The Tension and The Spark
Part 3
by Karen H and Paula J

Preparing for work the next morning, Joey was pissed. How could I have been so stupid, she thought as she took down her hair for the umpteenth time. She grimaced into the mirror at her reflection and sighed. Kissing Dawson seemed like the perfect thing at the time, but now all she felt like doing was kicking herself. The whole night all she wanted to do was kiss him. As soon as he walked through the door her inhabitations left her body and she had to use everything she had to keep from kissing him the entire evening.

Just the way he looked at her so deeply, like he could see inside of her. It was like she was the only thing he wanted, the only thing he ever wanted. His eyes, his lips, and his hands they were just too tempting for her to resist. But, now she would have to fight even harder to resist him since he obviously didn’t feel the same way.

On her way to work Joey tried to think of every possible way that she could avoid him today. Not just because if she saw him she might have to jump him, but because the very thought of him made her cringe. How could he do that to her? She put herself out there for him and he shut her down. He wanted her before, so what made this time so different? What she did last night was something she has never done before and now she knew why. It hurt like hell when someone turns you down.

She arrived at work early, hoping to sneak back to her desk and get right to work. The harder she worked the less she thought of him and the less she thought of him the less his rejection hurt. No matter how hard she tried to focus on work, her thoughts found their way back to him, finding herself looking at his office, wondering if he was in or how she could “causally” bump into him. After two hours of this back and forth she was finally fed up. The anger inside her boiled over and she made her way down the hall to give him a piece of her mind, but what she saw when his office door opened stopped her in her tracks.

He was laughing with a tall, young woman, his arm placed firmly around her back and her head on his shoulder. The woman gave him a kiss on the cheek and after another laugh waved shyly before leaving the office, as Joey ducked behind the plant and watched her walk away.

“So that’s why he pulled away,” she said quietly feeling the mixed emotions of sadness and anger rage through her system, causing her to fight back tears only with the thought of really giving him a piece of her mind. It was just too much for her to take. He saw her leaning against the wall, trying to get herself together and smiled at her sweetly, making his way over to her to explain.

“Hey Joey, good morning,” he said, noticing she didn’t look exhausted, but mad.

“Good Morning, Dawson,” she said with as much fake sweetness as she could muster. She removed herself quickly from the wall and away from his gaze, making her way into his office so the impending fight wouldn’t be made public.

“Is everything okay? You look like something’s wrong,” he said, motioning for her to sit in one of his chairs.

“No everything is not alright,” she yelled, catching him by surprise. “We kiss last night and I think…well I don’t know what I thought, but you just up and leave and now I know why.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, confused.

“I was just a one time thing, a ‘wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am’ kind of thing,” she yelled, rubbing her forehead, trying to keep it together. “So I kiss you or you kiss me and you suddenly have to leave and I think, ‘why,’ and actually worry but in reality it’s because you had to go pick up some other slut to bang for one night!”

Silence filled his office, Joey shocked at what came out of her mouth and Dawson horrified at what she said. Shaking her head and preparing to leave, Dawson stopped her by rising from his chair. He came to stand in front of her and began to speak.

“Joey, we are not dating, we are not really even friends so I don’t owe you an apology or explanation about anything I do, got it?” Dawson snapped, backing up her against the wall. “I’m sorry for leaving so quickly last night but I had a good reason, which is none of your business. So before you start freaking out and screaming at me, make sure to ask some questions before making accusations. And don’t you ever call my baby sister a slut!”

“Oh, oh my gosh I’m so sorry, I didn’t know” Joey gasped, backing away from him. He watched her reaction and went back to lean on his desk.

“You’re right you didn’t know and rather than ask you fly into some rage like a maniac, but yeah Joey, that’s my baby sister Ellie. She came to see how everything was going for me here in Boston. She’s working on the Convention coverage for CNN. She just got into town last night, which is why I had to leave our work session so quickly” he practically growled as he went back to paperwork on his desk.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know –” Joey stammered, trying to save face.

“That’s right you didn’t know,” he snapped, seeing her squirm more. “Why would you say something like that? That’s just –” Dawson was about to go on rant about how inconsiderate it was of her to make judgments about someone she had never met, but then he realized why she acted so immaturely.

“Honestly Dawson if I had known who she was I would have never said anything,” Joey said as she stood in front of his desk. Her eyes pleaded with him and he could tell how awful she felt now. “I’m so embarrassed right now; I hope you can forgive me. It was a mistake, honest.”

“So why did you call her that, Joey?” he asked, leaning back in his chair, waiting for her answer

“I –” she started, feeling very warm all of a sudden.

“Just tell me why,” he said softly as he walked around the desk and stood next to her. “Why?” he asked again almost whispering it in her ear. He had to fight every urge that was bubbling up inside him to kiss her. The thought of her being jealous made her even more irresistible to him.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, hanging her head.

“Was it because you thought I was with someone else and it made you a bit…jealous?” he asked, watching her head snap up in defiance.

“Hell no,” she said quickly, trying to avoid his stare. “As you said Dawson you are not my boyfriend and we are barely friends. So who you spend time with outside of work is none of my business.”

“But it sure looked like you were bothered before,” he said, moving in front of her, tilting her face up to look at him. Those familiar urges to kiss the life out of one another surfaced again, but were quickly interrupted.

“Oh I’m sorry, Dawson. I’ll come back,” a woman said, preparing to shut the office door when he called for her to come back.

“Ellie, this is Joey, my co-worker, Joey this is my ‘slut’ sister Ellie,” he said, causing Joey to blush horribly with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry I…” Joey started, shaking Ellie’s hand who observed her curiously.

“No I could hear you fighting out in the office, I just wanted to give you guys a chance to calm yourselves down before mauling each other like animals,” she said, causing Joey to squirm more.

“We weren’t going to…” Dawson lied, knowing what probably could have happened if Ellie had not interrupted.

“Oh please Dawson I know about Joey, this must be the same woman from Iowa who was given the honor of being the ‘best sex of my big brother’s life,’” Ellie said, causing Joey to throw Dawson a look as he tried to hide his own mortification.

“I’m sure that he was mistaken…” Joey started, feeling very uncomfortable.

“Nope, he wasn’t, in fact it came up several times,” Ellie said, seeing Joey smile a bit before hanging her head.

“Ellie I think it’s time to go,” Dawson said quickly, grabbing her arm to lead her out.

“Oh come on Dawson I want to get to know the girl that has you all hot and bothered, taking cold showers every day,” Ellie said, giggling as Dawson dragged her out of the office, leaving Joey to privately swoon and smile behind them.

Later in the day, as Joey was preparing to leave for lunch, Kyle, the press aide in the office approached her, catching her a bit off guard.

“Hey Joey,” he said, sitting nervously on the side of her desk.

“Hi Kyle, did our press passes and convention packets get distributed to the media list and the delegates?” Joey asked, cleaning up some papers.

“Yeah I got those out yesterday, um I’m wondering what you’re doing after work tonight?” he asked, catching Joey by surprise.

“Probably go home and clean up a bit before things get really crazy and my apartment becomes a disaster area,” she laughed, getting a chuckle from him too. Causally looking over him, she noticed Dawson and Patrick talking about something and Joey couldn’t help but ogle him a bit.

“Well I heard cleaning is a bit easier after a glass of wine with a co-worker so maybe I could…well we could go to the Newsroom Bar after work and unwind a bit, just one drink I promise,” he said, as Joey looked at him. He was nice and they always got along at work. Stealing another look at Dawson, who was now looking slyly at her as well she shook her head. He wasn’t interested, that was painfully clear now.

“Sure Kyle, meet me here at five and we’ll go for a drink, but you will be held responsible if one drink does not help with my cleaning,” she said coyly, causing him to smile and nod before leaving.

Kyle waited patiently for Joey at five, both venting a bit about their days, especially how busy things were going to get as the convention got closer. Joey noticed earlier that Dawson left about four for something, giving her a wave when he left, both keeping it light between them. Kyle was a gentleman, holding doors for her, pulling out her chair at the bar and paying for her glass of Chardonnay. Conversation was a bit strained at first as they thought of what to say to one another, but eventually they talked about politics again and their post convention and election plans, and as much as Joey didn’t want to admit it, part of her was having a nice time.

On the other side of the bar Dawson thought he was going to explode. His meeting at the convention center had not gone well. A fight erupted between him, Patrick and the producer about angles and placement of cameras. Apparently some of the delegates got involved as well and now everything was a mess. Rather than going back to the office, he retreated like many campaign members to the Newsroom Bar for a drink to unwind. In one day he defended his sister’s honor, only to be humiliated by her in front of a woman he lusted after and got into a screaming match with two other grown men. What a day. Preparing to grab his jacket and head home, he stopped when he looked down the bar and saw Joey sitting there, talking closely with another man, whom he couldn’t recognize.

“So she’s talking to another guy, big deal,” he said quietly, yet unable to tear his eyes away. Talking is fine, but when he saw her flip her hair over her shoulder, like she did that night in Iowa and cover her mouth with her hand as she laughed, he felt himself grip his jacket tighter as jealousy ran through him.

“Is she taking him home with her? What the hell is she doing?” he asked himself, taking deep breaths to control himself. Seeing her bit her lip and do the half-smile he saw after their intense lovemaking sessions in Iowa, the thought of this guy touching her made him mad. Privately watching, unable to not remark how nice she looked in the soft lighting, Dawson made his move when the unknown man excused himself.

“Well hello there,” he said sweetly, pretending this was the first time he saw her in the bar. She turned and smiled when she saw him, not saying a thing when she sat down in her escort’s chair.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine.

“Having a drink to unwind, you?” he asked.

“Same,” she smiled, feeling a bit warm from his presence.

“I thought you were maybe on a date…you looked like you were in pretty deep conversation with someone…” he started, trying to be calm. But Joey looked at him and smiled widely.

“I was,” she said, seeing him shift.

“So anyone I should know about? You know as a co-worker, someone that could be a potential suitor for this evening,” Dawson said, stammering a bit as Joey happily watched him.

“I don’t even really know his name, but he’ll do for tonight, I only need him for one thing,” Joey said, seeing Dawson snap his head to look at her in horror.

“I’m kidding Dawson, I’m having a drink with Kyle as a friend, well at least on my part,” she said, seeing him relax a bit.

“Good because I thought you would seriously take some stranger home with you,” he laughed.

“Maybe I would,” she said coyly.

“You wouldn’t, you told me that wasn’t your style,” he said with a chuckle, feeling immensely relieved.

“Well it wasn’t my style when I did it with you either, the first, second or third time,” she said, seeing him blush and both laugh together.

“Well you and me-that was different,” he said with a soft smile, waiting to see her reaction.

“It was different wasn’t it?” She grinned, realizing that maybe what she was feeling wasn’t so one sided after all. “Well I’m done with my drink and I can see Kyle talking to someone over in the corner so I should go.”

“I’ll walk you home, I don’t want you walking alone at night,” Dawson said quickly, grabbing his jacket and hers and escorting her out.

“I’m fine really,” Joey said.

“I know you are, but I would feel better doing it, so let me?” he asked, seeing her do her half smile.

“Okay but only to help you sleep better,” she said, both enjoying the silence between them as they began their walk.

“So have you always had a jealous streak in you?” Dawson asked, seeing Joey blush a bit.

“Yes, but I wasn’t jealous this morning and I apologized for that,” she said, blowing it off.

“Okay sure, you were about as jealous as I must have looked back in the bar,” he said, both sharing a look and a reluctant nod.

“You were jealous?” she asked, nudging him a bit.

“I’ll admit it if you do,” he said, hearing her break out in a laugh. “Yeah I didn’t think you’d say it.”

“Okay so I was a little jealous, but from a non-family member point of view, your sister is really pretty and jealously would be normal, seeing how I wouldn’t be able to compare to her,” Joey said.

“You shouldn’t have to,” he said, both walking close together. “Besides Ellie is a great person but tortures her boyfriends mercifully. I like someone that’s strong and smart and gentle, although she keeps that part hidden.”

“Well you keep me on my toes and I like that…a lot,” she said, both stopping as he gently put his hand on her sleeve, but being interrupted. “This is me.”

“Yeah okay you have a good night,” he said, backing up a bit, preparing to hail a cab.

“Dawson I have a question for you,” Joey called, causing him to stop. “That night in Iowa, why didn’t you call?”

“Because in the midst of our short very non-conversational evening, I never got your last name or number,” he said. “I realized it when I was on the plane and tried to track you down, but I couldn’t, with all the people there and the different candidates, we never even shared the simplest of information.”

“Oh,” she said, shaking her head as she knew he was right. “But after all I was the best sex you ever had. You probably could have found me if you really tried. And if you did find me it was only to have a repeat performance of that night,” she said with laugh, hoping to watch him squirm a little. Especially since he had been making her squirm since he came to Boston.

He smiled, trying to hide his obvious embarrassment. ‘Damn you, Ellie,’ he cursed his little sister, under his breath.

“I would have called though,” he said, causing her head to shoot up. “I wanted to…badly.”

“Me too,” she said, taking a few steps forward towards him, kissing him square on the mouth as his arms went immediately around her waist. The chills ran down her spine again but her body felt warm as their lips lingered together, but remembering what happened before, she slowly pulled away. “I’m sorry.”

“No it’s okay, really,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “So now what?”

“I don’t know, we like each other, we’re attracted to each other,” Joey started.

“But something is still holding us back,” he finished and she nodded. “Look I’m just not sure if I’m ready for this, especially with how crazy things are professionally right now,” he sighed, trying to make himself actually believe what he said.

“Me too,” she sadly agreed. “I know it may sound like a sappy sob story, but my relationship with Brock was tumultuous to say the least. I don’t think I can deal with another tortured relationship right now. I think we just need to put whatever this is on hold for now and try to be friends.”

“So we’re friends,” he said flatly, seeing her nod, both not wanting to admit what they really felt inside.

“Friends,” she said, extending her hand for him to shake, which he did gladly.

“So I should go,” Dawson said, backing up a bit again. “I’ll see you tomorrow at work again…friend.”

“Me too, friend,” Joey said, having to drill that word in her head because what she felt for him certainly wasn’t friendly.

“Night,” he said, both staring at one another, both wanting so badly to kiss each other again. Joey opened her mouth to say something when she felt it, his lips suddenly on hers again, her wrapping his arms around him tightly, unable to let him go. The kiss was short when he pulled away, shaking his head and apologizing.

“Night,” Joey whispered, turning quickly and going back into her apartment building, unable to watch him leave. He didn’t look back either, but found himself staring back up at the building again, wishing that he was going in with her.

“Friends,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead. “Great let the torture begin.”