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"Josephine Potter." "Jennifer Lindley!" The two women squealed in a girlish manner that had not existed in their younger days. "Oh my gawd! Look at you. Joey you look absolutely stunning! And how you manage to keep your figure is totally beyond me. I'm so fat it is unbelievable." Joey rolled her eyes at Jen's comment. Not only because the statement was utterly untrue, Jennifer Lindley was still the incredibly stunning and shapely woman she had always been, but because they were talking to each other via phone making it impossible for Jen to see Joey. "You know you really need to work on your greetings Jen. Somehow it lacks sincerity." "Damn. I finally thought I had it down to the point that I could fool you. You know all that practice with New York's socialites." "You could never fool me. Besides the day you become one of them is the day I sleep with Pacey." "Hey!" "What's wrong?" "I've just been insulted!" "How?" "How?? 'The day you become one of them is the day I sleep with Pacey.' Sound familiar Joey??" "Well the likelihood of me and Pacey ever sleeping together, sexually speaking, is so remote that it's laughable. We're like you and Jack." "Except Pacey's not gay." "And your point is?" "The point is the sexual chemistry between you and Pacey is what drives your relationship. I still can't believe that the two of you haven't hitched up after all these years." "I've been there, done that, bought the little souvenir. Ding, ding. Does Dawson Leery ring any bells? Best friends turned lovers just doesn't work. At least not for me." "You and Dawson are entirely different from you and Pacey. For one thing the amount of sexual tension between you and Dawson was virtually non-existent. You and Dawson had so much spark the two of you wouldn't have been able to light a match. Now you and Pacey...have I mentioned infernal flames...enough to make Hell seem cold?" "You're going all 'When Harry Met Sally' on me Jen. Again." "Because it's true. A guy and a girl cannot be friends without the sexual tension somehow getting it the way. Even I'll admit that Jack and I have." "Okay. So maybe there is a little something between Pacey and I but I don't see why it has to make all the difference. I mean there are countless of male and female friendships that never progress into anything more." "And we're not talking about all those countless of others. We're talking about you and Pacey. The two of you are so undeniably in love with one another, living together under the pseudo of roommates when the title really should be 'married' and disgustingly co-dependant." "Jen, I didn't take time out of mine and your own busy schedule to discuss your matchmaking schemes and delusions about me and Pacey, not matter how amusing." "Fine. I'll ease off the topic. For now. Anyways I was thinking our usual monthly dinner is coming up and I thought maybe this time we could do something different." "Different? Define different." "Well it's been a long time since we've had a girls' night out. You know the type we used to have??" "Um...Jen...." "C'mon Joey it'll be fun. There's this great club that's just opened that we just have to check out. Besides do you have any better plans for Friday night?" "Well Pacey and I were thinking of renting some of the classics... Pacey's in his 'Bogart's a god' stage." "Co-dependant." Jen muttered under her breath. Joey heard anyway and glared at the phone, "Fine Friday right? Be at my place at seven so we can go out for dinner first." Jen grinned happy to have her way. "Okay I have to go now, dahhling. Say 'hi' to the hubby for me." Joey would have slammed the phone down on Jen if Jen hadn't of hung up on her first. Deciding what the h/ell...Joey slammed the phone down anyway.
"Honey I'm home!" Joey grimaced at the words as Pacey jokingly announced his arrival to the apartment. Inwardly Joey swore at Jen for putting thoughts in her head. Normally Joey could shrug of the constant innuendos and questions about hers and Pacey's relationship but recently they had been getting harder to ignore. She decided that it had to do with Jen's increasing insistence and that a girl could only take so much...and satisfied with the explanation Joey leaned in for their customary hug. "Hey Pace. Hard day?" "You could say that. Hhhmmm what smells good?" "Nothing special. Just vegetarian lasagne." "Well it smells delicious. Do you think we can eat?" His stomach grumbled adding emphasis to his request and Joey giggled and ushered him into the kitchen where they sat at the kitchen bench and ate. Dinner was quickly finished and dishes washed and dried. After Pacey came out from the shower he found Joey curled up on the couch sketching. "Work or pleasure?" "Work. What else." Joey answered. During college Joey had been undecided in what to major in. She knew she wanted to somehow incorporate her love of art into her everyday work life. Preferably be an artist. Yet the struggles of a young, new artist - no matter how promising - was not something Joey was willing to suffer through. Being poor had brought a certain sense of materialistic reasoning and logic and finally Joey had decided to go into the field of advertising. Her creativity was still put to use and in her small spare amount of time Joey would concentrate on being an artist. Besides advertising had its rewards. Joey was excellent at her job and despite the a competitive field, her talent quickly ensured a relatively small, at least for now, but substantial place in the advertising world. Income was steady and rising and promotions were well within her sight. "Move over will you Jo." Pacey announced as he sat himself down onto the couch and began reading, his arm half slung around Joey's as she relaxed back into him. "Research for a case?" Joey asked. "Uh huh." Pacey had dabbled with the arts early in college, following his discovered talent for drama during Junior year. Acting had become an interest and a passion even with the tortured past of the many films by the young inspiring child director Dawson Leery. Pacey had concentrated mainly on theatre, perfecting his skills. He made a dent in the industry as was beginning to get major roles at amateur but well respected theatre companies as well as several minor roles in the more established. For a while he had seriously considered pursuing acting but pre-law had beckoned. Pacey's passion for justice and his love for taking on and challenging the system made him a potentially wonderful advocate for the courts. He was articulate, intelligent and aware. After clerking for several well respected lawyers and judges Pacey eventually found his way into one of the major law firms and was also progressively moving up the ladder. However what Pacey enjoyed most was the pro-bono work; using his skills to help others and truly make a difference. His father had been unexpectedly proud of Pacey and although the father-son relationship was not the best, it was no longer the worse either. Pacey and Joey sat on the couch for several hours, comfortable with one another although engrossed in their work. Finally Pacey sat the books down, rubbed his eyes and sighed. It was Joey's signal to put her own work down, to move up from Pacey's embrace and to swivel Pacey around so that his back now faced her. Soon all the kinks and knots were massaged out of Pacey's neck, shoulders and back as Joey worked wonders with her fingers. "That feels heavenly Jo. This is exactly what I needed." "Glad to help, as always." "You know I can't wait for the weekend to come. To just sit at home and relax. We still on for Bogart?" Joey's fingers froze in remembrance, "Uh..Pace. Jen called at work today." "Really? So how is Lindley?" "Good. Our monthly dinner is coming up." "Don't tell me....." "I'm really sorry Pace. I know we had plans..." "But she made you an offer you couldn't refuse. Don't worry it's fine Jo. I'll just stay at home and sulk." "Pacey if it's really a problem I could call Jen back..." "Nah. I'll be fine. Honestly. Besides I wouldn't want to risk the wrath of Ms Jennifer Lindley for daring to spoil one of your ritualistic monthly dinners." "Thanks." "Not a problem. Hey, it's kinda late and I'm really beat. I think I'm gonna head to bed." Pacey turned and leaned in to give Joey a goodnight peck on the cheek before going to bed. The kiss tingled on Joey's cheek and she decided that she must be extremely tired to be feeling this way. She too headed for bed and in a moment's time the apartment of Pacey Witter and Joey Potter was in darkness. |
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