Rating: PG-13. Underage drinking and smoking and stuff. That's about it in this part, but it will get worse, trust me :)
If you don't read part one you won't be thoroughly confused, but somewhat so you should.
Looking In On You Part Two
Pacey grabbed another bottle of beer with the full intention of making it as empty as the other five he had. He had crashed the "cool" party on a whim, but no one had even cared. They just smiled at him, even seemed to welcome him. He grinded with girls in short skirts, held idiotic, drunken conversations with lacrosse players that seemed like pure genius at the time. He dined on stale pizza and rum and coke before the grand entrance of the endless cartons of beer. He knew he was drunk when he heard his name and turned around and it took him a full thirty seconds to focus on the Andie in front of him. "Andie?" he asked, just a little less surprised then he would have been if he was sober. "Andie holding a beer?" he gestured to the half empty bottle in her hand.
Even though Andie had taken up with that crowd after her change in attitude, she was never one for drinking. She wasn't even remotely buzzed, all she had had was that half bottle, but Pacey didn't know that. She wondered if he still knew her at all.
"What are you doing here?" she yelled over the blaring rap music she hated so much.
"Not like I had anything better to do," he offered back, "and I figured the worst that would happen here is people would whisper 'ew, what's he doing here?' So here I am!" Pacey flashed her the Cheshire grin that always made Andie melt. She turned away, half angry and half sorry, and downed the rest of the bottle. Pacey watched her and wondered since when had innocent Andie, who was always against drinking and partying like this, had started to. She walked away when she was done and he forgot about her as soon as she was lost in the blurry darkness with everyone else.
Andie took a seat and disgustedly slammed the empty bottle down on the table. "Hey, what's wrong?" Millie asked her. Andie never ceased to be amazed at the new people she befriended. They acted ditzy, but all four were incredibly smart. The ditziness was kind of contagious as well, and Andie found it was fun to act like that. They were sweet and genuinely caring, but kind of misfits. They weren't exactly friends with the jocks but got invited to all their parties anyway. Andie suspected it was because Millie was gorgeous and liked to drink. Andie usually watched out for her, but tonight was too shaken up to concentrate on her. She mumbled a request for a cigarette, which Millie quickly fulfilled. Andie lit it up and took two puffs without inhaling before giving Millie the rest. Andie didn't really smoke, but the idea of a cigarette somehow seemed so rebellious. She hated how addicted Millie was, though, and vowed to stop if she ever started craving one.
"Pacey is here," Andie finally said. Millie's drunken smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of seriousness.
"Andie, promise me you won't do anything stupid. If you want to and it feels wrong, don't. It won't be worth it."
Andie sat there for a minute, the smoke and smell of beer drawing her into a tired lull. "Sure," she said.
Dawson smiled and waved when he saw Joey waiting for him. "Where's Pacey?" he asked her.
"I don't know. He better get here soon, though, we have to get the tickets before the movie starts."
"So, what's up?"
"Not much, the usual. Homework, working for the world's horniest boss at the marina until the Ice House gets rebuilt, taking care of Alex."
"Ah..." Dawson said, searching for a better way to start a conversation. "So my mom wants me to come down to see her for Christmas and maybe help film a story or something."
"Dawson, that's great," Joey smiled. Good, she seemed interested.
"Where the hell is Pacey?" Joey crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. "It's been fifteen minutes."
"Let's get ourselves the tickets," Dawson said, "you know Pacey."
"Have you seen a Pacey?" Joey, slightly pissed off, asked the ticket guy. "He's sort of tall, has short brown hair, stupid cut, blue eyes?"
"Are you Joey and Dawson?" the ticket guy asked.
"Yeah," Dawson said, giving him the money for his and Joey's tickets.
"This is for you," the ticket guy pushed the tickets through the glass with two envelopes, one for Joey, one for Dawson. Dawson opened his, and wasn't sure whether to be annoted or happy, but opted for a smile.
Joey's scowl changed to a look of amusement as she read hers. "Pacey went to crash a party that promises to be more interesting than us? We better have a good, interesting time, Dawson, to prove our obnoxious friend wrong when he comes to us crying and hung over tomorrow." Dawson grinned, giving himself an internal high five, and offered Joey his arm. She took it and they walked into the theater.
Jen looked back and forth from the white rose to the Henry that came with it. "Henry," she sighed, "we've been over this. We can't go out, I'm just going to hurt you and I don't want to do that."
"Jen, please, one chance. Let me worry about getting hurt after it happens. Please, please, Jen. Besides, why are you so sure you're going to hurt me? You aren't a piranha or anything."
"Because I hurt everyone," she let slip out. "I mean..."
"How can you say that about yourself? Jen, you're a sweet and wonderful person. You even put up with those cheerleaders. You gave of yourself to make $500 for charity, you don't hurt everyone."
"You don't know anything about me. You don't know that I'm here because I hurt my family. You don't know how I hurt the first friend I ever made here. I hurt my grandmother all the time. I'll hurt you, too, and I don't want to destroy your optimism. And I will, trust me, I will."
"You don't hurt everyone. I know someone who's crazier about you than I am, although not in the same way."
"Who?"
"Jack adores you. And Jack is a cool guy. If he can trust you after all he had to go through, I think I can too."
Jen let out a sigh. "One chance, Henry. But the minute something goes wrong, that's it."
"Tomorrow night? I'll... well, I'll meet you somewhere? I can't exactly drive..."
"Okay," Jen sort of rolled her eyes but smiled. "Okay, where?"
"I'll call you in the morning, okay? We'll have fun, I promise. Here," he put the rose in her hand. "Bye."
Jen held the smile until she shut the door and then frowned. Why was he making her do this to him? Why was he going to make her regret something else?