AN: Hi, guys. I hope you're doing well in these difficult times. This story is nearing its conclusion. I haven't finish it yet but with what I have in mind it should take 7 more chapters to end. I'm sorry it's taken me forever to update. Hope you enjoy this chapter and I'd love to hear your feedback. Stay safe ❤
It took Beca about a month before she stopped wanting to see Jesse and be around him so badly. It was becoming a dull ache that she could ignore. She had a lot going on with the ICCAs and trying not to fail her classes as well as the radio station. She had a busy life and great friends. She was getting over her heartbreak one day at a time.
Well, she really thought she was doing great getting over Jesse until she saw him at a convenience store all the feelings that she thought were gradually fading resurfaced.
She cursed under breath and made a detour to avoid running into him.
"Beca, hey, is that you?" she heard the very familiar voice of Jesse Swanson say and closed her eyes for half a second before she turned around and smiled.
"Hey," she curtly greeted.
He pushed his cart until he was a couple of feet away. She tried not to stare nor give away anything from her expression. He was good at reading her. She really didn't want him to see the effect of seeing him. "It's really nice to see you," Jesse said, eyeing her.
"You, too," she said in response then followed his eyes when he looked at the cart full of bars of soap as well as sponges, buckets and polishing tools she'd been pushing.
He looked confused for a second. "Wait. Are you planning a car wash?" he guessed.
"Yup," she nodded, smiling a little at the look of surprise on his face.
"Bikini car wash?" He arched an eyebrow.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I wasn't sold on the bikini part but majority voted for doing it half naked." She shrugged.
Jesse chuckled at her words. "When and where will it take place?" he wanted to know. "My car could use a wash."
"Tomorrow, on the parking lot behind dining hall," she informed. "All day long."
"Nice." He nodded. "I will definitely drop by," he informed. "How have you been?" he then asked, his voice gentler.
"Alright," she replied. "You?"
"Managing," he mumbled.
She recognized the look in his eyes. The dude wore his heart on his sleeves. She could tell how much he missed her and it pained her to see him like that which was her cue to leave.
"Well, I'm going to get going," she said.
He smiled curtly and nodded, "Sure." He paused momentarily. "It's nice running into you," he said as she began to push her cart.
"You, too," she said in response, meeting his gaze briefly before she walked away.
"Stacie, keep it in your pants maybe?" she deadpanned, looking at her friend who was laying against a car's hood while squeezing the sponge in her hand so that it dripped down her chest.
"I'm just taking a break," Stacie replied.
Beca sighed and continued wiping the windshield of the car she was washing. Her dominant arm was starting to hurt so she decided to take a quick break once she finished the car at hand.
"Thanks," she smiled at the car's owner who she recognized as an assistant professor as he was handing her the 20$ bill that she stuffed into her fanny pack before she zipped it.
She made her way to the cooler and grabbed a bottle of water, bringing it to her lips as soon as she opened it. Washing cars was harder than she thought. It felt like a workout. "We're getting paid for this," she reminded herself.
Beca pulled her phone from her back pocket when she felt it vibrating and unlocked it to find a text message from Chloe.—Chloe had messaged her telling her that she was planning a trip to Australia and wanted to ask her if she'd help her given the fact that she knew her way around the country. Beca agreed and had since been giving the redhead her honest opinion and or insight on whatever she asked her about.— The redhead was a very thorough planner, Beca realized the more they talked about the trip.
"There she is." Beca heard Jesse say and looked up from her phone. "I knew I'd find you hiding from the sun and or people." He was smiling cheekily as he made his way towards her.
"I'm just taking a quick break," she said in response, taking a moment to give him a once-over since she had her shades on and he couldn't see her eyes.
He had a plain white t-shirt on, a pair of dark shorts, and flip-flops. He was dressed properly for the really hot summer day.
"You're also not dressed appropriately for the event," he noted jokingly. "I was told this was a bikini car wash," he said pretending to be disappointed as he clicked his tongue.
"Sorry to disappoint, perv," she replied.
Majority voted for a bikini car wash but that didn't mean she'd have to wear a bikini, too.
She wasn't comfortable having people she'd see in lectures whether they're fellow students or professors see her half-naked. She opted for a tank and shorts instead.
"On a serious note, though, your cheeks make you look like you're running a fever so you might wanna wear some more sunscreen," he advised.
She nodded at his advice and unzipped her fanny, pulling a bottle of sunscreen from it.
Beca looked around for his car and spotted it. Cynthia Rose was washing it.
"Turn out is great, huh?" he noted as Beca placed her sunglasses over her head before she applied sunscreen on her face.
"Yeah," she agreed. "Certainly, way more than we expected," she sighed, stretching her arms once she was done applying sunscreen to her face.
"You need a hand?" he offered.
"Yes," Amy said from a distance as she made her way to them. "But only if it's pro bono because we're not paying you."
"No," Beca said assertively. "Don't listen to her." She gestured at Amy who was reaching for the cooler to pull out a bottle of water. "We're good," Beca assured.
"You let Benji help," Amy pointed out.
"He just went to get us more soap," Beca countered.
"I can go get you guys lunch if you haven't eaten yet," Jesse offered, grinning when Beca tilted her head to look at him.
"Yes!" Amy immediately said.
"Beca?" Jesse called, expectantly.
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, you can go get us lunch," she said.
"What do you wanna eat?" He wanted to know.
"Pizza," Beca figured. "Two pepperoni, two mushrooms, two sausage and one extra cheese," she told him. Pizza was the easiest option she could think of. She remembered their preference when it came to toppings because she freaking lived with the girls. She knew them. "Thank you," Beca then added.
"You got it," he mumbled, still noting down her order on his phone. "I'll be back in a minute," he said as he stuffed his phone in his pocket.
She watched him make his way towards his car and wait for Cynthia Rose to finish washing it before he paid her and got inside it.
"This isn't normal, Beca," Fat Amy noted. "Is his wand so bewitching that you can't get over him?"
Beca rolled her eyes at her friend's choice of word then said, "I'm over him."
"No, you're not," Fat Amy scoffed. "You're like a war widow waiting for a letter that won't arrive." She sighed when Beca frowned in confusing. "You're in denial, Beca," Amy said.
"Am not."
"That's what a person in denial would say," Fat Amy pointed out. "You need some good pounding in order to stop thinking about him and his wand."
"Please stop saying wand," Beca requested. "And, no, I'm going to fuck some random dude."
"Doesn't have to be a dude," the blonde suggestively said. "Lez-be-honest, Stacie would be thrilled to pop your girl-on-girl cherry."
"Yeah, that's never gonna happen."
"You don't know that. Sexuality can be fluid, Beca."
"That's not what I meant," Beca sighed. "I'm just not going to ever hook up with a friend because I don't trust myself not to develop feelings for them, okay? I wouldn't know where to draw the line and I'd get myself hurt," she explained.
Fat Amy pulled her in a bear hug which Beca appreciated even if it was really hot. "We're going to a sex shop later," the blond announced, breaking the hug.
"I'm sorry, we're what?" Beca puzzled.
"You don't want to sleep with strangers and you don't want sleep with friends. If you're not going to get laid, you need to invest in a proper tool," Fat Amy spoke, all humor gone from her voice. She was dead serious and Beca didn't know what to say. "You're really gonna need it." She patted her shoulder.
"Thanks," Beca nonchalantly said.
"You're welcome," Fat Amy beamed. "I need to go back there." She nodded at the parking lot. "They need my sexy fat ass."
"Okay," Beca nodded, still processing.
"How much do we owe you?" Beca asked as she unzipped her fanny pack to pull some cash and pay Jesse back.
"Oh, no, it's my treat," he said in response, handing Flo the boxes of pizza. "I'll take a slice of pizza, though," he added when Beca kept looking at him.
"Fine," she gave in, knowing how unlikely he was to let her pay him back.
While half of the team took a lunch break, the other half continued to the car-washing duties since there was plenty of people and they didn't want them to put their 20 bucks elsewhere.
Beca grabbed a slice for herself as well as for Jesse from the extra cheese pizza and headed back to the parking lot. Jesse trailed behind her. She didn't want him to leave and she hated that she felt that way. He should leave. His car was spotless and he'd already done them a favor by bringing lunch.
"Don't you have better things to do, Swanson?" she asked casually, wiping her hands once she finished eating her slice of pizza.
"Not really," he replied with a shrug. "I wanna help. Should I take off my t-shirt first?"
"Only if you're gonna wear a bikini," she told him and smiled a little when he laughed. "But seriously, though. We're good," she assured. "Besides, people are expecting one of the Bellas to wash their cars," she told him.
He nodded in response. "Fair enough."
Beca didn't want to come off as rude and really doubted Jesse would take it that way but she felt the need to add, "You're welcome to stay if you really want to," anyway just to be safe.
"No, I don't wanna be intrusive," he said. "You're busy."
"Dude, you're not being intrusive," she told him. "I don't mind some company."
He smiled meeting her gaze and she found herself smiling back.
Amy was right about her being in denial.
It's been a whole month of zero contact and being around him for less than 30 minutes altogether brought back all the feelings she'd been pretending to have had gotten over.
She needed a more drastic approach to get over Jesse.
"Chloe told me you're helping her plan her vacation to Australia," Jesse said as he watched Beca wash a car. "I hope you don't regret offering to help," he snickered. "I know she can be a lot."
"I'm used to people being a lot," she replied. Her closest friends were a lot and she loved them dearly. "If one thing, I'm learning a lot from her planning wise. She really thinks of everything."
"Yeah," he agreed. "I regret not asking her for help when I was planning my road trip with Sarah," he sighed.
At the mention of his road trip with Sarah, the wheels in Beca's head started to turn. He told her he'd gotten over her completely when he went on a road trip with his sister. It was a drastic way to cut all contact with her that kept him busy for months. She could do that. She was planning on going to stay with her mother for a few weeks once the summer break started. She could extend her stay in Australia and do something similar to what he did last summer. Go on a journey of self-discovery and whatnot. She could ask Benji and Amy to join her and it would be fun. And, she'd definitely ask Chloe to help her with the planning of such trip so they wouldn't face any major mishaps.
"But then again road trips are supposed to be messy." He shrugged.
"Yeah, and who knows maybe you wouldn't have met Amber if you planned it to the T," Beca found herself saying before she gave it more thought. She really held no hard feelings towards Amber. She actually liked her. Her own issues were why she decided to end things with Jesse. She shouldn't have mentioned Amber, though. They were deliberately avoiding talking about anything relating to their relationship and she messed up by bringing up Amber.
"Yeah, maybe," he mumbled. "Um, she decided not to keep it, by the way," he informed after a few seconds of silence. "Amber's planning on going back to school and hopefully starting a business. A baby right now would mean she'd have to put her plans on hold," he explained despite the fact that she hadn't asked for details. "No baby Swanson any time soon," he jokingly said and she could tell that he was bummed out.
Beca felt a strong urge to offer to listen despite knowing that she shouldn't. They shouldn't be hanging out in the first since she very clearly needed more time to get over him. However, knowing that he initially didn't want a kid and that he sounded like he'd changed his mind really made her want to talk about it with him. He sure seemed like he could use a friend.
"I'm talking with my therapist about it," he told her once he noticed the conflicted look on her face. "Don't worry about me," Jesse assured.
It was awkward for a second before he spoke again.
"I'm gonna go," he figured. "This was great. I will see you around, I guess?"
She nodded, "yeah."
Jesse smiled tightly before he left and she resumed her work while thinking about the trip she might be taken across Australia.