lol quarantine. if anyone who ever originaly read this reads this now i'll be amazed. times are weird yo.
"Beca. Beca. Rebeca Mitchell!" Luke was practically yelling inside the empty nightclub at the small woman who was lost deep in her music pounding through the headphones. He leaned over the edge of the booth, 'Becs," he called one last time before tapping her on the shoulder causing her to jump a good foot into the air.
"Jesus," she was clutching her chest as she pulled the headphones around her neck, the music she had been listening to blasting out tinily into the otherwise silent club. "What's up?" she asked after a few seconds of slowing her heart rate down.
Luke who had been chuckling to himself since she had shot up into the air suddenly cleared his throat and got serious, "We've got three months until the album drops. So press starts next week. That means I need you looking, acting, and feeling your best. I love you, Becs, but this is going to be three straight months of interviews, photoshoots, and events and it's going to be really gruel-"
"God make it sound like less fun, please," Beca joked, pulling her headphones off completely before stepping out of the booth and following Luke back down the stairs. "So what's up first then, oh manager extraordinaire?"
They followed the familiar path up to Beca's office stopping when they reached her office door.
"God you really never get tired of that, do you?" Luke was looking out the wall of windows in her office that overlooked the city where the sun was slowly ducking behind hills and buildings, throwing Los Angeles into a pool of fiery light and pink skies. They stayed silent for a few moments, taking in the view before Beca deposited her laptop on her desk and sank into her chair, her back to the window.
"So, what's first?" she asked again, kicking her feet up onto the desk.
Luke dropped down into the chair across from her, "Well, first I need you to look over these proofs for the cover and decide which one you want to go with. I need the final track list by tomorrow morning, and then next Monday we're going to start a media blitz around LA with a few promo shoots, then from there we'll head to New York. Bree is gonna come with and do hair and makeup."
Beca was peering down at the five cover options, all various styles of the same thing, none of them were jumping out at her and she sighed heavily, her hand resting on her chin.
"What's on your mind?" Luke was looking at her over his finger tips, surveying her face.
"Just feels weird to be doing all of this for the first time. This is my fourth album, never had to do it before. The energy around it's…" she paused for a second, "intense. I guess. But it'll be nice to be on the road for a bit."
Luke looked like he finally understood, "You doing okay with everything?"
"Yeah, everything's great. I'm excited to meet people, I guess. I'm excited to go out and perform-"
"I don't mean with the music, Beca," he leaned forward on his elbows so he was staring her directly in the eye.
She smiled slightly, "I'm okay. Really, everything's...totally fine. Things are going well with Rhett, Jesse's happy with Olive. We're all capable of being in the same room without it being too awkward. Things are fine." She smiled again before standing up and clapping her hands together, "But now that we've established everything's fine. Here's what's not," she motioned down to the proofs splayed out in front of her, "these suck ass."
"Beca, you made them," Luke said exasperatedly, rising to his feet as well.
"Yeah, well I don't like them anymore," she replied pointedly. "I'll have something for you next week," patting him on the chest, she walked by on the way out of her office. "Who's excited for all this to be on display to the public?" she called out loud to no one in general with her hands raised above her head in mock excitement.
In the months since Beca had been outed there were very few nights where the entry line for BCM Nightly didn't snake around the building and down the block while the inside was filled with as many people as it could possibly hold even when Beca wasn't working. She had slowed down her time playing at the club to three nights a week now that she had been thrown into the public eye and flooded with work and new responsibilities.
This night was different,however; as it seemed the club was even busier than usual, even with Beca there. Nearly every square foot of floor teemed with increasingly intoxicated people below Beca's booth.
She glanced at the time 1:45, she needed to take a break, queuing enough songs to last an hour, she slipped her head phones off and tapped her security guard's shoulder. "Break time!" she said brightly to the man who nodded and opened the door for her.
Another guard joined them and the three made their way through the massive throng of people all trying to catch a glimpse of or touch Beca. This was the only thing she really hated about working at the club anymore, they hadn't exactly set it up with the possibility of Beca getting swarmed by their club goers, and the journey up to the offices for a break or to go to the bathroom was always an uncomfortable one for her.
The second she had made it onto the stairs behind the door she took a steadying breath in the darkness. The music was still vibrating through the wall as she made her way up the stairs, each step further muffling it until she reached the top where she was met with silence. She headed straight towards her office's open door, searching her pockets and pulling out a joint and a lighter in the process.
Just as she passed Stacie's office and took her first hit she heard what sounded like metal grinding together, stopping her dead in her tracks. No one else should have been up here, Stacie and Chloe were both downstairs and serving staff didn't have access to the offices. There was a hockey stick in the corner nearest her, a gift from when the Kings had rented the club for a night, she grabbed it and stuck the joint firmly between her lips before creeping slowly towards Stacie's office.
There was a small crash followed by what Beca realized was a filing cabinet opening. She got to the door and peeked around the wall, seeing a man leaned over an open drawer digging around in the contents using only the light from his phone to see, completely unaware that she had joined him in the room.
She didn't know what she was planning on doing but she crept as close as possible to the intruder, the hockey stick held over her head, ready to strike, joint in her mouth puffing away. Just as she was about three feet away her foot caught on the edge of one of Stacie's office chairs and she stumbled forward causing the man to turn around.
They both yelled in shock at the same time, the joint falling out of Beca's mouth and hitting the floor; only she had the upper hand, bringing the hockey stick swinging down and crashing into the man's abdomen. He crumpled to the ground groaning, only then did Beca realize who it was.
"Oh my god, Jesse, what are you doing?" she dropped to her knees at Jesse's side, letting the hockey stick clatter beside her. He was gasping for breath while curled in the fetal position.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered through her fingers, "I didn't know-"
"Well, I'd hope not," he finally managed to get out through his teeth, grimacing in what Beca assumed was supposed to be somewhat of a smile. "Have you been working out?" he asked rubbing the spot where she had hit him, he lifted the corner of his shirt and Beca gasped when she saw the hockey stick sized welt that was blossoming purple across his abs.
"Oh my god, Jesse, I'm so sorry," she repeated again.
"It's okay, what's a little pain?" he chuckled, instantly grimacing again, but trying to cover it up with a genuine smile for Beca's sake.
"I-I'm," just as she was about to apologize again it struck her that this was the first time the two of them had been alone since the night they had broken up. She stopped speaking and stared at the man sitting on the floor next to her, moonlight was washing over both of them and he had the remnants of that goofy grin on his face that had been stuck in corners of her mind for almost eleven months now.
He looked at her expectantly, the grin not wavering, when she spoke again, "Um, what are you doing?"
"Oh, right. Stacie told me she had molly up here and I sort of wanted…" he trailed off. Looking back at the filing cabinet he had been digging through. "Um, I got promoted and I just wanted to celebrate a little bit."
Beca nodded rising to her feet, "Congratulations that's really awesome. So what are you now?"
She asked as she slammed the drawer closed he had been searching through and motioned for him to get to his feet and follow her.
"First composition assistant, so I get to actually work on some creative input...well eventually, but right now I'm working more hands on with the music than before." He shuffled his feet uncomfortably as he and Beca came to a stop besides the wall of bookcases in her office.
"You should be really proud," she slid a box off a shelf and placed it on her desk before opening it. "Sure you want molly?"
He peered over her shoulder at the contents of the open box, "Mmm yeah not in the mood for anything else. I heard you're gonna be the host and musical guest for SNL in a couple weeks. That's really cool."
She grabbed a bag and scooped two pills out before moving around her desk to the mini fridge and grabbing two waters. "Thanks, I'm actually sort of excited for that. Cheers to us then, sir," she said giving him a bottle and the pill. She bit her own in half crushing it between her teeth and draining half her water bottle while he did the same. "Life's weird sometimes," she commented as she put the box back on the shelf and sank into her desk chair.
"Why do you say that?" Jesse asked, cautiously taking the seat opposite her. She could tell from the look on his face he wasn't sure if this was okay.
"You know I know you didn't tell anyone?" she asked suddenly. He glanced at her silently before nodding his head slightly. "I'm not mad at you, but I am sorry. Maybe if I hadn't run away so quick things would be a little different."
The two of them sat in silence, Beca chewing on her lip, Jesse staring past her at the sparkling city that was spread out in the background. "I don't know why I said that," she added after a moment, "I know you're happy...and so am I. I guess I just wanted you to know that I'm not mad at you."
She didn't know where this was coming from, she had done her best to avoid alone time with Jesse for three months and hadn't given much thought to what she would say to him if the time ever came where they were face to face. But words seemed to be making their own way out of her mouth at this moment.
She watched his shoulders relax slightly, and sipped at her water, "I'm not mad at you either, Beca." His voice was a little rough but he smiled sadly at her before sipping his own water.
"Then maybe we should agree to try to be friends," she prompted tentatively.
He smiled genuinely this time, "I'd like that, Mitchell."
45 minutes later
Jesse jumped up and down repeatedly in the DJ booth, "Are you guys having the time of your life tonight?" he yelled into the microphone he was holding. The crowd roared back at him. "I said," he yelled louder, "ARE YOU GUYS HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE TONIGHT?"
This time the club roared so loudly glasses rattled on tables and the floor vibrated slightly.
Across the nightclub Stacie had joined Chloe at the bar and they were both looking from Jesse at the booth to each other with confusion written all over their faces. "What in the hell do you think that boy is doing?" she asked, accepting a shot Chloe slid her way and tossing it back easily.
"I don't know, but I feel like this isn't going to end well when Beca comes back." Chloe had a fair point, Beca was particular about who she let into her booth, it probably wouldn't do well for her to get back from break to find her ex boyfriend had set up camp.
"I know you guys have been enjoying the music tonight," Jesse rubbed the back of his neck and smiled out to the crowd, "but who's ready to lose their fucking minds for Beca's next set?"
Once again the crowd roared its approval.
"Oh you know, he's rolling mad tiddies right now," Stacie said off hand, a slightly amused smile on her lips. "Yeah I forgot I mentioned to him a bit ago there was molly upstairs." She chuckled to herself as she watched Jesse continue to pump up the crowd, "Kind of weird for him to be team Beca while he's rolling, but maybe she'll think it's funny."
Chloe passed Stacie another shot before mixing a drink for a customer, "Kind of jealous right now," she murmured distractedly.
"I give you, BECAAAAW MITCHELL,"Jesse "hypeman" Swanson whooped into the mic as Beca finally appeared to thunderous applause.
She immediately got to work on her set mixing tracks while Jesse jumped around and danced in the booth with her. They both looked like they were having the time of their lives.
"Is Beca too?" Chloe asked curiously, watching what seemed to be a figment of their imaginations playing out in front of them as their best friend and her ex danced together. Beca was clearly feeling her set a bit harder than she had before her break and was constantly taking swigs of water, a glob of gum stuck in the corner of her mouth.
Stacie squinted up at their best friend, "I'm gonna go with yes, she's doing her little molly head twitch thing," she nodded at Beca who was shaking her head like she had bangs to get out of her eyes but nothing was there.
"Does anyone else find this weird?" Ryan had walked up to Stacie's elbow, snaking his hands around her waist, she leaned her head back onto his shoulder and he bit the soft skin on her neck making her shudder.
"Fuck," she moaned turning away from Beca and Jesse to look up at the man holding her. "Very much so, but they're rolling right now so only likely explanation." She stared up into Ryan's eyes,a low growl issuing from her mouth, "You shouldn't have done that-"
Chloe cut her off, a look of concern painted on her face, "Are we not worried about how Rhett and Olive are going to take this?" She nodded toward the booth where Jesse was now standing on the edge of the booth's wall hyping the crowd up even more.
"None of my business," Ryan muttered before kissing Stacie. "And they're not here tonight anyway-"
"Yeah but Beca is sort of internationally famous," Chloe's concern didn't seem to be satiated. "They're gonna see-"
"Chloe, they're not doing anything wrong, but if you're worried go try to break it up," Stacie shrugged before pulling Ryan away from the bar a little bit. "But if you'll excuse us, I just remembered I left something on the floor of my office and I need you to come help me find it," she dragged Ryan through the crowd leaving Chloe by herself.
"Gross," the redhead mumbled, wearily watching Beca and Jesse before her.
The next morning Beca got out of bed slowly, stretching her aching limbs and rubbing her throbbing temples with her index fingers. It had been a long, but extremely fun night, one of the best sets Beca had played in awhile. Se sat on the edge of her bed for a minute, smiling to herself when she thought about how great it had been to let got and have a fun night with Jesse.
A noise from the kitchen brought her back to reality and she felt her stomach sink. She hadn't done anything wrong by hanging out with Jesse, but a part of her still felt guilty. She crept out of the bedroom cracking open then door and seeing Rhett up in the kitchen making breakfast. She pulled the door open all the way and stepped into the living room receiving a smile from her boyfriend as she did so.
"Morning, party person," he said kissing her head and putting coffee down in front of her when she took a seat at the table. "How are you feeling?"
"Old," Beca groaned, laying her head on her arms, while Rhett rubbed her back gently. "And also like an asshole," she sat up and saw the bemused look on her boyfriend's face. "I'm sorry about last ni-"
"Stop, Beca, you didn't do anything wrong, you had a good time and hung out with someone you care about."
His eyes twinkled while he surveyed her, "It's okay you know. I appreciate you telling me, because I appreciate honesty, but, my love, you haven't done a single thing wrong."
"How...how did I get so lucky to get you as a boyfriend?" she asked smiling at the man standing in front of her.
"A twist of fate, my girl," he tilted her chin back and kissed her softly.
