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True Love Renewed

Chapter 8:Facing the Past

Joey stepped onto the elevator and waited in silence for the door to close. Pacey just watched her without saying anything. He had been watching her for the past two months, but this was the closest he had been to her since he had last spoken to her the night before graduation. He felt the his heart breaking all over again when he saw the sadness in her eyes.

"What are you doing here Pacey?"

"Well, Potter, I'm standing in an elevator waiting to get back to the first floor."

"I mean, what are you doing in Boston? At Worthington?"

"I work here, for the Dean. Seems he's taken a liking to yours truly."

"How long have you been here?"

"Since about mid-September."

"And you didn't let me know? Doug didn't even tell me? He's been sending me emails and they all say the same thing. 'Pacey's getting into the usual trouble.' Was it your idea to have him lie to me?"

"Doug, I mean the letters didn't say that I was getting into trouble in Capeside now did they?"

"What do you mean 'Doug, I mean the letters?' You wrote the letters didn't you?"

"Yes."

"So who else has been lying to me all this time? Do Jen and Jack know that you are here?"

"NO! I couldn't risk them telling you."

"So nobody else knows?"

Pacey hesitated before answering with a quiet "No."

"Well, everyone is going to want to see you when they find out. Why don't you come to the café on main street around 7:00? I'll tell everyone what is going on before you get there if you want to come."

"I'll be there Jo."

"Ok."

"And Jo?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

At this moment the elevator doors opened and Joey walked off and away from Pacey without another word. Pacey felt more alone than he had ever felt before standing there watching her walk away from him.

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To: Jlindley, Jmcphee, Tsmith, Dvalentine

From: Jpotter

Subject: Important dinner

November 1, 2001 2:30pm

Hey all, I need you to meet me at the café on Main Street at 6:00. Don't ask me why, I'll explain when we all get there. Talk to you later.

Joey

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Jen, Jack and Tobey all arrived at the café at 5:50. Drue followed momentarily. The three were surprised to see that Joey was not with him.

"Where's Jo?" asked Jen.

"I don't know. I haven't spoken to her all day. Just got the email like all of you."

This surprised the other three who felt sure that they were all called together so that Joey and Drue could announce that they were officially a couple now.

"So what is this meeting all about?" asked Jack.

"Don't know that either. I guess we'll just have to wait for Joey to get here," said Drue.

"Looks like we won't have to wait long," chimed Tobey, "here she comes."

Joey walked up to the table and looked at her friends. She had gotten the feeling from the hesitation before Pacey answered her last question that someone else knew that he was in Boston, but she didn't know which one of her friends could be lying to her.

"Hey Jo, what's up? Why did you ask all of us to come here tonight?" asked Jack.

"Well, I ran into someone today that I thought all of you would be happy to see, so they are meeting us here at 7:00."

"So why are we all here at 6?" asked Drue, who was beginning to get a bad feeling about all of this.

"Because I figured we might want to talk about it first," replied Joey.

Jen was the first to speak after this, since none of them quite understood what Joey was talking about. Why would they want to talk about it first. She probably just ran into AJ or something. No big deal. "Joey, who are we going to see at 7:00?"

"Pacey."

All four of her friends replied in unison, "Pacey is in Boston?" Joey knew without a doubt that none of them had known that Pacey was in town. So why did she still feel like Pacey was lying to her? Joey was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to see that Drue's face had fallen as he realized that he had probably just lost Joey before he even really had her.