Sensory Pleasure
Part 10 - Hold on
Karen H.

Friday evening - Joey’s dorm.

I open the door to find Dawson standing there with his rucksack.

"Hey. You going somewhere because you ain’t staying here, just because Audrey has gone home..."

"Hey yourself." He says cutting me off. "And why can’t I stay here?" He asks with a straight face as he enters the room.

Is he being serious. "Dawson..."

He laughs. "I was just on my way to the station. I’m going to visit mum and I thought that maybe you’d want to come with me."

"I don’t know Dawson...I should probably stay here and study." Not to mention that it’ll be a little awkward being alone with you.

"Come on Jo, you’ve been studying for like forever...take a break. Come see Bessie." He says, pleading with me. "I’m sure that she’d welcome the visit."

"I really..."

He cuts me off again. "Come on. I’m only going until Tuesday. You could always come back on Sunday to study. Or...you could just stay, depending on how you feel." I forgot he can be quite persistent at times. "It’ll be part of our, ‘this hasn’t changed our relationship’ relationship."

He stands in front of me, giving me the petted lip. "Okay you’ve convinced me."

He seems very enthusiastic about my reply. "Yes!" He says throwing his arms around me and lifting me up off the ground. I’m tempted to ask him what’s gotten into him. Maybe he’s just trying to prove that we can get past everything.

He puts me down and I turn away quickly as I feel the heat start to rise from my neck to my cheeks. "But if I fail any of my exams you’re in trouble." I say trying to hide what I’m feeling. All he did was show that he was happy that I’m going to Capeside with him and I feel ... what do I feel?

"Jo, you’re being too dramatic again, they’re not for months yet."

Once I have composed myself I turn back to face him. "So when’s the train?"

"In an hour."

"You expect me to have stuff packed in thirty minutes?" I ask as I open the closet door and start to pull some clothes out of it.

"Pretty much." He says sitting on Audrey’s bed. "Wait a minute. Did I hear you right? Did you just say that Audrey was going home?"

Outside Dawson’s house. It’s after midnight.

"Again not my fault." I say trying not to show Joey that I’m annoyed that she’s blaming me for the fact she has to spend the night at my house.

"I want to blame you."

This could go on all night because she’ll just be her usual stubborn self. "I’m really sorry that you feel that way, Jo. And you can feel free to continue blaming me but...it’s not my fault." I say as I find my key in my rucksack. She’ll not even admit that she’s partly to blame for us being in this situation.

"Yes it is." She says screwing up her face.

I turn and look at her, one eyebrow raised. "How?" We might as well get this over with out here.

She points at me. "You invited me here."

"Okay. First of all you could have said ‘no’. And second of all..."

She interrupts me. "If I remember correctly Dawson, I did say no. You didn’t like that answer. You practically begged me to come with you."

"So maybe that part is my fault. But how was I to know that my watch was slow and that we’d missed the train?"

"Still your fault."

"Which I already apologized for. And that in your mad dash to pack some stuff you forgot to pick up your keys to the B and B!" This time I point at her. "You didn’t want to wake Bessie up because of the time."

"I’m still blaming you for my staying here!"

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Now do you think that we can go in without waking up mom and Lily?" Joey doesn’t say anything, she just glares at me. "I’ll take that as a yes." I unlock the door and before I open it I say. "Still not entirely my fault."

I hear her sharp intake of breath and before she says anything I turn to face her.

"I’ve admitted my part in this. Why won’t you admit yours?"

She doesn’t say anything. She just looks down and then she barges past me into the house. Typical Joey.