It was Saturday night and Joey was hosting Andie and Kristi at her apartment tonight for an impromptu girls night. Dawson and Andie were in town for some promotional events for the show and Kristi was attending a restaurant convention on behalf of the Icehouse. There was a festival in Capeside this weekend, so Pacey had to stay and man the restaurant, which was booked solid.
After ordering in some takeout and drinking margaritas, they chatted all night about a variety of subjects from pop culture to pet peeves. Joey was surprised by how much she and Kristi had in common. Joey wanted to hate her on principle, but she couldn't. It was obvious why Pacey fell in love with her. The one subject the women didn't dare to broach all night was Pacey. But, after her third margarita, Joey inadvertently brought him up. "I miss Pacey," she said.
At her comment, Andie and Kristi, who were also tipsy, chimed in, each saying, "Me too."
At that, the three women stilled and exchanged glances. Then, Joey put down her margarita and addressed them, "You know, the one thing we haven't mentioned all night is the proverbial elephant in the room." She grabbed a piece of popcorn, which she had made for the movie they were going to watch, and added, "Maybe we should."
Andie, who was laying on the floor, commented, "I dunno, Joey…"
Kristi, comfortably seated in the spacious armchair and huddled under a blanket, nodded at Andie's statement.
Joey took another sip. "Clearly we've all been in love with him, so rather than ignoring it, we should embrace it. Maybe compare and contrast his various attributes."
Kristi and Andie giggled.
"Biggest pet peeve about him?" Joey asked.
"That's easy," Kristi answered. "His sloppiness. It always drove me nuts."
"His self-depreciating tendencies," Andie added. Then, "Joey?"
"His Dawson complex," she answered honestly. "If I wanted Dawson, I'd be with him, but I don't. My entire life doesn't revolve around him anymore." She exchanged a glance with Andie indicating she meant no offense. Andie waved a hand in understanding.
"Best thing about him?" Andie asked.
The three women looked at each other and then all blurted out. "The sex!"
Joey raised her glass, "I'd like to toast Ms. Jacobs for her marvelous tutorial skills on that one." Andie snickered at that, but Kristi seemed confused. "Wait? What? The rumor was true?!"
"Yup," Joey and Andie answered in unison.
"Okay. That's a visual I wish I didn't have in my mind," Kristi shared with a wince.
"At least it's only in your mind." Joey stated. "I saw the show."
At Joey's confession, the other women perked up. "What?" Andie asked, voice high. "Huh?" Kristi added.
"Dawson inadvertently got the whole thing on tape. He'd taken Jen to the ruins to film something for his movie and left the tape running. It accidentally caught them in flagrante delicto." Joey took another sip of her margarita and continued, "We could only see Ms. Jacobs. Dawson and I didn't know it was Pacey at the time." Joey put her hand over her eyes embarrassingly. "I remember commenting on his throbbing neck muscles. I was mortified when I found out it was Pacey, especially since we kinda hated each other at the time."
The other two women laughed.
"Most romantic gesture?" Kristi asked.
"That's easy," Andie said. "He asked me what I fantasized my first time to be like. I told him I wanted to go to a romantic dinner and then a bed & breakfast with candlelight and a roaring fire." Andie sighed dreamily. "And he made it come true." She paused to take a sip of her drink. "But I couldn't go through with it. He was really understanding, promised me he'd wait, and we left."
Joey thought back to Abby's little gathering sophomore year and Pacey's lost note. "But, I thought…"
Andie blushed. "We ended up doing it in the backseat of the car that night anyway."
The girls laughed. When they looked at Joey, she shared her story.
"We accidentally got stuck alone in a Big K-Mart overnight when he was working as a stockbroker. When we sailed away that summer in high school, I used to dream of being cast away with him on a deserted island. He made my fantasy come true without even knowing it."
"Wait…. So, Castaway is named after you?" Kristi asked, sadness in her voice.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"What happened in the store?" Andie asked curiously.
"A lot. And nothing at all." Joey said. "It was perfect."
"You're not gonna tell us, are you?" Andie whined.
"Nope!" There was no way Joey was going to tell these women that she blew her second chance with Pacey. Plus the events of that night were their perfect little secret. She wanted to keep it that way. Wanting the spotlight off her, Joey turned to Kristi.
"That's easy. The night he proposed."
"How did he propose?"
"We danced once during one of the dances my senior year at Capeside. I'd been bummed about something with my boyfriend and we ran into each other in the hall. He cheered me up by dancing with me."
Joey saw Andie flinch, but didn't call attention to it.
"Two years into our relationship, Jack asked us to help chaperone a dance at the school and we agreed. He picked me up and was the perfect date. Toward the end of the night, he re-created the moment in the hallway. After the song ended, Pacey got down on his knee and proposed." Kristi sighed and looked at the antique diamond ring on her right finger. "I'll never forget that moment as long as I live."
"Is that your engagement ring?" Joey couldn't help but ask.
"Yeah," Kristi admitted a little sheepishly. "Our engagement didn't end because we fell out of love. I wanted to keep it and he didn't want to take it back from me."
In that moment, Joey realized that Kristi was still very much in love with Pacey. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Changing the subject, Joey asked, "Biggest regret?"
"Sleeping with Marc," Andie stated. "If I hadn't, then we may never have broken up."
"Pushing him over wanting a family right away. If I hadn't... If I'd just let it play out, then maybe we'd still be together." Kristi added.
"Lying to Dawson about sleeping with Pacey. I was too afraid of hurting Dawson's feelings that I didn't consider Pacey's hurt over the lie." She paused. "Looking back, I know that was the beginning of the end for us."
After their admissions, the three women sat in silence. Joey thought that maybe this hadn't been a good idea after all.