A Pact Between Friends

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/7795720.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/F
Fandom: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Relationship: Mitchsen, Beca Mitchell/Aubrey Posen
Character: Jesse Swanson, Beca Mitchell, Aubrey Posen, Chloe Beale, Stacie
Conrad, Benji Applebaum, Ashley
Additional Tags: god damn tumblr prompts
Stats: Published: 2016-08-17 Words: 6283

A Pact Between Friends

by thatmitchsentho

Summary

Thirteen year old Jesse Swanson and Beca Mitchell make a pact that if neither of them are
married at thirty, they'll just marry each other. Jesse is more than okay with waiting out the
next seventeen years for her, only his plan is thwarted when they go off to college and Beca
meets Aubrey Posen. (Jesse centric but still all Mitchsen, no Jeca.)

Thirteen year old Beca Mitchell dropped down onto the floor of her best friend's bedroom. Said
best friend, Jesse Swanson, had told her that any time her parents were fighting she could come
hang out at his place. Unfortunately, that seemed to be more and more often lately, and Beca had
told him she was pretty sure they were headed for a divorce. It was the end of summer and Beca
had escaped to his house to sit in the air conditioning and maybe go for a swim later in their
backyard pool.

"I've decided I'm never getting married," she said, pushing her brown hair back out of her face. She
pulled his beat up nylon-stringed acoustic toward her and began softly playing around with it.

"Never ever?" he asked, spinning a baseball in his hands.

"Nope," she said. "No point. All I see are people who don't actually love each other yelling until
one of them finally pulls the trigger. I mean, your parents are happy, but think about it, most kids
have either one parent or parents who should be divorced but aren't."

Jesse thought for a moment. Beca's folks were definitely parents who should be divorced but
weren't. Yet. But he was a hopeless romantic - not that he'd admit it out loud because that wasn't
smart for a thirteen year old kid - and he didn't figure that it should make a person rule out
marriage all together.

"But what if people are just marrying the wrong person?" he asked. "People don't seem to be
together real long before they get married, you know? You should marry someone who's your best
friend."

"Are you suggesting we get married?" Beca asked.

"No," he said. "Well, not now. But say if we're like… thirty. And neither of us is in a happy
relationship, we'll just get married. Easy. We already like each other. We hang out all the time.
We'll get married. Good tax write off, no more hassle."

"That's insane," Beca said. She kept playing. "Whatever, I'm in."

"Serious?"

"Sure," Beca said. "That's seventeen years. If we're both single when we're thirty, I'll marry you."
She held out her hand and Jesse shook it.

"Deal," he said. "I don't think it'd be so bad getting to hang out with your best friend every day
forever." He didn't add that he had kind of always had a crush on Beca, since they were little kids.
She was tough, she could stand up for herself. And she was pretty.

"I could do worse," Beca said. "I heard Katie Carey telling Alice Breckenridge that she thinks
you're cute."

"Oh really?" he said. That was interesting, but he didn't really like Katie. "How long you gonna
hang out here?"

"Til dinner I guess," Beca said with a sigh. "I dunno, Jess, I get that they think they're helping me
by staying together but it'd just be easier if they split up already. They'd both be happy. And I
would too because I wouldn't have to bail every afternoon while they screamed the neighborhood
down." Jesse could see that she was actually upset, but knew she didn't like to be touched.

"It sucks," he said sympathetically, nudging her with his shoe. "But I promise if we do end up
getting married, it's gonna be nothing like that. Wanna go jump in the pool?" Beca nodded and they
got up and headed to the yard.

"Hey," Jesse said. "I'm always gonna be here for you, Beca. And that's a promise."

"Thanks," she said. "Me too. I swear."

FIVE YEARS LATER

Jesse looked across at Beca sitting in his passenger seat of his pickup. She was fiddling with the
iPod plugged into his stereo, trying to find something that wouldn't cause her to want to rip the
stereo out of the dash.

"Jesus Jesse, is every playlist on here movie scores, soundtracks and theatre?" she asked.

"Uh, almost," he said. "I've got some of your music on there as well." She sighed and disconnected
his iPod, before tugging out her own from her bag and connecting it instead. She quickly selected a
playlist and settled back into the seat. She wound the window down, immediately cursing as her
hair began flying around in her face. She wound it up halfway and pulled her hair back, displaying
the piercings in her ears.

They were on their way to Barden University. Both of them had gotten accepted and since Jesse
was the one with the pickup, he was carting them both, as well as all of their stuff, to campus so
they could move in. They were both glad to be moving away from their hometown, but were glad
they would be together.

They'd stayed best friends all through school. Some other kids had picked on them from time to
time, saying they should just get married already, but Beca was always ready with a sarcastic
remark. Her folks had ended up getting divorced right before her fourteenth birthday and it had
only cemented her dislike toward the institution of marriage in general. She was still holding to the
pact that she made with Jesse when she was thirteen, though. They were best friends, and best
friends didn't break promises. That didn't change, regardless of how much they had.

As they'd gotten older, Jesse had moved away from baseball toward theatre and movies. He wanted
to score movies. He spent high school in the theatre club singing through every musical they ever
put on.

Beca had gotten into music in a big way. Once her dad had moved out, she had gotten a weekend
job at a music store so her mom didn't have to pay for all her school stuff. She'd learned how to
play so many different things and she was really good. She didn't share it with many people, but
she shared it with Jesse. She'd also gone out on her eighteenth birthday and gotten two tattoos, and
two more right before they'd left for college. She looked… different to most kids from their
hometown. But Jesse still had a crush on her, after all this time.

He'd dated a couple of girls during school, but they always seemed to want him to stop hanging out
with Beca. And he wasn't about to do that, they were best friends. So it always ended with them
giving him an ultimatum, and him picking Beca. She appreciated his loyalty. She herself had not
dated, though a couple of boys at school had expressed interest in the breasts that had developed
fairly prominently during the summer before sophomore year. She normally just glared at them
until they went away.

Barden was about four hours away. They'd stopped for something to eat a while back and were
still about ninety minutes away. They both sang along as they drove. Beca had a good voice too,
Jesse would wager that hers was better than his, but she didn't really sing for other people. She said
she'd do it if she had to for class, but she was more interested in DJing and mixing. Which she was
also really damn good at.

Once they arrived at Barden, Jesse quickly corralled some guy with a gurney as part of the
welcome team to help Beca take her stuff to her dorm, and they arranged to meet up later and
figure out where everything was. Beca's phone buzzed with a message from Jesse about two hours
later.

I'm in Harding. Where are you?

She sent back the single word Baker and knew that pretty soon, Jesse would be knocking on her
door. Sure enough, he showed up about ten minutes later.

"Hey," he said, folding a map and sticking it in his pocket. "Our dorms are next to each other.
Have you met your roommate yet?" He gestured to the white décor plastered on the over half of
the room.

"Yeah," Beca said. "She's Korean, I don't think she likes me, and I'm not entirely sure she speaks
English. You?"

"Yeah, his name is Benji," Jesse said. "He likes Star Wars and magic and singing acapella. Little
dorky."
"Perfect for you is all I'm hearing," Beca said in a teasing tone.

"Wanna go hit up the activities fair?" Jesse asked. Beca's door swung open and her mood
immediately soured.

"Dad," she said. "Just walking into the room announced? What if my roommate had been
changing?"

"She's not," he said. "Just wanted to make sure you'd arrived okay."

"Fine," Beca said. Jesse was a little uncomfortable. Sure, since Mr Mitchell had left Beca and her
mom their relationship had gotten pretty bad. But it was like he wanted something and straight up
knew he wasn't going to get it.

"Well I was hoping you and I-"

"Well, Jesse and I are going to go check out the activities fair," Beca said, cutting him off. "Part of
me coming here was so you could make sure I branched out and made friends, right? Better go join
some clubs or something." She and Jesse hightailed it out of the room and headed toward the quad.

Once they had almost gotten there, they were intercepted by a geeky looking kid. It was at this
moment that Beca was introduced to Benji Applebaum. He was as Jesse described - kinda dorky
but nice enough. As they approached the swarm of students, the two boys tapered off, distracted by
a booth advertising an all-male acapella group. Beca rolled her eyes and kept walking, hands
moving toward the headphones currently strung around her neck. Just as her fingers were about to
tug them up, she was stopped by a redhead thrusting a flyer into her hand.

"Hi, any interest in joining our acapella group?" she said. Beca was startled momentarily.

"Uh, not really my jam, but thanks," Beca said.

"You sure?" came another voice. Beca looked up and came face to face with a blonde. For some
reason she felt like the air had been sucked out of her lungs. "We could use all the help we can
get."

Beca paused long enough that the redhead began a spiel that had something to do with Lincoln
Center and synchronized lady dancing, but she wasn't paying attention. Because the blonde was
standing super close to her and she smelled really good and she was also unbelievably pretty, and
both these things were causing her mind to race.

"Uh, yeah, maybe," was all she could manage, before she headed away. Being as small as she was,
she was able to get lost in the crowd for a minute and pull her headphones on, turning some music
on as she read the flyer. The Barden Bellas were apparently the first all female group to make it to
the championship. That was pretty cool. But her eyes wandered back to the booth where she could
just make out the blonde. She felt her heart rate pick up a bit and she was a little confused.

She'd never been attracted to a girl before. Actually, she'd never really been attracted to anyone
before, period, but she knew that's what she was feeling. She just hadn't figured on the first time
she felt this feeling it would be for a girl. Granted, she was easily the most beautiful girl she'd ever
seen in person or on a screen. She looked down at the flyer again. It'd be a pretty stupid reason to
join a group, wanting to see a pretty girl. But it was a music group and if she was going to have to
join a group, acapella would be a straight up cakewalk. She folded the flyer and stuck it in her
pocket before making her way back to Baker Hall, texting Jesse to come and find her later and
they'd get food.
She decided to try out, in the end, though she didn't tell Jesse of this decision. She knew he and his
roommate Benji were trying out so she waited til auditions were well and truly underway. She
made her way out onstage, and was immediately flustered by the sight of the blonde in the front
row. She couldn't look at her, nor could she look at Jesse and Benji, so she instead focused on the
redhead who was giving her an encouraging smile as she sang. She knew she could sing, though,
so the audition itself was painless.

Walking back to the dorms, Jesse and Benji were pretty relentless, though. They couldn't figure out
why she'd auditioned, especially after she'd given them crap about trying out for the Treblemakers.

"Couple of the girls talked me into it," she said. Then she added, "They were pretty passionate
about taking you guys down."

Jesse was secretly glad Beca was going to be a Bella. She didn't really make friends easily, and he
was the only real friend she had. They both knew it. And whilst he liked being the only one she
voluntarily spent time with - for obvious reasons - he knew she would need friends of her own.

He watched Beca during the inevitable hood night - their induction into both the world of acapella
and college parties. Beca seemed to get on really well with her teammates, particularly the two
seniors running the group. That was nice, he thought.

As the first couple of months wore on, Jesse noticed that he and Beca seemed to be spending less
time together. It was expected, with classes and feuding acapella groups. But even when all their
obligations were taken care of, Beca seemed to be with the seniors, Aubrey and Chloe. Chloe, the
redhead, was super nice. Maybe the nicest person Jesse had ever met. She took care of all those
girls like she was their mother. The blonde, Aubrey, she was a bit scary. She was smart, didn't back
down from a fight, and seemed intimidating.

Beca didn't think she was intimidating. It didn't take her long to move into full blown crush mode.
She spent a lot of time with those girls, and Aubrey was something else. Not just the good-looking
thing. She was really smart and the more they talked the more they discovered they had in
common. Like weird relationships with their dads. Like not being able to make friends easily. Like
not really having dated much at all. Beca was about ready to declare her feelings to the blonde,
because she could barely stop herself from kissing her some days. Just to see what it felt like.

Beca decided the upcoming acapella party would be the best time to confess how she felt to
Aubrey. She'd been talking a bit to Chloe about Aubrey and from what she could gather, there was
a good chance she might be interested in dating her. She didn't ask outright, but apparently Aubrey
wasn't someone who made connections easily and she hadn't dated anyone in years.

The night of the party, Benji and Jesse came to pick her up. She was clearly a little nervous. On the
way there, she decided she'd say something to Jesse about it. They were best friends after all.

"So... We've been best friends for a long time, Jess."

"Yeah," he said.

"So maybe tonight I'm planning on doing something I have never done before," she said anxiously.
"But I feel like it's gonna be important, you know? But it might change how you look at me and I'd
hate for that to happen because you're really important to me." Jesse walked a little further in
silence. Because to him it sounded like Beca might be saying she was in love with him. And that
was something he'd been waiting to hear for years.

"Beca," Jesse said, "there's nothing you can ever say that's gonna make you less than number one.
You're always gonna be my favorite person."

"Thanks," she said with a small smile. "That means a lot." They approached the Treble house and
Beca nervously wiped her hands on jeans and cleared her throat.

"Alright, boys," she said. "Wish me luck."

"Luck?" Benji asked innocently.

"Yep. Tonight's the night I tell Aubrey Posen that I'm in love with her." She took a deep breath and
strode into the house with great purpose, leaving the two boys in total surprise behind her.

Benji recovered faster than Jesse. Jesse stood shell shocked for a good few moments, until Benji
nudged him out of it.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Did she just say she was in love with Aubrey Posen?" he asked.

"She did," Benji said. "Surprising, but I can see it now that she mentioned it. Why? Is that weird?"

"It's uh - not what I was expecting," Jesse said slowly. "I mean she's never really said she's been
into girls before."

"But she's dated guys?"

"Well, no, but I figured that was just because the guys back home were douchebags," he said. He
was a little disappointed. Benji realised that he was upset for a specific reason.

"What's up?" he said. "It's not that it's Aubrey or that it's a girl, just that it's not you?"

"Something like that," he said. "It's not like she ever promised that or anything but..."

"You hoped?"

"I guess," Jesse said. "We made this crazy pact when we were thirteen that if we weren't married
by the time we were thirty we'd marry each other."

"You gonna be okay?" Benji asked. "We can bail on the party if you like."

"Nah," Jesse said. "I don't want to be that guy. I want her to be happy dude, even if it's not with
me."

"She's your best friend."

"Yeah. And she's had some shit so... I mean, it sucks but I'll figure it out. I mean, if it makes her
happy." Benji clapped him on the back supportively and they headed inside. Jesse downed his first
beer pretty quick but then he resolved that he'd support Beca. Because the few times he'd hung out
with Beca while she was with Aubrey, she really had been happy.

It was about half hour later that Benji nudged him and pointed to an out of the way corner of the
yard where Aubrey and Beca were sitting down. Beca was obviously a little bit flustered as she
spoke and at one point, Aubrey rolled her eyes and grabbed onto Beca's hands to make her focus.
The smaller girl looked down at their conjoined hands for a second before looking back up into
Aubrey's face. It seemed to give her some kind of clarity, because she spoke the next words with
conviction.
They couldn't make out exactly what she said next, but they watched a huge smile break out on
Aubrey's face. And then, with a weird knot forming in his stomach, Jesse watched Aubrey lean in
and kiss Beca full on the mouth.

"Aww, yeah," came a female voice. Jesse turned and saw that it was Chloe. She and Stacie had
seen the same thing they had. The kiss between the two girls had deepened by now.

"You guys knew about this?" he asked.

"I figured it out," Chloe said. "Beca asked if Bree was seeing anyone and she gets really goofy and
sweet around her."

"And any idiot could see that Bree was into her," Stacie added. "Beca's practically the only person
who can get her to smile without fail. I've been waiting for this to happen for weeks." The four of
them all looked back over at the girls. They weren't kissing any more, but they were bent close and
talking quietly, hands entangled on Aubrey's lap.

Jesse turned away and Benji followed him. Benji grabbed two beers from a guy passing them out
near the kegs and handed one to his friend. "She looks happy Jesse."

"Yeah she does," he said, though his voice was slightly strained. "I'll be okay Benji. Might take a
minute, but I will be."

"You're a good guy, Jesse," he said. "You'll end up with a girl all your own who loves you as much
as you love her." Jesse nodded and turned his mind off Beca and Aubrey for the night.

Chloe, on the other hand, had disappeared while Beca and Aubrey talked. Once they rejoined the
party, Chloe pulled them both into a big hug. They both looked happier than she could remember
seeing them, and since she'd known Aubrey a long time that was definitely saying something.

For the rest of the night, they were barely out of each other's sight. They spent some time dancing
together with their friends, talking over drinks with them, and occasionally stealing moments in a
quieter corner together. When Aubrey declared she had to leave due to an early morning class,
Beca eagerly took her hand and promised to escort her home. She waved goodbye to Jesse and
Benji who were sitting on the front steps of the Treble house as they left.

"But who's gonna walk you home?" Aubrey said as they fell into a rhythm. "My dorm is all the
way on the far side of campus and it's going to take you half hour to walk back to Baker Hall."

"I don't mind," Beca said. "Any extra minute I'm with you is worth it."

"You could always stay," Aubrey said. Beca's eyebrow shot up in question. "Oh, no, not like that.
Chloe's staying with Stace because she didn't want to stumble home drunk and wake me up. So her
bed is free."

"That sounds great," Beca said. "Wake me early though, maybe we can have breakfast before your
class?" Aubrey blushed.

"I'm really glad this is happening," she said quietly.

"Yeah, me too." They walked on in silence until they got back to the senior dorms. Aubrey shot a
quick text to Chloe to let her know Beca would be staying in her bed and then fetched her a shirt to
sleep in. They both went and washed up, and then came back to the room. Aubrey set her alarm for
the next morning and made sure everything was ready to go.
"Is seven too early?" she asked. Beca shook her head.

"No." Aubrey came over and left a soft kiss on her lips. Then they each climbed into their separate
beds, Aubrey flicking the lamp off.

"Good night Beca."

"Good night."

Jesse saw Beca walk her to class the next morning, dropping her off with a kiss on the cheek. She
sported a huge grin on her face as she turned around, like she had just won the lottery or
something. He sighed, but knew he couldn't avoid her forever.

"Beca!" he called. She spotted him and headed over. "Didn't see you again after you dropped... Hey
- are you wearing last nights clothes?"

"Not like you're thinking, dude," Beca said. "I crashed in Chloe's bed and she had a class first up
this morning. How was the rest of the party?"

"Okay," Jesse said. "So you and Aubrey, huh?"

"I can't believe it," she said. "I dunno how I got this lucky. She said she hasn't really dated much
which is insane because she's like... smart and beautiful and amazing. But yeah, I kinda just put it
all out there and told her how I felt, and by some crazy coincidence she said feels the same."

"I'm happy for you," he said genuinely. "Though I didn't even know you were into chicks."

"Neither did I," Beca admitted. "Not til I met her. I just know I've never felt like this before, not for
anyone." They walked on for a little while before Jesse asked a question.

"Have you said anything to your parents?"

"I called my mom," Beca said. "She doesn't care. But I'm worried about dad. We already don't like
each other a great deal these days and mom thinks he might be a bit homophobic."

"Maybe hold off on telling him for a while then?" Jesse suggested. Beca nodded.

"Anyway, it's like, super early days with Aubrey," Beca said. "I kinda just wanna enjoy it for a
while before I go ruining things by telling my dad." They were getting close to her dorm now.

"When's your first class?" Jesse asked. "Let me buy you breakfast?"

"Grabbed breakfast with Bree," Beca said. "I've got enough time to shower and get my shit together
before class starts. Next time maybe?" She sped up and left him standing there alone.

The next few weeks were pretty rough for Jesse. Beca was almost always with Aubrey except for
during class. And he felt like an asshole because it pained him to see how good they were together.
He still maintained his supportive face for Beca and she told him more than once how much she
appreciated it. It also didn't do him any favors that all their friends couldn't stop talking about how
cute they were together.

They were right. They were adorable, it was true. They were both smitten with each other. Jesse
had never seen Beca act like this before. She was sweet and affectionate and optimistic. She doted
on the blonde. And Aubrey was just the same back. It was something he both liked and hated
seeing. But he kept his mouth shut, the only person clued in to his struggle being Benji.
The weeks turned into three months, and Jesse was still secretly pining for his best friend. He was
torn. Half the time he wanted nothing more than to hear that she and Aubrey had broken up, but the
other half he was hating himself for thinking that.

He was trying to track down Beca so they could hang out one night when Benji mentioned that the
last time he'd seen her she was headed to the radio station. He didn't think she had a rostered shift,
but he decided he'd head there anyway. Sometimes Beca did hang out there after hours - she liked
to listen to vinyl records and hang out while the computer just ran the autocued playlist. She often
remarked that Barden might have a shitty little radio station, but their vinyl collection was pretty
impressive.

He let himself into the station and headed toward the back where the turntable was stashed in a
lounge area, only he stopped well before he got there. He stopped as soon as he saw them. It didn't
look like either girl had heard him come in - not a surprise since Beca had the old turntable playing
quietly. The room had a ton of candles flickering away, a couple of huge cushions on the floor,
some takeout containers shoved up on a table. Most painfully for him to see, though, was that
Aubrey and Beca were dancing.

Not in a handsy, gropey club way. Their arms were draped around each other and their foreheads
pressed together as they slowly moved, Beca singing lightly along. She only stopped when Aubrey
left a delicate kiss on her lips and they became lost in one another.

It was incredibly romantic. Something Beca would have snorted at if she'd seen it in a movie with
him. But with her...

He realised that Aubrey had begun to push Beca's plaid off of her shoulders and Beca's hands were
tugging her shirt off. He hurriedly left before he was seen, before he did something stupid like ruin
the moment for them.

As he walked back to his dorm he began to get upset. Beca was doing all of the things that she used
to deride, and she was doing them with Aubrey, when he was the one who listened to her pan that
stuff for years. She hated romance, hated that kind of intimacy and it was for that reason he'd never
pushed it on her. But in months Aubrey had become what he'd wanted to be for years.

He would never be able to break them up. At least, not on his own. Benji wouldn't be any good, he
too thought they were great together. He needed someone who wouldn't be as blinded by their
relationship as everyone else.

Someone like Beca's dad.

Beca still hadn't told him what was going on, that she was dating Aubrey, let alone the relationship
being serious enough that they were evidently sleeping together. And all he would have to do was
mention it casually, like he assumed he knew the whole time.

That felt like a pretty drastic move though. Especially since Beca hadn't even done anything wrong.
He reluctantly headed back to his dorm to try and get the image of Aubrey's fingers running so
familiarly down Beca's back out of his head.

That weekend he managed to score some time with Beca and she actually agreed to watch a movie
with him. Granted it was required for a class she was taking, but he was just happy to spend any
time with her at all. So showed up with the DVD and a jumbo sized bag of Doritos ready to watch.
Beca was working on some music when he arrived.

"What are you working on?"

"Uh, I've been writing the arrangement for the next Bellas performance," she said. "It's kinda the
same as writing a regular song. I just don't want it to be shit."

"Where's Aubrey today?" he asked.

"She caught a train home last night," Beca said. "She's telling her folks about us this weekend,
which she's really nervous about."

"They aren't supportive?"

"Of dating? Maybe. Dating a girl, nope. She's not optimistic about her dad anyway. Her mom, she
has no idea." She slid the DVD into her laptop and started it up and they got comfortable on the
bed.

About halfway through, her phone began ringing. Jesse paused the movie and Beca tugged her cell
out. Her face fell into a frown.

"It's Aubrey," she said. "Hello? Hang on babe I can't understand you. What? Slow down, Bree."
Jesse couldn't hear what was going on exactly but it sounded like Aubrey's conversation with her
parents had not gone well.

"Where are you now?" Beca asked. She pulled out a pen and was scribbling an address on a scrap
of paper. "Okay, I'm coming to get you. I'll see if Chloe can drive me." Jesse couldn't believe what
he was doing but he mouthed to Beca that she could take his truck.

"You sure?" she mouthed. He nodded and held the keys out. "Bree, I'll be there as soon as I can
okay? I promise everything is going to be fine. I love you, Aubrey. And we'll figure everything else
out together."

"She okay?" Jesse asked.

"Nope," Beca said. "Her dad lost it and she bailed. I really appreciate this by the way, Jess. I'll gas
it up for you."

"Alright," he said. "We'll rain check the movie."

"Thanks," she said. "You really are the best, Jesse." The second she left he immediately wondered
why he'd done that. But the thought didn't last long; the ringing of a phone interrupted him. It
wasn't his phone. He realised that Beca, in her hurry, had left her cell behind. He peered over and
saw that it was her dad calling.

His first instinct was to pick it up and tell her dad exactly where she'd gone and why. She's made a
mercy dash to go and pick up her girlfriend. It'd be easy. What do you mean you didn't know? His
fingers hovered over the phone for a second. And then he heard Beca's voice in his head.

I promise everything is going to be fine. I love you Aubrey. And we'll figure everything else out
together.

He couldn't do it. Because he knew Beca better than anyone. And he knew that tone of voice.
Knew she didn't use it very often. She was hurting because Aubrey was hurting. She was really in
love with her. Like, really.

He sighed and let the phone ring out, feeling guilty. He shut Beca's laptop down and left her dorm.
On the way out he ran into Ashley from the Bellas and stopped her.
"Hey can you do me a favor?"

"What's up?"

"Beca's gone to pick Aubrey up from somewhere but she's left her phone behind," he said. "Can
you maybe text Aubrey and let her know there's no point calling because she doesn't have it?"

"Yeah," Ashley said. "I can do that for you."

"Thanks," he said. Then he headed back to his own room. He picked a baseball up off of his desk
even though he didn't play any more, and began tossing it to himself.

He didn't like the part of him that had a problem with Beca and Aubrey dating. Sure he and Beca
had made a stupid pact back when they were kids. But the pact was for if they were single. And
she wasn't single. He felt ridiculous for trying to hold her to that, for wishing she'd settle for him
when she clearly already had everything she wanted in Aubrey. And it wasn't like Aubrey was bad
for her. Quite the opposite.

Beca was more social now than she'd ever been before. She paid more attention to her classes,
which was definitely something that Aubrey had influenced. And she wasn't so bitter and
pessimistic. She was happy and hopeful and as her best friend he couldn't begrudge that, regardless
of if he wanted something else.

"So stop it," he said to himself. "Be happy because she is. Dammit, find a girl who's actually
interested in you." He repeated it to himself a few times, remembering all the good times Beca and
he and shared as friends over the years. They'd done so much together, and she was the best friend
he'd ever had. She always unfailingly had his back. She even supported him dating girls when
those girls were not fans of hers. So he resolved that he was done being a dick, and was ready just
to be the kind of friend she deserved.

He got a text from Beca much later that day, almost evening. It was just to let him know she'd drop
his keys off shortly if he was around. He texted back that he was on his way back from grabbing
food so he'd just swing by.

When he got to Beca's room Beca opened the door and quietly stepped outside. She tugged the
keys out of her pocket.

"She's asleep," Beca said quietly. "She cried the whole way back and she's only just calmed down
now."

"What happened with her dad?"

"He lost his mind," Beca said. "It sounds like her mom doesn't really care either way but because
he does it's a massive issue. It sounds like as long as we're together she's not allowed home, she's
his daughter by appearance only."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Jesse asked.

"Well Daddy Posen is a real southern values man," Beca said. "He can't publicly admit he's
disowned his daughter or left her wanting for whatever she needs. So he's still paying for school
and whatever but she can't take me home or go home either unless she breaks up with me."

"Sounds like a douchebag."

"Pretty much. But thanks for letting me take your truck dude. What's your plans for the rest of the
weekend?"

"Not much. Rehearsal Sunday afternoon."

"Well if Bree is feeling any better tomorrow we should all try hang out," Beca said. "Even if we
just buy a shitload of pizzas. Get Benji to come, maybe some of the others." Jesse grinned.

"Yeah for sure," he said. "Just take care of Aubrey and call me tomorrow?" Beca nodded and
quietly let herself back into the room.

Beca decided to make up for ditching Jesse the day before, she'd ask Aubrey if they could use the
Bellas rehearsal space and watch a movie there. Aubrey was all for the plan and Beca texted Jesse
to let him know to invite whoever and bring whatever movie he wanted.

He showed up to a nice little mix of the Bellas and Trebles waiting on pizza and something to
watch. The first he couldn't help with, but the second he could. He had the projector set up by the
time Aubrey, Beca and Stacie arrived with food and drink to feed them all. He took a brief second
to watch Beca and Aubrey together, smiling to himself as he saw the way Beca's hand brushed
across Aubrey's lower back, the way Aubrey stole a quick kiss from her.

He grabbed a paper plate and loaded a few slices on. Beca came over to steal a slice of pepperoni
from the box he was hovering over and then they moved toward where they'd set up the bottles of
soda. Beca quickly filled two cups and managed to get them both into her hand, the other holding
her pizza.

"What are we watching?" she asked.

"Empire Records," Jesse said. "Because I know you haven't seen it no matter how many times I've
asked you to watch it with me."

"Oh god I love that movie," came another voice. It was Ashley. "It's easily one of my favorites."

"See," Jesse said. "Ashley has taste." Beca just rolled her eyes and headed over to where Aubrey
was seated. Jesse followed and sat on the other side of Beca.

"Ash is headed over," Beca said quietly. "Be nice, dude. She likes you." Aubrey nudged her.

"You shouldn't say that, it's not your business," she said.

"Like fun it isn't," Beca protested. "Jesse is my best friend. That makes me his wingman. That's the
deal, right?"

"Yeah," Jesse said, regarding the approaching girl with renewed interest. He gestured to the seat
next to him. Then he added, "And it's the best deal we ever made."

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