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Title: On the Edge
Author: Theresa Gallo
Series: This is after "Breaking Away", Dawson and Joey are a couple. Happy?
Well... but hey, it has Anderson Crawford in it, so it can't be all bad :)
Disclaimer: I do not own DC or its characters.
Dawson and Joey walked through school the next day, holding hands. The gossip was out the second Abby caught sight of them. Jen saw them, too, and she wasn't too happy. When she didn't show up at lunch, Dawson got a little worried.
"Hey, Pace, wasn't Jen in this morning?" he asked his friend. Joey rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I saw her leave around 4th period, she said she wasn't feeling too well."
' Dawson looked concerned. "Maybe I should go see ..."
"Dawson!" Joey interrupted. "Sweetheart, would you go get me a can of soda?"
"Um, sure...honey," Dawson said, a weird look on his face. As soon as he walked away. Joey turned to face Pacey.
"I can't take this! Even now that we're together, it's all about Jen! Pacey, will you please knock your clueless friend over the head and tell him that current girlfriends do not like to be reminded of former ones?"
Pacey grinned. "Someone's jealous."
"I have nothing to be jealous about, Pacey. Dawson and I are together. I just don't want to hear about Jen anymore, that's all."
"Why don't you tell him?"
"Because then it will look like I'm jealous," Joey said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But you are."
"No, I'm not!" she shouted.
"Calm down, Jo," Dawson said, walking up. "You're not what? Pacey, are you trying to hit on my girlfriend again?" he smiled.
"Please, Dawson, when I get that desperate, shoot me." Pacey and Joey made immature faces at each other. Dawson just laughed.
"Anyway, I think I'll go over to Jen's house later and see how she's doing," Dawson started again. Joey suddenly grabbed her soda, shook it, and opened it up. It sprayed all over Dawson.
"Oh, Dawson, I'm SO sorry! I swear, I didn't know it would just spray like that!" Joey and Pacey tried to hide their grins. Dawson looked at her strangely, then excused himself to go get an extra shirt in his locker.
"Good one, Josephine!" Pacey smiled. Joey gave him a look that clearly said Call me Josephine again, and you're wearing soda.
After school, Joey went to Dawson's house to hang out. Not surprisingly, they started to kiss, and Dawson slowly lowered her to the bed. Joey felt a little uncomfortable, but she figured it was only because she wasn't that experienced. She didn't protest until he started to move his hands...
"Dawson, what are you doing?" Joey sat up. "I..I just .." Dawson tried to explain, without success. "Dawson, Jen may have been into that stuff really fast, but I'm not," she said, getting off the bed and crossing her arms over herself. "Joey, what are you talking about? Why are you bringing up Jen?" "Dawson, I know you're probably comparing me to her right now..." "Joey, I would never do that," he interrupted. "You think I sit here saying, 'Hmm, Joey does that differently. Oh, Jen never did that.' I'm not like that, Jo."
Joey stood there for a moment, and then slowly uncrossed her arms. "I know you're not. I'm sorry, Dawson, it's just that... I don't know, I'm not too good with this relationship stuff. And I hate the fact that you still think about Jen."
"She's my friend, Joey. Are you jealous or something?"
"I'm not jealous!" she shouted, loud enough to make Dawson actually jump. They were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. "Dawson?" Gale said, poking her head in. "Oh, hello, Joey. Dawson, we're going over to the Lindleys', and we think you should come with us. You should come, too, Joey." "What do you mean? Why are you going to see the Lindleys?" Dawson asked, confused.
"Didn't Jen tell you? Her grandfather died yesterday." Dawson and Joey took this in for a second, their sorrow showing in their faces. "Oh my God, that's horrible," Dawson said. "Give me 2 seconds, and I'll be right down."
"Sure. What about you, Joey?"
"Uh, yeah, I'll come, too, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, I think Jen needs some friends right now," Gale said, and left the room.
At the Lindleys', Mitch and Gale stayed downstairs with Jen's grandmother, while Dawson and Joey went up to visit Jen. "Jen?" Dawson called, walking into the room. Joey followed, and was immediately stricken speechless at the sight in front of her. Jen Lindley was in a heap on the floor, hysterical crying, mascara streaming down her face. She also had a beer bottle on the floor next to her. She looked up as they came in the room.
"Jen, are you OK?" Dawson asked, coming over to her. "No, I'm not OK! Everything's wrong!" she shouted, as she took another drink. Dawson could tell that it probably wasn't the only beer she'd had. "You're drunk, Jen! Come on, you have to stay strong for your grandfather! He wouldn't want you sitting on your bedroom floor, drowning your sorrows in beer."
Jen shrugged him away and looked at Joey. "Well, you got what you wanted. Now get out of my room," she said, falling as she tried to stand up. Joey looked at her, and then said, "No problem. Dawson, let's go." "No, Joey, I can't just leave her here like this!" Dawson said, seemingly horrified at the very idea.
"Dawson, I understand that her grandfather just died, but look what she's doing, she's destroying herself!"
"And that's why I have to be here. Can't you understand that, Joey?" Joey glared at him, and then ran out of the room.
Later that night, Joey thought about what she had done. She sighed, and went over to Dawson's house. She didn't want to fight over Jen Lindley. "Dawson?" she called as she came up the ladder. He looked up from the movie he was watching, and waited to see what she would do. "Dawson, I'm sorry for what I said before. You were just trying to be a good friend to someone who was obviously in a lot of pain." Dawson walked over and hugged her. "I hate fighting with you, Jo." He kissed her lightly. "Can this be the last time we go through this?" "I certainly hope so," she sighed.
A week passed, and Joey and Dawson didn't fight about Jen. Still, Joey couldn't get it out of her head that Dawson was still spending a lot of time worrying about Jen. Every time she thought of that, though, she tried to forget it. *Dawson is just trying to be the kind, caring, friendly person that I fell in love with.* She smiled to herself as she climbed the ladder to Dawson's room.
"Hey, Dawson!" she called as she stepped into the room. He wasn't there. "Dawson?" she looked around, in the closet, outside his door. "Dawson?" "Joey, is that you?" Mitch called from downstairs. "Dawson's not here." "Really? We made plans to get together when we talked yesterday, that's strange. Do you know where he is?" "Uh, I think he's over at Jen's house. I hear she's not doing too well." "Of course," Joey frowned. "JEN'S house." She noticed Mitch looking at her strangely. "Yeah, she's pretty much on self-destruct, Mr. Leery. I'm sure Dawson is giving her lots of attention, though. Bye, Mr. Leery." "Bye, Joey," he called, a knowing look on his face.
Joey walked over to Jen's house. "Lots of personal attention," Joey snapped bitterly. "Let's go see what Little Miss Highlights is hysterical about today." Joey greeted Jen's grandmother at the door and went up to Jen's room. She didn't know what was happening in the room....
"Dawson, my life is a wreck. My grandfather is dead, my grades are really slipping, and you... YOU left me for Joey!" Jen moans, obviously drunk. "Jen, stop it! You dumped me, remember? You can't just decide that you want me now that I'm happy with Joey."
"Are you really happy? I can make you happy, Dawson," she said, as she grabbed him and sloppily pressed her lips on his. Dawson was too shocked to move. And in a pure soap opera moment, as Dawson would refer to it afterward, Joey chose that second to come through the door.
Joey just stood there, watching the sight before her. That little bitch. And how could Dawson do this to her!? Her eyes narrowed, and she shouted, "What the HELL do you think you're doing?"
At the sight of Joey, Dawson finally snapped out of his paralysis, and pushed Jen away. "Joey, let me explain. Jen is ..." But Joey cut him off. "Explain? EXPLAIN?? There's nothing to explain, Dawson! You know what, never mind, I know perfectly well what you're doing! If Jen's what you want, you got it. As of now, our relationship is over, friendship or otherwise!" she said as she approached him. "Oh, and one more thing," she said with a look that could kill... and she slapped him hard in the face. She climbed over Jen, who had passed out on the floor. "Good-bye, Dawson," she cried as she slammed the door, holding back all the tears.
Joey ran to the docks, and looked out at the water meeting the sunset. She finally let loose all the tears she had hidden from Dawson. *How could he do this to me? I guess I was right all along, no one could love me. Dawson didn't, he never even lied and said the words to me. Sorry, Dad, wrong once again.* As she calmed down, she picked up on a soft sound coming from along the docks. Violin music. She ran down the docks until she stopped at a familiar boat.
"Anderson," she said, and the young man turned and smiled. "Anderson Crawford."
To Be Continued
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