The restaurant had been unusually crowded, bustling with activity, the line
of people waiting for outside seating on this warm spring night spilling
down the front walk almost to the street. Regulars had been assuming their
usual territorial attitudes for this time of year, when the tourists began
their invasion. The new hostess he had just hired had almost given up,
practically driven to tears by one particularly demanding customer, but
this was where Pacey came in. Laying on the requisite charm, then offering
the party a complimentary round of drinks while they took just a moment to
clear off "the best table in the house". That was his usual order of
business. Smoothing down the ruffled feathers to keep them from flying the
coop, free booze to keep them coming back to roost.
"Crazy night, huh?" Casey, one of the high-school girls who worked weekends, commented with a shake of her long hair as she passed by him with a stack of receipts. "Full moon always brings them out."
"Yeah. That it does." Pacey nodded his agreement, grabbing an empty bus bucket. "Are you all settled up by the way?"
"Mm-hmm. I will be in one minute. I just got rid of my last table. They were sitting over their coffee for an hour. You know, the ladies from the Capeside Auxillary?" She looked over at him with an expectant smirk.
Pacey simply nodded again as he started to clear tables, rolling his eyes accordingly.
"Hey, boss. Ah, why don't you let me get that?" Luke, one of the younger busboys, suddenly appeared by Pacey's side.
"That's okay. I'll get these last few and you can start restocking the service areas." Pacey didn't even bother to look up, hurriedly tossing plates and napkins and glasses into the plastic bucket.
"Well, um, actually, I think you'd better let me do it." Luke fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing at Casey, who was carefully totaling her checks at a nearby table. "They kind of need you in the bar."
Pacey hesitated, glancing over his shoulder as he furrowed his brow. He closed his eyes briefly when he saw the look on Luke's face, straightening up to standing with a heavy sigh as he tossed the cleaning rag in his hand onto the table.
Casey barely glanced up. "The Admiral?"
Luke nodded hesitantly but didn't reply, and half cringed as Pacey threw his arms up in frustration next to him.
"The Admiral. Of course. How could I forget?"
Pacey had remembered The Admiral, a legendary figure in Capeside, from when they were younger. As his naval background was indeterminate, there were several stories floating around as to exactly why and how he had acquired the title, but he had held court at the old Icehouse bar back in the day, third barstool from the end, his blue and gold cap always sitting on top of his snow-white head of hair. He disappeared when the original restaurant burned down, and some in town joked he'd gone down with the ship. Pacey had only had the place up and running a matter of weeks when he strolled in one day, took in his surroundings only briefly before he squinted his steely gaze at the bartender and issued his first two orders of the evening. One was a Glenlivet on the rocks, and the other was that the gentlemen in the barstool to his left kindly relinquish his seat. (The third barstool from the end.) From that day forward, he had become as much a fixture in Pacey's bar as the antique Guinness taps.
Pacey didn't really know how old The Admiral might be, since he'd considered him to be ancient even when he was a kid, but the effects of age had really only started to show in the old man in the past couple of years. It had become as much a nightly task for Pacey to make sure The Admiral had been safely ensconced in a cab, oftentimes even driving him home himself, as it was to lock the doors or turn off the lights. The trick, of course, was convincing The Admiral to go. That was, again, where Pacey always came in.
Pacey crossed the dining room into the bar area, gesturing towards the bartender waiting to be relieved. "I got it, Sean." He muttered, slowing his step as he approached The Admiral. "Just give Cooper's Taxi a call for me, would ya?"
The old man turned to appraise him as the bartender hurried away with a grateful nod, regally wielding his rock glass, only a hint of amber liquid swirling around the ice cubes. "Storm's coming in tonight, sailor. It's going to be rough out there in the morning."
Pacey nodded slowly, raising a weary and skeptical eyebrow as he looked out at the moon reflecting off the calm and peaceful waters of the harbor visible outside the restaurant windows. "Well that's why it's probably a good idea to batten down the hatches and get 'em below deck, wouldn't you say?" Pacey carefully removed the drink from his hand, gently taking his elbow to lead him towards the front doors.
"I know you, son." He leaned into Pacey, almost knocking him over with the alcohol on his breath, his cap slightly askew on his head. "You come from good Capeside stock. It's in your bones, I can tell. We're men of the sea, you and I."
Pacey smiled a little and nodded, holding the door open to guide him through. "We are indeed, sir." He was surprised to see the cab already making it's way around the corner as he led him out to street and realized this was probably just about the only business Cooper had at this time of night.
"Hey, Pacey." He rolled the window down as he slowed the car to a stop at the curb. "I was just having coffee with the Sheriff."
"Hey, Coop. And, how is Dougie tonight?" Pacey smiled as he eased the Admiral into the back seat.
"He's the same as ever." Cooper laughed. "I was asking him if the rumors were true."
"Rumors?" Pacey raised an eyebrow hesitantly as he shut the door and stepped back onto the curb.
"Yeah, if you're really leaving us for ."
"Storm'll be here by midmorning." The Admiral slurred loudly, cutting off Cooper's words.
"Well then, I'd better get you home, Admiral." Cooper nodded, throwing Pacey a wave and a wink as he started to pull away.
Pacey smiled, waving back as he turned with a tired sigh to head back into the restaurant. The dining room was cleared, place settings lined up for the brunch shift in the morning. He pushed through the swinging doors into the kitchen, noticing Luke dragging the last of the trash bags towards the back door with a dejected slump of his shoulders.
"Hey, what's going on with you tonight?" Pacey frowned as he scanned the shelves, figuring he could put off inventory another day.
"Huh?" Luke turned around, raising his eyebrows at the question, and then shrugged. "Ah, nothing really. The usual misery."
Pacey nodded and turned back to glance through the stacks of receipts, frowning as he noticed Casey's pile on top. "Hey, did Casey already leave?"
Luke only nodded, looking more dejected than before.
Pacey shook his head in concern, noticing the late hour on the clock above the door. "I didn't see her mother's car out there. Don't you usually walk her home at night when she doesn't get picked up?"
"Yeah, I don't think I'll be doing that for a while."
Pacey narrowed his eyes. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?" He smiled to himself as wrapped an elastic band around the checks to file them away. "Trust me. You're never going to get a date with a girl like that if you give up that easily, my friend."
"I already got a date with her."
"Really?" Pacey raised his voice in surprise as he turned to look at him again, nodding appreciatively before he furrowed his brow. "But.so, I take it since you're still here and she's not that it didn't go so well."
"Yeah." Luke let out a small sarcastic laugh. "You could say that."
"Well, what did you do?"
Luke shifted uncomfortably, fingering the plastic tie handle of the trash bag he still held in his hand. "Well, we were going to see a movie but we got there after it already started so I figured we'd just go for a drive and I, um.ah, took her up to the Ruins and.well, she freaked." Luke shook his head in exasperation. "She ordered me to take her home and hasn't talked to me since."
Pacey shook his head slowly with a soft, knowing chuckle. "Well, what did you think she was going to do?"
"But I didn't even try anything." Luke huffed, throwing his arms up.
"So much to learn, so little time." Pacey sighed as he walked over to pat the boy on the shoulder. "It doesn't matter what you did or didn't do. It was the implication of your actions."
Luke frowned up at him in confusion. "But I didn't try anything." He repeated in a small voice.
"Look," Pacey laughed. "You know and I know that there is really only one reason that you'd take a date to that particular location at night. And you know who else knows?" Pacey leaned down to raise his eyebrows expectantly. "Casey Connors knows, that's who." He walked away with another laugh and a shake of his head. "It might as well be on a tourist map of prime make-out locations in Capeside, Luke. What did you think she was gonna to do? And, furthermore." Pacey raised a finger in the air as he turned around to face him again. "Even if that girl was going to take pity on your sorry sixteen year old self and grace you with a kiss, it's gotta be her idea, you know what I mean? That's where you went wrong, Luke, because you don't go around expecting things like that to happen."
Luke frowned as he considered this. "Well, if I wasn't supposed to expect it, what was I supposed to do?"
"Wait for it." Pacey smiled.
"How long do I have to wait?"
"As long as it takes."
The troubled look still clouded Luke's features. "Well, for instance, um.how long would you wait with a girl you dated in high school?"
Pacey grinned to himself before he turned to face him. "That." He chuckled ruefully. "Is neither here nor there. You have much bigger things to worry about now, grasshopper, and the first would be how you plan on winning back the privilege of walking that girl home again."
Luke smirked reluctantly and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"All right, so get out of here and get thinking." Pacey nodded towards the back door, following him across the kitchen.
"Hey, um." Luke glanced up over his shoulder at him, hesitating in the threshold. "It's not really going to be the same without you around here, you know?"
Pacey nodded and smiled softly. "Yeah, I know." He closed the back door behind him, locking the deadbolt before he turned to make his way out through the kitchen.
He gazed around the now empty restaurant, before he flipped off the main dining room light switch and headed towards the front doors, digging his keys out of his back pocket as he crossed through the bar area. As he stepped out into the warm night air and turned to lock the doors behind him, the familiar salty sweet smell of the ocean wafted in on the offshore breeze that ruffled his hair, and, almost on instinct, he predicted what the potential boating conditions would most likely be in the morning. He smiled a little as he detected a brisk change in the wind from earlier, realizing that The Admiral had been right.
After tugging on the door handle to insure it was secure, also a habit that was more subconscious than intentional, he turned and walked down the sidewalk, following it only a short distance around the corner to the back of the restaurant, keys still in hand. He glanced up at the wide deck on the second floor landing of the building as he climbed the creaking wooden steps, noticing only a faint light spilling out through the windows that overlooked the harbor across the street. Reaching the top step, he gave the doorknob a turn and the front door swung open for him.
He stepped into the apartment, jangling his keys as he glanced curiously around the living room and galley-styled kitchen area. There was only a small lamp left on by the door, on one of the lobster-trap end tables next to the large, over-stuffed couch, and he clicked it off as he passed by it on his way towards the bedroom. The hallway was lit only from the moonlight pouring in the windows and he paused briefly in front of the bathroom door before continuing onto his room. He hesitated when he reached the threshold, the corners of his mouth turning up in a small smile.
She was curled up in his bed, lying on her side under the covers with her hand tucked under the pillow, her eyeglasses discarded along with a hardcover book lying on top of the comforter next to her. The smile lingered on Pacey's face as he walked over to his bureau, dropping the set of keys there and removing his watch. It was then that he noticed the bags in the corner, a small suitcase and a duffel-style tote, neatly stacked and packed and waiting. Of course, they had been there earlier that day when he'd originally left to go down to the restaurant, but then their contents had been scattered haphazardly around his bedroom. He had to step over the mess, move things out of his way, and even stubbed his toe on the corner of the upended suitcase, but it wasn't until right now, at this moment, that he found their presence to be any sort of inconvenience or intrusion.
"Mmm.Pace?" Her voice was soft and groggy and she had to clear her throat before continuing. "That you?"
"Yeah." He had been unbuttoning his shirt and turned to see her stretch and yawn in the bed, running her hand through her tousled hair as she always did when she was waking up. "It's me." Speaking in hushed tones, knowing that she was half asleep, he walked over to the bed, still not fully undressed, to lie down, unable to stop a tired groan from escaping his lips as his weary body sank into the comforter behind her.
"I'm sorry." She sighed in a breathy voice, rolling back against his body, craning her head around towards him. "I tried to wait up."
"It's okay." Pacey leaned forward to kiss her once, then twice, before settling in next to her, still lying on top of the comforter but now too tired to move. "I ended up getting stuck down there much later than I expected to, anyway."
"Hmm.but it's our last night." She made a soft, indistinguishable sound of sleep, the hint of a sexy pout creeping into her voice as she reached for his hand lying on her hip and brought it to her lips. "Just give me five more minutes."
Pacey couldn't help but grin at this, chuckling softly under his breath. "Okay." He agreed anyway, knowing her well enough to realize that in five minutes she'd be fast asleep again. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks in so many ways, physically, mentally and emotionally, that as much as he could probably think of several other things he'd like to be doing with her right at this moment, simply lying here in the darkness and the quiet with her like this was not so bad. She rolled over to face him then, pushing the barrier of the comforter out of the way so that she could snuggle into his body and mumbling something pretty close to "I love you" as she kissed his chest, and Pacey decided that it was, in fact, damn near perfect to be lying here with her like this.
He let out a long sigh, wrapping his arms tight around her as she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, and wondered for just how long it would be possible to feel the same way he felt the first time he kissed her, finally figuring that it must be somewhere close to the rest of his life.
She stirred again, her breath tickling his neck as she murmured barely- coherent words against his skin. "Tell me again when you'll be there."
He tilted his face down to press a soft kiss against her forehead, his lips lingering there as he blinked his eyes open to gaze out the wide window across the room, whispering in the dark. "Ten days."
Actually, his calculations had it at ten days, seven hours and approximately forty-five minutes to be exact, but her lack of response coupled with the familiar pattern of sleep her breathing had now fallen into told him an amendment to his answer was most likely not necessary.
The moon was full outside, illuminating the night sky above Capeside and bathing the town and the ocean below in a cool, milky gray hues, capturing the scene like an old black and white photograph.
To the far left was Monument Hill, where he chipped his front tooth after flying over the handlebars of Dougie's bike in fourth grade (the bike that he was told repeatedly he was not allowed to ride and the very same tooth he'd chip the following winter while skating on Miller's Pond). To the far right was Halibut Point, where his father once took him fishing, just the two of them alone together for an entire afternoon, and even let Pacey have his first taste of beer. (He and Will Krudski would go on to spend the better part of that same summer there, but then it was much less about the fishing than it was the high school girls who used to sunbathe on the rocks at the small beach right across the causeway, and the more than favorable odds that at least one of them would be separated from her bikini top as they dove into the cold blue water below.) Not far from that was Beachfront Park, where he'd hit the only home run of his Little League career, only to lose the game for the team two innings later when he made an error in the outfield. Then there was the Public Landing, a mile or so down the street from the park, where she'd stood on the dock that day back when they were still in high school and probably had no idea she'd just changed his life forever. The streets he could probably maneuver blindfolded, the coastal waterways he knew like the back of his hand.
Ten days, seven hours and approximately forty-five minutes.
And Pacey Witter would finally be home.
THE END
"Crazy night, huh?" Casey, one of the high-school girls who worked weekends, commented with a shake of her long hair as she passed by him with a stack of receipts. "Full moon always brings them out."
"Yeah. That it does." Pacey nodded his agreement, grabbing an empty bus bucket. "Are you all settled up by the way?"
"Mm-hmm. I will be in one minute. I just got rid of my last table. They were sitting over their coffee for an hour. You know, the ladies from the Capeside Auxillary?" She looked over at him with an expectant smirk.
Pacey simply nodded again as he started to clear tables, rolling his eyes accordingly.
"Hey, boss. Ah, why don't you let me get that?" Luke, one of the younger busboys, suddenly appeared by Pacey's side.
"That's okay. I'll get these last few and you can start restocking the service areas." Pacey didn't even bother to look up, hurriedly tossing plates and napkins and glasses into the plastic bucket.
"Well, um, actually, I think you'd better let me do it." Luke fidgeted uncomfortably, glancing at Casey, who was carefully totaling her checks at a nearby table. "They kind of need you in the bar."
Pacey hesitated, glancing over his shoulder as he furrowed his brow. He closed his eyes briefly when he saw the look on Luke's face, straightening up to standing with a heavy sigh as he tossed the cleaning rag in his hand onto the table.
Casey barely glanced up. "The Admiral?"
Luke nodded hesitantly but didn't reply, and half cringed as Pacey threw his arms up in frustration next to him.
"The Admiral. Of course. How could I forget?"
Pacey had remembered The Admiral, a legendary figure in Capeside, from when they were younger. As his naval background was indeterminate, there were several stories floating around as to exactly why and how he had acquired the title, but he had held court at the old Icehouse bar back in the day, third barstool from the end, his blue and gold cap always sitting on top of his snow-white head of hair. He disappeared when the original restaurant burned down, and some in town joked he'd gone down with the ship. Pacey had only had the place up and running a matter of weeks when he strolled in one day, took in his surroundings only briefly before he squinted his steely gaze at the bartender and issued his first two orders of the evening. One was a Glenlivet on the rocks, and the other was that the gentlemen in the barstool to his left kindly relinquish his seat. (The third barstool from the end.) From that day forward, he had become as much a fixture in Pacey's bar as the antique Guinness taps.
Pacey didn't really know how old The Admiral might be, since he'd considered him to be ancient even when he was a kid, but the effects of age had really only started to show in the old man in the past couple of years. It had become as much a nightly task for Pacey to make sure The Admiral had been safely ensconced in a cab, oftentimes even driving him home himself, as it was to lock the doors or turn off the lights. The trick, of course, was convincing The Admiral to go. That was, again, where Pacey always came in.
Pacey crossed the dining room into the bar area, gesturing towards the bartender waiting to be relieved. "I got it, Sean." He muttered, slowing his step as he approached The Admiral. "Just give Cooper's Taxi a call for me, would ya?"
The old man turned to appraise him as the bartender hurried away with a grateful nod, regally wielding his rock glass, only a hint of amber liquid swirling around the ice cubes. "Storm's coming in tonight, sailor. It's going to be rough out there in the morning."
Pacey nodded slowly, raising a weary and skeptical eyebrow as he looked out at the moon reflecting off the calm and peaceful waters of the harbor visible outside the restaurant windows. "Well that's why it's probably a good idea to batten down the hatches and get 'em below deck, wouldn't you say?" Pacey carefully removed the drink from his hand, gently taking his elbow to lead him towards the front doors.
"I know you, son." He leaned into Pacey, almost knocking him over with the alcohol on his breath, his cap slightly askew on his head. "You come from good Capeside stock. It's in your bones, I can tell. We're men of the sea, you and I."
Pacey smiled a little and nodded, holding the door open to guide him through. "We are indeed, sir." He was surprised to see the cab already making it's way around the corner as he led him out to street and realized this was probably just about the only business Cooper had at this time of night.
"Hey, Pacey." He rolled the window down as he slowed the car to a stop at the curb. "I was just having coffee with the Sheriff."
"Hey, Coop. And, how is Dougie tonight?" Pacey smiled as he eased the Admiral into the back seat.
"He's the same as ever." Cooper laughed. "I was asking him if the rumors were true."
"Rumors?" Pacey raised an eyebrow hesitantly as he shut the door and stepped back onto the curb.
"Yeah, if you're really leaving us for ."
"Storm'll be here by midmorning." The Admiral slurred loudly, cutting off Cooper's words.
"Well then, I'd better get you home, Admiral." Cooper nodded, throwing Pacey a wave and a wink as he started to pull away.
Pacey smiled, waving back as he turned with a tired sigh to head back into the restaurant. The dining room was cleared, place settings lined up for the brunch shift in the morning. He pushed through the swinging doors into the kitchen, noticing Luke dragging the last of the trash bags towards the back door with a dejected slump of his shoulders.
"Hey, what's going on with you tonight?" Pacey frowned as he scanned the shelves, figuring he could put off inventory another day.
"Huh?" Luke turned around, raising his eyebrows at the question, and then shrugged. "Ah, nothing really. The usual misery."
Pacey nodded and turned back to glance through the stacks of receipts, frowning as he noticed Casey's pile on top. "Hey, did Casey already leave?"
Luke only nodded, looking more dejected than before.
Pacey shook his head in concern, noticing the late hour on the clock above the door. "I didn't see her mother's car out there. Don't you usually walk her home at night when she doesn't get picked up?"
"Yeah, I don't think I'll be doing that for a while."
Pacey narrowed his eyes. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?" He smiled to himself as wrapped an elastic band around the checks to file them away. "Trust me. You're never going to get a date with a girl like that if you give up that easily, my friend."
"I already got a date with her."
"Really?" Pacey raised his voice in surprise as he turned to look at him again, nodding appreciatively before he furrowed his brow. "But.so, I take it since you're still here and she's not that it didn't go so well."
"Yeah." Luke let out a small sarcastic laugh. "You could say that."
"Well, what did you do?"
Luke shifted uncomfortably, fingering the plastic tie handle of the trash bag he still held in his hand. "Well, we were going to see a movie but we got there after it already started so I figured we'd just go for a drive and I, um.ah, took her up to the Ruins and.well, she freaked." Luke shook his head in exasperation. "She ordered me to take her home and hasn't talked to me since."
Pacey shook his head slowly with a soft, knowing chuckle. "Well, what did you think she was going to do?"
"But I didn't even try anything." Luke huffed, throwing his arms up.
"So much to learn, so little time." Pacey sighed as he walked over to pat the boy on the shoulder. "It doesn't matter what you did or didn't do. It was the implication of your actions."
Luke frowned up at him in confusion. "But I didn't try anything." He repeated in a small voice.
"Look," Pacey laughed. "You know and I know that there is really only one reason that you'd take a date to that particular location at night. And you know who else knows?" Pacey leaned down to raise his eyebrows expectantly. "Casey Connors knows, that's who." He walked away with another laugh and a shake of his head. "It might as well be on a tourist map of prime make-out locations in Capeside, Luke. What did you think she was gonna to do? And, furthermore." Pacey raised a finger in the air as he turned around to face him again. "Even if that girl was going to take pity on your sorry sixteen year old self and grace you with a kiss, it's gotta be her idea, you know what I mean? That's where you went wrong, Luke, because you don't go around expecting things like that to happen."
Luke frowned as he considered this. "Well, if I wasn't supposed to expect it, what was I supposed to do?"
"Wait for it." Pacey smiled.
"How long do I have to wait?"
"As long as it takes."
The troubled look still clouded Luke's features. "Well, for instance, um.how long would you wait with a girl you dated in high school?"
Pacey grinned to himself before he turned to face him. "That." He chuckled ruefully. "Is neither here nor there. You have much bigger things to worry about now, grasshopper, and the first would be how you plan on winning back the privilege of walking that girl home again."
Luke smirked reluctantly and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"All right, so get out of here and get thinking." Pacey nodded towards the back door, following him across the kitchen.
"Hey, um." Luke glanced up over his shoulder at him, hesitating in the threshold. "It's not really going to be the same without you around here, you know?"
Pacey nodded and smiled softly. "Yeah, I know." He closed the back door behind him, locking the deadbolt before he turned to make his way out through the kitchen.
He gazed around the now empty restaurant, before he flipped off the main dining room light switch and headed towards the front doors, digging his keys out of his back pocket as he crossed through the bar area. As he stepped out into the warm night air and turned to lock the doors behind him, the familiar salty sweet smell of the ocean wafted in on the offshore breeze that ruffled his hair, and, almost on instinct, he predicted what the potential boating conditions would most likely be in the morning. He smiled a little as he detected a brisk change in the wind from earlier, realizing that The Admiral had been right.
After tugging on the door handle to insure it was secure, also a habit that was more subconscious than intentional, he turned and walked down the sidewalk, following it only a short distance around the corner to the back of the restaurant, keys still in hand. He glanced up at the wide deck on the second floor landing of the building as he climbed the creaking wooden steps, noticing only a faint light spilling out through the windows that overlooked the harbor across the street. Reaching the top step, he gave the doorknob a turn and the front door swung open for him.
He stepped into the apartment, jangling his keys as he glanced curiously around the living room and galley-styled kitchen area. There was only a small lamp left on by the door, on one of the lobster-trap end tables next to the large, over-stuffed couch, and he clicked it off as he passed by it on his way towards the bedroom. The hallway was lit only from the moonlight pouring in the windows and he paused briefly in front of the bathroom door before continuing onto his room. He hesitated when he reached the threshold, the corners of his mouth turning up in a small smile.
She was curled up in his bed, lying on her side under the covers with her hand tucked under the pillow, her eyeglasses discarded along with a hardcover book lying on top of the comforter next to her. The smile lingered on Pacey's face as he walked over to his bureau, dropping the set of keys there and removing his watch. It was then that he noticed the bags in the corner, a small suitcase and a duffel-style tote, neatly stacked and packed and waiting. Of course, they had been there earlier that day when he'd originally left to go down to the restaurant, but then their contents had been scattered haphazardly around his bedroom. He had to step over the mess, move things out of his way, and even stubbed his toe on the corner of the upended suitcase, but it wasn't until right now, at this moment, that he found their presence to be any sort of inconvenience or intrusion.
"Mmm.Pace?" Her voice was soft and groggy and she had to clear her throat before continuing. "That you?"
"Yeah." He had been unbuttoning his shirt and turned to see her stretch and yawn in the bed, running her hand through her tousled hair as she always did when she was waking up. "It's me." Speaking in hushed tones, knowing that she was half asleep, he walked over to the bed, still not fully undressed, to lie down, unable to stop a tired groan from escaping his lips as his weary body sank into the comforter behind her.
"I'm sorry." She sighed in a breathy voice, rolling back against his body, craning her head around towards him. "I tried to wait up."
"It's okay." Pacey leaned forward to kiss her once, then twice, before settling in next to her, still lying on top of the comforter but now too tired to move. "I ended up getting stuck down there much later than I expected to, anyway."
"Hmm.but it's our last night." She made a soft, indistinguishable sound of sleep, the hint of a sexy pout creeping into her voice as she reached for his hand lying on her hip and brought it to her lips. "Just give me five more minutes."
Pacey couldn't help but grin at this, chuckling softly under his breath. "Okay." He agreed anyway, knowing her well enough to realize that in five minutes she'd be fast asleep again. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks in so many ways, physically, mentally and emotionally, that as much as he could probably think of several other things he'd like to be doing with her right at this moment, simply lying here in the darkness and the quiet with her like this was not so bad. She rolled over to face him then, pushing the barrier of the comforter out of the way so that she could snuggle into his body and mumbling something pretty close to "I love you" as she kissed his chest, and Pacey decided that it was, in fact, damn near perfect to be lying here with her like this.
He let out a long sigh, wrapping his arms tight around her as she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, and wondered for just how long it would be possible to feel the same way he felt the first time he kissed her, finally figuring that it must be somewhere close to the rest of his life.
She stirred again, her breath tickling his neck as she murmured barely- coherent words against his skin. "Tell me again when you'll be there."
He tilted his face down to press a soft kiss against her forehead, his lips lingering there as he blinked his eyes open to gaze out the wide window across the room, whispering in the dark. "Ten days."
Actually, his calculations had it at ten days, seven hours and approximately forty-five minutes to be exact, but her lack of response coupled with the familiar pattern of sleep her breathing had now fallen into told him an amendment to his answer was most likely not necessary.
The moon was full outside, illuminating the night sky above Capeside and bathing the town and the ocean below in a cool, milky gray hues, capturing the scene like an old black and white photograph.
To the far left was Monument Hill, where he chipped his front tooth after flying over the handlebars of Dougie's bike in fourth grade (the bike that he was told repeatedly he was not allowed to ride and the very same tooth he'd chip the following winter while skating on Miller's Pond). To the far right was Halibut Point, where his father once took him fishing, just the two of them alone together for an entire afternoon, and even let Pacey have his first taste of beer. (He and Will Krudski would go on to spend the better part of that same summer there, but then it was much less about the fishing than it was the high school girls who used to sunbathe on the rocks at the small beach right across the causeway, and the more than favorable odds that at least one of them would be separated from her bikini top as they dove into the cold blue water below.) Not far from that was Beachfront Park, where he'd hit the only home run of his Little League career, only to lose the game for the team two innings later when he made an error in the outfield. Then there was the Public Landing, a mile or so down the street from the park, where she'd stood on the dock that day back when they were still in high school and probably had no idea she'd just changed his life forever. The streets he could probably maneuver blindfolded, the coastal waterways he knew like the back of his hand.
Ten days, seven hours and approximately forty-five minutes.
And Pacey Witter would finally be home.
THE END