“Joey!” Rana attempts to catch the attention of her roommate as she exits the lecture hall in an apparent rush. “Jo, wait up!” Joey adjusts her bag on her right shoulder and tries to pretend that she didn’t hear her name being called. She can’t get away fast enough, however, and Rana is soon right by her side.

“Hi, Rana,” Joey mumbles, trying to at least muster up a little enthusiasm at seeing her.

“Okay, so I know you said that you didn’t want me to set you up with Jay, but-“

“Rana, you didn’t!” Joey exclaims, stopping in her tracks and whirling around, anger in her eyes. She knows from the look on Rana’s face that she definitely did. “I specifically told you that I had no interest whatsoever in going on a blind date!”

“But it’s with Jay! After all that I’ve said about him, how could you not be a little curious?” Joey just crosses her arms in response, not believing Rana’s nerve. “You’re inhuman.”

“I’m inhuman?” Joey half-shrieks, then turns to stalk away. “I really don’t see what about not wanting to go on a blind date makes me inhuman. Any person in their right mind would never agree to go on one. You know they all end in disaster.”

“That’s not true!”

“She’s right, you know. My parents met each other on a blind date and they’ve been happily married for 27 years,” Steve suddenly appears, throwing his arm amiably around Joey’s shoulders and diving right into the conversation. Joey pulls away from him and starts walking faster.

“That’s your parents. One couple in a million. The exception to the rule.”

“Oh come on, Joey!” Rana begs.

“I’m not going, Rana!”

“Joey, what do you plan on doing for the rest of your life? You plan on spending it holed up alone in your dorm room studying for all eternity?” Steve’s words assault Joey’s ears, and she stops. His tone had been more cutting and harsh than he had intended. He relents, softly adding, “You can’t keep shutting people out, Jo. I don’t know why you’re so afraid of romance, but trust me…it’s not a bad thing!”

“I’m not afraid of romance, or even relationships,” Joey replies, defensively.

“Then what are you afraid of?” Joey doesn’t reply to Steve’s question, casting her eyes down on the ground. “It’s just one measly date, Jo. What’s it going to hurt? Rana’s only trying to do you a favor.” Joey looks at the two of her friends, feeling trapped in a corner, as if they both had her pinned with her back against the wall.

“Joey, it’s just one night out of your life. And who knows…you might end up liking him.” Joey snorts.

“Not likely to happen.”

“How do you know that?” Rana asks. Joey shrugs in reply.

“Fine,” she murmurs.

“You’ll do it?”

“Just this once, Rana. And if Jay turns out to be a jerk, you’re going to pay. Dearly.”

Rana claps her hands in delight and gives Joey a little hug, incredibly happy that she’s finally agreed.

“Trust me, Joey, you will not regret this. I’m going to go tell Chris that we’re cleared to go.” She races off, waving good-bye as she hurriedly heads down the walkway. Joey sighs.

“Why do I feel like I have just made a huge mistake?” She inquires, turning her eyes toward Steve. Steve laughs lightly.

“Josephine-“

“Don’t call me Josephine, Steven. Unless you feel like losing a testicle or two.” Joey glares at him. Steve throws his hands up in surrender.

“Okay…*Joey*…you need to stop being so cynical and pessimistic. Why does this date necessarily have to be a bad thing? I mean, I know it’s obviously been a long time since you’ve been on one, but I doubt that you’ve entirely forgotten what dates involve.”

“Awkward silent moments in conversation because you can’t think of a thing to say to the person? Long drawn out stories about irrelevant things that the other person deems incredibly important, yet you could care less about? Hours of self-consciousness, strapped into clothes that you would never wear besides on a first date, wondering if part of your dinner is taking up residence between your two front teeth? Wanting to kill yourself fifteen minutes into meeting someone after you realize that they are quite possibly the biggest dork on the entire face of the planet? Why I don’t miss it is completely and utterly beyond my grasp.”

“Who the hell have you been dating?” Steve asks, chuckling. “You can’t honestly say that you’ve never been on a good date.” Joey just rolls her eyes.

“I’ve been on more than enough bad ones to realize that the probability of going on a good one is slim to none.”

“When was the last good date you ever had, Joey, honestly?”

The last good date. She couldn’t remember. All of the times she was with Pacey were usually amazing, but they had never gone on an actual date. Steve watches as Joey strives to recall a memory.

“If you have to think that hard, Jo, it’s been way, way, way too long. It’s time for you to take the risk and get out there again.” Joey pauses, glancing at her friend. “Come on – what is there to hold you back?”

“There’s nothing holding me back, Chris. I just don’t want to go.”

“Jay, I’m getting really sick of sitting around this apartment and watching you mope. Your complete lack of a love life is going to start bringing me down, and I honestly don’t want anything affecting my game, especially now that I’ve got Rana to hang with.”

“So you’re basically saying that my negative attitude is eventually going to rub off on you, hence I should just sacrifice my own wishes and create a false sense of happiness merely for your benefit. I should go out with whatever this girl’s name is just so you don’t have to be annoyed by the fact that I opt to be alone at this particular point in my life.”

“Yes, I think so,” Chris replies, not quite sure what all of Pacey said exactly meant.

“Gotta love the honesty of your egotism, Chris,” Pacey opens up the front door to the apartment, grabbing his jacket.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“You can’t go out!”

“Um…yes, I believe I can, Chris, it’s a free country. At least it was the last time I checked.”

“Jay, just do this one little thing for me. It’s one night out of your entire life. Rana already talked to her friend, and she’s already agreed to go. You can’t back out now.”

“I’m not backing out of anything. I never agreed to this, I have no obligation whatsoever.”

“You do too have an obligation. You’re my friend. I’m asking you for a simple favor. It’s one night out of your life, Jay. Can you honestly say that you can’t spare one night to just go out on a date?” Pacey sighs deeply, feeling the guilt trip coming on strong. “It’s not like I’m asking for a kidney, J.”

“Okay, fine! God. Just…fine. I’ll talk to you later. I have to go meet Tasha for class.” Pacey leaves, and immediately wishes that he hadn’t given into Chris' incessant nagging. It was going to be a disaster.

He steps out of the apartment building into the warm afternoon sun, wincing as his eyes adjust to the bright light. Pacey stands there for a moment, not sure where he’s going. He had just wanted to leave so Chris couldn’t bug him; he hadn’t gotten as far as planning an actual destination.

Someone, who obviously hadn’t counted on him stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, accidentally walks right into him.

“Oh god, sorry!” Pacey looks at the girl, startled, then smiles.

“No, no, that’s okay. It was my fault.”

Heather looks at him, her eyes going wide. It couldn’t be…

Pacey looks back at her awkwardly, wondering if he had suddenly grown two heads or something.

“Are you okay?” He asks her, concerned. She shakes her head, trying to break herself from her thoughts.

“Me? Uh…yeah. Yes, I’m fine. I just…I have to go.” Heather starts to walk away, almost stumbling over her own two feet. “Sorry…about crashing into you.”

“It’s okay,” Pacey replies as she hurries away. Heather glances back at him once, then takes a few steps then turns around to look again. Pacey slowly begins to head in the opposite direction, feeling very strange. What had just happened? He didn’t know why the girl, whoever she was, had been acting so strangely, but somehow he knew that something of importance had just occurred. He only wish he knew what it was.

Heather races into Joey’s bedroom, almost diving onto the floor and reaching underneath her friend’s bed to find the photo album Joey had shown her a few days before. Quickly she opens it up, flipping through the pages at a breakneck pace.

She stops suddenly as she comes to all of Joey’s old high school photos.

“Oh my god…” Heather gasps, taking one look at Joey’s prom picture and knowing that she made no mistake.

The man she had run into on the street was none other than Pacey Witter.

And Joey had absolutely no idea that he was so close.

And seemingly…neither did he.

“Rousseau…Rousseau…” Joey stops searching the library’s online catalog with a frustrated groan. For the past few days, she’d been trying to find the same book, but it had been checked out. She’d been sitting at the same stupid computer station in the library for hours now, and had barely gathered any of the information she needed for her philosophy class.

“Having trouble?” Steve plops down on the seat next to her, giving her a look of sympathy.

“No trouble finding the information, just trouble processing it and putting it to good use.”

“Ah, the age old dilemma of I-can’t-concentrate Syndrome. Happens to me…oh, about every two weeks or so. But in good students like you…occurrences are rare. Maybe we should look into getting you on a pill or something. This could be serious.”

“Well, it’s definitely gonna turn serious quite soon, Steve, because if I don’t get this paper done about Enlightenment philosophy, I’m utterly screwed.”

“What, you don’t find the theories of Montesquieu intellectually stimulating? The ideas of Thomas Hobbes don’t titillate your educational impulses? Where is the real Joey Potter and what have you done with her?”

“Joey decided that she wanted to get away from this incredibly boring place and take a vacation in the Bahamas. I’m merely her decoy,” Joey grins.

“Ah, very Star Wars-esque.”

“Very. Oh, good, the book is back in.”

Steve peers over Joey’s shoulder at the computer screen.

“Why don’t you just take a break for now? Your eyes have to be killing you after staring at this thing for so long.”

“Taking a break is not an option, sorry, Steve,” Joey shakes her head, grabbing a piece of paper and writing down the Dewey Decimal code for a certain book. Steve rolls his eyes.

“Ever the workaholic. Well, you can stay here and waste away the better hours of your life, but I’m going to go have some fun.” Steve gets up.

“You do that,” Joey replies, not even looking at him, completely unaffected. He lets out a small grunt and then starts walking away.

“When you’re old and gray and have to tell your grandchildren that your college years consisted of tons of library sessions, I really hope that you’re embarrassed by your complete nerdity.”

“See you later, Steve,” Joey waves good-bye as she gets up and goes off in search of her book. As Steve walks out of the library, Heather comes in, looking frantic.

“Steve! Have you seen Joey anywhere?” Steve looks at her quizzically.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Steve, have you seen her?”

“She was sitting over at that cubicle there but she just went to go get a book from the second floor, I believe. What’s the matter?” Heather nods, patting him on the arm before rushing on.

“Nothing. Nothing. Thanks, Steve.” Heather enters the library in a hurry, almost knocking over another student as she hurries toward the computer section, desperate to find her friend. She climbs the stairs to the second floor, hoping that Joey would be easy to find.

Oblivious to Heather’s continuing search, Joey idly strolls through the sections of books, not really desiring to get back to her research any time soon. Glancing down at the paper in her hand, she finally finds the book that she was searching for and takes it off the shelf with a small sigh. Absentmindedly, she flips through the pages slowly, not reading anything or even looking at the pictures. Her mind was tired. She was working too hard, and it was too hard to concentrate. Every time she sat down and tried to work, her thoughts would drift back toward Pacey.

She’d only thought of him every once in awhile for the past two years. When something someone said reminded her of him, or when she saw a movie Pacey had loved or heard a song they had listened to together. Not all the time. Not like now. Ever since she had thought she’d seen him on campus, it was like he was everywhere. Every night she’d fall asleep with final thoughts of him, and wake up either filled with lust and passion after a night of hot dreams of him or filled with sadness and despair when she dreamt her strange dream.

In the dream, she’d be in her apartment, sitting alone and reading. It’s raining outside, thundering hard. Suddenly he’d be standing in front of her, smiling as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be there. She’d smile back and throw her arms around him. They would sit and talk for hours; she would wake up remembering how warm and comforting she had felt sitting next to him; and then all of a sudden, she’d reach out to touch him, and he’d disappear. She would be filled with a feeling of coldness, and then with a big crash of lightning, the power in the apartment would go out. And then she’d wake up.

She wasn’t in love with him. She couldn’t be. If she was, why hadn’t she always missed him this way? Sure, her heart had always swelled with nostalgic memories of times past when he was mentioned in passing, but it had never taken complete control of her life before. But Joey just can’t help it. He just felt so close, closer than ever before. Yet he was still so far away, so distant.

“Can I help you find anything?” Another student, obviously a worker at the library, taps Joey on the shoulder, wondering why the girl is standing there, staring off into vacant space. Joey is startled, and looks at the girl beside her for a moment, remembering where she was and why. The girl eyes her, and Joey shakes herself back to reality.

“Oh, no. Sorry. I found what I was looking for.”

“Okay…” the student turns to leave, throwing a half-concerned, half-contemptuous look back at Joey. Joey shuts the book in her hands and heads back to her workstation.

“I just have to get one thing, Tasha,” Pacey explains, walking ahead of Tasha. “I just need a book for a paper.”

“We’re going to be late for Cassie’s class.”

“I just have to grab it off the shelf and check it out, it’ll take two seconds!”

“You know where it is?”

“Yeah, I checked it out on Monday.”

Tasha follows Pacey up to the second floor, looking at her watch in exasperation.

“If you checked it out on Monday, why do you need to check it out again?”

“I forgot to take notes on this one part, plus, I left one of my pages of notes inside of it. I only hope they’re still inside.”

“You couldn’t have done this before? You know that Cassie’s pet peeve is people showing up late.”

“I know, I know. By the way, I still cannot fathom how you can call Professor Fitzpatrick Cassie. Calling teachers by their first names is just too weird when done on a regular basis.”

“She wanted us to call her by her first name! Besides, correct me if I’m wrong, but did you or did you not have an affair with your English teacher?” Tasha smirks, stopping beside him as they finally arrive at the section Pacey was gunning for. “I think you, of all people, should not be squeamish about getting friendly with teachers.”

“Okay, one, I was 15 at the time, and Tamara was gorgeous. And it’s one thing to call your teacher by her first name when you’re sleeping with her, but it’s entirely different when, you know, they’re actually just your teacher.”

“You’re too much.” She laughs. “What book are you looking for?”

“The Life and Times of Rousseau.” Pacey runs his fingers over the book bindings, and sighs. “But it’s not here.”

“Well, I guess some lucky person is going to get out of taking a few notes, Witter.” Tasha slaps him on the back with a grin. “Now can we go to class?”

“Fine.” Pacey follows Tasha through the mazes of bookshelves back toward the stairs.

“Have any of you seen Joey Potter?” Heather is met with confused looks. “About 5’9”…long brown hair, brown eyes, she’s a junior?” Again, confused looks.

“I saw her. She already left,” someone from another nearby table calls out, and Heather curses under her breath.

“Did you happen to see which way she went?” Her answer is a no. “Damn it…” She had to find Joey and tell her. It was only a matter of time before Joey ran into Pacey, and if Heather knew one thing, it was that Joey Potter was in no way ready to face the fact that she was still head over heels in love with her forbidden high school crush.

“Where’s Heather?” Joey asks, kicking off her shoes and looking at Rana, who is sitting on the couch watching Jerry Springer.

“I dunno. I think she had class. She was looking before you before. Said it was important or something.”

“What did she have to talk to me about?”

“I have no idea,” Rana couldn’t possibly be less interested. She stands up, looking Joey up and down. “We have more important matters on hand, however. If you’re going out with me tonight…” She gestures to Joey’s clothes. “You’re going to have to dress better than that.”

“I was planning on getting changed, Rana,” Joey rolls her eyes, annoyed, and heads for her bedroom. Rana stops her.

“No way, Joey,” she turns her toward the bathroom. “You go take a shower, you are going to wear one of my outfits tonight.”

“What-“

“No, don’t try to make up any excuses, Joey. I looked through your wardrobe, and simply, you have nothing worth wearing. Not as bad as Heather, but Joey…don’t you have any sense of how your appearance makes an impression on people?”

“Thanks a lot, Rana, that just makes me feel-“

“Joey,” Rana opens the bathroom door and shoves Joey inside. “You’re going out with Jay tonight, and you’re going to look so irresistible that it’ll be impossible for you not to get laid.”

“Who ever said I wanted to ‘get laid’?” Joey exclaims. “I don’t even want to go on this stupid date!” Heather looks at Joey warningly.

“Joey…” Rana shuts the door. “Come into my room when you’re ready to admit how much you need a guy.” Rana saunters away from the bathroom. Inside, Joey turns and looks at herself in the mirror, ready to kill Rana. Her gaze softens, however, when she truly looks at her own reflection. Dark circles under her eyes had formed from sleepless nights and too much studying. Her hair is limp and dull, and she had to admit that she didn’t feel so wonderful, inside or out.

Joey turns on the shower with a long sigh. Maybe she did need a guy. Maybe she did need someone to tell her that he wanted her and that he loved her. But every time she’d tried to have a relationship with someone before, she simply felt uncomfortable. Every time a guy tried to get close, she pushed him away. The longest stretch a guy had ever made it with her since she started college was three dates and one good-night kiss.

The question she knew she had to ask herself was: Why?

Joey stares at the water streaming from the faucet, the steam beginning to rise up and fill the tiny bathroom.

She knows that she knows the answer. She’s known it for a long time.

Setting her jaw determinedly, Joey undresses and climbs into the shower, feeling a new sense of control over herself.

“I am going on this date tonight, and I’m going to have a good time. Pacey is the past. It’s time for the future.”

She sort of believed herself. Maybe. Or…maybe not.

But she could at least give love without Pacey another shot. Maybe in time she’d grow to believe it. She at least owed herself an attempt.

“You’re going on a blind date?” Tasha is in a complete uproar. Pacey groans and covers his face with his hands.

“Could you be a little more cruel? I’m looking for a little sympathy, not for you to laugh in my face.”

“I’m…sorry…” Tasha tries to calm herself down, her laughter subsiding. Looking at Pacey’s serious expression, she pats his hand. “Come on, Jay, you have to admit it’s slightly funny. You know that it’s going to be some ugly chick with tortoise shell glasses and acne who is getting pawned off by her cousin onto one of his unsuspecting friends.”

“Well, nice to see that you’re open-minded, Tash,” Pacey grunts, downing the last drops of his glass of beer. Tasha relents.

“Okay, so maybe it’s not always a worst case scenario. But Jay, why? I know you. You’re not the type of guy to on a date. You’re not the type of guy to go on any date, for that matter.”

“I don’t know. Chris was just nagging me about it and making me feel horrible, not to mention weird, that I didn’t want to go out with this girl, whoever she is.”

“They didn’t tell you her name, at least?”

“No…somehow that was lost in the shuffle. Guess she’s one of Rana’s friends-“

“Oh dear god.”

“My sentiments exactly. If I have to spend the night with two ex-teeny boppers stuck in permanent cheerleader mode, I might have to retreat into the rest room and escape via the window.”

“I’ll make sure to be there with the getaway car. What restaurant are you guys going to, anyway?”

“Well, we’re actually going to this club, Rave, downtown.”

“Oo, that’s an original title for a club. This date sounds promising already,” Tasha starts pulling her long brown hair into a ponytail, rolling her eyes.

“Tash, you’re supposed to be the one reassuring me and convincing me that this is a good thing to do!”

“Well, what do you want me to say? That you need to get out there and start dating because frankly the fact that someone as good-looking as you doesn’t have a girlfriend is abnormal? That this blind date could actually have the potential to be good? I’m not going to say that, Jay!”

“This isn’t helping.”

“Jay, listen. I agree with Chris that you should start dating. I agree that it’s time that you broke out of whatever dark room you’re hiding in and find someone to share your life with. But forcing you to go on a blind date? No. I simply won’t. You should go out on your own terms, with a girl you are attracted to. A girl you want to be with. Because you know as well as I do that if this date is a bust tonight, you’re going to use it as an excuse to not go out again.”

Pacey just looks at his friend, an amused smile on his face.

“So, you think I’m good-looking, huh?”

“Shut up, Jay!” Tasha slaps him playfully. “You’re so not my type. I’ve just heard the girls talking.”

“Oh, and what do they say?”

“The usual blather…don’t worry, though…I completely warned them that you’re a total pig.” Tasha grins.

“You really think I shouldn’t go tonight?”

“I didn’t say that…I just think that you shouldn’t do anything you don’t want to do, Jay. You’re your own person.”

Joey eyes Rana as the curling iron comes dangerously close to her face.

“Relax, Joey! I know what I’m doing.”

“O…kay…” Joey shifts slightly, and Rana unrolls the curling iron from her hair, releasing a breath of frustration.

“Would you please sit still? I’m almost done.” Rana sets the curling iron down on Joey’s dresser then picks up a brush, carefully and gently running over Joey’s hair. She takes a step back to appraise her work.

“You look good. That lipstick color is so much better than the color you normally use.” Joey stands, smoothing out the practically skin tight sleeveless black dress that she has on. “You look really hot. Guys on the dance floor are going to be all over you. Jay will be speechless.”

“This isn’t me.” Joey has never felt more uncomfortable in her life, even more so than she had at the Miss Windjammer Pageant. Rana groans.

“Joey, would you stop trying to ruin everything? Can’t you just for once look at yourself in the mirror and just say, ‘Damn, I look good’? Go ahead. Say it.”

“Damn…I look good…” Joey mumbles as unenthusiastically as possible.

“Joey!” The doorbell rings, and Rana goes to answer it. “You are a gigantic pain in the ass, girl,” she tosses back as she clicks to the door in her bright red stiletto heels, adjusting her red vinyl mini-skirt and her revealing black top. “Hi, Chris!” There is a silence, both of their voices to low for Joey to hear from her bedroom. Then comes the unmistakable cry of outrage from Rana.

“What do you mean he’s not coming?” Joey steps into the living room at Rana’s exclamation, and her face falls when she sees that he is in fact completely alone. Rana looks at Joey, feeling bad.

“He’s not coming?” Joey asks slowly, looking at Chris.

“No, he’s coming,” Chris hastily informs her. Rana had leapt to conclusions when he had entered alone. “He’s just going to meet us there. He’s running late.” Rana breathes a sigh of relief.

“Well, this date is off to a great start,” Joey mutters underneath her breath as Chris helps Rana get her coat on. She pauses momentarily before following them, not really wanting to go.

“Come on, Joey,” Rana says, looking back, knowing what her roommate is thinking. Joey picks up her purse and jacket and leaves, turning off the light and locking the door behind her.

She’d never noticed the note on her dresser marked ‘Joey.’

“Are you having fun yet?” Chris screams at Joey, trying to talk over the blaring music. Joey smiles grimly.

“Oh yes. Tons of it,” she replies, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Joey looks down into her third drink of the night, wishing she had never come. Chris and Rana had been tearing up the dance floor for the past half hour as she sat at the bar, alone, waiting for Jay to show up. She should’ve known he was going to be a jerk. She should’ve suspected it – Rana liked him, after all. That should have been a sure warning sign, a red flag.

“He’s only half an hour late, Joey,” Rana says sympathetically. “He said he’d be here, he’ll be here. Jay just wouldn’t not show up, he’s not the type. If he wasn’t going to come, he would’ve told Chris when he called him.”

“Face it, Rana, I’ve been stood up. I might as well go home.”

“Okay, Dark Cloud, just stop it. He’ll be here. You could at least try to have a good time until he gets here, you know.” Chris is getting more than a little annoyed at Joey’s attitude. He stands on his tiptoes to try to see above the crowd, the red lights casting a strange luminescence on his blonde hair. “As a matter of fact, I think I see him now. I’ll go get him.” Chris heads off into the wildly dancing crowd, weaving his way through toward the entrance to the club.

“Joey, try not to let your jaw drop to the floor when you see Jay, okay?”

“Excuse me?”

“I know you’re expecting some dopey looking idiot who’s going to totally make your night hell-“

“And how do you know that?”

“Because you’ve told me so about a dozen times this night alone. But let me just tell you now, Jay is not that at all. He’s absolutely gorgeous. When you see him, you’re going to be surprised, but try not to act like a fool about it.”

“I’ll try,” Joey mumbles, again with biting sarcasm. She downs the last of her martini, not being at all graceful about it. Her head was ringing, the loud music buzzing in her ears, the flashing red, yellow and blue lights wreaking havoc on her eyes, the dancing crowd turning into a massive moving blur.

“Rana!” Chris appears again, catching his new girlfriend’s attention.

“Jay!” Rana greets Pacey, stepping in front of Joey and blocking her view. “You made it! I have someone for you to meet. Allow me to introduce-“

“Joey…?” Pacey finishes Rana’s sentence for her when he finds himself staring right at Joey Potter.

“Pacey…?” Joey gazes right back at him, shocked beyond belief. Her heart is pounding wildly in her chest, feeling as if it is beating more loudly than the music, her mouth going dry. Suddenly Pacey finds himself moving toward her and Joey moves toward him, and their lips meet in a short but frantic and passionate kiss. Joey breaks away, taking a step or two back from him, her eyes locking with his again as they nervously fidget in front of one another.

“Joey Potter…wow…”

“Pacey Witter. Yeah…um…it’s been…”

“Yeah, it’s been…hmmm…uh…”

“A while…right…so…”

“Yeah…I…”

“So…wow…it’s…it’s really…it’s really you.”

“Yep…I…yeah, it’s me.”

“Yeah.”

Rana and Chris exchange looks of confusion, wondering what the hell just went on before them. Rana looks to Pacey, and then to Joey.

“Um…who is Pacey?”