XV
March 14th, 2003 – Albuquerque
It had been raining for the past two days.
The thing about living in the desert was that it rarely rained – but when it did, it poured. The entire state of New Mexico had been experiencing heavy rain for the past week or so and it had only recently hit Albuquerque. Felicity felt like she had been boxed inside a cage as she watched the water droplets violently hit the window panes. Her history teacher had been droning on with no end in sight. The majority of the class was either stuck in a catatonic state like Felicity or knocked out cold, snoring behind propped up textbooks, like Jesse.
Suddenly, the announcement bell chimed, loudly resonating around the room. Jesse immediately bolted up, eyes wide and mouth gaping. Felicity snickered as he blinked himself awake, looking around frantic. The moment, they made eye contact, she grinned widely, trying to conceal her laughter. Jesse shot her a brief scowl before the vice principal's voice spoke clearly though the PA.
"Hello students, it is currently 11:20 AM. As you are all aware, we have been experiencing extreme torrential downpours in the area. The weather forecast is calling for more rain later on in the day. Therefore, the board has decided it would be best to send you all home for the day as a safety precaution. I repeat, classes have been cancelled for today. Thank you."
A loud cheer erupted from the students as they all began to hurriedly pack their things. Felicity slowly got up, slipping her textbook into her bag as she felt someone clap her hard over the shoulder.
"Long weekend, bitch!" Jesse exclaimed, hiking his backpack over his back, swinging his keys around his finger.
She chuckled.
"Yeah, well it's too bad it's raining like hell outside. It's not exactly optimal weather to want to go anywhere."
The two of them slowly filtered out of the room with the rest of the students, squashed close together in a sea of people. Jesse seemed a lot more excited than usual. Felicity figured he was just glad that they had been let out of school early – but then again, it was hard to be sure these days. Things were sort of strange between them lately. They had been close for a long time and that was a fact, but lately Jesse had been distant. She was worried about him. In addition to that, Felicity was still reeling from learning that they were moving out of town after graduation. While she still hoped that her father would reconsider, her optimism was surely taking a hit as the days wore on.
While the rest of the students began exiting the building, Felicity stared out of the door windows. Her eyes flickered to Jesse.
"Do you think we can make it to your car without drowning?" she questioned, lips quirking into a small smile.
"Fuckin' doubt it," he answered. "Here, gimme your umbrella and I'll bring the car around front."
Felicity blinked.
"Is Jesse Pinkman... Being… Dare I say… Chivalrous?" she said incredulously, snickering a bit.
"Ugh, c'mon, don't give me that shit. As if you'd rather get soaked to hell running to the car with me," he said rhetorically.
"Alright, alright, calm down," she soothed, rummaging through her bag to produce a light purple umbrella. "Okay, Sir Jesse, go forth and fetch my carriage."
Jesse rolled his eyes, taking the umbrella from her before closing in, his lips so close to her ear that she could feel his breath on her skin. Felicity narrowed her eyes, having grown impervious to Jesse's pseudo-seductive antics.
"Of course I'm sure you get wet around me all the time," he whispered, a smirk evident in his voice.
Groaning, Felicity shoved him to the side. Had she been anyone else, her cheeks would have been burning red, but after being subjected to this kind of dialogue for most of her life, it was only natural that she was used to it. That being said, Felicity still found it a bit annoying.
"Just get the damn car," she hissed, watching as he threw her a sly smirk before popping the umbrella open and speeding out the door.
The rain battered the windows as they slowly drove down the wet Albuquerque streets. Usually, they would have already had something planned to do with their friends that weekend, but like the past few weeks, Jesse had been inexplicably busy.
They sat listening to the sound of the rain and soft music playing in the background.
"You want to come over to Emilio's with me? The rest of the guys are going to be there too," Jesse suddenly piped up.
She quirked a brow.
"Huh? Yeah, sure, sounds cool," she agreed, slightly surprised. "What are we going to do?"
"Uh, nothing really. Just hang out and shit. Been a long time since we did anything," he said passively, taking a turn that led to Emilio's house. "His parents are out of town too so that'll be pretty sick."
Felicity pursed her lips as they turned onto a residential street, rain still pouring from the sky.
Emilio's house was a modest sized two storey home. He was the younger of two brothers and was the only one still living at home. They rarely spent time at his house simply because it was more convenient to hang out at the other guys' places since they all lived much closer to each other as well as their school. When Jesse and Felicity arrived, they were met by Christian and Brandon. They soon learned that Pete was busy raiding the kitchen and Emilio was in his room getting something. The boys performed their man-ritual of fraternal handshakes and mumbled "'sups" while Felicity took the time to give them all quick hugs as she slipped off her soggy shoes.
They all plopped down in the living room as Pete entered, a bag of chips and a large bottle of coke tucked under both his arms.
"Hey, guys. Hey Jesse – yo, man, it's been a long time – what've you been up to?" he greeted, setting down the food as he dropped himself down onto the sofa.
Jesse smirked.
"You'll find out soon enough, dude," he replied, reaching over to rip open one of the bags.
They all sort of just sat around, the television playing quietly in the background. Pete and Brandon were stuck in a conversation about some MMO game that they had been into lately while Felicity chatted with Christian about school. Jesse remained silent, drumming his fingers on the table, eyes locked on the stairs as if he was waiting for Emilio to join them. His wishes were soon granted as the slender boy thumped his way down the stairs. Once again, they all exchanged pleasantries and went about with their conversation. Even though everything was calm, Felicity couldn't help but feel as if something was off.
They eventually broke out the X-Box as well as bottles of cold beer. As usual, Felicity did better than any of the guys had expected, later admitting that she had been skipping on school work to play multiplayer at home as she cracked open her second bottle.
"Ooh, little miss goody two shoes not doing her homework! The world must be coming to an end!" Brandon teased, looking up from his spot on the floor to reveal the blunt that he had been busy rolling.
Emilio did nothing to stop him as his lit up and took a long drag, expelling smoke from his mouth.
"Ugh, cry me a river," she retorted, whacking him over the backside of his head.
He yelped as the joint was plucked out of his fingers by Pete who took a hit of his own. Felicity was never keen on smoking, whether it be pot or cigarettes. However, she was completely fine with alcohol – as a matter of fact, she had a pretty high tolerance for the stuff. The living room soon reeked of marijuana and beer as the boys became less and less interested in the game and more interested in an idiotic conversation comparing different animal hybrids. Felicity soon found herself just as disinterested in the game as it became apparent that no one was taking it seriously and took it upon herself to shut off the console and sit back to listen for the winner in the battle between a shark/giraffe hybrid and a lion/scorpion hybrid.
Every so often, she would eye Jesse who, for the entire evening had been content to just sit quietly and listen. The thought alone was slightly unnerving considering Jesse had always been more of less of the ringleader of their little troupe.
"Man, I don't think it can get any better than this," Brandon mumbled, sprawling out against the sofa. "Beer, games, hanging with my boys – and Fissy – smoking loud pot, I'm living the life!"
Christian and Pete both chimed in in agreement as Felicity rolled her eyes at the sound of the juvenile nickname. Her ears perked up as she heard Jesse snicker in the background.
"Yo, man what the hell are you laughing at?" Brandon asked, sounding a little more offended than he should have.
"Nothing, yo. Just thinking like… What if you could get a better high than just weed?" he inquired, smirking.
"Well, that'd be fucking sweet, dude, duh," Brandon answered, rolling his eyes.
"So… What if I told you we could get you some of that shit?" Emilio suddenly said.
"Huh, like what kind of shit?" Pete asked, sounding extremely interested.
"Can you bitches keep a secret?" Jesse questioned, his blue eyes meeting Felicity's specifically.
"Obviously, man! We're your best bros! You can trust us!" Brandon chirped, obviously the most interested out of the group.
Felicity did not like where this was going. She set her beer bottle back down onto the table and brought her knees to her chest.
"What do you think, Emilio? You think we should let 'em in on our little secret?"
Emilio simply nodded.
It was then when Jesse shoved his hand in one of the pockets of his ridiculously oversized hoodies to produce what appeared to be dirty looking glass. Felicity felt her breath catch in her throat.
"Yo, what is that shit?" Christian asked.
"Meet our finest product – grade A crystal with a top secret ingredient, something that gives it an extra kick!" Jesse exclaimed.
"Crystal meth? Holy shit, Jesse, where did you get your hands on that kinda stuff?" Brandon gaped, attempting to grab at the bag. Jesse simply pulled it out of his reach.
"Emilio and I… Well, let's say we've gone into business together. This shit practically pays for itself," he explained, smiling proudly.
Felicity frowned. So this was what he had been up to all this time? He had been cooking meth? She felt anger bubble up inside her. Was he demented? Did he not know what kind of shit he could get into? She continued to watch as he pitched his miraculous product to the rest of the guys.
"And you say you can get a better high with this stuff?"
"Fuck yeah, man. It's like nothing you've ever tried before – just load it up into a pipe and smoke it; it's like… Fifty hundred times better than weed, yo," Jesse explained.
There was a pause.
"Well, are you going to let us try some?" Brandon asked, his excitement evident in his voice.
Jesse looked to Emilio for approval. When he nodded, Jesse simply grinned.
"Alright, this batch is on the house – like… A free sample, deal?"
"Deal!"
It was within a few brief moments that the guys began lighting up pipes of crystal. Felicity remained seething from her spot on the couch. No one had really paid any attention to her until Jesse called her out.
"Yo, Fissy, you alright? You gotta try this shit," he hollered, holding out his own personal pipe.
She shot him a glare.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure."
With that, she pulled him out of the room and into the kitchen.
"What's up?"
Felicity took in a deep breath.
"Are you fucking insane?" she cried, face red with anger.
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"What the fu-… The meth of course, you god damn moron! Do you know how much shit you'll be in when someone catches you?"
"Relax, Jesus Christ! No one's going to catch us," he retorted, clearly out of his head.
"Do you really think that? Look, I was fucking fine with you selling weed or whatever, but come the fuck on. This is crystal meth. Do you even know what this kind of shit can do to you? What will your parents think? What will your aunt think?"
Jesse's hand curled into a fist.
"Who fucking cares what they think?" he shouted, "They don't fucking care about me, alright? Why do you think they just shipped me off to my aunt's place? I can do what I want, okay? You're not my mom or some shit so mind your own business!"
Felicity opened her mouth to speak but Jesse cut her off.
"And like, where do you get off thinking you can tell me what to do in the first place? Who do you think you are? You think you're fucking better than me and you have like… This complex or something where you think that you're doing me this huge favour by nagging at me all the time – but hey, newsflash! You're not! Okay? You're really fucking not."
She felt her mouth run dry.
"All you are is some spoiled rich bitch who doesn't know her place. Get with the program, Scott, you don't fit in with us – you never have and you sure as hell never will. So do us all a favour and leave us alone and stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."
Felicity wasn't sure if she wanted to kick his ass or break down crying.
She chose to do neither as she turned heel, took her things and left.