XVI

September 11th, 2010

"You could've just bought a cake, you know," Antonio quipped, passing over a carton of eggs to Felicity. She plucked two out and shook her head.

"Oh, c'mon. I'm better than a store bought cake," she retorted, cracking the eggs into a large bowl. "Gimme some credit."

"Alright, alright, but I don't know, don't you think this is a bit messy?" he cringed.

It was already late in the afternoon and Felicity had spent a good chunk of her day helping Antonio set up for the party. After they had moved furniture around and set out tables for food and drinks, she had informed him that it was Jesse's birthday in no less than three days. As a matter of fact, it had been Tony's idea to get a cake for him but it was clear that he had not expected Felicity to become set on baking one herself.

"Have you ever baked a cake before?" she asked.

"No."

"Well then I'll let you know that this is all worth it, trust me. I mean sure, I could've gone for the boxed shit but like I said, give me some credit. It's a labour of love."

Antonio rolled his eyes and watched as she slowly added the dry ingredients to the bowl.

"Love you say? So, what, you do you love him? You've never baked me a cake before," Tony remarked.

Felicity snorted.

"Ugh, please. You sound like Lila. We're just friends, alright? Oh, god, are you jealous?" she asked incredulously. "Never thought I would see the day."

"Me? Jealous? Of course not. Just curious. Anyway, I'm the one who's got to work with you for what, two years now? So I believe it should be him that's jealous," he replied slyly, a low chuckle escaping his lips.

"Hah, that's three years, actually. And isn't there supposed to be some sort of rule against fraternizing with your co-workers? My boss no less," Felicity shot back. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure Alex is interested in someone else, not that it matters to me."

"Mm, well if that is the case, then it seems that we'd broken it ages ago," he said, a smirk appearing on his face.

They had attempted to date when they had first started working together but it soon became blatantly obvious that Antonio was no good with commitments. From then on, they had never been anything more than friends with benefits, regardless of Tony's apparent advances.

"HR is going to give you an earful," Felicity scolded, chuckling. "Oh, wait, we don't have an HR department."

Tony laughed, turning her around to face him, planting his hands on either side of the counter beside her, locking her in. Felicity instantly remembered how Jesse had her in the same position only a few nights before. She felt her entire body seize up for a split second before she felt Antonio's lips on hers and his hands loop around her waist. That was all it took for her to relax. Unlike with Jesse, she knew that Tony wasn't thinking about anyone else. Unlike with Jesse, the kiss was gentle. Unlike with Jesse, she knew that she could let it go as far as she wanted it to go. While she hated to admit it, the whole incident with Jesse had been a huge blow to her ego. She knew better than to think that he would ever have feelings for her but it was still a little upsetting to know that he had been thinking about someone else who was probably a million times better than her.

He pulled her closer, lips trailing down her jaw and to her neck.

"…The cake," she mumbled, tilting her head to the side.

Tony didn't budge.

She caved.

"I guess we're just going to buy one."

. . .

Meanwhile, Jesse found himself sitting on his balcony, a cigarette dangling between his fingers. While he had initially been excited to attend this party, a part of him was stuck thinking about all the bad things that could happen. First off, he was still unsure what was going to happen with him and Felicity. She had seemed more or less fine when she dropped him home but he wasn't stupid. Secondly, he was unsure if he was ready to meet new people. What if they recognized him? What if he said the wrong thing? And even if no one managed to figure out who he was, how could he possibly even begin to trust them? He had caught an incredibly lucky break with Ed and Felicity – but his luck was bound to run out sooner than later.

He was still unsure if he even deserved any of this. After all he had done, here he was with a house all to himself and a chance to leave everything behind him and start over fresh. Jesse kept thinking about all the people in Albuquerque who were stuck with the consequences of what he and Mr. White had done. It was hardly fair. His mind traced back to his parents. Maybe they were glad that he was finally out of their hair – that's what they wanted all along, right?

Putting out his cigarette, he slipped back inside and flopped himself down on the sofa and flipped on the television. Quickly switching past any news channels, Jesse let himself get distracted with some mid-day cartoon. For a moment, he let himself believe that he was back in Albuquerque, just wasting the day away in his old house. Maybe he would call up Skinny Pete later – or maybe go meet up with Wendy. Jesse's itched for a good hit of something – anything. But then he snapped back to reality. There was no way he could even begin to think about drugs. They had been his undoing and they would undo him again if he let them.

By the time Jesse peeled himself off the couch, the sun had already gone down. Felicity would be by any minute and he was still stuck in a t-shirt and flannel pants. He rubbed his sore eyes and meandered over to his room to change into some decent clothing. Jesse threw a leather jacket over a simple t-shirt and paired it with a pair of black jeans. He gave himself a once over in the mirror and raked his hands through his hair. At the very same moment, he heard a sharp knock at the door.

Felicity stood idly as she listened to the sound of someone rustling inside the condo. Eventually, the door cracked open, revealing a tired looking Jesse.

"Hey," she greeted, offering him a small wave.

"Hey," Jesse repeated, inching out of the apartment.

"You're looking pretty good," she commented as she straightened out his jacket.

She eyed him up and down, letting out a small 'hmph' of approval before turning heel and walking back towards the elevator. Jesse narrowed his eyes and locked the door behind him, following after her. He breathed an internal sigh of relief, noticing she was back to her old self.

"How's your day been?" she asked as the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

"Eh, pretty boring. Just sat around really. I need a computer or some shit," Jesse answered, watching the doors close.

His stomach turned as they start their descent to the ground floor. Felicity pushed past him and out of the lobby. She slipped into the passenger seat an unfamiliar black sedan and it wasn't until Jesse got into the back seat as well that he realized that Antonio was in the driver's seat.

"Alex! How are you doing?" Tony asked, quickly looking over his shoulder.

"Uh, yeah pretty good… Hey, where is this party anyway?"

"Tony's place," Felicity answered flippantly, giggling a little.

Jesse held back a scowl and slumped further into the leather seat. This was surely going to be an interesting night.

Once they arrived to Tony's condo, they instantly hopped in an elevator to the top floor. The penthouse. Of course he would be rich too. While Jesse had previously decided that Antonio wasn't too bad of a guy, he still couldn't help but once again feel jealous. He was obviously pretty successful. Jesse couldn't even hope to dream of having what Antonio had.

His suite was large, surrounded by windows that showcased the dazzling city. Everything was sleek and clean with black leather furniture and dark wood tables. He had a large television accompanied by a surround sound system that put Jesse's old one to shame. Music blared throughout the room so loudly that he could feel it under his skin. The suite was dimly lit, the people who were already there simply milling about, dancing, drinking and picking off small pieces of food off a long buffet table.

"Welcome to the party, Jesse! I should introduce you to some people, maybe," Felicity suddenly said.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, I'll be back, I have to say hello to a few people," Tony interjected, squeezing her hand lightly before departing in the opposite direction.

Felicity turned back to Jesse, a small smile on her face as she dragged him along.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Jesse whispered under his breath.

"Yeah, yeah, it'll be fine. They're all pretty nice people. Don't worry about it. Anyway, they're all a little hazy on my history so you don't need to sweat making some shit up if you can't find the answer to it. Just don't forget so you can tell me later. It'll get easier, trust me," she reassured.

He muddled over her words for a few moments.

"Hey… About yesterday-" he began.

"This isn't exactly the right place to talk about it but I'm not upset, alright? Just leave it at that for now," she answered quickly.

Jesse knew that there was no use in pressing the issue.

They waded through the sea of party goers to There, Jesse saw three guys sprawled out on a sofa, red cups and food in hand. In addition to them, were two girls, one he recognized as Lila along with someone else.

"Alex, meet Tyler, Ryan and Louis. They work at the bar with me. You've already met Lila, but this is her friend Maria," Felicity introduced, pointing out each one of her friends.

Tyler was a lanky looking guy with chin length brown hair. He looked up and nodded in Jesse's general direction between going back texting on his phone. Beside him was Louis who had a wad of food in his mouth but managed to mumble a hello, sending pieces of food flying from his mouth. He was also quite slender with dark skin and a bald head. Ryan was caught in the fire of food and whacked his friend on the head before wiping off the remnants of food off his pants. He was short and stocky with short brown hair and green eyes.

"Felicity! You never told me that you were inviting Alex to the party!" Lila squealed, rushing over to hug him as if she had been friends with him all his life.

Jesse had the wind knocked out of him as he slowly moved to pat her back.

"It was sort of a last minute thing," Felicity quipped.

"Well I'm glad! Maria, meet Alex," Lila repeated tugging her friend over to him.

Maria was a petite blonde with light blue eyes and pale skin. She wore a short black dress and held a cup of what looked like orange soda in her hand. She waved shyly and giggled a little.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you!" she exclaimed, grinning.

"Nice to meet you too," Jesse said, sort of feeling out of place in this group of friends.

"So, dude, what's up? How do you know Felicity?" Louis piped up, his mouth now unobstructed.

Jesse panicked for a split second before the answer came to him.

"Family friends," he answered quickly.

"Huh, well shit, that's pretty neat. Hey, why don't you have a drink yet? C'mon, bud, I'll take you over to the keg," the other man offered, getting up slowly as he picked his own cup up off the table.

Jesse quickly glanced at Felicity who nodded before turning to talk to Lila. Seeing as he had no choice and this was a party, he followed the taller man towards the food table where all the drinks were set up.

"So you two go back, eh?" Louis suddenly asked.

"Yeah, sorta – I mean she like… She moved away when we were kids so I don't really go back that far," Jesse admitted, deciding to steal a line from Felicity. "Our moms used to do that Tupperware party shit, y'know?"

"Oh, okay, okay, I feel you. Well, that's pretty cool still. She's pretty cool, too. I mean like, Felicity's head honcho at the bar so she isn't in except on really busy days but she doesn't act like a huge bitch about it or anything," he laughed, filling up his cup at the keg.

"Huh… Didn't know that," he mumbled.

Jesse had just figured that she was just a bartender but then realized it sort of made sense considering how close she was to Antonio. He wondered just how much he really knew about her and her life. He followed in Louis' suit and plucked a cup off the table to

"Mmhm, but hey, what about you? What do you do?"

"Uh, well I'm sort of unemployed right now," Jesse explained.

"Ah, I see. That's a bummer man, but c'mon, this is a party, let's have a good time, yeah?" Louis exclaimed.

Jesse scanned the room, suddenly feeling the party's vibe flow through him. He looked at the cup of beer in his hands and let the music make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He watched the sea of people ebb and flow together to the beat of the music. Suddenly transporting back to the big party he threw ages ago. Jesse let himself relax. Louis was right. This was a party. There were drinks, music and girls all around. No one knew who he was. He could do whatever he wanted to.

He felt a smirk grow on his face as he brought his cup to his lips. Jesse took a long swig and laughed.

"Hell yeah, bitch! Let's fucking party! "