~~~

Pacey watched out of the corner of his eye as Joey shivered and pulled her jean jacket closer. While he had brilliantly left his coat behind in the gym, the cold obviously bothered her more. He smiled apologetically and turned up the heat a couple of notches.

The car was filled with silence, and for the life of him, Pacey couldn't think of a thing to say. It was one thing to flirt with a beautiful girl you'd just met and another thing entirely if the beautiful girl had a boyfriend.

Of course she has a boyfriend, dumbass, he told himself. I mean, look at her. But since said boyfriend doesn't happen to be around ... He scrambled to find something witty and charming to say but came up blank.

What was it about this girl, anyway? Pacey J. Witter never had a problem talking to a woman in his life.

Joey didn't seem to know what to say, either, since she only spoke to give him directions to her house. But as the silence stretched to a painful point, she finally spoke. "Your, uh ... your friend -- Dawson? Won't he wonder where you are?"

Pacey was startled. "I forgot." He started to laugh. "Oh, God, Dawson probably thinks I left him there."

"What, and miss the heart-pounding thrill ride of excitement that is a high school basketball game?"

"I wish."

"Take a left here," she pointed. As he complied, she looked over at him.

"So, if athletic events aren't your cup of tea, why are you here?"

"Well, there's a girl ..."

"Your girlfriend?"

"What? No! I mean, um, I don't have ..." he shrugged. "I don't have a girlfriend. Dawson is crushing on a cheerleader, so ..."

"You got dragged to the game."

"Pretty much. But," he flashed her a grin. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be."

Joey pointed him toward her driveway, "Well, we're not actually at the game."

"That explains it."

They got out and went to the front door. Joey frowned. "I know I left some lights on," she mumbled, fumbling with her keys. She found the front door key and unlocked it. The house was completely dark.

"What the hell?" she muttered into the dark.

Pacey hung back in the doorway and waited as Joey felt her way along the wall until she found the light switch in the hall. The overhead light sprang to life, illuminating the living room � and the half-dressed couple on the couch.

"Bessie! God!" Joey yelled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Pacey's first instinct was to laugh, but the look of horror on Joey's face made him stifle his grin behind his hand. Somehow, she seemed to sense his laughter, though, and shifted her glare from the couple to him.

Moments later, to his relief, she looked back at the female half of the couple, who had managed to rearrange her clothing and stand up, albeit a little unsteadily.

This must be Bessie, unless the guy hiding in the shadows had an unusual name. Not that he was about to judge the strangeness of anyone else's name.

"Joey?" Bessie giggled, obviously drunk. "What're you doin' home?"

"What am I doing home?" Joey sounded angry. "What are you doing home? You're supposed to be �" She trailed off as the man stood up next to Bessie. "Oh. My. God." Joey covered her eyes for a moment before racing from the room.

Pacey and Bessie stared at each other for a moment before he smiled slightly at her. "I'm just gonna ..." he pointed down the hall and fled the room.

He found Joey in the room at the end of the hall, flopped on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Joey? Are you OK?" he asked hesitantly. Despite having more sisters than any guy should be saddled with, the female mind was still something of a mystery to Pacey, and he suspected Joey's was more complicated than usual.

She sat up with a start. "Um, yeah," she mumbled. "I just have to, you know. Find the ..."

"Tape?" he supplied.

"Right. The tape." She stood up and looked blankly around the room. "Um. OK. The tape."

Pacey moved forward and touched her arm. "Are you OK? 'Cause you don't seem to be functioning normally."

She flushed. "I'm fine. It's just ... that was my sister."

"So I gathered. But I've caught many a sister playing tonsil hockey with some guy, and I'll admit it's kind of creepy, but it's never particularly upset me."

"Well, imagine that one of your sisters was making out with one of your teachers on your living room couch," she said "I mean, how can I listen to this guy teach Biology when I know he's been feeling my sister up? Ick."

"I see your problem." Pacey sat on the bed. "You probably need to transfer classes."

"No," she shook her head. "That's not enough. Now I'll have to quit school. Once my Dad finds out, and kicks me out of the house, I'll end up living on the street, with a mere cardboard box to shield me from the weather."

"Isn't that going a little overboard?" he laughed. "Why don't you just transfer to Capeside High School? I guarantee our Biology teacher won't be making out with your sister any time soon. He's like 80."

Joey laughed. "OK, so maybe I'm overreacting a little bit. It's just gross. Like, why can't my sister just find some random guy off the street to use and throw away like a Kleenex? Nooooooo, it has to be Joey's teacher! That's just so like her."

"So, is she in college?" he asked.

Joey laughed. "Well, that is the question, isn't it? She's periodically in college. In between periods of partying and dropping out, she even occasionally completes a class. I don't even want to be around when Dad finds out she's dropped out again. Yet another reason to leave town."

"Again, I offer Capeside as the perfect solution," he said, grinning. "You can even stay with me."

"Oh, gee, that's a swell offer, but �" Joey caught sight of the clock. "We are so late." She dug in a pile of tapes and unearthed the one she was looking for.

"Ready?" he asked, disappointed. This was way more fun than any stupid basketball game. Of course, watching paint dry also was more exciting. But watching Joey Potter was even better.

They drove back to the school mostly in silence, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable at all. As he turned into the parking lot, Joey spoke quietly. "Do you want to know the real reason I went out for the dance team?"

"Sure."

"Bessie tried out for it when she was in high school, and she didn't make it," Joey said seriously. Then a wicked grin flashed across her face. "Aren't I evil?"

"Completely," he said, laughing. "But I think a little evil just makes women more interesting."

"Figures."

~~~~~

"Did you have to go all the way back to Capeside for something to eat?" Dawson yelled over the sound of two school bands trying to outdo each other on opposite sides of the now-packed gym.

"Huh?" Pacey dropped onto the bench next to his friend and immediately started to search the crowd across the gym for Joey.

"What were you doing this whole time?" Dawson asked. "Obviously, you didn't get anything to eat."

"Um �" Pacey spotted Joey in the bleachers with the rest of the dance team members and smiled. He wished he could find an excuse to go sit on the other side. Behind her, maybe. "I couldn't get � what I wanted."

He turned to look at Dawson. "You look awfully ... exuberant, D. Should I assume that things went well with the lovely Ms. Lindley?"

Dawson beamed. "I asked her on a date."

"Excuse me?" Pacey laughed. "I leave you alone for five minutes, and you lose your mind. She does have a boyfriend, you know."

"She's going to break up with him tomorrow. She wants to be with me," Dawson said, obviously shocked. "Pacey, you have to help me plan the perfect date."

"Dawson," he sighed. "Don't put all this pressure on the first date. It's not a movie script. Jen already knows you. Just keep it casual."

"Casual?" Dawson laughed. "This is major. The first date with the girl I love. It has to be special."

Dawson's droning was thankfully drowned out by the cheers from the crowd as the game began. Pacey knew he was going to be subjected to every romantic movie Dawson could get his hands on in the days before the big date, so there was no reason he had to listen to all of this now.

He amused himself by watching Joey across the gym, and was surprised to see that it was almost halftime.

He stood up, and Dawson followed. "Where are you going, Pace?"

"Uh, I'm gonna go hit the bathroom before the rush," he lied, for some reason reluctant to tell Dawson about Joey.

"I'd better get in line," Dawson said. "I told Jen I'd buy her a snack at halftime. So, what do you think I should get? Popcorn, candy or nachos?"

Pacey rolled his eyes. "Get all three, D. It's more romantic. I'll see you in a bit." He waited until Dawson rushed off to get in line before he headed for the doors on the other side of the gym. He wanted a front-row seat for the halftime show.

As the gym filled with some loud, techno-dance music he didn't recognize, Pacey dodged the fans who were exiting the gym and slipped into the bleachers in almost the exact spot Joey had been sitting in.

>He became immediately mesmerized by her dancing. She was really good, and watching her wiggle her hips to the music was making the gym even hotter than before. When they got to the high-kicking part of the dance, he feared >he might pass out. As far as Pacey was concerned, the rest of the girls might as well be mannequins. They faded into the background, and he just watched Joey.

And she knew he was watching. He could tell. While the mannequins had plastic cheerleader smiles on their faces, Joey had a little half-smile, half smirk that was aimed right at him.

Boyfriend or no, she was smiling at him.

After the performance, Pacey waited for Joey to return to her seat, clapping as she came up the steps. "Bravo," he said. "You were great."

She laughed. "Thank you. I didn't realize you were a dance team critic."

"Only in my spare time." He looked her up and down and gave her a wicked grin. "You look hot."

As she flushed even more, he continued. "Can I buy you a soda or something to cool you off?"

Joey laughed. "Yeah, that sounds nice."

Pacey spotted his friends ahead of them in line and whistled, shaking his head. Dawson had his arm around the blonde and was leaning close to her."Dawson is putting the moves on Jen in a public place."

"That's a bad thing?" Joey asked. "Isn't it good that she likes him, too?"

"It would be better if she didn't �" Pacey trailed off and looked at Joey. "If she didn't already have a boyfriend."

"Oh." She looked down and spoke quietly. "Maybe ... maybe she isn't really happy with her boyfriend."

Before he could follow up on this interesting statement, he heard his name called from behind him.

"Hey, Witter!" His stomach dropped as he recognized Cliff Elliott, cursing the jock's rotten timing. "Hey, have you seen Jen? I've been looking for her everywhere."

"I, uh � I think I saw her over there," he pointed in the opposite direction. But it was too late. Cliff had already seen his girlfriend snuggled up close to one Dawson Leery. Pacey winced.

"Leery, get your hands off my girlfriend!" Cliff shouted, causing everyone in line to turn and witness their little drama.

Pacey sighed. What else could go wrong?

TO BE CONTINUED