New Blood
Part 2 in series
by: hzeleyes
Disclaimer:
I don't own the Joey, Dawson, Jen, or Pacey characters. They belong to
Kevin
Williamson and whoever else is lucky enough to be involved in that
wonderful
show. I don't even own any of the other characters either, but I do own
Lila.
YAY! Oh, and this story has nothing to do with blood, I just thought it
would
make a catchy title. LOL. Enjoy =)
Joey woke to the sounds of a crying Alex. Great, she thought, who needs
an
alarm clock when you can have earlybird baby. "Bessie," she yelled,
"Your son
wants you."
She heard Bessie open the door of her and Bodies room and stumble to
the crib
near Joey's couch/bed. "Y'know Joey, you're right here and you can't
even try
to quiet him down."
"Last time I checked, you were his mother. Did that change
suddenly?"
"No. But last time I checked you were his aunt," Bessie lifted Alex out
and
rocked him a little. He pulled on her dark blond hair.
"What time is it anyway, Bess? Hopefully after seven," Joey
sat
up and
pushed
her frazzled dark brown hair behind her ears.
Bessie looked at the clock and shrugged. "Seven fifteen."
Joey
groaned
and
flopped back down. "Come on, sleepyhead, get up," Bessie shook her.
"It's Sunday, summer, and your son woke me up at seven
fifteen.
I think
I
have a right to go back to sleep."
"Well, you would have to get up soon anyway. You have the eight-thirty
shift
at the Icehouse."
Joey reluctantly got out of bed and stumbled to the
bathroom,
where she
locked herself in and started to get ready. An hour later, dressed in
jeans
and a tanktop, she hurried out into the morning sunlight. On the way to
the
Icehouse she thought about Dawson. They were actually going out. That
was what
she wanted for the longest time, but why now did she still have this
empty
feeling in her?
She saw Pacey go into the video store when she arrived at
Main
Street.
She
smiled to herself, not knowing why, and decided she could spend the next
fifteen minutes before her shift at the store and rushed inside. Pacey
was in
the back when Joey came to the cash register.
"My, my, the service here really stinks. I demand to see
the
manager,"
Joey
sighed dramatically.
Pacey came out from the back. "Well, you can go see Nellie
Olsen. That's
the
closest you can get."
"Nellie Olsen? Yuck. I think I'll stick with the bad
service.
She might
give
me a lecture about fashion and make-up," Joey laughed.
"Well, since it is my job, how may I help you?"
"You can try to get Bess to give me a day off from the
Icehouse," Joey
sighed.
"Sorry, Jo, I have to work, too, and if I have to work, you
have to work
'cause I
can't be the only one suffering."
"Where's Dawson? Doesn't he work here anymore? Or did he
get
his ass
fired?"
Joey looked around.
Pacey's eyes got cold at the mention of Dawson, but tried
not
to show
it in
his voice. "He should be here soon. We have the same shift today. If you
want,
I'll tell him to go to the Icehouse for lunch."
"Yeah," Joey nodded, "and you can come, too."
"Yeah?" Pacey smiled. Joey nodded, not knowing why Pacey
was so
surprised at
her invitation. "Ok, cool. I hate to do this, but I really have to work.
New
video day today. I have to stock up, but I'll see you later."
"Ok, later," Joey smiled and turned around, bumping into
Dawson. "Oh,
hey.
Didn't hear you come in."
He bent down to kiss her on the cheek. "What are you doing
here? And
what's
happening later?"
"You and Pacey are coming to the Icehouse for lunch. So
I'll
see both
of you
later. Duty calls." She waved to Pacey, kissed Dawson good bye, and
hurried
out of the video store. I cant believe I just kissed Dawson, Joey
thought, I
guess I'll have to get used to it now. Me and Dawson are going out? God,
how
weird. Weird? It's not weird. It's great. It's-
"Joey!!" Bessie screamed in her ear.
"What?" Joey looked at her annoyed.
"Are you actually going in? Or are you gonna stare at the
restaraunt
all
day?"
Joey turned and saw she had been standing in front of the
restaraunt
for the
past minute. "I was just....uh....um...thinking we need a new look for
the
place," Joey tried to come up with a good answer so her sister wouldn't
think
she was a total airhead.
"First, we need some new money, so get your lazy butt in
there
and work
it off,
okay?" Bessie gave her a little push towards the door. Joey glared at
her, but
went inside and to the back to get her maroon apron, the official
waitress
uniform.
After a morning of loud, obnoxious people, Bessie screaming
at
her,
hearing
Alex cry for two hours straight, running out of coffee and eggs and
having to
run to the market across town and back Joey was beat and grateful for
her
break with Dawson and Pacey. She rushed to them when they entered and
led them
out back.
"Rough morning, Joe?" Pacey asked when they were seated.
Joey
groaned as
she
set her head on Dawson's shoulder. "Guess so." Pacey frowned and looked
away
from the couple. "Where's the waitress?"
"Be nice, Pacey," Joey mumbled, her eyes closed. "It's a
full
house
today and
everyone has their hands full."
"Yeah, it was pretty rough in the video store today too,"
Dawson smiled
down
at her.
Pacey rolled his eyes and glared at Dawson. "Yeah, it must
be
so hard
for you
Dawson to stay in the back and work on your script while I'm in the
front
being bombarded by people and having to stock the shelves at the same
time."
There was a coldness in Pacey's voice that he never used with Dawson and
immediately regretted it.
Joey glanced at the two boys, a confused look on her face.
"Are
you
guys
okay?"
"I'm not sure. What's up, Pacey?" Dawson asked his friend.
Pacey shrugged the question off and turned his attention to
Sarah who
came to
take their order. "I'll have a turkey sandwich with extra mayo, hold the
pickle and the onions and a glass of ice water."
"A ham and cheese sandwich and put some lettuce in it and
water," Joey
told
her, "Oh and do you have any asprin for that water?"
Sarah smiled, but shook her head. "Sorry, Joey, only plain
water."
"Then give me a glass of iced tea instead."
"Got it, what about you, Dawson?"
"Um..a burger, medium rare with lettuce, mayo, pickles,
hold
the onions
and
tomatoe, a salad on the side, some fries, and a coke."
"Whoa, Dawson, pack on the calories," Joey joked.
Dawson and Joey provided most of the conversation, with
Pacey
grunted
occasionally and stuffed himself with food. Dawson and Joey both noticed
something was wrong with him, but didn't chance asking him what it was
for
fear he would bawl them out for being nosy.
Afterwards, Pacey left quickly giving Dawson and Joey an
extra few
minutes
alone.
"Something is definitely wrong with him," Joey stared after
Pacey's
disappearing figure. "Did he say anything to you?"
"Besides finding something wrong with everything I say or
do?
Nope, not
a
thing," Dawson shrugged. "But I do have to get back to work. Come by
later, we
can have a movie night."
Joey smiled and nodded. "I'll be there," she said as she
brushed a lock
of
his golden hair off his forehead and kissed him lightly on the lips.
Pacey fumed as he entered the video store and went in the
back
to get
his
employee vest. Nellie, who was at the register doing her nails, looked
up as
he stormed in.
"Hey," she yelled, "if that door breaks it's coming out of
your
paycheck."
Her light eyebrows knitted together as she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Keep
your attitude outside when you step into MY store," she put an emphesis
on the
word "my".
Pacey rolled his deep brown eyes. "Please Nellie, it's your
father's
store,
and he wouldn't fire me for slamming a door."
"Yeah, right. If I really wanted to get you fired do you
think
I would
tell
him you slammed a door? I would make up something far worse and of
course he
would believe me," she gave a chilling laugh. Pacey sighed, knowing she
was
capable of doing that and went in the back to label some tapes.
He hadn't meant to get so mad at Dawson and Joey, well
maybe more
Dawson. It
was just that when he saw them together his mind went crazy. Even when
he had
been with his English teacher, Tamara Jacobs, and had seen her with the
film
teacher, Mr. Gold, he hadn't felt that jealous. It was scary to him how
much
he liked Joey. He heard Dawson come in and tried to ignore him when he
came in
the back to get his vest.
"What happened back there, man?"
Pacey sighed for the second time in the past ten minutes.
"I
don't know
Dawson. I didn't mean to act like that. Something inside me snapped."
"Why? What did I do that was so horrible? Is it something
completely
unredemable? Tell me now, so I won't analyze everything about myself to
the
point where I have found every one of my flaws and even some that don't
exist."
Pacey looked sadly at his long time friend. How could he
tell
him that
he was
mad because Dawson was dating the girl he loved? He was about to come up
with
another reason when the service bell gave a ding. Pacey stood and rushed
out,
stopping dead in his tracks when he saw a gorgeous girl standing at the
counter. Nellie was putting some videos on the shelves and had
headphones on
her ears so she didn't even hear the girl come in.
"H-H-How may I help you?" Pacey squeaked.
The girl smiled warmly, and Pacey noticed right away what an amazing
smile she
had; one that could have been advertised in a toothpaste commercial.
"Hi, I'm
new here and was wondering how I can rent some videos."
"Yeah, um, well I need an ID of some sort." Pacey couldn't
take
his
eyes off
the girl. She had light brown hair with an even lighter shade of
streaks, big
sapphire eyes, and a great body. Tall and athletic, but not too bulky.
She fumbled in her purse and came up with her ID card and
handed it to
him.
He saw her name was Lila Reynolds, she was 15, and used to live in
California
which would explain her nice tan. He entered her into the computer and
gave it
back to her, his fingers brushing hers. "There ya go, Lila."
"Ok, you know my name, it's only fair that I know yours
now."
"Pacey Whitter-"
"And I'm Dawson Leery," Dawson jumped into the
conversation.
"Great, I made some friends. I don't really have any money
to rent
anything,
so I'll come back another time."
"Oh, no, it's pay when you return," Pacey informed her.
"Great! In that case where do you keep the new releases?"
she
turned to
Pacey. "I especially love romance flicks."
"Me, too," Dawson grinned.
Pacey glared at Dawson as he went around the counter and
showed
Lila
the new
releases section. It seemed every girl that Pacey liked Dawson moved in
on.
"Who's she?" Nellie came over to Pacey, her headphones
around
her neck.
"New girl. Lila Reynolds. Don't go and get her in your
little
club,
Nellie,
she's actually sweet."
Nellie threw him an icy stare, then went back to stocking
the
shelves
and
listening to her music, not really caring she was putting Forrest Gump
in the
comedy section for the fifth time. Lila and Dawson returned, and Dawson
went
into the back to get her tape. It was now or never, Pacey thought.
"Lila, The Mask of Zorro is playing at the local theater
and I was
wondering
if you would like to go see it with me tonight. I could introduce you to
some
of my other friends. You don't have to think of it as a date, just
hanging as
a friend."
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that'd be nice. I moved in a
week
ago and
my
family and I just finished unpacking and I haven't had a chance to meet
anyone. And we can think of it as a date."
"Great," Pacey smiled. What a great way to forget about
Joey,
Pacey
thought.
"What's great?" Dawson came back with the movie L.A.
Confidential.
"Oh, Dawson, me and Lila are going to see The Mask of Zorro
tonight.
You and
Joey wanna come with us? We could invite Jen...."