AN: Hi. It has been a minute. I'm not even sure if anyone is still interested in reading this story but here's an update :)
Beca laid in bed, staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping. She was tired and needed sleep but her thoughts were keeping her awake. Checking the time on her cellphone, she sighed noting that it was 2:00 am. She really needed to fall asleep.
She cleared her throat, closing her eyes, and pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind.
Fifteen minutes later, she checked the time again because she just could not fall asleep.
Too much was going through her mind and it was driving her crazy. She wanted to talk about it with someone—screw Jesse for this habit she developed because of him: she never talked about what bothered her to another human being before he came into her life: she bottled everything down.
She needed to talk about what was keep her up with someone that wasn't Jesse—and not just because it was 2:00 am and he's most likely asleep.
Beca knew who was up at the time and before she gave it more thought, she dialed her mother's number.
"Beca?" the mother picked up right away, confusion evident in her voice. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I just can't fall asleep. Everything is fine," she mumbled.
"It's the middle of the night over there, everything is definitely not fine if you can't fall asleep," Eliza noted.
Beca sighed—here goes nothing— before she spoke, "Hey, mom," she called. "You've dated guys who were seeing other people, right?"
"Been the other woman, you mean?" Eliza questioned, growing more confused.
"No, no, not the other woman," Beca clarified. "Just like dated someone who's seeing another person, too. And you knew about them and so did this other person."
"You mean been in polyamorous relationships?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"I have, yeah," Eliza replied. "Why did you want to know?"
"I wanna know how it ends."
"Well," Eliza took a moment to think. "The few poly relationships I've been in ended because we were no longer on the same page. Someone wanted to become monogamous... another was way too jealous."
"Okay," Beca muttered to herself.
"Wanna tell me what's going on with you?" Eliza said when her daughter went quiet.
"I'm seeing this guy that is seeing another person. The thing is, he'd been seeing her for a while before we started dating. The woman he's with knows about us and is cool with us dating. I told him I'm cool with him being with her."
"But you're not," Eliza guessed.
"Nope. Not really."
"What are you waiting for to tell him how you really feel."
"I don't want to ask him to pick between us because our thing isn't serious at all. We're just giving it a shot 'cause we have feelings for each other," Beca explained.
"It doesn't matter if it's not serious. If you're uncomfortable being in a polyamorous relationship, you're uncomfortable. It's not for everyone, Becs."
"But I don't want to be in a monogamous relationship either," Beca admitted. It was the first time she said it out loud. She wanted to be with Jesse badly and really thought that once they got together, she'd automatically want to be in a monogamous relationship: it wasn't the case. "It wouldn't be fair if I asked him to stop seeing her just so we could continue to date casually."
"What do you want from him, really, Beca?" Eliza asked.
The reason she couldn't fall asleep wasn't how she felt about Jesse seeing Amber: it was the fact that she didn't know to answer that very question.
"I don't know," Beca quietly said.
Eliza made a sound acknowledgment and said nothing back.
"I mean, I really care about him—I actually love him," she mumbled the latter part. "But I don't know what I want."
"Do you know what he wants from being with you?"
"He has feelings for me as well and that's why we're seeing each other." It wasn't an answer to her mother question but it was still an answer.
"I think you need to have a talk with him and figure out what you want from dating each other," the mother advised. "When I was your age, I dated for fun. I wasn't looking for anything serious. And when I'd develop strong feelings for a guy, I'd sabotage the relationship because your mom didn't figure out how to deal with her feelings until recently," she sighed. "I'm sorry I can't really give you actual advice on how to figure things out when it comes to romance in your early twenties."
"It's okay, mom. You're doing great actually." She didn't know what would come out of a conversation with her mother about her love life but so far it's been quite interesting. "You know, telling me all the wrong things you did would help 'cause then I'd avoid doing what you did."
"Ha, yeah, that's not gonna happen. You don't need to know about any of my wild romantic endeavors, trust me."
Beca had a vague idea of what her mother called 'wild romantic endeavors.' "I'm really impressed I'm the only unplanned kid you had in your early twenties, to be honest."
Eliza snorted in response. "Yeah, well, when you screw your kid's life you learn to be more careful," she sighed. "Just talk to him and be honest, okay? Communication and honesty were things I rarely applied when I was your age," Eliza said.
"Okay," Beca agreed. "I will. Thanks, mom."
"Sure, Beca. I'm glad you called me."
"I'm glad I called you, too," Beca replied, meaning what she said.
Their relationship greatly improved since Christmas, it wasn't nearly as good as her relationship with her father but it was definitely an improvement to how it was for the better part of her life.
"So, who is the guy?" Eliza wondered.
"Jesse. You met at the ICCAs, remember?"
"Oh, I remember him. He's very easy on the eye, of course, I'd remember him."
"Mom," Beca groaned.
The mother laughed in response. "What does your dad think? I assume you told him."
"Yeah, he knows," Beca sighed. "He's being kinda annoying about it."
"What do you mean?"
"He asked to have dinner with him to get to know him better or something the minute I told him about Jesse."
"That's sweet."
"No, it really isn't," Beca disagreed.
"When are you guys dinning together?"
"This Saturday." She pushed it back for as long as she could but her father was becoming more annoying as days went by.
"You should try to get some sleep," Eliza said. "Don't you have classes in the morning?"
"Yes, and yes," Beca answered. "But I can't fall asleep."
"Music helps you calm you down, " Eliza reminded. "Play some music."
Beca found herself frowning because she didn't realize her mother knew that about her. "How do you know that? I don't remember telling you music helps me relax."
"I'd play music for you when you were going bananas in the womb and you always calmed down. And even after you were born, you always calmed down when I'd sing to you. I saw you fall asleep with headphones on at your grandmother's so I figured music still does the trick," Eliza explained.
"It does," Beca mumbled.
"Are you nervous about dinner?" Eliza wondered.
"Yes." Beca climbed out of bed to retrieve her iPod and headphones. "I can't decide if I wanna talk to Jesse about where this is going before dinner or after."
"Do you think it can wait until you've had dinner with your father?"
"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Beca replied. "Besides, it's just dinner. Dad promised he won't make it weird."
"Your father is really enjoying this whole thing."
"Too much if you ask me," Beca grumbled making her mother chuckled. "Well, it's been really great talking to you. I'm gonna try to sleep now."
"Let me know how things go, would you?"
"Yeah, sure."
Beca was very impressed with herself when she managed to wake up in the morning and actually willed herself to climb out of bed and attend her morning classes.
She skipped breakfast in order to make it to her lecture on time because Beca was not going to give her asshole of a professor a reason to fail her. It wasn't the best of motivation but it worked just fine for her then headed to the radio station after getting some food in her stomach.
Beca stifled a yawn getting up from her seat and left the booth for the first time since she got to the radio station.
She could always go online and buy songs but she'd rather to save a few bucks by using the record at the radio station. Usually she'd have no trouble finding the records because she'd know where they're stacked. They always stacked records in an alphabetical order per genre.
She exhaled through nose, not finding what she was looking for. "Hey, Pete?" she called, hoping he could help her out.
"Yeah?" he answered to his name.
"Where do we keep old timey music?" she asked him, eyeing the records in front of her and biting her bottom lip.
"We have old timey music around here?" he counted with a question, peeking his head to look at her.
"Yeah, I remember coming across some Sinatra records last year," she told him. "We'd play his music around Valentine's," Beca explained.
"Well, I haven't stacked any Jazz records," he let her know.
Beca sighed, "It's probably upstairs." She began making her way to the staircase.
"Valentine's day was a few weeks ago," Pete noted. "What do you need Sinatra for?" he followed her.
"Dad got me a gig to DJ at one of his colleague's retirement party—The dude is like a million years-old." she replied. "He specifically asked me to play music from the 60s and back."
"Well, that makes sense," Pete mumbled. "So, we're looking for groovy old timey music?" he wondered, deciding to help her out before she asked.
"Eh. Yeah." She ran her fingers through her hair, looking around her and remembering why she never went upstairs: it was horrifying.
The floor was dusty. They shelves were dusty. The old couch in the corner was dusty. Everything was dusty. There were several boxes scattered around filled with records that were yet to get stacked.
"When was the last time someone cleaned up here?" Pete murmured.
"Never," Beca answered. "Don't sit on the couch."
"Wasn't gonna." He headed towards the shelves and began looking through them.
Beca opted for the boxes. She still had the damned sling. She was beyond over it and seriously couldn't wait to get rid of it. It limited her movement but she learned to adapt.
She'd pile records on the floor then place them back in the box before moving to the next box.
She was on her third box when she heard a rather loud shriek followed with what sounded like a fall. Beca was on her feet in a second and followed the scream to find Pete on the floor with his hand against his chest.
"What happened? Are you okay?" she worried, eyeing the boy that fell from the ladder while looking through the records stacked in a high shelve.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." He nodded, sitting up. "It's just that a lizard startled me," he shared with her.
Beca smiled a little in amusement because he sounded like he saw death.
"I'm phobic," he mumbled next in embarrassment.
"Wanna take the boxes instead?" she suggested.
"Yes," he nodded, getting up. Once standing in front of her, Beca reached to dust off his back. "We really need to at least sweep the floor up here," she deadpanned.
"Nu-uh. Sweeping the floor won't make a difference. It's full of bugs, insects, and pests," he said in disgust. "Gotta bring in the big guns. And annihilate 'em all."
Beca rolled her eyes when he 'shot' his finger-guns in different directions.
"You can drive with one arm?" Pete sounded a little skeptic as he put his seat-belt on.
"I'm taking the sling off later today, I can move my arm," she was saying as she turned the car engine on. "Besides, I'm left-handed, I have to use my weaker arm when I drive anyway," she stated, turning the windshield wipers on next. "Where am I dropping you off?" she asked.
"Sean's dinner," he told her assuming she knew it given how small Barden was. "Thanks again, Beca, for the ride."
"Sure, man. I'm not gonna let you walk downtown when it's raining and you're dressed like you might head to the beach," she deadpanned as she began driving.
"It didn't look like it's going to rain in the morning," he said, looking out of the window. "The sky was clear. Birds were chirping. I thought it was going to be a warm spring day." He shrugged, his southern drawl that he usually hid slipping into the last words he said.
"You should probably consider checking the forecast instead of counting on chirping birds in the morning, cowboy," she told him.
"Yeah, I probably should," he agreed in slight embarrassment. "So, when do you want to clean the second floor?" he wondered.
"Uh." She blew a breath. "I guess tomorrow since we don't have a lot of work these days," she figured. "Does that work for you?"
"Yeah. But I can't stay past four."
"Got a date?" she wondered, planning to tease him a little since he easily got embarrassed.
"No, not date." He chuckled, "I work at Sean's part-time."
"Oh, so you're headed to work now," she figured.
"Yes, I am," he confirmed. "The hours are flexible and the money is good so I figured why not?"
Beca nodded at his words.
"Besides, I don't have any talents or skills like you that I could make money out of so waiting tables is all I got for now," he added.
"Well, make sure you wear comfortable shoes since you're going to be on your feet a lot," she advised.
"I will," Pete mumbled, glancing down at his converse that wasn't exactly the kind of footwear Beca was referring to.
"Wait," she called as he undid his seatbelt. "Here take this." She took the scarf that was loosely wrapped around her neck. "You can give it back to me tomorrow," she added as she held it his way.
He hesitated before he took it from her. "Thank you."
"You welcome, man." She watched him wrap her scarf around his neck.
He sniffed it as he adjusted it, "Smells amazing," he said. "What is it? Strawberry?"
"Yeah," she nodded.
"It's unfair how women's perfumes always smell nice while men's colognes have to smell minty and fresh," he grumbled. "I want to smell like jam, too."
"I'm not wearing perfume, that's actually the smell of my shampoo," she told him, very amused by what he just said.
"Huh. I wouldn't have guessed." He reached for the door. "Well, thank you for the ride as well as the scarf."
Beca went to the doctor's office to finally get the sling removed after a month of having to wear it and headed home to catch some sleep. She was surprised to see Jesse's car parked outside because they weren't supposed to hang out. The next time they planned to meet was the next day because she'd been busy with school and work the whole week and couldn't make time to see him.
She could have tried to make an effort to see him during the week but she was trying to sort out her thoughts about their situation and knew that once they were in the same room he would notice. She didn't want to be put on the spot. She wanted to figure things out first then talk to him about how she'd been feeling like her mother advised her to.
"Hey," she greeted, finding him sitting on her desk chair holding a framed photo.
"Hi," he said, looking up to meet her gaze.
"You got the sling removed," he noted.
"Yeah, finally." She moved her arm, freely. "Doc says it healed perfectly."
"That's great to hear." He was quiet for a few seconds.
"You been waiting here long?" she wondered, taking off her leather jacket and hanging it.
"No," he replied. "I was gonna to call but I knew you'd be home soon," he elaborated. "Stacie let me in."
She nodded then frowned eyeing him and immediately noticed his anxiety once she got a good look at his face.
"Everything alright?" she wondered.
Jesse inhaled deeply before he blurted out, "Amber's pregnant."
Beca didn't know how to react to the news. "Is it yours?" she hesitantly asked.
"Yeah," he answered as he raked his fingers through his hair. He shook his head then got up. "I don't know what I was thinking when I came here. I should go."
"Dude, you're here now." She knew why he came over. It was the same reason that drove her to call her mother when she couldn't fall asleep. He needed someone to talk to. "When did you find out?" she proceeded to ask, opening a drawer in her dresser and grabbing a sock that she put on the doorknob before she closed the door.
She knew that the girls wouldn't come in if they thought they were having sex.
He sat down on her bed. "We were hanging out when it hit her that she was late. We got a couple of those home tests and they both came back positive. She told me she wanted to be alone to figure out what she was going to do so I left," he recounted, folding his hands in his lap. "I was on my way to my place when I found myself driving here instead."
"What are you going to do if she decides to keep it?" she asked as she sat down next to him.
"Be there for the baby, of course."
"What about Amber?" she questioned. "You don't plan to keep dating casually, do you?"
"I don't think that would be the right thing to do," he said in response.
"And you're not going to bail either which means you two are going to get serious, I would assume," she figured.
Jesse tilted his head to look at her. He didn't have to say the words, his eyes told her that she was correct in her assumption.
"We had a good run," she nodded to herself and got up.
"Beca, she hasn't made her decision yet," he said as if to remind her.
She chuckled humorlessly in response. "I was planning to talk to you about us but wasn't sure how to bring it up, you know? As a matter of fact, I didn't really want to bring it up."
He frowned, sitting up.
"I can't figure out what I want from being with you," she told him. "I know I'm supposed to just enjoy your company and like have fun. Dating is supposed to be fun. But I can't have fun when I can't stop thinking about how uncomfortable I am with the fact that you're seeing Amber." She blew a breath. "I don't want to share you, dude. And, I also don't want to be in a monogamous relationship."
"Well, what do you want?" he asked in confusion watching her pace in the room.
"I don't know. I thought that if we started dating that I would eventually want to be in a relationship," she said in frustration. "I think I'm just not ready to date," she realized as she stopped pacing. "Which sucks because I really love you," she mumbled, feeling tears build up. She looked away from him and wiped her eyes.
"I love you, too," he mumbled back, getting up.
Jesse rested his hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her so she'd turn around and face him.
"This really sucks," she sniffled, trying really hard to keep her emotions in check, once she was facing him.
"It really does," Jesse agreed.
He made it harder not to cry when he pulled her into a hug.
"It's probably for the best if we go no contact, right?" she said, breaking the hug.
"Yeah," he nodded, taking a step back. "Only effective way to get over a breakup I know," he spoke gently and calmly but barely hid how he was heartbroken he was.
She nodded before stepped back, creating some distance between them.
"So, how are you feeling about the likelihood of becoming a father?" she asked, no longer wanting to talk about their very short-lived romantic relationship. She was on the verge of tears and the only way she knew of to keep herself from crying was to keep herself from thinking about it. Besides, he needed someone to talk to about the shift in his life. They were going to stop talking until their feelings faded: she couldn't be there for him to listen like a good friend once he walked out of the door.
He was quiet for a few seconds, his facial expression letting her know that he was surprised with her question.
"I'm still wrapping my mind about it," he replied. "I mean, I don't want kids. You know that." He rubbed his face. "But if she does Keep it I'm going to embrace it fully," he continued.
"You'd make a great dad," Beca told him, smiling at him.
"You really think that?"
"Yeah, dude." She nodded. "You're very caring, maybe too much at times. You're protective. You're giving and you never expect anything in return. You're respectful, encouraging, trustworthy. And you're financially secure. You have nothing to worry about. Your kid is gonna be so lucky to be yours." She swallowed because deciding to move past their very recent breakup to another topic wasn't helping.
"it really means the world to me to hear you say that," he softly said.
"You're overbearing sometime and don't have the stomach to make tough calls so work on fixing these things before your kid is born," she went on to add.
He laughed lightly, "I will."
Silence fell in the room and Beca looked away from him when he met her gaze.
"You really are the best friend anyone could wish for." He knew it was hard for her but she was doing what any good friend would. She was there for him even if it pained her to be in the same room as him at the moment.
He stepped closer to her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "Thank you," he mumbled.
She couldn't bring herself to look at him without risking to start bawling right there and then so she kept looking at the floor.
"I'm sorry you're hurting right now. I'm very sorry that I'm the reason you're hurting."
"Dude, it's not your fault. I'm the one that wants a break up. You knocking up Amber has nothing to do with my decision. It made me sack up and do it but that's the extend of it." She sniffled still looking at the floor. She looked up when his phone chimed with a text. "Is it Amber?" she wanted to know when he pulled his phone and eyed the screen thoughtfully.
"Yeah," he nodded. "She wants to talk."
"Dude, you got this," she firmly said finally meeting his gaze, noting his very obvious nervousness. "If she keeps it you have nothing to worry about. You'd make a wonderful father."
He nodded, "I really needed to hear that. Thank you."
She leaned in and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Good luck."
"You, too," he smiled at her the saddest of smiles before he turned on his heels.
Beca eyed the door after he closed it behind him, no longer trying to keep her tears from falling. Her heart felt like it got ripped out of its place. She was upset. Very upset. She was mostly mad at herself for being too messed up to want to be with someone she had extremely strong feelings for. She let him go and she knew that was the right thing to do. She also knew that she had to stop ignoring her issues and work on overcoming them. But not now. All she wanted to do at the moment was cry. She changed from her clothes into more comfortable ones and climbed on her bed, curling up under the covers and crying herself to sleep.
Beca didn't want to leave her bed the next day. She wanted to mope around the house all day and would have if it weren't for her plans with Pete to clean up the second floor at the radio station.
Arriving at the radio station, she found Pete already there waiting for her.
"You been waiting long?" she wanted to know. It was cold, she hated to think that he had to wait outside until she got there because he didn't have the keys.
"No, I just got here," he let her know.
She nodded, eyeing the couple of bags he had in his hands and assuming they had the cleaning products they were going to use.
"I brought a bucket, a broom, a mop, and vacuum cleaner," she told him, walking around the car to unlock the trunk.
"I brought a bunch of chemicals that will kill those insects," he casually said. "I got us masks so don't worry."
"I wasn't worried."
Cleaning was therapeutic, Beca realized. Don't get her wrong, she was pretty sad but cleaning kept her busy enough that she wouldn't dwell on her heartbreak.
"For how long do you think this couch has been around here?" Pete asked as he eyed the couch, he planned to inspect for bed bugs then clean while Beca went to buy lunch for them.
"I don't know," she replied. "We could throw it out and no one would notice."
"No, no, I got this," he assured then cracked his knuckles. "It's a good couch."
"No, it's not," Beca disagreed. "It's a leather couch."
"So?" He frowned.
"So, people must've had a fuck ton of sex on it and you can never clean cum completely out of a porous surface like leather," she explained.
"How do you know this?" he wondered in confusion.
"I watch a lot of crime shows," she told him. "If we point a black light at this couch you'll see how it's covered in cum," she said in disgust.
"I can DIY black light," Pete told her. "I just need a cellphone, blue and purple sharpies, and clear tape."
"Please, do it," she urged. "I'll get these things on my way back," she said.
"Alright," he chuckled.
"What do you want to eat?" she wondered.
"A burger," he said.
"Want fries with that?" she checked and he nodded in response.
"Okay," she mumbled and turned on her heels.
She got everything she left the radio station to buy and was back in less than 30 minutes.
She pulled her phone from her pocket as she was exiting the car when it chimed with a text and sighed seeing that it was her father inquiring about the reason why she cancelled their dinner plans.
Dr. Mitchell: 'What happened?'
Beca locked her car and started making her way towards the radio station.
Beca: 'It just didn't work out.'
Dr. Mitchell: 'I'm sorry to hear that.'
She snorted reading his reply and got inside before she typed back her response.
Beca: 'No, you're not. You don't like him.'
Dr. Mitchell: 'I don't like that you're involved with someone his age but that doesn't mean I don't like him as a person.' 'Will you still come over for dinner, Becs? I haven't seen you in a while.'
Beca: 'Yeah, I'll come. As long as you promise we won't have to talk about him.'
Dr. Mitchell: 'I promise.'
Beca shoved her phone in her pocket and climbed the stairs to give Pete his lunch as well as the stuff she bought for the DIY black light.
Pete was singing along to Vance Joy's 'Riptide' playing on the radio as she reached the second floor. He didn't realize he wasn't alone and Beca didn't make her presence known until he finished the chorus.
"Didn't know you had a nice voice," she finally said.
He turned around and seemed embarrassed that he was caught singing his heart out to Riptide.
"No, I don't," he mumbled.
"I mean you're a little off key but if you don't sound bad," she told him as she reached inside the bag to pull out his burger and fries.
He took off his rubber gloves and walked the small distance between them, accepting his lunch from her. "How much do I owe you?"
"It's on me," she said.
"Thanks." He watched her walk to a clean spot and sit down on the floor before he joined her.
"Sure, man." She pulled her own cheeseburger. "So how will you DIY the black light?" she wondered, pulling the sharpies and tape she bought from her pocket.
"I'll just stick tape over my phone's flashlight LED and color it in blue, then take another strip of tape and put it over it and color it in purple. Repeat it once. And voilà," he explained.
They ate in comfortable silence; Pete finished his burger first and started making the DIY black light using his own cellphone while Beca ate and watched.
"What's wrong?" she frowned when he received a text that made him blow a breath. Her mind went straight to his family issues.
"It's just this girl I recently met," he mumbled, scratching his head. He was quiet for a few seconds before he said, "I could use some perspective on how to proceed."
"Lay it on me, man," she said.
"I met this girl at the library. She was having some trouble with an assignment and I helped her. She offered to buy me dinner and we went out," he recounted. "I thought we just went out to grab a bite. She thought it's a date and asked me when we're going out again."
"And, you don't want to?" Beca guessed from his demeanor.
"The thing is, she's really pretty. And, I'm attracted to her." He paused. "But she wasn't nice to the waiter and made some offensive jokes at his expense that were very stereotypical of southerners because he has a Mississippi accent. She's the first girl that has showed interest in me, Beca. I don't want to turn her down."
"Dude," Beca called. "You can do so much better than some mean ignorant bitch."
"I don't know about that, Beca."
"Your self-esteem is in dire need of a boost, Pete," she sighed. "Wanna know why I think you're unlucky when it comes to dating?"
He rapidly nodded.
"This is going to sound cliché as fuck but you're just not being yourself," she told him. "How do you expect people to be interested in you if you're never showing them who you really are?" It was very ironic coming from her but it was true. "I'm sure you're an interesting person but I barely know you because you hide your personality. Like, if your accent didn't slip sometimes, I wouldn't have guessed you're from around here."
He nodded his head, listening to her. "You're right," he admitted. "I just don't want people making assumptions about me once they hear my accent."
"You should really stop caring what people think of you," she mumbled. "It must be exhausting having to constantly watch how to talk. Also, if you want to smell like jam go get yourself a fruity perfume or something. Do you, man!"
Pete chuckled. "Thanks, Beca."
"You're welcome." She brought the last piece of her burger to her mouth. "Be yourself and focus on bettering yourself," she said the words that she needed to put to practice herself. She really had to work on overcoming her issues and she was going to. Her failed romance with Jesse was the push she needed to focus on growing up and becoming a better version of herself. She couldn't keep living in fear of commitment and being abandoned by loved ones.
"I will," Pete said, interrupting her train of thoughts.
"Good," she smiled tightly at him.
"Ready to test this out?" he checked, turning the flashlight on.
"Yup." She stood up. "Let's do this."
"Holy cow!" Pete exclaimed the moment he pointed the black light at the couch.
"This is disgusting," Beca grimaced, pulling her phone from her back pocket to snap a quick picture. She stopped herself when she realized that she was about to text it to Jesse. She was going to have to break her habit of texting him randomly. "Do you still want to clean it?" She glanced at Pete.
"Yes," Pete answered. "I'll just clean it and make sure there aren't any bugs left in it. Then we could throw a sheet over it so we won't be sitting on a semen-fested couch." He shrugged.
"Knock yourself out, weirdo," she snorted.
Beca was glad she made plans with Pete. Cleaning the radio station's second floor with Pete was a better use of her time. Don't get her wrong, she was pretty sad still. But she was glad she left her room. She knew she was going to be sad for a while and that she should probably let herself be sad over ending things with Jesse. But that didn't mean she'd mope in her room all day. She still had a life.