Joey climbed on to the train to go back to Boston, she felt the same as she had Thursday morning. Now it was Monday afternoon and she was dreading having to return to school, to classes and to the inevitably uncomfortable confrontation with Pacey. Now she just had to sit back and hope that she could get in to her dorm room and stay there with out him noticing her arrival. In a perfect world she wouldn't have to face him until class.Her whole weekend had been miserable, because she knew what was waiting for her back in Boston. She'd have to have a talk, and not just any talk, with Pacey about what she had done and said before she left for Capeside. Joey supposed she had been lucky that he hadn't hopped in his car to come and see her.
Joey concentrated on methods of avoiding Pacey. It wouldn't be easy considering they lived on the same floor and that they had two classes together. What could she possibly say to him to explain how she had acted?
**
Pacey couldn't concentrate on anything but the clock. Sensible Joey wasn't home yet, but knowing her she'd be home pretty soon. He'd been waiting angrily at first, but now he was anxious to see Joey's face and to speak to her. He racked hi brain for the right words to greet her. Should he speak to her at all?
Pacey glanced in to the hall through the open door, Bryan was sitting in the hall reading a textbook, but there was no sign of Joey. Holly would likely show up late that night, she had mentioned something about catching a ride with her cousin. His patience was running out.
**
Joey scowled as she stepped on to the platform and began walking through the station. It was time to face the music. As she made her way out side and glanced around for a cab she noticed something and nearly dropped her bag.
**
Pacey stood leaning against his car, watching the doors of the station searching for Joey's face. When he finally noticed her he instantly lost all the anger that he had been holding on to so tightly that weekend. She was gorgeous as always. Then he caught her eye and her face crumbled in shock and dismay.
**
Knowing that Pacey had seen her and that it would only make things worse to dodge him now. Joey sighed heavily and walked towards Pacey.
"Hey, how was good old Capeside?" Pacey asked as Joey approached him.
"The usual… I didn't really leave the house. Bodie cooked a nice meal though," Joey replied awkwardly.
"Want a ride?"
**
Driving back to Amherst Joey stared out at the road and wished that Pacey wouldn't bring up their last night together. The two of them had been silent since the minute Pacey started the engine. Joey hoped that the deafening quiet wasn't foreshadowing what the next few days would be like.
"Listen about the other night," Pacey finally said, the stillness in the car had been killing him.
Joey interrupted him and blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "Can we just forget all about that and blame it on the booze. I was so embarrassed when I woke up."
Pacey felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach, Joey certainly hadn't given the reply he'd been waiting for. He plastered a blank look on his face and did his best impression of normal, "Sounds good to me… So Bodie cooked up a storm?"
**
"You swear that's the whole story?" Emily demanded as she stared at Joey in amazement. They were sitting in a coffee shop near the campus.
Joey scowled, signaling for Emily to lower her voice, "That's exactly what happened. But now Pacey is acting all weird around me. I swear he's avoiding me, I thought it would be the other way around. But I've been back for four days and he hasn't said more than three sentences to me."
"Well maybe he's offended or something. Maybe he got the wrong idea from your little night of passion, excuse me alcohol-induced game of spin-the-bottle, so he's suffered a blow to his ego and now he's just licking his wounds."
"But what if that's not the case?"
"What else could it be?" Holly said over her coffee cup.
Joey fiddled with her cup, "What if he liked it and now he's angry that I want to forget about it?"
"Are you sure that it's not you that feels that way? Joey if you seriously wanted to chalk it up to being trashed you wouldn't be obsessing about it like this. Granted you got loaded and kissed Pacey a few times and slept in his bed. And yea you two are really good friends but you already explained it to Pacey. If it really was just about drinking too much and losing control then Pacey would be sitting here with us right now and you guys would be teasing each other about being bad kissers." Joey smirked a little at the last remark. "Joey? Is Pacey a good kisser? Now that I think about it, you did leave out a few details about quality."
"I think your little insights are all backwards."
"I think I'm right and someone is in denial. But I'll back burner it for the time being. You haven't answered my question? How well does Pacey kiss?"
Joey blushed, "You know I don't remember."
"Don't bother, you might be lying but your face isn't." Holly got up from the table, "Anyway I can't sit here any longer trying to bring you out of the closet. I've got a class. I'll see you at dinner." Holly giggled as she walked away she loved to see Joey squirm.
"Think she's so smart," Joey mumbled.
**
Pacey walked down the hall towards his room, another day over. He didn't know what to think before. Joey wanted to dismiss everything and he couldn't stop thinking about it, or her for that matter. He didn't know how to deal with it so he decided not to deal, he'd been avoiding Joey for a week now and it had been hell.
The hardest part was wanting to speak to her so badly but not knowing what to say, being afraid to say anything at all. Pacey hated the way things had turned out. But he had to admit it was his own fault. Joey hadn't spoken to him too much but he really hadn't given her the chance. She hadn't tried to speak to him, or called him on his hiding from her.
"This sucks," he said gently under his breath. He pulled out his keys and sighed at the thought of another night alone in his room while Joey was just down the hall. The lock clicked and Pacey pushed the door open with his backpack.
Which he proceeded to drop on his foot when he saw who was in the room.
