*Friday Afternoon*
Jen and Billy are standing on her front lawn talking.
" Billy, being here has been good for me. And, so, if I could somehow, without being too rude, ask you to leave."
" Okay, but help me out here, Jen. I'm way too beat to make this ride tonight and I'm a little strapped for hotel money. So, just find me a place to crash for the night and I'm out of here by morning."
Dawson, Joey, and Pacey are walking home. Dawson is worried about Jen for having not been at lunch and has been talking about it non-stop for ten minutes. Joey rolls her eyes and wonders if Dawson was that worried about her today. Pacey drags behind the two.
Finally, Pacey gets fed up, "Dawson, enough already. I can't take any more of this and I doubt Joey can either."
This is when Joey would normally turn around and scold Pacey for talking for her but she does nothing. She agrees with him for once.
She offers more gently then Pacey, "You are acting like it is the end of the world, Dawson. She missed lunch, big deal."
He let out a sigh and was about to protest when he saw Jen on her lawn with another guy. They are talking closely in hushed tones. Dawson stops walking and Joey and Pacey turn to see what has stopped him.
Pacey is none-to-happy to see the guy again. He looks at Joey to gauge her reaction and notices a smile on her face.
Dawson gathers up enough courage to walk over. Jen turns upon hearing him come up.
" Is everything okay?" He asks.
Jen nervously replies, "Dawson, hi. Yeah, everything's fine. About lunch . . ."
Billy offers out his hand, " Hey, how's it going? Billy Conrad."
They shake hands and Dawson looks at Jen for some explanation regarding her new acquaintance.
" Billy's an old friend of mine from New York. Uh, can I talk to you for a second, Dawson?"
"Yeah."
They walk towards Dawson's house and Billy takes notice of Pacey and Joey hanging around. He walks over.
"Joey how was the Spanish test?" He asks, ignoring Pacey.
She smiles her half smile as Pacey stares at Billy, "I think I did well, thanks to your help."
He smiled, and then turned to Pacey, "So, what's with this guy? He just follows you around or something?"
Joey looked briefly at Pacey and noticed the way he was looking at Billy, "Just a friend of a friend."
Pacey looks at Joey, stunned. He wondered if that was all she considered him to be.
~*~*~*~
" Look, I know this is kind of awkward but would it be okay tonight, if Billy stayed with you at your house?"
"Stay with me for the night? Jen, I don't even know him. I just met him. He's a complete stranger to me. I don't know anything about him."
" Okay. What do you want to know?"
" I don't know where to start. First of all, is he really just a friend or is something more than that?" He offered, sounding jealous.
" I've already told you about Billy."
Dawson glances over at Billy and sees that he is talking casually with Joey. He turns back to Jen.
" I told him everything about us. And that I'm with you now. But he's still my friend and only my friend. '
Dawson finally hears her, "Is he the guy? He's the person you got caught doing in your parents' bed?"
Jen pleaded, " Yeah, but it's completely over between Billy and I. and I'd really appreciate it if you could give him a place to crash for the night. Believe me, Dawson, anything Billy ever meant to me, you now mean two times that. Please Dawson, for me?"
He says nothing but Jen knows his answer. She leaves Dawson alone and walks over towards Billy, who is busy talking with Joey and Pacey.
~*~*~*~
Billy sees Jen approaching and turns to Pacey briefly and winks. Then his attention goes back to Joey.
"You're lucky to have someone that watches out for you." He offers just as Jen approaches.
Joey turns quizzically to Pacey, "Him?"
Billy nods and then Jen interrupts, "You can stay."
"Great." He offers.
He walks towards his car and grabs his luggage out of the back. On his way towards Dawson he stops and pats Pacey on the back, "You're a lucky guy."
Billy walks away to meet Dawson and Joey stares quizzically at Pacey.
"What did he say?" She asked.
"Nothing, Potter." He offers.
~*~*~*~
Minutes later, upstairs in Dawson's room, Billy is surveying his lodgings.
" This must be pretty weird for you, huh?"
" What's that?"
" Having me here. Having your girlfriend's ex sharing your bedroom. I mean, that's got to be a real trip, man."
" It's only until tomorrow."
" Oh yeah, that's what Jenny said. Tomorrow, right? So what are you anyways, some sort of film buff?" Billy offers, looking at the posters.
"Something like that."
"So, you're friends with Joey too? You are a lucky man, Dawson." He offers.
Dawson replies, "Don't bother her."
Billy meets Dawson's eyes, "Are all you guys in this town as clueless as you and your friend? You're both down with the whole chivalry thing, but you don't follow through?"
Dawson is confused and Billy elaborates, "The other guy, what's his name?"
Dawson answers, "Pacey?"
Billy laughs, "God, all the adults here must have been high or something? I mean 'Dawson' and 'Pacey'? What kinda names . . ."
Dawson glared at him and he continued, "Anyway, as I was saying. This Pacey kid lets me take off with Joey and then later he gets all 'Leave her alone'. Are they together, no, but he acts like they should be. And you and Jenny, sure, you're her 'boyfriend', but that seems to have a different meaning here."
Dawson says nothing but is about ready to punch the guy.
" Oh, now this is cute." Billy offers, holding up the ET doll.
" That's a collector's item. Look Billy, if you're going to be staying here then hold off on the psychoanalysis of me and my friends."
" Okay, how about this? I'm going to be straight with you. I have no intention of leaving until Jen's thrown you over and come back to me. So, the question is, what do you do about it? Do you have Daddy throw me out? Do you remove me personally from the premises?" Billy threatens.
Dawson is frozen in shock.
Billy laughs," Have a sense of humor man. Look at you. You're all trumped up over nothing. Yeah, I'll probably split tomorrow. But in the meantime, you and I should take advantage of our newfound closeness here. I bet you're dying to get to know what Jen was like in New York. So, shoot. Ask away."
" Billy, I already know all about you and Jen and her life in New York. There's nothing I'm curious about. No info I'm subtly fishing for, okay? She told me everything."
Billy laughs, " She gave you the headlines. Caught in bed, shipped up here to get away from me, etc, etc, and so on. But did she give you the details? Did she fill in the blanks that make a story a story? Because my guess is there's a lot you don't know about, Dawson. My guess is, you are as clueless about Jen as your friend Pacey is about his feelings for Joey."
~*~*~*~
"Well, I guess all plans at the Leery home will have to wait until tomorrow." Pacey offers to Joey.
"Well, I guess I'll go home and pray that the baby stays asleep long enough so I can get my homework done."
She starts heading towards her rowboat, which had been docked there since the night before, and he follows.
"I would offer you lodgings in the Witter house of horrors, but Carrie is visiting and brought the kids . . ." He started.
She turns towards him quizzically, "Pace, I'm sorry about earlier . . . sometimes it is nice to have someone worry and . . . well, thanks."
He smiled, and answered her seriously, "Anytime, Potter."
She smiled, got in her rowboat and reached to undo the knot of her rope on the dock. Pacey got to it before her and undid it quickly. Their eyes met, they shared a smile, and then she rowed off. He watched her for a little while and then turned around and started home.
Jen and Billy are standing on her front lawn talking.
" Billy, being here has been good for me. And, so, if I could somehow, without being too rude, ask you to leave."
" Okay, but help me out here, Jen. I'm way too beat to make this ride tonight and I'm a little strapped for hotel money. So, just find me a place to crash for the night and I'm out of here by morning."
Dawson, Joey, and Pacey are walking home. Dawson is worried about Jen for having not been at lunch and has been talking about it non-stop for ten minutes. Joey rolls her eyes and wonders if Dawson was that worried about her today. Pacey drags behind the two.
Finally, Pacey gets fed up, "Dawson, enough already. I can't take any more of this and I doubt Joey can either."
This is when Joey would normally turn around and scold Pacey for talking for her but she does nothing. She agrees with him for once.
She offers more gently then Pacey, "You are acting like it is the end of the world, Dawson. She missed lunch, big deal."
He let out a sigh and was about to protest when he saw Jen on her lawn with another guy. They are talking closely in hushed tones. Dawson stops walking and Joey and Pacey turn to see what has stopped him.
Pacey is none-to-happy to see the guy again. He looks at Joey to gauge her reaction and notices a smile on her face.
Dawson gathers up enough courage to walk over. Jen turns upon hearing him come up.
" Is everything okay?" He asks.
Jen nervously replies, "Dawson, hi. Yeah, everything's fine. About lunch . . ."
Billy offers out his hand, " Hey, how's it going? Billy Conrad."
They shake hands and Dawson looks at Jen for some explanation regarding her new acquaintance.
" Billy's an old friend of mine from New York. Uh, can I talk to you for a second, Dawson?"
"Yeah."
They walk towards Dawson's house and Billy takes notice of Pacey and Joey hanging around. He walks over.
"Joey how was the Spanish test?" He asks, ignoring Pacey.
She smiles her half smile as Pacey stares at Billy, "I think I did well, thanks to your help."
He smiled, and then turned to Pacey, "So, what's with this guy? He just follows you around or something?"
Joey looked briefly at Pacey and noticed the way he was looking at Billy, "Just a friend of a friend."
Pacey looks at Joey, stunned. He wondered if that was all she considered him to be.
~*~*~*~
" Look, I know this is kind of awkward but would it be okay tonight, if Billy stayed with you at your house?"
"Stay with me for the night? Jen, I don't even know him. I just met him. He's a complete stranger to me. I don't know anything about him."
" Okay. What do you want to know?"
" I don't know where to start. First of all, is he really just a friend or is something more than that?" He offered, sounding jealous.
" I've already told you about Billy."
Dawson glances over at Billy and sees that he is talking casually with Joey. He turns back to Jen.
" I told him everything about us. And that I'm with you now. But he's still my friend and only my friend. '
Dawson finally hears her, "Is he the guy? He's the person you got caught doing in your parents' bed?"
Jen pleaded, " Yeah, but it's completely over between Billy and I. and I'd really appreciate it if you could give him a place to crash for the night. Believe me, Dawson, anything Billy ever meant to me, you now mean two times that. Please Dawson, for me?"
He says nothing but Jen knows his answer. She leaves Dawson alone and walks over towards Billy, who is busy talking with Joey and Pacey.
~*~*~*~
Billy sees Jen approaching and turns to Pacey briefly and winks. Then his attention goes back to Joey.
"You're lucky to have someone that watches out for you." He offers just as Jen approaches.
Joey turns quizzically to Pacey, "Him?"
Billy nods and then Jen interrupts, "You can stay."
"Great." He offers.
He walks towards his car and grabs his luggage out of the back. On his way towards Dawson he stops and pats Pacey on the back, "You're a lucky guy."
Billy walks away to meet Dawson and Joey stares quizzically at Pacey.
"What did he say?" She asked.
"Nothing, Potter." He offers.
~*~*~*~
Minutes later, upstairs in Dawson's room, Billy is surveying his lodgings.
" This must be pretty weird for you, huh?"
" What's that?"
" Having me here. Having your girlfriend's ex sharing your bedroom. I mean, that's got to be a real trip, man."
" It's only until tomorrow."
" Oh yeah, that's what Jenny said. Tomorrow, right? So what are you anyways, some sort of film buff?" Billy offers, looking at the posters.
"Something like that."
"So, you're friends with Joey too? You are a lucky man, Dawson." He offers.
Dawson replies, "Don't bother her."
Billy meets Dawson's eyes, "Are all you guys in this town as clueless as you and your friend? You're both down with the whole chivalry thing, but you don't follow through?"
Dawson is confused and Billy elaborates, "The other guy, what's his name?"
Dawson answers, "Pacey?"
Billy laughs, "God, all the adults here must have been high or something? I mean 'Dawson' and 'Pacey'? What kinda names . . ."
Dawson glared at him and he continued, "Anyway, as I was saying. This Pacey kid lets me take off with Joey and then later he gets all 'Leave her alone'. Are they together, no, but he acts like they should be. And you and Jenny, sure, you're her 'boyfriend', but that seems to have a different meaning here."
Dawson says nothing but is about ready to punch the guy.
" Oh, now this is cute." Billy offers, holding up the ET doll.
" That's a collector's item. Look Billy, if you're going to be staying here then hold off on the psychoanalysis of me and my friends."
" Okay, how about this? I'm going to be straight with you. I have no intention of leaving until Jen's thrown you over and come back to me. So, the question is, what do you do about it? Do you have Daddy throw me out? Do you remove me personally from the premises?" Billy threatens.
Dawson is frozen in shock.
Billy laughs," Have a sense of humor man. Look at you. You're all trumped up over nothing. Yeah, I'll probably split tomorrow. But in the meantime, you and I should take advantage of our newfound closeness here. I bet you're dying to get to know what Jen was like in New York. So, shoot. Ask away."
" Billy, I already know all about you and Jen and her life in New York. There's nothing I'm curious about. No info I'm subtly fishing for, okay? She told me everything."
Billy laughs, " She gave you the headlines. Caught in bed, shipped up here to get away from me, etc, etc, and so on. But did she give you the details? Did she fill in the blanks that make a story a story? Because my guess is there's a lot you don't know about, Dawson. My guess is, you are as clueless about Jen as your friend Pacey is about his feelings for Joey."
~*~*~*~
"Well, I guess all plans at the Leery home will have to wait until tomorrow." Pacey offers to Joey.
"Well, I guess I'll go home and pray that the baby stays asleep long enough so I can get my homework done."
She starts heading towards her rowboat, which had been docked there since the night before, and he follows.
"I would offer you lodgings in the Witter house of horrors, but Carrie is visiting and brought the kids . . ." He started.
She turns towards him quizzically, "Pace, I'm sorry about earlier . . . sometimes it is nice to have someone worry and . . . well, thanks."
He smiled, and answered her seriously, "Anytime, Potter."
She smiled, got in her rowboat and reached to undo the knot of her rope on the dock. Pacey got to it before her and undid it quickly. Their eyes met, they shared a smile, and then she rowed off. He watched her for a little while and then turned around and started home.