PART 1

After telling Pacey that Eddie came back, he walked back into the school, but disappeared. When Joey couldn't find him, she sat down on the bleachers and watched as Harley and Patrick danced to a slow song. While she was happy they'd made up, she was sad over her own romantic conundrum. She'd chosen Eddie and was at peace about that, but she was concerned over what this would do to the friendship she and Pacey had worked so hard to rebuild.

Joey momentarily looked to the floor when she saw a shadow. When she looked up, Pacey was standing there with his hand outstretched. "I believe I owe you a dance, Ms. Potter." Relieved that he came back, Joey grabbed his hand and walked to the dance floor. Since the song was half over, they only danced a short time. It was a dance full of emotions, which primarily consisted of sorrow, regret, and the mourning of what might have been. When the song ended, Pacey stepped away from Joey, gently squeezed her hands, released her, and then walked away.

Joey bowed her head. He said he wouldn't walk out the door if he didn't like her choice, but that's exactly what he was doing.

When he got to the door of the gym, he turned around. "You coming, Potter?"

She turned toward him, shocked. "What?"

"You need a ride home, right?" he asked.

Broken out of her trance, she answered, "Ah, yeah. Just let me get my coat."

As she walked toward him, he said, "I'll go get the car. Meet you out front."

Joey nodded. She said goodbye to Harley, who was actually being picked up by Hetson, and then collected her coat from the coat room. By the time she got out front, Pacey was waiting at the curb.

She opened the door and slid into the BMW. "Thanks for driving me home."

"I wasn't gonna leave you to find your own way. I brought you, so I'll drop you off."

After that, Pacey turned the radio onto a business news station and was dead silent as he at least appeared to listen intently to the host, who droned on and on about stuff Joey didn't really understand or have an interest in.

When they reached her dorm at Worthington, Pacey pulled up to the curb by the main door. "If it's okay with you, I'll just drop you off here."

"Yeah. I can get inside on my own. Thanks, Pace." She put her hand on the door handle to open it but then turned back. "I'm sorry."

He didn't look at her. He whispered, "Me too." When she didn't move to get out, he added, "I actually have to go to the office early tomorrow morning to do some paperwork, so…"

Get out was the rest of the sentence and Joey got the message loud and clear. She opened the door and stepped outside. Before closing it, she bent down and said, "I'll see ya, Pace."

He looked over and gave her a weak, sad smile. "Bye, Joey."

The moment she closed the door, he pulled away from the curb.

She stood there a minute feeling a profound sense of loss. Shaking it off, Joey sighed and entered the building. When she got into the lobby, she pulled her cell phone out of her small purse and dialed the number for a local cab company.

Now that she'd said goodbye to her past with Pacey, there was only one thing to do - focus on her future with Eddie.

Later…

Joey took a cab to Eddie's parent's place, which was where she figured he'd be staying for the summer.

When she got there, she paused a moment before knocking on the door. When Eddie answered, he seemed confused and surprised to see her.

"I guess you're wondering what I'm doing here?" she said uneasily.

When Eddie looked at her hopefully, Joey kissed him.

Afterwards, Eddie pulled her into a tight hug. As she rested her chin on his shoulder, she couldn't help but frown as Pacey and his sad smile crossed her mind.

~zzzzzzz~

Pacey lied to Joey. Well sort of. He was going into work tomorrow, but not until the afternoon. Given tonight's events, all he'd be doing in the morning is nursing the giant hangover he was bound to have given the nearly entire bottle of scotch he drank when he got home from the dance.

When he got in the door, he ripped the red rose boutonniere from his suit jacket and threw it forcefully in the trash. Then, he shucked everything but his boxers and wifebeater. Part of him wanted to burn his clothes just so they wouldn't remind him of yet another disastrous dance with Joey, but the rational part of him knew that only a moron would do that to a $600 suit. So, he settled for letting it lay on a pile on the floor while he attempted to drown his sorrows in a bottle of liquor. Thank God Emma was gone and Jack was with Jen at some Boston Bay event because Pacey knew that at some point drowning said sorrows would include crying like a baby and he really didn't want an audience for that.

Despite Joey breaking his heart tonight, he resolved to prove he'd changed by going back inside to dance with her and drive her home. It was definitely a bizarre form of torture, but he needed to keep his promise not to run away if he didn't like her choice. He didn't. He hated it. But he knew he'd have to accept it. Possibility was a mean trick after all. Pacey laughed sardonically at that as he took another swig of his scotch right from the bottle.

Even when he was at his best, he still wasn't good enough for Joey Potter because he could never overcome their history. Go figure.

He had just pushed himself off the couch after major wallowing so he could attempt to climb the spiral staircase to his room when he heard a knock on the door. The only person who would be knocking at - he looked down at his watch to check the time - one in the morning would be Jack. Maybe he decided to come home after all but forgot his keys again. Scotch still in hand, Pacey walked slowly to the door and unlocked it. "It's open," he shouted as he turned around to head toward the staircase. "One of these days, Jackers, I won't let you in on purpose just to teach you a lesson about forgetting your key."

"It's not Jack."

Pacey froze. He was afraid to turn around. Was he hallucinating Joey's voice?

"Pace…"

At hearing her call him that, the anger Pacey had buried all night surged to the surface. "Don't call me that," he ground out as he whipped around to face her.

"What?" she asked confusedly.

"Pace. If you want to call Eddie 'Ed' then go for it, but stop calling me Pace."

"Why? I've always called you that."

"No. You started calling me that when we started dating. And we aren't dating. So, don't call me that anymore, Joey." Normally he would call her Jo. But not anymore. Not now.

"What does it matter?" Hurt was evident in her voice.

Some of Pacey's anger deflated at the tone of her voice, so he clarified more calmly, "Things have been - confusing - lately between us. This will help create clearer boundaries."

"That's ridiculous," she scoffed. "What we call each other won't change anything between us."

Resigned, he admitted, "No, it won't." He took a breath, "But I'm asking you to respect my wishes the way I respected yours earlier." He paused a moment to switch the scotch bottle to his other hand so he could lean on the couch with the newly free one. "So, that said… You need to leave. I'd take you home, but," he held up the scotch, "I'm not really in the shape to drive right now. So, you can use that trusty cell phone to call a cab or you can crash on the couch till morning and then call. It's up to you which one you do. I'd drop you tomorrow, but Worthington is in the opposite direction of the firm and I won't have time."

With that, he turned around and went up the stairs, leaving the scotch by the top step. He stopped in the bathroom to take a piss and then padded to his bedroom, where he closed the door and fell onto his bed.

It was rude to walk out on Joey like that, but he didn't have the energy to be polite after what went down, so, instead of feeling guilty, he just closed his eyes and drifted off.

~zzzzzzz~

Eight AM came early when you were up past one, but Pacey forced himself to open his eyes despite his exhaustion and pounding head. He had to be at work in an hour so he could finish some paperwork before a conference call at lunch. Work was pretty much all he had left, so he was determined to focus on it. He'd go in tomorrow, too, just to keep busy and not think about Prom Redux and Joey.

As he tried to bring his hands to his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes, he realized one of his hands wouldn't move. He murmured, "What the fuck?" and then lifted his head from the pillow to try and figure out why he couldn't move it. Drunkenness didn't cause paralysis, at least as far as he knew.

When he looked over, he saw his arm was pinned down by a body. Not just any body. Joey's body.

He brought his free hand to the bridge of his nose and pinched it as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember last night through the hangover fog. As far as he knew nothing happened between them. He was way too drunk by the time she got there to do anything even if he had wanted to.

He roughly pulled his arm out from under her body, which caused her to stir. He then used it to shake her lightly. "Joey, wake up."

When she woke up, she saw him and smiled, but her smile vanished quickly when he asked, "What the hell are you doing in my bed?"

"Sleeping," she answered matter-of-factly.

"But why here - in my bed?"

"Because I felt like it," she answered as she scooched closer to him and laid a hand on his torso.

In response, he lifted her arm off him and shifted his body so that he was against the edge of the bed, putting much needed distance between them. "I guess the bigger question is why are you here in my bed and not Eddie's? I mean, that's where you went after I dropped you off at your dorm, right?"

"I did."

Pacey got out of bed and walked over to stand by his desk. "So, I repeat, why are you here and not there?"

Joey shifted in the bed to the spot he vacated and then got up herself. He sucked in a breath when he saw she was clad only in one of his Bruins t-shirts and her panties. She walked toward him. "It didn't work out."

He couldn't help but laugh as he moved from the desk toward the doorway to create more distance. "Wow. That's gotta be a record." Once he regained his composure he added, "So, I take it I'm this year's Dawson?"

She stopped. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You dumped me and ran to him. For whatever reason it didn't work out - and I don't want to know why nor do I care - so now you're back here clinging to what you know. I'm better than nothing, right?" He held his arms out wide. "So, am I gonna get a kiss, too?"

She reeled back as if slapped. "Jackass," she hissed.

He dropped his arms and chuckled. "But you already knew that about me, sweetheart. Yet here you are anyway."

He saw her clench her fists and knew it was time to ease off. "As fun as this has been first thing in the morning with a massive hangover, I'm gonna leave you to get dressed and call that cab."

With that, he opened the door and walked out of his room to the bathroom. He needed to shower before work and, thanks to Joey, he was running late. Hopefully, she'd be gone by the time he was done. He didn't have the energy to spar with her anymore this morning considering he needed his brain power for the mountain for paperwork waiting in his office.

He finished his shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, brushed his teeth, took an aspirin for his pounding head, and then went back to his room, but he stopped short in the doorway when he saw her sitting at the foot of his bed cross-legged. Her arms were crossed over her chest defiantly. "Feeling better?" she asked.

She looked sexy as hell, but he did his best to distract himself by heading over to his dresser to pull out boxers and a wifebeater. "Much. Thanks."

When she made no effort to move, he raised an eyebrow. "I have to get ready for work, here, so…"

She uncrossed her arms and placed her palms on the bed. "Don't let me stop you."

"Suit yourself," he replied as he pulled on the wifebeater and then dropped the towel to step into his boxers. When he was done, he grabbed a pair of slacks, a belt, and a dress shirt from his closet. He stepped into the pants, donned the shirt, and then threaded the belt around his waist. The whole time, Joey simply sat there and watched.

As he went to close the buttons on the shirt, Joey got up and padded over to him. She shooed his hands out of the way and began buttoning the buttons herself - one slow, agonizing button at a time. Despite the layers of clothing between her fingers and his body, he still felt that traitorous surge of electricity when she touched him. He willed himself not to react and then hastily stepped back when she was done. As he tucked the shirt into his waistband he asked, "Why are you here, Joey?"

"For you," she answered simply.

He paused a moment from dressing to stare at her in shock, but shook it off and went to his closet for a tie. Looping it around his neck, he said, "Last night you 'didn't feel it' and now you want me back? I'm getting whiplash here, Jo."

When he turned back to face her, she was smiling brightly. "What?" he asked.

"You called me Jo."

Shit. "It was a slip."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Pace."

He grabbed socks and a pair dress shoes and sat on the bed to put them on. "So, why are you here?"

"When I went to Eddie's, everything was great at first. We kissed and then held each other…"

Dressed, Pacey bolted upright and headed out the door. "I don't want to hear this."

Joey followed. "Pacey, wait!" she pleaded.

He was downstairs in the kitchen before she caught up to him. He filled his travel coffee cup and then headed over to the living room to put his paperwork back in his briefcase.

As he was doing that, Joey reached him. She grabbed his wrist - tight - to still his movements. "I have to tell you the story so you'll understand. Can you just stop and listen, please?"

He shook off her grip and sat onto the couch. "Fine."

"We went inside to his apartment in the basement and tried to pick up where we left off."

"So, he wanted to sleep with you?"

She nodded. "But I couldn't do it."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't stop thinking about you."

"I'm flattered, Potter. But so what? A lot of people think of someone else during sex. As long as you don't shout the wrong name, it doesn't really matter."

"It matters to me. I knew that if I was thinking of you, it wasn't fair to Eddie to continue. So, I stopped it. And let's just say he didn't take it well."

That got Pacey's attention. "Did he try to hurt you?"

She shook her head. "No. Nothing like that. We just ended up having it out. Things were said that we can't get past."

"Like what?" Pacey asked. Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

"Eddie called me a scared, indecisive little girl."

Pacey snorted at Joe Dirt's astuteness. "Well, he was right."

Joey side-eyed him at that, but continued. "He said that after I refused to run away to Europe with him this summer to work on our relationship. He didn't take it well when I told him that there is only one person who would ever inspire me to chuck my entire life and run away for a summer - and that he wasn't that person and never would be."

"Ouch." Pacey winced in sympathy for the schmuck.

"And when he asked how I knew that, having never done it before, I told him that I did know because I had done it before - with you."

When she went silent, he prodded. "And…"

She took a deep breath. "And in that moment I knew that I'd made a huge mistake. That everything you said at the dance was true. So, I called a cab and had it bring me here."

"And Eddie just let you go?"

"He wasn't going to, but once he found out the person I'd moved on with while he was gone was you, he gave up."

"Ah. Ok."

Joey sat next to him on the couch, so close that their knees were touching. "So, to answer your question, I'm here to ask for another chance for us. Is that possible?"

Pacey leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. After sighing, he sat back up and turned toward her. "Honestly, Jo, I don't know. Aside from the fact that you really hurt me last night, I'm not sure if I can trust you."

"But…"

He held up a hand. "Just let me talk, okay?" When she nodded, he continued. "I know the dance last night brought back everything that happened at prom. It scared you. You were so afraid of history repeating itself that Eddie was the perfect escape hatch for not having to face our issues." Pacey took a breath and continued. "But here's the thing, Joey, last night showed me that I'm not sure if I can give you clean slate anymore than you can give me one."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Unless we can overcome our history, we don't stand a chance for a future. So, I don't know." He looked at his watch. "And, unfortunately, I have a conference call in an hour, so I really have to go to work."

"On a Saturday?"

He stood up. "I work close to 60 hours a week, Joey, so weekends are pretty irrelevant to me." He finished putting his papers in his briefcase. "Why don't you go get dressed and I'll drop you at your dorm. We can pick up this discussion later, okay?"

"Okay."