2011

Joey Potter had left Capeside without a backwards glance. It's not that she didn't miss it or the people that she left behind but she knew that if she wanted a fresh start she had to plow forward and leave her "old" life behind. She had always known that she would leave after graduation - that was her fate. She kept in touch with everyone but kept her focus on what was ahead of her. After four years at Harvard studying English and psychology she had graduated with honors and was quickly snatched up for a masters program at Northwestern University. She had finished her program there and found a great job with an advertising agency in downtown Chicago. She was a consumer behavior expert and consulted with her firm's creative directors and their clients over which ad campaigns were effective and which were not. She lived in a great studio apartment on the top floor of an old Victorian building in the heart of Lincoln Park, one of Chicago's trendy neighborhoods. If people asked she would tell them that life was good and even she believed the lie. Truth be told, she was missing something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Her old friends from Capeside had faired nearly as well as she in the "real" world. Dawson had of course followed his filming making dreams and moved to LA after high school graduation for film school and had never left. He was working is way up and had been an assistant director for an Indie film that had swept up all the awards at the Sundance Film Festival this past year. At the moment he was working on a big studio project that a friend had gotten him in on. Jen had done the typical four-year college thing and met the man of her dreams along the way. They got married their senior year and moved to Houston, TX where her husband, Tim, had grown up. They started a coffee shop together and after 6 years had a small chain of stores in Houston and Austin. Jen's only complaint in life was that the weather was too hot and humid in the Texas, but anything would be warm compared to Capeside. Jack and Andie were both still in Capeside. Jack had opened a sporting goods store in town and also had a high ropes course that he ran during the summer. After going to school at UMass Andie had returned to Capeside to help Jack out with his business and quickly put her skills to work as the event coordinator and public relations director for the ropes course. She had gotten married two years ago to Morgan, a man who had come to the ropes course with a group of his friends and instantly fell head over heals for the cute blond running the show. The only mystery was Pacey. He had left Capeside halfway through their junior year of high school to live with some aunt in northern Maine whose husband had died and she now needed someone to help her out with things. No one had heard from him directly but through the grapevine and with the help of Pacey's mother's inability to keep a secret they had learned that he had signed up for the Peace Corp (of all things) and lived in Russia for a few years before coming back to the States. After that he had moved around, making a living from writing novels under an unknown pen name. Last Joey had heard he had gotten his bachelor's degree from Boston University and was now living somewhere in Michigan.

Only Joey knew the real reason why he had left Capeside in the first place, though she hoped that it wasn't the whole reason. They had shared a kiss, one simple kiss, but it had thrown everything into upheaval. Being that they were high schoolers, teenagers full of angst and worry, that kiss had changed everything. Though they never told anyone about it they had enough conversations to fill a giant cavern with the words they exchanged on the subject. What it all boiled down to was this: Pacey was in love with Joey but did not want to ruin his friendship with his best friend, Dawson. Joey loved Pacey but at the time did not realize it because her emotions and thoughts were too clouded with her relationship with Dawson. She had been too scared about what would happen and was not strong enough to stand up for what she wanted. Pacey had given her the choice and she had chosen to stay silent. He told her there were no hard feelings and that he needed to leave because though he could respect her decision he didn't want to have to live with it in his face for the next two years. He really did have a widowed aunt in Maine and that was where he was going but in all honesty he was running away, that was the only option he could see. If he stayed he would have to see Joey's face every day and know that she knew he loved her and that they would never be together.

Looking back on it all Joey thought what a loss it was and how it hadn't needed to turn out the way it did. They were too naive to have thought that their world would have come crashing down had they told anyone how they felt. Joey regretted not ever telling Pacey how she felt, and even more so that she didn't realize it until too late. The reality of loving Pacey had hit her one day when she was walking to class at Capeside High School and thought she saw Pacey down the hall. Her heart raced and she ran down the hall only to see that it was not Pacey standing in front of her but Dawson. How she got them confused she would never be able to say but she did know at that moment that she loved Pacey because as soon as she saw it was Dawson in front of her felt disappointed. With Dawson she had never felt that feeling before, he had let her down before but never in this way. And if she could have wanted Dawson to be Pacey that badly it had to say something for how deeply her feelings ran. From that day on, she never made choices she regretted again. It seemed rather cliché, but she had made one gigantic mistake that would follow her around and if she could make it up to Pacey then she sure as hell would make it up to herself. That was her drive in life, not to have regrets and to know how she felt and never leave things unsaid.

That drive took her out of Capeside to where she was today, sitting behind her desk on the 23rd floor of an office building off of Michigan Avenue. One wall of her office was a window that faced Lake Michigan. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for a run along the shoreline after work, she thought to herself. A knock on her door drew her gaze back inside.

"What's up, Max," she smiled at her assistant, Maxine, and motioned for her to come in.

"Joey," Maxine cleared her throat, "Your one o' clock appointment is here and is waiting in the lobby, do you want me to show him in?"

"That would be great. Could you also call and make reservations for 6:30 for Kevin and I at Vincent's," Joey raised her eyebrow at her assistant's grimace, "I know you don't like him, Max, but what's a girl to do? I have to have someone to take to all the holiday parties coming up and Kevin can hold his own with conversation and doesn't turn into a stammering idiot when faced with the celebrities that come to our parties here at the agency."

"Whoa there, Joey, it's your life, I'm just your underpaid assistant," Maxine grinned, "Oh, and a little FYI in case Kevin doesn't make the cut, Mary in reception said that your new client is quite a looker. Who knows what will happen."

Joey shot Maxine a glance that had her running out of the room with a laugh. Joey sighed deeply and shook her head; Maxine was a godsend and had been working for her for the past two years. She knew Joey's life inside and out, which also meant she knew how to push her buttons. She and Kevin had been seeing each other off and on for the past 6 months. They had gone to various business functions together and dually impressed each other's co- workers. While there was no fire or passion in their relationship, they got along great and fit perfectly into each other's lives. What was a girl to do?

Joey cleared her mind and turned her attention to the new client her boss, Roger, had asked her to meet with. Roger had just returned from a trip to California and had come back with a handful of potential new clients and even more solid business contacts. The client coming in today was from a movie studio in Burbank and was looking to gather information about the 20 to 30 something generation of women. Since Joey fit into that category, Roger had offered her up for the initial meeting instead of meeting with them himself since he was a 50 something male. The whole project was a little vague but that was what Joey excelled at, taking the unclear and making it clear. Joey looked up from the notes in front of her in time to see Maxine heading down the hall towards her office. Joey stood up from her desk as Maxine entered her office and moved aside to let the new client in. Joey's "client" smile instantly turned to her true, broad smile as she recognized the handsome face in front of her.

"Dawson Leery, what on earth are you doing here," Joey burst out as she rounder her desk to catch Dawson in a hug, "Have I been set up?"

"Hey, gorgeous," Dawson laughed as he returned he fierce embrace, "Glad to know you still remember who I am!"

Joey stepped back and took in the full picture. Dawson looked the same as ever, from his tussled blond hair and crystal blue eyes to his boyish good looks. He had grown up enough to look trustworthy but was still as attractive as ever.

Maxine stood gaping at the door, she had never seen a look of pure happiness on her bosses face. "Can I get either of you anything," she asked.

Joey took her eyes off Dawson for a moment and shook her head, "I'm fine right now. Do you want anything Dawson; coffee, water, a soda?"

"No thanks," Dawson said, "Maybe later."

"Thanks for asking Maxine, but I think we are fine." Joey said to her assistant and felt she should quickly explain who Dawson was, "This is an old friend of mine from Capeside, where I grew up. He's a director out in LA now."

"Nice to meet you," Maxine smile warmly, "I knew Joey came from somewhere but we haven't seen any evidence of it yet. I'll leave you too alone to catch up."