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Tempest - Chapter Eleven - Change Of Plans
"Here you go, Princess," Pacey said as he placed two slices of toast with jam on
them in front of Joey.
"Ahh... a meal fit for a queen," she said sarcastically.
"Hey! It's all I've got," Pacey replied defensively. "Coffee?"
"Black."
"You hate black coffee! You always insisted on lots of milk and two teaspoons
of sugar."
"Eh. Things change," she shrugged.
"Whatever," Pacey muttered as he stirred in the instant coffee powder. He handed
her one of the mugs and they ate in silence.
When it became too much, Pacey decided that something should be said. ANYTHING!
Something to start conversation.
"You look good in my shirt," he said, pointing at another of his hawaiian shirts
which she happened to be wearing.
"Um... thanks." Long pause. "I can't believe I offered you that shirt!"
Awkward laugh.
"Me either."
More silence.
More silence.
"So, um... it's a... nice place you got here."
'Stupid! Joey, why did you just say such a moronic thing?' she
caursed herself the instant the words passed her lips.
"Uh... not the trailer ifself, but the spot. I'd love to be surrounded by bush
and trees and---"
"Want another coffee?"
"That'd be good."
JOEY'S POV:
He's sitting beside me on the couch, looking awfully tense and self-conscious. Which
really isn't how he should be acting considering what we've just done.
Our bodies aren't touching. We're constantly at one of two extremes. We're
either as close as two people can possibly get to each other, or staying as far
away as possible while still remaining in the same room. It's unbelieveably
frustrating.
I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I can't help it. I have to wonder if
we'd be better off if we were still oblivious to who we really were. If I knew
that I had slept with Brett Younger rather than Pacey Witter. Would my life be
any better if I had fallen for the wonderful man who is Brett Younger?
Would he be better off if he had fallen for the fraud that is Natalie? Sure, it
would be a complete lie, but at least I wouldn't have to feel this way.
I hate this! It's not at all like I imagined it. Ever since that damn storm
all I've wanted has to have him back. For the gods to KNOW that they'd made a
mistake. For him to always and forever be mine. Now I have him barely two
metres away from me and I have no idea what to say or do.
We drove here in silence, we ate in silence. We had noisy sex and now we're back
to the frustrating silence. The only sounds are coming from the dripping bathroom
tap which I forgot to turn off properly before and the sound his fingers make as
they run over the glossy pages of my Cosmo magazine. I know he's not reading it.
He doesn't care about the 'Hot new fashions for this season'. Yet he's
been staring at the same page for the past twenty minutes.
I realize I'm still holding my wine glass. I look over at him - he seems to
have forgotten his too... it's sitting in his left hand. I walk over and gently
try to remove it from his fingers. I don't know about him, but I could really
do with a drink right about now.
My fingers gently brush his as I take hold of the long-stemmed glass. He pushes
the magazine aside and looks up into my eyes. Gently, he removes both the glasses
from my hand then places them on the floor. He pulls me onto his lap and kisses
me deeply.
It's not that I don't enjoy having him kiss and touch me - I do. It's just that
I don't want things to be like this. I hate it! It's a vicious cycle. I know
that once this is over, he's gonna climb off of me, we'll put our clothes back
on and continue what we were doing just moments ago - ignoring each other.
The worst thing?
It's been like this for a week now and we STILL haven't had one single
conversation.
"Hi St...eve," Melissa said when she heard the door to her hotel room open.
She didn't even bother looking up.
"Hey Melissa," he said sadly.
"How's the baby?" she asked.
"I don't know," he sighed, sitting down on the bed. "Her husband didn't want me
there, so I left."
"Oh. Look, um... we need to talk, Steve."
"I know. I'm sorry. I should've told you before. I wanted to. I really did.
But---"
"It's ok. I understand. But we really need to talk!"
"What is it?" Dawson asked, slightly worried. Her tone just wasn't right.
"Well, on my way home I---"
His cellphone rang.
"Hang on a sec, k?" Dawson asked as he pulled the small phone out of his back
pocket.
Melissa just sighed.
"Hello... Speaking... Oh hi!... Uh-huh... Tomorrow? Sure... Five-thirty...AM?!...
Ok then, where should I meet you?" He scrawled something down on paper. "Got
that. I'll see you then... Ok, bye."
He turned back to Melissa. "Hey Melissa, that was..." he trailed off when he
realized that she was now wearing her pajamas and sitting in bed. "You're going
to bed ALREADY?"
"Jet lag," she shrugged.
"But what about the 'big, important' thing you were about to tell me?"
"It's not actually that important. It can wait."
"Ummm... ok. Goodnight then."
"Night," she muttered as she switched off her bedside lamp and lay there in the
dark, thinking... worrying.
"Andie, why do you keep avoiding my questions?" Jack asked as he stomped into
her office several hours later. "If you didn't want to answer me, you could've
said 'I'm not answering that'. But I hate it when you avoid me. I'm
your BROTHER and I LIVE with you! You can't avoid me forever."
"And you can't live with me forever, so if I were you I'd watch it!" she retorted.
"Besides, I'm kinda busy right now so---"
"BULLSH*T!" Jack yelled accusingly. "THAT IS BULLSH*T! You're not busy! You're
just avoiding my question. All you have to say is 'I don't want to answer that'.
I won't CARE! Just don't push me aside. Don't say you'll tell me later. Just...
I don't know," he sighed, defeated.
"Yes, Jack! That's the answer to your question! Is that what you wanted me to
say? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR?! This place IS a memorial to Pacey! Are
you happy now?!"
"No," Jack sighed as she pushed past him and ran off.
A female shop assistant who had seen Andie run off approached Jack cautiously.
"She's got a bit of a temper," she said, patting his shoulder. "Don't worry
about her. You'll get used to it." Looking him up and down, she commented,
"You're new here, am I right?"
"Yeah. I'm David," he said, shaking her hand.
"Carol," she smiled.
"I know. It's on your name tag."
She laughed. "You know, my break starts in about five minutes. Sasha won't
notice if I'm gone a couple of minutes early. You wanna grab lunch or something?"
the tall strawberry blonde suggested, batting her long eyelashes.
"Uh... sure," Jack replied, trying to shrug off the feeling that this was actually
a come-on.
"You like sushi?"
"I wouldn't know."
"How would you not know?"
"I've never tried it."
"What?" she asked, shocked. "Well, there's a first time for everything."
"I guess so..." he muttered as she dragged him out of the busy building.
"Joey?" Pacey asked, looking up from the fire which was burning softly, the light
casting shadows on his face.
She looked up, hopeful. "Yeah?"
"Ummm..." he raked his hand through his hair, unsure of what to say. "We can't
carry on like this. We both have---"
"What?! So that's it, huh? You're giving up? After everything we've---"
"JOEY! STOP!" he yelled, silencing her. "You've got me all wrong. What I was
going to say was that we both have other commitments. We both work, and we've
been off work for two weeks. I don't know about you, but I need to go back."
"But we live in different places! Don't you want to see me?" Joey asked, hurt.
"Of course I do. But it's been five years, Joey. FIVE YEARS! We can't just pick
up where we left off. It's not realistic and it's not going to work." He could
see how badly she was hurting. It was there in her eyes. "I'm sorry."
"No. You're right," she paused. "But I'm not ready to give up. You can leave
right now, but that doesn't mean I'm letting you go. You can be reported dead,
but I won't stop looking for you. 'Cos there's NO WAY I'm about to give up on
you."
"And neither am I, Joey," he argued. "So here's my suggestion; I leave. Right
now. I'll be back at 8:30 this Saturday. Be ready on time."
He walked out of the room then re-emerged holding the bad which he had brought
up there with him, all his clothes and belongings packed into it.
Her kissed her lightly on the cheek and walked out the door, leaving her more
confused than ever. "See ya, Pace," she muttered, but by that time he was long
gone.
"Hi guys," Pacey said as he opened the door to the pub, a little unsure of how
they would react.
Chris looked a little confused, but Pacey could tell it was just an act. "You -
you look like someone I used to know a LONG, LONG time ago."
"Ha-ha. Very funny. I know I haven't been around much lately, but I'm here now,
aren't I?"
"Yes, you are. So now you get to explain where you've been for the past,
what?, THREE WEEKS," John said.
"I haven't felt well," he replied. Well... it wasn't a COMPLETE lie.
"Muh-uh. I know this situation was a lot jucier than that," John said.
"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But since I've decided not to tell anyone
that side of it, you'll never really know," Pacey said with a smile. He could
tell that his friends already knew what he'd been up to. Or at least they had
a fairly good idea.
"Oooh! I know! It involves a certain brunette, am I right?" Isabelle asked as
she appeared from the back room holding the cordless phone. "John, it's your
sister."
John semi-groaned and took the phone.
Isabelle poured Pacey a beer and he took a glug.
"When? ... This weekend?! ... No, I don't really think that ... It's just that
we're not really set up for visitors at the moment ... You're not planning on
bringing your latest boy toy along with you too, are you? ... Really? Awww...
poor baby ... You mean it? ... Well yeah, that would probably be a better idea,
but ... Ok ... No, I'd love to! ... Wait, what do you mean 'us'? ...
Are you sure? ... I don't think that any of them are gonna immediately jump in
bed with you. They're not that type. No offence ... Yeah, I know. You could
have any guy you wanted ... Ok, can you just hang on a second?" John placed
his hand over the phone.
"What's she calling about now?" Isabelle asked.
"She wants us to all come up and stay with her," he replied.
"Don't tell me she's getting married."
John tried not to laugh. "Married? That'll be the day! Na... she just wants to
see us all."
"Wait a minute... who exactly is 'us all'" Chris asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like. US ALL. As in, you guys too. If you want, that
is."
"What do you say, Brett?" Chris asked, turning to face him. "Are we gonna go
see John's little sis?"
"You know, I don't think---"
"C'mon, Brett. We haven't got to spend any time with you for three weeks,"
Chris argued. "The way I see it, you owe this to us."
"Yeah. Besides, it's only for a day and a half," Isabelle tried to convince
him.
"We'll leave mid-day Saturday and be back by Sunday evening. Besides, it's not
like you're gonna be missing out on anything great around here," John said.
They continued to fire reasons to join them at him. All perfectly good
reasons, too. But Joey...
"Ok guys," he said, standing up. "Count me in."
"Hi! You've reached the office of Natalie Evoleurt. I'm not available right at
the moment, but please leave a message and I'll get back to you ASAP."
Damn! The answering machine!
"Hi, Joey. Listen. I'm gonna have to cancel our plans. I'm so sorry. I
promise I'll make it up to you. I love you, Jo. Uh... I guess
I'll see you some other time. Bye."
Joey entered her office for the first time in three weeks. She was finally
ready to work again.
She walked over to the answering machine and pressed play, listening to the
messages as she organized her office.
"Hi, I guess you're not back yet. Well, get better soon. Bye."
Click.
"Hey, Natalie. It's me, Grant. Annabel still won't let me see my children.
I miss them so much and I don't know what to do. I need to speak to you. Get
better soon, please?"
Click.
"Natalie, I saw him again today. He - he knows where we live now. I'm scared..."
"Natalie..."
"Nat..."
"Miss Evoleurt..."
"Ok, I guess you're still not here yet..."
"I just heard. Are you feeling any better? Don't worry about it. Something's
going around at the moment. It's probably just the flu. Did you know that..."
"Natalie..."
"Natalie..."
"Natalie..."
Joey looked at the machine.
'Total missed calls: 127'
One-hundred and twenty-seven missed calls? Who would call one-hundred and
twenty-seven times?
Well, there was no way she was going to listen to one-hundred and
twenty-seven messages.
Just as she hit the 'delete all' button, the seven changed to an eight.
But it was too late.
Joey paced up and down, checking her watch every couple of seconds.
"8:30. What if he isn't coming? Ohh... I'm just overreacting. He'll be here."
"8:35. Maybe something's happened! Maybe he's been in a accident. Maybe he
can't make it. Maybe he's been hurt!"
"8:40. Who am I kidding? He doesn't want to see me. This was all just a cruel,
cruel joke. It's revenge. It's punishment. It's... not fair. It hurts."
Just as she was about to give up all hope, there was a knock on the door.
She stopped pacing for a moment and look horrified. Why was so so nervous? She
walked over to the door, paused, licked her lips and smoothed her dress before
turning the door handle.
Pacey was speechless. "Wow."
Joey self-consciously played with the strap on her bag as Pacey stood there and
gawked at her.
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "You look amazing, Joey,"
he managed to say. And it was the truth. She wore strappy black heels which
just poked out from under the hem of her long dark green dress. The dress itself
was a masterpiece. It had gold sequins around the hem and a slit so far up her
leg it would make Liz Hurley blush. It hugged her in all the right places
and had a daringly low neckline. Not everyone would be able to pull it off, but
on her it was unbelievably classy.
He leaned over and softly kissed her lips,trying not to ruin her make-up for her.
"I'm sure you put a LOT of effort into all this, but sadly, it's just not going
to do where we're going," he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I
guess you didn't get my message."
"What message?" Joey asked, finally taking notice of his... less than formal
attire.
"I called you and left a message at your office. I guess you didn't get it."
"I - I had one-hundred and twenty-seven messages. I deleted them all."
"Well... yeah. When you didn't reply I kinda figured that either you hadn't
listened to your messages, or... you didn't want to speak to me."
"Why wouldn't I want to speak to you?"
"We kinda... had a change of plans."
"A change of plans. Oh. So, uh... where are we going now?"
"Well, if you'll join me, we're visiting John's sister for the night."
"John's sister?"
"Isabelle's sister-in-law."
"Carol? Doesn't she live in Boston?"
"She sure does."
"You're taking me to Boston? Isn't that... a little close to home?"
Pacey sighed. "You don't have to come if you really don't want to. But I would
love for you to join me." He took her hand and held it to his chest. "Please?"
Joey smiled. "I'd be honoured."
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