Three months later…

This Thanksgiving, Pacey was thankful for distance. After the debacle at Joey's birthday, Pacey used the literal distance between Boston and Capeside to create figurative distance between him and his friends. When they asked him to come up for the weekend, he declined by saying he had to work. (Which wasn't always a lie. He worked a lot of weekends.) When they came down, which was rarely, he made himself scarce. He hadn't seen Dawson or Joey since that day. He had one brief conversation with Audrey and they made peace between them over what happened during the summer with Joey, but he did that more for Joey than himself. Jen, Jack, and Andie were more persistent. They constantly called and e-mailed him, but he was conveniently busy whenever they wanted to meet. He couldn't move forward if he kept getting dragged into the past. It wasn't that he didn't love his friends. He did. But his life and their lives were separate now and he needed to move on with his life in Capeside while they did the college thing.

Over time, Pacey made some new friends with other people from Capeside High who'd stayed in town. He hung out with Doug, which was shocking to them both. He taught cooking classes for the Capeside Mentoring Program. And he traded in the mustang for a new-to-him Ford F-150, which was both practical and reliable. All in all, the thing he'd feared the worst wasn't so bad.

And it got even better when the Yacht Club started getting publicity over the elevated dining experience. Since he got the executive chef job, no less than six newspapers and magazines had done write-up's on him and the restaurant. He was up for a regional cooking award and nominated for Capeside's 40 Under 40. At the rate he was going, he could end up with his own restaurant in five years if he played his cards right.

Pacey was living for himself. But it was lonely. He missed Joey and what they shared. He could have had any number of women, but he chose not to get involved with anyone. Maybe after more time had passed he'd consider it, but not anytime soon. Whether it was love or lust, it was a complication he simply didn't need in his life right now.

He knew that Thanksgiving break was short, so, since he was working all weekend, he expected to be able to continue his streak of politely declining the invitations he knew were forthcoming. However, when Mrs. Valentine called him in her office to tell him they were only going to be open for brunch on Thanksgiving and closed the rest of the weekend, he knew his time was up. Andie was hosting dinner at Grams' at 4:00 PM. And his only acceptable excuse for declining was work. There was no way he could get out of it now. Crap.

~zzzzz~

"Is Pacey definitely coming for dinner?" Joey asked hopefully as the group stood around the kitchen island preparing the meal.

"The Yacht Club is only serving brunch, so he'd better be. I told him his presence was required." Andie answered as she whipped the mashed potatoes.

"What's he bringing?" Jack asked.

"He didn't say," Andie replied.

"Is Dawson coming?" Jen asked.

"Yeah. With Todd and Natasha. His mom and Lily are having dinner with her new boyfriend." Andie answered.

"Gail has a boyfriend? Good for her. I'm glad she's moving on." Joey commented sincerely. "Bessie and Bodie are going to visit his family."

"That's nice," Jack stated. "So you don't feel guilty for not going home?"

"Yes and no. I would have liked the chance to see Pacey alone. That is assuming I could pin him down."

"He's been notoriously difficult to see, hasn't he? He's always busy." Andie commented.

Joey sighed. "He's the master of avoidance. Capeside might as well be Miami at this point."

"What do you mean?" Jen asked.

"He thinks putting distance between us will help to normalize things."

"That's ridiculous." This from Audrey, who was setting the table. "You could be a mile apart of 3,000 miles apart. It won't change how you feel about each other."

"No. It definitely won't," Joey confirmed.

Joey had spent the last few months getting her head on straight. She'd made peace with Audrey and Dawson, though the one with Dawson was tentative at best. He was still playing the victim, acting as though she was the one throwing their future away, but she didn't let it get to her. He'd made a choice and she'd chosen how to respond to it. They would only ever be friends. Even if she wasn't in love with Pacey, she wasn't sure she could get past what Dawson had almost done.

Joey had tried to reconnect with Pacey since her birthday, but he brought his avoidance tactics to new levels. He was always conveniently busy every time she invited him to Boston or she was home visiting Bessie. He answered her emails, texts, and phone calls, but refused to see her. However, since she needed time and space to make sure she was ready for a relationship with him again, she allowed him to think he had the upper hand.

Joey was doing well at Worthington, but she was considering transferring schools. When she told Pacey over the phone that she had to read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for her class, he questioned why on earth she was spending $35,000 a year to read a book she could read on her own time. Now that she was taking out student loans, could she justify that much debt for a piece of paper that could end up being nothing more than a decoration, especially if she and Pacey ended up together in Capeside? As executive chef at the club, he was on contract for the next few years. He was building a life there and was apparently thriving. He was the most adult person out of all of them, with Andie being a close second. Maybe it was their decisions to live in the Real World that made them that way. Joey wasn't sure. All she knew was that she missed him. And that, long-term, a long-distance relationship wasn't what she wanted. Plus, she hadn't yet declared a major. So she was spending a boatload of money with no purpose or direction. Despite knowing Bessie would blow a gasket if she switched schools and moved home to be with Pacey, Joey didn't care. The one thing she was adamant about was that she was no longer living her life worrying about other people's reactions. The only people who mattered were her and whoever she would be with at the time. Hopefully, Pacey. Of course, he'd probably blow a gasket, too. So Joey had to be sure before she made her final decision. And seeing Pacey tonight would be the first step in that direction.

When the time for dinner approached, Joey excused herself to change. She'd brought a navy blue wrap dress and heels to wear for dinner and accessorized it with her mom's bracelet and a the pair of matching earrings Pacey had bought and left for her as a graduation present before he left for Miami. They were literally the best gift she'd ever gotten - next to the simple gold band she was wearing on her right ring finger. He'd bought her that, too. And he certainly wouldn't be expecting her to wear it, given the meaning behind it. Joey dug it out of her "Pacey Box" the morning after her birthday. She put it on and hadn't taken it off since. She couldn't be 100% sure Pacey was being faithful during their indeterminate break, but she ventured to guess he was given what he'd confessed about loving her. Since she was in love with him, too, she'd chosen to do the same. The ring she wore was a promise for a future with the man she loved. Plus, she the thought of sleeping with anyone else never even crossed her mind, despite her flirtation with the bartender at Hell's Kitchen, where she was working most evenings to help pay for school.

When Joey arrived back downstairs, Jack actually whistled. Jen and Andie smirked. And Audrey nodded her approval. She wasn't about to make it easy for Pacey to resist her in the flesh.

Dawson arrived before Pacey with his girlfriend Natasha and his boss, Todd. Given Todd's brashness, Joey was glad that Grams and Mr. Smalls had reconciled and decided to spend the holiday in Florida visiting his friends. Joey was pleasant to the woman, who'd done nothing wrong, and polite but distant with Dawson. Joey knew he was hoping that bringing Natasha would make her seethe with jealousy and come to her senses, but it didn't work. Joey was unphased at seeing them together, which earned her a nod of solidarity from Jen. That in and of itself was proof of how far the two women had come. They were friends in earnest without Dawson between them.

When 4:30 rolled around and Pacey still hadn't come, Andie gave up and seated everyone. Joey made sure to have the empty seat next to her so that when, not if, he showed up, he'd have to sit next to her. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. He was here.

"I'll get it!" Joey exclaimed as she bounded out of her seat and ran to the door. She straightened her dress and hair, took a breath, and opened it.

"Hey," she breathed as she took in the sight of him. Pacey was dressed in khakis, a dark blue sweater with a white tee underneath, and his tan leather jacket. His hair was wet from the light drizzle outside. "Happy Thanksgiving, Pace."

"Hey."

Joey reached out to take the cake out of his hands. "Come inside. We're waiting for you."

He handed it to her and then stepped inside, careful not to brush against her. "Sorry. We ended up going late on service at the club. By the time I cleaned up and went home to get ready, it was later than I expected. At least traffic was light."

"At least the traffic God's worked in our favor again. I'll have to thank them."

"Huh?" She could tell he was confused by what she meant as he removed his coat and laid it on the back of the couch.

"You needed a clear road today just like we needed a traffic jam last June. It all worked out the way it was supposed to."

"Ah, yeah, I guess." He took the cake back from her hands. "Look, if this is gonna be weird, I can leave. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Jo."

She leaned into him. "I don't think I'm the one who's uncomfortable. Do you?" When he just cleared his throat like he always did when he was nervous, she tried to lighten the mood, "Plus, Dawson, Natasha, and Todd, already have uncomfortable covered."

"Oh. So, the two of you haven't made up yet?"

"No. Maybe in time, but who knows? I'm still angry at him over what he did."

"I don't blame you, Jo. For what it's worth," he agreed as he lightly touched her on the arm and it started to tingle.

She smiled. "Thanks. And it's worth a lot."

"Are you two ever coming in? We're starving here!" came Jack's voice from the table.

They shared a laugh and moved toward the dining room together.