Jesse took a sip from his coffee while the journalist facing him made some notes. The journalist had been interviewing him for over half an hour for the Indiewire magazine, and so far, he thought he was doing great.
"Let's talk about your breakout work," she paused. He nodded for her to keep going.
"When I was doing my homework about you, I noticed that you've never mentioned the story behind its enigmatic title," she said as she glanced down at her clipboard. "So, what's the story behind B0917?"
Jesse leaned back against his seat and brought the cup of coffee to his lips, giving himself time to think, and as he did, he found himself thinking back a certain day…
A year and nine months earlier.
Jesse was standing in the middle of the street watching the moving truck, as it kept getting further away, and only moved when an angry car driver honked his car while yelling at him to get on the sidewalk.
He took a look around him and saw a bunch of kids doing tricks with their skateboards. He instantly had an idea.
"Hey," he called as he stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled the 100 bucks he had. "Who wants to sell their skateboard?" he waved the bill.
Seconds later, Jesse was skateboarding, following the road Beca took.
You can't think of New York traffic and not cringe. It was horrible and it worked to Jesse's advantage.
It wasn't long until he started to catch up but the fact that he pulled so much effort in mere minutes he began to slow down; He hadn't done any kind of sports in more than a year. He was very out of shape. It soon started to become difficult to stake.
At the same time.
Beca was driving the moving truck while listening to Chloe's one-sided conversation with her husband for the nth time since she landed in NYC. She and the rest of the Bellas have all came back to New York to finish recording their album.
"BabeIhavetogonowbye," Chloe ended their conversation all of the sudden, dry heaving into her hand.
Beca pulled over as soon as she could, turned off the truck's engine and hopped off following her friend who ran to a trash can.
She rubbed Chloe's back as she continued to dry heave into a trashcan, feeling terrible for her friend.
"You okay?" Beca asked when Chloe went quiet. Chloe nodded. "Need a few minutes until the nausea calms its tits?"
Chloe nodded again and straightened up, sucking a deep breath.
"Everything okay?" Matt asked after he finally found a spot to park.
"Pregnancy side effects," Beca told him. "Isn't the nausea supposed to ease up a little after the first trimester?" Beca asked in confusion.
"Not everyone experiences the same pregnancy symptoms," Chloe answered her.
"Well, that's unfortunate." Beca rubbed Chloe's back.
The pregnancy was still news to Beca. Chloe had kept away from her and everyone until she passed the first trimester. Her anemia wasn't a threat per se but its complications were. So, they kept it under wraps. Chloe told Beca and the rest of the Bellas about her pregnancy when they got together in Beca's apartment the day they all arrived to NYC.
Beca looked behind Mae's car when she parked and frowned in confusion seeing Jesse get off of a skateboard less than 20 yards away from them.
She stopped rubbing Chloe's back then started making her way to him.
"Jesse?" she stuffed the truck key in her pocket meeting him half way through.
"Hi," he breathed out, wiping his sweating brow.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
He pulled the folder he had managed to tug into his jeans' back pocket, "I finished it for you," he told her.
Beca took the folder, which was, literally, folded, and unfolded it. Her eyes fell on the title and instantly recognized it as the title of a piece that he didn't want to sell.
"Oh." Was all that came out of her mouth.
"I recorded it with a virtual keyboard," he said as he stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled the flash drive. "In case you wanna listen to it on the truck," he shrugged, presuming the truck had a USB port.
She took it from him and started to look through the sheets. He wanted to hug her goodbye but didn't know how she'd feel about it. There were a few times when her hand would accidentally brush over his during their meet ups but they haven't purposely touched since she help him with his nose.
She looked up feeling his gaze so he blinked.
"Thanks," she smiled at him; he could tell that she was confused as fuck.
"Good seeing you," he placed his foot on the skateboard and was about to turn around and take off.
"Wait," she called. He stepped off of the skateboard and watched her run her fingers through her hair.
"Um, how did the driving thing go?" she awkwardly asked.
"Working on it," he answered.
"Show me?" she hopefully asked pulling the key from her pocket.
He looked doubtful after glancing at crowd (Read: her friends.) that was watching them. "I don't wanna intrude," he looked back at her.
"I know," she held the key his way. He took it.
"Wanna try it?" he asked, seeing that she was eyeing the skateboard.
"Yes," she looked up. He chuckled when she carefully stepped on it and realized that she had never done it before.
"You good?" he asked.
"Yeah," she nodded. As she carefully skated and he walked right next to her, ready to catch her if she slipped, Beca reached for his arm and held on to it. Her gesture made him feel a rush of different emotions that he had to hide from the crowd that awaited them.
Stepping off of the skateboard, Beca removed her hand from his arm.
"Hi," Jesse said to no one in particular.
"Red, you okay?" Beca asked to break the awkward silence.
"The truck is uncomfortable, Bec, I think I'm gonna ride with Matt," Chloe told Beca who looked slightly better. The truck could seat 3 people but it was obvious to the redhead that Beca wanted to be alone with Jesse.
Shortly after that they were all back on the road.
Jesse drummed his fingers on the wheel. He was following the GPS and was wondering where it was leading him.
"Where did you get the skateboard from?" Beca asked.
"I bought it from a kid," he replied. Driving was still hard for him and he was trying to calm his nerves, which made his replies curt and made him anxious that it would lead Beca to think that he didn't want to talk to her.
"For the hundred bucks I had on me. Now, I'm broke," he elaborated.
"You're a shitty negotiate-r."
She plugged the flash drive and loaded the recorded file and Jesse's anxiety leveled up. If he were a Pokémon he would have evolved three times by now.
Jesse stole glances and hated the fact that Beca was so good at masking her emotions when she wanted to. He couldn't read anything. She had a blank look on her face. He caught a frown at the ending of the piece and it worried him.
"This is…," she trailed off, lost at words. "This is so beautiful, Jesse," she told him.
"Glad to know you like your farewell gift," he smiled, relaxing a little.
"My what?" she asked in confusion.
"Farewell gift?" he glanced at her, frowning at the look on her face. "You know, since you're moving back to L.A.," he shrugged; proud his voice didn't betray him.
"I'm not moving back to L.A.," she told him. Jesse hit the brakes and cued for a symphony of honks from other drivers.
"What do you mean you're not moving to L.A.?" he asked.
"Jesse either drive or park." She looked out of the window for a second.
"Sorry," he shook his head and resumed driving then parked.
"Why aren't you moving? You have a job there waiting for you. Your friends are there. You don't like New York."
"Can I talk or are you gonna keep listing things?" she interrupted.
"Sorry, go ahead," he gestured for her to talk.
"I had a talk with my parents when they came to visit," she started to say.
"When did you parents come?" he asked. "Sorry," he apologized when she pursed her lips together.
"Like a week after we broke up, dad called and weirdly asked if he could come over. Sheila had a work thing in Vegas. Anyway, I told mom and since she lives like 5 hours away; she made time and came too. It was really weird spending time with the both of them," she grimaced, "But in a good way," she quickly added.
"They knew something was up," she said and saw how guilt washed over Jesse. "I told them that I'm indecisive about the whole L.A. New York situation to get them off my back, and got some grade A advice," she said sounding impressed by her parents. "They both made great points. Mom told me that since I brought this branch back to life, or something," she rolled her eyes, "it would make the fact that I, the producer with zero experience, managed to do that forever remembered. And that it's an opportunity that I shouldn't waste." Jesse nodded agreeing with Beca's mother.
"And, dad told me that I'm what the branch needed to push the people in it to work; saying something about how they got someone serious to lead and guide and that I had a knack for leadership," she rolled her eyes again.
(Her dad was overselling her in her opinion.)
"I have a feeling that they both want me to say here cause it's closer to them but what they said made sense," she shrugged.
"My bosses couldn't believe I did what I did and offered me a raise if I stayed here; because it would cost less money to have me here than it would if they went on with their plan and fired everyone then started from scratch. Mom mentioned something about how I could become a partner at some point if I do it right—that needs a lot of work on my part. And, I am enough of a dick to boss people around and make them listen to me," she paused, getting distracted by his very focused eyes. "So, I decided to stay here."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"You never asked," she replied in a low voice, sounding hurt.
Jesse frowned. "I didn't know I had to ask," he said. "And you stopped talking to me so I figured I'd take a hint and leave you alone," he defensively added, not understanding her reaction.
She always told him that he had a problem accepting that he can't always have it his way; he thought he was doing a good job at fixing that flaw by leaving her alone.
"You didn't need me anymore," she shrugged.
Her words confused him.
"I told you I wouldn't go anywhere until you're better and I kept my word." She poked his shoulder. It was the second time she touched him without any hesitation and it took Jesse off guard for a spit second.
"You could have said something. Beca, you stopped showing up without giving me an explanation."
"And you told me "not to bother"," she said using air quotation.
"I thought you-you were skipping because it was hard for you to be in the same place as me," he explained.
"You could have asked instead," she said as she glared at him then shook her head and looked away from him.
Jesse watched her as she crossed her arms, leaning against the seat. He started the engine and resumed driving.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, sighing. "I should have asked," he nodded, admitting he was wrong and agreeing with her.
"I didn't elaborate on why I stopped talking to you because I've been seeing your therapist," she paused when he glanced at her.
"Great, you started going to a therapist because of what I did to you," he nodded, clenching his jaw.
"No, I went to her initially to ask about you," she sighed. "I knew that I wouldn't any answer because of the confidentiality thing but I had to try because you wouldn't stop looking at me and not feel bad, which by the way is another reason why I didn't explain myself. I felt like I'm pulling you back from getting better and had to hear from your shrink that I wasn't doing that to you."
His expression softened a little as he nodded to what she said.
"We started talking and of course I got no answer," she paused. "Then she asked me if I wanted to schedule next time or should she expect me to show up again without an appointment. I figured then that seeing a shrink would be great. I could vent and she'd listen and shut up because I'm paying her, you know?"
"That's now how therapy works, Bec," Jesse said in amusement.
"I realized that, too," she nodded. "It was weird to tell her my darkest thoughts but it felt amazing," she looked at him.
"Yeah, it does," he agreed, relating. "I still don't get why seeing my therapist—our therapist— made you just bail on our friendship like you did."
"I wanted to get my shit together, too," she honestly told him. "We both got issues. We can't work together if we don't deal with our own demons."
Jesse didn't hide his surprise when she referred to the both of them as a we. He, of course, knew the pronoun we but he hoped she meant we as them in a relationship.
"You make a good point," he agreed, nodding slowly and deciding not to push it.
"Thank you," she thanked him and leaned against her seat.
"Mae told me you're doing okay, are you?" she asked.
"You and Mae talk about me?" he asked in surprise, tilting his head to look at her.
She rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. She's our only mutual friend."
He grinned at her then looked back at the road.
"Dr. Martins says I'm doing all right," he shrugged.
"And do you believe her?" she asked.
He nodded. "I don't have night terrors anymore." He just had agonizingly cheesy dreams about Beca. "Sammy tripped and scraped her knee and I didn't feel like the bad guy when I took her to Sandra, even though her fall could have been avoided if I took better care of her."
"You're driving," she smiled at him. She saw how anxious he was when he first sat behind the wheel and he seemed more at ease now.
"Yep, that too," he glanced at her. "What about you, have you managed to fix whatever it is you have?" he asked.
"It's a work in progress," she sighed. He understood that she still had a long journey to finish on her own.
"So, where are we going?" he asked, changing the subject. They have been in Manhattan for a while and he didn't recognize the area, the GPS said that the next turn would lead them to their destination.
"My new apartment," she told him as she looked out of the window and at the tall buildings that blocked everything.
He took the turn.
"My shoe sized apartment is seriously too small for all my stuff, that more than half of is stored in a self-storage unit. Since I'm not planning on leaving New York I decided to get a better apartment."
"Did your bosses double your salary?" Jesse asked as he eyed the apartment complex after pulling over.
"I could afford this apartment with my pre-raise salary," she shrugged.
"Why did you willingly stay in your less than luxurious apartment then?" he asked.
She sighed then decided to answer him honestly, as she had been ever since they got inside the truck. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings," she uneasily said. "I know you would never resent me for making more money than you but it didn't mean it wouldn't bother you."
Beca was so caring and thoughtful Jesse didn't know what to say. He settled for simply smiling at her then turn off the engine. "Looks like your friends made it before us," he nodded at the parked cars and the moving truck that looked just like the one he and Beca were riding.
"Here you go," Jesse handed Beca the key once they were on the ground and facing each other.
He turned to the truck and unlocked the door then grabbed his skateboard.
"You gonna head back back to Brooklyn?" she asked, stuffing her hands in her back pockets.
"Yep." He turn around and put the skateboard down.
"You told me you're broke," she reminded him. "Are you gonna skate your way back?"
"I have a metro card." He stepped on it, moving it back and forth.
"Can I bribe you with pizza to stay and help?" she hesitantly asked.
"I don't think you need me, Bec," he told her.
She got the double meaning of his words and nodded. True, her friends were more than enough. But, he meant that she didn't actually need him anymore.
She was caring, thoughtful, and supportive; the least he could do is let heal on her own and not mess things up for her with the feelings he had for her.
"But we are best friends and I can't say no," he added, playfully running his hand over her face then pushing her away before remembering that his touch scared her.
This realization made him swallow and step away from her. She didn't run for her life like he prepared himself; instead, she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly for less than he would have liked. If it were to him, he wouldn't break the huge until a full minute went by and it got super awkward.
Not to say that he was complaining.
He wasn't.
He was actually over the moon.
"Thanks," she quietly said after pulling away, slightly embarrassed by tightness of her hug.
She had been working on getting over her fear and the tighter she hugged him the more she was reassured that she at least got one thing fixed.
"C'mon weirdo, let's get started," Jesse glanced up at the sky, "I think there's a storm coming," he said noting the clouds.
"No, that's just New York sky," she waved it off dryly, and started making her way to unlock the truck so that they could start unloading it.
"You know, you need to start trying to tolerate the city," Jesse said as he followed her with a smile on his face, happy with the way things turned out. "You can't punch a city when it does you wrong," he added.
"You heard?" she glanced at him.
"Mae told me," he paused. "I want details. Did you knock out any of his teeth?" he asked.
"No." She shook her head and watched him climb onto the truck. "I didn't knock any of Nick's teeth out."
"Well, at least you did punch him and that is great." He handed her a box.
"What's great is that I won't get sued for it," she said over her shoulders as she started to make her way into the complex.
They started out as friends. They can go back to actually being friends because they loved each other so much they were able to put each first.
If Jesse tried explaining it better to anyone it wouldn't make sense. However, it did to him…
Present.
"If I tell you I might have to kill you," Jesse said in response to the journalist's question who smiled understanding that it was private.
The questions continued and he found a way to balance between honest replies and humors things to say in order to avoid actually answering when he really didn't want to share.
"Thank you for your time," the journalist said once their time was up.
"Thank you for having me," he genuinely smiled at her.
"Shall we get the bill?" she asked.
"No, I think I'm gonna stay for longer," he paused. "Thank you for picking this place," he continued in appreciation.
He really liked the dim lit coffee shop that screamed the word INDIE.
He ordered a tea after the journalist left and leaned against his chair, looking at the rain outside as he started to get lost in the folk tune that played in the background.
"I thought she wasn't going to leave."
"Shit, you startled me," Jesse sat up, watching Beca sit where the journalist was sitting. "How long have you been lurking in the dark?" he arched an eyebrow.
"A while," she vaguely answered as she shrugged.
"Oh, I can't handle you stalking me, Bec."
She rolled her eyes.
"Congrats on the Grammy nod, I read the announcement online earlier," he smiled at her.
"Thanks, hot shot."
"How does it feel to be nominated two years in a row for Producer of The Year?" he asked.
"Pretty odd and unbelievable," she said.
"Well, you worked your ass off for what you have accomplished. I mean because of you Mae got the Best New Artist Award last year and my freaking piece was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition."
"Whoa, there," she paused. "Mae I get it. But I really did nothing for your nomination. You made both short and score."
"I wrote the B0917 piece for you and you were the one who insisted it was really good and needs to be heard by everyone. You gave the idea of writing down a short silent film. So, my notoriously humble lady friend, you did do a lot." He gave her a cheeky grin when she rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She put her hands up in defeat.
"Thank you." He brought the tea to his lips and took a sip.
"Hey, wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be on a plane to L.A.?" he asked.
"Weather delay, there's a storm and there won't be any flights until tomorrow," she said in annoyance.
"That sucks, ugh."
"Tell me about it. And, Chloe's kid is guilt tripping me."
"Oh yeah?"
"Look," Beca pulled her phone from her pocket then showed him a picture of her, year and a half old little, niece pouting. The picture was in a text from Chloe.
"Read what the caption says," Beca told him.
'Grace's face when I told her that her grumpy aunt is stuck in New York.'
Jesse chuckled and eyed the picture some more.
"We were supposed to go shop for Christmas." Beca took her phone once he handed it to her. "I was really looking forward to it."
"Which part? Seeing Grace or shopping for cute toddler Christmas clothes?" he asked, resting his elbow on the table then cheek on his palm.
"Both," she huffed, still clearly annoyed. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked once she caught him grinning at her.
"I think someone caught the baby fever," he told her.
"Who, me?" she scoffed. He nodded. "You're wrong. I just miss that little one. She's adorable, Jesse," she pouted a little thinking of the little kid.
"I know how adorable she is. You make sure to remind me all the time."
"And baby clothes are cute," she shrugged.
"They are," he agreed. "Bummer Sammy won't stop growing." He sighed. Sam was a month away from turning four and she's growing up too fast for Jesse's liking.
"You could still trick Sam into wearing silly toddler clothes," Beca shrugged again.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Do me a favor and buy her silly holiday clothes when do get to shop with Chloe."
"You don't have to tell me," she said as she reached for his tea. As she drank the warm liquid, Jesse glanced out of the window. "Bec, looks like it slowed down, let head out before the weather goes ape shit crazy again," he told her.
"Okay," she nodded, finishing the tea. Jesse quickly paid the bill and they were walking down the street to where Beca parked the car, that everyone insisted she needed.
"Jesse, look," Beca stopped by a store selling baby clothes. "This would totally look adorable on Grace," she pointed at a dress.
"Beca, just say the words and we'll make a baby," he told her while keeping a straight face as he talked.
"Ew, no," she pushed him away and continued to pace to her car.
"You totally want one." He caught up with her and slipped his arm in hers.
"Jesse, I just love my niece. Why does it have to mean that I want one? I like her because I see occasionally don't actually have to deal with the important parenting stuff. I don't want one of my own so if you would be a kind and drop this please; it's not even funny and it will give my parents a new thing they can gang up on me on."
"Beca, your parents insisted you bought a car. You are putting cars and babies in the same category and I'm officially concerned."
Beca groaned because she knew what was coming next.
"Beca, our relationship is very important to me and I really think that talking about everything in details helps a lot." He was using his Zen master voice on her that was a cross between Mathew McConaughey and Owen Wilson if they were high on morphine.
"I'm gonna kill you if you don't stop doing this weird voice," she looked up.
"We're supposed to complete each other; by killing me you're killing a half you. The better half of you, I might add," he continued in the same Zen master voice.
Jesse couldn't see her face but he was sure she rolled her eyes. He picked up his pace and sped her up with him because the rain started to get heavier.
"I hate rain," Jesse mumbled, getting inside the car.
"Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love; this is an old rule," Beca sniffed, imitating the way he talked when he did the Zen master voice.
"Where did that come from?" he asked both in surprise and in mock-shock.
"I actually quoted Buddha. Take that, Zen master with the annoying voice," she said to Jesse and fastened her seat belt.
Jesse leaned over and kissed her when she looked up. "I find it endearing that you actually memorized quotes to beat Zen master with the soothing voice," he said the last two words in the voice, "at his own game."
"Yeah, well, Zen bitch needs to stop because he's annoying as fuck."
He chuckled because the only reason he did the voice was to annoy her.
"Bec, you know what day it is today?" he asked.
She nodded. "The 17th."
He buckled his seat belt then smiled at her. "We've officially been dating for three months. We need to celebrate."
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."
"Beca, this is huge!"
"I'm not in middle school; I won't take part in what you'll eventually want us to do," she said as she started the car.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he denied.
She sighed. "Play dumb all you want Jesse but I will only celebrate our actual anniversary which is an annual kind of thing. No monthly celebration." She smiled hearing him groan. "Besides, I already have a monthly celebration," she glanced at him.
"What's that?"
"Getting my period," she answered.
Beca was happy they haven't broken up ever since they were literally shoved into each other's face in a party because no one could take their "we're friends now" excuse anymore.
Of course, no one actually knew why they had taken a step back and decided to be friends instead. They talked and eventually agreed to try again but take it slow.
"Beca Mitchell, I hereby promise that I will make you celebrate all national holidays for the entirety of next year for depriving me, your ravishing boyfriend, from celebrating our relationship."
She shrugged in response. She knew for a fact that it wouldn't happen. Her schedule wouldn't allow it and neither would his.
"Good luck with that," she finally said then grinned at the annoyed look on his face.
He couldn't stay annoyed for long because he was singing along to the song in the radio, entertaining Beca despite what she claimed.
THE FUCKING END.
AN: Thank you all for reading. I hope you liked the story. This was fun and sometimes hard because I don't do drama well but I thoroughly had fun with it. I'd very much like to hear your thoughts on the ending. Big thanks to all of you for you for engaging. I'd hug you all even if you're not into hugs with strangers.
Update: Those who are interested in a continuation for this story, do tell, 'cause I have a premise that I'd very much would love to write into a story.
Update 2: Yo, I started a sequel for this story, it's called Carried Away. Dig up it up if you're interested.