In A Lifetime:
Thrice (And Forever)
Golden light peeked through the gap in the curtains providing the only light in the darkened room. A woman sat on the bed quietly putting her shoes on while a man lay sleeping on the bed. Eventually she rose from the bed and gathered her belongings trying to make as little noise as possible so not to disturb the man. She stared a moment at his sleeping form, the soft light dancing on his features accentuating his beauty. She leaned over and placed a tender kiss on his forehead and was surprised to see his eyelids blink and open so that two starling blue eyes gazed at her.
“What time is it?” Pacey asked sleepily.
“It’s early, go back to sleep.” Joey murmured.
“You’re going so soon?”
“I have to.”
He nodded his understanding but had to ask. “Will I see you again?”
“Soon.” She promised then she kissed his forehead once more and exited the hotel room.
He closed his eyes and fell back to sleep holding her promise close to his heart.
He stared at her naked form, the rumpled white sheets covering very little. Her hair was mussed and her face was devoid of makeup. She smiled at him, a full-blown smile, and he marveled at her presence unable to believe that she was here with him.
“Once a week isn’t enough.” Pacey informed her.
“I know.” She agreed. “But we’re both busy. We live such separate lives. If Friday nights are all we can afford then I’ll take what I can.”
“I want more.” He spoke with honesty.
She nodded and kissed him on the lips.
“It took me so long to find you, Joey Potter.”
“Third time lucky I suppose.” She smiled.
“You gave me your name the second time around, at the wedding, remember?”
“How could I forget?”
“It was all I needed.”
“You ask for so little.” Joey stated.
“Haven’t you heard? I want more.”
“Three times not good enough for you?” She teased.
“We passed our third time long ago. I believe we’ve just had our sixth.” He reminded her.
“Yes. You’re right.” She conceded. “Six times lucky. Are you willing to make it seven?”
He kissed her and the sheets fell to the foot of the bed and it was all the answer she had been looking for.
*****
One hand propped her head up while the other casually stroked his arm. He lay on his side a smile on his face as he watched her.
“What are you thinking?” He asked.
“I was thinking about us.” She answered.
“And…”
“This is a nice hotel room isn’t it?”
“They give us the same one every week. For the last fifteen weeks.”
“Why don’t we go to each other’s house?”
“We live too far away.” He reminded her. “The hotel is the midpoint between your place and mine. More convenient for both of us because we always have things to do on the weekend.”
“I’d like to meet your friends.” Joey announced.
Pacey stared at her in surprise. “They’re not that interesting. No point in meeting. Besides you already met some of them at the wedding.”
“It’s not the same.” She protested.
He looked away, not answering her. She bit her lip to stop the quivering and refused to cry. Instead she let the subject drop and eagerly accepted his embrace, allowed him to kiss her until she was mindless passion and couldn’t think. They spent the rest of the night without thought, only passion.
*****
He came out of the bathroom dripping wet and watched as she rolled her neck, obviously tired.
“How was work?” He asked.
“Horrendous.” She answered. “I think I have a headache and my shoulders and neck ache.”
“Here, let me help you.” He answered as he sat down behind her and began to massage her sore muscles.
“Thank you.” She moaned as the tension was eased.
He kissed her neck, soft kisses. He felt her relax in his arms and he could not help but smile. This was where he wanted to be, where he belonged. For Pacey Witter it had never felt so right simply being with a woman as it did with Joey Potter.
She tried to suppress a yawn but was unsuccessful.
“You’re tired.” He noted.
“No I’m not.” She denied.
“You are.” He contradicted her. “You need some sleep.”
“I don’t want to waste our time together.” She protested.
“This is our twenty-seventh time meeting here like this. We don’t always have to have sex. We can talk. We can watch television. We can do anything you want or need. Right now you need sleep. So sleep.”
“But what will you do?”
“I’ll watch.”
“Watch me sleep?”
“Yes.”
“Won’t you be bored? You can on the television. I don’t mind. It won’t disturb me.”
“I’m happy just watching you sleep.” He answered.
She lay in his arms, his hand gently stroking her hair as she fell into a deep slumbered. He watched her sleep, content.
*****
“Thirty-one times.” Joey announced. “Thirty-one times.”
“Pretty amazing huh?” Pacey stated.
“Yeah.” Joey agreed. She paused before speaking again hesitantly. “Dawson asked me to marry him again.”
“Again?” Pacey asked incredulously. “Does the guy understand what ‘no’ means?”
“He even gave me a diamond ring this time. Told me to keep it for a while before I gave him his answer.”
“Poor guy.” Pacey shook his head sympathetically.
“I gave him his ring back and told him ‘no’ again. He asked me if there was somebody else.”
“And what did you say?”
“The thing is Pacey, I didn’t know what to say. Thirty-one times, Pace. Thirty-one times we’ve slept together. Granted a few were double-ups and the first two had a large gap in time before we saw each other again but thirty-one times! It’s been around six months since we began this Friday night arrangement. We haven’t been on dates. I haven’t met your friends officially and you haven’t met mine. You keep telling me you want more but nothing changes. So when Dawson asked me if there was someone else I didn’t know what to say. In my heart there’s someone else but in my life...what are we? Lovers? Friends? Fuck buddies?”
“Jo…”
“I don’t want to pressure you. I don’t want our relationship or whatever you want to call it to get deeper and more involved if you’re not ready. I just need to know where we stand.”
“I am hopelessly, head over heels in love with you Josephine Lillian Potter. You’re everything I’ve wanted, everything I envisioned. Each night I go to sleep and I dream of you. Every day of the week is agonizing until Friday comes and then I can’t wait for work to finish so I can meet you in this hotel room and be with you. I know what I want. I want more. I want forever. I want you.”
“Then what’s the problem, Pace?”
“I’m terrified that once we leave the safety of this hotel room reality will come crashing down. I’m desperately waiting for the other shoe to drop, for you to realize I’m a mistake or for me to wake up from this dream. I’m frightened that once we’re outside of this room the magic will disappear and you’ll see me for what I am and I’ll inevitably screw up the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
“Pacey, look at me. Sweetie, this is real. You and me, we’re real. And seeing you outside the walls of this room isn’t going to change the way I feel about you. I love you. I love the man I’ve come to know. I love how you pull me close during the night, your arms wrapped around my body. I love how you stroke my hair. I love how you always have a bottle of my favorite wine ready and a joke if I’m grumpy and have had a bad day. I love how you’ll always let me shower first just in case the hot water runs out. I love how you keep the toilet seat down and feel guilty when you don’t and apologize for it. I love how you watch me sleep, cradling me in your arms. I love you, Pacey J Witter.”
“I think…” Pacey said slowly. “I think it might be time I met your friend Dawson Leery. The guy has the right to know about your boyfriend.”
“My boyfriend huh?” Joey teased.
“Your boyfriend.” Pacey confirmed as he kissed the tip of Joey’s nose.
*****
Carefully Pacey placed the tray laden with breakfast on the bedside table and
gently shook Joey awake.
“Honey, time from breakfast.” He whispered into her ear.
Joey’s hand moved up to swat away the irritation as she mumbled incoherently. Pacey laughed and plucked the white carnation from the vase and brushed the soft petals across Joey’s nose. Her nose twitched and her hand rubbed her nose, her brow scrunching up a little in the most cute and adorable manner. Pacey continued tickling Joey with the flower until her eyes opened wide and she scowled at him. He grinned shamelessly as she sat up in bed.
“I was sleeping.” She complained.
“It was time for breakfast.” Pacey answered nonplused. “Here, open up.”
He proceeded to feed her bits of fresh fruit - melon, mango, strawberries and peaches.
“It’s been one year, ten months and fifteen days since I first met you.” Pacey said.
“Seems like forever.”
“I wouldn’t mind forever.”
“Neither would I.”
“So?”
“So what?” Joey asked confused.
“Why don’t we make it forever?” Pacey asked as he produced a delicate but simple diamond ring. “Marry me Jo.”
Joey began coughing; choking on the melon that she had been eating. Pacey patted Joey on the back and when she had calmed down she slowly drank some water.
“That wasn’t quite the response I was hoping for.” Pacey remarked with a pout.
Joey laughed and began hiccuping a little.
“Nope, that wasn’t it either.” Pacey commented sorrowfully in mock distress.
Leaning over Joey planted a kiss on Pacey’s lips the weight of her body against his sending him tumbling down on the bed as Joey lay on top.
“You’re wearing too much clothes.” Joey complained in between kisses as she pulled the grey wife-beater off Pacey.
“And you’re not wearing anything at all.” Pacey observed. “Just the way I like you.”
“I’m also on top.” Joey pointed out as she ground her lower body against the cotton of Pacey’s boxers.
They kissed for a while before Joey’s head made its journey downwards leaving a trail of kisses from Pacey’s lips down to his neck, pass his collarbone, down his chest, stopping briefly at his navel until she reached the elastic of his boxers. Playfully she grabbed the top of his boxers with her teeth and gently tugged. Pacey lifted his hips to assist Joey’s movements while his hands quickened the process of removing his troublesome boxers.
Task accomplished and Joey was straddling Pacey, his hands resting on her thighs as he watched her lower herself onto him. She controlled the movement and pace, taking her time to torture him mercilessly. He allowed her control even as his frustration grew. Instead he attempted to focus on the small trickle of sweat on the side of her forehead, despite the air-conditioning, and on her half-closed eyes and her mouthy pout as she moved up and down.
“Jo…” Pacey growled.
“What?” She stopped and gave him her most innocent smile.
“Hurry up.” He mustered through clenched teeth.
“I thought you said you wanted this to last forever.” Joey teased.
“Jo-ey…” Pacey growled once more.
Leaning forward Joey whispered into Pacey’s ear. “Yes.”
He gave her a startled, hopeful, questioning look. “Yes?”
“You asked me if I’d marry you. The answer is yes.”
In one fluid movement Pacey flipped Joey over and thrust himself into her eliciting a low guttural moan from Joey’s mouth. Her nails grazed across the back of his skin, her teeth nibbling then biting down hard on his shoulder as he plunged into her warmth. She opened her legs wider and titled her hips up to allow him better access and deeper penetration. Carefully he angled and positioned himself quickly plunging in then pulling out whilst gathering a steady rhythm. Their breathing grew erratic as he pumped into her hard and fast, no longer caring for anything but the need for mutual gratification. She dug her nails into his back and screamed for more. He could feel her muscles tensing and contracting around him, their bodies pulsating, as everything blurred into dizzy heights of pleasure.
“What was that?” Joey asked breathlessly after she had calmed down just enough to talk.
Pacey gave her an amused glance as his fingers lightly trailed up her thigh. “Do you actually need me to tell you?”
Playfully she hit Pacey on the arm. “I know what that was. What I wanted to know was how you ended up on top? I thought it was my turn.”
“You were taking too long.” Pacey explained simply.
“I thought you wanted it to last forever?”
Pacey shook his head and groaned. “Not like that, Jo. I was thinking more along the lines of getting our seventy-sixth time over and done with so we could move on to our seventy-seventh, seventy-eight, seventy-ninth…”
“Oh.” Joey snuggled into Pacey. “I think I like your idea better.”
“I thought you might.”
“So can we work on our seventy-seventh now?” Joey asked. “After all we have a long way to go until we reach forever.”
Pacey chuckled.
“There’s no time like the present.” He agreed. “Might as well try and get a head start now.”
He kissed his fiancee as their bodies came together once again, their seventy-seventh time, and they worked their way towards forever.