Episode Nine "Friends and Lovers"
The room was still; the morning light shone through the curtains casting a soft glow in the room. The clothes, which had been hastily discarded the night before, still lay scattered around the room.
Joey stirred from her sleep, smiling as she opened her eyes, trying to remember why she felt so damn happy. She turned over and her face fell as she noticed that the space next to her was empty. Just as she was about to get up, the door to the bathroom opened and Pacey walked out, wearing only his boxers.
"Good morning." He smiled at her as he walked over to her bed.
"I'll say." Joey grinned as he bent over and kissed her on the lips. She pulled him close to her and he almost fell over from his awkward position.
"Jo…"
"Come back to bed, Pacey." He looked unsure. "It's Sunday. You don't have to work." He grinned and climbed back under the covers on the small bed and pulled her close. "I'm impressed."
"What?"
"I didn't even have to use the puppy dog eyes. You're learning." Joey laughed.
"You know I can't refuse you anything." He kissed her forehead softly, just feeling content to hold her in his arms. After a few seconds of contemplative silence Joey spoke up.
"I love you, Pace."
"I know."
"And it's going to work this time, right?"
"I hope so." Pacey sighed, not wanting to think about their past mistakes.
"It will." Joey said, determined. She turned to look at him before continuing. "Because I say it will and you know I'm always right." Joey giggled, kissing Pacey before he could protest.
She was almost on top of him as the kiss escalated further. Just as it was going to become a lot more than just a kiss, Joey pulled back and started laughing.
"What?"
"Nothing." Joey tried to stifle her giggles.
"What's so funny, Jo?" Pacey was very confused.
"I'm just really happy."
"And that's funny?"
"No. I just haven't been happy enough to laugh this much in a long time." Pacey smiled at her and then kissed her again.
Suddenly the door burst open and Joey quickly turned so she was next to Pacey and covered up.
"Oops." Stacy quickly opened and closed the door.
"No, wait!" Joey called her roommate feeling something between total embarrassment and not even caring. Stacy slowly opened the door again.
"It's uh…ok. I can see you're busy." Stacy winked at Joey, laughing. "I'll come back later." She grinned at Joey one more time before quickly leaving.
Pacey and Joey just looked at each other and burst out laughing.
-&-
Jen smiled as she folded her and Drue's clothes and put them back into their bags. Last night had been incredible and she couldn't believe how happy she felt this morning, waking up in Drue's arms. She finally felt like everything was going right for her. She had the best friends a girl could ask for, she was on good terms with Grams who was close by, school was going well, and she finally found that person who made everything make sense for her.
She didn't think she would ever find someone who she could truly love and who loved her back just as much, yet here he was. And the funny thing was that he had been there all along. She just hadn't realized it.
The door to the bathroom opened and Drue crept out, wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Do we have to go home?" He put his arms around Jen, stilling her hands.
"Drue!" She shrieked, the water still dripping from his body soaking her clothes. "Don't do that!" He ignored her and instead shook his hair, spraying more water on her. She pulled away and held him at arms length.
"You realize I'm going to have to change now!" She tried to look angry but wanted to laugh.
"Why just change? Why not have another shower? I'm always up for getting really clean." He grinned and she just sighed.
"What am I going to do with you?"
"I can think of a few things."
"I bet you can. Too bad we have to go home."
"We don't have to. We could just stay out here forever. No one would ever know. It would be perfect." Drue acted as though it was really an option.
"I wish. I know you brought me here just to have your way with me. Now that you've succeeded we can all go home."
"You say that like I'm the bad guy. You know you wanted me Lindley. You don't need to deny it any longer. The secret's out." Jen just laughed.
"I think I'll leave you to get dressed before your ego gets any bigger. I'm going to make us some breakfast." She walked past him but he grabbed her and pulled her in for a kiss. She kissed him back and then pulled away reluctantly, knowing if she gave in now they would never get home.
"That's better." He smiled at her and then kissed her forehead lightly. "Love you."
"Yeah, yeah." She laughed, before closing the door and leaving him to change.
-&-
Jack sat at his desk, smiling at the screen. He was just finishing an email to Tobey before leaving for the library. He had to get some books to research a paper he was writing. He hit send and then closed his laptop. Just as he got up there was a knock on the door and he went to answer it.
"Hey," David greeted him.
"Hey, David. What's up?" Jack walked back into his dorm, motioning for David to follow him.
"Nothing much. Just procrastinating. It's what I do best." David grinned and Jack laughed lightly.
"I know how that is. I was just about to go to the library to try and get some work done."
"Oh. I can go if you want." David said quickly.
"No. I didn't mean you had to go. I was just going because I haven't been doing enough wok lately. But Jen isn't back yet so I thought I may as well." Jack explained.
"Jen's the blonde one who is going out with Drue, right?" David asked. Jack had told him all about his friends last night over coffee after the movie.
"Yeah. And it's Pacey and Joey who are not dating at the moment but should be."
"Right." David smiled. "Looks like you are a tight group."
"We are. We all went to high school together in Capeside. Pacey and Joey have known each other practically since they were born. Drue was the last to join our little group at the end of senior year, but he and Jen knew each other growing up in New York."
"I'd love to meet them sometime. They sound like a great group."
"Sure. Once they sort out their melodrama they've got going at the moment I'm sure they'd love to meet my newest friend." Jack smiled. "To tell you the truth we have actually neglected being more social outside of our little group. We've been here for months and we all still seem to stick with each other. It feels weird with Drue and Jen gone and Pacey and Joey caught up in each other."
"It's nice that you still have friends from your hometown though. But branching out can never be a bad thing."
"True. You don't have any high school friends here do you?"
"No. They are all very far. I never really had any very close friends like you guys, but my closest friends all went to colleges in other states."
"What about your ex, didn't you say he goes NYU?"
"Yeah. I kind of miss him, but life moves on you know? I don't think I could do the long distance thing." Jack felt bad for having brought it up and changed the subject. "We ended things on good terms but we haven't really spoken since. Sometimes I just feel like talking to him and I can't."
"Just because you broke up doesn't mean you can't call him. Like you said, you ended things on good terms."
"I guess. We were good friends before we realized the feelings were a bit stronger. And I miss his friendship more than anything."
"Maybe you should tell him that." Jack said, sternly. "What's the worst that could happen?" David rose his eyebrow at Jack and he just laughed.
"Exactly."
"So what should we do today?" Jack asked, changing the subject.
"I thought you were going to study. I have to go all the way to Providence by myself now. I was actually coming to see if you wanted to come with me but you look busy."
"Well I don't seem to be getting much done here." Jack pointed to his empty tables. "If you asked really nicely I might agree to come with you," Jack joked. But David was already out the door. Jack sat there, looking confused but then David came back.
"Are you coming or not? That's as nice as an invitation you're going to get." Jack laughed and then quickly grabbed his jacket and followed David out the door.
-&-
"Don't you have a paper to do or something? Jeez, I can't get rid of you." Pacey grinned at Joey who was following him up to his apartment. She ran a little to catch up with him and put her arms around him from behind.
"I'm afraid you're stuck with me." She kissed his cheek and then he pulled her around so she was in front of him and kissed her softly.
"This could become a problem."
"What could?" He put his arm around her as they walked down the corridor.
"I would really hate to single handedly be responsible for you flunking out of college." He reached the door and unlocked it.
"No you wouldn't. You love it when I lose."
"Only when I win."
"You never win." She stuck her tongue out at him, running into the room before he could grab her.
"I do believe you're lying Miss Potter. I think you need to be punished." Joey rose her eyebrows.
"Oh really? Now what punishment did you have in mind?" She stood behind the couch, knowing he was going to grab her at any second.
"I guess you just have to wait and see." He pretended to turn towards his room but then quickly grabbed Joey and pulled her from behind the couch, onto him so that they were lying on it.
He started tickling her and she shrieked uncontrollably. She was extremely ticklish and he knew it. He managed to move so that he was lying on top of her while she continued to be tortured by him.
"Pacey…Pacey please!"
"Please what?"
"Ple…ase…stop." Finally he stopped tickling her and she tried to catch her breath.
He kissed her softly on the nose, smiling down at her. She grinned and kissed him back before pulling him into a deeper kiss.
-&-
"Why are we here? I should probably go home and get some work done." Jen said as she climbed out of Drue's car. He took hold of her hand, pulling her towards his apartment.
"Because my dear, I do not intend to let you work today."
"You don't?"
"Nope."
"So then what do you intend to do?"
"I intend to take you upstairs to my apartment and ravish you for the rest of the day."
"Hmmm. I don't know if I like the sound of that. Did you think to ask my permission before you made this plan? I'm a very modern girl you know, I have rights." Jen rambled on. Drue stopped her just as they reached the door to his apartment and kissed her. The kiss was just starting to cross the line from a simple public display of affection to something a little more indecent when Drue finally pulled away.
"What were you saying?"
"Huh? I don't think I was saying anything. I definitely wasn't complaining." She was about to open the door to Drue's apartment when he stopped her again.
"I'm going to carry you." He told her.
"You what?"
"I'm going to carry you. And don't say anything." He put his hand on her mouth just as she was going to say something.
"I've been in your apartment before and we didn't just get married you know."
"Humor me. I think this is a very special moment."
"You're so goofy you know that."
"I'm glad you think so." Drue pretended to be getting impatient.
"Fine." Jen agreed. And Drue lifted her up easily into his arms. "I'm too heavy." Jen complained.
"Don't be silly. I'm…uh…fine." He staggered slightly as he opened the door and walked in.
"Drue you're…" Jen stopped talking as Drue stopped walking suddenly. She followed his eyes and grinned as she saw Pacey and Joey lying on the couch together. Drue put Jen down and grinned at his friends.
Pacey was half on top of Joey. His shirt was lying on the floor. Pacey and Joey looked at each other and then looked at Drue and Jen.
"Uh…hi guys."
-&-
"You slept with him!" Jen shrieked.
"Jeez Jen, I would appreciate it if you didn't announce my sex life to an entire beach full of people." Joey looked around the beach self-consciously. They had left the apartment to talk and were walking along the beach.
"Sorry." Jen said sheepishly. "I'm just a bit shocked. I told you to kiss him not sleep with him." Jen nudged Joey lightly.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't expecting it either. I mean obviously I've thought about being with Pacey again ever since he left me. I just didn't think that it would happen so soon. But when he was standing at my door, saying goodnight I just didn't want him to go. We hadn't really resolved anything and I knew that if I let him go then, we would just end up avoiding things again."
"So what was it like?"
"It was…different. It wasn't like the first time, but it felt so much like a first. I felt, I don't know, free. This sounds stupid but I know I can admit that every time I was with Pacey before Dawson was there. Not while I was with him but afterwards. I always felt like I was betraying Dawson in some way. I know it's really twisted but that's how I felt and I couldn't help it. I know I lied to Dawson because of that and Pacey was totally justified in breaking up with me because he didn't deserve that."
"But now?"
"Now I just feel happy. I fell free. When I was with Pacey it was exciting and scary and messy. I felt like I was giving myself to him completely like he was giving himself to me. And because it was sudden and something I've wanted again for so long it was a rush. I just wanted to touch him again." Joey blushed slightly, trying to convey the emotions she had been feeling.
"Well I'm happy for you. Everything seems to have worked out okay."
"Yeah. We're happy. I think it will really work this time. I won't let it fall apart again. It feels stupid saying this, but I really believe that Pacey is the only one who can make me happy and I don't ever want us to end."
"That's great, Jo." Jen hugged Joey from the side for a second.
"So what about you girl?" Joey grinned, turning the attention on her friend. "I want all the details. You were the one who was supposed to come back with a story to tell."
"We didn't do anything."
"Yeah, right. I would never believe you could go away with Drue Valentine and not get some."
"Joey! Don't tell me you think Drue is sexy?"
"Duh!" Joey laughed. "But don't tell him I said that. It's not like you haven't reminded me on many occasions how fine Pacey is."
"But that's different."
"No it's not." Joey assured her.
"Drue was…I don't know. Different than what I expected. It felt…I don't know…Special?" Jen tried to explain herself. "He made me feel really special. Something I haven't felt before."
"I can't believe we are sharing details of our sex lives." Joey laughed.
"It's okay Jo, we're allowed to. That's what best friends do. Trust me, I know. Jack is waiting for me to call him with the juicy gossip." Joey laughed.
"I feel different. Like I'm too happy for my own good. And I don't know, do you feel like…really girly?"
"Yeah!" Jen agreed.
"I can't believe I'm so happy over a guy. I almost feel like one of those girls who devotes her entire life to her boyfriend."
"No. We're not like that. We're just really lucky and allowed some happiness. The day I start making too much effort and spend all my time talking about Drue just shoot me please." Jen grinned.
"Deal." Joey agreed. There was silence as they walked along the beach for a little while before Jen spoke up.
"I'm really glad we're friends, Joey."
"Me too, Jen."
-&-
Joey was woken by something or rather someone pulling on her bed covers. She was enjoying her dream way too much to get up yet so she tried to snatch them back, not wanting to return to reality yet. Although, lately, her reality wasn't too bad.
"Joey! Joey, wake up." Stacy called, pulling on Joey's quilt.
"Leave me alone Stacy."
"No. Do you know what day it is?" When Joey didn't answer she continued. "Tuesday. That's three whole days since you and Pacey got together and you haven't told me anything." Finally Joey sat up in her bed. "Good."
"Obviously, I've been avoiding your interest in my love life."
"Well it's more interesting than mine from what I saw on Sunday. And as your roommate I have a right to know these things." Stacy joked. Joey smiled at Stacy. She already knew the whole back-story so there was no reason for her not to tell Stacy the rest. Besides, Joey really liked her roommate and wanted to become better friends with her.
"Well I guess I should thank you for not coming home on Saturday night. Although I definitely wasn't planning to sleep with Pacey."
"But you did."
"Yeah."
"And how was it?"
"Stacy!"
"What? I'm entitled to know. Do you have anymore really fine friends?" Stacy joked.
"They're either gay or taken."
"Damn." Stacy grinned. "I guess I'll have to stick to my pursuit of Steve."
"Steve?" Joey rose her eyebrows.
"Lab partner. Tell you later." Stacy quickly said. "Tell me about Pacey."
"I think I want to spend the rest of my life with him." Joey sighed dramatically and fell back on the bed.
"Wow. That is the first time I've ever heard something non-cynical come out of your mouth. And it's so sweet."
"I know. It's terrible. But I can't help it. I feel like I'm going through that first-steps-in-a-relationship part again. Except Pacey and I already know and love each other so much."
"Oh stop. You're making me sick." Stacy joked, standing up.
"I'm sorry. I promise this will only last a week tops. Then it will be back to the normal, but slightly less cynical Joey, I promise."
"Okay. Well make sure you keep me filled in next time. Now I'm off to class. Shouldn't you be getting up now?"
"Yes Mom." Joey grinned. "Spoil my good mood why don't you."
"Bye Joey."
-&-
"The assignment requires work to be done in pairs." Jack listened as his Professor gave the instructions for their new assignment. "Remember this assignment counts towards your final grade so choose your partner carefully."
Professor Harding walked down the row of tables in which the students were seated. He turned as he reached the front of the class again and then smiled.
"Collect the assignment on your way out and I'll see you all next class." He walked off, effectively dismissing the class.
Before Jack could think about who he was going to be paired with, David, who sat in the back of the class, rushed over to him.
"Hey." Jack smiled at David.
"Hey. So do you have a partner?" David asked.
"No. Do you want to pair up?"
"Sure." David grinned and followed Jack to pick up their assignment details. "So thanks again for coming to Providence with me. I would've been really bored going on my own."
"No problem. I told you, I used to live there so I never mind going back."
"Well I appreciated it anyway." Jack smiled at David and then picked up their assignment.
"We have a month to complete it." Jack told David as he scanned the first page. "But it looks like we're still going to have our work cut out for us."
"Great." David sighed and Jack just laughed.
"It's not so bad. Come on." Jack grinned at David as they made their way out of the classroom.
"I actually wanted to thank you for something else."
"Oh great, what have I done now?" Jack joked.
"Nothing wrong, I promise." David smiled. "I just wanted to tell you that I took your advice."
"About what?"
"Brian. I really thought about what you said. I really don't want to have to think back in ten years time and kick myself for not staying in contact with someone who used to be so special to me. So I rang Brian last night. And then I even called some of my other friends."
"That's great," Jack smiled, really happy that his advice had helped David.
"Yeah, talking to Brian was good. He's getting on great and he met someone."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Jack said but David cut him off.
"No, no. It's okay. It's good that's he's been able to move on, I guess. But it was nice to just talk to him and catch up," David explained.
"That's really good. It's a good thing you managed to do it."
"Only because you convinced me, Jack. Thanks a lot." David said sincerely. Jack smiled, not believing that he had really done much. But he was happy that David liked his advice.
-&-
Jen let herself into Drue's apartment with the spare key she had taken from his room earlier that day. Finding no one in the living room she headed for her boyfriend's room. She entered quietly and Drue didn't notice. He was sitting at his desk, typing away on his computer. The printer was running so he didn't hear Jen as she crept up behind him.
"Guess who?" Jen grinned as she covered Drue's eyes with her hands.
"Hmm. Who could it be?" Drue turned in his revolving chair but his eyes were still covered.
"Guess." Jen repeated.
"I think I would be a dead man if I didn't recognize my own girlfriend's voice, but I think I need more evidence before I guess."
"Like what?"
"Like this." Drue pulled Jen close to him and she moved her hands from his eyes. He kissed her softly and then smiled. "Oh my god, it is you. I never would have guessed," he joked.
"What are you doing?" Jen asked as he turned back to his computer.
"Psychology essay." Drue told her. "Boring."
"I really shouldn't disturb you then. I don't want to disrupt you the one time you are working." Jen laughed.
"You always distract me." Drue pulled her into his lap and she put her arm around him.
"Well I am glad. I could barely concentrate in English today."
"And this was my fault?" Drue rose his eyebrows.
"Of course." Jen laughed and then bent down to kiss him. "So what do you want to do today?"
"I can think of a few things." Drue grinned and stood up, effectively picking Jen up too. He dropped her on the bed and then jumped on it himself.
"Drue!" She pushed him lightly. "I have to go."
"Don't worry, this won't take long." He laughed before trapping her in his kiss.
-&-
Pacey grinned as he noticed his girlfriend approaching him carrying a picnic basket and wearing a huge smile. He was at the Marina, working and he hadn't expected her to come by today. It was definitely a pleasant surprise.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Pacey said as Joey reached him. He tried to look in the basket but Joey slapped his hand away.
"Just a little something I cooked up for my awfully hard working boyfriend." Joey said, putting on an overly sweet voice. "Have you seen him anywhere?" She pretended to look around.
"Ha Ha." Pacey said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "You do this more often and I may start to get worried."
"Hey! Be grateful. I took time out of my busy schedule to make this stuff." Joey nudged him lightly.
"Well I would be grateful if you let me see what 'stuff' you made."
"You're just going to have to come and get it." Joey grinned, holding the basket behind her. Pacey moved forward and put his arm around her waist before he kissed her. She got lost in the kiss and didn't realize that he had managed to take the basket from her hands.
"Hmm. Sandwiches. Cookies." Pacey said as he looked inside the basket. "Don't tell me you bake cookies."
"Of course I do. Sorry about the mess in your kitchen though." Joey smiled sweetly and Pacey just laughed. "I guess there's a lot you still don't know about me."
"You surprise me every day, Potter. That's just one of the reasons I love you so much." He smiled before kissing her again.
"So, can we go now?"
"I'm working Joey. Just because you can afford to take time out from your busy schedule to bake me cookies doesn't mean I can take time out to eat them." Pacey pretended to be serious.
"Pacey. You're your own boss. And Dave can cover you." Joey insisted. "You can cover Pacey for a while, can't you Dave?" Joey said to the boy who was walking past the couple. Dave looked at Joey, confused. He hadn't spoken to her before and didn't even know who she was. But he looked at Pacey and figured she must be his boss' girlfriend.
"Uh…sure I can," he said, looking at Pacey still a little confused. Pacey just grinned.
"Thanks. I won't be long." Pacey smiled at Dave and then took Joey's hand. "You do realize you've never spoken to Dave before and now he thinks you're very weird."
"Well since he was standing over there while we were kissing I think he's caught on that I'm your girlfriend." Joey smiled, these days she was so happy she didn't care if her behavior was strange.
"You're a very strange girl, Potter." Pacey laughed as they headed towards the beach.
"Well that's okay. You're a very strange boy, Pace."
-&-
David sat at Jack's desk, using the computer while Jack stood over his shoulder, staring at the screen. "So if you just move this here," David used the mouse to move an image on the screen. "It'll load like so."
They had tried to do some working in the library but couldn't find anything so David had suggested looking on the Internet. Except they had gotten quite side tracked while David started showing Jack some cool web sites.
"Wow. That's really cool. How did you learn all that stuff?" Jack asked, impressed with David's computer skills.
"I sort of taught myself. I've always been into computers."
"So I'm guessing you're going to be a Computer Science major?"
"Actually I don't know. I'm not sure if I really want to work in computers. It's all fun and games when I'm trying things out at home, but do I really want to do it every day?"
"I don't know, sounds pretty good…" The phone rang and Jack walked over to his bedside table to answer it.
"Hello."
"Hey, Jack."
"Tobey! Hey, what's up?" Jack covered the mouthpiece and then spoke to David. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You talk, I'm just going to try and rework this." David turned to the computer, trying to ignore Jack as he started talking to Tobey.
"I miss you too sweetie," Jack said into the phone.
"Are you coming home for Christmas?"
"Yeah, I think so. I haven't discussed it with the others, but I'm guessing that Joey will have to go to see Bessie and Drue will have to go for his mom so we will all probably end up coming home. It should be just like Thanksgiving only longer." Jack smiled, but Tobey didn't say anything. "Isn't that a good thing?" Jack asked confused.
"Oh, no. No, it is. But do you remember my Uncle Thomas?"
"The one in London?"
"Yeah, he's invited the family to his place for Christmas. We're going to go next week and then staying with him for the Christmas break."
"That's great." Jack smiled. "But you sure don't sound like a guy who's going to London for the holidays. What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I guess. I am happy. It should be a lot of fun. But…well…now we won't see each other for even longer." Jack could tell that Tobey was really excited, but didn't want to disappoint Jack.
"I know, of course I'll miss you. But this will be great for you." Jack smiled, trying to sound happy instead of being upset. He looked over at David who was still working on the computer and realized he was being really rude. "Listen Tobey, I have to go. I'm working on a project for my English class. But I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay, talk to you soon, Jack."
"Bye." He hung up the phone and then sighed.
David, who had unconsciously been staring at the screen, trying his best not to listen, quickly carried on with what he was doing. He didn't know why, but he knew he really didn't want to listen to Jack talk to Tobey. The last few days had been the first time that David had actually liked being in Boston. After breaking up with his boyfriend and moving to Boston for college, David hadn't felt truly at peace.
He had made some friends, mostly with the drunken crowd his roommate hanged around with and although they had been fun, that was it. He just felt alone. But Jack reminded him of his old high school friends. They were very laid back. They didn't party all the time, but they knew how to have fun.
David welcomed the break from the typical frat crowd and hanging around with Jack was just that. He had a lot in common with Jack too. He also came from a small town and used to have a group of close friends. But probably not as close as Jack and his friends seemed to be.
"Something wrong?" David asked, finally turning to Jack who looked a little upset.
"Not really. Tobey's going away for Christmas so I won't get to see him. It really sucks, but what can we do?"
"You could ask him to stay."
"Nah, I couldn't do that. He should go. I'll just miss him."
"At least you are still close."
"Yeah. But I thought you said you don't believe in long distance relationships."
"I didn't say that. I just didn't think it would work for me."
"I guess." Jack sighed.
-&-
"Hey Jen," Brenda smiled at her roommate as she entered the room. "How was your trip?" She asked, smiling. Jen smiled back, dropped her bags in the middle of the room, and sat down at the foot of Brenda's bed.
"Good. Really good." She blushed, thinking of Drue.
"From the look on your face it was better than good." Brenda grinned.
Jen smiled at Brenda. She had realized that Brenda had her good days and she had her bad days. Lately Brenda had been making an effort to talk to Jen more, and Jen had noticed that she wasn't always so quiet or upset anymore.
"How was your weekend?" Jen asked.
"Okay, I guess. Actually it was really good. My best friend from high school came to visit me and we spent the weekend catching up. It was nice."
"That's good. Is he…or she gone?"
"She. Yeah, she left this morning." Jen smiled at Brenda and then got up to get her bags and started unpacking. Brenda continued with her work for a few minutes, but Jen could see her glance in her direction a couple of times.
"Jen?" Brenda said finally.
"Yeah."
"I know I haven't been the easiest roommate in the world but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate how patient you've been. And thanks for not asking questions when I know my behavior has been strange in the past."
"No problem. I'm not one to pry. But I'm a pretty easy person to get on with so if you ever want to talk I'm here you know. And just for the record, I've had my share of problems. And even though it may seem like I have the perfect life right now, I may be able to offer some useful insight."
"There were just some things which were…are going on. But I'm okay, I guess."
"Good." Jen smiled as Brenda went back to work, feeling a little better.
-&-
Joey woke up, smiling as she felt Pacey's arm around her. He was lying there, still asleep and to Joey he looked like the most gorgeous person in the world. She got out of bed and retrieved her clothes, which had been haphazardly thrown on the floor last night.
She changed quietly, not wanting to disturb Pacey. She had go to class but Pacey had the morning off so she wanted him to rest. Especially since she had probably tired him out last night. She smirked at that last thought. A lot of time the past few days had been spent reacquainting themselves with each other in the bedroom. And Joey was sure that she would never tire of it either.
She kissed Pacey one more time and then left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Just as she left the room, she turned and jumped suddenly.
"Jen! God, what are you doing here?" She had run straight into Jen who had just emerged from Drue's room at the exact same time. She was wearing one of Drue's shirts, which was long enough to cover her.
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Jen grinned. "You stayed the night?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yep. We were sleeping next door to each other and we didn't even know." Jen laughed as they headed into the kitchen.
"Well I think we were all a little preoccupied." Joey grinned. "Toast?" Joey asked, taking out a couple of slices of bread for herself. Jen nodded.
"You have class now?"
"Yeah. History. I should really hurry up or I'm going to be late." Joey said, but made no move to hurry.
"I don't have class for a couple of hours, but I thought I better get up. I already pushed Drue off to his morning lecture although he obviously wanted to stay home. Pacey still asleep?"
"Yeah. He doesn't start work until later."
"So who's breakfast are you making?" Jen asked, referring to the eggs and bacon Joey was starting to prepare.
"He should be getting up soon. I just thought I'd be nice if I left him some breakfast." Jen rose her eyebrows. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with making his breakfast now and again. He'd do the same for me."
"I guess. But don't you think you're over doing it a little?"
"No. I like doing it. I'm not planning to wait on him hand and foot forever you know. The weird part about it is, that it makes me feel good."
"Are you sure you're not just feeling guilty?"
"Guilty?"
"You know, for everything that happened last year. I know you blame yourself."
"I did. But it's not because of that. Right now I'm just really happy. I haven't been this happy in a long time, so I just want to spread the love." Joey assured Jen as she put the plate now full of cooked breakfast into the microwave and wrote Pacey a note. "You were like this when you and Drue got together, you know?"
"Was I?"
"Oh yeah. We had to hear about him twenty four-seven."
"Oh god. It has worn off right?"
"Yeah, thankfully."
"So there's still hope for you?" Jen asked, as Joey gathered her things to leave.
"I think so."
"And until then?"
"Until then, Pacey's a very lucky guy." Joey laughed before leaving Jen to finished her breakfast.
-&-
"Joey!" She stopped when she heard her name, turning to see who had called. Jack jogged across the street to catch up with her. "Hey."
"Hey Jack. What's up?"
"Nothing much. Where are you heading?"
"I was just going to the library."
"Public?"
"Yeah, the college one is always full and they never seem to have the book I need." Jack fell into step with her, walking along. "What about you?"
"Just had some errands to run. I was going to see Jen but she's not home." Joey looked at her watch, it was just after half past ten.
"She's probably still at Drue's."
"Right. No doubt she stayed over." Jack grinned. "And from what I hear you're there quite a bit too these days." Jack nudged Joey lightly.
"Well, Pacey and I are back together."
"And how's that going?"
"Honestly, it's going great."
"Great."
"Yep. I'm so sick of relationships being so hard. I just want to enjoy being happy with Pacey. 'Cause knowing us lot, I'm sure there's some more angst around the corner."
"Oh please, no. I think we've had enough drama to last a lifetime."
"So what have you been up to these days?"
"Nothing much. Trying to study. I hung out with some new college friends since you were all too busy for me." Jack pretended to be upset.
"Aww. I'm sorry. You know us and our dramas."
"I know. It's okay. It's time we started making some new friends."
"Already trying to get rid of us Jack?" Joey joked.
"No. You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do." Joey smiled as they reached the library. "Are you coming in?"
"Nah. I should get back. I'll see you soon." Joey smiled and leaned over and hugged Jack.
"Bye Jack."
-&-
Pacey came home from work to find Drue lounging on the couch watching TV. Drue looked up as Pacey entered and gave him a little grunt acknowledging his presence.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Tired." Drue muttered.
"Jen keep you up?" Pacey grinned.
"Something like that." Drue finally sat up. "You know just because I haven't had time to interrogate you about Joey yet, doesn't mean I'm not going to."
"There's nothing to tell." Pacey said, from the kitchen where he was making some lunch. He had been pleasantly surprised to find his breakfast already made this morning and he couldn't help smiling.
"Yeah right. Okay, if you won't give up any juicy details at least give me hope that the 'will they get back together?' drama is over."
"It's over. We are officially back together." Pacey smiled, taking a seat next to Drue.
"Well I'm glad. Jen and I were starting to think we were going to have to devise a matchmaking scheme."
"So glad you didn't. I don't think I want to leave my love life in your hands."
"As long as you keep it together this time."
"We should do something this weekend. Celebrate or something." Pacey suggested.
"Yeah. Jen said she wanted to spend some time with Jack, but she hasn't spoken to him yet."
"Maybe we should all just watch a few movies over here. Give us all a chance to catch up with each other."
"Yeah, I'm sure the girls will love that idea. I'll let Jen know."
"Okay cool." Drue got up and headed to his room leaving Pacey to eat in peace.
-&-
"Ha! Beat you again." David grinned. Jack just sighed.
"It's your game. You just play more than I do." He protested. They were in David's dorm room. They were supposed to be working on the English assignment but they got side tracked by David's computer games.
"Whatever. Looks like you just can't handle losing very well."
"I don't lose." David rose his eyebrows and Jack just laughed. "Actually I'm used to losing. My sister, Andie, she has to win at everything. So I could never win against her. Even if I could I didn't because she would just insist on playing until she did win." David laughed.
"Sounds fun."
"Well she got over it a little as we got older." Jack smiled, thinking of Andie. "So what do you say, one more?" The both looked behind them at the table which was piled up with books and then at each other.
"You don't have to ask me twice." Jack grinned as David started up again.
They started playing, both sitting there with their eyes glued to the TV screen as they raced their cars.
"Ha…I'm beating you now. Look at me go." Jack laughed, playing hard. David just stopped playing and started messing with Jack's control, trying to take it from him. "Hey!"
"If I ain't gonna win, neither are you McPhee." David put on a pretend evil laugh before grabbing Jack's control.
Jack tried to get it back and they ended up fighting each other for it. They were laughing and fighting so much but finally Jack managed to get the control back.
"Well you lost anyway." David pointed to the screen and he had in fact lost. They both looked at each other and started laughed.
David looked at Jack and then smiled. Not even thinking about what he was doing he leaned over and kissed Jack. It only lasted a couple of seconds but Jack was so shocked he didn't have a chance to react.
David quickly pulled away looking equally as shocked as Jack was. He didn't know what had come over him. He was so embarrassed.
"Oh god. Jack I'm so sorry." David quickly got off the couch, moving away. "I didn't mean…"
"David, David, it's…er…it's okay." Jack said, not even knowing if it was.
"No…I'm sorry." He quickly reached the door, knowing that he was about to walk out of his own dorm.
"David."
"I…I gotta go Jack." David looked at Jack one last time before leaving Jack alone.
Jack just stood there, not knowing what to think. He had definitely not been expecting that. He loved Tobey and had always only thought of David as a friend. Just when he was starting to make new friends this had to happen and now he just hoped that this wouldn't ruin things.
-&-
Joey came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. She jumped and almost dropped the towel as she noticed her boyfriend lying on her bed grinning at her.
"You know, you really shouldn't leave your door open. You never know who could be sneaking about." Pacey lamented.
"You mean people like you, who I really want to keep out?" Joey grinned, drying her hair with another towel. Pacey got up and put his arms around her, not caring that she was still wet.
"Now why would you want to keep me out? I'm your knight in shining armor remember?" He kissed her softly and she smiled.
"How was work?"
"Boring. I couldn't stop thinking about a certain young girl."
"I wonder who that could be." Joey smiled at Pacey as he sat back down on her bed.
"Thanks for breakfast by the way."
"You're welcome, but don't get too used to it." She warned.
"So you're not planning to change your major to 'how to look after your extremely cute and hard working boyfriend'?"
"Not a chance. But even if that did exist, I couldn't get into it because I don't have a cute or hard working boyfriend." Joey teased winking at him. "Speaking of majors." Joey said from behind the closet door she had opened to change behind.
"Yeah?"
"What would you think if I became a lawyer?"
"Where did that come from?" Pacey asked. "And you know I've seen it all before, you don't have to hide." He added.
"I know. But I have to get to class soon and can't afford to get distracted." Joey poked her head out from behind the door and stuck her tongue out at Pacey jokily. "The law thing was just something I was thinking about. I think it would be really interesting. And something I could be good at."
"If it is what you want to do I fully support you. You know that right?"
"Of course. It's just an idea anyway. I don't even have to think about that yet. I was just thinking about declaring my major soon. I think I might major in English."
"You did say you were enjoying your writing classes. That could be good." Pacey mused.
"Yeah that's what I thought." She finally closed the door, dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue knit sweater. She walked over to Pacey and stood between his legs. She moved her hair to the side as she bent down to kiss him.
"We are watching movies at my place on Friday, ok? Everyone is coming." Pacey informed her as she continued to kiss him.
"Sounds good." She muttered, kissing his neck softly. But once again the door opening interrupted them.
"Oops. I can come back?" Stacy said, trying to hide her grin.
"It's okay." Pacey stood up. "I was just leaving."
"Don't leave on my account. In fact, I have been meaning to ask you, you don't happen to have a brother do you?" Pacey laughed.
"I do. But he's a little old."
"That could…"
"Stacy!" Joey interrupted. They all just laughed.
"Okay, I was just asking." Stacy stuck her tongue out at Joey before going over to her desk.
"Are you coming over tonight?" Pacey asked Joey as he held her tight.
"I shouldn't. I have an early class. I'll come by work in between classes tomorrow, okay?" Pacey smiled and then kissed her again. Stacy coughed loudly from the back of the room and they pulled apart.
"Love you." Pacey said before leaving Joey.
She closed the door behind him and then turned and glared at Stacy.
"What?" Stacy said innocently.
"Nothing." Joey laughed before collapsing on her bed.
"You know Joey, we don't spend nearly enough time together."
"Stacy, we live together!"
"Yeah, but besides that. I don't know any of your friends, you don't know mine. We're really going to have to rectify this." Stacy said seriously.
"Well, I'm going to Pacey's to watch movies on Friday, you can come if you want. The whole gang will be there."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course." Joey said enthusiastically. "It'll give them a chance to meet my very strange roommate."
"You told them I was strange?" Stacy threw a pillow at Joey.
"I didn't. I promise. I said only good things."
"Good. But then you have to come out with me next week. There are some people I really want you to meet."
"If I wasn't with Pacey, I would be very worried that you were trying to set me up."
"Actually I was going to. But since you and Pacey are back together, I don't need to now." Stacy laughed lightly.
"God, being set up by you. I don't think I even want to imagine that."
-&-
Jack was sitting on his bed thinking about what had happened last night. He couldn't believe David had kissed him. It was so unexpected. He had been having fun with David these past few weeks, but just as friends. Then David kissed him and now he didn't know what to think.
David had run off before Jack could even say anything. He didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't want to ruin his friendship with David but he loved Tobey. Sure it was hard being so far from Tobey but his feelings were still strong. Maybe David had just mistaken them having a good time to mean something more. Whatever it was Jack really hoped they could sort things out.
"Jack?" He looked up to find his best friend walking in, a grin on her face. He quickly smiled, putting last nights mess to the back of his mind.
"Hey Jen. What's up?"
"Just stopped by to see how my favorite guy was doing. Feels like ages since I've seen you."
"Probably because you've been wrapped up in your new favorite guy. You've forgotten about poor Jack." Jack pretended to be upset, but his smile told Jen he was only joking.
"Aww. Poor Jackers, feeling lonely?" Jen rubbed Jack's head laughing. She sat down opposite him on the bed.
"It's okay. I forgive you. Paul told me you came over on Sunday. Although it's Thursday now so what happened to the days in between?"
"Hey, cut me a little slack here." Jen hit Jack's arm lightly. "Anyway I'm glad Paul told you I came by. I wasn't sure if he would."
"Well you have been ignoring him ever since Drue told you to," Jack teased.
"I wasn't ignoring," Jen argued. "I just made a choice. I chose Drue's happiness over Paul's friendship."
"Awww. How cute," Jack mocked. "So, how is the post-weekend relationship?"
"Still in tact. But the sordid details will be saved for another occasion."
"No fair." Jack joked.
"So what have you been up to lately?"
"Nothing much. I went to see a movie, studied a bit, nothing big."
"Who did you watch the movie with?"
"David." Jack tried to keep a straight face while saying his name, not wanting to tell Jen the confusing details yet. "He's the guy in my English class."
"Oh right. You mentioned him before." Jen said, not picking up the difference in Jack's tone. "Have you spoken to Tobey lately?"
"Yeah, I talked to him the other day. He's having fun. Studying hard. The usual. He said the kids from the reading group really miss me. But I bet he just said that to make me happy."
"You miss him?"
"Yeah. He also said that he's going to London for the break so he won't be there when we go back to Capeside." Jack felt bad for some reason. Like he was betraying Tobey by hanging around with David or something. Now he really wished Tobey wasn't going away.
"That sucks." Jack just gave her a look. "Well we're all watching movies at Drue's tomorrow night and you have to come. It'll cheer you up."
"Sure, I'm in."
"Okay, I'll see you then Jack. I have to get to class."
"Sure, bye Jen." Jen left Jack's dorm and headed back to her own. As she was walking away she bumped into someone she thought she recognized. David apologized and kept walking straight to Jack's room.
He knocked on the door and took a deep breath and waited. When Jack answered he tried to smile, despite the awkwardness of the moment.
"Hey."
"Hey, David. You want to come in?" David nodded and followed Jack into his room.
"Jack, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to…"
"What did you mean David? I thought we were just friends."
"We were. Are. I hope. I'm sorry. I didn't even realize what I was doing. I really didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
"Well you did. You know I'm with Tobey." Jack explained, trying not to hurt David's feelings.
"I know. It's not that. I guess I just missed Brian. And even though I told myself I was over him and that hearing he had moved on was okay, I guess it wasn't. And I don't know, you just remind me of him sometimes." David explained, not even sure how much of what he was saying was the truth. "Can we just put this down as a momentary lapse of concentration on my part? I would really hate for this to ruin our friendship." Jack sighed unsure of how easy that would be. David had made things a lot more complicated.
"Sure." Jack agreed.
"Great. So everything's cool now?" David asked.
"Yeah, definitely. Actually, I'm going to my friend's place tomorrow, to just hang out and watch movies. Do you want to come?" He thought this would be the perfect thing to get their friendship back to normal.
"Oh, no. I don't want to intrude."
"No you won't be. I'm sure they'd love to meet you."
"Well…Okay then. Thanks Jack." David left Jack's room and then sighed. He was glad everything was back the way it was but he couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed. Why had he kissed Jack? Now he was starting to think that maybe it was more than just a lapse of concentration. What if it was a lot more?
-&-
Joey got home from Pacey's at about nine o'clock, after having spent the majority of the evening there. As she reached her room she could hear the phone ringing from inside. Knowing Stacy wouldn't be home yet, Joey hurried to get her key out. She quickly opened the door and ran inside, dropping her bag by the door as she rushed to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Joey? Hey, It's Dawson."
"Dawson." Joey smiled, relaxing on her bed. "Hey, how are you doing?"
"I'm good. Just wanted to call and catch up. Did you just get in?"
"Yeah. I had to run and answer the door. I was just at Pacey's."
"Cool. Any improvement in the Pacey department?" Dawson asked casually.
"Actually. There was a big improvement."
"You're back together?"
"Yep." Joey grinned and Dawson could tell.
"You sound happy."
"I am." Joey agreed.
"That's great, Jo." Dawson said. "I miss you guys."
"We miss you too. You know it's not the same without you."
"You seem to be doing fine." It slipped out before he could stop it.
"Dawson…" Joey's voice was concerned.
"It's okay Joey. I didn't mean to burst your bubble. It's great here. But sometimes I feel like you guys are all moving on without me."
"I'm sorry." Joey couldn't think of anything else to say. It was true, they were moving away from each other. But there was nothing they could do about it. "So how's Cathy?"
"Confusing." Dawson laughed.
"Still?"
"Yep. Maybe it's because I've been too chicken to ask her out though." Dawson admitted.
"Well if you like her then go for it Dawson. You're supposed to go out and experience life."
"Okay. I'll keep that in mind." Dawson smiled to himself. "I better go but I'll email you the details of my progress with Cathy."
"Make sure you do. Bye Dawson."
"Bye Joey."
-&-
"Pacey! Did you pick up the movie I asked you to?" Joey called Pacey from the living room where she was trying to clean the place a little.
"Drue, stop lounging about." Jen glared at her boyfriend from the kitchen.
"Women!" Pacey muttered loudly, walking out of his room.
"You girls act like we've never watched movies before." Drue commented, getting up from the couch and walking past Jen and grabbing a handful of popcorn out of the bowl she was holding.
"We haven't. Not in a long time anyway." Joey answered before going into the kitchen to help Jen. Pacey and Drue looked at each other and then rolled their eyes. They sat on the couch as the girls brought popcorn from the kitchen.
The doorbell rang and Joey got up to answer it. Jack smiled at Joey as the door opened.
"Hey. I hope you don't mind, I brought one more." Jack motioned to David who was standing next to him.
"Of course not." Joey smiled at David as Jack introduced her.
"Guys, this is David. David, this is Jen, Drue and Pacey." Jack said, pointing to each of them. Jack and David sat down next to each other on one end of the long couch. Jen was sitting in Drue's lap on the other end. And Pacey was sitting on the love seat, waiting for Joey to join him.
"We're just waiting for one more."
"Who?" Drue asked.
"I invited my roommate too."
"Really? I should have invited Brenda." Jen thought.
"Well Stacy really wanted to meet you guys. Well all except you, Drue." Joey joked, and he threw a pillow at her. The doorbell rang again and Joey went to answer. She walked back into the living room with Stacy following behind.
"Wow. It's a big party in here." Stacy laughed. Joey introduced everyone to Stacy. Stacy was going to say something about Jack and David when Joey cut her off.
"They're gay," she pointed to the guys and then to Pacey and Drue. "And they're taken. Don't get any ideas." Everyone laughed.
"Hey, it was worth a try." Stacy joked as she sat down on the remaining one-seat couch.
Joey turned down the lights and took her place in Pacey's arms. She picked the remote up and turned the movie on.
"What are we watching?" David asked.
"Since it's the holiday season coming up I figure this would be appropriate." Joey said, as It's A Wonderful Life started playing.
"Good choice." Jen smiled at Joey as they started watching.
But the movie, which they had all seen many times before, soon faded into the background in favor of conversation.