For Love or Power
Ch. 11
Disclaimer: We still own nothing.
"You need to calm down," Jen said sternly to Dawson in his bedroom later that day.
"Don't come into my room and tell me to calm down, Jen! What the hell are you doing here, anyways?" Dawson asked angrily.
"I saw you and Joey's little performance today," she replied.
"It was hardly us causing a scene, Jen. Nothing to get worked up over."
"A scene, Dawson? You guys practically put on a Broadway musical! What the hell is going on?"
"She's cheating on me!"
"So… you've cheated on her! And I know you haven't stopped. I saw Abby Morgan climbing down your ladder last night, so don't even pretend with me."
"Jen… she's cheating on me with Pacey Witter."
"What?" Jen exclaimed, completely thrown off guard. "Pacey Witter… you're sure?" she whispered.
"I'm positive. I saw her with him a few nights ago. And she was missing in action all weekend."
"Dawson… this is bad. Word of this can't get out! It'll make our side look weak!" Jen shrieked. She loved Joey, but her being with Pacey Witter was unacceptable.
"I know. I've got a plan, Jen. Don't worry… I overheard something going on in the Potter's house yesterday when I went looking for Joey. Can you say drug dealer?" Dawson said with an evil smile on his face.
Joey was enjoying the night, walking slowly down to the Tree. She wasn't meeting Pacey tonight, but she hadn't felt this happy in a while, and the quiet and peaceful night was soothing her.
"Joey… wait up!" she heard Dawson call from behind her. She slowed down.
"Hey," she said quickly, trying to get him to go away. "Dawson, I really don't want to talk now, so-," she began but he cut her off.
"Then don't talk; listen. I know all about you and Pacey Witter."
"What are you talking about?" Joey asked, playing dumb.
"You are a shitty liar, Jo, so don't' bother. Besides, I saw you two together at the Tree."
"Dawson… I…," she trailed off.
"You little tramp! Are you willing to give it up to everyone but me?"
"I'm not having sex with him, Dawson! That isn't what it's about! It's about love and trust and understanding. Compassion. Things you would know nothing about!"
"Don't you dare talk to me that way, you bitch! I practically own this side of the Creek!"
"As if things like that really matter to me! You don't know me at all!" Joey yelled back, glad they didn't have an audience this time.
"But I'm going to know you… tomorrow night; if you get what I mean," Dawson said menacingly.
"You are not implying what I think you're implying, you bastard," Joey whispered sharply.
"You are coming to my house tomorrow night, and you are having sex with me."
"As if you could actually make me!" Joey yelled, shocked at what Dawson, her lifelong friend, was saying.
She looked into his cold eyes, and knew somehow, he had changed from the boy she'd grown up with. He wasn't a happy, free spirit anymore, but a cold, menacing man. She didn't even recognize him anymore.
"I know about your dad, Joey," Dawson whispered.
"You what?" Joey asked, quickly, her eyes filling up with tears.
"And if you aren't at my house tomorrow night at eight, I'm going to the police, the town newspaper… anyone who'll listen to me will know exactly how you're living on my side of the Creek."
"Dawson… you wouldn't," Joey muttered, looking down as tears fell from her eyes.
"I would. You know I would. Be at my house at eight, Jo," Dawson said, turning around and walking away.
"You bastard!" Joey called after him.
Dawson didn't turn around, he didn't stop. He didn't even acknowledge that she'd spoken. He kept on walking away from her… away from what they'd ever had.
Joey didn't know what to do, or where to go. She didn't love Dawson. She didn't want to sleep with Dawson! Who could help her?
"Pacey!" she whispered to herself, and took off for his house as fast as her feet would carry her.
"Pacey, we haven't made a move on the East in a while now. What the hell is going on?" Jack asked Pacey in his backyard. Pacey and his crew were assembled in the Witter's backyard, the crew mostly complaining about the lack of action since Pacey's disappearance.
"Guys… just give it time," Pacey answered, trying to calm them all down.
"Pacey, what about the plan with the Potter girl?" one of the guys called out.
"I'm working on it," Pacey replied threw clenched teeth.
Suddenly a voice called out threw the night, silencing the lot gathered at once.
"Pace!" a girl screamed. "Pacey!" Pacey recognized the voice as Joey.
"Joey Potter?" Jack asked, looking to where Joey had stopped dead in her tracks by the side of the house. "We were just talking about you."
"What are you doing here, Joey?" Pacey asked, walking towards her a little, but was stopped by Jack's hand on his shoulder.
Joey couldn't contain herself, if these people had to hear what she had to say, then so be it.
"It's Dawson, Pacey! He's going to make me sleep with him," she said the second part quietly.
"Why is that Pacey's problem?" Jack asked.
"Well… because…," Joey didn't know what to say.
"Are you still operating on the false allusion that Pacey is in love with you?" Jack asked, but Joey ignored him and walked closer to Pacey.
"Tomorrow night at eight, he said if I wasn't at his house he'd expose a horrible family secret that I can't let get out. Pacey… you have to help me! He's blackmailing me."
"Joey Potter, Pacey doesn't love you," Jack told her.
"He was only pretending to love you to use you to bring down Dawson," a member of the crew called out.
"A plan that has been in the works far too long if you ask me. Besides… Dawson doesn't really love you anyways. He cheats on you practically every night… everyone in town knows it. And it's a shame that such a fine piece, such as yourself, won't give it up, especially to her boyfriend," Jack said smiling at the obvious hurt written all over Joey's face.
She glanced at Pacey, who wasn't even looking at her.
"OK… I… um…," Joey stuttered, at a complete loss for words. Pacey finally looked up at her, and she could read the guilt all over his face.
"Joey… I…," he began, but trailed off.
Joey couldn't be there anymore. She had to get as far away from Pacey as she could. So she ran. She ran all the way back to the tree, sobbing.
'Pacey doesn't love me. Dawson doesn't love me. I might as well just sleep with him tomorrow. It's not like it even matters,' she thought to herself in the midst of her fits of sobs.
"Jack, you're such an ass!" Pacey exclaimed after a few moments of silence, once the laughter had died down. "Do you know what you just did?"
"I know, I ruined the plan, but it isn't like it was working, anyways," Jack replied, sipping his beer.
"I love her, Jack!" Pacey didn't care who he said it to, or who heard. Not anymore.
"You what?"
"I'm in love with her!"
"Pacey, she's an East side chick. There are plenty of girls on our side of the Creek you could get, hands down. Forget her, man."
Pacey just shook his head and walked down to the water. Everything was screwed up.
Pacey ran as fast as his legs could carry him to where he could find her… the tree. He approached slowly as he found her figure shaking from all the sobs that wracked through her body. Pacey walked slowly and careful, unsure of what was to come. He knelt down and looked on at this beautiful creature in front of him.
"Jo?" He questioned her but she just shielded herself more from him, brining her knees up to her chin and burying her face in it's unending depths. Maybe if she just ignored him, he would go away.
It wasn't so easy though; Pacey wouldn't give up on Joey that easily. He touched her shoulder tentatively and pulled it back when she shrugged it away. He sighed, knowing he had really screwed things up.
"Joey, let me explain here. At first, yes… I only went after you to get back at Dawson, but then… somewhere along the lines… I realized what an amazing person you were, and… and I fell in love with you Joey. I fell hopelessly in love with you, and you have no idea how horrible I feel about what I did to you. I should have told you, but I was afraid of this, I was afraid of you hating me. I just can't take it."
Joey lifted her head from her knees and scowled over at him as she let his false words wash through her body. She wouldn't let him toy with her anymore.
"You know Pacey, I think I have a slight idea of how it feels. How it feels to be lied to, humiliated, everything you once believed to be true becoming a lie right before your eyes." She sighed heavily and lifted her face upwards, letting it rest on the oak's bark and closed her eyes. "God… and I really loved you too," she said more to herself than to him.
Pacey's face snapped over to Joey's in confusion and swallowed hard, hoping he hadn't heard right… she couldn't possibly mean that… could she?
"Loved? As in… you don't anymore?" Pacey couldn't take this torture… one minute he was the happiest guy on the planet. A beautiful woman he loved on his arm and everyone worshiped him… but now… he'd be lucky if his friends still looked up to him… and the girl…? His eyes brimmed with unshed tears so he took his hand and wiped them away quickly, he wouldn't let her wreck him. Oh… who the hell was he trying to fool? The moment his love became requited she had wrecked him.
Joey looked spitefully at Pacey. She wanted to make him suffer. She wanted him to feel the pain she felt at that moment… she wanted to break his heart just as badly as he crushed hers.
"You heard me Witter. But you just had to go and fuck it all up." She couldn't take being near him anymore. She didn't even look at him and see the pain etched on his face as she stood up and began walking to the East.
"Oh… and Pacey? It was nice… while it lasted at least. But now I'm off to be with a guy I don't love… and leave maybe… my one true love behind." And with that she became enveloped by the darkness that had already surrounded her.
Pacey was completely awe struck. What had he done? A sob escaped him involuntarily and tears began to stream down his face. He wasn't crying… but the tears kept falling all the same. He couldn't believe it… what had he done? Her… her one true love? Fuck… this was such a mess. Pacey slumped his body against the support of the big oak and sighed heavily… the tears still flooding his eyes.
Eventually his body began to shake and he hunched over so he could bury his face in his hands as he let his tears finally take him over in a storm of intense emotions that were anything but pleasant. What was he going to do? He knew he would never be able to live without her. But she wasn't about to open her arms to him and support him as he cried all his tears out on her shoulder… this was no fantasy… this was reality… and that just didn't happen. She was as stubborn as he was, she would never let him back in… never…
