Part four
Pacey had his arms around Joey as she continued crying. He looked around his
bedroom in a
desperate attempt for an idea of what to do. "Joey, honey, what happened? You
have to tell me
what happened, or I can't help you." He kept stroking her hair until her tears
finally began to
slow. She slowly sat up, blowing her nose with the tissues Pacey gave her.
"Thanks, Pace," she said shakily. "I don't usually lose it like this."
Pacey held up his hand to ward off her words. "Don't mention it. Anytime,
Joey. I mean that."
She smiled at him gratefully. Somehow, she knew that she could depend on him.
"Now, do you
want to tell me what happened? If not GH is on, and I caught some of One Life
to Live, as well."
She giggled. Yep, she could definitely count on him. "Thanks, Pacey. Um, well,
this is what
happened." Pacey smiled encouragingly at her. "I started to talk to Dawson
about tomorrow night.
He was acting really weird and told me thought it would be better if we
canceled Movie night this
week and next week, too."
Pacey paused, wondering exactly how to respond. "It sounds to me like he's
just worried about
you. He doesn't want you to, you know, over tax yourself."
"Then why has he been avoiding me since I got sick?" she asked.
"Um, the chicken pox? It is very contagious, you know," he said, nodding.
"But he's already had the chicken pox," she wailed.
Uh-oh. Time to regroup here. "Well, it is possible to have them more than
once."
"Then why did you visit me everyday?" she volleyed back.
Good question. Pity he couldn't give her the real answer. Inspiration struck.
"Because I'm never
adverse to missing school. Now, I have an idea. How about I call Nicki? I bet
she'll be able to
help you more than I can."
She considered the idea and then nodded. "Okay. That's a good idea."
Score! Well, not the score he wanted, but at least he hadn't screwed this up
royally. He went out
into the hallway to call Nicki Lindley.
She answered on the first ring. "Hello?"
"Nic? It's Pacey."
"Hi, Pacey," she said, obviously pleased to hear from him. "What's up?"
"I have a favor to ask. Joey's over here crying her eyes out because she
thinks Dawson doesn't
love her. Can you please come over and help me?"
Nicole winced. "I don't know, Pacey," she hedged.
"Please?" Pacey begged. "I'm screwing up left and right here, and I need you!"
She sighed. "Fine. I'll be there are soon as I can, okay?" She hung up the
phone.
Pacey went back into his room. Joey was on his bed watching General Hospital.
"Nic will be here in about 15 minutes," he said, sitting down next to her.
She smiled. "Great." She indicated the television, where Lucky and Lizzie were
talking in the
park. "I just love those two together. He was so great after she was raped.
You can tell he cares
about her because he's always there for her, never expects too much from her.
They're best friends
now, but I bet they start dating soon," she predicted. "They have a great
relationship. It's all about
trust."
"Yeah, they're great," Pacey agreed. "But my favorite couple is Mac and
Felicia."
She glanced at him. "I've seen them, but I don't know them. What's their
story?"
"They've been best friends for years. About 4 years ago, they were even
engaged, but Felicia's
daughter Maxie was diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome, which meant her heart was
failing and
she was going to die. Mac went to get Felicia's ex-husband and Maxie's father,
Frisco, and bring
him back to town. Well, when he saw Felicia and Frisco together, he realized
that Felicia was
never going to love him like she loved Frisco, and so he broke their
engagement. Frisco left a few
weeks later, after Maxie got her heart transplant, and he got Felicia pregnant
with their second
daughter Georgie. Mac and Felicia never dated again, but they still stayed the
best of friends,
running two businesses together. One was a restaurant; the other was a private
investigation
practice. Their last case was for a friend of theirs. Long story, but they had
to pretend to be
engaged again. When they told everyone about their "engagement", the unanimous
response was
"Took you guys long enough!" See, everyone already knew that they were perfect
for each other.
So now that the case is over, they can't tell anyone that it's not for real
because everyone's so
excited, especially Maxie and Georgie. So, now they're stuck together, and
unless they come up
with a plan to get out of it, they'll be married on July 17. The thing is,
though, that they're
completely in love with each other, but they just can't accept it yet," he
finished, looking at Joey,
thinking about how beautiful she looked.
"Wow," she said softly. "That is a cool story," she said, thinking of her and
Dawson.
"Yep," he agreed, thinking of him and Joey. "It is."
They both heard the doorbell ring downstairs, and Pacey headed down to let
Nicki in.
"Hey, Pacey," Nicole smiled. She was a petite brunette, about 5'3", with
sparkling brown eyes
and wire-rimmed glasses. Her shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a
ponytail and the red
highlights she put in her hair shone in the sun.
"Hey, Nic. Joey's upstairs." She followed him upstairs and into his bedroom
where Joey was
channel surfing.
"Hi, Joey," Nicole said as naturally as possible.
"Hi, Nicole," Joey smiled at her new friend and turned off the television. "We
should leave Pacey
alone now. He's probably had enough estrogen encounters today, with my
emotional breakdown
and all."
"Are you kidding?" Pacey teased. "You think I'm going to complain about two
girls on my bed?
This is a dream come true!"
"Grow up, Pacey," the girls said in unison, and Pacey grinned.
Joey grabbed her bag off the floor. "Thanks, Pacey. I know I've said that a
lot today, but I really
mean it. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Sure," he responded, leading them downstairs. "I'll talk to you later then."
"Bye, Pacey," Nicole called as she bounced down his porch stairs.
"Bye, Nicki," he said as he closed the door behind them.
Joey and Nicole ended up in town at a brand new coffee shop. Joey told Nicole
everything that
had happened after the waitress took their order and left.
"Sounds like he was nervous," Nicole decided, sipping her hot chocolate.
"Really?" Joey asked, afraid to get her hopes up. Then she shook her head in
amazement. "How
you can drink hot chocolate in April is beyond me," she said, taking a drink
of her own iced
coffee.
Nicole shrugged. "I hate coffee, what can I say? But yeah," she continued, "I
think that Dawson
was just nervous. Probably because after all this time, you were available
again."
"But he didn't know I was available," Joey reminded her, frowning.
"Then maybe he was nervous because you weren't available to him," Nicole
offered.
"You think?" Joey asked, a tiny smile on her face.
"Yeah! So it's probably not a good idea to go this week."
"It's not?" Joey asked.
"Nope. Give him a week to get used to the idea that it's really okay for him
to like you. But don't
let him cancel next week, okay? He'll be ready next week," she said
confidently, resolving to talk
to Dawson that weekend and make sure he was ready for the next week. She knew
that he hadn't
meant to hurt Joey, but he had, and it was time for him to understand how
vulnerable Joey really
was.
Joey smiled happily. "Thanks, Nicki."
Nicole shrugged it off. "No problem, Jo. Hey, can you believe that there's
only 6 weeks of school
left?"
Joey groaned. "Ugh. This year has just dragged on and on."
Nicole laughed. "I know. And with the end of the year coming, so does the
annual end of the year
formal."
"Oh, goody," Joey said sarcastically. "How did you find out about it, anyway?
It's not for weeks."
"My big sister is Jen the popular, remember?" Nicole reminded Joey. "She and
that football guy
are already talking about it."
"Lucky you," Joey laughed.
"Yeah, tell me about it. But I have an idea. Let's make it our goal to have
you and Dawson go
together. As a couple."
"You think it could happen?" Joey asked doubtfully, sipping her drink.
"Oh, yeah. We have 5 weeks! Anything could happen," she said with a grin.
"Absolutely
anything."
- Part Five
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