Jen frowned as she entered the living room where Dawson, Audrey, Jack, Pacey and Alex were waiting, all bundled up in their winter clothes. "Joey can't find her skates. So, um, Pace, you stay here with her and then catch up with the rest of us later, okay?" She pulled her coat on. "Have Bessie and Bodie left yet?"

"I didn't even know Joey owned skates." Dawson's brows furrowed together.

"Well, she does." Audrey said firmly, taking Jack by the arm and leading him to the door.

"Yeah, they've left." Pacey nodded sitting down on the arm of the couch. "We'll meet you guys there in a few, I guess."

Jen reached for Alex and shot Dawson a look. "We'll take Alex with us."

"I don’t know if there’s room for--" She stomped on Dawson’s foot. "Yeah, okay."

Jen smiled pleasantly. "Glad that's settled then." She turned to Pacey. "We'll meet you there."

He smirked, "If you say so, Lindley." The blonde had something up her sleeve and he knew it.

"Okay...Bye." Jen grabbed Dawson's arm and dragged him along to the door with Alex.

Jack shook his head in amusement and followed behind them, Audrey dragging him out the door, giving Pacey a wink before closing it firmly. He smiled and rose from the couch, heading down the hallway. "Potter, I believe we've been abandoned," he called.

Joey stuck her head out the door of her bedroom and glanced around. "We were?"

"Uh huh," He smiled at her. "They got tired of waiting for you, so I have instructions to meet them there."

"Oh." She frowned. "I wasn't taking that long."

"They thought so. Did you find the missing skates? You are aware right, that you can rent a pair there?"

Joey stepped back inside her room. "Of course I know that."

"You know, Potter," he leaned against the doorjamb of her room. "We seem to have the whole B&B to ourselves."

"In this place that can't obviously last for long."

"Bessie and Bodie went out for an evening alone."

Joey knelt down at the floor of her closet to continue her futile search for her skates. "That's nice for them. Bessie can use the break."

"Yeah, I thought it was nice of Jen and Audrey to offer to take Alex for the night. Running a Bed and Breakfast, I can't imagine she and Bodie get much time alone."

Joey shrugged, pulling out an old pair of sneakers. "Probably."

"So," he arched an eye in her direction, "Are these skates important, or can we just rent you a pair?"

"They have to be in here," she said, resuming her search in the closet.

"Really? Cause I don't remember you ever owning a pair of skates."

"Then what am I looking for?"

He shook his head, his eyes wide in innocence. "You've got me."

She pulled her head out of the closet. "Then the better question is, what are you trying to imply?"

His lips curved into a sexy smile, "I'm just wondering if Jen and Audrey could have made themselves any more obvious? And why, when we've got a few minutes to ourselves before we should go meet up with them, you're crawling around on the floor."

She glanced up at him plainly. "Because there's nothing to stop us."

He appeared taken aback for a moment, "What?"

"We need supervision."

He moved into her room and sat on the edge of the bed. "I thought the supervision was what was bothering you?"

"That was before I realized that it wasn't such a bad thing," she amended, tossing her sneakers back inside the closet.

"Potter, you don't have to be scared that I'm gonna jump you. I may want to, but that doesn't mean I will. Just spending some time with you is more than enough for me. Whether we do that here, or at the rink, it doesn't matter to me."

"Well, maybe it's not you I'm worried about. Maybe it's me."

He gave her a soft smile, "You're confusing me, Jo. You don't want to be alone with me, right? Then, forget about it, let's just go ice skating with everyone."

"It's not that I don't want to be alone with you," she explained climbing to her knees. "I'm just afraid of what will happen if I'm left alone with you." She was quiet for a moment and then a faint smile crossed her lips. "I'm probably just worrying over nothing because you said sex won't change anything between us, right?"

He licked his lips, "Well, yeah. But that was before. I think sex would mean a lot between us right now." He paused, watching her eyes intently. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to make you sweat, and tremble, and cry out my name and lose control. I can't imagine anything on earth being as good as making love to you. And...I guess, I don't know what that means for our relationship, but I don't see how it could possibly hurt it."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Before?"

He frowned for just a moment, "Before I realized how I really felt about you." He watched her for a moment and unable to decipher the look on her face, he just kept talking. "I mean, you'd think it would have been pretty obvious. What kind of guy offers to relieve his best friend of her virginity without having feelings for her, right? But then, you know me, it usually takes getting hit over the head a few dozen times before something like that starts to sink in. I never would have thought of doing something like that for Jen. Then again, she doesn't really need it, does she?" Inwardly, he knew he should stop talking, but subconsciously, he sensed that when he did, Joey would say something he'd regret ever hearing. "Speaking of, they're probably waiting for us right now. Who knows, maybe they haven't even left yet, we could go catch them? Anyway, the point is, well, actually, I don't even remember what the point is. What were we even talking about?"

She sat in stunned silence for a few seconds and blinked. "Well, I..." She stopped and shifted uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

He swallowed, "Hey, don't sweat it. I obviously made a fool of myself. It's nothing you did. Let's just go skating, okay? Forget about all this."

She began to shake her head and then thought better of it. Her hazel eyes settled on him inquiringly. "Are you sure?"

"What? That I made a fool of myself? Pretty damn sure. But then, I do that all the time so it's nothing new for me." He stood up, "Come on, your chariot awaits."

She bit her lip. "We don't have to go ice skating."

He arched an eyebrow in her direction, his blue eyes dark with unnamed emotion. "You have something else in mind?"

"It's just going to be weird and awkward."

"Can’t be any worse than right now."

"I'm sorry."

"I told ya, forget about it. It's not your fault. I was imagining things that weren’t there," He shook his head at his own stupidity and turned to her bedroom door. "So are you coming or not?"

She lifted her shoulders awkwardly. "I don't really feel ice skating right now."

"Okay, then I'll see ya later, Jo." He walked out of her room, and straight through the front door, never looking back.