Footnote 5/?

Summary: Starts freshmen year. Pacey is tired of being a third wheel.

Disclaimer: I only own the plot.

Rating: R

-break-

"And they just what? Forgot you existed?"

"I don't know." Pacey sighed with a shrug of his shoulders leaning against the couch. "Wouldn't be the first time…but I expected that from my family, not my friends."

"So, what are you going to do?" Jack asked from his position on the other couch watching his friend critically.

"Ignore them the best I can while were here."

-break-

Ignoring someone only works if the person you're trying to ignore doesn't know where you are. Or at least that's what Pacey thought until he found Joey walking up the small dock toward the house the following day. "What the hell do you want?"

"Can we talk?" Joey asked tentatively taking steps toward where he sat on the outdoor couch, a few feet from the dock.

Pacey exhaled loudly, motioning to the open seat next to him on the couch. Once she sat, he resituated pressing himself deeper into his side of the couch, eyeing her carefully. "Talk."

"Why did you leave?" She asked taking him in. A year had definitely done him good. He appeared lean but more filled out in all the right places. He was still quick-witted and confident but more subdued than when she'd last seen him.

"I told you yesterday. I was tired of being the invisible third wheel of the Dawson and Joey show."

Joey cringed shaking her head. "There was no Dawson and Joey show." Joey refuted but stopped at his hostile hiss. "Dawson and I don't speak much anymore."

"I find that hard to believe." Pacey remarked in disbelief as he unconsciously turned more toward her.

"It's true. Blonde hair and big boobs moved in next door and friend Joey went out the window."

"I still don't believe that." Pacey shook his head, sitting up on the couch, ignoring the jump in his belly as she turned to him, her leg an inch away from his thigh.

"At first yes, Dawson and I were close…we even kissed a few times." She mumbled shyly dropping her eyes to her lap missing the stunned expression that came to Pacey's face. "But there was one day something changed. He wasn't the same Dawson. We stopped doing movie nights and he started hanging out with his new neighbor Jen."

Pacey shook his head leaning back again. "Jen? Was she here before I left?"

"No…" Joey chuckled nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "She came just after you left. She's Mrs. Ryan's granddaughter."

"Ahh…" They were silent for a few minutes, neither put off by their sudden closeness.

"So…" Joey started turning toward him again, her knee pressing into his thigh. "Doug said you went to Rhode Island. Isn't that where Gretchen is living?"

"Yes, I'm staying with Gretchen." Pacey snickered; Joey had always had an instinctively investigative nature.

Joey smiled softly biting her lower lip, her head nodding toward the house. "Who is it you're staying with?"

Pacey had to fight his natural reaction to Joey's lip biting. He had taken notice of her before he left but he knew with Dawson in the picture he didn't stand a chance. Hell, he'd be lucky knowing just how much she hated him. "Jack. I met him and his twin sister at my new school."

She chuckled lightly gnawing deeper on her lip. "Are you and his sister an item?"

Pacey's head shot up at her words, that was definitely not a question he expected from her. Nodding he turned relieving his thigh of her heat but also amping up as their knees overlapped on the small couch, their bodies now turned to face each other. "We were for a few months, but she had some problems to work through, so we broke it off."

"Is that why she's not here."

"As far as I know." He shrugged his eyes moving to hers. He found himself falling into her beautiful brown eyes, getting lost in their swirling irises before he pulled back, the fear of doing something he knew she'd regret had him pulling back. "I should get inside. Jack's dad was talking about taking me out on his boat today."

"Ok…" Joey stuttered stumbling as she stood to walk to her boat, a tinge of pink gracing her cheeks. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow…or something."

"Ok." Pacey watched on, confused as the blush deepened on her cheeks, her shy and stuttering steps nearly causing her to lose her footing on the uneven grass as she reached the small dock, her boat bobbing in the gentle waters.

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