Joey thought about it for a few seconds. Bessie was out of town and the B&B would be closed for the rest of the summer. If she let him stay they would be there all alone, together. Bessie would definitely not approve. Why did he want to stay there anyway? Didn't he live with Doug? What if Doug kicked him out? What if he had nowhere else to go? Joey let her concern for Pacey overrule her fears of getting on Bessie's bad side.

"Pacey!"

He stopped and smiled to himself, but he didn't turn back around. Joey ran to catch up with him. "I think we can make an exception."

Pacey raised his eyebrows and grinned from ear to ear. "You just can't get enough of me, can you Potter?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I just didn't want you to suffer through the Dawson and Jen makeout session that is bound to be going on about now."

"See, you are concered for me."

"Whatever." He continued to smirk. "I can always take it back."

"You could but you must admit that you would miss my devilishly handsome self." Pacey chuckled when she rolled her eyes at his confident statement.

They walked back to her house. Joey noticed that most of what Pacey owned was sitting on the porch and made a mental not to ask about it later. She opened the front door and walked into the kitchen while Pacey moved his stuff into one of the guest rooms. There was a message on the answering machine. Joey pressed the button and stated to straighten up the kitchen as she listened to the message.

"Hey, Jo. It's Bess. We decided to stay a few more weeks. In fact, we won't be back before you start school. Kepp the place clean, stay out of trouble, and have a happy birthday."

Joey heard the click of the machine and mavement behind her. She turned to find Pacey standing barely a foot behind her with a smirk on his face. "Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"

He stepped back about an inch, but the grin stayed exactly where it had been. They stared at each other, him grinning and her glaring, for a while. Finally she spoke.

"What?!" Okay, she yelled, and his smile never faltered.

"You are the only one here?"

"Yeah, but -" Joey tried to explain but Pacey cut her off.

"I know what you're doing Josephine, and I like it."

"Don't call me that and what, exactly, do you think I'm doing?" she asked curiously, but with obvious irritation.

"No worries. I'm right with ya."

"Pacey, if you don't tell me what you are talking about I swear -"

"Do you want me to show you?" he asked in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"Will it explain what you are talking about?"

Pacey nodded. "Okay, then show me."

He closed the remaining distance between them and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

Dawson watched as Jen walked across his lawn and into her house. He looked over at he clock, noting how late it was. He sat debating if he should go see what Joey was doing. She was probably asleep.

How could he have spent the entire summer without seeing her? It wasn't like they didn't live in a very small town. Sure, they passed each other on the street sometimes and would say hello, but it wasn't the same.

Dawson missed having actual conversations with her. He missed movie nights with her. He missed her turning to him when something went wrong. Of course, she hadn't been doing that for a while now. Now she went to Pacey.

Those two were always together. Granted they spent most of that time arguing, but still. It was the way they argued that bothered him. As if the rest of the world stopped existing when they started bickering at each other. They provoked each other with a kind of devilish glee that made him wonder if something more was going on with them and they were just hiding it from him.

Dawson sat on his bed and decided to see Joey first thing in the morning. There were some things they needed to discuss.