CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

To say that Jesse was surprised by Beca's answer to his first question was an understatement. He didn't know exactly what he had been expecting her to give him as an answer – maybe just a sarcastic quip about how she hated every single movie in the world and didn't have a favourite one – but he definitely hadn't expected her to pick 'The Breakfast Club' and he was dying to ask her why.

'The Breakfast Club' had always been one of his personal favourites, thanks to its storyline and brilliant soundtrack, but somehow he doubted that it was [apparently] Beca's favourite for the same reasons. After all, she hadn't exactly seemed that engrossed in it when they had watched it together all those weeks ago…although, now that he really thought about it, she had seemed a little teary-eyed towards the end? He had always just chalked that up to being something Luke-related [everything that affected Beca in a negative way was Luke-related, as far as he was concerned] but who knows? Maybe he was wrong.

"—Right, here's your question," Beca said, her voice cutting through his thoughts, and he glanced upwards to meet her eyes, shooting her an encouraging smile as he took another mouthful of his food, "Why do you like juice so much?"

He blinked, shrugged, pretending to think hard. There wasn't exactly a reason for it – he liked juice because, uh, he just liked how it tasted – but hey, he could have some fun with this. After everything that they had been through this morning [and last night; although, thanks to the lovely after-effects of alcohol, sarcasm intended, he still wasn't quite sure what had gone down but at least the aspirin he had taken was working and his head was no longer pounding so much], he wanted to keep things as light as possible with this 'game'.

Or try to, anyway.

"Juice is a wonderful beverage," he started dramatically, grinning at the way that Beca instantly rolled her eyes at him as she put another forkful of her food into her mouth, "It reminds me of my childhood, it reminds me of…summer, it reminds me of the innocence that—"

"—Are you even listening to yourself right now? Please tell me you're not being serious."

He trailed off, staring at her, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible, but as Beca stared right back, her eyes wide, gaping at him in utter disbelief at the words that were coming out of his mouth, he couldn't help but start laughing.

"Of course I'm not being serious," he said, shaking his head at her, fighting back the urge to stick his tongue out at her as she called him an idiot under her breath, "I just like juice because I like juice? You have to admit, it is pretty good…"

He grinned as she scrunched up her nose a little but eventually [and reluctantly] nodded once; her reaction didn't faze him in the slightest, he knew that he had managed to convert her to what he had – sort of stupidly – coined all those weeks ago as being the 'juice way of life'.

"My turn," he said, narrowing his eyes at her as he watched her take a deep, steadying breath, before moving her gaze down to stare at her plate; what was she so nervous about? He had promised her that he wasn't going to ask her anything about the whole 'Luke' situation [he wasn't that type of guy, he wasn't about to take advantage of this situation and risk losing her trust, especially when he had just gained it], even though as the weeks went by and he got to know Beca better, his curiosity about it just grew and grew, so this reaction was a little…odd, to say the least.

"So...Beca, why is 'The Breakfast Club' your favourite movie?"

He raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair so that he could see her better as she did nothing but continue to stare at her plate, biting her lip, an all too serious expression on her face…

…So much for keeping things light.

"I don't know," Beca started hesitantly, lifting her fork to push the last remnants of her food around the plate, "Uh, it was a good movie? I mean, the whole storyline, all the stuff with Claire and Ben and—"

"—Bender," he corrected automatically, eyeing her suspiciously as she winced, slowly raising her head up to properly look at him, a distinctively guilty expression on her face. He squinted, his eyes searching her face, trying to work out what was going on but he came up blank.

By this point, he was pretty sure she wasn't telling him the complete truth but…why on Earth would she be lying about her favourite movie, of all things? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"You're a terrible liar," he commented, as casually as possible, forcing a small smile onto his face even though he was seriously confused by the whole turn of events, "Even Chloe could have done a better job…"

Beca raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"…Okay, maybe not," he amended, knowing that Chloe was so awful at keeping a straight face that she probably wouldn't even be able to lie convincingly to a baby, "But that was pretty close."

Jesse slowly crossed his arms, watching as she sighed, opening her mouth and closing it a couple of times, waiting patiently for her to formulate an answer, his intrigue growing with every second that passed.

"It's complicated," she finally replied, shifting in her seat, looking so uncomfortable that Jesse wanted nothing more but to take back his question and change it to something more light-hearted...but it was too late and she opened her mouth again, starting to awkwardly stutter out an explanation, "I don't know how well you remember but it was the first movie we watched; I was dealing with a lot of…Luke stuff that day and you managed to take my mind off it and I guess it was the first time that I really saw you as a friend and…yeah. I know it sounds stupid but—"

"—Hey, no, it's not stupid," he quickly cut in, as he watched her expression grow more uneasy and unsure as she continued, giving her a genuine smile as he tried his best to hide his surprise at her answer. "It's not stupid at all."

Beca really was full of surprises today and it was starting to throw him off a bit. He couldn't quite get his head around the fact that she had gone from ignoring him for a whole week [to the extent that he was starting to think that maybe they weren't even going to be friends anymore] to suddenly telling him that she trusted him and admitting that her favourite movie was 'The Breakfast Club' because of him. It was weird, really weird, and he just didn't understand what was going on. Maybe Chloe had said something to her? She had told him that she was going to 'fix' their whole situation, after all.

Whatever the reason for her change of attitude was though, he wasn't going to complain; after everything that had happened, he was more than happy with the fact that Beca was actually talking to him and he…he would work at trying to get rid of any awkwardness between them and be a good friend to her, even if he would probably always want more.

It was better than nothing.

The silence that had fallen after she had confessed to Jesse exactly why she had told him that 'The Breakfast Club' was her favourite movie was…uncomfortable. She wasn't even sure why she had decided to tell him the truth but she had panicked, hadn't been able to come up with a reasonable lie, and he was looking at her with a slightly hurt expression on his face as he realised that she wasn't being entirely honest with him and she just couldn't take it. Hurting Jesse was the last thing she wanted to do, especially after everything he had done for her.

"Are you finished?" she asked him, in a lousy attempt to break the silence, gesturing at his plate that was clearly empty and he blinked a couple of times, refocusing his gaze on her face before slowly nodding and calling a waiter over.

"I guess I know what we need to do now," he said, a couple seconds later as they waited for someone to bring their bill to them and she blinked, eyeing him warily, feeling her heart pound the tiniest bit quicker for absolutely no logical reason as he locked his eyes with hers.

"We're going to have to rewatch 'The Breakfast Club'", he told her, his usual warm smile slowly returning to his face, "I mean, seriously, Beca, you thought his name was 'Ben'?"

She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at the graveness of his tone, beyond grateful that he was doing what he did best and relieving the tension between them again.

"What's the problem? Ben, Bender, it's practically the same thing," she said, as nonchalantly as possible, waving a hand around vaguely in the air, her attempts at keeping her laughter at bay failing as he gasped audibly, an outraged expression on his face.

"It is not the same thing!" he exclaimed, a little too loudly, before quickly apologising to the table behind them as they turned their heads around to glare at him, lowering his voice back to a normal level again, "Have I taught you nothing through your moviecation?"

She shrugged.

"I guess not," she said, even though she was sure that they both knew that wasn't entirely true, "I suppose you're just going to have to keep trying."

Jesse grinned, nodding at her, as he fished into his pocket for his wallet, glancing at the bill that was now on the table before starting to count out some notes and her eyes widened slightly as she realised his intention.

"Wait, Jesse, you don't have to," she said, quickly reaching out a hand to grab his arm in an attempt to get his attention but instantly releasing it as he froze at her touch, his head shooting up to stare at her in alarm. She muttered an apology, wincing slightly at how uncomfortable he now looked as he ran a hand through his hair, before opening her mouth to speak again. "Seriously, let's just split it."

He stared at her for a couple of moments, his expression unreadable, before he slowly nodded, putting down his half of the bill and she did the same. Once they had gathered their bags and pushed the door of the restaurant open, walking outside, he turned to her and she was glad to see that he was looking slightly less awkward and more like his usual self; she guessed it was going to take a while before things between them would be totally back to normal…

"So, what are you doing now?" he asked, as he stuck his hands into his pockets, leaning against the wall. "I mean, I know that you weren't exactly planning on coming to mine this weekend and—"

She winced, biting her lip, before shaking her head at him as Jesse immediately backtracked, swearing that he didn't mean it to come out like it did and she knew he was telling the truth…and besides, what he had unknowingly implied was sort of true, wasn't it?

"It's okay, don't worry," she said, before sliding her phone out of her pocket and checking the time, her heart sinking slightly as she realised that it was later than she thought it was and she really needed to get back and finish working on Bumper's tracks before tomorrow morning or risk facing Aubrey's wrath.

As she relayed this information to him, he nodded, pushing himself off the wall, moving to stand in front of her. "I'll walk you back," he offered, a little hesitantly, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets and although her first instinct was to refuse and tell him not to, she bit her lip again, forcing herself to remain silent, knowing that if she refused, it would make the situation ten times more awkward and that was definitely something that neither of them needed. Instead, she just nodded and he smiled in response, falling into step beside her as she started walking in the direction of her apartment.

"It's your go," he prompted, after they had walked for a couple of minutes in a companionable silence, and she pursed her lips as she tried to think of a good question, before recalling something he had said earlier when he had provided a joke answer to the first question she had asked him.

"What was your childhood like?" she asked, glancing at him through the corner of her eyes, unable to stop herself from smiling softly at the way his eyes lit up as he started enthusiastically filling her in, wishing that hers had been as great as his had clearly been.

"It was awesome," he told her, with a wide grin, "There was lots of…juice drinking and movie watching." She rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him as they continued walking, her jaw twitching slightly in amusement. "Seriously though, you would have hated it," he continued and she raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I have a younger brother and sister and we're all big movie fans; we spent loads of days just holed up in one of our bedrooms, watching movie marathons…"

He trailed off, a wistful expression on his face, and she smiled. "I wouldn't have hated it," she told him truthfully, "It sounds…nice. Way better than mine."

Jesse glanced at her in surprise, clearly wanting to ask her to expand on her cryptic statement, but she shook her head slightly. "Not now," she said quickly, not really in the mood to tell him all about how her dad had left them when she was ten, instead opting to ask him to continue to talk about his own childhood.

He eyed her inquisitively for a few seconds, his eyes searching her face, before slowly nodding, carrying on as if she had never spoken, launching into a story about how he had come home one day from school to find his six year old brother dressed in all his sister's clothes, and she couldn't help but smile at the warmth of his voice as he spoke; clearly, family was important to him.

"Hey, so this is me," she said as they finally arrived at her door and he glanced up, surprised, so caught up in his story that he hadn't even realised where they were.

Jesse nodded, moving to lean against the wall of her apartment building, watching as she fished in her bag for her keys. "I'm glad I drunk-dialled you last night," he told her seconds later, a solemn expression on his face, and she lifted her head up to shoot him a smile.

"Me too," she said sincerely, before twisting her lips into a smirk as she leaned towards him slightly, "but seriously, Jesse, if you don't find out where that 'cloud-shaped' tree is and take me to see it—" She trailed off, laughing as he groaned, flushing slightly, running a hand through his hair.

"Please tell me that was the only embarrassing thing I said last night," he said, his voice pleading, but she just shrugged at him even though it was; he had been so obsessed by that tree that he hadn't spoken about anything else for hours.

"You'll never know," she told him, still smirking, as she triumphantly located her keys, pulling them out as she turned towards him properly. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

Jesse nodded at her, smiling, watching as she entered the building and raised a hand up in farewell, a gesture which she slowly returned. The whole afternoon—in fact, the whole weekend – had gone better than she had imagined and yes, things weren't quite like they had been before [and they would probably never be] but she…she could definitely work with this.

When Jesse walked into the coffee shop the next afternoon for his shift, he was not at all surprised to find that Chloe had left an 'apology' coffee for him on the counter, the cup clearly labelled with 'Jess, I'm sorry', though the red-head herself was nowhere in sight. He smiled slightly to himself as he picked it up, moving to place the rest of his stuff in the staffroom; he guessed he couldn't be annoyed at Chloe because even though she had spilled his secret, she clearly hadn't meant to…and besides, whatever she had said to Beca in an attempt to 'fix' things, it had worked—

"—So, what did Chloe do?" Stacie asked from her position behind the counter as he reappeared, tilting her head towards the coffee cup in his hand and he jumped, startled, not having registered her presence in the shop until now.

He took a deep, calming breath as he gingerly sat himself down beside her, running a hand through his hair as Stacie did nothing more except to stare at him expectantly, tapping her nail file on the counter a little impatiently. This wasn't exactly the topic that he wanted to discuss right now but if he didn't tell her, he knew that she would easily be able to get the information out of Chloe, so he braced himself, quickly summarising the whole situation.

"She told Beca that I liked her," he said, with a shrug, avoiding her gaze as he took a sip of the coffee, shaking his head slightly as he instantly recognised it as his usual and—god, he really needed to remind Chloe that 'apology' coffees were not a thing.

"Seriously? How did she take it?" Stacie asked, her eyes widening in surprise, the hand that had been using the nail-file to pat out a beat on the counter pausing in mid-air...before she blinked, realisation passing across her face, as she added, "Actually, don't bother; from the amount of morning shifts you've been taking lately and the distinct lack of Beca this past week, I think I know the answer."

"Hey, I only took one morning shift," he said defensively, partly because it was true and partly because he didn't really want to focus too much on the implications of why there had been a 'distinct lack of Beca'. He really had to try to move on, it wasn't...healthy.

"Shit, she's ignoring you?" Stacie asked, paying no attention to his comment as she glanced over at him, a rather odd-looking expression of…wait, was that…concern on her face, "You okay, Swanson?"

"I'm...I'm good," he replied slowly, still avoiding her gaze, "I talked to her and it's fine now; we agreed to try and make this work and stay friends despite…you know."

Stacie blinked at his words, staring at him, reaching a hand out to tilt his chin towards her, her eyes intensely searching his face and he shifted in his seat, all of a sudden uncomfortable under her gaze. "So you're just…giving up on her?" she asked lightly as she slowly crossed her arms, her eyes still locked on his, a clear look of disapproval on her face.

"Don't look at me like that, Stace," he said, running a hand through his hair, feeling increasingly jittery as their conversation continued; he definitely shouldn't have said anything, especially to Stacie, of all people, "I—Look, she clearly doesn't like me in that way so…what else am I supposed to do?"

Stacie just shook her head at him, her lips pursed. "Anything," she told him simply, waving the nail-file in his direction, "Anything is better than just giving up?"

"Stace, I'm not giving up, that isn't what's happening here. I'm just doing the right thing," he said, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice as Stacie just raised her eyebrows at him disbelievingly but, to his relief, she fell silent...

...For a grand total of three minutes.

"You're wrong, you know," Stacie said suddenly from his side and he sighed, wondering whether he could just pretend like he hadn't heard her, "She does like you, she just doesn't know it yet. Trust me, Swanson, I know what I'm talking about."

He scoffed, shaking his head lightly as he forced himself to push down the unwanted feeling of hope that her words ignited in him; come on, Jesse, be realistic. Don't go down that path. "Stace, she ignored me for a week, I think it's pretty obvious how she feels," he said, clenching his hand slightly in response to the twinge of...rejection he could feel in his chest.

Stacie simply shook her head at him again and he rubbed his forehead in exasperation, cursing her in his head for being so stubborn, before groaning as he noticed the sly expression that was slowly appearing on his face. "Stacie, no. Whatever you're planning, don't go through with it."

She just smiled, gracefully getting up from her chair to serve a customer that had just walked in as she threw a completely unreassuring, "Don't worry, Swanson, I have it all under control!", over her shoulder.

He groaned; that was exactly what she had said the last time and he really, really didn't need her interference right now.