"I know you like him." piped Chloe from behind Beca, while trying to match her pace with Beca's as they walked down the school hallway. Ignoring the red headed girl pestering her, Beca just focused her gaze straight ahead. Shifting her backpack from one shoulder to the other, she continued walking.
"You don't have to hide it," Chloe went on, "He likes you too, its obvious." As those words slipped out of Chloe's mouth, Beca couldn't help but discreetly smile to herself.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Beca stopped at her locker, twisting the lock right then left then back again. "He's with Aubrey." She grabbed the books from inside her backpack, throwing them one by one onto the shelf.
Pictures had slowly began to cover Beca's locker, mostly because Chloe couldn't believe Beca was okay with the undecorated metal walls. Within a couple of hours, Chloe had run back with Beca to her locker, holding a stack of photos in her hands and a roll of tape on her pointer finger. Both Beca and Chloe had known that there was nothing stopping Chloe once she was on a mission. The locker was the first of many ambushes that Chloe had spearheaded, ranging from Beca's addiction to plaid to Beca's habit of listening to music while in class.
Beca couldn't believe it was almost the end of the quarter. The days flew by, actually much quicker than she had thought they would. Everyday, Jesse was there at her door. He usually told her he came just because her dad always had breakfast ready and he had a soft spot for pancakes, but they both knew that it was more than a steaming hot plate of carbs that had made Jesse come back every single day. Over the few months, Beca had formed a schedule, a routine. Jesse would come and then the three of them (Luke always seemed to arrive as well) would head off to school.
They never really learned anything in physics, which was their first period class. They were usually listening to Beca's headphones in class, laughing when they would get weird looks from the other students. It was a good thing their teacher never had the energy to put a stop to their giggles from their seats in the back row. Lunch would be when Beca would be attacked by Chloe as the girl hugged her and started babbling on about her day. Otherwise, lunch would be the time Jesse pulled Beca up to the library to sneak in a movie, always tossing her a juice pouch and pulling a bag of popcorn out from his backpack.
In between the abundance of time they spent at school, Jesse and Beca would always find time to continue their movications. Many times, Chloe and Luke would also show up to. As Jesse put it, they would be 'Beca wranglers' so she wouldn't try to wiggle her way out of watching movies. In the short few months she had been with them, Beca had formed what she never had before; a group of friends that she knew she could count on. There was a stability in her life that was foreign to her, but she was already feeling like she could get used to it.
There wasn't just Luke anymore. There was Luke AND Jesse and Chloe, always around her and always getting her to crack a smile. Even though it felt so different for Beca, the one who was notoriously known for hiding away in her room with her laptop and a pair of headphones, she fell into the rhythm of her new life all too quickly.
Chloe, leaning against the adjacent locker just looked at Beca with a knowing grin.
"You and I both know that he is with Aubrey, but we also know that he spends just as much, if not more time with you than he does with Aubrey. Does he go over Aubrey's house every morning or steal her away to watch movies upstairs in the library?"
Chloe tried to gage Beca's reaction, noticing the way her lips turned up as if in a smile. Knowing that she wouldn't get another word out of Beca, Chloe just decided to continue. "Remember when you left all those years ago? Jesse sulked for weeks, surviving on a diet of popcorn and a stack of movies. I didn't think it was possible for a child of his age to hit each one of the five stages of grief, but he proved me wrong. I swear, he wasn't the same for months. Even back then, Beca, you were important to him. You ARE important to him."
Chloe put her arm around Beca's, finally seeing the full grin covering her face. "I know. I know, okay? It's just not like that. Friends aren't supposed to date. That's how friendships get ruined," Beca continued, turning around at the entrance to her classroom.
"Whatever you say, Beca, but sometimes the best relationships start off as friends first." Chloe slipped in her last few words before Beca started to turn around. She pushed her hair behind her ears and took a seat in the middle row, reaching to the bottom of her bag to retrieve a pencil and a piece of paper. A glow in the bottom of the bag caught her eye as she pulled the phone out from under the mess of writing utensils and scraps of homework and loose leaf sheets.
I'm rooting for you, the text said under the caller ID of Chloe Beale.
Beca let out a sigh before diverting her attention away from her phone and towards the packet she was supposed to start working on.
…..
Luke was at her house. By now it was almost considered his home. In New York he was always at her apartment because his was way too crowded, but now, even though his house was of adequate size, he preferred to stay with Beca. Listening to her new sample, Luke adjusted some knobs and slid some slides. His eyes trailed along with the playhead, taking in every new sound. He was so immersed that he didn't see Beca lying on her bed, looking up at the ceiling.
With the vibration of her cell phone, she popped up and walked out of the room to take the call. As a result of the sounds beating though the headphones, Luke could hardly hear her. He was so concentrated on the computer that he didn't look back at her as she entered the room. If he would have, he would've noticed the smile that was across her face.
"Luke, listen to me," Beca said, trying to get his eyes to meet hers as she spun the chair around so he could see her.
"I got a call from someone just now, someone who has some great news for me and you. There's this guy in L.A. that I've been trying to get to listen to some of our tracks."
With the word, L.A., Luke perked up, closing the top of his laptop. He got up from her chair to sit next to Beca on the bed, propping up a pillow before he leaned back. Luke responded, "That guy you were talking about a few weeks ago?"
Beca nodded, laying her head on his chest, "Well, he liked our stuff. Actually he liked it a lot." Beca tried to keep a straight face, knowing that if she looked at his face, he would see right through her. Playing with the headphone cord in her hands, twisting and untwisting and coiling and uncoiling, Beca said, "They want us to interview for them. They might have some summer internships open."
With the last word, Beca looked at Luke, his smile matching her own. She could see the happiness in his eyes, how his head picked up a little higher off the pillow.
"You have got to be kidding me, Beca. Don't lie to me," Luke had now moved her head off his chest, looking in her eyes for any sign of deception or falsehood. Just shaking her head, Beca responded, "100% true. Luke...they actually want us."
Beca was now almost jumping up and down, studying every wrinkle in Luke's face as he smiled. He immediately pulled her into a hug, his arms wrapping around her petite frame. She nuzzled her face in his chest, "Luke, this is the first step. We could really make it in this business." It may be a little internship, actually it make not even amount to an internship, but Beca tried to only focus on the positive.
They both knew that a big part of the industry was paying dues, getting coffee for the big boss, and getting rejected countless times. Both Luke and Beca had suffered through long talks with their parents about how music was not a viable career option, but that never stopped them. They loved it. They loved music with every ounce of their being, their souls. Even if it meant living in some ratty apartment for a couple of years, Luke and Beca didn't care. They wanted it, wanted it more than anything in the world. Their friendship was based off of their shared love of music, off of the passion they felt deep within their hearts. If it wasn't for music, Beca didn't think she could've suffered through her parents' divorce or leaving Chloe and Jesse and moving miles away.
Getting this opportunity was a step closer to where they wanted to be and Beca couldn't have been more excited.
As if it was on cue, the doorbell sounded from down the stairs. She heard the door open and then shut, a voice bouncing off the walls and towards her bedroom, "Beca! You home?" She immediately recognized the voice, pulling Luke downstairs with her. Luke was hardly about to concentrate on walking straight, too consumed with the thought of living in L.A. for the summer.
Turning the corner, she saw the tufts of brown hair peeking up over the couch. His back was towards her and she could see he was watching an old movie. Jesse turned around, a little thrown by how happy the two of them looked, "What's wrong with you guys? Did you finally have an epiphany and learn that you actually don't hate movies?"
Ignoring his comment, Beca relayed the good news to Jesse. "We might have an internship opportunity in L.A. this summer. I sent them the tracks, the same tracks we played in the club, and they finally got back to us. They like us, Jesse. Can you believe it?" Beca's face lit up like the sun, radiating happiness. It was odd to see her this animated, but Jesse liked it.
"Of course I can, Beca. The songs you play are amazing," he made a quick save, almost saying that he thought That she herself was the thing that was amazing. The three of them collapsed on the couch, Beca's head on Jesse's chest and her feet upon Luke's lap. Jesse pulled her into a hug. "Congratulations, but there was never a doubt that they would discover you guys. People in the business for that long know when something special is at their door, and they snatch it up before anyone else can take it." Luke wasn't exactly sure if Jesse was still referring to the music, or to the girl in front of him that he was looking longingly at. Luke, for one, thought it was the latter.