Keep sending prompts! Also, these are all un-beta-ed, so if you have any suggestions, let me know those as well. This one jumps a few years ahead, five years post-grad.
I don't own Pitch Perfect or any of the songs mentioned.
The Playlist
"And suddenly, all these songs were about you." - Anonymous
Jesse Swanson never had trouble focusing on a movie. To his friends' dismay, every time he saw one playing anywhere he would stop dead and watch. Beca once threatened not to sleep with him for a month if he didn't "move [his] ass right now. And no fun facts either!"
But tonight was different. Tonight it took Jesse, Benji, Bumper, Jesse's older brother, and a few of the Trebles he had become particularly close to almost an hour to choose a movie that didn't remind Jesse somehow of a certain Barden Bella, particularly the one he was going to marry tomorrow.
They had finally decided to marathon the Back to the Future trilogy and Jesse was doing a fairly good job (in his opinion) of not thinking about how much he wanted the weight of Beca's sleeping head on his shoulder right now. He was beginning to regret agreeing to stay in separate hotel rooms and spend time with their respective halves of the wedding party tonight. Not that he wasn't having a blast hanging out with the guys; he just missed his Million Dollar Baby.
Jesse was beginning to see why Beca called him a cheeseball all the time.
The first movie ended and the guys began milling around the suite, refilling on snacks and drinks, checking phones, and stretching legs. Jesse was finishing up popping more popcorn when there was a knock on the door. Benji hopped up to answer it. A few seconds later he shouted, "Hey, Jess, it's for you."
"Chill, it's just Fat Amy," Benji said as Jesse passed him, seeing the excited look on his face.
"Hey, what's up?" Jesse leaned against the doorframe. "Everything okay?"
"Yep, just came to deliver this," Fat Amy replied, handing him a manila envelope.
"What is it?"
"Just a little pre-wedding present," Amy smiled. At Jesse's raised eyebrows and slightly scared expression, she continued. "It's not a sex toy or anything if that's what you're thinking. Although I personally wouldn't advise opening it while everyone's here. It's pretty cheesy if you ask me, and Beca has a reputation to uphold."
"Okay," Jesse said with a chuckle, tucking the envelope into the pocket of his Trebles hoodie. "Do you want to come in for a minute?"
After a minute—or twenty—two beers, and a brief makeout session with Bumper, Amy said she should probably be getting back to Beca and the girls. As he walked her out, Jesse asked quietly, "Hey Amy, how is she? Is she, like, freaking out big time?"
"Freaking out, yes, big time, I would say no," Amy replied with confidence.
"You think she'll show tomorrow?" he said, only half-joking.
"Oh, don't worry about that. She's not going to run." Jesse gave her a disbelieving look. "I know, I know, if anyone is going to run away from a good thing, it's Beca. But she knows you're the best thing that ever happened to her. And even if she momentarily forgets that because she's the biggest commitment-phobe this side of the Great Barrier Reef, the rest of us won't. If she wants to run, she'll have to get through all of us. But don't worry, those dresses are so stuffy, I'll have enough butt confidence for the both of us."
"Thanks, Amy, really. That means a lot," Jesse replied, thinking better of asking what butt confidence was.
Amy shrugged. "Eh, it shouldn't be too hard to convince her. The sex sounds fantastic."
Jesse thanked God he didn't have any liquid in his mouth because it would've ended up in Amy's face. "What? How would you know that?"
"What, you think I didn't hear your 'movie nights' on the couch in the Bellas house? You two sounded like dingoes in heat." With that, Amy left down the hall, leaving Jesse utterly speechless at the door.
As he settled back on the bed, his phone buzzed with a text from Fat Amy. Don't worry, lover boy, it read, dingoes mate for life ;). With a smile, Jesse settled back in to finish the movie.
A few hours and a drunken toast to Jesse's last night as a single man later, the groomsmen retreated to their respective rooms, leaving Jesse alone with the envelope. He flopped down on the bed and dumped the contents out in front of him. There was a flash drive and a folded note with his name on it. He unfolded the piece of paper and read:
Hey nerd,
So I know I said no grand, romantic gestures, but this isn't really grand and you are definitely the romantic in this relationship so I figured it was my turn. Problem is, you and I both know I'm no good at romantic, so here goes nothing.
I love you, Jesse. No matter how much we fight and argue and tease, you have to know that. I know I'm not always great at showing it, but you mean the world to me. I have someone who loves and accepts me unconditionally and wants to put up with me every day for the rest of our lives. That's a rare thing anymore. I never thought I'd have that, but now I do and that's just so amazing. You're so amazing. Wow, I really suck at this, I'm so sorry!
Okay, so I'm obviously not good at talking about feelings and all that, so it was really hard to think of something I could give you to tell you how much you mean to me and how excited I am to marry you tomorrow. So I did what I do when I can't figure out how to say what I mean: I made music. This one's more of a playlist than a mix, but all of the songs in here remind me of you and of us. The Bellas and some of the Trebles helped, too. There's no track list on purpose; I didn't want to spoil the surprise.
So this is my pre-wedding present: a musical history of us. Give it a listen and let me know what you think tomorrow when I meet you at the end of the aisle.
All my love,
Beca
Jesse finished the letter, then grabbed his laptop and a pen and notepad off of the nightstand to write down the track list. He plugged the flash drive in and braced himself for the listen. Her note had brought tears to his eyes, and he had a sinking feeling he was going to be a puddle of emotions by the time he was through the playlist.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he pressed play, but a four-part a capella cover of "Carry On Wayward Son" was not it. He figured that the songs were covers (putting a new twist on existing songs was still Beca's thing, and he loved it) but he didn't think that Beca would be the one singing them. He recognized her steady alto immediately. As the song went on, he also picked out the voices of Aubrey, Chloe, Stacie, and Benji, plus Chris, Andy, and Evan, three of the Treblemakers whom Beca and Jesse had stayed in touch with after college. He wondered if any of the creation of this playlist had gone on in their brand-new home studio, Jesse's pre-wedding present to Beca. As the song finished, Jesse wrote the track name downon the notepad, flashing back to when he looked out the window of his parents' car freshman year and serenaded a girl he didn't know.
Track 2 was also a capella, a duet between Beca and Benji to "Art of Love." The message of the song brought tears to his eyes. Both Beca and Benji had struggled to navigate their respective relationships, and Jesse thought it likely that Benji would play this for Emily someday. He wrote 2. Art of Love, or When Jesse Cried on the notepad, wanting to remember forever that it took her only two songs to make him cry like a baby.
Track 3 picked up the tempo slightly. The Bellas provided a perfect background to Beca's solo of "If We Were a Movie." As he listened to the chorus, a thousand moments flashed through his head when he had thought that his life was like a movie, only better.
Okay, nerds, Beca's voice sounded through Jesse's headphones, category is: Songs about Swanson. The next few minutes were filled with Jesse laughing at the riff-off his friends had put together of songs that reminded them of him. Some of his favorites included Benji's sentimental rendition of "Gift of a Friend," Fat Amy's hilarious version of "Teenage Dream," a Treble collaboration for "Jessie's Girl," and the ending, Beca's now-famous version of "No Diggity."
Track 5 was the first and only non-a capella track. A simple bass line was a backdrop to Beca's mash-up of "Mean to Me" and "Everything." Jesse named the track The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Heard.
True to Beca, the raw emotion was cut short and the sex appeal turned up for the next track, the Bellas' a capella cover of "I Knew You Were Trouble." The Bellas had blown the Trebles out of the water at a Halloween mixer with this song, when the two groups had made a deal to show up dressed as the other group and perform a Taylor Swift song as each other. Jesse took a few deep breaths as images of Beca perfectly executing his own signature hip roll flashed across his mind. He nearly paused the music and ran down the hall to Beca's room at the thought of her unzipping his Treble hoodie to reveal a Bellas tank at the end of the performance. She must have remembered him telling her that it was his favorite performance yet as he lifted that shirt over her head in his bedroom that night. The name on the notepad became I Knew You Were Treble.
The next song also brought back memories of one of the last college parties they attended together, when he held her close and told her, "This is your song." Jesse wrote on the notepad, 7. Shut Up and Dance.
Track 8 was a slow duet between Beca and Emily. Jesse's heart swelled with pride at how far the two of them had taken "Flashlight."
The ninth song was the last, and Jesse wondered if Beca had purposely matched the number of tracks to the number of years they'd been together. The sound was something he could only describe as signature Bellas. It was a mash-up of some of the greatest movie-ending songs of all time, including "Footloose," "You Can't Stop the Beat," "Come What May," "At the Beginning," and "We Go Together." Suddenly, the beat slowed to a stop, then picked up again. Jesse burst into tears as he heard the first notes of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" in Beca's steady timbre. Alone in his hotel room, Jesse raised his fist in the air in triumph. Just like Claire and Bender, he and Beca seemed so different, but she was the girl of his dreams and he got to make her his wife in the morning.
After ten minutes of joyful sobbing into his pillow, Jesse decided he should probably get some sleep. He plugged in his phone, sent Beca a quick text (Love ya, Becs. Can't wait for tomorrow 3) and placed his laptop on the nightstand. Before shutting off the light, he jotted down on the notepad 9. Endings Are the Best Part.
Wow, so that ended up way longer than I expected. I have no idea if the mashed-up songs in this chapter would actually work together, but in case anyone wants to check out any of the music aforementioned, here's the list:
Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
Art of Love – Guy Sebastian feat. Jordin Sparks
If We Were a Movie – Hannah Montana
Gift of a Friend – Demi Lovato/Teenage Dream – Katy Perry/Jessie's Girl – Rick Springfield/No Diggity – Blackstreet feat. Dr. Dre
Mean to Me – Brett Eldredge/Everything – Michael Buble
I Knew You Were Trouble. – Taylor Swift
Shut Up and Dance – Walk the Moon
Flashlight – Jessie J
Footloose – Kenny Loggins/You Can't Stop the Beat – Cast of Hairspray/Come What May – Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman/At the Beginning – Cast of Anastasia/We Go Together – Cast of Grease/Don't You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds