Here's another chapter for all of you. I love this story so much and I have put so much time and effort into making it the best I could. Don't worry, I have a handful of other ideas in mind, crowding notebooks and random pieces of paper. There are so many directions I am thinking of choosing for this story, especially for a sequel. I think I will end this fic in a few chapters, hopefully to start a sequel sometime later. I have an ending planned out to wrap up this story and I can't wait to write it. Meanwhile, I have loved writing so much that I am thinking of starting a new story after this one. I wasn't sure if i was going to like writing as much as I do, so I never thought that I would write more than one story. Otherwise, be on the lookout for more chapters and hopefully a sequel. If you have an fic requests or ideas, I'd love to hear them.
She was not going to be some rebound; she knew it and he knew it. Months had passed since that infamous dance. News had spread throughout the school within hours that the famous Jaubrey was no longer a thing. It was just Jesse and Aubrey now, and people could hardly believe it. Rumors spread that Unicycle had to be hospitalized because Jesse had hit him so hard. Other people believed that Jesse wasn't even mad because he was already dating Beca Mitchell on the side. Before long, everyone knew about the breakup and everyone had an opinion about it.
Jesse, Beca, Aubrey, and Unicycle caught people eyeing them from the corner of their eyes as they walked down the hallway from the first few weeks. In class, they could hear whispers from their fellow classmates, only catching their own names whispered in the conversation. It had gotten so bad that Beca and Jesse had now made it a game to stare at the people who were obviously talking about them to make them as uncomfortable as humanly possible.
But now, late May, everything had generally died down. New gossip had popped up, sparking the interest of the masses and better yet, distracting them from the Jaubrey break up. Jesse and Beca were back into their usual groove of hangouts. He would make her watch movies, repaying her with juice pouches and candy. Every morning, Luke and him would stuff food into their mouths as they waited for Beca to emerge from her bedroom, running a brush through her tangled mane and pulling her backpack over her shoulder.
Aubrey on the other hand, had lessened her stress levels. Somewhere along the grapeline Jesse had heard that she was now really into yoga, especially since she didn't have to worry about too much stuff now that her senior year was coming to an end. Finally, even though she was rejected from many of her safety schools, she had been accepted to Touro Law School in New York. It wasn't the best but it certainly wasn't the worst.
The problem was, well Beca would call it more of a problem than Jesse, they were getting closer. Their weekly movie nights had turned into biweekly or even triweekly nights. He knew more about her than everyone, not including Luke. Somehow, he slipped back into her life without her even realizing it. Sometimes when it got super late, they would crash together on her couch, her laying on top of him. She would either wake up to him tracing circles on her back or him complaining that her weight was cutting off his circulation. Whichever one occurred, they would fall back asleep, together, both comfortably and contently.
At some points, Beca did feel her stomach start to clench up. It first happened at the New Year's Eve party at Chloe's house. The lights were dim and the music was loud. The party had started many hours ago so people were passed out on the couches and chairs or they had retreated back to their own homes. Jesse, who had to drive his parents to the airport during the day, was extremely tired. No matter how everyone tried to keep him awake, he wasn't standing it. Beca had blasted music in his ears, and he just pulled a blanket over his head and was out for the next hour or so. Chloe and Luke both tried to get him to wake up with the smell of the desserts Chloe had cooked the night before, but even sweets weren't getting Jesse up.
Finally, Bumper and Amy had the genius thought of throwing an ice cold bucket of water in his face. Even though Chloe wasn't thrilled with getting her furniture wet, she was up for it. As the wave struck his face, Jesse's eyes shot open. He shivered for a minute before running after Bumper. The two had a duel outside, armed with water guns and hoses. In the end, Jesse was crowned the victor after skillfully stealing Bumper's singular water gun. Even in the heat of Atlanta, they both were shivering, their bodies turning a shade of blue.
As his only request as crowned king, Jesse was given the right to fall back asleep, taking up the whole entire couch. About to lay down on the cushions, he swiftly turned around and dripping wet, hugged Beca tight around the waist. She squirmed from the cold, pushing him off her. It had been the perfect opportunity to get her back from almost damaging his ear drums and he seized it. She laughed as she tried to wring out his shirt, a stream of water piling up on Chloe's rug. He had plopped back on the sofa, pulling a blanket over his body and a pillow under his head.
He had slept through the start of the television specials, through the grand performances and the celebrity guest appearances. He missed Ryan Seacrest count down the seconds until the ball dropped, softly snoring through it all. When the countdown reached zero, the couples were kissing and the singles were yelling and jumping up and down, adding to the ruckus. Beca, laying on top of Jesse because he was warm and had the best blanket, had looked down at him. When no one was looking, she moved a piece of hair away from his face and curled up on top of him, and whispered 'happy new year, weirdo' in his ear. Luckily no one saw unless her bad ass reputation would be ruined.
No one saw what she did that day and it didn't even cross her mind to tell Jesse. So they just went on like that, playing the role of best friends, but occasionally having that one tender moment that neither one of them would admit to. On Valentine's Day, she was given a rose in every one of her classes, making her blush as a random student would barge into class, holding a single rose for her. The messenger would deliver the rose and start to head out before he or she could see the embarrassment rise in Beca's face as she became the center of attention. At least the rose wasn't real. Beca had never really liked flowers. They always died too quickly but these flowers were different.
The roses were made of cut up sheet music, beautifully folded on every precise crease. She already knew who sent them, but the sender made it a little more obvious because they were songs from movies he had made her watch. There was everything from West Side Story to Funny Girl. Even now, she had them saved in a vase on the top of her dresser. She liked that they didn't seem to fade, even with time.
Now, everything seemed jumbled up. They were best friends but they weren't only best friends. Beca would never get roses from Chloe and she would never get butterflies when she was around Luke. Everything was just, you know? Weird. That's why Beca pulled away when Jesse was a little too close. She didn't hug him for longer than she did her other friends when she saw them in the morning. And most of all, she tried to push thoughts of kissing him out of her mind completely. But it wasn't working.
She didn't get it. She had dated before, even though it had mostly been guys that she knew would never go the distance, but she never had freaking butterflies in her stomach. Who was she turning into? One thing was for sure; Beca Mitchell would never go soft, but why did she melt like putty when she was around Jesse. With Luke, she would never allow him to force her to watch all the movies Jesse brought over for Beca. She wouldn't have allowed anyone to get so close to her so fast, but it was Jesse. It was that stupid goofball with his big brown eyes and juice pouches. Being with him just felt so natural, and that was what scared her the most.
Right now they were in the middle of a project, a science project that Beca couldn't wait to finish. In order to earn a good grade in AP Biology (yeah, she still wasn't sure how she got placed in that class), they had to make a cake to represent an animal cell. Strewn across Beca's kitchen island were packets of flour and sugar and candy decorations. The measuring spoons and cups were laid across the table for easy access and Jesse was right there, scanning the recipe book with his pointer finger.
"So you see, Becs," Jesse said, his eyes still attached to the book, "We have to start with mixing the flour and sugar." He spun around the wooden spoon in his hand, using it to emphasize every ingredient. When he looked up, he caught her staring at him, grinning back at her before diving into the project. Beca just leaned on the counter, popping M&M's into her mouth every minute or so.
She was never really a baker or a cook in general. How she got roped into this, she would never know. It was Jesse, stupid Jesse, that had begged her to do it with his puppy dog eyes. To anyone else, she would've said no, but to him she had sighed in agreement. Only him. So here she was, attempting to measure out the right amount of flour while she could hear Jesse cracking eggs into the bowl. She leveled off the flour with a knife before closing the package with her free hand and walking towards him with the measured ingredient. Right when she was about to throw the flour into the bowl, he had spun around, causing the flour to fall out of her hands like fresh snow, attaching to his and her clothes before making its landing on the tiled floor.
"Jesse! Look what you've done!" Beca yelled, but her yell was turning more into a laugh. He sheepishly bent down to pick up some of the fallen flour. With a smirk, Beca placed her flour covered hands on his back, making two distinct handprints. Before she knew it, Jesse's hands wrapped around her, flour fully covering her black t-shirt.
"That's a nice look on you, Becs," Jesse responded, his arm resting casually on the countertop. His eyes grew wide when he saw her gaze fall upon the frosting container. In a millisecond she had opened the container, peeling back the foil cover and following Jesse around her kitchen. The island in the center of the kitchen prevented her from coming straight at him. The two of them circled the island, trying their best to avoid the stools pulled up to the marble countertop.
"Payback!" She screamed like a war cry, dabbing a bit of vanilla frosting on his nose. Swiftly, he swiped the frosting off his nose, licking it off his finger. "Delicious," he responded, drawing out the word. Now, here they were, covered in a light, dusting of flour. Beca's long, brown hair was speckled with white, as she tried to get some of the flour off her shirt. It was useless and after a few seconds, she abandoned the project. Somehow, without even realizing it, the two of them were so close they were almost on top of one another.
"You have something on your," Beca's words trailed off as she stared at the icing located on the corner of his lip. By now, the two of them were only inches apart. He saw her eyes trail off from his own eyes, towards the edge of his lip. He would be perfectly honest and say he would like nothing more to act on the swirling feeling in his stomach that urged him to pull her close. If he wanted to, he could've bent down in that instant and kissed her. If she had decided, she could've stood on her tippy toes and kissed him right back. It was almost like time had frozen like in all those cheesy movies. They both realized the situation they were in. The question was, who was going to act on it?
Jesse, leaning closer, was about to seal the space between them, but Beca had another idea. She, not knowing what to do, took a step back, brushing the flour off of her jeans. Jesse watched her as the moment slipped through his fingertips. He mentally punched himself for not seizing the moment like all the dashing, young, male leads did in all his favorite romantic movies.
She did not want to ruin their friendship. Memories of her parents and their constant fights broke through her mind, building up her walls brick by brick. What she and Jesse had was wonderful, maybe not perfect, but she knew that without his friendship, she couldn't handle living in Atlanta, away from New York City, her city. Beca just couldn't risk it losing everything they had together.
Jesse, on the other hand, felt rejected but mostly he felt ashamed. He didn't want her to think the only reason they were friends was because he wanted something more with her. When she had arrived back in Atlanta, he had just prayed that she remembered him. Once she did and once he learned how much the two of them clicked, it was second nature for them to begin to rebuild their friendship. He didn't know when it started to become something more to him. It had been months since his breakup with Aubrey, but he didn't want Beca to feel like she was second best. In his mind, she had always been the winner.
Beca didn't want to be a rebound, but maybe she hadn't already figured out that she was the one he never truly got over.