Pacey exchanged a look with Joey before going to Dawson's aid. Her eyes were wide, and he could swear there was a hint of a smile on her face. Dawson was about to be pounded by Cliff Elliot, and the girl of his dreams thought it was funny?

Before he could say a word, she stormed over to the boys and shoved Cliff, who had both hands fisted in Dawson's shirt. He lost his balance and fell, and Joey leaned in and put her arms around Dawson.

What the hell?

"Are you alright, honey?" she asked sweetly.

Dawson looked confused. "Um ..." he began.

Cliff stood up, looking just as confused as Dawson. "What the hell is going on?"

My thoughts exactly. Pacey agreed.

"You were going to beat up my boyfriend," Joey accused. "What is wrong with you?"

"Uh ..." Cliff suddenly looked uncomfortable. "He was ... well, he had his arm around my girlfriend."

"And?" Joey glared at him, demanding an answer.

Poor Cliff didn't know what to say. "Well, I thought something was going on with them," he finally managed.

Dawson, who had been looking back and forth between the two in shock, began to speak again. "Joey �"

She cut him off, still glaring at Cliff. "You are not suggesting that my boyfriend would cheat on me."

It was a statement, not a question, and Cliff started stuttering. "Well ... it just looked ... I mean ..."

"Dawson loves me," Joey said dramatically, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

Up until this point, Pacey was finding himself rather amused by Joey's performance. That she would go to such lengths to protect his best friend was actually pretty sweet. But the kiss was just uncalled for, he thought.

She had Cliff stuttering without the kiss. Now he was bright red and apologizing, but she was still kissing Dawson, damn it!

And he wasn't the only one who was upset. Jen was apparently attempting to develop laser eyes so she could burn a hole in the back of Joey's head. Or Dawson's. He wasn't entirely sure.

Pacey found himself frozen, unsure what to do. What he wanted to do was grab Joey away from his best friend, throw her over his shoulder and drag her out of here. But he suspected she wouldn't react well to being manhandled by anyone, especially a guy she'd just met a few hours ago.

Finally, Joey ended the kiss, sending the still-red Cliff a smug smile. Dawson was blushing, too, and his eyes were a little dazed. "Um," he started to speak again.

"What the hell is going on?" Pacey turned at the unfamiliar voice to see a tall, muscular, brown-haired guy who was scowling at Joey. He had obviously been drinking, and he reeked of beer.

"That seems to be the question of the night," Pacey muttered, but the guy ignored him in favor of grabbing Joey's arm.

Joey looked panicked, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open. "Mark?" she said, her voice shaking a tiny bit. "Wha � I thought you were ..."

"Shut up, bitch!" He shook Joey's arm, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"You're hurting me," she snapped.

"I said shut up," he growled at her.

"Leave her alone."

Mark dropped Joey's arm and turned slowly toward Pacey. "What did you say?"

Pacey gulped. There was no doubt in his mind that normally this guy could seriously kick his ass. But he was hoping there was as much alcohol running through his veins as there was blood, in which case he had a chance of living to fight another day. But no matter what, he wouldn't let the guy hurt Joey.

"I said leave her alone." Pacey hoped he didn't sound as scared as he actually was.

Mark's face darkened. He came toward Pacey, obviously about to punch him, but the alcohol slowed him down and gave Pacey the opportunity to duck to the left at the last minute. Mark stumbled and fell into the wall with a thud, sliding to the ground, unconscious.

Joey, Pacey, Jen, Dawson and Cliff gathered around Mark, staring at him in shock.

"Nice, Pace," Jen said.

"Yeah," Cliff echoed.

"Should we get help for him?" Dawson asked.

"He'll be fine," Joey said. "He has a hard head. I think he's more passed out than anything."

"Nice boyfriend," Pacey said sarcastically.

"He was drunk," Joey said.

"You're defending that prick?" he asked, incredulous.

It took a minute for Cliff to process what they were saying. "Wait!" He thought about it another moment before coming to his final conclusion. "That's your boyfriend?"

Pacey and Joey looked at each other, startled. Pacey sighed and mouthed "I'm sorry" to her. She was obviously trying to come up with an explanation, but Cliff did it for her.

"You're cheating on Dawson? Man, that's just wrong," he said, like he hadn't been ready to beat Dawson to a pulp a few minutes before.

"Well ..." Joey said, still scrambling for an excuse.

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Dawson said, speaking over Joey's automatic protest. "Joey was just trying to protect me from you, but it's not necessary. Tonight, I asked Jen to go out with me, and she said yes."

Pacey held his breath. Everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing, staring at Cliff and waiting for him to reach the right conclusion. Poor Cliff hasn't had to think this much in years. Pacey thought.

Cliff looked at Jen. "You're breaking up with me?" he whined.

"Cliff, I'm sorry. Things just weren't working out," she said.

Then he turned his attention to Dawson. "I can't believe you!" he said, decking Dawson, sending him to the floor next to Mark, but not knocking him out.

"Cliff!" Jen gasped angrily, letting loose with a lovely right cross, landing Cliff on the floor as well.

Pacey looked at Joey nervously. "You're not about to hit me, are you?"

>]"Not at the moment," she muttered. "Dawson, get up." Pacey followed her gaze to where a couple of adults were staring at them. It was a miracle their little punchfest hadn't attracted any official notice before now.

Pacey grabbed Cliff's hand and hauled him to his feet. "Jen, halftime is over. You'd better break out the pom-poms," he said. "D, you go with her. I'll be back to pick you up later."

"Cliff, help me get this guy out of here. Joey, I'll see you later?"

"No way. I'm coming with you," she said. She grabbed one of Mark's arms and let Pacey grab the other.

"It was nice to meet you," Cliff said politely. Pacey stifled a laugh.

"Uh ... yeah. Right back at ya," she said.

Pacey and Joey dragged the very heavy Mark to Pacey's vehicle, dumping him in the back seat with twin groans. Once they were seated in the front, they both sank back and sighed. They looked at each other and started laughing.

Once their laughs had subsided, Joey pointed toward the exit. "Turn left at the gate," she said quietly. "I appreciate the help."

"You're welcome." He was silent for a moment, but couldn't resist asking a question. "Did you mean what you said before?"

"Which?"

"That you didn't love him."

"I just said maybe Jen wasn't in love with her boyfriend."

"Right," he said doubtfully. "That wasn't what I got out of it."

"I � He wasn't always like this. We grew up together. We were best friends, actually." She sighed and looked into the back seat. "It was pretty natural for us to start dating, I guess. And it was great. But then ..."

"He changed?"

"Yeah," she sighed again. "He started hanging out with all these jocks and drinking all the time. The alcohol turns him into a different person. He'd never hurt me when he is sober." She absently rubbed at her arm where he'd grabbed her earlier. She flashed a brief smile at Pacey. "I know. I'm totally codependent. But I'm sure I can get on 'Oprah' in a few years."

"Or Jerry Springer," he added helpfully.

"Oh, I can't set my dreams that high," she replied. "I couldn't handle the disappointment if I didn't make it."

He chuckled. "Your sincerity is touching."

They drove the rest of the way in relative silence, with Joey pointing him toward Mark's house. Pacey wanted to say something, to let her know that spending the evening with her really meant something to him, but he was afraid she'd think he was a moron.

They parked just down the street from Mark's house, which was dark. It looked like they lucked out and nobody was home. "His parents are out of town," Joey confirmed. "As usual."

They lugged the guy up the steps and Joey unlocked the door with the keys she'd taken from Mark. They quickly dumped him on his bed and left before he could possibly wake up, though that didn't seem likely to Pacey.

They rushed, giggling like a couple of little kids, out to the porch and stood staring at each other. "Well ... " Joey said softly, "I'm just down the street." She started down the steps.

"I'll walk you," he said, following her. "If that's OK."

"That's ... that's great. Thanks."

Pacey kept sneaking looks at her, unsure of what to say. Finally, she let out a shaky laugh and smacked him on the arm. "Quit staring at me, Witter."

She twisted her hands together and sighed. "I would sell my body for a cigarette right now," she confessed.

He made a show of checking all of his pockets as she laughed. "Damn," he said. "I knew I should've started smoking."

Her laugh trailed off as they came to her house. "So ... this is it," she said. "Strangely, I've had a lot of fun tonight."

"Hey, I'm a fun kind of guy," he told her. "Will you get in trouble for leaving before the game was over?"

"No. If they even notice I'm gone, I'll tell them I got sick."

"What about Hulk Hogan?" She looked at him strangely. "The boyfriend."

"He probably won't even remember." She shrugged. "If he does, I'll just tell him the truth. As long as he's sober, he'll probably think it's funny."

Pacey nodded and looked at the ground. It was now or never. "So ... now that we've started a small riot together and put your drunken boyfriend to bed ..." He cleared his throat. "Would it be out of line for me to kiss you goodnight?"

She smirked. "Completely out of line."

He tried to analyze the answer. The smirk said "kiss me," but the words said "don't even think about it, buddy." He shrugged. What the hell. It was that kind of night. "Being in line sucks," he said, pulling her toward him.

"Completely sucks," she agreed, just before he kissed her.

It was supposed to be a simple, light-hearted goodnight kiss. To another guy's girlfriend, for heaven's sake. So, why was his heart suddenly beating so fast he was afraid it would fly right out of his chest? And, not that he would ever admit it, his knees were a bit weak.

Finally, he forced himself to pull away. He noticed, a bit smugly, that Joey looked as shocked as he felt. He decided to make a run for it before she decided that he needed to be punched, too. "See you around, Potter?" He took a big step back.

She still looked a little shell-shocked, but she smiled. "Doubtful."

"I don't know," he mused. "Stranger things have happened. Tonight, even."

She laughed softly. "Good point, Witter. See you around."

He watched as she turned and went back into the house.

He ambled back to where he had parked, replaying the evening's events in his mind. If I'd known sporting events were this exciting, I would've gone to one a long time ago, he thought, grinning.

He turned the ignition and sat for a moment, grinning like an idiot before talking to himself in the rearview mirror.

"I knew she was hot for me."