Joey found Pacey sitting on his bed, staring blindly at the floor

"Jo, folding is a waste of time. Trust me. Everything gets wrinkled and dirty anyway. Don't waste your time."

"No, Dirtiness, it's a perfectly sane and important thing to do. And, I would advise you to pick up the habit before my stuff starts smelling like you."

Pacey stared at her seriously and retorted, "I happen to have a very manly smell that women find adorable."

"Yeah, well, I'm picking up your 'manly smell' and men don't find that particularly adorable on me."

"Men, what men? Except me, and I find it—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Joey waited while Pacey finished overfilling the dryer full of clothes. When he was finished, she picked up her basket of clothes, but Pacey didn't move a muscle. He just stood there watching her, almost expectantly.

"What? Come on, this basket is getting heavier by the minute."

Pacey continued to stand there, silently. Yet, she could see his hands fidgeting nervously, and she was reminded of the day he came to pick her up at the airport. Joey let out a small laugh and said, "Hello?" Pacey walked over to her and picked up her basket of folded clothes and placed them on a washer next to them.

"Let's talk for a minute."

Joey's eyes widened with confusion, "You want to have a heart-to-heart in the Laundromat?"

Pacey looked around the room, and then shrugged his shoulders. "We're alone, aren't we?"

Joey replied, still confused, "Well, sure…"

His face turned a little more solemn, choosing his words carefully. He looked down at his writhing hands, and quickly dropped them to his side. "Jo…"

Readily awaiting and explanation, Joey quickly inserted, "Yeah?"

"How do you feel about where we are right now?"

Joey still completely confused, replied, "Well, I like it here, if that's what you mean. Yeah, our apartment is kind of small, but it's all we can—

Pacey looked down again, this time his hands completely still. "No, I mean us, where we are. Our relationship."

"Oh," realization hitting Joey. "Uh…yeah. I mean, you and me—it's like the old Capeside-days between us. You know, besides the kissing and the sex and the drama…

Without looking up, Pacey sighed, "Yeah, that's true…but, are you content with…this?"

Joey easily shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah. We get along so well right now, and we're closer than we've been in a long time, so, I'm pretty content. Why? Are you not?"

Pacey looked up to meet Joey's eyes and gave her a half smile. "No." Joey's face contorted with puzzlement, and Pacey quickly explained himself. "I don't want to be just friends, Jo. I want more than that."

Joey slowly released a deep breath she had been holding in as Pacey spoke. She anxiously bit her lower lip, but kept her gaze in line with his. "Oh Pacey…are you serious about this? Because I don't know—

His smile dropped as he simply replied, "I'm serious."

She closed her eyes and nervously rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Pace, but I don't…I don't think I can right now." She quickly followed with, "But please don't let this come between us. Our friendship is everything, and—

Pacey slowly backed away from her. He kept on peering into her face, really looking at it for the first time, after all the years, for the close, true look at a thing can only be one snatched outside of time and questions. He spoke slowly, "It's okay, Jo. I understand." Without letting her finish, he walked out of the Laundromat, and back to the apartment. Joey followed quietly behind Pacey back to apartment, carrying her load of folded laundry. An awkward silence built a wall, not allowing a word to pass between them. Joey was about to break the silence when Pacey stopped short right in front of her. She followed his gaze to an unfamiliar car parked in front of the apartment.

"You okay, Pace?"

Pacey stood silently only a moment longer before he turned to Joey and grabbed her basket of laundry from her. He continued walking to the apartment, his eyes never leaving the parked Jetta.

"Thanks. Um, what's going on? Is that someone you know?"

Pacey continued to stare mindlessly at the vehicle, without giving Joey the slightest acknowledgement. Joey was a dismayed at his inability to speak at all.

They entered the apartment finding a visitor sitting on the sofa. She was a beautiful girl with long brown hair and clear blue eyes. She smiled upon their entering and whispered, "Hello," before Tyler cut into the introductions.

"Joey, I don't believe you've met Anna. Pace, you remember Anna don't you?"

Joey smiled warmly at Anna, although she was amazed to see her here. Pacey had said that he and Anna had fizzled out and he hadn't talked to her in weeks.

"Pacey, it's good to see you again. Tyler was entertaining me until you got here."

"Good," Pacey murmured.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

Pacey paused for a moment, considering his options, and then said, "Yeah, okay." She followed him back to his room, leaving Joey gaping mindlessly at Tyler. After Joey was assured that Pacey's bedroom door was closed, she sat on the couch next to Tyler.

"Okay something is not right here."

"What are you talking about? Anna looks good. If Pacey has any sense, he'll do whatever she came here for."

"Okay, but the problem is—the problem is that she just shows up out of the blue—today? Why?"

"She probably wants to bet back together."

"Oh, geez. This is not good."

"Why? And why are you freaking out over this? What's the big deal?"

Frustrated, but not want to tell Tyler about what happened in the Laundromat, Joey just sighed and sat silently.

"Jo…what's up?"

Joey shook her head, and faked a smile. "Nothing's up. It's just weird, that's all."

"Right."

Joey stood and paced in the kitchen awhile, unseen by Tyler's curious eyes. She stopped suddenly and walked into the living room, curiosity taking over, "Hey, why did Pacey and Ana stop dating anyway?"

"I don't know. But as soon as you got here, every other girl was out of the picture for Pacey. I know that."

She looked away from Tyler. She was nervous, but she couldn't explain if it was because of Anna or because of Pacey. Or both. If she really wanted nothing from Pacey but friendship, what was the big deal of Anna and Pacey getting back together?

"It'll be okay, Jo. You don't have to worry."

"Ha, ha, Ty. I'm not worried. I'm fine." She immediately stood and walked to the kitchen. "You want anything to drink?"

"No thanks."

What was taking so long? Joey had conflicting feelings of wanting to talk to Pacey, without crossing a line. He was probably still angry with her and she wanted to quickly clear things up. Yes, she thought, that is why I'm stressed. The only reason I'm stressed. But, her heart wasn't in that explanation, and she knew it. After she filled a glass full of water, she walked back into the living room, and sat restlessly next to Tyler. She tried to get into the TV show he was watching, but her mind kept drifting back to Pacey. She was going to drive herself crazy.

Finally, Anna appeared before Tyler and Joey. "See you later," were her only words before opening the door and leaving. When the door shut, Joey waited in anticipation for Pacey to appear. She wrestled with the idea of going back to see him, or wait for him to come out. She waited only a minute longer before walking through the hall, back to his room.

Joey found Pacey sitting on his bed, staring blindly at the floor.

"Pace, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He listlessly watched her approach.

Sitting next to Pacey, she gave him an unconvincing smile, but he was unaware of anything she did. "So, Pace...can we talk about what happened at the Laundromat?"

"Not now, Jo."

"Please, Pacey…"

"Jo, I've got too much on my mind to talk about that."

"Okay…um, not to pry, but how'd it go with Anna?"

There was a lengthy pause before Pacey realized she had asked him a question. Pacey glanced at her with apathy, as he shook himself out of his trance, "Fine."

Joey closed her eyes in discontent. "Oh, Pacey…"

Out of the blue, Pacey decided to expound, "Apparently she wants to start dating again…she said she misses me. The girl is…"

"That girl has impeccable timing…"

"I was shocked. We were never that serious. We would hang out sometimes, but it was purely platonic. I didn't even think she was that into it."

Joey sat still, taking on every heartbreaking word and letting it sink to the bottom of her stomach. He just kept talking and talking, and she knew why he was doing it.

"And so I told her that we should start dating again, and see where it leads." Pacey laughed unconsciously. His surprise was written clearly on his face.

Joey's heart sank. "So, you just decided like that? With our conversation not five minutes earlier."

Pacey looked into Joey's eyes, hard. "Yeah, Jo, I just decided like that. I think I got the gist of our conversation, so I didn't worry about you or how you might feel about my decision. Why you're surprised is what's amazing."

She couldn't help feeling disappointed, however self-interested that might be. She wanted to be patient, not angry with him. She didn't feel she earned the right. "Wow, Pace. That's great for you…do you think things will work out better this time?" Joey asked, apprehensively.

"I guess we'll see."

"I guess so…" Joey stood quietly in the doorway still recovering from Pacey's unwelcome news. She scolded herself for being so selfishly annoyed. "Do you want to go for a drink or a swim or something? We don't have to talk about anything, we can just--"

"No, you go." Pacey never gave Joey another look, as he quickly fell back into a state of confusion.

Joey took the too obvious hint for her to leave. She supposed Pacey needed time to think, but she really wanted to be with him for a while. She slowly backed out of the room, hoping he would stop her, but instead, walked back through the hallway and picked her keys up off the kitchen table. Before walking out the door, she mindlessly asked Tyler if he wanted to come with her.

"Where are you going?"

"Out. I'm not really sure where, but I want to get out of here."

Tyler didn't hesitate, "Let's go."

He followed Joey out of the apartment to her little ghetto bug. She unlocked the door for Tyler and climbed inside the driver's seat. Tyler watched Joey as she started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

"Jo, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Come on now, Jo. We're good enough friends that you can tell me what's going on." Tyler teased her with his bright eyes, and she begrudgingly explained herself.

"This whole Pacey/Anna thing is weird for me. I honestly am not trying to be a brat, but I don't really think now is the time for them to start dating again."

"Geez, Jo." Tyler laughed, while considerably not amused. "Why not? I thought you and Pacey were friends. Why wouldn't you want him to be with Anna? Unless…"

"Unless nothing. I just don't think—"

"Hey, I happen to know that Pacey has been trying to get with since the day you moved here, and you have been giving him The Shaft, so your opinion on this doesn't exactly carry a lot of weight."

Joey rolled her eyes and continued to drive in silence.

"I knew I couldn't talk to you about this."

Tyler couldn't keep himself from laughing. "Right, Jo. It's me--I'm the problem. Either you want to be with Pacey or you don't. But you shouldn't stop him from dating Anna, when you already made it perfectly clear you don't want to be with him."

"When was that, Tyler? Were you listening at the door when I made this declaration? I'm sure you had nothing better to do than--"

"Joey, you might want to stop before you make a fool of yourself." Tyler smiles all 'take-it-like-a-man.' "It's obvious. The way you act around each other and how you treat him. You don't have to say it Jo, it's clear to everyone except Pacey. No eavesdropping required."

Joey glanced at him with contempt. "Thank you all-knowing wizard of Oz. I do so need you to remind me of every little thing I say or do."

"I'm going to be honest with you, Jo. I have told the guy to move on; that he's wasting his time. I don't want to see him pine away for you."

"That's fine. Wow, you're really good at this whole heart-to-heart thing. You should really try it more often. " Yet, after a beat she replied, defensively, "Besides, I really didn't want anything like that with him, so good…I'm happy with whatever he wants."

"How is it?"

"How is what?"

Tyler had a sly smile on his face as he replied. "Living your life in denial? It must be blissful to deny any real feelings you might have for another person, excluding myself, of course."

Joey glared at him, "Without exception."

Joey pulled into the parking lot of a small community park. She intentionally slammed the car door without saying a word to Tyler, and headed straight for a nearby duck pond. Tyler slowly followed her, taking his time to get out of the car and walk over to her, smiling to himself all the way. He knew he was right, and Joey knew it, too. He stood next to her, but said nothing. He enjoyed the cool breeze on his face as he watched the children playing Frisbee, from across the pond.

"You still mad at me, Jo?"

Joey eyed him solemnly, but let the anger slowly pass away. "No, just infuriated by you. I'm sorry, but you have no idea how extremely irritating it is when the things you say are reasonable. You have this Mister Miagi thing going on right now, and I really hate it."

"Thank you."

Joey laughed knowingly at herself. "Sometimes, I wonder about you. I come off like a twelve-year-old, and you sound well-versed…it scares me when you do that."

"Because it makes you want me?"

Joey's eyes drifted away from him towards the pond as she seriously contemplated her answer. Her eyes met his. "Because it makes me humble…"

Tyler, a little unnerved by how serious the conversation had become, replies nonchalantly. "I'm not trying to make you feel stupid, Jo. I just want you to see both sides of this situation. It's not really fair for Pacey to hold off on Anna on the slightest chance that you might change your mind about him. Besides, this whole hard-to-get thing you're playing with me is translucent to everyone, including Pacey…I wasn't going to say anything, but--"

"What? Okay, let's reverse back to the serious Tyler for one moment and skip your last incoherent sentence that I am simply going to ignore. I realize I'm a retard, so that has been sufficiently established, but there is something about you which seems equally important to discuss."

"Like what?"

"Are you ready to delve into the person that is Tyler?" Joey continued to watch Tyler, trying to provoke him with her words. "Just for a random example of what I mean, there's the issue of why you only date superficial women. I mean, it only seems fair since we are analyzing my neurosis, that we should take a crack at yours."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tyler began to stroll around the pond, avoiding Joey in all regards.

"How convenient for you."

"I'm serious."

"So am I." Joey smiled, knowing she had hit a nerve somewhere, and wanting to run with it. " What about…say…your failure to commit to any real girl—I mean real as in someone whose reading level goes beyond the third-grade. I see the girls you bring over and there's a new one every night. They all look the same, with their big jugs and big hair."

"Quite the articulate description you gave there, Jo. However, I'm surprised at your analysis. I didn't realize what an interest you had taken with my sex life. If you think about it, this actually only reveals more about you than me. Your—

"You're changing the subject—

"--obsession with who I date and when I date them. Whenever you're ready to admit you're true feelings for me, I'll still be waiting…patiently."

Frustrated, Joey started to walk away, but instantly changed her mind, realizing his intent, and decided to continue. "Oh, if only I could, Tyler. Yet, your avoidance of this whole commitment issue is what I'm more interested in. So, explain away…"

"There's nothing to explain. I like pretty girls, but when they open their mouths, everything goes south. So, I don't like to be with the same chick for very long. Simple as that."

"Then you're not dating the right girls…but really, Ty, you know that's just an excuse. You like surface relationships. Then no one can really get to know you and you remain in a happy little place called self-denial. Hmm…sounds familiar. How is it?"

Tyler confronts her with the most somber face he can muster. Her grin widens as he replies with, "This topic is seriously getting tired. You think you understand a complex and sophisticated mind like mine, but you never will." Tyler began walking away from the pond, towards an old swing-set. Joey follows quietly behind. As they reach the swings, she avoids his eyes, but makes a quiet response, the grin still tugging at her mouth. "You're being a little dramatic. I'm just trying to understand you, the way you seem to understand me."

"I'm just warning you now--it's impossible."

Joey sits in a low swing and gently pushes the ground with her feet, as Tyler makes his way to the swing next to her, but instead moves behind her and pushes her into the air. After some time, Joey innocently asks, "Do you think we're screwed up, Tyler? Be honest—and serious--for once."

"Me? I 'm not screwed up, you on the other hand…honestly, though, I just think we both have issues we aren't willing to face up to. Denial is what sets us apart from the rest."

Joey's hair blows furiously across her face, as Tyler pushes her higher in the air. She notices how gentle his touch is as he tenderly pushes her forward. She slows herself down somewhat with her feet, in order to talk to Tyler with more ease.

"Can you sit next to me, please?"

Tyler sits in the swing next to Joey, eyeing her curiously. She gazes at him admiringly--his gentle, caring eyes lull her into a state of gratitude. He watches her eyes, unsure of what she wants to say, but he can see something that wasn't there before. Is it…?

"What's up, Potter?"

"Thank you. That's all. Just thank you…I know I'm crazy at times and…I appreciate you listening to me and being honest…you're a good friend, Ty."

"That's beautiful, Jo."

"Hey, I'm being serious."

"Sorry." His eyes smiled at her. "Thanks. You're the type of girl that one can always enjoy a little denial with. I'm serious Jo, our talks scare me because I realize that you can see beyond my good-looking exterior. Something of which few girls are allowed to see with permission. You and me…we could go along way together. Can I tell you something? It's genuine, I promise."

Tyler reached over and stopped Joey's swing. She could see a sudden seriousness touch his face as he stood and walked directly in front of her swing. He reached out his hand and she took it, causing a feeling of surprise to reach her face. Tyler ignored any signs of alarm, concentrating on the task at hand. They stood face to face as he flashed his always-charming smile at her, and then touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers. A small laugh escaped Joey's lips. Her breath quickened out of sheer nervousness…she wasn't sure what was going to happen, but her stomach was churning.

"Ty?"

"Yeah?"

Tyler leaned in before Joey could respond, and kissed her lightly on her lips. The softness of his lips was insatiable. She craved this kiss, while concurrently knowing she couldn't do this--for so many reasons…almost instantly she pulled herself back into reality, scolding herself for not stopping this sooner.

"Tyler…um…" Joey took a few steps backwards, tripping over the swing, and falling flat on her back.

"Perfect," was Joey's only response to the awkwardness she could feel permeating between them. Tyler walked past the swing and helped Joey to her feet. He made no attempt to clear up their current distressing situation. He was simply waiting for her to shed some light on what just happened. She brushed the dirt off her, and looked up at him, laughing as she did so. Her laugh was cut short by the expression on his face.

"Ty, I'm sorry." Although Tyler was only considered a friend, her heart dropped as she began to speak again."…I just don't think me and you kissing is the solution…to anything."

"I wasn't trying to solve anything."

Joey rubbed her forehead and gave Tyler a half smile. "I don't know what to say, except that…let's not make this any more complicated than it already is."

Tyler searched her eyes imploringly. She was racked with guilt as she watched him turn away from her and walk to the car. She tried to catch up with him, but his stride was too long.

"Ty, wait up. I'm sorry. It's just that—"

"It's just nothing, Jo."

They reached the car at the same time. She walked to the passenger's side, forcing him to look at her. He looked into her eyes calmly, his expression never changing, making it impossible for her to read his emotions. Again, she tried to smile at him, but he just stared at her blankly.

"Ty, listen…"

"I think we've both said enough."