Let me love you

Chapter 5

It takes hours for her to return and the group occupies themselves by listening to Beca's amazing mixes. When she does get back, she seems surprised that you all waited up for her. You beam at her as everyone admits how badass her actions had been. You can feel her gaze on you and you just offer her a smile, wondering if she and Jesse had progressed any further in their friendship since he picked her up at the station.

But she tells the story of what happened, apparently he had called her father and she got angry with him and told him off. You don't want to feel this way but you feel triumphant somehow. You don't like Beca being upset, but you never liked Jesse and you hope maybe now she'll forget all about him. Sure, that doesn't mean that she likes you, but it's better than seeing her with him.

You all stay with Beca for a while, hanging out and chilling, but the group slowly dwindles down until it's just you, Beca and Aubrey. Aubrey falls asleep and Beca grins at you, pulling her arm around your shoulder.

"It's just you and me now." She says with a drawl, as if you're about to have a classic Western showdown. You smirk and lean your head against her shoulder with a sigh.

"I can't believe we lost." You murmur, disappointed that you won't be in the finals.

"Yeah, neither can I." She's so close to you that you can feel the warmth of her body.

All you'd have to do is lean up to capture her lips in a kiss and when you start seriously considering it, you pull yourself away from her.

"I should probably get Aubrey in bed." You say suddenly, jumping up and grabbing your things. Aubrey lets out a well-timed snore.

Beca nods. "Yeah. Okay. Hey, um, wanna hang out before break? You're probably going on some crazy vacation or something, right?"

Spring break is in a few days and you're planning on returning home for your node surgery. The season's over now so there's no reason not to. You already called your parents after the big loss and told them the news, so they scheduled your appointment. But you don't want to tell Beca something so huge right before you leave and you figure that she'll find out eventually. It doesn't really matter, anyway, does it? It's just a little surgery.

"Nothing crazy. Just visiting my parents." You're not lying; you just left out the surgery bit.

"That's crazy in itself." Beca laughs and you chuckle. "I'll be right here. Manning the campus radio station while everyone's off having fun and sipping margaritas."

"At least you have the whole campus to yourself." You offer lamely as you try to wake Aubrey up. She mutters something about Kuwait and her father and you stop to look at her for a moment. "Aubrey? Wake up; we're going back to our room."

Beca taps you on the shoulder with a giant grin coming over her face. "Oooh. Let me." She says a little bit too eagerly, grabbing a bottle of water from her desk.

She pours some water into her palm and then throws it in Aubrey's face. Your friend coughs and her eyes fly open. She looks at the two of you in confusion.

"What the hell?" She asks, wiping off her face with her sleeve. "Why is my face wet?"

"You fell asleep and drooled all over yourself." Beca tells her with a straight face.

Aubrey doesn't question it and so the two of you gather your things and get ready to leave. Before you step out the open door you turn back and give Beca a wry smile.

The next day Aubrey leaves campus for spring break along with most everyone else. You opt to stay and treat Beca to dinner before your drive back home. You spend the afternoon beautifying yourself to a sickening degree, taking a long shower, spending a good while on your hair and makeup and even repainting your nails. It's six when you drop by Beca's room, opening the door without knocking.