Hunter

By Leia

Part 13

You sit there in my shadows

And you call it your relief

Don't be the one with bad eyes for

The things that I could see

Don't give me that

The darkness has no armor

Need protection from the air

High hopes through time passing

When I see I want you there

I can't believe

You're the one for me

If it was this easy to find you

I should be ready for a fall

I should be ready for a fall

Now my wonders rally

Around the person I once was

Like a bird that I've been helping

Hope you're healed and strong

You never know when you might have to fly

Where will you go after me

Where will you go after I set you free

And I don't know you from a page in my book

Though I should

Though I should

I can't believe

You're the one for me

If it was this easy to find you

I should be ready for a fall

I should be ready for a fall

Where will you go after me

Where will you go after I set you free

And I don't know you from a page in my book

Though I should

I can't believe

You're the one for me

If it was this easy to find you

I should be ready for a fall

I should be ready for a fall

*~*Ready For A Fall by PJ Oleson*~*

Joey flipped through one of her mother’s old cookbooks. Thanksgiving was in a couple days, and she was supposed to share “hostess duties” with Cici. Although, she was the “lady of the house”, so to say, Cici was girlfriend of the “lord of the manor”... It would be an interesting day.

The phone rang and Joey groaned as she picked it up.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Jo? Its Sandra.”

Joey was instantly alert.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“Hi... I just wanted to apologize for being such a bitch. I’m really sorry I reacted the way I did... I just was scared shitless.”

“Well, I’m sorry for telling Sara all that... Its your life, and you’re an adult.”

“It’s okay. I actually have a favor to ask you...”

“Oh?”

“Well, I kind of told my mother that I couldn’t come to Thanksgiving back home because Ruth wasn’t going home and I thought she was going to be lonely... Then, Mom started nagging me about not having a nice place to give thanks and I...”

“Sort of told her that you were dining with me?” Joey finished Sandra’s sentence.

“Yeah,” Sandra sheepishly admitted.

“That’s fine... the more, the merrier.”

“Great, so you don’t mind Ruth, Steve, and Kate coming, too?”

“Sandra...”

“You owe me...”

“Fine,” Joey gave in.

It was going to be even more interesting than she had originally thought.

*~*~*~*~*

“What’s this?” Cici asked, holding a foreign looking object which looked like a large eyedropper with her forefinger and thumb.

“That’s a turkey baster,” Joey said impatiently.

She had at first thought that Cici’s lack of knowledge in the culinary arts was amusing, but, as the time grew near for people to start to arrive, she grew frustrated.

She shoved a few cans, a masher, and a metal bowl towards Cici.

“What do you want me to do?” Cici asked.

“Mash the yams,” Joey replied as she checked the potatoes that were boiling.

Cici furrowed her brow and began to search for the can opener.

“God, she’s worse than Jen,” Pacey remarked with a little laugh.

“Shut up,” Jen replied through gritted teeth. “I swear, I saw Grams make fruitcake five billion times... I didn’t think it seemed that hard!”

Jen had severely burnt her fruitcake and had accidentally substituted the sugar with salt. Even Pacey, who was a human garbage-disposal, wouldn’t touch it.

“Hey, instead of standing there with that retarded smirk on your face, you could... I don’t know... HELP OUT!” Joey snapped.

“Aw, Jo... we all know that all that has to do with the kitchen is the woman’s domain,” Pacey teased, baiting her on.

She stomped on his sock-adorned foot with her high-heeled boots. He cried out in pain, holding his foot and jumping up and down.

“That’ll teach you, smartass,” Joey said with a triumphant smirk.

Pacey continued to yelp in pain and pout. Joey ruffled his hair.

“Aw, poor baby,” Joey cooed. “Here, help me with the mashed potatoes, and I’ll let you lick the batter bowl for the cake.”

Pacey’s face instantly lit up.

* * * * *

Joey answered the door, and on the other side was Sandra, Steve, and Ruth.

“Hey, guys,” she greeted them. “Where’s Kate?”

“She went home for Thanksgiving after all,” Sandra replied.

“Oh... well, more food for the rest of us!”

The little group laughed and made their way into the living room.

“The other two should be arriving any moment now...”

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Joey smiled and answered it. Jack and Andie stood on the other side.

“Ah, the brother and sister McPhee, always the definition of punctuality,” Joey said as Jack pulled her into a hug.

“No, you know its just Andie’s neurotic behavior that keeps me from being fashionably late,” Jack joked.

Andie elbowed Jack in the side.

“Joey, you look great,” Andie said as she hugged Joey.

“So do you... God, its been too long.”

“Ah! Do I hear McPhees in the house?” Pacey said as he emerged from the kitchen.

He hugged Andie and shook hands with Jack. Jen also came out to greet them.

“Pacey!” Cici wailed from the kitchen. “There’s something wrong with this... orange stuff.”

“Ah, the ever lovely Cici, my culinarily-retarded girlfriend,” Pacey said with a laugh. “Coming, honey!”

Pacey and Jen went back into the kitchen to see what was wrong with “the orange stuff”. Joey led Jack and Andie into the living room.

“Andie, this is Sandra, Steve, and Ruth,” Joey introduced them. “And Jack... you already know everyone, right?”

“Right,” Jack said, smiling... and giving a joking look to Sandra.

Sandra looked down and blushed. She too remembered the first night when her and Jack had met and she had shamelessly thrown herself at him. Ruth stifled a laugh, and Steve just kind of looked at them all strangely.

“I think I missed something...”

* * * * *

“Dinner was great wasn’t it?” Steve asked, jarring Sandra from her comtemplative thought.

“Uh, yeah,” Sandra replied, scooting over to give him a place to sit on the couch.

“Why aren’t you hanging out with the others?” Steve asked, gesturing to the dining room where everyone was engaged in a rousing game of Pictionary.

Sandra shrugged.

“Not all of us need missing significant others to be down in the mouth,” she said, a twinge of bitterness in her voice.

“I think I’ve behaved quite well,” Steve said, trying to keep the downward-spiraling conversation light.

“Yeah, that brooding thing... You’ve got it down pat. Wonderful people skill.”

“Oh, I’m sorry that my people skills aren’t up to your par,” he spat back. “What would that include? Throwing myself at the first available warm body of the opposite sex?”

She gave him a heated stare and then looked away coldly. Hot and cold.

“So, exactly how far did you go with Jack?” he implored. “After Kate and I left. Are we talking nookie or pseudo-nookie?”

“Screw you,” she muttered.

“Oh, you can’t remember which it is, huh? Well, that’s understandable when you’re as drunk as a sailor.”

“He’s gay, all right?” she finally burst out.

Steve fell silent.

“There, you happy? My charms didn’t work out on a man... once again.”

She stormed into Joey’s bedroom and slammed the door.

*~*~*~*~*

Pacey and Joey witnessed the entire scene as they rapidly lost their game.

“That’s some pretty heated arguing going on there,” Pacey remarked.

“Yeah,” Joey said, cringing as her bedroom door slammed.

“Kinda remind you of all of us, don’t they?”

Joey looked at them oddly.

“You know... Sandra’s circle of friends. They kind of remind me of all of us in high school. Sandra’s sort of the Pacey. Ruth is the Jen. Kate and Steve are the Dawson and Joey...”

Joey took a drink of her wine.

“Yeah, Steve and Kate will end up getting married and divorced in a matter of years, and Steve will become dependent on Sandra’s housing. Hey, she’s always complaining that she can’t find a roommate.”

They both laughed, not even knowing half of the similarities between the two groups of friends.

*~*~*~*~*

“Remember that Thanksgiving our Junior year?” Andie piped in as they sat around in the living room, talking.

Pacey and Jen looked at each other and laughed. Joey, Jack, and Jen soon joined in.

“What happened?” Sandra asked.

She and Steve had made up and she had rejoined the little group a half an hour after she sulked.

“Pacey and I...” Jen began, but started laughing again.

“Were ‘playing in the enriched potting soil’,” Pacey finished, laughing.

Jen smacked his arm and Joey shuddered while Jack and Andie made gagging noises.

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Pacey mimicked Joey’s higher voice.

Joey glared at him.

“So... you two... did the nasty?” Cici said, indicating to Jen and Pacey, joining into the laughter as well.

“Ewwwww,” they said in unison.

“We got too weirded out before the deal could be sealed,” Jen explained.

“Creepy,” Andie joked in a sing-song voice.

The phone rang.

Joey groaned as she got up to get it.

“Hello?” Joey answered.

No answer.

“Hello?” Joey asked again, growing more agitated.

Click.

“Who was it?” Pacey asked.

Joey shrugged.

“I don’t know... must’ve been a wrong number.”