Beca's not even sure why she accepted the invite. She'd rather someone rip out her eyelashes one by one with pliers, than go anywhere where college students assemble. Jesse wanted her to come out with the Trebles, and he promised several impossible things she planned on holding him accountable for later.

"Oh yeah? Sit in a shady pool hall with a group of herpes outbreaks who like to sing...," she didn't make plans to go anywhere.

She had too much to do to go out with the Trebles. And yeah...go out with Jesse, Benji, and their merry band of jerky man-boys? No thank you.

"And me!"

"And you...or stay here in this comfy clean place, in my super awesome yoga pants, and make music? What will I ever decide?"

But Jesse's persistent, as usual. "Okay, just...come with me. I'll have more fun if you're there, mocking me. You don't even have to talk to anyone, make eye contact or anything. In fact, if you just want wear your yoga pants, I can fully appreciate your ass in those. Just come!"

"Your desperation intrigues me..." she folded her arms as he tried to woo her with his big puppy eyes and the feel of him rubbing her upper arms. It's not working ... much.

"You want me to beg, don't you?"

She sighed, because she knew she was going to give in. He wore her down each and every time. Like...he came to Barden to major in it. She put on her best exasperated face as she said, "Do it on your knees...I've always wanted someone to beg me for something. Make it count."

Oh yeah, she's going to collect, and he's afraid of what awaits him. But it's the price he has to pay for expecting her to neglect her mix time. She's behind already, and Luke's been fussy about her getting them to him on time, since "she couldn't bother to work there anymore". On top of that, every week it's like her professors decide to get together and all assign papers at the same time. She's a busy girl, dammit.

But there she was, for moral support, perched on an extremely uncomfortable stool, checking out Jesse's backside as he took his shot. He was having fun, so that's something. They're still not twenty-one yet, so she's just sipping on the Shirley Temple Jesse got her. Cute joke, really...

"That is all they would let me order, I swear!" he winked as Beca cut her eyes to show she's not amused.

She's not bored surprisingly, she has the comical conversations of the Trebles to marvel at. Unicycle was trying his best to look sexy for an older woman at another table, Benji was actually pretty good at pool, and the rest of the guys were just fun idiots. It actually took her mind off the fact her mother has called and texted twice in the last hour.

I need to talk to you. ~Mom

Where are you? ~Mom

Her mother barely calls or texts, but she's pretty sure it's not good news for that reason. She's not in the mood to deal with it. She'd much rather watch her boyfriend make subtle sexual innuendos with his pool stick to amuse her.

Everything was going fine since she didn't want to run screaming from the room yet, that was until she saw the Trebles all freeze, their eyes wide. Beca turned to see Fat Amy and Bumper pushing through the college spot towards them. She was told specifically Bumper would not be there. But there he was in all his smugness, with Fat Amy trotting behind him. Beca felt her face fall into "Defcon: This Fucker..." mode and she wasn't even trying to hide it as he rounded the corner and approached their group. Amy walked up, smiling as usual, until she noticed how Beca was frowning.

"Erm...hey there, roomie...fancy seeing you here," she said in a playful voice, rocking back and forth. "What are you sipping on?"

"Whatever it is, it's surely not strong enough," Beca responded, and Fat Amy pushed herself up awkwardly on a stool.

Bumper, of course, had to make a bigger show of things.

"Well...hello, gentlemen. Sorry I'm late, but imagine my surprise when I come out the shower and the whole house is suddenly empty. So...," he took off his jacket and walked over by Jesse and Unicycle, "...I broke into Brendan's room, hacked his computer, stalked his Twitter- since I don't follow him...and found you."

Brendan felt violated, "Dude, you broke into my room?"

"That's a lot of effort," Jesse muttered to a nodding Benji.

"Wait, you're on Twitter?" Unicycle asked Brendan. "I asked and you said you weren't?!"

Brendan looked guilty as Bumper and Unicycle glared him. He dropped his head as if he did something wrong and not the other way around.

Bumper clapped his hands and went off to pick a pool stick. "It's alright, I'm here now, so...let's play..."

The boys looked at each other and shrugged, since it was no point in arguing or trying to explain to Bumper why they didn't invite him. They played like normal people for a few shots before Bumper started accusing Hat of sabotaging him. Jesse had explained Bumper's dislike for the Treble nicknamed Hat, but it only made Bumper seem ultra douchey to Beca. Hat just stood there and took it, which seemed to be how most people dealt with Bumper's outrage, which infuriated her even more.

"Seriously, this shot...if you weren't looking at me in the eyes...I could of...grrrr...I swear to god, it's like you mind fucked me into missing..." now Bumper was loud, causing Benji to walk away from the over head light and cloak himself in darkness, less he'll be next on Bumper's list.

"Bumper..." all the Trebles tried to calm him down.

Beca turned away and looked over to Fat Amy, who somehow had a giant piña colada in front of her. How the hell?

"How'd you-?" Beca asked, but nothing else comes out because she's in shock that Amy could get drinks and all she could muster was an extra cherry in her Shirley Temple.

Fat Amy took a satisfying sip and replied, "My boobs. Only ID I ever need. Want one? Because I can totally get Harvey to make you one."

"I'm good. Wait, you know the bartender's name?"

"Well, yeah," Fat Amy scoffed as if Beca should too.

Beca just nodded in confusion. "So...will I need to be your designated walker tonight? Is this like a date?"

"I don't do dates. I think of them more as field trips..." Fat Amy said thoughtfully. "He's not my only field trip tonight, if you know what I mean."

"I just...you two are so..." Beca shrugged, trying to understand her friend's attraction to someone like Bumper.

"At first glance...yeah. I mean, I don't deny most days I want to rip Bumper's head off and play kickball with it, but he does have actual feelings."

"Where?"

"Buried, deep, deep...deep down inside."

"That's pretty deep," Beca offered. She'd believe it when she saw him actually act human.

"Whoa, ears burning. My ears are so burning. You're talking about me? Aren't you? You are, I can tell," Bumper popped out of nowhere, wagging his eyebrows, and Beca successfully resisted the urge to kick him as he pointed at her. "Well, hello, Beca. Beca right? Rebecca? Beckers? I'm not sure which you go by..."

Beca cut her eyes. She knew he knows her name, she's damn sure of it. "Beca. I can understand how difficult it might be for you to get, it's not a normal simple name like John, or Bumper."

"Bumper is a family name," he scowled, trying to take a sip of Amy's drink but she slapped his hand away. "I think it means king...or wolf."

Before Beca could make another snarky comment, Jesse came over, to check on her...or stop her from stabbing Bumper. "How's it going?"

"We're bonding," Bumper replied, causing Beca to grimace.

Jesse bit his lip and looked at his disgruntled girlfriend. "Um okay, that's...scary. You want a refresher on your drink?"

Maybe she'll have what Fat Amy's having. She was about to speak when her phone buzzed. She looked to see it was a missed call from her mother. "I'm going to go take this...outside."

She slipped off her bar stool and walked out to the front of the bar, where the cold air hit her face. She sighed and finally answered the dreaded call. "Mom?"

"I've been calling you all day!"

"Calm down, mom. You called twice. I'm like...out with friends."

"What if it was an emergency? You ignored my calls so you could have fun?"

"Yeah that's exactly what I did," Beca replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes and moving away from the ruckus by the door. "But look, I'm sorry...I'm here now. You have my attention."

"I assume your father already told you," her mother's voice was clipped and Beca could tell this was not going to go well.

"Told me what? Last I saw him was Sunday at dinner. He didn't mention anything."

"So, he failed to mention he stopped my alimony?"

"What?"

"He cut us off, Beca," her mother spat.

She bit down on her lip. Her mother was so overdramatic. "Um, what are you talking about? He did what?"

"He stopped the alimony. Now, I can't pay the bills. We already had to move from New York because of his decisions. This affects you too, ya know. Now he's cut a huge portion from my budget and I can't afford the rent. We're going to have to move out, to somewhere smaller."

Beca looked up at the night sky and wished on whatever star was up there, that the fallout from her parents' divorce would end soon. "How soon is this going to have to happen?"

"Very soon, I'm going to start looking tomorrow. I can't believe him. He's such an asshole. Sheila probably put him up to it."

She touched her forehead and closed her eyes. "I'm...I'm not sure what I'm able to do, mom...I'm like...in school and..."

"I just want you to know, how he treats us. For her, " her mother replied, her voice shaking. She hung up the phone without so much as a goodbye.

Beca dropped her phone to her side and looked out at the passing cars on the street in front of her. She hated being stuck in the middle and she worked so hard to get a relationship with her dad, only for this to happen. He's done good by her so far, he's more emotionally better off than her mother, but he's also the one who initiated this whole debacle. Her mother was a bitch, but she was the bitch that took care of her when he didn't. She didn't deserve to get thrown out on the street.

Just then she heard Jesse call out to her, "Hey, Beca? Everything all right?"

No, everything wasn't al-fucking-right. She felt like the world was falling in on her young life. Her parents' divorce had done nothing but hurt everyone involved, and she hated having a front row seat to it. She hated how she felt every time it came back up - helpless, and hopeless...because this was her family; this broken thing she couldn't fix. And here she was, in Atlanta, in a pool hall, while her mother was trying to figure out where to move their stuff.

"Bec?"

She couldn't turn to look at him, not right now. Jesse didn't know how it felt to have your home shattered, your family ripped apart. His parents loved each other. They loved him. He wouldn't understand how it felt to feel yourself split in two, with neither direction being ideal. She knew he would try to make this better for her, give her an optimistic view. How optimistic can one make "we have to move, again, because your father cheated on me four years ago and this bitterness just won't die"? No, she had her own way of dealing with it. This is what she did in situations like this, she protected herself. She can feel her life crumpling, so her only shelter is to build a wall. After all the hard work she put into chipping that wall down, one phone call from her mother suddenly reinforces the damn thing.

Beca shoved her hands in her pockets, her back still to Jesse. "I have to be somewhere."

She could guess he was confused, everything seemed fine inside. Now she's turned emotionally cold, talking about leaving and he's not sure why.

"Did something happen?" she felt him step closer, and for the first time in months, she wished he didn't. Suddenly, like a flood, she steeled herself, even against him. Against the one guy she shouldn't hide from.

"No, I just gotta..." she looked to see a cab parked at the curb. Turning to Jesse, she said with little emotion, "I have to leave."

"Wait, let me get my coat, I'll come with you..." he replied, concern spreading over his face. He was out there without his coat, his hands under his arm pits.

She shook her head. "No, stay...with your friends. I'll call you later."

"Beca, I'm going with you."

"You don't even know where I am going."

"Doesn't matter. Where ever. No way I'm letting you leave alone. Just...let me run inside, get my coat, okay?" He looked at her, his eyes pleading, gesturing with his hands. He wanted to make sure she wouldn't leave. "Okay?"

"Fine," she sighed, watching he give a small smile and turn to get his coat. When he went inside, Beca trotted straight for the cab and jumped in. She gave directions and let the cab head off, knowing very well Jesse would wonder where the fuck she ran off to.

Her father opened the door, sleep still in his eyes. She didn't give a shit. She stood there, all five feet of badass-ness. "Bec? What's wrong? How'd you get here?"

"Cab. You gonna let your only daughter in?" she said, and he could sense the bitterness in her words. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, another text from Jesse after she ditched him at the pool hall. He's probably worried sick about her, but she couldn't deal with that right now.

He opened the door and she slipped in. She wasn't going farther than the foyer. Her father shut the door. "I love seeing you. I do. But it's like eleven o'clock at night. Did something happen?"

"So when were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"You cut mom's alimony?"

He looked stunned for a minute. He's used to Beca's abrasiveness, but he didn't think she would march over in the middle of the night to confront him about this. "I didn't think I had to alert you to that. It doesn't concern you."

"Oh it doesn't?"

"No, it's...what is this about?"

"It does concern me when my mom calls me and tells me we have to move because she can't afford where we live anymore."

He looked at his daughter's defensive stature, she's matter-of-factly speaking to him, not even yelling. "Beca-"

"What? Is it not enough you left us in New York? Then we had to move because the house belonged to the college? So I leave my friends, I have to pack my stuff and I have to go to D.C.? And I have to deal with your mess, dad. I have to hear how you don't want us anymore, all the time?"

"I never said that," he responded immediately. "Look, it's more complicated than it sounds."

"I'm sure. Point is, why should you care? You've got this nice house, this nice new wife, in this nice place, at this nice school. Right?"

She crossed her arms, and he shook his head. "Okay, first, Beca...I'm your father. I know I haven't always done right by you, but you still need to respect me. Second, and I can't believe I'm talking to you about this...there is more to the story than just your mother's side. She knew that the alimony was ending, they gave her the end date in court. This isn't a shocker, Bec. I didn't do this to hurt her, and never to hurt you...ever. This was already decided, and she agreed to it."

Beca deflated a little. Her mother was always a dramatic one. Of course she would manipulate that for her own reasons. But Beca knew those reasons. Betrayal. Relationships break, people leave. Some people can't handle it when they invest in someone and they leave, like her father left. Beca frowned and rubbed her face in frustration. They stood in awkward silence for a moment, as she gathered her thoughts.

Her father looked at her sympathetically. "I know your mother's upset. I do understand, Beca. But I don't like her doing this, putting you in the middle."

"I'm all she got out of this," Beca muttered and her father frowned at her words.

"Well, then she got the best part," he said, hoping to cheer her up.

"I can't deal," Beca shook her head and walked to the door, peering out of the window. She saw the cab she asked to wait was gone. Fucker. "I think my cab left."

"You can stay, I'll take you to campus in the morning," he said, but she doesn't want to look at him. She's not quite done being mad yet. "I'm sorry you're dragged into this."

She felt tired, without having done anything to exert herself. Just emotionally drained. After her father took her to the guest room, Beca removed her hoodie, her phone still inside the pocket, messages unread. She flopped down on the bed and closed her eyes. She just wanted the world to go away for a minute.

She knew he would be there, it's his nature. She appreciated it, she really did, he cares, and that means something, but she just wanted to be left alone right now. The car ride back to campus was awkward as hell. She's still mad at the whole situation, and she's not sure which parent she wants to be mad at more. Her father tried to create small talk, but after a few grumbles from Beca, he gave up. So when she walked to the front patio of her dorm, seeing Jesse sitting there, she knew he would have questions.

He was blowing his hands to keep them warm, as it was too early for him to enter the girls dorm without being buzzed in. Fat Amy was probably asleep, or somewhere else, so he was stuck outside. Beca cautiously approached him as he saw her and dropped his hands.

"Hey," he said gently, looking at the fact she was still wearing yesterday's clothes.

"Hey," was all the energy she could muster.

"Rough night?"

"Yeah, look...I..."

"What happened? Where'd you go? I was so scared something happened to you."

"I went to my dad's," she said quietly, brushing her foot in front of her. She could tell he wanted to know more about her leaving him last night, and he deserved to know...she just, didn't want to talk about it.

"Is he okay?"

"He's fine."

Jesse stepped back and shoved his hands in the pockets of his pea coat. Her answers were clipped, and she's not trying to look at him directly. He vaguely remembers this Beca, this quiet despondent Beca. She's been gone for awhile, but she's back and he's not sure why. "Okay..."

"I'm just tired," she tried to offer an excuse for her behavior.

Jesse's face told it all. He was watching his girlfriend revert to someone he had a hard time understanding. He loved her, he loves her, god, does he ever-but when she gets this way, he can't figure out how to break through. And whatever happened last night, caused this. "I get it, I just...wanted to make sure you were okay. Alive, breathing...ya know."

She gave a half smile and walked past him to scan in her card. He watched her for a few moments and she could sense he felt dejected, but something in her stopped her from trying to fix it.

"Okay, I have class...later. You'll call me?" he asked, the breaking in his voice was crushing. She's doing this to him, and he didn't do anything wrong. She wanted to stop herself, but...

"Yeah, I'll call," she concentrating way too much on scanning her card. Suddenly he was beside her, looming over her.

His lips were warm when he pressed them against the coldness of her forehead, and just as suddenly, he pulled back, looking at her resolutely as he said, "I love you."

He doesn't wait for her to say it back, probably didn't expect to hear it right now, before he jogged down the stairs and across the quad. She watched him as he disappeared into the morning crowd. She's a horrible girlfriend. Now, she actually felt worse. None of this was his fault, yet he's just another person in her life she has a hard time navigating to. She does love him. She loves Jesse very much. She has to figure out how to rip that wall down again, for him. She can't...she won't lose him because she can't get her shit together.

** That wasn't too bad, was it? But beware...I have to throw a fight in there someday...couples do fight so they can have...makeup sex?!

I put in the NYC stuff because Beca makes claim she had links in NYC, but I already wrote she lived in D.C. Gotta make it work.

Hat exists in canon! He's the guy who...((drum rolls)) wears the baseball cap, even in the hot tub, and it was shown in extended scenes that Bumper really picks on him for some reason. He's the one Bumper threatened to choke out at the student activities fair and in the extras, Bumper wouldn't let him have a burrito. :(