Eye to Eye
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, etc.
Rating: R
Last time: Pacey and Julie get closer, both physically and emotionally. Jen comforts Joey after she calls Anderson and asks him to meet with her and he reminds her that he loves her. The next day, Joey finally owns up to Anderson about cheating on him with Dawson, and Anderson berates her for taking his virginity from him and then treating him so cruelly. She tries her best to explain her actions and her take on their relationship to Anderson, but while he decides to take the break-up calmly, he is left seething.
Author's Note: It's been ages, and I feel rusty on the writing front, so send me feedback with any comments or suggestions you may have!
Eye to Eye
It wouldn’t budge. In fact, it was locked. Joey put her back to the wall and leaned feebly against the side of the house. She looked up at the window again, contemplating climbing the ladder once more to make sure. Nah, that would be a silly thing to do, she thought. Dawson had locked the window against her. The last time he had done that was years ago, when he found out she and Pacey made fun of his desire for Spielberg bed sheets and didn’t speak to her for a whole month. Shit, shit, shit, Joey thought, looking straight in front of her. Breaking up with Anderson was not going to even compare to how painful talking to Dawson was going to be.
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“Pacey, it’s almost 6pm. Your parents are totally going to be home soon,” Julie said.
“They’re going out to dinner. Don’t worry!” Pacey kissed her arm as he spoke.
“Well, being topless with the looming threat of accidental exhibitionism does do that to me,” Julie said matter-of-factly.
“I’d think it would be kind of sexy,” Pacey grinned. He moved even closer to her to cup her right breast in his hand. “And these are definitely worthy of being exhibited.” He kissed her on the lips.
”So you don’t mind sharing me?” Julie asked, frowning just a bit.
“Don’t be silly, Julie. We’re in my room, the door is locked. I finally get the privacy to take your shirt off completely for the first time… I’m not in a rush to share.” He looked at her seriously. “I really am enjoying laying here, facing you, feeling your chest on mine… feeling you skin against mine.”
“You’re being uncharacteristically romantic, Pace. But then, you seem to do that a lot with me. I like it, too. Feeling you.” She pulled his face to hers, kissing him gently and entwining her hand in his. He put his other arm behind her back and slowly rolled on top of her. With the window closed and the door shut, no one heard the Witters’ car doors slam ten minutes later.
”Pacey, I got a letter from your school today,” Mr. Witter said as he knocked on Pacey’s bedroom door and opened it without waiting for a response, as usual. “It’s from—oh my God!” Pacey and Julie were still fully dressed from their waists down, and Pacey was laying on top of Julie so that his father could not see her bare breasts. They both yelped, and Pacey clumsily pulled his blankets out from under them in a successful attempt to shield Julie’s nudity.
“I thought you locked the door,” Julie whispered through clenched teeth.
“I thought I did, too!” Pacey responded the same way.
“What is going on here?” Mr. Witter bellowed. “No, no. That’s a stupid and completely obvious question. Let’s try this again. Pacey, unhand her and stop making unwanted advances!” Pacey defiantly continued to hold her and the bundle of blankets to him, though looking genuinely hurt.
“Unwanted advance?” His eyes regained their usual mischievousness. “Nah, that’s not my style. I just turn on the Pacey charm, and then all the ladies always want me.”
“Glad to know someone does,” Mr. Witter growled. He turned around, closing the door and facing it. “Julie, put on your shirt,” he demanded. Julie gave Pacey a frantic look. She had no idea where they had thrown it. Only her bra was within arm’s reach. Pacey spotted it nestled between his wall and lampshade, but neither dared to get up and get it. He grabbed his shirt off of the floor next to the bed and handed it to Julie to put on instead.
”Decent yet?” Mr. Witter asked loudly, crossing his arms while still facing the door.
”Yes,” Julie squeaked. Mr. Witter whipped around.
“What do you think you are doing here?” Mr. Witter asked looking Julie squarely in the eye and paying no heed to Pacey. “I was wondering why you were driving down so much. You have so much potential. You are smart and nice and beautiful, and you’re wasting all that by gallivanting around with someone who is failing history! You could do so much better! You should be dating a fantastic guy who is worthy of you.”
”Now, just a minute, dad. I am in the room, you know, and it’s up to her who she wants to date…” Pacey protested.
”So you neither deny that you’re failing history or that you aren’t good enough for her?” Mr. Witter looked at him for the first time since coming into the room. Pacey tried to return his steely gaze, but found himself forced to surrender. He looked down at the floor.
”No, sir,” he said quietly.
”That’s what I thought,” Mr. Witter remarked. “Julie, I expect you’ll leave within the hour. I’ll call your father and tell him you should be back home soon.”
“Why didn’t you stand up to him?” Julie glared at Pacey after his father had left the room. She stood up and went to lock the door. Pacey remained seated on his bed, looking forlornly at Julie’s shirt, still suspended against the wall by his lamp.
”You might not want to forget to bring that home,” Pacey said, briefly motioning to it. “Or you might want to take my shirt home and leave yours here because I kind of like it there. It adds color to the room.”
”Stop avoiding the question, Pacey.” She crossed her arms and continued to watch him from the other side of the room.
”Well, I am failing history. There’s no denying that. I forgot to intercept the mail today.”
”You don’t think you’re good enough for me?”
”Sometimes…” Pacey trailed off. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Sometimes when people tell you something enough, you start believing it is true.”
“What about all the times I’ve told you how wonderful you are?”
”Well, you won’t be able to tell me that so much anymore. We won’t be allowed to see each other again once you leave,” Pacey’ s face contorted slightly. He patted the bed to motion for Julie to sit down. She did, and he put his arms around her and buried his face in her shoulder.
“Pacey… do you really think our fathers are going to stop us? You really think I’d be subservient enough to let that happen? I’m not concerned. What I am concerned about is that you seem to think that I’m better than you. I don’t think that, and I really wish you wouldn’t either.”
”I’m just saying you’re smart and nice and beautiful. That’s all.”
Julie let the topic drop temporarily and held Pacey in her arms for a short time before she had to leave.
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Joey closed the blinds and stood in front of the bed, smiling her biggest smile at Anderson. Her hair was perfect, her makeup was perfect, her skin flawless. And her clothes… she wore a silk black robe that Anderson had given her for one of their many anniversaries. She let the robe slide down her shoulder somewhat to reveal a pretty black lace bra with a little red flower in the middle. Anderson lustfully eyed Joey. He was wearing silk, too. Blue silk boxers. In fact, everything in the room was silk, including the drapes and the sheets. Anderson lit candles, confident that he would use the condoms in his drawer that night. He laid Joey down on his bed, letting her robe fall to the floor. It sat in a heap on his cashmere carpet, where her bra and panties soon joined it. Anderson kissed down her body, stopping on her inner thigh. His tongue slowed to a leisurely pace as he pushed her legs further apart and--
Dawson’s train of thought came to an abrupt halt.
”I want this to be as realistic as possible,” he murmured, “but it can’t be because I’ve never—I don’t know what it feels like or tastes like or…” Dawson shook his head and tried again.
Anderson stood up to light candles. Within a minute, the entire room glowed brightly. Joes oohed and ahhed as rose petals rained down from the ceiling. “You look ravishing,” Anderson smiled before Joey began to coax him back to bed. She put her arms around him, but chose to leave his boxers on. “Do you ever think about Dawson this way?” Anderson asked. “Do you ever want him like this?”
”Dawson?” Joey laughed disbelievingly. “No, nonono, I’d never want to make love to him. Now, make me hot. Make me hot and do me, Anderson.” They slipped under the blankets before Anderson’s silk boxers flew out. Joey moaned, and Anderson put on the condom, got on top of her, and began pounding her in a few fluid motions. Within minutes, they were both screaming each other’s names, about to produce a simultaneous, roaring climax and—
“No, no, no, that’s all wrong!” Dawson exclaimed. Her first time wasn’t like that, Dawson thought. It couldn’t be… they weren’t old pros. That’s what I get for having my closest sexual encounter so far be porn… He looked glumly at the water. Trying to get used to the idea of Joey and Anderson wasn’t working so well, and that still only covered half of his problem. He was still seated in the same position when a shadow passed by the lamppost next to his bench.
“Dawson?” Pacey asked, a bit surprised.
”Oh, hey, Pace. Take a seat.” Dawson motioned to the bench. “What are you doing out so late on a school night?”
”Running away from home,” Pacey rolled his eyes and heaved a big sigh.
“Sure you are.”
”I’m going to mean it one of these times, you’ll see.”
”What happened this time?”
“The usual. Dad caught me and Julie making out, not fully-clothed, he told Julie I’m a loser and she’s not so she can’t see me anymore…”
”Julie over on a school night. You knew that was some risky stuff.”
”Well…” Pacey trailed off. “It is getting harder to stay away from her.”
”What did your dad have to say about the not fully-clothed part?”
”That didn’t go over quite so well. In fact, that’s kind of why I left. It’s not fair, you know? If it was Doug, he would have gotten a ‘hey, Dougie, she’s so hot!’ and a short lecture on learning to utilize locks better."
“I can’t imagine your father saying ‘she’s so hot!’” Dawson laughed.
”Well, it would assure them he wasn’t gay, so I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Pacey was silent for a moment. “They aren’t going to keep me away from her.” Dawson looked at Pacey somewhat sympathetically.
”Have you had sex with her yet?” he asked.
”No,” Pacey replied, “I haven’t known her well for very long, really, and I really care about her. I don’t want to screw things up.” His expression became thoughtful. “What are you doing out so late, anyway?”
”Torturing myself,” Dawson muttered.
”How so?”
”I’m replaying over and over in my head what it must have been like when Joey lost her virginity to Anderson,” Dawson announced glumly.
”Why would you do that to yourself?” Pacey asked, shocked. “Oh God, Dawson, that really is torturing yourself. I demand that you stop!”
“Well I would,” Dawson said slowly, “but being somewhat inexperienced myself, I haven’t really been able to get a realistic take of the scene.”
”You have to give up playing director. You can’t script Joey’s life for her,” Pacey said. “You can’t control her.”
”Oh, no, Pacey, I’m not trying to maintain control over her. Believe me, I couldn’t if I tried.” Pacey raised an eyebrow. “No, I’m just in love with her and emasculating myself and trying to figure out what he has that I don’t.”
”And you think nudity holds the key?”
”I’m not actually that masochistic. I never actually see him fully unclothed. There are always bed sheets or different angles or close-ups when it comes to that.”
”Dawson, I must say, you are being very blunt tonight--”
”There’s no reason not to be. I have to tell someone about this before I explode, and you’re the only one I can talk to about it besides Jen, which might get kind of awkward at this point anyway. I haven’t been so free with details when I’ve spoken to her.”
“—and I just want to recap what we’ve learned here,” Pacey continued. “So far you’ve told me that Joey is having sex with Anderson, there’s been at least one occasion that she’s proved too wild for you, you’re jealous as hell, and you can’t actually imagine Joey having sex but you can picture her realistically without any clothes on.”
”Yes,” Dawson nodded in agreement, his cheeks reddening slightly. “You might not want to mention to Joey that I told you that first thing, though.”
”Forget the first thing for a minute and focus on the last and maybe the second. Joey and Anderson don’t entirely surprise me. They’re young and horny, just like everybody else, and they’d been together for a little while already.” Pacey paused. “You do not deny that the idea of Joey naked doesn't challenge your strive for realism?”
”Nope.”
”You told me the two of you never really got together. When did that have time to happen?”
”Pacey…” Dawson cleared his throat. “Joey... well... she propositioned me fairly recently."
"Wow. I had no idea. Explains why you've avoided each other at school for the last four days, though. So... this was after she slept with Anderson?" Pacey furrowed his brow. "She cheated on him? With you?"
"Yeah... I mean..."
"And you saw her naked," Pacey interrupted, "so it was pretty hard-core cheating."
"Well--"
"But you are still inexperienced, you said, so you didn't..."
"Pacey, let me just tell you what happened," Dawson said, frustrated. "She came over to tell me the answer to your truth or dare question and was really broken up and vulnerable about the whole thing. Next thing I know, she's ripping off both of our clothing, she's licking me everywhere, and she pulls out a condom and demands that I use it."
"Did you try to stop her at all?"
"Of course, but I'm only human, Pace. My efforts were half-hearted at best. I want to look out for her, but I also want to believe she'd be happy with me."
"Then what happened?"
"I put the condom on and she told me to stop before we actually did anything. Then I sent her home."
"Ahhhh... those are some of the worst mixed signals I've ever heard of. No wonder you are torturing yourself. With the amount of seriousness you instill into everything, you must have been traumatized."
"A bit..." Dawson trailed off.
"She licked you everywhere?" Pacey asked.
"Yes..."
"So, you are kind of a man now?" Pacey grinned. "Little Dawson is growing up?"
"Well, I am a little more experience than before, aren't I."
"Dawson?" Pacey asked thoughtfully.
"Hmm?"
"What are you going to do now? It sounds to me like she never even came close to getting over you... what if she chooses to be with you?" Dawson tilted his head slightly and frowned.
"I'm not sure I want her back," he said sadly.
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