"Don't look so depressed, kid. Only a couple of hours to go." She grinned as Joey hurled a glare in her direction before heading off to the table.
She ripped the bill off the pad of paper and placed it on the table, under a glass. She cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder, making sure Bessie wasn't looking, and walked over to the wooden railing. She leaned against it, brushing at a stray hair with the back of her hand.
It had been a very long day. No, she amended. A very long, excruciatingly painful day. After she left the school, she had walked to the IceHouse where she'd donned the short, pocketed apron and begun the rounds. In the last few hours, Joey had waited on more customers than she could count. She was literally aching to go home and rest.
A slight breeze was moving through the building, rustling clothing and making hair switch back and forth. She looked up at the sky. The clouds overhead were a light gray, chunky - looking, like freshly scooped ice cream. Far off in the distance, she could see rain coming down. Joey could smell moisture in the air. And as it began to drizzle over Capeside, two slightly damp figures took the stools which had been vacated just moments before.
The boy with the tousled blonde hair held up his hand in a slight wave and she smiled to him in response. She pushed the whisps of hair off her forehead and walked over to them, a pen held between her fingers.
"Hey guys. What can I get for you?" Pacey peeked over his menu with a gleam in his eye and his eyebrows twisted into a sort of evil expression. Joey raised an eyebrow at him and rolled her eyes, and then turned to Dawson. He looked back at her with a benign expression on his face and smiled, a bit of blonde hair falling over his eyes.
She felt the corners of her mouth turn up, and unwilling to let Pacey unnerve her further, she spoke.
"Dawson, can I talk to you?" He smiled again.
"Sure." She pointed to the deck and he followed her out, leaving Pacey sitting at the counter to muse over his own business.
They leaned out over the wooden rail, looking up at the sky before he broke the silence.
"So, I was sick."
"What?"
"I've been sick the past few days. That's why I wasn't in school." She frowned slightly, her face marred by the play of fine lines moving over her forehead.
"You usually at least call when you're not coming to school, or whatever. Or I come over and we talk, or watch a Spielberg...." He looked at her and she stopped.
"I just thought we both could use some time to think about what happened that night." She narrowed her eyes, feeling her jaw clench and her throat get tight.
"So, what have you decided?" She leaned on her elbows far over the edge of the railing, balancing on her toes. Dawson pulled her back, and looked at her with a small smile on his face.
"I've decided that I'd like to take you to the Rialto tomorrow night." Joey felt dismay turn to astonishment and she gave a nervous half-smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Um, alright. I can be at your house at 7, then." He was shaking his head at her. "What?" Dawson reached out and took her hand in both of his.
"I'm going to be at your house at 7." She felt a grin taking over her face and her teeth tugged at her lower lip, trying to contain her excitement. "But, unfortunately, now I have to leave. My dad tried to plan a male-bonding thing tonight. Sort of a father son get-together." He sighed, partly inexasperation. "I might call you if it turns out to be too much." He squeezed her hand and after they exchanged smiles and quiet goodbyes, walked down the stairs and across the street.
As she stood there gazing after him, Pacey walked up behind her, whistling softly. She turned around, trying to curb the rising annoyance. He came up beside her, and she turned away from the fading vision of Dawson to face him.
"What do you want, Pace?" He looked at her, face expressing surprise and a faint remorse.
"It's sad that whenever I talk to you, you assume I want something." She raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
"Like I said before, what do you want, Pace?" He laughed softly, looking out at the sky and then over his shoulder at the restaurant.
"I was just wondering when we were going to be able to work on the project. Because it is due in two days, remember? So I figure we work on it tomorrow. We can call the other people and work at the library, or the school or hey, your house." He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, whatever seems fine to you." His grin disappeared and he looked over her shoulder.
"So where'd the golden boy go off to?" She shrugged.
"He had to be somewhere...." she trailed off, and then her hand flew to her mouth. "Pacey, I can't work tomorrow! I'm going out." He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Since when is a social life more important than your grades?" She glared at him and sat down on the bench.
"If we could do the thing right after school and be done by 6 would that work out for everyone?" He shrugged and she took that as an agreement.
After a few moments of silence, Joey was startled back into reality by Bessie yelling at her from the kitchen. As she stood to enter the building, Pacey's voice stopped her.
"So, he finally asked you, huh?" She smiled, a small, secret smile and then turned around.
"Yeah."
He turned toward her and smiled back. The smile was warm and approving but somehow it didn't seem to reach his eyes.
"I'm happy for you. Lord knows it's about time." She rolled her eyes and walked quickly into the Ice House to take some orders.
