Disclaimer These characters DON’T ACTUALLY belong to me. I DON’T ACTUALLY want any money for writing this and I DON’T ACTUALLY think the characters will EVER belong to me. Cept Cam. But ACTUALLY that’s all.
Notes: This storyline has been in my head and bugging me for ages. I saw it on a TV show and thought it was great! It probably works better on TV, but I don’t care. Why should I? I'm a fanfic writer. Do you THINK I have any standards?
“Guess what day it is tomorrow,” said Jessie. Cam shrugged.
“I dunno…Tuesday?” she suggested.
“No!” said Jessie. “Well yes, but…that’s not what I meant. Tomorrow it will be one year since me and James officially left Team Rocket!”
“No kidding!” said Cam, doing the ditzy girlie chat thing whilst sipping espresso. “Can you believe it’s been a year?”
“I just don’t believe we have a flat, AT LAST,” said Jessie. “And you have foam on your nose.” Cam quickly buried her face in a napkin. Trust Jessie to point it out so very…loudly. But it was O.K. Because they were friends. And had been for a long time. “…After all the trouble we had finding somewhere that wasn’t too expensive that we ALL liked. Meowth is probably the fussiest cat in the world…” Cam giggled. A bell tinkled as the door to the café opened and closed. Jessie turned around.
“Oh FINALLY,” she said. “How long does it take you to find a suitable jacket?!” James looked sheepish, brushing snow out of his hair.
“Hey, it was cold,” he complained. “I couldn’t risk going out without one, and that denim one was…”
“‘So last season’,” quoted Cam. “Am I right?”
“Am I really that predictable?” whined James.
“Yes,” they said.
“I guess I asked for that,” said James, sitting down next to them.
“One year tomorrow…” said Jessie, poking him in the ribs.
“Oww! You poke too hard!”
“You are such a wimp James,” said Jessie.
“Are you sure we should be discussing that here?” asked James worriedly.
“I do know about Team Rocket you know,” said Cam, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been your friend for what—? Nearly a half a year I guess.”
“But we could be overheard,” James pointed out. “We just got settled here. And the only reason we couldn’t stay at the last place we lived at was because they all started hating us.”
“There’s no one in the café but us,” said Jessie calmly. That was true. It was a tiny café anyway, only four tables, and the man in charge seemed to have fallen asleep at the counter.
“Dad’s shattered,” aid Cam, gesturing at him. The man gave a tiny snore. “He was up all last night waiting for a delivery. When you own a tiny place like this, deliveries are never on time, and if you’re not there the instant the truck arrives, they drive away again.” She sighed. “That really sucks.”
“Cheer up Cammi,” said Jessie. “We should be celebrating…let’s have a party!”
“A party?” said James, raising an eyebrow. “With three people?”
“Meowth too,” said Jessie stubbornly. “And why not? We can still have fun!”
“It’d take my mind off this place I guess,” said Cam. “James?”
“Will I get any peace unless I agree?” he asked. The two girls pretended to think carefully about it.
“No,” they said, smiling sweetly.
“Then what choice do I have?”
“That’s settled then!” said Jessie. And like people in a toothpaste advert, they gave each other big cheesy grins.
********************
“No way!”
“Aw come on Meowth, it’s a special occasion!” whined James.
“I don’t care if it’s da anniversary of you twos goin ta the moon! You are not havin’ your ‘private party’ here!”
“And why not?” asked Jessie angrily. “This is our flat unless you hadn’t noticed!”
“It’s Meowth’s too!”
“We paid for it!”
“Well you can’t have it, because I'm entertainin’ a lady friend of mine tomorrow evenin’, and I want da flat to be free of stupid humans!” And there was no way Meowth was giving in.
“Well I’ll just have to call the whole thing off then!” said Jessie angrily, hitting him in the head. “Thanks a lot Meowth!” Meowth just smiled at her and went to his room.
“…No, don’t call it off Jessie! You could both come over to my place!” said Cam. Jessie stared at the screen. Cam smiled back at her.
“Are you sure? Your dad won’t mind?” asked Jessie cautiously into the telephone.
“He’s out tomorrow night, on business,” said Cam happily. “I’ll have to stay up anyway, for deliveries of course…” Cam paused and rolled her eyes. “…so it’s no trouble!”
“O.K., well, if you’re sure…we’ll see you tomorrow,” said Jessie.
“Can’t wait!” said Cam, as the screen went blank. Jessie put the receiver back, feeling a lot happier.
James on the other hand, wasn’t happy. He was brooding again. He seemed to do nothing else these days. Everything had to be thought through with him, what coat to wear, what flat to buy, everything. Of course, it didn’t exactly help that he had very mixed up feelings about…certain aspects of his life.
Dating. Dating had always been a problem. Probably because he was a strong believer in true love, and none of the girls he met, although they were really lovely people, seemed to be The One. And now there was Camryn…well, he couldn’t deny feeling something for her. She was pretty and funny, and basically the perfect girlfriend. She also needed quite a lot of help with the café, and James was all too willing to give up his time. But then again…
James sighed and rolled over on his bed, fingering a sad and bedraggled looking Growlithe toy he’d won when he was seven. That fair had been the last happy memory of his childhood that his parents actually played a part in. Before they brought Jessiebelle onto the scene.
James started to get really depressed.
How could it be, that someone with the perfect features of Jessie could be so cruel and heartless? Sure, Jessie was violent, but she wasn’t mean. James never had understood why Jessiebelle was like she was. James’s mind drifted through his childhood…
“James? Are you asleep? I called for you at least three times,” said Jessie’s slightly grump voice. James didn’t say anything. Jessie sighed in irritation. “Dinner’s on the table when you feel quite up to eating it. And remember we’ve got the party tomorrow, at Cams’ place. Just make sure your hair doesn’t look quite so awful tomorrow.” The door slammed behind her. James sat up, the Growlithe toy tumbling to the floor. He sighed. Women.
********************
“O.K., let’s open this party…with a toast!” said James, who had sorted out his brooding, and his hair, and donned a smarter outfit in honour of their party for three. “To freedom!”
“To freedom!” chorused Jessie and Cam. Suddenly Jessie put down her glass and rummaged through her bag, groaning.
“I’ve forgotten our key to the flat…” she moaned. “I’ll have to go back and get it before Meowth’s ‘lady friend’ arrives. You don’t mind, do you?”
“We’ll be O.K. for a minute,” said Cam. “I'm sure we can entertain ourselves.” Something in her tone made James go slightly light headed. He told himself it was just the cheap champagne.
“Your hair looks so different tied up,” said Cam, in a chatty tone. “Was it Jessie’s idea? She mentioned how good you looked like that before.”
“She did?” asked James, bewildered. Jessie had complimented him?
“Yeah, she couldn’t stop talking about how much better it looked,” said Cam. “Why…didn’t she tell you?”
“N-no,” said James, spacing out for a moment. He shook his head and a strand of hair fell out of the neat ponytail he’d put it in.
“Here,” said Cam, reaching up and brushing it back into place with her fingers. “So…is my hair O.K. then?” she said, smiling at him.
“Beautiful,” said James truthfully. Cam had auburn hair, hair that always looked just that little bit wild. It complimented her smoky grey eyes perfectly. Her eyes looked slightly nervous.
“James?”
“Mmm?”
“Would you…I mean, would you like to…go out…” Cam seemed to be struggling to find the right words. James waited patiently, wondering what was so important. “…with me…some time?” finished Cam, who had started to turn a most intriguing shade of red. James did some very quick thinking. Cam was a very pretty girl and he liked her a lot, but had always thought of her more of a friend, but turning her down would hurt her feelings and maybe ruin a friendship he valued…of course, with classic timing, Jessie chose that moment to burst in. She took one look at their blushing faces and knew something was up.
“Why are you two so red?” she asked, sitting in between them.
“Just…exchanging embarrassing moments…” said Cam, averting Jessie’s gaze. Jessie knew instantly her friend had lied to her, but didn’t know why. She tried to change the subject, feeling uncomfortably that she was the one with GOOSEBERRY stamped on her forehead.
“Why don’t we put on some really loud music and get drunk?” she suggested, grinning at them, turning on the stereo and cranking up the volume. “Then we’ll forget embarrassing stuff and welcome a bright future!!!!”
“You make it sound like it’s New Year’s Eve or something,” laughed James.
“It is! It’s a new year for us James!” said Jessie. “Our future’s bright, tomorrow is white, and we still have tonight…blah blah, let’s dance!” Jessie pulled him to his feet and started crazy dancing to a funky Scissor Sisters tune. James joined in, looking back at Cam for just long enough to see her mouth, “I’ll call you.”
********************
The next morning, no one in the flat was feeling good. Jessie and James both had hangovers, and Meowth was still in his room, with the blinds closed and Alka-Seltzers on his bedside table.
“Considering there were only three of us, it was quite some party,” said James, drinking his black coffee. “And Meowth and his ‘lady friend’ must have had a good time too.”
“Spare me from that thought,” said Jessie, sipping from a similar mug. She paused, putting down her cup and stirring the dark liquid thoughtfully. “You and Cam…well, you got on very well last night.”
“Did we?” asked James, trying to act nonchalant. “I can’t really remember.”
“Alcohol is a sin,” said Jessie. The phone rang, saving James from more questions as he sprang up to answer it. The screen flashed up a small note: audio only.
“Hello?” said James.
“Hi James, it’s me,” said Cam’s voice.
“Cam!” said James brightly. Then he lowered his voice. “Is this about…you know…”
“Yes.” Cam paused. “I was hoping you might come with me to a new club. It’s just opened, a club called Moonlighters.” James suppressed a laugh. He could remember the TV show. “...After all, you seemed like a good enough dancer last night!”
“I'm not bad,” said James, trying to sound modest. “That sounds really good.”
“It’s a date then,” said Cam, sounding very relieved. “It…it is a date, right?”
“Of course,” said James, shrugging. “I’ll meet you there at about eight O.K.?”
“Alright,” aid Cam softly.
“Well…goodbye…” said James, wondering just what he was meant to say to her.
“Goodbye James.” There was a click as Cam put the phone down. James replaced the receiver and leant against the wall, trying to take in what had just happened. He had a date. He had a date. He had a—
“James?” asked Jessie, coming over to him. “Are you O.K.? Who was that on the phone?”
“Oh…um…no one,” said James distractedly. “Wrong number.” Jessie got a sinking feeling. That was twice in two days that her best friends had lied to her, and she knew it. She took his hand.
“Come and have breakfast,” she said, leading him back to the table, where James sat, feeling slightly guilty, and very confused.
********************
“Where ya going Jimmy?” asked Meowth. James groaned inwardly. He had been hoping to get away without Jessie or Meowth noticing.
“Um…a meeting…at work…very urgent…” said James, racking his brains for a better excuse and drawing a blank. “Gotta go, bye.” He made a very quick exit and practically ran all the way to the club. Meowth stared after him, wondering how he could be going to a meeting at work when he didn’t have a job.
When James arrived, Cam was already there. She smiled at him and asked him if he wanted to dance. He accepted, and they did mad dancing to yet another funky Scissor Sisters tune!! (can you tell I like the Scissor Sisters yet?! ^-~) Then, a slower Scissor Sisters tune came on. James looked at Cam nervously, trying to work out what to do next. He ended up slow dancing with her, although he couldn’t quite shake off the guilty feeling that had been with him all day. Jessie had said he seemed distracted and got very annoyed when he failed to notice she was talking to him. James was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he barely noticed that Cam had moved closer to him and was leant against his chest.
“Your heart is beating so fast,” she said over the music. Guilty feelings often do that to a person. Damn it James, stop feeling so guilty! he commanded himself.
We knew all the answers
and we shouted them like anthems
Anxious and suspicious that God knew how much we cheated
“Is it?” said James. “I must be nervous or something…I mean…”
“I know what you mean, I feel it too,” aid Cam. James’s feeling of guilt increased, now guilt that he was maybe leading her on. They danced in silence for a while, maybe an hour, to different funky tracks (yes, they were all by the Scissor Sisters). The time seemed to fly, and their eyes met every so often as they danced together. James felt like he was dancing through treacle. His mind seemed to be going in slow motion, so he was very surprised when he noticed it was gone half past ten.
“Cam, I have to go, Jessie will be getting angry waiting for me,” he said apologetically.
“I want to see you again,” she said.
“I'm always on the end of the phone. I’ll call you this time, if you like,” said James.
“I like,” she replied, smiling up at him.
“Maybe we should keep it casual? How about maybe, a walk somewhere? The park is pretty this time of year,” suggested James, trying to think of anything that wasn’t too romantic.
“A winter wonderland of our own,” said Cam. “I’ll see you on Saturday.” With that, she left him stranded on the dance floor.
********************
“James, are you feeling O.K.? You’re not eating much,” said Jessie. James nodded without looking up, playing with his fork. “Do you have a temperature?” persisted Jessie, feeling his forehead.
“I'm fine,” he insisted, pushing her hand away. “I just need to think about...stuff.” Jessie started getting angry. Meowth noticed this and quickly made his excuses and left the room.
“What...is...WRONG?” asked Jessie.
“For the last time, I'm FINE,” said James. Jessie exploded. (Not literally, this isn’t a comedy ^-^)
“DON’T YOU THINK I CAN TELL WHEN YOU’RE LYING TO ME?!” she screamed. “I am so...SICK of you avoiding me!” She looked a mixture of angry and worried, which looked so funny that James laughed.
“Jessie look, this is very sweet of you to be concerned, but there’s really nothing you should know about, O.K.?”
“Nothing I should know about?! What does that mean?!”
“It means drop it and leave it alone, because you shouldn’t be worried.” Jessie just sat there, refusing to talk to him any more. James shrugged and left the room.
********************
“James, will you please tell me what’s wrong already? You’ve been brooding all day,” said Jessie later when she’d calmed down. “I know there’s something.”
“It’s really nothing,” said James, sighing. Jessie looked him straight in the eye. “You know you can trust me.” James thought for a moment. He didn’t even know why he wasn’t telling her, it wasn’t like she’d had a problem before with him dating...although that might have been because she knew none of the dates would work out. But Cam was her best friend. James didn’t want Jessie to feel...lonely? Like a third wheel, a gooseberry. Like maybe Meowth felt sometimes.
“I know I can trust you Jess, it’s just...there’s nothing to tell. I'm fine,” said James. Jessie looked disappointed. She knew there was something wrong.
“If you’re sure.”
“When I'm not, you’ll be the first to know.”
********************
>cami_grrl: meet me in the park again, it snowed again last night
>
>tr_blue42: *sings* walkin in a winter wonderland
>
>cami_grrl: ur such a loon
>
>tr_blue42: i know can u believe it’s been a month?
>
>cami_grrl: i can’t believe it’s still snowing in feb! hav u told jessie yet?
>
>tr_blue42: maybe
>
>cami_grrl: u haven’t hav u?
>
>tr_blue42: i’m w8tin 4 the rite moment
>
>cami_grrl: u’ll hurt her if u keep lyin 2 her
>
>tr_blue42: i’ll hurt her if i tell her
>
>cami_grrl: no u won’t she’s fine with u d8in if u don’t tell her i will
>
>tr_blue42: I'm goin now, c u @ the park in 10
>
>cami_grrl: *mwah*
>
>tr_blue42: y r u laffin?
>
>cami_grrl: it’s a kiss noise!!!!!!
>
>tr_blue42: lol *mwah* back atchu
>
>cami_grrl: bibi jimmy
>
>tr_blue42 has signed off
“I'm going for a walk,” said James, taking his coat (leather this time, because I know Roy has fantasies of James in a leather jacket...I’m pretty sure in her fantasies he’s not wearing anything else either) off the peg and wrapping it round his cold and muscular body (Crawdie: Eevee, you’re in denial again...Eevee: Crawdie, you can invade my head and my emails but STAY OUTTA MY FANFICS!!! Crawdie: *cough* DENIAL *cough*).
“Come on Meowth, let’s go too, we could use the exercise,” said Jessie, calling to Meowth. James quickly thought of an excuse.
“A walk to...the chemist...for hay fever tablets,” he adlibbed.
“James, you don’t get hay fever, and it’s the middle of winter,” said Jessie. James added a fake cough and a sneeze.
“There’s a sale, I want to stock up while they’re cheap, my hay fever just keeps getting worse and it’s going to be a hot summer.” James realised he was babbling.
“I’ll still come,” said Jessie, raising an eyebrow.
“No really, you don’t have to,” said James, quickly escaping and shutting the door. Jessie glared after him.
“What is with him?! He’s been sneaking around me for the past month!” yelled Jessie. “I just don’t understand what’s wrong with him!”
“I never could understand what’s wrong with him,” punned Meowth. “This isn’t funny Meowth!” said Jessie, grabbing her coat. “I'm going to follow him, and clear this up once and for all.”
“That’s a really bad idea.”
“I have to know what he’s hiding from me!”
********************
(“Oh James devour me!!!” *giggle* Crawdie: What’s with you today Eevee? ...Eevee: I'm not sure, it must be something in the water...Crawdie: DENIAL)
As Cam waited for James to arrive she looked out over the deserted park. Despite the fact it was now well into February, snow still lightly covered the ground. She’d met and befriended Jessie here, almost a year ago.
And then there was James. James had always been something special. It wasn’t often you met a good friend who was as genuinely sweet as him.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Cam jumped, then grinned when she saw who it was.
“You’d need more than a penny,” she said.
“I can’t afford it, you keep them,” said James. “Sorry I'm a bit late, I had trouble getting away.”
“Jessie again?”
“How did you guess?”
“You need to tell her soon James,” Cam warned him. “I’ll do it if you don’t, and it’ll sound better coming from you.” They started walking, still talking about how they were going to tell Jessie...who was watching and following them from a distance, feeling hurt and betrayed that James had lied to her again, even though it was obvious he had. She watched them walking and chatting together for a while then decided she should join them. After all, they were her friends too. She couldn’t quite work out why they were meeting in secret. Well, she could, but it couldn’t be THAT. Yeah right. They proved it was by kissing just at that moment. Jessie turned away and ran all the way back to their flat.
********************
Jessie lamed into the flat and turned on the radio. As she fumbled in the cupboards for something alcoholic, she heard the DJ talking.
*Today on Kanto FM we’re talking about trust, and how people earn it and lose it. We’ve got a caller on the line...*
*Hi I'm Liz, and I really trust my friends, and they trust me, but recently I found out they were lying to me...I don’t know whether I can trust them again now, I'm finding it hard to talk to them again.*
To top it off, Cry Me A River started playing. Jessie turned it off and took out a bottle of vodka (Crawdie: Why is it always vodka?...Eevee: Naff off and leave me with my alcoholic dreams).
“Hi Jess...is that vodka?” aid James, looking at the bottle, and wondering if it was time to get out the playing cards again.
“No, of course not,” said Jessie, hiding the bottle. “Did you get your medicine?”
“Uh no, they were closed,” said James, going to his room. Jessie slammed her glass down in frustration.
********************
So James kept sneaking out to meet Cam, lying all the time to Jessie about where he was going and why, and Jessie spent more time listening to the radio about failed relationships. Meowth was concerned for them both but didn’t want to say anything. And James couldn’t help noticing that Jessie was beginning to get dark circles under her eyes, but when he asked her if she was O.K., she just stormed off. James felt so worried that he realised he couldn’t lie to her anymore, and arranged to meet up with Cam one last time.
********************
“So what did you want to talk about James?”
“I'm fed up of lying...to Jessie.”
“Then why don’t you just tell her like I told you to?” asked Cam impatiently, sipping her coffee.
“Because...I don’t want to hurt her feelings...maybe it would be better if we...if you and I...”
“Broke up?” said Cam.
“I-I really like you, but I just think that—”
“That Jessie is more important,” said Cam, smiling. “It’s alright James. I know she feels something for you, she was just taking so long to do anything that I thought maybe she’d got over it...but I guess it goes both ways, right?”
“I won’t lie anymore,” said James by way of an answer, kissing her on the cheek, and leaving the café.
********************
Later, James was fiddling with his Growlithe plushie again when he heard the radio playing in the kitchen.
*I fancied this girl in my class for ages but thought she didn’t like me—now we’re going out. I just wish I’d told her sooner.*
James heard a quiet click as Jessie turned the radio off. He looked at his toy.
“What do you think?” he asked it. “Should I, or shouldn’t I?” The toy gazed blankly back at him. He laid it on his pillow gently. “You’re right: what do I have to lose now? I’ll tell her.”
