Chapter 3
Beca’s eyelids fluttered as she turned around on the couch. Feeling the warmth of another body next to her, her first reaction was to tense up. Noticing the blond hair covering the person’s eyes, she immediately knew it was Luke. With a grumble, she pushed herself up from the couch and onto her feet. Still, she was tired. Second day of school...great.
She took a few steps towards her bedroom, before making her way to the shower. The warm water did miracles to wake her up, turning the half asleep girl into a slightly half asleep girl. The whole morning was pretty normal. Luke stole one of his old T-shirts that he found pushed into the back of one of Beca’s drawers. Dr. Mitchell acknowledged both of them, asking them if they wanted breakfast. What wasn’t normal was the doorbell ringing at exactly 6:45 in the morning, not a second later.
“Beca, can you get the door?” Dr. Mitchell called from the kitchen. Luke was helping himself to his third waffle, but Beca knew that it wouldn’t be the last one for him. She groaned as she made her way to the door, now clad in her jeans and an old t-shirt. The shirt hung loose and baggy on her small frame and she hadn’t even managed to pull a brush through her hair yet. Even as she was right at the door, the person outside didn’t stop ringing the bell every other second. Pulling the door open, she stared blankly at the chipper face on the other side.
“Look dude, I don’t know what time you usually get up, but for normal people it’s still the middle of the night.”
Her visitor smiled, pushing the door open and inviting himself in, “Even though I love how kind you are to people that go out of their way to come to your house, we must get you all ready. It’s the second day of school, you know.”
There was a twinkle to his eyes and he was way too happy in Beca’s mind. “So, Jesse, what brings you here,” she questioned as she crossed her arms, staring at him.
“Well,” he began, “After ten years of not seeing you, not once, I must regain my spot as your absolute best friend. I thought this would be a great place to start.” He jumped on her couch, kicking his legs up and folding his arms behind his head.
“You have a habit of making yourself at home, did you know that?,” she quipped.
Jesse smiled and nodded, unaffected by her snarky attitude, causing Beca to roll her eyes as she started up the stairs. “Just go get some breakfast. I’ll be down in a sec.” With a nod, Jesse made his way to the kitchen. As Beca reached her bedroom and rifled through all her stuff to find a shirt that wasn’t too wrinkled to wear, she could hear Jesse catching up with her dad while engaging Luke in some talk about music. Wow, he really did adjust to anything and everything rather quickly. Pulling a semi-clean t-shirt over her head, she bounded down the stairs, grabbing her backpack from the end of the railing. “Let’s go, nerds,” she called. The two boys strolled towards her, Jesse with a half eaten waffle hanging in his mouth.
“So, Beca,” Luke smirked, “Jesse told me a few stories from when you were young. You never told me how much you loved wearing pink. I thought the great Beca Mitchell had always been a badass. All my respect for you has completely gone out the window.”
Beca shot her famous death stare at him, causing Luke’s grin to widen even more.
“It was a stage.” she said lowly. “A temporary stage, one that should and will be erased from both of your memories.”
With a chuckle, Jesse continued, “Oh, no. Those pink dresses everyday will forever be etched into my memory. See, everyone at school thinks that Beca is some big scary teenager but in fact, I have proof that she was just a softie.” Jesse couldn’t help but enjoy the scowl Beca was giving him. In truth, the pink stage had lasted all but a week or so, but Luke didn’t need to know that. After the stage, the jeans and the plaid began making daily appearances.
They rode to school together, both Beca and Jesse trying hard to make the other more embarrassed. While Beca brought up the story of Jesse almost giving a kid an allergy attack after trying to share his peanut butter cups, Jesse retorted with the story of Beca almost punching a teacher for trying to take away her iPod. Jesse swore that she would’ve punched her if he didn’t put himself in front of the two. It was almost like they both returned to being little kids. Jesse pouted while Beca tried to explain how he dressed up like a superhero every day for a month after getting a box set of Marvel movies. While in turn, Jesse tried to hold back his laughter after explaining how Beca tried to tape his mouth closed one day when he was extra talkative while they were making Christmas garlands for the tree.
Luke stared at them in wonder. For someone who was usually so closed off to strangers, Beca was surprisingly open with Jesse. Normally, when she met a new person, she would just ignore them until they went away. Together, the two of them had actually had contests to see who could make people more uncomfortable. The game ended when Beca just started talking about her latest gynecologist visit to a total stranger. That shut the person up, probably scarring them for life in the process. Though Beca and Luke must’ve laughed for the next ten minutes, reliving the man’s face as she went into great detail about everything she had learned about childbirth. Props to her. Beca, when she wanted to, knew each and every way to make people want to curl up into a tiny ball of humiliation.
When they finally pulled into the parking lot, parking way further down than all other cars (Beca was bad at parking), it was still pretty early. It was almost like the three of them were in all those cheesy high school movies. Beca hopped out of the car since it was even high for a person of average height. They laughed, making their way to the entrance. At first they didn’t notice the people that turned to gaze at them as they walked, but soon it became apparent.
“They’re all watching because somehow you have the hottest guy in school on your arm,” Jesse boasted, puffing out his chest dramatically with pride. “Oh, really? I didn’t know you had a thing for Luke,” she replied, Jesse letting out a laugh, “I’ll tell him for you, Jesse, but don’t get your hopes up. I’m not sure he swings that way.” Jesse returned her comment by sticking out his tongue, earning an earnest laugh from Beca.
Waving goodbye to Luke, who was now apologizing to Jesse (“It’s not you, it’s me”), Beca made her way towards the classroom. Jesse, a few paces behind her, claimed the seat to her right. They both threw their books in the baskets underneath their chairs before turning around to face the board.
The class went by strangely quick. Jesse’s constant comments during the teacher’s lesson, making it hard for Beca to hold in a giggle, were probably one of the main reasons. In Jesse’s mind, it was all her doing; Beca’s sarcastic quips made the class fly by. Soon enough, they were copying down the homework in their agendas, but it was doubtful they were actually going to do all the reading before the actual day it was due. Just when they were about the leave, gathering the notes they had sporadically taken, Jesse stated, “You are coming by my house soon. My mother insists on cooking you a nice meal to welcome you back to the neighborhood.”
Beca smiled, “I have to meet the parents already? Don’t you think this relationship is moving a little too fast. I think we have to slow down.” Chuckling, Jesse responded before heading off to his next class, “Well we are already best friends but you know that you want to be lovers. Just say it, Becs.” His eyes were sparkling, returning all her witty comments with equally smart responses. She laughed, turning around,
“If you promise to never say the word ‘lovers’ again, you can text me with the details. I’ll be there.”