Spoilers:Read the rest of the series before you read this.
"Hey, Jen?" Pacey asked carefully. "Jen, hon, you know
you haven't been home since yesterday."
"Did Pacey just call me hon?" Jen thought. "Man, that
sounded really bad coming from him." Jen giggled softly.
"Jen, what's funny?" Pacey asked, relieved to hear her
laugh. Jen didn't want to say that she was laughing at
Pacey. "Just thinking of Grams' response when I finally get
home," she lied.
"Well, I think going there now would be a good idea,"
Pacey said. Jen knew that he was right. "If you insist,"
she agreed. They walked silently along the docks until they
got to Jen's house.
"What happens when she freaks out on you?" Pacey asked,
worried, as Jen let herself into the house. "Don't worry,"
Jen responded. "Grams?" Jen yelled into the house. "Grams,
I'm home." Jen's grandmother came into the hallway, rubbing
her face with a tissue.
"Jennifer," she said, although she didn't really sound
too concerned. "Where have you been?"
"I went to school, Grams."
"You had the patience to pay attention?"
"No," Jen laughed quietly. "No, I hid in the bathroom.
I wanted to stay out of your way until you made the funeral
arrangements so that I wouldn't cause any trouble."
"Well, I guess that was thoughtful of you, Jennifer,
but I really do want you here. I need you. I need your
help." Pacey nervously watched them both standing there
looking like they were about to burst into tears at any
moment. He turned around to quietly tiptoe out the door,
but Jen's grandmother called him back.
"Pacey, is that your name, young man?"
"Yes'm. I'm really sorry about what happened," Pacey
stuttered nerviously looking at his feet.
"Grams, Pacey has been taking care of me since
yesterday. He's been really great," Jen said. Her
grandmother eyed Pacey carefully. "Thank you," she finally
said, as she looked down to look at the floor. "For taking
care of Jennifer." She looked up and her eyes met Pacey's.
She gave him the beginnings of a smile and turned away.
Pacey smiled, said goodbye to Jen and kissed her forehead,
and walked out the door shaking his head.
As Dawson ran through the middle of town, he realized
that he had promised himself to get Jen and her grandmother
flowers. He went to the florist and ordered a dozen tulips.
He figured that he's ask his parents to pay him back some
of the money when he explained what the flowers were for.
He then thought that it would be a great idea to get
flowers for Joey. He ordered a dozen roses arranged in a
bouquet of six red roses surrounding six white ones. He
happily started back to his house, only walking so that he
wouldn't ruin the flowers. When he got into his house, he
put his bookbag on the couch and carefully laid the roses
on the table. His parents weren't going to be home for
another few hours. Dawson gazed up at the staircase and
decided to go to Jen's house first. He didn't want to
forget about her again and wasn't sure that he would be in
the mood to see her after finding Joey. Besides, if Joey
tried to leave, he'd see her out the window. He figured
that he wouldn't be spending too long at Jen's, anyway.
"I think that if Joey watches me bring Jen flowers and
gets the wrong idea again I'll go nuts!" Dawson muttered to
himself as he rang the doorbell. Jen answered the door. She
put on a fake smile when she saw Dawson. She really didn't
want to have to deal with him at the moment.
"Jen, I'm really sorry for how I've been acting towards
you. We got these flowers for you and your grandmother and
send our condolences. We being me family and I," Dawson
said sweetly. Jen softened when she saw the tulips.
"Why, thank you, Dawson. Do you want to come in?" Jen
asked, taking the flowers.
"Um... no," Dawson said nervoulsy, trying to think of
an excuse. "I--I don't want to intrude. Goodbye," Dawson
turned to go.
"Dawson," Jen said in a very firm tone.
"Yes," he said, slowly turning back to her.
"You never found Joey, did you," Jen said as a
statement.
"No," Dawson admitted, "But I think I know where she
is."
"Go, Dawson. Good luck," Jen sighed. Dawson thanked her
and ran back to his house. Jen shut the door and joined her
grandmother in crying.
Dawson tore into his house. He carefully picked up the
roses, smoothed his hair, and went up the stairs. He paused
for a minute before he entered his room. He slowly went in
and walked to his closet. He took a deep breath and opened
the closet door to find.......
Nothing. "Damn!" Dawson yelled, banging his head
against the wall. "Ow." He had to find Joey. Where was she?
Dawson called her house and got no answer. He couldn't
chase her again. He just couldn't. He glumly went back
downstairs. He opened his bookbag and sat down to start his
homework when he realized that in his haste to get home he
had left his mathbook at school. He dumped everything in
his bookbag on the floor to confirm that he had forgotten
it.
"Of course," he sighed. he carefully put the roses into
his bookbag in case he saw Joey on the way to school and
left to get his mathbook.
Joey looked at her watch and realized that she could
safely go to the school. She sighed and stood up, a little
cramped from having been sitting in the same position for
so long. She started slowly walking to school and then
broke into a run. She had no idea why she started running,
but she couldn't stop until she got to the school. When she
regained her breath and composure, she went in to tell her
decision to whoever was there.
Dawson sadly kicked a can in front of him down the
sidewalk. He was almost to the school and he hadn't seen
Joey. When he finally got to the school, he came to a
complete stop. Joey was walking out of the building!
"Jo...Jo!" he screamed at the top of his lungs and ran
over to her. he wanted to take her in his arms and make
sure that she didn't run away again. He restrained himself,
though. "Jo, we need to talk," Dawson said, making a point
of calling her Jo.
"So talk," Joey growled.
"I'm so-- what's that?" Dawson spotted the pamphlet in
her hand that said France. "You made a decision about
France?"
"Yes," Joey replied coldly. "I decided to go." Dawson
was mortified.
Next up, the confrontation. Really! Keep that feedback
coming!