Part Seven
Pacey stood in the doorway to his dorm room. He couldn’t believe that Joey was
there.
Or how beautiful she looked in her bulky emerald green sweater and black
jeans. He
noticed she seemed a little discomforted, and worried that she was regretting
her trip
from New York.
Meanwhile, Joey still couldn’t find her voice. He must have started working
out during
the 6 months she hadn’t seen him. Well, seen him this close up, anyway. Her
eyes started
at the top of his dripping wet head, slowly moving down, once again noticing
that he only
wore a towel. She swallowed hard, and he finally remembered what he was
wearing. Or,
more to the point, what he *wasn’t* wearing. He blushed faintly as his eyes
met hers.
There was music playing, but for the life of him, he couldn’t even say what
song.
"I think I better change into something a little, um, less comfortable," he
said with a
cough, moving backwards towards the bathroom without breaking eye contact.
Joey made a split second decision, praying that she wouldn’t regret it. "No,"
she said
softly, putting her hand on his arm.
He paused, knowing that there was no way that she had said what he thought she
just
said. "What?" he squeaked.
She walked closer to him, not letting go of his arm. "I...said...no," she said
distinctly,
still quiet, but more insistent.
"Uh, no as in...", he said, waiting for her to finish the thought.
"No as in this," she said, stepping much closer to give him an intense,
passionate kiss.
Pacey wondered briefly about her change of heart concerning him, but quickly
decided to
just accept it with no questions. As they fell onto his bed, he thanked his
lucky stars that
his roommate was spending the weekend at his girlfriend’s apartment.
Awhile later, Pacey had his arms wrapped around Joey, her back to his chest.
He kissed
her neck as she smiled. "So, Jo. What changed your mind about me? About us?"
he
asked, deliberately casual.
"It was Dawson, actually," she told him, moving her head so he could kiss her
with more
ease.
He drew back. "Dawson," he repeated. Always Dawson. Didn’t anything ever
change?
Joey noticed his tone and turned over to face him. "Mm-hmm. Dawson and Vonda
Shepherd," she grinned.
"Vonda Shepherd. Okay," he said. "I don’t think I really want to hear the
connection
there."
She giggled. Pacey was amazed. He had never heard her giggle like that. "Okay,
Pacey.
Then all you need to know is that I realized that I love you. Again. So, I
borrowed
Dawson’s car and drove here to see you."
He smiled at her. "And I’m glad you did. Jo, I’m sorry about the way I acted
last
summer."
"You were horrible," Joey agreed. He looked at her, waiting. She sighed. "And
I’m sorry
that I ran instead of dealing with it. It’s just that," she faltered.
"What?" he asked her gently.
She looked down. "I guess I had just convinced myself that I didn’t deserve to
be happy,
to have a relationship with you. So, when you started to get jealous, I just
took it as a sign
that I was right and it was time to get out before someone got really hurt."
"Seriously?" Pacey asked, surprised. When she nodded, he told her, "That’s how
I felt. I
guess we’re more alike than we thought, huh?"
"Guess so," she said. There was an awkward silence.
"So, um, now what?"Pacey asked, a little nervous.
"I don’t know. I guess we just take it one day at a time," she offered.
"Does that mean we’re back together?" he asked hopefully.
"I think so," she nodded. "I mean, if you want to be."
"Yeah, I want to be," he replied, flashing her a huge smile.
"Well, then."
"Yeah."
"Glad to have that cleared up."
"Absolutely." He cleared his throat.
"Hey, what song is this?" Joey asked.
He listened for a second. "You’re Still the One," he told her. "Sean, my
roommate, his
girlfriend loves Shania Twain. I swear, every time she’s here, we have to
listen to that
CD."
"Do you think we’ll ever be able say that?" she asked.
Okay, he was lost. "Um, say what?" he asked, twirling a lock of her hair.
"That after all the years, we’re still together," she explained.
"Oh, yeah," he said, certain of what he was saying. "Absolutely. If we try
hard enough,
we’ll be looking back on this after 20 years of marriage and wondering what
the hell took
us so long."
"Marriage, huh? Planning ahead, are we?" she teased.
"Uh-huh. Like, in five minutes, I see us..."
"You see us what?" she asked, grinning. He whispered in her ear. "Oh, I see.
But that’s
such a long time to wait." She leaned closer. "Let’s start now," she said, her
breath
tickling his ear.
He grinned. He could definitely get used to this.