A warm summer breeze caressed Joey's face as she sat contemplating her very pathetic life. She was going to be seventeen and her entire existence centered around making the highest marks in shcool and working at the bed and breakfast that her sister owned. She hadn't even had a boyfriend. Ever. In all her seventeen years not a single guy had ever shown any real interest in her. She'd had a crush on her best friend, Dawson, for years but the only one he seemed to want was little miss bottle-blonde, Jen Lindley.

Joey sighed heavily and dipped her toes into the cold waters of the creek. She could never compete with Jen. When Jen was around it didn't matter what Joey said or did because Dawson only had eyes for her. You would think that after two years she would get used to it, but no matter how understanding she tried to be it still infuriated her to no end. It wasn't like she had feelings for him anymore, but she at least wanted some of his time. Was that too much to ask? It really didn't help that Bessie, Bodie, and Alexander had been on vacation all summer. Or that her favorite verbal nemesis and, as of late, her only confidant had decided to get a summer job in another town.

She really couldn't believe how much she had missed Pacey's company this summer. Considering they had a history of not being able to get along for more than five minutes at a time that particular realization was kind of a shock to her. Though, in the past couple of months they had become a lot closer. It seemed they hardly ever truly fought anymore. Sure, they still had their wonderfully witty insult fests, but they no longer really meant what they were saying. They had actually started to get along really well. Now that she thought about it, she never went to Dawson with her problems anymore, now she went to Pacey. And she knew that she was the one he went to first in his times of need.

Joey couldn't quite pinpoint when the transition took place, when they had stopped seeing each other as the enemy, but it had happened. Somewhere down the road they had started to rely on each other. With Dawson too rapped up in Jen and his awful break up with Andie they didn't really have anyone else to turn to.

Pacey had started hanging out at he house more and more often, claiming that he needed help with his ever-plunging grades, which was very true. Joey would help him study and in return he would force her to have fun. Problem was she had too much fun when she was with him. It made her realize how much she cared for him, as more than a friend. That wasn't good considering it would be like Dawson all over again. She would be pining away and he would be thinking of her as just a friend, being completely oblivious to how she really felt. Again Joey sighed and dramatically plopped back on the dock.

"Still a drama queen."

Joey stood up and swung around to face the owner of that familiar voice. There he stood. She had been waiting all summer to see him and yet she was stunned speechless and left staring at him, in his cargo shorts and one of his infamous Hawaiian shirts.

Joey felt her heart start to race as they stood watching each other intently. It seemed like an eternity had passed between them before either could make a move. Then she started running towards him. Joey flung herself into his arms, enveloping him in a big hug.

At first Pacey wasn't sure how to react to Joey's sudden display of affection, but it didn't take long before he pulled her tighter to him, not ever wanting to let go. "I missed you too, Jo." he whispered into her ear.

And he had missed her. Pacey had missed everything about her, from the way she looked at him and offered a lopsided grin of a icy death glare to the way she ate her food. Of course, that didn't surprise him much. Pacey had become accustomed to loving her so much that he missed her every second of every day that he wasn't with her. What did surprise him was that he had lasted a whole month and a half without seeing her beautiful smile. It didn't matter that he had spent much of that time daydreaming about it.

Joey surprised herself by hugging him. It wasn't something she had planned on doing, but by the time she had reached him it was like she didn't have any control over it. Joey slowly pulled out if his embrace, then she punched him in the shoulder.

"What was that for?" Pacey asked, rubbing his arm.

"I am not a drama queen!" she replied, trying to give him an icy glare. However, just like the many other times before, she couldn't stop a smile from creeping across her face.

"There's that beautiful smile." He said, giving her his million-dollar grin.

Joey blushed but tried to act like she wasn't very affected by his comment. "Save me from my boredom, Pace. Tell me about your summer."

"All in good time. I ctually came to inquire about lodgings and the wonderful Potter B&B."

"It's too bad we aren't currently open for business then." Joey watched as disappointment flooded his face and felt a twinge of guilt.

Pacey turned around and started to walk off, saying as he left, "I guess I'll go see what Dawson's up to."