A light knock sounded on Joey’s hotel door on Saturday night.

Joey set the can of whip cream down next to the sundae she had just made. She quickly swallowed the whip cream she had in her mouth because of her childish indulgence to eat straight from the can. "Who is it?"

"I’ll give you three guesses," Pacey called through the door.

Joey wiped the corners of her mouth and got up to answer the door. "What are you doing here?"

He held up the movie case in his hand, "What I do every night. This time I came prepared," he smiled softly at her, he hadn’t seen her all day and, much to his chagrin, he found he missed her far more than he thought he would.

She smiled faintly stepping away from the door. "Oh okay."

He touched his finger to her nose, wiping away a spot of whipped cream. "You had something there," he licked the tip of his finger.

"Whipped cream," she breathed lightly.

"Taste’s good. Got anymore?" he teased.

She smirked. "A whole can."

"Yum." He followed her into the little kitchenette. "Sundaes? He dipped his finger into the small pile on top of a bowl of ice cream and stuck it in his mouth. "Your love of ice cream continues to amaze me."

"Hey, get your own." She mock glared.

He leaned back against the counter as she finished making her dessert. "So did you get your article finished last night?"

She nodded licking her fingers clean of any excess toppings. "Yes."

"Woman, you do bad things to me." He muttered pushing away from the counter, deciding the best place for him was somewhere far away from where she’d be licking her fingers. He took the video and set it up in the VCR.

"So what’d you rent?" Joey asked as she came into the room with her ice cream.

"Seven. With Brad Pitt," he told her. "You’ve seen it?"

She shook her head. "No, but it has Brad Pitt. How bad can it be?"

"Before we start, I feel the need to warn you, it’s a thriller." He hit play, sat down at the foot of the bed, and kicked his shoes off.

She brushed her hair behind her ear as she sat down. "Well, those aren’t so bad."

"Right," he smiled and moved up the bed to sit beside her, his back resting against the headboard as the previews started.

It was about twenty minutes into the movie when Joey set her ice cream down no longer able to eat anything while watching the screen. She tried her best not to be too squeamish.

Pacey snuck a look over at her just in time to see her close her eyes tightly against the images on screen. "You okay, Potter?"

"Uh, I’m fine," she lied.

"Okay," he watched her carefully, as she forced herself to stare at the movie. She grabbed her bowl of ice cream and climbed off the bed. "I’m just going to put this away."

He nodded, his eyes following her across the room. He reached over for the remote and turned the movie off. Maybe something so graphic was not a good choice, especially if she chose to leave the room rather than cuddle at his side. God, he was pathetic.

Joey set to carefully washing her bowl before putting it away and heading back into the room, hoping that maybe she’d enter during a not so gory part. She glanced toward the television as she sat back down on the bed. "Why’d you turn it off?"

He shrugged, "It was creeping me out."

She smiled. "Oh."

"Hope you don’t mind." He smiled self-depreciatingly. "I’m a big scaredy-cat." She shook her head. "Nope, don’t mind."

He lay back on the bed, resting his head on his arms. "So..."

She raised an eyebrow lying down on her side. "What?"

"Any ideas on how to kill the rest of the night?"

"We can watch TV."

"Right, TV." He nodded.

"So...Where’s the remote?"

"Oh, um," He twisted his torso and grabbed the remote from the night stand and handed it to her.

"Anything in particular you feel like watching?"

"Nope."

"O-kay..."

"Shouldn’t we...talk or something?" Pacey finally said awkwardly.

She focused on finding something to watch. "What about?"

He pursed his lips in thought. "I’m not really one for preamble," he started. "So I’ll just get to the point. There’s obviously something between us. And rather than ignore it and continue with this awkwardness, I think we should discuss it."

"Oh..." She bit her lip. "I’m sure it’s nothing."

"Nothing." He repeated.

"We’ve probably just been spending too much time together," she answered logically.

A crease formed between his eyebrows as he frowned. "You don’t feel it then? When I kiss you, you just feel nothing?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. "Oh, I’m sure that’s just nothing." She shrugged. "Misplaced emotion or something." She tried to sound as objective as possible.

"Okay, fine," he rolled off the bed and grabbed his shoes. "Now that that’s cleared up, I think I’ll be going." He headed for the door, not even bothering to put his shoes back on. "See ya around."

She sat up in confusion. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Bye, Potter," was his only reply as he closed the door behind him. Joey swallowed and sat there numbly, wondering what she was supposed to do now.

Pacey had left the video in her VCR. That was the excuse that brought Joey to his door later that night, videocassette in hand.

With a sigh, Pacey rose from the floor where he’d been doing sit-ups for the last twenty minutes, working out the frustration he was feeling. A sheen of sweat showed on his naked torso as he went to answer the door. He frowned as he found Joey, "What?"

"You left the movie." She said softly, holding out the tape.

"Thanks," he took the video from her and stepped back. He left the door open as he dropped it on the bed and grabbed his shirt from the couch and pulled it on. She tentatively took a step inside. "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad? No." He shook his head. "Disappointed? A little hurt? Yes."

She lowered her gaze. "I’m sorry." She bit her lower lip nervously. "But can we really afford to pursue this? If you just think about it logically, it doesn’t make much sense to."

"You think too much. Look, I know as far as a future goes it doesn’t make sense. But we’ve got three weeks where we’re going to be together whether we’re dating or working."

"Then there’s my work. There’s a serious conflict of interest."

"I’m sorry," there was nothing else he could say.

Joey frowned. "It really can’t be helped."

"You’re right, it can’t. And in three weeks, we’re both going our separate ways. Best just to cut our losses right now, don’t ya think?" He threw back at her.

"And what? You have a better idea?"

"I happen to think three weeks is better than nothing at all," he replied going into the kitchen and getting himself a glass of water to keep busy so he wouldn’t have to look at her.

The corner of her mouth turned down slightly. "Are you sure?"

He was quiet for a moment, letting the water from the faucet flow into the glass. Was he sure? He turned the water off and gave her a weak half smile. "Better to have loved and lost, right?"

"Three weeks?"

He nodded, "Three weeks."

"Okay..." She nodded slowly. "Three weeks it is then."

"Are you sure?" He wondered, taking a cautious step toward her.

"I’m sure."

He bit back his mile, "So...the sex really wasn’t that bad, was it?"

She tried not to grin. "It was terrible."

"Then I have a lot to make up for, don’t I?" He took a few more slow steps to stand in front of her.

"You think you can?" She tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I do," He nodded, as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, cupping her face.

She smiled faintly. "Guess we’re going to have to see about that."

"Yeah," the word was whispered against her lips just before he brushed them against hers.

Her eyes fluttered shut and she sighed softly. She could get use to three weeks of this and she tried not to think of the logistics of it, like what would happen if three weeks turned out to not be enough for her.