Nowhere Fast
Chapter 8 - Garbage Pickup
Pacey Witter
Noah Goldstein. That was the name on the fake id. Also known as the ticket to finally getting a couple of roommates let go of some of their inhibitions.
True, there were already three beers in the mini-fridge, but I opted to let Joey and Jack deal with them on their own. I wasn’t quite sure which one needed it more.
Clearly, Joey was at a crossroads with Dawson. By my understanding, she hadn’t officially broke up with him although she wished he’d thought she did. It was entirely possible that he believed she would return in his arms. I just hoped that she wouldn’t string him along anymore. When he boards his flight tomorrow, he should know whether Joey is “his girl” or not.
As for Jack, he’d been on edge ever since our conversation last night. Putting out on the table that Joey may have deeper feelings for him was probably not one of my better moves. Though I wasn’t certain it was only that. There were the family issues that he hadn’t wanted to deal with, as well. It was harder for me to pinpoint what Jack’s problem was as opposed to Joey’s. That was odd considering that there had been such animosity between me and Joey when we first moved in that you wouldn’t think that’s that case. Actually, it said more about Jack’s demeanor than Joey’s.
I drove my car into a parking space by the building and stashed the case of beer in an old gym bag of Doug’s. I never thought anything of Doug’s coming in handy as much as that ratty blue sack. Then again, in New York, it was quite common to see people heading for the nearest fitness center. Yes, my mother actually believed that I went to those type of places. My dad didn’t really care about that – in fact, he encouraged the drinking to some extent.
I exited my car and headed for the dorm. As soon as I entered, whom should I run into but Abby Morgan. She put on a false smile, and then noticed the gym bag.
“Since when were you into physical fitness?” She inquired.
“You think I was blessed with this bod?”
She snidely remarked, “You mean you had to put work into looking like that? I don’t believe you.” Abby was clearly trying to show that she was disgusted with my appearance, but having trouble convincing herself.
“So you think that God is that powerful?”
She rolled her eyes, “‘Blessed’ isn’t exactly the word I would use. Unless you consider yourself ‘blessed’ that the RA didn’t spot you first. Now the question of the day is, what were you attempting to smuggle? I’d say the choices are a case of beer or a blow-up doll. I’d think it was the former but I saw this program on cable about how life-like those dolls can be. Anatomically correct and even as gratifying in some cases.”
Fine, she busted me on the beer. I lightheartedly replied, “I don’t need the details of your sex life. I know that Charlie isn’t pleasuring you so you have to get off somehow…Oh forget it, what do you want in return?”
She gazed back at the bag, then looked back up at me, “I see us having some fun tonight. Follow me or else I’ll report you.”
If I should get busted for anything on this campus, it sure as hell should be for a worse offense than smuggling beer. Note to self: next time, buy alcohol that comes in smaller bottles. Maybe have packets of Jello handy. Better yet, a watermelon.
Abby walked past my room, only to stop at the next door on the opposite side of the hallway. Room 137. Charlie’s room, of course. She knocked on the door twice then barged in.
“Hey Chucker, I’ve got a surprise for you.” She dragged me into the room behind her.
You know how sometimes entering someone’s home immediately gives you a different impression of a person? This was definitely one of those times. Where you’d think that there’d be these garish decorations that The Birdcage designers would be proud of was actually a simplistic design. Just a couple of plants on the windowsill and a box of chocolate differentiating it from the layout of my room. Not that having plants and chocolate is gay or anything, just unusual for most guys.
He was sitting at his desk, reading a textbook while a guy and girl were making out on his roommate’s bed. That reminded me that I’d never actually seen Charlie’s roommate. Not that I was the most social with the people on this floor, but I assumed he lived in a single. The three of them looked up expectantly at me.
“Abby! You shouldn’t have.” Charlie chirped as he returned to his more accustomed ‘token gay guy’ role.
Abby shoved him in the arm, “I meant alcohol you horndog. No money or id necessary on our part.”
The girl on the bed said, “You can be so wonderful sometimes.”
”Why don’t you join us?” Abby sounded as though she genuinely meant what she said.
Still, this person kind of scared me. Not to mention the other people in the room, “I’m not so sure…”
“It’ll do you good to associate with other people in the building. I bet you don’t know that,” pointing to the girl, “Marisa lives on the next floor or that she and Scott,” assuming she was referring to the guy, “have been dating since the beginning of spring semester.”
Charlie added, “For the confused parties, Marisa, Scott, this is Pacey of the coed suite I told you about. He’s our provider for the evening.”
Marisa and Scott nodded in recognition. Scott piped up, “I saw that girl Joey. Man, what a catch.” Marisa gave him a dirty look, to which he added, “Some other guy will be very happy to have her.” Marisa’s expression that ‘I’ve-got-him-wrapped-around-my-finger’ smile as she laid a couple of kisses on his neck.
There was a matchup between the number of single straight guys and single straight girls. Now I realized why I was there. Attempting to leave the situation, I opened the bag and asked Abby, “How many?” As I silently prayed she wouldn’t say all.
She thought about it, “If you’re staying, then I suppose one each is enough.”
I let out a deep sigh as I placed four cans on Charlie’s desk.
“How can you possibly say that I’m controlling?” The piercing sound was coming from a couple of rooms over. By my guess, either mine or Joey’s. I recognized the voice easily. I’d heard it enough last night.
Marisa shrieked as she covered her ears, “What the hell is that squawking?”
Charlie reported, “Irritating shrill. Nasal twine. Must mean that boyfriend of Joey’s isn’t very happy. What’s his name, Dogwood?”
“Dawson,” I corrected, then realized that I hadn’t seen Charlie around all weekend until now, “How’d you know that?”
“I was forced to after running into him and Jack yesterday.” He shook his head, “Is there something mentally wrong with Joey? She seems like a nice, pretty girl who could have her choice of guys. And yet she chose…” He shuddered upon remembering what Dawson looked like.
Abby replied triumphantly, “We get to hear the boyfriend!" Obviously, she hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Dawson already, because she was positively giddy. "Marisa, hide the beer. Pacey, sit down. It’s time for some entertainment.” She opened the door wide. She grabbed Charlie’s tape-recorder (an essential if you have morning classes) and set it up quickly as she sat on the floor, “It’s time for the radio show to begin.”
* * * * *
Jack McPhee
I wasn’t interested in having any of the beer so Joey elected to have all she wished. After all, she was the one with the very large problem in the next room.
I discovered that one thing that she wasn’t very good at was holding her alcohol.
“How could I have hung around that blithering idiot for so many years? He should have been as good as gone by now,” she slurred, “The most unromantic romantic you can imagine.”
”What does that mean?”
“On the surface, lending someone diamond earrings for the prom is a sweet gesture. But then you realize that if he really knew you, then he’d realize that extravagant jewelry doesn’t belong on me. He’s known me my whole life and should have understood that my mother’s simplistic ring is more special than something that Cinderella would have worn before midnight.
To defend Dawson or not to defend him, that is the question.
“He could have been nervous. The prom is normally the climax of the teen comedy.” Leave it ambiguous for the moment and see which direction Joey’s heading with this.
“Exactly. One of the most significant moments should not feel like a movie rip-off.”
“Both of you had high expectations for the evening,” I pointed out.
“Is that so wrong?”
“Of course not. Just that you’re trying to place all the blame on Dawson. The truth is that you have absolutely no idea what you want.”
”Damn you for being sensible. I may not have figured out everything but I certainly am aware of what I don’t want.”
Knock, knock.
Joey got up to answer the door. There stood Dawson, completely shocked to find her there.
Dawson flatly stated, “I thought you were going for a walk.”
“I did,” she replied, “I walked here.”
He glanced over her shoulder and spotted me, “So you went over to the dark side.”
“That is not a decision for you to make.” Joey’s voice could’ve made the room temperature drop a couple of degrees.
“You’re in an unfamiliar area so you bond with the nearest person. Even if that someone is an overly possessive loner.”
“Amusing theory, considering you told him to stay away from your girl. Now who’s possessive?”
“Jack becomes the good guy because he’s the passive one? Precious.”
I told him, “Leave me the hell out of your problems.”
”See, Jack, that’s the problem. You are involved. As long as you pretend that you’re not interested even though it’s obvious that you, in fact, are attracted, of course you are the good guy here.”
Joey shouted, “Jack’s right. Let him out of this. Our problems started long before we went off to college.”
Dawson was baffled, taking a couple of steps backwards, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t. You are so wrapped up in making our relationship fit some fucking script that you don’t even realize who the hell I am. You are making it difficult for me to remember why the hell I ever loved you. In the past tense.”
He was clearly not listening to a word she was saying because he was glaring at me the whole time. “Naturally, you are supporting her every move. I can’t believe that I’m being fucking snowballed like this. It’s not as if I can win since it’s obvious everyone you meet is told that I’m the wrong guy for her.”
Joey peered at him, “Wait, what are you talking about?”
Dawson saw what he thought was a slight opening and was practically giddy. “Oh, you don’t know about the flake down the hall? It seems that your precious guys have been trashing my good name throughout your dorm.”
It took me awhile to realize what he may have been talking about. “You mean Charlie? I hate to break this to you but I never told him anything. Can I help it if your personality makes even a guy like him run for cover?”
I heard the faint sound of laughter. I thought at first it was from Joey but it sounded like several different voices. Dawson spun around, trying to find the source as well, although he actually looking more like an animal chasing his tail.
After a couple of moments, he gave up and glared at Joey. She was trying so hard not to laugh. “I can’t handle this anymore. Excuse me for a minute, I’ll be right back. Need a couple of… aspirin, yeah, that’s it.” As she passed me, I could see a glint in her eyes. She was definitely up to something.
When she closed the bathroom door, Dawson sneered, “You are a sneaky one, I have to give you credit for that. But if you seriously think that I’m going to succumb to this petty game, you’re dead wrong.”
“Your problem is that it doesn’t take much to get you to act defensive.”
Dawson smirked, “I know of a pretty good way for you to be on the defensive.” With that, he tried to throw a punch at me. But since he so visibly set it up, I was able to duck him.
“I don’t think Joey would be fond of Dawson the fighting champ.” I probably would have been more scared but there’s really nothing menacing about him. Other than the fact that he’s a menace.
“Where the fuck do you get off telling me that I don’t know her? She has been the most important person in for so many years…”
Joey wandered back into the room, carrying two suitcases. I ignored the rest of Dawson’s rant as I noticed she placed them in the hallway, and then returned to the room watching him intently.
“…It’s part of destiny...” Dawson rambling continued, “... and you can’t mess with that.”
She rolled her eyes and exclaimed, “Shut up!” Dawson was startled by the tone in her voice. “I can see now that I was being polite earlier. So I will say this as unambiguously as possible. Go join your suitcases in the hallway. Because you sure as hell aren’t welcome here. Goodbye Dawson.”
Dawson stammered, “But Joey…”
“You know, you’re correct. I have no right to throw you out since this isn’t my home. Jack, would you do the honors?”
I led him to the door, Dawson still too perplexed to actually take any action. He was standing in the hallway when he could finally get a sentence out, “I’ve always loved you, Jo.” Unfortunately for him, it was muffled by the door slamming in his face.
* * * * *
Joey Potter
“I’ve always loved you, Jo.” Dawson muttered as Jack shut the door on him.
“Sounds kind of like a ghost.” I observed, then added in a horror-flick voice, “I’ve come to suck your soul away.”
“That must’ve been some aspirin,” Jack snickered.
“You’d think I’d have to have been really drunk.”
“It’s amazing what you can accomplish on only,” glancing over at his desk, counting the number of cans, “Two and a half beers.”
“You can be absolutely lethal.”
I chimed, “There’s a reason I got the nickname ‘Ice Queen’ from the guys in school.”
“Of course.” He grabbed the half-full can from the desk, “Either that or this particular brand has special powers.”
We were interrupted by the sound of laughter in the hallway.
“If it isn’t the guy that lost his crusade for the girl.” It was definitely Abby Morgan’s voice, which now explained exactly where all the laughing was coming from earlier, “Isn’t it a pity that you had to make a 3000-mile journey only to be dumped to the curb so viciously?”
Jack and I exchanged looks and I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “I have to admit, that was a wonderful acting job you did.”
“Acting?” He raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out where I was heading with this.
“Come on, I know that if someone took a swing at me like that, I would have retaliated.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered, Joey. If I did that, he gets a sense of accomplishment. Not to say that I wouldn’t have minded bruising that smug look on his face.”
I laughed, “Well, at least you admitted it. I was beginning to get concerned about you. I would think that you’d want to come to my defense.” I gave him a half-smile.
“Do I look like a knight in shining armor?”
Jack, you really don’t want to be putting those images in my head right now. Not that they’re bad images. I kidded, “No, of course not. What is this, the middle ages?”
He glanced at the door, “Considering what was happening five minutes ago, are you absolutely positive about that?”
Abby’s voice carried through the door again, “Of course I wouldn’t endorse her. But you see, our building has this beautification project we’ve been trying to get off the ground for months. The problem is that you appearing on this campus is a setback that will take days for us to recover from.”
“Who was that girl and what has she done with Abby?” Jack muttered.
“I’m not blind, you know.” I suddenly found myself saying.
He narrowed his eyes as he glanced in my direction, “What are you talking about?”
“Dawson may be dense, but I think he was correct about one thing he said. I don’t think you manipulated the situation but I do think that there’s a connection between you and me.” I walked over to him, suddenly quite determined. Maybe it was because I didn’t have to deal with Dawson any longer – except for the obvious lump in front of this door at the moment. There were absolutely no obstacles standing between us any longer.
“Jo,” Jack replied hesitantly, “I realize that standing up to Dawson was a major step for you. I don’t exactly understand what you see me as but I don’t think…” He retreated towards the door, trying a different strategy, “I think you’re getting mixed-up here. Pacey is the one…”
I reaffirmed, “Why are you convinced about that?” I sauntered over to him, “There has to be,” holding up two fingers, “Two people in a relationship. Not strong feelings on Pacey’s part and friendship on mine. That’s why you and I make sense.”
“Look, Joey, you have no idea what you’re talking about. I see a definite side effect of that beer is that you’re not thinking as clearly now as you were when Dawson was here. There isn’t any difference…It’s not that you’re not a wonderful person. There’s just something you should know about me before you make a mistake…”
“I don’t see how we could be a mistake. Both of us are single. There’s not some mysterious ancestry which makes us related by blood.” I leaned in so our faces were only centimeters apart, as I hissed, “And I really don’t care what Pacey has to say about it.” I moved in and pressed my lips against his. He was so startled that at first he didn’t react. I moved my hand to rest on the back of his neck as I deepened the kiss. Once the initial shock wore off and he actually got into it, I realized just how horrible of a kisser Dawson was. My weight pushed him against the door as passion began to take over and we soon began to explore each other’s mouths with our tongues.
I broke away just enough to whisper, “I thought so.”
That was probably my mistake. As I tried to return to my previous position, Jack attempted to back away from me. Which was practically impossible given that he was the one leaning against the door.
He murmured, “We have to stop this now.” Jack slowly moved my hand back to my side. “You’re probably going to hate me enough as it is. I just… I didn’t think I would hurt you, but it’s obvious…”
There was a loud banging on the other side of the door. Pacey was struggling to return to the room. He eventually got in, but not without flattening Jack behind the door.
“I thought you’d want to know about the premiere of the special audio version of one Dawson… Sorry, Jack, didn’t know you were back there… Anyway, Abby set up this tape recording, you know there are times when it comes in handy to have a person like her on your side…” His eyes wandered from me to Jack, “Something wrong?” Pacey asked.
Jack stared down at the ground as he mumbled, “Nothing’s wrong. I just need to go out for a walk.” As he wiggled out from the door, I could see his eyes clouding over, turning grayish. He exited the room, closing the door quickly but quietly behind him.
“Jo? What’s going on? I thought you two would be elated over Dawson’s departure. Did you hear what Abby and I said to him? Man, we let him get exactly what he deserved. Wait, I’m not supposed to be so gleeful about this.”
I headed for the doorknob. It was bad enough that Jack was upset with me. I really didn’t want to deal with Pacey’s reaction right now. “I’ll fill you in later.” Pacey moved out of the way, letting me leave the room.
Chapter 9 - The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
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