A/N: Thank you all for the continued support! I really can't thank you enough. It really means a lot. Some of your reviews really make me re-evaluate my thoughts on certain scenes and how I am going to go about expressing different aspects. As always, feel free to leave comments, thoughts and questions. I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

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Chapter 4

Beca did not have a lot of time to analyze her new, but yet very familiar, feelings. All the new Bellas were whisked through a very bizarre ceremony. Followed by an even stranger pledge. The only thing they had to show by the end of it was a blue and yellow scarf. That they were under no circumstances to lose or doctor, a punishment far worse than wolves ripping out your vocal cords threatened. Really given the shower, the kidnapping, and the strange frequently modified words that included 'aca' at the beginning, Beca figured she shouldn't be surprised by anything this group did. They were all bat-shit crazy.

Those were the thoughts that clogged her mind, instead of the ones pertaining to a certain childhood friend. A childhood friend who spent a lot of time staring at her throughout the whole initiation. Stares that, when acknowledged, were only shifted slightly by an accompanying beaming smile. Instead of finding it creepy, Beca somehow found it endearing. She could not stop herself from stealing a few to many glances too eventually. With those thoughts, she started to wonder if the 'blood of previous sisters' was roofied because Beca did not know where the hell all her sudden feelings of sweaty palms, butterflies, and skipped heartbeats were coming from.

Luckily, she did not have to spend too much time thinking about it. As soon as the ceremony was over they were all whisked away to an aca-party, which was spoken of with so much reverence one would think it was at an elite club. In reality it was at a concrete amphitheater and was a lot like a kegger, complete with kegs and a punch that made Beca's eyes water just from standing by it, the alcohol content being so high. She lost Chloe quickly in the commotion, not that she was keeping track of the other girl's where abbots. So Beca was more than happy to do what she did best, stand off by herself in the stands and people watch. Then Jesse came by with the promise of getting her alcohol to help her drown out the rest of her thoughts that centered on Chloe Beale. Thoughts he did not know about. Things seemed almost perfect again.

Beca was foolish enough to think she was safe. Thinking Chloe had disappeared into the depths of the party. One second Beca was thinking about just how blue Chloe's eyes where and the feel of her touch and the next second there was Chloe walking towards her. The other woman's hips swaying as she approached, that brighter than bright smile and those gorgeous blue eyes locked with Beca's. Beca blinks and Chloe is in her personal space, her hand's gripping Beca's forearms, pulling Beca into her. For a heart stopping moment she thinks Chloe is going to kiss her. Chloe was after all probably drunk enough to write it off the next day. Beca could smell the over powering scent of that god awful punch permeating from Chloe's cup. The slightest hint on the breath ghosting over Beca's lips.

She couldn't stop her eyes from drifting from those hypnotizing eyes to pink plump lips and back again. Beca felt the all too familiar butterflies and pounding heart beat that only seemed to get faster. Then the moment was broken by Chloe's words.

"I'm so glad we found each other again. This is going to be an aca-awesome year!" Chloe's smile somehow getting brighter, her eyes sparkling.

Beca's head still hazy from the thought of soft pink lips possibly touching hers could only think of the last time she found Chloe and herself in an intimate situation. The thought of showers flitting through her mind, Beca could only think of one thing to say.

"Well I did see you naked."

The words register too late for Beca to fix them mid-sentence. She is about to retract them and apologize, when Chloe just smirks at her and kisses Beca's cheek. She instantly feels her face heat up and her stomach flip in the most pleasant way. All before the older girl leaves with the proclamation of needing more jiggle juice and a butt wiggle. A butt wiggle Beca cannot drag her eyes away from. Then Chloe's gone again and Beca is dumbfounded at how she got away with saying what she said. Maybe it was the ease and confidence with which the statement was said, as if Beca was announcing the weather. She had no idea.

For a moment Beca seriously wondered if maybe Chloe was actually interested in her. It honestly seemed like a real possibility. The close proximity whenever near Beca, the light touches, and those beaming smiles that graced Chloe's face when her eyes met Beca's, all signs of someone liking another person. At the realization, Beca felt like she was having an out of body experience. Like nothing was real. She was just a shell, but then Tom came to mind and all thoughts of Chloe liking her were snuffed out. The heat created by the cheek peck was still there though and she really wanted a drink to put it out. Once again Jesse had perfect timing, handing her a drink almost as soon as the thought of needing one had surfaced. He also brought with him the same thought's Beca was having, having witnessed the whole exchange between Beca and Chloe. He was like a dog presented with a bone, he could only let it be for so long before he'd bite. Then he'd stick with it until he got every detail. The fact that Beca practically inhaled her drink upon its arrival, did not help Jesses' patients.

He finally said something once Beca had finished her drink, trying to hold back his smile and failing miserably.

"Sooo what was that?"

Beca refused to look at Jesse, knowing he was smirking at her. Instead she chose to stare into the depths of her solo cup, as if it had all the answers. "What was what?

"You and the redhead, Chloe?"

Beca scuffed the toe of her shoe on the ground as she spoke, trying to come off casual. "Oh, Chloe. She was just saying hi."

"Looked a lot more than hi from where I was standing." Jesse had that stupid knowing smile on his face. He nudged Beca lightly with his arm, like they were two guys talking about their latest conquests. Which was something they did not do and had never done. Although that could have been in part because Jesse always found Beca fairly easy to read when it came to the people she was intimate with, no matter how private Beca was. Which was a subject that she was even more guarded about than talking about her feelings, which said a lot. Maybe it was due to them being intertwined.

"Eeew! Dude, we were childhood friends remember. Just… gross."

The statement did nothing to deter Jesse.

"Yeah, but that was what… six years ago you said, right? So you were….12 or 13 years old. Which means Chloe waaaas 15 or 16 years old? Becs I'm sure she was hot then, but now…" He trailed off, the girl in question proving his point without him having to say anything.

Chloe was at that moment shimming her whole body to the song playing, as one hand held her drink in the air and the other tangled in copper locks before trailing down across it's owner's curves. Beca's mouth went dry and her heartbeat spiked once again, imagining Chloe's body shimming against hers. Taking in the dip and roll of Chloe's hips, every part of her old friend's body perfectly toned and pushing against her form fitting clothes as she moved. Beca audibly gulped and absent mindedly raised her empty cup to her lips, trying to get rid of the dryness of her mouth. Her brow furrowed when nothing met her lips. Jesse laughed beside her, pulling Beca from her Chloe induced trance.

Beca finally spared Jesse a glance and immediately wish she hadn't. He had that shit eating grin on his face. The one that always followed him saying something that made Beca want to punch him.

"You totally like her!"

Beca scoffed at him. "No I don't."

His smile just grew bigger. "But you do."

"Don't!"

"Do."

"DON'T!"

"You realize you're blushing right?" Jesse gave her time to respond, but all Beca did was sputter and push her hair self-consciously back from her face. Jesse just smirked. "Yeah you definitely don't like her." He went to ruffle her hair, but Beca quickly swatted his hand away.

The action seemed to pull Beca out of whatever state she had found herself in, muttering, "Shut up!"

Jesse went to make another remark, that stupid grin on his face, but Beca glared at him. The glare she flashed him right before she usually hit him hard enough to make him fall to his knees. He had his eyes on a pretty blonde from the Bellas the whole night. He had even caught the girl looking at him several times. Jesse really did not want to look like an idiot when she might be watching. Instead he let a few moments of silence pass between them. He took the time to catch the blonde's eyes. Once their eyes connected, Jesse smiled and gave the blonde girl a little wave. Given it wasn't the smoothest thing he could have done, but he was trying. The Bella just glared at him until he looked away. Which he thought was strange, but maybe she was just… shy?

Beca spent her time glaring into her still empty solo cup, wishing she could conjure alcohol with it. If not alcohol, anything else that could save her from the mortification she was feeling. How pathetic she was, blushing over a long lost friend. A crush she kept trying to tell herself she was over, but apparently she wasn't. Her body betraying her. She sighed loudly at it all.

"Why don't you go to her?"

"What?" She tore her eyes from her cup to look at Jesse. Jesse was smiling at her encouragingly, completely sincere.

"Why don't you go to her?"

"I'm not- It's not… Dude, she's straight." At first Beca was going to protest any feelings she may have, but one look at Jesse told her it would be futile.

He bumped his shoulder with hers lightly, smiling bigger. "I don't know. Earlier she didn't look so straight to me. Maybe she's bi?"

Jesse watched Beca soften before him, pushing her hand into her pocket and scuffing her feet as she tried to look nonchalantly across the group of people dancing. Obviously her eyes searching out someone. "You… um… Really think…" Beca trailed off as her eyes seemed to zero in on someone in the crowd. Her body went ridged for a moment before she fixed herself again. Just as quickly as she softened, Beca's walls came crashing down. Then she was all composed indifference as she reworked what she started to say into a completely different statement. "You really don't ever think about the other person. You just- you just think about one person and think it's going to fall into place. Life's not- it's not a movie."

Then Beca just wondered off, done with the conversation. Done with what she had seen. Just done with everything. Jesse stayed for a moment, looking to where Beca's eyes had been planted. Trying to figure out what upset his friend. There was Chloe all over some tall lengthy guy, gyrating her hips against his front as she pulled herself back from a long heated kiss. Chloe beaming at the guy before reconnecting their lips. The same guy Beca knew from the showers as Tom. Not that Jesse knew that.

Quickly, Jesse caught up with Beca. Even though upset, Beca would never actually run off in a group of people. Stalk, stomp, or speed walk at an incredibly fast pace, all yes. But she would never actually run because running indicated something was wrong. Which meant people staring and Beca hated unnecessary attention. It was one of the things Jesse really liked about dating Beca. It made it really easy to resolve fights and arguments. In some cases it seemed like she did it just to give the person an opportunity to show they cared enough to go after her. To show her she meant something. She was worth the effort.

Once within reach, Jesse placed his hand on Beca's shoulder to get her to stop. Beca spun around to face him. Her face was all perfectly composed indifference. The only part of her that seemed to indicate anything was wrong were her eyes, which kept flitting around the room, and her hand, which wouldn't stop fiddling with the edge of her flannel shirt. He felt really guilty giving her false hope, but he seriously thought Chloe was interested. Apparently she wasn't though and Beca obviously cared. Which was big given the only relationship Beca had had that did not consist of one night stands or being fuck buddies was the one she had with Jesse. And Jesse did not remember Beca getting remotely this upset when a random girl had kissed him at a party when they were dating. She had just sort of punched him in the arm and told him not to let it happen again, before pushing him up against a wall for a long make out session.

"Becs, I'm really sorry." His eyes were forlorn and full of compassion.

"Don't worry, its fine. I really don't care." She shrugged, but her hand only seemed to clutch more franticly at the edge of her shirt.

"You sure? We could leave. Go back to the dorms and-"

Beca cut him off, "No. Dude really its fine. I was just going to-to get another drink. I'll um find you again. Go have an aca-tastic time." Her voice was full of sarcasm at the end.

"Are you-"

She cut him off again, rolling her eyes. "God! Jesse go! I'm fine. Let a girl breath."

He smirked at that, happy some of the Beca he knew was coming out. "Okay, just don't forget about me half pint." Beca just glowered at Jesse as he quickly ruffled her hair and ran off to avoid the punch to his arm that was sure to follow.

Beca made her way to where the alcohol was to fill up her cup. The whole way there she found herself kicking herself mentally. Of course Chloe was with with Tom. She berated herself realizing how stupid she was to think she had a chance with Chloe. Just because a straight girl gave her a little bit of attention did not mean she liked her. Even if they were once best friends. A best friend who she once had a massive crush on. An old crush that had very recently seen her naked. That last bit was a little confusing, but then again Tom was there. Explaining the whole nakedness free form lets walk into random people's stalls thing. Well, not really, but Beca really didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about Chloe and she definitely did not want to think about Tom. So she did what any sane person would do. She filled her cup full of the punch that made her eyes water and went in search of someone with blue eyes she could lose herself in.

The only problem was that blue eyes as is are kind of rare. Especially blue eyes that were the exact same shade as Chloe's. No matter who she talked to or how blue their eyes were, she could not stop herself from subconsciously comparing them to the pair that appeared in her dreams. None of them seemed blue enough to substitute the pair she craved to gaze into as she leaned in for a kiss or held as their owner unraveled. No, none of them were good enough now that she knew the ones she wanted actually existed and were just a few feet away grinding on some beef cake, enjoying every minute of it. So instead of searching anymore, Beca found an edge to perch herself on as she tried to finish the god awful punch in her cup. She hoped maybe if she was slightly drunk things would improve.

Occasionally she would look off into the crowd, trying not to pause at copper locks, but always failing. After a few minutes, Beca was ready to go, a searing pain running through her chest each time her eyes paused on Chloe only to see her draped over Tom somehow. Her mind kept wondering back to Jason and her 12 year old self. That was all she needed to suck it up and chug the rest of her drink, chucking the empty cup to the side. Then she hoped off the ledge and made her way towards the top of the amphitheater and the exit. The alcohol seemed to take effect as she walked. Beca welcomed it, enjoying how it muddled her thoughts and made her body relax.

Her gait was a little wobbly, but passable as a walk not belonging to a drunk person. It was good enough of a walk to get her up several steps to the top of the amphitheater. She was just a few steps away from freedom, leaving Chloe and all thoughts of her with Tom behind, when someone grabbed her arm and spun her around. Beca had to flail a little to keep herself up right, but then there were soft agile hands firmly grasping her forearms. The action affectively steadied her.

Beca was already to yell at the person about personal space and boundaries, but all words fell away when she looked up to meet the perfect shade of blue eyes. Chloe was beaming at her. Beca couldn't help but think she looked beautiful, silky red curls bouncing around Chloe's face and her cheeks slightly pink from alcohol and dancing. She looked so radiant. Beca had to shake her head slightly to knock herself out of her thoughts and take in what the other girl was saying.

"Leaving so soon?"

"Um-yeah, I've got to- um" Beca stuttered out, trying to come up with something that didn't sound lame.

Jesse had been watching Beca the whole night, afraid she would do something stupid or get into trouble. She was a legend at their high school for all of the pranks she had pulled and some she hadn't. Beca was very resourceful. He wouldn't put it past her if she decided to turn one of the kegs into some type of cannon, shooting snacks into the crowd. Just because she was bored or felt like it. She had done just that at a DJ-ing gig she had, but had shot condoms she had stolen from health class instead. So he really wouldn't be surprised if she did something just to take her mind off things. She had been doing her version of sulking most of the night. Which to most people would just be being some badass loner, but Jesse knew better. The Beca he knew would be awkwardly chatting up someone to spend the night with (which always worked surprisingly well) or be by his side. The latter she definitely wasn't doing. As for the former, he had watched her try a few times, but could tell she really wasn't into it.

Then he watched her finally sit off to the side, occasionally glancing at Chloe. The whole time trying to act indifferent. He didn't like seeing Beca throw herself at people, but he really hated seeing her like this. At least when she was throwing herself at people she looked happy. Even if it was false. Jesse was just about to go over and sit with Beca, when she started to make her way up the amphitheater to leave. He figured he'd meet her at the top. Then he saw Chloe approach her and thought maybe something good could come of it. What? He wasn't sure, but thought it couldn't be too bad. Like maybe she did like Beca and was using Tom to make her jealous. Which was a really petty thing to do, but a Chloe playing a few games that liked Beca was better than one that didn't like Beca. So he stepped back to give them space. But when he saw Beca floundering and it wasn't the good floundering due to proclamations of lust, he quickly realized Chloe was not making a love confession. He was quick to step in and save her.

"Hey! Just finished saying bye to everyone. Ready to go?" Jesse looked at Beca purposely to try and get her to just go with it, a pleasant smile on his face for Chloe's sake.

She seemed to get it, the only indication anything was up was a slight furrow of her brow that smoothed out so quickly it was questionable it ever existed. "Yeah, um…"

Chloe looked perplexed, her eyes darting between Beca and Jesse as if she was trying to figure something out. Beca didn't really seem to notice, a little too hazy from the punch she drank. Jesse just ignored it, not understanding Chloe's interest in his relationship with Beca. After all she had Tom and if she was looking to possibly add Beca as a third or a side piece, he was more than happy to let her draw whatever conclusions she wished. Just hoping it would make her back off and leave Beca alone.

"So… I'll see you Chloe." Beca uttered, turning towards the exit.

Chloe beamed at Beca, bouncing slightly where she stood. "Yeah, I'll see you at rehearsal. I can't wait to make music with you." She threw in a wink at the end before pulling Beca into a hug and then bouncing off into the crowd.

Beca sputtered for a moment where she stood, once again not sure if Chloe was flirting. She quickly dashed those thoughts away though, thinking of Tom. She just muttered to herself, letting Jesse throw an arm around her shoulders to steady her as they walked, the alcohol taking more of an effect. They walked for quite a while in silence. Both not really sure what to say and lost in their own thoughts, both thinking about a certain redhead and Beca's possible feelings. Both not really liking the conclusions they were making for different reasons.

For once Beca was the one to break the silence with one simple word. "Thanks."

Jesse just jostled her lightly, smiling to himself. 'What are wingmen for if not to protect damsels in distress?"

"Dude, that's princes."

Before Beca could go on Jesse cut in, "Beca Mitchell are you calling me a prince?"

"You're far from it, but maybe if you keep making wishes in wishing wells you'll get there one day."

He just ruffled Beca's hair and she swung at him as she growled at him. "Naaaah! You just proclaimed me a prince. Achievement unlocked!"

Beca tried to glare at Jesse, but wound up smiling at him fondly. "Remind me why I am friends with you again."

He smiled and slung his arm around her again as he proclaimed, "Because I provide juice pouches and endless movie trivia. All great for impressing the ladies."

They both laughed. Beca leaned lightly into his side, enjoying the contact. Craving some physical comfort given the recent ache in her chest. They continued their banter all the way back to the dorm. Jesse helped Beca back to her room, her walking really wobbly by the time they got to the dorms, deterred by alcohol and sleepiness. Everything was okay for the moment. She could forget about Chloe and Tom for the time being, escaping to her dreams.

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A/N: I was doing some calculations and I think this fic will wind up being around 20 chapters long. So buckle up it's going to be a bit of a ride. I will be mainly following the first movie's plot, but have no fear if that's not your thing. Besides the new scenes I've been intermingling with movie ones, there will be some chapters with all completely new content. I've even written one or two already that have yet to be posted. (I kind of jump around in the fic in a non-chronological order when I write and then connect everything.) Just wanted to mention it because the next chapter may be a little heavy in movie scene(s).