THE FIRST TIME

CHAPTER SIXTY - CRAZY FOR YOU

A/N: Since this chapter takes place in Martha's Vineyard, which is a real place of course, I should point out that I've never been there and that all I know about is from what I could find on-line. Any factual things about it that I got wrong, you'll simply have to forgive me. I probably would never have heard about it in the first place, if it wasn't for the first two (and a small part of the fourth) "Jaws" movies being filmed there and it being the place, where one of the Kennedy's died in a plane crash, many years ago.

"Trying hard to control my heart

I walk over to where you are

Eye to eye, we need no words at all

Slowly now, we begin to move

Every breath, I'm deeper into you

Soon, we two are standing still in time

If you could read my mind, you'd see

I'm crazy for you

Touch me once and you'll know it's true

I've never wanted anyone like this

It's all brand new

You'll feel it in my kiss

I'm crazy for you!"

MADONNA (Single from 1985)

For once in Joey's life, it felt like there were only sunny skies ahead and like her only job on this earth, was to enjoy being young, free and in love with the boy of her dreams for all it was worth, before "real school" started up again a few weeks from then, and reality began rearing its ugly head. An easy job for sure, and as she sat on laid on the stern part Pacey's boat, sometime around lunchtime on the Tisbury tourist docks on Martha's Vineyard and soaking up the sunny rays, while she enjoyed occasionally glancing over at the sight of her man being busy with cooking lunch for her, a fleeting thought came into her head. What if Jen had never come to Capeside in the first place?

The longer that had passed, since she'd become friends with that lovable girl from New York, the more she had also begun to see what kind of a positive influence, Jen had been on herself and her life in general. After all, when she thought back to who she'd been just a year earlier, it was like you were talking about two completely different girls. The "old Joey" had been a cynic, who was constantly acting defensive towards most people, even those that knew her best oftentimes, afraid to take chances to a fault and someone, who was far too hung up on the idea that she already knew everything there was to know, even if she could see now that she knew basically nothing, before she'd begun to open herself up to both the rest of the world and the possibilities, that it offered her. As for her romantic life, she would no doubt still have been hung up on Dawson, if they hadn't tried dating and broken up already, which in all fairness would have been very likely. She would have been far too scared of leaving what she knew behind, to head off to France and more than anything, she wouldn't have had anywhere near the number of close friends, she could count in her life now.

This "new Joey" had matured so much over the year that had passed, that it almost felt like she'd become a young woman, who could stand on her own two feet, if she had to and it wasn't just that she'd started to become "Sexually Experienced", or whatever you want to call it. That was part of it of course, and with every new thing that her and Pacey tried, it felt like she was growing up a little more, but it was just as much that her general state of mind had undergone a transformation from being afraid of what the future held, to now looking forward to whatever it was that life would bring her.

"Remind me to buy a present for Jen today" she casually remarked to Pacey, who was busy slaving over his hot plate in trying to create a full English breakfast for two, minus the baked beans that were sold out at the small harbor store, they'd shopped at the evening before. Prior to this had gone nearly two days of doing very little more than making out on the boat, which was also why she wanted to make this day count, like it was their last together.

"Did you have anything particular in mind?" he asked her back, while she could hear the sizzling from the frying pan in the background, probably from the bacon being roasted on it.

"How much do you think that a well-mannered and stunningly handsome boyfriend for her would cost?" she jokingly asked him and could hear him laughing to himself.

"A lot more than you have in your bank account!" he quipped in return. "Anyway, is "Well-Mannered" really the sort of guy, you can see Jen shacking up with? Knowing her, she'll be bored to tears with a guy like that, before the first week has passed!"

"You're probably right. It just doesn't seem fair, you know? I mean, without her being there for us, when we were first starting out, do you think that we would have made it this far?"

"My sixth sense is saying no, but you never know. Stranger things have been known to happen" he told her, just before bringing her a breakfast plate that was exactly what her hungry stomach had been crying out for.

To Pacey, the island known as Martha's Vineyard (or simply "The Vineyard", like most of the locals called it) represented both positive and negative memories, almost in equal amounts. Every year from his first in the world and up to a few years before this, his family would go there once a year and always around the 4th of July weekend. They stayed in different towns (The Vineyard has six of them) every time, as a way to keep things from not feeling the exact same year after year, but it was as set in stone as death and taxes, that for that one week a year, they would all be forced to be together much more than they were on a daily basis. Needless to say, this created it's conflicts now and again, and when he thought back to those vacations, what he remembered most from them was hoping that they would end soon, so he could come home to his friends and what he knew. Then again, there were always those little moments, that usually came when everyone would shut up at the same time for once, where they felt like a proper family, that wasn't constantly falling apart at the seams and weren't preoccupied with trying to keep up appearances in their everyday lives, so that no one would know the truth.

Eventually though, after Doug had moved out on his own and Gretchen headed off to college, they'd stopped going on these vacations and with how much his parents' marriage had deteriorated by that point, it was clearly for the best too. Just the thought of being the only one of their children there, stuck between two sides at war and with no intentions of making peace with one another, seemed to him like a fate worse than getting sent to prison and if he had to be honest, a year before this he probably would have much preferred a week of the latter, rather than the former!

Those days were far in his rearview mirror now though, where he was enjoying every second of every moment of his days spent with the perfect girlfriend, who also just happened to be the best travelling companion, any guy could ask for.

"Have you been thinking about what you're going to do with all of that free time, you'll have next year, now that you don't have to work after school anymore?" he asked Joey, while they were glancing over the items, inside of what was clearly a shop that catered solely to tourists, who were looking for a souvenir to bring home from their vacations and almost no one else.

"I'm not sure. It would make sense for me to join some extra-curriculars, I guess" she casually answered him, while looking at some small figurines of old-fashioned sailors, sharks, mermaids and the like, that you would expect a somewhat cheesy shop like this to have.

"You could join the debate team. Come to think of it, that would work out tremendously for me, because then you wouldn't have to argue with me about everything!" he joked, and it drew a wide smile from the love of his life, who turned her attention back to him.

"I don't do that anymore! Not deliberately, anyway!" she replied defensively, although all he could do was smile to himself at her claims.

"Please, Joey! If there is anyone that I know, who has a strong opinion on just about everything, it's you! Don't take it as a bad thing, it's a part of what I love about you" he quickly added at the end, just to be certain that his dream girl didn't take it the wrong way.

"Nice save! Anyway, what about you? Are you planning on cruising by on a D plus average, like you usually do, or will this be the year where we finally see you taking school the slightest bit seriously?"

"I do! Sometimes!" he pleaded his case, even if it only made his girlfriend shake her pretty head at his pleas.

"As in "Only, when you're absolutely forced to, have nothing resembling any other choice and otherwise close to never"? Wouldn't that be a far more accurate answer?"

"I just don't like going to school, okay? It doesn't make me any different from millions of other high school guys around the world".

"That's the worst excuse, I've ever heard! There is such a thing as having ambitions, you know?"

"Let's face it, if this had been thirty or even twenty years ago, then a guy like me would have been either sent out to work in the fields or the factories, or out to sail the seas long ago, because I'm obviously wasting my time there. I'll only be going to college, if I get dragged in there kicking and screaming and I'll never bring home a report card, that my mom will be so proud of, that she'll hang with it a freezer magnet on the front of the fridge, like she used to with Doug's and Gretchen's, so what's supposed to be the point in me trying any harder than I have to? Just between us, if my folks would have allowed it, I would have dropped out already, so I'm basically stuck there, hoping that I can get it over and done with, the only way I know how to" he truthfully told Joey, who suddenly looked like she was having a small brainstorm, that only she was aware of what was about.

"Have you ever thought about joining the drama club?" she asked him out of nowhere, and when she did, he found it extremely hard not to laugh out so long and loud, that he would have had hiccups for hours afterwards!

"You can't be serious! I've never seen a play in my life!" he replied to her, although it wasn't entirely true, since he'd been forced by his parents to attend a pair of Gretchen's school plays with them and Doug. What was true though, was that none of the times where he'd seen one, were experiences that he thought back on fondly, and what he mostly remembered was waiting impatiently for those plays to finally end.

"So what? Let me try something on you. Which items are number five, ten, fifteen and twenty on the menu card at the Ice House?"

"Number five is the fish and chips, number ten is the rib-eye steak, number fifteen is the halibut with Hollandaise sauce and number twenty are the barbecue ribs. I still don't get what that has to do with the drama club!"

"All of that whole spiel was stuff that you'd memorized, right? That's exactly what an actor does. Plus, you're a total babe and that doesn't exactly hurt your chances either!" Joey sweetly told him, making it all that harder for him not to kiss her then and there. As it was, he had to settle for putting his arms around her and enjoying having her sexy body being rubbed tightly up against his own.

"Do you know which play they did last year? "A Streetcar Named Desire"! First of all, aren't all cars essentially streetcars and secondly, who would name their car desire? I can get why a guy would give his car a girl's name but come on! Desire? Really?" he rhetorically asked a now giggling Joey, who was caring as little as he was, that half of those in the store were probably staring at them.

"If you tried joining their club, perhaps you could ask the teacher and clear up that very puzzling mystery! Look, you don't have to join it, if you don't want to, but what other kind of extra-curriculars could you see yourself signing up for?"

"I could sign up for the glee club and share my musical talent with the world?" he jokingly suggested back, not really meaning it, of course.

"I've heard you sing "Wild Thing" a time or two and trust me, when I tell you that singing isn't where your talents lie! I only want the best for you, I hope that you know that, my love" she whispered in his ear, sounding as adoring and irresistible, as she ever had to him.

They left that store having found what they came in there for, a handful of cheap trinkets to give away to those back home, as well as a few to keep for themselves. What Pacey also left there with though, was an idea in his head that perhaps Joey was right, when she'd said that himself and the drama club might not have been the most impossible mix in the world.

There was really only one problem for Joey, when it came to her and Pacey's vacation: She was enjoying herself so much that the time was passing by way too fast! In one way of course, this was a nice thing, but after their week was half-way over, it felt to her like she hadn't experienced or tried anything, that she could tell her friends about back home, that didn't involve herself and Pacey making out. Something, that took up quite a bit of their time, not that she minded it at all! Perhaps, this was why she'd asked Pacey, if they should try signing up for it, when she saw a street ad for a diver's course, that you could take down by the harbor. Even if it wouldn't be an experience that rivaled the journeys of Jacques Cousteau, it would still be something that none of her friends had tried and to add to the enticement, they also had a special "First-Timers" offer, that made it affordable enough to try.

After having been trained in how to do a few practical things, like how to get the water out of your swim-goggles, if they begin to fill up with it, they swam after an experienced diver, who gave them a tour of the seabed, that was like having a brand-new world open up for both of them. As an added bonus, it gave Joey a few flashbacks too, back to when she'd still been a little kid and her favorite book was Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". How many times that she'd made her mom read it to her, she had no idea, but it had to have been enough times, that even her very patient mother must have been a little tired of it by the end. She could still remember how every time after they'd finished it, she would imagine what it was like to be an actual mermaid (you can only imagine how disappointed that her six-year-old self was to find out that they aren't real!) and in many ways, this was the closest that she would ever get to living out that childhood fantasy. Pacey looked like he was enjoying himself too, although it wasn't easy to see with him wearing a breathing apparatus and swimming goggles.

After having spent their morning mostly in wet-suits and under water, they did one of the things on Pacey's list and spent the afternoon fishing from the sides of his boat, a short distance off the shore, in between brief making out sessions, it almost goes without saying! In spite of this, they managed to catch one appetizing looking fish, that also made for a nice, romantic dinner that evening. This was a vacation on a tight budget after all, and after they'd blown so much of their meager funds on that diving course, the two young lovers would have to save where they could for the rest of the week.

"You don't think that there's any way, where we can stop time, so this vacation will never come to an end?" she casually asked Pacey, while they were helping one another with making their little feast for evening ready for consumption.

"I doubt it. Just like I doubt that you're the first girl in the history of the world, who's wished that her fun times would never stop!" he quipped in return, before they shared yet another small kiss, out of the hundreds they shared that week. "Anyway, if vacations lasted forever, then they wouldn't feel special. Now, would they?"

"Look at you, my proud D student boyfriend, sharing your little pocket philosophies with the world! Or to be more exact, me, but in this case, I'm representing the rest of the world! Do you have any others of those little nuggets of gold?"

"What father knows is always best?" he tried his luck with, but it only got a vehement headshake from the gorgeous mid-teen girl, who for some reason thought that he was worthy of calling himself her boyfriend.

"Considering how many enormous mistakes that both of our respective fathers have made, don't you think that tired old saying was proven wrong long ago?" she sarcastically asked back, making Pacey nod in agreement with her.

"I won't become like either of them, I promise" he told her, before flipping their fish on the frying pan one last time, before it was ready to be served.

"I know that you won't. Pacey?"

"Yeah, Joey?"

"Do you think that we'll become one of those couples like Dawson's parents, who at their age are still as in love now, as they were when they fell for each other?" she asked him with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, that could only bring a smile out in Pacey.

"Joey, I know that I can't predict what will happen in the future, but if there is one thing that I can guarantee you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's that I'll never stop loving you" he solemnly told her, and if there is such a thing as being filled with joy from head to toe, then Joey was the poster girl for it at that moment in time.

After eating their rather well tasting fish (that could have used a fitting sauce and a few condiments to go with it, as they could both agree), they took advantage of the privacy that being slightly off-shore afforded them to get naked and in turn, do lots of those "Nude Fun-Tivities" (as Abby liked to call it) that it was difficult for them to find places to do in practice, back home in Capeside. A problem that would only get worse, once the cold returned and they wouldn't have the boat for the winter as their "Getaway Spot", yet another reason why they were enjoying their temporary freedom, for all it was worth.

When Pacey had suggested to Joey, that they should go away on their first couples' vacation, even he couldn't have imagined that it would have come as perfectly natural to himself and Joey, as it did. If anything, this felt like it should be the natural state of affairs every day of their lives, but on the other hand, the sensible side of him was also telling him that without their families close to them at this particular stage of their lives, things were bound to take a wrong turn somewhere along the way. Not to mention that they would both have to get full-time jobs to pay the rent and their bills, something that he wasn't all that keen on getting started on, before he had to. This didn't mean that he couldn't fantasize though, about what it would be like to come back here one day, when they'd added a few rug-rats to their family trees and were hopefully in a place in their lives, where renting a room in a B&B for a few days wouldn't ruin them. Would Joey still be as beautiful then, as she was now, he thought to himself while lying next to her on his ship's cot, watching her sleeping like an angel, who through his rose-tinted glasses could do no wrong? In his own opinion, she no doubt would be, just like he had no doubt that she would make for an amazing mom someday out into the far-off future, when they weren't still basically kids themselves, who were trying to find out who they were and what their place in the world was going to be.

After deciding with himself that it was no use trying to fall asleep again, he got up carefully to make sure that he didn't wake up Joey as well by mistake. To his surprise though, when he tried to climb over her, she grabbed him by the waist and pressed him down on her own barely clad body, as she gave him a morning kiss to remember.

"How long have you been pretending to sleep?" he asked a slightly tired looking, but still very cute and smiling Joey, who refused to let go of him, now that she had him in her grasp.

"Fifteen to twenty minutes, I'm guessing. I was afraid that I'd wake you up, if I started moving around too much" she drowsily told him, while they began to make those small movements, that they both loved so much and they'd so far only done with their underwear on.

"You don't think that it's a little early in the morning for these sorts of adult activities?" he whispered to her in the sexiest voice that he could, as he caressed those soft and warm breasts of hers, that were just the perfect size and that when she laid almost fully exposed, as she was here, made her look like the sexiest teenage girl, there could possibly exist in the entire world, at least in his eyes.

"So sue me, I'm feeling horny as a toad!" Joey answered completely unapologetically, almost making him laugh in the process. "Do you have any clue how many mornings I woke up over in France and wished, you were lying in my bed next to me, wearing as little, as you are now? Granted, I don't have an exact count on it, but I can tell you for sure that it was by far most of my mornings over there!"

"In an odd way, that's sort of comforting!" he told her back, moments before they both let a hand slide down the front of the undies of their partner, down to those regions of their bodies that no one else was allowed to play with.

After having had just about the best bit up naked wake-up fun, she could have asked for, Joey felt ready and invigorated for what would be their last day in the beautiful surroundings of Martha's Vineyard, before it was time for them to journey back home to whatever awaited them there. What she could guess though, was that it wouldn't be as much of a blast as the last week had been, which was also why she'd made the decision that on this last day, they would play tourists to the extreme, or as much as their budget afforded them to, at least.

To start the day off with, they boarded a small ferry over to the tiny island of Chappaquiddick, where they rented a pair of bicycles for a few hours and spent the morning riding around and taking in the scenery, prior to having a cheap, but still romantic lunch on the beach and made their way back to the mainland, so to speak. Next on their list was taking the bus to Oak Bluffs (another of the six towns, that exist on the island), where they took a walk down the quirky shopping enclave known as Circuit Avenue, before making their way over to the Trinity Park Tabernacle, where some of the most famous historical buildings on the island are located. Not that Capeside didn't have its share of historical buildings too (a fact that they bragged more than plenty about, when it came to selling the town to out of towners), but these seemed a bit more well-kept to Joey, compared to those back home.

By the time they were done taking in the sights of Oak Bluffs, it was nearly four o'clock and if they both had to be honest, then they'd done enough walking, biking and sightseeing for one day, so they instead took the bus back to Tisdale, where Pacey's boat and an evening of rest and relaxation awaited them, topped off with a glorious eight-dollar-fifty spaghetti dinner, that pretty much wiped out the rest of the pocket money, they'd brought along.

"Would it be too inappropriate, if I suggested that we stayed here for another month?" she adoringly asked Pacey, who was keeping her wrapped in his arms on the deck, to keep her warm while they watched the sunset from the bow of his boat. In that moment, she couldn't have felt closer with him, if she'd tried and if she had to be honest, she'd been soaking it up for the whole week all that she could, while she could.

"Don't you think that you'd miss your family?" he asked her back, making a good point that it would be hard to ignore in the long run.

"Yeah, I probably would. Thanks, Pacey" she told him with a grateful smile, making him look confused, as to what she meant.

"For what?" he asked, sounding a bit clueless.

"For just being you. For being the only one, who knows me better, than I know myself. Most of all, for showing me what it means to be in love" she whispered to him and somehow, even if they'd kissed so many times before that it shouldn't be possible anymore, the next kiss they shared afterwards felt just a little more important to her than nearly all of their other shared kisses had.

Time flies, while you're having fun, as they say and for Pacey, this had certainly rung true, when it came to this short holiday away from home. By the time they, meaning himself and Joey, had reached their farewell day to Martha's Vineyard, it still felt to him like they'd just arrived the day before, something that he could attribute in great part to his amazing girlfriend, who was making every day with her feel like he wanted them to last forever. With there only being less than two weeks left of their summer vacation too, if there was ever a time to enjoy every second, like it was your last, then this was certainly it.

Not that there weren't a few things, he looked forward to happening, over the next few weeks as well. Dawson would be returning from Philly, for one thing, no doubt full of stories like he usually was, whenever he'd spent a handful of weeks over the summer, living it up with his aunt in the big city. Then, there would be the last day of summer barbecue down at the beach, the highlight of the final part of the tourist season in Capeside, before the tourists quickly began disappearing from sight (practically from day to day), as they travelled back to their normal lives. Before he knew it, the only ones left of them would be a handful of the oldest, who weren't exactly the partying types anymore and life would be more or less back to its usual in the small coastal town, they called home. For most of the next year at least, before the tourists returned and the whole hootenanny started all over again.

He already knew that they would be getting a new principal at Capeside High next year, some guy named Mr. Green, whom from what he'd heard through the grapevine was a real hard ass, although the sources that he'd heard it from could hardly be called credible, even under the best of circumstances. In any case, getting a new principal was also a chance for a fresh start for himself with someone, whom he hadn't already had to have plenty of uncomfortable talks with about subjects like his grades, that he never felt like talking to anyone about.

He'd just said his goodbyes to Joey, before they headed their separate ways home and was looking over the bulletin board with the bus schedule written on it, when he noticed a rather pretty African American girl, looking like she was around his own age, waiting for the bus, just like he was.

"The bus won't be here for another half an hour, in case you're wondering. I just missed it" the girl told him, sounding a little annoyed at her situation.

"Just be glad that it's still summer, where they stop by once every half hour and not the winter, where they only come once every hour, if you're lucky!" he small talked back to the girl, whom he got a cute grin out of.

"Finally, one of the locals shares some secrets with me!" the girl, whom he had to admit was quite charming, quipped. "Do you go to high school here?"

"I'll be a junior next year" he informatively answered the girl, who made space for him on the bench that she was sitting on, so he could sit next to her. When he did, they smiled in a friendly way at one another.

"In that case, we'll be classmates. My dad is the new principal at your school" the girl (sort of) introduced herself.

As luck would have it, he found out that this girl (along with being named Nikki) was also very easy to talk to and not only that, was planning on joining the drama club, just not as an actor, more as the brain behind the madness, who controlled things behind the scenes.

The more, he talked to her however, the more something also became clear to him. That this girl, if there was such a thing in existence, was practically tailor-made for his best friend!

END OF CHAPTER SIXTY