Chapter One

One Week Later

I've been torn apart so many times, I've been hurt so many times before, So I'm counting on you now...

The blowing of the wind continued to increase mildly, as the sprinklers began spraying across the lawns in town. It was a nice day; at least that was what she thought to herself as she pulled the blue tank top over her head, slipping into tight worn out blue jeans, she hurried downstairs.

No one was yet awoken in the house, just yet. She silently crept into the kitchen and grabbed a slice of bread, stuffing into her mouth quickly, turning around her eyes caught onto her sister's, and she smirked.

Bessie placed her hand on her hip, her other arm was occupied with holding baby Alexander in her arms. "What, may I ask, are you doing? Planning to skip out on your morning duties...again, Joey?"

Joey easily laughed, upset that she had once again not beaten everyone else from waking up before she had. Chewing down the last remains of the bread slice, she licked her lips. "Bes, I was just going out for a morning swim, that was all." She answered innocently, her blue eyes shining with mischief.

Bessie slowly let Alexander down onto the ground, with his teething toy in his hand; he seemed to entrance with it to notice being placed away from his mother. Bessie walked around her younger sister and opened the refrigerator to get the daily feedings for her child. "Oh yeah, I believe that. I've seen you down the creek over at his house trying to see if he has wrote his parents from his cousin's house yet." She muttered softly, opening a carton of orange juice.

Josephine grinned, she had been visiting the Leery's household the past week each morning to see if Dawson had written back or called home yet. But it seemed he hadn't and each time, she had been disappointed. "I have nothing to say to that inaccurate comment."

Her older sister arched her left brow in wonder; she hadn't seen Joey smile in about two weeks. It was every now and then that she would catch a glimpse of what her sister used to be like but then Joey would remember whom she was without and her old self would disappear. "Go ahead. None of the guests have awoken yet, but make sure to be back here before noon...I need help with Alexander." Bessie watched as her younger sibling hurried out the front door without even listening to her last words, it was a shame how these teenagers acted these days. But who was she to talk? She had gotten pregnant while unmarried, so she was certainly no better. ~*~

She exited his house in disappointment, Gail had said that he had called earlier but he hadn't asked for her. Just give him time, she thought silently to herself. He would come around later, she knew him too well for him not to.

Crossing the dock, she eyed suspiciously around, quickly she pulled her tank top off, revealing her blue bra and unzipping her jeans quickly that also revealed her matching panties. Leaving the clothes unto the dock, she dived into the water, letting her body be consumed with the dampness of the water, her hair was wet, and her undergarments clanged to her body. But she didn't care.

These mornings...swimming was the only time that she could ever feel like she ever could truly forget everything the world had to offer. She came up from the water, gasping for hair, smiling gently, before going back under, and swimming her thoughts and pains away. ~*~

Dougie had once again made him stuck with the job of picking up trash from the town; it truly sucked to be a sibling of a police officer. His summer had been horrible so far, he had been working night and dawn, and his father was making him attend summer school in late July. This wasn't what he would call a vacation.

He was thinking this while continuing to pick up loiter from the grass and putting it into the trash bag that he was carrying, he looked around for any sign of his sneaky older brother. Doug had been following him lately to make sure that he was doing his "duty" for society.

Seeing no sign of him, he threw the trash bag aside and began walking quickly towards Dawson's house, he had been going lately to sleep. Mitch and Gail knew how hard it was for him to stay at home with his parents; they were always clashing, over viewing each other. He couldn't deal with them. He walked towards their dock, thinking that he would just sit by the dockside and watch the day pass him by.

When he notice the woman's clothing on the dock, he squinted his eyes in confusion and then he grinned. He was daring himself to run off with the clothing and let the young lady come out and show herself, he looked out into the water and he saw a figure swimming deep beyond the dock's range.

She resurfaced every now and then, her brown hair clinging to her face, after she began to swim closer back to the dock, his eyes widened. It was Joey. He almost smirked, but quickly walked off the dock and hurried behind a bush. He had seen almost a little bit too much from her already but it was very rare that he would have the chance to see her off guard.

He hadn't spoken to her since that day in the car, when he drove her home, she hadn't said anything but thanks for the ride, and then she had left so quickly. He didn't think of her since, why would he? They rarely spoke to one another on regular occasions, but he did tell he was going to be there for her when she needed him, and he had meant it.

It looked like she didn't need him so far.

His thoughts were shaken by the sight of her climbing onto the dock, he had known she was beautiful, way before Dawson had ever realized it, but what he was seeing now made his tongue wet. Her undergarments were soaked by water, her body seemed muscular and ever petite, he watched in amazement as she shook out the dampness from her hair before tying into a high ponytail.

She looked around nervously, before turning towards the water (her back was to him), and her hands extended behind her back as she undid her bra quickly. Dropping the garment to the ground, she, in a record time, placed the tank top over her head, sitting down onto the dock, she slowly pulled her jeans onto her hips. Sighing in relief, she grinned and then laid back onto the ground, closing her eyes.

Pacey stood motionless at first but he quickly became succumbed to the idea of seeing his sworn enemy briefly naked, or at least, partly naked. He knew that it was wrong to spy on her and he debated whether or not to approach her, he knew she would probably tell him to piss off but he was there and he didn't have anywhere else to go.

She felt someone eyeing her and groaning slightly, she opened one eye and jumped when there standing above, hovering her, was Pacey Witter, and he was grinning. "Pacey, what are you doing here?"

He ignored her question and sat down beside her, much to her protest. She sat up, curling her legs beneath herself, her blue eyes wandered to where her bra was lying beside her and she quickly and discreetly stuck it into her back pocket. But Pacey was watching her out of the corner of his eye and he caught her doing what she thought was "discreet".

He looked out upon the creek, "I'm surprised you're here, I thought you were trying to 'move on'. Is that what you said?" He asked, not making eye contact with her.

"Can't I go for a swim once in a while? It's not like Dawson is here to forbid me to swim over here, it's a free country, Pace." She spoke, standing to leave.

Reaching out to stop her, his hand brushed against hers, and she looked down and almost glared at him. He rolled his eyes, "Potter, where you heading to?" He was still holding her hand, he couldn't believe how damp, but yet smooth her skin was. It was almost a little bit shocking.

She pulled her hand free from his, her eyes blue eyes darkening. "Somewhere, anywhere, away from you, Witter." She mocked his last name the way he always said her name, turning her back to him; she began to walk quick strides down the dock.

He cocked his head and watched her as she disappeared, it was always the same thing with them, they couldn't be civilized and he wondered if it might ever change. Sometimes it was a good thing because they both knew it was just fun banter but other times, you almost felt as if it too close to home, that it might actually offend you...but those moments passed by quickly. He remembered seeing the vision of her climbing up onto the dock, how the sun glistened onto her tan skin, how she looked liked a Victoria's Secret model...she looked quite nice, he admitted to himself. He quickly shook the feeling away, he had decided he didn't like that feeling at all...not at all. ~*~

She was at the B&B, quickly preparing a room that a guest downstairs was waiting for. She had decided to come back home before noon, it had downed her mood when Pacey had snuck up on her, she didn't know how long he had been around and it irked her. He might have seen things he shouldn't have, and that made her face blush for just a bit, before she groaned in annoyance.

"Joey, the sheets look well primped enough," the voice startled her as she looked towards the door to see no other than Jen Lindley, standing with a blue tube top and blue jean shorts on.

Joey almost widened her eyes; it was a conclusion that Jen and herself were not close. She had immediately tried to hate her when she first came to Capeside; it had always bothered her to see Dawson flock after her like some virginal sex manic. But the thing was, she didn't really hate Jen, it was just so awkward for her to be around her, she felt insecure, maybe even a bit jealous. But she never could hate her, she didn't really have that in her...or maybe she did.

"Hey," Joey whispered simply, she didn't know what else to say. She hadn't spoken to Jen since the month before when they were paired in science class for an assignment, even then they barely spoke to one another. "Uh...can I help you?" She fixed the tablecloth once more, just to do something.

Jen waltzed in the room she was smiling shyly. "Yeah, actually you can. I was sort of hoping we could..." she stopped to rephrase her suggestion, "Jack left for the whole summer and Grams is not the first person I would want to spend my entire summer with...so, I was just thinking..." her voice trailed off.

Joey could almost sense where she was heading her suggestion towards and she blinked, quite a few times. "You know Pacey is in town." She said matter-of-factly.

The other girl nodded, knowing well that she wasn't welcomed. "I know I just saw him but I can't necessarily be around him since everything that went down between us..."

"You mean the two of you deciding to have sex with each other?" Joey had remembered when Pacey told her about the plan that those two had between them, she personally had found it disgusting, but everyone else, including Dawson didn't see the big deal. She had learned that the two tried to go through with it, but failed, she couldn't say that she was unhappy about it. She knew that it was a mistake from the moment he told her about it.

Jen grinned, "Yeah. And Henry seems a little withdrawn about the issue in the first place, I'm trying that whole 'long distance' thing, so that includes being faithful." She glanced around nervously, "So what do you say, you and me...my place tonight?"

Joey almost wanted to make an excuse, to tell her that she had to help Bessie tonight but the words wouldn't form and she couldn't exactly know why she was feeling the need to reach out to someone, anyone. She nodded slightly, "Okay. I guess. Um, I'll be done with everything by three, so I'll see you at five?"

Jen Lindley couldn't believe her ears, Miss Josephine Potter was actually agreeing to stay at her place. This was going to be a weird summer, without a doubt. "That'll do just fine, Joey. I'll see you then." With that she disappeared out of the room, leaving Joey to wonder what she was thinking. She would do anything to just forget about Dawson, at least until he came back.

"JOEY! Are you done with that room or what?!" She quickly snapped out of her thoughts as Bessie's angry call came from downstairs. She yelled back in response and walked downstairs to help her sister and Bodie.

It was another day in hell, she would say.

~*~

Her palms felt sweaty as she began to walk towards Jen Lindley's home, her overnight bag was in her left hand. She had explained to Bessie that she was staying over at a "friend"...which Bessie couldn't believe since Dawson was gone and there was no one else that Joey ever really "hung" out with.

Licking her lips, she glanced at the watch on her left wrist, it was three- thirty, she still had time to spare. Glancing around, she walked towards the only other place she was accustomed to...the boat docks.

As she reached there she could already see Pacey standing by the one thing she knew he was proud of..."True Love". He should be proud of it, she thought, she helped him with it. Moving towards him, he was untying the ropes that let his boat stay on dock, she ran towards him. "Pacey, wait!"

He looked up surprise to see Joey, with a bag over her shoulder and she was heading towards his boat. She drew near and extended her hand towards his, "Permission to come aboard?"

He smirked, and then helped to pull her up on the boat, "Permission granted." She was breathing heavily from the running, and he gave her his water bottle, she looked at him gratefully and quickly downed its contents.

"Potter, sad to tell you, I'm not planning to spend the night on the boat." She looked at him blankly, and he motioned towards her overnight bag.

"I'm not spending the night here...like I ever would. But Jen invited me to spend a girls night out with her and I accepted..." She frowned at Pacey's expression, "What?"

"You and Jen? Together? Spending the night? Oh I have I got to tell Dawson about this tonight!" He laughed, but quickly stopped as he realized his mistake. Joey was standing by then, her blue eyes wide with confusion, he had been talking to Dawson all this time and he didn't tell her? Pacey rolled his eyes and muttered to himself for being so dumb. "Now Jo..."

She grabbed his shirt, "Don't 'Now Jo' me. Pacey! How you keep something like this from me? Everyone keeps saying that he hasn't called anyone, I should've known he would call you...he always calls you." She loosened her grip on him, her eyes downcast to the floor. "Pace, please..."

"Joey, he wants to move on, and so should you. You two aren't good for each other right now you should know that. Let him live his life and you live your own, if you keep suffocating yourself like this...thinking everything ends and begins with the two of you then one day when he's really gone, where would the beginning and the end take place?" Her eyes welled into tears, and he rubbed her shoulders comfortingly, "It'll be okay, Jo. You're a tough girl, you've handled worse things than this."

She couldn't let herself seem weak, but that's how she felt. Her heart felt heavy, very heavy. Tears slid down her cheeks, and she didn't know what she was doing or what possessed her to do it, but she reached towards Pacey, her arms encircling around his torso, burying her head into his chest. When she felt his long, muscular arms envelope around her body, she let it out. Her tears came fast and hard, and she gripped on to him, whispering his name in pain and sadness.

He sat her down on the side of the boat, and continued to hold her, feeling the wetness of her tears dampening his shirt. She had been holding the tears back for a while now, every day for the past week she had been smiling, acting as if everything was fine, but deep down, it was killing her, she missed him so much. "Oh, Pace." She whimpered into his shoulder, her eyes burning from the tears. Realizing what exactly she was doing, she pulled back briefly, her face streaked with tears, her blue eyes swollen and she glanced at him.

He said nothing, and he didn't ridicule her as she predicted he would, instead he pulled her back into his embrace and held her ever so tightly as she softly sobbed. Her eyes became drowsy, and she wanted to fall asleep, it felt good to be held then, it felt good to be wanted. Her eyes gazed upon the open water, and she wanted to swim, to forget the tears she had recently spared and just to forget it all.

She looked at her wristwatch; it was four-thirty and she hesitated, but Jen would understand if she were couple minutes late. She would. Pulling back to look at him once more, she sniffled. "I'm going for a swim." She said simply.

Out of all the things he expected her to say, that was not it. He was hoping to hear 'thanks for being there' or 'good looking out for me' but once again his good naturedness went unnoticed. He was going to shrug her off, to tell her that it was nice seeing her again but he was leaving now, but as he began to walk toward the front of his boat, she touched his arm lightly.

"Swim with me, Pace?" She whispered softly, he had given her so much release in such a short amount of time. He looked at her blankly, and she quickly explained. "I just want to know that there is someone else out there, I guess. I don't know. If you don't want to, I don't care." She ended bitterly; she didn't have to explain herself to him.

Without a second thought, she threw her overnight bag onto the dock and stood on the edge of the boat, while quickly diving into the water. The impact to her chest was a bit painful at first but she began to swim and the feeling subsided.

Pacey watched her as she swam freely, he almost started the engine to his boat and wandered off somewhere but he found himself diving into the water, feeling the heavy impact that she once felt. He resurfaced and quickly pulled off his soaked shirt, leaving his muscular toned torso exposed with the sun glistening on this skin.

Joey came up from the water and watched as Pacey took off his shirt and threw it on the dock, she grinned. He actually looked sort of cute in the water with the droplets of water on his body that was sparkling in the sun. She swam towards him, her blue eyes glittering; he saw her coming and laughed. "Potter, there you are!"

She blushed slightly, and took his hand; she entwined her fingers with his own. "You'll love this, Pace. It feels...like being born again." She whispered and she swam along side him, their hands still entangled, he couldn't really keep up with her pace, she was moving at such a fast pace.

As she slowed down, she breathed heavily, her eyes glistening with excitement. It was then that she realized that their hands were still entwined, frowning for just a split second, she dropped his hand from her own.

His hair was covering his blue eyes, and she reached over moved his hair out of his face, he felt sort of awkward at the moment, but the feeling quickly passed. She smiled, "You want to race?"

He frowned, "Jo, I assure you that you do not want to race me." He said, sticking out his chest firmly. She laughed.

"Oh, cocky, are we?" She arched her right brow in challenge. "Let's see how much potential you have, Mr. Witter." He eyed her firmly before getting ready to race, "On your mark. Get set...HEY! Pacey!" He had already taken off before she could finish, and she had to swim quickly to catch up with him. But she didn't mind she was laughing while doing so. ~*~

bTen minutes laterb

She glared at him; he had not only cheated but also distracted her by cutting off her racing path. He was so damn cocky it was annoying. She climbed upon the dock, her clothes weighing her down with a force, and she sighed. She knew she was late for meeting Jen and she had to hurry.

Pacey had already made it towards the dock and was drying himself off, "You owe me twenty bucks, Potter. I'll accept cash."

She groaned at him, and moved to the other side of his boat so he couldn't see her, "You cheated, hello? Pacey, you knew I could kick your ass, so you brought out the cockiness in you and tried to prove me wrong. I seriously understand why Jen didn't want to sleep with you after all." She took off her shirt and threw it aside, "Pace, I need a shirt."

He had felt offended by her comment, but he decided not to show it. He threw a shirt on her side; "This reminds me of a certain project."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't get any ideas, Witter. I know you were spying on me before in the car, I wasn't stupid." She threw the shirt over her head and it fell towards her knees, quickly she took off her pants and threw them aside, deciding that she could run really fast without anyone truly noticing her clothing apparel.

Pacey smiled, "Really? I wouldn't be surprised. But it did bring back some good memories though." He could actually remember how he started to feel something for her, out of all people.

She came from around the boat and stood before him, she wasn't fazed that he was wearing no shirt, she had seen that and much more before. "Yeah, I must admit those times were good memories." She smiled, "Pace, I have to go...Jen's waiting for me."

He nodded, "Okay." He watched as she began to walk away; with her overnight bag on her shoulder, "Hey Jo?" She turned around, her face impatient. He noticed it. He smiled slightly, "I had a good time with you today, that's all."

She grinned, her white teeth glistening. "I had a good time with you, too, Pace. See you around." She whispered walking away.

He watched her go, and then waved slightly to her disappearing form before whispering to himself.

"See ya, Joey." ~*~