Chapter 7

"Jo!"

"Jack! How's it going? What are you doing here?! Aren't you supposed to be at work or something?"

"Aren't you supposed to be at work too?"

"Yeah well my work also consists of visiting building sites and that's where I was. Besides, I'm my own boss…" she smirked.

She saw Pacey nearing them. Her heart skipped a beat but she just smiled naturally in his direction. He smiled back.

"Yeah well I took some hours off… I'm, uh, shopping…"

"Shopping?" Jack was definitely not a shopping person. He blushed.

"See… my proposal was a bit… spontaneous… and I uhm…"

"You're buying the ring?"

"Yeah! Would you help me here? I mean Pacey's not much of jewellry person"

"Jackers, man, I did present an opinion, you just didn't agree with me"

"Not surprisingly, I don't think your taste is exactly a recommendation."

"What do you know about my taste, Josephine?"

"Stop calling me that!"

He winked: "I can't help it. You're so hot when you're angry…"

Oh God. What did he just say? Joey's feet melted and she needed to find a point of support. She blushed.

"Guys, guys… can we go back to my ring here, please?" Jack looked a bit unconfortable. "There was nothing wrong with the ring you picked, Pacey, but it wasn't very personal… I just want it to be something with Jen's name written on it"

"Well, you could always write it…"

"You know what I meant"

"I know what you meant but there was no such thing in there. So I just picked the best of what there was."

Jack sighed: "I hate shopping. But I'll hate myself even more if I don't get the right ring. She'll be wearing it all her life after all"

"OK, let's go find another store" Joey said.

"You're sure I'm not keeping you from something?"

"Nah, I can use the afternoon off. Just let me call Nancy and tell her I'm not coming."

----------------------------------------------------

"Jack, it's been two hours. Make up your mind"

"Geez Josephine, I thought you women enjoyed window-shopping"

"Don't Josephine me and don't 'you women' me. I hate shopping and I'm only doing this for Jen, ok?"

"No, you were doing this to admire my fine behind" Pacey grinned.

It would be so much easier if she didn't want him.

"There are many ways to describe your behind but trust me 'fine' isn't one of them…"

"You're just jealous you don't have an equally fine butt"

"If it was the only kind of butt in the world, I still wouldn't want it"

"I got it!" Jack screamed in joy. Pacey and Joey threw confused looks at him.

"Look. Isn't this perfect?" Jack showed them a ring. It was simple, made of gold with a few very small rubies. What struck about it was its form. It was actually made of two bands intertwined.

"This is us. Our lives. Intertwined." Jack had a happilly nostalgic look on his face.

"Now McPhee don't go all sappy on me. Just buy the damn ring already and let's get on with this. This whole gold searching has made me hungry."

"Do you ever think of anything except food?" Joey sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, I occasionally think about women and sleep does occupy an important part of my time… do you ever think of anything except bitching?"

"Lord, you two are infuriating. Come on, let's eat. Dinner's on me." One happy Jack lead the way towards the exit.

-------------------------------------------------

"Ok, what shall we have?" Jack studied the menu.

"I'll have a hot Josephine. To go" Pacey chuckled.

"Excuse me?!"

"It's in the menu" Jack was obviously trying not to laugh but he was failing miserably.

"Page 2" Both guys just started laughing incontrollably.

That's right. It was right there. Hot Josephine. Who the hell made up these names? What is wrong with these people? Is everything about sex theses days?!

The waiter showed up.

"Hello, my name is Dan, I'll be your waiter for the evening. What can I get you?"

"What is a hot Josephine?" Pacey asked inbetween chuckles. Dan smiled.

"A hot Josephine is our cook's specialty and its recipe is a secret. What I can tell you is that it's very spicy."

"Why Josephine out of all names?" Joey couldn't help herself.

"Josephine is our cook's girlfriend and she is hot…" Dan replied in a wicked smile.

"That she is my friend. Indeed she is" Pacey grinned. "I'll have one of that. Always one for really spicy things, me…"

"You're sick, you know that?"

"One hot Josephine coming up. What will you two have?" Dan turned to Jack and Joey.

"I'll have a hot Jen" Jack giggled. He and Pacey burst out laughing yet again.

"I'm sorry we don't serve Jens here, just Josephines"

"Oh well I suppose a Josephine will do for me too"

"Two hot Josephines. How about you, miss?"

"I'll have these two hanged and burnt" Joey muttered.

"You'll have to check with a hired assassin, then. We only serve food here."

"And hot Josephines" Pacey winked at Joey.

If only he was ugly. Those sparkly eyes would be the death of her.

"I'll just have some spaghetti and meatballs please"

Pacey and Jack both chuckled at the same time. What? Are spaghetties in any way connected to sex and she's not aware of it?

"What?"

"It's my favorite dish" Pacey smiled a surprisingly warm smile. "Thanx for thinking of me, in case I don't like what I ordered I'll just have what you got"

She had butterflies. She couldn't believe it. She had butterflies. The last time she had butterflies was in highschool.

"There's no way your poisoning touch is anywhere near my food" she said, but the tone was a lot softer than she intended it to be. He seemed to notice it too.

There's that look again. That I-want-you-real-bad-and-you-want-me-too-what-are-we-gonna-do-about-it look. And there was no way out of it cause he was right.

She just got up suddenly: "I'll be right back"

"Where are you going?" Jack asked, surprised.

"I'll be right back" she repeated and threw a look at Pacey. His look had switched to the I-know-what-you're-doing type.

She just ran towards the ladies' room. What was there to do? Was there anything to do?

She got to the door to the ladies' room but she didn't get in. She just stood there waiting. He came five minutes later.

"Took you long enough" she mumbled and violently pressed her lips on his.

"Josephine…" he tried.

"Shut up" Joey said and opened the door to the ladies' room. "Come on, there's no-one in here!" She grabbed him and dragged him inside then pushed him against the door. "We don't have much time"