Act of the Heart
Okay, BBBIIIIGGGG THANK YOU to Matahari for suggesting one of the ideas I use in this part. It was a really good idea, thanks!!!
Read the rest of this series before you read this or you won't get it.
Act of the Heart
"Ahhh, Anderson Crawford. Of course you would be showing up now," Joey said frustratedly.
"Ahhh, Joey... I guess I don't know your last name, do I, Joey?" Anderson crossed his arms.
"Do you really want to?" Joey shot back. Anderson softened.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do. And where'd you get a name like Joey?" Joey looked surprised.
"You want to know my name?"
"That and why you lied to me would be interesting."
"My name's Josephine Potter, but never call me by my full name or I will beat you down. Either Joey or I guess you could call me Jo."
"See?" Anderson asked, rather amused. "Blunt honesty. Now was that so hard? Next question, Joey Potter, why did you make me like a girl named Debra Carson so much?" His arms were still crossed.
"Why are you here?" Joey sighed.
"Ah, ah, ah. You answer my question, I'll answer yours."
"Look, Anderson, you're great. You really are. But when I saw you with that violin on that boat... You're just way out of my league. I mean, you have this eloquent name. How would Joey have sounded compared to that?" Joey explained.
"That covers the name, but what about the rest? You're obviously not from New York because Boulé doesn't exist anymore and it was never where you thought it was," Anderson said.
"Well, remember when I said I'm not Cinderella? I'm more like the town charity case. My mom's dead, my dad's in jail, and I live with my older sister, her boyfriend, and my baby nephew. I wanted to be Debra with this idealistic life and this great guy who wanted her, just for a little while." Joey really thought she might break down right there from the stress.
"Okay, one more question," Anderson uncrossed his arms and took her hand. "Why didn't you call me?" Joey looked at him like he was crazy.
"Why would you have wanted me to? You knew I was lying and you said honesty's important. Besides," Joey looked at the ground, "I couldn't afford the long-distance charges," she mumbled.
"Look," Anderson said sweetly, "I guess I understand why you lied to me about... well... everything. In a way, I'm kind of flattered. I really liked you, Joey. I guess I still do. Otherwise, I wouldn't be talking to you anymore." He gently took her other hand in his. "I'm willing to try again if it's with Joey Potter and not Debra Carson. No more lies?"
"No more lies," Joey blushed. She suddenly pulled her hands back. "No, how can this work if you're only here for a day again?"
"Wait until you hear this," Anderson smiled. "Over the weekend, some of the seniors were playing a practical joke and flushed cherry bumbs down the toilet in someone's room. What they didn't realize is that all the toilets in the dorm and school are connected. All the plumbing has to be redone and some of the classrooms got flooded. By the time everything is fixed, it will be time for Thanksgiving vacation! Since they had no extra facilities, they had no choice but to give us the time off. They'll probably add it on somewhere, but until then they sent us home. My parents liked this place so much that we'll be vacationing here for a month. I could also visit you on weekends and I could call you."
"I guess that takes care of that and explains why you're here," Joey commented.
"Yeah," Anderson said, putting his hand up to stroke her cheek. "So, who was that guy? He looks familiar."
Dawson. Damn. Joey hadn't thought about him in almost four minutes. "That was my best friend, Dawson."
"You guys seem to be fighting. Want to talk about it?" Anderson moved a little closer.
"No," Joey said.
"Could I convince you otherwise?" Anderson said, leaning in to kiss her.
"No," Joey said, pulling back. "Look, I have to go. Come to the S.S. Icehouse tomorrow afternoon. It's my sister's restaurant. I work there."
"Okay," Anderson said, looking kind of disappointed. "'Till 'morrow, then. Nice meeting you, Joey."
"Nice seeing you again, Anderson," Joey smiled. Anderson watched her walk away. Joey's tears finally started falling when she knew she was out of his sight. She jumped into her boat, rowed out to the middle of the water, pulled her oars back into the boat, and just floated. "Now what am I going to do?" Joey said, her chin in her hands and her eyes red and puffy from crying. "I know that I love Dawson. I like Anderson, in fact I'm very fond of him. But I love Dawson. And he doesn't love me. Not like that," Joey choked up. "I have to give Anderson a chance. I want to be loved. He's not asking for much. Just a chance." Joey sat there for a long time, trying to empty her mind and keep it that way for a little while of peace.
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"Dawson! I love this song. Can we please dance?" Joey begged him.
"Yeah, sure," Dawson said, a little surprised. Joey wanting to dance and slow dance at that? Joey liking a romantic song? Maybe he was starting to rub off on her. She dragged him out onto the dance floor. Joey put her arms around Dawson's neck as he put his arms around her waist. They were shoulder to elbow length apart as Des'ree started singing:
Pride can stand a thousand trials,
The strong will never fall.
But watching stars without you,
My soul cries.
"Joey's looking at me kind of strangely," Dawson thought. "Almost like... no, that's silly." Dawson quickly dismissed the thought.
Heaving heart is full of pain.
Oh, oh, the aching.
"Why is Joey so damn good to me all of the time? She's right, last time I did drag her to spy on Jen and I'm sure she had a miserable time. And then she left and came back for me," he couldn't even bring himself to look her in the eye anymore. His eyes rested on Jen. "I babbled on about Jen for hours and she didn't utter a word of protest most of the time. Why are you so good to me, Joey? Joey?" Dawson had turned back to her and noticed how watery her eyes were. He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong....................
'Cause I'm kissing you, oh.
I'm kissing you, oh.
...............what he didn't expect is that her lips would be closing it. He was completely shocked.
"J--Joey..." Dawson stuttered.
"Shh. Dawson, please," Joey whispered with tears in her eyes. "Let me have the song. If nothing else, let me have the song." She pulled his lips to hers and kissed him again. Dawson could feel the passion, but he was too numb to respond. He couldn't speak; he could barely move. All he could do was continue swaying back and forth to the music and feel her kiss him again and again. It wasn't a bad feeling, Dawson just hadn't let it sink in yet.
Touch me dear, pure and true.
Gift to me forever.
'Cause I'm kissing you, oh.
I'm kissing you, oh.
The violins and the piano continued on as Joey put her head on Dawson and started kissing his neck and crying on his shoulder. They pressed together. Dawson felt worse with every tear that she shed. He closed his eyes and tried to make sense of it all. He felt the tenderness of Joey's touch as she ran her fingers through his hair.
"She's not asking for much," Dawson thought, starting to make sense to himself again. "She's done so much more for me. If this will make her happy, even for a moment, then I'll do it. I'll make her happy." He saw the pain in Joey's eyes right before she leaned into to kiss him again. "I can make her happy," he thought again, "Even if just for a moment." He started to respond to Joey's kiss. His lips danced with hers as the rest of them stopped. He didn't expect to get so drawn into it, though. His tongue met hers and he couldn't seem to control it anymore.
Joey suddely pulled away. She looked into his eyes and stroked her cheek with her hand. Then she said the three words he wasn't prepared for: "I love you," she whispered. Dawson froze up again, but Joey didn't feel him stiffen. He lost himself in the warmth of her next kiss.
Where are you now?
Where are you now?
'Cause I'm kissing you.
I'm kissing you, oh.
"This has to stop," a part of him said. "If you want to make her happy, don't play with her mind like this. She doesn't deserve it. What she feels for you is obviously a lot stronger than you thought." Dawson didn't know what to do. He didn't know how he felt. He was hopelessly confused. The only thing he didn't want to do was let Joey go. He didn't want the spell to break. He wanted to protect her from whatever was going to happen next.
Joey suddenly broke free of the embrace. Dawson didn't want to face reality. He didn't know what to think.
"I'm so sorry, Dawson," he heard Joey say. He opened his eyes to reality to see Joey looking more sad and helpless than he had ever seen anyone look before.
"I'm so sorry." He wanted to hold her, to make it go away. He wanted to stop the tears, but she was backing away from him. He realized that he had caused the tears and he wouldn't be able to stop them. Not yet.
Joey ran out of the building. Dawson just stood there in a daze.
"Hey, watch it!" Dawson was almost knocked over by a guy dancing. Dawson hadn't even noticed that the next song had started. He slowly walked off the dance floor, as if in a trance, got his jacket, and walked home the long way.
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Dawson was laying on his bed with his hands behind his head reviewing the events of Saturday night. "You should never given her hope, stupid. Why'd you have to be so convincing? Was it guilt? How could you let it get so intense if you never wanted to be more than friends? Did you? Did you?" Dawson didn't have an answer to his own question. He just wondered when everything got so complicated and when he couldn't avoid making decisions like this anymore.
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OK, I hope you liked it. Please send me feedback if you did. Actually, send me feedback even if you didn't. Part 6 is coming soon!