. She wants him to know.
"It's really cliché, but I found solace in music. It was a distraction from everything that was falling apart in my life. Drowned out the yelling and fighting, all that crap. It was a good distraction, but then my dad up and left me and my mom, and it was what kept me going, but barely. I turned my feelings into making music and it felt good and like I actually had purpose. And now, it's become one of the most important things in my life. It's more than a passion, you know? It keeps me going."
When she opens her eyes, he's looking at her with a soft gaze, and somehow her hand has made it into his. He squeezes it gently, offering his support through the simple gesture. She feels bad for making fun of him earlier, especially with the way he was looking at her.
"I can relate to you, and I haven't felt this way with anyone in a long time. I really appreciate you being here, even though I can be such a bitch," she admits, and strangely enough, she feels like a weight has lifted off her shoulders. "So, yeah. Thanks, Jesse."
"There's no need to say thanks, Becs. I'm always here."
Their hands stay laced together.
The next day, he takes the seat next to her, his mood noticeably more chipper. "Are you free tonight?"
Something about him was different, Beca decides. There was something in his energy that made him even seem happier, which was weird, because it's the damn morning.
She shakes her head. "My mom is making me go to dinner with her and Allen. I don't know why they drag me out to these things when they know I think they're boring as hell," she mutters.
"That's okay. Maybe your mom just really wants you to like her new boyfriend?" He suggests hopefully.
"That is the point. I already think he's nice, I just don't think he'll last, so I don't know why I should even bother wasting my time," she shrugs. "Why, what'd you have in mind for tonight?"
"Nothing really, just a movie. It's no big deal."
When Beca arrives at the restaurant, she immediately senses something strange in the air. Her mother and Allen were sitting in a booth, with her mother laughing about something he said.
For one, they were sitting in a booth, and her mother hates booths.
She approaches their table timidly, waving when her mother spots her. "Beca, pick an appetizer, will you? We can't decide between the calamari or the crab cakes."
Two, her mother hates seafood. Beca loves it, but when it came to ordering, her mother never let her get seafood. And appetizers? Her mother hates appetizers.
"Um, both?"
"Whatever you want, sweetheart. All of this is for you," her mother says sweetly, while Allen nods in agreement.
Three, her mother is the pickiest eater that ever was. There is no way she would ever let Beca choose from the entire menu singlehandedly.
"Alright, cut the crap, mom. What's going on?" she says, exasperated.
"Beca, can you not be so—"
"What's going on?" Beca repeats, her hard gaze challenging her mother's.
"Allen and I are getting married."
A/N-
Not exactly how I envisioned this chapter. I'm pretty sure I wrote this twenty different ways but it just never came out the way I wanted it to, so I apologize for that.
Anyways, I hope you're all excited that this fic is finally back! I'm making it my mission to finish this before the start of next year. I appreciate all the help you guys give me through reviews, PMs, messages on Tumblr, etc. Words of encouragement are super helpful, as they do serve as a swift kick-in-the-butt to get me to start writing, lol.