"Are you deliberately trying to make my life a living hell?"

"It's just a party, Joey." Jen replied dryly.

Joey looked at Jack. "Could you help me here, please?"

Jack stopped his search through the cupboards and turned to them. "Anyone else want a sandwich?"

"Gee, thanks." Joey commented.

He laughed and turned way again to get a jar of mustard. "I hate to say it, Joey, but Jen's right."

Jen hit him playfully with a dishtowel. "Gee, thanks."

"The past few days have been hard enough with me and Pacey pretending that nothing's wrong - I do not think that throwing us in a room together with Finn and Anne would be a good idea."

"Joey, my boyfriend just got back from a month-long trip to Europe. I want to throw a welcome back party for him. Is that so wrong?" Jen answered, pretending to be exasperated.

"No. But - " Joey sighed helplessly. "I think I'm beginning to get a headache."

"Nothing is wrong with you and Pacey, though, right?" Jack asked, still working on his sandwich.

"Well, no, but…"

"And everything has been… normal, right?" Jen interjected.

"Yes, but…"

"Then there shouldn't be a problem." Jen stood. "Now go back to your own apartment. We're getting sick of seeing you here so much. Just remember to show up on Friday at eight." She gave Joey a little nudge out the door.

"Jen!" Joey cried indignantly.

"Goodnight," Jen grinned, waving her fingers. "See you Friday."

Joey started to protest, but found herself facing a closed door with her mouth open and her hands on her hips.

***

I'm going to kill Jen.

Joey repeated the sentence in her head over and over, taking deep breaths. It was Friday. She and Finn were on their way to Jen and Jack's apartment for the party. For some reason, her hands suddenly felt cold and damp, and her heart was beating loudly in her ears.

She couldn't believe how nervous she was. For the past week she had been dreading going to Jen's party, and had even considered not telling Finn about it at all, but Jen had called him herself to invite him.

I hate you, Jen Lindley.

"You okay?" Finn asked her.

She turned abruptly to him. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. No problem." She turned up her lips in an imitation of a smile.

"Should we go in?" They were already at the door.

"Of course," she answered brightly, giving the door three sharp knocks.

Jen opened it, a big smile on her face. "Hey! We've been waiting for you. Come in!"

Finn handed Jen the bottle of wine they brought. Joey glanced around the apartment as they exchanged how-are-you's, the color leaving her face as she noticed that only five other people were there.

"Uh, Finn? Why don't you go ahead while I talk to Jen for a minute?" She smiled at her boyfriend while grabbing Jen's arm and pulling her a little to the side.

"I thought you said this was going to be a party," she whispered sharply.

Jen looked at her innocently. "It is, Joey. It's a nice little dinner party with three of my close friends and their… friends." She pulled Joey to where everyone was standing around in the kitchen, talking. "Look who finally arrived! Let's eat, everyone sit down."

Everyone said hi as they sat down at the dinner table. Jack had brought a guy named Peter, David was helping Jen with the food, Anne and Finn were talking about classes, and Joey ended up sitting opposite Pacey.

It was like they were both trying to second-guess one another. On the surface, everything was normal between them - they went on with their daily routine as if nothing had changed, but she couldn't stop thinking about that night. It was always there, in the back of her mind, taunting her because she couldn't remember what had happened. And she felt like it was always there between them whenever they were together, making her feel awkward and confused.

Joey didn't know if Pacey felt the same way. He acted the same; treated her the same way he always had. But she hoped to God that he didn't notice the way she couldn't look him in the eye quite so easily these days, or how her skin would break out in goosebumps whenever he accidentally brushed up against her.

She pretended to listen to what Finn was talking about with Anne, a weak smile plastered on her face. A wave of relief washed over her when Jen finally served dinner.

"So, David, how was your trip?" Joey asked him when they started eating.

"It was great," he answered with a smile. "I saw my family again, of course, and overall it was a relaxing break, even if Jen couldn't come with me."

"Yeah, well, you better forget about relaxing now that you're back, buddy, because there's a big pile of work at the office with your name on it." Pacey added jokingly.

"It's Friday, Witter. No work talk." Jen threatened.

"You guys should try backpacking there sometime, Joey," David suggested. "What are you and Finn planning for the summer?"

"Um…" Joey looked at Finn, who was sitting beside her. "Nothing yet."

"We do have that weekend up in Poconos planned for next week, though." Finn reminded her.

"Oh, right! That." She glanced at Pacey, their eyes meeting for the first time that night. He was looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "It's this thing we planned months ago with a group of friends from school," she explained casually, forcing herself to keep her gaze locked on David.

"Sounds like fun." Jack commented, grinning at her.

"Wait a minute, didn't we say we were going to paint the apartment next weekend, Jo?" Pacey asked.

Joey looked at him and slapped her palm against her forehead. "I'm sorry, Pace, I forgot about that Poconos thing. Can we do it some other time?" They'd been planning to repaint the walls in their apartment's living room for weeks, and Joey had requested that they begin when school was over - which was going to be the next weekend.

"Okay, but we're painting the apartment bright green." Pacey teased.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation, smiling. "I think not."

I'm going to kill you, Jen Lindley.