     
The Penis and The Prude
by Dannie and Rinny 
Pacey pulled up to the Lindley house in his brother's squad car. He honked the horn a few times and waited for Jack to appear. He tapped his fingers on the wheel in time to the music blasting from the radio. He groaned to himself after a few moments and opened the door, stepping out of the warmth of the vehicle and into the cool November afternoon. "There are better ways to spend my Saturday,� he mumbled to himself as he knocked on the door to the Lindley/Ryan/McPhee home.
"Hey, Jack! Someone's at the door. I'll get it," Andie called out cheerfully toward the bathroom. She placed the framed picture of the six of them, taken back when she and Pacey had been a couple, back on the night stand and bounded down the stairs. She opened the door, ready to greet the visitor with a perky smile when her face fell.
Pacey stood frozen in shock for a moment before he regained use of his vocal cords. "Hey, Andie... um, what are you doing here?"
"I came to visit Jack," Andie replied quietly, before speaking up again. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm picking him up to come help out at the B & B. We're way behind, and need all the help we can get. Even your brother's," he joked. "Jen and Dawson are already down there."
"Oh, well Jack's in the shower." She hurried to close the door, but paused in an after thought. "Do you want to come in and wait for him?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind." He followed her inside, trying to squelch the awkwardness he felt around her. This was Andie after all.
She nodded and shut the door behind him, fighting the rush of emotions that seeing him brought forth. She took a deep, calming breath, prepared to face him, not wanting to let her feelings get the best of her. "Give him ten minutes; he just hopped in." She faked a smile and began clearing up the dishes of ice cream she and Jack had eaten before he spilled some chocolate ice cream on his clothes and decided to take a shower.
He sat down on the couch, anxiously tapping his fingers against his knee as he waited for Jack. It was just his luck that Andie would be here. There was still so much tension between them, he hated it.
Andie came to sit by him after she finished clearing up the kitchen. She shifted uncomfortably before opting to sit on the love seat opposite of the couch Pacey was on. "So what's new?" Andie asked brightly, forcing herself to be hospitable.
A strained smile crossed his face, "Not much. I've been spending every spare minute at the B&B for the last month or so. It'll be a miracle if we pull it off."
She shook her head perceptibly. "That's nice. I'm sure Joey appreciates it." She forced another bland smile, not sure how long she could endure this terrible awkwardness. It had never been like this between them. It had always been comfortable and familiar, not this terse. It was like talking to a stranger.
"Yeah," he paused, "So, how are things with you?"She perked up with false enthusiasm. "Fine. Everything's fine. I think it's really great that my dad decided to move the business to Capeside." She smiled weakly and glanced up at the stairs hoping Jack would come down already.
"Does that mean Jack'll be moving back home with you then?" he asked to make conversation.
"I wouldn't count on it, Pace," Jack said appearing at the foot of the stairs, his wet hair sticking up in spikes.
"Hey, man." Pacey greeted him, rising to his feet. "You ready? If we don't get down there soon, the auxiliary force will have already gotten to all the good doughnuts."
"Not the jelly-filled ones?" Jack asked in mock despair. Pacey nodded gravely.
Andie stood up also at Jack�s appearance and gazed at the two of them uncomfortably, feeling like an outsider. "Hey, Jack, I think I'm just going to go now. I have some homework to do." She walked over to retrieve her pale pink sweater from the coat rack.
"Thanks for stopping by, Andie. Hey, why don't you come with us?" Jack suggested. "Pacey did say we needed all the help we can get."
Andie tried to hide her jubilation over being included and smiled gratefully at Jack. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude."
Pacey looked back and forth between the two siblings. "No, you wouldn't be intruding," Jack said. "Right, Pacey? It'll be like old times, when all six of us were actually hanging out together."
He nodded dumbly. "Yeah," he got out. "I'm sure Joey will be thrilled to have you helping out."
Andie smiled brightly, glancing from Pacey to Jack and back to Pacey, her gaze lingering for a little longer than usual. "That'll be great. It should be fun."
"Right, fun," Pacey echoed without enthusiasm. "Shall we go then?"
Andie nodded. "Sure."
"Great," Jack said, ushering them out the door so he could lock it.
Andie glanced around herself excitedly as she watched the hoards of people at work on the Potter home. She turned to Joey "Wow! So, you guys are really going through with this, huh? That's so cool."
"Yeah, well we have to find a way to make money somehow, so what brings you here?"
"Well, Pacey came over to pick up Jack and I heard you guys could use the help, so I decided to volunteer my services too."
"Oh really, so you're not here to get Pacey back, huh?" Joey asked nonchalantly. She immediately cast the girl a look of regret. �I�m sorry, I didn�t mean that,� she said apologetically.
Andie's eyes widened at her question and she laughed nervously. "No, no, of course not." She averted her gaze.
Joey nodded and stuffed her hands inside her jean pockets. "Oh, well I have to get back to work. I'll see ya later."
Andie smiled. "Yeah; sure. I understand." She watched Joey leave and turned to the tools on the workbench beside her. She picked up a hammer lying on the ground next to her. "Where does this go?" she mumbled to herself. Her face brightened as she saw Pacey�s familiar form approaching her.
"Hey Andie..." he said, exchanging the hammer he held for a screwdriver.
"Hey, Pacey." She twisted the hammer nervously in her hands.
"Anyone given you something to do, yet?" he asked while grabbing a handful of screws from the bag on the workbench beside her.
She shook her head. "Nope, I'm getting the feeling that I'm a persona non gratis around here."
He looked around at the dozen or so people flittering around the house. "We're all in a rush to get this done. You know? Or it's off to the poor house for Joey." He grimiced slightly at the thought of where she may end up if the Bed and Breakfast fell through. He tried to be polite to Andie, but found it difficult to even form complete sentences around her anymore. "What can you do?"
"You hate me, don't you?" Andie burst forth, dropping the hammer to the ground in front of her and surprising herself with the words that escaped her mouth. She rushed on trying to escape the embarrassment she felt. "Maybe I should just leave. This was a bad idea." She bit her lip apprehensively.
"God no, Andie! I was just trying to be friendly, but maybe that's too difficult a notion for you." he exclaimed exasperation before turning away from her.
Andie jumped back startled by his outburst. She glanced around, her face red with embarrassment. "Look, I came here to help and maybe that's too difficult a notion for you to understand. Just tell me what you need me to do, all right? I'll get it done," she said coldly, glaring at him.
Pacey took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. "Then why did you instantly jump to the conclusion that I now hate you? I hate what you did, Andie." His voice softened. "I could never hate you."
Joey had come out onto the porch in search of Pacey, but upon seeing him in a heated conversation with Andie, stopped at the doorway. She couldn't hear what they were saying but could guess at it's content.
"So now that we've established that I'm not hated. What can I do?" she smiled cautiously.
"You know how to use a hammer?" the corner of Pacey's mouth turned up in an attempt to re-establish some kind of friendship.
Andie nodded. "Yes."
He picked one up from the makeshift table and flipped it over in his hands so the handle faced her. "Here ya go. Grab some nails, and follow me."
She took it from him, grabbed some nails as he instructed and followed behind him. "Ok." Joey ducked back into the house and rounded the corner to the kitchen, trying to appear as though she hadn't been easedropping.
Pacey led the way into the house. "Here, these nails go into that board. That board goes on that wall." He pointed to the boards lying on the floor in one of the bedrooms.
Andie nodded her head attentively. "Got it," and then in a more confused voice, added, "Which side of the hammer do I use?"
He sighed, "You hold the end with the handle, and hit the nail with the flat end." He demonstrated with the first nail. "I thought you said you knew how to do this?"
She shrugged. "I lied."
"Right, right, right," he mumbled, he should have expected that... but at this point in his life, the people he thought he knew through and through were mystifing to him. "I should have guessed. I'll see if Joey has something else you can do."
"You and Joey have been spending an awful large amount of time together and so have you and Jen�or so I've heard," Andie couldn't resist commenting.
Pacey moaned to himself. "Say whatever you want to say, Andie. Let's get this over with. We have work to do and little time to do it." He turned to face her, a frown on his handsome face.
"Well, it didn't take you too long to hop into bed with someone else, did it?" Andie seethed snidely.
He sighed, running a hand down his face. "Andie, you wont understand any better than Joey did. What happened between Jen and I wasn't about sex."
Andie stubbornly shook her head. �Maybe, but sex did play some factor and I just find it funny that you would go off and do something that you hold me in contempt for. That's being awfully hypocritical, Pacey."
"The difference here, Andie, is that we were together when you slept with Marc. And for your information, even though none of what happened between Jen and I is any of your business, we never slept together."
She eyed him slowly, unsure of whether he was speaking the truth or not. "You didn't?" She tried to feign disinterest.
"No, we didn't. So, don't be jumping to conclusions about me. You don't know me anymore. And I obviously never knew you."
"I guess you didn't," she said coldly.
"Why do you care anyway? It's not like you cared about me," Pacey said bitterly, pounding a nail into a heavy board.
Andie stepped back, as if she's just been slapped. She scowled and said with low determination, "How can you say that?" She looked hurt by his words. "You�re right about one thing, Pacey. We don't know each other and right now, I'd like to keep it that way." She quickly spun away from him.
"You obviously didn't care enough about me when you were fucking Marc, now didya?" He called loudly after her.
She turned around slowly, disbelief on her face, before she smacked him. "You bastard. You cold-hearted bastard. Stay away from me," she hissed before she ran out.
Pacey rubbed his cheek as he watched her storm out. "Well, I hardly think I deserved that," he mumbled to himself. Joey winced as she witnessed the scene play out in front of her. "You can come out now, Jo." Pacey said, feeling her presence behind him, knowing she had been there the entire time, having sensed her minutes ago.
She stepped awkwardly out of the shadows. "You want to talk about it?" she asked cautiously.
"What's there to talk about? She cheated on me months ago and I'm still mad. And apparently so is she."
She nodded more to herself then to him. "Same old. Same old, huh?"
"Something like that..." he paused, looking at her curiosly. "What I don't get is where she comes off being the victim in all this."
Joey shrugged, walking to the tool chest, "Well, I think you sort of deserved it. The slap that is..." she added hastily.
Pacey turned to her, wide eyed. "That hardly deserved a slap. It's not like I called her an unfeeling bitch, or a cheating whore or a psycho slut or one of the million other things that are just now coming to mind."
She stepped back surprised by his outburst, but immediately grew angry on Andie�s behalf. "No, you just announce to the whole Capeside Auxiliary Police force, that she slept with someone. I'm not even going to use the word you did." Pacey looked around him surprised; he'd forgotten that they hadn't been alone. He'd been so caught up in his intense argument he'd forgotten where he was. He looked down at the ground sheepish. "That was really out of line, Pacey."
"Maybe it was," he received a dirty look from Joey, "�Okay so it was," he relented. "But beyond what just happened now, where does she get off playing the victim in this relationship? If you could call it that anymore."
She shrugged her shoulders again. "Maybe you have to stop seeing it as her playing the victim, but a girl who has went through severe problems and who's just really hurting right now. She's not hurting any less than you are, Pacey."
"I really don't see how that's possible," he said quietly turning away from Joey so she couldn't read his eyes.
Joey smiled. "You doubt me?"
"I don't doubt you. I just don't think you understand what I'm going through. What I went through with her." He said softly, careful not to sound accusing.
"Maybe I don't, but don't believe for one second that she loves you any less, because she doesn't and I don't think she ever will." She looked at the floor.
"I pity her then, cause I will never feel the love I felt for her again. She tarnished our love with her betrayal and I can't forgive her for that." he said with finality, turning back to Joey.
She nudged him with her shoulder. "Enough of this pity party. If this B & B doesn't work out I'm going to be in a sorrier state then I care to imagine." She looked out the window absently to find Dawson comforting Andie.
He followed her gaze. "Well, aren't they a pair?" he asked rhetorically, meeting Joey's eyes
"Well, she needs somebody right now."
"And how do you feel about Dawson showering Andie with his undivided attention?" He tried to appear indifferent as he watched her out of the corner of his eye.
"I have no problem with it."
"Haven't I told you before, you're the worst liar. Come on, spill. We seem to be having one of those bonding moments again."
Joey shook her head. "I can't help it. I see him with another girl and it's as if the jealousy alarm goes off. I shouldn't care, but I do, even though I don�t want to. It�s like this innate sense of mine."
He nodded in agreement, watching the pair through the dusty windows. "It sucks doesn't it?"
She looked back at Dawson�s familiar blonde head bent close to Andie's. "Majorly."
"Even though there's no doubt in my mind that I'll ever fall in love with Andie again, I still can't help being overcome by the green eyed monster," Pacey said thoughtfully.
"You can't be with that person and your head knows it, but your heart just doesn't seem to listen."
"Joey, you've been at this longer than I have... does it get easier?" he asked hopefully.
Joey looked at him knowingly, "What do you think?" she answered, turning back to Dawson, drinking in his form hungrily and knowing that he was probably gazing down at Andie with those guileless hazel eyes of his as he spoke reassuring words of comfort. Stop! She yelled in her head. You don�t want to go there. It was easy to slip into wanting Dawson when she knew he didn�t want her back, it limited the risk factor of the situation.
"Truly Jo, I don't know... But I'm really hoping for a reprieve." He needed something to get his mind off Andie and their tattered relationship. He couldn't help thinking that the brunette next to him could provide the answers.
Joey shook her head from those cumbersome thoughts and turned to face Pacey. "But for all this on and off again relationship, I can walk away and say I learned something."
"I've learned from this mess with Andie, I just don't think it was the lesson I was meant to learn." They were quiet in contemplation. "Well, Miss. Josephine, I for one of tired of heartache, pain and love in general."
Joey smiled genuinely up at him. "Well, Mr. Witter, I concur." Her voice turned reminiscent. "But there is part of me that misses the closeness�� Her voice trailed off as thoughts of she and Dawson lounging on his bed, cuddling up while watching a movie, or walking in the rain together, huddled up under his jacket were replaced with thoughts of her and Pacey. Dancing on the dock together under the moonlight and when he comforted her in front of her house after she had just been turned down by Dawson. She stopped those thoughts. She didn�t want to go there either.
He gave her a sidelong glance. "I guess now would be a good time to bring up the whole Jen thing, huh?"
Joey came out of her trance at the sound of his tone. "Oh...what about it?"
"I have this unexplainable urge to explain it to you. I don't want you thinking I'm some hormone driven, walking penis."
"I always thought that of you, what does it matter now?" she teased.
"And I always thought you were an uptight prude with a stick so far up your ass it was a miracle you could walk...." he countered. "But we're trying to get past our misconceptions right?"
Playfully, she punched him in the arm. "Oh yeah, I must have forgotten that part with your getting me to ditch class and all. What was that about your 'hurling yourself upon the flames of responsibility'?"
He grinned at the memory. "Yeah, yeah... but we did have fun that day, did we not, Ice Queen?"
"I blocked it out, what with it being a traumatizing experience and all."
"Oh admit it, you love hanging out with me!"
She gave him her patented half smile, "Is it that obvious?" She rolled her eyes.
Pacey nodded, "Yep.� They fell into a contented silence. After a few moments, Pacey added apprehensively, "So do you want to know?"
"Do you want me to know?" she asked quickly.
"Um... yeah, kind of." He ran his hand through his hair. "If you want to know that is."
"Well, only if you want me to know, because I don't want to pry or anything."
"This is getting us nowhere, come on." He handed her the hammer Andie was going to use, "The least we could do is work while we have this conversation.
Joey nodded her agreement, "Good idea." She took the hammer and examined it, purposely not looking at him. "So start."
Pacey half smiled to himself, "You know how you were saying you missed the touching and the kisses?"
"Yeah?"
"That's where Jen and I stemmed. She was upset about breaking Henry's heart, you remember him, the freshman with a crush on her?" Joey nodded her head, finding the hammer in her hands very interesting. "I was upset... about a lot of things... Andie, my father and brother, Dawson's obliviousness..."
Joey perked up when she heard Dawson's name. "What does Dawson have to do with any of this?"
"He's my best friend in the world, but for the life of me I don't understand him." Joey smiled softly, understanding exactly what he meant. Pacey continued, carefully directing his gaze away from her lithe form, "She and I both wanted a break from all the emotional trauma... But the physical contact... We'd both missed that."
She didn't want to hear anymore as an unspoken surge of jealousy flashed across her eyes. "I already know how this little drama ends," She dropped the hammer; it landed with a sharp thud. "Spare me the details."
His eyes shot up to her face, "Right," he nodded slowly. "But nothing ever came of it. There was never any sparks between us, except maybe at Witch Island. It was all about being with someone, to touch, to hold, to at least pretend to feel loved..."
Joey started to walk away, not wanting to deal with the added stress right now, afraid of what she would do if she stayed. "Yeah, I completely understand and right now I'm understanding that I don't want to hear this."
Pacey gave her a puzzled look and missed the nail head with the hammer, hitting his thumb. "Ahh," he grumbled before putting the throbbing finger into his mouth.
Joey turned back, slightly startled. "Are you okay?" she asked timidly and walked back toward him, concern etched in her voice.
"Arg!" He pulled his thumb from his mouth. "Yeah, fine." He wiped the saliva off on his shirt, before Joey took his large hand into her small one and examined it. It was bright red and beginning to swell.
"It looks pretty bad. Let me get the first aid kit and bandage it for you."
"It's not that bad, Joey. You don't need to baby me." He let himself be dragged from the room.
Pacey sat atop the counter next to the bathroom sink and Joey stood between his knees as she finished wrapping a bandage around his thumb, careful to make sure it would say. She smiled. "There, all better."
"Thanks, Jo."
She looked down at his hand in hers and kissed the bandaged thumb before releasing it. Seeing the surprise in his eyes she shrugged. "My mom use to do that all the time, it's supposed to make it heal faster."
He was pleasantly shocked. "Feeling better all ready," he said in a low voice.
She pointed to her lips, smiling. "These babies are my own personal miracle workers." She laughed.
"I'll say," he mumbled to himself, then louder to Joey. "D'ya mind if ask you something?"
"Shoot,� she answered already feeling more comfortably relaxed.
"You seemed awfully anxious about our previous conversation." He tried to meet her eyes with his own. "Why was that?"
She avoided his eyes, immediately bristling. "It's just that we went over this already. Can't we just leave well enough alone?"
"What exactly is it that bothers you so much?" He pressured, taking hold of her arm gently and turning her to face him.
She shrugged, uncomfortably. "I don't know."
"Jo?" He asked, sensing there was more to it than she was letting on.
Joey finally met his eyes with her own wary ones. "What?"
"Talk to me, we're becoming friends now and I want us to stay that way. No secrets."
She sighed. "Alright." She sat down across from him on the edge of the bathtub. "Let's say that hypothetically speaking, I might have feelings for you in a more then friendly way and perhaps I tried to fight it, did my best to squelch said feelings; and seeing you and Jen together just brought up questions that I didn't want to know the answers to," she said avoiding his gaze. She looked at his eyes and added hastily, "Keep in mind this is all hypothetical."
Pacey was floored; having no idea that she had felt that way. "Uh..." Words evaded him and he just watched her with wide eyes, trying to meet her gaze.
"Well...are you going to say something..." He remained silent. "Okay, I'll go now." She stood and walked toward the door. Pacey grabbed her hand as she tried to pass.
"Wait." She turned reluctantly to face him. "You remember how I said earlier that Dawson was part of my problem?"
She nodded her head slowly. "Yeah?"
Pacey braced himself to continue, "I've kind of been in the middle of your relationship with him since this year started. Talking, hanging out and being friends with you both and I could never understand how he could let you go. It bothered me to no end that he'd push you away. I mean you're irresistible, woman." He inwardly winced at the extra emotion that had seeped into his words. "Part of that anger stemmed from jealousy... Not that I've been harboring these romantic feelings for you." He paused, trying to find the words toexpress how he felt. "It's just... there were days, that I'd have given anything to be Dawson."
Joey slowly nodded her head, digesting everything he just said. "Umm...Wow." She sat back down across from him.
Pacey nodded in agreement and looked down at his hands. "My thoughts exactly." An awkward silence ensued.
Joey spoke slowly, carefully choosing her words. "Okay...this is an interesting new development in things..."
"I'll say." He ran his uninjured hand through his hair. "So what exactly are we supposed to do now? I'm not exactly educated in the etiquette of confessing one's mutual semi-attraction for their best friend's ex-girlfriend."
Joey nodded. "I understand...so maybe we should just leave it as is or maybe pretend this never happened. If that's what you want?"
Pacey looked up surprised. "Is that what you want?"
"Is that what you want?" she countered.
"What I want isn't really the issue... You have a guy you're still hung up on less than 20 feet away. Whether or not you want to admit it, Dawson's an issue here."
Joey shook her head. "You're right. This is completely, 100 percent, insane."
Pacey looked down at his hands again. "Right... insane, preposterous, inconceivable," he said quietly.
Joey smiled with sadness. "And not to mention the whole Andie issue..."
"And how exactly is Andie an issue?"
"How is she not?" she countered.
"I don't love her anymore. We're barely able to hold a civil conversation, let alone suddenly decide to get back together at a moments notice," he said alluding to Joey and Dawson's relationship.
"But she's still my friend and it would hurt her." Joey chose to ignore his last comment.
"And us even thinking about starting something wouldn't hurt Dawson?"
"I know it would," she sighed. "This is getting us nowhere."
"We're talking ourselves in circles. Think this might be an omen that we'd go nowhere?"
"Seems like it."
Pacey put head in hands resigned. "So that's it. We're nothing."
Joey perked up hopefully, not wanting to lose one of the last remaining friendships, she had. "We're friends right?"
"I don't know."
Joey bit her lower lip apprehensively, already feeling the tenuous strings of their friendship slipping away. "Don't say that, Pacey."
"How are we supposed to be just friends?" He questioned, unable to get the idea to compute in his mind. Everything they had been through together that year had been leading to this.
"I don't know, Pacey. What do you want us to be?"
Pacey sighed. "What I want doesn't matter unless it's what you want. And I'm not exactly sure what I want."
"I want us to be friends, Pacey. I mean we've made it this far. Can't we just stay friends?" she pleaded.
"Friends," he said testing the word. "We can try... but I have enough complex relationships in my life right now. In fact, you were the one stable relationship I could count on, but that was before we started actually talking to one another. I don�t want us to become complicated."
"I don�t want us to become complicated either,� Joey said quietly.
"Fine, how 'bout we just put this whole conversation on hold? We're wasting our valuable time in a bathroom when we could be working. We can deal with all this once the B&B is up and running."
Joey nodded. "You're right. So no more talk of this until the B&B is over with?"
"Agreed," He calmly nodded, relieved.
"Agreed." They silently put away the first aid kit and gathered their tools The entered the room where they had been working earlier and got back to hammering.
Joey cast a furtive glance in Pacey�s direction, entranced with how intense his blue eyes seemed with the task and the way he bit his lower lip in thought as he measured the slab of wood in front of him. She sighed and wonder what he would do if she leaned over and kissed him, gently sucking on his lower lip, doing the nibbling for him and how his hair would feel under her hands. Joey stopped mid swing and turned back to face her hammer, fighting the blush that threatened to creep up her cheeks. She couldn�t do this. "No, wait-" She turned to him. Pacey stopped and looked questioningly at her. She looped a strand of hair behind her ear. "This is ridiculous, I mean now I can't work with you without feeling awkward." Or other things, she said silently to herself.
"I know..." he sighed, feeling just as awkward as she. Every movement she made, seemed aimed to make him want her more... The graceful swing of the hammer in her hand. The way she fumbled with her hair in an effort to keep it out of her face. The way the tip of her tounge stuck out the corner of her mouth when she concentrated on aiming the hammer. He was attuned to her very presense. He always had been, but now, her presense in his life had a completely new meaning. "But what do you suggest we do? Things are complicated."
"I suggest, we stop hanging out with each other. Clear our heads." She tried not to look at him, shying away from becoming emotionally involved.
"Of the thousands of ways I thought we'd end this conversation... that idea never occurred to me." He looked away from her and back down at the ground, speaking more to himself than to her.
"You don't think it's a good idea?"
"No, I don't. It sounds like you're trying to run away from us... whatever we are."
"Pacey, I'm not trying to run away. I'm just trying to avoid a potentially dangerous situation."
"I think it's moved beyond potentially and into very dangerous."
"I know," she sighed again.
Pacey reluctantly straightened from his crouched position. "It'll be a little hard avoiding each other, Joey. Our school is not that big, and the B&B isn't anywhere near ready yet, but if it's what you want..."
"Yeah, it's for the best. You should leave." She pointed to the door.
"I'm not going to quit working on the house," he said defiantly. "You need all the workers you can get, but I'll stay away." He collected the nails, hammer and tool belt he was using and headed for door.
"Wait, Pacey, don't be mad at me." She shifted uncomfortably. "It's just hard to be around you right now."
Pacey turned back, anger flashing in his eyes. "Why? I haven't changed any, you haven't changed, it's not as if I'll jump you or we're in danger of hurting anyone. Yet," he amended. "I don't understand."
Joey looked away, embarrassed. �Maybe it's about me worrying I'll jump you."
Pacey chuckled, "Jo, we're in a house swarming with policemen, not to mention our ex-significant others... We'd never get very far."
"It's the fact that I'd do it that bothers me."
"Well, for the record," he leered flirtatiously, "It wouldn't bother me a bit."
Joey tilted her head to the side in thought. "I think I have an idea of how you could stay helping out and maybe we could still hang out.�. Pacey nodded, still smiling at her. Thinking of how endearing the way she tilted her head was. "Well...Maybe.." she rushed on, "What would you say to the proposition of a...kiss?"
His smile faltered. "And that's supposed to relieve the tension?"
Joey smiled. "Actually, I was just going more for just the kiss thing, besides if we just get it over with and realize that there�s nothing there everything should just go back to normal."
He nodded, grinning. "What the lady wants the lady gets..." He said inching back into the room.
Joey felt her face immediately flush and she buried her face in her hands. "Um...just forget I said that, feel free to walk away." He stayed where he was and didn't move closer, nor did he leave. Unsure of exactly what to do, he waited for her to say something.
�Are you still here, Pacey? Cause why prolong this awkward moment any further?" She started to ramble. "It was dumb, it was stupid, and it was idiotic. What exactly was I thinking?" A smile began to creep across Pacey's lips as he listened to her. "It was imbecilic, irrational, a slight lapse in sanity. Yup, that's what it was." She paused, peeking slowly between her fingers. "Pacey? You here?"
"Yeah," he answered in a husky, slightly amused tone, "Still here." He walked a few steps further into the room.
"Oh... " She looked down again, "You just like watching me squirm don't you?" She accused in mock anger.
"Ah, you know I love it. It's my life's ambition, to make you squirm at least once a day." He smiled, coming closer.
"I think you need a new goal. Yeah, definitely. I mean it can't be all that fun."
Pacey continued to slowly move into the room. "You have no idea how fun this is. When you get all flustered you gesture with your hands a lot, that's quite entertaining... your beautiful brown eyes widen... your cheeks get all flushed... It's quite the experience."
Joey felt the heat come to her face. "You�re evil, you know that."
"That's part of the appeal isn't it?" he teased.
"Appeal? What appeal?" She looked down trying to contain her laughter. "I have no clue what you�re talking about."
"Well, then, maybe I should just turn around and walk straight out of here," he teased.
"Maybe you should." She shot back.
"Hmmm, I think I will," He turned and sauntered back towards the door.
"You walk out that door, Pacey, and you can forget about a kiss."
He stopped and turned back, but didn't move forward, "Seems to me that you'd be punishing yourself that way. Weren't you the one who wanted a kiss?" He laughed.
Her face turned a brighter shade of red as she stuttered. "Th-that's completely unfair! Turning my words against me."
"All's fair in love and war, remember? I'm not turning back until you ask me too."
"I'm not asking you for a kiss, Pacey! So just forget it." They stood there in a stalemate.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, maybe I misunderstood, but didn't you already?"
"God, you are so infuriating, you know that!"
"Yeah, so? What's your point?"
"How can you be so infuriating and kiss worthy at the same time?" She sighed.
"So, now I'm kiss worthy?" he asked annoyingly sweet, taking a few steps closer. "Keep talking and you may even get that kiss."
Joey refused to meet his eyes, she sighed. "Maybe even jumpable..." She added hastily, "but that still doesn't change the fact that you're annoying."
H raised his eyebrows. "You can live with annoying though, right?"
"I've lived with it for awhile." She continued to look at the ground.
"Would you look at me already? It's no fun having this conversation when I can't see you blushing."
She looked up indignant, her face a fiery red. "I am not blushing! You're insufferable!"
"And you're adorable." he said quietly.
"And you�re adorably cute." She smiled slightly.
He smiled sardonically, "I think we're going in circles again."
"Looks like it."
"You planning on doing anything about it?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Are you?" she countered.
"I'm more than willing... you just have to say five little words, 'Will you kiss me, Pacey' and your wish is my command, Princess."
Joey pretended to mull it over. "Fine, then." Pacey looked at her expectantly. She smiled teasingly. "Pacey, please drop dead now." She grinned. "There five words."
He frowned then promptly fell to the floor clutching his heart. She chuckled. "The one time he finally listens to me..." She rolled her eyes. "Pacey, get up and get your ass over here, so you can kiss me already!" Her voice was tinged with amusement and annoyance.
Pacey opened his eyes. "Now really, was that so hard?" He asked.
She walked over to him. "Aren't you going to get up?" she looked down at him.
"Naw," he grinned. "I think I need some mouth to mouth to regain my strength."
Joey's mouth dropped open at his bluntness. "I stand corrected, that's the worst pick up line I've ever heard."
"But it worked didn't it?"
She knelt down besides him, "You seem fine to me."
"Yeah, well, it's what you can't see that's ailing me. My knees are weak," his voice grew more serious as he continued. "I have butterflies in my stomach... my breathing's shallow... and my heart, my heart's beating a mile a minute."
"I think it's contagious," she said softly and leaned closer to him.
He lifted himself up on his elbows so they would be face to face. He searched her deep brown eyes with his own. �No regrets?"
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