We're at the end :( thank you so so so much for all your lovely reviews and support for this story, it's one of my favourites and I'm very sad it's ending! It started off as a side project after uni finished for the year and weaselled its way deep into my heart- funny how things like that happen! I hope you've enjoyed the journey as much as I have! x
"What's going on?" Will asked, almost suspiciously, as the girls thundered through the house, heading up the stairs.
"Oh, Dr Mitchell, didn't you hear?" Fat Amy said brightly. "Beca's staying in Barden!"
"I've got the pitch pipe", Beca shrugged nonchalantly and. "also, life's going to be a whole lot easier now that Aubrey's off to college".
"Beca honey, that's great!" Sheila laughed (choosing to ignore the dig at her eldest daughter).
"I still want to go to Maine this summer though", she added. "I want to see Mum and Hal and Courtney and the boys. I spoke to her earlier; she wants me to be there for the Fourth of July".
"That's fine, Becs- I'm really, really happy you're staying, Becs".
"I've got to tell Jesse!" and with that, the girls disappeared upstairs.
(How had Beca never had friends that were girls before? Girl friends were the bomb.)
"Tell me exactly what you're planning on doing", Stacie said, flopping onto Beca's unmade bed.
Beca, clicking furiously through her iTunes library (ignoring the fact that the girls could see, plain as day, the playlists labelled 'Jesse'), glanced at them.
"This is a group thing. Think of it as a team building activity or whatever that shit is that Aubrey says".
"That was a very compassionate, sisterly thing to say", Cynthia Rose chuckled.
"Shut up Cynthia Rose. Alright, which one of you is going to hold the hose?"
Stacie's hand shot up in the air. "I will. I will, definitely".
Every good rom com had the guy kissing the girl in the rain. Usually in the middle of the street, but she had to work around that, because they lived on a semi-main road. She also had to work around the fact that on the night of Chloe and Aubrey's graduation, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
She'd worked out the music. That had taken a full afternoon of pizza and Cheetos (while the girls chattered excitedly about the next year of aca pella around her) to come up with. While she could have rehashed 'Don't You Forget About Me' (it was their song, after all), it was too obvious. She had to do something that he wouldn't have thought of.
The day that he had moved next door, he had serenaded her from the backseat of his car with 'Carry on My Wayward Son'.
And hell yeah she was going to sing that back to him.
"Who's this?" Cynthia Rose wanted to know, picking up one of the photos on her shelf. "Who's this guy?"
"That's Adam- and the one in the background is Kyle. They're my brothers".
"When you go to Portland are you taking Jesse?" Lily questioned.
"Wait, why don't we come to Portland with you? That'd be so much fun!" Fat Amy enthused. "Wait, we should take a road trip for the next school year, because designated driver! I'm the best driver in Tasmania- not legally, though".
"As fun as that sounds", Beca said tactfully, "I don't know how Mum and Hal would feel about that".
"He's hot", Stacie said with a grin.
"Gross", Beca muttered. That was her brother, ew.
They'd covered two elements of the classic romantic comedy (more importantly, classic 1980s John Hughes). Ideally, Jesse would have wanted to chase her through the airport to convince her not to get on the plane for Portland, but they didn't have time for that. That would require a lot more planning and actually going to the airport, and they just didn't have the time. She had worked Say Anything and The Notebook into her elaborate gesture (knowing that he'd pick up on both of them because nerd alert, he'd seen every film known to man and only disliked Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet).
Getting a ride on lawnmower would be the icing on the cake, but then there was the minor detail that none of their yards were big enough for a ride on lawnmower, and even if she had one available, she'd probably end up running over someone. And knowing her luck, she'd end up running over Jesse himself.
"I don't fully understand", Cynthia Rose said after a moment. "What exactly are we doing?"
"Do you know 'Carry on My Wayward Son'?" Beca asked, careful not to give too much away.
Beca had carefully explained everything to the girls and they were finalising details when her laptop chimed, indicating an incoming Skype call.
"Hey loser!" Adam's face popped up, grinning.
"Ads!" she said in surprise. "What is your problem, you spaz?"
It was then that Adam seemed to notice the other girls in the room. "Are you going to be rude and sit there, or are you going to introduce us?"
"Adam, girls. Girls, Adam. Don't talk to him, he's a loser".
"He's hot", Stacie corrected.
Adam blushed, grinning. "I like her".
"Stop. Stop now", she instructed. "What do you want? I'm in the middle of explaining an intricate musical number that would-"
"Holy shit, who are you and what have you done with Beca Mitchell?" he demanded. "You are not my little sister. My sister wouldn't say things like that! I need to meet that Swanson guy-"
"Adam!" she cut him off. "For the love of God-"
"See, that's my little sister". He grinned at her. "What's this I hear about you abandoning Portland? I thought you were coming back after a year. That was the ultimatum, wasn't it? At Christmas you cried because you missed me so much".
"That is false information", she corrected. "I wouldn't miss you".
"Beca, you cried?" Stacie's face fell.
"See what you've done?" she accused.
"You've left Portland all for that boy next door", he sighed. "When do we get to meet him, huh? Hal and Kyle and I want to put the fear of God into him. Hurt my little sister and I'll hurt you and all that shit".
"You're so compassionate".
"I try. But really, you're staying in Georgia?"
Beca nodded. "I am, Ads. I'm coming back for a week or two during summer-"
"Bring Jesse. I need to put the fear of God into him. So do Hal and Kyle".
"- but ultimately I'll stay in Barden".
"Gotta say, didn't expect that. Not the same without you here Becs. There's no one to pick on".
"Kyle", she reminded him.
"Nah, he's an easy target. It's just cruel. And Courtney's just a baby, gotta wait a year or two at least".
She laughed. "I love you too Adam".
(They'd never seen that side of Beca. Maine Beca was weird.)
They were going to wait until it was perfectly dark. Why? Because, according to every movie that Jesse had babbled on about, everything happened after dark. And, according to Jesse, nothing good happened before midnight. Unless you happened to be Cinderella, but Disney was a whole other story in itself.
(She tried to be supportive and listen, but she occasionally tuned out. and fell asleep on his shoulder. Whatever.)
"Alright", Beca declared, glancing outside. "Let's do this".
"Hands in!" Cynthia Rose cheered, and Beca laughed.
They had it.
It was raining.
It was raining sideways.
Against his window.
What the hell?
Jesse stood up from his bed, setting his laptop aside. He'd wanted to spend the evening with Beca, but she'd had Bellas business to attend to. If she wasn't so indecisive about leaving, he'd assume they were already planning a way to beat the Trebles' asses in the next school year.
Why was it raining directly against his window? The sky was perfectly clear.
As soon as he got close to the window, the rain stopped. So he jammed it open to find Beca, standing under a hose. Singing.
Beca Mitchell was singing in the rain in his backyard.
"Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more!"
Holy shit.
Holy. Shit.
He knew that song.
His girlfriend was making another Swanson gesture, and it wasn't a big dramatic apology, either.
"Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more!"
There was only one meaning to her signing outside his window. And he knew exactly what it was.
"Carry on my wayward son. There'll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest. Don't you cry no more!"he bellowed back, tossing his legs out the window.
"Jesse, what the hell?" Mikaela shrieked at him, as he swung off the ledge (her brother was an escape artist. He needed to show her how to do that).
She was laughing and absolutely soaked to the bone, as he used his Spidey-senses to scale the side of the building.
"What the hell is this?" Aubrey demanded, coming around the side of the house with Chloe. Sheila and Will emerged from the Mitchell house, looks of shock and horror on their face, as Jesse and Beca sang in unison as he climbed down from the second storey window.
To everyone watching, they looked like a pair of fools. Crazy in love fools, but fools nonetheless. But to them, it was symbolising everything that Beca had learned, every movie that Jesse loved, everything that they were.
"I'm staying in Barden", she whispered against his mouth, not caring who was watching. And Jesse punched his fist into the air, the image of Judd Nelson at the end of their movie.