BACK IN THE DAY

"Every little thing that you do, I'm so in love with you. It just keeps getting better. I wanna spend the rest of my life, with you by my side, forever and ever. Every little thing that you do, Baby I'm amazed by you." - Amazed, Lonestar.

Joey sighed heavily to herself as she washed up in the kitchen. The music played softly in the background. The warm, soapy bubbles felt nice against her hands. She drifted away into a daydream.

The time in Capeside had been great. She had spent time with Bessie, Bodie and Alex. Getting away from everything had helped her to relax and for the first time in ages she had felt at peace with everything. All that was missing was Pacey.

She had spent a lot of time with Dawson in Capeside, as Andie was keen to catch up with Jack and Doug. It had been good to talk to him. She had missed it; being back on the Creek had made her feel like a young girl again. Sitting in Dawson's bed while they watched old movies reminded her of a time when all she had wanted in the world was him. She remembered being fifteen years old and telling her father that she didn't think any one loved her. She could remember his reply so clearly.

"It couldn't be farther from the truth, Joey. And I'm not the only one. Dawson Leery. He loves you, Joey."

She did love Dawson and always would but it was the chemistry between her and Pacey that made their meetings so special. The sparks that flew every time he touched her, the stolen glances and that kiss. When they had first gotten together the magic had been obvious and she regretted that she had let him go.

The phone rang waking her from her daydream. She dried her hands and answered the phone.

"Joey! What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing really, I was just doing the washing up." She giggled, "you know, I didn't realise how pathetic that would sound until the words came out of my mouth!!"

"Well, that's settled then. You and me are going out tonight and painting this town in many shades of red!!" Jen screamed down the phone. "No arguments Jo, I'll be round yours in a minute. I think we both deserve a girly night out. I'll being the wine!!" With that she hung up, leaving Joey holding the phone, a look of absolute confusion on her face.

********~~~~~~~~~********

She could feel the bass pumping in her stomach as the music blasted out across the club. She looked at Jen and smiled a lopsided smile. Jen was looking beautiful. Her low slung black trousers fitted her perfectly, accentuating her hips, the black satin halter neck top hung to her curves in the right places and showed off a bit of her mid rif. She scooped her blonde tresses off her neck and tied it up; a couple of tendrils fell on either side framing her face.

"Another drink?" She managed to slur out, wobbling slightly in her attempt to walk towards the bar. Jen giggled wildly.

"Your drunk!" she laughed.

"Am not," replied Joey pouting slightly, "you are!" she pointed at Jen.

Joey made her way over to the bar with some difficulty. Her black dress was classy and understated, but the low cut v-neck revealed just enough cleavage, she was looking gorgeous, and a pair of eyes that had been watching her all night knew it.

"Two vodka lemonade and limes" she said to the barman. The man standing next to her smiled at her, he looked vaguely familiar, but that didn't matter - he was cute! She leaned over the bar as he handed her the drinks.

"How are you?" the man asked, his eyes looking over her as he spoke, he followed the neckline of the dress with his eyes, "So what's your name?" he asked a cheeky grin on his lips.

"Joey," she said, she wobbled in her high heels, he put his arm around her waist to steady her.

"Heeeey," he said, "take it easy! How much you had to drink?!" He helped Joey onto a barstool and sat down beside her. He smiled as he watched Joey sipping her drinks. She was concentrating really hard on not spilling it and didn't notice that he had moved his chair closer to her. So close he could smell her scent, a soft floral fragrance.

Jen twirled round on the dance floor, dancing by herself. She felt a pair of hands encircle her waist and a pair of lips kiss the back of her neck, she turned round to see Mike standing behind her.

"Hey sexy!" she giggled wildly. "I'm drunk!"

"I can see," he said smiling down at his girlfriend, "you here by yourself?"

She shook her head and wrinkled her brow in deep concentration, "No, I'm here with Joey, but I don't know where she is." She slurred slightly and leaned into Mike for support. "Why are you here, Mikey Wikey," she giggled, wrapping her arms round his neck and looking up at him with her big blue eyes.

"Pace and I fancied a boys night out, he's over at the bar getting drinks. Come on Jen, lets get you a chair."

"I'll have two bottles of Bud!" Pacey shouted over the noise to the barman.

He looked across the bar, the place was packed, and there were so many beautiful women around, short skirts and long legs, what more could he ask for? He had finished work that night and bumped into Mike on the way home. They had decided that it had been too long since they had had a boy's night and that they would be spontaneous and just go for it. A particularly gorgeous blonde walked towards Pacey and smiled. He smiled back and looked her up and down.

She was attractive in a very obvious way, and she knew it. Her hair was long and straight and her short, red dress clung to her body in all the right places, her long tanned less beckoned Pacey towards her, she was just what he needed to get over Joey. After that kiss, she had barely spoken to him, and he knew she thought it had been a mistake.

Joey was sitting and chatting to Cameron, he was nice enough, but now she was ready to go home. She was feeling sick. She looked over her shoulder at the dance floor to try and find Jen, but she couldn't see her anywhere.

"Hey, Joey what's up?" He slid a little closer and put his hand on her knee. "What you looking for?"

She tried to move his hand, "Just my friend, I want to go home now."

"I'll take you home," he said, smiling. He slid his hand up her thigh. She stiffened. Had she been giving out the wrong signals? She certainly didn't want this, where was Jen? She tried to stand up, but he held her down. Not hard, but strongly enough to stop her, in her drunken state, from going anywhere. He leaned in and tried to kiss her, she pushed him away, almost falling off the stool.

She was in shock and shaking, he leaned in again, this time making contact with her lips, she closed her eyes and bit him as hard has she could. She could feel the blood spilling out of his lip, as her teeth cut into his flesh. He screamed, and she snapped back to reality, realising what she had done. There was blood dripping down his face.

"You bitch!" he screamed, spiting blood all over the bar. People had turned to stare, and tears started to spill from Joey's eyes. "You bit me!" he snarled, "all I did was kiss you, you've been leading me on all night!"

"Hey!" came a familiar voice from behind her. "You should take a hint, man. She doesn't want you. Just go before you cause anymore trouble."

"Come on Jo, let's get you home." He slipped his arm round her waist and helped her out of the club. She shivered in the cold night air. He took of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulders and yawned.

"Thank you Pacey." She whispered into his shoulder. He led her to docks and they sat down together at the end. She slipped her shoes off and let her toes dip into the water. They sat in the moonlight, in silence.

"Jo?" he whispered, "what's going on with us?"

She sighed softly and turned her head away, not wanting to catch his eye. She knew that if she hadn't had this much to drink, she wouldn't say what she was about to say, and if she looked at him it would be even harder. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and began to speak.

"All my life I have spent my time with two of the most amazing people. You and Dawson mean the world to me. Without you two, I would not be the person I am today, but I compare everyone to you. Ever since our summer on 'True Love' I have not been able to love anyone, not the way I love you Pace." She stopped to wipe a tear from her eye. "Everyone says that Dawson is my first love, and I did believe that for a while, but after the time I spent with you, I realised that what I had with him wasn't love. Not true love."

"Jo." he whispered, pulling her into him. She carried on talking.

"I can't carry on like this. I need you to love me Pacey. You are my soulmate. You are the person I go to bed thinking about, the person I dream about and the person I wake thinking about. I want to be there, by your side, with you."

For the first time since she had started speaking she looked at him. He had tears in his eyes as he looked down at her. Cupping her face in his hands he bent down and kissed her. He opened his eyes and looked deep into hers.

"Thank you Joey," he whispered, "thank you for coming back to me."

He stood up and helped her to her feet. Picking her up in his arms he carried her to his boat. "Let's stay here tonight." he said as they boarded. She smiled at him and nodded.

"Let's." she replied.