As promised, here is Chapter 15. Chapter 16 is already written so be on the lookout for it.
"I hate you," Beca said through the curtain, trying not to fall in her heels. Chloe had dragged her to the mall, bribing the brunette with lunch and a trip to the record store. After scanning the racks for hours, Chloe was sure they finally found a dress that was perfect. It had taken a few hours for Chloe to get Beca to even try on a dress, but finally Beca got tired of Chloe's whining and stomped off into the dressing room with a huff.
Chloe gasped when Beca stumbled out from behind the curtain. She disregarded Beca's pout permanently etched onto her face and concentrated on the dress itself. Chloe had been very diligent with finding her a dress. She knew she had only a good three hours with Beca until she would get frustrated and sulk until they left the mall. This particular dress, only the second one Beca had tried on, was easily a good match.
It was short, but it was very modest. The navy blue fabric gently landed a couple of inches above her knees, halfway to the middle of her thighs. Unlike Chloe's dress, which was so sparkly that Beca said she needed to wear sunglasses, this dress only had a delicate, crystal trim bordering the sweetheart bodice.
Chloe could tell that Beca liked it because it took her longer to ask to take it off. For the previous dress, Beca was ready to rip it off as soon as the fabric touched her body.
"Okay, we're done. I'm not trying to torture you. Let's go buy it," Chloe said as Beca retreated back behind the curtain. Within minutes she was back in her t-shirt and jeans, holding the dress over her arm. "Finally," Beca exaggeratedly huffed, trying to provoke her friend. Chloe just laughed as they made their way to the register, Beca tossing her father's credit card on the counter.
"Jesse's going to love it," Chloe said, looking at Beca to gage her reaction. If you weren't watching Beca carefully, you wouldn't have seen her slight smile before she turned towards Chloe with her arms crossed, "Don't you start with me, Chloe." Chloe grinned as Beca took back the credit card and the bag, ushering Chloe towards the food court.
…..
Chloe was right, as usual. Jesse just stared at Beca as she came down the steps of Chloe's house. It was night of the dance, and finally, Beca had decided to go. He wasn't sure how Chloe got her to agree, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know. It was probably a mix of blackmail and bribery which he had no desire to figure out. All that mattered was she was coming with them.
The dress was not extravagant in the slightest, but it was elegant and gorgeous just like Beca. Her hair was down, yelling at Chloe whenever she had suggested an updo. It fell around her face, gently, in perfect curls. Jesse swore she wouldn't of stuck out among a mob of celebrities. She matched their grace and their beauty. He was so used to her in jeans and an old t-shirt that it took a minute to register that it was, indeed, his Beca.
Of course, she looked beautiful everyday, but today she just looked extra special. The fabric hugged her thin figure, forming to every inch of her skin. A scowl was still on her face, loudly cursing at the shoes in which she said were glittery death traps. Jesse chuckled as he was about to stand up to help her down the steps. Taken aback by the man already at her side, Jesse's mouth turned slightly downwards as he saw her leaning into Luke. They laughed together as Beca scoped out the room for Chloe before pulling the heels off her feet and running down the rest of the stairs barefoot.
It was something so very Beca that he couldn't help but savor. Sure, she had been back for months upon months now but sometimes he just had to appreciate that she was back. Jesse didn't think any other pair of friends could slip back into their old friendship as easily as he and Beca had done. There was something so natural about it that he couldn't wrap his head around.
Aubrey descended the stairs next, expecting to have all eyes on her. She had made sure every hair on top of her head was perfect, smoothing out her dress every couple of minutes. When she finally took her first few steps down the staircase until she could see everyone and vice versa, all eyes weren't on her. Beca, like she was known to do, had created a commotion. She was in the process of picking up her heels, happy to be free of them. Luke was helping her down while Jesse was holding out his hand for her to grab. Most of the parents were looking at her, but Jesse was the only person she cared was watching. And he wasn't.
She saw the way his eyes lit up when he saw Beca, how he would watch her with such a tenderness that he never looked at Aubrey with. Jesse had finally realized that she didn't want to hear stories about him and Beca, so he tried to keep her name out of conversations, but that didn't make it better. He was always texting her, she knew because he had a special ringtone for her. She recognized the tune from The Breakfast Club. Now that Beca was never openly discussed between them, it only seemed to make Jesse more distant.
Now, he wasn't even paying attention to his girlfriend as she made her appearance before the dance. All she wanted was for him to care for her as much as he seemed to care about Beca. She never understood it anyway. How could that little, goth brunette waltz back into their lives and suddenly take up all attention. Beca was always eating lunch with Jesse and Chloe, texting Amy, making jokes with Bumper, and even getting Lilly to talk a little bit louder. Beca was nothing special in Aubrey's opinion; she was just a disease that needed to be stopped.
"Jesse," she whined, waiting for him to escort her down the steps, "Help me down." He whispered something into Beca's ear which earned him a laugh before going to help her.
When all the couples were ready to head off to the school, they all piled into the awaiting limo. Bumper and Amy got in together first, securing the spot next to the snacks. Next went Donald and Lilly, who awkwardly sat next to each other, trying to make some conversation. Chloe and her date, some random guy from the football team, slid in following the rest. Chloe, holding her camera, took countless numbers of pictures already and the dance didn't even start yet.
Luke got in after her, pulling a laughing Beca alongside him. She was still shoeless and both he and she didn't seem to care. Carrying her shoes was Jesse, who made his way into the limo next. It was starting to get crowded, but one more person was still able to fit. Aubrey, gingerly, placed one foot inside and then the other. Before sitting down, she made sure to brush off the microscopic pieces of dirt off the seat.
Stacie, Cynthia Rose, and the rest of the group were meeting them there. Stacie had said something about having multiple dates to wrangle.
…..
By the time they got to the school, which took fifteen minutes at max, all of them were already hyped up. Beca had her iPod plugged in, blasting her music so the whole neighborhood could hear. Everyone was singing along to the popular tracks, with Jesse leading the pack. Beca thought he was attempting to sing louder than the music and he was doing it pretty well. Even Beca joined in, after encouragement from Jesse and Chloe even though she made Luke promise to never speak of the moment again. Beca belted out the notes, not caring if she was singing on key or not. All that mattered was she was having fun.
They pulled up out of the school, each of them exiting the limo. It looked like the dance committee really outdid themselves this year. The blue and white decorations filled every wall. Balloons were tossed around and white christmas lights lit up the outer rims of the room. A whole area was sectioned off for food and knowing their group of friends, it would be a table they would visit often.
Tucking their stuff away at their seats, the group made their way to the dance floor. Amy attempted to do her version of the worm, which looked more like a fish on land than it did a worm. Chloe just laughed along and managed to take a few snapshots of the moment. Luke, making his way to the DJ booth, managed to get the DJ to give him a turn. Suddenly, the music changed pace and the steady beat of his and Beca's tracks filled up the room.
Beca, giving him a thumbs up, laughed along with the rest of the group as they attempted to dance.
…..
Throughout the next few hours, Beca had managed to be on the dance floor, help Luke out with some tracks, actually take over some songs herself, and now she was finally seated at her table, munching on some cookies and downing glasses of water.
She would never say it out loud, but she was having fun. She wasn't pressured to dance, even though she knew Chloe wanted a partner on the dance floor. The food was relatively good, even though she had a higher ratio of sweets to actual food, and she was able to promote some of her music. A lot of the crowd seemed to like it and they didn't get kicked off the stage by one of the chaperones. None of the teachers seemed to Luke and her had pretty much taken up the hired DJ's job. The best part, she was with all her friends.
Jesse crashed onto the seat next to her, stealing a chug of her water. The night was almost halfway over and he didn't think it could've gone any better. Without a word, he pushed himself off the chair and wordlessly offered her a hand. With her famous eye roll, Beca placed her hand in his and let him lead her to the dance floor. A slow song started to play. Beca looked to the booth to see if it was again Luke who was trying to push her and Jesse together, but it was the old DJ. Luke was over at the snack table, trying to convince the chaperones to get him a hamburger.
"Just like second grade," Jesse said, "We had to dance. It's tradition." Beca only put her hands around his neck, even though it was a stretch for her. She had to stand on her tippy toes since she protested against putting on her shoes. Her high heels never seemed to be slipped on again, lost among the crowds of shoes abandoned as the night went on.
"I don't know if it's tradition, but I'll go with it," Beca responded as they danced together.
Aubrey, just making her way back into the gym after making a quick bathroom stop to fix her hair, stared at her boyfriend and that girl dancing in the middle of the floor. Her heart hurt, but she didn't have the energy to get into a fight with Beca. Plus, she knew Jesse would be angry for her little outburst and he would take Beca's side. Instead, Aubrey just sat down at one of the tables and started to play with the confetti strewn across the tablecloth.
Another guy was sitting a seat away from her, sipping on a drink while watching the people dance. "Long night, huh," he asked. His hair was flopping over his face in every direction. Aubrey recognized him from the school hallways, even though they never had a conversation longer than 5 minutes. Throughout the years, they did have a few classes together.
"Hi, Unicycle. Yeah, it's been fine," Aubrey replied, still looking off towards the dance floor. Uni followed her gaze until it landed on the couple in the middle of the crowd. Beca Mitchell. He recognized her from all over the school. In the beginning of the year, there wasn't a conversation that didn't start off questioning her return. Their school was small, that was partly why the brunette took up so much attention. He could name all the students in the school as well as many of their parents. She was nice; Beca talked to him in the hallways or lent him a pencil in class. But, looking at Aubrey's scowl, he understood the unspoken tension between the two of them. The other dance partner was Jesse, well known and also well liked Jesse. Years prior, they had been on the basketball team together and Jesse was always a team player, even when most of the season he was on the benches.
Unicycle knew Beca and Jesse were friends; he hardly saw the two of them apart, but also understood how heartbreaking it was for Aubrey. A few years ago, he and his old girlfriend had fallen out of love when her ex came back into the picture. Even though Beca and Jesse never dated, he didn't think, it must've felt the same to Aubrey. He could just tell from the frown glazing over her face.
"If you wanna just get some air for a few minutes, we could sneak out the back," he asked, looking at her face to judge her reaction. It wasn't like they talked that much but whenever they did, the conversation was nice and their chemistry was apparent.
Aubrey looked at him while raising an eyebrow. before she had a chance to have an hour long debate in her head if she should go enough, she gazed once more at Beca and Jesse and got up. "Where to," she asked, leading the way towards the doors. Unicycle just smiled before grabbing his jacket and following her lead.