January 2.
The delicious smell of fried bacon and seasoned hash browns floated down the hallway, accompanied by the happy squeals of Alexander's laughter. Audrey sat up and stretched, glancing over at Joey's form laying on the bed, her eyes open. "Do you think he came back?"
Joey turned on her side to face Audrey. "Why don't you go check and tell me?"
She threw the covers to the side, "I'm only doing this because I know how nervous you are to see him again, bunny."
"I am not nervous."
"Then come with me."
"I'm just not in a rush to get out of bed," she quickly added and then yawned.
"Uh huh," she smiled knowingly. "I'll be right back."
After a quick stop in the bathroom, Audrey headed straight for the kitchen and the coffee pot. She yawned as she poured herself a cup of fresh coffee. "Good morning, beautiful people."
"Same to you, blondie," Pacey tossed a smile over his shoulder and then went back to tending the eggs he was poaching.
"Audrey, could you be of some help and set the table? And then drag Joey from her bed." Bessie shook her head, catching Alex around the stomach as he tore through the kitchen. "It's not like her to stay in bed so late."
"I will gladly set the table, Bessie," Audrey said before frowning. "Uh, Joey's not feeling too well. I think she just caught some kind of bug and she didn't notice until last night. She kept me up half the night because of it, but I'm sure she'll be up and around soon enough."
"I'm hope she's not feeling too bad." Bessie frowned, "Should I go check on her?"
Audrey waved it off. "Nah, she'll be fine."
"Good," Pacey spoke up, "We're gonna try and hit the road by one. Can you be packed by then?"
"I can try."
"Liddel."
"I will do my best."
Pacey gave Bessie a pleading look, "Can you relieve her of table setting duties so she can get packed? I'd like to leave before next Christmas."
"Haha." Audrey smirked. "I can always just get a ride with Dawson, if you're going to be all anal retentive about departure time."
"If you'll recall, Dawson has a tiny little jeep. You'd be riding on the roof, Audrey."
"Two in the front. Three in the back. I'd fit."
"Uh huh." He shook his head, his smile teasing but his eyes dark. "Not with all the luggage you packed."
Audrey smiled sweetly. "Then the luggage can ride on the roof."
He matched her smile with his, "Just be ready by one."
"Like I said before, I'll try."
"Breakfast is almost ready, if you want to go and get Potter up."
Audrey sat down at the table. "Eh, let her starve."
He laughed, "What a good friend you are."
"Speaking of friendship, Joey and I were just discussing that last night." She took a sip of her coffee. "Dawson should get some kind of an award for all he's done for her. She told me what it was like when her mom died." Audrey sighed sympathetically. "I don't know what poor bunny would have done without him."
“Yeah," Pacey nodded, focusing his attention on the eggs. "He was really there for her."
Audrey set her coffee down and propped her elbow on the table, before cupping her face in her hand. "So where were you? You didn't hate her that much did you?"
"I was around," he shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly.
"I'm sure a lot of other things were too." She took another sip of coffee.
"Quit being modest Pacey," Bessie reprimanded, entering the kitchen to take out the pitcher of orange juice. "He was here almost every day, even before mom died, helping out."
"Bessie," Pacey shook his head, trying to cut her off.
"Dawson may have been over here every day keeping Joey company while she grieved," Bessie walked around the island and put an arm around Pacey's waist. "But Pacey here, he's the reason she was able to grieve properly. For me too. He was always around, taking care of the little things so we wouldn't have to. Laundry, dishes, cleaning, stocking the refrigerator." She stood on her tip-toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I don't think I've ever really thanked you for that."
Audrey sighed. "Joey's one lucky girl."
"It was nothing special," he shrugged away from Bessie.
She merely rolled her eyes. "You always did like staying in the background when it came to Dawson, huh?"
He shrugged and grinned wryly, "His limelight tends to illuminate my many flaws."
"Oh, blah." Audrey made a face of annoyance and brought her mug back to her lips. "Last time I checked, Dawson does not turn water into wine, okay?"
"Really, cause could have sworn he did that just last week." Pacey shook his head with a smile and slid the eggs onto a separate plate and handed it to Audrey. "Breakfast is served."
Audrey smiled. "Then I'm hanging out with the wrong people here."
He laughed, "I could have told you that months ago, had you asked."
"Someone go wake up Joey," Bessie ordered, returning to the kitchen to take the plate of hash browns Bodie held ready for her.
Audrey grabbed her fork and took a bite out of her eggs. "Well, I'm eating right now."
Pacey rolled his eyes, "Take it to the table, blondie. I'll go get her." He threw the hand towel over one shoulder and walked to Joey's bedroom. He rapped twice on the door and then opened it, putting his head around the corner, "Breakfast is on the table, Potter."
Joey smiled as she sat up in bed. "Thanks."
"No problem. Do you think you can be packed by one? I want to get on the road as soon as possible."
She nodded eagerly. "Yeah, sure."
"Great," he nodded once and then headed back for the dining room, stopping off in the kitchen to grab the last of the toast.
"Wow, Joey you're up," Audrey said when her friend walked into the kitchen. "Glad you're feeling better." She smiled brightly. "Sit down. Have breakfast."
"You look okay to me," Bessie pressed a hand to her forehead. "But maybe you should stay another night, just to make sure you get some extra rest."
Joey cast Audrey a look before smiling at Bessie. "I'm feeling much better. Really."
"Okay," She nodded, while her brow stayed furrowed in worry. "Maybe you shouldn't eat too much though."
Joey sat across from Audrey at the table. "Okay, I won't then."
"So how was ice skating?" Bodie asked, carefully spooning food onto a small plate for Alex, who sat beside him.
"Oh it was tons of fun." Audrey took a bite of her eggs and raised an eyebrow at Joey. "Did you have any idea Jen is such a klutz?"
"Yup, Lindley may look graceful, but put her near anything athletic, and she's all thumbs." Pacey threw in, a deceptively normal smile on his face as he took a serving of eggs before passing them to Joey.
"She was a menace," Audrey continued. "She took everyone down at least once."
"What about your night?" Pacey asked Bodie, "Did you guys enjoy your date?"
Joey sat quietly through breakfast, picking sparingly at her plate and adding little to the conversation.
Pacey rose once he'd cleaned his plate and took it to the kitchen. "I'm already packed, so if you girls just wanna go get started, I'll take care of the dishes."
Audrey grinned and stretched lazily. "What's the rush?"
"Well, I happen to know for a fact that Dawson, Jack and Jen are leaving in half an hour, so unless you can pack all your stuff, take a shower, and say your good-bye’s in that expanse of time, I'm your only way home, Audrey."
Audrey arched an eyebrow. "Did I forget to mention that Joey and I packed yesterday before we went ice skating? So I better just take that shower."
“What's the rush, Audrey?" He repeated her question, arching an eyebrow.
"It's the water to wine thing. I can't resist it." She tossed a grin over her shoulder and headed to the bathroom.
"Remind me to turn on the hot water while she's in there," he said wryly, taking Joey’s plate in one hand and his in the other.
Joey smiled weakly. "She's just being Audrey."
He gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "And I'm just being Pacey." He carried the dishes into the kitchen and returned for more.
Joey idly played with the edge of one the cloth napkins set on the table as she wondered how to best start off. "We need to talk."
"Kinda got my hands full here," He gathered up a few more plates and two cups as Bessie and Bodie discreetly left the table.
"I'll help."
"You don't need to do that, I can handle it."
She frowned. "We're going to have this conversation eventually."
"I don't know what conversation you're talking about." He carried the dishes into the kitchen and set them on the counter.
"There's no reason to make this difficult," she said following after him.
"I really don't know what you're talking about." He shrugged a shoulder and returned to the dining room. "I can't think of anything we have to say to each other beyond our usual banter."
She sighed. "Fine. Then I have something to say."
"And I don't want to hear it. Look," he turned to her, "From the very beginning, you kept saying you didn't want this to change our friendship and I promised you it wouldn't. Well, I'm trying to live up to that promise, but if you keep pressing this, I don't know if I can. So can you just drop it? Please?"
"Pretending that it doesn't change anything is not going to make a difference, because it does 0change everything and ignoring it is not going to help."
"I'm not pretending anything." He moved past her to get the last of the dishes.
She sighed wringing her hands together. "I know I handled everything wrong before and I'm sorry. You just keep on blind siding me, Pacey and every time I think I'm on even keel, my legs end up flying out from under and I land on my ass. I'm not sure if I'm in love with you, Pacey. I'm just trying to sort out my feelings now, and the only thing I am sure of is our friendship and I don't want to lose that. It's too important to me."
He was quiet for a long moment, his face expressionless. "If our friendship means that much to you, then just let me be. I'll get over this, just like I did Junior year, and everything will be fine. In fact," he forced a smile, "I think I just did. Yep, I'm completely over it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have dishes to do."
She nibbled on her lower lip. "Don't patronize me."
"I'm not." He smiled sadly at her, his eyes bleak. "Forget about it Joey, it was nothing. I was seeing things between us that weren't there, and now, you're imagining that you see them too." He shook his head, "I don't know, it was probably the whole Christmas atmosphere, or the eggnog or something. It was nothing."
She shook her head, disbelief etched clearly in her features. "You don't mean that."
He turned away from her and faced the sink. "I do."
"Don't lie to me."
"Don't force me to."
She stared intently at his back. "Why can't you just be honest with me?"
"I was," he turned the water on, the muscles in his back tensing as he filled the sink. "Or don't you remember? It kinda bit me in the ass."
A tired sigh past her lips. "Fine. Be angry. Feel hurt, but don't tell me I'm imagining things that are not there."
He braced his arms on the counter, staring intently at the water filling up the sink basin. His voice was hoarse when he spoke. "Believing anything else would be foolish."
She walked up to him and stopped a few inches behind him, making a quiet demand. "Look at me."
He bit down on the inside of his cheek and slowly turned around, his face was a perfectly chiseled mask. Only his eyes, so dark blue they were nearly black, gave anything away. Her hazel eyes clouded, and she tentatively reached out to touch him, curving her hand around his neck and lightly brushing her thumb against his cheek. She brought her lips to his and whispered softly, "Did I imagine this?"
He reacted instantly, inhaling sharply, his heart pounding mercilessly against his ribs. His fisted his hands at his sides to keep from reaching out and pulling her closer, but he couldn't stop himself from responding to her kiss, parting his lips slowly to taste her.
She brushed her lips lightly against his, once. Twice, before she parted her lips, breathing in softly and letting their breath mingle. Her gaze grew heavy and she touched her tongue to his mouth, gently coaxing them to part further. She slipped her tongue past his lips, sliding it against his, tasting warmth and heat.
Pacey slid his arms around her, his hands trailing up over her arms. He wrapped his fingers around her wrists, gently pulling her arms from around his neck. Slowly, he opened his eyes, defeat darkening them to nearly black, a pained crease in his brow. "It's only lust. It doesn't mean anything, Joey."
She stepped back, her eyes wide with hurt and she pulled her hands away from him. "Go finish packing, Jo," he whispered, forcing himself to turn back to the sink.
She stood there for a moment, unable to bring herself to move before she finally turned away and headed to her room. Audrey caught sight of the devastated look on her face when she entered the room. "Oh God, what happened?"
Joey sat down on her bed automatically. "I'm not exactly sure."
Immediately, Audrey followed suit. "Do I need to go kick his ass?"
Joey shook her head and forced a wavering smile. "No."
Audrey wrapped an arm around her friend, and pulled her to rest her head on her shoulder. "What did he say?"
"He wants to act like it never happened, like it all means nothing. I don't know what to think anymore, Audrey."
"Do you really believe it meant nothing to him?" She asked softly.
She shook her head, biting on her lower lip. "No, but that could just be wishful thinking on my part."
"You know Pacey infinitely better than I do, Jo. But he's a man, just like all others with that certain appendage between their legs, and in my experience, all men are alike in one aspect: They hate to be vulnerable to a woman. Pacey's probably just trying to convince himself that it didn't mean anything so that he doesn't have to be vulnerable anymore."
Joey eyed her wearily. "So what am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know, Joey. I don't know him well enough." She rested her cheek against the top of Joey's head.
