Almost Part II
This is part 2 (duh) if anyone missed part 1 who would like it email me and i'll send it to
you. Hope you enjoy
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Note: None of these characters are mine. I wrote these story only
because I love the show
Situation: Jen and Dawson are broken up. Basically right after In the
Company of Men
The sky was ablaze with the setting sun. The town was a buzz with the
excitement of a busy Saturday, and everyone seemed to want to eat.
People crammed into the Icehouse for a delicious sandwich before
embarking on their evening activities. Joey was busier than ever, and
she hadn’t had a break in 3 hours, yet she didn’t care. Her heart was
full and free. She never had been happier and the cause of this
enjoyment was Dawson Leery. After their moonlight dance last night,
they left to go home separately. It wasn’t said but it was understood
that they needed to think about things. It didn’t take Joey long
though before she came to the conclusion that she wanted a lot more
than friendship. Humming, she went to take table 7’s order.
“Hey waitress I’ve been waiting an hour, and I’m beginning to get a
little pissed at the management. Serve me before I close this place
down with a hefty lawsuit.”
Joey turned around a smiled. “Hello Pacey. That was really funny. Can
I get you anything? The special today is the tuna sub sandwich. I can
get you a discount.”
Pacey frowned in disappointment. Usually when he caught Joey on a
busy day at work, all it took was one insult to send her into a
hilarious fit of antics that he received some twisted sense of
enjoyment from. He would have to try harder. “Well Joey I see that
you’re...”
“Oh Pacey can you hold on a sec? I have to take table 7’s order and
than I’ll be back so we can talk, okay?” and with that she bounced
over to take the order.
Pacey shook his head in discouragement. What was with Joey? She was
smiling and humming, but worst of all she seemed to be dancing
everywhere. What was making her so happy? This was not improving his
day. He looked up and saw her heading back. Okay he decided its time
to bring out the big ammo.
“Hey Pace! Okay now what were you saying?”
“Well I was just asking how Jen was? I mean the poor girl just broke
up with Dawson... of course I don’t think that they’ll stay apart. I
mean when you love someone ..well.. there’s nothing that can break
you apart.” That has to get her Pacey thought to himself.
“I total agree. People that are in love should be together.” Pacey
was shocked at Joey’s dreamy face and dazed smile.
“Okay I’ve had it Jo. I’ve tossed out some heavy hits and no
response. Do you call that fair?”
“Pacey what are you talking about?”
“Oh cmon. You’re dancing around humming, and Joey, you smiled when
you saw me.”
“So?”
“So?? The mere mention of my name causes you to shudder. I know. Its
what I strife for in life.”
“Pacey maybe you should get out more than” Joey rested her hand on
Pacey’s shoulder sympathetically.
Pacey vigorously nodded. “Yes that’s good. Now what’s next?”
“Umm nothing.”
Pacey shook his head and groaned. “I give up. I can’t believe its
come to this. Joey why are you so happy?”
“Can’t a person just be happy?”
“A person, yes! You, NO!!”
“Well if you must know, and even if you don’t I’m going to tell you
because I’m dying to tell someone.” She pulled Pacey over to a table
and sat down. “Last night Dawson and I had the most romantic
night.”
“Romantic?”
“Yeah we walked on the beach and just danced for like hours. It was
so perfect.”
Pacey couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Joey and Dawson? He knew
that Joey was totally crazy for him and Dawson had some hidden desire
too, but he never in a million years thought it would ever come out.
He couldn’t decide how he felt about it. “So are you like a couple
now?”
“I’m not sure but if last night was any indication than yes. I’m
going after work to talk Dawson about it.”
“And how do you know that Dawson felt the same thing? Maybe he was
thinking of Jen all through the dance.”
For the first time Joey frowned. She hadn’t thought of that, but now
that the thought was there, it seemed to grow with every second. What
if he had just danced with her to forget about Jen? What if he was
thinking about Jen right now? What if he was with her right now?
As if on cue Pacey further drove the stake through Joey’s heart. “Who
knows they could be making out in his room right now. I can see them.
‘I love you Dawson.’ ‘Oh me too Jen. I always loved you and nobody
else.’ “ Pacey finished in a soprano voice.
Tears came to Joey’s eyes but she fought them back. There was no way
she would give Pacey the satisfaction. She jumped up and grabbed her
order pad. “Like I said at the beginning, Pacey, can I get you
anything? A bottle of poison perhaps.”
Pacey watched her stalk off. He had succeeded in his attempts to stir
her up, yet the joy wasn’t there. Why had he deliberately pushed her?
He knew he was hurting her and he didn’t stop? Pacey slowly got up
and walked out of the Icehouse feeling for the first time in his life
guilty and ashamed of his feud with Joey.
“Okay if its heads then I date her. If its tails we stay friends.” A
coin flew up into the air and landed into a cupped hand tails facing
up. Dawson starred at the coin. Tails? Just friends? After last night
could he really do that? He had never had a more romantic night in
his entire dating life. Okay so maybe his dating life consisted of
three months but it had been a long three months. Holding Joey in his
arms with the wind blowing and the moon shimmering on the ocean had
been like a dream. It was just like an ending in a movie, but this
was real life. In a movie there wasn’t a day after filled with
questions that needed answers. It ended there. “Okay one more try.”
Dawson flipped the coin into the air.
“Dawson are you in here?”
He dropped the coin at the sound of Jen’s voice. He spun around and
sure enough there she was. “Jen? Hey what are you doing here?”
“Well I wanted to watch ET and who better to watch it with then you?”
“Jen you thought ET was a ridiculous movie that promoted unreality in
the minds of America’s youth. I really don’t think you wanted to
borrow it.”
“Well cmon a kid discovers an alien who teaches him life’s lesson’s.
Please life isn’t handed to you like that on golden platter. You have
to work to learn lessons.”
“Maybe you’re right, but we’ve established that wasn’t the reason you
came over here.”
“I wanted to talk.” She sat down on his bed. The very same spot that
Joey sat the morning he told her about his award.
“Stop it,” he murmured to himself.
“Sorry?”
“No not you. What did you want to talk about?”
“Well I was wondering why you didn’t tell me about your award?”
Dawson looked up at her face which was the picture of innocence and
trust. “I didn’t think you would care.”
“Oh Dawson I do. I realized that when Pacey told me. I want to be
part of your life.”
“Well we can still be friends. It may take awhile but we can...”
“NO!” Jen shouted
Dawson was taken aback by the force in her voice. “What are you
saying Jen?”
Jen reached out and took hold of Dawson’s hand. “I’m saying I want
another chance. I thought I would be happier on my own but Dawson, I
let Billy confuse me. You’re what makes me happy. I think we were
good together and we can be good together again. So what do you say
Dawson?”
Dawson looked blankly at Jen without a clue as to what to say. Jen
wanted him back? For days after they broke up that’s all he wanted
but now? He had feelings for Joey. Strong feelings that just weren’t
going to go away. He realized that Jen was still waiting for an
answer. He climbed off the bed and leaned against his desk. “I don’t
know Jen. I’m going to have to think about it. Okay?”
“Sure”
Jen left quietly and Dawson was once again left alone with his
thoughts. If he dated Joey, he would be happy because he was with the
girl he really cared about, yet he risked their friendship. If he
went with Jen, his friendship with Joey would remain intact but would
he be lying about his feelings for Jen? He looked around the room and
saw the coin laying on the ground. He went to pick it up and sighed
when he saw it. Tails. Just friends.
Joey ran up the steps of Capeside High and flew into the packed
hallways. Once again she cursed having a baby in her life. She had
woken up early to take a shower, but Alexander needed a bath before
they could take him to the doctor. So JOEY got to wait while
ALEXANDER enjoyed a peaceful hour bath. Her hair was wet, and she was
ten minutes late to school. Joey ran to class and slipped in with a
stern look of disapproval from Miss. Werther. She had wanted to catch
Dawson this morning and talk to him about Friday night. She had
worked up the courage to go over Sunday afternoon, but he hadn’t been
there so she left. Pacey’s words still echoed in her ears and she was
extremely nervous about talking to him. If only they had talked
Friday night things would be...
“Joey are you with us?” Joey looked up to find the entire class
staring at her.
“I’m sorry what?”
Miss. Werther sighed and wrote something in her black book. “Joey if
you insist on being late than I would think that the least you could
do would be to pay attention. Now what is the general equation for a
circle?”
Joey groaned inwardly. The day was not looking to bright.
“RRRRRRING!!” The final bell sounded and released Joey from her
grueling day. Just as she expected the day had been awful. After her
mishap in Algebra, she had fallen asleep in Spanish, forgotten her
history homework at home, and nearly burned down the room in
chemistry. The teacher required that she spend her lunch period
cleaning the room. She was ready to go home, but she knew one more
thing that she needed to be done. She HAD to talk to Dawson.
She walked down the hall practicing what she was going to say.“Dawson
we need to talk. no umm Dawson I think I love you. No that will scare
him off. Dawson I have strong feelings for you, ugh , what am I
sixty? This is pathetic. I’m pathetic.” She rounded the corner and
stopped. Sure enough Dawson was at his locker but he wasn’t alone.
Jen was right there with him.
“Okay Joey don’t freak they are still friends,” she whispered to
herself. But at that moment Jen leaned up and kissed Dawson on the
lips. Joey turned and ran down the hall nearly knocking Pacey over.
She didn’t stop though but kept running right out the door.
“Now what in the world got her so wound up?” Pacey shrugged and
started to walk down the hall. He turned the corner and saw exactly
what caused her to bolt like that. Jen and Dawson holding hands. Joey
must have seen them and ran. Pacey turned and ran out to find her. He
didn’t usually come to Joey’s aid but then again she usually had
Dawson.
Pacey looked down the beach and saw a lone figure huddled up in the
sand. He walked closer and sat down. “Mind if I have a sit?”
Joey lifted her tear stained face. “I’m really not in the mood to
trade insults Pacey so if you have any human decency you will just
leave me alone.”
“No I won’t because I’m your friend and you’re hurting. I want to be
there for you.”
“Since when have we been friends? All we ever do is fight and insult
each other.”
Pacey looked at shocked. “So you think we aren’t friends?”
“I assumed you didn’t like me anymore.”
“Joey I love to fight with you BECAUSE you are my friend. It may
sound bizarre but it’s the truth.”
“Oh” Joey placed her head back into her knees and starting crying
again.
“Joey I know what happened.”
She lifted her head up. “How?”
“When you ran out and I saw them together and I kinda pieced it
together. I’m really sorry Jo. I know how much that had to hurt.”
“I really thought that Dawson could like me. I was so stupid. You
were right Pacey.”
“No Joey I wasn’t. Look I don’t know what’s up with Jen and Dawson
but I know that Dawson did.. does have feelings for you.”
“Pacey forget it. He was probably thinking of and missing Jen. I was
just his body replacement until she came back.”
Pacey took his hands and placed them on Joey’s shoulders. “Joey you
listen to me. I am so sorry for what I said at the Icehouse. I was
totally out of line and none of it was true. I just felt really weird
about you and Dawson dating and sarcasm was my cover.”
“You don’t have to worry about me and Dawson at least that’s
finished.” And with that Joey broke into uncontrollable tears. Pacey
pulled her into his arms and just held her while she cried and cried.
The two sat there for hours while the sun set. Pacey thought the
tears might never stop, and he cursed Dawson for doing this to Joey.
Joey sat on the beach and watched the waves roll by. It was long into
the night and it had started to get cold. She wrapped her arms around
herself and tucked her legs into her T-shirt. After she had wet
Pacey’s shirt, the two just sat there until Pacey left to go home.
They hadn’t said much, but Joey did feel better just knowing that he
did care. It didn’t erase the hurt that Dawson caused by any
standards though. Nothing could erase that pain. A strong gust of
wind nearly knocked her over and she shivered in spite of her efforts
not to.
“Need this?”
Joey looked up to find Pacey holding out a sweatshirt. She took it
and pulled it over her head. She looked down at the logo on the
front. “Mommy’s little Angel?”
Pacey blushed bright red. “Dang it I knew I should have checked which
one it was. I’m the youngest child and she’s having a hard time
accepting my ascend into manhood.”
“No I think its sweet. You should hold on to this. You never know
when it’ll be all that’s left.”
“Yeah” Pacey always felt uncomfortable talking to Joey about her mom.
He always felt guilty because his mother was still alive.
“So what are you doing here?”
“I had a pretty good idea that you’d still be here so I called your
sister and told her you were at Dawson’s. It was getting cold, and I
thought you might need warmer clothing.”
“Thanks. What time is it?”
Pacey looked at his watch. “Around 2:30. Maybe you should go home.”
“No I have to talk to Dawson.”
“NOW. You’ll wake him up.”
“If I can deal with a broken heart, he can deal with a lack of
sleep.” She turned and walked in the direction of Dawson’s house with
steady determination.
“Good luck Jo”
Joey turned around and waved to Pacey. “Thanks. And Pacey?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for everything you did today. You were a great friend.” Pacey
smiled and started home while Joey headed toward Dawson’s house ready
for some answers and determined to get them.
part three coming soon.
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