New year's eve,
Beca picked skinny black jeans and a loose fitting white t-shirt to wear to Chloe's party. "You got the address, right?" she asked in a loud enough voice for Jesse to hear her.
"Yeah," he replied from his room.
She wore her clothes then made her way to the en-suite bathroom to cast one final look at herself in the mirror.
After wearing her boots, she made her way out of her room then leaned against the doorway and watched Jesse step out of his room. She liked the gray cardigan he was wearing over his white t-shirt and loved the way his chinos pants fit him perfectly.
"Aren't you gonna button that up?" she asked, realizing she was staring at him.
"You think I should?" he glanced down at his cardigan then looked up at her to find her nodding. "Alright," he shrugged and started to button it as he walked.
"I'll see you there, I guess?" He looked up reaching her.
"Yeah," she nodded then did a double take before reaching to adjust his cardigan. "You look fancy," she rested her hands on his chest.
"Thanks," he smiled at her then felt her pat his chest a couple of times before turning on her heels and walked back into her room, remembering that she forgot her messenger bag.
Jesse couldn't help but check her out when she leaned over her bed and pick up the bag and walked away when she caught him staring at her butt.
She usually pretended she didn't feel him checking her out but sometimes she liked seeing him disorientated when she lets him know that she's aware of the fact that he's ogling at her.
Throwing her hair over her shoulders after she wore her bag, Beca made her way out of her room.
"What are you looking for?" she asked, watching Jesse look around in the living area.
"My car keys," he replied, checking the couch. She walked to the kitchen remembering that he sometimes threw his car keys near the take out menus and found them.
"Here, catch," she said, walking back to him.
"Oh, thanks," he turned to her but didn't catch the keys when she threw them his way. When he bent down to collect his keys, it was Beca's turn to check him out. She pretended to be looking at her phone when he stood up.
"Luke's shift should be over in like half an hour, I should get going," she informed him.
"Okay, see ya," he held his keys tightly then watched her make her way out of the apartment.
"Hey, you," She greeted after rolling the window down when she found Luke sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for her. He got up and walked to her, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Traffic is crazy," she watched him take a seat next to her.
"It's alright," he threw his white coat in the back seat then fastened his seatbelt.
"I'm gonna make a stop to get some beer," she informed him as she leaned over to peck his lips.
"Don't you think champagne or wine would be more appropriate? It is a housewarming party after all," Luke watched her focus her attention on the road.
"Beer is more essential." She glanced at him to find him looking at her with a weird look on his face.
"Really?" he said slowly in disbelief.
"We'll get champagne, stop looking at me like that," she said in amusement then reached for the radio and turned it on and started to hum along to the song playing on the radio.
"Wow," Luke breathed looking around the apartment as they walked in.
"Chlo knows her shit," Beca looked around for her favorite redhead.
The party was the furthest thing from being boring.
"Are those burgers," Luke asked rhetorically as he pointed at a table full of snacks. "I'm gonna," he gestured with his hands at it as he looked at Beca and she just nodded.
"Beca!" Chloe called, beaming at her friend. "What took you so long?" she asked, reaching her.
"Traffic," Beca handed her the beer pack. "There's a wine bottle too, Luke's holding it,"
"Where is your hot not boyfriend?" Chloe looked around.
"Over there, by the snacks," Beca nodded at him then smiled watching him ravenously devour a burger.
"He's really hot," Chloe remarked.
"Yep," Beca agreed. "Did Jesse make it yet?" Beca looked around for Jesse.
"Nope." Chloe started to make her way to the refreshment table and Beca fell into step with her.
"Did you talk to him?"
Beca shook her head.
"Beca." Chloe sighed.
"I just couldn't… I don't even know what to say." She shrugged.
"Um, how about the truth?" Chloe suggested.
"I just need some time to figure things out on my own first,"
She knew she was making up excuses because she didn't want to deal with what her actions meant.
"You told him to bring someone if he wanted, right?" Chloe asked after a beat.
"Yeah," Beca nodded. She'd be lying if she denied that she was extremely curious to see if he'd bring a girl.
She locked eyes with Luke who was on his second burger and couldn't help but grin and how into it he was. He had just finished a 12 hours shift and didn't get time to eat so she decided not to make a snarky comment. He swallowed then made his way to her and Chloe and extended his hand towards Chloe after putting the wine bottle on the table.
"Hi, I'm Luke. Your apartment is lovely." He shook her hand.
"Thank you," Chloe smiled at him.
"We just got here, and already I'm glad I came. You know how to organize a great party," he complimented,
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself… Excuse me," Chloe excused herself to get the door.
"This burger is so delicious," Luke said before taking a bite, "You should try it." He held it Beca's way so that she could bite. Beca took a small bite then shrugged, "It's alright,"
"No, it's great," he took another bite.
"It's…" Beca trailed off, hearing a familiar voice, she looked at the front door, "fuck," she murmured seeing Crispin at the door.
"What's the matter?" Luke asked, eyeing Beca.
"Um, see that guy wearing sight glasses that just walked in?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"That's my ex-boyfriend."
"Oh," he watched her pull her phone. "Okay?"
"Um, the thing is he thinks that Jesse and I are dating," she started to say.
"Who doesn't," he deadpanned and Beca glanced up from her phone for a second.
"We led him to believe that we're a thing," she started to type a text, "I won't bore you with the details," she shrugged, texting Jesse: 'Cris just showed up. We broke up, okay?'
Seconds later, her phone chimed with a reply from Jesse: 'I'm parking and I saw his car. And, yeah, we broke up.'
"I don't mind hearing the details." Luke reached for a beer bottle and opened it with his bare hand as he held the burger with his other hand.
"Later," she said, seeing Crispin walk her way.
"Beca," Crispin called.
"Cris," she smiled tightly, eyeing him and looking around then realizing that his wife didn't tag along. "What are you doing here?" she asked him. Chloe barely tolerated him so the chances of her inviting him were quite slim.
"I invited him," Bumper said as he made his way to them. "Red gave me the green light to invite my friends, remember?" He reminded Beca noticing the scowl on her face.
"Yeah," she nodded then turned to Cris, "Where's Emilia?" she pretended to look around for her.
"She's not in town. Where's your boyfriend?"
"We broke up. And he should be here any second now."
"What are you-" Bumper started to ask then stopped himself when Beca gestured with her hand for him to knock it off after making sure Crispin wasn't paying much attention to her and was eyeing Luke. "Hey, Bump can I have a word with you?" Beca asked and didn't wait for an answer, she dragged Bumper with her as she walked.
"Why did Crispin call Jesse your boyfriend?" Bumper asked when they were away
"We sorta lied to him because he was enjoying the fact that I was moping around over him a bit too much… Why am I telling you this?" she said the last bit more to herself.
"I don't know but keep going I'm interested," he took a sip from his drink.
"Why the fuck did you invite your pal?" she asked in a calm voice.
"I thought I'd be fun to watch him and your boyfriends socialize." He snorted. "Why are you worried so much about them being in the same room?"
Bumper didn't get an answer, he instead watched Beca groan before turning on her heels to walk away. "Wonder if Chloe has popcorn," he murmured to himself.
"Hey, Luke, you should come meet the rest of my friends," Beca said as she reached for Luke's arm, pulling him with her and away from Crispin.
"Sure," he let her guide him.
"I went with these highly sophisticated ladies to college," she informed him as they reached Amy and Stacie who were chatting.
"Pleasure meeting you, ladies," Luke looked between them.
"Well done Mitchell," Stacie tilted her head to check Luke's ass before she looked at Beca, "Well done."
"You went from that to this." Stacie nodded between Crispin and Luke.
"Enough objectifying my date, please."
"I don't mind," Luke shrugged.
Beca shook her head then glanced at the front door and smiled seeing Jesse walked in, relieved he didn't bring a girl instead he brought Donald along.
An hour later,
Jesse was peacefully sipping a beer while leaning against a wall and watching Beca laugh about something Amy said to her. Donald had to use the bathroom and left him by himself. He socialized for a while but felt like taking a quick break from talking to old and new acquaintances.
"She has a great rack, huh?"
"Yeah," Jesse nodded then blinked, "Wait, what?" he tilted his head to the voice beside him to find Crispin by his side.
"What, what?" Crispin said in confusion. "Beca's best assets are her boobs," he shrugged.
"Please stop talking about Beca like she's some sort of an object." Jesse managed to sound menacing while still talking in a normal voice and not strangling Crispin like he wanted.
"Alright," he laughed, "I get it, you still love her." He sighed. "Blondie over there is one lucky fella… why did you break up?"
"I'd rather not talk about my personal life with someone I hardly know," Jesse took a sip from his beer.
"Understandable," Crispin nodded, "Looks like you're not the only one who's still hung up, though,"
"What do you mean?" Jesse glanced at him.
"You're not the only one who was been creeping on her for the evening. She's been watching you and whenever you talk to a girl she'd start a conversation to distract herself." Crispin spoke casually.
"That doesn't mean anything," Jesse shrugged, trying not to get his hopes up.
"Trust me, it does. I know her. She did it at my wedding with you." He sighed. "If you don't believe me, try flirting with one of her friends and you'll see for yourself." Crispin shrugged.
"Why are you doing this?" Jesse asked him and watched as Crispin took off his glasses and cleaned them, "Because she deserves to be happy and you make her happy." He wore his glasses back.
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, Bec's with Luke,"
Crispin chuckled at his words then sighed, "Dude, she loves you and likes him. Don't wait too long, you'll miss your shot." He patted his shoulder then walked away.
"What did I miss?" Donald asked, watching Crispin walk away and Jesse thoughtfully look at Beca.
"Not a lot," Jesse turned to him then walked to where Stacie was standing, by the snacks table.
"Not a lot of healthy food, huh?" Jesse said, reaching her.
"Nope," Stacie shook her head then picked up a burger and a mini calzone.
"Hungry much," he chuckled.
"Oh, this one is for Luke," she shook the burger.
He nodded and followed her.
Reaching where Luke, Beca, Amy, and Bumper were standing Jesse nodded at Beca when they locked eyes.
"You should probably lay off the burgers, Luke," Jesse turned to Luke. "This is, like, your third this evening," he watched him take the burger from Stacie.
Luke pulled his t-shirt revealing his six packs, "I think I'm good "
"He's good," Beca agreed as she eyed his abs then looked up at him when he let go of his t-shirt, "You're good." She said to Luke and he winked at her.
"So, Stacie, you're staying in town for long?" Jesse asked Stacie.
"I'm here for work. A convention. It took place earlier this week but I stuck around when Chloe asked," she informed him. "I'm gonna go get another drink," She looked at everyone to see if they wanted something then at Jesse and nodded at him.
"Wanna get me drunk to take advantage of me," he shamelessly flirted, taking Crispin's advice.
His words made Stacie chuckle. "Busted," she nodded.
"Beer would do," he smiled at her.
Jesse spent next half an hour flirting with Stacie in front of Beca. She didn't say anything for a while then excused herself to the bathroom, stopping by the refreshments table on her way.
Stacie, on the other hand, wasn't stupid, she figured it out. She noticed how Jesse kept glancing at Beca and played along to see where Jesse wanted to go with what he was doing.
"Hey Bec," Jesse smiled at her, watching her walk to him. Reaching him, she pulled him out of the group and walked him with her.
"I want you," she hiccupped, letting go of his arm, "to stop flirting with Stacie" she poked his chest.
"Bec, are you drunk?" he eyed her.
"It doesn't matter," she brought the champagne bottle to her mouth.
"Why do you want me to stop flirting with her?" he asked.
"I just do," she shrugged, "Do I need a reason?"
"Yes, you do," his heart was racing with happiness because Crispin was right and that moment he wanted to go find him and hug him. She was jealous.
"Fuck—fine… never mind," she turned on her heels and walked straight to Luke pulling him out of the group and taking him to a couch where she didn't give him a chance to react before she shoved her tongue down his throat.
"You're really drunk," Luke mumbled then cupped her face and pulled away.
"Let's get out of here," she got off of him. She reached for his hand and pulled him to her. He sighed and got up.
Watching Luke help Beca walk to the front door, Jesse chuckled humorlessly.
"What's so funny?" Donald asked.
"I just remembered something," he sighed. Beca did the exact same thing she did at Crispin's wedding. Only this time, it was Luke distracting her and not him.
Luke drove them to his place. He lived alone. Walking inside the apartment, he picked Beca up and helped her wrap her legs around his waist. He made his way to his bedroom and laid her on the bed then stepped back to kick off his shoes and take off his t-shirt while she took off her t-shirt then climbed on top of her and started to place kiss until he reached a pulse point on her neck. Hearing her moan, he started to massage her breasts as well. "Yes," she pulled him closer to her, grabbing his butt, "Jesse," she breathed out softly.
"What?" Luke looked up from her neck,
"What?" she rested her weight on her elbows.
"You just called your roommate," he got off the bed and turned the lights on. Luke watched her bury her face in her hands as she sat Indian style and groaned.
She looked up and reached for her t-shirt and wore it back then hopped off the bed. "I'm sorry," she apologized and started to make her way out of his bedroom.
"Where are you going?" he asked as he followed her.
"Where are my keys?" she asked.
"I'm not letting you drive under the influence,"
"Dude, just let me get the fuck out of here," she lost coordination for a second.
"No. You're staying. And after you sober up we need to talk." Luke started to make his way to the kitchen.
He couldn't find any food so he decided to make her something. After getting it ready, he made his way to where he left her, in the living area to find her asleep on the couch. Luke sighed and took the tray back to the kitchen then took Beca to his bed, stripping her to her underwear, then laid next to her.
The next morning,
Beca woke up because of her throbbing headache. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair then look to her right to see Luke asleep next to her. She rubbed her temples thinking of the events of the night before and exhaled loudly.
She carefully got off of the bed and wore her clothes then started looking for her keys.
"Damn it," she said in a low voice.
"They're here," She heard Luke say, he removed the duvet and patted his pocket.
"I'm sorry about last night," she apologized, watching him sit up.
"You have some explaining to do," he rubbed his eyes then stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled her car keys. "But I'm not gonna make you stay if you don't want to," he threw the keys for her to catch.
"What do you want me to explain," she carefully made her way to him and took a seat.
"Why don't you start with why did you call Jesse?" he suggested.
"I don't know," she rested her elbows on her thighs. "I think my feelings for him aren't of platonic nature,"
"Jesus, Beca, just say the words. You love him."
"I'm sorry, Luke, I really am. You're really good to me and—"
"—you don't owe me anything, we're not exclusive," he cut her off, "No hard feelings," he watched her as she played with her keys only looking up when he spoke.
"You're not mad?" she asked.
"I'm a little hurt but no I'm not mad. We can't pick who we fall in love with," Luke sighed. "I should get you something for your hangover," he got up.
Beca got up and followed him out of the bedroom, "Thank you,"
"How bad is your headache?" he asked.
"Pretty bad," she answered.
"This should help," he handed her a pill container.
She took a pill and closed the container, "So, do you think we can stay friends or do you want me smoothly disappear from your life for good?" Beca followed him to the kitchen.
"I like you Beca and I think you're a very smart person, you can keep a conversation interesting. Of course, I want to have you as a friend."
"Cool," she placed the pill container on the counter.
"And, as a friend I think you should go confess to your roommate how you truly feel about him," he rested his hands on the counter.
"What if he doesn't feel the same? Then I'd make an idiot out of myself and can't avoid him because we live together,"
"You know what they say, you gotta risk it to get the biscuit,"
"Shut up," she rolled her eyes.
"You know that's how it is," he smiled at her, "Do you want to have breakfast here before you go?"
"Yeah," she nodded, "As long as I can make it with you,"
"Okay," he agreed and turned on his heels.
"And, Luke," she called.
"Yeah?" he opened the fridge.
"Happy new year,"
"To you, too," he replied.
AN: I've figured out how I wanna end it. I don't know if the next chapter would be the last chapter or not but it's ending soon.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this chapter