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Jessica and Ashley liked being Bellas. A lot. They got to sing a lot, hang out with some really great girls, and they were a part of something that they loved and that seemed to love them right back. They might not be singing lead parts like Beca or Cynthia Rose, or stealing the show like Amy or Stacie, but they were still treated as equally as important. Beca was always telling them how much she appreciated their consistency, as well as their ability to hold down the fort when things started to get crazy. Which they did. A lot.
Being a Bella was hectic. It was never simple and easy for some reason. The other girls seemed to attract trouble or drama literally all the time. Well, not Lily, she was a whole other story and it was best just to let her do her thign. But there was always some crisis brewing in the group, and Jessica and Ashley were happy to stay well out of the way unless requested for assistance.
Which is probably how they ended up rooming together in the Bella house sophomore year. There was a lot of noise as people gathered with all their stuff to determine who was going to sleep where, who would get the coveted single, who needed the most closet space - so Jessica and Ashley just quietly moved their stuff into the room at the back of the top floor, behind Amy and Beca, away from the bathroom. It was a little smaller, but it was out of the way and they’d be safe from the never-ending circus. By the time any of the others realised they weren’t part of the group discussion, they’d already unpacked their stuff and were making plans to decorate.
It was the best decision they’d ever made. They could still hear the noise of the house, but nobody really came looking for them. It meant they could study in peace, and Jessica could paint without anyone interrupting. Ashley would always work quietly when she painted because she knew that Jessica liked it quiet. Other nights they’d tug their blankets and pillows onto the floor and watch Netflix together, sharing popcorn and wearing facemasks. Just as all best friends and roommates would.
Except it wasn’t just roommates. It started innocently. They’d cuddle up together to watch their movies. Occasionally fall asleep scrunched in the same single bed and wake up wrapped around one another. Neither one of them wanted to be the first to say something about it, but it eventually moved beyond innocent.
The first time a morning-drowsy Ashley slipped a hand just under Jessica’s shirt to softly stroke her abdomen, she heard the blonde suck in a breath and immediately worried that she’d crossed a line.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
“No, don’t be sorry,” Jessica replied in a tiny voice. Ashley was still on the fence about leaving her hand there, until she felt Jessica scoot back even more and pull Ashley tighter against her. Ashley smiled as her fingers lightly began to trace over the skin again.
“It’s okay?” she ventured.
“It’s okay,” Jessica said.
It took almost two weeks for things to go any further. The other Bellas were all oblivious to what was going on, but up in their little room they were pretty much always touching now. Studying curled up against each other, Jessica’s head in Ashley’s lap as she read, holding each other as they slept. They hadn’t talked about it though, and neither of them really felt like they needed to. It was pretty obvious to the two of them what was happening, that everything between them was different.
The room was dark and they were curled up in Ashley’s bed, Jessica the big spoon this time, legs tangled as they tried to fall asleep. It was generally futile since Amy was causing a ruckus somewhere in the house, while Chloe and Beca tried to get her to shut up because people were trying to sleep.
“God I love Amy but if she doesn’t shut up soon I’m going to cram my Bellas scarf down her throat,” Ashley mumbled. “I have an econ study group at seven in the morning.”
Jessica just began to hum lightly, something pretty and light to drown the noise of Amy out, and Ashley could feel herself being lulled to sleep by the noise and the feeling of warmth. Then she felt Jessica’s lips pressing against the skin of her shoulder, left bare by the spaghetti straps of her tank top. Ashley rolled over so that they were face to face.
They lay there for an almost embarrassingly long time, the couple of inches between them feeling like a million miles. But then Jessica moved a little closer, and Ashley took it as her cue to close the gap and their lips touched. Softly, just barely, but they definitely touched and they stayed touching for a few seconds.
The second time was not as soft as the first, but still laced with a faint timidness as they eased their way over the boundary of what they could reasonably explain as friendship into something more intimate. It was only a few kisses, soft and long, with absolutely no urgency to hurry toward something else. Jessica’s fingers were pressed gently against Ashley’s neck as she tilted her head toward her. When Ashley finally pulled back she just knew that Jessica’s eyes were shining, even though it was close to pitch black in the room. She squeezed her own eyes closed and tried to quiet the buzz that was now racing through her brain.
“I love you, Ashley,” she heard Jessica say. And Jessica had never lied to anyone a day in her life, so it made it perfectly natural for her to open her own eyes and respond.
“I love you, too.” She didn’t roll back over, but the two of them still fell asleep holding each other.
Ashley hated that she had to get up and go before Jessica had even stirred. She cursed her tutor for calling a Saturday study group, wanting to get back to the Bellas house more than anything. When she was done she practically raced back to their room, smiling at the little hand-painted sign bearing their names that Jessica had painted and hung on their door. She opened the door and found Jessica still laying in her bed and reading.
“Hey,” Ashley said.
“Hey,” Jessica responded. The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Then Ashley dropped her bag and kicked the door closed, sweeping over to the bed and launching herself at a startled Jessica.
There was no shyness now, the two of them kissing with abandon as Ashley managed to straddle Jessica’s legs. Jessica felt Ashley’s fingers threading through her still sleep-messy hair and sighed into the next kiss. They slowed and stilled.
“Let’s go and get breakfast,” Ashley said, and Jessica beamed at her as she got up to change.
It wasn’t hard for them to be girlfriends. They were already inseparable, always touching each other anyway. The other Bellas liked to joke that they couldn’t even remember which of them was Jessica and which was Ashley. They didn’t see the need to tell the other Bellas that they definitely weren’t just roommates any more, they didn’t want to be the center of attention.
So they dated. Met each other’s families; ended up pushing their twin beds together in their cramped little room. When Ashley got home after a brutal exam and saw that Jessica had strung their conjoined beds with fairy lights and was waiting with her favorite snacks and Parks & Recreation, she’d kissed her until she was breathless. They’d fallen into bed and not bothered to get out again, waking in a blissfully happy naked tangle the following morning.
They figured that some of the Bellas might suspect what was going on now, but nobody really addressed it. Ashley would sometimes catch Beca watching them - their captain was not nearly as subtle as she thought she was - but she never gave off the impression that she disapproved, not that it would have mattered.
Ashley’s birthday was right before summer break and it was at her birthday junior year that they really embraced being free with their relationship in front of the Bellas. It was nothing, really, but it was the first time that Jessica had kissed her in front of everyone. It drew no real response, but Stacie had brought it up with Ashley later.
“Beca figured you guys were a couple a while ago,” she said with a shrug. “We love you guys so as long as you’re happy we don’t care one bit. But you didn’t have to keep it a secret.”
“We didn’t really mean for that to happen,” Ashley said. “Just worked out that way. We’re both…. Quiet. And private. And in a house where we might literally be the only two introverts - though I guess Beca is too, but that’s not the point is it? Um, we weren’t about to make any conversation focus on us. We’re happy to be the background characters in the Bellas show.”
“Well I think you guys are cute as anything,” Stacie said. And that was the end of that.
They spent the summer at Jessica’s family home, her parents gone for most of the break. But they were now about to enter senior year and that was going to bring some challenges with it once they started approaching graduation. Neither girl wanted to be without the other, so it was time to start considering serious options. The best way to have these conversations was on the back porch of the house, sitting on the steps as the late sunset gave way to night.
“I’d be with you anywhere,” was the definitive line that Jessica eventually blurted. “Wherever you have to go to get the best accounting job you can, I want to go with you.”
“So we’re really going to do this thing?” Ashley asked. “End up with rings and everything?” Even though she said it casually she was dying with nerves.
“Rings?” Jessica asked. “One day. For now I’ll settle for a little apartment where you and I can spend nights cooped up with a cat or something, you working in whatever amazing job you’re bound to get, me working from home with the illustrating and design. We’d be happy and in love and everything else would be a bonus.” Ashley thought her heart was going to beat its way out of her chest. She pulled Jessica toward her and guided her a step downward so she could wrap around her and press a kiss to her cheek.
“That really sounds perfect to me.”
It was a scenario Ashley ended up envisioning more than once. She really struggled senior year - one of her professors was just determined to make her life hell and she was killing herself to make sure her GPA didn’t suffer. Thinking about them moving out and starting to make a real life together was enough to stop her throwing it in. Jessica was the perfect girlfriend, soothing her when she cried from stress or anger, bringing her coffee and food and water when she was on a study binge. And when Ashley finally got word that she’d passed that torturous class with a B, Jessica had taken her away for a weekend to spoil her.
Senior year was drawing to a close. Their time with Bellas was about over - the arrival of Emily earlier in the year would ensure that the group lived on - but neither Ashley nor Jessica were ready to leave the house. But it was more than a house. It was their home. Where all of their major firsts had taken place, pretty much. But it was inevitable.
Ashley had ended up being offered a job in Minneapolis, which was going to be a lot colder than either of them had experienced before. But the company had helped them line up a little apartment with central heating in a nice area, so they packed up their room in the Bellas house ready to leave right after graduation.
After farewelling all of the Bellas, through copious tears, Jessica and Ashley packed their things into the rented truck and went and stood in their room one last time, hands entwined.
“Can’t believe we’re leaving this room,” Jessica said. Ashley opened her bag and began rummaging in it, until she pulled out a nail file.
“I say we never leave,” she said. Jessica watched as she carved a small inscription on the inside of the wardrobe, hidden up in the top corner.
Ash & Jess - Greatest Roommates (and Girlfriends) in Bella History.
Jessica kissed her softly, declaring she was now ready to leave. They left the room, Jessica remembering to pluck the sign from the door, before heading downstairs so they could hit the road.