Chapter 13
One True Thing
by: Jade
Disclaimer: Only the characters that belong to me belong to me.
Author's Note: Hi to Rinny and Heather!
Have you seen the movie One True Thing? Loved it, loved the novel by
Anna Quindlen and loved the theme song My One True Friend
of the movie sung by Bette Midler.
Quote below is courtesy of Kristin's transcript from Dawson's Creek The
Website.
Short summary: There's nothing more romantic and sweet than a summer
romance. The problem is, summer's almost over and reality is just beginning.
"…we're going to keep changing our minds and ... and sometimes even our hearts. And through all of that, the only real thing we can offer each other is forgiveness…"
- Joey Potter, Homecoming
"You disappeared on us yesterday."
The hems of his pants were folded to his knees and his bare feet were soaked in
the mixture of sand and salt water as the tide came in. He continued to throw
stones into the ocean as though he hadn't heard her come up beside him.
"What's the matter?" she asked this time.
"Nothing," he muttered, watching the ripples he was creating.
Before she could say more, the water had threatened to come up to her knees and
she quickly moved out of the way before her jeans got wet. She folded up its ends
and took off her sandals, rather piqued.
"Pacey, are you throwing a tantrum?"
"No," came a single word.
Her patience had been tried and she decided it was best to leave before she
started screaming at him.
He sensed it and grabbed hold of her arm before she could go.
She allowed him to do so and waited for his explanation.
"Do you realize you say my name a lot when you're mad at me?"
"Shut up, Pacey."
He dropped her arm and cradled her face with surprisingly tender hands.
"Are you sure about this?"
His tone and demeanor puzzled, and to an extent alarmed her because she was
frightened of what he was going to tell her.
She needed to know. "What happened between last night and today?"
"I just need for you to tell me you're sure."
She stared into his face intently. "Yes," she replied, not looking
away for a second. "I'm still waiting for you to answer the
question."
His arms fell to his side and he avoided her piercing gaze.
"If you're not going to be honest with me, there's no point," she said.
He stood with his back to her, watching the ocean.
I love you too much to make you stay if it's not me you want. He put his
hands in his pockets. "Andie is coming back two days after the
start of school," he finally said.
He looked down at the sand and squeezed his eyes shut, his facial expression
one of anguish.
She let the silence between them settle for a good while before she stepped up
beside him and linked her arm through his.
"Let's go," was the only thing she could think to say and they continued
to walk the length of the beach.
"Where are you headed?" Bessie asked, stepping in
and out of the two connected rooms, trying to clean the mess off the floors and
baby-talk with Alexander, who was sitting in his cot whilst chatting with Joey
who was packing an overnight bag, at the same time.
"Boston."
"Awfully hard to get some peace at this time, don't you think?"
We're going a little out of the city. We saw a sign for this place on our way
back the last time and we're checking it out." She stuffed the last of her
clothing into the bag and grabbed a couple of things off the dresser.
"We'll be back Friday night."
Bessie walked up to her, arms filled with toys. She was about to speak when her
attention was caught by something else. "Joey, what's that on your neck?
It looks like someone bit- is that a hickey?"
"No!" she denied, turning red rapidly. "It was a mosquito
bite."
"Uh huh," her sister replied, eyebrow raised.
"Bessie…"
"Ok - Alex, take that out of your mouth!"
While Bessie ducked into the other room, her arm automatically reached out to
rub her neck and her eyes wandered around, checking that she hadn't forgotten
anything. They settled on an old teddy bear sitting unnoticeably on the top of
a chest of drawers. She picked it up and fingered the string of beads around
its neck.
In her mind, she could still see his awkward smile when he first put them on
her.
Looking up again, she found herself face to face with a framed photograph of
the three of them. She shook her head as if to disperse her thoughts and then
she reached out and put it facedown, away from sight.
She didn't know why yet but she took the necklace off the teddy bear and put it
in with the rest of her belongings before zipping the bag up.
"Bessie, I got to go. Pacey will be here any minute," she said and
headed downstairs.
The latter stuck her head out from the doorway separating the two rooms.
"Be good!" she shouted.
They followed the rickety signs to the out-of-the-way inn
and as they had hoped, the place was only half full.
They had an early dinner before they decided to ask for directions to venture
further into the suburbia and stopped by the reception counter. The innkeeper's
wife looked sympathetically at Pacey's yellowed bruises.
"Boys these days are always getting into fights over nothing," she
said loudly to her husband, who shushed her promptly.
"Martha, leave the poor kid alone."
Joey reached for Pacey's hand and gave it a squeeze. He smiled reassuringly at
her.
Martha grumbled audibly and left her husband to take care of their enquiry.
After exchanging friendly advice and banter, they received the directions they
required and set off on their way.
"Turn left here," she instructed, reading from the map. "It'll
be ten minutes before we get to another sign." Then she folded it back
into fours and put it on the dashboard. She dug deep into her pocket for a tube
of fruit pastilles and popped one into Pacey's mouth before her own and started
to fiddle with the radio.
"You know, I've been waiting to bring it up."
"Bring what up?"
"Your erm-interesting taste in music."
She smacked him on the shoulder. "I have eclectic tastes. What's wrong
with the kind of music I like?"
"Alternative?" he said, as if it explained it all.
"So?"
"That's like…noise."
"As compared to?"
"Now rock is an entire thing altogether."
They began to badger each other about likes and dislikes and launched into
heated debates. Over the next twenty minutes, Pacey even threatened to stop the
truck and abandon her a couple of times and she in turn, dared him to.
For once in a long time, it seemed like things were normal again.
*****
"Wow," they breathed in unison.
Joey grabbed her sketchbook and a box of pencils from the back seat and was the
first one out of the truck. Pacey followed, clearly stupefied by the sight that
laid before him.
"I could stay here forever to draw," Joey said, taking in the grand
expanse of green - trees, bushes, plants of all types and a lake. They could
hear birds chirping loudly and happily from all directions and behind the big
picture they viewed, the sun was setting off a warm glow. It was
almost…ethereal.
"Mr. Robert Firth arrived in America from England at the age of 19, made
his money and met his wife 10 years his junior in Boston. Together, they built
their life in the suburbs and raised three perfect children."
Joey looked at him in surprise.
"I read it somewhere." He continued his commentary. "After the
death of the missus, Mr. Firth isolated himself from the outside world in that
huge house over there."
They both turned to look at the "huge house" a short distance away.
"Mausoleum is more like it," Joey commented.
"He died in 1981 and his children decided against selling a legacy and
opted to open his estate to the public instead."
"I'm glad they did." She ran further into the field, started twirling
and let out a shout of excitement. Her hair was blowing in the wind and
reflected highlights from the sun. She winked at him and grinned.
Her joy was contagious. He ran after her and caught her in his arms. She
dropped her book and pencils and clung on to him while he lifted her and
whirled her around until he fell back to the grass, taking her with him. She
laughed and he drew her closer to kiss her.
*****
She had sketched until it was no longer possible to see
without more light or imagination. Looking over her shoulder, he was impressed
with what he saw.
"Joey, that's really good."
"It's hardly anything." She closed the book, slightly reddened.
"You're just saying it to make me feel better."
"Hey, not when it comes to this." He moved to a sitting position
where he could see her face. "You have a real talent. What were you
planning to study at college?"
"I don't really know yet," she answered honestly. "All I've ever
thought about was fleeing Capeside."
"Who hasn't?" he agreed. He got to his feet and helped her up.
"Come on, let's go before it gets any darker. I don't want to be sharing a
bed with whatever's howling in the background."
She persuaded him to return the next day before they headed
for home.
She was out of the vehicle before he had even come to a complete stop. By the
time he got out of the driver's seat, she was well settled on the grass and had
continued her sketching. Pacey didn't wish to interrupt her and went on to the
grounds as far as he could without crossing the boundary between exploring and
trespassing.
He found his interest held by the design of the mansion as he neared it and
imagined how he would design his own if opportunity, talent and money ever
concurred. He had no idea how long he'd been standing there when he heard her
calling his name.
"Pacey!"
He turned back and saw her signaling that she was going back to the truck to
leave her things. He waited for her to do so, after which she joined him.
"What were you looking at?" she asked.
"I was imagining a lonely 90-year old man, living all by himself and never
really getting over his wife's death."
She shrugged. "At least he loved once and was loved in return."
"When did you ever become the romantic sort?" he teased.
She stuck out her tongue at him.
"Shall we go for a walk?" he asked, offering his arm.
She took it. "Why not."
*****
As time passed, their moods got more and more sombre with
the knowledge that soon, they would have to face reality again.
A tree along the path they were taking momentarily diverted her attention. It
stood out from the rest but she couldn't pinpoint the reason. Maybe because it
seemed smaller due to its huge trunk. She went nearer to investigate and rubbed
loose bark and dirt away to reveal engravings in the wood.
"K.F. loves E.G," read Pacey.
"There's more." She bent and spotted five more at the lower half of
the trunk. "Some of these must have been carved by Firth's kids."
"I wonder how many of these couples actually stayed together," he
added without thinking. When he realized what he had just said from the look on
her face, he tried to lighten the mood by trying to come up with a witty
remark. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of one.
"And look at this." She got down to her knees and held aside the
grass that was obscuring her view of something she had been stepping on.
It was a plaque:
For Catherine
My beloved wife, lover & one true friend
I was lost but you brought me home
I Love You
Robert
Joey lethargically fell back on the
ground and leaned against the tree. Pacey followed suit.
"We have to go back soon," she mumbled, suddenly feeling drained.
"I wish we didn't have to."
"You know what's weird? Neither of us brought a camera."
On some level, he knew that he hadn't done so because he didn't want to be
faced with any physical memory of the time spent with her when they were
inevitably to part. It would be too painful.
She felt the same way.
"Do you think Robert Firth knew that his wife was his one true thing when
he first met her?"
"Probably."
"If I have to forget everything that's happened, I want to at least
remember this place and that we were here."
Her voice quivered when she spoke as she felt the toll of what she had been
holding back all this time.
He took her hand. Looking about them, he spotted a fairly large rock by the
tree. Pulling them both to their feet, he walked over to survey it. He started
pushing at it and with Joey's help, pushed it aside quickly. Getting onto his
knees, he started digging with his hands and lifted chucks of dirt to the side
to make a hole.
"What are you doing?"
He lifted more dirt off the ground until he was satisfied. "We'll make our
mark right here. We'll bury something of ours."
She got to her knees beside him. "But what?"
They looked at and then around each other.
"Do we have anything in the car?" he asked.
She was playing with the waistband of her pants when she felt them jiggle in
her pocket. She had nearly forgotten she'd brought them.
"Beads," she whispered.
"What?"
She lifted them out slowly and Pacey was surprised to see them again.
"I thought you'd have thrown them away by now."
She shook her head. "Never."
His expression hadn't changed. He didn't know what to say as he watched her
lower the plastic necklace into the hole. It seemed so inexpensive and yet
priceless.
She reached for his hand.
"No matter what happens," she said as she started to tear up. "I
don't want us to ever say goodbye. Please promise me that."
He swallowed against the lump in his throat. "I'll always remember there
was us, even if it was only for just awhile."
A single tear fell from her eye and onto his hand. He leaned over and kissed
the top of her head as she rested it lightly on his shoulder.
They stayed like that until Joey moved away and wiped her tears with the back
of her hand. "We should go."
Pacey nodded slightly and Joey helped him lift the portions of the ground he
had removed back to where they had come from. When that was done, they pushed
the rock to its original position.
They made their way back to the truck, arms around each other. And the place
where they had been only moments before remained as it were and looked
completely untouched.
He sat on his front porch, his mind never far from her smile
and the difference she had made to his life in just three months. He had to
teach himself to stop thinking about her because it wasn't going to last. It
couldn't.
It wouldn't.
A car pulled up in front of the house and the person he was expecting came out
the passenger side.
Dawson was home.
"Hey pal!"
"Hey."
He embraced his best friend, afraid to look him in the eye because he was
certain every bit of emotion he was feeling would be written clearly on his
face.
His eyes dulled as he made the customary remark that this one and only time, he
didn't mean.
"Welcome home."
To be continued…
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