First date

[pitchslapped]

It's ridiculous. She has no idea why she's so nervous.

Back at Barden, they'd never actually done this. Yeah, they'd gone out to dinner together, obviously, but they'd never really bothered dating. After that first kiss at Lincoln Center, they'd just sort of fallen into being together, completely. No awkward dinner dates required. Still, Jesse wants to start over, and Beca can see the wisdom in that. They both different people than the other one remembers. They need to figure each other out again.

She spent most of the day looking for a dress. Hopefully, he'll like this one. God. Why is she so nervous?

Comments

[a_capella_boy]

"Wow, I was going to add a kiss on the cheek but if you're going to go cheaply then how could I say no?" Jesse said, smiling a bit at her. Hand holding was something that Beca could get all on her own, no coercion needed.

[pitchslapped]

"A kiss on the cheek. Right." For a moment, Beca's smile freezes because, God, this is harder than she thought, but then she brightens again, reaching for a menu. "That's a good suit, by the way. Who taught you how to dress, Swanson?"

[a_capella_boy]

Jesse winced at Beca's tone and the look on her face. He shouldn't have brought that up and made a mental note not to do anything like that again. This was amazing for her but it was miserable for her. Jesse had gotten back Beca but she had essentially lost him. She was here out of default because she couldn't have the Jesse she actually wanted.

"It turns out if you go to a tailor and tell them you don't know what you're doing, they'll help you out."

[pitchslapped]

She sees him wince and immediately feels like an asshole because this might be a mess but it totally is not Jesse's fault. She drops one hand under the table and squeezes his knee, a comforting touch, not designed to be sexual.

"Well, well done tailor," she says. "Three piece is a good look on you. Not that I don't love the hoodies. I love the hoodies."

[a_capella_boy]

Jesse gave her a reassuring smile before sliding his foot forward to rest against hers. Nothing crazy but a clear sign that he wanted more contact with her, or constant contact if he could get it.

"Don't worry, I'm still very much into the hoodies. What about you? Is that dress indicative of your daily style now?"

[pitchslapped]

The inside of her ankle touches his and she leaves her hand on his knee under the table. It's not much. It's something, though. She looks down at herself and the considerable amount of cleavage on show.

"What? This old thing?" she says. "I pretty much dress the same as I always did, only less earspikes. I've got stealing your t-shirts down to a fine art."

[a_capella_boy]

Jesse gave a more relaxed smile as he felt her ankle brush against his. It was such a small thing but it meant a lot, especially coming from Beca. His gaze followed her own to the rather amazing cleavage she was displaying tonight.

"Is that where some of my shirts have gone? I thought someone was stealing them out of my laundry."

[pitchslapped]

"What? I like the way they smell," she says, rolling her shoulder in a shrug. She adjusts the strap of her dress against her shoulder and raises her eyebrows when Jesse's eyes linger considerably lower than her face. "And future you likes it when I steal shirts."

[a_capella_boy]

"Maybe I'll allow it so long as I don't lose too many of my shirts," Jesse said. He kind of liked the idea that she would do that though. Hopefully someday he'd actually get to see her in one of his shirts since she probably didn't wear much else besides them.

[pitchslapped]

"We'll see," she says, smirking at him as she pages through the menu, trying to pick food. "You could always stop letting me stay over."

[a_capella_boy]

"That's not going to happen," Jesse said. They'd been spending a lot of time together, practically every free minute, but he was liking it. It felt familiar, reminiscent of college, and he didn't want that to stop. "I'll just put a padlock on my dresser."

[pitchslapped]

Beca huffs a laugh. When the waiter comes, she wars with herself for a moment and then she orders a burger because if she can't eat a burger in front of Jesse then she's never going to be able to.

"Good," she says, suddenly uncharacteristically shy. "Because...I kind of don't want to stop staying over?"

[a_capella_boy]

Jesse got a burger also, figuring that just going casual for the meal was a good idea, despite how fancy they were dressed. He didn't feel like he needed to put on airs or anything around Beca. If they wanted to dress fancy and eat burgers, they could.

"It's because I actually have furniture and art work and a stereo and TV in my apartment, isn't it?"

[pitchslapped]

"Hey! I have furniture," she points out. "And a laptop! And a whole six pack of Diet Coke, so screw you, Mister." She grins at him and takes another sip of her drink, squeezing his knee. "You know why I like spending time at yours."

[a_capella_boy]

"You are a hot tub away from being on cribs," Jesse said. Actually the idea of Beca on an episode of Cribs was absolutely hilarious and he wondered what sort of ridiculous stuff she would buy if she were rich. He'd have to ask her about that some time.

"Well, I think you know why I keep letting you hang around," he said, reaching down to squeeze the hand on his knee.

[pitchslapped]

"It's so you can torture me with your Blu-Ray collection, isn't it?" she says, but, under the table, she threads her fingers with his and squeezes.

[a_capella_boy]

"You've got me. You have me completely pegged. I am holding you hostage to force you to watch movies," Jesse said. Really though, having Beca stay at his place so much made him the happiest he had been in months. "You do have a habit of making yourself at home though, you know that?"

[pitchslapped]

"I learned from the best," she says, rolling her eyes at him. "What time did I fall asleep last night? We've got to stop watching movies on the bed, man. It's too freaking comfortable."

[a_capella_boy]

"You fell asleep about halfway through the movie," Jesse said, shaking his head at her. It was kind of adorable to have her fall asleep in bed next to him, even if it did mean she ended up spending the night and sometimes he slept on the couch. "But it's fine, I figure you would."

[pitchslapped]

"You didn't have to get up," she says, reaching for her drink as she says it. "I can sleep next to you without tearing your clothes off, you know."

On 4 August 2015 at 23:43, a_capella_boy - DW Comment < dw_null@dreamwidth.org> wrote:

[a_capella_boy]

That wasn't what Jesse was worried about. He was worried more about getting too close to her before he was really ready. He didn't want to hurt her by giving her something she wanted in the wrong way. It would happen in time.

"We tried that once and you woke up pretty much wrapped around me."

[pitchslapped]

"You cuddle me when we're not in bed," points out Beca. "I think you're just taking refuge in semantics, counselor."

[a_capella_boy]

"Beca I'm trying, I am. It's not like I'm holding out on you because it's so fun to take it slow," Jesse said. He didn't want to argue about this with her because he felt like it would just devolve into make a do's and don'ts list, which he definitely didn't want to do. He knew this was hard on Beca too though.

"But if there's something that is bothering you, we should talk about it. This probably sucks way worse for you than it does for me."

[pitchslapped]

"Yeah, you're right, it sucks," she says, shrugging one shoulder, taking her hand off his knee for a second to fix her hair. "But if it's what we've got to to do, it's what we've got to do. I don't want you to feel weird about it."

[a_capella_boy]

"Yeah, but I got my girlfriend back and you lost most of your boyfriend," Jesse pointed out. If she didn't want to talk about it he wouldn't but he was very aware of the fact that she didn't really have anyone else to talk about it to. Maybe she needed to hang out at his place less and meet people. That was her call to make though.