by Alyssa
"...And then I told him I didn't want to know him anymore," Joey finished.
"Woah, now that is heavy," Pacey said, before looking at her, "Now what did he exactly do again?"
"Pacey, we've been over this. I already told you. Besides, I want this off my mind. How did your day go?" she asked.
"I hugged my dad," he said.
"Oh, Pacey, I'm so glad! I feel so happy for you!" Joey smiled.
"Yeah, Andie said something to him that got him to actually stop being such an ass to me. There's hope for the troubled joke of Capeside yet!"
"Pacey, you've improved too much to call yourself a joke now. Don't go spiraling back into old habits now that Andie's out of the picture."
"She's not out of the picture!" Pacey shouted, before lowering his voice, "I mean, she just went away for awhile. We're still together though. Always."
"Now why does that sound hauntingly familiar?" Joey asked herself.
"What do you mean? You and Dawson exchanged some words like that?"
"But that's the thing. Pacey, they were just words. You can only count on yourself for the truth. I've learned that. You can't trust anyone else with your life because you don't know where they're going to take it, you know?"
"I don't agree. Love overcomes all."
"Does it?" Joey asked.
"Well-" Pacey started.
"I guess I should have never brought it up. By the way, I don't think I thanked you for saving me from the fire."
"No, you were too busy kicking the living hell out of me trying to get out of my arms."
"Dammit," Joey sighed.
"What?"
"I didn't want to talk about this because now I'm going to cry."
"Why are you going to cry?" Pacey asked concerned.
"Because I miss him," she said.
"The way you made it sound I thought you hated him."
"I...I'm so confused. I think one thing and I say the other. I don't know anymore. I just don't want to deal with him at all."
"Well, Jo, he is your best friend..."
"Not after what he did...Pacey, me and Dawson can't just keep doing this to each other."
"Not to sound rude, but you're the one whose ended the relationship both times."
"Yeah...and you know why I left him, don't you?"
"I thought you didn't want to talk about this, so I'm going to just leave it alone," Pacey said.
"Maybe I need to talk about it, maybe I need to unleash..." Joey told him.
"Well-" but Pacey's words were cut short by the ringing telephone.
"I'll be right back," Pacey said, going to answer his phone.
"Okay," Joey replied. Pacey left the room and Joey laid her head on the table, humming a tune softly to herself. She looked around his kitchen and spotted the alcohol. "A few sips never hurt anyone..." she told herself, getting up.
"Andie? Oh man, Andie, you don't know how much I miss you," Pacey said into the phone.
"Pacey, you're too nice to me sometimes. But I...I feel rotten."
"Well I wish I could be there to cheer you up."
"I wish you could too, hearing your voice is enough though."
Their conversation carried on, re-capping the day at the Icehouse and what happened afterwards.
Meanwhile, Joey had downed some shots liquor and was drowning in her misery with false happiness. "Pacey," she slurrly called into the living room. He didn't hear her. She stood up and felt the pain rush to her head in an instant. She stumbled into the living room.
"Look Pacey, I'm happy," she said.
Pacey was wrapped up in his conversation with Andie and had his back turned to Joey.
"Pacey," Joey pouted, "Aren't you glad I'm happy?"
"I miss you so much," Pacey said into the phone to Andie.
"Pacey!" Joey cried, "Pacey, listen to me!" Joey's tears ran down her face. "I'm finally happy Pacey," she sobbed.
Pacey laughed about something Andie said on the phone. He didn't hear anyone else but her. Andie's voice was music to his ears.
Joey ran out of his house hysterically crying and slammed the door on her way out. Pacey's head arose to the slam.
"Um, Andie? I'm going to have to let you go." Pacey said his good-byes and ran out of the house in search of Joey.
***
Joey didn't what was going on through her head. She felt like she was being pulled apart. Like someone had taken a giant cleaver and just split her in two. One part of her wanted to be in Dawson's arms and the other part wanted to stay the hell away from him and never look back.
"Dawson, why do you do this to me?!" she screamed, running into the water and noticing the rowboat.
Meanwhile, Pacey had no idea what was going on, but was determined to see what made Joey slam the door on him.
"Joey?" he called. No answer.
"What am I doing?" Joey asked herself, sitting in the rowboat. She had untied it and it slowly made it's way down shore. "What am I thinking?"
"Joey, please, if you can hear me, answer me!" Pacey yelled.
He ran back into his house to call Dawson. That's when he noticed the bottle. "Joey, you didn't..." he said. He ran to the phone.
Joey started laughing. "Dawson, Dawson, I'm coming to see you." She smiled and swayed in the boat. Her laughter turned into tears. "I hate you, but I'm going to see you to tell you good-bye." She didn't even think she was making sense herself. She took the oars and tried to row.
Soon, she had made it to Dawson's house. She stumbled out of the boat onto shore and tripped in the grass.
"I fall but I get back up again," she said. She walked to his ladder. This would be a task for the books.
"She...what?!" Dawson asked incredulously.
"Dawson, man, I'm scared. She's hurting and she doesn't have any idea what she's doing."
"Well, God, Pacey, where could she have gone?"
"I don't know, but come over okay? She was at my house so she must be around here."
"I'll be right over." Dawson hung up and grabbed his jacket.
Joey took a first step and held onto the ladder tightly. "Scary..." she said. She gripped the ladder the rest of the way up and crawled onto the roof. She gazed into Dawson's room.
His bed, so familiar and inviting. She walked in and fell asleep.
"Pacey, I don't know where else to look. I thought Joey had more sense than this. Why would she do this Pacey?"
"I told you Dawson. Think of the day she's had. The fire, her father, you. It was too much for her."
"You think she's okay?"
"Look, we'll go to your house and figure out where else she could have gone to."
Joey stretched her arms and rolled over groggily. She held the Jaws stuffed animal in her arms.
"Pacey, I need to talk to you inside," Mr. Witter said.
"Be right there. Hang tight Dawson," Pacey told him.
"I'll go on ahead..." Dawson told Pacey.
He walked into his room and threw his jacket on the chair. His head hung down sadly. He went to run a hand through his hair when he saw someone lying on his bed.
"Joey? Oh my God Joey. I was so worried about-" he stopped midsentence when he realized she was sleeping.
He sat down on the bed. "Oh Joey, don't you ever do that to me again. You scared me. And that is the worst feeling in the world. I love you Joey, and you know if I lost you I'd be hopelessly crushed and lost. You give me strength. Where would I be without that, huh?" he asked.
"Would you-would you hold me?" Joey whispered in her sleep.
Dawson laid down next to her and wrapped an arm around her.
"I love you too Dawson," she said softly, talking in her sleep. "And the world is a safe and happy place with you."
The End