Joey soaked in the rays of the sweltering sun, hoping her skin was turning more brown than red.  She lay still, on her giant blue beach towel in the warm sand. Pacey was asleep on the towel next to her, his snoring growing louder by the minute. She poked him in the shoulder, as the people walking past started pointing and laughing.

     "Pace? You're attracting attention…you might want to wake up."

     Pacey sat up and rubbed his eyes. He answered groggily, "How long did I sleep?"

     "Long enough to cause a scene."

     "I'm dead. Is Tyler back yet?"

     "No, he's off making some new friends with those strippers—over there." Joey sat up and lazily rested on her elbows, pointing down the beach towards where Tyler was standing, talking to a couple of girls in little bikinis.

      Pacey watched Tyler flirt. "It'll take him all day to actually get one of those girls to go out with him."

      Joey curiously asked, "Why don't you join him? I'm sure he would gladly share the wealth."

      Pacey laughed in response. "Right. Those girls? They're cute, but I know the kind of girls Tyler meets, and I'm not interested."

      With mock confusion, Joey said, "The slutty kind? I thought those were your favorite."

      Pacey quickly came back with, "I did date you, Jo, so you're right on that account."

      "Stop. You're making me blush." After a beat, "It's so nice to be out here, in the fresh air, out of our stuffy little apartment. Especially after the Justin and--" She cut herself off, realizing what she was about to say.

      Pacey nodded in agreement, "Yeah," but he continued to stare mindlessly in Tyler's direction.

      Joey sat up and wrapped her arms around her warm legs. "How are you holding up...I mean, after yesterday and everything?"

      Pacey brushed off her concern. "Fine…yeah, I'm fine."

      Joey bit her lip, unsure of what to say, but wanting to offer comfort.  "Hey, you know if you need to talk or anything…"

     Pacey smiled appreciatively at Joey. He replied simply, "Thanks."

     "…I'm here."

      Joey watched him for a minute as he stared at something beyond her, but decidedly closed her eyes again and lay back down on her towel, enjoying the richness of the sun on her skin. Pacey continued to sit in silence, watching Tyler from a distance.

      Pacey broke the silence. "Tyler's a funny guy. He's definitely not afraid."

       Joey remained laying still, eyes closed, but responded, "Not afraid of what?"

     "To be himself. He'll say whatever and act however he wants, and never think twice about it. Those girls are probably eating it up."

        Joey again rested herself on her elbows, and followed Pacey's gaze to where Tyler was standing. "Those girls? I don't know any decent girls who would fall for his lines. Besides, his ability to speak without thought can be a serious hazard. You can say a lot of stupid things without thinking, and he seems to do that a lot. It drives me crazy."

       "Yeah, that's true…" Pacey's curiosity leads him to ask, "You like Tyler, though, right? I mean, you guys are friends?"

       "Oh, yeah, sure. I…actually, I do like Tyler. I mean, he cracks me up, and…he's always willing to go anywhere and have a good time."

       "Always a good thing."

        Joey, still concentrating on the subject at hand, offers more, "Plus, he'll sit and talk with me for hours about the stupidest stuff and—

       "Really?"

       "—make up juvenile songs on the guitar about you, Justin and me, in the middle of the night—

       "When was this?"

       "—besides always making me laugh and—

       "Geez, Jo." Pacey shook his head; Joey could feel the tension in his voice, even though he purposefully tried to sound calm. He could see Tyler approaching them, alone, and quickly stood up and began walking in the opposite direction.

       "Pacey? Where are you going?"

        He answered, his backed remaining turned to her and Tyler, trying to sound casual. "I'll be back in a minute."

      "What's up, Jo?"

      "Just watching and learning. How are Candy and Trixie? Good, I presume." Joey laid back down on her towel, closing her eyes, pretending to be uninterested in the topic altogether.

       Tyler sat on Pacey's towel, next to her, and rested is arms on his knees as he sat watching her admiringly. "Jo…am I sensing some jealousy? No, couldn't be. That's not like you at all."

       "Jealousy? More like pity. It's difficult to be jealous of sixteen-year-old girls getting hit on by…well, you."

       "You know you're the only teeny-bopper in my life, Jo. Completely irreplaceable."

        Joey tried to stop the smile from creeping to her face, but let one slip long enough for Tyler to catch it, considering he was staring so intently at her. "You liked that? Good, let's see what else—

       "I was just smiling at the fact that those girls didn't come back here with you…you haven't—heaven forbid-- lost your touch, have you?"

       "Okay, let's take a walk back into a place I like to call reality, and ask that question again…if I was truly picking up on those girls, which I wasn't obviously, do you think they would be here now? Let me answer that—yes. But, the truth is…I've given that up." Joey laughed loudly, but not contemptuously. His inability to see his blatantly obvious (to her) arrogance completely fascinated her. Yet, she had gotten to know him well enough to understand that this was just a show. At home, he was just as ridiculous, without the conceit.  He flashed a smile at her as she laughed, and responded as truthfully as he could appear. "It's true. Love'll do that to me."

         She waited for a minute before she spoke again. "Ty, com on now lets be friends.

        "One on condition—we kiss and make up."

        "Seriously, Tyler, are you doing okay? After yesterday and everything…"

         Tyler's smile faded as he thought about her question. He stared at her for a moment before he answered, "Yeah." He gazed thoughtfully at the ocean and spoke quietly again, "You know, it's weird with him gone and everything, and I was pretty pissed at the time. But, things change and he did what he had to do, so…"

         She nodded in understanding and didn't pry any more. She knew it was a sensitive subject and she didn't want to press him.

        "It's crazy, though, how you think things are one way, and one day you wake up, and a friendship is nothing you thought it was."

        "Nothing? I guess I didn't realize how serious it was."   

        "I didn't either, not until he left. We were only friends for four years, but we were tight, you know? He just took off. Oh well. I'm tired of thinking about it."

        "Sorry I brought it up," she whispered, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

        "Don't worry about it, Potter." He turned to her and asked wistfully, "When's the last time you got wet? I'd say not recently enough."

    

         Pacey watched Joey and Tyler from afar. He had walked far enough down the beach to watch undetected. He kicked the sand around, annoyed at himself for having to walk away from them. All of them had been able to spend the last couple weeks together constantly, never having a hard time being with each other before today. Pacey understood that with all the drama--the way Justin left, and now Tyler and Joey's constant attention to each other (the way she was describing him and the smile on her face as she did so), it was too much.

         He tried to peel his eyes away from Joey's smiling face, but couldn't. Her smile was captivating, even if Tyler was the cause. Disappointment was tugging at his heart as he watched Tyler pull Joey to her feet and pull her towards the ocean.  He pulled his eyes away long enough to get annoyed at himself. He'd lost control of his feelings for Joey long enough to be forced to walk away from her…how was he going to explain that? He didn't want to deal with it. He instantly decided to walk back to Tyler and Joey and forget about whatever it was that was holding him back.

 

    

        Pacey picked up his towel and his board, trying not to watch Tyler and Joey in the water, running from each other and splashing wildly. Joey happened to stop running from Tyler long enough to notice Pacey picking up his things.

       She called to Pacey, "You leaving, Pace?"  

       He called back, forcing a weak smile on his face, "Yeah, I'll see you guys later."

       Joey started for Pacey as he walked away from them, towards the Jeep. "Wait, Pace…we'll come with you."

       Pacey kept walking, never skipping a beat, "No, you guys stay."

       Confused by his suddenness, Joey replied only loud enough for herself to hear, "Uh, okay…see ya." Tyler caught her off guard as she was picked off her feet and thrown into the water. Surprised and disoriented, she couldn't find her way to the surface of the water—she didn't have to. Tyler picked her up again, and was about to throw her back into the water, when she screamed angrily, "TYLER, STOP!" Startled by her angry outburst, he set her down immediately and apologized. "Sorry, Jo."

       Joey laughed unwillingly. "You scared the crap out of me."

       Tyler smiled, pleased with himself. He went for her again, but she pushed her hands against his bare chest to stop him. Suddenly, she did something that caught both her and Tyler off guard. She brushed a strand of his dripping, black hair away form his eyes. It was a gentle action, one she could not explain, except that the urge hit her and she acted on it. They stood completely still, waiting for something else to happen—but nothing else happened. That would come later.

        Joey spoke first, yet remained motionless. "Pacey left."

        Not really caring, Tyler spoke softly, "Why?"

        Joey backed away from Tyler and headed back up the beach, back to their towels. Tyler slowly followed behind her.

        Shaken by everything, Joey thoughtlessly replied, "I don't know." She picked up her blue towel and shoo the sand off it.

       "Does this mean you're ready to go, too?"

       She nodded and Tyler quietly picked up his own towel and his board, and they walked silently back to her bug.