AU in which Celeste and Jesse have ended their marriage roughly and don't talk anymore, even though Jesse still thinks he loves her.
He hasn't met Veronica, in this AU, and he's liviving with Tucker and Beth, until he finds another place.
____

"We're home!" Beth shouted, closing the door behind her and her husband.

He put down the heavy bags full of groceries, and walked towards Jesse's room, sighing.

"Jesse? Are you there?"

Tucker knocked, and, earing no response, decided to enter anyway.

Jesse was lied on his bed, with his face deep into the pillow. He looked a mess, and didn't smell good either.

"Jess..." he sighed "You should really do something..."

He muttered something, but his words came out muffled, and Tucker couldn't understand what he had just said.

"What?"

Jesse sighed, rolling on his side.

"I said 'there's nothing I can do'..."

"And how do you know that, if you didn't even try?" he said, folding his arms as he leaned against the door frame.

He thought about it for a moment, and sighed again.

"I just know it, ok?" he said, sinking into the pillow again.

"You gotta do something, Jesse! You can't keep on staying like this, doing nothing all day..." Tucker said, sitting beside him on the bed "...You gotta find someone else, Celeste isn't the right one..."

"And how do you know that, Tuck?" he snapped, lifing his head "She's the only one I've ever loved!"

"If she was the one, she wouldn't have hurt you like this!" Tucker shouted back.

Jesse looked down, sad.

"Look, man..." he continued, regretting what he had said "You should go on... she's gone, now, there's nothing you can do about it..."

"I guess you're right... but how do I do that?" He said, as he sat up, running a hand through his messy hair, sighing.

"I don't know, dude" Tucker shrugged "...Try ask Beth, she's good at this type of stuff"

"Ok... thanks man"

"No problem, bud" he patted his shoulder, getting up "Whenever you need, I'm here"

"I know, it's your house" he said, as Tucker left "Of course you're here"
__

A month had passed, since then, and dating hadn't gone well for Jesse.

Beth helped him create a profile on an app, but all the girls he had met in the last four weeks had been terrible, one weirder than the other.

There was the vegan pshycho, the cat obsessed one, the rude teacher...
No one matched his 'girl type'.

Probably because his girl type, in that moment, was a very specific one.

In fact, the only girl that matched his type, was Celeste.

But she was already taken.

She was currently dating some Paul guy that she had met at her yoga classes, and she was really into him, in Beth's opinion.

Beth wasn't being very helpful to him, now that I think about it.

Anyway, after all those terrible dates, Jesse had started loosing his hopes again, and started thinking about quitting the dating world for a while....

Or, at least, he did.

Then the party happened.

"Jesse, you're ready?"

"Yeah, I'm coming!"

He looked into the mirror, tried unsuccessfully to straighten his hair, and, sighing, left the room.

Tucker and Beth were waiting for him on the sofa, and, as they saw him, they got up immediately.

"Let's go" said Tucker, opening the door.
__

As they entered the house, Jesse sighed.

He had never been a party person, even though his friends were. He preferred doing other and more calm stuff, like reading, or watching a movie.

But Tucker had insisted, and he had already disappointed him enough, so...

"What could go wrong?" he thought
"It's just for one night..."

"Hey, I'm gonna go take a drink, want something?" Tucker asked.

"No, thanks..." Jesse declined "You go have fun, I'll find something to do..."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah, don't worry. I'll see you later"

"Ok, bud" Tucker said, patting his shoulder, as he and his wife got through the crowd.

He stood there for a bit.

The music was very loud, and everyone around him already looked drunk, dancing against each other.

He changed his mind.
A drink wouldn've been really helpful.

Sighing, he got through the crowd too, took a beer in the kitchen, and found the staircase to the second floor.

He walked upstairs and went outside, on the balcony.

It was so peaceful up there.

You could still hear the music, but it was more of a muffled noise, now, and it wasn't so disturbing anymore.

Jesse sighed, and leaned against the wall behind him, drinking in silence.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that someone else was there, now.

"Sorry... I thought there was no one up here..." said the girl, embarassed.

"Oh, don't worry..." he chuckled "It's ok... you can stay, if you want, there's enough room for two..."

"Well, if you don't mind, I don't either" she smiled, sitting at the other end of the balcony, with her back against the wall "...I'll let you have your space..."

"Thanks" he smiled back, making her blush.

They stood there in silence for a bit, sipping their beers from time to time.

Then he broke it.

"So... why are you up here?" he asked.

"Oh, well, the music was too loud... you?"

"No particular reason... I just don't really like parties..."

"Why did you come here then?"

"My best friend and his wife brought me... they said I should leave the house more..."

"Well, it's nice of them to care of you..."

"Yeah, I guess so" he chuckled.

"...And why don't you leave the house so often? Sorry if I'm a little nosy, but I'm curious to know, now" she laughed, embarassed.

"No, no, it's ok... I'm happy you care..."
He smiled "...It just hasn't been a good period, for me, that's all..."

"...Do you wanna talk about it?" she said, patting the spot next to her on the floor "...I know I'm a stranger at a party you don't even like, but maybe getting it off your chest will help..."

He thought about it for a moment.
Then he smiled.

"Yeah, why not"

A/N :/
Hey guys! Thanks for reading!
Tell me if you're intrested in a second part of the story in the comments, and... well, I hope you liked it :)

-Franx