One warm evening, Jessie, James and Meowth set in their HQ apartment with their friends Jennifer and Jeremy. Jessie and Jennifer talked in the living room, Meowth was sleeping near them, and James and Jeremy sat in the kitchen, doing one of their favorite things…eating.

“You are SO in love with her” Jeremy said as James missed his mouth with his spoon for the tenth time because he was gawking at Jessie.

“Yeah right. And you actually have IQ” James said, not taking his eyes off Jessie.

“’Cmon, look at you! You’re SO smitten over her!”

“Earth to Jeremy! Get real! I mean, that’s the most…hi Jessie, how are you doing?” He said sweetly as Jessie passed.

“As usual” she answered and walked back to the living room.

“What was I saying? Oh yeah, I’m SO not in love with her!”

“Whatever. Anyway, it’s never going to happen”

“What?”

“You and Jessie”

“’Cmon! Me and Jessie? Jessie and me? That’s so stupid, I mean…why not?”

“Because you waited too long to make your move, and now you're in the friend zone.”

“No, no, no. I'm not in the zone.”

“James, you're mayor of the zone.”

“I'm taking my time, alright? I'm laying the groundwork. Yeah. I mean, every day I get just a little bit closer to... “

“Priesthood! Look James, I'm telling you, she has no idea what you're thinking. To her you’re just a friend. If you don't ask her out soon you're going to end up stuck in the zone forever.”

“I’m just waiting for the right moment. Why are you looking at me like that? What? Now?”

“Ya-huh! What’s messing you up? The moonlight? The garden of roses that you carry everyday? The fact that it’s Spring- the official mating season, or the fact that- you need no facts! Like they say- Just do it!”

“I don’t know…I don’t think that I’m ready”

“Then you’ll never be ready! You’ll just realize the chance that you’ve missed when she’ll marry some other guy. But hey, no pressure”

“Well, in that case…I’ll do it. But just for you!”

Later that evening…

“So James, why did you take me for a walk?”

“Can’t I?”

“Well, we have guests sitting and waiting for us in the apartment, that’s for one thing”

They both stopped near a tree.

“Look Jessie, I wanted to tell you something for a long time…”

“Oh my god…”

“Well, you’ve probably guessed it…”

“Oh my god! James, look at that cute little Eevee! It’s stuck right on that tree!”

“UGH! Jessie, that thing jumped on me! Oh! Get him off, get him off!”

“James, stand still!”

“Ouch! He’s scratching me!”

“Would you just stop jumping like a goat for a second?! See, that’s better. Now we can find the Eevee’s owners. They must be in one of the apartments near this place”

“I’ll pass”

“Why do you look so sad?”

“I’m…tired”

James came back to his and his friend’s apartment after an hour and a half. Jeremy met him at the entrance.

“What took you so long?”

“I was just…taking a walk”

“Well, you obviously didn’t tell Jessie how you feel”

“How do you know?”

“Come and have a look for yourself”

James and Jeremy entered the apartment, James was thinking about what could possibly be wrong. In the living room Jessie and Jennifer were talking with someone. That someone was a gorgeous teenager, about their age. He looked a lot like…Angel from ‘Buffy’.

“Hi Jess, hi Jennifer. Who’s…who’s he?”

Jessie turned to James, “Oh, that’s Jean Paul. Jean Paul this is James. James, this is Jean Paul”

“ So, um... where did Jean Paul came from?”

“Oh... France, I think. He doesn’t speak much English.”

“No, I mean tonight, in the HQ. Suddenly. Into our lives”

“Well, it’s kinda funny… the Eevee turned out to be Paul’s Eevee”

“Huh…that is funny…” He turned to Jeremy, “and Jessie keeps touching him.”

“Bonjeour” Paul said and shook James’s hand. James tried to shake Paul’s hand tightly, but…

“Oohhhh!” James whined to Jeremy, “he has the strongest handshake I have ever seen! I think that he broke my hand!”

“I’ll get you some ice”

After Jeremy went to get some ice James whispered to himself, “What hurts even more than my hand is…my heart”

When James got back to the living room with a bandage on his hand, he saw Jean Paul holding hands with Jessie.

“Grr…this makes me sick” He grumbled under his breath.

“Jo le dervua le petite belle Jessie visouri” Jean Paul said to Jessie.

“Blah blah blah, blah blah blah...blah blaaaaaah....” James mocked him.

“Oh Jean Paul, that’s so funny!”

“What did he say that was so funny?” James asked her.

“I have absolutely no idea.”

“That’s…that's classic”

“What happened to your hand?”

“Nothing. I was just…you know…you know…nothing”

“What’s wrong James, did little Jean Paul hurt yer hand?” Meowth mocked James; James glared at him.

“No! If you must know, I was…fixing something”

“Like dinner? Ouch! James! Dat hurts!”

James decided to talk to Jean Paul. ‘Maybe I can talk him out of dating Jessie’ he thought.

“Jean Paul. Hi.”

“James!” Jean Paul was delighted with himself, and James wished he could choke him.

“Listen. Um, listen. Something you should... know... um, Jessie and I... we're kind of a thing.”

“Thing?”

“Thing, yes. Thing.”

“Ah, you... have the sex?”

James’s face got the color of a tomato.

“No, no, no. Technically the... sex is not... being had, but that's... see, that's not the point. See, um, the point is that... Jessie and I should be…err…together. You know, and if you get in the...um...”

“Bed?”

“No, no, that's not where I was going. Er…if you get in the... way, of us becoming a thing, then I would be…well, very sad.”

“Oh!”

“Yeah! Okay?”

“Oui”

“So you do know a little English.”

“Oui... a leetle”

“Do you know the words crap weasel?”

“No.”

“That's funny, because you know, you are a huge crap weasel!”

“Merci!”

The whole gang sat in the living room when suddenly…

“What’s wrong?” Jennifer yelled as the lights went out.

“Don’t worry. It’s probably just a little blackout” Jeremy answered as the apartment became pitch black.

“Kinda... spooky without any lights” Jessie commented.

“Bwah-hah-hah!” Meowth laughed a maniacal laugh.

“Mwha-ha-ha!” Jeremy imitated him.

“Hah-hah-hah!” Jennifer chimed in.

“OK, guys, guys? I have the definitive one. Mwwwooooo-hah-hah...” James didn’t had a chance to finish. The lights came on again and he saw Jessie and Jean Paul kissing.

After two weeks…

“Eugh! I take it anymore!” James said as he watched Jessie and Jean Paul kissed in the living room.

“What does he have that I don’t?” he asked Jeremy.

“Do you want to hear it by alphabetic order or by categories? Ouch! James, why on earth did you hit me?”

“I don’t need to hear this right now! I need to get rid of him!”

“There isn’t anything you can do”

“Maybe I can wrap him like in a box or something and ship him back to France. There’s GOT to be a solution!”

“Could you ship me to France instead? I heard that there are some pretty girls there. Ouch! James, that hurts!”

“FOCUS! There’s gotta be a way…I know! Maybe if I’ll find some bad stuff about him Jessie will see what a jerk he is and dump him! All I need is to dig up some dirt about him…”

“I don’t know”

“’Cmon Jeremy, think. There’s gotta be something!”

“I’m telling you, there’s nothing bad about him! He’s been here for like a month, a month and a half top. He doesn’t even know how to do some stuff here properly… why do you have that look in your eyes? I don’t like that look.”

“I have an idea. A pretty damn good one, if I might add”

“James, you’re scaring me”

“Loverboy over there is the only one who needs to be scared”; he rubbed his hands together. “Be afraid, be very afraid”

“Okay Jean Paul. You’re new here, right?”

“Moiua? Oui.”

James and Jean Paul sat in the living room. Jean Paul looked confused, and James looked as though he just won a million dollars.

“Me is going to help you”

“Help?”

“You know, help. Like 911”

“Uh! 911!” Jean Paul made a gesture with his hands that said ‘why?’

“Because you are new. You don’t know things here”

“Things? Ke things?”

“Many things. Like…like how making the boss like you”

“Is it…big?”

“Big? Oh, you mean important. Yes, it’s VERY important. VERY big.”

“How do I make boss like mua?”

“I help you. We friends”

“Oui!”

“You don’t know much English, do you?”

“No. Leetle English”

“Me going to teach you how to say things so the boss will like you”

“O.K. Teach mua”

There was a knock on Giovanni’s door.

“Open” Giovanni said in his usual stern and gruff tone.

A teenager walked through the door.

“You’re the new recruit. The one from France. Well, what do you want? I don’t have a lot of time. It’s almost time for ‘Opera’.”

The young man hesitated for a while, and then in he said in a friendly tone mixed with a heavy French accent,

“I think that you are a big asshole!”

“I still can’t believe that Jean Paul did it!” Jessie said a day after the ‘incident’ as she, James, and Meowth sat in the living room.

“He had da nerve ta go to da boss and cursing him like dat. He got kicked out of Team Rocket almost immediately”

“I heard that he got back to France. That’s so bad. He was SO cute! I wonder what made him say that thing to the boss”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was just crazy” James tried very hard not to laugh, “You never know.”

After a week…

“Do it, do it now!”

“What?” James looked at Jeremy with a surprised look.

“Tell her how you feel!”

“What? Now?”

“Yes. Now”

“But…but…”

“What kind of excuse is it this time?”

“You, Jennifer, and Meowth are here”

“So? Can’t you take her for a walk?”

“No. You remember what happened last time, don’t you? This time I’m taking the home advantage this time. No French guy could take her here. All I need from you is to get lost”

“O.K. I’ll think of something.”

“Now. Think now, before I’ll lose my courage again”

“Okay. We’ll leave you two lovebirds alone”

“James, why did Jeremy Jennifer and Meowth leave?”

“Because…Jessie, I need to tell you something important”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s something good. Jessie…I…”

Someone opening the door interrupted James. It was yet another teenager about their age.

“Jessie. I still love you,” he said.

“We have GOT to start locking that door!” James said loudly.

To Be Continued…

Author’s Comments: So, didja like it? The plot here is similar to ‘Friends’. You know, the whole Rachel and Ross thing in the 1st and 2nd seasons. I think that Ross and Rachel are going to end up together for sure- I mean, it’s SO obvious! Well, wait for the second part, it’ll be coming soon enough!