Standard Disclaimer applied. Don't own anything related to Dawson's Creek.

Sorry I couldn't get this uploaded before the holidays, but things happen. Hope everyone had fun on thier holiday of choice.

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Chapter Seven

Joey Potter wasn't to pleased with her life at that very moment. Besides having Mrs. Valentine as a boss, and dealing with Drue Valentine on a daily basis, she had to see Olivia Bolivar as well. And if that wasn't icing on the cake, seeing Pacey coming by the Yacht Club almost every day to come and see or pick up Olivia sure was.

Now Joey would never admit she was a jealous type, because she wasn't. Of course every time she would say that Jack and Jen would laugh at her, Bessie would only give her a knowing look. And all three of them were driving her crazy.

Another person who was driving her crazy was Dawson. And as much as she wanted to get the friendship they both had before their hormones kicked in, she was finding every day she spent with him a bit boring and predictable. She was actually getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over. The whole Pacey betraying him was getting old to her.

And if that wasn't the only thing bothering her, their whole movie nights now included movies about love triangles.

But that wasn't the things that were bothering her the most. The lack of Pacey Witter in her life was.

Even when they both didn't consider one another friends, she would miss him. At that time of course she would miss him for the lack of someone to banter with. Last year when he was always around, she was rather use to his company, and when Andie had told her that night that their was a possibility her and Pacey had gotten together, that scared her. Even then when their wasn't any romantic feelings involve towards she still dreaded not having him near her.

And now when those feelings were their, she couldn't possibly see herself survive another week without him.

o0o0o0o

"That's it." Joey slammed her pencil on her textbook.

Both Jen and Andie looked up from their own textbook to look at her.

"Is something the matter?" Andie asked concerned for her friend.

But then she really isn't exactly my friend.

Andie frowned at that thought. She really didn't want to go thinking about that. She didn't want to be bitter like Dawson when it came down to what happened between her and Pacey.

Joey was about to rant about her problem when she realized Andie was looking at her rather weirdly.

"Um. . . . " Joey tailed off.

Jen noticed Andie's weird look towards Joey which caused her hesitation.

"Hey is their a problem between the both of you that needs my intervention?" Jen joked.

"Ahh. . .no" Andie mumbled.

"Nope." Joey muttered.

Jen placed her pencil down and gave both girls a patient look.

"Okay either we sit here and discuss what's your problem Joey or we sit here and discuss that expression that was directed at Joey just now?" Jen offered.

Both girls stayed silent. They both didn't want to go their right at that moment.

Jen let out a tired sigh.

"Alright we'll go with my option . . . ." Jen was interrupted.

"How about the three of you girls shut up and let other people in the library work?" Olivia interrupted.

Jen turned in her seat and looked at the table behind theirs and saw Olivia glaring at them.

"You know that's rather rude." Andie boldly said.

Olivia's gaze landed on the other blond.

"And you three talking, in a public library, while people are trying to study isn't?" Olivia shot back.

Andie turned red in embarrassment.

"I. . .ah. . .I. . ."

"You don't have to answer her." Jen told Andie.

Olivia smirked at Jen.

"Always coming to the defense of your friends Jenny."

"Only the ones I truly care about." Jen shot back.

This only caused Olivia to roll her eyes.

"That hurts Jenny, it really does." Olivia said sarcastically.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Joey asked.

Though her question wasn't just referring to the three of them. It included Pacey as well.

And Olivia understood that.

"Because I enjoy messing around with your little group." Olivia shrugged.

Joey was about to say something, when the person responsible for a lot of her emotions this past week entered the library.

She hadn't seen him that close since last Sunday. And he was heading towards. . .Olivia.

"Hey you ready to go?" He asked Olivia.

Olivia looked away from Joey and looked up at Pacey. And to Joey, Jen and Andie's surprise, she actually seemed to be smiling.

"Yeah, just let me go put this back." Olivia got up and headed towards the aisles of books.

Pacey took Olivia's place and sat down in her seat. When he looked up he was aware of three familiar pair of eyes looking at him. He was surprise to find all three of them their.

"H-hey. Didn't see you three their." Pacey greeted.

"No surprise their, seeing as Olivia's overly large attitude was blocking your view." Jen said.

"Um. . . .okay." Pacey muttered.

Joey noticed something was a bit different about Pacey. The way he sat on the chair, with no worry in the world, with no tension, with no drama. And then it hit her, hard, he didn't' have her in his life anymore to cause worry, tension and drama.

"Alright I'm ready." Olivia told Pacey.

Pacey got up from his seat and took her stack of books in front of him and handed her, her bag.

"I'll take these." Pacey referred to the stack of books in his arms.

"Nonsense you're already caring your own things. I'm fully capable of carrying my own things." Olivia argued.

"Yeah I know but since I'm going to carry your books you'll be able to do me a huge favor and call your dad and explain to him why we're running late." Pacey reasoned.

Olivia looked at her wristwatch and let out a sigh.

"He's not going to be that forgiving. Yesterday was probably the only time he would actually listen to our excuse. Okay this is what we'll do. I'll call him and tell him Mr. Leery purposely held you back to sabotage our opening day." Olivia joked.

Pacey held his amusement, noticing that Joey was glaring right at him.

"Yeah you could do that. Or you could just tell him my extra classes ran a little later than usual." Pacey offered.

"That could also work. See you in the car. I'll let you catch up with your little friends over their." Olivia took Pacey's car keys and headed towards the exit doors.

Pacey smiled weakly at the girls.

Its not like he didn't want to be their, it was just that he didn't know how he could possibly hang around them and not feel guilty for accepting Lewis' offer. And he didn't want to feel guilty for accepting his offer.

"Didn't really see you Lindley as the library type." Pacey tried to joke.

"And never did I see you Witter as someone's driver." Jen shot back.

Pacey literally took a step back at her tone.

"Excuse me?" he asked unsure of what he did wrong.

"I just can't believe you're friends with her. She's such a bitch." Jen said.

"What the hell are you talking about Jen? She was your friend before, how much has she changed? And to get this clear Olivia isn't a bitch." Pacey defended.

"Oh please." Joey couldn't help but say out loud.

Pacey turned to stare at her.

"What was that?" He asked trying to make sure he wasn't hearing anything.

Joey had no problem saying what she had in mind, but she didn't want to sound like a raving jealous girlfriend but then again she wasn't his girlfriend to begin with.

"What I mean to say is that she's a different person around you, but around us she's such a. . .well like Jen put it, a total bitch." Joey said.

Pacey just couldn't possibly believe that.

"Look I know Olivia isn't one of the kindest people we're use to meeting around Capeside but she's my friend. And I would really appreciate it if you didn't talk shit about her when I'm around." Pacey said.

"Since when has she been your friend? Not longer than we have. And theirs no way we're going to show any respect to her, especially the way she treats us." Joey argued back.

"She helped me when I needed help alright. And if that's not what friends do than what is?" Pacey asked. "And I'm not asking you to do anything you don't want, all I'm asking if you would refrain from insulting her in my presence." He added.

"Yeah well what I've heard she wasn't the only one who offered to help you. Dawson told me Mitch and Gail offered you a position in the kitchen staff with Bodie as your teacher. You just didn't take it." Joey couldn't help but say.

Jen remembered that day Pacey showed up yet Dawson wouldn't allow him entrance. But she hadn't told no one since the whole Henry thing took her most of her attention later on.

"Oh I'm so, so very sorry Joey. How could I forget about the most important rule in your life? I'm so very sorry for doing that to your poor soulmate." Pacey laughed harshly.

How could she possibly bring Dawson into this? Its always about him.

Joey was hurt. But she wasn't going to let him get away with that.

"It has nothing to do with Dawson. It has to do about your choice of friends." Joey shot back.

Pacey shook his head. He really didn't want to be having this conversation right now. Especially with Joey.

"You know what I should just go. Why bother trying to reason with you. I did what I had to do to actually make it out of this town on my own. I'm not going to feel guilty for that. And to think my friends, you know the ones I had for more than a week would understand that and support me. But what was I thinking?" Pacey asked harshly.

He dug into his pockets and pulled out a stack of sealed white envelopes and threw them on the middle of the table.

"Those are invitations to the grand opening of Bolivar's Famous Fish House this Saturday. I was hoping to see some familiar faces, but I guess I was wrong about that too. I'll see you guys when I see you." Pacey turned his back on them and exited the library.

Joey felt horrible. She should have just supported him. When she looked up she saw Andie glaring at her.

"You know you don't have no right to be jealous. He loves you. And theirs no way in hell Pacey would ever fall for Olivia. He sees her like a friend. Even I know that." Andie got up and started packing her stuff.

Soon enough a very worn out Jack came into the library.

"Finally I find you two." He says looking at Jen and Andie. "Oh hey Joey."

"I told you we would be at the library waiting for you." Andie sighs.

"Yeah well you probably told me that in the morning when my brain isn't functioning like its supposed to. If I hadn't ran into Pacey just now I'd probably still be looking for you girls." Jack explained.

Jack wasn't much of a hockey player. Sure he watched it from time to time. He even had a Boston Bruins jersey around his house. He was more of a skater, but not a figure skater, just someone who liked to skate around the rink. So when he was given a hockey stick and the position of left-winger he hadn't a clue what to do. Luckily for him Pacey knew what Mitch was talking about. So now after four practices he got the hang of it. Of course he wasn't as good as Pacey.

Then again who is?

Jack was actually a bit surprised at how good Pacey was on the ice. But then again it really suit him.

Jack noticed the stack of familiar envelopes on the table.

"Oh so Pacey invited you guys to the opening tomorrow. That's great, he seemed pretty nervous when he asked me but I told him theirs nothing to worry about since we don't hold this against him. After all he's just looking out for his future." Jack shrugged.

Joey quickly got up and started packing her things.

Of course he was looking out for his future. Just like the rest of us. How could I possibly be angry at him for doing just that?

"Hey Jo you need a ride?" Jack asked.

"No thanks Jack I'm okay." Joey lied.

She did need a ride. But she wanted to catch up to Pacey first.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Joey picked up her bag and exited the library.

"Hey Joey wait up." Jen ran after her.

"Jen I really don't have any time. I'm hoping I could catch him before he leaves." Joey explained.

"Yeah I figured that, but here you forgot your invitation." Jen waved the envelope.

"Thanks Jen, I'll call you later to tell you how this went down." Joey took the envelope and hurried towards the student parking lot.

When Joey reached the student parking lot, to her dismay it was empty. No Pacey Witter and his truck in site.

o0o0o0o

"Shouldn't you be slicing them in tiny pieces?" Olivia asked Pacey.

Pacey looked down at green and red peppers Lewis had instructed him to chop.

"I don't know. I really wasn't paying much attention." Pacey shrugged.

"Something the matter Witter?" Olivia looked up from the pile of paper work she was working on.

Pacey didn't know whether he should talk about his problems with Olivia. After all he just met her.

"Nothing really. Just the usual things wrong in my life." Pacey answered.

Olivia wanted to know more, but she held back. She really didn't know Pacey all that well and neither did he. And she doubted he trusted her enough to open up to her. So she went back to her paper work.

"You know I really just don't get them." Pacey began.

Olivia stopped what she was doing and devoted all her attention on Pacey. She couldn't help but feel delighted that Pacey would actually come to her for advice.

"I'm not betraying Mitch nor Gail. I'm just doing something for myself. Why can't they seem to understand? They're my friends, isn't that what friends do, understand?" Pacey put down the cutting knife and looked at Olivia.

"To be honest Pacey if they were your real friends they would back you up no matter what." Olivia admitted.

"That's the thing Olivia they are my friends and for so long they pretty much were on my side on so many things. That is until I fell in love with my best friends soul mate. That pretty much changed all our friendships." Pacey explained.

"I've only know you and your friends, not including Jen of course, for the past week. And I'm pretty much guessing Potter is that said soul mate, am I right?" Olivia asked hoping she was wrong.

"So its that obvious huh?" Pacey weakly smiled.

Olivia returned his smile with a fake one of her own. She knew Joey Potter was no perfect girl, but so far what she knew of her, Olivia was a hundred percent positive she was one of those girls men just don't forget about to easily.

"Its not much that its obvious, more like you have to pay close attention to both of your behavior. And theirs a lot of unresolved issues between the two of you. That and the evil glares she sends my way anytime I'm ten centimeters close to you." Olivia said indifferently.

"Unresolved issues, you got that right. I'm just not quite ready to go their with her. And thinking about it I'm pretty much doing the exact same thing Dawson did to her last year, which pushed her to me in the first place." Pacey tiredly sat down next to her.

"So what are you really doing Pacey? You're just patiently waiting until she realizes she doesn't have feelings for you. That's just pathetic and something a coward would most likely do." Olivia was actually surprise she was encouraging him to go after Potter.

"Hey it may be the cowardly thing to do but its safe. You just don't know how much that girl can break your heart." Pacey reasoned.

"You're right I may not know how much Potter can hurt you or Leery. But all I do know is that your sitting here next to some girl you've only known for a week, wishing you had her by your side." Olivia hoped it didn't come out to bitter.

But lucky for her Pacey wasn't much listening to her tone, but more of what she was actually saying.

Though Olivia may have been partially right about the whole 'wishing he was with Joey' thing. He had to admit that having Olivia so far as company wasn't bad. He could even go as far as saying it was rather good having her around.

"Don't let this get to your head Olivia but having you around isn't all that bad." Pacey said truthfully.

And Olivia couldn't help but admit to herself later on when she went to bed that, that was probably the best thing that had happened to her so far since her arrival to the small town of Capeside, Massachusetts.

o0o0o0o

Pacey was running late yet again. But unlike the other times when it was usually the errands, or his after school make up classes or even hockey practice, that made him late, he himself was to blame for today's tardiness.

Though Olivia reassured him that they weren't that late and that they both had plenty of time to get ready for the grand opening, Pacey knew not to trust time. Especially when time always worked against him.

Or is it fate that's working against me?

So once Olivia and Drue had dropped him off at his beach house he started getting ready for the big day.

Lewis had put him in charge of the kitchen, making sure everything was in top order. Though Pacey would have been more comfortable chopping the vegetables that day, Lewis trusted him to do this instead.

Bolivar's Famous Fish House was a very casual place. But because it was its first day in business Lewis wanted the whole staff to wear proper attire. Which to Pacey's luck, or how he saw it no luck, it involved wearing a tie.

And Pacey Witter didn't know how in the world he was going to manage to place a tie on his neck, seeing as he didn't know how to operate one.

"That's it!" Pacey threw the tie on the ground.

He had it with that tie. And maybe it was because of the nerves, but Pacey just couldn't follow the instructions Gretchen had left behind before she headed off to Leery's Fresh Fish for her swift.

What am I going to do? I have at least an hour before I have to be at the restaurant.

But before Pacey could come up with a solution to solve his little tie trouble, their was a soft knock on the beach house porch doors.

"Great. . .just great." Pacey muttered to himself "Who is it?!"

When Pacey reached the living room, his current bedroom, he was surprised to see her their.

She smiled nervously at him "Hey Pacey."

Till next chapter. Any feedback is highly appreciated. Thank you for taking time and reading my fic.