Fireworks

By Claire


note: i did not creat these characters....blah blah...don't sue me....blah blah...just enjoy

summary: read Almost part 1 and 2 because this is a continuation.
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With each step that brought her closer to Dawson’s house, Joey’s
heart pounded loudly. She would rather do anything then confront him
about this, yet it was the one thing that she had to do. He had hurt
her so deeply that she actually felt the pain rise in her every time
she pictured Dawson and Jen in the hall. She stopped at the foot of
the ladder and looked up.
“I can’t” she said and turned around leaning on the ladder. She
looked out at the ocean and saw the spot where they had danced on the
beach for hours. He HAD felt something. She knew he did, and she
wasn’t going to just give up. With new determination, she climbed up
the ladder and crawled through the window. Dawson was asleep on his
bed. He looked so peaceful and innocent. She just wanted to reach out
and kiss and make him love her. Joey walked over to him and bent
down. She paused for a moment then threw him out of the bed. A
bewildered Dawson feel hard on the floor. He looked up confused and
saw Joey.
“What the heck are you doing Jo. It’s 2:30 in the morning!” Dawson
yelled as he jumped to his feet in self defense.
“I didn’t think that you deserved your beauty sleep.”
“Joey I don’t know what game you think your playing but I think
that... “
“No Dawson! You DON’T get to shout! I get to shout. I’m the one that
was hurt, and I’m the one that was left alone in the dark.”
Dawson flopped on his bed and hung his head. “I had a feeling it
might be about this.”
“What did you think Dawson? That I would go ‘Okay he’s with Jen
again. I guess our night meant nothing.’ and then walk off happy as a
clam?”
“Joey I’m sorry if I hurt you but we never made any promises”
Joey shook her head in amazement. “No promises? That dance was a
promise. You don’t need words to commit to someone. And maybe we
weren’t going out and maybe you had every right to go back to Jen but
the next day? And you didn’t even have the decency to tell me.”
“I didn’t know how to tell you Jo. I knew it would hurt you to much.
“So you decided to show me instead” Joey’s bitter voice echoed off
the walls.
“Keep you voice down Jo, my parents are asleep. And what do you mean
show you?”
“I saw you in the hall Dawson. You know next time you want to keep a
secret try not flaunting it all over the school Sherlock”
“I’m sorry you found out that way Joey. I really am but I’m in love
with Jen, and I can’t lie to you.”
“So you’re telling me that Friday night meant absolutely nothing to
you?”
“No that’s not what i’m saying. It was ... “
“Oh I see because Jen wasn’t there I was her backup. You can’t do
that Dawson. You can’t treat me like a spare key that you leave under
the doormat until you lose your real one. “
Dawson stood up and walked over to face Joey. “Okay Joey you’re going
to far now. I have never put you behind anyone. You’ve always come
first.”
Joey scoffed and backed away from Dawson. “Oh yea like the time we
were at the beach party and your famous last words were ‘I’ll be
right back with our drinks’. Where did I see you next? Oh that’s
right walking on the beach with Jen.”
“And who was it that I spent the entire evening taking care of while
my girlfriend was breaking up with me? Oh that’s right that was you.”
Dawson mocking voice was just as loud as Joey’s now. They were both
red-faced and glaring at each other when Mr. Leery walked in. He was
just as angry because the shouting had waken him up from a very
exotic dream involving an island, some crisco, and his wife.
“Would you to stop shouting!” yelled Mr. Leery.
“We’re not shouting” screamed Dawson.
“Yes you are and would you do it outside so I can sleep?” roared Mr.
Leery.
“If that’s what you want .. oh if its okay with Joey because I
wouldn’t want to put her behind anyone else in my life. She might
wake me up with a knife next time, “ bellowed Dawson.
“Don’t tempt me” scorned Joey.
“Outside NOW” Mr. Leery growled and pointed downstairs.
“Fine”
“Fine”
Dawson and Joey stomped down the stairs and reached the door at the
same time. Both grabbing the door they fought over the handle until
Joey let go and Dawson flew back onto the floor. Joey smiled smugly
and flounced through the door into the backyard. Dawson jumped up and
stalked after her muttering about the floor and how it was becoming
his personal friend.
“Fine” screamed Mr. Leery until he realized he was alone and that the
only noise now was him. He sheepishly looked around and whispered
“Good” and went back to bed hoping to fall into the same dream yet
spent the rest of the night in a completely uninteresting dream about
cows.
Joey started walking towards the dock to go home, but Dawson ran
after her and caught her arm. “Where are you going?”
“Home”
“We’re not done talking though.”
“Yes we are. You lied.”
“When did I lie?”
“You lied about your feelings. The ones that you expressed that night
were not directed toward me but the thought of Jen. I call that a
lie.”
“So that’s it you’re ready to throw our friendship away? Just because
of one misunderstanding?”
“Because of one LIE and yeah pretty much.”
“Well fine then go on.”
Joey turned and started stalking to her boat that was left at
Dawson’s from last weekend. “I’m going “
“Fine”
“Fine”
Joey rowed off and Dawson slammed back into is house. “Fine” he
muttered to himself. But things were definitely not fine because
almost every word he had so passionately screamed at Joey had been a
lie. He didn’t love Jen anymore and he did have feelings for Joey.
Strong feelings. He had convinced himself that getting together with
Joey would only ruin the friendship and Joey was the most important
person in his life. Getting back with Jen had merely been a desperate
attempt to forget Joey and it had been a pathetic one. Before Joey
had introduced him to the floor he had been dreaming about her. Joey
had said that he had used her to think about Jen, but the truth was
he really used Jen to forget about Joey. His attempts to save their
friendship may have been in vain though because Joey was enraged and
he didn’t know if they could work things out this time.


Pacey looked over the top of his shades as Melanie Crocker passed by.
“She has a nice set of legs man,” Pacey muttered to himself. Yes this
was the life he decided. He was sitting on the bench outside school
eating cookies and casually checking out the scenery under the alias
of doing his homework. He turned around to see the south side of the
school and saw a woman walking toward him.
“Man of all the beautiful babes on this school the only one that
approaches me eats men for dinner.”
“Well hello to you too. I take it the friendly ‘I’m there for you’
Pacey is gone. No more special treatment?”
“Well Joey, I figured by now you and Dawson had kissed and made up..
and I do mean that literally.”
Joey plopped down next to Pacey and stole one of his cookies. “Then
you figured wrong. Now were not even friends.”
“Yeah and that will last like one day.”
“No I don’t know if I can be his friend. He hurt me too badly and I
just can’t forget it.”
Pacey shrugged. “So hurt him back.”
“And how do I do that? This state kinda has a law against murder or
assault.”
“Well we know he still has feelings for you ...”
“No he ...”
“SO all you have to do is find a boyfriend and make him jealous.”
“Oh really Einstein and just where am I to find a guy that won’t mind
being used has a revenge element. Contrary to popular belief I don’t
think any guy is that desperate or stupid.”
“I’ll do it.”
Joey turned her head to look at Pacey in disbelief. “You do fit the
requirements but Dawson will never believe it. HE’S not stupid.”
“Ah but Dawson’s heart will rule out his logical side and BA BOOM he
realizes his true feelings.”
Joey looked uncertain but the image of Dawson’s face when he saw her
with someone else was to powerful to turn away. “Okay but we are not
going to make a big deal about this. Dawson finds out and only him
got it?”
A wicked smile crept into Pacey’s face. “Of course Joey my sweet, but
I merely wanted to give you this flower as a symbol of my love in
hopes of being rewarded with a kiss from my fair lady.” As Pacey
shouted his last sentences the entire school yard stopped to stare at
what seemed to be the newest couple on campus.
“What are you doing blubber lips?” Joey questioned angrily.
“You wanted Dawson to find out and we all know that the quickest way
to tell someone a secret is to let it ride through the gossip mill.
So what about that kiss now?”
Joey glared and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. As she did she
whispered in his ear, “I am SO going to kill you.”
Pacey laughed and pulled the reluctant Joey to school holding her
hand all the way.


“Pace dude can I talk to you for a sec?”
Pacey turned around and saw Dawson running down the hall to catch
him. All right its fun time he thought to himself. “Sure man what
about?”
“Are you and Joey umm dating?”
Pacey widened his eyes and covered his dropped jaw with his hand.
“How did you ever find out?”
“Well Jen told me after Kelly told her after Cliff told her after
Melanie told him. Its not that big a secret.”
Pacey groaned and shook his head. “We wanted to keep it a secret. You
see Dawson after your fight with Joey she came over to me and we
started talking. It turns out that we both had pretty strong feelings
for each other and it just all came out. No hard feelings.”
Dawson could believe it, Pacey and Joey? Had it not been last night
that Joey had awaken him at 2:30 to yell at him for not loving her
and now she was dating his best friend? Well his guy best friend. Had
she gotten over him that quickly? Did he mean that little to her? He
had definitely not forgotten her. No this was what he wanted he told
himself. He wanted to be friends and only friends with Joey. “No man
that’s cool. I think its great.”
“Yeah anyway since its all out in the open why don’t we all go out on
a double date tonight?”
“Well what about Joey is she still mad at me?” Dawson hoped that she
still was because that meant that she really did care.
“No she’s completely over it. She realizes that you were right. In
fact she wants to thank you because after all if you hadn’t turned
her down we would never have gotten together.”
“Who got together”
Pacey and Dawson turned around to see Joey standing there with a
confused and irritated look on her face.
“Well I was just telling Dawson about us since its going around the
gossip mill. Can you believe it? After everything that we did to keep
it a secret.” Pacey put his arm around Joey and smiled innocently
down at her. “And , oh you’re going to love this, I invited them on a
double date with us. Isn’t that great cupcake?”
Joey couldn’t believe her ears. She looked at Dawson who was staring
at her to detect any signs of deceit. This was a test, and a gruesome
one at that. “Perfect DARLING.”


“I can’t believe you did that Pacey. A double date? What were you
thinking... oh wait I forgot you don’t.”
“Joey this is perfect. Dawson was totally flipped when I told him.
Seeing us together is going to be the killing stone. “
It was seven o’clock and they were on their way to meet Dawson and
Jen at the bowling alley. The foursome was going to bowl and then
stop by the icehouse for dinner.
“Well what if I crack and let on that’s its a con. I’m not completely
in control of my emotions when it comes to Dawson. And how am I going
talk to him when I’m still furious with him. And what happens if we .
. .”
“Jo would you relax. We’re here to have fun. There they are now lets
go and remember you love me.”
“Oh well that should be easy.” Joey smirked as Pacey grabbed her
hand. This was going to be an eventful night. She could feel it.


So far the night had gone surprising well. Joey was actually able to
talk to Dawson a little bit and she hadn’t killed Jen although she
was about to kill Pacey. He kept teases her by calling her all those
nauseating names like Pumpkin and Sweetpea. He was enjoying her pain.
The game had gotten very competitive with Dawson and Jen against
Pacey and Joey. Pacey was the best bowler, but his talents were
evened out by his inexperienced partner. Joey just was not good at
bowling. She kept misjudging the distance and ended up with gutter
balls. This was the last frame, and Jen was up to bow, and Pacey was
looking at the scorecard. Dawson went over to sit next to Joey. “Hey
there”
Joey looked up and managed a small smile. “Hey”
“I just wanted to see of things were cool between us?”
“Sure I mean I owe you. Because of you me and Pacey got together.”
Dawson felt his heart break into a thousand pieces. Joey really was
in love with Pacey.
“That’s great Jo. I’m happy for you. You and Pacey look great
together and deserve each other.”
Joey felt her heart break into a million pieces. He didn’t care at
all. This was waste of time.
“Hey Jo its your turn to bowl, “ shouted Pacey.
Joey who was still upset from her talk with Dawson stormed up grabbed
a ball and threw as hard as she could down the lane. She got a
strike. She couldn’t believe it. For the first time since Friday all
thoughts of Dawson left her. Joey jumped up and down shouting for
joy. She had never gotten a strike.
“All right Jo. We won the game.” Pacey ran over to her and hugged her
spinning her around. He placed her on the ground still holding onto
her. Their faces were inches away. Pacey looked into Joey’s eyes and
brushed her hair behind her ears . He suddenly had this desire to
kiss her. She was staring back up at him with her big beautiful brwon
eyes. He leaned down slowly and wrapped his arms around her. Her
hands went around his neck. Their lips touched and fireworks began.

Joey couldn’t believe it. She was kissing Pacey!! How did that
happen? Did this mean she was over Dawson? Did it mean that she like
Pacey? She was extremely confused except for one thing. She was
really enjoying kissing Pacey. It was almost like fireworks.

Dawson glared at the kissing couple in fury. What right did she have
to kiss him? She was his or at least she had been before he had
messed things up. What a fool he had been to ever think that he would
ever stop loving Joey Potter.

Jen smiled completely oblivious to everything. She thought they made
a cute couple.


Later at the snack machine, Pacey pulled Joey back into a secluded
hallway. “Look I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“No its okay. I enjoyed it really.”
Pacey looked up shyly. “You did?”
“Yeah. I’m so confused about everything in my life yet I know that I
enjoyed kissing you.”
“So what does this mean Jo.”
“I don’t know. I wish I did but I don’t.”
“I don’t want to forget this and let you run back to Dawson, Joey. I
really care for you.”
Joey sighed and reached out for Pacey’s hand. “I can’t make any
promises Pacey. I still care for Dawson a lot, but I’d be lying if I
said I didn’t have feelings for you too. Why don’t we take things
slow and see where they go okay?”
“Okay we’ll go slow starting with this.” And he leaned down and
softly kissed her on the lips.

Walking hand in hand back to the bowling lane, Pacey and Joey stopped
to grab their balls to return. Joey grabbed hers and Pacey grabbed a
nearby one.
“That’s my ball man”
Pacey looked up to see Dawson grabbing for the ball. “What difference
does it make?”
“The difference is that its MY ball and I had it first.”
“Well I have it now so go find another ball. You should have kept
this one if you wanted it.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t stolen it then I could have kept it.”
“No dude if you hadn’t left it then you’d still have it.”
“I didn’t leave her. I needed to figure things out and I didn’t
expect my best friend to come up and steal her away.”
Joey realized that this wasn’t about the ball and stepped in to try
to break things up. “Guys come on don’t fight.”
But they ignored her and Dawson pulled back his fist and slammed into
Pacey’s face. “Ow my nose. Oh not again. You’re dead meat Leery”
Pacey jumped on Dawson and the two began to punch and kick each
other. Jen and Joey were screaming at them to stop. A crowd formed as
the fight continued. The manager reached out and pulled the two
apart. “Hey cool off outside guys. And don’t ever come back. I don’t
need fights breaking out in my bowling alley.” He tossed Pacey and
Dawson outside. It had started to rain while they had been inside and
the two off them stood staring at each other as the rain beat down
upon them.
Jen and Joey walked outside with their stuff. Jen who until recently
thought that Dawson loved her throw her stuff at Dawson and walked
home in tears of hurt and rejection. Joey turned to look at her
bruised friends and began to cry. “Look at us. I never wanted
anything like this to happen. I hate you both for ruining all our
friendships. We can never EVER go back to the way things were and its
all your fault.” She ran off by herself leaving the two guys that
she cared so deeply for alone and with no idea of whom she would
chose.

Who will Joey chose and who is the new person that appears in time to
wreck everything? Find out in Fireworks Part 2

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