XII

September 10th, 2010 – Brooklyn.

She missed him.

Why was that fact so hard to swallow?

Maybe it was because she had simply up and vanished without even so much as telling him she was leaving. Maybe it was because she disappeared right when they were straightening out just what the fuck was going on between them. Maybe it was because he had always been secretly angry that she had deserted him in a desert wasteland.

"I… Missed you too," he replied, partially out of courtesy but also speaking the truth.

Felicity had been one of his closest friends for ten years. Having her just drop out of his life like that was almost like missing a part of himself. Sure, he eventually got over it – especially when he started getting deeper in the drug business – but every so often, Jesse would think back to his teenage years and she would always be there.

She smiled softly, dropping her hands to her sides. Felicity slowly turned her back towards him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You think we should get out of here?" she questioned, looking around the parking lot.

Jesse finished off his cigarette and threw it to the ground, pushing himself off the car. He stretched out a bit, feeling a tad worn out from the sudden influx of emotions. It felt as if he was on a rollercoaster. One moment, he would be fine and ready to begin this new life of his but then the next second he was falling into a pit of old memories, overcome by guilt and anger. He figured it would just take some time to adjust to a regular life. There was really no going back from here.

Felicity seemed to be back to normal, which was a relief to him. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle dealing with her if she were to become an emotional wreck. Even in this instance, she seemed to be able to remain stable on her own. Jesse had only really seen her break down once in his life and that had been a long time ago. She was strong and he knew it firsthand. When they were kids, she never got upset when the boys poke fun at her – instead, she tried even harder to prove them wrong. She often did. Felicity never really cracked under pressure either. Jesse couldn't even begin to count the time where she had gotten his ass out of trouble at school.

"Uh, yeah, where to?"

She shrugged.

"I dunno, up to you, really. I don't have much else to do today," she said.

"Oh, yeah? You do anything else aside from the whole extracting thing?" Jesse questioned.

Felicity gulped.

"Well, I'm sort of the manager at the bar, but I work flexible hours. We have a lot of people hired there so there are a lot of people to take over shifts. I've sort of got an agreement with the guy who owns the place," she explained, not wanting to give too much away.

"Sounds like you've got yourself pretty set," he remarked.

"Eh, between you and me, I would have much preferred to put my computer science degree to better use, but it's a living," she sighed. "Anyway, you want to go anywhere in particular?"

Jesse shook his head.

"No clue."

Felicity pursed her lips and let out a deep sigh.

"Alright, well, you can come hang out with me at my place, if you hadn't had enough of me yet," she offered, chuckling. "Maybe we can find out if I can still kick your ass at video games."

Jesse raised a brow.

"Ten years is a long time, Fissy. I think you're underestimating me," he challenged, a small smirk appearing on his face. "But okay, I'm down for it."

"Heh, we'll see."

Felicity was glad that Jesse was alright with spending all this time with her. She had really, genuinely missed him. It was hard to believe that he was even standing before her now. The world definitely worked in mysterious ways. When she had left Albuquerque all those years ago, she had never imagined that she would even hear from Jesse again. Her parents had put a lot of effort into making sure she would never be in contact with anyone that she grew up with again. To this day, she still wondered why she didn't just ditch her parents and stay where she was happy. She had been so naïve. Not that any of that really mattered anymore. The important part was that one of her closest friends growing up had somehow wound up in Brooklyn and fate had strung them together once again. Felicity was just happy to be able to have him around again.

The returned to her home promptly, entering the house with a round of laughter.

"Oh, fuck off," Felicity chided, playfully shoving him as he leaned against the wall to take off his shoes.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch just because you can't accept the truth. You totally had a thing for Ryan Prescott," Jesse teased.

She rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen, fetching a can of beer and a can of Sprite. Felicity still kept alcohol around, despite not being very big on drinking – it was strictly for guests. She cracked open the can and leaned over the island, watching Jesse closely as he did the same. His blue eyes danced with mischief – a huge leap from the dull, gloomy look he had the night before. His lips curled into a smirk.

"You had his name scribbled into your diary," he said.

Her eyes widened.

"Jesse Bruce Pinkman, you did not read my diary," she gasped, standing up straight.

"You can't possibly think that I never knew where it was. Inside your pillowcase? C'mon! I practically stabbed myself on it every time I came over and sat on your bed. It was only a matter of time before I decided to see what the fuck you were sleeping on every night," he laughed.

"You little shit!" she swore, her cheeks turning bright red.

"It was sort of disappointing, to be honest. Not one thing about me," he continued. "Y'know, all those rumors – a guy's bound to get curious."

Felicity rolled her eyes again, avoiding his gaze. It was one thing to know that Jesse pretty much knew all about her little girly secrets growing up but bringing up old grade school rumors was a completely different story – it was something that had never brought up before – not even when they were kids.

"And what rumors would you be referring to?" Felicity questioned, shooting him a curious look as if she didn't already know.

"The ones that said you had the hots for me since… Well, just about forever," he laughed.

"You're seriously bringing that up right now?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I am," he answered, the smirk on his lips growing.

"It was exactly what everyone said it was – a rumor," Felicity said shaking her head. She honestly never thought about having any sort of romantic feelings for Jesse when they were growing up. Her affection for him was purely platonic and she was one hundred percent sure of it. It wasn't some sort of love that she never wanted to admit - no, she loved him as a friend, nothing more.

Jesse just laughed, taking a long drink from the can.

"You act like you weren't subjected to the same gossip as me," she remarked, pushing past him to go into the living room. "How about you, Pinkman?"

Felicity bent down in front of her television case and pulled out two SNES controllers before hooking the dusty system up to her television. She looked over her shoulder and shot Jesse a teasing glance. He stood leaning against the doorframe of the living room resting his head on one arm, while holding his beer in his free hand.

"Me? Have a crush on you?" he snorted, "Only in your wildest dreams, Fissy."

She let out a small laugh.

"You and Ryan Prescott, though," Jesse began, coming up from behind to crouch beside her.

Snickering, Felicity passed him one of the controllers before turning on the TV. She backed up a little before sitting cross legged on the floor.

"What about me and Ryan Prescott?"

"He was a fucking nerd. I wouldn't have let you date him anyway," he said simply.

Felicity quirked a brow.

"Oh, is that so? Who are you, my dad?" she asked, laughing.

"Your dad let you hang out with me, so I mean…" Jesse began, throwing her an amused look. He had long forgotten about how he had upset her earlier that day. It was amazing how fast he was able to go back to a relatively normal state. He supposed that Felicity just had that effect on him.

The game started up as the words Mario Kart flashed on the screen. Felicity flashed Jesse a toothy grin. He narrowed his eyes at her, lips quirking into a challenging smile.

"I'm going to wreck you," he said calmly, choosing a character. Mario.

"That what you always say," Felicity retorted choosing Peach for herself.

And the race began.

After much bickering and accusations of cheating, Felicity once again, beat Jesse in the best four out of seven games. She let the controller fall into her lap as she raised her arms and hooted victoriously.

"Ten years and I've still got it," she bellowed.

"C'mon, I haven't played in ages, it's barely fair," Jesse argued.

"Mm, neither have I, heh. Look at the dust on this thing," Felicity admitted. "Maybe I'm just always going to be better than you at this game. It's about time you just admit it."

"No way. No fucking way," he refused.

Felicity only scoffed before getting up.

"Here, we'll try another game out then. You, me, Halo. Whoever has the best KD ratio at the end of a FFA Slayer match wins," Felicity offered, tossing him a wireless Xbox controller.

If there was one thing that Felicity was good at, it was video games. It sort of came with the territory of being a computer science major. It was one of the only areas where she found herself able to bond with other people in her classes. She had never been too interested in any of the other things they were into. She was by no means a professional, but her Kill-Death ratios had always been very good. She rarely played in Free for All but in this one situation, she figured it would be the easiest way to prove who the master of video games was truly.

"Hah, yeah, sure. I hope you're ready to get knocked off your high horse," Jesse warned, moving back a bit to sit on the couch.

"Mmhm, right," she agreed sarcastically, plopping down beside him.

The countdown began and so did the match. At first it seemed as if Jesse was going to win, having racked up three kills with a sticky grenade while Felicity had already been killed once, but the tables soon turned as Jesse died getting a taste of his own medicine. His killer had been none other than Felicity herself. She snickered as caught Jesse shooting her a snide glare through her peripheral.

"You might want to pay attention, Jesse," she reminded, sniping him right after he left spawn.

The game went on as such as by the end of the ten minutes, her KD had been 13-5 while Jesse's was 11-7. Once again, Felicity howled with excitement, slowly craning her head to flash Jesse a victorious grin. He had of disbelief on his face.

"I-" he began.

"You what? Are completely blown away? Didn't think a girl could kick your ass at a shooter? Hm?"

"…All of those things actually," Jesse mumbled, still looking extremely surprised.

Felicity only shook her head, the smile still apparent on her face. Slowly, her smile began to disappear as she realized just how close she was to him. She was pretty much flush beside him, having shuffled in order to nudge him while they were playing. It seemed as if Jesse had realized that as well as his once gaping mouth was now shut and his lips pursed. Felicity gulped as she stared into his eyes, not quite sure what he was thinking.

And neither was he.

Jesse's mind was bringing him back to their senior prom night. That whole ordeal shifted his view on Felicity completely. While they both agreed to put it behind them, Jesse had always wondered why it had happened in the first place. Neither of them ever really showed any signs of being interested in one another. Sure, they had always been making sly digs at each other but those were always in a joking manner. Felicity had made the same sort of jokes with his other friends, after all.

He had been no stranger to one night stands. He knew how to have sex with girls, no strings attached – but when the girl was your best friend, things were a little different. It was almost as if Felicity took it better than he did. She had said it was simply hormones. She was a girl, he was a guy – they had been friends for ages and people always talked about them being a thing. It was only a matter of time before they ended up acting upon their more carnal urges.

And yet, here they were again. They had both just told each other that they had never felt anything more than platonic feelings for each other but here they were, faces inches apart. Felicity bit her lip, gulping as Jesse slowly moved forward to softly press his lips to hers. Her eyes fluttered shut as she kissed him back.

Jesse's mind wandered even further.

He snaked an arm around Felicity, pulling her small frame closer to him tightly. He soon forgot just who he was kissing as his other hand raked through her long hair. His fingers played with her loose curls and for a moment, he saw Andrea in his mind's eye. Jesse's heart raced even faster as he kissed down her jaw and to her neck, mumbling soft, "I'm sorry's" against her skin.

It was then when Felicity stopped. She placed a firm hand on his chest, trying to push him away. The more she pushed, the tighter he pulled. She whimpered quietly, finally shoving him back with enough strength to make him let go.

"Jesse!" she cried, shaking her head.

He snapped out of his daze, the image of Andrea disappearing in his head. His eyes snapped open and he stared at Felicity. She frowned, averting her eyes. It was obvious what had happened. He had thought that he was kissing Andrea.

"I-I… I'm sorry, Felicity… I thought…" he began.

At the very same moment, the doorbell rang.