Strangers in the Night

A Pitch Perfect Story

Chapter 9: Rom-Coms are for Assholes

Disclaimer: I do not own anything familiar.

Author's Note:

If you want to check out the dresses for Chloe's bridal party, go to my photobucket page. The link is in my profile, and the album is called Strangers in the Night. I absolutely love Chloe's sister's dress. She is going to be the maid of honor in this story. A couple of minor characters will make appearances here and there in this story, but I haven't decided who for sure will make the cut.

I also apologize to all of you if you have never seen the movie After Earth and would like to or if you have seen the movie and you enjoyed it, because I'm going to give a small synopsis of it in the form of Beca/Jesse talking through the movie during a date. I didn't like it, and I LOVE movies, so it's safe to assume that Beca would have hated it. So, be prepared.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

"Why did we wait so long to go dress shopping again?" Aubrey sighed as she looked through a rack of white froth—well, that was what it looked like to Beca anyways. Chloe whimpered as she searched her own rack with one hand and chugged a huge glass of champagne in her other.

"Aubrey! Don't stress out the bride. It's, like, rule number one of being a bridesmaid." Beca snapped as she chewed on her bottom lip. She and Stacie were assigned the task of looking for possible bridesmaids' dresses, while the blonde and the redhead were looking for wedding gowns. The reason it took them so long in the relatively short engagement process (the wedding was being held exactly six months and one day from the day that Evan had proposed to Chloe) was because the redhead couldn't decide on a color scheme. Chloe loved hot pink, almost as much as Beca, but it clashed with her red hair; she also loved that melted-butter shade of yellow, the turquoise color of the water near tropical beaches, deep purples, dark greens, bright reds, and pale oranges. Suffice to say, she had a really difficult time deciding on colors. After three and half months of moaning about how all of the colors were so pretty, she finally decided on a tropical theme, allowing her to have as many colors as possible. She and Evan were going to get married on August 17th, so the theme worked. Her two main colors were going to be turquoise and hot pink, because she thought that the two colors looked really good together. Chloe decided that the flowers were going to be an assortment of shades, pulling in all of her favorite colors, because it fit the tropical theme. Beca thought she should have had a rainbow wedding—minus the homosexual undertones, because Chloe was marrying a dude and not a lady—so that she could get away with all the colors she wants, but Evan nixed that idea.

Chloe had decided that Aubrey and Carly, her older sister, were going to be wearing blues. The blue would make Aubrey's eyes pop and not clash with Carly's red hair. Beca and Stacie would be wearing hot pink; both of the brunettes had blue eyes, as well, but Chloe wanted to have alternating colors walking down the aisle and with the opposite color ribbon tying the girl's bouquet, so she put Beca and Stacie in pink. Beca was totally fine with that, because hot pink was her favorite color, and Stacie said she could make any color look good, so it didn't matter to her what she was wearing.

"I can't believe I'm getting married in less than three months, and I don't have a dress yet!" Chloe moaned, holding her hand out to the attendant who was bringing over another bottle of champagne. The woman smiled at Chloe, topping off the redhead's glass.

"Ms. Beale, I promise you that we will find your perfect dress, as well as the perfect dresses for the rest of your bridal party." She said reassuringly.

"Yeah, and the guys are all wearing black tuxes with white shirts, cummerbunds, and ties, so you don't even have to worry about them matching the girls' dresses. We're gonna be okay, Chlo." Beca assured her as she frowned at a terribly hideous neon green dress. Yeah, that was a no. "Are there any other bridesmaids' dresses I could look at? Since this is a summer wedding, we were hoping for some that were a little shorter. These are all floor-length."

"Of course. We have some shorter dresses over here." The attendant, Kristy, led Beca to another wrack of dresses. The brunette began rifling through them, not finding anything that really stood out to her. She pulled a couple of dresses out and slung them over her arm to show to Chloe, but so far she didn't find anything that she really liked and thought would fit Chloe's style and theme. She turned to see how the other girls were doing when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a knee-length floral dress hanging up in another part of the store. It had a deep v-neck; the skirt was loose but the bodice was fitted. She quickly shoved the other dresses back onto the rack and walked over to the dress. She saw that it had almost every one of Chloe's favorite colors in it. This dress would be fantastic. She grabbed the dress, noticing that the back of the dress had a smaller v-neck with a triangular cutout, and she immediately rushed towards where Chloe was rifling through wedding dresses.

"Chloe," she grinned, holding the dress up to her friend. The redhead immediately froze, glancing over to look at the dress.

"OhmygodBeca!" Chloe squeaked, covering her mouth with her hands. "It's so pretty!"

"Yeah, I thought it would be pretty cool to have as a bridesmaid dress."

"You found the dress?" Stacie said, pouting as she walked over with a watermelon pink strapless dress in her hands. The dress had a loose skirt and an empire waist. The dress was simple and pretty, and if Beca were a real girl, she totally would buy that dress just to have it. "I thought this would be a good dress for Beca, but if you wanna go with the floral dresses, then that's cool." Beca glanced between the dresses. The floral dress was pretty, but it was also way more flamboyant and eye catching than the pink dress. She looked to Chloe for her final opinion.

"They're both really awesome." Chloe frowned.

"Look, the pinks match." Aubrey pointed out. She pulled the loose skirt of the pink dress up and held it next to the floral dress.

"I have the best idea!" Stacie squealed, bouncing up and down. "What if you did the floral dress as Carly's dress, since she is your matron of honor? Beca could wear this pink one, and then Aubrey and I will pick a dress that matches a different color in the floral dress. You could put Tara in another shade from the dress or a smaller version of this dress."

"You mean without the plunging neckline?" Aubrey crinkled her nose.

"I really like the idea of everyone wearing a different style in the same color or wearing the same style in different colors, but is it weird to do both—different colors and styles for everyone?" Chloe stroked the hemlines of both of the dresses, torn between which one she liked better.

"Well, Beca, Aubrey, and I all look good in strapless, so why don't we all wear strapless dresses. You could do thick straps for a sleeveless dress for Tara to match this floral dress. Carly's dress would be the only multicolored dress, because she is the matron of honor. Like, she ties all of us together. Beca in pink; Aubrey in green or yellow. I'll go with purple, because I saw this gorgeous strapless dress on the rack." Stacie suggested, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. "It's tight and goes to mid-thigh on me, so it's not like it's too short or anything. I also saw a super cute turquoise flower girl dress that would look really good with Tara's red hair. It is a loose dress with little flower details at the top." She grinned. "See! Organized chaos for the bridal party."

"What do you think, Beca?"

"I really love the dress that I picked out, but I love the one that Stacie picked out way more. It is more understated and less attention-grabbing. You know I'm not exactly the fan of being the center of attention. Besides, it's your wedding day, so you should get the most attention." She smiled at the dress in her hands. "That being said, I really like the idea of the multicolored bridal party and all the colors linking to this dress. I think it is unique and quirky, like you."

"Okay, let's do it. A multicolored bridal party it is." Beca grinned, taking the pink dress from Stacie's hands and walking it over to the small couch that they left their purses on to drape them over the back of it. She then began helping Stacie search for a dress for Aubrey to wear and to look at the busty brunette's choices for hers and Tara's dresses. She had to make sure that they were appropriate.

Meanwhile, Aubrey and Chloe went back to searching for wedding dresses for Chloe to wear. After another hour of looking, the girls had narrowed down the bridal party's dresses, minus Chloe's wedding dress. Aubrey was going to wear a similarly styled dress to Beca's, except her was going to be a buttery-yellow shade with a more defined sweetheart neckline. Stacie's dark purple dress was fitted, unlike the other girls' dresses, and it had neckline that was a sweetheart mixed with a v-neck. Where the other girls' dresses were knee-length, hers was definitely much shorter, but it wasn't trashy in anyway. It looked really good on her. Tara's flower girl dress that Stacie picked out was totally perfect and matched the lighter turquoise-blue shade in her mother's dress. Chloe sighed loudly, because her entire bridal party was squared away, but she still had no wedding dress.

Beca came across a pretty dress that was knee-length (they appeared to be sticking to a theme, aside from Stacie, who was a total slut) that she thought Chloe would like. It was a white strapless dress with a fitted bodice and a loose, full skirt; it was like someone cut a ball gown in half. Over top of the dress was a sheer white fabric with white polka dots; the overlay had three-quarter length sleeves and had a high neckline. She held the dress out to Chloe, who squealed and ran to the dressing room to try it on. When she came back out, the girls knew that it was her dress. It fit her almost perfectly—only a few alterations needed to be made—and she was glowing in it. The attendant and her team of seamstresses took the girls' measurements, and Chloe promised that her sister and niece would be flying in from Atlanta the following weekend for their own fitting (and to visit). With everything squared away for the dresses (the final wedding detail that Chloe didn't have finished before the big day), the girls headed to dinner.

"Stacie, have you decided who you're going to bring to the wedding?" Aubrey asked as the girls were seated at a table at their favorite restaurant that was near the bridal salon. The brunette shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know yet. It's still so far away. I know that I'll definitely have someone there, though. I mentioned it to Donald when I was getting dressed this morning that I was going showing for dresses, so he'd probably be cool with going with me if all else fails." She flipped through her menu, missing the grimace on Beca's face.

Aubrey, on the other hand, didn't miss the look on the petite brunette's face. "I take it that you haven't asked Jesse to be your date to the wedding?"

"Hell no! You're kidding, right?"

"Beca, you two have been seeing each other for nearly six weeks. When are you going to ask him? If I have a blank spot at my wedding, I'm going to fucking kill you." Chloe threatened.

"Chill out, Bridezilla! Look, Jesse's great and all, but it's kind of serious to be asking a guy to a wedding that I've only been dating for a few weeks. We're not even in a relationship. We're basically hanging out."

"That's so messed up." Aubrey crossed her arms and glared at Beca. "You're hardly hanging out. You're regularly fooling around with each other, and if it weren't for the fact that Chloe insisted on this being a girls-only thing, he'd have probably been attached to your lips right now. You might not be using labels, but you two are definitely a couple."

"No, we're not!" Beca cried out. Her palms were sweating, and she was getting kind of itchy. It felt like there were four rocks sitting inside her stomach, and she couldn't tell if she was going to shit her pants or throw up all over the table. "Shut up!"

"Seriously, the whole 'I don't like him, and I'm only going through with this because of the dare' thing is getting old, Becs. If you really didn't like him, you'd have broken up with him by now. Put your big girl panties on, and get over it." Stacie scoffed. Beca frowned, looking between the brunette and the blonde with venom.

"You know what I think? I think that we should let Beca and Jesse go at their own pace!" Chloe said suddenly. "If they're just dating, then they're just dating. She can date him as long as she wants to date him and for whatever reasons she wants to date him for, even if it's just to win this dare. That being said, if you don't ask him to the wedding today, I'm going to take care of it."

"Chloe!" Beca thought that the redhead was on her side, but by the end of her speech, she was afraid of what the older woman might do. "What the hell does that mean?"

"You'll see if you don't fucking ask him. Now, I'm a little buzzed because I chugged several glasses of champagne. I think I need to get food on my stomach before I hurl everywhere. Oh! Shrimp!" Beca shook her head as she watched her three friends talk about what they were going to get for dinner. She reached for her phone, opening a blank text message. She hesitated, unsure what to say. She couldn't exactly tell him in a text about the wedding, could she? Well, maybe she should, because that would mean that if he said no, he wouldn't be saying it to her face.

4:47 PM Sat, Jun 1

To: The Nerd

So…um…there's something I have to ask you.

She hesitated, unsure what to text to him next. She tapped her fingernail on the screen of her phone, thinking, jumping when her phone buzzed. She opened the text, smiling when she read what he had sent.

4:48 PM Sat, Jun 1

From: The Nerd

Does this something have to do with sex of some kind or our date tomorrow? The answer is NO, I will not let you out of going to a movie with me tomorrow afternoon. No matter what you proposition me with, you're going. Although, I wouldn't be opposed to rewarding you're good behavior with whatever it is that you were going to offer. ;)

4:50 PM Sat, Jun 1

To: The Nerd

Picture me rolling my eyes. I wasn't going to proposition you. As much fun as that is, this has nothing to do with that.

Once again, she hesitated. Mainly because the waiter had come to the table and asked what they were ordering for dinner. Beca told him that she would have whatever Aubrey was having (they always enjoyed eating the same food at this restaurant). She glanced back at her phone and realized that she had received a few texts from Jesse.

4:51 PM Sat, Jun 1

From: The Nerd

Well, this seems a little ominous. I'm gonna go out on a limb though and suspect that it has something to do with a certain redhead's impending nuptials.

4:54 PM Sat, Jun 1

From: The Nerd

Yup. I guess I'm right. You appear to be unable to respond back. Are you in shock? Do I need to call the police and send them to you via your phone's GPS location?

4:57 PM Sat, Jun 1

From: The Nerd

In case you were wondering, I figured it out because Chloe followed me on Twitter and friended me on Facebook, which I accepted and, in return, followed her on Twitter. On both sites she posted that she was going dress shopping today with you and the girls. You know, since you didn't tell me anything beyond that you were 'just hanging with the girls' today.

4:58 PM Sat, Jun 1

From: The Nerd

I was hoping that you were going to ask me to go with you, but I wasn't sure if it was too much too soon for you.

She blew out a breath, taking a sip of her ice water. Was it too much too soon to ask him to go with her? Then, again, it kind of seemed like he made that out to be a bad thing for her—like she was incapable of being an adult and sucking up a weird situation. She totally could do that. She could totally ask him to go with her and then feel nothing about it when the time came. The problem was that the wedding was going to be nearly a month after the dare ended. Would the two of them even still be around each other? She kind of wanted to bail the second she won the dare and run. At the same time, her stomach felt sour at the thought of no longer getting the chance to be around Jesse. She was totally going to miss that mouth of his (and, okay, fine, maybe the rest of him, too). She rubbed at the tip of her nose before finally responding to his text.

5:04 PM Sat, Jun 1

To: The Nerd

Sorry I was ordering food.

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either.

5:05 PM Sat, Jun 1

To: The Nerd

So, um…this is weird for me, okay?

5:05 PM Sat, Jun 1

To: The Nerd

Would you go to Chloe's wedding with me?

5:06 PM Sat, Jun 1

From: The Nerd

YES! Enjoy your dinner with the girls. I will see you tomorrow afternoon. I'll even take you out for frozen yogurt before and we can sneak it into the movie theatre. xoxo

It was official. Beca was going to Chloe's wedding with Jesse. She couldn't tell if the sheen of sweat that had broken out on her body was from relief over him saying yes, excitement over him saying yes, or fear over him saying yes. In all actuality, it was probably a mixture of all three. Shit…she never should have agreed to go through with this dare. She's such an idiot.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

"I'm excited that I finally got you off your couch and out for a real date." Jesse joked as he and Beca walked hand in hand from his car towards the frozen yogurt store. She rolled her eyes. Over the nine days since the night that they had first began dry-humping the shit out of each other, he had spent three evenings at her apartment, eating pizza and attempting to continue her movication. Rather than actually watching movies on those date nights, most of their time together was spent making out and dry-humping.

She hadn't seen him since Thursday night, and her period excuse was now null and void. She now had to figure out a reason for why they wouldn't be having sex this week, and it couldn't be related to her vagina in anyway, because that might lead him to think that there was something wrong with her nether regions. She couldn't afford to let him think that, because she planned on fucking him practically to death when she was allowed to. Shit, she was horny. Over six weeks without sex has made her totally moody.

"Yeah, I could totally tell how painful the time we spent on my couch over the last week was for you." She said sarcastically. She laughed aloud when he returned a lecherous grin to her. He was such an asshole.

"Oh, yeah, all that time on your couch was excruciating for me. And, expensive. I had to do an extra load of laundry that was made up entirely of my boxers. By the way, I think I left a pair or two at your apartment." She blushed, chewing on her bottom lip. She may or may not have stolen two pairs of his boxers all under the guise that she was going to wash them and return them to him. Suffice to say, she didn't return them after washing them, but chose to add them to her collection (aka the three-pack that she bought at Target for a couple of bucks). That wasn't weird. He bought nice boxers. They were comfortable. They were soft and fit her perfectly. They were perfect to wear to bed as pajamas. See, totally not weird at all. "But, as I was saying before, I'm really excited about getting you to see a movie with me this afternoon." She pouted. He chuckled, reaching up to pat her jutting bottom lip with the tip of his index finger. "Enough of the pout. I know you enjoyed all of our movications."

Beca laughed, shaking her head. The first movication that they had, she got distracted and made out with Jesse a few times, despite getting serious beard burn and learning that he wanted to take things slowly with her (and she agreed to it). The second and third movie dates (which took place in the last week) resulted in them watching the same twenty minutes of the same movie only before she got bored and decided to distract him in the most satisfying way that she's allowed at the moment. He had a stupid obsession with seeing every movie through, which is why it took them two and a half movication dates to get through the same movie. As if she cared about what happened during whatever stupid conspiracy movie they watched the other night (she didn't exactly pay attention during the movie; in college she learned how to sleep with her eyes open during boring English lectures). Finally, on Thursday night, they were able to get past the first twenty minutes and were able to finish the movie, because he got her off before they started watching it and the moments the credits began to roll on the screen. Three times, to be specific—first by his mouth on her breasts alone, and then twice more via dry humping.

"The only reason why I enjoy our movications is because it is very easy to distract you. I'd rather you use your mouth to kiss me than to talk incessantly about your fun facts." He rolled his eyes, and she pulled her hand from his in order to move closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist and stood up on her toes to whisper into his ear. "If I get bored in the theatre during this movie, I might get us arrested."

Jesse turned in Beca's arms and immediately connected his lips with hers. She moaned into the kiss, pressing her body more firmly against his. She dug her nails into the skin of his lower back, sucking hard onto his bottom lip. He groaned, breaking the kiss. He laughed into her cheek, and she shivered from the sensation of his hot, wet breath hitting her skin. "I'm hoping like hell that you have good self-control, because you don't want to go to jail."

She grinned at him, shrugging her shoulders. "There's a reason why a good friend of mine from college calls me Shawshank." She said, casually. She jumped when his lips immediately found one of her sensitive spots on her neck, and he nipped at her skin.

"Did I ever tell you how hot it is when you make a movie reference? Please tell me that you knew that that was a movie reference?" He said, pulling his face away from hers to stare into her eyes.

"I figured that it was a movie reference. I was not a hundred percent sure though."

"Shit. The Shawshank Redemption is going onto our movication list. I almost want to insist that we get our frozen yogurt to go and watch it now, but I finally got you out for a real date for the first time in a few weeks, and I don't want to give that up." She rolled her eyes at him, leaning up to brush her lips against his.

"It's adorable when you go full-out nerd."

"Well, you're adorable all the time, especially when you're surly and mean." She rolled her eyes.

"What stupid movie are you dragging me to today?"

"There are a ton of awesome movies out, and a couple of them all start in about forty-five minutes, so—"

"No stupid chick flicks or rom-coms or whatever the fuck they're called. Rom-coms are for assholes." Beca said, scrunching up her nose in disgust. Jesse rolled his eyes. "I demand violence, sex jokes, and/or death."

"Well, we could go see the third Hangover movie, if you want. Or, there's the latest Fast and Furious movie. Both of them are part of series, though…There's also the Will Smith movie that he did with his kid. It is an 'action' movie. Plus, it's from M. Night Shyamalan, and a lot of his—"

She pressed her lips to his, cutting off his rant. She pulled back, smiling at the perturbed look on his face. "Let's go see the Will Smith movie. He's from Philly, so I have to show my fellow City of Brotherly Love brethren some love whenever I get the chance. Pun intended."

"Let's go, weirdo. Hey, that rhymed!" He chuckled.

"Is he supposed to sound like that? What accent is he trying to use?" Beca whispered to Jesse before shoveling a spoonful of her vanilla frozen yogurt in her mouth. It was actually primarily caramel and candy, with a very small bit of frozen yogurt beneath it, but that was beside the point.

"I don't know. I think it is supposed to be a combination of a southern accent and a British accent. Maybe that is how they talk on this futuristic planet that people moved to after destroying Earth."

"Wow. They all have the same lame accent. If it weren't for the fact that there were black people, as well as other minorities, I'd say that this film had no diversity." She whispered back, trying to keep herself from giggling. "Shit, check out their digs. I could live there." She puckered her brow. "How come Will Smith doesn't have the lame accent?"

"I have no idea." He laughed, shaking his head. He glanced over at her, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "I wanna sleep in a hammock. Let's get a hammock and set it up in your living room." She chuckled so hard that she snorted, and people turned around to glare at them. "Sorry." She said, waving her hand at them. "Turn around. Go back to watching the movie."

They ate their frozen yogurt in silence. After about twenty minutes into the movie, she turned back to him. She reached up to stroke her cold fingers along his neck, making him squirm slightly in his seat. "It appears your self-control is wavering, Miss Mitchell." She shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm bored. This movie sucks, Jesse." She whispered, still stroking her fingers up and down his neck.

"It just started. Give it a few more minutes. They just crashed on Earth, Becs. The real action of the movie's gotta start soon." She sighed, returning to her frozen yogurt.

"So, he's going to send his kid out in the unknown by himself?" She whispered. "With only six vials of the air shit?"

"What I want to know is what happened to the giant pod thing." He whispered back. "Oh, thanks, Will. Yeah, let's pretend that it's free, because it probably is."

When the spider climbed on his hand, Beca gagged, squirming in her seat. Jesse chuckled, nudging her with his elbow. "Shut up. I don't like spiders. That was a big, hairy fucker."

"That was cute." He finished off his frozen yogurt and tucked it into the empty cup holder. He then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "I'll protect you from the spiders." She rolled her eyes, but leaned her forehead on his shoulder after setting aside her own empty yogurt cup.

"Damn. He got blood poisoning from that little slug that fast?" Her eyes widened. "Shit, look at his face." She started chuckling softly. "Jesse, this movie blows."

"Shhh. You know, I heard that this movie was a reference to raising a child in Hollywood?" He whispered to her. She bit his shoulder, making him grumble. "Sorry. I'll stop. No more fun facts."

"Thank you. I'm already about to stab myself with my plastic spoon; you don't want to push me over the edge, right?"

"Nope." Again, they sat in silence for a little while.

"Oh, my god! Look at all the baboons. That pod thing ate the baboons." She said, smacking his stomach with the back of her hand. He grunted, grabbing her hand and interlacing their fingers.

"Are you enjoying the movie?"

"No. It's totally awful. I'm just sad for the baboons."

"They tried to kill him, Becs."

"So? They were just hungry, and he threw that spear thing at the one, so he sounded the alarm. You don't ever fuck with a baboon in the wild when they have teeth like that fucker did. You only stab them when they make the first move." She rolled her eyes. After a few moments, she chuckled. "His voice cracked. Ha!"

"You're right. This movie sucks. Do you wanna bail?" He sighed, turning to look at her. She opened her mouth to say yes, but Jaden Smith's character jumped off the cliff at that moment.

"Shit. He just jumped off a cliff, Jesse. That's pretty badass. Finally, something cool happened. Oh, shit. That's a big ass eagle."

"Look at the baby eagles, Beca. They're cute. I want one. We should get a baby eagle."

"Stop! The lions killed the baby eagles!" She buried her face into his chest. "I don't like this movie, Jesse. They killed the baby eagles. There's a lot of animals getting killed in this movie."

"Becs, it's not real. They're all computer-generated animals."

"I don't care. It's heartbreaking. The poor things!" She pouted. He wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I hope he gets eaten by a big alligator." Jesse whispered to her after a little while. Beca rolled her eyes. She squeaked when they saw that the big eagle had pulled Jaden's character out of the freezing area to a hot spot but then died.

"The big eagle sacrificed itself for him. That's so sad." He whispered to her.

"I know! He tried to save the babies, but couldn't, so she returned the favor and died for it. That's so fucked up. This movie is horrible."

"Oh, shit. The thing was inside the pod, like it was a cage."

"I hope whatever the fuck was in the pod kills his ass." She told him. "This movie blows, so I feel like the ending needs to blow, too. Either that, or they're gonna come back to Earth and fuck it all up again. Humans suck asshole."

"That thing is so ugly."

"It looks like a penis with legs." He burst out laughing, burying his face into her neck.

"Shut up, assholes!" Someone called out, making the two of them laugh even harder.

"Oh, my god. I don't know how much longer I can take of this movie." She whispered.

"It's almost over." He whispered back.

When the credits started playing, Beca through her head back and groaned with joy. "That was the worst movie I've ever seen."

"Nope. Nothing's worse than Glitter, Becs." Jesse told her, stretching. "Let's go get some dinner. I'm so sorry that I took you to a shitty movie."

"The best part of it was the musical score." He grinned at her. "When do I get to hear something of yours?"

"You want to hear something I've written?"

"Well, yeah."

"I'd like to play something for you some time."

"Then, it's settled. You'll play something for me sometime. It's very vague, but it will happen. I insist. Now, I'm starved. Feed me." She told him. They stood up, gathering their trash and made their way out of theatre, tossing their trash as they went.

"So, can we talk about how awful that movie was," Beca said as they walked hand in hand to Jesse's car.

"Seriously, Shyamalan is usually brilliant, you know, in an unconventional way, but that was just…I don't even know what to say about it. It was literally just Will Smith and his son, and his son is not an actor. At all. Like, he was terrible. He was cute in The Pursuit of Happyness. I just…I'm so sorry." He laughed, shaking his head. "That was the worst movie to take you to, because it only solidified your hatred for them." She chewed on her bottom lip, squeezing his hand in hers.

"While the movie definitely sucked…really sucked…" She paused, feeling the beginning of a blush rise on her cheeks. She took a deep breath and then started over. "Even though the movie sucked, I think you're steadily chipping away at my hatred of movies. It's not the movies, necessarily, but mainly the experience with you. You make the whole thing…worthwhile." She felt so dorky and stupid for saying it. She kept walking, but he stopped. He yanked on her hand, pulling her back towards him.

"You mean it?" She swallowed and then nodded. He grinned, releasing her hand in order to wrap his arms around her waist. He pulled her into a hug, burying his face into her neck. She returned the hug, running her hands through his hair. He pulled back, pressing a light kiss to his lips. He studied her face, running his hands down her arms to interlace his fingers through hers. "Beca, I—"

"Jesse?" He glanced over his shoulder, and she saw his face change. He tensed his jaw, turning back to look at her. He blew out a breath, releasing one of her hands to turn around to face the woman who called his name.

"Hayley, hi." Beca furrowed her brow, looking from Jesse to the pretty redhead—Hayley—who he didn't seem too pleased to see.

"It's been awhile," the woman said, crossing her arms. She was dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a loose white sleeveless blouse. On her feet were a pair of those tan booties shoes, which Chloe would coo about had she been here. Her red hair was pulled into a loose side ponytail, and she barely wore any makeup. She was also tall—probably the same height as Jesse, but because the booties had three inch heels, she looked like a giant in comparison to Beca. She also looked kind of familiar, but Beca didn't know where she knew the girl from. "Who's your friend?" The woman turned her attention on Beca, raising an eyebrow as she took in the brunette's appearance.

Beca had worn her usual style—black jeans, a black tank top, and a plaid long-sleeved shirt, unbuttoned, over top, with a pair of black Chucks on her feet. Her wrists were lined with her bracelets. The only tattoo she had on display was the one on her forearm, but her ear piercings were proudly showing. Unlike Hayley, Beca wore a lot of makeup—most of it in the form of dark eyeliner and mascara. She hated being evaluated by this stranger, who obviously thought that she was superior to Beca in some way that the corners of her lips twitched. Hayley moved her gaze from Beca to Jesse once again.

"Beca, this is Hayley, my ex." He licked his bottom lip, squeezing her hand lightly in his. Beca swallowed. Well, shit. She's competing with this? How could she compare to this…goddess? What the hell was going through Jesse's mind when he went from this girl to her? "Hayley, this is Beca." She didn't know what she expected him to say after he said her name, but to hear him not say anything upset her worse than she thought was possible. She looked down at her feet, taking a deep breath as discreetly as she could, because Jesse, her whatever, and his ex were having a stare down at the moment, and she didn't want their attention back on her until she had regained her composure.

"Beca…and, she's your…?" Hayley trailed off, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"She's Beca." He turned to look at her then, smiling softly at her. "Just Beca." He repeated quietly.

"Right, well. I've gotta get going. I'll see you around, Jesse. It was nice meeting you, Just Beca." Hayley walked over to Jesse and pressed a kiss to his cheek before sauntering off.

"Well, that was…something." Beca said, rubbing the tip of her nose with the index finger on her free hand. She was pretty proud of herself for keeping it together during that awkward moment.

"Becs, about Hayley—" She shook her head. She didn't need to hear all the gory details about his and Hayley's relationship. All she needed to know was that they were no longer together, that she wasn't the other woman, and she'd be fine.

"I don't need to hear anything. I didn't start dating you with the impression that you've never been in a relationship before. I knew that there were exes. I didn't really know there was anyone here in LA, per say, but it makes sense, considering you've been living here for two years, I guess." She shook her head. "You know, she's kind of got an Ice Queen vibe. Do you have a thing for bitches, Swanson?" She joked. He rolled his eyes, giving her a tight smile. She could tell that he was uncomfortable still about what happened. "We should introduce your ex to Luke. She actually seems like his type." She cocked her head to the side. "Leggy, gorgeous, full of herself. She's him with a vagina and breasts."

"Well, now I feel self-conscious about you working with Luke." He groaned, pouting. "How gorgeous is he?"

"Stacie said she'd fuck him."

"Stacie's also said she'd fuck me, so that doesn't tell me much. Stacie would fuck most guys, actually."

"Wait, what? When?" She crossed her arm, staring at him. "Where the hell was I?" He grinned, and she smacked him. She hated that she was getting jealous over the idea of Jesse and Stacie hooking up.

"The day we met. She came over to the bar with Evan, and she purposely brushed against me when she was ordering drinks. I was too busy staring at you to give her the time of day, so she continued to try and flirt with me, even offered to fuck me, but I kept blowing her off and telling her that I wasn't interest. Finally, she told me that your name was Beca, and she was one of your best friends. She wanted to make sure that I was a good enough guy to have anything to do with you before she let me go talk to you. She said that you were a tough egg to crack, so she'd give me your number just in case you shot me down. So, I took your number, and then she handed me a drink and said that I should go talk to you. The rest is history, I guess."

"She really said she'd fuck you?"

"That's all you took away from that?"

"That's the most pressing part. What would have happened if you said yes? She can't say no to anyone, so you two probably would have wound up sleeping together. Dude, my friend hit on you. That's so not cool!"

"She wouldn't have slept with me, even if I had said yes. She was doing it to protect you—to make sure I wasn't just looking for some hookup." She tensed her jaw, kind of pissed at what Stacie had done. She knew that the brunette had already given her number to him before they met, but she didn't know that her so-called best friend tried to hook up with him first.

"Why didn't you go for Stacie? She seems like your type—leggy, gorgeous." She waved her hand at the space where Hayley had been not to long before.

"That's why I didn't go for her. She reminded me too much of Hayley and the life I was trying to distance myself from. I told you before that I dated women who were obsessed with image and being the center of attention, and I sort of got that vibe off of Stacie—she's way different from Hayley, but she still likes the attention she gets from men, which is why she wears what she wears and says what she says. I didn't need another one of them. You were different. You're gorgeous, too, but I liked the fact that you actually try to hide it underneath the surliness and the dark eye makeup. You try to push people away with the piercings and the tattoos and the attitude. Underneath all that, you're funny and sweet and interesting, if people took the time to see the real you. I wanted something different—something real, and I thought that I could find it with you."

"Jesse," Beca didn't know what to say in response to that. Instead, she reached up and gently pressed her lips to Jesse's for a moment.

"You remember our conversation from a few weeks back, right?" She frowned, biting her bottom lip. There were a lot of conversations over the course of a few weeks. He expected her to remember a specific one? "Really, Becs? Remember when we were talking about what I should call you if we ever got to the point that there was something serious between us?" She blushed, rubbing at the tip of her nose.

"Beca. I wanted to be Beca."

"Exactly. I introduced you to Hayley as just Beca. No label. Just Beca."

"So, you're asking me to be Beca…I hate to break it to you, nerd, but I already am Beca." He chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"God, you're annoying." He sighed. "Fine, in this moment, I'm going to use those annoying, gross labels that you hate so much. Beca Mitchell, will you be my girlfriend, my partner, my significant other, my lady friend, my woman friend, my lover." She grimaced when he said the word lover. She studied his face for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck and going up on her toes so that her nose brushed against his.

"No." She whispered. "Just Beca." She pressed her lips against his, and she felt him smile into the kiss. It was weird for her, because she never expected to be in a relationship, but it felt easy with him. He made it seem like it was possible. At the same time, she was scared out of her mind, because she was halfway through this dare, and she didn't know what was going to happen six weeks down the road. He had the power to hurt her—to break her heart—to destroy her completely. He scared the shit out of her, and she didn't know what to make of it. She broke the kiss, burying her face into his neck. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, making her shiver, even though it was a warm night in June.

Beca's phone started ringing in her back pocket, and she jumped. She laughed at herself as she pulled out of Jesse's arms and reached for it. She pulled the phone out to see that it was Chloe calling. "What's up?"

"Chloe's calling. She knows I'm out with you, and she's not usually the type to disturb a date, unlike Aubrey." She accepted the call and pressed the phone to her ear. "Chlo, what's up?"

"Beca, you need to get to Aubrey's house right now."

Author's Note: So a lot of stuff happened in this chapter, and it was only 2 days! Beca finally asked Jesse to be her date to the wedding; Jesse's ex made an appearance; Jesse and Beca are officially a couple/in a relationship. What do you all think is going on with Aubrey? Let me know in the review!