Chapter 10

"Joey?"

"Dawson! In here!" Joey shouted from the attic.

Dawson climbed up.

"What are you doing here?" He sneezed. "Did anyone ever climb up here?"

"Bless you and I don't know, but this is my new studio."

"Studio?"

"For drawing…"

"I thought we agreed…"

"There's no reason why I can't draw and be an architect at the same time. Money comes from architecture and I get to do what I like too…"

"But Joey… I know you, you never do anything just for the sake of doing it… You want to make a career out of drawing?"

"Well, I prommise you that I won't give up architecture unless drawing brings good money…"

"But, honey, drawing is… such an unstable career…"

"So is architecture! I depend on people in Boston wanting to build things and if one day they won't want to or they won't like my style then I'll be in big trouble…"

"Yeah but…"

"Dawson. I want to do this. You don't have a say in it. You either support me or not but you don't have a say in it"

He threw her a surprised look.

"What is happening to you, Joey?"

"What do you mean? Nothing is happening…"

"You're… different…"

"I am the same Joey you always knew"

"No you are not. You are distant… We haven't made love in more than a month. You come home late. I hardly know what you do nowadays."

"You should be happy for me. I have lots of clients and they keep me busy."

"I am happy for you but you're married to me not to your clients! And I never get to see you anymore! You should either turn some of them down…"

"I can't turn them down! My clients recommend me to other clients and so on, that's how I got my name and that's how my name keeps growing… if I turn them down I not only lose them but I lose the people they know, too, as potential clients…"

"Well, then, get somebody to work with you! You can't possibly handle all this by yourself!"

"I can and I will… and when I won't I'll get a partner but so far there's no need…"

"Jo…"

"Dawson, I want to clean this up tonight. Will you help me or will you try to stop me?"

Dawson just sighed and mumbled:

"Fine. I'm going to eat my dinner. By the looks of it you won't be coming down anytime soon."

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Jen and Joey hugged each other.

"Come, I wanna show you something" a giddy Joey said in an excited tone.

"Hold on, I'll just take off my coat", Jen quickly undressed and then handed Joey a bag: "I brought popcorn and a yummie Keanu Reeves movie…" she looked at Joey "…but we'll save that for later… come on, show me"

Joey took Jen to the attic. She had cleaned up and she placed a small desk with lots of pieces of paper at one window. Next to the desk there was a small lamp facing the other side of the attic which had a couch and a small table.

"Jo… Oh my god! You started drawing again!"

"Yes! What do you think?" Joey said excitedly.

"I think it's a brilliant idea! Actually I think giving up drawing was the dumbest idea you ever had! Good for you, Jo!"

"It's just a hobby for now but I was thinking, if I like what I do, I might actually try something…"

"You do that…" Jen smiled proudly and then spontaenously hugged Joey. "I'm proud of you"

"Thank you Jen, it really helps to know you support me… Dawson is a bit bummed about it…"

"This is none of Dawson's business, Jo. This is about you."

"Yeah well, he is my husband…"

"Your husband does not get to choose your hobby. So stop worrying about what he thinks and do your own thing."

"It's not just about painting… I have kinda been neglecting him, you know…"

Jen lowered her voice to a whispered tone: "Because of…"

"Yeah. I mean, I do have a lot of clients, true, but I kinda promoted Nancy and she's been helping me out with them… and, uhm, I do come home a bit late…"

"As long as you feel good about it…"

Joey blushed. "See, he was the one who gave me the idea… to start drawing again… that's why I kinda feel that drawing is like another symbol of me cheating on Dawson."

"He gave you the idea? I think I like this guy already…"

"Yeah he's exactly the kind of guy you would like…" Joey blushed even harder.

"So I take it this thing has moved on to the 'more than just sex' phase…"

"Yeah, a little. We do talk. I still don't know much about him, I sometimes feel like he's got this huge dark secret, but we do manage to talk a little…" she smiled shyly.

"And…?"

"And what?"

"Is this still just about sex or are you starting to like him a little?"

"I'm starting to like him a lot, Jen… I know it's wrong, but I can't help it… it's like he always knows what to say to make me feel better… whenever mr. Darlington starts pressuring me about this new house that's gotta be exotic but that's gotta look like all the other houses at the same time, whenever Nancy fights with her boyfriend and forgets to tell me that she just left the office… whenever I start feeling guilty about this whole thing… he always knows what to say and what to do…"

"Sounds like you two started to spend a lot of time together… I mean, two weeks ago he was just sex and now you're talking about something a bit continuous…"

"That's because…" Joey stopped. 'Because he has an apartment now and we've got a stable place to go to, as opposed to bathroom stalls and dressers'… She couldn't say that, Jen would know it's Pacey, it would be too big of a coincidence. "Because we finally made a bit of a routine.. I mean, two weeks ago we were just… uhm… doing it… wherever we could… but now I get to go to his place and all…"

"In other words you moved up from casual lovers in the back of a car to planned meetings in his apartment."

"Sort of"

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, Jen… his place is becoming more and more like a shelter. I feel different there. I feel… younger…"

Jen just sighed and hugged her.

"You do what feels right, Joey."

"It's not fair to Dawson."

"Think about what's fair to you first. That's more important."

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"Hey, Potter. Are you here to make my day?"

"No. I'm here to make MY day."

Pacey chuckled and let her in.

"So how are we going to make each other's days?"

She handed him a bag full of groceries.

"You are going to cook for me"

Pacey raised his eyebrows: "And this would make my day… how?"

"Well, you get to show off your brilliant abilities as a cook."

"Well, starting next week, I get to show them off anyway."

Joey threw him a surprised look.

"I got a job as a cook at 'Civilization'" he grinned proudly.

"You're kidding me! That's like the best restaurant in town!"

"I know. I couldn't work for anything lower than that."

Joey laughed.

"Ok, so you're going to give me a preview now… right?" She threw him the puppy-eyes-look.

"That don't work on me, Potter. I was going to spend a whole day doing nothing and I stick to my decision. You're free to cook these yourself or order yourself a pizza if you want to."

Joey pouted.

"You don't actually think I'm gonna fall for that?"

She got closer.

"I think you should keep your distance. I didn't shower today." He said reluctantly.

She closed off the distance between them: "Mmmm, I've got a dirty man on my hands… what am I going to do?" she nibbled his earlobe.

Pacey swallowed a big gulp. "Uhm… you can always… uhm… un-dirty him…"

"Yeah but… in order to do that… I gotta have strength… and for that… I gotta eat…" she started biting his neck gently.

He chuckled. "Ok, so if I were to… say… make a very tasty sandwich… and gave it to you… to eat… you would be willing to help me… with my situation?"

"It's got to be cooked meal, if you want me to do the job properly" She started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Uhm…" He swallowed again. "Good lord, woman, you sure are a slavedriver"

"Yeah but I'm a cute slavedriver" She smiled sweetly.

"That you are. Hold that thought" He ran into the kitchen. Joey just smiled proudly and started getting herself comfortable.